Disclaimer: I only own the plot.


Pictures of You
Run


"To think I might not see those eyes

Makes it so hard not to cry

And as we say our long goodbyes

I nearly do"

-"Run," Snow Patrol


The weekend after graduation she told him she was leaving.

He had come home from the park after having played a game of one-on-one with his younger brother, to find her car parked in front of his house and her sitting quietly on his porch. Her eyes were shut and she was singing softly to herself when she heard the sound of his footsteps readily approaching.

She smiled up at him, much too beautiful for words, and he took up a seat next to her on the porch. He wrapped an arm around her as she snuggled into him and met her lips with his.

"What're you doing here?"

She sighed but titled her face up to look at him straight in the eye when she said point blank, "I'm leaving."

He blinked slowly.

"I want to get out of here, Matt. This town is…is suffocating! You can't do anything here without somebody seeing and telling your parents."

"Mimi…"

She ignored him. "There's a whole world out there! And I want to see it before I get stuck here for the rest of my life!"

Mimi's parents had been high school sweethearts; her mother was the captain of the cheerleading squad and her father the star quarterback. They had gotten married right out of high school with Mimi's mother getting pregnant with her only a few short years later. Both had lived in town their entire lives after; her mother ran a popular bakery while her father was the Chief of the fire department.

Yamato realized he should have seen this coming. Mimi had always been restless and her room was filled with maps and pictures of places she dreamed of going to. He should have realized this but yet he still hoped that she would change her mind and stay.

Stay in the town and stay with him.

"So what do you say?"

"What…?"

She gazed at him excitedly and grabbed his hands earnestly. "I want you to come to Europe with me."

He said nothing.

"It'll only be for the summer, we'll get back here in time for college. Please Matt. We'll have fun, I promise-"

"No."

"No? Just like that …No?"

"I want to stay here, Mimi. This is my home."

For the first time in a long while, Mimi actually looked unsure of herself. She repeated his answer and slowly untangled herself from him and stumbled off the porch. As he watched, she turned her back to him and lowered her head in thought.

They spent several minutes frozen like this until the sound of a car alarm being set off down the street startled them both back to reality. With her back turned to him, she asked in a voice strained with regret, "So, I guess, this is it then."

"I guess."

She nodded and he felt dizzy suddenly, as though the earth had turned itself completely around and he could not find his bearings.

"I'll se you around, Yamato."

She was in her car and out of his sight before he entirely knew she had left.

He sat on his porch for a long time afterward

It was summer, it was hot as hell, and it was the day Mimi Tachikawa officially left Yamato Ishida behind.


Author's Notes: This is just the prologue, which I hope will excuse the size of the chapter. Please read and review.