Chasing God

By: Vain 3.22.2002 ~ 4.20.2002

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This story is for Nemesi-san's KaiSuke / KenSuke contest and is a replacement fic for "Metanoia."

I do not own Daisuke, Ken, Stingmon, Flamedramon, or Digimon. The Walt Disney Corporation-the Dark God of Animation-now holds claim to them. Moreover, I am not making a profit on this.

The poem, Eros Turannos (Tyrannical Love), was written by the great Edwin Arlington Robinson. In reference to the poem, Daisuke would be the "she" while Ken is the "he."

The plot, per usual, is wholly mine.

This story is a DaiKaiser (no, that isn't a typo *steals the term "DaiSer" from Jekka*) and contains naughty language, violence, SHOUNEN-AI, SEX, and a tiny bit of extremely mild BD. There're also some light Sting/Flame overtones. This is a love story, peeps-nothing more and nothing less. Get over it or leave now.

While I like this fic a great deal (*smirks* It's my first Kaiser ficcie. ^___^V), this is a one-shot. THERE WILL NOT BE A SEQUEL TO THIS.

Flamers are morons, but if you really think that it's validating for your self-concept, then flame away, jackasses. Let it never be said that I don't have my humanitarian moments.

As for the real readers, I'm terribly sorry if I disappointed you in discontinuing "Metanoia" (*hides from the Raptor and Meimi* thank those two for making me feel bad enough to crank this out ridiculously fast ^^;;), but this should more than make up for it. ^_^

Also, now that this is finished I will be returning to "These Fine things of Heaven and Earth," "Shattered Emeralds," and "Eidolon Am I." I apologize for making you all wait and I'll hopefully have updates for those all out soon. Thank you for being patient.

Special thanks go to the transcendently impressive Jekka-chan for being kind enough to beta for me. *turns into puppy-Tsuzuki-like-Vain and glomps Jekka* Sankyuuu!!!!

~ Please review and enjoy the fic. ~

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"Between a blurred sagacity

That once had power to sound him,

And Love, that will not let him be

The Judas that she found him,

Her pride assuages her almost,

As if it alone were the cost.-

He sees that he will not be lost,

And waits and looks around him."

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Movement Two

~ Bitter Sugar ~

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It sounded something like an explosion and sparks flew everywhere, illuminating a fleeing gazimon as pieces from the monitor screen shattered when they hit the metal floor.

"Goddamn it!!!!"

Stingmon watched the Kaiser's rage calmly, seemingly oblivious to the small rookie digimon, ringed and unringed alike, that dashed this way and that in a futile attempt to escape their master's fury. A second crash came as Ken hurled something resembling a large calculator into another monitor. One of the digimon shrieked as glass rained down on its head. Stingmon sighed silently.

"Get out!" the Kaiser screeched. "All of you!! If even one of you lingers, you're going right to the pit!"

The pit, the gaming pit where the Kaiser ordered his more useless or difficult slaves to fight their friends to the death, was one of the more unpleasant punishments Ken spent his free time devising, but it was not by far the worst. Once the Kaiser started issuing threats though, they tended to work their way up in severity. Very rarely did he ever start with the worst he could do. "Saving the best for last," he had called it.

As the last ringed floramon fled the control room, the boy literally threw himself down into his throne and slouched down into the hard backed seat, still muttering profanities under his breath. Stingmon walked away from his place by the door and came to stand just behind the throne's right shoulder. His red eyes surveyed the damage dispassionately but he said nothing.

After a few moments the Kaiser stood back up and began to rearrange his clothes. "Something," he told his digimon in a hard voice, "something is going to have to be done about this . . . this . . . situation." He made the word "situation" sound like something vulgar.

Stingmon's antennae twitched slightly and he frowned behind his facemask at the dark expression on his human's face. "Master . . ."

"This cannot be allowed to continue. I will not allow this to continue," the child Emperor continued over the champion's worried voice. "If he thinks . . . if that brat thinks that he can just do things like that then-" he broke off and whirled around, tearing one of the heavy metal bands around his wrist off and hurling it at a monitor. The glass shattered with a pop and a crash. "Damnit, I am the Digimon Kaiser!! NOBODY, NOBODY, not Motomiya Daisuke, not some digimon, not anyone, uses me!" Violet eyes narrowed as he stared down at the shards of glass on the floor. "And it's time that everyone learned that once and for all."

Stingmon shifted uneasily.

The Kaiser turned back around and put his fists on his hips, critically surveying the virus type's appearance. He smirked and there was a hint of madness in the expression. "And you may be just the thing I need."

The digimon stiffened, suddenly understanding where his boy's thoughts were going. Since his digivolution, he had never left his master's side. He was Ken's partner. He was the Kaiser's bodyguard. He was not an executioner.

He was a Chosen Digimon. He could not be an executioner. He could not be- "No." He spoke as though he were standing before someone other than the Kaiser. "Out of the question."

Ken's eyes narrowed dangerously behind his glasses. "Did I ask for your opinion?"

"Master-"

"If you won't do it the way you are now," the human broke in a silky voice, "then I'll simply have to put a ring on you, now won't I?"

Stingmon stiffened and his antennae twitched slightly. A ring. As Wormmon, he hadn't even been worth the metal, but now as Stingmon . . .

A single finger tapped briskly on stomach plate. "Or I'll just send you away," the child continued conversationally. He grinned, a slow cruel expression that twisted his delicate features into something forced and ugly. "Maybe I'll do it anyway. Just for disobeying me . . . You know . . . the caliber of your discipline . . . your attitude . . . has really faltered over the past few weeks. Perhaps I was wrong in giving you more latitude for digivolving. I'm not even sure if there's still a place for you here . . ."

The digimon dropped to one knee and bowed his head in both submission and supplication, his flare of defiance gone. Daisuke . . . he wanted to protect Daisuke . . . and Flamedramon . . . But life without Ken? He'd gladly put on a spiral if it meant he could still be with his human. Without him . . . The alternative was inconceivable.

"Master . . . please . . ."

Ken's eyes narrowed.

"Daisuke . . . he cares for y-" The digimon froze when he felt a deceptively gentle hand rest on the crown of his head.

The Kaiser's voice was a purr. "Your champion digivolution is strong, Stingmon . . . That is why I keep you close to me." The hand gently stroked the area between his antennae. "But you forget, Stingmon . . ." the hand turned into a fist and the boy slammed it down on the digimon's head with numbing force, "I am the master here! And you . . ." the hand resumed stroking, "are nothing more than little bits of data to be manipulated, used, and discarded as I choose."

Due to the thickness of his armor, the blow was little more than a tap. It was not the blow that made Stingmon

"Yes, Master." The finality of those words settled to the core of him.

Yes, Master. Not Ken, not Ken-chan, not Kaiser. Master. Because that's who the Kaiser was to him. And Ken was not, nor could he ever really be Ken again. He was the digimon Kaiser and Stingmon, whether he be ringed or free, was only his slave.

The Kaiser turned around walked towards the door. "Get someone in here to clean up this mess and then go do something useful. I don't want to see you until I summon you. And the next time D-he appears in the Digital World, I want him eliminated." Pausing at the door, the boy turned around and stared for a moment at the large digimon still kneeling on the floor. "Don't forget who you belong to, Stingmon."

The door hissed shut behind him, hiding the proud creature he had humbled with so little effort.

The Kaiser strode down the dimly lit halls with his back straight and his hands clenched at his sides, oblivious to the way the shadows seemed to bend towards him. His cape flared out behind him, making him appear to be larger than he really was. "I won't be weak," he muttered to the shadows. "Not for him . . . not like before . . . not like when-" he stopped himself abruptly, almost choking on the words as a tide of painful memories rose up in his mind. He crushed them ruthlessly and wrapped his arms around himself to ward off a chill he didn't feel. "I won't be weak," he repeated. "I won't. I won't be weak. I won't let him make me weak. I won't let him . . ." Make me hurt like that again . . .

The darkness behind him seemed to dance in agreement.

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"Hey!! I feel good! DA NA DA NA DA NA NA! And I knew that would now . . . DA NA DA NA DA NA NA!"

Motomiya Jun stopped outside her brother's door and her mouth dropped in amazement.

"I feeee~eeeeeel good! DA NA DA NA DA NA NA! And I knew that would now . . ."

Hesitantly, the girl pushed open the door and poked her head in. Her eyes widened at the sight she saw.

"So good! DA NA! So good! 'Cuz I got YOOO~UUUUU!!! DA NA NA! OWWWW!"

Her baby brother was jumping up and down on his bed wearing nothing but red boxer shorts and a big baggy tee-shirt that said "Monster." In his hands the boy was holding one of his Power Ranger transformers that she had gotten him for Christmas when he was five and singing into its head like a microphone. The song-some appalling American mess that seemed to be more screaming than anything else-was being horribly mangled by Daisuke, who's Japanese tended to be stunted by his insistence that he invent his own words and characters and who's English was limited to "Hello," "Goodbye," and "Yes, Misah. I don speek America."

"I feel nice! DA NA DA NA DA NA NA! Like-a sugar and spice, now! DA NA DA NA DA NA NA! I feeee~eeeeeel nice! DA NA DA NA DA NA NA! Like-a sugar and spice now!"

Unable to resist temptation, the wild-haired girl flung the door all the way open and tackled her brother. The two of them went tumbling down to where Daisuke swore the floor was "under all my stuff" and Jun immediately began tickling the boy. Years of both Boy Chasing and Big Sistering (her two favorite hobbies, though not necessarily in that order) had given her excellent young love and Daisuke radar. And right now, both were going off like church bells on Sunday. Once her ototochan was a nice red color from laughing, she swept him up again and began to waltz with him across the room to the blaring music, displaying a surprising amount of grace given both her lineage and the unstable condition of Daisuke's floor.

"So," she spun the laughing boy around once more before lightly tossing him onto his bed, "who's the lucky girl?"

He sat up, face flushed and his eyes sparkling. "His name is Ken."

Jun blinked. His name?

With a sudden squeal of delight, she pounced on him and resumed her merciless tickle attack. "You little troll!! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Ack!! Air, air!!" Daisuke gasped between giggles.

Jun laughed at him and sat down on the floor next to the bed. Looking breathless and red-faced, Daisuke sat up and looked down at his sister as the girl ran her fingers through her long wild hair. "Tell me about him," she demanded.

A goofy grin spread across Daisuke's face and his eyes flickered as though looking at something in the distance. "He's . . . different . . . When we stared seeing each other, it was kind of an accident. And then we just somehow never got around to quitting. He acts all mean and stuff but he's not like that at all and . . . I dunno."

She smiled at the moony expression on her brother's face. "Well, squirt, as long as he makes you happy, I could care less." Her smile broadened. "But if he hurts you . . ."

The girl shook her fist at Dai suggestively and the younger Motomiya burst out laughing. "Jun versus Ken," he said between chortles. "The fight of the century!!"

"What? You don't think I could take him?"

The goggle smirked. "You can't even take me."

"Oooh! I'm so scared!" Jun picked up a tee shirt lying next to her and threw it at her brother's head. He giggled and ducked.

"I could totally take Ken," he declared as he fixed his goggles.

The girl stuck out her tongue at him and made a face. "TMI, midget."

He blinked. "Huh?"

"Too much information." She stood up and stretched. "Well, I gotta go get ready for tonight."

"What's tonight?"

Jun grinned and reached down to ruffle her brother's hair. "Matt's playing at the club in Tamachi."

This time Daisuke made a face at her. "Give it up already! With all the girls throwing themselves at his feet, why would he pick you?"

She raised her fist and took a step towards him menacingly. "Watch it, toad. Besides . . ." she suddenly smiled, "hope is a thing with feathers."

Daisuke grinned. "No it's not. Hope is a flying orange batpig."

" . . . Sometimes you are so weird, Daisuke . . ."

He laughed at her and got up and stretched.

Jun headed towards the door as Daisuke fiddled with his radio. She suddenly stopped and turned around, a finger tapping on her cheek as though she had just remembered something. "Oh! That Hikari girl called again."

Daisuke waved a hand and put the music back on. "I'll call her back whenever."

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