Here we go! The next part of this little arc....thing! There were definitely some people who were confused about the whole ghost thing. I can't tell you what I have planned, sadly. You'll have to read and find out! ;D

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Savers or any other OCs that appear in this story other than my own.

---

Masaru didn't know what to make of what had become of his best friend. She was slumped over in her seat, her head resting against the desk and her back slowly rising up and down. He could hear her soft breathing. Never once has he seen her actually fall asleep in class, let alone before the teacher even arrived in the classroom. Concern bubbled up in him as he switched between looking at the sleeping Tohru and the door. If their teacher walked in and saw her like this, she'd get in trouble for sure.

He wondered why she would be so tired to begin with.

Masaru reached over and gently shook her shoulder, trying to stir her from her slumber before the teacher came in. "Hey. Tohru? Wake up." Good thing she's a light sleeper, because a few seconds of doing this was enough to make the brunette jolt up in her seat.

She looked dazed and confused for a few moments, until realizing where she was. A groan left her throat as she dropped her head back on the desk with an audible thud. Now Masaru was really concerned about her.

"Uh...Tohru. You okay?" The auburn haired male asked leaning his head down a bit to try and get a look at her face, though he had a hard time doing so. Tohru turned her head a bit to meet his gaze, her own emerald eyes looking groggy. Her eyelids were starting to droop again, but she tried her best to keep them open.

"I had a hard time sleeping last night. I was...um...thinking about my grandfather..." Tohru said before yawning softly. That was kind of a lie, as she couldn't fall asleep because of the...thing she saw at the cemetery. The....ghost. Was it really a ghost? Or had her mind been playing tricks on her? Whether she was going crazy or not, it had kept her up most of the night. She'd been scared that she was going to suddenly hear something in her room...or see something that shouldn't be there.

There was no use making Masaru worry over something that probably wasn't even there at all. But...still, she did feel like something had been watching her and her grandmother. That voice...she clearly did hear it. She knew that much. Tohru wanted to just chalk it up to her being delusional.

"Okay....you're sure?" Masaru didn't break his gaze from hers, just wanting to stare into her eyes a bit longer. To take in how adorable she looked when she was sleepy, even if it was a cause for concern. Tohru put on a smile to ease his worrying a bit and nodded quietly.

"Daimon! Harima! Heads off the desks!" They hadn't realized their teacher walked in at that moment, having become content with just staring into each other's eyes. Both teenagers bolted upright, Tohru suddenly not feeling so tired. Their teacher had that effect on people, and not in a good way.

Tohru and Masaru both blushed a bit as their classmates snickered at their expense, though the street fighter brushed it off pretty quickly. She yawned once more and took out her notebook to start taking notes, but instead of paying attention she just ended up thinking about the day before and the events that transpired.

What was really unsettling was...the voice saying her grandmother's name.

I have a really awful feeling about all this...

---

Tohru let out what seemed to be the hundredth yawn today as she sat with Masaru in the classroom, taking out her bento. It was lunch hour, Masaru's favorite time of the school day. He whipped out his own bento in five seconds flat, splitting his chopsticks and immediately digging in. "Mom's fried eggs really hit the spot right now!" He watched Tohru yawn again, and stopped eating to stare at his friend.

She realized he was staring and shoved some food into her mouth, trying to look livelier so he wouldn't worry. "It's okay, Masaru! I just need some food in my stomach, that's all!" Tohru didn't think she sounded very convincing, though he seemed to buy it and went back to stuffing his face. She began to wonder if Masaru would believe her about the whole ghost thing.

It seemed so silly. She shouldn't even say anything, but...she wanted to give it a try.

"Um...Masaru.." She started, putting down her chopsticks and biting her bottom lip. Masaru froze just as he was about to shove more food in his already full mouth, making eye contact with her. She took in a deep breath before continuing.

"H...Have you ever...heard or seen something that you couldn't explain?"

Masaru just stared at her as he chewed his food and swallowed, looking slightly perplexed by her seemingly random question. So she tried to follow it up so he wouldn't keep giving her that weird look.

"...Like...um....a-a...g-ghost?" Her face began to heat up, cheeks turning red due to how stupid that actually sounded once it came out of her mouth.

Masaru thought for a few moments before shaking his head as he ate another fried egg. "Nope. Can't say I have. Did you see one?" The street fighter noticed she tensed up for a brief moment only to shake her head as she denied it.

"O-Oh, no. I was...just asking." Tohru smiled reassuringly and went back to her lunch. She tried not to act too weird or like something was bothering her, but judging by the concern in those forest green eyes, she was failing.

"Masaru, I just had a bad dream last night. I dreamt that I saw the ghost of my grandfather in my room. It kind of scared me awake, so that's why I'm so tired." She lied to him again, which she felt horrible for. But if he knew she was being serious about the ghost thing, he might think it was kind of crazy.

"Alright, I believe you. Shorty." He chuckled and gently ruffled her soft brown hair. "But...if there is something bothering you, just tell me. You know I won't judge you for it." Masaru may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but he knew Tohru well enough to know when something was on her mind.

She'd always lose sleep over something that was bothering her or stare off into space a lot more than usual. She wouldn't talk nearly as much and appear to look sadder than usual. Or in this case, she'd try to pass it off as if nothing was wrong.

Tohru's cheeks turned a light pink as she nodded quietly, feeling guilty for not telling him about what was going on in her mind. About what she heard and saw at the cemetery. Maybe...there was no reason to tell him.

Maybe she was worrying over nothing. Yeah. Nothing was going to happen. Her mind must have just been playing tricks on her. It was a perfectly normal thing that could happen.

As lunch hour came to an end, she tried to put all of these upsetting thoughts into the back of her mind. Hopefully for them to just vanish and never return to plague her life further.

Unfortunately...life is never that easy.

---

Rosa and Coronamon were in the training area so she could practice her hand to hand combat. It wasn't uncommon for the two partners to spar with each other in their spare time. Beads of sweat dripped down her face as she dodged an incoming punch from Coronamon and swept her foot around to knock him off balance. Quickly regaining her stance, she turned on her heel and threw a punch. Coronamon pushed himself up with his paws and kicked his leg out. His kick met her fist and they jumped back from each other.

She panted heavily, wiping sweat from her brow with a small smirk playing on her lips. Coronamon brought her a water bottle and a towel, which she graciously took. "Thanks." Rosa said breathlessly, taking a swig of the ice cold water and wiped her face with the fluffy towel. They walked out into the surveillance room where the rest of the team were.

It was actually a pretty boring day for the members of DATS. There hadn't been a Digimon sighting all day, so the teenagers and their partners sat around doing whatever they could to keep themselves entertained. Kamemon was going around with a tray, handing out cups of tea to everyone present.

Tohma was at one of the computers, hard at work with...something. Gaomon stood at his side, not moving an inch unless his partner spoke to him.

Yoshino was looking through a magazine and sipping some tea from the pink mug Kamemon offered her. Lalamon floated behind her, looking at the magazine from over the girl's shoulder.

Tohru had her head resting in her arms, having fallen asleep an hour ago out of pure boredom. The lack of sleep didn't help much. Terriermon was once again perched on her head, also having fallen asleep once he got comfortable. Nobody had the heart to try and wake her up and it wasn't busy today anyway.

As for Masaru, he sat backwards in a swivel chair with a bored expression plastered on his face. He'd been complaining before about the lack of Digimon activity, but was told to quiet down rather sternly by Captain Satsuma. That was enough to shut the auburn haired male up, and now he sat there pouting and huffing. Agumon was pigging out on some snacks that Miki and Megumi had brought for everyone.

Well...they were supposed to be for everyone to share. Now it was all in the yellow lizard's tummy.

Rosa ignored how bored her teammates all looked and took another sip of water, heading to the changing room to put her uniform back on.

Masaru looked over at his friend's sleeping form, unable to get their conversation from earlier in the day out of his head. She had said something about a ghost, but he couldn't understand why she would be so worried about that. He wasn't exactly someone who believed in things like that, but Tohru...she seemed to be scared of stuff like that.

So, as much as he didn't think ghosts existed, Masaru would listen to what she had to say. The street fighter stood up and approached the sleeping girl, sitting beside her and gently nudging her shoulder. Tohru began to stir and lifted her head up, emerald eyes opening to the sight of her best friend's concerned gaze.

"..Masaru..? Wha...t's wrong?" The brunette asked as she yawned deeply, sitting up a bit more while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "You look worried about something."

"Well...yeah, you look like there's something bothering you. Of course I'd be worried. I didn't say anything before at school since I figured it might be nothing major...but the whole day you seemed off." Tohru was caught off guard by his words, and she knew she couldn't keep lying to ease his concerns. "Like I said before, Tohru...you can tell me what's going on." Masaru finished, his lips tugging up to form a reassuring smile. A smile that Tohru always thought was very handsome.

Her cheeks flushed red as she timidly pulled on a piece of her bangs, a nervous habit. "W..Well...just, just promise you won't laugh. Okay?"

"I'm not gonna laugh, don't worry." Again, he put on that charming smile that made her heart skip a beat. Her face turned a shade redder, and she had to take a minute to compose herself.

"A-Alright. See...when grandma, Terriermon and I went to visit grandpa at the cemetery...I..."

The room suddenly went dim as red lights flashed, loud alarms blaring and cutting Tohru off completely. She had jumped from being startled and looked around in a bit of a panic. This meant a Digimon had been detected. Good, maybe this could get her mind off everything for a bit.

After getting the coordinates of where the Digimon was sighted, the team headed out to Yoshino's car and all piled in. Of course, with so many teenagers in one little vehicle, everyone was a bit squished. Tohma had taken the passenger's seat before Masaru could, so the hot headed teen ended up smooshed in the back with Tohru and Rosa.

Though...it's not like he minded being smooshed next to Tohru. In fact, he liked being so close to her. Tohru was turning red and tried to keep it from being noticed by the boy beside her. But she did like being this close to him too.

Yoshino started up the vehicle and drove off, putting on her sirens so people would pull aside to let them through. She felt like a real police officer doing that. She soon pulled onto a street that the more she drove down, the more familiar it became. Glancing over at the rear view mirror, she could see that Tohru was thinking the same thing as her. Except...Tohru knew this neighborhood very well. This is where she lived.

Yoshino began to slow the car down as she stepped on the brakes, and the house they were stopping in front of made Tohru's blood run cold. The magenta haired girl recognized their surroundings right away and turned around to look at Tohru.

"This...this is your house, isn't it?"

Instead of answering, Tohru immediately climbed over Masaru and stumbled out of the car as panic and adrenaline coursed through her veins.

No...No! No!! If there was a Digimon here, that meant her grandmother was in danger! Or worse...she could already be...

The panic stricken girl quickly opened the gates and sprinted up to the front door, throwing it open so hard that it slammed against the wall before closing loudly. "Grandma?! Grandma, is everything okay in here?!" Tohru called out frantically, looking around the living room.

Everything seemed normal. Nothing was damaged or out of place. In fact, the outside of the home was completely intact as well.

"Tohru..?" Her grandmother poked her head out from the kitchen, looking confused and a bit startled. "Honey, is something wrong? Why are you yelling and slamming things?" The elderly woman walked over to her shaking granddaughter, who felt a wave of relief wash over her.

The rest of her teammates rushed inside, expecting something bad to have happened, but only saw an undamaged house and an unharmed elderly woman.

"Oh, hello Masaru. Good to see you again." Hikaru smiled at the auburn haired boy and turned to Yoshino in acknowledgement. "And I remember you as well. Nice to see you again, Yoshino. I don't believe I've met you two though." She looked over at Tohma and Rosa, who both looked both confused and relieved. Nobody knew what the heck was going on, but they were relieved to know this woman was okay.

"Ma'am, my name is Tohma H. Norstein. I work with Tohru at DATS." The blonde genius bowed to the elderly woman politely.

"I'm Rosa...it's nice to meet you, ma'am." Rosa awkwardly introduced, taking a quick glance around the living room. So this was where Tohru lived...it was nice and cozy.

Hikaru smiled at the young teens and bowed back to them before going back to her shaken up granddaughter. "What is this all about, Tohru?"

"There was a Digimon sighting...and the coordinates led us here...b-but there's no Digimon here at all other than our own." Tohru explained, now looking just as confused as her grandmother had been when she barged in.

Hikaru blinked, going silent for a moment before chuckling with a smile. "No, no. I haven't seen anything odd around here. Perhaps it was a false alarm." She pressed a kiss to Tohru's forehead and turned to walk back into the kitchen where she had some tea brewing. "Would anyone like tea and snacks while you're here?"

The DATS team stood there in dumbfounded disbelief, trying to process what the heck just happened. But Masaru had been won over by the mention of snacks and soon a big grin stretched across his face. "Hell yeah!" He pumped his fist and put a hand on Tohru's head, ruffling her hair to get her attention. "Hey...it's okay. Granny's fine." The taller male's voice had softened, trying to be reassuring.

The smaller girl glanced up into his forest green hues, once again charmed by that smile of his. Nodding quietly, she led the way into the kitchen where the teenagers all sat down at the table. Hikaru served them some mint scented tea and a plate of chocolate chip cookies she had baked that morning.

"We're glad that you're okay, Mrs. Harima. I got a bit scared when I realized this was your house." Yoshino started as she sipped her tea and bit into a cookie, "But it's strange...our detection system has never had a false alarm before..."

"Maybe it's broken." Masaru commented as he stuffed a couple cookies in his mouth, to which Tohma scoffed.

"If it is, it's only because of all the times you hit the computers." He sipped some of that truth tea, eyes closed. Masaru shot him an annoyed glare, eye twitching. Tohma ignored him and turned his attention to the elderly woman across from him. "You're sure you didn't see anything strange at all? It's odd that the system would be wrong about a sighting..."

"I'm positive. It's just been me by myself in the house all day." She looked a bit sad as those words left her lips, but her expression immediately brightened up as she examined Tohma. "My, my. You're quite the handsome one, aren't you? Reminds me of a prince!" Hikaru chuckled lightly when said princely boy began to turn a light shade of red.

"Well...thank you, ma'am." Tohma looked quite embarrassed being complimented like that by the elderly woman. Rosa had to look away from him to hide her own blush because she thought he looked cute like that. Masaru snickered quietly at the blond's reddened face, only for the Spanish girl to kick him from under the table.

He yelped and glared at her as she whistled innocently, pretending she hadn't done anything.

Hikaru laughed at their antics, which seemed to ease a bit of Tohru's worries. Her grandmother seemed to be in good spirits today.

"Masaru, you really remind me of myself when I was your age. I was a punk too."

"Hey~ I'm no punk, granny!" Masaru whined in mock hurt as the old woman ruffled his hair, making him pout. Tohru's lips stretched into a smile as she held her teacup close to her mouth, trying to hide her giggles.

"You were a punk?" Yoshino questioned incredulously as she bit into her fifth cookie. "So does that mean you got into fights all the time?"

"Oh, of course! Do you want to know how I met my husband?" Now interested, the teenagers all leaned in a bit with their attention focused on Hikaru's playful smirk. "We were in elementary school and he tried to take the ball I was playing with, so I shoved him to the ground and we started fighting. We got put in time out, and even though we were so angry at each other...we started to talk."

She looked at everyone listening, their mouths hanging open in disbelief.

"We became friends from that day forward, and in middle school we started going out. I was still a bit of a punk even then, but once in high school I really started to buckle down and study. I...wanted to get into the same college that he was going to."

"And...you did?" Tohru asked, already guessing the answer. Hikaru nodded her head fondly.

"Yes. We even went to college together...and after we graduated, we got married. We had your father not long after that." She sighed softly, looking over at a family picture of herself, her husband, Tohru's mother and father, and finally Tohru as a baby. Hikaru looked distant for a few moments, then turned her misty gaze back to the group.

"I really do miss them..." Everything went quiet and Tohru felt a knot forming in her stomach. She thought that maybe her grandmother was starting to cheer up...but her assumption couldn't be more wrong.

Yoshino, sensing that things were getting awkward, finished her tea and stood up.

"Well, thank you very much for letting us into your home, Mrs. Harima. We need to get back to headquarters and report the false alarm to our boss."

"Oh, yes! I'm terribly sorry for keeping you all. It was very nice to meet more of Tohru's friends. And of course, it was good seeing you again, Masaru. Please come and visit us more often, I'm sure Tohru would love to have you over more." She gave her granddaughter a knowing smile while the brunette flushed red and twiddled her fingers.

"You know I'll always come to visit, granny! Your cookies are amazing!" Masaru laughed wholeheartedly, pulling the elderly woman into a hug. She returned the hug and chuckled, his chipper attitude bringing a smile to her face. He pulled away and grinned down at the much older woman. "Is it alright if Tohru has dinner at my house tonight? I promise I'll bring her home before it gets too late!"

"Yes. You're a good kid, so I trust that you will." Hikaru nudged her blushing granddaughter forward, "Thank you all for taking good care of Tohru so far, and have a good evening." She bowed to them and saw them out the door. She waved goodbye with a smile that faded once she closed the door.

All was quiet now. Hikaru slowly walked over to the picture she had been staring at before, picking it up in her wrinkled hands. Eyes becoming misty and eventually tears started to fall down her cheeks.

"Oh, darling..." Her thumb gently traced over her husband's smiling face, tears falling gently onto the framed picture.

"I wish...that I could go to where you are."

---

After being dropped off at the Daimon residence, Agumon and Masaru practically broke the door down trying to squeeze past each other to get inside. The two hot heads were starving and nothing would stop them from getting to Sayuri's cooking. Tohru came in after them with Terriermon in her arms, both being thankful that they weren't in the way. They may have gotten trampled on accident otherwise.

Masaru and Agumon barged into the kitchen where dinner had just been put on the table. The dynamic duo took their usual seats and, not even waiting for Tohru or Terriermon to join them, began stuffing their faces. Said girl walked in and was greeted by Sayuri, to which Tohru bowed politely and greeted her back before sitting beside her best friend.

"Go ahead and help yourselves, Tohru. Terriermon. I made plenty." Sayuri urged, smiling kindly as Chika strolled in and sat down with her family.

"Better get what you can before it ends up in their stomachs." The little girl warned, pointing a thumb at her older brother and his lizard. Tohru nodded and broke her chopsticks, taking what she wanted and digging in herself. She would feel guilty for taking too much though, so she tried to hold back on eating until she was full.

Besides...she wasn't too hungry anyway. She had a lot on her mind. So much so that she actually didn't touch much of the food on her plate at first. Masaru took note of this and for once, actually stopped stuffing his face when there was food in front of him.

"Not hungry?" His question snapped her out of the daze she'd gone into. She met his gaze and after processing what he'd just asked, she quickly shook her head.

"O-Oh! Yes! I'm very hungry!" Tohru scarfed down some of the food on her plate to convince him that nothing was wrong. Masaru watched her for a moment before going back to working on his own plate. He knew for sure that something was bothering her, but right now he wasn't going to press any further with the subject.

Tohru managed to eat her dinner, albeit much slower than the two gluttons next to her. Terriermon patted his full belly and jumped onto Tohru's head to fall asleep.

"Mom, I'm gonna walk Tohru back to her house. I'll be back in a bit!" Masaru called as he and the shorter girl were already heading out the door. She only responded with a "be careful!"

The walk back to Tohru's house was surprisingly quiet, but not in an uncomfortable way. Both teenagers just enjoying the cool evening fall air and the silence between them. Occasionally, either one of them would sneak a quick glance over at the other. Masaru even took one had out of his pocket and began to inch it closer to the smaller girl's.

But he'd immediately draw it back into his pants pocket when she looked over at him as a light blush dusted his cheeks.

Once they arrived and walked through the old gate and up to the front porch littered with leaves from the dying trees, the two best friends faced each other. For a moment, Masaru's green hues focused on her lips. He almost started to lean forward and attempt to capture them with his own...but he stopped himself.

He had the same thought that she always did. She's just his best friend. She probably doesn't have those kinds of feelings for him....though he'd like it if she did.

"Well...have a good night, Tohru." He gave her an awkward one armed hug, causing them both to blush faintly. Tohru closed her eyes, nodding her head as she enjoyed the brief physical contact between them.

"G-Goodnight, Masaru." After being released, she went inside and waved to him as he walked away. Watching his retreating back until he was out of her field of vision. Just as she was starting to close the front door, she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. But when she actually looked...she saw nothing.

Again, ignoring the awful feeling in the pit of her stomach and just chalking it up to her overactive imagination, she went inside and started getting ready for bed. It was a bit too early, but she was tired enough that once her head hit the pillow she was out like a light.

---

3 A.M. That was what her digital clock read as Tohru began to stir from her slumber. Of course, she was half awake and thirsty. This was a nightly occurrence. Whenever she woke up around this time, Tohru went to get a drink of water. The groggy brunette carefully crawled out of her bed, being careful not to wake up her sleeping partner, quietly and slowly walking through the dark hallway to the kitchen.

Usually, Tohru had no reason to be afraid of the darkness of her house at night. Nothing ever happened when she went to get some water.

She got a glass out of the cupboard and filled it up with some filtered tap water. Tohru gulped down the entire thing, quenching her thirst and curing the dryness in her throat. She placed the empty glass in the sink and turned to head back to her room to drift back off to sleep.

A sudden noise caused Tohru to freeze in her spot, her heart doing a flip and a shudder running up her spine. She didn't move a single inch, for some reason feeling too frightened to do so. She realized she was holding her breath and tried to inhale slowly and deeply. Emerald eyes now wide open as she began to turn around.

She was standing at the beginning of the hallway leading to hers and her grandmothers' rooms. Behind her was the living room. Having adjusted to the darkness, her eyes were able to focus on something that seemed so miniscule. But living in this house for most of her life helped her grow accustomed to where everything belonged. So if there were to be even one thing out of place, she would know immediately.

The picture of baby Tohru with her entire family had fallen onto the ground. Now starting to shake a bit, Tohru approached the face down picture frame and picked it up. She made sure it wasn't broken and placed it back on the shelf where it usually sat.

Tohru stared at the picture and felt an overwhelming sadness come over her. She...she had a hard time remembering what her parents were like. She wished she knew where they had gone...and if they were ever coming back. Had...had she really been abandoned by them?

The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up and a shiver ran up her spine, snapping her out of her solemn trance. Quickly turning, Tohru felt herself go pale as she broke out in a cold sweat.

The very same ghostly figure she saw the day before in the cemetery was standing by the front door. Staring right back at her. 

Tohru couldn't scream, no matter how much she wanted to. Her voice was caught in her throat and she was holding her breath again. She forced her body to move as she barreled down the dark hallway, slamming her door shut and burrowing back into her bed and successfully waking up Terriermon.

The sleepy Digimon woke up to his partner curled up with the blankets over herself. She was hiding, shaking and sobbing uncontrollably.

"T-Tohru..? What happened?" He asked, his little voice full of concern and fear as he got under the covers and nuzzled against her.

"I..I-I...s-saw...a-a..." She tried to talk through her sobbing, but wasn't very coherent. So she tried to calm herself down first, taking in deep breaths as her shoulders heaved.

"...What did you see?"

"...A-A...g-ghost..." Tohru whispered.

---

Tohru didn't fall back asleep that night. She'd hid under her blanket, cowering in fear while Terriermon tried his best to comfort her. Strangely enough, this ghost she mentioned never showed up again so he never got to see what had spooked her so bad. She waited until the sun was starting to rise before she let herself succumb to sleep, not even thinking about the fact that she had school today.

Even when her grandmother came in to wake her up, she was out like a light. Terriermon explained what had happened, that Tohru had gotten so scared by something she didn't sleep. Hikaru thought it odd that Tohru would hallucinate seeing things like ghosts, but perhaps it was the stress of being at teenager that caused it. She decided to let her granddaughter stay home today, even giving the school a call to let them know Tohru would be absent.

She slept until late afternoon, waking up and jolting up when she realized what time it was and that she had missed school. Tohru rushed downstairs into the kitchen, her hair all over the place and eyes wide open. "G-Grandma! I-I missed school! I-I'm so sorry!" Hikaru just smiled gently and gave her a cup of hot tea to calm her down, placing a kiss on the top of her head.

"Tohru, it's alright. I had called the school this morning and let them know you'd be absent." The brunette blinked, her shoulders slumping in relief. Well...at least she didn't have to see her classmates today. But she'd have to ask Masaru for the class notes and homework, or she'd fall behind in her grades. Tohru was pretty good at keeping her grades up and consistent, even if she didn't have the highest in the class.

After having some tea and a very late lunch, Tohru showered and got herself dressed in her DATS uniform before heading out with Terriermon to DATs headquarters. Upon arriving, she felt tension in the air but didn't know why until she noticed that Masaru seemed angry. Agumon was also inside his Digivice, despite not liking it in there.

"...Um...what's going on here?"

"The idiots had a fight and now they're not speaking to each other." Rosa answered bluntly, sitting at one of the computer monitors and drinking a cup of tea. Kamemon offered Tohru one, but she politely declined as she'd already filled up on tea before.

"A fight? But...what are they fighting about?"

Yoshino held up the Digivice, the tiny screen showing a pissed off Agumon with his arms crossed and his back towards everyone. "Because Aniki won't admit he can't do anything without me around!"

"Like hell I can't! I'll show you that I can fight Digimon just fine on my own!" Masaru retorted back, glaring at his ex-partner and standing up. He looked over at Tohru, who stared back at him with worry. "I'll give you the notes and homework later, alright?" He spoke in a much gentler tone to her, then walked past Tohru and went to change back into his regular clothes.

Tohru was about to go after him, but realized maybe she should give him some space. So she sat down and tried not to think about last night. "Agumon...I understand that you're angry at Masaru...he probably said something mean to you...b-but...I know that whatever he said he didn't mean."

"Yeah! And besides, fighting between close friends is kind of normal. Like when Tohru and I fight over the last ice cream in the freezer, but then we end up sharing it!" Terriermon piped up.

"Or when Yoshino and I argue over cleaning her roo-" Lalamon started, only for Yoshino to grab her face and stretch it out to silence her.

"Lalamon! Don't tell them about my private life!"

"But it's true! You leave clothes and junk everywhere-" Yoshino stretched her face more, and Lalamon dropped the subject from there.

"So...you see Agumon...friends may fight with each other...but that doesn't mean they actually mean what they say. I'm sure that you and Masaru will make up and start getting along again. Please try to give him another chance." Tohru pleaded, and Agumon seemed to be in deep thought for a few moments before speaking up again.

"Only if he apologizes first!" Everyone sighed at his stubbornness.

For a good chunk of the night, nothing seemed to be happening. It was a slow day with no Digimon sightings. However, that seemed to change when the alarms started blaring. Miki and Megumi brought up the coordinates and the team rushed out to Yoshino's car. Tohru knew that Masaru would try to fight the Digimon on his own, and this worried her. As tough as he was...even he couldn't do it alone. He needed Agumon...and Agumon needed him.

Yoshino sped up, putting on her sirens so cars would move out of the way for her. They came to some train tracks where Masaru was going up against a large black wolf Digimon by himself. The Digimon had him pinned to a wall, the street fighter struggling to hold the larger creature's sharp teeth back with all his strength.

Tohru's eyes widened and she turned to look at Agumon's Digivice, "Agumon! Masaru is in danger! If...if you won't help him, I will!" She and Terriermon rushed onto the scene despite how dangerous the situation was.

"A..Agumon...I...I need you Agumon!!" He heard Masaru's voice cry out, and realized Tohru was right. Masaru didn't mean to say he didn't need him...and Agumon didn't mean what he said either.

Agumon came out of the device, rushing forward and launching an attack on BlackGarurumon. This knocked the larger Digimon back and away from Masaru. He looked up at his partner with a smile, which Masaru returned.

"Let's do this, partner!"

"Right, Aniki!"

Tohru and Rosa rushed in with their partners, evolving their Digimon partners. Agumon evolved into Geogreymon and the three adult level Digimon attacked together. Though they managed to turn BlackGarurumon back into an egg, part of the railroad area was destroyed which Yoshino scolded them all for.

"Whatever, at least we defeated it. Don't yell at us, hag." Rosa huffed and walked away with a bit of a hair flip.

"Hag?!" Yoshino's face turned red with anger, but she calmed herself down when she realized that Rosa was still technically a child. Even if she acted mature, mentally she still had a lot of growing up to do.

Tohru went over to her best friend and wrapped her arms around him tightly, burying her face in his chest. "Please...please don't do something like that again..." Masaru's expression softened, realizing he'd scared her with his little stunt. He wrapped his arms around her smaller frame, smiling affectionately at her. He could feel her body trembling and figured she was starting to cry, which made him feel worse.

"Sorry, Tohru. From now on, Agumon and I work as a team again. I won't try to fight other Digimon alone anymore." He wouldn't admit it...but he was scared from that encounter too. Masaru seriously could have died, and he knew it. He was thankful they all came when they did....and he was even more grateful to have Agumon as a partner.

"Yeah...sorry Tohru." Agumon apologized, hugging the girl too. She looked down at her crush's Digimon and smiled, drying the tears that had formed in her eyes and patting his head.

Though she felt relief knowing that her best friend was safe, there was still that fear lingering in the back of her mind. The fear of what was going on back at her own home. She didn't bring it up, even as she was being dropped off back at home.

---

3 A.M.

Once again, Tohru woke up around the same time in the late hours of the morning to get a glass of water in the kitchen. She moved throughout the dark house cautiously, even making Terriermon come with her since she was now too scared to go alone. She was successful in getting some water and not coming across anything strange.

However, the moment she stepped out into the hall to go back to her room both felt chills run up their spines. The air around them seemed to grow colder and they both felt like they were being watched by something.

Slowly, Tohru turned her head to look over her shoulder and instantly her blood ran cold again. But...what shocked her wasn't the fact that she'd seen the ghost again, no...nothing like that. Sure she was spooked since she'd been vehemently denying she saw it the whole day...but...

The ghost had now taken form. It looked like a much older man. Wrinkly skin, white hair that was thinning and an emotionless expression. If it had looked like just any old person, she wouldn't have fallen to her knees and covered her mouth in utter shock. Unfortunately, she knew all too well who this was.

"...G-....Grandpa?" Her voice was weak and shaking as that word left her quivering lips. The ghost of her grandfather did not say a single word, and instead vanished before her tear filled eyes.

---

Sorry to leave this off on yet another cliffhanger, but this chapter is long enough already. I had already put this chapter out on Fanfiction but didn't have the time to put it up on here before Christmas. I wish I could get the next chapter out before the end of the year, but that might not happen.

So how was everyone's Christmas? I got probably the best gift I could ever get. Straight eyes for the first time in my life! I got eye surgery last Monday to correct my lazy eye and now they look so much better!

I hope that you all have a happy holidays and a wonderful new year! Let's hope 2017 is a better one than this year has been!

-Bean