(A/N: I know this isn't particularly good and some people are probably OOC. Also, this is set before the Devas start appearing, and is also AU. The sign language is based on Irish Sign Language, though I don't think I've described it clearly enough anywhere for that to be clear.)

Prologue

Rika sat at school, ignoring nearly everything her teacher was saying. Not only was the lesson not remotely interesting, but today she had something more interesting to look at. Not just today, in fact, but for the past two weeks. Two weeks ago, a new girl had joined their class, and she somehow had more of an aloof and mysterious air about her than Rika managed to have herself. And Rika had spent years building up her "ice queen" reputation, only talking to those she deemed worthy of her time, which was barely anyone. And yet this girl- whose name she couldn't remember- had managed to outdo her in terms of coldness in just two weeks?

She stared at the girl. Unlike Rika, this girl didn't exude any kind of aura of coolness (though the school uniform dampened it on anyone), and looked pretty much just like the rest of the girls in the class, except that her hair was short and a bit uneven, but not in a way that suggested it was a fashion statement or in any way on purpose. It looked a bit like she used to have longer hair but it got ran over with a lawn mower.

Of course, Rika knew why this girl had such a cold reputation. It was because she didn't speak to anyone. She just looked at anyone who tried to speak to her, and occasionally smiled or made some gestures. After a few days, pretty much everyone in the class just gave up on trying to speak to her at all.

The bell rang for lunch, and as usual, everyone went outside except for Rika and the new girl.

"Hey," Rika called over, "What's your name?"

The girl said nothing, but made some gestures with her hand.

Rika stared blankly, "What?"

The girl laughed. That was the most of her voice that Rika- or anyone- ever heard, and it was pretty rare. She gestured again, then got up and went over to the chalkboard. She wrote, "My name is Naomi. What's your name?" and drew a smiley face.

"My name's Rika. Are you deaf, or mute, or what?"

Naomi rubbed the writing off the board and wrote, "No, sort of, and yes."

"Not deaf, sort of mute, and yes what?"

Naomi laughed and nodded. She cleared the board and wrote again, "I'm not deaf. I'm mute sometimes. I have autism. I can't speak when I'm anxious."

"Oh, I see," Rika said. Suddenly, the whole "ice queen" reputation that Naomi had seemed to also have just disappeared. She wasn't actually cold or aloof at all; she just couldn't speak. Somehow, that seemed anticlimactic, and it made Rika much less curious about her. But unfortunately, she'd started talking to her now, and she didn't really have any excuse to just leave the room or anything.

Naomi wrote, "What about you? Why don't you talk to people?"

Rika shrugged, "I just don't like them. Especially the girls in this school; they're all so pretentious, and cruel when they feel like it. They like accusing me of being a lesbian because I'm good at digimon cards."

Naomi laughed and gestured something, then wrote on the board, "Really? That's stupid. They call me a lesbian 'cause I have short hair. But at least with me they're right." she drew a smiley face.

Rika wasn't sure how to respond to that, "Oh. Well, they're all idiots, so they probably don't actually know that."

Naomi grinned and nodded, then cleared the board and wrote, "You should learn sign language so I can sign to you. Even just learn the alphabet, and then I can spell things out."

So that's what her gestures were. "Does anyone here know sign language?" Rika asked.

Naomi shook her head.

"What, the teachers just- Yeah, okay, that's not surprising."

"They don't seem to know sign language interpreters exist, and I don't really care," Naomi wrote.

Rika considered it. Of course the teachers just didn't care enough to get some kind of assistant. They could well afford one, but they never seemed to bother with anything the students could benefit from.

"Hmm," Rika said, "Can I give you a suggestion? And I'll learn the alphabet if you do it."

Naomi looked confused but nodded slowly.

"You should dye your hair. It would look really cool."

She grinned and nodded, then signed something, but Rika didn't know what.

The bell rang then, signaling the end of lunch, and Naomi quickly cleared the writing off the chalkboard, and the two girls sat back down again.

When school ended, Rika grabbed Naomi before she could leave. Naomi froze and looked confused.

"Sorry," Rika said, "What's your phone number? I have the numbers of half the girls in this class and I don't even talk to them, so I might as well have yours."

Naomi smiled and nodded, then signed something, seeming to say, "Give me your phone and I'll give you mine".

"Oh, yeah, sure," Rika said, and the two of them each put their numbers into the other's phone.

"Okay," Rika said, "I'll see you around."

Naomi signed, "Wait."

"What?"

She then signed something, but Rika had no idea what.

"...I have no idea what you're saying."

Naomi sighed, then did it again, but slower.

"Oh, is that the alphabet?"

Naomi nodded.

"I'm not going to be able to pick it up just from watching you do it once," Rika said, "Oh, how do you spell my name? It's R-I-K-A."

Naomi spelled that out, and Rika copied her.

"Is that right?"

Naomi nodded.

"Cool, thank you. At least I know something, now. I'll learn the rest later, okay?"

Naomi nodded, then made a heart shape with her hands.

Rika wasn't sure how to respond to that, "Okay, bye."

Chapter 1

When Rika got home, after changing out of her uniform, she looked up the sign language alphabet and practiced the letters.

Renamon appeared next to her, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Rika said, "What does it look like?"

"...I'm not sure what it looks like."

"Exactly."

Suddenly, Renamon's ears twitched and she stiffened, "I sense a digimon."

Rika immediately stopped what she was doing, "Well, then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Renamon phased out of sight, to run towards the digimon.

Rika ran in the same direction.

When Rika got to the digital field, the digimon still hadn't emerged from the fog. Henry and Terriermon were there, but there was no sign of Takato and Guilmon yet.

Rika sighed, "Where's Gogglehead? Why does he always have to be late? Does he even take this seriously?"

Henry looked around, "He might've gotten lost. We're in an unfamiliar area."

"All he has to do is follow the arrows on his digivice. It's not hard. I don't know where we are, either."

The fog started to fade, but Rika still couldn't tell what digimon it was.

"What is that?" she asked.

"I don't know," Henry said, holding up his digivice to try to get a signal.

Rika did the same.

"It's strong, I can sense it," Renamon said.

Impmon appeared then, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Hey, why do all of you always get to fight every digimon that appears? I don't even get a chance to show how strong I am! That ain't fair!" he said.

"Trust me, we know exactly how strong you are," Renamon said dryly.

Terriermon giggled, "Yeah, how strong you aren't."

Henry gently dug his fist into Terriermon's head, "Don't say that, it's not nice."

Finally, the fog faded completely, revealing the digimon.

Henry and Rika's digivices both displayed the information at the same time, "Kurisarimon, champion level, virus type. Attack: Data Crusher."

At that moment, Takato and Guilmon showed up, Takato out of breath, "Hey, sorry we're late," he panted, "We got lost."

"See, I told you," Henry said.

Impmon flung a fireball at the digimon, "Bada boom!"

Kurisarimon was unaffected, and threw a spiked tentacle out in Impmon's direction, who jumped back.

"Ha! Is that all you got?" Impmon taunted.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Renamon asked.

"Of course it is!" Impmon yelled, "I'm stronger than all of you! How could you even ask that? Bada boom!"

He threw another fireball in Kurisarimon's direction, who remained unimpressed.

"Data crusher!" Kurisarimon launched a blast of electricity at Impmon, who screamed as he was thrown backwards, landing somewhere far off in the distance.

"And now it's our turn!" Terriermon said, jumping off Henry's shoulder, "Right?"

"Yep!" Henry said, swiping a card, "Digivolution activate!"

Terriermon digivolved into Gargomon, and started firing at Kurisarimon.

Takato looked around, "Hey, where are we, exactly? It looks like an estate, or something. I hope nobody comes out of the houses and notices what's going on."

Rika looked around too. It did look like an estate, but one in pretty bad condition. This must have been "the bad part of town" that her mother sometimes mentioned. Obviously wild digimon didn't discriminate in where they appeared, though. Either way, the people here needed protecting just as much as the people in a wealthier part of the city would.

That was irrelevant, anyway. She and Renamon were there to fight, and win. She turned back to focus on the battle. Kurisarimon really seemed unaffected by Gargomon's attacks.

"Digivolution activate!" she said, as she swiped a card.

Renamon digivolved into Kyuubimon, and joined Gargomon in attacking Kurisarimon. "Foxtail inferno!"

This attack seemed to have a bit more effect.

"Digivolution activate!" Takato said, and Guilmon digivolved into Growlmon.

Just then, the door of one of the houses opened.

"Oh, damn it," Takato said, "That's just what I didn't want to happen. I hope they don't call the police or something."

"I'm pretty sure they wouldn't believe them," Rika said, and looked over at the door of the house.

She felt like her breath had been pulled out of her.

"What's wrong?" Takato asked.

The person who had come out of the door of the house, and who was now wandering towards the battle, was Naomi.

Rika just stared. She didn't want anyone in her class knowing her secret, and she was also concerned for Naomi's safety. Someone without a digimon partner could easily be killed if they just wandered around the battlefield, which was precisely what Naomi was doing.

"Pretty," Naomi whispered in awe.

"No," Rika said, "It's dangerous! Stay away!"

Naomi just smiled.

Rika realised that Naomi had spoken just there. Did that mean she wasn't anxious right now? She was faced with a potentially life-or-death situation and it apparently didn't scare her?

Kurisarimon growled, and launched a few tentacles out at random. Rika dodged one, and so did Naomi.

"Pyro blaster!"

Growlmon launched a fireball at Kurisarimon.

"I want it," Naomi said, staring at the digimon.

"What?" Rika said.

"Digivolution activate!" she said, and laughed.

Rika wasn't sure if Naomi was trying to communicate, or was just repeating things for fun.

"It doesn't do anything when you say it," Rika said, "You need a digimon partner."

Naomi made a heart with her hands then signed it breaking, but smiled.

Rika laughed, and turned back to the battle.

Somehow, Kurisarimon seemed mostly undamaged by all the attacks.

"Maybe if we attack all together?" Henry said.

But before they could do that, Kurisarimon reached a tentacle out and wrapped it around Gargomon, and electrocuted him. Gargomon screamed, and tried to get his arms free to shoot, but couldn't.

"Dragon wheel!" Kyuubimon launched herself, covered in blue flames, at Kurisarimon to try and make him drop Gargomon. However, it had no effect, and he just reached out a tentacle and wrapped it around Kyuubimon and electrocuted her, too.

Kyuubimon screamed, and Rika frantically flicked through her modify cards to try and find a suitable one.

Naomi covered her ears and screamed, "Unforgivable!" She then ran back into her house.

Growlmon growled and hit Kurisarimon with his claw, but found that if he went near the electrified tentacles, they just shocked him, too.

"What do we do?" Takato asked frantically.

"Why are you freaking out? It's not your partner who's wrapped in an electrified tentacle!" Rika snapped.

"S-Sorry."

Naomi came back out of her house, holding a knife.

"Uh," Henry said, "That'll just get you electrocuted too."

Naomi shook her head, and ran over to between Rika and Takato. She then threw the knife at the tentacle that was holding Kyuubimon. The knife spun as it flew over, and broke through the tentacle with a crackle of electricity.

"Oh. That was clever," Takato said.

Naomi ran over to pick up the knife, but Kurisarimon beat her to it, and flung the knife at her before she could move away. It sliced through her shoulder, and cut the strap of her dress. The white t-shirt she was wearing beneath her dress immediately got soaked in blood, and she screamed and fell to her knees, shaking.

She picked up the blood-covered knife from the ground beside her, and threw it as hard as she could at the tentacle holding Gargomon. Gargomon was released too, but Kurisarimon picked up the knife and threw it at Naomi again. It cut the side of her face this time as it spun past her, and she screamed again.

Rika felt the blood drain from her face. She didn't care about most people in her class- or in general- and now the one person she was starting to warm up to was possibly going to die? She dropped all her cards in shock, except for the one she was currently holding.

This was the exact opposite of what was supposed to happen. Instead of them defeating the digimon, the digimon remained unharmed by all their attacks, and Naomi had gotten hurt saving them. Naomi wasn't even a tamer! She had nothing to do with this, and no reason to get hurt!

Naomi lay down on the ground. She touched the side of her face that had been cut, and flinched, then started crying.

Rika couldn't breathe. This was so wrong.

The card she was holding started to glow, and Takato and Henry turned to stare at her.

With barely any awareness of what she was doing, she swiped the card, which was now a blue card.

"Digivolution activate!"

Kyuubimon digivolved to Taomon.

Taomon immediately floated in the air, and painted a symbol, "Talisman of light!"

The symbol glowed and enveloped Kurisarimon in its light. Kurisarimon dissolved into data, which Taomon absorbed.

Rika went over to Naomi, who turned over and kneeled up.

"Are you okay?"

Naomi said nothing, but smiled and flapped her hands.

"Does that mean something?" Rika asked.

Naomi shook her head.

Taomon crouched down next to Naomi, "I might be able to use this light to heal you," she said, "Hold still."

Taomon drew a tiny talisman in the air next to Naomi, and it glowed onto her wounds, healing them and leaving only faint scars.

Naomi signed something, but Rika didn't know what.

"What?" Rika asked.

"Thank you," she said out loud, then stood up.

"Oh," Rika replied.

Takato and Henry went over.

"Thank you," Takato said to Naomi, "You really helped us!"

Naomi signed something, then looked like she was thinking. She looked down at the ground then spoke, "No problem. It doesn't feel real to me, so it's fine. It's like in anime."

"Well, yeah, it kinda is. You know Digimon, right?" Takato said.

Naomi nodded, "This is Digimon?"

"Uh... Well, no, but the digimon are digimon."

Naomi gave Takato a strange look, then looked away again.

"That made no sense," Rika said, then turned to Naomi, "What he meant to say is that digimon- the creatures, not the show- are real. The three of us- me, Takato, and Henry-" she pointed to each of them, "We're digimon tamers. We have digimon partners, and we fight the wild digimon that appear here, in order to absorb their data and get stronger. Well, that's why me and Renamon do it, anyway."

Naomi laughed and looked at the ground, "To get stronger? I was expecting something more cliche."

"Like... To protect people?" Takato asked.

"That's why Takato and I fight the digimon," Henry said, "Not for fun. I hate fighting, but it's worth it if it means innocent people don't get hurt."

Naomi laughed more, "So cliche, wow!"

Rika smiled, but said nothing.

Henry and Takato looked uncomfortable.

Just then, Impmon limped towards them, "Aw man, you guys have to spoil everything. You should've waited for me to finish off that digimon, instead of you human-loving pets getting his data!"

Terriermon stifled a laugh, "But it took you like twenty minutes just to get back here!"

"Yeah, that's called saving the best for last!"

"That doesn't even make sense!"

"Pets?" Naomi asked.

"Not really-" Rika began, but was cut off by Impmon.

"Yeah, these humans are keeping their digimon as pets. Slaves! And to make it even worse, they just go along with it, when they could be living their lives as free, independent digimon like me. But you're just another human, anyway, so I don't know why I'm even explaining it to you," he said, then turned away.

"Hmm," Naomi said, "If they're okay with it then I don't see the problem."

"Please ignore him," Renamon said, "He seems to think that since he doesn't want a human partner, nobody should have one."

"Oh. That's stupid," Naomi said.

"Fine, have fun being treated like babies!" Impmon said, then ran off.

"Someone's bitter," Terriermon said, "I bet he's jealous because we can digivolve and he can't."

"Digivolution activate!" Naomi said.

"Oh, by the way, Naomi," Rika said, "You have to keep this a secret, okay?"

She nodded.

"Alright, good."