Ken refused to
eat. He just laid there on his bed, hiding his face and tears from
the world. He shivered and convulsed, getting sick every now and then
in a trash can Davis set beside him. Davis on the other hand, was
getting sick himself from fretting so much about Ken. He begged Ken
every half hour to get up and get dressed, or at least take a shower.
Ken didn't respond to his begging, only sobbed more. Nothing would
compfort Ken, not even leafmon could get him to show his face.
"Come
on Ken" coaxed Davis. "It won't be so bad. Me and my family
will support you all the way."
Ken remained silent, making
Davis sigh in defeat. Standing, Davis walked over to the window to
look out at the darkening sky.
Someone knocked on the door to his
room. Davis turned around to see Jun with a serious look on her face.
"Hey, mom wants to know if Ken'll be joining us for dinner
later" she started. Davis loooked over at Ken, who's face was
still hidden in the crook of his arm as he lay on his bed. His hair
was a wreck.
Davis took in a deep breath and exhaled loudly
before answering. "I don't think so Jun."
"What
are you having...?" spoke a small voice on the other side of
the room.
Davis and Jun looked at Ken wide eyed. Then Davis was
at Ken's side in a heart beat. "What was that Ken?"
Ken
remained still repeated himself, only louder this time. "What
are you having...?"
Davis turned to Jun, hoping she would
know. "Pork chops."
Davis looked back to Ken to see
what he would think to that.
Ken reamined silent, not giving any
hint that he was interested. "Thanks Jun." Was all Davis
could say, letting his older sister leave.
Ken finally rotated
his head so that his face could be visible, yet stayed where he was.
Davis took this as a good thing until he saw what Ken looked like. He
was pale, his eyes red and puffy, and slightly dialated, dried tears
covered his face and cheeks, his lips were dry as though he were
parched, and lastly, Davis could see a nasty bruise on his left
cheek, which was half hidden by limp oily blue hair. Davis couldn't
take it anymore.
He grabbed Ken by the arm and pulled as hard as
he could, forcing the other boy to get up. Ken groaned in reply, not
wishing to get up from his spot. Due to malnutrition from the last
few days Ken had no strength, making it very easy for Davis to pull
him up and make him stand.
"Come on. Let's go get you washed
up and you can come and eat some dinner with us, okay?" asked
Davis into Ken's ear. Ken only half listened, his eyes half open.
They looked dull and distant.
Taking him into the bathroom, Davis
helped Ken get his shirt off and his shoes and socks, but before
Davis could help anymore, Ken cried out and shooed his boyfriend out
of the bathroom.
Having the door slammed into his face, Davis
could hear the water running several minutes later, proving to Davis
that Ken was taking a shower and was a little more aware of things
around him.
Davis left and went into his room to play with
DemiVeemon and Leafmon for a while until he was pretty sure it was
save to say that Ken was about done taking his shower.
He
returned to the bathroom door and put his ear up to it. The water was
no longer running and he could hear russling in the room, as though
someone was getting dressed.
Knocking on the door, Davis slowly
opened the door to see Ken half dressed. He had his pants on and his
socks, but no shirt, however, a pink towel covered most of his upper
chest. He was currently brushing through his wet hair as he looked on
in the mirror. Ken looked to see Davis at the door and blushed, yet
didn't make him leave.
"Feeling any better Ken?" asked
Davis. Ken shrugged with a frown, turning his gaze back to the
mirror.
"Come one Ken. Speak to me. This is driving me
crazy" Davis started begging again. Ken only combed his now
perfect hair, making Davis irritated.
"Are you going to eat
with us tonight?" asked Davis.
Ken nodded to Davis' delight.
"I'm hungry.." mumbled Ken. Davis smiled.
"Great!
Cause my mom's a great cook!" beamed Davis. Ken cracked a small
smile as he put down the brush and turned to Davis. Walking up to
him, Ken wrapped his arms around Davis and gave him a large hug,
resting his head head on his shoulder. Over the last few weeks, Davis
had grown several inches, now making him a lot taller than Ken, and
since Ken hasn't been eating much lately, it only made Ken look more
small and frail, his old Kaiser strength gone.
Seperating, Ken
smiled up at Davis and whispered, "Thank you."
Davis
beamed. "You're welcome Ken! Now here." Davis grabbed a
dixie cup and filled it with water, handing it over to Ken. "Drink.
You look absolutely parched."
Ken obliged and drank the small
cup, giving a small sigh when he finished.
"Now, ready for
dinner?" asked Davis. Ken didn't reply. Instead, he turned
around and grabbed his shirt, pulling the pink towel off his
shoulders and sticking on his top. Once he was finished Ken smiled.
"Yeah, I guess
so..."
Mr.
and Mrs. Motomiya, along with Jun, stared at the two boys across from
them at the dinner table. The two boys couldn't have been any more
opposites than they already were. Ken sat there nibbling on his meal
like a rabbit while Davis shoveled everything into the black pit
known as his mouth.
Ken used every mannerly gesture in the book,
while Davis broke about twelve laws of physics and mastered the art
of eating with one's fingers.
Not a single crumb fell from Ken's
food, which was positioned perfectly on the fork and taken slowly
into his mouth to eat, while Davis had crumbs flying every where, his
fork somewhere by his feet.
Ken hardly touched what was on his
plate, while Davis was working on his third and forth helping.
Dvais
stopped chowing down on his food long enough to glance over at ken,
who was now gently poking at his food. "What's the matter ken?"
asked Davis, sptting peices of pork on Ken's plate.
Ken didn't
pay any attention to this. He only stared into space. Ken just sat
there, the only thing making him move was his breathing. His arm over
his stomach and his other hand fiddling with his fork, ken slowly
closed his eyes, completely oblivious to the world around him. "Ken?"
Mrs. Motomiya cleared her throat, making her son look at her. She
cocked her head to one side, showing him that she wanted to talk to
him alone for a minute. The two of them stood and walked a bit away
from the table and out of earshot.
"What's up Mom?"
asked Davis.
"Davis honey. I really think you should just
leave Ken alone for a while. It's been really hard for him and I
think he just needs some space" she replied as she gave a
concerned glance at Ken.
Davis snorted in annoyance. "No.
I'm his friend. His...boyfriend. I can't just watch as he gets
depressed!"
"Yes well honey, sometimes people just need
some time to adjust. This is all new to him and I'm sure he's scared"
argued his mother. Davis groaned and shook his head, yet didn't say
anything more on the subject, knowing his mother was right.
Mrs.
Motomiya walked back to the table and sat down, Mr. Motomiya
immeadialty starting a converstaion with his wife. Jun was on the
phone giggling to her girlfriend, talking about cute boys. Davis
ignored them, turning his gaze to Ken, was was still sitting there
with his eyes closed.
Davis sighed as sat down next to Ken,
making the other boy snap his eyes open and look at him, dropping his
fork.
"Oh...Hi Davis. Done?" he asked. Davis smiled.
"Yeah, I'm done. Wanna go play Donkey Madness?" asked
Davis hopefully.
"Davis, you do know I created that game,
right?" smiled Ken. Davis smacked his hand on his forehead.
"Duh! I keep fogetting!"
"Sure. I'll play"
spoke Ken to Davis' surprise. " I may have invented it, but that
doesn't mean I don't like playing it!"
Mr.
Ichijouji scowled as he signed the papers in Tamachi City hall
exactly one week later. It had taken exactly one week for the
Ichijouji's (mainly Tsuko) to work on the adoption papers and get
them all sorted out. Now all that was needed was the Motomiya's to
sign the papers, making them Ken's official new guardians.
Rika
was in tears as she held onto her son tightly, or should I say, the
Motomiya's new son. He was officially a Motomiya now that everyone
had signed the papers. Rika had been forced by Tsuko to sign them.
Ken was catonic, completely zoned out from the world. Single tears
fell down his cheeks every so often as he clung to his mother.
"Thank you all" said the judge. "Now that everyone
has signed the papers, the Ichijouji's are hereby no longer to be in
contact with the Motomiya's due to physical abuse which has been
charged on Tsuko Ichijouji. And therefore, the Motomiya's are not
permitted to be in contact with the Ichijoujis. Understand?"
Rika was crying in hysterics as Tsuko pulled her away from Ken,
where Anita Motomiya pulled Ken into a hug, wrapping her arms around
him and giving him a gentle kiss on the head.
"Poor baby"
she crooned. Ken accepted her kindness almost greedily, for he hasn't
had much it lately save from Davis, who was silently watching
everything beside Kevin Motomiya.
"Alright" continued
the judge. "Now, the charge against Tsuko are to immediatly paid
otherwise it will be three years in prison. I don't need to bother
with evidence, it's evident enough of the abuse just by looking at
the boy."
It was true, the bruise from when Tsuko slapped Ken
was still bright on his face.
"Now that that has been taken
care of. Case adjorned" finished the judge. Tsuko pushed Rika
out the door withen seconds, making her unable to kiss her last and
only son goodbye.
"Goodbye my baby! Please take good care of
my boy!" Rika sobbed out as she was pushed out the door. Anita
put a compforting hand on ken's shoulder and squeezed him
gently...like a mother would do.
"I promise you I
will..." she whispered.
The Motomiya's
kept their promise to Rika, and took great care of Ken. Ken himself
had never been treated like an equal before in his life. He was
either ignored, or treated with great respect as a genius. Ken was
treated like a part of the family. He chuckled whenever Jun and Davis
were at each other's throats over something as small as a cookie, and
Anita had taken several lovely pictures of Ken with Jun and Davis,
framing them scattering them around the house as though Ken had
always been there.
Ken learned to become more adept to being in
such a place, and learned never to go into bathroom in the morning
between seven and eight in the morning on weekends. Jun had pointedly
left a large slap mark on his left cheek for walking in while she was
getting ready. Ken had blushed a furious red and after having the
door slammed into his face had started stuttering apologies to Jun.
Jun eventually felt some pity for the boy and forgave him, but
not before making Ken take a pair of Davis' underwear and give it to
her. She said something about blackmail.
Ken was currently in the
living room. Davis was off somewhere in the apartment and frankly,
Ken really didn't care. He was curled up contentedly on the couch
reading a fasinating book called Twilight. It was about a girl who
falls in love with a vampire and the vampire loves her back. But when
another vampire comes along trying to take the girl's blood, the hero
vampire must protect from getting bitten at all costs. Ken found it
quite interesting, even though he was never one for romance books.
Anita walked into the apartment door, having just arrived room
for the store,and squeaked in surprise when she saw Ken sitting there
silently.
"Oh Ken dear! You startled me! You're just so
quiet, unlike Jun and Davis!" she cried out, holding a hand up
to her chest. Ken looked up at his book wide eyed.
"Huh? Oh
I"m sorry Mrs. Motomiya!" replied Ken sincerely.
Anita
smiled sadly. "Oh Ken. Please, call me Mama. I am your Mama
now."
Ken closed his book, his eyes half closed. He sighed
dejectedly. Anita dropped her bags on the counter and walked over to
Ken, wrapping her arms around Ken as she stood behind the couch.
"I'm sorry about what happened with your parents sweety, and
I know Kevin and I can't replace them, but please, let us try. We
only wish to help you..."She whispered soothingly into his ear.
Ken nodded, trying to keep the tears back. "Why don't you go and
find Davis and play a video game to cheer you up?" Ken nodded
again, sqeezing Anita's hand before letting go and standing up to get
Davis. Anita sighed. It would take time for Ken to get used to
things.
