Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Digimon.

Her keys were missing.

Ruki was going through fifty different kinds of panic here, already seeing people breaking into her house to go through her stuff, invade her privacy...it was bad enough that they knew where she lived, and it wasn't uncommon these days that she had a lawn full of reporters and photographers. But if they got inside...

Knowing that Ryo was watching, she casually rang the bell. It was casual, she told herself. Banging on the door like a lunatic always brought attention.

Seiko opened the door. "Ruki?" she queried. "What?"

"I forgot my key," Ruki lied, already walking in and closing the door immediately. Hopefully Ryo would take a hint and leave. "Sorry it took so long. Traffic was so bad we had to walk home."

"That's okay," Seiko assured her. "Um...your Mom's in the kitchen. Dinner's ready."

"I'm not very hungry," she kicked her shoes off and started walking back towards her room.

"Ruki, your Mother just got home! Come have dinner with us."

"Okay," Ruki sighed.

Rumiko immediately stood when she saw her daughter standing in the doorway, and was quick to hug her. Ruki stiffened. She still wasn't exactly used to this. Eventually, though, she patted her mother's back. "Um, hi, Mom," she said.

"Hello Ruki," Rumiko said, stepping back to look at her daughter better. Her hand brushed red hair back fondly, but Ruki looked away. She remembered all too well that three months ago her Mom had been so quick to criticize her, with the intention of helping. They were getting better now, but it was hard.

"We were watching the interview on television," Seiko told Ruki, smiling.

"Really?" Ruki looked at the TV and saw, of course, Ryo, who was terrorizing the reporters with secretive smiles and occasional responses of 'It's a secret', and only a handful of real answers. Ugh, he's so annoying!

"You did well out there," Rumiko told her, a hand on her shoulder in support. "Though I wish I could have helped you find something to wear." She noticed Seiko shaking her head and waving her arms, and immediately added, "But you looked lovely out there, dear."

Ruki smiled, having caught the little byplay. "Thanks." She's trying, she reminded herself. Awkwardly, she sat down, and was quickly joined by Rumiko, and, a moment later, Seiko. "So how was your trip?" She asked.

"It was nice," her mother said, smiling. "It is always so wonderful to see Matsu-chan, and he was happy to take me on a tour of his favorite places in Hokkaido. It was really lovely, though I never expected Matsu-chan to find a home in such a place."

"Now, now," Seiko chided gently. "Hokkaido is not so bad. They have many wonderful things to see there."

There was a weight, Ruki noticed, in her mother's eyes. "Will you be going back to work?"

"He was looking for something else," Rumiko told her, laughing. "Do not worry. Matsu-chan said he would recommend me to a friend of his, Ijichi-san. He said I was just what Ijichi-san was looking for."

"Really." Ruki smiled slightly. She stood up. "I'm really not feeling very well, Grandma. I'm going to go take a nap, okay?"

"Well," Seiko started, looking like she was about to protest.

Her daughter overrode her easily. "Go ahead, Ruki. Feel better, okay?"

Ruki made a noncommital sound, and tore back to her room. But after the door was closed, she stood in the middle of the room, uncertain of what to do next. She wanted to talk to someone, but who would she call? A glance at clock had her discounting Juri. She'd be eating dinner now, and her father and step-mom would prefer her to eat with them, not talk on the phone. That only left Lee.

She reached for her cell phone, and tried dialing his number. He had to have his cell phone.

When the phone prompted her to leave a message, she hung up. Obviously, he did not.

Tossing her cell phone back onto her bed, and thought of what to do as she changed out of her clothes into pajamas. What would they do if this Ijichi-san guy didn't want her Mom? Models weren't any more in demand now than they were ten years ago, but they also weren't that hard to find. If you looked good, and had The Walk, anyone could be a model.

But it looked like Rumiko was going into retirement the hard way. Not even her designer friends wanted to take pictures of her.

So what would they do...?

Ruki looked at her cell phone for a long minute, then reached for it again before digging the card out of her pocket. There was, after all, nothing else to do. And a few questions never hurt, right?

Note: Not one of the better chapters. Sorry. But it's not so bad, yeah? I need to get back to plotting. I'm still not finished with this story.

karika88 -- Yes, Ruki is 10, which made it kind of awkward to write any kind of realistic relationship with Ryo and Ruki. But the four-year age gap has been there in America, too, since they play as 13 and 17 there (frightening, eh?). And I like putting up two chapters a day, since I don't want to stop writing with just one chapter. I probably won't update on weekends, though.