Disclaimer: If it wasn't obvious beforehand, it should be obvious now. I don't own Digimon Savers, or Digimon in general. That said, it should also be obvious that I also don't own any characters mentioned within this fanfic.

Warning: Ending Spoilers?

--- --- ---

A knock came at the door to her apartment once upon a Saturday afternoon.

"Yoshino-neechan?" Yoshino groaned, rolling over and covering her face with the pillow. She had had night duty at the Police Academy the preceeding night, and she wasn't quite ready to wake up yet. Nevertheless, there was apparently no rest for the young officer; another knock interrupted any attempts to return to her slumber.

"Yoshino-neechan ... is this a bad time?"

YES.

Even so, Yoshino couldn't deny that she knew the voice behind the wooden door of her apartment bedroom, and she wasn't about to turn her away. With a sigh, she sat herself into and upright position, blinking sleepily a few times before leaning her head back against her headboard and calling out to the other.

"No, No, come on in, Chika." Not even a second later (or so it seemed), the door opened and revealed a teenage girl, long brown pigtails resting lightly upon the shoulders of her long-sleeved shirt. Sheepishly, she smiled.

"I'm sorry, I know you must have had a late night ... I won't be long, I promise."

Something was up. Yoshino patted the spot on the bed in front of her.

"Sit. There's obviously something going on that we need to talk about." Chika was silent, neither denying nor confirming it. Quietly, she closed the bedroom door, strolling over toward the aforementioned spot on the bed and sitting, folding her hands together and staring at them. Yoshino waited patiently.

"So ... um ..." Chika finally started after a few moments. Yoshino smiled and shook her head, reaching over and patting the younger girl's shoulder in encouragement. Chika offered yet another sheepish twitch of the lips.

"I've been thinking ... Ikuto-kun and I have been friends for ... um ... a ... really long time now ..." Well, yeah. Ever since they first met, it seemed that the two had some sort of connection; Yoshino figured it partly had something to do with Chika being Masaru's sister, but since the entire group came back from the Digital World and Masaru had left them behind, she had noticed that Chika and Ikuto had been awfully close, even without Masaru there to play the glue. He even so much as came by to pick her up before school every day.

Somehow, Yoshino could see where this conversation was headed.

"Chika ... I think--"

"So how do I get him to notice me that way?!" Chika suddenly blurted, looking to Yoshino with slight hints of tears welling up in her emerald eyes. Yoshino sighed. Ahh, teenage years.

"You can't force him to notice you that way. If he likes you, then he likes you. If he doesn't ... then you two can still be good friends." Chika lay back onto Yoshino's bed, letting out a puff of air as her back impacted with the mattress.

"I hate this ... it's too confusing!" Yoshino giggled.

"It always is, But Chika ..." Chika averted her gaze to Yoshino, watching as her expression became serious.

" ... Don't go through life without ever letting him know how you feel. You'll ... regret it later on." Yoshino's gaze stayed shakily upon Chika for another moment before falling to the sheets she clenched in tight fists. Chika was quiet, giving a slight nod. She sat herself up, proceeding to stand.

"Well ... thanks, Yoshino-neechan." She offered a genuine smile. "I should probably leave now." And with that, she turned, headed out the door. Yoshino would have said something, but Chika seemed to move too quickly. With a sigh, she shook her head and moved to lay back down.

"Oh, Yoshino-neechan ..." Yoshino opened one eye and looked to the girl, who had poked her head back inside once more.

"Hnn?"

"... Masaru-niichan felt the same way about you. And when he comes back, he'll tell you so!" Chika grinned and was gone once more. Yoshino gave a small smile before snuggling into the covers and hugging her extra pillow to her chest.

So she still believes ...

Yoshino felt guilty. She had given up on his return long ago.

Just as I had given up on him returning those feelings ...

She sighed.

Come home ... at least for your sister, Masaru.

--- --- ---

Fin.

--- --- ---