A/N: Sorry for the longgg wait! I have the next chapter written out too so I'll update that tomorrow! Enjoy. :)

Takeru tapped the counter as he stared at the digital clock on the oven. Yamato was going to be here any minute, and his stomach was churning at the thought of his brother being back in this apartment building. The past four days had gone by smoothly, everyone was happy and just trying to get through work. Takeru had decided to take off work today so he could prepare for Yamato's arrival.

Takeru was terrified for Taichi's reaction. With his recent workload, he's been really crabby and ill-tempered. Takeru could honestly say that Taichi might kill him tonight for keeping this all a secret. The blonde sighed and ran some fingers in his hair as he stared at the clock fearfully.

Takeru jumped as his phone rang, the caller I.D. displaying his brother's name. He didn't answer and ran out of his room and down the stairs as quickly as he possible could. When he got to the front of the apartment building and opened the door, he bit his lip as he saw his brother standing there coolly, dropping the cigarette he was smoking and stepping on it with his foot.

Yamato smiled slightly and, before Takeru could even compose himself, crushed his younger brother into a hug. Takeru blushed at this notion because Yamato rarely showed any kind of emotion, even to him.

"You look good, kid," he stated with a smirk as he pulled away and handed one of his duffel bags to Takeru. Takeru laughed nervously and led Yamato into the apartment building and up the stairs to his room.

"Thanks...same for you."

Yamato noticed how awkward his younger brother was being, but kept quiet as Takeru opened the door to his apartment and allowed Yamato to walk in. Yamato sighed as he looked around the room. Takeru guessed he was probably reminiscing about his old life back when he used to live in this building. Takeru observed his brother and noticed how he got a little skinnier. Yamato's hair had also grown longer and he kept it to his shoulders with some of his blond hair covering his right eye. As usual, he was wearing all black attire with his hands shoved in his pockets. Then, Takeru noticed the pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket.

"So, when did you start smoking again?" he asked as he brought Yamato's bags into one of the rooms. Yamato smirked and ran a few fingers through his hair, in the similar fashion that Takeru did.

"As soon as I moved out of here," he stated monotonously, leaning against the wall. Takeru nodded his head and offered him to sit down on the couch in which Yamato complied. Yamato used to smoke a little bit in college until Sora finally got sick of the habit and forced Yamato to quit. Takeru noticed that even though many things about Yamato had changed, his usual personality was quite the same: reserved, quiet, and emotionless.

"So, how is everyone here?" Yamato queried, looking at his younger brother through the corner of his eyes. Takeru shrugged his shoulders, sitting down next to his brother.

"Pretty good...don't know how great they're gonna be after seeing you though," Takeru joked dryly. Yamato smirked again and leaned back into the couch.

"Yeah, this is going to get interesting..."

Koushiro awkwardly looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. Ever since Miyako had that talk about Mimi with him, the lavender haired girl had got Koushiro dressing in a completely different way.

His hair was slightly messier and he was wearing a tighter fitting dress shirt with grey slacks and dress shoes. Miyako and Koushiro went on a crazy shopping spree in which Miyako made him try on a bunch of clothes and things, and forced him to get them. At first Koushiro hated the clothes, but after noticing the amount of attention he was getting from other people, he started to think that it wasn't that bad. One of the girls in his department said 'hi' to him and asked if he was a new employee...people were actually noticing him!

The other day even Mimi commented on his look, and Koushiro almost burst out into flames because his blush was so apparent. He decided that he keep wearing the clothes because Miyako was right, it was building up his confidence a lot.

Iori decided to meet up with Koushiro before they went back to the apartment so Koushiro smiled and left the bathroom. He walked into his small office space and picked up his laptop case before exiting the room and leaving the building. He saw Iori across the street, sitting on a bench and reading one of his textbooks.

When Koushiro reached him, he smiled at the younger boy and sighed.

"How were classes?"

Iori sighed as he got up shook his head. He hadn't been able to concentrate lately...

"Brutal, I can't wait to graduate already, only one more year to go," he explained as they both headed towards Iori's parked car. Koushiro chuckled at his comment and pat his friend on the back.

"It'll all be worth it, though. Soon, you'll be rolling around in money."

"Yeah, I can't wait for that day. All this hard work will finally pay off," Iori stated with a smile. As they walked down the sidewalk, he noticed a familiar brunette up ahead. His heart stopped when he noticed it was Akina, and he so badly wanted to greet her as they started getting closer to her. Iori almost stopped in his tracks when he noticed that she had her arm latched around the arm of another man...her husband.

"Hey...are you alright?" Koushiro asked, noticing the instant change in Iori's mood. Akina smiled as she window shopped with her husband, pointing to something she liked in one of the stores. Iori ignored Koushiro's question, and picked up the pace he was walking to, trying to get past the sight in front of him. Koushiro kept quiet, trying to keep up with Iori. He didn't want to question the young boy anymore.

Akina realized Iori was there and her eyes widened as she made eye contact with him. She quickly pulled her husband into the store and didn't turn back to look at her other lover. Iori felt his heart break, but kept walking, trying to erase what just happened out of his mind.

As Koushiro and Iori reached the car, Iori got in the drivers seat and just stared at the wheel. What the hell did he do? Why did he ever do this to himself? Koushiro sat down in the passenger seat and looked at him worriedly.

"Iori...? Are you okay? Did you do bad on an exam or something?" Koushiro asked blindly. He hadn't noticed what had just happened.

"No...I-I just realized that I have a lot of work to do when I get back home, and it really bummed me out," he stated swiftly. Koushiro could tell he was lying but decided not to press any further.

Iori started the car and started to head back to the apartment building. They both kept silent as Iori pulled into a parking spot, got out of the car, and walked into the apartment.

"Hey, would you mind if I hung around with you and Takeru? It gets kind of lonely in my apartment now that Daisuke got the car dealership job," Koushiro asked with a smile. Iori laughed slightly and nodded his head as he took out his keys.

As he opened the door and they both walked in, Koushiro's face fell when he saw Takeru sitting next to the counter, taking a bite out of an apple as Yamato cooked some early dinner. Iori also froze, forgetting that Yamato was coming today. Takeru never really talked about it since he told him and Jyou four days ago.

Yamato smirked and looked at the two boys, expecting their reaction to be just like that.

"What's up?" he asked nonchalantly as he shook his pan full of ingredients. Iori quickly snapped out of it and said a quick 'hey' before going up to him and putting a hand on Yamato's shoulder. Koushiro stood in his spot, overwhelmed. After living with Taichi for so long, he couldn't help but get a little bit pissed at the sight of Yamato.

"How was your trip here?" Iori asked politely, walking to his room to change.

"It was good," Yamato replied, turning to look back at Koushiro, "Hey Koushiro, long time no see."

"Yeah..."

Yamato nodded his head, looking back at the food on the stove. Takeru noticed the awkwardness and quickly tried to save the conversation.

"How was work?" the younger blond asked, taking another bite into his apple. Koushiro cleared his throat and shook his head.

"Same old."

"That's good...so, yeah, Yamato's staying here for a couple of days," Takeru stated bluntly as Yamato handed him a plateful of food. Koushiro looked at the floor.

"Yeah, I can see that..."

There was another silence before Yamato spoke up again, putting some dishes into the sink.

"So, you live with Taichi now, right?" he asked. Koushiro winced slightly. What a terrible topic to bring up.

"Yes, I do," he stated forcefully, giving Yamato a slight glare. Yamato took it and nodded his head.

"Yeah, Takeru was just telling me."

A small fire burned in Koushiro's stomach. For as long as he could remember, Koushiro had always battled Yamato, internally, to be Taichi's best friend, but for some reason, Taichi always considered Yamato to be his closest and truest friend. At one point, Taichi even considered Yamato blood. It's so ironic that Yamato would be the one to hurt Taichi and ruin their friendship. Now, Koushiro is Taichi's closest friend and he wasn't going to let Yamato hurt Taichi and everyone else around him.

Yamato saw Koushiro's expression change and he quickly changed the topic.

"Are you hungry?"

Koushiro took a deep breath, realizing that he was being irrational and that maybe he should give Yamato the benefit of the doubt.

"Yes, actually, I am."

When Hikari saw Yamato in Takeru's apartment, she was probably the only one that greeted him with a warm smile and embrace. She noticed the tension in the room at that point. Jyou had come back from interning and also greeted Yamato, but he was very awkward. Koushiro had gone back to his room and Miyako, Mimi, and Sora were due back any minute now.

The one thing that Hikari noticed was the fact that no one dared to mention Sora's name. Taichi had been brought up a couple times, but that was because Yamato would ask questions about him. Neither Yamato nor anyone else ever spoke of Sora, and everyone was imagining in their heads how terrible this situation was going to be in just a couple of hours.

"So, how's everything with your band?" Hikari asked sweetly, she was never one to hold a grudge. Takeru smiled at her for being so open and kind. Yamato shrugged and played with a toothpick between his teeth.

"It's okay, not as crazy at it used to be back in the day," he stated with a smile. Jyou and Takeru sat on two chairs that they pulled towards the couch while Iori, Yamato, and Hikari sat on the couch. The television was on and they were all pretending like they were watching TV, even though they all were just apprehending the next few hours.

Hikari's phone started to ring and she excused herself as she picked up the phone, seeing that it was Miyako.

"I think I'm in love," Miyako stated as Hikari rolled her eyes.

"Why?"

"Ken just came by my office and dropped off some chocolates, how dreamy is that?" she exclaimed. Hikari laughed and tried to move on to a more important topic.

"Hey, Miyako, I have a question. Do you know when Sora's getting home?"

"Uh, I don't know. The last thing I remember is that she's coming back home with Mimi. They're gonna grab some coffee and head back. Why?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering. Are you on your way back now?"

"Yeah, why? What's going on?" Miyako could hear the uneasiness in Hikari's voice.

"Oh, nothing, I'm just wondering. I'll be hanging out in Takeru's apartment so come by when you get back, okay?"

"...Alright...bye."

Hikari hung up the phone, knowing that this was going to be interesting.

About fifteen minutes later, Miyako knocked on the door and walked in, her smile dropping as she saw Yamato. Yamato sighed, getting tired of seeing everyones reaction, it was getting really old to him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked blatantly.

"Miyako!" Hikari exclaimed with a scolding look. Yamato didn't let it faze him and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Felt like visiting and seeing my younger brother. Is that a problem?"

Miyako glared.

"Yeah, it's a problem! Did you even consider all the problems you might cause by coming here? Do you even remember that Sora lives here too?"

Everyone got dead silent as Sora's name echoed in the room. Iori winced and Hikari bit her lip while Takeru and Jyou started fidgeting. Yamato looked at the floor as Miyako shook her head.

"You have a lot of nerve coming back here after so many years..."

Yamato got up and pulled out a cigarette, heading towards the door and exiting the room. The rest of the people in the room kept quiet until Takeru sighed.

"Miyako, you really should learn to control your temper. He's trying to fix everything with everyone, okay?"

Miyako scoffed.

"Don't tell me he wasn't expecting to get a lot of yelling from some of us. Wait till Taichi comes, then he's really in for it," Miyako stated, leaving the room angrily and going back to her apartment. Hikari sighed and followed her.

Jyou bit his lip and looked up at Takeru.

"Should we make sure he's okay?"

Takeru nodded his head, remembering how his brother gets when he's angry.

"No, he probably wants to be alone for a bit. He'll be back soon."

"This is going to be a crazy couple of days," Iori stated. The two other guys nodded their heads and sighed.

Sora looked at her best friend across the table at the coffee shop.

"So, did you ever talk to Taichi about...you know?"

Mimi coughed on her biscuit and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"Um...well, we've talked and had normal conversations, but never really about that night...but I have a plan," she stated with her chin up. Sora chuckled.

"And what might that be?"

"I'm going to avoid him."

"...avoid him?"

"Yes. Keep him on his feet."

Sora raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not following you, Meems."

"See, if I stop showing interest in him, he'll wonder why, and then he'll be head over heels with me. It's all a game," Mimi explained with a wink. Sora rolled her eyes as she finished her coffee.

"I can't believe you two had sex."

"Shh! Can you not make it seem so crude."

The two friends got up and headed towards Sora's car.

Mimi fixed her waitress uniform as she sat down in the passenger seat with a sigh.

"I'm so excited to take a nap."

Sora smiled and nodded with agreement, "It's been such a long day, I can't wait to just be back home with everyone and chill out."

Mimi's phone vibrated and she dug it out of her purse as Sora started driving toward the apartments. Mimi smiled when she saw it was a text from Hikari.

'Come into Takeru's room when you get back. Bring Sora, too!"

Mimi scrunched her eyebrows and turned to Sora as they parked.

"Hikari's telling us to go to Takeru's room."

Sora raised her brow as she got out of the car and fixed her pencil skirt.

"Why?"

Mimi shrugged her shoulders.

The two girls made their way up the stairs and knocked on Takeru's door. Sora noticed the doorknob was still open and heard a lot of voices on the other side, so she opened the door and walked in with a smile, which quickly dropped when she saw a very familiar blond standing at the counter talking to Takeru and Iori while Hikari, Jyou, and Koushiro sat on the couch. The whole room became silent as Mimi walked in with a smile.

"Aw, who's you're friend, Takeru?" Mimi asked bluntly.

The tension could be cut with a knife, and no one dared to speak a word. Hikari stood up as Yamato uttered the first few words:

"Hey, Sor."

Sora quickly turned on her heel and left the room, her heart pounding in her ears. What the hell was he doing here? As she closed the door behind her she saw Taichi standing in the hallway, trying to open his apartment door. He turned and smiled when he saw his childhood friend, but Sora just shook her head, opened the door to her apartment, and slammed it shut.

"Sora...?"

Taichi knocked on her apartment door but she didn't open it. To find out what had made her so upset, Taichi walked into Takeru's apartment and held the same stupefied expression that Sora had moments before when he placed his eyes on his old roommate.

Before Yamato could even say anything, Taichi's eyes squinted in anger.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Yamato kept his composure as Takeru and Iori tried to sit a little lower in their chairs by the counter.

"Just visiting..."

"Yeah? Well get the fuck out."

Everyone in the room flinched, not knowing whether or not they should get up and leave or stay seated.

Yamato didn't faze; after knowing Taichi for years, he wasn't scared of him. Instead, Yamato half-smiled, and leaned against the counter.

"You know, it's really great seeing you, Taichi, after all these years."

Before anyone could say anything, Taichi glared, ran up to the Yamto, and threw a hard punch to his handsome face.