Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ These Fine Things of Heaven and Earth ❯ Kill the Child ( Chapter 4 )

These Fine Things of Heaven and Earth

By: Vain 10/16/2001-

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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.

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"For it must be noted, that men must either be caressed or else annihilated;

they will revenge themselves for small injuries, but cannot do so for great ones."

-Machiavelli

The Prince

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Chapter Four:

Kill the Child

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He walked out into the stadium, reveling in the peace and quiet. He could feel his digimon stir in the bag at his side and almost smiled. The sky was a leaden thing that hunched over the earth, rain lurking somewhere within its hulking depths, ready to drop at the faintest sigh of wind. It was oppressive outside: humid and thick; Ken loved it.

He wished that it had rained already. He wanted to feel the spongy mud squelch under his boots.

"Ichijouji!"

The Tamachi-born genius's head whipped over to the side in a motion so fast that it looked painful. He stopped and frowned darkly as he recognized a form detach itself from a hitherto unnoticed group of children. Who . . .? A Digidestined? What would a Digidestined want with him? Violet eyes narrowed as the group of children approached him tentatively-well, all except one approached tentatively. The one who had called him, one Yagami Taichi to be specific, looked anything but tentative. He was ahead of the others and moving as though every step was intended to raze the earth beneath his feet.

A shiver in his bag caught Ken's attention and the boy gently placed a hand on Wormmon that was both comforting and restraining. Now that he could see the other children clearly, it was obvious that all the younger ones had their partners with them and the last thing that Ken wanted was for this to turn into something that he couldn't control. He had absolute faith in both Wormmon and Stingmon, but he didn't want to risk his only friend in a conflict that was his and his alone.

A small face peered out at him. "Ken?!" the creature pleaded from his bag. He could smell the other digimon and the children's anger. He wanted out to help his partner. Ken already faced too much in life alone as it was; why should he suffer this alone too?

"It's nothing." The boy muttered to the digimon. He absently ran a hand along the bag to soothe his partner. "Relax, my friend."

"But-"

"You're my ace in the hole, Wormmon. They don't know that you're alive remember. You're also the only thing that I cannot afford to lose. What am I without you? Stay there. I can handle this myself. They are nothing."

"If it gets bad I'm coming out," the digimon warned.

Ken nodded and sighed faintly. It was no use arguing with his little rookie when he used that tone. That was the only thing different about his partner's personality after the reformatting: when it came to Ken's safety, the virus insisted that Ken do what Wormmon thought best. He was never pushy, but he had found out that guilt-tripping Ken was very effective. It was underhanded and manipulative, but he didn't care; it kept Ken alive.

Ken stopped and eyed the taller teen speculatively as he drew near. He made no attempt to hide his yawn and felt a small ache come from a new cut on his hip. The Digidestined stopped a little over a meter away from him, the others forming a loose semi-circle a small distance back.

"Ichijouji." Yagami grated out again. The older boy appeared to be seething.

How marvelous. It had been quite a long time since Ken had had some fun. This could prove to be most entertaining.

Ken laid the bag gently on the ground, put his arms akimbo, and allowed his lips to harden into a smirk. It was a distinctly unpleasant expression, something cruel and carved. Coupled with the utter emptiness in his eyes, it was actually quite frightening. Ken, however, was only aware of its affect, not its appearance. Either way, it wouldn't have really mattered to him anyway.

"Yes?" he purred, unaware of exactly how that purr sounded.

Yagami stopped about three feet in front of Ken, his face a bit too pale for the weather, and glared at the slender soccer star. "We have to a talk."

Oh, how cute! The little hero wanted a fight! This was just too utterly splendid for words. Ken had to fight hard not giggle, somehow knowing that that giggle would sound just a little bit insane.

He spread his hands wide in a magnanimous gesture in an effort not to clap like on overjoyed child with a new toy. "Talk away, hero." He could actually see Yagami grating his teeth. Delightful!

By now the rest of the little Digidestined posse had come and they stood a few feet behind their leader. The younger ones all looked confused, some of the older ones looked puzzled, and a few actually looked afraid. Now this was certainly a fascinating development. Perhaps today would prove to be useful after all. The digimon glared at him and shied away from his gaze in turns and Ken ignored them. It was Yagami, after all, who had wanted his attention; well now he had it. Now the only question was what he would do with it.

Ken waited patiently.

He most certainly did not expect Yagami Taichi to physically attack him. But attack him the older boy did and Ken barely had time to avoid falling on Wormmon's bag as he hit the ground. His eyes widened and he hit the ground with a thump and a gasp as the air fled his lungs. A hard fist connected with his stomach.

Ouch.

Another one was hitting his shoulder.

In about a half an instant Ken decided that this was not a particularly good situation for him to be in and grabbed Yagami's hands and jerked the older boy down closer to him. He smashed his forehead against Yagami's, sending his reeling. The smaller boy used the other's momentary distraction to roll over and switch their positions so that he was on top.

"Tai!"

"Somebody do something!!"

"Break it up!"

"Demi V-mon digivolve to V-mon!! V-head-"

"Spinning Thread!"

"Wormmon?!"

Yagami wrenched on of his hands free and yanked his opponent's long indigo hair, jerking his head back. Ken found a pressure point with his free hand and pushed down until the other boy saw spots. The Digidestined released his hair and the judo black belt jabbed him sharply in the solar plexus so that his victim gave a wheezing cry as the air left his lungs. "You are not in control!!" the bluenette hissed.

"Still doing his dirty work, virus?"

"Leave Ken-chan alone!! You don't understand!"

"TK! Daisuke! They're going to kill each other!"

"Don't you hurt my Ken-chan!"

"You bastard!" Yagami hissed through clenched teeth. "You bastard!!"

Ken growled something unintelligible and punched his opponent across the mouth.

With something that was like a shriek of rage, the older boy bucked sharply and Ken tensed his legs protectively. The instinct caused him to lose his balance and Yagami pushed him off and onto the ground. Ken flailed and twisted away as the wild-haired teen lunged for him. They collapsed together in a tangle of punches, kicks, and grunts.

It began to rain.

"Get out of the way, Wormmon!"

"We don't want to hurt him!"

"No! All people ever do is hurt him! I won't let you hurt Ken-chan too! "

"Can't you see he's using you?!"

"No, no, no!! You don't understand! Stay away from him!!"

"I've heard enough! Lightening Paw!"

"Boom Bubble POP!"

"Diamond Shell!"

"Spinning Thread!"

"Stop it, all of you!"

Ken's head snapped up and he froze when heard the digimon's attacks. Wormmon! Damnit! Why hadn't he been paying attention?! He shoved Yagami off of him with inhuman strength and propped himself up. Wormmon couldn't handle all those attacks and Tailmon was a Champion. "Wormmon!!"

A light pulsed in Ken's gym bag.

"Wormmon digivolve to . . . Stingmon!!"

The other children gaped as the enormous vaccine type insect leapt off of the ground, easily dodging the attacks. Ken sighed in relief-

And Yagami punched him.

"Ken-chan!"

The blow sent the smaller boy sprawling and he blacked out for an instant. When he opened his violet eyes Ken's arms were pinned above his head and Yagami sat down on his hips smirking in triumph. Ken tensed, helpless. Way to not focus, genius, he thought blackly to himself. He saw a shifting wall of forest green out of the corner of his eye, but didn't shift his gaze from Yagami's. He didn't dare.

"Stop, Stingmon," he ordered calmly.

His partner froze in mid air and every eye shifted to the two boys lying on the ground.

Yagami smiled like a viper. "Now who's in control, Kaiser?"

Ken ground his teeth and Stingmon released a low rumbling growl.

The brunette cocked his head to the side and his smile grew by the second. "Now, as I was saying, we need to talk."

"That's enough, Tai," a worried-sounding voice said from behind them. "You've proven your point, now just let him go."

"I told you to stay out of this Yama. I can handle this myself." His brown eyes never left Ken's purple ones and a shiver moved through the younger teen.

He was not afraid of Yagami Taichi. He was not afraid of anything . . . So then why did he feel like he was going to throw up?

Ken swallowed the stone rising up in his throat dryly. "Talk away, hero."

Yagami tightened his painful grip on the other boy's wrists and eyed him speculatively for a moment. He grinned at his victim manically and Ken felt another shiver crawl up and down his spine. "Okay."

Then Yagami kissed him. Hard. On the lips. And was that his tongue?

Ken's reaction was instantaneous. He froze solid and time just stopped. The rain, previously unnoticed, sounded like a thousand crystal glasses shattering. Yagami suddenly filled his senses: his scent was thick and sweet; he tasted like syrup and butterscotch; the little noises of their lips pressed together; the sound of the other children's surprise; the heavy gray of the thunderheads; the wind against his skin; the cold where the rain splashed on him; the heat where Yagami was pressed against him . . . Ken was on sensory overload. It only lasted an instant, but it felt like forever and then he was fighting like a cat. He twisted and jerked beneath the older boy's weight and struggled to free his bound hands, but it was all in vain. Yagami was just too damn strong and the more Ken fought, the more into it the other boy seemed to get into it. Bile surged up to his throat and his stomach lurched dangerously at that thought. He panicked and did the only thing he could think of. He bit Yagami.

Blood slipped into both their mouths and the older teen lurched back and yelped, his hands flying to cover his mouth. Ken took the opportunity to kick Yagami off of him, roll over, and retch painfully. Then he felt something that was even more terrifying than Yagami's kiss and retched anew. He was aroused. His vision clouded up and his stomach heaved until there was nothing left to come up.

Ken automatically wiped his mouth and raised haunted eyes to stare at the winded teen who lay a few feet away grinning like the Chestershire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. There was blood on his lips. His stomach lurched again and he scrambled to his feet, backing away. The logical part of his mind tried to regain control of his body, but his emotions were running rampant. He was shaking like he was going to fall apart and for some reason he really, really, really wanted to start screaming and sobbing hysterically and have a temper tantrum of cataclysmic proportions. He clenched his hands into fists to stop himself from tearing out his hair. He couldn't stop backing up.

"Y-y-you FREAK!!" Even his voice trembled. "You freak!!!"

Yagami only grinned.

Ken nearly screamed when he backed into something. It was Stingmon. The Champion's distress and confusion invaded Ken's already chaotic mind and he willed Stingmon back to his rookie form. The rest of the events of the afternoon were a blur, and all Ken could remember was scooping up his partner, grabbing his bag, and running faster than he had ever run in his life. He outran the Digidestined. He outran Wormmon's frightened pleas. He outran the aching in his muscles from the game and the fight. The only thing that he couldn't outrun was the throbbing need pooling between his legs. That fact alone was more than enough to make him run faster.

Somehow he ended up at home. Somehow he soothed Wormmon asleep. Somehow ended up playing that ridiculous game of run-around with his parents again. Somehow he even ended up showered and in bed by 12:30. He didn't know how though.

And to make matters worse, the minute he lay down the kiss flew back into his mind and he found himself instantly, painfully, hard. He recited the entire Periodic Table of Elements both forwards and backwards twice. He alphabetized his mental inventory of "The 107 Reason Why I Am Fucked Up Beyond Redemption" and then put all of the reasons in order by date. He made up and solved complex logarithmic functional equations in his head. Nothing worked.

It was 1:00 and he was still erect. He groaned in denial and squeezed his eyes shut.

His resolve didn't relent until 1:37 and even then he didn't dare touch himself. Instead, he closed his eyes and bit his lower lip so hard that blood flowed. Tears of shame, terror, and rage slid down his cheeks nonstop as he relived the kiss over and again. At 1:53 his hands, previously clenched into tight fists at his sides to prevent them from wandering, clutched convulsive at his sheets and his back arched. He choked back a scream. In his mind's eye all he could see was Yagami Taichi as he climaxed alone and untouched in the darkness of his silent bedroom.

It was 2:02 when he looked at the clock. Sleep was a long time in coming to Ichijouji Ken that night.

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Chapter Five:

To The Edge of the Sky to Escape

Taichi-kun is a wolf (metaphorically speaking), Ichijouji Rika makes a telephone call, and Ken has a lunchtime visitor.

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