It had been two weeks since the strange event that had altered the lives of Ruki Makino and Juri Katou. The two didn't realise it, but in their seperate schools, both were displaying how much they had changed in the eyes of their teachers. Not too far apart, their two teachers did something that met with what would have been unexpected a few short weeks ago...

***

She knew this one.

Ruki had normally known the right answers to the questions the teachers had asked, seeking a volunteer from the class. "Can anyone tell me..." and "Who knows the answer..." had normally been met by her ignorance. She used to prefer someone else would do it. It hadn't been important.

But now, she wanted to answer. No one ever answered until the teacher picked someone out. And this teacher could take ages to decide no one was volunteering...

She put her had up.

"Ruki... Go ahead."

She answered. She was right.

The teacher continued on, still a little surprised at the change from Makino. She'd been answering her questions more, and her work had improved. Not that she hadn't been bad before, the scores didn't have much to go higher with, but it seemed like Ruki was somehow more interested. She had no idea what had caused this attitude change in her student, but she hoped it would stick...

***

She knew, and she couldn't really care less.

Someone else could do it, or the teacher would pick someone out. There was no reason for her to raise her hand. To look smart? She was sure people had just saw her as a show-off before, every time she'd put her hand up. How had she ever been so lame? That accident a few weeks ago had been the best thing to ever happen to her. She had what she'd always wanted really. The confidence and skill with the Digimon card game she wished she had. And the confidence to have done what she'd always been afraid to do, and admit to Takato she liked him.

And more importantly, she would always pass the written tests. The lessons in the class were just a waste of time, the teacher's faulty way to see who was paying attention.

"Takato… Perhaps you know?" Miss Asaji asked.

"Um… Twelve?"

Miss Asaji stared at him for a few seconds as some of the other pupils snickered.

"Can anyone who doesn't think this is math class answer?"

Miss Asaji's eyes landed on Juri Katou. She used to be able to rely on her to make things easy, put her hand up, answer it right, then let her tell them to get on with their work and just sit down. Something had changed with the girl.

What could it have been? She seemed to have entered a relationship with Takato Matsuki, since she always seemed to be dragging the boy around with her, but that didn't seem to matter much during class. If anything Juri had been more distracted by the boy before, sneaking occasional glances at him when she thought no one was looking.  She hoped that whatever had caused her to lose her easy method of teaching would fade during the break that was coming up soon.



***

The break came round soon enough, and Takato knew one thing for certain right now.

There was no way he was getting used to this soon.

He had no complaints about Juri's new attitude towards him, at least. He'd never have dreamt a few weeks ago she'd have ever kissed him… Well, okay, he'd frequently dreamt of it. He just never thought it would ever happen for real.

What did trouble him was the ranking sheet.

He had Juri had taken part in a fairly large Digimon Card tournament the first Saturday after the break had begun, and a few of their friends were taking part too.  They had all went out along the way, except Juri.

She had won her second tournament. And since her first had been a small one held at an Anime/Manga store, this one was way bigger. For a start, she'd had to beat the reigning champion of this tournament on the way.

And that champion didn't really care.

"So, how do you plan to celebrate your girlfriend winning?" Ruki said, almost teasingly.

"I don't know." Takato admitted, looking at her.

He still hadn't adjusted to this, either. Ruki Makino, her hair done into a short ponytail thanks to a blue ribbon, wearing a casual blue and white dress. It seemed every time he saw her now, Ruki's hairstyle was changed with a new ribbon. And she never seemed to wear her old jeans and heart-shirt any more. It was always a skirt, or a dress, or something the old Ruki would never wear.

"What did you do when she won the other one?"

"She bought dinner with my money." He said.

By that, he meant he'd been told to pay for her dinner in the nearest fast food restaurant. He had a feeling she'd have him do something similar this time.

Then she arrived, having been given her prize. Takato hadn't adjusted to this either.

The old Juri would have been bursting with joy and excitement. She'd have been bouncing all over the place, cheering.

The new Juri however, only had the faint hint of a smile, and a pleased look on her face.

"Congratulations!" Ruki began, before Takato could speak. It meant the boy could only echo her.

"Thanks. Takato, you're paying for dinner. Ruki's coming too." Juri said bluntly.

"Uh, sure." Takato nodded, then spotted a familiar face approaching.

"Hey, guys. Nice work there Juri. I still don't know how I lost..." Ryo said.

He'd taken his defeat with grace even if the surprise of it confused him. Even more confusing to him had been Ruki's performance today, having fared very poorly compared to her previous year in this tournament. Ryo had only heard of what had happened, and this was his first meeting with the new Juri and Ruki. He could see the visual changes clearly... Was Ruki blushing a little?

"Ryo's coming too." Juri said quickly, before he could finish his train of thought.

"Coming where?"  Ryo said, failing to notice the colour drain from Ruki's face.

"Wherever she picks..." Takato said, managing to just stop himself sighing in the process.

***

"Where" was a nearby café, where the four had ordered on Takato's wallet. As they waited for their food, Ryo asked about recent events.

"So, Juri's got all the skill and the attitude for playing the card game that Ruki had, but Ruki enjoys it more than she used to because she's having more fun?"

"That's pretty much it." Takato said. Both girls had been quiet for their own reasons.

"And neither of you have any problem with the personality switch?"  Ryo asked.

"Doesn't bother me." Juri answered.

"N-No..." Ruki said, unusually stuttering. Ryo stared at her, and was sure she was turning red...

"By the way, I like your hair, Ruki." He tried, still expecting some blunt insult back at his flirting.

"Um, thanks." She instead said meekly. Ryo decided that the new Ruki might be a little less receptive to teasing and decided to hold off...

Well, for now...

"But this kind of switch... Surely it affects more than just how your dress and how well you play a card game? Surely something must be different other than that?"

"Well, I'm closer to my mother now. I never really got on with her before, but now... I can speak with her about things." Ruki said.

"Nothing's changed much in my house." Juri added. Ryo suspected that wasn't strictly true.

Soon after this, the food arrived, and though Ryo had intended to continue the questions, this plan was wrecked when as soon as they'd finished, Juri began virtually dragging Takato away as he left the money to pay behind.

"Come on, goggles. Let's go home." Juri said as she did this

"Uh... See you later, I guess..." The goggle-headed boy bid goodbye to his friends. Ryo watched in confusion.

"Goggles... Didn't you call him that?" Ryo said.

"Y-Yeah. I did. But I don't anymore." Ruki responded, growing red again.

"Because Juri does?"

'Any redder and she'll be the same shade as her hair... What's up with her? Is she embarrassed by how she changed?'

"Yup. Besides, now I think about it... It was kind of rude. I know he likes wearing them and he wasn't offended, but every time I said it, I was trying to be mean..."  

"I see. Well, I ought to be going. I'll see you around." Ryo said, as he stood up to leave.

"Okay. See you later." Came the reply. He waited a few seconds before he said his real goodbye

"Oh, and your dress suits you." He said, not turning until he reached the door. Rather than being red with anger though, Ruki was staring at her feet.

'Huh. I'm not so sure I like this change... Weird.'

***

Once Ruki had calmed down a little and her heart had stopped pounding, she managed to stand and leave the café. Not long after, she was back home, where her mother greeted her.

"Hello, Ruki. How did you get on? Did you have fun?" Rumiko said.

"Yeah, I enjoyed myself. I didn't get as far as I did last time, but Juri won the tournament."

"She did? That's nice. She'd always wanted to be better at the game, didn't she?"

Ruki nodded.

"Oh, before I forget, I know you might not want to, but in a few days I might have a modelling job. It'd be a photoshoot for a new fashion catalogue. It'd be for some shots like a mother-daughter kind of thing, and I was wondering... Well, my cameraman mentioned how he normally gets a girl in who looks nothing like the 'mother' for these jobs, but I thought maybe you'd like to help?"

"You mean you want me to be a model with you?!" Ruki said the obvious, a little worried.

"Yeah. You don't have to, if you don't want to..."

"I... I do and... I don't. It's... I'm not sure." Ruki stumbled her reply.

"I understand. I was a little nervous the first time I was offered a modelling job and I'd been looking for it rather than being asked. You can take your time and answer if you want, it'd be a few days before we know if the shoots going ahead."

Ruki pondered the options. She was worried about her looks suddenly. She knew that she wasn't ugly, but was she the kind of face people expected in a catalogue modelling a dress?  

"Wait, what exactly is the shoot for?" Ruki asked.

"It's just dresses. It's on a blue or green screen so you don't need to worry about being seen out in public. Well, apart from when the catalogue comes out if they use any shots with you in them.  Oh, you'd get paid too..." Rumiko remembered.

"Well... I guess there's no harm doing it." Ruki decided. Rumiko almost squealed.

"Great! I won't tell them right away in case you change your mind, but I hope you don't. Trust me, you'll enjoy yourself!"

As Ruki went to her room, she envisioned what lay ahead. What kind of dresses would she model? She was sure they'd be pretty, and even if she was a little nervous about if she was really suitable for modelling them, she couldn't deny she was excited about it as well.

"Renamon? Are you here?" She asked as she entered her room. The Digimon emerged from the shadows.

"Yes, Ruki, I'm here."

"I was wondering... Which of my dresses do you think suit me?"

Renamon was confused by this.

"Shouldn't you ask your mother about that?"

"Well, maybe, but she'd say all of them. You'd be more honest."

"I've not really seen them to be honest..." Renamon tried.

"Well, I could try some of them on?"

And so, Renamon found herself bewildered by Ruki's sudden desire to see which of her dresses were more "Her", a confused critic of her tamer's efforts to practice for the modelling event a few days away. Renamon could only offer a few nods and claim that some of them made Ruki look prettier than others, but in truth, she had no idea what she was doing...

***

Jenrya couldn't stop staring at the brown pineapple that was now Juri's hairstyle.

Sure, unlike the old Ruki the new Juri varied her style of clothing a bit more it seemed, since he'd seen a photo of her winning the tournament in the local newspaper, and she hadn't been wearing the black combat pants and grey t-shirt she had on now, but it was still unsettling to him.

"Is there something in my hair?"

"No... Just... Ah, it's not important." He said.

"Man, Ruki's late... I hope she's all right." Takato noted.

"Maybe she started daydreaming about Ryo and missed her stop on the train." Juri noted.

"Mayb... Wait, what?"

"Didn't you see her yesterday? She couldn't have made it more obvious if she'd kissed him there and then."

"What, like you did?" Jenrya said, having heard about that incident from Takato, who had been bragging about it for a little while after.

Juri responded with an icy stare, so he was quickly silent.

Until the latecomer arrived.

"Sorry I'm late, guys! I took longer getting ready that I expected..." Ruki said, embarrassed.

She approached, her hair mostly loose but with a light blue ribbon tied into it. Her dress meanwhile was a black skirt, knee-length white socks, and a blue and red t-shirt, To Jenrya, it looked very un-Ruki.

"You didn't think Ryo was here, did you?" Juri said. Ruki's face drained of colour, but Takato quickly changed the subject.

"So, guys, what do we want to do today?"

The reply came from the four D-Arcs. All four went off at once, warning of a nearby wild Digimon.

"Wow, first time in a few weeks..." Jenrya noted.

"Convenient too. Terriermon and Guilmon are nearby.  And Renamon's always around..." Juri noted.

The four of them soon found the wild Digimon, in a thankfully secluded and empty area of the park.  But with the Digimon it was, they were surprised it was still here. Burning black wings weren't being used to fly, but the Saberdramon that had emerged seemed to have decided to study its surroundings first.

"Okay, not too tough..." Jenyra noted.

"Yeah. Guilmon, show it your stuff."

The red dinosaur complied, but the black bird simply dodged, and retaliated. Guilmon simply dodged. The Saberdramon attacked again, only to miss.

"It's focusing on Guilmon. Me and Terriermon can attack it while it's distracted." Renamon noted.

"I don't like this..." Takato muttered, but it seemed the Saberdramon was willing to play along, and Guilmon had little choice but to keep dodging.

"Alright, I don't think fire's going to make sense on this one. Ruki, you still have that SnowAgumon card?" Jenrya asked.

Ruki was confused by this.

"Huh? Yeah, why?"

"Use it to give Renamon her Frozen Wind attack?" He prompted.

"Oh, right..."

Guilmon was still dodging, but Ruki hesitated before producing the right card. It gave the Saberdramon a chance to notice. It didn't take long for it to realise the weakness. It turned, staring at the red-haired girl, who stared back, card still in her hand.

Frozen on the spot, she could do nothing but watch as it flapped its wings, sending black flames towards her. She was terrified, paralyzed. She knew she had to move but her body wouldn't respond...

Juri dived into her just in time, the flames smashing into the spot where Ruki had been. Angered at the attack on her tamer, Renamon's furious Diamond Storm struck home, sending the Saberdramon to earth, where Guilmon and Terriermon added their attacks to its misery. The defeated Digimon disintegrated into data under the blows.

"Are you all right?" Juri asked, helping Ruki to her feet. The red-haired girl was now trembling.

"Yeah... Thanks..." She gasped in reply, staring at the scorched grass where she had been only a few moments ago.

"Remember how Guilmon was meant to be the bait? It might have annoyed Renamon enough to win faster but I wouldn't try it again unless you know to move out of the way next time. " Juri said with a smirk.

Ruki barely even heard the comment, still imagining in her head what would have happened if she hadn't been moved out of the way...

"Hey, come on, Rika, we're heading back now. No point hanging around here." Jenrya shouted, as the others were heading away from the site of the brief battle.

"I wish I could have helped out. I don't think anyone could replace Leomon but I miss helping you all out. And it feels wrong to have this D-Arc and nothing to do with it." Juri said as Ruki caught up.

No one really had much of an answer to that statement.


***

A few days later, Takato had been told to take Juri to another tournament. He hadn't intended to go, but his girlfriend had other plans. He had thought showing up early would be a good thing, but Juri of course wasn't ready yet, leaving him waiting for her.

"So you're Juri's boyfriend now?" Masahiko, her step-brother, asked.

"Uh... Yeah." Takato responded, wondering where this was going.

"Is she still fun with you?" The younger boy asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"She's not as fun anymore. She doesn't play with me much. Or Calumon."

Before Takato could question further, Juri was ready.

"Come on, since you were early I'm going to miss breakfast and..." She began, but Takato had got the idea already.

"...And I'm paying?"

"Good boy!"

***

The same day, Ruki was nervous. Not just because today was the day that she was going to be modelling with her mother, but because the events of a few days ago still weighed on her mind. She sat in the dressing room, asking herself a question that she'd had no answer to over the last few days.

'Why did I hesitate? I knew what to do! Instead I just stood there...'

"Ruki? Are you ready?"

She was shaken from her thoughts by her mother's voice at the door.

"Um, yeah, just a minute!" She replied. She took a look at herself in the mirror. The dress she was wearing now was a fairly basic cream-coloured sundress with a floral pattern. Some of the other dresses she had in this room with her would be far more complicated, growing more formal as the day would progress it seemed.

Oddly, she wished she had started with the more complicated ones now. She thought she looked okay, but she couldn't help but think that the sundress was too plain compared to the others... Dismissing the thought and trying to push her earlier worries aside, she went out to face the music, or rather, the camera.

By the end of it all, she felt far more relaxed and at ease. She'd enjoyed today, and she had to admit she'd looked pretty good in some of the dresses...

'I wonder if I can get Mom to buy them for me or something...'

***

It was late, and he was feeling tired out. Takato knew that it was a good thing he and Juri had the relationship he'd always wanted, but he wasn't so sure about how expensive it was getting. He liked her, but a little respite from having to pay for everything would be nice. Maybe he could convince her to get dinner at his house sometime instead of just buying fast food...

And even though he was tired, someone else had their own food demands, and so, he was trudging into the park with a bag full of leftovers from the bakery.

"Hey, sorry I'm a little late, but you know how it's been..." he sighed as he went into Guilmon's hiding place. Guilmon, fortunately, didn't care when he was fed, so long as he was.

But it wasn't just Guilmon inside today.

"Renamon? Why are you here?" Takato asked with confusion on seeing the yellow vulpine Digimon.

"It's about Ruki..." Renamon began.

"She's been waiting here a little while." Guilmon noted, and Takato managed to distract him from butting in any more with the bread he'd brought. He knew this was important if Renamon had specifically been waiting on him.

"Is it about how she's changed?"

Renamon nodded.

"I know she's happier... At least on the outside. But that incident with the Saberdramon a few days ago, it shook her. She's never been one to dwell on things like that..."

Takato recalled when Galgomon had levelled the Gatling guns on his hands into her face back near the time he'd first met Guilmon and everyone else. Ruki had never shown any sign of being too freaked out by it all afterwards, she'd been freaked out at the time and had got over it pretty fast. And there had been dozens of other times she'd been in danger.

"And she's got more self-conscious. She'd been worried about her dresses, because she was supposed to be modelling with her mother..."

"Wait, Ruki was modelling?" Takto blurted, surprised. Renamon merely nodded.

"Yes. And she had me try and tell her what dresses she already owned looked best before it."

"Well, maybe she was just a little excited to be modelling? I mean, it's not the Ruki we knew before but... Well..."

Renamon sighed, and decided to just say it, even though she knew the thought was a betrayal of all she and Ruki had ever done together in the past.

"I'm worried she might not be the kind of Tamer I need anymore."

"You mean you think she's gotten weaker?" Takato interpreted.

"No! Well, maybe..."

Takato shook his head.

"She's not weaker. She's just... I guess everything that's happened lately, everyone just needs some more time to really get used to it. None of us really know the new Ruki and the new Juri all that well, not even them..." He said, making his own realisations.

"You'll have noticed changes with Juri too I'd think." Renamon responded.

"Well, yeah. In school, she never answers questions any more. She used to always have her hand up. And she doesn't seem to hang around with her other friends much... Though I guess that's partly my fault."

"Ruki sometimes goes out now. She's made some friends at her school..."

"Well, they swapped personalities, right? Ruki had never been one for socialising but she was confident. And Juri was... Well, Juri was open with everything but her feelings before."

"She used to smell funny sometimes. Like flowers. Now Ruki smells of flowers sometimes" Guilmon noted, looking up from his food.

"That's perfume, Guilmon. Some human females wear it." Renamon said, and Takato had an odd feeling of deja-vu, like something similar to this had happened before...

Dismissing the notion though, he realised it was true. Sometimes Juri had worn perfume noticeably, and he hadn't really liked it because to notice it, she'd always use way too much.  Other times she hadn't used as much but it was still obvious she had it on. Now though, she didn't. He hadn't noticed anything with Ruki, but presumably the Digimon's more sensitive noses spotted the differences far easier.

"We know they're changing, but some of the changes aren't great. The two of them seem to be happy with what they are, but it's like they don't notice the downsides." Renamon  continued.

"Yeah... Juri's focusing on the card game and... Well, me. But she's not paying much attention to her old friends and her family. Her step-brother told me this morning he doesn't think she's as fun any more. But how much of that's her change, and not her dating me though?" He fretted, until Renamon answered his worry with the obvious answer.

"She's only dating you because she changed. She liked you before, and then she had the confidence to admit it to herself and you."

"But how come Ruki didn't date Ryo before?" Takato wondered.

"Maybe she only started liking him after the change?" Guilmon pondered.

"Okay, we know one thing for sure though. They're not changing entirely for the better, are they? Rika's lost confidence, Juri's getting distant from everyone around her but me... I think we're going to need to watch how they're changing. I don't think they're realising it themselves."

"Hey, didn't Juri mention something about being a tamer again?" Guilmon interjected.

"She did. She mentioned it more today after the tournament. She was talking about Leomon, but she was saying she wouldn't mind another partner..."

"Maybe Renamon could become her partner?" Guilmon innocently suggested. Takato and Renamon both stayed silent for a moment.

"I don't think that will be any kind of solution." Renamon eventually said.

"Yeah. The girls need to be stable, and something like that... Well, I know if she had lost you before Ruki would have been devastated and if it were something like that now..." Takato shook his head.

"So... What do we do?" Renamon asked.

"The only thing we really can do. Neither of them wants to change back, there's no point telling them that. So all we can do is give it time."

"Okay. I'm not sure I like doing nothing, but I suppose you're right." She said, and then made to leave.

"Wait a second, Renamon. If anything different happens... Don't hesitate to find me, all right? I want to make sure they both get through this okay."

Renamon nodded, and vanished into the shadows, leaving Takato with his thoughts, and his Digimon who now munched on what remained of the bread.

'The only problem is... Neither of them seems to realise there's anything to get through yet, do they?'