Chapter 2: Partnership?

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon

"Speech"

'Thoughts'


"Go ahead Renamon, open the door." Gennai said, while standing up. "I'm sure you want to meet your tamer." Said fox walked slowly towards the door, with the old man in tow. The hallway seemed to stretch more and more. She was excited, but hid it behind a mask of indifference. No one was to know, that the always calm Digimon could be made upset by something of that kind. So she strolled down the way, until she stood directly in front of the wooden gate, that lead most certainly to her destiny. She didn't hesitate to open the door, which swung inward with a squeak and then her eyes fell onto him...


After he knocked the third time on the door, he waited. Steps could be heard from the inside, together with quiet murmuring, but he couldn't understand any words. The footsteps became louder and louder, until they stopped directly in front of him, so it seemed. The door swung open and for him stood...a yellow fox, with a black sleeve over the left paw and symbols on its legs and sky blue eyes.


Renamon couldn't believe her eyes. In front of her stood a human, she expected that, but at least she thought it would be an adult, though she looked into the eyes of a child. Well, not a child, but he was no adult either. The human had brown hair, green-brown eyes and a scar below his left eye. 'Just like me', she thought, but that didn't stop her rage. She accepted to be teamed up with somebody and she also accepted that this someone would be human, what she didn't want to accept is the fact, that a child should be her partner. The fox knew of the DigiDestined, like almost all other Digimon, but she always thought, that this humans were great warriors and not children or adolescents. Meanwhile Gennai arrived at the door, still with a hint of a smile flitted across his face.

"Welcome DigiDestined, welcome. Please come in." He gestured for them to step into his house, but before anyone made just one step Renamon asked in anger. "A child? My partner is a child? How could you betray me like that Gennai?"

"I did not betray you Renamon and I think you know that very well. Besides, is that a way to treat you partner?" The man in question answered her, while everyone else stared at the fox.

"Hey, I'm not a child!" Aiden exclaimed and took one step towards her, after he had overcome the first shock, of being so rudely welcomed.

"'Kid' works just as well." The vixen muttered, still loudly enough, so that everybody could hear her, but then paused shortly to calm down a little bit. She had promised Gennai to help and she wouldn't back down now. However, she felt betrayed and cheated, but decided to just go along for the moment. She could talk to Gennai later, at least she hoped she could.


With every second he seemed to shrink more and more under her cold gaze. The fox was definitely female, that was recognizable from her voice, which called him a child and a kid. Maybe he was not an adult, but he was for sure not a kid anymore. Not after everything he had already experienced.

Aiden responded nothing, when he was called a kid and the other DigiDestined and Digimon just stared at the vixen in shock. Having quickly formed bonds with their respective partners, nobody anticipated that.

"Maybe we should talk a little, but we won't do it here, so please follow me inside." The old man now suggested and without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel and strolled surprisingly quickly inside. The fox like creature stared at the boy a moment longer, before she followed. After a few moments the Digidestined and their partners woke up from their stance of dizziness and they too got inside the house, leaving Aiden alone at the entrance.

He felt like somebody kicked him in his stomach. The words hurt him, even if he didn't show it. What did the fox knew about him? Absolutely nothing. She just called him immature, because he wasn't an adult; because he didn't look like one. She knew nothing about him and judged him only for his look, but the most important question was; why wasn't he angry about it? For two years straight now he felt hollow and alone and all the time Aiden kept his feelings inside. No one was to know about his past, though when the fox called him a kid, he became aware, that essentially he was exactly that. A child forced to mature faster than any other children in his age, but until now no one ever pointed that out for him and the Digimon did it, completely unaware with just one little word.

So the boy stood there in the entrance of the house, completely unaware about his surroundings and as a result overheard the footsteps, which came closer and closer. Only when the fox creature appeared in front of him a second time, he awoke out of his trance and looked at her. She still had this ice cold gaze on her face, but otherwise seemed to have calmed down a little bit. Now that he could examine her again, he noticed a scar below her left eye and that she was just a little bit taller than him.

For a moment the two just stared at one another, before the Digimon spoke to him, with an impatient tone in her voice. "Are you coming little one or not? We are waiting for you and I want to get done with it as fast as possible."

"You know, sunshine", Aiden began and her eyes widened at the nickname, "I don't think, that you can call me 'little one'. I am nearly as tall as you are..." Actually the boy was a little bit frightened. Her claws looked pretty sharp and her eyes narrowed dangerously, when he made his statement, but he wouldn't back off from her and therefore hid behind his mask of indifference.

"No one ever dared, to insult me in such a provoking manner and I strongly suggest, that you refrain from doing so in the future, if you value your life little one. And now you will follow me inside!" Her voice was low and dangerously, while she spoke to him, but all the time he remained impassive, not even his eyes were twitching. Inside Aiden was terrible frightened, especially when she threatened him, but he couldn't stop himself from thinking, that even if she would kill him, at least he would see his parents again and with that thought in mind he was able to seem so unaffected by her statement.

So he replied nothing, nodded shortly and motioned for her to lead the way. The fox threw him another short glance of anger, but then turned on her heel and stormed inside, without waiting for the boy. Even if she didn't like him, she was impressed by his uncaring appearance, though she would be damned, if she let him know that.


No sound could be heard from the group, besides the steady breathing of every being in the room. In front of everyone stood a cup of tea and the steam of the hot drinks rose slowly to the ceiling. No one dared to say anything to interrupt the silence, even Gennai just sat there and looked between Renamon and Aiden back and forth. Obviously he imagined things a little bit different, particularly, that the two of them may not necessarily like each other directly, but that they would accept each other at least. The human and the Digimon were engaged in a staring contest for whole ten minutes and neither of them wanted to be defeated.

"I think we should start all over again." The old man finally broke the silence and the DigiDestined, except Aiden, nodded enthusiastically in agreement and so did the Digimon, save for Renamon. When none of the two counterparts moved and neither of them a sign gave, that they acknowledged them at all, Gennai continued.

"The Digiworld is in danger and you two have nothing better to do than to stare at each other? Is no one willing to swallow his pride and give up? I beg you Renamon and I remind you on your promise you gave me, please stop fighting." The old man finished with a sigh and a disappointed face.

"So your name is Renamon?" Aiden said without breaking eye contact with her. She just stared back and answered with a little smirk.

"That's the name of my species, yes and what is your name little one?" With great emphasis on 'little one' and another smirk.

"Aiden." the boy simply stated and after a short pause continued. "How do you want to get called? I certainly won't call you by your species name, that would be equally if I would call Matt or Izzy simply 'human'." She just stared back at him, without giving a sign of acknowledgment and after he waited for another few moments he added. "Okay, if you don't want to answer me...Well, I will simply call you 'sunshine' from now on, but only if it's fine for you." 'Sunshine' simply stared at him, with her lips curled back in an angry snarl and a death stare in her icy cold eyes, but still she remained silent.

"Though on second thought, I really don't care, what you think I have to admit. So your name will be Sunsh..." He was interrupted, before he could finish saying the name.

"STOP saying that name you little, pesky human." Renamon screamed and jumped up. Out of anger she took her cup of tea and threw it at the wall, where it shattered into a thousand pieces. She fumed with rage and everyone could see that clearly."I warned you to never call me again with that name and still you do it! Who do you think you are?"

Gennai remained passive, but the other teenagers and their Digimon backed up against a wall. They certainly couldn't believe that a Partnerdigimon, could be so difficult. Well, for everything there is a first time, but still nobody said a word. Aiden remained completely calm, he didn't even flinch at her outburst, but inside he was terrible frightened. 'I may have gone to far this time' he thought, but at the same time he was proud of himself, that he didn't show anything of his fear. He was aware, that she could kill him, if she desired so, but it didn't bother him in the slightest. He clung to the thought, that at least in death he would find peace and that helped him to remain indifferent. He smiled to himself, before he finally answered her.

"So, but if you don't want to be called 'sunshine', than why didn't you answer me, when I asked you, how I should call you?" He could see her eyes twitching, but she replied nothing.

"Still, no answer. I don't know if you know, how a conversation works, but usually you reply to one another..." he waited shortly, then continued. "Okay, if you don't like 'Sunshine', then I will call you...Let me think...I got, I will call you 'plushie'."

"That's it, you certainly have gone too far. First 'Sunshine', now 'plushie', but since I don't fell like killing you.." Aiden silently sighed in relief, if she wouldn't kill him, then she would just hurt him, but which pain was greater than to loose his parents? "...I will just discipline you a little bit, what do you think of that?" The enraged fox exclaimed with an devilish smile across her face. Now Gennai piped up, who watched the conversation with interest until now.

"No Renamon, I forbid you to do that. Violence is no solution to your problems." He said, but made otherwise no move.

"I don't care what you allow me and what you don't allow me. Promise or not, I will instill some respect into this little one here." The vixen answered and slowly moved towards Aiden, who just sat there and stared at her. Again she admired him a little bit for his impassive appearance, but that wouldn't stop her and she could see clearly the fear in his eyes, even if this fear was minimal. Renamon wondered, what in God's name he must have experienced to be so blunt, however the next statement threw her completely off guard.

"If you hit me, I hit you back." Aiden said that, without any emotion in his voice and everyone stared at him in disbelief. He was just a human and he wanted to punch a Digimon? To make it short...it's unhealthy to do that. Renamon however hesitated only for a short moment. This boy had guts, but that wouldn't save him now, so she continued to walk towards him.

"You won't stand a chance at me little one, so just surrender and apologize and maybe I will forget to beat you too hard. Besides you wouldn't dare to even try to hit me back." She said in a mocking tone.

"Try me." the boy simply answered. Meanwhile Renamon had approached quite close to him and stood now directly in front of the boy.

Aiden stood up and waited for her to strike. The fox felt a twinge of regret, as she looked in his eyes. She didn't like, what she saw in those green-brown eyes, namely sorrow, despair and loneliness, but after a moment she brushed it up and lunged at him, but with much less power, than she originally wanted. Still the back of her paw struck him across his cheek, with enough force to threw him onto the ground. The other Digimon and humans stared at the whole spectacle with utmost disbelief, while Gennai remained motionless.

"Gennai, do something!" Kari exclaimed now, but the old man just turned towards them and shook his head. In the meantime, Aiden got back on his feet and stared at Renamon and for the first time since he met her, he didn't saw the ice cold stare of her, instead he saw pity in her face and that made him angry. Aiden didn't want to be pitied and with that in mind he lunged back at the fox, which was too surprised to block the blow in time. His fist met her cheek and now it was her turn to stumble and finally fall to the ground. No one ever dared that and in this short moment, she realized, that he lost his will to live. Something terrible happened in his life and that was confirmed, when she looked him in the eyes. A lone tear were running down his cheek, which was red from her slap, but before any other could see it, he quickly wiped it away.

Renamon was surprised, that she didn't feel any anger and instead sympathy towards the being, which stood in front of her. She carefully climbed to her feet and sighed once before turning towards the boy, who had his fist still in the air and an apologetic expression on his face. No matter how hard she tried, the Digimon couldn't be angry with him, so she just looked at him and slowly extended a paw. Aiden flinched at first, but relaxed, when he realized, that she wouldn't hurt him again.

"I think we started wrong and I would like to start anew." She said, her paw still extended and ready for him to shake it. "So, you asked how you should call me and I think I will answer you now." The fox smiled at him and then continued. "My name is Renam... I mean, my name is Sunshine and what is your name?" She asked, despite the fact, that she already knew. It cost a lot of overcoming for her to say that, but after she did, she felt like she had done something good and she liked it, nonetheless, her ego suffered greatly from that.

Aiden took her paw, shook it and answered her with a smile. "My name is Aiden..., but you can call me little one."


A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this little chapter and I apologize, that this one is shorter than the last one, but it just felt right to stop here and i have to admit, that i had little to no time this week for writing. Otherwise read and review and we'll see us in the next chapter, but until then...

Be Patient