"Sho-rei, it's gone as in not here," said Nikko. "I know for a fact that I last placed it in here." Though he knew it wouldn't be there, Nikko looked in the drawer one more time. "I don't have a clue where it could be except...." Nikko paused as he thought of where the digivice was. Or to more accurate, who had it. "Sho-rei, can I put you on hold for a second?" he said. He put the phone down before he heard her answer and walked out of his office.

Hanarei could hear the door open and she realized she was still holding Himotomon in her arms. She looked up and saw her father was now staring at her. There was silence between them as they looked at each other. It wasn't until Hanarei spoke that the silence was broken.

'I guess I'll have to get the ball rolling,' she thought. "Dad, could you please explain to me what...." But Nikko cut her off.

"Sorry about that, I thought I heard your mother calling me. I'm still on the phone." He started to head back to the office. Hanarei was running behind him.

"Dad, I just want to ask you something."

"Hanarei, not now."

"But it's urgent." Nikko entered his office without saying another word. "You're hiding something from me, I know it. Just tell me what it is!" she shouted loud enough for Sho-rei to hear on the other line.

Nikko picked up the phone. "Sho-rei, my daughter is holding a digimon in her arms and I saw it with my own eyes. I have a feeling she took my digivice too," he groaned. Somehow, Nikko knew he just developed another gray hair or two after saying that.

***

"Sorry guys," said Kirimon, "but you'll most likely be fighting sooner or later. That's the reason why us digimon are here; to help you as your partners.

"See? How am I suppose to be harmonious if I have to fight?" said Shouki. "I really think it should have belonged to someone else." He wasn't angry but was a little curious how these crests were suppose to represent their holders. Apart of him was curious if the crest was suppose to go to Hikaru but went to him instead since she was dead.

"Don't look at me. I'm not in charge of the system or anything. That's just how it is. The last generation did it as well. And the stories we've heard of were amazing. Don't worry about it so much."

Shouki didn't say another word. Instead he kept himself occupied by tracing a finger along the table corner. "So can I ask what you're crest is then?" he asked Yuu.

***

"Aww, Rogishimon, you're no fun!" Parumon exclaimed, and swallowed down the last of her ice-cream, wiping the remainder of it off her jaw line with the back of her front leg. "C'mon, stop being such a wet blanket. We're in the human world, let's live it up a little! Besides, I want to see what Murimon thinks of all this Watcher stuff that everyone's talking about." She slinked quickly down off the seat and under the table, swishing her tail back and forth until she approached Aishou's bag. She sniffed the bag to confirm if he was in there or not, catching a scent. "Phew, at least this bag doesn't smell like a stinky human boy.... hey, Murimon! I know you're in there, come out! None of the humans can see us under the table." She stepped backwards to give him some room to come out, sitting her rear down in the corner between the wall and the booth seat so she could see them both. "So, what do you digi's think of this Watcher guy? Sounds like a total creep to me. I hear the Watcher was supposed to be the guy who delivered us all to our partners, but I can't remember anything that happened until a little while after I came into this world. I just knew I had to come to protect Tomeo because it's , like, programmed into me or something. You know? It's just like it there in my head, and I know it, but I can't remember how it got there. So either this Watcher guy mind-wiped me, or he's not the guy who got us here... right?"

Listening closely to Asayake, Tomeo felt he could sense a hint of... something. There was something in her words that he couldn't quite pinpoint, but knew there was some meaning behind them, especially about the last example she used about being raped. Why had she used that example? Was it because she was relating to Aishou's insecurities as a girl to convince her? He didn't even want to think about that such a thing could happen in the real world, but then he would just be denying reality. At first it made him think how some men could be such pigs to do a thing like that to a girl, and then it made him instantly wonder, if that was what Asayake was trying to determine his intentions were about their new friendship. This was followed by him feeling a slight sense of unease, not even realising he could have made the wrong impression on her if she hadn't brought it up. He kicked himself mentally, feeling like such an ass. How could he have made himself appear that way to her?

No, he would never do such a thing, he wasn't like that at all. He had a lot of respect for women and treated them just as equally as any male friend he had, if not a little better just to show how much of a gentleman he was. If there was anything remotely childish about him, it would be both his embarrassment and refusal to talk, let alone think, about sex. He just had been raised to believe that virginity was something sacred to be kept until after marriage, and that sex was the ultimate expression of love between two people. He was glad that he had got the message across to Asayake that he just wanted to be good friends, but... he couldn't help but worry if there was more to what she said when she couldn't put her faith into people anymore. He had made friends with her, maybe he was just over-caring and reading into things too much, but again there was still that something in her voice that he couldn't quite place yet. Something, he guessed, he could only hope to figure out in time.

"I can understand what you mean, Aishou, and I agree with you there. We do need to be ready if there's a dark queen, and she's coming." Tomeo reasoned, and stopped to slurp up the last of his own milkshake to get some of that comfort he needed back. The straw made a slurping sound as he ran out of liquid and began taking in air, and he stopped immediately. "Excuse me." he apologised, feeling a little embarrassed, and pushed the empty glass aside as he continued. "But, we also need to be prepared if the Watcher is the one who's coming, too. Asayake, you're also right; we simply don't have enough to go on with this Watcher. And it's a issue of trust, because whether we trust him, - " he paused, nodding at Asayake to agree with her that they should refer to the Watcher as a 'he' for now. He again wondered if her mistrust in the Watcher was related to the fact she decided to refer to him as a male; again he felt a little uncomfortable, but pushed those insercurites aside. 'No, everyone refers to an unknown person as a 'he' until further clarification.', he thought to himself. 'It's just common knowledge. Stop being such an idiot, Tomeo...'

"... or not, we're still divided on this until we learn more about him. We shouldn't be preparing ourselves by gaining power, we should be arming ourselves with knowledge instead. That's what I think we should be preparing ourselves for, instead of sitting and waiting around. And don't forget Aishou, power corrupts, whether the evil entity it used to belong to still exists or not. If you and Hanshin got this power and it ends up influencing you to use it past it's purpose, then how are you guys any different from the evil entity, the dark queen, or even the Watcher? He could be the one who ends up controling you to use these powers for evil. And who would be able to stop you? The power, I feel, should be left sealed away... no, forget that. It should be destroyed. Unless, maybe, it was sealed away in the first place because it can't be destroyed, which would ultimately, well, suck."

He tried to think, for a moment, what this 'power' could be, and instantly comic book referances again sprang to mind. Was it super-human strength? Magic spells? He remembered what Parumon had mentioned eariler about 'digivolving' and suddenly a little video clip of a giant cloaked person stomping around Toyko City, knocking down buildings. No, it couldn't be like a old monster-movie. It had to be more complex than that. His mind erased his thoughts, concentrating on the task at hand.

"You know, my mother is a police officer." he said matter-of-factly, throwing an idea that had popped into his head out onto the table. "She works, tracking down criminals and aprehending them all day. All we've got for a lead on this Watcher so far is an e-mail, so maybe I could ask my mother to get her computer intel to trace it for us and find out which computer it was sent from. He has to be nearby if he know's we're digidestined, so maybe we could get lucky and trace it down to a local address. Then, finally, maybe we can get some answers. We won't have to be at his mercy when he decides what information he sends or doesn't send us. It's the only I can see that we can get some solid information that everybody can agree a course of action on."

He folded his arms as he leant forwards on the table. "I'll go talk about it to my mother this afternoon. I think I'll probably have to make up an excuse why my mother should take on the Watcher's e-mail for a case, and from then on she could be all over it. But she could know about all this digimon craziness too, she could be one of those former digi-destined. It'd be a first to me, that's for sure." he smiled.

***

Enma turned away from her mother, and stood staring at the mantle instead. Her grandmother's living room was much like her own - covered from head to foot with pictures. Unlike their house, though, her grandmother actually had pictures of her. Of course, in the Kodomojimita household, there were pictures of baby-Enma, but rebel-youngest-daughter-failure Enma had no pictures on the mantle place.

Mimi had pictures of Enma with Kou from a trip to New York from when she was eight tucked next to the picture of Mimi holding a baby Megami, and a picture of young Megami holding baby Aiji. Enma scanned the other pictures, and saw a picture of her being held by Nishi.

"What are you doing here?" Megami asked finally. Enma turned back to her slowly, and caught sight of her mother. She was leaning the couch, blue eyes trained on her daughter almost admonishingly. She pushed herself up, and walked over to Enma. "Why aren't you at work?"

"I had to go meet some kids from school at the University, and the meeting went longer than antcipated, so I came here to visit Grandmother instead." It wasn't a total lie, so Enma didn't feel terrible about it. Though, she had never felt bad about lying to her mother.

Megami looked at the digimon in her daughter's hand. "And who is this?" she asked.

Mitikomomon let out a mousey meep when Enma held her tighter, and the girl's face became hard.

"It's a stuffed toy."

"Since when have you had a stuffed toy. Aren't you the one wh odecapitated your sister's barbie dolls?" Megami asked.

Enma's lips pursed. "What self-respecting eight-year-old still has barbie dolls? And...and..." She was trying to find some reason to get out of the hole she was slowly digging. "...Kaze gave this thing to me." She said, almost above a whisper. She ignored the snort from Mitikomomon.

"Oh, have you two made up, then?" Megami seemed a little upset by that, but ignored her own reaction.

Enma thought of something. "So, what are you doing here?" she asked.

***

The place she setup the work room was little more that a large storage closet just off the main basement hall set next to the utility room. The overhead lighting strip bathed the room in a dingy yellow light, and the light on Sho-rei's pale skin look like she had the worst case of jaundice ever as she stood in the shadows.

Her worktable itself was lit by adjustable spotlights that shone brightly on the apparatus and the digivice laying there. The laser cutter, the digivice in its cradle, was counting down to activation.

Sho-rei was standing against the opposite wall watching the numbers of her own display change against a black background; she had set her visor to its most opaque setting, and she was lying solely on data from the computer to control the experiment.

Her thumb held down the kill switch on control box in her hand. The cutter would cease if she released it at any time. The counter hit zero and Sho-rei heard the cutter's high pitched ticking noise begin, soon after a sizzling noise joined it. Sho-rei anxiously watched the data from the cutter roll by.

"Seems....Seems to be cutting it this time." Apparently, the digivices were incased in titanium for she was using a beam at 75% power. Nothing lower had scratched it.

The cutter indicated it was done. And, after hesitating in the silence for the briefest of moments she turn on her visor.

Everything looked the same. She removed the carrier with the device from its cradle and set it aside. Magnifying her view of the device reveal a cut as thin as a hair along the slide of the device going all the way around it.

She open the carrier and picked at the crack in the digivice's shell with a long, sharp probe...

"What the... Oh my God!" Sho-rei's scream of pain echoed through the basement.

***

Sho-rei listened to the commotion on Nikko's end while anxiety did backflips in her gut. "Nikko, sounds like it has started whatever /it/ is this time. Sounds like you need to have a nice long talk with your daughter about your past. I told mine long ago since being a digidestined can run in the family. See what you can learn from your daughter, Nikko, about what is going on. I'll question my kids to see if they are involved. We can prepared notes later.

"I'll email as many of the old group as I can find. Their kids are likely digidestined as well, plus they'll want to know anyway. I'm sure."

Even as she spoke she was preparing a notice to the former digi's and the digi's before them. She'd send to everyone she knew an address for.

***

Naoko cleaned herself up after Hanshin left and decided it was time to head home because homework wouldn't do itself. At least, her sister would be home to help her and might be willing to help since Naoko hadn't been home much of the week to get on her nerves.

***

Tegiwa stared at the notes hoping that concentration would render them interesting. "Well, that equation is useful for blood gas analysis...and this one...for mixing in a closed container. Well, for explaining why the gas mixes don't settle out rapidly anyway." He was trying to relate the principles to things he knew from work and elsewhere. His rescue unit used more than just ambulances.

He looked up to see Shireika staring unfocusedly into space. "Shireika? Is something wrong?" She never daydreamed. This was bad, she could be suffering from hypoglycemia or diabetes. "Shireka...are you ok?"

***

Murimon poked out of the bag a little to look at Parumon.

"All I know was that we were in the Digital World one day, and then we were suddenly here," Murimon replied coldly. "I don't recall ever meeting the Watcher before, and I don't think any of us had, but we have a job to do. That's why we're here, so that dark queen has got to be coming. So, we sort of have to listen to the Watcher."

Meanwhile, Aishou listened to Tomeo and Asayake. She didn't like how Tomeo was so suspicious of the Watcher, and it bugged her that he viewed those who wanted to listen to the Watcher as people who were blind to the truth. This whole situation was vague.

"But, we're not at the mercy of the Watcher's orders," she argued. "We're just using his information to do what we should be doing, and that is to make sure our world is protected from evil forces from outside of this world. I don't see how tracing the Watcher down is going to do anything. In the end, we're going to figure out whether this is all a hoax or not, but tracing him down isn't going to prove either opinion. Just because the Watcher has a local address or something doesn't mean he's an invalid resource." She paused. "We just have to trust him a little to have some information that we can use, and if he's right, then we're in luck. If he's not, I'm not exactly sure how badly in trouble we could get. If we're looking for key fragments that belong to former digi-destined, I doubt we can get into a whole lot of trouble."

***

"Huh?" Shireika mumbled when heard Tegiwa's voice. She looked down at him and blinked a couple of times. "Oh, nothing's wrong." She smiled and shook her head quickly. "Nothing. Just...just thinking." She brought the bowl of noodles with her as she walked around the counter back to the table they had been studying at. "How are you doing there?" She set the bowl down and sat down next to Tegiwa. "Let me guess. Not so great." She raised an eyebrow as she began eating again.

***

Shireika glanced up at the clock in her literature classroom, as she listened to her classmates babble about nothing. She hated her literature class because the teacher was so horrible. The woman couldn't lead a class discussion even if her life depended on it. She impatiently watched the minute click towards the twelve at the top.

"Okay, for Monday, I want you guys to have read the next essay," the teacher called as the students around Shireika began packing up. "Class dismissed."

"Finally," Shireika grumbled, but she didn't move along quickly. She wasn't sure which was worse: literature class or another meeting lead by the Idiot Boy, or Hanshin as she should probably call him. She looked over to Tegiwa. "Let's hope the meeting will be short, or I'll pound Idiot Boy myself." More than anything, she wanted it to be 4 PM, when she would have another soccer game. She grabbed her messenger bag from the bag of her chair and got up. "Let's go. We're supposed to meet out on the roof."

She wandered down the hallways to her locker where she grabbed her gym bag, which contained her soccer uniform, cleats and Alatusmon. She zipped open the bag a little to check on her digimon partner. She held up a finger to her mouth to signal that he should be quiet a little longer.

"So, what are the chances that he's changed his mind?" Shireika asked Tegiwa as she closed her locker shut and followed him to his locker.

***

Hanshin had bolted out of the study hall classroom. He had told Hiroshi and Yukio that he would see them later tonight before their first concert at the new club that Naoko had worked out for them.

"Hey Hanshin!" a group of girls cooed as he hurried down the hall towards them. They grabbed onto his clothes as he passed by them. "Hey, where are you going?"

"A meeting," he replied as he smiled at them.

"But, you'll be around later?" they asked.

"Yeah - something like that," he said as he freed himself of their grasp. He couldn't believe that Shireika demanded meeting during the lunch hour, but then again, she had a game and needed some time off between the meeting and the game. He couldn't argue with her. It was the best time to meet, since they all probably didn't have commitments then either.

He ran to his locker and grabbed his old soccer bag from it. He had to bring Koumamon to school if they were going to meet, and his old soccer bag from his middle school days was the only one that Koumamon could fit in.

***

Yuu thought his excuse for not being Harmony was rather flimsy, but didn't say anything.

"Ah, mine's Friendship" she answered. "It seems kind of funny to me, I mean, everyone has friends, don't they? It's not very hard" She fed her digimon another sans-tuna roll absentmindedly. "I kind of wonder why I was chosen for it."

***

"This isn't exactly a conversation that's easy to talk about," said Nikko. "I guess if I were to tell to her as a bed time story when she was little it would be a little easier. And you should know as well that there are some details I'd prefer not to mention to anyone else. If you need any updated contact info I have a directory of all the parents of students I could send to you. The only ones who were digidestined I mean.

"I suppose it is time to talk to Hanarei about all of this," Nikko sighed. "But please don't tell her anything else if she meets and asks you, okay? Good luck contacting people." Nikko hung up the phone and walked to the door. He quickly opened it and Hanarei fell down onto the floor. She had been trying to listen with her ear pressed against it. Himotomon rolled next to Nikko and tried to remain motionless. "It's okay now," he said. "I know that you can move and speak."

"Finally," said Himotomon as she stretched her body. "A digimon can get a cramp it they stay like that for long. And when your a blob, it affects your whole body. Putting that aside, nice to finally meet'cha."

Hanarei picked herself back up and adjusted her sunglasses which had gone off balanced from the fall. She was glaring at her father in silence. Finally Nikko sighed and sat back down in his chair. "Take a seat Hanarei. This is going to take awhile."

***

Hanarei leaned back in her chair with a pencil in her mouth as the class was coming to an end. Her mind was partially on the lesson but also on what her dad had told her about the digital world. She knew she got an edited version of what happened but it was better than nothing. The bell ended the class and she stretched out. "I hope the next meeting isn't another argue-fest," she said to herself. "I don't think I could stand another one of those."

She picked up her bag which contained Himotomon in it and placed it on her desk. Himotomon wasn't visible but was making slight movement in the bag after staying still for so long. "Quiet in there," Hanarei hissed. "Do you want to get noticed?"

***

Shouki packed up his belongings and set his bag on the desk. Kirimon poked an eye out to see what was going on. Shouki let him borrow his ear clip to listen to music while in class to keep him occupied. "Class is over," Shouki whispered.

"What?" said Kirimon. He turned to face Shouki with the ear that wasn't wearing the ear clip.

"Finished." Shouki reached in and turned off the music.

"Ahh, that was a good song," Kirimon moaned.

"You can listen to it later. We have to get going and not miss the meeting." Shouki picked up his bag and proceeded out the door. He placed the prayer beads between his fingers. "Please don't let them argue again and have them find an understanding," he mumbled.

***

Kinoha looked around the corner to see Shouki walking in the direction away from her and her friends. She brough him another charm from her family shrine and was holding it in her hands.

"Just hurry upand give it to him," said Kumiko, one of her friends. "It's not like you haven't done it before."

"Yeah... but...." Kinoha's face went red at the thought.

"Y'know," her other friend Mika added, "I saw him talking with another girl sometime shortly before last week's concert." She didn't have a clue what Shouki and the girl did but knew it would 'encourage' Kinoha to give her gift a lot sooner than, say, never. "I think her name is something like Nauki or something of the like."

"Ooooooooo, competition," said Kumiko who caught on to Mika's intention. "Better hurry before we spot him with a girlfriend that isn't you." Kinoha blushed even more and was shaking. "Honestly, you'd grow up to be a 90-year-old virgin if we weren't around."

***

Shuuichi looked to the ground seeing one of Squijimon's eyes. "A squid. I still can't belive you're a squid. I eat squids," he whispered as he grabbed the bag and placed the rest of the books in it. Placing it on his desk he looked over to Hanarei. "We have a meeting," he whispered just remembering.

"Hey Hanarei!" he shouted as he jogged over to her desk, giving her a kind, gentle, and very sparkling smile to her. "Why don't we go to the meeting together? I really don't know any of the others that well. And we've been in the same grade for how many years, and we've never talked before?" asking her. "Please. I know we have different views but I want to hear them. It's better than just hearing those twins bicker during the meeting. They're so loud, I can barely hear anyone else's opinions. And maybe, you can tell me something I don't know," he said.

"If I were you, I would take this opportunity, I doubt I will ever ask for help from someone. You should feel special that I chose you of all people," he said having to add in his own boasting.

"So what do you say, Hanarei?" he asked holding his hand out like he was some prince offering his hand to a princess.

***

Rogishimon knew she could hear people talking, and that's more than she could say she'd heard for quite a while. Asayake was out in the hallway, skipping her Anthropology class. The teacher was rather dull, and not in the boring sense, and didn't seem to notice if students slipped out of her class after attendance, so Asayake ended up doing just that quite often. They had been sitting out in the hallways for... Rogishimon didn't know exactly how long, but it felt REALLY long. But there were a lot fo voices in the hallways now, and she squinted out of a space in the seam of Asayake's backpack. There were quite a LOT of students now, and she heard one of them say 'Lunch'. Anxious, she tried to think of a way to get Asayake's attention, since the girl hadn't so much as moved since she left class and settled beside her locker, but stayed glued to the book she was reading. Finally Rogishimon found an old eraser, and threw it at the redhead beside her as hard as she could. It bounced off of her forehead, which caused her to jerk her head up and bang the back of her head off of her locker. "Wha --OW!" She hissed, clutching at the back of her head in pain. "Ow... Damn it."

"'Sayake," Rogishimon hissed from Asayake's bag, "Lunch started! ...Were you asleep?"

"...No," Asayake grunted, rubbing sleep out of her eyes, "My eyes were just closed."

"Oh. Well, lunch time means meeting! On the roof, remember?"

"Mmn. Right." She gathered her things, slipped them into her backpack around Rogishimon, and set off for the roof, dragging her feet slightly. She hadn't been able to sleep very well the night before, and apparently her little nap hadn't done her much good.

***

When she touched the case, the top half slipped off. She peering into the lower half and saw: nothing. Not that it was empty, however. But, than it seem to contain an infinite nothingness. She felt a tremendous vertigo as she gazed into that abyss. Her vision blurred.

A great drop of the abyss floated up from the case like a lava lamp from a nightmare. It's corpuscle shape filled out until a soccer ball sized orb hung above the table.

She could not take her eyes of this perfect pool of onyx. Light seemed to fall into it. Gazing at it was like looking down a long well. What was this thing? She had expected to find chips and circuits. This was unexected to say the least.

She felt dizzy. "Falling forward...Agony...Blackness"

She awoke in a hospital sans her right hand, and Ken in a chair beside her.

She was confused.

"You're awake!"

"I was hoping this was a dream. Is...is it still there. The orb?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"No idea. Seal the door. No one should go in there."

She felt very cold. Her world had sudden changed. Her assumptions had been wrong. She wanted answers. What was it they had been a part of?

***

Sho-rei lowered her head. "You tell her what she needs to know, if that's possible. She should be prepared for anything. I wish someone had warned me I could be ripped in half and not even know it. Look, I don't want to be the one to divulge your personal history; however, if they come to me and ask...I'll tell them what they need to know to survive. So, I won't make stupid promises."

***

Tegiwa almost smashed himself in the face with his locker door when Shireika dropped that question on him. He calmed himself before replying,

"Well...Stranger things have happened, but I'd say the odds are,like, somewhere between our lit teacher spontaneously combusting and Naoko becoming a Carmelite nun." He smiled nervously. "Really, there is no reason for him to change. The watcher is promising adventure and power. Hanshin likes taking radical risks, and even worse, he doesn't mind leading others into danger with him.

"He's clueless though. None of our parents became famous on their digital adventures or even because of them. In fact, most of them chose to hide that part of there lives. Few people remember the angel, and only a dozen remember your grandmother as the angel..."

Tegiwa felt Hanshin was a person who got in the way of himself. It was a rather sad thing. Tegiwa did hope he'd change, but he wasn't going to bet on today.

***

Naoko switched books out of her bag and grabbed her lunch. She checked her time and decided she should get up to the roof in case people got there early.

"Now we will see who's loyal to whom." She desperately hoped most of the people would go with Hanshin. He made the better argument. Shireika decided she just wanted to sit on the sidelines, and that suited Naoko just fine. Well, Shireika might not even have her skinny friend after Sunday. Naoko could tell Tegiwa was restless during the debate, and she new she could offer him more action that that mousy twit. He'd see sense after a couple of sessions with her.

But, tonight was worrying her. She promised Shouki she'd look after him, and she would. She'd just have to come up with something to do with him for a couple of hours. It wasn't a problem that came up often for her. Well, for Hanshin and the band should do it. And, she had promised. It's not like she loathed the guy either. She thought he was kind of sweet, if a bit sad.

***

Hanshin scurried down the hallway, trying to escape the numerous fangirls who were hoping to get a smile or a word from him, but he had more important things on his mind. The music could come later, and the digi-destined issues were more urgent. Besides, he knew the music for the band like the back of his, so he had nothing to worry about there. This had to be taken care of.

He worried that Shireika would continue her argument against him, but then again, he suspected she probably would keep it up. She was always trying to prove how wrong he was with everything. She always was pointing out how he did things wrong, and this was his chance to prove them all wrong, especially her. When the dark queen did in fact come and when they needed the key, he could point the finger at her and say that he was right.

***

Shireika sighed as she strolled down the hallway, assuming Tegiwa was following her.

"Most of them don't seem to have any intention to tell most people either," she said as she waved to a group of girls from her team. "See you guys on the fields soon!" she called as they headed for the stair access to the roof. "And only a few even know that there was any danger to begin with. It's all an unknown world." She shrugged as she saw her twin brother take a turn into the stairwell to the roof. "Well, I guess we'll just have to see what has happened."

She knew what she had to do. If Hanshin was foolish enough to go after the key, she'd be there to keep him from it. She concluded that if Hanshin were to get his hands on the key, it could potentially be dangerous, even if he believed that the key would be useful. She feared so much power in the hands of someone she really did not trust with something like that. The digi-destined split up the key for a reason, and she would keep it that way.

***

"I wish for the same thing," Aishou said as she heard Shouki's soft prayer. She blushed and covered her mouth. "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear. It's sad to see Hanshin and Shireika fight the way they do, but from what I'm feeling, it's going to take more than a prayer and a miracle to get them to stop. I'm Aishou." She held out a hand. "Shouki, right?"

***

Hanarei eyed Shuuichi then looked at the hand he was offering her with distaste. "I've already handed out two nicknames for people in this little club of ours," she said as she stood up, completely ignoring the hand that was offered to her. "Would you like one too? The word prince comes to mind. But buddy, you ain't a prince and don't ever expect me to feel honored."

"Hanarei, that's harsh," said Himotomon.

"Yeah, well, what'cha gonna do?" Hanarei pulled out her sunglasses which she kept in her bag and put them on. She thought of them as her trademark and put them on whenever school was done for the day. She then threw her bag over her shoulder and looked back at Shuuichi. "We can go together but don't expect me to act all cute with you." She signaled to the door. "Now come on. We're suppose to meet up on the roof."

She walked out the door and talked assuming that Shuuichi was following close by. "Though I warn you I don't have a lot of extra information. My dad just told me some editted stories of his adventures after the last meeting so I may not know or remember everything."

***

Shouki tightly grasped his prayer beads as he was surprised by Aishou's appearance. "Oh, no, it's all right if you overhear me. It doesn't bother me. And yeah, the name's Shouki," he said as he shook her hand with his. He was able to recognize her from the meeting.

Kirimon poked the end of his tail out of the bag and waved it. There was a muffled, "Hey there," from Shouki's bag.

"Yeah, I guess you could say so," he said in response to wishing, "but sometimes one has to hope for the unlikely to happen. That's what miracles are, aren't they?"

"Buddy, please don't get into philosophy anytime soon. Shouldn't we head toward the roof top now?"

"Yeah, sure." He turned to Aishou. "Do you want to go up to the roof together?"

Kirimon broke out laughing. "That's a phrase I would have expected Naoko to say!" Shouki's face went bright red. He stared at his bag both in surprise at Kirimon's comment and to not look Aishou in the face after having that pointed out.

***

"I told you Shouki would be popular once he joined that band," said Kumiko as she peered around a corner for Kinoha. "Look, there's another girl talking to him. I've got to say that's the most social I've seen him be in a week outside of our little circle." She looked back at her friends but noticed Kinoha was gone. "Where'd she go?"

Mika just noticed this as well. "I guess she went into hiding to blush and quiver again."

Kumiko sighed. "Mika, you watch where Shouki is going, I'll try to pry Kinoha from the girl's bathroom. Is it still the second stall on the left?"

"I think so. Good luck with that."

***

Enma stretched, placing her History book into her bag as she did so. She yawned lightly, and moved her neck, cracking it. "I don't want to go." She muttered, seemingly to herself. She was the only one left in the classroom, and even the teacher had long since disappeared. "You can come out now."

Mitikomomon popped out of the bag. "Why not?" She asked. Enma shrugged.

"Too many people, for one. For another, I'm not friends with any of them." She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, arms folded around her stomach.

"What about that Tegiwa guy? You were talking to him the other day, weren't you?"

Enma had to laugh lightly. "He's Kaze's older brother, that's how I know him. And because his mom and my mom used to be kind of close, I guess...something about a dark mirror, I didn't exactly listen to Mom's old Digi-destined stories."

"I've noticed." Mitikomomon said, rolling his eyes.

Enma heaved a sigh, before starting to get up, at a rate a sloth could compete with. "But I've got no choice, right?" She asked, pulling out the small digivice.

"Right!" Mitikomomon mimicked, bouncing out of the schoolbag so he could be held. Enma picked him up, before starting out of the classroom. Before they were in earshot of the straggling students in the hallway, Mitikomomon looked up at Enma. "So...do you have any friends besides your not-friends-anymore Kaze?"

Enma scratched her nose, looking decidely uncomfortable. "Hmm?" She asked, not bothering to answer the question. She shrugged. "It's the bully thing."

"Bully...thing?"

"Yeah, because my mom works here, I used to get picked on a lot. Especially because I'm not as smart as my brother and sister, and because I'm kind of the runt of the family; I'm also one of the younger kids in our grade. But, whatever. Some guys thought they could pick on me, and I fought back. That was in, like seventh or eighth grade." She hugged the digimon to her chest, before scanning the hallway. "Right, now...where are we going?"

"I think I figured out why you don't do well in class!" Mitikomomon sung out.

"Why?"

"You don't pay attention to authority figures."

"And Hanshin and Shireika are authority figures?" She asked.

"They were the ones who took charge of the last meeting."

"Correction, they were the ones who messed up the last meeting, and the reason why we got nothing done. Though I did like that library their uncle had."

Mitikomomon rolled his eyes.

"The roof, Enma!" He hissed, bouncing in her arms.

"Right, I knew that." she muttered, before starting towards the stairs to the roof-top at a snail's pace.

***

Yuu wandered down the hallway after class, touting a bag that had Kuinamon and her lunch in it, but hopefully not Kuinamon eating her lunch. She had been going to school here for a week already, but she still couldn't remember exactly how to get to the roof. Which was a problem, seeing as the meeting was about to start. A little desperate, she was looking for someone to ask for directions when she spotted a familiar face -- the cherry-red haired girl from the library on Sunday. She sighed in relief, she wouldn't have to worry about following directions since they'd be headed to the same place.

She walked up to Enma and greeted her. "Hello! Um, do you mind if I follow you to the roof? I'm kind of new, so don't really know how to get there..." Then she realized something else. "Ah, I'm sorry, I don't remember your name" she said embarrassedly.

***

Tegiwa followed Shireika up the stairs. "I wonder why they did it..." he said to no one in particular. He stared into space for a second, and then, as if he realized he had spoken, continued "You know, why our parents and grandparents put their lives on the line for Gennai. He must have been something for them to trust him like that. I wish he were here now. Then, we could act with certainty."

He shook his head. "I hope it doesn't come down to us versus them. But, I agree, the thought of Hanshin getting his hands on vast and ancient powers is really bogus. He can't be trusted."

/None of us can,/ echoed in his mind.

***

Naoko waited on the roof. None of the group was up there, so she ate her bento box in relative peace. She sat near the door feeding bits of moochi to Suzumon, who was doing tricks for the food. She was amazed at the number of shapes the piece of tinfoil could think to fold himself into, and he was managing to eat the food a well. "Clever," she said when he folded himself then puffed out into a folded tin balloon.

Soon, she heard footsteps on the staircase and felt the vibrations of many feet on the stairs through the roof.

***

Hanshin made it up to the roof first after Naoko.

"Hey, babe," he said as he sat down next to her. "No one else come up yet?" he asked as he let Koumamon out and pulled his digivice out of his pocket. He could hear the footsteps of others coming up the stairs to the roof. He sighed as he looked around.

He hoped for the best when Shireika and the others showed up, and he prayed that Shireika had changed her mind for the better. Perhaps, they wouldn't have to stay divided like this, but he feared that his prayers wouldn't be answered. In fact, he knew they wouldn't be just because it was Shireika.

***

"Of course he can't," Shireika replied as she made her way onto the roof. She noticed that Naoko and Hanshin had already arrived before they had.

"Idiot Boy and his whore," she thought as she sat down a good distance from them. She put down her bags and unzipped her gym bag to let Alatusmon out.

"Finally!" Alatusmon cheered. "So, where is everyone?"

"They're coming," Shireika answered as she crossed her arms. She looked over towards Hanshin. "This better be short."

"Depends on what we've all decided," Hanshin said, "or, I suppose, this is going to get ugly?"

"If you're going to be stupid and drag other people with you, it will."

***

Aishou nodded and smiled.

"Sure," she said cheerfully and then laughed a little. "Naoko is, well...we all know." She shrugged. "Don't worry about it." She started to head towards the stairwell that would lead towards the roof. "I just hope some of us have changed our opinions so we can all work together on this search for the key." She remembered what Asayake and Tomeo had been talking about the other day, and she wondered if they still felt the same now. She hoped only for the best, and she hoped that Shireika and Hanshin, most of all, could reconcile their differences.

***

Tomeo made a route towards the roof, remembering the last time he was there trying to confine Parumon so he could make sense of things. Not much had changed since then - he still felt confused and Parumon was still defiant and rude towards him. The digimon was nested away in his bag slung underneath his shoulder, having gone into silent mode in case they ran into any non-digidestined people along the way. In any case, if anything had changed since the last time he had been up on the roof apart from obtaining a little information, it had been that he had gotten to know the rest of the digidestined a little better, and he could only hope that it was enough it bring the group together. He still had a long way off from knowing anybody well and he hadn't had a proper talk with Shireika about Hanshin yet, but they were civilized human beings who could discuss their problems, right? Then again, changing minds was not as simple as changing beliefs. Something deep in his gut told him that no matter what anyone tried, something serious was going to go down.

He spotted Asayake in front of him walking in the same direction and called out to her. "Hey!" he yelled from a distance, drawing up in a quickened pace next to her. "Going up to the meeting, right? Mind if I join you? I didn't spot any of the others yet on the way up. I hope that it's because we're early again this time."

The door to the roof was just up ahead, and Tomeo held it open to allow Asayake to step through first. Checking to see if anyone else was behind them, he let the door swing shut and scanned the rooftop to see who was there. He decided against sitting down just yet, for he had been sitting down all through English class and needed to stretch his legs. He clasped his wrist behind his back and took short steps inward, pacing slowly around the spot as he waited for the others. "Oh, hey guys. How are we all?" he asked generally.

***

Enma turned, feeling Mitikomomon tense in her arms. "It's okay, she's one of us." Enma whispered to her digimon, who let out a long sigh of relief. She looked Yuu over, before the girl's comment about being new sunk in. Then she sent her a quick smile, and a nod. "I'm Kodomojimita Enma." She said. She looked down. "I'd shake your hand, but the blue rat..thing's in the way."

"I am not a rat! I'm just a generic rodent!" Enma rolled her eyes.

"And there might be other people in the halls." She hissed, before looking at her watch. "We're going to be late..." She looked around, before pulling out a keyring and started to look at the keys, before pulling out one. She looked up at Yuu. "Just, don't tell anyone about this. Only you, me, and Kenjitsu Kaze know I have this." She said, before pulling Yuu down a short hallway, to the teacher's elevator. She looked around, innocently, before picking up the flap over the keyhole and turning the lock. The familiar buzz of the elevator came just before the doors slid open, and Enma pulled Yuu inside. She blushed slightly, hitting the button for the rooftop. "My mother's the grief concelor here at school, and she has only one working lung, so they gave her a key. I sortr of...copied it one day when she was out with my older ssiter. It beats walking up to the roof, doesn't it?" she said, while the doors opened on the rooftop. Enma stepped out, blinking until her eyes had adjusted to the light.

"Well, I think you have to work on the talking thing, Enma..." Mitikomomon said quietly.

"Mmm?" Enma looked down at the digimon skeptically.

"When you're nervous, you talk a lot."

"Do you want to go back in the bookbag?" she asked.

"No."

"Then be quiet."

***

"I don't expect you to act all cute around me. I've learned you aren't like that. And honestly I know despise that kind of gal," Shuuichi said as he opened the door to the stairs leading to the roof. "Plus you already have someone in mind, eh?"

He continued to talk as they climbed the stairs. "Plus you don't have to just ask your dad. Ask any of the old digidestines. I bet they'll tell you, I mean if he won't. I bet each one is holding something though from us. Probably that really embaressing moment," he said smiling.

He stopped on the stairwell and took out a slip of paper, writing on it a series of numbers. Checking over it he shook his head, "Yep this should be it. Call this number when you can. It's one of the former digidestines. Maybe she can talk to you about some details."

"I do congradulate you, Miss Hanarei. You were able to get that man to talk about something. And you actually told someone about it. I don't think anyone has told their parentals about the whole," he said whispering, "digimon thing."

"I don't know if they would be surprised, disappointed or saddened. I think that they would be proud. Their relative is taking on the tourch of power of being a digidestined. We're following the Watcher and under a similar guidance that our parents and relatives had been under, we will save the world."

"Anyway, here," he said handing the small slip of paper to Hanarei as they reached the roof. At the same time he dropped his stuff getting his hand caught in the plain chain holding his metal ring around his neck. The chain snapped as it clinked to the ground. Shuuichi dropped the bag Squijimon was in and dropped to his knees picking up the pieces. "Shit," he whispered as he finished collecting the pieces.

He stood up examinating the plain hand made metal ring. "Good, no scratches," he said "You want to hold on to it?" he said offering it to Hanarei. "You probably wouldn't. Some comment like hell no, right?" he said as he held on to it staring at her smiling.

***

Naoko sneezed like a cat and shot a dirty look toward Shireika as the wind carried Shireika's comment to her. "Excuse me, anata. I need to have a word with someone." She ran two fingers down Hanshin's chest before sauntering across the roof to where Shireika and Tegiwa were talking. Her long hair blew in the breeze like a curtain of black silk behind which was hiding her right eye. Both her eyes were fixed on Shireika, and they held an intense gleam instead of their usual warm, idle happiness.

She first walked to Tegiwa though. She stood very close to him and poked him playfully in the chest; however her smile was a bit tense like she was forcing it. "I'd like a word or two with you after the meeting. We could go somewhere...."

Tegiwa smiled back. "If all you want is a word, please have it now. Things will be decided after the meeting, ya know."

"Ah, no. That's ok. This can wait till after."

Naoko turned to Shireika, lips thin and eyes narrowed. She looked as if she could kill Shireika right there. Her voice took on a snippy tone, but she lowered it so that only Shireika could hear. "Look you, say what you want about me, but don't make remarks that dishonor your brother in public. He's your family after all. Even if you hate him, keep your trap shut. You reflect on him. Besides, he's the only thing I care about these days."

Tegiwa looked serious for a second before butting in, "I pity you."

"Thanks..." Naoko stuck her tongue out at him.

***

"We're not exactly in public, are we?" Shireika retorted sharply as she stood up with the intention of being able to look straight at Naoko. Being about four inches taller than Naoko, she ended up having to look a little down. "And since when did I reflect on him? His stupidity reflects on me as well." She gave Naoko a little push in the shoulder to signal that she was through with her. "And if you cared about Hanshin, you might do well to keep him from making a fool of himself or from making a huge mistake instead of hounding me about what I think about him." She stepped a little to the side so she could look past Naoko and glare a little at her brother. "He dishonors me just as much as I dishonor him." She looked back at Naoko, her eyes narrowing.

She would have said "Get out of my face" aloud, but she hoped her eyes would speak those words for her. Hanshin and his posse of fangirls needed to learn to stay out of her business. She wasn't just Hanshin's twin sister; he was also her twin brother.

***

"I guess most of us are fine," Hanshin replied to Tomeo. He sighed as he watched Naoko talk with Tegiwa and Shireika. He suspected that Naoko had started to pick a fight with his twin sister, which, without a doubt, was probably a bad idea. He caught Shireika's glare directed at him, and he knew what was going on. Naoko was hounding Shireika for being who she is and for having her opinions about him. "But, I'm sure that will change after this meeting."

***

Hanarei looked at the metal ring in Shuuichi's hand. She didn't know why exactly he would even want her to look at it. If fact, his guess on her reaction was accurate. Just then, something sparked in Hanarei's mind. She didn't know what it was, but again her vision blurred and she became short of breath. She fell down onto her knees and clutched her heart. Himotomon fell out of her bag and looked up at her partner. "Hanarei?!" she said sounding worried. Hanarei didn't answer. She looked at the ring in shock then swatted Shuuichi's hand out of her way. She took several seconds of rest before standing back up. She was no longer out of breath but there were small beads of sweat around her forehead. "Hanarei, what happened?" said Himotomon.

"Nothing. I'm fine," she said in a harsh tone. She didn't want the others to think of her as being weak or anything. She turned back to Shuuichi and glared. "And as for you, you say the Watcher is guiding us through all of this. I'll say this to you once." She moved so she was right in his face. "I don't trust the guy and there's no way I'm going to follow this guy until I know more about him! End of story!" And she turned her back on him.

It wasn't the Watcher subject that made her that angry. She felt angry mostly because of whatever that last incident was. All Hanarei knew was that vague images or memories zoomed through her mind at the sight of Shuuichi's ring. The problem was she didn't see herself in these memories. She looked down at the number Shuuichi handed her. 'It could his phone number,' she thought, 'or he's telling the truth.' Going with her second idea, she put the number in her pocket.

***

"Yeah, I hope so too," said Shouki. "Let's go then." He led the way to the roof and clilmbed up the stairs. "Sorry for being late," he said as he say how many people were already there.

Kirimon popped out of the bag and floated over to Naoko. "Hey Naoko," said Kirimon. There was a huge grin on his face. "Want to hear something that Shouki said to Aishou. You'll get a kick out of it. He said...." he didn't get to finish as Shouki placed a hand over Kirimon's mouth and pulled him back to where he and Aishou were standing before.

Shouki was able to catch the end of some 'conversations' that were already happening between Hanshin and Shireika. "I'd say from the looks of things," he whispered to Aishou, "we're in for a repeat of the last meeting."

"Um, excuse me," he said trying to speak over the current arguing. He was hoping he wasn't sounding too impatient or rude. "Can we please get this started and not begin by arguing?"

***

After getting over the initial disbelief of having gotten to the roof on a private elevator via a copied key, Yuu stepped out and looked around. There were several people there already, including Tomeo, to whom she gave a little wave. It looked like there was already some arguing going on, though, between Shireika and another girl. She hoped in would be the only arguing happening.

She opened up her bag for Kuinamon, who had thankfully not raided her bento. "We're on the roof now, you can come out" she explained.

"Fine'ly!" he piped as he wriggled out as fast as possible and fluttered down to the floor. He promptly shook out his feathers and stretched his tail a bit. Yuu smiled.

She noticed Shouki and Aishou arrive and went over to them. "Hello Nasake-san, Houzuru-san" she said cheerfully. Then in complement his statment, "I agree, let's keep things civil"

***

Naoko looked up at Shireika defiantly, pretending the girls looming form didn't get to her.. "Well, he never says scandalous things about you. He cares about his sister even though he disagrees with her." Her face was burning. She wanted to unload a ton of frustration on Shireika. She caught a glimpse of Hanshin out of the corner of her eye. No, this wasn't the time or the place for venting how she felt. "Looks like they've come," she added flatly. "Tegiwa, afterwards..." She smiled at him, and went to welcome the others.

She smiled at the arrivals "Welcome, welcome all of you. I hope this meeting goes well and we can sort things out like friends. I want to hear what everyone has to say." Yeah, if only to keep /that/ person from quibbling all day with her brother. Naoko couldn't understand how Hanshin could live with her. She'd rather have to live with Ami.

"Well, I hope you don't mind, but I brought some pins along. I thought we could hold a vote at the end of the meeting to decide. If we are ready to decide...that is." She pulled out a basket of black and white "W" buttons with an equal number of not-"W" buttons. She took the basket around to each person and had Suzumon hand them one of each.

***

Tegiwa yawned and glanced at Shireika. "Yeah, that sounds like a treat, Naoko. I'll look forward to it." And, he added after she had left, "Wow, I'm privileged- such women want me. Shireka, keep the meeting lively, or I'll sleep through both these historic events."

He was disappointed he couldn't find out anything useful about the Watcher over the week, and was certain that nothing could come of this meeting without proof. "Ah, her she is again...Let' see. We have the apathy party and the lemming party, right?" He took the buttons from Suzumon.

Robotmon spoke up, "Suzumon! A digimon should be machine or animal Make up your mind!"

"Hey! That's an insult. We can be vegetable or mineral too."

"It is not common to be both at the same time."

"I'm uncommon then."

Tegiwa cleared his throat. "Not now, both of you."

"I'll forgive the clanking horror this time. You just keep him well wound, or his brain stops working..."

"You two know each other...or what?"

"Yes, we were recycled out of the same six pack." Robotmon sounded more cranky and depressed that usual.

***

Shireika sat down and crossed her arms. If any of the others were thinking about this at all, then she hoped the rest had come to same conclusion she had: don't follow the Watcher. But taking a look around, she suspected some hadn't changed their minds since their last meeting. Well, they were the ones being foolish in doing so.

"Well, who wants to start?" she asked sharply.

"I will," Hanshin replied, raising his hand.

Shireika glared at Hanshin momentarily and was tempted to say "Don't be stupid."

"So," he started, looking away from Shireika and her glare, "I still believe we should follow the Watcher. One, we are digi-destined, so our role is to protect this world from possible evil forces." He could sense Shireika shaking her head upon listening to him. He knew what she was probably thinking. "Two, while we don't know who the Watcher really is, we can't ignore the fact that a dark queen might be coming to destroy our world. It could be possibility, and we should be prepared to fight anything. The Watcher might be our foe, so getting this key he talks about would prove to be useful. He isn't searching for the key to the power himself, so we'd have it in our control, and he wouldn't. I'm sure we could find the information somewhere, and we would be the ones with the key. So, we would be the ones in control no matter who our enemy really is." He paused. "Basically, we should be prepared in case we need to be. Why else would our digimon partners have been sent here?"

"Agreed," Aishou added. "I think we could potentially put our world in danger if the dark queen does in fact come. What would be the harm in actually getting the key? It doesn't mean we'll use the power, but we'd have access to it if needed."

***

"Ya finished, pretty boy?" Hanarei said in a harsh tone. "I have one idea for why our digimon are here. You yourself said the dark queen was coming. Maybe that's what our digimon, and only our digimon," she emphasized, "are for. This key thing may only work for the queen or the Watcher and they could try to take it from you if you let your guard down even the slightest."

Hanarei felt her anger starting to grow. She was still mad about whatever the sight of Shuuichi's ring did to her. At the moment she didn't care about anything she said. "And on a personal note," she started off. Himotomon shook her head as she knew what was coming. Hanarei's voice grew and she was now yelling. "I would never want to work with such a prima donna who thinks we should all follow him just because he said so! I despied you the first time I saw you and the feeling hasn't changed since." She decided to leave out the fact she didn't like Shireika as well. That wouldn't be a good 'support our side' speech.

***

Shouki rubbed the back of his head as the meeting was starting. And from his point of view, it was starting out just like the last one if not worse.

Shouki spoke as soon as Hanarei finished her rant. Unlike hers, his voice was rather quiet and sounded timid. "But if the Watcher really is helping us, then in the end we'd be saving everyone from...." Shouki looked forlorn as he mumbled the rest of his sentence. When he finishd he spoke at his usual volume. "I don't want to see anyone else get hurt or die. I don't want that to happen especially if there's the chance of saving them." To him these words came out naturally as he was speaking from how he felt after his sister's death.

***

Tomeo leaned in towards Asayake and feeling a little bewildered from Hanarei's outburst, spoke in a lowered tone of voice only she could hear. "For some reason, I don't think we will." He looked towards Hanshin and nodded to him in aknowledgement. It didn't seem things were going to go well, not when they had started off like this.

Parumon stuck her head out from Tomeo's bag after hearing all the commotion, figuring it was safe to emerge. "You coulda told me the meeting was about to start," she said in a disappointed tone to Tomeo, taking a look around at the others present and listening for the time being.

"If I may say something," Tomeo raised his voice, hoping to be a voice of reason for the moment, "... what we all need to acknowledge is the fact that we simply don't know enough about what we're getting into. Say the Watcher is telling the truth and is on our side - so if we get the key, what's stopping this dark queen from taking the key from us? Hanshin, you say the key will be in our control as if it's an actual certainty. But you can't actually guarantee that, you don't know what's going to happen more than any of us do. And you say the Watcher isn't looking for the key to the power himself, but you can't say that for sure either. The digimon could be sent to us for a far greater reason than the dark queen, or even the Watcher for that matter. Yes, I know we do need to be prepared, and we haven't been able to find out any other information for a reason to hold back from getting this key, but this power - coming from an evil entity? Come on, guys, this is obvious. I feel uber-bad vibes at even the thought of using that kind of power. It doesn't matter if it's a power, it's still must be evil if it's been sealed away and if you use it, it going to end up coming back and biting you on the ass. Evil must be real if the digimon are, no matter how hard you try to deny it. Besides, Parumon has been talking to me about how digimon can grow bigger and stronger by a phase digimon use called 'digivolving' or something. She was vague, but the fact remains, the digimon can grow more powerful without use of the key. Perhaps even so powerful, that we won't even need the damn thing."

"Yeah, I did say something like that..." Parumon added onto the end of Tomeo's sentance. "The power the key unlocks sounds like energy that might influence us digimon. I don't like the sound of it though, things that are pushed to their extremes usually turn pretty ugly. I think we should leave things to turn out naturally." she noted.

"So basically guys, think smart and be patient." Tomeo summarised. "Making a move to grab the key to get this power is a little premature, not to mention dangerous. Once it's complete, there's no telling what kind of dangers we might be putting this world into ourselves, letting the power become accessible to anyone who could get their hands on it. We can't protect this key day and night, if we assemble it and try to keep it between all of us, we still won't be able to hide it. And if we're not the ones who end up using it for evil by accident, then either the Watcher or the dark queen will. There's way too may more risks assembling the key for this evil power, than the risk of waiting around for an evil we know probably is coming now. Our digimon can become stronger with us. We don't need some stupid key to tell us that."

***

Naoko railed at Hanrei and Tomeo, "Fat lot of good it does you guys to whine about danger. Lil' Miss Doesn't Want to Get Involved over there would be happy to let any danger go unopposed as long as it would leave her alone. Hanshin wants to oppose the evil by using the power. Right, Hanshin?

She looked at each of the people hanging close to Shireika as if they were freaks. "If you guys don't want to come...I'm all for that. I don't know why the Watcher wanted to include you geeks in the first place. I was going to give him the burden of the doubt, but I'll be damned if I'm going to beg you losers, riffraff, and scum to come with us. I think you guys would only slow us down. However, if some of you do recognize a sane idea and want to join Hanshin and the cool people I suppose we could accept you.

"Hanshin can get the key. He's willing to put his life on the line for everyone. Shireika just cares about herself...you ingrates."

Tegiwa spoke up; his easy rolling voice was raised louder than Naoko's rants. "Calm down Naoko. Everyone. I think she's just touched on my biggest fear. What happens when a fat headed limelighter like Hanshin actually gets his hands on some power? You heard her...we aren't good enough to hang with the cool crowd. That's because every last one of them is a power hungry twit. None of them should be trusted with power. Not one of them. They are all selfish and wouldn't help us unless we kow-towed to them."

"Shireika may seem cold and distant, but she's thinking of us and our safety. She's not stuck-up like her brother. Listen to her. Please."

***

'What just happened?' Shuuichi asked himself watching Hanarei as he took the ring and slipped it onto his ring finger. "That should keep it on."

Shuuichi walked towards the rest of the group, finding a clean spot on the ground of the rooftop. He opened his bag to see Squijimon sleeping inside now. "Typical," he said as he turned to then face the others.

Comments were flying and he found a break for him to add in. "At least Hanshin seems more optimistic to finding and cooperating. Shireika seems more pessimistic. She has no faith in anything or most things. And plus who said Hanshin was the only one who could get the key. Aren't we suppose to help each other or something and not let just one person do it?" he asked as he leaned back a little. "I don't know about you but I am willing to fight for the key and not let pretty boy band leader take all the credit and glory for getting that key!"

"Like I said before, if we don't listen and follow the watcher, we will walk in blind to everything. We will be fighting blindly, there will be no help, we shall become dependant, and lose a purpose. If it wasn't for the watcher, would you have become a digidesstine, gain your digivice, and have a digimon suddenly appear to be your partner. They have a purpoe, and it is to fight the evil or dark queen or whatever the hell her name was. If it wasn't for the watcher would we have found out about the Dark Queen? Honestly, other than being a stranger, why not follow the Watcher?" he asked.

***

"Power hungry? Fat headed? Prima donna?" Hanshin growled at the others. "I'll have you know that I'm doing this because this concerns the safety of our world and the universe. My role in my band has nothing to do with this." He pointed towards Tegiwa. "Kind of low blows for you, who is also supporting someone who is thinking really only about herself."

"You should be one to talk. Listen to her," Shireika hissed pointing at Naoko. "Losers, riffraff, scum?" She took a step closer to Naoko, her presence becoming menancing. "Who the hell are you calling scum?" She glared down at Naoko. "You, who is second to Ami in sluttiness."

"And you're so self-centered to not care that there is a possibility of a dangerous and powerful dark queen coming to destroy all," Hanshin interrupted.

"I am only being cautious about this whole situation, not in denial as some people seem to think. I don't like the sounds of the Watcher, and I don't like the idea of getting a key to a power that once belonged to an evil force. It's very dangerous to have a complete key to such great powers. Anyone could use it because it is available." She glared at Hanshin.

"We'd protect it."

"Fuck that. You'd use it."

"Yeah, to stop the dark queen."

"Quit the bullcrap, Hanshin. I don't trust anyone with that power, and I absolutely do not trust you at all. Knowing our relationship, I wouldn't trust you with that power. I wouldn't trust either of us with it."

"Exactly like Shuuichi said, you have no faith."

"I have no faith in you, Hanshin. You have constantly shown yourself to be immature. I don't care to give examples of those situations. Not to mention, you tend to very rash with your decisions."

"And you wouldn't do anything to save the world?"

"I wouldn't foolishing jump into something potentially dangerous. The key unlocks powers to an evil entity, Hanshin! That, I consider potentially dangerous. I wouldn't feel safe knowing that anyone could access it with the complete key. I feel better knowing that at least the key is still in fragments. With the key whole, anyone - I repeat, anyone - could use it for their own uses, and it could potentially get into the wrong hands."

"It won't get into the wrong hands."

"It's in the wrong hands if it's in yours."

"I'm going to get that key, Shireika, no matter what anyone else thinks," Hanshin said, raising his voice.

"See that? He wants power. He wants the key, and he wants glory for himself," Shireika argued, looking around at the others. She pointed at him. "Listen to him. He is determined to get that key." He looked back at him. "And, I will be there to make sure you don't ruin our world by finding that key. In fact, I am going to keep you from it."

***

'Oh shit, it's getting personal.' Asayake thought desprately, trying to force down a nervous bubble in her throat, 'Okay, keeping temper in check... In check, damn you!' She cleared her throat, and started.

"Okay, before we ALL stoop down to first-grade level and call each other names, let's just try and make one thing perfectly clear for everyone; even if we manage to assemble all of the pieces of this key thing, we don't know what it does, or how to use it. It's rather pompus to think that just because we get this key that we can become super-people with super-pets. How can you possibly to hope to use something if you don't even know what it was made for? Oh, sure, apparently it's powerful, but to what degree, and in what way? Microwaves are powerful, too. So are nukes, and you wouldn't go running around trying to build an a-bomb to defeat evil with, would you? You'd end up destroying the world if you did!" She could feel her temper building in her gut, but shoved it down and continued, her voice growing slightly louder.

"If the Watcher and the Dark Queen decide to play Monopoly with the continents of the world, and you're off galivanting around trying to find the bits of what could be the most dangerous object in the history of the universe, what happens? You have no key, and no way to know what's going on, so you can't really defend yourselves, or the world, now can you? Before I do anything other than argue with you and your slightly psychotic ideas, I say we drill this Watcher person for information. For Christ's sake, I've resigned to call it a 'he' because we don't even know if the bedamned thing is a guy or a girl! Ask him who he is, why WE should help him, what the key does, who the Dark Queen is, and maybe I'll rethink my decision! But if he says he can't answer those questions for some assinine reason, like it's too dangerous for him to tell us, then he can go heave himself off a fucking building for all I care, because it too fucking dangerous for US to trust him."

***

"Losers?" Hanarei repeated Naoko's comments. "Scum? Riffraff? That's it! The prostitute is about to die." Hanarei rolled up her sleeves and started to march over to Naoko in a threatening way. "I'm going to give you a bruise so big people will think you have a third breast!" Himotomon wasn't trying to hold her back. She also felt hurt by those comments just because she wasn't siding with Hanshin.

Shouki quickly moved in between Naoko and Hanarei. He had a worried look on his face at the thought of a fist fight breaking out. "Now wait a minute," he said.

"Out of the way!" Hanarei growled. She shoved Shouki and caused him to fall on his back.

Kirimon floated up to Hanarei. "Don't push him!"

"She'll do what she wants to," shouted Himotomon. She couldn't look up at Kirimon's level but she tried her best to get his attention.

Shouki was rubbing the spot where he fell down. He wasn't seriously hurt but remained there as he spoke. "And I don't want the key for power," he said, still sounding timid. "I just want to help save people from dying. I'm not trying to be power-hungry."

***

"Hanarei, leave Houzuru-san alone, he's just trying to keep the peace, which is more than anyone else is willing to do." Enma said, not even looking up. She had placed herself slightly far away from the group, sitting cross-legged on the ground with Mitikomomon nestled in her lap. She didn't want to say or do anything really, as she hadn't truly thought of siding with either of the twins, who she hardly knew. But Shouki was just trying to stop Hanarei from hurting a fellow classmate. "And really, I'm surprised at you; you're father's the VP, and not only are we still on school grounds, but," she checked her watch, "technically, we're still 'in session'. If anyone reported you," she sent Naoko a quick look, "then you would have been in a lot of trouble." She neglected to mention that she knew the punishment for starting a fight that Hanarei's father doled out. She wasn't sure if she actually was 'acting out' like her mother insisted, or if she was a glutton for punishment, but it didn't really matter.

Mitikomomon stirred slightly, only to go back to sleep. Enma pet him gently. She didn't want to admit it, but her interest was piqued. She took a breathe, before wincing. "I know everyone's going to hate me for bringing this up, but hello! Are we all god-damned stupid! There will ALWAYS be danger in dealing with the Digital World, that's why we're chosen. My mom and I don't talk much, I know, but my grandmother, Seijitsu Mimi, was a digi-destined, too. I know all the stories - The Digital Heaven, the battle with Chaosmon, the Maze, the Dark Mirrors, the temples, the dark digi-destined - and we'll have to face those things, too. Together or alone. This is our first test to prove ourselves..." She stopped, looking down at the digimon in her lap. "...My chance to prove myself..." she said, quietly and thoughtfully. Brown eyes closing, she took a steadying breath, before looking back up, her eyes soft. "I think what I'm trying to say is that we are part of a legacy of rushing into things head-on without thinking, and why should we fuck up an already fool-proof plan dating back to the twentieth century?"

***

"Uhm, I'm beginning to take the whore and prostitute comments personally guys. I swear, I never charge." Naoko saw Hanarei barreling down her and cringed as Shouki steeped in. "EEP! Don't kill me..." She glanced around for Hanshin, but he seemed too involve with She stepped back and put her hand out for Shouki never taking her eyes off the rabid Hanarei. "Thanks, Shouki...but don't have to get yourself hurt over me."

Suzumon chimed in, "Arf! Hey, you leave Naoko alone. Both of you! I'll...arf..I'll...well, I'd bite you...but I haven't any teeth." He maneuvered himself between Shouki and Hanarei; he'd flash sunlight in her eyes if he had to.

Tegiwa stood up got between the two girls with his arms out toward Hanarei.

"Whoa, don't kill her. She won't learn anything...Anyway, she is what she is. In her case it's oversexed and snobbish. We just have to expect stupid remarks now and again. Ignore her."

Naoko was about to thank Enma as well, but turned purple at her last remark.

"Thanks, Enma, now she has another reason to kill me."

/As soon as Shouki stands....then I can hide behind him,/ she thought. /It should be safe there. Damn, I really wish I could show him a good time. I'll feel really guilty if he gets hurt on my account./ She sighed.

Digging herself in deeper, Naoko added: "Look, I may have been hyperbolic with my comments. But, certainly all of you can see we have both cool and uncool people here. Naturally, Hanshin leads the cool people. Now, the rest of you are acting pretty ungrateful. This is you big chance socially. Surely you can see that. But no, you have to quibble and whine like Shireika instead of thanking us and the watcher for letting you associate with us.

"AND! Some of you want to complain about my sexual nature. I'm no whore. I enjoy sex very much and I don't turn anyone away, so I'm not a snob. It's very important for me to make my partner feel good. But, I'm sure Little miss virgin queen and the rest of her frigid friends would appreciate that. How sad. It's 2065, not 1765, don't you know?"

Tegiwa withdrew a safe distance; he knew Shireika was likely to break the sound barrier getting across the roof to hurt Naoko.

***

"Prove yourself?" Shireika hissed. "You sound exactly like my brother, Enma. You want to prove yourself, to whom? The world? Do you even think the fucking world cares what we do? Do you think anyone even knows what our parents and grandparents have done except their families?" She pointed in the direction of where her grandmother's statue was, which was slowly degrading and being forgotten. "No one remembers my grandmother anymore. No one remembers what she and her generation had done for this world. And you're in this for some sense of glory, some glory or proof or whatever the hell it is that no one gives a damn about. You want proof of something by stopping some queen from destroying our world." She paused. "You all have some motive for doing this besides the simple fact of protecting our world, and I will not trust anyone who has ulterior motives!"

She then turned her attention towards Naoko. She was already fuming, and Naoko merely threw more wood into the fire.

"You, whore," she growled as she approached Naoko.

"Shireika! Don't!" Hanshin argued, watching his sister quickly shove others aside to get to Naoko.

"I am sick of you," Shireika said through clenched teeth. "I am sick of you being around my brother. You are why he is the way he is. You and the rest of your kind who claw over each other to have one moment in his pants." She pushed Naoko harshly to knock her to the ground. "People like you make me sick, who think they are better than others because of who they are. You're no better than me at all."

"Shireika, stop it!" Hanshin interrupted, grabbing his sister by the shoulder.

In the briefest of moments, Shireika had turned around and had brought her hand across Hanshin's face.

"Shut up," she replied. "You are an idiot for going after the key, running into a situation without enough information about it. And most of all, this key is dangerous. It locks away great powers, which had been stripped from a dangerous and evil entity. Do you think that's smart at all?"

"I will get that key," Hanshin replied coldly. "End of discussion. It's the best way to be prepared for this dark queen."

"You don't even know who this dark queen is! You don't even know whether that's even true! You know nothing about it!"

"And if we're wrong, we're fucking screwed! Better to be prepared, don't you think? Shireika! We can't risk putting this world into danger by not being prepared."

"We have digimon partners!"

"And that might not be enough!"

"So what? If we need the key, the guardians of its fragments will understand."

"We may need it right away, so when she does show up, we know we have the power to stop her."

"You're a fool."

"You're being stuck up."

"Fuck off."

"We'll all be fucked if we don't get the key."

"Since you won't listen, that's it. You can be a fool on your own." She looked around at the others. "If you're with me that following the Watcher is foolish, meet me after the game today at the fields." She glared up at Hanshin. "And if you want to get that stupid key, well then. Be careful." She stormed past Tegiwa and grabbed her backpack and gym bag. She threw them onto her shoulder as she looked back at the others. "I have better places to be than here arguing with people like them." She nodded towards Hanshin and Naoko. She hurried off into the stairwell.

"Fine! We'll show you!" Hanshin called after his sister. "And when we do save your asses, you better be thankful!" He turned away from the group and crossed his arms.

She was a pain, an absolute pain. Why did she have to be a digi-destined anyway? It would have been so much easier if she weren't here, and the whole group would have done what he wanted. They all would have listened to him, and things would have worked. Not like this, where she was constantly trying to prove him wrong. Couldn't she just accept that she wasn't always right? Couldn't she just believe that he could be right about something, especially like this?

***

Shireika bolted down the stairs from the roof down to the first floor. She didn't wait for anyone, not even Tegiwa. She simple walked as fast as she could. She made a quick turn around a corner in the hallways on the first floor without looking or slowing down, and she suddenly found herself running into someone.

"Hey there! Watch out!" the person said as he kept both of them from falling.

"Gomenasai," Shireika replied as she quickly moved out of his way and continued on her way to the courtyard and fields, but he felt his hand grab her arm.

"Shireika?" he asked as he turned her around. That voice suddenly registered in Shireika's mind.

"Kousei-san?" she whispered as she looked up.

***

Yuu had been hanging back and trying not to get involved with the escalating argument, but she quickly rushed forward when Shouki got pushed.

"Houzuru-san!" she exclaimed, and checked to make sure he was all right. Then she turned to to Hanarei and the rest of the people who seemed inclined to Shireika. "He's right! I know I've only been here a week, but I don't believe that anyone here would ever use that power for anything other than keeping people safe" She paused to listen to what Enma had to say. "Kodomojimita-san is right, there's seems to be a long history to this sort of thing, and we could be going against everything that it stood for"

Yuu didn't even know what to say to Naoko's comments. She simply didn't understand that girl.

***

"Don't bring my father into this!!" Hanarei shouted at Enma. "I've been in his office as many times as you if not more. That's right, I know," she added before Enma could react. "It's easy when you figure out his passwords. And personally I don't care what punishment he dishes out on me at school. I've done it all!" Hanarei looked back at Naoko and Shouki. Hanarei was able to vent some of her anger onto Enma which subsided her need to kill. "The next time we're alone...," she growled to Naoko before beating her fist into her other palm. "And as for you," she said now looking at Shouki, "don't get in my way if you're not my target."

She looked around at those who were watching her. She turned to Tegiwa who seemed to be the only person who didn't hate her at the moment. "If anyone needs me, " she said, "I'll be around." She grabbed her bag and Himotomon, who was still trying to get at Kirimon. "I hope to see some of you after the game." And with that, she left.

Shouki let out a sigh of relief before he took Naoko's hand and pulled himself up. He wasn't sure what Hanarei was going to do next. "Thanks Naoko, everyone," he said. He dusted himself off. Other than maybe a bruise on his back, he was fine. "You know Hanshin," he said, "if we go for the key and protect the world, slowly, maybe people will remember the digidestined and everything they've done. If we did that, maybe you're sister will join." He thought about adding the words "and you" but thought that wasn't a good idea at the moment. "I can understand how people would never want to forget something or someone."

***

"What's the noise about?" Mitikomomon asked sleepily. Enma looked down at him.

"Now you wake up?" she asked, before looking up at Hanarei. "Please, everyone knows I'm in trouble almost every day." SHe said, dismissing the girl with a wave of her hand. She picked Mitikomomon up gently before getting up herself.

She walked over to Naoko, and stood there for a moment, jaw set, before she rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "Look, I don't care about popularity or whatever you were going on about before," she said, then she turned so she was also facing Hanshin. "But we have no reason not to trust the Watcher, and I mean, how much more trouble can we get into? We know what happened in the past, right?"

***

Tegiwa looked past Hanarei in the direction Shireika had "Yeah, Hanarei, I'll let you know...well, I'll let you know if learn something we cans use." His mind was a bit distracted by Shireika's storming off without him. /She can take care of herself though./ He put his arms behind his head, watched the ones who remained.

Naoko looked stunned as Shireika slapped Hanshin and left: /She has some nerve!/ "Shouki, I hope you are right. But, you guys will have some thing no digidestined has had before. ME! As public relations officer, of course!"

At her announcement, Suzumon ran around barking and chasing his tail. "Woof! Yay, for Naoko. She's the best! But, how could anyone forgot you guys?"

Tegiwa glanced at Naoko, shaking his head. "Mainly, by not knowing about us to start with. The previous digidestined kept things to themselves. It's not surprise they aren't remember when few people even know the danger they faced." He sighed. "They can't even remember beyond a few generations with a monument. Each generation is selfishly caught up in the future without caring about the price paid for the privilege."

Naoko said, "Tegiwa. That's what Hanshin's about. We don't have time to worry about the Watcher or track him down or verify every little thing he said. Some things, we have to take on faith. For all we know the dark queen is here, we can't assume we have unlimited time. Believe me, I plan stuff for the band, I'm one who likes her I's dotted and t's crossed. But, sometimes, things aren't that easy. You just gotta decide to go with the flow."

"My gut says wait. That's how I feel."

"Well, I feel there's more to lose if we fail to act. Enma makes a good point. We have to play the hand we are dealt whether we like it or not." She tired to look him back in the eye, but he was spaced as usual.

Tegiwa glanced at the door again. "Whatever." He wandered over to the railing and stared a the city instead. /What the hell just happened? Why did she storm out of the meeting when there were others left....who hadn't sided."

"I can't believe you guys suspect Hanshin. Even if he did get the power himself, he'd use it to make his next concert unforgettable. It's not like he wants to conquer the world."

"I hope you are right. Power corrupts people, and none of you are exactly saints."

Naoko turned a bright red once more. "What is that supposed to mean? Are my moral standards not high enough for you?"

"They don't stand out if that's what you meam..."

"Look!" Naoko hopped up on nearby crate. "Look, all of you. I may have my flaws and my hobbies, but I was not chosen digidestined by the watcher because he, she, or it wanted me to serve as a date for the group. Just because my sexuality is outstanding doesn't mean I'm limited to that. I may be a slut! But, I also got all a's in Business and Library Science. AND, I did it by being an anal-retentive, obsessive compulsive bitch! Got that? I'm an organizing freak who is going to see Hanshin makes it to the top, no matter what!

"Now, if any of you would like to see his show tonight, its at the Neko-san Club. If they won't let you in," she paused, "I won't be surprised."

"Yeah, Naoko. Like I said I pity you and Hanshin. You only think of..." Tegiwa saw Shireika running across the courtyard followed by Kousei-kochu. He managed to catch her and grab her arm. Tegiwa felt himself develop a sudden case of arrhythmia. "Well, I best be going...Ja!" Tegiwa ran for door.

Naoko blinked..."huh, that was sudden..." Then, she remembered Hanshin's instructions. "Wait, I'll go with you. I need..." He wasn't slowing, so she sped off after him with Suzumon following as fast as he could.

***

Hanshin rubbed his chin with the back of his hand as he began thinking. This was going to be a challenge, with the digi-destined divided, and Shireika was't helping. How she would always get in his way! Always. Always questioning his every move, and always hounding him for being stupid. Then there was her little entourage, which meant Tegiwa.

He was about to give Tegiwa a piece of his mind when Tegiwa suddenly ran off, and he watched Naoko run after him. What could have possibly caught Tegiwa's attention like that? He shook his head. Tegiwa was probably running off to find Shireika, as always. Naoko would probably be able to catch up with him.

"Exactly," he said to Enma. "We have nothing to lose, and all the more to gain. So, I guess those of us who are in on getting the key will have to meet later." He looked around at the others who were still there. "If you're with me, we can meet right before my concert tonight. Be at the Neko-san Club around 5 PM, and we'll meet backstage. I'll let Naoko know." He turned to Shouki. "People will know."

***

Shireika shrugged away from Kousei's grasp and crossed her arms across her chest. She looked away from Kousei towards the ground.

"Everything okay?" Kousei asked.

Shireika didn't answer. She didn't particularly feel like throwing a fit in public, especially here.

Kousei took a look around quickly and walked up to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and gently pointed her towards the fields.

"Why don't we take a walk?" he suggested. The two walked in silence as they strolled through the courtyards out to the fields.

At the fields, no one else was there yet. Shireika felt a little more relaxed as they distanced away from the crowded main courtyard near the academic buildings, but she kept her guard up.

"So, what's up?" Kousei asked, hoping Shireika would say something. Certainly, being angry like this wouldn't be good for her game today.

"Nothing," she replied as she looked away.

"You don't sound like it, and I know that you play better when you're relaxed."

Shireika narrowed her eyes as she looked over at Kousei.

"My brother's an idiot," she said sharply as she looked straight ahead. "And he lets others drag him down, or he drags others with him in his stupidity."

"He is who he is. He's charismatic and knows how to get others to listen to him."

"And he's a fool on top of it all."

Kousei chuckled a little. "Perhaps."

"He is! End of discussion."

"I wasn't arguing with you, was I?"

"Whatever."

"Hey, don't let your brother get to you. You know what you want, and you know what you have to do. He's going to do things his way, and if he's wrong, then he'll find out. He'll just have to learn the hard way."

***

Hanarei stood limp with her arms and her head resting on a metal railing. She had moved far away from the door to the roof and now had a view of the soccer field. Her face showed that she was deep in thought. Her bag was dumped at her side and Himotomon sat by Hanarei.

"That could have gone better y'know," Himotomon commented.

"Yeah, I know," Hanarei replied. She sounded like she didn't care about the topic and left it at that. Himotomon had other things on her mind however.

"Why'd you react like that? You were fine until you fell down onto your knees. And what was up with that?"

"... ... I saw images again. New ones." Hanarei adjusted herself into a more comfortable position and continued. "The only problem is they're all vague and unclear. I can't even make out who's who or what they're saying. The only things I can pick up are when people scream. I keep thinking about why Shuuichi's ring made me react like that.

"This whole thing started ever since you digimon came to this world. But I seem to be the only one who's going through this type of thing. Is there some weird connection or just a coincidence. I just want to know."

Himotomon couldn't think of any excellent advice at the moment for her partner. "Maybe as time goes by you'll figure out what's going on. It seems to be the best we can do for now."

***

Shouki watched as several people started to leave the meeting. A part of him did like the sound of Naoko "promoting" the digidestined of the past but he was also felt like a part of her speech was a sales pitch for the band.

"That girl has some nerve trying to attack Naoko like that and pushing you down," said Kirimon as he floated over to join Shouki.

"Let it go," said Shouki as he petted Kirimon. He felt slightly cold to the touch. Shouki thought of something and moved next to Hanshin. He didn't want to say it out loud so he whispered it into his ear so no one else would hear him. "Hanshin, this may be a question for the meeting before the concert, but where do we start looking for the key pieces? Do we have any idea or will the watcher send us information?"

***

"Well, that didn't go very well, did it?" Tomeo said off-handedly to Asayake, shaking his head as he looked at the ground. He was surprised at how the twins had made both meetings centre all the attention on both of them from their fighting, and now quickly both their stubborn, announced opinions seemed to have made them leaders in their own field. It almost seemed like a bizarre political campaign, with both sides slandering each other and all. But most of all, he was disappointed with the way things had gone, down-right angry even that despite all their differences, they still couldn't get along and had only resulted in bickering with each other. His hands clenched by his sides, but he couldn't find the words, for the moment had gone. And now, the entire group seemed to be at a crossroads. "Aww, crap. Now what do we do?"

He looked at the majority of the digidestined who remained on the roof; from the sounds of it, they all agreed with Hanshin to collect the pieces of the key. It sounded like a big mistake they were all going to regret, and he wondered whether they were in the right or not to take all the fragments of the key without the rest of the consent of the digidestined. It just seemed wrong.

"So, Hanshin's bringing together digidestined after his concert at 5pm. But so is Shireika, since the game on the field finishes at the same time. We can't go to both meetings, so we have to make a choice..." He held both hands in front of him, open-palmed, and looked at both of them as if he was weighing each option in his hand. He didn't want to seem totally biased once again, and wanted to consider each alternative equally.

After a quiet moment of thinking, it seemed obvious which one he was going to go to, but Tomeo wasn't sure if he was making the right decision completely. He felt Hanshin did have a point, that they had to prepare for something bad coming. But using the key to unleash a once evil power, and then using it... it made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. How could Hanshin and the others disregard this? Shireika's way of thinking seemed to make the most logical sense, and he felt he should follow his heart on this one and not be influenced by anyone else's opinions. Pondering that, he now knew this was the right choice to make. He only hoped that it would end up being the right choice, and that their resistance to help the others didn't mean people would get hurt, or something worse. Of course, they would have to do something, even if it meant what Shireika said by stopping Hanshin and his group from getting the fragments to stop an even greater evil from being released...

He dropped his hands by his sides again, and glanced up at the other digidestined still present. "I'm sorry, guys, that it had to come to this. If you don't see me at the meeting you're going to, well... good luck, to all of you. See you soon." That's all he felt he could say. He didn't quite feel, especially because of some of their motives, that he could entirely trust them all yet. But, that would have to wait to be seen.

With Asayake being the only other person there he felt he could trust at the moment, he turned to her. Had she reached the same conclusion he had, that they would meet Shireika? He was pretty sure from the way she had spoken what she believed in, but he didn't want to announce his decision just yet, for he didn't want to be an instigator and influence her final decision.

Parumon, with her head still poked out of the bag, decided to raise her voice at the moment. "Hey, Tomeo... I don't want to sound like a newbie still with all the human termology, but what did everyone mean by the word 'fuck'?"

The black-haired boy couldn't help but utter a laugh from out of nowhere. "Umm, I'll tell you later, Parumon. Right now I think it's a bit inappropriate. We're gonna move back downstairs soon, so be ready to get back in the bag again." He looked back up at Asayake again, with an almost apologetic and embarrassed face, if it weren't for the smile tugging at his lips that was a sign he was still amused by his digital partner. It was almost as if she was his infant child who had caught wind of a bad word she wasn't supposed to hear.

"So, Asayake... do you want to walk with, at least to the first floor? We can talk about stuff on the way down, if you like. I'm not sure what to make of all this, but I'm pretty sure I know where I'm gonna be this afternoon." he offered. Not entirely wanting to assume, but in this case, he didn't want to have to be against her. He hoped she would be meeting him at the same placed he had decided on. He couldn't bear the thought of having to fight a close friend.

***

"You can say that again." Asayake grumbled, grinding the heel of her hand into her forehead. She had almost felt her blood boil-over at the comments everyone had been dishing back and forth. Were they really that immature? Why did everything they talked about need to become a screaming match? "I don't know why we can't talk like normal people." She mumbled harshly, ushering Rogishimon back into her backpack with a small wave. "All we seem to do is fight now."

Asayake raised an eyebrow at Parumon's comment, however, and failed miserably at containing a fit of giggles. "I think you'd be best left in the dark about that word, Parumon; it's not exactly the nicest thing in the world to say. And sure, Tomeo, some company walking through the school would be nice. At least I don't fight with YOU." She smiled, leading the way back to the stairwell they had come out of. "What's your take on all of this, then? I'm afraid I was a little too flustered to fully pay attention to everything said. Are you for the Watcher, or not?"

Asayake felt slightly hopeful, as Tomeo was the first guy she'd felt comfortable talking to in such a long time; it would be horrible to be divided.

***

Tegiwa was descending the stairs in a rapid shuffle so he could make it outside before Kousei got too close to Shireika. She might be oblivious to his intents but anyone with eyes and ears new that slick pervert was chasing after her as hard as he could. He had to get down there ASAP to keep an eye on her. "Please....Shireika...I'll be there soon." He paused for a second on the middle level landing. His burst of speed left him breathing hard with a pain in his side.

WHOOSH. Naoko slid down the rail and into Tegiwa thus knocking him to the ground. "Hey, you stopped. Great. You look beat, too. Did you know you do everything the hard way."

Tegiwa struggled to catch his breath. "Yeah, seems I've heard that before. Now, Naoko-chan, if you'd just excuse me....I'd like to make sure Shireika's alright."

"She's fine. She's down there with that coach."

"Exactly, he's interested in more than her passing technique."

"Ummmhmmm." Naoko smiled.

"Whoa, your as bad as he is, or worse." Tegiwa made to leave, but Naoko caught him by the arm.

"Whoa, yourself. She'd doesn't need you butting in. She's a woman and can handle Kousei herself."

"But...I'm her friend. I don't want her doing something...she might regret. I guess you wouldn't understand. I bet you've had Kousei a time or yourself."

"Look. I'm getting a bit tired of that kind of talk." Her voice became a near snarl before she caught herself. "No, not me and Kousei. Nor Kousei and anyone that I know of. The only one he has eyes for is Shireika. Believe me, other girls have tried...well, lets not go there. Anyway, She doesn't need your help."

Tegiwa looked like he was on the verge of crying, but pulled himself together. "Yeah, I guess she doesn't need me."

"I wouldn't say it like that. You seem to be her best friend. Maybe, her only friend." Naoko patted him on the back.

"Yeah, friend. Always..."

"Oh dear, you have a thing for her?"

"Thing...no, nothing like that. It's ..."

"Look. Both of you are smart enough to figure out your feelings by yourselves."

"Yeah...but, I don't think she sees the way coach looks at her."

"No. She ignores it. It's safer to do that when you haven't made up your mind."

"So, you ignore people?"

"Me? Hell no! I'm Naoko the town bike. Give me a quarter and take a ride." She grinned wryly, but there was bitterness in her voice. "I am a girl like Shireika. We just do things differently. Anyway, I know what I want. She's still deciding."

"What is it hat you want?" Instantly, he regretted that question. Naoko wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. His blue eyes were the size of saucers. He fought his way free. "I was hoping my first kiss from a girl would be from someone who meant it. Well, you aren't going to make me change my mind by getting into my pants."

"I know that, but Hanshin doesn't. He thinks sex can work miracles. I know you wouldn't follow Hanshin if I moved in with you. You need a reason, and getting some doesn't qualify. I was hoping though...since you were smart...that you might find that reason. Contrary to what I said at the meeting, I do think team unity is a good thing. So, we need proof for the doubters."

"Ok, if you know all that, why are you sticking your hands in my pants this second? Force of habit?" Naoko had backed him up against the wall; he was trying hard not to think about how close she was or how warm her skin felt. And, especially, not about what she was fumbling with at the moment.

"I said that I knew it wouldn't change your mind. I never said I didn't want to sleep with you." She kissed him again. "All you have to do is say no."

"..."

***

Yuu sat with her back against the fence enclosing the edge of the roof, a little ways away from the remainder of the group. She was prodding at the open bento on her lap with one hand and absentmindedly stroking a napping Kuinamon with the other, but her mind was on the meeting. It had gone far worse the last one, that was for sure. And now there wasn't any doubt that there was a deep chasm forming within the group, and that nothing good could come of it. She nearly felt like curling up in a ball right where she sat. How could this have happened?

Deciding that she wasn't going to develop an appetite any time soon, she shut her bento and set it next to her sleeping partner, looking up at the people still on the roof. She noticed the girl who had pushed Shouki earlier -- Hanarei. She was leaning on the railing now, and looked thoughtful. She considered going over and talking to her, but a part of her protested that she was probably sided with Shireika. Yuu pushed that thought aside roughly; just because she didn't entirely agree with her was no reason to avoid her.

She got up and walked over to where Hanarei stood. "Hello" she greeted her, a little more subduedly than she might have usually. "You look a little down, are you alright?"

***

"Well, we'll have to assume that the Watcher will send us the information when needed," Hanshin replied. "Of course, that might mean sending it to all of us, including Shireika and whoever chooses her side of things. Unless, my Uncle Matsuro knows who currently is protecting the key fragments. After all, he knows that they exist, so he must know who has them right now." He looked over at Shouki. "I'll send him an email, and he'll reply soon so we can get started on asking the former digi-destined for those fragments." He took in a deep breath. "I'm sure they would understand why we're asking for them, as opposed to Shireika. Thankfully, she's not guarding one herself."

***

"Don't lecture me," Shireika muttered.

"All right," Kousei replied, throwing his hands up into the air. He walked up onto the bleachers and sat down. "But, seriously, what's the big problem with him being foolish? Not like it will affect you."

"It will."

"Really?"

"You have no idea what exactly my idiotic twin brother is really up to!" Shireika exclaimed.

"Okay, time for a new topic." Kousei figured it would was best to keep her from exploding, especially with her game in a couple hours from now. "How are things?"

"How do you think things are going?" Shireika answered harshly. If Kousei weren't a member of the faculty, she would have slapped him too.

"Okay, wrong question. How's my old Coach Ishida?"

"He's doing all right, I guess."

When she sat down next to him, Kousei was relieved. This would hopefully calm her down a little so she could focus on her game. He wanted to see her do well because she was one of the best players in all of Tokyo. She could earn herself a full scholarship to Tokyo University if she proved herself to be the best on her team, and the fact that her father was the head coach for the men's team helped as well.

"He's coming to the game again this week," Shireika continued. "He said he might be able to get the women's coach to join him. Though, she should have come last week when we were playing Tokyo International."

"Yes, it probably would have been far more impressive if she saw last week's game. Just remember to make sure you keep an eye out for people who want to trip you. The coaches tend to send players to target you a lot."

"Yeah, thanks." She leaned backwards against the next row, resting her shoulders on the metal bench behind her. She looked up towards the sky and then, with a smile, towards Kousei.

***

Hanarei moved her head to see Yuu standing next to her. "Yeah," she said in a dull tone before turning her head to face the opposite direction. "I'm peachy." It was obvious that wasn't the truth. She wasn't in the mood to really talk to someone at the moment.

"Hanarei," said Himotomon, "she's trying to be nice after seeing you like this. After that little fight, swallow some pride and put up with it for once." Hanarei sighed and rolled over so her back was now leaning against the railing. She gazed over her sunglasses at Yuu as though she was suppose to saw something next. "Now tell her what's going on," Himotomon suggested. "I don't have the answers but maybe someone in the group does."

"It's rather personal or boring when you think about it."

"Do it!"

"Okay okay. Gah, you're sounding like my dad." She faced Yuu and pointed to the spot next to her on the railing. "Have a seat." Hanarei thought how to word her question without making it sound weird but there seemed to be no why around it. "Let me ask you something," she said, not looking at Yuu. "Ever since this digimon thing started, have you been seeing any kind of weird dreams or something?"

***

"Alright," Shouki said to Hanshin. "Thanks." Shouki looked over at Enma standing there with her digimon. She seemed not to be joining in the conversation or no one was talking to her. She mentioned that her family had been digidestined for several generations and was quite curious about that. "Excuse me," he said to Hanshin. Shouki walked over to Enma and stood next to her.

Kirimon floated in mid-air and watched Shouki walk to Enma. "Will you look at that. Shouki is actually going over to start a conversation." He rubbed his nose with his tail and had a smug look on his face. "I guess being around me has been a good influence on him." Shouki rolled his eyes and gave off a silent sigh. 'There must have been a mix up in the digimon delivery serive,' he thought. 'There must have been.'

"Sorry to bother you," he now said, "but you mentioned that your family was digidestined before this and mentioned some of the things they've done. Do you know if they ever had to do something like this, gathering key fragments or something? Also," Shouki wasn't sure if asking this was appropriate, but, "can I ask what kind of people the former digidestined were like? I'm just a bit curious about who they are, er, were."

***

Enma looked up at Shouki, a bit surprised by the question. "Are, for the most part." She corrected dumbly. Mitikomomon hit her with his tail, and she let out a small yelp. "You realize that rat tail of yours hurts, right?" she hissed.

"Be. Civil. Enma."

"My crest's Sincerity, not Civility." she said, earning another whack from the digimon.She turned back to Shouki, and coughed slightly. "Sorry, I'm just not used to talking to people." She said by way of an explination about her behavior. She nodded to his question. "My mother, the grief councelor here, Kodomojimita Megami, she was the last generation's Child of Sincerity...I don't know much about her stories, because we don't talk much, but my grandmother, Seijitsu Mimi, she had to gather the crests - you know, Sincerity, Courage, and the like - and there were other things, too. She also told me my mother had to get something called an 'Ancient Treasure', but I'm not sure exactly what that was." She rubbed the back of her neck. "i'm sorry I can't be more of a help, but I have a very...unusual family." She put out a hand. "I'm Kodomojimita Enma, by the way. You, uh, probably knew that, but just in case..."

"You're doing the talking-fast thing again." Mitikommon warned.

"Oh. Sorry..." she said, clearing her throat awkwardly.

***

Tegiwa pried Naoko off himself. "Uhm, no. I need to find Shireika."

Naoko kept her hands on the wall but let the skinny boy breathe a little easier. "Fine. If that’s how you want it. But, you leave Shireika alone for a bit. She'll be fine and she'll call when she needs you."

"Why would I ever believe you'd have her best interests at heart Naoko?"

"Hmmm, it's a girl thing. And, its not like I hate her, despite what you think. Let's go back up stairs...unless you might like little quality time We've gone six minutes, so they'll all think I had you anyway."

"That's why I pity you. You reinforce that image of yourself all the time, but it makes you unhappy at the same time. You are your own worst joke on yourself."

"This is why I prefer sex to conversation. Forget me. Look, the team looks split. We know where we have to be, because we won't be elsewhere. Do you think we can work together for the greater good?"

"Yeah, I suppose on those few things. As long as it's to bring us back together."

"Fine."

"Wonderful. Now, Naoko, Please get your freaking hands out of my shorts!"

"Er, oops. That was force of habit." She winked. "If you ever change your mind..." She gave him a ravenous grin.

***

"Coach Ishida used to say something similar to me," Kousei said with a grin as he looked back at Shireika.

Shireika looked at him in disbelief. She knew he hadn't been the top player on Toyko University's men's soccer team, or she would have heard much more about him from her father.

"Fine, but he'd say it a lot to everyone," Kousei said to correct himself.

"Yeah, something Dad would say."

"He used to brag how, if you were given the chance, you could steal the ball from any of us on the team."

"That's because you guys weren't good at watching the players around you. I mean, there were players from Kyoto's team that would seriously just run over you without being noticed until contact."

"But -"

"That wasn't meant as an insult at all, you know, but Dad would complain about it all the time. He still does."

Kousei chuckled and shook his head.

"What?" Shireika asked as she sat up. "I don't intend on being mean. It's what happened everytime you played Kyoto."

"Yes, yes, I know," he replied. "You're just humorous when you insult others with the truth."

"I don't mean to be offensive!"

"It's okay. Really. I don't mind." He patted her knee which was closer to him. He stopped, resting his hand on her knee as he looked intently at her. "It's what makes you who you are."

Shireika immediately looked away, a soft shade of red rising to her cheeks. This was certainly embarassing and awkward at the moment, even though no one could see them. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Kousei slowly getting closer to her, and that sight did it.

"I should get over to the locker rooms. Game starts soon!" she exclaimed as she stood up. "I'll see you later." She grabbed her bags and quickly walked back towards school.

"Bye!" Kousei called. He took in a deep breath as he watched her hurry away, noting that she wasn't heading towards the gymnasium and that she still had another two hours before she needed to be ready to play. She was certainly quite a character.

***

Shuuichi's ears perked up as he overheard Yuu and Hanarei from nearby.

"So Shuuichi, that was an interesting debate. No one seems to..." Squijimon began but Shuuichi placed his hands over Squijimon's mouth as he played close attention in eavesdropping on the two girls' conversation. "Strange images, eh?" he whispered standing up as he picked Squijimon and held him in his arms like he was a text book.

He walked towards them and just stood there in front of them. 'It explains the whole deal with the ring,' he thought as he smirked and smiled at Hanarei.

"Interesting, strange dreams now? It sounds like you're cracking. First with the ring and now you're having strange 'visions'," he said. "The only theory wouol be what my aunt Sarika called 'magic powers'. All digidestined had them. But only in the digital world. Which makes that impossible for right now. You could be our very own prophet, who knows? Then maybe you can see that following this watcher might be the right thing to do," Shuuichi said as he began to walk off towards the door. "If I'm following the watcher, then in must be right. I'm never wrong."

He opened the door and closing it behind him winked and then continued towards his locker. He forgot to put his digimon back in his backpack so when he opened the door the first person he saw was his younger sister. "What's that big brother?" she asked pointing at Squijimon.

"Ummmm, nothing just a simple, not talking, stuffed animal," he said making up some answer.

"IT'S SO CUTE!!!" she squealed as she grapped Squijimon and squeezed him hard enough to have his stuffing come out, if he had any. Shuuichi could see a death glare coming from the squid like digimon. "So who is it for?" she asked.

"Ummm," he said trying to make up some excuse.

"Is it for me?" she asked smiling.

"Ummm, sure, why not?" he said. She smiled and hugged her older brother as she ran to her locker and stuffed Squijimon in it and then ran off to meet with her friends.

"Well that takes care of him for the rest of the day," he said blushing lightly taking in that warmth from his sister's hug. He then shook his head getting rid of that warmth.

***

Hanarei whiped her head to face Shuuichi. She glared at him with disgust but saw that he was leaving before she had a chance to respond. "I DIDN'T ASK FOR YOU'RE OPINION!!!" she shouted. She was able to calm herself down before Hanarei turned to Yuu. Hanarei wasn't facing her but was giving her more if a 3/4 profile. She didn't want anyone else joining into the conversation like Shuuichi. "I'm not a prophet," she said in a much calmer voice. "It may be blurry and unclear, but everything looks old and out of date."

***

Shouki shook the hand Enma offered to him. "Oh no, it's alright. I didn't mean to put you on the spot or anything like that. I was just curious at the moment." Shouki thought over what Enma had told him. "From the sound of it, each digidestined generation has to gather something; these crests and treasures being previous generations' goals. Maybe we are suppose to gather the key fragments after all."

***

"Weird dreams?" she replied after having a seat. She honest couldn't say that she had. Maybe that's why Hanarei had been that way during the meeting, because she was worried about the dreams. That was understandable.

"Well, I haven't myself, but I don't think it's anything to worry to much about" she assured. "I mean, it's not unusual to dream about things that have happened recently, especially something as odd and amazing as this" She was about to continue when someone else from the group, Jounin Shuuichi if she remembered correctly, came up to them.

"Jounin-san, be more sensitive. And if they only had powers in the digital world, why would it happen here? I don't think this is anything out of the ordinary" He soon walked off, and Yuu turned back towards Hanarei. Shuuichi was another person she simply didn't understand.

She thought about what Hanarei had said. "Out of date?" she thought aloud, "Hanarei-san, was one of your parents one of the old digidestined? Maybe they told you stories about it a long time ago, and now you've been reminded of them. These dreams could be just old memories coming back"

***

Enma smiled slightly, though she was a little uneasy. She could live with a small group of people she knew, but this large group, even the fractered group she was now apart of, was much too large for her normal motto. "It's okay, you aren't putting me on the spot, I'm just not used to talking to people I don't know very well in general. My mother thinks I'm an anomoly, especially for our family." She rolled her eyes. "Try being the average daughter of a cardiovascular surgeon and my mom." She let out a small breath of a sigh, before thinking over Shouki's question.

"That's what I'm thinking, too - we have to gather puzzle pieces that, when brought together, will be our tool to keep the world safe for another twenty or thirty years." she said. She looked him over, before smiling. "You're the new member of Hanshin's band, aren't you? Um, no offense meant, but you're slightly...different from the other band members, aren't you? I don't normally follow the Wild Stallions, since I like older stuff from before my grandmother was born normally, or my grandfather's jazz, but..." she cocked her head, looking at him. "When I heard they were receiving a new member from Ka-from someone I know, I didn't picture...you." she said bluntly.

***

"Well, I'm glad the two of us can try to work together despite our differences. Tegiwa, are you sure you wouldn't want to play with me just a little?" Naoko moved close to Tegiwa once more. She seized his wrist and place his palm on her chest.

"Uh..." Tegiwa found his brain fogging over as his hand felt the heat of her skin through her regulation blouse. "Look, Naoko, no offence, really. But, I don't trust you even if we do share a common goal, and I really wouldn't want to touch you even using someone else's genitalia. On top of that I really don't want to make love to someone who sees me a name on laundry this of 'Guys she's had this month.' Why would I want you anyway?"

Naoko had pulled herself close to him as he prattled on. She looped an arm around his waist and run the other up behind his narrow, boney back. She almost winced at a few of his words, but she locked her eyes on his as she moved her mouth closer. "Well, I never asked you to trust me, so you'll have to figure out that for yourself. And, I'd take offence at the rest of your words; however, I don't believe you mean them...."

"W-why's that? I mean...them."

"No, you don't. I know your body wants me because that’s obvious since I'm plastered up against your body like this. Decently obvious, I might add. I'm sure your mind wants me because you haven't removed your hand from my breast and have been doing a nice job of fondling it in fact. And, well, you are a guy." She locked lips with him again and he shuddered as if electrocuted.

Tegiwa was wishing the wall behind him would collapse, so he could escape this wench. He pulled his mouth free of hers. "Yeah, ok so you turn me on. Big Deal. You pointed out that I'm a guy. It's like turning on a light, isn't it? If I had sex with you, it would be meaningless."

"Yes, you have the right idea! That's what I'd like a little of!"

"I don't think I could do that though."

"Quit thinking. Thinking too much makes you a wuss and a coward. See where it got you with Shireika? Nowhere."

"Hey! She my friend I wouldn't..."

"Exactly, and now you'll never. Girls don't like guys who can't state their feelings. It's rather hard for us. You should have taken the initiative. That's the last reason I know I can have you. You don't have the guts to say no."

"Why do you think you can give out advice on love to me? All you do is have sex."

"Honey, that's why I have sex. I was tired of the game. Now, shall we go somewhere private and relax?"

"You think I'll say yes?"

"Yep, you have your hands down my pants now." She kissed him again. "Don't look worried; I'll be gentle with you since you are new. I have a nice place made up under the stadium. Let's go."

"...Okay. But, who said it was my first time."

"I just know these things." Why did guys have to put up this ridiculous front of having had lots of girls even when it was painfully obvious they didn't know their way around their body let alone another's? It drove Naoko to distraction. The only one who could brag about conquests was her, and perhaps Ami. Naoko was certain these things should be evaluated like the Olympics. Ami was clearly a profession and out of the running.

***

"Maybe we are," Hanshin mused. "I still think we should. We have to for the safety of our world." He looked back at Shouki and Enma. "Anyway, Shouki was the best person for the job. We had some pretty bad bassists come along, and he showed the most passion for the music. That's what's important." He grinned a little. "My mother believed that what is most important is the passion behind the music or anything, or it won't mean anything to anyone. Not even the person himself. Anyway, I hope to see you guys later tonight at Neko-san's before the concert. I'll see what I can find out from my Uncle Matsuro about the key fragments."

***

"Great game, ladies!" the coach of the girls' soccer team said as the girls began packing up their belongings after the game. The scoreboard in the background read 10-0, with Tokyo Academy as the winner, which had been expected.

Shireika wiped her face off with a towel from her bag and was about to put it back into her gym bag, which she spotted another yellow rose that had been tucked into it. She pulled it out and set it aside on the bench.

"Ooh! Another rose from your secret admirer!" a teammate cooed when she saw the yellow rose. "Have you figured out who it is?"

"No," Shireika lied. She didn't particularly want to reveal who it was, since she didn't want to bring attention to herself about it. It was a bit awkward and embarassing to think about. She stuff the towel back into her gym bag and stood up. She had removed her cleats and had slipped on some sneakers instead. "Well, I'll see you on Monday." She grabbed her bags and the yellow rose and started to head to the bleachers.

She stood at the bottom of her school's side and looked around, hoping to find the face of one of the digi-destined. She hoped that some of the other digi-destined had listened to her and agreed with her. She knew Tegiwa would, and she hoped at least he would be here right now to discuss things.

***

Hanshin laid down the couch, resting his head in Naoko's lap. It was getting close to 5 PM. He had arrived early to the club to check out the stage and the club so he knew what to expect, and this certainly was going to be a better venue for their band. He had been surprised that Naoko had arrived just as early, but then again, she sort of was their manager.

"This is far better than what we had before," he said as a way to thank her. He never actually did say "thank you" directly. Just wasn't his style. "Anyway, how did things go with Tegiwa?" He paused. "Let me guess. He's sticking with Shireika until further notice?"

***

"Old... memories?" Hanarei repeated. She thought it over but she couldn't figure out something. "No, my dad told me stories about the digidestined only a week ago. I don't see how that would effect me this way." She looked up into the sky as though looking for an answer. "But still, old memories?"

***

"Well that was boring," Hanarei mumbled to herself as she sat on the top bleacher after watching the game. "The other team wasn't able to hurt anyone badly. They tried I guess." She was out of her school uniform and back in her casual clothes. Himotomon was back in the bag. Now that it was the end of the game Hanarei thought about heading for the meeting with Shireika and everyone else. She saw Shireika heading for the bottom of bleachers. "Oi! Princess!" Hanarei shouted. She jumped down the bleachers several rows at a time before landing next to Shireika.

Himotomon forced her way to the top of the bag so she could breath once more. "Never jump down these steps again if I'm with you," she said to Hanarei. "I was this close to seeing my lunch a second time today."

"Not in my bag." She turned her attention back to Shireika. "Well I'm here. And I hope I'm not the only one to come."

***

Nikko hung out along the side of bleachers. Since there was that fight at the last game, he wanted to make sure there wasn't a repeat today. He scanned the area to see how many students were remaining after the game. He heard several thumps from the bleachers and noticed his daughter.

'I wonder what she's heading for?' he thought. He saw the bag which he knew carried her digimon in it. The flap popped open when Hanarei stood next to Shireika. "So she's one of them too," Nikko stated as he looked at Shireika. "Being a digidestined definitely runs in that family. I wonder if Tommy knows about it yet?"

***

Shouki thought over Enma's comment but wasn't surehow to resopnd. "Uh, thank you?" he finally said. "And I wouldn't say I was the most passionate with my music. I just practice a lot," he said to Hanshin.

"C'mon Shouki, boast for once in your life. Say 'Yes, I was the best because I pour my spirit into my music.' Now you try."

"...."

"We'll work on that later I suppose."

Shouki did know he was passionate about his music but never really wanted to say it. Having a passion for something usually had a meaning to it. Shouki didn't want to explain that his passion was an outlet for his sorrow.

***

Shouki looked around at the new club they would be performing at. Kirimon was in his bag since Shouki didn't know if Yukio and Hiroshi were going to suddenly pop out of no where. That didn't keep Kirimon from peeking out of the bag. He sat down in oen of the chairs and continued to look around. "This place does look rather nice," he commented.

Shouki overheard Hanshin's comment to Naoko. "I don't know which is scarier," said Shouki to Kirimon. "The fact that we'll be playing in a new place and crowd or the fact that I'm now used to hearing about Naoko's personal life without flinching."

***

“Hey, I hear you. I’m glad we haven’t had to fight about anything yet. Hmm? What do I think?” Tomeo asked, feeling unsure what to say, as he accompanied Asayake through the school halls. It looked like he had no choice now but to answer, but he was confident that his beliefs were in-line with Asayake’s, thus he would not have to go head-to-head with her. However, it wouldn’t mean that he was right.

“Well, it might be obvious, but I don’t trust the Watcher. I can’t trust the Watcher, because I don’t know him… or her. Whatever.” He looked down at Parumon, almost considering asking her for a moment, but she had gone into silent mode thanks to the students who were still wandering the halls.

“So, I’m going to meet Shireika after her match. I have track practice again today, anyway.” he said off-handedly, and couldn’t help but think about the others that agreed with Hanshin. “I mean, I can see the other’s point of view. I can understand they want to save the world. But by using an evil power? And just because of the word by e-mail from some stranger? Didn’t they read enough storybooks and watch enough TV as kids to know what evil is, and to be wary of strangers? Evil corrupts, no matter how great the good, end of story. And bad people prey on the naïve and gullible every day, can’t they see that? I don’t see it that way because I’m pessimistic, it’s just a fact of reality. People cheat on their partners, children get abducted, women get abused by men, hackers corrupt, robbers kill… it’s horrific to think of, but it’s true. They could have admitted that the Watcher could be any of the above, with his motive being power. It’s not a fact that he is, but in these times and in this world it’s the most likely. I just don’t understand, I thought they’d be a little smarter than that. But, I guess I was wrong… I suppose they might learn the hard way, but what if the hard way ends up with them becoming hurt, or worse? What if they end up dead? They might think they’ll be heroes because they’re going up against the risks involved, but do they even truly know what they are?” He sighed, shaking his head.

“And I feel there’s something hidden that we can’t see. Something that we can’t comprehend yet. Like, we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg, compared to what’s to come. And, I don’t like it. I can tell it’s going to be bad, really bad. Maybe uber-bad, even. And it’s all going to happen, the moment that door unlocks. And if it happens before that? We need to be ready for anything. We need to have our digimon as strong as they’re meant to be. It could come with time, but whose to say how much time we have? Maybe that’s what made some of the others insecure enough to go with Hanshin’s way of thinking. But I don’t think so. We would have heard more from the Watcher, if there was. I think something bad’s coming… but not yet.”

***

"You're not the only one." Tomeo answered Hanarei, as he approached her and Shreika on the bleachers. "Present and accounted for!"

"Make that including the boy, too." Parumon giggled, poking her head out of Tomeo's carry bag. She looked towards Shireika. "Hey girl, you've got some great footwork. You humans really have a thing going on in this game!"

"Oh yeah, great game, Shreika! You really knocked 'em dead, I can't believe the away team never scored! What's the deal with the yellow rose, though? A fan of yours?" he mused, spotting the flower in Shireika's hands.

***

"Am I late?" Asayake said, making her way to the small gathering on the bleachers. "Sorry I wasn't at the game, but soccer isn't really my thing, Shireika. No offense or anything, really. Nice win, though!" She was really quite happy to see Tomeo there, and flashed him a quick smile.

Rogishimon fluffing herself up and peeped happily at Shireika. "Oh, what a pretty flower! Do you eat them here, too? I like flowers."

"No, Rogishimon, we don't eat them. Some people do, but I don't think Shireika wants to eat her rose."

***

Enma looked around the outside of the club they were supposed to be meeting at. "Well, this looks like so much fun." She muttered to herself. She preferred to stay away from most clubs, minus the Jazz Lounge, and found herself standing outside, with her hand on the door, but not moving.

"C'mon, go in!" Mitikomomon demanded. "I'm cold, an' hungry, an'.."

"And bouncier than hell." Enma finished for him, finally manipulating the handle and opening the door carefully.

The place wasn't crowded, but she could tell it was much too early for the club's benefactors to start pouring in. "Now, where do we go?"

***

Shuuichi had only entered a few moments before Enma and turned around to see her. "Enma, right? I think this way. Though we might have to get a little sneeky, just in case. Hanshin never said that he was going to be out here waiting for us so we wouldn't have to worry about guards and such," he said as he grabbed her hand.

"I think he said backstage so it must be this way," he pointed as he held her hand. He constantly looked behind to make sure she was there. "Hmmm, maybe this door?" he said as he knocked on it and waited. "Ummm, Hanshin, anyone? This is Shuuichi. Oh hell, please be the right one and not the bouncer's louge room."

***

The roof of the cement block storage unit under the stadium was warm even though the day had been a bit brisk. Naoko lay on the sleeping bags she kept up here for her rendezvous. The lip of the roof was a half meter high, and the only access was by ladder which was on the roof as well, so her love nest was private. It could be a bit more exciting during a game though when the stands, an arms length above her, filled with cheering fans. At those times it was like they were cheering her.

She rested on Tegiwa who was hugging her to himself with his thin arms. His body was hard and bony against her plush and smooth skin. She watched as his chest rose and fell slowly during his drowsing. She had managed to exhaust him over the course of an hour. He had put up an admirable performance for someone a inexperienced. Enthusiasm won in place of style.

She looked at him closely. His hair was a darker blond than Hanshin's, and his skin was the color of chestnut. She wondered if his mother might have been fooling around with a islander since this boy's parents were pale, especially his mother. Tegiwa was well cut, but not muscular though his grip and his form did not lack strength. He lacked any sign of body fat that would obscure his musculature. Under his baggy clothes, Naoko felt he would look undernourished but this was not the case.

She kissed her napping lover on his shallow navel and softly worked her way up to his mouth. He barely stirred.

Her ring told her she had to leave at once for the club to finish the arrangements. So, she slipped off the flannel bag and dress herself in her black leather mini, faded "SuperTramp" tee (she hoped the other's got the irony), and ankle high Doc Marten's with neon red laces.

"Sleep well dear one. Maybe you'll miss your meeting. You deserve better than her..." Ladder in place, she left the roof and made for the club.

***

Resting in the Green Room, Naoko smiled at Hanshin while she caressed his blond locks; his hair was silky and perfect as always, but managed to look masculine at the same time. Of all the guys she knew or "knew" Hanshin was her favorite. Maybe, it was because she knew he'd never fall in love with her just for having sex with him; somehow, that was a comfort to her, albeit it a cold comfort. She never need be jealous of any of his other dates though often she was. The sex was merely very good sex among all.

She traced the outlines of his face and his lips. He had praised her, and she felt warm inside.

This was the thing that made her different than the other band girls, at least in her opinion: she believed in Hanshin and his music, so much so that she would put all of herself into promoting him and influencing his rise to stardom.

She softly brushed her lips against his and flicked his mouth with her tongue before answering him. "You know he'll follow your sister no matter what he thinks, but I think we can still use him. He can give us info about what /she/ is up to. And, if anyone can find the Watcher or find info anyway it's that boy. He might help to bring the others to us if he gives them something tangible. Anyway, he said he wants to bring us all together. He'll be of some use.

"I know I enjoyed him. I hope to again. ...That reminds me. I'll be taking Shouki out after the show. I hope you don't mind. I'm sure the new girls would love to both get you tonight."

***

Tegiwa woke on the roof feeling drained and disoriented. He was feeling chilled and had an overwhelming sense of regret which he couldn't explain at first. As he looked around everything sudden became clear. He was naked in a sleeping bag on the storage compartment under the stadium because he had...and then she had...what was the matter with him! He had nailed Naoko just like every other guy and half the girls in the district. He felt sick.

All his illusions about being different than the other guys just vanished.

How could he despise Hanshin when he was the same? Easy, he could now look forward to despising himself now, he guessed.

He dressed, and as he dressed he noticed that Naoko's smell, a hint of perfume mixed with her own unique scent, lingered on his skin and clothing and pervaded his nose. It stirred him to life again so much that he regretted her absence. He knew what she was, but he respected the tenderness she had shown him. He doubted he would see her again, but he despaired that he could never have her as his only. She was a wisp of fog slipping from his fingers.

***

Tegiwa managed to make the meeting, but only just. "Hey, yeah, great game as always... Another flower? You'd think he'd give up. I'd think your message was clear Shireika.

"So, what are we going to do about this key? If the fates sealed the power away, I bet we are the only ones who can get it. They like to put tests and things in so that only a true crest holder can obtain the item. That’s what Mom and G-san told me. But, since Hanshin and gang are a legit as us, we may have to intervene against them. Does anyone have troubles with that?"

***

Shireika blushed while she hid the flower away in her gym bag.

"I guess you call him a fan," she said softly before she heard Tegiwa's comment. She looked up, raising an eyebrow. What was he talking about? What message? She looked around the others who were discussing Hanshin and his followers. "We can't let Hanshin and whoever helps him get that key." She sat down placing her bag on the bleachers. "After all, you heard what they were saying. They wanted to prove themselves. They want some glory, and I don't trust anyone who plans to save the world because they want fame for it. I find that a little disconcerning to know that they have motives other than just helping other people. They want to help themselves."

"Plus, they think they're too good for us, or something," Alatusmon added as he popped out of Shireika's bag. "Did you hear Naoko, and what she was saying about us?"

***

"Fine with me," Hanshin said as he sat up, hearing Shuuichi arrive in the band's dressing room. "Hey, Shuuichi. Enma." He waved a hand to both of them, motioning for them to come back in. "We're just waiting on Yuu, I guess." He leaned back on the couch he was sitting in the middle of. "So, I emailed my Uncle Matsuro. He said that he didn't know who was protecting each key fragment, even though he looked into it. He said something about how only the protectors would know and that he suspected that even the protectors would be secretive about it." He sighed. "I honestly think that once we figure out who has the key fragments, they would be willing to hand them over. Don't you think so?" He scratched his head. "We could talk to each of the former digi-destined and tell them our situation. They'll probably be more than willing to help us, considering they had been digi-destined before too.

***

"Any trouble with that?" Hanarei repeated in surprise about Tegiwa's comment. "You'll have to hold me back once we get started." She pounded her fist in her palm. "I want back at Naoko for the things she said about me, um, us."

"One question Princess, how are we going to keep them from getting the key when we don't even know where they'll be heading? If the Watcher will be staying in contact with only those who follow him, we'll have to do a bit of spying on the others. Either that or steal at least one key piece from them if they get a hold of one."

***

Shouki thought over what Hanshin had said about asking for the key pieces. "It's worth a try," he said. "Do you happen to know all of the previous digidestined or could you ask your uncle if he does? We know some of them already though. Shuuichi, you mentioned something about your Aunt I believe. Enma, you said yourself you come from a long line of digidestined. And that Hanarei girl said something about her dad being one I think." Shouki went through everyone else that he knew of. "That's everyone I can think of except for you Hanshin."

"Hey, ditzy," said Kirimon.

"Yes?"

"Naoko mentioned you about later."

Shouki did hear the last part of Naoko's conversation with Hanshin. He scratched the back of his head and looked away from the rest of the group. He had almost forgotten about that. It was nice of Naoko to take him out like this but he hoped it wouldn't lead to certain reputations for me.

***

"You're never late, Asayake-san." Tomeo told her, and gave her a brief but cheerful smile back. Asayake had been the first friend he had that had taken a pure solid interest in him, which he was happy to see. He turned his attention over to the talk of the current events, which seemed to shift from the topic of Shireika's rose to Hanshin and his followers. His mind floated back, for a moment, to what Tegiwa had said. Was he hinting that the flower meant Shireika's fan was more than a fan? Not important now, but he tucked that little tidbit of information away in his memory for later thought.

"Um, I don't think it's important right now, to dwell on whatever Naoko said at that meeting. If we let it get to us, then she wins." Tomeo spoke out. "But, yes, I do have a problem going up against them. Most of us got along just fine with them the first time around, and they seem to be nice people. But they're drawing the line and stepping over it, if they think they can just go ahead and unlock some evil power under the directions of a stranger. Good intentions or not, they're still dealing with powers beyond their control. So if we have to go up against them to stop them from causing more havoc, then we have no other choice. If this is all that's showing up today, the five of us, take that away from the eleven digidestined total and we have six on Hanshin's side. We may be outnumbered - I don't like those odds, but we'kll take 'em all the same."

He sat down at a seat on the bleachers, but continued talking as he looked in Hanarei's direction. "And the Watcher may not know yet that we're not following him, so there's a chance he may send us e-mails. But that's a chance we can't afford to take. You're right Hanarei, we do have to operate under the assumption that he may not send any at all and that we may have to safeguard a fragment of the key to stop Hanshin and co." He didn't know what else to call them. It seemed like Hanshin was going to lead the other team to follow his decision one way or another, so he'd have to stick to referring them under his name for the moment.

"I think your uncle Matsuro, Shireika-san, said that all the fragments are under the protection of the previous crest holders, or something?" Tomeo remembered as he turned to Shireika, trying to remember the first meeting's information correctly. "If that's the case, we can simply ask one of them for a fragment, or as many fragments as possible he can get. He shouldn't steal them... we don't need to sink to their level." he implied, hoping everyone would understand which other digi-destined team he meant. "Oh, and one other thing, before I completely shut up and let someone else have a say... on behalf of the new digidestined who may be present, could someone explain to me what crests are, and what they do? Parumon failed to inform me anything about those. Sorry, but I just don't get what significance they have. Why are they important?"

"Hey, it's not my fault I don't know!" Parumon snickered, clambering out of Tomeo's bag and onto the seat to get some fresh air. "For one thing I do know about them, they're definately not of the hill or mountain variety, but I think that's pretty much implied. I do know pretty much everything else, though..." she bragged, swishing her small reptilian tail about.

***

Tegiwa grew uneasy as the rest of the gang looked at him questioningly. He had spoken out of turn, and he felt terribly about it. He hadn't even noticed the others-who knew nothing of all this, just the flower. Perhaps Kousei hadn't had the riot act read to him yet.but, he was certain the couch had seen her reaction that day. His tawny skin took on a read glow.

"Uh, that is to say, I thought we figured out it was Kaze with the flowers, and you told him to quit stalking you. Stupid little bro 'o' mine." He sucked at lying. Just plain sucked.

He put his hand behind his head. "Well, Naoko seems to think we aren't cool enough for her crowd, namely Hanshin. I scan this digidestined team seems to made of opposing strata. But, that's a dumb reason to split the group."

"Hanrei is right. We must head them off before they do something stupid. I really don't want to seem them hurt though they said all that junk about me. Now, I remember Mom saying her digivice had some sort of radar in it. Maybe, these do as well. Unfortunately, I haven't played with my digivice yet. Mom would be so disappointed."

Tegiwa looked around in an effort to avoid Shireika's gaze. If she knew.he would just burst into flames on the spot. But, after that comment he'd be luck to leave with a bruise tonight.

He pounced on Tomeo's question like it was a life preserver. "Well, no one knows what the crests /are/ exactly. Mom had a few ideas: 'In one respect, they are the symbols of ancient power associated with personal attributes. Each crest holder is supposed to embody that trait in some way. In another respect, they are catalysts for the chosen since that trait becomes his or her internal mechanism for powering that person's digimon.' Or something like that. Personally, I think they'd make rad tats."

***

Naoko listened to Hanshin and smiled at the brilliant simplicity of his plan. Yes, the adults would listen to reason. Or they should as long as the group acted quickly. Shireika could make things harder for them. She patted Hanshin's arm.

Suzumon, who had perched himself on the shoulder exposed by the cut-out neck of her shirt, wished in her ear: "How often do you have to do that with people, Naoko? "

"What?" she hissed.

"Mate."

"Oh, as often as I can. But, I don't have to do it; I just like to."

"Oh!"

"You should try it."

"Uhm, digimon don't mate. We copy."

"Sounds like a boring life."

When the others had finished talking, she produced a surprise.

"Ok peps, I made up some Wild Stallions shirts for us. It has the horsy logo on the back and 'Wild Stallions: The Watcher tour' on the front."

***

"I agree with Hanarei. Spying is our best option," Shireika said. "We're going to have to follow Hanshin and his crew wherever they go or keep track of them. Thankfully, the digivices have that capability. Still, we can't count on getting information from the Watcher. The Watcher may or may not send all of us information, and they might be finding other resources to get information they want. In which case, while we could do the same thing, they could be ten steps ahead of us." She paused. "And I highly doubt that any of the former digi-destined would be willing to hand over a key fragment to a divided group of digi-destined. I doubt they would even be willing to give any part of the key period. If we think the power is dangerous, they probably do too. Don't you think so?"

***

"All right. So we go around and ask the former digi-destined if they have the key fragments and see if they'll give them to us," Hanshin said. "I had written a message to my Uncle Matsuro asking who the former digi-destined were. He gave me a list: my parents, Shuuichi's aunt, Hanarei's father, Enma's mother, Tegiwa's mother, and a woman by the name of Kaiki Mirai.

"So, I could ask my father. Shuuichi, you should check in with your aunt. Enma, talk with your mother. I think those are easiest since you guys are related to them. What about the rest of you? We've got Hanarei's father, aka our vice principal, Tegiwa's mother, and Kaiki Mirai. What do you guys want?" he asked as he looked up at Naoko, Shouki and Yuu.

***

"Tomeo, haven't you ever heard of that ancient phrase 'be a thief to catch a thief?'" said Hanarei. "We may very well have to sink to their level if we're going to keep up with them or possibly be ahead of them. I just hope none of us have to do anything the prostitute does. If so, I'm out."

This was going to be a difficult task for all of them Hanarei thought. "One can only hope the former digidestined won't be willing to hand over key pieces so easily. I'm not sure if they would be willing to hand them to us even if we explained our side of the story. I guess one advantage is the fact we have several people who are related to digidestined in this group so we can know when Hanshin's group comes to them. And good luck with pretty boy, Princess. You have to live under the same roof with their leader."

***

Shouki shook his head slightly when Naoko held up a shirt for them to wear on this trip. She certainly was right. She would promote their quest to no end and make sure everyone knew about it.

When Hanshin listed all of the other digidestined, Shouki raised his hand into the air. "If it's okay with everyone else, I'll take Kaiki Mirai. I've just heard stories about our VP and I'm a little unsure what he would do if I were to ask him about such a thing. I don't want to sudden get detention for asking that."

***

"Damn it...can't I take Tegiwa's mother instead; she likes me more than my mother does, even though it's not by much." Enma said. She knew she'd be the one to talk with her mother regardless, but it would be a lot easier if the person she had to talk to was her grandmother instead. She smiled toward Shouki, putting a quick pet on his shoulder. "You know, I don't know much about this Kaiki Mirai person, but our VP's not that bad...as long as you're not a trouble maker." She rubbed the back of her neck casually as she thought. She looked up at Naoko's shirts, before slapping her face with her hand. "I can't...no, it shouldn't surprise me..." She shook her head, before pushing a strand of cherry red hair out of her face as she sat down in a chair. "How could you even get those done so fast? My grandmother's manager takes about a month to get her shirts done." she said as an afterthought, still holding her head in her hands.

***

Yuu still felt a little sheepish for being the last to arrive, and listened attentively to what Hanshin and the others had to say. "Well, I've never met any of them except for the vice principal..." she had been briefly introduced on her first day at school, "... but I'd be fine talking to either of the others, if that's the way it works out"

She looked bemusedly at the T-shirts Naoko was handing out and politely took one. She, too, wondered how on earth they had been printed so fast. Naoko was a strange girl.

***

"I'd hope so," Asayake huffed, "Or else these former digidestened couldn't have been very smart at all. Unless they've got inside information, there's no chance they'd give up the shards to a group of kids who can't even seem to agree with each other. Then again, Lord knows I'm no expert on these things. I'm still learning to control birdface here." She said, jabbing her thumb at Rogishimon. The little bird puffed up and tried to bite Asayake's thumb, but she retracted it fast enough to keep it away from Rogishimon's beak. Slightly dejected, Rogishimon settled with pouting.

"Bully."

***

Shuuichi listened to the assignment. "Alright, cap-i-tan," he said in a dull bored tone. "Still wondering how you became leader. I guess it comes with the uncle, the opposing sister, a child of light, a child of two people who sound like a popular couple, and being older with a band," he said trying to show his sarcasm.

"My aunt will be a piece a cake, but think about it people, what about the opposers. Hanarei especially. Tegiwa and Hanarei's relative will be the toughest to get to. What is the goal of the others? To stop us, right? They want to make sure we don't form this key and destroy the world because the watcher is some Satan digital creature that wants to cover our world is pitch darkness, and we are his unsuspecting victims. THEY know we are after this key thing. THEY probably know who has it and THEY know we're going to ask them for it. They aren't stupid, I'll give them that, and foolish is what they are. They will probably try at all means to stop us," he said standing up pacing the room. "Hanarei and Tegiwa will either steal the key before we get there or they will interrupt all attempts at contacting their relative. They can do that," he said. "and they don't turn off, stupid digivices. Either way we can be the hunters or the hunted."

***

Naoko blushed at Enma's and Yuu's comments since she figured astonishment as good as a compliment. She moved her hand as if to dismiss the comment. "Oh, it's nothing but advance planning. I ordered the t-shirts with this back awhile ago; the ones we have on sale year are still last year's. See? I was going to add a new front graphic, but we haven't come up with one yet. Well, when the Watcher question came up, I had these made for the digidestined. That reminds me, Hanshin, we still need the graphic for this year's shirts discuss it with the boys please. Thanks.

"Look, I know you all are thinking I slept with the printer or something. But, that really has nothing to do with it. You can't sleep around and use it to get what you want. I had to work hard to get these done. And, even with my foresight, I had to pay the extra setup fees.

"I take Hanshin's band very seriously."

Suzumon cavorted around on Naoko's shoulder. "See, see, how great she is. All that work and she didn't, uhm, sleep with , um, whoever. She did this on her own."

"Uh, Suzumon, thanks. But, that's not what I said; I said it didn't get me any favors. That would be right. The owner's daughter, Hitachi Ume, is the Printer's Assistant there, and we've been cuddling together since eight grade. But, I never expect and rarely get," she glanced at Hanshin with reserve, "any special treatment based on my relations with someone."

Suzumon looked as confused as purple tinfoil could. "So, why do you, um, sleep around?"

She couldn't believe she was going into this. Through tight lips she said: "Well, it's pleasurable and it gives other's pleasure. I especially like to sleep with "

"Then why was that guy in pain? He was moaning!"

"That wasn't pain; that was pleasure." Naoko started to redden a little. "Enough Suzu!"

"Wait! One more question. If you sleep with your friends and since I'm your partner.does that mean you'll sleep with me?"

Naoko buried her face in her hands. It wasn't clear if she were laughing or crying, but seem like it could be both. "Ask me when you grow up, Suzu. But, I doubt it."

"I'll take Tegiwa's mom. It should be interesting to see how many colors Tegiwa can turn when I come to the door."

***

Tegiwa felt more awkward as the meeting continued. He seemed to be saying the wrong things and his mood was all over the place. Plus, he kept thinking about what happened between Naoko and him. Half of him wanted to shower in paint thinner, and the other half wanted to find her again, take her in his arms, and never let go for making him feel so great. Where is a crate of lithium when you need one?

"We have no other path to follow but the one they leave us unless we can learn where the key frags are stashed. But, they don't know where they yet, do they? So, we have a little time. I'll watch Naoko's tail..er..I'll tail Naoko. She will be collecting their data with certainty."

***

Sho paced around the living room of their new apartment. He eyed various arrangements of odds and end while making minute adjustments to all of them.

Karen sat on the couch growing tired of watching Sho. "Honey, stop your fiddling."

"I just want everything to be perfect."

"Well, I think you've tried every possible arrangement; you seem to be repeating yourself."

"Ach. You're right."

Karen scanned the room with dissatisfaction of her own. "Hon, why did we moved here the rooms are so small."

"Because they are bigger than any of the old buildings and our old house." Sho joined his wife on the couch.

"I know. It just feels like there is pressure."

"Well, there is. Outside is at least 4 atmospheres." Sho dimmed the light and opened the curtains with the remote. "We didn't move here for the space. We came for the view."

The curtains parted to reveal a panoramic display on the opposite side of a wall made of glass. Multicolor coral formed themselves in heaps and mounds in a view that stretched before them to the left and right as well as reaching skyward for the sun. The waters were alive with all manner of fish dressed in every color of the natural world in infinite patterns. The wall of the Sho living room was a living mosaic of marine life set 20 meters from the apartment interior.

***

"Thanks, Hanarei," Shireika said before the child of hope left. "Anyway, we better keep an eye on them, no matter what happens. None of them can be trusted, and whether or not the former digi-destined hand over the key fragments, we have to keep them away from the key. Even if it means spying on them and following them around. But, yes, it's highly unlikely the former digi-destined would give up those fragments to them, no matter the reasons. The key unlocks an extremely dangerous power, belonging to a powerful evil entity. There is no way any logical digi-destined would allow anyone access to that power, and this means our fellow digi-destined who are following Idiot Boy will have to steal it from the former digi-destined." She shook her head in disbelief. "So, I guess that's it. Keep an eye on them with your digivice or actually follow them. Let's check in every few days to discuss what we've seen or heard. Okay?"

***

"Okay, since no one is willing to volunteer between our vice principal and Mirai, I'll make that decision," Hanshin said with a sigh. "Yuu, talk with our vice principal. You're the newest at the school, so you don't have a record like the rest of us. Besides, from what I've heard, he's nicer when students are new." He looked over at Shouki. "You take Mirai, if you can find her. If not, let me know, and I'll talk with my Uncle Matsuro." He turned towards Naoko and grinned. "Tegiwa's mother is all yours." He winked. "Be sure to have another talk with Tegiwa, won't you? You seem to enjoy him, right?" He looked up at the others. "All right then. Is that settled? Go have a talk with the former digi-destined, and see what you can find out about those key fragments. Sooner the better. Can we all do it tomorrow?"

***

Yuu tried her best to more or less ignore Naoko's dialogue, and ended up staring uncomfortably at the shirt in her lap. That girl sure was very... open.

She looked back up at Hanshin when he spoke. "Alright, I'll get to him as soon as I can" she answered with a small nod. She was beginning to feel a little nervous about this; she would be talking to an adult she barely knew about a subject he might very well want to leave in the past. She might not have a record, but she hoped she wouldn't aquire one.

She pushed the thought aside. He was the Vice Principal, and this was important.

***

Tegiwa spoke up again hoping to keep his feet as far away from his mouth as possible. "They accuse us of not being serious, then charge out of here like a bunch of twits playing heroes. I'd like to know something Shireika: how much does this key thing mean to your brother? And, how far will he go when he's serious? I guess we need to be ready to stop them, don't you think? ..no matter what happens..."

He hoped they'd keep playing of course, but if dark forces were at work, he feared all their lives may be put on the line.

***

Naoko ignored the group reaction to her dialogue; she was used to making people uncomfortable. "Sure, I'll talk with him again. He was very nice. Nothing like you, but after a few private lessons he'll be ready to make any girl smile. I hope the females of the school appreciate my efforts. It takes so much time and sacrifice to train a boy these days."

***

Shouki nodded his head after all of the comments he heard about the VP. He had never really met himself except maybe at the orientation and other ceremonies but that was it. He usually tried to keep a low profile. Still, he was relieved he didn't get him. "I'll try my best at finding Kaiki Mirai. I'll probably be asking your uncle for some last where-abouts but I'll see what I can find on my own."

***

"Hanshin's determined when he is," Shireika said as she shook her head. "If he really wants it, he'll do anything to get it: women, money, fame, even that stupid key." She looked up at the others. "We just have to keep an eye out for Hanshin and his crew and make sure they don't make the wrong move. I have a bad feeling about them listening to the Watcher."

***

Hanshin stumbled through the front door into the living room around 9:30 AM. He slammed the door behind him. The concert last night had gone well, but it was exhaustive. Not to mention, Ami and Sakura had kept him busy for most of the night.

Shireika was sitting in the kitchen with bowl of ramen and some scrambled eggs. She put down the bowl and leaned her head against a hand.

"Well, you're back particularly early. Bad night?" she asked.

"No," Hanshin replied as he dumped his stuff on a couch in the living room.

"So, then why are you here?"

"What does it matter to you?"

"I don't know. I've never seen you up earlier than noon on a Sunday since elementary school."

"Shut up. Where's Dad?"

Shireika leaned back and tapped the edge of her bowl with her chopsticks.

"Still going after those damned key fragments?" she asked.

"I'm just going to ask about them," Hanshin said to defend himself. "Besides, at least I'm doing something about this dark queen."

"You don't even know if the Watcher's words are true! I say you're getting yourself involved without enough information."

"Well, what are we supposed to do? A little faith, Shireika. You are the child of fate."

"Don't use that against me. You're the one being stupid. Anyway, Dad's in his study."

"Thanks."

As Hanshin left the kitchen, Shireika watching him intently.

"Idiot Boy," she muttered as she grabbed her computer off the table to write a message to Tomeo, Asayake, Tegiwa and Hanarei.

[Hey there,

So, it looks like Idiot Boy managed to get them all to start asking for the key fragments. If you see any of them, keep an eye on them.

-Shireika]

***

Hanshin knocked on the door to his father's study softly.

"Dad?" he asked through the closed door.

"Come in," Tommy replied.

Hanshin opened the door slowly, seeing his father watching a small television to examine plays.

"Could I talk to you?" Hanshin asked.

"Sure," Tommy answered as he turned off the television. "What's up?"

"You wouldn't happen to have a fragment of this key?" He held out a picture towards Tommy.

"Where did you learn about this?"

"We need it."

"This is dangerous, Hanshin."

"Dad, the digi-destined need it!"

***

Hanarei hung out on the couch watching whatever it was Yume was watching. It was some extra sugar-coated anime which seemed to be the best thing on at the moment. Hanarei heard her mini-com give off a beep that an email was coming in. She read the email and quickly sent a reply.

[I'll keep a look out. I'm at home right now along with my dad so if anyone comes by I'll be ready. And see? Isn't it fun to give people nicknames? - Hanarei]

As though it were rehearsed, the moment Hanarei pressed "send" did Kosame call up to them from the store downstairs. "Nikko? There's someone here to see you. She looks like a student."

Nikko, who was looking over the newspaper, set it down and headed for the door. Hanarei saw this and quickly hopped up from the couch.

"Where are you going?" Yume asked.

"None of your business," Hanarei replied. She followed her dad quietly without saying a word. Once he was down the stairs, Hanarei went down part way and sat down in the middle of the stairway, watching him and whoever Hanshin sent over here.

***

Yuu stood there in the back of the flower shop. She couldn't believe that this was the address to their vice-principal resisdence. She saw him walk down the stairs and she felt a bit nervous. "Hello," he said in a kind voice. "How may I help you?"

She felt a little better about this but was still nervous. "um, hello. I'm a new student at your school. My first name is Yuu. I was wondering if you, uh...." It was going to be hard to ask this casually so she tried asking it right away. "I was wondering if you knew anything about digimon and a key fragment?"

Nikko's eyes grew several sizes at those words. "How do you know about those?" he asked.

"It's a long story. But please Mr. Mayonaka, we need those key pieces."

Nikko stared at her in silence after that statement. "And you7re not getting them," he said coldly.

***

Shouki walked up to the address which he wrote down after asking Hanshin and his uncle. "I guess this is the place then," he said as he tucked away the piece of paper. "Gah, I hope this doesn't seem to odd or anything. But with any luck...." He rang the doorbell and waited outside.

***

Enma rubbed her eyes as she walked out of her bedroom. Talking to her mother was going to be the hardest thing she had ever done. After bartering guitar lessons, of course. She walked into the kitchen, before stopping. "Where's dad?" she asked. Megami looked up from the stove, shrugging.

"He was called into the hospital for something or other." Megami waved a spatula in the air, before motioning for Enma to sit. "I'm making walnut pancakes."

Enma walked into the kitchen, grabbing a bowl and some cereal. "Walnuts aren't my thing." she said, fumbling with the box to open it up. She poured some cereal into the bowl, before going over to the icebox and looking around for some milk. She only looked up when she heard the sound of the spatula hitting the side of the stove.

"Well, what is your *thing* then, Enma!" Megami said. "I swear, the transition into adulthood was easier with Nishi and Kou." She went back to the pancake, flipping it in the air.

"Mom, just calm down." Enma said, pouring milk onto her cereal and grabbing a silver spoon. She put it into her mouth as she put the milk away. She sat on the counter, thinking. "So...Mom, know anything about the Digital World?"

Megami spun around. Enma clutched her heart dramatically, letting out a groan. "Oh, if looks could kill!" she cried. Megami glared at her youngest daughter over her glasses.

"No."

Enma blinked. "No, what?"

"No, you are not going to the Digital Wolrd, no you are not allowed to be a Digidestined, and no, I will not support this." She said, turning back to the pancakes and turning the stove off. "Have I covered all the bases?"

"Uh..what about these key fragment...things?" Enma tried.

Megami's face was blank as she turned back to Enma. "I don't know what you're talking about."

***

"Traits? Hmmm... okay. Thank you, Tegiwa-san." Tomeo nodded, and tried as best he could to memorise exactly what Tegiwa had said for later on.

"So if the former digidestined are hesitant about giving up the key fragments to anyone, that should be good for us. We can't get them but neither can the other group of digidestined. And our highest priority is to stop them from getting the key fragments. So, if they do resort to stealing them, then we know who's in the wrong."

At least, that's how Tomeo justified it to himself. As the group broke up for the day and everyone went their seperate ways, he couldn't help but feel it was wrong to be spying on people he had considered friends only the other day. But, if they were jeapordising the free world with fragment-hunting, they had no choice.

***

Spirinting out of the local park, Tomeo rounded another corner on his jogging route, and sprinted all the way up to the top of the hill on the street until he finally stopped to catch his breath. He turned off the mini-computer-turned MP3 player which earphones he had pluged into his ears, and took a seat on a nearby bench to take a rest. Sweat was drenched all down his jogging uniform, a black long-sleeved shirt with a grey T-shirt worn over the top and navy trackpants with running shoes. He wiped his forehead just before he heard a beep from his mini-computer and unfolded it, reading Shireika's new message. He had almost forgot about what he was supposed to be doing and sent a quick message to Shireika and the others in his group.

[Hey guys, Tomeo here. I'm not sure about what I can do since I don't know where everybody lives yet, but I'm on my jogging route so I'll keep an eye out for anyone. Keep me posted on what happens. - Tomeo ]

Folding his computer back up, he wiped his hands of the persperation that had accumulated on them and, having caught his breath back, made a few stretches before he stood up and headed out, picking up his pace from where he had left off.

***

"See you, mama!" Asayake called behind her, quickly thrusting her hair into an awkward pony-tail as she jogged over to the park near her house. It was a five minute walk, but she liked to get there before the old fart from down the way took her favourite spot to do his own exercises. She stopped jogging when she reached the main entrance to the park, not noticing the familiar face on the bench not too far away. She tugged off her t-shirt, rolling it into a quick ball before stopping. The old fart beat her to it again! She glared at him, but the man didn't seem to notice her. "Great. Now I have to be out in the open." She huffed in frustration, as she didn't exactly enjoy when people stopped to watch her, but she figured it was better than nothing. Finding herself a grassy patch just off of the main walking path she threw down her shirt into a heap, did a few quick stretches, and started with her basic stances. After becoming bored almost instantly, and deciding she'd warmed up enough, Asayake started with her actual movements. Creating an imaginary sparring partner in front of her she took a brief step back, bounced on the balls of her feet a few times, and andvanced. Her feet flew, her hands never far behind, and when she reached the end of her little clearing she hopped backwards until she was in her original position. Her light blue tank top became sticky rather quickly, as did her sweatpants, but she took no notice and kept on practising.

***

"Mirai-san, Mirai-san!" A little boy came bouncing over to the black haired woman at the snack tables, tugging at the hip of her pants, "There's somebody adda door!"

"Oh, thank you Ori-chan." Mirai smiled, ruffling the boy's hair. He smiled broadly and settled back down at his snack table, while Mirai made her way to the door. She opened it, and smiled at the taller boy in front of her. "Can I help you?"

"Are you Kaiki Mirai?" Shouki asked, slightly surprised; the woman in front of him looked rather young, but he passed it up to her petite size.

"Kaiki?" She asked, before chuckling. "My last name hasn't been Kaiki for a loooong time, young man, but I'm who you're loking for. Please, call me Mirai. What can I do for you, then?"

"You were a digidestened?" Shouki asked quietly, hoping dearly that he didn't have the wrong person. Mirai, however, looked rather stunned. She stepped outside of the little community centre, closed the door, and pulled Shouki over to a bench.

"It's obvious something is happening... Um, I didn't catch your name?"

"Houzuru Shouki, Mirai-san," Shouki said, holding out his hand. Mirai shook it politely before he continued, "I'm searching for a key. Actually, the fragments of a key. Can you tell me anything about it?"

Mirai frowned. "I'm afraid I can't, Shouki," She sighed, shaking her head.

"But why not?!" Shouki asked, frowning himself, "It's important, the Watcher said we needed to find it!"

Mirai raised an eyebrow, "Be that as it may, I can't tell you anything about the key."

Shouki huffed, "But I've come all this way! Couldn't you tell me anything at all? Where a piece is hidden, who has it, what it does, anything?!"

"I can't, I've already said that." Mirai rubbed the side of her head, massaging at a small scar above her eyebrow, "I'm sorry you seem to have wasted your time, but I just can't tell you anything about the key AT ALL. I can't tell you where it is, who has it, what it does, what it looks like, what it was LAST used for, anything. Now," She said, standing, "Unless you have any further business with me, I need to get back to the kids at the daycare. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help to you."

"But the Dark--!" Shouki let his words die out, cursing silently as Mirai disappeared back into the building. He pulled a small computer from his pocket and typed up a quick message to Hanshin.

[Hanshin:

Mirai wouldn't cough up any information about the key fragments; she left me rather rudely, actually. Has anyone else had any luck yet?

****

Shuuichi walked in still with his tank top on and a pair of shorts as his aunt Sarika was busy at the stove making something strange smelling. It smelled like orange blossoms. Shuuichi came up behind her and gave a sly smile as he sniffed the air right in front of his aunt. She looked at him and turned the stove down as she took off the frilly pink apron and took down her hair from it's bun. She shook her head as her cherry brown hair fell in waves as it had when she was younger.

"Sorry about the sudden intrusion. Your mother wanted to make sure someone was here to make sure that you two ate some breakfast and didn't run off. She has a list of things she wants you to do, here," Sarika said as she handed Shuuichi his copy of chores and stuff to do for school that his mom had found out. "Anyway, I haven't talked to you in a long time. How's it going?" she asked smiling as she took out three tea cups.

He read the list and then looked up, "Hmm, oh yeah, everything's okay. Can I ask you some questions?" he asked getting to his motive.

"Huh, oh sure. What is it, Shuuichi?"

"Where is the key?" he said getting very serious giving her a glare.

"Escuse me?" Sarika gasped out almost dropping the cup.

"I said where is the key? You know what it is and I know you must know where at least one fragment is," he said forcefully as he grabbed her wrist.

"What, but how? Let go," she shouted as she thrusted his hand away and went to the stove. "You don't have to be forceful and you should be respecting me. I am your elder."

"I want to know where and about that key," he repeated again getting louder.

"You'll wake your sister. And I don't know about the key. I don't know where you got that from," she said.

"You told me about it in... one of the bedtime stories."

"I thought you forgot about those. I swore I never told about the key... woops," she gasped covering her mouth.

Shuuichi smiled.

Suddenly a scream came from his sister's room. "Shuuichi this stuffed animal I think bit me or cussed or something!!!" she screamed as Squijimon came bouncing down the stairs after being thrown.

Sarika glared at it noticing how it possibly could not be a stuffed animal. "A digimon," she whispered as Shuuichi picked her up.

"So that is how you know. How long have you been a digidestined?" she seriously said as she pounded her hands on the counter.

"I don't know. Since right before school began I guess," he said.

"Get rid of it. I don't want to see it. I don't want you to be a digidestined," she said.

"You don't live here. You don't have to come over if you don't want to see it. What is so wrong anyway? You made it seem like a kiddy show that had piece of cake monsters and full of moral ideas," he said.

"I didn't tell you all the stories. I tried to never remember that. I don't want you to get hurt. Not like we did. Not like I did," she said holding his hand with the ring.

"I just want to know where the key is Sarika," he said.

"I will never let you know," she said.

"But I thought you belived in the good guys. We have to defeat a Dark Queen. And the watcher," he said.

"That's enough. I will never let anyone know about that key. Not even you. I don't care what is happening," she said. She then thrusted for Squijimon but Shuuichi ran to the stairs as she missed.

"Fine then. But I will get it out of you," he said sticking out his tongue as he dashed up the stairs to his room and locked his door.

Sarika got to his room and banged on it. He didn't make a noise. She laid against the door and slid down it to the ground as she dug her head into her hands leanding against her knees. Her long hair fell around her knees as she looked up. "I can't let anyone know about my key fragment. I can't let Shuuichi into this. He don't know or understand what is going on. Sairen would kill me if she knew. I wonder if Sairen felt this when I got into all of this. I remind myself of her right now," she said smiling her signature smile.

***

True to her word, Naoko took Shouki around the after hours club scene so he wouldn't have to ruin his image with the band by turning down random sex with a fan girl. She tried to reassure him that being seen with her wouldn't do any more damage than being in the band, and laughed as she said it. Naoko actually kept her hands off of him all night as promised as well. She figured it was only right seeing as that sort of thing really bothered Shouki. She contented herself with dancing with him occasionally while shepherding him among groups of clubbers she knew with her mind toward increasing his social skills. She spent alot of time on the sidelines keeping him in play on the floor.

She had fun and assumed he did though he looked a bit drained by mid-morning. She wasn't going to admit it to anyone, but it was nice to spend an evening with a guy without feeling pressured to perform. Overall, she found the arrangement satisfactory.

***

"Yeah, I could do that.see you soon." Tegiwa spoke into the telephone with more energy and interest than was normal for him especially after a long night at the hospital. He gathered his things quickly and bolted for the door when a priority message from Shireika arrived on is mini-comp. (All messages from Shireika were treated as priority by his mailbox.)

Tegiwa acknowledged the message from Shireika: [Yeah, it figures he'd do something sneaky and underhanded like walking up to them and asking about the key. I bet he'll try something more devious though, since they are bound to turn down his pleas. I'll see who I can meet.]

About ten minutes after leaving his house while walking deliberately in a calm and easy manner (and failing. imagine how strange that looks on a guy as naturally relaxed as Tegiwa), he ran into Tomeo headed the opposite way.

"Hey, heh, heh, Tomeo-kun. Uh, have any luck? I'm not sure how these digivices work yet. Mom would be disappointed. I'm going to.uh, just pick a dot and head for it. What's your strategy? Oops, my dot is on the move." Tegiwa said that so fast his easy drawl almost became normal speech.

He nodded to Tomeo politely but didn't wait for his reply. He was away and down the street in a flash. Five minutes later he was in the foyer of an apartment tower down.

Naoko grabbed his hand as he entered. "Come along. You're late."

"Late?"

"Well, not late..but, plans have changed. My parents will be home by early afternoon. We'll be alone for a bit though."

"Great." He smiled nervously.

"Come on up. You can see my room." Naoko towed him to the elevator, and they ascended.

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