----
Ever since I saw your face, nothin' in my life has been the same.
I walk around just saying your name,
Without you my would would end.
I looked around this whole damn place,
And everything says you were meant to be..
My girlfriend.
Why don't you be my girlfriend?
I'll treat you good..
I know you hear your friend when they say you should..
'Cause if you were my girlfriend,
I'd be your shining star.
The one to show you whre you are,
Girl you should be my girlfriend.
----
A bright light hit Rika in the face and a loud buzzing noise started, not long after it she opened her eyes to Renamon standing over her. "Time to get up." she said in her normal tone.
Rika groaned. She didn't want to wake up. She had been out at that carnival until midnight.
She looked over at the clock on her dresser and slammed herself backwards, moaning again and throwing the comforter over her head to block the light.
"Rika..." Renamon persisted.
"Go away." a muffled voice under the covers said.
"I will not go away! Now get up!" Renamon sighed.
The blankets moved a bit, giving Renamon the impression that Rika was tossing over on her side and when the pillow slid under with Rika, she knew Rika was trying to block Renamon's voice.
Renamon sighed. "I didn't want to do this."
Picking up the tall blue glass of water Calumon had left the day before, she lifted the covers and dunked in on the groaning girl.
Rika was up in a flash, glaring at her harder than she ever had before.
"I was coming!!" Rika exclaimed.
"Not fast enough." and with that Renamon smirked and vanished into the shadows.
A loud voice was booming from down the hall when Rika opened her bedroom door, using the towel she had fished out of the laundry basket to dry her hair.
She trudged down the hall, recognising the voice to be her grandmother's.
Slamming herself down at the kitchen table she tossed the towel over some newspapers and waited for her grandmother to set breakfast down in front of her.
Nothing happened.
"Grandma?" Rika asked a little confused. This wasn't like every other Sunday morning. Most Sunday's her mother would actually be there waiting too and breakfast would be ready at eight sharp.
Her grandmother turned around from the sink. "Oh, you want breakfast?"
"Duh.." Rika snarled.
"Well breakfast is off for you today."
Rika gave a startled look. "Why?!?" she exclaimed.
"Because you have to beat it over to the diner downtown and meet your boyfriend there."
Rika's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and she jumped from the table and ran out to go get dressed, stopping half way down the hall to come back and pop her head in the room.
"And he's not my boyfriend."
Her grandmother just smiled and kept washing the dishes.
~
The bell above the door of the small bakery owned by the Matsuki's rang as the door opened to a bright girl's face.
Takato was watching the counter, as he looked up to see Jeri, a fellow digidestined, walking up to him.
"Good morning Takato." she said in her usual sweet voice.
Takato mumbled something back as he rolled a few pennys around the glass counter.
Jeri looked up at him. "Something wrong Takato?"
"Huh?" Takato looked up at her suddenly.
"Oh! Jeri! Hi! I didn't notice you came in! Why didn't you say hi?"
Jeri gave him an awkward look. "I did..."
"You did?" Takato sent the same look back at her.
Jeri nodded slowly, and put the back of her hand to his forehead. "You might be coming down with something."
"No.." Takato pushed her hand away. "Alot on my mind."
Jeri nodded and shrugged. "Okay if you say so."
She walked over and looked at all the different types of bread for sale, knowing that Takato would spill in a few seconds if she didn't ask.
"Henry and Rika are going together."
Jeri just froze at the rushed-together words of Takato.
She turned around, face as white as a sheet.
"W-what?"
Takato groaned and slammed his forehead on the glass counter, causing a loud bang.
"Ow, that had to hurt.." Jeri said just loud enough for Takato to hear.
Takato straightened up and looked at her, and slowly started to explain.
Jeri nodded over and over again as she listened.
"... and now Henry won't talk to me." Takato concluded.
Jeri put her hand on her hip and let the first sarcastic attitude Takato'd ever heard out of her come.
"Do you blame him? Not like you're the nicest person when it comes to relationships.."
Takato's eyes grew alarmed. "What's THAT supposed to mean?!"
"Well you never asked me out.. and you almost have something against people going out!" Jeri felt her voice growing louder, but couldn't help it.
"Well how about tonight?!?" Takato shouted back at her.
"Fine!" Jeri shouted at him louder.
"Fine! I'll pick you up at seven then!!" he yelled back, just as she turned around and stormed out of the bakery.
Takato stood shocked a moment.
"What just happened?" he asked himself a little dumbfounded.
~
Jeri kept up her steady pace, storming past all the stores and people.
Her mind flooded with the argument. She'd never fought with anyone before, what got into her?
She wasn't going to slow down anytime soon she didn't figure, but she figured wrong.
"Whoa! Slow down Jeri!"
She heard a slightly familier voice.
She stopped a moment and turned slightly to see Rika dressed unusually in a pair of blue jeans and a tight white t-shirt and her hair down on her shoulders.
"Rika! What are you doing--" she was about to say 'here' but the word took on another form when she saw what Rika was wearing. "-- in that?"
Rika stood a bit confused a moment, then snapped back into reality and looked down at her clothes.
"Oh... taking on a new look... like it?" Rika spun around once.
Jeri just stared at her. This day was full of firsts.
Between Jeri yelling at Takato and Rika's new attitude, this world was beginning to become scary.
What's next? Kazu becoming a tamer?
"It's... really nice..." Jeri said, just a little bit stunned.
Jeri snapped out of her trance and looked at her straight. "Are you going out with Henry?"
Rika was taken aback a moment, but then regained her ground. "Yes." she said simply.
"Oh!" Jeri exclaimed. She thought Takato had been lying. Knowing Rika, she didn't like to be romantic in any way. But this was Henry we were talking about.
"So.. where'ya going?" Rika said quickly, changing the subject as fast as she could.
"Away." Jeri turned back around noticing she could still see Takato's family's bakery.
She started back on her quick pace, but Rika followed right on her heels.
"You and Takato have a disagreement?" Rika asked curiously.
"Yes.. we did... now leave me alone."
Rika stopped dead and watched Jeri walk on into the park where the small digidestined headquarters was.
She sighed, just as Renamon came back into view behind her.
"It's almost as if you've switched personalities." Renamon said in a knowing and wise voice.
Rika just nodded silently and watched Jeri's back until she vanished around a corner.
~
"Pweese?"
"No."
"Pwetty pweese?!"
"Suzy! I said no!"
Henry growled at his little sister who was standing beside him as he slid on his regular orange vest.
"But why can't I come and meet Wika?" she said in the cutest voice she could manage.
"I'll make myself weel pwetty! I'll put on my bestest shirt!"
Henry sighed and smiled down on the little brunette.
"You want to come that bad, huh?"
"Yes pweese!"
Henry put his hand on his hip and shifted his weight.
"Okay fine go get ready. You have five minutes."
"Okay!!" Suzy shrieked with joy.
Half-way out the door she turned and her eyes darkened.
"But.. Henwy.. I don't know how to tell time yet."
"Then just get ready as fast as you can." Henry laughed.
"Okay!" she shrieked again and sped out of the room.
Henry just smirked and shook his head and sat on his bed to put his shoes on.
Not two minutes later Suzy came back in, having changed her baby pink shirt to a bright purple.
"Suzy that's not your shirt!" Henry exclaimed, noticing it was his older sister's tank top.
"But it fits me perfectwy!" Suzy exclaimed right back.
Henry chuckled a moment at her. The shirt was supposed to be very short, but on Suzy it fit like a regular one.
"Okay fine."
Suzy grinned and jumped up on the bed just as Henry stood.
She reached her little arms out to him and he picked her up and carried her on his thigh.
"Mom, I'm taking Suzy with me!" he yelled into the kitchen as he walked by.
"Oh.. okay... have fun sweety!"
"Kay Mommy!" Suzy yelled back and grinned as she headed out with her big brother.
~
"I hate myself." Takato groaned to Rika as they sat outside of a small cafe at one of the hunter-green tables.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, so you got in a fight with Jeri and you're going on a date toni--" Rika stopped a moment. "Oh yeah that is bad."
Takato just groaned again. "You aren't making it better."
Rika smirked and leaned back in her chair just as Henry and Suzy walked up. "Oh, I know."
The two looked up at the brother and sister.
"Hey Henry... Suzy..." Takato said gloomily as he stared back at the sky like he had been doing long before they arrived.
"Hey.." Henry said back, then motioned at Rika that he wanted to speak to her alone.
Rika nodded, stood, and waited for Henry to set Suzy down in the chair Rika had been sitting in.
"Now, Suzy, you stay here, okay?"
Suzy slowly nodded at her older brother and watched the couple walk into the trees, just far enough that she couldn't hear what they said.
Suzy sighed, and looked over at Takato.
"What'cha doing?" she asked innocently.
"Watching the sky." Takato replied.
"Why?" Suzy asked sweetly.
"Because I hate myself."
"Why?"
"Because I got in a fight."
"Why?"
"Because Jeri thought I was a bad relationship person."
"Why?"
Takato looked at her a moment.
"You're a pain in the neck, you know it?"
"Why?" Suzy asked again.
"Shut up." he groaned.
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
"Why?"
Takato just groaned once more and plugged his ears.
~
Rika brushed a piece of loose hair behind her ear.
"What did you need to talk to me about?" she asked.
"What you said last night."
"Which part?" Rika asked again. She knew which part.. but she needed to buy herself time. She wasn't at all about to explain it to anybody.... even Henry.
"You know which part I'm talking about." Henry said a bit sturnly.felt herself starting to sweat with nervousness. What was she going to do now?
She took a deep breath and stood her ground. "Yes, I do... but I don't feel like talking about it." she turned to walk away just as Henry's tight grasp was felt on her arm.
She was stuck there by his side and she knew he wasn't going to let go anytime soon.
She just closed her eyes and prayed he'd let go.
But he didn't. He yanked her arm so that she spun around and met his forehead with hers, and he held her there.
"Now.. are you going to tell me... or not?" he said calmly as he stared hard into her eyes.
She just stayed silent, trying to wrap him up in her own lilac eyes so he tottaly forgot about the question, but it went the other way around.
She found herself slowly nodding as she stared into his soft gray eyes.
Rika felt his grasp loosining, and she pulled her arm away.
"Now.." Henry sat down on the park bench that was only a few feet away. ".. I'm listening." he said kindly as he motioned for her to sit beside him.
She slowly sat down beside him, and hung her head in defeat. She had lost completly, but to a decent foe.
"Well?" Henry leaned forward to look into her face.
"I already told you what my father did.. what else do you want from me?" she asked defensively, giving him a death-glare.
Henry's eyes grew soft and loving, and Rika felt herself calming down.
"I want to know why you've been so bitter ever since I've met you. I know that might've shaken you a bit, what your father did I mean, but it's not enough to use as a valid reason."
Rika sighed.
"I hate it." she grumbled.
"Hate what?"
"My life... me..."
Henry grew a concerned look on his face.
"Why do you hate yourself Rika?"
Rika jolted her head back up from staring at the ground and almost glared at him, but it was more a look that was trying to make a point. Her lilac eyes were brimming with tears and her voice was cracking.
"Look at me Henry.. just look at me.. what do you see?" she said, still trying to fight back the tears that threatened to fall.
She went back to staring at the ground.
Henry just smiled, and put his index finger under her chin, raising it until their eyes locked.
"I see a beautiful young girl who has the ability to love, and is one of the most kind people I've ever met."
Rika yanked her head out of his grasp.
"How can you say that after how I've treated you?"
Henry just smiled again. "Because I love you Rika Nonaka."
Rika sat perfectly still, just staring at him.
She'd never heard those words before, not since she was very little.
Henry didn't kick himself for saying it like he had when he asked her to the carnival, just waited patiently for her reply.
"Oh, Henry..." she broke down into tears, definatly not something Henry had expected out of Rika Nonaka of all people.
Henry softly rubbed her back. "Shhh... stop crying.."
"It's just... I love you too.." she said inbetween sobs.
Without another moment between them, Henry had her in a kiss that shocked both of them, but especially Takato who'd been watching the whole scene.
Takato just shook his head.
"This will seriously rip the group apart..." he sighed, and went back to ignoring Suzy's 'why's.
~
Ever since I saw your face, nothin' in my life has been the same.
I walk around just saying your name,
Without you my would would end.
I looked around this whole damn place,
And everything says you were meant to be..
My girlfriend.
Why don't you be my girlfriend?
I'll treat you good..
I know you hear your friend when they say you should..
'Cause if you were my girlfriend,
I'd be your shining star.
The one to show you whre you are,
Girl you should be my girlfriend.
----
A bright light hit Rika in the face and a loud buzzing noise started, not long after it she opened her eyes to Renamon standing over her. "Time to get up." she said in her normal tone.
Rika groaned. She didn't want to wake up. She had been out at that carnival until midnight.
She looked over at the clock on her dresser and slammed herself backwards, moaning again and throwing the comforter over her head to block the light.
"Rika..." Renamon persisted.
"Go away." a muffled voice under the covers said.
"I will not go away! Now get up!" Renamon sighed.
The blankets moved a bit, giving Renamon the impression that Rika was tossing over on her side and when the pillow slid under with Rika, she knew Rika was trying to block Renamon's voice.
Renamon sighed. "I didn't want to do this."
Picking up the tall blue glass of water Calumon had left the day before, she lifted the covers and dunked in on the groaning girl.
Rika was up in a flash, glaring at her harder than she ever had before.
"I was coming!!" Rika exclaimed.
"Not fast enough." and with that Renamon smirked and vanished into the shadows.
A loud voice was booming from down the hall when Rika opened her bedroom door, using the towel she had fished out of the laundry basket to dry her hair.
She trudged down the hall, recognising the voice to be her grandmother's.
Slamming herself down at the kitchen table she tossed the towel over some newspapers and waited for her grandmother to set breakfast down in front of her.
Nothing happened.
"Grandma?" Rika asked a little confused. This wasn't like every other Sunday morning. Most Sunday's her mother would actually be there waiting too and breakfast would be ready at eight sharp.
Her grandmother turned around from the sink. "Oh, you want breakfast?"
"Duh.." Rika snarled.
"Well breakfast is off for you today."
Rika gave a startled look. "Why?!?" she exclaimed.
"Because you have to beat it over to the diner downtown and meet your boyfriend there."
Rika's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and she jumped from the table and ran out to go get dressed, stopping half way down the hall to come back and pop her head in the room.
"And he's not my boyfriend."
Her grandmother just smiled and kept washing the dishes.
~
The bell above the door of the small bakery owned by the Matsuki's rang as the door opened to a bright girl's face.
Takato was watching the counter, as he looked up to see Jeri, a fellow digidestined, walking up to him.
"Good morning Takato." she said in her usual sweet voice.
Takato mumbled something back as he rolled a few pennys around the glass counter.
Jeri looked up at him. "Something wrong Takato?"
"Huh?" Takato looked up at her suddenly.
"Oh! Jeri! Hi! I didn't notice you came in! Why didn't you say hi?"
Jeri gave him an awkward look. "I did..."
"You did?" Takato sent the same look back at her.
Jeri nodded slowly, and put the back of her hand to his forehead. "You might be coming down with something."
"No.." Takato pushed her hand away. "Alot on my mind."
Jeri nodded and shrugged. "Okay if you say so."
She walked over and looked at all the different types of bread for sale, knowing that Takato would spill in a few seconds if she didn't ask.
"Henry and Rika are going together."
Jeri just froze at the rushed-together words of Takato.
She turned around, face as white as a sheet.
"W-what?"
Takato groaned and slammed his forehead on the glass counter, causing a loud bang.
"Ow, that had to hurt.." Jeri said just loud enough for Takato to hear.
Takato straightened up and looked at her, and slowly started to explain.
Jeri nodded over and over again as she listened.
"... and now Henry won't talk to me." Takato concluded.
Jeri put her hand on her hip and let the first sarcastic attitude Takato'd ever heard out of her come.
"Do you blame him? Not like you're the nicest person when it comes to relationships.."
Takato's eyes grew alarmed. "What's THAT supposed to mean?!"
"Well you never asked me out.. and you almost have something against people going out!" Jeri felt her voice growing louder, but couldn't help it.
"Well how about tonight?!?" Takato shouted back at her.
"Fine!" Jeri shouted at him louder.
"Fine! I'll pick you up at seven then!!" he yelled back, just as she turned around and stormed out of the bakery.
Takato stood shocked a moment.
"What just happened?" he asked himself a little dumbfounded.
~
Jeri kept up her steady pace, storming past all the stores and people.
Her mind flooded with the argument. She'd never fought with anyone before, what got into her?
She wasn't going to slow down anytime soon she didn't figure, but she figured wrong.
"Whoa! Slow down Jeri!"
She heard a slightly familier voice.
She stopped a moment and turned slightly to see Rika dressed unusually in a pair of blue jeans and a tight white t-shirt and her hair down on her shoulders.
"Rika! What are you doing--" she was about to say 'here' but the word took on another form when she saw what Rika was wearing. "-- in that?"
Rika stood a bit confused a moment, then snapped back into reality and looked down at her clothes.
"Oh... taking on a new look... like it?" Rika spun around once.
Jeri just stared at her. This day was full of firsts.
Between Jeri yelling at Takato and Rika's new attitude, this world was beginning to become scary.
What's next? Kazu becoming a tamer?
"It's... really nice..." Jeri said, just a little bit stunned.
Jeri snapped out of her trance and looked at her straight. "Are you going out with Henry?"
Rika was taken aback a moment, but then regained her ground. "Yes." she said simply.
"Oh!" Jeri exclaimed. She thought Takato had been lying. Knowing Rika, she didn't like to be romantic in any way. But this was Henry we were talking about.
"So.. where'ya going?" Rika said quickly, changing the subject as fast as she could.
"Away." Jeri turned back around noticing she could still see Takato's family's bakery.
She started back on her quick pace, but Rika followed right on her heels.
"You and Takato have a disagreement?" Rika asked curiously.
"Yes.. we did... now leave me alone."
Rika stopped dead and watched Jeri walk on into the park where the small digidestined headquarters was.
She sighed, just as Renamon came back into view behind her.
"It's almost as if you've switched personalities." Renamon said in a knowing and wise voice.
Rika just nodded silently and watched Jeri's back until she vanished around a corner.
~
"Pweese?"
"No."
"Pwetty pweese?!"
"Suzy! I said no!"
Henry growled at his little sister who was standing beside him as he slid on his regular orange vest.
"But why can't I come and meet Wika?" she said in the cutest voice she could manage.
"I'll make myself weel pwetty! I'll put on my bestest shirt!"
Henry sighed and smiled down on the little brunette.
"You want to come that bad, huh?"
"Yes pweese!"
Henry put his hand on his hip and shifted his weight.
"Okay fine go get ready. You have five minutes."
"Okay!!" Suzy shrieked with joy.
Half-way out the door she turned and her eyes darkened.
"But.. Henwy.. I don't know how to tell time yet."
"Then just get ready as fast as you can." Henry laughed.
"Okay!" she shrieked again and sped out of the room.
Henry just smirked and shook his head and sat on his bed to put his shoes on.
Not two minutes later Suzy came back in, having changed her baby pink shirt to a bright purple.
"Suzy that's not your shirt!" Henry exclaimed, noticing it was his older sister's tank top.
"But it fits me perfectwy!" Suzy exclaimed right back.
Henry chuckled a moment at her. The shirt was supposed to be very short, but on Suzy it fit like a regular one.
"Okay fine."
Suzy grinned and jumped up on the bed just as Henry stood.
She reached her little arms out to him and he picked her up and carried her on his thigh.
"Mom, I'm taking Suzy with me!" he yelled into the kitchen as he walked by.
"Oh.. okay... have fun sweety!"
"Kay Mommy!" Suzy yelled back and grinned as she headed out with her big brother.
~
"I hate myself." Takato groaned to Rika as they sat outside of a small cafe at one of the hunter-green tables.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, so you got in a fight with Jeri and you're going on a date toni--" Rika stopped a moment. "Oh yeah that is bad."
Takato just groaned again. "You aren't making it better."
Rika smirked and leaned back in her chair just as Henry and Suzy walked up. "Oh, I know."
The two looked up at the brother and sister.
"Hey Henry... Suzy..." Takato said gloomily as he stared back at the sky like he had been doing long before they arrived.
"Hey.." Henry said back, then motioned at Rika that he wanted to speak to her alone.
Rika nodded, stood, and waited for Henry to set Suzy down in the chair Rika had been sitting in.
"Now, Suzy, you stay here, okay?"
Suzy slowly nodded at her older brother and watched the couple walk into the trees, just far enough that she couldn't hear what they said.
Suzy sighed, and looked over at Takato.
"What'cha doing?" she asked innocently.
"Watching the sky." Takato replied.
"Why?" Suzy asked sweetly.
"Because I hate myself."
"Why?"
"Because I got in a fight."
"Why?"
"Because Jeri thought I was a bad relationship person."
"Why?"
Takato looked at her a moment.
"You're a pain in the neck, you know it?"
"Why?" Suzy asked again.
"Shut up." he groaned.
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
"Why?"
Takato just groaned once more and plugged his ears.
~
Rika brushed a piece of loose hair behind her ear.
"What did you need to talk to me about?" she asked.
"What you said last night."
"Which part?" Rika asked again. She knew which part.. but she needed to buy herself time. She wasn't at all about to explain it to anybody.... even Henry.
"You know which part I'm talking about." Henry said a bit sturnly.felt herself starting to sweat with nervousness. What was she going to do now?
She took a deep breath and stood her ground. "Yes, I do... but I don't feel like talking about it." she turned to walk away just as Henry's tight grasp was felt on her arm.
She was stuck there by his side and she knew he wasn't going to let go anytime soon.
She just closed her eyes and prayed he'd let go.
But he didn't. He yanked her arm so that she spun around and met his forehead with hers, and he held her there.
"Now.. are you going to tell me... or not?" he said calmly as he stared hard into her eyes.
She just stayed silent, trying to wrap him up in her own lilac eyes so he tottaly forgot about the question, but it went the other way around.
She found herself slowly nodding as she stared into his soft gray eyes.
Rika felt his grasp loosining, and she pulled her arm away.
"Now.." Henry sat down on the park bench that was only a few feet away. ".. I'm listening." he said kindly as he motioned for her to sit beside him.
She slowly sat down beside him, and hung her head in defeat. She had lost completly, but to a decent foe.
"Well?" Henry leaned forward to look into her face.
"I already told you what my father did.. what else do you want from me?" she asked defensively, giving him a death-glare.
Henry's eyes grew soft and loving, and Rika felt herself calming down.
"I want to know why you've been so bitter ever since I've met you. I know that might've shaken you a bit, what your father did I mean, but it's not enough to use as a valid reason."
Rika sighed.
"I hate it." she grumbled.
"Hate what?"
"My life... me..."
Henry grew a concerned look on his face.
"Why do you hate yourself Rika?"
Rika jolted her head back up from staring at the ground and almost glared at him, but it was more a look that was trying to make a point. Her lilac eyes were brimming with tears and her voice was cracking.
"Look at me Henry.. just look at me.. what do you see?" she said, still trying to fight back the tears that threatened to fall.
She went back to staring at the ground.
Henry just smiled, and put his index finger under her chin, raising it until their eyes locked.
"I see a beautiful young girl who has the ability to love, and is one of the most kind people I've ever met."
Rika yanked her head out of his grasp.
"How can you say that after how I've treated you?"
Henry just smiled again. "Because I love you Rika Nonaka."
Rika sat perfectly still, just staring at him.
She'd never heard those words before, not since she was very little.
Henry didn't kick himself for saying it like he had when he asked her to the carnival, just waited patiently for her reply.
"Oh, Henry..." she broke down into tears, definatly not something Henry had expected out of Rika Nonaka of all people.
Henry softly rubbed her back. "Shhh... stop crying.."
"It's just... I love you too.." she said inbetween sobs.
Without another moment between them, Henry had her in a kiss that shocked both of them, but especially Takato who'd been watching the whole scene.
Takato just shook his head.
"This will seriously rip the group apart..." he sighed, and went back to ignoring Suzy's 'why's.
~
