Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon
Song of the Setting Sun
Chapter: 2
Rika's face was set in a frown as she approached Takato, making the boy sweat in anxiety while next to him, Guilmon looked on with a worried expression. They both knew that Rika wouldn't hurt either of them, as she had come a long way from the cold-hearted Tamer that saw digimon as nothing more than data, but no matter how much she had changed, she did have a way of making a person feel nervous whenever she had a look or feeling of irritation about her. During such moments, it was important to tread cautiously. Of course, that in itself could bring about trouble, so even more important, it was best to act as normal as possible. Of course, when one is around Rika, acting normal when she's angry is for only the levelheaded type of person like Ryo and Henry. Takato was not the type of person who could easily control his emotions, or conceal them. Which was probably why he made a terrible liar, but that could also have something to do with the fact that he had always been taught that such an action was wrong.
Rika came to a stop in front of the goggle-wearing boy and crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing dangerously as she did so, while Takato's lopsided grin became even more lopsided. If that was even possible.
"Gogglehead," Rika said softly, though there was a hint of an edge to her voice that said that Takato might want to watch what he said next. "On you're way home?"
"Uh… yeah!" Takato rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm just… um… taking a short cut through the park and… stuff… Heh. Heh."
"Do I even need to point out that by going this way you actually take longer getting to your place?"
"Well… only by a few minutes really," said Takato trying to avoid Rika's demanding gaze. Sheesh. This interrogation was starting to remind him of when Rika caught him at the Shinjuku tunnel when he had been going off to fight D-Reaper on his own. Of course, she also had the same idea…
"Right. You didn't just come here to take a detour Gogglehead, so why are you here?"
"Uh…" Takato sweated. Why was she doing this to him? "Who says that I'm here for anything else?"
Rika's eyes took on a whole new level of dangerous. Takato finally caved.
"All right, all right. I… I heard a noise so I came to investigate. I didn't mean to eavesdrop or anything…"
"You better not have," growled Rika. She considered telling him not to say anything about this to anyone else, but she didn't know what he had heard. "What was it that you heard?"
Takato fidgeted. He really didn't look comfortable right now, but the way Rika saw it, that was his own fault. She didn't really like it when people snuck up on her or anything.
"Um… well… I… uh…"
"C'mon Gogglehead. I'm not getting any younger here…"
"Okay! Okay! I thought I heard someone singing!"
There was a brief pause as Takato took a deep breath.
"And… uh… I thought that it sounded familiar so I… wanted to see where it was coming from. That's all."
Takato stood there, head hung down, and shoulders slumped while he waited for Rika's response. Odds were, if she was really angry she would clobber him. She would be in the right to do so and besides, he was probably overdue anyway. She hadn't hit him for when he had put the little girly hearts (as she had put it) in the letter that he had sent to her mom and grandmother when they had been separated in the digital world. Sure, she had been angry, but for some reason she hadn't punched him. Maybe it was because she had been touched that he had thought of her when she wasn't around and needed to reassure her family and keep them from worrying. At any rate, he had owned up to it in the end, both with the letter and now with the eavesdropping. Surely this time she would teach him a lesson, right?
Rika's sigh caught him completely by surprise. Looking up, Takato's eyes widened as he saw that Rika's face had softened a bit, losing some of that harshness to it. For a brief second, Takato was struck by her appearance, framed perfectly against the light of the setting sun. It was almost as though he was seeing a side of her that very rarely showed itself, like when she had thanked him for sending the letter to her family, or when she had returned with Impmon to the Arc, or during their first encounter with the Devas when Miheramon pulverized Kyubimon on top of the Hypnos towers. Takato blinked, and then the old Rika seemed to come back, though still having lost that little bit of harshness as her anger cooled.
"Whatever," said Rika, shrugging it off. There followed an awkward moment of silence between them, where Takato fought the urge to shift from one foot to the other. He didn't want to look any more nervous in front of her than he already did. Guilmon looked back and forth between them, mentally breathing a sigh of relief as it now became clear that there wasn't going to be any trouble between the two Tamers. Guilmon's motion brought Rika back to reality.
"Don't you have to be getting home now, little boy?" Rika taunted, causing Takato to blush lightly while at the same time reminding him of when they had first met. Well, he wasn't going to talk back this time. After all, she didn't mean it, and she did have a point after all. He did have to get home.
"Uh… right! Thanks Rika," said Takato, not sure what exactly it was that he was thanking her for. Rika raised an eyebrow. "Later." Takato turned around and began to head off towards the direction of home. Guilmon moved to follow him, at least only for a while to make sure that he left the park all right, but he stopped and turned to look at Rika. A goofy smile that was almost reminiscent of his Tamer appeared on his face.
"Hey Rika," the viral dinosaur said childishly. "Maybe you should sing more often. I'd like that. You have a nice voice."
Takato whirled around in shock.
"AAH! GUILMON!!"
Too late. The damage was done. Rika's face bloomed with a deep red color in her cheeks as she stared incredulously at the red dino before turning her back to him, causing Guilmon to look at her in confusion.
"Aw… did I say something wrong?"
Aw jeez… you're asking that now???
Takato once again felt that discomfort tensing up his body as he tried to think of something to alleviate the situation, but at the moment he was coming up with nothing.
"I… I gotta go," muttered Rika under her breath as she slowly walked off
"… … O-okay," stuttered Takato, giving Guilmon a look that said, I can't believe that you just did that! "Uh… see you tomorrow?"
Rika didn't respond, but instead just kept on walking. Takato watched her sadly for a moment before turning to Guilmon. Guilmon's ears drooped.
"Guilmon…"
"What'd I do? I was just saying that her voice sounded good."
"Yeah, but… Rika… is… she doesn't like compliments. Or at least she doesn't take them very well. Unless it comes to beating the stuffing out of someone in a game of Digimon that is, but still."
"She'll be better tomorrow though, right?"
Takato smiled.
"Of course she will. Why wouldn't she be?" Deep in his gut though, Takato's stomach did a flip as the thought of what if flew through his mind.
Nah. I don't think that she'd let something like this bug her. She's too tough for that.
…
…
Still, I wonder why she was singing in the first place. And in a playground!
Takato shook his head and began to walk off towards home once more, with Guilmon striding next to him, his face still set in a worried expression.
I don't believe this, growled Rika mentally as she tried to fight down the feeling of warmth that pervaded her face. First the stupid Gogglehead compliments my shirt, and then his pet dino compliments my singing! Just what is it with those two? I swear their brains are running on the same wavelength or something…
"Well, they are partners," spoke the voice of Rika's partner, Renamon through the mental rapport that they shared.
Are you eavesdropping now, Renamon?
"I just felt the need to see what you were thinking. Excuse me for worrying and for invading your privacy."
Rika could almost swear that she heard Renamon laugh lightly through their link.
Renamon? Did you just… chuckle?
"No, Rika. Why would I?"
Well… even if you did, I still would've forgiven you.
This time Rika was positive that Renamon laughed.
Something funny about this?
"I just find it interesting when you react this way. It's not often that someone makes you… flustered?"
Well, Gogglehead and Dino-boy certainly have a knack for embarrassing anyone, thought Rika. Even me it seems. Now, are you going to let me walk home in peace, or am I going to have to stand for your teasing for the rest of my journey home?
Rika felt a trickle of amusement seep through their link, but Renamon didn't say anything else, for which Rika was immensely grateful. Turning her thoughts away from the incident, Rika's pace quickened.
Unconsciously she began to hum the tune to her song once more.
The sun sunk beneath the horizon, leaving only a burning ember of daylight remaining. Soon that ember would be extinguished and night would truly reign over this area of the world. For a little while anyway. Eventually, dawn will come, and with it, new things. New life and new discoveries for all who are willing to rise with the sun. For now though, the world rests easy as all worries are cast adrift into the world of dreams…
A/N: A little bit short this time around (shorter than I'd like at any rate), but something told me to close the chapter off here. Probably would have been better if I had thought of this scene earlier so that it could have been incorporated into the first chapter, but I'm not going to bother fiddling around with it now. I do intend however, to continue doing this fic as ideas pop up (I've got a couple rolling around in my head), but it'll be a while before I can properly organize them. As things stand now, this story is a Rukato friendship fic with a slight chance of turning into a Rukato romance later on (bear in mind however, that there is going to be some Jurato going on in between if I do decide to go down that road. Chances are I will, I just need to figure out a way to work with it). This is going to be a rather interesting challenge for me, as it will be another fic that I'll be launching into with no preconceived plans with where to go with it (my second or third one to date). Here's hoping that I can pull it off again and not choke. Later.
-Crazyeight
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