(Disclaimer: About the only thing for Digimon I own, besides some OC characters are a few of the games and some collectibles from chip packets. So no, I don't own anything from this story besides the OC I'll introduce.)

The Problems of Love

Chapter 1: The Redhead

Shinjuku Ward – Shinjuku Park

"Trump Swords!"

A clown lept its way over a gleaming white lance that had been thrust its way, only to draw two of his own four swords out from the puzzle box on his back and slash at his assailants back. Pain shot through the knight that the clown had attacked previously, the knight also being the owner of the lance.

"Not a very front-on fighter, are we now?" The knight asked while he recovered from the backslash.

"I'm faster than you and more agile too. Why not use that to my advantage?" The jester chuckled evilly, sheathing his swords back into the holders in his back.

"This doesn't mean you'll beat me." The knight responded, his crimson cape billowing slightly in the breeze that swept through the park their battle was taking place in.

"But you're all alone, how do you intend to" The jester was cut off when he heard a gasp come from behind him. He craned his head slightly to see a red haired girl standing behind him, books scattered across the ground near a cream bag at her feet.

"Well, well. The cavalry has arrived!" The clown bellowed with laughter and steeped to the side, giving the knight a good look at who had arrived.

'Is that Rika? No, can't be. Renamon would be fighting already and her hair is different to this girl…' The knight thought to himself.

"Well, don't mind if I take her out of this equation. After all, two is company but three's a crowd. Clown Trick!" And as quick as the girl had been noticed, she had disappeared as the jester threw a small yellow, material square at her.

"Agh, what did you do with her?!" The knight roared demandingly.

"Now, now. If you aren't careful with that hot head of yours then your helmet might melt. I simply removed her from the playing field is all; she's in relatively no harm."

"Lightning Joust!"

A blast of energy was launched from the tip of the knight's raised lance that shot straight towards the cackling clown but missed as he easily jumped over it and behind the knight. However, this move had been anticipated and instead of swords colliding with armour, shield collided with face as the knight spun around and smashed the clown to the ground with his shield, Aegis.

"I hope you have fun when I let your data float back to the Digital World, Piedmon." The knight mumbled, bringing his lance down through Piedmon's chest.

"This isn't over my dear Gallantmon, why, it's far from it!" Piedmon laughed as his body dissipated into data fragments and floated away.

"Whew… I'm glad that's over." Gallantmon sighed in relief, this time his voice was less raspy than usual and more of what a teenager would sound like.

"But Takato, what about that girl?" The knight asked in a raspy, childish voice.

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about her." The teen voice chuckled again.

"Either you have a split personality, or you just love to talk to yourself. Either way do you think you could get me down from here?" A trembling voice called out from above.

Gallantmon looked up to see the girl clinging to the tree she was stuck in, his lance turned into his hand his shield doing likewise. He held his arms out and gave her a reassuring look with his golden eyes and she eased her way down and dropped off into his arms.

"Thank you, that clown was extremely creepy." She stated nervously. She raised one quivering hand to the left side of her head and pushed her hair over to the right and let it hang down over her right shoulder as well as letting her fringe almost cover her shimmering green right eye.

"It was our pleasure!" The childish voice cheered before the exalted knight, Gallantmon, flashed with a bright light and in his place stood a small red and black dinosaur alongside a tall teenage boy with messy brown hair fitted with yellow rimmed goggles.

"What? How did you do that?" The girl asked in a surprised tone.

"You must be new around here. I'm one of the Tamers of Shinjuku, you know, the kids who saved the world three times?" The teen stated.

"Oh, I remember seeing you on the news at my old house! There was that incident with all the electronics getting viruses because of a Digimon, then the pink blob and then all those spider looking ones…" The girl shivered.

"Exactly! I'm Takato Matsuki and this is my partner and best friend, Guilmon." Takato introduced himself and Guilmon, the little saurian giving the new friend a wave.

"So, what's your name?" Guilmon questioned, wanting to know more about the new girl.

"My name's Yumichi Ichano." She replied, walking over to her scattered books and collecting them up and into her bag with Takato's generous offer of help.

"Say, do you know where Shinjuku Upper High is? I'm kinda late now…" She sighed. "Great impression for the first day, huh?" She joked lightly.

"Yeah, I go to school there too which means that I'm late again." Takato sighed. "Guilmon, why don't you go to your hideout or my house until I get back from school?" He suggested, the little saurian nodded and ran off to find a source of entertainment.

"Again?" Yumichi wondered aloud, hinting that Takato should answer.

"I'm late most of the time, Mrs Asaji is used to it now and I don't get in trouble anymore if it's because of a Digimon attack. So I should be fine. Uh, what classroom do you have?" Takato asked as the two started off at a quick walk towards the high school, Takato having picked up his black bag from a nearby tree which he had placed there prior to fighting Piedmon.

"I think its room 24. Yes, it is. Room 24." Yumichi smiled, peering at Takato through her light red hair.

"Oh, that's the same room as Kazu, Kenta, Jeri and I." Takato replied.

"The other Tamers I assume?"

"Some of them. Henry is in room 21, Rika goes to a private school and Ryo lives in Kyushu. Just be wary of Kazu too, he's a little…strange." Takato chuckled.

"I've heard of Rika and Ryo before. I hadn't remembered their names properly." Yumichi confessed.

"I'm not surprised, Rika is pretty hot-headed and she's the Digimon queen to boot. Ryo is the legendary Tamer and the Digimon King, to Rika's dismay." Takato chuckled.

"Having a Digimon would be so cool." Yumichi sighed, gazing off into the trees.

"Getting Guilmon was the best thing that ever happened to me, but Digimon are dangerous too…" Takato stared at the ground through his hair as he relived some old, life-threatening memories. Yumichi noticed and decided that she would inquire about what Takato was thinking about.

"Are you okay?" She asked as the two walked across the road out of the park and towards the school, Yumichi staying a step behind Takato in case he changed direction and she didn't notice.

"Yeah, we've just had our fair share of horrible times. But it's all done now and we only have the wild ones to deal with now." Takato said, his attitude becoming more cheery now as he directed her down a right hand turn, their school now in sight.

Yumichi wanted to know more about what had happened to make the boy so sad so quick but decided against ruining his mood, seeing as though he had also just saved her.

"Do you think that maybe we should run?" She suggested.

"Good idea." Takato replied, the two teens ran down the sidewalk, their trainers hitting the pavement rhythmically.

Shinjuku Ward – Shinjuku Upper High – Room 24

"Trust Takato to be late…" A brown haired woman sighed; it had become a morning routine for the boy ever since she had first started teaching him and prior to that as well based on her limited knowledge of his past classes.

"You can't blame it on him this time, after all, Kazu and Kenta's D-Arcs went off to signal a Digimon attack." A girl in a yellow dress with a light green shirt stated, defending the Tamer mentioned previously.

"Yeah!" A brown hair boy jumped up and pumped his fist defiantly, his sun visor almost falling off his head as a result of not being pulled on tight enough.

"Sit down Kazu. I may not be able to put Takato on detention but I sure can put you on detention." The lady stated, giving Kazu a glare.

"That's not fair though, he didn't do anything wrong…" A green haired boy mumbled nervously, his teacher not hearing his muffled words.

As Kazu made his move to sit back down he heard thumping coming from outside of the white walls of the classroom. He ran to the wall closest to the hallway and put his ear up against it and listened intently. His teacher, Mrs Asaji, was about to blow her gasket when a smirk appeared on the boy's face and the class knew what was about to happen.

The door to the room flew open and Takato burst inside, he started muttering apologies to the teacher who stood there expectantly with one hand on her hip, listening to the same things he was used to muttering every morning.

"Well, you're hardly the valiant knight in shining white armour that saved me before now." Yumichi laughed as she entered the doorway. The jaws of Kazu and Kenta could be heard hitting the floor at the sight of the redhead. From the back of the classroom the two boys could've sworn they were looking at Rika with her hair down.

"Ah, you must be my new student. What's this about being saved?" Mrs Asaji questioned.

"Well there was a Digimon attack and during the fight he threw this yellow blanket thing over her and she disappeared. After I defeated him she ended up being stuck in a tree." Takato recounted, a blush forming on Yumichi's cheeks at the thought of her new classmates knowing she was caught in a tree.

"How noble of you Takato, you can go and sit down now." Mrs Asaji commanded, the boy moving to his seat by the window. A convenient spot for the day dreaming gogglehead. "Why don't you introduce yourself to the class dear?" Mrs Asaji asked Yumichi, the red haired girl nodded and turned to face the class.

"Well, my name is Yumichi Ichano…" She started as two great sighs of relief sounded from the back of the room. "My dad moved my family over here from Nagano when he received a job offer from the Metropolitan Government Building. That's about it I guess." She finished off and was pointed towards the desk next to Takato's.

"Why did those two boys at the back sigh when I said my name?" She asked the brown haired Tamer.

"They probably mistook you for Rika at first but your eyes and hair would've given it away if they hadn't heard your name. The one with the visor is Kazu and the one with the glasses is Kenta." Takato replied quiet enough for her to hear.

"What do you mean my eyes and hair?" Yumichi asked, not knowing whether to be offended or not at the statement.

"Well, Rika always has her hair up in a spiked ponytail and her eyes are the brightest shade of indigo…" He replied, drifting away from the conversation at hand a little.

"Awww, sounds like someone has a crush." Yumichi teased the boy with a giggle.

"Eh? What, no I don't!" Takato whispered quickly, a blush forming on his cheeks.

"That's cute, Takato." She giggled again.

"Hey, Jeri. What do you think's going on with Chumley and the new girl?" Kazu whispered to Jeri, the brown haired girl and ex-Tamer in front of him.

"From what I heard he saved her from the Digimon that bio emerged, I assume they've already made introductions on their way here. I think it's good she made a friend so quickly, at least she won't be alone." Jeri replied hastily to avoid getting caught by Mrs Asaji.

"Kenta, do you think that she'll go out with me?" Kazu asked his friend who gave him a look of disbelief.

"If anything, it's Takato that has the best chance right now." He replied, jotting down the trigonometry notes Mrs Asaji was writing up on the chalk board, the same working flying right over Kazu's head.

"Yeah but everyone knows Chumley's in love with Rika, that much would be obvious to even Calumon." Kazu snorted.

"Fine, but if you remember, you don't have the best of luck when it comes to redheads, I mean, Rika hates your guts." Kenta reminded the visor wearing teen on cloud nine.

"She hates yours too…" Kazu huffed, folding his arms across his chest.

"Only because I hang out with you. I reckon she wouldn't have as much of a problem with me if I weren't with you all of the time."

"Well I'm glad you know what team your on at least. Team Kazu is amazing." Kazu chuckled, Kenta did too but more about how big his friend's ego was than of the lame joke.

"Whatever you say…" He sighed, completing off his notes and taking the short moment to relax.

"That's the kind of spirit I expect from Team Kazu is awesome!" Kazu cheered causing Kenta to sigh once again as he adjusted his glasses.

"So what are Rika, Ryo and Henry like?" Yumichi asked her newest and only friend in Shinjuku, Takato.

"Well, Rika has a short fuse, especially when it comes to Kazu and even more so when it comes to Ryo. They're both good guys, they just know how to push her buttons even if they don't mean to. Ryo likes to keep personal things out of conversations, especially when it comes to his Digimon, Cyberdramon. Cyberdramon is even more violent than Rika can be, he gets so out of control that Ryo can't even control him." Takato explained. Yumichi was surprised that there was a Digimon the Legendary Tamer couldn't even handle but she kept listening to show respect.

"Henry is a smart guy; he doesn't like fighting but knows that he has to, to keep people safe. His Digimon, Terriermon, another one on Rika's list of hated things. He has quite the mouth, the polar opposite to Henry." Takato chuckled.

"Do you think you could introduce me to them? I'd like to make more friends." Yumichi asked hopefully, using her left hand to sweep her hair over to her right shoulder.

"Yeah, we all meet in the park every afternoon. Except Ryo, he lives too far away for that. Just stop by this place here and I'll take you there." Takato hastily scribbled down some directions onto a piece of paper that he pulled from his notebook and handed it to Yumichi.

"The Matsuki Bakery? Didn't you say your last name was Matsuki?" Yumichi wondered, inclining the boy to answer again.

"Yeah, my parents own the bakery and we live above it. I have to help out sometimes and it's good fun when Guilmon doesn't try and eat all the bread." Takato chuckled.

"Guilmon seems gentle; he seemed so different when you two were merged like that." Yumichi noted.

"Yeah, he's pretty childish in most of his evolutions." The goggled Tamer responded, staring out the window and into a tree where the thick foliage would cover any animals held within.

"Most of them?"

"It was something that happened that I'd like to save for another time. If you don't mind." Takato shifted uncomfortably in his seat and begun to write down the new work that was up on the board, having neglected small sections of the trigonometry.

"Is it because you don't really know me?" Yumichi asked rather brusquely forcing Takato to shift uneasily once more.

"It's not that, just something that was set off because of an unfortunate chain of events that led to the D-Reaper." Takato groaned.

"What's the D-Reaper?"

"The big pink blob."

"Oh. I'm sorry if I'm asking too many questions." Yumichi bowed her head slightly in apology but Takato waved it off with a polite smile.

"Don't worry about it." He whispered with a huge grin that replaced his once grim expression. "Still wanna come this afternoon?" He asked.

"Of course. Is it okay if I turn up around half past four?" Yumichi probed, her green eyes trying to focus on the work on the board while her mind tried to focus on the conversation.

"Sure thing. If I'm not at the counter then just ask my parents to get me." Takato responded. Yumichi felt a sensation of happiness at what she had managed to accomplish today, at first she had figured she would be sitting alone in a class full of strangers but instead she had been saved by a knight who turned out to be the combined form of a human and Digimon. She had even managed to make friends with Takato.

'Although it wasn't that hard seeing as though he's so nice.' She mused.

End of Chapter.

If I'm good enough at the time of writing this then the story should set off without a hitch. I hope you enjoy it and leave a review. I think it will be an interesting story for you readers, it sure is a new thing for me to be writing, you'll see what I mean later.

So there's another redhead besides Riley and Rika in Shinjuku. What will Rika think of Yumichi? What will Yumichi think of Rika? You'll have to wait until I write the next chapter, won't you?

Yumichi's last name is also pronounced as 'Ickano' but spelt as Ichano because the 'k' looks weird, ahahah.

-DW96