The darkening clouds above emitted a spine chilling rumble, and silently the young girl cringed. Of all nights for the heavens to choose to unleash their gloomy wrath, why did it have to be tonight? Not that she disliked the rain by any means, as it was quite beautiful when it managed to catch her on a good day, but the circumstances on this particular evening simply wouldn't allow her to enjoy the thorough drenching she was likely to receive.
She couldn't turn back now, though.
With a hesitant glance skyward she picked up her pace, adjusting the school bag that she had managed to fill with things that her nine year old mind had deemed 'essentials'. Among these obvious necessities were a total of three outfits, an mp3 player, the flashlight that had provided comfort on those evenings when nightmares had reigned supreme, and the small pillow that had held a special place in her heart since the age of five. In her left hand was a lunch box crammed with several hastily prepared sandwiches and a bottle of water, and in her right pocket a deck of playing cards.
Well, no one ever said that nine year olds were skilled packers.
The first solitary droplet of water brushed the tip of her nose, and Leah tugged the light jean jacket she sported closer to her body, brown eyes scanning the various shops of downtown San Diego as she passed them by. The vast majority had already closed their doors for the day. It was, after all, nearing ten o'clock on a Friday evening, a time that was normally spent bidding goodnight to her mother and father.
Assuming they were even home, that is, and not slumped over stacks of legal files or anatomy textbooks. They were quite attentive when life chose not to step in the way, but her father's career as a lawyer and her mother's pursuit of a medical degree were distracting at best, and completely consuming at worst. Why they had chosen to have a child was a mystery, and it often led Leah to wonder if it had been a conscious decision at all.
If she had been a mistake, the last thing she desired was to continue hindering their wonderful, glamorous existence.
The raindrops were beginning to fall with increasing frequency, but that wasn't the reasoning behind the gradually increasing speed with which her feet struck the pavement. The streets seemed to be relatively empty, unless one counted the silver car slowly creeping along the street behind her. Truth be told, she wouldn't have spotted it if she hadn't stopped to read a poster attached to the window of a book store, nor was she aware of how long it had been there. Now that she had acknowledged the vehicle's presence, her heart rate skyrocketed.
It was a ridiculous thought. Sure, she'd been told time and time again that the streets downtown weren't the safest place to be after dark, but it was quite likely that this was simply a tourist prowling the streets for a shop that had yet to close for the evening. Tourists were stupid like that. Nobody seemed to take the time to learn about the places they visited anymore.
The explanation was too good to be true, though, and the young girl pretended not to notice as the car pulled up alongside her, the driver's window rolling steadily down. "Hey, little girl," a voice from within, the source of which Leah chose not to acknowledge with a glance, echoed smoothly. "It's getting pretty wet out there, but it's really warm and dry in here. Do you need a ride home?"
Her eyes narrowed slightly, and her gaze dropped to the rain spotted ground. Although her heart felt very close to breaking through her ribs, another familiar emotion began to seep into her mind: frustration. Yes, it was true that she was short for her age, but how old did this man assume she was? Five? If he thought she was going to smile innocently and take the bait, let alone grace him with a response, he was sadly mistaken. Her feet continued to carry her hastily down the sidewalk, and for a moment she smugly took pride in her intellect.
Until she realized that the faceless driver wasn't going to drive away in disappointment.
"Hey, slow down, kid," he continued casually, experiencing no difficulty in matching the young girl's swift walk. "I've even got a puppy in the back who loves kids. You like puppies, don't you?"
Yes, she loved puppies, and for a moment she wished in vain that she had brought along the family's Akita, Suki, so this insolent bug would get what he deserved for his irritating stupidity. The loss of a finger or other appendage would suit him well. "No thank you," she muttered coldly, doing her best to conceal the anxiety that was beginning to make her head spin. "My father is waiting for me." Yes, Suki would certainly enjoy taking a chunk out of the man's big, fat--
But then, something went horribly, horribly wrong.
The car came to an abrupt stop as the back door flew open, but Leah didn't take the time to witness who was to inevitably fly from the vehicle. With an ear piercing scream she took flight, her lunch box hitting the ground as her feet pounded hard against the pavement. She'd barely gained a few yards of distance, though, when she was jerked backward by her backpack, nearly losing her footing.
"Let me go!" she shrieked, immediately struggling to free her arms from the bag that she now regretted bringing. By the time this endeavor was successful, though, she could feel a pincer-like grip against her shoulder, pulling her back with such force that she did lose her balance, wincing as she struck the ground. "My Dad's a lawyer!" she shouted desperately, raising her arms to shield her face from any blows that she was sure were to come.
So this was it. After all of this planning, packing, and fruitless hoping, her fate was simply to become another statistic, just another stain on a cold California street. How long would it take her parents to realize her absence? It was a Friday, and it was definitely possible that their busy schedules would keep them entertained until the school called Monday morning to inform them that she had never showed up. What kind of sick joke was this?
When no blows rained down upon her pitiful form as she lay curled up on the pavement, she did her best to calm her racing thoughts long enough to listen to her surroundings. Aside from the rain, which was coming down in torrents now, all seemed to have gone silent... Except for a new sound--a sound that both frightened and appeased her, as she wasn't sure what to make of its existence. It took the form of a low, rumbling growl, which lingered on the air for several moments and assisted the rain in sending chills down her spine.
Had they been telling the truth? Did they really have a dog with them? Was that dog now standing over her, preparing to strike the killing blow so that its masters wouldn't be incriminated for the impending crime?
Leah uncovered her eyes meekly, blinking against the pouring rain, but there was no dog. All she could see was the unmoving legs of who she assumed to be her attacker, but unless her eyes were playing tricks on her, they were now facing away from her. Beyond that, nestled securely in the darkness of an alley, were a pair of gleaming amber eyes, and immediately she could feel panic set in for the second time that evening. It didn't take long to trace the source of the growling to the oddly captivating eyes.
Well, this was great. Did fate intend for her to create a new statistic all together? Death by monster? ...But monsters didn't exist. She had stopped believing in them at a rather young age, choosing a much more practical path than imaginary creatures, and..
She screamed again and closed her eyes as the creature snarled and lunged forward, but rather than feeling the pain of sharp claws or teeth ripping into her skin, all she experienced was the cold rain nipping numbingly at her skin. There was another scream, but this one wasn't a product of her own fear--it was much more masculine. There was another snarl, the pounding of feet, the abrupt slamming that she recognized to be a car door, the screech of tires, and finally, silence.
Tears began to trace hot patterns down her cheeks, camouflaged by the ensuing downpour from above. They were gone, but she had yet to regain the confidence to look directly at the creature who had been her savior but still might consider her a worthy snack. She squeaked quietly and tensed as she felt warm breath against her face, soon becoming aware that it was... sniffing her? "Don't eat me," she pleaded, for a moment entertaining the idea that it--whatever 'it' was--spoke English.
There was a brief pause, followed by a voice tinged with worry. "Daijoubu?"(Are you all right?)
Okay, now she was losing it. An attempted kidnapping on the streets of downtown San Diego had led to her rescue at the hands of a Japanese monster? How hard had she hit her head? "N-Nihongo o h-hanasemasuka...?"(You c-can speak J-Japanese?) Her mother's native tongue tumbled shakily from her lips, making her suddenly self conscious about her interracial heritage.
Her mind was racing again, but curiosity drove her to hesitantly open her eyes, gazing slowly up at the large, amber eyes and furry face that greeted her. The red stone that seemed to be imbedded in the creature's forehead caused her to falter in recognition, a hand trailing to the deck of cards in her pocket. "D-Demo, D-Dejimon... D-Dejimon wa geemu desu..." (B-But D-Digimon... D-Digimon is a game...)
The creature tilted its head at her words, clearly enthralled with this girl's bilingual status. Its fox-like tail flicked to the side, the closest thing to a grin that it could manage gracing its features. "Boku wa Dorumon da yo,"(I'm Dorumon), he explained, the smile fading as he realized that this human didn't seem to be gifted with the same water proof coat that he had been. "Samui?"(Are you cold?)
It was all too much to take in for one night, and Dorumon found himself suddenly alone as the young girl faded from consciousness. Nudging her arm gently, he frowned and cast a worried glance back and forth down the street. "...Taihen da ne... Kaze o hiku..."(That's not good... She'll catch a cold...) Seeing no one useful in sight, he hesitated before taking hold of the back of the child's jacket within his teeth, proceeding to drag the poor girl into the safety of the alley.
At least there she would be more or less shielded from the rain.