Y/N: Chika was pretty much my favourite child to write. She was so fun and interesting, and I finally got used to using their in-training digimon, by including her little buddy Motimon. They're friendship is pretty solid and I hope you like the strange pair. :D

Title: Here Comes Santa Claus

By: YukiraKing

Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.

Chapter 11: The Godfather

Chika Izumi:

I had a pretty successful day at the beach. It was really cold, because it was December, but that was okay, because Emiko hadn't had time to hide my new winter boots yet, so my toes were toasty warm. I ripped a hole in my coat though, so I was going to need to sneak over to Auntie Sora's house to fix it before Mom noticed, because she was sure to tell Gran that I ripped the new coat that she sent over from America. It was 'custom made' too, whatever that meant. All I knew was that it looked like a patchwork quilt, and the red square that was supposed to be a pocket was dangling by a thread.

Sora could fix it up real good though. It would be even better than before too, because she was amazing like that. Aika was always telling me about her mom's work, and I let her, because I thought it was really interesting how she could pick up some cloth and look at it and see a dress, or a jacket. I couldn't do that. I always saw it as a bunny, or a caterpillar instead. Sora always laughed, and then, the next week or so, she would hand me a stuffed bunny or caterpillar, or whatever else I saw.

So I knew she could see them too.

She was very fun. But it wasn't to Sora's house that I was going. I was going to Hikari's house, because I found some pretty things on the beach and I thought she would really like them. Motimon waddled along beside me, holding a tiny leather bag where he put the stones he collected. He was making a pyramid out of small stones and hot glue. He needed my help to handle the glue gun, so of course Mom always had to be there to help, because I wasn't to be trusted with anything super hot like that. Not after I burned a hole through the carpet when I was trying to curl my hair like Sora did, because I thought it must be fun to have a bunch of springs all attached to my head.

I burned the carpet after I dropped the curling iron, because I burned my ear after burning off a big chunk of my hair. Mom cried, because my hair had finally gotten long again after the time I'd tried using chewing gum as a hair tie when Emiko dared me to do it. For the record, white glue is also a terrible hair tie. I had my hair chopped off for that once too.

My hair was almost back to normal again, which meant it was just about touching my shoulders. Mom liked it long, because she liked to experiment with braids. I wanted her to make a braid that stood straight up, and she said she'd try, but she just couldn't figure it out yet. I was so excited.

Anyway, I walked down the sidewalk with Motimon beside me. We were taking turns reading the house numbers, because I didn't want to accidentally miss Hikari's house if we weren't paying attention. It was hard work though, focussing on something as boring as numbers. I'd much rather be debating over the benefits of mummification, but Motimon was a little squeamish, and Mom got mad when I tried to ask Dad about it at dinner last night. Apparently "crusty old, shriveled up dead people is not a proper conversation for dinner, Chika, honestly". I couldn't help it if I found "weird" things interesting. I couldn't sit around and talk about the weather. There are only so many things to say about it.

It was snowing. That was all there was to say. There was snow falling down from the sky, and I did little spins on the sidewalk, trying to catch the snowflakes with my tongue. I couldn't tell Mom about that either though, because she was always worried about pollution and how it was poisoning us through rain and snow. She didn't like it when I ate snow.

But it was too convenient not to. What if I forgot a water bottle? I could just munch on some snow for a few seconds, and then I had a mouthful of water. It was so easy, and it was refreshingly cold. I liked that nature was thoughtful enough to provide beverages for people as forgetful as me.

"Chika," Motimon scolded. "You're not paying attention. We're at house six hundred and twelve. I think we missed it."

"Well, six hundred and eight is a smaller number than six hundred and twelve," I decided thoughtfully. "But maybe the numbers decided to switch around today, just for a little bit of variety. It's got to be really boring just hanging around in the same order all the time. I wouldn't like to be a number, I don't think. Would you?"

"I don't know," Motimon said slowly. "I've never actually thought about it. I think I'd like to be a five. Five's a nice round number, isn't it?"

"It's uneven," I pointed out.

"But it's fun to draw," Motimon argued. I had to give him that one. It was my favourite number to write out. It was just so fun. There were straight lines and curves. It was the best of both worlds. "But I think we should walk backwards, just to make sure we didn't miss their house."

"Good idea, Motimon," I said, saluting him. We looked at each other, and started moving backwards. I couldn't see anything behind me, but we didn't run into anyone, so that was a good thing. I kept my knees up, marching to the little tune Motimon was humming.

"Six hundred and ten," Motimon sang out when we passed that house. "Six hundred and eight."

"The numbers decided to be boring today," I sighed at the realization.

"Maybe they'll have fun tomorrow," Motimon said thoughtfully. I paused and decided he was probably right. We walked together up the path that led to Hikari's front door. There was a perfectly normal and boring snow man in the front lawn with a red scarf and a black top hat. There was a corn cob pipe in his red licorice mouth, and his button nose looked a little droopy under his coal eyes. I thought his nose was the most interesting part about him. His arms were made of sticks with blue mittens on the end. There was even a little snow dog beside him with little hand prints on his back, which made me think that Patamon was responsible for the little guy.

"Up we go," I said, reaching down to hold Motimon's hand as he hopped up the steps. I hopped too, because it was way more fun than walking, and we laughed when we reached the top.

"I win!" Motimon cheered.

"Your prize is that you get to knock on the door," I decided.

"Oh goodie," Motimon said happily. He really liked knocking on doors. The only problem was that no one could ever hear his knocks because he was so little. It was a little disappointing for him, but he never gave up and that was all that mattered. I opened the screen door and he huddled up near the wooden door that was hiding behind it, and pulled up his tiny fist and knocked three times.

I could almost hear it even.

The wooden door opened and Hiro was standing behind it looking very surprised. I was surprised too. I looked down happily at Motimon. He'd done it! Someone heard him. It was the most exciting thing to happen to him all week. He looked so proud of himself. I couldn't help but be proud of him too.

"And where do you think you're going, young man?" Hikari asked. Hiro groaned and his shoulders sank. He turned to his mother and gave her a dirty look and then pointed towards Motimon and me. Hikari looked surprised to see us.

"I was just opening the door," Hiro complained. "Or is that a crime now too? Can't I do anything?"

"Thank you Hiro," Hikari said giving him an apologetic glance. "I didn't even hear you knocking Chika. I'm so sorry. Did you wait long?"

"Nope," I said with a big grin. "Hiro heard Motimon's knocking, isn't that amazing?"

"It sure is," Hikari said nicely. "Now, what can I do for you today?"

"I just came to give you a secret surprise!" I said excitedly, showing her my basket of treasures. There were pieces of broken glass in all sorts of different colours. "I thought you'd like them."

"Oh wow," Hikari said, gasping and looking at each piece individually. She was so impressed. I was so glad she liked the surprise. "Broken glass. I hope you were careful when you picked these up young lady, we don't want a repeated incident."

"No we don't," I said, rubbing my inner elbow. I collected a bunch of rusty old nails, thinking that Mom would love them, and I cut myself on one. Mom made me go to Doctor Kido and get a big fat needle in my arm just so I couldn't get poisoned from it. It wasn't fun at all. That's why I ignored the rusty nails this time and picked up the glass instead. It was way prettier anyway.

"Good," she said. "You know, I think Kamemon would like these even more than I do. He's got a collection you know. He's been looking for glass in just this exact shade of green. Do you think I could share?"

"Sharing is caring," I said with a smile. "There's a lot of glass. Everyone can have some. I don't mind. The fun part's finding it anyway."

"You're so thoughtful," Hikari said, patting me on the head. I smiled brightly, liking the attention, even if I wasn't as little as everyone seemed to think I was. I was thirteen and not a little baby anymore. But if it made them happy, they could think I was. I didn't really mind that much. Besides, Makoto got in trouble a whole lot more than I did because he wasn't so agreeable. I learned not to act like him a long time ago. I was just me, just Chika, because Mom told me to always be true to myself and my heart—and Daddy told me to always expand my mind and find new experiences. That's why I was so open to new things, and why I liked to go exploring so much. I didn't like learning from just books. I liked to experience everything all on my own. The beach was so pretty in the winter, and I hadn't known that until Motimon and I made our trip this morning. We spent hours there, documenting the different footprints in the snow, and speculating what was going on under the ice that covered the water. Motimon was sure there were sharks and goldfish and starfish and every other kind of fish having a tea party now that there were no pesky humans trying to invade their home.

I had a sneaking suspicion he was right. I'd have a party if the weather made it so no one could break into my home uninvited anymore.

And because of Mom's teachings, I made sure to let other people be themselves too, because that just made sense. Emiko was mean sometimes, but she was being Emiko when she did it, so that was okay. This particular lesson was why I decided to follow after Hiro, who was creeping towards the staircase that led to the basement, hoping his mother didn't see him. She was too busy calling her own mom's house though, to see if Kamemon wanted some of the glass, so she didn't even look his way.

He was careful not to make much noise on the steps, and when he got to his room he tried to open his door, only to be met with a difficult challenge. He sighed and shoved with all his might, and the door opened a little bit, just enough for him to get through. Motimon and I looked at each other and giggled as Hiro made his way up the steps to his room, closing the door behind him. Since I was a curious person I shoved at his door too, and Motimon and I followed him inside.

"What do you want Tenshi?" Hiro said bitterly.

"I don't know what Tenshi wants," I said. "Should I go ask him? I could, you know. It wouldn't be any trouble."

"Chika? What are you doing here? I'm not allowed visitors. I'm in solitary confinement," Hiro sighed, flopping over onto his bed. "I'm going to be trapped here until I'm too old to ever have fun again."

"I'm sure you'll be able to find other old people that want to be your friend," I said, scolding him for not believing in himself. He was a very friendly person to most other people. Not all of them, but sometimes it's just impossible. Gran and Daddy still have fights sometimes about what's best for me. Gran wants me to follow Makoto's example and become an actress, and Daddy just wants me to be happy. He also hopes that I'll be more interested in research, but he won't come right out and say it, because he really does want me to be happy. I spend a lot of time pretending that I don't hear Gran's words, because I don't want to be an actress, but I want to keep her happy with me. And since I was being oblivious, she was happy. That made everything okay. And it was fun to sometimes play pretend, even though I wasn't a little kid anymore.

No one's ever too old for pretend.

Even Daddy plays it when I ask him to. And he's super old now. Like, way too old for me to even contemplate—Mommy's orders, because she's the same age and she doesn't like being reminded. She had a grey streak in her hair though. A great big chunk near the front of her head was shining silver, and she couldn't really pretend it wasn't there. She made it seem like it was a fashion choice. I tried to copy it, so that we could start a trend, but she got mad when I dipped my hair in silver paint and got it all over the rug.

"I just want to be miserable in peace," Hiro whined.

"With me though," Tokomon pointed out. "I'm allowed to stay."

"Of course," I said simply. It made perfect sense to me. Partners didn't count when you wanted to be alone. When I said I wanted to be alone I always meant with Motimon.

"What's wrong?" Motimon asked, passing me his leather pouch and piling up a bunch of dirty clothes before jumping into it. Hiro's room was so messy. It wasn't fair. My parents wouldn't let me have such a wonderful playground for Motimon in my room. I'd tried, and Palmon helped me clean it up, while lecturing me on cleanliness and how messes lead to bug infestations. I thought bugs were pretty cool, considering Tentomon was a bug, but she said these bugs wouldn't be anything like as cool as him or Motimon, so I had to agree with her logic and clean the room.

"Can you keep a secret?" Hiro asked, sounding rather vulnerable and not at all like the sometimes angry but mostly cheerful boy that I knew him to be.

"Sometimes," I said, nodding quickly. "Sometimes it just spills out though when I'm not looking."

"I don't even care," Hiro said miserably. "I need to tell someone before my parents kill me for messing up so badly."

"What did you do?" Motimon asked eagerly. "Did you set something on fire? Chika gets in trouble for that all the time."

"I'm trying to understand fire," I explained. "It's hard to understand something without really experiencing it. Daddy said so. And it's really fun."

"I didn't set it on fire, I just broke it into a bajillion pieces," Hiro said quickly. "It's so many pieces, and I can't put it back together again."

"What?" I asked.

"Was it on purpose?" Motimon wanted to know. "Was it an experiment?"

"No," Hiro said quickly. "I didn't mean for it to break. I just wanted to hide that stupid cello, and now it's broken, and I'm scared of telling Mom and Dad because I'm already grounded and I don't want them to hate me. I think they really might."

"I don't," I said. "Because we can fix it."

"How?" he asked desperately.

"We get to the one person that can get away with almost anything," I said.

"I can't go outside," he pointed out, thinking there was a flaw in my plan. But he didn't realize I was actually pretty quick on my feet. I could adapt better than almost anyone.

"You'll go down to the front room," I ordered him. "I'm going to unroll all the toilet paper in your bathroom and hide it in your room, and then tell your mom that she needs to get a new roll, and that should distract her long enough for you to get out."

He looked skeptical, but I was used to that. He glanced over to the door that led to the hallway and saw how cluttered the entrance was, so she left the way we'd come in, down the stairs with Tokomon in his arms, and I headed noisily to the bathroom, because I needed Hikari to pay more attention to me than to Hiro. I realized I needed a better spot to stuff all the toilet paper than Hiro's room, because it would be really weird if I walked all the way there before telling her about the problem. So instead, I just wrapped it around the base of a potted plant and hoped she wouldn't notice it. I walked out into the kitchen, where she was putting the glass into a plastic baggie, so that I could have my basket back. She smiled and handed it to me when she caught sight of me.

"You need more toilet paper," I told her simply. She looked surprised.

"I thought I just put a new roll in this morning," she murmured, before shaking her head and smiling at me. "Thank you for telling me."

"No problem," I said simply, and she walked towards a cupboard under the stairs that went up—I'd never been up there—then she was out of sight of the front door. I beckoned Hiro over, and he looked anxious. "Goodbye Hikari! I hope you liked your present!"

"I did, thank you very much," she called back. I pushed Hiro and Tokomon out the door and waited while Motimon scuttled over the little step before jumping out and closing the door. I put the basket on the ground so Motimon could climb into it, and picked it back up again. We were on a mission. We couldn't slow down for anything, even for an independent little digimon like Motimon. He understood though. We didn't know what our time parameters were. Hikari could notice Hiro was missing at any moment. We had to run.

So we did.

We ran all the way to the Kido house, which was way farther than I was used to running, but it was for a good cause. Momoe opened the door when Hiro knocked—claiming that he didn't hear Motimon say that he wanted to do it—and gave us a suspicious look. I could understand her skepticism. Hiro and I did not, as a rule, hang out. Aika was mad at Hiro still, but less mad at Hiro than the others, because Hiro was her cousin. I had been told that they were all bad news. I couldn't get out of being around Makoto, because he was my brother, but I tried sometimes to avoid Osamu, Elliot and Nikko. I didn't like to do it, but I thought I should try, because Aika was my best friend. She was my only friend really, besides Motimon. And Momoe knew that.

But I didn't let that stop me.

"I'm here to see Emiko," I said. "Can we please use your computer to go to her house?"

"It's still my house, but I guess she did take over it, didn't she?" Momoe said, mostly to herself. She opened the door wide enough to let us in, and I happily walked inside. It was toasty warm inside. Renjiro and Kana were studying in the living room, and Hiro hid his head with a hood. I pretended that I couldn't see him, even when Renjiro asked me who he was, and I was pretty sure they bought my clever rouse. It wasn't long before the four of us were standing in the other Kido living room—Emiko's to be precise.

"What're you doing here?" Emiko asked surprised. She was dancing around with a hairbrush, singing loudly as she wiggled her butt. I laughed at her, and she narrowed her eyes my way. "What do you need?"

"Hiro needs help," I told her simply.

"He's never asked before," Emiko said, contemplating it. "Let me hear it."

"He broke Tenshi's cello," I said. Emiko whistled while Hiro looked to me annoyed. How was I supposed to help him if I couldn't tell everyone his secret?

"That's a tall order," Emiko said cautiously. "But I'll help. For a fee."

"You can have anything in my backpack," I offered. She wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"I want a good present," she insisted.

"You'll have to wait for the Secret Santa for that," I warned her. She sighed. I was pretty sure she didn't know I had her name—for real this time. I decided to work extra hard at finding a really good present for her.

"Fine," she said. "I don't like it, but it'll have to do. I'm going to give you the real secret to my success: my godfather."

"Take us there," I commanded. She snorted at my tone of voice which wasn't very intimidating, but she led us back through the gate to her parents' house and out the front door. She took the keys to her Mom's car and we all piled inside. I made sure that both Tokomon and Motimon were safely buckled and then we were off. I was so excited. I imagined she was taking us to a castle that was dark and gloomy where lighting surrounded it all the time. But that's not where we ended up. It was a house that I knew really well...because I lived there.

"I didn't know Mr Koushiro was your godfather," Motimon said in surprise as we all piled out of the vehicle.

I led the way to the door because it was my house and that made sense. Emiko was texting someone on her phone and I guessed it was Daddy, since she wanted us to see her godfather. I opened the door, and Emiko took the lead and brought us to Daddy's office. When she opened the door the room was dark, except for one lamp that shone light down directly onto Daddy's chair. When the chair spun around though, it wasn't Daddy at all. It was Mom. I was very confused.

"You come to me in your time of need," Mom said in a deep, gravelly voice that I'd never heard her use before. She was petting Palmon's head, gently running her hand across her petals. The light acted as a spotlight and made Mom look menacing. "You come to me with a request?"

"We need a cello, ASAP," Emiko said, getting on her knees in front of Mom. "You can do anything. You've proven that to me. Help me grant this boon."

"I will do this favour for you," Mom said. "But sometime, I do not know when, you will grant me a favour in return."

"Me?" Emiko said shocked. "This isn't even for me."

"That's our standard deal, Emiko," Mom said, rolling her eyes. "You either take the deal or leave it. But if you don't take it, don't come to me in the future asking for anything, got it?"

"The things I do for you kids," Emiko grumbled. She held her hand out for Mom to shake, which she did, returning to her ominous roll.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Mom told her in that same deep voice.

"You can help me?" Hiro asked, taking off his hood.

"Not really, no," Mom said sheepishly. Hiro deflated and I felt bad for him. Emiko looked betrayed because she'd just sworn to return a favour to Mom, but Mom waved her hands. "But I know who can. There are only two people who can get a genuine cello under the radar."

"That's not even true," Emiko interrupted. Mom ignored her.

"Hideto and Kiyoko can get anything you need," Mom confessed. "They don't ask questions, and they don't live that far away. You can get there before dinner if you hurry."

"Thanks Mom," I said, rushing forward to kiss her cheek. She smiled happily, before leveling her gaze on Emiko again and petting Palmon, who didn't seem all that impressed by the role she'd been given. I couldn't offer to play with her yet though, because I had to keep moving. I grabbed Hiro's hand and dragged him back out of the house. Emiko called after us, offering a ride, and I looked down to Motimon who was freezing in his basket, and decided that was probably a really good idea.

It didn't take very long to get to their house, because Mom was right. They didn't live very far away. And I raced up the walkway towards their door, knocking loudly, because Motimon was far too cold to do it. And Izumi opened the door. I wasn't sure what to do, because Mom said Hideto and Kiyoko, and Izumi wasn't either of them. But she was her daughter.

"Aren't you grounded?" Izumi asked, narrowing her eyes at Hiro.

"What? No. Where did you even hear that," Hiro said, hoping to sound believable. I decided to pretend I believed him so that he wouldn't feel too bad for being a bad actor.

"He's really not," I agreed. "We just need your dads' help. See, we need a cello, one exactly like Tenshi's cello, so that we can replace Tenshi's cello."

"Chika, it was a secret!" Hiro hissed. "You've already told so many people."

"I told you I'm not good with secrets," I pretend whispered back. "Can you tell your dads Izumi?"

"I can do you one better," she said, looking sympathetic to Hiro's problem. "Come back here in three days time, and I'll have your cello."

"Deal," I said, sticking my hand out to shake hers. She looked confused, but shook my hand anyway. This was great! I really helped Hiro. I felt really proud of myself. Motimon yawned.

"Can we make my pyramid now?" he asked me. I smiled, but looked to Hiro knowing we'd have to get him home first.

"Yeah," I said. "Maybe Mom's done playing pretend and she'll be able to help us."

"Maybe," Motimon sighed, as he settled into the bottom of the basket.

Featured Evolution Line: Chika: Pabumon—Motimon—KoDokugumon—Dokugumon—Arukenimon—Parasimon