SUMMARY: As strange as it is, I fell in love with you. A story of friendship, accepting change, growing up, and finding that one person that can make you feel infinite. Multiple pairings.

Sora shielded her eyes away from the bright rays of sunshine that dared to blind her as she scattered her canvas bag in search of her bottle of water.

"Where did I put it?" She muttered, frustrated. Sora had never been much of an organized person, her room, among other things, being proof of that. She couldn't recall how many times she had been late for practice or a social event because of her messy schedule. "Aha!" She exclaimed, getting her hands on the item she had been looking for. Throwing her head back, Sora gulped the water out of the bottle until it was empty.

"Takenouchi, practice is over! You can head on home." The Coach called from across the tennis field. "You did great!"

Sora smiled gratefully at the older woman, waving a very sweaty arm in the air. "Thanks Coach! See you tomorrow!"

It was a hot, sunny Sunday afternoon and Sora had been stuck in practice for over three hours. Not that she was complaining, if anything she wouldn't rather spend her afternoon doing anything else. Tennis was definitely her favorite activity.

The red head threw her bottle back into the bag and grabbed a rubber band in order to pull her wet hair up into a ponytail. She packed the rest of her things and set her bag on her shoulder, ready to head on home. She smiled, a faint blush creeping on her cheeks as she remembered that she'd spend the rest of the evening with the one person in the world who made her heart beat faster than it normally should. Sora had never been one to gush over boys, she was no Mimi. But when it came to this one boy in particular, she couldn't control herself. So far, the seventeen year old's day was going smoothly.

She began to exit the court when she heard someone call her name. She turned the other way, only to find Takeru Takahashi waking up towards her with his famous smile plastered on his face.

"Hey!" Sora shouted, waiting for the younger boy to catch up. Takeru's blonde hair was seemingly messed up and he had a towel hanging from around his neck. Sora had forgotten that the sophomore basketball team practiced around the same time as the Senior Tennis team did. If she had known, she would've gone over to say hi. It had certainly been a while since she's seen the younger blond.

"I take it you just got done with practice?" Sora asked once he had reached her.

"Yeah. How was yours?" Takeru asked with his signature radiant smile.

The two teenagers walked together, exiting the school grounds. "It was great, I think I'm getting better."

"Isn't that the point of practice? To get better?"

Sora smiled, playfully punching Takeru's side. It had been a while since Sora had spoken with the younger generation, let alone had an actual conversation with any of them. Lately the older kids had been busy with things like college applications, exams, school, band practice and sports. Their schedules had all been so busy lately, they couldn't make time to really get together. Sora had absolutely no idea what was going on in Takeru's life.

"So, how are things with you and Hika?" Sora asked. Last time she checked, Takeru and Tai's younger sister were in a relationship and it was getting serious.

Once the brunette's name was mentioned, Takeru twitched. Sora instantly regretted asking, thinking that she brought up something that was long over. "It's good, it's going good."

Confused, the older girl decided to dig for more answers. "Why does it seem like it's not going as good as you say it is?"

Takeru let out a sigh, scratching the back of his head like he usually did when he was anxious. Sora hadn't forgotten his quirks. "It's just weird dating your best friend, you know?"

Sora smiled, she knew exactly what he meant. "Yeah, but it's worth it, right?"

"I guess. I mean, I really like her. A lot. And I'm always afraid that this might go downhill and I'll end up losing her."

"Well, if you really like her as much as you say you do..-"

"I do, I really do."

"Then it's worth the risk." Sora continued, patting the younger blond on the back.

Takeru chuckled, wrapping a friendly arm around his old friend. "I've missed you, Sora."

"I've missed you too, 'Keru. All of you, to be honest." Sora said softly, remembering all the good times the entire gang had had together. "Even Davis."

Takeru laughed, "Good ol' Davis."

"Is he still as obsessed with Kari as he's always been?"

The blond shook his head with a smile. "Nah, he's backed off. He's not going to risk our friendship over a girl." His reply came as a surprise to Sora, as Takeru and Davis had never really been the best of friends. She laughed, recalling the times where the two of them would butt heads over Hikari, competing for her attention. Eventually, Takeru got the longer end of the stick and ended up winning the tiny brunette's heart. Davis was pretty upset by the news when he first heard, even cutting off the pair for a few weeks. It turned out that Davis's feelings for Hikari surpassed a school crush. Apparently, Davis had moved passed his anger and decided to forgive both Takeru and Hikari and given them his blessings.

"But she's not just any girl, Is she now?" Sora teased. A knowing smile, much like the one Sora secretly had earlier crept up on the blond's face. "No, she most definitely isn't."

The two continued walking, chatting about random subjects, such as movies they've recently seen and gossip they've heard. Both their conversation and walk came to an abrupt spot once they reached their destination.

"Well, this is my place." Takeru smiled, getting ready to say his goodbye.

"This is my stop, too."

Takeru gave the red head a confused look, until he realized why she was really there. "Oh! Are you gonna hang out with Matt?"

Sora nodded, climbing the steps up to the apartment building door. "Yeah, we were gonna watch a movie. He made dinner, too."

Takeru smirked, he had almost forgotten that Sora and his brother had been dating for almost two months now. He hadn't been really that caught up on his brother's life, lately. "Well, don't worry. I have a lot of homework to do so I won't bother you guys."

Then there it was again, that same faint blush appeared her cheeks, and this time it brought a stomach full of butterflies along with it. The good kind. She tried to hide her enthusiasm from the younger blond, but it was too hard knowing that in a while she'd be with him.

Clearing her throat and standing up straight, Sora gave Takeru a serious look. "You won't be disturbing us at all, 'Keru."

With a chuckle and a pat on Sora's back, Takeru held open the elevator door and lightly pushed the redhead inside. "Right, we'll see about that."


Groaning, Mimi Tachikawa threw her pencil across the room in severe frustration. "Why the hell is this so hard?" She yelled, staring at the paper that layed in front of her. "I've got nothing!"

"Don't look at me, I'm just as lost as you are." A voice chipped in from behind her. Mimi turned to face Tai Kamiya, who was laying on her bed with the same sheet of homework in his hands. "But then again, it's only numbers with a few letters here and there, so I don't think we should sue."

Mimi smiled, he always knew how to make her feel better when she was having a hard time. It was one of her favorite qualities about him, only one of them. A whole day wouldn't be enough time for her to list the things he does that makes her heart skip a beat everytime he does them. No, 24 hours wouldn't even be enough for her to think about how much she adores the messy haired brunette. She pushed the Algebra sheet away, mentally giving herself a reminder to call Izzy later and ask for help. Right now, she had only one thought going through her mind and that had nothing to do with letters or numbers. She winked at the boy laying on her bed and motioned for him to come over to her, to which he easily complied.

"You know, I'm not really in a homework kind of mood right now." She whispered in his ear.

"What a coincidence, I was just thinking the same thing." He replied, Picking her right up off of the ground and seating her on the desk so that she was face to face with the soccer player. He had always been so much taller than she was. Mimi giggled, running her hands through his hair and grabbing his shirt collar to pull him in. Their lips met, and they shared a passionate kiss. As they kissed, Tai's fingers silently sneaked to the bottom of Mimi's shirt in an attempt to get rid of it. The strawberry blonde sixteen year old caught him in the act, breaking their lip lock to remove his hands from where they shouldn't be. She teasingly shook her head, inching closer to his face. "I'd rather we didn't, my parents are going to be home any minute now."

Clearly unshaken by her warning, Tai leaned closer and left kisses all over her jaw line. "We've been quicker" He whispered.

Mimi laughed, playfully pushing the boy off of her. "I'm in no mood for a quickee, mister." Jumping off the desk, she grabbed her homework and skipped over to the bed. "If you're gonna do something, you should at least take your time doing it."

Tai smirked, running a head through his big, messy hair. "You can't promise a guy something and not give it to him!" He pouted, walking over to the small framed girl. "I was really looking forward to the rest of the evening a few minutes ago.."

Mimi tilted her head, taking the time to appreciate the figure standing in front of her. Over the years, Tai had gone from the skinny, soccer obsessed young boy that he was to a built, star player with a six pack to die for. With the same boyish charm and amazing sense of humor he had always been blessed with, Tai was quite popular among the ladies.

"Maybe some other time, big boy." Mimi laughed, grabbing her phone and looking up Izzy in her address book.