Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

I'm sorry

Ken Ichijouji

Ken shifted nervously watching over his sick friend, Hikari. Takeru was on the other side of the bed asleep. But he himself couldn't sleep because sad thoughts plagued his mind. The air around him was cold and damp and it made him shiver. He had Wormmon snuggled against his chest for warmth. The Digimon was currently sound asleep as well.

Since coming to the Digital World, many bad things had happened. They lost a lot of friends to the Dark Masters that were targeting them. He wondered what the Chosen Children had done to deserve such cruelty. Innocent Digimon had died and conflicts caused their friends separate. Taichi and Yamato got into a fight and their Digimon almost killed each other. During the fight, Hikari had been possessed by some unjown entity. After learning the truth of why they were chosen, Yamato decided to go his own way for a while, to find himself. Mimi left because she was tired of all of this fighting and Jou went with her as a guardian, which left Taichi, Sora, Koushirou, Takeru, Hikari, and himself. But to make matters worse, Hikari's cold came back.

It was probably his fault. No, it definitely was. He should have been more observant and looking after everyone else. Just like his brother told him, he was never good enough and always causing trouble. It was very hot and humid where they had been traveling at the time. He should have known it'd irritate Hikari's immune system after just recovering from a cold the first time.

They had gotten separated again, when a Digimon named Mugendramon, attacked. They were in search of medicine for Hikari. Koushirou and Taichi were out looking while the three of them stayed with Hikari to protect her. Mugendramon somehow found where they were and attacked the area they were in. Although managing to get out of the area in time, the attacks caused them to fall into a pit which landed them in the sewers. For right now, it was just Takeru, Hikari, and himself, Sora was there too, but she went looking for Taichi and Koushirou.

"I'm sorry…" He barely said above a whisper, his eyes growing dark. "This is my fault. It always is." He placed his forehead on Wormmon's, hiding his face.

A droplet of rain fell on to Hikari's face. Her eyes winced and she slowly opened. "Don't blame yourself, Ken-kun." She said softly. "It's mine for being such a burden." Her eyes were sad as his.

"I'm the one who's a burden…" His gaze went to the floor.

"You shouldn't blame yourself, Ken-kun, Hikari-chan! Sometimes things just happen that we can't control. We can only hope things get better." Takeru said reassuringly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Takeru was always so hopeful, Ken wished he could be more like him. It always seemed like Ken was second best, no matter what it was in. To his brother or to Takeru….

Hikari slowly sat up, with the help of him, Takeru, and Tailmon, she was on her feet again "I feel much better now. Thank you." Hikari smiled at them both.

"I'm so glad." Takeru beamed.

Ken nodded. His Digivice started to beep. Bringing it to his face, he noticed a dot that was in their vicinity. He gazed at it curiously. The dot flashed repeatedly, as if it was trying to tell him something.

"I wonder why it's beeping. Is something nearby?" Hikari looked at it wondering about what the dot could mean.

Takeru eyes lit up. "It very well could be something of Ken-kun's, Hikari-chan! That's how us seven found our crests!"

Tailmon nodded. "And how we used the crest to look for the Digivice of the 8th child. The reaction!"

The two of them smiled in excitement. Ken wondered if something could really belong to him. After all, the Digivice was his brother's.

The trio wondered a little ways to find the object that appeared on Ken's Digivice. They left a note for Sora so she would not worry and they would be right back. The closer they got to whatever was causing the reaction, the more the dot flashed. They finally came across a short, dead-end hall way off to the right of the main wall. Engraved in the stone was a symbol that looked like a ball inside of a Y shape pattern. Ken held up his Digivice and it glowed a soft purple color. They stared in awe as the wall shrunk to a small rectangle and floated in to Ken's hand.

"What… Is this?" He stared at it wide eyed. He wasn't sure what to think, it clearly came to him. Was it really his?

"It's a crest!" The other two chimed happily.

They all examined it in awe. Tailmon leaned closer to get a better look.

"I think I've seen this before." She said sternly. Everyone turned their heads to her. "In Vamdemon's Castle there was something about a 9th crest, but I never paid much attention to it. It was never that important, only the crest of Light is what caused a threat to him." Her face turned hard.

"What is its meaning then, Tailmon?" Patamon spoke up breaking trance.

"Kindness." She looked up to Ken. "The crest of Kindness."

"Ken-chan!" Wormmon beamed. "That fits you perfectly!"

Ken looked at them horrified. "No, it doesn't! I'm a terrible person!" He tightened his grip on the crest in a fist. "My big brother said so… He said I was a terrible person because I always bothered other people's things." His expression turned painful. "Before I left, I told him I wish he'd disappear because he always got first. Osamu nii-san was always better than me in everything. He's a genius in school and a sports expert… I'm nothing." He let his arms hang at his side, tears forming in his eyes. "He just retorted I was jealous and no one would miss me when I was gone." The boy sobbed into his arm.

Wormmon clung to Ken's leg. "Ken-chan. You can't torture yourself. You are someone, you are the kind Ken-chan I've always loved! That's all I need. That's all we all need." He rested his green head on Ken's abdomen, Ken returned the hug.

"Ken-kun, I'm sorry your brother was so mean to you. But I can tell you this. I know they care about you. No matter how much you feel like you've drifted away from your family, they still love you a lot." Takeru put a hand on Ken's shoulder, tears were in his eyes as well.

Hikari nodded. "It's as Takeru-kun said, even if you do think your family doesn't love you, they do. They just have an odd way of showing it. When we return home, you can apologize then, OK?" She gave him a reassuring smile.

"Even though I stole his Digivice?" He sniffed, wiping his nose on his shirt sleeve.

"It can't be his Digivice, Ken-kun." Hikari said softly, smiling at Tailmon.

Tailmon and Takeru nodded. "The Digivice only reacts to its owner. That's how we found Hikari." Tailmon explained, giving her partner a smile.

"It's true, Ken-chan. I knew when we first met that you and I were meant to be together. I didn't even need a Digivice to tell me that." Wormmon said happily.

Ken choked back more tears and held onto Wormmon. He nodded in agreement. "Thank you, Wormmon. Thank you, everyone." He choked out.