Sora: Hello, my dear readers! This chapter is coming to you from my sister's new laptop!

CR: Oh brother! She's been going on about this for ages!

Sora: My sister is even thinking about getting Photoshop! OH! To the story. I do not own Digimon.

Chapter Twenty-eight: The Long Awaited Date

Davis was scowling. Correction. He was just in an awful mood. Here he was, using industry grade hair gel on his cousin's spikes. It was time for Takato's date with Rika. Of course, to look his best, those spikes had to disappear into the rest of the brown mass. To say the least, Davis was having a tough time of doing just that. When he pushed down one spike, another one popped up. When he pushed down that one, the other one came back up. Davis was really starting to get peeved. It was then that he pulled out the heavy artillery. His sister's brush.

Takato was just sitting there, minding his own business, aka drawing more Digimon on that sketchpad of his. It was then that Takato yelped in pain. Davis had just dragged Jun's hair brush through his hair. With that thick of hair, it was no easy job of getting the tangles out. Takato, apparently, never brushed his hair. Of course, that couldn't be said for the ultra vain Davis, who was now brushing his hair at every chance he got. It was odd, though, how Taijin, the non-goggled gogglehead, never once had held, or used for that matter, a hairbrush in his life.

That might be because of his hair was a type that never tangled or scrunched up. His hair was perfect, the dream of every girl across the world. It was the type of hair that models would give up their ribs for, not that they needed them. But, back to the previous topic. Takato's hair was finally ready for his date. It was then that Davis and Taijin dragged him to the room and to the closet. It was time to dress him for the big date. Let's just say: Billie Joe Armstrong, aka Greenday. Enough said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rika meanwhile was dressing for the date as well. Her poor, poor Digimon. Poor Renamon, she had to try to get Rika into a dress. Afterall, this was to a fancy, nice restaurant. Let's put it this way, there was a better chance of getting to Pluto than there was of getting Rika in a dress. It was then that her precious mother came in, with a pink, short, and frilly dress. After that Rika turned and snatched the dress that Renamon had been trying to stuff on her. It was black, sleek, and long. The complete opposite of the one her dear, dear mother was trying to press on her.

Rika walked out the bathroom with her hair down around her shoulders. When the other females noticed this little detail, they scowled. Rika gulped, seeing that look. She knew that when she received looks like that, her hair was going to get pulled into all unnatural shapes and styles. Her mother sat her down in a chair while her grandmother stood behind her. They then started to talk to each other about her hair, almost as if she wasn't there.

"Should we sweep it up into a bun?" Asked her mother. Her grandmother pondered this for a moment before answering.

"Yes, we should."

Her mother took out a pair of formal looking chopsticks; they were ebony black in color with silver vines trailing down the length of the wood. Rumiko then laid them down on the table before taking a scarlet ribbon from around her wrist; she had been planning this since she had found out about this so called date. She brushed Rika's fine red mane of hair until it shined, and then wrapped the ribbon around the mass. This created a neat pony tail. She took another scarlet ribbon from around her wrist and bunched the pony tail in half, and tied the ribbon around it. She took a few bobby pins from her own mother and slid them into the fiery mass. This secured the bun tightly, and held it closer to Rika's head. Since it was still a bit loose, Rumiko slid the dark chopsticks in the bun; this finally completely secured the bun. It also made it look so pretty! She turned Rika around, and took a couple of bangs from the front out of the bun, letting them hang loosely around Rika's pale face. All in all, Rumiko had once more impressed even herself with her ability to bring out the beauty in her daughter.

What her daughter thought, however, was another story altogether. Rika presently was glaring at herself in her mirror. She had to admit that it looked good, but it made her look... Well, she didn't... Ah, screw it. She was just being stubborn as hell. The girl looked at herself in the mirror, her eyes trailing over her hair. She did look good. Her musings where cut short when she was hauled outta of her seat. It was time to finish the outfit.

They dragged her over to the closet and started to take out different coats. They eventually settled on a long black coat that ended at midcalf level. Rika looked over the long coat and sighed, knowing full well that she wasn't going to get out of this one. The other three looked at Rika, trying to see if there was anything else that they could do. They pulled a long black scarf out and wrapped it around her neck, making it look very nice.

They then hauled her in front of a full length mirror and let her judge her appearence. All in all, a perfect ten. Rika turned a little bit pink, knowing that Gogglehead was going to be stuttering. It was then that a knock sounded from the front door. The other females all smiled and went outside to welcome Takato in. In came the suit clad Gogglehead. When Takato saw Rika, his eyes went wide and round, and all speech stopped from his mouth. To him, she was a beautiful, angelic lady. To her, he was a cute, slightly demonic guy.

It was then that Takato remembered that he was holding a bunch of dyed blue roses. The young man brought up the hand that was clutching the delicate flowers and held them out for Rika to take. Rika blinked, her cheeks becoming slightly pink. Takato was starting to find the floor very interesting as Rika took the flowers from him. Her mother looked at the roses and announced that she would go put them in some water. She took the beautiful flowers from Rika and went into the kitchen to find a vase and some water. That left Rika and Takato almost alone, if it hadn't been for the other two.

"Well, I'll be going." Renamon said, smiling as she phased out of the room.

"Oh! I think I left something in the oven!" Rika's grandmother said, her feet quickly taking her out the door. This left the two teenagers alone. Rika was blushing, smiling gently as she observed the floor. Takato was also looking at the floor.

"Um, your hair looks nice." Takato murmured, smiling at her. Rika blushed a little bit more; he eyes darting about the room, never settling on him.

"Thank you." Rika murmured back, her cheeks almost flaming red. It was then that her mother came back in. She came back in with a camera. When the two teenagers noticed this, all that blood that had rushed to their faces faded out almost immediately.

"Hold still, you two!" Rumiko announced cheerfully, bringing up the camera to snap a few frames.

"Mom!" Rika protested, turning red. Her mother smiled at her uneasiness and kept on snapping pictures. Takato, unlike Rika, was pale and was trying to avoid the camera. He kept his head down, white as a sheet. After the pictures were taken, Rika's mom led them to the door.

"Get her back by ten, okay?" Rumiko told the teen, smiling at his face. Takato nodded silently, walking out the door with Rika. After the door closed, he looked down at her.

"Shall we get going?" He asked her, trying to kill the butterflies in his stomach.

"Yeah. Let's go." Rika murmured, smiling at him. Takato nodded, offering her his arm. Rika wrapped her arm around his and walked off with him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took them a little bit to get to the restaurant. About twenty minutes to be exact. They had walked through the park, which was full of snow. It truly was a winter wonderland. Eventually, they arrived at the restaurant. Rika blinked, knowing full well that this place was outside of Takato's price range.

They walked into the restaurant and walked up to where the hostess was standing.

"Do you have a reservation?" Asked the hostess, looking at the two young teenagers.

"Yeah, it should be under the name 'Mataski'." Takato told the hostess. She nodded, checking the books for that evening. When she found the reservation, she motioned for a waiter to seat them. A young man came forward and offered to take their coats. Takato politely helped Rika out of her coat, but she handed him her scarf.

They were then led to the table. It was a small table set next to one of the windows that looked out over the park, which was lit up by beautiful lights. Takato politely pulled out Rika's chair before he sat down.

A waiter came up to them, his hands holding onto a notepad and a pen.

"Would you like to order?" Asked the man, using an obviously fake accent. Takato picked up the menu, sweatdropping. It was all in French. The thing was, Takato didn't know French.

"Err..." Takato went. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Rika was breezing through the menu like it was nothing. After all, her mother had been dragging her to fancy restaurants as long as she could remember. Of course, this was also the reason that the waiter recognized Rika as Rumiko's daughter.

"Ah, Miss Rika! How good of you to choose our restaurant!" The waiter exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. Rika sighed, knowing that of the staff of the restaurant, about half of them considered themselves journalists. That meant that one of the stories in the local paper the next day would undoubtfully be about her and her 'boyfriend'.

"Do you know him, Rika?" Takato asked, blinking. Rika nodded before answering.

"Yeah, I know everyone here. My mother's bought me here so many times that I should know them all." Rika told him, sighing.

"Oh." Murmured Takato, going back to looking at the menu, "What's this word mean?" Takato asked her, pointing at a word. Rika looked down at her own menu and blinked.

"It means 'sweetbreads'." Rika told him, not telling him what they were.

"That sounds good. Are they good?" Takato asked her.

"Yeah, their good. You want some?" Rika asked him, smiling.

"Err. Yeah, okay." Takato murmured. The waiter wrote it down on his notepad.

"Anything else?" Asked the waiter. "What do you wish to drink?" He asked the two.

"I'll have a glass of tea." Rika said, smiling.

"I'll take some Dr. Pepper." Takato answered, and was rewarded with a kick under the table, "Err. Make that tea instead." The waiter nodded, writing down everything.

"Would you like anything else? Maybe an appetizer?" The waiter asked, watching them. He was ready to suggest the most expensive thing on the menu.

"I'll have some filet mignon." Rika answered, smiling. Takato shot her a look, "It's a steak wrapped in bacon." Rika told him.

"Oh. I'll have one of those as well." Takato said.

"And for dessert?" Asked the waiter.

"Oh. Um. How about some chocolate mousse?" Rika answered. Takato once more looked at her.

"I'll have what she ordered." Takato said, deciding that he would follow Rika's lead.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Davis was talking with Leiko. When she wasn't chasing him, she was quite an interesting person to talk to.

"So, when is your next concert going to be?" Leiko asked him. Davis scratched the back of his head before answering.

"Well, that's all up to Saito. He's the one that organizes everything." Davis answered. Leiko nodded, looking down at her feet.

"I wanted to talk you about something." Leiko murmured. One of Davis' eyebrows came up.

"What about?" Davis asked her.

"It's about that Tsumi dude." Leiko murmured, looking down at her hands.

"What about him?" Davis asked her, cocking his head to the side.

"There's something about him. Well, he just creeps me out, you know?" Leiko told him, shuddering at the feelings that she had gotten from the dark kid. Davis blinked, thinking back to when he had met the dark dude. The guy had been a little bit off center in Davis' opinion. But he had noticed that Tsumi's eyes would sometimes be black whereas they had been green a second before. He hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but now that Leiko mentioned all of her concerns, he could see that something was wrong.

"Now that you mention it, there is something off about him. It's like a wave of darkness, you know?" Davis answered, leaning back in his seat. Leiko nodded, glad that he didn't think that she was a lunatic.

"Yeah, it's a real creepy feeling." Leiko said, shuddering, "What could cause something like that anyways?" Leiko asked him. Davis blinked, knowing already what was the cause, but he wouldn't tell her.

"I don't know." Davis told her, lying.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Takato meanwhile was looking at his meal. It didn't look too appetizing but did it ever taste good! He took another bite of the meat and chewed on it a while. Lucky enough, he was also was observing good table manners. Lucky for Rika, that is. Rika was eating like a lady would and she was bound and determined to keep it going on this date. After all, this was her first really good date. You know, without a pizza parlor involved.

Takato looked up. The waiter was bringing them their next food choice. The sweetbreads to be precise. The man placed the plates in front of the young couple and walked away. Takato ate his sweetbreads. They were surprisingly good. Too bad that Takato didn't know what sweetbreads were. Too bad indeed...

The rest of the meal was enjoyable. As soon as they were finished, Takato got up from his chair and laid down a ten for the tip. Afterwards, they left the restaurant. The 'couple' walked through the park, looking at the lights that shown through the snowy sky.

Rika smiled to herself, reflecting on the evening. All in all, it had been a good meal. She looked over at Takato, who was looking like he was out of place. She let a little smirk appear on her face at his uneasiness.

Takato sighed, his breath escaping from his lips in a puff of white vapor. He looked up towards the sky, and for a moment, he looked totally different. Rika blinked, seeing a young man whose chocolate brown hair caught the light of the park's lights. His reddish-brown eyes reflected the moon in the sky. For a moment, Takato was almost unrecognizable.

Rika moved her head to the side, looking at Takato. He appeared almost totally at ease. She noted that his breathing was coming in precise, even cycles. Rika smiled gently, realizing that he was controlling his emotions through breathing exercises.

Takato looked over at her, his eyes oddly enough calm. That emotion was not common in the goofy boy's eyes. Usually, there were all sorts of emotions running through them, but the one that was the strongest was the overwhelming calmness in them. Rika searched his eyes, looking for anything else. Her pondering was cut short as they reached the end of her street. Takato walked her to the gate of her house.

"Er... Um..." Takato stuttered, looking down at his hands. Rika smirked, finding his nervousness very enjoyable.

"Well, I guess this is good night, then." Rika told him, letting a smile come onto her face. It was one of the only times that Takato could remember Rika ever smiling at him.

"Um... Happy Birthday, Rika." Takato murmured quietly, taking a wrapped present out of his pocket. Rika blinked, not expecting a gift. She took it from him and split the wrapping paper with her nails. She opened the box and stared. It was a necklace with a heart and crossbones charm made from black jewels. She looked up at Takato and smiled.

"Thank you, Takato." Rika murmured, her eyes showing her happiness. Takato's face decided that then was a good time to start blushing. The young woman leaned forward and placed a small kiss on his cheek. She then turned and walked into the gate and up the path to the front door.

This left Takato standing out in the street, his eyes full of joy. The young man turned on his heel, and walked down the street, whistling. His path quickly took him home, back to the bakery. He took out his key and unlocked the front door, entering. He paused, locking the door again before heading into the common areas of the building. Takato walked into the kitchen, finding his mother taking some fresh bread out of the oven.

"Hey, mom." Takato said, watching his mother jump at the unexpected voice. She turned around and smiled at him.

"Hello, Takato. How was your date?" She asked, putting the tray down on the counter to cool. Takato smiled, taking off his coat.

"It went well. Why are you looking at me like that?" Takato asked her, "Is there some food on my face?"

"Rika kissed you?" Mie asked him, her eyebrow rising. Takato blinked rapidly, moving so that he could reflect his face in a mirror. He noticed a lip print on his cheek from where Rika had kissed him. The boy wiped his face before answering.

"Er... Yeah." Takato murmured, he then remembered something he was going to ask his mother, "Hey, mom?"

"Yes, dear?" Mie asked, her hands working on transferring the bread from one tray to the other.

"What are sweetbreads?" Takato asked, looking at her. Mie looked up, an amused look crossing her face.

"Honey, didn't Rika tell you?" She asked him. Takato shook his head, "They're the thymus of calves."

"Er... What's a thymus?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Mie smirked, watching her son's face go green. He ran from the room, heading for the bathroom. Mie grinned, going back to her work.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sora: That was totally mean of me, wasn't it?

CR: Oh, yes. That was very mean.

Sora: Sorry that it took so long. I had to work on some school work. Well, please read and review!