Chapter 2

Naruto thought that Rika would be patient and stand strong like always but it seems he had misread certain things. It seems she was aware of his feelings that he didn't see her that way and this led to worries that he might choose someone else.

Naruto could understand the feeling as he had been in that place before, though he didn't feel anything for anyone at the moment.

He was a free spirit and relaxed most of the time. He had yet to think about such relations but Rika matured fast and got interested in love.

He tried to talk her out of it but she was persistent. It wasn't a childish crush anymore since it had developed over the years into a strong desire.

Naruto had known Rika and Henry from a very young age because of their family connections. Rika's parents were very much interested in making him their child's husband since the day they had seen him fight.

Naruto had never hidden his abilities and was the best martial artist anyone had seen. He was well-known figure and people were watching his path with interest.

He wasn't worried about the publicity because it helped his clan rise in power because people saw the young lord as a powerful figure in the future.

It was not just his skills but his intelligence and wisdom was very high for a young person.

Finally there was his body, his muscular structure was excellent and it went beyond anyone in the human world. His body was too strong.

In this world people that came from Tamer families were born with beyond human bodies, meaning all their stats were super and on the level of Captain America or even Spiderman.

These stats got higher after bonding with a digimon and the tamer got access to many different kinds of skills. It was the reason that children of young age weren't allowed to have a contract with a digimon and people had to go through tests.

People had caused mayhem when things had been unregulated.

Regardless, Naruto's stats were very high and at the top for someone without a partner. This information was already with the Digimon Association or it would have caused a problem when he came out of nowhere during the test.

It led to a further increase in his fame and many people had tried to get him to sign up with their groups. Naruto had even received an invite from the Digi-destined Guild, an elite Digimon group with very powerful members that even had Mega Level Digimon.

Naruto declined as he wished to enjoy his life freely and he had made a promise with the kids that they would start their own group.

Nonetheless, Naruto was on good terms with the Digi-Destined and even knew the leader's sister Kari. Kari was a beautiful girl who was the same age as Rika and this relationship caused Rika worry.

Naruto couldn't just brush Kari off because it would be rude and tried to reason with Rika but it seems it had gotten worse over the week since he had spent it with Takeru and his brother Yamato in the snowy mountains, and Kari had been present along with her brother Taichi.

To him it was just an experience with friends but Rika seems to think that Kari was also interested in him and he couldn't lie, it was true. Kari was interested in him and there were other older girls in to him as well but the feelings were not as strong as Rika since she was the one closest to him.

'This might cause her to develop mental problems.' Naruto was worried that it might lead to inferiority complex and high stress. This might take up too much of her focus and ruin her thought process.

He had thought Rika was strong on the emotional scale but that might have been his misconception.

Naruto was silent for a moment and the boys were worried about their lives as Rika might not be violent towards Naruto, she was definitely violent towards them.

Time seemed to stop in the room as all noise stopped for a moment before Naruto pushed back his chair and stood up.

"Rika, come with me. You guys continue and we will back in a moment." Naruto looked at Rika and took her hand, pulling her up.

She produced no resistance and it wasn't hard to see the anticipation in her eyes. Even the boys had smiles on their faces. They were all best of friends and even Takato had joined them when they were eight years old, so he was also very close.

To them it was good news if their friends were happy and it was bad when they were unhappy. They had been in an awkward situation since the cause of bad feeling was also a friend and the reasoning was thought out.

"Do you think they are gonna kiss?" Takato asked as he whispered into Henry's ear, he was worried that Rika might hear.

"I certainly hope they can just come to an agreement of sorts. It is uncomfortable watching Rika act in such a way." Henry muttered as he stood up and looked out the window. He felt his attention focus on the current situation.

"No kidding, no one saw that coming. Cold Rika turning into that was out of the left field." Takato said in an incredulous tone as he also got up and joined Henry in watching the outside scene.

They were silent for a moment and tried to distract each other with talks about Digimon.

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Rika and Naruto walked silently, hand in hand. They walked out of the restaurant as Naruto was unsure how things might develop and he didn't want a scene.

Feeling the gaze on his him, Naruto couldn't keep quiet for too long as they walked on the cold street. There was a small park beside the restaurant where people were playing in the snow.

"What do you want Rika?" Naruto asked in a gentle tone.

Rika narrowed her gaze at him and squeezed his hand. She went with her usual calm persona and didn't act annoyed at the pointless question.

"I want you to prove that there is something between us." Rika answered honestly. She was a confident girl with great potential and privileged life but this was one thing that she had zero certainty about.

She had many reasons to believe that this was one-sided.

Naruto stopped far from the people and they sat down on a bench after clearing the snow, though more continued to fall slowly.

Looking into her eyes, he knew that his words held great power. He had known Rika for a long time. Beautiful and strong, and it would only improve with time.

Anyone would be happy to have her attention.

However, he didn't really feel any attraction. To him she was a little girl. Even if he forgot about the fact that he was still married, Rika was too young.

Ignoring the age, Naruto could feel something that was pulling him towards the girl. The world wanted him to take her for some reason. She wasn't the only as well. Naruto felt such attraction towards few other females and only thing common in them was they were either strong or had potential.

It wasn't hard to guess what the other party wanted from Naruto. The being that reincarnated him wanted him to make powerful children with powerful women.

But that didn't matter now, she was waiting for an answer and a wrong answer could break their team dynamic.

Putting his hand on her delicate chin, Naruto made her look him in the eyes.

"Rika, I will not compromise with my emotions. I will only allow a true relationship. You know that I don't love you in the way that you do. And, I don't really love anyone at the moment. I have never really felt the attraction. However, I know that you are my type so maybe I can definitely fall in love. So, why don't you fight and make me fall for you. Isn't this show of weakness against your path? Do you really want to go down this way? Even Kari hasn't shown such thoughts." Naruto had never compromised on his love life. Otherwise he would have a harem before death since many women wanted to marry him or become his lovers.

Compromise was an accursed word and Naruto truly hated it. All his regrets came from compromises he made with other people that made his life difficult and destroyed his family life. He went from living the life to falling into the dark pit of negativity.

Only in the last moments did he start changing, but that was already too late and he died before he could really enjoy his life. Looking back on his life, Naruto could barely see memories where he enjoyed life. Majority of his life was filled with depression, especially before he met Jiraiya.

"Why? Why are you like this?" Rika couldn't understand why Naruto was acting like this. She was always liked that he was special but his lack of response towards her difficult to accept.

However, hearing his proper response she didn't act emotional. At least he finally treated her seriously and told her something. She was happy to know that he liked her personality in that way. But, why didn't he love her.

"I don't know. Love isn't something you can control, it just happens. You should understand, Rika. I don't think you wished yourself to love me, it just happened one day and it grew over time. Isn't that so?"

"You are such a know it all. You should at least speak less about this topic since you haven't fallen in love." Rika calmed down because of his words, especially because of his comment of her personality and Kari. Rika saw Kari as a rival, so she would never allow herself to be on the lower footing.

"I like reading, so it's just something I read in a book."

Taking a deep breath, Rika calmed down and stared at him with a determined look.

"Fine, I accept your words but don't think I have given up. I will make you fall for me and no one will come between us. I am not sharing you with anyone. Don't even imagine it." Rika caught him by the collar and declared her intent causing him to smile. It was her usual confident and determined persona.

"Hahaha, I like that. Let me see what you can do." Naruto captured her in a hug and chuckled.

With that the night passed by peacefully and the team had averted their first crisis.