Wrath

06:00 AM

The sun broke over the Shinjuku skyline as Takato Matsuki awoke to another day. In his mind, he went through the boredom his average life would throw at him. Life wasn't all fun and games anymore. Takato didn't have the girl of his dreams, nor did he have the quirky girl who caught his attention years ago. No, they were too busy with each other. Takato had the girl who always seemed to be in the peripheral section of the Tamers' vision. She was quiet and loved books, two things neither Rika nor Jeri had ever quite been or done. She was Alice McCoy, granddaughter of one of the men who created Digimon.

Takato wasn't unhappy with his relationship with Alice; in fact he was over the moon that a girl had taken more than a passing interest in him. But she wasn't Jeri.

Stop it, he thought, trying to push all thoughts of Jeri out of his mind. She's with Rika. This isn't very fair to Alice, he added, almost as an afterthought.

The thought of Alice stopped Takato halfway out of bed. He turned to look at his naked girlfriend, a smile forming on his lips. How could he be thinking about Rika and Jeri when this amazing young woman had giving her most prized possession to him just hours before?

Takato rushed around his parents' house/bakery, attempting to tidy-up as he went.

Mr and Mrs Matsuki had left on their annual vacation to Mr Matsuki's brothers house three days previous to Takato's musings about the three main girls in his life. They left the house in their son's control; closing up the bakery to prevent Takato's lack of skill in the kitchen from ruining their reputation. Being the teenaged male that he is, no matter how clueless and hopeless, Takato immediately saw an opportunity to lose the nickname Kazu had branded him with: Jurassic Virgin.

The plan was simple; all he had to do was show Alice a great night out and casually mention that he had an empty house to go back to. But, Takato being who he was, this plan was royally screwed-up. He had taken her out to a restaurant that didn't cater to Alice's vegan needs. Then they went for a stroll in Shinjuku Park where a homeless man had revealed himself and had propositioned Alice far more strongly that Takato had ever dreamed of doing. After these two mishaps, Takato was amazed that his girlfriend was still by his side and willing to lead him up to his bedroom when he froze.

Alice had been understanding and caring when he had messed-up. She had given herself to him, even though Takato knew she had doubts about his former affections for Jeri.

All of this and more was why Takato deeply regretted his thoughts being on Jeri when they should have been on this amazing woman. While he was getting ready to face the day, Takato mulled over his regret, trying to make sense of his suppressed feeling for Jeri and his overwhelming ones for Alice.

Fully dressed and thoroughly confused, Takato spared a glance back at his girlfriend before walking out of the building. A short, essentially heartfelt note was left on the bed in front of Alice's face.

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Takato wandered around the streets, trying in vain to sort out his feelings while attempting to find somewhere to buy a nice breakfast for Alice. His wandering took him to a familiar restaurant, one that had housed birthday parties and broken hearts by the truckload since the Tamer's all found each other. The Katou restaurant was the logical place for all Tamer's functions. Except for anything directly celebrating Rika or Jeri, then the party simply had to be held at the Nonaka residence. Neither girl would allow themselves to be celebrated at the restaurant and Takato, Kazu and Kenta couldn't figure out why. Their main theory, Kazu's sole theory, was that Rika's bed was bigger and more comfortable than Jeri's so of course the girls would want to have a wild party there. Apparently, wild parties are the best time and place to catch lesbians in the act of not-mating. Kazu knew this because his favourite magazine, that he had imported from the United States of America, had said so in a recent article next to a picture of two women locked in a faux passionate embrace.

Takato cleared his head of all thought relating to Kazu as he approached the restaurant that was almost certain to have his former crush inside.

Takato had to wade through the bustling people rushing to get to Point B on time to get to Jeri, who was hurriedly pacing the length of the building. When he was seated by some woman whom he vaguely remembered seeing at some of the parties, Takato decided to simply sit and watch Jeri work.

It was nearly an hour before Jeri even noticed him and another half-hour after that before she more than passively aknowlaged his existence with more than a subtle wave.

Half the working population of Shinjuku had passed through the restaurant by the time Jeri sat down, or at least Takato thought they did.

"Are all jobs as hard as your's?" Takato asked when Jeri sat down with a huff. His friend only smiled and blinked a few times. A serious look then crossed Jeri's face.

"What happened, Takato?" she questioned vaguely, deliberately using a tone that left the question open for him to answer however he wanted.

"I did something I'm not sure I regret doing, but I'm fairly certain that I should be," he mumbled, avoiding Jeri's eyes. She immediately knew it wasn't something bad, if the blush lighting up Takato's cheeks was anything to go by. Cocking her head to the side and leaning forward slightly was all it took for Jeri to get Takato to elaborate. This was not what she got.

"How did you know Rika was the right person to, you know," he trailed off, embarrassed. After a few seconds, Jeri's eyes lit up with understanding.

"You and Alice?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, well, isn't that a good thing?" she asked, smiling knowingly. At her smile, Takato felt an odd, new feeling wash over him. This feeling confused him, he hadn,t felt this way since he was recovering from their first encounter with the Digital World. No, since they went back to the Digital World. That was when little Suzie Wong declared war on Rika and Henry. She wasn't even supposed to be there in the first place; both Henry and Mr Wong made that quite clear. But being the adventurer that she was, Suzie broke free from her father's grasp just in time to hurl herself through the portal after the other children. When they landed Henry completely lost all of the Zen his martial arts had drummed into him. The siblings had constantly argued throughout the entire trip.

Suzie didn't just stop there; she insisted on picking fights with Rika over clothing style and the redhead's natural tomboy-ness. The two girls had long and loud arguments discussing the good and bad sides of the colour pink and its merits against the more masculine dark blue. Suzie almost invariable won, against both older children.

While she was at a stand still with her older brother, Suzie turned to Takato for all of her fraternal needs. She had gone to him for the bumps and bruises she managed to acquire along their journey.

Takato was snapped out of him reminiscing by another jolt of what he figured to be fraternal love. Jeri, taking his silence and red face the wrong way, took a stab in the dark and was now suggesting that Takato was reminiscing over the previous night.

"Jeri! I wouldn't think about stuff like that in a public place, let alone talk about it!"

Jeri recoiled in shock, Takato had never yelled at her in a negative way before. She discovered that she preferred him mad at her rather than in love.

"Calm down, I didn't mean to offend. We won't talk about it if you're uncomfortable," soothed Jeri, putting on the same voice she used with both Ai and Mako when they had a violent outbursts. Her hand rose, brushing the stray hairs off his face. Takato offered an almost-not-there smile to the kind young woman, his anger ebbing away from his tensed body.

"Thanks Jeri."

"Now, I know you probably not going to want to hear this but-"

"I should be able to talk about it?"

"No, I was going to say you should be talking to Alice about whatever regret or issue you have about last night," Jeri offered with a knowing smile. Takato was shocked at Jeri's knowledge on the subject. How could sweet little Jeri, the picture of innocence in Takato's life, possible know about the morning after first time sex? The answer he came to made Takato's blood boil once again.

"Is that what you did with Rika?" he accused, standing from the modest table. Jeri, contrary to what Takato expected, did not go any shade of red. Instead, she rose from the table, grabbed his lower arm and calmly walked them both out of the restaurant.

When outside, Jeri released him in favour of a powerful right hook to his jaw. Takato fell to the cold concrete, blood dripping from the empty space one of his teeth had vacated.

"What was that for?" he asked, struggling to get to his feet.

"How dare you condemn my relationship with Rika while you complain when a girl finally gives you the right of way!" yelled Jeri, towering over Takato's fallen form. "Now, I suggest you go back to wherever you came from this morning, get down on your hands and knees and beg for Alice's forgiveness."

"Why?"

"Because this silly little crush has gone far enough! I am sick and tired of you moping around, trying to get me back. I'm glad to say that I'm over you! For good!"

"Glad?"

"If this is how you treat your girlfriend, who sounds like she gave you a woman's most valuable possession last night, then I want absolutely nothing to do with you," she said in a low and dangerous voice before retreating back into the building.

Takato stood there, stunned, Jeri had never spoken like that to anyone but Rika. He had no idea how to react to her lashing out at him. Rika always got really quiet, then wrapped her arms around the angry girl and rubbed up and down the length of Jeri's arms. Takato doubted he'd get the content and slightly frustrated sigh Rika almost always seemed to get; and he most certainly wasn't going to get the light kiss on the cheek they thought no one noticed Jeri slipped Rika every time they pulled away.

Maybe he couldn't have that with Jeri. But Takato was almost certain that Alice was willing to try.