It All Comes Down To This

Chapter 6: Rika

DF103: FILLER... Sorry, a decent chapter, next time (need to reacquaint myself with the story).

Disclaimer: Amber belongs to Dark Raven107; Ashley belongs to DigiQueenTMIM; Tomoyo belongs to Tomoyo Shioda; and Amanda belongs to Pisces Panda. None of us own Digimon. All others belong to DF103.

---

I still remembered the day I told Ryo about my pregnancy. I still remembered the look on Ryo's face, how his face lit up almost instantly, as if someone had turned the lights on inside his head. It had been the best night of our lives. It had been the last best-night of our lives, because what came afterwards was utter Hell…well, after the first trimester at least.

Ryo was out on a business trip for a week, and that's when I had started feeling the nauseating effects of being pregnant. I was too sick to even get up and so I called Jeri to help me get my groceries. I told her my list over the phone and she said she'll be right over. I told her not to rush, but I vaguely remember being slightly annoyed when she wasn't back for two hours and the sun was beginning to set. Then, I was angry when Kazu barged into the house with my groceries.

"Why isn't Jeri here!" I asked. "She said it was no problem for her to come and help me out." That's when Takato and Kenta walked in with grocery bags, too. Granted, I felt grateful for getting all those for me, but where the hell was Jeri and why were they so late!

"I'm sorry, Rika! I'm really sorry!" Jeri yelled out, running into house with a couple of duffle bags.

"What's going on here?" I had suddenly asked myself, as the house made a racket of noise from Takato, Kenta, and Kazu being in my kitchen and Jeri babbling on about something.

I just remembered collapsing on the couch after that, feeling nauseated again. And as if it had been the password to shut everything up, the house was once again quiet.

Before I knew it, I was asleep and when I had woken up, Kazu was in my face with a bowl of soup or something…looked like miso soup, but I had my doubts. He set it down on the coffee table and just stared at me as I sat up to fill my stomach for two. This had been the first time I had seen Kazu since the night I told everyone I was pregnant, and for once, I didn't want to strangle him…

"Rika, how the hell did you get so fat!"

…until he said that.

"I'm PREGNANT, Kazu! Not FAT!"

As always, he had that dumbfounded look on his face. He didn't believe me. His eyes told so.

"I thought you were joking about being pregnant…"

"Why you…!" I flung a spoonful of the soup in his face.

He blinked a couple of times before he got up and walked out of the room, saying, "Hey Jeri, you were right about Rika being angrier than usual!"

I just sighed and sipped through the surprisingly delicious soup. Jeri then popped up and sat next to me on the couch. "How are you two?" She lightly patted my belly.

"Hungry and angry. Do me a favor and keep the stupid ones a room away from me at all times."

"Oh, they're leaving soon. They're just cleaning up the kitchen. We made food and put it in the fridge for you so you don't have to worry about starving, okay? And, until Ryo comes back, I'm going to take care of you."

"Jeri…" I put the spoon down. "You don't have to do that. Jason will be lonely without you."

"Ah, he'll be fine. He's quite tied up with some personal matters anyway."

"Are you sure…?"

"Sure, I'm sure. Ashley and Amber said they'll be stopping by from time to time also. We're your friends. Of course, we'll come to help you out."

So maybe it hadn't been as bad as I had thought. It brought all the friends I cared about a little closer. But, Ryo, like the actions of a magnet, grew farther and farther apart from me. He decided to work overtime and came home late every night. I was frustrated with him. No. I was more worried about him leaving me, just as my father once did before he came back asking for forgiveness. I continued to think to myself, that if he had done that, he would never have a second chance.

The sliding front door clacked shut and I heard the shoes rustling. I was sitting in the living room waiting for Ryo to come home. Peering at the clock that read '12:30,' I anticipated asking Ryo if we could talk, something we haven't done in a while. We needed the talk.

"Rika! What are you doing up? It's not good for you and the baby to be up this late," he whispered loudly, walking over to me and giving me a kiss on my forehead.

"Ryo, we need to talk." I was never the kind of person to say those words, but my heart weighed a ton from all the questions and worries I kept stored.

"This couldn't wait until tomorrow morning?" He put his briefcase against the wall in its usual spot and sat next to me. He smelled like alcohol and cigarettes.

I looked at him, hoping my glare would tell him why. I sighed.

"What? If you're just going to glare at me all night, then go to bed and talk to me tomorrow." He stood up.

I pulled him back down. "Well, first off, where have you been?"

"I was out with the guys from work. Yeah, I know I smell. I'll do the laundry when I have time."

"That's what I need to talk to you about, and why it couldn't wait until tomorrow—rather this morning. Exactly when do you have time to do anything? You're never home anymore and you haven't been around to talk to."

"Well, it's just this overtime. You know that. Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

"No, there's more. Why? Is it a crime to want to know what's been going on with my husband?"

Ryo looked at me and tried to run his hand through my hair, before I slapped it away.

"Wildcat, you're extra feisty tonight. Go to bed. You need your rest."

And that was it…

I never got to ask him why he was out drinking with his work buddies, when he was working overtime, or why he doesn't stick around long enough for me to even ask anything. I've begun questioning myself if saying "I do" was the right thing to do.

But now…

"But, why…

"Why am I beginning to remember these things?

"These flashbacks… My precious memories.

"Is my mind telling me I'm dying?"

I asked these questions aloud to myself, as I stared out the window, the grayish-blue sky beginning to swirl before my eyes. I felt dizzy, and my head was heavy. Was this normal after childbirth?

"That's impossible…" Tomoyo uttered, frozen before Dolphin, among her other two comrades, Sarah and Amanda. "We're going to be stranded here if we don't get that ark fixed." She grabbed Henry, who unfortunately stood the closest to her, by the shoulders and shook him. "Stranded!" she emphasized.

Henry took the shaking like a rag doll. "Maybe… It… Won't… Be… That… Bad," he replied. Tomoyo stopped and stared at him as if she were imagining the possibilities, before she continued to shake him.

"Ms. Higarashi, please—" Yamaki started, before…

"Stranded!" she yelled out again, as Amanda and Sarah attempted to pry Tomoyo's hands off Henry. Her head lashed around until her line of sight landed on a screened door where she saw a silhouette of a vehicle-like machine. She let go of Henry and side-stepped to the door, while the others talked. Henry, relieved that he was spared, joined in the discussion.

"We might need the ark's creator for help fixing this so is there any phone number that we can use to contact him?" Dolphin asked, patting the damaged ark.

"I don't have it on me. Do you, Amanda?" Sarah replied.

Amanda shook her head. "Tomoyo, do you have—" Tomoyo wasn't anywhere near the two of them, nor the rest of the group.

"She's headed for the—" Tally exclaimed, jumping down from her work seat and pointing to Tomoyo. Everyone's attention was soon directed to the loud yell Tomoyo let out.

"You guys have a spare ark!" Tomoyo slid open the screen doors and revealed a car, with ark-like engines and boosters. "We could just use this."

"Actually…that's for special occasions…" Henry replied, ruffling his hair in frustration, trying to think of a way to explain why it was for special occasions. "Look at the back window."

"Huh?" Tomoyo walked around the car and saw 'Just Married' written on the window, with a few smudges below it. She stared at it for a while before she touched the lettering, and smeared it. "I'm guessing we can't borrow this then."

There was an eerie silence that struck the room. Everyone stared at each other before all of their eyes stopped at Tomoyo. A hand slammed the vehicle. Tomoyo glared at her reflection. "Stranded!" she screamed once more before stomping out of the room to who knew where. Sarah and Amanda followed her out in an attempt to calm her down.

Almost as soon as she left, Ashley and Jeri came running into the room, dragging a confused Takato behind them. Poor Takato looked around and wondered what had befallen him. "You guys didn't have to pull me all the way over here."

"Where's Ryo?" Yamaki asked, obviously more interested in who he thought was the tamers' leader than Takato. "We need to plan out how to deal with these random crossovers, while we figure out how to prevent them from happening."

"Well, if you're looking for Ryo, Amber had to talk to him…" Takato confessed. "I was trying to catch Ryo up on everything, but Amber and these two, came running up to the van at a stop light and nabbed him."

Ashley kicked the back of Takato's leg. Yamaki turned around and shook his head. "Well, I suppose we'll have to make do with our own investigations. I suggest all of you just enjoy the peace while you can. It's hard to determine when we'll be able to get out of a bind like this. We'll contact you if we find any relevant information."

The tamers all stood at attention and called out a unison "Yes, sir," and slowly dispersed out of the room.

Takato rubbed the back of his leg with his other foot and nudged Ashley. "You didn't have to do that, you know."

"Amber obviously wanted to talk to Ryo about whatever, and didn't want anybody else to be concerned about it. You shouldn't have brought it up."

"Sorry." Takato drooped his head.

"It's okay. I forgive you." Ashley laughed, walking into Takato and laying her head on his shoulder. Suddenly, Henry called out, "Takato! Can I talk to you for a second?" from the doorway. Takato turned around and gave Ashley another apologetic look. He ran up to Henry, as Jeri and Ashley stopped at the doorway.

"Takato, have you noticed that Ryo's been acting kind of strange lately?" Henry asked in a hush tone.

"Well, he's got a lot of things running around in his head."

"I can understand that, but the last time I talked to Rika, she told me that he's not home that much."

"Really? He didn't mention that to me."

"Yeah, he's apparently coming home late and there isn't much communication between the two of them." Henry sighed. "I just hope everything starts working out, now that Mio's born." He leaned back on a desk and started rubbing his chin, his eyes fixed into space.

"So..." Takato began, sensing an idea from Henry. "What are we going to do to help them this time?" he asked.

"Let's follow him tomorrow night. See what he's doing."

"Are you serious?" Takato exclaimed, before he realized that the girls were still waiting at the doorway. He waved at them and mouthed, "I'll catch up with you later."

Ashley and Jeri nodded, and headed out. As they walked out, they saw the three newcomers at the end of the hallway, standing against the windows of the building and staring out into the city. The two could see in their eyes that these foreigners were itching to explore the city. It was then that Jeri's eyes shined a familiar sparkle, as she remembered their plan.

"Ashley, when Amber comes around, let's take these guys around Shinjuku and, you know, spy on you-know-who," Jeri whispered.

Ashley gave a thumbs-up. "Sounds like a plan." She looked outside the window as well. "I'll call Amber and let her know. She should be done with her talk now, right?"

---

DF103: Okay, here's the deal. Yes, this was a crappy chapter. Yes, I'm writing the next TWO chapters now. Yes, they'll be out before I get back on campus in September. Discrepancies? Let me know. Till next chapter, peace.