Summary: Aged-up semi-AU. In which Miyako gets captured, the Kaiser is repressed in all the wrong ways, and things become more complicated than either of them want. Kenyako.

A/N: All the Chosen Children have been aged up by five years. That makes Miyako seventeen, and Ken sixteen, and the year is 2007.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon Adventure 02.

Revised on: 06/11/2017

Captive

Chapter One

As far as cells went, it could have been worse. Sure, the concrete-like substance that constituted her 'bench' was so cold that her butt-cheeks were starting to go numb. And sure, she was still feeling raw from the events that had led her up to this point. But still - it could have been worse it. Like something out of a cheap action flick, with water dripping down from the ceiling. And hey, at least she wasn't shackled to the wall.

Miyako was well aware that there were in fact innumerable ways that her current situation could have been worse, but that did not mean that she had to be happy about it.

"For the record," she said, as coldly as she could, "I'm going to punch you as soon as I get out of here."

The Kaiser, being the insufferable jerk that he was, only smirked. "Even if it were possible for an insect like you to escape, I sincerely doubt that you'd ever be able to punch me."

Miyako crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "You just wait."

The Kaiser's smirk became nastier. "I trust you like your accommodations? I designed it specifically for human prisoners, although I didn't know I'd have a chance to use it so soon." He walked a bit closer to the metal bars that separated the cell from the rest of the corridor. "I must say I'm a little disappointed - I never expected you to practically walk into my hands." He snickered. "Maybe I gave all of you too much credit."

Miyako felt her cheeks grow warm with shame; for once, he was absolutely right. What made this whole fiasco so especially awful was that it could've easily been avoided if she had just used common sense.

But Miyako did have a bad habit of doing very dumb things when she was stressed.

"I'm curious," the Kaiser continued, tone mocking. "What could have possessed you to come here all by yourself, without even your digimon to protect you?"

Miyako glared at him through the bars. At that moment, she would have given anything to be able to wipe that damn smirk off his face. "If you must know, I wanted some peace and quiet." She felt the telltale burn of oncoming tears, but refused to let it go any further than that. There was no way in hell that she would let the Kaiser see her cry. "Not all of us have the luxury of being irresponsible, you know. Some of us have exams."

Even though Miyako couldn't see his eyes, it was clear from the way his mouth tightened that she'd pissed him off. She knew it probably wasn't a great idea to antagonize him, but she couldn't help but feel a certain amount of triumph.

The Kaiser stalked even closer, hands curling around the bars. "Don't presume to know anything about me, maggot."

Miyako took a deep breath, trying to get the rampant twisting of her insides under control. "Right," she said. "How long do you plan to keep me here, anyway?"

The Kaiser's smirk returned. "Hmm..." He let go of the bars, and used one of his hands to stroke his chin, as if in deep contemplation. "You know, I haven't really decided yet. Certainly as long as it takes your friends to follow your trail."

At that, Miyako felt her heart jump into her throat. "What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"You all track one another using your Digivices, correct? Well..." He leaned forward, like he wanted to share an intimate secret. "Let's just say that yours is being held in a place where your comrades may run into a good deal of trouble."

It took a moment for his words to sink in properly, but when they did, Miyako couldn't help herself. "You're sick," she spat.

"Am I?" asked the Kaiser, clearly amused.

She swallowed hard, looking anywhere but at his face. "...Do you still have my D-Terminal?"

"I do. Why?"

"Can't I at least tell them that I'm still alive? That way, I know they'll make up something believable to tell my parents." Of course, that still wouldn't help with the biggest problem. "And maybe they'll be able to do something about school."

"No," said the Kaiser.

Finally, Miyako summoned the will to look at him again. "Why not? It's the least you can do."

"Don't insult my intelligence. You'll use it to warn them."

Miyako stood up and walked closer to the bars, hoping that her legs weren't as wobbly as they felt. "You can look over my shoulder to make sure."

The Kaiser's expression shifted into something that she couldn't decipher. "My answer is 'no'. You're the prisoner, remember? I don't have to explain anything to you."

Miyako made a sound of incredulity. "So you don't care if my family thinks I'm dead?"

"The feelings of insects are of no concern to me."

Shaking her head in disbelief, she said, "I always knew you were a cruel, disgusting jerk. But this? This is a whole new low."

The Kaiser's fists clenched at his sides. "I don't expect somebody like you to understand my perfection," he growled.

She found herself unable to hold back any longer. "I..." she began, the anger gnawing away at her like a ravenous dog. She gritted her teeth, and her hands began to shake. Finally, she yelled, "I hate you!" And with that, she stomped over to the far side of the cell, slumping against the wall and crossing her arms tight across her chest.

"I really couldn't care less," replied the Kaiser. After that, the clacking of his boots made it clear that he was finally done with his gloating.

Sliding down the wall until she was sitting upon the cold floor, Miyako drew her knees under her chin and hugged them to her chest.

The Kaiser was immensely pleased with himself as he made his way back to his control room. The imposter Chosen Child had been almost too easy to capture, and her anger and humiliation were incredibly amusing. He really did love it when his plans came together so flawlessly.

He also found himself rather pleased that it had been this particular enemy who had fallen into his hands. The incident with the Gokimon during Golden Week had provided him a great deal of amusement, and was endlessly rewatchable.

Curious as to how his new prisoner would act without his immediate presence, he commanded the main screen to bring up the cell where she was being held, and turned on the audio feed.

His ears were greeted with harsh sobbing.

The young woman was curled up on the floor, her whole body shaking with the force of her sobs. She was beating the floor with one of her fists, and saying something to herself that was too soft for him to hear. After a moment or two of this, she flinched and cradled that same hand, sobbing even harder.

Wormmon scuttled over, clearly concerned. "Are you sure about this, Ken-chan?"

The Kaiser glared at him. "Of course I'm sure." He lashed out with a kick, causing Wormmon to topple over onto his side, legs flailing uselessly in the chilly air. "And stop calling me that."

After managing to regain his footing through sheer force of will, Wormmon lowered his eyes and said, "Whatever you say."

The Kaiser turned his attention back to the screen, and felt compelled to shut it off. He was annoyed to find that the scene was making him feel guilty, of all things. That woman was the one who had been stupid enough to get herself caught, wasn't she? Why did he have to be concerned that she was experiencing the proper consequences? And why was she even getting so upset in the first place? If she wasn't prepared to deal with all the outcomes of the game, then she shouldn't have been playing.

Standing abruptly, he went back down to the cellblock. When he arrived, he pulled her D-Terminal from out of his cape, and cleared his throat to announce his presence.

Her head snapped up at the noise, and her eyes red and wet from crying. Horrified, she did her best to wipe away what was left of her tears, but started to hiccup in the process.

The Kaiser showed her the D-Terminal. "I've decided that it would be advantageous if your friends still thought you were alive, since they're more likely to look for you under such circumstances."

"...Excuse me?" asked the girl, in-between hiccups.

"I was being clear enough."

She sighed. "This is a trick, isn't it?" A hiccup. "You're just doing this to mess with my head."

He conceded that it was something he might have thought to do, were the situation different. "It isn't a trick." He didn't give her a chance to respond. "Of course, you'll only be dictating the message to me. And don't even try to use some kind of code - I'll be able to see through it."

Miyako gave a harsh laugh, followed by a hiccup. "Right," she said sarcastically. "Because we had the foresight to make up a secret code."

One of the Kaiser's eyebrows went up slightly at the sudden change in her attitude. Luckily, it was obscured by his dark glasses. "It doesn't matter either way." He prepared himself to type. "Get on with it," he commanded.

"Aren't you at least going to insult me first?" Her hiccups had finally stopped. "I know that you saw me when you walked in. Isn't that enough to earn me a 'maggot'?"

"Is this what you want me to write to your friends?"

She gave a bark of bitter laughter. "You know what? You should record yourself sometime and listen to the way you talk. I think you'd be embarrassed by how pompous you sound."

The Kaiser told himself that her words were meaningless, but the anger flared up all the same. "You'd do well to watch your words, insect."

She smiled nastily at that. "You're predictable, Ichijouji-kun. All you need to do now is throw in some comment about how perfect you are, and this'll be just like every other time I've seen you."

This was the first time she had actually called him by any kind of name. For some reason, it made his stomach twist. "If you keep up this childishness, I won't allow you to contact your friends."

"Yeah, well - maybe I'd rather that they think I'm dead than do what you say."

He would never admit it, but those words unsettled him. It was hard for him to conceive of somebody hating him so much that they would sabotage their own piece of mind just to spite him. "You're surprisingly petty," he said, careful to keep his discomfort from affecting in his voice.

Her smile became sad. "At least I still have the element of surprise, right?" She sighed. "Why don't you just write it yourself?"

"I want it to sound authentic." The Kaiser averted his eyes, feeling even more uncomfortable. This wasn't turning out to be nearly as satisfying as it should have been. "In any case...what's your name?" He already knew her name, of course. Just like he knew that she had an excessive fondness for tuna futomaki. But she didn't need to know that he knew.

She hesitated, as if she thought he was planning something. But after a moment, she said, "Inoue Miyako."

The Kaiser turned around swiftly with a flourish of his cape. "Very well then, Inoue-san - it looks like there is nothing more to say."

"...You're not going to insist that I call you 'Digimon Kaiser-sama', or something?"

He cast a glance over his shoulder, smirking. "Maybe I'm not as predictable as you seem to think I am." He purposefully twisted his mouth in a manner he knew gave him a sinister edge. "If I were you, I would bear that in mind."

He began to walk out of the cellblock for the second time that day, only to have his prisoner shout, "Wait!"

He halted. "Yes?"

"I..." Finally, she was using the right tone of voice - the one that he knew how to react to. "You don't expect me to...go...here, do you?"

Outwardly he betrayed nothing, but inwardly he reveled in sadistic triumph. "'Go'? I'm not sure I understand what you mean by that."

"You know exactly what I mean, jerkface."

He resisted the urge to cackle. "No, I really don't."

There was a moment of silence, and he imagined that she was wearing a very amusing expression, though he didn't turn around to confirm his suspicions. "Please, Ichijouji-kun...there isn't even a toilet in here. Are you really the type of person who treats people like...like they're sick animals?"

He paused for a moment, as if seriously considering the question. "No," he finally said, turning around. "I'm certainly not that kind of person. Provided that my guests are respectful and address me properly."

She looked supremely incredulous. "You have got to be kidding."

"Do I look like I'm kidding?"

Sighing in frustration, she said, deadly soft, "Can I please go to the bathroom...Digimon Kaiser-sama?"

He raised a hand to his ear. "What was that? I couldn't quite catch it."

She glared and repeated through gritted teeth, "Can I...please...go to the bathroom...Digimon Kaiser-sama?"

He smiled. "Of course you may," he said, feigning benevolence. "I'll instruct one of the guards to escort you."

It was a few hours later when Miyako was disturbed again by her captor. She had been trying to fall asleep on her 'bench', her stomach rumbling so loudly that she could swear it was echoing off the walls of her cell. The bench seemed impervious to body heat; it was like trying to fall asleep on a block of ice. All these things, coupled with an insistent throbbing in her head, made her endeavor predictably fruitless.

The cell door creaked open.

Miyako made a vain attempt to stop shivering.

The Kaiser's voice rang out with clear authority. "Bring it in."

There was the distinctive sound of something hard scuttling against the cell's floor - Gotsumon, Miyako guessed, though she didn't roll over to check - and then the sound of something of substantial weight being set down. And, perhaps her mind was playing tricks on her, but she could definitely smell something appetizing.

Finally, she rolled over.

She blinked.

There was a bed.

"I knew that you were still awake," said the Kaiser. "I brought you something to eat."

She pushed herself upright, still shivering, and her stomach gave another loud rumble. "Um..." she began, unsure of how to respond. She'd been sure that she was going to be stuck trying to sleep in the cold. "Thanks."

He put something down on the bed. "This is a toothbrush," he said. "And I assume you already saw the shower available in the bathroom." She was surprised by the matter-of-factness of his tone. "A Gotsumon will be standing guard. If you need to go to the bathroom at any time, he will escort you."

The Gotsumon in question saluted, scurrying out of the cell to stand at attention with his back turned to the bars.

Miyako's jaw dropped.

Finally, the Kaiser gave one of his signature smirks. "You expected me to let you live like an animal?"

She tried to stop her voice from trembling. "I didn't have any reason not to," she said.

"I was just giving you some time to reflect on your situation."

She felt her eyes burning again, but didn't even have the energy to cry. "So that I could realize what an enormous idiot I am?" Standing up shakily, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Because you didn't need to wait; I've known that for a long time already." She walked over to the bed to find a tray resting in the center of it. She suddenly felt very dirty. "Will you give me the privilege of changing into clean clothes at some point?"

When she looked at him again, his mouth was twisted slightly downwards. "Since you asked so nicely, yes."

"Thanks," she said. "Um..." She sat down on the bed, which was surprisingly soft, and pulled the tray towards her. "Would it be too much trouble for you to leave? I don't think I can eat with you here." She suspected she might end up throwing something mushy at his face.

"I have no desire to watch you eat."

"Great. It's a win-win situation."

Perhaps it was her imagination, but a new tension seemed to have entered the cell. The Kaiser did not leave. "I do hope you remember that it's your own fault that you're here."

"That's funny," said Miyako, doing her best to keep her tone of voice from becoming too abrasive. "I don't remember locking myself into a freezing prison cell."

The Kaiser bristled. "If you aren't willing to face the prospect of defeat, then you shouldn't be fighting in the first place."

It took every ounce of her self control not to throw the tray of food at him. She supposed it was almost a good thing that she was so hungry. "Well gee, thanks for pointing that out," she said, with saccharine sweetness. "I'll definitely bear that in mind that next time I decide to do the right thing." She forced herself to smile as brightly as she could muster. "Now, can you please leave me alone, Digimon Kaiser-sama?"

He sighed, the way one might at an insolent child, then said, "Goodnight, then."

Once she was alone, Miyako began to eat in earnest. It was omurice, seasoned to perfection with lots of veggies, a perfectly fluffy omelette, and pieces of squid that were cooked just well enough that they weren't too chewy.

She wasn't sure what to make of this sudden display of decency. Could it mean that the Kaiser intended to keep her here indefinitely? She had no doubt that he was a big enough jerk to do something like that. What did he care if she missed all of her exams and ended up taking summer classes, her academic prospects ruined forever?

At least Hawkmon was still safely back in the Real World. The thought of what the Kaiser might've done if her partner had been captured too made her feel vaguely nauseous.

So much so that she had to push the thought forcefully aside in order to keep eating.

After she was done, she asked the Gotsumon guard to escort her to the bathroom, where she found a set of plain gray pajamas folded neatly upon a metal stool, though no underwear to speak of. She wondered if there was some ulterior motive behind this absence - perhaps yet another way to humiliate her. Or maybe it was just an oversight.

After she had stepped out of the shower and gotten dressed in the baggy but delightfully comfortable pajamas, she set to work washing her bra and panties in the bathroom's large sink using soap and warm water, and hung them out to dry on the towel rack. It wasn't ideal by any stretch of the imagination, but it was better than nothing.

Really, it could have been much worse. This was the mantra she kept repeating to herself as she curled up in her new bed, hugging her knees to her chest.