Digimon 1. Epilogue

It's a normal snowy February morning in Odaiba High, with a dark silver sky and a completely white ground hiding all colors from everyone's eyes. The light cold wind scratches people's faces outside, making them rush into their classes with none of the cheer that colors and warms the teenage's heart on the beginning Spring. It would be definitely Winter in Japan, but after the events of seven weeks ago all around the globe, in everyone's mind the feeling of survival warmed their thoughts as hell could do.

Not once, but twice did the digital world interfere in human's life. People from all over the globe are just trying to understand and overcome the occurs on New Year's eve. There is, for a fact, a really close world from our own, and there's nothing they could do about it yet but move on with their lives.

The identity of those who were involved in the battles were kept unknown, due the fact that all the records were deleted by a magnetic field that involved the orb during the past war. All people could say was that they were kids, teenagers, many of them from many countries helping creatures claiming they come from a digital universe.

Although the Holiday's event didn't quite destroy many in this world, the digital one was burned into ashes. The many kids and teenagers that helped one more time keeping both planets safe, were now working hard on rebuilding the digital world itself, the bridge between the both universes and eradicating all and every information people could ever have about digimon and Digidestined's life.

Everyday portals from many countries are being opened and closed, some of them to allow humans and digimons getting into the digital orb to work, others just cutting of the possible connections between both sides of the portals. Slowly, over the past weeks, balance is being restored back from pieces. And so are the digimon's that died during the many conflicts in 2002, progressively showing up as eggs in the nurseries.

However peace is being reestablished, there's a legion of digimons convinced, that the human influence just keeps trouble alive in the digital world. Taking control of the still remaining black towers' area, they engage battles against groups of Digidestined that travel into their world to restore it, sometimes giving them a hard time to rebuild the destroyed areas. And as if all of those stuff were not just enough, the events on Valentine's day last week also broke into Japan as a digital bomb. They really needed to rush things up reestablishing peace one more time, before another bomb was dropped.

The Digidestined from Japan were definitely having a bad 2003's start.

"Ahhhhh!" A dark-brown haired teenager yawned as he stared at his first math test after the Holiday's break. He turned his eyes to see outside the window, watching sadly as snowflakes fall slowly from the sky, accepting that this weather could easily kill him.

"I could easily trade this test for days working hard at the digital world…" Wondering what was he doing in a math class, Taichi started reflecting about what happened in his life since Christmas eve. "Hell" He thought.

"Although we're doing our best for both worlds, many of us are just back on tracks from their own lives. Daisuke is back to school, just as Takeru, Hikari, Miako and Ken… He is on soccer team, working hard for the next Odaiba Gym League starting on Spring" He started thinking about his friends and how their lives are at that moment. "And he's just trying harder to have girls staring at him". He laughed in silence.

"Hikari is in love with as many forms of art she can be, such as taking pictures, writing poetry and typing videos for school. She has really grown up from all of these! For Miako, I see her all the time with her friends in our practices now. I guess she and her friends are huge fans of soccer players, although she's a geek too. Sometimes I can see a Mimi mixed with a Koushiro on her." The guy stared at the test once more, trying to find something that could catch his attention and stop thinking, worthless.

"Ken studies in another school, but he's usually hanging out with the younger Digidestined. He still plays soccer, but he's focused on doing good stuff for society, maybe because he thinks he owes it after what happened to him." Thinking about the younger part of the group was hard, since he didn't know much about many of them but only what he learned by working with them lately. "Iori is someone I don't get too much in touch with, but I know he is a very smart boy, who studies a lot and play some really good Kendo, and now he's following Koushiro's steps in informatics. Sometimes he hang out with us, but usually he just talks to Koushiro or Joe, the smart ones I guess." One more time he glanced at the questions that filled the paper right in front of him, wondering if he could just leave it and run out of that class. Staring at his wristwatch, he assumed that it would be worthless to leave, since he could only do something after the others could meet him.

"Takeru is the brilliant boy. He's dedicated to writing stuff about us on his free time, trying to come up with a book so he could join the Writer's Club next year. Boy, those kids are such grown ups. He started his work creating a possible future for us, based on the memories of what we lived in the past three years, which sometimes I think is a little bit too crazy. Like Miako's marriage to Ken, which was a prank in revenge for her fooling around with him about Hikari." The young guy opened up a smile recording all he has read about him and his friends' future. "At least he was kind to Davis by not marrying himself to my sister." He moved his eyes to face a blond guy just sitting right beside him, receiving a negative look for any request for answers about the test.

"I mean, it is for sure easier to imagine Yamato as a boxer but an astronaut. I believe he wrote that in respect for some of his child fantasies with his brother." He laughed silently picturing him once more leaving to Mars, as Takeru's story just tells. "Yamato is still playing with his band, which has a lot of fans now and makes him timeless for his friends, but he shows up when he can to help us out." Moving his eyes again to face another known person, a girl sitting on the other side of the class.

"Sora as a designer... That's hard to picture as well. I've known her since forever, and I'm sure I can't put her and fashion in the same room." Suddenly he felt something hit his stomach as his thoughts guided him to another fight with her if she could only read his mind. "Oh! Not that I'm saying she has no sense of fashion, for god sake! She'd kill me! And we've had enough of each other last year..." He once again felt a disturbance hitting him, allowing some memories from all over last year to show up on his mind, and quickly sending them away. "Whatever! She still plays tennis, but now she developed some taste for manual work, such as helping her mother with her flowers, drawing stuff, but not clothes, and helping Hikari with some of her pictures." He tried to calm his nerves down. "She's still dating Yamato, and from what I know, which is not much, they are a very happy couple". He forced himself to get bored one more time by remembering him where he was now.

He yawned once again, calling his teacher's attention."Taichi, focus on your test please!"

By that, Sora noticed him staring at her and laughed.

"Koushiro is working hard on his computer since all the trouble we faced, trying to guide us into all the areas that we're needed in the digital world, and hacking every system possible to erase all information anyone could have about us. Although the link between the both worlds were established thanks to our friend Blackwargreymon, he is also working on the bridges between them with Miako and some other computer Digidestined geeks. I do believe Takeru was right putting him as a computer programmer. I can't see him differently." Once again he moved his thoughts from his friends away and read all the questions from his text. He tried to guess some of the answers by spying on Yamato's text, writing them down in the blank spaces that filled his exam. Feeling bored once again by a mix of numbers that make his mind dizzy, he flew once more.

"Joe-senpai just got into the best Preparatory High School for Medical School, and as always, he spends his 24 hours studying, even though he does it on the back of Ikkakumon. But something has got into him, and now he's showing up a little bit more often than before." One more time he was interrupted, this time by the sound of dragging chairs from students that already finished the text.

"Mimi-chan is now heading back to Japan. After the Malomyotismon incident, their parents figured out that digimon breaks could happen all over the world, and Japan is just close to family. She's probably going to study at the same school as all of us, and also will turn into one of our High School girl celebrities. Even if there are many beautiful girls in our school, for example Mai, the girl I've been sort of going out from the Tennis Club, Mimi could easily make them vanish." Wondering if his thoughts were just going to the wrong direction, he told himself "No, I'm not in love with her."

Once more, the guy faced his test, now trying to find some excuse to leave class and not receiving a zero.

"Yeah, see me now trying to do a simple test and try picturing me as a diplomat" He thought playfully. "I'm just Taichi Yagami, the captain of the soccer team from school, who tries his best to run away from math class and find his way to any other one that doesn't make him work with numbers. Unlike my friends, I'm no artist, but I always try helping my sister, or watch to some of Yamato's rehearsals. As my friends Sora and Yamato, I'm trying to get into college, but I think I'll have to make way beyond my best to make it, so I swear I'll study for my next test. But for now, I'm leaving…"

He dragged back his chair and stood up, handing his text over his teacher and heading towards the door. Today is going to be a hard working day, and he could feel it.


	2. Chapter 1

Koushiro walked into the dark and empty computer's room, quietly sitting in front of a monitor while waiting for the others to arrive. He sure had a lot to do that day, guiding the small group that could travel around the many areas in need to be restored. Today he'd just wait for Daisuke, Hikari, Takeru, Sora and probably Yamato to join Taichi while he assisted them from the other side. Looking around the empty room, he took a deep breath before opening the digital map that would indicate where they should work on.

No longer than 5 minutes passed as the younger part of the group entered the room, as he heard Hikari and Takeru laughing at something Daisuke likely did or said. The girl wore a pink winter dress with a red scarf and a white beret, carrying Tailmon between her arms. The blond boy was dressed with a green sweatshirt with a light green waistcoat over it, gray shorts and his traditional white hat with Patamon upon it. The leader of them carried his partner Demiveemon playfully, wearing a new dark brown jacket he got for Christmas that just looked like the one he wore in the digital word, light blue jeans and as always his google glasses. Examining the room, he changed his goofy expression into a confused one.

"Huh? Where are the others?" asked Daisuke observing the empty room.

"Taichi mentioned something about an exam. They'll probably get here anytime." Hakari said with a light smile, taking a seat beside Koushiro, and inviting the two other boys to join her.

"So, what are we up to for the day?" Daisuke just turned his eyes to catch up with whatever was on the screen Koushiro was working on by that time. They were still using the black towers' map as a tool to tell them where should the team go and fix whatever was needed to be fixed.

Koushiro pointed at a group of black squares grouped together in the middle of the ocean "Genai just sent me an e-mail with some information about this region. There are a lot of digimons there, some of them still using Evil Spiral from the time Ken used to be the Emperor. I think it's time for us to get there and work things out. The bad news is that Agumon, Byomon and Gabumon won't digivolve unless you take down the nine towers spread there. What do you think about it?"

"Well, I think we're late by now. We should get going if we want to get here by the end of the day" Answered Yamato while entering the room, holding Sora with his hand on her shoulder. The blond boy was using his traditional green uniform from Odaiba High, carrying his bass case. His girlfriend, on the other side, was wearing a cute red winter coat with a white scarf.

"I think we can hold on while Hikari, Takeru and Daisuke do that" Sora added with a light smile, giving her boyfriend a look to confirm her point of view.

"And what about Taichi? Where is he?" Asked Takeru, searching for the other Digidestined that was supposed to follow them to the digital world.

"He's being held by lovely Mai outside the building. He'll reach us later." Added Yamato with a sarcastic funny smile, glancing at his girlfriend, who rolled her eyes as showing her disapproval. The girl was not on the group's scenario before the battle on new year's eve, but she's been involved in a thing with Taichi for over four months, and for many of the group she just didn't fit in.

Yamato is the celebrity guy in school for his band. But Taichi has his own charm with many girls there, for his outgoing and athlete style. Since he turned into the soccer team's captain, a league of girls chased him in the halls, including one of his affairs Mai. Differently from his blond best friend, he really enjoyed making girls giving him sighs when he smiles, going out with a lot of them in the past year.

"Ok, let's go then!" Daisuke stood up, followed by his two younger friends sat right next to him. They all took their position in front of the monitor, getting their digivices. "Digiportal, open!" They pointed their digivices to the screen, and suddenly a strong light took the whole place, carrying the five Digidestined while disappearing.

The portal guided them into a dense jungle. The high trees covered the place with large dark green leaves, weakening the sunlight that was above them. The silence was only broken by the sound of sea waves crashing nearby. Slowly the Digidestined started to wake up from their long trip, alerted by the sound of footsteps that happened to be Gabumon's and Byomon's.

"Hey guys! Time to wake up! There are many Flymon flying around here, and if they catch us like this we'll have to start a fight" Gabumon told the group while helping Daisuke move out of Yamato's chest.

"Well, we know what to do. Me, Hikari and Daisuke are using our Digi-eggs to bring down the towers from north, west and east first." Takeru carried a worried expression while explaining the plan to the older ones. "You guys have to be careful, since Gabumon and Byomon can't digivolve for now".

"Don't worry. We'll follow you carefully on the ground, and as soon as we can use our digivices, we'll help you out with those digimon" Added Sora. "We are texting Taichi so he could meet us on the north, and then we'll come from there to the south." She said once more.

... ... ... …

As Takeru, Hikari and Daisuke with Pegasumon, Nefertimon and Raidramon, left to the to West, East and North respectively, Yamato and Sora headed north carefully, followed by Gabumon and Byomon.

The couple walked accompanied by an uncomfortable silent, that was only broken by the quick chat Gabumon and Byomon made with their partners. "Yamato how is the band going?" the blue digimon asked. "Oh, it's fine. We'll have a rehearsal today after we're done here. Will you join us Sora?"

The blond boy stared at his girlfriend, unsure of what would be her answer. "I don't know yet, but I think so. Let's see how tired do we get out of here" The girl gently smiled, staring at his blue confused eyes and then facing the ground one more time.

Things were doing just fine between them before Valentine's day. They started dating on Christmas's eve and since then, everything was leading them into a serious and strong relationship. Since both of them have similar thoughts about dealing with people's feeling, there was no heavy discussion or any lasting argue for what matters. Sora wondered why and how did it happened so fast.

On Valentine's day, Yamato came out of nowhere with the three words that scared her the most. The three words that on that moment, she could never say back. She liked him, otherwise she'd never have gone after him on Christmas. But still, her heart was not sure about how far she could go with it. And unfortunately, Yamato had the feeling that something between them just started going down the hill after that.

"Did you tell Taichi where are we going to meet him?" The pink digimon asked her partner to break another silence between the group.

As Yamato took another glance at her girlfriend, waiting for the answer, she figured out someone had probably asked her something that she didn't pay attention on. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Sora asked embarrassed. Yamato gave her a soft look, and asked the question that her digimon did first "Did you tell Tacihi where should he meet us?"

"Oh! Yes, I texted him a while ago." She faced the ground once again, feeling awful for flying on her thoughts while he talked to her.

"I'm sorry, I think I might be on a bad day." The auburn tried to justify herself and ease up the dense air between them. The digimons followed by her boyfriend, gave her a friendly smile and kept on going.

The darkness caused by the huge leaves was starting to get weak, as they approached a cliff right beside a beach. They walked cautiously, trying not to make noise enough to call the Flymon's that flew above them. All they could hear was the sound of wind bumping into tree's limbs and what was probably the attack from Raidramon crashing a black tower.

Suddenly their digivices started glowing, which gave them a sign that their partners could digivolve from that moment on. It was time for them to start working and calm down the digimons that tried to pull Daisuke back. Yamato gave Sora a look indicating they should go, allowing their partners to evolve to Weregarurumon and Garudamon.

Each of them took different directions with their partners, calling the attention of Flymons and two Okuwamon, each following one of the Digidestined. "Please, take care!" Yamato shouted at the auburn while leaving towards west. Sora headed in the opposite direction, on the back of Garudamon. They were supposed to defeat those digimons and head north after that.

... ... ... …

Taichi just entered the room with a "Help me" stare, searching for the rest of his friends. He changed his expression by a pissed off one, wondering where the hell was the group that was supposed to meet him. He was wearing a long black coat with dark jeans, always with his blue band on his head, giving him a way more serious expression that he usually carries. Koushiro showed up behind a monitor on the back of the room, giving him a questioning pissed off look that meant he was late.

"I'm sorry, Mai held me for a couple of minutes downstairs. Where are all the others?" Taichi gave him the classic I'm sorry look of his, that didn't quite well worked on his smart friend.

"They already left, and they need you there now." He answered with a light stressed tone.

"I know they need me, I'm already here." Taichi gave him his typical self-confident smile, trying to relax him.

"I mean it Taichi. There are a lot of digimons there, and only five of us to face them. We need more to help them." The short auburn boy stared at his monitor, a drop of sweat streaming on his right cheek, indicating that he was actually concerned about it. Taichi changed his relaxed stare to a more serious one, and approached the computer.

"It's time for me to go then. Sora already texted me where should I meet them. Would you do the honors and open the portal for me?" The boy gave his friend his brave, strong smile and waited for him to do his job.

"Just go." Koushiro gave him a __I give up on you__smile, which disappeared with the strong light that entered the room.

... ... ... …

The guy could feel sand grains scratch his face as he slowly recovered his consciousness. The smell of the ocean, joined by the sound of crashing waves echoing somewhere close to him, told him it was time to stand up and move. He opened his eyes, observing there was nothing in front of him, but a blue sky that showed, he had just a couple of hours from the sunset. He was just next to a cliff and there was no sign of his digimon partner.

"Where the hell is Agumon? I thought Koushiro would send him here." He told himself while exploring the place with his dark brown eyes. His digital compass indicated he was on the extreme north of the island, exactly where he should be. He could hear a very distant sound of what could be bombs exploding, which indicated some of his friends were close. The young guy searched for a sign of smoke or whatever could tell him where the digimons were fighting, when he was interrupted by the sound of bees approaching him.

"Oh man, now I might say where the _hell_ is Agumon." He carried his tense expression, as took the sound as an impulse to start running away from the cliffs, watching a group of Flymons and an Okuwamon emerging from the board of it. A strong light coming from where the portal was once opened made the image of an orange dinosaur appear, as the guy's digivice glowed. His friend quickly digivolved to his Metalgreymon form, ready to stop the insects that chased him.

"I'm sorry if I kept you waiting. Koushiro transported me from a portal to another". Metalgreymon headed up, forcing the digimons to do the same and leave the ground. It could be an easy battle for him, since a group of three Flymons and just one Okuwamon would take him a short time to take the evil spiral off.

Taichi analyzed all the place around them trying to find any sign of his friends, while Metalgreymon easily took care of his job. All of a sudden, a strong insect noise coming from the ocean called his attention, making him run at the board of the cliff to find out how many bees should he expect for. As he approached the board, a light bolt pop up in his direction, centimeters from his left side, some of it's sparks hitting his cheek and shoulder. Taichi could feel the strong heat warm on his face, as he felt a warm liquid flow. He was front by front to three Okuwamon.

"Metalgreymon! This is a battle for a Wargreymon!" Taichi shouted at his friend, who immediately returned to the ground and came back to Agumon's form. As the boy ran away from the three Okuwamon, the orange dinosaur evolved into his mega form.

"Taichi, I'm going to move those four Okuwamon away for now! We should find a safe place for you to be at!" The mega digimon told his friend while giving them a Dramon Killers attack. "Come, step on my back so we can get out of here". Taichi ran towards his digimon, holding on his iron wings and heading up to the sky.

"I don't think we can beat them alone. We are stronger, but there are many of them." Taichi carried a tense expression, feeling a growing pain coming from his shoulder as blood dripped from his face. He felt awful for running away from a battle, but he knew that if he didn't do that, it could get worse. The boy examined the area from above, noticing a very far smoke at the east"

"Look, Wargreymon! Someone's is fighting over the east side!" The older group leader pointed at the course they should take on, dodging away from the attacks of chasing Okuwamon. He could feel his injured shoulder, getting heavier as the increasing pain started to bother him. Taking a look back, he noticed the evil digimons were distancing from him, what could give him some time to think about an offensive strategy. Figuring out he could use some backup, he moved his right hand carefully into his coat's pocket, grabbing his D-Terminal.

Maybe Yamato's or Daisuke's help would be enough to hold the group of Okuwamon, but he needed to check if his friends were having a hard time on the digital world too. Deciding he had no time to text all of them, he typed quickly a message to Koushiro.

"Koushiro, don't have much time to explain. I'm alone chased by a group of Okuwamon. Need backup on the east side. Help me out here!" As he finished typing the message, he noticed that as he approached the smoke sign, he was no longer flying above sand fields, but a dense forest that he couldn't see anything below its large leaves. Wargreymon lowered the altitude, so they could be more imperceptible for the far away Okuwamon that were still on a chase after him. The two started to distinguish what could be a Garudamon setting fire against a group of bees and another Okuwamon, and another sign of smoke more far away, from where probably Sora stood.

"Hey, Taichi! I think Sora is having a little fight over there. Should we get closer?" Wargreymon flew towards the auburn Digidestined, but ready for his friend's answer to maybe change their destination. The boy tried to hold back a blue cheerless look that could evince he was not really sure if he should do that, but he had to. They could help each other out, and besides the girl's help could really make things fast enough so he wouldn't need to be around too much.

"Just keep going Wargreymon, we really need their help now." By the time he ended his answer, the two noticed a group of Flymons emerging from the heavy amount of leaves beneath them, attacking them with a dense cloud of poison that slowed down the mega digimon.

"Taichi, they are too many. I'm getting weak!" Wargreymon started feeling a little dizzy. He needed to attack the group of bees immediately, but by doing that he needed to drop his friend off his back.

"We need to go down as fast as possible! Just try to-" The guy was interrupted by a strong crash coming from a strong light of a bolt. He could feel butterflies flying crazy on his stomach while the cold wind scratched hardly his face. He could barely sees the dark green color of the forest underneath below him getting closer, as he blinked heavily. His head was madly aching. He was losing consciousness.

... ... ... ...

"Garudamon, let's take care of the Okuwamon first! He is the strongest one!" Sora shouted as her friend, standing up on an isolated mountain in the middle of the forest. The girl was doing her best trying not to catch the Flymons attention, that were distracted by the presence of the bird digimon setting fire on them. She felt a noise coming from her pocket, indicating a new message has just arrived in her D-Terminal.

"Sora-chan! I don't know if you're too busy, but Taichi is heading in your direction, and it looks like he is carrying a world of trouble with him. Could you give him a hand?" Sora opened a curious concerned expression. She knew that Taichi is not the kind of guy who would easily ask for help, unless he really needed it. And definitely she would be one of the last he could ask for, considering how jerkier than usual he had been to her lately.

Their friendship was shaken since around days before Ken kidnapped Agumon to take him into evil spiral experiments back in July. She did her best to fix whatever happened between them, but as much as his friend tried to be nice to her, they always ended up arguing or even stop talking to each other for a while. But there was no time to think about Taichi again, she needed to hurry up things between Garudamon and the evil digimons so she could help her friend in trouble.

"Garudamon! We need to hurry up! Taichi is in trouble, and he's close to us!" She started scanning the air in a search for her old best friend, suddenly identifying a flying yellow point in the air coming in their direction. She also noticed four gray points after them, assuming they were Okuwamons like the one Garudamon was just finishing.

"Sora, step up and hold tight! We're flying as fast as possible to help them." The girl rushed onto Garudamon's hands, holding on one of it's big fingers. She could feel the wind go quickly through her hair, assuming they were really traveling at high speed. Making light moves so she could keep her balance well, she raised her head slowly behind one of Garudamon's fingers, allowing her to observe her friend's approach. She was surprised by a strong light hitting the yellow point that now could be easily distinguished for Wargreymon.

"Oh my god! Garudamon, I think they're falling!" The girl shouted at her digimon friend, ripping a shocked glance. It was not necessary to ask the big bird to try catching them, it rushed towards a falling Taichi and a dedigivolving Agumon, almost not fast enough to grab them. Sora rushed to hold Taichi, noticing his left cheek and head were bleeding, while the digimon quickly entered the forest, hurting itself by the scratch of branches and protecting their friends.

"I could notice Metalgarurumon coming in our direction from above. I think we can take care of those four. Stay here with those two and scream if you need to, ok?" Garudamon told her partner quickly, taking a positive stare from her allowing it to fly up into the sky. As the girl could hear the sound of limbs being crashed above her, she looked down to an unconscious Taichi, resting his head up on her legs. As Agumon stood up walking in their direction, she told him quickly to run into a stream about 50 meters beside them and bring water, giving him her coat so he could soak it.

The many sounds of attacks above them told her that Metalgarurumon had probably arrived, and Yamato was likely taking care of the situation with his partner and Garurumon. Agumon arrived with her soaked red coat, handing it to the girl. They could hear the sound of Raidramon's attack, indicating Daisuke had joined the team. Sora started cleaning Taichi's wounds, trying carefully to wake him up so he could once more make his partner to digivolve and help the fighting digimon.

"Taichi! Taichi!" She gingerly shook her friend's shoulders, her worried eyes examinating any sign of response. The girl gently caressed the boy's not hurt cheek, trying to make him regain his consciousness, as his orange dinosaur friend kept calling his name continuously, the both worried about the possibility of their friend being seriously hurt.

He could feel a strong pain hitting his shoulder as he felt his body slowly shaking. His head was too heavy for him to try moving it, and so were his eyes to be opened. He could smell the scent of moister soil and leaves, and no longer notice the travelling butterflies in his stomach, making him sure he was on the ground. Something warm nicely touched his cheek, letting him wonder if he was dreaming. His name was being called repetitively, and leisurely he could sense his thoughts connecting together, bringing him back from his parallel universe. Taichi opened his eyes, slowly identifying a blurred orange dinosaurs face and his best friend's, noticing the warmth caressing his face was actually the girl's hand.

"He's waking up! Taichi! Taichi! How are you?" Agumon shouted as his friend slowly blinked, trying to clear his blurred vision. The boy was not sure if he could stand up by that time, he could use some more minutes of sleep. As he started figuring out where he was, he immediately moved his left hand to stop his friend's caress, feeling another pain hitting him on his shoulder. Sora gave him a worried but not less annoyed look, showing him he should just stand where he was.

"I need to digivolve now Taichi! Grab your digivice please! Our friends are fighting upon us, and they need me there." Even knowing his partner was in no good condition to fight, the digimon was really worried about their other friends getting hurt. Taichi gave him stunned in pain look, instantly trying to move his head off of Sora's lap and grab his digivice. Hold his pain back, he withdrew his digivice off his pocket, looking at it with one of his eyes barely opened.

"Go!" The boy spoke at his partner, making his best to not say it out loud in a weak tone. His digivice glowed once more, allowing Agumon to digivolve into Wargreymon. The mega digimon flew towards the long branches upon them, breaking some while many leaves fell from the sky. Taichi felt dizziness reach his mind once again, trying his best to ignore it as he stood up. Standing, he closed his eyes, feeling all his blood drain away from his head, completely dizzy. Sora stood up quickly, trying to hold him so he wouldn't fall.

"Why do you have to be such a stubborn?" The girl gave him a mad stare, trying to hide her worry about him. That stupid way of his really drove her into madness, making her barely hold her mood calm so she could help him. Although they were still friends, dealing with him in the past few months was getting harder. He was day by day getting more distant, and she could swear he was avoiding her, even if they had nice moments together.

"As you know, our friends are too busy while we chat. We can do better helping them, don't you think so?" He gave him a kind, soft smile, as she could sense the almost imperceptible irony in his tone. He tried to take a step from where he was, but the dizziness brought him on his knees.

"See? If you help them this way, you'll be their worst trouble!" She talked angrily to him, trying to help him stand on his knees. A little bit more of this, and she would break into madness and ask him what the hell was going on with him. She was waiting for a long time to do that, but everytime they were alone he always kept a distance. Knowing that was not an appropriate time for that, she just kept staring at him just in case he needed her help one more time.

"There is a stream about 50 meters away from us. I can help you walk there, so you can drink some water and wash your face. It can help you get better, I guess." She tried to sound as kind as possible, pointing at the stream's direction. As Taichi gave up being stubborn, he nodded trying to stand up once again. He was feeling too dizzy to give his friend another response. Although he wanted to keep some distance from her, he actually needed Sora and there was no harm letting her walk him. The girl helped him get on his knees once again, so he could reach the clean transparent water running off the stream. He held the deadly cold water in his hands, driving them to his face as the cold started to allow his senses, making him more alive. The dizziness started to vanish as he turned his face to look at the auburn girl.

"If you're trying to kill me by freezing an injured me, you got your fingers burned." The boy gave her a playful smile, letting his eyes show her a sweet friendly stare. At first, she didn't know if he was just being sarcastic as always, or the cold water that just froze his brain and killed some of his neurons. Raising her right eyebrow and keeping a serious look, she approached him to examine how bad he was.

"Are you okay? I'm really worried this water already froze your brain." She was staring at him curiously, and worried at the same time, as he responded to her with another smile and stood up. The boy looked around to analyze better the place they standing, feeling a lot better after the cold water impact. He was no longer dizzy, but the pain in his head's wound still bothered him enough to let him with a bitter mood.

"See? As long as I'm okay, you're always trying to kill any kindness of mine." He gave her another playfully glace with a light smile on his face, changing it quickly into a more serious one as he turned his eyes to observe the branches upon them. "Again, no time to chat. Our friends are too busy to wait for one of your insults." He looked at her one more time, now with a more serious but playful expression.

"My insults? Do you at least pay attention to yourself while you breath?" She started to get pissed off at him once again. As she hurried her mind to formulate a better answer instead of just yelling at him, she was interrupted.

"It's too late! We already took care of everything while you were sleeping, baby." The sound of her boyfriend's voice made her turn around to find him right behind her, as Taichi ignored her mad expression and placed his right hand on her shoulder.

"Just dreaming about your beautiful blond hair swinging as the wind passes through it during the battle." Taichi answered his friend carrying his happy warm smile, that could make many girls lose their mind. He was trembling, feeling a little weak to walk fast. Sora once more held him so he could walk into Daisuke and the others direction. As he got rid of her again, Yamato approached her.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, carrying a worried glance. He was always worried about her, making her feel secure and warm, what she indeed appreciates. Yamato was a nice boyfriend, leading her to like him a lot. She smiled at him, looking around to notice if anyone was staring at them. With a negative answer to her own wonders, she gave him a shy quick hug.

"Yes, I am. I can see you did well up there." She said as she pulled apart from him. The blond boy smiled, blushing, and before he could say anything, Daisuke jumped into their direction.

"Hey, lovers! Time to go! As you can see, your friend here needs to see a doctor." The young leader spoke to them with a goofy smile, that they could swear was a poor imitation to Taichi's. They decided to leave with Taichi, letting Daisuke, Takeru and Hikari to take care of the rest. The quick walk to the closest portal was filled with Taichi's and Yamato's jokes, many of them involving the dark brown haired boy's new affair Mai, what apparently didn't bother him that much.

"Oh my god! What happened to him?" As the three arrived in the computer's room, feeling a little dizzy from their long trip, they immediately stood up scared by an acute voice coming from a pink dressed girl, wearing a pink coat and white jeans. Mimi hurried up to hug Taichi, quickly pulling apart to examine his injured face.

"Hi, Mimi-chan." Taichi gave her the same warm smile he usually carry when he just wants to play with someone. Yamato led his hand to his forehead, closing his eyes in disbelief, as Sora laughed at her boyfriend's reaction. Taichi was really unbelievable. Miyako showed up behind one of the monitors and smiled to the three that just got there. She and Mimi were just getting ready to help Hikari, Takeru and Daisuke.

"I have to go, I have a rehearsal in about 15 minutes and I'm already late to get there." Yamato looked at his watch, quickly grabbing his bass case on top of Koushiro's desk, as all of them looked at him. "Are you going with me?" He then looked at his girlfriend, curious about the answer she did not give him when he asked her in the digital world. She looked around, observing Mimi's denying expression that she could well understand.

"I'm sorry, I think I just should help Taichi to get to hospital now." Sora then looked at her injured friend, trying to avoid any stare from her boyfriend that could actually make her feel about it. As he nodded, he kissed her forehead quickly and left.

"So I need a babysitter now?" Taichi gave her a curious look, smiling after that.

"Will you go to a hospital if any of us don't take you to one?" She responded impatiently, pulling him out of the room.

"Of course I wouldn't. But who says I'm letting you take me there?" Again, he started to annoy her, but instead of being serious and ironic, he just gave her the great lovely smile of his.

"I'm keeping my silence. I'm definitely not arguing with you today anymore." She responded seriously, making him look at her curious. Did he really piss her off again?


	3. Chapter 2

It's a beautiful morning in Odaiba, with a blue sky, making a strong contrast with the dark, leaveless trees that used to grace many avenues in the city during all the other seasons. As the sun rise, many homes started to give silence place for waking up children, teenagers and adults, and the traffic started to flow through all the streets around the city. For many, this day could be just one more sad winter day, filled with cold and dismay.

Mimi opened her room's window, staring at the cold landscape outside her building. As much as she hated this weather, today could never be a bad day. Noticing the blue sky above her, she filled her heart with hope that at least this would be a colorful day. The night before, she put all her pink notebooks, case, books, makeup and lipstick inside her red Gucci purse, and prepared what would be her new uniform, green and well ironed. In the morning she should just worry about her hair, that should be as perfect as she dreamed of. She dried her light brown hair carefully, allowing it to be straight but with light curls at the tip. The only thing left now is a light essence, a problem that could easily be solved by her Calvin Klein Eternity.

Her mother entered her room, wondering why was her daughter late for breakfast. "Honey, you're going to be late! Your father is waiting for us to have breakfast with him." She examined the girl's look, who was just finishing her lipstick.

"So mom, how do I look?" The young teen gave her mother a questioning look, giving a quick round so she could rate it well.

"Oh my god, you're so pretty! My baby is going to be the most beautiful girl in her school!" The woman started to be emotional about her daughter's look, letting a tear slide off her left eye. Feeling better than never, Mimi left her room to sit with their parents and have a quick breakfast. She barely started to eat when her doorbell rang, interrupted by a very moody Taichi entering her hall as her mother opened the door.

"Good morning, Taichi! How is your mother?" Mimi's mother asked, as he silently observed her friend pick her things, as she gave him an angry stare.

"She's great! Also, she asked me to ask you your phone numb-" The boy was suddenly grabbed by his arm, being dragged outside the apartment. "What the hell was that?" Taichi asked, letting his morning mood take him again, giving the girl a very annoyed stare.

"That's for your kindness to my family!" The girl winked at him smiling, still holding his arm against his will. "How are your injuries by the way?" She asked the annoyed boy.

"It's fine. Ready for more, actually" He started smiling. The feeling of showing him as a strong guy made him awesome.

Taichi and Mimi walked together to meet Koushiro two blocks away from school, as the girl asked Taichi many questions about the high social life in Odaiba High.

"So, now that I've heard about all the top boys in school, I want to know everything about my rivals too." With his still waking up expression, he gave his friend a confused look, wondering what was she talking about. "Don't be silly. Girls!" Mimi has this amazing ability of understanding people's thoughts, what worked pretty well on Taichi's obvious expressions.

"Oh, you mean the most popular ones, I guess." It was hard for the young boy to think that fast in the morning, mainly when it was cold enough to keep him in bed for at least four hours. His thought started traveling around school, electing the girls he thought would be worth mentioning, as his friend stared at him impatiently.

"If you keep staring at me like this, you will end up tripping on something." He answered her, giving him more time to think.

"Don't fool me Taichi!" Mimi started to get really impatient to Taichi's slowness.

"Fine. There's this girl from our age that plays amazing Piano, I guess her name is Yuki. I just know her from the halls, and I can tell you she is a heart thief." Although Taichi was a pretty known guy in school and there were many girls after him, he didn't care much about girls that didn't chase him. That's probably why Sora thought of him as an egocentric, selfish human being.

"Oh, C'mon! Just Yuki? Give me at least three more names!" Mimi was finally starting to have fun wondering how pretty and awesome were those girls she was about to meet.

"Hum... There's a senior girl, very hot by the way, but I forgot her name. She's president of the Theater's Club, you might get to know her sooner or later." Mimi's alive eyes gave him a very curious look. So there's a really pretty girl that also happens to be interested in the same things as her.

"And there are two girls from Tennis Club too." He gave Mimi a soft smile, and kept walking in silence.

"Oh! And one of those happens to be our friend?" She asked him, giving him her __I knew it __look, smiling.

"Actually, I don't think you know any of them. One is older than us, her name is Shina and she's dating one of my great friends from soccer." He gave him his goofy, warm smile, the same he used to carry when he wanted to make a girl breathless.

"Stop looking at me like this. That doesn't work on me." She answered him with a pretending to be mad tone, easy for him to notice that she was just playing with him. "Tell me the other one, now!"

"Her name is Mai. Sora knows her well, you can ask anything else to her." He told her quickly, noticing Koushiro standing a few steps ahead them. He decided not giving her any more information, letting her grumble something he didn't pay attention to. Finally getting to smart boy who was waiting for them, they kept walking the remaining blocks to school, talking about their later plans to get into the digital world.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not joining you today. I'm making Sora spend the entire afternoon walking me around, so I can finally picture the gods Taichi told me about earlier, and the many clubs I can join, and -"

"Bla bla bla bla bla, spare me Mimi. Gods? I'm many things, but not gay" He started fooling with her again, receiving a strong punch in his left arm in return.

"Ouch! You're so insensible! My shoulder is hurt, don't you remember it?" He gave him a sad puppy look, making her feel bad about what she just did.

"I'm sorry! I really am! Did I hurt you?" She started to be concerned about the punch. She didn't help hitting him, he was fooling her since they met earlier. Keeping his poor sad puppy look, he denied any possibility of getting hurt, making her and Koushiro burst into laughter at him. "You're hopeless, Taichi!" She told him, as they entered the school hall.

The cold morning flew fast until noon, when all the older digidestined were supposed to have lunch together and welcome Mimi in school. Although she's been in Japan for a week, today was her first day in school, since the whole past week she spent helping their parents set things up in their new home, and on her free time she traveled to the digital world.

Gradually the members of the group started to show up in their meeting point, one big wooden table in the middle of the school's garden. It was freezing outside, turning the whole yard empty and giving the group privacy to talk about anything they wanted without interruption. The first one to arrive was Yamato, who skipped his last class to receive a call from a member of his band. He was sitting there, looking at nowhere with his charm, and creating an image that could easily turn into a picture for magazines. As he appreciate the winter landscape that pleased him so much, Koushiro showed up, quietly sitting in front of him.

"I guess we're early." The blond said, looking around to notice no one but them were standing in the yard. He enjoyed being alone, but the fact of waiting for late people really bothered him.

"They'll be here anytime soon. I just saw Taichi flirting with some random girls outside his class." He smiled gently, trying to keep a conversation with his friend. Koushiro was the one of them who was working hard the most, by monitoring everything that happens in the digital world with Iori's help, traveling there when he could and studying. He carried a very tired expression, but still tried to hold a smile.

A quick chat that just started between Yamato and Koushiro was broken by Mimi's voice, calling them from far away. The boys noticed she was already with some new friends, as she said goodbye to two girls who apparently were not interested in standing in the cold to have lunch. The two boys couldn't help but stare at her, observing how mature and beautiful she had become.

"Where are all the others? I thought we were supposed to meet each other here!" She asked the two boys, her happy smile fading away, as a lightly pissed of expression replaced it.

"Well, Taichi is coming soon I guess." Yamato told the girl, carrying his serious tone as he looked at her and then looking away again.

"And where is Sora? She told me she'd be here!" Even though it was a simple lunch, for Mimi it meant a lot. She really missed her friends, and having a reunion on her first day was all she needed to start fitting in. Her sad expression told the boys they needed to do something immediately.

"She told me something about quickly stop by the Tennis Club." Yamato again answered the girl, giving her a soft smile so she could calm down and join them.

"Now I remember it. The Tennis High League starts next week, right?" Koushiro said it quickly, while opening his notebook and focusing on something else but their quick chat.

"So, Yamato-san. When is your next show coming up?" It was a long time Mimi and Yamato didn't talk to each other much. Since their adventure in the digital world, their conversations were restricted to e-mails and small texts on their birthdays or important dates, what made them strangers to each other. She just felt the need to start a conversation, breaking the awkwardness between them.

"It's am... It's twelve days from now, next Friday in an old hangar downtown." He actually felt nice with her breaking the silence, answering her with a soft smile. They barely started talking as Taichi showed up, holding a small heart-shaped box.

"Hey handsome! What's this for?" Mimi couldn't lose the opportunity to make fun of him. With one of her hands on her chest and keeping her mouth open in fake surprise, she made Yamato laugh in silence.

"It's for you, Mimi-san. I can't hold myself anymore, I must give you my heart." Taichi started to get involved with Mimi's joke, making her blush and then punch him on his right arm.

"Ouch! At least you did it to the healthy arm this time." He gave her a smile, making all of them laugh. "I got this thing from a girl in your class. Short, dark hair, dark eyes, beautiful legs, her name is Mino. Do you already know her?" Mimi started to flash back into her memories, trying to remember a girl according to Taichi's description.

"Is she the one you're dating, prince charming?" She started again to play with him, what he actually really enjoyed.

"I'm not dating anyone. My heart is yours." He replied, once again fake flirting with her, this time annoying her by not answering her questions. They kept on joking and making Yamato laugh at them, while Koushiro worked seriously on something on his computer.

A couple of minutes later, the auburn member of the group approached the table silently, wearing her traditional green uniform. With a lovely smile on her face, she slowly sat by Yamato's side, caressing his hand softly. Observing the distracted and noisy Mimi and Taichi, she started.

"What are they arguing about?" For someone who has just arrived, it seemed like it was a fight, for her surprise.

"We're not arguing. Taichi is keeping from me who's the owner of his heart." Mimi suddenly dropped her prank with the boy, giving her friend an answer. Sora immediately looked at the boy, who blushed to Mimi's answer.

"Her name is Mai." Feeling uncomfortable with the situation, Yamato answered the young girl that was now sitting by Koushiro's side, as Taichi took a sit right beside her. She gave him an ironic surprised stare, keeping her mouth open, making the scene too comic to keep Yamato serious.

"No way! Mai from Tennis Club? Mai, my rival?" Her reaction even made Taichi laugh. She gave Sora a quick look, noticing she was not enjoying the conversation too much, just keeping her eyes to observe the landscape around them. "Ok guys, time to drop the drama. Let's have lunch." Mimi noticed her friend's eyes come back from the winter landscape to join them, and gave Sora a light smile.

The group had a nice time on their lunch pause, talking about their plans in the digital world, some of Mimi's life in the United States, Taichi's life as a team captain, Sora as one of the best Tennis players in school, Yamato's band and Koushiro's life. If anyone walked around close to their table, many laughter could be heard. Taichi and Yamato had a free afternoon, joining Koushiro to the computer room on Odaiba Gym, where they would meet their younger friends. For Sora and Mimi, the auburn had the entire afternoon to show and tell everything to her friend.

The two girls started with a tour all around the corridors of Odaiba High, where the new girl knew every club and class in school. They kept chatting all along, talking about the most popular boys since the first and last year, the cutest ones and the most known scandals between them.

"I already told Mims, I don't follow every gossip around school" Sora told her friend when she, for the third time, asked about the gossip involving the popular ones in school. They arrived into the school's coffee shop, taking a quick break from the tour around the building.

"So you know nothing about any of those girls that are supposed to be my rivals, huh?" Mimi asked Sora, trying to force her to talk. For the younger girl, it's unacceptable that someone doesn't know or talk anything about anyone in school. The auburn girl made a quick gesture in denial, already impatient about that kind of talk.

"What about you? You're dating one of the most popular boys we know, right?" Mimi gave her a playful smile, making Sora to blush a little, immediately staring the cup of coffee in front of her. She always prefers to avoid her love life as a subject of conversation, and her relationship with Yamato was no different.

"Oh, c'mon! We're friends since ever! I know that you don't like talking about this with the others, and that's why I didn't bother you so much on Valentine's day, but you're my best friend!" The younger girl pressed the auburn one. Although everyone knew she was dating the blond boy, she rarely called him her boyfriend, being too stubborn do admit it in words in front of all her friends.

"You know that already" She answered, blushing, still staring at her coffee, feeling bad about what her friend just said to her.

"Everyone knows! But, how, why, details! Sora Takenouchi, start talking now!"

"What do you mean? It's just like you and Michael, we're going out and that's it..." Sometimes Mimi could be really bossy. The auburn answered, trying to sound as distant as she could, so the subject could vanish in the middle of other subjects.

"First of all, me and Michael are trying to make this distance thing work, and it's so not cool! I'm planning on visiting him in the summer, but you know? Sometimes I feel like I don't miss him the way I should." As the younger girl started talking about her relationship, Sora felt relieved, although interested on listening to her friend's experience.

"You know, I like him, but I don't know... Maybe I could find someone better to get involved here, I guess." Mimi finished.

"You mean cheating on him?" Sora couldn't help but ask her friend. Maybe in America to be with more than one person at the same time was cool, but for her it sounded absurd.

"No, of course not! Anyway, we're giving this distance thing a try. Let's see how it works!" Mimi carried a worried look. It is not easy for her to be in a relationship in which she could only see her boyfriend two times a year or so. Furthermore, they were only starting to get involved, what makes her believe it may not last long. Deciding she should no longer talk about it, so it wouldn't bother her anymore, once she started once again.

"But enough about me. Yamato talk now!" She blinked playfully at her friend, who blushed and turned her face to look away.

"I thought you forgot about it already." Sora tried to avoid the conversation again.

"I'm not giving up." The younger girl smiled.

"Fine. What do you want to know exactly?" Sora gave up, feeling her chest getting heavier as she let her friend ask whatever she wanted to know.

"First, how? I mean, it was so unpredictable!" The auburn girl gave her friend a lightly annoyed stare, wondering if she meant her and Yamato are not great for each other. But she knew her friend well, she knew she would never say that, even when she wanted to. Mimi gave her a curious look, waiting for her to answer.

"It started in the end of November. We started talking often on the internet, most of the time when I lost my sleep in the middle of the night and he was still awake after his band's shows." She started. She never told it to anyone, even to Biyomon. Her friend seemed to be very interested in her talking, giving her a look so she continued.

"At first it was only small talk, like things about the digital world, worries about Takeru and the younger ones, and other stuff like that. But after that, we started talking about the way we thought about life, what we wanted to be and how we wanted to see the world. We found out we're very alike, and that approached us." In a way, Sora was starting to feel more comfortable with the conversation. It was not that bad to open herself to a friend at all.

"For me, it's just a friend thing until then. What happened next?" Mimi talked, trying to keep her friend talking.

"Yes, we were just friends. But around a week before Christmas eve, he asked me out for a cup of coffee."

"What? I thought you started going out after Christmas!" Mimi was surprised about her friend's relationship history.

"But it was after that." She was really feeling comfortable talking about it now. "Wait, how do you know that?" That was a serious question. The only people who actually knew that were herself, Yamato and -

"Taichi told me!" Mimi answered smiling.

"And why on God's earth would Taichi talk about this with you?" Sora started to feel annoyed once more. Lately her friend's acts were really bothering her. She thought him as an immature guy, always upsetting her with his jerk way of living, but now he was talking about her love life? That's very intimate, and she would definitely not let it be.

"Why are you so mad? I almost killed him to tell me what was going on between you and Yamato, and he gave up telling me what he knew. And basically, all he knew is resumed on Yamato's concert on Christmas." As Mimi tried to calm down her pissed off friend, Sora started to relax again. She had just misjudged her friend, and felt bad about it.

"Keep on talking! So, he asked you out?" Mimi brought back the conversation.

"Yes, he did. But at first, I refused it."

"Why?" The younger girl interrupted the auburn one, curious.

"I honestly never thought about him as anything else than a friend." As the words came out of her friend's mouth, Mimi started to feel confused.

"And what could possibly change your mind in just one week?" She was definitely not following her friend's logical. She could understand if she was someone different than the girl she used to know. Sora is not the kind of girl that out of nowhere falls for a boy and go after him.

"I..." Mimi's question got her friend out of guard. She didn't know exactly what to answer, and for sure didn't want to lie to her. "I don't know, I just wanted to give it a try." She answered quickly, trying to not show how embarrassed she felt about saying those words. Her friend raised her eyebrow with a curious look, still feeling that she was not following it.

"And then you went after him on Christmas Eve and you guys started going out?" Mimi tried to connect every information she had so she could fall back on tracks of the conversation.

"That's pretty much it." Sora started to relax once more. It was hard for her to organize her thoughts like that, and somehow it made her really bad about herself.

"And now you're in love with him." The younger girl gave her friend a soft smile, trying to chill her a little. But for her surprise, her words appeared to surprise her.

"I'm in what?" Sora lost it. As her surprised friend started to laugh at her reaction, her thoughts over what happened in Valentine's day again hit her mind.

"Are you not?" Mimi, trying to pull back her laugh, asked her friend.

"I'm confused, Mimi." The girl stared at her now empty cup of coffee, letting a sad expression form on her face.

"You can relax, Sora! Everything here dies with me!" Mimi softly tried to calm the girl down, so she could open herself.

"You know, he told me the three words already, but I didn't say it back, and..." Sora kept her eyes on her empty cup, avoiding her friends.

"And...?"

"And I don't think I should. I mean, don't think a can do it." Mimi gave her friend a worried and confused stare.

"Do you mean you want it, but you're too shy to say it?" She couldn't help but ask.

"No. I mean that... That I don't feel it, I guess." Mimi opened showed a soft smile, letting her hands touch Sora's shoulder so she could face her in the eyes. As the auburn raised her face to face her, she started.

"And it's okay." She smiled. "You don't have to feel it back now. You're together for such a short time, it's normal to feel that way."

"But don't you think I'm being selfish in a way? I mean, I'm not on same page as he is. I feel like I'm using him or something." Sora's confusion clearly allowed Mimi to be more confused than before. The girl's heart was so messed up it was almost impossible to understand her. She gave her lost friend a smile, trying to get her comfortable to talk.

"I don't get it. Using him? You're trying to like him the way he likes you, and that's not using! You're actually trying to be a nice girlfriend." Mimi tried her best not to upset her friend, being as soft as possible to her.

"That's not it. I'm really trying, and I like him in a way, but... Ah, whatever." Sora was feeling too bad admitting what she just did. She didn't want to give any words more about her feelings, what reminded her how bad she was being with her boyfriend.

"It's not bad to open yourself, you know? Maybe it's good for you to organize all this messed thoughts of yours! You have to face it once in a while, you know?" Mimi once more tried to pull her friend in the conversation, so she could at least understand a little bit of her messed up heart. The auburn faced her with sad eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Ok. But please, pretend that you never heard what you're about to hear, ok?" She was about to open herself for real with her friend, feeling her stomach filled with what could be coal in fire. Mimi blinked quickly, giving her a serious look while nodding.

"Mimi, I got involved with him because I thought he is a really nice guy, in which he is. I thought I could like him the way I wanted to, but I'm not feeling it, you know? Deep down inside, I just like him as a friend." Mimi didn't change her serious expression, although her friend's words sounded clearer and started to make sense. There was just one thing that didn't make sense at all, and now she could form it on her mind so she could ask the auburn girl. She cleared her throat, and tried to say it as light as she could.

"Sora-chan... Remember when I sounded like I never thought about you going out with Yamato?" She tried to smile with her eyes, so Sora would feel bad about what she was about to say. The auburn girl nodded.

"Well, there's one thing that doesn't match in this entire story. Please, don't feel bad about me getting so deep in your feelings, ok?" By her friend's words, Sora started to get curious, wondering what could possibly make Mimi say that. She nodded once again.

"I never thought about you giving a boy you don't like a shot so you could fall for him. It's just not like you. You're so independent, self confident and strong. For real, what happened?" Mimi observed her, waiting for any kind of reaction that could indicate she hurt her friend's feelings. To her surprise, Sora appeared to be cool with her friend's question, giving her a small smile that vanished as she turned down to face her empty cup once more.

"No!" Mimi opened her mouth in disbelief, giving her friend a surprised look. She didn't know for sure if she was right, but she had to be. That's it!

"Sora, were you trying to -" As she started to ask her friend the most important question of the afternoon, their conversation was interrupted by two girls wearing the Tennis Club uniform, one of them staying a few steps away, and the other one placing one of her hands on the table the two friends were sitting.

"Hello, Sora! Won't you introduce me to my new friend in front of you?" A black haired girl with expressive dark eyes turned her eyes to face Mimi. She was tall, with strong, beautiful legs and a very curved body that could cause any girl envy. Her face was filled with soft makeup, highlighting the beautiful details of her delicate face. She was probably one of the most beautiful girls in school, and everyone could tell. Sora took a deep breath, still trying to organize her thoughts about the conversation she was about to have with her friend, and now interrupted by one of the girls she really didn't enjoy talking to her. Mimi gave Sora an indignant look, closing her eyes a little bit, that could show how pissed she was by the tall girl's arrogance.

"Mimi, this is Mai. Mai, this is Mimi." Sora was quick and cold, trying to avoid any conversation with the dark haired girl.

"Hello, Mai! I see you already see me as your friend, huh? Thank you for such the highlight! I'm Mimi Tachikawa, as you already know." Mimi gave the tall girl her intimidating look, giving her a fake smile at her as she introduced herself. She usually didn't appreciate being ironic to someone, but she had no option with this girl, not considering how arrogant she was to Sora.

"I think you and I will see each other more than you expect." The sardonic reply Mimi gave her, made the tall girl to also respond in an ironic tone. "Have you told her how close we are, Sora?" She once again faced the auburn girl, who tried her best to avoid talking to her.

"Maybe later, honey. We're in a hurry now to meet our friends, but eventually we'll catch up." Mimi replied before Sora even opened her mouth, keeping her ironic smile while grabbing her friend by her arm and leaving. She could promptly notice what a bitch she had just met, and somehow it pleased her to know she had a rival she could make fun of.

From all the history Mimi had with complicated girls back in the USA, she could feel that she was about to have so much fun torturing Mai on her fake princess throne, that would fall when she wanted to. But there was still something that bothered her. Why is Mai such an arrogant bitch to Sora? She is definitely not the kind of person that likes to get involved with Mai's type, and mainly not the kind of girl who takes such an arrogance without giving an equal response. There are so many things she still needs to know about Sora and her other friends, boys and girls like Mai, but she'll just have to be patient. That night she just had one thing in mind, talk to Taichi about the creepy bitch he's going out with.


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Sorry I took a little longer to uptade, but I promess the next chap. I'll update faster than this one. First of all, thank you for reading it! I really hope you like it! I just ask you to be a little patient whit the Mimato plot here, cuz it'll take a little bit longer.  
Keep reviewing it pls! It'll help me improve the writing and the plots of the fic.**

The clean blue sky that was painted during the entire day gave its last good bye as the stars started to show up in a beautiful winter's sky. It was not late, but the cold forced many of the usual walkers to rush into coffee shop's and other places to warm themselves up. The emptiness that filled the streets and parks provides the perfect timing for the digidestined to go home with their partners without beign noticed.

A small group walked outside the Odaiba Gym building, heading quietly towards a big park next to it. It would be easier for them to cross the park without beign noticed carrying their digimon partners. The group formed by the older members Taichi and Koushiro, and Daisuke, Takeru, Hikari and Iori, have just arrived from their working trip to the digital world. Taichi and Koushiro were wearing their tradicional Odaiba High winter uniform, carrying their backpacks, the leader of them now with a noticeable swollen left shoulder, and the short smart boy just carrying his now usual tired expression. The other members of the older digidestined could not join the team that day. Although it was almost the end of the semester, Mimi had recently arrived from America, and Sora spent the entire afternoon helping her friend to know the Odaiba High world. Joe is in one of his worst exam week, what made it impossible for him to help his friends in the digital world, even though he was doing a hard work on the past weeks. Yamato is about to enter a very busy season with his band, with his first show starting 12 days from now, so he needed to start rehearsing if he wanted to do a great job.

For the younger ones, they were dressed with their casual winter clothes. Daisuke is now the most unoccupied member of the group, considering the soccer season only starts in spring, and he couldn't stand studying too much for his final exams. He was always traveling with his friends to the digital world, helping them not just taking down the black towers and taking off evil spirals, but also rebuilding the destroyed areas along the many battles that occurred last year. He hadn't matured much over time, but he somehow is less impulsive than he used to be, listening more carefully to Koushiro's instructions. Today he and Veemon, helped by the others, broke down six towers at the central Server Continent, really close from Koromon's village. Hikari and Takeru also helped a lot in the digital world lately, even though unlike Daisuke, they were studying for their coming up finals. Iori, the younger member of the group, tried his best to be present on their trips, but since the events from last year, sometimes he coudn't convice his worried mother to let him help his friends. Ken would not help in the digital world this week, due to the fact that he's responsable for helping the kids that were kidnapped on the Christmas event, and sometimes facing groups of traumatized digimons caused difficult situations for him to work with. Miyako is also having a very busy time preparing herself to get into Odaiba High, studying for many exams and just helping their friends when Koushiro needed a little support with computer stuff. Tomorrow, some of them would travel again to rebuild the small thorp and again try to restore peace in the digital world.

As the group started to split into smaller ones, formed by the members that lived close to eachother, Taichi and Hikari left Koushiro and Daisuke to enter their high building. Hikari gave his brother a look, analyzing his tense expression.

"Is your shoulder okay?" She asked softly, the way she always used to direct herself to her big brother. Taichi smiled back to her, trying to tranquilize his sister's worries.

"It's fine. It's not aching anymore. How are you now?" He couldn't help but ask her. Although he trusted her to be a very responsible person, he is always trying to take good care of his younger sister. By his sister's soft look, he could tell she was okay.

"I'm not the one hurt here, you know? But..." He immediately looked at her, surprised that she is about to add something to her answer, wondering what will she tell him.

"But what? Did anything happen? Is it one of those bad feelings you have?" He started to get impatient. Lately, small things could make the leader of the group more tense than usual, and waiting on something was one of the common things that makes him lose it.

"Hey, calm down!" His sister added, as they walked inside the elevator. "There's no bad feeling and I'm really okay... It's you that's not." She faced the floor, trying to avoid his brothers eyes as he heard her observation. He was actually surprised by his sister's consideration, due the fact that he was doing his best to hide it even to himself that he was not on his great terms. Hikari looked up to face her brother, knowing that he would probably not answer. His bad temper sometimes forced him to hide his emotions so badly so he wouldn't show it, and bringing that up would probably irritate him. Surprised, she found out a lightly smiling Taichi, that placed his right hand on her left shoulder, and guided her outside the elevator towards their apartment.

"I'm sorry, Onii-san. I shouldn't have bring that up." Hikari said carefully, observing her brother's actions as they enter the living room. No one is home, which means Taichi is the cooker of the night.

"So, what would you like for dinner, M'am?" He played with her, still not giving her an answer to her observation. As she just stared at him, waiting for at least a moody reaction to her words, he opened the fridge's door. "Well, we can have salad and pasta. Are you okay with that?" He asked his sister, still trying to replace his tense expression into a soft one. As she nodded, he turned his back to her and started preparing their dinner. Hikari just stood behind him, now with a worried look on her eyes. He knew exactly how she was staring at him, even if he didn't have to turn around to face her.

"Hikari, it's fine. I'm just a little tense lately with all those stuff going on." Although it sounded simple, for him it was too hard to open himself to say just those few things. But lying to his sister would be useless, considering she already knows something is wrong with him. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, giving him courage to turn around and face her. For his surprise, she was now standing right behind him, smiling. As he forced a kind smile, she hugged him.

"I'm not asking anything else, okay? But... Sometimes talking just makes you stronger." She said softly, taking a step back as her brother faced her in surprised. He gave her a soft smile that she was not familiar to since the events with Agumon beign kidnapped. She was probably the only one that knew how badly that touched her brother, and somehow made him more reserved with his emotions. Not that he was too emotional or weak, but she knew he was having a bad time even though he showed everyone how strong he was.

Taichi knows his sister was right, but he himself didn't know what to say if he had to say anything. He could feel the tension flow into his vains, and deep down inside he feels lost. Anytime soon he would have to face whatever is going on inside him, but he doesn't feel ready to. Seeing him emotional and weak just makes him disgusting with himself. He turned back again to keep on slicing the salad.

"Don't worry, Hikari. It's just that we have too much to do now." At least he wasn't lying, but he knew it woudn't convince her. She didn't know if she should add anything else to their conversation, but she needed to show him she would listen to him when he wanted to. When she was about to say something, the phone rang, making her get out of the kitchen. It was Takeru, telling his friend he couldn't join the team the next afternoon at the digital world, since his father asked him to visit the TV Tower for a cup of coffee with his older brother Yamato.

"So, we need to have a quick dinner and go to sleep! Tomorrow we'll have too much to do and just a few to help us." Taichi said as his sister told him Takeru and Yamato wouldn't help tomorrow. His tense expression showed up once more, as he and his sister started having dinner. She gave him her worried look, the one he knew well enough so she didn't need to say a word. Uncomfortable, he avoided her eyes, useless.

"I'm worried..." She was surprised he said something, deciding to keep silent so he could feel comfortable to continue. "We're all heading to the end of the semester. Many of us are just too busy to help, and consequently we are working less." He placed his both hands in is forehead, crossing them so they could support his head's weight. By Hikari's look as she heard him, he knew now she was starting to get worried too.

"You're right. But in just a month we'll have time to do our job well. I know it's awful to make our digimon friends wait for our help, but all of us are working when we can." She tried to calm him down. He nodded, finishing his dinner. The two kept talking about some plans on the digital world, not spending a lot time on it, since they both needed to rest for the next day. As the night fell down, all the digidestined gave up on a deep night of rest.

The next day started just as any other normal day. Taichi picked Mimi up on her new apartment, and headed to meet Koushiro a few blocks away from Odaiba High. The clean blue sky that surrounded the city the day before was now filled with a few clouds, making the day a bit colder.

"I don't get it!" Mimi shoutet at a sleepy Taichi, not very well adapted to a noisy conversation in the morning. Annoyed, he answered.

"You don't get it what?" He tried to buy more time with her to answer what she wanted him to.

"Mai, Taichi. Mai!" Mimi was still trying to unterstand what made her friend go out with a girl like that. She was really arrogant to who's supposed to be Taichi's best friend, and besides, she was not buying it.

"What about her?" He looked at her with his bored eyes. He just felt bored everytime someone tried to bring the girl's name in a conversation, as images of Mai came into his mind.

"I always knew you were kind of a jerk with girls. But Mai?" He looked at her, confused. Is she on her PMS? He was used to Sora's moody phases, and learned to respect them. But Mimi was too invasive on hers, for Christ's Sake!

"I'm a jerk." He answered, knowing it would piss her off. As he noted her indignation expression, he started smiling. To piss Sora off was kind of dangerous, considering she gets really mad at him, but Mimi was the oposite, making him laugh hard inside.

"We all know that. But what makes you go out with a girl like that for six months, and don't even consider her as your girlfriend or your something? That's revolting! I've never even heard from this girl until I moved back to Japan!" Her funny nervous way of expressing herself made Taichi comfortable to talk to her about meaningless stuff. Although Mimi talked a lot, he knew she was pretty honest about what she felt and he admired that.

"It's... It's complicated." He gave her his goofy smile, trying to piss her even more. She crossed her arms and stop, hoping her friend would notice how pissed she was with his answer and started talking.

"I'm leaving you behind. Keep moving!" He told her as he kept walking, not even looking at her. Mimi and Taichi were never too close from eachother, but the boy reminded her well of a great friend she left in America, what makes her really comfortable when she was around him.

"You're a jerk, you know that? Oh, whatever." She ran after him, giving her best not to punch him on his injured shoulder.

"Maybe I'll tell you later." He smiled at her, driving the girl mad as he didn't give any answer to what she wanted. She was so pissed he didn't want to talk to her, that she ended up wanting to piss him a little too.

"Maybe you don't have to tell me." She said, pointing him her tongue. He smiled, envolving her with his right arm as they walked.

"You're such a child sometimes!" He told her. That was the second day they walked school together, and he was starting to enjoy it, just by the fact it was so funny.

"Maybe you should tell Sora." She couldn't help but say it, since he kept on pissing her off all along. He freezed, taking his arm away from her and avoiding her eyes. He knew he should not stop walking, but she noticed how it didn't sound nice to him. She knew he wouldn't say a word, and probably she would regret saying what she just did, just by observing his reaction. But in a way, she thought it was right to at least want to question her friend about how could he go out with a girl that discreetly was arrogant to his best friend.

"What do you mean?" He spoke, for Mimi's surprise. He turned his face to stare at her, doing his best to pretend not beign too interested, hoping she would give him an answer. She knew she had to say something carefully, as she noticed how delicate the situation could be to make Taichi interested on asking her something.

"You're best friends, and I bet you don't talk to her about Mai." She was not too convincing, but enough to Taichi's clueless personality. She was sure the boy had no clue the girl was not very kind with Sora, and now with herself. He cleaned his throat, facing the ground.

"I don't talk to her about girls. I never did." Taichi himself could not belive how easy it was to talk to Mimi about it. He felt insecure, knowing she could be a gossiper sometimes, but he felt he could trust her. She looked at him, also surprised he was actually talking to her. To deal with Taichi would be probably easy, considering his similarity to her friend. He was the kind of guy that's hard to break, but easy to confuse and then pull up the informations she wanted.

"Actually, you're too insensitive. The truth is that you don't talk to anyone about it, because you don't think about it!" She smiled at him, poking his stomatch. He relaxed a little, feeling the dense air disappear as they started to play again.

"Are you suggesting I'm gay or something? Because I can prove you, you're very wrong!" He replied, faking an indignation face.

"Honey, I don't need any proof. You're too boyish to like a girl, and that's why you don't think about it. And that's why you're a jerk!" She answered him playfully, but deep down trying to touch him in a way. The fact that he was such a pig even to a girl she didn't quite like, made her really bad about her friend's actions. By his look as he faced her, she knew she even a little bit, did touch him.

"You're really trying to get to me today, aren't you?" He answered her, trying to pretend he was not feeling a little pissed at her. She smiled, shaking her head in denial.

"If you don't like her, why don't you just tell her and end this?" She couldn't help but ask. Taichi was not unpredictable, but he could be a little secretive about his feelings sometimes. But as he talked to her this morning, for Mimi it was staring to get easier to understand his emotions.

"Who said I don't like her?" He asked her, noticing Koushiro just a few steps away from them.

"Nobody needs to." She smiled at him, finishing their conversation as they met Koushiro. The boy carried a very tired expression, forcing his both friends to stare at him worried.

"Koushiro, did you get hit by a bus or something?" Taichi didn't even greet his friend before showing him how worried he was about his friend's tired aspect.

"He's working too much lately, I guess." The girl responded, noticing her tired friend was thinking too slow to answer Taichi.

"I'm fine guys. Just spending too much time on the network planning our day." He answered slow, trying to keep himself strong to follow his friends conversation.

"You know what? You're the one of us who's working hard the most! Today you should take the day off!" Mimi added enthusiastic, shaking her friend as she poked him on his shoulder. It was absurd for Koushiro to take the day off, since he was the head of the entire group that helped planning their schedule, but arguing with an annoying and persuasive Mimi, and a bossy Taichi, would be worthless. As they entered the big school's hall, he finally gave up and agreed that day he wouldn't be there to help his friends.

"So, see you guys tomorrow then?" Koushiro asked, sounding a little bit disappointed.

"We'll see how much of a zombie you look like tomorrow." Mimi answered before Taichi could speak. As they agreed meeting eachother on the next day, the young red haired boy left towards his class.

"Okay. You dismissed him. Who's gonna help us today?" Taichi softly held the girl by her arm, so she wouldn't leave before helping him organizing his plans for the day.

"What do you mean? We're all going to help, aren't we?" She looked at him, confused.

"Mimi, many of us are really busy those weeks. I agree with you Koushiro must rest, but we need to come up with a plan to help our friends in the digital world." He hoped he could be clear to her that he was really worried about not working hard. It was awful for him to leave the digital world into ashes and darkness, while they are worried about a bunch of exams and social problems. Mimi let a soft worried look show up on her face.

"Well, you can count me and Sora in. Who else is going to join us?"

"Hikari and Daisuke, if we're lucky." He answered, not being able to hide the disappointment on his eyes. By the number of members that would help them, it was easy to tell Hikari and Daisuke would take care of the black towers as the other three helped the digimons rebulding the distroyed areas.

"I see we don't have much help today then." She faced the ground, also dissapointed it would be an unproductive day. "Hey, I have an idea!" Mimi suddenly came with something on her mind. The boy faced her in curiosity, surprised his friend was actually interested on helping, due the fact that Mimi was never the biggest voluntary to help the group on digital world's issues. He raised his right eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.

"Why don't we skip class today? We can ask for Daisuke and Hikari to meet us later, and we'll start early." She sounded excited to come up with a plan, opening a strong smile.

"Mimi, it's going to be just you and I. Who's gonna take care of the portals when we leave?" Her plan was for sure great, but unfortunately it didn't sound like a perfect one. Koushiro changed their digivices so they could open the portals without the help of any younger digidestined, but they needed to be monitored so they wouldn't be locked in the digital world.

"Truste me on this one! Just meet me in an hour at the computer's room" She told him enthusiastic, quickly leaving him without even answering her.

Taichi walks through the now empty halls of Odaiba High, which means all students are already in their classes, and he has to be careful so he wouldn't be noticed skipping his. Walking silently, he wonders how could Mimi manage to find anyone willing to skip class at the end of the semester just to help them. For the girl it would be okay to do that, since she just got transfered into school and is not taking any exams, but for the rest of the group, it sounded impossible to do that before noon, when the bell rings. He entered the empty and dusty room, rarely visited on the past few weeks, turning the back lights on. Looking at his watch, he found out he had some time for a quick nap before Mimi shows up with what he expects to be bad news, sitting in one of the many empty chairs located on the back of the room.

The noise of the door quickly dragging to be opened abruptly woke the boy up. He opened his eyes and rose his head to find out who entered the room, identifying a blurry Mimi and two more other girls. As they approached his place, his eyes started to form the images of Mimi, Sora and Miyako, all laughting at his just-woke-up confused expression.

"And that's a very delicate way to wake someone up!" He murmured moody, squeezing his eyes and streching out.

"Good morning to you too." Sora greeted him with a soft smile, followed by Miyako, who waved her hand slowly. The boy blinked quickly in confusion, as he tried to understand how did Mimi manage to convince his responsible auburn friend to skip class, and drag the other girl from her school to Odaiba High.

"Miyako's staying here to study for some exams, and will keep her eyes on the computer." Mimi noticed her friend's confused look, and tried to explain her plan to him.

"Yes, but I can only stay until noon. I have to take the final papers to register myself in Odaiba High today." The young girl sat in a chair beside the only boy in the room, and turning on the monitor in front of her.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Sora asked, taking the other sit beside Taichi. As Miyako opened a map on the screen, the four teenagers stared at the monitor, trying to come up with a reasonable plan for the day.

"Well, we can't work with the black towers in the morning, since our partners can't digivolve. I guess we can go to this area we worked on yesterday, and start rebuilding it." Taichi pointed at the monitor, indicating an area in the central Server Continent.

"You mean, literaly work on building? Like carrying bricks and all of those stuff?" Mimi blinked quickly, confused.

"Of course not! We have a magic wand! All we need is a spell." Taichi opened a huge smile in his face, waiting for a drama show. Sora smiled at his joke, also expecting a funny reaction from her friend. Mimi knows that if she complained about anything, the boy would fool her for the rest of the day, since it was her plan to skip class and start early, deciding to hide her outraged expression.

"Actually, Palmon will be useful on carrying all of those stuff." She tried to convince their friends she's okay with the plan, souding as serious as possible. Taichi opened another big smile, ignoring her answer, and stood up.

"Okay, so here's what we'll do. Miyako, you'll stay until noon, and then Sora or I will come back to take your place. Mimi will stay there, since she's the most useful of us." Mimi gave him one of her dangerous look, quickly trying to hide it so he wouldn't make more fun of her, as Miyako and Sora tried to keep a laugh.

"Hikari and anyone who will join us will come here first. I will text her." Miyako told the three, as they all took place close to her, preparing themselves to open the portal. A great light invaded the big empty room, making the three older teenagers vanish as it disappeared.

The sun shines in a bright sky above the recently arrived teenagers, lying on an arid landscape. The strong heat immediately forced the girls to remove their uniform coats, leaving them with their usual green skirts and white shirt, as the boy took off his green suit. The three recognized the area to be a familiar one, that they visited when searching for Koromon's Village about three years ago.

"Hey guys, over here!" Agumon shouted at them, as Taichi stood up quickly, helping the two girls to stand up as their digimon partners ran happily into their direction.

The group headed towards the small village close to them, left in wreckage by a group of digimons under evil spiral's influence. A team of working Koromons carried an amount of wood into the village's direction, while another one more far away from them worked on rebuilding huts, and so many others on diversified activities.

"I see we have a lot to do here..." Taichi spoke, analysing the hole area. Mimi looked around, strugging herself so she wouldn't show her panic on working with what she was about to. She started murmuring something at her partner, slowly distancing from her two friends.

"Taichi, I think the digimons can help carrying the materials we need to work with, while we help the group on rebuilding the huts. What do you think?" Sora gave him a look, not sure if she should have spoken directly to him, wondering how would be his reaction due his past few days mood.

"Sounds like a great plan, Sor." Taichi answered distracted, before immediately freeze as he found out what he just said, facing the ground and taking a step away from her. Sora looked at him, trying to hide her surprise as he answered her like how he just did. Silence fell between them as Mimi approached them.

"So, I'm going to be the supervisor of the digimons working on transporting the materials." Mimi told the two, trying to sound as convincing as she could be, so they wouldn't argue or fool her about her decision.

"Don't you want your magic wand?" Taichi fooled her, opening another big smile as she gave him her pissed off look.

"You'll probably need it to do your job, Kamiya!" She couldn't hide her irritation as her friend fooled her. Everyone knows how Mimi and those kind of work are not meant to be on the same page, what makes her feel awful for not beign helpful enough, even though she wanted to.

"Taichi, stop!" Although she found it funny to see Taichi fool her friend, Sora thought it was a little bit mean to her, since she was actually trying to help. The boy turned his eyes to face her as his smile slowly faded, nodding in silence and then moving his eyes away from her once more. In that moment, Sora figured out she once again crossed the line with her friend, feeling the awkwardness between them hit her.

"Sometimes I wonder how Sora can actually stand you!" Mimi pointed out her tongue to the boy, as a reply to his previous insult. Taichi immediately turned his eyes away from his friend, pretending to ignore what the girl just said to him, keeping a serious expression as he started a conversation with a group of Koromon. The girl switched a confused look with Sora, who avoided her friend's eyes.

"What the hell was that about?" Mimi whispered, as she pulled her friend by her arm.

"I wish I knew..." Sora answered her friend quietly, staring distantly at her friend talking to the group of Digimon. Mimi raised her right eyebrow, ready to formulate another question, as the boy approached them.

"So, it's time to move." He told the two seriously, putting both of his hands on his pockets and keeping his eyes straight to Mimi's. She clearly noted how awkward the boy was beign at that moment, and as she started thinking, he was acting like this for a while when Sora was around. "Mimi, you can do whatever you want to do, it's just great you're helping anyway." He smiled gently at her, trying to make her feel better about the joke he just made, as she answered with a soft smile.

The boy slowly turned his face to meet the light brown eyes of his other friend, trying not to look as tense as he was acting for the past few months. "The digimons are rebuilding the big house in the middle of the village..." He felt like he was already being weird, by acting so serious. He made his best to relax his eyes, and finished "I guess they could use our help. Would you join me Sora?"

She nodded as they started to walk towards the center of the village, silently. The girl's thoughts hit the boy walking beside her. Taichi's mood was like a tennis match for her. Sometimes he's kind and caring, sometimes he's just a jerk, more especific to her. She spent the last six months wondering what could ever lead him to act like that to her, and besides all the pain she felt by watching him walk away, she still missed the messed-hair boy. Sometimes she wondered if it was due the fact that she was not there for him when the incident with Agumon and Ken happened. They were close friends since they were kids, more than him and Yamato or Koushiro, but she definitely failed when he most needed her. If that was it, he absolutely had a reason to be pissed at her, but... But she never knew about Agumon's kidnap before they rescued him, and that was because Koushiro told her. Usually Taichi would call her right away, just as she used to do when she needed someone's help, so that didn't make any sense. It could actually be Mai's fault too, since they started to go out by that time. Oh boy, how that confused her.

"Where are you going?" The girl came back from her worries, facing the curious look of her friend as he called her. She was so distracted she didn't notice the group had already arrived at the place they would rebuild the big house, blushing.

"I'm sorry, I guess I got a little distracted." She forced a smile, immediately approaching the boy, as he turned his eyes to face the group of Koromon in front of him. She kept staring at him, thinking that like his mood, his maturity was also bipolar. He grew up a lot, acting like a real man when he needed to, but was such a child sometimes.

"Did you hear us?" He asked her seriously. He could easely notice she was not on her best days, since she was flying most of the time, but he wouldn't ask.

"What?" She came back again, embarrassed.

"Sora, are you okay?" The pink digimon asked her friend, giving her a worried look as the girl blushed.

"I'm so sorry, I guess I was just..."

"You don't need to explain yourself" The boy gave her a soft look, as he continued "We're going to help building the walls here." He kept staring at her, slowly changing his soft expression into a serious one as she faced his eyes.

"Okay?" She was definitely letting the awkwardness between them get her that day, which meant it would be an awful one for her. Confused, she tried to pay attention to her friend's guidance.

"Seriously, you're too weird today. If you..." He started talking to her, but stopped suddenly. He faced the ground, also feeling awful by not being able to make the girl in front of him at least a little bit better about whatever was getting her. He took a deep breath, raising his soft and dark eyes to face her confused ones. "If you want to go back, don't worry about us." He noticed how her eyes were giving her a slowly mad expression, turning his face away.

"Are you kidding me? I'm pretty much fine, thanks for asking. Just tell me what we should do." His crazy mood was really getting into her, but being mad would just make things worse. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

"Agumon and the Koromon's are placing the bricks on the wall. Biyomon, can you help me covering them?" The pink digimon nodded, giving him a smile. "Okay then, Sora can you start panting it? I'm gonna help you latter on with it." He quickly gave her a look.

As they started working, his thoughts flew towards the red haired girl working a few steps away from him. He wondered what was making her feel sad, as he knew she was. He wanted to talk to her, but just couldn't do it, at least not yet. The boy knew he hurted her by walking away, but he needed to. His eyes observed her, letting him think about how beautiful the girl was turning into, as her face and body was evolving into a woman's one. Her worried eyes started to worry Taichi's as well. His strong beating heart started to bretray his thoughts as he started to think about approaching her, trying to justify that he couldn't stand still as his friend appeared to be sad. He felt the air getting dense and heavy, as he took the first steps towards her.

As the girl was starting to calm down, she noticed her friend approaching, and deciding to keep silently. She didn't need anymore awkwardness for the day, or maybe she just couldn't handle it. As she pretended to ignore him, he stood beside her for a few seconds, appearing to be look for something.

"Erm, Sora... Do you know where can I find a brush?" He tried to sound as kind as possible, trying to respect whatever was going on with her. She started to look around too, still not facing him.

"It's over there, on that can" She pointed an old can a few steps away from them.

"So that's it, from now on, I'm going to help you." He placed a hand on her left shoulder, giving her a soft smile as he stood by her side.

The bright sky above them joined by strong heat, would accompany the group on a long day of work. For Mimi, it would be a hard challenge. To Sora, what could be a huge tennis match between friendship and disturbance. And for Taichi, a huge and secret sacrifice.


End file.
