I actually had this done Thursday, but I kept forgetting to put it up. I hope you enjoy the second installment of the A Tamer's Story series. This one centers around Ryo and Ruki.

A Tamer's Story: Learning to Heal

Chapter 1: A Nightmarish Past

Rumiko was sixteen when her first child was born, but she didn't care. She was deeply in love with a man named Kenichi ten years older than her. He promised he'd do anything for her, and their newborn daughter whom they named Ruki. He even promised to marry her, and he kept his promises...for a while anyways.

They lived in a small apartment in the middle of Shinjuku. It wasn't long after they were married that Rumiko had found out that he wasn't faithful to her. She swallowed her feelings and told no one about it. She figured as long as she told no one about it, then his threats to beat her up, would remain just that; threats.

It was four years later that their little girl, was first abused by that man.

It was Ruki's first day of preschool, and she'd made friends with a little boy named Nero.

"Ruki. This is for you 'cause you're my friend. You helped me make the hugest castle ever!" Nero said and handed Ruki a piece of paper with colorful scribbles all over it.

"It's pretty. Thank you. Tomorrow we'll build an even huger castle." The little girl beamed.

"Come on children. Your parents are waiting for you." Their teacher told the boy and girl.

"Teacher. Look what Nero gived me. He's my friend." Ruki said showing the teacher the paper.

"That's lovely. You should make him one and give it to him tomorrow. Now come along. Your dad is waiting for you." The teacher said and took Ruki outside.

"Bye, bye!" Ruki said and waved to the teacher before going very far.

Her father grabbed her hand rather roughly and opened the back door of the car.

"What took you so long to get out here?" He asked angrily as he buckled her in.

"I was talking to my friend Nero, and the teacher. Look what Nero gave me!" She chirped.

"I don't give a damn about what some snot-nosed brat gave you. As soon as school is over you are to come out here." He said ripping the paper from her hand and ripping it to pieces.

That action made Ruki start to cry.

"Shut up damnit!" He yelled, which made her cry harder.

He grabbed her tiny wrists in one hand and pulled her body forward and proceeded to pound on the little girl's back.

"Now shut the hell up, or you'll get more!" He yelled.

She whimpered and Kenichi got in the front seat. Ruki curled up in a ball as he drove. When they got to the apartment building he went to the back seat, which to any passer-by looked like he was unbuckling her.

"If you don't do as I say, I'll hurt you even worse. And I'll tell your mom what a bad girl you've been. She hates bad girls, and so do I. Do you understand?"

Ruki nodded. He unbuckled her and they went into the apartment. Rumiko wasn't home from work yet, so it was just the two of them. Ruki had started playing with some of her toys when Kenichi walked over to her with an idea in his head. He crouched down and took the toy from her hands to get her attention.

"We're going to play a game." The man smirked.

"Yeah!" She chirped happily seemingly forgetting about what had happened not even five minutes ago.

But it wasn't really a game they were playing. He ended up stripping the girl of all her clothes and had her parading around like that for him in the bedroom. She was too young to think that it was wrong.

"Ruki? Kenichi? Where are you?" Rumiko called not seeing them in the living room.

"Put your clothes on and don't tell your mother about this or I'll beat you." He hissed and left the room.

The four-year-old had no idea why she wasn't supposed to tell her mother and only worked on putting her clothes on.

"I didn't hear you come in, Baby! Ruki and I were just playing Hide 'n Seek." He lied hanging an arm around Rumiko's shoulders as Ruki came out. "Isn't that right kid?"

"Why is her shirt on backward and inside out?" Rumiko asked him

"She got something on her other shirt and she said she wanted to change her own shirt. Guess I didn't notice." He lied.

"Oh. Have the two of you eaten yet?"

"Nope. I hasn't had anything since snack time." Ruki said.

"How does pizza sound?" He asked.

"That's fine with me." Rumiko said.

"Yeah!" Ruki echoed. "Pizza!"

After that incident Kenichi would take every moment he could to watch his daughter prance around naked, and make any excuse to take out all the pressure of his relationship with Rumiko on Ruki. He'd do anything from smack her with his bare hand to deny her dinner. He'd always blame any bruises immediately on Ruki's clumsiness. He even got Ruki to start blaming the bruises on herself.

Rumiko switched to a part-time job the next year to stay at home with Ruki to, perhaps, help her with her lack of elegance. With no time to get his pleasures from the young girl's antics during the day, Kenichi turned to nighttime visits to Ruki's room. He started to use her for his sexual pleasures. That lasted for about two and a half years before Rumiko found out about it.

Rumiko had woken up in the middle of the night alone, but that was nothing new. Kenichi was always bouncing around all night to one or more different women's houses, or so she thought he had no idea that the "other woman" was her own daughter.

Rumiko had gone into the kitchen for a drink when she noticed Ruki's bedroom light on. After finishing the drink off, she walked over to the bedroom door and heard some noises coming from inside. She opened the door quickly to find her husband making love to their daughter.

"What the hell is going on in here?!" Rumiko yelled. "Get your sleazy ass away from her!"

"Let me explain--" Kenichi said smoothly.

"I don't want to hear a lying word from your mouth! Get out of here!" She yelled.

"Listen to me for a moment." He said.

Rumiko just threw Ruki's lamp at him and he got out of the room. She turned to her daughter and sat at the end of the bed. Ruki just looked away from her mother's face and clutched the blanket close to her.

"Are you alright Ruki?"

She nodded, but refused to look at her mother. "Please don't throw me out into the streets." She whispered.

"What? Why would you think I would do that?"

"Dad told me that if you found out he was spending so much time with me, then you'd get mad and throw me out because I was a bad girl, worth nothing."

"That's not true! I love you. He's the one who should be ashamed not you. You're nine-years-old. You know that if someone's touching you and doing such things to you, you should tell me."

"You said if strangers were. Dad's not a stranger." Ruki said finally looking at her mother.

"I'm so sorry. I should have expected something was going on. How long has he been doing this? Tell me."

"How long for what?" She asked emotionlessly.

"This! Coming to your room and...and..." Rumiko asked tearfully.

"Oh. That. A very long time. Since I was five, I think."

Rumiko's eyes widened, and she started crying harder and held tightly onto her daughter. Ruki didn't quite understand why her mom was so upset. Didn't every girl's father do that kinda stuff to them. Her father had said so.

"I won't let him do this to you ever again." Rumiko said wiping the tears from her eyes.

"What about when he hits me? Will you stop that too?"

"He hits you! So those bruises and cuts are--Oh, Ruki. I won't let him come near you again. We're going to go to grandma's for a while." Rumiko said standing up. "In fact, let's go now."

Ruki obliged and changed her clothes as her mother made sure her father didn't try to get at her again. She left her room and found her parents in a shouting match.

"You aren't taking her anywhere! Ruki is staying right here with me." Kenichi yelled.

"Oh really? And how do you expect to buy food for either of you? You don't have a job! My part-time job barely gives us enough money to pay the rent. My mother sends me money for food so that my daughter doesn't starve to death! You are just a lazy bum!" Rumiko yelled back.

"She's my daughter too! You can't take her anywhere without my consent!"

"And that's why she has no friends, you don't let her have them! You refuse to let her do anything but go to and from school. A child should have friends!"

"Those so-called 'friends' you speak of will only give her drugs and alcohol and-"

"-Keep her away from your pleasures which I walked in on? You are sick! I knew you were fucking other women, I even looked the other way. But when I found out you were screwing your own daughter and telling her that every girl is screwed by her own father--You are a disgusting man-whore!"

Ruki just stood there listening to all of it. It wasn't like she had anything better to do.

"Well she's the best I've ever had--Ruki, why don't you tell your mother you want to stay here with me instead of going to your evil grandma's house." He said with a devious smile.

"Quit with your stupid mind control. She's not staying with you. Come on Ruki. Let's go to grandma's." Rumiko said walking to the door. "Ruki?" She asked when Ruki didn't make a move to follow her.

Ruki walked toward her father, much to her mother's horror.

"I knew you'd make the right choice." Kenichi smiled.

"No." Ruki said.

"'No'? What do you mean by that?"

"I refuse to be treated like an object any longer. I hate you. You lied to me. You said mom would hate me and throw me out if I told her. She didn't. She won't. She loves me."

"I do too. Why wouldn't I love you?"

"You don't love me as a person. You love me as an object. I won't stand for it any longer. I hate you, and all men. I'll never trust another thing you say." Ruki said and walked to her mother.

The two of them walked out the door leaving a shocked Kenichi behind them. Shouts could be heard behind them as they descended the steps of their home and went to the car. On the car ride to her grandma's house, Ruki fell asleep.

When she woke up she found herself on an overstuffed couch in her grandma's house. Rubbing her eyes she went to the bathroom. On the way back to the couch she noticed a light on in the kitchen. She opened the door slightly, and heard the conversation her mother and her grandmother, Seiko, over some tea.

"I had no idea he was doing that to her. I mean, I knew he was doing that stuff to other women, but--his own daughter! I just can't believe he'd ever be so sick!" Rumiko wept

"I'm not the kind of person who usually thinks ill of anyone, but I never trusted him. There was that look in his eyes that said trouble." Seiko stated then took a sip of her tea. "Don't tell me you're going to go back to him after what he did to Ruki!"

"No! Of course not! Kenichi should be tossed in jail forever for taking away my daughter's innocence like that. He stole away her chance to grow up to be a happy, normal girl. I wouldn't be surprised if she never learns to trust another man because of this."

The door creaked open and the two women looked at the nine-year-old.

"Hello Ruki. Are you doing okay?" Seiko asked.

Ruki nodded, then just stared at her grandmother. Silence was something that her father always pushed on her.

"Those things he did to you were very bad. No one has the right to hit you or...or..." Rumiko said and started crying hard.

Ruki looked over at her mother, then at the floor.

"But, he told me that he was aloud to because he was my father."

"That was a lie. Your father is a very bad man. The things he did to you, no one should have to go through." Seiko said.

"I didn't know." Ruki said.

"Any man asking you to take your clothes of is nothing but trouble." Seiko continued. "Many men and boys want just that from women and girls. They can't be trusted, especially those like your father."

Rumiko summoned Ruki to her and held her as she cried. Ruki stood there taking it all in.

Dad is a guy. Guys want girls to take their clothes off, which is bad. That means that boys are bad, so girls must be good. Dad makes mom cry. I don't want mom to cry. I'll make them pay! Ruki told herself.

The next day at school she started picking fights with the boys at school. It was then that Ruki's fourth grade teacher, Miss Kasumi called Rumiko.

"Ruki's been starting fights with the boys. Do you have any idea why?" Miss Kasumi asked Rumiko.

"Well, her father's been beating and sexually abusing her. I just found out about it yesterday. We've gotten out of there now though." Rumiko said

"I don't understand though why she just started this today."

"Do you think it would help if she went to an all girls' school?"

"It might, but are you sure you'd want her to change schools in the middle of the year?"

"I am a bit concerned about him coming to get her after school, or even pulling her out of school to abuse her."

The teacher thought for a moment, especially about what Rumiko had just said.

"Maybe it would be best for her."

The next day Ruki didn't go to school, nor the rest of the week either. In the middle of that week Rumiko walked to the corner store and bought some Digimon Cards for Ruki so that she had something to do while she was at work and her grandma was busy. She practiced with them for hours on end that week.

On Monday, she went to the all girls' school. She made a big fuss about wearing the uniform, especially since her father had always made her wear skirts and dresses.

"I won't wear a skirt! Not any more!" Ruki screamed.

"The only time you have to wear it is to school, at school, and on the way home from school. You can wear whatever you want any other time."

"No! I won't do it! I refuse!" Ruki cried.

Rumiko was out of ideas until she remembered how much she played with those cards that she and Seiko had bought for her.

"I'll give you money to get more cards if you will."

Ruki stared her mother down then sighed.

"Fine." Ruki said giving in to her mother's bribe and putting the skirt on.

"Now hurry on to school or you'll be late."

"You said you'd give me money for cards." Ruki said standing her ground.

"You get a dollar for each day you wear it. At the end of the week you'll get five dollars. Now go." Rumiko said handing Ruki the dollar as she pushed her out the door.

On the way to school Ruki's attention was caught by a poster advertising a Digimon Card Battle Tournament.

"What's this? 'The eighth annual Digimon Card Battle Tournament will be held on Saturday, March 25th at the Tokyo Convention Center. Preliminary rounds begin at seven a.m. Will you be the one to beat Ryo Akiyama, the Legendary Tamer?' Hmm. That's in three weeks. I bet I could beat him, easy." Ruki said to herself after reading the poster.

As she was imagining a sure win, the school bells started chiming that she had five minutes until class started. She cursed herself as she ran to school. She barely made it on time.

End Chapter 1

Next Chapter: Ryo's childhood until before the Tournament in which Ryo and Ruki faced off!