Author's Notes: This is set immediately after Episode 10 of Tamers, "The Icemon Cometh", when Rika has declared how much she hates Digimon. It follows the reactions of Takato, Rika, Henry and Renamon to what Rika said. This is my first Digimon Fanfiction, so i'm open for all Reviews :) Please Read and Review, even if it is a flame, this is an ENTIRELY new style for me, so i want to try and improve quickly :)
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"I hate 'em…" Rika muttered quietly as she glared down to the ground at her feet, anger flooding through her as she thought about what had just happened. She was still extremely cold from her time inside the frozen Digital field with IceDevimon, so cold that she couldn't even feel the cold air blowing against her as she stood atop the deserted building.
"Well, he's gone now." Came the voice of Takato from her right, the boy's voice cheerful and happy, he obviously had no idea what she was talking about.
But he never does. Thought Rika as she continued to stare down at the ground, He never understands anything She didn't even move her hard stare off the ground as she spoke once more, her voice still low and full of venom. "Not him…" She nearly growled, tensing up as she nearly shouted, her gaze lifting to stare off into the distant darkness off the night sky. "I hate Digimon! All of them!"
She heard the gathered group let of a single, confused gasp as they heard her, everyone but the one person that really mattered. Kyuubimon just lay there for a moment, looking across to her tamer before she let out a long sigh as she pushed herself up onto her feet. The Vixen said nothing though; she just rose up to her feet slowly, her legs shaking and nearly giving out underneath her own weight, a clear sign of a recent injury she had received during her battle with IceDevimon.
Is that all?! Does she not even care?! Rika glared across at the large Vixen, her expressive violet eyes shining slightly in the darkness, meeting the Vixen's gaze. The Vixen's eyes were calm, showing little emotion like they usually did, if Kyuubimon felt anything she definitely wasn't showing it. I don't need her… I don't want her!
Rika turned quickly and strode off as quickly as she could, but she didn't run, she wanted to get away from them but she would never run from them; she had an image to maintain. She heard Takato shouting after her but she ignored him, she wouldn't let him try to talk her out of what she said, the boy was far too naïve to know when just to leave something alone.
She reached the access point for the roof quickly and the automatic doors slide open before her as she approached them. She stepped through quickly and moved towards the central staircase that would take her right down out of the building without her needing to pass anyone else. She waited until she heard the soft swoosh as the automatic door closed behind her, hiding her from view immediately. The second she knew she was out of view she began to run, taking the steps two at a time as she tried to get away as fast as she could.
She could feel the first tears beginning to roll down her cheeks, only one or two at first but they began to flow faster and she quickly found it hard to keep running as her breathing began to become irregular as she tried not to cry out more. She kept running even though she couldn't hear anyone following her, she knew Henry had probably stopped Takato from following. She didn't like him because of his passivism but he was mature and very intelligent compared to Takato, he at least knew when things should be left alone.
She reached the bottom of the stairs quickly but she didn't stop there, she just kept running. She pushed open the Fire Exit the boys had used to get inside and just ran on as fast as she could, tears nearly blinding her by now. She would never have done anything like this before, revealing her emotions was something she never liked to do in public, but this was strange. She could have waited inside until her tears had stopped, but she knew by the time she had stopped Takato and Henry would probably have caught up with them.
Rika knew something was strange about this time though, she had cried before but this felt some much worse then all the times before. She had been too young at the time to have understood why her father had died, but she knew she hadn't felt this bad. Rika wanted to put it down to her age, for being more sensitive now that she was older, but something deep within her told her that something was definitely not right this time.
Her cheeks were red with exertion and her vision was blurred, her breathing was starting to come in deep pants now, she knew she had to stop running. The street she was on were crowded though, people milling around her as she slowed her run to a jog, and finally she came to a full stop. She could still feel tears rolling down her face, her cheeks starting to numb because of the cold air and the wet tears. She needed to get out of the way before she got anymore unwanted attention, and she went to the only place she saw that was empty. She stepped quickly into one of the narrow alleys between two of the shops, disappearing into the darkness quickly.
It was nearly pitch black inside the alley but because of the street lights out in the street and the glow from several of the windows on the second floors of the shops, it wasn't entirely dark. Rika could still make out the outlines of things, and quickly moved deeper until she stood beside one of the large bins that stood against one of the buildings. She leaned forwards quickly, placing her hands on the wall to steady herself, her legs feeling weak and sore after the running.
Why did I ever have to meet her…? I shouldn't have ever let her get close. She thought, fresh tears beginning to roll down her cheeks again but this time she quickly reached up to wipe them away with one of her sweatbands. "Renamon… I hate you…" She growled out loud, glaring at the darkness before her. "I hate you the most of all…."
Glass crunched loudly off to her left and she heard something shuffling loudly beside her in the darkness. Rika gasped at the sudden noise and turned quickly to look into the darkness, where something new had appeared close by her. A figure stood there in the darkness, a large human that towered above her and nearly stretched across the entire alleyway with fat bulging muscles and broad shoulders. Rika stepped back in shock but one of her large sneakers landed wetly on a rotting newspaper and she lost her footing. With a loud gasp she fell backwards in the darkness.
She landed on her butt heavily, grunting out loudly as her right shoulder struck off one of the smaller garbage cans. She heard a crack as her D-Arc came free, striking firmly against the concrete and bouncing away into the darkness beneath a nearby bin. She looked up again towards where she had seen the figure a moment before, but it was strange. The huge man who had stood only a foot or two away from her was gone, vanished without a trace.
She stared into the darkness for several long moments before she let out a long sigh. Great… now I'm starting to see things. She kept staring ahead of her at the darkness until she was sure there wasn't anything there, but there was nothing before her in the alley. Or was I… She glared suddenly into the darkness ahead of her, "Renamon?" No answer came though; there was no noise at all from the darkness before her. "I guess not…"
She began to pull herself up but she remembered her D-Arc, the device somewhere underneath the large bin to her right. She briefly thought she should leave it, she wasn't a tamer anymore, so she didn't know why she would need it anymore, but she knew deep down inside she couldn't just leave it. She shifted closer to the bin and reached down underneath it, patting around curiously with a hand as she tried to feel out the device. She felt more rotting newspaper squelch under her hand and even felt some broken glass, but her hand soon found the smooth device in the darkness. She grabbed it firmly and pulled it out into the light again, she strapped it onto her belt again without a second thought before she pushed herself up onto her feet. With one final glance over her shoulder to make sure everything was clear, she moved out of the darkness again. Her tears had stopped by now, the temporary fear had driven away her sadness for now, but she didn't think on it at all, she knew it'd set her off again.
She headed home as quickly as she could now, but this time she didn't run at all, she had her image to keep. She wouldn't let any stupid Digimon ruin things for her. Especially not Renamon.
