Hey again everyone. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update this. I've been very busy and I also took a trip to New York and I met Takeuchi Junko. Not sure if some of you know who she is, but she did voice Gomamon for the Digimon Adventure/Adventure 02 series as well as Takuya in Digimon Frontier. I actually played Gomamon's theme for her when I met her. It was so awesome meeting her! I even managed to mention something that most fans don't know about her…the musicals she did for Hunter x Hunter (as she voiced/played Gon for the series). She was blown away by that. So um, yeah…another reason I didn't update…my external hard-drive. My backup hard drive that I kept this story on wasn't functioning properly and had to get that dealt with, so here we are. New external hard drive and stuff and now able to go back to this fic.

Anywho, this story is almost over. Just one more major event needs to be taken care of and then this story can be wrapped up…almost since this will have the alternate ending. This chapter and the next one was originally one chapter, but I broke it up into chapters 29-1 and 29-2, but...I decided to go back to changing it to a chapter 29 and a chapter 30.Okay, irrelevant stuff out of the way, as you can see, last chapter, the two showed to like each other very much and shared a kiss, but Mimi still ran off to Yamato. "Why?" you ask? You shall discover the answer in this chapter; why Mimi didn't just give in to her true feelings and go with Koushirou.

This chapter also has another time skip. This chapter takes place in Novemberand features Jou, Miyako, and Koushirou. This chapter will also have a flashback to May and the return of three minor characters. I hope you enjoy it. I knowI did when it came to writing out Jou's character for this chapter and the next one, but I'm going to hold out on uploading the next chapter since it's longer than what the original version was since it has that alternate ending.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 11; Second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 10; First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 15 (Year 09; Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 14 (Year 08; Second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 07; First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 05)

Chapter 29: Big Brother Skepticism...

It had been nearly four months since Koushirou had been on his summer break, and the 15-year-old boy was now waiting anxiously for news about his mother, who had gone into labor. Along with him was Miyako.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no," Koushirou kept muttering while pacing back and forth in the hospital's waiting room.

"Izumi-senpai, calm down. Your mother will be fine."

"I just can't take all of this pressure!" he nearly shouted.

"Obviously," Miyako muttered under her breath.

Growing tired of pacing, he took the vacant seat beside Miyako. "I'm sorry. I'm just not used to this." He looked over at her. "What if she gets hurt or something?"

"She should be fine. I'm sure they'll give her a lot of pain medication if she's hurt."

"But that's not too wise a thing to do," the two heard a voice say.

They looked up to see a tall boy wearing glasses.

"Jou-senpai!"

"Jou-san!"

"What are you doing here? What do you know about not using pain medications when having a baby?" Miyako crossed her arms and gave him a look. "A boy would say something like that."

The now 17-year-old boy shook his head as he tried to defend himself. "I'm just going by what I've heard about medications and childbirth and why some women don't use it." He sighed. "I was here with my science class as part of an internship, and this week, we're here in the maternity section. Eijiro and the others already left to goof off, probably. I was on my way out when I saw you two sitting here."

"Do you have to see the birth of a baby?" asked Miyako in surprise.

Jou waved his hands around and vigorously shook his head. "No way! Our professor wouldn't put us through the torture and agony of witnessing something like that! It's probably not even allowed anyway!"

"How is that agonizing?" she argued back incredulously.

"It's not, it's not! I just don't think I could handle seeing something like that."

She shook her head and tittered a bit. "All of you boys are the same."

Jou pushed his slipping thin-rimmed glasses back into place. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You boys can help to make them, but you can't go through with seeing a birth and what the mother goes through!"

"But you're just a child yourself! You shouldn't know about those types of things!"

"I'm 14, and I can assure you that I am no child!" Miyako gave Jou a sly look. She was really enjoying toying with him. "I could have children myself if I wanted to. I am old enough to." She looked over at Koushirou, and coyly grinned. "Izumi-senpai would know that better than anyone."

Jou looked at Miyako and then over at Koushirou. He shook his head. He didn't want to even imagine such a thing. The idea of any of his younger friends in an intimate fashion or situation highly disturbed him. Koushirou was too wrapped up in what was going on with his mother to even listen to what she or Jou were saying.

Miyako laughed at Jou's expression. She was thinking back to something Mimi had mentioned to both her and Sora...of what happened when Koushirou went to the orphanage and the lady there thought that he had fathered a child. Both found the situation amusing and wished that they could have been there to see the look on his face. Mimi had described his reaction as priceless.

"Calm down, I was only joking."

"I should hope so!" Jou sounded more adult than usual. "Children shouldn't be joking about stuff like that."

"Must we go through this again? I am not a child! I m a young, highly-motivated independent woman of the 21st century who could start my own family if I chose to, and furthermore-"

"Gomen, gomen," Jou apologized quickly, wanting to get off the subject. "My fault, you are a 'young woman'."

"Bingo!" She winked and flashed him the victory sign. "Now don't you ever forget it."

Koushirou, who had been quiet the entire time, turned his attention to both Miyako and Jou. "Will you two be quiet, please? My mother is in there!"

"Your mother?"

"Mrs. Izumi went into labor while we were working on a new program to present to the Computer Club this Monday. We were in his room when we heard something drop. We went to check out what was wrong and we saw Mrs. Izumi by the sink holding her stomach. She was having contractions the entire time, but she didn't know it until she said that it was time for the baby to come. She felt that it was too soon for her to be having them and didn't think anything until the contraction pains kept happening and growing closer and closer together and I'm sure her water must have broken for her to say that it was time for the baby to come."

"Wow, I hope she does okay."

"For his sake, I hope she does too," she laughed. Miyako pointed towards Koushirou who had gone back to pacing around like a madman.

"You sure are calm about this," noted Jou.

"Maybe because it's natural and normal. You two are more worried about Mrs. Izumi than she is and she's the one having the baby!"

"I hope no complications occur," Koushirou muttered.

"Izumi-senpai, stop worrying. Everything will be fine."

He kept pacing. He was worried and nothing was going to change that. 'What if she suffers the same fate like she did with her first child? What if the child ends up getting sick and dies shortly after?'

Right now, what he wanted some better reassuring. He also wished that Mimi could have been around, but knew that she was currently out with Yamato. He appreciated Miyako's company – even though he couldn't tell that since Mimi and Yamato had gotten together, that she flirted with him non-stop – but he still liked hanging around with Mimi too. He wasn't sure if the strange, love-sick side of him was the one that preferred her company or the normal, logical side of him. Since she had an afternoon date with Yamato, he didn't want to bother her. He respected her wishes, although, he fully felt that her being with Yamato as his girlfriend was a bad idea and forced on her part.

He could tell that Mimi didn't like Yamato the way Yamato seemed to like her, and they had been together for a few months now. He wondered if Mimi was only still dating Yamato to keep other guys from constantly bothering her, but figured that she continued on with Yamato in general to humor him since he didshow such a strong interest in her and didn't act fan-crazed over her. He figured that she didn't want him to feel bad since he went out of his way to get with her to begin with; something that he, himself, couldn't do.

In some ways, he still cursed himself for not telling Mimi about how he felt about her to this day. He wanted to tell her everything, but he could never bring himself to put himself in such a situation. It was much too unlike him to.

One thing he still didn't understand was why she never gave him a chance, or just initiate something herself. He knew that Mimi was anything but shy. The two did share that kiss, after all, and there was definitely something there for them to do so in the first place. Seemed that something would have come from that, but, unfortunately, it didn't. Koushirou understood romance a bit better, though no expert, but enough to realize that it's more complicated than he realized, but he was also a bit more observant and had been studying Mimi's actions ever since the kissing incident.

The main thing that he noticed was how she still found ways to hang around him when Yamato wasn't involved. He also noticed the way Yamato acted around her, and it was the same exact way that she would act around him at times. As a matter of fact, a few months earlier, when Mimi had invited him to go to the beach with her, it turned out that he was the only one that she'd invited. He figured it was for the whole gang and never did bother to ask if anyone else was going along, especially since she mentioned wanting to hang out in the Digital World. He brought Tentomon along with him because of that. He was surprised when arriving in the Digital World at the specified location to be greeted by only her and Palmon.

Despite their partners being around, he did have a lot of fun that day. During that trip, Mimi seemed to continuously make clear that she still wanted to remain good friends and was upset that they hadn't been spending as much time together as much as she would have preferred. This still confused the boy, though, and didn't understand why she didn't just tell Yamato that she just wasn't interested in him romantically and maybe try to start something up with him, even if he did feel a bit selfish for having those thoughts.

Koushirou didn't want to think of Mimi feeling that she was too good for a person like him due to his not being as popular or as well-known as Yamato, as it didn't suit her, as he knew she wasn't that shallow. The reason for that was quite simple, though. She obviously valued her friendships more than her own happiness, which, in a way, showed just how suited she was with the crest trait of purity due to how pure and selfless she was being. Mimi liked Koushirou a lot...more than she ever wanted to admit to herself, but pursuing something with Koushirou, she felt, might cause a rift with another person, jeopardizing her friendship with that particular person who was very important to her...Miyako.

Miyako was Mimi's reason for not being honest with her feelings and not allowing her friendship with Koushirou to go a step further. Mimi knew that Miyako had strong feelings for Koushirou, and also realized how Miyako had had those feelings much longer than she had. She also saw Miyako like a sister, and didn't want to ruin that sisterly bond over a boy, even if she was crazy about said boy. She knew how sensitive the girl was when it came to boys, and how she felt when it came to being "ignored" by the boys, even though she's never come out and said it. Mimi felt that she would end up hurting Miyako if she had allowed something to happen between her and Koushirou, especially since she'd seemed to have had a thing for him for at least the past couple of years, despite her act with Ken.

To this current day, she hated the fact that nothing happened between her and Koushirou, but she just sighed and always convinced herself that it was for the best. After the kiss they shared, that she still dreamed of experiencing again, she wasn't sure if the redhead felt the same way back or not. He seemed to act normally as usual when they saw one another again in school that following week and times after that, even if both did act awkwardly around one another, only to hide it without the other one realizing it.

She wasn't very happy with Yamato at all since her plan to date him to get over Koushirou obviously wasn't working and felt a bit bad for Yamato since her heart longed for someone else. Her feelings had actually grown for Koushirou since she'd started up with Yamato. She liked him, found him to be a really sweet, kind, considerate guy, and even handsome (she couldn't deny that), but still couldn't see anything beyond friendship with him. She wanted to break up with him, but felt bad if she actually did and couldn't think of a reason to give him without coming across as hurtful. No matter how many hints she threw at him, Yamato just didn't catch them, which pained her even more, as she just didn't have the heart to drop him since he was a friend too. He was so infatuated with her, he couldn't tell that she wasn't fully happy in the relationship that they had.

The two had even shared kisses, but for her, they had no meaning, not like the one she shared with Koushirou. What kept her going, despite hating herself for it, was to imagine herself kissing Koushirou again.

Just like the months before, the redhead still thought about the kiss they shared, his first real kiss, and how he and Mimi had broken up, even if they were never together. He still pondered and wondered why Mimi wasn't honest with her feelings, but as usual, always quickly came to a dead end, and there was no way he was going to ask her about it. As a matter of fact, neither ever got on the subject of the kiss. It was like they had an unspoken agreement never to reference it.

Koushirou stopped pacing abruptly and stopped thinking about Mimi, as he noticed a man walking towards him wearing what looked to be a white lab coat. It was the doctor who had taken his mother in to prepare for the delivery.

"How is my mother? Is she okay? Has the baby been born yet? Did she have a boy or a girl? Can she talk to me?" He grabbed the collar of the doctor and ordered in an almost deranged manner, "Tell me! I can't take the waiting anymore!" He started to shake the poor man. "Tell the baby to hurry up if it isn't here yet! Hurry up! Don't just stand there! Tell me what's going on! Do your damn job!"

"Please calm down Mr. Izumi," the doctor said between shakes, his eyes swirling. "You're giving me a headache."

Jou and Miyako rushed over and grabbed each of Koushirou's arms so that he could release his unusually tight grip on the doctor.

"I'm sorry about him, doctor," Miyako apologized with a nervous chuckle. "This is his first child."

The doctor brushed himself off, and smiled, much to Jou and Miyako's surprise. "I can understand that. He is getting a new brother or sister after all, and since his mother have no other children, he doesn't know what it's like to go through this."

His arms crossed, Jou whispered to Miyako, "I wonder how he would react if he was married and his wife was about to give birth."

"I don't think I would want to know." She smirked. "I would tell the doctors to keep him away until after I have the baby, or knock him out."

Jou laughed. "Yeah, she probably would do something like that." He then realized what Miyako had said. "Wait, what!"

"I'm just kidding, senpai."

The older boy wasn't sure if Miyako was joking around or not. Koushirou and Miyako had been hanging out together more frequently, especially since Mimi had started dating Yamato – which surprised him a lot – but as far as he knew, there was nothing going on between them of that nature, not that he could imagine it anyway, and frankly didn't fully care to.

"Well, I just came to update you on your mother's condition. She's doing fine, but she still hasn't had the baby yet."

"Just let me know of this one thing..." he started direly, looking at the floor.

"What is it, Mr. Izumi?"

He lifted his head, his expression serious. "Will she die? Will the baby die?"

"Koushirou!" exclaimed Jou. "Calm down! The doctor knows what he's doing! Why are you assuming the worst?"

He looked over at Jou, and darkly muttered, "I have my reasons." He turned his attention back to the doctor. "Well?"

Still a bit taken aback by the boy's odd question, the doctor cleared his throat, and told him, "We aren't having any complications if that's what you mean, and I don't expect any to occur. Your mother is in good health and all her signs and vitals are stable, even her heart rate. The only thing she needs now is her husband's support."

"I tried calling my father three times, but I still haven't been able to reach him! He must be in some kind of a meeting and his phone must be off, which would explain why I can't seem to reach him. What do I do? He should be here!"

"I'm sure that he'll be here when he can. Lucky for you, though, that your mother has a friend with her."

"A friend?" asked Jou.

"Nagataki-sensei," answered Miyako simply.

"Oh, I remember her...from Odaiba Elementary. So Nagataki-sensei is here too..."

Ever since Ms. Nagataki and Mrs. Izumi formally met months ago, the two became instant friends. They came across as long lost friends. Mrs. Izumi liked the fact that she had another person to associate with aside from her gossipy neighbors in the building.

When Mrs. Izumi got those bad pains, Koushirou, out of panic, called her. He didn't even know why he phoned her of all people and didn't know what to do for his mother, even though Miyako was giving him advice that was correct, but he was still too panicked to even consider anything she had to say. Miyako wasn't too offended by this, even if she did tell him the same exact things that Ms. Nagataki had.

He managed to get her on her mobile. She was doing some planning for her classes that upcoming Monday. When she found out, she excused herself and instructed Koushirou to get his mother to the hospital as fast as possible and that she would meet them there as soon as she could. She also gave him some other suggestions to help her.

Koushirou was grateful that Ms. Nagataki had gotten there as soon as she had and was glad that Odaiba Elementary School was so close to the hospital. She managed to get there before Mrs. Izumi, Miyako, and Koushirou had arrived.

"I have to get going now and keep an eye on your mother. I'll let you know if we have any changes, and when your father does arrive, please inform the head nurse over at the nurse's station so that she can contact the nurse responsible for Mrs. Izumi, who will let him come to the back to see her."

Koushirou nodded as the doctor left the three teens.

"See," smiled Miyako, "nothing to worry about. Your mother is healthy. The contractions are growing closer and closer together which means the labor time is winding down and that means that the baby will be born soon."

"You sure do know a lot."

Once again, the girl gave Jou a playful smile. "You almost sound surprised. I am a girl after all, and we're taught about the facts of life. What are you boys taught?"

"Never mind that! You're not supposed to know about it!"

The younger girl's eye twinkled and her playful smirk became more of a sneaky grin. She gave off all the information she knew regarding the subject. Koushirou, once again, had managed to tune both out, as his mind was back on his mother. Miyako was so detailed with her descriptions, that it caused Jou to turn red in the face. If Koushirou had been paying attention, Jou knew that he would've been as weirded out as he currently was.

Jou backed up slightly and pointed shakily at the girl. "You know more than Ido! You-you're not supposed to-to know about all of that!"

She responded with a laugh and looked back over at Koushirou. She decided to stop teasing Jou for a while. "She'll probably have the baby really soon."

"But why is it taking so long? We've been here for over an hour! Why can't the baby just come out?"

"Because it doesn't work that way! Besides, normally with a woman's first-born child, it takes the longest to deliver I heard..."

Koushirou shot her a slightly annoyed look, which caused Miyako to smack her head in stupidity. She remembered how this wasn't going to be Mrs. Izumi's firstborn child. "I-I'm sorry."

"That's okay, Miyako-kun." He sighed. "I tend to forget that myself sometimes."

"Forget what?"

"About how Mrs. Izumi has had a child before."

"Oh yeah, that's right..."

Everyone pretty much knew that Koushirou was adopted and how Mrs. Izumi had had a child before she and her husband had adopted him. He mentioned it to both Taichi and Mimi, who passed the word around to the others, but aside from the other Chosen Children, no one else knew. Mimi now understood why Mr. and Mrs. Izumi fostered children so much, to make up for the one they had lost.

"Oh, I wish she would hurry up and have the child and I wish my father would hurry up and get here! I left him a lot of messages! He had to have received at least one of them!"

"Maybe you should try calling him again."

Realizing that Jou's suggestion of phoning wouldn't hurt, he left the waiting room to go to a designated calling area, as using phones in that part of the hospital was prohibited. He pulled out his mobile to call his father again. He didn't have anything to lose by doing so. This time, instead of trying his father's phone, he dialed his father's work number, and ended up getting the receptionist of the company. She explained to Koushirou that he had left for the day and how he had left right after his meeting to tend to some personal business almost an entire half hour before he had phoned.

"Thank you." Koushirou closed up his phone and walked back to the waiting room, where he saw Jou and Miyako sitting, debating over which science was more difficult between Chemistry and Biology. Miyako felt that Biology was a more difficult science while Jou argued Chemistry was because of all of the math involved with it, even though he enjoyed math. Miyako felt that Biology was more of a challenge because of all of the technical terms used for it.

The two saw Koushirou standing there. "Izumi-senpai, you're back."

"So, is he on his way?"

He shook his head. "He's not there. I called his office this time. The receptionist said that he left a long time ago." Koushirou's face twisted up in anger and he started to breathe hard. "How could he leave like that! What personal business does he have that couldn't be taken care of another day?"

Jou and Miyako rushed to his side, trying to calm him down, but he kept arguing and complaining. Some people in the hospital would walk by, wondering what was wrong with the boy. Since neither could get him to calm down, they both agreed to just let him rant and get it out of his system and was glad that he wasn't being loud. He was ranting so much, that he didn't even notice a man walk up behind him.

"Koushirou!"

Hearing his name being called by someone other than Jou or Miyako, he turned to see a middle-aged man wearing glasses standing before him trying to catch his breath. He looked as if he'd been running. "Otousan! Y-you're here!"

"Of course I'm here! I got your message and rushed to get here as soon as I could! I was stuck in a business meeting, so I had my phone off. I'm sorry for not calling you or anything, but it slipped my mind to!"

'It must run in the family to panic,' Miyako thought with a laugh.

"It was murder trying to get here. I may give in and buy another car, but never mind that! How is your mother? Is she okay? Did she have the baby yet?" Koushirou shook his head and informed him of all that had gone on. The man turned to Miyako. "Thank goodness you were with my son and helped out my wife."

"It's no problem, Mr. Izumi. Without me, I'm sure Izumi-senpai would've gone crazy."

"Thank you very much, now where do I go?"

The redhead pointed towards the nurse's station where a woman sat, and told him to speak with her. He thanked them again, and rushed off.

"Hm, so that's why you couldn't reach him earlier. When you tried earlier, he was in a business meeting, and the other time you called, he was on his way here," Jou concluded.

"What do we do now? I don't know all that much about children or how to take care of them or what to even do with them! What if I do something wrong? What if I offend him or her?"

"You've done a good job with that adopted girl whose family was killed in that fire," Jou pointed out while fiddling with his phone.

"Yeah, to her, you're like an older brother, and you spend time with her on occasion just playing with her. That's good practice right there."

"Maybe I am learning more, but I still don't feel that I'm ready to be given that responsibility regularly."

"Izumi-senpai, stop worrying about that. Kimiko-chan loves you very much and sees you as a brother, so I'm sure that your new brother or sister will too."

"Miyako-kun is right. Kimiko-chan really appreciates and respects you. If it hadn't been for you, she would have never found a new home."

When Koushirou first visited the Nerima Adoption Agency and Orphanage in Hikarigaoka back in March, he met a four-year-old girl by the name of Shimizu Kimiko. Her family ran a restaurant; they lived in the apartment above it. A fire broke out, and had killed her entire family. The girl started talking with Koushirou and instantly labeled him as her new brother and wanted to go home with him. When the girl looked as if she were about to cry when Koushirou told her he couldn't be her new brother, he panicked and promised her that he would try to visit every week until she was placed with a real family, and he made sure to keep that promise, despite how difficult it was to keep it, especially after becoming a third year, which meant more testing for him.

Every Sunday he would visit the young girl, but the more and more he would visit, the more down she would become since she had no immediate family that could take her in, nor would any non relative for that matter. As the weeks went by, some of her friends would get adopted and go to new homes, which made her feel alone. Every time she would make a new friend, the friend would get "taken away" as she put it and would never see the friend again. She seemed to put on a front a lot, though, and would always tell Koushirou, with a smile, "Papa would always tell me that good things will happen if you hope for them. Oniichan used to believe in that too. I'm happy because Koushirou-niichan comes back every week."

Koushirou started to feel sorry for her and wished that there was something he could do for her. He knew that taking her home with him was out of the question. He wasn't ready for children, let alone marriage, and he was way too young to be worrying about that in general. He then remembered "Sui-obasan" who had always said time and time again how she wished to have a child of her own and how she was never "blessed with the ability" to do so. She never got into detail and Koushirou never pried whenever she did randomly mention that, but he figured that she couldn't physically have children in some way.

He determined that she would like Kimiko, and how Kimiko would probably like her, especially since both could really use a family. He told Ms. Nagataki about the girl and she agreed to it. Just from Koushirou's description of the girl, she fell in love with her. "She reminds me of Miki-chan when we were kids," she told him. "She was always optimistic too, despite the situation." She actually started accompanying Koushirou on his trips to Hikarigaoka and visited Kimiko. After the first meeting, Ms. Nagataki was ready to take her home, but that time didn't come until that beautiful, late May afternoon where Kimiko received the surprise of a lifetime...


"Well, I have to get going," Koushirou told the girl, standing up from his seat in the visitor's room of the orphanage. She had been having a pretend picnic with the boy. "I would stay longer, but I have tests to take tomorrow, and really need to get in some more study time."

"Okay, Koushirou-niichan," she sighed sadly, for once, forgetting to put on her smile.

"You shouldn't be so sad. You'll see me again."

"But I have to wait a long time before I can see Koushirou-niichan again."

"Not too long. You'll probably see me again tomorrow."

The girl clapped her hands excitedly. "Really?"

He nodded, "Absolutely."

"Wow!" She got up and hugged the boy. "I can't wait to see you again!"

After letting him go, he started to walk towards the door of the room. He then turned back to Kimiko and gave her a coy smile. "Aren't you coming back to Odaiba with me?"

She looked at him in pure confusion. "Huh?"

"Aren't you coming with me?"

"Wh-what?"

He closed his eyes and tsked the girl while shaking his head, his arms crossed. "I thought you would have caught on by now. You're coming back to Odaiba with me. The only way you can see me tomorrow is if you're near me."

She stood there for a moment, when what Koushirou had said had finally sunk into her head. She jumped up and down and shouted, "Yay!" over and over again. Koushirou smiled down at her. He was glad that she was genuinely happy, and how she wouldn't have to put on a front for him anymore. He hated leaving her every week in that state.

"Surprise, Kimiko-chan," Mrs. Mitsuishi told the girl as she entered the room.

"Karen-mama, did you hear that? Koushirou-niichan said that I could go home with him!"

She nodded and smiled. She was glad that Koushirou had gone through the trouble of finding a home for Kimiko. She felt sorry for her and was even more upset at some of the girl's family, as it turned out she did have some more family around in the area and in other parts of Japan, mostly up north, but none were willing to take the child in since the family had always disapproved of the girl's father. Compared to Koushirou, she had lots of family. She referred to those relatives as "ungrateful ingrates". The only person who had actually shown an interest in taking the girl in was the neighbor who would walk her home from the girl's Kindergarten with her own son, but she couldn't afford to take the girl in, no matter how much she wanted to.

"Now you can see Koushirou-kun almost as much as you'd like, but you aren't going to stay with his family."

"But..."

"I would let you stay with me and my mother and father, but I can't."

"But how will I be able to see you?"

"Do you remember the other person who usually visits you with me?" She nodded. "What do you think of her?"

"I hate it that she doesn't visit every week like you do. I've only seen her," she started counting on her fingers, "four times. I like her a lot! She's very fun and she has nice hugs."

"I'm really glad that you like Sui-obasan."

Right at that moment, Ms. Nagataki walked into the visitor's room. It was all a part of the surprise that Koushirou had managed to get together. He spoke with both Sui and Mrs. Mitsuishi and explained how he felt that surprising Kimiko in that way would work best. His plan was to distract Kimiko while Sui finished up with all of the final paper work. Seeing the woman, Kimiko rushed to her and gave her a big hug.

"I'm so happy to see you again!"

"So am I." She picked her up and hugged her tightly. "I missed you a lot. I'm sorry I couldn't visit the last time."

Mrs. Mitsuishi stared at the two, and was thinking pretty much what Koushirou had been. The two were getting along like a real family.

"So, are you ready to come home with Chibi Koushi and me?"

She nodded eagerly, chanting how happy she was to be going home with Koushirou and Sui. Sui put her down. "When do I leave?"

"Whenever you are ready to," Mrs. Mitsuishi told her.

"I want to go now. I have to get all of my stuff."

"No you don't. We already did that for you," the woman explained. "While you were visiting with Koushirou-kun, I packed everything for you. I knew you were leaving today. I'll go get your bag." She rushed off to get Kimiko's things.

"How do you like your surprise?" Koushirou asked the younger girl.

"I love it! I'm finally going to get a new home to live in!"

"I'm glad that you are too," he nodded. 'I'm glad that she has a home now and I'm glad that Sui-obasan will have someone living with her now. Neither one of them will ever be alone again. Sui-obasan wants to have children, but obviously can't, and she is also divorced. Kimiko has family that doesn't want to take the time or effort to take her in for selfish reasons. I'm sure these two will get along very well.'

A short while later, Mrs. Mitsuishi returned holding the few things Kimiko owned, which wasn't much. One child-sized suitcase of clothing and a small bag of toys that were salvaged from the fire. "Here you go, Kimiko-chan." Koushirou took the suitcase and bag for her. "Nagataki-san, all of the paperwork has gone through, so she is now legally yours."

"I'm very glad of that. It took so long for all of that paperwork to go through."

"Yes, I know what you mean," the older woman sympathized, "but those are the rules. The adoption process takes a good while in special cases." By that, the woman was referring to Ms. Nagataki being single. Ideally, it was favored to have two guardians. Ms. Nagataki had to prove that she was capable enough of taking Kimiko in despite this. She knew it was going to be difficult, given her job, but Koushirou had offered to help out as well, like picking Kimiko up from her Kindergarten whenever it was necessary. "Since everything is signed and done, Kimiko-chan, you can leave right now if you'd like."

The girl nodded, a smile on her face, but that smile soon faded. "What's the matter," asked Ms. Nagataki.

She started to cry and threw herself at Mrs. Mitsuishi. "I'm going to miss Karen-mama!"

During the girl's time there, she and Mrs. Mitsuishi had grown somewhat close and had an actual bond, maybe like an aunt and a niece. It just couldn't be broken. The reason for this was due to the fact that she felt incredibly sorry for the child's situation, even though she was that way when it came to all of the children there, but not as much as this particular child. She was going to miss her as well. She was going to miss Kimiko's bright, hopeful smile and her lighthearted personality. She did see the girl as one of her own children, and would have taken her in herself if she didn't have four of her own already. It wouldn't have worked out financially for her and her family, especially given their ages. They were all in their mid teens to early 20s, which meant high school and university fees to consider.

She knelt down and wiped some of the younger girl's tears away. "Don't cry, Kimiko-chan, I can always visit you. I know your new address and where you'll be living. I will be personally checking up on you and Nagataki-san since your case is my personal responsibility. I'll visit you as much as I can if that'll make you happy."

She stopped sniffling and hugged the older woman again. "Okay Karen-mama! I'm going to miss you a lot, but I love you just like Sui-obachan and Koushirou-niichan. I have two mamas and another brother now too."

"That's a good girl now," Mrs. Mitsuishi nearly cried herself.

After the hug, she turned towards Koushirou and Mrs. Nagataki, and shyly smiled. "I'm ready to go..."

Mrs. Nagataki smiled and grabbed her hand, as the three left the building to head back to Odaiba...


"You know, Isako-chan likes you a lot too," Miyako pointed out. "She seems to think of you as an older brother." She smiled knowingly to her older friend. "Let's face it; you get along with children better than you give yourself credit for. You get along with two children under the age of eight. I'm sure that you'll get along with your new brother or sister fine."

"Maybe it was meant for Koushirou to have to deal with younger children since he was going to end up having a younger sibling. It's like a premonition!"

"Senpai, are you really into stuff like that?"

"I never really thought about it, but I do have the mentality that everything happens for a reason. We may not understand it or know what that reason may be behind it, but there is definitely one. Apparently, Koushirou having to be around Kimiko-chan and Isako-chan was foreshadowing his having to learn how to get along with younger children better."

Koushirou thought over Jou's words and could only shrug, as he started to pace around again, still worrying over his obviously healthy mother. Jou and Miyako remained seated as they watched him continue his pacing. Jou grew bored of the playing games on his phone and put it away. Miyako kept her eye on the entrance of the waiting area, as if looking for someone.

More moments passed. Koushirou seemed to have been wearing a groove into the floor.

"Koushirou, stop pacing around so much! You're starting to drive me crazy! Your mother will be fine! You heard the doctor!"

Right at that moment, a person walked up behind Koushirou, and said with a giggle, "Yeah, you really should listen to him. He knows what he's talking about."

"Mimi-oneesama!"

"Mimi-kun?"

"Mimi-san?"

"Hey everyone," she smiled.

Fic Chapter Changes

Originally, I had that Mimi had only invited Koushirou and how, with Tentomon, it was only the three of them. I added in Palmon. I also gave a reason for the invite, unlike I did for the original.

I cut out a short author-insert type note after Miyako and Jou had to get Koushirou from off of the doctor. RP noted how it took two people to pull him away and how strong Koushirou was when hysterical. Tentomon then explained why that was, and how it's the fault, pretty much, of the all of her fics that had Koushirou in it, which has made him crazy. RP then "bows" as she was "happy to be of service" which prompted Koushirou and Tentomon to have kind of a, "Why us" reaction. The fic that was being referenced, in a way, was my short Halloween comedy fic, NightoftheLivingPiemon! where Koushirou really was nuts for it, but that fic was purposely written that way and every single character, for the most part, was out of character, especially Kari. The bottom line was that the fic was completely stupid, but was extremely fun to write! Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that because of some of Kari's antics, Izzy ended up in a mental hospital and tried to attack his physical therapist? lol That fic was originally written in script format, and I would put that fic back up here, like it was originally, but it just wouldn't work unless it's in script format since it's so stupid. lol

I changed how Jou addressed both Kimiko and Isako. Originally, he called them "Kimiko-kun" and "Isako-kun". Given their ages, using the "chan" honorific seemed more appropriate. He did use it with Hikari, after all, when she was a kid.

I changed Kimiko's being depressed. I kept it in, but just toned it down a bit more and had that she was more of an optimist, despite her age.