Sincerity & Reliability
By: Jyou Kido

Jyou went to lie down on the soft grass of the Digital World, silvery pale in the moonlight. He never knew why he wanted to go there to think, or why he wanted to
think privately. The rest of the group noticed his silence, and wanted to help. "Hey, Jyou, are you feeling ok?" Was basically the only question they all asked to him. His answer
was always, "No, no. I'm okay." Yet really, he had not the faintest idea. 'Maybe it's homesickness,' was what Jyou thought. He got up to head back to the others, but they came to him instead. "Hey, how're ya feelin'?" Asked Taichi. "Still pretty bummed out," replied Jyou. "I think all it is, is sleepiness."

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Mimi peered over Taichi's shoulder toward Jyou. 'Poor guy..' She walked over, leaned down a bit, and looked up at his eyes as his head was tilted down. "Hey. Try and feel better, for me?" The boy blushed a little, but kept quiet. He just pushed by the crowd, and headed back to camp. She watched him and the others walk back, a small frown crossing her face. "Please…?"

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Jyou lied down in his sleeping bag, the clear, starry sky hung over him. The little aquatic Digital Monster, who we all know as Gomamon, sauntered over, a concerned look on face. "Yo, Jyou, if you have anything on your mind, you can tell me." That made the DigiDestined boy sit up. "You want to know what's wrong with me?" "Sure, you've been like this since Sora and Taichi first kissed." "Alright…I didn't know what was wrong with me at first, but that feeling of gloominess went away when Mimi talked to me. And here's the strange thing. When she said 'for me,' I blushed." Gomamon just grinned. "Looks like someone's got a cruuuuuuush…" Jyou's cheeks started that crimson again. "Do not!"

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Mimi sat up in her pink sleeping bag. "I should check.. see if he's ok." She then clamped her hands over her mouth as Palmon stirred in her sleep. Silently, very silently, she crept out of her sleeping spot, stepped carefully over Yamato, Sora, Taichi, Koushiro, Takeru, and Hikari, and kneeled by Jyou's sleeping bag. He was snoring silently; Gomamon curled up nearby, twitching. 'Must be dreaming,' Mimi thought. She tensed when Jyou turned over in his sleep, mumbling a few words. After he resumed snoring, Mimi relaxed. She looked to her left, and picked up his glasses. 'Jeez, I wonder how he can see in these things, they're so dirty!' Mimi took off one glove, and rubbed the leather over the lenses, until they were so clear, you wouldn't notice there were lenses in the frames. She set them back down. 'Wow…I wonder how Jyou can sleep on this rocky ground, without even tossing and turning!' Before she knew it, like all those cartoons, Jyou turned over again, grabbing Mimi's arm in the process, and relaxed, hugging her arm against his chest. Mimi, shocked about the suddenness of all this, couldn't help but notice his heartbeat. It was higher than normal, and Jyou started whimpering. 'Bad dream…?' Mimi thought. "N…No…Go away! whimper Leave me alone!" Mimi was almost feeling sorry for him. But she couldn't sit in this uncomfortable position all night. She brushed his silvery-blue hair away from his eyes, as he began to calm down. Slowly, carefully, she pulled her arm away from the boy's grip, and felt the circulation return to it. Mimi sat back, heaving a sigh of relief, but not before she saw Jyou mouthing one word. 'Tachikawa'.

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Waking up to the slightly uncomfortable splash of icy cold water on his face, he snapped open his eyes. The first thing he was Gomamon, holding a half-full bucket of water in his mouth. "Mornin', sunshine!" He sat up, grumbled, and rubbed his eyes. "Next time, do not try to be my alarm clock, okay?" With that, Jyou changed out of his pajamas, and into his regular outfit. Light brown shorts, bluish white shirt, offwhite vest, etc. He peeked out of his tent, seeing everyone else - with their Digimon - sitting around a fire, eating breakfast. "I slept like a baby," said Taichi, stretching his arms. "I guess it is better to sleep out here, instead of back in Odaiba." "It was…awakened," said Tentomon jokingly, laughing at his own joke. Koushiro just gave him a look and he silenced. Setting the bucket down, Gomamon lollopped over to the other Digimon, and began to eat. Jyou plopped down with the other DigiDestined; Jyou just gave a wave and chirped. "Hey, guys! How'd you all sleep?" Mimi giggled a little. "I dreamt of a new 'no flypaper lining the litterboxes' rule," grinned Gatomon. Hikari couldn't help but giggle. While the others were droning on about their good nights' sleep, Jyou saw Mimi looking over at him. He blushed, but then noticed she was pointing to Yamato. Jyou mouthed, 'what?' and Mimi said, "Yamato's got something in his nose!" Yamato blinked, and there, plain as the eye could see, was the biggest pebble anyone has ever seen, hanging out of Yamato's nose! Everybody just burst out laughing. Mimi leaned over and whispered to Jyou, "I put it in there last night. Mwahaha." Jyou smiled at her. Gomamon was just watching the two of them, snickering himself… TO BE CONTINUED.