Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Princeling ❯ 8 ( Chapter 8 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Teena: Well, this didn't take long. *stares at the fic* What is going
ON with this fic? It wasn't supposed to be like this...

Ken: ...Things change...

Teena: Things change alot...



Princeling
Part 8


"Okay, is everybody here who's going to show up?" Taichi asked, glancing
around the room from his position sprawled out on Yamato's sofa. And
Yamato's lap, which is why Yamato was currently glaring at the young
leader and making halfhearted attempts to shove the other boy's feet off
him. There was a ragged chorus of assent from the various Digidestined
around the room. "Anybody know where Sora is?"

"Her mother is sick," Jyou explained. "She has to stay with her in case
something happens."

"Oh, okay, thanks Jyou. And Mimi's in America, and Daisuke and Ken...
Well, are the reason for the meeting, from what I've heard. Anybody
want to tell us poor old folks anything a bit more helpful than 'Daisuke
has gone totally off his rocker, and dragged Ken along for the ride'?"

"Gomen nasai, Taichi, Takeru is letting his personal animosity for Daisuke
affect his ability to give coherent information," Iori stated, shooting
Takeru a rather reproving look. "Koushiro-san, would you please show them
the new map grid program?"

"No problem, Iori," Koushiro replied, pulling out his laptop and setting
it up. He quickly pulled up the grid map of the Digiworld. "We did a
little modifying, since the old map just showed black squares for areas
with control spires. It didn't show anything else. See all those black
dots moving around? Those indicate Digimon that are wearing dark spirals."

"Huh? Why would any dark spirals still be active?" Yamato asked quizzically.
"Didn't they all shut down when Ken's base went up?"

"Yes, the original ones did. This is the reason for the meeting. All of
these dark spirals belong to Daisuke. He's set himself up as the new Kaizer,"
Koushiro told them, frowning. Taichi and Yamato tensed, and Jyou's eyes
went wide.

"This is NOT good... Oh no..."

"Before you say it, Jyou, we are NOT all going to die," Koushiro told him,
amusement dancing in his eyes. Jyou shot him a dirty look.

"I was not going to say that. I stopped saying that a long time ago."

"I'm just teasing, Jyou, take it easy. Now, I know some of the story, but
I wasn't actually there, and I don't know it all, so it's probably best
if one of the younger kids takes over now that I've shown you the visual
aid."

"Fine. Let's hear it, from someone OTHER than Takeru," Taichi snapped out.
Hikari nodded and stepped forward, quickly explaining everything that had
happened in their two trips to the Digiworld the day before. Blushing, she
made one last statement.

"And... Ken was looking rather...freshly washed, if you catch my meaning."

Taichi and Yamato exchanged interested glances before Taichi pinned his
little sister with his eyes. "So, you think they're lovers already?"

Squirming and blushing furiously at her brother's bluntness, Hikari nodded
quickly. "Yeah. I can't prove it, but it's what I think."

"Dai moves fast, doesn't he?" Yamato murmured, looking faintly amused. "I
mean, it was just a couple days ago he was over here moaning and wailing
about his inability to tell Ken he liked him."

Taichi just nodded his agreement, while the rest of the people in the room
stared at them in shock.

"You mean you already KNEW?!!" Miyako screamed. Taichi and Yamato just
shrugged, Yamato lifting an eyebrow at all the excitement.

"Sure we knew," Taichi answered offhandedly. "Dai tells us alot of things
he doesn't tell anybody else. Don't you do that with Mimi and Sora?"

"Well, yeah... But it's different! I've never told them anything like THIS!
I only tell them NORMAL stuff!"

Yamato's eyes went hard and cold as he stared at Miyako. "You have a
problem with the idea of two guys in a relationship?"

"Well, duh! Guys are supposed to be with girls! Two guys is just... just
unnatural!"

"Miyako! Be quiet!" Takeru and Hikari snapped in perfect unison. Taichi
and Yamato looked angry, Jyou and Koushiro looked pale, and Iori just
looked thoughtful as he watched the older Digidestined.

"What? Are you saying you APPROVE of that sort of thing?!" Miyako yelled
shrilly. Hikari slapped her across the cheek.

"Miyako! You should be ashamed! I think you need to talk to Sora about
the REAL meaning of Love! Gender has nothing to do with it! You're just
letting your anger and jealousy over the fact that Ken loves Daisuke and
not you bleed into everything else!"

Miyako paled, one hand going to her red cheek. "I... You're right... I'm
sorry... I'm letting everything get out of hand, aren't I? I never even
had a chance with him, I just refused to see it. And now I'm hurting
other people just because I'm hurting, and that's WRONG."

"I don't think you even really loved Ken," Hikari said gently. "You just
wanted what he represented to you. A perfect, happy life. But it never
could have happened. Even if Ken somehow had ended up with you... Neither
of you would've REALLY been happy. Daisuke is what he needs, what he's
always needed. Miya-chan, you have to find what YOU need, WHO you need."

"Hikari... You're right... Thank you... I've been horrible. I'm so sorry,
everyone," Miyako said, tears in her eyes. Iori looked up at her.

"It's a good thing you changed your mind, because I suspect straight
Digidestined are in the minority. Being homophobic would cause major
problems."

Miyako blinked before looking around, finally seeing what Iori had seen.
Taichi still with his feet comfortably on Yamato's lap, Jyou hovering
by Koushiro's chair. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Oh no! I... You guys are... Aren't you? Oh, I'm an idiot! No wonder
Hikari and Takeru shot me down so fast! I'm SO sorry!"

"It's alright, Miyako. You've had a nasty shock," Jyou told her. "Just
try to avoid it in future."

"I will, Jyou, I really will! I've been a total idiot..."

"Well, she's not having any trouble with sincerity, at least, ne Yama?"
Taichi quipped wryly. Yamato's lips quirked.

"Yeah. We can tell she's being sincere because WE think she's been a
total idiot, too."

"Yamato! 'Niisan! Miya-chan apologized, now leave her alone!" Hikari
scolded, hands on her hips.

"Jyou? How did a 'Destined meeting turn into THIS?" Koushiro asked
plaintively. Jyou chuckled and shrugged.

"Immaturity."

Iori sighed, nodding agreement with his mentor's assessment. Stepping
into the center of the room, the younger boy raised his voice.

"Excuse me! I really think we need to get back to the main point of
this meeting!"

"Iori's right," Taichi said, shaking his head. "As much fun as this
verbal slugfest is, we're supposed to be discussing the Daisuke problem.
And incidentally, if anyone has any idea what may have caused this, I'd
like to hear it."

Hikari sighed and pulled out a folded piece of paper, handing it to
her brother. "Daisuke left this and your goggles in his bedroom. Ken
found them when he dropped by to drag Daisuke out."

Taichi skimmed the note, frowning, then read it aloud. Yamato's eyes
narrowed.

"Something about this... Something's off."

"What?" Taichi asked intently, watching him. He knew that between the
two of them, Yamato understood Daisuke's dark side better.

"Look at the screen. So many spirals... TOO many. He couldn't have done
all this in a day."

"Ken said that Daisuke's been planning this for a while. It was just
after we saw that the base was gone," Iori interrupted quietly. Yamato
nodded.

"Yeah. Rebuilding the base, getting so many Digimon spiraled... It had
to take a long time. And it was all done without alerting us. He's been
so careful. If it were me, and I'd done this much... I would wait until
I had complete control, or near-complete, to tip my hand. So why would
he do it now?"

"Maybe... Something pushed him over the edge. He's been snappish lately,
irritable..." Taichi swung his feet off Yamato's lap and onto the floor,
standing up and starting to pace. He raked a hand through his hair as
he concentrated, trying to piece everything together. The note, Yamato's
opinions, his own observations. "Hurt, of course, that's been there for
a long time. ...Hurt. What could hurt him enough to make him go before
he was ready? Ken, of course, but I don't think it's him..."

Everyone else was just watching quietly, while Daisuke's predecessors
and mentors picked his mental state apart, slowly building a scenario,
searching for a reason with tools only they had. Yamato watched and
listened as Taichi went as far as he could before trailing off into
silence.

"Hikari and Takeru."

"Huh? What?" the two chimed, blinking at Yamato. Taichi spun to look
at him, eyes burning with restrained intensity.

"Why them?"

"He doesn't like Hikari anymore, but she didn't know that. He's felt
for a long time that she was toying with him. And he's always resented
Takeru. Did they ever tell him flat out that they were dating?"

"N-no," Hikari stammered, looking worried. "I didn't know how to... I
didn't want to hurt him... I'm not interested, but he's still a friend."

"So... If he found out somehow... He'd be hurt, yes, and royally pissed
off," Taichi mused. "He'd feel like that proved Hikari was just playing
with his heart, since she didn't know he wasn't really after her now.
Might be enough for him to get fed up and speed things along."

"Exactly. Did anything happen recently that might have let him find out?"
Yamato asked, directing his gaze to his and Taichi's younger siblings.

"Geez, I don't know! I don't watch everything I say and do around the
jerk!" Takeru said, throwing his hands up in the air. Yamato turned
a cold stare on his brother.

"Takeru. You should know better. Miyako and Iori can be excused, but
you and Hikari, especially you, should know that EVERY Digidestined is
important, every one is necessary. Daisuke acts alot like Tai did at
that age. Remember what happened when he disappeared?"

"...The entire team fell apart," Takeru answered slowly. "But..."

"There are no buts, Takeru," Taichi snapped. "You lose one person,
you lose EVERYTHING! We don't just get our power from our digivices,
crests, or digieggs! We get our power from each other!"

"Taichi, we're getting off-subject here," Jyou interrupted. "You'll
have plenty of chances to scold Takeru, you don't need the rest of
us here for that. Hikari, can you think of anything?"

Hikari shrugged as she slowly sank into a chair. "I... I don't know.
Maybe... The other day... Takeru and I... We were behind a tree...
I think it was around the time soccer practice lets out..."

"And Daisuke can be very good at stealth when he wants to," Yamato
finished, sounding tired. "That's it, then. They got careless, they
got caught, and now Daisuke's set things fully into motion before he
planned to. You guys are lucky."

"Lucky? How do you get that idea?" Miyako asked, wide-eyed. Yamato
lifted an eyebrow.

"He went after Ken first, and Ken managed to talk him out of going
after YOU. Trust me, if Daisuke had gone ahead with his revenge plans,
you would be very unhappy people."

"The kid's got a streak of pure, vicious nastiness a mile wide. It
scares him. Hell, it scares ME," Taichi added, settling back onto
the couch, curling up at Yamato's side. "I'm amazed Jun isn't in a
mental hospital, with the way she treats him."

Yamato shuddered. "Sometimes I almost wished he WOULD snap on her,
at least she'd be off my back."

"Geez, Yama, I wouldn't wish that on anybody," Taichi said with a
small shiver. "Daisuke's ideas of revenge definitely qualify as
cruel and unusual punishment."

"Uh, guys? You're scaring me," Takeru said, eyes wide. Taichi sighed.

"You should be scared. Remember when Yama tried to kill me? Daisuke
wouldn't do that. Daisuke would find out what would tear my mind to
pieces, and he'd do THAT. He told us once something he did to Jun
because he was mad at her. Something he considered MINOR. It wasn't
nice, trust me."

Yamato nodded. "Most of the time, you'll never meet a nicer, more
forgiving kid. It takes a lot to make him really go off. But when he's
finally had enough... It's bad."

"I wonder if that has something to do with why he asked me to tutor
him in Anatomy... I thought he was just trying to get a head start
on the more advanced classes he'll be taking in a couple of years,"
Jyou murmured thoughtfully. "Anatomy covers alot of the more vulnerable
places on a human body."

"Huh? You were tutoring him, too? What days?" Koushiro asked, blinking.

"Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. What do you mean, 'too'?"

"I was tutoring him in computer programming on Sundays, Mondays, and
Wednesdays."

"Huh? There's no way Daisuke could be learning all that stuff!" Miyako
yelped. Yamato chuckled.

"You've never seen his grades, have you? He's smarter than you think.
I wonder what he was learning on Fridays..."

"He always spent Fridays over Ken's house," Hikari offered weakly.
All of the younger generation of Digidestined were looking shocked at
the sudden revelation of Daisuke's intelligence. Taichi snorted.

"Charming Ken's mother, and trying to explain to Ken why he wanted to
keep going to school at Odaiba instead of accepting the transfer offer
to Ken's school. Oh, and eating them out of house and home, but that
comes under the heading of charming Ken's mother."

"Daisuke got an offer from Ken's school?" Koushiro yelped. "And he
turned them DOWN?! Why did he turn them down?!"

"I dunno. All he said to us about it was that he didn't want to,"
Taichi replied with a shrug. "It's almost a shame. Daisuke and Ken
on the same soccer team... That'd be something to see."

"Uhhh... I think we've had enough sudden revelations for today. We
know what's going on and maybe why, so let's just...go home," Takeru
interjected.

"Yeah, go on. But I think Yamato and I need to talk to Daisuke.
We'll be by tomorrow, someone can open the Digiport for us. None of
you younger kids are to go into the Digital World until we've seen
Daisuke. It's too dangerous for you," Taichi commented. The others
nodded and filed out, leaving the original bearers of Courage and
Friendship alone.

"He's not evil," Yamato said quietly. "I know he isn't."

"I know that, Yama. I very much doubt he's doing anything to hurt
the Digital World. But he doesn't have the right to restrict access.
And we can't let him do anything to the kids. They hurt him, yeah,
but they didn't intend to, and they don't deserve what he'll most
likely do to them."

"So they get away scot free? Insult and mistreat Daisuke, push him
into running away, and just walk away unscathed?"

"I didn't say THAT."



tbc...


Teena: *still staring at the fic* I don't get it... How did this even
happen?

Ken: Uh... I guess Taichi and Yamato happened... I mean, they never
DID agree with how you planned to portray their siblings...

Teena: *scratches her head confusedly* Maybe... *waves to the readers*
Uh, I might write a rant-type thing and put it up seperate from the
fic, explaining how this fic was supposed to go, and the huge gaps
between that and how it IS going.

Ken: *sudden blink* Teena... Look at that last line.

Teena: *looks at the last line* ...What's he up to? Taichi and Yama
weren't supposed to be having any wicked plotting... See, this is
EXACTLY the sort of thing I'm talking about...