That night, through my eyes
His Hope
AN: Well, I want to thank those of you who have stuck with me through this. I realize that I'm still new to this, but I hope you can endure my mistakes. I went back and edited the previous chapters so they are more reader friendly now. I was just in such a rush to get my idea out before I forgot it. I guess I forgot to clean it up first. *Sweat drops* Anyways, as the new summery said, this time we get to see what happened with the stories quietest character, Guilmon. Also, there will be a significant piece of the puzzle given here, but not all of it, I've made sure to keep two last pieces hidden for the final chapter. (Two guesses who its POV it is from lol) Oh, and my poll is still up for those that want to help out with my and a fellow fans discussion. I wanted to take this time to point out that I meant normal plain jane MirageGaomon, not including Burst Mode, if that makes any difference.
This chapter is dedicated to Crazyeight for helping me get inside Guilmon's head for both this chapter, and my developing project. I had a vague outline on him, but you pretty much gave me his blueprints, so thanks man! I owe you one!...or two…three…hmmm…how many was it up to now?
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, I own a DVD set of it now (03, the best season ever) but that's it. Digimon and its characters are the property of Bandi Namco Entertainment.
Flashback
"Where are you Guilmon bread? Come out come out wherever you are!" Guilmon called out happily as he dug through his food stash.
"I know I hid it here last week. Where did it go?"
Following the Locomon incident, the Tamers had decided to keep a permanent 'guard' stationed at the portal to the digital world.
The reason was simple. An open gateway between the two worlds was a very dangerous thing, but at the same time they couldn't simply cover it over with concrete, as without it they had no reliable way of getting to the digital world in the event of an emergency. So, they took week long shifts, as each of the Tamer's partners could easily handle anything less than an Ultimate on their own, the partner was able to go about their normal routine. (Even though most of the time they would stay with their partner before and after school, some (Takato) would even spend the night.)
This week happened to be Guilmon's turn.
"Awe, Impmon must have found it again," Guilmon said disappointedly.
Suddenly, Guilmon felt a familiar tug from the back of his mind.
"Takatomon's in trouble!"
Without a second thought, Guilmon ran out from the Tamer's hideout towards the school.
"It must be big. I can't remember the last time Takato was this angry. Someone must be hurt."
Now in full out 'protect mode' Guilmon's only thoughts were getting to the school and reaching his partner before anyone else was hurt.
Of course, since he was more concerned with the destination, and not the journey, he ran directly into a wall.
A wall that he distinctly remembered not being there the day before.
That also happened to be yellow?
"Ugff"
Blinking, Guilmon looked down into a pair of extremely annoyed bluish grey eyes.
"Oh! Hi Renamon! No time to talk now, Takato's in trouble!" Guilmon shouted as he pushed himself up off of her.
"Guilmon, there is no need for you to go anywhere. Takato is fine, as are the others," Renamon stated calmly.
"But, but, Takato's angry! Takato needs help!"
Sighing, the yellow fox pushed herself up before dusting herself off.
"While I agree that your Tamer does in fact need help, it is not the sort you can provide," Renamon said under her breath.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Renamon blinked in surprise before focusing on his bat like ears and sighing.
"Guilmon, your Tamer is in no danger at this moment. I was there just a minute ago. And yes, Takato is very angry right now, but he is in no danger. I came to prevent you from causing a scene. Right now, that is the last thing he needs to deal with."
Guilmon blinked.
"Huh?"
Shaking her head, Renamon turned to leave.
"Go back to the hideout and wait for your Tamer. I suspect he will have company when he arrives this afternoon."
"Company? Yeah! We can play tag!"
Renamon stopped for a moment before turning to face the red dinosaur with a serious (well, more than usually serious) expression on her face.
"Guilmon, if you pretend to be asleep until after they leave, I will make sure that you have all the bread you can eat for next week. Does that sound like a fair trade?"
Guilmon tilted his head to the side in confusion.
"But…Takato has been gone all day. I was hoping we could play," he said as his ears drooped.
Renamon took a few steps forward before lowering herself to one knee, so they could see eye to eye.
"I understand that Guilmon, but today…today needs to be different. I promise, it is just for one day, and it is for a good reason. Do you understand?"
Seeing the look in Renamon's eyes, Guilmon knew that is must have been important. Added to that, in the four years he had known her, Renamon had never once asked anything of him before.
Besides, her bribe was a good one.
"Ok, but only for today right?" Guilmon asked, still not exactly happy but at least willing to go along with it.
The fox smiled as she nodded her head.
"Good, now go back to the hideout Guilmon. I think we shall be seeing each other again soon," she said before disappearing in a yellow flash.
"Ok! Bye bye Renamon!" Guilmon said before running back to the hideout.
Flashback end
"Woah! Careful Guilmon!" Takato shouted from inside his bubble before ducking behind a nearby wall.
Several seconds passed before the boy let out a relieved sigh.
"Whew, that was a close one huh boy?"
"Hmm?"
Hearing Takato sigh, and sensing that his partner was distressed, Guilmon did what any friend would have.
"Takatomon, is something wrong?" Guilmon asked innocently.
The boy let out a tired sigh before replying.
"No, nothing's wrong. I'm just a little…off I guess."
"Because of Rika?" He asked, sensing the subject of his Tamer's thoughts.
"W-what? Why would you say that? She's been to my place plenty of times!"
Guilmon took a moment to figure out exactly how he wanted to word this. He was curious about what had happened earlier today, but at the same time he didn't want to push his Tamer this late at night.
"No…not that….you just…always act funny when Rika is upset."
Even though they were biomerged, and Guilmon could easily read his thoughts should he want too, he preferred to actually talk to his Tamer, as simply reading his thoughts usually just left him more confused than before.
"Takato gets angry when he see's Rika upset, makes big boom!" Guilmon shouted excitedly before laughing.
Takato sweat dropped as he picked up Guilmon thinking about the Parking Garage incident, then the IceDevimon incident, and lastly the Locomon incident.
"Uhh…"
"Takato got really mad today, I was going to come because I thought there was a fight, but Renamon stopped me."
Just as Gallantmon reached the alley on the opposite side of the street, he came to a stop.
"What? When did that happen?"
"Today….not sure when, it was after I finished my first jar of peanut butter, but before I finished my bread," he replied.
"Oh…that…uh…yeah. Somebody said something about Digimon being for little babies and I got mad, sorry if I made you worry," Takato replied nervously.
Though he knew it wasn't true, Guilmon kept silent. Knowing that his Tamer only lied when it was something very personal. Grand total, Guilmon could only recall two, maybe three things that fit this description, and they all involved Rika in some way.
"Did Rika call Takatomon her family too, like Jeri did?"
"Come on, we're almost there Guilmon."
"I hope Takato is ok."
"Ok, we need to find a spot to Dedigivolve, but it can't be too close to the house. I don't want mom to see us."
"Hmm someplace safe…Takatomon's house has lots of windows…"
"How about the big building with one wall?" Guilmon offered.
"Big building with one wall…oh the new shop they're building down the street, good idea!"
Peeking out from the corner of the building, Gallantmon made a break for it and quickly ran around the side of the building's one finished wall.
"Ok, here is good."
"Hey! Watch it Gogglehead!"
Gallantmon looked down to find the source of the familiar voice.
"Huh? Oh, sorry Rika!"
"Alright boy, separate now!"
A bright red flash filled the area for a brief second before fading into nothingness, leaving behind a somewhat confused red dinosaur and a very frightened teen in its place.
"But if Rika called Takatomon family, he would be sad, but he's not sad. So Rika was part of it, but it was not that…then what was it?"
Looking up, Guilmon saw the one person who could possibly help him.
"Renamon would know what happened. But she won't talk to me if Rika is here..." Guilmon's ears drooped at that point. He was worried about his friend and Tamer.
For the last couple of weeks, Takato had been much quieter than he had ever been in the past. At first, Guilmon had actually thought that it was Renamon trying to trick him, but he knew Takato's scent better than any other, and the scent of the being who looked like Takato, but was quieter than Renamon, was in fact Takato.
"But why is he happy now? The only thing different about today from the last few weeks was Rika."
"What took you so long? We've been waiting out here for almost ten minutes!" Rika Hissed.
"S-sorry Rika, but we, we got a little turned around. It's not like I could just run down the sidewalk or across the street." Takato defended.
Only barely hearing the two humans talking, Guilmon focused on Renamon. His friend and occasional tooter in 'proper' behavior only shot him a side glance before shaking her head softly. That, he recognized meant 'not now, later'.
Guilmon was about to thank her when he remembered another of her previous lessons.
"If I do not respond using words, then neither should you."
It had confused the little red raptor a great deal at first, but he soon figured out that it meant she would speak to him privately because the subject was in some way sensitive.
So, he responded with a single nod.
"How'd you get here so fast anyway? Renamon poof you the whole way?" He heard Takato ask.
At this the yellow fox stepped forward.
"No, I have not used Kohenkyo since before the battle with the MetalMamamon. Rika ran on her own, while I used the roof tops to avoid drawing attention to myself," Renamon replied coolly.
It took everything Guilmon had not to laugh at his Tamer's expression.
"Takatomon looks like Vilemon!"
"You mean you ran the entire way? All the way from the park, to my place?"
Rika nodded.
"And you're perfectly fine? You don't feel like, dropping dead or coughing up a lung?" Takao asked suspiciously.
Guilmon watched as Rika's face switched back to looking like it had when Renamon first kicked him into the parks fence.
"What? You don't think I could do it just because I'm a girl?"
Takato raised his hands in defense.
"No! No! Nothing like that! I was just surprised, that's all….You're in really good shape."
Seeing Rika turn away from Takato with her face red, Guilmon guessed that Takato had made her angry again.
"Why is Rika always mad at Takato? Seiko said that Rika is always happy around Takato, but she always looks so mad. Maybe Rika is only happy if she's angry? That might be why she is always around Takato, he always makes her angry," he reasoned.
"So how do we explain this to your parents? It can't be too often that you have company stay overnight."
"Hey! That's not true. Henry's been here a couple of times, and me Kazu and Kenta had a few video game tournaments that lasted through till morning. Even Jeri stayed over the night after we took down the D-Reaper."
Rika stopped in her tracks and spun to face the boy with a glare.
"Uh oh, now Rika's really angry. I hope Takato doesn't get sad again. I want Takato to be happy," Guilmon thought worriedly as he watched the two argue again.
" Rika argues more with Takato than she does with Ryo." He heard Renamon's voice come from every direction.
Guilmon looked up at Renamon before blinking. Looking around he noticed that everything was black, but there were several bright lights around himself and Renamon who was now standing in front of him. He recognized this to be Renamon's 'between' world.
"Renamon?"
"Yes Guilmon?"
Guilmon smiled. "Can we talk now Renamon? I'm worried about Takato."
The yellow fox shook her head. "Not yet Guilmon. After they are asleep then we can speak, but not any sooner. Until then, help Takato in any way you can without drawing too much attention to yourself. Is that clear?"
Guilmon nodded his head before noticing that everything had 'started' again.
"Oh? And let me guess, Mr. Perfect spends every weekend here too right?" Rika asked harshly.
"I..uh…no. Ryo's never even been here before. At least I don't think he has. You two are the only ones that haven't….well, unless you count Suzie, Ai and Mako, they haven't either, but they have stopped by to pick up bread with their parents a few times in the," Rika cut him off.
"Look, I'm really, really tired. I haven't eaten anything since lunch, and I just want to call it a night. So, could you please cut the useless chit chat and get this over with?"
Frowning as the two argued, Guilmon tried to think of a way to help, but then they suddenly stopped.
"Sorry about that. I guess I got a bit carried away." Takato said before turning to look at Renamon.
"Can you…uhh…can you pretend that you were hurt? Or that you're tired?"
Renamon was about to reply when Rika cut in.
"Just act like you would after being around Terriermon all day."
The effect was immediate. The yellow fox's shoulders slumped and her face became so devoid of emotion that it was hard to tell if she was sleep walking, or just very tired.
"That good enough?"
Takato snickered before nodding. "Yeah, she looks like she went ten rounds with Beezlemon."
"But Terriermon is fun?!" Guilmon thought, slightly 'hurt'.
"Uh, Gogglehead, we just got back from a big battle remember? Can you act at least a little tired?"
Renamon and Guilmon both watched Takato intently as he ruffled his hair and clothes, though Guilmon was confused by the action, he figured that his friend knew what he was doing.
"Just don't tell my mom we were in any danger ok? She gets a bit…well, you remember how she is," Takato said frowning slightly before turning back towards his home.
"You coming or what?" He called out over his shoulder.
Guilmon followed him into the front door and covered his ears at the loud voice that soon filled them.
"TAKATO! Where were you? It's almost ten o clock and you never even called in!"
"Takato's mom sounds like an angry Monocromon. But Renamon said to help him if I can…but I can't do anything about her…except get his dad!"
Watching his Tamer stand up against the one thing they both thought was scarier than Rika when she was angry, Guilmon made a B-line for her husband.
Once he was sure that the others were no longer paying attention to them, Guilmon tugged on the man's leg.
"Huh? Guilmon? Is something wrong?"
Guilmon nodded his head.
"I don't know what it is, but Renamon said that I had to help Takato any way I could. But I think Mie is a Mega, Takatomon is still just a rookie. Can't you help him?"
Takehiro got a confused look on his face.
"I'm not really sure what is going on, so I'm not really sure that I can help Guilmon. What happened? If I knew what was going on I might be able to do something, but I need something to work with."
Guilmon thought for a minute before responding.
"Takato was happy, now he's sad again. Renamon said she knows why, but she won't talk to me unless Rika is asleep."
The older man's face lit up for a moment, but before he could say anything, a new voice silenced the room.
"Excuse me, Miss Matsuki?"
Takehiro looked at Rika, then at his wife, before finally shifting his gaze back to Guilmon.
"You said that Renamon knows, are you sure?"
Guilmon nodded his head in response.
"And if Rika sleeps here, Renamon will be here too I assume," Takehiro asked carefully.
Again, Guilmon nodded.
Placing one hand on Guilmon's shoulder, Takehiro's face became serious for a moment before it melted into a smile, but Guilmon could tell just by the man's scent that it was fake.
The two looked back to the others just in time to catch the end of the discussion.
"I am…fine. I just need to rest for a little while," Renamon said tiredly.
"I understand, how long do you need, and hour? Two?" Mie asked quickly.
Guilmon saw the fake smile on Takehiro's face fall slightly, but before they could do anything to help the situation, someone else did for them.
The two watched as Renamon lifted her arm to shake in dismissal, only to sway for a moment before leaning heavily against the counter, before slipping slightly and gripping it with both arms to prop herself up.
"I..am…sorry, but I think that…I think that I might need a bit longer than that."
Guilmon blinked in confusion, but he noticed that Takehiro's smile had come back, and it was no longer forced. He actually seemed to be enjoying the little act.
"Mom, me and Guilmon found them a few blocks from here. During the fight she was dedigivolved, I saw it with my own eyes. The only time that happens is if they're caught off guard, or if they're completely exhausted."
"Well….we don't have much room Takato, you know that," his mother said casting a sideways glace at Rika, that confused Guilmon.
"It's ok mom. I can sleep on the couch, and I bet our carpet is softer than the hideouts concrete floor," Takato offered, hinting at Guilmon.
"Guilmon, I want you to talk to Renamon. If she does know something, anything, I want for you to find out, ok?" Takehiro whispered.
Guilmon nodded, then watched Takehiro step forward and raised his hand to get the others attention.
"Takato, why don't you give me a hand in helping your friend upstairs? She looks like she's about to pass out."
Guilmon looked from Takato and Rika's startled, yet relieved faces to Renamon's amused smirk, then back to Takehiro. It took a minute, but he figured out that the man was doing what he could to help out with the situation.
Takato and Takehiro each slung one of Renamon's arms over their shoulders and led her towards the stairs.
Knowing that he now had a 'mission' to complete, Guilmon made his way to the kitchen. There was nothing more he could do to help Takato right now, and he was rather hungry. Though he still had difficulty telling time, he knew it had been more than just a few hours since last time he ate.
"All I can do now is wait," he thought sadly.
After a little time passed, Guilmon heard some noise coming from the dining area and knew that the others would be eating soon. He had his fill of day old bread, but sometimes Takato would give him extra.
Looking up, he was met with a very familiar sight, though usually it was him and not his Tamer that had this particular problem.
"What is it Renamon always does when that happens to me? Oh! That's right!"
Running to his choking Tamer, with his arm reeled back; Guilmon threw it forward and delivered a hard slap to Takato's back.
Sure enough, it had the exact same results as it did with him. Causing his Tamer to cough instead of choke.
"Sorry! I just," Takato was cut off by Rika.
"Almost choked to death on a piece of old noodle? Yeah, I can see that."
"Terriermon was right, humans are strange." Guilmon thought as he watched the two interact a short while before returning to the bakery half of the kitchen. He could tell that he wouldn't be getting any handouts from Takato or Rika tonight.
Now, it wasn't that Guilmon was a glutton, far from it actually. He simply ate a lot because he burned it off so quickly. He was larger than most of the other Tamer's partners, and he grew the most when digivolving. So while Terriermon or Renamon only needed as much or a little more than a human most of the time, this was because they only doubled or tripled in size when they digivolved. (Not counting MegaGargomon.)
Guilmon on the other hand grew ten times his Rookie forms size when he digivolved, so he required a proportionate amount of food.
After going through the day old pile, he found an open bag of flour, but after trying to take a sniff to figure out what it was, he found himself sneezing.
"Guilmon! Where are you boy?!"
Blinking, Guilmon looked up and smiled.
"Takatomon is back!"
"Here Takatomon! I'm here!" Guilmon shouted as he ran towards his Tamer.
"Guilmon, I told you to stay out of the cooking supplies. If you wanted something to eat, you could have just waited a minute for me, you know that," Takato said with a mock serious expression.
"But he just got here? How could he know? Aw, I thought I got away this time."
"I'm sorry Takatomon….how did you know?"
Laughing, Takato rubbed the flour from his partner's snout as he replied.
"Call it a hunch. Do you want a blanket or a pillow? We've got extra."
Guilmon walked in a circle in front of the couch three times before settling down and curling up into a ball.
"Here fine. Guilmon go nighty night," Guilmon said closing his eyes.
"Night Guilmon," Takato said softly, before adding. "Good night Rika yawn sweet dreams."
"Hmmm…would Renamon want to know about that?" Guilmon wondered before falling asleep.
" Hmmm...I smell….I smell bread….Guilmon bread!"
Opening his eyes, Guilmon focused on the specially baked bun that was being held a few inches from his head.
Knowing that despite how special Guilmon bread was, it was not able to fly on its own, Guilmon looked up to see a familiar clawed hand holding onto the bread roll.
Before he could say anything, Renamon held one finger to her mouth, and then pointed up at the couch. Following her pointing finger, Guilmon saw a sleeping Takato with a soft smile on his face.
"Renamon wants Takato to stay asleep I guess," he thought.
Getting up very carefully, Guilmon followed Renamon to the bakeries back door, (which was open) and stepped outside.
Looking up, Guilmon could see that the moon was very high, so he knew that it was late, probably close to midnight.
"Guilmon."
Turning towards the source of the voice, Guilmon saw Renamon leaning against the wall and holding out the Guilmon bread roll.
Smiling, he stepped forward and accepted the roll, but not before breaking off a piece and handing it back to her.
It was a custom that he had picked up a while back, that whenever one of his friends gave him something to eat, he would share some of it with them. It was his little extra special way of saying thank you.
The yellow fox chuckled as she accepted the small piece of bread.
"Renamon? What happened to make Takato so angry today?" Guilmon asked after he and Renamon had both finished their snack.
Renamon 's gaze was fixed on the moon above as she answered.
"I'm still not quite sure myself Guilmon. But I know that it has something to do with Rika becoming upset today. She was in no real danger, other than becoming a bit uncomfortable. Takato however seemed to be angered by the situation, more so than would warrant. Do you have any idea why that might be?"
Guilmon tiled his head slightly.
"Takato always gets angry if his friends are upset. It's the only time he ever gets angry," Guilmon answered.
"Hmmm so Takato loses his temper if his friends are in distress?" Renamon asked after a short pause.
Guilmon shook his head.
"Upset, not angry. Takato only gets angry if they are hurt, normal or inside."
Seeing Renamon lift an eyebrow, he continued.
"When they get hurt but not from being hit. Like when Jeri lost Leomon, or when IceDevimon wouldn't let go of Rika."
The fox closed her eyes and smiled gently.
"I think I understand what you are trying to say Guilmon." Her expression then became cold again as she looked down at him.
"Guilmon, did something happen between Takato and Jeri? Something that would hurt him badly?"
"Oh no, not that." Guilmon turned away from Renamon before speaking.
"Takato said not to tell anyone, because it was not bad. But…"
Renamon dropped down in front of Guilmon and put both of her hands on his shoulders.
"Please Guilmon, this is very important. I need to know what happened."
"I promised…I can't…"
"Guilmon, what would hurt Takato more, for you to break your promise to him, or for him to find out that he was hurting one of his friends?"
Guilmon looked up in confusion at this.
"What do you mean?"
Renamon's grip on his shoulders tightened slightly.
"Guilmon, Takato is hurting Rika. Not physically, but like you said, hurting her without hitting her. As her partner, it is my job to protect her, but I can't do anything if I don't know what is happening. As much as it would hurt Takato to find out you broke his promise, I think that I know him well enough to know how he would feel if he found out he was hurting Rika."
"If Takato hurt Rika, then Takato would be very angry when he found out."
"Promise that it will help?" Guilmon asked quietly.
Renamon's expression became very somber before she answered.
"I can't promise that it will help, only that I can only do as much as I have information to go on. I've picked up bits and pieces here and there, but I'm still missing something, something that I think you know Guilmon. I can't promise that it will help, but I can promise that I will do everything in my power to help."
Seeing the honesty in her eyes, Guilmon nodded.
"Jeri…was sad. Very sad. She spent a lot of time with Takato, and he was happy. She was…still sad, but she was getting happier, and Takato was happier too. Then, after a long time, she got happy again, but then Takato got sad."
"Can you tell me why Guilmon? Did something happen between them? Did Takato or Jeri do or say something to change that?" Renamon asked, seemingly zeroing in on something in particular.
Guilmon nodded before becoming silent.
"Guilmon, please?"
Looking up at his friend with drooping ears and a sad expression, Guilmon spoke.
"Jeri said, that Takato was like family."
Renamon's expression went from focused to completely confused.
"Like family? And that made him sad?" Renamon asked with an odd tone.
Guilmon nodded again. "Jeri said, Takato was always there for her, that Takato always protected her, that Takato would always be there for her. Then Jeri thank you being a brother to her."
After a short period of silence passed, Guilmon spoke again.
"Renamon, why would Takato be happy to have me for a brother, but sad to have Jeri for a sister?"
Renamon was silent for several moments before shaking her head.
"I'm not sure Guilmon. Rika herself calls me her sister, and I call her the same, but she's never been saddened by this. I'm afraid there is still much that I do not understand about humans. But at least I have something to go on now. Thank you Guilmon," Renamon said before looking back up at the moon.
Walking towards the slightly open door, Guilmon stopped and looked back.
"Renamon, Takato was happy today. I pretended to be asleep, just like you told me too, and he was happy when he came with Rika. Do you know why?"
Renamon's expression went from deep thought to slightly amused.
"As I said Guilmon, there are still many things that I do not understand about humans. But, as far as I can tell, it had something to do with Rika's being there. What, I'm not exactly sure, but I promise that I will try to figure it out ok?"
Nodding, Guilmon went back inside and curled up on the floor as close to his Tamer as he could get.
"I hope Renamon can help. I don't want Takatomon to be sad again, like when Jeri went back home. I want him to stay happy, like when Rika was playing with him today in the hideout," Guilmon thought before drifting back to sleep.
End Chapter 3
AN: And there you have it. A few more pieces of the puzzle, but not quite the whole picture. Next chapter will be the last one for this story, and then I'll have a one shot to follow it. I might in the future write a small story about what happened the following day, (remember, its Friday night now, and Rika stayed until late Sunday, so she was there an entire day) but it wont be for awhile. I might do one for Takato and Rika's 'date' that was mentioned at the end of A Valentines Day to Remember though. Thank you for reading, and please don't forget to review! They're what keep me going!
Till next time, Ja Ne!
