Introduction

When Odaiba gets a new transfer student, the Digidestineds' lives are turned upside down. Ken is spending a term at their school…and he's far from happy about it.

Pushing everyone, including Davis, away from him, Ken treats everyone as insects, and does his best to aggravate people. But when a new friendship is forged after an unforgettable event, a young emperor finds himself choosing between his destiny…and his humanity.

Only when someone reaches out, will the damned be saved…

Chapter Six; Trouble At The Arcade

"Come on, Ken! It'll be fun!" Ken stared apprehensively at the building in front of him, not quite sure what Davis' definition of 'fun' was.

"Tell me again – why did I agree to come?" He sighed.

Davis grinned.

"Because I have puppy dog eyes, and I'm not afraid to use them!" He laughed, dragging Ken into the arcade.

"Anyway, I thought you liked playing video games!"

"I do…strategy video games! Not these sad excuses!" Ken protested. Davis ignored him, pulling him over to a machine.

"Just try it! Please?" He pleaded. Grumbling, Ken nodded, secretly promising to make Davis suffer for this little outing next time they were in Digiworld.

"Just once, Davis."

"Yay!"

Two hours later, and the pair were still at the arcade. Ken had to admit that Davis had been right – it was kinda nice to play a game where you didn't have to be always thinking about your next move.

"Aw, man! No fair! You've beaten me at everything!" Davis complained, although his face told Ken that he didn't really mind at all.

"Then I guess I'm better than you."

"Hey!"

Ken couldn't help laughing at Davis' indignant expression. The other boy stared in astonishment, making Ken instinctively move back a few steps. >What have I done now?> He wondered. Although he'd been friends with Davis for quite a while now, he still knew that there were a lot of things he needed to learn about being a friend.

"I think that's the first time I've ever heard you laugh. Like you meant it, I mean." Davis breathed. To his annoyance, Ken found himself blushing.

"Awww, you're cute when you blush!" Davis teased.

Growling in fake anger, Ken launched himself at Davis, knocking the smaller boy to the arcade floor.

"Say that again, Motomiya!" He challenged, beginning to tickle Davis.

"You…you're…ha ha ha…cute when you…oh ha h ha! Stop it, Ken! Ha ha…please!" Ken ignored the cries for mercy, and continued to mercilessly tickle his opponent.

"Are we interrupting anything?" At the familiar voice, Ken was off of Davis in no time, as if he'd never been tickling him in the first place.

"Cody?" Davis got to his feet, eyes widening as he saw that the whole gang was there.

"Guys, what are you doing here?"

"Well, considering how much time you spend with Ken, we thought it was high time that we got to spend time with him too." Yolei replied brightly. Looking past Davis, she tried to see how Ken had reacted to the idea.

To her surprise, Ken's expression was one of mingled distaste and…slight panic?

"Thanks for everything, Davis, but I had better be going now." Ken said in a soft voice, turning to go.

"Hang on, dude, I'll walk you to the train station." Davis offered, about to grab his jacket and follow.

"No, Davis. Stay and have fun." Ken murmured. He tried to brush past the group, but Kari caught hold of his wrist.

"Ken…you don't have to leave because we're here." She smiled. Ken just yanked his hand away from her as though he'd been burned.

"I know. Now excuse me, please!"

"I don't think you do know." She continued, grabbing him again to stop him leaving.

"Let me pass, Kamiya!" Ken snapped.

"Ken, just let us get to know you!" Kari persisted.

"Get the hell away from me, girl!" Ken yelled, shoving her off him.

"Kari!" TK rushed forward, catching the girl before she fell to the floor. The rest of the gang glared at Ken with hostile eyes…including Davis.

"Dude…why did you…?" He asked.

Ken flushed, and began to back away, cursing himself for his lack of control. He'd lost his temper, and allowed his Digimon Emperor side to come through.

"Just leave me alone…you too, Davis. I told you I didn't need friends!" Ken snapped, before hurrying out. Davis stared after him, unsure whether to go after him, or stay with Kari and the others. His question was answered when Cody ran after the genius.

Deciding to leave Ken up to Cody, Davis went to see if Kari was alright…although he still didn't know why Ken had reacted like that.

"Stop right there, Ichijoji!" Ken tensed at Cody's voice, but carried on walking, choosing to ignore the smaller boy.

"I mean it!" Getting angry now, Cody darted in front of Ken, blocking his way.

"Hida, please get out of my way." Ken said serenely, his face devoid of expression.

"Or what? You'll push me like you did Kari?" Ken flinched at the reminder, and Cody blinked in sudden confusion.

"You didn't mean to do that, did you? You just lost your temper." He realised. Ken tried to move past him, but Cody sidestepped, not allowing him to leave.

"Why do you always do this, Ken? I've seen you do it before. You just can't accept that people want to be friends with you." Cody sighed. Ken shrugged, keeping his true feelings hidden.

Truthfully, he knew that Davis' little pals really did want to be friends with him. But he wasn't sure how to react – he had enough trouble with just having one friend.

"What does it matter to you, Hida? I know for a fact that you hate my guts." Ken finally retaliated, glaring at the smaller boy.

"That's the point. If you actually let people get to know you, then they might like you." Cody replied neutrally.

Ken tried to glare at Cody again, but found to his annoyance that he couldn't quite manage it. Giving up, he sighed, before looking Cody in the eye.

"Did Kamiya get hurt?" He asked quietly. Cody shook his head, then took Ken's arm, beginning to lead him back to the arcade

"No. But I think you owe her an apology."

"I really messed things up, didn't I?" Ken mumbled.

Shaking his head, Cody just carried on pulling the genius along the pavement.

"That just makes you normal." Ken stared at Cody's words, then allowed a small smile to grace his lips.

>Ken Ichijoji, normal? Then I guess anything's possible.>

Kari put a hand on Davis' shoulder, waiting until the other boy turned round to face her.

"I'm sorry I wrecked things between you and Ken. I guess I…"

"Shut up, Kamiya."

Surprised, everyone looked up at the familiar voice, and saw Ken being led towards them by Cody. But unlike before, it didn't look like Ken had meant what he said as an insult.

Stopping in front of Kari, Ken took a deep breath, then plunged straight in.

"You have nothing to apologise for. I was the one who lost his temper and stormed off. I'm sorry for shoving you."

Smiling, Kari held out her hand. After a few seconds hesitance, Ken took it, looking uncertainly at Kari.

"Apology accepted Ken. Do you want to play Whack-A-Mole with me?" She offered. A little taken aback by how willingly she'd forgiven him, Ken nodded, and picked up the rubber mallet.

It looked like he'd just made a new friend.

By the end of the week, Ken had become firm friends with the rest of the group, and had started sitting with them at lunch. This had earned the gang several jealous looks and nasty remarks from envious pupils.

These remarks had promptly stopped after Ken cornered one such 'fan' and told them in no uncertain terms that the next time they badmouthed Davis and the others would be their last. The threat spread like wildfire, and by the time next lunch rolled around, things were back to normal.

Cody hadn't been sure whether that was a very nice thing to do, but as Yolei had pointed out;

"Better a warning than Ken suddenly blowing his top one day."

The others had also noticed a subtle change in Ken. He no longer called them by their last names, unless he was joking around with them; he seemed a lot calmer; and he seemed to have stopped looking down on people less intelligent than himself.

This was proven when, during lunchtime, one girl tripped as she walked past their table. Instead of making a scathing comment as he once would have done, Ken merely bent down and helped her up, using a serviette to wipe the spilt sauce from her jumper.

The girl thanked him, then went back to the serving area, to ask for a new meal. After a while, it became clear that the dinner ladies weren't willing to give out meals for free, even if the customer had dropped the last one.

The group had been watching Ken's face during the exchange, noticing how annoyed he seemed to be getting that the dinner ladies were willing to let the girl go hungry.

Finally, he had got up, stormed over to the serving area, and slammed a five pound note down on the counter, demanding that they give her a new meal. At the sight of money, the dinner ladies had been more than happy to oblige, and had willingly served the girl.

The girl had smiled tentatively at Ken, before murmuring,

"Thankyou, Ken. You're a really kind person." As he heard the words, Ken felt a sudden rush of warmth in his chest, but ignored it, deciding that he must have something like heartburn.

No one knew, that back in the Ichijoji apartment, in Ken's bedroom, a long forgotten crest had begun to glow.

Hey guys! Thankyou so much for reviewing! I'm now going to upload all remianing chapters of this story except the last chapter and the epilogue...if you want those, you'll have to give me lots of nice reviews! (wink).

And by the way, in response to Frozen Lotus, I'm well aware that it's a bit rushed...I was just desperate to get to the ending whilst I was writing it, because I had all these ideas for those last few chapters...sorry! I hope it didn't ruin the fic too much!