I don't own digimon.

Cho and Me

Date 1

A match made out of heaven

In Airu Suzaki's eyes, there was no such things as monsters. Digital, magical or otherwise.

In her own little world, those beings could be someone's best friend, possibly even lovers. Of course, the trapper was currently focused on other things at the moment.

"What do you think, Cure Heart?" she inquired to the doll at her feet, placing it in her lap. "Do you think Mirai and Riko will get to stay together as a couple?"

The doll doesn't respond, but that was to be expected. It was a doll after all. It would be odd and creepy if it were to do such a thing. But I guess it would be kind of cool if it could.

She let her focus turn to her laptop, which was currently showing a pair of girls (the titular Mirai and Riko) at the beach. Of course, one of the villains (probably the bat this time) would come upon them in search of a magical stone in the hope of it being an emerald. Then it turn out to be not and the main heroes would save the day through the power of their 'totally-not-love' for each other.

But before Airu could get to see this predestined outcome, the doorbell rang and was followed by a shriek of pain.

"Airu Suzaki, how many times have I told you to not leave your jacks out!" a voice called out, not at all happy with our hero. "Now come pick them up!"
"Yes mom." Airu shouted back and closed her laptop, quickly scrambling her way over to the entrance. But not before setting her Cure Heart figurine down where it wouldn't be crunched. While she could easily replace if such a thing were to happen, that one wouldn't have the same sort of memories this one had.

There, a woman in what looked to be her mid thirties stood, mumbling curses towards the pink jacks laying on the floor. For today, she had gone with black blouse with a white undershirt and a black pencil skirt. A pair of pumps comfortably held her feet in, while a scrunchie held her long flowing black hair in a bit of a ponytail. Of course, Airu was more focused on actually scooping her jacks up than her mother's appearance.

"At least I know they work."

"What was that, honey?" Mrs Suzaki inquired and picked some jacks up, dropping it into her daughter's hands. But all that got her was a nod.

"Oh, nothing." Airu answered as she slipped her jacks into her hidden skirt pocket. Her attention then turned to the door, which she pulled open to reveal a girl. "Uh, can I help you?"

The girl in question was dressed in rags, her skin almost translucent and wrinkled. The head seemed to hang sideways with visible handprints on the neck. Everything on her was quite damp and she seemed to shiver a little. What did remain of her black hair seemed Even then Airu could quite easily see that there was no sign of one.

"Airu Suzaki, you have been chosen." the girl announced and grabbed hold of Airu's hand. While the teenager made an attempt of breaking free, a slight tap from her mother brought an end to that.

"That's nice." her mom answered and walked off, letting go of her daughter in the process. She was probably going off to maybe get ready to work, doing something that she preferred to only talk to Airu's father about.

"For what exactly?" Airu inquired and observed her guest, who now looked ready to burst into tears. "What's wrong?"

"I didn't want any of this!" the girl announced as the tears began to fall down. "I just wanted to be at my partner's side in the afterlife. But no, I'm just a fucking pinata for these… voices to beat on."

Maybe it was a gut reaction or perhaps just a moment of putting one's heart before their head, but Airu wrapped her arms around the girl's body. But not too tightly.

"Thank you."

Airu gave a nod and let her arms fall to her side.

"It's nothing." she whispered and watched the girl's composure shift as a smile formed on her face.

"As I was saying, you have been by the great and powerful sl- I mean the entity Homeostasis." the girl remarked, getting a confused glance in return. "She's a creepy-looking ball of light that scouts people through their windows. If you're a brunette, she might possess you and do some questionable things."

But that did not ring any bells in the mind of Airu Suzaki. If anything, it brought forth a variety of questions within the teenager's head. For one, why would such a woman not come herself? Or why peek through people's windows when there were a ton of other better ways? Stuff like that.

"I asked her those same questions." the girl explained and let out a deep breath. "She said that was the most efficient and least invasive method for peons such as you and me."

The girl got a mixture of confusion and silence, which seemed to result in even more shivers. Not that was the intention, just the outcome.

"If it helps, I don't really get it either." she continued and began to dig through her seemingly nonexistent pockets, bringing forth a pink smartphone. "Think of this not as an early birthday present, but as the key to a brand new journey in life. A future that can only happen now."

"Okay…" Airu thought and took a deep breath, using that time to debate her answer. "This seems a little too good to be true, but…"

She wasn't sure why, but something about seemed right. It was as if all her life was leading up to this moment and now was the only time for her to seize it.

"I accept your gift."

Her answer seemed to catch the girl by surprise, who was probably expecting to have to push a bit to get her customer to accept.

"Are you sure? By accepting this gift, there is no turning back." the girl explained, watching for any signs of Airu changing her mind. But a nod was all she got. "Welcome to the Hunt, Airu Suzaki."

She casually placed the device in Airu's hand.

"Your first task is to hunt down a suitable partner. I wish you the best of luck."

This was the girl's cue to leave, but not before Airu got another hug in.

"Thank you!" Airu called out and watched the visitor fade away. After closing the front door, the teenager made her way back towards her spot. "Now, let's see what we have."

She carefully swiped a finger around the edge of the smartphone, searching for a button or charging port. But the device didn't seem to have much in the way of either. It did have a proper headphone jack, so it had that going for it. The next area she checked was the touch screen, feeling it all up for a potential secret pressure point. But after finding nothing on that front, she went to the natural conclusion of this: Shouting random phrases at it. Second only to slapping it, voice commands were naturally an option.

"Wait." she thought and turned her attention back to the screen. "L…"

Very carefully, she slid an 'L-shape' across the screen.

"O…"

Next was an 'O-shape'.

"V…"

I feel like you get the picture. But you probably don't get what's being referenced.

"E!"

This was the magical combination that brought the phone to life.

"Phew." Airu remarked and let her gaze hang on the screen.

Thank you for activating this digivice. All future activations now require that you hold your finger down on the screen. Have a nice day ;)

As tempting as it would be to just throw the phone into a wall, Airu took a deep breath and tapped the screen. The message disappeared, revealing a row of apps along with the usual functions of such a device: texting, calling and an arrow to show the other installed apps. But at the moment, one app in particular was attempting to get her attention. Compared to the other apps, it had an oval-shaped device with a glass screen. Cautiously, she gave it a tap and watched the image shift, becoming a map screen of sorts. She was represented by a pink arrow, with a bunch of colored circle representing something else.

"Okay…" Airu thought, staring over the map as best as she could. But before she had a chance to decipher it, a scream pierced through the relative silence.

"Airu Suzaki! How many times have I told you to not set that net up to catch your brother?" her mother announced and Airu let out a sigh. She made her way of the living room and towards the stairs, phone and toys in hand.

"This wouldn't be so bad if you found yourself a boy, heck even a girl for that matter."

Airu let out a groan, her mother's words falling on deaf ears. It wasn't that idea of love was not in Airu's mind at the moment, the teenage girl wasn't quite sure where she stood at the moment. Boys didn't seem to catch her interest, but girls? Girls were the biggest deal to her. Especially magical girls. But right now, her focus was on other things.

"Hiroshi…" she muttered to herself as she took the steps up, two at a time. At the top, she charged towards her room. "This better be go-"

The door to her room was closed, the intruder having managed to trap themselves in. Carefully, Airu pushed the door open.

"Hiro-" the hunter started, only to stop herself mid-sentence.

The room in question was what one imagined when they thought 'girl's room'. Pastel pink walls surrounded any who dared to enter, with a hot pink carpet serving as a cover over the supposedly dreadful hardwood. A canopy bed with light pink sheets sat against the back wall Shelves filled with precure dolls and digimon figurines hugged the back wall, with a bookcase situated underneath. Of course, since there was someone younger than her running around, they had a tendency to get themselves inside here. So she had set something up. Just a simple net trap, set to engulf the target if they walked in a certain spot. But instead of finding the intended target, she instead found a girl within her net. "Uh… Who are you?"

"Hi there!" the girl announced, closing her eyes and cracking a smile. "I'm Cho Hakkaimon."

Airu took her in, feeling her heart beat slightly faster. The person looked to be around her age, with dark green hair and a pair of orange pupils. A set of pink armor designed to look like large pig mascot laid in a heap, possibly so the person inside didn't make as much noise. Especially since they seemed to have somehow passed through her open window with little harm. Of course, she closed it for obvious safety reasons.

"Uh… thanks?" Airu remarked and made her way over to the net, depositing the Cure Heart doll on the bed. She would've preferred to leave her with the other cure dolls (getting worshiped by her 'totally secret' lesbian harem), but this unknown intruder was her made focus. "At the very least, could you tell me why you're in my room and stuff?"

The intruder let out a sigh, letting silence be their answer. But as Airu made her way over, Cho Hakkaimon seemed to perk up.

"I got flung off a building." Cho Hakkaimon remarked and took a deep breath. "Stupid Ophanimon. All I asked for was forgiveness for eating my cookie a couple seconds too early. But no! That bimbo decides that she had enough with me and just flings me away!"

Her attention turned to Airu, who had been caught off-guard to her intruder's little rant.

"Oh sorry. That was quite rude of me." Cho Hakkaimon added, watching Airu cut the rope down. "What's your name, sugar~"

Airu took a deep breath, doing her best to ignore her own heartbeat at the moment.

"Airu Suzaki." she answered and pulled the net down, trying to police it up as best she could. "Since you mentioned Ophanimon, I'm guessing you're a digimon then?"

This time, it was Cho Hakkaimon who got caught by surprise. But, she cracked a smile.

"If I had a gold star, I would give it you, sugar." Cho Hakkaimon remarked, making an attempt to sound as suave and sexy as possible. "Since you've captured me, I'm guessing that makes me your partner."

Airu's phone then activated, floating out of her hands and into the air. The screen flashed white and shifted to be visible for both girls. Which I guess was nice of it? Wait, does that mean that

Registration Complete!

The device then dropped to the floor, forcing Airu lean down and scoop it up.

"Uh…" the newly christened hunter remarked and watched her partner get dressed. While it wasn't

"Think of this like a date, sugar." Cho Hakkaimon remarked and cautiously approached Airu. "At first, we'll be strangers to each other, learning little by little. But as we get to know each other, the bond between us will blossom into something... far greater and beautiful."

As her partner said that, Airu's heartbeat seemed to become audible to both girls.

"I guess I could give it a shot…" she whispered, letting a reluctant smile form on her face. "After all, what do I have to lose?"

Notes:

Well, this has been a long time coming. After going into what probably seemed to you guys like hiding post the end of Digital Adventures Online, I have returned with a new fic. While nowhere as long as DAO, it's in that general area.