Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Guardian: A tale of Rika and Renamon ❯ Chapter 9

Part Nine

They made their way through the crowd carefully, moving towards the larger hut sitting at the edge of the busy marketplace. Stalls selling fabrics, food, and many other things were all around them, but the two remained focused on their goal. Renamon stood protectively over Rika, her eyes moving constantly over the people around them.

Rika pulled her brown cloak up over her head, not necessarily to disguise itself but to keep the sun off of her pale face. Softly, "His home is over here."

"So do you think this wise man can be of help to us?" Renamon looked down at Rika to murmur quietly.

"It's said that he knows much of the great mysteries of this world," Rika answered her. Seeing Renamon's rather dubious look she added with a slight smile, "I'm not sure about that myself, but he's certainly proven his skills in herbal lore and medicine."

They reached the door to the larger hut, noticing a discrete sign mounted on the wall. 'Henry,' the name simply read, and just bellow it was added, 'Herbalist and scholar.' Renamon reached out and thumped the door firmly.

"Go away!" the male voice yelled at them from within.

Rika and Renamon exchanged a long look, then Rika called out to him, "We have an appointment to see the magister."

"And we are not going away until we do," Renamon added coolly.

A moment of silence, "All right, then."

Renamon opened up the door for Rika, taking a moment to look around there cautiously before letting her go in. The hut was a mess, stuffed full with vials, books, scrolls and other artifacts of many kinds. "It looks safe," she said, adding with a smile, "I suspect the biggest danger is one of these piles of books falling on us."

"I was just thinking of that," Rika agreed as they carefully made their way inside, trying not to knock over any of the different piles of stuff.

The young man stumbled his way forward, rubbing at a pair of glasses while clearly not noticing the dust that covered him, "Sorry, I was just sorting out my store room, and..." He looked up, and stopped dead in surprise. "Kitsune," he murmured softly.

"Well, at least he knows what you are," Rika sighed.

"Right," he blushed slightly and fumbled with his glasses before offering his hand to Renamon, "I'm Henry, a herbalist and scholar."

Renamon took the hand gently, "Renamon. I take it you've met Lady Rika before?"

Henry blushed, "Sorry."

Rika chuckled, "We've already been introduced." She looked up at Renamon, "Shortly after I came to power one of the minor nobles tried to have him burned as a witch."

"Considering his obviously unburned state, I assume you were successful," Renamon noted as she looked the scruffy young man over.

"Barely," a smiling Henry agreed. He looked a bit abashed, "I owe the Lady Rika a great debt, and I hope that I can be of service to you both."

"You said I was a Kitsune," Renamon quietly said after Henry cleared some books and papers off two old chairs and waved them to the seats, "but I know little about my kind. I was taken in as a orphan child, and have never known my own kind."

'Her own kind,' Rika thought a bit sadly, drinking some of the remarkably good tea that the scholar had made up for them. 'And what if she chooses to see out the other Kitsune someday? What will I do then?' she wondered.

Renamon reached out to take Rika's hand as she softly said, "I heard that." With a gentle smile, "I would not leave you, Rika."

Henry looked clearly confused by what was going on, and the two didn't choose to enlighten him. He cleared his throat and said, "Well, I'll tell you what I know of the Kitsune, and you can stop me as needed, all right?"

"That sounds good," Rika smiled.

"The Kitsune are a mysterious race of forest dwellers," Henry looked quite academic as he lectured them, "with fox-like forms that help them thrive in that environment. With their marvelous speed, strength and agility they're fearsome in battle, and often stand guard over certain places, like holy sites or places of great power."

"Or people?" Renamon asked curiously.

"Oh, indeed," Henry agreed quite cheerfully, "that's why I thought that Rika had chosen you as her bodyguard in the first place." He tipped his head to the side thoughtfully, "Where was I... oh, yes! The Kitsune have great physical abilities as well as certain mystical gifts, the greatest of them being the power of transformation."

"I've seen Renamon shapechange myself," Rika sounded confused, "but I don't understand how it's such a powerful ability."

"Not just a shapechange," Henry shook his head, "I mean transforming into a higher state. A Kitsune can learn to assume other forms, each one more powerful than the last. But I understand that it's very difficult, and only the elder Kitsune can do it."

"There was something that I wanted to ask you about," Renamon leaned forward, an new intensity visible in her gaze.

"Yes?" Henry looked a bit nervous.

"When I first met Lady Rika," Renamon smiled over at her, "I felt a deep bond with her. I wanted to... protect her, somehow, even though we were strangers."

Henry had an odd look on his face, "Oh dear." He got up and began to rummage through the books mumbling, "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear."

"What?" Rika looked worried.

"Just a moment," Henry accidentally knocked a pile of books over, Renamon smoothly reaching out to catch them. "Thanks," he grabbed at a book that was uncovered, flipping through it's pages before gasping out, "A-ha!"

"What?" Renamon tried the question herself this time, putting a much more dangerous undertone in her own voice.

Henry paled a bit before he quickly cleared his throat and read, "When eyes meet eyes, a soul touches one another, two bound eternal to the end of days." He closed the book with a thump, "When Kitsune fall in love they do so at first sight." A slight smile, "They seem to know their soul mates almost as soon as they meet them."

"I..." Renamon looked rather like she had been hit in the back of the head. She looked over at Rika, "You don't mind, do you?"

Rika reached out to put a reassuring hand on Renamon's, "No, I don't mind at all."

"It also means that if something happens to you, Lady Rika, then Renamon will not be long with this world," Henry added.

"What?" Rika blurted.

"According to this," Henry lifted the book, "Kitsune rarely survive the death of their partners. They will themselves to die, basically, to follow the one they love."

Both Rika and Renamon looked at each other in stunned shock...

To be continued...

Note: the 'eyes meet eyes' line is a bit of a steal from the comic book series 'Elfquest' by Wendy and Richard Pini.