Chapter 12

Ken glanced at his watch for what seemed to be the twentieth time in the last five minutes. He was nervous. He had awoken from his nap with Wormmon an hour and a half ago, and now he was getting ready to go out with Yolei.

Ken looked into the mirror once more to run the brush through his hair. He was so glad that his hair had grown back quickly. The press had not made the experience fun.

He wanted to make this night special, not only for him, but for Yolei. He put the brush down and looked at the clock. It was time. It would take a half hour to get to her house, which was where they were going to meet. His parents had agreed to drop them off at the mall, where there was a Italian restaurant. His parents would go shopping while they were eating and then take them home.

"Mamma!" he called. "It's time to go."

Mrs. Ichijouji stuck her head through the door to his room. "Oh, its time already?" Ken nodded. "Well then, let's get going."

Ken nervously knocked on the door to the Inoue apartment a half hour later. his hands were trembling, and he shook even more when he heard someone coming to answer the door. His parents had stayed in the car, to the relief of Ken, he didn't want his parents embarrassing him, even when he knew they wouldn't.

The door slid open, and there stood Yolei. She was wearing a pretty short sleeved dress with a gold chain necklace, her hair brushed back neatly behind the ears.

Ken blushed and looked down at the ground. He must have looked like an idiot compared to her.

"H-Hi Yolei. Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, whenever you are" she answered. She turned around and called, "Mom! I'm leaving! Later!"

"Bye Yolei!" called someone from inside.

Ken gulped as she turned back around. "Ready?" he asked.

"yeah, whenever you are" replied Yolei.

"Great. My parents are out in the car waiting."

Sitting down, Ken and Yolei picked up the menus and started looking through it.

Ken looked up at Yolei and said, "Dinner is on me, by the way. So you can get whatever you want."

Yolei blushed. "Thanks Ken. You're so sweet." With that she blew him a kiss, making him blush bright red.

"I think I may order the spaghetti, what about you Ken?" commented Yolei.

"I think I may too" was the reply. Yolei nodded. This was turning out to be a pretty good anniversary.

Things went really smooth. They talked and laughed and really enjoyed each other's company.

"Okay...If you knew you were going to die what would be your last meal?" asked Yolei after they had eaten.

Ken laughed. "What kind of a question is that?"

"Just answer the question!" cried Yolei.

Ken paused for a moment, a wide grin on his face, as he thought about what he would have for his very last meal.

"Shrimp."

"Shrimp?"

"Yeah shrimp. It's like the best food out there" answered Ken.

"Okay...whatever" scoffed Yolei, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, okay, you wanna be that way huh?" The two paused for several minutes due to their laughter. "What food would you eat for your last meal?"

"Ice cream...NO...chocolate cake...no!...carrot cake...no!" stammered Yolei.

Ken was to the point where he was laughing so hard he could hardly breath. His face was all red. "You'll noticed that there's no vegetables or anything that are actually good for you in there" wheezed Ken from his laughter.

Yolei went red as a cherry. "Hey! It's not my fault all my favorite foods are bad for you!" she retaliated.

"I never said it was" Ken pointed out.

The two of them finally stopped laughing and silence ensued. Ken tapped his finger on the table while Yolei looked up at the ceiling.

"I once had a birdie named Enza" began Ken in a sing-along voice.

Yolei looked at him as though he were crazy and she could tell that he was trying his best not to smile or laugh.

"I opened up the window, and Influenza!" he finished.

Yolei just watched as Ken smiled to himself. He looked up and knew it was his cue to explain himself.

"I learned it from Sam before he died. I just now remembered" he explained. Yolei nodded. She knew talking about Sam was a touchy subject. But the way Ken had joked with it was surprising.

Ken fiddled with his fork. "I usually don't like to think of Sam, but recently, its been hard not to. When I was the emperor, I never thought of him. But I think that was partly because the dark spore made me forget about him." Yolei nodded. She had no idea what Ken must have gone through. Losing a brother. It was so sad.

Yet ken seemed to take it well. Except with the part that he blamed himself for Sam's death, but Yolei would probably do the same thing if she had been in his position.

"It happened to everyone. Losing someone. I lost Sam, and then I almost lost Wormmon too. I'm just glad and lucky that digimon get reconfigured" he said.

Yolei nodded. She didn't want to interrupt.

"And lately, I've been afraid of losing you" he concluded.

"What do you mean Ken?" asked Yolei, moving around in her seat.

"Well, you know things aren't going so well with me and Cody. Heck, I think I still have some chocolate milk and corn stuck in my hair from when he threw his lunch at me. And I know that things get any worse, the others will want to stop seeing me too. And then perhaps you may leave..."

"Ken!" Yolei cried out. "I'm not going to leave you. You're the first person who has ever understood me." She grabbed his hand from the other side of the table. "You don't mind it when I ramble on and on about stupid stuff or about stuff I did as a kid. You listen. Nobody has ever taken me seriously before you ken, and I thank you for that. That's what I love about you."

Ken smiled. "Well, you are very interesting" Ken defended. Yolei laughed.

"I think its time we move this relationship up a notch" commented Yolei.

Ken smiled. "Yeah, but I have a curfew" joked Ken. Yolei laughed.

"Not that silly. This" and with that, Yolei stood and reached across the table to kiss Ken. Ken kissed back. When they broke apart, smiles where on both their faces.

"That's more like it" joked Ken again. They laughed.

TK sat down next to Ken Monday morning in the lunch room. Ken smiled and said hello.

"How are you TK?" he asked.

TK shrugged. "Not bad. You?"

"Great." was the simple yet happy reply. TK nodded.

"So..."

"Did you want to ask me something?"

"How did you-?"

"A guess."

"Well, its not really a question. I came here to tell you that Cody is no longer speaking to any of us, and we were wondering of maybe you could make things a bit better between the two of you" said TK.

Ken looked at TK hard in the face, then nodded.

"I'll see what I can do."