Author's Note: Ayyy, my first Digimon Tamers fic! I hope to be doing more in the near future.
It was late afternoon and starting to get on into evening when Rika walked through the gate which marked the entry into her traditional Japanese-style house. As she stepped into the doorway and took off her shoes, she called out, "Grandma, I'm home."
Almost immediately the greying head of her grandmother stuck out from the kitchen. Rika was extremely surprised to see that no additional grey hairs had cropped up after today. "Rika, honey, I'm so glad you're safe!" As these words left the aging woman's lips, she crossed the distance to give her granddaughter a tight hug. "You have no idea how worried I was about you!"
Rika, for her part, returned the hug with a sigh echoing through her mind. She had already "explained" to her grandma that she had just turned around to pick up the cell phone that Grandma dropped on the ground, and that she had gotten lost in the crowd and they just couldn't find each other. At that point she just went to the park where her friends were and waited for her grandma to call.
Was that the real story? Of course not—a digital field created by the Deva Sandiramon had miraculously kept the truth hidden. Rika had absolutely no idea how her grandma hadn't seen Renamon show up literally two feet behind Rika, standing overtop the phone. Either that fog was thicker than Rika thought, or her grandma needed to get checked for glaucoma. Regardless, the twelve-year-old wasn't complaining about her secret Digimon Tamer life remaining exactly that: A secret.
"Yeah, I know Grandma, I'm sorry I worried you," came Rika's response.
Her grandma stepped back, holding Rika by the shoulders and giving that warm smile that Rika was pretty sure all grandmothers just magically obtained as soon as one of their kids had a kid, like a Digivolution or something. "Well, dear, I'm just getting some roasted chicken and vegetables going. I'll call you when dinner's ready." The woman hesitated a bit before adding, "That is, if you don't have plans to go scampering off again tonight without telling us?"
The red-headed preteen had to give that one a chuckle, and she shook her head smiling. "No, grandma, I think we're good for the night." "Well, excellent! It'll be about an hour from now. How about you go relax for a bit?"
"I will, thanks," said Rika, before slipping past her grandmother. When the girl got back to her room and closed the door, she heaved out a sigh. She didn't mind her grandmother one bit—she was a nice old woman, and at least she didn't spend every waking moment obsessing over her looks or trying to get Rika to become a model. But after a quiet afternoon of watching a play and roaming the city with her grandma suddenly turned into defeating a Deva in the subway by the skin of her and her friends' teeth, and having to endure Gogglehead's and her classmates' stupid games for a whole afternoon afterwards, the young Tamer was pretty exhausted. She swore if she got too much more emotional whiplash like that, her head would start turning grey like her grandma's. These Devas should just call ahead and schedule an appointment if they want to show up so badly.
Simply out of sheer boredom, Rika sat down at her desk and started doing her homework. She didn't feel like getting lectured by her teacher again, and at least this was all easy—math, Japanese, social studies, English, science… Just boring busywork to her. She could go on autopilot and still get all A's.
Just as Rika put down her pen atop her completed homework with a sigh, her grandma announced that dinner was ready. Heaving herself up from her seat, the girl slid her door open and trudged outside onto the walkway leading to the kitchen. She sat down to dinner with her grandmother as her mom walked in through the front door. "Oh Rika, it's so good to see you! You have no idea what a wild day I've had. You see, the…" Rika began tuning her mother out completely, occasionally giving a nod and an "Uh-huh, that sounds great, Mom", a skill she had honed to perfection over the years. Her grandma did much the same, smiling and nodding. Rika had learned from the best.
"Well, your daughter and I had a very interesting day ourselves. The play went as expected, but you'd never guess what happened in the subway! You see, what happened was…" What followed was, of course, the very limited viewpoint of what her grandmother had seen. Rika told her mom the same cover story she'd told her grandma.
"Oh my, that sounds absolutely dreadful! Are you alright? Did you get any scratches or scrapes? I can't have my little girl getting all messy!" The pretty face of her mother leaned forward to scan Rika's face, arms and of course her clothes for any signs of damage. "No, mom, I'm fine," answered an irritated Rika, as she gently pushed on her mom's shoulder, trying to keep the thirty-something woman at bay.
"What a relief!" exclaimed her mom, as she smiled and sat back, satisfied with the results of her examination. "How did you like the play, Rika darling?"
Rika propped her cheek in her hand and stared off into the distance. "Eh. It was alright, I guess. The script and the actors needed a lot of help, but I've seen worse." She had only to think of Takato, Guilmon and the rest of those lollygags and their stupid games to think of worse acting and even more horrendously thought-out roleplaying games. Five-year-olds have come up with better.
And then, if only to make the conversation at the dinner table less awkward, Rika made sure to add in a quick "The overall plot idea was… cute, though." Rika almost choked on the word "cute"; no doubt Takato and Henry would never let her hear the end of it if they found out. But then, almost involuntarily, she thought about the puppy coming back to its owner, and the Tamer struggled to keep her face stoic and inscrutable as the flashback from that part of the day played in her head. That scene had brought to her mind thoughts about how Renamon still hadn't abandoned her, even after how terribly Rika had treated her.
Dinner was served, and the standard small talk continued. The red-head mostly listened to her mom and grandma talking about random things—the news, the weather forecast, what her mom had planned for the next week or so. When asked about her plans, Rika shrugged and said the usual—school, going to the park, hanging out with Takato and Henry. School was all the same, boring thing as always. Her mother lamented about how her daughter was getting a slow start on her professional career, her grandmother appreciated the fact that Rika was enjoying her childhood while it lasted. The conversation continued, with Rika occasionally being invited to chime in. Finally, Rika finished her meal, put her chopsticks on her plate, gave the traditional polite "It was delicious", and headed back to her room. Darkness had now fallen, and the girl knew she had school the next morning. "Good night, Mom, good night, Grandma," she called behind her. The two women answered in kind, almost in unison.
The pineapple-headed girl closed her door, finally free to be alone with her thoughts and nothing to do. It had been a long day, and she was attempting to mentally ready herself to deal with the mundane marathon that was (hopefully) going to be a normal school day. She needed a break. The past two fights had come far too close for comfort, with Renamon almost getting killed on both counts. She just hoped the third time wouldn't be the charm.
Slipping into her pajamas and flopping onto her bed, Rika stared absentmindedly up at the ceiling, moonlight gently filtering through her bedroom door. She was exhausted, and her eyelids drooped shut.
Kyuubimon wrapped in Sandiramon's coils, crying out in pain as she was thrashed around.
Her eyes snapped back open with a start. After a short while they fell shut again as she reassured herself that that was all over.
Kyuubimon being sent sailing from the top of that skyscraper, face twisted with pain, pixelating and threatening to dissipate entirely.
Rika's eyes flew open again. She took a hard, deep breath and shook her head, turning onto her side. She tried again to get to sleep.
Kyuubimon lying powerless at Icedevimon's feet. A single tail launches a pathetic Fox Tail Inferno in a last-ditch effort to stop the sadistic monster that sought to make Rika his.
Rika awoke this time with a gasp. In a state of near panic she scrambled to a sitting position, leaning forward on her hands to peer in the darkness. "Renamon?" she called.
The young Tamer knew her partner was never far. And sure enough, the fox Digimon appeared in a shadowy corner of the room, her expression steely and inscrutable as always. "What is it, Rika?"
Seeing Renamon in front of her brought a wave of relief, and she sighed, some of her earlier fear leaving her. Why had she called for Renamon? "N-nothing. It was nothing. Sorry to bother you."
"Are you sure? It didn't sound like nothing."
Rika's bluff had been called. She stared at the floor and turned away from the vulpine figure, tucking her knees into her chest and leaning her chin on her forearms. "Well…" She had no idea what to say. Renamon drew closer, her piercing eyes flitting across Rika, reading her posture and facial expression. She knelt beside the human. "'Well?'"
The pineapple-headed girl was silent for a while before she started piecing together the scattered clues lying inside her mind. "The past few battles have been something, huh?"
"They have."
Another pause. Rika's thoughts flashed between that stupid kabuki actor in that ridiculous costume playing the puppy and Renamon. No way was she going to compare that idiot to someone as strong and majestic as her partner, let alone out loud to her face. "You know…" Rika mustered up enough willpower to actually start saying what was otherwise on her mind. "I almost lost you." Rika took a shuddering breath. "I was so scared…"
"…This isn't about just today, is it, Rika?"
The girl shook her head. "No… Mihiramon… Harpymon… That stupid frozen freak… All of them."
"And yet I'm still here, right at your side." Renamon shifted her posture to a sitting position, right beside her Tamer, eyes still locked on with laser focus.
"Yeah."
Rika fell silent. Renamon searched her face, still trying to tease out what the normally aloof girl really had on her mind. After a minute the fox Digimon asked, "So you wanted to see that I'm still here. Is that it?"
"No…" Rika sighed. "I want to know why you're still here, even after all those awful things I said. About how I hated all Digimon, how they were just data. How I don't need you. Why come back to a cold-hearted person like me?"
"'Cold-hearted' is not something I would call the one who charged a Harpymon with nothing but a stick to save my life. Remember what we talked about a few days ago, Rika?"
"That something special about a Digimon's relationship with their Tamer makes them digivolve?"
"And before that, after we defeated Dokugumon?"
"You could only digivolve if I really cared about you?"
"Yes. And how many times has that been so far? Do you have a tally?"
"…Ever since Dokugumon…"
The golden-furred Digimon nodded. "That's every battle we've been in together. Four, by my count."
"Yeah, but that hasn't been every battle."
"You mean the Flybeemon."
The redhead nodded silently, still staring at her toes. "I just stood there, and ran away."
Renamon pondered that time, when she and Rika drifted apart after Icedevimon's defeat. Impmon had said that the power to digivolve came from within, not from a bond of partnership. Her thoughts were broken by Rika's next words. "I… I thought you didn't need me anymore. You were winning by yourself. I thought you just wanted my help to digivolve." A half-hearted laugh escaped Rika's lips. "Then when it came to the battle with Harpymon, I got there and then you started walking all over Harpymon… Why would you still care about me after the things I sai-"
For some inexplicable reason, a surging anger boiled over inside Renamon, and she could hold back no longer. Without thinking, she grabbed Rika's shoulders firmly and pulled her around to leer directly at her. The girl gasped and looked with a startled face into Renamon's narrowed eyes.
Renamon replied coldly and sharply, her voice almost shaking with rage. "That was never true, Rika. Impmon said that we Digimon didn't need human partners to digivolve. For a while, I was tempted to believe him. When you arrived at the battlefield, at the time I thought that the reason I started winning against Harpymon was because I willed the strength from within. But the real reason I found the strength to fight harder was because you were there. I saw your face and I knew that you cared. Perhaps in the beginning we chose each other as partners for selfish reasons. But now it's not just about fighting and winning, or about digivolving or becoming the strongest. We fight for each other." With those last words she tightened her grip, such that claws began digging into Rika's shoulders.
The Tamer was shocked. Never before had Renamon gotten this heated when talking to her. As Renamon's words sank in, tears began welling up in her eyes. She hugged her partner's slender frame, her head pressed into the soft, fluffy fur on her chest. Slowly, Renamon's posture became less stiff as she composed herself and slipped her arms around Rika. Being held like this was, somehow, incredibly comforting to Rika. The girl shut her eyes, squeezing out a few tears. The tears on one side of her face seeped into Renamon's fur, and on the other side trailed slowly down her cheek. Being with Renamon made Rika feel protected. The vulpine Digimon would never abandon her. Being in her embrace was worlds apart from the cold, soul-sucking drain of being covered with Icedevimon's leathery, tattered wings, her shoulders clenched by the long claws of that towering, lanky Digimon with that creepy smile plastered across his corn-headed face.
After a minute, Rika leaned back just far enough to see Renamon, to stare into those rings of icy blue sitting in twin seas of ebony, as a few tears began rolling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry about what I said. I… really do need you. You're not just data… You're my friend."
A rare smile appeared on Renamon's face, and those cold blue eyes looked warmly down at Rika. "You needn't worry, Rika—I would never use you, and I won't ever abandon you." Her voice was softer now, and the earlier anger was replaced with tenderness. She wiped away one of Rika's tears with a claw. "Now, enough crying. That's hardly the tough-as-nails Rika I know," she teased.
Rika sniffed, used the back of her sleeve to wipe her tears and smiled. "You're right. Thanks, Renamon."
"You're welcome, Rika."
"Hey… Renamon?"
"Yes?"
"Could you… stay with me tonight? Just this once?"
"Of course."
Still holding onto the fox Digimon, Rika laid back down in her bed to sleep. Renamon obliged and laid down with her, keeping the girl tucked in her arms. "Was there anything else you needed to talk about?"
"Just one thing."
"What is it?"
"If you tell anyone about tonight, I'm turning you into a floor rug."
"Hmhm. I wouldn't expect anything less."
A smirk crept across Rika's face as she nuzzled into Renamon's chest and closed her eyes. No more was she plagued by the ghosts of the past. She had said everything she needed to. She finally had some closure. The only thing she could feel anymore was her partner's gentle embrace. "Good night, Renamon."
"Good night, Rika. Sleep well."
Author's Note: I have to admit, this was a fun story to write. Please rate and review, and let me know how I did with the characters! Thanks for reading!