Series: Forever Flames||Title: First Lessons
Characters: Takato, Guilmon
Chapters: 1-1||Words: 984
Genre: Friendship||Rated: G
Notes: Healer/Firestarter AU. Takato is a Healer. This takes place a little after episode 9. Takato has a small garden connected to the bakery where he brings Guilmon on occasion – but only when he's there. Because if he's not there, Guilmon would probably tear it up absolutely by accident.
Summary: Guilmon has all kinds of questions for his Tamer. Such as why Takato likes to work with dirt and plants. And why some people can do things with fire. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Guilmon tilted his head to one side then the other, watching as his Tamer dug into the ground. He blinked a few times, trying to figure out what the human was doing and not really being all that successful at it. So he did what anyone would do – he asked a question.

"What're you doing?" He could see that Takato dug and he'd touched some of what grew out of the ground and clipped a little bit here and there. It didn't make any real sense to him, but Takato seemed to enjoy it. Maybe it was a human thing?

Takato glanced over at him. "I'm gardening. This is my Garden here." He gestured with the hand that didn't have the digging tool in it. "I've grown all of this."

Guilmon looked all around. He wasn't very good at judging distances, but he got the idea this was a very impressive garden regardless. "Why?"

Takato seemed as confused by the question as Guilmon was by his own actions. "Because I'm a Healer," he said at last. "Healers have Gardens." He rubbed the back of his head. "So do Firestarters but theirs are usually mostly rock gardens."

The Digimon regarded all of the growing plants. He had no names for any of them but he could feel how alive they were, as well as how aware. He wondered if they could talk. Only Takato had ever talked to him.

"What's a Healer? What's a Firestarter?" Guilmon asked at last. He knew what most of those other words meant but those two stuck out to him.

Takato tilted his head and rubbed his forehead, leaving a streak of dirt behind. "Well – Healers heal things. Things, people. And we're connected to the earth." He touched one of the plants near him, ones that grew low to the ground and were a very pretty purple. At his touch, the flowers opened up even more, and Guilmon could have sworn he heard a cheerful little voice in the back of his head.

"How did you do that? Is that a human ability?" He'd never known humans could do anything like that. Of course, he didn't know many humans at all. Did humans fight like Digimon did? So many questions!

Takato shook his head then hesitated. "Well, kind of. Like I said, this is something Healers can do. I'm not that strong, not yet. I only Budded last year." He fidgeted, a faint tinge touching his cheeks. "They say that you get stronger once you bond to your Firestarter."

"What do they do?" Guilmon thought he could figure out this "Healer" thing now. Healers made flowers bloom. Those were very pretty. Most of the rest of what Takato said had gone over his head.

"Well, they create fires. Or control them. A Healer's power is balanced by their Firestarter," Takato said, and it sounded to Guilmon like he'd said that kind of thing a lot. "And the other way around too. A Firestarter's power balances the Healer. We all need each other."

Guilmon understood that! "That's like a Digimon and their Tamer, right?"

"Uh," Takato shrugged, "I guess. Kind of, anyway." He brushed his fingers against the purple flowers, which slowly curled back into themselves. "I hadn't really thought about it."

Guilmon started to settle down, thinking vague thoughts about bread and if he were hungry or not, when a different thought struck him.

"Takato? Can Digimon be Healers or Firestarters?" He puffed a little smoke through his nostrils. "Because I breathe fire and that's the same thing, isn't it?"

Takato started to open his mouth, then closed it again. "I don't really think so. I mean, when I drew you, I didn't mean for you to be."

Guilmon snapped at the air. He was starting to get hungry. It had almost been a whole two hours since he'd eaten. "Why not?"

"I hadn't really thought about it," Takato admitted. He came over to Guilmon and settled down next to him. "If I had, I would have done it, though. I bet you would be the best Firestarter ever."

Guilmon nuzzled against Takato, happy that his Tamer sat close to him. Most of the questions that he had still swirled around in his head, but the important one for the moment had been answered. Maybe this explained why some people smelled different than others.

Ruki had a sort of earthy scent, while Jenrya had a faint whiff of flame and cinders. Terriermon didn't have either one. Renamon – she was hard to define. Guilmon wasn't sure if he wanted to get close enough to her to be sure. She hit pretty hard when she wanted to. He wasn't really sure about Impmon – Impmon always smelled like fire.

He'd noticed other scents like that as well on some of the humans that they'd crossed paths with. Those didn't smell like Digimon but they didn't smell like most other people either. Now he knew. Guilmon yawned, then nudged at Takato.

"Hungry," he declared, rising to his feet and nudging his partner. "Really hungry, Takato!"

Takato laughed. "You might not be a Firestarter, but you've got the appetite of one anyway! Come on! I'll get you some spare bread."

He jumped to his feet, brushed himself of, put away the tools he'd been working with, and turned back to Guilmon, one finger raised. "You be careful. We don't want Mom and Dad to see you, remember?"

Guilmon remembered. He didn't know why but he still tried his best to stay out of sight – he just wasn't very good at it. But for the sake of bread, he would keep on trying. He hurried along after Takato, more questions tumbling around in his mind. He would have asked all of them, if he weren't so hungry that he wanted bread above all else. Maybe once he'd eaten.

And maybe once he'd had a good nap.

The End Notes: Guilmon has so much to learn. And yes, Impmon is a Firestarter.