Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own the funds necessary to acquire the rights to Digimon. Until then, I shall have to be content with stealing the characters for my own personal use. But I swear I am not making money off of them!

Continuing Existence
By CaramelAriana
Chapter 3: New Friends and Parents

The professor dismissed the class and Ken happily packed his things away. It wasn't that he hated the class, but it was always nice to get out a few minutes early. He swung his bag over his shoulder and walked out the door. He had just started down the hall when he heard his name.

"Ichijouji!" He turned to find one of the guys from his class running up to him. The man stopped in front of him and smiled.

Ken returned it. "Tashima, right?"

He made a face. "Please, call me Satomi."

"Satomi, then."

He chuckled. "Hey, a couple of us are gonna go grab some ramen. Would you like to come?"

Ken thought about it. He could think of several reasons to refuse, all of them school related. Then he remembered Takeru's words from last week suggesting that he get to know more people. Ken was a shy guy, so he didn't readily introduce himself to people. It had earned him the reputation of being somewhat of a snob. Now that someone had approached him, it would probably be a bad idea to blow him off.

"Sure," he finally answered.

Satomi smile widened. "Great! Come on I'll introduce you to everyone." He led him to a small group of people waiting at the other end of the hall. There were two ladies and two other guys in the group. "Hey guys," Satomi greeted. "This is Ichijouji Ken."

He then introduced Ken to each member of the small group. "This is Mizumi Keiko." She was a small girl with bleached blond hair. Her hair was down and divided into two large, but loose, curls and she looked as if she'd seen the tanning salon numerous times. She wore a short skirt and high boots, topped by a designer top. She had on a lot of makeup, but it was done tastefully. Her jewelry and accessories screamed money. She paused her phone conversation long enough to give Ken a polite hello.

"This is Suzuki Rinoka." She seemed to purposely be the complete opposite of Keiko. Her black hair was pulled back in a high ponytail and her bangs reached just above her eyes. She wore little makeup. Her clothing consisted of baggy pants, a boys t-shirt, and tennis shoes. The only jewelry she wore were a small earring in each ear and a silver band around her wrist.

"Yomachi Taka." Taka was a tough looking guy at least half a foot taller than Ken. He wore an expression to match his build. His hair was buzzed short and the sleeve of his t-shirt covered all but the very bottom of a tattoo on his arm. He wore a pair of baggy shorts that fell past his knees. He nodded his greeting to Ken.

"And our token American, Eric Johnson." The American was tall and thin with green eyes and light brown hair. He had an earring in one ear and a pooka shell necklace around his neck. He was dressed casually in jeans, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes. He gave Ken a toothy grin. "He's studying here for the year," Satomi explained.

Eric nodded. "Can I just call you Ken? The last name thing is still a little strange for me?" He shrugged, as if to say he meant no offense.

Ken nodded and smiled shyly. "Ken is fine."

Eric leaned closer and whispered, "Do you know any English?"

Ken noticed his Japanese wasn't too bad, but it was clear it was not his first language. "Yes," Ken answered just as quietly.

"Thank god!" Eric burst, now speaking English. "I think you're going to be my lifeline this year!"

Satomi rolled his eyes. "He's supposed to use as little English as possible."

"Hey, everyone needs a break now and then," he protested, now back to using Japanese.

Ken allowed himself a small smile.

"So," said Keiko, hanging up her phone. "Where are we eating?"

"What about the ramen shop across the street and around the corner? I've been wanting to try it," suggested Rinoka.

"We always ate there last year," Taka responded, clearly confused by Rinoka's announcement.

Rinoka glared. "Yeah, and I was always in class!"

"I haven't eaten there yet either," said Eric.

"Then it's settled," Satomi said, taking charge. "Let's get going."

Ken walked with the group across the school grounds and marveled at the appearance they created. They weren't exactly the type of people he would place together as close friends. Then again he had to remember the different personality quirks of the digidestined. Of course, he doubted these people were pulled together under the same circumstances.

"What's on your mind Ichijouji?" Ken started out of his thoughts and looked to his companion. He hadn't even noticed Satomi move back toward him.

"I thought we were using first names?" he asked playfully.

Satomi laughed. "Ichijouji one, Tashima zero." He gave Ken an appraising look. "Never thought you to have a sense of humor." Ken gave him a questioning look. "Well, I mean you're so quiet all the time…." He trailed off at Ken's frown. "I didn't mean to offend you. I mean, you're probably just shy." He slapped his hand to his head. "I'm sorry. Look I don't always think before I speak. You should really just ignore half of what I say."

Ken laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not offended."

He sighed in relief. "Good, I really thought I put my foot in my mouth with that one." There was a short silence. "So, what were you thinking about?"

Ken smiled shyly. "I was thinking about what a strange group you guys make."

"What do you mean?" asked Satomi, very clearly confused.

"Just that by appearance I wouldn't place you guys in the same group."

"Oh that," said Satomi, chuckling. "Yeah, we get that a lot."

"How did you all—" Ken stopped himself. He just met these people, he had no business asking personal questions.

Satomi just laughed. "How did we all hook up into one happy family?"

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to pry."

Satomi shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It's kind of a long story, maybe you'll hear it some time."

Ken took that as his cue to change to another topic. Luckily he didn't need to think of one as they'd arrived at the ramen shop. After Eric's enthusiastic proclamation ("all right, noodles!") they all went in to have their lunch.

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Ken opened the door after another full day of school. It was finally Friday and Ken felt a light-heartedness he hadn't felt in a while. After Satomi had invited him to lunch the first time, the group had invited him to become a permanent member of their lunch crew.

He walked to his room and turned on his computer. After grabbing himself a drink from the refrigerator he sat down to check his email. Smiling he opened the newest one from Sachi. However his smile faded as he read further down the email. His heart sank and he felt an unexplainable sense of betrayal.

After closing the email he picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number. It rang twice before someone picked up. "Hello?"

"Hi Daisuke."

"Oh hi Ken. What's up?"

Ken was silent for a moment before deciding to just be straight forward. "When did your dad go to jail?"

There was a pause at the other end. "I didn't tell you?"

Ken took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "No Daisuke, you didn't tell me."

"Then how'd you find out?"

"Sachi."

"Oh. Well it was about two weeks ago. Hikari went with me to see him."

Ken officially hated Hikari. "You went to see him?"

Another pause. "Well, yeah. I mean, I just wanted to see if it was true. He didn't even recognize me."

Then why hadn't he called? "I'm sorry, Daisuke. That must have been tough."

He could almost hear Daisuke shrug. "Whatever. I've been done with him for a while. I'm over it."

Finally he vocalized his thoughts. "Why didn't you call me?"

"I honestly thought I'd told you. I guess it just never came up."

"Oh," said Ken simply. He stared off at the wall.

"Coming!" he heard Daisuke shout. "Sorry Ken, I gotta go. Yamato's dad is taking us to dinner. I'll talk to you later okay?"

He heard a click before he could even say goodbye. With a growl he slammed the phone down. He rubbed a hand over his face and tried to calm down. He knew he should be more concerned about how Daisuke felt then the fact that he hadn't told Ken. It was just frustrating that after he'd been there for his best friend through everything, even lying to their friends, he was now being treated like a mere acquaintance.

The phone rang and broke him out of his brooding. He reluctantly answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Ken? It's Satomi. I just wanted to see if you wanted to come to this party tonight?"

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Hitoshi smiled as his wife placed a plate in front of him. He heard Ken's mumbled thank you and waited for his wife to sit down before turning to his son. "How were classes today?" he asked.

Ken looked up from his plate. "They were okay. The lectures were a little boring."

"Well as long as you learn something, right?" his mother asked, picking up some broccoli with her chopstick.

Ken smiled slightly. "Yes."

Hitoshi kept his smile, but inside he was frowning. Sometimes Noriko could forget you don't learn much if you don't enjoy the topic. "How's lunch going with…Satomi was it?"

Ken seemed to brighten at the mention of his new friend. "It's going well. I'm really getting to know all of them. Satomi's really nice." He hesitated for a moment. "He invited me to a party tonight?"

The sentence was framed as a question and Hitoshi could tell his son was nervous about asking it. He sighed. Even after all these years Ken still wasn't very trusting of them. He wondered if they'd ever see the Ken they used to know again.

Before he could respond his wife spoke up. She was frowning. "I don't know," she said. "I've heard stories about what happens at parties."

Hitoshi almost rolled his eyes. Noriko was so paranoid sometimes. "I don't see a problem with it," he said. Two sets of eyes turned to him in surprise. Hitoshi smiled. "Well Ken, you don't often ask to do things like this and I know you're a responsible young man. You're allowed to have some fun every now and then. Besides, do it while you're young, before you become an old man like me."

Ken chuckled. "You're not old—"

He cut him off. "No need to flatter me, I already said you could go," he said lightly. He caught Noriko's disapproving look. They'd be having a long conversation later.

"When do you leave?" Noriko asked, obviously displeased with being outranked.

"I'm supposed to meet Satomi after dinner," Ken answered carefully.

Noriko didn't say another word about the party and changed the subject. Hitoshi winked at his son and earned himself a small smile.

After dinner Hitoshi met his son at the door. He stopped Ken before he walked out. "Ken, I know you are very responsible and I trust you. But do be careful. I don't know which would be worse, finding out something happened to you or proving your mother right." He grinned to show he was joking.

Ken rolled his eyes. "Thanks a lot."

Hitoshi laughed. He stopped his son one more time outside of the apartment. "If you need to, you can spend the night at someone's house." Ken frowned. "You know, in case it's too late for you to make the trip back." He leveled a meaningful look at his son.

A look of understanding crossed Ken's face and his eyes widened in shock. Hitoshi just smiled. "Sure, I'll do that," said Ken, carefully. "Thanks, Dad."

"Be careful!" he called as his son walked down the hall. He sighed. Now he had to go inside to face the wrath of his wife.

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A/N: For those of you who haven't read Welcome to My Life, Sachi is one of Daisuke's friends who came to visit. She and Ken now exchange email.

As always I appreciate your reviews! n.n