Royal Romance

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters that I am writing about.  I don't really know who does but I assume that they belong to someone in Japan.

"Hey Rika."

Rika turned to see who was calling her.  It was Friday and the day before Takato's scheduled get together.  On Tuesday he called everyone to say that it had turned in to a sleep over.  Rika still wasn't too sure what she was all going to bring or what Ryo had in mind for telling everyone.  Henry had been very persistent in trying to get her to out with him.  Luckily he bought every excuse that she had fed him.  But she knew that she was living on borrowed time and she wasn't sure that she was happy with that.  She would be glad when she and Ryo didn't have to hide any thing.

Giving her head a shake, she came back to the present.  And in the present Jeri and everyone else was trying to get her attention across the road.

"What do you want?" Rika called to them.

"Come over here will ya?" Takato asked.

With a sigh and a shake of her head, Rika started across the street.  It wasn't really that busy of a street so she didn't even look to see if anyone was coming.  Rika had almost made it all the way across when a car came screaming around the corner followed by four police cars.  Rika was so startled that she didn't do anything but there in the middle of the street looking like a dummy.

"Rika look out!" Jeri shouted at her.

Rika tried to move but it was like her body just couldn't.  The next thing that she knew was something hit her from behind like a ton of bricks and rolled with her.  But she knew that it wasn't a car because the cars were coming from in front of her.  When they had stopped rolling Rika looked over her shoulder to see Ryo's face and it was etched with worry.  He had saved her.  On the  street, the cars were racing past them.  The last police car slowed to a stop beside them.

"Are the two of you alright?" one cop called out the window.

Ryo looked to Rika for the answer.

"Yeah, we're fine." Rika told them.

"Good.  Could you kids all wait here until another unit comes just to make sure that you are ok?" the same cop asked.

"Sure." Ryo said this time as they both pulled themselves into a sitting position.

As soon as the question was answered the cop car sped off in pursuit of the other cars.

"Well that was an adventure." Ryo said.

"What are you talking about?!  I just about got hit by a car!" Rika exclaimed.

"Are you guys all right?" Jeri said making everyone presences know to the two sitting on the curb.

"Yeah we're fine.  Rika is just still in shock." Ryo answered for the both of them.

"Who are you to say how I am?" Rika asked.

"No one I guess but I still know that you are here and in one piece." Ryo told her while adding mentally, thank god.

"I'm sorry, Ryo.  I don't mean to come off as ungrateful; it's just that I am a bit shaken up.

"That's understandable." Ryo said with a grin.

"You two should get off the side of the road." Jeri told them.  "The cop asked if we could wait here, I'm sure that he didn't mean in the street."

Rika and Ryo nodded then got to their feet and went with everyone to sit on the sidewalk.

"Tell me one thing," Rika said when she sat down.  "Whose idea was it to get me to walk across the street again?"

"That was me." Takato said guiltily.

"Next time why don't you walk across the street?" Rika stated.

"Well at the time it just seemed easier for you to walk across the street then for the rest of us to." Takato tried to explain.

"I know.  I'm just a little shaken up.  I don't really mean to take it out on you but you just happen to be in the most convenient person for me to vent on." Rika semi apologized.

"It's a good thing that you stopped, because I was just going to start on you for being so mean to my boyfriend." Jeri spoke up.

"Don't you think that Takato could stand up for himself?" Kenta asked acting kinda stunned.

"Yes he could but then I wouldn't get any pleasure from it." Jeri responded with a laugh.

"That would be true," Rika said, "but you would be in the line of fire and I don't think that you would have liked that at all."

Jeri just stood there with a blank face causing all of the Tamers to laugh at her, even her boyfriend.  Clueing in on what was going on, Jeri walked over to Takato with a sweet and innocent smile on her face.  When she got there she smacked him up side his head.  Not expecting anything like this Takato was caught off guard and ended up falling onto the sidewalk.

"What the heck was that for Jer?" Takato wanted to know.

"That was for laughing at me." was the only reply that he got.

"Do you really need all of us to wait here for the cops to come?" Kazu wanted to know.

"I don't see why you would have too." Rika said.  "They just want to make sure that Ryo and I are alright.  So there is really no reason for all of you to stay."

"It's not that I want to ditch you guys but I have some things that I have to get done before tomorrow morning or my mom won't let me go." Kazu explained.

"It's ok, really." Rika told him.

"Fine.  Later." Kazu waved as he walked away.

"Wait up Kazu and I'll come with you a ways." Kenta called after his friend.  "I'll see you all tomorrow."

"I have some last minute things that I should get done before tomorrow as well." Takato said.  "And I'll need to take my girlfriend along as well."

"And if I don't want to go?" Jeri challenged.

Takato only smiled as he walked over to her.  He whispered something in her ear that made her blush and smile.  "Would that make you want to go?"

"Yeah.  I'll see you all later." Jeri smiled as she let Takato led her away.

Rika and Ryo sat looking after the couple, wondering what it was that Takato had told her.  They sat there for another few minutes not saying anything.  Guarding their facial expressions knowing that Henry was still there watching them.  After a few minutes Henry went and sat down on the other side of Rika.  Close enough that he was brushing up against her, Ryo noted.  He doesn't' have to sit that close.  There is a whole side walk to sit on, Ryo thought bitterly.

"Are you all right?" Henry asked Rika softly.

"I'm fine thanks to Ryo." Rika said making sure that Henry knew that they weren't alone.

"Yes.  Ryo is a big hero today." was Henry's somewhat bitter reply.

"Well it's not like you did anything for me.  He just saved my life.  Why shouldn't I be grateful to him?" Rika said getting annoyed.

"You should be grateful to him and so should I because I don't know what I would do with out you in my life." Henry said placing a hand on her leg.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rika said irritably as she moved away from Henry's hand and closer to Ryo.

"That I love you and don't want to live with out you." Henry said.

"That's really funny.  If you loved me then you would have tried to do something when you saw that car coming towards me.  It's not like you didn't have the time to." Rika said bitterly.

"I would have but by the time I realized what was going on it was all over." Henry said trying to make a pitiful excuse.

"That is a bunch of bull." Ryo finally spoke up.  "I had come out of that alley over there and it was not 30 seconds before I realized what was going to be happening and did something about it."

"Oh be quiet hero." Henry snarled.  "This is a private conversation."

Ryo opened his mouth to say something quick but Rika beat him to it.  "There is no reason for you to talk to Ryo that way Henry.  I thought that the two of you were friends."

"We're friends, sure, but when you're around I don't like any other guy saying or doing anything."

"You have no say in who I talk to or don't talk to, Henry.  You are not my father and most certainly not my boyfriend.  Ryo is a friend of mine like he is of yours and I will talk to him if I damn well please." Rika shouted at him as she got to her feet.

Ryo got to his feet as well, some how he knew that Rika was going to start to fight with Henry.  His hunch was right.  Henry stood up so that he would be on a level playing field with Rika.  No sooner had he claimed his feet then Rika had punched him in the face and would have kept on punching him if Ryo hadn't been there to hold her back.

"What the hell was that for you little bitch?" Henry shouted.

"That was for being an ass." Rika retorted as she struggled to get out of Ryo's grasp.

"Me being the ass?  Look who is being the bitch." Henry said confident that Ryo wouldn't let her hit him again.

"I would either get out of here or watch your mouth, Henry." Ryo warned.  "Because if you call her a bitch one more time, I'll let her go and then help her pound the shit out of you."

Henry looked up at Ryo shocked.  He thought that Ryo was going to help him not her.  But as he looked in Ryo's eyes he saw that he had meant every word that he had said.  "I'll be going then." Henry told them and then walked away.

Ryo held on to Rika until Henry was out of site around the corner.  Sure that he wasn't going to come back, Ryo gently turned Rika around in his arms and help her tight.  The two just stood there like that for a couple minutes before Rika pulled back a little to look up into Ryo's face.  Then standing on her toes a little, Rika gently and timidly place a kiss on his lips.  Ryo was a bit shocked by this but he didn't pull away.  Instead he leaned into her kiss.  A minute latter Rika pulled away and gazed into Ryo's eyes.

"What was that for?" Ryo asked.

"Do I have to have a reason to kiss my boyfriend?" Rika asked coyly.

"No, it's just that you have never. . . er. . . that is we have never kissed before today." Ryo said with a slight flush on his cheeks.

"True enough." Rika agreed.  "I have been wanting to solve that little problem for a couple days now.  Since I needed a way to thank you for saving my life it just seemed like a good time to do it to me.  Are you mad at me?"

Ryo didn't say anything.  He just smiled slightly and then leaned down and kissed her again.  "Does that answer your question?"

"Yes it does." 

Just then they heard a car pull up the curve.  Ryo turned around with Rika still in his arms, who had turned around her self so that she could see who had pulled up.  It was the same cops that had stopped before to see if they were all right.

"Hello again.  We just wanted to make sure that the two of you are all right." the cop said as he got out of his car and looked at the couple leaving his partner in the car.

"Yeah we're just fine." Rika assured him.

"That's good.  I was also wondering if you could tell me what happened." he asked them.

"I was walking down the street over there when my friends called to me from this side.  They didn't want to shout so they asked me to cross the street.  Not thinking that anything would have happened, I started across the street.  I was half way across when that first car came whipping around the corner and froze." Rika told her part of the story.

"I had been walking down the alley when I had seen Rika walk past.  I also heard our friends calling her, so I ran the rest of the way to the street.  When I got there I saw the car coming towards Rika and her not moving, so I did the first thing that came into my head.  I ran at her and knocked her out of the way, so that she wouldn't get killed."  Ryo filled his part in.

"You know or can guess the rest.  We laid on the side of the road until you came up." Rika finished off.

"That is quite a story." the cop said.  "Why didn't you go to the corner and then cross?"

"I didn't really think about it at the time." Rika admitted.  "Takato, one of my friends, was in a really hurry to talk to me for some reason.  He never did tell me what he wanted.  But you can be sure that I won't ever do that again."

"I'm glad that you learned your lesson.  I'm just sorry that you had to learn it the hard way."

"I am to officer." Rika assured him.

"Well thanks for your statement . . . " the cop trailed off.

"Rika Nonaka and this is Ryo Akiyama." Rika told him.

"Well thank you both for your time and I'm glad that you are ok miss.  Good-day." the cop told them and then he climbed back into his cruiser and took off.

"Let's hope that is the end of that." Ryo said, looking down at Rika.

"You can say that again." Rika said before she turned around in his arm, while placing her arms around his neck.

"What do you want to do know?" Ryo asked her looking down into her face.

"Well we could go to my house." Rika suggested slyly.

"And what would we do there?" Ryo asked suspicious of her tone.

"Not that much actually.  My mother isn't home, but my grandmother is." Rika told him.

"That isn't such a bad idea.  My mom wants me to get my homework done before tomorrow morning cause she knows that if I don't get it done tonight I won't get it done at all." Ryo told her.

"You have the whole of Sunday to do it, so why don't you just do it then?" Rika asked.

"Why put off till tomorrow what you can do today?  It's just that I get lazy if I don't get my homework done then it just won't get done.  It is just easier for me to do it this way."  Ryo told her.  "Besides, I have a lot more fun over the weekends knowing that I won't have to cut it short to go and do homework."

"Yeah you just get started a lot later." Rika said as she grabbed his hand and started to walk to her house.

"But it's easier to start than to stop having fun." Ryo reasoned as he walked along beside her.

The pair continued to walk along, hand in hand talking about various little things as they went.  The two seemed content just to walk along and not notice anyone or anything else.  Of course when they got to corners they both made sure that they stopped and checked to see if there was any speeding cars headed their way not wanting to go through that ever again.

When they finally reached Rika's house, Ryo was not as nervous as he had thought that he would be.  Ryo simply followed Rika into the front room and sat down with her on the couch.

"Rika, is that you?" a woman called out.

"Yes grandma it is." Rika called back.

"Your mother wanted you to call her at the studio when you got home from school." the woman said again as she walked into the room.  "Oh I didn't know that you had company."

"This is my boyfriend Ryo Akiyama.  Ryo this is my grandmother." Rika introduced the two.

"How do you do, Mrs. Nonaka?" Ryo asked politely.

"Fine, thank you." Mrs. Nonaka replied.  "Rika never mentioned that she had a boyfriend."

"We still haven't told a whole bunch of people." Rika informed her.  "In fact you were the first one that we told."

"Well, I haven't got much to say about the fact that you haven't told anyone, though you should really tell your mother soon." Mrs. Nonaka said.

"I will be telling her soon.  Do you have any idea about what she had wanted to talk to me about?" Rika asked.

"She didn't tell me but I have a sneaking suspicion that she wants you to go down to the studio for a shoot.  But I have some things to do so I will leave the two of you alone.  It was nice to meet you Ryo." Mrs. Nonaka said as she walked out of the room.

"It was nice to meet you too ma'am." Ryo called after her.

"This is just great." Rika vented.  "I was going to study and now my mom is going to want me to come down to the studio and do some stupid photo shoot."

"It can't be as that now can it?" Ryo asked her as he put his arm around her shoulders.

"You have no idea how bad it can be." Rika answered as she snuggled into Ryo.  "But I guess that I should call her."

No sooner then the words had left her mouth than the front door opened and closed.  A moment later a young woman's voice filled the house as it called, "Rika!"

"Oh no." Rika moaned as she hid her head in Ryo's chest.  "Well so much for calling her."

"Rika where are you?" the voice called again.

"I'm in the living room mom." Rika called back her head still in Ryo's chest.

There was the sound of footsteps coming down the hall.  Ryo shifted nervously, though Rika didn't move.  Ryo quit trying to get away, sensing that Rika needed him as an anchor of sorts.  The room stayed deathly silent, the only thing that could be heard was the approach of Rika's mother.

"I'm glad that you are home, Rika…" the young woman began then trailed off as she walked into the room to see her daughter with her head buried in the chest of some you man.  "May I ask what the hell is going on here?!"