Chapter 8

"My father..." The words sank into Henry's mind as he felt a deep heaviness in his chest. He swallowed, feeling helpless. He didn't know what to say... he looked on as the girl next to him began trembling... after what felt like an eternity, Rika continued to speak...

"I can't go back, Henry... if I do... he may come looking for me."

Henry saw the pain and fear in Rika's eyes as she spoke. Staring at the ground, she continued...

"He never used to be that way... my father... in fact, I used to think he was really nice..." Her voice began to tremble. "One day... he just changed..."

Henry gently placed his hand on her shoulder once more. Rika furiously rubbed the tears away from her face.

"I'm sorry..." Rika said, trying to stop herself from crying, though she had a difficult time doing so.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Rika," Henry said. "It's okay to cry."

Rika looked into his eyes once more as more tears streamed down her face and for the first time in her life, slowly wrapped her arms around Henry as she buried her head her head into his chest, letting the tears fall. Though surprised by this, Henry wrapped his arms around the girl, holding her as she cried quietly, offering all the comfort he could give.

"It's alright..." he whispered, gently rubbing her back. "Just let it out..."

And with that, Rika did... letting all the pain and anguish out as she cried into Henry. He realized she must have been bottling everything up inside for so long. He just wished there was more he could do to help. After about twenty minutes or so, Henry checked to see that the girl had fallen asleep in his arms. She actually looked peaceful...

He wasn't sure of what exactly to do... one part of his mind was telling him to take her home whereas another part of it was telling him not to. He watched her as she lay there, sleeping... gently sliding his arms underneath her, he stood, lifting her up. She remained asleep as he started walking west, carrying her in his arms.

The phone rang in the Wong's household. Mrs. Wong quickly ran and picked up the reciever.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Mayumi, it's me," the voice replied. Mrs. Wong immediately recognized the voice belonging to her husband. There was a lot of static on the other end, so she knew was on his cell phone.

"Janyuu..." she spoke. "Henry isn't back yet. Has there been any sign of Rika?" Her voice was filled with worry. Mr. Wong sighed on the other end.

"No, I'm afraid not. I searched all the main streets, but she's nowhere to be seen... has anyone else called?"

"Ms. Nonaka did... wondering if there was any news on Rika... poor woman's worried sick... I sure hope Rika's alright."

"I know... I'm going to look around the area one more time. Let me know if anything happens."

"Alright..." and with that, she hung up the phone. Sighing, she had a seat on one of the nearby chairs.

"Any sign of Rika, yet?" A young voice spoke. Mrs. Wong turned to see the worried face of her youngest child, Suzie.

"I'm afraid not, sweetie..."

"Oh..." Suzie looked down. She and Rika and grown close over the years and had formed somewhat of a sisterly bond. Just then, someone knocked on the door. Both Suzie and Mrs. Wong rushed to the door. Looking through the eyehole, Mrs. Wong gasped and quickly unlocked and opened the door.

"Henry!" she exclaimed, seeing him holding the red-headed young woman in his arms. She and Suzie backed up to let him in. Henry trudged his way through the door. Immediately, Mrs. Wong looked over the girl.

"Is she alright?" she asked her son.

Henry looked at the sleeping girl in his arms. "I think so... for the most part... just really exhausted."

"Here, bring her over to the sofa," she instructed.

Henry obeyed and made his way over to the living room sofa where he gently laid the young woman down. Mrs. Wong kneeled down to check her over. Seeing the nasty scrapes on Rika's hands and knees, she turned to Suzie and instructed her to fetch a cloth with cold water and the first aid kit, which the young girl quickly obliged. Returning with the said items, Mrs. Wong began to gently clean the scrapes and applied the oinment and bandages.

"Where did you find her?" she asked, after she had finished applying the last bandage.

"In the park," he responded. "She was sitting on a bench near the pond."

Looking at the girl for a moment, she spoke, "I better call Ms. Nonaka up. The poor woman's been worried sick."

Henry then remembered what Rika had told him about her being unable to return home. "Wait a second, mom..."

"What is it?" she asked.

"I was talking to Rika earlier and well... she... she's afriad to go home."

"Why is that?" Mrs. Wong asked, looking perplexed.

Taking a deep breath, Henry explained what had happend at the park to his mother. Listening intently, she turned and looked at the young woman sleeping on the sofa. A sad expression showed on her face.

"There's some blankets in the cupboad over there. Why don't you go and grab a couple for Rika... we don't want her to catch a chill.

Henry nodded. "Alright, Mom."

With that, he went over to the cupboard to fetch the blankets. Mrs. Wong took a deep breath and made her way over to the phone. She was still obliged to let Mrs. Nonaka know that her daughter was alright. Picking up the phone, she dialed the number to the Nonaka residence.

Henry gently placed the blankets on Rika's sleeping form. Looking at the girl, he gently brushed a strand of hair from her face.

"Is Rika going to be alright?"

He turned to see the worried face of his younger sister.

"I think so, Suzie," he replied. "Rika's just really exhausted." Suzie knew that there was more to it than that, but decided to let it be. Just then, Mrs. Wong got off the phone.

"It's getting late, Suzie. Why don't you go get ready for bed now, okay sweetie?"

"Okay, Mom..." she looked at Rika once more before heading off to get ready.

"Well?" Henry asked once his sister was gone.

"I talked to Ms. Nonaka. She agreed to let her stay for the night. She's just glad that Rika's alright... she'll be down right in the morning." She looked at the girl sleeping on the sofa. "I better go call your father. Let him know that everything's alright now. Make sure you get to sleep soon, alright?"

"Okay, Mom."

And with that, Mrs. Wong went to call up her husband. Henry looked at Rika. He sighed... everything wasn't alright. His close friend and fellow tamer was suffering inside and there was nothing he could do to help her. Walking over to a nearby chair, Henry sat down and dialed Takato's number...

"Hello?" came the voice on the other end.

"Hey, Takato... it's Henry."

"Henry? Hey, did you find Rika?"

"I did... she's spending the night over here."

"Over at your place? Is she okay?"

Henry sighed. "I think so... for now. She's had a rough night. I just wanted to let you know."

"Okay, well... thanks, Henry. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright..."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight," and with that Henry hung up and placed the cell back in his pocket. He looked at Rika once more... as he watched her sleeping form, only one thing came to his mind...

'What did he do to you, Rika?'

To be continued...

Author's Note: Wow... okay... took me a while to get that done. Hope you guys liked it. I'll talk to you later. Let me know what you guys thing. Ciao for now!