Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Too bad. Deal with it.

Hey WHASSUP?!?? Well, Joe's staying in Odaiba so what's next?? Well, there's still the old problem of Matt's girlfriend Sayo. And what are Mimi's feelings exactly? And does Izzy actually care for Mimi more than friendship?

Please read and review!!

Episode 9: Sincerity

Tai groaned as he stumbled into class late.

Matt looked up and raised his eyebrow at his best friend. The teacher frowned at Tai but kept going on with the lesson. Tai sat in his seat and plunked his books down.

Tai narrowed his eyes at the pointless maths problems on the page. He twirled his pen around his fingers while humming to himself.

Man, these past few days had been so incredibly boring. Grounded for two centuries and still about a million hours to go. Tai felt his mouth turn upwards into a little grin. Fancy being stuck in maths and trying to figure out how many more hours to go.

Sora had seen Tai enter the classroom late and now she watched him from over her textbook. He seemed to notice this and he gave her a bewildered look.

Sora felt herself blushing and she hid behind the textbook again.

Tai didn't pay the teacher even a fraction of his attention. The teacher was explaining to the class the joy of Pythagoras' Theorem.

"Did you know," he was exclaiming, "that c²a²+b²?!?"

Tai ran a hand through his messy brown hair, sheesh, he sighed. He glanced at Matt who sat at his desk looking perfect and half-flirting with the glasses-wearing girl diagonally in front of him.

Tai smiled to himself. He was really happy. Even though he was grounded, he hadn't been so happy in a long time. He wondered why.

Maybe… it's just because it's been so long since everything's been normal. Before, Matt and I were hardly talking to each other and the Digidestined weren't even good friends but now it seems like things are getting better.

The bell rang and everyone got up and started packing up to leave. Tai grabbed his books and started heading over to Matt.

Ya know, there's a lot of stuff we have to catch up on… Tai thought as he pushed past the crowd.

Sora stood up from her desk. It seemed like the whole Digidestined was grounded for the rest of their lives. Because of this, she hadn't been able to talk to Tai for a whole two day, and that was a lot, considering they were meant to be best friends.

"Hey… Tai," she called, as she pushed her way through the crowd. He didn't hear her. He was walling forward purposefully, probably looking for someone else.

Sora's heart fell. She wondered why it hurt her all of a sudden. I didn't want to see… him walking away from me like… that…

"Tai… Tai!" she said louder.

"Matt!!" Tai shouted out to his best friend. Matt barely had time to turn around and greet Tai.

Tai got an incredibly agitated look on his face. Crap.

"Matt…" an incredibly sickeningly-sweet voice rang in Matt's ear. Matt turned his head in surprise. Sayo was whining. She wrapped her arms around Matt's left arm and pulled him away.

"Matt, it's been ages since I've seen you. Where have you been?" Sayo cried.

"…" Matt said nothing.

"C'mon, let's go! We have a lot to catch up on!" Sayo and Matt disappeared.

"Hey, Tai!!"

Tai turned as he heard the sweetest voice in the world beside him. Sora was panting for breath and flushed red but she smiled at him, the most beautiful smile in the world.

Tai felt his own face blush. "Oh. Whassup, Sora?"

"I… was…" Sora gasped, "looking for you…"

"Really? I'm sorry; I was busy looking for… him…" Tai felt a sense of betrayal go through him as he watched Matt and Sayo go around the corridor.

"…" Sora said nothing. She realised that Tai must be feeling sad again.

Yeah… we've all gotten closer to Matt again but there's still Sayo. I can… understand where Tai's coming from… he feels that Sayo's stealing his best friend from him. And I know what that's like too.

Sora shook her head. She took Tai's hand in hers. "Hey, Tai, don't look so bummed out, okay?"

Tai shivered slightly as he felt the warmth of Sora's hands. He stared down at their hands that were touching. His brown hair fell over his eyes.

"Sor… why do things have to change? It really… bites!" Tai said angrily.

Sora tilted her head. "What do you mean?" she asked gently.

Tai's eyes met hers for a moment. A blush flickered across his cheeks again. He pulled his hands away from Sora's. "I thought… that maybe we would all be friends again… and I was hopeful for a moment but… when I see Matt with Sayo, I think that maybe… he's really grown out of the Digidestined… and I get so confused… about why friendship doesn't come first…"

Tai turned away from his love Sora. His heart felt heavy. And I wonder why does Matt get to have them both? He can have love… and friendship at the same time. I wonder if I'll ever be capable of that.

Tai snuck a glance at Sora. But… I'm too afraid…

Sora considered what Tai said. "…" I guess you're right.

Actually, I've wondered about that too. Will it eventually happen one day? One day, will each one of us grow out of this and head out different ways? It seems so possible… But, Tai, I don't want to believe that will happen either… I don't ever want things to change…

Tai… I made a promise to you too… so I don't ever want to break it… but… if friendship is meant to come before love, why does my heart keep beating faster whenever I'm with you?

"I don't believe the nerve of that girl!!!"

Mimi looked enraged. The Digidestined, minus Matt, were gathered around a tree in the school yard, eating their lunches.

Mimi said, totally into it, "I can't believe Matt either!! We spent so much time and took so much effort just to get Matt back from that evil woman and he just willingly goes back to her!!"

Izzy sweatdropped. "You make it sound like Matt committed the worst sin in the world."

"Well, he has!!" Mimi's high-pitched voice broke Izzy's eardrums. "We made it ever so clear that friendship comes before love!! But he had to go and choose his girl over us!! C'mon!! We all know that love comes second, right?"

She looked around at her friends. They were all looking away or at the ground, very sheepish and guilty-looking.

Mimi's shoulders dropped. She sank back down to her seat under the tree. "Yeah, I know it's… really strange, isn't it?"

Sora tore her eyes away from ground and turned to Mimi. "You know how we all feel, Mimi."

Mimi looked at the short boy standing next to her. "Well… Maybe… there was some other reason why I was so 'worried' about Matt before…"

Izzy looked very angry.

Mimi broke into a bright smile. "But I feel a lot better now! Matt is really just my very good friend! And maybe I would never have realised that, I wouldn't have felt any better if Izzy wasn't there with me."

"…Me?" Izzy almost choked on his sandwich.

Mimi said in an absentminded kinda way: "I'm really glad that you're my friend, Izzy… I mean… when I was all sad and brokenhearted over Matt… the only thing that made me feel better was just you being by my side. And Sora and all of you, of course."

The Digidestined listened intently but didn't look at her, still focusing on the grass or the ground or whatever they were looking at. Tai couldn't help feeling like he was betraying Mimi too.

It's not my fault! I didn't want it to happen… I just couldn't do anything about… loving Sora…

Mimi could see all of the Digidestined were fighting their inner battles. Well, so was she.

I guess… if I was still all hung over Matt hurting me… I'd be really sad. But… I don't know why but whenever I was sad… I'd find Izzy with me and whenever he was there… the hurt I was feeling lessened a bit. So I'm very grateful…

Mimi felt happy with her friends. It was peaceful there, but she thought back the feeling that things would change even more.

She felt the wind blow past her and her pink hair blew in the breeze. She looked up and saw the sky. Under her school shirt she felt the tag with the Crest of Sincerity flutter.

It's really hard… to describe this odd feeling in me right now… But… if I've got the crest of Sincerity, I want to believe…

I want to be able to trust in everyone. I'm already so blessed with all my friends around me to encourage me… so I think… I can do it… I can stay here with my friends and I will try my best…

I know how Tai feels about Sora… and I understand all my friend's emotions now… I think… I can try harder to be there for them all… and Matt… I wonder if he'll ever be able to find happiness…

Mimi smiled serenely. She lifted her head up towards the sky and closed her eyes.

I want to be there for them. I know… there'll be tough times ahead but I believe we can make it through this!! I've found myself now… so when will… everyone else?

Maybe right then… the Digidestined just sat there together silently, thinking. It was odd without Matt, and everything around them was becoming so confusing. How much harder could it get to keep Tai's promise?

Well, it seems that Mimi's found herself now, as continuing from the story before Joe's almost-move. And Joe's also strengthened as a Digidestined.

I guess… everyone one of the Digidestined has to find new strength and belief in themselves.

Mimi and Joe have already faced a lot of trauma but they've emerged stronger from it. Next up is definitely Izzy and Matt- it's a wrap-up from the whole Matt/Mimi/Izzy story arc. Izzy doesn't seem to be having a very major role currently but soon he will. It's also not very certain what's happening to Matt. In fact I don't think I've written anything from Matt's POV yet. Will he end up with Sayo? Or is he not ready to be in love yet?

There's T.K of course. The youngest member of the Digidestined has his own troubles but he still has the crest of Hope and he's determined to carry it through.

Sora… well, she's still Sora. There'll be more to come obviously.

And Tai? It might seem unclear right now, but it might actually be true he's carrying the biggest burden of them all. And for the whole fanfic he'll have to go thru a lot more. But… I believe he can make it!! Whadda you think?

Please read and review!!