Warnings: Minor shonen-ai hints (humorous), mention of homosexual statutory rape and a bit of harsh language.

POV: Takuya Kanbara

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or anything related to it. Don't sue me, I think I need the money for therapy.

Account of Abduction

Chapter 8: Friendship

For some reason, this who incident drove me up the wall. I mean, I know the reason…one of my friends was kidnapped, for god's sake! But I don't think I would have reacted the same way if it had been Izumi or even Kouji. You know how things are. I have a bond with all my friends, but they're all different. The bonds, I mean. Kouichi's was more different than the others knew.

I mean, I did share his first kiss.

…Get that thought out of your heads, dammit! It wasn't like that!

You're still thinking it, aren't you?

…Dangit! No, we're NOT together! It was a DARE!

It was a party, a guys-only thing one of our classmates was throwing. We were in jr. high, about 13, back when most of us were still at the 'girls have cooties' stage but somehow found ourselves…interested…in that kinda stuff, you know?

Anyway, it was just some stupid party my friend Matsuda was throwing for the guys in our class, and somebody suggested a game of Truth or Dare. How girly can you get, right? My mother used to play that games at sleepovers when she was in high school. But we were bored and had nothing else to do, so we eventually gave in and started in on the game.

Now remember, we're middle school kids. Our Truths are pretty pathetic. I think the most shocking one was a 'most embarrassing moment' involving accidentally going into the girl's locker room during an early morning practice and being half naked when the girls came in. Junpei and I could admit that we'd seen a girl undress, albeit by accident, but we didn't earn those bruises for nothing you know…

As such, most people took dare, and those got a bit weird. One guy had to sneak into Matsuda's older sister's room and soak one of her bras in ice water, then put it back in the drawer without her knowing it. Somebody else had to strip down to his briefs (since none of us wanted to see him naked) and run through every room in the house, including the bathrooms and the one where Mrs. Matsuda was watching television. Matsuda himself had to jump in their pool fully clothed. In the middle of January.

This is a lesson: never leave a bunch of pre-teen or teenage boys unattended. Things get exceptionally weird.

Anyway, once Matsuda came back from changing his clothes it was his turn to pick somebody for the dare. So of course, that meant it was my turn. I've known Matsuda since we were six, he's been on my soccer team or on an opposing one ever since then. So, naturally enough, he picked me.

"Alrighty, Takuya." He grinned at me broadly, leaning into the center of the circle we were all sitting in. "Truth or dare?"

Did he have to ask? Even though I could see Kouji rolling his eyes at me from my left said, I, of course, said, "Dare."

There was the traditional chorus of ooh's from half of the guys. Kouji rolled his eyes again. Matsuda had this huge grin on his face as he motioned me over. We'd only been playing for an hour and I already know what that meant: This dare was at somebody else's expense as well as mine. And from the look on Matsuda's face, it was a dozy.

I'm not sure what I was expecting from him. What I wasn't expecting was exactly what he said: "Pick a guy in the room and kiss him. On the lips."

For once, I was…speechless.

Okay, so I wasn't exactly speechless. I freaked.

Then Matsuda reminded me that it was a dare, and this was Truth or Dare, and I'd already used up my one good Truth collaborating with Junpei's story of accidentally walking in on Izumi. So I started narrowing it down to the guy least likely to take it personally, or at least, someone I knew well enough that they'd know it wasn't serious.

I didn't know most of them, and I'm not crazy enough to try something like this with somebody I don't know. As a result, the short list had four people: Matsuda, Junpei, Kouji and Kouichi.

Junpei was out. There was no way in hell that was happening. Ew.

Matsuda was knocked out shortly after that. He was my friend and all, but I just couldn't do it. Besides, he made the dare. I'm sure something about that meant he was immune.

That left the twins. Kouji looked bored, like he normally did when I dragged him to a party, his head in his hands and elbows propped up against his knees. He was toying with the end of his pony tail, like he did sometimes when he was bored. I'll never know what his fascination with his hair is…it's almost like a girl.

Kouichi looked sleepy, which, to tell the truth, wasn't anything new. He's always slept a lot, ever since I first met him. It's darn near impossible to get him out of bed in the morning, and he dozes off anytime he doesn't have to concentrate. Usually, when we get together as a group to watch rented videos and turn the lights off, he's asleep on Kouji's shoulder before the opening credits are done. I think he enjoys it more that way.

Thinking it over, Kouji would have beat me into a pulp either way…he's darn over-protective sometimes, of Kouichi I mean, hate to think how he's feeling now… but when pushed came to shove Kouichi could probably talk his brother out of actually killing me if he was on the receiving end.

So that's why I did it, you know. I went back across the room, aiming for my place but also a bit to the right, as all of the guys leered excitedly about what I might have to do.

I sat down without doing anything, taking a deep breath, drawing out the suspense. Some of the less-patient guys started to get irritable. Matsuda gave me a Look. If I didn't do it soon, I was going to get branded a coward for backing out of a dare.

"What's wrong, Takuya?" Kouichi asked. And he was smiling at me, that cute smile he reserves exclusively for being cute and adorable and generally kitten-like. "Matsuda-san didn't ask for anything unreasonable, did he?"

The cute look made it easier. It makes him look like a girl.

So I leaned over and answered his question, as well as the dare.

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

If I'd known he'd never been kissed before, I wouldn't have done it. Honestly, I wouldn't have - I'm not that kind of guy. But I honestly thought he'd at least gotten a peck before, which is all we really shared, since the twins were always real popular with the girls and Kouichi had made friends with Chiaki (a.k.a. 'the Angemon & friends girl') about the time they realized that they went to the same elementary school.

As predicted, Kouji followed up my dare by attempting to catch and strangle me, with the slight miscalculation that said older twin brother was so shocked by it all that he couldn't move to come to my rescue, and thus, Kouji chased me around the house several times, effectively ending our little game.

It was about two years later, almost to the day, when Kouichi disappeared.

I guess I was one of the first to hear about it - Kouji called my cell phone about two thirty in the morning, saying that Kouichi had not come home yet and demanding to know if I'd seen him. Now, you should know, Kouji can be overly aggressive and a little obsessive when it comes to issues like security or safety, but he's never 'demanded' anything of me before. He's beaten the hell out of me to get a point across, but he's never demanded I do anything.

Thus, the fact that he did meant that this was no joke.

The next indication came when I told him that I hadn't seen Kouichi all day. Kouji promptly hung up on me, and the line went dead, another sure-fire sign that he was freaked out of his mind. He may not be exactly former or polite or anything like that, but when he's on the phone, at least, where his meaning can be misconstrued…He at least observes common courtesy.

Apparently, he called everyone else in the group at least once that night, plus two of Kouichi's teachers and his part-time bosses. Then, about four AM, he called me again, a few levels short of panic. I had to calm him down. It would be okay, I kept telling him, Kouichi wouldn't run off, he wouldn't get himself into trouble, he'd be back soon with some sort of explanation…who knows, maybe he got lucky with a girl and lost track of time…and we could all go on with our lives.

But he didn't come back, not the next day, not the day after that.

I came home after school two days after he vanished and went straight to find my dad. He was home early, which he only does sometimes when he doesn't have any cases to work on, and this was a case he needed to work on. Kousei, Kouji's father, wouldn't call in the report until tonight, and Tomoko couldn't get to a phone until very late. None of us knew if that would be too late or not. They needed to start looking now.

"Dad," I said, trying to keep my voice even as I entered his office and flung the door open so hard that it bounced against the wall, "Kouichi's missing."

Dad looked up from his papers and raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Kouichi's missing. He's gone." I licked my lips, nervous. "I think he's in trouble, Dad. You need to find him."

He lifted an eyebrow and pulled his reading glasses away from his face. "You mean your friend Kimura-kun, correct? Minamoto-kun's brother?"

"Yes." I took a step forward. "He…He hasn't come home for days, Dad. Something's wrong."

Dad shook his head and began working again, his pen moving swiftly. "His parents are the ones who need to make a missing persons report, Takuya. I can't do anything without that."

"But they are filing the report!" I exclaimed, moving up once more to right in front of his desk. "They're probably doing it right now. But we have to find him Dad, as soon as possible, we have to! He's in trouble, I know he is. He wouldn't just disappear like this if he wasn't!"

My father sighed, lifting his head again. "Takuya, I can't just…"

"Dad, please." I leaned over his desk and looked up at him, giving the best puppy-dog pouting eyes that I could. I hate begging. "He's one of my best friends, and I know he's in trouble. We can't just leave him out there, we need to do something. Please, Dad!"

For a moment, he looked at me, and I thought that maybe he was going to tell me to go lie down for a while. But then he sighed, shaking his head, and put down the pen.

"All right." He sighed, looking me right in the eye. "I'll do what I can, Takuya. I promise…I'll do everything I can."

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

It was three weeks before we heard anything. Three bloody weeks, and some of the longest of my life.

I was asleep when Dad came home from his 'business party' as he referred to the social gatherings he was usually forced into attending on behalf of his commander, which was not uncommon. However, this time he came home extremely late, much later than usual - about four in the morning, I think, seeing as it was four thirty when he woke me up.

He came into my room quietly, trying to be quiet but not succeeding - my room is a mess. He hit my book bag with his bare foot and muffled a few not-so-polite words, which is what woke me in the first place.

That should have been funny, but I wasn't laughing much at the time.

I lifted my head off the pillow and blinked at him sleepily. "Dad…?"

"Yeah, it's me." He said quietly, wince a bit. He moved through the mess to my bed and sat on the very edge. "Sorry. I woke you up, didn't I?"

"Gee, you think?" I yawned and plopped back onto my pillow, closing my eyes. "…Whattya want?"

"Nothing really. I just wanted to tell you something." He leaned forward, over me, with a sort of smile on his face. "I've got good news."

"'Bout what?"

"Kimura-kun."

Because I was only half-awake, it took me a while to figure out exactly what he was talking about. But after a few minutes, something about it finally clicked and I sat straight up. "Kouichi?"

"That's right." Dad smiled just a bit. "I've found him."

I was up again at that, more awake than I'd been in ages. "You did? Where? Is he all right? He's not hurt, is he? What happened, where did he…"

"Easy, easy." Dad's voice lowered into a whisper, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Yes, he's all right. He's home with his mother, and Minamoto-kun, nice and safe. He was fast asleep in his mother's lap when I left. I'm afraid he was hurt, he's been through a lot and has a lot to deal with, but he's alive and he's home and he'll recover."

And, for about three hours until the sun finally rose and I was able to get out and find the others, that was enough.

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

We took Kouichi out to his favorite park a few days before the bastard's trail date. Kouichi wasn't speaking much, not that he ever had before, but the psychiatrists said he'd gone mute after everything that bastard had done to him. He spoke, sometimes, but not too often and only to Kouji or his mother and, once, he spoke to me and scared me out of my wits.

The park in question was a place where we'd all gotten together before, for picnics, to enjoy ourselves. That was the excuse for going today, though the real reason was to get him out of the house and on his own.

But before we even got the blanket spread out, he had stretched out on the grassy hill and fallen asleep. I wasn't too surprised…even before everything that happened, Kouichi could and would fall asleep anywhere, if you gave him a sunbeam and something to rest his head on. Kouji was next to him, which was also typical, as overprotective as he was, and after a while we all drifted down to sit around them.

"How's he doing?" Tomoki asked quietly, keeping his voice low. "I mean…after everything?"

Kouji shrugged. "As good as he can be, I guess."

"It's been a month." Junpei muttered through half a mouthful of sandwich, and swallowed before he spoke again. "You'd think therapy woulda done something by now. It's not the same, without him talking."

Izumi nodded, reaching over to brush some hair out of Kouichi's eyes. "I miss hearing his voice."

"Yeah…" I sighed, leaned back on my hands. "But you know…at least he's back."

The other agreed. Kouichi mumbled a bit in his sleep and rolled over, reaching to grip Kouji's hand when it was offered. He looked cute, like a kitten. I'd missed that look. It made us all smile.

"Do you think…" Tomoki paused a moment before he finished what he'd wanted to say. "Do you think there's anything we can do for him?"

I shrugged. "We can be here."

Kouji smiled. Not smirked, smiled. A rare occasion, and another one I had missed. "That's right. We're here, and we'll always be here."

And that was enough for any of us.

TBC…

Aiiee…This chapter was not what I was going for, but at least I got it out. It was nice, right? I hope it was good enough…

P.S. - no, I'm not supporting a Takuya/Kouichi pairing. I just felt like putting in that stupid joke. Anything that seemed otherwise is being friendly, okay?