Disclaimer: I don't own digimon or the idea of an external soul.

Author's Note: All right, sorry for the long wait. All that holiday stuff and then I needed some time off. I started a new story, so everybody go review that one too. I really like this chapter, especially the end. And now I have the ending in sight. So happy! Well, the Final Law of Storytelling: "Never let the facts get in the way of a good story."

Secrets Laid Plain

When the tamers had stepped back into their own world, the seven of them had split off from each other to do the things they needed to. Henry had to take his sister home and Takato had a ton of chores he had to get done. The others had various things to do as well, so they parted ways. Rika only got to walk a few steps before Torey started bothering her.

You should go talk to Henry. He whispered. You can't just leave him guessing like that. He'll ask someone about it.

She rolled her eyes. Fine.

Taking a different direction, she walked quickly and thought over exactly how she was going to explain it to him. She didn't really know all the details herself. After a few minutes, she caught sight of Henry walking up ahead, holding his sister's hand and leading her along.

"Henry!" She called out and broke into a jog to catch up with the two of them.

As she fell into step beside Suzie, the boy gave her an odd look. "Yeah?"

Rika glanced down at the little girl before shrugging and going on. "Mind if I tag along? I can put my chores off for a while."

He watched her for a moment, an almost uncomfortable look on his face. "Sure. As long as you don't mind a few questions."

"That was the idea."

He fell silent, staring blankly at the sidewalk in front of him, like he was thinking of what to ask first. Then he sighed and looked down at his sister. "Suzie, let's have a race. If you can beat me back home, I'll let you have a tea party with Terriermon today."

Her little eyes lit up at the idea and she started running down the sidewalk. Henry and Rika took off after her, staying just a few paces behind.

"Are you sure Terriermon will agree to that?" She asked, running at his side.

The dark haired boy grinned. "It's too late for that. He'll just have to live through it."

Suzie beat them back to the building, and Henry let the three of them upstairs, sucking in uneven breaths. Giggling, the little girl ran in the apartment door and disappeared into the kitchen, looking for her tea party victim. Rika looked around the living room, quickly noticing the sterile neatness of everything.

"I'm home, Mom." Henry shouted out before grabbing her arm and tugging her after him into another room. It was his bedroom.

Rika gave him an odd look, since he obviously hadn't thought that over too well. "That's a little fast, don't you think?"

"Huh?" He asked, confused.

She shook her head, smiling, and took a seat on his bed.

"Whatever." He said, dragging over the computer chair and sitting down opposite her. "What did you see?"

She frowned, and glanced away from his face. "Can we address that one later? I know it's probably bugging you the most, but I'm sure you have other questions too."

He sighed. "Fine. How do you see the future, and how do you know it is the future?"

Rika smiled at the answer. "I don't know how I see it, but I see things that can happen, as well as things that will happen."

"How do you know the difference?"

"I don't. You know that I saw Fauvmon come through before it happened. That came true. I also saw that he killed Takato, and that didn't. It could have, but I added something else to the mix."

"Davis." Henry whispered, chewing the inside of his cheek in thought. "So you changed the future?"

She shrugged. "I guess so."

"But what makes you see it?" He asked.

Rika smiled again, and got up to open the door a little. "Torey, get in here."

The dark haired boy stared as the lynx casually walked into the room.

"Meet Torey," she said. "He's my soul."

It took about an hour to explain enough of it to him, enough that he let her go home finally. She'd told him most of it, leaving out a few things, like Davis's involvement and their relationship. She hadn't told him the real meat of her latest vision, but had made something up. She couldn't imagine that Ken would like it too much if she told everyone how hard pressed he was with his emotions right now.

Torey dodged around underneath cars as he followed her, each of them deep in their partially separate thoughts. Eventually he spoke up, though.

Rika, what if you didn't do enough. What if the Kaiser really does come back. Then what?

I don't know. Then I'll probably see something else to make that right again.

What if that's worse than the first outcome?

Torey, how can getting rid of the Kaiser be worse than living with him? Especially for Ken. She kicked at a rock sitting in the middle of the sidewalk.

I don't know. What if a lot of people die in the process.

She swallowed. Yeah, I guess. But it won't happen.

He didn't answer, and she walked the rest of the way home in silence, trying not to think about all of that. When she walked onto her property, she slid the front door open and collapsed face down on the sofa.

"Rika, I'm so glad you're home. I have the whole day planned out, and if we leave now, we might even be able to get you to that first photo shoot."

She groaned and lifted her head up, catching sight of her mother, a dress draped over her arm. "Welcome home, mom." She muttered. "I'm not really feeling well, so can we go another time."

"Nonsense. If you can run out to meet your friends at five in the morning, You're probably feeling well enough to go out for a day with your mother." She smiled at her daughter, eyes shining. "Besides, I only flew in for three days. I haven't seen you for a while, and I'd like to spent some time with you."

Rika sighed and pushed herself off the sofa. "Okay, mom."

It was a long day. And an embarrassing one. Numerous times, Rika found herself slathered with makeup and reluctantly posing before cameras in some of the dresses her mother had picked out for her. For some reason, she controlled her frequent urge to tear the flimsy pieces of cloth off of herself and stomp back into the dressing room to change into her own more comfortable clothes. Maybe it was Torey, helping her with her anger, but she still made it through the day without screaming at her mother once, which was an accomplishment in itself. They finally went home around two. As soon as they were in the house, Rika made sure to steal all of the photos out of her mother's purse. Hiding them behind her back, she edged outside and went to her room. Sitting on her floor, she stared at them for a moment, for some reason playing critic.

"You look pretty in them." Torey said, sitting on her knee and craning his neck to see.

"Shut up, Torey." She whispered.

"Well, it's true."

"I guess so." She looked a moment longer before dumping the lot of them in the garbage.

Tired after the long day, Rika took a long hot shower, making sure she washed all the makeup off her face. After she got dressed again, she collapsed back on the sofa, flipping on the television. Her mother had left a note on the counter, saying that she had gone out to deal with her agent.

"She's gone again." Torey said, jumping up on the couch to sit next to her.

Rika shrugged. "She always leaves. She'll only spend time with me if it's all planned out in some long painful day. It's like she's afraid of me."

"Maybe she is." He sat back and began to lick at his paws.

"What?" She glanced down at him.

"Well, you're really different from her. She doesn't understand you."

"Doesn't mean she should try to change me into a mirror image of herself."

"But would you ever think of including her in things you like?"

Rika blinked, suddenly struck by the idea. "No."

"That's why she takes you out for photo shoots. That's all she can think of, because you never volunteered anything else."

The girl stared at her soul, suddenly understanding all those years of her mother's behavior. "So is that one of the things a soul just knows?"

Torey shrugged. "I guess."

The new idea bothered Rika all day. She couldn't stay at home with out thinking about it, so she went out, eventually finding Jeri. The two of them went to the park and sat in front of the rip for a while, just watching the umber egg and talking about random things. It was something she wouldn't have done before, but something was having an odd effect on her. She didn't mind being with other people and just being herself. She enjoyed being with Jeri, chatting about school and Takato and all the other things that had happened that weekend. It was nice.

Around seven she went back home and spent some time with her grandmother, another odd thing. And then she just sat for a while, thinking over how she could spend some time with her mother, and not hate it.

Rika was dreaming about something. It wasn't a vision, but it wasn't exactly a coherent thought either. She let it drift over her, relaxing in the feeling of useless memories. Until something jolted her awake. Thunder crashed outside her room. She sat up in bed, looking out the windows as the rain pelted down, streaks of water running down their glassy lengths. But the lightning hadn't been what had pulled her out of the dream. It had been something else.

Renamon popped into the room. "The door, Rika." She whispered, and was gone again.

The girl pushed herself up out of her covers and walked barefoot over the cool floor, wondering what it was that was out there, and why she had awoken. She paused for a moment with her hand on the door, and then slid it open. To find Ken standing there, totally soaked. His hair hung in strands, dripping onto the floor, and his damp clothes clung to his body, making him look even more thin than usual. Rika stared.

He was silent for a long time, like he was searching for the right words to express the lost and empty look on his face. "Um, you said that..."

"Come in." She whispered as he trailed off.

The boy stepped inside and she slid the door shut again. He shivered almost violently and wrapped his arms around himself. Rika rushed over and grabbed one of her blankets. She walked back over to him and set it around his shoulders. He clasped it in front of him as another shiver overtook him.

"Ken, what happened?" She asked.

He swallowed and looked away. Which was when she saw his eye for the first time. It was swollen and puffy, beginning to bruise. She sucked in a surprised breath and reached out, touching it ever so carefully. As she did, though, he jerked away and stood a few feet away from her, staring almost fearfully at her hand.

"What happened?" She asked again, more firmly this time.

"I..." He tried to start, but stopped as his voice started to crack.

"He hit you." She whispered.

His eyes snapped up to hers, that frightened and broken look covering his face.

"But why?" Rika asked, stepping forward and touching his hands gently.

"I," he swallowed and paused for a moment. "He came into my room while I was gone. He found out that I snuck out. He just snapped as soon as he saw me again. I don't know..."

He trailed off again and looked out the window. Rika saw the glistening of tears in his eyes. "Ken..."

"He didn't mean it. I just can't go back there. I'm afraid that... Well, what you said before..."

"Why didn't you go to Yolei?"

"She's gone."

"What about Davis?"

"Davis told me that..." He sniffed and took a breath. "He was mad because..." He trailed off again as his voice threatened to break.

"Come on." She reached out and touched his hand again, surprised by the chill of it. "You need some dry clothes. He'll give them to you."

"Rika, I don't..." He hesitated, but then let her lead him toward the door. "Thank you."

She slipped her warm hand into his cold one, lightly squeezing it. "Of course."

Post Script: Okay, was that just a little intense? Wow. Maybe it's the song I've been listening to repetitively, but that was a great ending. I know all the secrets weren't laid plain, but a lot of them were. And still are. Whatever. Hope you liked it as much as I do. Review, and all that stuff. Thanx.

Also, thanx to Dark Qiviut for that really awesome review. Wow. Glad you liked it so much. I was so happy to read that.

neoKOS-MOS