Author's Note: First off, gotta put this: This Story is now a part of the contest for Best Digimon Writer of 2003! Go to http://www.geocities.com/ffstats44/digimoncontest.html until January 6th, 2003 to join in on the fun.
Ah, yes, you've got to love this. People just understanding my warped a twisted mind, and that if you read the songs I have posted at the beginning of fics, you can pretty much figure out what's going to go on in that chapter. ^_^ now all my fan-people are happy.
I know it dosen't seem like I'm updating very often, but it's hard writing this story, considering most of it's based off a real life thing (the whole Rika almost falling into the river in the last chapter.. no that didn't happen IRL, I just needed a tamer flip to it) and putting my memories into words isn't quite the easiest thing in the world.
I really appreciate all the people telling me they're sorry about hearing about me and Ryan.. but really, I'm over it. I told him off for a reason, and now I get to trash my 'big brother' Keith.. who's Ryo in this story. (He's also Teenager Takato, btw). Just don't get any ideas that Keith's mean or anything, 'cause he's not... most the 'evil Ryo' stuff is a mixture of like 6 people at the time, Keith just happened to be my exboyfriend at the time this story took place, so guess who gets to be the hardheaded freak?
But anyways, parts of this chapter were "created" by Teenager Takato, because only he was in some of these scenes, because reading below, you'll see that Ryo's in scene that Rika isn't. So yeah I needed a goggle-head's help, sad ain't it?
And happy happy Daniel Bedingfield CD that was $5.00 off at Target at the After-Christmas sale... gotta love all that. I ran out of Matchbox Twenty songs to use the day I bought this new CD, and this one is chock-ful-a stuff for this story *grin*.
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Her mama told me if I want her gotta take it slow.
You just can't just tell her
You gotta find other ways to let her know.
But I don't understand this game.
This is so new to me.
I wanna tell her.
I wanna take her in my arms.
Give her time, and maybe one day she'll come around.
See the love I'm offerin', 'cause I don't wanna live without the girl.
Heaven knows every day I pray that someday she will belong to me.
'Cause I don't wanna live without the girl.
She is my sunshine,
But her heart belongs to another man.
She looks right through me.
She only ever thought of us as friends,
But I'll keep holding back my heart.
I will not let her see.
I'm gonna bide my time,
Until the day she comes to me.
Give her time, and maybe one day she'll come around.
See the love I'm offerin', 'cause I don't wanna live without the girl.
Heaven knows every day I pray that someday she will belong to me.
'Cause I don't wanna live without the girl.
Give her time, and maybe one day she'll come around.
See the love I'm offerin', 'cause I don't wanna live without the girl.
Heaven knows every day I pray that someday she will belong to me.
'Cause I don't wanna live without the girl.
----- Without The Girl - Daniel Bedingfield -----
He put his hand on her arm, drawing her close. "Don't leave me here."
Her eyes grew wild, and her heart beat faster than before, being only inches from his face.
"You.. love me?" she asked, tears coming to her eyes.
"How could I not?"
Jeri put her hand dramaticly to her chest and took a few steps backwards.
"But-- Henry, you can't be in love with a girl like me!" She turned her head away from him, staring up at the ceiling.
Snickers arose.
Takato took her hand quickly, and pulled her towards him again. "I can't help myself, Rika." he said in mocked deep voice, causing more snickers from the group of friends that surrounded them.
"I am here to save you!!!" Kazu leaped into the scene, butterknife in his hand, pointed at Takato.
"Ryo!" Jeri squealed, rushing forwards and throwing her arms around him even more dramaticly.
The remaining two in the audience watched the scene, Kenta laughing so hard his side could have split open at that one second, and Ryo looking not nearly as amused. Yeah, he wished she had run to him like that. He felt his hand tighten around his empty paper cup, and it soon crushed under the force of it.
"But Rika---" Takato pleaded, then hit his knees, hands lifting towards her.
Kazu forced a look of complete disgust, and so did Jeri.
No, that wasn't what happened at all. She hadn't come back with him. She left with Henry. Henry Wong. What did Henry Wong have that he didn't? He couldn't place it anywhere in his mind.
Ryo had money, looks, even a cool car he had gotten the other day. What was the problem?
He had called her the earlier that day, expecting Rika to be over this Henry thing after actually seeing it could rip their relationship apart, but no, Rika was out shopping with the blue-haired idiot. Or as her mother interjected in the background-- on a "date".
A date. They hadn't even been apart for two days and she had already started going out with someone else.
The scene in front of him progressed on, the point of the entire thing to poke fun at Henry. It was a hobby to them now, making fun of the one tamer that destroyed their lives like that, and now that Rika had sided with him, she was starting to become a focus of their little skits as well. But not too much-- Jeri refused to do any direct damage to Rika's image, but still played her as a stuck-up brat that only knew about physical pleasure in a relationship, so chose Ryo time after time.
That skit had been done before, only Rika interjected in as Jeri at one point, throwing crude remarks back at her best friend, into "Rika and Jeri" started fighting with hand puppets and Digimon cards, except now it didn't ring true.
Ryo almost wished he had never let Jeri invite Henry and Rika to the Christmas dance now, he would probably have to watch the two in each other's arms for most the dances, and he didn't think he could bare that thought. *His* queen, in the arms of another man. But he had. And now he would have to face the consequences, so to speak.
Ryo focused back in on the scene. Kazu held the butterknife only inches from Jeri's throat now, the scene having radically changed since he had zoned out. Takato still sat on the floor, except now pleading with Kazu instead of Jeri. He begged on in a voice you could've sworn was real, for "Ryo" to let "Rika" go, and he loved her so much that he would let her go. The entire thing was purely dramatic, and a bit too dramatic at times as one character would put his or her hand to their forehead and throw their head back, causing a bit more laughter from Kenta and almost making the other characters laugh as well.
In one last sweeping motion, Kazu threw the butterknife on the ground, and dragged Jeri off the stage, leaving Takato there staring at it. He slowly picked it up, looked to the sky, and pretended to slam it into his chest, falling over backwards, causing more laughter. Ryo watched intently as "Henry" fell motionless on the floor, mumbling Rika's name before "dying". Takato jumped up, bowed, and ran off the stage, and Kenta leaped up, applauding.
Ryo just quietly clapped, everything still turning over in his mind.
Henry walked into Rika's room, still pulling a white silk shirt over his shoulders and buttoning the silver buttons slowly, then looking up a the auburn haired girl, staring coldly at her mirror from the other side of the room.
"It won't kill you." Henry chuckled at the look on Rika's face at seeing her reflection in the mirror of her in a ice blue dress.
"I would like to debate that." Rika said rather stiffly, then looked down at the outfit she wore.
It was clearly something Henry and Rika's mother had picked out. It was made out of silk, which made it even more hideous in Rika's opinion, but what ticked her off the most was the way Henry looked at her when she stood up from the chair she sat in.
"Get that stupid look off your face." she snarled at his sudden stare, and he quickly regained his composure and started stuttering.
"S-sorry R-rika, I didn't m-mean t-to."
Rika rolled her eyes, growled a few words under her breath about the boy. "I'd like to know why I can be so easily dragged into these things by you."
"Wika! You wook wike a pwetty pwincess!!!"
Almost as an answer to Rika's question, both teens turned to the girl staring at Rika's floor-length dress, eyes just glowing at the site of the beautiful creation.
Suzy ran forward, almost knocking Henry over in her haste to touch the dress and make a few more remarks about how beautiful Rika looked. Her little fingers rolled over the silver glitter snowflake pressed against the hip of the dress, then she looked up at Rika and grinned. "You wook wike a bewtiful bwide too!"
Rika's face grew red as Henry made an agreeing sound and he sat down in a chair by the door, watching the scene with intrest.
Rika knelt down in front of the girl and smiled just enough to make herself even more beautiful in the outfit. "Thank you." she said politely, and Suzy went on about her necklace and hair clips that were now in view of her, and even the diamond straps that kept the dress on the girl's body.
Henry leaned against one of the wooden arms of the chair and chuckled, his eyes more on Rika than Suzy. She did look beautiful in the dress, and almost perfect with a smile on her face. For the first time ever he saw her with diamond jewelery on, something her mother had forced her to wear much to the girl's disgust. His stubborn grin turned into a neutral look as his watching eye turned into a staring one, and his mind suddenly repeated over and over again how beautiful Rika looked.
He was falling for her after all, wasn't he? It was clear to him now, every day he spent at her house, he fell for her more and more, and now he was in too deep to dig himself back out. He had started over the past day or two to have moderate fantasies about her, nothing sexual, just her wrapped in his arms at some random time for some random reason, or her whispering something about her love for him. Henry was completly in love with her. He couldn't bare the thought of her not in his arms any longer, he couldn't bare her not knowing.
"Suzy." he said abruptly, and both girls looked his way.
His eyes never left Rika as he spoke to his sister, and a look of realization suddenly hit Rika.
"Can I talk to Rika alone for a moment?" Henry's heartbeat quickened. What was he doing? She wasn't in love with him, just Ryo. Ryo was in her heart.
"... 'kay!" Suzy spat off quickly, and rushed out of the room, closing the door tightly behind her.
Henry stood from his chair and took slow rhythmic steps towards Rika, and she stood up straight also.
"Yes?" she said in a low voice, knowing in the back of her mind what this was about, just by the look in his eyes.
"You look beautiful." he brushed a piece of her long auburn hair back behind her ear, the hair she had purposely not straightened that day so her hair looked like her mothers, only the reddish color instead of blonde.
"Thank you." she said politely again, uneased by this side of Henry. He was easy to fall for, which would explain the group of girls constantly around him when she went to pick Jeri up after school for a 'playdate'. He had an extremely charming personality. She was losing her power over him.
He leaned in towards her, and she immediatly realised he was about to kiss her, and instinctively, she pulled back, pushing him away by his shoulders.
"H-Henry.."
"Don't resist this, Rika. We both feel it." he said calmly, taking two steps for every one she backed up.
"H-Henry I don't think we shou--" her back hit the wall, and before she knew what was happening, Henry's lips were pressed against hers and both were caught up in a long passionate kiss. The walls of defense she had put up to block out any love from her heart came down as their arms wrapped around each other. She didn't want to leave the moment, but something didn't feel right to her, like this was more a far-off memory than reality.
"Rika.." Henry separated the kiss. "We should get going.."
"No-- not now." Rika mumbled quietly.
"Com'on Rika."
"No--"
"Rika, I won't wait around all day for you to wake up."
"What are you talking about?"
"You've been asleep for three hours!"
Rika opened her eyes to see the blue haired boy standing over her, with an almost irritated look on his face. "You said that you would come, Rika." he said with a little more patience in his voice, extending his hand down to her.
She sleepily took his hand, the thought finally coming across to her that the entire moment was a dream. That perfect moment where she first felt safe in her life, was all a dream.
The thought must have crossed through her eyes as confusion, for when Henry pulled her up to be just a few inches away from him and looked into her face, his expression because solemn. "Vivid dream?" he asked gently, and she nodded, half-zoned again.
"Sorry about having to wake you up, but--" Henry shrugged and brushed down the long sleeves of her maroon top for her. "We do need to get going."
Rika's attention diverted down to what she was wearing. A maroon top and black pants, with her hair pulled into a low ponytail. Nothing like she had worn in her dream-- where did that soft blue dress come from anyways? She had never seen that dress before in her life, maybe it was just something her mind had come up with for an excuse for Henry to think she was beautiful.
"You look fine." Henry interjected through her thoughts, and turned on his heels to walk out the door.
'Fine'?... Not 'Beautiful'? Just 'Fine'?
"Thanks."
Henry stopped short and turned at her words, now his turn for a look of confusion. "You're... welcome."
Rika smiled at him, causing another puzzled look from Henry, but he just smiled back, and walked out of the room, leaving Rika to her own thoughts and a cold silent bedroom.
She slumped down into the simple chair that Henry had sat on in her dream, and stroked the arm of it with her fingers, the arm that Henry and leaned all his weight against as he stared at her.
She fought back the tears that threatened to fall. They were stupid tears. Tears for a boy. Tears that easily won Rika over until she curled her entire body up in the chair and sobbed into her arms. She wanted to feel safe, and warm, and loved. She wanted that so badly--
She felt that for a brief few seconds in her other world, but here in reality she was back to being alone and cold. Very cold.... a little too cold. Rika sat up, rubbing her arms. It did get suddenly cold in here, didn't it?
The sound of cracking caught her attention, and she looked over at the glass of water that sat on her wooden dresser, the top of the water now covered in a thin sheet of ice that hadn't been there before. Rika could see her breath now, and she curled up into an even tighter ball. Her mother had to seriously stop messing with the thermostat, she'd freeze to death in here.
..... my love .....
Rika sat up straight, hearing once again the calm and seductive voice she had earlier that day.
..... my love ..... why do you trouble yourself with him ..... you could be so much happier .....
"Who's there?!" she demanded in a loud voice, jumping from the chair and spinning around a few times, trying to get a fix on where the voice was coming from. "What do you want with me?!"
The voice was almost familier, but not quite, like it had changed somehow since the last time she had heard the sound. She continued to search for the source of the voice, now moving herself closer to the middle of the room, incase the person could jump out from some shadow and attack.
..... my love ..... I wouldn't hurt you ..... I care about you ..... unlike him .....
The way the voice said 'him' suggested to Rika that the voice couldn't bare to say Henry's actual name, or just simply couldn't. Simply couldn't.. that didn't make any sense. Why couldn't a person say someone's name? In the back of her mind, a long lost memory resurfaced, of a story she read about a witch and the three saviors of the kingdom, and how if the witch would even whisper the name of one of them, it would be like a knife cutting through her heart. Maybe this person, or creature, or.. whatever it was... couldn't bring itself to say Henry's actual name. But why couldn't it? Henry was just another kid like Rika was, what was so special about him?
Rika's eyes searched the room even faster, the voice having grown louder in the past few seconds. Then she spotted it. Two iceblue colored eyes that seemed to glow admist the shadow in the corner of the room, focused on her, looking malice. A chill went up Rika's spine, and the room suddenly grew twice as cold as before as a figure was soon seen there. Rika would have ran that exact second, if the shadow wasn't right beside the only way out of the room. He had her trapped now, so the only thing she could do is stand there, watching his every move, and praying someone with a gun would come in at any second.
"My love, why do you fear me?"
Rika didn't respond, just felt her heartbeat quicken as he started to walk out of the shadow and into the one patch of moonlight that was able to filter it's way through the door. He didn't step far enough into it, though, just enough that she could see the skin on his hand was a blueish color, not the peach color most people around that area had. The closer he came towards her, the colder it became in the room, and now the glass of water was completly frozen, and it was all Rika could do to continue standing. Her eyes were growing heavy, and she knew she wouldn't be able to fight off this intruder much less sleep.
"Henry--" she attempted shouting, but her voice cracked from the sudden cold, and it barely came out in a whisper.
The figure took a few steps backwards at the name being said, then regained his ground. "Rika, my love... I will not hurt you!" he said in a slightly more irritated voice.
He was now only a few inches away from her, and Rika was too weak now to move away, almost too weak to stand.
Rika saw clearly now his pure white hair, cut much like Henry's was, that looked pure white in contrast to his blueish skin and his blue garments. He looked like a prince in one of the fairy tale books she read as a little child, but his eyes told a much differant story than the perfect prince come to rescue her. He was extremly handsome until you looked into his hard cold eyes, full of hate and bitterness.
He reached up, and touched her cheek with a frozen hand. "You have yet to lose your beauty." he whispered, and the cold was almost too much for Rika to bare now. She stumbled slightly, blinking her eyes to keep them open.
"Henry--- help me." she whispered, using what strength she had left to stand and stay there for a few moments more.
"He won't come for you." the creature said, his voice losing any seduction that had been there before.
"Who said?" and to Rika's relief, her prayer was answered as Henry's sturn voice was heard from the doorway that had slid open.
In a moment's notice, the creature had turned, spotted the boy, and vanished into thin air, leaving Rika there in the middle of the room, looking like she was about to collaspe from exhaustion.
"Henry..." Rika managed to whisper, then started to lose her balance again, just in time for Henry to be there to catch her.
He still didn't understand what he had just witnessed, and figured Rika didn't either, but by the temperature of the room and how Rika clung to him for warmth, he had a pretty good idea who that guy was. He said nothing to the girl, just bent slightly to get his arms around her just right to pick her up, figuring even if they worked together, she wouldn't be able to walk out of the room much less all the way to the living room.
She leaned her weight into him, and closed her eyes, and within a few moments and both of them halfway down the hall, she was fast asleep in his arms, warm and safe, like she had wanted to be.
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Author's Note: ......... *has a weird imagination and knows it* choppy chapter, but I'm fighting off evil writer's block, but I'm sure the next chapter will be better.
Ah, yes, you've got to love this. People just understanding my warped a twisted mind, and that if you read the songs I have posted at the beginning of fics, you can pretty much figure out what's going to go on in that chapter. ^_^ now all my fan-people are happy.
I know it dosen't seem like I'm updating very often, but it's hard writing this story, considering most of it's based off a real life thing (the whole Rika almost falling into the river in the last chapter.. no that didn't happen IRL, I just needed a tamer flip to it) and putting my memories into words isn't quite the easiest thing in the world.
I really appreciate all the people telling me they're sorry about hearing about me and Ryan.. but really, I'm over it. I told him off for a reason, and now I get to trash my 'big brother' Keith.. who's Ryo in this story. (He's also Teenager Takato, btw). Just don't get any ideas that Keith's mean or anything, 'cause he's not... most the 'evil Ryo' stuff is a mixture of like 6 people at the time, Keith just happened to be my exboyfriend at the time this story took place, so guess who gets to be the hardheaded freak?
But anyways, parts of this chapter were "created" by Teenager Takato, because only he was in some of these scenes, because reading below, you'll see that Ryo's in scene that Rika isn't. So yeah I needed a goggle-head's help, sad ain't it?
And happy happy Daniel Bedingfield CD that was $5.00 off at Target at the After-Christmas sale... gotta love all that. I ran out of Matchbox Twenty songs to use the day I bought this new CD, and this one is chock-ful-a stuff for this story *grin*.
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Her mama told me if I want her gotta take it slow.
You just can't just tell her
You gotta find other ways to let her know.
But I don't understand this game.
This is so new to me.
I wanna tell her.
I wanna take her in my arms.
Give her time, and maybe one day she'll come around.
See the love I'm offerin', 'cause I don't wanna live without the girl.
Heaven knows every day I pray that someday she will belong to me.
'Cause I don't wanna live without the girl.
She is my sunshine,
But her heart belongs to another man.
She looks right through me.
She only ever thought of us as friends,
But I'll keep holding back my heart.
I will not let her see.
I'm gonna bide my time,
Until the day she comes to me.
Give her time, and maybe one day she'll come around.
See the love I'm offerin', 'cause I don't wanna live without the girl.
Heaven knows every day I pray that someday she will belong to me.
'Cause I don't wanna live without the girl.
Give her time, and maybe one day she'll come around.
See the love I'm offerin', 'cause I don't wanna live without the girl.
Heaven knows every day I pray that someday she will belong to me.
'Cause I don't wanna live without the girl.
----- Without The Girl - Daniel Bedingfield -----
He put his hand on her arm, drawing her close. "Don't leave me here."
Her eyes grew wild, and her heart beat faster than before, being only inches from his face.
"You.. love me?" she asked, tears coming to her eyes.
"How could I not?"
Jeri put her hand dramaticly to her chest and took a few steps backwards.
"But-- Henry, you can't be in love with a girl like me!" She turned her head away from him, staring up at the ceiling.
Snickers arose.
Takato took her hand quickly, and pulled her towards him again. "I can't help myself, Rika." he said in mocked deep voice, causing more snickers from the group of friends that surrounded them.
"I am here to save you!!!" Kazu leaped into the scene, butterknife in his hand, pointed at Takato.
"Ryo!" Jeri squealed, rushing forwards and throwing her arms around him even more dramaticly.
The remaining two in the audience watched the scene, Kenta laughing so hard his side could have split open at that one second, and Ryo looking not nearly as amused. Yeah, he wished she had run to him like that. He felt his hand tighten around his empty paper cup, and it soon crushed under the force of it.
"But Rika---" Takato pleaded, then hit his knees, hands lifting towards her.
Kazu forced a look of complete disgust, and so did Jeri.
No, that wasn't what happened at all. She hadn't come back with him. She left with Henry. Henry Wong. What did Henry Wong have that he didn't? He couldn't place it anywhere in his mind.
Ryo had money, looks, even a cool car he had gotten the other day. What was the problem?
He had called her the earlier that day, expecting Rika to be over this Henry thing after actually seeing it could rip their relationship apart, but no, Rika was out shopping with the blue-haired idiot. Or as her mother interjected in the background-- on a "date".
A date. They hadn't even been apart for two days and she had already started going out with someone else.
The scene in front of him progressed on, the point of the entire thing to poke fun at Henry. It was a hobby to them now, making fun of the one tamer that destroyed their lives like that, and now that Rika had sided with him, she was starting to become a focus of their little skits as well. But not too much-- Jeri refused to do any direct damage to Rika's image, but still played her as a stuck-up brat that only knew about physical pleasure in a relationship, so chose Ryo time after time.
That skit had been done before, only Rika interjected in as Jeri at one point, throwing crude remarks back at her best friend, into "Rika and Jeri" started fighting with hand puppets and Digimon cards, except now it didn't ring true.
Ryo almost wished he had never let Jeri invite Henry and Rika to the Christmas dance now, he would probably have to watch the two in each other's arms for most the dances, and he didn't think he could bare that thought. *His* queen, in the arms of another man. But he had. And now he would have to face the consequences, so to speak.
Ryo focused back in on the scene. Kazu held the butterknife only inches from Jeri's throat now, the scene having radically changed since he had zoned out. Takato still sat on the floor, except now pleading with Kazu instead of Jeri. He begged on in a voice you could've sworn was real, for "Ryo" to let "Rika" go, and he loved her so much that he would let her go. The entire thing was purely dramatic, and a bit too dramatic at times as one character would put his or her hand to their forehead and throw their head back, causing a bit more laughter from Kenta and almost making the other characters laugh as well.
In one last sweeping motion, Kazu threw the butterknife on the ground, and dragged Jeri off the stage, leaving Takato there staring at it. He slowly picked it up, looked to the sky, and pretended to slam it into his chest, falling over backwards, causing more laughter. Ryo watched intently as "Henry" fell motionless on the floor, mumbling Rika's name before "dying". Takato jumped up, bowed, and ran off the stage, and Kenta leaped up, applauding.
Ryo just quietly clapped, everything still turning over in his mind.
Henry walked into Rika's room, still pulling a white silk shirt over his shoulders and buttoning the silver buttons slowly, then looking up a the auburn haired girl, staring coldly at her mirror from the other side of the room.
"It won't kill you." Henry chuckled at the look on Rika's face at seeing her reflection in the mirror of her in a ice blue dress.
"I would like to debate that." Rika said rather stiffly, then looked down at the outfit she wore.
It was clearly something Henry and Rika's mother had picked out. It was made out of silk, which made it even more hideous in Rika's opinion, but what ticked her off the most was the way Henry looked at her when she stood up from the chair she sat in.
"Get that stupid look off your face." she snarled at his sudden stare, and he quickly regained his composure and started stuttering.
"S-sorry R-rika, I didn't m-mean t-to."
Rika rolled her eyes, growled a few words under her breath about the boy. "I'd like to know why I can be so easily dragged into these things by you."
"Wika! You wook wike a pwetty pwincess!!!"
Almost as an answer to Rika's question, both teens turned to the girl staring at Rika's floor-length dress, eyes just glowing at the site of the beautiful creation.
Suzy ran forward, almost knocking Henry over in her haste to touch the dress and make a few more remarks about how beautiful Rika looked. Her little fingers rolled over the silver glitter snowflake pressed against the hip of the dress, then she looked up at Rika and grinned. "You wook wike a bewtiful bwide too!"
Rika's face grew red as Henry made an agreeing sound and he sat down in a chair by the door, watching the scene with intrest.
Rika knelt down in front of the girl and smiled just enough to make herself even more beautiful in the outfit. "Thank you." she said politely, and Suzy went on about her necklace and hair clips that were now in view of her, and even the diamond straps that kept the dress on the girl's body.
Henry leaned against one of the wooden arms of the chair and chuckled, his eyes more on Rika than Suzy. She did look beautiful in the dress, and almost perfect with a smile on her face. For the first time ever he saw her with diamond jewelery on, something her mother had forced her to wear much to the girl's disgust. His stubborn grin turned into a neutral look as his watching eye turned into a staring one, and his mind suddenly repeated over and over again how beautiful Rika looked.
He was falling for her after all, wasn't he? It was clear to him now, every day he spent at her house, he fell for her more and more, and now he was in too deep to dig himself back out. He had started over the past day or two to have moderate fantasies about her, nothing sexual, just her wrapped in his arms at some random time for some random reason, or her whispering something about her love for him. Henry was completly in love with her. He couldn't bare the thought of her not in his arms any longer, he couldn't bare her not knowing.
"Suzy." he said abruptly, and both girls looked his way.
His eyes never left Rika as he spoke to his sister, and a look of realization suddenly hit Rika.
"Can I talk to Rika alone for a moment?" Henry's heartbeat quickened. What was he doing? She wasn't in love with him, just Ryo. Ryo was in her heart.
"... 'kay!" Suzy spat off quickly, and rushed out of the room, closing the door tightly behind her.
Henry stood from his chair and took slow rhythmic steps towards Rika, and she stood up straight also.
"Yes?" she said in a low voice, knowing in the back of her mind what this was about, just by the look in his eyes.
"You look beautiful." he brushed a piece of her long auburn hair back behind her ear, the hair she had purposely not straightened that day so her hair looked like her mothers, only the reddish color instead of blonde.
"Thank you." she said politely again, uneased by this side of Henry. He was easy to fall for, which would explain the group of girls constantly around him when she went to pick Jeri up after school for a 'playdate'. He had an extremely charming personality. She was losing her power over him.
He leaned in towards her, and she immediatly realised he was about to kiss her, and instinctively, she pulled back, pushing him away by his shoulders.
"H-Henry.."
"Don't resist this, Rika. We both feel it." he said calmly, taking two steps for every one she backed up.
"H-Henry I don't think we shou--" her back hit the wall, and before she knew what was happening, Henry's lips were pressed against hers and both were caught up in a long passionate kiss. The walls of defense she had put up to block out any love from her heart came down as their arms wrapped around each other. She didn't want to leave the moment, but something didn't feel right to her, like this was more a far-off memory than reality.
"Rika.." Henry separated the kiss. "We should get going.."
"No-- not now." Rika mumbled quietly.
"Com'on Rika."
"No--"
"Rika, I won't wait around all day for you to wake up."
"What are you talking about?"
"You've been asleep for three hours!"
Rika opened her eyes to see the blue haired boy standing over her, with an almost irritated look on his face. "You said that you would come, Rika." he said with a little more patience in his voice, extending his hand down to her.
She sleepily took his hand, the thought finally coming across to her that the entire moment was a dream. That perfect moment where she first felt safe in her life, was all a dream.
The thought must have crossed through her eyes as confusion, for when Henry pulled her up to be just a few inches away from him and looked into her face, his expression because solemn. "Vivid dream?" he asked gently, and she nodded, half-zoned again.
"Sorry about having to wake you up, but--" Henry shrugged and brushed down the long sleeves of her maroon top for her. "We do need to get going."
Rika's attention diverted down to what she was wearing. A maroon top and black pants, with her hair pulled into a low ponytail. Nothing like she had worn in her dream-- where did that soft blue dress come from anyways? She had never seen that dress before in her life, maybe it was just something her mind had come up with for an excuse for Henry to think she was beautiful.
"You look fine." Henry interjected through her thoughts, and turned on his heels to walk out the door.
'Fine'?... Not 'Beautiful'? Just 'Fine'?
"Thanks."
Henry stopped short and turned at her words, now his turn for a look of confusion. "You're... welcome."
Rika smiled at him, causing another puzzled look from Henry, but he just smiled back, and walked out of the room, leaving Rika to her own thoughts and a cold silent bedroom.
She slumped down into the simple chair that Henry had sat on in her dream, and stroked the arm of it with her fingers, the arm that Henry and leaned all his weight against as he stared at her.
She fought back the tears that threatened to fall. They were stupid tears. Tears for a boy. Tears that easily won Rika over until she curled her entire body up in the chair and sobbed into her arms. She wanted to feel safe, and warm, and loved. She wanted that so badly--
She felt that for a brief few seconds in her other world, but here in reality she was back to being alone and cold. Very cold.... a little too cold. Rika sat up, rubbing her arms. It did get suddenly cold in here, didn't it?
The sound of cracking caught her attention, and she looked over at the glass of water that sat on her wooden dresser, the top of the water now covered in a thin sheet of ice that hadn't been there before. Rika could see her breath now, and she curled up into an even tighter ball. Her mother had to seriously stop messing with the thermostat, she'd freeze to death in here.
..... my love .....
Rika sat up straight, hearing once again the calm and seductive voice she had earlier that day.
..... my love ..... why do you trouble yourself with him ..... you could be so much happier .....
"Who's there?!" she demanded in a loud voice, jumping from the chair and spinning around a few times, trying to get a fix on where the voice was coming from. "What do you want with me?!"
The voice was almost familier, but not quite, like it had changed somehow since the last time she had heard the sound. She continued to search for the source of the voice, now moving herself closer to the middle of the room, incase the person could jump out from some shadow and attack.
..... my love ..... I wouldn't hurt you ..... I care about you ..... unlike him .....
The way the voice said 'him' suggested to Rika that the voice couldn't bare to say Henry's actual name, or just simply couldn't. Simply couldn't.. that didn't make any sense. Why couldn't a person say someone's name? In the back of her mind, a long lost memory resurfaced, of a story she read about a witch and the three saviors of the kingdom, and how if the witch would even whisper the name of one of them, it would be like a knife cutting through her heart. Maybe this person, or creature, or.. whatever it was... couldn't bring itself to say Henry's actual name. But why couldn't it? Henry was just another kid like Rika was, what was so special about him?
Rika's eyes searched the room even faster, the voice having grown louder in the past few seconds. Then she spotted it. Two iceblue colored eyes that seemed to glow admist the shadow in the corner of the room, focused on her, looking malice. A chill went up Rika's spine, and the room suddenly grew twice as cold as before as a figure was soon seen there. Rika would have ran that exact second, if the shadow wasn't right beside the only way out of the room. He had her trapped now, so the only thing she could do is stand there, watching his every move, and praying someone with a gun would come in at any second.
"My love, why do you fear me?"
Rika didn't respond, just felt her heartbeat quicken as he started to walk out of the shadow and into the one patch of moonlight that was able to filter it's way through the door. He didn't step far enough into it, though, just enough that she could see the skin on his hand was a blueish color, not the peach color most people around that area had. The closer he came towards her, the colder it became in the room, and now the glass of water was completly frozen, and it was all Rika could do to continue standing. Her eyes were growing heavy, and she knew she wouldn't be able to fight off this intruder much less sleep.
"Henry--" she attempted shouting, but her voice cracked from the sudden cold, and it barely came out in a whisper.
The figure took a few steps backwards at the name being said, then regained his ground. "Rika, my love... I will not hurt you!" he said in a slightly more irritated voice.
He was now only a few inches away from her, and Rika was too weak now to move away, almost too weak to stand.
Rika saw clearly now his pure white hair, cut much like Henry's was, that looked pure white in contrast to his blueish skin and his blue garments. He looked like a prince in one of the fairy tale books she read as a little child, but his eyes told a much differant story than the perfect prince come to rescue her. He was extremly handsome until you looked into his hard cold eyes, full of hate and bitterness.
He reached up, and touched her cheek with a frozen hand. "You have yet to lose your beauty." he whispered, and the cold was almost too much for Rika to bare now. She stumbled slightly, blinking her eyes to keep them open.
"Henry--- help me." she whispered, using what strength she had left to stand and stay there for a few moments more.
"He won't come for you." the creature said, his voice losing any seduction that had been there before.
"Who said?" and to Rika's relief, her prayer was answered as Henry's sturn voice was heard from the doorway that had slid open.
In a moment's notice, the creature had turned, spotted the boy, and vanished into thin air, leaving Rika there in the middle of the room, looking like she was about to collaspe from exhaustion.
"Henry..." Rika managed to whisper, then started to lose her balance again, just in time for Henry to be there to catch her.
He still didn't understand what he had just witnessed, and figured Rika didn't either, but by the temperature of the room and how Rika clung to him for warmth, he had a pretty good idea who that guy was. He said nothing to the girl, just bent slightly to get his arms around her just right to pick her up, figuring even if they worked together, she wouldn't be able to walk out of the room much less all the way to the living room.
She leaned her weight into him, and closed her eyes, and within a few moments and both of them halfway down the hall, she was fast asleep in his arms, warm and safe, like she had wanted to be.
----
Author's Note: ......... *has a weird imagination and knows it* choppy chapter, but I'm fighting off evil writer's block, but I'm sure the next chapter will be better.
