Well, what is this? you may ask. By gum, it's the third chapter which I wrote about a year ago [or more...who knows...] before my muse went a-runnin'. My sudden desire to upload stuff last night left me before I got around to this here chapter, BUT!, lo and behold I got a review! [oh the astonishment, my heart, it can't stand this kind shock] and so I decided to up and load the this old thing against my better judgement [it embarrasses me by it's complete crudliness] at the kind request of my reviewer. By the by, is "originally interesting" a good thing or a bad thing??? ::the innocent eyes::

Before I leave you to read let me just tell all you little people out there the joys of wearing midnight blue nail polish with silver sparkles. Wonderspaculouso! Everyone thinks they're black unless I'm out in that [evil evil] sunlight and look at me strangely as if I'm about to sprout horns and run amok painting everything black and singing satan hymns. ::hear the evil cackle i say:: Oh, the joy of striking fear into my neighbours ::happy happy grin:: BTW- try some blackest red too. It looks just stunning on my toes, why yes it does.

Disclaimer: blah blah. I own a chimney, three orangutans in dresses, a pair of twin Oriental sex slaves in black leather boxers, an evil cat who enjoys clawing me to death, Mikael the lovely [hear my heart flutter], and five black furry elephants dancing naked on a park bench , but not Digimon ::cheery happy squishy voice:: Digital Monsters!

The song down there [which I feel like removing-it's soooo cheesy I know someone is sticking a cracker under it] is well...I dunno what it is cause it's the last song on the Sweet November soundtrack which seems to have found it's way off my cd stack. Damn little bugger. I'll write the name in when I find it.

Three........

Jun's slowly awakening senses brought her information she didn't think to question in the irrational cloud between sleep and realization upon which she drifted.

First came the overwhelming feeling of happiness and comfort. Her very bones felt melted into the bed, she never wanted to move. Then came the feeling of something hard under her instead of the softness of the bed. With that came a flooding of fragrance to her nostrils. She breathed deeply of the scent, her nostrils practically twitching with delight. It reminded her of something, but her mind was too fazed with sleep to quite put her finger on it and, in the contentment in which she lay, she didn't care.

She ran her spread hand along the hardness she was half lying on. She felt ridges. The strangeness of this intruded upon her mind and she burrowed her face into the hardness, trying to keep away from rational thought. She licked her lips and the tip of her tongue came in contact with the hardness. She felt a shiver run through it underneath her and her brow furrowed. How strange...she had tasted...saltines?...like skin...strange.

Jun cracked open one renegading eye. Soft light filled the room and for a lazy minute she watched the dust motes floating in the light. Then her eyes turned to what lay under her nose. Little ridges of flesh?...abs. These were definitely someone's, she tapped her finger on them, very hard abs.

She tilted her head upward so her chin rested on the hardness, opening the other eye along the way. Her hazy eyes focused as a face came into view.

"Matt." Her whisper floated across his skin and he grinned down wickedly at her.

"Hey there, sleepy head. You keep up as you have been and there will be consequences to your actions you know."

She blinked in puzzlement.

"Don't give me that innocent look. First you lie there, on my stomach, looking all cute and rumpled, then you go and run your hands along my body, then you wield that soft little tongue of yours on my weak self, and then, the final blow, you turn those gorgeous eyes in my direction. But I know your game, madam. You're trying to seduce me and I've already fallen under your sultry invasion. Do with me what you will...but please...be gentle."

She giggled and pushed herself up, the sheet fell about her waist as she crawled up until her face was right above his. "My, how easily the mighty fall."

"Is it my fault those doe eyes of yours fell me and turn me afire every time you point them my way?"

She shrieked as he grabbed her waist and flipped them over so that she was beneath him now.

"Let's see how long you can withstand my onslaught."

She giggled and wound her arms around his neck as he gave a menacing chuckle while his mouth descended to play with her.

~~~*~~~

When they again lay still on the bed, their legs were entwined, Jun rested her head on Matt's chest with her hand on his stomach, and Matt had his hands crossed under his head.

"Do you want to go dancing?" He chuckled and she could feel it rumbling up from the outstretched torso beneath her. "That is, a different kind of dancing than we just did."

She smiled, looking up at him. "What do you have in mind?"

"There's this restaurant that I used to go to that has this live orchestra and they have dancing there while people eat. I'd like to take you there to celebrate the joining of two souls. I thought it might be nice."

"Oh Matt." She cried as tears pricked her eyes and she once again swept upward and clasped his face between her hands. "Are you the most perfect man in the world?" Then she leaned her head down to kiss him as her hair fell about them like a curtain.

~~~*~~~

That evening Jun heard a knock upon the door. Opening it, she found Matt in a black tuxedo. He was looking up at her from his downward tilted head, he had one arm bent behind his back and the other held a rose out to her.

"Good evening, my love."

Jun felt a fluttering in her heart like the wings of a million butterflies. He was absolutely gorgeous. His gaze rose from the tips of her toes and it slowly glided along her form, heating every inch of her skin his gaze touched, making it seem like tangible caresses. Finally his eyes stared into her own. The heat of his gaze set her entire body aflame and somehow it brought to her mind every touch of the night before.

His eyes once again dipped down to the low, soft folds of the hanging neckline of her deep crimson dress. It flowed close to her body and was held up by thin straps. He tore his gaze away from her cleavage and brought the rose towards her. She held it up to her face and inhaled deeply of the soft scent, her eyes closed and a soft smile tilting the corners of her mouth. Then she looked up at him, he had a hazed look on his face.

"Thank you, Matt."

Her words snapped him out of his seeming daze because he reached behind him to grab her coat and hold it out to her, then put his own on after she was done. He held out his arm to her and they walked out the door.

~~~*~~~

Matt and Jun danced slowly as the light glimmered on them in the darkened room from the reflecting ball above their heads. The soft, tinkling music played on though they hardly noticed it, each lost in the other's eyes. Matt's hands were twined around her waist and hers were softly cupping the nape of his neck.

The singer's soft, mellifluous voice filtered its way into Jun's mind.

"Somewhere there has to be the other half of me

The other half of me I've yet to meet

One special someone whose heart has a similar leaning

And if she were right for me

Day and night for me would have meaning

The other half of me

That unknown quantity

That unseen destiny

Could make me complete

Is there a chart for the heart or a graph?

Will me meet on the street with a laugh?

Will I ever find the other half of me?"

Matt's eyes burned into hers and his voice floated down to her. "You are the other half of me. I can feel it. We've seen each other for three days since I returned and already we're together and it feels like it's been this way forever." He took a deep breath. "I can't imagine that I ever lived without you. How could I have? And all that time I didn't even know that a part of me was missing." He paused for second. The look in his eyes right then was so strange as he stared hard over her shoulder. It was almost as if he was having some raging inner battle even as she glowed from his words. Finally, he turned back to look at her, his gaze filling her with warmth. "I've loved you forever, Jun."

His words stopped her dead, they froze her into rigidity. She felt flooded, engulfed in a tidal wave of emotion that rocketed through her. Could this really be happening? Had Yamato Ishida really said those words to her? All her teenage fantasies seem to have sprung to life because of five little words uttered by the man she's been fantasizing about forever. She felt as if she were floating in a dream. This couldn't possibly be reality.

She realized suddenly that she'd been staring at him with her mouth slightly open for God knows how long. He was staring down at her, obviously trying to gouge her reaction. What if he thought her silence meant that she didn't feel anything for him? No! That'd be totally wrong! But, then, could she really express to him a little of how she felt? Would this dream come crashing down around her head if she revealed her heart?

She could no longer stand it. She had to reveal the truth! Her voice hitching in her throat, she spoke. "Oh Matt. I feel as if I've loved you from the beginning of time and will love 'til the end."

"Will you? Will you be with me forever?" His eyes stared at her with an intensity that was almost tangible and her heart squeezed with the love that she knew had always been there.

"Of course I will. I'll never be able to leave you now, and there's no way I'm going to let you leave me again."

On the other side of the dance floor, Mimi and Jyou were gazing into each other's eyes and swaying with the music.

"Jyou you've been so romantic these past two days." She sighed. "That performance you gave at the station, the candlelit dinner, the hotel room. "She looked up at him through her lashes and he grinned widely. "And now dancing with our closest friends. If you're not careful I'm going to get used to this kind of treatment."

"Good, because I know that lately I've been distracted and all my attention has been taken up by work and I just want to make that up to you. From now on no matter what I have to deal with, work or otherwise, I'll always have time for you."

"That's why you went so overboard? Jyou I know the stress that you take at work. It's not your fault that you're the most sought after surgeon in Odaiba. I know that you deal with saving people's lives everyday and if I have to eat dinner alone a couple of nights so you can save someone from losing a loved one then I think that's a fair price to pay. Please Jyou, don't add me to all the things you already worry about. No matter when you get home from work, you have to know that I'll be there waiting for you." They smiled into each other's eyes. "Now, how did you come up with that stunt?"

"Uh...well...I had a little help in that department."

"Really? Whose?"

Jyou looked over Mimi's shoulder at Tai who was looking in their direction with a wide grin on his face and wildly wriggling thumbs up while Sora stood behind him with her hand on her silently shaking head.

"Let's just call him anonymous."

Iori walked over to where Tai's thumbs were still wriggling. His spiky brown hair brushed against his open collar as he walked and the light glinted off the silver stud in his ear.

"'Scuse me and all that, Tai, but do you realize you look really stupid like that?" He said in his low, husky voice.

Suddenly a breathy voice came their way. "Hi Iori."

They looked to their right and saw a blond-haired girl who was dancing with a guy smiling at him provocatively. The side of Iori's mouth turned up in a little grin that made the girl look like she was about to swoon. Her murderous looking partner grabbed her hand and started dragging her off the dance floor just as her mouth opened to say something.

Tai looked over at Iori. "Who was that?"

"I dunno. Some girl and her boyfrie-" His words were abruptly cut off as he rocked forward from the force of the pounding on his back. He jumped around and frowned menacingly at his assailant.

"Daaaavis!"

"What?"

"Why the hell'd you hit me?"

"Geez, I was just saying hello, and watch your mouth. I don't want anything fouling the air around here once Yohko comes back to me out of the powder room."

"But you messed up my hair!"

"It was already messy."

"But it was messy the way I liked it."

"Stop jabbering. Nothing could move that hair. You've got enough gel in there to deflate a basketball if it ever got stuck on one of those spikes. And here comes Yohko so shut your trap."

"So. What is she? Girl number two hundred twenty-five of March?"

"This ones different. I think I'm really in love this time."

Tai spoke up, "Isn't that what you said about the last three?"

"Really, Daisuke, you should find a nice girl who you can stay with more than a week." Chastised Sora, coming out from behind Tai, the soft curls around her face framing the frown. "Really. You go through more girls in a day than Iori does in a week."

Iori grinned wider and chuckled, "Yeah, you're a bigger player than me."

"But-"

"At least he's still seventeen, you're twenty-two now. You've got to learn to stop being so indecisive. You should know it's wrong to play with people's affection like-"

"Will all of you shut up!? This girl is different. We've been together for two weeks now and I really am in love this time."

"Daisuke!" They turned and watched as a tall girl with long black hair held up on one side with a shimmering blue hair comb that matched her shimmering blue eyes and the watered silk of her dress ran into Daisuke's arms, wrapping her arms around his neck while he wrapped his about her waist. She tilted up her chin for a kiss and he lowered his lips to hers for a soft hello.

"I missed you."

She giggled, "I've only been gone for five minutes to fix my hair."

"Doesn't matter. Every moment I'm without you I feel adrift."

She sighed and looked up at him dreamily, "Daisuke your so sweet. You always know exactly what to say to make me melt."

They started kissing again until insistent throat clearing cut into their romantic interlude. Daisuke turned his head around to glare murderously at the one who'd interrupted them.

"Aaaaargh, not you!" He cried, staring daggers at the girl standing before him in a dress of muted pastels and lilac hair softly curling down to her waist with sparkling eyes no longer covered by glasses. "I get enough of seeing you at home. You've been bugging me non-stop since you started going out with Izzy." Daisuke went on in a high-pitched voice, not noticing that Izzy was holding hands with Miyako who had just gone deathly still. "I went out with Izzy today! Did you know he was a model? Yes I did. And did you know that he's the president of his own company? Yes I do Miyako. Oooooh! I can't believe that I'm going out with Koushiro Izumi, Bachelor of the Year!"

"Daisuke!"

"Siiiigh, Mrs. Koushiro Izumi. Mrs. Miyako Izumi. Mrs. Miyako Koushiro Izumi."

Miyako let out a little squeaky sound. "Daisuke, I'm going to kill you!"

"Sigh, do you know just how big his pecs are? They're huge! And his abs! Oh oh oh oh! Did you know that the muscles of his back clench and ripple when he walks or moves? Eeee, I'm starting to drool just thinking about it! Izzy Izumi has the body of a Greek god!!!" His voice now retuned to normal and again he didn't seem to notice that Miyako's eyes were glowing with an evil light and that she was frantically searching around for something sharp to mangle him with. "Really, I wish he'd just marry you and get you off my back. I don't know why I agreed to move in with you in the first place. Having a female for a best friend is a major pain in the arse. Besides, there's someone else I'd much rather share an apartment with."

At this point he grinned at Yohko who was staring at him with wide eyes and a mouth hanging slightly open. That's when he let out a yell as he was pitched forward onto his face on the marble floors with Miyako's spiky heel grinding onto his spine.

"You jerk! I can't believe you said all that stuff!" She pointed at the blushing and yet grinning Izzy. "He's standing right there and he could hear everything you were saying. Everybody heard you! I think this is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me!"

"Are we interrupting something?"

Everyone, except for the greatly mangled Daisuke, turned to see Takeru and Hikari come up.

"The weirdest thing just happened." He went on, used to seeing Miyako attacking Daisuke. "I thought I just saw Matt out there dancing with Jun. You would think that after all this time I would be used to his disappearance, but seeing that guy that looked so much like him, even if it was only for a second, it just brought back all the pain that we all went through when we found out he was gone."

All the joy they had all been feeling was suddenly sapped from them as they each remembered how they had to deal with the pain of not only losing one of their best friends but having no idea where and how he had vanished.

"Geez, you'd think if a guy wanted to keep hidden he'd know better than to come to a public restaurant." Came the disgusted voice of Daisuke from the floor.

They all turned to stare at Daisuke's crumpled up form as he continued speaking. "But since you've seen him too maybe he's decided to come out into the open."

They were all too struck by his words to notice the rage growing in Takeru and were all surprised when he lunged for Daisuke on the floor and brought him up by his shirtfront.

"You've known my brother was alive this whole time and you didn't tell me!!!!?"

"Whoa! Hold on there! I've only known since yesterday."

"You've known since yesterday!?"

That said, Takeru threw Daisuke down on the floor and stalked off onto the melee of dancing couples to find his brother, quickly followed by Hikari. All of them stared after him in shock, their faces drained of colour by this new revelation. All of them except Daisuke who was heard from the floor, "What is this? Gang-Up-On-Daisuke Day?" and Tai who had his fist clenched and a dark look in his eye.

"He's been alive the entire time?" He said through tightly clenched teeth. He then went after Takeru to look for Matt, Sora, seeing this, ran after him.

"Wait, Tai, you don't have to do this."

"What he did to you wasn't fair, Sora. He should have to pay."

"Maybe he had a good reason for leaving, Tai."

Tai's face softened a little bit. "You at least deserve an explanation. We all do."

They ran around the room searching for Matt but he was gone. They all met at the entrance hall, along with Jyou and Mimi who had finally been informed of what had happened.

Takeru sighed dispiritedly, "How are we supposed to find him now? I find my brother and lose him all over again."

"It always seemed a good idea to me that if you want to find somebody you should check where they live first." Stated Daisuke with a proud smile and a finger pointed in the air while the other arm rested bent against his back.

Takeru mashed his hand into his face and then slowly brought it downwards. "To do that we'd need to know where he lives."

"Yeah, right. So let's go."

Takeru's fingers twisted and he jerked spasmodically, he let out some sharp squeaky sounds. "You know where he lives?"

"Yeah, c'mon it shouldn't take us long to get there."

Takeru let out a sigh and had to be led out the door by Hikari as he slowly deflated.

There we go--that's all I wrote before the inspiration fairy decided to look for another home. Gee, I wonder if she'll be back....all signs point to no. But then, with me you never know! Right now you're guess is as good as mine as to what's going to happen next.