An hour after the phone call, Ken led his girlfriend to his front door. It took him considerably longer than usual for the navy-haired teen to unlock the door and allow the two entry. The reason for that, one would assume, probably had something to do with the lavender-haired teen to his left attacking his neck with the intensity of a vampire, but the care of a lover.

But nobody was supposed to know about that last part.

Ken eventually got the door open and stepped through. Yolei would have done the same, but upon moving a foot forward, she tripped over the floor, a talent that takes pure skill to pull off.

Said genius spun around upon hearing the ungodly yelp released by his girlfriend, somehow managed to catch her and wrap his arms around her waist. The momentum of the fall caused the two to spin around again so that should Ken, for some odd, strange and unknown reason, decide to let go, she would land flat on her spine.

And give him hell for the rest of his life over it.

As it was, Ken decided that the best course of action at that particular moment was to lean down and capture her lips with his own.

Yolei pulled away a moment later. "You always know how to sweep me off my feet." She said with a smile.

"It's easy when you can't stay on them." Ken returned with a smile of his own.

Yolei puffed a bit. "Shut up."

Ken pulled Yolei back up to her feet, turning and locking the door behind him. All he had now was to hope that he could hopefully have a little privacy with his girlfriend.

"Oh, Ken! Is that you?"

Damn.

Both teens opted to roll their eyes, thankful that his mother couldn't see them do it.

"Yes, Momma!" He called back, hiding the irritation he was feeling.

"Good! I need to talk to you in the living room."

"Alright. Let me just call someone to give Yolei a ride home."

"No, no...I'll need to discuss something with her as well..."

The two in the doorway exchanged confused looks before trading their shoes for slippers and making their way to the Ichijouji living room. Upon entering the living room, the two immediately jumped at the sight before them.

Ken's mother wore the most irate expression on her face. One hand clinched a frying pan as tightly as humanly possible, while the other held onto a rolling pin for dear life. Her left foot tapped the ground at a pace so quick Ken wondered if she could wear a hole into the floor beneath her.

"I'm so glad you're home, Ken." She said, disdain dripping and flames spitting with every word.

Ken gulped. His mother was normally the nicest, kindest woman any human being in the world (and most Digimon) would ever have the pleasure of meeting.

Until something made her angry. When that happened, she tended to express said anger in a manner that would get the Incredible Hulk to recommend anger management classes.

"Uh...is there a problem, Momma?" He asked nervously.

"Oh, no Ken. Why would you ask something like that?" An evil smile slashed its was across her face.

"Because you look incredibly pissed off." Yolei said simply. Both members of the Ichijouji family shot her unamused looks. Her only response was to shrug.

Ken's mother turned back to her son. "Well, Ken dear. I found something very interesting in your room."

Both teens paled. They hoped what she found wasn't his stash of...er... "necessities."

"What did you find, Momma?"

She chose not to speak. Instead, she walked over to the television set in the living room. She turned it on, then pressed play on the family VCR. ("Eww...VCR."

"Be quiet, Yolei.")

The video that played nearly caused the two to faint. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.


For the first time ever on Pay-Per-View:

Japan's youngest genius and soccer star, Ken 'The Rocket' Ichijouji steps into the cage against long-time friend and rival, Takeru 'T.K.' Takaishi, the 'Avatar of Hope.' Watch these two clash in a heated rematch five years in the making. Live, from the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan...

Ichijouji...Takaishi...June 5th...Only on Pay-Per-View...


The television spot only lasted around 20-25 seconds in total, including doctored cheers and images, but it was certainly long enough for both teens to see their lives flash before their eyes.

Yolei's, for the second time.

"Now then..." Ken's mother growled. She had set down the frying pan while the two watched the commercial and was now tapping the rolling pin in her empty hand rather menacingly. "Perhaps one of you would be so kind as to explain to me what this is about?"

Ken, being the genius that he was, quickly found an escape route for himself.

"Uh, Yolei?" He said, getting the lavender-haired girl's attention. "Why don't you handle this? I've got an extremely important phone call to make." Before either woman in the room could stop him, Ken quickly darted out of the living room, grabbed the family phone and barricaded himself in his room.

Inside, Ken quickly dialed a number he'd become rather familiar with rather quickly. He waited for a few moments for the phone on the other side of the call to ring a couple of times before being answered.

A familiar voice responded. "Hello?"

"Oh, hello Davis." Ken said, disguising the anger in his voice.

"Hey, Ken! What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much. I was just wondering if I could ask you something?"

He could picture Davis' face twisting into an expression of confusion. "Sure. About what?"

Ken smiled. "Oh, nothing much. You see, my family bases itself on the ideas of courtesy and respect. Because of that, my mother extended me the courtesy of showing me something interesting she watched on television on this day."

"Oookay...?"

"It just so happened to be a short commercial that advertised something interesting. It was about the cage match that Kari and Yolei had set up for T.K. and myself."

"Oh shit."

"Indeed. Now to my question. What, my good friend, in the fuck were you thinking?"

He could hear furious shuffling on the other end of the line. "Dude, Ken. Settle down."

"Now why the hell would I do that? I distinctly remember both T.K. and myself giving both Tai and you explicit instructions not to tell anyone about what we were doing and here I find out from my irate mother that you not only chose to ignore those instructions, but you went to a goddamn television station and now they're promoting it as a Pay-Per-View event for the whole world to see!"

"What? Really? You're gonna be on worldwide TV? That's so cool!"

Ken slammed his fist into the nearest wall and almost immediately regretted the action. "Dammit, Davis! Listen to me!" He shouted as he shook the pain from his hand.

"Ken, calm down. It's not that bad. Let's just meet tomorrow so that we can talk about this."

"Yes, let's. I feel the sudden need to kick your ass as hard as humanly possible and I'm sure Yolei would like a shot as well."

"Yeah, whatever. I'll come over to your place so I can explain everything."

"Good. Make sure you that you do get here, or I swear I will hunt you down and make you regret opening your mouth for the rest of your natural life."

"Alright, alright! I'll see you tomorrow."

"Fine." Without another word, Ken immediately ended the call. He took a few moments to calm himself down. As soon as he did, he exited the room and was greeted by an unusual calm. He stepped into the living room to find Yolei and his mother sitting down. Neither one looked like they did a few moments ago. In fact, they had just finished laughing to a joke Yolei had told a second earlier.

"Uh...everything okay?" Yolei asked.

Ken looked puzzled at her."Yeah, why?"

"Well, dear," his mother answered. "We heard you shouting loudly and hitting something in your room. Is there some kind of problem?"

"Yes, but it's something that'll resolve itself when we meet with Davis tomorrow." Ken said, hoping Yolei would get the not-so-subtle hint.

"I see. Perhaps I should sit in with the three of you. I'm interested to see what this whole thing is about."

Ken raised an eyebrow. "Didn't Yolei tell you about it?'

"Yes, but I'd like to get Kari's side of the story. Will that be a problem?"

"Not at all, Momma." Ken said as he shook his head. "Now then, we should probably get to bed. We need all the rest we can get if we're going to chew Davis up like a piece of bubblegum."

"I should probably get home, then." Yolei said, standing up. "I don't want my folks to worry."

"Oh, no." Ken's mother replied. "You can stay here for the night. I'll just call your parents and let them know."

"Alright, then." Ken noted the lack of an argument from his girlfriend.

"If you two can behave yourselves, Yolei can stay in Ken's room for the night."

"Alright. Shall we?" Without another word, the three made their way to the proper rooms. Inside Ken's room, the two teens quickly changed into some night clothes Ken kept in his closet. The two climbed the short ladder up to his bed, and slid under the sheets.

"So," Yolei said as Ken grasped her from behind and buried his face into her neck. "Who gets the first kick?"

"You do, of course." Ken said.

"Good."

Neither one said another word, letting a sense of calm and quiet lull them into a deep and delightful slumber.

"Moe~..."

Well, almost.