Rating: PG -> PG-13

Warnings: [violence] [language] [het] [shounen-ai]

Pairings: Takeru/Ken, Ruki/Legolas, Daisuke/Juri, Lee/Takato, Ryo/Hikari & Iori/Shuichon (whew! ^^;; I think that's all of them...)

Notes: Ah, Takeru and Ken are... closer... in this than in the last. It's been a while since "Company", ne? But it's no big deal, really, still no lemony stuff of anything like that. Just kawaii scenes. ^-^

Disclaimer: Minna-san? Guess what! I bet you didn't know that I don't own Digimon or Lord Of The Rings! ^_~ Are ya' surprised? ... I didn't think so... hee, hee...

Digital
Chapter One: Mezamesaseru (Awakening)
by Senashenta

The sun shining through the curtains and onto his face was what woke Takeru up first. Squeezing his eyes shut against the light, he mentally cursed whoever had invented day. Then his conscience gently reminded him that God was the one who had invented it, and he changed his curse to be aimed at he or she who had invented sheer curtains, instead.

<I should get up, anyway.>

Sighing, he opened his eyes.

Next to him, Ken muttered something in his sleep and pulled the blankets over his head; his blue hair vanished under the quilt and Takeru chuckled to himself. Ken was not good with mornings anymore; he had been when he was younger, yes, but it was suspected that it was due to the Dark Spore being active. There were a lot of things he could do when he was younger that he couldn't do now that the damned Spore was inactive.

Mornings were just one of many.

Untangling himself from the other boy, Takeru climbed out of bed, careful not to disturb the bluenette. Once he was on his feet he stretched and yawned, then rubbed his eyes, trying to wake himself up; he wasn't very good with mornings, either.

<-and they don't get any easier as time goes on.>

With a shake of his head, he wandered over to the double-glass-balcony door -- the source of the curtain problem and also the offending light -- and squinted, his eyes twinging, before pushing the almost-curtains back. The door followed quickly, and- not caring whether he was in just his boxers or not- he stepped out onto the balcony.

Sharing an apartment with his brother had it's advantages; Yamato, being the lead singer in his band, The Teenage Wolves, wasn't home very often. They were currently on tour in France, promoting their first hit single, "Full Moon Friendship".

Yamato had written it himself, about both Gabumon and his Crest.

In any case, with the Keeper of Friendship out of town most of the time, Takeru normally had the apartment to himself. Though this time, Yamato had been reluctant to leave his younger brother at home when he went away...

...after the fiasco involving Middle Earth -- when Takeru and Ken had simply vanished for nearly six months -- no one was exactly jumping to leave either of them alone for any length of time... especially since neither the Child of Hope nor the Child of Kindness had been willing to talk at length about what had happened to them.

<Five months later, and they still don't know.>

In truth, Takeru and Ken had agreed that it was extremely doubtful that anyone would even believe their story, should they tell it. When they had sat down with Patamon and Wormmon, shortly after being returned home, even they had found what they had been through somewhat far-fetched.

<Somewhat?> Takeru snorted to himself, <try VERY.>

Leaning on the balcony outside, he peered out across Tokyo.

He had missed Tokyo a lot when they had been in Middle Earth. The simple things that he had taken for granted up until then had suddenly seemed vital. Running water, for example. How he had missed running water...

A sigh.

...and yes, he had been happy to get home...

...but he still worried about those they had left behind, and he knew Ken did as well. They had been pulled back home at a very bad time, and the friends they had made while there might not have mad it after they left.

And Ruki!

She had vanished just before them, and as with the people from Middle Earth, they had no idea whether she had made it home or not, or if she was safe...

<Yeah. I didn't like her at first... but even though she was a bitch, I guess she was my friend.>

He had missed Tokyo while in Middle Earth, and now that he had been back in Tokyo for a while, he found himself missing Middle Earth...

"Talk about irony." He snorted, muttering to himself, "I never thought I'd miss the fucking place." Then, shaking his head sadly; <I hope they're all alright...>

"Takeru?"

"Hm?" Turning, the blonde grinned at Ken, who was leaning sleepily on the doorframe; "hey Ken."

Ken, while he didn't exactly live with Takeru, did spend a lot of time there; especially now that they were an 'official' couple. Their friends in Tokyo -- having not witnessed the events in Middle Earth -- still didn't quite understand what it was that had brought them together, but their newfound relationship had been accepted with relative ease.

Hikari, of course, had thought it was absolutely adorable; Miyako had grumbled, but she had been crushing on Ken for as long as anyone could remember; Iori had, in his quiet way, said he thought they would be good for each other.

And Daisuke?

The goggled-boy had grinned from ear-to-ear and clapped them both on the back with a chuckle.

He obviously didn't have a problem with it.

The older Chosen Children hadn't been much different, either, though Yamato showed slight surprise. He had always thought that Takeru and Hikari would end up together, as if it was as obvious as he and Sora remaining together for so long.

But their parents... Takeru's parents hadn't been all that upset by his choice, only, as with Yamato, surprised. His mother and father, just like his brother, had assumed he and Hikari would be together. They hadn't objected, though.

It was Ken's parents who'd had all the objections...

And both Takeru and Ken preferred not to think about that.

The blonde raised an eyebrow; "sleep well?"

Ken yawned, stretching his arms above his head, "yeah, I'm still tired, th-" he paused and blinked, "Takeru..?"

"Hm?" Takeru blinked, "what?"

"Your... ears..."

"My ears?" The blonde repeated, "what about -- oh no. My ears? My ears!" Realization struck him, along with a horrible wave of deja vu, and his hands flew upward. Fingers encountered hair, then earlobe, curving into a small rounded point- "what the hell?! Ken-!"

The bluenette blinked slowly, still half-asleep. "Last time-"

"Shit. Shit!" Brushing past Ken (which had the effect of pushing the other boy back into the apartment), Takeru practically dove for the mirror that was mounted on the back of the bedroom door. "Well-" he said after a long minute of looking at his own reflection; "this is just fucking great." He ran a finger over his once-again-pointed right ear while his mind thought up a string of random curses that would have challenged even Daisuke's vulgar imagination. He scowled at the image before him... short blonde hair, Elven ears, his normal boxing shorts... Takeru sighed; his scowl became a frown, and then his frown disappeared as well. <I should be counting my blessings.> He thought sarcastically; <the whole time I was in Middle Earth before, I bitched about my hair. I may have the ears now, but at least my hair stayed the same.>

"Takeru, what-?"

Turning, the Child of Hope inspected his friend; Ken was wearing his normal sleeping clothes- a pair of blue pyjamas, long sleeves and pants. He didn't sleep wearing any less than would be appropriate on the street, should an emergency arise. His blue hair was mussed and his eyes were still half-cloudy from just waking up.

"Ken, turn your head."

"W-hat?" Ken asked.

"Turn you- ah, never mind." Reaching again, Takeru brushed Ken's semi-long hair out of the way. Sighing at the ears that the bluenette had also re-acquired, he shook his head. "What the hell? We're not even in Middle Earth-"

"We're Elves again, aren't we?"

"No shit."

Ken finally seemed to be waking up, and frowned. Stepping forward, he stood next to Takeru and peered into the mirror on the door. "Takeru-"

"I have no idea."

The bluenette hesitated, then; "are you sure we're not in Middle Earth?"

"Are you kidding me?" Takeru exclaimed, "what are you talking about?"

"I mean... is there any way... could the whole building have been transported, instead of just us?"

"..." the blonde gaped, then shook his head. "I doubt it. I was just outside, and Tokyo looked like Tokyo. At least what I could see of it."

"What should we do?" Ken asked, softly.

After a moment Takeru walked to the closet and, opening the door, looked inside at the cloak that was hanging in the corner. "I think," he said, fingering the leaf-like clasp of the cloak; "we should contact the others."

"-others?"

"Daisuke and everyone."

"If they're here?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying," Ken's lips compressed into a thin line, "if we're Elves, then this could be Middle Earth in some way, and-"

"Okay, okay. I get the point." Takeru's hand went back to his side and he looked away from the cloak. "We find out if they're here, and then we get together with them. I didn't see a difference in Tokyo," he shook his head, repeating what he had said earlier; "but you can't see the whole city from my balcony. Okay, you could be right."

Ken nodded silently, "I'll try the others on the D-Terminal."

"Good plan."

The bluenette set to work rummaging through the bag containing his personal possessions and then e-mailing everyone else via the D-Terminal; the Terminal was one of the pluses of being a Chosen Child. No one else had one of the special pocket-e-mail devices, and in the past they had worked even when computers couldn't be counted on. No one, not even Koushirou, was exactly sure how they continued to run day-in and day-out without batteries, but as long as they kept working, no one particularly cared. Although, Daisuke had at one point mentioned the possibility of the Terminals leeching power from their D3's or Digivices, respectively.

Everyone had been surprised by the amount of logic behind the observation, especially coming from Daisuke...

<If we're going to meet up with the others, we'll have to cover these ears.>

Takeru began to rummage through the contents of the top shelf of his closet, searching for something that hadn't been seen for several years- "Ah ha!" His hands found what he was looking for and he pulled the hunks of cloth down from the shelf. <It's been a while...>

The white bucket hats were the same as they had been when he was still wearing them, if a little faded. He almost chuckled at them. Smoothing out some wrinkles, he shook his head sadly; they hadn't been worn for years. He'd given them up shortly after the final battle in the World Of Wishes.

<-when my taste improved.> He snorted mentally; <what the hell was I THINKING-?!>

"Ah!" Ken said excitedly, motioning for Takeru to come over. "Takeru, I've got them!"

"Good." The Child of Hope replied, walking over to where Ken was seated, on the edge of the bed. The bluenette was pouring over his D-Terminal, furiously typing messages to the other Chosen Children. Standing over him, Takeru held out one of the hats he had retrieved; "here-"

"One second." Ken said absently, then, thinking out loud; "...problem... meet us at..." he finished typing and hit the 'send' key. "There. I managed to contact most of the others; Mimi's in America, obviously, and Sora's visiting her. We knew that, though. Yamato's in France, right? I couldn't get a hold of him. Same with Koushirou and Jou. They must not have their Terminal's handy, but Dai, Hikari, Miyako, Iori and Taichi are all going to meet us. I guess that means we really are in Tokyo, though-" he finally looked up, and blinked blankly at what Takeru was proffering. "So... what's this?"

"One of my old hats." Takeru responded, handing the hat to the Child of Kindness, who took it with evident confusion. Jamming the other hat onto his own head he explained; "if we're going to meet the others, we've got to cover these fucking ears."

"What's wrong with our ears?"

"They're bizarre," the blonde replied, "although I guess I'm glad we don't have the hair and braids this time-"

"I guess."

"So put the hat on already."

Ken sighed and smoothed the hat over his not-even-brushed-yet hair; "I suppose we don't want to scare the others away, right?"

"My thoughts exactly." Takeru looked toward the door and then back at Ken; "so-?"

"So what?"

"Where are we going?"

"The park near Odaiba."

"Good." A short nod; "let's go."

But Ken hesitated. "Don't we get to get dressed first-?"

~*~*~*~*~*~

Me: Okay, first chapter. Obviously a lot of setting up to do. Anyway, um... oh! Question! I heard somewhere that in the Japanese version, Mimi's Crest was Purity instead of Sincerity. Is that true? I need to know for the future chapters...

Takeru: I have a question, too!

Me: *blinkblink* What?

Takeru: What the hell do you have against my hats?

Me: I... um, nothing? *confusion*

Takeru: It sure seemed like it!

Ken: Takeru, calm down. Um, what's going to happen to us this time?

Me: *grin* Can't tell ya'! If I tell you, it'll ruin the surprise!

Ken: Good surprise or bad surprise?

Me: ... ^-^;; Ehe!

 

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