~Reflection~ Disclaimer: *sigh* Digimon's not mine. A/N: Okay, this one's short just like the last chapter, but don't worry, Chapter 7 will be one doozy to make up for it. *** Chapter 6 The next thing Yolei knew, after being converted back to her normal self from digital data, was that she was flying through someone's computer and landing in an unceremonious heap on the floor. "What the--? Yolei, is that you?" asked a familiar voice in surprise. Head throbbing and muscles aching, Yolei nevertheless managed to scramble into a siting-up position and curiously searched the dimly lit room to see who had addressed her. It didn't take the girl long to find the source of the voice, but she immediately regretted it. Not paying much attention to her surroundings, she had innocently glanced up behind her to find the hunk of her dreams looking down at her with concern…and dressed in nothing but his boxer shorts. Yolei's face instantly turned beet-red, and, covering her eyes with her hands, she quickly whipped her head away. "Oh my gosh! I am so sorry, Ken!" she exclaimed. Panicky thoughts started to race through Yolei's head chaotically. 'How do I get myself into these things? I never thought that I would end up in his bedroom! What will Ken think of me now? I wasn't supposed to see him like this until our honeymoon!' The lavender-haired girl remained huddled up on the floor as Ken hurriedly put on his yellow pajamas and, after a few minutes, quietly approached the high-strung Digidestined of Love and Sincerity. "Uhm, it's okay to look now, Yolei," said Ken gently, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. The girl in question peered behind her warily, making sure that Ken was fully clothed before sighing and dropping her hands to her side in shaky relief. "Here." Ken extended his hand, offering to help her up. Yolei reached up cautiously, as if she were afraid her hand would burn off at his touch, but Ken took the half-proffered hand into his own and helped her get to her feet. "So…uh," a slightly uneasy Ken began after he made sure that Yolei was steady on her legs, "what are you doing up this late?" For a moment, the still pink-faced girl could only scratch the back of her head and look down at her shoes in embarrassment. "Oh, um…I, uh, I could ask you the same thing," Yolei flusteredly replied, unable to think of anything else to say at the moment. Ken shifted from one foot to the other in nervous agitation at first before responding, "Well, you know, the usual; I was studying and doing my homework earlier, but then I went for a walk in the Digital World, and I was sort of planning on going to bed now--" "So that was you I saw out there!" Yolei suddenly blurted out, startling the Digidestined of Kindness. "You jerk, why didn't you answer me when I called out to you?" Evidently all her shame from moments before was forgotten as she began to berate Ken. "For that matter, why did you go out there alone in the first place? You could have been hurt or eaten by some crazed digimon! Don't you know how scared you made Wormmon?!" When she'd uttered the rookie-level digimon's name, Yolei suddenly remembered how worried Wormmon had sounded in his e-mail. "And speaking of Wormmon," she asked Ken a little more collectedly, "where is he? Does he even know you're back yet?" Ken opened his mouth to reply, but without waiting for an answer, the glasses-wearing girl determinedly started searching his room for the little digimon to tell him that his partner was back safe and sound. However, that didn't mean Ken was off the hook. She continued to scold him as she looked under his desk and in his closet. "Never mind Wormmon, do you realize how scared I was searching all over the Digital World's equivalent of the Sahara for you? I mean, I thought I saw the Digimon Emperor out there, for Pete's sake." If Yolei hadn't been so busy trying to find Wormmon, she might have noticed that Ken had clearly stiffened and his eyes had clouded at the mention of his former alter ego. She still didn't recognize that anything was wrong with him as she brushed past the dark-haired boy and headed up the ladder to his bed. "Oh, so here you are," said the hotheaded girl, her tone abruptly softening. She had found Wormmon fast asleep in Ken's bed, D-terminal open in front of him. Trying her best not to wake him, Yolei pried the small, gray device ever-so-delicately away from the sleeping green digimon and tucked him in under the covers. Before closing the pocket-sized machine so that she could give it back to Ken, she saw that the last thing Wormmon had done before falling asleep was to send a heartfelt thank you to Yolei for going after his best friend for him. By the time Yolei had climbed down the ladder, she had cooled down a bit but was now painfully aware of how much her legs hurt from all the running she had done in the Digital World. Despite the discomfort, she tried her best to flash Ken a bright smile as she handed him back his D-terminal and said, "I forgot I had told him to go to bed, too." Ken woodenly took back his device and merely nodded in acknowledgment. Yolei was about to tell him more, like about how she had received Wormmon's e-mail and gone into the Digital World by herself to search for him, but Ken sharply cut her off before she could utter a word, almost as if he had predicted her next move. "Well, thank you for 'dropping' by, Inoue, but it's getting late; you should go home and get some rest now," he said a bit curtly. Yolei started at Ken's sudden use of her last name to address her, and she opened her mouth, ready to give him a piece of her mind for that, but then it hit her how discourteous she had been to her crush ever since she'd arrived in his room. "Oh, yeah, I guess you're right." Yolei hung her head, starting to feel guilty. 'Great, he must be angry with me,' she thought despondently. 'I should have simply kept my big mouth shut from the start.' Unable to bear looking at him after the bullheaded way she had acted, the scarlet-eyed girl dragged herself over to his desk and murmured, "I'll just be going now. See you later then?" Ken gave her a complacent smile, which she hardly noticed, and replied smoothly, "Of course." As Yolei pulled out her red digivice and stared numbly at the computer screen, she heard Ken unexpectedly yell after her, "Yolei!" The Digidestined of Love and Sincerity elatedly straightened at the sound of his voice. She remembered what had happened the last time Ken had called out to her like that. Suddenly becoming optimistic, Yolei was about to turn around to beam at him when Ken crushed all her hopes with an icy "Have a nice trip home." The lavender-haired girl felt as if a stone had just shattered her frail heart into a million shards of glass, and now she didn't dare look back at him, in fear that he might see the tears welling up in her eyes. A spiritless "thanks" was all that she could manage to choke out before weakly raising her D-3 to Ken's computer. "Digiport open." Ken didn't even flinch as she disappeared into the computer screen in a blinding flash of light. As soon as she had gone, he immediately shut down his computer and muttered under his breath, "Pathetic girl." Seemingly unfazed by the entire incident, he made sure that he was all set for school, which would start in a little over five hours, and ready for bed. Just before he turned off his lights, though, he couldn’t help but give himself one last look in his silver mirror. Shaded indigo eyes stared back at indigo. Triumphant smirk met triumphant smirk. *** Gwen: *rereads and jaw drops open* I can't believe you did that! G: Did what? Gwen: You took Ken's pants off! Gaia: o_O G: ^_^;;; Uhm, I don't know what you're talking about? Gwen: You heard me. It was originally supposed to be Yolei seeing Ken in his pajama pants, not in his boxers! G: Well excuse me for giving the fangirls what they want. But, hey, at least I was responsible enough to up the rating for this part, just in case. Gwen: (whining) Gaia! Do something about this! Gaia: *pats G on the head* Good muse. Remind me to give you an extra treat at dinner. Gwen: *slaps forehead* I give up.