My Only Love
By Ruki Minamoto
Summary: One minute he was there, but then he was gone. Can Mimi get him off her mind, or will she make a decision that will affect her and the ones she loves for eternity?
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon
Chapter 1: Stolen
Mimi Tachikawa couldn't remember a time when she was happier.
Right now, everything was just as it should be - she had her family, friends, health and boyfriend, Joe Kido.
Sure enough, he was a total geek and she could sometimes be embarrassed to be seen with him, but it was a love that was meant to last forever. She would do anything to be with him.
He was everything…He gave her meaning…He was her better half.
Joe Kido also couldn't remember a better day.
His family was perfect, his asthma and various allergies were in balance, and he had true friends and the girlfriend of any guy's dreams, Mimi Tachikawa.
Sure enough, she was younger than he was, but she loved him and he loved her. Did anything else matter?
Did anyone else matter?
"Mimi," Joe whispered as he broke the kiss, "did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?"
Mimi opened her beautiful eyes slowly and moved her head up and down gently.
"Yes - at least a million times," she answered, "but I wouldn't mind hearing it again."
The two engaged in another kiss. Anyone would think that their romance would interfere with their grades, but that wasn't the case. Mimi's grades had, if anything, improved and Joe was still a steady A (except for gym, but what else did you expect?).
"Am I interrupting something?" Jim Kido asked as he opened his younger brother's bedroom door. The two broke apart promptly and looked at the young man in the doorway. "Mimi, your mother's here for you. Get your…um, books and go."
Jim hadn't been a big fan of Mimi and Joe's relationship. He felt that Mimi was too young for Joe and that neither of them were really ready to know what love was, but maybe it was just because he hadn't exactly had the best luck in relationships.
Jim was always wary of Mimi and Joe.
Mimi gathered her schoolbooks (Japanese history, music, maths and geography) and raced out the door, but not before catching a last glance at Joe.
"Bye, Joe!" she cried. "Thanks for…helping me with me with that!"
Joe stood up and bowed honourably as Mimi departed. Jim looked awkwardly at Joe.
Sometimes, he believed that he should just let Joe and Mimi make their own decisions, but then he always realised that he had to look after them. He had to protect them, Joe especially, from the heartbreak he had been victim of.
That night, Mimi pushed her dinner around her plate sadly. She had some strange feeling that Joe needed her, but she had no choice but to push it away. At least in front of her father. Mr Tachikawa seemed protective of Mimi. Whenever Mimi talked to Joe over the phone, you could hear his teeth grinding in the background.
Mrs Tachikawa however loved the idea that Mimi was learning about love and relationships with someone as responsible as Joe. She knew that he wouldn't let her get hurt.
Then the phone rang.
"I'll answer it!" Mimi cried, running to the phone.
"Do you think it's Joe?" Mr Tachikawa asked his wife, anger written all over his face.
Mrs Tachikawa shrugged.
"Maybe, but you should just calm down. She's old enough to make her own decisions."
Mimi grabbed the phone and held it to her ear.
"Joe?"
"No…it's Jim."
Jim…what did he want now?
"Hi, uh, Jim."
"Mimi - there's been an…accident."
"An accident?" Mimi asked. "What sort of…accident?"
"Joe…well…he was hit by a car an hour ago!"
Mimi froze. Her whole body felt like ice.
"But he's okay, right? He wouldn't leave me, would he?" Mimi asked hurriedly.
"I'm…afraid so. He was killed on contact. The car was going very fast." Jim answered. "I really am sorry…Mimi?"
Mimi had dropped the receiver and was running upstairs to her room.
"Mimi?" asked Mrs Tachikawa as her daughter passed.
"He probably broke up with her." Mr Tachikawa said, jumping to at least two completely incorrect conclusions. Mrs. Tachikawa looked at her husband with that look that always kept him calm. But he stormed over to the abandoned phone and shouted into the mouthpiece, "Stay away from my daughter, creep!"
Mimi lay on her bed, sobbing uncontrollably into her pillow.
"Joe." Then she moaned louder. "JOE!"
Mrs. Tachikawa knocked, but opened the door anyway.
"Mimi?" she asked. "Are you alright?"
"No," Mimi answered.
"Was that Joe?"
"No," Mimi answered again, "it was Jim - Joe's older brother."
"What did he have to say?" Mrs. Tachikawa asked.
"Joe was hit by a car an hour ago and now he's dead!" Mimi wailed. "Please leave me
alone!"
Mrs. Tachikawa climbed to shaky feet and left her daughter's room.
The next morning, Mrs. Tachikawa tried to convince Mimi to take a day off school, but the sad girl said she needed to go.
Sora caught sight of the distressed 11-year-old.
"Mimi?" she asked. "Are you alright? You look like you've been crying."
"Then you haven't heard."
"Heard what? Did Joe break up with you?" Sora asked.
"Why does everyone think that!" Mimi demanded of her locker. "Joe did not break up with me!"
Mimi kicked her locker with as much strength as she could muster before bursting into a sobbing fit.
"He's dead!" Mimi finished and left Sora standing there, shocked to the core.
"Dead?" Tai asked in class later that morning. "Are you sure?"
"That's what Mimi said, and she sounded really upset. She wouldn't joke about such a terrible thing." Sora answered.
Tai had to agree - he didn't know a lot about love, but he knew that Mimi loved Joe.
"You're right." Tai admitted. "She wouldn't say something like that if it wasn't true."
Sora sighed and turned back around to the front of the room. She noticed a piece of cardboard that was pinned to an old noticeboard that bore stars for students. It was there from last year.
She read Joe's name slowly and carefully.
He was dead.
But as far as Mimi would see it, he had been stolen.
Author's note: I'm sorry to Mimi/Joe fans for making Joe die. I'm serious. I don't like killing characters, though I know I made Tai die in Rose Petals. I'm really sorry abt this, and I just want you to know that Joe's death is essential to the story.