Katou Residence

[Kaze]

Located in the area of Shibuya, there is a small tarven which is owned by the Katou family. Just above it is where Jeri and her family live...

[Kaze]

"Boring.......Boring....Boring..."

Salamon continued to complain as she slowly pounded her head against the door of the room, stopping on after Jeri picked her up and checked her head for any injury. The girl held a look of concern, worried for the small digimon, but sigh in relief when she saw that she wasn't hurt. It was rare for the small digimon to be out like this, considering that none of her family members were aware of her new partner. This was due to the fact that she had an idea of how the situation would end, Salamon would be thrown out of the house, or taken to the police. Neither were something that she wanted to happen, especially since it wasn't the creatures fault.

Jeri wanted to believe that this wasn't true, that her father would understand. But she knew him. The look in his eyes when he held her after her rescue from the D-Reaper, the event of him combing her room for anything that was remotely related to digimon and tossing it into the trash. He wanted nothing related to that event anywhere near this house, even if it was something as minor as a book. He was afraid of them, of what they had done. She was scared too, but not enough to simply stop. In truth, she didn't think she had a choice anymore.

"Don't do that! You'll hurt yourself...."

Setting the rookie digimon upon the floor, Jeri return to sitting on her back, laying back as she held her digi-vice up in front of her face. Why was she doing this again? Why did she even wish it? The girl had failed the last time she was a tamer, allowing Leomon to die. If she had acted faster, if she could have said something, maybe he wouldn't have done what he did. The girl felt herself tearing up a little, but she fought it as she continued to look at the D-Arc. She remembered when she was so excited to have a digimon, she thought it was so awesome. Yet now she didn't know how to feel. The girl felt numb, unsure if she should be happy for this 2nd chance or concerned about her ability to do the task that was set before her.

Everyone seems so ready to do this again.....Their so strong and determined. Why can't I just be like that? Why can't I be happy too?

Blinking as she felt something lay upon her chest, she saw the Salamon looking at her with a blank expression. This caused her to smile, placing the D-Arc beside her on the bed as she gently rubbed the creature's face with both her hands. She couldn't let her worry about her too. It was hard enough to know that the others were concerned for her. Though they hadn't said it, she could read it in their eyes. Jeri, the fragile doll that might break under the pressure. It was no wonder that Rika had excluded her from the meeting, not inviting her personally.

Maybe their right to be worried....I still haven't.....Been me lately. But then...When have I ever been truthful about how I'm feeling?

Giggling as she watched the digimon giggle along with her, Jeri then looked towards the window within her room. It was a good thing that her parents and step-brother had gone out. It allowed for a lot more freedom and room to move around. With the tavern closed in till later, the place was theirs to roam. Rising up from the bed, the girl opened the door as she walked into the hall, hearing the light footsteps of Salamon from behind her. Moving down the stairs, she looked around the bar area as she made her way towards the kitchen. There wasn't much within the fridge, which had been the reason why her family was out, but what remained seemed to be enough.

Pulling out an apple, the girl hummed softly to herself as she moved around towards the counter, retrieving a knife from one of the drawers. Looking at the small digimon as she hopped onto the counter to watch, she slowly began to cut open the fruit, smiling to herself as she tried to push her previous thoughts behind her. It was too much to just always consider the negative. Jeri had to be positive, even if it meant lying to herself and ignoring the obvious truth. That she hadn't gotten over the events of two years ago, and that she had simply just pushed them further back, avoiding the thought of them. That in the end, it was her fault that everything had happened. She was the cause of the D-reaper.

At the though of that name, Jeri's finger slipped into the path of the blade, slightly cutting it. Wincing as she held it up to her mouth, she slowly sucked on the small injury, looking towards Salamon as she laughed a little.

"That's why you always pay attention to what your doing Jeri..."

A smirk crossed the teen's face as she went to the sink to clean the cut, watching the small digimon devour the apple from the corner of her eye. If there was one thing she knew about the digimon, was that it loved to eat. But oddly enough, it never seened to show any sign of gaining weight. When she thought about all the times she saw Guilmon gorge himself, he at least held a bulge in his belly. This creature barely showed anything, it just seemed amazing. But then, all digimon were unique, so perhaps this was a special trait for Salamon.

Making her way back up stairs to her room, she stopped for a moment as she thought she saw something. Blinking as she stood upon the first step, Jeri looked around as she then continued to make her way to the second floor of her home. Salamon moved ahead of her, brushing past her leg as she ran towards the bed room with the last remaining apple slice in between her teeth. It was quite the display, one in which the girl laugh at in till she heard a sound from behind her. It sounded almost like a bark, yet she knew that they didn't have a dog. Standing in the hall with a worried expression, the voice had sounded so familiar, almost as if it had been her own.

I'm...just hearing things...Yea...That's all...

Smiling nervously, the girl took continued to make her way to her room, stopping at the entrance as she saw something laying upon her desk. It was a raggedy old sock, but it held the features of something she had made a long time ago. Moving closer as she saw Salamon sitting on her bed, she could see that it was in fact her old sock puppet. Staring at it for a while, she found herself unsure what to say. Had she not left the object within her locker at school? But then why was it here?

Slowly reaching out, she nervously picked up the sock puppet dog, narrowing her eyes as she looked at its rather crooked expression. But then, she heard the same noise again, the human barking noise. But this time it was louder than before. Jeri almost jumped back as she looked towards Salamon. Had she not heard it too? The creature seemed to be sleeping, so perhaps she was simply hearing nothing. Faint memories within her head? This just left her all the more confused.

Jerrrrriiiiiiii

Dropping the puppet as this voice caught her ear, Jeri swiftly turned around, one hand holding her heart as she stared at the entrance to her room. It was there that she saw it, the cause of the voices. There stood a small girl, red hair with one part of its length tied by a green rubber band. Her feet were bare, but her body was covered in a brown jacket with a yellow shirt and green skirt under it. Her eyes were red as she held a smile that left Jeri's blood running cold. The stranger then disappeared and reappeared even closer to the teen, causing her to back up into her desk.

The small girl stared up at her, reaching one hand up that seemed to hold the puppet. From there, she began to put her hand within as she began to speak with it.

"All suffering must be eliminated."

With that, Jeri screamed as she closed her eyes and then opened them to see the figure was gone. Scanning the room with her eyes, she looked towards the bed to see Salamon staring at her with a blank expression. Breathing rapidly, the teen slowly sat upon the surface of the desk. Eyes still wide, she didn't say anything. What could she say to someone that didn't see it. The digimon never would see it either, because in truth, it wasn't some random figure that had tormented her for that brief moment. It had been herself......

[Kaze]

-Two Weeks Later-

"So...What do you think?"

Gatomon up towards her tamer, yawning as she had just prepared herself for a nap. Though the sight she saw was somewhat odd and almost funny. The young girl was standing before her, a set of goggles places firmly over her forehead with a confident look on her face. It was something she could see a certain other tamer pulling off, but it just seemed more like a display with Jeri doing it. It just seemed more like fan service, whatever that meant.

"I think someone needs to stop while their ahead..."

Jeri frowned as she heard this, taking off the goggles as she sat down on the bed next to her partner. Leaning back against the wall as she sat, she wondered if her whole idea would even work? After all, the only thing she was doing right now was attempting to change her appearance to maybe boost her confidence. As silly as it was, it did seem to make her feel somewhat more capable. Of course, it was also another mask in which she could hide behind.

"I thought it looked well....cute..."

"Was that what you were going for?"

Gatomon opened one eye as she held a calm expression on her face while staring towards the young girl beside her.

"Maybe....I don't know...."

Sighing as she closed her eyes, Jeri released a breath before pushing herself back up to her feet, and walking towards her closet. Moving through the long row of clothes she had, she hadn't heard Masahiko walk into the room. So while Gatomon had quickly taken her position as a lifeless toy, the girl continued to speak to her like she was the only one in the room.

"I mean.....he said I was beautiful....and I never heard him say something like that before....at least not to me. I just don't know what to think anymore...its almost like....."

Retracting herself from the confines of her closet, she then jumped as she saw her younger sibling giggling as he stood beside her.

"Masahiko! How...how long have you been standing there?"

"I don't know...Are you talking to Gatomon?"

Not sure how to respond, the boy indicated what he meant by pointing towards the digimon as she sat limply upon the bed. The small boy then walked over to her and picked her up while holding it up over his face as he giggled.

"Im Gatomon! Meow!

Jeri just watched with a smile as she could see Gatomon frown before quickly returning to having a blank expression as Masahiko placed her back on the mattress.

"Hehe...I could hardly tell the difference..."

"Really? Can you show me how you do it? You don't really play with puppets anymore..."

Jeri continued to smile as she knew there was a reason for that. The truth was that puppets scared the heck out of her now, especially the ones that she had made. In fact, she was pretty sure that her dog puppet was still within the bottom draw of her desk. But then, she didn't want to tell the young boy about that. After all, he probably wouldn't completely understand that kind of reason anyway.

"Hmm...Why not? Lets go see if we can get some stuff from down stairs ok?"

Moving out of the room with Masahiko beside her, Gatomon waited in till the door was closed before sighing in relief. Rubbing her left shoulder with her paw, she frowned as she glared towards the door.

"I wonder if there's room in that shed for two digimon? I ain't exactly liking being treated like a puppet...."