Disclaimer: I don't own digimon or the idea of an external soul.
Author's Note: Okay, sorry that took me so long. I've just been so busy and uninspired lately. And then I was finally able to get my brother to read the story. That made me happy, so I started writing more than a paragraph a day. And here it is. Hope it's good, and the end is in sight! The Final Law of Storytelling: "Never let the facts get in the way of a good story."
Rain
Davis stared blankly at the screen, his thoughts on something other than the kung-fu movie that was flickering over it. He'd looked for Ken for three hours, until he was too exhausted from walking and the emotional distress to continue. He'd come home to find his mom and dad there, collapsed consecutively on the bed and sofa, both half dead from jet lag. Jun hadn't been there. Of course, she was never home when they were.
Now, it was about seven at night, and he was sitting on the couch with his parents. All through dinner, they'd asked him questions and chatted about their trip, not seeming to notice how worried he was.
"You all right, Davis?" His dad suddenly asked.
He blinked, trying to keep his face from showing the answer. "Yeah. Fine."
"Could you get me a beer?"
He nodded and got up, going into the kitchen and pulling open the fridge. It was full again, and seeing the beer in there made his stomach drop. How could they bring that into the house, with all that Jun was doing? But of course they didn't know. He grabbed one of the long necked amber bottles and shut the door again. Going back to the sofa, he plopped back down and handed it to his father.
Davis fell back into his tormented thoughts again, staring at the screen. He sat there for ten minutes, not really seeing, and then jumped as his mom commented on the movie. They looked over at him, and he put on a grin, shrugging.
A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Davis jumped again, and then sprang up.
"I'll get it." He said, trying to keep from yelling in his excitement.
They went back to watching their movie, and he stiffly walked over to the door, undoing the lock with fumbling fingers. As he swung it open, he wasn't very surprised to see Ken standing there. What surprised him was the condition of his best friend. The boy stood, dripping wet and shivering. And his eye was puffy and bruised. Davis sucked in a breath and froze, staring. The look on Ken's face was heartbreaking. The two stared at each other for a long moment.
"Well, you should say something." Rika's voice said from the side.
Davis's head snapped over to see her leaning against the ugly pale yellow wall, her back pressed on the ancient pealing paint. She pointed a finger at Ken, directing his eyes back to the boy.
He reached out and grabbed his arm. "Come on." Davis pulled him into the room, leading him through the living room to his own room. "Ken's staying over tonight." He told his parents, not giving them a chance to look up.
Pulling open his door, he pushed Ken inside and sat the other boy down on his bed, shoving the door shut again with a foot. "What happened to you, Ken?"
He looked away, a drop of water falling down a strand of his soaked hair. "I really wasn't..."
"Look, I'm sorry I said those things, but you didn't have to just leave like that. I've been freaking out all day, wondering where you were. What happened?"
He stared up at the cinnamon haired boy. "I wasn't gone a whole day. I only..."
"You should let him change before you start questioning him." Rika said, kicking the door open and coming into the room, shutting it behind her again.
Davis tried to say something, but couldn't find the words. He stood and stepped over to his dresser, pulling one of the drawers open and taking out some dry clothes. He set them on the bed next to Ken and grabbed Rika's arm, tugging her outside after him and shutting the door behind them.
"Rika, what happened?" He asked.
She shrugged. "He didn't tell me much. I know why he left, but not what happened after."
"You saw this?" He stared at her, hurt and angry that she hadn't told him about it.
She looked at him, and he could see that she was furious at him. "Do you really think that you deserved to know? You told him that you didn't want him around. You knew he wasn't doing well at home. You knew what he needed the most was a good friend. Maybe if I had told you, you would have acted different, but you would have still felt the same inside. It was his future, and I told him enough to change it. You didn't need to know."
"Change it? Who the heck punched him in the face?" He threw up his arms, trying to keep his voice down.
"Let him tell you that, Davis. And yes, I did change it. Go ask your friend how."
She turned away and walked into Jun's room, pulling the door closed behind her. It shut with a slightly muffled slam and he heard her growl with rage. He wanted to tear the door open again and continue to question her, but the door to his own room cracked open, and Ken stood there looking at him. He was holding his wet clothes and his hair was still dripping a little.
"Do you have a towel?" He asked quietly.
Davis nodded blankly and took the clothes from him. He walked over to the bathroom and dumped them in a pile on the floor. Grabbing a towel, he went back to his room and gave it to his friend. Ken rubbed his hair, getting some of the water out of it, and then sat back down on the bed. Davis shut the door again and stiffly seated himself as well, leaving a foot between them. He just watched the other boy, waiting for him to explain.
Ken licked his lips, pausing for a long moment to gather his thoughts. "It was my dad." He eventually whispered.
"What?"
"I went home after we got back. I cut into the digital world, and then back into my room. He was," he swallowed. "He was waiting for me when I got back."
"But, Ken, you..."
Something crashed loudly against the wall, making both boys jump. Davis stared at the blue paint and blinked, wondering what Rika was doing. Suddenly, the door was pulled open, and she stepped inside, still looking like she was fuming with anger. She sat on a chair and watched Ken, avoiding her eyes from Davis.
After a moment, he started up again. "He just snapped, and... Well, after, I ran out of the house. Didn't want to be there." He closed his eyes and leaned his head on a hand, avoiding contact with his bruised eye. "I cut into some world, so I could be alone. It was pouring there. Some sort of tropical forest, and the rain made me feel better. The thunder drowned out my thoughts and the rain just let me feel what I needed to, without making me guilty that I was bringing other people down. I stood in the rain for about an hour, until I couldn't stand being alone with myself anymore."
The boy glanced up at Rika, and Davis saw an understanding pass between the two of them. Then, Ken's eyes met his own, and he swallowed at the intensity he saw there.
"Rika said that if I everyone else was gone, I could come find her. And I was tired of hearing the Kaiser in the back of my thoughts."
Davis's eyes widened as he took in those two sentences. His conscience kicked him as he realized exactly how far he had pushed Ken. And it struck him to hear his friend actually say the name of his other persona. "You heard him?"
Ken nodded, staring blankly at the bed as he thought for a while. "Rika, if you hadn't come to me, he would've..."
She nodded too, all the anger having disappeared from her face.
"Thank you," Ken whispered eventually, looking over at Rika.
She nodded getting up and coming over to the bed. She pushed Davis aside and sat down next to him. "I did what I had to."
"You didn't have to tell me all about yourself, though."
"You told him?" Davis asked, looking over at her. "When?"
"While we were coming here." She shrugged. "I though he deserved to know, and you guys are friends. You'll keep it a secret, right Ken?"
The boy nodded, his still damp hair falling into his eyes. He brushed it away. "But I don't understand. Was I really gone for a whole day?"
"Yeah." Davis said, moving so he could set his unhurt shoulder against the wall. "I was out for three hours looking for you after school, and Yolei was really worried. Speaking of her, she told me to call her when I found you."
Ken licked his lips, his gaze looking distant again. "I'll call her later, Davis."
"No." He returned, sliding off the bed and standing up. "You'll call her now."
The two boys looked at each other for a while, and Davis could tell exactly what the other was thinking. He motioned to the door and Ken slowly stood and followed him out, leaving Rika sitting on the bed.
"Look," Davis whispered as they stepped into the kitchen again. "I'm sorry I was so mean before. I didn't mean that you shouldn't spend any time with her. I just felt like you were ignoring me."
The other boy nodded. "I guessed that. But I am sorry, Davis. She just knew all the things that were going wrong with my life, and every time I could, I wanted to spend it with her."
Davis frowned, thinking over all the things he had told Rika that he hadn't been able to tell anyone else. "I guess that makes sense. But you can tell some of that stuff to me, now that I know about it."
Ken nodded and leaned against the counter. Davis reached over and grabbed the phone off the hook, handing it to his friend. He punched Yolei's number in and went back into his room, pulling the door closed. Flopping down on his stomach next to Rika, he sighed loudly into the bed and relaxed for the first time in many hours. She set her hand on his back, just gently enough not to hurt him.
"Sorry I snapped at you before." She whispered. "I just... I couldn't believe you did that to him, leaving him without anyone to turn to."
"I didn't do it on purpose." He mumbled into the blankets.
She was quiet, so he assumed she had nodded.
"Did you tell him about us?" He asked, slightly afraid that she had.
She let out a short breath, which he couldn't interpret without seeing her face. Rolling over onto his side, he looked over at her.
She shook her head. "I want you to do it."
"What?" He slapped the bed. "I don't want to do that. He'll laugh at me."
"Why?"
"Because I'm such a loser and couldn't even get a girl from my own world."
She frowned playfully at him. "So I make you look like a loser, do I goggle head?"
"Yeah." He grinned. "I mean, it's easy to get a girl when your a celebrity in her world."
Rika smiled and slapped him hard on the leg.
Ken cracked the door open again and slid inside. "Your sister's home." He said.
Startled by that, Davis sat up strait and stared at the door. The other boy looked at him strangely but walked over and took the seat Rika had vacated before. He didn't ask any questions, and they all listened as the other room lit up with noise, parents welcoming their daughter home. She must have gone through her usual "Hi, glad you're back, hope you had a good time, sorry I can't stick around but..." because she wasn't in the living room for very long. Davis heard her go into the bathroom as Ken spoke up.
"Davis, what's wrong?"
He shook his head and shrugged, trying to push the foreboding feeling away. But it didn't work very well. Rika moved over and casually leaned her back against the wall next to the bed, hands splayed out as she looked at her nails. It didn't take long for Jun to notice Ken's soggy clothes sitting in a pile on the floor, and she soon stomped over and pulled his door open.
"Get out, Jun." He said firmly, moving over to help her do just that.
She pushed him away and looked around at Ken and Rika, taking his annoyance as a chance to bother his friends.
"Hi, Ken. Been a long time since I've seen you. Whatcha been doing?" She asked in a suggestive tone, raising an eyebrow at him. Ken blushed and opened his mouth to answer, but she cut him off. "Staying over tonight?"
"Yeah." Davis responded, trying to make her leave again.
Jun dodged out his way and looked Rika in the eye. "And how about you?"
"Yeah, I'm staying." She replied in a dry tone, not looking up.
"So you're letting girls sleep in your room now, Davis?" His sister said, turning to him. "Wait until mom and dad hear about this."
Rika stood up abruptly, grabbing the older girl's arm and spinning her around so that they faced each other. She stared her down with an angry look before speaking. "Hypocrite. You get out of the house now, or we'll have the fun of disclosing some of the things you've been doing."
Jun looked startled by the tone of Rika's voice, as well as the fact that she knew. She glanced over at Davis and pointed a finger at him. "This had better stay under wraps, Davis."
He didn't respond, glaring at her until she slipped back out the door. Once it had closed again, he relaxed and grinned, rushing over and grabbing Rika in a thankful hug. "That was awesome." He whispered into her ear.
She smiled and nodded, pulling away and sitting back down. Ken stared at the two of them, totally confused.
"I guess you have some explaining to do." The girl said to Davis, wrapping her arms around her soul as he jumped into her lap.
Davis chewed his lip, looking apprehensively at his friend. After a moment, he sat down and sighed, getting ready to tell the story of his life at home. Hopefully he wouldn't cry this time.
Post Script: All right, it wasn't exactly the best ending, but it was okay. Not as good as last time. Glad you liked that one so much. It was so awesome; I was surprised I wrote it. Why is it that Rika's chapters always come out better? Well, anyway, review and stuff, and thank you all for reading this far. It's 60 pages in my word processor now!
neoKOS-MOS