Another chapter!

To, tabbycat: Hummmm... where just going to have to wait and see with the others!

To, Chosen Child of Darkness: If I could write faster, I would!

To, silver centurion: I'm glad you didn't overlook me and an encore you'll have!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon and never will.

One World Away from Darkness

Chapter 6:Crossing The Wall

Ken Ichijouji

Ken dragged himself into biology class to find that Kari and T.K. were already there. They were seated at a lab bench, talking quietly to one another, and flipping through their textbooks. They both looked up as he approached, and Ken managed to put a smile on his face.

"Hi, Ken," Kari said brightly.

"Hey." He collapsed onto the stool across from them and pulled his textbook out of his bag. "Where's Davis?"

Kari sighed and straightened her yellow top. "Late, as usual. We thought he was with you."

Ken shook his head and frowned. I wonder where he is? Davis is my best friend. Maybe I should say something to him. No, I can't. Davis will just think that I've finally gone off the deep end. I can't deal with that, especially not from him.

"Are you alright?" He looked up and found Kari watching him closely. There was concern in her amber eyes and she seemed worried.

Ken felt his face start to heat up. "Yes," he said quickly, nervously pulling on his black and green long sleeve shirt.

"Are you sure? You look tired," Kari pressed.

Ken nodded. Sensing that he was being watched, Ken looked up and was shocked to find that T.K. was staring at him. The blond regarded him with cool blue eyes, but his expression was unreadable. Ken flushed and quickly looked away. He had a strange feeling that T.K. could somehow read his mind. Don't be stupid! Of course he can't! That didn't stop him from feeling uneasy though. Thankfully, Davis chose that moment to appear, easing his awkwardness somewhat.

"Dudes, so are we all set for this afternoon?" Davis asked. His friend plopped into the seat beside him and across from T.K. with a grin.

"Definitely, that is, if everyone decides to stay out of trouble today!" Kari gave Davis a stern look and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Davis said, trying to look innocent.

"Everyone settle down!" Mr.Ono, their teacher, snapped. Ever since the frog incident, he had been in an especially bad mood.

"Since there happens to be a shortage of frogs, (Mr. Ono glared in Davis direction) we will be dissecting worms today. You have the directions already and tools can be found in the back cupboard. Now get to work!"

Davis whistled innocently at the ceiling, while the rest of the class laughed, and Mr. Ono fumed.

"He's such a stick in the mud," Davis complained as they got to work.

"Can you blame him? I'd be pretty crabby too if you were my student," T.K. laughed.

"Shows what you know, T.J. Besides, if you ask me, I did him a favor. His life could use a little bit of livening up!"

"Oh, and the ninth grade girls too?" T.K. retorted and raised a blond eyebrow.

Ken lowered his head and got to work trying to appear as normal as possible. There was no way he wanted the others to know what was happening to him. They'll definitely think I'm going crazy. There was no way he wanted to see them looking at him like that. He valued their friendship more than anything in the world and he didn't know what he would do if he ever lost any of them. After everything he had done, the fact that they even were his friends affected him so deeply, he didn't think he would ever be able to put it into words.

He peeked at T.K. out the corner of his eye and quickly looked away. That was one of the reasons why it hurt so much that T.K. didn't put any type of effort into strengthening their friendship. Half the time, T.K. seemed to forget that he was even there. It was like the blond would forget that they were suppose to be friends. Is this some sort of sign that's telling me I don't deserve the friendship Davis and the others give me? His biggest fear was that, eventually, everything would blow up in his face, and he would lose them all. It seemed like the perfect punishment for the terrible things he had done as the Emperor. If that ever did happen, he had a terrible feeling that T.K. would be the first one to go.

"Davis! That's disgusting! Put that worm down! You're suppose to be dissecting it, not mutilating it!" Kari squealed and Ken looked up in confusion.

"What do you think I'm doing!" Davis retorted.

Ken leaned over to take a look and wrinkled his nose. "Whatever you do, Davis, don't become a surgeon," he said and patted his friend's shoulder. The poor worm looked as if it had been chewed up by a dog and spat out again.

"Are you kidding? It's my dream job!" Davis joked. "T.J. can be my first patient!" He sent a wicked smile in the blond's direction.

"You get anywhere near my insides with a scalpel and I'll chop off your hand!" T.K. gave Davis a dirty look and brought his own scalpel down millimetres from the goggle headed leader's wrist. Davis let out a yelp and yanked his hand away.

"Watch it with that thing!" He shouted and glared at T.K.

"I was," T.K. replied dryly. Kari started to giggle and Davis went red with anger.

Ken sighed and rubbed his eyes. Even if he did tell them about what had happened that morning, they would just tell him he was imagining things. I've caused them enough trouble and grief already. He didn't want to make any problems for them, especially with the Digital World being so peaceful at the current moment.

"Dude, Ken, wake up!"

Ken jerked his head up and blinked at Davis.

"What's up with you? Why do you keep spacing out on me?" Davis complained.

Ken blushed and started to stammer. "I wasn't! I was just..."

"Aren't you going to dissect that?" Kari asked. She pointed at his tray and he stared down at it in confusion.

"You've been staring at it for twenty minutes," she said gently.

Ken's blushed deepened. "Oh right," he mumbled, and picked up his knife. He went to make the first incision, but the knife slipped, and he accidentally cut his finger instead. "Owww!" He dropped the knife on the table and winced as the blood started to seep out of the cut.

"Dude, careful!" Davis shouted. His friend quickly grabbed the knife away from him and gave him a concerned look.

Ken bit his lip. Is it just me, or has this just been one of those days?

Without warning, T.K. jumped up and leaned across the table to stare at his finger. The blonds eyebrows narrowed into a deep frown.

Ken choked back a startled gasp of surprise and stared at T.K. in shock. He couldn't remember the last time T.k. had shown him even the slightest bit of interest. So why is he suddenly staring at me like that?

"You'd better clean that out before it gets infected," T.K. said, his voice sounding neutral.

Ken found that he was unable to reply. It had been so long since T.K. had addressed him directly, that he had become accustomed to being nothing more then a shadow to the blond. This sudden interest left him speechless.

"Come on," T.K. said, motioning for Ken to follow him. His expression was also neutral making it impossible to tell what the other was thinking. Is this really happening? Just yesterday, T.K.had acted as if he was invisible. He had expected one of the others to help him, but never in a million years did he think T.K. would! Even Kari and Davis looked surprised. Ken stared after T.K. in astonishment with his mouth hanging open. Realizing he must look like an idiot, Ken flushed and silently followed him to the sink.

T.K. turned on the tap and gestured for him to stick his finger under it. Feeling suddenly shy, he obediently stuck his finger under the spray and shuddered as he watched his own blood begin to trickle down the drain. He slowly looked up to find T.K.'s crystal blue gaze staring at the blood in the sink with the strangest expression on his face. At that moment, T.K. happened to look up, and their gazes locked. Ken froze and his breath caught in his throat. I can't believe it. This was the first time in months that T.k. had looked directly at him, and it made him feel uncertain. Very rarely did T.K. ever give him his full attention. In fact, the only other time that even counted was the confrontation in the Emperor's base. His base. He stood there like a rock as T.K.'s brilliant blue gaze studied his face. It made him feel weird, as if the blond could read what was written on his soul.

T.K. glanced around, as if making sure no one was listening, and suddenly leaned close to him. "A word of advice, Ken," he whispered softly. "Never try using a knife when you're nervous or upset. It'll get you everytime."

Ken felt his heart stop. "What?" He whispered. His violet eyes grew wide with fear. No...impossible! He couldn't know! He just can't! Without warning, T.K. reached out a hand and took him by the wrist, making him gasp in surprise. He could feel the blond's warm fingers pressing against his skin and was acutely aware of the fact that his pulse was pounding rapidly under T.K.'s thumb. Ken stared at the blond in confusion and suddenly realized what T.K. was talking about. His hand was shaking very badly. T.K. continued to stare at him, his face expressionless,and Ken felt his own face heat up with embarrassment. He pulled his arm out of T.K.'s grasp, with more force then was strickly necessary, and grabbed a bandage from the cupboard. Quickly, he hurried back to his seat trying not to look back.

There's no way he could possibly know! Ken swallowed hard. T.K. would have had to be stupid not to feel his out of control pulse. He was starting to feel horribly vulnerable.

"Here, let me get that for you," Kari said kindly. She took the bandage out of his hand and began peeling off the package. Ken realized he had been twisting it unconsciously in his hand and had almost ripped the package. He lowered his eyes to the table and meekly held out his finger.

"Dude, are you alright?" Davis asked. Surprisingly, he looked concerned.

Ken nodded and quickly lowered his eyes again as T.K. returned to the table.

"There, done," Kari said, fixing the bandage to his finger.

"Same here," Davis announced, whittling away at his worm.

"You're kidding, right?" T.K. wrinkled his nose and gave Davis's worm a look of disgust.

"Who asked you Mr.- oops."

"Davis!" Kari squealed.

Davis, who hadn't been paying the least bit of attention to what he was doing, had accidentally chopped his worm in half.

T.K. started to laughed. "Davis, do us all a favor and leave the doctor work to Joe!"

"Like I'd ever want to be a doctor anyway," Davis retorted "Boring! All that science? No thanks!"

"Davis, no offence, but you wouldn't have the brain capacity to be a doctor!" T.K. joked; his eyes were sparkling with amusement.

"Hey!" Davis shouted. "Who gave you the right to insult me, T.I.! Just for that it's only fair that I get your worm!"

T.K. quickly put a protective arm over his own neatly dissected worm and gave the goggle headed leader a reproachful look as Davis tried to grab it.

Ken stared at T.K. in utter shock. He couldn't believe it. The blond was acting as if nothing had happened between them! From the look on T.K.'s face, no one would have guessed that anything unusual had gone on only moments before. He couldn't have forgotten that quickly! For a moment there he had been sure that T.K. suspected something. He shook his head. No. I'm probably just overreacting again.

"What is it?" Kari asked, watching him closely.

"Nothing," he said quietly. He seemed to be saying that a lot lately. For a second, he could have sworn T.K. was watching him, but he didn't dare look up to find out.