Author's Notes- Well, as to why I put up 3 chapters in one day... See, within half-an-hour of uploading this story, I got my first review. And it wasn't even a flame! So, then, I was so excited that I put up chapter 2, then I got another review, so I put up chapter 3. There you go.

Disclaimer- While you're busy asking yourself "I wonder if he owns digimon?" I'm asking you a different question: "Do you know the muffin man?"

----

The word spread like wildfire that the prince was going to his first ball with a peasant, and Rika happily told anybody who asked her about it "Up yours."

Ryo, however, might as well have told the whole kingdom. "Yes, I am going with her..." "Yes, and don't call her 'common' SOCK"

On the day of the ball, both of them were nervous. Well, Ryo not as much. He was still nervous, however. But not so nervous that he couldn't smile. "Look, Kenta, 'm going with her, I don't care who yo wanted to 'forge a union with'. And stop pacing like that, you're making me nervous."

"Sorry, your highness... But please dance just once with princess Jeri? If you don't like her, you'll never have to see her again."

Ryo contemplated this. "Oh... Alright, one dance. The first one, just in case Rika's late."

"Good. Now get dressed, it's already 7:00, the ball starts at eight," Kenta said, leaving the room.

----

Rika was more nervous than Ryo was, but for different reasons. "You'll be fine, honey!" Rumiko said.

"No! I'm not royalty, I can't even dance! Stupid Ryo..."

Her mother scoffed at that. "You're worth twelve of any princess. And besides, prince Ryo sounds nice, It'll be fun... And get dressed, the ball's in an hour."

Rika gave a squeel, something she'd never, ever done before. Her mother and grandmother stared at her as she rushed into her room and closed the door. They heard a few muffled thuds and a zipper before she emerged five minutes later, hair down, gown on. "Oh..." said her mother. "My baby's growing up!" her eyes became tearful as she said this.

Rika walked over to them, slightly stumbling in her (insert name of really expensive shoes here). "Could you zip me?" she asked her grandmother, turning her back to her. She felt Seiko's warm hand touch her back and zip her zipper(that sounds silly, doesn't it? Zip her zipper... weird...).

She turned around. Her mother became tearful again as she rushed Rika to her purse. "Here darling, no princess is complete without a touch of makeup." And she commenced dolling Rika up with (insert different kinds of makeup here). When she finished, she soved Rika in front of a mirror.

"What do you think, darling?" Rika was... kind of stunned, actually.

"I... I look pretty," she said, very surprised. And 'pretty' she was. Her cheeks suddenly looked rosy, her eyelashes were more pronounced, her eyes looked sparkly, if that was possible just from putting gunk on her face.

"Thanks, mom."

Rumiko didn't have time to give a mushy, heart-felt response, because there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," Seiko said, walking towards the door.

Rika followed. It turned out to be Ryo. Seiko bowed to him. Ryo blushed. "Please, don't... You don't need to bow to me..."

Rika walked to him. He stared at her. If it was a cartoon, he might've said something like "humunahumunahumuna". But it wasn't, so he said. "Wow... Just.. Wow."

In the end, the only deragatory thing he managed to say was "You look... great. Yeah." She laughed at him. Not with him, but at him.

"Yeah, yeah. C'mon, loverboy." And she dragged him by the arm out of her house. He managed to shout "Nice to meet you!" to Rika's grandmother, but the door was already closed.

She let go of him half way down the path to the palace. Ryo had to jog to keep up with her. "How are your ribs, pumpkin?"

She mumbled an angry "Fine." and punched him in the arm. "Don't call me that!"

He laughed. "What, should I come up with a cuter nickname for you? Like 'sugerlumps', or 'honeybunch', or maybe even 'prettypants'..."

He saw her clench her fists, but, were he looking at the front of her, he would've seen her blush, too.

"Why can't you just call me Rika?" she asked. He shrugged.

"Why can't you call me Ryo?"

She puched him again. He laughed again.

----

Once they were at the ball, Rika realized that she needn't have worried. Most of the people there were her age, and some were even younger. She saw a toddler in a tuxedo fall into a fountain, and she laughed so hard that her sides felt like they were going to split open.

"Welcome," Ryo said, "to this generation of royalty's first royal ball."

"I can see that it's the first," Rika said.

It was more like a four-year-old's birthday party, only on a huge scale, with over 400 people attending. There were children running around everywere, screaming, laughing. The few adults were thuroughly(TT) flustered. They could barely hear the music playing in the background(a band called "GreenDay" was playing, by Ryo's request).

They walked to the front of the huge room to find a small mosh pit around the stage, worshipping GreenDay. "Shall we?" Ryo asked. Rika looked at him. "We shall."

----

After jumping around and screaming for a while, Rika and Ryo were exhausted. Even Rika was having fun, something she rarely did since her dad left. The mosh pit had long dispersed, and GreenDay was gone, to be replaced by an orchestra playing a song meant to be waltzed to. "You know what I think of the royal orchestra?" Ryo asked.

"No. What?"

"I think it royally sucks. Let's go to the gardens." And so he took her hand and led her to the royal gardens.

----

The gardens were beautiful, even in the dark. Ryo showed Rika his favorite flowers. "... And I like this one because it's purple, like two other things I like." he concluded.

"What two things, Akiyama?"

"I won't tell you unless you call me Ryo."

"I want call you Ryo until you stop calling me pumpkin."

"Fine."

"Okay, then. What two things, Ryo?"

"Your eyes." And he ran into the dark, away from her.

"Dammit, Akiyama! Get back here so I can Rip your lungs out!"

She caught up with him. She tried to smack him, but he caught her hand. He looked sad. "Please don't swear..." In fact, he looked so sad, that Rika felt driven to apologize.

"I... I'm sorry..." She was kind of dumbstruck. Why was he suddenly so somber?

"And call me Ryo..." He looked on the verge of tears now.

"What're you... !" He hugged her. Actually hugged her.

"What the-" she was about to say "hell", but he had seriously asked her not to swear, so, instead, "What're you doing?" escaped her lips.

"I'm sorry... But look where we're standing." She looked.

They were standing on a commemorative(yet again, TT) plac, engraved with the words "In memory of (insert a Japanese name here) and (insert another one here), the king and queen of this fair kingdom. May they (here someone had scratched out "rest in peace" and put "burn in hell, MUHAHAHAHAHA!")

Rika's lips formed the word "Oh", but no sound came out. "I'm sorry, Ryo..."

"It's okay," he said. "I never knew them anyway, so forget about it..." He sniffed.

She felt a huge rush of pity for him at that moment. "But what's past is past, right? Anyway, I have a surprise for you!" He took her hand and told her to close her eyes.

----

He had been leading her for wat seemed lke half-an-our before they stopped. "Okay... open your eyes!" She did. And there was the band GreenDay.

"What's this?" she asked. She was answered by GreenDay, bursting into song.

She looked at Ryo. "This is one of my favorite songs, and it reminded me so much of you that I asked them to sing it for you."

Rika stopped talking for once to listen to the music. It was a fast-paced, punk-rock song.

She's a rebel

She's a saint

She's salt of the earth

And she's dangerous

She's a rebel

Vigilante

Missing link on the brink

Of destruction

From Chicago to Toronto

She's the one that they

Call old whatsername

She's the symbol

of resistance

and she's holding on my

heart like a hand grenade

is she dreaming

what I'm thinking

is she the mother of all bombs

gonna detonate

is she trouble

like I'm trouble

make it a double

twist of fate

or a melody that

sings the revolution

the dawning of our lives

she brings this liberation

that I just cant define

well, nothing comes to mind(repeat)

She's a rebel

She's a saint

She's salt of the earth

And she's dangerous

She's a rebel

Vigilante

Missing link on the brink

Of destruction

She's a rebel

She's a saint

She's salt of the earth

And she's dangerous

She's a rebel, She's a rebel, She's a rebel, And she's dangerous

She's a rebel, She's a rebel, She's a rebel, And she's dangerous

She found that the song reminded her of herself.

----

Author's Notes- Well, there's the longest chapter EVER. By the way, The song's called "She's a rebel", and it's by GreenDay. It's my favoite song EVER, and it really does remind me of Rika. Oh, and I don't own GreenDay. Thanks.