Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Deep As You Go ❯ Deep As You Go ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Digimon and everybody belongs to Toei, and Saban, and Fox, and that cat over there, and that spider crawling up my wall and everyone but me.

Author's Notes: Um...I felt like trying something new. Please take the rating seriously, this will get a bit darker, I think, as it progresses. Not to mention the multitude of swear words poking their way through. This will eventually be Kensuke (please tell me no one's surprised) so observe the usual yaoi warning. If you don't like it, then stop reading right now because it's not going to go away. I like Kensuke, but I understand that some people don't, and this is not a fic for those people. It's for those, like me, who think it's cute and stuff.

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Daisuke stared out the airplane window and fidgeted. The well-loved and time-worn goggles that hung halfway out of his small carry on clacked together with a familiar comforting noise as his eyes traveled along the ground below. In the distance, he could see the airport. It felt strange to see Tokyo again after that long year away. His mind leaped forward in anticipation of the upcoming reunion.

Hikari had e-mailed him only a few days ago, promising to be at the airport at the appointed time with the rest of the group. Takeru would likely be driving, he had found a cheap van at a used car lot and loved it to distraction. Daisuke recalled the day after graduation, when they had been at Takeru's party and getting ready to go stop at Hikari's, and had all decided to clamber into Takeru's car rather than wasting everyone else's gas. Twelve Chosen Children had tried to squash themselves into one van, with Takeru driving and Iori riding shotgun, Sora, Jyou and Taichi (the older children had all gotten home from college a week earlier) in the middle seat, and Daisuke, Miyako, and Hikari in the back. Koushiro had been forced to sit on the floor between Takeru and Iori's seats, and Mimi had ended up sitting on the furiously blushing Jyou's lap, while Yamato shoved them to the side in order to squish in next to Taichi. Daisuke had pulled Ken onto his lap as a joke, and it had taken Ken half the trip to wiggle away. And it was odd, Daisuke had later realized, that Ken had seemed strangely upset by this, and had looked away almost the whole time. But by the time they reached the Yagami's apartment, lucky that no police officer had caught them and found half the occupants without seatbelts and in dangerous positions to boot, Ken had finally gotten to sit on the floor, only to have Daisuke trip over him upon exiting.

Daisuke smiled at the memory. Ken had been sent sprawling into a half-filled cup of cherry 7-Up, soaking him with sticky liquid and causing his black hair to drip red. Annoyed, Ken had waited until they got into the apartment and he was handed a towel before grabbing the nearest cup of carbonated drink and unceremoniously dumping it over Daisuke's head.

Daisuke sighed a bit. Those were nice memories. He could think of all sorts of others, from junior high to their freshman year of college. They had all gone to the same school, though Ken, at least, probably could have gone somewhere better. But there was a deep bond of friendship that none of them wanted to lose, something that ran so deep that it seemed ridiculous to break it. Until Daisuke had decided, on some strange whim, to spend his sophomore year studying abroad in America, at Wallace's college, no less. It had been a good year, Daisuke admitted to himself, but he had missed his friends in Japan. Hikari, Takeru, Miyako, Iori.....Ken.

Daisuke couldn't help but feel a burst of anticipation accompany that name. Ken. His best friend. It had been so long since he had seen Ken, or even talked to him. Those first few months, when he had first reached America and was full of excitement and wonder at the place he had so rarely visited, Daisuke admitted that he had not thought much of Ken. They had talked long distance a few times--or rather, Daisuke talked, informing Ken of all the great things that he was seeing, and Ken had replied with an occasional "Hmm," and "That sounds nice." It hadn't occurred to Daisuke until much later that Ken hadn't seemed very happy for him. There had been letters too, at first. Ten of them, to be exact, all from Daisuke's first month in America. They were all currently sitting safely in the bottom of his pack. Daisuke had re-read them a few times, and each time he wondered how he could have missed the way they got shorter and more somber with every letter. In that first busy week, he had only found the time to write Ken one or two short notes, and then the letters had stopped altogether. Daisuke had written Ken several more times during the course of the year, but had gotten no response. He wondered if Ken was just busy, or if he was angry for some reason.

Well, if he's angry at me, I'll just ask him when I see him, Daisuke decided. He slid a hand in his pack, first bringing out his goggles and fastening them back on his head. He had bought a new strap for them in America, because the old one had gotten too tight. Then Daisuke pulled out ten envelopes tightly wrapped by two rubber bands and a piece of white ribbon. Ken's letters were a little messy from spilled ink and pencil lead, since Daisuke often carried them wherever he went, but they were nonetheless still readable. Daisuke had already read them several times during the plane ride, whenever he wasn't sleeping.

The pilot announced that they were preparing to land, so Daisuke put on his seatbelt and returned the letters to their coveted spot in his backpack. He couldn't help but stare out the window as they landed, as if his friends might just be standing by the runway. Inwardly he was jumping up and down and shouting like a crazy person, but he managed to restrain his outer self to a simple bit of bobbing up and down in impatience.

The landing was surprisingly smooth. The people around him starting talking amongst themselves, gathering up their personal effects as they prepared to exit the plane. The moment the announcement was given that they could begin to exit the plane Daisuke bounced to his feet, shifting from foot to foot impatiently as the people in front of him also started to exit, painfully slow. Daisuke checked his watch, which he had reset upon entering Japan airspace. It was only about ten in the morning, Sunday, and classes started the next day. He was already rooming with Takeru, since Ken had apparently gotten his a single this year. Daisuke's parents would be stopping by later to greet him and bring up some of his extra clothes and such that he hadn't wanted to drag to America and back.

Daisuke bounced into the airport and scanned the crowd, looking for black hair and violet eyes.

"Daisuke!" He turned and broke out into a smile as Hikari came running up. She gave him a quick welcome home hug, and when she pulled away the movement was echoed by Miyako.

"About time you got here," the lavender-haired girl laughed. "We've been here for hours!"

"Nice to see you again, Daisuke." Takeru walked up to him with Iori in tow.

"It's been a long year without you," added Iori.

"I missed you guys, too," Daisuke said. "Wait'll you see some of the pictures I've got. Oh, and Wallace says hi. He was really great, showing me around and stuff, but man am I glad to be home!"

"How was the plane ride?" Hikari asked.

"Was the food any good?" Miyako spoke up.

"Nah, it sucked," Daisuke said, waving a hand. "What I wouldn't do for a good rice ball right now." His brain helpfully informed him that the person he was most interested in seeing was absent. "Hey, where's Ken?"

He didn't expect the profound change the seemingly innocent question had on his friends. Hikari and Takeru exchanged glances, while Miyako studiously looked away and Iori suddenly seemed very interested in Daisuke's shoes.

"What? Is something wrong with him?" Daisuke questioned, suddenly worried.

"No....not really," Takeru said. He sighed. "Ken didn't want to come, Daisuke."

"What? Why not?" Daisuke felt a sudden pang in his heart. His best friend in the whole world, who he hadn't seen in an entire long year, hadn't wanted to come welcome him home. Daisuke found himself hoping desperately that something bad had happened to Ken, that he had a good excuse for not showing up.

"He just....didn't want to come," Takeru said. "When I told him we were going to pick you up, he just shrugged. And when I asked him if he wanted to come along, he said no."

"B-but why?" Daisuke asked. "Did something happen?"

The other four exchanged glances again and Daisuke felt suddenly very annoyed.

"Stop doing that!" he said. "Just tell me what's going on."

"You'll see for yourself when we get back to the college," Takeru said. "But.... well, Daisuke, a lot can change in a year...."

~~~

"Daisuke's coming home today. Don't you want to go see him?"

"No."

"I didn't think so. Little bastard."

"Go to hell."

"Too late."

In disgust, Ken turned away from the mirror and the reflection that looked and sounded too much like the Kaiser for his tastes. But even though he looked away, the voice was still echoing in his head, taunting and cruel.

"You don't even want to welcome your best friend home. Tsk tsk. And you have the temerity to call me a monster."

"You are," Ken said pointedly to the apparition that was now lounging about on his violet-sheeted bed, dangling a whip from one gloved hand. The Kaiser looked at him over his yellow sunglass frames.

"Point taken. But at least one of us admits it."

"Go screw yourself," Ken said darkly as he opened a pack of cigarettes. Pulling a lighter from its proper place in one of his desk drawers, he lit a small flame and stared at it fixedly for a moment before lighting the cigarette and cutting off the flame.

"You're neurotic, you know," the Kaiser said, leaning back and picking up a book of 18th Century British literature translated into Japanese. "What kind of freak has his lighter lined up with his pencils grouped by color? What college dorm room is as neat as this? There's no clothes on the floor and no beer in the fridge. It's disgusting." He idly flipped the pages of the book. "And how can you read this crap?"

Ken didn't answer, striding across the room to open the window. He took a puff of his cigarette, blowing the smoke from his mouth and watching it as it curled off through the sky.

"You know that's bad for you, Ken-chan." Ken froze, then shook his head. He turned slightly and saw that Wormmon was now resting on the Kaiser's chest. It wasn't really Wormmon, he knew. The real Wormmon was in the Digital World, because the Chosen Children knew of no other way to keep their Digimon secret while they were in college beyond sending them home and visiting them every once in a while. Ken had been sorely tempted to have Wormmon return to the real world now that he had his own room, but the Kaiser had advised against it, and Ken found his advice sound. The last thing he needed was Wormmon crawling all over him, hovering like a surrogate parent.

"But I love you, Ken-chan," the apparition of Wormmon said sadly. "You know that."

"I can't keep hiding behind you," Ken said, feeling a little foolish to be explaining himself to a figment of his imagination. "You've been my shield for too long. I'll deal with this on my own."

"That's the way," the Kaiser congratulated, clapping. He knocked Wormmon off his chest onto the floor. "Show that damn bug who's boss. We don't need him."

"Are you going to listen to him over me, Ken-chan?" Wormmon whimpered, tears running like blood from his eyes. The hand holding the cigarette suddenly began to tremble slightly. "Of course he is." The Kaiser laughed and flipped Wormmon the finger. "At least one of us has some balls. You don't see me sitting here whining 'Ken-chan, oh Ken-chan.'" He laughed again and held out a hand to Ken. "Will you stop hogging the cigarettes?"

"Ken-chan, please stop this," Wormmon pleaded. He walked over to Ken and rested on his foot. "He's not the answer to all your problems."

"Go...away," said Ken through clenched teeth. The hand that held the cigarette began to shake more violently.

"But I know what is the answer to all your problems," the Kaiser sneered. "Let's get drunk and go kill something. It'll be fun."

"Ken-chan...."

"Shut up!" Ken snapped, and the cigarette fell from his fingers, hitting the carpet and singeing it. Ken swore violently and stepped on it, then grabbed a paper towel and started to clean the ash away.

"You shouldn't swear, 'Ken-chan,'" the Kaiser taunted.

"Don't act like this, Ken-chan. Everyone's probably worried sick about you. They love you. Don't you realize how much you're hurting them? How much you're hurting yourself?"

"Shut up," Ken repeated, wiping uselessly at the ash.

"Now, Ken--"

"Ken-chan--"

"Shut up! Shut up!" Ken wiped at the ash more violently, fighting back sudden tears. "Damn it, why won't this come off?"

"Oh dear, the room's not flawless anymore," the Kaiser said in mock-horror.

"A little spot won't kill you, Ken-chan," Wormmon said, nuzzling his foot.

"Get away from me!" Ken kicked the Digimon away and stood, putting his hands over his ears and screwing his eyes shut. "Leave me alone, both of you! You're not real! You're--you're only inside my head!"

There was silence. Ken timidly opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. The room was empty.

A knock on the door made him start. After a moment, he walked over and unlocked the door, then opened it a crack.

"Who's there?"

"Ken." Iori stood stoically in front of the door, arms crossed.

"What?" Ken asked, not harshly, but not kindly either.

"Daisuke's back now. I came because I think you should be here to welcome him home. He was asking for you."

"Was he?" Ken's voice unintentionally displayed the slightest bit of hope, which died like the fire of a cigarette and scattered ash on the carpet. "Too bad for him then."

"You don't even want to say a simple hello to him?" Iori asked, obviously disapproving.

"Why should I? He--" Ken stopped. "Tell him I couldn't give a damn whether he's back or not. I don't want to see him." He slammed the door in Iori's face.

"Well done. I knew you had it in you," the Kaiser applauded from his spot on the bed.

"Daisuke...." Ken's gaze traveled back to the door for a moment. Hadn't he waited for this? Those first few horrible months, hadn't this been what he wanted?

"He left you," the Kaiser reminded him. "He wasn't there for you when you needed him. I was. Now come to bed."

Ken's haunted eyes stared at the door for just a moment longer, then he staggered over and fell on the bed. Wrapped in the Kaiser's arms, he began to sob quietly.

"Now, now, my dear," the Kaiser purred, stroking Ken's hair. "Don't cry. We'll have a nice time, you and me...."

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I warned you it was a bit different. Not to mention weird. Ah well. The next part will be out....aw, who knows. I've had a busy week and right now most of my writing energies are being expended on essays for school and on finishing up part eight of Mizu-Kagami. I'll get around to more of this eventually, though.