Hidden Love

Yolei Inoue ran as fast as she could down the Tamachi Center Street. It had

been just three days ago that she and the other didgidestined had defeated

the great Digimon Emperor. He had left the digital world just like that after

losing Wormmon, sad with grief. Her mom ,sister, and herself decided to

go shopping for the day in a place her mother's friend told them of, and

while Yolei stood looking into a glass window on the street of a store, they

had disappeared. The dress in the window had been so pretty...

Now she couldn't find them anywhere and she was going to get into so

much trouble. Not paying attention to where exactly she was going, Yolei

suddenly ran right into someone as she was turning a corner.

"Owww..." she whined, rubbing her head, her glasses sliding down her

face. Who had she run into? She was about to stick her glasses back on

when she froze to the voice of who she had run into.

"I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going. Please forgive me. It

won't happen again. Here, let me help you up" said the voice. Yolei had

heard the voice so many times in the past, only this time, it was more

pleasant, kind, and soothing, instead of the cruel, commanding voice she

was used to. It was the voice of Ken Ichijouji.

Yolei looked up, her face as red as a cherry. Ken seemed to freeze as well

when he saw that it was Yolei. Yolei noticed that his cheeks turned a hint

pinker than they usually were. "Ken..."

"Hello Yolei. What a surprise" said Ken, helping Yolei up. Ken lowered his

head, staring at his shoes, his cheeks turning a darker pink. He hid his face

behind a curtain of blue hair. Yolei suppressed a giggle. Ken was blushing

and acting shy! Was this the same guy who had wanted to take over the

Digital World?

"Wow...So...How are you Ken?" asked Yolei, completely forgetting about

her mom and sister. Ken looked up, and that was the first time Yolei

noticed that he was carrying a large brown bag that was slumped over his

shoulder. Something inside of it was wriggling around, trying to escape for

air. Ken looked down at his bag as though it was the first time he had

noticed that it was there.

"K-Ken...Leph...me...phout..." came a small struggling voice, muffled

by the bag. Ken opened the bag and out came a small little light green

Digimon with a leaf covering its head, like a tail. For a mouth, it looked like

it had a tiny little pink pacifier for a baby.

"Sorry Leafmon..." mumbled Ken, looking at his shoes again.

"Leafmon?" asked Yolei. "Is that Wormmon?" Ken nodded.

"Air!" cried Leafmon with joy, not seeing Yolei. "I thought we were getting

ice cream Ken."

"We are...It's just that..." Ken trailed off, looking up at Yolei. Yolei blushed.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bother you, it was just that, I was in a hurry

looking for my mom and sister and I didn't see you when I was turning the

corner, but that's me. Never watching where I am going. Ha! Look at that!

I'm just rambling away while you stand there embarrassed. Sorry! Didn't

mean it like that-" Yolei would have continued but Ken put up a hand to

stop her.

"It's alright. You don't need to explain yourself. It was no problem at all. I

wasn't watching either" he said. Yolei watched his eyes turn a sad indigo,

and her heart broke. He looked so sad and lonely, there was no possible

way that this was the same guy who was cruel, evil, and who tormented

poor digimon. There was just no way.

"Say" Yolei heard herself saying. "Would you like to come to the park with

us later this afternoon around four. The others and I are going to play some

soccer, or at least Davis is. Would you like to join us?"

Yolei could have slapped herself right there and then if she could have.

What was she doing? Asking their sworn enemy to hang out with them?

"I don't know. I'll have to think about this first, but thank you for the invitation."

Ken looked down at Leafmon, who was looking up at him with patience. "Well,

I'll let you go Yolei, see you later..."

And with that, Ken left, little Leafmon begging him to turn back and talk some

more. Yolei sighed. How was she ever going to tell the others that she had

spoken to Ken? Not only that, but had invited him to hang out with them at the

park. They had all agreed that if any of them saw Ken that they would tell each

other, hoping to see if he was up to no good again. They probably wouldn't

believe her if she told them the truth and that he was actually shy towards her.

Yolei shrugged, coming back to reality, and realized that she still needed to

find her mom and sister. Panicking once more, she ran as fast as she could.

"Yolei! Where have you been?" asked Kari as she watched her purple haired

friend run up to her and the others. Yolei stopped inches away from Kari,

making Kari step back a few. Gasping for breath, Yolei tried to answer her.

"Yes Yolei! Where have you been?" demanded a tiny pink Koromon. The little

creature looked like a tiny bird with its beak small tiny feathery wings.

"I was...with my...mom and sister...saw Ken..." Yolei stopped talking,

though still taking deep breaths. She hadn't meant to say the last part just

yet.

"What? You saw Ken?" asked T.K., Patamon sitting on his head like a bat as

usual.

"Where did you see him?" asked small Cody. His digimon was sitting next to

him, trying to look like a stuffed animal so no one would see him.

"Well, we went shopping in Tamachi and I ran into him" explained Yolei. Davis

walked up to her with Demiveemon on his head and asked, "Was he nice to

you? Or was he nasty?"

"Oh no! He was actually really sweet! He acted shy to be honest" answered

Yolei. Everyone but Davis and Yolei gasped.

"He was nice to you? Are we talking about the same Ken Ichijouji?" asked T.K.,

astounded. Yolei nodded.

"Well it does make sense" began Kari. "I mean, it's not as though he can do

anything bad to us here and I think he may have actually changed. You all saw t

the way he acted when he lost Wormmon."

"Oh! That's another thing! Ken must have gone back to the Digital World at

some point because he had Leafmon with him. Wormmon's baby form, they

were going to get ice cream, if you would believe that" said Yolei.

Cody shook his head. "I just don't believe it. How can someone change like that

so quickly? It just doesn't add up, I mean-" Cody was interrupted by

someone's voice.

"I know I may have done some nasty things in the past, but please, you must

give me another chance. I'm not asking for your forgiveness, all I want is that

you trust me enough to know I won't hurt you" said the voice.

Everyone looked over towards the sound of the voice and gaped. There, stood

Ken, wearing his Tamachi school uniform, all gray. His blue hair came down to

his mid neck. Leafmon sat in his hands, smiling around at everyone as though

this was an everyday thing.

"Ken!" cried Davis and Yolei at the same time. Ken bowed his head and was

about to start walking away when Leafmon struggled in his arms.

"Please Ken! Stay! See! Davis and Yolei want you to stay!" protested the little

digimon. Ken looked down at his tiny digimon and sighed. Ever since he had

gotten Leafmon back at Primary Village he refused to do anything Leafmon

may not like and treat him with pure kindness. He owed that much to the little

digimon. The whole time he had been the nasty Digimon Emperor he had

treated Wormmon horribly. Kicking him, using his whip on him, and just plain

out hating and ignoring him. Well, now Ken made sure that Leafmon had the

perfect life. It made Ken sick to think of what he had done to the digital world.

Ken turned back around to face the digidestined, his head still low. Yolei had to

do something, and before she knew it, words were coming out of her mouth.

"Why don't you come and join us Ken? On our trip to the park."

"What?" cried out Cody and T.K.

Ken slowly nodded, walking up to Yolei.

"Alright, as long as everyone doesn't mind" whispered Ken.

"Sure! You can join us" said Kari. Cody only scowled at Ken while T.K. just kept

his mouth shut. Davis was soon ecstatic.

"Alright! Awesome! You ready for some soccer Ken? I still need to get you back

from the last time we played!" he cried out. Ken cracked a small smile and

nodded.

"If you don't mind losing" mumbled Ken teasingly. Cody and T.K. glared at him

at this comment yet said nothing.

"Ha!" laughed Davis. "Is that a threat?"

"I suppose you could call it one" replied Ken calmly.

That was enough said for Cody. He stormed up to Ken and yelled. "What are

you up to? If you think this little kind charade of yours is going to work you can

just forget it! Why don't you just crawl back under the control spire you

crawled out from!"

"Cody" tried Kari, hoping to calm him down.

"Just leave us alone! We don't want you around! Understand! After what you

did to all those poor digimon, we can never trust you!" finished Cody, seething.

Ken went very pale throughout Cody's whole speech. He stood there, frozen to

the ground. Yolei and Davis tried to walk over and comfort him but Ken only

backed away from them.

"He's right, what was I thinking. I can never have any friends. Ever." whispered

Ken. Kari stepped forward.

"Now that's not true Ken, everyone can have friends" she reasoned.

"Yeah, everyone but me" he said, then tightened his hold on Leafmon and

turned around, only to have a camera flashed into his face.

"Look everyone! It's Ken "The Rocket" Ichijouji, out playing soccer with his

friends!" cried a woman reporter. Ken covered his face with his free arm and

ran.

"Leave me alone!" he cried sadly, running past the cameras. One of the

reporters got a look at his face and gasped.

"Ken Ichijouji is crying everyone!" she said. The three reporters all started

taking down quick notes and then turned to the Digidestined.

"Do any of you know why Ken was crying? Are you his friends? Did you make

him cry? Why is he upset?" were some of the questions they were asked.

All of them only said "No comment" and walked away. Once they were out of

earshot, Cody spoke up.

"Well, serves him right! He wanted to be famous and now he's got it!" he

hissed under his breath.

"Cody! That's not fair! Ken didn't ask for the paparazzi to follow him

everywhere!" argued Kari. Cody ignored her, still fuming with anger towards

Ken.

"Why don't we change the topic?" offered Davis. Everyone nodded.

"So...Yolei, you told us you were doing something tonight. What is it?" asked

Kari. Yolei smiled.

"Well, my cousin Touji is coming to visit for a couple of days and I'm supposed

to meet him tonight at the Tamachi Central Park" replied Yolei happily. Cody

glared at her.

"Does everything you do have to be in Tamachi all of a sudden?" he mumbled.

Yolei glared back down at him, being a lot taller.

"Oh I'm sorry Cody, I don't hold grudges like you do. Just because I'm in the

same general area as Ken Ichijouji is doesn't mean I'm going to see him" Yolei

barked back. Cody went silent.

"So...You're going to meet him at Tamachi...why?" asked T.K., ignoring the

tension between Cody and Yolei. Cody looked at Yolei reproaching at this

question.

"Oh, well, see there's an airport in Tamachi and not in Odaiba and Touji

doesn't know his way around. I'm doing it because everyone else is getting

ready for Touji back at our apartment" she answered. Everyone nodded.

"Do you think I could beat Ken at a soccer game?" asked Davis suddenly.

Everyone's gazes turned to Davis, who was completely oblivious to everything

going around him. They all sweat dropped and ignored him.