Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Habitual Deviations ❯ Chapter 1

Habitual Deviations

"Thanks for walking me home, Ken-kun," Inoue Miyako said, her hand resting on the doorknob. She stood on an angle, simultaneously partially facing the door to her apartment and partially facing Ken. The indigo haired teen nodded, mumbling something about her being welcome and it was the least he could do.

Miyako opened the door and waved good-bye, not really wanting to leave him but the date was over and she didn't have a choice. She took a step into the foyer and another and another until she was inside. The door closed behind her, leaving Ken standing alone in the hallway of the apartment complex. Slowly and as though it was of its own accord, Ken's hand reached up and touched the door. His fingers played over the nameplate that was proudly screwed there. He waited another moment, turned and walked away.

Jamming his hands in the pockets of his Tamachi High School uniform, Ken traveled to the elevator, then downwards to the ground floor. From there he walked to the nearest bus stop. He rode the bus from Odaiba to Tamachi. From the bus station in his home district, Ken walked to the Tamachi Mansion apartment complex. He crossed the lobby to the elevator. He rode the elevator upward until he came to the floor he lived on. From there he walked down the corridor to the door labeled Ichijouji.

Ken opened the door and stepped into the foyer. He removed his shoes, tucking them neatly against the wall. Ken continued walking, cutting through the living room of the apartment.

"Mama," he said, louder than in a normal speaking voice, but softer than a shout, "I'm home."

"Oh, Ken-chan," his mother said, as Ken passed the kitchen on his way to his room. "Did you have a nice time?"

"Yes," he answered politely. Ken continued to his room.

"Hiya, Ken-chan!" Minomon greeted Ken as the boy shut the door to his room behind him.

"Hi," Ken said softly.

"Did you go out with Miyako-san again?" the digimon asked, peering over the wooden side of Ken's high bed.

"Yeah," Ken answered, scooping up Minomon. He ducked underneath his bed then and pulled the sliding glass doors to the terrace open. Outside, Ken leaned against the railing, Minomon in his arms.

"Did you have fun?" Minomon asked.

"Mm-hm," the boy answered. "We're going to go out again next week, too."

"Did you hold her hand?" the digimon asked, trying to understand the concept of human romance.

"For a little bit," Ken admitted, slightly embarrassed.

"Did you, um," Minomon paused, having difficulty remember a human word. "Kiss her? Yeah, that's it, did you kiss her, Ken-chan?"

"Of course not," Ken answered, "I've got too much respect for Miyako-san to do something like that."

"What's kissing like, Ken-chan?"

"I don't know," the boy stuttered, "I've never done it."

"Why not?" Minomon asked.

"Kissing is something that's special," Ken explained, "you don't do it with just anyone."

"Miyako-san's special to you, isn't she? That's why you go see her, isn't it?"

"Well, yes, she's very special to me, but I don't know if I'm special to her," Ken explained. "We've only had two real dates anyway."

"But next Friday will be the third?"

Ken nodded.

"Are you guys going to go out every Friday from now on?" Minomon asked.

"I don't know," Ken said softly.

**********************

"Thanks for walking me home, Ken-kun," Inoue Miyako said, her hand resting on the doorknob. She stood on an angle, simultaneously partially facing the door to her apartment and partially facing Ken. The indigo haired teen nodded, mumbling something about it being the least he could do, as he had for the past four Friday nights.

Miyako turned the doorknob. Ken swallowed hard, nervous. Miyako opened the door and took a step into the foyer.

"Miyako-san," Ken said abruptly.

"Yeah?" the girl asked, innocently. Ken had deviated from the norm, curious, Miyako waited to see why he had broken their post-date routine. For the last four weeks, it had always been the same after their dates: Ken walked Miyako home. She would thank him and wave good-bye, then go inside.

Tentatively, Ken took a step towards her. Miyako swallowed. Ken had stepped out of the range of a polite distance. He never did that. Ken took another step. He was so close to her... Unconsciously, Miyako straightened her neck, holding her head higher. Unconsciously, Ken lowered his head. Both of them slowly closed their eyes.

Ever so gently, Ken's lips found Miyako's. The kiss was soft and hesitant. The two young teenagers were slightly disappointed that their first kiss was over nearly immediately after it began. It had been short, but sweet and warm. Ken pressed his lips together in an effort to keep them as pleasantly warm as Miyako's touch had made them.

"Um, bye," Ken said. Miyako disappeared into her apartment. Once behind the safety of a closed door she ran to her room, without pausing to remove her shoes.

"Poromon!" she cried, "Ken-kun kissed me!" Miyako pulled her digimon into her arms and squeezed him tightly. "He kissed me, he kissed me, he kissed me!" she chanted.

"Wha-- Miyako-san!" Poromon protested as Miyako alternated between and tight and lose hold on the in-training digimon.

"Ken-kun kissed me!" she repeated.

"Is this going to be like the time you wrote two pages in your diary about Ichijouji-san going out with you or the time you wrote three pages when he held your hand a few weeks ago?" Poromon asked.

"Neither! A kiss is worth at least five pages!" Miyako dropped Poromon, who managed to stay suspended in mid-air by his own power regardless, and fished out her diary, scribbling claims of love for the indigo haired teen as fast as her hands allowed.

**********************

"Thanks for walking me home, Ken-kun," Inoue Miyako said, her hand resting on the doorknob. She stood on an angle, simultaneously partially facing the door to her apartment and partially facing Ken. Both teens peered around the hallway to make sure they were alone before swiftly kissing each other goodnight.

Now they stood, as always, at the threshold of the Inoue's apartment saying their good-byes and making plans for next Friday. Friday night dates had become the usual for them in the past few months. Often they would spend the afternoon with their friends before departing on their own to whatever they had planned for just the two of them. It was not unusual for them to still be wearing their school uniforms when they went out for their dates--Miyako in her dark blue Obaida High School uniform and Ken clad in the white and gray of Tamachi.

Miyako opened the door to the apartment as she normally did. Taking a quick breath to reassure herself, Miyako deviated from the routine by grabbing the tie of Ken's uniform. Swiftly, she brought his mouth down on hers and pulled him into the foyer of the apartment. Ken's arms reached backwards to push the door shut behind him, allowing relative privacy.

Miyako kept an iron grip on Ken's tie with one hand, letting the other reach around the back of his neck and across his shoulders all the while deeply kissing him. Ken for his part, once he had secured the door shut, responded to the kiss just as deeply, cupping his hands around Miyako's face.

"Imoto-chan!"

Shocked, Ken and Miyako pulled away from one another to see Miyako's eldest sister gawking at them. Embarrassed, Ken stepped away. He reached behind himself and pulled the door open.

"See you after class tomorrow, Miyako-san," he managed to eek out, and dashed away, mortified that someone had seen what should have been a very private display of affection.

"If he's going to put his tongue that far down your throat," Ken heard Miyako's sister say, "he's got no business calling you 'san.'"

"He respects me," Miyako declared. Ken couldn't hear anything after that because the door had been shut afterwards. Ken then embarked on the familiar trip from Odaiba to Tamachi.

"Mama," he called once he had arrived home after an uneventful trip to the Ichijouji's apartment. "I'm home."

"Oh, Ken-chan," his mother said, "are you feeling well? You look a bit flushed."

"I'm feeling fine, Mama," he told her. He bowed and slipped away to his room.

"Ken-chan!" Minomon chirped as the boy entered the room.

"Hey, pal," Ken said with a smile.

"Did you have a nice time with Miyako-san?"

"It was okay," Ken replied. "We went to a movie."

"I thought you don't like movies," Minomon said, confused.

"I don't," Ken admitted, "but Miyako-san wanted to see it, so..." his voice trailed off.

"Ken-chan..." Minomon paused, "do you love Miyako-san?"

Ken pulled Minomon off the bed and balanced him on one arm. He used his free arm to open the door to the terrace and walked out. The sky was dark, thought the night was young and no stars were yet visible.

"That's a hard question to answer," Ken began. "There's lots of different types of love. There's the love I've got for you, and the love I've got for my parents and the love I've got for my friends. They are all love, but different types of love. I'm still kind of new at accepting emotions instead of becoming embarrassed by them," Ken admitted with a self-deprecating chuckle, " but I think I love Miyako-san, but I'm not sure that it's the same kind of love you're talking about."

Minomon blinked.

"What kind of love am I talking about?"

Ken considered the question for a moment, trying to think of the most simplistic explanation for his child-like digimon. "Remember that time we were at Motomiya-kun's apartment and his sister was watching soap operas?" Minomon nodded after a few seconds. "Remember how the people in the shows were really...fond... of each other?" Again, Minomon nodded after taking a few seconds to remember the particular images Jun had been watching. "Well, when most people think of love, that's the first kind of love that comes to mind. That's called 'romantic love.' It's generally designated by saying someone is in love with someone else, instead of saying someone loves someone else. I think I love Miyako-san, but I don't know if I'm in love with her. I don't even know for sure that I'm capable of falling in love."

"You're not as different from other people as you think, Ken-chan," was the response that came from the caterpillar digimon.

**********************

"Thanks for walking me home, Ken-kun," Inoue Miyako said, her hand resting on the doorknob. She stood on an angle, simultaneously partially facing the door to her apartment and partially facing Ken. Both teens peered around the hallway to make sure they were alone before swiftly kissing each other goodnight.

By this time, Miyako had kissed--and been kissed by--Ken enough times to know which 'kind' were her favorite. Hello kisses always lasted the longest and where most likely to leave Ken wearing a dazed smile when they parted. Spontaneous kisses were the most exciting. Goodnight kisses were short and impersonal. They tended to take place in the hallway of the Inoue's apartment building and the lack of privacy caused the two to unconsciously keep it short.

"So what do you want to do next week?" Miyako asked, opening the front door to her apartment.

Ken shrugged. Miyako chewed on her lip for a moment.

"We could go to a movie or dinner or something," Miyako began. "Hey," she continued, "how about you just call me, okay?" Ken nodded.

Sighing, Miyako pulled the door shut and leaned against it. She kept both hands tightly grasping the doorknob and crossed her legs at the ankles.

"I promised myself something this morning," she began, "and the little mood you're in today isn't making anything any easier. But there's no way I'm breaking that promise, so here goes. Ken," Miyako paused to take a breath, "I love you."

Silence was the answer Miyako received and she shut her eyes and bit down on her tongue to keep from crying, from screaming, from ranting to herself about what an idiot she had been. She could collapse once she was alone, but she'd be damned if she made a fool of herself and fell apart in front of Ken in the same day, well, same hour. She'd done both plenty of times in the same day before.

"Well???" Miyako exploded, unable to hold it in any longer. She opened her eyes to see a trail of tears on Ken's cheeks. The lavender haired teen's jaw dropped and with a slightly shaking hand she wiped away his tears. "Ken-kun..?"

One of Ken's hands wrapped around Miyako's wrist in an iron grip, holding her hand to his face.

"Thank you." It was a barely audible whisper but Miyako could her Ken's soft words. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

"Oh-o-okay," Miyako stammered. "You're welcome." Ken' grip loosened and he pulled his hand away, ashamed of his possessiveness.

"I'll call you later," Ken murmured, backing away.

Miyako nodded and disappeared into the apartment.

"I did it," she announced, entering her room, "I told Ken how I feel about him."

Poromon looked at his partner wearing an expression of slight confusion.

"Isn't that good?"

"I'm not sure, Poromon." Miyako sat down on her futon and pulled Poromon onto her lap. "He didn't say it back." Miyako paused for a moment. "I've heard that when one person says they love the other and the other doesn't say it back that the relationship is in trouble, but I don't know about Ken and me. I think he might have been happy that I told him." Miyako adjusted her hold on Poromon. "Well, happy's not the right word," she amended. "I can never tell with him..."

Miyako flopped down, lying face up with her knees and lower legs hanging off the edge of her bed, Poromon still held in place.

"I just wish I understood him!" she exclaimed.

"How can you love someone if you don't understand them?" Poromon asked.

"I guess," Miyako sat up, "it's more that I don't ever know what he's feeling than not really understanding him. I wish I knew how to make him happy. He's got this great smile and he just doesn't use it enough. Sometimes, I just want to know what he's thinking."

"Why don't you ask him?"

"Because ignorance is bliss," Miyako muttered, deadpan.

**********************

"Thanks for walking me home, Ken-kun," Inoue Miyako said, her hand resting on the doorknob. She stood on an angle, simultaneously partially facing the door to her apartment and partially facing Ken. Both teens peered around the hallway to make sure they were alone before leaning in for a kiss.

The door to the apartment opened, causing Ken and Miyako to jump apart as Miyako's mother dashed out.

"Mama?" Miyako asked, confused.

"There's a problem down at the store," her mother explained, "I'm just going to give your father and brother a hand. Mimeo and Chizuru went to a party a few hours ago, so you're on you're own."

"Okay, good luck with ...whatever the problem is," Miyako called after her mother.

"I wonder what happened..." Ken mused, an eyebrow raised as the figure of Miyako's mother disappeared.

"The slurpee machine is probably just of the fritz again," Miyako said with a shrug. "My brother couldn't operate that thing the right way if he was the last convenience store worker alive." Miyako stopped and looked at the open door to the apartment. "You want to come in..?" she asked, nervously fiddling with the hem of her t-shirt.

Ken blinked.

"Um, okay," he said hesitantly. Miyako entered the apartment with Ken trailing behind her. She kicked her sandals off in the foyer and kicked them against the wall to keep them out of the way. Ken followed her lead, pushing his shoes to the side.

"Poromon," Miyako shouted, for once having no need to be discreet about the existence of her digimon partner, "I'm home." She popped into her room for a moment and reappeared with the pink bird in her arms. "Ken-kun's going to keep us company," she said brightly, with a smile for them both. Ken softly smiled back. Poromon studied the smile for a moment, trying to see what Miyako had mentioned a few weeks earlier about Ken's 'really great' smile. It looked to the digimon like most human smiles, except for Miyako's. Miyako had a very special smile, Poromon thought. Her smiles were always big and bright and radiated happiness. Other human smiles were just their mouths curling upward, like Ken's small smile.

The trio settled on the living room couch, Poromon snuggled on Miyako's lap as she rapidly flipped through the channels on the television. After deciding on a channel, Miyako put the remote control down and looped her now free arm through Ken's, her other arm wrapped around Poromon. Miyako intently watched the dribble playing on the screen, occasionally laughing. Poromon watched until he drifted off, struggling to stay awake all the while. Ken however, chose to ignore it all and just focused on being there with Miyako.

"Hm, Poromon's asleep," Miyako muttered. She turned to Ken, "Does Minomon stay up late? Poromon always goes to bed pretty early."

"He stays up as late as I do," Ken said as Miyako slipped her arm away from him.

"Be right back," she said softly so not to disturb her digimon partner, yet still managing to maintain her bouncy air. Miyako disappeared into her room to put Poromon to bed and reappeared, flopping down on the couch next to Ken. She tightly wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up at his face with a large smile, letting her head rest against his shoulder. Ken looked at her in silence for a moment before lowering his head to kiss her lightly. As Miyako responded, the kiss became more passionate. Eventually, Miyako flipped around and sat on Ken's lap, straddling him. His hands found their way to the hem of her shirt and began to pull upwards.

Gasping, more out of shock than needing to take another breath, Ken pulled away; his hands having nearly removed Miyako's t-shirt. As gently as possible, Ken pushed Miyako off of him, leaving the lavender haired teen staring at him from the carpet. Ken shook his head, trying to clear it. He stood immediately and without saying anything beyond a mutter of disbelief hurried out of the apartment.

Miyako jumped to her feet, adjusting her shirt and calling after him. She ran after him, pausing in the foyer to slip her sandals on. Miyako dashed down the hall, griping to herself about Ken's running speed. When she reached the elevator, Miyako rapidly pushed the down button, but when the doors didn't immediately open she took off at a run for the stairs, nearly tripping down multiple flights in her haste. Miyako doubled over after reaching the ground floor and allowed herself a few minutes to catch her breath.

When her second wind came, Miyako ran out of the apartment, heading for the bus station. She assumed that Ken was going home; it was always where he returned when trying to get away from something, and he had certainly been trying to get away when he ran from the Inoues' apartment. Secondly, if he didn't go there, Minomon still was and perhaps he could give some ideas. Abruptly, Miyako stopped running.

"Our D-3s!" Miyako slapped her hand against her forehead, remembering a bit too late that she could have tracked him using her D-3, which was sitting in her room with her sleeping digimon. Sighing in annoyance, Miyako began her run again, ignoring the danger of a teen-age girl alone in the evening in a large city.

When she arrived at the nearest bus station, Miyako checked the schedule, then her watch then back to the schedule.

"ARG! I can't believe I missed the bus to Tamachi by five minutes! Ken totally would have caught that! Stupid 'Rocket.'" She leaned against the nearest support column. "Half an hour till the next bus," she grumbled. "I wish I had a car." She paused. "I wish I could drive it if I did." Miyako checked her watch again and jammed her other hand into her pocket, jingling the loose change she had. "Better call Mom and Dad."

After inserting a few coins into the nearest pay phone, Miyako called home and sighed in relief that no one was there yet.

"Hey, it's Miyako. Ken-kun and I got into a bit of a fight, so I'm trying to track down Angst-Boy. I might stay over at Hikari-chan's if I can't find him, so no worries, okay? Ciao!" Miyako hung up the phone, cheering to herself about the wonders of answering machines.

"Bus, bus, bus, bus, bus, bus," Miyako chanted. Miyako turned back to the pay phone, slipping a few more coins in, just to make sure she was on the right track.

"Daisuke? It's Miyako...Have you seen Ken-kun in the past," she checked her watch again, "twenty minutes?...Okay, thanks anyway, gotta go!"

"Okay," Miyako said to herself, "he got a head start with the elevator and he runs faster than me, so he could have made the bus. And he didn't go to Daisuke's and the only other place he'd be likely to go, so I must be on the right track."

Miyako sat down on a bench to wait for the bus. After about two minutes, she got up and started pacing. Three minutes into pacing, she turned to the terminal.

"WHY ARE YOU TAKING SO LONG, YOU STUPID BUS!?!"

Miyako crossed her arms and ignored the people staring at her.

"Fifteen minutes," she pouted, her spirits dropping. "It would be faster if I walked to Tamachi."

After what seemed like an eternity to Miyako, the bus arrived and she all-too-happily boarded, dropping the last of her coins into the fare box. Once the bus began the trip, Miyako decided the actual ride was even longer than waiting.

Quarter to twelve that night left Inoue Miyako at the Tamachi bus station, wondering just how to get to the Tamachi Mansion complex. She had, of course, been there before, but never had she tried to find her way to the Ichijouji residence at night by herself.

"I'm an idiot," Miyako mumbled, staring at her feet as she walked. Numbly, she wandered around the district, not even having change left over to call for a ride. Her mind had begun to replay horror stories she had heard on the news about girls being attacked on the street. She started crying, throwing her head back and screaming. When she opened her eyes, Miyako saw the Tamachi Mansion gleaming at her from across the street.

"BINGO!" she cried, giving a one fingered victory sign to the building. She glanced across the street, ran, and entered the complex. Beyond thrilled that she could take the elevator this time around, Miyako rode upwards to the floor Ken's apartment was found on. Easily, she found the door labeled 'Ichijouji' and rang the doorbell. Repeatedly.

"Hello?" Ken's mother, half-sleep answered the door.

"Hi!" Miyako gave a very large, and very cheesy, grin. "Sorry to bother you, but is Ken-kun home?"

"He came home about an hour and half ago," his mother answered, too polite to ask her son's girlfriend what the hell she was doing ringing the doorbell at midnight. Miyako noticed a dim glow coming from the crack in the doorway of Ken's room.

"You don't mind, do you?" the lavender-haired girl asked, dashing past Ken's mother. She didn't wait to hear the answer as she hurried to Ken's room

"Ken-kun?" she called softly.

"Miyako-san!" the indigo haired teen said in shock. Ken was seated cross-legged on his bed with Minomon in his lap. It appeared to Miyako that the two must have been engrossed in conversation before she arrived.

"Hi," she said, a smile masking her nervousness. "I thought we ought to talk."

Shaking a bit, Ken nodded, asking Minomon if he minded giving them a bit of privacy. With the digimon's permission, Ken brought him out to the kitchen, giving the caterpillar-in-cocoon free reign in the fridge.

"You are a real pain to chase after, you know that?" Miyako asked as Ken re-entered the room. "I couldn't catch the elevator, I missed the first bus, I didn't know how to get to your building..."

"I'm sorry," Ken murmured.

"Oh, no, oh, no, no, no, no, no. Don't you start apologizing. Once you start you never quit it. Just tell me..." Miyako crossed the room to reach Ken, wrapping her arms around him. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Do you even realize what I could have done to you?" he asked, incredulous. "We can't..." he shook his head, emphasizing the refusal. "I won't steal your innocence," Ken said firmly.

"You're sweet," Miyako said, "silly, but sweet. First of all, we were no where near hopping in the sack, and second of all, if we were and I didn't want to, don't you think I'd smack you?"

"We were close, Miyako-san," Ken told her, "I...I mean, I..." When he was through tripping over his own words, he hung his head. "And I don't think you'd hit me," he added softly.

Miyako arched an eyebrow, raised her arm and slapped Ken across the face.

"That," she announced, as one of Ken's hand cradled his cheek, "was for running away. When you've got a problem with something, or if you're scared, don't run away. Talk about it, let it out. You don't have to keep things inside, you shouldn't! It's just not healthy. I want you to be able to tell me things." Miyako turned her head to look Ken in the eye. "Understand?"

"Mm," he whimpered.

"I'm sorry I hit you," Miyako said, nuzzling Ken. "I love you," she whispered. Ken pulled himself out of her embrace, and walked across the room, finally settling on the carpet. He sat with his back against the wall and knees up. "Ken..?" Miyako questioned, taking a few steps towards him.

"Do you?" he asked, looking up at her, "do you really?"

"Of course!" Miyako said, grinning. "I don't go around telling any old person that I love 'em."

Ken considered that for a moment.

"Tell me again."

Miyako's grin grew.

"I love you."

"Say it again."

"I love you."

"Again."

"I love you."

With every word, Miyako took another step towards Ken, until she was directly across from him. She dropped into a kneeling position and placed her hands on his drawn up knees. Ken reach forward, weaving his fingers in her hair.

"Do you trust me?" he asked in a coarse whisper.

"Absolutely," Miyako said, shuddering as his hands brushed past her neck.

"Do you love me?"

"For such an egg-head, you're a really slow learner."

"Do you want me?" his voice was barely audible, but each word was said slowly and clearly.

"Always have," Miyako said with a wink.

"Miyako-san..." he chided. She grinned, leaned over and kissed him. After a moment, she pulled back, letting her chin rest on his knees. Ken reached out and pulled her glasses off.

"Hey, I can't see!"

"Then don't look," he whispered, gently pushing her down onto her back.

**********************

"Thanks for walking me home, Ken," Inoue Miyako said, her hand resting on the doorknob. She stood on an angle, simultaneously partially facing the door to her apartment and partially facing Ken. She spun around to fully face him. "This sucks," she announced. "Who knows when the next time I'll see you?"

Miyako leaned her head against Ken's shoulder.

"Oh, Miyako-chan," He murmured, stroking her hair. "University won't be that bad."

"I'm going there and you're not." She looked up and pouted. "That qualifies it as bad."

"The virtues of the elevator school," Ken mused.

"Kindergarten through university," Miyako grumbled, "Not fair."

"We'll still be able to see each other whenever we want," Ken pointed out. "Digital World traveling will cut down on the trip."

"Haven't missed a date in two years," Miyako beamed, "there's reason to start now." Miyako frowned suddenly.

"What?"

"You won't be able to walk me home anymore! 'Thanks for walking me to the computer, Ken.'" She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"We'll make a new tradition," Ken said.

"One that we break," Miyako said with a grin.

"Of course."

Miyako giggled and gave him a quick kiss. Waving, she disappeared onto the apartment, not really wanting to leave him, but she had some last minute packing to do, so she didn't have a choice. And she wasn't about to ask him to help her pack her unmentionables, among other things. The door closed behind her, leaving Ken standing alone in the hallway of the apartment complex. Slowly and as though it was of its own accord, Ken's hand reached up and touched the door. His fingers played over the name plate that was proudly screwed there. He waited another moment, turned and walked away.

~*Owari*~

Disclaimers: Digimon, all characters and likenesses are owned by Toei Animation and licensed to Saban, if I'm not mistaken. The story found previously is a work of fanfiction and made solely for the entertainment of the author and any poor soul who happens to read it. Absolutely no money is made from this fic and that was not the intent to begin with anyway.