AN: First post of the New Year, although it's already been 6 months, but besides wishing everyone well we can move right along with the story.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto, Digimon, or anything else that may or may not appear in this Fic.

Fallout

"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Megidramon"
(Author Notes)

Yamaki tapped his fingers impatiently as his eyes darted from the clock on the wall in his office to the door and back again. After confronting Naruto outside his apartment, the other night, the two blondes settled on meeting the next day in Yamaki's office. A meeting that should have started an hour ago.

Standing silently next to Yamaki was Riley, dressed in her uniform, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance. Mostly due to Yamaki's consistent tapping rather than Naruto not having shown up yet. Yamaki had asked her to sit on the meeting and she had agreed, figuring it was a good idea if for no other reason than to keep Yamaki in check, or at least try to.

"What's taking so long?" Yamaki nearly growled out in frustration.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Naruto asked casually, playing with his phone as he laid on a couch that was against a wall under a few windows. Yamaki and Riley were both startled by the sound of Naruto's voice, jumping slightly, snapping their heads in his direction. "Yo!" The shinobi greeted them without ever taking his eyes off his phone.

"When did you get here?" Riley asked with a raised eyebrow.

Yamaki, in a rare uncharacteristic display, stammered for a bit before recovering. "How did you get in here?" The blonde government agent demanded.

"An hour ago, and vents." Naruto answered both questions simply, as he pointed up. The two adults looked up at the ceiling to see a grate hanging wide open.

Riley turned her focus to her boss as she glared mildly at him. "There's no need to change the size of the vents, you said." The woman muttered. "No one will ever get in through the vents, you said." Riley remarked dryly mocking her boss, Yamaki's shoulder's slumping at the reminder.

"We'll since you're here?" Yamaki said in a hurry as to not dwell on the previous topic. "We can finally get this meeting started." The blonde man declared before finally noticing that Naruto was alone. "Where are the others and your digital abominations?" Questioned Yamaki before a brow started to twitch. "And get your feet off my couch!" He demanded.

Naruto got up off the couch, not because Yamaki told him but so he could take a seat in one of the chairs in front of the man's desk. "Did you actually think I was going to bring them." He asked as if the man were an idiot. Last night before leaving Yamaki had suggested/ordered that the other Tamers and their Digimon to be at the meeting as well. "This is good enough." Naruto decided dialing Rika's number on his phone. "We're starting." The shinobi let Rika know.

Guilmon's shed

The others had been waiting for Naruto's call the blonde Tamer having alerted all of them as soon as he got away from Yamaki, to let them know what the government agent wanted, despite the late hour. Rika was all for marching into Yamaki's office and making her opinion of the man very clear. It eventually took the combined efforts of Naruto, Henry, Renamon, not to mention Rumiko and Seiko to dissuade Rika from that course of action. Eventually it was decided that Naruto would go in alone so that if anything did happen, they could be sure that Naruto would be able to get out. By force if necessary.

"I don't like this." Takato muttered worriedly. "Maybe we should have gone." He suggested, looking outside as a giggling Calumon flew by while being chased by Patamon and Guilmon. The Virus Digimon whining at the fact that he couldn't fly like them. Despite the situation Takato found himself smiling lightly at the scene.

Rika let out a frustrated sigh, catching a glimpse of the scene but not taking nearly as much joy out of it as Takato. "Then you should have said something last night Goggle-head." Rika said reproachfully. "Maybe then we wouldn't be here waiting."

Takato scooted away from Rika, as much as he could while in the confines of the small shed, in fear of a physical retaliation from the red head. Last night when options were being discussed Takato had remained mostly silent, with the exception a comment here and there, listening to the others reasoning before coming to a decision of his own. Ultimately giving his silent support to Henry and Naruto.

"This is for the best." Henry insisted. Both trying to convince the others of the idea and reassure himself at the same time. Despite having propositioned the idea alongside Naruto it still didn't sit right with Henry that they were sending Naruto, their friend, to meet Yamaki in a government-controlled building alone.

Rika bit back a growl as she felt Renamon place a hand on her shoulder, drawing Rika's attention to her. "You need to have faith in Naruto, Rika." The fox Digimon advised Rika gently. "You know how strong he is. He'll be fine. Everything will turn out alright." She assured.

Rika wanted to try and continue arguing her point, but ultimately let out a heavy sigh and reluctantly nodded her head. Rika knew that she needed to calm down in order to think clearly. It was at that point when her phone started to ring, causing an already tense atmosphere to become more so. Checking the caller-id Rika instantly answered it seeing it was Naruto calling. "Whiskers?" Rika questioned, holding the phone to her ear.

"We're starting." Was Naruto's simple reply.

"Right," Rika said back, calming down just a bit at hearing his voice, pulling the phone away and setting it to speaker so that everyone could hear and speak through it.

At that point, the Tamers accepted that despite whatever reservations each of them might have that it was truly too late now. So instead, they quieted down and listened intently to the conversation that was about to happen.

Hypnos

Setting the phone on the desk in front of him, making sure it was on speaker, Naruto turned his attention to the man sitting across from him. "So, what did you want to talk about Yamaki? Or did you just want to blame us for everything going wrong again?" Naruto taunted the older blonde.

Yamaki clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white as he glared at Naruto from beneath his sunglasses. It was only when Riley loudly cleared her throat that Yamaki took a deep breath before letting it out, unclenching his fists as he did so. "What exactly do you children know about the origin of the Digimon and the purpose of Hypnos?" Yamaki asked in return.

Henry's voice coming through the phone was the one to respond to Yamaki's question. "I know that my dad along with his friends, calling themselves the Monster Makers, created the first Digimon while they were in college." The half-Chinese Tamer supplied.

"That's right," Yamaki assented. Leaning forward Yamaki interlaced his fingers together in front of him, in a position that Naruto had seen Tsunade take whenever she was briefing/debriefing someone. "While in college Janyu Wong and his friends, the Monster Makers, received funding from the government for the sole purpose of developing actual Artificial Intelligence, a goal that has existed since the first computer was created." Behind his fingers Yamaki's frown creased into a prominent frown. "Only after a couple of years, and countless government dollars, all the Monster Makers had to show for their effort were a few pixelated creatures that made the Tomodachi Pets of the time look like advanced technology from the future."

"Tomodachi?" Naruto questioned. "What's that?" He asked.

"They're virtual pets that little kids would try to take care of." Rika answered him. "They were annoying and they'd usually end up dying because kids failed to feed them or something stupid like that."

"You sound like you're talking from experience Rika." Henry pointed out teasingly.

"That definitely might explain her attitude towards us Digimon when we all first met." Terriermon offered up following his Tamer's lead.

Twin cries of pain could be heard soon after.

"If we could get back on track." Yamaki hissed out annoyed, an eyebrow twitching. After a moment of no one saying anything Yamaki continued. "So, with the lackluster results the funding was pulled and the project scrapped. That was supposed to be end of things."

"But it wasn't?" Naruto guessed. That was how things usually went with secret, if not illegal, government projects. Just look at Root and how it ran for years even after the Sandaime ordered its termination. Not to mention all the TV programs and movies that this world had that depicted the same thing happening all the time.

"No, it wasn't." Yamaki admitted through gritted teeth. A pointed cough from Riley forced the blonde man to take a deep breath and calm down. "It was eventually discovered that one of the Monster Makers continued the work in secret. Unfortunately, at that point time it was far too late; the digital menaces had evolved out of our control and posed too big of a threat to simply ignore."

"Jeez love you too pal." Terriermon said sarcastically.

"So, in response" Yamaki continued, ignoring Terriermon. "Hypnos was created to monitor and control the situation." The blonde agent explained. "Along with our sister organizations in other governments across the world." He added in at the end.

"Wait so there are more of you?" Naruto asked, getting horrifying image of multiple Yamaki's in his head.

"What did you think we did this all on our own?" Yamaki returned with a raised eyebrow. "Or that Japan was the only place in the world experiencing this problem. Though for whatever reason we seem to be at the epicenter of this crisis."

'Gee I wonder why' Everyone thought, Naruto and Riley staring at Yamaki blankly with the others more than likely giving the phone the same look, with only the Tamers and their Digimon knowing the other reason why was currently laughing his head off outside.

A thoughtful hum came over the phone after a second of silence. "That would make sense," Henry murmured thoughtfully. "But does that mean that there are other Digimon Tamers in the world?" The half-Chinese Tamer asked curiously.

"No," Yamaki answered shortly with a scowl. By his tone it was hard to tell if the man was happy about that or not. "At least not from any reports that I've received." There was always the inter-agency bull crap and red tape, especially between agencies of different governments across the world, so it wouldn't surprise Yamaki if there were things, he wasn't being made aware of.

"Ok," Naruto said. "So, I get the history of Digimon, the existence of your organization, and the fact that Digimon aren't just appearing here in Japan, and that there might even be other Tamers out there in the world. What I don't get is why you called for this meeting."

Behind his shades Yamaki rolled his eyes, it's not like he was the one that kept drawing things out by asking questions. It was only the fact he could feel Riley's pointed stare drilling into the back of his head reminding him to be nice that kept Yamaki from calling the blonde in front of him out on it. "Because ever since you and your little friends got yourselves involved in things you can't even begin to understand things have spiraled out of control. The idea of secrecy is all but shot."

"Excuse me! Secrecy?!" Rika's voice shouted through Naruto's phone. "This is coming from the guy who not only thought it was a good idea to tear a giant hole in the sky, but is also responsible for Ultimate level Digimon coming through now."

"She does have a point." Riley mumbled lowly but still more then loud enough for Yamaki to hear.

"Regardless." Yamaki continued. "Digimon went from being a fantasy to the mad ravings of conspiracy theorists to rumors that more and more people are believing by the day. At this rate it won't be long before people are flocking to the city in search of these monsters."

"That's bad." Naruto muttered in realization. Having to deal with the Yamaki and the Devas was already troublesome Naruto could only imagine how much worse things would be with wild Digimon popping up and people deliberately searching for them. Not only that but Naruto was sure that eventually there would be those who would come to Shinjuku in order to hunt Digimon either for sport, profit, or to experiment on them. In either case Naruto knew that it was something that he and the others would have to stop and/or prevent.

"That would be putting it mildly. At least you're starting to realize just how grave the situation really is." Yamaki voiced sourly before letting out a sigh. "So, for the sake of every human's safety I am telling you all once more to stop interfering and let me deal with the digital threat." He said rather forcefully.

Naruto stared back at the man, and if not for his shades would have stared directly into Yamaki's eyes, it wasn't long before Yamaki got his answer. "That's not happening," Naruto flat out told him. "Guys?" He asked the others.

"Like you even have to ask." Rika answered haughtily. The others also made it plainly clear that they weren't about to step aside and let Yamaki do whatever he wanted.

"Well, there's your answer." Naruto stated standing up from his chair. "Is there anything else?" He asked to see if Yamaki had any other business with him only for the older man to shake his head in the negative. "See ya around Agent-San." The shinobi told the man as he left, Riley escorting him out.

When she eventually returned to Yamaki's office Riley was surprised to find it everything still in one piece, having honestly expected Yamaki to start throwing things around in a fit of rage. Instead, she found the man leaning back in his chair staring up at the ceiling, almost looking like he was relaxing, and not even opening and closing his lighter as was his normal habit. "So," She began tentatively. "Did that meeting go as you expected?"

Turning to face his most trusted confidant Yamaki did nothing to hide the self-satisfied smirk that crossed his face. "Actually, it went exactly how I expected." He assured her.

Riley stared at Yamaki stupefied. In all honesty, Riley thought her question would be what finally caused Yamaki to snap and start shouting at her. "Okay," Riley said exasperatedly after a moment utter silence, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You're going to have to explain this one to me."

"It's simple Riley," Yamaki started. "You've heard the expression that Rome wasn't built in a day."

"Of course." Riley stated obviously. As far as expressions went that one was one of the most common.

"The whole point of today wasn't to get Uzumaki and his friends to back off. It was to lay the ground work for the future." The blonde agent continued before letting out a sigh. "As much as I might hate to admit it the fact remains that those brats and their pets are the only ones who have been able to do anything about the wild ones that have come into this world. Even the one that we managed to capture was only because it was first weakened by one of them before we intervened."

"What are you saying?" Riley asked with a raised eyebrow. "That you're planning on relying on those kids to deal with the problem?"

"Hardly." Yamaki answered immediately with a scoff. "What kind of adult relies on children to solve their problems for them?" He asked her back rhetorically. "I still have every attention of handling this situation myself. But I am not naïve nor egotistical enough to not have a contingency plan in place."

"Still sounds like you're relying on those kids." Riley pointed out.

"Only as an absolutely last resort." Yamaki countered. "Either way if there is any chance of having Uzumaki and his friends work with us it will only happen if we can build some semblance of a rapport first." The blonde man explained.

"Okay, I think I get it." The woman said thoughtfully going over what happened in the meeting. "That's why you told them about the origins of the Digimon, about the other agencies, and the current situation here and across the world." Riley realized. While it was unlikely that the Tamers knew any of the information that Yamaki had given them in the grand scheme of things it wasn't worth all that much and besides the origins of Digimon everything else was something they could have gathered on their own if they simply gave it a moment of thought. But like Yamaki said this meeting was only meant to set the foundation.

"So now what?" Riley asked her boss after a moment of silence.

Yamaki stared back at Riley through his sunglasses. "We prepare for what's to come." He answered plainly.

"So, what did you guys think?" Naruto asked the others, having re-called the others once he left Hypnos.

"Well, we already knew about the Digimon's origins." Henry muttered thinking about the information that Naruto had gotten when he hacked Hypnos and delayed the activation of Juggernaut.

"We didn't know about the Digimon that were showing up around the world." Takato supplied.

"Which makes sense." Rika reasoned thoughtfully, "I mean Shinjuku is supposed to be the place with the most Digimon activity and until now Digimon being real was nothing but baseless rumors. So of course, we wouldn't hear about Digimon appearing in other parts of the world, especially if there are more agencies like Hypnos out there. It wouldn't surprise me if they had a lot more information then what they've told us either."

"That's another thing." Naruto started, taking a chance to walk into an alleyway before taking off. "When I hacked Hypnos before I didn't find anything on other agencies or even reports of Digimon appearing across the world." He finished, speaking a little louder to be heard over the wind rushing by.

Guilmon's shed

Henry hummed thoughtfully as he considered Naruto's words. "It wouldn't be strange that an organization like Hypnos would have information on a closed system to keep from being hacked, or even just keep hard copies." Henry speculated. "Honestly there is probably a lot that Yamaki didn't tell us."

"You think so?" Takato asked.

"Probably." Henry answered with a sheepish smile, after all this was all just conjecture and he could be wrong.

"I could always sneak in and find out." Naruto offered. "With my shinobi training and hacking ability I could get into anything." He claimed proudly.

"As good as an idea that might be," Henry deadpanned, "How about we don't break into a government building."

"Oh, come on Henry." Terriermon whined. "Where is your sense of adventure? Breaking into a government building, infiltrating some top-secret organization, and stealing classified information is like something out of a spy movie!"

"Excuse me? We frequently protect the city from Digimon that could destroy it alongside our own Digimon partners and a superpowered ninja from another dimension. I think that I have more than enough adventure in my life thank you." Henry refuted.

"Take it from someone who has gone on hundreds of adventures," Naruto said, his voice coming from outside causing the others to turn their heads to see that the blonde shinobi had arrived, ending the phone call. "You can never have enough adventure in your life."

"You can if you're sane." Rika said sarcastically.

"Ri-Chaaan!" Naruto whined childishly causing the others to laugh.

"Either way," Renamon spoke up for the first time drawing everyone's attention to her. "Whether Yamaki was telling us the truth or not we should take it with a grain of salt." The digital kitsune stated.

"Do you think he was lying?" Rika questioned her partner, not that she really disagreed with her.

"I'm not sure." Renamon admitted. "All we know about the man is that he has a great dislike of Digimon and what I know is that no one, be they human or Digimon, are one dimensional. Whatever drives him will ultimately decide whether he can be trusted or if he will betray us at his earliest convenience." She voiced thoughtfully the others not being able but to agree with her assessment.

The following weeks Naruto and the others had to admit that Yamaki had been right as it wasn't hard to see the increased activity of people with cameras systematically searching the entire city for Digimon. Luckily no actual Digimon had appeared since Pajiramon and Vajramon so things had been relatively quiet.

To help dispel the rumors of Digimon in Shinjuku everyone, Naruto, the other Tamers, and their classmates that knew the truth, posted fake reports on the net of Digimon sightings, Naruto going as far as transforming into some Digimon to lend credibility to their claims, only to then to be "exposed" as a hoax once enough people had started to show up. It got to be sort of a game at one point; someone would suggest a Digimon for Naruto to turn into and then see how many people ended up coming. Unsurprisingly the most people appeared when a sexy Digimon like Angewoman or LadyDevimon was reported.

Also, unsurprising most of those people tended to be men.

"So, I've been thinking." Takato started one day. "Besides crushing peoples hopes and dreams of seeing real Digimon is there a point to this? I mean I understand why we are doing it but won't people just start coming back when another Digimon does show up?" The Virus Tamer questioned.

"The Goggle-head has a point." Rika muttered out her agreement. "And the Devas haven't exactly been subtle when they've attacked." She continued, "When that happens people are going to be flooding back into the city and, as stupid as people can be sometimes, eventually someone will figure out that our sightings are intentionally bogus."

"They're right." Henry added in his own agreement, hand resting against his chin thoughtfully. "At best this is just a stop gap measure, but until the next big bio-emergence I think getting as many of these people out of the city as quickly as possible is for the best." He reasoned.

Later Rika and Naruto were walking to the former's home. For a while now the redhead had been staring at the blonde out of the corner of her eye. "Okay, what's wrong?" She asked him.

The sound of Rika's voice seemed to start Naruto out of his thoughts, blinking a couple of times as he came to full awareness, before turning to face Rika with a bewildered look on his face. "Huh?"

"You've been quiet, way to quiet, since earlier." Rika pointed out before continuing in a whisper. "The last time you were like this was when you decided to tell me about being the Kyuubi. So, what's up?" She asked him once more crossing her arms.

"You know sometimes it could be that I'm being wise and introspective. You never know" Naruto sulked.

"Uh-huh," Rika said unconvinced.

Naruto pouted for a moment before letting out a sigh. "I've been thinking about what you all said, about how what we are doing is only a temporary fix and how eventually everyone will learn the truth." He started.

"Yeah," Rika prompted him.

Naruto let out a heavy sigh as he looked up toward the sky. "If people learn about Digimon then it's only a matter of time before the truth about me gets out." The blonde shinobi voiced.

"What?" Rika uttered flummoxed, cut completely off guard by Naruto's claim having not expected him to say that. "Why?!"

Naruto gave Rika and almost resigned smile. "It's like Yamaki said with each Deva that shows up they get more dangerous, more people are put in danger, and more people inadvertently find out about Digimon because of it."

"So," The female Tamer contested. "No matter who or what shows up we'll stop them. Like always. And we'll do it together." She declared doing her best not to draw any attention from anyone passing by.

Naruto's smile brightened significantly at Rika's declaration. How long ago was it that Rika would have never even thought to say such a thing and now the redhead said it without missing a beat. The changes in Rika might have started with him and their friendship, but it wasn't just about him anymore. Rika had come to accept Renamon as her partner and then friend; she had opened-up to her family and their relationship had gotten better because of it; and though she probably wouldn't be so willing to admit it Rika also considered the others her friends as well. After all Naruto couldn't think of any other reason that Rika would have agreed to tag along on Henry's wild card chase like she did.

"We will." Naruto agreed readily enough, and for a second Rika looked pleased with herself as if sure that she had managed to convince the blonde Tamer's mind only for that look to be wiped away as Naruto continued. "But if people are in danger, then I have to do something to help. Even if that means exposing myself."

"But why?" Rika asked so softly that even Naruto had trouble hearing her.

Naruto took Rika's hand in his as they continued walking. By now the couple were close to the redhead's home and the number of people out was nearly nonexistent, at the very least enough they didn't have to be worried about being accidentally overheard. "I trained day and night for years all for the sake of protecting my home and the people I care about." Naruto answered. "That's what it meant to me to be a shinobi of Konoha and its Hokage."

"This isn't Konoha!" Rika argued with a shake of her head. "And you aren't the Hokage!" She says frustrated raising her voice until she was nearly shouting as she snatched her hand away. "So don't act like you are!"

For a second Naruto just looked at Rika in surprise as it had been a while since she had spoken to him with any real anger in her voice, but then Rika's words registered and a frown spread across his face. "I know that I never became Hokage but that doesn't change the fact it was my dream and all I wanted to be." Naruto argued back. "It's who I am!"

"No, it's not!" Rika shouted. "You're a Tamer now. We might protect the city from rogue Digimon like the Deva's but our Digimon are the ones are who are supposed to fight them! You don't have too."

"Even when I can do something to protect everyone in the city?!" Naruto shouted back in increasing frustration. "You know the things that I can do. I fought IceDevimon when he went after you remember?!"

"That's different." Rika refuted shaking her head vehemently. "I know that your strong, stronger than any of us, but you're talking about revealing what you can do to the world. There is no way that entire governments, entire nations, won't come after you if you do that."

"So, what, am I supposed to just hide away like a coward, even when people are in danger?" The blonde Tamer demanded.

"What you're not supposed to be is reckless and stupid by painting a giant target on your back!" The redhead yelled before she spun around and stomped away.

For moment Naruto watched Rika leave before he let out a roar of frustration. "Renamon!" Naruto barked the digital vixen appearing in front of him not even a second later.

"Yes?" The yellow furred Digimon questioned evenly.

Naruto took a deep breath and then let out. "Will you make sure that Rika gets home safely?" He asked her.

"Of course," Renamon answered sounding a little affronted that Naruto even had to ask such a thing. Without another word Renamon disappeared to ensure her Tamer's safety.

With another sigh Naruto left for his apartment.

Seiko was engrossed watching one of her shows in the living room of her home that the sound of the front door slamming shut startled her causing her to jump slightly. Looking at a nearby clock told her that it was around the time that her granddaughter and Naruto usually came home. Which made the slamming of doors and rather loud footsteps all the more concerning. Moving to see what was the cause Seiko found her granddaughter looking like she was in an absolutely foul mood with no sign whatsoever of the whiskered Uzumaki. With a very short and terse "I'm home." Rika went straight for her room. With a slight frown and furrowed brows Seiko waited for a moment hoping that Naruto would soon show up to help explain what caused her granddaughter to be in such a foul mood. But after a couple of minutes the grandmother had to accept that Naruto wasn't coming and might be the reason that Rika was so upset.

With a sigh Seiko ventured toward her granddaughter's room knocking gently. "Rika," Seiko called gently.

"I'm fine just leave me alone." Came Rika's immediate response.

Seiko couldn't help but let out another sigh. Rika's answer and the tone that she used reminded Seiko of how her granddaughter was before she met Naruto and she hoped that, no matter what was going on between them right now, Rika wouldn't end up reverting to how she was back then. So, despite Rika's insistence to be left alone Seiko opened the door. What she found was her granddaughter sitting at the low table, digivice and cards haphazardly thrown on it.

Rika turned to face her grandmother with an angry expression on her face. "I said I wanted to be left alone." She told her tersely.

Seiko looked at the young girl sadly, this really was a horrible reminder of how thing used to be. But it was also a sign of how much things had changed from before. Once Rika had erected impregnatable walls around her heart that kept everyone out. But now those same walls that she was trying to hide behind once more had more than just few cracks in them. As much as her granddaughter tried put up a façade of being angry and wanting to be alone her eyes conveyed how truly miserable, she was currently feeling. "Rika, sweetheart, what's the matter?" Seiko asked tenderly. "Where's Naruto?" Seiko was sure that she was poking the hornet's nest by asking that but she wanted to get to the heart of the problem.

While Rika didn't immediately offer an explanation the way that she clenched her fists tightly at least told Seiko that whatever had her granddaughter upset definitely involved Naruto. "It's nothing," Rika maintained, though her voice wavered ever so slightly and her body shook. "It's stupid." She quickly relented.

Seiko let out a sigh as she drew closer. "I'm afraid that's to be expected when dealing with boys." She told her granddaughter. "I can't even begin to tell you of all the headaches that your grandfather and father caused your mother and I." The grandmother revealed as she took a seat next to Rika, close enough that her granddaughter could draw comfort from her presence but without making Rika feel like she was being smothered, but despite her words she had a smile on her face. With that kind smile she continued "But I can tell you from years of experience that it usually helps to talk about whatever they did to get you so upset. If for no other reason than to just get it off your chest." Seiko advised.

Rika's brows furrowed in thought as her eyes darted about as she came to a decision. At first Rika was hesitant but once she started it all came spilling out and through it all Seiko just listened patiently as she gathered her granddaughter's cards and stacked them neatly. Even so she listened to what Rika had to say what Naruto was willing to do and the fears that they incited in the young girl. It wasn't an especially long tirade but it still left Rika feeling a little drained by the time that she finished.

"I see," Seiko murmured after the redhead finished. "Then I suppose this would mark your twos first fight." She said with an almost whimsical laugh.

"A fight," Rika muttered despondently. "Yeah, I guess that's what it was."

Noting how Rika's mood seemed to drop Seiko drew closer and brought her granddaughter into a light hug in order to offer her some comfort. "Come now there is no need for that. Everything is going to be alright." Seiko promised the young redhead.

"Will it?" Rika questioned. "We've never fought before. The closest we came to it was when I said that I hated Digimon and made Renamon leave. Even then it's not like we actually fought at any point. He took me out the next day and we just hung out like nothing had really changed. But today, today was different, we yelled at each other and then went our separate ways. Right now, it doesn't feel like everything is going to be alright."

"I know that it might seem like that way right now but it will." Seiko reassured her. "What you have to remember Rika is that all couples fight eventually, it's an inevitability, what matters is what you do from here." She told the younger woman. As much as people romanticized young love the drama created by hormone addled teen minds tended to even things out. But if Naruto and her granddaughter weren't going to work out Seiko was going to make sure it wasn't because they were stupid teenagers.

"What… I do… from here?" The redhead Tamer asked confused.

Seiko nodded in response. "I don't believe that there is anything inherently wrong with a couple that argues with one another." Seiko gave her opinion. "People don't argue just because you tell them too, they argue because they feel strongly about what they are fighting about. A couple that never argues is a couple that never talks about anything real." (1)

Rika frowned but she had to admit that what her grandmother was saying did at least make some sense.

"When you fought today it was because Naruto was willing to put his life on the line for the sake of others." Rika's grandmother reminded her. "But why? From the beginning you knew what kind of person Naruto was. You told me and your mother how Naruto fought that one Digimon, IceDevimon, that was stalking you himself."

Rika shuddered at the memory of the fallen angel Digimon. "That… that was different." Rika argued weakly.

Seiko drew her granddaughter into a comforting hug. "I understand. And you can't even begin to imagine how grateful I am for what Naruto did, saving you." Drawing back Seiko gave Rika a warm smile. "But I'm guessing if things are different now it's because of your feelings for Naruto." The grandmother claimed.

With a blush on her cheeks Rika contemplated her grandmother's words. In the fights that Renamon had against Dokugumon, Harpymon, and Mihiramon the fox Digimon had come close to being deleted and Rika had of course been worried about Renamon, even back when their relationship wasn't exactly the best, but afterwards she never hesitated or was afraid for the next time that Renamon would have to fight. 'So is the reason I'm afraid now really because I…' Rika thought her blush darkening as she let the thought trail off.

"You're worried about Naruto's safety." Seiko said drawing Rika out of her thoughts. "And Naruto wants to be the protector that he has always been. But this isn't the sort of thing that either of you will be able to just brush off and I'm afraid if you two don't talk about this it might affect your relationship going forward."

Rika stared at her grandmother brow furrowed in worry. "Do you think we'd break up over this?" She questioned the older woman.

Seiko gave a single nod of her head before answering. "It might be a possibility." Seiko admitted. "But what I'm most worried about is that this might even be the end of your friendship." The grandmother stated voicing her concerns.

Eyes widening in shock Rika let out a surprised, "What?" as the chance that she and Naruto could stop being friends never even crossed her mind. As horrible as it would be for her relationship with Naruto to suddenly come to an end like that the chance that he wouldn't even be her friend because of this fight made things so much worse.

"Like I said this is important, for both of you, and what decision you make now will determine what will happen. What you two will have to decide is if you two can't come to an understanding is if this fight is worth things coming to an end." Seiko told her granddaughter.

With those last parting words Seiko left her granddaughter alone so she could think about things.

'Please make it end,' Takato found himself praying to any higher power that was willing to listen as he sat at his desk at school. Now a student wishing for the end of the school day wasn't at all strange or a unique thing. Yet what was different was how everyone, including his Ms. Asaji, was praying for the same thing. Well with a sole exception and the reason for everyone's pleas, Naruto Uzumaki.

Now Naruto wasn't doing anything in particular to cause such a reaction in everyone. In fact, the blonde Tamer was simply sitting at his desk and staring out the window as he had been since arriving that morning. Under normal circumstances having a student not pay attention to her lesson so blatantly would result in drawing Ms. Asaji ire, but even the teacher was turning out unwilling to disturb the young Uzumaki.

If Takato didn't know better he would compare it to when Naruto exposed him and the others to his killing intent, but this was fundamentally different. Primarily was the fact that Takato didn't feel like he was going to die at any second. Also, that when Naruto unleashed his KI it would feel like the air would grow heavy and bare down on them.

But rather than the happy and exuberant Naruto Uzumaki that they were all used too Naruto was quiet and distant. And they all definitely felt it.

Obviously Takato wanted to ask his friend what was wrong and he every intention to doing that at his earliest opportunity… only to chicken out at the last second every time.

'I don't deserve to wear my goggles.' Takato thought desolately

Digidestined of Courage he was not.

Ultimately Takato decided if he couldn't be brave like Tai then he'd emulate the Digidestined of Knowledge, Izzy, and be smart about it.

'I guess I'll just leave talking to him to Henry.'

By passing the buck.

After school

"Okay, let's try this again, what's going?" Henry asked of Takato again with a heavy sigh after the brunette did a spectacularly horrible job of explaining himself the first time. With a sheepish smile the Virus Tamer took a breath before retelling Henry how Naruto had been acting the whole day. "So why didn't you talk to him?" The blue haired Tamer questioned.

"Uh…well I-I just you know." Takato stammered. "I was going to but…"

"Right," Henry drawled with a deadpan, ignoring the bawk bawk coming from a nearby tree as Takato at least had the decency to look sheepish. "Well, have you tried calling Rika? Maybe she knows what's wrong with him." The half-Chinese teen suggested.

Takato's eyes widened in dawning realization. "Oh, yeah." He spoke. If anyone knew what was wrong with Naruto then it'd definitely be Rika. "Do you think her school's let out?" The brunette wondered as he pulled out his phone. After the whole incident with Sandiramon the Tamers made sure to have each other's numbers in case they needed to contact each other for an emergency.

Henry shrugged his shoulders as he began moving in the direction of the park, Terriermon coming down from the tree that he was in to land on his Tamer's shoulder. "Well Naruto does usually go and meet up with Rika right after school, right? So, her school probably ends not long after ours." Henry theorized.

"Well, that makes sense." Takato mumbled dialing Rika's number.

A couple of rings later and Takato heard the line connecting. "What do you want Goggle-head?" Came Rika's clipped answer.

"Oh, uh," Came the brunette's response caught off guard by how short Rika was being. The redhead was far from the warm and welcoming type but Takato had at least gotten used to her being patient with them, if not a little sarcastic at times.

"Spit it out Takato or I'm hanging up." Rika warned the Virus Tamer.

"No, wait sorry!" Takato got out in a hurry before Rika made good on her threat. "Listen today at school Naruto was acting really wei-"

-Click-

"-rd." The brunette finished lamely before pulling the phone away to look at it dumbly. "She hung up." He stated obviously.

Henry gave his friend a strained smile. "Normally I'd say that was strange but…" the bluenette trailed off.

"But it's Rika." Terriermon continued in his Tamer's stead. "It would have been weirder if she didn't. I'm kinda surprised that she stayed on as long as she did."

"You think so?" Takato questioned, giving his phone a curious look. "I don't know it kind of felt like Rika was acting a little odd too. Like back when we all first met."

Terriermon waved off the brunette's concerns. "Come on Takato your just imaging things. If that was true then there is no way that Rika would have even answered."

"I guess." Takato agreed absentmindedly before looking over at the pair. "Do you think this has anything to do with why Naruto was acting the way he was? Maybe they got in a fight or something." The crimson eyed Tamer suggested, not noticing the way that Henry tensed at his idea. "If we talk to them, we can figure things out and get them to stop fighting."

"No."

"Huh?"

"No, no, no, no, no. Nope. No." Henry rambled, turning his back on Takato, and walking away at a brisk pace to the befuddlement of the brunette Tamer.

"Henry!" Takato called out to his retreating friend having to practically chase after the blue haired teen. "What's-"

"No." Henry stated cutting Takato off. "If they're having problems, I'm not going to get in the middle of them. Not again." The half-Chinese Tamer claimed with a slight quiver to his voice.

"Again?" Takato questioned with a tilt of his head.

Henry turned to look at Takato with a look of utter disbelief written plainly across his face. "Having you seriously forgotten what happened the last time we got involved in Naruto and Rika's relationship, the pranks that Naruto pulled on us." Henry demanded.

For a second Takato's expression became completely blank as Henry's words registered in his mind. Then the memory came back of the trick that Naruto had played on him. In all honesty Takato knew that Naruto could have done something much worse than just make him cosplay as Kari but it was not the sort of thing Takato wanted to have to deal with a second time. "Yeah, you have a good point." The brunette agreed. "But maybe we can ask Renamon what's going on?" He suggested.

Henry wore an unsure look as he answered, "Maybe." It's not like he wasn't concerned for his friends and if things were bad, he was going to get involved no matter the consequences, but if it was something personal between Rika and Naruto he didn't want to go sticking his nose where it didn't belong either. "Well, I guess we can at least talk to her. I mean it's not like we can make Renamon tell us anything if she doesn't want to." Henry relented.

"Right," Takato readily agreed a smile quickly spreading across his face.

"And how are we supposed to find Renamon to talk to her?" Terriermon questioned the two teens causing them to still. "It's not like we can just ask Rika to call Renamon so we can talk. Rika would know why right away and refuse." The small Digimon pointed out.

Turning to look at one another Takato and Henry had to admit that Terriermon was right and things wouldn't be at all easy for them.

Rika stared at the device in her hand having just finished her phone conversation with Takato with a troubled expression. The redhead stood just outside the gates of her school though she was the only person in the immediate area. Classes had ended for the day a good fifteen minutes ago and while she had gotten more than a few odd looks from her schoolmates, as they walked by her, Rika had ignored them as best she could as she waited. She didn't care what the other girls thought, or what her standing around might imply, but as the minutes ticked by it became obvious that what, or rather who, she was waiting for wasn't going to show up.

"He's really not coming." The redhead muttered to herself.

Now this would hardly be the first time that Rika had walked home on her own, and she didn't doubt that this would be the last, but Naruto had at least let her know he wouldn't be there since they started dating. As it stood the amethyst eyed girl's only hope was that Naruto would be waiting for her back at her home and even then, Rika seriously doubted the likelihood of that.

"So, he had a bad day at school today?" Rika murmured to herself as she finally started to make her way home. "At least I wasn't the only one."

It's like they say misery loves company.

Not that far away, the rooftop of Rika's school actually, Naruto watched as the redheaded Tamer began her journey home having been watching over the girl from the beginning.

"You know," Renamon started from behind the blonde shinobi. "If circumstances were different this would be quite concerning." She pointed out. Naruto chose to ignore her taking a few more seconds to take in Rika's form before he made his own way home. With a heavy sigh Renamon shook her head in disbelief. "Humans are so confusing. If you are so angry with Rika that you are refusing to talk to her, why are you here?" She questioned the teen.

"Just because I'm mad doesn't mean anything has changed." Naruto answered his back still to her. "Rika is still my friend. Someone I consider precious and that I care about."

"Then why avoid her?" Renamon pressed only a day and the digital kitsune could see how disheartened Rika was acting.

"Because it's Rika." Naruto retorted nearly snapping at the yellow furred Digimon. "Because it's Rika I need her to understand what, what she said means to me!" The blonde shinobi told her his form nearly shaking in frustration. "I know that I'm not the Hokage and that I'll never become the Hokage now and I've accepted it. At least I thought I did." Naruto said, a trace of melancholy in his voice, his shoulders dropping. "But having Rika of all people point it out…" He trailed off. Naruto really thought that he had come terms with everything months ago, but a couple of careless words from the redhead seemed had opened old wounds.

"So, this is you trying to punish her." Renamon claimed disapprovingly.

Naruto finally turned to face Renamon with a glare that caused the digital kitsune to flinch a little. "Of course not." The shinobi refuted unyieldingly.

"Humans make absolutely no sense." Renamon muttered to herself, shaking her head once more. "Then what exactly are you trying to accomplish with this?" Renamon demanded. "You said you wanted Rika to understand but just what does that mean?"

"I've told you what it means to be Hokage before right?" Naruto asked her instead.

Renamon nodded her head. "The Hokage is the strongest shinobi and leader of your home village." She answered.

"Yeah, but there is more to it than that." Naruto confirmed before continuing. "When I was a younger, I wanted to become the Hokage because they were the strongest in the whole village and everyone had to respect them."

"That… seems a little shallow for you." Renamon admitted after a moment of silence. She literally could not picture a Naruto who would want to become the leader of his village solely so people would be forced to respect him.

Naruto nodded his with sheepish grin on his face as he rubbed the back of his head. "It was Hokage-Jiji who showed me that a Hokage was someone who was prepared and willing to give their life for the sake of the village, the villagers, the people they cared about." The shinobi admitted his grin turning small sad smile as he remembered the man. Renamon readily noticed the smile and could just as easily guess exactly what happened to the man. "From then being Hokage to me wasn't about just being the strongest or having the villagers' respect. It was about being someone others could rely on to lead the way forward and clear the path ahead so it's easy for those following behind them. My dream to be Hokage is why I am who I am."

"I see," Renamon murmured. How Naruto was now describing what it meant to him to be Hokage aligned much better with her impression of the blonde Kyuubi. "And this dream, these ideals, are they worth risking what you have with Rika?"

The silence that followed was almost deafening.

"Maybe."

AN: This did not turn out like I thought it would. When I first started writing I seriously thought it was going to go the same way it did when Naruto revealed that he was the Kyuubi, but as I was writing things just sort of escalated. I don't necessarily think what I wrote was too far off character for Naruto. At his core was Naruto's dream to be Hokage and all the experiences that shaped him and made him who he was stemmed from what it meant and takes to be his ideal version of a Hokage. Besides Tsunade, back when she was only a stranger to Naruto, I don't think anyone has been that dismissive of the Hokage in front of Naruto let alone someone that he cared about. Or at least that was the impression that I was trying to give of Rika at that moment. She's obviously aware that it was his dream but being from a different world she can't really understand what it means. The best comparison I can think of to what I'm trying to say, without any disrespect meant, would be a veteran telling a civilian like me what they went through in war. Knowing about something and understanding it are just two completely different things.

The delay in posting this was mostly because after so long I chose to reread the earlier chapters to refresh myself with everything that I wrote so I could keep things consistent. From there it was just work, procrastination, and reading updates of other writer's works.

This all resulted in a shorter chapter with a too good cliffhanger to pass up. Besides having rewatched the next two episodes I realized there wasn't much going on with them. This gives me more to work with in the next chapter.

Something that I've noticed in a lot of fanfictions, not all, is that the couples don't ever seem to fight or even argue. That to me seems a little unrealistic to me. Now while I obviously believe that couples argue that doesn't mean that I condone a toxic relationship where one or both parties suffer physical, mental, or emotional abuse. Or a relationship where all they do is fight. In those cases, I'd hope people would do their best to get help and put an end to such a relationship.

With this chapter over I'll be turning most of my attention to Crimson Knightmare while working on Twin Star on the side. At 5000 words I can't really say when it will be done but I don't plan on it being a short chapter, but then again, this one wasn't meant to either.

Please remember to review.