The 17-year-old concertmaster walked out of the practice room, a pretty girl hanging off his arm. He had placid blue eyes, strawberry blond hair and comely features. Ichikawa Katsurou had the proud bearing of an heir of a shipping magnate and the long-suffering expression of one accustomed to media attention. Upon noting the reporter, the girl merely scowled. The minute Ichikawa stepped into the hallway, Fujimoto moved to accost him.

"Here we have Ichikawa Katsurou, concertmaster of Tokyo Junior Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan's most prestigious youth music group and Makino Ruki's fellow violinist. Mr. Ichikawa, how have you and your fellow musicians reacted to the associate concertmaster's unfortunate disappearance?" Fujimoto asked, shoving the megaphone into the boy's face. Katsurou seemed to have something in his eye for a split second and blinked furiously, shrinking away.

"We all miss her desperately; our sound just isn't the same without her." He said, forcing kindness into his voice.

"What do you think of the running theory?"

Katsurou had to laugh. "What? She eloped with Akiyama Ryo? Not a chance. Our director doesn't suffer absences and she wants my job too much! She's… driven, let's just say."

"Are you saying there's a rivalry between the two of you?"

"Of course!" He smiled mischievously, no doubt making many girls sigh with pleasure in front of the TV screen. "It's all in good will though. We're good friends off the stage." He looked expectantly at something off screen. Finding it, he apologized and pushed past the reporter, the girl scowling even harder.

She walked faster and faster as they reached the streets to wait for the boy's limousine, practically dragging him along with her.

"Hey, slow down! What's the matter?" He tried to calm his girlfriend, who was the orchestra's Principal Clarinet.

"We all miss her desperately? Our sound just isn't the same without her? Are you kidding me? Since when did a first violin make that much of a difference?" She blurted out. Katsurou rolled his eyes.

"What should I have done? Piss on her in front of the press at a time like this?"

"How about not being a fake in public? She treats you like dirt!" Her anger towards the Makino girl was burning near the surface.

"Look... I know you don't like her. I don't like her either. But shouldn't we wish her well anyway?"

"Whatever. I just hope they find a replacement before she turns up by some miracle. Everyone in your section hates her." Katsurou crossed his arms and studied her silently, frowning deeper as time passed.

"What?" She demanded, defensiveness on her pretty face.

"I don't like what you're implying, Megumi." He said, and let go of her hand.


"We're good friends off the stage."

Makino Rumiko turned off the television and began sobbing, her mother's arms around her.


Pluck, pluck, pluck, went Ruki's violin in the darkness.

"Watch this. Night of Fire!" Impmon flung two small balls of flame at the pile of wood, which roared to life.

"That's really cool, Impmon!" Izumi praised him gratefully, her clear green eyes shining with the reflection of the fire. The twin boys sat around the campfire too, talking inaudibly.

Pluck, pluck, pluck. The A-String was sharp. A good distance away from the rest of the group, Ruki adjusted a black knob, which was somewhat stuck. Remember to oil it when you get home, she told herself. If you get home… She groaned inwardly. You'd better get the concerto together in case Ichikawa jumps into a lake or something. What a pity for you Ichikawa is the furthest thing from suicidal. Stupid, spoiled brat who wanted for nothing. Creeek. She had turned the knob too hard, now the entire string came loose. Damn it!

She'd always fantasized about Ichikawa somehow messing up, from missing rehearsal to neglecting to practice to mouthing off the director, but he'd never do any of these things. If only Ichikawa would ship his ass off some deserted island on his daddy's boat, Ruki would be concertmaster.

He reminded her nauseatingly of another boy she couldn't measure up to: Akiyama Ryo. Except this boy was extraordinarily handsome, immensely popular with both kids and adults alike, and his parents' money could buy out a small country. Ruki wished she could say his parents bought him this position by offering the orchestra egregious sums, but no, he had auditioned anonymously and won her prize fair and square. After the previous concertmaster had left, Ruki would by all rights be promoted to fill the vacancy, but out of nowhere came this Ichikawa kid who already made a name for himself as a child prodigy when he debuted playing Sibelius's Violin Concerto in D Minor with the TSO* at age 12. All he had to do was play his signature piece, and the director was sold.

He had the gall to call her a prodigy too. "You're only fourteen! Look at how perfect your technique is!" He would say. If only he knew- and he probably knew, come to think of it- that she practiced obsessively. Precocious genius had little to do with it. What a phony. He had fooled everyone in the orchestra with his Mr. Perfect act, but he was not fooling her. And it was very clever of him anyway, praising her impeccable, exacting technique. Musicality. Nobody ever extolled her musicality, and musicality was how Ichikawa, though his technique was not flawless, had people fawning over him, among his other superficial charms.

Having lost all mood to practice, she glanced over to the trio sitting around the fire. They didn't look like such a tight group, thankfully. But still, why did she ever agree to come with them? They'd only slow her down. The girl, Orimoto Izumi, caught her eye and smiled encouragingly, but Ruki sniffed and proceeded to wind her A-String back. What else could she do, anyway?


"Do you know her from somewhere, Izumi?" Kouichi was curious, noting the eye contact between the two girls, and Izumi looked sheepish.

"Sorry for not telling you earlier." She apologized sincerely.

"It's okay. Nobody knew it was going to be relevant." He said kindly.

"She's my cousin, actually. My uncle is her dad."

"Then how does she not know who you are?" Kouji cut in.

"We haven't seen each other in years. The last time I saw her, I was four, I think. Then I went to Germany and her parents got divorced so there wasn't any reason to talk about her. My mom told me about her earlier today when we were watching the news. We might have been pretty close because I spent a lot of time with her when we were kids."

"I see…" Kouichi mused. "Why didn't you tell her?"

"She's so… intimidating! And how do you break to someone you just met you're related? She'd call me an idiot, probably." Izumi said, shrugging helplessly. They watched the fire silently for a few minutes.

"It worked out with me and Kouji."

"That's hardly the same thing. You're twins! You know, I got really jealous of Kouji when you came along. I've always wanted a sibling. I used to move all the time, and now I'm going to move again. I just wish I had someone who'd always be there for me..." Izumi said wistfully and had a faraway look about her.

"And now you have her." Kouichi pointed out. He was right, of course, but they're hardly sisters.

"She doesn't want to talk to me! She probably hates me already."

"Look, it wasn't easy between the two of us either. You just have to let it develop."

"We need to talk to her." Kouji interjected suddenly, not at all eager to hear Kouichi analyze their relationship.

"I don't think she wants to come over." Countered Kouichi.

"Too bad. This is serious. She's going to suck it up." Kouji answered curtly.

"Watch it, bro. Her highness is touchy." Quipped Impmon. "Piss her off and she won't come back."

"Hmph." Was Kouji's only response.

"Ruki?" Izumi called. "Can we talk to you?"

Startled at being addressed, Ruki looked up in vexation from fingering her violin.

"I'd rather not. And don't 'Ruki' me, Orimoto-san." Ruki balked at Izumi's overly familiar address. Izumi felt foolish being so forward, even if they were cousins. Nobody told Ruki after all.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to be rude."

"Forget about it."

"Makino-san, we need your help." Kouichi said politely. Given how withdrawn Kouichi was, he had a way of getting people to like him, even people as sullen and moody as Ruki. She sighed and nodded reluctantly, joining the campfire at last.

"Well?" She asked impatiently.

"First things first. How do we get any food?" Kouji spoke up first.

"Here? You don't need any. Just stop thinking about it and you won't be hungry."

"Are you pulling my leg?"

"Hardly. Are you done being a smart-ass, Mr. Not-your-business?" Ruki shot back sharply.

Impmon was right, Izumi thought. Ruki looked this close to getting up and leaving. She must diffuse the tension right away. Kouji could be an imbecile sometimes.

"Look, Kouji, why don't you take a break for the rest of this conversation?" Kouichi got there before her. Kouji scowled and turned away.

"My name is Kouichi. Kimura Kouichi. Nice to meet you, Makino-san." Kouichi said brightly, offering her his hand. Ruki's expression softened just slightly, but did not take it.

"Spare me the niceties, Kimura-kun. Get to the point."

"A number of children have disappeared from Tokyo. Do you know anything about what happened to them? Are they all here?"

"People disappear for all kinds of reasons. Why should I know anything about that?"

"Because, well, you're one of many."

"I haven't seen any other humans here."

"And… What about Akiyama Ryo?" He asked cautiously. She looked visibly taken aback.

"Ryo? Akiyama Ryo?"

"Yes, the one known as the Legendary Tamer."

"Did he disappear too?"

"As far as we know, he vanished in the morning on the same day as you. I'm sorry. I understood you two are close." But Ruki only looked confused for a second before deciding.

"No." She said fervently. "But if Akiyama matters to you, if he'd disappeared he's most likely here, just like last time, if he's not half dead in some sewer. Last I heard he'd become a raving drunkard."

"Ruki-san!" Izumi remembered something. "Two kids who disappeared turned up dead this morning. Their names were… I didn't catch their names…" But Kouji did.

"Shiota Hirokazu and Kitagawa Kenta."

Ruki froze and Terriermon gasped. Kouichi put a hand on her shoulder.

"Makino-san… Did you know them?" A long, insufferable pause, as she sat stunned.

"They were my…" She couldn't decide on her next word and closed her eyes, as though she could wish the nightmare away. "my friends…"

"I'm sorry, Ruki-san. I'm so sorry." Izumi tried to comfort her with a hug. Ruki suddenly came back to her senses.

"Don't touch me." She hissed and roughly shoved her arms off. She stood up and walked away without another word.

*Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.

Note: A fairly uneventful and introspective chapter, yet some things did happen. I'm still not sure I like how Ruki had turned out (but I finally got to write her!), given her development in Tamers, but I loved writing in her voice because she's my favorite character and the one I most relate to in the entire franchise. I just wasn't sure how she'd react to being stuck with a group of complete strangers, but I supposed she wouldn't be overly friendly. Anyway, hope it was decent. Reviews are highly appreciated.