Two gray eyes peered from underneath the bed at the young woman rummaging around her room. They had burst open at the sound of a loud ringing from somewhere in the room, and the noise from this person had been enough to keep them wide open.

Before searching through her closet, she had pulled on a pleated gray plaid skirt and a white button down shirt over her trim athletic body. A maroon tie rested loosely around her neck ready to be tied neatly before school began. She had quickly pulled her hair back into a low ponytail, leaving her long bangs to fall into her blue eyes. Her face was peaceful and calm as she dug through clothes.

"Aha," she whispered to herself as she pulled out clean white gym shorts. Next came a white polo shirt with the number five on the back and "Ishida" printed on the back in bold maroon letters. On the front, "Tokyo Academy Eagles" had been written in the same maroon color. She hugged the shirt quickly before stuffing it into a gym bag with a "Tokyo Academy" insignia on the sides.

She turned away, grabbing a pair of socks and white sneakers to put on, and Alatusmon lost sight of the young woman he had been spying on. Flapping the short black wings he had, he bounced out from under the bed a little to find her again.

Looking up, he found himself facing a large red and orange phoenix. The grand bird was surrounded entirely by red and black flames, and fire seemed to burn in the eyes of this bird. Surely, this phoenix was angry, probably because Alatusmon had been spying on the person who lived in this room.

"I'm sorry!" Alatusmon exclaimed at the large person glaring down at him from across the room. "I was sent here, honestly!"

"What?" the young woman replied as she turned around, seeing Alatusmon sitting right by her bed. She had just finished putting on one sneaker and was holding the other. Yelping a little, she stood up and held her second sneaker out defensively, all while staring down at Alatusmon in completely shock.

The little black creature was sort of a bird. It had the beak and short little wings of a bird, and it was covered with feathers. It even had a large black feather sticking straight up on top of his head. Except, this little creature had no legs, and its body was round rather than that of a bird's. Clearly, this must have been a strange stuffed animal, and the voice was all in her imagination.

"Oh, Shireika! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make him mad!" Alatusmon said, realizing that he had finally been spotted by her. He pointed towards the large poster of a phoenix on the wall with a black wing. "I wasn't spying, honestly! I was just waiting for a good time to finally introduce myself!" He paused and then covered his eyes with his short little wings. "I'm making a mess again."

Shireika raised an eyebrow. Yes, her imagination had to have been playing tricks on her. This was all a dream. Maybe life was entirely a dream. Maybe all of life was really a dream. Then her mother would be alive. Then maybe her idiot of a brother would be less stupid.

She shook her head quickly and opened her blue eyes again. She was still in her school uniform. It was still 7:24 AM on October 17, 2065, and that strange little creature was still on her bedroom floor. And she had to get to school soon.

"Hi?" Alatusmon said while peaking over his black wings.

***

Shireika's yelp next door had startled Hanshin awake. He took one look towards his alarm, realizing it was earlier than 7:30 AM. He still had another five minutes before he really needed to get going. He was going to need as much sleep as possible, considering their welcoming concert for their new bassist was tonight, but getting back to sleep wasn't going to work now. What if Shireika was in trouble? He couldn't just ignore her now.

Rolling out of bed, he wandered to his door and into the hallway. He found his sister outside her door. She was dressed except she still had one shoe to put on, which was holding tightly in her hands.

"What is going on here? What was the scream about?" Hanshin asked tapping his twin sister on the shoulder.

Shireika immediately turned around harshly before Hanshin could tap her shoulder a second time. She glared up at her twin brother and shook her sneaker towards the door.

"There is something in my room, and it talks!" she exclaimed.

Without hesitation, Hanshin immediately began to chuckle, which turned into laughter.

"There is, Hanshin!" Shireika replied, hitting Hanshin in the arm with her shoe.

"I'm sorry, but something in your room that talks? Couldn't that be you?"

"Shut up," she growled, giving Hanshin another hit in the arm.

"Ow! Jeez!"

"Idiot boy," she mumbled. "Not even ready to go, and it's already 7:30."

"I don't get up until 7:30 normally, and usually, I'm not having to come out here and deal with whatever is going with you," Hanshin replied. He pointed at himself. His dirty blond hair was a mess and desperately needed to be brushed, and he was wearing only a pair of gray lounge pants. "Typically, you would not see me like this as I don't come out of my room until I'm ready to go."

"And you're always late because you're never up early enough!" Shireika argued back. "Probably because you're so 'busy' with your band." She crossed her arms. "You know what I'm talking about. Anyway, if you don't want to help, I'll take care of it myself." She stormed back into her room, grumbling softly as she closed the door behind her.

"Aiya," Hanshin whispered as he returned to his own bedroom.

"Good morning Hanshin," greeted a deep voice from his room.

"Gah!" he exclaimed. Now, there was a thing in his room that talked too? He looked around seeing a creature that vaguely resembled a horse's head, only perhaps more round and chubby. "What the hell is going on here?"

***

The bed covers were pushed off to the side and clumped up into a mess which fit perfectly with the rest of the room. A young girl with brown hair and two thick blonde strands in front lay in her bed, her body sprawled out, wearing a tank-top and her underwear. She seemed to be enjoying this moment of peace. It was unfortunate for her not to hear the conversation that took place outside of her bedroom.

The loud thumping of quick feet was heard, followed by a moment of silence, then someone shouting, "HANAREI!!!" Someone had jumped onto the young girl.

Hanarei felt the air get kicked out of her and quickly sat up in her bed. "AAGHH, what, what is it?" She looked in front of her and saw that the extra weight on her was her younger sister. "Yume get off!" she yelled. She grabbed her pillow and started to hit Yume with it.

Yume was still smiling and giggling as all of this was happening. "I'm sorry big sister," she said though still in a cheerful voice, "but mommy wanted me to wake you up for school. She didn't say how either. Now c'mon, it's almost 7:30 already." Hanarei didn't really care what time it was or how close it was till school. Yume seemed to think otherwise as she was already in her junior-high school uniform. Hanarei yawned, grabbed the sheets, pulled them over her and attempted to get some more sleep. "Okay," Yume said sounding both playful and worried, "but remember what daddy said about being late again." Yume then proceeded to leave the room.

The mentioning of her father did the trick for Hanarei. She sat up, her hair frazzled and not looking awake at all, and got off of the bed. "Why'd dad have to be the vice-principal?" she mumbled for probably the thousandth time. She moved over to the closet and put on her high school uniform. She also grabbed an extra set of clothes for the moment when school was done for the day and stuffed it into her school bag. She went to grab her sunglasses when she noticed something on top of her bed. 'Huh, that's odd,' thought Hanarei, 'that wasn't there before.' Whatever it was, it looked like a flame with small wings and eyes. Hanarei moved closer to examine it. "Probably one of my stupid sister's stuffed animals." She poked the side of it which caused it to squeak suddenly. "Hmm, a voice chip. I wonder if it says 'ouch.'" She picked it up and was just about ready to hurl it out of her room.

"No, don't!" shouted a voice. Hanarei stopped moving and was still holding onto the supposed-stuffed animal. She glanced up at it and saw its eyes looking directly at her. "Please don't throw me," it said again. "I've had enough trouble trying to get here. Oh right, I'm Himotomon by the way." From the look of shock on Hanarei's face, Himotomon assumed it would be awhile before she responded.

***

A dark figure stood in front of the window which showed the sun coming up. The figure appeared to be putting on his clothes and fixing up his pony-tail. He was used to waking up early and had everything ready to go in his school bag. Although, a part of him was rather nervous as he would be doing his first performance tonight. This caused him to check and recheck things several times.

"You're still here Shouki?" said a voice from behind. It was a young girl still in her pajamas with a toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. She had the same eyes the boy had; light blue on the left and dark brown on the right. "You're usually out the door by this time."

"I know, I know, Narumi," said Shouki. "I'm... I'm just making sure I have everything ready and taken care of for today."

"Right, the concert," Narumi sighed. "That's all you've been talking about for the past couple of days. Give it a rest okay? You've practiced enough times to practically play the songs with your teeth." She glanced to the side of Shouki's bed. "Wow, you must be really nervous."

"Why do you...?" Shouki started to say before Narumi pointed to a strand of dark blue prayer beads. Shouki walked over to the strand and wrapped it around his left arm before he held it close to him like a precious treasure. "T-thanks," he said.

Narumi waved it off. "No problem," she said with a tone of indifference. "Now get out of here before you drive me crazy." She left Shouki's room.

Shouki started to check around his room for the last time before he picked up his school bag. The weird part was that it felt much heavier than it usually did. He put it down and heard something like a "merp" come out of it. This seemed too weird to be real he thought. He stared at the bag for a moment and noticed some of his books and papers were coming out of the bag on their own. Shouki backed away before seeing what was going on: Something from inside was pushing upward. A thin layer of mist started to appear around his bag and soon a pair of ears came out that was connected to a purple orb that had a bushy tail. The thing turned around and Shouki say that whatever this thing was also had eyes.

"Ugh, finally," it said. "I was wondering when you would get up and notice me. I was dying in there." He looked directly at Shouki and ignored the look of panic on his face. "Hey there," it said calmly while it raised its tail to say hi.

***

The room was dark, and the only movement in it was a large ball in the center of the bed. The door opened, letting bright light into the room, and the ball tightened around itself. "Enma, get up. Your mother's already left and Kou's working, so Nishi's driving you to school."

The girl in the center of the ball jumped up, glaring steadily at the door. "Dad!" She complained. "Nishi and I are going to kill each other before we get down the street!"

Her father shrugged. "You spend too much time with boys, Enma, now get dressed and ready for school." Enma watched the door close, before rolling over and flipping the light switch, wincing at the brith light.

"Hmmph. Right, boys, all the same." She muttered. The rant, which she had been saying for about two weeks, died as she reached under her bed to grab a shoe, and grabbed something furry instead.

Enma didn't pride herself on being neat and tidy, but she had learned a thing or two from being the daughter of a surgeon. One was to throw anything that could one day become furry away. Another was not to let it under your bed.

She slowly pulled her hand out from under her bed, only to find a light blue furball with two triangular dark blue puffs on either side, and a rat-like tail swishing.

And it had a mouth, holding her shoe in it.

Swearing rather colorfully, Enma backed up into her closest door, dropping the thing that now had two watery black eyes watching her next to her bed.

"What are you and what are you doing in my room!" She hissed at it, not wanting to alert her father and, possibly, her older sister.

"I found your shoe!" The creature said proudly. Brown eyes widened, before Enma pushed herself up.

"It's that chutney mom made me eat last night, it's coming back to haunt me. I need to go to the ER now to get my stomach pumped. DA-!"

"NO!" The creature jumped onto her lap, spitting out the shoe. "Nonono! Don't call him." He shuddered. "That human scares me."

"That's his job." Enma muttered darkly. "What are you?" She asked again, now intrigued.

"Mitikomomon!" Enma rubbed her eyes. Maybe if she was hallucinating, she wouldn't have to go to school. She liked that idea; there were certain people she had no desire to have every class with anymore.

***

“Nobody cares about the yellow shoes.... yellow, yellow, hello.... why, a perfect pair.... oh, oysters....”

Aishou was talking in her sleep again, mumbling incoherently as she writhed and snuggled deeper into her bed. Not even the uncomfortable twisting of her sheets or the raucous sounds of the street below could rouse her.

However, a well-aimed poke in the head seemed to do the trick fine. After performing the deed, the girl’s mother was rewarded by observing her daughter suddenly jerk herself into a sitting position and throw off the bedclothes, her dark brown eyes anxious and panicked. And open, which was the important thing.

But the mild pain and severe shock at being awoken so rudely soon subsided. Aishou felt perfectly able to shout, “Ma! I thought we talked about this yesterday! And it’s still early!” at her mother’s calmly retreating back. Even whilst whining, she managed to sound quite amiable, and it only took a few seconds more for her to forgive her mother completely and forget the entire incident.

Sliding out of bed, the short, curvaceous girl landed on her butt, ensconced in the pile of fallen sheets with a tired smile on her face. Aishou’s mess of plaits and dreadlocks looked awful, as if a nest of electrified snakes was emerging from her skull. Well, nothing a bit of extreme styling couldn’t fix. Her gaze shifted from her ratty TA uniform that hung precariously on the back of the chair to her well-loved camera that stood in pride of place upon her desk, gleaming.

Today was going to be a good day. Not only because she had decided so, but there was something good happening as well. Somebody had told her, sometime. Aishou wasn’t sure what it was, but specifics weren’t important. At least there would be something exciting afoot to break the monotony and deflect the attentions of others away from her....

“Dear child, if you do not get off me this instant I shall be flattened completely. You weigh more than a Whamon. Please, hurry up and get off.” The icy male voice cut clearly through the distant bustle and background noise like a shard of glass. It was unfamiliar and vaguely threatening. Aishou’s face was a picture of terror. Her empty stomach lurched.

Almost as soon as whoever it was had stopped speaking, the bedclothes around her began to stir. Horrified, Aishou scrambled to her feet, clutching at her bright yellow pyjama top as if it were a weapon. There was a strange man in her room! She didn't remember doing anything last night, so what was going on? What should she do?

From the sheets, a pale grey sphere of fuzz emerged. It looked vaguely like some sort of rodent; the wormy pink tail and protruding incisors gave it away, even though the purple-rimmed eyes seemed quite intelligent, actually, as they stared crossly up at her.

“Well? Aren’t you going to apologise?” the mouse-thing demanded.

“Jesus Christ! Wha....? Ah.... um.... sorry, but.... um.... who.... uh...?” The girl was reduced to nothing but a mixture of English phrases and gibberish. This was a million times worse than having a strange man in her room. With that, at least you knew what to expect!

“And to think they say that some /digimon/ are dimwits,” the creature sighed. “All right, child. My name is Murimon. Don’t worry. I’m not going to eat you, or kill you, or whatever your puerile brain might be cooking up in there. I’m your friend. I’m here to help you.” Murimon spoke in the most patronising tone possible, his pink tail swaying soothingly as he spoke.

Aishou stared, dumbfounded. “I’m not a child. I’m.... I’m.... I’m.... going to be 17 next March,” she managed to choke out randomly. She wanted to run away, but her body had lost the ability to obey her wishes for some reason.

“Great. Now, breathe, and accept the situation.”

“Um.... okay.... But.... you’re....”

“If you can accept my existence, I can accept your sleep-talking. And we’ll both get along fine.”

“Uh....” Aishou didn’t know what to do. So she did nothing.

Murimon was not impressed.

***

Kaze jumped out of bed, literally, as his alarm clock went off.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed as he did, /every/ morning when his alarm clock went off, and didn't expect anyone to investigate, as he he did it /every/ morning.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped on something soft and furry before grabbing some random clothes that was drapped on his chair, and walked off to the bathroom. A few minutes later, he reentered his room, fully dressed, and fully energized, ready to gripe about anything that could possibly happen today.

And ready to deal with his new favorite least person in the world. He walked over to his nightstand, and slapped a picture frame down, blocking the face from his view. "If I find out who put that picture back up, I shall smite them." he muttered.

"She's hot stuff!"

Kaze spun around with a notebook in his hand, ready to fling it at his older brother. He raised an eyebrow and took a few steps forward, when realized Tegiwa wasn't there. Then, he stepped on the furry thing again, except this time it didn't like it.

"Stop stepping on me fatty! How about laying off the cream puffs, cream puff!"

"AHHHHHHH!" Kaze leaped up onto his bed, and threw his notebook at the furry thing. "What ARE you??"

the small black furry thing moaned softly while it fought back tears. "You hit me cream puff!"

"Who are you calling cream puff, cream puff?!" Kaze retorted angrily.

"Oh shut up! My name is Laimon..." the black furry ball that named himself Laimom began to move, which confused Kaze even more, towards the nightstand. "Why'd you put down the girl's picture?"

"Because I don't want to look at it before I burn it." Kaze muttered.

"Ex-girlfriend?" Laimon asked.

Kaze snorted. "I suppose. She's an ex. girl FRIEND. emphesis on friend and gay." Kaze walked out of the room, planning on complaining to his mother about what he was sure was an escaped gadgit of hers.

"MOM!" he shouted, wondering Sho-rei was. he proceeded to walk down the hall, smacking Tegiwa's door, while Laimon tried to follow. "He.. hey! wait up!!!"

***

"Good Morning, Tokyo! It's beautiful fall day, here in the downtown core. We're expecting a day full of sun, sun, and lots of wind, so--"

The man on the radio was immediately cut off by a nicely-placed fist smashing down on the snooze button. The hand slowly slid from the clock, over the side of the bedside table and came to a stop when it bounced off of the bedframe.

"...Ow. Stupid radio."

Slowly, like a decaying form rising from the grave, the owner of the hand came to a slumped upright position, the comforter drooping away from her face and chest as she did so. She looked rather unamused at her wake-up call, a tired frown on her face and her loud red hair slowly frizzing outwards from it's nightly ponytail. Huffing a few stray strands away from her face, Asayake shimmied her legs over the side of her bed, feeling around with her toes for her slippers. Once they had been discovered and adorned, she shuffled lethargically into the bathroom ajacent to her bedroom closet. Living in a large house sometimes did have it's advantages... like not having to share a bathroom with your parents. After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she turned on the shower. After finding the right balance of hot and cold, she let it run, mulling around for a fresh towel and letting her hair loose.

About thirty minutes later, she made her way back to her bedroom to pick out that day's clothing, clutching her bathrobe and making sure the towel-turban she'd made sayed on her head. She started pulling underclothing from her dresser drawers, throwing a small grouping of each onto her bed. She picked through them, throwing back the ones she didn't care for, before moving on to her armoire for a few over-clothing selections, as she did every morning (Even though it was pointless to do so; school uniforms didn't exactly make for the best fashion statements). She slid back the frosted glass doors, and pulled a few school shirts off of their hangers. Moving on to bottoms, she mulled a few moments. Pants, or a skirt? Staring at her small collection of Tokyo Academy uniforms, she selected a skirt from the smaller hanging area of the closet, only to immediately put it back. Since when did she keep her toys in her armoire? She pulled the skirt out again, parting the others on their hangers for a closer look at the yellow eyes that had greeted her.

The eyes belonged to a smooth-feathered bird... thing. It couldn't REALLY be a bird, since no bird looked like THAT. Normal Tokyo birds weren't pure white with yellow eyes... But neither were any of her toys. Curious, Asayake poked at it. It squawked in response, slightly surprised and offended by the hude gesture. The creature ruffled it's feathers, puffing up in an almost comical way.

"Jesus, honey, d'you poke EVERYTHING strange you find lying around you room!? One of these days, whatever you assault like that is going to bite off your finger!"

Asayake promptly shut her armoire doors, barricading the handles with a nearby hangar. There was a talking tropical bird making a nest in her clothes.

"Okay... No more caffiene before bedtime. I'm losing it."

***

Shuuichi kept rolling around and around in bed. Something felt slippery as he heard noise under one of his legs. Immediately he sat up noticing his alarm clock had not rung when he remembered that he had set it the night before for a very early start. He still felt that slimy and wet feeling under one of his legs. "Oh how embaressing it would be if I just wet the bed... wait I haven't wetted the bed since I was five!" he cried out as he then clasped his mouth shut to make sure no one heard that. "I bet Reika would use that against me too if she knew or remembered," he said as he moved his leg to reveal a squidy like creature.

Shuuichi almost then wetted the bed as the creature sat up not too happy, "So when were you planning to wake up!!!" it shouted.

"What...what are you?!" Shuuichi said muffled since his hands were still over his mouth. "Well?" she said glaring.

"I was waiting for... for my alarm clock," he replied as he removed his hands starting to get used to the creature.

"Don't you humans have internal clocks? Digimon of course have the best timing for everything..." Squijimon began to ramble as Shuuichi went to his knees and poked one of the glowing bulbs on its antenna. "DON'T TOUCH THAT!" she cried out running to the bedstand.

Shuuichi stood up and took off his plain red shirt as he rummaged around for his uniform. He threw the perfectly pressed slacks and the wrinkle free shirt onto the bed. As he began to change Squijimon began to ramble again. "Maybe I will just leave and not tell you anymore. You do know I came a long way to see you," she said.

"Yeah, I'm going to be late thanks to you," he said buttoning his shirt and getting his shoes out.

"Thanks to me?! It's not like I ate YOUR alarm clock, now is it?" she said.

Getting his last shoe on he gave Squijimon a glare. "Anyway don't follow me," he said.

"Why?" she asked annoyed to be left out.

"Because if you aren't there then the dream will end quickly. Then I will wake up and realise that this is all a..." before he could finish, Squijimon had gotten onto his shoulder and slapped him with a group of tentacles. He glared at her again. "That hurt a little too much to be not real, so that means this is a dream. Even worse. Now that I have this strange octopus freak show, I will be stared at like I'm in one of those saving the world from aliens animated show. My image will be ruined and my sister will even look better than me!" he said as he picked up his backpack.

"You know for meeting a digimon for the first time, you are pretty calm and self centered," she said

"You'll realise I'm always like this," he replied cooly.

"I'll give you about an hour," she replied.

***

"Idiot of a brother," Shireika mumbled as she stormed back into her room. The arrogant twin brother of hers who had to be about the most lazy and irresponsible person in her family, ever. He, his band, and those girls. Oh those girls. They all drove her crazy. And, did he always have to be so stupid?

She shook her head as she sat down at her desk to put on her second sneaker.

"Mmph!" she heard as the little black creature came into view. The strange bird-like animal, or whatever it was, held a device in its mouth. It dropped the silver device onto the floor right next to her foot. It was that thing she had found last week by her computer right after she had read that email from "the Watcher," whoever he was. "No digi-destined is without a digimon partner. I'm Alatusmon, here to help you!"

"My digimon partner?" she replied as she finished tying her shoe.

"Well, you are a digi-destined!" Alatusmon replied as he bounced into Shireika's lap. He pointed at Shireika with a wing. "You are the child of fate, aren't you?"

"I suppose so." She placed Alatusmon onto her desk and grabbed her bags for school.

"Well, you did get the email from the Watcher, right?"

"Oh, yeah, that..."

"And that's your digivice, and that makes me your digimon partner!"

"Digimon?"

"You know, those creatures from the Digital World."

Shireika shook her head negatively.

"Your parents didn't tell you about it?" Alatusmon asked. "They didn't tell you about being digi-destined years ago?"

"No." She turned away, stuffing a few last minute supplies into her bag.

Alatusmon leapt off Shireika's desk onto the floor and hopped towards his human partner.

"Don't you want to know?" Alatusmon asked.

"I have school."

"And you have to stop that queen from destroying everything!"

"And we're so sure that this queen is coming to destroy all?"

"I'm here, so it's got to be true. Digi-destined and their digimon partners don't reunite unless it's really important."

"And we know this because?"

"Because the Watcher says so!"

"Right."

"He's got connections with the Fates."

"And I'm supposed to believe all of that?"

"You're the child of fate! You're supposed to believe in the Fates."

"I do, but I don't believe the Watcher."

***

"I'm your digimon partner," the strange creature in Hanshin's replied. The dark brown horse-head-like thing moved towards Hanshin, who now was plastered against his bedroom door, as far away from the furry creature as possible. "I am Koumamon."

"You don't look like a pony," Hanshin said sharply. "And what the hell is a digimon partner?"

"As a digi-destined, you have a digimon partner. After all, humans have few powers of their own for some reason, so we digimon come to your aid. We hail from the Digital World, a world in another dimension, which you can access with your digivice," Koumamon explained.

"You mean this thing?" Hanshin asked finding his digivice underneath a pile of papers and notes on his desk. He tossed it towards Koumamon. "You can have it."

"No, this is yours, and you should treasure it like it worth more than yourself." Koumamon nudged the little device towards Hanshin. "Now, a good digi-destined would get himself to school right about now. Your sister is right."

"I don't need school," Hanshin replied. "I'm a musician." He pointed at the guitar by his bed and the piles of sheet music around the room.

"You still have to go to school. Being a digi-destined doesn't mean you can slack off."

"I'm a musician!!!"

"You are a digi-destined, Hanshin. You are the child of light."

"I am a musician, dammit. My mother wanted me to pursue music ever since I was little. While being an actress, she was a talented singer as well. She would want me to be the musician I am now, and I do this for her. I do this because she was an amazing mother and person."

"And, she was once the child of light, just like you are now. She passed on the crest to you."

The immediate mention of his mother being the child of light stopped him from arguing much further. If his mother was indeed the child of light years ago, then maybe he might have to go along with all of this.

"Hanshin! Are you up yet?" boomed a voice through his door. "It's getting late, and you've got to get to school!"

"Yes, Dad," Hanshin replied loudly. He knew if he didn't go to school, there would be other consequences from someone who had a little more control in his life. Still, the whole thought of being a digi-destined and having this digimon partner, whatever that was supposed to be, didn't seem so bad. If his mother had been one, maybe he could deal with it.

***

Yuu lay in her bed staring at the ceiling. Her alarm clock, which had woken her only moments before, was still blaring away, but she didn't bother to shut it off. Instead, she wondered why her room was shaped differently and not quite the right color.

After another few moments for mind started catching up. Right, they had moved into their new apartment in Tokyo yesterday. She sat up and stretched, finally killing the alarm and glancing blearily around her box-strewn room. She must have stayed up later than she thought unpacking last night, although she still had a lot to do before she was properly settled in.

Noticing a grey pleated skirt and white blouse draped over a chair, she remembered that today was her first day at Tokyo Academy. She yawned an got out of bed, stretching again before changing into her new uniform. It was quite nice, although she mightn't have picked maroon for the tie.

Just as she was wondering if there were more options than just the skirt, she heard a noise from outside her room, and went over to stick her head out the door and investigate. Recalling sleepily the layout of their new home, she figured it was her mom making breakfast in the kitchen. Breakfast sounded pretty nice about now, she thought, so she grabbed her pill container off the nightstand and headed over.

What she found, however, wasn't quite what she was expecting.

There was some sort of animal raiding the refrigerator cabinet. At first she thought it was a bird, being feathery and having a long beak, but then she noticed that it didn't so much have legs as a short fish-like tail curled underneath it, and was happily holding an onigiri between a pair of greenish fins where it's wings should be. She stared at it for a minute wondering if she was watching some sort of escaped experiment, or worse, her medication was getting to her.

And then it turned, beak covered in rice, and in a squeaky, familiar sort of accent said quite cheerfully, "Ah, hiya there! I was wonderin' when you were gonna wake up."

Well, that answered one question; it was definitely her medication.

***

Kaze had found his way into the kitchen, looking for anything that seemed half way edible, so he could pretend he had a good breakfest before heading off to school.

"Wuh... wait!" Laimon stated weakly, as he hopped into the kitchen. "This body is NOT made for long distance bouncing thank you very much!!!"

Kaze looked at the muffin in his hand, then down at Laimon. They stayed motionless for about a minute before Kaze decided against throwing his breakfest at the strange creature on his floor. He decided to eat it insted.

"Hey... I'm hungry!" Laimon whined, spitting something out of his mouth, and then opening it wide, as if he were a baby bird being fed by his mother.

"You DO know how baby birds are fed, right?" Kaze said with a full mouth of muffin, leaning forward a little, as if he were going to spit the chewwed up muffin into Laimon's mouth.

"AHH!" Laimon bounced back and snarled. "You are one evil EVIL child!" then he smiled wickedly shifting a little, nudging the digivice. "Emphasis on evil and stupid." he said, mocking Kaze.

Kaze snorted. "I need not this drama before school starts." He grabbed his backpack from his room, and walked back into the kitchen, snatching up the digivice Laimon had depositited on the kitchen floor.

"But hey, I gotta give you a shpeel on how you have to save the world, and the watcher is gunna tell you how to do it, yada yada yada..." Laimon said half-heartedly, already trying to figure out how he could get some food.

"Well, save your breath. That watcher guy sounded kinda shifty. I've get better things to do then follow him around blindly." Kaze fell into a chair at the table, waiting for Tegiwa to get up. "Here... have a... muffin or something..." Kaze tossed a muffin on to the floor, before pocketing the digivice with mild disgust.

***

The thing walked away from her. Well, not walk, per say, it actually bounced away, using the tail for support. "So, is this your desk?" Mitikomomon asked.

"For as long as Nishi moved out." Mitikomomon looked at Enma curiously. The girl huffed, raising her hands in the air. "Yes!"

The creature smiled. Enma shook her head, getting fully up, and turning to her closet. She opened it up and pulled out a skirt and a blouse. She looked around her closest for a few minutes, before grabbing her tie.

"Aha!" She and Mitikomomon said together. They both turned to looked at each other. "Found my tie." Enma mumbled.

"Found your digivice!" The furry thing bounced over to Enma, digivice in his mouth. She watched him through curious eyes as she changed. He came to stop in front of her, spitting the device out of his mouth. She loosely did up her tie, before leaning down and picking it up. "Isn't that skirt a little...short?"

"Your point?" Enma asked. The digimon oddly enough shrugged, before starting to bounce up and down. Enma looked the 'digivice' skeptically. "So...why did you go looking for some weird thing my brother made?"

Mitikomomon frowned. "You're brother's not smart enough to make this!" At Enma's quick glare, the digimon stuck out his tongue. "Anyway, I went looking for it, because it's your digi-"

"And how did you find it, anyway?" Enma asked. She looked at her desk, and groaned. "Did you have to make such a mess of my stuff?" She demanded. She stormed over to the desk, putting the fallen photo albums and trinkets away. "Some of this stuff's really old – like my aunt's stuff." She griped. "And don't you dare touch these albums again!" She said, flinging one at the creature to prove her point.

Mitikomomon jumped away, hurt. "Hey! I'm your digimon partner, you need me! Don't throw the book at me!"

"Digimon...partner?" Enma asked, coming right over to the digimon and leaning down next to it, checking her watch quickly. "You've got five seconds before the surgeon comes back and tries to dissect you." Her father probably wouldn't even notice Mitikomomon, but the threat seemed to work, because the digimon shivered and started to talk a hundred miles per minute.

"Well...theresthiswatcherguyandheemailedyourememberwellyourethechildofsinceritydontaskmewhybutnowyouvegottosavetheworldbyusingmesothereyougo." Mitikomomon let out a large breath, watching as Enma blinked in surprise.

"Right, I really caught all of that. Oh, well, better play it by ear, then." She picked up her messenger bag and opened it up. "Get in."

"Why?" Mitikomomon whined. Enma shrugged, but a small smirk that didn't sit well with the digimon. "What are you thinking about?" he aske, worried.

"Nothing, just get in!" She picked up the digimon and put him into her bag, before walking out of her room and into the kitchen.

***

Hanarei was still holding Himotomon up in the air in mid-throw. It wasn't until Himotomon spoke when she moved again. "Um, you can put me down now, y'know."

"Wha...?" said Hanarei as she regained her senses. She brought the strange creature down so it was now at her waist. "Where are the batteries?" She turned the creature over one last time. "Okay, what are you?"

"I'm a digimon," said Himotomon. "I'm here to be your partner."

"There was not one part of that which I understood," commented Hanarei. "So if you'll excuse me, please leave before I hurl you out of my room."

"Look, I don't want to start off badly here," said Himotomon now sounding a bit harsh, "but you're going to need me very soon and in ways you can't imagine. That's the only reason why I'm here, because something urgent is coming and we have to work together. You must have heard about us digimon, right?"

Hanarei shrugged. "Can't say I have. If it's a cartoon or something, go talk to my sister. You'll have a better chance with her."

"Did you ever find something silver-like about the size of a drink coaster?"

"What?" She moved over to open a drawer on her nightstand and pulled out a small device that fit Himotomon's description. "This thing? I picked it up from, um, an alleyway." Hanarei really pulled it out of her dad's desk but didn't want to say it. It said her name and everything but she didn't feel like asking what it was since she was "borrowing" it for now.

"That is your digivice. Keep that around you at all times. It's very important for you and me."

"A digivice? First it's a digimon and now a digivice?" She happened to catch a glance at her watch and yelled. "Gah, I'm going to be late now!" She threw Himotomon and the device onto her bed and started to gather the rest of her school stuff. She ran out of her room yelling, "Yume, if you're in the bathroom, get out now."

Himotomon watched Hanarei leave the room. "Gah Hanarei," Himotomon said to herself, "you'd think you would have a better understanding after everything your dad went through. At least I thought he would tell you something." Himotomon glanced over at Hanarei's open bag. Once she felt it was safe to do so, she grabbed the device with her mouth and tossed it into an open pocket. "Now I just have to make sure I can go with her." She hopped into the large pouch in the bag and waited for her partner to return.

***

Shouki edged closer to the mysterious creature sitting in his bag. "Excuse me," he said cautiously, "but what are you?"

"A digimon," he said. He started to rub his ear with his tail. "The name's Kirimon. And you must be Shouki if I'm not mistaken."

Shouki nodded. "But what are you doing here?"

"I'm suppose to help you out." He glanced at Shouki. "And from the looks of it, in more ways than one. Do you know about your digivice? It's that small silver thing with a screen on it." Shouki knew what Kirimon was talking about. He walked over to his desk and pulled out the digivice. "That's it."

"What am I suppose to do with this?"

"Keep it, treasure it, everything but lose it or give it away. That much you need to know for now and the rest will soon follow."

Shouki was still a bit skeptical about all of this. Maybe Narumi was right and he was having a small break down right now. But no, everything seemed pretty normal, with the exception of Kirimon, and Shouki didn't feel light-headed at all. "I have to go to school now," he said wanting to leave the room and this situation.

"I'll come with ya."

"No it's okay. Besides I'm not sure if I can carry you too." He pointed to a case which contained his bass guitar.

"I'll just fit in your backpack. It'll be a lot less obvious than having me float around by your side." Shouki shook his head and prayed that all this trouble wasn't some sign of worse things to come today.

***

"Excuse me..." The Tegiwa was perched on his heels studying something on the floor in front of him. The young man was fully dressed in his uniform with a tie dyed bandana keeping his mop of flaxen hair out of his face. "Kaze, you know I get up at six so you don't have to beat on the door; just come on in, bro. Just be quiet about it. I'm communing with a spirit. It's inhabiting an old toy."

The six inch tall toy robot replied in a mechanical voice "Incorrect. I am not a spirit. I am a digimon sent here to help you, to work with you. I am to be your digimon partner."

Tegiwa looked briefly disappointed then smiled. "Digimon. Yeah, mom told me all about her adventures and ogiisan's. I never knew if those stories were true, until now that is... She always said the digimon would return sometime to me or my kids. Because, those forces they fought would always find a way to return.

"Since you are here, I guess it's not just to say hi, ne?"

"Correct. You new guardians are needed to protect the worlds."

Tegiwa sighed. "It would have been nice if it had been to say hi.

"Kaze, were you going to come in or what?"

***

Sho-rei and Ken looked at the two empty places at the breakfast table and the food growing cold there. "What do you think is keeping them this time?"

Ken shrugged. "They are boys. I heard Kaze awhile ago, so I assume they are both up."

Sho-rei looked a bit paler than usual as she watched the wall screen. It was showing a newsfeed. Downtown had been the site of recent civil disturbances for the past few weeks. People supporting massive reforms to the government had been clashing with government workers and corporate labor who liked the status quo. There had been vandalism and minor violence, but worried her. Things were unstable and she didn't like that with a husband in the naval forces and two sons. Her hand changed the screen to tranquil feed automatically.

Sho-rei nodded. She feared they'd be so late that neither of them would have time to eat. "They don't eat properly anymore."

"Did we? They'll find something later I'm sure." Ken was having one of his perceptive moments, and added. "I don't think you are just worried about the lukewarm miso. It's the meeting."

"No, it's everything. Maybe I've been living in my own world too much. Why is this happening now? What are people so unhappy about that they want to riot. This is the best, most prosper time the world has ever known. People should be happy. And, why do you need to get involved?"

"We aren't involved. But, the Peacekeepers [collective name for the unified defense forces of the world]are having a meeting to assess the matter. The Reform party was going to officially declare its platform and some hired thugs to break up the meeting. The Police and politicians want the Peacekeepers' representatives on hand to advise on handing things especially if the get out of hand around the election."

“I guess it can’t be helped then.” Sho-rei never turned from a fight when it mattered, but she disliked conflicts, especially those she considered pointless. Civil unrest looked a lot like an excuse for people to be overtly mean to each other to her. “I guess the boys are really running late.”

“Tegiwa and Kaze are old enough to find the school on their own.” Ken had cleared his spot and was rinsing the meager remains of his breakfast into the disposal before racking the dishes in the washer. “I’m late myself.” Ken gave Sho-rei a quick hug and a kiss before departing with ingrained military precision.

Sho-rei was late herself so she left the muffins on the table under the little mesh tent cover and put the rest in the fridge. She retreated to her office to work on her recently acquired project, Project Forward leap, which was probably one of those pieces of governmental excess the people didn’t like. It was a long term project only someone with vision could appreciate. That is why Trinity had put her on it.

***

Naoko leaned against the corridor wall and yawn as she waited for her sister to grab her things and join her. Naoko looked a the slight tarnish on the brass plate which declared this residence "The Hanashi household." She took time to polish it with her handkerchief. Even though Mariko loved to study, she always dragged her ass in the mornings. Naoko couldn't wait to get to school so she could hang out with Hanshin's group. It was like living in the limelight just being around him....er, them she mentally edited herself.

"Hurry up sis or I'm leaving without you."

A short blonde in a rumpled uniform stumbled through the door carrying an old duffle that looked like the books and papers had been swept off the table as they had been left the night before. Crumpled edges of paper stuck partway between book pages protruded through the duffel’s zipperless opening like a miniature mountain range.

“Mariko, you can not go to school looking like that…”

Mariko shrugged and adjusted her octagonal glasses frames. “Sure. Whatever. Don’t want to go at all.”

“You look it. You need to take some pride…”

Another shrug. Pride was one of those words Mariko did not identify with. Naoko decided to leave the subject alone. The trip to school was the only time they spent together any more. At school and thereafter their schedules where out of synch until the next morning which was a nice way of saying Naoko had a life and Mariko didn’t.

Naoko prided herself on her own appearance. She felt she had too not only because she was beautiful, but she was a representative of Hanshin simply by association. Besides, the school uniforms actually looked good on her. She had one of those hypothetical figures clothes designers seem to design for. Nothing about her proportions was too big or too small, so most clothing looked custom made.

Mariko’s trudge had carried her further ahead as Naoko kept glancing at herself in the window. Naoko didn’t bother to catch up.

She noticed a smudge on her face and took her faux tortoise shell compact out to correct the problem, and she was startled as large sheet of aluminum foil cascade out of her bag. She knew the contents of the bag perfectly there was no foil of any kind that was supposed to be in there. Certainly none with an amethyst wash on it.

The moment the foil hit the ground it began to move. /Great, the drug residue at the dance clubs is giving me flashbacks./ The foil upended itself and folded itself over and over in some sort of sequence. /Does this mean I should rethink my life?/ And, it continued until it formed an origami statue of a /Rat? Horse? Dog?/

“I’m a dog. Thanks for asking.” The tinny voice of the thing sounded hurt. “You try folding yourself right after lying flat. See how well you do.”

Naoko realized she had been mumbling her thoughts again. Moreover, she was beginning to get the feeling this was some sort of toy, though the drug aspect couldn’t be ruled out.

“I’m your digimon partner. The Watcher sent me to you to help fight the evil queen.”

“Oy, that. I do remember the Watcher. He sent me some bauble earlier, too.” She presented the device which hung from her electronic keyset. “So, That means things are starting on schedule?” Naoko hated when things didn’t sync up just right and waiting to here from the Watcher had annoyed her.

If the foil dog could have blinked it would have. “I suppose so…. Oh, you have your digivice with you? Good! Keep it safe, since you’ll be lost without it.” The talkive piece of art seemed happier now. A bit of metal bark had entered its voice.

“If the watcher assigned you to me, then I guess I’ll have to work with you. However, I honestly doubt I’ll be wrapping sandwiches anytime soon. Come on Rin Tin Tin, I’ll find a use for you.”

“As your partner I have many uses! And, my name is Suzumon.”

“Either way, get in the bag. I have to brief Hanshin on the plans for the welcome party tonight and make sure the others know the what and where’s too. Musicians are so unruly.”

***

The toy robot rattled on sparks occasionally spitting from the slot in his chest. “You may call me Robotomon. The Watcher sent me to you to help in the fight against the dark queen. Collect your digivice and prepare to go. You seem to be running late.”

“Cool. I thought so…Arre wa? Late? Oh, yeah. I almost forgot I had school.”

Tegiwa easied himself up and collected his things. He made room in his book pouch for Robotomon and his digivice. Then he sauntered into the kitchen to nuke what was left of the miso and whatever else was left of breakfast.

“Hey, Kaze, I heard you pounding. Something wrong?” He looked right at Laimon but didn’t react. “You guys should have more than muffins. I think we have fruit of something.”

***

"Look, Alatusmon. I have to get to school, or I'll be late," Shireika said as she grabbed her backpack and gym bag. She threw the two bags over a shoulder quickly and looked down at Alatusmon.

"Can I come?" the little digimon inquired innocently. Alatusmon wasn't interested in continuing arguing with Shireika any further about the Watcher. She was a smart girl, and she had a good head on her shoulders. "I won't bother you. Well, I will, but not about the Watcher. I mean, we can be friends, right?"

"Nothing wrong with that, I suppose," Shireika replied as she quickly picked Alatusmon up and stuffed him into her bag. "Just don't get into trouble, and no messing up my soccer uniform. I sort of need it."

Alatusmon nodded in agreement and snuggled into the bag to hide away from view.

Taking in a deep breath, Shireika hurried out of her bedroom and through the kitchen.

"Morning Dad!" she called as she grabbed the little lunch bag off the counter. "Coming to the game today?"

"Yes, sweetie," the now grown Tommy Ishida replied as he took a sip of coffee. His blonde hair had begun to gray and thin over the years, especially since Sutako's death years ago. Being both a father and a mother was quite the challenge, but he appreciated help from the in-laws and even Shireika herself. She had to be the best daughter a father could ask for. "Wouldn't miss you guys playing my alma mater."

"We'll show them who's #1," Shireika grinned as she gave her father a hug before hurrying out the door to the Ishida home. "Later, Dad!"

Stiffly, Tommy stood up from his place at the table. His back still hurt from the injury years ago, the one that ended his career on the national team. Another challenge in life like all others.

"Hanshin! Time to go to school! Now!" Tommy called down the hallway as he approached his son's bedroom door. "Shireika already left!"

"I'm going!" Hanshin replied. Moments later, the high school senior burst through his door and bolted for the front door of the large apartment. "Later Dad! I've got a concert tonight!"

With both Shireika and Hanshin gone, Tommy wandered back to his room, shaking his head along the way. Hanshin was quite the interesting case between the two of them. They said daughters caused gray hair, didn't they?

***

Shireika stared absentmindedly up at the clock behind the substitute teacher for the senior literature seminar and twirled a pen in in her right hand.

"Five more minutes of this junk, and then lunch," she thought as she began chewing on the end of it.

"I think what the author is trying to say is that we shouldn't be labelling people," one student said.

"Didn't we already talk about this? How many times do we have to paraphrase the same sentence?" she thought as she heard various confirmations from other students. No, that wasn't the point of the author. Since when did the senior seminar just not understand the material?

"Okay, consider this," interrupted the substitute teacher. He flashed a pearly white smile to the students as he sat on the front desk of the room.

Shireika took a look around. All the girls immediately sat up and leaned forward to listen to their substitute teacher Tsuyoikou Sensei. She didn't bother sitting up and merely just rolled her eyes towards him. Okay, handsome, chiseled, and, yes, the new boy's soccer coach who is only twenty-two.

"Are our first impressions of a person always wrong? Are the labels we use to describe people completely wrong? I say completely wrong. They are wrong, but are they completely off base?" Mr. Tsuyoikou began to explain.

"Yes, exactly, and how these people don't get it, I don't understand!" Shireika screamed in her head.

"True, they're aren't right either. There is always something hidden behind that label, something that you don't always see, something that remains a mystery about that person. But, are such labels so entirely wrong? Think on that." Suddenly, the bell rang, signalling the end of the day for classes. "Class dismissed! Ishida Shireika, could I see you for a moment right now?"

The girls sitting around Shireika all turned towards her immediately after the teacher had called to see her. Shireika rolled her eyes as she watched them walk away.

"Always wants to see Shireika," one of them whined.

"He is a soccer coach," another replied.

"And I'm surrounded by idiots for girls too," Shireika mumbled softly as she grabbed her bag from under her desk.

***

"I am so out of here," Hanshin mumbled to fellow bandmates Hiroshi and Yukio, who were sitting with him in the assigned study hall. During the past hour, Hanshin had been going over music as a last review before the concert tonight. "Make sure Shouki knows where to go. See you soon." He grabbed his bag and headed into the hall to his locker.

"Hey there, sexy," a sultry feminine voice called from behind him. He felt a hand slide up his arm onto his shoulder. "Getting out a little early, I see?" He soon found himself pressed between a wall dividing some of the lockers and an attractive young woman. She had long red hair and clear blue eyes. Her uniform clearly was getting a little small on her, with the skirt rolled up as short as possible and the shirt unbuttoned as low as possible.

"Hey there, Ami," Hanshin replied. "What's up babe?"

"I'm bored," she whispered as she leaned close to his ear. "Girl's bathroom is empty in the science wing." She stood on her toes and took a nibble at Hanshin's ear. Her hands wandered down the front of his white button-down shirt and started to pull right above his belt line.

"Hm, why not." He brought his arms around Ami's waist and pulled her closer. "I've got time before the concert tonight." One hand followed the curve of her back down to her rear, and the other moved upwards towards her breasts, which seemed to barely fit under the tight white uniform shirt she wore. "We could get started right here."

As he leaned down to give Ami a kiss, the bell for the end of the school day rang, and the hallways soon filled with their classmates.

"Or not," Ami replied as she took a step away from Hanshin to compose herself. "We could go to my place." She grabbed Hanshin by a belt loop, leading him to his locker. She knew where it was, since they would meet there frequently after school. "Unless Naoko has to update you on the concert schedule again."

***

Sunlight filtered through the slit between the curtains into the room of a young man lying peacefully asleep in his bed. Tomeo opened an eyelid slowly, then the other, revealing two bright green eyes. He couldn't sleep when it was light outside, especially if he hadn't closed his curtains properly the night before.

He rolled over in his bed, sweeping back a stray strand of black hair to check the alarm clock on his bedside table. It was half an hour early before he was supposed to wake up, but Tomeo pushed himself to his feet. He couldn't get back to sleep now, not even if he tried.

He was shirtless but wearing navy colored boxers, discarding his school uniform that was laid out for him on the chair of his desk, and made a long stretch with his slender arms above his head, rotating his head to sort out some kinks in his neck as he relaxed and took a few steps forward. He walked over to the window and pulled the curtains open, a thin smile lighting up his face as the sunlight poured in. Today felt like a different day somehow, as if it were the beginning of something good, something better than what a normal day would usually bring. “Good morning, world.” he said welcomingly to no-one, and moved away from the window to start his routine exercises.

He focused on a distant point in front of him, and using the Tai Chi method, brought his arms up level, one crossing his muscular chest, palms open, stretching them out in the same direction and keeping his legs spaced but straight. The routine was important. He took a shallow breath and closed his eyes, going into a peaceful meditative state. Stretching came hand in hand with exercise. He couldn’t allow a single muscle in his body to become tense or sore…

Something suddenly made a sound from the direction of his closet. It wasn’t loud or long enough to distinguish, but it was enough to make Tomeo look for half a moment. He stared toward the closet for a few seconds, then passed it off as something having fallen over by itself. He went back to his Tai Chi, rotating the arms in the opposite direction in a slow motion. He closed his eyes and went back into deep concentration. His body had to be like a well-oiled machine, every muscle ready to spring into action within an instantaneous second.

Then a loud crash came from the direction of the closet again, this time louder and the distant sound of something moving could be heard. His curiosity piked, Tomeo opened his eyes and stopped his Tai Chi altogether, remaining deathly silent, tip-toeing towards the source of the sound. Suddenly the thought that the noise could have been a mouse or a rat popped into his head, and he instinctively tipped over the empty wastebasket under his desk, ready to use it to trap whatever pest it was. His mother was going to freak if it was, they hadn’t had any problems with pests in the house before. He inched closer, grasped his fingers around the handles of both doors, slowly pulling it open…

“Rrraaahhhhrrrrr!” came a sudden growl as something blue and yellow jumped out of the closet the moment Tomeo had opened it, forcing the boy stagger back to stop the thing colliding into him. Wide-eyed, he looked down and saw a creature he had never seen before. It looked like a small lithe salamander, but it was way too big to be a salamander for real. Blue and yellow, it also had small fins above it’s eyes and a spinal fin running down it’s back to it’s tail. While he had taken all this in within a few seconds, the creature was – laughing?

“Oh, I got you good!” it teased, taking on the voice of someone female. “C’mon! That was pretty funny, you gotta admit! I couldn’t help myself! I told myself as I saw you doing tose weird moves you were doing just now, ‘Man, I’m gonna have some fun with this kid!’ You should have seen your face… yeah, it looked like exactly that!”

Tomeo’s expression remained surprised, and he didn’t say anything as the salamander-thing looked at him. Then he uttered, as he knelt down, “What the hell…? Who are you?”

“Ahh, I’m sorry.” she apologised, as Tomeo knelt down to look at her closer. “Guess that was a pretty bad first impression, huh? I thought you would like it… don’t take it too badly! It was just a joke! Lighten up a little, I’m not gonna hurt ya. Guess this is the first time you’ve seen a digimon. My name is Parumon. What’s yours, kid?”

“Tomeo…” the young man said, not sure what else to say. “A digimon? What the heck is that? Some kind of new toy-robot or something? There is no way you can be talking to me… how did you – what, are you doing in my closet?”

“I had to sleep somewhere where no-one could see me, silly.” Parumon answered, half-sliding, half-stepping forward with her tiny set of four legs on the carpet below. “I can’t let anybody else but you know about me for now. And despite what you may be thinking judging by my appearance, I am a sentient being capable of receiving and responding on your communication level, so don’t underestimate me. I am the real deal, so you better get used to it. We’ve got a lot of work to do boy-o, I’m here with you for an important reason, so you might wanna put some more clothes on there.”

Tomeo gasped, looking up at his clock. He was behind his schedule, he should be having breakfast by now. “Forget that. I don’t know what you’re doing here, but right now whatever plans you may have you’ll have to hold off. I have to get ready for school.”

“School, eh?” Parumon said, looking intrigued. “Might be a good place to start looking for the other digimon that crossed over. Mind if I tag along? I can hide in your backpack for concealment, or you know, whatever.”

“No. Way.” Tomeo disagreed, putting his school clothes on, starting with his pants. “There are absolutely no pets allowed inside the school building during school hours. And I don’t think you even classify as a pet – you’re staying here.” He threw his white school shirt on loosely, buttoning it up tight. “Man, I can’t believe I’m talking to a lizard…” he said under his breath.

“I heard that! Fine, then.” Parumon said in a flat tone, watching as Tomeo did up his shoes. “Guess it’s about time then that I introduce myself to your parents, then. Show ‘em how cool I am.”

Tomeo stopped as he hesitated after pulling tying a knot on his lace, and looked with narrowed, disbelieving eyes down at Parumon. Parumon simply met him with a sneaky smile, and waited patiently for her answer to her blackmail.

“Well, you are pretty cool, I’ll give you that.” he smiled, admiring her intelligence. His bag having been packed the previous night, he picked it up and dumped it down next to Parumon. “C’mon, get in.”

“Told you not to underestimate me, didn’t I? But no, you had to ignore me.” She chuckled, getting into a crawl. “Not going to pick me up? Afraid I’ll bite?” Parumon mocked, crawling into the bag and curled up her long body like a snake, as Tomeo did up the zip.

“Not a word.” he breathed, and shut the zip-half way open. He quickly threw his tie around and did it up, then headed for the door. His mother was behind it he opened it, already dressed in her police officer’s uniform.

“Morning Tomeo.” Yone said, looking her son a glance up and down. “Are you talking to yourself in there? You know, talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity.” she chuckled.

“That would explain a lot of things, considering I must have inherited it from you.” Tomeo smiled back, and threw his backpack over his shoulder. “I’m going to get breakfast on the way to school. See ya.”

“Breakfast?!?” came the muffled voice of Parumon, making Tomeo’s mother look over her shoulder a second time as Tomeo passed by her on the way to the front door. “Bye! Hmmm. I swear, I’ll never understand teenagers…” she sighed, shaking her head.

***

“What are we doing up on the roof?” Parumon suddenly said, as Tomeo opened the zip for her, revealing the top of the roof of the Tokyo Academy.

“Shhh!” he hushed, as Parumon climbed out. “No-one’s supposed to know we’re here. I don’t even think I’m supposed to be up here as it is, but hardly anyone comes up here. Did you really think I was going to take you into class? If anyone saw you, I’d be dead. And it’s bad enough I can’t even find a girlfriend without worrying about where you’ll pop up next. As long as I’m here, you’re staying up here.”

“Are you serious?” Parumon said in disbelief. “But I have to scope out the grounds! You don’t know what to look out for. You don’t even have one of those digivice-things. Don’t you know I was sent here to protect you?”

“From what? Dust bunnies?” Tomeo laughed. “You’re too small to protect me from anyone I could handle, sorry to say. And what’s with the ‘digi’ prefix? What’s a ‘digivice’?”

“Digi? As in, digital? Digimon, as in digital monster? Hello? What world are you living in?” Parumon sighed, as if it were common knowledge. “And a digivice is a little digital device with a screen. If you had one, would make me transform into something bigger. If I wasn’t looking out for you, then I’d kick your squirmy butt.”

“Like that’s going to happen.” Tomeo snickered, walking towards the door that lead downstairs. He grabbed the handle and opened it, looked down the staircase to see if anyone was coming, then looked back at Parumon, having changed to a serious expression. “Look, I don’t know if even half of what you’re saying is the truth, or why the hell anyone would figure me important enough to be protected for that matter, but I can’t have you following me around everywhere. I can’t have you as my responsibility, I’ve got way too much going on right now. So, I’m only taking care of you until I figure out how to return you back to where you came from. Until I come to get you, stay here.”

“Fat chance of that happening, the place I come from being the digital world and all. Another dimension in itself. Good luck with that.” she said defiantly as she turned her back to him, then looked back to see him closing the door. “Hey! What if I need something to eat? And I need water too, it’s like my lifeblood! Wait, I can prove to you I’m telling the truth!” she started to beg, resorting to bargaining. “Just let me help you find the digivice I told you about! That proves that you’re a part of what I’m talking about! C’mon, I won’t make too much noise and I’ll stay in your bag! What do you say?”

Tomeo suddenly had a flashback, thinking about the day’s events before that day. He had received a strange e-mail and one of the keys words had been ‘digivice’. Come to think of it, several of the words had started with ‘digi’ but he couldn’t remember them. “I’ll think about it. But you have to stay here, for your own good. I don’t want anyone else to find you, or they’ll take you away.” Tomeo said after a moment’s pause, having left the door open a crack to hear Parumon, then shut the door behind him. He moved down the stairs quietly and returned to the top floor, moving quickly to get to class. “No, it can’t be true… ‘guardian of your world’? This can’t be happening… It all has to be some sort of prank…”

“Jerk.” Parumon commented after Tomeo had left, not even able to reach the handle of the doorknob. “Well, it’s going to take more than just some stupid door to stop Parumon, just you wait and see, Tomeo…” she chuckled to herself quietly, and slithered towards the edge of the roof.

***

Kaze just stared at Tegiwa for a whole minute. "You seem completely unsurprised by this strange creature lieing by my feet." he eyed his older brother suspiciously, walking closer. "Is he some voodoo ghost doll thingy of yours!? Cuz if he is, you had better keep a closer eye on him!"

Laimon just shook his head, and in turn, his whole body. "You fool, I'm YOURS!"

Kaze proceeded to grumble for a moment, before stuffing the digimon in his bag for soccer.

"It smells in here!" Laimon whimpered softly.

"Shut up." Kaze snapped, zippering the bag up, leaving a tiny hall so Laimon could get /some/ fresh air. he then looked at the clock and yelped. "ANI, WE ARE SOOOO LATE!!!!!"

Grabbing his gear, he promptly ran out the door, right after grabbing another muffin.

***

"KAZE-KUN!!!!!!"

"AHHH!" Kaze snapped awake, looking around as if someone had dropped a bomb and he didn't know exactly where it went.

"Class is over."

Kaze glared at Miyoki shaking his head. "Miyoki-chan, you are a banshee, and diserve to be banished to the seventh circle of hell." he muttered, before grabbing his bag, and beginning to drag himself out of the classroom groggily. However, he didn't make it that far.

"KAZE-KUN YOU FORGOT YOUR SOCCER BAG!!!!!!" Miyoki began waving her arms wildly, truely proving that she was worse than Kaze and Jyou combine, in the spaz department at least.

Kaze yawned, waving his hand. "Keep it."

At that moment Miyoki gasped. "I dont think your bag WANTS to be kept! It's started moving! You should really think about washing some of your gym clothes every once in a while! You'd have less mutants spawning in your bag!"

Kaze stared at Miyoki, shaking his head slightly. "Miyoki... what planet are you from?"

Miyoki smiled innocently and stated loudly, "MARS!!!!!!" She then proceded to start making noises, she must assumed martians made.

Kaze just grabbed the bag, and walked out into the hall way, leaving Miyoki to her acting. He wondered where he was going to sit, deciding to wait until the traitor sat down, so he could sit in the complete opposite direction.

However, he first wanted to find someone on the girl's soccer team, he knew they had a game, but he wondered what time, because he wanted to watch it after practice, assuming it would be after the boy's team's practice. he thought for a minute, then decided to stalk out Shireka. 'If anyone knows when the girl's match is, it'll be Shireika.'

***

Himotomon nestled herself into Hanarei's backpack. One way or another, she was going to follow her partner. Hanarei came back from the bathroom and found Himotomon sitting in her bag. She stared at the digimon for a moment. "Get out now," she said.

"No, I'm suppose to go with you," Himotomon protested.

"I mean it. I don't know what you're getting at, but I want you to leave now."

An idea came to Himotomon. "Well you seem to need this bag and I'm not moving. Also, from the sound of it, your dad will be upset if your late." Hanarei didn't look too happy as these words were spoken. "So you have a choice of wasting time trying to get me out or you could just take me along."

There was a long stretch of silence in the room before Hanarei spoke. "You're an evil, evil little... thing." She picked up her school bag. "But you have to stay out of the way and not cause any trouble, okay?"

***

Hanarei twirled her pencil around as she stared blankly at the front of the class. She just wanted this to be over with soon. Her wish seemed to be granted when the bell rang. As she packed her bags, she heard someone yelling for the boy sitting in front of her. "KAZE-KUN!!!!!!" Hanarei silently opened her mouth and rubbed her ear as though the scream had caused her some damage as well. If it weren't for that, she would have been laughing at the boy's reaction as well as the girl's response for what planet she was from.

Hanarei left the classroom and wanted to find some quiet part of the school to let Himotomon out or at least open the bag for her to breath. She knew the layout of the school rather well and headed for the door which led up to the roof. No one really went up there so it was a good bet for her. Hanarei made her way over there and stopped about 20 feet from the door. "This should be a good spot," she said to herself. She opened the bag to see Himotomon starting to cough in her bag.

"*Cough* You *cough* really should *cough* get better air holes for *cough* this thing.," said Himotomon.

"Well gee, it's not like it was meant for transporting digimon," said Hanarei. She reached behind Himotomon and pulled out a wrapped box which contained her lunch. "Here," she said after opening it and tossing the digimon a riceball. "I'm not sure what you guys eat but we'll give this a try."

Himotomon was already munching on the riceball as fast as she could. "Hey Hanarei," she said with some rice still in her mouth, "you probably would like to hear more details about why I'm here and everything, right?" There was no response. Himotomon looked up at her partner to see her gazing off somewhere distant. "Hanarei? Ha~na~rei."

Himotomon peeked an eye out of the bag to see that Hanarei was looking over at a young boy one story lower than they were at. He was surrounded by friends and were all laughing. Hanarei's expression had changed to someone relaxed and having a very pleasant daydream. Himotomon looked over at the boy, then at Hanarei, and then put two and two together. "Oh ho, you like that boy over there, don' cha?"

"He's not a boy," Hanarei said lazily, "he's a man. His name is Yuki. Jun Yuki." She took a bite of her riceball without taking her eyes off of Yuki. Himotomon looked up at Hanarei. This sudden change in personality was rather strange. The digimon was about to say something when she heard something much closer.

"Do you hear something?" said Himotomon.

"Hmm?" Hanarei had snapped back to attention.

"It sounds like talking or something and it's coming from above us."

***

When the school bell went off, Shouki started to quickly pack his things. He wanted to head toward the study hall as soon as he could. He knew Hanshin mentioned some sort of meeting going on with the rest of the band over there. Shouki just hoped he didn't miss anything too important.

Meanwhile, Kirimon was looking through a small hole in Shouki's bag and making small comments to himself out loud. "Oh wow. Will you take a look at that," were just some of the things Kirimon was saying. "Hey Shouki, why's that kid throwing his head back and forth rapidly?"

Shouki looked over. "He's listening to music."

"On what?"

"Looks like an Earclip." There was silence which Shouki correctly interpreted by continuing. "It's like a radio and ipod, things that play music, and you clip it over one of your ears. You usually can't see them since they fit right over your ear. I have one in my bag if you want to see it. Just don't play it too loud."

He was in such a rush to get to the study hall that he bumped into someone in the hallway. "Umph," he said as both he and the other person fell down on the ground. "I'm sorry about that... oh, hello Kinoha."

Kinoha, a girl one grade younger than Shouki winced as she was rubbing her back. When she heard Shouki, her face quickly went red and she stood up just as fast. "I'm sorry about that Shouki," she said quickly.

"No no," said Shouki, "I wasn't looking where I was going. I should be apologizing." He picked up his bag and Kirimon which, incidentally, was his cushion for the fall. 'He's not going to be happy about that,' Shouki thought.

"I, uh," stuttered Kinoha, "I heard you're going to perform at a concert tonight. I wanted to wish you good luck sometime before you played."

"Yeah, thanks." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Kinoha, I have to get going. I have a meeting with the rest of the band."

"Oh, okay. Have fun then." And she left.

Shouki finally made his way to the study hall and saw Hiroshi and Yukio. "Hey guys," he said in his usual tired voice. He noticed that Hanshin was missing and, given Hanshin's reputation, he could be doing anything right now. "Where's Hanshin," he asked anyway, "and did I miss anything important?"

***

Class was over, and now it was time for lunch. "I'm hungry, Enma!" Mitikomomon whined.

The girl huffed, eyeing Miyoki and Kaze. "Together forever my ass." she muttered, glaring at them as she stood and continued out of the room without glancing their way again.

"ENMA!" The digimon whined.

"There's food in my bag; I'm going to practice my guitar, I'm not eating anywhere I'm not wanted." She said stiffly, ignoring the blue creature in her bag after that.

***

"Naoko-chan is standing right behind you Ami-senpai." Naoko stood near Hanshin's locker with a look of dull bemusement as she scanned down the to-do list her Palm(tm) ring was projecting on her supinated hand. Various bits of the display changed as people responded to her requests and arrangments were confirmed.

Naoko flashed the briefest of smiles at Hanshin. "Besides, the only update I could have is that things are going fine. I know Hanshin has complete faith in me so there's no way I'd let things go wrong for this welcoming party."

Naoko treated everything Hanshin did as a major occasion worth of the fullness of her efforts. Hanshin was the one guy worthy of her efforts. He was beauty, charisma, and talent. He was going places, and she was going to go with him. Besides, he had taken her heart at some point though she knew he'd never love one person. She'd be by his side. That's what mattered.

"Don't worry Ami, you two won't be bothered. You are on the schedule." She poked at the image on her hand, looking sly. Her palmtop was supposed to be linked to all others and what was on her was instantly the others should they bother to look. As she made her entry, a faint tinge of red coloured her cheeks as her brows narrowed. She blinked and it went away.

"Hanshin, I'm off to check on the others. Don't have too much fun. The party is in a few hours, and I've only blocked Hanshin out for four hours."

Naoko was furious but hid it well untill she was out of site. Hanshin was suppose to meet with the band now, and since one of the others had noted it, she hadn't a clue what the meeting was about. Best she could do was tell them not to wait.

She walked into the study hall classroom, and spied Shouki waiting with some of the others. /This is just a great start for a new member. Well, he'll get used to Hanshin's ways. Probably pick them up too./ She turned on her humble smile. "Shouki, I'm sorry. Hanshin can't be here right now. You guys are all free till the party tonight. Don't forget to bring anything we asked you to. Just get ahold of me if you have any questions."

***

Tegiwa was paying attention to the substitue teacher with meager attention. The bad comments of the other seminar students collided with the Kochus [coachs] more lively remarks and tumbled to the floor of his mind, where he just stared at the mess. He wondered if the author was trying to say anything at all. Sure, all the students loved essayist because the essays looked short, but they were dense and hard to read. Oh, and often pointless. Not to meantion the discussions turned into nightmares like this. It really upset his sense of tranquility.

"Sensei, labeling only serves, like, for two things: telling you what something is or telling you something is something it's not. We use them either because we want to know what a thing is or because we'd rather not think of what it is." His mother could tell them a thing or two about labels.

The rest of the class remained in their torpor, except a few who laughed at Tegiwa slow drawn-out speech.

"No laughing," Kousei commanded. "I don't laugh at you, so don't laugh at each other. He's right. Some labels are true while others are deliberately false or misleading. Why would that be, and how does it matter? I take it that Mr.Itoh concedes the point that even some of the false ones are in part true....blah...blah...blah...Metonomy blah blah.....substitution of objects....blah blah....synecdoche....blah blah blah Ishida Shireika, could I see you for a moment right now?" Tegiwa flet like he was coming out of a trance ask Kousei dismissed them all, save Shireika.

Tegiwa waited for Shireika just outside the door. It was time to consult his friend about the watcher-gram he got, and see if she had gotten any as well. She was from a digidestined family after all.

***

"Hanshin must be having a concert or something by how a lot of the girls are acting," Shuuichi said as he stopped at his locker to open the door and was surprised as he saw Squijimon in there. "I forgot you were in there," he said as he switched a couple of books.

"Is this how you are suppose to treat your digimon partner!!!" she cried out annoyed.

"I guess so. Do you know how strange it would look if I carried around a stuffed animal?" he said glaring at it.

"I am not a stuffed animal. I am a special digimon sent to you since you were chosen to help protect the world. I was sent here to find you and I did," she said proudly giving a type of pose.

"How exactly?" he asked. "I've been wondering tihs whole time," he said.

"By this," she said pulling out his digivice from behind her back. "You had it in your room and I decided to bring it with me. Who knows when you will need it."

"And with that I will become the best," he said smiling.

"You do know there are more than one person who has a digimon. The others could be anywhere, they could even be under your nose," she said.

"I see," he said.

"So who is this Hanshin person you were talking about?" she asked.

"He's an upperclassman. He's even more popular around the girls than I am. He has a band and they play concerts I guess. Most of the girls go to them. My sister included. She just loves him like a freaky fan girl," he said as Squijimon jumped into his bag. "Are you coming to see if you can find the others?" he asked.

"Yep," she said. "It is always better to be one step ahead of your adversary."

"Anyway, Hanshin's popularity is what I want to have next year. I want to have girls all over walking into walls just because I am holding a concert or something like that," he said.

"I see, so popular is good," she said.

"Yes, popularity is good. Being the best is good," he said.

***

As the rest of the senior seminar literature class filed out of the classroom, Shireika stood up slowly and grabbed her bag, lifting the strap over her head to rest on her shoulder. She glanced towards the door, seeing Tegiwa waiting outside. She shrugged before she walked up to the front of the classroom where Mr. Tsuyoikou was sitting on a desk.

What was it this time? He had called on her to stay after class before. After a history class, he had congratulated her on a good shot during a recent game. After chemistry, he had commended her for her leadership on the girls' soccer team. Not like she minded the compliments from the new boys' soccer coach, but it was uncomfortable getting called out everytime he substituted one of her classes. Mr. Tsuyoikou was a member of Tokyo University's Class of 2065 as well as a member of her father's soccer team at the university. It was a bit awkward, considering he was only twenty-two. With his messy short brown hair, he looked like he could be a current student at Tokyo Academy rather than a coach or teacher, and his young and friendly demeanor just seemed a little too young and friendly for a member of the staff here.

"Miss Ishida," he started as she stopped at a good distance from him, over an arm's reach away. "You have a game today?"

"Yes," she replied slowly. She wasn't sure where he was going with this conversation.

"I just noticed you weren't paying too much attention today in class, unlike you usually do. After all, you are the top of the class. So, I'm a bit surprised at your lack of interest today. Although, I don't understand how anyone could possibly be interested in chemistry." He chuckled softly.

Shireika raised an eyebrow. What did he want this time?

"Tsuyoikou-Sensei, I -" she started.

"Call me Kousei, please," he interrupted.

She grumbled something inaudibly about this being a bit ridiculous.

"Kousei, I really need to eat lunch now and get some work done before the game," she explained as she watched him get off the desk and walk around behind his desk. "I'm really sorry about not paying attention, but the discussion was terribly boring." She watched him kneel down behind the desk. "It wasn't your fault at all that it was boring. Just the rest of the class wasn't saying anything particularly interesting about that essay we had to read." She saw him pop up, with his hands behind his back. "Can I go now?" She crossed her arms as he stood in front of her.

"Here," he said, holding out a yellow rose. "Good luck."

Shireika's eyes narrowed as she looked up at Kousei.

"What?" he asked. "Am I not allowed to wish luck to one of the best players in the school? In the league?" He held it closer to her.

"It was you?" It was just like the other five she had gotten, or actually found on her gym bag with those little notes after warm-up. She had thought one of her teammates or friends had been leaving them for her. The thought that Kousei was leaving them hadn't really been on her mind.

He just grinned at her.

"Thanks. Well, I should go," she said as she pointed towards the door. "Thanks again." She quickly turned around and hurried out of the classroom, pulling Tegiwa by the arm as she walked down the hallway towards her locker. "What's up?" She stopped in front of her locker and opened it. She held the yellow rose out towards him. "Hold this?"

***

"Hanshin went to take care of some business," Yukio said. "We're all meeting outside in teh courtyard after school to review the set for tonight. It shouldn't take more than an hour. Sorry if things get confusing. Hanshin's not quite as organized as others." The drummer looked up towards Naoko with a knowing stare. "But, we'll be on time for the concert. Hanshin wouldn't dare miss a gig."

"Unless unexpected and very important business comes up," Hiroshi added with a chuckle.

"Which never does. Nothing ever is quite that important."

***

"So, things are on schedule," Ami mused as she turned back to Hanshin, Naoko completely forgotten for her. She couldn't stand Naoko. She had been the star of the Hanshin's girls until last year, and now, she was fighting to keep Naoko away from him as much as possible. She knew what Naoko really wanted from Hanshin, but she knew Hanshin better. She knew Hanshin just wanted to have fun, nothing to tie down his free spirit. "So, how about it? My place?" She leaned up against Hanshin and fiddled with the two cartilage piercings on his left ear.

"I've got to meet with the band soon about the set for tonight," he replied as he rested his hands on her hips. "Aren't you also supposed to meet with the other girls tonight?" It had been a couple weeks since the last concert, so he had forgotten who was next on the rotation schedule. Not like it really mattered to him. Ami, Michan, Sakura, Naoko, and whoever had joined from the newest class - it was all in fun.

"Damn meetings. I don't know why they all make such a big fuss about the rotations," Ami grumbled as she kissed Hanshin. "Then again, we all know why." She reached around behind Hanshin and gave his rear a quick squeeze. "Right, sexy?"

"Sure, babe," he replied as he gave her a soft spank when she bent down to grab her bag. "I'll see you tonight."

"Of course." As she walked away towards the study hall classroom, she turned back and winked quickly at Hanshin. She burst through the doors to the classroom seeing the rest of the band and Naoko around one table. She strolled over to them and leaned over the table in front of Yukio and Hiroshi. "Hey, boys. Hanshin's headed out if you were supposed to meet with him. I suspect out at the usual table?"

"Huh?" Yukio replied as he finally looked up at Ami.

"Outside, buddy," Hiroshi answered for Ami. "Come on. The boss calls." He grabbed his bag and started to head on out of the study hall classroom. "Bye Naoko. Ami."

***

Hanshin settled down at a table outside in the main courtyard, right where the rest of the band couldn't possibly miss him. Not to mention, the girls from school couldn't possibly miss him either. He opened up his lunch bag and pulled out the bento box his father had made this morning.

It was a bit odd that the rest of the band was not here yet. Usually, he was the one that showed up last, thanks to the many fans in school, but they seemed to be caught up with something.

Whatever, the moment when all the girls hounded him would soon happen - after lunch ended, he assumed.

***

"Uh...." Words failed her. What do you say to a hallucination? If that's what it was, anyway.

The critter, on the other hand, dropped the remains of its meal and bounced down the countertop to where Yuu was standing. It extended a frayed fin, beaming. "Th' name's Kuinamon. I'm your digimon partner!" it said. "Nice to meet'cha!"

"Um... you too?" She reached out tentatively and shook its fin. Well, it was solid enough, and she'd never heard the word 'digimon' before in her life, so maybe there was hope after all.

"Eh?" it said, looking her up and down. "Where's your digivice?"

Yuu remembered with a start what had kept her up last night. "I'll be right back" she said to the thing, whisking back into her room and over to her desk. There. She picked up the little device that had come right out of her holo screen last night. At the time she'd thought it was a dream, but if this thing was real...

The digimon fluttered into the room after her. "Aha, there it is! Y'should keep that on you, it's real important!"

"Huh..." Yuu thought back to the email she had just gotten at the time, from someone named The Watcher. It had mentioned fates and evil forces and such, even this little device. What had it called her? 'Digi-destined of Friendship'...?

She looked down at the little creature on the floor. It was worth a shot.

"Yuu?" The sound of her mom's voice nearly made her jump. The digimon cheeped furtively and flitted as fast he could under the bed, vanishing from sight right as Yuu's mother appeared in the doorway.

"Oh good, you're already dressed for school" she said with a smile. "But what happened in the kitchen? The refridgerator is open and there's rice all over the counter"

"Ah, sorry about that, the onigiri container fell out and broke open" Yuu said, thinking fast. "I was just about to finish cleaning it up"

Her mother waved her hand dismisively. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it. You should be getting ready for school, it's nearly time to leave. You don't want to be late on your first day" And with that, she left.

Yuu sighed and closed her bedroom door. 'That was close,' she thought. Deciding to take her mom's advice, she started packing her bag for school.

The digimon poked his beak out from under the bed. "Is she gone?"

"Don't worry, she left" she said, smiling as he hopped out and 'phew'ed in relief. She knealed down in front of him. "What did you say your name was again?"

"Kuinamon!" he said importantly.

"Kuinamon, do you think you could hide in my room for today? I've got to go to school soon, but I'll be back this afternoon"

"Hmph! 'Course not, I'm comin' with you!" he stated, as if it was obvious.

Yuu smiled nervously. "Um, I'm not sure if that's a good idea... I don't think they allow animals in school, and it is my first day and all..."

"Aw c'mon! We're partners, we should stick t'gether! And besides, we needa find the others!"

"Others?" she asked, "There's more of you?"

"'Course! An' more of you guys with those too!" He pointed a fin at the digivice that she was still holding.

She looked at the device and back at Kuinamon. Well, she thought, he did seem to know when not to be seen, and she was curious to meet these others he was talking about. Perhaps she could find out just what was going on here. Besides, she was beginning to rather like this little guy.

"Alright, you win," she sighed, smiling a bit, and opened her backpack for him. "But you had better not make to much noise"

"Silent as th' grave!" he promised, and hopped into the open bag.

She carefully zipped it almost shut, leaving a gap for air, and clipped the digivice to an outside pocket before hoisting the bag gently onto her back.

She left her bedroom and headed towards the front door. "Bye mom!"

Her mother came out of the kitchen."Don't you want some breakfast?"

"I'll pick some up on the way. Didn't you say I shouldn't be late my first day?" she retorted, slipping on her shoes.

"Ah, right you are" she said with a smile. "Well then, have good day at school!"

Yuu waved as she went out the front door. "Thanks, I'll be sure to!"

At the very least, she thought, it ought to be an quite an interesting day.

***

Kaze turned to walk in the other direction, deciding the cafeteria really wasn't where he wanted to be. Walking along the halls, he waved and smiled to a few people he knew, before noticing Tegiwa with Shireika.

"aHA!" he smiled triumphiantly. 'Find Tegiwa, find Shireika, goooood thinking Kaze!'

He walked over, or at least attempted to, because he quickly tripped on some discarded trash, and fell flat on his face, sending his soccer bag forward a few feet, landing near the two seniors.

"Oww..." Kaze got up slowly, rubbing his face, before realizing he had just launched Laimon inside a bag that contained a pair of soccer cleats. He smiled wickedly before walking over and picking up the bag, wondering wether or not to check on him.

"Hello you two, excuse me while I check on the mutant thingy..." he opened the bag a little, sticking his face in it, yelping after Laimon bit his nose.

"NEVER DO THATAGAIN!!!" he screamed at the shocked boy, who had dropped the bag, again.

"Ani!" Kaze whined, pointing at the bag. "Now's a good time for explanations regarding creampuff!"

"Who you calling creampuff creampuff?!" Laimon countered, however, he soon became silent, because Kaze zippered up the bag.

"Oh, and Shireika-san, when's your game today?" he asked quickly, his admiration of the star of the girl's soccer team clearly showing.

***

Enma was looking forward to eating in the practice room alone - with the glaring exception of the digimon in her bag - but two facts impeded her passage; all the practice rooms were taken, and, even if they weren't, she had forgotten her guitar at home. "Smart move, Enma." She muttered to herself as she walked through the hallway and out the doors. She blinked, adjusting her eyes, before she looked around at the tables. All of them were filled up with one exception.

"Okay, Mitikomomon, if you were me, you would take the tree, or ask to sit where there's room?"

"If I were you?" The digimon replied, poking its head out of the bag. "If I were you, I'd be getting some help."

"Shut up." Enma said, pushing the blue creature back into her bag.

"Well, really. You basically have no friends, and you're obsessive-compulsive about your music - or lack thereof, from what I can hear - and you..."

"Quit while you're ahead, there, buddy." She said, touching her empty middle finger. "Fine, I'll go, but if I get attacked by rabid fangirls before I get within ten feet, I'm taking the tree." Pushing a strand of red hair out of her eyes, Enma walked over towards the table, and the upperclassman sitting at it. "Uh, hi, Hanshin, right? D'you mind if I sit here?" She asked, mentally wincing at her stuttering. She had barely ever talked to Hanshin before, but - and she hated to admit it to herself - she didn't want to sit by herself at lunch.

***

After many harsh words from the talking tropical bird barricaded in her closet, Asayake had finally managed to get to school. This was, however, about ten minutes before lunch, so she'd been given a rather harsh warning from the vice principal about tardyness. And she'd had to bring the bird-thing with her -- who had drilled the fact that it's name was Rogishimon into her brain -- to keep it from squawking rude words at her. Now sitting in one of the more deserted corridors of the school, she was staring at her bologna-on-a-bun, absently wondering if she could out-stare a sandwich. The bird-thing Squawked at her. "'Sayake?"

"...What?"

"Did you bring your digivice?"

Asayake raised a bright red eyebrow at the little white bird sitting in her backpack. "My what?"

"Di-Gi-Vice." Rogishimon insisted on sounding out the word, then regarding her assigned partner with a childish snobbyness. "The silver and orange thing you should have found."

"Oh, that thingy," Mumbled Asayake, fishing out of one of the pockets of her backpack, "That 'Watcher' person mentioned it in that creepy email. Did he... she... it send you, too?"

"Of course," Rogishimon said, sounding rather proud, "The Watcher sent you your digivice, too."

"But I just sort of found it," Asayake said, slightly creeped out; did this Watcher person get into her room? "How did--?"

"I don't think it matters," Rogishimon said, shuffling around in the tattered backpack, "Besides, I don't know how The Watcher works. I just do what I'm told."

"Oh," Asayake, said, sounding rather pleased, "So if I told you to shut the hell up, you would?"

Rogishimon puffed up her feathers, and looked as if she was going to throw a temper-tantrum. To Asayake's relief, however, she didn't.

***

Tegiwa looked at the flower she handed him. He smiled a bit. "So, he was the one doing this," Tegiwa said as he took the flower, "...Ow! Whoa, Shireka, this is the real deal. I think he might want you to play for his team. He's trying to build up karma for something, for sure." He looked a the red drop of blood against the mocha skin of his finger. "May be an omen..." Tegiwa lacked his mother's ability to read objects, but he could read people. Kousei was after more than friendship. It was obvious.

"Shireka, you know what a yellow rose means? The dude's afraid to give you red."

Tegiwa stepped back in case Shireka's reply wasn't verbal only to bump into his younger brother bounding in. Tegiwa eyed the moving bag with suspicion, then sudden realization. "Shireka, Kaze-kun you both got one of these right?" He pulled a purple device from his pocket. "Did you get anything else. Kaze, I assume that’s a yes." His royal blue eyes shifted to the duffel on the ground.

Tegiwa looked back to Shireka and gazed into her eyes, a serious move not weaked by the blonde veil of hair that decided to fall across his gaze. /mental note: keep hair bands for when my hair gets this long./ "Shireka, the watcher has given us presents and I /know/ he's not trying to ask out. I think we should talk about this. In private if you don't mind. We don't want to be unfriendly with our new friends."

***

Naoko turned her head with grave suspicion toward Ami. She new this wasn't right. Ami was supposed to be having time with Hanshin now which left the evening free for her to have Hanshin. In any case, neither Naoko nor Ami were good about sharing Hanshin. That's how the private schedule got started. Now each girl worked out her own time to be with Hanshin, while the other girls took care of the band. With a little luck, Naoko could work out a way to make sure she never got caught in another threesome with Ami.

She crossed her arms and let the words roll out of her mouth aloofly: "Ami, why are you here? I gave you four whole hours with Hanshin. What happened? Did you two pass a virgin freshman on your way out the door? Hanshin's a hazard..." She wish she felt as comfortable as she sounded. But, things looked worse with each passing moment. She could hear the faint giggling, familiar to her, of a group of girls from the hall.

She knew what Ami was trying to pull, and her heart sank before her rival could reply. Four other girls: Sakura, Miyu, Kitsune, and Michan filed in.

"Shit," she sighed softly.

***

Hanarei strained herself trying to hear for anyone nearby. It did sound like someone was on the roof above them moments ago, but whatever it was seemed to be quiet for now. "It's probably nothing," said Hanarei. She looked back at Yuki but discovered that he and his friends had moved. "Aaooh, see what you made me miss."

"That sounds more like the Hanarei I met earlier," said Himotomon.

Hanarei glared at Himotomon but went back to eating lunch. "So you were saying about giving an explanation?"

"Ah yes. As you probably read in that email you received awhile ago, you have been selected as a digi-destined; a protector of both my world and your world. You're job is to fend off the evil that brings destruction to everyone. There are others like you who have digimon to help in your quest."

Hanarei sat there listening to Himotomon explain. However, she didn't look too interested with the story. "Well that does explain a few things," she said as she finished the rest of her lunch, "but I'm still curious about something else. Who is this dark queen and 'the Watcher?'"

"Ummaa," she stuttered. "Weeeeeeeee don't quite know that part. That you're gonna have to find out on your own." This didn't make Hanarei very happy. The words 'dark queen' seemed very disturbing to her.

***

"Um, uh." Shouki was relatively new to the band so he hadn't figured out how everything worked out and he wasn't sure what the usual table was. "I should probably follow them," he said to Naoko and Ami. He didn't want to get lost. He bowed his head slightly and said, "Thank you for your help," before he followed after Yukio and Hiroshi.

He spotted where Hanshin was. Shouki realized how open and noticeable the table was and tried not to get nervous. Several girls around the courtyard were already looking their way. 'You're going to be in front of the whole school and then some,' he told himself. 'Now's not the time to get nervous or worry about such a thing.' He let some of the prayer beads slide from his arm and into his hand where he started to fiddle with them out of habit. He walked over to Hanshin. "Hey Hanshin."

Shouki noticed another girl at the table but he didn't know who she was. Was she another 'groupie' like Ami? "Hi there," he said timidly.

***

Nikko frowned slightly as he opened a document on his computer in the vice-principal office. He found an unofficial looking page that had a list of all the students who had came in late since the beginning of the month. It was to help him keep track and notify if certain students were frequently coming in late. "Let's see here," he said to himself. He sat up and started to type. "Shinzuino... Asayake." He typed down the time she came in then closed the folder. He never liked having to tell off on students for being late but it was a part of his job. Fortunately, according to the list, there weren't many students who were late this month. He rubbed the front of his head and ran his fingers through his hair. There was a rather large grey patch in the front with brown in the back. "Well," he said to himself again, "we have had worse. No one has broken the record of 27 minutes till the end of school."

***

"Yeah, sure," Hanshin replied to Enma. "Don't mind us - we're just going over things for the concert tonight." He nodded towards Shouki, Yukio, and Hiroshi, as the rest of his band finally showed up. "Got hounded by the girls again?"

"Just Naoko, Ami, and the others," Hiroshi replied as he sat across from Hanshin and set his lunch bag down on the table.

"I thought you had business with Ami to take care of," Yukio teased as he dropped his lunch on the table next to Hanshin. He punched Hanshin the arm before sitting down.

"Nah. It can wait," Hanshin explained as he pulled out the songlist for the evening. "I did a couple of changes for tonight." Instead of doing his literature reading, he had spent his study hall rearranging the set for the concert tonight. There were arrows pointing in various directions, and a number of lines had been crossed out and then rewritten elsewhere.

Hiroshi grabbed the sheet first and looked it over.

"So, 'Wings' is getting put at the end now? It's kind of a slow song to be put at the end, don't you think?" he asked as he pointed at the messy sheet of paper.

"That's our best song," Yukio argued. "The girls absolutely love it. Better than the sappy 'If I Could Give You Happiness' song Hanshin wrote last month."

"Let me see you come up with anything better," Hiroshi replied.

The two boys glared at each other momentarily. Hiroshi threw his hands up in the arm.

"You're right. 'Wings' is better. Good to end with something popular," the guitarist finally agreed.

Yukio snatched the song list away from Hiroshi.

"Thank you for taking out 'Wasteland.' That song is so old!"

"But that has been our classic since first starting," Hiroshi argued back.

"As we have grown older, so have our songs. We've changed, so our material should also change with us, right?" Hanshin interrupted before another argument between the guitarist and drummer could start up again. "Isn't that what we wanted? This band is an outlet to express ourselves and who we are, not who we were." He looked towards Shouki. "Don't worry about them. They rarely agree on much." He chuckled a little at the thought. He grabbed the list from Yukio and handed it over to Shouki. "Here, check it out. There aren't too many changes."

***

"Good thought, Naoko-chan," Ami replied to her younger classmate. "Like I really care, sweetheart. We all know that Hanshin just enjoys having fun. Though, I wouldn't have minded a virgin freshman. Those younger boys are so cute, especially when they're all nervous, but we all know what they really want." She chuckled softly as she sat down on the table she and Naoko were standing by. "Hey girls!"

"Hey Ami-sempai!" the four other girls called as they approached the table. "Hi, Naoko-chan."

"Did you get a haircut yesterday, Sakura?" Ami asked. "It looks great."

"Thank you, Ami-sempai," Sakura replied, her cheeks turning a rosy color. Her newly cut side-sweep bangs fell into her eyes as she looked towards the ground.

"So, what are we meeting about again?" Miyu, the youngest of the group, asked as she sat down at the table next to Ami.

***

As Tegiwa rambled on about the flower Kousei had given her, Shireika quickly opened her locker. She spotted Alatusmon on a shelf and immediately cut him off before he could say a word.

"...you know what a yellow rose means? The dude's afraid to give you red," she heard as she grabbed some books from her locker.

"Red?" she asked as she turned towards Tegiwa. She held a heavy chemistry book in her hand. "He's not just some ordinary dude, you know." She looked at the book in her hand and immediately stuffed it into the bag slung over her shoulder. "And for your information, it means nothing! Nothing!" She snatched the yellow rose away from Tegiwa and threw it into her locker onto the top shelf. "He played on my father's team at Tokyo University for the past four seasons. That's how we know each other, but that's it. He's just being nice. End of discussion." She glared at Tegiwa momentarily until she spotted Kaze by her classmate's feet.

Her eyes wandered to Tegiwa's younger brother and then immediately back at Tegiwa. She quirked an eyebrow and then shook her head briefly. The two had to be as different as night and day.

"Game's at 3," she replied simply.

The movement from Kaze's gym bag caught her attention, and then Tegiwa's question about the strange device soon interested her. She grabbed the little device from his hand and looked it over.

"Yeah, I've got one and then some," she explained as she handed the digivice back to Tegiwa. She pulled out a silver digivice from her bookbag. "Here's what else the Watcher sent me." She reached into her locker and pulled out Alatusmon by a wing. "This was in my room this morning."

"Hi!" Alatusmon said cheerfully. He sniffed the air quickly. "There are others like me around, I know it!"

***

Aishou sat at a table with some of her friends at lunch, but rather than eat, she was taking photographs of them with her beloved camera.

"Do you have to take pictures while we're eating?" one of the girls at her table asked.

"It's for photography class. I have to get candid pictures," Aishou explained.

"You got enough of us. Go find someone else to photograph!" another girl complained.

"Fine," Aishou mumbled as she grabbed her bag and wandered around the courtyard.

***

Yuu sat at one of the tables out in the courtyard munching on a bento she'd picked up on the way to school. It had been a pretty nice first day so far, she thought. She was relived that no one had noticed Kuinamon yet, althougth she felt a little bad about leaving him in her locker the whole time. It had to be pretty stuffy in there.

Tapping her digivice absentmindedly on the table, her eyes wandered around the fairly packed assembly. She noticed a girl with honey-colored hair and a camera who seemed to be looking for something. Maybe she couldn't find a place to sit?

"Hey! There's a space over here, if you'd like!" she called out cheerfuly to the girl, indicating the gap between herself and the other group at the table.

***

Kaze must of seen stars, because as soon as he found out Shireika had a digimon too, he was in heaven. 'SHIREIKA-SAMA HAS ONE TOOO!'

Although he was having a silent party, the only words that made it out were, "oh cool, thanks Shireika-san." He then noticed the bag slung over her shoulder and instantly moved a bit closer. "I can carry your books for you if you want me to Shireika-san, we wouldn't want you getting hurt at all because of the heavy books before the game, because you've got to play, and win, of course you'll win because you're the best, don't you agree Tegiwa?" Miraculously Kaze said that all in one breath, and snapped his head to the side during the last part, so he could glare at his brother.

Shifting back into his somewhat normal self, Kaze focused on Tegiwa. "So ani, what exactly are we supposed to do about this watcher guy?" Kaze then pointed to his bag. "And what exactly are we supposed to do about those things?" the gym bag then started to move around again, only making Kaze kick it.

And although Kaze was watching Tegiwa intently, he was slowly shifting over towards Shireika with every step. Obviously, the boy was highly infatuated with her, however, it wasn't based on physical attraction, Kaze would be the first to say so, seeing as he's gay, but it was based on his admiration of her as a soccer player, and inspiring to be as good as her.

Even though it wasn't based on attraction, it was still a bit creepy though.

***

Enma smiled lightly at Hanshin, grateful to have a place to sit, even if she had no idea what was going on. She had been to a couple of his concerts, but then she had been dragged there by some of her friends. One of them always called him 'the enemy', but since they were no longer on speaking terms, she felt comfortable sitting there.

She smiled to Shouki, nodding her head lightly. "Hey, I'm Kodomojimita Enma." She pulled her red hair out of her face and into a rather flimsy ponytail, listening to the boys talk about their set. She reached over and pulled out her lunch, hitting Mitikomomon lightly as she did to get the digimon away from the food.

She picked up the bento box and opened it, looking at the array of fruit quizzically. Then she saw the neat piece of folded green paper. Infamous folded green paper. She made a face, picking it up lightly, thinking it may explode. 'Enma, Kou called last night and said you wanted a ride home from school today. I won't ask what happened, but meet me in my office after school and I'll take you home. Love, Mom.'

She groaned, shaking her head. Her mother was insane, and her brother now needed to be killed - maybe she could get his apartment if he did . She brought herself back to the conversation around her as she put the paper back into the box neatly and picked up her chopsticks. "If people wanted to hear the old hits, even if they are elementary, then play them at the begining of the set. You know, as if to say 'this was why you first started to like us, and this is why you keep coming back again.'" She shrugged, picking up a piece of strawberry and popping it in her mouth. "just a thought; I know I'm no member of the band or anything, but it's just an idea if there were old er songs you guys wanted to play."

***

"What are you eating?"

"Bologna."

"What's bologna?"

"The meat I'm eating."

"Why is it called bologna?"

"Because the name of the guy who makes it is Bologna."

"Really? That would be an awful name to have to grow up with."

"Rogishimon?"

"Yes?"

"I have no idea why bologna is bologna. It just is."

"Oh, okay."

For the umpteenth time that lunch-hour, Asayake and Rogishimon sat in silence, Asayake taking a few bites of her sandwich every now and again. Finally, unable to stand the cloud of boredom circling them, Asayake rewrapped her lunch and pulled out her math homework.

Math was definately not one of Asayake's strong suits. She'd been held back the year before, so even though she was a senior, she was forever trapped in the bowels of eleventh-grade math class. Her only saving grace was that she was still seventeen, the age of a small portion of eleventh-graders, which made conversations (what few she had) less awkward. Now, huddled over a scrap of paper littered with formulas scrawled ever-so jaggedly across it every which way, Asayake turned to her math notebook.

"The savings account interest rate at Koko's bank is 2.6%, and interest is calculated quarterly. If Koko has 860,000 yen in her bank account, and deposits an additional 20,500 yen at the end of each week, how long will it take for the funds in Koko's savings account to reach 4,000,000 yen? ...Why the hell do I care about Koko's frigging money?!" The redhead growled, gnawing on the end of her pencil, "Why can't she justforget the miniscule snippets of interest her sadistic effing bank serves her and add the 20,500 yen to the 860,000 until she gets 4,000,000?! What's with all the numbers?!"

"What are you doing?"

Asayake dropped her head to her free hand, rubbing at her temples. "Having a brain aneurysm."

"...Oh. Have fun with that."

Asayake felt her eye twitch, and began packing up her books. "I need to find someone from my math class. Someone who knows more about this than I do. So really, anyone will do." After letting Rogishimon settle back into her backpack, Asayake began to scower the school for someone -- correction, ANYONE -- from her frigging math class, who could help her with her homework. Perferably someone who's name she remembered. Speaking of, who WAS in her math class? Still scowering, and severely startling a grouping of tenth-graders, Asayake went through a list of names in her head.

'Let's see, there was that guy who sits opposite of me a few seats over, what was his name... Toyogawa-san, that's it. And that girl, the one with purple eyes, what was her name...? Oh bugger. I know the names of one single, solitary person in my class, and the eye colour of another one. This should be exceedingly fun. Oh freaking well. Let's find Toyogawa-san, then. ...He had black-ish hair, I think. And he wears blue; a lot of blue. Oh, yes, joy and rapture, that REALLY narrows it down a bit, seeing as how no one else in the school has black hair and likes blue. I'm in trouble.'

***

"Look," said Hanarei, "I'm not going to just sit around here all day so it's time to pack up." She wrapped up what was left of her lunch and stuffed it back in here bag.

"Are you upset that I wasn't able to answer all of your questions?" said Himotomon.

"Mostly, but also it isn't much fun to eat alone throughout lunch. Maybe I'll run into Yuki."

"You are obsessed with that boy, aren't you?"

"Would a flame-shaped digimon go out if I were to pour water on it?"

"I'll be good."

Hanarei walked around the school in search of one of her friends but they seemed to be well hidden today. Finally, she rounded a corner and Himotomon suddenly shook. Hanarei, quickly opened the bag and mouthed, "What?" Himotomon was then signaling her toward someone down the hall. It was a girl, 'Asayake, was it?' thought Hanarei, and she seemed to be having a deep conversation with her school bag. Hanarei quirked an eyebrow before glancing at Himotomon and seeing her nod her head, um, body.

"Oi," she said to get the girl's attention and walked over to her, "your name is Asayake, right? This may seem rather odd, but," she pulled out her digivice and held it out, "did you happen to find something like this recently? And possibly something else earlier today?" Himotomon moved around in her bag enough for Asayake to notice just in case.

***

Shouki nervously chuckled at Hanshin's comment about Yukio and Hiroshi. He took the list of songs and looked them over. He wasn't looking over the list as much as he was thinking about what Hanshin said. "Who we are," he repeated quietly to himself. He continued to play with his prayer beads. If he ever wanted to show how he felt as he played, he just had to think of one person. "Umm, the list looks good," he told Hanshin as he handed it back. "I like 'Wings,' it really touches me. I've been practicing a lot so I probably shouldn't have any problems."

***

"Ow! I said it had thorns!" Tegiwa stuffed his lacerated index finger in his mouth. "You need to mellow. I'm sure Kousei-sensei is just honoring your extraordinary spirit." He glanced at Kaze. "Yeah, I'm sure she will win tonight. I can feel the ki building for victory." He smiled. He also knew that one player didn't win a game, just as he knew those roses didn't mean Kousei-sensei was from Texas.

"Ah, you two got animal based digimon." Remember, Mom said she had a turtle Kaze?" He didn't know if Kaze ever paid attention to Sho-rei's stories. Tegiwa would sit and listen for her tales for hours though. "I got one that looks like a toy robot. He's not very sophisticated. Mom said, you know, hers had a real robot." He took his wind-up partner from his side pack. "Shireka, Kaze, digiparters, This is Robotmon."

The pressed metal toy moved its legs and spit sparks from his chest, but that's it. Tegiwa blinked, "...bit of a bummer...."

The robot spoke with a hollow, flat voice: "I'm not speaking to a partner who says I'm unsophisticated. Hello to the rest of you. I am sorry my partner is a bit of a dolt, but none of you look better off. I conclude we will all have to make the best of things for the sake of our world."

Tegiwa felt bad about offending his partner, but didn't like him putting down his friends. "Dude, I'm sorry, but you do look like a toy. Chill out. My friends and their Digi's are just fine, I'm sure. And, we'll save both worlds just like before- together."

Tegiwa looked to Kaze, "Bro, don't kick your partner. It's alive and may bite you. Also, the can get much larger than they are now, so picking on it is foolish. As for what we do with them, we keep them for now. They are our weapons against this dark queen. As for the Watcher, I've never heard of him, but he must be very important to issue digivices and open the portal for our partners to come through. Someone else gave the devices to our Mom and g-san. I feel uneasy about the whole situation. How about you Shireka?"

***

Naoko could feel Ami pulling her stings, and she didn't like it. Just because she was the oldest and the favorite she thought she could have Hanshin most of the time. But, that was why Naoko came up with the schedule. Not the one for the band's business, but The Schedule which sorted out the band members between the girls. This was a private arrangement since the guys were clueless. The rotation was there to keep the girls happy and give each of them plenty of quality Hanshin time. It also existed to keep the band member happy. None of them were ever left alone for an evening being assigned a groupie.

Of course, the girls were really made happy when Naoko collared the band members away from Hanshin and taught them some basic hygiene. But, that's a different story.

The band girls, once know as groupies (or disparagingly, gropes), took on the classy, formal title of Hanshin Appreciation Society, or just Society Girls.

"Concert's tonight Miyu, so we are having a schedule meeting. I have Hanshin tonight because I gave up my turn to Miyu last time. Ami, Hanshin wanted you to break in Shouki, the new guy. Miyu gets Hiroshi; lucky girl. Sakura, you go to Yukio. Kitsune-chan and Mi-chan you are 'reserve' but the guys always think they can hand more than one girl so I do think you should plan on going home early."

***

On his way to lunch, Shuuichi just happened to hear a girl talking. Needing to know the latest news he quickly made his way to the wall to sneak closer and hear her. He peered over the corner to see the back of one girl and the front of Hanarei holding something similar to what he had. He took his digivice out of his pocket and compared his and Hanarei's. "She's one of the others in this?" he said as he stood out from the wall. "She isn't like me. What's so special about her?" he asked as he stormed off with his lunch.

But the lunch area was horrible. There was no way to find a place. Only a few places left but with people he didn't know or want to know. He kept on walking as he found a possible place near Hanshin. He walked forward on as he smiled to Hanshin and to his band members including Shouki, and Enma. "Is this seat taken?" he asked in general.

***

"How do you do?" Shouki replied to Enma's introduction, also nodding his head. "I'm Houzuru Shouki."

"Um, Shouki?" He turned around and saw Kinoha standing behind him again. She looked nervous and her face was a bit red. "I, um, wanted to give this to you as a sign of good luck." She held out a charm in her hand and moved it to Shouki.

He picked it up but didn't smile. Then again, it had been years since he could remember smiling. "Thanks," he said, which was his best way of saying he liked it.

"You just seemed so nervous and kept talking about the concert all those times you visited the shrine. And you collect charms so I thought you would like that one."

Shouki looked over the charm. He liked the design on it and it looked like it came from Kinoha's shrine. "I'll keep it by me for the concert," he told her.

Kinoha started to turn redder by the second. She glanced over at everyone else at the table before she bowed at the waist. "Good luck to all of you at the concert," she said before running back to a group of girls (most likely classmates) who were all giggling.

***

Shireika looked from Tegiwa to Kaze and back to Tegiwa.

"If you insist," she said blandly to her obsessive fan as she handed over her bookbag, which was filled with her heavy chemistry and calculus texts, as well as four other texts and two small binders for school. She grabbed her gym bag from her locker and the yellow rose laying on the top shelf. She looked at it momentarily and tossed it back into her locker. She gently put Alatusmon into her gym bag, allowing the little digimon to be able to look out and listen. "I don't trust the Watcher." She held her silver digivice in her hand and tossed it a couple of times.

"Careful with that!" Alatusmon exclaimed.

"Stop some queen. Fight enemies from other worlds. Save our world and the universe," she rambles as she slammed her locker shut and walked out into the courtyard area. "A whole bunch of bullcrap if I've ever heard it."

"Hey!" the little digimon interrupted.

Shireika's hand slammed down on the bag, stuffing Alatusmon further into the bag to keep him from talking.

"I don't know what happened in the past, but I don't believe this. True, we have digivices and digimon partners now, but if the Watcher were really on our side, then wouldn't we have met him instead? All of these things appeared by magic. I don't trust that."

"Hey, Shireika-sempai!" a group of girls called as she, Tegiwa and Kaze passed them.

"Oh, hi," Shireika replied with a brief wave.

"Good luck today! We'll be there!"

"Cool." She gave a thumbs up to the girls and continued walking out towards the fields. "Anyway, if some dark queen is coming, then he can stop her himself." She sat down by a tree and pulled out her lunch from her gym bag.

***

"Hai!" replied Miyu, Sakura, Kitsune, and Michan in unison.

"You got Hiroshi this time?" Kitsune cooed as the four left the study hall classroom.

Miyu squealed in delight at the thought.

"He's so romantic and sweet!" the youngest of the Society Girls whispered. "But, you got Yukio, Sakura!"

"I know! He's so hot," Sakura replied as the girls finally left the room.

"Break in the new guy, hm?" Ami asked with a grin as she slid off the table. "Well, at least I'll get one guy to myself. I bet Shouki doesn't realize he could get more than one if he wanted - not like the thought would occur to him on his first time with us. Let's just hope Hanshin asks only one of Kitsune and Michan to join you two tonight." She walked by Naoko, giving the younger classmate a harsh slap on the rear. She looked back at Naoko briefly and winked. "After all, we all know he always tries to get two girls, even three if he can. Good luck getting Hanshin alone."

As she left the classroom, she readjusted her skirt to show off more of her long legs. She strolled outside past a group of boys from the tennis team. With her skit so short and the way she walked, the eyes of all the boys in the group followed her every step.

"Hey there," she said as she approached the eight sitting at a table together. She sat on the end of the table, right in front of a hunky blonde from her class. "What's up, Tadashi?" She leaned over towards him, stroking the side of his face with a hand.

"Oh, not much," he stuttered back. He tried hard to focus on her face, but there were two major distractions right in front of him, which he couldn't ignore easily.

"Meet me in the science corridor in fifteen minutes?" she whispered into his ear. "I'll be there, I promise." She gave the edge of his tongue a lick and then slid off the table. "See you soon!"

As she walked away, she could hear the group of boys congratulate Tadashi. Not like Tadashi did a whole lot. It was all her own doing. She knew that all she had to do was ask for exactly whatever the boys wanted, and she would get exactly what she wanted. She grinned to herself as she walked through another entrance into the building. She could give the Wild Stallions boys attention later. She'd have her way with them later.

***

Hanshin pointed at the empty space at the table for Shuuichi.

"Yeah, go ahead. Don't mind us discussing our set for tonight," he said with a smile to the younger classmate. He watched Shouki's friend Kinoha approach the new bassist for the Wild Stallions and then hurry away. His green eyes followed her trail to a group of girls in the distance. "Cute girl," he commented to Shouki. "Anyway, good to hear you've been practicing. Tonight is going to be an amazing experience. Trust me."

"We are not going back and playing the old stuff," Yukio said to Enma. "We played the stuff for two years. The drum beat for 'Wasteland' sucks."

"You wrote it," Hiroshi replied.

"Because that was in the day when I was a horrible drummer."

"No, really?"

"Shut up."

***

"Oh, hey there!" Aishou said as she jogged over to Yuu. She quickly took a picture of her new classmate with her camera. "Sorry! I'm supposed to take candid pictures for a project in photography, so I'm not really looking for a place to sit to eat." She paused for a moment. "Oh, where are my manners, anyway? You look new." She held out a hand towards Yuu and looked inquisitivtely at the new student. "I'm Nasake Aishou, and you're?"

***

Kaze yelped as he was dragged down by the weight of Shireika's heavy bag. 'What does Shireika-sama keep in this bag?! Bricks?!' Kaze then looked around, before quickly opening the bag, wondering how he might obtain a brick owned by Shireika.

'Oh...no bricks...' a look of disgust ran over his face as he continued to drag the bag along, walking a few feet behind Tegiwa and Shireia. 'just school books... yech...'

"Seriously, that watcher guy seems awfully shifty..." he said, for once speaking his mind, insted of mimicing Shireika. "I mean, just his name puts me off... The Watcher? What's he do, stand in all of our windows observing us? Something is wrong with that guy..." he muttered.

"And I still don't understand how he got in our house..." Kaze made a mental note of checking all the windows. "Do you think dad would bring home some stuff from the... army... thing... he does?" Kaze smiled wickedly. "you know, like some barriers for the windows or something... a nuke or twooo... nothing serious."

Taking a break from dragging Shireika's bag across the ground, Kaze brushed some of his white hair out of his face. He fidgeted with his middle finger for a second, as if he thought something were there, before picking up the bag and walking along.

"So, what are we going to do about all this?" Kaze asked, beginning to break a sweat, "I mean about this watcher dude? How do we look into these digimon?"

He thought for a moment, looking at Tegiwa. "You know what? I guess all of mom's stories are true..." he thught for another second. "And Dad numero uno always talked about a Flurri something with mom... and she talked about that... turtle thing right back..." As he put two and two together he whiped out his cell phone. "Faja is getting a phone call!"

***

Fukushin smiled happily as his fans walked up to the table his agent had set up in the biggest bookstore in Tokyo. The store was packed with people whowant his autograph, and he didin't even notice when one excited fan knocked into the table, sending his cell phone into the trash can, conviently hitting it in such a way it turned off. However, he just smiled, signing another book, oblivious to the fact that his cell phone was now MIA.

***

Kaze snapped the cell phone shut, and grabbed the bag with both hands now. "He's not answering his phone..." he grumbled, making another mental note. 'Yell at faja...'

***

As Tomeo came down from the roof to the top floor, he thought he heard a conversation going on between two people. He stepped backwards quickly and pressed his back against the wall, almost afraid that he had been caught. He froze, listening to the inaudiable conversation that was coming from around the corner, and didn't move until he could hear footsteps walking away. He kept his breath shallow and peered around the corner to double-check they were gone, then let out a deep sigh. 'I can't keep doing this,' he thought to himself. 'I'm a good student, I don't want to get caught sneaking around in places I shouldn't be. A teacher might think I'm smoking or something, and I'd never take up a filthy habit like that. I'm going to get found out if I don't find a place to return Parumon to...'

He walked down the hallway and back to the main corridor where most of the student traffic filed through, and realised it was geting near the end of the school day. Knowing his friends would probably be waiting in the cafeteria at a table for him, he moved towards the lunch area.

***

Parumon wasn't going to give up; on her search for a escape from the roof of the building, she had found the entrance to the ventilation system of the school. Her thin snake-like body made it perfect to get around the small tunnels and thin slits in the ventillation exhausts, and she was now on the pursuit to look for the digidestined she had been assigned to.

Of course, this was more than she had bargained for.

'All these humans look the same!' she thought to herself, stopping to peer through various ventilation vents that lead to classrooms, bathrooms and hallways. 'Apart from the obvious difference between male and female, looking for this boy is going to be like looking for a MarineAngemon in a herd of Whamon...'

She dropped down a vertical shaft to another floor above a bunch of lockers and ran past a vent, making a large clanging sound that made several students look up. She shrunk back and hid herself in the shadow of the air-vents for a moment, until the distraction had become a distant memory to the students who had moved on. 'Note to self; stop running and making loud noises to attract unwanted attention, you idiot...' she thought silently, and pressed on, peering out every vent she came across. 'He had green eyes... he can't be that hard to find...'

***

Tomeo came out to the lunch area and looked around for his usual table where most of his friends sat; it was a good table not of a certain group of people with a shared interest, but rather more varied table with people of all various interests and a nice mix of girls and boys he had known from his earlier school days. However, on this particular day, none of his friends were in sight. 'Probably not out of class yet - looks like I have to set up where we're sitting.' he thought, and sat down at a small table, dumping his backpack on the ground next to his seat

Getting comfortable, he looked around as he waited for his friends. He noticed several other groups that were in the area, mostly in particular the large group around the band members in the school. Tomeo was one who tried to not form judgements on people he didn't know; but a guy couldn't feel bit a little bit envious at all the attention being drawn towards them, especially from the larger group of girls with them. The group seemed a little larger for some reason today, but as soon as Tomeo caught himself thinking about how he had been observing them, he realised he was probably paying too much attention to them and that wasn't like him at all. That's probably what the girls in the group probably wanted, and he should have been looking out for his friends.

Keeping this in mind, he didn't even give a second look as one of the girls in the group passed his table, who was obviously trying to gain attention for herself by the height of the skirt she was wearing. He looked away and tried not to think about such things, at the very least he had his dignity and his modesty, and he wasn't about to throw that all away just to look at the legs of a girl he didn't even know.

With boredom setting in, he quickly pulled up his backpack and opened it. He filtered through it, trying to find his personal digital device he kept his school timetable on, in case he had forgotten what room in the complex he had to get to. He remembered he had most of his lessons over and that he had after-school sprinting practice before he went home, but he couldn't remember if he had a lesson in between. In the meantime he felt around for the small device, looking under and in his running shoes, his school sport uniform, a few textbooks and notepads...

Then his heart suddenly skipped a beat when he found something that he hadn't seen the likes of before. It was a device, but he couldn't tell what the function of it was. And it definately wasn't his, as far as he could tell. How did it get in there? He looked over it for a name, a label or something inscripted. The device was a strange aqua blue and sandy-yellow color; the screen seemed to resonate with a almost-hypnotic pulse. He pressed the buttons on it to see if details or a name came up, but the device didn't seem to respond. Then he remembered something that the creature Parumon had said, and dropped the device instantly back into his bag, zipping it up quickly and looking around to make sure no-one else had seen his discovery. He pushed back his chair, recalling what the reptilian digimon had told him on the roof.

"And a digivice is a little digital device with a screen. Ifyou had one, it would make me transform into something bigger…”

“Wait, I can prove to you I'm telling the truth! Just let me help you find the digivice I told you about! That proves that you're apart of what I'm talking about!”

This was bad. The device did mean that Parumon was right. And if she was right... he didn't want to think about it. He didn't know what this was supposed to mean, and instead of being curious about it he was downright fearful. He didn’t understand how this was possible, a device that was supposed to make a creature grow - a creature that was supposed to 'protect' him - from what? He didn't like the sound of it. Perhaps the creature was lying, trying to use him for some means other than the ones she claimed. The fact that she even existed and was talking to him was enough to put him off. He had to get rid of the device, hide it or bury it until he could figure out what to do.

He got out from his seat at the table and gathered his backpack, deciding he would contact his friends to apologise for not meeting them later. This seemed more important right now, getting control of his life back. Should he got talk to Parumon about it, could he even trust her? He wasn't sure, the only thing he was certain of was that he had someone else's device he couldn't even imagine how it got in his backpack, and a strange alien creature that was on the roof. That was definately enough to freak him out.

On his way out of the courtyard, he looked up and spotted a red-haired girl he recognised from his math class. She seemed to be sitting alone, caught up in her maths homework. He didn't quite know what her name was, but he remembered her face well. In the moment he was recognising her, he realised that she might look up in his direction as he was walking past, and he didn't want her to read his expression that he was stressed out, definately not over a bizarre circumstance he couldn't possibly explain to her. So as he approached past her table, he forced a straight smile to his face and made a small wave with his hand. "Hey." he simply said in greeting to her, hoping he would be able to move on past her to deal with his problem.

Or at least, so he thought. Before he could completely move past her table, his eyes happened to glance up at the school building he was about to enter, and he glimpsed for a moment what appeared to be a simular-looking silhouette of a certain digimon looking through an air-vent, her bright amber-like eyes scanning the area and finally catching a glimpse towards his direction. She flashed her small pearly-white sharp teeth at him, as if indicating she had found her prey.

"Oh, no... this can't be happening..." Tomeo said quietly and painfully in dismay, loud enough for Asayake to overhear him, as his green eyes lowered towards the ground. How had Parumon gotten out? That didn't seem to matter now, she was on the loose and sooner or later someone was going to find her. What the heck was he supposed to do now? How could he even begin to talk to someone about this? He had no clue what so ever what he should do next.

He looked up to find Parumon again, but she was gone from sight.

Simply put, he knew he was in for big trouble ahead...

***

Enma shrugged, nodding in understanding to Yukio. "It was just a thought." She said, repositioning her chopsticks in her left hand. She picked up another piece of fruit, looking it over critically, before continuing. "My grandmother was a singer, and she used to tell me that she hated the songs she wrote when she was twenty, but her fans still loved some of the hits even when she was forty, so she did those first, to keep the fans assured that she still was the same person she was when she was twenty, she just had matured." She turned to Shuuichi. He was in her class, but she had never spoken to him before. She hadn't spoken to a lot of kids in her grade, mostly because most of them found it weird to be friends with the daughter of the school's grief concelor. "What's up?" she said to him casually, nodding and clapping the chopsticks in recgonition.

***

Asayake blinked, simply admiring her luck for a short while. Then she smiled, as sociably as she could. "Ah, Toyogawa-san! I was just looking for you. My name is Shinzuino Asayake; I'm in your math class. I was wondering if..." Her smile faded slightly when she heard him mutter something, however, and followed his gaze. "Eh? Toyogawa-san, what's up?" Meaning to stand, Asayake pushed up from the lunch table she had situated herself at, squashing her bag... and Rogishimon. Said bird digimon gave an indignant squawk, and Asayake went pale -- well, more pale than usual. Then, her mind began to plead with the will of the universe.

'Please, don't let her say a word... Keep her quiet...'

"'Sayake, ow!" Whined a muffled, squeaky voice, obviously in pain.

"Neeh..." In that insant, Asayake felt like smacking her head off of her lunch table. So she did.

***

Tegiwa fell into step easily behind Shireka while holding his tongue as she ranted. He listened to her complaints and felt a little worried. Her points where true at some extend, but her attitude was wrong. He needed to nudge his friend and his brother into the light. This was serious stuff.

At least Kaze seemed worked up about the Watcher. Shireka had her head in the sand. She was doing that all too much of late. He was her friend and possibly replacement brother since Hanshin wasn't her favorite person. That didn't give him the right to preach to her though. He just needed to calm her down and get her to face facts, or lack thereof.

Kaze was making him smile, so he picked up on the silly tone: "Kaze, Dad's in the naval forces, the marine units now. And, the nukes, bro, are in the cabinet in the basement next to mom's particle accelerator. You have to pay more attention at those boring family meetings." His slow speech became a low sing song as he kidded his brother.

At the tree he sat beside Shireka contemplating her. She was stubborn, but he respected her courage and strength. She was many things her brother wasn't, but they were both selfish.

He inhaled and exhaled. Mellow...Mellow...Mellow

"Shireka, I don't know about the watcher, the queen, or the email. But, I know these," he held up the digivice "These don't come as party favors and our little friends can't be given out by random crackpots. They're here because the guardians are needed. That's us, and only us. Hey, I know its weird. Look, Mom can check out the email. Your family can tell you about the digivices. We don't need to trust the watcher, just ourselves."

"Kaze, cmon we can ask Mom and Fukushin at home. Don't bother him now. He's busy."

***

Naoko turned red at Ami's word and redder at the slap on the her rear. From some people she would consider the gesture as friendly or a turn-on; Ami ranked just below the horny old janitor on the /People she did not want slapping her butt/ list. She had barely been with Hanshin at all this month. Maybe she had been too soft hearted on giving up her spots the last couple of times. She hated that sex was the only time they got together alone. She needed to be near him as often as she could. She was a plant soaking up his sun. None of the other girls appreciate Hanshin. She could see what he could be, and how great he was. They just sponged off his popularity, or wanted his sex.

Naoko left the class room. She needed to find Hanshin. She sought after him at the Wyld Stallion table, and found him. She approached carefully. She just wanted to be near, not to interrupt.

Naoko noted the new people at the table. His favorites changed to often for her to keep up. They changed like the wind in spring.

***

"Look, if it's meant to be, I want to see a little more proof than this," Shireika explained as she held up the digivice. "While it could be fate that has made us digi-destined and protectors of the universe from some evil queen, I don't trust the Watcher. I don't like the feeling I'm getting from this." She paused and grabbed her bookbag from Kaze, seeing that he was dragging it along the ground. She rummaged through the book, finding her Palm-sized computer. She pushed a view buttons to bring up the email. "This queen isn't necessarily destroying all now, is she? No, didn't think so. There's a threat that she will, but there's no sense in when she will be coming to wreck havoc in our world and universe." She put the computer away and placed the bookbag on the ground. "Whatever is going on, I don't trust the Watcher. I don't like the feeling I get about him. There's something missing in his story, and I really don't like it." She opened up her bento box and pulled out her chopsticks. "I believe that we're digi-destined, but I don't believe the Watcher. Digivice don't pop out of nowhere, and digimon aren't handed out by crazy people, but something about the Watcher doesn't feel right. I'll deal with the queen when she arrives. Until then, the Watcher can deal with his own problems."

***

"Hanshin!" called a group of girls as they ran past Naoko towards the star of the Wild Stallions. It was Miyu, Michan, Kistune, and Sakura after they had gone and grabbed their lunches.

"We brought you something special for lunch!" Michan said as the four girls huddled around Hanshin, their hands grabbing onto Hanshin's arms to help him up.

"Come eat with us?" Sakura begged.

"We got a table just for us!" Miyu added.

The four girls chatted at a furious rate, encouraging Hanshin to go eat with them.

"Yes, yes," Hanshin finally said to interrupt them after he had finally stood up and stepped away from the table. He had magically grabbed his bag in the process, despite how tightly the four girls clung to him. "I'm coming." He looked back at Yukio, Hiroshi and Shouki and shrugged, as if it wasn't his fault that he was the popular one of the band, as if he didn't mean to be the star.

"Always, Hanshin," Yukio grumbled to Shouki.

"They do this every Saturday when we have a concert or performance. They make him some special lunch and drag him off to feed him personally," Hiroshi added.

"Then, there's Ami."

"And Naoko."

"Ever actually talked to them, Shouki?" Yukio asked.

***

Ami grinned as she looked down at the courtyard through a window from the science wing on the second floor. She could see the four other girls in the Hanshin's special fanclub drag him off before Naoko could even get the chance. Just as it always happened lately.

"Hanshin had better like the lunch this time," she whispered as she turned away, upon hearing footsteps behind her.

"Hi," Tadashi stuttered seeing Naoko turn towards him. She had unbuttoned her blouse a little more and probably had touched up her make-up.

"Hey, sexy," Ami said as she started to walk towards him.

"Wh-wh-where are we going?" he asked. Sweat started to form on his forehead as she pressed her body up against his. Without a word, she ran her hands down his back down to his rear and gave it a squeeze.

"This way." She grabbed Tadashi's maroon tie and led him into the girls' bathroom. Quickly, she pushed him against the door and reaching next to him, locked it. She knew that the girls' bathroom in the science wing was the only one that locked, a prime place to do what she needed to do. "Now, where were we?"

***

When Shireka got stubborn, she'd hold out 'til the Apocalypse unless carefully persuaded; Tegiwa knew.

"Shireka..." Tegiwa began, "I trust your instincts. Until we know something concrete we shouldn't trust him or even his story. We just know there's danger. It could... be the Watcher. It could be this queen. We don't know. Now, we wait and learn. It's a good time to talk to our families. It's a time to ask them questions about what they went thorough. I don't know how many of us digidestined there are, but there are usually bunches. I bet most of them have never heard of a digimon. So, let's help out any that we find. Learn who the team is.

"We gotta respect the danger that we don't know. Forget the Watcher for now. If one of the families knows about him, fine, we can decide then. We have our feelings to go on now."

Tegiwa took out his lunch, a large yogurt smoothie and took a slow drink.

***

Naoko saw the girls lead Hanshin away as she moved close to the table. Her jaw set, and the tension in her face muscles was visible beneath her alabaster skin. She closed her eyes and lower her head; she squeezed her brow while her head shook back and forth in a tremor of denial. /That DID NOT just happen. It couldn't. The girls know better. Well, I can guess who put them up to it. Her initials are Ami./

"I'll just make the best of things." She spoke to the air. "Who is that guy? I've seen him, but not with the group."

She walked over to the guy (Shuuichi) after checking that her long black hair was in its cascading ponytail and her makeup was in order and her skirt and blouse were indecent.

She smiled a warm smile at the guy. "If you need a place to sit, please sit with me. I'm Naoko, Hanshin's business director." She gestured to the spare open seat with the band. "If that's too cramped, I know a better spot but it's further away. A little walk is the price for privacy."

***

Kaze sat down, staring up at the sky. "Weeeellll... I guess we could ask Mom and Faja.... Dad didn't have one of these did he?" Kaze flashed his gray digivice, nodding his head. "Yup, I remember, he didn't."

Kaze smiled widely, remembering the story of his birth. "You know, I was concieved during our mom and my dad's last adventure." he continued to smile looking down for the first time. "Something about hwo their enemy removed their dark sides, and basically my dad's dark side and my mom's dark side got it on, and I'm the product of the two dark side's infatuation with each other."

Kaze looked at his digivice. "Remember Genai, ani?" he looked over at his brother. "Maybe this Watcher guy is Genai's dark side." he flashed a smile at his older brother, showing that he paid more attention to their mother's stories than he thought.

"Buuuut, I agree with you Shireika-san, either way, this watcher guy sounds like bad news..." he looked down at his hand, again fidgeting with his middle finger. "I wonder who else has one of these...?" he muttered, his mind wandering.

***

Enma watched Hanshin get up, before looking at the other band members. "I'll leave you guys to talk about your set." She said, waving as she packed her things. She waved lightly as she got up and started away. As she did, Mitikomomon popped out of her bag.

"Why are you leaving them?" He asked.

"Because I can." She said, shrugging. When she caught the digimon's glare, she groaned. "I just don't want to sit with them anymore, I get bored easily." she said.

"Oh. So do I! I wanna meet more humans~!"

"You're not meeting any humans."

"Not even the one I saw the picture of in you're room?"

"Especially not him." Enma growled. Mitikomomon pouted, and Enma pet him on the head - body - lightly. She wasn't exactly watching where she was going, and smacked right into someone. "Oh! I'm really sorry!" Her bag went flying, and Mitikomomon let out a small 'yeep' of annoyance. Enma opened her eyes, before closing them again. "Sorry, Tomeo-kun!" She said, before grabbing her bag and everything that had fallen out. She peeked in, and let out a sigh of relief when she saw a very bruised Mitikomomon cowering in a corner.

"Enma, your digivice is under the table/" The digimon whispered, not bothering to open his eyes.

"My what..?" She looked under the table, before looking up at Asayake, blushing slightly. "Um...Shinzuino-san? Something of mine fell under your heel, and I can't reach it." She muttered, fixing her skirt.

***

Yuu was a bit surprised when the girl took a picture of her. "Ah, that's fine" she said, although she felt a little embarrassed about thinking she'd needed a seat. Still, she smiled and set her digivice down on the table in order to shake her classmate's outstretched hand.

"I'm Shimakoto Yuu" she answered warmly. "You're right, I just started here today. It's nice to meet you, Nasake-san"

***

Before Shuuichi could even talk to Enma, she was gone. He too got up. She was probably the only person at that table other than Hanshin he was going to talk to. "Sorry for such the quick leave but I just remembered something I got to get ready for the next class," he said as he jumped up.

He decided to try and find Enma again. Finally finding her, he ran towards her but then saw that she had just tripped. "Are you alright, Miss Enma?" he said trying to put some of his popular charm into it, smiling and showing a quick sparkle. "Did you drop something?" he asked seeing the shine under the table. "I'll get it for you," he said as he took a peek into his backpack.

He looked in deep to see a sleeping Squijimon. He tapped it on the head twice and annoyed it woke up crying out, "What did you do that for!!!"

"Shhhh!" Shuuichi said as he placed his finger to his mouth. "I am trying to be a charmer and I need you to do something."

"I am not your servant, so do it yourself," she replied turning over in the backpack.

"I will do something for you in return," he said quietly and not to pleased.

"Well in that case, fine," Squijimon said as Shuuichi placed the backpack towards the ground. Quickly Squijimon grabbed the digivice and then back into the back spitting the digivice into Shuuichi's hand.

He stood up not noticing it was a digivice and held it out to Enma. "Wait a second," he said looking at it. "You have one of these?" he whispered out a cry. He took his own from his back pocket and looked at the two. They looked somewhat identical except for color. He looked at her showing that he had one too.

***

Shireika glared at Tegiwa briefly after his little response and then turned her attention towards her backpack. She rummaged through and pulled out her chemistry textbook, resting it in her lap. She flipped through the pages quickly with one hand while holding her lunch in the other. Her chopsticks had been pushed into a rice ball to hold them momentarily. After finding the right page she was looking for, she began to nibble on her lunch, until she heard Kaze speak about his parents.

She coughed at the thought. She knew Tegiwa's mother a little, enough to know that she wasn't particularly the most...how to put it? She wasn't at all like her brother's disgusting groupies who came over constantly, especially after concerts for long periods of time.

"Too much information," she mumbled as she regained her composure.

She returned to reading her chemistry text, ignoring Kaze's question entirely. She realized the underclassman was still sitting there, watching her every move, again. She looked up in mid-bite.

"Don't you have practice soon?" she inquired pointing towards the fields with her chopsticks. "Wouldn't want to miss Tsuyoikou-Sensei's drills, right? Unless he gave you the day off because of the game." She hoped that the boys still had practice - she could escape from her clingy stalker for a few hours before the game and have time to relax a little.

***

Yukio leaned across the table.

"Ami's off somewhere doing her thing, but Naoko's here. Probably for Hanshin, but now that he's gone, you can meet her," he whispered. He turned towards Naoko with a grin on his face. He reached towards her, touching the inner portion of the leg closer to him. "Hey, babe. Got someone for you to meet." Gently, he pulled her towards the remainder of the Wild Stallions and hoped that she might take a seat on his lap as a result of the gesture. "Naoko, meet Shouki, our new bassist." He pointed towards Shouki. "Shouki, this is Naoko, our sort of manager, if you want to call her that. She makes sure all arrangements for our concerts are taken care of so we can focus on our music." She looked up at her. "She's very important to us." He gave her a squeeze on the rear to signal that she should introduce herself personally to Shouki.

***

"Mmm, delicious," Hanshin murmured as he ate the food the four girls were feeding him. Suddenly, he could hear some beeping from inside his backpack, which meant he had received an urgent email. "Excuse me." He immediately began rummaging through his bag for the little computer he carried with him everywhere.

Miyu, Michan, Sakura and Kitsune all immediately burst into soft giggles as they watched him check his email.

Hanshin found the little device for his computer in a little pocket in his backpack and immediately turned it on. Various holographic screens popped up in the air above the device as he looked through the email list. He found the one that had been labeled has urgent and touched the holographic screen to select it.

A window appeared on the holographic screen, displaying the email.

[To the digi-destined,

A dark queen will rise from her grave with the intention to destroy all that you know. The only way to stop her is to unlock the greatest of all powers. Find the key, and I will show you how to break the door's seal so you can stop this queen in her tracks. A child of fate has the information you must seek to find this key.

The Watcher.]

"Another email from the Watcher?" he thought for a moment. "I wonder who else is getting this email? There are other digi-destined, it seems." He scrolled up in the message, finding that he now had the email addresses of all the other digi-destined. He searched through the list briefly so see who he might already know on the list. He found his sister's email address right after his, which he somehow expected, considering their parents had been digi-destined. Then Naoko's address further down, and even Shouki's! There were others, none of which he could recognized immediately. "Well, we should probably meet." He clicked the reply-all button and dictated a message for them:

[Hey there digi-destined,

I know some of you already, but not all of you, at least by email address. I'm Ishida Hanshin - some of you know me as the lead singer for the band the Wild Stallions. We're a small rock group in Tokyo.

Anyway, I got your email addresses through the last email from the Watcher, which I'm sure you've heard from before. So, I'm guessing that a past child of fate would have the information we're looking for. I believe that my mother's cousin Yasuragi Matsuro was once the child of fate. I suggest that we check in with him.

I think that whatever the Watcher is talking about is something we should take care of immediately. It could be urgent, so let's get information on it now so we're prepared just in case. Does tomorrow work at 1 PM? I'll check in with him about a location and get back to you later.

Peace,

Hanshin]

***

Hanarei was wandering around the halls after Asayake had vanished. She figured the other girl might not have heard her the first time and Hanarei was still curious about why Asayake was having a conversation with a backpack. She finally found the red-haired girl but she had company this time around. She recognized one of the boys from a class, the other boy maybe from just passing by, and the other girl had to be....

"Enma, right?" she said to the other girl as Hanarei approached the group. "Isn't your mom the grief counselor?" Hanarei only knew that because of her dad. "I'm Mayonaka Hanarei." She hoped by saying her last name she could avoid directly saying she was the vice-principal's daughter.

She noticed that one of the boys (Shuuichi) was holding out two of those digivices in front of him and Enma. She figured one of them had to be Enma's since Himotomon never said anything about someone having two devices. Well, if Asayake was indeed one of these 'digi-destined' people, maybe seeing the three of them holding out their digivices would cause her to reveal it. The other boy was a mystery though. "You guys have these things too?" She reached for her own digivice and held it in front of her.

***

"I've only said hi to you and Ami I think," said Shouki as Naoko joined the table. "Other than that I would have to say no." He looked over the charm he received from Kinoha before putting it into his bag (without revealing Kirimon). "Speaking of introductions," he said, "that was Kinoha, the girl who gave me this." She works a shrine that I visit a lot." He had never explained to the band why he always wore prayer beads or why he often visited shrines. He thought that was something meant for people he was really close to. Still, the thought of it showed on his face and made him look slightly depressed.

Suddenly, Shouki school bag shifted enough to tap him but not enough for the others to notice. Something was beeping and was being pushed out of the bag after Kirimon grabbed it with his mouth and edged his way toward the opening. Shouki took his mini-computer out of Kirimon's mouth before the lump in the bag shifted to the bottom again. He had mail. It also showed that it was urgent which made Shouki nervous. The only reason why he opened it and didn't consider it an email virus was because it was an email from the Watcher.

"Could you please excuse me for a moment?" he said before turning away from them. He quickly read over the email. If the watcher was trying to be helpful, they weren't doing too good of a job. Shouki still didn't know what to do. He noticed there was another email but this was from Hanshin. 'Wait, does this mean Hanshin is a digi-destined too?' Shouki thought to himself. He finished reading the rest of the email before closing it. He would talk to Hanshin instead of emailing his response.

***

Tomeo looked back towards Asayake in a half-moment, giving him only a few seconds to think of a reply back to her to explain how he had just reacted.

"I, um, I - it's nothing. I... just remembered that I forgot to bring my water bottle this morning. I have track practice later today." he said to her. He did actually forget his water bottle eariler that morning, so he was, in terms, speaking a half-truth. "Please, call me Tomeo. It's nice to meet you, Shinzuino-san..." he said in half-concentration, his eyes now catching Parumon exiting the ventilation shaft at the bottom of the building, cautiously slinking her way towards him as she hid first behind a bench, then a garbage can.

"Um, maths class, you say? I remember you, yes." he started to say, thinking it was too late to go grab Parumon before she noticed and now was trying a very awful attempt at distracting her. "You were saying - ?"

In the brief silence that followed, he heard the noise coming from Asayake's bag, making his eyes dart back and forth between it and it's carrier. "Um, did you say something, Shinzuino-san?" he asked her, deciding to keep to a last-name basis until asked. During this period of time, Parumon darted from behind the garbage can and under the table, smiling in smug satisfaction at her escape effort. She moved towards Tomeo's bag he had deposited on the ground near the table.

Suddenly their conversation was interupted by Enma's clumsy entrance, almost making Tomeo move to help her with a bag, but was too late as she picked it up quickly herself. "Um, it's okay..." he nodded to the new girl he hadn't met before, not being able to remember her name, either. She was in one of her classes... what was her name? He mentally scolded himself, and remembered he should have been trying to conceal Parumon as much as possible. Without turning his head as he looked towards the girls, he glanced occasionally down underneath the table.

Parumon yelped suddenly as a digivice came clattering past her, stopping just under Asayake's foot. 'Hey, it's a digivice!' she grinned to herself, resisting the urge to cry out loud in case she got caught. 'But I don't think it's Tomeo's... it must be another digidestined!' She was about to grab the digivice in her mouth and bring it out to the girl she had seen dropping her bag, but darted back underneath the shadows of the table when she heard someone coming.

Tomeo didn't see the device that the new girl had dropped under the table, but he didn't have to wait long to find out what it was. He could only stand back and watched as yet another boy, whom he also didn't have a vague rememberance of except that he was in another one of his classes, approached the recently formed group and upon placing his backpack on the ground, started speaking into it. 'Okay, this is certainly a very bizarre day...' was the first thing that popped into his mind, but went deadly silent as suddenly yet another creature - that he knew couldn't have been a variant of one of Earth's species - crawled out of the backpack, went under the table, and brought back not just a device, but _the_ device. The same one Tomeo had found in his backpack.

At this point, Tomeo first considered in his head that his first reaction would be stepping backwards, excuse himself from Asayake and the others, and proceed straight to the boy's bathroom to lock himself in a stall and curl up in a fetal position. This was just way too much for him. He couldn't comprehend what was going on, and everything was going too fast for his mind to catch up. Noticing Parumon had now retreated herself into his backpack to conceal herself from the new stranger people surrounding the table, he reached towards his backpack to pick it up so he could leave, but immediately a beeping came from his miniturised computer. It was the personalised tone set to it when a new e-mail arrived. It was compulsory for him to have on in his classes, so that the teacher could distribute assignments to them and the students could keep up to date with what work was due in. He looked up, realising that the beeping was also coming from computers the others had who were with him.

But he didn't want to know about what a teacher could have been sending him; his curiousity had been piqued now, and as another girl came up to reveal yet another simular looking-device over the table, he knew the only sensible and mature corse of action was to find out the truth.

He sat down next to Asayake, and reached down into his bag. Parumon was trying to pass him his mini-computer so he wouldn't have to hold his bag open long enough for the other humans to see her, so Tomeo was forced to take it as well as quickly fishing his well-hidden digivice Parumon hadn't found in a inner pocket. Without so much as a word, he placed his mini-computer, and then his aqua-blue and sand-yellow colored digivice, out in front of him on the table for everyone to see.

"Okay," he finally said. "I saw that - that *thing* come out of your bag." he tried to describe Squijimon, looking at Shuuichi." Can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?" He looked back and forth between everyone's faces, trying to pick out someone who could give him a straight answer.

***

Kaze looked a little hurt by Shireika wanting him to go away so badly, however he didn't let it show, getting up with small smile on his face. "I'll catch you two later,Ani, Shireika-san."

He began to walk away, when his minicomputer started going off in his pocket. He reached for it, and began reading his emails while walking towards the soccer fields. "Oy vey..." he shook his head. "this watcher guy... and then the enemy..."

He scanned all of the different emails that the watcher had sent the message to. Kaze stood still in his tracks. "The traitor..." he hisses, glaring at a particularly familiar email. Blooding boiling, he decided to send a message to Hanshin.

"Hanshin,

Way to try to become leader buddy! I definetly don't remember voting for ya, and trust me I never would. Anywho, how about you get off your high horse, and start offering your little meeting to peole who care. Plus, I have been things to do then go hang out with traitors and losers. Tata!

-doesn't really matter, cuz you'll never talk to me anyways!!!!!"

Kaze smiled wickedly, sending it to Hanshin, hoping he got the message. hwe then decided to send another message to Tegiwa and Shireika.

"Ani and Shireika-san,

Okkkkay, so I'm guessing you both got new messages from the Watcher, and Hanshin... I'm also guessing neither of you would ever show up to his little group thingy in a million years... Soooo.... does that mean that we organize a group thing for ourselves...??? I dunno, I'll leave the thinking thing to you guys. Well, I'm already at the soccer field, talk to you guys later!

-Kaze"

Shoving the computer in his pocket, Kaze began walking towards the locker room, ignoring the snickers from his straight team mates.

***

Enma coughed, trying desperately to conceal the blush that was creeping up from her neck to her cheeks. "I'm fine, Shuuichi-kun. I just should have been watching where I was..go...ing." She trailed off as she looked from her digivice to Shuuichi's. "Yeah, I found it in my brother's shop." she said.

"I told you he didn't make that!" Mitikomomon said triumpahntly. Enma rolled her eyes, taking her digivice from the boy, bowing her head in thanks.

Her head snapped to Hanarei, though, when she heard her name. And then mention of her mother. The blush that had almost dissappeared by then came back full force, and she nodded slowly, jumping away from Shuuichi. "Yes, my mother's Kodomojimita Megami." She said, rubbing the back of her neck lightly. Hanarei looked familiar, but she just couldn't place it...'Oh, right, VP's daughter.' She thought, smiling lightly at the new girl. She had been sent to the Vice Principle's office enough, she should have known that instantly.

She started to fiddle with her digivice, trying to hide her embarrassement, that mostly stemmed from Shuuichi. She didn't necessarily like him, but the only boy she had ever been friends with was more of a girl than she was. She pressed a button accidentally on her digivice, and something started beeping. "Ack!" She said, nearly dropping the object. Then she realized the sound wasn't coming from her hands, but her bag. "Oh...right...computer." She said, kneeling down and pulling out her mini computer. She looked up at Tomeo, after she read the email from the Watcher. "We're digi-destined; Chosen Children. I've heard of them, my mother was one, too, I think...Crest of Sincerity...wait, that sounds familiar." She shrugged it off, before sitting down on the bench across from Ayasake and Tomeo. She motioned Hanarei and Shuuichi over, too, seeing as they apparently were in the same mess as she and Tomeo were. She read Hanshin's note, humming to herself. "And...Ishida-kun wants us all to meet up tomorrow after school." She scanned the email addresses, but only one looked familiar. With a sigh, she started typing.

'Hanshin –

I'd love to find out what the hell this is about, I'll definately be there after school. Though don't expect me to be civil with people I can't stand.

-Enma K.'

She reread her email, before sending it, and turning back to the small group that had gathered.

"And if we're being candid here," she turned to Shuuichi. "What type of...thing?" She coughed again, worrying her lower lip. "I mean...Do you have a digimon, too?" She looked at the others around the table. "Well? How about the rest of you?" The girl sighed. "Fine, I'll go first with the introductions of digimon." She pulled the blue, furry ball out of her backpack, ignoring his complaints. "This, Tomeo-kun, Hanarei-chan, Asayake-san, Shuuichi-kun," she looked to each of them in turn, giving them a good view of her digimon, "is Mitikomomon."

***

"Oh, uh, nothing!" Asayake said, waving her hands in a dismissal of Rogishimon's whine, "I was just, um mumbling to myself! I do that sometimes. Asayake is fine, Tomeo." She looked around at the others gathered in her general area, and realised that they all looked familiar. "Ne... Are you all in grade 11 Math, 3rd period? I may have just seen you in the hallway or something, but I recognize all of you..."

She felt her backpack nudge against her elbow, and remembered why she'd gone off to find Tomeo in the first place. "Oh, Tomeo!" She pulled out her math notebook and textbook, which she flipped to the appropriate page, "...Or anyone else in math, for that matter. But, Tomeo, I'd wanted your help with our homeowork from yesterday. Do you have any idea how this compound interest stuff works? I'm at a total loss. Anything would help, really."

***

Tegiwa was stretched out leisurely beside Shireka in the tree's shade.

Tegiwa watched with relief as his little brother ran off. He didn't need Kaze agitating Shireka any more than she already was, and he certainly didn't need a family history lesson from Kaze in mixed company. He was glad his complexion was nearly as dark as Kaze's because he'd be glowing red now. Luckily, he could play it cool. "'pologies for the bro, Shireka. I wish I had normal brother sometimes, like, one who was just a cross-dresser....his story makes me a skosh less eager to be digi...."

His com-key on the back of his hand gave a signal that he had important mail. He told the thing to open up and a holographic screen formed in front of him. He scanned his inbox for new mail. Two urgent messages called for his attention. He read them quickly."

"Looks like you got what I just got from the addies. Watcher-spam and a party invite from your brother. He's getting all the digis together for a party tomorrow. Nice...he doesn't invite us to his music fests...ever.

"Wait, Kaze just sent one," Tegiwa had to smile, "He wants you to form your own group. I /know/ I'm not following personality-san. He's /no-/ leader. He's got the draw of the pied piper but the direction sense of a lemming."

Tegiwa put his hand behind his head nervously. "Er, no offense." He was never sure how Shireka would act when he said stuff like that. He had a hard time remembering she wasn't family.

***

Naoko melted into Yukio's lap at his touch. Her left had lightly covered his on her leg so he wouldn't remove it for a bit. His hands were nice and warm against her skin and the mischievous look in her eye dared him to raise his fingers as high as he wanted. She wondered if he would with all the new people around. She didn't mind since he was one of the group. She'd once stripped to her thong on a lunch table her freshman year.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "Oh, Yukio. I know who Shouki is...but, he's never met me." She leaned backward toward Shouki; her black bra and moderate cleavage visible under her barely buttoned top. "Hey, Shouki, welcome to the band. I'm Naoko. I'm the one who fixes things for the gigs so the band never has to worry." She pulled herself up and curled around to look at Shouki right side up. "Want to go for a little walk so I can get to know you?" She slid off Yukio's lap and took Shouki by the wrist, instead of waiting for a reply. "C'mon. I want to learn all about you, your preferences, and stuff..."

Her ring alarm went off buy she killed it quickly. Now, was not the time for emai, Urgent or not.

***

Shireika reached into her bag pulling out her computer again. The little device alerted that she had three new messages from the Watcher, her brother, and her stalker Kaze. She read through them quickly after she listened to Tegiwa.

"If Idiot Boy plans to hold a meeting and be the leader for this...he's bound to do something stupid," she said. "And he might turn all of them against me, even you and Kaze if we all don't show up." She shook her head as she read through Kaze's message. "We absolutely can't be letting Hanshin go off and trying to run the show. That could potentially be dangerous for us and the world." She looked over at Tegiwa with a serious look on her face. "There is no way in hell that I'm going to let Hanshin just lead the others. He probably believes the Watcher and would do anything for the guy. Knowing Idiot Boy, he would do anything for glory, popularity and attention, and that would include following the commands of the Watcher. We can't let the others fall into the same trap, and most likely, they will follow Hanshin because he's Hanshin."

She immediately began speaking a message for Kaze:

[Kaze,

We can form our own group, but we can't skip Hanshin's meeting, as much as we would rather not be there. Hanshin has a way with people, and he could steer them to blindly following the Watcher. We'll go to his meeting tomorrow and somehow figure out how to keep Hanshin from leading them to following the Watcher.

Shireika]

"So, I've got Idiot for a twin brother, and you've the creepiest stalker ever for a little brother," she mumbled. She shook her head and got up, grabbing her bookbag and gym bag. "Well, got to meet up with the girls to get ready for the game. I bet Kou - I mean, I bet Tsuyoikou-Sensei ended practice early to watch the game today." She rolled her eyes quickly and hurried off to the lockers to get changed and warmed up. "You better keep Kaze from making a fool of himself!"

***

Hanshin read through the emails he had received from some of the others. He first read Kaze's, which he viewed as simply obnoxious. He knew his twin sister wouldn't stoop to that level, so he figured that it must have been someone who really didn't like him. The only person who he could immediately associate with that category was his sister's estranged little stalker, whom she had complained about on occasion when some of her stuff was missing. He then found Enma's email. He nodded a little to himself. At least there was someone who would agree with him.

He wondered about his sister. Knowing her, she might not appreciate the Watcher like he did. He believed the Watcher. The Watcher was connected to the Fates, and with the recent arrivals of digivices and digimon, the Watcher had to be truthful. And besides, why not try to save the universe? It could only help him. As for Shireika, he hoped that the majority of the digi-destined would stick with him rather than her. No, they would.

***

Yukio grinned back at Naoko when she had sat down on his lap, and he was so tempted to get started right here and now. Her eyes seemed to be begging for it, and he wouldn't have minded. He could feel a tent started to pitch in his pants as she leaned back, showing off that beautiful bosom of hers, and sadly, his desires didn't exactly leave when Naoko dragged Shouki off somewhere.

"Lucky dude," he grumbled as he began looking around. "And where's a hot chick when you really need one?"

Hiroshi merely laughed in response.

"No, seriously. I really need one," Yukio continued. "Where are those other girls when you really need them?"

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