A/N: After two months of focusing almost exclusively on 'Hazard's Sorrow' I felt the need for a pleasant change of pace, preferably one that didn't include digimon fighting or intense emotional anguish, so I decided to settle on a nice semi-friendship/romance type fic to help me get back into my groove. This story seemed like the right choice to get the ball rolling again, so without further ado, I present to you the second chapter of 'The Dreamer', set sometime after the events of 'Song of the Setting Sun'. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

The Dreamer

Chapter: 2

The sound of birds chirping as they sang their songs and fluttered through the air could be distinctly heard in the quiet that followed. Off to the side, a red colored dinosaur splashed around in a nearby birdbath, moaning in disappointment at the few birds that had taken up solace there flew away, disturbed by his presence. Not to be deterred however, the dinosaur, known as Guilmon to his friends and allies, followed them, water dripping from his claws as he laughed childishly, testing the air with his nostrils and looking around with his wide, golden eyes, almost as though he were expecting something.

Calumon? Thought Guilmon as he once again sniffed the air, before shrugging it off as an old scent, a little disappointed that the excitable cream-colored digimon was not in the area. Oh well. It wasn't as though life wasn't fun without him. He had plenty to do! He had squirrels and birds to chase, lots of bread to eat, his Tamer and his friends to play with…

Speaking of whom, Guilmon looked over at the three children plus one Terriermon that sat over on a nearby bench… but something was wrong. Guilmon cocked his head to one side. All four of them seemed to have been rendered speechless by something… but what? Judging by the look of discomfort and increasing redness in one boy's face, that of his Tamer, Takato, it had something to do with him. No surprise there, Takato was always doing something that got him embarrassed, but this time… this time something seemed to be a little bit different about his reaction. His gaze was more focused on the red haired girl that sat in front of him, a fearful look in his eyes as though he were contemplating trying to make a break for it but worried that the girl, Rika, would sic her partner Renamon on him for doing so. Behind Takato, his other two friends, Henry Wong and his mischievous partner Terriermon dangling off his shoulder (a little more precariously then usual) stood, looking more than a little surprised at whatever it was that had just occurred. Terriermon's eyes were bulging in their sockets, his mouth agape and for once, silent, though it was certainly not from lack of trying. Henry himself looked a little stunned, and a nervous, worried smile played at the corner of his mouth as he tried to find the appropriate words to say and failed. And Rika…

Guilmon had seen her like this before, when they had been in the digital world and about to face the Sovereign digimon Zhuqiaomon, and they were in that transportation bubble, being taken to his castle.

Uh oh… thought Guilmon, beginning to trot over to the scene, already starting to become worried about his Tamer's future health.

Rika just stared at Takato, eyes slightly wide in surprise before looking down at the ground in front of her, her mouth working as she tried to find a response before looking back up at Takato. The boy's face reddened even more and his mouth twitched nervously in a rather eerie imitation of his dark haired friend behind him.

"I don't… did you just…?" The girl stammered out, disbelief plainly evident in her voice.

"Uh…" Takato resisted the urge to inch backwards. He really didn't know what to do here. If he said the wrong thing she could explode! And then…

For some reason he was having flashbacks to that time when Rika had threatened to send him to to dreamland for good.

I just hope that she goes easy on me, thought Takato as a bead of sweat made its way down his face.

"…Sorry?"

There was a lull in the conversation, during which Takato grew even more uncomfortable, feeling an all to familiar heat creeping from his face and out to his ears. Fortunately Rika had taken a moment to look down in front of her again, still trying to grasp what had just happened. Finally, Terriermon, upon finding his voice, spoke up.

"That's a heck of a thing to say at a time like this… but then again, you are a Gogglehead…"

Henry groaned, the sound as familiar to the Tamers as Guilmon's old home, and with it came the expected response, as predictable as thunder following lightning during a storm.

"Terriermon…"

"What? It's the truth!"

"Gotta agree with Rabbitmon on this one," admitted Rika reluctantly as she eyed Takato carefully with her penetrating gaze. The boy blushed even further.

"Oohg…" blanched Terriermon. "That's not a good sign… not like the first one was any better though…"

Rika chuckled lightly as a small smile forced its way onto her face.

"Well it's not like this sort of thing happens everyday," said Henry with a light laugh.

Guilmon cocked his head in confusion. Just what was going on here? He had thought that Takato had done something to make Rika angry but now…

Before Guilmon could even post a question on the topic, Terriermon provided the answer with his usual blunt attitude.

"Oh c'mon! Who apologizes for winning at a game of cards? I don't know what's worse… the fact that it was Takatomon here who finally did the deed that up 'till now no one but Ryo could pull off, or that he did it when he wasn't really paying attention to what was going on? Takato… I hope that you had your last will and testament made out… do I get to have all of your stuff when she kills you?"

"Ahhhh…"

Henry chuckled as he ground his knuckles into his partner's head.

"Knock it off Terriermon. I'm sure that Rika's not going to go ballistic on him."

"Are we talking about the same person here?"

"And why are we still talking about it?" Demanded Rika, a little heat making itself known in her voice as she collected her cards and began shuffling them together. "I mean it's not like it's that big of a deal…"

Terriermon's mouth dropped open once more in surprise, a surprise that was equally shared by Takato as well.

"Huh? Wha…?"

"All right. Who are you and what have you done with the real Rika?"

"Shouldn't you be asking Takato that?" Asked Rika, fixing the little dog-bunny on Henry's shoulder with a hard look. "This is probably the first time that I've seen him play well, and he wasn't even paying attention! You wanna clue me in on how that's possible Gogglehead"

Takato blushed lightly as the girl fixed her gaze on him, eyes narrowing, though fortunately for his nerves her gaze wasn't of the angry kind, instead being more curious and considering.

Takato laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head in agitation.

"Um… luck of the draw?"

Rika hmmphed at that as she set her deck down on the ground and began drawing a new hand, signaling to Takato that she wanted a rematch. His heart beating a little quickly from nerves Takato clumsily scooped up his cards and began to follow his friend's example.

"Luck of the draw or not," Rika continued. "There's no way that you could have won that match with the way that you were zoning out. You didn't even react when I played that Control Spire card on you!"

"Yeah," piped in Terriermon. "Henry had to get your attention for that."

"They do have a point," said Henry. "You did look like you had something on your mind…"

"Hey! Come on you guys! It's not like it's that big of a deal… it's just a card game…"

"That's a rather ironic thing of you to say," said Rika dourly as she laid down a Renamon card, her standard opening move.

"Okay, yeah. That was a rather dumb thing of me to say, but aren't you guys taking this a little too seriously?"

"I don't know," said Terriermon as he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure that you beating the Digimon Queen and not even realizing it qualifies as a sign of the apocalypse…"

"Hey! Are we going to play or not? I've been waiting for him to make his move already and with you blabbering he's even more distracted than earlier…!"

Before Rika could finish what she was saying her cell phone suddenly broke into the conversation with a sharp ring. With a mild look of irritation, the red haired girl dug into her pocket and took it out, hitting the answer button as she brought it up to her ear.

"Hi Grandma… yeah, I'm still at the park with my friends…" Rika paused as she took in what her grandmother said on the other end before nodding, a small smile appearing on her face as she did so. "Okay. I understand. I'll be there. Thanks Grandma."

Henry, Takato, Guilmon, and Terriermon all exchanged glances at Rika hung up her phone and began to collect her cards together again.

"Um… Rika? What's…?"

"Sorry boys, but I gotta go. My mom was supposed to come back early today and I wanted my Grandma to give me a heads up so that I could meet her. We'll have to continue this later."

And with that, Rika got to her feet, placing her Digimon cards back in her card holder and, surprisingly reached over to ruffle Takato's hair before taking off, leaving her two friends behind with surprised looks on their faces as she waved a quick goodbye, the shadow of Renamon appearing and disappearing behind her as she went.

"See ya later Gogglehead," called out Rika as she ran down the path.

Henry, Takato, Guilmon and Terriermon just stared at the path that Rika had left on as they let this sudden turn of events sink in. With a small, humorous smile, Henry looked over at Takato, who presently had a light red color decorating his cheeks.

"Well Takato," joked the boy casually. "Sounds like you just got yourself a date."

"Ah… uh…" Takato stuttered as his cheeks adopted an even darker color of red to them.

Henry and Terriermon burst out laughing, while Guilmon just cocked his head in confusion, not at all understanding what it was that was going on.

"Um… I don't get it. Is Takato going to see the cherry blossoms like he did with Jeri that one time?"

"Guilmon…" said Terriermon in between giggles and snorts of laughter. "First, the cherry blossoms were last week. And I don't think that you could call that last time a date since we all wound up getting involved in it. Second, I don't think that that was what Rika was referring to when she said 'see ya later'. Henry and I were just having some fun at Takatomon's expense, that's all."

Terriermon then assumed a thoughtful look as he once again tapped his chin.

"But now that you mention it, Rika has been acting kinda funny since that day. Nicer I guess you could say, but maybe that's just my imagination…"

"Well, it is Rika that we're talking about," chuckled Henry. "I haven't seen much difference in her personality, but with her you never know."

Henry glanced over at Takato, and his face softened.

"Hey Takato. You okay?"

Takato, who looked like he had been lost in thought suddenly jolted to attention.

"Ah! Huh? Oh… sorry. Heh, heh… um… Yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking you know?"

"Thinking about anything in particular?"

Takato looked away from Henry. Actually, truth be told he had been a little bit distracted today. Not too much to be easily noticeable until he had gotten into his card match with Rika (and how it was that he had been able to walk away for once with a win and still live was something that he still wondered about), but he had been drifting. A fair majority of his thoughts had been drawn back to that dream that he had had this morning… the one where he and Rika were…

A slight blush once again appeared on his face as he remembered the kiss that the dream Rika had given him, but fortunately it was so light that his friends didn't notice. Why did this dream bother him? It was just a stupid dream right? A little bit odd though since it had involved Rika, but after last week…

"You promised the sunset we'd always, always be together…"

Takato's blush deepened a little as he remembered that moment in the park where she had sung her song to him, and then when they had looked into each other's eyes…

"Hey! Takatomon!" Cried out Terriermon as he waved an ear in front of the boy's face, snapping him out of his reverie.

"Ahhh!"

"It's about time!" Said Terriermon with a huff. "You were blanking out on us again!"

"Is Takato sick?" Asked Guilmon worriedly as he walked up and sniffed his Tamer.

"Um… I'm fine Guilmon… I was just…"

"Thinking," interrupted Terriermon. "We know. You've been doing that a lot today. What's up with you? I haven't seen you like this since last week when you took Jeri out to watch the Cherry Blossoms… of course with the rest of us there it's not like that went well…"

"Terriermon…" grumbled Henry as he noted that Takato's face fell a little at the memory, and the increased blush that showed up on his face as well.

"Well, you have to admit that he was a little out there then too in some places. Sheesh. You'd almost think that he was worried that she was going to elope somewhere with you or Kazu or something…"

Henry rolled his eyes and groaned in exasperation. Was there no end to the demented ideas that Terriermon kept letting out of the dark abyss that he called his mind?

Seriously, where does he come up with these things?

"Come on Takato," said Henry as he got to his feet and began to help Takato gather up his cards. "Let's go down to my place and hang out there for a bit. My dad bought the new Digimon computer game today and I was thinking about trying it out. What do you say?"

Takato looked up at the half Chinese Tamer, contemplating his offer before giving him a wide smile and patting Guilmon on the head.

"Sure," the boy said softly.

As the two friends finished packing away their cards and began to walk down the streets, Terriermon hopped up onto Henry's head and smiled goofily at Takato.

"And maybe afterwards you can give Jeri a call so that she can help you on your date with Rika like Rika did for her last week…"

Takato's face reddened once again, protesting that there wasn't anything between them while, with a light chuckle, Henry reached up and knocked Terriermon on the side of his head.

"Ow! Henry!"

"Play nice Terriermon… or Nurse Suzie comes out to play today."

"I'll be shutting up now…"

Takato and Henry both burst out laughing as they walked down the park's path.

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