Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Ethereal ❯ Remembrance ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter V

"Takeru, you went all the way to Kumamoto to pick up a friend??? Couldn't you have at least called?? What the hell were you doing all day anyway? You know how worried I have been???"

Ken stifled his laughter as he watched Takeru endure the long rants of his older brother, whom Ken found to be sort of like his own brother, Osamu. Both were rather protective of their younger siblings. And Takeru still wore the stoic expression on his face as he stared at Yamato. Ken cringed slightly at the loudness of his voice. Though Osamu's reproaches were usually quieter and more scornful than Yamato's.

Finally Yamato calmed down a bit and Takeru made his move quickly, pulling Ken over to his side. "Oniichan, meet Ichijouji Ken," he announced in a would be enthusiastic tone if it hadn't been for his lack of facial expression. The older boy froze for a second and eyed Ken carefully, making the boy feel like some kind of exhibition. Finally Yamato sighed and nodded.

"Hey, I'm Yamato," he replied before glaring at Takeru. "His older brother!" he added snappily. Ken covered his laugh by coughing and tried his best not to look at Yamato's seething expression; otherwise he knew he would laugh. But when he did look into the older boy's eyes, he sensed something quite familiar about him. It was almost the same welcoming feeling he felt when he first saw Takeru, but this one was more out of respect than friendliness.

Takeru did tell him that Yamato was part of their group. Perhaps that was why he felt a strange familiarity about him. Would he experience it with all the others, too then?

"Yamato…I'm home. I'm fine. So just let us have some dinner."

Takeru's voice cut in Ken's thoughts and he looked at the blond in surprise. He had said it almost wearily as if he was exhausted and now that he inspected him more closely, he found that the blond did indeed look a bit paler than usual. Yamato sighed and crossed his arms, a look of annoyance on his face but he allowed Takeru and Ken to walk into the kitchen.

Once inside, Ken took his time examining the entire place. The blond's apartment was more like a house. He had never seen such a vast apartment in his entire life. Their living room was white and almost completely empty except for the long black couch and large television set with speakers hanging on the corners of the room and the table that sat before the couch. Other than that, the apartment was empty. The kitchen was almost just as large with black tiles. In fact the entire apartment had black tiles. And the kitchen was large and spacious with plenty of pots, pans, and cups hanging. There were also two refrigerators located on opposite ends. Ken began wondering how Takeru's room looked like.

There was food set up on the large counter that stood outside the kitchen with stools beside it. There was also a table set up inside the kitchen, but no one seemed to eat there for some reason. Ken attention was soon drawn to the food, each set up beautifully and neatly on different plates like a restaurant. Takeru took out two white bowls and chopsticks and gave them to Ken, who was already seated on one the stools. He sat down beside him and smiled slightly at the food. Then he leaned in closer to Ken and whispered in his ear.

"Yamato cooked this, so compliment him afterwards. That'll put him in a good mood."

Ken had to chuckle at Takeru's comment before he started scooping out some rice. He bit into a sushi roll and was surprised the taste. Yamato was a better cook than he thought. Now he knew he didn't have to lie about his cooking as he began picking more things and placing them in his mouth.

"You can see my room afterwards, though trust me, it's nothing compared to the living room and kitchen," Takeru muttered as he picked his food gently with his chopsticks. Ken looked at him in wonder.

"You aren't hungry?" he queried in suspicion. Takeru had been with him for the entire day and not once did he see the blond eat. And he was starting to look worse, too, as he stared at his bowl vacantly. He was paler and he seemed to be having trouble breathing. He was about to question this before Yamato's voice suddenly cut in.

"Takeru, get your ass in here right now! Don't think I'll let you escape that easily!"

Ken watched in silence as Takeru almost painstakingly stood up from his stool. He walked away slowly and calmly, but Ken still worried over that slight panting he had as he walked. He turned around and began eating more slowly. Maybe he was concerned over nothing, but he couldn't help but get a wrenching feeling in his stomach.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So how was your day, Dais?"

Daisuke glanced at the blond-haired youth beside him and sneered in a playful manner. "You would know, Wallace," he replied airily while the blond cocked at eyebrow at him. Daisuke smiled to himself. If Wallace had never accidentally found his way into the Digital World, he probably would have died a long time ago. Losing all his friends to Pathogen was hard enough, but when they didn't come back for him, that was what pained him most. Wallace was a light from the outside world and his only link to humanity.

"Gee, you don't have to be so bitter," the blond remarked, smirking benignantly. The goggle boy glared at him, but he knew it was all in good humor. It was always like that. Never did Daisuke ever truly get mad with him. They were a strange pair that always seemed to get along. Then Daisuke had told him about another blond he knew, whose name was Takeru. He remembered laughing when Daisuke told them they never got along very well. Daisuke had said Takeru was too happy and "air-heady," for him to handle.

Wallace had to wonder on what Daisuke really felt about his former counterparts. The only things he had heard from the boy were that they were all good friends and he opinionated them as family; all except Takeru of course. He wondered what made them so cold to each other and now he was afraid to mention it at all. Daisuke usually ended up lashing out at him and he always retained that certain icy look in his eyes whenever he mentioned Takeru. Wallace couldn't explain it, but he felt that there was more to the two's relationship than Daisuke let on. When he first entered the Digital World, he thought he was the only human there until Daisuke discovered him half-buried in sand. The next week or so were spent nursing him back to health.

The only difference between his and Daisuke's situation was that he was able to go back to his world and Daisuke wasn't. It was strange, but Wallace never figured out how he had entered the world in the first place. He remembered seeing an old woman on the street in New York ranting on and on about the end of the world when her chilling eyes rested on his and suddenly he found himself sucked into the Digital World. At first he was in shock and complaining quite a great deal until he finally got used to the idea and soon he found it all fascinating. When he came back from the Digital World the first time, though, his parents were in a wreck thinking that he was kidnapped. It took a lot of excuses and explanations to finally calm them down. Now, four years after that incident, he found he could travel back and forth between worlds as often as he pleased. His link was to the Digital World was the old abandoned warehouse where he first saw the old woman. But he never saw her anymore after that incident.

"Don't you have to go home soon?"

Wallace snapped out of his reverie and turned to face Daisuke, who wore a bemused expression. The blond narrowed his eyes slightly as he wondered what his friend would be thinking about. "Yeah…day passes by fast here," he remarked quietly, standing up slowly.

Daisuke nodded as he watched his counterpart in silence. "A few hours feels like minutes here doesn't it??" he retorted. Wallace nodded and pulled on his backpack with a grin.

"Hey, winter recess is coming up soon. I can visit you longer then," he suggested as he headed towards the well from whence he always came through.

The dark-haired boy grinned as he watched the boy climbing into the well with a look of pure concentration. Even after four years, he still feared looking down into that well even thought he had to fall into it in order to go to the other side. Daisuke had attempted once and ended up needing to be rescued by V-mon. It was embarrassing and frustrating at the same time.

"See you, Motomiya!"

With that, the blond let his grip on the rim slip as he fell away from sight. Daisuke titled his head to the side slightly as Agumon approached him quietly.

"You'll be able to go back too someday, Daisuke."

The boy narrowed his eyes as his mind drifted off to another particular blond-haired boy he knew. Only this time he was not in good humor with this one as he envisioned his revenge. Anger consumed him once again. Takeru would pay for leaving him behind.

"Till we meet again," he murmured in a faraway tone that caused a startle from the fire type digimon. Daisuke wore a grim expression as his eyes stared deeply ahead of him in thought.

Until then…Takeru.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Did your brother yell at you?"

"Something like that."

It had been merely fifteen minutes since Takeru had been called over to Yamato's room and ever since then, Ken had been experiencing a sense of inadequacy. The blond had returned into one of sullen moods again and that always made him nervous. He sat in Takeru's chair, staring at the blank computer screen, unsure of what to do. When Takeru returned he just lied flat down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Ken had gotten the impression they would begin working that night but now he wasn't so sure. He wracked his mind to find something reasonable to say. Silence was usually his friend, but not this sort of unnerving, dead silence.

Ringing his hands, he glanced at Takeru again. "Are you okay?" he murmured as he stared the blond's still figure. He remembered how strangely Takeru acted as he ate dinner. It looked almost like he was going to faint from exhaustion. But now the blond seemed to be better. But once again silence greeted him and he sighed as he began turning away before a clear outspoken reply stopped him.

"Always the observant one."

Ken turned around again and shot Takeru a strange look. The blond seemed to be getting more and more bizarre by the second. "What do you mean?" he asked. At least he had gotten a response from him. Silence again, until the sound of movement greeted Ken's ears. He watched as Takeru sat up, looking at him seriously.

"Nothing ever seemed to go past your eyes. In other words, you were always a paranoid freak," he explained in a cool tone. Ken stared at him for a second, letting the words sink in before he suddenly glared at the blond.

"Hey!" he snapped, though deep down inside he knew Takeru's words were true. He was once again baffled. Now Takeru seemed to be getting more into the mood. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. It was better than silence he supposed.

Takeru stood up and walked over to Ken, turning on the computer.

"So listen, I suppose we could get started now," he murmured as he quickly typed in the password to login. He set his computer to connect to the Internet and after a few seconds, they were on. Takeru looked at Ken and pulled another chair beside him and sat down. Ken watched him questionably.

"Where-Whom, rather, should we start with??" he asked.

Takeru sat in silence for a moment, pondering the answer. There were so many to choose from. He glanced at Ken. "Well, we could start searching for all of them at the same time and whichever we find first, we'll check it out tomorrow along with Hikari and Taichi, if she can get him," he replied. Ken nodded and opened up several new windows before looking at Takeru again.

"What are their names?"

The blond stared at the computer blankly. It had been so long since he had actually said his friends' names out loud without being questioned. They seemed so foreign to him now, yet so familiar at the same time. He opened his mouth and slowly began reciting them.

"Kido Jyou, Izumi Koushirou, Tachikawa Mimi, Takenouchi Sora, Inoue Miyako, and Hida Iori," he said in a faraway tone. Saying their names only brought back memories of the Digital World. When they reunited, they would be a team again and they would find a way to get back to the Digital World to save whatever was left of it.

Ken stared at Takeru as he typed the names. Many of them seemed familiar, almost too familiar. He stared at the screen unsurely. Was it possible that maybe he was beginning to remember the past? He could almost picture the people's faces as he heard them. Kido Jyou, he tried to remember, had blue hair and then Izumi Koushirou was short with red hair. It was almost enough to make him freeze in his seat. He was remembering people's faces he had never even seen. He looked once again at his hand and sighed. Hundreds of responses were appearing on the screen as he eyed them all carefully. It was going to be a long night. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he glanced at Takeru, who was smiling gently at him.

"Keep hope alive," he murmured in a tone Ken didn't know the blond could muster up. It was lighter, airier, and seemed more human than anything else Takeru ever said. There was something vaguely familiar about it and before he could even think he replied with:

"And remember kindness."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

TBC