Renamon grunted in frustration as her fist collided with the wooden dummy, the surface splintering as her talons dug several gashes deep into its surface. The sound of cracking wood had echoed in the dimly lit training room for hours at this point, more than just a few of the dummies falling victim to her strikes. Tearing her arm out of the dummy, she stepped back, panting heavily as she stared at the pile of destroyed wood.
A deep sense of shame settled over the Digimon like a cloak, and she sank to the wooden floors, rubbing at her eyes wearily and pulling her knees to her chest. She shouldn't be feeling like this. She shouldn't be acting like this. She looked at the clock from the corner of her eye. It was two in the morning.
She a heavy sigh forced its way out of her and she fell onto her back, a low groan escaping her as she closed her eyes. Right now Rika was probably resting in bed with Henry, assuming that their first date had gone well.
Whatever substituted for a heart clenched painfully in the Digimon's chest. She wished she was there.
Well, not there exactly. But nearby, close to Rika; like she always had been. But when she had tried to follow her Tamer out the door…..
Rika pivoted in the doorway, her eyes locking with Renamon's in a perplexed expression. "What are you doing?
The Digimon tilted her head in return. "I was going to come with you, like always."
A sigh escaped the redhead's lips, Rika shaking her head gently. "Renamon, you don't always have to follow me, you know."
"But-"
"But nothing." Rika gave her a small smile. "You're my partner Renamon, and I appreciate everything that you've done for me. But I'm twenty now, I'm going on a date. I don't need you there to protect me all the time."
"And if something happens?" Renamon stood straight, trying not to let the concern show on her face.
"Nothing will happen, we will be fine. It's not like the old days, I don't get into fights all the time." Rika stepped out of the doorway, waving goodbye to her partner. "And if something does happen Henry will be there. We can talk later okay? I don't want to be late."
"Of course…" Renamon nodded her head, her body phasing away just as the door clicked shut behind her tamer.
Renamon rolled onto her feet, her fingers flexing as she approached the training dummy once more, slamming her right foot into the side and sending it flying across the dojo; the sound of it clattering breaking through the otherwise silent dojo.
In the back of her mind, Renamon knew that this day would always come. She knew that, eventually, Rika wouldn't need her around all the time. She would want to do things without her there to protect her. She just never thought it would be so soon.
….And that it would hurt so much.
She sighed as she dragged the dummy back into place, stepping back to ready herself for another kick, channeling all her frustration and anger into one mighty strike. Rika didn't need her anymore. She was a grown woman capable of navigating her life and the world on her own. And if she ever needed assistance, she had Henry there to help her. It was inevitable that things would develop to this point.
She couldn't help but pin her ears back as she stared down at the pile of destroyed dummies with clenched fists. She felt stupid for not preparing herself better for this day. She should be happy for Rika and Henry not…. not this.
Gods she was pathetic.
"Renamon?"
Takato Matsuda was a lot of things, and not all of the things that made up him were good; such as his habit of staying up extremely late, something that had stuck around long after he no longer needed to hide Guilmon. But he had never quite shaken the habit, but with no oversized red dinosaur to constantly babysit; he found that he had quite a lot of free time.
That was how he had found himself quickly driving home after buying a few too many model kits at the local hobby store. The drive to his apartment ran right by the dojo that Henry still practiced at, and the two had quickly come to call a second hangout of sorts. Parking the car in the alley, he quickly ran into the building; not even noticing that the door was unlatched this late at night.
Another thing that made up Takto, was how oblivious he could be to the world around him, and the only thing on his mind at that moment was giving Henry that model he had promised him a few weeks prior. But what greeted his sight instead was Rika's partner, Renamon, clenching her fists and her shoulders rising and falling as she panted; staring into the pile of destroyed practice dummies. Her fur was clumped with wooden debris and sweat.
He lowered the model kit to his side and raised his arm towards the Digimon carefully. "Renamon?"
The vixen whirled towards him with wide eyes, and Takato reeled in shock. Her usually calm and reserved gaze was shattered, and she stared wearily back at him with baggy eyelids; her normally stoic gaze twisted into a wicked-looking grimace.
Takato swallowed, taking a slow step toward her. "Are you okay, Renamon?"
Renamon shook her head, looking over her shoulder at the pile of wooden dummies. "N-no." She spoke in a small voice. She frowned slightly, before walking back to the pile.
"W-wait." Takato reached forward without thinking, grabbing Renamon's forearm. He gritted his teeth at the splinters digging into his palms but didn't let go. "What are you doing here Renamon?"
"I'm training." She stared at him in confusion but didn't pull away.
"This isn't how you train Renamon." Takato grimaced as he stared at the pile, and the shards of wood sticking out of her fur. "You look horrible. Why don't you stop for the night?"
Renamon stared at him blankly before lowering her gaze. "Rika's house is locked."
"Did something happen between you and Rika?"
"No!" Renamon spoke quickly, her arm tearing out of Takato's grip as she turned her back to him. "Nothing happened."
He frowned but didn't press it. "Why don't you come back with me then? I can let you stay the night."
Renamon looked over her shoulder at him, thinking for a few moments before sighing and nodding. "Very well Takato."
"Thank you."
Takato's apartment was…. surprisingly clean, Renamon couldn't help but admit. It was nothing like what she imagined the shared apartment of a massive raptor and childish boy would look like. Where she expected piles of dirty laundry, comics, or stacked plates of dirty dishes; she instead found neatly arranged books, clean floors, and a spotless kitchen.
She had to duck her head and shoulders as they crossed through a doorway, Takato sitting her down on his ottoman and resting his suspiciously large bag of boxes on the floor before gesturing for her to wait. He had then left the room, and her with nothing to do but gaze at the furnishings.
Takato was doing rather well for himself, but then again, that could be said of all of the tamers. They had all grown up to be rather successful individuals, due in no small part to being recognized as key players in defeating the cataclysmic D reaper.
Her eyes drifted around the room, taking in the various art pieces and sculptures adorning the walls and tables, before landing on the bag that Takato had set down. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she thought about what was in the large plastic bag. The still, quiet room only intensified her curiosity. With nothing to do the usually composed Digimon found herself hesitantly reaching out toward it, before retracting her paw.
Renamon looked at her paw, her thoughts racing in confusion. Why was she so curious about what was in the bag? It wasn't hers to rummage through.
"Alright Renamon," The sound of her host pulled her gaze up to the entryway, Takato standing there with a small bag in his hand and a bottle in the other. He gave her a small smile and knelt in front of her, twisting the cap off of the bottle. "Can you give me your hand please?"
Renamon pulled her hand close to her chest, narrowing her gaze. "What are you going to do?"
"I was uhm- I was going to pull the splinters out for you." He stared at her in confusion. "I used to do it for Guilmon all the time, back when we were fighting more often."
Renamon stared at him for a few moments before hesitantly lowering her palm, her hand easily dwarfing his. "You know I don't need to be cared for like this right?"
"Yeah," Takato said as he poured the bottle of peroxide over her hands. Renamon hissed, fighting the urge to pull her hand back as that liquid poured into her fur and all the cracks in her skin.
"But you look like you could use it," He continued, letting the liquid soak into her body and moving to her other hand. "Just because Digimon don't need the same care as humans doesn't mean that it doesn't work."
"Is that something you learned from Guilmon?" Renamon wondered, watching as he set the bottle down and pulled out a pair of tweezers from the bag.
"Yes." Takato smiled as he pushed her fur apart, searching for one of the many fragments of wood embedded in her skin. He was surprisingly dextrous with the metal, quickly latching onto the end of a splinter and slowly pulling on it. "When he was first born, I learned quickly how to soothe the pain from the accidents he would get into."
Renamon bit her tongue as he pulled the intruder out of her body, trying not to pull her paw away from the boy's grip as the splinter tugged against her skin; before her eyes widened in surprise. The itching sting disappeared, a sense of relief replacing it as he finished removing it.
"I thought you were strong, for fighting so much without being taken care of like that." Takato put the offending shard on a nearby towel, before looking up at her with a smile. "Does that feel any better?"
"Yes…." Renamon's eyes were wide as she stared down at her paw, tentatively flexing it. "Thank you, Takato."
"W-wait!" Takato quickly pulled her hand back down, unfurling her fingers. "I'm not done yet. Just wait a little bit longer."
She raised her brow at the boy's chastising tone, but remained still, letting him work as he slowly removed the splinters buried in her body. With every offending bit of wood and grit removed she felt herself relax more and more, soon leaning back and closing her eyes; simply enjoying the relief.
As he worked he slowly moved on from her hands, having her drape her body across the ottoman for him to continue removing the splinters from her legs; which took quite a bit longer. As the boy continued to work, Renamon blinked as she remembered Guilmon, or more accurately; realized that he wasn't anywhere to be seen. Craning her head up, she looked down to see the boy hunched over her lower legs. "Takato?"
"Yes, Renamon?"
"Where's Guilmon?"
"Oh he's," Takato stopped. "He's doing something with Impmon tonight I think."
"Did he not want you to come with?"
"No," Takato trailed off, "I'm not sure why but he wanted to do something with just Impmon and him."
Renamon sat up, staring down at the boy's brown hair as he spoke, his shoulders trembling. "I know it's weird but, it kinda hurt; you know? I know I can't be there for him all the time, and I'm happy that he's enjoying himself. It's not that different from when we were kids and I would have to leave him in that park all alone. But it still feels weird being left out like that."
He took a deep breath before continuing his work, moving quickly now. "Sorry, I-I'm not sure why I said that. It's not your problem."
Renamon winced as he yanked at some splinters, his trembling hands making the splinters wriggle just underneath the surface of her skin.
Slowly she reached out, resting a paw on his shoulder. "It's okay Takato, I didn't mind."
He turned to meet her eyes and Renamon felt something rise in the back of her throat at the expression on the boy's face. His normally shining eyes seemed dull and tired, almost listless as he turned away from her and back to the splinters in her legs.
Was this how I looked? Renamon swallowed, before grasping the boy's arms with her paws, stopping him as she slowly leaned forward. "Takato."
"Yeah?" He continued to pull the splinters out, slowly this time.
"Why were you at the dojo that late? It was two in the morning."
"I was dropping off a model kit for Henry." He put the tweezers to the side and took a deep breath. "I was at the store and got too many, decided to drop it off to pay him back for a favor he did for me a few weeks ago."
"A model kit?" Renamon echoed, turning towards the bag resting nearby. "Is that what's in there?"
"Y-yeah." Takato reached over and pulled the top one out, revealing a rather colorful image of a robot fighting in space, the red figure holding a weapon of some sort as It stared up at her. "Normally I make these with Henry or Guilmon but…"
He set it down and shook his head. "Well, I guess I can save it for later. Wouldn't be the first addition to my backlog."
Renamon stared down at the boy, a pang of sympathy erupting in her chest as he stared down at the collection of models. Gently, she swung her legs over the edge of the ottoman, reaching into the bag and pulling out a robotic panther with red highlights running through some mountains. She sat down next to Takto, her fur rubbing against him. "Why don't you show me how to put one of these together?"
He turned towards her with wide eyes, his mouth opening and closing a few times before he shut it, a dumb smile spreading across his face.
"What?" Renamon raised a brow in confusion, "Did I say something wrong?"
"No no, thank you Renamon," Takto spoke, pushing himself to his feet and quickly stepping towards his room. "Just stay there, ill be right back with some supplies."
Renamon couldn't help the warm laugh bubbling out of her chest as he rushed out of the room. She didn't know why she had offered to do that, but she found that she was excited to do this with him. It would be the first time in the human world that she was doing something well and truly separated from Rika. Reamon smiled gently to herself as she stared down at the box, slowly cutting through the tape on the sides.