Author's note:

Hello, this my first attempt at fanfictioning. Please note that I'm not a native speaker of English, so forgive me for my mistakes, and feel free to point them out to me. I adore Ryuki, and woul love to get some reviews. Enjoy.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a tamer, in possession of a good deck, must be in want of a challenge.

However, most tamers don't know that when they are entering a small community, they are very likely to be asked to battle with them all, and perhaps, with their daughters.

"Oh, my dear Jenrya! – his overly excited and high pitched voiced wife began talking – "Have you heard that Netherfield Park has been taken at last?"

Jenrya replied that he had not.

"Do you want to know who has taken it?"

"You obviously want to tell me and I have no objection to hearing it."

This was invitation enough.

"A young male tamer. He came buy to see the property last week and is apparently settling as we speak."

"What's his name?"

"Takato Matsuda"

"Is he married or single?"

"Single. Oh, what a fine thing to our girls!"

"How can it possibly affect them?"

"How can you possibly be so tiresome, my dear? He is very likely to fall in love with one of our girls! You must present yourself to him!"

"I have no intention too. You may present yourselves to him. Or just send the girls by themselves, you are as pretty as any of them, he may very likely end up in love with you."

His wife was no good a picking up sarcasm and was actually flattered by her husband's comment. But she was not to take lightly the fact that he was refusing to present himself.

"You must go, my dear. You don't understand the disgrace that will fall upon us if you don't!"

" My dear wife. Our whole country is at war with evil digimon, and is likely to fall anytime soon. How can I not presenting myself to this young tamer be a bigger disgrace than our country, and perhaps world, falling into the hand of evil digimon?"

"Jenrya. Very little I can do about this evil digimon you talk about. But I do have a purpose in my life, and it is to marry all my girls to fine young man, tamers if possible, so that we don't fall into poverty once you die."

As much as he didn't agree with his wife way of thinking, he knew she had a point, so he gave in at last.

"Fine. I'll introduce myself to him and give him permission to marry any of our girls. But I must put on a good world to my dear Ruki – chan."

"You'll do no such thing. She's no better than any of our girls, and definitely not prettier than Juri. But of course you must favor her, just 'cause she's best with digimon and that stupid card game".

" She has much more to recommend her than any of her sisters, specially at times like this".

"You and your stupid digimon obsession. Have you no respect for my nerves?"

"I do respect your nerves. They've been with me for the past 23 years"

Jenrya decided to just leave, for his wife was satisfied enough for the moment, with the prospect of marrying one of her daughters with some young talented tamer. He entered his library, which was his sanctuary, and a long eared digimon jumped into his lap.

"Tell me Terriermon, Why did I married her?"

"Mon mantai! You though she was pretty that's why!"

"Apparently that's all I though."

The next day, Jenrya left with Terriermon to go and meet with the newest tamer on the neighborhood, Takato Matsuda. He then returned, to found a very distressful wife at home, who was now yelling at her fourth daughter, Shu Chong, for coughing.

"Oh Jenrya, look what you've done to me! Not presenting yourself to Mr. Matsuda! Now we'll have to rely on the good will of our egoistical neighbor to present ourselves to him. If they are available of course!"

"Oh, Ruki, when is the next tournament?" – asked the youngest daughter, Ai, who was very concerned about being presented.

"Tomorrow" – answered Ruki, who was very occupied with analyzing her deck of digimon battle cards. She was, after all, the best tamer of the neighborhood, and had a reputation to sustain.

"I knew this would happen! Mrs. Long won't be here to introduce us tomorrow, and by the time our girls get to meet him, he'll probably have already chose some other girl of the county, even though this girl would be no match to our girls had he met them first! I'm so sick of this !"

"I wish I've known this earlier, my dear, or I wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of presenting myself to him this morning"

Both Ai and Shu Chong gave a scream of joy, and started dancing in circles. Juri laughed, Ruki kept concentrated in her deck, and Alice had had her head in a book during the entire conversation, and didn't bother to glance now either.

The next day was spent with the girls preparing for the tournament, each of then in their own manner. Ai and Shu Chong were choosing the best outfits they had to attract any young tamer that may show up their way. This was somewhat wise of then, since neither had much talent in digimon battle. Their digimon partners, Lopmon and Impmon, were out somewhere, since their tamers were involved in business that was not really of their interest. Alice had spent the day practicing at the piano, with her faithful partner, Dobermon, by her side. It was common to have music accompany the digimon card battles, and since she was not really fond of the actual game, she took some pleasure in staying at the piano for the whole tournament was she allowed. Juri was busy with Leomon, she was both dressing up and going over her deck. She had never really got the grip of the game, but she knew that it played an important role in their society, so she would battle hard, nonetheless. Ruki was out with Renamon, as usual. She wanted some real practice, so she would battle the evil digimon that were trying to take over that area. At times like those, it was not wise to stay out of the house for long periods of time, since it was very dangerous. Not for Ruki though. She was the best tamer around and she knew it. Her neighborhood would be in worst shape then it was, if it wasn't for her staying out habits. Although most classy people would be content with card games, and leave the real fight to the military, it wasn't like that to Ruki. She knew this was insensible of her, but she enjoyed fighting evil digimon. And she also enjoyed making Renamon stronger. This was her virtue, and she felt that this was her way of living to her potential.

Not long before the actual tournament, Ruki went back to the house. Her mother was freaking out when she arrived.

"What you're thinking, Ruki, how are you going to attract any young men, specially a tamer, looking like that! Muddy gray dress and messy hair! Go dress up, NOW!"

Ruki was in no mood for discussing with her mother, so she headed for the room she shared with Juri and got herself cleaned. She put on a plain dark blue dress and made a bun with her hair. She also made sure that her deck was safe in her pocket. It was only a public tournament after all; no one was expecting her to look her best. She probably wouldn't even have to play her best, for, outside the new mysterious tamer, she had fought everyone in the county before. In fact, she didn't actually felt that this new tamer would be a treat to her. She had not fought many people in her life time, but she knew she was good nonetheless.

Soon they were all squeezed into the family carriage, the entire family plus their digimon, outside from Leomon and Renamon, who would just follow then from outside. They entered a big room, with many game tables for two, where people talked loudly. The games had not already began. Ruki's mother and two youngest sisters were now scanning the room looking for young people of opposite sex. Alice had made her way to the piano. Her father was catching up with some fellow gentlemen. Ruki and Juri headed for some benches on one side of the room. Ruki hated how this gathering usually began, since her single purpose there was to play in the card game. Ruki had been talking to an excited but calm Juri for the past few minutes, when suddenly Alice's poor piano playing was interrupted. Although the crowd was relieved, Ruki knew there was something behind it. She knew it, because dragging Alice out of the piano whenever she was focused on it was one of the hardest things to be done. And that came from the young lady who had fought some wicked digimon, so she knew what she was talking about. Her mother and sisters have felt something was going on as well, and were soon close to Ruki and Juri's place. The digimon were outside guarding the gates. They could come in if they wanted to, but a good thing about being a digimon is that you did not have many social engagements, so they preferred staying outside anyways. Soon enough, Ruki's close friend and their neighbor, Charlotte, joined them. Since apparently nothing of matter was to happen, they started talking. Juri and Charlotte were observing men, which was kind of making Ruki uneasy.

"You know, they're not all bad" – said Juri with a smile.

" What you mean? They are very likely to have no talent or sense of humor, that is" – Ruki smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Ruki-chan, one of these days someone will catch your eye and than you'll have to watch your tongue" – replied Juri.

Ruki would have given an unpolite answer, was she not talking to her favorite sister and to a close friend. She was about to give them a witty answer nonetheless, but than something caught her eye. Charlotte pointed who were the two gentlemen and the young good looking lady that had entered the room. One of them was, of course, Mr. Takato Matsuda. He had light brown hair and a happy smile while he entered the room. The lady was his sister, Charlotte said, named Caroline. And there was this taller weird looking (good looking, but Ruki would not even admit this much to herself) man, who had a mix of gray and brown hair, that some how managed to stay up, challenging gravity. He was one named Mr. Ryo Akiyama, a friend of Mr. Takato Matsuda, as Charlotte said.

"He looks arrogant and untalented" – Ruki pointed out. She didn't know why she felt that way, but she did.

"I don't know if he is arrogant, but untalented he must certainly is not. He has won many digimon card battles, and also real battles. He is actually called a "Legendary Tamer" by some." – explained Charlotte.

Charlotte was careful when passing this information, she knew Ruki well enough to know that was this said any differently, Ruki was likely to be mad, upset, or have another unpredictable reaction. However, the calm and happy Juri was not so careful.

"Can you imagine if you were to battle him, Ruki-chan? You are known as the Digimon Queen around here, and since he apparently also has a title, you guys to battle would be an act of royalty really!"

Ruki was having a hard time not to yell at Juri, and Charlotte could see it. Ruki was very unease when it came to people challenging her digimon skills. But Juri was actually saved by the bell. The bell that announced the real tournament. The games had began.

Ruki was soon engaged in digimon battle. There was much talk in the room, since everyone was forming opinion about the new party. For a while, Mr. Akiyama was the main topic of discussion, being so tall and having handsome features, and also being a legendary tamer. He was soon acknowledged as a better catch than Mr. Matsuda himself. But these opinions soon changed. Takato was a lively gentlemen with unaffected manner, and would play digimon battle at every round. His friend, on the other hand, refused to play with anyone and would only talk to people of his own party. He was soon recognized as proud, disagreeable, and unwanted. It was a tradition on this tournament for battles only to be formed by tamers of opposite sex. But since there were fewer gentlemen in the room, Ruki was forced to sit down for two rounds, and since Mr. Akiyama was standing somewhat near her, she overheard a conversation between him as his friend.

"Come on, Ryo, I must have you battle. Don't just stand there, you better come and join!"

"I shall not. I don't battle unless I'm acquainted with my partner, and would take no joy in battling anyone here!"

"Oh, don't act like that. There are many pleasant and beautiful girls here!"

"You're battling with the only handsome girl in the room" – he was referring to Juri, who had been Takato's battle partner in the last round.

"Yes, she certainly is beautiful" – he smiled – But one of her sisters is sitting right behind you, and she looks quite agreeable too, I may ask my partner to introduce you!"

Ryo looked behind him for a second and the turned to his friend.

" She's tolerable, not handsome enough to tempt me. And I don't feel like giving attention to girls who are not wanted in any battles. Just return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, you're wasting your time with me."

After hearing this, Ruki had no cordial feeling towards Ryo. However, the story was told with spirit among her friends, since she take a good laugh out of it.

Juri had battled with Takato twice, and she seemed to have enjoyed it very much, despite losing. Then Ruki was asked to battle him, and she had won of course. But not without noticing how Takato's and Juri's personality were a perfect match. Takato congratulated her on her victory, and was actually quite impressed. She thought he was a decent tamer, but no challenge to her.

Everyone left the tournament satisfied with themselves. Juri and her mother were happy because of the whole Takato situation. Ruki was happy for her sister, and good humored from the battles. Alice had actually received a compliment on her music. Ai and Shu Chong had had partners for every battle, and that was all they cared about. However, the family was somewhat upset with the offense Ruki had taken. But they all assured her she was lucky for not receiving the attention of such an insufferable man.