Story Title: Trial By Ice

Disclaimer: Still don't own Digimon 02.

Author's Notes: After a long hiatus, I'm finally writing again for the Kenyako fandom and I have missed writing them. I haven't actually even read a Kenyako fic in a year and I was surprised to see a handful had appeared in that time. There's still some life kicking in the Kenyako section and here's one more...

Any and all mistakes in depicting how to learn to ice-skate are my fault, seeing how I don't know how to skate myself. Admittedly, this story is old but I saw no reason to squander the time and effort already put into it by not posting it. I hope readers can find some enjoyment out of it.

Due to the length of this oneshot, it was split in half and became a two-shot. Part 2 will come soon after a much-needed rewrite. Thank you for reading.

-o-

Chapter One: What Ken Will Do For Love

-o-

Six in the morning, dawn had yet to officially break and on the first public bus to nearby Odaiba, Ken laid his head against the chilly, frost-paned window and tried not to fall back asleep. So far, he was succeeding in that endeavor, though his hastily eaten breakfast pitching from side to side helped him out a little.

Ken counted the lit streetlights across the road as the bus passed by each lamp's soft orange glow to keep his mind active and alert. Normally he'd be in his bed in Tamachi until seven, but he was following a new morning schedule this week so he was up and on a bus before daybreak. The reason why was simple and universally understood by every eleven-year-old boy who ever had a crush:

There was a girl and he had to impress her.

Her name was Miyako Inoue and what seemed like a long time ago, she had a crush on him but at the time Ken had issues, major issues, and wasn't a very nice person. But that was then and this was now and now that Ken had reverted to his true good nature and was on the straight and narrow road to mental health and piecing something resembling a self-esteem inside himself and discovered that he liked what a smart, funny ball of energy she was, Miyako just wanted to be friends.

Of course if they were meant to be just friends, Ken understood but he didn't want to be just friends. He liked her, really liked her, and he wanted to go out on a real date with her, not just hang out together. She used to really like him too and he hoped she still did.

Arriving at the indoor rink, Ken set his schoolbag and skates (well, they were actually Osamu's old pair but they fit Ken well enough) atop one of many blue and white tables situated outside the ice and waited for his teacher to arrive. All of the other Chosen Children knew how to ice-skate and were more than willing to teach Ken, feeling lucky his friends were so generous and insistent on helping him out.

"Morning, Ken! Ready to skate?" Sora cheerfully called as she made her way over to him.

Through familiar ties, Sora had gained permission for them to come and practice as early as they wanted. For that, Ken was appreciative. Despite the early rise and bus hopping, Ken was happy to be able to practice in private. At least then no one else could see his successes in failure and he wouldn't get in anyone's way this time. His first lesson with Takeru last Saturday had been during regular business hours and had been, politely speaking, a disaster.

Reasonably, it was a little chilly inside the building but Sora in her green school uniform didn't seem to mind while she put on her white skates as Ken waited shivering in his gray school uniform and black skates and he wasn't even the one in the pleated skirt. It was also quite possible his shivering had nothing to do with the chill and all to do with looking like a fool again out on the ice.

Sora smiled—she was definitely a morning person—and said, "Let's head over and get started, okay?"

Ken nodded and followed. "Thank you… Thank you for helping me learn how to ice-skate. Please forgive me for being a bother and inconveniencing you but I do feel as if this is the only chance I have to show Miyako how I feel. For your help, I am eternally grateful and I promise one day I will repay your kindness." He finished his thank-you with a quick bow.

At that, Sora laughed. "Ah, no need to be so formal. I'm happy to help. Just do your best and win Miyako's heart," she said and winked, making Ken's ears pink and warm.

And then, Sora glided onto the ice. Of course, her transition onto the ice was natural. "Takeru got you started, right? Show me how far you got with him."

So impressed by Sora's skill, Ken hoped he could mimic her and that alone would grant him her ability to skate. But, of course, as he made his transition, reality stepped with him onto the ice.

Ken stood in the gateway and tried not to fall, one steady hand gripping the edge of the rink gate for balance. His legs were quivering, and not because he was cold, and Ken hovered his other hand over the other side of the gate, in case he suddenly needed to take hold of it.

"Okay, what did Takeru show you?" Sora called from the center of the rink.

"This." As his feet slipped apart, Ken lost focus and stood in the open gate holding the rink wall with both hands for support. "We got to this."

"Oh…" Sora said, her shoulders drooping as she saw his apparent level of skill (or lack thereof). "You really don't know how to skate at all, do you?"

She quickly skated over to him and helped him hold himself up.

If Ken was going to learn how to skate, he had to first learn how to stand on the ice, without the assistance of a terrified death-grip on the walls, and to get out of the gate, of course. Both seemed like distant hopes to Ken but that was what Ken was here for—to learn.

"It's all a matter of balancing on the blade's edge," Sora told Ken.

Well, okay, except Ken's legs were as sturdy as Daisuke's french fry tower after Veemon, Hikari, Miyako, and Yamato—well, pretty much everyone—had picked through it and Ken wasn't finding his balance. Ken told himself to find the middle but he was also pretty sure the middle didn't exist. If it wasn't for Sora and the other Chosen Children and thousands of others contradicting otherwise, Ken would have believed ice-skating was simply a made-up prank and could not be done.

Ken held on and tried to stand on the ice while Sora kindly gave support, both physical and verbal, and kept him from falling. Time passed and Ken started feeling as if he had possibly, maybe found his balance…and then the last of his stamina faded. Ken's knees knocked together and his skate's blades tilted away from each other and dug into the gate.

"It's okay. I've got you, " Sora assured and held up his slipping frame until she pulled him out of the gate.

Ken pressed his back against the rink wall and slid himself to a seat on the floor. He really did not have the strength to do anything else. His arms and legs were shaking and his heart pounded. He really was completely graceless and absolutely useless out on the ice. His face burning, Ken bowed his head and let his hair curtain over his face in what he hoped was not a too pointless attempt to hide his shame from Sora.

Catching the time from a clock above the skate rental stand, Ken marveled how late it already was. And yet they had accomplished nothing.

Ken slumped over and stared at his worthless noodle legs. "Sora, what if this is futile? Maybe I can't learn…"

"Nonsense, it's only your second time on the ice," Sora said, smiling beside him.

Ken wasn't sure if her smile was genuine or she was simply trying to be comforting. Either way, he didn't feel any more confident. If anything, he wanted to bow to her and apologize profusely for wasting her time.

The alarm on her watch chimed. Sora shut it off and began removing her skates. "Everybody's awkward at first. Give it time. It's only Monday."

That's right, Ken thought as he untied his skate laces. I have several more days of this. More days of looking like a fool. More days to fail.

Sora laid her hand on Ken's shoulder and the touch drew Ken out of his thoughts. He turned and met her gaze. At her bright, encouraging smile, Ken could not help but offer back his own weaker, less-confident but nonetheless hopeful smile.

…Though I suppose…I have more days to succeed.

-o-

Because of his commute, his morning lessons only lasted for one hour. Ken had thought he had planned out the timing between the bus routes to Odaiba and back to Tamachi and to his school perfectly, but he supposed he had failed in calculating possible traffic delay at all and he supposed he was also foolishly optimistic in believing that nothing would ever throw the bus schedules off. In the normal world, nothing usually would.

But since Murphy's law was in full effect this morning, there had been a delay and Ken had missed his usual bus to school and was left with no other choice but to board another and get off as close as possible and run the remaining distance like Kuwagamon were on his tail.

And so after running all that way and suffering through a series of cliché comedic mishaps, Ken arrived at school fifteen minutes late, shocking his teacher and fellow classmates as he rushed into the classroom and to his seat, readily giving out-of-breath apologizes for his tardiness.

His face was vividly red and sweaty and his violet-blue hair was messy, sticking out at all angles, dripping wet, and randomly streaked with bits of sweet potato paste he had failed to clean off. He was so unlike like their perfect genius, Ken wondered, with all their staring, if they thought he was somebody else.

Since counteracting the effects of the Dark Spore, in a sense Ken was somebody else. He had left the soccer team and, though he remained very smart, he still had to study to maintain his grades. It was more of an act of reassurance than a necessity. In between classes, he still kept to himself, more out of shyness than arrogance now, but when his classmates did approach him, he was happy to talk and help out if they asked him. The old him would never have bothered, unless it would have ultimately served to his benefit.

Parts of him were unchanged, some parts had changed, and other parts were the same but different. He certainly wasn't perfect anymore. No, that was certainly not true anymore.

-o-

Modern Japanese and mathematics over, Ken sat through history particularly distracted from today's lecture about the Tokugawa Shogunate and instead wrote down Takeru and Sora's advice. Skating is easy, once you get the basics. Don't be afraid of falling. Try your best. Ken paused in thought, tapping the mechanical pencil eraser against his bottom lip. Before they had parted ways, Sora had given him what he thought was the best motivation possible. Graphite hit the page, spelling out—Remember why you're doing this.

Ken stared at the kanji and hiragana headlining the top of a fresh note sheet. At first he underlined only 'why' and then changed his mind and underlined the whole sentence. Of course, he knew why he was learning to skate.

Miyako, he wrote in katakana on the next line.

It had taken Ken forever, at least it had felt like forever, to gather the nerve to ask her out for this Saturday when everyone was over at Daisuke's last weekend. Fate had not necessarily waited for him and Ken and Miyako had somehow found themselves alone together, though the coincidence honestly reeked of an internal conspiracy.

The plan in his head had not gone as followed—they never did in such situations, Ken had learned—but somehow Ken had made it through relatively unscarred and still breathing and Miyako had said yes and had given him such a broad smile in return.

It wasn't really a date though, just two good friends hanging out, but Ken hoped he could change her mind and their relationship.

Ken continued writing. Miyako is… He finished the sentence and filled the page, pausing only to click more lead into the pencil tip.

"Ichijouji," his history teacher, a stern man who in his recent youth had served in the Japanese Defense Force and ran the class like he had never left, called on him. "Read to me what you have in your notes."

His history teacher had a nose for inattention, or more accurately, the ears. He could discern through his class's pencil scratching and hear which students weren't writing his lecture from the steady rhythm of those that were. Somehow, he was always right.

Ken stood up from his seat, holding his open notebook in front of himself, and stared at his hiragana and kanji marks as if it was Arabic. Maybe that was the key to freedom, he considered. Maybe he could explain to the teacher that he had inexplicably forgotten how to read. Maybe claim he was having a stroke…

Ken groaned to himself. He was thinking about playing stupid with the sternest teacher in his school—it was a better idea to save his teacher the time and throw himself out the door.

"Ichijouji," his history teacher repeated, impatience growing swiftly in his voice, "…your notes."

Ken swallowed his breath, took one last look up, and as his notebook shook in his hands, read aloud, "Miyako is Love. Sweet, honest, unpredictable, lively Love—"

Fate took pity on Ken and made his teacher brusquely end his embarrassing personal ramblings, keen observations, and saccharine, poorly written love poetry to Miyako, which Ken would fully admit to how bad it was but it was for his eyes and heart anyway, and ordered him into the hallway.

"Yes, sir..." Ken, his head bowed and face once again blazing red, thankfully made a quick beeline to the door as he ignored his surprised classmates' smirks and giggles.

Today's lesson learned: Being honest was sometimes the more shameful path than to flat out lie.

-o-

Sora said to come back to the rink at four for more practice. Ken was nervous and all because this lesson would be during business hours. Ken did not have good experience practicing during business hours. He knew he was pathetic and he didn't want to be seen, and he certainly didn't want to be made fun of again. But he wanted to learn and had to learn and the only way he would learn was if he practiced. Which included in public.

Bus-hopping complete, Ken headed inside the skating rink. His arms and neck were still sore from holding buckets of water at his sides and one atop his head outside his classroom for the rest of his history class. Ken made a mental note to never get in trouble fifteen minutes into class. It only resulted in a thirty-five minute punishment.

Ken was quickly out on the ice again. Blocking one of the gates, that is. With all the stares and murmurs, he struggled to keep focused and apply Sora's lessons into practice. Thankfully, Sora was patient with him. About none of the other skaters were. They watched him and regarded him as some little, in-the-way nuisance whose inept ability at skating was an insult to behold and Ken had to agree they were right.

Ken heard laughter and his cheeks and ears instantly turned pink. He tried reasoning to himself that most people who can skate would find enjoyment out of the activity and thus laughter was normal and expected. But Ken couldn't convince himself that the laughter came from people having fun. No, he was certain every smile, every giggle, and every point was directed at him.

Sora was a great teacher though. Without her, he would have given up in a minute, fallen on his backside a few times, and left in a shameful hurry if he was on his own. She had never stopped encouraging him and kept him focusing on his skating or, if he preferred, on her and told him to ignore the jeers.

And by the end of the lesson, Ken was standing in the gate without support.

It wasn't much of a victory but it was something of a victory for Ken.

-o-

It was Tuesday afternoon and Ken was once again at the skating rink during business hours. And despite the early rises and bus waltzing, Ken still preferred the morning lessons to being seen during his afternoon.

"Okay, let's take a break," Taichi said, helping Ken inch back along the rink wall to the gate. "Not bad, Ken. You're getting better."

"I am?" Ken said, surprised. "I can't tell…"

"At least you're moving now," Taichi said, trying to keep Ken positive.

Ken's ability to move now on the ice basically consisted of Ken stepping (not gliding) inch by inch along the rink wall with one hand against the wall and the rest of him fully supported and watched over by Taichi.

He had only met Taichi a few times and mostly knew about him from Daisuke. He had been nice enough to volunteer to help teach Ken how to ice-skate while Sora had tennis practice. And as for why Takeru, Daisuke, Hikari, or Iori wasn't out there teaching Ken, the reason was simple—someone always had to be on duty to keep Miyako occupied and oblivious to Ken's lessons. Miyako could not find out. It would spoil the date if she did and Ken did not want to do anything to jeopardize his chance to make Miyako his girl.

"I'm just really nervous," Ken said as he and Taichi sat down at a nearby table. "It's the first time I've ever been out on a date."

"Ah…" Taichi nodded in understanding. "Everything's new and uncertain. You want things to go right so you try and be perfect so everything will go right because you know that when something does happen, you'll be helpless to stop it."

Ken leaned forward and listened to Taichi. After all, he was his senior and clearly knew more about girls than him. Before befriending Miyako and Hikari, the summary of Ken's knowledge of girls consisted of that girls were not boys, they tended to travel in packs, and they tended to smile and giggle a lot if Ken tried talking to them.

Of course, thanks to Hikari and Miyako, his knowledge about girls had expanded, became more detailed, sometimes downright overturned itself, and regularly befuddled him. Girls weren't easy to figure out, even for a genius like Ken. Miyako, in particular, was confusing to Ken but that was one of many things he liked about her. She kept him on his toes, kept him thinking.

"Thing is…" Taichi went on, "if you try to be perfect, you're more likely to mess up anyway because you're so rushed to open a door for her or jumpy to hand her something, so there's no point in acting perfect. You're not perfect, Miyako knows that, and she's not expecting you to be. It's best to take everything in stride and be your best self, awkward parts and all. That's what I've learned. I guess it's not much but it's all I know about dating. I hope it's helpful."

"It is. Thank you. …Though technically we're not going on a date," Ken said, dropping his gaze to the floor as he pushed imaginary fuzz off his uniform sleeve. "It's more like two good friends hanging out together."

"Those are her words, not yours, I presume?" Taichi said.

Ken's eyes widened in surprise at how intuitive and spot on Taichi was as he looked back up at him but catching himself, he quickly canted his stare back down.

"Real dates really aren't that different from hanging out," Taichi said. "Maybe that's why she explained it to you that way so you wouldn't get nervous or think you'd have to act overly romantic just because you're on a date. "

"I don't know…" Ken said. "Just hanging out doesn't sound all that romantic to me."

Taichi grinned. "You'd be amazed at what constitutes as a 'romantic' date for some girls."

"That is true," Ken said, nodding, "but I don't think Miyako meant Saturday to be a date."

"Hmm…" Taichi paused and peered up in consideration for a moment. "I wouldn't lose hope yet. She did invite just you. If she really wanted to just hang out as normal, she would have invited the others as well."

He has a point, Ken realized. Ken perked up. "You think so?"

"I'd feel comfortable wagering on that," Taichi said confidently. "I know that Hikari has no plans on Saturday."

"She's going on a date with Take—" Ken, immediately realizing his slip, quickly covered his hand over his mouth.

From the way Taichi slid his stare over and smiled, Ken knew he had definitely goofed. Taichi shook with quiet laughter. "It's okay. I already knew," he explained, resting a hand reassuringly on Ken's shoulder. "Big brothers have their way of finding out their little sister's dates."

And from Taichi's tone of voice and his smile, Ken could tell Taichi planned on giving Takeru the full big brother treatment on a little sister's first date routine to Takeru. Luckily, Miyako had decided to meet in the park so Miyako's brother wouldn't get the wrong impression and put Ken through the same routine.

I wonder, if Osamu was here, what his advice would have been...Ken thought, the sound of his internal voice soft. Would it have been the same as Taichi's? Do all big brothers share the same advice? Or would have Osamu known nothing about dating?

Briefly, Ken deliberated.

No, he would have. He would have been popular with girls.

Would Osamu have helped me? Would he have taught me how to skate? Or would he have thought it silly and refused to? He would have been even more famous by now and possibly too busy with his own girlfriends to help his baby brother win his elementary schoolgirl crush.

Miyako first liked me when I was famous. Maybe she would have fallen for Osamu instead…

Taichi gave Ken's back a quick pat, breaking him from the downward slide of his disparaging thoughts, and stood. "Let's practice some more."

Ken nodded, rose from his seat, and followed Taichi's lead back to the ice.

"Umm… Taichi?" Ken said quietly, so quietly it was a wonder if Taichi could have heard him.

Apparently, Taichi had or that Taichi had been waiting for Ken to speak. He turned halfway around and said, "Yeah?"

"…Thank you," Ken said, a small but genuine smile peeking out across his face.

Taichi smiled back and gave him a thumbs up. "No sweat."

Ken was a genius, yes, but sometimes he forgot things. Important things. Sometimes it took others like Taichi, Daisuke, or Miyako to remind him of those important things he had temporarily forgotten, like how this was the real world and that he was supposed to live in and for this world and not dwell on and be swallowed by the dark, what-if world that only existed in his mind, a world that seemed to be a bridge to the Dark Ocean.

That was another reason he liked Miyako—she kept him grounded, kept him focused and out and open in the real world, human or digital. She didn't let him dwell on what-ifs. She was too busy brightening his world to let him drown into the dark. She dragged him by the hand through the here and now, never letting him stop long enough to look far back. And though sometimes her boundless energy tired him, he enjoyed every adventure with her.