Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.
Fandom: Digimon Tamers
Title: Wedding Cake
Friendship: Reika and Takato
Romance: Yamaki x Reika (also, if you want to view it that way, a hint of Juri x Takato)
Word Count: 2,155
Genre: Friendship||Rated: G
Challenge: Digimon Friendship Challenge: Tamers round 3
Notes: This takes place about seven years after the events of Digimon Tamers.
Summary: When Reika wants a wedding cake, she knows exactly who to go to.
Tinkle. Takato looked up at the ringing of the bell over the door and smiled when he saw who had just entered. "Hi!" He brushed off his hands and stepped up to the counter see what he could do for her. Before he had moved very far, he stopped and looked behind himself. "Guilmon, stay out of the bread."
"Takato!" His partner whined, but put his paws behind his back. Takato shook his head; some things just were never going to change. He looked back over at the newcomer.
"Hey. The usual?" He knew just what she and Yamaki liked to order. After all, she'd been coming there for years, even before he'd found out that she was part of Hypnos. Before he'd even known that Hypnos, much less Digimon, existed!
Reika shook her head, a faint smile nudging at the edges of her lips. "Not today. I was wondering if I could have a special order, actually."
Takato blinked a little and shrugged. "What do you want?" He doubted that it was going to be anything all that complicated. Reika tended to be reasonable with her orders. Not like some people that he could've named if he'd wanted to.
"A wedding cake." Reika's grin widened and Takato wondered if he looked like he felt, which happened to be as if someone had just smacked him between the eyes with a large plank.
"A wedding cake?" He repeated the words with care, uncertain on if he'd heard them correctly or not.
"Yes. It doesn't have to be very big. Just two tiers would do, and not all that fancy."
Takato considered that; it wouldn't be too hard, even for someone like him. He wasn't quite the baker that his father was, but he could handle a cake. "I think I can make that. What kind do you want it to be?"
"Chocolate." Reika set out exactly what she wanted the cake to be like; a chocolate slab cake with two tiers, the bottom one to have a red organza ribbon wrapped around, and the topper to have the kanji for love written on it in red icing. "I want candies at the bottom, too. Wrapped in silver if that's not a problem."
"No problem at all." He would probably have to get his dad to give him a hand with the kanji frosting, but that wasn't too difficult overall. He'd seen cakes that were much more complex. "When do you want it delivered?"
"The wedding is the Sunday after next. Didn't you get the invitation?" Now her eyes darkened, and Takato cast his mind back, searching mentally through the mail.
"Oh, that's right. I remember now." It had been at least a month since it had arrived in the mail. "Sorry, I've had a lot on my mind."
"You're going to be graduating high school soon, aren't you?" Reika raised an eyebrow in query, and Takato nodded. He cast a quick glance over his shoulder to be certain that Guilmon wasn't gnawing on either the bread or his books, and relaxed when he saw his partner was instead snoring on a pile of flour sacks.
He looked back at Reika and glanced down to the notepad he'd taken all the notes for her cake on. "I'll have this ready by then." He did wonder why she was asking so close to the date, though. He thought that most weddings had their catering done a lot sooner. Not that he really knew all that much about weddings.
"Thanks. We had talked to another bakery about it, but a few things apparently came up." Reika's lips twisted for a moment. "Remember that Tuskmon that rampaged around last month?"
Takato twitched; the creature had caused a lot of damage in the few short hours that had passed before the Tamers had been able to calm it down and get it back to the Digital World. "I remember."
"It stopped for lunch at the bakery we were planning on using."
Takato winced again; he'd seen Tuskmon eat before, and it wasn't a pretty sight. "Are they going to stay in business?"
"They're looking into hiring someone who might have their own Digimon in order to protect them first." Reika told him. Takato nodded; not that many businesses had a Tamer working for them, but since the barriers between the worlds had thinned a little over the years, it was becoming more and more of a useful job asset.
She straightened herself up a little and glanced for a moment at the clock on the wall. "Do you think you could give me an estimate of the price?"
Takato frowned; math wasn't his strong suit. That was one reason he wasn't going to go into the family business, no matter how much his dad kept pestering him to go to culinary school. He glanced at the price chart and did some calculations in his head, hoping that he wasn't off by too much, and told her what he thought it would be.
"That's just an estimate, though. Dad'll have the final say on that," he reminded her. His father still ran the bakery; Takato just worked there part time to help save up money for college.
She nodded, a slight crease having formed between her eyebrows. "That should be all right. You have my phone number, don't you?"
"Yes." Takato had it memorized, actually. There had been more than one time when getting in touch with the members of Hypnos had been crucial to getting them out of some situation or another. "I'll call you as soon as it's ready, Ootori-san."
"I'll be waiting." Reika began to turn toward the door, but then turned back. "Now that I think about it, I think I would like some of the Guilmon bread." Her lips twitched. "He likes it."
"Everyone does!" Takato honestly couldn't believe himself how popular Guilmon bread was. Even people who had never seen a Digimon before (and those were fewer and fewer with each passing year) found the shaped bread fascinating and bought some. Those who bought a few loaves usually ended up buying more. The local police had checked twice to be certain that nothing illegal or addictive was involved in baking them. That reminded him; he was going to have to send the station's daily order down soon. "How much did you want?"
"Four loaves, please," she decided. Takato hurried to gather them up, wrapping each one in its own wrapping before putting it into the bag. "I hope that you and your family will be at the wedding. It wouldn't be the same without you."
"Everyone's going to be there," Takato said, ringing up the bread. "I hope everything works out well for the two of you."
Reika chuckled. "So do I. It's taken me long enough to get him to this point anyway."
"Seven years." That wasn't quite half of his life, but it was close enough, to Takato's way of thinking.
"Longer than that." Reika reminded him. "Remember, Mitsuo and I have known each other since before we met any of you."
He flushed just a bit. He should've thought about that. "Right." He didn't want to count the number of people he knew who would've laughed at him for forgetting something like that. Hirokazu and Ruki would've been at the top of the list.
"It's been about ten years, really. We met when Hypnos was first getting started." There was a hint of nostalgia in her voice. "Everything wasn't quite as exciting then as it's been since, but it was interesting." The tone of her voice made it clear that was an understatement.
"Things have calmed down a lot, though," Takato pointed out. "It's been four years since the last take over the world attempt." They'd kept an eye on Tenmamon ever since, too. She wouldn't make a move that they didn't know about.
Reika tucked her bread into the bag she carried with her. "That's true. I want it to stay that way, too. We have better things to do that run around saving the world all the time. That's for kids like you to do."
"We're still good at it." Takato couldn't keep the hint of pride out of his voice either. They were good at saving the world, since they'd had to do it so many times. As long as there were those who were going to try to take it over, there had to be someone who could stop them. And when those threats came from the Digital World, who better than the Digimon Tamers to put an end to them?
"I know you are." What else could she have said, after all? "I don't think there are going to be any wild Digimon turning up at the wedding, though."
Takato laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "I hope not. But we're all going to be there if something does happen. So maybe if anyone's planning something, they'll change their mind?" He didn't want anyone to be planning anything that wasn't a nice, peaceful wedding.
"They'd better. I don't think Mitsuo would take an interruption very well." The gleam in her eyes told Takato what Yamaki Mitsuo would think, much less do, if attacking Digimon interrupted any of their plans. "You should probably make sure that Guilmon gets a good breakfast that day too."
"Right. I don't need him trying to beg for more food and interrupting everything." It wouldn't have been the first time that happened if it did. It wasn't one of his fonder memories. He wasn't certain if Lee Jaarin had ever forgiven them for Guilmon attacking the snack table at her high school graduation. Ever since then, he'd made certain that if he and Guilmon went anywhere together, his partner was well fed, and he had plenty of snacks in his backpack. Just to be safe.
Guilmon snuffled a little and raised his head from the bags. Flour dust covered his muzzle and side and he blinked as he looked around. "Is it lunch time yet?"
"Almost. Just about half an hour to go," Takato told him. Guilmon blinked once more before he peered at the clock.
"Can he really tell time?" Reika wondered. Takato nodded with a grin.
"I had to teach him, and it took a while. He's better with a clock with hands than he is with a digital clock, though. I think because he can see them moving."
Reika laughed when Guilmon cheered, raising his paws up in the air. "Half an hour! That's almost no time!"
"He's growing up, I think."
Takato couldn't argue with that, nor would he have wanted to if he could. "I guess he is." Guilmon would always be a Child level, but there was nothing at all wrong with his mind that experience couldn't fix. Even after seven years, there were still days when he woke up and couldn't believe that he was a Digimon Tamer and that he'd actually created a Digimon. If he ever found the chance, he was going to thank the Digital Gnomes. Maybe they'd like some Guilmon bread. It was worth a shot.
The bell tinkled again, and Reika turned toward the door. "I'll see you later, Takato. I need to make sure that I get home before Mitsuo does."
"Good-bye!" Takato waved and prepared to serve his next customer. Reika and her order were still in the back of his mind, though. He wanted to be certain that their cake was the very best that he could manage, even if it was the first time he'd ever tried something like that. Maybe I can make one for practice and see how that works? I wonder if Juri would want to taste-test it with me?
He should find that other bakery and see if he could get them some help. He knew a few Tamers who might want to lend a hand for security measures. Ruki would be very good at it.
"Takato." Takato jerked up at the sound of his name and stared a bit. When had Yamaki entered the store? "Have you seen Reika today? She said she was going to come by here."
Takato rubbed the back of his head. Was this going to be one of those days? "Yeah, she just left a little while ago."
"I see." Yamaki, who managed to look impeccably comfortable in a business suit no matter the time of year, bent over to look at the wares in the display case. "Give me four loaves of Guilmon bread, then. Reika likes it."
Takato nodded at once. It was a good thing that Guilmon bread kept well. He didn't doubt for a second that Yamaki knew that Reika had bought some herself. That was just the kind of relationship that they had.
Maybe for their wedding he could give them a certificate for a lifetime supply of Guilmon bread.
The End
Note: If you want a picture of what the wedding cake is supposed to look like, then go to perfect-wedding-day dot com and look up "Japanese wedding cakes". The chocolate one with the ai kanji is what I have described here.