BOUNCE Chapter 9: Arc Three REBOUND Line Nine FLY, a digimon fanfic

Title: Bounce

Authoress: XxMookinexX

Summary: First rivals, then friends, then something more… in stressful situations you learn to trust… and you open up your heart… and though the distance stays the same… and other people start to change… you hold that wish, just like before.

Pairings: Well… it changes. Try to figure it out as you go along. There are hints of practically everyone here and there. Although it is eventually a 'happy ever after' story I do not promise that various characters will stay together till the end of time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any of its characters, I only wish I did. Any and all unrecognisable characters and situations belong solely to me and are not to be touched without permission. I am not making any money off of this and I write with the sole purpose to entertain.

A/N: I do not intend to use an OC as a main character, if any appear they will merely be background people mentioned in passing to make this more realistic. Any characters which appear OOC are written that way out of a desire to keep them in character according to the situations I have placed them in.

Situation: This story takes place when our characters are still 13/14. In the sixth movie (which this story and all subsequent stories are set one year later than) Rika had just turned 13, so I am working on the following ages: Takato, Jeri, Henry, Kazu and Kenta are all 13 or 14, and go to the same public school. Rika is 14, but goes to a private school. Alice is also 13. Ryo is 17. Ai and Mako are both 4. Suzie is 8. I don't know where the last four go to school.

This is written in personal third person, and will mainly follow Rika's path through these events. This story contains three arcs: fade, shift and rebound. Each arc contains three chapters. There will be various side stories or sequels to this which I will announce as they come into play.

Oh, the back-story about Rika's father is suggested in the 6th movie. If you can't remember it and can't be bothered to go back, here's a reminder of some important stuff you may have missed:

- By this time all the digimon are in the real world again even after the D-reaper events.
- Rika's past with her dad - basically she was happy and normal and then he abandoned her or died (in the animation he simply disappears) – I would guess from her comment that she doesn't 'trust adults' it would be the former or some sort of betrayal on his part.
- Rika's currently in the stage where she's easily embarrassed and slightly awkward and standoffish. It's cute.
- Takato and the others threw a surprise birthday party for her, but due to various memories brought on by being forced to sing earlier that day, she storms off when asked to join in the Karaoke. Takato goes to follow her, but Renamon stops him, leaving her to her thoughts.

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BOUNCE
the continuing story

First rivals, then friends, then something more…
… in stressful situations you learn to trust…
… and you open up your heart…
… and though the distance stays the same…
… and other people start to change…
… you hold that wish, just like before.

Arc Three:
rebound

Line Nine: FLY

"Recommended treatment:

Psychotherapy's main goal is symptom relief and behaviour change. Anxiety is caused by the body, and when presented to the patient in a certain way, their mind can prevent the anxiety developing. Treatment allows the patient to channel their emotions to avoid destructive actions. Counselling, psychotherapy, crisis intervention, family therapy, and group treatment are often used to encourage the verbalization of fears, anxiety, rage, helplessness, and hopelessness. Sometimes small doses of antidepressants and anxiolytics are also used. Tianeptine, alprazolam, and mianserin were found to be equally effective in patients with AD with anxiety. But considering Rika Nonaka's age, it is recommended to try other routes before turning to medication."

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Two weeks passed quickly.

Rika got out of school one Tuesday to find Kazu waiting for her outside her school gates. She was pleasantly surprised, which was odd, because previously she would never have wanted to spend time with him, but she knew now there was a lot she didn't know about him. A lot she was indebted to him for. So she wanted to try talking to him normally, like she did with Henry and Takato. Instead of always seeing him like he was just another idiot following them around. He was a person. She understood that better than ever before. He looked at her oddly, and she realised it was because of her school uniform.

"I would never imagine you dressed like that," he said, and she smiled, barely containing the joke she wanted to make. Instead she nodded, because she never felt right wearing it either.

"I take it you're not grounded anymore?" She greeted him with a smile. He looked a little sheepish.

"Sorry about that. I said I'd be back, but my mum went crazy ape-shit on me." She laughed.

"Yeah. They told me." She referred to Takato and the others. Kazu nodded, thinking that made a certain amount of sense. They began companionably walking towards her house.

"And they told me you went to see Ryo," he said slowly, testing the waters. "How did that go?" She shrugged. It was hard to think about the incident. Hard to express how she felt about it, but because it was Kazu, and she felt he deserved something for saving her she tried her best to explain.

"I don't know. It's difficult. I was so certain of how I felt before I saw him that in seeing him I was really surprised I didn't feel the same anymore. Not that I necessarily feel differently, but… It's complicated. I don't think it's possible for everyone to be happy at the same time." She sighed and scrunched up the side of her hair. "I don't know," she repeated. "We're not where we were. Where we should have been were that conversation to really work." He considered this, watching her and then watching the path ahead for a little bit as they meandered along the pavement.

"Was he your first love?" he asked out of the blue.

"I think so," she said. "At least, it couldn't have been anyone else… and I was so sure that I loved him. Even if I don't know if I really did from this perspective."

"Was it good?" he asked her. "Even though it didn't work out?" She smiled a little. Her eyes were sad, but not as sad as they might have been.

"Yeah." She nodded. The street was full of cherry blossoms. She thought it must be time for them to bloom soon.

"Rika? I like you. A lot." She stopped walking, breath caught in her throat, eyes wide, blush blossoming on her face as her heart took to hammering on her ribcage. "Don't worry," he said, judging her expression and stopping because she had. "No pressure. I don't expect anything. I just wanted you to know." He smiled, a slight blush on his face as he started to walk again. It took her a moment to catch up. She didn't know exactly what to say. She supposed she was happy. No one had ever directly confessed to her before, but she was very surprised. She'd never suspected it.

"Thank you." His eyes widened, and his blush worsened, but he nodded as if to say it wasn't a problem. The silence between them was not exactly uncomfortable, but she was nervous just because of what he'd told her. She felt like she should have more to say, but she didn't. She had no idea how to feel about that. They got to her gates and he smiled uneasily in goodbye.

"Well, see you next time we all meet up," he said. "I'm glad you're back to yourself."

"Yeah," she said quietly. Her face was still hot from his confession, but he was nice enough to ignore it. She got that he wasn't expecting an answer, but she couldn't help thinking about it. She couldn't believe he'd been so clear, like he wasn't nervous at all in telling her. Although she could tell he was embarrassed now because he had a matching blush on his face. More than likely he'd just blurted it out without thinking of the consequences. Kazu didn't seem like the type to sit on the fence about anything. Once he decided something he went for it. So she could only guess he had decided she would reject him if he waited for an answer… or maybe he was considering her feelings. She'd only just gotten over Ryo. She wasn't sure she was ready to throw herself into something else. Besides, how well did she really know Kazu? "See you." He nodded, and turned to leave, but impulse caught her.

"Kazu," she called, making him look back over his shoulder at her, a curious expression on his face. "I'll consider it," she said. He was taken aback. There was an obvious surprise on his face as he faltered mid-step. But as a terribly vivid blush spread across his cheeks, she was distracted by the huge smile on his face. She liked his smiles, she decided. They made the world brighter.

END

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Heya, let me know what you think.

Ideas for Alice's past come from the speculations of one of the creators behind the series, who said he got the feeling that long before series three even started, Alice had left this world. Also the details behind Adjustment Disorder came from Wikipedia. I hope you enjoyed the series. You'll notice I left it very open ended in terms of relationships. That is because of the many side stories and sequels to this story, one for each of the different characters I might have set her up with. For some reason I always support the least likely pairings, but there will be a story for each of Ryo, Henry, Takato and Kazu.

The titles of these works are as follows:

Ryo: Journey
Henry: A Dance of Sunshine
Takato: An Endless Sky
Kazu: A Four Pointed Star

Luv ya

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