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One Promise Broken

By Kyoko Jyou

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Chapter III - The Wedge of Fortune

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"Jyou?" Keeko answered the door, her voice resonating with a tinge of concern. "How did it go?"

Jyou only replied with a soft kiss on her forehead, almost completely ignoring her a few momets afterwards as he tossed his coat up a rack.

"Jyou... answer me..."

"It was... fine..."

Keeko looked down in sullen defeat. She knew what Mimi meant to Jyou. She has even gone to the point of confronting her a number of times when she felt that she was trying to gain his you back. While the male digidestined have all been more than accomodating to her, Sora, Hikari and Miyako treated her like an unwanted in-law... a fact that shut Jyou off from close friends.

She never wanted to cause Jyou so much heartbreak. Ever since they first crossed paths that night Diaboromon struck back, she knew that the boy who 'borrowed' her bicycle was someone special, nerd that he was.

She had been one also.

She was also a medical student, daughter of one of the late Dr. Kido's associates at Tokyo's Medical Center.

Also a student at Jyou's senior highschool.

His classmate at college.

His eventual partner in the practice.

Damn it, she shared more things with Jyou than Mimi or any of his digi-friends! She knew that megalomaniac monsters were no match for twiced-divorced Biochemistry professors.

And most importantly.

She was carrying Jyou's child.

"Uh, Jyou..."

"Yes..."

"I made you some tea."

Jyou approached her and locked her in his embrace "Thank you..."

~*~

The portside.

Rain poured heavily from the skies above, drenching a weeping Mimi as she sat silently, washing the waves crash violently onto the breakwaters.

Was she only eight years old when she first saw how beautiful the sea was. When she began to see that there was any beauty at all beyond the consumer-made artificial grandeur of her world of malls and mansions.

Was it fifteen years ago that a young boy of unassuming, even unpleasant, countenance taught her to listen to the haunting song of the night sea - a song which brought solace to the fearful and company to the lonesome.

She had mocked him then for his wishy-washy views of life, back there on the sapphire shores of the Digital World when they had to take the night patrol shift together. He spoke of beautiful things painted on a canvas of dirt and mud... sand and water... totally devoid of golden accents or fine embroidery.

He spoke of a song without words or melody.

Just that haunting night song.

She knew Jyou was trying to get fresh with her then. A silly boy with the silliest dream to be liked by a popular girl a thousand rungs above his caste.

Funny boy, this Jyou Kido.

Now, mockery wasn't anywhere near the edge of her tounge.

Maybe she had finally caught up with his maturity, she doesn't know.

It still seemed stupid for her to look out into the sea for comfort.

And yet...

Sigh...

She bets the Paparazzi has already taken their fill of phots for the day.

She'd better prepare answering to tabloids tommorow.

~*~

Senior High.

"So, how's everything..."

"Its alright. I've sorta gotten used to the place."

Jyou took a sip on his coffee, his mind obviously elsewhere.

"That's nice to hear. So, you've finally gotten into sports, have you."

"Yeah. My asthma's been medicated out. And how about you. Koushirou's been sending me very little stuff about you and you don't seem to be replying often aside from the usual 'hey, hope your doing well' e-mail."

Mimi smiled. Jyou might look like a dumb jock now but he could still go as cynical and sarcastic as the best of them.

"I've been... studying."

"What, little princess wants to get into the rich people's school fair and square?"

"Jyou!"

"Hey, sorry! I was kidding. No really, what's the latest in planet Mimi?"

The conversation went for hours, mainly about how Mimi's trying out for acting firms and modeling agencies.

And then, the inevitable.

"So, any boyfriends yet?"

"No, daddy would never let me have one before senior high. How about you."

"None, actually." Then his voice suddenly went down into a whisper "But there is this one girl I like. Actually, you might meet her since she's a staffer at the girls dormitories. Her name's Mizukikio Yamamoto from my class. I call her Keeko for short."