Two years. It's been almost two full years since I updated this. Admittedly, I kinda forgot about it, it slipped through the cracks as a lot of stuff was going on. I've got a new job, I've graduated high school, I'm in university, and a lot has changed. Then one night, I dusted off my old netbook to get some banking info off of it and I came across my fanfic project files. Felt like a blast from the past. Curious, I logged into the account and found I was still periodically getting messages about my unfinished fic. "Fuck it," I thought, "I'll finish it."

So here we are. Almost two years since the last chapter, and almost three since I started this fucking thing, let's end this once and for all. Finally.

If Only They Could: Chapter 16 - Conclusion

Silent. That was the only word that could describe the atmosphere surrounding Rika and Takato as they stared at each other from across the battlefield. The tension invaded the others as well, none of them wanting any attention drawn to them in this moment. Renamon eyed Rika cautiously as she stood, frozen in eye contact with the boy who, up until a few minutes ago, was, for all intents and purposes, 'dead.' Only someone with a complete ignorance of social understanding would interfere with this situation as it unfolded.

"TAKATOMON!"

Guilmon was one such person. Running up full tilt and tackling Takato to the ground, hugging him madly, it snapped the group out of it, and Henry ran off to greet his friend as well. Just as Guilmon finally let up on Takato, Terriermon latched onto Takato facehugger style, knocking him to the ground again. As the Digidestined slowly approached to meet the new arrival, Tai looked back to see Rika and Renamon remaining where they stood before, Rika still frozen where she stood. Disregarding it as shock, Tai joined up again and welcomed Takato with the others.

"So you're the Takato I've been hearing so much about," Matt said cheekily as he hoisted him up from the ground. "I must say, coming outta that Digi-Egg was like nothing I'd ever seen before!"

"Yeah," Takato replied, "I've been known to surprise on occasion."

"What was it like?" Izzy questioned immediately.

Takato thought about it for a minute, before replying. "Cramped." The others laughed as Takato dusted himself off. "So what happened anyway?" he asked Henry, "why was I turned into a Digi-Egg?"

"Remember back when we were fighting the D-Reaper?" Henry asked.

Takato nodded and shuddered as his thoughts drifted back to the incident in question, where the entire world was almost lost to a rogue computer program consuming and destroying everything in its path.

"Remember when Dobermon gave us the ability to Biomerge in the real world?" Henry followed up.

"Yeah, it was the only reason we beat the D-Reaper at all. Without it, we would've been creamed," Takato replied.

"Well, it's impossible for data and flesh to join together, so Dobermon actually converted us into data permanently," Henry finished.

Takato paused and furrowed his brow, pondering something. After a few moments, he looked up to Henry. "So, in a way, we're Digimon?" he asked finally, with a childlike glint in his eyes.

Henry sighed internally and nodded to his friend, not surprised that was his only question on the matter.

Takato was about to continue questioning when he caught a glimpse of red out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw Rika and Renamon standing off in the distance, staring at him.

"What's she doing all the way over there?" he asked.

Henry shrugged. "Let's go find out," he said, and the two set off in her direction.

"Rika!" Takato shouted, "Did you miss me?" he added jokingly. Rika simply continued staring in a stupor, completely unresponsive.

"I expected a few different reactions from here," Henry started, "but catatonic wasn't one of them."

"Nor did I, but she seems fine biologically," Renamon answered, "She should snap out of it soon."

"I hope so," Takato thought, "She looks like she saw a ghost. Well, I guess she did kind of see a ghost."

Renamon looked concerned as she continued trying to coax a response out Rika. "With how she has been sealing herself off more and more as we've journeyed here, I expected her to be reclusive at first, but I didn't expect her to just shut down like this," she thought, "Please snap out of it soon, Rika."

Finally, after several minutes of an excellent statue impersonation, Rika blinked twice and slowly returned to the world of the living.

"You alright?" Henry asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Rika replied hesitantly. "Sorry about that, I was miles away."

"No worries, you're back now, so everything's okay again," Agumon chimed in cheerfully.

Rika smiled half-heartedly and turned back to Renamon, who nodded her head ever so slightly as a show of support. Then, she bit the bullet and turned back to the man of the hour: Takato.

"…Hey," Rika said softly, unable to find any other words in the maelstrom of her mind.

"Hey there," Takato grinned his trademark grin. "How have you been?"

"Not too bad I suppose," Rika said as she re-armed her emotional defences.

"Oh," Takato said flatly, before adding, "Well, I'm not surprised. You were always the tough one, right?" Takato chuckled to punctuate his joke.

"Yeah," Rika said after an awkward pause, "I suppose so."

Realizing the situation would only get more uncomfortable from there for the group, Henry distracted them. "I suppose we should get on the horn with Yamaki then," he shattered the silence, "he'll be glad to hear you're alright."

"Yamaki?" Takato thought aloud, "How did you guys get here, anyway? And where is 'here' at all? Why am I here? How did I get here?" Takato pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. "My head hurts."

"Well, don't worry," Tentomon said reassuringly, "We've got plenty of time to explain."

The group set out after collecting their gear, scattered by the battle with Reapermon, and settled into their usual travelling groups, with the exception of Tai, Izzy, and Tentomon, who walked with Takato and Henry along the way, pestering him with questions, as well as answering his.

"So, you managed to create a Digimon?" Izzy asked.

"Yeah, it just sort of happened. I draw a lot when I'm bored, and one of the things I drew was Guilmon. I really like Agumon, he's always been really cool, so I guess he was my inspiration, but then I made him red, added spikes, and attacks, and pretty soon he was his own Digimon." Takato got caught up in his own memories as he told the story. "Man, I was so excited when he appeared, I thought I was dreaming!"

"He just appeared?" Izzy asked, "Just like that, after you drew him?"

"Well, not exactly," Takato clarified, reminiscing about the day. "I, kinda, swiped his drawing through my D-Arc, and then he appeared."

"But it was just a drawing, on a piece of paper. Why would it produce a Digimon? Let alone a Digimon you created!" Izzy bombarded Takato with questions.

"I really don't know to be perfectly honest," Takato chuckled, "It just sort of happened, and now here he is." Guilmon smiled a great big toothy grin to punctuate Takato's point.

"Prodigious!" Izzy exclaimed. "Just when I think I'm beginning to understand the Digital World, I find out something like this!"

Henry smirked as he listened to the conversation while tapping away at the communicator in his hand.

Janyu smiled wide as he read his son's most recent message:

We got him! He's safe and sound!

"Yamaki! Get over here, they've found him!" He called out from his office. Within seconds, Yamaki had rushed over to his desk and looked over his shoulder at the message, letting a large smirk through his stone visage.

"Excellent. Tell him we're almost ready to send the ark down, we just need his location. Tell him to find a spot in a broad clearing, if possible, for an easy landing." Yamaki directed.

"Already on it," Janyu said, as he typed rapidly into his console.

"We're not out of the woods yet," Yamaki thought to himself, "but it looks like we're almost done."

"Anywhere nearby with a nice big clearing? Henry asked Tai. "They're sending down the rescue ship soon, they just need somewhere safe to land."

Tai pondered for a moment, then lit up. "How about back at the lake?" He suggested. "That island in the middle is pretty big, and we could probably push the trolley if you needed more room."

"That'll work great, I'll tell them to hang on for the coordinates in a few hours then," Henry said as he typed.

"Do you think Rika's gonna be okay?" Tai asked, motioning to the back of the group, where Rika and Renamon walked twenty paces behind everyone else. "She's been awfully quiet."

Takato shrugged. "She's never been the most social person, it's just not who she is. I doubt any of this is more than just another errand to run in the Digital World to her."

"I dunno," Tai replied, "I would have imagined she'd be more excited to see you after all the crap she went through on the way here," Tai chuckled warmly.

Takato raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? She's usually pretty level-headed, albeit a bit grumpy. Was she that bad?"

Tai laughed a little bit, before clarifying. "She was getting pretty upset, and she was stressing how quickly we need to find you. She even went off on her own in the middle of the night last night, without any directions, to try and get here sooner!"

Takato chuckled a little in response. "That sounds like Rika, always putting her friends before herself. But I suppose you're right, she's acting awfully weird, even for her."

Rika watched as Takato and Tai turned and looked at her again, before laughing to each other. "I wonder what they're talking about," Rika said to nobody in particular. This being the first time she had spoken in the two hours since they left, it startled Renamon a little bit.

"Well, it looks to be about you in some capacity, given how often they've been turning around to look at you," Renamon replied. "I'd wager they're a little concerned."

"Concerned?" Rika asked. "About what?"

You're significantly less interactive than you were even four hours ago," Renamon quipped. "It's no surprise they noticed."

Rika smirked a little at Renamon's comment. "I suppose you're not wrong about that, but it's only because I have no idea what to say,"

"What do you mean?"

"How am I supposed to talk to Takato? 'Hey, thanks for saving my life, hope this squares my debts for rescues,' or some bullshit like that?" Rika asked, making Renamon chuckle slightly.

"You've got a bit of a point there Rika," Renamon said, "but I'm confident you'll figure out what to say."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Rika said, before turning her head and returning to silence. Renamon breathed a sigh of relief, confident that Rika had at least returned from the dark place Takato's absence had left her. But she knew it was still an uphill battle, and Rika would need to break new ground to get back to her former self around him.

"Looks like we've arrived," Rio said excitedly as the small trolley on the lake came into view once again. "I'll send Yamaki our coordinates," Henry added as he pulled out his communicator.

"Cool," Takato said, following Henry to the edge of the lake. "So who are those guys? And where are we?" He asked.

"The Seventh Plane of the Digital World," Henry replied, "Hypnos didn't even know it existed until recently. It's its own full world, and these guys are kinda like this world's Tamers."

"That makes sense," Takato furrowed his brow in thought, "but those guys…hmm…" he trailed off.

"Hmm?" Henry asked, wondering where he was going with this train of thought.

"I dunno, I just feel like we've met them before," he said. "They seem awfully familiar." Eventually he shrugged, admitting defeat. "I dunno, maybe I'm just crazy, heh heh."

Henry smiled. "Maybe."

"Any response from Yamaki yet?" Rika approached quietly.

"Yeah, the ark's just about ready to move," Henry peered at the dimly lit monitor of the communicator, "it should be here in a few hours or so. Wanna go meet the rest of the group Takato?"

"Sure," Takato replied with a smile, as they walked off to the rest of the travellers.

After several introductions, Takato became acquainted with the rest of the Digidestined and their Digimon, and the group settled down to set up camp for the night, as the sun glowed a warm orange just over the treeline. Takato's stomach growled, which surprised him given his experience in his Digital World, but chalked it up to one of the seventh plane's many mysteries as he watched Joe and Matt cook the food over a campfire they had built. The Digidestined set up camp around the campfire, as the Tamers milled about, talking with them while waiting for their ride home. Rika had opened up a little bit more around the others once Takato settled in a little bit, as long as her mind stayed away from the subject of Takato. Otherwise, everything seemed to be getting more or less back to normal, something which cheered up the other Tamers dramatically, although her continuing ignoring of Takato was certainly curious.

"Seriously, did I do something to piss her off or something?" Takato asked. "Other than die, I mean. She's been avoiding me since I woke up."

"Nothing I can think of," Henry replied.

"Although with Rika, we never really know what would make her angry," Terriermon added, earning a rap on his head from Henry's knuckles, which failed to drive the point home, "I mean, she's angry for no reason whenever she wants, what makes this any different?"

Despite it being a joke, Takato still thought hard about it. Normally when Rika was angry, she made it perfectly clear to the subject (and those around them) that she was mad, and why, but she was completely cold to Takato now, which worried him. It wasn't something she had done before, so he thought perhaps it was far worse than her just being angry at him. Takato looked over to Rika again, catching her eyes, and she immediately turned away, slightly flustered. Takato raised an eyebrow, but before he could question further, he heard Tai call from the Digidestined.

"How much time do you guys have?" Tai called out, "Wanna come hang out and keep warm? It gets cold pretty quick around here."

"Sure!" Henry called back, seeing nothing better to do for the next couple of hours while they waited, "come on, guys," he gestured to the other Tamers, who followed him and Terriermon to the campfire.

Yamaki had never felt such a rewarding sensation as he hung up the phone after a brief conversation with the Matsuki's. Their raw excitement was just the pick-me-up he needed to keep going a little longer after fifty five hours without sleep. He picked up the phone and dialed Rika's mother.

"Hello, Nonaka residence," Yamaki recognized the voice of Rumiko.

"It's Yamaki, have you got a minute?" Yamaki answered, smirking a little.

"Sure, what's up?" Rumiko asked anxiously. "Has something happened? Is Rika okay?"

Yamaki took a deep breath and answered briefly. "They got him."

"I never doubted them for a second," Rumiko said cheerfully. "When are they coming back?"

"If everything goes according to plan, they'll be back home around six thirty tonight." Yamaki answered.

"Thank you," Rumiko said before hanging up the phone and chuckling to herself happily and calling for her mother, Seiko.

Matt almost choked on his rice stifling a laugh as Takato finished recounting a story about Guilmon wandering around his school in a cardboard box, scaring the daylights out of anyone who peered inside.

"I suppose I should be thanking him though," Takato chuckled. "After all, that was one of the reasons I met up with Henry, after he saw Guilmon running around."

Henry laughed and spoke up. "I suppose it was preferable to how we met Rika,"

Rika's eyes darted to Henry, who, seeing her glare, lost his smile quickly.

"How did you meet Rika?" Tai asked, but Henry and Takato suddenly weren't in a very chatty mood, having clammed up completely. Confused, Tai looked over to Rika, who sighed and spoke up.

"I wasn't as nice of a person back then as I am today." She said irritably, ushering in an awkward silence.

"…Well, did Tai tell you about how we allmet?" Matt said to defuse the tension.

"No, actually, what happen-" Takato started, before being cut off by the beeping of the communicator. "Henry, what's up?" Takato asked.

After reading the reply carefully, Henry replied, "It's almost here. T minus six minutes. We probably ought to be able to see it soon."

Sure enough, looking up at the dimly lit sky show a small figure moving through the sky, tethered seemingly to the heavens above by a glowing cable of data.

"There's our ticket out of this mess," Rika said.

The group watched in awe as the Ark made its final descent, landing several metres away, precisely the coordinates Henry had punched into the communicator a few hours ago. As the hatch on the back opened up, looking not unlike an alien spacecraft making first contact with the people of Earth, the Tamers stepped closer, followed closely by the Digidestined.

"That, is SO COOL!" Davis shouted in excitement.

The Tamers turned and faced the Digidestined once again, and smiled widely.

"Thank you guys so much for all your help," Henry said loudly, "I don't think we would've made it if it weren't for you."

"Any time, it was our pleasure!" Sora responded, "We'd love it if you came and visited again sometime!"

Takato grinned and the four Tamers waved goodbye as they boarded the craft with their Digimon, with Cyberdramon de-digivolving to Monodramon to make room. At precisely five o' clock, according to Henry's communicator, the door re-sealed, and the Ark slowly lifted into the air again.

"They were certainly interesting," Henry said as the Digidestined faded from view.

"Yeah," Takato snorted in agreement. "You think we'll ever see them again?"

"I dunno," Henry said, "but I hope so."

"It was really weird seeing Ken again," Ryo said, scratching his neck, "like a blast from the past, you know?"

"Why didn't you tell us you'd saved the Digital World before?" Rika piped up, sounding annoyed.

"I dunno, it wasn't a really big deal," Ryo chuckled. "I didn't want you to think I was bragging about it or something,"

"Because you never brag about anything, do you?" Rika rolled her eyes.

Watching the bickering from across the room, Henry chuckled and turned to Takato. "Like an old married couple, right?"

Takato snorted "Yeah."

The remainder of the trip mostly followed the same format, a bit of bickering here and there, discussion of the adventure with Takato who had missed most of it, and some awkward small talk as they ran out of things to talk about. By the end, the eight were mostly quiet, the occasional shift in position or cough being the only noise overtop of the rumble of the Ark. Takato took this time to ensure his thoughts were in order, and to think about the events that led up to his 'death.'

"You idiot! Why did you do it? Why did you save me like that?" Takato remembered Rika's sobs as he faded away. "TAKATO!"

"Why did I do it? I mean, I would've done it for any of my friends, or anyone for that matter, but why her?" he thought to himself. "There was no time to consider the consequences, I just did it; it was a reflex. Why her of all people? Why not someone who doesn't hate me, for starters? Or someone not fifty times as rich as me? Someone…" Takato sighed.

"Someone I'd have a chance with."

"You know, you're not making this ride any less uncomfortable," Rika thought as she listened to several 'Jeri's' chanting "Tell him! Tell him! Tell him!" in her head.

"Yeah, well you know what we're saying, and you know how to make us stop," 'Jeri' teased. "Just tell him you love him, and we'll go away forever, tee hee!"

"I already agreed to that, didn't I!? Why are you still here?" Rika screamed internally.

"Just reminding you," Jeri taunted. "Because you're not gonna do it."

"So what if I don't? Then everything stays the same and nothing is ruined by me saying something stupid!"

"But it's not stupid, he loves you too, you can see it in his eyes!" Rika looked up momentarily and caught Takato's eye contact for a fraction of a second before he broke off and looked the other way, blushing slightly, as if to punctuate 'Jeri's' claims. "You'll drive yourself crazy if you don't!"

"You're already driving me crazy with this incessant rambling of yours!"

'Jeri' giggled. "See? You've proven my point." And with that, Jeri was gone once again, leaving Rika nearly trembling with frustration. Fortunately, a deep rumbling, followed by a faint light streaming in through the windows of the Ark were enough to snap Rika out of it.

The rumbling intensified to an almost deafening roar around them as they braced themselves against the sides of the Ark, until it finally ceased. A deafening quiet filled the atmosphere as the hatch, after what seemed like an eternity, slowly opened, allowing the deep orange glow of the sunset to fill the small room as the Tamers exited.

As their eyes adjusted, the Tamers' sights settled on the seven figures standing before them: Takehiro and Mie Matsuki, Janyu and Suzie Wong, Rumiko Nonaka, Seiko Hata, with Mitsuo Yamaki standing behind them, sporting his signature sunglasses. Ryo moved off to the side to allow the others their reunions undisturbed, he and Monodramon smiling warmly. Takato was almost immediately smothered by his mother and father. Unsure of what to do, he simply accepted their embrace and tuned out his mother's tearful scolding. Rika simply waved and smiled kindly at her mother and grandmother, greeting them each with a small hug. Henry earned a firm handshake and a high-five, from his father and sister, respectively.

Takato turned and saw Yamaki, who flashed a smile and a small nod of acknowledgement, which Takato reflected in earnest, before another earful of reprimanding was heaped onto the pile by his mother. Henry smirked as he waved goodbye to Takato and Rika, who did the same as they left for their respective houses with their families, as Ryo and Monodramon headed for home on their own.

As he settled his head down onto his pillow for the first time in ages, Takato thought one last time about his feelings for Rika and his actions in the AeroVeedramon battle. "I guess love makes people do strange things," he concluded, before drifting off to sleep with a warm smile on his face.

"What…hap-pened?"

"You idiot! Why did you do it? Why did you save me like that?" Rika sobbed.

"Be-cause, Ri…ka, I…" Takato tried to say. "I… I… I…"

"You what?" Rika asked, eyes butted with tears.

"I... I… I… lo… I lo… was all he could muster before he faded completely, his data floating away.

"TAKATO!"

Rika shot up on her futon, breathing heavily, sweat drenching her face and pyjamas. "Okay, okay, okay, calm down," she thought to herself, "I'm in my room, I'm safe, Takato's fine, it was just another nightmare." Rika's breathing slowed back to normal and she felt her heart stop pounding in her ear. "Everything is fine again." She thought, before seeing Renamon materialize out of the shadows.

"Rika, is everything alright? I heard you calling out," Renamon asked, a concerned tone breaking through her monotone voice.

"Yeah," Rika replied, "just a bad dream."

"Are you sure? Is there anything you want to talk about?" Renamon asked, holding a sliver of hope she might actually try to talk out her problems as opposed to bottling them up as usual.

"No, it's fine, I'm fine," Rika kept repeating, not putting Renamon at ease, but assuring her there was no immediate threat to Rika's safety.

"Very well, good night." Renamon said before disappearing into the shadows once more.

Two weeks later

Takato sighed as he heaved his backpack over his shoulder and began the long walk home. His return to school had been full of welcome and cheer, but now that everything had settled down, Ms. Asagi, in her infinite benevolence, gave Takato a few days' extension on his missing homework from the period wherein he was trapped in the Digital World. Naturally, the next few days didn't look very good for Takato. As he stepped out of the final crosswalk, bakery in sight, he felt his pocket rumble, indicating a text. Picking up the pace, Takato jogged the rest of the way home with his enormous pile of book in tow, before climbing his staircase two at a time and finally heaving the sack onto his bottom bunk. Breathing a sigh of relief and cracking his spine as he stretched backwards, Takato pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and flicked it open, eyeing the indicator light.

Are you free tonight…We need to talk

Sent from: Nonaka, Rika

Takato raised an eyebrow as he read who it was from. Today marked the fourteenth day since his last direct conversation with Rika. She was around at school, and when they hung out with the others, but she never addressed him directly, something she had never done before. So, Takato warily typed out his response:

Tonight free after seven…work and dinner haha

Takato set his phone down and immediately heard it buzz on his desk:

That works…hideout?

Sure, see you then :)

yeah :)

"Maybe she was just having a bad day," Takato thought to himself. "She seems pretty normal now, although I wonder what she wants to talk about." Takato sat at his desk, sliding his pens and papers aside as he nuzzled his head into his arms and let his mind wander for a while, wondering what Rika need to say.

Rika shut her phone and collapsed onto her futon once again, kicking herself mentally as she did so. "Why am I doing this?" she thought. "Why why why why WHY am I doing this? I have nothing to gain, I'm just gonna make a fool of myself!" Sighing exasperatedly, Rika sat up, grabbing a magazine to leaf through idly as her mind ran rampant with the same questions over and over in her head.

"What am I going to say? What will he say? How do I approach a conversation like this? How is he going to react? Why am I doing this? How do I do this? Should I be straight about it, or should I make stupid small talk first? What the fuck do I do!? Ugh!"

"Rika! Dinner!" Rika heard as she snapped out of it. Glancing at her clock, she marvelled at how two hours had passed in her musings. Getting up and adjusting her hair, she left for dinner.

Takato threw some deodorant on and switched into a clean shirt after work, ensuring no flour remained on his face as he eyed his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He smiled as he saw himself, not the little kid he was before, when his life changed dramatically and he was thrust into his role as Digimon Tamer. The boy he was had grown into a fine young man, a brave young man, who would do anything to help his friends, as evidenced by the events that occurred a few weeks ago. He thought about how he, and all the other Tamers had changed since back then, but also at how similar they all were. They were all so different, and yet so familiar to him. Takato looked down at his watch.

"Six thirty-five, I should get going," he thought to himself, before hearing his mother call up from the bakery.

"Takato! You've got a visitor!" Mie called out. Takato bounded down the stairs to see Rika, clad in a heart t-shirt and black jacket and jeans, waiting for him. Catching his eye for an instant, Rika immediately looked away.

"Oh," Takato said, "I thought we were meeting at seven at the hideout," he said, confused.

"Yeah," Rika said with a shrug, not making eye contact. "I figured it'd just be easier to come and get you," she said awkwardly, staring at her feet.

"Well alright then," Takato said, "shall we?" Takato motioned for the door.

"Sure."

The two set off from the bakery, walking along the back roads towards the park. The glow of the sun setting over the treeline lighting the way. The faint breeze blowing through and the rustling of leaves on the trees were the only sounds to be heard along the way, as the two remained silent. Rika continued to avoid Takato's gaze, perplexing Takato further. Takato thought of nothing along the way but what it could possibly be that Rika need to talk to him about, and Rika thought of what exactly to say. Eventually, the small concrete building in the trees came into view, and the walk was over. Rika and Takato sat down on the cold floor of the hideout side by side, and sat in silence for several minutes.

"So," Takato awkwardly broke the silence, "what's going on? Sounded kinda important in your text."

Rika shifted uncomfortably, partly from the hard floor and partly due to Takato. "I… Um… I'm not sure how to phrase this, but… I… Hmm…" Rika desperately searched for the right words, but sadly, she was unable to find them.

"You can tell me," Takato took a comforting tone, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Rika started, arranging her sentence piece by piece in her mind. "It's just, something I was wondering, you know, since we got back."

"Yeah?" Takato raised an eyebrow, "and what's that?"

"That day, when we were fighting the AeroVeedramon…" Rika paused and steeled her nerves as best as she could. "And you, you know, pushed me out of the way…" Takato realized what she was asking and froze up a little bit, remembering full well what he had intended to say with his 'dying' breath.

"I… I… I… I lo… I lo…"

"Anyway, I wanted to ask, why did you do it? Why did you push me out of the way and take it yourself?" Rika finally asked.

Takato sat quietly, pondering the best answer. Part of him wanted to finish the answer he attempted back then, but he knew it wasn't a good idea, so he settled for, "You're my friend. I wanted to protect you, so I pushed you out of the way, I didn't really think about it, it just happened. I'd do that for any of my friends."

Rika frowned, but nodded in acknowledgement, staring at her shoes. Takato blinked twice and looked at Rika.

"Why don't you look at me anymore?"

"What do you mean?" Rika asked, but Takato continued.

"Look me in the eye."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Why does it matter?" Rika asked with an irritated tone.

"Because you're my best friend, and you won't look at me! What did I do to piss you off so badly?" Takato asked, frustrated.

At that moment, something snapped inside Rika. Something that, until that moment, had been holding back all of the emotions caused by Takato's death, all of the grief and pain Rika suffered as a result of his actions. Rika turned and looked Takato square in the eye, and Takato was shocked to see such a burning rage building up, and Rika let it loose.

"Because the only thing I can see is someone that'll kill himself just to keep me safe!" She exploded. Takato leaned back, as if physically pushed by the force of Rika's anger. "All I see now is someone who would throw his life away for me! That's stupid! Why risk it all for something like that!?"

Takato was annoyed by the insinuation, and fired back, "So I shouldn't care about my friends? I shouldn't try to protect them to the best of my abilities?"

"If you would just listen, for one fucking second," Rika added as much venom as she could to her inflection, "I'm not saying you shouldn't care about your friends, Gogglehead, I'm saying you should think about how they would feel! Did you at all consider how I felt, huh!? I had to watch you die, Takato. You died on the ground right in front of me, and there was nothing I could do about it! NOTHING! And you were dead, because of ME! Because I was caught in that situation, it was MY fault! You were dead because of me, and there was nothing I could do about it. Did you think about how that would make me feel, huh!?" Rika shouted in Takato's face.

"I… It wasn't your fault, Rika," Takato started. "I made that decision, not you!"

"But I was the reason you had to make it! If I had fought better, and not been caught off guard, you wouldn't have had to-"

Takato grabbed Rika's hand with his. "It wasn't your fault, Rika," was all he said, and he watched as Rika collapsed, burying her head in his shoulder, exhausted.

"I… I know what it feels like now, to lose you," Rika said, so quietly Takato almost couldn't hear her right next to him. "And I can't take that again. I can't lose you again, Takato."

Takato patted Rika's shoulder with his other hand. "You don't have to worry about that, he said softly. Rika raised her head and looked at him. "It's pretty clear I'm immortal anyway, right?" Takato flashed a cheeky grin, and Rika smiled as a result. She punched him in the shoulder with her free hand as she composed herself, followed by a light-hearted "Oh, shut up," making Takato chuckle.

Takato looked into Rika's eyes deeply again. "I promise, I'll always be there for you," he said with a warm smile. Rika was warmed just looking at it, and her nerves calmed as she breathed deeply.

"Thanks," was all she said in response.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, but Takato soon broke it:

"You know, I've never stopped admiring you," Takato said at last.

"For what?" Rika asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You really care about us," Takato started, "me and the other Tamers. You've come a long way since the girl I'd met," Takato chuckled and Rika blushed slightly. "You were pissed at me for putting your safety before my own, but the reason you were upset was because you cared so much about your friends."

Rika suddenly shifted around nervously. "Well," she started, "I suppose that wasn't the only reason…"

Takato cocked his head in confusion. "What else then?"

Rika fidgeted uncomfortably for a few moments.

"Rika?" Takato asked, confused, "what's the ma-"

Takato's question was cut short when something warm and soft had connected with his lips. Takato's brain shut down and for a brief moment, nothing mattered in this world as Rika kissed him. On impulse, Rika had quickly leaned in and connected, before either of them knew what was happening, and now the two sat together, kissing passionately. In that moment, neither of them felt anything but warmth and contentment. Slowly, Takato regained his mental faculties, and then he quickly broke off the kiss. Rika's heart sank as the outcome she dreaded seemed to be coming to fruition in front of her.

"Rika…" Takato started, looking apologetically into Rika's eyes. "You don't… You don't need to do that, you don't owe me anything."

"Owe him? Why on earth would I owe him?" Rika thought, before saying "What are you talking about?"

Takato was now the one avoiding eye contact, staring at his feet and fidgeting. "You don't have to do that just because I saved you or anything…" he said, awkwardly.

"What do you mean?" Rika asked, confusion in her eyes. "I wasn't doing anything I… well… didn't, already kinda want to do, or anything."

Takato simply continued staring into the concrete floor, with only some of his babbling making any sense. "You told me you feel responsible for me dying, and now that I'm back, you think you owe me this, because I love you and I know that you're-"

Rika's mind went blank, not receiving any more input from Takato's babbling as she ran that one short phrase over and over in her mind: I love you. While she was admittedly quite elated, she was remaining cautious, because something was clearly bothering him, and until she was certain of what it was, she was not going to say anything to confuse him more.

"What are you talking about? You're not making any sense Takato," Rika made sure to address him by his real name to make sure he knew she was serious. "Stop rambling and start making sense. Did you just say-"

Takato sighed, "Yeah, but I know that's not what you want to hear, so you can pretend that never happened if you want."

Rika was completely at a loss for words. "But if he… if he loves me, then what's the problem?" she thought to herself, trying to decipher his incoherence.

"…because I know you don't think of me that way, so it's best to just let it slide and forget about all this bullshit…"

"He doesn't think I'd think of him that way?" Rika thought. Admittedly, Takato was never as cocky as Ryo, but she never thought of him as self-conscious or anything. He'd always been pretty confident in his own abilities. "Now, how do I change that?" Rika was never very good at emotions, and she still had some profound problems handling her own, let alone someone else's. Thankfully, she was well known for stubbornly brute-forcing her way through her problems, something which she decided to put to use in this situation.

Takato was again interrupted mid-sentence with a kiss from the redhead, but this one was much deeper, and more passionate, halting all higher forms of brain function from the goggle-wearing boy. The two shared the kiss for what seemed to the both of them to be an eternity, but Takato eventually again retracted.

"Rika," he said again, "what are you doing? You don't have to do anything, it's okay," he reassured her.

Rika took Takato's hand in her own, and looked him deep in the eyes, removing every emotional safeguard she had for just a moment. In that moment, Takato saw into her very soul, and saw nervousness and warmth.

"I know," Rika said.

Takato looked at Rika in disbelief. "You…" he stammered, "But, you couldn't possibly-"

Rika sighed in exasperation. "Takato, do you trust me?"

Takato quickly nodded his head. "More than anyone."

Rika looked at him a bit more sternly, and summoned every ounce of courage she had. "I am absolutely terrible at all this mushy gushy crap, okay? But I'm trying my best here, because I love you too, and I think you just can't believe that," she said with a somewhat serious tone. "…even though you want to," she added.

Takato's eyes widened, and babble-mode engaged. "Wait, but you're, well, you, and I'm me!"

"Yeah, so?" Rika said, with no hint of irony in her voice.

"It doesn't make any sense."

Rika traced Takato's face with her palm, leaning in for a kiss, then holding him steady in her gaze. "I love you, so you're just gonna have to deal with that."

As the gears turned in Takato's head, he slowly came to realize how serious Rika was being right now, and a large smile appeared across his face. He leaned in and gave Rika a kiss of his own, sending Rika hurtling through her own elation. "I love you too," he said, smiling warmly.

Rika smiled right back, and turned and nuzzled into Takato's shoulder. Takato put his arm around her, and the two just sat in the hideout, looking out at the stars for an hour in silence.

"Thank you," Rika said softly, breaking the silence and waking a half-asleep Takato.

"For what?" Takato asked.

"I never thanked you for saving my life," Rika said, "so thank you."

"You're welcome." Takato said, staring off into the distance.

"But if you ever die again, after we come and rescue you, I'm gonna kill you for real," Rika warned, semi-playfully.

Takato kissed Rika on her forehead and smiled. "No promises."

~END OF CHAPTER SIXTEEN; END OF SERIES~

Merry Christmas guys! Here's a gift for you all! I'm terribly sorry that this took almost two years to finish this, but it's finally done. Man, I'm getting all nostalgic and shit now, it's been so long since I've done this, but it's now finished! Concluding this series has gotten me back in the writing spirit, so if you guys like this (hopefully my writing style has only improved in the past two years), maybe I'll write some more, although I'll take on smaller projects to start, to avoid another incident like this one. Once again, I'm deeply sorry to leave you guys hanging like I did, but I'm also thankful for your incredible patience. Until next time!

-CS