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Author's Note: *sits there stunned with a Guilmon-shaped gold award in her hand* .. I.. don't know what to say... I-- want to thank the fans... my mother... my boyfriend... and anyone else who I forgot to mention or didn't mention on purpose.
*laughs* Just kidding, actually it was all the fans that got me this "Best Digimon Author of 2003" award. Seriously even though I bragged to all the rest of the "Teenager" people that I had this competetion in the bag, I didn't think that I *actually* did. I must've, because last time I checked, the Best Digimon Author of 2002 wasn't chosen until December. Well whatever, thank you guys so much!


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If you're not the one
Then why does my soul feel glad today?
If you're not the one
Then why does my hand fit yours this way?
If you are not mine
Then why does your heart return my call?
If you were not mine
Would I have the strength to stand at all?
I'll never know what the future brings,
But I know you're here with me now.
We'll make it through
And I hope you are the one I share my life with.

I don't want to run away but I can't take it.
I don't understand.
If I'm not made for you,
Then why does my heart tell me that I am?
Is there any way that I could stay in your arms?

If I don't need you,
Then why am I crying on my bed?
If I don't need you,
Then why does your name resound in my head?
If you're not for me
Then why does this distance maim my life?
If you're not for me
Then why do I dream of you as my wife?
I don't know why you're so far away
But I know that this much is true.
We'll make it through
And I hope you are the one
I share my life with.
And I wish that you could be the one I die with.
And I pray that you're the one I build my home with.
I hope I love you all my life.

I don't want to run away,
But I can't take it.
I don't understand.
If I'm not made for you,
Then why does my heart tell me that I am?
Is there any way that I could stay in your arms?

'Cause I miss you, body and soul
So strong that it takes my breath away.
And I breathe you into my heart.
And pray for the strength to stand today.
'Cause I love you, whether it's wrong or right,
And though I can't be with you tonight,
You know my heart is by your side.

I don't want to run away,
But I can't take it.
I don't understand.
If I'm not made for you,
Then why does my heart tell me that I am?
Is there any way that I could stay in your arms?

----- If You're Not The One - Daniel Bedingfield -----

The door of Rika's bedroom flew open with a loud child-like squeal emmiting from it, or at least that's how it seemed to Henry and Rika who were just waking up. Both blinked in the sudden pure white light filling the dark room, and the freezing cold wind whipping into the room at the same time. Rika sat up a bit more and moved towards Henry's mat to block herself from the direct force of the wind, still not really opening her eyes. Before either could prepare themselves, a small body threw itself on top of Rika which sent her falling backwards from the sudden force, and with an 'oof' from the boy now on the bottom of the pile, both teenagers looked up to see Suzy's estatic face staring at them.
"It's CHWISMAS!!!!" she squealed again, and the figure of Makino came into view, almost black in comparison to the snowfilled yard behind her. She just laughed at the scene, coffee cup in hand, and waited for her daughter and in her own eyes, future son-in-law, to wake up completely.
"What.. time is it?" Henry groaned, struggling to sit up under the weight of the two girls.
"Seven." Makino stated simply, then laughed and continued on. "You've kept her waiting for a full two hours."
"You were up at five?" Rika said in as much of a sharp tone she could bring out of her voice after being awakened like that.
"We have'ta open pwesents!! Huwwy huwwy!" Suzy finally stood back up, jumping up and down in her fuzzy pink pajamas as if it might move the two a bit faster.
Rika sat up once more and gave Henry a sympothetic look as he also sat up, but groaning painfully also.
"Both of you have to start laying off the cookies.. you'll kill me before this is all over with."
Rika batted him upside the head and stood up, running her fingers through her messy hair. Rika looked down at the girl who still jumped up and down with excitement, and couldn't help but grin.
"Oh fine, come on." she bent down and scooped the small girl up into her arms. Pulling her soft blue nightgown straight again, she walked out of the room, Henry stumbling to pull himself out of bed fast enough to catch up with her.
Halfway down the hall Suzy thrust herself out of Rika's arms and ran forward, almost running into the door instead of opening it.
"Calm down!" Rika laughed slightly, and opened the door up, pushing Suzy by the back of her head inside the room that she already knew was full of presents for the young girl. She looked up to walk in herself and froze.
"Henry.."
Henry stepped up behind her with a slightly confused look on his face. Being taller than her after that growth spirt he had taken, he was just able to look over the top of her head, and soon he also froze.
The presents that filled the room had multiplied overnight it seemed, but what had caught the two teenager's attention was the man standing in the middle of the room, looking at them, one small present in his hand.
"Dad--" Henry said in an even more confused voice than the look on his face shown.
Rika said nothing, just sat there in silence. A week ago she wouldn't have cared if Henry's father had popped into the house to check on him or something, but she had worked herself into Henry's life now, and this was now probably just as much of a big deal to her as it was to Henry. She grasped for his hand which he quickly took and gave a tight squeese.
"What are you doing here?" Henry willed himself to continue, feeling a slight sense of comfort from the girl now leaning back into him and pulling his hand around her stomach. He could tell from the look in his father's eyes Rika must be sending the man some sort of angry look, but he wasn't quite sure until his father spoke up.
"Don't worry, Rika. I'm not here to take them back by force. I'm here to answer some questions I know Henry has on his mind."
Henry wrapped both of his arms around the girl and gave a long sigh as he looked at his father. He wanted to know so much about why he was thrown into this situation, why his parents dumped him and Suzy on the side of the road that cold night, but he knew in his heart what to say.
"You might want to come back later."
Everyone in the room froze at his words and looked at him confused, even Rika.
"I just want to have a normal Christmas with my family." with that he held onto Rika a bit tighter and she laid her head back on his shoulder, meeting her forehead to the side of his neck.
Janyuu stood in silence a moment, wanting to fire back some sort of statement about how Henry's real family was back at their apartment, but Suzy's sudden actions cut him off.
"Wika! Lookit! This one's fowr you! I buyed it myself!" Suzy squealed, running up to the teenage couple with an average sized green package in her arms, and lifted it up towards the girl with a look of innocent joy. Rika bent down and took the present, but before she said a thank-you, Suzy was already digging through one section of the piles and piles of presents. She gave a triumphant shriek, and stood back up with a blue colored package in her hands, and quickly returned to the couple, offering it up to her brother.
"And this one is fowr you, Henwy! You have to open youwr pwesents fiwrst!"
Suzy started back to her jumping up and down, and Henry looked towards Janyuu, then stood up completly straight, looking around. The sound of the front door closing caused Henry's heart to sink slightly. He.. had done the right thing, hadn't he?
He felt a soft kiss be placed on his cheek, and Rika take his hand again, pulling him into the direction of the black leather couch. "It's alright." she whispered into his ear, and he sank down into the couch, putting his arm over the top of it.
Rika sat down almost gracefully beside him, holding the green colored present in her lap, and Suzy's anxious eyes turned towards her.
"Open it!!!" she giggled, and Rika thumbnail ran along the side of the package, making a slight tearing sound, and immediatly Suzy was at her feet, watching with extreme intrest.
Turning the now-open box around in her hand to see the front of the package, Rika let off a bright round of laughter. There in her hands was the plush yellow fox she had pointed out in the store a few days before, somehow Suzy had logged it away in her mind and had gotten it for her the next day.
Rika reached forward and flicked the girl on the forehead. "Thanks."
Suzy giggled, and ran into the surrounding presents, looking anxiously for the next one to open.
The morning continued on much in that way, and Rika had been right, most the presents there were for the new little girl in her mother's life. Suzy quickly found that she had an entire room of random toys and gadgets to play with, and an entirely new wardrobe of pink and purple to go with it.
All the presents being opened, the three tamers sat examining their gifts, the Christmas Parade flashing on the TV screen just across the room. Rika watched the parade, fingering the ear of the plush fox she had pulled out of it's box with one hand, and turning the silver locket Henry had given her in the fingers of her other hand. Henry leaned his back against Rika's, completly engulfed in programming the laptop he had received from Rika's mother. Suzy sat on the floor playing with the collection of dolls and figurines, letting Rika have another show to watch if the parade got too boring for her taste.
She spoke the phrases each doll said to the other, and played tea-party with a few more. The extra doll dresses lay forgotten on the floor next to her, Suzy's only real statement about them were how much she missed Terriermon, which caused an uneasy moment of silence from Henry. He still hadn't told Rika about seeing Renamon the night before, and Rika had spent an extra hour trying to get it out of Henry how he survived an attack from Brede. That was actually what was on his mind currently as he typed away information into the small black laptop. He loved Rika, but how was he going to explain something like that to her--
In the back of his mind, he knew who that girl he saw was, but Rika would call him crazy. Everyone would call him crazy.
He knew Rika could tell something was bothering him, he could see it in her eyes, and yet she didn't seem to push it on him for her to tell him anything, which probably was the real reason this was bugging him so much. In a close relationship Rika took on an entirely differant light. Before it seemed she would never look someone in the eyes and tell them she loved them, but he had been wrong about that. She had proven that idea wrong when she had opened the present that contained the locket. Looking straight at him with the slightest bit of tears in her eyes, she said right there that she loved him.
He found himself a bit uncomfortable at remembering the scene and feeling her leaning against him at that exact moment. She did love him, and here we was keeping this sort of thing from her. If she had seen something like that-- with Terriermon and all-- he'd want her to tell him.
With that, Henry reached back and placed his hand on her leg, grabbing her attention quickly.
"Can I talk to you in the other room?"
The plush fox was set down on the floor in front of the couch and Rika sat up straight, giving him a puzzeled look, but taking his hand when he offered to help her up off the couch.
He pulled her quickly into the study closing the door behind them, leaving Suzy and Makino in the room quite confused.

Rika sat in complete silence in the black leather chair, staring at her boyfriend. She hadn't said a thing after Henry finished his story, and it was getting under Henry's skin.
"Just... say something." he said under his breath, not noticing it was just loud enough for Rika herself to hear.
"I believe you." Rika still held a half-dazed look in her eyes, but Henry looked right past that, took shocked to notice anyways.
"Y-you do?"
"You wouldn't lie to me, I know you well enough to tell that." Rika smiled at him, breaking out of her startled trance.
Henry stared down at the floor. Now he felt even more guilty not having told her the previous night, and opened his mouth right then to apologize to her.
The door of the study opened, and Rika's mother walked in gracefully, looking towards Henry with a slightly puzzeled look on her face.
"Henry, Ryo Akiyama's at the front door, he wants to speak to you."
Rika started at the sound of the name and sat upright in her chair. "Why does he want to talk to Henry and not me?" Rika spat off quickly, the sudden bolt of fear in her voice evident.
Henry looked towards her a moment, then back at the blonde woman, and he stood. "I'll take care of this, Rika." he said simply, and walked out of the room, leaving Rika's worried eyes following after him.
He opened the front door to the rather tall brunette boy scowling at him. Ryo pulled Henry outside by his shirt collar so quickly Henry didn't have time to respond, and he slammed the door behind them.
"What the heck do you think you're doing, stealing my girl?" Henry about stumbled backwards when Ryo gave his shoulders a quick shove.
"I'm not stealing anybody. She decided she was better off with me than yo--" this time the impact of Ryo's fist hitting Henry's chest sent him flying backwards a foot or two, and immediatly Henry went into defensive mode.
"You want a fight?" Henry said, gaining his ground again, a sudden determined look crossing his face.
"You'll get a fight."