----

Desprate for changing..
Starving for truth..
Closer to where I started
Chasing after you.
I'm fallin' even more in love with you..
Letting go of all I've held onto..
I'm standing here until you make me move..
I'm hanging by a moment here with you.

Forgetting all I'm lacking,
Completly incomplete...
I'll take your invitation..
You take all of me..
I'm living for the only thing I know..
I'm running and not quite sure where you go..
I don't know what I'm diving into..
I'm hanging by a moment here with you.

----

"GET YER GUYS AND COME ON IN TO THE FALL DANCE IN ONE WEEK!"
Rika looked up at one of her 'almost' friends, Britney, shouting at the top of her lungs in one of the school halls as she walked past after the school bell had rung signaling all the girls to leave.
She approached the tall blonde-haired, green-eyed girl, her long hair up in a high ponytail, and smirked. "This is an all-girl school, you idiot. We can't have a dance..."
Britney sneered at her and held out a flyer off the table in front of her. "I'm no idiot, Nonaka... we're with the school in town.. ya know... that co-ed public school..."
"This is Henry's school!" Rika shrieked.
Britney looked over at her with an eyebrow raised. "Say wha? Ya got a boyfriend and ya never told me?"
"He's not a boyfriend... he's... a good friend." Rika corrected her.
"Well me and Takato are good friends and you don't see me making out with him."
Rika growled at the voice behind her and turned to look at Arista behind her, almost laughing.
"Oh, hey Arista." Britney grinned and then looked back at Rika. "Making out? That dosen't sound like ya, girl!"
Rika growled fiercly at Arista and turned back to Britney. "Whatever.." she turned and started out of the building, leaving the two standing there.
"Touch-y..." Britney remarked under her breath, then turned to look at Arista all decked out in over-done makeup and body-gems dotting the corner of her eyes.
"So, are ya coming?"
Arista looked over at her suddenly. "To what?"
"The dance silly!" Britney laughed, going back to work handing out fliers to all the girls on their way home.
"Oh, yeah, about that... well I'll have to talk to a friend of mine.."
"Ya could go with that Takato boy ya were just talking about..."
Arista's face grew a pale color at the mere thought.
"T-T-Takato? Heck no he's called for!"
"Oh..." Britney shrugged. "Well you'll find someone."
"Yeah, right..." Arista scoffed, rearranging her backpack into a comfortable position.
"Well I'll talk to you later.. I gotta head to Rika's house for some important buisness.."
"Oh okay c'ya later, Arista!" Britney waved the girl off and shook her head. "She's a strange one..."
~
"And if you multiply this by one-hundred you'd get...?"
One single hand shot up out of the whole classroom and Ms. Isaji pointed at the girl who stood up out of her seat and spoke up. "Twenty-five thousand..." and the brown haired, hazel-eyed girl sat back down with her hands on the desk waiting for Ms. Isaji's responce.
"Very good, Rachel.... at least SOMEONE pays attention in class!" Ms. Isaji said, looking straight at Takato.
Takato stuck his tounge out at Rachel and leaned back in his chair as she returned it.
The bell echoed through the school and half the students in the class were gone before Ms. Isaji said a single word.
"Don't you just hate it when class runs late?" Takato growled as he scooped his books up in his arms off his desk and looked up at the few lingering classmates.
Henry shrugged a bit and picked up his math book. "As long as it's not too late, it's fine by me."
Josh laughed. "Yeah, right.. you just want to get out to go kiss up to your little girlfriend."
"Oh Josh, bug off will you?" Rachel sighed, tired of hearing the same argument all day long from the two.
"Make me.." Josh threatened her, taking a step towards her.
"I will..."
"Guys come on!!" Jeri groaned. "Josh, get out of here.. you're nothing but trouble."
"Oh, I know it. Anyways I have to go see Rika about something." he smirked at Henry's burning face and walked out cooly.
"Jerk." Rachel snapped as he vanished around the corner.
"No better way to say that..." Henry agreeded.
Everyone's gazes shifted when a dark-haired boy stood up in the back of the classroom and started to talk.
"Who's going to the fall dance next week?" he asked, smoothing down his navy-blue t-shirt and looking up at them.
"Me.. I'm not..." Henry shook his head. "I'm claimed for.. my girl dosen't go to this school."
"She wouldn't go to the all girl school just outside town would she?"
Henry looked back up at him and narrowed his eyebrows.
"Mack, what are you getting at?"
Mack just shrugged. "Because that school's participating in this with us. Just wondered."
"Whoa whoa back up..." Takato said shaking his head franticly. "You mean that Rika's school is coming here for a dance...?"
"Yeah that's sort'a what I said, but it works." Mack shrugged again and walked out of the room.
"YES!!" Henry shouted at the top of his lungs.
"You seriously need to calm down." Rachel shook her head and followed Mack out.
"I'm with her.." Kazu laughed at the look on Henry's face. "You get way too excited about stuff like this."
"Oh you're just jealous that you don't have a girl to go with.." Henry snapped back.
Kazu put his hands on his hips and glared at him.
Takato couldn't help but laugh, then perked up. "Speaking of jealously... Josh is off talking to Rika.. you better get down there, Henry.."
Henry grabbed the rest of his books off his desk and was out of the room in no time flat, leaving the rest to exchange worried looks and follow him out down the wood-floored halls.
~
Josh ran through the park, knowing exactly where to look for Rika as he darted past people, swirved around trees, and bolted up stairs.
He had that old stone building in his sights and grinned, knowing there was no way that Henry would catch up with him now.
He burst through the black metal gate and stopped dead in his tracks at the figure croutched in the corner of the building, features hidden by the darkness, but was completly visible to Josh.
"Renamon.. what's wrong?" he asked softly, walking up to the slender figure of a sobbing girl.
"She knows.."
Josh's eyes softened as he kneeled down beside her.
"Who knows?"
The piercing blue eyes of Arista set on him as she tried to find the words to talk.
"Rika... she knows...I didn't tell her.. she figured it out on her own... this changes everything..."
Josh sighed, slumping against the wall beside her, motioning for her to sob into his shoulder.
It didn't take her long to recognise it and curl up against him, letting all her frustration out in a river of tears that streamed down her face.
Josh didn't care if his green and white striped shirt was soaken-wet, he knew how she felt. Being that ignorant and acting like he didn't care about anybody of the digidestined team that he'd grown close to was hard for him, but to have the tamer know it was you and act like they didn't care, that was something he hoped that would never happen to him.
He brushed a piece of her blonde, waved hair out of her face and hushed her. "It's not our fault we're like this... "
"What if we can never go back!?" Arista sobbed. "Who's going to protect them?"
"I-- I don't know." Josh admitted, rocking her back and forth. "But something will work out.. don't worry... it will..."
"Being a human is so hard..." Arista's sobs softened a bit as she talked, calmed a bit by the rush of protection that came over her in Josh's arms.
"I know.." Josh tried to laugh, but was already almost in tears himself just by having the hard-hearted 'Renamon' heart-broken so easily. "I'm still trying to get used to not being able to fly."
Arista smiled and set her head right on his shoulder and sighed. "Thank you, Terriermon.."
Josh stroked her hair a bit and nodded. "Anytime, Renamon...... anytime."
~
Rika ran into the bright kitchen to see her mother and grandmother sitting at the table drinking tea.
She slid to a stop and panted, trying to catch her breath as quickly as possible.
Rika's mother looked up at her, and smiled at the look in Rika's eye. "Good school day, sweety?"
"There's... *pant* going... *pant* to be.. *pant* a fall dance.. *pant*..." Rika said quickly, leaning her one hand against the wall to catch her balance and grasping her side with the other.
Rika's grandmother's face had a look of horror across it when she noticed her mother was growing excited.
"And you want to go?! Oh! This is great!"
"Oh no... but wait-- you're in an all-girl school, Rika. How are they planning to do that?"
Rika took one last deep breath and straightened herself out to look at her grandmother to answer the question. "The school my friends go to are coming to ours... we have an auditorium.. they don't."
"Oh, well, that changes everything!" Rika's mother exclaimed, standing up. "We'll have to get you a dress and make your hair perfect and--" Rika cut her off.
"Um, actually.. I was gonna ask one of my friends to help me."
"Oh."
Rika's grandmother tried not to smile at the sound in her daughter's voice at the news.
"Yeah, I was just going to tell you where I'll be the Friday after this one."
"Oh.."
Rika took off to go change out of her school uniform, leaving both adults stunned in the kitchen.
~
"Me?"
Dusk was coming across the city, the sky in a bright display of oranges and reds, with pink-colored clouds. The clock on the tower behind the two figures shown the time as 5:45, it was completly fall now, the leaves that cruntched under passer-by's feet in a spendid array of browns, yellows, and oranges.
"Well you don't think I'd ask you if I didn't believe you knew me the most... only other person who knows me better is Henry.."
The street-lights kicked on, now shining over the two girls talking.
"I hope that dosen't mean what I think it means..."
The light flickered off Rika's glittery blue shirt as she jumped alert at the remark.
"NO NO NO!!"
"Just... checking."
Rika growled at Arista and leaned against the pillar at the entrance of the park. "Why would you think I'd do that?"
"Oh, well, I don't know... last time I saw the two of you together when I was in my other form was when you two were practicly ASLEEP on each other..." Arista snapped back.
"Just answer me." Rika sighed, drasticly wanting to change the subject.
"Okay hold on one moment.. you want me... to help you... with clothes.. for the dance?" Arista retraced the story Rika had told her in her mind and thought about it a moment in complete silence.
"Oh, why not?" Arista laughed a bit. "But don't say I didn't warn you." she said, walking away from Rika, motioning for the tamer to follow her.
Rika bolted to her side as they walked the brick sidewalks of the city, walking by stores filled with customers, into Takato's family's bakery.
"Hey, Rika! .. um... and....?"
Rika and Arista looked up at a bright face of Takato behind the counter. The store was unusually empty for this time of day, but the smell of fresh baked bread filled the air and gave both shivering girls a warm feeling.
"Arista... you met me from the other day?" the blonde remarked, rubbing her arms a bit.
Takato couldn't help but chuckle at them. "It's like fifty degrees outside and you're in short-sleeved shirts."
"So sue us.." Rika growled at him as she ran her fingers through her hair.
"So, what can I do for you two beautiful ladies today?"
"It's not polite to flirt with your best-friend's girl, Takato."
Rika's face brightened into a smile as her attention was ripped from everything else as Henry entered in the store.
"Henry!" she exclaimed.
"Hey, love." Henry smiled at her and shivered. "Weather took a turn for the worst today..." he said more to Takato then anyone else.
"Yeah.. it's why I'm in here and not out there.." Takato pointed out the window at the darkness covering the city as dusk started to vanish into a sparkling picture of stars.
Henry nodded in agreement as he pulled off his hunter-green coat and hung it over his arm. "What's fresh today?" he asked, looking over all the different bread.
"Wha'... the food or with me?"
"Not commenting .." Arista joked at Takato's comment and went to go look at the rolls across the store.
Takato stuck his tounge out at her back and looked over at Henry who was now grinning.
"You got the guts to ask Jeri to the dance, huh?"
"Oh yeah..."
Rika smirked and put her hand on her hip, leaning her weight to one side.
"I have a new target... 'Ms Gogglehead'..."
"Oh, Rika, be nice." Henry chuckled at her and walked up to the glass display to look at more rolls.
"I don't think I know the meaning of..." Rika pretended to be struggling with the word. "N-nice..."
Takato rolled his eyes and ducked beneath the counter to fetch a roll that Henry pointed to.
"Yeah, only words in her vocabulary are 'Gogglehead' 'Dinoboy' 'Stupid' 'Fight' and 'Henry'.. extra emphasis on 'Henry'.." Arista laughed, setting a bag full of bread on the counter in front of Takato.
Rika blushed a bit and shrugged. "It could be Mr. Puppet-freak..."
"Rika!!" Henry half-laughed, half-scolded the auburn-haired girl.
"What?" Rika laughed too.
Arista just shook her head with a grinned on her face as she handed Takato a five-dollar bill and grabbed the small white bag. "Com'on Rika.. we got some shopping to do... that is if you're going to go to the dance with Henry.."
"Duh." Henry responded for her as Rika followed her out. "Bye guys.." both girls said in unison as they closed the door behind them, letting the bell attached to the door cling and clang.
~
The two teenage girls walked what seemed to be for at least an hour before they reached the large mall on the other side of town. By now, it was almost 7:00 and both knew they needed to hurry.
Both rushed in the glass doors and through the lighted food-court, towards the center of the mall to one of the fashion stores that before Rika would've been terrified to even step foot in.
The small clothing store was lit by nothing but hot-pink and lime-green neon lights that surrounded the whole store, and encircled the glass displays and windows in the front.
"Wow..." Rika stared at everything in the store. "This is a pop-star's dream come true."
"Either that or her boyfriend's..." Arista retorted, fingering a mini-skirt in her hand.
Rika laughed and walked over to the longer dresses, catching herself stepping to the beat of the rock music echoing around her.
"Another for the fall dance, eh?"
Rika looked up at the teenage girl at the counter, multiple earrings on each ear in an array of golds and silvers and over-done bright blue eyeshadow.
Rika nodded as the girl walked over and looked her up and down. "Let's see... you'd probably look good in blue... or white... couldn't get away with black though..."
Rika stood perfectly still, half nervous as the girl whirlled to the dress rack and yanked out a long white silk dress, a diamond butterfly on the hip of it. Rika looked a little curiously at the split up the side of the dress, clearly going up to her knee, then nodded. "I like that one.."
"Try it on back there.." the girl pointed to a bright purple door in the back of the store. "And we'll see what we can do."
Rika ran off, just as Arista came up to the teenage girl. "Anything you can do with me?" she asked sharply, tapping her foot on the blue patterned carpet.
With the same circular motion around Arista the girl pulled a bright pink glittery dress from the hanger and thrusting it at her, pointing to a blue-painted door beside the one Rika had vanished into.
"Okay, okay I'm going I'm going." Arista growled as she was pushed by the pink-nailpolished hands into the room.
The girl blew a bubble-gum bubble and sat back down on the stool behind the counter, leaned back, and waited for the screech of both girls when they saw each other.