"Slow Burn" (def.): an attraction for someone that is not instant, but grows over time.

-x-

Chapter Five: Reunions and Revelations

-x-

"He's really cute…"

Mimi flicked on her nail polish casually, only half listening to Sora; it was Monday after all and the redhead knew how much Mimi hated the beginning of the week.

"Hn."

"I mean, seriously cute."

"Who?"

"Ryo, of course."

Mimi gave a nod, "Unarguable." She said without much emotion. "But there is no shortage of cute faces." She reminded the redhead.

"So true." She said with a smile. "What do you think of Sam?"

"Hot." Mimi stated simply. "And boy is he smooth, those genius genes run deep in the Ichijoji family." She added.

Sam was incredibly smart, Mimi had no doubt the oldest Ichijoji brother would get into medical school.

"He's so nice too."

"So what's the problem?"

"There is no problem."

"Your tone suggests there's a problem, Sora."

Sora sighed, "It's just he lives in that house with all those guys doing God knows what." She blanched. "It's a bit unsettling."

"I hear ya."

"But then I think of how Davis has a girlfriend and so does that JP fellow, and they're both perfectly happy and perfectly faithful." She said ruefully. "But then there's Ryo and Sam and Wallace and that penalty kicker with the hair, what was his name again?" She snapped her fingers.

"Are you talking about Takuya or Henry?" She didn't know enough about sports to know positions, she just knew the people who lived in that house.

"Takuya!" Sora said, in as realization dawned on her.

Mimi nodded, "Weird how half the team looks like Tai, huh?" She observed.

Sora chuckled. "I even saw Takato with goggles on the other day." She said.

"Oh but that's probably because he's also a swimmer, Sora."

"Still."

"You're right, it makes the resemblance uncanny." She agreed.

"So how does Matt feel about Ryo?" Sora asked casually.

Mimi's eyes snapped up from the magazine in her lap. "What?" She asked

"Matt, you know six foot three, blonde hair…."

Mimi rolled her eyes, "What I meant to say is that why would he feel anything?" She responded.

"Because he's protective." Sora said in a matter of factly tone. "And because you spend almost every waking moment with him so why shouldn't he get to have an opinion."

"He can have an opinion, Sora. I just don't think he does." Mimi said, her tone a tad annoyed. "And besides nothing's going on with Ryo anyway so it's a bit premature to have this conversation." She sighed.

"Okay, but there's potential." Sora continue to prod.

Mimi shook her head, "I don't think so." She maintained. "Like you said, the reservations about the soccer boys and their choice of lifestyle are most definitely hard to overlook." She raised an eyebrow, reminded Sora of her earlier argument for not wanting to get too caught up with Sam.

And hell, Sam had a much cleaner reputation than Ryo. As rumor would have it, Tai and Ryo made quite a dent in the female population at TU their freshmen year.

Overzealously so.

Sora just shrugged a shoulder, "I can see it happening, there's chemistry." She said in a sing song voice. "And now you're on the cheerleading team—

"Don't remind me of that because it just gets me ticked off that you're not." The brunette swiftly changed the subject.

Sora gave her an apologetic glance, "It's so not my thing, Meems. But I promise the next thing you want me to join, just the word and I'm there." She said.

Mimi just narrowed her hazel eyes at the redhead, "I wanted this to be the thing we do together." She grumbled.

"Oh stop, you know I would have been a nightmare out there anyway." She giggled.

"I beg to differ."

"Mimi, I may be coordinated enough to do a couple of cartwheels across an empty gymnasium but in front of a crowd on a grassy turf is a whole different story."

Mimi thought about that for a second, "You think it'll be a lot harder?" She asked in a worried tone.

Sora's eyes widened, "Oh no, not for you!" She quickly back-peddled. "You're gonna be great, you're so graceful and poised. You were made for this sort of stuff, me on the other hand, not so much."

Mimi just ran a hand through her hair, "I still wish you'd reconsider…"

-x-

Wednesday night held the first practice of the season since tryouts had officially ended, and Mimi was nervous as hell. By default, she sat at the open desk in front of Zoe, who enthusiastically waived her over. She was flanked by her two other blonde friends whom Mimi had briefly met during that party. One was Catherine the other was Relena, but she would be damned if someone asked her which one was which.

For the millionth time, Mimi wished Sora had joined her on the team. At least she wouldn't feel so alone. It was a foreign feeling for the brunette, not to be completely at ease and feel like the center of attention.

Two girls came strutting in, already dressed in red and white uniforms, exuding confidence and authority.

"Captains." Zoe murmured to the brunette.

"Quiet!" A girl with hair so dark it almost looked blue in the light, clapped her hands together. "I'm Taylor Fujiyama and I'm this year's Tokyo University Cheerleading Team Captain." She announced, as her amethyst eyes swept over the room, her hands poised on her hips.

She was very pretty, but the arrogance was displayed almost inexplicably on her aristocratic features, it was obvious the girl thought the world of herself.

The other girl, who had a kinder face and a sweet smile, gave everyone in the classroom a polite wave. "And I'm Sophia Lang, your co-captain." She said, her tone softer and less commanding. "And we would like to first and foremost congratulate all you girls for not only making the team but for giving us some of the toughest tryouts in recent years." Her smile got bigger, as she touched the ends of her long dirty blonde hair.

"Sophie's the easy one, it's Taylor that has an attitude problem." Zoe whispered to her.

Mimi wondered how it was that Zoe was privy to all this inside information when the girl was just a freshmen like Mimi herself. But then, it was not really a surprise either, it seemed like Zoe knew everything about everyone.

"Z, is there an issue?" Taylor asked, a perfectly arched eyebrow raised at the blonde poignantly.

Zoe resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "Of course not, T." She said sweetly.

Mimi turned around and gave Zoe an inquisitive look. "Taylor and Ryo used to date...kind of." She muttered under her breath, as Taylor and Sophia busied themselves putting up a few things on the bulletin board. "There's a bit of bad blood between them still, things didn't end on a good note." She explained.

"Not good note…?"

Zoe sighed, "Between me and you, Rye cheated…a lot." She said with a shrug. "I mean, its campus knowledge but I guess he probably wouldn't want me telling you this." The implication was clear, obviously Ryo would not want Mimi knowing about his sordid past considering he was trying very hard with the brunette.

Still, in light of this information, she wasn't completely writing off the soccer star. What was more though, she actually felt a surge of appreciation towards Zoe who told her something about her brother that she could have kept to herself.

Maybe her intentions weren't as bad as Mimi thought.

The two girls at the front of the classroom turned around almost simultaneously, must be a cheerleader thing to always be in sync. Probably became second nature to constantly be synchronized.

"Now, I bet all of you new girls are probably wondering why the hell we're in this classroom instead of the gym." Taylor said. "Well, it's because today is not a real practice, it's more of an introduction and getting some order of business things out of the way." She continued.

"And what Tay means by that is, we have some rules we need to go over. A few traditions that have to be followed and we're also going to go over some of our upcoming events." Sophia clarified. "We're going to pass out the schedule for all our practices and games, home and away, the schedule will be posted permanently outside of the gymnasium as well." She elaborated. "Along with that, we have your rotations, bases and flyer pairings and the usual formation for when we are aerial stunting."

"First order of business is this." Taylor pointed at a piece of paper tacked to the board. "This is the roster for every soccer player on the team, it is a tradition that every cheerleader gets assigned one jersey number for which she is responsible." She pulled out a paper bowl with a bunch of folded up pieces of paper. "There are numbers in here that correlate with each jersey. That will be your player for the rest of the season."

"Please do not confuse this as some fantasy boy draft; we are not asking you to date the boys." Sophia rolled her forest green eyes. "What we would like is for you to do something special the day of each game, whether it's bake them a treat, wear their jersey that day—whatever. Just something small to boost morale. We want our boys to know we support them; believe it or not, it's pretty tough to go out there and perform under such a high pressure situation."

"This is also a way to keep the girls from getting catty and keeping the competition over boys to a minimum. The jersey your assigned will be your accompaniment to sports fundraisers, dinners, and all other intercollegiate sporting events reserved just for student athletes."

They gestured for the girls to come up, and Mimi walked up to the front of the room where Taylor was holding the bowl. She watched as the girls in front of her took paper after paper, making her more and more nervous.

She didn't want to be paired with some random, douchy, soccer player who would hit on her any chance he got.

"Henry!" Some girl said excitedly, matching the number to the roster.

"Oh Davis Motomiya, he's so hot." Another girl gushed, and Mimi felt a tinge of annoyance bubble up in the pit of her stomach at the remark because Davis had a girlfriend—Kari.

"Wallace and those baby blues." A redhead got misty-eyed and breathy as she wrote her name next to his on the roster sheet.

Zoe was in front of her, "Sam." She said thoughtfully, and Mimi resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

Sam was talking to Sora, blondie did not need to be getting any more ideas.

When Mimi went over to Taylor, she could literally feel her heart speed up. "Don't look like you're about to donate an organ, Tachikawa. They're just soccer players, they don't bite." The girl said with a Cheshire grin that told Mimi that the dark haired beauty was very clearly enjoying her discomfort.

"Unless you want them to." Sophia added with a wink.

Mimi unraveled the piece of paper and as soon as she saw the number she let out the biggest sigh of relief.

It most clearly said number seven and that meant Tai and there was no better possible outcome.

Tai was comfortable, Tai she wouldn't mind in the least being paired with for fundraisers and events. Tai's jersey she would wear and would even occasionally bring him a batch of brownies if he kept his obnoxiousness to a minimum.

Tai was good.

Catherine or Relena (but Mimi figured it was Catherine because she looked over at Mimi's paper with an obvious pout,) "Lucky bitch." said with a sigh.

"What voodoo did you do on these papers to end up with Ryo, hmm, Tay?" She heard Sophia rib.

Taylor chuckled, "He's probably the one that did the voodoo, he's been trying to get me back since the summer." She said in a tone laced with arrogance and conceit.

"I heard he spent a good portion of his summer in the Cayman's, are you sure he was trying to get you back?" Sophia laughed good-naturedly. "If I know Akiyama half as well as I think I do…"

Taylor gave her a pointed look that clearly told her the conversation was over. Obviously not willing to go into the details of her personal life with so many other girls within earshot.

While Mimi barely knew Ryo, and didn't really care for him much at first, if she was honest she would have to admit she was a tad bit disappointed she didn't get him. Maybe that had a lot more to do with the fact that Taylor (whom she already didn't like) got him and they had history, but it irked her.

-x-

It was the first Saturday since school started that Tai didn't have practice, and Sora didn't have some extracurricular thing and Matt wasn't pouring over his homework so of course, in true Mimi fashion, she insisted they make the most of it.

By planning a trip to the beach.

Because summer was coming to a close very quickly, and it was unacceptable that they didn't at least spend one day in the sun.

Between attending cheerleading tryouts, studying for a calculus test and keeping up with different social obligations, somehow the girl had time to make a Facebook event for the day and convince just about all their friends to attend.

No one could say no to Mimi, it was impossible.

Mimi had sanctimoniously decided that she, Sora, Tai and Matt would all drive down together and Matt had begrudgingly volunteered his car, after a lot of pouting and pleading from the brunette.

Kari and Miyako drove to the beach from Odaiba, luckily for them, Mimi had chosen Odaiba private beach as the meeting point. It was the beach they all grew up going to.

Joe drove down from Kyorin University, where he was currently in his second year of medical school. It was only upon Mimi's insistence and complaining how she was still yet to see him even though their universities only about thirty minutes apart and she had moved back to Japan "sooo long ago" that he came.

Davis, Ryo, Zoe and Sam came in Ryo's flashy sports car, how they all fit was rather questionable but they made it there in one piece which was probably the most important part.

Ken had decided not to be part of the excursion and Mimi didn't really push it because she didn't know him all that well anyway.

She missed Izzy though, a lot, and really wished he could have been a part of the reunion. She had made a mental note to complain to the redhead about the unfairness of life—how he moved to New York as soon as she moved back to Japan.

As Mimi, Sora, Kari and Yolie left the change rooms, all donning similar two pieces, they could see two blondes talking from a distance.

It was most obviously Zoe and Matt.

Which really annoyed Mimi, for some odd reason.

She really shouldn't have cared, but it was still enough to annoy her.

Why was Zoe so obvious? Pushing her breasts out at Matt like it was her job, all the while her long legs reflecting sunlight off of them ethereally.

She didn't like it one bit.

"Joe!" She exclaimed, catching sight of the indigo haired soon to be doctor.

He awkwardly returned Mimi's hug, as the brunette jumped at him. "Is it possible you've gotten even taller or have I just started getting shorter?" She said playfully.

"Well, considering the normal human female does not start losing bone mass significant enough to impact height until about post-menopause, I believe it must mean that by your judgement I've gotten taller."

Mimi rubbed the back of her neck, "Right…" She said with a smile.

Joe looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, "Ah, you were being facetious." He said with a sheepish grin. "My mistake."

Mimi just laughed, "Oh Joe." She lightly pushed his shoulder. "At least some things don't change." Good old reliable Joe.

Yamato stared over at Mimi through the corner of cool blue eyes, he had stopped listening to the blonde prattling on about various things he wasn't concerned with, the second the brunette had walked out onto the sand and into his field of vision.

There was no way he would have been able to look anywhere else, and judging by the looks of the other males on the beach, he was not the only one feeling that way.

Mimi was downright sinful in that blood red, two piece bikini. There were things about her body he had never noticed before, that he was noticing now.

Immediately he regretted the decision of coming here, she wasn't playing fair.

With her tiny waist, hip bones protruding against the strings of her bathing suit on each side, her firm round bottom. Her perky breasts and cleavage inducing top that left not much to the imagination, but enough for him to stop paying attention to everything that was going on around him except her.

He had to stop—there was no way he could have these thoughts about Mimi. But then, he was a guy after all, so how could he not.

It didn't mean anything, it was just his libido reacting naturally to an attractive female. It was nothing intentional, or emotional, just primal. He was hardwired to have these thoughts, he justified to himself.

"I think I'll go work on my tan…" Zoe trailed off, noticing his attention was divided.

Matt nodded, "Sure, I'll catch up with you." He said a bit distractedly.

He dropped his gaze to his phone, when he saw Mimi's position shifting. It would not be okay if Mimi caught him staring at her, it would just make things weird.

And he really wasn't in any mood to make things weird.

"You know it's a bad idea to bring electronics to the beach, don't you, Ishida?" When he looked up, Mimi was standing in front of him, with an eyebrow raised at him.

He straightened his posture, "Maybe for people like you." He said, tucking the phone into his pocket.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" She asked, hands on her hips.

Matt chuckled, "Just that you aren't known for your remarkable coordination, Meems." He said.

"I resent that."

"You shouldn't"

"Why not?"

"Because your clumsiness is endearing."

"Really?"

"Well not to me, but to some people, I'm sure."

"Ass." She muttered.

"Heads up!" Came a shout from behind Mimi's head, Matt had moved in front of her just in time to catch the spinning Frisbee that would have smashed right into her face.

An apologetic grin spread over Tai's features as he jogged over to the pair, "You could've knocked my teeth out, Taichi!" Mimi screeched.

Tai just scratched the back of his head "Sorry about that, Meems." He dipped his head and kissed her cheek as an apology. "You know the wind, so unpredictable."

Mimi rolled her eyes, any annoyance melting away out of them. "Thank God Ishida's got reflexes like a cat." She said gratefully.

"I think in Mimi-speak, that's a thank you, huh Matt?"

Matt laughed, "I think so too." He touched the top of the brunette's head.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mimi saw TK at the end of the beach with a brunette at his side. They looked like they were having a hushed conversation about something, the brunette didn't look too comfortable being there. And Mimi surely didn't blame her, she wouldn't feel at all comfortable coming into a situation where she didn't know very many people.

Matt caught his brother's eye, waving him over with a hand.

"That's Aeris, by the way." Matt informed her. "Be nice to her?"

"I'm nice to everyone." She said, rolling her eyes.

"You know what's funny?" Tai said with a smirk.

Both Matt and Mimi braced themselves for something that most likely wouldn't be funny. Tai had that look on his face that told them so.

"TK is obviously a walking, talking clone of Matt, but it's funny that everyone who meets Aeris thinks she looks like…" He trailed off. After a minute, his dark brown gaze fell on Mimi. "Well, You." He finished.

Mimi just shook her head, "And?" She asked, giving him a withering stare.

Tai laughed, "Just sayin'." He put his hands up on either side of him. "Anyway, can we get our Frisbee back, man? I was just starting to have fun."

Matt wasted no time in giving Tai back the red disc, "Try being better at it, will you?" He said, in a tone that sounded a little bit competitive.

And of course to Taichi, any insinuation of competition was a challenge. "You know I'll beat you at anything, Ishida. Don't embarrass yourself." He boasted. "I wouldn't want Mimi here thinking you're less of a m—

"I couldn't think less of Matt no matter what happened." Mimi cut Tai off with a glare.

Tai just laughed it off, ruffling her hair affectionately before jogging back to his teammates and friends.

"Wasn't that sweet of you?" Matt murmured.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't let it get to your head." She lightly pushed his chest. "Perhaps I already think as less of you as is possible."

Matt shook his had, "Now we both know that's not true, princess." He put a hand over the one that lingered on his chest, pressing it against his skin.

Mimi felt as if her fingertips had been electrified, as her hand pressed against the hard planes of his warm chest. There was something to be said about Matt's shirtless presence so close to her, it was unnerving. And she hadn't actually registered it until this very moment.

He let it go a moment later, but to Mimi it felt like eternities. As she dropped her hand from his body, she almost let out a wistful sigh of disappointment at losing the contact.

She needed to shake this off, maybe the sun was getting to her head.

Finally, TK and his girlfriend approached them.

"Takeru!" Mimi didn't waste any time enthusiastically gripping the younger boy. "When the hell did you get to tall!" She said, standing back and taking a look at him the way a sister or mother would. "And just look at those muscles, have you been hitting the gym!" She looked between the brothers, "Matt, he's so grown up, I don't like it at all." She said with disapproval.

TK chuckled, "It's good to finally see you Mimi." He said. "You look beautiful, as always." He complimented sincerely.

Mimi smiled, "And a charmer too." She gave him a sideways glance, a hand over her heart.

"And this is my girlfriend, Aeris." He lightly nudged the girl who was a little behind him, to the front.

Mimi gave her a brilliant, welcoming smile. "I'm Mimi." She said with a wave. "I can introduce you to the rest of the girls, if you'd like." She said, forthcoming and honest.

Instantly, the other brunette, (who Mimi noticed did look a bit like her), seemed to relax. "I'd really like that." She said softly.

"Great, we'll leave these two to do the boring things that boys do." Mimi scrunched her nose up at Matt playfully.

TK pressed a kiss into Aeris' forehead. "I'll be here if you need anything." He said in a low voice. "Like any help with your sunscreen or perhaps rubbing on some tanning lotion." He winked down at her.

Aeris blushed under his azure gaze, "Mimi was right about the whole charming thing." She said, appreciating the offer.

"I'm trusting you to take care of my girl, Meems." TK said, and though his tone was clearly unserious, there was a way he said it that made Mimi realize he was protective of her.

And it was probably the cutest quality anyone could possess, but especially TK who was already too adorable for words.

"Good luck, this one can hardly take care of herself." Matt tipped his head towards Mimi.

Mimi narrowed her hazel eyes at him, "You've got a lot of nerve, Ishida. I'll have you know I've been taking care of myself for years now." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"A house full of maids and cooks doesn't really count, princess." He countered, jokingly.

"I've had quite enough of his abuse, TK. I'll have to give you the displeasure of dealing with him from this point on." She said with a pout.

TK grinned, "I'll make sure to speak with my older brother about the proper way to treat a lady." He assured her.

"Thank you." Mimi said curtly.

"Look at what you've done, Aeris." Matt said, in mock disappointment. "Pretty girl gives him attention and all of a sudden this guy thinks he's a modern day Casanova."

Mimi lightly grabbed Aeris by the wrist, "They clearly need some bro-time." She giggled.

Aeris gave her a relieved smile, "Thanks for being so…" She trailed off, not really finding the right words. "I honestly thought I was going to come in here and everyone would be kind of…"

"Bitchy?"

She nodded hesitantly.

Mimi shook her head negatively. "Not me." She promised. "I know what it's like to be "the new girl" and it's never any fun."

She had moved around enough to know that it only took one person to make someone else feel like they weren't completely alone. And sure, for Aeris, it may only be for a few hours, but Mimi never wanted anyone to feel like she had when she had first moved to America, not even if it was for a second.

"Kari and TK they were like on track to be the next great high school romance. It was practically destined." She began. "And then me and TK happened…" She stopped for a second, chewing her lip contemplatively.

"Before Kari started dating Davis, it was really hard. I think she was resentful of me and TK dating, I guess she kind of felt like I took him from her or something." She confessed. "A lot of her friends blamed me, they weren't so nice to me." Aeris twisted her hands around each other. "Called me a couple of names that I'd rather not repeat and just basically labeled me with a scarlet letter for a while." She sighed.

Mimi felt a surge of sympathy for the younger girl, she couldn't imagine it must have been easy to go to school with a bunch of mean girls, waiting to heckle you the moment you got there, all because of some preconceived notion about two people who were "supposed" to be together.

It unfair and so wrong.

"No one's going to be catty, I promise." Mimi said seriously. "And I'm not sure what exactly happened in the past, but it isn't like Kari to bully people so I don't think you have anything to worry about there." She said objectively.

"To be honest, it wasn't so much Hikari that was the problem." She admitted. "She has a lot of friends at school, they just kind of thought it was their job to stand up for her or something."

But ever since then, Aeris made sure to avoid Kari and anything that had to do with her even after she started dating Davis, just so there wouldn't be any drama.

She liked having her and TK's private life private. She had never been the type of girl to publicize things, she was very okay with involving absolutely nothing and no one else in their relationship.

Mimi nodded, "Well, this is going to be a fun time." She said confidently. "I mean, we're at the beach." She said as if it were self-explanatory. "Besides, Kari and D. They're like so happy together it's nauseating." Mimi wrinkled her nose. "But in a good way, I guess." She added.

Aeris laughed, a genuine laugh. It seemed that she and Mimi would get along swimmingly.

And she definitely wouldn't mind at all now if TK was right about his brother and this girl being meant for each other.

-x-

"Hey Sora."

"Hi Jyou."

It was awkward, Sora could tell it was awkward. Especially given the fact that Joe was not the most social person to begin with.

Their break up had not been anything messy or terrible and it happened over two years ago. He had been studying for his exams to get into medical school, she was still in high school. She had been upset that he couldn't find the time for her, he didn't see how she couldn't understand how busy he was and how stressful this was for him.

Ultimately, they had loved each other, it was how come they lasted as long as they did. It had never been easy, it wasn't always happy either, but she loved being around the soft spoken soon to be doctor. He made her feel comfortable, he made her feel safe. Most of all though, she always felt as though she would be taken care of when she was around Joe. He had given her security and consistency in a way she had never experienced, especially from a man, in her life.

It was so hard to let that go.

And even now, two and a half years later, seeing him and not being with him felt a little foreign.

But she reminded herself that she had been a child when they started dating, barely sixteen, she didn't know anything about anything. Concepts of love and fate and forever were storybook to her, things out of a movie or romance novel. She had no real life experience to understand or gauge all that by.

And even now, it wasn't as if she was some sort of expert.

And while she had been okay after the break up, seeing him now still rose some old, unsettled feelings in her.

Not that she was looking to get back together with him, she knew that they wouldn't be in that space for a very long time, if ever, again.

And she really was beginning to like Sam, the more time she spend with the oldest Ichijoji, the more she felt like he was very different from what she had first imagined him to be.

Still…Jyou Kido would always hold a very special corner of her heart.

He had been her first everything, and no one ever forgot what that was like.

"How have you been?"

Sora smiled softly, "Alright, I guess." She tucked her short hair behind her ear. "And you?"

"I've been alright too." He said with a nod. "Kyorin is no walk in the park though, that's for sure." He admitted. "They expect so much, even today, taking the day off means waking up at five am tomorrow to catch up on everything I didn't do today." There was no such thing as weekends in medical school.

No time off.

"I can't even imagine…" She said quietly, and it was the truth.

There was a bout of silence that fell between them, as they both shifted in place, waiting for someone to say something.

Finally, Sora perked up the courage, "Did I ever tell you I was proud of you?" She asked him openly.

Joe scratched the back of his head, "Probably." He didn't want to say no, or that he didn't remember.

But he wasn't really entirely sure if Sora Takenouchi had ever said she had been proud of him. Usually, the fact that he put his studies before her and their relationship was a sore point for them.

"Well, I was." She said honestly. "Am." She amended. "I admire your work ethic, I don't think I know anyone who would be willing to work as hard as you do."

He felt his face growing hot, "Thank you, Sora." He said with a slightly nervous smile. "It means a lot, coming from you."

The redhead nodded, "I could have been more supportive, I know that now." She told him. "But I was young and I didn't know how to deal with being prioritized under something." She sighed.

"I didn't prioritize you under anything, Sora." He argued. "You were just as important, my time was just—

"I know, and it's okay." She interrupted. "I just thought I ought to let you know that I really am happy for you and I know you'll accomplish everything you dream of." She said confidently.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Sora."

She nodded again, "It wasn't easy getting over you, you know." She looked away shyly.

Joe chuckled, "And do you think it was easy for me?" He asked her sincerely.

Sora shrugged, "You're not one for voicing your emotions, Kido. I wouldn't know." She said, her tone playfully rueful.

He bent down, placing a kiss on the top of her head. "I always missed you, Sora." He told her through truthful dark blue eyes. "I still do sometimes."

"Me too."

-x-

The day had gone by quicker than anyone could have imagined; and perhaps that childhood adage about time and how it passes when you're having fun was true after all. Because when the sun began setting, no one could have predicted that they had spent almost eight hours together. Laughing, playing, swimming and enjoying each other's company in a way they hadn't in a very, very long time.

The boys had gotten a very competitive game of beach volleyball going, in which Tai and Matt were made captains of opposing teams causing an age old rivalry to rear its head once again. Of course, both boys were very disheartened and irritated when most of the girls (minus Sora) didn't bother taking the game very seriously at all.

In the end, Matt had won—even though his team consisted of Sora, Mimi, Ryo, Aeris and TK. While Tai's side had Zoe, Davis, Kari, Joe, Sam and Miyako.

Somewhere between the merriment and festivities, Kari had gotten a moment with Aeris alone. During which the two exchanged a few awkward pleasantries, before Kari finally apologized about the way the brunette had been treated at school. The younger Kamiya admitted that she'd had a thing for Takeru in the past, but that's where it was now, in the past. And the way the situation had been handled back then was very immature and wrong, indeed.

But then, they were only just barely out of middle school, so what would anyone expect.

At the end of it though, it was all water under the bridge and there was no longer any bad blood.

TK knew he would have to thank Mimi for setting this up now, considering it had made things a lot better for him. He had gotten tired of separating his girlfriend from his friends, picking and choosing between people he loved and how to manage his time.

As the sun began to set over the water, the wet and water logged friends found a place to settle on the sand, where they found a collection of stumps and logs to sit on. The boys had made a bonfire, a small one, just enough to keep them warm. And while it probably would have taken other teenagers a very long time to get a fire started, for this particular group it was next to second nature, considering the time they had spent in the digital world had basically been one large camping trip.

Albeit, a deadly one.

Matt sat on a log, where he was sandwiched between Mimi on one side and Sora on his other. Tai was beside Sora, with Zoe on his other side. While the blonde sat beside Takeru who had his girlfriend nestled under his arm, as she shivered lightly against his side. Beside her Joe was wiping the water droplets off his glasses all the while engaging Sam in a conversation about the rigorous process of getting into medical school. Beside Sam was Ryo who was in a heated discussion with Davis about their upcoming game against the Waseda University Wallabies; the team that had been ranked second nationally last year. And leaning with her head against his boyfriend's shoulder was Kari, chattering quietly with her best friend, Miyako.

Matt had grabbed his guitar out of the trunk of the car, he unlocked the case and pulled out the old acoustic instrument, one his most prized possession.

As he strummed a few cords, Mimi pulled the towel around her tighter, Matt's music always gave her goosebumps—but the best kind.

He was so good and she believed in him so much, she couldn't wait until other people noticed his talent as much as she did.

She wanted it all for him, if music was his dream, she hoped he would get all he ever wanted out of it.

As the cords became more familiar, Mimi began to hum along.

Matt grinned at her, "When she was just a girl…she expected the world." He began, in his soft tenor. "But it flew away from her reach… so she ran away in her sleep…" He lightly nudged her ribs with his elbow, wordlessly asking her to continue the rest with him.

By this time, the side conversations had died down and everyone was fixated on Matt and his guitar. The way it usually happened when the blonde began singing.

It was impossible not to want to listen to him, his voice was like magic.

He kept strumming, but stopped singing as he waited for the blushing brunette to join him.

"Dreamed of para… para… paradise." He sang to her softly, trying his best to encourage her.

Miyako, who was on her other side, gave her a smile as well. "You love this song." She whispered.

And of course Matt knew that, he had been the one to introduce her to it, telling her it reminded him of her the second he heard it.

And Mimi had never said it out loud, but the fact that any song made him think of her, gave her a bad case of the butterflies in the pit of her stomach.

Not because she fancied him, but because Matt was just so learned when it came to music—his taste was unarguable.

"Every time she closed her eyes." It came out in a voice barely above a whisper, "When she was just a girl… she expected the world. And it fell away from her reach, but the bullets catch in her teeth." The words became more pronounced with every syllable, as she closed her eyes and let her voice take a life of its own.

"Life goes on, it gets so heavy… the wheel breaks the butterfly. Every tear, a waterfall." Matt joined her now. "In the night the stormy night…she closes her eyes." And it was almost unbelievable, practically amazing, how their voices found each other seamlessly. "In the night, the stormy night… away she flied."

Not even for a second did they sound out of tune, sharp or flat. There was something so harmonious about the two of them together, that to a random passerby it would sound like they had been singing together all their lives.

Matt stared at her, his fingers still expertly strumming his guitar. "She's lying underneath the stormy skies; She said oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, I know the sun's set to rise." And he was so lost in her voice that his finger misses a cord or two, but it didn't really matter anyway.

Not when she looked so beautiful with her damp hair glistening against the almost faded sun, and the way her eyes fluttered shut when she realized this song held meaning to her that she couldn't convey. There was some inherently innocent about the way she looked right now, and it was almost paradoxical to think so, considering the thoughts he'd been having only just hours earlier.

And at the last part of the chorus, they all decided to join in, laughing through the verses and singing completely off tune.

But as they looked around at each other, they knew that this was a moment they would all remember fondly because they'd been so happy for it.

This could be paradise
Para… para… paradise
Para… para… paradise
Woah oh oh oh oh ooooh oh oh

-x-

A/N: Hello! How are all of you? I hope you're well, I know it's been a while! It's currently 4am where I am and I just finished editing this chapter because I PROMISED cancercute I would have this uploaded no later than Sunday night. So if you're happy to see/read this chapter, thank her!

Sorry for the lengthy absence, ya know, life always gets in the way. To be honest though, I had most of this written for a like a month but I just wasn't satisfied with it. Even now, I'm a little unsure about it but I know if I keep sitting on it it'll just take longer and longer for me to post it. I had a very different version of this chapter before, I edited, cut and added a lot to it. And I'm still a little unsatisfied.

I don't know if you guys want the other version of this chapter (the beach scene is just a lot longer, with more conversations and what not) I can post it when I get the chance, if ya'll want. Let me know.

Anyways, how Tri? Is it worth watching? Is it really super Sorato heavy (Coz you guys know that's so not my thing) should I bother? If you guys could let me know, that would be faaaaaab!

The song I used here was called Paradise by Coldplay. It's funny because I actually really don't like Coldplay at all, but Paradise and Yellow are two songs I really enjoy and they hold a lot of meaning to me.

Random anecdote: So I was re-reading some of the chapters for Polar Opposites before and jeeez the beginning was super rough. I was like, I really need to edit this baby and make it worth reading. But it's still one of the works I am most proud of. Anyway, the point is that I remember a while ago (probably back in like 2011) there had been a review someone left saying how much they liked the story but pointed out some glaring flaws (or rather constructive criticisms) and at the time I was so like offended and totally like no way! Now, that I re-read it, that person was SO RIGHT. Mimi is not likeable in that story, she's kind of annoying through most of it and Matt was an asshole for a lot of it! LOL. I think my only favorite one was Tai and I did him so dirty (*shakes head*) for no reason. I think I love writing Tai's character more than anyone else's though, I have to say.

Anyways, I guess that little tidbit up there was kind of useless (just something I'd had on my mind for a while) thank you if you read it.

Alright, I'll leave this here for now. I hope you guys like the chapter and pleeeeease review!

Happy Readings!
-Chris