Oh, you all make me feel so special!

Dark Qiviut: You didn't make me mad at all so don't worry about that .! I'm sorry about it being a bit rushed, still trying to fix it. Also, when I have conversation between two people I usually do that, just my style but I'll try to fix it for you! It made me feel so special when you left a review for my story, thank you so much! I'll add a little more description in this chapter just for you okay? .! Hope you like this chapter!

Lugga: Yay! You kept reading! And you're on the right track with Davis wink wink Love ya! Here's the update!

Takuya: I'm sorry it made you almost cry, this one's sad too, but the next chapter will be sadder! Pretty soon (not this chapter) you'll know why Davis is being mean. I hope you keep reading so here's an update for you!

LonelyWalker: I'm mad at Daisuke too, the selfish jerk, but don't worry, he comes around in the end. You'll find out later why he's doing it but Ken has to do something drastic to make him snap out of it. You're so right, no one should treat their friend like that…..that's exactly why I'm writing this…L. Well, hope you like this chapter!

Rochelle: I'm so glad you love the story! It's so sad I even cried when I wrote it, stupid Daisuke. Later chapters will explain Davis' attitude so I hope you keep reading! Here the next chapter!
Azure Rose: Thanks for the cookies! And don't worry about Davis and Ken's friendship . it is a Daiken story after all. I feel bad for poor Ken too; however, it gets much worse, but it's happy in the end so I hope you keep reading it .!

LoveSovereign: I must admit, you, Takuya and Lugga make me so happy because you keep reading my story .! Thank you so much! I know how you feel to, your best friend ignoring you, agggh I wish I could tell you more, but I guess you'll just have to read the story to find out more! I hope your okay and don't have one of your friends acting like a Davis! If you do, tell me and I'll go beat them up for you. Anyway, here's the next chapter, hope you love it!

Demon King Piccolo: I'm glad you thought it was interesting! Hope this next chapter keeps up with your expectations.

AN: After you read this chapter, you might wonder why on Earth did I put Onizuka from GTO in it. Well, reason one, he's very good at handling kids when they have problems; reason two, he's a really fun guy; reason three, he acts a little like Davis and makes Ken feel happy for an afternoon. Onizuka will probably turn up later in the story as well. This chapter is kind of sad and kind of happy, I hope you all love it!

Disclaimer: I don't owe Digimon, Digimon owns me. I also don't own Onizuka from GTO…..but I wish I did……..!

Walking in the Dark

Chapter Three: A Break from Reality

Ken held up a picture of Davis he had taken earlier in the year. Davis grinned broadly in the picture while flashing a V for Victory with his left hand. They were at the park that day, playing soccer like usual. Ken won that day, so Davis decided to extract his revenge by pinning Ken down to the ground and tickling him to death. Ken had so much fun that day….his tears fell onto the picture as he pulled out a lighter. The bottom right corner of the picture burned slightly as Ken attempted to set it aflame, the picture refused to burn. Frustrated he threw the picture, trying to get it as far away from him as possible. It floated up in the air and landed gently on Ken's pillow. Kneeling by the side of the bed, he folded his arms on the bed and cried. "Why Davis, why. I can't live without you."

Mr. And Mrs. Ichijouji stood in the doorway not knowing how to comfort their son. Mrs. Ichijouji cried softly into her husband's shoulder while he stared at Ken. They quietly shut the door and went out to give Ken some space, it was all they could do.

Ken jumped up when he heard the door bell ring, he smiling knowing it was Kari and T.K. coming to play that game. He raced to the door and quickly undid all of the locks, "T.K? Kari?"

Kari ran inside and looked around, "Wow Ken! It's so clean!"

T.K. came in and looked around as well, "It hasn't changed a bit since your first Christmas party here."

Ken smiled and nodded, "Well, Mother likes to keep the house immaculate for her book club. Anyway, the PS2 is over here."

T.K. and Kari followed him to a separate room where the PS2 stood proudly next to a nineteen inch television screen. T.K. ran over and grabbed the first controller, "I so get to be Obi-Wan!"

Ken gave him a coy look, "Fine, but I warn you, I'm best with Anakin!"

They entered the Verses Mode, Kari sat in between them and announced, "I get to play the winner!"

T.K. nodded and began to push buttons rapidly, Ken's eyes locked onto the screen and he waited for the opportune moment, when T.K. let Obi-Wan jumped over Anakin, Ken made the evil Jedi turn around quickly and zap his master with lightning. T.K. blinked, "No fair Ken!"

"Everything's fair in love and war T.K.!"

After a few short minutes, T.K. groaned, "I can't believe you beat me without getting on hit on you!"

"What can I say T.K, I used the Force."

Kari grabbed T.K.'s controller, "My turn!"

She selected a female Jedi character and the match started. She kept dodging Ken's attacks and about two minutes into the battle she suddenly cried, "Oh my gosh! Is that Leafmon on your computer!"

Ken dropped the controller and whirled around, "Leafmon?….Kari, you pulled a fast one on me!"

"All is fair in love and war Ken!" She flashed the victory sign, "I win!"

T.K. grabbed Ken's controller, "That trick won't work against me Kari!"

"We'll see about that T.K.!"

They were absorbed in the game until about 10:00 when T.K. and Kari had to leave. T.K. grinned, "That was fun Ken, we should do it again sometime!"

"Yeah, anytime T.K., see you later Kari!"

Kari grinned and waved at him as she left, "Bye Ken!"

He sighed and closed the door after he made sure they made it to the elevator all right. Ken's smile slowly faded off his face as he stiffly walked to his room. Sitting down at his desk, he opened his laptop and turned it on. Pretty soon he was logged onto the Internet and checking his email. Still no messages….maybe Davis just hadn't checked his email yet…..yeah, that was it, Davis didn't check his email. Ken shuddered, "Just a bad dream, this is just a bad dream." The indigo haired teen turned off his computer and got ready for bed, usually on Friday nights he stayed up until two in the morning, but he felt to tired and worn out to do anything else but sleep. He turned off the lights, slipped between the covers, and did everything but sleep, he just laid there all night until the sun started coming up.

Ken had an empty feeling inside as he stared at his ceiling, his dull violet eyes watching the light slowly pour into his room. He sighed and laid a hand over his heart to make sure it was still beating. His body felt numb and nothing seemed to matter anymore, Davis was all that mattered. Ken rolled over on his side and shuddered, all he wanted to know was why. The indigo haired teen finally fell into an uneasy sleep at 4:23 AM.

"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."

Ken woke up and felt tears on his cheeks, "I'd just die without you Davis." He cursed himself, Ken hated himself, he was weak. Ken opened his blinds to let the afternoon sun shine in and opened the window. Half the time he hated Davis for putting him through this hell, and the other half of the time he felt like he couldn't breath without him. Ken cursed himself and leaned out the window, "Oh Ichjouji, why did you have to fall in love with a pragmatic goggle boy who wouldn't care if you died right now?"

He sighed again and wondered toward his mirror; Ken saw himself, tired, worn out and defeated. He hair was shaggy now and hung down to his shoulders but Ken didn't care. Ken didn't care about anything anymore except Davis, he was all Ken thought about. He sighed and took a long hot shower, trying to wash all his worries away. The water felt so good on his back and he stood there for a few minutes letting the water warm his tired body. Ken must've stayed in there close to a half and hour, he almost regretted having to leave the hot waterfall. He dried off and reached for his pants, when he put them on Ken blinked in confusion and then grabbed a belt. He shrugged and buttoned up a white shirt that hung loosely on him. Ken walked down the hall and stopped in the kitchen, he gave it one look and continued to the living.

Ken sat down and stared at the floor, after a few minutes he muttered, "why doesn't anything fit anymore……..?" He shook his head and turned on the television, there was no better way to spend a Saturday afternoon alone than watching a corny movie on the Sci-Fi channel. While watching one of the random Alien movies, Ken let his mind begin to wonder. He remembered the time when him and Davis went to the beach with DemiVee-Mon and Leafmon, somehow Ken and the two in-training Digimon managed to bury Davis in the sand and left him there for two hours while they played in the water. Ken smiled and wished Leafmon could be with him now, he sorely missed his digi-partner almost as much as he missed Davis not talking to him.

Ken stood up and stretched his legs as his parents walked back in carrying some groceries. He meandered into the kitchen and started helping put things away. His dad smiled broadly, "Hey son? So is Davis talking to you yet?"

"Not yet Dad," Ken sighed and put a can of soup in the cabinet, "and I still don't know why."

Ken's mother opened the fridge to put some milk away, "Well, I'm sure he'll come around Ken, Davis is a nice boy."

"I hope you're right Mom."

She smiled, "Don't worry about it Ken, he'll get over it soon, your uncle was the same way at his age."

Ken sat down at the table, "I know Mom, it's just…….it shouldn't be bugging me this much, but it is."

Mr. Ichjouji sighed and sat down, "Ken, is there something you want to tell us?"

Ken gave his dad a weird look, "What do you mean?"

Ken's mother sat down next to her husband, "Ken dear, you know we care about you no matter what you do right?"

"Yes Mom…..but I really have no clue what you're talking about."

Ken's dad leaned back in his chair, "Well, when you figure it out don't be afraid to tell us Ken, we don't want to loose you like Sam."

Pain. Bright, flashing pain. Ken looked at the table, "you won't Dad."

"Okay Ken, now me and your mother are going out again. Would you like to come with us? We could get you a haircut."

"No thanks, I just want to stay home today."

Ken's mother stood up, "Alright Ken dear, call us if you need anything."

"Okay mother."

After they left Ken sighed and ran his hands through his hair, "Why the hell didn't I go with them?" He cursed himself again and put on his shoes, just because his parents were gone didn't mean he couldn't go play soccer at the park. He went into his room and replaced the white buttoned shirt with a tighter blue tee-shirt and tied his hair back with one of his mother's hair ties. He picked up his Wilson brand soccer ball and locked the front door behind him. Ken whistled on the elevator as it shot down five floors and walked the two short blocks to the park.

The park was empty except for a small boy and his mother playing on the swings and Ken let out a sigh of relief knowing he would be left alone. He dropped the soccer ball down on the ground, kicked it up and started using it like a hacky sack. The white and black ball bounced off of his knees, elbows, shoulders, and head. After about half an hour it bounced away from him and rolled away. Ken kept his eyes glued to the ball and went to go picked it up, he bent over to grab his Wilson and discovered in was in front of a pair of Converses. He grabbed the ball in both hands and slowly stood up. Ken's eyes followed the loose blue jeans up to the tight white tank top and stopped, he then arched his head upward to see a slightly amused boy who started laughing at him. Ken arched his eye brow at him, "Ummm, why are you laughing at me?"

"Sorry, I thought you were a girl at first 'cause your so short and your hair is long! How tall are you? 5'4"?"

Ken took a step back and felt for the hair tie, it was loose and slipped off when he touched it. His hair fell in is face and he huffed angrily, "I'm 5'6", not that it matters to you, what are you, 6'4"?"

"I'm 6'2 actually, and what are you? Seventh grader?"

Ken rolled his eyes, "Tenth grader, and you?"

"Hair School Teacher actually. So what are you doing at the park?"

"I might tell you if you step out of the sun so I can see who I'm talking to." Ken pointed at the bench, the other guy shrugged and sat down, Ken timidly sat next to him and looked at the other guys face. He was definitely Japanese, but his hair was bleached a platinum blond that made him look very unnatural because he still had black eyebrows; not to mention he was really muscular, Ken kind of thought he was hot but dismissed the idea quickly. The other guy gave him a weird look, "What are you looking at?"

"You, why did you bleach your hair?"

"Felt like it, so what are you doing here, all alone, on a nice day like this?"

Ken sighed and held the soccer ball on his lap, "Just playing soccer."

"Your name is Ken right?"

"How did you know?"

The guy leaned back, "Well, I see you hear all the time with that Davis kid, one of my friends runs that noodle cart over there." He pointed behind him at said noodle cart, "I always come a gibe free food out of him."

"Sorry…..I don't know your name…"

He gruffly laughed and pulled out a cigarette, turning to the other side he lit it and took a deep puff, "Onizuka, Eikichi Onizuka. I'm a 24 year old virgin, my favorite hobbies include naughty videos and spying on girls and my favorite phrase is 'great'." He took another long drag out of his cigarette.

"So where do you teach?"

"Nowhere right now, got fired from my last job 'cause I was a little to eccentric and violent. Anyway….where's your friend?"

"At home probably wishing he never met me."

Onizuka looked over at him, "Why?"

"I wish I knew, he just stopped talking to me a few weeks ago and I don't know why." Ken sighed and looked at his soccer ball, "I miss him."

The fake blond nodded, "So, didja try talking to him?"

"Yes," Ken looked intently at the ball, "I emailed him, held one-sided conversations with him, everything."

Onizuka took another drag, "And Davis use to tell you everything?"

"Yeah, everything."

"Hmmm," Onizuka bent down and put the cigarette out on his shoe, "well then, I suppose if he won't tell you what's wrong and refuses to listen to you then he's not your friend."

Ken stiffened, "I don't believe you….why am I even talking to you, I don't even know you."

The former teacher grinned, "I guess you feel safe talking to me kid. I'm sorry about this Davis guy, hope things work out for you."

Ken hugged the soccer ball, "So you're going to leave now?"

Onizuka stood up, "Yeah."

The indigo haired teen looked up at him, "So you're going to leave me here, all alone, on a nice day like this?"

He stared down and smiled at Ken, "Oh why not, come on kid, I'll show you how you're really suppose to play soccer!" He offered his hand to Ken and grinned, Ken looked at his hand…..

Davis offered his hand to Ken, "Come on, let me be your friend."

Ken stared at his hand, "Can I trust you Davis?"

The boy grinned, "Sure you can, I'll never hurt you Ken."

Ken smiled and grasped Davis' hand, he finally had a real friend besides Leafmon.

Ken blinked and grabbed Onizuka's hand. The former teacher pulled him to his feet and stole the ball, he threw it on the ground and the game began. After five minutes, Onizuka grew frustrated when he realized how good Ken was at soccer and resorted to picking up the ball and running with it. Ken ran after him laughing, "Hey, that's cheating!"

"You only say that because I'm winning!"

"Oh you wish!"

Onizuka threw the ball down like he was playing football and just made a touch down, "And he scores, the crowd goes wild YEAH! WOOOOAYEAH!"

Ken ran over to the ball and gave it one sharp kick, the Wilson flew about 20 yards, Ken gave Onizuka an amused look, "one for me."

"You cheated!"

"You're just saying that because I'm winning!"

After about an hour, Ken and Onizuka called it quits for the soccer/football game. Onizuka checked his watch and grinned, "Hey, you like ramen?"

"Uhh yeah, why?"

"You treated me to a game of soccer, and I'm starved, so let's go get some ramen from my friend's place."

Ken weighed the options in his mind and decided to go along with it, "Sure."

Onizuka pointed across the street "It's right there."

Ken nodded and followed him, the both sat down and the outdoor Ramen cart. Onizuka's friend sighed and brought them out two bowls, "You owe me another Onizuka!"

"No prob man, I'll pay you back later."

They both ate in silence, Onizuka quickly shoved his bowl down his throat and patted his stomach in satisfaction, "Man, that was good."

Ken looked at his food, "I wish you were one of my teachers, school would be a lot more fun with a guy like you teaching there."

Onizuka nodded, "Don't worry about it Ken, I might be around more than you want me to. And hey, about your friend Davis…."

"Yeah?"

"How much do you care about him?"

Ken continued looking at his half finished dinner, "Very much, I would die without him……that's why this is so hard for me right now."

Onizuka nodded again and then looked at Ken's ramen, "You going to finish that?"

Ken sighed and smiled, "Here, you can have it."

"Thanks!"

After dinner, Onizuka walked Ken back to his apartment building, "See you around man, and don't worry about your friend, he'll realize that he made the worst mistake of his life sooner or later."

"Thanks for everything Mr. Onizuka!" Ken stepped in the elevator and went up five floors, he unlocked the door and set his soccer ball down. His parents still weren't home, Ken figured they probably went to get see a movie, he closed and locked the door behind him. The apartment felt empty, Ken started to feel the paranoia grip his stomach as he looked around and shivered at the immaculate, empty apartment. When Ken was with Mr. Onizuka, it felt kind of felt like he was with Davis, and it hurt. Having so much fun with Onizuka reminded him how much he used to have with Davis. Ken pressed a fist against his chest to tell the pain to stop but it wouldn't.

He mentally kicked himself, Ken hated it, he needed Davis but Davis didn't need him. He couldn't live without him, Ken didn't know how much more of it he could take. Every night he stared at the ceiling or had frightful nightmares, every time he ended up drowning in the Dark Ocean. It hurt to even breath anymore, it hurt to think, eat, sleep, it hurt to even sit down and watch a movie; every time he'd think about the things him and Davis did together. Ken kicked off his shoes in his room and collapsed on his bed. He turned his head sideward and looked at a picture of him and Davis on his nightstand, he twitched slightly and faced it away from him. The clock read 8:46 PM, Ken groaned and sat up, he was tired of constantly feeling the damn pain in his chest, he wondered if he just cut his heart out if it would feel better.

Ken sighed and turned on his CD player, and immediately regretted it. He felt tears and the edge of his eyes as the lyrics started:

I know that you're hiding things

Using gentle words to shelter me

Your words were like a dream

But dreams could never fool me

Not that easily

Ken quickly switched it off and buried his face in his pillow, the tears kept coming as he kept muttering, "Why, why, why…..Davis I love you….so much.." Ken didn't know if he could face being around Davis at school on Monday without breaking down, Ken was beyond his breaking point, he just couldn't take it anymore.