Hi everyone. I'm back for a one shot Christmas fic! Yay! Kaede has gone skiing so she won't bother me while I'm writing this. Anyway, here you go hope you enjoy it…
Christmas SurprisesTaking hold of the reigns, Rika looked up to where Kyubimon was strapped up and ready to go. Ryo was holding on to the railings of the sleigh, his eyes glowing with excitement as he sat beside her. It had taken a bit of coaxing but he had eventually gotten both Rika and Kyubimon to agree to this.
"Are you sure you're okay with this, Kyubimon?" Rika asked. Kyubimon simply nodded and got herself ready. Ryo grinned and took the reigns from Rika.
"Well then, mush!" He flicked the reigns lightly and Kyubimon rolled her eyes.
"Don't push your luck, Ryo," she said before taking off in a wild burst of speed. Rika laughed and grabbed the rails while Ryo gave a whoop of joy and called for Kyubimon to go faster. Snow was drifting gently from the sky as they sped through the park, laughing with mirth and yelling out whenever Kyubimon made an especially sharp turn. They whizzed past the other Tamers who where building a rather large snowman, spraying them with snow as they went. They all stopped to see the sleigh go flying past and laughed before running after it.
"Hold on tight!" Kyubimon called just as she took such a sharp turn that the sleigh tipped and sent both Rika and Ryo flying. They hit the floor and skid across it, landing heavily in a pile of snow under a tree. Just when Rika managed to get her head out of the snow a small avalanche fell from the leaves on the tree and buried her again. Ryo's head burst out of the snow and he pulled Rika out. The Tamers came running up to them looking worried but Rika and Ryo looked at each other and then suddenly burst out laughing.
"That was the most fun I've ever had on a sleigh!" Ryo laughed. Rika stood up and dusted herself off, grinning down at him.
"Remind me never to let you drive again." The Tamers all burst out laughing and soon Kyubimon was being begged to take the rest of them on a ride too. Rika sat down on a bench with Jeri while Ryo, Takato and Henry had a heated snowball fight nearby.
"Hey guys!" Rika called after a while of watching them. The boys walked over, each soaking wet from being hit by snowballs and their faces flushed from the running.
"What's up, Wildcat?" Ryo asked, plopping himself down next to her.
"My mother asked me to invite you guys and you're families over for this stupid Christmas party she's throwing," she replied, giving him a scathing look for calling her 'Wildcat'. Not that she minded of course.
"Oh! That sounds great!" Jeri said excitedly.
"Yeah, I'm sure my parents won't have a problem with it," Henry agreed.
"Me neither," Takato smiled. Ryo slung his arm playfully over Rika's shoulder and grinned at her.
"If you're there then so am I, Pumpkin." She rolled her eyes at him but smiled despite her self.
"Great, I'll let her know. Takato, will you tell Beavis and Butthead over there?" She asked, jerking her thumb at Kazu and Kenta, who were attempting to get the attention of two very pretty girls by the lake.
"Sure," he said grinning broadly. "I'll go tell them now to save them from embarrassing themselves." He walked off and they all watched as he left.
"Well, that only leaves Alice then," Rika said. "I'll call her and ask tonight." Jeri smiled and waited for Takato to come back before she turned to the others.
"It's getting late, I should go now," she said, taking Takato's hand. They walked away, calling quick goodbyes before disappearing. When they were gone, Ryo turned to look at Rika, who was watching Ai and Mako play with Impmon in the snow.
"Hey," he said to get her attention. She looked at him and he smiled. "Let's go get some hot chocolate. My treat…" He gave her a mock pleading look and she rolled her eyes.
"Sure, whatever, Akiyama." They stood and walked out of the park, stopping briefly to collect Renamon (who had de-digivolved after she had given everyone a sleigh ride) and Monodramon. They walked down the street, stopping every once in a while to look at the decorations in shop windows. The entire city was full of Christmas spirit and joy and people were having fun all around them. As they walked Ryo glanced at Rika, who had a small smile on her face and he smiled too. Things had changed between them for the better after they had beaten the D-Reaper. That had been almost three years ago. Now, at seventeen, Ryo was becoming closer to Rika by the day. She was a year younger than he was but far more mature at times and, he had to admit, she was becoming a better fighter as well. There had been many occasions were there duels in the Digimon card game had ended in a tie and a few were she had actually won. Rika was his best (human) friend and so much more.
They ordered their hot chocolates 'to go' and walked back to the park, sipping them and chatting together. Rika laughed when Renamon attempted to drink hers through a straw and failed miserably.
"Just drink it normally, Renamon," she grinned, tossing the straw into a trashcan. Ryo laughed too and shook his head. They walked quietly through the park until darkness fell over the city and it started to snow again.
"I should get home," Rika said, looking up at the darkening sky. "See you at the party, Akiyama." Ryo waved at her and Renamon as they walked home before turning home himself. Yes, the party…the perfect place to tell her. That is, if he could pluck up enough courage to do it.
Ryo waited patiently in front of the Nonaka residence door while his father rang the bell. It only took a few seconds before Jeri came to let them in.
"Rumiko is in the kitchen," she said after greeting them cheerfully. It was Christmas Eve and she was dressed quite appropriately in a dark green dress with red ribbons in her hair. She bowed respectfully to Ryo's father before rushing off again. Ryo followed his father to the kitchen where they saw Rumiko and Seiko finishing off the dinner.
"Oh, hello!" Rumiko said happily when she saw them. "I'm so glad you could come." She walked over and smiled at them, tucking a dishtowel into her apron. Ryo couldn't help but grin at the image of Rika's super model mother in an apron with flour on her cheek. Her hair was a pulled back into a messy bun and strands of it had fallen into her face but she seemed quite unfazed by this.
"Do you need any help, Rumiko?" Ryo's dad asked. She smiled at him thankfully as she dusted her hands off on her apron.
"No, that's alright. The kids are helping out. Why don't you go sit with everyone else? I think they're all in the yard outside. Someone started a fire out there so it's quite warm." She showed him the way to the back door before turning to Ryo, who was holding a rather large pile a presents in his arms and watching his mother put on an apron. She had flat out refused to be excluded from the cooking.
"You can put those in the living room, Dear," she said kindly. "And then would you mind helping Rika with the tree? It's quite big and I'm sure she'd appreciate the help." Ryo smiled at her and nodded.
"Sure thing, Mrs. Nonaka." He walked out of the kitchen and into the living room of Rika's traditional Japanese home. On his way there he heard a very familiar laugh coming from inside followed by a cute growl of frustration.
"Sit still, Guilmon!" Said Rika's voice. Raising an eyebrow at this, Ryo crept up to the room and poked his head around the door. What he saw made him snort with laughter, biting his lip to stop from laughing out loud. Guilmon had somehow managed to get himself completely tangled in the Christmas lights and Rika was attempting to get him loose. But the more she tried to untangle him, the more he would struggle and as a result he was getting her tangled up too. After a while it got so bad that neither of them could move and Rika lost her balance, toppling over onto Guilmon who let out a defeated whimper while Rika just laughed. It was then that Ryo could no longer control himself and he burst out laughing. Both Rika and Guilmon looked over to him as he walked in and deposited his gifts on the table with the rest of them before walking over to them.
"Well?" Rika asked grinning as she stood. "Are you going to help us or not?" Ryo just grinned and plugged the lights into the wall. The lights that were wrapped around Rika and Guilmon flared into life, flashing merrily in green, red, yellow and blue. Rika glared at him and put her hands on her hips, but a smile was tugging at her lips anyway. It was all just too funny to be angry. To make matters worse, Ryo pulled his camera out of his jacket pocket and snapped a good few shots of the scene before Rika could turn away. Still laughing, he unplugged the lights and helped her untangle herself.
"Gee, thanks," she said sarcastically.
"No problem, Pumpkin," he replied nonchalantly, bending over to untie Guilmon so that he could hide his grin from her. By the time they had gotten the decorations up (Jeri and Takato had come to help out too) and Ryo had helped Rika down from the ladder they had used to put the star on the top of the tree, the food was ready. Rumiko ushered all the Tamers and their parents into the dining room and they sat down to what promised to be a very sumptuous dinner. Rumiko and Seiko had gone all out and the table was actually groaning under the wait of the food piled upon it.
"Well, dig in everyone," Rumiko said happily.
"Amen to that!" Kazu said eagerly.
"Yeah. Let's eat!" Terriermon and Guilmon chorused. Ryo sat and watched everyone at the table while he ate. Terriermon and Calumon were arguing about a rather large piece of turkey until Jeri jumped in and cut them each an equal half of it. Kazu, Kenta and Takato were discussing the Digimon card game with Henry while they tried to keep Guilmon from stealing their dinners. To his left, Rika was chatting with Alice about something and to his right his father was talking quite animatedly with his mother and Rumiko. It seemed that Kazu, Kenta and Takato's parents were just as close friends as their children were. They were all talking happily together, occasionally trying to get Jeri's father to join them. Alice's grandfather was having a heated debate with Jyanyu Wong (Henry's father) about some complex equations that they had and should have used in the Digimon creation programs. Despite their different views both men seemed to be enjoying themselves. Ryo caught Renamon's eye and he smiled at her. She was, as usual, sitting a little way away from the others at her own little table. She had once told Ryo that she found it disrespectful for her to sit at the table, despite what Rumiko said about it. She bowed her head in response to his smile and went back to her food. Ryo turned his gaze to Monodramon, who was sitting at another smaller table to Renamon's right. This had been Ryo's idea. Monodramon tended to become a little hyperactive when he was sitting in a crowd…and that was putting it mildly.
The entire dinner progressed smoothly, with lively chatter and constant compliments about the food. Rumiko was beaming delightedly when she brought out the desert and with Seiko and Ryo's mother's help they served everyone a large helping of the Christmas pudding they had made from scratch. It was very sweet and very rich, but at the same time, very delicious. Ryo was just tucking into his second (and smaller) helping when he glanced around the table again and found Rika doing the same. They caught each other's eyes and to Ryo's amazement, Rika actually gave him a lazy smile. He had never seen her so relaxed before and he wondered idly if she had eaten too much. Not likely…it was Rika after all. She had more self-control than anyone else he knew.
"You've been quite all dinner, Akiyama. Something eating you or is it something you ate?" He grinned at this comment and shrugged.
"I guess I just like to listen at dinner." She raised an eyebrow at this and smirked.
"Well, that's a big change since you usually never stop talking."
"This coming from you? My Lady Tongue?" (Name from Much 'Ado about Nothing given to Beatrice, the queen of slander) Just emphasize his point, Rika stuck her to tongue out at him and they laughed. After dinner the group spent several minutes pulling brightly coloured crackers that burst with loud bangs around the table. Several people were laughing at the corny jokes they'd found in theirs and almost everyone had adored paper crowns as brightly coloured as the crackers themselves. Still laughing merrily, Rumiko stood and invited them all to go to the living room to dance until midnight, which was still a few hours away.
Ryo followed the crowd of people and admired the Christmas tree he had helped to decorate. The star on top was twinkling merrily in the light of the Christmas lights and it was flashing in the different colours. Looking around the room again Ryo listened to the music Kazu had just put on. He had become their unofficial DJ for the night and Ryo had to admit that the music he was choosing wasn't that bad. He'd started off with something that had a good beat to dance to and within seconds everyone was having fun. Even the Digimon had joined in. The only person not dancing wasn't even in the room. Ryo looked around again, making sure to scan every face before he went out to look for Rika. He found her standing out in the back yard, staring idly at the small, frozen pond in the center of the lawn. The reeds that had been growing there were dead and the little bridge she was standing on had snow building up at each railing-post. Smiling to himself Ryo walked out to her and stepped quietly onto the bridge beside her.
"See anything worth catching in there?" He asked. Rika rolled her eyes and looked up at him.
"Yeah, your brain." He grinned and shrugged.
"I guess I was asking for that one. So what are you doing out here all alone?" This time it was her turn to shrug.
"Not much of a dancer," she replied simply and Ryo scoffed.
"I don't believe that. I'm sure you can do anything you set your mind to." Rika actually laughed at this and shook her head.
"No you idiot. I can dance just fine. I just don't enjoy it. I'm not exactly the most social person in the world, in case you haven't noticed. I just don't like crowds." She looked back down at the pond before turning her gaze up to the sky. Snow had started falling again and a light breeze nipped at their arms, making them pull their jackets tighter to them.
"Well," Ryo said, a cheeky grin spreading across his face. "You can hear the music just fine here. You wanna dance, Wildcat?" She glanced at him before grinning.
"Thanks, but I'll pass." He gave her a look of mock hurt and pouted.
"Ah, please, Pumpkin. You can call it my Christmas gift." She laughed and shook her head.
"No, Akiyama. Besides, I already got you a gift anyway. You don't get two." She folded her arms and her tone clearly said that although she was enjoying their playful teasing, the subject was over. He sighed dramatically and dropped his shoulders, giving her a kicked-puppy look.
"All right," he sighed before perking up. "Well, if you won't dance with me will you do something else?" She gave him a sidelong, suspicious look.
"I suppose…it depends on what it is."
"Uh-uh. You have to promise first," he sang out. She rolled her eyes at him and looked back up at the sky.
"I'm not that stupid, Ryo. I don't sign myself into anything I'll regret later."
"But you won't regret it…at least I don't think so." He put on a look of deep concentration, as if wondering what her reaction would be before he smiled. "Nope, you won't regret it."
"Hmmm…" She took a step back and sat on the railing behind her, holding onto it at her sides. "Is that so? And since when have you become such an expert on me?" He shrugged and flashed her his trademark grin.
"I dunno. So will you do me this tiny, little favour?" He looked at her pleadingly and she smiled.
"Fine. But if you do anything stupid, I have your full permission to beat the shit out of you without any resistance?"
"Sure." He reached out his hand and they shook on it to close the deal. But instead of letting go of her, he pulled her off the railing and towards him.
"Akiyama," she said warningly. "I believe this classifies as stupid." He laughed quietly and shook his head.
"Not yet it doesn't. Besides, you promised so you can't do anything about it until I'm done. You're free to 'beat the shit out of me' if you still want to after I'm finished." She looked up at him apprehensively when he let go of her hand and slipped his arms around her, pulling her right up against him. Her breathing was becoming heavy and her heart was pounding slightly so she frowned.
"Let me go," she said evenly but he shook his head.
"Nope. I'm not done yet." He lowered his face to hers until the little puffs of steam they were exhaling meshed together.
"Ryo…don't." He ignored her and pressed his lips to hers. Her entire body tensed and he felt her hands ball into fists at her sides. This wasn't the reaction he had been hoping for. When he finally pulled away from her, her eyes were wide with shock and she was still as stiff as a board. He leaned back against the railings, pulling her with him since his arms were still wrapped around her.
"You can punch me now if you like. I won't move," he whispered, disappointment evident in his voice. She blinked up at him for a second, still leaning into him and shook her head as if to clear it. For a second he simply stared at the top of her head while she looked down at his chest. Her eyes were half closed and she was still breathing a little heavy. After a while she looked up at him again and he braced himself for the onslaught of yelling. Taking a deep breath to prepare him self, Ryo shut his eyes and set his jaw. But there was no yelling, no fist to hit him with. His eyes flew open when he felt Rika press her lips to his, lifting her arms to his neck instead of using them to break his nose like he had expected. He was frozen for half a second before he smiled into her lips, his eyes closing of there own accord and he pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. It lasted all of ten seconds or so before she abruptly pulled away from him, turning away and leaning into the railing opposite him. She was breathing heavily again and her eyes were shut tight as if she couldn't believe what she had just done.
"Rika…" But she cut him off by turning to look at him. To his relief there was a small smile spread across her lips and she looked embarrassed rather than angry.
"I just…you…did we really…" she sighed in frustration and Ryo grinned. She looked nervous and he had never seen her look nervous before. She was chewing her lower lip and bouncing on the balls of her heels, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. It was cute to say the least.
"I think we did," he replied to her unasked question. She flushed slightly – another thing he had never seen her do – and glanced towards the house were everyone was still dancing. No one had seen them and she relaxed at this.
"What does this mean?" She asked, her eyes a little wider than usual, making her look almost doe-fully innocent. Ha, fat chance. Rika? An innocent and helpless doe? That was a laugh. Not his Wildcat.
"What do you think it means, Pumpkin?" He asked casually, stepping closer to her and pulling her back into his arms on the pretext of warming her up. She seemed more than warm enough though.
"This…this changes everything, Ryo." For once she had said his name without any underlying sarcasm. He smiled at this. His much-hated name sounded good coming from her.
"Not everything. If you change in anyway because of this then you can consider this relationship over already. I like my Wildcat just the way she is thanks." She grinned at this and rolled her eyes, feeling a little more at ease with him now. She folded her arms and leaned back a little so she could look him directly in the eye.
"Don't flatter yourself, Akiyama. I'm not about to start wearing skirts and dresses just for you." He rested his forehead against hers and smiled.
"Good, coz I'd hate to have to leave you for that." She cocked an eyebrow at him and her grin grew into a smirk.
"Is that so? And who says you have the right to leave what you don't even have? I never said I agreed to this relationship, Ryo."
"That's true, but you never said you didn't either." He ran his fingers along her cheek and touched his lips to hers again. "And I have a funny feeling you won't."
"For once in your life you're actually right." She smiled and pulled away from him. "C'mon, I'm getting cold out here." It was a lie, but he didn't mind. He knew she didn't want everyone getting worried and coming to look for them, especially after what had just happened.
When they walked back inside Rika was immediately pulled away from Ryo by Jeri and Alice, who both insisted she go dance with them. Ryo went to take over for Kazu so he could have a break and dance for a bit. He made sure to keep the music at a fast beat, wanting to save the slower, more relaxed stuff for later. When, at last, midnight was drawing close and Ryo had finally managed to persuade Rika to dance with him (in a friendly way of course so as not to draw any attention to them) they all moved over to the Christmas tree and sat around it, sipping eggnog and chatting happily. Rika was sitting nestled in between Ryo and Renamon and she seemed quite happy to be there, much to Ryo's delight. She was talking with Jeri, Alice and Renamon about their upcoming camping trip to the Digital World and they all seemed very excited about it. Ryo, who had been looking forward to it too, grinned at the thought of all the chances he would get to pull Rika off with him…alone…in the Digital World. Taking another sip of his eggnog to hide his smirk, Ryo glanced over at Takato and Jeri, who were curled up on a one seater together, much to Jeri's father's annoyance it seemed. He kept shooting them angry looks, but held his tongue anyway. Ryo had to wonder why he seemed so uneasy with his daughter curled up with the guy who had risked his neck to save her. Not to mention they were both sixteen. Ryo smiled at the thought of being able to snuggle with Rika like that before he mentally slapped himself. The odds of her letting him do that with her in any form of company was slim to nothing. Just as he was thinking this he felt her shift a little closer to him with the excuse of getting comfortable and Ryo gave an inward whoop of joy. Maybe his chances were better than he thought… The grandfather clock in the corner of the room gave a loud 'dong' and everyone fell silent. Eleven dongs later everyone was wishing each other a Merry Christmas and several of the adults were hugging and laughing about it.
After a few minutes they were all settled around the tree again and presents were being passed around. When Ryo handed Rika her gift, she glanced up at him hesitantly before opening it. It was to big to be jewelry (thank god) and she knew he wouldn't get her something stupid like make up. What she pulled out of the wrapping was a light, Gabumon-Blue jacket with darker blue lining and a white zipper. He had obviously had this specially made for her because "Digimon Queen" was printed across the back in dark blue. There was also a card in the front pocket. She pulled this out and looked at him in shock. A smirk spread across her face and she was thankful that everyone else in the room was too absorbed in opening their own gifts to notice.
"Your Goliath card, Akiyama? I thought this was only for 'the most experienced Tamers'." He smiled at her and shrugged.
"After what you did outside…I'd say you can handle it." He winked at her and she laughed.
"Don't push it, Akiyama, or you won't be getting any repeats of that little show you had out there." He looked at her in mock fear and held up his hand as if he were making a vow. Then, using his free hand he zipped his mouth shut, locked it and swallowed the key.
"Amazing you can lock your mouth and still manage to swallow the key…" she said sarcastically and he laughed.
"Anything's possible at Christmas, Love."
Well, there you are. Hope you enjoyed it. Not much of an ending but I never was good at these one shot fics. Oh well, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!