Of Trust and Kindness

Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to Digimon…. Except for Katie Anderson and her Digimon, Foxmon. I know, kind of lame name but I couldn't think of anything else. Besides, he's a pretty cool character. Trust me, you'll like him.

Author's Note: If you didn't know it all ready this takes place during Season Two right after Ken went to Primary Village to retrieve Wormmon's digi-egg. And like in the show Ken still hasn't forgiven himself for all the evil things he's done. Davis wants him to join the Digi-destined but Ken knows none of the other Digi-destined want him around. But in this fanfic this girl suddenly shows up. She's in all his classes. She's on his soccer team. She shows up at his house to drop off some of his homework. She even meets up with him in the Digital World. But he can't seem to understand why she trusts him. Please R&R and no flames. I've gone through loads of Digimon Fanfics (and digi-destined characters) before I chose one that seemed right. Hope you enjoy!

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That boy, Davis, had come up to him to invite him into the fold as a Digi-destined. Of course, he had declined. How could he face them again after everything he had done? He felt like the monster he had created… just like they had all said. Besides, he needed to make up for his evil acts by himself. Nobody else could help him. Except Wormmon of course. There was no way he would have gotten anywhere if it hadn't been for his best friend.

Ken Ichijouji sighed, finally realizing the light had turned to "Walk", but too late. It instantly flashedto "Don't Cross"again and cars started driving down the road again. He glanced down at his watched and sighed yet again. Until recently this boy had been a genius… but an evil genius at that. Not only had he hurt Digimon in the Digital World but he had hurt some people in this world too. He wore a simple grey outfit which was mandatory for his school but seemed to bring out the blue in his eyes.

'I hope Mom doesn't get worried. Usually I'm homeby now,' thought Ken, checking the time once more though it hadn't changed much in ten seconds.

Suddenly he found himself sprawled on the ground. Ken looked up to find a dirty blonde girl picking herself up and dusting off her clothes. At that moment she seemed to notice Ken and gasped. Papers were strewn around her feet but all she did was hold out a hand to help Ken up.

"I am so sorry!" she said, getting down on her knees to scoop papers up after Ken had gotten to his feet. "It's justmy familyjust move here and I had gone down to my new school to get a few assignments. Then I got lost and knew that my mom would be worried. So once I found my way I just ran right over here. Sorry I knocked you down!"

"That's quite all right. I wasn't paying attention. Where do you live?" asked Ken, picking up a few papers himself.

"That apartment building over there somewhere…" said the girl, not looking up.

Ken glanced around and noticed that the light had finally turned green again. He said a quick good-bye and rushed off. They didn't need two worried mothers in the same general area. Besides the girl gave no sign of protest or any sign of wanting or needing help.

'This isn't a good way of starting off as a new person, Ken. That was a lot of papers and all I did was pick up two then walk away. Oh well, not to worry. Most likely I'll never see her again,' thought Ken, finally making it home.

When he had come inside he slipped off his shoes and smiled as he mother called out "Oh Ken, you're home!" Then he slipped into his room to find Wormmon playing on his computer. The green caterpillar like Digimon looked up as the door closed and seemingly attacked Ken. Actually he simply jumped on him to give him as close to a hug as his small legs would allow.

"I can't really believe that you missed me that much," said Ken in a sort of half laugh. "You just saw me this morning."

"But I have nothing better to do but miss you while you're at school," mused Wormmon, a hint of tears in his voice.

"You were obviously having fun playing on my computer," scolded Ken.

"Well your mom went out for a while so I thought I could risk it," said Wormmon sheepishly.

"I'm home now," said Ken. "And Davis asked me to join the Digi-destined again."

"Why don't you?" asked Wormmon. "That Davis boy sounds like a nice guy even if he isn't that smart."

"I don't know. Maybe because it wouldn't feel right after everything I've done…" muttered Ken.

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He had been dreading this day for a week but soon his fears were realized: he had gotten one of the lowest scores on his math test. Ken moaned and put his head down on his desk. Though it wasn't the end of the world he still found it unnerving that after months of being a genius he suddenly couldn't even understand math anymore. But despite his disappointment his mind wandered back to his fight against Golemon. The other digi-destined had finally figured out that a white haired women named Arukenimon was creating evil Digimon out of his control spires. So basically nobody thought he was still evil. But he had yet to truly join their numbers. This time it was Yolei who had asked him to join them but she had soon relented seeing that he needed more time.

Suddenly he sat up straight as he heard the teacher clear his throat and motion for somebody to enter the classroom. As Ken watched the girl who had bumped into him yesterday walked through the doorway. She wore the gray uniform of his school and right away he knew that this was to be her first day of school. The teacher smiled and turned to the class.

"This is Katie Anderson. She moved from Tokyo to Odaiba a week ago. She is our newest member to this classroom. I would like it if youwould allbe extra kind to her. Katie if you would sit next to Ken Ichijouji, please!"

For a minute the girl hesitated, her green eyes searching the room for an empty seat.Her eyesthen landed on one. She moved toward the vacant chair next to Ken and sat down, turning to him with a smile.

"Nice to meet you… Ken wasn't it?" she whispered.

He nodded and turned back to his test. He felt her eyes wander onto it and he quickly stuffed it away. Katie made no comment to stop him but only turned to face the front of the class. The minutes seemed to tick away at a snail's pace as Ken's mind wandered. Sooner or later this would be the down fall of him and his class grades but at the moment he needed to think.

'There's still quite a few control spires to destroy. Maybe if I skip soccer practice Wormmon and I can make a good dent in them. But I've all ready skipped quite a few classes and even Davis's team has beaten us. Well Davis is a good player. Just not as good as me. What am I thinking!? Davis is a great player; let's leave it at that!'

Ken's thoughts kept on going in these endless circles. He hardly even noticed when he went down to lunch. Nor did he observe Katie sitting down at the same table as him to eat her lunch. She tried to start a light conversation with him but he didn't even answer. Though she took no offense by it she became a bit worried. Finally the final bell for the day rang and he was snapped out of his reverie by somebody calling his name.

"Ken? Ken, are you going to soccer practice?"

Shaking himself mentally, Ken blinked and looked up into Katie's green eyes. She smiled slightly and sat down in the chair in front of him. For a minute he thought about it, going over his same thoughts over and over. Finally Katie rapped her knuckles on his desk.

"I don't know…" he said. 'I sure say that a lot lately…' Ken added in his head. "I've got some stuff I've got to do after school."

"What kind of stuff?" asked Katie.

"Just… stuff that my mom wants me to do," said Ken with a guilty cough.

"Can it wait an hour? I've gone to two practices all ready and you haven't been to either," reprimanded Katie. "I understand chores are important but I can only asses how good I am until I've played with or against you."

At first he was confused that she was part of his soccer team and then he just found her logic befuddling. Finally he agreed to call and ask his mom while Katie got changed. As Ken was puttingcoins into the pay phone he wondered how many other chance encountershe would have with Katie. This was the third time in two days. Was she following him? Maybe she was an agent of Arukenimon. Or even a friend of Davis and the others. What ever the case it couldn't just be coincidence…