The Prince You've Charmed

Kenmi Songfic.

AN: Yeah, I admit it. I love Ken X Mimi. ;} The song is "The Prince You've Charmed" by Youngstown. (I admit this next fact as well…I love the Disney Channel Original Movie "Genius". *&.^*) And go ahead and review. I'd love to read your comments.
NOTE: This is related to "Holes in the Heart" (takes place about a month after events in "HitH") and serves as a semi-sequel. Sort of confronts the whole relationship between Ken and Mimi. (I'm not quite sure, but I believe older woman-younger man is looked down upon in Japan. That's what this is for.) Possibly related to events occurring in sequel to "HitH", "Deletion".

*

^
I've heard time and time again, how all things fall apart,
How nothing lasts forever, well they're wrong
'Cause through the thick and thin and the nights that seemed so long,
You were there without a worry you stood strong
^

"So, Mimi, dear, how are you adjusting to being back here in boring old Japan?"

Tachikawa Ikuko smiled obliviously at her teenaged daughter and husband; both of her loved ones were happily eating away at the strawberry shortcake she had carefully prepared.

Brushing a soft strand of chestnut hair out of her red-brown eyes, Mimi smiled joyfully. "I love being back, Okaasan!" she chirped, spearing a piece of the dessert with her chopsticks, "And Ken-kun is an absolute angel!"

Her father froze, muscles tensing warningly. "Ken-kun?" His voice was carefully neutral, though underlined by a threatening tone.

Mimi quickly realized her error. "Oh, gee, Otousan, you haven't met Ken-kun yet, have you?" She swallowed nervously. Tachikawa Motoki had a tendency to be just a little bit on the protective side…

"Iie. I don't believe I've had the pleasure," he answered icily and curtly.

An uncomfortable silence descended on the dining room and Mimi shifted on her legs, apprehensively brushing her hair back in place behind her shell-pink ears.

"I'd like to meet him, dear," her mother finally broke the silence, a wide smile on her cheerfully 'out-there' face.

Mimi suffered silently throughout the meal.

^
You've got the key to my heart, right here in my arms,
I'll keep you safe and warm
And you'll never have to worry, never want for nothin'
'Cause I'm...I'm the prince you charmed
^

Mimi yawned widely, stretching her arms out to her sides as she walked down the sidewalk lazily. The sun was hidden by dark clouds, foreboding rainfall, slick and wet. She didn't care.

"Mimi-chan?"

She glanced to the side and saw a younger boy, one by the name of Ichijouji Ken. A tumbling breeze swept his dark blue-black hair into his eyes and he impatiently pushed it away, jogging over to her, dark ocean blue eyes smiling at her though his lips only turned up a little bit at the edges.

Waving energetically at him, she hugged him gently when he was by her side, bending her neck slightly to kiss him softly.

"Missed you," he informed her teasingly, touching her light pink nose with one ivory white finger.

"Me, too," she agreed.

They walked together, hands interlocked, fingers woven intricately with each others'.

^
It seems so long ago, when my world was upside down
When my life was filled with tears and the skies were gray
But then you came around
I never felt love so profound
I never knew that happiness could feel this way
You've got the key, baby
^

Determined, Tachikawa Mimi swiftly ascended the stairs of the apartment building she and her family lived in, hand in her coat pocket and wrapped around a thin packet of photos held together by a simple blue rubber band. Whipping her key out of the other pocket, she inserted it in the keyhole and, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, turned it fluidly, the answering click of the lock opening signified success.

Motoki and Ikuko looked up, startled, as their normally cheerful, sunshine-and-roses daughter, always with a smile on her face, stormed into the family room, not bothering to take her shoes off, a habit formed in America that her parents resignedly let her get away with in their house. Her lips were set, curled in and thin, eyebrows knitted darkly and a grim sort of air about her.

"Konnichi wa, Otousan, Okaasan." Her voice was crisp and curt, unlike her bubbly and giggly way of talking. "I believe you wanted to meet Ken-kun, ne?"

Before either one of the two adults could react, she pulled a pack of photos out of her packet, casually tossing it to the oak table low to the floor in front of the couch her parents were lounging on.

"Those are pictures of Ken-kun and me last weekend after a…bonding moment."

Hesitatingly, her father picked it up and slipped off the rubber band, spilling at least six photographs onto his lap.

Picking one up gently, he took one long look at it…and his face paled.

A boy, obviously younger than Mimi by three years at the very least, was being embraced from behind by Mimi, her chestnut brown hair mingling with his straight, almost shoulder-length blue-black hair, her semi-tanned pink skin bright in comparison with his startling white skin.

"What," his voice was strangled and her mother began fanning herself, gnawing nervously at her lip, eyes flickering from the photos, all of the boy--Ken, she assumed--and Mimi smiling happily, holding each other's hands or arm-in-arm, love fairly glowing in their eyes, "is this?"

Mimi tossed her hair childishly and glared icily at her parents, daring them to lecture her. "That is the most wonderful guy I've ever met and the only one I'll ever love."

^
You've got the key to my heart, right here in my arms,
I'll keep you safe and warm
And you'll never have to worry, never want for nothin'
'Cause I'm...I'm the prince you charmed

You've got the key to my heart, right here in my arms,
I'll keep you safe and warm
And you'll never have to worry, never want for nothin'
'Cause I'm...I'm the prince you charmed
^

"Ken, dear, we're about to eat dinner! We're having sushi tonight, ordered from your favorite restaurant!" Mrs. Ichijouji beamed, eerily similar to Mrs. Tachikawa in both personality and plain, eyebrow-raising obliviousness, as her thirteen-year old son came out of his room, closing it mutely and walking swiftly down the hall.

Sitting at the table, he fiddled with his chopsticks before sighing wearily.

"Okaasan, Otousan, I need to talk with you."

They paused in their dining to look inquisitively at him.

Ken took a deep breath, calming his jittery nerves. "I've met this girl."

Raising a hand to halt his mother's joyous babble in its tracks, he smiled nervously. "She's three years older than me and we both like each other." In the stunned silence that ensued, he amended, "Love each other."

When Ichijouji Mamoru, his father, finally regained his voice, he asked in a strained voice, "What?"

^
I'll shout it out to the heavens,
Thank God for your love
All the things you do

You've got the key to my heart, right here in my arms,
I'll keep you safe and warm
And you'll never have to worry, never want for nothin'
'Cause I'm...I'm the prince you charmed
^

"Otousan, I love him! I've said aishiteru to him! For God's sake, I'll die for him!" Mimi cried, glimmering streaks of salty tears tracing paths down her cheeks, sticky and wet. 'I *have* died for him,' her heart whispered quietly.

"Mimi, for the final time, no! You have a social life and I do not want to see you become a laughingstock!"

Controlling her anger, Mimi raised her chin bravely, saying in a remarkably still voice, managing to keep it from quavering, "I don't give a damn about society. I'm in love with him and that's all I want now."

Ikuko touched her husband's arm, nodding slightly.

He sighed, long and drawn-out and nodded slowly. "Very well. But don't come crying to me when it doesn't work out," he added as an afterthought.


Folding his pale, frail-looking hands in his lap, Ken refused to lower his head submissively, his pride, born and fueled by his reign as Kaiser of the Digital World, unwilling to give an inch.

"But, dear, that…simply isn't…done!" his mother protested feebly, worriedly nibbling at her already bitten off nails.

Mamoru simply chuckled low in his throat, his earlier shock and denial vanishing. Leaning over to clap his son's back, he winked.

Ken stared at him, startled, his face clearly showing it. "Otousan…?"

"If you really love her, then, by all means, live your life! Who'm I to stop you, son?" He smiled widely at the gaping teen, eyes crinkling with mirth.

A smile slowly blossomed into existence on Ken's face, large and sparkling. Hugging his father suddenly, he grinned at his gawking mother.

^
You've got the key to my heart, right here in my arms,
I'll keep you safe and warm
And you'll never have to worry, never want for nothin'
'Cause I'm...I'm the prince you charmed
^

"Ken-chan! Did you talk to your parents?"

"Hai, Mimi-chan. My father was surprisingly understanding."

"Hn. My mother got my father to calm down. I almost thought he was going to try and strangle the pictures!"

"Pictures?…you mean you KEPT those?!"

"Hai, Ken-chan!" She took off running as he stared at her, then broke into an even faster run after her.

"MIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!"

^
You've got the key to my heart, right here in my arms,
I'll keep you safe and warm
And you'll never have to worry, never want for nothin'
'Cause I'm...I'm the prince you charmed
^




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