Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming.
Thanks for reading and please enjoy
The Hybrid Tamer
-Chapter 25-
-Nonaka Household-
"How about this one?"
"Nah… green and yellow don't mix well."
"Yeah, I gotta agree. Looks weird."
"Fine, then perhaps this?"
"Oh, that's actually not-"
"Too skimpy…"
"I thought exposure was supposed to be attractive."
"A little yes… too much… and it's just slutty…"
"Yeah, she has a point."
"What did we just walk in on?" Rumiko asked Shizune and Seiko as the three of them stood outside of Rika's room with very confused looks on their faces.
The reason: Renamon was standing in the middle of the room with a large pile of clothes at her side, holding up various outfits as if to wear them. Meanwhile, Naruto was sitting beside Rika where the duo critiqued each of the foxy digimon's choices, the former helping the latter sit up with his tails.
Now overall that might not sound too weird to most, until you remember that this was Naruto, Renamon, and Rika you were talking about.
Naruto never really cared about how someone dressed, as long as it was functional and covering, he was fine with it. On the other hand, Renamon didn't even wear clothes aside from her sleeves, so the fact she seemed to be the one trying to find an outfit was… well it didn't make any sense.
Rika just HATED fashion talk, enough said.
"I would like an explanation as well." Seiko said with a raised brow while Shizune just nodded her head.
"Naruto and I are planning to do some shopping," Renamon stated bluntly, holding up a black sequined dress as she spoke before tossing it aside when Naruto and Rika both shook their heads. "However, Naruto raised a valid point that it would be best if I find a suitable disguise for myself beforehand."
"Did he now?" All three ladies turned to the blonde in question at that, making him raise a brow in turn.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Just waiting to hear this point you made." Shizune pointed out as she crossed her arms.
"Oh… right," Naruto scratched his chin sheepishly, not knowing that one of his tails was mirroring the action with the top of his head. "Well aside from the obvious problem with Kyuubi we still have Hypnos to deal with. I've got clones dealing with the bozos trying to spy on us in the house already-"
-Meanwhile-
In a building across the street from the Nonaka household, a makeshift command center had been set up inside what used to be a Livingroom. Computers, gadgets, and other such gear were all hooked up where they could fit in while various cables were laid out everywhere.
One such cable led through a hole in the ceiling to the second floor, hooked to a fancy looking telescope operated by a brunette young woman in a standard issue Hypnos uniform. However, when she moved her head back to adjust the focus it revealed that one of her eyes was gone, replaced by a bulky cybernetic lens.
"God dammit, there's still too much static," She grumbled, fiddling with several controls as she peered through the lens again to see a 3D silhouette of the Nonaka Residence with any Wild Ones and the Anomaly highlighted. Or at least that was what she should have seen, not the mess of fuzzy gibberish that kept flickering in and out of focus. "Hurry your lazy ass up Daff, if we're not up again then the boss is going to have both our asses."
"I'm working on it, Sam!" Another voice called before a redhead woman with an eye wrapped in gauze poked her head in from the hallway, holding various frayed cords in her hands. "How about next time you pick a place set up a stake out it's not full of rats and roaches. Little bastards keep chewing through all the wiring."
"Hey, don't blame me. You were the one that stole most of the money in our budget for those stupid peep shows in the Dātishō district. This was the only place nearby we could still afford."
"Well excuse me if I wanted to enjoy being able to see with both eyes again."
"Okay first of all, you still can't for another month until the stitches heal," Sam stated while spinning around and jabbing a finger at her prosthetic. "And secondly did you forget who gave you that new eye in the first place?"
"Oh please, you only gave it to me so management would approve of you getting that stupid robot one." Daff said with an eyeroll before wandering off to keep replacing the ruined cords.
Had either of them been paying attention to their surroundings though, they would have noticed the unusual yellow mouse that snuck across the room. Slipping between Daff's feet, it tucked itself into the bundle of wires hooked up into the device she was using, soon followed by the faint yet distinct sound of chewing.
What the brunette did notice though was when said device started to spark and fritz before the viewing lens popped out in a puff of black smoke.
"Oh god dammit!"
-And Back-
"-But outside of that those jerks could still try to jump us again at any time out in the city. So, until we got a better idea what to do about those creeps I felt it would be better if me and Renamon tried to blend in a bit better." To emphasize his point, Naruto propped Rika up with some pillows before he was engulfed by a familiar puff of smoke which quickly cleared away to show that he now looked extremely plain.
Everything about his new look just screamed average, plain black hair in a simply smooth haircut, light slightly freckled complexion, dull grey eyes, and a simply white shirt black jacket/pants attire.
"…Okay, yeah, that does sound like a good plan." Shizune had to give it to the foxy teen, it was a smart idea to go with.
"I agree, but what exactly does that have to do with that?" Seiko asked as she pointed a finger from both hands at Renamon, who was now holding up a pink version of Rika's iconic broken heart T-shirts.
"Oh that? We're just trying to figure out what Renamon's disguise should be but-"
"She sucks at picking clothes…" Rika cut in with a dry look while giving a thumbs down to her former partner, causing the fox digimon drop the shirt and start digging for something else.
"In my defense I have never had to-excuse me?" However, she had only just stuck her arms into the pile of untried outfits when a pair of slender hands grabbed her wrists.
"Why didn't you all tell me?" The owner of said hands, Rumiko, asked with a smile so bright it was almost blinding as she hopped in place like a hyper child. Then, before anyone could react, she actually started dragging the now very confused digimon along to another room. "If it's fashion trouble you're having, then look no further than yours truly. I'll have you all sorted out in no time!"
"If you say so." Whether it was from being utterly dumbfounded, resignation at her fate, or genuine curiosity at what the woman planned, Renamon simply allowed herself to be taken away.
Once they were gone the model's mother shook her head with an amused sigh. "Oh that girl, she just can't help herself playing dress up whenever she gets the excuse."
"I don't know… whether to laugh or feel sorry…" Despite her words a weak giggle escaped Rika's lips as she spoke before she broke out into a coughing fit. Naturally Shizune was by her side in a second, a glowing hand held over the redhead's throat while Naruto held the girl steady. "Re-relax you guys… it's… just a-an itch…"
"I'm the doctor not you, which means I'll be the judge of if it's just an itch." The otherworldly doctor told her pointedly while continuing the examination, moving on to Rika's other injuries once she was done checking her throat.
Thankfully it really was just an itch and nothing more serious, though Shizune still had the girl drink another one of the herbal remedy drinks just to be on the safe side.
By the time she was finished Rumiko had come back, the model literally shaking from excitement as she gestured dramatically to the doorway. "Ladies and gentlemen, behold my latest design delight~!"
…
…
"Ahem, I said 'Behold my latest design delight~," She repeated awkwardly after nothing happened for an entire minute. When she was still met with nothing but awkward silence again though, she offered everyone a sheepish smile before sticking her head out the doorway. " Uh sweetie, that was your que."
…
"You look fine, absolutely lovely I promise."
…
"That's completely natural dear, you're just not used to fabric on your fur yet."
…
" Oh come on, that's enough excuses out of you," With an exasperated sigh Rumiko stepped into the hallway completely soon followed by the muffled sounds of a scuffle. After about another minute or so, she peeked her head back into the room, looking quite a bit disheveled and smiling sheepishly. "Shizune, could you be a dear and lend me a hand real quick? It would seem Renamon has a wee case of stage fright."
"I am not afraid." That finally seemed to do the trick as the foxy digimon in question abruptly pushed past the model and stepped into the bedroom. The instant she did so three things happened.
First, Rika's jaw dropped straight down, dangling comically as she stared at her former partner. The second thing was that Naruto's face decided to invent a new shade of red from how flushed his cheeks got. And lastly would be Shizune and Seiko clapping their hands in approval, the latter even jokingly giving a wolf whistle.
Starting from the top Renamon had a pair of golden orange tinted aviator sunglasses covering her eyes that were somehow staying on despite her ears being in the wrong place to hold them up. From the neck down she wore a dark purple hooded sweater that was unzipped to show the black T-shirt with a skull emblem underneath hugging her waist like a glove, exposing her small breasts normally hidden by fluff. Then to top it off was a pair of black jeans that conformed around her hips but was baggy enough to hide the digitigrade shape of her legs and pawed feet.
Altogether she could almost pass off as a regular person… at least if it wasn't for the tail still sticking out her backside and her muzzle peeking out from under the hood. Her ears were also exposed, thanks to small gaps that had been slashed in the hood for them to fit through, though they oddly enough seemed to really fit with the outfit more than clash.
"So… how do I look?" She asked hesitantly, her head turned away staring at the floor as she crossed her arms, unintentionally squishing up her bust so it looked bigger.
"G-good, uh very good, i-it fits you very well." Naruto stuttered out, scratching his still rose-red cheek with an embarrassed chuckle.
Shaking off her own surprise, Rika looked at her mother with a raised brow while pointing to her former partner. "Where… did you even… get those?"
No frills, no flowers, no annoyingly bright colors, it was akin to something that Rika herself would wear. Or in other word absolutely nothing like the usual delicate, fancy, or otherwise ladylike outfits that Rumiko wore and tried to make her wear.
"Oh, they were sent to me by Purottopointo Trends a few months ago as a thanks for endorsing their new casual wear line. They'd just been sitting in my closet so it's nice that someone can get some use out of them." The model explained, pulling out a copy of a magazine from somewhere that showed herself in a similar outfit proudly emblazoned across the front. However, her good mood suddenly just fell away out of the blue, replaced with one of somberness while she stared at the cover. "I'd really hoped that y- they'd look fabulous on her. And they do, right?"
"…Yeah… fabulous…" Rika murmured with a slow nod, averting her gaze as she twiddled her thumbs.
' Okay, I think someone just stepped on an exploding tag,' Naruto may be dense but not so much to miss that something personal had been touched on. He didn't miss that little slip up on Rumiko's end, but that was nothing compared to the completely fake smile she'd plastered on afterwards. And as for Rika, she looked… remorseful for some reason, which in and of itself was a major red flag. 'Turning into a third wheel here, maybe I should just…' "You know, I've got shopping to do, soooo bye."
Without another word the whiskered teen scooched off the bed and quickly made his way towards the exit, to give the pair some privacy. It seemed he wasn't the only one who felt that way as Shizune and Renamon were subtly stepping back.
Seiko was the last one to go, only staying long enough to give her daughter a supportive pat on the shoulder.
Then just like that it was only the mother and daughter themselves left in the bedroom, a tension between them that was growing so thick that you'd need an excavator to clear it up. A deafening silence stretched out longer and longer, each second feeling like hours as they slowly crawled by
"I'm… sorry mom…" That was until it was broken, by Rika surprisingly, who kept her head bowed in shame, clasping her hands together so tightly her knuckles turned white.
"You're… sorry?" The brunette parroted, her voice a mix of disbelief and confusion. Pure shock was the only expression on Rumiko's face when those three words left the tomboy's lips. "Why are you apologizing Rika? You haven't done anything wrong. I-"
"Yes I did…" Rika cut her mother off. "That job… it was the one you tried… to invite me onto for my birthday… wasn't it?"
"…" Rumiko didn't have to say a word, the silence spoke for itself as the model scratched the back of her hand.
"I thought so…"
-Months ago-
"Happy birthday sweetie!" Rumiko exclaimed excitedly while rushing into the Livingroom where her daughter could be found building a new Digimon deck.
'Ah crap, ' Before Rika could react, she was scooped up into the brunette's arms for a backbreaking hug, causing her cards to get scattered everywhere. Both of these she clearly did not appreciate as the redhead immediately started squirming around to get free. "Stop it Mom, put me down."
"Oh sorry, sorry, got a little ahead of myself," The model said sheepishly while setting the girl back down with a sheepish smile, though still bouncing with excitement. Reaching into her purse, Rumiko dug around until she managed to fish out a pamphlet. "Anyway I got a big surprise that you're gonna love! I got a job at-"
"Don't care." Rika cut her mother off abruptly with her gaze hardening before she knelt and started to pick up her dropped cards.
The coldness of the girl's worlds left Rumiko at a loss for words for a few moments, though she was quick to regain her composure. "I think you will once you hear what I have to say. This job came with some-"
"I said I don't care mom." The brunette didn't even get through half her sentence before she was interrupted once more by her redheaded daughter. Picking up the last of her missing cards, Rika stuffed them back into their case before roughly shoving past her mother.
Stumbling back from the push, all trace of Rumiko's good mood had vanished as she watched her child stalk off in shock. Once her surprise wore off though, she hurried after the girl, grabbing her by the shoulder just before she could go into her room. "Hold on Rika, will you just let me explain? I-"
"Explain what? That you're planning on dragging me off to some froufrou fancy dancy lady pose up? That I'll spend my whole birthday getting primped and posed to impress your bosses? No thanks, mom," Rika didn't even bother to look at her mother as she spoke, merely shrugging off the woman's grip. "I should have known your job was more important than me, like always."
And with that said the redhead slammed her bedroom door shut in Rumiko's face, followed by the distinct clicking of the lock to keep her out.
"I… that's not… I…" Not that it mattered since the model made no move to even try opening the door. She just stood there with a look of utter heartbreak, her daughter's words replaying over and over in her head. Then, just to add further insult to injury, loud punk rock music started blaring from the other side, no doubt to drown out any of her attempts to get Rika's attention.
Tears welled up in the brunette's eyes and slowly fell down her cheeks as she wobbled away without a word. Along the way she half-mindedly dropped the pamphlet she had been carrying into a trashcan.
However, with her vision blurred by tears, Rumiko didn't notice that she ended up missing the can entirely, causing the leaflet to spill open to reveal its contents. But instead of being for a fancy model show like Rika had claimed it would be, the paper showed depictions of beasts, mechas, and people playing a certain card game. At the same time a pair of tickets labeled "Digimon Adventure: Our War Game! Early Preview" and two all access VIP passes.
And at the top center of it all, put in nice bold colorful print, was the words [Purottopointo Trends First Annual Digimon-Convention] alongside a stylized version of the iconic Digimon D logo.
-Present-
Purottopointo Trends, also known as Purottopointo Fashion and Games in certain districts, was one of if not the biggest distributor of digimon paraphernalia across Japan. It was at their shops that Rika had spent just about all the free time and money she had to build her collection of cards.
"I found the tickets after you left… and I… I assumed they were… some stupid bribe you set up… to win me over… so… I flushed them down the toilet…" The redhead admitted, head still bowed but a single tear could be seen pouring down her cheek. "But it wasn't a bribe, was it? You picked that job… so we could have a day… a whole day doing my favorite… and I… I…"
Rika couldn't finish as she kept getting choked up, and this time it had nothing to do with the injuries to her throat.
"Shhhh, it's okay, it's okay," Thankfully she didn't need to finish as Rumiko pulled her into a hug, giving the girl a shoulder to cry on as she gently stroked her head. "It wasn't your fault sweetie, you had every right to be angry with me. I was always so busy and barely around, and the few days we got to spend together I kept calling short for more work. And then with the… with the divorce and all… I'm sorry sweetie, I've been a terrible mother."
"I'm… terrible daughter… worse…" Rika mumbled as she buried herself into her mother's arms.
"How about we agree we were both terrible?"
"…Okay…"
"Good," The model said as she gently sat down, getting as comfortable as she could while her daughter snuggled against her side. "You know, I heard that digimon movie is supposed to be coming on soon… maybe we could finally watch it together?"
Rika didn't bother to say anything, just giving a small nod that made Rumiko smile softly as she grabbed the TV remote.
-01010011 01110111 01101001 01110100 01100011 01101000-
Renamon was leaning against the wall by the front door while fiddling with her hoodie, trying to zip it up. Try being the operative word as for some reason the little metal fastener just refused to work properly.
It wouldn't stop snagging, sticking, mis-zip, and every other sort of issue you could think of in-between. And it certainly didn't help that the blasted thing was way too small for her to get a good grip on with her three fingers hands.
"Here, let me get it for you." Seiko said, taking pity on the fox's plight, as she helped fix it up or her.
Meanwhile, down the hall, Naruto was just down the hall sorting through a bunch of Digimon cards, his brow furrowed as he tried to find a specific one.
"So what exactly are you guys going shopping for?" Shizune asked while peering over the blonde's shoulder curiously.
"Renamon has an idea for training but we need to get some videogames to test it out." He stated, causing Seiko to look at him with a raised brow.
"Videogames? For training?" She asked incredulously, her brow rising even higher when the whiskered teen just nodded without looking up from his sorting. "Are you sure that's not just an excuse to hide that you and Renamon are going on a date?"
"PFFT!? What?! No!" That on the other hand definitely got Naruto to stop, choking on his spit as he sputtered out denials.
"Wait, we aren't?" Renamon asked, causing Naruto's face to MELT from how red it got. Especially when both Seiko and Shizune turned to him with teasing smirks on their lips.
' Where's a wild digimon to fight when you need one?'
-End Chapter-
