Hey there! First than anything thank you for deciding, and spending a few minutes to read my fanfiction.

Disclaimer: Neither Digimon nor its characters belong to me.

This story, however, does.

The News

Everyone's eyes were on her as she spoke. All of them had the feeling that what they were about to hear would not be good. Her voice when she had called them to set the meeting had told them so. Nevertheless, the words she uttered before them were far from what any of them could've speculated since her call. The shock was immediate, loud, unanimous, and, once it sank in, the cause of sadness in each of them. But nobody suffered as much as her. Her eyes were set on the floor struggling to keep the tears from falling.

"But… Why?" said the one that had become her best friend.

She kept silence. It was hard to look at them, knowing that soon she wouldn't be able to.

"Are you sure it's not just 'an option' they came up with?" asked the messy, brown-haired guy.

She just shook her head no.

"It's not fair" whined the youngest of the boys. "We were just starting to hang out all together again because of vacations…" He looked down and his brother's hand rested on the little boy's shoulder as a consolation gesture.

Everyone went silent. They looked away, thinking of the implications of what was happening, or would happen. She bit her lip gathering the strength to speak without starting to cry. After a few moments she was able to form words.

"They…" she started with a low voice and everyone's eyes went again to her. "They think that… what happened in Odaiba… They think it's too dangerous for me… So…"

She stopped when she felt her voice about to get shaky. Everyone looked to the floor again. Of course; it made sense. What had happened, all the battles in the digital and the real world, had been something that had affected the life of many Japanese people, particularly the families of each one of the digi-destined children. It wasn't a weightless reason for a couple of parents, especially over-protective parents as hers, to decide to move as far away as possible from the place. After all, all of them had also moved out from their previous houses for reasons only too similar.

But that didn't mean that it was less sad or unexpected.

For her best friend, Sora, it was almost incomprehensible how now she should part ways from her best friend. She had never been good at befriending other girls. Her love for sports and disinterest of sorts for clothing and physical appearance left no conversation topics whatsoever to bring out when chatting with other women. Sure, her classmates were nice and kind to her, and she liked them all but it wasn't until she met young Tachikawa, back when they started their adventure, that she became close friends with a girl. She even began to develop a more girl-like style with Mimi's help. And the girl had become like a sister she cared for and who cared for herself. Mimi liked her as she was, and the feeling was mutual. And now she was to leave…

Taichi couldn't believe one of the team would leave. Moreover, that the person was no less than the group's princess. They hadn't been too close at first since their personalities and interests were quite different. She had a delicate aura about her that he lacked. He always acted without thinking and she took decisions according to her feelings. But that was that made her so nice to be with, and they had come to have a fun and caring friendship even when he lacked some of the good manners she'd have thought necessary.

Koushiro, of course, felt the idea of her friend's departure a little more than most of them. They shared more than the rest and usually spent more time together because they were in the same grade. She had always been easily set apart from the group at school, and the digi-destined group had not been different. She always lured the eyes and attentions of everyone to herself. Despite the fact that studying and working on the computer often took over Koushiro's attention, that girl found the way to distract him. Very often the brunette complained of her being ignored and not even taken in consideration by him. Most of the times, Koushiro apologized, closed his laptop and dedicated a few minutes of his time to the chit-chatting she loved so much.

The youngest ones felt it deep too. Besides their brothers, Mimi was the other digi-destined with whom they were able to chat, laugh and joke around. She always played with them and shared their childish joys whatever they were. Takeru had made a connection with her since their arrival to the Digi World. They had shared certain weaknesses at the beginning, which they slowly got rid of as the adventure progressed. But she had remained close to him; almost an older sister. Hikari, when joining the group, had found out that she shared a sensibility with the girl of the pink, cowboy hat that she hadn't been able to share with many people before; perhaps with no one. Just like Sora, although for different reasons, Mimi had become a prospect to follow for the little carrier of the Light.

Joe, for once, stopped worrying about his academic future when he realized that he was about to part ways from a girl he had ended up admiring. She was always bubbly and, though at first she had been a sort of problem to the group with her constant whining, she had matured considerably. Their time together apart from the rest of the group had opened his eyes to the warm personality of the girl, whose purity and innocence had captivated him as it had done with that group of digimons that joined them in their last battle with Piemon. If even Ogremon's bitter and cold heart had melted before the girl, what could be expected of his own?

Though he had never been the kind of guy that shared his feelings, Yamato didn't feel less than his friends. Mimi had proven, at first, to be a burden much like having a small kid like T.K. with them. Of course, Takeru was his brother and he did everything in his power to take care of him and avoid any inconvenience, but sometimes that girl had whined as a child even younger than his little sibling. But even so, just like everyone else, she had won a special place in his heart. He had realized that a protective side towards her had awoken sometime in the Digi World; perhaps because she was sensible, delicate and seemed to need constant attentions… In other words, as he had heard Taichi said some times, she was a princess.

A lot of her affection for the girl had started when seeing the closeness and caring relationship that developed between her and T.K., which ended up in her and himself spending a lot of time together, too. It was common, and quite nice, to see Mimi and T.K. laugh and play together. She could always make Takeru happy. In addition, when Taichi disappeared from the Digi World for a while, she had been the last one to part ways with him and his brother, so they had spent a lot of time together. He had grown used to her, but never expected to feel so… empty?... when she, too, finally left them by their own. Of course, nobody knew he had felt that, not even Takeru, and he had told himself many times that that feeling had been due to her being the last to leave, and of course he wouldn have felt the same if it had been any other the last one to leave. After all, they were only children. But, without a doubt, even if he told himself otherwise, her perkiness and smiles always made him feel strangely better. He had come to realize this more as they grew up. But it wasn't easy to accept to give that feeling a name.

But now, not him nor anyone else could see that smile, only a couple of watery eyes fixed on the floor, shaky hands that played with the edge of her blouse nervously, and a girl very notoriously trying to stop the tears from falling. Yamato, in another situation, would've grinned to the idea of Miss Tachikawa rather avoiding to cry than making a fuss; instead, he frowned, strangely annoyed to see that expression on her. But everyone shared the sad face.

Sora stepped closer.

"Cheer up, Mimi…" she began "Maybe that won't really happen. There's still a lot of time. Maybe they'll change their minds…"

Sora took the girl's hand between hers and smiled sweetly as only she could. Taichi joined the optimistic talk, stepping forward and putting a hand on Mimi's shoulder, the girl everyone wanted to see always happy.

"Sure! Maybe we can talk to you parents and tell them that now everything is okay and that there's no need for you to leave." He smiled brightly, trying to bring the sun to shine over the dark mood of the conversation.

Mimi looked at him and a small, sad smile came to her lips. She knew that their words were well intentioned, but she also knew they were impossible.

"Yes…" She nodded; she had promised herself she would not cry.

"Yes, it will be okay if we do that." – Joe tried to smile at her with confidence.

"Yeah! If they realize there's no reason for you to leave, they'll surely let you stay with us." Takeru walked to her and stretched a hand to take the one of the carrier of the Crest of Purity, who held his hand firmly.

"Yeah!" joined Hikari, smiling softly and hoping it was true.

"Besides, there's nothing to worry about. As Sora says, it's possible you won't even leave. And even if you did, you would never lose your place among us." Koushiro said, also stepping closer. He wasn't the kind of guy to say something so subjectively positive and sensible, but the girl and the situation called for it.

"Really?" She said, sighing. She had promised herself not to cry.

Yamato looked at them. Everyone had moved closer as they told her there was no way she would stop being one of them. She needed them. She asked for it without asking it. Without a doubt she wanted them close to her as long as she could. He also moved closer.

"Of course" said the eldest of the blond guys without thinking about it. His gaze was softer as was his voice, but not so the anxiety and heavy feeling in his chest. "We will wait for you… as long as needed."

He didn't know where the words came from. It wasn't his way of talking. Without a doubt, it was his innate characteristic, the one that granted him the Crest of Friendship, the one that spoke for him at that moment. That had to be it. But then… Why did he feel his cheeks get warm? – No, it didn't matter. He continued to speak.

"Even if you have to leave… You will always be here with us" he finished. His blue eyes fixed on her and the tears made her break her promise to herself. Sora and the rest had smiled with the words Yamato said. He truly was a good friend, and his Crest of Friendship spoke for him and with the words everyone had wished to say. Mimi didn't care where the words came from, only that they did.

"Of course," Sora looked at her and smiled. She had to smile to her friend if she wanted to make her feel better despite the tears. "You'll always be with us, Mimi"

Everyone nodded. Sora put her arms around her and Mimi hugged her back with a hand, while holding T.K.'s hand with the other. She started crying in silence, trying to wrap her mind about the idea of leaving. Each of the guys got closer to put a hand on her arm, shoulder or back, just so she knew they were all there with her.

Only Yamato didn't touch her. Many thoughts swarmed his head. The news had made him annoyed, sad and they had sunk him in a suffocating confusion that he didn't understand at his still early age yet.

Mimi, on the other hand, was full with a deep sadness from knowing that, despite the hopeful words and smiles of her friends, her destiny was sealed. All the friendships she built during their wonderful and dangerous adventure in the Digital World, all the feelings (with or without a name) she had towards her fellow human friends and the digimon, and all her memories, and all chance to make more would have to come to an early end. She didn't want to leave. She didn't want to leave them. She didn't want to go to a place where she didn't know anyone, and she did not want to forget or be forgotten. She begged, surrounded by her friends, to please be allowed to stay…

Hello again! Again, thank you so much for reading, it means a lot! It's been a long while since I wrote and published anything, so I really hope you found it decent.

I would love to know your opinion, good or bad, any suggestion, critique or complaint will be very well received in a review, too. I am not an English native-speaker so any corrections or information will be of lots of use, too.

Thank you once more and I hope to "see" you on the next chapter~!