DISCLAIMER: *sigh* I do not own digimon. (This is a depressing thing to keep repeating.) I also do not technically own the fairy tale I alluded to in this chapter. Although it's in one of my storybooks somewhere. Anyways.

**Note to Andy, if he/she's still reading this: I appreciate the criticism. I loved that episode too. But please bear in mind, this is my creation, and if it bothers you that much, you have the right not to read it. (But I still also have the right to write it. : P ) Thanks for taking the time to express your concern, and so politely.

~*~

Chapter 5

The feel of rough bark against her back had a somewhat calming effect on Rika, but she still felt hurt and angry after Ryo's stinging comeback.

Lonely? Me? Akiyama thinks he knows everything about me, she thought bitterly. He doesn't know me at all. Slowly but surely, poisonous tendrils of doubt began to grow inside her as she thought this. She dismissed them with an irritated shake of her head. Who does that idiot Akiyama think he is anyway? She fumed quietly. He was way out of line.

Suddenly, insistently, another voice bubbled to the surface, interrupting her monologue. Are you so sure that Ryo was the one who was out of line? Rika blushed with embarrassment and shame when she recalled all that she'd said to him. Maybe he'd been right to take a shot at her.

She shook her head again. No, she said to herself. No, he gave me a reason to be mean to him. He's always treating me like his inferior. Just because he beat me, and all of a sudden he's the 'Legendary Tamer,' doesn't give him the right to treat me like a little girl! I'm the Digimon Queen!

Still the voice persisted. He was never treating you like a little girl. You know he was just trying to be nice. He wants to be your friend, if you'd put away your pride and let him…

Rika frowned and shook her head more vehemently. "No," she mumbled softly, "no…"

*

Rika was wearing a long pink gown and pink silk slippers. A gold circlet crowned her head. In her hand was a small golden ball, which she would throw up in the air and catch over and over.

Once she dropped it and it rolled away from her and into a deep pool, where it sank to the bottom. She couldn't reach it and was getting very upset when Ryo the frog came hopping by.

"What's the matter, Princess?" he asked.

"I dropped my ball," she wailed softly.

"Don't worry, milady, I'll go get it for you." He jumped in the water and swam to the very bottom. After what seemed like an eternity he resurfaced with the ball in his mouth.

"Oh, thank you!" Princess Rika cried happily.

"Now, you can do something for me in return," Ryo the frog croaked.

Rika eyed him warily. "Like what?"

"Take me home and let me live with you," he said earnestly.

Rika was repulsed. "What, a wet, slimy little creature like you, living in my castle?"

"One good turn deserves another," he countered.

"Ewww, no. Go away, you disgusting little thing!" She got up and hurried away.

"You'll regret it!" the frog called after her.

She looked back. Ryo was a frog no longer, but a handsome prince in regal clothing. His eyes, deepest azure like the pool, pierced her, lancing through her soul.

"See what you could have had?" He held his arms wide.

"No!" Rika cried, and ran back to him. She passed right through him as if he was a ghost. She watched, helpless, as Ryo faded before her eyes.

Suddenly she herself was in the pool, sinking like a stone to the shadowy bottom as her skirts billowed up around her face. Her cry for help escaped her lips as a silent silvery bubble. Soon she was lost in the never-ending darkness.

*

Rika opened her eyes but everything was dark and murky. She panicked until she realized that her hat was covering her face. Yanking it off, she sat upright and fought to breathe normally.

She looked around. The sun was noticeably lower than it had been before she'd fallen asleep. Her stomach growled loudly. Rika wrinkled her nose at the coconuts, but then an idea came to her.

Gathering some dried-out shells, she built a tiny fire and roasted a coconut over it. She was surprised to find that it tasted much better than the raw ones did. In mid-swallow she remembered Ryo. He was asleep, sprawled out on the hot sand and looking like he'd been there for a long time.

Rika's dream came back to her and she shuddered. She reached out to touch him, to reassure herself that he wasn't really fading away, but stopped herself just in time. Let him sleep, she thought. Instead she stood there watching him, taking in his features as if for the first time.

Her gaze travelled lightly over his spiky brown hair, past his closed eyelids (she wished suddenly that his eyes were open so she could see that intense ice-blue colour without her usual disdain). It continued down his tanned face, unlined and innocent in his unprotected state; over his clothes, dirty and worn; and to the strange metal sleeve on his arm.

When she reached his feet she went back to watching his face a moment longer before she walked away to finish supper.