Hello, thanks everyone for your totally-awesome reviews. I hope you are enjoying this story just as much as I am. I enjoy writing it, and Rika's personality is very different than it is in the show.. but do not worry, she will show some of the traits that she possessed when she was a child, before the digimon occurence took place. As always, thanks again...

Chapter Three;

Ryo Akiyama, Aka, the Tokyo Falcon's basketball star. He doesn't go anywhere without his mouthguard and he is addicted to yellow gatorade. Also he is on a strict no soda diet along with limited fast food. His trainer says, "An apple a day, will keep us doctors away." A roll eye escaped his eyes as he had finished eating his meal at the aiport. His team and he were heading towards the luggage claim. It was nice to finally be home for a few weeks before traveling again.

Along the incredibly, never-ending stretch through the airport, he noticed a petite figure with a man who appeared to resemble her in several ways. She had piercing blue eyes and her smile was incredible. She had red hair that extended halfway down her back. She looked awfully familiar, like he had known her from high school or soemthing.

Ignoring the reporters, he scanned past them, trying to get a better picture of the girl. "Rika?" He said aloud, shaking all of the reporters. They all surrounded him and he lost view of the girl as she darted around the corner, pulling onto her luggage tightly. He wanted to follow her except for the reporters were already surrounding him, questioning him why he said the name Rika.

"Excuse me sir, did you just say Rika?" One held a microphone close to his face as his assistant was writing everything Ryo had said down onto a pad of paper.

Ryo pushed passed them, his team following. "I read a sign over there. Go find it, or something."

He rolled his eyes, papparatzi was overwhelming somtimes. They followed you like hound dogs. They found you and continously stuck their nose into their business. The name Rika shook back into his memory. There was no way that girl was her, she just looked like her in a few ways. He blocked her out of his mind for the most part and he tried not to think about her consiously. On the other hand, he thought he subconsiously thought about her all the time. When he was asleep, she was who dreamt off and in the morning it either put him in a really good mood, bad mood or a melancholy mood. Either way, it was not much of a win-win situation.

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Rika stared out the limosuine window, hard to believe she grew up here so long ago. All of the times where she and Renamon would sneak off too while her mother was out working hard on her career. Or the times she would meet Ryo at the park- she stopped her self from thinking of those times. She never let herself think about it much, it was not worth the heartache afterwards.

"So they tore down the school and rebuilt another one?" Rika shook her head in disbelief. "That is ridiculous, they built one when I was in highschool." Seiko and Rumiko agreed with her on that subject. Another new high school was not needed.

"This place sure has changed." Rika remembered how the park benches were wooden and they became metal(way to be a sitting billboard for lightening), the trees were not Oak as much anymore; pine trees covered most of the empty achres of land and the country roads were no longer dirt. They became paved, just like the town had.

Even as the small things changed, it suddenly didn't make her feel like she was at home anymore. She rubbed Alexis's hair as she was fast asleep in the limo. Traveling at such a young age must have been difficult for the poor child.

Rumiko gave off a small smile towards her daugther, "If only you know the half of it."

Rika yawned, figuring that a nap might be good for herself before she arrived back at home.

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Alice groaned, resting her head onto the table of her work area. She was exhausted. Hypnos had to be one of the worst jobs out there. Okay not really, but she was constantly tired by monitoring the Digiworld and the projects that dealt with it. After two days of no sleep, she was craving for not only a Starbucks coffee, but a nap and some time with her fiance Henry as well.

"Alice, I believe you have some company." Another worker muttered as she walked by in hope to continue her research. Alice's freshly plucked eyebrows raised and she looked over to the doorway to find a shaggy haired brunette with Henry.

"Ryo Akiyama, well I'd be darned." Alice grinned, trying to remember the last time she had seen Ryo, let alone hold a stable conversation with him. She liked seeing the grin on his face. For the longest time, it was always a scowl or a sad look that rested upon his facial features.

Ryo let lose another grin, "My second favorite girl in the whole world."

As tired and mopey as Alice was, she ran out of her seat and found herself being embraced by her old friend's muscular arms. She gave him a heavy push, "What do you mean second favorite?"

Ryo rolled his shining blue eyes and held her tight. "Yeah second."

She pushed away, "Who is the first?"

"Well about that, I have a new girlfriend. Her name is Zoe." (I like the name Zoe, and I figured i'd steal her name from the other series)

Alice stepped back in astonishment, "Zoe?"

Ryo nodded his head in response. He was not for sure how everyone would take that he had a new girlfriend. He knew all of his friends would be happy for him and support him, but deep down they all had a sense of hope that someday he and Rika would be together. Truth be told, he lost that dream a long time ago, and let the hope rise to the sky. It just wasn't happening.

Alice was just as shocked as Henry was. "So do I get to meet her?"

Ryo looked down at his watch and glanced around Hypnos. Things did look different and the smell was filled with a coffee scent, and everything smelled fresh. They must have remodeled the whole place. It was completely different than what he was use to as a child. "Actually, she is in Russia right now, but in a week, she will be home. I met her traveling on a basketball tour a few months ago. I think you all would like her, she is awesome."

Henry spoke up for the first time since Ryo had spilled the news about his new girlfriend, "I am glad. Just remember, long distant relationships don't exactly work all the time. So don't get your hopes up."

Henry didn't mean to sound harsh about it, but ever since the whole ordeal with Rika, he was cautious over his bestfriend. He watched Ryo go into massive states of chronic depression for months. College basketball to pro basketball had to have been the best thing for him. He was world wide famous. And if he knew Rika like he thought he did, she grieved just as much as he did. She had her reasons to go, and he knew that. He was the only one who knew that.

Before Ryo could answer to Henry, his phone rang out loud. Fall Out Boy echoed throughout the building, causing all of the workers to look up at him, giving him a sharp scowl.

"I'll be back."

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Ryo sighed, sitting down in a chair next to Alice, "what is his problem? He is always a grouch towards me anymore. Every time I come home, he seems like he is pmsing and mind you Takato is enough for me."

Alice giggled, knowing very well what was wrong with Henry. He knew something that nobody else knew, and he would never spill that secret for the life of him. He was the only one who knew anything about Rika.

"He will come around, don't you worry, he always does." Alice stared towards the doorway wondering what Henry was doing. With work taking up most of her time, it was like she and Henry were in opposite worlds.

Ryo watched Alice's eyes fade from happiness to a hint of sadness, a sight that he could not read. Was there something going on that he did not know about? After being on the road all of the time, he felt like he was losing himself and his friendship.

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"Very well." Henry muffled into the phone while he was shuffling down the corridor to make sure no one was aware of his conversation. "Rika, alright now what, sorry Hypnos is so loud and nosey, remind me again why I hate coming here." His voice relaxed and he plopped down onto a wooden bench, hoping to relax a bit before dealing with Ryo and Alice.

"I am back, back home Henry." The words poured out from Rika's mouth and Henry's eyes buldged out, almost popping a blood vessel. Say what? "Rika, are you serious?"

"Yeah I am dead serious. And this time I brought Alexis with me, she seems to like mom's house. She keeps poking at the paintings and statues and asking Grandma to read her a story. And the weird part is, even dad is here too. We haven't been in this house as a family in years." Henry noticed the odd adjustment in Rika's voice when she spoke about her parents.

Henry was still in shock, his mouth was wide open. "Rika are you serious, not like pulling a string or anything right?" Henry regained his composure and sat up for the first time in a long time, he felt a different sort of excitement. He wanted to see Rika and talk about the things that they use to spend hours talking about. He wanted to be a teenager again and laugh about the good times.

He was physically exhausted of the real world and his relationship with Alice was crumbling into pieces. The worst part of it was that he did not know where to begin to help improve things. He was falling, and falling hard.

"No Henry I am for real. I think I am going to tell Ryo about Alexis too. My mom says that he deserves to know and he does, as well as she does." Rika's voice became really quiet when she spoke Ryo's name. She didn't speak about him much, at least not to him anyways.

Henry blinked a few times, not exactly knowing how to mention the fact that Ryo has a girlfriend. It was either he tell and she find out, or he tells her and she never goes and sees him.

"Henry you there?" Rika asked, shaking Henry from his thoughts.

"Rika there is something you should know..."

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Sorry for this short chapter, It is just out there. Please review though, and since Thanksgiving break is coming up, I will have more time to update(: