Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ These Fine Things of Heaven and Earth ❯ Cassant le Dôme du Verre de la Rose ( Chapter 3 )

These Fine Things of Heaven and Earth

By: Vain 10/16/2001-

------------------ & ------------------

I only own Tanuki-kun, Hanamura-sensei, and the plot-everything else belongs to Toei, Bandai, and / or *shudder* Fox Kids.

This story has yoai, shounen-ai, and mature themes including self-mutilation, psychological and emotional abuse, general angst, and one lemon scene-meaning that the rating will go up.

Special thank you's are extended to Herongale for beta-ing and letting me bounce ideas off her, Kinslayer just because of all those inspiring fics that have so influenced my work, and Raptor-kun, Jekka-chan, andPeaceKeeper A for listening to me fuss with plot at 2 am on a weeknight.

This all takes place one year after the episode "The Crest of Kindness," and while Ken does have Wormmon, he did not go looking for his heart, nor has he had any contact with the Digidestined since his defeat. Please keep in mind that Taichi -is- slightly OOC at times; there's was just no real way around it, though. Consider it artistic license.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::: PLEASE REVIEW :::::::::::::::::::::::::::

And keep in mind that all homophobic flamers who think that I'm gonna burn in hell for this will be laughed at and probably sent a particularly nasty response that will be published on various ml's, regular flamers will be ignored, and all reviewers will be cherished for the wonderful people that you truly are.

If you're squeamish and expected me to be writing about flowers and bunnies: A) You've obviously never read my work and B) If you continue, I don't wanna hear anyone bitching about the plot and what a terrible person I am.

If you're not and you didn't, then please:

Enjoy the fic.

------------------ & ------------------

"I know people consider me a bad man! . . . Let them!

I don't care one straw about anyone but those I love; but those I love, I love so I would give my life for them, and the others I'd throttle if they stood in my way."

-Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace

------------- & -------------

Chapter Three:

Cassant le Dôme du Verre de la Rose

------------------ & ------------------

Yagami Taichi squinted as the afternoon sunlight bounced off of his goggles; goggles that just happened to be perched jauntily on Motomiya Daisuke's head.

"I can't wait," the younger boy was babbling in his particular Daisuke way. "This is so gonna rock!!!"

Demi V-mon bounced up and down. "You can take him, Dai!"

Tai grimaced and raised a hand to squint across the field. He was over there, of course. Tai knew it. He could feel it as sure as he could feel the blood in his veins.

"You won't be able to see him, Tai," a gentle voice chided quietly for his ears alone.

The original Child of Courage dropped his hand and brushed Yamato aside moodily. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Ishida."

The blond scowled and turned to the others. "Taichi and I are gonna go snag seats."

"Nothing in the sun," Mimi called out as he turned to catch up to his best friend. "I just wreaks havoc on my sensitive skin!"

He waved a hand behind him, jogging to catch up to the other teen. "Tai, wait up! Taichi! Damnit Tai, just let him go! Ichijouji isn't worth it!!"

Taichi stopped in his tracks and whirled around to face the Child of Friendship. Thinly veiled fury burned in his eyes, looking like it would consume him if it didn't find an outlet soon. "It wasn't Gabumon, Matt, so just shut up! You don't know!"

"Tai, you can't just-"

"Matt, you either go away or shut up right now, understand me? I won't be swayed on this, I won't!"

" . . ." The blond sighed heavily and looked away. He shook his head and walked past him towards the stands. He paused there a moment and turned. "Don't hurt him, Tai. You'll regret it."

"I doubt that."

The two boys stared at one another for a long chilly moment and then Yamato turned again, stamping up the bleachers like a sullen child. Tai stared after him with narrowed eyes before following after him. The others gathered up the digimon and slowly straggled up to sit with them after giving Daisuke all the encouragement he needed to go out and trash the former Kaiser-or at least to try.

They had all come out today. Jyou had skipped class, Mimi had traveled by Digiport all the way from New York, and Iori canceled his Kendo lesson. This would be the first time in over a year that they had last seen Ichijouji Ken. After the destruction of Wormmon and Kimeramon, the despot had reportedly staggered off into the desert never to be seen in the Digital World again.

The neo-kids, in fact all the Digidestined, were grateful that Ichijouji had vanished. What would they say? What could they say? There was a massive gulf between them, Yamato knew, and a large part of it was guilt-not just his guilt, but theirs as well. They had never faced a human enemy before and upon seeing the kids' faces when they got home-the tension around Hikari's mouth, the way TK avoided his eyes, the emptiness in Daisuke's gaze-the musician knew that seeing the once indomitable Kaiser humbled had proven that he was indeed human. And the knowledge that they had played a part in breaking down, crushing, another human being, worse-a kid just like them-was simply something too heavy for them to bear and digidestiny be damned. Ken's seclusion was a gift to them. All they ever saw was cool, calm, and collected Ichijouji Ken smiling for the camera, scoring goals, and being Ichijouji Ken as though he had never even heard the word "Digidestined." They needed the fiction and were more than happy to pursue it.

All except Tai, of course.

The original goggle boy had never forgiven Ichijouji for harming Agumon-he couldn't. But it was more than that of course. Yamato knew Tai like few other people did and it was simple for him to see that his friend had merely merged his frustration at being unable to protect Agumon, his guilt over their role in Ichijouji's breakdown, his happiness that the digimon were safe and probably some other emotions he was unaware of into this profound . . . preoccupation . . . with the dark-haired genius. Yama was at quite a loss.

It seemed that the only way for Taichi to return to his old self was for him to exorcise his demons. This exorcism would unfortunately involving beating the prominent Ichijouji Ken within an inch of his bloodstained, undeserved life. That would be very unsubtle. Not to mention the fact that Ichijouji himself was dangerously unpredictable. Plus there was no telling how much more his defeat may have affected his already tenuous grip on sanity.

Which brought them all to today.

Sora settled down next to Yama, a dark frown marring her pleasant features. "Well?"

The blond shook his head moodily. "I don't know what he's going to do, but it's not going to be pretty."

She made an odd hissing noise as she sucked the air in between clenched teeth. "Then do something to stop him."

"Like?"

"I don't know; you're his best friend. You think of something."

"I didn't know you were so fond of our little emperor."

The redhead cast him a scathing glance out of the corner of her eye. "It's not Ichijouji that I'm worried about. I've never seen Tai like this. It's just not like him."

The Child of Friendship shook his head and his blue eyes seemed to frost over. "Just let things play out, Sora. Trust him."

Sora glared at the field. "I do trust him, Yama, but I also don't want this to get out of hand. Ichijouji has his life and we have ours. We should just let well enough alone."

Yama set his lips in a harsh line and made no reply. The others all trooped up after boosting Dai's ego and sat down chattering about anything other than the soccer game. Taichi sat next to his sister and behind Yamato, where he wouldn't have to deal with the blonde's reproaches. The others were all aware of Taichi's opinions on the forbidden Ichijouji subject, but they said nothing.

By the time the game began, Yama had almost forgotten about the thick layer of tension beneath everyone's casual appearances. At least, he had until Tamachi took the field.

------------- & -------------

Ken flicked his hair from his eyes as he walked out onto the field. Coon was at his side absorbing all the attention he could by walking with the famous Ichijouji Ken. Ken had given the pale boy a flat look and called him a vapid twit, but they both knew that he didn't really bother him. In response to this, the Coon just laughed and blew the crowd kisses.

The Odaiba kids were already waiting for Tamachi to take their places and Ken was both pleased and disappointed to note that Daisuke was now on defense. He had hoped to face the leader of the Digidestined one on one.

"You up to this, mon Capitan-kun? Or do you wanna go back to the sidelines?"

Tanuki's scathing words earned him a sharp glance as Ken took his place as center. The white-haired boy smirked and sauntered off to the left to play forward, amused beyond words at the threat behind his friend's eyes. He was well aware that Ken both could and would hurt him badly if he ever pushed the genius too far, but it was simply too amusing to not push him.

"Mind you mouth and keep your eyes on the ball, Rat," Ken warned as he brushed his long hair from his eyes.

The Odaiba center, a boy with green hair and braces who stood two inches taller than him, stepped forward and gave Ken an appraising look. "So you're 'The Rocket,' huh?" The boy let his eyes trail over Ken's supple form again and snorted dismissively. "You don't look like much."

Tanuki heard the comment and a dark scowl flickered across his face. Some time ago, the white-haired boy had taken it upon himself to be Ken's unnecessary protector. This had only come to Ken's attention a month before the end of the last school term when Tanuki got hauled in front of the headmaster for beating an exchange student to a pulp. The argument had occurred entirely in English and Tanuki refused to give him the details, but Ken had later discovered that the student had thought it would be a good idea to spread some interesting rumors about Ken's sexual preferences and his relationships with certain teachers. Tanuki had quickly put a stop to that.

Ken had never mentioned the incident, nor had he made any attempt to modify or end the behavior. When all was said and done, he actually approved of it. It added to his reputation, further removed him from the student body, and-most importantly-kept him innocent of any wrongdoing. Plus, for reasons that he was unsure of and didn't particularly care to evaluate-it felt . . . nice. So he just let Tanuki do as he pleased. Now, though, the boy was eyeing the Odaiba center with a murderous glint in his eyes and the very thought of what would happen if the Coon got to make a move was nearly enough to send Ken into gales of harsh laughter.

The coach stepped between the two centers and began talking. Ken nodded his head where appropriate and caught Tanuki's eye. When the blue-eyed boy's gaze met his, a cruel smile danced briefly over the former Kaiser's lips-silent permission. The Coon grinned.

Ken extended his hand and the two boys shook. He made sure to keep his grip feathery and light and a benign smile fixed firmly into place. As it was though, he couldn't help but let a small amount of malice slip into his voice. "You have a good game."

The Odaiba boy sneered, a whistle blew, and Ken breezed past both the offense and defense before they could so much as blink. This was just too damn easy anymore.

Tanuki appeared to his left, unable to keep pace with his captain, but doing his best to keep his path clear. Ken sighed as he scored the first goal. His eyes flickered to the clock; 19 seconds-not his best time.

Where was Motomiya? He had been expecting a challenge.

Tanuki jogged to his side. "Looking for someone?"

"Motomiya," the dark-haired boy replied. "I had wanted a challenge."

"I've got him on my side."

A frown twitched at the edges of Ken's mouth. There was no way Tanuki would let the Digi-brat through if he could help it. He shrugged and jogged back to his place on the field.

One of Tanuki's eyebrows lifted as he caught the expression. "Problem?"

"No. Just keep their center off my back."

The other boy smirked. "Don't worry-he'll get his."

The two separated and Ken took his place. The whistle blew and Ken darted forward. A second goal was score, then a third. Daisuke's attempts to stop Ken from reaching the goal were always met by Tanuki's back or cleats, and more than once the captain of the Tamachi team watched his "worthy opponent" crash to the ground.

The second and third quarters passed in the same fashion until the score stood at 11: 0 with Tamachi leading. The Digidestined soccer player was practically gnashing his teeth when the teams split up for a timeout. If Ken hadn't been so bored, he would have found the entire situation extremely amusing.

"This sucks."

"Hmm?" Ken brushed a hand through his hair as he walked sedately to the sidelines.

Tanuki scowled. "If anything, from what I've heard, Odaiba's actually gotten worse since last year. I'm way faster than Motomiya and you're running circles around that kid with the green hair. This is embarrassing. Why don't they just quit?"

"Quitting has never been Motomiya's forte as I recall."

Tanuki gave him an odd look, but was interrupted by the coach's excited babbling. The man nodded his head as the two boys came to stand at the sidelines with the rest of their team. "Great hustle out there, boys! Keep it up! Motomiya is supposed to be their best defense, so I want you to keep the alleys clear and . . ."

Ken yawned and blocked the man's droning out irritable. He was starting to feel antsy-his head was beginning to ache and the old scars on his shoulder were tingling. For a moment he entertained the idea of shrieking at the top of his lungs, but he quickly shoved it aside. Consequences. He always had to worry about the damn consequences of everything. He frowned and wondered if he had had the foresight to bring a razor blade with him . . .

A flash of movement caught his eye and he turned a bit to stare at where Odaiba was huddled. Motomiya had detached himself away from the group and was gesturing wildly, pointing at himself and then at the green-haired center. Ken studied the boy for a moment, straining to catch a word-something was going on over there.

------------- & -------------

Taichi frowned as the light sparkled off of Ichijouji's hair. The boy was staring at Daisuke's team intently and the original goggle boy leaned forward, wishing he could somehow read what was going on in the Rocket's head. Ichijouji watched Daisuke for a moment and then turned back to his coach, gesturing for the team to huddle a bit closer.

"What are you up to, Ichijouji?"

"'Niisan?" Tai turned around to find his sister staring at him, a small frown marring her beauty. "What's wrong? Are you feeling okay? You look pale."

He smiled at her. "I'm fine, Hikari-chan. Don't worry about me. I was just wondering what Ichijouji was planning."

"What makes you think he was planning anything?"

Tai shrugged and smiled thinly. "He was just staring at Daisuke . . . I don't know. I'm probably just being stupid."

He turned back to the field and stiffened. The players had taken up their positions again, but now Daisuke was playing center against some kid with white hair and Ken was facing off with Odiaba's captain as left forward. Something in the pit of Taichi's stomach tightened . . . He didn't like this.

The whistle blew and Tai leaned forward again, eyes intent on the field. He tried to watch Daisuke, but always found himself drawn back to Ichijouji. The kid was fast-there was just no other way to put it. And he seemed to have the ability to make even wiping the sweat and dirt off his forehead look like a photographic moment fit to be printed in the next teen heartthrob magazine. He was small, too. Much smaller than he had appeared when he was swathed in all those layers as the Kaiser. Without all that extra clothing he looked fragile and almost dainty, like a porcelain doll-

"GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!"

The announcer's voice startled Tai so badly that the teenager nearly fell out of his chair. He eyes flickered to the clock and he blanched. There were only 58 more seconds left. When had he blanked out for so long?

Tamachi was now leading 14 to nothing and the Odaiba players looked like they all about to drop. The sky had begun to darken ominously and everything had turned a lead gray color, making the world look distant and washed out.

The teams were standing ready and the ball dropped between Daisuke and the boy with white hair. Daisuke moved forward and nearly tripped over himself when his opponent kicked the ball out from under him to the right forward. The right forward jogged forward, dribbling the ball protectively from his guard who was starting to get touchy-feely. He kicked the ball back to the white-haired boy who had actually faded back a bit instead of going forward.

Taichi watched his protégé try and play catch up with his opponent and scowled. It looked like the other boy was deliberately playing with Daisuke and, judging by Dai's increasingly anxious body language, it was starting to get on the darker boy's nerves.

The white haired youth suddenly stopped and kicked the ball directly at the green-haired head of the Odaiba left forward. The boy, who had almost been too busy trying to keep up with Ken to much attention to the ball, was so startled that he couldn't even dodge and got nailed right in the forehead. Daisuke promptly stopped and whirled around, stumbling over a teammate and took off towards the ball with the white-haired player at his side.

The green-haired boy scrambled to his feet just in time to see Tamachi players launch the ball towards the unguarded Ken who, amidst all the confusion, had managed to make his way half way down to the goal. Ken caged the ball neatly and headed towards the goal with most of the Odaiba players at his back.

The kid with the white hair cut in front of Daisuke sharply, almost knocking the goggle-boy down, and made a beeline towards the boy with the green hair. Daisuke sprinted to catch up with Ken and Tai narrowed his eyes in an attempt to locate the white haired boy again, but there were too many bodies on the field.

Ken kicked the ball hard, sending the plastic sphere soaring at the goal just as Daisuke stepped in front of him, knocking them both to the ground. A whistle blew as the ball slammed into the goal scant centimeters from taking the goalie's head off his shoulders and a tremendous groan seemed to leave the Odaiba side of the stadium.

The buzzer sounded and Tai sat back hard, feeling suddenly winded. The score was 15 to 0: Tamachi. Taichi closed his eyes and dropped his head into his hands tiredly. Dai must be so disappointed . . . People were starting to gather their things and leave.

"Hey, what's going on down there?"

"What?" He looked over to see Hikari leaning down to stare at the field. There was a large group of people huddled around the sideline near the 45. "What is that?"

Takeru looked over to him from the other side of Hikari. "It's the captain of Odaiba. He and some kid collided. I think he's hurt or something."

The older teen scowled slightly. "Let's get down there. I want to see what's up for myself."

------------- & -------------

Daisuke wiped the sweat of his brow and sighed. "15, nothing . . . Jun is never gonna let me hear them end of this." He squinted in the gray light and looked around for a familiar mop of indigo hair.

"Hey, Dai-kun! Oi! Daisuke!"

"Er?" The second-generation goggle-boy grinned as he saw one of his teammates jogging over to him. "Akugyuo! What's up? You look dead, man!"

Akugyou stopped and put his hands on his knees, his face red and damp looking. "It's Kuimono." The other boy looked up into Daisuke's eyes. "He's hurt, Dai. Real bad, I think. There's blood and-"

Daisuke looked across the field and saw a crowd gathering around the 45. He took off towards the gathering, leaving Akugyuo panting near the goal line. "Kui-kun!" He broke through the crowd and was surprised to see that the other Digidestined's faces among the crowd. "Kui!" He stopped short and felt his stomach heave at what he saw.

The green haired Odaiba center was laying on his back, his face an odd bruised green color and contorted in pain. The boy's left arm was twisted at a disturbing angle and the flesh was rippled and bruised and bunched in a way that was just . . . wrong. The jagged end of a broken bone protruded from a violent gash in his flesh and shined a wet unnatural white.

Daisuke felt bile rise up to his throat and swallowed hard. "Oh, God . . ."

Kuimono's eyes rolled back in his head. Two white garbed medical personnel emerged from somewhere behind Daisuke and pushed their way forward, yelling at the crowd to get back. People began to disperse and Daisuke turned away slowly to walk towards the Odaiba lines.

The goggle-boy nearly jumped out of his skin when a sharp slap hit his shoulder and he looked over in surprise as a white haired boy looped an arm over his shoulder and grinned at him. Daisuke blinked several times as he recognized the boy who had guarded him and kept him from Ken during the game.

"Uh . . ." He licked his lips uncertainly. "Hey."

The Tamachi forward flicked a strand of hair out of Daisuke's eyes gently. "Don't worry about him. He just landed all wrong. Some people don't know how to take a fall."

Daisuke looked back down to where the men were stabilizing Kuimono's arm to shift him over to a stretcher and winced internally at the sight of the blood.

"I'm Tanuki," the Tamachi player continued, oblivious to Daisuke's distraction. "We-"

"Did you see what happened?" the goggle boy interrupted.

Tanuki's blue eyes narrowed for a moment in irritation, but he quickly smiled to hide it. "Ah, yeah . . . He ran into me, actually . . . Right when Ken-kun scored a goal . . .should have paid more attention-"

Daisuke twisted out from beneath the other boy's arm, his skin crawling at the utter lack of concern in Tanuki's voice. He stared at him, horrified and nauseous all over again. "How . . ."

"Daisuke?"

Both boys turned to see Taichi and the other Digidestined hurriedly making their way towards the two. A scowl flitted over Tanuki's face and he pulled back slightly.

Taichi barely spared the boy a glance as he put a comforting hand on Dai's shoulder. "What happened?"

Dai opened his mouth, but Tanuki overran him. "An accident. Both myself and Kuimono-san were going for the ball and he tripped over me and fell."

Tai frowned suspiciously at the younger teen. "You play for Tamachi?"

The boy dropped a low, mocking bow. "Tanuki. Tanuki Minokichi. But my friends call me Coon."

Tai's dark eyes narrowed. "You friends with Ichijouji?"

A muscle in the Coon's jaw twitched. "As good a friend as he has in this world. Why?" He cocked his head to the side. "You know him?"

"Actually, I was looking for him." Tai smiled, a surprisingly hard expression on such an open face. "I need to speak to him."

A white eyebrow lifted slightly. "Ahhh . . . I'm afraid that that's just not possible. Ken-kun usually leaves early after a game to avoid the press. He's really surprisingly camera shy sometimes. He's probably gone by now, so you'd really be better off going home." Tanuki nodded to Daisuke then and gave the other soccer player a whimsical little half-smile. "Take care around Ken-kun, neh? It'd be a real shame if you took a nasty spill, an outstanding soccer player like yourself." The boy spun on his heel, cleats digging sharply into the earth and churning up the green, and walked back over to the Tamachi line where the boys were gathering up their things to go into the locker room.

Miyako blinked owlishly behind her glasses. "Well . . . that kid sure put the creep in creepy."

Hikari suddenly surprised everyone by throwing her arms around Daisuke's neck and hugging him close despite his sweaty, mud-stained uniform. "Good game, Dai! You played hard!"

The boy grinned foolishly, pausing only to stick out his tongue at a shocked Takeru.

Unnoticed, Yamato sidled up to Tai. "Well, you heard him, Tai-kun. I guess we should go home."

"Mmm-mmm." The wild-haired teen shook his head stubbornly. "He was lying. Ichijouji's still in the locker room. I saw him go in there when we left the stands and I haven't seen him come out yet."

Yamato frowned slightly. "You sure? I mean-"

His friend smiled wryly. "He's in there. Trust me."

Daisuke looked up at his mentor, his expression slightly strained. "You wanna wait around, Tai?"

"You guys may as well go home. It could take a while."

"And miss this?" Yamato's eyes hardened slightly. "I wouldn't miss this for the world. Besides, Dai still needs to change and shower."

Taichi chuckled and Takeru exchanged a worried glance with Hikari. Sora looked up. She wished that it would just rain already.

------------------ & ------------------

Chapter Four:

Kill the Child

Taichi and Fighting and . . . Kisses??? O_O;; Oh, my . . .

------------------ & ------------------

A/N: The chapter title "Cassant le Dôme du Verre de la Rose" is French for "Breaking the Glass Dome of the Rose" and is an allusion to the book Le Petit Prince written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. An online version of the book in the original French as well as in English, Slovenian, and Polish can be found here: http://galeb.etf.bg.ac.yu/mp/ .

------------------ & ------------------