Me: I noticed "Digimon Tamers" has several changes and reasons for the way characters refer to one another. I thought it was interesting, so I decided to write about it. It's a bit obscure and random, but I meant for it to be that way.

Disclaimer: "Digimon" is property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, etc.

What's in a Name?

"I'm still not quite used to it," she mused, and the two boys looked at her questionably. She expanded: "Being called a senpai."

An amused expression crossed the taller boy's face. It was peculiar how the girl could nitpick at the strangest things. "It's expected to be called that by our kouhai though."

"Yes…" She brushed a stray strand of long auburn hair over her shoulder. "When I enter senior high school next year I'll probably have to use that too, huh?"

He fixed her with that same look from earlier, though now with slight exasperation. "You're not too fond of honorifics, are you?"

The other boy tilted his head to the side in thought. "That's true…" His russet eyes rested on the girl. "It's like the time you didn't want me to call you 'Ruki-chan' when I first went to your place."

Simply the quotation of her name in that manner gave her enough reason to glare at the boy, and he flinched.

Jenrya's gray orbs watched the pair of them bemusedly. It was the first time he had ever heard of this occurrence from years past. He delved into his own memory and recalled a time when Takato had called upon himself and Ruki. The boy had wanted their help to rescue Guilmon, and there was a point when Ruki followed them that Takato had coughed awkwardly after the initial surprise of her appearance. "Hm… you mean like that time in the tunnel?"

Takato chuckled anxiously and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, there was something before that too, but yeah…"

"It's childish," Ruki interjected. "I've already told Juri before why we shouldn't use it."

"But… you let your mother use it, don't you?" Takato's question was innocent enough, but Ruki's arms and shoulders tensed.

A hue of pink arose on her cheeks, matched with a flash of defensive anger in her eyes. Takato was suddenly reminded of when in the Digital World she had yelled at him for adding hearts at the end of her message to her family. Funny, he didn't remember adding hearts to the end of Juri's message… best not to tell Ruki that small detail.

She exclaimed, "That's completely different!" and Takato backed off.

"Ah… oh…"

Jenrya meanwhile, caught up in his own thoughts, mused, "You also allow Shuichon to call you 'Ruki-onee-chan.'"

Ruki looked at him, and in a notably subdued tone replied, "That's a different case as well."

His eyebrows shifted and he half-smiled. "Exceptions to the rule, eh? Come to think of it, I've never heard you use 'kun' either." Jenrya himself had later dropped the 'kun' in conjunction with Takato's name when they went to the Digital World.

"Of course not," she answered stoutly.

"But you know, you can't avoid using honorifics altogether."

"I'm aware of that. I'm just saying that 'chan' and 'kun' are for children to use."

Jenrya folded his arms and leant beside a nearby tree as he continued. "It's a bit surprising that you chose to not use any honorifics when you first started calling us by name, though. I mean, considering your temperament back then."

"I don't speak formally, you know that."

"Yes, but still… You even called me 'Jen' instead of Jenrya."

She shrugged. "I suppose I picked it up from Terriermon."

During his friends' exchange, Takato was silently lost in thought. He hadn't called Jenrya 'Jen' until that day when Vikaralamon attacked the city. Takato supposed it was a result of the intensity of the situation which moved him to do so. For Ruki though, even with her penchant for being alone, and not getting along with them at first, seemed to adapt well in regards to their relationship as Tamers. He supposed he admired that direct quality to her nature; something that he himself lacked.

"Takato?"

The boy started and he looked up to see a pair of violet eyes gazing back at him.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah!" A slight flush overcame Takato as he wondered how long she had been staring at him. "Sorry, I was just spacing out…"

Ruki blinked at him curiously. That timid side to Takato's personality wasn't anything new to her by now. She would glimpse it every now and then, but lately it seemed to become more prevalent. Her eyes looked to the reddening sky as she mused, "It's been nearly two years now…"

"Eh?"

"… Since you started going out with Juri."

Takato's head spun as that bold out of the blue statement struck him, and from Ruki no less. He blushed with nothing to say in response to such a thing.

Her gaze fell back on him and remained stoic as she said, "Don't you think it's time you stop calling her 'Katou-san' and go by her first name instead? She had already gone from addressing you as 'Matsuda-kun' to 'Takato-kun' back then."

"Um… well… that is…" He was quickly failing miserably at forming a proper sentence. Where was she going with this?

Showing more confidence, Ruki carried on. "You tried calling me 'Ruki-chan' when you first met me. I think it's strange you'd do that to someone you barely know; but with Juri, who was a classmate of yours, you go by 'Katou-san' instead."

Takato's mind was trying to take this all in. He hadn't thought of that back then.

"I can imagine why though." There was a pregnant pause and she looked him straight in the eye. "It's because you like her."

Now his jaw nearly dropped with a blush deeper than earlier.

Ruki either wasn't paying attention or she ignored it as she continued. "It was your way of respecting her in that manner. However, it may also have been your way of distancing yourself from her."

Jenrya was impressed with Ruki's reasoning. He was also surprised by her openness to this subject though she looked slightly uneasy as she spoke. Years ago he didn't think she would be able to think in such a way, to tap in so well to emotions. Yet here she was, offering Takato what appeared to be counsel. Jenrya wondered at how she had grown from the indifferent Tamer she once was. He glimpsed Takato, and judging by the way the boy was gaping Jenrya assumed he must have had the same idea; but this was Takato…

While Takato had thought something along the same lines as Jenrya, Ruki's dialogue also triggered another notion. When he met Jenrya, and they introduced themselves after a run-in with Ruki and Renamon at the park, he had taken up the inclination to address Jenrya as 'Li-kun.' His knowledge of Jenrya had been about the same as his knowledge of Ruki at that time; quite minimal. Why then had he been compelled to address Ruki by her first name but Jenrya by his last?

If he applied Ruki's logic it could mean he didn't want to be close to Jenrya. That didn't make sense to him though. He wanted to be Jenrya's friend, and was glad to find someone who had a partner Digimon of his own (who wasn't out to load Guilmon's data). Well, he did respect Jenrya… maybe not in the way Ruki meant, but it was simply Takato being polite on his part. As for Ruki… his respect for her was somewhat different.

She had been the one to view Digimon as tools for battle, but at the time he also felt she must not have been entirely bad. Maybe it was because she was a girl that he took a friendlier approach. He did that with Minami in Okinawa after all. Takato certainly believed girls to be less threatening until he had come across Ruki. He found himself playing back scenes from the past in his mind, beginning with a hazy scene of Ruki, Renamon, and a Lynxmon…

Takato's anxious thought process reflected in his expression, and Ruki picked up on it.

She toned down her assertiveness and became outwardly passive, looking away from him. "Sorry… I guess it's not my place to talk about this." Her gaze shifted to the shady greenery and murmured, "It's hard enough for me to discuss these things."

"Oh – no! That's not it, Ruki-chan!" Takato's eyes widened as he heard the last thing he said. He quickly clapped his hands over his mouth, but the damage was already done. Suddenly he was feeling sick to his stomach.

Ruki was looking at him with a sort of blank astonishment, as though trying to decide if what he just said was real. The few seconds of silence before she spoke was one of the most terrifying moments of his life. In a voice that was almost a whisper she said, "… What did you just call me?"

He moved his hands away from his lips just enough to speak. "I… I didn't, I…"

Jenrya was observing from the sidelines as this conversation unfolded. He honestly found it intriguing how Ruki pointedly reacted to Takato's slip-up.

The outburst was immediate, cutting through the tranquility of the park. "Takato! What did I tell you about calling me that!?" She took a step forward, looking about ready to kick him; Jenrya shifting his stance in case she made good on that.

"I-It was an accident!" Takato waved his hands frantically before him as he backed up. "It just slipped out because… uh…"

Ruki paused her advancement and cocked an inquiring eyebrow. "Because…?"

"Um… well, I was just thinking back to that time like with that dream, and –"

This caught Jenrya's attention and he finally chose to speak amidst his friends' chaos. "A dream?" He was certainly learning a lot about these two today.

An outraged expression slowly simmered to Ruki's face, more intense than before. She emphasized each syllable of his name as she erupted. "Ta-ka-to! Think before you speak!" Her mind was ablaze, she could barely process what she wanted to say before it came out. "Honestly, sometimes you can be such a… a… Gogglehead!" She didn't realize what she had said until afterwards, and Ruki looked genuinely bewildered by her own words.

Jenrya's brow rose in surprise from the strange name. He vaguely wondered what it meant, besides the obvious. "A… what?"

Meanwhile Takato reached up and ruffled his hair meekly. He hadn't worn those goggles in ages. "Eheh… where did that come from?"

Ruki was still as befuddled as ever. "… I… don't know."

Me: I might not have done as well with Takato's thinking as I wanted too… but oh well. It was a challenge.