"Ken-kun? What's he doing here?" Miyako said and blinked owlishly at Ken.

"I'm going to use another gate to get back to my room, pick up Wormmon, and return here," Ken said.

"Okay...but how'd you get here in the middle of the day?" Miyako said.

"The Dark Ocean," Daisuke said. His eyes flashed. "Do you have to ask so many questions?"

"The Dark Ocean?" Miyako repeated. "it's still after you?"

"The Dark Ocean is persistent..." Hikari said and shivered. Takeru placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. She looked sympathetically at Ken and Ken inclined his head at her. The preternatural chill had set in and the ocean roared in his ears. He sensed a growing distance between himself and the others. Daisuke stepped closer, standing at Ken's back, and held up his Digivice.

"Digital Gate, open!" Miyako announced.

"What about Iori?" Hikari said.

"Oh...right," Miyako said, smiling chagrined. "I almost forgot about him, in the excitement of having Ken here."

"And we really have to be all together before we talk about Hikari-chan's dreams and Ichijouji-kun's problems," Takeru said.

Ken glared at Takeru with a look worthy of the Kaiser and Takeru glared back. He didn't know why, but the blonde haired boy was getting under his skin too. Daisuke paced to the door and Chibimon hopped out of his backpack to rest on his shoulders. Daisuke checked his watch and tapped his foot.

"C'mon, Iori," Daisuke muttered.

They lounged around the computer room. Takeru and Hikari walked off to have their own little discussion, Daisuke watching with eyes narrowed, and Miyako sidled closer to Ken. She smiled at him and his lips twitched. With no warning, she raised her hand to his cheek and traced Osamu's claw marks.

"How'd you get those?" she said.

"Would you prefer the long story you'll get when I tell you later, or the shorter version now?" Ken said.

She scowled. "Depends. Which one is the truth?"

"They're both the truth," Ken said. "But one version is more correct than the other."

"And which is the version you think I'd most like to hear?" she said, narrowing her eyes.

"I can't speak for you, Miyako-san," he said politely.

"Argh," she said. "You don't always have to be this polite!"

"Tell me about it," Daisuke muttered. "He's like this even when passing notes."

Ken sat down and looked at the computer before him. Daisuke and the others had used it countless times to enter the Digital World, and, in the past, it had been their entry point to attack him. Had he known about it as the Kaiser, he would have blocked it off. He didn't think the children had another. Strategically, it made sense. Ken's head ached. Thinking about what he might have done as the Kaiser brought back half memories and sent the Dark Ocean crashing over him headlong, leaving him shivering and sputtering like it really had almost drowned him.

"Ken!" Miyako exclaimed. The Dark Ocean rose again and then faded, like it had never been. Takeru eyed Ken suspiciously and Daisuke automatically moved closer to him, yanking him to the door with him.

Daisuke's hand was abnormally warm on Ken's wrist and the shorter boy had neglected to remove it, sending heat trickling along Ken's cheeks and throughout his body. The other boy seemed utterly unaware of his influence; he stole glances along the corridor and glared at the walls. Ken swallowed hard, remembering as if from another world the Kaiser's obsession with Daisuke. The darksided compulsion to own and dominate a person, to make them utterly his and leave no room for independence, no room for someone to dare steal him away. The visceral sensation made his stomach knot and he grabbed Daisuke's wrist. Daisuke glanced back at him before growling and dashing out into the hallway. Since Ken was holding one wrist and Daisuke was holding the other, this led to the dark blue haired boy being dragged out too.

"He knows we're supposed to leave now," Daisuke muttered.

"Is he normally late?" Ken asked.

"He is sometimes," Daisuke said. "He should know better. This is important." 

"Maybe you could text him?" Ken suggested.

"Iori," Daisuke said, drawing air quotes and releasing him. "Get your butt up here!"

Ken rolled his eyes and stared through the window. It looked over the courtyard and the bright sunshine didn't touch him. He felt clingy and useless, trying to leech off Daisuke's goodness because he was falling headlong into the darkness again. He didn't feel like he had an adequate protection against it. Wormmon was good and kind hearted, more so than his partner, but he wasn't enough on his own.

Ken wasn't good enough on his own either.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Iori huffed and stared up the stairs at him. He blinked at Ken. "What's Ichijouji-ken doing here?"

"It's a long story," Daisuke said. "Are you coming or not?"

"I am!" Iori said and, with Upamon shoved under his shirt, it looked like the nine year old was carrying a baby. Ken stared at him and Iori inclined his head in acknowledgment when he reached the top. Not stopping to wait for the younger boy to regain his breath, Daisuke whirled back into the room and left Iori and Ken staring at each other. The coldness in Iori's eyes spoke volumes and Ken stiffened, hands drying out. Iori walked slowly, never keeping his back to him.

"Now that we're all here, let's go!" Miyako said cheerily.

"I want to know why Ichijouji-kun is here," Iori said.

"Didn't he tell you?" Daisuke said. "He's going to be going to school with us soon! And he wanted to get a head start!"

"You're going to school here?" Iori said coolly.  "Isn't it an hour away from your apartment?"

"I wanted to be with everyone else," Ken said.

"You're going to school here?" Miyako said and grinned from ear to ear. "So we'll get to see you before we see you in the Digital World! And show that Dark Ocean who's boss."

"If HIkari-chan's dreams are right, it looks like the Kaiser will be showing everyone else who's boss," Takeru said darkly.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Takaishi," Daisuke snapped. He smiled. "I think Ken can beat the darkness back and still be with us, because he's a Chosen Child and he's meant to be with us."
...