Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.
Fandom: Digimon Tamers
Title: When Fangirls Attack
Friendship: Ryou & Jenrya
Word Count: 2,441
Genre: Friendship, Humor
Rated: G
Status: Complete
Challenge: Digimon Friendship Challenge: Tamers: round 1
Notes: I watched all of Digimon Tamers subbed to get refreshed on this. I learned quite a bit, too, and had fun watching it.
Summary: Being the Digimon King has its benefits: fans. It also has drawbacks: fans. Luckily, being a Digimon Tamer brings friends.
"I should've hired a bodyguard!" Ryou grunted as he pulled away from yet another fan's clinging arms. He couldn't be certain; was this the fourth one or the fifth one to do the world's best imitation of an octopus? It was hard to keep them all apart, no matter how hard he tried.
"Ryou-sama!" More arms were coming at him, some waving pens, some waving notebooks, a few waving…he didn't want to think about what they were waving. "Sign this! Sign this! Please, Ryou-sama!"
The autograph hounds weren't all that bad, or might not have been if they had lined up in a sensible, quiet line and waited their turns. But there were others…
"I've got it! I've got it!" Delighted shrieks rose up from behind him, and Ryou smacked one hand down to keep his D-arc where it belonged on his belt.
"Ladies, please!" He tried one of his most dazzling smiles, which sent at least three of the autograph hunters in front of him swooning backwards. "That's very private property." Not to mention what else she'd been touching back there that was even more private property.
The problem with looking at one batch of the surrounding fans was that it meant he had to take his eyes off another one. Ryou's smile faded into a strangled gasp as hands gripped onto his shirt, much tighter than those who had just wanted his signature had done.
"Stop that!" Forget a bodyguard, what he needed was Cyberdramon! But his Digimon partner hadn't wanted to come to a simple card game tournament. Not that Ryou had blamed him; this place would be boring to someone like Cyberdramon. I wish I were being bored!
"Ryou-sama!" More of them crowded around and Ryou couldn't tell which ones of them wanted his autograph and which ones wanted him. Hands, hands, and more hands reached toward him, and while most were slender and soft, they still possessed all the strength of an angry Ogremon when it came to pulling at his clothes in the attempt to get even a scrap of said garments off him.
Ryou's breath came a little faster as he tried to step back and away from his adoring fans. There was supposed to be security here, wasn't there? He'd seen them in their crisp clean uniforms, looming over all the card players here and making certain that no one cheated in their games. Yet no one was there now, and it was getting harder and harder for him to breathe with how much they were pressing against him.
People, people, people! No matter where he looked, there they were, hands reaching out for him, brushing against him, their voices and their breath in his ears. It hadn't been this bad since the announcement of the fact that the Digimon Tamers were more or less the saviors of the world! Not since their Digimon had returned to them!
"Ryou-sama! Let me buy you lunch! I'll get you anything that you want!" Voices shrieked in his ear, and he couldn't have told who had said it on a bet. Everywhere his eyes went there were more eyes looking back at him, and each one hungered and thirsted after more than he knew how to give.
Rampaging Digimon and hyper-evolved programs that wanted to delete two worlds Akiyama Ryou could deal with. Fan girls were something he hadn't figured out yet.
He jumped when a firm hand wrapped itself around his wrist and began to tug on him. What was this one doing now? None of them had tried to pull him somewhere before! It didn't help when other hands tugged harder on his shirt, and he both felt and heard it ripping moments later.
"Come on!" A familiar voice sounded, piercing through the girls' chatter. "Or do you want to stay here?"
His eyes widened as he caught sight of his savior. "Jenrya!" Ryou didn't argue the point anymore, but dropped down low and started to squirm away. With the other Tamer there to part the fan girls before him, getting away was much easier now. Ryou glanced over his shoulder; the girls hadn't stopped waving their autograph books, pens, and scraps from his shirt and pants.
His pants? Ryou looked down once he had a chance and saw what he'd overlooked before: three inches of his left pants leg were now some fan's trophy. "I'm going to have to replace those." Well, it wouldn't be so bad. Winning this tournament had given him a hefty cash prize, after all.
"Talk about it later," Jenrya advised, tugging him along some more. Ryou cast one look back at the group of fans, which had started to pull apart a little. If they'd discovered he wasn't there and saw him again, there would be hell to pay.
"Let's go." Ryou hurried after Jenrya, and refused to look behind him for as much as a moment. He knew it was crazy, but he was convinced that if he did, they'd see him right away. Better safe than sorry, he decided, and followed Jenrya out of the gaming arena. He kept his mouth shut as well; the slightest sound could alert them. It was like being back in the Digital World all over again.
Jenrya led him to the door; he hadn't been that far from it when the crowd had attacked him. At least he hadn't been physically, but as for the ability to reach it, it might as well have been on the moon. Ryou glanced back again, then snapped his head around to face Jenrya. "They know I'm gone."
"We haven't been spotted yet," Jenrya said, hints of amusement in his voice. "Just keep moving and don't make a sound."
Suiting actions to words, the younger Tamer pushed the door open, letting light and air in. Ryou sucked down a deep breath of the city air, then looked around again. "Jenrya, they're coming this way. I can't tell if they've seen us or not."
"Don't panic." Jenrya looked over Ryou's shoulder and gestured him to move on. "We're almost out of here."
Ryou swallowed and walked out into the sunlight. Five months had passed since the D-Reaper, and June's warmth embraced him now. The building had been very well air conditioned, in order to deal with the massed might of hundreds of card players, the tournament officials, and the fans and groupies. He sighed, drinking in the warmth. His shoulders and arms ached some, and more than one bruise, legacy of the fan girl embraces, announced its presence now.
"There he is!" Ryou didn't wait when he heard that voice. He ran, ignoring every pain and ache in his body. Jenrya, a few steps ahead of him, jerked his head toward the upcoming street corner. Ryou didn't ask what was up there; he would find out when they arrived.
Twenty-five fan girls thundered toward them as they raced for the corner. The two boys were out of sight once they turned, but the girls kept on coming, their own level of chatter and fantasies keeping them from hearing anything but themselves.
"Hey!" All twenty-five stopped once they reached the corner. "Where are they?" The one in the lead, Miyagi Kiku, looked around in as many directions as she could manage. "They should be right here." She caught sight of a long black limousine parked a few feet away, with a man opening the door and starting to get inside. "Hold on!"
She hurried over there and bowed to the stranger. "Excuse me, sir, but did you see two boys coming this way? They're both kind of cute, but one of them is very good looking." Stars shone in her eyes for a few moments as she thought of just how gorgeous Ryou-sama really was. "The one that we're looking for has brown hair and deep, deep blue eyes."
The blond man tilted his head down, looking at her through dark sunglasses. "No." He spoke only that single word before he slid into his car, shut the door firmly, and rolled the window up, all without paying the slightest bit more attention to the girls. Kiku wondered if they were in the car, and started to open her mouth to ask.
Before the words formed, the window rolled down, and the driver looked at her. He said nothing. He didn't need to. She swallowed and stepped back as the window rolled up again. Shaking her head, she turned toward the rest of her friends. "He got away." Her eyes lit up with sudden fire. "But I bet we can get him at the next tournament. Let's start planning."
As the girls marched off to make their next set of battle plans, a very familiar procedure, the car slid into traffic and was soon lost to view. In the back seat, Ryou leaned against the window and sighed deeply. "Thanks, Yamaki-san. I owe you one."
"I'm surprised you didn't have your partner with you. I thought you were all inseparable these days," the head of Hypnos replied. Ryou chuckled and shook his head.
"He thought a tournament would be boring so he stayed home to get some rest. We spent most of last night patrolling and he needed the sleep."
Jenrya chuckled himself. "Terriermon's waiting at home. I should've brought him along for a distraction, but he's trying to help Mom cook. He's getting pretty good at that, too, as long as his ears don't fall in the pot." He stretched and glanced at Ryou for a moment. "If you don't mind my saying so, you could probably use a new shirt and pants. Those look a little torn up."
"Thanks." Ryou wasn't going to argue one little bit about that. "Are you sure you've got anything that could fit me, though?" He wasn't the best judge of clothes, except to be roughly certain that something fit and wasn't eye-searingly obnoxious.
"If I don't, my brother does," Jenrya assured him. "And you're welcome to stay to dinner too. Mom always makes enough for visitors since Takato started coming over and bringing Guilmon with him."
Ryou might have considered turning down the invitation, if his stomach hadn't made up his mind for him. "I'd be honored," he said instead. "So, what were you doing there, anyway? I didn't think you played."
"I don't," Jenrya said, watching the play of traffic go by as Yamaki's car drove through the streets. He waved one hand to indicate a convenience store bag at his feet that Ryou hadn't noticed until then. "I was coming back from the store and I heard some of the other players who had left talking about the fan girls charging the winner. I had a feeling that was going to be you, since Ruki wasn't going to be in this one."
"Glad you showed up. I wasn't sure how I was going to get out of that one." Ryou glanced towards the driver of the car. "How'd you get here anyway, Yamaki-san?"
Yamaki's lips quirked up slightly. "Jenrya called me. He needed help to get you away from them."
"I couldn't think of anyone else who'd be intimidating enough to ward off a couple of dozen girls intent on tearing all of your clothes off and then fighting over who got to keep the pieces," Jenrya said to Ryou's questioning glance. Ryou looked over toward Yamaki and couldn't argue that point, even if he'd wanted to.
They arrived at the apartment building a short while later and Yamaki checked to make certain no fan girls had somehow followed them before getting out. "All clear."
"Thanks. Are you sure that you don't want to come to dinner? Mom would have enough, trust me," Jenrya said. The older man shook his head.
"Reika is already holding dinner for me." He gestured them inside. "But tell your father I said hello."
"You got it." They waved as he headed away. Jenrya waved at the doorman as the two of them entered the building, ignoring the disapproving looks that the man gave to Ryou's less than pristine appearance. "Do you need to call your dad or anything?"
Ryou shook his head. "He's off on a business trip until next week. I can't stay too late, though. Cyberdramon needs to be fed, or else he'll raid the refrigerator." The last time that had happened, they'd needed to restock everything entirely. His partner's appetite didn't compare to Guilmon's, but that was a lot of Digimon that needed to be fed.
Not to mention, they'd also needed to replace the refrigerator. Cyberdramon's claws were sharp and he didn't take no for an answer.
"I'm home!" Jenrya called as he entered the apartment, Ryou just a step or two behind him. "And I brought Ryou."
Shuichon, with Lopmon held firmly in her arms, waved at him from where she was playing on the couch. Ryou waved back, then bowed a courteous greeting to the Lee parents.
"Nice to see you again," Lee Janyuu said, bending his head politely back. "I hope you've been well."
"I have." Ryou knew how that sounded, given that he was wearing ripped pants and shirt. Janyuu said nothing, only glanced at him with hints of amusement twitching about his lips. "Especially since Jenrya showed up to give me a hand today."
"Come on, I'll get you those spare clothes," Jenrya said and gestured him to follow him down to his room. Ryou leaned against the closed door and glanced down at what he was wearing: or what was left of what he was wearing.
"I still can't believe they did that. They were never like that before."
Jenrya shrugged as he dug around in his closet. "You hadn't saved the world the last time you won a tournament, either, had you?"
"I guess not. Maybe I should rethink going." Granted, winning was fun, as was finding strong other players and some of them could turn out to be Tamers themselves one day. But if it meant sacrificing clothes and dignity every time, perhaps he could leave the tournaments to Ruki. Or Hirokazu. He'd love that. I'm surprised he wasn't there today anyway.
"Here you go." Jenrya tossed him pants and a shirt. "I'll let you change. Dinner should be ready soon."
Ryou stepped away from the door to let his friend out and found that he was smiling. "Thanks a lot, Jenrya."
"Call me Jen. Everyone else does," Jenrya told him, grinning a little, and Ryou grinned back.
"You got it, Jen." As the door closed behind him, Ryou's smile did not fade. It was good to have friends.
The End
Note: Most of the cast really does call him 'Jen' by the end of the series. Actually, Ruki calls him that in episode 18, and Takato does it by episode 23.