Noise and Kisses

A/N: Wow! It looks like I really pissed off some people . (okay maybe just one person...) My deepest apologies to Cloaked-Fox. I didn't really mean to offend anyone with my remark about Iori's age/grade... I just didn't want to spend time trying to figure out how much younger he is than everyone else, etc, because he's obviously not going to be in high school with them, so he won't be part of the major plot. As to Taichi and Yamato fighting and Mimi being too "good" to visit them in the digital world... um yeah, well, you have to have some kind of plot, don't you? I mean, consider if my story started off the same way, except that Mimi came upstairs for dinner when her Dad called. They would all sit, eat, and be happy. No conflict there, huh? You can make conflict in your stories however you want - this is just how I chose to write mine. That's why it's FANFICTION. Because I'm the FAN writing the FICTION how I want to.

Crescent-Wish-Forever - Thanks for the reviews! I've already started the third chapter, and I'm trying to work on it at least once every day. Hopefully school won't get in the way when it starts!

IzzyLovesMimi - Koumi's cute, too! I used to be a huge Koumi fan... that was almost 5 years ago! woah! Probably my second favourite Mimi pairing though.

Anyways, back to the story.

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As the sun set in the clear summer sky, the partying at the Ishida place heightened. The backyard had been decorated by Sora and Yamato, and they had done an amazing job. There were patio lanterns hung up from the balcony along with a disco ball, and streamers tied to the trees. The only thing that had made the decor more magical was the fireflies that had been hovering around during the night. They had also set out a snack table stacked with chips, cookies, candies and a lare bowl of pink tropical punch to tide everyone over until dinner was served. Dinner consisted of hamburgers, grilled to perfection by Yamato, and was followed by ice cream cake decorated with the words, "Welcome Home, Mimi" in bright pink icing. The cake had dissapeared within ten minutes - Daisuke ate more than half of it. The rest of the night was spent dancing, talking, laughing, and just hanging out.

"Let's play charades!" Miyako suggested. A few groans followed and some cheering, and Miyako volunteered to go first. As she began her turn, she drew a square in the air, and Takeru called out, "TV show!". She nodded, and continued on, acting things out and showing them how many words were in the title. While the others were laughing and shouting out random things, Sora tapped Taichi on the shoulder and pointed to a raspberry bush in the far corner of Yamato's backyard.

"Meet me in five," she mouthed to him. He nodded in response as she got up and walked casually over to the raspberry bush, hoping no one noticed her absence.

"Friends!" Daisuke called out.

"The title has four words, you dumbass!" Takeru shouted, smacking the back of Daisuke's head.

"HEY!" hollered Daisuke, rubbing his head, "What was that for, TD?!"

Taichi grinned at their fighting, stood up and made his way to the raspberry bush. What an excellent diversion. When he reached the bush, he waltzed over to Sora and threw his arm around her, and then began munching on the delicious, ripe raspberries hidden in the depths of the bush.

"What's up?" he asked his girlfriend through a mouthful of raspberries.

"I wanted to ask you something," Sora replied, looking out at the night sky.

"Well, go ahead. Ask me anything."

"Okay then. What the hell is your problem?" demanded Sora. Taichi turned away from the raspberries to look up at his girlfriend's angry face.

"You heard me," she continued, "Why are you acting so ignorantly towards Mimi? I mean, Taichi, seriously - did you see her at the airport? She was about to burst into tears! Are you proud of that?"

"Well, no, but-" Taichi began.

"What has she ever done to you, Taichi?! C'mon, really, what has she done?"

Taichi sighed, knowing that even if he tried to answer her, the answer would never be the "right" one. There was no escaping this argument.

"Life was just a whole lot easier without her around," he muttered.

"Oh, I get it," Sora interjected, "you're jealous. Now that Mimi's around, you won't be able to have me all to yourself, huh? Is that it, Tai? You jealous that you gotta share me with my other friends? Is that why you and Yamato are always fighting - because he's a good friend of mine?"

"Me? Jealous?" Taichi scoffed.

"Oh, you deny it, but I know it's true, and that's all that matters," Sora snapped, "So I suggest you start watching your stupid attitude, or there may not be anymore 'us'!"

Before Taichi could say anything more in his defense, Sora had stormed off to the punch bowl. Daisuke was standing near the punch bowl, holding something behind his back and whistling suspiciously. Sora ignored him and helped herself to a glass of the tropical (and likely, tainted) drink. Taichi watched her down the glass, growling and grumbling to himself. He punched the fence in anger, and watched as blood seeped from his fist. He looked back at the rest of his friends enjoying themselves once more before jumping the fence to go back home, where he could think.

"Where's Taichi?" Hikari asked Sora curiously.

"Who knows," Sora retorted, shrugging, "and who cares?"

"Um, shouldn't you care?" responded Hikari. Sora laughed.

"Just because I'm his girlfriend doesn't mean I have an obligation to care about him!" she snorted. Hikari frowned at her, and retreated back to her spot in the grass next to Takeru. The game of charades had long since ended, and the party was beginning to die down as midnight neared. Guests were already starting to leave, and the backyard was becoming less and less populated. Jyou and Iori had left around nine-ish, both claiming they needed their rest for their early morning plans. Ken's parents had come to pick him up at eleven, and they had offered Miyako a ride as well.

Koushirou's father drove up and honked his horn a couple times. Koushirou signalled 'one minute' to his dad, and quickly asked the other guests if they cared for a ride home.

"Take me!" Sora burst out, stumbling into Koushirou's arms. Daisuke laughed wildly at Sora's drunken behaviour - she must have had a little too much punch.

"Anyone else?" Koushirou inquired on his way out, dragging Sora along. Everyone else shook their heads and bid them farewell. Koushirou helped Sora into his SUV and they drove off into the night sky, Koushirou shaking his head. He knew Sora would regret having all that punch the next morning.

The music was still pumping, though the guests were now few. Daisuke was in the Ishida's kitchen, calling Jun to come and pick him, Takeru and Hikari up. It didn't take long to convince her - she spent her days waiting for excuses like this to come up and allow her to visit Yamato. As she pulled up in the driveway, she ran up to the front door yelling, "Yaaaaaammaaaaa!" Yamato heard her from the backyard, and excused himself. He answered the door out of sheer courtesy, where he was greeted with girlish squeals and immediately engulfed in a huge bear hug.

"Uh, yeah, nice to see you, too," Yamato reassured her half-heartedly. Thankfully, Daisuke showed up with Hikari and Takeru in just the nick of time.

"Come on, come on, let's gooooooo!" Daisuke pleaded, attempting to pull his sister off of Yamato.

"You can come see Yamato some other time," suggested Hikari. Yamato looked at Taichi's younger sister in disbelief, and she giggled at his pained expression.

"Okay, okay.. we'll go. I'll see you later, Yama, love!" Jun exclaimed after she finally surrendered to the younger teens' pleading. She waved at him and grinned like an idiot as her brother dragged her into her vehicle.

"Drive," he commanded. She nodded, staring at Yamato who was still standing in the doorway, and pulled slowly out of the driveway. Yamato slammed the door, and walked back to his backyard to find Mimi dancing all by herself, and singing along to Ashlee Simpson's "Lala". He smiled to himself as he watched her from the doorway.

"Have a little too much to drink, Mimi?" Yamato chuckled. Mimi gasped and immediately stopped singing and dancing.

"I.. uh.. didn't realize you were there," Mimi stammered.

"Oh, don't stop just because I'm here," grinned Yamato, "I was quite entertained."

"Shut up, you!" Mimi giggled, turning down the stereo, "Let's get this place cleaned up."

The two teens slowly brought in half-full bowls of chips, a platter that used to be full of Sora's cookies that now held only a handful of leftovers, empty dishes where candies once were, and the large, empty punch bowl. After all that was brought in, they picked up any leftover garbage (mostly just plastic cups from the punch), then turned off the stereo and packed it up.

"Hey, where's my Dad?" Yamato wondered out loud, as he and Mimi finished cleaning up.

"Beats me," Mimi replied, "I haven't seen him or my aunt since we got here."

"Eh.. maybe they're upstairs," Yamato guessed, "Wanna go check?"

Mimi nodded, and followed Yamato up the winding staircase to the second floor. There were three rooms on the second floor; a bathroom, the master bedroom, and the guest room that Asuza was to be staying in. Yamato and Mimi checked the guest room first, but no one was there. The door to the bathroom was wide open, and a quick glance confirmed that there was no one residing within it. Yamato felt his heart plunge deep into his stomach. Could they really be in his father's bedroom... together? He gulped as he knocked quietly on the door. When no answer came, Yamato looked nervously at Mimi before slowly opening the door a crack. He peeked inside, spotting Asuza sleeping soundly under the sheets on the left hand side of his father's bed. He noticed there were clothes on the floor and his heart started beating faster; he spotted his dad, wearing only jeans, out on the balcony, puffing on a cigarette. Yamato quickly shut the door. They were involved? How come his father never mentioned anything to him? He was devastated.

"Let's go downstairs," Yamato advised, and Mimi followed him curiously as he traveled to the basement. They reached Yamato's room, where Mimi was to be sleeping; Yamato was going to sleep in the den for the night. Yamato sat down in his computer chair, and Mimi lay down on his bed. It was nearly one o'clock in the morning.

"Were they there Yamato?" What's goin' on?" Mimi asked politely. Yamato had only opened the door up enough for him to see in - Mimi hadn't seen anything. Yamato considered lying about what he saw, but knowing she'd see through his lies made him change his mind.

"Yeah, they were there," he mumbled, "Dad was on the balcony smoking... and your Aunt was passed out beneath his sheets."

"That's funny, why would she sleep in his bed when she has the guest room?" Mimi wondered.

"Mimi," Yamato sighed, " ... besides my Dad's jeans, all their clothes were on the floor."

"Oh!" Mimi gasped, "I didn't know they were ...uh... seeing each other?"

"Neither did I," muttered Yamato, looking down at his feet. Mimi frowned and looked at the clock. She was feeling pretty worn out from her flight and the off-the-hook party. Yamato looked up and glanced at the clock as well.

"I guess we should be heading to bed, huh? I mean, it's gonna be hard enough for you trying to adjust to the time change, and you're already off to a bad start, going to bed at one and all - and what with school only three days away.." Yamato rambled. Mimi smiled warmly.

"Okay, Dad, I'll go to bed!" Mimi joked, jumping under the covers in her clothes. Yamato smiled.

"You gonna sleep in your clothes?" he asked. Mimi nodded.

"Good night, Yamato! See ya in the morning!"

"Heh.. good night, Mimi. Don't let the bed bugs bite.. and all that," Yamato replied, as he stood up and walked out her door. Three more days. Just three more days.