Data Dragon Danika

Her key was another piece of adaptive technology. It was a remote, which didn"t feel as safe to him, but it didn"t just unlock the door, it made it swing open. Using it felt like another reminder that she had her life arranged to live comfortably alone.

She was still in her bathroom when he shuffled awkwardly over on his knees to set the food and drinks on her counter. The tiny apartment was quiet. Maybe too quiet. He crawled over to the bathroom door and called out, "Danika? Are you ok?"

Her voice was m.u.f.fled by the door but she responded promptly and clearly, "I"m fine! Didn"t you scold me for taking too short of a bath last time?"

"Yeah," he admitted laughingly. "Sorry, I was just worried that you might have fallen asleep."

She was silent for a minute, but then she admitted, "I might have."

It was one of those uncomfortable little truths, he was glad she was willing to admit it, but it made him feel guilty about leaving her alone. He"d been a little angry with her until she"d opened the door. He"d been a little afraid that there was too much truth in Naoki"s jab the night before, "You"ve barely started dating, what makes you think she"d turn to you first even if she is struggling?"

He"d also been a little angry about Toshi warning him, "She"s kind of slow, don"t make things complicated." He knew what Toshi meant, that Danika tended to take things literally and was slow to admit her feelings. But she was really very bright, a little weird, and fun to tease. And it really worried him that she"d left a momento for Shrubbery with no message, and her pebble empty beside it where anyone could have taken it, and hadn"t logged in again.

When she"d opened the door with dark circles under her eyes, in wrinkled clothes he realized she"d simply been telling the truth with the single message she"d sent. She"d been working on something the whole time. When he hugged her and felt the oily texture of her soft brown hair against his face and smelled the too familiar sour smell of someone who hadn"t bathed in a couple of days, he"d been torn between relief and worry.

They said you shouldn"t date someone who was too much like you, and she seemed just like him when he was struggling to write a song that he cared about too much. She looked so guilty when she admitted that she hadn"t even read his messages, without realizing that she was talking to someone who"d sometimes childishly refused to communicate with anyone for days when he felt like he needed to block everything out. They were obviously wrong, and he could only be glad that she was so similar in some ways, so that he only had to see her expressions to understand, so that everything didn"t have to be put into words that were so easy to get wrong.

A soft buzz made him look at the phone laying on the little table. It"s screen was flashing and the familiar low battery warning light was lit. She probably hadn"t touched it since she"d messaged him. He didn"t have to move far to reach it but when he looked at the screen he hesitated. "Danika? Your phone says your father is calling and that you"ve missed three calls from him?"

"What?!" she called back. "Answer it!" she demanded quickly.

"Uh? Are you sure?" he questioned.

There were splashes and thumps and she gasped, "Quick! Please?!"

He swiped the screen and said uncomfortably, "Um, h.e.l.lo? Danika will be a minute."

There was a long moment of silence and then an angry man replied, "How dare you?"

Shinichi winced and then stared open mouthed as Danika slammed open the door and dragged herself through with her hand held out demandingly. She was still soaking wet and barely had a towel sort of covering some of her. Her expression was desperate. He fumbled the phone into her hand.

"Papa?" Danika asked anxiously, "Are you ok?"

Shinichi couldn"t understand the reply, even though the angry words were loud enough that he could hear them pretty clearly. Danika"s expression shifted from desperation and concern to anger and she snapped back in the same language. Her father protested, "Danika Sakura Belova!"

She snapped back, "He is not!" And then she threw her phone, which ricocheted off the wall, into the table leg and shot under the sink.

Danika looked up and met Shinichi"s eyes and then turned scarlet. Her blush covered a lot more than her face and she sat up and pulled the towel around her more carefully and scooted awkwardly back into the bathroom and thumped the door shut between them.

Under the sink her father"s voice called out faintly, "Danika?!"

His fingers trembled as he fished the phone out, but he didn"t realize how angry he was until he heard his own voice as he asked icily, "What did you say to her?"

He"d never seen her look so desperate, not even when she"d been so frantic that she"d cried. For a moment he thought that her phone had died as there was nothing but silence. But then her father said tiredly, "She is right, I don"t have the right to say anything, but please don"t do anything that will hurt my daughter."

He wondered what he was supposed to answer. He couldn"t promise that she wouldn"t get hurt by dating him. "Why do you think I"d ever want to hurt her?" he demanded instead.

"Her cousin told me that she is dating a guy who will probably take advantage of her," her father said defensively.

Shinichi would have been angrier if he hadn"t felt shocked that Danika had been telling family members he didn"t know she had that they were dating, and he was distracted by the sudden realization that her father barely had any trace of an accent, and Danika had none. "I won"t," he said firmly.

"Good. I"m sorry I called," her father replied unhappily. "I know that she must hate me."

Shinichi knew that that wasn"t true. He didn"t know if he should be trying to get involved but he ground out, "If you could have seen her… you"d know she doesn"t. You really need to talk to her without yelling at her."

"You don"t understand…" her father said sharply.

"I really don"t," he agreed just as sharply. "So tell me?"

"It"s my fault that she"ll never walk again! How can she ever forgive that?" Danika"s father snapped.

Shinichi drew in a sharp breath and Danika"s phone announced that it was shutting down. "Out of battery," he said quickly, but he didn"t know if it was transmitted.

It didn"t make any sense. Shinichi was certain that Danika had told him the truth about how her spine had been damaged. She hadn"t been afraid that her father had called. She"d been afraid to miss the call. It had been weird to hear her address him as papa, but a lot of other women used the childhood term their whole lives.

He didn"t know what to think, how much he should say when Danika came out again, or anything. But when she finally did come out, he couldn"t help it, he laughed.