Basically flying through the neighbourhood, they arrived home in record time. In the front yard of the tamer's unit, Kyubimon lowered himself again so the tamer could hop off.

Unfortunately, the tamer couldn't manage anything dignified like a proper dismount. Breathing hard and shaking from the adrenaline rush, he basically fell off the digimon's back.

Kyubimon turned to stare down at the tamer bemusedly, but the look quickly gave way to a toothy grin.

“That was fun, huh Tamer?"

“Ye-yeah, sure. F-fun."

Still breathing heavily, he flopped back onto the grass.

“...I think that's enough near-death experiences for now."

“Eh, you'll get used to it."

The digimon strutted over to the front door.

"...come on. I wanna go inside."

The tamer remained lying on the ground, not making any effort to get up.

"Just…gimme a minute, ok?"

Kyubimon gave an exasperated huff.

"Urgh…fine. I'll do it myself."

The digimon closed his eyes to focus and the bells around his neck rang out.

A single fireball materialised and floated towards the doorknob, before quickly disappearing in a puff of smoke. In its place, a paper talisman hovered over the keyhole, before briefly glowing.

With a click, the talisman fell away and the door swung open.

The tamer hadn't been watching until he heard the door click. He sat up quickly, looking over in surprise to see the door now sitting wide open.

"What the… how the hell did you do that?"

"Ooh… spooky maaagic."

"Oh, not this again."

"What, you thought Yuki was making it up?"

"Well… yeah."

"Nope. Magic's real. Or… at least for digimon."

"So… you can just pick locks?"

"No. I can make a locked lock be a not-locked lock."

The tamer gave a confused look, befuddled by how Kyubimon was explaining the lock trick. In his head, he went over what the digimon had said, but still didn't get it. His face scrunched up further in complete bewilderment.

"Wuh… what?!"

Kyubimon just gave a cocky grin.

"You heard me."

"Yeah, but… oh, nevermind.

"Fine. Come on then."

Kyubimon came back over and grabbed the back of the tamer's shirt in his mouth. The tamer flailed as he was forcefully lifting to his feet.

“Hey, watch the threads!"

"Why? You've got plenty of other shirts."

"That doesn't mean you can just bite holes in this one."

The digimon gave a sulky look.

"Fine, whatever. Just trying to help."

The tamer just rolled his eyes, before heading inside. Kyubimon sullenly followed after him, squeezing through the door.

The tamer headed towards the kitchen to grab a drink.

"Did you want any-"

He was going to offer the digimon something, but stopped mid-sentence as he heard a flump. He looked back to the living room.

Kyubimon had sprawled out on his couch, front paws hanging over one armrest and tails hanging over the other. The digimon was fidgeting around, trying to find a comfortable position.

 "-thing? Are you right, there?"

"Huh? Oh… yeah, your couch is not bad. A bit small though."

The tamer scowled at the digimon, causing Kyubimon to whinge.

"...what?! Where am I supposed to sit?"

"Well… you could-"

"And don't you dare tell me to sit on the floor!"

"Alright, jeez! I just thought you might be a bit more comfortable. The couch is clearly too small."

"Sitting on the floor like some mutt?! As if."

The tamer shook his head and scoffed.

"And I thought Yuki behaved like a princess..."

Kyubimon just stuck his tongue out and leered at the tamer.

"Nyeh!"

The tamer ignored the display.

"So, speaking of Princess Snowflake, you know how we came up with names for Ren and Yuki?"

"Yeah..."

"I figure you probably want one too."

"Nah, I'm good."

A confused look appeared on the tamer's face. He had thought Kyubimon would be keen for a name, much like Ren and Yuki had been.

"Oh… um… really?"

Kyubimon gave him a smirk.

"Of course I want a name, dummy."

"Tch, alright. So… I actually gave this one some thought a while ago. Kyubimon and Youkomon are like opposites, right?"

"Yep."

"So… how about Kiyu?"

The digimon's eyes narrowed and he stepped off the couch, getting up in the tamer's face.

The tamer hesitantly leaned back.

"...uhhh... you don't like it?"

"No…"

The tamer had a disappointed look on his face.

"Oh… I guess we could try some-"

He was interrupted by a massive tongue lapping up the side of his face.

"I love it!"

He shooed the digimon away, before rubbing the drool off his face with a sleeve.

"Ew, gross dude."

"Aww, I just wanted to show you how much I love it."

"Jeez, you're more sappy than Yuki was."

"Ferociously emotional, perhaps…"

"Yeah… wait, how'd you know that?"

"You said it to Yuki."

"Yeah, so how did you remember it? I thought Ren couldn't remember anything that happened when he evolved into Yuki."

"Yeah, he can't. He blocks it out because he's afraid. I'm not. Simple."

The tamer thought for a moment.

"So… you can see all of Yuki's memories?"

"Yeah. You didn't pick up on that when we were talking about magic?"

"Uh… I guess it didn't tweak."

"Well, now it does. So what?"

"Can you remember the first time Ren digivolved?"

"Yeah."

"Ok. Was Yuki really that bad?"

"Well, he definitely wasn't good. But he has changed since then. Why do you care about it so much anyway?"

"I guess… I just want to understand so I can help Ren get over that fear."

"Maybe if you told him not to be such a little wuss and face up to it."

"Come on, don't be mean."

The digimon gave a huff.

"Well… he is. But fine, I won't give him a hard time for being a wuss."

"Thank you. I mean, I don't really know how you would. Not like you can talk to him directly. Although…"

The digimon gave a curious look when the tamer paused.

“Although what?"

“Just thinking… if there was some way for you guys to communicate with each other. I think it would be good for Ren to be able to connect with Yuki. If he could see how we ended up falling asleep that night, maybe he wouldn't have to feel so afraid about letting him loose."

"You know… you better be willing to snuggle like that with me too."

The tamer gave Kiyu an incredulous look.

“Seriously? That's what you're worried about right now?"

“Why not?"

“Because this is actually something serious. You know… trying to help Ren get over his fear so Yuki doesn't have to be trapped in some void."

"You wanna see him again, don't you?"

"Well, that's part of it. But mostly I just don't like the idea of him being trapped like he talked about. I don't want my digimon to have to go through that."

“Even if he's a big blue meanie?"

“Yes, even if he's a big blue meanie."

“You know, I could do a slide digivolution."

“Huh? What's that?"

“Well, normally a digimon evolves to the next level, right?"

“Yeah, and?"

“A slide digivolution is a bit different. It still takes on a different form but stays at the same level."

The tamer thought for a moment, trying to understand what Kiyu was getting at.

“So… you could go from Kyubimon to Youkomon?"

“Yeah, now that you and Ren figured out how to control the digivolution, we should be able to change pretty easy."

“But Ren's not gonna want to digivolve into you if he knows you're just gonna change into Yuki straight away."

“Well, you'll just have to convince him, then. Anyway, he won't have a choice this time."

The digimon closed his eyes to focus, but stopped suddenly, looking over to his tamer again. 

"...hey, you gotta tell Yuki he has to change right back, ok? It's my turn now. This is just… an experiment."

"Alright, I'll ask him straight away."

"No, you'll tell him."

"Fine, fine."

"Good. Alright then…"

Kiyu closed his eyes once again.

After a moment, he began to glow.

"...see you in a minute, Tamer."

"I don't think that's what you're supposed to say when you digivolve, but anyway…"

The process was much quicker than it had been previously. The tamer figured that since Kyubimon and Youkomon were nearly identical, there wasn't much needed to complete the change.

The light faded, leaving a confused blue fox standing where a gold one had just been.

"...Youkomon… wait, that doesn't make sense."

"Hey, Yuki."

The blue fox looked around for a moment, before fixing his gaze on the tamer.

"Tamer. I see there's been an interesting development."

"Uh, yeah. Ren sorta got the hang of digivolving. Apparently you can do it at will now."

"Indeed. So… Kyubimon."

"Yep. He, uh… said you have to change back right away."

"I'm in no hurry."

"Um… he's gonna get mad."

"At you, perhaps. It won't be a problem for me."

"Gee, thanks for that."

"You're welcome."

The tamer gave a sigh.

"Well, while you're here… when Ren digivolved into Kiyu, was it different for you?"

"Yes. I didn't feel trapped anymore. I was more a part of him."

"Oh, that's really good."

"It's not quite the same as being here like this, but it's a nice improvement."

Yuki's expression turned shy.

"I know what you said about me… thank you for caring."

He stepped up to his tamer and nuzzled into his chest.

The tamer gave a chuckle, stroking under the digimon's chin.

"Heh… ferociously emotional. I still wanna work on this with Ren. See if we can come to some sort of agreement. You know, so you don't have to feel trapped again."

"Thank you, Tamer. You've already done plenty for me. It's more than I deserve."

"Oh, don't you start on the self-loathing."

"What can I say? Seems he rubbed off on me."

Yuki stepped away.

"...I guess you can have the brat back."

"Good to know I'm not the only one who thinks he's a bit of a brat."

"Your problem now… Youkomon digivolve to…"

The bright light glowed then faded, leaving a golden fox again.

"WHAT THE HELL TOOK YOU SO LONG, TAMER?"

The tamer just rolled his eyes.

"Get over it. It was like barely a minute."

"Long enough to slip in a snuggle! And you called me a brat!"

"Hey, Yuki said it."

"You agreed with him."

"Well, you are behaving like a brat."

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"Am not times infinity!"

Kiyu stuck his tongue out to emphasise his point. The tamer crossed his arms and gave a sigh.

"You know that's exactly what a brat would do, right?"

"Nuh-uh."

"God, it's just like being back in school."

Ignoring the digimon's antics, he went to the kitchen to get a drink like he originally planned.

He returned with a can of soft drink, finding Kiyu had retaken the spot on the couch. He took a seat on the armchair opposite, cracking open the can and taking a sip.

However, he stopped halfway through as he noticed the digimon staring intently. Lowering the can away from his mouth, he gave a questioning look.

“What?"

“What is that?"

“Huh? This?"

He held up the can and Kiyu nodded.

“It's coke."

“Can I try it?"

The tamer let out a sigh. He leaned over and put the open can on the coffee table in front of the digimon.

“Go on then."

Kiyu stared at it for a moment before looking back at the tamer.

“How am I supposed to drink that?"

“Well, you tell me. I can't just put it in a bowl for you, since you're not just some mutt, right?"

The big digimon gave a frustrated whine.

“Yeah… but I wanna try it. Can't you… like… help me?"

“I am not spoon feeding you a can of coke."

“Well, how am I supposed to drink it?"

The tamer closed his eyes and took a deep breath, frustrated with Kiyu's whinging. Having only just settled in the chair, he heaved himself back to his feet and returned to the kitchen, grumbling to himself about how silly the situation was.

A moment later he returned, holding a plastic straw. He slid it into the can.

“Is that acceptable, Princess?"

The digimon ignored the insult, focused on trying the drink.

He carefully wrapped his lips around the straw. It took a moment to find a workable position, with the digimon's lips not meant for sipping, but eventually he got it sorted and took a long sip from the can.

The tamer took up his position in the chair and waited, curious to see how the digimon would react.

He didn't have to wait long, as Kiyu's face quickly contorted in disgust, coughing at the taste.

“Ack… bleugh."

The tamer gave a smirk.

“That good, huh?"

“That's disgusting! Why are you drinking that?"

“Because I like it."

The digimon stuck out his tongue and cringed, clearly not sharing the tamer's taste.

“...so you won't be having any more, then?"

“I'd rather fight an army of Skullgreymon."

The tamer rolled his eyes and shook his head dismissively.

“I'm sure we could arrange something…"