***Author's Note***

***Author's Note***

Wow! Wow wow wow! I got soo many reviews in so little time! Thank you all soo much! I didn't think that many people would actually read the first chapter. Anyway, umm....not too many people guessed the couple correctly. Before you continue, I want to say sorry if I disappoint any of you. Which I know I will. There is always someone who gets disappointed by a fic no matter what or who it's about. So again, I'm sooo sorry!

Disclaimer: Look on previous chapter.

Dedication: Look on previous chapter but I'll still say it again, ~*Liz*~, this is for you...and did you review the first chapter twice?

Lost and Found in New York

Chapter 2: Recognition

By: ME jus1digigirl *Maura*

The young man followed his friend through the revolving door of the club. After showing their ID's and being admitted, his friend immediately spotted an empty table and sat down, the young man across from him.

"May I help you?" A haughty looking waitress walked up to their table holding a small notepad.

His friend looked up and grinned. "Sure, I'll have a beer and he'll have a...uh...what do you want?"

The young man looked startled for he had almost dozed off. "Umm...give me a Coke with ice please."

The waitress nodded and walked off towards the back. "What's wrong with you? Ordering a Coke in a place like this?"

Shrugging, the young man looked towards the stage, which was still empty. "Wonder when the entertainment's up?"

His friend too looked up and noticed a small side by the stage. Squinting, he read aloud, "Miss New York City, Carrie Crawley. Hey, I've seen her once before! Good lookin' I must say!" he turned to the young man who looked uninterested.

In his mind, the only one who would look good to him was the girl in the picture but she was long gone. Or so he thought.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"You're on in five honey!" said a stout, plumb woman with a whiny sort of voice walking into the young woman's dressing room.

Nodding, she fixed the final adjustments on her blond-haired wig. Glancing in the mirror, she seemed at last satisfied. The wig would make her unrecognizable to the people who knew her before. She had tried dying her hair but she couldn't bring herself to do it permanently so she took to wearing a wig from time to time when her hair wasn't dyed. Standing up, she followed the stout woman out the door and to the side of the stage. She peered out slightly and groaned inwardly. Every night, she always hoped there wouldn't be so many people but so far, he wish never came true. It was packed wall-to-wall adults, mostly males.

A tall man in a tuxedo brushed pass her suddenly making her step back into the wings. It was the announcer. As soon as he walked on, all laughter and talk stopped in the audience and everyone clapped.

"Thank you, thank you! Good evening ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the club and tonight, we have a special guest dancer and singer. Please give a warm welcome toooo Miss Neewww York City, Carrrriieee Crawley!"

The young woman walked out gracefully and waved, jutting her hips out as she walked. Despite how much she despised doing this, she had to do it. Flashing a brilliant white smile to a man in the front, she began dancing to the music, her legs moving to the music, her body swaying as perfectly as in rehearsal.

After a few minutes dancing, catcalls, and moon howling, she took her spot in front of the mike and opened her mouth. A sweet sound filled the room and she took of the mike from the stand. With that in her hand, she started her dancing again. This way and that, showing off her female figure and not enjoying a bit of it. Still smiling forcedly, she gazed around the room and suddenly her heart stopped.

It couldn't be. No, it possibly couldn't. He was in Japan! Where she last saw him and he her. But there he was, sitting with another man, watching her make a fool of herself. Confused, her singing began to falter but she took no notice. Her eyes were on the young man and then, she dropped the microphone straight to the floor and everyone knew, the show was over though not why. The face under the orange-red hair was unmistakable. It was her friend from so long ago, Izzy Izumi.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The young man sat at the table, making small talk with his friend until their drinks arrived. While his friend drank deeply, he only wet his lips with the Coke. "This is going to be one looonng night."

His friend however did not answer and instead, had turned his attention to the stage. Turning as well, the young man saw a man wearing a tuxedo walk on. He began to clap politely along with the others as the man started to talk.

"Thank you, thank you! Good evening ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the club and tonight, we have a special guest dancer and singer. Please give a warm welcome toooo Miss Neewww York City, Carrrriieee Crawley!"

Suddenly, from one of the wings, a beautiful girl stepped out, swinging her hips, dancing to the music that had begun playing. She was wearing short, tight, hip hugging shorts and her shirt wasn't made out of enough cloth to even be called a shirt if that's what it was at all. Her blond hair swung perfectly as she made her way to the microphone.

The young man stared at her. She was beautiful all right but he couldn't help thinking that the young woman's face looked very familiar. But it was hard to tell. He continued staring, and peered intently at her face trying to block out her singing but then, he gasped. This Carrie's singing even sounded so familiar. Sure he hadn't heard the person, whom he was thinking of, sing since she disappeared but it sounded so much the same!

Suddenly, as he watched before his eyes, the young woman dropped her microphone and she was looking right at him. Everyone had gone quiet wondering what had caused her to drop the mike as the two stared into each other's eyes. A deep understanding swept over both and the young woman, with a terrified face and tears running down her cheeks, ran down the stage steps and out the door of the club.

The young man sat, in a daze, oblivious to the shouts of protest from the audience and to the announcer trying to calm them down. In the few moments that he had been staring at the young woman, he had realized her true identity. This woman was not Carrie Crawley and had never been Carrie Crawley. He knew who she was then. That's why she had seemed so familiar to him. She was Mimi Taichikawa, his friend whom everyone had believed to disappear without a trace and now suddenly, after all these years, here she was, singing and dancing as a showgirl in a club.

"Hey!" Izzy broke out of his trance and looked up. His friend was waving his hand in front of his face. "Did you see what just happened? I can't believe that chick just made a run for it!"

Instead of answering, Izzy stood up and made his way through the sea of people in the club. Not caring about anyone or anything at that moment but Mimi, his mind full of questions. Unaware that his friend had followed him out, he glanced down the brightly lit streets. Upon hearing a slight panting from behind him, he turned.

"Yo man! What's the rush? Are you ready to go already?" his friend asked glancing at his wristwatch.

"No Jake. Look, I just remembered something I had to take care of," Izzy said looking him and then down the street again. "Just go on back in and have a good time. I'll meet you back home alright?"

Jake ran a hand through his red-brown hair and shrugged. "Are you sure? Is it something to do with that girl?"

Izzy sighed and pushed Jake towards the club doors. "Look. I'll explain later okay? I don't have time right now to discuss this here. Just listen to me and I'll see you later." And with that, he walked off down the streets, looking right and left.

Shrugging again, Jake reentered the club.

~*~*~*~*~*~

After Mimi had run out of the club, she had continued until she was a good four blocks away. It wasn't far and the streets were filled with its usual traffic of cars but there was one place near the club where she could always go if ever she had to be by herself. There was an old shack behind the fish store, which had three tiny little rooms. The shack had once been a lively little bakery but soon after, the owner had relocated. Mimi had found it not long after she had started her showgirl job and the fish store owners had allowed her to use it as a hide-a-way for they had taken a liking to the young, lonely girl.

It had a tiny lantern, which she had found in an empty alley, and there were a few old, ripped cushions lying around. However, she never left any of her treasured possessions here for she knew that others used this place but so far, she had met no one in her last visits.

Once she entered the little shack, she flopped down on one of the tattered cushions on the floor and broke down completely. She hadn't seen any of her old friends for such a long time and now, she had such a new and different life that when she had seen Izzy, it had brought back memories of the life she had left behind as Mimi Taichikawa when she had become Carrie Crawley.

Sobbing uncontrollably, thoughts floated around her mind of Izzy. She had never known that he had been in New York. Every day since the incident, she had wondered what had become of him and the others. Sora, Tai, Matt, Joe, Kari, TK, Davis, Yolei, Ken, and Cody. But mostly, she had thought about him.

For what seemed like an eternity, she cried into the cushion until a noise made her jump. Sitting up, she wiped her tears and looked around, eyes and ears alert. The room she was in was the one in the back and it had sounded like someone had opened the front door. Her hands felt the cool, wooden floor for any sort of weapon. In the streets, being alone was bad enough but in the back streets, wearing what she was, and being a young woman, well, she was quite a target.

Grabbing a long piece of wood that had been sitting beside, she braced herself for the expected but what she heard was unexpected. A soft male voice had called out her name. Her old name.

"Mimi?"

~*~*~*~*~*~

Izzy ran down the streets, his heart and mind set on one goal. To find Mimi. After running about four blocks, he stopped and rested against the brick walls of the fish store. Deciding to go in and ask if they had seen her, he did so and about ten minutes later, he walked out with a small grin.

The owners had eyed him suspiciously when he mentioned Mimi, leaving out her name of course. Suddenly, the had burst out, yelling at him though in a calm voice that if he wanted something with her, he would have to go through them first for they were protecting her. In alarm, Izzy had hurriedly explained everything in about seven minutes and they finally believed him.

Jumping over the fence behind the store, he saw the little shack and noticed a slight glow coming from it. Walking a quietly as possible, he made his way to the door and opened it. It creaked, but not much however he was sure that if she was inside, she would have heard. Not wanting to scare her, he stepped in and quietly called out for her, by the name he had known her by, before.

"Mimi?"

***Author's Note***

::dodges rotten tomatoes from people who dislike Kouimi:: Sorry to those of you who don't like Kouimi ::dodges again:: but I like it but I hope it was good anyway. Kouimi fans and non-Kouimi fans, please review and tell me what you think! Thanks so very much! Chapter 3 will be out once I finish writing it! Who knows when but I'll try to get it ASAP. Oh and FYI, the clues, small as they were, that I gave to hint towards the identification of the characters were: 1) the young man carried a laptop, Izzy had a laptop and 2) the young woman has wavy, brown hair…Sora has brown hair and it could be long when she's older but it's not wavy like Mimi's. Those hints weren't as obvious as I thought but oh well. Jake is my original character. I didn't want to make him one of the DD because they're all supposed to be in Japan or wherever and he doesn't know Mimi and if he was one of the DD, he's jump into trying to help her soo…yeah, that's why he's Jake. Anyway, REVIEW now! Thankies!

*Maura*