Prelude to a Kiss
Me again ^_^ Just tossing out another little bit of fluff, hopefully
not as little as my last one, and hopefully a little fluffier than
before. This time I thought I'd tackle a prequel to try my hand at
cutting myself free from fears about plot constraints and IC rigidity.
If this doesn't work, I have only myself to blame.
How's my writing? Contact me. Flamers: Get bent. MSTers: Ask First.
Legitimate commenters, positive or negative: Feel free to write away.
PS: Please don't read if you get cavities easily ^_^
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"Don't tell anyone about this." No words more appropriately summed up
Rika's true inner emotions. A secretive, emotionally frigid person who
would never let anyone see that her heart is warm on the inside. Every
harsh word, every frigid gaze, every cruel action was carefully crafted
to keep her inside from seeing the light of day. But here, in this one
instance, she could not hide. Her true caring nature had to shine
through, and that is what made the difference. But quick as it surfaced
to save the one she cares about, it just as quickly vanished so she
could retain her commonly seen exterior. After holding Kyubimon a
moment longer she released her and started to walk away. "At last, you
are the greatest." Kyubimon reverted herself back to Renamon and
started following along behind Rika.
"All thanks to you, Heartbreaker..." Rika turned around a little bit,
halting in mid-step.
"What did you say, Renamon?"
"Just that it's all thanks to you... Rika."
Rika just nodded and resumed walking, while Renamon remained behind her
and hung her head. Still no way to say what she had to.
Renamon sat on Rika's roof later that night, where she sometimes spent
her nights brooding and thinking. One fist was tightly clenched at her
side, the other hand covering her ice-blue eyes, and wiping away the
tears she was shedding. Her body shook, rocked by sobs and the shaking
of her fist. "I had the chance right there. She was open; her heart was
laid plain, as was mine. I could have just said I... I love you. But I
did nothing."
"Yea, you human loving digimon are always doing nothing." Impmon leaped
beside Renamon and took a seat without even asking. "So, foxy, what
didn't ya do? Didn't ice that little brat who orders you around?" Only
Impmon's astounding agility allowed him to dodge Renamon's angry
backhand. "Woo! Touchy! Must be that time of the month again, eh
foxy?" Impmon laughed loudly and danced around Renamon's swipes.
"How dare you? You pitiful little stick of a digimon! How dare you say
that about the girl I love?!" The words were free of her muzzle before
Renamon realized what she was saying, and to who.
Impmon stopped dodging so quickly he tripped and landed on his face.
"You whaaaat?! Y-you LOVE one of those disgusting things?! Oh man, you
really are a freak! Don't touch me, you might give me human or
something, whatever it is that's got you acting like a nutso!"
Renamon's tears started flowing faster, her breath sobbing out of her
mouth as she took blind swings at Impmon. "Shut up... shut up! It's bad
enough that I can't tell her how I feel, and that she just can't see! I
don't need you around saying things like that." After screaming at
Impmon Renamon collapsed to her knees, face in her hands, her body
shuddering with her sobs and tears streaming down her face.
Impmon just stood shaking his head at Renamon. "Pitiful. Sobbing over
some little human. I knew you tamed digimon turned into blubbering
losers after a while." And with that he leaped away, leaving Renamon
alone with her sorrow.
"Why? Why?" Was all that Renamon could whisper through her strained
throat, little spatters of salty tears falling onto the roof.
Meanwhile, right below Renamon, on the inside of the house, Rika lay on
her sleeping mat, wrapped in a heavy blanket, with her hair down. She
lay on her side and stared into the darkness of the room, unable to
sleep at all. "Why couldn't I have been nicer? She did save my life...
and I still don't know why. She'd already digivolved, and didn't need
me anymore." Rika curled into more of a fetal position. "Nothing makes
sense. All the times before nothing happened, but the moment I start
showing her what I really feel everything starts happening. Maybe it's
time I stopped pretending I don't care about her. But I can't. She
still hasn't given me a clue about how she feels. I could be making a
fool of myself, or I could drive her right away from me. I can't risk
it. I can't get hurt, so I'll just keep quiet." Rika closed her eyes at
last. The matter was closed, and she knew exactly what she had to do.
But she still didn't fall asleep for another hour, and even then she
slept fitfully the rest of the night.
"Wow Rika, you look terrible." Takato was his usual brilliant self the
next day. Rika shot him a venomous glance.
"Gee, thanks Takato. By the way, it looks like someone drove a truck
over your face."
"Ahhh! Hey! Don't get rude or nothing. I didn't...."
"Get out of my face, you annoying twerp." Rika stalked away, after
that, trembling about something that probably had nothing to do with
Takato. Takato, for his part, just stood there with his mouth hanging
open, while Henry stood just to his rear with Terriermon around his
neck.
"Henry? What just happened?"
"I'm not sure, Terriermon, but I don't think Rika had a very good night
last night."
Takato finally broke his silence and started going nuts. "She didn't
have to..! She had no right to..! If she were here I'd..! Errrgh!"
"Chill, Takato. I don't think she really had it in for you. If she did
you'd be on your way to the hospital. I think there's something else
bothering her."
"Yea? What do you think it could be?"
"I'm not certain. I really don't know anything about Rika. But then
again, nobody does. Only Renamon has any clue about her, but even
that's just a guess."
"Please, Rika, tell me what's the matter." Renamon walked beside Rika
as the two of them went through an empty section of street. Rika just
shook her head continually.
"No! I already told you. It's nothing. I'm fine. You don't have to
worry about me."
"But I do worry, Rika. You're my partner. I have a responsibility to
take care of you, no matter what's going on." Rika clamped her hands
over ears and closed her eyes.
"I'm telling you nothing is wrong!" She took off running, not caring
that she couldn't see, hoping that she could make it home on instinct.
"Rika! Wait!" Renamon called out, but the girl was already out of
sight. "Don't leave me alone like this..."
"So, did your little human girlfriend abandon you?" Impmon looked down
from a second story window ledge, sneering at Renamon.
"Why don't you do the world a favor and jump off of there headfirst?"
Renamon stood up straighter and started walking away, trying to appear
imperious and cool, hoping she could pull it off.
"I told you those humans weren't worth it. Believe me, she'll dump you
one day, splitsville, bye-bye time, gone with the breeze, up and out
and over you. And what really makes it worth waiting for is you'll
still be all over her, and you'll just end up sniveling like a little
baby." Renamon turned on Impmon with a snarl, ready to destroy him, but
as soon as she looked, he was gone.
"He's wrong, I just know it. Rika would never leave me alone. We need
each other. And I love her. True love will win. I hope." Renamon sighed
and vanished, heading for Rika's home.
The days passed as they always had, both Rika and Renamon casting
glances at each other when the other wasn't watching, Renamon too
nervous; and Rika too scared of being hurt to take a leap of faith.
Neither one knew what the other was feeling, and both had built up such
walls to protect themselves that neither one could ask.
"I hate all digimon. I never want to see another one again." Many days
later, after Gillmon had to rescue Rika from Icedevimon, and Kyubimon
was unable to harm the evil creature, Rika grew tired of everything.
Though Kyubimon never showed it on her face, her heart was utterly
crushed. When she leaped away from the building she immediately
reverted to Renamon and started to cry again. She hid herself in a
corner of a deserted alley, punching the wall while she sobbed. "I
failed her, I failed her. It took some other little upstart to save her
and a rookie at that. I'm so pathetic. It's no wonder she never wants
to see me again."
"Eh, what did I tell you? All alone and sobbing yer eyes out. Man! It's
good to be right!" Impmon looked down from the top of a garbage can,
grinning at Renamon's pain and holding his hands behind his back.
Renamon sniffled, kicking out hard at the garbage can, succeeding only
in knocking the can over with a gigantic dent in it. Impmon had just
leapt away laughing. "Too bad for you, foxy. Looks like the bitch is
moving on with her life, taking the money and running with it, going on
and on without you hanging on, leaving you out to dry, and generally
putting distance between you and her." Renamon leapt to her feet
immediately, kicking and swiping at Impmon, half-blinded by tears,
breath sobbing from her throat, claws gouging out the brick of the
alley walls, making dents from kicks. But as usual, Impmon's agility
kept him from becoming a bloody smear on the wall. "Face it toots,
you've been dumped, royally dropped, dumpola, abandoned like last
weeks' garbage." Impmon took a running jump and landed on a parked car
outside the ally, then started running off laughing like maniac.
"The little pest has a point... I think. Rika's gone now. Nothing's
going to make it better. I don't think so at least." Renamon vanished
into the darkness of the night, needing a place to sleep now that she
could never go back to the place she had started to think of as home.
Elsewhere, Rika was also having her own share of problems. After
returning home she laid herself on her sleeping mat, face buried in the
pillow, letting that soak up her tears. She muffled her sobs as well,
so that her mother would not walk in and try to find out what was
making her cry. "I could have killed her. That monstrosity was ready to
destroy her and it was all because of me and my desire to be greatest.
If it hadn't been for goggle-head and his giant lizard I might have
lost Renamon. But I did anyway. I can't have her near me anymore; she'd
be in too much danger. It's better that she's alive and out there. I
know my dear Renamon is strong enough to live on her own. She'll make
it much better without me, I just know it. She won't have to worry
about being hurt anymore."
Rika turned herself onto her side, still wiping away small tears. "I
have to be strong. I did this so that neither of us would get hurt. I
know that this is the only way to go about this. We'll both feel a lot
better after things have really calmed down."
Renamon stood atop an arched gate in the park, staring up at the stars.
"So many tiny bits of light, that conspire to make the night beautiful.
But they don't add light to the darkness. Just functionless glitter,
like love." Renamon spat at the word, looking downward with her eyes
closed. Soft footsteps warned her of the approach of another, but
Renamon didn't care. If anyone tried to catch her she'd just run away,
like she had run away from Rika.
"Wow, didn't expect to see you here." A familiar voice spoke from
below. Renamon turned around to see if it really was whom she thought.
Indeed, it was. Henry, with Terriermon wrapped around his neck. "I
thought you'd be long gone by now, or at least hiding out somewhere,
maybe trying to get back in touch with Rika or something."
Renamon turned around again and looked back up at the stars. "You know
very little about me. I never do anything rashly. I think everything
through with the utmost care and consideration." She hoped this
wouldn't turn into something unfortunate. This boy was actually
somewhat reasonably intelligent, despite his digimon partner.
"If that's true then how come Icedevimon flattened you?"
"Terriermon!" Henry clamped his hand over the small digimon's mouth.
"You'll have to excuse him. He doesn't think at all sometimes." Renamon
shook her head a little bit.
"He does have a point. I did act irrationally during that fight. But I
had my reasons."
"Were you suicidal? You looked quite ready to keep fighting until you
died. I knew you loved to fight but with what you said about thinking,
I'd assume you wouldn't do anything really dangerous."
"I did it all for... Never mind. You'd never understand. No one
would." Henry took a step closer to Renamon.
"Understand what? That's the problem with you and Rika, neither one of
you wants to say anything, so no one ever knows what's going." Renamon
turned on Henry with a venomous glare. But in the corner of one eye was
a stray teardrop, glinting like a tiny diamond.
"Don't you dare say that. Rika is beyond petty complaints. Never, ever
say anything bad about her..." Renamon turned back around, grinding her
teeth and clenching her fist. 'Too much said...' She thought. 'I wear
my heart too much on my sleeve.'
"Well, you certainly do care about Rika, that's pretty clear. I guess
that's one good reason to do battle. I know Terriermon would fight if
I'm in trouble." Terriermon nodded his head and mumbled something, but
couldn't really speak since Henry kept his hand over his mouth.
"It's well beyond that. Simple partnership would not inspire me to die,
nor would it make me stand here staring at the stars and thinking about
how I could have failed." Henry moved closer to Renamon, trying hard to
figure out what was going on.
"Please, tell me. I can try to help you. Sharing your problems is a
good way to fix them." Renamon's icy eyes glared down at Henry.
"Spare me your pity and platitudes. You couldn't possibly understand, I
know it. Nothing can help me now." Then Renamon vanished into
nothingness, letting a single tear fall from the corner of her eye onto
the ground before Henry.
"Something strange about that, but I'm not sure what. She'll talk when
she's ready. I just hope nothing bad happens before she can get
everything worked out."
The next night Henry was out walking in the park. "Henry, what are we
doing here?" Terriermon scrambled around on Henry's shoulders, looking
him in the face the entire time.
"I told you, I'm here to talk to Renamon."
"But how do you know she'll be here?"
"I just know. She doesn't have anywhere else to go, I don't think.
Anyway, she needs help. Rika does too, but she's too antisocial to
accept it. At least Renamon says things." Finally, they arrived at the
gate in the park they'd found Renamon at the previous night. Sure
enough, she was standing atop it again, looking at the stars. At the
approach of Henry and Terriermon she looked back and sighed.
"You two again? What do you want?"
"We're just here to try and help you again." Renamon lifted an eye
ridge and shook her head.
"You just don't give up, do you?" Henry smiled a little bit.
"I try not too."
"Like I told you last night, you wouldn't understand."
"How do you know? You never even tried to ask. What's it about? Unless
it's something deeply philosophical I probably have some idea about
it." Renamon sighed a little bit, keeping her back to Henry, but
slightly bending her knees, getting ready to leap.
"I'm in love with someone. And not only do they not know, they really
don't care." Henry placed his hand over Terriermon's mouth immediately,
stifling a comment the small digimon was about to make.
"Then why don't you just tell them? I mean, sure it would be a shock to
see a real digimon at first, but I got over it, and so did Takato and
Rika, I guess."
"You don't understand, this person knows Digimon are real. It's just
that it's so odd, a digimon in love with a human."
"Love is love; it's not so odd. Who's the human?"
"I'll never tell. My feelings are tightly held. You will never know who
she... I mean, they... Damnit!" Renamon took the leap she'd been
preparing for, immediately vanishing into the night. Henry took a step
forward with an arm outstretched. "Renamon!" Then he sighed, realizing
he'd never catch the fleeing digimon.
"I don't think she'll be coming back here anymore."
"You're right about that, Terriermon. But at least I know what's wrong
now. Renamon's in love with Rika. That's why she almost died trying to
destroy Icedevimon. She didn't want Rika to get hurt. But that speech
of Rika's afterwards couldn't have been very good for her heart."
"You think we should tell Rika, Henry?"
"That's not our place. If Renamon wants to tell then she will, but
until then we've gotta just keep it a secret. Which means that I might
have to tie a gag over your mouth..."
"Hey! Don't talk like that, I can keep a secret. It's not like I'm some
blabbermouth who doesn't know when to stop talking. I know when to stop
talking; I can control my own mouth. I..." Further comment was silenced
by Henry's hand.
More time came and went, Henry giving strange looks to Rika every time
he saw her. Rika never knew why he did it, and she often just dismissed
it, because she had too much on her own mind. "Nothing really makes
sense anymore. I'm doing fine without digimon. I don't need any of
them. Not even Rena... Not even R... I don't need her. I can't even
think of her. I don't want to risk it. I'll keep her out of my mind
forever."
Rika tried her best to keep her former digimon partner out of her mind,
but she often caught herself writing Renamon's name in her notebooks at
school, whispering her name in unguarded moments, or looking for the
fox digimon in the shadows where she used to hide herself from all but
Rika. She was haunted by her memory, but tried hard to never show it.
However, one night things changed.
She was just lying there on her sleeping mat, her digivice glowing in
her wastebasket. Culumon appeared in the room without warning, as he
did in many situations. Rika kept her hands over her ears, using her
pillow to help keep out the sounds of the Digivice warning her that
something was happening to Renamon, and to keep out Culumon's talking.
"I'm not going to go... She doesn't need me. She has her own strength.
She's powerful enough to make things happen all by herself. I'd just
provide a target for something. I'm a weakness to her." All these
things went through Rika's head, trying to convince her to just lay
there. But the faintest of whispers then passed through her head, just
barely enough to be noticed. "I love her." Without any other
provocation than that, she grabbed the Digivice from the basket and ran
out of the room without another word, wiping tears from her eyes.
She ran all the way to the battle, clutching her digivice close to her.
She looked quickly to the two other tamers before she looked to what
was actually happening. There was Renamon, fighting against Harpymon,
and clearly having a bad time of it. Without thinking, Rika reached for
the pack of modify cards she usually kept at her side, but found
nothing there. That's when she remembered that she had run out so fast
she had no time to grab anything but her digivice. For a brief,
terrible second she had visions of her love being torn apart by the
terrible Harpymon. She looked around fearfully, searching for something
that would help, finally spotting a pointed branch lying at her feet.
With no delay or hesitation, she grabbed up that stick, and ran right
at Harpymon's back. With a rush of strength she never knew she had, she
jammed the pointed part of the branch into Harpymon's back, really
leaning into it to make sure it got in there and stayed in. Harpymon's
shrill shriek told her that she had hit the mark, but immediately the
digimon wheeled around, knocking her down to the ground and making her
drop her stick. "This is it... At least I saved Renamon..."
Renamon looked in disbelief as Rika ran up and stabbed Harpymon to keep
her from doing any harm. "Why did she do it? No! Harpymon's going to
kill her!" And she immediately leaped up, ready to fight and die if
necessary. Now, Culumon makes all the digivolutions happen, of course.
But at that instant, Renamon was sure the burning of her love caused
it. Because in a flash of light, she digivolved into Kyubimon. And then
stood protectively before the fallen Rika. Right as Harpymon started to
attack the two of them, Kyubimon spread her tails. "Fox tail Inferno!"
The dull balls of flame flew from the tips of her nine fluffy tails and
struck Harpymon dead-on, reducing her to nothing but bits of data. "No
more. I won't do it. I don't need it."
"Why aren't you absorbing her data?" Rika looked with some confusion
and a lot of sadness at Kyubimon just standing there as the data
vanished.
"I don't need it." That was quite true. Kyubimon no longer needed the
data of others. Rika made her strong enough to do anything.
Later, Renamon stood atop the gate at the park she had been at before,
looking up to the stars. "We are together again. But merely as
partners. Is it so hard to tell the truth now? It seems so wrong and
yet so right."
"Here again? I thought your problems would be solved now." Henry walked
up to the gate again, Terriermon oddly quiet, possibly under pain of
death if he should speak.
"So you guessed. Didn't think it would be that hard after I slipped up.
Have you told anyone, or are you too disgusted to even think about it?"
"In the first place, it's not my place to tell anyone who loves whom.
And in the second place, it's not disgusting. To be honest, it's just
sad. You two have made such a tough image for yourselves that you can't
even be emotional with one another. I'll bet you didn't know Rika's
been doodling your name in her books at school, or that she whispers
your name when she looks into corners and shadows. I think she's as
much in love with you as you are with her, but you two will never
realize it. Even the fight earlier doesn't seem to have convinced you.
If you two want to play games, fine, but don't be surprised when you
both end up broken-hearted and still dancing around the subject." With
a huff, Henry started away from there, Terriermon clinging tightly to
his neck.
"She... loves... me?" Renamon sat down hard on the gate, staring into
the night in disbelief. "She really does love me. How could I have not
seen? I have to get to her right away! It's time to end this game and
make everything plain." With a leap she was off, vanishing into thin
air and appearing right at Rika's room. She got down on one knee and
slowly put her hands out. She lowered them until she was holding Rika's
arm lightly, then gave her a small shake. "Heartbreaker, Heartbreaker,
wake up..." Slowly, Rika began to stir, one eye opening lazily to stare
up at Renamon.
"Wh-who? Renamon? What's going on."
"Shhh, I have to tell you something. For the longest time I've lived in
fear, terribly afraid you'd never accept what I am about to say. But
now I know you will. Rika, I love you. I have loved you with all my
heart, but I was too afraid of rejection to say anything. But after
seeing what you did for me tonight, I know that you feel the same."
Rika opened both of her eyes and very slowly rose to a sitting
position, staring into the beautiful blue eyes of Renamon.
"I can't believe it. All the time I spent worried that you wouldn't
understand. That night you saved me, I knew then that I really cared
about you. I knew I loved you, but did nothing. Renamon, I want you to
know the only reason I told you to keep away was that I felt
responsible for you nearly dying. When Icedevimon had me it made you
vulnerable. I didn't want you in any more danger. And I thought you
could handle yourself, since you seemed to have all the strength you
needed."
"The only strength I had came from you. My love is what made me able to
do things. That's the only reason I was able to defeat Harpymon." Rika
smiled softly and leaned lightly against Renamon.
"I've been thinking about you a lot. Even when I tried not to, I still
did."
"I heard. Writing my name in your books, calling for me from the
shadows. It's so sweet." Rika looked up at Renamon in disbelief. "Henry
told me. I accidentally let slip how I felt and he kept it a secret.
But he was watching you, I guess, and he told me tonight how you felt
about me. That's why I came over here so fast."
"That's why he'd been staring at me lately. He was judging me. I guess
I deserved it, actually..." Renamon Hugged Rika close to her, pressing
her tight against her warm fur.
"No more sadness from the past. We have a future now, one that we can
share." Rika smiled, looking into Renamon's eyes, finally really
noticing how pretty they really were. She could lose herself forever in
them.
"Together, forever and ever..."
"Heartbreaker..."
"Renamon..."
The two of them slowly closed their eyes and tightened their grips on
one another. Slowly, Renamon lowered her head, while Rika lifted hers.
Their lips were puckered slightly; their breathing was soft. Inch by
inch they came closer and closer to their first lover's kiss. And
finally...
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Sorry about the ending, but the title does say "Prelude" to a kiss. I
know I tried to fit it too closely to the actual series, but I think
that adds a touch of legitimacy to the story. Anyway, as I said, feel
free to write me anytime, as long as you are nice. See ya around!
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