Thanks!
Lugga: Hey! You were my first reviewer! Cookies for you! I hope you liked the story and keep reading it!
Higuchimon: Hey, thanks for the constructive criticism! I made Davis still 'mess up' T.K.'s name because in my mind anyway, it really bugs T.K., so Davis makes fun of it just to keep T.K. on fire if you know what I mean. Davis' character also grows latter on; the first part was just to kind of generalize things so the later chapters made sense. Also, the little Davis/Kari thing was also to set up the later parts of story; it will all make sense with time so I hope you'll keep reading it. Also, I'm sorry about the authors text, but I do feel a need like some people to ramble a little bit before the story, makes me feel more comfortable, but I won't insert (AN: ….) anymore just for you. Hope you like this chapter.
LoveSovereign: Sorry about my spell checker, it is evil. And I'm happy you mention the "Ichijouji" mistake, I realized my spell checker changed it to that after I posted it, I felt so bad about the whole thing! I promise to look over it more before I post, I haven't posted a fanfic in such a long time so it's strange for me right now. The story will take an angst spin soon so I hope you keep reading.
: thanks for telling me, I really had no clue how to spell it out. Frankly I just wanted to get it posted as fast as I could, but hey, everyone makes mistakes! I'll take my time looking for errors this time, promise.
DrippingRed: pokes back Yay! Ohh you make me feel so special! Thank you for the compliments .! Here's your update, hope you like it!
Walking in the Dark
Chapter One: Fireflies Light the Sky
Ken sighed and checked his email¾no messages. He sent one to him almost two weeks ago and nothing changed. The indigo haired teen frantically turned on his cell phone and checked the voice mail¾no messages. Ken could feel his heart start beating faster and faster, the beats seemed unsure and uneven. Hot tears stung his eyes as he collapsed to his knees and cried at the edge of his bed¾the cell phone laid motionless on the floor. It had been three weeks since the pain started, and in three weeks Ken still didn't know why.
After the three found T.K. and Kari, Willis was overjoyed to see some familiar faces. He went over and gave Kari a big hug and high fived T.K., Davis stood and watched as Ken took a seat next to Kari. Davis managed a small smile and laughed at T.K.'s idiotic joke, which for the sake of everyone, is not enclosed. Yolei came back to the table with Cody, and Willis was happier than before. Like Kari, he gave Yolei and huge hug and clapped a hand on Cody's shoulder.
"Hey Cody, how's it going?"
"It's going good," Cody said in his scratchy voice, "How's Terrimon?"
"Doing great!"
"Kokomon?"
"Much better."
Cody smiled, "That's great to hear Willis."
Yolei butted in, "It's great to see you Willis but the bell's about to ring and I wager Ken doesn't know where his first class is….or you for that matter! I volunteer to take Ken!"
Ken looked at the table, "Don't I get a say in this?"
Davis patted Yolei on the back, "No need Yolei, I'm taking care of Ken, you take care of Willis."
"But¾!"
Willis winked at Davis and grabbed Yolei's arm, "Come on Yolei, I don't bite or anything!"
She sighed, "Okay, where's your first class?"
Willis pondered for a moment and then pulled out his schedule, "Hmmm, it's uhh, this DuPriest person for History."
Davis laughed, "Man Willis, you're screwed! DuPriest is insane I swear. I had him last year for Geography….man you're screwed."
"Uhhhh, thanks for the reassurance Davis."
Yolei grabbed his arm, "Come on, that's room I-225 upstairs."
Willis yelled to Davis as Yolei pulled him off, "Pray for me!"
"I will!"
The bell ran as Ken pulled out his schedual, "I have Room C-123 with King for Honors English…..do you know where it is?"
Davis thought for a moment, "Yeah, it's right next to my old English class, follow me."
The two plowed their way through the crowd, Davis in front and Ken trailing behind him. It was like crossing a viscious battle field full of grenades and crossfire, there was no way to pass through unharmed. Even clinging to Davis' backpack, Ken got knocked around and slammed up against. Davis finally stopped in front of a room that was not too far from where they were, "Here it is."
"Thanks."
"I'll see you at lunch okay?"
"Alright," Ken waved good bye as he entered into the class. He found it hilarious that the teacher tried to play the I'm-the-hardest-teacher-you'll-ever-have by assigning a project on the first day. Ken thought the rubric was ridiculously easy, after all, he was a genius.
The day flew by, literally. Ken was surprised by how fast the classes went by and before he knew it he was standing next to Kari in the lunch line acting as "Moral Support".
"Are you sure you don't want to eat something Ken?"
"I'm fine Kari, how was your morning?"
"It was great!" She said, "Me and T.K. have the same homeroom with Davis!"
"That's fun, so when's the wedding?"
She laughed, "Not for a while Ken! So are you seeing anyone?"
Ken paused and quietly replied, "No."
"Why are you so embarrassed? I bet Yolei would go out with you in a heart beat!"
Ken rubbed the back of his neck, "I…I really don't like Yolei like that Kari."
She looked up at him with an inquiring look on her face, "Come on, who's the lucky person?"
"No one right now," Ken sighed.
"Okay okay, but I can tell you who I think that you think you like!"
"What?"
"I think you like¾"
T.K. ran up and gave Kari a tight squeeze around her waist, "Hey there Beautiful!"
"Hey Handsome!"
Ken took it as his cue to leave, so he excused himself to go find Davis who was having a gummy worm eating contest with Willis. Ken laughed softly as he stood behind Davis, some things just never changed. After both boys consumed about two pounds of gummy worms, Willis called it quits. Davis gave a sigh of relief, "Thank god that's over, I don't think I can eat another bite!"
Willis merely just fell over holding his stomach, gasping in pain while muttering, "why why why……I used to like gummy worms…."
T.K. and Kari walked up and shot weird looks at Willis, T.K. sat next to Davis, "Do I need to ask?"
"Naw, wasn't that exciting."
T.K. pulled out a packet of M&M's and started eating them one at a time while Kari and Yolei tried to help Willis back up. Davis cocked his head to the side, thought for a moment and then pulled out his math book. Ken looked over his shoulder, "Doing your math homework already?"
"Yeah," Davis pulled out a pencil and some graph paper, "better doing it here than at home anyway. Plus, Algebra II is easy."
Ken blinked in surprise, "You're in Algebra II Davis? I though you were in Geometry with T.K. and Kari."
"Yeah well, Math's easy if you follow all the steps."
"I suppose," Ken muttered, he sat down next to Davis and watch the other teen zip through twenty complicated problems. Davis turned and grinned at him, "I started studying really hard after we left the Digital World, gives me something to do you know?"
"Yeah Davis," Ken nodded, "I bet you're really happy with yourself."
"For once, yeah, I am," Davis dropped his voice lower so only Ken could hear him, "I don't even care about Kari anymore, T.K. thinks I still am though. It drives me nuts. Kari's not as nice or perfect as everyone thinks she is, but she's a great friend. Made me realize something…" Davis sat up straight, messed up Ken's hair and said loudly, "Man Ken, you still got the same hairstyle as when I first met you!"
Ken groaned and fixed his hair real quick, "So what? You have the same hairstyle too!"
Davis snickered, "Yeah, but….oh never mind, so….anyway….."
Ken sighed, "I'm not playing this game again, I hate it when you make me guess."
"But it's so much fun!"
"Spit it out."
Willis sat up on the table, "I would, but I can't, ohhhhhh my stomach."
Ken and Davis both laughed as Willis fell backward on Yolei and they ended up on the floor. T.K. nudged Kari who giggled, "Jeez Willis, I didn't know you liked Yolei so much!"
Willis rolled off of Yolei, "Haha T.K., you're so funny. Sorry bout that Yolei."
"It's okay Willis, man I've never had so much fun on the first day of school before!"
Davis nudged Ken and whispered, "Willis really likes her."
Ken whispered back, "Yeah, thank goddess too, finally she'll stop launching herself on me all the time."
Davis nodded and pulled out his portable CD player, he gave one of the earphones to Ken and put the other on, "There's a song I want you to hear."
"Okay."
Davis smiled and played 1000 No Kotoba from Final Fantasy X2 for Ken. After it ended he whispered, "Hey Ken, this will be our song okay?"
Ken nodded, "Alright Davis, but why do we need a song?"
"Why not?"
"Well…..."
Davis smirked and played some more tunes for Ken as Willis still withered on the floor. Ken felt bad for Willis but it so hilarious he couldn't help but laugh. After Willis felt better he laughed about it to.
They sat there, listening to music like nothing in the world mattered. When the bell rang again Ken, Davis, and T.K. all headed upstairs for French. Ken finally felt happy, really happy. Nothing was tying him down and he was finally around people who cared about him.
On Friday night Ken and Davis went to the park to go play soccer like they used to right after they saved the Digital World. It was nice to go out and get some fresh air. After running around for three hours, the two teens finally collapsed in the grass and laughed at each other. Ken sighed happily, it was around 8 o'clock, the time when the sky finally darkened into a deep shade of navy blue and then black. They laid back in the grass, watching the stars start appearing one by one. Davis finally broke the silence,
"So…..you're on good terms with T.K.?"
"Yeah, we're good friends."
"But I'm a better friend….right?"
"Yeah Davis, who else would go play soccer with me for three hours?"
"You got a point."
"Are you okay?"
"You always say that Ken."
Ken sat up abruptly, stirring up some fireflies, "I ask it a lot because I need to know.."
Davis sighed and sat up slowly causing more fireflies to flutter upward, "You always worry about everyone else Ken. Don't you ever worry about yourself?"
"Not anymore, I don't need to."
Davis shifted and faced Ken, "Why not Ken! You're just as important as anyone else."
Ken hugged his knees to his chest, "You guys mean the world to me….I know that a lot of times people are not okay, I know when I'm not okay I want to tell someone about it but I don't want to worry them or complain. So, I always ask people if they're okay so if they're not….they know I care, they know that they can talk to me. Our lives right now, they're good and bad. Good times die like fireflies Davis, so you have to keep it alive as long as you can." A firefly landed on Ken's shoulder and blinked off and on.
Davis looked around and sighed, "Ken, look around you. Fireflies are everywhere. Every now and then, at times like this, you start to think when there was a time where you weren't surrounded by fireflies. The world lights up when they're around and grows dark when they're gone." He paused, trying to think of what to say next, he looked at Ken and smiled, "You know what?"
"You know I hate this game."
"I know, but still."
Ken looked over toward Davis with his eyes, "Okay, what?"
Davis smiled, "I wouldn't mind if it was just you and me. Screw T.K. and Kari and Yolei and Cody, even Willis. I could live with just you….I don't want to think of a time when you're not around."
Ken sighed, "You know what?"
"What?"
"I couldn't live without you being my friend, I think I'd just die without you."
Davis didn't say anything, he gave Ken and weird look and smirked. Crawling over to where Ken was, Goggle Boy II clapped a hand on the former Digimon Emperor's shoulder, "I'll always be here. Trust me……but just promise me one thing……"
"What?"
"Cut you hair or do something with it!"
Davis walked home that night with a huge grin and a big, red slap mark on his cheek.
Ken wanted to believe what Davis said that night was true. He wished that the past month was just a bad dream and when he woke up everything would be alright again. Or maybe it was a joke, a really mean joke and Davis would jump out and say "April Fools" or something. His whole world came crashing down when Davis decided that Ken Ichijouji didn't exist , Ken Ichijouji was just a ghost.
School basically went on like that until after Christmas/Winter Break, Ken and Davis hung out so much together that it was rare to see them apart, and when Ken wasn't with Davis, he hung around T.K, Kari, and Willis. Over the course of the semester Ken learned that Davis picked up a few tricks since the end of their adventure. The spiky haired boy played his trumpet almost as much as he played soccer, when Ken asked him why, but he merely said that he did it because he was bored and wanted to try something new. In Band class, they lucked out when their director, Mr. Nixon, placed the clarinets in front of the trumpets, all Ken had to do was turn around to talk to Davis. It was a great time for the indigo haired teen, he almost forgot about depressed he was a few months ago, life was finally being good to him.
February, Second Semester
"Hey Davis, did you see that new Kung Fo movie yet?"
"Yeah, it was great!" Davis turned to face and Ken, "ohh, did you think of a song we could use for our French project?"
Ken shook his head, the assigned project was to translate a song into French and then perform it, T.K. was also in their group so Ken added, "Maybe T.K. thought of one."
"Hope so."
T.K. ran up with a paper in his hand, "Pinball Wizard by The Who! Is that okay guys?"
Ken clapped his hands together, "Oh I love that song, but I haven't heard it in about 4 years."
Davis sighed, "I've never heard it."
T.K. grinned, "It's easy Davis, trust me, we'll do great. So Ken do you want to translate it tonight?"
"Sure."
When in came to French projects such as skits or anything, T.K. usually planned the idea, Ken would write in down in French, and Davis would type it up and make it look pretty. However, for this certain project, the Mme. Eggleston didn't require it to be typed up so Davis was out of a job. Ken basically did the whole project while T.K. and Davis chilled until performance day came around.
"T.K., I haven't heard how the song goes yet and we're doing it next period."
"Don't worry, you know your verse right?"
"Yeah….but still, you know yours Ken?"
Ken nodded slowly, he didn't feel very good today, everything was blurry and moving to fast, "Yeah….I know it."
The bell rang, T.K., Davis and Ken ran upstairs to French and sat down to go over the song one last time. T.K. looked at Ken, "Sorry about making you do all the work Ken, I've been to busy lately."
"It's okay."
Davis grunted and highlighted the different verses so Mme. Eggleston could see who was doing what. Their group performed seventh, and things couldn't have gone worse. The lights were dimmed and the spotlights Mme. Eggleston installed were shining dully on them. Ken turned to T.K. and whispered, "Hit me when I'm suppose to come in."
T.K. nodded, the music started up and the introduction was long. T.K. punched Ken's arm lightly when he was suppose to come in, Ken felt a terrible pain in his chest and his world was spinning, he calmly asked the teacher to start it again. When the song was started over, Ken came in at the right time and sang half his lines; he didn't remember the song going that fast. Davis did even worse while T.K. did a little better.
Afterwards, when they sat down, Ken felt bad and T.K. just sighed.
"Sorry guys," T.K. said, "I should've let you hear the song a couple of times."
"It's alright T.K., I just don't feel very well, besides, it's not going to hurt our grade in the least bit."
Davis said nothing, when the bell rang, he left T.K. and Ken in the dust without a word. T.K. shrugged it off but Ken got a worse feeling, and the feeling didn't go away for the rest of the night.
The next day Ken saw Davis walking to school, he ran and caught up with him. They walked in an uneasy silence for a while. Ken felt the tension grow when Davis didn't smile once or say anything. Ken sighed and tried to break the silence, "Hi Davis."
"Hey."
"Are you okay?"
"You ask that way to much."
"Well, I'm worried."
Davis forced a smile, "Yeah Ken, I'm okay. I just don't feel like talking right now…..I stayed up last night to watch a movie."
"Was it good?"
"Yeah."
Ken felt himself go numb, "You're not mad about yesterday, are you?"
"Naw," Davis sighed and smiled, "I'm okay, really. We did better than Ryo's group. The project was fine, trust me. I don't care about it in the least bit."
"Alright," Ken mumbled, but in his heart, he knew something was wrong. If Davis was angry about the project, wouldn't he just tell Ken? He told Ken everything! Ken relaxed a little bit, after all, Davis would tell him if something was wrong and he told Ken to trust him. And plus, why could Davis be possibly mad about if it wasn't the project. Davis would be fine and dandy tomorrow…..at least Ken hoped so.
A few days later, Davis didn't even bother to look at him.