Hello, everyone. I'm sincerely sorry for such a delay on updating this fanfic. I've worked on several chapters but I lost the entire file and that discouraged me to continue. Out of nowhere I found an old USB with Chapter 4 and that triggered me to restart writing this fic.
Please review it. I hope you like it.
A beautiful light blue sky painted the arid landscape around some of the volunteers involved in restoring Koromon's village. A few loud voices were heard nearby a small forest where the young Mimi coordinated the logistics for moving woods to rebuild some of the huts. Trying to prove a point, she was directly involved in selecting the proper materials and directing her partner and the small digimon to drop them in the right place.
"Mimi-chan, you don't have to work so hard. Taichi is not here to watch you." Her partner softly added. Mimi smiled at Palmon and kept walking inside the small forest, guiding the other pink digimon.
"This is beyond me proving a point to him. Those digimon actually need our help and we're being very productive here." She sounded determined. "Besides, here I can practice my leadership skills." She added in a playful tone as she turned her eyes to face her partner.
"We should at least take a break." Palmon said as she kept walking along with her friend. "Our friends here could also have a few minutes to drink some cold water. It's too warm today!" She stopped and stared at Mimi.
"Fine." Her friend agreed in a good tone. "I'll make you all some lemonade. I've brought some lemons and sugar in my bag for it". She added directly to all of the group that was following her, changing their direction back to the village.
As the loud voices accompanying Mimi's group approached the internal area of the village, the duo formed by Taichi and Sora was working silently painting the structures in restoration.
"Hey guys! I'm making us all some lemonade. Will you join us in a short break?" Mimi shouted from afar. Taichi looked at his auburn friend, trying to read her through the dense air that stood between them.
"We should join her." She added quietly without facing him. He took a deep breath, trying to recognize if it was her PMS mood or something else. From his experience, she looked annoyed or sad, but he couldn't tell if it was with him.
"Are you sure?" He looked at her in silence, forcing her to face him. "We're doing a great job here. If you want to finish it first, I'm all in." He added softly, trying to ease the mood between them.
Sora looked back to the wall they were working and kept painting it as the guy stared at her. She didn't carry an annoyed expression but an indifferent one. She just didn't feel like talking to him until he fell in his cold mood again. He joined her in the painting activity once more, letting the silence stand between them again.
The duo kept exchanging quick and disguised looks in order to read one another. A couple of minutes later, Sora noticed her friend was not being able to reach his hand too high anymore, suggesting he was feeling his hurt shoulder.
"Are you alright?" She added, now facing him. He looked at her and smiled gently, nodding at her question. "You look like you're in pain there." She said, now in a worried tone.
"My shoulder is a little annoying today, but it's no big deal." He winked at her, followed by his ordinary smile as he faced the wall to restart painting. Taking advantage of the fact that she was speaking to him, he decided to ask her the same question. "What about you? Are you alright?".
"I'm fine". Without taking any second to think about her answer, she just added a quick response. He cleared his throat and tried not to reply to it, facing the wall again. As silence fell between them one more time, she realized she was the one that was being cold and spoke again.
"Thank you for asking". She smiled at him, her eyes accidentally meeting his when he smiled her back. He immediately faced the wall again, making her remember that was his usual behavior from the past months. He seemed to avoid her every time they started a conversation.
The mood was awful between them and it was hardly deniable. She just wondered why was he being that indifferent to her and what could she have possibly done to make him act like that. She questioned him several times during the previous autumn and tried to reason it in so many perspectives, almost none of them with a solid answer to it. Could it be Mai? The girl tried to bully her in the Tennis Club since the beginning of last spring, sounding unlikely it was triggered by her friendship bonds but to their natural rivalry in the sport. It all started by the time Agumon was kidnaped but how could he possibly relate their friendship to it? For many months she felt bad about it but now it was just irritating her. How could he just pretend their friendship was that meaningless?
They kept working in silence, Sora distracted in her thoughts about her friend. Taichi seemed distracted too, carrying a lighter expression in his face than the auburn girl. Suddenly a loud voice came from a few centimeters behind them, making them both jump.
"Geez!" Mimi's voice emerged loudly right behind them. "What is with that huge, deep and emotional silence guys?" She asked in an intrigued tone, with an eyebrow raised.
"Do you want to kill us by scaring us? Not funny, Mimi" Taichi added serious, pretending he was annoyed by the gesture.
"I was standing here for more than five minutes without you both noticing me." She kept her intrigued expression. Sora faced the wall once again and kept working. "I'm talking to you both, Sora." Mimi stared at Taichi and then moved her eyes to check on her auburn friend. "Are you fighting again?" she added.
"We're not fighting. We're working." Answered Taichi in an indifferent tone so she could drop it. Mimi just observed the two of them, still carrying an intrigued expression on her face. She approached Sora and looked her in the eyes, holding her both arms and forcing her to stop painting.
"I don't buy it. What did he do?" She asked seriously, being now analyzed by her friend's light brown eyes and a light smile started to form in the auburn girl's face. Sora couldn't help but smile at her friend's attitude, cute and funny at the same time. Mimi turned her face to the now confused guy that a few steps away from them and changed her expression into an angry one. Taking a step towards him she added in a cold and low tone.
"If you hurt my friend, I'll rip out your eyes and make you eat them with that goofy smile of yours. Do you copy that?" Taichi reacted with a loud laugh, supporting his hurt arm in the girl's shoulder. Recomposing himself, he answered her softly with his standard goofy smile.
"Mimi-chan… As much as I'd like to fear your words, if I hurt Sora at any level I'd have to face her first and I have to say, she's way stronger than you are." Mimi just kept staring him with an angry look as Sora now turned to face him too, at that moment with an intrigued look.
"Should I take it as an insult?" She asked him directly. The guy then turned to her in a confused look, just figuring out it might have sounded offensive.
"No!" He took a deep breath. "No, no. I'm just saying you're mature and strong enough to handle your own issues, especially when it comes to me being the clueless jerk you claim me to me." He answered her, still keeping his confused expression and now exchanging looks with both girls. He felt completely trapped.
Mimi eased her expression, replacing it with a smile. "I'll make a lemonade for us. I'll leave you guys here to talk to each other. And believe me, if you don't, I'll make you." She kept her smile and slowly removed herself from the scene, shouting at a very busy Agumon to invite the other group to join her.
Taichi followed the girl with his eyes, replacing his confused glance with a serious one. He quietly approached the auburn girl to return painting and was surprised she was smiling at him.
"What?" He asked curiously.
"She can be very bossy when she wants to." She kept smiling. He couldn't help but smile too, his act making her blush a little and turn her eyes away from him. He still couldn't get her oscillating mood, keeping his eyes in disguise on her so he could read her.
"She's right, Taichi." The girl broke the silence with a light tone, her eyes on the moving brush. She heard him clear his throat though not answering her and decided to face him, stopping her painting movements.
"There's nothing going on, Sor. We've already talked about it." He looked at her, trying to avoid her eyes. She didn't move her eyes away from him, one more time trying to make him talk.
"I'm serious, Taichi. You know I am." She paused and took a step towards him. "I'm not asking you again to tell me what happened. I just want to make it up to you, to our friendship that I so want to preserve." She sounded so delicate he felt his cheeks starting to burn, trying hard to keep his eyes on hers. She waited but no answer was given to her words, changing her expression to a lightly sad one that he was very familiar with. His thoughts were not fast enough to help him change the subject. He just wanted to keep talking to her so she wouldn't get mad at him. He then remembered something Mimi told him that he was actually meaning to talk to her before.
"What's up with you and Mai?" He asked her.
"What?" She looked confused. That couldn't be it. Was he trying to give her hints that it was all that girl's fault? He took a step back, facing the wall again.
"Mimi told me you and her don't get along" He answered, cleaning his throat again. She opened her mouth to question him if the girl was actually the one responsible for them being apart, but she decided it was just not worth getting into that subject again. She could just enjoy the fact that they were finally talking about something.
"I guess she takes me for a rival or something like that" She answered now facing the wall again and restarting once more the painting activity.
"Does she bother you?" He asked, trying to keep the conversation.
"She can be a real bitch sometimes." She answered, followed by a quick pause as he looked at her intrigued. "Don't worry about that. I know you like her, so I just ignore it" she added.
"What do you mean by bitch?" He sounded more curious than before, exchanging eyes with her as they both worked.
"She's just a bullier sometimes, but I can take care of myself." Sora was very mature and Mai's actions hardly bothered her, though it irritated her a little that her best friend would rather be with her than any other girl in school.
"I don't know what makes you guys think I like her" he added, clearing his throat again as his cheeks started to be evidently red.
"Simple answer: You're always seen together and she tells everyone you're dating" She responded impatiently.
"She's not my girlfriend and she is the one stalking me all the time." He paused and stared at her again. "I'm sorry she bullies you." He kept looking at here seriously.
"I don't mind her arrogance, though now I mind yours." She looked at him. "Even though she's annoying sometimes, you should not deceive her feelings like that."
"I don't. I've made it pretty clear to her that I'm not looking for a serious relationship, or a relationship for what matters" He answered her calmly.
"That sounds complicated then." She smiled at him.
"Relationships are complicated" He added.
"Tell me about it." She said and turned to the wall again, followed by him. He cleared his throat again, feeling uncomfortable about his thoughts towards the girl standing beside him. Was she going through a hard time in her relationship? Thinking about it, though he felt clueless every time it came to her emotions he had the impression they were not in all good terms the day they fought Diaboromon.
"Something I can help with?" He added, trying not to face her.
"What do you mean?" She answered distractedly.
"Relationships are complicated?" He asked her making a huge effort trying to sound indifferent. She smiled softly and looked to the ground, intriguing him more.
"Aren't they?" She looked at him and smile. "You're avoiding them without ever being in one."
"I'm just a jerk. What do you expect?" He placed a goofy smile on his face.
"You're not a jerk, Taichi. You're just stupid sometimes." She kept smiling, now feeling the dense air vanish. That was quite new for them considering their recent background.
"Now I'm offended." He kept his goofy smile as they carried the small-talk.
"You shouldn't be. I don't see you as a bad person at all, just clueless some times." He took a deep breath, letting his breathing noises to be noticed. "Though I should say I miss this good old you." She added, noticing his smile fading, his reaction getting into her nerves again. She moved her head in disagreement.
"I want us to be as close as we were before, Taichi." She stared at the ground, not hiding the disappointment of his indifference to her words. "You were always there for me, and I was always there for you. By the time the new group joined us, we were inseparable. Now I feel like we're just team partners." She noticed him covertly staring at her, fighting an impulse for saying everything she had in mind regarding their friendship crisis. She took a step back from the wall and started to organize the brushes.
He remained in silence, observing her eyes starting to get waterier than usual. He has watched her cry so many times before, the last one being his fault. Right after the group defeated Ken, she tried to talk to him about his indifference to her. Memories were flashing in his thoughts.
He was sitting alone at the school roof, watching the sunset as the students were leaving through the main gate. The humid air and the clouds forming in the sky suggested it was going to rain soon, but it didn't bother him. Though he felt his chest heavier than usual, he felt relieved his friends were handling Ken's situation well and the group's partners were safe again.
Observing a group of girls leaving the gate in loud laughter he just wondered why couldn't he just like one of them. It'd be more simple if things didn't work out and could just walk away. His feelings made him guilty and somehow betrayed, though he knew it was unfair to feel that way.
He recalled Yamato's text at the 2nd Term's Opening Festival, feeling his breathing heavier than usual. "I've heard Sora is hanging out with an older guy. Know who he might be?". The blond boy was playing with his band at the festival, not being available to join the group. Koushiro was not a party boy and that left the good old duo alone for the most part of it. He himself was not supposed to be there due to a major cold he was recovering from, but he made his best to accompany his best friend.
They spent most of the time together. They talked, laughed and even danced together. He finally found the courage and invited her to go with him to the school's roof, a quiet place for them to talk and watch the fireworks alone. He wanted to tell her how he felt, and maybe even kiss her. He felt brave enough to do so after the amazing mood he felt them both immersed in. She accepted his invitation and he could swear she was blushing wildly just like he was. He held her hand as they started moving away from the crowd together so they wouldn't lose each other in the mass of students.
"Sora! We need to talk, girl" The president of their Tennis Club, one of the most popular and beautiful girls in school, called her from afar. Approaching them, she continued. "Yagami! You're here too!". She carried a beautiful happy smile in her face, greeting them both. "I didn't have the chance to thank you both together."
Taichi and Sora worked together to set her up with the Soccer Team's Captain a couple of months ago. Though they were both seniors in Odaiba High, they were very close to the young duo and their connection helped them being the cupids of the year.
"Girl, I need to talk to you. I'm stealing her from you for a second, ok?" She looked at Taichi and grabbed Sora by her arm, still smiling. The auburn girl looked at him, asking with her eyes if he was okay with it. "Just go." He said winking at her. "I'll be waiting for you there.". And with it, the girls vanished in the crowd.
Taichi waited for her for more than 30 minutes in the roof, his anxious thoughts interrupted by Yamato's message. He read it at least ten times, unable to swallow or breath during it. He felt betrayed and angry at his own feelings. How could he be so stupid? Of course she'd rather be with someone older and more mature than him.
His memories were interrupted by someone opening the door behind him. He turned his face to see Sora standing in front of the door with her usual summer uniform and carrying a very serious expression on her face, staring at him. He kept staring at her in silence, feeling the air was too heavy for him to breath. As raindrops started falling form the sky, she approached him and asked him several times why was he being like that, he just looking at her and denying it coldly. It took them both a while to notice they were soaked. He just stood up and said he had to go, leaving her in tears shouting at him for being such a jerk.
Taichi didn't want to make her cry, but he still couldn't find the right words for her. All he needed for the past months was some space for him to move on and organize his thoughts, now realizing he really had hurt her in the process. He took a step towards her and looked at the horizon.
"I'm sorry." He said, breaking the silence. "I just needed some space for myself".
She looked at him, surprised he actually said something. Now she was the one having a hard time finding the right words to answer it.
"I'm sorry for being a terrible friend. I'll try not to fail you again." He kept going as he formed a gentle smile in his face.
"You're not a terrible friend. You're actually the best. That's why I miss you so much." She turned to face him and finally found a way to organize her thoughts into words, tears slowly running through her cheeks. He approached her and instinctively removed a tear from her cheek, gently with his right thumb.
"What the hell did you do, Taichi?" They were both interrupted by a very loud Mimi coming in their direction in the speed of light. "I told you I'd kill you!" she started punching his hurt shoulder, making him scream in pain.
"He didn't do anything, Mimi!" Sora interrupted the loud scene of yelling and screaming. She couldn't avoid laughing at the very angry Mimi and her trapped friend defending himself from the multiple punches in his direction. The mad girl slowly stopped and looked at them both with a confused glance.
"I could have sworn I've seen you crying, Sora." She added, now intimidating the boy with her eyes.
"I should be the one crying here." Taichi added with a scared look, his hand covering his hurt shoulder.
"I was just sharing some of my demons with him, Mimi. But thank you anyway." The girl said, sharing a delicate smile to her friend. "Are you okay there, Taichi?" She asked worried, now facing the boy still mumbling from the pain coming from his shoulder.
"I think I need some ice here." He said, staring at Mimi with a provoking and angry expression.
"I'm not apologizing. You deserved that." She answered with the same provoking glance. "Maybe just not for today." She than changed her expression, opening a playful smile in her face.
"You have to be bipolar." He still mumbled in a grumpy tone.
"Stop arguing you two. Let's find you something for this shoulder!" Sora added, interrupting the childish scene between her friends.
They walked together towards an area covered by trees where the younger girl prepared them lemonades for a quick break. The group enjoyed their time sharing good memories from their first adventure, laughing and recalling good lessons from it. It has been a hard morning of work for the trio, so they just decided to stand-by for helping the younger group in the afternoon.
In the middle of confusions, emotions and resolutions, Taichi was still not ready to embrace his old friendship like he used to, but he knew he should at least try, what would demand a lot of courage from him. Mimi was quickly feeling like an insider, her friendship with both Taichi and Sora giving her enough strength to stop missing her life in the US. Sora felt happy the barrier mysteriously built between her and her best friend was finally fading away or at least she hoped so. Being a teenager might be a harder adventure than facing evil enemies, but it comes with lessons and moments that would be remembered for life.