Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Other Side of the Mirror ❯ Descent with Innocense ( Chapter 6 )

<center><i>~The Other Side of the Mirror~

~Ch. 6~</center></i>

"We should <i>at least</i> go over and see if he's at home. He might have left his D-terminal at school, and…well, you know Daisuke." Hikari brushed her fingers slowly across the small camera dangling from her neck. Worry was eating at her from the inside, even though she tried to maintain the outward appearance of her usual calm.

~Oh Daisuke…I hope you're alright…~

Miyako raised her head, giving her a level stare before slowly nodding at the logic and shrugged. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to see, but…shouldn't we check the Digital world first? I mean, that's the last place we saw him, right?"

Hikari shrugged. "Takeru said that he was tying his shoe, or looking at something, before he entered the gate. Takeru…"

"I was the last one in," the blond in mention replied as Hikari hesitated. "I know you're worried, Kari, but Daisuke can take care of himself."

"I know."

"Then, let's go keep an eye out for him, and get rid of some spires. We can use the computers in school, today. No detentions in the labs." Without another word, and giving Kari a squeeze on the shoulder to show that he wasn't being heartless but conservative, he headed towards the doors of the normally-busy school building.

"He'll be okay," Iori said confidently, and followed Takeru.

"I hope so," Miyako said softly. She and Hikari exchanged a solemn look.

"I hope so, too." Hikari looked down at the bag she held clutched in her hands, and sighed. "I should at least email him once more."

<center>~=*=~</center>

Something was beeping. Beeping.

Driven by his boundless curiosity, Chibimon carefully stalked the looming pile of clothing like a cat, honing in on the noise. He wasn't quite sure what it was, since it was buried beneath piles and piles of Daisuke's socks and underwear, but he was going to find out.

Perking his head, Wormmon whispered, "What is it?" and crept up to his left.

"Beeping," Chibimon replied just as quietly, wiggling a little in place.

Then he dove, small and agile, and burrowed under the seemingly mountainous pile. He followed his ears, hearing the small beeping and steadily grew louder the closer he got.

Beep.

He turned his head, kicking forward with his small blue hind legs.

<i>Beep</i>.

Something cool touched his nose.

<i>Beep</i>! A long pause where Chibi scrambled around it, confused and intrigued. <i>Beep</i>!

Blindly, the small blue Digimon ran his paws over the smooth surface, confused in the darkness as to what it was, and why it was croaking. He began to backpeddle, his paws wrapped as tightly as possible around the object.

<i>Beep</i>!

The mountain began to move, then, and Chibimon squealed in surprise as clothing tumbled off. Daisuke, his grinning face revealed after he removed an old t-shirt, raised a brow at Chibimon.

"What are you doing, Chibi?"

The Digimon blinked innocently, and smiled at his partner. "Hunting! It was beeping!"

As if in reply to him, the D-terminal made the appropriate sounds.

"Hey, I must have an email," Daisuke sat himself down, still in the middle of the laundry, and raised both Chibimon and the D-terminal out of the pile. "Here," he handed the blue Digimon to Ken, who was watching with small concern showing. Wormmon had crawled into his lap, and one hand was absently stroking the Digimon.

"Huh…must be from the team," Daisuke replied to Ken's not-so silent look.

"Daisuke…where…can't get through, gonna try-<i>What</i>?!" Daisuke stared at the small screen in disbelief. "They're gonna do <i>what</i>?"

Ken tugged at his arm, pulling the terminal around to read for himself. A moment later, his face a shade lighter, shook his head. He pointed to the door.

"Yeah, let's go!"

*Wait* Ken grabbed his arm, and pointed to the D-Terminal. His fingers waggled, and Daisuke bit his lip.

"I know, I'll email them back in a bit…but…"

"Ken, if you really did split yourself into two beings, like a freaky sort of good and evil thing, this is more than just us. We gotta get all of the Digidestined. Old team and new, you know."

Ken blinked, taken aback, and rubbed his hands together nervously. ~He wants all of the Digidestined together…Understandable, but…what if they…if they…~

Oddly enough, Daisuke seemed to pick up on that thought, and nodded once. "I know, I'm not so keen on it myself. But…if anyone can figure out how to fix you, it's Koushiro. He's as smart as you, right?"

<i>Beep</i>!

"Huh? Another email?" Brown eyes dropped to the D-Terminal, and Daisuke flipped it open and read the single line of type. His eyes widened fractionally. "It's from Hikari!" He looked up at Ken. "They're leaving <i>now</i>….what do I do?"

~Oh god…~ Ken swiped a hand across his face, closing his eyes in a sudden façade of weariness and slowly, hesitating, went through the typing motions again.

"Are you sure?" Daisuke whispered back. "I know it'll be hard on you…" A hand waved him off, and Daisuke, frowning faintly at his slightly clumsy fingers, began to type.

<i>~Hikari! Don't go to the Digital world! I'm calling an emergency meeting, all DD get to my house!!~ </i>

<i>~Dai.~ </i>

"There." He closed the small screen with a click, and raised his gaze to Ken, but the other boy wasn't looking at him anymore. ~Damn…I did something wrong….~ "Ken…you stay here, okay? I'll…I should go get them."

The boy nodded once, his hand still stroking the smooth skin of Wormmon, and shrugged faintly.

"Are…you aren't afraid?"

Wormmon raised his head, glancing between the two humans. "I'll protect you, Ken. You know I will."

A fragile smile was directed to the green worm, and Daisuke felt a sullen stab of unexpected jealousy. ~I can protect you, Ken…~ Almost before the thought was finished, Daisuke shoved the D-terminal into his back pocket and tried to ignore the flood of emotion that the smile induced. ~I <i>want</i>to…~

Ken followed him to the door, his face wan and yet surprisingly free of worry. His eyes, however, held the faint spark of emotion that Daisuke was beginning to notice with all of his expressions, even though he didn't quite understand it.

At the door, after sliding into his shoes, Daisuke turned to face the spike-shadowed face. His stomach trembled suddenly, and an inexplicable urge to reach out and trace the smooth creamy skin nearly overtook him. ~He's still so…<i>innocent</i>…~

"Um…Listen. My parents won't be back for a while; I think they went on a business trip." Daisuke paused to readjust the strap of his backpack. "My sister's at a friends for the weekend, so you won't have to worry about having unexpected visitors, 'kay?"

Ken nodded, his arms cradling Wormmon. The odd light was still in his eyes, making them bright and suspiciously warm as Daisuke paused for a stretched moment of time, his thoughts flowing in an endless loop of the way the shadows were falling across Ken's face, and the way his eyes held that strange spark.

"You gonna be okay?" Daisuke caught his breath as Ken smiled that special secretive smile at him, the corners of his eyes crinkling ever so slightly. "Ken?"

Swaying slightly closer, a hand floated up and hovered in place over Daisuke's chest, barely brushing the cloth. Lidded eyes glanced at him from beneath the layer of indigo and ink-colored hair, and Daisuke didn't realize his hand had gripped the pale wrist until his felt the full weight of the palm against his breast.

Softly, he exhaled, and felt his traitorous thumb smoothing the skin alongside the skin in minute sweeps. Ken had paused, his mask a flickering display of shock and want as his violet eyes met Daisuke.

~Is he going to kiss me?~

The redhead tilted his head a fraction for the taller boy, as Ken leaned slightly, as if pulled by a slow inexorable force. His mind was watching in bemused silence as his insanely beating heart jumped around in his chest. ~I…~ Softly, almost a perfect parody on his earlier thoughts, Daisuke recounted his words. ~I want to…~

His eyes fluttered shut, as the bangs on Ken's spiked hair brushed his forehead, his cheek. Heat seemed to radiate off the paler boy, and as his thumb continued to trace over the delicate wrist, Daisuke felt the rapid pace of the pulse point. Oddly, it seemed to match his in tempo and force, but Daisuke didn't notice the subtle strangeness of that.

Ken had gently nuzzled the side of his face with his own, his hair caught between them like strange silky fur, his fingers twisting quietly in the fabric of Daisuke's jacket.

"…oh…" Daisuke's head tilted even further, his face angled inward as he inhaled softly, inhaled <i>Ken</i>. His movements were slow, precise. Ken, responding to the warm rush of air over his neck, sighed in silent agreement. His own face was pressed close to the Daisuke's jawline, his eyes closed and his mouth slightly parted. He could feel the quick heartbeat under his palm, taste the heady scent of the wild redhead in his mouth, feel the thin elastic material of the goggle's straps catching his hair slightly.

~Daisuke…~ he thought fuzzily, floating in a self-induced haze of exhilaration. ~Oh, Daisuke…~

Another slow inhalation sent Ken into shivers with a sharp little gasp, and almost blindly, he turned his head, feeling the short thick locks of Daisuke's reddish hair graze his face. His lips, still parted, brushed without intention over the prominent bone of the cheek, down over the cheek itself as Daisuke tilted back his head, and just as deliberately swept his lips across Ken's in a brief promise of a kiss.

"Ken…" Dragging his eyes open slowly, Daisuke brought his free hand up to cup the back of the head so near his and swallowed. "I…"

<i>Beep! </i>

Blinking suddenly in the shattered moment, Ken watched him with a slow sort of embarrassment, his cheeks blushing strongly as he drew in several quick reorienting breaths. ~What have I done?~ he thought in a horrified squeak of a thought. His gaze dropped away, and almost reflexively he tried to put a few inches between them. ~This isn't what I intended!~

His lips tingling faintly, and his lungs still full of the strange Ken-smell, Daisuke drew his hand away carefully, hiding the absurd rush of anger he felt at the D-terminal and whoever had emailed him. "Ken…" With a sigh of frustration, Daisuke caught the words he was barely forming, and held them.

"I'd better go," he said instead. Ken dipped his head fractionally, and backed off a step. "I'll be back soon."

Ken kept his gaze on the floor, on the blue sneakers that sheathed Daisuke's feet, and knew that the boy was watching him, gauging him. He waited, while the door opened, and Daisuke stepped through. Then the minuscule trembling feeling, the strange on-the-edge feeling subsided, and Ken sighed softly as the door swung shut behind the slow steps of the redhead.

*Daisuke,* his mouth formed the word as his eyes shut slowly, the word falling silently from his lips despite the wealth of emotion, of helpless devotion to someone he barely knew in this world he could barely define, all of it glimmering through his eyes.

~What is this? I've never…I don't understand…~ Ken stood there in front of the door for what seemed to be years, confused and frightened and at odds with the urgings of his secretive hiding heart.

~He…~

~I'm afraid…~

~I'm excited…~

~I… I am…~

Ken raised his head, staring with unseeing eyes at the doorway, his face a slow-shifting mask of distress.

~…bound to him…~

<center>~=*=~</center>

"Kari? What is it?"

Ruby eyes glanced up slowly, relief glowing brightly, and the Chosen of Light smiled just as brightly. "Daisuke!" She said, and turned the screen around. "I just got an email from him!"

The others crowded around, despite the fact that the screen of the computer was activated, and they were only words away from the Digital world. Gatomon and Patamon exchanged a long frown, while the other rookie Digimon either hopped or floated up to the respective shoulders of their partners.

"What'd he say?" Takeru exclaimed, leaning close. "Not to go to the Digital world? What the-Why on earth not?"

"What'd he say? What'd he say?" Upamon shifted to the other shoulder on Iori, nearly falling off at one point, and tried to make sense of the human words.

Iori peered at the screen, reflexively patting Upamon. "He sounds upset. I wonder what happened."

"Quick, email him back, Kari!"

Takeru hopped onto the desk, bouncing his D-3 in his palm a few times and watched the nut-haired girl rapidly type a short and to the point message on the tiny keyboard. Under his hat Patamon peeked out, made a few teasing jabs at the tossed object and grinned down at Takeru when the blond looked up.

<i>~Dai-what happened?~ </i>

Hikari drew in a slow breath, and took a moment to consider the first message. "I wonder what he means by emergency, Takeru. It sounds serious, even for Daisuke."

The blond nodded. "I know."

"He said to meet him at his house," Iori pointed out.

"Should we go, then?"

<i>Beep! </i>

"Oh!" Kari jumped at the sudden noise, nearly dropping her D-terminal, and hit the 'receive' button. "Daisuke emailed back….oh…he says to get <i>all</i> of the Digidestined together, and get to his place. He'll meet us outside."

"All? Like Yamato and Taichi and the others?"

"He specifically said Koushiro," Kari said softly. "Guys…I think something's wrong…"

The four teens exchanged a solemn look, curious and worried and scared, even if the fear was only and undercurrent. Kari shivered faintly, and tucked a strand of hair away, her eyes meeting Miyako, then skittering away as Takeru slid off the bench.

"Let's get going, then," He nodded to Iori, then Miyako. "You guys want to make a few phone calls?"

Nodding seriously, his smaller face drawn in a smooth mask of indifference, Iori turned away to weave through the chairs to the classroom phone. Miyako glanced between Takeru and Hikari, saying a soft murmur of protest as Kari raised a hand and offered her cell-phone.

"Kari…"

"Here, Miyako," the thin brunette replied with a tiny smile. "Take it, and call Tai and Koushiro. I think it's very important."

~It's strange,~ she thought, after Miyako had taken the small phone and began punching numbers. ~I get the feeling that Daisuke found something very important…~

Yet she couldn't shake the feeling that with this new discovery came a chilling price.