White Christmas
== December 18th, 2001 ==
But why? Why was this happening to him of all people? It was bad enough after the entire adventure in the digital world, none of the other tamers would talk to him, because of his relationship to--
Maybe that was it. Maybe that was the reason he was stuck out in the frozen night with nothing but a backpack of clothes over one shoulder, and his younger sister attached to his side.
Only and hour before they were in their warm apartment sitting in front of the TV, pretending not to hear their mother and father talk about the digimon in the kitchen.
That was still a hot topic at the Wong household, considering his mother wanted to know why Takato or Rika didn't come over anymore. It was the digimon thing. They both seemed to have an eternal hatred for Mr. Wong, as if they blamed him for the digimon having to go back to the digital world. Even Jeri, who normally didn't think hostily, frowned at him at school and turned her back to him, and she didn't even lose her digimon that way--
Henry didn't understand what was going on, but he had a feeling he'd figure it out soon enough. All he had to go on at the moment, was a few voices growing a bit too loud in the kitchen, and his mother rushing them out to the car, and dumping them at the mall, telling them to try and find somewhere safe to stay for the night, and leaving, almost as if she wasn't thinking clearly.
They'd been walking for what seemed to Henry like hours, although he knew it hadn't been. Suzy hadn't said a word to him the entire time, almost lost in her own little world of confusion. She clutched the stuffed rabbit she loved to her chest and looked around at the crowds of Christmas shoppers innocently.
The snow had started, that was just great. The mall was miles away from any one of the tamers' homes, and it was almost impossible for any of them to even want him to stay there in their homes in the first place. The entire situation was hopeless, and he still didn't know why he was out there with his baby sister in the cold.
"Henwy... Henwy lookit!" Suzy lifted an almost-frozen hand and pointed to someone in the crowd.
"It's Wika!"
Henry's heart dropped even further. Great, of all the people out there to run into, it had to be Rika.
She seemed to be the one that hated him the most after all the digimon had their data returned to the digital world, and Henry now thinking he was probably homeless unless his mother came back for him, Rika'd look down on him even more than she did before.
He felt a sharp tug at his arm from the small girl. "Henwy? Didn't you hear me?! I said it was Wika!!"
Henry looked towards Rika hesitatingly. She clearly had her mind on other things, with her mother's cellphone against one ear, and her gloved hand over the other to try and hear the person on the other end.
For once in a long while she had her hair down on her shoulders, probably more to protect her face from the cold than anything else, and she could be easily spotted in a crowd with her bright auburn hair amongst the white snow that fell and the dark clothing everyone else wore around her.
Another thing that set her off was her evident higher status than the other people. She wore the high-fashioned cream-colored jacket with a bit of fur around the collar, and everything else seemed to match as well, and Henry figured she had just come out of one of the fashion shoots. As soon as Rika's mother had agreed to let her keep and spend the money she got off of fashion shoots, they seemed to fill her scegule right up, and Rika suddenly wore higher-priced clothing, rode higher-priced bicycles, and used anything else that was higher priced than before.
Suzy tugged harder. "Talk to her!!"
Henry sighed and slipped one of the backpacks he was carrying off his shoulder, handing the small flower-printed one to Suzy. "You go talk to her, I'm going to take a walk in the park.."
Suzy stood with a confused look on her face, until she looked up into her big brother's eyes, seeing he was serious. She nodded slowly, turned, and raced towards the girl.
Henry stood up straight and sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He turned and headed towards the run-down park that was just a block or two down the road.
Rika closed up the small black phone and attached it to the woven leather belt around her waist. Agents, none of them were worth your time anymore. She understood now why her mother always told Rika to hang up if anyone from the modeling agency called at night.
She sighed, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked around the semi-crowded sidewalk, more at the Christmas displays in the windows than anything else.
It was almost stupid, this holiday everyone was so hyped up over. Christmas at her house was always a tree, some cookies, and getting a bunch of junk from family you barely ever saw on Christmas Day.
Christmas was for the family, puh.. yeah right. Family was never together at Christmas, not where she was anyways. Her mother had extra shoots at Christmas, so she was never home, and her grandmother always attended special classes in the evening for cooking. Sure, Rika's school had some fancy Christmas dance every year, but Rika never attended. She hung up some signs around her neighborhood, it was required of all students to do something or another, after all. Maybe she'd go out to some store and buy a few cheap things for gifts for some 'friends', but that was it.
Rika had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't even see the small girl run up to her, and didn't even notice her presense until there was a soft tug at her jacket.
She looked down, and much to her surprise, was a shivering little girl, wearing a thin pink jacket in the increasing cold. The snow had started up harder in the past few minutes, and even Rika was catching a bit of a chill.
"Suzy?! What are you doing here?" Before she knew what she was doing, she had knelt down in front of the small girl and had picked her up, wrapping a bit of her jacket around the small shivering body.
She had to have compassion on the girl, she looked almost as if she would die from freezing any moment.
Suzy clung to the warmth as if it would go away if she did anything else, and didn't answer for a moment, just mumbled something under her breath about Henry and a park. That was all Rika needed as the black limo she had been waiting for pulled up to the curb, and the automatic door suddenly slid open, and inside was her mother and a boatload of shopping bags.
The woman suddenly looked surprised seeing her daughter standing there holding a small girl tightly to her chest, but her eyes soon softened, recognising the face of the girl.
"Here, Suzy." Rika put the girl down carefully, and pushed her gently towards the limo. "You go in there, I'll get Henry."
Rika's mother didn't argue, just nodded slowly at her daughter's sudden determined look, and motioned for the shivering Suzy to come sit beside her in the warm car.
Without another thought, Suzy had crawled in, and curled up against Rika's mother as if she was her own.
"I'll meet you home." was Rika's last words before the door shut, and she took off for the park amist the steam coming from the exhaust pipe of the limo as it sped away.
"Henry?!"
Henry sat slumped against the cold stone wall of the 'Tamers Headquarters', half-asleep from the cold, with his knees pulled to his chest to try and keep himself warm. In the rush to get out of the house, Henry had only grabbed a coat for Suzy. It was below freezing now, and he was kicking himself for not grabbing his own. It seemed like a distant memory, someone calling his name like that, and in the back of his mind he actually had the thought he might be dying from the cold, until a figure stepped into the moonlight that was pouring through the small doorway.
"Henry!"
Henry groaned inwardly. Great, now he looked like a coward too to her. Rika of all people.. why her?
She sat on her knees in front of him with a puzzeled look on her face. "Henry, are you alright?"
Henry realised the cold had taken his voice away as soon as he had opened his mouth to answer, and Rika had realised his situation at almost the exact moment when she had moved to the side to get a better view of his face.
"Henry! You're going to freeze to death out here!!" she said in the first worried tone he had really heard out of her.
Before he could say a word, she had pulled him out into the cold night air, which, when he thought about it, wasn't too much colder than it had been in the small stone building. She had already started pushing him down the path, towards the rich-end of town. He knew exactly where she was taking him, and found it a bit frustrating that he could fight back verbally, or really even physically from how cold he was.
"Are you people trying to get me in trouble?"
Rika stopped pushing him, but slipped one arm out from her jacket and draped that side over Henry, putting her arm around him to keep him walking.
"I swear, if anything happens to either of you now, it'll be on my head..." she continued to mumble to herself.
Henry barely heard a word of it, he was just glad someone found him alive and was actually offering warmth to him, and... sort of hospitality. Yeah I guess that's what you could call it, even coming out of Rika.
"I want the entire story when we get to my house though... it's not like you to be lugging your little sister around all of Tokyo in this sort of weather, especially when you have no jacket on."
She must've realised he couldn't talk, because she never waited for his answer before continuing on.
"If something happened with your family or something, you can stay at my house, I'm sure. Suzy's already there, I told Mom to take her home with her."
Henry gave a sigh of relief at hearing those words. At least his sister was safe and sound.
"Thank you." he said hoarsely, looking over at her.
Rika shrugged. "Yeah whatever." She never looked him back in the face, and Henry couldn't tell if she was uncomfortable with the situation, or had something else on her mind at the time.
"When we get home, I swear---" she mumbled the rest under her breath, Henry barely catching a thing of it except the word Ryo, which took her a bit longer to say than the rest.
She suddenly was lost in her thoughts, and stopped talking completly, her eyes grew distant-looking.
There were rumors flying around from Jeri and the rest of the girls at school that Rika had been having some relationship problems with Ryo lately, but it was all just a rumor, at least he thought so.
The wind whipped past the two and Henry found himself moving closer to the girl.
She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him. "Oh, right.." she put her arm around him a bit more and smirked.
"I swear if anyone else finds out about this, I'll just die."
"I won't tell anyone." Henry forced out of his throat, and Rika smirked again.
"Yeah, yeah..."
---------------
"And that's all?"
A feminine hand pushed the steaming cup of cocoa towards Henry, and he took it slowly, then nodded and looked towards the couch where his younger sister laid in a jumble of blankets, fast asleep.
"It dosen't matter to me what my mother does to me... but leaving Suzy out there--" his voice trailed off, and for the first time in awhile, Rika's eyes softened as she looked towards the little girl also.
"You're real close to her, aren't you?" she switched her focus to Henry, and sipped her own cocoa, half-listening to the two adults of the house discussing the current situation in the kitchen.
"Of course." he placed the cup on the small coffee table the two sat at, and twisted his face into a state of confusion. "Why wouldn't we be?"
"Growing up in my house, I guess." Rika shrugged and took another long sip of her cocoa, figuring that would end the conversation, but she did know Henry, and Henry would press on until he was satisfied.
Much to her surprise though, his attention diverted back to Suzy and stayed there, and she had to admit that in the light of the fire in the fireplace, he looked much older, almost as if he was a father looking at his child, instead of an older brother.
He looked back towards her, then smirked just a bit at her surprised stare. "What?"
"Nothing.." she said quickly, snapping her eyes down to the table and taking another sip.
Henry shrugged almost as if he wasn't interested anyways, and yet again his eyes fell upon his little sister who sighed deeply in her sleep, and drew her stuffed animal closer to her chest.
His eyes narrowed suddenly, and Rika realised he was deep in thought, and cut herself off from making the pointless comment that had suddenly popped into her head.
"I bet this was all my father's fault--"
Rika's head shot up and she looked startled at the rage echoing through Henry's voice.
"-- Yeah, it was his fault we're stuck here, bothering you."
Rika shook her head slowly. "You're no bother to me, really.." she adjusted the blanket that was draped over her shoulders, then looked back up at him. "This house is too quiet anyways, it was about time someone my age came over for a night or two."
It was Henry's turn to be alarmed. Was Rika trying to... comfort him? And was that really a smile creeping across her face?
"I don't know why you all are so scared of me."
Yes, that was a smile. For the first time in ages, she smiled at him warmly, and he actually felt a bit more relaxed than he had been in a long while. That must've been what Jeri had been talking about when she was trying to explain Rika's smile to the rest of the tamers that just sat there looking at her like she was half out of her mind at the thought of anything but a scowl coming from that girl.
"It's funny when you think about it." she ran the tip of her finger around the rim of her cup, watching it.
"Maybe if you smiled a bit more around everyone else--"
A sudden scowl took over her face and she snapped her head up. "Well if people would take the time to get to know me, maybe I would!!"
Henry chuckled under his breath. "People judge others based on first appearance, and I have to say, first time I saw you I was scared out of my mind that you might kill me."
A burst of red went through Rika's cheeks. "I uh--"
Henry chuckled again, and Rika smiled slightly in return. It was relieving to see that Henry was feeling better now, and wasn't sulking around like he had been when they first got back.
Rika's mother walked into the room and smiled at the two. "Alright, it's past midnight, both of you to bed." she turned to Henry. "I placed a mat in Rika's room, you'll have to stay there until we can figure out something better."
Henry stood quickly with a puzzled look across his face. "Figure out something better-- you mean we're not going home tomorrow?"
"I'm afraid not." Rika's mother's violet eyes grew sorrowful. "I called your mother, you'll be staying with us until further notice, but as for right now it looks as if you'll be staying with us for a week or two."
"A week?!" Henry exclaimed, and would've started fuming on if Rika's hand hadn't set itself there on his shoulder, and pushed him forward a bit towards the hallway leading towards her room.
"Com'on.." she said quietly. ".. we'll talk about it there."
Henry growled slightly, something he rarely did, and walked on where she led him.
"Goodnight Mom." Rika called back as they made their way half-way down the hall.
There was no responce, just the sound of the two women trying to figure out what to do with the small girl on the couch.
With one last push, Henry stumbled into the room, and Rika shut the sliding door behind them, leaning against it almost as if something had been chasing them.
"What's gotten into you?" Henry asked confused, seeing the extra mat laid out a yard or two from Rika's and slumping down onto it.
Rika sighed, and pulled down the ponytail she had thrown her hair into as soon as they had returned home, something Henry had expected from the girl who was still too afraid to show them any feminine side of her.
She sat down on her mat, and sighed once more, looking over at Henry who had just laid back on the mat with his arms behind his head, raising an eyebrow at her. "Well?"
"I've got no clue what's wrong with me, alright?" she snapped suddenly, and stood up once more to dig her pajamas out of the drawers of her dresser.
Henry jumped with her sudden snap, and sat up, almost following her example and sliding the deep-green sweater off his arms, setting it to the side and waiting for her to emerge from behind the bi-folded screen she darted behind while he was busy.
In a few moments, she walked out from behind it, throwing the clothes she had been wearing earlier in the hamper beside the dresser, and brushing down the light blue silk pajamas she had slid into. Her eyes fell on Henry and she raised one eyebrow. "Aren't you going to be cold?"
"Maybe... depends on how close I am to you." he joked, and at first her face grew surprised and stunned all at once, until he laughed at her, and she scowled and rubbed the back of her neck.
"Very funny." she said quietly, sinking to her knees on the mat beside him. "But I'm serious, Henry."
Henry laid back down, except this time pulling the thick comforter over his chest, and placing his arms behind his head again.
Rika hesitated a moment and laid down also, looking towards him. "You sure you don't know why you're here?"
Henry stared up at the ceiling and thought about her question for a moment, he looked back over at her. "Yeah, I'm sure."
Both were silent for many a minute, until Rika's mind came up with one last question.
"You are comfortable here, right?"
No answer.
"Henr--" she looked over at him again, and blinked twice. He was still in the position he had been a few minutes before, but his face was blank and his eyes were closed.
She smirked and sat up, pulling his arms gently from behind his head and placing them at his sides and pulling the blanket up just below the tops of his shoulders so he wouldn't freeze in the crisp cold air of the winter night.
"Goodnight, Henry." she whispered, and sank back down into her own bed, and soon fell fast asleep.
Rika's eyes fluttered open at the sound of the sliding door creaking open slowly, and she looked around a bit. It was still dark, and by the way the moon was hitting the door, it was still really late at night also. She groaned and rolled over, expecting to find Henry's bed empty and him trying to sneak out for some reason or another, but she came face to face with the peacefully sleeping boy, and she sat up a bit quicker than she had expected to, wondering who the person entering her room was.
The burst of cold air from the door opening cut itself off when the door was closed, and soon the figure shuffled towards her, dragging a stuffed bunny rabbit behind her, and soft sobs were heard.
Her heartbeat softened and she couldn't help but smile slightly, thinking of how scared she had been for a few moments.
"Suzy." she whispered. "What's wrong?"
The light readjusted and Rika could clearly see the small girl, who was rubbing her eyes half-way from sleepiness, half-way from crying.
"I had a bad dweam..." she sniffed, and took a few more steps towards Rika.
Rika blinked a few times, then before she knew what she was even doing, pulled the small girl into her arms and draped the blanket around them, rocking her gently.
Rika was surprised by her own actions, but Suzy didn't even seemed phased by it, curling up into her chest and sniffing a few more times as if she had done this many a time before.
Maybe her mother was right, maybe she was at that age where her maternal instincts would kick in and she'd want to be a mother or sister to everything she saw. This was definatly proof of that.
She decided she might as well give in, and she started singing softly as to not awaken Henry, but put Suzy to sleep instead. But as the small girl's weight turned into dead-weight and her breathing slowed into that of a deep sleep, Henry's eyes creeped open, and he looked up slightly at Rika, but she didn't see him because her eyes were closed with her chin on his sister's head, rocking back and forth gently, still singing the words to some song he hadn't heard before.
He laid there in a silent awe of her, and didn't dare stir for fear that like a deer, would be startled away at the slightest movement he made.
One of his bigger fears had been conquered, if Suzy would take to this new 'family' they were to be a part of for the next few weeks. She had definately taken to Rika, because it wasn't everyone Suzy would curl up against and let love all over her like that.
Maybe this would work out--- maybe.
He'd have to see for himself.
------------
Morning had come quicker than they had expected with the midnight visit by Suzy. Henry squinted from the sudden burst of light that hit his face as he woke up, but as his eyes adjusted from night to day, he found that curled against his chest was his younger sister taking deep calm breaths in her sleep, but not much farther than Suzy was Rika, also out cold, probably having fell asleep sitting up rocking the girl and had slumped over onto him.
"Well good morning."
Henry groaned slightly from all the weight on his chest, and sat up as best he could without waking up the other two, looking straight at Rika's mother who stood in the doorway, smiling.
"G-good morning." Henry stuttered, realising she had probably witnessed the scene of all three of them lying there.
He gently pulled himself out from under the two girls, and snatched his sweater off the floor, sliding it over his head quickly.
"Breakfast is ready, make sure to get the other two up for me." was the only thing she said as she left, almost laughing at his sudden urgancy to go back to being the proper boy he had been before. She closed the door behind her, and her footsteps faded away into silence.
Henry stood there for a few moments, running his fingers through his hair to straighten it out of it's jumbled mess, and looked down at the two girls. Rika was starting to groan quietly and move, so Henry figured her eyes would be opening up to the light soon also, which was perfectly fine with him now. Before he had dreaded having Rika take care of him and Suzy, because of that horrible temper of hers, but he couldn't figure out why she hadn't shot it off at him yet. It wasn't like Rika to be nice all the time, maybe she was capable of it at some times, but he'd never seen her like she was now. Maybe not hanging out with the rest of the tamers day in and day out was doing her some good after all, or maybe the angry thing was just an act she put on to scare Takato half out of his mind.
Rika's eyes opened slowly, and she looked down at the girl spawled across her chest, fast asleep. She sat up much like Henry had, and gingerly placed her at her side.
"Sleep well?"
Rika jumped almost two feet in the air and whirled around to look at Henry.
"Uh-- yes I did." she said quickly, a blush crawling across her face again, and flipping her fingers through her hair quickly, realising it has frizzed out a bit from her tossing and turning in her sleep before Suzy had came in.
"You look fine." Henry said quietly, then turned to walk down the hallway, towards the kitchen where the smells of breakfast were already seeping into the rest of the house. "Breakfast is ready, by the way."
"H-hey! Wait up!" Rika stuttered out, and ran up behind him as he walked briskly down the hall, a little bothered by Henry's sudden rage.
She snatched her scrunchie from the end table that sat just inside the doorway leading towards the kitchen, and pulled her hair up as she talked to him.
"I was talking to you, Henry." she said rather sharply at him, and followed him into the room.
Breakfast had been a complete disaster. Rika spent most the morning wondering why Henry had suddenly turned so sour on her, and it seemed to be able to bug her until the afternoon. He had stayed in his own angry little world most the day, which surprised even Suzy. He was normally the sweet and calm tamer who would think things through before he said them, but it was almost like after the incodent with his parents all that was wiped away and his hatred for them was starting to seep over into his other relationships. He had yelled at Suzy twice already that morning, and wouldn't look Rika in the eyes, and snapped at her more than he did anyone else. Rika just let him go, knowing how he felt a bit with the anger she had built up against her mother almost a year before still fresh in her mind. At times she just wanted people to let her have a bad day and cry herself to sleep at night, because she knew she'd wake up the next morning in a better mood if it worked out that way, so she just let him have some space.
It was more evident later in the day that he was tiring of his little game, as he soon spoke gently to his younger sister again and would look at Rika now and then, but nothing more.
It was sunset now, and Rika walked onto the porch just outside her room from the hallway in the house, and was surprised to find Henry sitting against one of the wooden poles holding the roof above the porch up, and staring off into the orange sky. He had one leg propped up by the other one, and his one arm over his knee, letting his hand dangle in midair.
It was quite easy to tell he was thinking about something, which he had been doing alot lately, but when Rika thought about it, he had done all the time, just in excessive amounts now.
He didn't even seem to notice she was there, just sighed deeply and leaned his head back even more.
He looked as if he was giving up on something, probably figuring out why all this was happening to him of all the people on earth, and a look of sorrow was filling his eyes, and Rika swore he would've come to tears right then if the floorboard hadn't creaked under her weight and his head had snapped up.
"Rika--" he said quietly as she sat down across from him, realising he had seen her.
"You okay?" Rika asked, leaning against the other post and looking his way.
Henry shrugged, and went back to staring off at nothing in particular in the sky. "I'm not exactly sure right now. Oh, and I'm sorry about earlier." he gave her a quick side glance, then looked back at the sky.
"When you yelled at me or when you almost hit me?" Rika said a bit teasingly, but noticed by the look that flashed across Henry's face that he wasn't as amused.
"Both, I guess."
Rika mentally slapped herself, and back-tracked a bit in order to try that again. Yeah, she messed that one up BIG time... she wasn't exactly the queen of tact.
"It's alright. We all have our slips." Rika shrugged and hugged her knees to her chest, placing her chin on top of them and looking straight at the boy as he sighed again and returned her glance.
"Yeah-- it's just going to take me a little longer than I thought to adjust to this."
"No-one said you had to just waltz in here and accept it all like you had lived here all your life." Rika almost snapped, and Henry couldn't help but smile at her sudden attempt at wisdom. "Your parents just ditched the two of you like you were garbage on the side of the road! You don't really need to forgive them right off.."
"I know that." Henry cut her off before she could continue.
Rika went silent, waiting for him to explain his words, and for once that day her waiting paid off. It took a few minutes, but at the sound of Suzy's laughter at a television show in the background, one tear escaped his eye and he cracked.
"Just for Suzy I'm trying to at least look like I'm staying strong." his voice cracked once or twice, and Rika could tell he was desprately trying to hold back a flood of tears. "It's hard to, though. If I try being too tough, I end up like I was this morning-- I almost hit her, again."
It took Rika a moment to register the again, but soon the flash of him almost hitting Suzy in the digital world came through her mind, and she didn't even bother trying to calm him until he was finished with that image fresh in her brain.
"What am I going to do now?" he said a bit quieter than before. "She wants to know when we can see Mom and Dad again, but not even I know that. I don't even know if they want us back there again or not.."
"Of course they'll want you back!" Rika interjected, and Henry looked up suddenly, using the back of his hand to get the few tears he had shed off his face.
"They have to.." Rika said slowly, realising the sudden remark she had made surprised the boy.
Henry sighed deeply, but never took his eyes off her. "I wish I had the faith you d--"
"I don't have faith." Rika cut him off mid-sentance. "I just.. know. I know how your parents are, they wouldn't just go and leave you stranded like that, not without good reason."
"You're contridicting yourself."
Rika held a puzzled look for a few moments at what he mumbled. "No I'm not." she said simply, the look still splashed across her face.
"You told me before to for the most part forget about my parents, and now you're defending them.." Henry stood up, and gave a small smile at her when she laughed.
Yeah, he still had to get used to her laughing. At least used to it enough that he didn't smile whenever she did it, almost as if he had accomplished some huge feat.
"Henry! Rika! Dinner!"
Both turned and looked towards the house, hearing the grandmother calling both the teenagers to the kitchen table that Suzy had already been sitting at, fingering her modeling-clay into a random digimon an hour before.
"After you.." Henry motioned towards the door that led into the house, and Rika made a face, but then walked through the door.
"Oh, and Rika--"
She stopped short of closing the door behind her, and looked back at him. "Yeah?"
"Thanks."
She paused a moment, but then smirked. "Yeah whatever." she mumbled and closed the door behind her again.
"No.. no tomorrow night's no good, Mom wants to take me and Henry to a concert."
Rika's hand flipped through the large calender hanging beside the phone, the receiver pressed against her ear by her shoulder as she continued to run her finger across the list of dates and read what was in each box.
"Err-- No, I told Suzy I'd take her to the mall on Saturday."
Rika growled under her breath, and Suzy looked up from the small leather couch, one of the newer furnishings in their house. Rika waved her confused look off, and Suzy went back to watching the cartoon on the television, flipping it back and forth between two channels, but making sure to hear Rika's conversation at the same time. She was young, but she knew how to eavesdrop on people.
"Busy Sunday too-- What do you mean I'm not spending time with you anymore?!"
Rika leaned against the doorframe, hand over her forehead as she spoke into the phone. "I know I've been spending alot of time with them lat--- it's not my fa--- Ryo!"
Suzy perked up a bit at the sudden sound of her voice turning from calm to pleading.
"Don't hang up on me-- please.." the girl walked out into the hall, and Suzy made an irritated face, standing up and looking over the top of the leather couch to where the phone cord wrapped around the doorframe. She could still hear Rika's voice in the hall, but couldn't make out a word of it.
"Suzy, what are you doing?"
Suzy quickly sank back down into the leather sofa and looked at the other doorway where her older brother stood, the book he had been reading in the study in his hand.
"Nothing." she spat out quickly, then pointed to the TV. "I'm watching B--"
Henry's hand went up for silence quickly, and Suzy blinked at him. He wasn't even paying attention to her anymore, but his eyes were turned towards the open doorway across the room where Suzy had been looking before.
Now Suzy heard it too, once she stopped and listened.
Was Rika--
Rika came back from around the corner, and she looked up having been staring at the floor before. She gave a slight gasp, and her hand shot up to her face, forming a fist and wiping away her tears quickly.
"You okay?" Henry set his book on the end table beside the sofa, and Suzy stared at it for a moment, realising which book it was. Henry never set that book down while he was the middle of reading, especially if he was carrying it around. But there it sat as he rushed by it, towards the auburn-haired girl hanging the receiver on the hook and turning to look at him.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." she responded quietly, almost like she was trying to not let Suzy hear the words she was saying.
Suzy dared not turn around and look, for fear if Henry was standing close to the girl, he'd turn red and back off. It irritated Suzy a bit to not be able to know what was going on-- and then she spotted just what she needed to see.
The decorative mirror hanging on the wall opposite where Henry and Rika stood, and in the right position that Suzy could see every movement, but completly forgot that it went the other way around too.
Henry's hands were on Rika's shoulders as she tried desprately to tell him off and wipe her tears at the same time.
"We just got into a fight-- it's no big deal." she finally forced out, looking at him, then catching the mirror in the corner of her eye, seeing Suzy grinning from ear to ear in it.
Suzy's expression changed completly though when Rika's head completly turned, and she realised that she had just been found out.
Henry's attention diverted that way also, and he sighed, slipping his hands off Rika's shoulders and walking back towards the end table, picking his book back up, and walking towards the study again.
"I'll be in here if you want to talk about it, Rika."
"Thanks." Rika said quietly, and watched him disappear through the doorway.
She walked around the couch, then sank into the cushions beside Suzy, closing her eyes and leaning her head back completly, waiting for it all to end.
"You okay, Wika?" Suzy asked, sitting up a bit more to look the girl in the face better.
Rika shook her head. "I'm not sure."
"You love Wyo, huh?" Suzy asked again, this time in a more innocent voice than before.
Rika looked down at her and smiled slightly, but didn't respond to her question, and acted as if she didn't really want to answer that.
"We had a fight Suzy, I'll be okay, I told your brother that already."
"I know. I heard." Suzy grinned at her, and Rika couldn't hold back the smile creeping across her face.
Rika rolled her eyes and stood back up, messing with the girl's hair a bit.
"Make sure you go to bed when this is over with, it's getting late."
Suzy looked at the TV screen, and looked back over at Rika, just vanishing behind the study doorway, and the door closed behind her.
Suzy grinned to herself, and went back to watching the television. It had scared her when Mommy forced them both out into the cold, but she actually liked it here better than she liked it at her own house. Since school wasn't in session, Henry and Rika were both home all the time, and Rika's mother made sure to spoil the little girl with plays and trips to the mall for new winter clothes. She could stay up as late as she wanted to, and sleep in as late as she wanted to also.
And now she even had a big sister-- kind of.
Suzy made a face at that realization hitting her. Rika and Henry didn't necessarily get along most the time, and unless they did, Rika wouldn't want to be her big sister.
In her own little-girl mind, she started to form an idea. How she would carry it out, she didn't know, but she figured she might as well try. She had seen lots of movies from the collection Rika had at her age where the boy and girl fell in love and everyone was happy all the time after it. If she could get Henry and Rika-- yeah!
Suzy snapped the TV off, and marched back to the small guest room, made up just for her, and snatched her stuffed rabbit from the table behind the couch. Rika was right, she should go get some sleep, because it was pretty late. Tomorrow she'd try out her idea, because after all, the three of them were going shopping tomorrow, according to Rika's mother. She'd have the perfect time to try and hook them together, especially since the mall looked so pretty from the Christmas decorations.
She gave a quick goodnight yell to the people in the house, and with her rabbit dragging along the floor behind her, disappeared behind the door.
-----------
"-- and you'll need to grab your jackets and bundle up today. The sun will break through the clouds and the temperature will rise to around forty degre---" the small television in the kitchen spat off the last words of the weather report before Rika clicked the remote button and shut the picture into a black screen. She turned and looked at Henry who was struggling to keep a wriggling Suzy under control as he attempted to slide a thick baby-pink jacket over her arms.
"Suzy-- hold still!"
"-- and then, Jackie wan into the woods.. and now they'wre not sure they'll be able to find hewr evewr evewr again!" Suzy continued ranting about the show she had watched early that Saturday morning, turning this way and that in order to talk directly to Henry's face, and at the same time, throwing Henry off and the jacket fell onto the floor time and time again.
Rika covered her mouth to surpress a laugh, just as Henry looked up at her and scowled. "You're liking this a little too much, Rika."
"I know." she grinned, and another sharp look from Henry caused her to stand up, and walk to where Henry kneeled on the ground.
"For goodness sakes, it's just a jacket, Henry." she corrected her sudden perky mood, growled at him, and snatched the jacket out of his hands.
She kneeled down beside him, gently pushing him to the side with her hip, and waited patiently for Suzy's many rants to calm down. After a few minutes of hearing a story-plot Rika had no clue even existed, the girl calmed down enough for Rika to slip the jacket over her arms, and even turn her around to zip up the front.
"There." Rika said in a satisfactory voice, leaning back on her heels.
"Rika you're my hero." Henry said quietly, almost in a state of awe as Rika stood up and shrugged.
"As I said.. it's just a jacket, but--" teasingly, Rika put her hand on the boys shoulder and faked a sympothetic look. "-- you'll get it."
Henry made a face at her and followed her out of the room, Suzy close behind realising if she didn't hurry they'd leave her behind. "Very funny." he retorted, snatching his own jacket that Rika's mother had bought him, and stepping a distance back as to not hit someone in the face as he strugged to put it on. "So where are we planning on going, again?"
"The mall--" Rika had already put her jacket on, and was now sliding the black cellphone into her pocket.
Suzy who had been overly perky the entire morning was now strangely quiet as she listened to the conversation between the two teenagers, looking between each of them for any hint of a glint in their eyes. She sat down on the wooden bench in the small foyer, eyes still on them, and frowned at their casual talk. They didn't seem to be interested in each other at all-- now what was she going to do? Henry and Rika talked on about a certain store in the mall and a certain movie they could buy there, something Suzy had no interest in even if she understood it, especially when the news of her not being able to watch the higher-rated movie reached her ears.
"Sorry, Suzy.." Henry said patiently. ".. it's rated PG-13.. you're too young to see a movie like that. Rika and I are going to have to watch it alone this time."
Suzy's frown melted away, and she did all she could to hide away a hint of excitement in her voice. "That's okay, Henwy..."
Henry gave a bit of a start at her words and both he and Rika exchanged surprised glances. "It's.. okay?"
"Mmm hmm!" Suzy slipped off the bench and rushed towards the front door, seeing Rika finish off Henry's outfit by throwing a white scarf around his neck, much to his disliking.
"I'm already burning up in this outfit--" Henry started to protest, and Rika smirked at him.
"You'll live. Besides, Mom's making us walk to the mall, you'll get cold soon enough." she retorted.
"And since when are you so worried about me?"
Rika shrugged a responce and closed the door behind them, shrinking back a bit from the sudden blast of cold air hitting her in sharp contrast to the heat of the house.
It had grown exceedingly cold in the last day or so, and yet the weather man on television still insisted highs in the forties until Christmas. Rika gave a quick glace at the thermometer attached to the inside of the wall that surrounded their home. That couldn't be right, it only read that it was about twenty degrees--
Rika stopped a moment to take a closer look at it, and Henry grabbed the edge of Suzy's jacket as the girl went bounding past him, oblivious now to Henry or Rika with her mind set on going shopping.
"Henwy!!" she exclaimed, twisting a bit under his grasp, but Henry either didn't hear her, or just pretended not to.
"Rika?"
Rika straightened up and looked at him. "I think it's busted." she snorted, and Henry let the twisting child go and leaned down a bit beside Rika to take a look at the thermometer also, just as a light snow started to fall from the sky.
Suzy gave a quick gasp of delight, and both Henry and Rika looked up also. "Didn't the weather-guy say no snow today?" Rika asked with a bit of curiousity in her voice and she stood up straight again, holding her hand out to catch a few snowflakes.
"Yeah.." Henry's voice wasn't full of curiousity, just worry. The last time West Shinjuku had seen snow this early was back when--
He shook the thought out of his mind, and decided not to bring it up immediatly in front of Rika. He knew the IceDevimon experience still sent chills down her spine, no pun intended.
If he brought it up, it would only cause Rika to worry more about things than she already was. It was clear across the girl's face every night that she was worried about Henry's family situation, maybe even her now more frequent arguments with Ryo. All she needed was to worry about one more thing.
"Come on, let's go. It's just snow, and weathermen do have the ability to be wrong." he said quickly, putting his hand on Rika's back and pushing her towards the open walkway that Suzy had already bounded down.
He wouldn't have dared to touch the girl before, in fear his hand would get ripped off, but in the last day or so he had seen a slightly differant side of Rika. She was being more of a sibling to Suzy than he was, and was even kind and understanding towards his own faults. He looked towards the girl as his thoughts suddenly circled around her once more.
What was he thinking? His mind shook him out of his trance as soon as he saw the sturn look return to Rika's face, once out in public. He was talking about her kindly-- a little too kindly. He couldn't be--
His thoughts were cut off again once Rika spotted him watching her, and her eyes went from harsh and cold to semi-soft and full of worry. "Henry, is everything okay?"
Great, she probably had already figured the entire situation out.. she was only *playing* stupid to get him to admit it himself and then make a fool out of him by telling him she didn't share his fe-- No, he didn't have feelings for Rika. He couldn't have feelings for Rika... they were just friends, and would always be "just friends".
"Of course." he said just brightly enough that Rika's look faded away into almost contentment.
"Alright." she said briskly, then sped up a bit to catch up with the small girl almost a half a block ahead of them. "Suzy slow down!!" she called to the girl, and suddenly burst into a run truly grasping how far ahead Suzy had gotten.
Henry stayed at his normal pace, chuckling at the girl his own age bounding after Suzy, who suddenly had the idea to move a bit faster as to create a chase. Rika's yells went from annoyed to a light laughter and Henry smiled. It was almost like they were their own family now, and Henry found himself enjoying it more and more with each passing moment.
"Got you!"
Suzy let out a shriek, then a flood of giggles that made the passers-by smile as they looked upon the scene. Henry laughed as Rika suddenly shot up, and straightened out her hair, realising a few kids were recognising her. Her eyes shot death-glares at people left and right, and she suddenly froze, seeing someone in the crowd. Henry didn't notice her suddenly shock at first, but Suzy followed the girl's glance, and stared also.
"Mommy--" she whispered under her breath, and Rika's hand immediatly went to the girl's shoulder and pulled her back.
There standing in front of them was Mrs. Wong, her hand to her mouth as if she was trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall.
"Mom.." Henry started at the sight of his mother, and much like Rika had done, pulled Suzy back even more. There went one of his ideas-- the idea that his mother left him there because of something wrong with the family, like someone was sick. But here she was, shopping bags over her arms, looking like she did every year as she dashed from store to store buying the children's Christmas gifts.
Everything around them seemed to fade away, and to Henry, even Suzy and Rika weren't there.
His mother's tears finally fell as her son's face became cold and sturn at the sight of her, and she knew her suspision was right, her son did hate her for what she did.
"Henry, I can explain everything."
"Yes, I think an explaination would do just fine." Henry snapped off proper sentances at her, much like his father did, and that realization was clear in his mother's eyes as he spoke. ".. considering you just left us like that... no, you know what? Nevermind."
Rika and Suzy both watched Henry storm down the sidewalk, and into the mall that was only a few yards away from them now.
"Henwy!!!" Suzy exclaimed, suddenly chasing after her brother from the awkward silence that had befallen the entire area.
"If he would only listen--" Mrs. Wong's tears fell a bit harder. "-- it's all my fault.. I've lost my son and it's all my fault---"
Rika stood there with three options on her hands. She could turn and run like Henry had, try and understand what was going on, or snap off some remark at Mrs. Wong. Her mind was quickly made up. She was sick of this wild goose chase of trying to find out what the reasoning was for the sudden abadonment of Henry and Suzy, and she opened her mouth to speak.
"What kind of a mother are you?!" she demanded, much to her own surprise. Wait a minute, she wasn't going to say that-- but it was almost as if her heart overrode her mind, and she wasn't even in control of her own actions anymore.
Mrs. Wong stared at the girl almost a fourth her age, acting as if she was just as old as she was.
"Do you know the heartache you've caused Henry? No mother would do that!!!" Rika shrieked, and Mrs. Wong's tears fell a bit harder as Rika did a complete turn and stormed off the way Henry had.
"Take care of him and Suzy before it's too late."
Rika stopped short of opening the glass door of the mall at the words muttered by Mrs Wong, and she turned slowly. "What?"
But she was already gone in the crowds.
"Took you long enough."
After looking around the mall for a few minutes, Rika finally stumbled upon Henry and Suzy who were sitting on the edge of one of the large water fountains.
Suzy dashed back and forth, looking for just the right place to toss in the penny that Henry had given her, almost flipping over the edge of the concrete that separated the mall floor from the water.
Henry had seemed to be in his own thoughts, sitting on the concrete ledge and staring at the bubbling water, until the corner of his eye spotted Rika, looking quite distracted as well.
"Stopped and talked to my mother, didn't you?"
Henry flicked his own penny into the water and Suzy perked up before Rika could reply.
"Henwy.. you'wre 'posed to make a wish fiwrst!"
Rika smiled as the big-brother Henry she knew came back to life. He looked over at Suzy, grinned, and flipped another in after closing his eyes for a moment. "There, how's that?"
Suzy grinned in return. "What'd you wish fowr?"
"I can't tell you that.." Henry messed with the girl's hair and laughed, standing up.
He turned to look at Rika, and teasingly offered his arm out to her. "Should we be on our way?"
Suzy's eyes lit up like the Christmas lights dangling from the ceiling of the mall as Rika snorted in disgust, but still slipped her arm into Henry's. "Yeah.." Rika forced a snarl in her voice, but the stubborn grin Henry was giving her broke through it and she playfully pushed him aside. He caught his balance just short of falling into the water of the fountain, and gave her a look.
"That wasn't fair!"
She smirked, flipped a piece of hair back and walked on like one of the popular girls at Henry's school would. "I don't play fair."
Henry grinned again and bounded after her, causing an uncharacteristic shriek from Rika and both went running down the middle of the semi-crowded mall, Suzy following behind them, not at all phased by the fact they had forgotten about her. That's exactly what she wanted them to do.. well.. sort of, but she wasn't complaining. They seemed to actually have that click she was looking for before, and with Henry's arm now wrapped around Rika's waist as they walked at a normal pace, she could tell she didn't have much work to do after all. Suzy just laughed happily at the site of her brother finally "in love", and followed the teens with a bit more skip in her step.
---------------
The bustling crowds, the crazed last minute sales at stores, the back-to-back traffic near the airport, which was poorly placed down the road from the mall. It made people wonder why they still played the song "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year". It sure didn't seem like the most wonderful time of the year, more like the worst time ever to be last minute shopping.
But all those horrible shopping memories seemed to slip away in front of the fire in the fireplace with a plate full of cookies nearby and wrapping paper scattered from one side of the room to the other. Henry had to admit, even though he and Rika were still going wild trying to get all the presents wrapped before Suzy came home from the Christmas play she went to see, it was peaceful now.
Much to Rika's displeasure, Henry insisted on Christmas music playing on the radio, and now that was softly echoing through his ears as well. He smiled slightly and taped another piece of green wrapping paper together as he listened to Rika softly sing along with one of the Christmas carols that everyone knew so well.
"You have a nice voice." he said simply enough, fumbling to get the ribbon tied on the bulky package.
Rika shrugged. "Yeah I guess." she mumbled under her breath, and shifted to her side in order to assist Henry. "Here, look."
With a few flips of her fingers the ribbon was tied snuggly on the package, and she turned the present back into an upright position and handed it to the boy.
"Thanks." he made a face at her, and set the present to the side, then looked around at the scattered boxes that had already been wrapped. It was easy to tell who did what presents. Henry's looked delicate with pale colors that he had been accustomed to at his house. The Wong's always made their house a winter wonderland every year, and a sharp pang went through Henry's heart at the thought of it, so he continued on quickly with his thoughts.
Rika's presents were bold and bright, barely recognisable as Christmas gifts. Most the gifts for Suzy were in bright pink wrapping paper with snowflakes, or now and then a red present with a kitten drapped in holly berries on the side. Henry couldn't help but laugh at the sight. He knew Rika was trying her best, and that was just her style, in fact he had to admit he kind of liked her style after all.
His attention diverted over to Rika, who was finishing up the last of Suzy's presents. Her hands flew like magic and within a few seconds the large box was completly wrapped in bright blue paper, and a silver ribbon was secured around it. Another flip of the wrist and a large silver bow was stuck on the top, and she calmly slid the present on the coffee table, as if she had been doing that all her life. It wasn't anything new to her.
Henry's silent laughter came out, and she jumped slightly and looked up at him. "What?"
"Nothing.." Henry quieted his laughter and shook his head, finishing up his own present as Rika scattered around to pick up the scraps of paper to be thrown away.
"You just amaze me, that's all."
Rika threw another piece of paper in the long black trash bag she held and looked up at him, puzzeled.
"What do you mean?"
Henry shrugged, cut the end of the ribbon he held, and taped it down onto the box. "Everything you do anymore is so unlike the Rika I knew before."
Rika didn't give an oral responce, but stood there a moment, the puzzeled look a bit stronger.
"I.. kind of like the new Rika better." Henry admitted, not seeing the look on her face as he gathered up all the presents and stuck them under and around the large Christmas tree that seemed to be sparkling from the firelight that engulfed the room.
He stood back upright and dusted his hands off on his shirt, looking over at her when he was finished. "Did I say something wrong?" he asked as he noticed the look of almost hurt in her eyes.
"No.. no you didn't." she quickly went back to picking up the rest of the paper, avoiding his eyes.
"Rika I said something that bothered you, I can tell. What did I say?" he persisted, but Rika shook her head violently.
"You didn't say anything, alright?!"
Henry walked right up beside her and snatched the garbage bag from her hands, causing her to jump and stand upright, eyes wide at his sudden flare of temperment. They stood silent for a few moments, each shocked by Henry's actions but soon he threw the bag down on the couch and put his hands on Rika's shoulders. "What did I say?" he asked again, this time with a bit more patience in his voice.
Rika kept silent, debating her next move. She was tempted to snap at him and cause him to let go of her so she could make a run for it, but the feel of his hands on her shoulders and the warmth of the fire they stood right in front of caused her to take that option out of her mind.
Then she broke down.
Henry stood in complete shock at the girl that suddenly threw herself against him and started into heavy sobs. It.. was something he hadn't been expecting, for sure. His shock soon melted away and he puts his arms gently around the girl as she started ranting through her tears about everything that had been going wrong lately, all of which were not answering his immediate question, but he listened anyways.
He listened to her heartwrenching story of finally losing Renamon, heard her words about her mother's remarks about her 'style', and finally understood the story of Ryo, and how he had broken up with her before they left for the mall that day. Finally in a round of sobs that were harder than the last, she explained how she finally felt like she belonged somewhere, and didn't want him or Suzy to leave her alone like she had been before.
It was all making sense to him now. She needed someone to love her, she wanted a family, and only he and Suzy could give her that family. She finally had gotten that taste of love that she wanted so badly, and realised that as soon as the Wong family decided to take them back in, she'd lose it again and be right back where she had started before; cold and wretched.
She saw her reflection in the mirror every morning, and how it had gone from bitter and sour, to sweet and loving. She realised that she was beautiful, just as people had told her before-hand, but was afraid to lose that sense of peace that she had now.
Henry held her closer and gently rubbed her back. "I'm not going anywhere."
A promise that even Henry himself was surprised he made. How could he keep that promise? What if his family really did want him back? He couldn't stay with Rika and her family forever.... or could he?
"I'm going to be here for you... I promise you, Rika.. I promise."
Rika's sobs continued on, but they no longer sounded heartbroken, but more relieved as years of bitterness suddenly melted at his words.
No, he still wasn't sure she 'loved' him... like a boyfriend/girlfriend type love... but she loved him in some way, and he couldn't break the heart of anyone, especially Rika. If she didn't love him in that way, he was dead sure that at least he did.
"Okay.." Rika forced out in between her sobs, and Henry just smiled at the innocent of her voice. He had finally broken down the wall of defense, she had let him into her heart.
Henry gently let go of her, and made a quick bolt for the couch, motioning for her to sit beside him there instead of having to stand the entire time.
She sank down in the cushions beside him and leaned against him, her attention soon on the magical-looking Christmas tree as Henry put his arms back around her.
"I'm.. trusting you with that promise, Henry."
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Henry whispered.
"We'wre HOME!!" Suzy exclaimed as she bounded in the front door of the house and down the narrow hallway, Rika's mother walking slowly behind her, taking off her long red jacket and hanging it on the coatrack, and just as Suzy disappeared around the corner and into the living room, and loud gasp was heard.
Suzy stared in amazement. The entire room was packed to the brim with presents in differant colors and styles. She ran left and right, looking at the labels on each of the packages, and grunted in disgust at the ones near the back of the tree that she couldn't get to. But for the ones she could see, there was anything from "To: Suzy From: Henry" to "To: Suzy From: Rika". They were all for her, except one small box, not much bigger than her own hand, and inscribed on the label was "To: Rika Nonaka From: Henry Wong" in perfect looking red handwriting. Suzy skipped over it rather quickly though and continued in her search of the entire room. The walls seemed to be made of presents. Tall ones, short ones, small ones, big ones. Everywhere there was wrapping paper and bows, but what finally caught her eye and made her gasp the most was the two teenagers curled up together on the couch, one with a tear-stained face. Her big brother and Rika were now sound asleep, never even stirring despite Suzy's squealing. Suzy quickly fell into a hushed awe and only made a sound when Rika's mother walked in.
"Shhh." she put her finger to her lips and grinned at the woman. "They'wre sleeping.."
The blonde woman stopped short at the sight, and stared for a moment, but soon a warm smile crept across her face. "Alright." she whispered. "Go off to bed now, Suzy. It's late and tomorrow is Christmas Eve."
Suzy nodded and bounded down the hallway, and the sound of a door closing was soon heard.
Rika's mother smiled again, and gently picked up the blanket that was hung over the top of the couch. She spread it out in front of her, then draped it over the two teenagers, and smiled.
"Goodnight, dear." she pushed back a piece of Rika's hair, looked towards Henry, then walked on through the room.
---------
"But Rik--"
"No."
"But we only do this once every ye--"
"I don't care if you do it every day!"
A few people in the small Katou diner turned to look at Rika's loud shots at the two teenagers, sitting across from her in one of the booths with obviously forced sad eyes.
Henry and Jeri looked at each other in disgust, and back at Rika.
"But Rika, the Christmas dance is--"
"No!!" Rika cut Henry off once more, but this time with her hand also. A silence fell over the group at that motion, and the faint sound of Christmas music was almost heard through the sound of the other customers talking and the few employees clinking plates and glasses together in the rush to prepare food.
"B--" Rika's hand went up, but closer to Jeri's face this time, and Jeri leaned backwards, almost afraid she'd get hit.
Henry didn't seemed phased though, just continued on. "I want to go this year, but I need a date to even get in there in the first place, and I don't want to look like one of the gay kids at the school and show up with a 'friend'." Henry pointed out and he took a quick sip of his soda.
"Like Kenta and Kazu." Jeri also pointed out, letting a slight giggle escape her lips.
Henry laughed also, and nodded. "Exactly."
Both looked towards Rika, almost confused by her sudden silence, and both grinned.
She sat there with her arms laid across the table, and her forehead banging against them, waiting for it all to end, and already knowing Henry and Jeri had won, and that night she'd be showing up to a party at another school in a dress and makeup. The thought made her sick.
Henry slid across the table to be eye-level with her, and tilted his head to the side innocently.
"Please, Rika? For me?" he said in an even more innocent voice.
Rika peered over her arms at him, and met his crystal gray eyes. She groaned and sat up straight. "Fine." and she quickly extended her finger at him, putting it right into his face. "But only this once."
She smoothed back her hair, closing her eyes and making herself purposely look more important that the two she sat across from. "I can't be seen at this low-life dances all the time, it'll end up ruining my reputation."
"Right.." Henry grinned at Jeri, and Jeri just laughed.
Rika lowered her hands and opened her eyes. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing." Jeri put her hands up in a surrendering motion, but continued laughing.
One of the teenage boys that now worked at the diner walked up to the table, notepad in hand. He flipped over the top page of it and pulled the ink pen from behind his ear. "How can I help you all today?"
Jeri ignored the stares that she was receiving from Henry and Rika instead of being aimed at the actual boy, and looked right up a him. She spat out some random order and the boy jotted it down quickly, then looked at Rika. "And what can I get this beautiful young lady."
Rika shock wore off and became an angry look instead. "Say that again, goggle-head, and that'll be your face going into the oil over there." she motioned to the baskets of frenchfries another employee was dipping into the burning oil.
"Ooh... kay..." he looked back that way, and back at Rika nervously. "Sorry, Rika."
"Yeah yeah.." Rika snorted and sipped her drink again, causing Henry to laugh.
"We're fine, Takato, we have to leave anyway." Henry smiled warmly at the boy, and motioned for Jeri to scoot out of the booth so he could get out.
Rika grabbed her brown leather jacket from the seat and slid out, standing up she looked at Jeri. "You *are* planning on coming to this Christmas dance too, aren't you?"
Jeri slid back into her seat and shrugged. "I wasn't really planning on it."
An almost horrorfied look crossed Rika's face, and she started walking towards the diner's door, but pulled on Takato's sleeve, pulling him away from the table.
"H-hey!" he yelled as she dragged him just out of hearing range of the other two tamers. She pulled him close to her by the collar of his shirt and whispered in a sturn voice.
"She *is* coming to the dance."
Takato nodded quickly and Rika let him go.
"Henry." she stated abruptly, turned on her heels, and walked out of the diner, Henry fumbling to put his jacket on as he raced to catch up with her.
The cold winter day had caught Henry and Rika by surprise, and the sudden gusts of snow-filled wind didn't help anything either, especially having to walk back home after a day of walking the streets of Shinjuku, looking at the Christmas decorations. The wind now blew directly in their faces, and caused both to squint their eyes in order to see anything straight. Now and then Rika stopped for a breath of air, for while trying to keep her 'cool' composure, she insisted not to wear a scarf, so it was extremly hard for her to breathe. Henry tried to keep her moving however, knowing she'd probably freeze to death in the thin coat she wore. He didn't understand what had made him take his heavier coat even after the weatherman warned it would be warmer than usual that day, but he just had, and now he was half tempted to switch jackets with the girl. She had heeded the man's warning, but he had been completly wrong, as he had been for many days now. It was strange, as soon as the Wong family kicked Henry and Suzy out of the house, all this odd weather started up, especially when he was out with Rika somewhere.
That hit him as odd as well. He had taken Suzy to the park a day or two before, and the weather had been balmy, and you really didn't need a jacket at all, but whenever he was out somewhere with Rika, or both Rika and Suzy, the winter weather seemed to grow more and more furocious.
Henry grabbed Rika's arm again and started to unzip his jacket with the other hand. He pulled her closer to him, inside the jacket and rewrapped it around the two of them. Rika was now at least partially blocked from the whipping winter winds and the stinging snow.
"Returning the favor?" Rika asked with a little bit of a snap in her voice, referring to the day she had found him in the park.
Henry didn't respond, just drew her even closer to him with another cold gust of wind, and scanned the horizon for a moment. He didn't know where they were.
The blinding snow was coming down so hard now that he couldn't see anything, and it had covered the entire city in a thick white blanket, and it all looked the same to him now. Rika was barely able to see anything anyways from being pulled so close to Henry, but could immediately sense his body growing tense with worry.
She opened her mouth to say something to him, but a voice cut her off, and at first she swore it was Henry's, until it spoke again. A low voice, a seductive voice, whispering in her ear. She couldn't make out a word of what it was saying, but something in her mind clicked, and she gently pulled herself away from Henry, looking in the opposite direction. The voice seemed to be coming from that direction.
She didn't understand why her body wouldn't stop moving, even though she kept trying to make her feet stop or just turn around and go back to the warmth that Henry had offered her. Henry kept pace with her, yelling out confused statements to her as he finally realised she was absently walking in another direction, almost as if in a trance. But she wasn't in a trance, at least her mind wasn't.
The voice grew a bit louder, and Rika could finally make out what it was saying.
.... come closer, my love .... that's right .... I'm over here ....
.... come closer .... you're almost there .... I won't hurt you ....
She could faintly hear the sound of running water also, but the more her mind raced about that thought, the louder the voice got until it blotted out that sound entirely, and it was just a memory.
.... hurry now, come closer ....
"RIKA!"
Two arms wrapped around her body and pulled her violently backwards, and just like that the voice cut itself off, and the faint sound of running water was now the roar of water. Rika stood in Henry's arms, only a foot away from the edge of the river that ran through Shinjuku, and by the way she was facing, she figured she had been standing right on the edge of that river before Henry had grabbed her.
"What has gotten into you?!" Henry shrieked at her, turning her around quickly and almost glaring at her. "If you had gone one step further you would have killed yourself!!"
The look of confusion in Rika's eyes made Henry calm down and regroup his feelings. "I don't know." she said simply, her quiet voice almost completly silenced by the loud roar of the river that was now out of control from all the melting snow in the past few days.
Henry just looked at her for a moment then pulled her into his arms again. With one last gust, the wind died down into calm and the snow fell normally, almost as if it had admitted defeat to the boy.
Rika gladly welcomed the sudden warmth that surrounded her, but in the back of her mind something was troubling her. She had heard the voice before, but she couldn't place it anywhere.
"Don't do that to me again."
Henry's disturbed voice shook her out of her thoughts, and he drew her even closer against him, as if trying to protect her from whatever had caused her to almost throw herself into a raging river. "I thought I lost you."
Rika gave in to the temptation and wrapped her arms as best she could around Henry, which in turn pulled her further into the jacket and even more into the warmth her body needed.
"Promise me you'll never do that again."
Rika just shook at the thought of not being able to control her own actions like that, and it had almost cost her the ultimate price. Henry gently slipped his arms back and used his hand to lift her face up enough for her to meet his eyes. "Let's get you home."
Rika nodded, still shaking with the first real sense of complete fear she had since the Icedevimon incodent, and returned to Henry's side.
"I didn't mean for you to freeze either." he said, almost jokingly as he put one arm back around her and started back towards the sidewalk they had wandered away from with Rika's weird trance.
With the snow having cleared now, they could just barely tell where they were, but just enough to know they were going in the right direction after all.
They walked on, through the streets of Shinjuku, the few onlookers there were giving them jealous looks at how close they were in the winter evening.
--------------
He put his hand on her arm, drawing her close. "Don't leave me here."
Her eyes grew wild, and her heart beat faster than before, being only inches from his face.
"You.. love me?" she asked, tears coming to her eyes.
"How could I not?"
Jeri put her hand dramaticly to her chest and took a few steps backwards.
"But-- Henry, you can't be in love with a girl like me!" She turned her head away from him, staring up at the ceiling.
Snickers arose.
Takato took her hand quickly, and pulled her towards him again. "I can't help myself, Rika." he said in mocked deep voice, causing more snickers from the group of friends that surrounded them.
"I am here to save you!!!" Kazu leaped into the scene, butterknife in his hand, pointed at Takato.
"Ryo!" Jeri squealed, rushing forwards and throwing her arms around him even more dramaticly.
The remaining two in the audience watched the scene, Kenta laughing so hard his side could have split open at that one second, and Ryo looking not nearly as amused. Yeah, he wished she had run to him like that. He felt his hand tighten around his empty paper cup, and it soon crushed under the force of it.
"But Rika---" Takato pleaded, then hit his knees, hands lifting towards her.
Kazu forced a look of complete disgust, and so did Jeri.
No, that wasn't what happened at all. She hadn't come back with him. She left with Henry. Henry Wong. What did Henry Wong have that he didn't? He couldn't place it anywhere in his mind.
Ryo had money, looks, even a cool car he had gotten the other day. What was the problem?
He had called her the earlier that day, expecting Rika to be over this Henry thing after actually seeing it could rip their relationship apart, but no, Rika was out shopping with the blue-haired idiot. Or as her mother interjected in the background-- on a "date".
A date. They hadn't even been apart for two days and she had already started going out with someone else.
The scene in front of him progressed on, the point of the entire thing to poke fun at Henry. It was a hobby to them now, making fun of the one tamer that destroyed their lives like that, and now that Rika had sided with him, she was starting to become a focus of their little skits as well. But not too much-- Jeri refused to do any direct damage to Rika's image, but still played her as a stuck-up brat that only knew about physical pleasure in a relationship, so chose Ryo time after time.
That skit had been done before, only Rika interjected in as Jeri at one point, throwing crude remarks back at her best friend, into "Rika and Jeri" started fighting with hand puppets and Digimon cards, except now it didn't ring true.
Ryo almost wished he had never let Jeri invite Henry and Rika to the Christmas dance now, he would probably have to watch the two in each other's arms for most the dances, and he didn't think he could bare that thought. *His* queen, in the arms of another man. But he had. And now he would have to face the consequences, so to speak.
Ryo focused back in on the scene. Kazu held the butterknife only inches from Jeri's throat now, the scene having radically changed since he had zoned out. Takato still sat on the floor, except now pleading with Kazu instead of Jeri. He begged on in a voice you could've sworn was real, for "Ryo" to let "Rika" go, and he loved her so much that he would let her go. The entire thing was purely dramatic, and a bit too dramatic at times as one character would put his or her hand to their forehead and throw their head back, causing a bit more laughter from Kenta and almost making the other characters laugh as well.
In one last sweeping motion, Kazu threw the butterknife on the ground, and dragged Jeri off the stage, leaving Takato there staring at it. He slowly picked it up, looked to the sky, and pretended to slam it into his chest, falling over backwards, causing more laughter. Ryo watched intently as "Henry" fell motionless on the floor, mumbling Rika's name before "dying". Takato jumped up, bowed, and ran off the stage, and Kenta leaped up, applauding.
Ryo just quietly clapped, everything still turning over in his mind.
Henry walked into Rika's room, still pulling a white silk shirt over his shoulders and buttoning the silver buttons slowly, then looking up a the auburn haired girl, staring coldly at her mirror from the other side of the room.
"It won't kill you." Henry chuckled at the look on Rika's face at seeing her reflection in the mirror of her in a ice blue dress.
"I would like to debate that." Rika said rather stiffly, then looked down at the outfit she wore.
It was clearly something Henry and Rika's mother had picked out. It was made out of silk, which made it even more hideous in Rika's opinion, but what ticked her off the most was the way Henry looked at her when she stood up from the chair she sat in.
"Get that stupid look off your face." she snarled at his sudden stare, and he quickly regained his composure and started stuttering.
"S-sorry R-rika, I didn't m-mean t-to."
Rika rolled her eyes, growled a few words under her breath about the boy. "I'd like to know why I can be so easily dragged into these things by you."
"Wika! You wook wike a pwetty pwincess!!!"
Almost as an answer to Rika's question, both teens turned to the girl staring at Rika's floor-length dress, eyes just glowing at the site of the beautiful creation.
Suzy ran forward, almost knocking Henry over in her haste to touch the dress and make a few more remarks about how beautiful Rika looked. Her little fingers rolled over the silver glitter snowflake pressed against the hip of the dress, then she looked up at Rika and grinned. "You wook wike a bewtiful bwide too!"
Rika's face grew red as Henry made an agreeing sound and he sat down in a chair by the door, watching the scene with intrest.
Rika knelt down in front of the girl and smiled just enough to make herself even more beautiful in the outfit. "Thank you." she said politely, and Suzy went on about her necklace and hair clips that were now in view of her, and even the diamond straps that kept the dress on the girl's body.
Henry leaned against one of the wooden arms of the chair and chuckled, his eyes more on Rika than Suzy. She did look beautiful in the dress, and almost perfect with a smile on her face. For the first time ever he saw her with diamond jewelery on, something her mother had forced her to wear much to the girl's disgust. His stubborn grin turned into a neutral look as his watching eye turned into a staring one, and his mind suddenly repeated over and over again how beautiful Rika looked.
He was falling for her after all, wasn't he? It was clear to him now, every day he spent at her house, he fell for her more and more, and now he was in too deep to dig himself back out. He had started over the past day or two to have moderate fantasies about her, nothing sexual, just her wrapped in his arms at some random time for some random reason, or her whispering something about her love for him. Henry was completly in love with her. He couldn't bare the thought of her not in his arms any longer, he couldn't bare her not knowing.
"Suzy." he said abruptly, and both girls looked his way.
His eyes never left Rika as he spoke to his sister, and a look of realization suddenly hit Rika.
"Can I talk to Rika alone for a moment?" Henry's heartbeat quickened. What was he doing? She wasn't in love with him, just Ryo. Ryo was in her heart.
"... 'kay!" Suzy spat off quickly, and rushed out of the room, closing the door tightly behind her.
Henry stood from his chair and took slow rhythmic steps towards Rika, and she stood up straight also.
"Yes?" she said in a low voice, knowing in the back of her mind what this was about, just by the look in his eyes.
"You look beautiful." he brushed a piece of her long auburn hair back behind her ear, the hair she had purposely not straightened that day so her hair looked like her mothers, only the reddish color instead of blonde.
"Thank you." she said politely again, uneased by this side of Henry. He was easy to fall for, which would explain the group of girls constantly around him when she went to pick Jeri up after school for a 'playdate'. He had an extremely charming personality. She was losing her power over him.
He leaned in towards her, and she immediatly realised he was about to kiss her, and instinctively, she pulled back, pushing him away by his shoulders.
"H-Henry.."
"Don't resist this, Rika. We both feel it." he said calmly, taking two steps for every one she backed up.
"H-Henry I don't think we shou--" her back hit the wall, and before she knew what was happening, Henry's lips were pressed against hers and both were caught up in a long passionate kiss. The walls of defense she had put up to block out any love from her heart came down as their arms wrapped around each other. She didn't want to leave the moment, but something didn't feel right to her, like this was more a far-off memory than reality.
"Rika.." Henry separated the kiss. "We should get going.."
"No-- not now." Rika mumbled quietly.
"Com'on Rika."
"No--"
"Rika, I won't wait around all day for you to wake up."
"What are you talking about?"
"You've been asleep for three hours!"
Rika opened her eyes to see the blue haired boy standing over her, with an almost irritated look on his face. "You said that you would come, Rika." he said with a little more patience in his voice, extending his hand down to her.
She sleepily took his hand, the thought finally coming across to her that the entire moment was a dream. That perfect moment where she first felt safe in her life, was all a dream.
The thought must have crossed through her eyes as confusion, for when Henry pulled her up to be just a few inches away from him and looked into her face, his expression because solemn. "Vivid dream?" he asked gently, and she nodded, half-zoned again.
"Sorry about having to wake you up, but--" Henry shrugged and brushed down the long sleeves of her maroon top for her. "We do need to get going."
Rika's attention diverted down to what she was wearing. A maroon top and black pants, with her hair pulled into a low ponytail. Nothing like she had worn in her dream-- where did that soft blue dress come from anyways? She had never seen that dress before in her life, maybe it was just something her mind had come up with for an excuse for Henry to think she was beautiful.
"You look fine." Henry interjected through her thoughts, and turned on his heels to walk out the door.
'Fine'?... Not 'Beautiful'? Just 'Fine'?
"Thanks."
Henry stopped short and turned at her words, now his turn for a look of confusion. "You're... welcome."
Rika smiled at him, causing another puzzled look from Henry, but he just smiled back, and walked out of the room, leaving Rika to her own thoughts and a cold silent bedroom.
She slumped down into the simple chair that Henry had sat on in her dream, and stroked the arm of it with her fingers, the arm that Henry and leaned all his weight against as he stared at her.
She fought back the tears that threatened to fall. They were stupid tears. Tears for a boy. Tears that easily won Rika over until she curled her entire body up in the chair and sobbed into her arms. She wanted to feel safe, and warm, and loved. She wanted that so badly--
She felt that for a brief few seconds in her other world, but here in reality she was back to being alone and cold. Very cold.... a little too cold. Rika sat up, rubbing her arms. It did get suddenly cold in here, didn't it?
The sound of cracking caught her attention, and she looked over at the glass of water that sat on her wooden dresser, the top of the water now covered in a thin sheet of ice that hadn't been there before. Rika could see her breath now, and she curled up into an even tighter ball. Her mother had to seriously stop messing with the thermostat, she'd freeze to death in here.
..... my love .....
Rika sat up straight, hearing once again the calm and seductive voice she had earlier that day.
..... my love ..... why do you trouble yourself with him ..... you could be so much happier .....
"Who's there?!" she demanded in a loud voice, jumping from the chair and spinning around a few times, trying to get a fix on where the voice was coming from. "What do you want with me?!"
The voice was almost familier, but not quite, like it had changed somehow since the last time she had heard the sound. She continued to search for the source of the voice, now moving herself closer to the middle of the room, incase the person could jump out from some shadow and attack.
..... my love ..... I wouldn't hurt you ..... I care about you ..... unlike him .....
The way the voice said 'him' suggested to Rika that the voice couldn't bare to say Henry's actual name, or just simply couldn't. Simply couldn't.. that didn't make any sense. Why couldn't a person say someone's name? In the back of her mind, a long lost memory resurfaced, of a story she read about a witch and the three saviors of the kingdom, and how if the witch would even whisper the name of one of them, it would be like a knife cutting through her heart. Maybe this person, or creature, or.. whatever it was... couldn't bring itself to say Henry's actual name. But why couldn't it? Henry was just another kid like Rika was, what was so special about him?
Rika's eyes searched the room even faster, the voice having grown louder in the past few seconds. Then she spotted it. Two iceblue colored eyes that seemed to glow admist the shadow in the corner of the room, focused on her, looking malice. A chill went up Rika's spine, and the room suddenly grew twice as cold as before as a figure was soon seen there. Rika would have ran that exact second, if the shadow wasn't right beside the only way out of the room. He had her trapped now, so the only thing she could do is stand there, watching his every move, and praying someone with a gun would come in at any second.
"My love, why do you fear me?"
Rika didn't respond, just felt her heartbeat quicken as he started to walk out of the shadow and into the one patch of moonlight that was able to filter it's way through the door. He didn't step far enough into it, though, just enough that she could see the skin on his hand was a blueish color, not the peach color most people around that area had. The closer he came towards her, the colder it became in the room, and now the glass of water was completly frozen, and it was all Rika could do to continue standing. Her eyes were growing heavy, and she knew she wouldn't be able to fight off this intruder much less sleep.
"Henry--" she attempted shouting, but her voice cracked from the sudden cold, and it barely came out in a whisper.
The figure took a few steps backwards at the name being said, then regained his ground. "Rika, my love... I will not hurt you!" he said in a slightly more irritated voice.
He was now only a few inches away from her, and Rika was too weak now to move away, almost too weak to stand.
Rika saw clearly now his pure white hair, cut much like Henry's was, that looked pure white in contrast to his blueish skin and his blue garments. He looked like a prince in one of the fairy tale books she read as a little child, but his eyes told a much differant story than the perfect prince come to rescue her. He was extremly handsome until you looked into his hard cold eyes, full of hate and bitterness.
He reached up, and touched her cheek with a frozen hand. "You have yet to lose your beauty." he whispered, and the cold was almost too much for Rika to bare now. She stumbled slightly, blinking her eyes to keep them open.
"Henry--- help me." she whispered, using what strength she had left to stand and stay there for a few moments more.
"He won't come for you." the creature said, his voice losing any seduction that had been there before.
"Who said?" and to Rika's relief, her prayer was answered as Henry's sturn voice was heard from the doorway that had slid open.
In a moment's notice, the creature had turned, spotted the boy, and vanished into thin air, leaving Rika there in the middle of the room, looking like she was about to collaspe from exhaustion.
"Henry..." Rika managed to whisper, then started to lose her balance again, just in time for Henry to be there to catch her.
He still didn't understand what he had just witnessed, and figured Rika didn't either, but by the temperature of the room and how Rika clung to him for warmth, he had a pretty good idea who that guy was. He said nothing to the girl, just bent slightly to get his arms around her just right to pick her up, figuring even if they worked together, she wouldn't be able to walk out of the room much less all the way to the living room.
She leaned her weight into him, and closed her eyes, and within a few moments and both of them halfway down the hall, she was fast asleep in his arms, warm and safe, like she had wanted to be.
-------------
Well there went that idea. He wasn't sure if he should talk Rika into actually going to the dance now, or if he should let her get her rest. Every single one of the tamers were at the dance waiting for them, and he knew in the back of his head that more rumors about his and Rika's 'romance' would surface if they didn't show up.
Henry looked back to the auburn haired girl, staring stubbornly into the blazing fire in the fireplace, blankets draped around her by Henry. She hadn't stopped staring at the fire for about an hour. He could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she tried to piece together the events of the last couple of days. They both had already gotten the idea now that it was in fact Icedevimon, or someone like that, who was trying to hunt down Rika so badly, but neither could really figure out why. Henry knew Rika was holding some information back from him, as she had explained what she had felt and seen. Just felt and seen. Not heard. He asked her about it, and she retaliated in her normal Rika fashion.
"You're saying you don't believe me?!" she had shot at him quickly.
"N-no I wasn't saying that at all-- I just want all the sides of the story and I was just mak--"
"So you think--" she started up again, and Henry's two fingers hit her lips and her stubborn look faded slightly.
"I'm trying to keep you safe." Henry had corrected her, pulling a thick blanket up around her shoulders and smiling at her warmly. "That's all."
He had stood and walked out of the room, and there ended the conversation.
She didn't realise he was standing in the doorway watching her at the current moment. His straying thoughts came back to reality as he heard her mumbling something under her breath for the first time in thirty minutes.
"Renamon... you helped me through this before... how am I supposed to get past this one without you here?" she repeated over, this time loud enough for Henry to make out the words.
His mouth opened, but he quickly willed himself not to speak as she continued on, this time changing the words of her sentance into something else.
She sounded like she was at a gravestone talking to a long past relative, and even looked the part as the cold-hearted girl broke down into tears at explaining the helpless situation to her digimon that wasn't there for her to hear the words.
Henry being so caught up in Rika's words didn't notice the latest addition into the Nonaka household sitting at his feet expecting attention from him.
"Rrowr?" it asked in a loud voice that caused Rika to sit upright, her hair bouncing slightly from her quick move, and a slight gasp escaping her lips.
Keeping his cool, Henry bent down and picked up the gray colored cat, and looked Rika's way.
"How long have you been standing there?!" she snapped, with just the hint of fear in her voice.
Even from where she sat she could hear the cat purring as Henry stroked it's head, then sat it back on the floor and used his foot to push the cat gently back into the hallway and on it's way to find Suzy to play with.
"Long enough." he said with a slight laugh in his voice at her uncomfortable look.
He took a few steps into the room, studying her body language to see if he would get killed if he proceeded any further, but she sat still, almost expecting him to sit down beside her to 'talk' about it.
And he did, sitting down smack against her like he normally did when picking up a vibe from someone that they were afraid. He stretched his arm across the top of the couch, and looked straight into her eyes.
"You want me to start talking?"
"It's why I sat down, isn't it?" Henry asked with a bit of humor echoing in his voice, which caused one of Rika's half-smirk-half-smiles.
She turned her eyes back to the fire raging on in the fireplace, the only source of light in the room at the moment, and slowly started explaining this emotion called fear, something she had never really felt before.
She leaned forward on the couch so that her elbows were on her knees and her chin was in her hands as she went farther and farther into the story, and yet the entire time, even thought most of the story was repetitive and was stuttered through, Henry listened intently.
"The only time I ever felt something like this was--" her voice trailed off, and Henry swore her eyes began to overflow with tears.
"Go on.." Henry put his hand on her back and slowly started moving up and down it, a silent motion for her to continue even after his words.
She took a staggering breath. "-- when Dad decided he wanted to see me."
There was a moment of silence before she continued on, as she pieced together her words carefully. She felt Henry's hand rub a bit harder than before, so that now she could actually feel it instead of faintly feeling the blanket move.
"I had no idea what he looked like, what he sounded like. My father has a fiancé now." she cut off into an entirely differant subject, and now even sounded angry.
"And they already have a kid. He's five now, named Joshua. They call 'im Josh."
Henry couldn't help but smile as he saw her slowly open up, and become comfortable with telling him all these little details about her life. He knew that Jeri probably didn't even know most of this stuff, and definately didn't know about the half-brother. Rika leaned back into the couch again, another sign that she was becoming more comfortable with her current surroundings. Henry pulled his arm out from behind her and instead draped it over her shoulders as she still went on, about everything from how she hated her future stepmother to how much she really did look like her mother in comparison to her father.
They talked for another whole hour, the only sound cutting off their conversation being the grandfather clock in the hallway loudly bellowing it's notes out, sounding the time of 11 o'clock.
It took a bit of work, but both managed to summon the energy to stand up from the couch and turn to one another.
"Go get some sleep, I have to go check on Suzy and make sure she's still not up, waiting for Santa and all."
Rika let off a smile and nodded. "Alright, goodnight then. Wake me up tomorrow morning." she said almost with a laugh as she turned and headed for her room.
"Don't worry.." Henry turned and started walking in the opposite direction. "Suzy will wake us both up to open presents."
Rika laughed and reached the doorway leading to the hallway about the same moment Henry did the same on the opposing wall. Rika fingered the edge of the doorway a moment, figuring Henry was already gone down the hall, but her voice called up anyways.
"Henry?"
"Yes?"
She turned around to see Henry had also stopped completly in the other doorway, and was turned just enough for their eyes to meet.
"I don't want to be alone anymore." she said almost under her breath, and even though Henry couldn't hear her, the look across her face was enough to pull him back into the room and towards her.
"I already told you.. I'm not leaving." Henry stated simply, not even realised he actually answered her remark.
He stood in front of her and gently put his hand under her chin, placed a small kiss on her lips, smiled, and went to turn around again until Rika grabbed his arm.
"Come out here with me." she pulled on his arm sharply, and moved her own body towards the doorway she was going out before. It led to the open hallway, which also led outside, and Henry figured that's where she wanted him to go. Both were still dressed warmly for the night, so he didn't see the harm in it.
Snatching both their coats from beside the door, they headed outside into the crisp night air. It was still snowing outside as Rika continued to pull Henry towards the small bridge over the now iced-over pond. The snow was seeming to drift off however, as the moon cut through the clouds, shining a bit of blueish-silver light on the two, now caught up in a fit of giggles at Rika about tripping over the bridge in her process of walking onto it. Both reached the top of the bridge at about the same time, and were able to get out one last breath of air before the cold overtook them and they were almost completly glued to one another for warmth. This time Rika didn't want to pry herself away from him, this was a different type of warmth she was feeling being caught up in his arms. Henry placed another kiss on her lips, this time longer than the previous one, and ran the back of his hand across her cheek.
"This is probably the best Christmas present I could ask for." he whispered, a smile flashing across his face.
"Just shut up and kiss me again." Rika said in her old temper-filled tone, trying to force anger in her eyes, but failed miserably.
Henry just laughed and pulled her into another kiss, this time not planning on letting go for a good while, and neither did Rika.
In the lighted window of the house, neither teen noticed a small face peering out at them, a wide smile plastered there. She was good, probably should be called "Cupid's little helper". After all that work, there was her big brother and probably soon to be big sister, kissing like she saw in all the movies on TV. She had to admit in the back of her mind, she was thinking it was gross, but cute none the less. Even from this far away she could hear them both giggling once the kiss was seperated. They looked EXACTLY like in the movies now that she thought about it. Henry had given Rika a quick spin and kissed her again after Rika had said something to him, and both giggled once more. Suzy couldn't help but let a giggle of her own escape her lips, but let out a small shriek when two arms picked her up and started carrying her back to the bedroom she slept in.
"Let me go let me go!" she squirmed.
"That's enough spying for you, young lady." Rika's grandmother's voice said sturnly as she dropped the girl off in the dark bedroom. "Get some sleep, you need to be awake for Christmas morning."
One thing was for sure, the longer they sat out on the wooden porch, the colder it got. Maybe it was common logic, the later at night it got, the colder it got, but it wasn't like the weather in the city of Shinjuku to drop a full thirty degrees in half an hour.
It was happening again. He was after her again.
With that thought flashing through Henry's mind, he stood upright from the step, pulling a shivering Rika up beside him and pulling her as close as possible to his body.
"Y-you feel it t-too, d-don't you?" Rika's body shook from the cold, causing her to stutter her words.
Henry just nodded, and ran his hand up and down her arm quickly, trying to keep the girl as warm as possible. He'd take her back inside, but he knew in the back of his mind that creature was near them, and if he ran into that room, both of them would be cornered and there would be no hope of escape. At least in the backyard they had some options.
A blueish fog was starting to form at the edge of the property, and seemed to be growing larger and larger, coming right towards the two.
"What the---" Henry said out loud, and the fog stopped dead in it's tracks for a few seconds, then slowly proceeded forward.
That's what confused Henry about this entire situation. As soon as he had entered the room before, the creature fled, and now when he spoke, the fog froze in it's place, afraid to go on.
"This is when I wish I had the talent of an auctioneer.." he said aloud again, and once more, the fog stopped, this time the edge of it at the base of the stairs, Henry and Rika now pressed against the back wall of the porch.
The center of the fog slowly lifted, leaving just the edges in a sort of semi-circle, making it impossible to see where the exits were, and also impossible to see anything that was inside the circle of fog.
There won't be any witnesses, Henry thought to himself as he watched the course of events unfold before his eyes.
The situation was hopeless. They didn't have the digimon to save them this time, and he was pretty sure this thing was a digimon out to kill him and Rika, Rika especially. He looked towards the door leading into the house quickly, and back at the figure of a man taking shape in the small bit of silver fog left in the middle of the circle. He could get Rika out of here before it was too late, but only Rika. What was he saying, Rika was all that mattered right now anyways.
"Rika. Run into the house. Get out of here, I'll handle him." he said suddenly, eyes narrowing at the creature in front of him, now clearly seen to be the exact thing he had encountered that night in Rika's room.
"W-what?! You're kidding me!! You can't handle him-- Henry you'll be killed." How many times would she have to say that before these guys would stop risking their lives for her? As the words had left her mouth, she was already getting images of the D-Reaper and Ryo waiting impatiently for her to transfer Sakuyamon's energy his way. This time Henry Wong was already pushing her towards the only exit in the entire area, and staring down the creature who would most likely cause the end of his life. He seemed to be fearless as he kissed her quickly, mumbled an "I love you, Rika", and shoved her towards the door. Jumping off the stairs he made his way towards the creature, already asking pointless questions in order to buy Rika some time.
Without another thought, the girl ran. This was so unlike her.. why wasn't she staying behind to fight? She could do *something*, couldn't she?! This was the boy-- the boy she had fallen in love with. He was going to die in order for her to live. She ran through the house faster, and out the front door, and raced down the street in some random direction. At first she was running to run, until she realised subconciously, she was getting help. She took the streets that were suddenly getting more and more famillier to her.
She found herself taking a sharp right turn and stopping in front of a tall apartment building, and racing into an elevator. It didn't seem to move fast enough for her, but she readied herself anyways for when the doors opened on the fourth floor, and she would take off down the hall, to apartment number 27, into the house of the Wongs.
She banged loudly on the door, and leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the hall, panting for breath. It had taken her almost five minutes of straight running just to get to the elevator, and another five minutes just to find the apartment number in the dark. Ten minutes... Henry could be dead al-- no. She wasn't going to start thinking like that.
Janyuu Wong slowly opened the door, and blinked at the girl standing there, sweatdrops pouring down her forehead as she struggled for words.
"Henry... he's in trouble."
"I know." Janyuu straightened himself out and gave a grave look at her. "It's why we sent him and Suzy out, I see he found you."
"Look, Mr. Wong." Rika caught the last of the breath she needed and stood up straight also, growing very impatient. "I love Henry."
Janyuu's eyebrow rose at her words.
"I am not about to stand around here and do nothing. If you can help me, say so. I'm not about to lose him because of you." she snapped viciously at him.
Janyuu stood silent for a moment. He and his wife had sent them out of the house in order to protect them. He had already known from a side project he was doing that something was cutting through the layers reality, towards the tamers. He knew that one or more of them could die unless he could band them all together somehow, and he also knew that Henry would somehow take refuge with one of these tamers if he and his sister were left to their own devices. Little did he know that Rika would become the target of this digimon that cut through to the real world, and he was sending his son into a death trap.
"I can't help you."
Rika's heart sank farther than it had ever gone, even farther than it had when Renamon left her on this hell of a world.
Now what was she going to do? There was really only one more thing she could do in her opinion.
Go back.
She couldn't bare to think of a life without Henry anymore, so why even bother. If there was indeed a heaven, or afterlife of some kind, she'd be there with him forever. She liked that thought better than to know she'd have to 'go on'. Without another word, she raced off towards the elevator again.
"I've asked you this once, I'll ask you again." Henry circled around the blue-tinted human once more, keeping just enough distance from him that he couldn't get attacked too easily.
"Who are you, what are you, and what do you want with Rika?"
The man snarled at him, and flipped a piece of snow-white hair out of his face, glaring at the boy. "Master Brede Darcio." was his only responce to the entire line of questions. "And you know what I am. I can see the fear in your eyes, the fear of death."
"The only fear I've had this entire night is that Rika would get hurt, and I don't have to worry about that anymore." Henry responded cooly.
"Is that so, child? Well, what is she to do when I have destroyed you and there is no-one left to protect her?"
"How are you so sure you're going to destroy me?" Henry challenged, although in the back of his mind, wondering what the heck he was getting himself into.
Brede waved one hand, and Henry felt something like an enormous truck hit his chest, and he went stumbling backwards, and with a thud, collided with the brick wall with a bit more force than he thought. He slumped down into the grass, half unconcious by that one blow.
"And that's just the beginning." Brede taunted, walking closer to the boy, a small ball of spinning white light growing larger in his one hand.
He lifted his hand up once towering over the boy, and seemed as if he was about to slam it into Henry's stomach, and Henry closed his eyes, knowing that was it. He was going to die. All he had ever lived for, all his goals and dreams, gone.
"DIAMOND STORM!"
Brede spun around, coming face to face with thousands of glowing white crystals, that soon cut through his body, and sent him tumbling backwards much like Henry had, and Henry barely got out of the way as Brede collasped onto the ground.
Henry looked towards the other end of the property just as the graceful yellow fox hit the ground again, and looked his way. Behind her stood a female figure, her long hair waving in the wind that had kicked up from the fog vanishing around them. He couldn't see much of her, but for some reason even through the darkness he could see a pair of sturn violet eyes watching him intently.
"Rika?" he asked weakly, just as he heard the iron fence at the front of the house open. The other two seemed to hear it to, for a voice identical to Rika's called out Renamon's name, and with that the digimon vanished into thin air. The fog had almost completly lifted now, and the moonlight was finally allowed to enter the area. Before the door to the porch opened up, Henry caught a glimsp of the mystery girl again, this time in the light. He couldn't see much of her face even with the moonlight, but he did see the dark blueish colored hair sparkling as the wind ran through it. She fixed her deep violet eyes on him again, and with a sharp beep which he soon realised was a digivice much like the ones they had used, she was gone.
Rika ran into the backyard, and Brede slowly awoke, and seeing the position he was in, vanished into thin air like the girl had.
Henry still looked in the area the blue-haired girl had been standing in, blinking in astonishment at what he had seen. That had been the same Renamon he had known, that was for sure, but-- that girl--
Rika almost skidded the rest of the way towards him on her knees, and soon was cradling the boy in her arms, sobbing words that he couldn't understand.
"I'm okay, Rika." he attempted comforting her.
"I'm okay."
The bell from the church down the road rang out loudly, over and over again. It sang a joyful melody, seeming to fit the moment in Rika's mind, and then it started it's dings and dongs, giving the proper hour.
Once... twice... three times... four times... all the way to twelve times, signaling to the two tamers it was in fact, now Christmas day.
Henry sat up a bit more, and teasingly put a kiss on her cheek and grinned. "Merry Christmas, Rika."
"Shut up and let's just get to bed already." Rika shot at him, seeing he was in fact, just fine and completly alive except for a few bruises on his arm. Henry stood up, and offered his hand down to the girl, pulling her up beside him and meeting his forehead to hers. He grinned childishly again and kissed her.
"As you wish."
Rika couldn't help but give a small smile as they walked back to the house, not noticing the creature in the large tree not too far from where they had been sitting.
"Merry Christmas, Rika." Renamon repeated Henry's words, and took a staggering breath.
"Renamon? We're due back to the base..." the girl on the other side of the tall brick fence called out loud enough for only Renamon to hear. "... an hour ago. No wonder this thing keeps beeping at me." she said in a disgusted voice, and Renamon hopped down from the tree, landing beside her.
"You sound like your mother."
The girl gave a stubborn snort and pushed back a piece of her dark blue hair behind her ear, letting one of her curls loose into her face. She fixed her eyes back on Renamon. "Well you can stay here you know. That Drake dude said you didn't have to come back with me."
"You're my tamer now, Carmina."
Enough of an answer for the semi-wise semi-stubborn girl, as she shrugged and pressed the button on her silver colored digivice, sending a bright light in between the two, and they both vanished from sight again, this time not to come back.
-------------
The door of Rika's bedroom flew open with a loud child-like squeal emmiting from it, or at least that's how it seemed to Henry and Rika who were just waking up. Both blinked in the sudden pure white light filling the dark room, and the freezing cold wind whipping into the room at the same time. Rika sat up a bit more and moved towards Henry's mat to block herself from the direct force of the wind, still not really opening her eyes. Before either could prepare themselves, a small body threw itself on top of Rika which sent her falling backwards from the sudden force, and with an 'oof' from the boy now on the bottom of the pile, both teenagers looked up to see Suzy's estatic face staring at them.
"It's CHWISMAS!!!!" she squealed again, and the figure of Makino came into view, almost black in comparison to the snowfilled yard behind her. She just laughed at the scene, coffee cup in hand, and waited for her daughter and in her own eyes, future son-in-law, to wake up completely.
"What.. time is it?" Henry groaned, struggling to sit up under the weight of the two girls.
"Seven." Makino stated simply, then laughed and continued on. "You've kept her waiting for a full two hours."
"You were up at five?" Rika said in as much of a sharp tone she could bring out of her voice after being awakened like that.
"We have'ta open pwesents!! Huwwy huwwy!" Suzy finally stood back up, jumping up and down in her fuzzy pink pajamas as if it might move the two a bit faster.
Rika sat up once more and gave Henry a sympothetic look as he also sat up, but groaning painfully also.
"Both of you have to start laying off the cookies.. you'll kill me before this is all over with."
Rika batted him upside the head and stood up, running her fingers through her messy hair. Rika looked down at the girl who still jumped up and down with excitement, and couldn't help but grin.
"Oh fine, come on." she bent down and scooped the small girl up into her arms. Pulling her soft blue nightgown straight again, she walked out of the room, Henry stumbling to pull himself out of bed fast enough to catch up with her.
Halfway down the hall Suzy thrust herself out of Rika's arms and ran forward, almost running into the door instead of opening it.
"Calm down!" Rika laughed slightly, and opened the door up, pushing Suzy by the back of her head inside the room that she already knew was full of presents for the young girl. She looked up to walk in herself and froze.
"Henry.."
Henry stepped up behind her with a slightly confused look on his face. Being taller than her after that growth spirt he had taken, he was just able to look over the top of her head, and soon he also froze.
The presents that filled the room had multiplied overnight it seemed, but what had caught the two teenager's attention was the man standing in the middle of the room, looking at them, one small present in his hand.
"Dad--" Henry said in an even more confused voice than the look on his face shown.
Rika said nothing, just sat there in silence. A week ago she wouldn't have cared if Henry's father had popped into the house to check on him or something, but she had worked herself into Henry's life now, and this was now probably just as much of a big deal to her as it was to Henry. She grasped for his hand which he quickly took and gave a tight squeese.
"What are you doing here?" Henry willed himself to continue, feeling a slight sense of comfort from the girl now leaning back into him and pulling his hand around her stomach. He could tell from the look in his father's eyes Rika must be sending the man some sort of angry look, but he wasn't quite sure until his father spoke up.
"Don't worry, Rika. I'm not here to take them back by force. I'm here to answer some questions I know Henry has on his mind."
Henry wrapped both of his arms around the girl and gave a long sigh as he looked at his father. He wanted to know so much about why he was thrown into this situation, why his parents dumped him and Suzy on the side of the road that cold night, but he knew in his heart what to say.
"You might want to come back later."
Everyone in the room froze at his words and looked at him confused, even Rika.
"I just want to have a normal Christmas with my family." with that he held onto Rika a bit tighter and she laid her head back on his shoulder, meeting her forehead to the side of his neck.
Janyuu stood in silence a moment, wanting to fire back some sort of statement about how Henry's real family was back at their apartment, but Suzy's sudden actions cut him off.
"Wika! Lookit! This one's fowr you! I buyed it myself!" Suzy squealed, running up to the teenage couple with an average sized green package in her arms, and lifted it up towards the girl with a look of innocent joy. Rika bent down and took the present, but before she said a thank-you, Suzy was already digging through one section of the piles and piles of presents. She gave a triumphant shriek, and stood back up with a blue colored package in her hands, and quickly returned to the couple, offering it up to her brother.
"And this one is fowr you, Henwy! You have to open youwr pwesents fiwrst!"
Suzy started back to her jumping up and down, and Henry looked towards Janyuu, then stood up completly straight, looking around. The sound of the front door closing caused Henry's heart to sink slightly. He.. had done the right thing, hadn't he?
He felt a soft kiss be placed on his cheek, and Rika take his hand again, pulling him into the direction of the black leather couch. "It's alright." she whispered into his ear, and he sank down into the couch, putting his arm over the top of it.
Rika sat down almost gracefully beside him, holding the green colored present in her lap, and Suzy's anxious eyes turned towards her.
"Open it!!!" she giggled, and Rika thumbnail ran along the side of the package, making a slight tearing sound, and immediatly Suzy was at her feet, watching with extreme intrest.
Turning the now-open box around in her hand to see the front of the package, Rika let off a bright round of laughter. There in her hands was the plush yellow fox she had pointed out in the store a few days before, somehow Suzy had logged it away in her mind and had gotten it for her the next day.
Rika reached forward and flicked the girl on the forehead. "Thanks."
Suzy giggled, and ran into the surrounding presents, looking anxiously for the next one to open.
The morning continued on much in that way, and Rika had been right, most the presents there were for the new little girl in her mother's life. Suzy quickly found that she had an entire room of random toys and gadgets to play with, and an entirely new wardrobe of pink and purple to go with it.
All the presents being opened, the three tamers sat examining their gifts, the Christmas Parade flashing on the TV screen just across the room. Rika watched the parade, fingering the ear of the plush fox she had pulled out of it's box with one hand, and turning the silver locket Henry had given her in the fingers of her other hand. Henry leaned his back against Rika's, completly engulfed in programming the laptop he had received from Rika's mother. Suzy sat on the floor playing with the collection of dolls and figurines, letting Rika have another show to watch if the parade got too boring for her taste.
She spoke the phrases each doll said to the other, and played tea-party with a few more. The extra doll dresses lay forgotten on the floor next to her, Suzy's only real statement about them were how much she missed Terriermon, which caused an uneasy moment of silence from Henry. He still hadn't told Rika about seeing Renamon the night before, and Rika had spent an extra hour trying to get it out of Henry how he survived an attack from Brede. That was actually what was on his mind currently as he typed away information into the small black laptop. He loved Rika, but how was he going to explain something like that to her--
In the back of his mind, he knew who that girl he saw was, but Rika would call him crazy. Everyone would call him crazy.
He knew Rika could tell something was bothering him, he could see it in her eyes, and yet she didn't seem to push it on him for her to tell him anything, which probably was the real reason this was bugging him so much. In a close relationship Rika took on an entirely differant light. Before it seemed she would never look someone in the eyes and tell them she loved them, but he had been wrong about that. She had proven that idea wrong when she had opened the present that contained the locket. Looking straight at him with the slightest bit of tears in her eyes, she said right there that she loved him.
He found himself a bit uncomfortable at remembering the scene and feeling her leaning against him at that exact moment. She did love him, and here we was keeping this sort of thing from her. If she had seen something like that-- with Terriermon and all-- he'd want her to tell him.
With that, Henry reached back and placed his hand on her leg, grabbing her attention quickly.
"Can I talk to you in the other room?"
The plush fox was set down on the floor in front of the couch and Rika sat up straight, giving him a puzzeled look, but taking his hand when he offered to help her up off the couch.
He pulled her quickly into the study closing the door behind them, leaving Suzy and Makino in the room quite confused.
Rika sat in complete silence in the black leather chair, staring at her boyfriend. She hadn't said a thing after Henry finished his story, and it was getting under Henry's skin.
"Just... say something." he said under his breath, not noticing it was just loud enough for Rika herself to hear.
"I believe you." Rika still held a half-dazed look in her eyes, but Henry looked right past that, took shocked to notice anyways.
"Y-you do?"
"You wouldn't lie to me, I know you well enough to tell that." Rika smiled at him, breaking out of her startled trance.
Henry stared down at the floor. Now he felt even more guilty not having told her the previous night, and opened his mouth right then to apologize to her.
The door of the study opened, and Rika's mother walked in gracefully, looking towards Henry with a slightly puzzeled look on her face.
"Henry, Ryo Akiyama's at the front door, he wants to speak to you."
Rika started at the sound of the name and sat upright in her chair. "Why does he want to talk to Henry and not me?" Rika spat off quickly, the sudden bolt of fear in her voice evident.
Henry looked towards her a moment, then back at the blonde woman, and he stood. "I'll take care of this, Rika." he said simply, and walked out of the room, leaving Rika's worried eyes following after him.
He opened the front door to the rather tall brunette boy scowling at him. Ryo pulled Henry outside by his shirt collar so quickly Henry didn't have time to respond, and he slammed the door behind them.
"What the heck do you think you're doing, stealing my girl?" Henry about stumbled backwards when Ryo gave his shoulders a quick shove.
"I'm not stealing anybody. She decided she was better off with me than yo--" this time the impact of Ryo's fist hitting Henry's chest sent him flying backwards a foot or two, and immediatly Henry went into defensive mode.
"You want a fight?" Henry said, gaining his ground again, a sudden determined look crossing his face.
"You'll get a fight."
-------------
A commotion had started up among all the kids in Rika's neighborhood as they surrounded two boys in the front lawn of the house, chanting 'fight fight fight!' over and over again. The boys that had always known Ryo to be their friend in the higher-classed world they lived in stood silent for a brief time. They had also grown to know Henry as one of 'their own' through Christmas parties Makino forced him and Rika to attend, so they were lost as to who to cheer for as both boys lunged for each other over and over again.
It was beginning to get quite repetetive now. Henry would simply taunt Ryo with a remark about Rika's love for him, Ryo would get more enraged the longer he talked, and would, with both hands, aim for Henry's throat. The boy would simply dart out of the way, causing Ryo to lose his balance and fall into the crowd of teenagers, just to be pushed back into the circle once more.
Henry seemed to be hesitant to fight, even though he had agreed to it before hand, but the farther along the fight went, the more intent he was to win. All rememberance of the training he had received left his mind with Ryo's sharp remark about him "keeping the bitch" and how Ryo didn't need Rika anyways. The brunette went to leave the fighting circle just to fit two strong hands grab his shoulders to the point of pain, and the entire crowd gasped. The entire fight had been nothing but Ryo lunging and Henry dodging, but with that one line, it took a complete turn.
"What-- did you call her?" Henry asked gruffly, turning the boy around and glaring at him so hard Ryo was afraid for his life for a split second.
He regained his composure, and quietly repeated himself, just clear enough for Henry to hear him, then fell backwards, skidding into the group of teenagers, blood running from his top lip.
He wiped his lip with the back of his hand, and sneered down at the red streak across his deep brown skin.
"Get off my property." Henry growled, and Ryo regained his composure, standing up.
"Make me."
"Oh, I wil--" Henry started at the boy with his fists clentched, but was cut off by a higher-pitched voice.
"HENRY!!"
All eyes turned to see Rika standing in the front doorway, staring at her boyfriend.
A guilty feeling suddenly shot through Henry's stomach as he saw her horrified look, and he took a few steps back from Ryo, only to realise he wasn't even there to take a few steps away from in the first place. With Rika's yell, Ryo had taken off, and slowly so did the crowds.
As the last few boys walked off, mumbling words of disappointment under their breath, Rika stepped off the small concrete step that led up to the front door, and walked up to Henry.
"You okay?" she asked quietly, brushing a piece of his deep blue hair out of his face.
She could see easily with her own eyes that he wasn't. He hadn't been wearing a shirt when he walked out to meet Ryo, and a dark blue mark was pressed into Henry's stomach from the one hit Ryo was able to make on him.
"He's a jerk." Henry responded simply, and started walking back to the house, leaving Rika standing there watching him quietly.
Henry had kept himself closed up in Rika's room for a good part of the day. He didn't know what had come over him. He didn't fight, especially over a girl. He always watched the news on TV and was the one who remarked about the reports of another teenage fight at some school as "stupid" or "pointless", and yet he was wrapped up in the one just that morning.
His stomach hurt worse now, he didn't stop and get some ice for the area he got hit incase Makino would see him like that. What would she think? She probably wouldn't approve of Rika being with someone who was caught in a fight.
His thoughts were abruptly cut short by the orange light of the sunset outside filling the room as the door was opened, and Rika slowly walked in, a bundle of cloth in her hand.
"You okay?" she asked for what had to have been the fiftieth time that day, and quickly closed the door behind her, seeing Henry still hadn't changed his clothing from earlier and would probably freeze if she kept it open.
"No." Henry gave her his first real answer to that question, but refused to look at her as she turned on the small light on her dresser.
He however did look at the cloth in her hand, and in the light filling the room he realised she had ice wrapped in the layers of cloth.
"Rika--" he groaned slightly as she seated herself beside him on his mat, and softly pressed the make-shift icepack on the bruise.
"Shut up, it's my job to be stubborn, not yours."
There was a moment of silence between the two before Rika took a deep breath and began to slowly speak her mind.
"You-- kind of impressed me earlier today..." she paused a moment, but didn't wait for Henry's responce to her remark and continued. "... I mean, standing up for me and all-- you didn't have to."
Henry just looked at her, quite surprised by her words. She returned his glance and smiled slightly, then continued to tend to his so-called "wound".
A few stray thoughts hit her, and her words immediatly sounded flustered as if she was holding back a round of tears as she spoke.
"I mean you did all this-- because of me you got hurt." she changed how she worded the sentance quickly, and Henry hand immediatly reached up and took her chin softly, turning her head to look at him directly.
"Don't you go blaming yourself for everything. It was my fault Ryo has a bloody lip, and his fault that I have this bruise."
"But--"
Rika's words were cut off by Henry's lips softly locking with hers, and she let off a silent groan from being cut off by something so pleasurable. She hated being cut off in the first place, but to have it made up for and actually not wanting to finish... that was just mean.
She went along with it however and set the icepack aside on the wooden floor, it soon to be tottally forgotten as she wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulling herself backwards until her back hit the mat completly.
Henry sharply cut off the kiss with wild eyes. "Rika--" he said almost sharply to her, finding himself looking down on her with both hands on either side of her shoulders to hold himself up.
"What? I didn't do anything wrong." Rika said simply, and pushed herself upwards to force Henry into another kiss, which he hesitatingly accepted, loosening himself up a bit.
Both were now lost in a sea of passion neither had expected from the other, and neither wanted to separate from for a long time.
"But you can't leave!"
A bean-filled sack hit the ceiling of Takato Matsuki's room, and landed back into his hands as he laid on his back on his bed. He sighed and tossed it up again, it making a thunking sound and falling back down quickly for him to catch again.
"Actually, parents say I can... actually they say I have to." Takato looked over at his friend Kazu for a split second and continued the repetitive movement over and over again.
"But that's so not fair! You can't move away to an entirely different country!!"
"Continent." Takato corrected, and Kazu snorted.
"Continent.. whatever.." he spun around once in the office chair they had placed in Takato's room. "So what are you going to tell Jeri?"
"I don't know." Takato answered truthfully, pausing before throwing the beanbag up again.
"Well you're going to have to tell her something. She's head-over-heels for you, man."
Takato took a deep breath, and placed the beanbag on his stomach as he thought over his words, then spat them off.
"I'm sorry, Jeri. My parents are being total morons and now I'm going to move to the United States because they're afraid of digimon."
"That'd work." Kazu shrugged and gave the chair another spin.
Takato seemed to be lost in his thoughts now, and ranted on. "I love you. I'm going to miss you more than anything else in the world--"
"Okay dude, gettin' a little too personal now." Kazu made a face and stopped the chair from spinning, looking towards his friend who was now staring absently at the ceiling.
"-- and I'll find some way to come back to you--"
"This is like the soap operas my mom watches."
"-- even if it kills me."
"You've lost it, dude."
Takato continued on, oblivious to anything Kazu was saying.
"I'm in love with your eyes-- your smile--"
"Snap out of it, man."
"Your laugh-- your charm--"
"Do I HAVE to hit you?!"
"And if I could, I'd hold you in my arms for the rest of my li---"
Takato's finishing statement was cut off with his bedroom door slamming, and an empty black office chair spinning slighty from the force it had been given as Kazu stormed out.
Rika continued to brush out her long auburn hair, watching Henry in the mirror as he attempted to straighten out his clothing again.
It had been a little more passion filled than either had intended it to be. They had done almost everything but strip each other down on the spot, and Rika was even surprised that hadn't happened. She could put a finger on what the feeling in her stomach was called, but figured it was the same thing that caused Jeri to burst into a fit of giggles when talking about Takato-- but just slightly different. Jeri and Takato weren't together and hadn't felt what she had just felt now.
Rika caught Henry's glance in the mirror, blushed, and continued working the stray hair back into place before her mother caught them like this. She would think that something happened, and it just didn't-- at least not like THAT.
Rika was back to being lost in her own little world until a faint click was heard and soon slow music filled the room.
She turned around abruptly, and set her brush down on the dresser, watching Henry intently as he stood back from the radio he had turned on, and was now looking towards her also.
"You owe me a dance."
A flush of red went into Rika's cheeks, and she almost stared at him in disbelief. "I-I do?"
Henry took a few slow steps towards her, and took her hand gently. "Yes, you do. And I intend to get it."
"I--"
Before Rika could mutter another word, she found herself wrapped up in Henry's arms, being led out to the middle of the bedroom floor. This entire romance they had seemed to be right out of a movie-- perfect in every way.
Henry spun her around once to emit the closest thing to a giggle from her, and soon both were lost in the soft music, and each other's eyes.
"Henry--"
"I love you too." Henry said simply, and grinned childishly at her, the Suzy grin all over again.
Rika couldn't help but giggle this time, and Henry sent her a confused look. "What's so funny?"
"I love you, and your sister. And at times I can hardly tell you apart." she forced herself into a spin again, then wrapped herself into his arms again.
"-- I just won't ask." Henry chuckled, and shook his head.
If either had been paying close enough attention, they would've realised a slight draft was flowing into the room from the open doorway, but they didn't, and so Suzy was able to watch the scene unnoticed by either.
She grinned wide, and leaned the side of her head against the doorway.
Henry didn't fully understand it yet, but she did. This was in fact their new family. Family didn't mean relation-by-blood, it was the people who loved you the most, and she could tell just by watching them stare into each others eyes that they loved each other the most of all, and Rika had said herself that she loved Suzy.
That meant they could be together... for ever and ever.
Nothing could tear them apart.
Ever.
--------------
The rain pouring down in buckets outside the small empty diner matched the feeling growing inside Jeri's heart. She stared helplessly at Takato's eyes, waiting for him to throw out one of his big cheesy grins and declare it was all a joke, but he just looked away from her, diverting his eyes towards the wall. He looked just about the same as Jeri did at the moment; on the verge of tears.
"Takato." Jeri said in a shakey voice. "You're... kidding me, right?"
Takato fixed his eyes harder on the wall, the half-frown half-emotionless look on his face deepening.
"I wish I were."
Jeri's heart sank even more, and her deep brown eyes shone every bit of it, piercing right through Takato's already breaking heart.
"When are you leaving?"
Takato managed to look Jeri in the face once more, it taking every last bit of strength he had to do so.
"Not for a few months." he stated simply, and immediatly a weird sensation filled him, just by looking at her.
"That's still not enough time--" Jeri started, then caught the look engulfing Takato's eyes, and slowed her speech down little by little. "--- to tell you... that I.... love... you."
Neither seemed really surprised by the words, but just stared longingly at each other a moment, letting the sound of the rain pounding against the window fill the silence.
"I love you too."
Jeri suddenly perked up, right out of her trance she had formed, and stared at him. "What?"
Takato leaned back in his seat, a little too cooly, and smiled at her. "I love you too." he repeated, but anyone watching could have told his heart was beating rapidly in his chest, and the beads of sweat were growing on his forehead.
There was once more that long pause of silence between them as they just sat and watched each other's every move, waiting for the other to say or do something out of the blue to show a burst of affection.
But neither did, and soon both were back to eating the breakfast Jeri's father had cooked up for them when Takato had first come. No-one else was anywhere near the diner, since it was still Christmas morning, and the Katou family could tell by Takato's face he wished to speak to Jeri alone about something. He wouldn't have torn away from his family this early on such a holiday if it wasn't important.
Jeri finally spoke up.
"This wasn't quite the Christmas present I was hoping for."
A pang of guilt suddenly struck Takato's heart, and he stumbled for words. "Well I uh-- I thought you would, uh-- I mean, uh---"
Jeri sipped her hot cocoa slowly, peering over the cup at him.
"I couldn't-- bare not to tell you. It was eating me alive, Jeri." Takato finally said, then went back to staring at the wall.
"Oh." was Jeri's only responce, and she used her fork to pick at the eggs on her plate. Suddenly, she wasn't hungry anymore.
"Oh, I almost forgot."
Jeri looked up at the boy now fishing something out of one of his pockets.
"Forgot what?" she asked, seeing he was having a big of a struggle pulling it out, and she sat up straighter, her curiousity getting the best of her.
"I got you a Christmas gift." Takato said simply, finally pulling it abruptly out of his pocket, and setting the small green package on the table.
Jeri looked at the shiny green present a moment, the gray skies outside reflecting off it and sending a shimmer of design across Takato's face, and it almost made Jeri giggle, but she held it back, and took the present carefully.
"You didn't have to."
"Yes I did." Takato gave a side-smile and watched intently as she opened the present, running her thumbnail carefully under the paper as to not tear it.
Usually that would have driven Takato nuts, seeing someone take that much care of ripping open a present, but he found himself quickly entranced by every simple move she made.
"I got you something as well, but I'd have to go upstairs and ge---" Jeri opened the box, and stopped dead in her words, staring at it. "Takato--" she whispered under her breath as she gently lifted the golden necklace out of the box.
"I don't need a present, Jeri." Takato grinned, almost impressed by his own romantic words. "I have your smile. That's enough."
Jeri's eyes were full of tears as she fingered the diamond "J" that dangled from the end of the necklace.
"Takato it's beautiful."
"Like you." Takato once more gave a grin, that Jeri caught this time, and before she could say anything in return, he was out of his seat.
"Here I'll help you put it on."
Jeri didn't argue, but turned herself in her seat enough for him to take the clasp behind her neck.
Takato fumbled with it a moment, never having put a necklace like this on someone before, but soon at it attatched, and his arms pulled around Jeri. He blinked in surprise a few times, having her pull his arms forward like that and wrapping herself in them, and he guessed she had made the first move.
Jeri's tears were finally let out, and Takato willingly held her tighter. "I don't want to leave you here, Jeri." he said gently, brushing a piece of deep brown hair behind her ear.
"I know." Jeri said a bit weakly, and curled herself into an even tighter ball against his chest.
"So don't leave me now."
--------------
Henry would have never guessed he would be in this position right now, or any other time in his life for that matter. There he was, sitting on the leather couch in the Nonaka livingroom. Suzy fast asleep on one side of him, Rika fast asleep on the other side, both girls clutching onto him.
He looked over at the clock on the wall. Three o'clock in the afternoon. His dad would be here any moment.
It had been a hard few days since Christmas, and it was probably the reason both the girls had fallen asleep so quickly. Rika's career had almost instantly taken a jump, and she had gone from city to city signing contracts and attending photo shoots. She was even starting to get more calls than her own mother, and she had been up until two in the morning the previous night doing one for a teen magazine.
Suzy on the other hand, wore herself out helping. With Rika on the road constantly, Rika's set of chores went undone, and to be a help around the house, Suzy had immediatly volunteered for the job. It ended up being a little more than she had thought.
He had just spent restless nights wondering about the situation with his father and the rest of his family. Despite his arguments, Rika had stayed up by his side, but he had to admit that didn't help it much.
He had so many questions, so few answers.
The doorbell rang, shaking Henry out of his thoughts, and immediatly Makino ran by, towards the front door. He listened intently as the sound of her highheels stopped clicking on the wooden floor of the hall, and the slight squeal of the hinges on the front door as she opened it.
A deep male voice which he recognised as his father's was heard, and she responded, and soon the sound of footsteps and the high-heels clicking filled the air, and Henry braced himself for the worst.
Janyuu and Makino continued to talk amongst themselves as they entered the room, shaking Rika and Suzy both out of their sound sleep.
"Daddy!!" Suzy squealed, sliding out from the safety of Henry's arm, and rushing behind the couch to where her father stood.
Rika's arm linked around one of Henry's, and she forced a smile in the direction of Henry's father.
Janyuu either didn't see, or just pretended not to as he fixed his attention completly on his small daughter, scooping her up in his arms. "Suzy!" he said almost in a laugh, then kissed her forehead.
Soon the small girl was put back down on the ground, and picked up once more by Makino.
Rika's mother turned to look at her daughter and Henry, gave a small smile, and held Suzy closer. "I'll take Suzy out shopping, I'm sure you have some things to talk about."
With that, she was gone, leaving the three people in the room together, an uneasy silence following soon after.
It had all happened so quickly. In a matter of five minutes, Henry's heart had gone from happy and content to being filled with that horrible sinking feeling as his father sat down in the chair across from them.
He seemed to be at a loss for words, much like the other two were, and they all stared at each other in the silence.
"Henry--" was all Janyuu got out before tears started brimming in his eyes. There across his son's face was a sort of hatred, hatred for him, no doubt. Henry's arm slipped out from Rika's grasp, and wrapped around her waist, holding her closer.
"Yes?" Henry asked simply, the hate still lingering on his face, and even in his voice as he spoke.
Janyuu looked at the auburn-haired girl attatched to his son, and took a deep breath. "Henry, do you think that Rika could leave the room?"
Rika sat up, ready to slip off the couch, but Henry's arms were there to stop her. "No, she can't. Anything you have to say can be said to both of us."
Even Rika looked slightly stunned as she leaned herself against Henry again.
"She's as much a part of this as I am, Dad." Henry explained in a rough tone, and Rika nodded in agreement slowly.
"Alright." Janyuu sighed, and then after taking another deep breath, he started the story he had hoped would never be told.
Henry's eyes grew wider with each passing moment. Janyuu told of the digimon project he had been working on with Yamaki ever since the digimon had gone back to their own world. He had tried for months to bridge the gap between the two worlds once more, and bring the tamers their digimon again, but his plan had soon backfired.
He spoke of the morning a week or two before Christmas where scans had shown that a single digimon had cut through to the real world, and at first his hopes had gone up. It could've been any digimon, any at all, but it wasn't the one he was hoping and praying it would be. Soon he and Yamaki both identified it as Icedevimon, back for his revenge on the tamers.
Rika's grasp became tighter around this part of the story, and Henry held her closer. Any talk of that horrible creature gave Rika the chills anymore, now was no exception.
Janyuu continued however, telling the two about how he had panicked, and thinking it was the right thing to do, had sent Henry and Suzy out on their own, hoping they would find a safe place to stay until the threat was over, hopefully at another tamer's house.
Janyuu suddenly became a little annoyed in his tone of voice when he focused his attention on Rika. "And they probably would've stayed safe if they didn't run into you."
Henry immediatly flew to his girlfriend's rescue, fire raging in his eyes at his father's words. "And if we hadn't run into her, she would probably be dead right now." he shot back, and Janyuu sighed once more.
Mr. Wong stood, and straightened out the thick beige jacket he wore. "You and your sister are going to have to come home soon, you can't stay here forever, Henry."
"Yes he can."
Janyuu looked down at a harsh-eyed Rika Nonaka, glaring at him for all she was worth. "He can stay here until the end of time if he wishes, you have no say in his life anymore."
Henry's hand slipped over Rika's, and he was about to start coaxing her to stop until she opened her mouth once more.
"What in God's name makes you think that he wants to go back now?! Sure, Suzy can go back, she's still a kid, but Henry's not just a kid anymore, Mr. Wong."
Janyuu just stared.
"Let him make his own frickin' decision!!"
Henry's attention focused onto his father, and then flew towards Makino standing in the doorway behind him.
"If he wishes to stay, Janyuu, he can. I have no problem with it. He's been a blessing to the family."
Janyuu whirled around to look at the young woman behind him, a neutural look on her face.
Rika stared emotionlessly at her mother, not beleiving the words she just heard. If she hadn't witnessed them being said, she would've never believed it.
"Suzy on the other hand will have to go back with you, of course. She is a child, after all."
Janyuu stood silent, running these thoughts through his head. His son, staying here with his girlfriend's family? It was almost unheard of! What would people think?
"Dad..."
Janyuu turned slightly as Henry stood up off the couch, and he suddenly realised how tall Henry had shot up after all. With all his time at the office he had missed Henry's sudden shoot of an entire foot, and Henry almost came eye to eye with his father now.
"I love Rika, I really do. There's no doubt in my mind that I'm going to spend the rest of my life with her anywa--"
"Henry you're just a child, you can't say you're going to spend the rest of your life with someone alrea--"
"--ys." Henry continued on, despite his father's interjection. "So what's the problem if I stay here? It'll teach me and Rika to get along through things and grow to love each other more."
"And you'll more than likely become a teen father before you ever marry." his father interjected again, and now Rika was up on her feet.
"That's probably true, Mr. Wong--"
Rika's mother's eyes grew wide at her words.
"-- but it won't matter. I'll have a family, it works for me."
Simple words, but Janyuu had to admit that Rika Nonaka had a bit of a point. Just a bit, not much.
Janyuu drew his jacket around him and started towards the front door.
"I'll call tonight, Makino." he stated before opening the door and walking out, a swift chilly wind rushing through the hallway and into the livingroom.
Henry shivered from it, but shivered again remembering the look in his father's eyes.
Now what would he do?
------------
The sound of metal scraping against the wood floors of Rika's house caught Henry's ears from the living room, and he leaned back in his chair to look out in the hallway. Sure enough, there was his little sister dragging out a bright pink suitcase from the guest bedroom. She pulled on it with all her might, and Henry couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. She had packed the suitcase on her own as soon as she was told her father would be picking her up that afternoon, and it was perfectly clear that she had. The sleeve of a soft pink dress dragged along the floor also, hanging out of the side of the suitcase. A shoelace hung from the other side. Tied to the handle of the suitcase that Suzy pulled on was the ears of her favorite stuffed bunny, and it bounced up and down with every sharp tug she gave.
Henry calmly placed his book down on the table and stood, walking out towards his little sister. "Need some help there?"
She looked up at him, glared, and continued silently pulling her suitcase towards the front door.
"Suzy?"
No reply, just a soft grunt as she gave another hard tug on the handle.
A quizzical look passed over Henry's face and he bent down, squating on the floor to become eyelevel with his baby sister. "Did I do something wrong?"
She still didn't respond, a determined little look on her face.
Henry stood back up, silently watching her go. She was almost there now, and with a huff dropped the handle of her suitcase just a foot away from the door, and then sat down on top of it, head in her little hands, staring at the glass window forming a circle in the top of the door.
She clearly wanted nothing to do with him.
Henry hesitated a moment, then walked back into the living room, slumping down in the armchair he had been in before. He picked up his book and opened it to the page he was reading, but couldn't focus on the words. At all. His eyes fell back on the doorway to the hall.
"Something wrong, Henry?"
He looked up at the girl walking in from the door leading outside, auburn haired pulled back into a single braid. Her eyes held a worried look, and she clutched the drawing pad she held tightly with both arms.
Henry sighed deeply and looked towards the hallway again, Rika's eyes following slowly.
"She won't talk to me." he answered quietly, and immediatly Rika's drawing pad was thrust into his lap and she went walking in that direction.
"I'll talk to her." she said just as she disappeared around the corner.
Rika's violet eyes fell down on the small figure of Suzy in the corner of the dark hallway, now clutching her stuffed rabbit to her chest almost for dear life. Soft sobs came from her body, and immediatly Rika gave a sort of smile. It was all too clear what was going on, and she had figured it would happen sooner or later, especially when Suzy was told she would have to go back home on that cold afternoon.
Rika slid her back against the wall as she came to sit next to the girl, and Suzy looked over just slightly, and spoke with a quiet sniff.
"What?" was the only word she said.
"You have to go back, Suzy. We can't keep you here, you know..." Rika said calmly, hugging her knees to her chest as she spoke.
"But how come Henwy gets to stay?!" Suzy burst out angrily, dropping her stuffed toy abruptly on the floor and standing up sharply. "It's not faiwr!!"
Rika was a bit stunned at first by the anger raging through the young eyes of Suzy. She had never seen her that angry before.. Suzy had always been pretty calm like her older brother when it came to anger. The only thing that could sound right in Rika's mind was that this was really bothering the small girl. Seriously bothering her...
"Henry's older."
Suzy slouched down angrily on the suitcase again, sighing heavily, and turning her head in the opposite direction as to not look at Rika. "Yeah.." she whispered, and fought back more frustrated tears that threatened to fall. "You don't love me that much.. that's why..."
With those words Rika was sitting up straight with an alarmed look across her face. Was that what this was all about?
"Suzy that's just stupid..." she felt herself snap like her old ways had always been, and Suzy looked back over slowly. "If I could, I'd have you stay, but I can't. You're still little, you need a mom and dad to take care of you."
"I know.." Suzy sighed and placed her small hands in her lap.
Rika slid across the wood floor a foot or two to sit in front of Suzy, and leaned forward to look into the girl's eyes that had refocused on the floor. "You're lucky you have a dad, alright? I don't."
"You don't have a daddy?" Suzy whispered, almost amazed at what she was hearing, and gently took the stuffed rabbit that Rika had handed her and clutched it once more to her chest.
"No, I don't, and I probably never will.."
All of the sudden Suzy's eyes lit up and she sat up straight. "I know Wika!! You can come live with me!!! Then we can both have a daddy!!"
Rika just laughed quietly and shook her head. "It doesn't work like that..."
"Why not?"
"It just doesn't."
"Oh.."
Both girls gave a sharp jump when echoing through the house the sound of the doorbell came to their ears, and then both looked up at the door they sat just in front of.
The next twenty minutes seemed to rush right by Rika. As soon as she and Suzy had moved out of the way for Mr. and Mrs. Wong to walk in the door, it was a mess of filling out papers in the kitchen and a few tearful goodbyes between Henry and his mother.
Rika tried to savor every last moment she could, but before she knew it, Janyuu looked at the small girl attatched to Rika's leg, and extended his arms towards her with a smile. "Com'on sweetheart, let's go home."
After the long talks Suzy had received from seemingly everyone in the house in the past day or two, Rika expected her to smile back and run into her father's arms, but she just felt Suzy's small arms wrap themselves tighter around her leg, and then she heard the sound of tears.
"I don't wanna go.."
Everyone in the room just froze, especially Mrs. Wong as soon as Suzy's tear-filled eyes fell onto her, and she grabbed onto Rika even tighter.
Rika held her arms above the girl with a helpless look directed towards Henry, and Henry gave much the same look her way.
"Suzy..." Rika laid her hands gently on the trembling girl's shoulders. "You have to."
--
Yeah sure, he was over it. He also was known as the only kid in his school who ever had to get stitches on their face, but for the most part, he was over it. Sure, Henry Wong, the so-called 'peaceful' tamer had been the one to inflict the damage..... but he was completly over it.
Who was he kidding? If he had the chance, Ryo would rip that boy's head off.
Ryo chucked a small coin into the fountain as he passed by. His father offered to drive him to the mall to hopefully make him 'feel better' about all of this... tough luck. He lost his girl and his dignity all in one blow by one man. Nothing could make that feel better.
He pushed his way through the weekend crowds, using his shoulders and elbows and whatever else he could to get people out of his path. Some yelled at him, some grunted, others ignored him, except one.
"Excuse me?!"
Ryo just kept walking, hands shoved in his jeans pockets, eyes focused on the cold tile floor of the mall.
"Hey! You hit me and you're just going to walk away like that?!"
A soft hand which had a surprisingly tight grasp was on his arm now, and he whirled around angrily to come face to face with a girl who looked hauntingly familier.... but he couldn't place the face.
"I was talking to you..." her voice was highpitched and soft, even though anger was filling it. It looked as if she was trying to force all the frustration from a busy day of shopping the after-Christmas sales onto him, and it was clear that she was losing the battle the more she had to look at him. Ryo had never seen a girl look at him like that before, especially with eyes like that--- clear and bright, an ice blue color that seemed to pull him in.
He quickly snapped himself out of his trance, and flipped on the heavy charm, like he did with every pretty girl. But this wasn't just any pretty girl... at least not a normal girl Ryo would flirt with.
His eyes roamed her body up and down once, getting a good look at the girl standing in front of him. Her bleach blonde hair poured across her shoulders and tumbled halfway down her back, seemingly slicked straight, and a few thick strands hung in her face. She wore heavy mascara and her skin was incredibly pale, maybe just looking that way from the tight black tanktop and baggy black pants she wore. A few chains hung from the belt loops of the pants, all the way down to her knees and back up again. Random pins decorated both the pants and the straps of her tanktop, and a single raven-black strand of hair sat among the rest. Ryo still was trying to place where he knew this girl from-- it couldn't be from his school. He, like Rika, went to a private school with a strict dress code. That black strand of hair would be abruptly cut off if she went there also. Then he spotted the one thing that brought a flood of memories to his mind.
The silver cross necklace.
"Alice?"
She sharply drew her hand back from his arm and her eyes grew wild. "Do I know you?"
"It's me." Ryo put his hand to his chest and furrowed his eyebrows in almost confusion at her sudden actions. "Ryo Akiyama..."
The girl shook her head slowly. "I... don't know that name."
"Your digimon... Dobermon." Ryo suddenly snapped off, and her eyes grew even more wide, and he continued. "Remember me now? I was there.. I was one of the tame--"
Without another word said, Ryo was standing almost emotionless with a blonde girl attatched to his body in a tight hug.
"Oh my God!!! It IS you!!!"
With a slight laugh, Ryo pushed the girl back to get a good look at her again, and put on his charm once more.
"You've certainly gotten hotter..."
She blushed deeply and diverted his eyes from his. "Really?" her high-pitched voice asked almost innocently, and Ryo turned her around by the shoulders, then linked his arm around hers, starting to walk with her through the crowds.
He motioned out into the food court, grinning still at the deep shade of red Alice had taken on. "Why don't I buy you dinner, it's the least I could do for hitting you like that..."
"Oh no no... that's not needed... I'm over it, really..." her words came out flustered and rushed, and the deep shade of red was only deepening by the moment.
Ryo just laughed and moved his arm so that it sat over both her shoulders, and started pushing her along, towards a rather crowded small resturant on the other side of the food court. "I insist."
"O-okay..." and with a deep breath, Alice stood upright once more, allowing herself to be guided by the tall boy once she saw the jealous looks she was getting from some of the girls at school that always had made fun of her. She could only imagine the words going through their minds. Here was the 'loser' of the public school that she went to, with Ryo Akiyama... and about to have dinner with him too. She could barely believe it herself.
It was like some weird dream come true.
She looked towards the blue-eyed boy beside her for a brief moment to try and catch a glance at any specific emotion on his face. She was rather good at reading emotions, at least that's what she believed.
Ryo's face just held a weird sort of grin, but he was known for that around these parts, now that his picture was plastered in about every magazine from here to America. He almost constantly used that grin in his pictures, and it had been the one that all the 'preppy' girls had fallen in love with. But no, Alice hadn't fallen in love with that grin.. not like the preppy popular girls that treated her and her friends so badly. No. She hadn't.
She repeated those words in her head over and over again, convincing herself mentally that they were true, but her eyes had a different idea as she realised that they wouldn't come off of the boy. She felt her face start burning with the bright red blush once more...
"This... is weird.." she whispered to herself, and realised that her voice was now shaking, and for a brief moment she swore she was having a heart attack.
Well now she had to think.. had she fallen for that grin like the other girls had? No... she had fallen for every other thing about him.