Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Less than Human

Chapter: 29/ The Day After

Yamaki sat stone faced in front of his computer, his chin leaning on the tops of his hands as he looked at the turned off monitor. He made no move to turn it on however, instead finding comfort in its blankness of which seemed to represent his present mood and thoughts. The sun rose elegantly behind him, its path silent, and routine. That was fine though. A little bit of peace and quiet, in light of recent events, seemed to him all that he needed in order to get his thoughts together. After all, the day was going to be anything but.

A pair of arms folded themselves around his neck and Yamaki reflexively reached up and clasped a smooth, feminine hand into his own, rubbing it gently with his fingers as he gave a tired sigh.

"So much for what was supposed to be our day off," said Riley as she leaned onto his shoulder and followed the blonde haired man's gaze to the inactive computer, raising an eyebrow at it before shrugging it off as just another one of Yamaki's eccentricities. She had known him long enough to recognize his odd moments as something as a manifestation of sorts for both his nervousness and uncertainty about a situation, or when he was being contemplative. In this case, it was probably more of the latter then the former even if they were both mixed in. She couldn't blame him for feeling that way. Not after what had happened last night.

"Events certainly seem to have the greatest of timing don't they?" Said Yamaki finally. Riley noticed the tired tone that he had in his voice and gave his hand a soft squeeze of comfort. Riley smiled slightly. Yamaki could pretend to be the tough, secretive, cold, lone wolf Head of Hypnos all he wanted, but she had the advantage of seeing his gentler, more caring side come out into the light of day, even if he refused to admit that he had such tendencies.

He just hasn't had many opportunities to reveal it because of his job as a government agent, thought Riley as she leaned her head against his. He's spent too much time with technology. At least his interaction with the Tamers loosened him up some.

"You can hardly fault the digital world for what goes on there you know," she said in answer to his question. "You might as well tell the Earth to stop spinning."

"An apt metaphor," said Yamaki with a touch of sarcasm in his voice. "I'm sure that there are digimon out there capable of that sort of thing."

"You just had to go and ruin my point didn't you?"

"Not intentionally. I'm sorry. It's been a long night."

Riley nodded as her thumb caressed the man's hand, a sympathetic smile growing on her face.

"You have been up for almost the entire night. Any news on Janyu?"

"I called Seibo Hospital a little while ago. His condition is stable. Apparently he wasn't hurt as bad as we all thought that he was. He's going to be out for a while though so that he can recover from the surgery."

"That's a relief. I'm sure Henry's going to be happy to hear about that. His father means a lot to him…"

Yamaki nodded, remembering the conversation that he had had with the boy's mother shortly after he had received confirmation from the hospital about Janyu's condition. It was definitely going to be good news, perhaps the first that he had received all day, if not perhaps the only one that he was going to get.

Now if only I could get some information on what had happened with Nonaka, the Head of Hypnos thought remembering the brief conversation he had with the former Tamer Jeri Katou after he had called Rika's home to inform her about the trouble that was about to hit Shinjuku. He had a feeling he was going to catch some heat for her sudden disappearance in the line of duty. Of course, Rika Nonaka, the self-proclaimed Digimon Queen, hadn't officially signed onto Hypnos as yet (even though he had made the offer and she had definitely been the most receptive to the idea so far) but her absence would not sit well in the eyes of his superiors. It would serve as a way of saying that the Tamers were not reliable and held loyalty more towards each other then to their government. If nothing else it would serve to improve the case for the Argus program over the integration of the unwieldy and unreliable Tamers into the Hypnos agency. And that was not something that Yamaki wanted to allow.

Yamaki's eyes drifted over to the folder labeled Argus that sat next to his computer, and unconsciously he felt himself shudder.

Hard times are approaching, thought Yamaki grimly as he reached over and picked up his sunglasses, sliding them onto his face as he once more gave Riley's hand a soft squeeze. It was time to go to work.


Ryo Akiyama stretched out on the couch, groaning slightly at the patch of sunlight that had settled on his face, glaring through his closed eyelids. Reflexively his hand reached out, seeking for the form of his partner, only to clasp at nothing except for the familiar feel of blankets covering his body. Frowning more at the absence of his partner then at the inexplicableness of his present situation from what his memory was presently telling him, Ryo sat up with a groan and took in his surroundings. He was in an apartment, that much was certain and a well-to-do one at that, and he was lying on a couch facing a rather large window. Standing at the window facing him, calmly drinking some tea was a dark haired woman that seemed awfully familiar to him, but for the life of him he couldn't recall who she was. She had short, closely cropped hair, a loose fitting, baggy sweater, and a pair of small, thin glasses. There was an expression about her face that indicated exhaustion and worry that had only recently been relieved. The woman looked up, and upon seeing that Ryo was awake her face brightened visibly, and all of a sudden the last remnants of worry that she had slid away.

"Good morning Ryo," said the woman kindly as she took another sip of tea. "Sleep well?"

Ryo gave a small smile as he tossed aside the blanket and moved his legs off the couch and to the floor, wincing slightly as he felt his muscles ache from the battle from last night.

What was it I was fighting? Oh yeah…a digimon called Craniummon…

Ryo frowned as he looked around, his gaze glancing briefly at the woman standing at the window.

Where'd Hopmon go? Let's see, the last thing that I remember was being held in…was it Antylamon's hands? …And I was holding Hopmon…and before that was…Milleniummon…

Memories suddenly flooded Ryo's mind faster then he could grasp them and a panicked expression appeared on his face. Misinterpreting it (but still understanding Ryo's expression to an extent) the woman took a step towards him.

"If you're looking for your digimon, don't worry about him. He's in the kitchen right now having some breakfast." The woman's expression once more took on a worried expression as she glanced in a direction that Ryo assumed was the aforementioned room of the apartment. "I just hope that Suzie isn't bothering him too much."

Ryo's eyes widened as he now realized why it was that the woman had seemed so familiar to him now.

"Mrs. Wong?" Ryo asked, his voice sounding throaty, and a tad bit scratched. The woman turned towards him.

"Yes?"

Ryo swallowed and coughed, attempting to clear his throat so that he could sound more normal. He hadn't seen Henry's mother in quite some time, and had only gone to his family's apartment a couple times (getting odd looks from Henry's older sister, Jaarin both times in fact). In fact, the majority of the times that he had seen Henry's mother was during the D-Reaper invasion. This fact reminded him that he did not often see the other Tamers outside of a battle or a situation that demanded all of their attention.

Ryo's face became downcast as he realized that given what had happened to him recently, the odds of that changing anytime soon had just shrunk considerably.

"I was wondering…how did I get here? Not that I'm not glad that I am here, I mean, it beats sleeping outside but it's just…did Suzie's partner bring me here?"

"Yes," said Mayumi Wong as she glanced once more towards the kitchen area, raising an eyebrow at a rather loud clanging noise emerging from it. "Suzie let Lopmon out of the apartment when her digivice…" Mayumi glanced at Ryo to see if she had gotten the terminology right before continuing. "…Told her that there was some trouble going on. Antylamon showed up a little while later with you in tow and we set you and your partner up on the couch. I called your father a little while ago, so he'll be stopping by to pick you up and take you home. Sorry that Henry couldn't stay here to fill you in on things."

"That's okay," said Ryo, giving Mayumi a reassuring smile to assuage her of whatever worries that she had. "He's got school to go to after all."

Something that I keep missing too much of, commiserated Ryo silently. But then, that's destiny for you.

"Well, there is that," said Mayumi quietly as she looked down at her tea cup contemplatively, a strange expression passing briefly on her face like a cloud obscuring the sun. Ryo raised an eyebrow, wondering if something had happened last night and was about to ask until a sudden clamor coming from the kitchen interrupted him, catching their attention.

"Hopmon!" Called out the familiar voice of Suzie Wong in a panicked voice. "Come back! I just want to help look nice for Mr. Wyo when he gets up!"

"Suzie, maybe he doesn't want to wear the dress you picked out for him."

"But why Lopmon? Tewwiewmon nevew complained about it before…"

Ryo looked over at Mayumi Wong with a worried expression. The elder Wong was already shaking her head and moving in the direction of the kitchen to put a stop to things before they ran out of control.

"Suzie…" Mayumi called out while Ryo watched her go for a moment before falling into step behind her, one hand scratching the back of his head in bemusement at the trouble that his partner had gotten into in so short a time.

I just hope that this is as far as our trouble goes right now, thought Ryo as he once again thought about last night's battle. In the back of his mind he felt that last night's events were only signaling their beginning.


Kenta looked over at Kazu with wide eyes as the visor-wearing child sat within the shade of the dinosaur hideout that had been their hangout for longer then either cared to remember before frowning. Sitting down next to him, Jeri looked at Kazu with a worried gaze.

"Kazu," began Jeri, pointing to the large, black and blue bruise that stood out quite prominently on the boy's face. "I'm thinking that you need to let Kenta and MarineAngemon see to that bruise on your face."

Kazu waved a dismissive hand to the girl, his eyes closed and relaxed, not even bothering to vocalize his response to the puppet loving girl, though part of it was no doubt due to the fact that with the way that his face felt, speaking was the absolute last thing that he wanted to do.

"He wouldn't let me check it out when me and MarineAngemon showed up at Hypnos last night to help out with the damage control," said Kenta grouchily as he folded his arms across his chest.

"But why?" Asked Jeri, perplexed now. "It looks like it really hurts…"

"My Tamer wishes to have a remembrance of last night's battle," said Guardromon from his place just outside of the dinosaur hut. "As I recall, he said something about a 'warrior must retain his battle scars'."

Jeri looked over at Kenta and cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

"Did he actually say that?"

Kenta sighed.

"Well, not in so many words. Frankly I can't see why he'd want to keep a bruise, especially one like that. For one thing it's temporary and another he's definitely hurting from it. Beelzemon told me last night that he got hit by a Mega when it was trying to destroy Guardromon."

Jeri's eyes widened at that and she quickly turned her face to Kazu and scowled at him.

"You two…need to lighten…up," said Kazu, his voice sounding distorted due to the stiffness of his jaw. "I told you guys…I'm fine. The docs checked me out…and besides, it's not like anything's broken or fractured. I got lucky…"

Kazu winced visibly and moved one hand to his face, massaging the bruise and groaning as he did so.

"I'm pretty sure that luck had nothing to do with it," said Kenta as his frown darkened. "From what Beelzemon told me, that Crusadermon didn't consider you enough of a threat to really go all out on you. If you had managed to do something that really teed her off it would be a different story. And don't tell me that this is just you're way of getting out of having to answer Ms. Asagi's questions, because that's pretty shallow if you ask me."

Kazu cracked open an eye and looked at his companion critically, wondering at the angry tone that Kenta had used with him. Kazu looked Kenta in the eyes for a moment before finally groaning in defeat and shaking his head.

"Alright Chumley, if it'll set your mind at ease you can have your little pink fairy guy fix me up after school. We still have to head down to Takato's bakery anyways to help out, and I don't want any of the customers getting scared away by this." Kazu pointed at the dark discoloration on his face before getting to his feet and grabbing his book bag. "Anyway, I think we ought to head down to class now. I'm not getting stuck in another one of Ms. Asagi's after school detentions. Last one there is a rotten digi-egg!"

Kenta shook his head as he watched his friend take off at a pace that didn't normally befit the visor-wearing child when he was on his way to school before looking over at Guardromon. The mechanical android was as impassive as always.

"Boys."

"Huh? What's up Jeri?" Asked Kenta, pausing in his reaching over to his book bag. Jeri had a small frown on her face.

"Kenta? Is Kazu feeling okay? He's been acting kind of weird for days now. I know that he's normally odd but this seems to be a little bit more then usual. He's been more attentive in class, more diligent about his homework too from what I've noticed, and…well, I didn't look too closely at those since it seemed to be for the best but his refusing to let MarineAngemon deal with his injuries? What's that about?"

Kenta frowned as he hoisted his bag to his shoulders and returned his gaze to Jeri.

"It's kind of simple actually," said Kenta after a couple seconds. "It has to do with Takato."

"Takato?"

Kenta nodded.

"I talked with him about it back when we first started working for Takato's parents. He's been out of sorts ever since that battle with Lucemon when he finally got Guardromon to digivolve back to his Ultimate form. Did you know that they lost that fight?"

Jeri nodded. She had heard about the events of that particular battle from varying accounts of each of the other Tamers, and Kazu's evolving Guardromon to Andromon had been something of an accomplishment for him despite the fact that Lucemon had brutally defeated both the newly evolved Ultimate and Kyubimon in one fell swoop.

"Well," continued Kenta. "In the past, whenever any of the others had digivolved they were able to win against powerful enemies. Takato, Guilmon, Henry, Terriermon, Rika, and Renamon defeated a lot of bad guys when they digivolved to the next level for the first time despite being inexperienced with their forms. Gallatmon defeated Beelzemon and MegaGargomon defeated Zhuqiaomon. Neither one of them were pushovers but they still won, and that was because they had something to fight for. People that they had to protect because they cared about them. Kazu…he had all of that going for him, but in the end it didn't matter. Lucemon defeated Andromon without even breaking a sweat…"

"But…I don't get it. Rika and Kyubimon lost that fight too, so why would Kazu be affected by that?"

"It doesn't matter that Rika lost that fight too," said Kenta. "What matters to him is that he was trying to help someone and he failed. He feels that he let Takato down in some way. Everything that he's been doing since then I think is in some way a way that he feels that he's making up for it." Kenta looked over at Guardromon, who at the moment continued to stay silent, remaining impassive despite the fact that the conversation was about his partner. Kenta looked back to Jeri and began walking. Jeri followed.

"It's quite possible," continued Kenta. "That his reasons for not wanting the bruise healed are the same as helping out at the bakery. He couldn't help Guardromon, so his keeping the bruise is probably something like atonement for that. That's just what I think anyway…"

Jeri looked at Kenta as if she were seeing him with new eyes. There was something about Kenta's reasoning that had struck a cord with her, and in a way it made sense. She knew as well as anyone, if not better the kinds of feelings that came when a person felt unable to do something when the whole world just seemed to turn against them, and the kinds of dangers that kind of thinking could entail. It was rather amazing that she hadn't picked up on it sooner, and that it was Kenta who had done so before her. Kenta was usually quiet and shy. Not very outspoken and tended to flow in whatever direction Kazu leaned with little pressure required from the other boy's part. In some ways he reminded her of Takato back before he had become a Tamer, but in others he reminded her of Takato after first combining with Guilmon to become Gallantmon, only to a far lesser degree. It was times like this that Jeri caught a glimpse of the real Tamer beneath the visage that the others chose to let the world see. And now, she had seen a little bit of the real Kenta.

"You know Kenta," began Jeri with a small smile growing on her face. "There's a lot more to you then meets the eye."

Kenta looked at her with a surprised expression, his face starting to take on a slight redness to it as he took in her small, glowing smile.

"Huh? W-What makes you say t-t-that, Jeri?"

Jeri giggled lightly and shook her head.

Boys…

A small, rustling sound caught their attention as they began to close in on the gate leading to their school. Looking up they both found Terriermon, sitting on the stonewall, head cocked to one side as he watched them.

"Terriermon!" Cried Kenta joyfully. "I haven't seen you since the fight last night. How are you doing?"

"Feeling a little bit better then I was last night," said Terriermon as he raised an ear in salutation to the two children. "Yamaki called this morning. He said that Henry's dad is going to pull through."

Jeri's eyes brightened at that news. She had heard a little bit about what had happened to Henry's father that morning when Kazu and Kenta had first shown up, and it had answered her questions as to why Henry hadn't arrived at the park as was usual for him to do (though judging from Terriermon's presence he had arrived at school early rather then late).

"So where's Henry now?"

"In class, where you guys should be," giggled Terriermon as he placed a tiny paw on his mouth.

Kenta opened his mouth to say that they had plenty of time before snapping it closed with an audible click. The last time he had said something like that he, Kazu, Rika, and Renamon had been dragged into a data stream in the digital world. It would be just his luck for something of similar equivalent to happen as soon as he said that.

"He's right about that," said Kenta as he took a step into the schoolyard. "We'll have to talk to him when we have more time. Bye Terriermon!"

"Bye-bye!" Called out the rabbit-dog rather cheerfully as he waved his ear at Kenta and then looked down at Jeri. "Hey. Jeri. You do have to be in class before the bell rings…"

Jeri's face became contemplative.

"I know Terriermon. I was just thinking about everything that's happened lately. I've been worried… Been worried about a lot of things."

Terriermon did a summersault off the brick wall and landed in front of Jeri, a look of contemplation appearing on his face now.

"Yeah. Things have been kind of chaotic lately haven't they? We still don't even know what the word is about Okinawa."

Jeri bit her lower lip as she recalled the brief meeting that she, Rika's family, and those Tamers who had been able to attend (sans Henry who had been busy informing his mother about what had happened to his father at the time) had had with Yamaki. The Head of Hypnos had managed to squeeze in some time to talk to them about what had happened that night and organize things as best as he could with the resources they had available. Beelzemon had immediately elected to go to Okinawa on his own, and given the fact that he had the ability to go there without having to commit any of Hypnos's resources to the effort there was little argument on that front. So far, all that they knew for certain was that the Wild Digimon signals that had appeared in Okinawa had disappeared from Hypnos's detection systems, so either Takato had managed to take care of the situation himself or Rika and Renamon had gotten there in time to intercept the digimon before things got too out of hand. Given the distance between Shinjuku and Okinawa there stood a better chance that the former had happened rather then the latter, but with digimon like Sakuyamon one could never be one hundred percent certain. At least Yamaki had been able to pull some strings so that he could get some help to check out the area. Only time would tell on how things went from there.

Jeri blinked when she felt Terriermon jump up onto her shoulder and hugged her head with his ears.

"Momentai Jeri. I'm sure that everything's going to be fine. This is Rika and Takato we're talking about, remember? Sure Takato trips a lot and Rika has the tendency to get into trouble that's over her head but they've handled some pretty tough stuff before! They'll be fine!"

Jeri gave a small, worried smile at the little Rookie.

"You're pretty confident about that."

Terriermon giggled.

"When you consider the kinds of things that we've gone through and come out of I have every reason to be confident. We've had some good news today. I'm sure that by the time that we all see Yamaki we'll have a little bit more. Now Momentai Jeri. And hurry up and get to class! You wouldn't want to be late either now would you?"

Finally letting loose a light giggle of her own, Jeri reached up and gave Terriermon an affectionate scratch behind the ears before dashing off towards the doors, Terriermon leaping off of the girl's shoulders a second later and catching a breeze with his long ears.


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