Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Those Sakura Moments

A Digimon Tamers fic by: Crazyeight

Takato picked up the bread dough and flipped it over, humming softly to himself as he proceeded to kneed it. Outside, he could hear his father going about the business of manning the cash register – his wife and Takato's mother, Mie Matsuki, having gone out to get some supplies. It comforted the boy to hear the life outside. He didn't mind the quiet so much, but of late he felt more comfortable with activity bustling around him.

The chief source of which sat across from him, parked on a stool with long claws covered with thick strands of gooey dough, and gold-colored eyes framed by a crimson-scaled reptilian face, looking at the mess with a mixture of confusion and frustration.

"Having a hard time there, boy?" Takato grinned sympathetically as he flipped his own dough back over again, recalling memories from his first time trying to bake. The red dinosaur – a digital life form known as Guilmon – nodded in exasperation.

"My claws are all sticky," he whined, showing the mess off to the boy, his claws flexing. Takato gave a light laugh at that.

"You must not have used enough flour. Why don't you take a second to do that before you make things harder on yourself?"

"Okay!"

Moving quickly and excitedly, eager to get it right this time, Guilmon reached over to grab the open bag of flour and lifted it over his pile of dough…and emptied the totality of its contents with one, heavy thump onto the counter.

"Ah! Guilmon!" Takato exclaimed as a thick cloud of flour billowed up over the dinosaur. Gold eyes blinked behind the fine layer of white settling over his face. Nostrils twitched in surprise and he inhaled.

Big mistake.

"No Guilmon," Takato pleaded as the dinosaur's face scrunched up. "Don't…!"

It was too late. With a mighty sneeze, the crimson reptile blasted the contents of his mess all over Takato's front before he could even get a chance to react. A moment of silence hung in the air as the two stared at each other in bewilderment and, on Takato's part, resignation until, finally, words heavy and deadpan behind flour encrusted skin, Takato spoke.

"Gesundheit."

As if on a signal, the two partners broke out into laughter, loud and long, prompting Takato's father, Takehiro, to poke his head in with raised eyebrows. Upon seeing the condition his son and his digital companion were in, he sighed and shook his head.

"Takato…" he began.

"Sorry Dad," the boy quickly apologized, already attempting to reign in his laughter. "Teaching Guilmon how to bake bread is…kind of turning out to be harder than I thought it'd be."

"I sneezed and everything went poof!" Guilmon exclaimed, throwing his massive arms to the side for emphasis. His ears wilted as the full weight of his accidents came down on him and he drew his arms together, clutching the empty flour bag close to his chest.

"I'm sorry I wasted so much flour."

Takehiro sighed and shook his head.

"We'll talk about it later. In the meantime…" The man cocked his head to one side, indicating the store area. "There's someone here to see you."

Raising an eyebrow, Takato stepped around the counter along with Guilmon and upon reaching the kitchen door they found, standing at the register, was a familiar fiery-haired girl with striking violet-eyes and a large, purple heart emblazoned on her shirt. Standing next to her was a tall, bipedal fox with golden fur and purple armguards.

From long association, this last was considerably less strange than the heart insignia on the girl's shirt, though Takato had time to get used to it.

"Rika! Renamon!" Takato exclaimed happily, a bright smile blooming on his face upon sighting the pair. Seeing them, Rika looked her two friends up and down, her eyes a mixture of surprise and worry at the sight of the state they were in. A smirk began to tug at the corners of her mouth, making it clear that she was repressing a smile, having guessed what had happened.

"Never a dull moment with you, is it, Takato? Should I get a broom and dustpan for you?"

"Very funny," Takato laughed, taking off his work-bandanna, revealing the mop that was his brown hair, clean despite its chaotic appearance, and standing out in stark contrast to the rest of his current condition.

"I thought so," the fire-haired girl quipped, her expression playful and at ease before she glanced at Takehiro. "When would be a good time for me to borrow him?"

"Borrow me?" Takato blinked while his father rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"I can let him go after he cleans himself up." He paused and looked at his son with a touch of amusement. "Are you almost done in there?"
"Ah…Yeah!" the boy's head bobbed up and down in response. "Just about. I only need to set the dough aside to rise and…well, there's Guilmon's mess to clean up too…"

Reaching out, Takehiro patted his son's flour-covered shoulder, sending small puffs of white into the air.

"Tell you what," he grinned. "You pick up a new bag of flour before you get home and I'll take care of what's in there, okay?"

"Um… Are you sure that's okay?" Takato asked uncertainly. He hated to just abandon his responsibilities, even if he were given permission to do so.

"Son," Takehiro began in a softer, whispering tone, leaning forward so that the boy could hear him. "You'll understand when you're older, but believe me when I say, when a woman calls, you jump."

Takato could only stare at his father in confusion before, finally, giving up on trying to understand what the older man was talking about. Scratching the back of his head, he turned to Rika and smiled.

"Okay. I'll…ah…be with you in a second, Rika."

"I'll give you two seconds on account of Dino-boy," Rika smiled in return, folding her arms over her chest. "Just don't take too long."

Snapping the self-styled 'Digimon Queen' a salute, the boy and his dragon – the two of whom were capable of uniting into a knight in shining armor – turned and disappeared up the stairs to shower.

###

Takato and Guilmon rejoined Rika in record time, and with a quick goodbye on Takato's part and a promise to bring him back in one piece on Rika's, the group set off, Renamon vanishing into thin air while Guilmon followed close by from behind.

"So what's up?" Takato asked, a bit curious. "I mean, it's always great to see you, Rika, but you sounded like you needed me for something."

Rika glanced at him briefly before continuing on, her expression thoughtful.

"I just need to pick something up before I headed out," she said. "I don't really need you for anything, but…" She paused. "I did want to talk to you about some things."

That caught Takato's attention. Talk to me about some things?

"Like what?" he prompted as they took a turn and headed in the direction of the subway.

"I'm not talking about it right now," Rika replied a bit sternly as they proceeded down the stairs that led to the subway. Once more, Takato scratched the back of his head, confused.

"Oookay… When, then?" Frowning at her, he tried to work out just what it could be that was on her mind that she might want to talk about, but refused to do so at this time.

"When I'm good and ready!" Rika scowled at him, her eyes flashing irritably. A hurt look crossed her face almost immediately and she looked away. "I'm sorry. Look, can you just…hold off on the twenty questions until I'm ready, okay?"

"Um…sure?" Takato tilted his head to one side before glancing at Guilmon in confusion, wondering again what it could possibly be. Rika rarely beat around the bush when it came to voicing her thoughts on any particular subject. She didn't mince words much on the grounds she thought it dishonest, and she hated waiting to make her voice heard on a matter she considered important.

This is the most…not-Rika-like thing I've ever seen from her, he thought as they grabbed a subway car, Guilmon earning him more than a few odd looks along the way. He couldn't think of a single thing that might cause her to be like this.

Well…I mean besides a few things, he thought, remembering an incident on a digimon known as Locomon where he bore witness to her first singing and then a desire to sing, all the while as a Parasimon controlled her mind.

"You promised me we'd stay for the sunset…"

Looking back, things that lay close to the heart were always hard for Rika to give voice to. It took her forever to admit that she cared about Renamon, and when our partners were forced to return to the digital world, she closed up bad. And then, when she heard about her father dying…

He remembered coming to visit her and finding her coming back from the funeral, dressed in black and an expression that had been blank until she saw him, upon which anger quickly dominated her face. Rika hadn't shared that information with anyone – hadn't wanted to – so it came as a complete surprise to discover this, much to her displeasure.

Once again, the stupid Gogglehead stumbled his way into learning something about her that she rather no one did.

Is that what's going on here? he wondered. Does she want to tell me something, but it's hard to do because it involves something important to her? His crimson eyes fell on the full-heart on her shirt as they took their seats. He remembered the surprise he felt upon seeing her wear it for the first time – a change from the broken-heart she had worn previously. An awkward moment, to be sure, as she had caught him staring, but he couldn't help but take notice of it.

A fact that she made quite clear by asking him if he of all people thought it looked good on her.

"Now it's my turn to ask what's up," Rika began, fixing him with a raised eyebrow. "You're staring. Do I have peanut butter on me or something?"

Blushing suddenly, Takato yanked his eyes away, realizing he was staring again.

Why do I let myself get into these things? he berated himself as he shook his head in negation to Rika's question.

"N-Nothing," he stammered out. "Don't worry about it."

"Well, whatever it was, it seems to have you worried, so now I'm worried." She glanced down at herself, wondering if there was a stain on her shirt before she focused on the heart symbol. As if she also remembered that horribly awkward moment down in the tunnels, she shifted and folded her arms together – not hiding the heart – and blushed lightly.

"Gogglehead," she muttered in annoyance. "Does this shirt bug you or something?"

"Huh? No!" Takato's head whipped back to her. "I-I like it! I think it looks great on you. I…"

Oh man… he thought, half in panic as he saw the red creep along Rika's face. Rubbing the back of his head in utter embarrassment, he looked away, his own cheeks flaming now.

"There's no way I can say anything without sounding weird, is there?"

Rika shifted in her seat.

"You were fine," she muttered.

"Huh?"

"I said you were fine!" the girl snapped, the tips of her ears looking like hot irons now. "You didn't say anything weird."

Takato blinked, having not expected that.

"Oh… Okay…"

"But…you make things weird," she grumbled, shifting again.

Takato found himself relaxing a little at that. That seemed more like normal.

"Sorry," he replied, barking a laugh, threading his hands together. Rika gave him an odd look.

"And you apologize way too much."

"Sorry." This time, Takato flashed Rika an embarrassed, but cheesy grin, causing Rika to roll her eyes at his joke.

"Wow, Rika," Guilmon observed with a laugh of his own, pointing a claw at her. "You should really see your face now. You look like you're about to digivolve into me. Why do you always get like that whenever Takato says you look nice. He's only being honest."

"Guilmon…" Takato began, only for Rika to fix the crimson dinosaur with a hard look.

"I am not answering that question, Dinoboy."

"I think that's our cue to stop talking, boy," Takato quickly interjected, reaching out to pat the dinosaur's back. Guilmon's ears wilted a little, looking utterly dejected.

"Ohhh… Okay."

An awkward silence fell between them, leaving the boy to wonder what was going on with Rika once more and why she wanted him with her? To talk to him he knew, but what about?

She sure is acting funny about it, whatever it is, he thought. It's like she's nervous about whatever's on her mind.

He focused on that. Rika, nervous about something? It was hard to imagine, though he had seen it before during a time she and her digimon partner, Renamon, were having trouble. Even to this day, he didn't understand everything that went on between them, but he knew that Rika had been worried a great deal, but had a hard time admitting it.

Was that the same situation here?

Is there something she doesn't want to admit?

He scraped the flint in his mind and a spark flew, catching tinder. He almost had it…

"Here's our stop," Rika announced, hopping out of her seat as the subway train came to a halt. Broken out of his thoughts, Takato quickly fell into step beside her, Guilmon following closely behind. They chatted a little bit as the boy followed the girl, discussing the latest digimon cards and tactics; Takato wondering if Henry would let him play the latest installation of Digimon World, all the while his questions nagging at the back of his mind. Scrape against the flint some more. Send out more sparks…

They were standing in front of a flower shop.

"This place?" Takato asked as Rika pulled open the door.

"Yep," the girl nodded as Guilmon tested the air with his nose, sighing in contentment at the sweet smells held within. "Something wrong?"

"No, it's just…not what I expected."

Rika shrugged as they stepped inside. "Grandma's been teaching me some things about Hanakotoba. I'm…kind of thinking about giving it a try in this case."

"This case?" Takato raised an eyebrow at that. Another scrape, and this time the sparks grew brighter. The conversation about Rika's shirt on the subway flew through his mind as he began to make the connections.

Rika's nervous about talking to me about something… She got embarrassed because I like her shirt… Flower shop…

Gears were turning now, a technological upgrade from his earlier, stone age mind.

"Yeah, my 'errand,'" Rika repeated, taking no notice of a luminescent blush breaking out across her friend's face. As he watched, she approached the counter and the man behind it nodded to her.

"Can I help you with anything?"

"Yeah," the girl nodded in turn. "I'd like to purchase some Suitopi's."

She pronounced the word carefully, and the man nodded. They exchanged a few more details regarding the number and how she would like them, and within short order Rika turned with a small bouquet of purplish-pink flowers in her hands. Her expression was tinted with what appeared to be sadness now, and she brushed a finger over the petals before she approached Takato.

"One more stop," she said. "And then we'll talk."

"O-Okay," came Takato's numb response, a thousand thoughts and even more emotions racing through him as his heart beat a mile a minute.

She couldn't be thinking what he thought she was thinking about doing…could she?

Wordlessly, the three exited the flower shop to their final destination.

###

Of all the places to go, a graveyard is the last I expected, Takato thought with a mixture of curiosity and nervousness. But, all things considered, at least they won't have to go very far to plant me in the ground.

Still, he had to admit it was a nice cemetery. He felt an air of calm that left even Guilmon quiet and at ease, not wanting to disturb the rest of the deceased. If he had to pick a place to go, this one he felt was the perfect place.

Will I dream? he wondered. An image flashed through his mind; a memory of blistering wind and the clacking sound of steel running over tracks, and a cry of surprise as a hand stretched out toward him. Only moments to spare in one that felt like an eternity…

Maybe it's better if I don't, he thought, ruthlessly squashing the memory with a clenched fist. Tension ran throughout his body and he took a deep breath to steady himself. If there was ever a memory he would rather forget, it would be that one.

Unfortunately, it didn't go away so easily.

"Takato?" Guilmon asked, seeing the tension in the boy's fist. Snapping back to the moment, he smiled at his partner and unclenched his hand, shaking it to loosen it back up.

"I'm okay, boy," he said, continuing to follow Rika through the cemetery.

"That's not what Jeri says." This from Rika, and he looked up at her with surprise.

"Jeri? What do you mean? What did she say?"

Takato felt a sick weight form in the pit of his stomach, guessing what Rika was referring to.

"It's what I wanted to talk to you about," the girl said, taking a turn, slow and casual, not hurrying as she held the bouquet close to her. "Jeri said that you told her about how you've been having nightmares."

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye before continuing. "About what happened on Locomon. When I fell off and you caught me."

"Ergh…" Takato felt discomfort worming its way out of his stomach and into his chest. "Yeah… I mean, why wouldn't I? You…You almost…" An ashen look fell over his face and he came to a stop. His mouth twisted. He didn't want to say the word. "That was a really close call. If…If I had been half a second later…"

Pausing in her stride, Rika turned to face him more fully, sympathy and understanding in her eyes. They all had similar moments with their partners, with Jeri and Leomon especially, given what happened – Leomon's death at the hands of Beelzemon and Jeri becoming a prisoner of the D-Reaper, using her emotional trauma to fuel its evolution and agenda. Throughout the D-Reaper crisis, Takato had felt as though he were being stretched out like a rubber band as each battle ended with them being forced to withdraw until the very end…and then, fresh from victory, their partners were taken from them.

However briefly, these things weighed on Takato, and on the day of Rika's birthday, when she had fallen off Locomon just as she was coming out of unconsciousness, all those moments flashed through his mind and they stayed there, playing in the background of his mind. During his waking days, they were easy to ignore. He saw his friends everyday after all, assuring him that they were all right.

Night brought out all the uncertainties and fears to life, and each time, he reached out to catch Rika's hand…and missed with her last scream echoing in his ears, only for him to wake up and discover it was his.

Jeri had been bad. Leomon as well, but Leomon had died fighting and Jeri at least could depend on a certain degree of protection by the D-Reaper, who needed her. Rika's near death somehow hit closer to home. He was closer. There was time to save her. Time and distance, two things he often didn't have enough of in the heat of battle and from which they payed bitterly for.

"If I had been a half a second later…" he repeated again, his voice cracking a little as he clenched his eyes shut.

"You weren't though," came Rika's soothing voice, closer now, and before Takato knew what was going on, the girl wrapped her arms around him in a gentle hug, her free hand massaging his back. "Much as I hate to admit it, you were my knight in shining armor that day."

She then tightened her grip around him, as if trying to squeeze out the ghosts of his nightmares. Returning the hug gratefully, he breathed deep the girl's scent. The feel of her back beneath his hands was comforting. She was here. She was alive. She was all right.

"This might sound corny," he croaked before clearing his throat. "But…I just want you to know that I'll always have your back, Rika. I don't want to lose you."

Takato felt something wet on the side of his face, where Rika's cheek met his. He sniffed. His tears? Yes, he was crying, even if just a little.

"Don't worry about that, because you're never getting rid of me. Not that easily anway, Gogglehead. I'll make sure of that."

He felt her smile against him, and a pained, yet relieved one grew on his own face in response.

"Thanks, Rika. You're the best."

A soft chuckle escaped the girl's lips as she pulled back, her violet eyes shining with unshed tears.

"None better," she returned softly, brushing at his face where a tear had slipped free.

"Awww…" Guilmon beamed behind them as he watched the scene unfold. "That's so nice."

"Now don't you start, Dinoboy," Rika scowled, trying to look intimidating in spite of the light blush that colored her features.

"But it is nice!" Guilmon insisted. "That was a really nice thing you did just now. Why are you looking like you're digivolving into an Angrymon?"

"I wouldn't if you didn't make such a big deal out of it," Rika grunted, turning away now.

"He's right though," Takato chimed in, wiping at his eyes. "You didn't have to do this."

"Of course, I did." Rika looked at her friend with a slight frown, resuming their course. "It's what friends do, isn't it?"

"Well…" Takato gestured around them as he fell back into following her. "You…kind of went out of your way I mean."

"I wanted to lay a few ghosts to rest," Rika shrugged, coming to a halt in front of a stone monument. Kneeling down, she left her bouquet of flowers in front of it. Following her movements, he read the name off the stone in front of the grave.

Makino Yamato. Her father.

Rika rose back to her feet, gazing at the grave thoughtfully for a moment before putting her hands in her pockets.

"All right," she said. "I'm finished here. Let's go."

Without a word between them, the two friends started off, leaving the dead to their rest.

"Hey," Guilmon began after taking a moment to sniff Rika's flowers. "You want to know something funny?"

"Do I want to know?" Rika asked while Takato gave a light grin.

"He's just going to tell us anyway, so why not?"

"All right, fine. What?"

Guilmon grinned, his tail wagging happily.

"When we were at the flower shop, I almost thought you were going to confess to Takato, just like you thought he was going to confess to you when we met you at that alley. Isn't that funny? You two are always looking like you're confessing to each other."

Takato and Rika both stared at the dinosaur, flummoxed as their faces both turned red, before looking back up at each other.

"Well… It's Guilmon," Takato shrugged apologetically, not trusting himself to say anything more without making it sound dumb.

Rika, much to his surprise, gave a light chuckle before setting off again.

"Hey, Takato," she said after the three of them had walked for a few moments. "The sakura trees are still blooming. Is your offer of watching them still on the table?"

"Huh? But…didn't you say that watching them bloom was stupid?"

Punching his shoulder lightly, Rika let her hand drop, whereupon her fingers brushed against his before withdrawing.

"Don't be stupid, Gogglehead."

###

A/N: Thanks goes out to Ruki44 for letting me borrow the funeral idea for this piece. For those that are curious, the flowers Rika leaves are Sweet Peas, which in the language of flowers (at least in Japan) means 'goodbye,' which I felt were appropriate for this particular story.

Until next time.

-Crazyeight

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