A Lot Like Christmas

Intro: Back again! Miss us?

BlackGatomon: And here's your story forecast: In the beginning we'll see some Lee/Juri followed by some Rukato/Ryuki in the end, and a special surprise! And bring me candy! Oh yea, upon lots of begging from LS I'm making thank you lists to all who brought candy:

Dreaming-Nightingale

SerpentTreize

Digidestined of Courage

Dark Child

Rukato Fan

BlackGatomon: Arigato! And now for more Ryuki/Rukato competition!!

Ruki: Why me?-_-

Takato: =^.^= Yay!  Omae o korosu Ryo!

Disclaimer: You know the drill. I don't own anything that is even remotely digimon! T.T

Bold- important stuff, actions

Italics- memories, thoughts, other crap

                                                            *** Monday***

    Lee breathed in the crisp morning air and sighed. School was out for Winter Break and the fact that his mom was home 24/7 meant that he no longer had to baby sit Shuichon. Relieved that he actually had a free day to spend some time with his partner, Terriermon, he promised the lop-eared bunny they'd go play with the rest of the Tamers.

   "Hey Jen?" questioned Terriermon from atop Lee's head. "Do you have a hat or something? I'm cold and the snow's getting in my ears."

    Lee chuckled and pulled his hat out of his coat pocket. "Fine, fine. Just don't complain that it's too big…"

   "Oh I won't," said Terriermon happily, pulling the hat snugly around him.

 "And Terriermon?"

  "Hai?"

"Call me Lee."

  Terriermon leaned over Lee's head to face him upside down. "Why?"

   Lee sighed. "I don't like my name, it sounds like a girl's name."

 "No it doesn't," said Terriermon reassuringly. Of course he leaned over too far and fell off Lee's head, hitting the snow headfirst. Lee laughed as Terriermon brushed the snow off himself and scowled. "Well for someone who hates his name you're in a nice mood."

   "Oh come off it Terriermon," said Lee. "It's 1 syllable and 3 letters shorter!"

     "Jenrya!"

    "Takato…" Lee groaned as his goggleheaded friend ran up to him with snow covering him from head to foot. "Call me Lee! What happened to you?"

   Takato looked down on himself and realized the vast majority of fresh snow clinging to his jacket, gloves, hat, hair, and snow pants. He grinned sheepishly and muttered the two words that would explain the snow in any of these places day or night, "Snowball fight."

   "And we missed it?!" cried Terriermon. "Come on Lee, I want to be the person to splat Ruki in the face with a snowball!" And with that he took off dragging Lee's hat behind him like a flag.

   Lee ran his fingers through his hair. "Is Ruki even here? Usually she won't have anything to do with us, especially this time of year…"

   "Yea," said Takato. "But I convinced her that it would be fun to see me, Ryo, and the Dimwit Duo covered in snow from head to foot." He yanked off a glove and emptied a sufficient amount of snow out of it. "I have to say, she has really good aim."

   "She should," said Lee. "She's been pounding the crap out of anyone who makes her mad for a long time."

    Takato grinned. "That's true."

  "Oh… uh… is Juri with you guys?" asked Lee, his face turning slightly pink, but Takato didn't notice. Lee had never told Takato he secretly had a thing for Juri because he didn't want to compete for her. However, what he didn't know was that Takato's heart belonged to another, and unfortunately there was competition for Ruki. To make matters worse, Ryo knew Takato liked Ruki and did everything in his power to try to discourage him from pursuing her.

    Takato grinned. "You bet! She's the only person Ruki won't hit other than Renamon, everyone else is a sure hit target!"

    "Really?" said Lee. He picked up a little bit of snow and curved it into a perfect sphere. "Let's see Ruki try to hit me."

    Takato laughed as they ran over to the game, which had boys against girls. Juri and Ruki against Ryo, Takato, Hirokazu, Kenta, and now Lee. Ryo had offered to be on Ruki's side to make it fair, but Ruki said she had Renamon and MarineAngemon to help. Guilmon, Terriermon, Guardromon, and Monodramon were on the boy's team.

   Not that this was unfair. Although Juri was a wonderful dodger and her aim wasn't great she still got a few hits. MarineAngemon could only shower the boys with powder snow, which frosted their hair and got them wet when it melted. Renamon and Ruki were the real reason why this team up wasn't unfair. These two were merciless when it came to hurling snow at people, their aim far outstanding the rest. Those two alone could defeat an army of kids any day.

    The boys, although not even close to Ruki and Renamon's exceeding power had a pretty good lineup. Kenta couldn't throw but made good forts (which by the way on the girls team Renamon was superb at making forts) and Hirokazu was a clumsy thrower but a great runner. Lee was mediocre when it came to this and so was Terriermon and the other digimon (except Guilmon). Takato and Ryo weren't as great at the game as Ruki and Renamon but they were pretty good, yet unfortunately their competition for Ruki got in the way. Guilmon was another story, but to sum it up in a sentence, he was the worst player in the history of snowball fights.

     And so the war began. Everyone was hurling snowballs and it was chuck, duck, and cover for everyone except Ryo and Takato. The two were rarely hit because they were competing against one another to impress Ruki. Ruki and Renamon were never even hit except Ruki by a certain lop headed rabbit (Terriermon ran for his life, tripped, and was met by at least 20 icy snowballs from Ruki, which ended his hope of ever "Living to tell about it"). Lee held his main focus on Juri; Juri vice versa. It was a very well thought and fair game (that is, until MarineAngemon found the family snow blower and blasted everyone except her team to the ground in less than 5 seconds), which ended in the girl's victory, and almost every one of the boys covered in snow (except Lee).

   One thing was for sure that at the end of the whole ordeal everyone was lying on the ground extremely hot and tired. Hirokazu and Kenta left for dinner early so their moms wouldn't freak. Ryo left too, leaving Takato leeway to ask Ruki if he could walk her home. Ruki's sure response was, "No thanks." But Takato figured that her response would've been nastier if he were Ryo so he felt better.

    Thus leaving Lee and Juri alone in the white wonderland. Lee rubbed his shoulder nervously. "So… I… um…"

    Juri smiled. "What do you want to ask Lee? You can tell me."

  Terriermon grinned broadly and pushed Lee forward. Lee shot Terriermon a dark look and said quietly, "Do you mind if I walk you home?"

   Juri smile grew wider. "Of course."

    The two walked together, side by side, at least a few inches apart. As they trudged through the powdered snow Lee stared at her out of the corner of his eye. In all his life he never thought he'd ever feel like this.

    He had never been in love before, at least not that he remembered. None of the girls in school ever paid any attention to him, let alone like him. As a matter of fact, he never had much interest in them either. That all changed when he met a weird kid with goggles and a red dinosaur.

    Although Takato had voiced his interest in Juri many times, Lee kept his interest in her a secret, even from Takato. The last thing he ever wanted was to compete with Takato over a girl he didn't even know if he really liked. He knew Takato had been turned down by Juri many, many times and was secretly very pleased.

   But today he noticed something. Takato was beginning to pay more attention to Ruki for some insane reason, giving Lee space for Juri. That bothered him; was it possible that Takato had actually gone off the deep end and fallen in love with Ruki?

    Lee shook it off and decided to ask Juri about it. "Hey Juri? Takato's been acting really weird…"

   "So I noticed," said Juri. She brought out her snow covered sock puppet and said in the puppet's voice, "I don't get it either, but to me most boys are crazy."

    Lee laughed. "Yea, did you see Ryo and Takato today? They acted more like they were on separate teams, and they always went after Ruki."

    "Maybe they like her," said Juri. Terriermon shook his head. "Takato's not that insane."

  "Terriermon!" Lee scolded and Juri giggled.

    Juri's face brightened. "Hey, isn't there are Christmas party at Ruki's house this year?"

     Lee smiled. "Yea… but what about it?"
   She smiled. "I'm baking cookies to take to the party on Thursday… maybe you could come help me? And then at the party we could set those two up!"

   Terriermon gasped. "Really? Cookies?"

    Lee blushed. "Sure Juri."

      Juri beamed. "Arigato! Come by my house on Thursday at around 10am ok? See you there!" And with that she ran inside her house.

    Lee stood there for a moment, blushing furiously. Terriermon smiled. "What's up with you Lee? Your face is red. Oh, did I mention that I think you just got yourself a date?""

   "Terriermon!" said Lee hastily, and he dragged Terriermon home.

                                                            *******

    Takato awoke the next morning to find Ruki yet again in the kitchen helping his mom. Takato, who was still in his pajamas, yawned half asleep and not realizing who she was until Mrs. Matsuki cried, "Takato! Don't come downstairs until you at least have some pants on!!"

  Takato jolted awake and realized he was in his boxer shorts. Ruki was behind Mrs. Matsuki continuing her work, but upon close inspection he found she was trying extremely hard not to laugh. Totally embarrassed he went bright red and bolted upstairs to get dressed.

   Once he was gone Ruki looked at Mrs. Matsuki and they started to laugh. Once they had calmed down Mrs. Matsuki spoke, "Why are you here this time?"

    "Hmm? Oh," said Ruki. She sighed and wiped her hands off. "Gomenasai if I bother you but I come here just to get away from home." She did not mention that her mother's new boyfriend was a creep nor did she mention her admiration of Takato's family.

    Mrs. Matsuki smiled. "You know, I was kind of like you when I was young. I didn't like my family so I was always outside and somewhere else."

    Ruki smiled, comforted. "Arigato."

   "You're welcome here anytime, just close your eyes if you come in the morning."

   Ruki laughed.

    Takato came downstairs fully dressed but still beet red in the face. "R-Ruki what're you doing here so early? Would you like to go for a walk?"

   Ruki giggled and put her towel down. "Alright."

     They walked together in the falling snow in silence for quite some time. Takato was extremely hot even though he couldn't feel his fingers anymore. Ruki just walked on in silence, staring at the ground. "Ruki?"

   "Hai?"

   "What's wrong?" he asked. She turned to him, looking him over carefully. For as long as she had known him he had never left her in the dark. He comforted her and seemed to know what she was thinking. Sure, she'd draw away to shelter herself from the world, away from him, but he'd come running to her. She never wanted him to leave her side as a friend, he was that good to her.

    "Well, you know…" she trailed off and sighed. "My mom's new boyfriend is a creep who doesn't even like kids, let alone me. Christmas so far sucks to put it simply. Gomenasai… if I'm a bother but I need to escape from her…"

    Takato bit his lip. "I see. Ruki, you're no bother at all, and sometimes I'm surprised you're even telling me all this." He smiled at her. "After our adventure you seem more open. I'm glad, because I really do want to know all about you… to help you."

   Ruki turned away from him and continued to stare at the ground. There was something about his eyes that made her turn away; they were so soft and caring. "I know…"

   Takato stopped and so did she. "Ruki, I'm here for you… always. The fact is that I think I-

   "Ruki-san!!!" Ryo interrupted Takato. Ruki rolled her eyes when he came, folding her arms. Ryo smiled at her. "Hey Queenie. Why are you out so early?"

    Ruki turned to him. "Ryo, we were having a conversation so I would appreciate it if you would just leave us alone!"

    Not a word she said fazed him. Ryo had seen the two walking and was suddenly overcome with a very odd feeling toward Takato, something between anger and annoyance that he never experienced before. He had to do something, he would not lose to some Gogglehead for Ruki. "Aw come on Ruki, the more the merrier."

   "Three's a crowd," Takato remarked coolly. Ryo's eyes narrowed at him.

      Ruki sighed. "Listen, I've got to go anyway. I'll see you around, goggleheads." And with that she walked off briskly. Takato turned to Ryo. "Why'd you scare her off?!"

   "Me?!" cried Ryo. "Well excuse me for trying to make conversation!"

   "Oh come off it," said Takato. "You like her and you and I both know it."

  Ryo smirked. "What about you?"

     Takato shoved his hands into his pockets. "I'm just her friend. I was trying to help her, unlike some people."

     "Hmph, well at least I don't deny liking her," said Ryo. Takato stood in a stunned silence, both boys staring at each other with pure hatred in their eyes.

      "I don't want this to cost us our friendship," said Ryo coolly. "But I'm not backing off."

                                                                        ******

 Sorry that had to get kind of ugly there, but I had to show the competition between them or else this would seem like a true Rukato fic. Besides, Ryo wouldn't back off if he liked her, it would be more Takato's style right? Stay tuned for the next chapter!!

BlackGatomon: Heehee! Preview for next chapter: Takato teaches Ruki how to ice skate! But what happens when the 'expert' has a little accident?