Chapter 3

Ken shut the door to his apartment and sighed.

"Ken honey! Did your little friend leave?" came Mrs. Ichijouji's voice.

"Yes mom" Ken replied, walking into the living room and sitting on the couch.

"Good, because I want to check your weight" his mother continued.

"What?" exclaimed Ken, confused.

His mother walked up to him and said, "I want to check your weight. Your looking so much more

skinnier these days and I want to see if it's not just my imagination."

"Mom, I'm fine" Ken protested.

"We'll see" she retorted and grabbed Ken's arm. She dragged him into the bathroom and Ken got

on the scale. They waited for the scale to work and when it did, Mrs. Ichijouji was not

happy."110!"

Ken blushed. He hadn't realized that was all he weighed. Other boys like him weighed at least 35

pounds more than him. He looked up at his mother, who stared at him with worry.

"You need to eat more Ken, I've always told you" she crooned.

"I will, I promise" said Ken, stepping off the scale and out of the bathroom. He walked down to his

room and walked in.

Wormmon was laying on the bed, asleep. One of his antennae's twitched and he woke up. "Oh! I

fell asleep. Is Yolei gone?"

"Unfortunately" mumbled Ken, climbing up to his bed.

"What do you mean by that" asked the Digimon.

Ken didn't answer. His mind drifted to Yolei. Her long lavender hair and her pretty smile. "Ken?"

"What?"

"Are you okay? You look funny" was the answer.

"No." smiled Ken. He looked up at the ceiling. "I just found out I'm in love that's all."

Yolei beamed at Touji when they walked into the apartment.

"Hey Auntie! How are you?" he asked, hugging Yolei's mother.

Yolei smiled. Then she frowned. She wished she could have stayed longer with Ken. He seemed so

lonely at his place. Yolei still wished that she would someday be able to marry him. He's so cute!

"I'll be in my room if anyone needs me" said Yolei. No one seemed to hear her, for all their attention

was on Touji. She shrugged, used to being ignored.

She walked into her room and collapsed on her bed. She reached under her pillow and pulled out a

picture cut out from a magazine. It was of Ken. He was wearing his soccer uniform and posing with

a soccer ball under one arm.

Poromon suddenly appeared out of no where. The tiny little pink bird huffed in anger when he saw

what Yolei was looking at.

"Why are you looking at that Yolei?" he demanded.

"Cause I like him. I know he was the evil Digimon Emperor, but I think he's changed. You haven't

seen him the way I have. He's sweet and kind, and ...lonely. He has no friends, because if he did,

he'd be hanging out with them, and...he's cute" explained Yolei.

"You already said that. Do you really like him?" asked Poromon.

Yolei nodded. "Well then, I'll just have to get used to it. If you really do, you should ask him out."

"What? Me? Ask Ken Ichijouji out! No way!" cried Yolei in disbelief. Then she sighed. "Yeah...I

think I might..."

Davis was in his room, kicking his soccer ball. Veemon was sitting on his bed. "I wouldn't do that if

I was you Davis" warned the little blue digimon.

Crack!

"Oh no..." moaned Davis. His window cracked when he hit the ball too hard. "Mom's gonna be

mad."

The doorbell to his apartment rang. He ran out of his room and answered the door. Davis gaped

when he saw who was at the door.

"Ken! What are you doing here? And how'd you know where I live?" asked Davis, letting Ken

come inside.

"It's called a phonebook Davis" Ken answered simply. Davis sweat dropped.

"Oh, yeah...I knew that" he mumbled. "So what are you doing here?"

"I came here to tell you something. Something that I can't tell my parents, too embarrassing. And

you seem to be my only friend...right?

You are my friend right?" asked Ken, sitting on the couch. Davis sat beside him.

"Yeah. I'm your friend. I know you did a lot of nasty things in the past but your decided to change

and become one of us" Davis replied. Ken nodded happily.

"Well then, I suppose I could tell you then." Pause. "I like Yolei."

Davis blinked. "You...like Yolei? Like...as a girlfriend like..."

Ken nodded. "Wow."

"Please don't tell anyone else, I had to tell someone and you were the only person I could think of."

pleaded Ken. Davis smiled.

"Don't worry Ken, your secret is safe with me" assured Davis.

Ken nodded. he sat there for a few minutes, staring into space, when Davis saw that he was

sweating, and shivering a bit. Ken's face went pale white. "Say Ken, are you okay? You don't look

well."

"I'm fine" said Ken, standing. "I need to be getting home though."

"Okay, later man!" said Davis, seeing Ken out the door.

Wormmon could feel Ken shifting in his sleep. Another nightmare. Ken was always having them. He

tried drifting back to sleep, but his worry about Ken kept him from doing so. He looked up at Ken

and saw that he was frightening white, and was soaked with sweat. Ken was panting, his brow

furrowed with pain.

"Ken?" whimpered Wormmon. "What's wrong?"

Ken woke up. "W-Wormmon. Go get my p-parents. Doesn't m-matter if they see you" panted

Ken.

Wormmon was off in a heartbeat. He hurried down the hallway and into Mr. and Mrs. Ichijouji's

room. The two were sleeping. He jumped up on the bed and started poking them awake.

"Ken is ill, he needs you!" whispered Wormmon into their ears. The two seemed to wake up at this.

Wormmon scurried out of the way before either of them saw him.

Mrs. Ichijouji was in Ken's room first and went to ken immediately.

"Ken? Honey? What's wrong?" she cried.

"My chest hurts...along with my head" Ken replied.

Yolei yawned the next morning. She was the first one up save for her dad, who had already gone to

work. On the counter was a newspaper. She looked at it bleary-eyed. When her eyes came to

focus, she read the front page.

"Oh my God……" she breathed.