C4APT3R 6

Z/N: Come on Ken! You wouldn't hold out on us! Give us some yaoi!

Thanks Kuri. They still belong to Toei Animation and Bandai. And I'm still just a creepy chick who plays with shadows.

This chapter's a bit longer, but I'm unhappy with it for some reason.

-

Ken shifted, pain shooting through his former comfort of oblivion. He woke with a gasp, looking around frantically. He was no longer in the forest, it was now a familiar house. The only thing he saw was spiderwebs. A good portion of the walls and ceiling were covered in them. He tried to move, but found he was caught in one. Panic overtook him. "Arukenimon!"
"What?" She answered crossly. He strained to look to the side, and caught sight of her.

She had reshielded her eyes with a new pair of sunglasses, and was leaning back against a web, examining the leftovers of an apparent meal with apathy.

"Where did you take me?"

"To the Giga House. You needed to heal. It's the safest place I know."

"Why am I stuck in a web?.!"

"So you didn't roll over and hurt yourself." She gestured to his midsection.

At first he didn't want to look, but gradually he resigned himself to it. Silvery wrappings covered him, securely and softly.

"You have internal bleeding. We managed to fix your ribs up though." Arukenimon commented.

"We?" Ken questioned, moving his gaze upward again.

Several Dokugumon were now staring curiously at him.

"We." Arukenimon repeated. "You're lucky you were out, or I would have had to knock you out myself."

After a moment's pause, she threw a bit of the food behind her. A Dokugumon immediately snapped it up.

"I don't know much about bones, but we thought about it, and put together enough to slip the pieces back."

Ken shuddered. He closed his eyes. Arukenimon abandoned her lean to and walked over to him, stepping against the strands of web. "You're not really stuck, just tied down."

Ken attempted to move his arm. It stretched out a few inches, then held firm. "How long do I have to stay like this?"

"Until we think you're better." Arukenimon answered, sitting down by him. She fingered a strand of web absently. "Go back to sleep. It should help you heal."
"Bones take a long time to heal, Arukenimon."

"Didn't you ever wonder why I seemed fine after every battle? You can be so stupid."

"Your silk...heals?"

"It can. A certain type can. We combined our efforts."

"But how did you get it inside..."

"Through your mouth. Don't think about it. It dissolves when it's done healing."

Ken paled. "You-spiderwebs-"

"Would you rather have died from a second rate dark master's attack in the middle of the forest? Go to sleep."

Ken was silent a moment. "Thank you, Arukenimon."

She said nothing in reply. After his continued attempts to stay awake, she produced her flute from a web he hadn't previously seen. She examined it for a few moments, running a hand down the silver shine. Lifting it to her lips, the first pale note came almost immediately. This was a much different tune than she had used on their digimon in their first encounter. The melody was darker, more haunting, and flowed entrancingly to the end, sounding as if it was a whole chorus instead of one instrument.

Ken felt himself grow tired, but strained to hear the end of the song. Arukenimon increased the tempo, offsetting the gothic feel with a single lightness. Ken couldn't fight it any longer. He fell asleep. Arukenimon continued until the end of the song, pouring into the melody. When it was over, she placed the flute back down on it's bed of webbing, and stretched out herself. "Finally. Keep watch, you all. I haven't had a good rest since this began. I'm going to need it." She fingered her own web bandages.

"What next?" She sighed. The Dokugumon settled down to keep sentry. Arukenimon turned around, glancing once more to make sure Ken was asleep before she allowed her melody to take her as well.

Several times Ken awoke, but leaned back into sleep again when he saw Arukenimon was still sleeping beside him. The gentle sway of the webbing made it impossible to stay awake. Each time he felt better.

Finally he woke up, fully refreshed. He extended a hand to wake Arukenimon.

"I wouldn't, she gets angry when someone wakes her."

His hand paused. He turned to look at the speaker. "A-Ar--"

"Arachne."

The young woman smiled, hanging sideways from a web tied around her midsection.
Ken glanced back at Arukenimon, then to Arachne again.

Arachne spun around, letting him fully view her red underlayer kimono offset with spiderweb patterned stitches, purple obi sashed at her waist and white bandages arranged artfully along her arms and elvin fingers. Ken's eyes were drawn to her hair. White and thigh length, of course. But, a red bat symbol pinned it up in the back.

"Or you could call me Ari. Most do nowadays."

Ken's attention focused on her eyes, their dusty egyptian gold color not surprising him in the least.

"I'm one of Aru's creations. Kind of a daughter. And I know you. Ken. The former Digi Emperor."
Ken finally found his voice. "Ari." And immediately regretted it, the one word a lame reponse.

Ari grinned even wider. "Yes, you have it. So, I never would have guessed she'd bring you here."

"I was injured, we were attacked by Puppetmon."

Ari rolled her eyes. "Puppetmon? Why didn't Aru make sawdust out of that mutant ventriloquist dummy?"

"She's injured, she can't shift back to her digital form." Ken answered. The similarity between the Ari and Arukenimon seemed enough to let him know she was telling the truth.

"She's-Jeez. Wow. I wonder what happened to do that? Maybe I can find Ashira, BlackRen, actually haven't seen anyone for a long time now.."

Ari continued to mutter to herself as Arukenimon stirred.
Ken refocused his attention onto her, watching her hold a hand to her head and sit up.

"Damn it Ari. I'm getting sick of your fraternizing with Dark Masters. Do you have any idea what happened in the past day alone because of them?"
"Piedmon win a karaoke contest?" Ari smiled, twirling around acrobatically to lower herself to eye level.

"Not funny. Puppetmon really knows how to pummel when you're helpless as a rookie."

"How'd ya kill him?"

Arukenimon shook her head slowly. "I only managed a single Spirit Needle before I almost deleted. Your friend Piedmon trumped the pinnochio wannabe."

"Ooh! Pierrot's back! I've missed him!"
"Are you even listening? Everything is going to hell!"

"I should invite him over, but I'd better go catch something first, there's nothing here he'd want to eat.."
"Ari! Don't ignore me! Ari!"
Ken smiled despite himself. Ari's cheer was infectuous, and Arukenimon arguing with her merely made it more so.

"Here's something you'll listen to-your boyfriend is ruining my life again."

Ari's chattering subsided.

"Myo? Myo-kyoushou?"

A chill came over Ken. Maybe they would lose Ari as an ally. And in the state she was, Arukenimon couldn't fight back if it turned violent..

"Myo's not trying to kill you Aru. He promised me he wouldn't. Do we have to go over this now? MaloMyo was a complete accident, power-hungry and insane, irrational, uncontrollable, couldn't remember how to act-"

"Enough! Vamdemon brought me back and deposited me in Ken's lap. Since then we've had nothing but trouble!"

"Vamdemon is not Myotismon."

Ari's statement hushed everything.

"I know Myo isn't trying to kill you or hurt you at all. Not only is that because I believe it to be so, but...Vamdemon's different. The data separated when it was destroyed, it wasn't really-"
Ken sighed. "The truly evil part of Myotismon separated into another entity?"
Ari nodded frantically. "Calling itself Vamdemon. I have no clue what he wants with you two."

An irritated calm rose upon them again. Ari swung back and forth, lips pressed together tightly.

"I have to get a trainer to heal myself." Arukenimon spoke up.

"I'll go talk to Oikawa." Ari decided, nodding. "Will you be alright? I could have BlackRenamon-"
"We'll be fine." Arukenimon interjected.

"In that case, I'll take Mitari and Ashira." She turned to Ken. "Mitari's a blue fluffball of a dog, with a helmet not unlike Wargreymon's. Ashira..."

"A two ton viper with spines and wings." Arukenimon muttered.

"Just thought you should know, before you meet them. I'll call them." Ari smiled again, spinning around spanish web style once more, this time all the way out of sight to the ground.

Arukenimon sighed. "We'll be here awhile. If you want anything to eat, ask the Dokugumon. I'm going back to sleep."

She turned around, her back to him.

Ken sat still for a few minutes, before hunger did take over. He crawled to the edge of the web, looking around. A Dokugumon landed lightly in front of him.

"Hi. I...I'm kind of hungry."
It cocked it's head.

"Could you please, get me something-not a kunemon or anything, is there something else I can eat?"

The Dokugumon continued to stare at him. Ken sighed, beginning to believe it hadn't understood a word he said, when it released a web and fell downwards. Once more he was alone. He glanced back to Arukenimon. Time to calm down, and wait.

Arukenimon, however, was not asleep. She had tried to get back to the wonderfully unaware state of it, but was caught midway by the thoughts swirling around her head. Normally, she wasn't the type to look back on past actions with any regret or unease, but traveling with Ken had changed that. She was inherently uncomfortable around him. Extremely different from traveling with Mummymon, she didn't have to steel herself and watch out for any sudden advances around Ken. Their past did make it difficult to fully let down her guard though. She had seen affection for others many times around the DigiDestined, beyond her grasp and annoying. Their digimon's reactions to their human tamers was something she had never been able to understand. Now it was a bit easier to fathom. What it was she felt though, wasn't like that. Somewhere near the sickeningly sweet way that the males had protected certain women, and the way Mummymon had always tried to prove his affection for her. It was both that she felt nothing for him beyond mild acceptance of the annoyance that was sure to follow, and that the concept of love itself was foreign to her. Motherly instincts she did not have, as had been proven to BlackWarGreymon and Ari on several occasions. BlackWarGreymon had refrained from destroying her on several occasions where it would have been so easy, and such things she did not comprehend the meaning of frustrated her. The emotions were all around, especially in the way Ari insisted on helping and staying around. Her daughter's infatuation and near soul-mate extent of love for Myotismon was incredibly frustrating, not understandable at all and contrary to the loyalty Arukenimon had expected from Ari. There was a flicker of sadness, that something could tear someone away from her, even though it was obvious Ari intended to stay with them both. And Ken..With no idea what the future held, or how long she'd even play a part in it, she was simply waiting for the time when she would be erased from the picture, no longer a part of the story at all, or fall in battle, most likely protecting Ken himself, as Wormmon seemed extremely inadequate compared to her talents. Few as they were now. She was aware that something was happening, something that would make her fight to stay in the story, fight against all the things she had trusted in her cynicality, but she would never admit it was anything close to the simperingly annoying interactions between the DigiDestined. It would never be that, because neither of them were that. She could honestly admit she preferred it that way.

The Dokugumon Ken had spoken to earlier reappeared, carrying with it a bowl of stew.

Ken retrieved it and tried haphazardly to eat balancing on the strands of web.

Arukenimon groaned, rolling over at the smell of her food being lost between the webbing and landing all the way on the floor below.

"Careful with that! And you'd better learn to like it, it's the only thing I know how to make."

Before Ken could answer, something landed behind him, sending first the bowl of stew towards her, and then Ken himself. She dodged the bowl, getting right in the way of Ken's landing.

He fell on her with an audible thump, stretching the web to a dangerous point before it flew back up, elasticity sending them into the air. Arukenimon grabbed a web with one hand, holding onto Ken's arm with the other. She looked down past him, to the thing that had arrived and set off the chain of events.

"Oh for Goddramon's sake! It's just Diaboromon!"

"Just Diaboromon?.!"

Arukenimon let go of Ken, then fell herself, rolling a ways from the middle of the web.

"All of this action is not good for my bed." She muttered, dusting herself off.

Ken scrambled towards her on his hands and knees.

"I told you, it's only Diaboromon."

Diaboromon cocked his head sideways, watching Ken curiously. "Digidestined..."

"His name is Ken. He's convinced you want to eat him."
"Digidestined not taste good.."

"Mm. I've never had the pleasure of finding out myself."

"What's it doing here?"
"He lives here. Some of the time, at least. This is sort of a virus boarding house, it was when I last left here."

"Mistress Ari is ready to talk to boy and Arukenimon."

Arukenimon stood up, watching Ken imitate her.

She held out her arms a bit hesitantly.

Ken looked at her, uncomprehending.
"How do you think you're going to get down?"

He walked over, accepting her help to position himself.

"I can't carry you, I have to move down. So put your arms on my shoulders, and ...your legs around mine."

Embarassment burned in Ken as he followed her orders, hanging on as lightly as he could.

Arukenimon grabbed a thick strand of webbing, and vaulted down. The first jump caused Ken to tighten his grip, rearranging his arms. Realizing he had caught some of her hair in his grip, he tried to untangle it while still hanging on.

To his horror, Arukenimon let out a whimper, and lost her grip on the webbing.

They sailed down. Ken buried his face in her hair, convinced they would land painfully all the way down.

The movement elicited a moan from Arukenimon.

Suddenly they were snatched back up, landing on the wall vertically.

Ken dared to open his eyes. Diaboromon had them slung over his shoulder, and was making his way down the wall.

Ari stood at the bottom, watching them patiently.

Landing as softly as he could, Diaboromon deposited them on the floor. Arukenimon stood up unsteadily.

"Well, Ashira, Mitari and I are ready to go. If I see Piedmon, I'll talk to him. Which way are you going?"

"We haven't really decided yet. We should go back and get Wormmon from Joe's clinic, but I don't know our destination."

"We're taking the forest path. I'll interrogate anymon I come across. One of them has to know of a lead." Arukenimon spoke up.

Ken glanced her way, confused and worried about the weak moment coming down, but not saying anything.

"Well, let's go out. We'll head off from there."

Arukenimon marched ahead. Ken moved to follow her. A pale hand adorned with ragged bandages appeared in front of his face, and gently landed on his shoulder, so light it was hardly touching him.

He turned around to face Ari.
"I'm sure you want to know what happened up there. Well, Aru's got a hair complex. She absolutely loves it when someone touches it or plays with it, but she's too headstrong to tell anyone she wants to have it played with. Also," Ari paused, biting her lip, "that has a sort of hold over her. It weakens her defenses a lot. It's the one really big weakness, and very few know about it. You're the third person to touch her hair, only I and BlackWarGreymon have done it before. So, please, don't do anything dumb. It's a deep bond you've caused now. " Ari grinned. "And since you were looking for one, it's your lucky break. I know you're smart enough to handle it. But don't tell anyone. You're in the 'Crazy Viruses With Really Big Secrets' club now."

Ari walked past him, smiling to herself. Mature as he was, it wasn't any of her business to tell him the real instinctual bond behind it.

Arukenimon waited for them to exit the Giga House, taking a look at Ari for a brief moment before walking away.

Ari sighed. "So, when you come back, you'll make some food, right? I can't do anything with cooking."

Ken glanced back as he caught up with Arukenimon. Ari waved at him, Diaboromon and Mitarimon at her side.

Once the two of them were a good ways off, Ari rounded the house and mounted Ashiramon, pulling Mitari up with her. Diaboromon jumped behind her, waiting eagerly.

"Soveirgn Mountain..." Ashiramon meditated on their destination for a moment, then took flight.