"Saaa. How long has Ken been sick?" Jyou looked at Daisuke anxiously. Daisuke scratched the back of his head.
"A few weeks. He's been seeing a doctor, I guess. He works with her and he says she makes him get a checkup."
Jyou frowned. Something odd was going on here. A few minutes after he and the others arrived, Ken had blanched. And after sitting quietly for a moment with his hand to his mouth, hurried discretely to the unisex.
"Maybe he'll feel better later in the day. I never feel good this early." Yamato said glibly. Daisukechi punched his arm.
"I'm going to assume Ken doesn't have a hangover, Superstar."
"So what's Dr. Kido's prognosis?" Mimi teased. Jyou looked at the ceiling.
"Don't eat Mimi's dip."
"Hey!"
Ken just then managed to stagger back into the room, clinging for dear life to the wall. Hikari swiftly moved to his side to support him.
"I can walk, Hikari. I'm alright."
"Unnn." Hikari led him to a seat as Ken tried to avoid all the worried stares. She looked him over more critically, and petted his silken black hair. "Guys. I swear, you can never admit when you're sick."
"Nyah. Maybe you'll listen to Hikari." Daisuke interjected.
"Hikari has yet to insinuate I've caught brain rot from too much studying." Ken reciprocated, giving Daisuke an akanbe.
"So... how is it going for you guys?" Sora asked. She wrapped an arm around Miyako's shoulders. "We're great."
"We're going to have a promise ceremony next month!" Miyako squealed barely able to contain her excitement. Taichi's jaw dropped.
"How could you guys decide that without telling us?" He demanded. Yamato chuckled and looked away. Sora had discussed proposing with him quite nervously a few weeks before hand, and he was happy to see she'd managed to go through with it and claimed her beloved Yo-yo chan..
"Because Sora surprised me." Miyako informed him, presenting a shining engagement ring.
"What, don't you like surprises, Taichi?" Yamato teased.
"Depends on what it is." Taichi frowned. He especially didn't like the surprise after concert parties in their apartment, but there wasn't much he could do about that. "At least you're not after Yamato anymore."
Sora snuggled up against Miyako and grinned back at him wickedly. "I was never after him. I make a good publicity girlfriend. Too bad for you, I found her." She kissed Miyako deeply. "Anything going on in your lives besides sex?"
"I have a producer trying to get me to go solo. But that's not too new. They've been trying to get me to do that forever." Yamato offered.
"That's because you're so talented." Taichi said fondly slapping him with a wet kiss. Yamato pulled away, rubbing it off. "Oh, you know you like it."
"I think most of us are still in college, so basically, everything revolves around school, work and parties." Iori explained.
"Except for us geniuses, right Ken?" Koushiro said magnanimously raising his hands. "Wallace and I have started a prodigious little software company based on our combined knowledge, which is quite a bit. Who says we won't see space colonies in our lifetime."
"I've heard about that, actually." Jyou said. "Your stock is doing pretty good so far, even though you're still in the planning stages of the company. Nowhere to go but down."
"No way. Digisoft is going straight to the top."
"Digisoft?" Ken grinned incredulously. Wish I had your confidence, Izumi san.
"Precisely. You're welcome to join in, Ken. I know you haven't taken any real classes on computer programming, but I bet you're still one of the top tech-heads out there. And with your broad based education we could used you for marketing purposes."
"I'd be happy to help." Ken made a semi-bow, before feeling dizzy again and straightening himself. How much longer is that going to last?
"Have you revolutionized the fashion world yet, Mimi chan?" Sora broke in. As exciting as computers are to you Koushiro, I think everyone would appreciate a change of topic before you and Ken start talking in binary codes.
"Not yet, but I'm working on it! Either way, I just cut a CD, so the money I get off of that should hold me until those twerps in France see how talented I am." Mimi smiled sweetly holding her hands to her chest. "I'm so tired of this slimy half-baked glamour fad! Either be fabulous or get a new look. All the models look like corpses; I want my girls to be sweet, smiling, healthy, red-cheeked babes, you know?"
"Just like me!" Miyako exclaimed. Sora giggled.
"Or like Yamato." Taichi snickered. Yamato punched him.
"They're only red when you try to spank me. Don't be so rough."
"Ack!" Jyou grabbed his ears and groaned. "I don't need to hear that stuff!"
"It's great seeing all of you again." Takeru. told them. Suddenly his face got serious. "But why did you call us together, Hikari?"
She flushed a bit as she tried to catch Ken's eyes. "Well, I'd been trying to get in contact with Ken anyway. I figured why not call the whole gang together. Besides..."
Hikari cast a worried glance over to Takeru "I've been having some pretty weird dreams. Usually went that happens, something's out of synch, and we're called to fix it."
"I haven't had any weird dreams." Daisuke said cocking his head.
"I had one a few nights ago, but I think that was from the late night anchovies and rhubarb pizza we had at the dorm." Takeru said. He narrowed his eyes. "What about you guys? Ken? Hikari? What are you dreaming? You were always more sensitive about that sort of thing."
Ken and Hikari looked at each other for a moment.
"There's this girl-" They both began at the same time. Hikari giggled. "Probably the same dream. Something with black wings is flying around. There's a bloody girl there, and she's angry."
"Um, pretty much." Ken replied softly. "Have you been shifting?"
"What?"
"In and out of this dimension. Like we used to back when the Dark World was trying to take us there."
Hikari thought a moment. "No. I have seen a few signs of shifting around Odaiba the last time I was here. I thought I'd imagined it."
"Have you been shifting?" Iori asked gravely. Ken sighed.
"Not completely, but I can feel the pull."
"This isn't good." Taichi stated. "We should investi-"
Just then Koushiro's laptop flipped open of it's own accord a bright light began to pull them in.
"Oh, man!"
"Grab your satchel, Jyou!"
"Hold on, guys, we're going in!"
"Remind me not to come to any more reunions." Jyou grumbled as he helped Mimi to her feet. He held his bag up for her to see. "Got it, Mimi san. Why's that so important?"
"In case we can't get back. You have your medical supplies in there."
"Not much." Jyou admitted. "Is everyone okay?"
"A little shaken up, but pretty good." Takeru replied. Hikari dusted herself off and looked around.
"This place looks different every time I come here." Her head snapped around quickly as she saw Ken dash for the bushes. She winced in sympathy at the painful gagging sound. "At least I don't have to be here with a virus."
"Virus. Digital World. I get it." Koushiro said flatly. "What do you suppose is wrong?"
Hikari shrugged. "I hope we can find our partners."
"That's a good idea." Taichi said, then started. "Hey, did you guys bring your Digivices?"
Numerous hands raised with Digivices and D3s.
" We should start looking for them." Yamato told them firmly. "Even if we don't know what's going on yet, we'll need them."
"Great. I've missed that stuffy bird." Miyako proclaimed.
Hikari ran into the bushes after Ken, who was sitting in a clearing with his head in his hands.
"Hey, you." She said, sitting next to him. "Feeling any better."
"I'm fine."
"Whatever. You are not, Ken." Hikari scolded. He looked at her, perplexed at what he should actually reveal. "We're going to go look for our partners. Do you feel up to it?"
"Hikari... this isn't exactly the best time for me to be running around the Digital World." Ken frowned and looked down at the ground. "But I'll be damned if I'm not going to make sure this world is safe!"
Hikari brushed his hair again fondly. Ken favored her with the ever so rare smile, and she lightly pecked him on the cheek.
"What did you want to tell me?" She demanded again. Ken cupped her face and regarded her.
Well, I have to tell someone first.
"Okay, Hika-chan. Here goes....
Don't laugh."
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