Hey guys! Wow, I have two stories going at once. Ahh, I'm going to be spending my summer writing. It's my goal to at least complete this one this summer. So anyways, on with the story!!
Chapter four – The Italian man and the Photo Shoot
Rika woke with a start. She had the funniest feeling somebody was watching her – or something. She sat up and looked around, rubbing her eyes. The room was dim and shadows lingered in the corner. She looked at the clock, 5:38am. She knew she wouldn't fall back to sleep, so she got up and headed to the small bathroom.
She came out of the bathroom a half hour later, with a towel wrapped around her. She went into the her room and changed. She put on her usual blue jeans and a black t-shirt with a v-neck and short sleeves. Rika tied her hair up into her spikey ponytail and left her room. Her stomach gave a loud growl. "Ugh. I wonder if this place has something decent to eat." She went into the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboards, only to find nothing. She sighed. "It's probably too early to go downstairs for breakfast."
Rika left the kitchen and into the living room. She sat down at the computer and turned it on. She began playing a Digimon card game, and got bored after winning three battles in a row. Rika gave the clock a quick glance, 7:22am. She got up and grabbed her money and left the hotel room, shutting the door quietly.
(A/N: I get bored of saying she/they/etc.. went into the elevator, so let's fast forward, hehe)
The elevator dinged and Rika stepped out and stretched. The Hotel was pretty packed. Many foreigners were coming in and going. Each one greeting each other with a friendly 'good morning,' in their not so, but good enough, tourist Italian language. Rika couldn't but feel happy in this atmosphere. Everything in Italy just seemed so lively.
A bellboy with a nice cheery blue suit, dangling with gold strings, came over to Rika. He smiled brightly as he spoke, "Buongiorno." He said kindly.
"Um. Hello." Rika said. He beamed at her. "Uhh, which way to the breakfast restaurant?" He looked puzzled for a second, then continued smiling, nodding his head and saying 'Si'. Rika sweat dropped. Hopeless, completely hopeless, she thought. "Break-fast." She tried again. "Which. Way. To. The. Break. Fast?" The bellboy nodded again, still smiling. Rika frowned. "FOOD," she said angerly. The man hesitated, but still smiled. Rika's eye twitched and she walked away.
"Ah. I believe you are looking for a place to eat?" A voice said from behind Rika. She turned to snap at the person, telling him it wasn't his business, but was shocked to see the person behind her. He was a young Italian around her age. He had black hair and nice green eyes. Though he spoke broken Japanese, (A/N: not like I can say broken English, can I? Rika after all is Japanese. /winks) it made Rika's heart give a jump. His voice was so sweet. "I can show you." He smiled. Rika, in a trance by this nice looking Italian, nodded. He placed his arm through hers and headed down the lobby, into the room with Lion Doors.
"May I catch your name?" He asked sweetly. They walked through more double doors and entered a dining area.
"Err. Rika. Rika Nonaka." Rika said. He smiled.
"Nice to meet you Rika Nonaka. I am Nico. Nico Romano." They took a seat at a small round table and sat across from each other. A waiter came to greet them, holding a pen and a note pad. "Rika, what would you like?"
Rika shrugged, "a coffee, and some toast, I guess."
Nico looked at the waiter. "Caffè latte e prima colazione, gracie." The waiter smiled and left. Is everyone this cheerful, Rika wondered. "So Rika, what brings you to Italy?"
Rika looked at him and frowned. "Here with my mother and my friends." The waiter came by and gave Rika her order. She thanked him and took a sip of coffee. "We are here doing a modeling shoot. Well, my mother and I are, anyways. My friends decided to tag along." Well, Ryo and the nit wits anyways, she thought.
Nico smacked his head. "Ah, but of course. You did look familiar. You are Rumiko's daughter, si?" Rika nodded. "Oh what a privilege to meet you. I will also be working with you." His eyes shined with glory. "What luck was it to run into you here. Come we must tour Italy together."
"Um, but, ah, I can't." Rika said. Nico's smiled vanished. "I'm here with my friends. If I just leave then they will worry."
"Oh not a worry Rika. We will leave them a note in your room." He grabbed Rika's arm and pulled her out of her seat. Rika threw down a few Euros and grabbed her bread roll, which she realised she didn't order, but shrugged it off.
They left the dining area and headed to Rika's room. When arriving, Rika entered and shut the door. She stepped into Jeri's room and shook her awake. "Ah. Who is it? What time is it?" Jeri mumbled, rolling over.
"Jeri it's me." Rika said. She shook Jeri again. "I'm going to go tour Italy with my new friend. Let everyone know okay." Jeri mumbled something and Rika took it as a sign that she heard.
XXXX
"Rika, are you still with me?" Nico asked, half laughing. They were sitting outside of a small cafe, drinking latte's and talking about, well, Digimon.
"Yeah. I was just thinking." She replied. She felt so clam with him, and it made her smile. Rika observed the scenery. Italy was just so peaceful. Every now and then a teen would walk by playing guitar and singing On an Evening in Roma. Rika hardly understood what was being said in the song, since it's a mixture of Italian and what Rika guessed was English, but the song was beautiful all the same.
"So after Calumon was gone, what did you guys do?" Nico asked. He was very interested in hearing about Rika's Digital adventures.
"Went to the Digital World." Rika said casually. "We went through a lot of trouble, but it was worth it in the end." Nico nodded, grinning. "Well, have you heard of the D-Reaper?"
"Si, si. The red thing which attacked Tokyo. Of course. I'm sure all the world heard it, no?" He placed his elbows on the table and his chin on his hands, staring at Rika dreamily, as she told him all about it.
Meanwhile ...
"I've looked everywhere for Rika. Where could she be?" Rumiko panicked. She pacing back and forth in her hotel room, while Rika's grandmother sat on the couch, sipping at her tea. The Tamers were also in the room, looking at each other. "It's not like Rika to just ... leave! She could be hurt!" Rumiko gave an melodramatic gasp, "or worse! She could be kidnapped." At this Ryo jumped up from the chair he was sitting on and his face bore a worried look.
"I will go look for her again!" He declaired. Everyone looked at him. "I don't want Rika to be in any danger, I must go back out and search."
"No point Ryo. We already looked around the hotel. It's not like she met someone and just left." Henry said. He was at the point of panicking himself, but he held himself together.
Jeri blushed, and looked away. "Uhh." Every eye turned on her. She did a little 'cough' and spoke. "Well, maybe she is with someone."
"What?" Rumiko said. "How would you know."
Jeri looked at her feet and spoke in a low voice. "I forgot. Oh. She told me she was going to tour Italy with someone she just met. I was half asleep when she told me, so I assumed it was a dream." Ryo did an animated sweat drop and fell backwards on the ground and twitched. (A/N: you know what I'm talking about? How an overly dumb character says something stupid and another character falls down from the dumbness? Anyways, on with the chap.)
"Jeri why didn't you say anything before?" Takato asked. He wasn't angry with her, just annoyed that everyone was worring and Jeri knew all along.
"Like I said. I forgot." A tear ran down her cheek. "I'm sorry for making everyone worry like that. Honestly, I am."
"It's okay Jeri. At least we know she's safe. Well, kind of anyways." Henry said. "She took off with some person she met. Her judgement must be poor for running off with a stranger."
Ryo's face lit up with anger. "Damn her. What if she gets hurt! I'm off to find her!" He left, slamming the door shut behind him.
XXX
Back at the cafe ...
"Ah Rika,I must say it is splendid being with you." Nico said. He was grinning. Rika blushed. "Today has been so much fun, si?" Rika nodded. Nico looked at his watch and beamed. "It is still early. Come, we shall go do some sight seeing."
Rika and Nico trugged along the streets of the city. The sun glistened high and wrapped them up in a warm embrace. The sky was cloud-free and such a brilliant blue that it looked like the ocean, and you could see forever. The birds sang love songs as they walked under bright green palm trees and sweet-smelling flowers. Rika's heart was full, and she felt peaceful and whole. They walked through a couple of parks where children, elders, lovers, dogs, birds, and plants alike shared the wonders of beauty, love and life. It was all at harmony.
After some time they made their way back to the hotel. Nico gave Rika a kiss on her hand – which made her blush – and took off down the street.
XXX
Rika opened the door to her hotel room, only to be met with some pretty nasty looks. She blinked at them and frowned.
"And where were you?" Rumiko asked. She too was frowning. "We looked everywhere for you. Do you know what time it is? It's almost seven o'clock. You've been gone all day! Explain yourself!"
"I don't need to tell you where I've been. It's none of your business," Rika snapped. She had a point, it wasn't their business, no matter how worried they were. It was especially none of their business since she was with a boy. "I'm going to take a shower now." She headed towards the bathroom when she felt someone grab her arm. "Let go of me."
"Rika, we were all worried sick. Where were you?" Ryo asked. Much to Rika's surprise, he wasn't smiling.
Rika pulled away from his grasp, "I was out. Okay? Stop interrogating me!" Ryo blocked the hallway so Rika couldn't flee. "Move Akiyama. Now!" Her temper started to rise. "I don't need any of you butting into my social life." With that, Rika turned and left the hotel room, with Ryo close on her heels. Rika haulted outside the elevators and folded her arms. "Stop following me, Akiyama."
"Rika, don't you understand? We were worried," he said. Rika turned to face him. He wasn't frowning anymore, but he had a sad look in his eyes. "You could have been hurt for all we knew. You had us all upset. You had me upset."
Rika looked at him in confusion, "I told Jeri I was going out with a friend. Clearly she can not deliver messages."
Ryo shook his head. "Yeah she told us after we all looked for you. She said she forgot. Anyway, who were you out with?" The elevator came and the doors opened but they didn't climb in.
"Someone I am supposed to do a photo shoot with." Rika replied, watching the elevators' doors close. "His name is Nico."
Ryo raised an eyebrow, "His name? You were out with some guy you don't even know?"
"Relax Akiyama. If he wanted to hurt me then he would already have done so." Rika sighed. "Anyways, let's head back to the room. I have that stupid shoot tomorrow."
XXX
"That's it, that's it. Work it!" The Japanese photographer said. "Come on, big smiles. Perfect, perfect." He snapped pictures of this couple, who were smiling their heads off. "Ah. Awesome. Thank you." He stopped clicking and straightened himself up. Rika watched as the couple left, holding hands and discussing their pictures. "Oh and who do we have here?" The photographer smiled. "Miss Nonaka. Pleasure baby, pleasure." He grabbed her hand and shook it. Rika pulled away and frowned.
"Now Rika, be nice," Rumiko said. She was smiling and observing everything going on. Couples walked through sets all around getting ready to get their photos taken for the upcoming fashion magazine. "Oh this is just so marvelous."
"Oh and who is this young lady?" The photographer said, taking Rumiko's hand planting a kiss on it. "I knew I was photographing Miss Nonaka, but nobody said anything about her sister." Rumiko blushed and Rika rolled her eyes. "Come now Miss Nonaka. Get changed, I'll be waiting."
A lady with a headset on pushed Rika towards the changing room, where Rika had to put on a pink dress with purple beaded chiffon, twist knots leading to the drapping front, and an open back. If it were on anyone else, Rika would have admitted it was pretty. A hair dresser tied her hair up in a bun, and left strands of hair fall on each side of her face. A makeup artist powdered Rika - which made her sneeze sending it flying into the womens face. The lady growled and stomped out of the dressing room.
"Are we ready?" A man asked. He popped his head into the dressing room. It was Mr Shimizu. A women beside Rika nodded and Mr Shimizu grabbed Rika by the hand and dragged her to the photo set.
"Good, good. I want you to smile like you won a million bucks, baby," the photographer, Toru, said. "Good, good. You are very pretty dear, very,very pretty. That's it. Turn to your other side and put your hands on your hips and smile. Great! You are very talented. Very." He snapped the camera a mile a minute. "Yes. Ah just heart warming." He stopped clicking. "Great. Well done baby, just gorgeous. I need to get some more film." Toru left the set.
"Rika! Oh wonderful seeing you here," the voice of Nico said. "You look all too beautiful." He bowed and smiled. "I hope you are ready?"
"Ready for what?" Rika asked.
"Oh but of course, we are taking pictures together, si?" He smiled. He was dressed casual, but nice all the same. He was wearing a very light brown thin cotten sweater, and nice dusty colour khakis. "I am excited. We will make front page together."
The photographer came back and was grinning deeply. "Perfect, perfect. Nico, great to see you. Very handsome, very, very handsome. Please, please, step by Miss Nonaka here. I trust you too are already aquainted?" Nico nodded. "Perfect, perfect. Now, make like a couple."
Rika blushed but covered it up immediately. "What?!"
"What is a photo without the love? Come, come, place your arms around each other and smile for the camera!"
XXX
To Rika's satisfaction, the photo shoot was finally done. She tiredly made her way to the dressing room when she over heard someone talking quietly about Digimon. Her curiousity got the better of her as she crept to the noise and hid behind a cardboard bush prop.
"In eleven days, it will be complete." The voice said. It was Mr Shimizu's voice.
"Yes. Then it will be ours." A scratchy voice replied. "For now, we will just go with the flow."
Rika slowly rose her head, hoping to see the other person talking. But no such luck. Mr Shimizu was standing with his back to her, looking into another change room. "Haha, they wont know what hit them. We might run into a few problems along the way. Nothing we can't handle though."
"Of course. No one can stop us now. Our plan is pure genious." The voice said. "We have to act fast though. Now let's go before we are over heard."
XXX
"Today was long and exausting." Rika said as she flopped onto the mini couch in the hotel room. "I will admit, I actually had a good time."
Jeri, who was sitting on the chair, giggled. "Were you with your Italian man?"
"He is not my man." Rika was regretting telling Jeri about meeting and spending the day with him. "But yeah. We had a shoot together." She closed her eyes and grinned. "We spent today together also." She sat up and looked at Jeri. "We are touring tomorrow also."
"Sounds like Rika has a crush," Jeri giggled. "Geeze Rika, I never pictured you to like an Italian man. Or any man for that." Rika rolled her eyes. "What's Ryo going to say if he find out you are spending all your time with your Italian friend?"
"Ryo is not going to know, because we are not telling him." Rika said. Changing the subject, Rika asked, "so what did you guys do today?"
"Oh. We walked around and ate at a nice restaurant. Kazu and Kenta whistled at almost every girl that walked by. Amazing as it is, they even managed to get smacked by a guy for whistling at his girl. Those two will never learn," she sighed. Rika laughed.
"Hey Jeri? You don't think Digimon will attack here, do you?" Rika asked. She thought back to over hearing the discussion with Mr Shimizu. What ever Mr Shimizu was talking about bothered Rika.
"Don't be silly Rika. Why would Digimon attack here? It's been months since the D-Reaper and Digimon haven't bio-emerged." Jeri assured her. "What makes you ask?"
Rika frowned. "No reason. Well, I'm going to catch some sleep. Good night." She left before Jeri could pester her with more questions. She didn't want Jeri to know because, well, she didn't want to worry everyone. And besides, what if their conversation had nothing to do with attacking Rome? Rika asked herself. She threw on some pyjamas and crawled into her nice warm bed. Digimon attack here? Jeri's right, Digimon haven't been seen since the D-Reaper. She closed her eyes and fell asleep, replaying the overheard conversation in her mind.
A/N: Well, here's chapter four. It was long and probably got dull to you guys. I'm not the most exciting writer ever you know -winks-. Hope you enjoyed it. And thank you to Freedom'sWarrior for the short and sweet description of walking through the park and the description of how Italy feels to be walking through it. And thank you to my reviewers! Means a lot to have people enjoy my story. -smiles-. Anyways, chapter five will be coming soon. Saturday night at the latest. I have to work on chapter 2 of another story first. Next chapter there will be some romance, followed by Ryo's jealousy, and some suspicious behaviour with some characters. Also note, I really don't know what Italians sound like speaking Japanese. I did however watch the Lizzie McGuire movie, which also took place in Rome. Didn't help any, LOL. Good movie though.
And let me do my story recognition. If you haven't read The Older and Wiser Sage I reccomend you do so. It's great.