Author's Notes: Look. I can still write a Kenmiya! Even if it's a tiny one. This idea just stuck in my head, and I actually managed to write this in just a couple days. It's nice to know I can still write for these two when inspiration strikes.
Elevation
When a child is barely able to be knee high to their parents, elevator rides are a truly wonderful experience. On par with an adult's idea of a loop-de-looping roller coaster. True, all they do is go up and down. But for a little boy or girl on a good dose of sugar, a machine full of shiny buttons to push is like manna from heaven.
But the simple pleasure of it goes away once a child grows old enough that the sudden jolt of rising doesn't make their stomach do that interesting flip flop. And soon, it becomes just another lazy form of getting from one floor of a building to another.
And so Ichijouji Ken found nothing special in the elevator that he was stepping into. The recesses of his mind had made note that this was the elevator in Daisuke's apartment, and a further mental note, much more important than the first, stated that everyone was probably waiting for him in his best friend's home.
They'd had a birthday party for the goggle headed boy, and in the middle of it had ran out of drinks. Unfortunately, thirst had eventually struck Ken, and so after getting some loose change from his sheepishly apologetic best friend, Ken had found himself going down to the first floor, the only place where the vending machine was working.
Now with a bitter, cold drink clutched in his hand, he found himself leaning against the grated walls of the elevator, waiting for it to shut.
"Ken-kun! Ken-kun, wait for me!"
The sudden shout of his name caused the boy's soccer reflexes to kick in, as he quickly jutted his foot out, successfully stopping the doors from closing. Looking up, he noticed a tall girl with long purple hair, and glasses that were shining in the lamplight running towards him. With a great huff, she slipped into the elevator, and the doors shakingly clamped together behind her.
"Miyako-san?" Ken blinked. "You're home early."
The gasping girl grinned, one hand weakly held up in a victory pose. "Yeah.
We just got home a couple hours ago. I guess my dad still doesn't get along
with grandpa too well. But this was the longest visit so far. So, it
wasn't that bad.
"Hawkmon was too tired to come," she yawned, and held up a package wrapped
in blue. "But I didn't want to miss Daisuke's birthday completely."
"He'll be happy to see you," Ken smiled.
"Me, or his gift?" Miyako giggled, then yawned again.
"Miyako-san," he began, concerned, "if you're this tired, maybe you shouldn't have come."
She waved his worry aside, head shaking. "No, it's okay. I won't stay too long. Just enough to say hi, drop off the gift, and grab some cake. Not necessarily in that order," she winked.
Ken laughed softly, and shook his own head. There were times when the older girl could seem so immature, even for her age. But there was a certain charm to it that he enjoyed. He secretly hoped she didn't change too much as they grew older. Miyako without her childish quirks just didn't seem right to him.
The ascending elevator suddenly made a strange, sputtering sound. Both children looked up, startled, as the machine began to jerk, and metal squealed in a high pitched frenzy. And then, it just stopped. Right there, between floors.
"It's stuck," Ken stated, almost wincing at the obvious assessment.
"Again?" Miyako wailed. "When will they get this thing fixed?" Without much energy, she kicked the door. The metal fencing shook a bit, but that was it. "Shoot."
Ken also tried, this time to a wall, and much harder. They had had the same problem with this elevator more than once. Daisuke had said that no matter how much the tenants complained, it never seemed to get fixed. A good kick to the side usually got it going again, though.
And so Ken kicked. A few times. However, it didn't seem like their usual means of problem solving was going to work this time around. Sighing, he turned to the button display panel. If he could take it off, it was possible that he and Miyako could figure out how to get it working. But he didn't have anything with him that could unscrew it, and as girlish as Miyako could be, he somehow doubted she had a nail file or the like on her. With a small scowl, he pressed the emergency button, knowing fair well that it probably wouldn't do much good, per usual with the landlord.
"It looks like we might be stuck here for a while," he said, sighing again.
"But, I don't want to be in here for the night!" Miyako whined, her exhaustion only slightly tempering her frantic disposition. Tilting her head back, she cried, "Someone! Anyone! We're stuck! Get us out!"
Covering his ears at his friend's sudden shrieks, Ken frowned. "Miyako-san, I don't think it's going to help. The elevator's next to the janitor's closet on each floor. I don't think there's an apartment quite close enough to hear us."
"They can't be that far away from us," she pouted. She tried a few
more times, even stomping up and down. All she did was cause the elevator
to shake enough to make her afraid that it would fall, even though Ken assured
her it wouldn't happen.
Finally, she yawned and leaned up against a wall. "Oh, well."
"I'm sure it'll start working again soon," Ken said, slightly doubting his own words. "It never does stay stuck for long."
"Yeah, I guess that's true," Miyako agreed, another yawn slipping from her lips. Her brown eyes began to flutter. "Maybe I should've stayed home."
"I told you," he scolded.
"Mmmm, you did," she murmured, her eyes half-hooded. "It wouldn't be so bad if I could've just said hi to everyone."
"Miyako-san, your house is about twenty minutes from here by walking," Ken pointed out. "I don't think you're up to that."
"Well, I would've called home for a ride," she defended herself. But her defense was crushed by another deep yawn.
"You'd fall asleep on Motomiya-kun's couch before your parents could get here," he grinned at her stubbornness.
"Well then, you'd carry me down to the car," the purple haired girl smiled slightly, "right, Ken-kun?"
"Eh?" Ken blinked, startled. A slow blush crept up from his neck, and he nervously tugged on his collar.
Miyako giggled tiredly, then tilted her head back. Her sleep filled eyes turned to him, and he made note that she wasn't really focussing anymore. Her eyes seemed to look past him. She appeared to be thinking about something, her lips moving in silence. She bit her lip finally, her cheeks dusted with a light pink. Ken guessed it was from fatigue.
"Ken-kun... " Miyako breathed. "Could I...? Would you mind...?"
He looked at her slowly crumpling figure, and understood. She just wanted to sleep. He didn't mind looking over her, until the elevator came on again. He didn't even mind having to carry her out, like she'd proposed.
Ken gave her a small, sympathetic smile. "Of course not, Miyako-san. Go ahead."
She smiled back, as she weakly pushed herself away from the wall. With a sigh, she placed Daisuke's gift gently on the ground. But then, instead of lying down herself, like Ken had expected, she stood back up. He watched, confused, while Miyako took the few steps needed to close the gap between them. Then, with yet another yawn, she simply collapsed on him, her head resting comfortably on his right shoulder. He was so shocked, his drink slipped from his hands, making a clanking noise as it hit the ground.
"Thanks, Ken-kun," she whispered, her breath tickling his neck. "You're so sweet."
Ken didn't feel too sweet at the moment. When Miyako had fallen on him, he'd instinctively wrapped his arms about her, trying to make sure she didn't just slip to the floor. Now however, his brain was beginning to kick in again, and it told him that this was not a normal situation.
Obviously, he had been mistaken before. Twice, no less. The first time by thinking Miyako had not been focussing. She had been; on his shoulder. The second time was by believing that she'd simply wanted to curl up on the ground. He really should've known better on that one. Miyako never was one to "rough it" if she could avoid it. A shoulder was much more pleasing than a cold, metal floor.
Somewhere in his startled mind, Ken made note that Miyako would not be so bold if she were fully awake. Even her forward manner had its limits. But he supposed exhaustion had all but destroyed them for her.
And so there he was, with a half sleeping girl in his arms, and his face beet red. It was a rather interesting sensation, given the fact that his modest side was making him feel horribly embarrassed, while his awakening hormones appeared to be having a coming out party. Dreadfully confusing, to be honest.
Miyako shifted a bit in his arms, and he could feel her glasses digging into his skin. Looking down in a slightly uncomfortable angle, Ken noticed them askew on her face. Again, two sides to him waged a silent little battle. One to just remain as stiff as a statue, too overwhelmed to move. The other wanting to get rid of the offending object, seeing as how they were digging into his chest painfully. Having them not making an indentation in his flesh overpowered the embarrassment of touching. Hesitantly, he lifted his left hand and removed them, before folding them up and placing them in his back pocket.
"Were they bothering you, Ken-kun?" Miyako suddenly murmured, not bothering to open her eyes.
"Eh?" He jumped a bit; he thought she'd fallen asleep like that. "It wasn't a problem, really. Miyako-san," he added, trying to sound more formal, and less nervous.
"Mmmm," was her reply, and she sighed against his neck. He really wished she didn't do that. It made thinking even more difficult.
To be truthful, the whole situation seemed surreal to Ken. And not just the fact that Miyako was wrapped in his arms. It was far more along the lines of what he was feeling that was unexpected. He'd never really thought about Miyako as anything other than a friend. At least, he didn't think he had. Sure, Ken thought she was pretty. How couldn't he? She was pretty. Then again, he thought Hikari was pretty, too.
But the more he thought about it, maybe he didn't put Hikari in the same category as Miyako. Hikari was more like he was; polite, shy, hesitant with feelings. Miyako was nearly the exact opposite. Her openness would sometimes leave him in awe. He'd never heard anyone else use the phrase "I feel," in the front of their sentences as much as Miyako did. Ken didn't know how anyone could be that in touch with their emotions, and be okay with letting everyone know about it. He'd always been afraid that his own feelings would be ridiculed, so he tended to keep them to himself. Miyako just never seemed to care about such things.
Even so... Ken never counted on his heart to try to burst clear out of his chest at this sort of situation. He didn't expect it to be so hard to breathe simply because Miyako was so close. And he certainly didn't foresee the smell of her hair to be so sweet to him. The whole thing made him light headed.
There was a long period of silence, where Ken found himself rotating between gently playing with the ends of Miyako's hair, and staring at the far wall with unfocussed eyes. The elevator was bound to get going soon, or maybe the others had finally realized that he'd been gone too long and were looking for him. Still, Ken didn't feel as eager to escape from his temporary prison as he had initially been. There were worse positions he could have fallen into, than one that was causing a firmly growing crush to develop.
"Ken-kun," Miyako whispered, breaking the silence.
Again, her voice startled him. She was so still in his arms that he wasn't expecting her to be awake. "Yes, Miyako-san?" he whispered back.
"I was reading something in a science book a week ago. It was really interesting," There was a tiny hint of excitement in her otherwise tired tone.
He decided to humor her attempt at conversation, even if it did seem like a weird topic. "What about?"
That was obviously the response she was looking for, from the small smile
that appeared on her face. "It was an article about the human heart. How it
functions; blood, oxygen, pulses. Normal, boring things. But there was this
small part about heartbeats that was really cool.
"Did you know that if two people are close to each other long enough, their
hearts begin to beat at the same time?"
Ken shook his head, beginning to become fascinated just by the sound of her wistful voice. "No, I didn't."
"Don't you think that's great?" Miyako asked, her eyes never opening,
head still resting on his shoulder. "I mean, when we Jogress with our partners
our hearts beat at the same time, too. But, it's only a means to an end.
It's just what happens during the evolution process. And we're so busy trying
to fight, it doesn't even cross our minds.
"But to hold someone so close for so long that your hearts become one...
Isn't that the most romantic thing you've ever heard?" She made a small,
happy noise that caused Ken's breath to catch. "It doesn't matter when you're
born, or your destiny, or about being chosen, or anything. As long as you
just keep the person you love close to you, it's like you become one person."
To hold the person you care for long enough to become one. Sharing the same heart... The same body... Suddenly, the elevator seemed far too small to Ken. He didn't think he was breathing anymore, and he forced himself to take oxygen into his lungs. His heart was beginning to speed along at a pace he wasn't familiar with, and he found himself wondering if Miyako's was doing the same. He needed air; his face was on fire.
"Ken-kun," she murmured, the excitement still there. "Don't you think that's great?"
"Un... " his voice caught for a moment. He swallowed, despite his now parched throat. "Y-yes."
Miyako made an odd sound that seemed to be caught somewhere between a sigh and a giggle. With a dreamy smile on her serene face, she settled even more against him, and Ken felt his arms instinctively hold her tighter. His heart was beginning to slow down to a normal pace. He could feel it calming, going along at a rate that was actually a little slower than he expected. Almost like it would if he was sleeping, only a bit faster. And then his eyes widened.
It was beating in time to Miyako's. A nice, steady beat that he could clearly hear in his ears, and feel against his chest. He found himself focussing on the sound. He couldn't tell where his heartbeat ended and hers started. They were precisely in rhythm with each other. His eyes fluttered closed, enjoying the strangely tranquil sound. Two hearts... No, one heart...
He relaxed, leaning his back against the closest wall, his grip on Miyako slacking just slightly. No noise emitted from the small elevator for minutes, the occupants too absorbed in listening to something no one else could hear.
The silence was suddenly broken when the elevator jerked back to life. It shook, and grumbled like an old man who'd just been woken from a long nap. Miyako and Ken lifted their heads, as it began to noisily ascend to its original destination.
"We're moving," Miyako stated the obvious. With a small yawn, she pulled away from Ken.
"Looks like it," he agreed, feeling cold and disappointed with her no longer near him.
She knelt down, her hand fumbling blindly for her gift. Smiling, Ken pulled out her glasses, and handed them to her. She grinned her thanks, and slipped the spectacles on. Taking the present from its resting place, she stood up and stretched her weary body, a move that made Ken stare longer than he knew was appropriate. Blushing, he tore his gaze away from her.
The elevator practically cracked when it stopped at Daisuke's floor, the doors creaking open as if in defiance. The two children stepped out to freedom in the far less noisy hallway. The elevator doors shuttered closed, and they watched as it slowly sputtered down. Both made mental notes that, regardless of how far up they were, taking the stairs down was how they were going home.
Ken turned to the older girl. "Shall we go, Miyako-san?"
"Mm hm," she smiled, lifting her glasses for a second to rub her still sleep filled eyes.
With a sudden burst of energy, Miyako spun away from him, walking toward Daisuke's apartment. Ken followed, finding himself enjoying how the florescent lights of the hallway reflected in her hair. She made an abrupt stop just a few feet away from their destination, and Ken barely stopped himself hitting into her.
"Ken-kun?" Miyako turned her head to him, biting her bottom lip.
He tilted his head, curious. "Yes, Miyako-san?"
Her cheeks tinged pink, and she blinked rapidly, nervously. "What you did in the elevator... Th-that really was sweet of you. I hope I didn't do anything I shouldn't have."
It was his turn to blush. A sheepish smile appeared on Ken's face, and he literally tried to wave her worries aside. "N-no. Of course not, Miyako-san. You were tired, that's all. I didn't mind at all." That just made both of them redden. "Really."
"Well, okay then," she nodded, turning away.
Miyako reached the door quickly, trying to discreetly fan her warm face with Daisuke's gift as she reached to knock on the entrance. She managed to hold back a gasp, when Ken's hand reached from behind her to simply turn the knob. But, instead of opening the door, he just held the knob, his body completely still. It was unnerving.
"Miyako-san," he whispered, lips not that far from her ear.
"Yes?" she replied softly, somehow unable to turn her head to him.
There was a pregnant silence following her tiny question. Finally, Ken sighed, and shifted his weight so that he was leaning forward and could just see her profile out of the corner of his eye.
"...You have a nice heartbeat."
"Huh?" Miyako blinked at the statement.
But it was too late. Ken had immediately swung the door open and stepped inside. Their friends greeted them enthusiastically, Hikari practically pulling her Jogress partner inside. The party continued on, with some questions as to their whereabouts. But that quickly disappeared once Daisuke noticed the present in Miyako's hands.
However, after ripping open his final gift with his usual energy, the goggle boy did pull his best friend aside to ask why he looked so red. The question caused the indigo haired boy's color to deepen, and made Daisuke even more confused. And even more confusing was the only explanation Ken had been willing to give.
"Elevated heartbeat."