Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

The Dreamer

Chapter: 6

A new day dawned over Shinjuku, and the light of the rising sun found Takato Matsuki racing through the park with a certain crimson colored digimon racing with him. However, they were in no hurry to face a bio-emerging digimon, no, no. As surprising as it may sound the two of them had woken up early, admittedly more at Mei's behest then at their own. Neither were complaining though, and each for different reasons. For Guilmon it was a chance to spend more time with his partner…awake…before the boy had to head off to school (it being that most unfortunate day of the week known to all as Monday), and for Takato his reasons for the early rise were similar to Guilmon's. No surprise there since he had created Guilmon, had merged with him both physically and mentally, and was bonded to his digital partner in every way that mattered and more, but the Tamer's reasons, however similar to that of his red partner, were made just a little bit more complex by the fact that he didn't want to arrive late at Ms. Asagi's class. The idea of staying after school and writing essays on 'the importance of getting to school on time' until his fingers bled (or something to that extent) did not at all appeal to him. Especially if it meant less time spent with Guilmon and the rest of his friends.

Ah, the life of a prepubescent child…

"Guilmon…" Takato laughed as he pulled the bag full of day old bread away from his partner's questing nose. "C'mon! Cut it out! You can't have it yet…not until we meet up with the others anyway…"

"Ohhh…but Takato I'm hungry…"

"You just had breakfast a few minutes ago, and this," Takato hefted the bag full of his family's bakery's bread into the air to not only emphasize its presence and purpose, as well as to keep it out of the way of Guilmon's clutches. "Is supposed to be your lunch for later."

"But I can always go down to the bakery and get more," said Guilmon simply, his face taking on a playful sparkle to it and causing Takato to sigh.

"I know, boy. But you know I don't like it when you go somewhere outside of the park on your own. Who knows what could happen to you when I'm not around. You tend to attract an awful lot of attention, and even though people are more aware of the existence of digimon that doesn't mean that we don't have to keep you hidden anymore. Some people just aren't too fond of the idea of digimon right at the moment…"

Takato gave his partner a halfhearted smile, remembering a little of what Yamaki had told him and the others a few weeks ago, shortly after the incident with the Parasimon, and it concerned the civilian populace's view on digimon. Although the head of Hypnos had talked to the Tamers about it before after their digimon had returned from the digital world, recent events had only heightened some stresses that made people look at digimon in a negative light, culminating in the appearance of websites that called for deletion of digimon, the digital world, and anything even remotely associated with the word digital (for the most extreme cases). Although it wasn't anything serious at the moment, based on what Yamaki had shown the Tamers, it was certainly cause for worry. If nothing else, Rika had pointed out later on in her usual, cynical (yet not wholly unfounded) way, it was only the tip of the iceberg. So they had to be careful in some situations where they were in unfamiliar areas. But even in their home city of Shinjuku, they had to maintain a certain amount of vigilance.

Which was why Takato didn't like the idea of Guilmon going anywhere on his own where he might get into trouble.

Sometimes you can be such a worrywart, Takato could hear Terriermon's voice proclaiming to him. Takato chuckled inwardly.

"Do you understand…boy?" Takato asked tentatively, deftly moving the bag of bread out of his partner's reach once more as he nipped at air. Guilmon's ears drooped slightly.

"Hmmmmnnn…yeah, I guess I do. But…can't I at least have a little snack to eat?"

Takato laughed lightly and dug into the bag of bread, bringing out a piece and holding it out to his partner.

"You're a glutton, Guilmon," the boy said, as if stating a fact of life. Guilmon excitedly took the bread with a quick thank you, and yeah before launching into yet another round of the Guilmon Bread song, even though the item in question was definitely not anywhere close to resembling the digimon's head.

Oh well, thought Takato as he watched his partner dance up and down excitedly, waving the loaf of bread around like a trophy and completely forgetting about eating it. I wouldn't have it any other way.

After about another minute the two friends and partners entered the vicinity of the Shinjuku Park's playground and ran up to the dinosaur dome where Guardromon stood vigilantly, watching over the four children and two digimon who sat on the ground engrossed in yet another game of Digimon. Takato smiled. He was glad that they had continued to play the game, even with the decreased difficulty that the gaming company, Bandai had been having with marketing digimon related products since the D-Reaper had been defeated (some concerned parents had taken to boycotting the game and anything even remotely having to do with it, fearful that just by being associated with the product could end up having their children turn into Tamers and sent to the digital world in the middle of the night). How the game still managed to thrive despite the ever-fluctuating number of sales Takato didn't know, and for the most part didn't care as long as his favorite game continued to be put onto the market. Still, he did wonder from time to time if Yamaki had anything to do with it.

Probably not, thought Takato as his overactive imagination took hold and brought the mental image of Yamaki swiping a modify card through a dark-gray trimmed digivice before providing a few snappy poses to go along with the act. Takato had to chuckle a little at that. Yup. Mom's right. Sometimes my imagination can be a curse…

"Hey guys," proclaimed Takato happily as he set down both bags down on the ground next to him, beaming widely as he got ready to break out his digimon cards to get in one quick battle before they had to leave for school. His greeting was met by an equally jubilant greeting from Kazu, Kenta, Henry, Guardromon, MarineAngemon, and Jeri (who woofed at him with her sock puppet as a greeting).

"Ah…" began Kazu with a smirk on his face as he laid down a SkullMeramon over his Meramon card. "So the triumphant champion returns."

Takato cocked an eyebrow in confusion, noting Kazu's teasing tone. What had he done this time to warrant Kazu's sarcastic remarks? Not like the visor-wearing boy ever needed an invitation or a reason to do so, since he did it with such regularity anyway and sometimes without reason, but the way Kazu had said that felt as though there was a specific reason for the way he was acting.

"Say wha…?"

Over on Henry's shoulder Terriermon giggled.

"Awfully slow in the uptake isn't he?"

"Be a good stuffed animal," said Henry in a voice that was both sarcastic and deadpan as he playfully rapped his partner on his head.

"Terriermon told us about your victory over Rika," said Kenta, grinning, causing Takato to suddenly become uncomfortable. "Specifically how you had done it without even paying attention to what you were doing."

"It…it was nothing really," said Takato, avoiding everyone's gaze as he dug through his bag and brought out his box of digimon cards. "Just luck…"

"Sure," scoffed Kazu. "I'm sure that's what they all say. Even Ryo was about as humble as you were when I asked him about his first match with Rika. Man, how come you were able to pull a win out of your hat while the rest of us are still made to suffer?"

"I'm sure that it means that the digi-gods of the cards can tell that Takato's just superior," joked Terriermon from his spot on Henry's shoulder, giggling slightly and covering his mouth with his tiny paws. Takato for his part was starting to feel a tad bit annoyed with the amount of attention that Terriermon was heaping on something that was really nothing more than a fluke. Everyone got lucky sooner or later. But then again, that sooner or later didn't usually apply to him when it came to matches with any of his friends. To have that natural law of the universe suddenly alter, and against Rika of all people, self proclaimed Digimon Queen and one of the top ranked players in Japan, was certainly enough to cause a few heads to turn.

Still, thought Takato frowning slightly. Does Terriermon have to make it seem like the biggest thing since…since Momentai?

Alas, no answer came to him.

"C'mon you guys," chided Henry. "Don't you think that you're making all of this a far bigger deal than it actually is? I mean, sure, even I was surprised by it and I was there but I don't think that…"

"Henry!" exclaimed Kazu in mock surprise as he looked over at the half-Chinese Tamer. "I cannot believe you sometimes! I thought that you knew that when it comes to stuff like cards, it's how we Tamers keep score!"

"Yeah right," said Kenta. "Isn't that what you said before about fighting?"

"Phhht! I was referring to how boys keep score, chumly, and that was because Jeri had asked why we thought fighting was so great. Last I checked, Rika wasn't a boy…"

"She'd probably make a better one than you," quipped Terriermon, causing Kazu to look at the dog bunny in surprise. Over on the sidelines Jeri began to giggle uncontrollably, causing Takato to look over at her and smile warmly, grateful to see the puppet-loving girl happy. "Besides," Terriermon continued. "I believe that the operative term to describe Rika is Tomboy."

And round and round the conversation went, before eventually shifting away unnoticeably to a far different topic as Kenta asked Takato if he had done the homework for class causing the boy to in turn choke on air and fumble with the deck that he had put together, having just been reminded far too late about the assignment that sat uncompleted in his bag. And so it was that time that Takato had intended to spend playing a game of Digimon with his friends was instead used to try and finish his assignment. Alas, even with the combined efforts of Jeri and Kenta, providing not only their knowledge but also notes and a completed assignment to copy from, time was not with the goggle-wearing Tamer and soon enough the group was forced to pack it in and head off to class.

Oh man…I don't believe this. Ms. Asagi is going to kill me! Maybe I can get away with it this one time or something…yeah. And Guilmon will swear off bread for good as well. In my dreams.

With a sigh, Takato stuffed his remaining papers in his bag and grabbed his card box, stashing them up in the dinosaur hideout with Kazu and Kenta's collection and hopped down, preparing to follow after his friends as they already began their mad sprint towards the school.

Only to be stopped by the gentle hand of Jeri as she clasped onto his arm.

"Huh? Jeri?" Asked Takato; a little bit confused as to why she was stopping him at a time like this; if they didn't get to class on time Ms. Asagi would make them wait in the hall again. He was about to voice this well-known fact but one look at the serious expression that was etched on Jeri's face made him pause.

"Jeri? You okay?"

Jeri frowned slightly as she detached her hand from Takato's arm and then moved it to massage her own, puppet-wearing hand nervously as she took a moment to gather her thoughts.

"I…I was just wondering if…if you had any time after school, Takato," said Jeri quietly, measuring her words carefully as she said them. "You know…to talk…"

Takato looked at Jeri, a little dumbfounded, and he blinked to make sure that he hadn't misheard what she had said (though how blinking could do that exactly since they weren't associated with the auditory system known as ears, he couldn't say). Was he dreaming? No…no he didn't think that was the case…not if the slight heat that he felt building in his cheeks was any indication. Of course, those two dreams that he had about Rika felt pretty realistic…

And where did my brain just go, again? Thought Takato, blinking again and feeling his body temperature elevate just a little bit more. Sometimes it frightened him what paths his mind could take when he wasn't thinking properly. Maybe Terriermon has something about those moments when I don't pay attention to things…

"Takato?" Asked Jeri tentatively, breaking the boy out of his thoughts, and once again Takato blinked in surprise, feeling that all-too-familiar heat build up even more. He could already feel his stomach start tying itself into knots. In an effort to beat the influx of nerves Takato opened his mouth to answer Jeri's question, all the while rubbing the back of his head and smiling goofily to himself.

"Um… Yeah! Sure! I'll…uh…see you after school! Um…" Suddenly Takato paused, his face becoming serious. "Where do you want to meet?"

Jeri pursed her lips together for a moment before raising her amber eyes to meet Takato's auburn ones.

"Let's just…wait 'till school lets out, okay? We'll see where things go from there after that."

"Oh." Takato raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Okay…"

"We'd better be off to class now," said Jeri as she shifted her bag on her shoulders and began to walk off. Takato stood where he was for a moment longer, watching Jeri head off, his eyes throwing concern and curiosity at the girl as he pondered the reasons for Jeri's wanting to talk to him.

She's been acting weird ever since last week, thought Takato almost unknowingly to himself. A second later he felt something push against his back, and he restrained a shout of surprise as he stumbled forward. Looking over his shoulder, Takato scowled.

"Guilmon…"

"But I thought you were going off to school now Takato," said the crimson dragon as he cocked his head to one side. Takato's face softened as he chuckled and rubbed his partner's head.

"Yeah. Thanks for reminding me buddy. I'll see you after school, okay?"

"Okay!" Exclaimed the red raptor gleefully, and with a small smile on his face, Takato took off, eager to catch up with his friends before they could beat him to school.

A/N: Mostly character interaction in this chapter, though I feel that I handled it better this time than in some of the previous installments, but so far nothing major…yet. There's still Jeri's talk with Takato to do, and that should be an interesting challenge in itself. I sometimes wonder if I'm making Jeri too worried or focused on what she had learned in 'Song of the Setting Sun', so how she handles her talk with Takato is going to be of the utmost importance. I don't want her coming off as jealous or anything like that since she's been portrayed in the series as being very understanding and even thoughtful at times. Something for me to think about later I suppose. I'll take some time to plan the upcoming scene out while updating my other fics. Hopefully I won't take a month getting back to this one. I DO know how I want this fic to end, but it's simply a matter of getting from point A to point B and I'm a little fuzzy on Takato and Jeri's upcoming scene. 'Till next time then. Later. :P

-Crazyeight

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