Written by Flair and Kendra, Digimon Emperess
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Bandai owns the characters in this story. We own the plot. Flair would like to own Ken.
AUTHORS' NOTE: We neither condone nor condemn characters for their
orientations. This is a Kensuke fic, so if you enjoy
such stories, read on, if you don't there are other stories out there for
you.
CONGRATULATIONS to wakaba-chan, the winner of our Valentines Contest!
There weren't many entrants... you people
are cruel... but wakaba-chan's story is wonderful! You'll get your fic
really soon, right after we finish writing Lucky Charms!
Her fic (I hope she's a her... eep, correct me if I'm wrong), The Valentine
Heart, is one of the absolute most sweetest
fics I've ever read! Congratulations!
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~
It had happened again. As Daisuke Motimiya had hurried to put on his jacket,
he had found the note sticking out
ever so teasingly from his pocket. With a trembling hand he drew it out,
gingerly holding the carefully folded up
piece of white watercolor paper. There was a slight bulge in the card,
and he opened it with curiosity, wondering
what could be inside. When he did, two little heart shaped pieces of chocolate
fell out, landing in the palm of his
hand. Flipping the card over, he saw that someone had carefully hand drawn
then painted a picture of a monarch
butterfly, flitting through the sky and soaring toward the heavens.
He read: "This Valentine's Day may you continue to stretch out your
wings and to touch the hearts of others in exactly
the way that you have touched mine." At the bottom was written in exquisite
cursive handwriting, "Love, your Secret
Valentine." This letter concluded with "Roses are red, violets are
blue, Daisuke Motimiya, you know I love you." It was
exactly like the other had.
This was the second time that he had received a message like this. The
day before one had been left in the
rosebush outside his window. There could be no doubt that it was from anyone
but the same person. The
beautiful writing, the same gold colored pen and the same elegant voice
had been used in both letters, new and
old.
Grinning and blushing just a little, he held up his hand. He was still
wearing the ring with the silver hearts that his
secret Valentine had left yesterday, in his notebook, he still had their
card. Anytime that he wanted, he could take
it out and read the sweet words that his Valentine had lovingly composed.
But he didn't desire to now.
The bell would ring soon now and that gave him only a few seconds to look
about the classroom, look about for
any clues as to who his Valentine could be. He had come in to English class
with empty pockets, so whomever it
was who had written the card up, had to be in the class with him; had to
have slipped the note in while he was
seated.
He whirled around, gazing at his Digi-destined friends who were seated
in various corners of the room; but all
were too far away. Kari, who he would have suspected, was seated against
the back wall, and Daisuke was all
the way up in the front. The only one behind him was former Digimon Emperor,
Ken Ichijouji, who was smiling ever
so slightly as he composed a poem.
Daisuke's hand quivered. Ken had to be the best writer and the best poet
in the class, his voice flowing as
smoothly and kindly as those of the writer who had crafted the cards. But
it couldn't be Ken who had written
them, could it?
Daisuke shook his head quickly to clear it, his goggles rattling. No, that
was impossible… just because Ken was
smart, and a good writer, and writing a poem right now…
Daisuke swung around in his seat and turned to face the front, trembling.
Determined to get his mind off his
Valentine, Daisuke rummaged in his backpack for a pen, and his hand came
across the card. A small smile crept
along his face even as he touched it, for no matter who it was, his Valentine
loved him, and that was more than
he had had before. The other Digi-destined were his friends - some of the
few - but even they could hardly stand
him sometimes.
"Daisuke? What's that?" a voice whispered behind him. Daisuke sat up straight,
grabbing his pen and stuffing the
chocolates back in the bag. He turned to the person behind him, Ken, flushing
slightly.
"Oh, nothing," he answered, quickly. "Just - a Valentine."
Ken raised an eyebrow ever so slightly, a smile turning up the corners
of his mouth. "A Valentine? Do you have a
Secret Admirer, Daisuke?" A thin strand of indigo hair swept in front of
one violet eye, making Daisuke's heart thud
painfully. No, he wouldn't mind at all if Ken was his Secret Valentine.
But, of course, that was impossible…
"Yeah, I guess. Sort of," Daisuke muttered quickly, and turned around in
his seat. "It doesn't matter, though.
Nothing big. Now, I've got to take down these notes." He began to jot down
notes from the board as fast as he
could as the teacher walked around the rows, checking homework. A tap on
his shoulder made him jump, and he
turned once again to face Ken. "What?" he asked, a little sharply.
Ken grinned. "Those are yesterday's notes," he said. "And by the way, nice ring."
Daisuke turned around in his seat once more, shoving the offending yesterday's
notes in his backpack, and faced
the front, flushing ever so slightly. With any luck, this mystery would
be over soon enough, and he could get back
to having a normal life once more.
Yeah, right.
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~
"Come on, Daisuke, we're going to be late!" Miyako snapped, dragging the
redhead along fiercely by the collar of
his coat. "We told the others that we'd meet them in the computer room
after school, and of course you had to
get a detention again, and drag me into it, didn't you? I thought you'd
gotten in trouble enough times for kicking a
soccer ball around indoors, not to mention knocking over my chemistry project!"
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, now will you please let me go?" Daisuke groaned.
Miyako glared at him one more time for
good measure, then let him go. Daisuke stumbled a step, and then opened
the door to the computer room.
"Yeesh…" he muttered. "You'd think I actually hurt somebody,"
"Daisuke! Miyako! Where were you?" Takeru asked as soon as they stepped
foot inside the door. "We were
waiting!"
Miyako glared. "Well, Daisuke…"
"Yeah, I know, I know!" Daisuke yelled. "I got a detention for kicking
a soccer ball indoors again. Now can we
please just leave?" He was in a very temperamental mood, and he wasn't
about to let the others know why. His
Secret Admirer had left him yet another note, and he didn't know how, or
when. This time it was a heart-shaped
piece of white cardboard with bright red ribbon-trim, with a red rose attached
by a gold clip. There was another
poem, written again in gold ink, reading, "Roses are red, I wish you
were mine, bright like a flower, my lovely
Valentine." It made Daisuke blush whenever he thought about it - whoever
his Valentine was really seemed to like
him. A lot.
"It's okay, Daisuke," Hikari soothed. "We're just going to pick flowers.
Since we got rid of that weird woman, there
hasn't been anything bad going on, so the Digital World doesn't need us
anymore. But it's still a great place to get
Valentine's gifts."
"Yeah…" Daisuke said, thoughtfully. "Yeah…"
"Well what are we waiting for?" Miyako yelled, glaring around at the Digi-destined,
which today consisted of
herself, Hikari, Takeru, Iori, Daisuke, Ken, and, for some reason, Sora.
"Let's go! Digiport open!"
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~
"Your cheeks are turning an unusual color red, Daisuke," Ken smiled. "It's
a really nice color red if you ask me. It's
like a flower, like a rose." His amethyst eyes sparkled. "I'm sure
that you must have a secret admirer. Now what I
wonder is who it could possibly be?" He ran a hand through his dark hair,
and Daisuke's heartbeat quickened.
"Waiting is the hardest thing in the world, Daisuke. Waiting to find out."
Ken fell back and a tingle went up Daisuke's spine as he heard Ken walk
directly behind him. He turned around
just for a second; just long enough to see that Ken's cheeks, too, were
becoming rather red. Quickly he looked
ahead of him, trying to re-focus on where they were going, but that was
rather difficult with thoughts of his Secret
Admirer floating about in his head.
He was truly starting to believe that it was Ken. The poetry, the hints
that Ken kept dropping… All of that did it,
and there was something more about the rose his Secret Valentine had left
him, other then the reference, that
made him suspect the boy was responsible for the cards, the sweet words
of love, and the little gifts. He couldn't
place his finger on what it was, though.
"Hey, Daisuke, are you thinking about what you're going to get your Valentine?"
Miyako teased. She and Sora
seemed to be leading for the present, guiding the others to where they
would pick up their Valentine's Day gifts.
"Who is your Valentine, anyway?"
"It's a secret," Daisuke stammered, as Miyako and of course, Ken, took
in every word that he was saying. "A
Secret Valentine."
"Ohhhh I see," Miyako giggled. "A Secret Admirer! Do you know who it is
yet?" It had not occurred to her that it
could be one of their friends.
"Well," Daisuke said, getting very nervous and very flustered. He was certain
Ken was clinging to his every word.
"I - I don't want to speculate! That's what makes having a Secret Valentine
so wonderful! You just don't know."
"You're blushing, Daisuke," Miyako sang.
Daisuke flushed deeper. "Really? I suppose that I am! But I want to wait
to find out. Whoever it is is very
romantic, and very sweet, and a good writer…" He was saying too much in
front of Ken.
"I'm certain that your Secret Valentine must be a poet," Ken said, and
a ripple appeared in his violet-blue
eyes that spread out like the currents of water. Daisuke saw this, and
his heart started fluttering ten times as fast
as it had been before.
"And loves you," Miyako teased. Daisuke blushed, and she laughed, running
up ahead to where Sora was walking
with Iori. Takeru and Hikari seemed to have fallen back a ways from the
group.
Daisuke felt someone place a hand on his shoulder. He put his hand up,
closing about the other hand, and guided
the person who was holding it, up front with him - Ken.
"Do you know where we're headed, Ken?" Daisuke asked. "Only Miyako and
Sora seem to know. I thought they
said where, but I just don't remember. My mind is in a daze…"
"We're going through a flower field," Ken replied, "filled with violets.
There's a stream nearby and Miyako thinks
we might find some fabulous Valentine's Day presents down there. Once she
found a little gold heart in the
streambed, and the water is supposed to hide all sorts of pretty colored
stones."
"That sounds fantastic," Daisuke murmured, and in the back of his head
someone was whispering, "Roses are red,
violets are blue…" Roses… what was Ken saying about roses, earlier?
"We're here!" Sora called from up ahead. Ken let go of Daisuke's hand and
walked ahead, leaving the redhead to
his own confused, muddled thoughts. "Come on, Daisuke, hurry up! Hikari!
Takeru, come on, come on!"
Daisuke caught up to Sora, Miyako, Iori and Ken a few moments later, parting
a screen of leaves to step out onto
the field. It took his breath away. For as far as he could see there were
flowers, row upon row of silky-petalled
violets, whispering in the warm breeze. A stream gurgled nearby; it was
warm in small reservoirs ringed with
shining stones and soft sand, but crystal clear and cold where it splashed
down the smooth rocks.
The wind ruffled Daisuke's hair as he took a deep breath, gently plucking
a violet from the ground and cradling it in
his hands. The sun sank deep into his starry brown eyes, gentle as he looked
down at the flower in his hands,
and the light settled on his head and shoulders like a cloak, making his
hair glow slightly as if he were wearing a
halo. Ken, walking just ahead, turned just in time to see this moment of
startling perfection in Daisuke, and was
knocked speechless. Daisuke had no idea how good he looked; standing there
with the violet cradled tenderly in
his hands, the silver ring on his finger glinting in the same sunlight
that made him glow, Daisuke looked like a god.
A blissful laugh from Miyako made Ken look up. The amethyst-haired girl
had her sleeves rolled up to the elbows,
and her hands already submerged in the stream. She cast a glance back at
Daisuke, and laughed again. "Imagine
that," she giggled. "Daisuke Motimiya, star of the soccer team, Mr. Macho-Man-that-can-do-no-wrong,
struck
speechless by a field of pretty flowers!"
Daisuke glared at her, and rolled his eyes. "They're nice, okay?" he yelled.
He didn't want to mention the real
reason why he was so drawn by the flowers. They reminded him of Ken. Violets
are blue, Daisuke mused. Just like
his eyes. Oh, Ken-chan, if only you were my Valentine. It would be so much
to hope for, but maybe, just maybe,
you feel the same way that I do. Oh, if only.
"Come on, Dai, cheer up!" Hikari laughed as she and Takeru came up beside
him. "You do, after all, have a Secret
Admirer!"
"DOES EVERYBODY KNOW MY BUSINESS?" Daisuke stormed angrily, although the
ringed hand that clutched the
violet was still gentle. "Can't a guy have a secret once in a while?"
Hikari laughed. "It's pretty obvious, Daisuke," she said, plainly, but
what was obvious she didn't specify. The hairs
on the back of Daisuke's neck prickled; this was another one of those times
when he had a strange feeling that
Hikari knew a lot more than normal people did. "Well come on," she said,
changing subjects abruptly in her gentle
way. "Lets go pick some flowers!" She caught Takeru's hand and pulled him
towards where Miyako was sifting
through the pebbles at the side of the stream. He grinned and followed
her, and for once, Daisuke didn't feel the
least bit jealous.
Daisuke sat there on the riverbank. He played with the violet in his hands,
turning it about. From time to time his
eyes would return to Ken, who had plunged into the stream and was wading
about, letting the cool and icy water
gush around his legs.
The redhead felt a little embarrassed. Perhaps he shouldn't be looking
if Ken was his Secret Valentine and was
searching about for an unusual pebble or a gift for him in the streambed.
The surprise of receiving letters from his
Secret Valentine was half the fun; actually finding out who it would be
and ending up in their arms would be the
other half. He was truly beginning to believe that it was Ken, and he hoped
with a burning passion in his heart
that it turned out to be.
If Daisuke, twirling the violet between his fingers with a happy, wanderlost
look about him and wearing the ring
dazzled Ken, then the sight of the indigo haired boy splashing about in
the water was enough to put Daisuke
Motomiya into a trance.
He looked back and forth, from the violet, gently winding about his hand
and glistening with dew, to Ken's blue,
gem-like eyes that picked up the glints and the tints of the freely flowing
stream. As Ken turned to Daisuke,
laughing and beaming, his eyes picked up hues, reflecting the colors of
the world like a prism. Kindness,
compassion, tenderness and love spilled from those eyes, pouring over with
each glance, and watering the flower,
which was in need of so much love.
"You're thinking about something, Daisuke," Ken smiled, the eyes radiating
and rippling with warmth, although he
kept it all contained beneath his shy, controlled exterior. "It wouldn't
be about this Secret Valentine that Hikari
and Miyako seem to think you have?"
Daisuke did not hear him at first. There was something about Ken's eyes
and the violet, but he couldn't place his
finger on what it was. Not quite yet…
"Oh, my Secret Valentine," he said distractedly. "Yeah, I was…"
"I like the idea of a Secret Admirer," Ken remarked. "The sweetest gifts,
the most poetic cards, appear in the
oddest of places." He winked. "Now who do you suppose that your Secret
Valentine could be?"
"I'm not sure yet," Daisuke said, his smile growing even larger as Ken
came over to him, showing him the latest
pebbles that he had found. "But when I do, you'll be the first to know."
A shiver ran down Daisuke's spine as Ken
got down beside him, and hoped the taller boy would not notice that he
was overwhelming him with emotion. "I
promise."
From up the stream, he could hear Miyako and Sora giggling about something.
The words "Secret Valentine" and
"Daisuke" were overheard. He blushed; he also thought that they said "Ken",
but he wasn't sure. He wasn't even
sure if Ken was his Valentine, himself.
"This pebble," Ken was saying, "is for luck. This one is for good health.
This color," he said, holding up a pale violet
stone, "represents the best of wishes. And this one," a red stone, "Represents
love."
The violet stone woke something inside of him, and Daisuke fixated on the
violet in his hands again. There it was,
that feeling, and that same voice whispering, "Roses are red, violets are
blue…" Roses are red, violets are blue…
"Violet and red…" Daisuke mused to himself. They sat there in silence for
a while, just happy to be beside each
other. It was all Ken could do not to turn and stare at Daisuke, to gather
him into his arms and kiss him, kiss him
over and over. Daisuke was smoothing the petals of the violet still clasped
in his hands, trying to keep his mind off
of his Secret Admirer, and failing. It was Ken, it had to be! And if it
wasn't… Daisuke didn't know what he would
do. He loved Ken, yes he admitted it. He loved Ken. And if Ken wasn't his
Secret Valentine… that thought formed a
cold lump in Daisuke's heart. He really didn't have any kind of proof that
Ken was his Secret Valentine, no matter
how much he wanted him to be. "Violet and red," Daisuke whispered. "Kind
of like roses and violets."
If Daisuke had been his normal, observant - okay, nosy - self, than perhaps
he might have noticed the blush that
crept up Ken's pale cheeks. As it was, the violet-eyed boy had a lot of
trouble masking the blush beneath a
carefully placed wave of indigo hair, turning his head to the side, slightly.
"Yeah, kind of like that," he said quietly.
"Red and violet. Love and best wishes. Roses and violets." You and me.
But he didn't say that out loud - he didn't
dare. "It all kind of works out."
Daisuke glanced at Ken beside him, eyes widening a little bit as he noticed
the blush tingling just below the mask
of dark hair. "K-ken?" he said, his voice cracking at just the wrong moment.
Ken looked up, his eyes widening just
as Daisuke's had when he noticed that the other boy was blushing, too.
Ken's mouth opened just a little bit, and
he and Daisuke locked gazes. This… this was… but he couldn't… Ken thought,
but his mind all blurred together.
Daisuke leaned forward a bit, one hand gently touching Ken's cheek, and
Ken barely stifled a small gasp, blinking
rapidly and leaning forward, his heart thudding painfully…
"Daisuke! Ken! Takeru! Come on, let's go! It's getting dark!" Ken and Daisuke
jumped and drew apart, very, very
quickly, scrambling to their feet. Iori and the girls had their arms full
of flowers and stones, and Miyako proudly
bore a thin silver chain in one hand. Takeru came jogging up from somewhere
nearby with something in his hand.
Nobody seemed to notice Daisuke and Ken, except for Kari; a small smile
played at the corner of her lips when she
looked at them, and from the significant nudge that she gave Miyako, Daisuke
could tell that Miyako suspected,
too.
"Well," Daisuke said as they all joined together, his voice a little higher
than usual. He cleared his throat, and then
tried again. "Well, where are we going, now?"
"Home," Sora said, simply. "But all the Digi-destined are planning to get
together tomorrow - Valentine's Day - for
dinner. Even Mimi is coming from America. We girls," she motioned to Hikari
and Miyako, "are going
to my house to get some… things ready for tomorrow night." She smiled mysteriously.
"Okay, well, let's go!" Takeru said, and the small group of Digi-destined
headed back towards the Digiport. And all
the while Daisuke just couldn't keep his mind off his Secret Valentine,
the violet still clasped tightly in his right
hand, and… Ken. Always Ken.
Oh, Ken-chan, Daisuke thought, miserably. I want you to be my Secret Valentine. Please, please be my Valentine.
"Dai-kun?" Hikari said, quietly, falling into step beside him. He jumped
and faltered a step. He hadn't noticed that
he'd fallen a bit behind the group until Hikari spoke to him. "Dai, are
you alright? You seem to be thinking about
something. Or someone."
"Yeah, I am," Daisuke nodded. "Ke- I mean, my Secret Valentine," he blushed.
"Have any idea who it is, yet?"
"N-no," Daisuke lied. Hikari glanced at him significantly, a sly smile spreading across her lips.
"Just remember, Dai-kun," she said, smiling. "Don't be afraid to tell someone
you love them. If you do, they might
break your heart. But if you don't," she smiled again, although this time
sadly, "you might break theirs."
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~
It was midnight, and Ken Ichijouji was alone. His parents had gone out
for the evening to spend a night on the
town, but Ken didn't feel lonely or afraid. Whenever he needed reassurance,
all he needed to do was to call the
face of his beloved Daisuke to mind.
Sitting up on the family couch in his living room, Ken's heart went out
to the redhead who had sat on the stream
bank with him earlier that day, tenderly smoothed violet petals. It had
taken all his self-control not to throw his
arms about Daisuke at that instant, tell him how much he loved him, and
pull him in for an embrace. How he
envied the flower, how he would have longed to take its place and be the
one who was being caressed and
sheltered by Daisuke. How he desired to take the place of the flower and
be sheltered from the harsh rays of the
sun by the warm and compassionate Digi-destined leader.
He recalled how Miyako and Sora had teased Daisuke about the Secret Valentine.
He had blushed as he
overheard them, and Daisuke had smiled irresistibly at them to try to fend
them off. He wondered if Daisuke knew,
truly knew, who the Secret Admirer could possibly be. I've dropped enough
hints, Ken thought, He must surely
know that I…
Ken shot up out of the chair. There were the sounds of footsteps coming
up the staircase, someone knocking on
the door, and then listening for a response. Ken drew in his breath; he
would be silent and not answer. Very
deliberately, he slowly walked over to the door, though he had no intentions
of opening it. He would wait directly
by it and look to see who was there.
But he didn't - he was too stunned. His light purple eyes became as wide
as saucers as a gloved hand fumbled at
the mailbox, and then became even larger when a little golden envelope
slid in. His heart was already beating a
mile a minute. It started to beat even faster when he picked it up, saw
his name beautifully written on it, and
beheld the drawing of a little blue - or was that violet - flower in the
upper right hand corner.
Clutching the envelope in his hand, he rushed to the window and hastily
undid the latches. The window flew
open, silky white curtains fluttering in the breeze like a pair of wings
around him as he stuck his head out and
combed the streets for the person who had delivered the sweet card to him.
His azure eyes came up, pained and
disappointed, when he saw no one. As quickly as they had come, the letter
bearer had as swiftly departed.
Ken shivered. The envelope was still in his hand. Tearing away the top,
he drew out a violet card decorated with
hand drawn red hearts on the cover. He started to read the message inside
the card. He had only read a few
lines before his heart quadrupled its beating rate. He quickly read the
rest of the letter, then read it again, and
again, and again.
Dear Ken, it read. Words cannot express how much you mean to me.
I've never been good with words like you - quite
the opposite, actually. It'd be a whole lot easier just to show you how
I feel, but I'm afraid. I'm still afraid, but I just had
to let you know that I loved you. I've loved you for some time, now, but
couldn't tell you - I just couldn't. I was afraid
that you didn't love me in return, and I wouldn't be able to bear it. You're
my best friend, the one I lean on, the
shoulder I cry on, my soulmate, and my one true love. I hope that, in time,
you will come to regard me as the same
things. Roses are red, violets are blue, Ken… I love you…
There was nothing else. Ken read it once more, his hand trembling madly,
then flipped it over, searching
desperately for a name, any indication of whom it was. There wasn't, but
that was all right - Ken knew who it was,
or at least hoped.
"Oh, Dai-chan," Ken whispered. "I love you, too."
Footsteps on the porch made his heart leap, but he recognized the two sets
of footprints as his parents. Quickly,
he tucked the card into his pocket and made a mad dash for his room. Closing
the door tightly behind him, he took
a few deep breaths to steady his nerves. Flicking off his light with a
deft motion of his hand, he climbed into his
elevated bed, clutching the letter close to his heart.
"Dai-chan…" he whispered, just before he drifted off to sleep on this early morning of Valentines Day, "I love you."
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~
"Is everybody here?" Mimi asked cheerfully, grinning broadly around at
the Digi-destined. All twelve of them sat
clustered at a long table in the middle of the Kamiyas' living room. The
parents were away at their own party, so
the Digi-destined had the house to themselves. Even though it was Hikari
and Taichi's house, Mimi had taken care
of all of the decorating, and had paid for the catering of foods. Classy,
shiny red hearts and white streamers hung
from the ceiling, and the Digi-destined were a tight squeeze on the two
long padded benches at the extensive
table - they couldn't find enough actual chairs to serve all the Digi-destined.
Tai had already successfully lit his
sleeve on fire from the flame of a heart-shaped, floating candle, and Matt
was having a little bit of trouble keeping
his hair from getting messed up by other people brushing against him, but
otherwise it was going okay.
"Yeah, we're all here!" Daisuke said, in his usual enthusiastic fashion.
Perhaps a little more enthusiastic than
usual - he was sitting right beside Hikari and, more importantly, Ken.
Both boys were acting completely normal, as
if neither had those all-important secrets on their mind, although they
did shoot a few more glances at each other
than was normal.
Daisuke glanced around. All the Digi-destined looked great, if a little
uncomfortable: Daisuke himself was wearing
a baggy, almost iridescent red t-shirt and a pair of black pants, his goggles
religiously placed in his hair. The outfit
suited him, although he wouldn't say as much - the red brought out colors
in his hair, and the black made him look
older and less irresponsible. Miyako and Mimi had gone all-out, as usual;
both wore the same style of dress,
although Mimi's was red and Miyako's was pink. Mimi had her red and pink
hair (what a coincidence) studded with
hearts instead of stars, and Miyako had tiny white heart barrettes streaming
through hers. Takeru wasn't wearing
his hat, for once, and had on a slim blue blazer that made his ever-changing
eyes look blue instead of green;
despite the stiff appearance, he was grinning widely, and his hair was
spiked up everywhere. Hikari's hair was
very different than customary - she had fluffed it up a bit, and (obviously
with Miyako and Mimi's help) had pale
pink streaks running through it. Her dress was plain and pale reddish-pink,
but she looked perfect, as usual. Iori
felt himself a little young to get dressed up so foolishly, and, as he
wasn't trying to impress anybody, he merely
wore plain gray clothing and had his hair normal - or he did, at one point.
Miyako had obviously caught up with him
somewhere along the way and attacked him with gel, a hairbrush, and some
red clothing. He had a loose red
jacket that he looked uncomfortable in, and his normally bowl-cut hair
was spiked up and… sparkly? He really
didn't look happy. But in all, the 02 Digi-destined looked very stylish.
The original Digi-destined (Mimi included, but not included, if you know
what I mean) looked great as well. Taichi
and Yamato wore matching outfits, though, ironically, it wasn't planned
- light gray pants and coat, and a red shirt.
Jyou didn't take much effort with his, wearing all blue, as usual, but
Mimi had molested him with pink confetti and
red streamers as soon as she saw him. Like the other Child of Reliability,
he didn't look very happy, but with Mimi
hanging off his arm, he had no choice but to be happy! Koushiro looked
amazingly cute - Mimi and Miyako had
gotten to him, too (these girls have got to get off the sugar and hair
spray!). His clothes were all red (not even
Mimi could force him into pink) and he had red hearts stuck in his hair
with sparkle gel. Lastly, Sora was wearing a
high-collared white shirt, a pair of flared red pants, and her hair was
curled and held back under a red hat.
Daisuke looked at Ken last - these days he wasn't sure if he could even
glance at the gorgeous boy without
wanting to kiss him. Ken's hair was spiked in an almost Kaizer-ish style,
but he still managed to look irrepressibly
like Ken, and only Ken. Fine tendrils of dark hair blew loosely across
his face, giving him an almost angelic
appearance. What was strange was that his clothes were almost exactly opposite
Daisuke's, almost like a bizarre
replication of Tai and Matt's matching outfits. Ken wore a silky black
t-shirt with 3 ¼ length sleeves and thick red
pants. His eyes were bright, and when Daisuke wasn't looking, Ken would
glance at the redhead boy and his
fabulous violet eyes would fill with such love and heart-stopping sweetness
that it warmed your heart.
"Well then, let's start the party!" Mimi said happily, almost bouncing
out of her seat. "Salad!" she slid out of her
chair, and a few moments later she came back into the room with three caterers
each bearing trays of salad. Mimi
had certainly gone all-out!
"So, Mimi," Hikari asked through a mouthful of caesar, "How did you get
this all planned out while you were in
America? And how much did it cost?"
"Oh, Daddy fixed it all up for me. He said it was great I was being with
my friends for Valentines Day, and he'd be
glad to have our party catered. Of course," she added, giggling, "I didn't
tell him how many friends." The others
groaned.
"Oh, Mimi…" Sora sighed.
Taichi leaped out of his seat very suddenly, giving a yelp. Yamato and
Takeru, who were sitting on either side of
him jumped, knocking into Hikari, then Daisuke, and then Ken. Yamato, who
was on one far end, fell off the bench,
while Takeru and Hikari, who were wedged together between Taichi and Daisuke,
managed to stay sitting,
however precariously. Ken and Daisuke, sitting on the other end of the
bench, were not so lucky. They tumbled
out of the seat, Ken landing on top of Daisuke, in a flurry of swears and
flaming cheeks. Taichi was trying
desperately to get flames off his shirt for the second time that day.
"Taichi!" Yamato yelled, jumping up.
"Sorry!" Taichi protested, yelping as Iori landed a well-placed splash of punch on his flaming sleeve.
"Thanks, Iori," he muttered, wincing as Yamato glared at him, attempting
to beat the last bit of flame off his
sleeve.
"No problem, Taichi. Ken, Daisuke, are you okay?" Cody asked.
"Yeah, I am," Daisuke said, incredibly flustered. He looked up at his friends
who had gathered around him in a
little circle and at Ken, who was lying right above him, one arm planted
on either side of his shoulders. He had
never been so close to Ken before, never felt the arms of the boy he hoped
with all his heart would be his Secret
Valentine wrapped around him, and had never seen Ken's eyes twinkling down
upon him like that. It took all his
will power not to gather Ken up right then and there and pull him into
a passionate kiss. Slipping one hand behind
Ken's back, he slid a little silver colored box into the blue haired boy's
pocket without anybody noticing.
"I'm fine," Ken said, blushing as he realized that he and Daisuke had both
responded to the question immediately.
He was so distracted, so embarrassed, and so caught off guard that even
he didn't notice what Daisuke was
doing. With his hair spiked up, nothing could conceal the very bright shades
of red that his cheeks were turning,
and Miyako had run off, snatched up Hikari's camera and was busy snapping
pictures. "Awwww, don't!" he
complained, even though he had no trouble with photographs of him with
Daisuke being taken. He pushed himself
up a bit more, reluctant to move away from his love, but forced himself
to roll off and stand up.
"I wonder if Daisuke will find out who his Secret Valentine is today,"
Hikari said to Mimi and Sora, not
bothering to lower her voice, as Daisuke stood up.
Mimi, who hadn't heard the story yet, gave a squeal. "Ooooh, what's this
about a Secret Valentine, Daisuke? It
sounds really romantic, do tell, do tell!" She clapped her hands. "Who
is your Valentine? Do you know who it is,
can you guess who it is?"
"What's this, Daisuke?" Tai asked, having finally extinguished the flames.
"You have a Secret Valentine?" His
brown eyes widened. "So, who is it?"
"I have a good idea," Daisuke said, blushing, "but I won't know for sure
until over the passing of Valentine's Day
presents." He dusted himself off. "Maybe I'll find out now. It has to be
someone in this room. I think that it would
be…" He stopped in mid-sentence, leaving Ken standing there with a violently
beating heart. "Nah," he decided,
"I'll wait until we exchange gifts."
"Dinner is about to be served," Mimi announced. "If you can stand the suspense,
we'll wait until then." She got
back to business. "Did you bring the flowers, Daisuke, like you promised?"
"Yes," Daisuke said, shooting Ken a sweet glance that made them both blush
even more - although, luckily,
nobody else noticed. "They're already in the dining room."
"You didn't tell us what kinds of flowers they are," Miyako said.
"Well, I only got two different types," Daisuke replied, "but I think they
go very well together. Come into the living
room, I'll show you!" He ran off and all the Digi-destined followed him.
They turned a corner and…
Ken's heart almost stopped. "Dai-chan," he said, "Are these the flowers that I think they are?"
"Yes," Daisuke smiled. "I couldn't think of anything else except violets and roses."
"They're so pretty!" Sora gasped as she and the rest of the Digi-destined
crowded around the multitude of
flowers in the center of the coffee table - none of them noticed the exchange
between Ken and Daisuke.
"Yes, they're fantastic! And so appropriate!" Mimi cried happily.
You have no idea, Daisuke thought, bemused.
"Come on, we have to put them in the dining room! It's not dinner without
flowers!" Mimi gathered some up in her
arms, as did Miyako, Hikari and Koushiro. When they returned to the dining
room once more, the table was laden
with steaming American food in heart-shaped dishes. "Ahh, the wonders of
catering!" Mimi exclaimed, placing the
two vases of flowers she had in her arms on the table. Koushiro did, too,
and Hikari and Miyako saw it fit to toss
their flowers on the floor around the table. It added something that Mimi's
streamers and hearts hadn't - the
perfect touch.
The Digi-destined all sat down in the benches again, and as Ken, the last
one seated, sat down, he gasped and
looked down at his pocket in surprise. Standing up again, he dug in his
pocket and pulled out a small silver box.
"What?" he whispered.
"What's that, Ken?" Miyako asked, dabbing the corner of her mouth with an embroidered napkin.
"I… don't know!" he replied, staring at it.
"Ken has a Valentine!" Mimi shrilled. "Oh, wonderful! But don't open it
now, wait until after, when we all exchange
gifts! Oh, this is so exciting! Now, eat, everybody!" She giggled.
Dinner was delicious, and soon over, although if you asked any of the Digi-destined
afterwards, they wouldn't be
able to tell you what they ate because the events after dinner totally
overshadowed the food. Gathered in the
spacious living room around the coffee table that still beheld several
vases of roses and violets, the time came for
some of the Digi-destined to reveal their feelings for the others. Hikari
hit the switch on her stereo, and soft music
floated out.
"Nice touch, Hikari," Jyou remarked. "Now… who's going first?"
"How about the people that we already know are a couple?" Taichi grinned,
evilly. Jyou and Mimi flushed bright
red and turned their heads away quickly. The other Digi-destined burst
out laughing.
"Well I don't know about you, but I'm dying to find out who Daisuke and
Ken's Secret Valentines are…" Hikari said,
and Miyako giggled. Both boys flushed bright red. A memory floated through
Daisuke's head… "Your cheeks are
turning an unusual color red, Daisuke," Ken smiled. "It's a really nice
color red if you ask me. It's like a flower, like a
rose." Daisuke flushed even deeper.
"Open the box, Ken!" Yamato implored, laughing. Ken glared at him, but
pulled the box out of his pocket slowly.
He pulled on the small purple ribbon encircling it, and gently lifted the
box cover. Inside was a thin silver ring. A
delicate glass violet twined around a bright red rose, and a shimmering
heart glittered where the two met. Ken's
eyes widened.
"Let us see!" Mimi demanded, but Ken's fingers closed around it, quickly.
"That's not fair, somebody else has to open a gift, too!" Ken said, quickly,
finding it hard to locate his voice. The
girls let out a loud sigh, and Mimi shrugged.
"Fine. Daisuke, do you have a gift from your admirer?"
"Um…" Daisuke said, tearing his eyes away from watching Ken's reaction to the gift.
"Yes, he does!" Hikari said, grinning. "His Secret Admirer asked me to
give this to him!" She reached in her pocket
and pulled out a small red box.
"You know who my Secret Admirer is?" Daisuke blurted as Hikari handed him
the box. Hikari grinned, her hand
threading into Takeru's beside her.
"No, but I got a letter and the present asking me to give it to you," she replied. "Open it!"
Daisuke complied, opening it quickly. A small glass heart dangling on a
thin gold chain tumbled out, and with it, a
card. Engraved on the smooth glass were two flowers, and the card read…
Roses are red, violets are blue,
Daisuke Motimiya, I'm in love with you.
You mean so much, you brighten my day,
You show me the world, you light the way.
What would I do without you at my side,
I do not know, and I cannot hide.
I hope that we'll never be apart,
And I'll love you forever with all of my heart.
No more a secret, no more a lie,
I have to tell you, love, who am I…
This is now, and this is when,
Your Secret Valentine is none other than…
And before anybody could do anything, Daisuke had turned to Ken, and the
violet-eyed boy had pulled his lover
into a passionate kiss, one that was returned as ardently as Daisuke possibly
manage. Daisuke threw his arms
around Ken, both positively glowing with happiness, oblivious to everything
in the world except each other.
The other Digi-destined just stared, until Miyako let out a giggle, then
Hikari, and they all broke into cheers. Daisuke
and Ken pulled away a little, their foreheads still touching together,
blushing.
"So, it was you all along," Daisuke said, his eyes filling with tears.
"I hoped that it would be with all my
heart. Sometimes I didn't think that it could be…but it was…it was you.
Thank you, Ken-chan!"
"You're welcome, Daisuke-kun," Ken replied, smiling. He held up the shining
ring. "This is the nicest gift that I've
ever received."
"Anything for my Secret Valentine," Daisuke beamed.
"Well, it's not a secret anymore…" Miyako said. "But then again, I suspected
that these two were Valentine's Day
lovers."
"Yeah right," Taichi nudged her. He chuckled. "Does anyone else think that this is photo opportunity?"
"I DO!" Hikari exclaimed, and she held up her camera. "I've been taking pictures of these two the entire time."
Ken flushed. "You have?" he asked.
"Oh, Miyako and I knew," Hikari said, "and we wanted to capture every moment.
I have it all on film. Ken and
Daisuke by the stream, Ken and Daisuke on the floor, Ken and Daisuke…"
"Thanks, Hikari," Daisuke said. She was right, they never did want to forget
this. Even though pictures were not
necessary and the true memories would be stored in the heart, it would
be nice to have photographs around.
"Well," Miyako said.
"What?"
"Line up!!" the purple haired girl cried out. "Do you want your pictures taken or not?"
"Yeah, that would be nice," Daisuke said. Love made one overlook the simplest things. "Sure, go ahead."
He turned to face Ken. "You've made this the best day ever."
"As have you, Daisuke," whispered Ken. "But when did you first know?"
"I started to wonder in class," Daisuke said. "The day that you told me what a nice ring I had."
"But you truly knew?"
"When we were at the stream," Daisuke replied, running his hand through
Ken's hair. "And I saw that violet
stone."
"It reminded you of me?"
"Of your violet eyes," Daisuke said. He felt Ken's hand close around his. "Your violet colored eyes…"
Meanwhile, Miyako had started a new roll of film. "Should we tell them?"
she asked Hikari. "Maybe we should let it
be a surprise!"
"A surprise sounds good," Hikari giggled, and Sora and Mimi laughed back
in agreement. Slowly she lifted up the
camera.
"That was a really sweet message you left on my door." Ken said.
"Thanks," Daisuke blushed.
"And the roses are a nice touch, too," Ken said. "With the violets…Close your eyes, Daisuke-kun."
"Okay," Daisuke agreed, and as he did Ken reached across and kissed him.
Roses are red…
CLICK! went the camera.
Violets are blue…
CLICK! CLICK!
"Daisuke Motomiya," Ken said, drawing away. "I love you…"
"Thanks for everything," Daisuke said, "my Secret Valentine."
The camera went click and the crowd of Digi-destined all cheered as the
two Valentines pulled each other into
another loving kiss.
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~
*owari*
