DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs introduced in this story and later stories (except where stated).
CHAPTER 4
Their Secrets
REAL WORLD
Shinjuku Park
11:02 JST
3rd July 2010
Rika welcomed the sounds of nature (and hundreds of children, a constant reminder of the one she would have soon enough) as she walked into the park along the well-maintained path, small fences lining the path on either side, fading away as the gradient of the grass and tree covered areas either side climbed as the path climbed to match, heading towards an all too familiar destination, one where she had seemed to have spent at least one hour a week in since she was thirteen.
From battles to bread, every time they went here, something always happened. It was what made the hideout so interesting, be it Guilmon choking on bread from his bizarre allergy to an unknown type of bread, or one of the hundreds of types of Digimon out there, and on occasion one they had never seen before. Takato got his D-Arc here, Rika first met Takato here (although he had seen her beforehand in a dream), Renamon first fought Guilmon here, Jeri met Leomon here, Kazu and Guardromon first biomerged here, the D-Reaper had completely avoided it, and practically every morning since they became a couple Rika and Takato had been here. It was the focal point of their lives, a meeting spot where you could expect to have a friendly ear from whoever turned up.
Rika sighed; a friendly ear was what she needed now, although doubtless it wouldn't be enough. She glanced to her rear, as Renamon calmly followed her, determined but with a faint unease about what Rika intended to do in her eyes, and in her thoughts.
"Rika, if you don't mind me asking, what do you intend to do in a minute's time when you meet Takato?" she asked telepathically.
Rika paused, turning to her partner as time seemed to stand still. "I'm not sure…I really don't feel up to telling him yet…I have to tell him eventually but…I just want to see him at the moment. They'll be worried about me otherwise, and I don't feel like sitting around in my room all day, despite what I said…"
"I understand. Do you wish for me to do anything?"
Rika smiled to her partner, anyone watching by now unaware of their ability understandably confused by now, which was thankfully no-one at all. She shook her head. "No, nothing in particular…go see Guilmon, if you can stop Kristy insisting on him playing tag that is…"
Renamon smiled, and nodded, as Rika turned, and continued to walk, Renamon following gracefully after.
The peak of the pathway followed, and the familiar steps came into view, leading up to the concrete utilitarian hideout above, trees obscuring it from easy viewing by the general public, a useful property that made it ideal ages ago for keeping Guilmon out of harms way, which, given his child-like nature, was all too likely, particularly considering Impmon's influence, a particular misadventure that had led to them discovering that Guilmon had more of an independent mind than they believed at the time, albeit the independence being avoiding things that were boring as opposed to those things that were morally wrong or treated as misdemeanours.
Unlike the rest of the park's penance for wildlife, this area seemed to be habitually avoided by anything other than Digital or human life, possibly due to the fact there was someone here for most of the day, or that Guilmon when he lived here would've scared them away, particularly in the mornings when he would show his large incisors at the peak of a yawn, a sight which Renamon found oddly attractive, since it was an odd mix of his childish yawning and his beast-like features.
The hideout building, originally presumably some form of store cupboard or protection for a sprinkler system control to avoid anyone tampering with it for a laugh, had been oddly abandoned for years, somewhat forgotten about, whether accidentally or intentionally, by those that run the park. Rika had a nagging hunch that Hypnos had a part to play in causing that, their influence being far reaching despite the small scope of their particular remit, a clear example of government handing out power as much as possible to agencies controlling events or phenomena that they failed to understand at higher levels.
Takato sat on the steps, which had started to crumble slightly recently thanks to the lack of maintenance, although this was balanced out mainly by the fact that, compared to other steps in the expansive park, they were hardly used at all. Guilmon, now apparently 'it', attempted to catch up with the cheery red-brown haired girl, the white and gold ferret, an ecstatic Calumon and an apparently disinterested (although clearly not so) Impmon. Guilmon leapt to try and grab Calumon, as the catalyst leapt straight up into the air with the aid of his extendable ears, leading to Guilmon crashing to the ground nearby, and moaning in annoyance, as Kristy giggled.
"Geez toots, you really aren't good at this anymore…" Impmon complained. "Hey, you've got a pineapple head to play with you guys now, if you can coax her into joining in, so I'm off" Impmon said, leaping away after Rika glared at him, although it was more of a customary glare than one of anger, Rika not particularly feeling like herself on this day. Takato looked up after hearing the nickname that Impmon held for the redhead, based on the shape of her ponytail on the top of her head.
Renamon calmly walked over to Guilmon, still lying front-down on the floor, and bent down, whispering in his ear in a seductive manner. "Fake an injury…" she told him, him grinning in response. Tag was fun, but playing it twice in the same day mere hours apart, after playing it several days in a row, with Kristy of all people, was not fun, particularly since Guilmon had matured over time. Guilmon looked up to Renamon kneeling over him, and smiled, nodding to as much of the extent he could with his chin flat on the floor.
"Guilmon, are you okay?" Kristy asked. Guilmon glanced to Renamon, smiling cheekily as Renamon smiled in response. Guilmon stood up, faking a limp as he did so, pressing his hands and his right leg down more than his left leg.
"I think I hurt my leg…" Guilmon replied, faking a small bout of pain.
"Oh…can you play any more?" Kristy asked, slightly sadly about the end of Guilmon's time playing in the game.
"He should rest it…" Renamon replied. "Or it could get worse…" she warned.
"Okay…Calumon's 'it' now!" Kristy cheered, her annoyance quickly fading as Calumon leapt straight into the continuing game with him as 'it', and Kudamon ending up as 'it' within mere seconds.
"Hey Rika…" Takato greeted, smiling at the redhead.
"Hey Takato…" Rika replied, voice still lacking her usual confidence.
"Still not feeling okay?" Takato asked, as Rika sat next to him on the step.
Rika shook her head, as Takato put his arm around her, and smiled, pulling her into a kiss.
"Don't worry, whatever it is I'm sure you'll get over it and cheer up soon enough…" Takato told her. Rika nodded, noting the irony, since what Takato said could never possibly happen. "So, when did you get up?" he asked.
"Not that long after you left…I went to see Mari…"
"Huh?"
"Yeah, she told me that Ryder told her about the fanbase back in his world. Apparently, you and I as a couple is nicknamed Rukato…"
"What?"
"Yeah, it's disturbing to hear about another world that effectively watches our world and then creates its own stories based on it."
"Yeah, but that's not to say our world didn't create stories about the Digidestined's world…"
"Yeah, but those stories didn't include me…"
Takato chuckled. "So what exactly happens in these stories?"
"Well, some of them were surprisingly similar to real life, while others seem to take a new take on real life, or extend real life. Apparently they are very good writers."
"Interesting…any examples?"
"In one of them, Guilmon…" she began, before holding back, glancing over to Renamon and Guilmon, sitting nearby, while Kristy and the two other digimon continued to play tag.
"What happens?" Takato asked in curiosity.
"Well…he dies…and in desperation you rescan the drawing…" Rika replied.
"What?!" Takato asked in surprise.
"She also mentioned that I…either accidentally or intentionally…kissed you…"
"Oddly, that doesn't sound major considering what we've done…"
"Yeah, but this was before we became a couple, after the end of the whole D-Reaper thing…most of them sound like they're set then…"
Takato nodded, still amazed by what Rika was saying. "What else?"
Rika suddenly realised that she had a chance to judge Takato's reaction without telling him the truth. "There was one where…well…you and I had sex and I got pregnant…"
Takato looked at Rika in surprise, Rika frankly unsurprised at his reaction.
"Of course, it's only a story in another universe…" Rika replied. "It's not real…" she added quickly.
"I know that…" Takato replied. "It's just, imagine if that were to actually happen…what the hell would we do?" he joked.
Rika laughed weakly. "I have no idea…"
"Takatomon, I'm hungry!" Guilmon pleaded, leaping at his Tamer all of a sudden, pushing him over and sitting on top of him as Rika dodged to one side and Renamon chuckled.
Rika smiled bravely at the sight of Takato, happily being crushed by his partner.
"Get off me!" Takato asked.
"Sorry…" the dino replied.
"I understand what Kudamon means by calling you an object…" Takato joked.
Guilmon giggled. "Yeah…"
'How can I possibly wreck this?' Rika thought, looking at the happy sight of the pair laughing, Takato patting Guilmon on the head. 'What the hell gives me that right, to wreck his life?!' Rika yelled to herself. 'He's one of the kindest people in the world, he never tries to do anything wrong and he's comforted me when I'm at my lowest end…how can I wreck that? I know that it was both of us together, but it was my idea…'
A tear dripped down Rika's angered face, a tear quickly wiped away before Takato turned around.
"Didn't you hurt your leg?" Kristy asked, looking over to the Digimon and Tamer.
"Um…yeah…" Guilmon replied.
"But it healed!" Takato added, far too enthusiastically and quickly, the nature of a quickly drawn-up plan, to be taken seriously by anyone.
"Okay…" Kristy replied naively, apparently the definition of anyone not stretching to her. "Are you going to play now Guilmon?" she asked, her childish nature still showing through, a nature that Rika knew would be eroded over time by maturity and the inevitable events they would face as Tamers.
"Sorry, I've got to go help out at the bakery…" Takato told her, after glancing at the time. Rika frowned, her chance was gone. She doubted she would ever have taken it anyway.
'I'm completely lost what to do…I don't want to ruin his life…I love him, I don't want to see him hurt like that…' she thought sadly.
She felt her lips touched, and she returned the kiss. "Bye Rika…" Takato told her, smiling.
Rika nodded unsurely, her thoughts having made her wander away from reality for a second there. "Bye..." she replied faintly.
"Hope you feel better soon…" Takato told her, smiling bravely.
"Bye Renamon!" Guilmon added.
Renamon smiled, looking to the red dino. "Bye…" she replied, as Takato and Guilmon began to walk away along the familiar path, Rika watching sadly.
'I don't want to see him hurt…' she thought, unconsciously placing her hand on her belly. 'But it looks like I don't have a choice…' she mentally added, frowning and looking to the eroded step two below the one she sat on.
"Sis, are you okay?" Kristy asked, her cheerfulness fading for a moment. Rika looked up glumly.
"Yeah, I'm fine…" she replied, faking a cheerful edge to what she said. Kristy frowned.
"You don't seem fine…what's wrong?"
"Nothing…just feeling down…"
"Do you want to play tag?"
"Huh? No, why would I?"
"Always makes me feel cheerful…"
"You're always cheerful…"
"Yeah, so it makes me feel even more cheerful…"
Rika frowned; looking back to the step, as Kristy frowned, sitting next to her.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"I told you, it's nothing…" Rika replied, not taking her eyes off the step.
"It's got to be something, to get you so sad about it…"
Rika looked to her side, faking a smile. "It's nothing…" she replied, adding a cheery edge to her voice.
"That smile looks fake…" Kristy replied. "I'm not as innocuous as you think you know…"
"Huh? It's nothing; it's just what being a teenager is like…sometimes you just feel sad for no real reason…"
"It's got to be at least based on something…are you and Takato still in love?"
Rika smiled. "Of course, why wouldn't we be?"
"What else would make you sad then? Another fight with mom?"
"No…"
"Yeah, that'd make you angry instead…" Kristy replied. "Did someone read your diary?"
"How do you know about my diary?" Rika questioned, narrowing her eyes at her sister.
"I didn't read it…" Kristy replied, putting her palms out to her front defensively. "I just know about it, that's all…"
"No-one can read my diary, I password protect every entry, not even Takato is allowed to read it…"
"I'm sure your password is really obvious, something like Takato…or Gogglehead…"
"None of those, trust me, you'd never guess it…" 'After all, you don't even know who Goddramon is…'
"So what do you write in it that even Takato can't see? Do you write mean things?"
"No…not mostly…I just write personal things, personal feelings that I wouldn't tell anyone…"
Kristy frowned, looking at her shoes sadly. "They're about me, aren't they?"
"No, they're not…"
"Yes they are, you hate me…" Kristy replied, eyes tearful and voice weepy.
"Don't cry…" Rika told her, putting her arm round her sister. "I don't hate you, despite the fact that I didn't even know you existed for the first sixteen years of my life, I love you as a sister…it's good to have someone to complain about mum with who doesn't try to be all kind and considerate like Takato…"
"Really?" Kristy asked, tinges of hope in her voice.
"Yeah, I mean, you still drive me crazy, and I suppose I get my revenge in my own way. But I love you regardless, in the same way that I love Mum, or Grandma, or even Takato, unconditional, regardless of anything that happens."
"So why do you hide your diary from us?"
Rika pulled Kristy in for a closer hug with her arm. "Everyone has their secrets Kristy…I mean, look at Takato, he's full of them, in trying to be kind he ends up bottling so much up that would probably change your whole perception of him if you were to know all of them from tiny little things like where he hides his ultra-rare cards so that his mother doesn't find them and ask why he's spent his whole allowance on them, to huge things, like…" Rika paused, unconsciously touching her stomach, an act unnoticed by all but Renamon. "…things I really can't tell you. And others have secrets too…" Rika began, smiling as she reminisced what she had picked up throughout her life as a Tamer, through various sources. "I mean, don't ask how I know these things, but I know that Kazu sleeps with a nightlight on, Elecmon walked in on Jeri while she was changing, an event that they decided purposefully never to mention again, and that Takato dreamt of me before he met me."
"What? Really?" Kristy asked.
"Never, ever mention it, or even hint at it, again or I will kill you…"
Kristy frowned sadly, the earlier topic of conversation returning. Rika smiled, trying to reassure her sister when she realised what she had said.
"Okay, I won't kill you…but every single breakfast you have from now until the end of time will have water instead of milk…"
Kristy gulped, Rika smiling at her reaction.
"Anyway, the point is, everyone has their innermost secrets that they'd never tell, ones far worse than what I told you. Things you wouldn't even understand at your age. And then there are secrets that are a complete mystery to us, I mean look at Rey; her entire life is a mystery. Who is she, and what is this future she's trying to prevent? And Ryder as well, I can tell he's hiding something incredibly huge, even from Mari."
"I know that you're hiding something big too…"
"Inevitably, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation. Anyway, look, as soon as I feel ready to tell you, I will, but until then, I'm afraid that you just have to bear with me, okay?"
"Okay Rika…" Kristy replied, standing up cheerfully and walking over to her partner and Calumon, smiling.
"Let's play tag!" she cheered, Calumon nodding enthusiastically, and Kudamon reluctantly.
"Don't worry; she'll grow out of this…" Renamon said to the ferret quietly, smirking.
"I hope…" he replied. "I'm getting sick of being squashed…"
"You better not hurt yourself again…" Rika told Kristy playfully.
"What are you, my mother?!" the younger girl replied, sticking her tongue out, before smiling and winking playfully.
Rika pulled an angry face in response, before watching as they resumed their game. She frowned, noting the poignancy of what Kristy had said.
'Not yours Kristy…but I will be a mother…' she thought.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Another chapter of talking, expect the start of this tale to be mainly talking until we move into action in a big way. There are still the two other main themes of this story yet to be revealed, which will all play a huge part as we speed towards the emotional conclusion I have planned.
I think this chapter came out well, a mix of Rika and Takato together at its core, along with Rika's reluctance mixed in with that, with the relationship between Rika and her sister on the layer above, and some amusing secrets to top the whole cake…I mean plot…off.
Next time…
What is Rey's secret? What is Ryder's? Will Kristy ever grow out of her childish nature as Renamon said? How will Rika manage to tell Takato, and what will his response be?
Find out in 'His Realisation', Chapter Five of Dimensions Book Five: Demons.
