NOTE!!!! For the requests, I am now trying very hard to finish this story and the TAIORA sequel. But I won't go that fast for Matt and Mimi to just SUDDENLY soften up and fall in love, k? ^_^
And don't get mad at me for how short the last chapter was—I was sick and tired and I only put in both Mimi and Matt's thoughts there to create character development and such. And, to AnimearChina—I'm sorry ^_^ I didn't know that people in Japan don't drive till their 18, heck, I don't really know that much about it. I already had this chapter typed up before I saw your review so sorry if there were any American slang in here, I'll try to do better next time. Hai, I have heard Mimi's songs but I guess I forgot about them and I've never heard any of Yamatos'. I've just finished and once again watching the whole OAV series of Fushigi Yugi now, can't get enough of it *_* And Yamato won't get into a car accident, in this fic at least =P
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At the corner of her ears, her mind, her heart, Mimi could hear her parents worried voices talking beside her bed. Calling-no, pleading for her to open her eyes and to be alright—I hear you, Mama, Papa…But I can't come back, I can't wake up—not yet. Gomen ne, minna. I just can't face all of you yet, not now since I was so selfish and arrogant and made you all worry. I just can't wake up yet. Mimi seemed to hear them, but she couldn't seem to understand the tortured emotions circling inside them—and again she was swallowed into darkness.
"She's been in her bed for three days now, what if-what if she's in a coma?" Mrs. Tachikawa asked nervously as she clung onto her husband's shirt and wept. (I don't know and am not using her parents' names here)
Mr. Tachikawa stroked his wife's and daughters' matching, honey-colored hair and spoke lightly, "She'll be alright, I know my princess," he paused trying to hold his own tears. "All we can do is wait, like the doctor said—we've done all we could, it's only up to Mimi when she decides to wake up."
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Matt sighed as he counted the worm-like raindrops that crawled down on the window inside the office studio of Satoshii. He had mindlessly woken up, got dressed, and slowly drove to the studio for their recording of their new album—minus one certain member. Matt was slumped on the white couch that sat beside the glass window where he had unconsciously been waving his finger up and down, tracing the lines where a droplet was, only keeping one certain something in his mind, something-someone that helplessly laid between the lines of heaven and Earth, dangling from the ropes of death and hope.
Tai watched his best friend sitting against the window sill, sulking over something he wasn't sure of—you can never predict Matt, unlike him, Matt has never shown his feelings to anyone. Unlike him Matt was never found anywhere near happiness. Tai covered his eyes with his fingers and laid his head back onto the wall, he slightly opened a slit when he noticed something hanging on the wall—it was a poster of the whole band advertising the first night of their concert in Odaiba, with Mimi and her big debut. No way-he said as a thought suddenly struck him, he quickly shot a look at Matt and then back at the picture, Matt, the picture, Matt, Mimi, Matt-Ho-ly cow, Tai thought. Matt, he grinned proudly, Mimi, that night when Mimi fainted—
"I GET IT, MATT!" he yelled at the top of his lungs and shot up from the armchair, causing Matt, Takeru, and Michael to look at him.
"Get what," Matt said more of a statement than question.
Tai smirked and slid over to him all fox-like, he nudged his shoulder and chuckled.
"Ah, you sly dog!" he smirked. "Who knew you had it in you? Man, you really surprised me here, you must've done some number to make her faint like that!" he grinned.
Matt cocked a brow, "What the hell are you talking about? Who's 'her' and what exactly did I do?"
Tai kept grinning, "Oh, don't deny it, you! And so modest too! Man, I've been with Sora for a long time though we've never really done 'that'. And you're not even going out! Man, you're bold, Ishida!" he laughed when Masimachii came in.
"Ohayo minna…What's so funny? Daijibou, Taichi?" he asked and eyed the maniac-child.
"Man, Art are you gonna blow it on Matt," Tai grinned. "After what he did-"
"Nani?!" Matt said. "Could you please tell me what I did?"
Tai looked around to Matt, "Nani? You mean you don't know? You must've been wasted," he stopped. "Wow, you really don't know? Hello, Mimi?"
"What about her…"
"Dude, Mimi! You and Mimi? You slept together! The night she fainted? Wasn't she-" Tai was cut off.
"WHAT?!" Matt and everyone said in unison.
Masimachii scratched his head, "Yamato Ishida!! Baka, what did you do to her?!" he yelled.
Michael grabbed Matt by the scruff, "Yamato, kono yogore! I swear I'll kill you if you did anything to Mimi!"
Matt pushed his hands away, "Kutabare, Michael! I didn't do anything to harm Mimi and I don't know where the hell you got that from, Tai, but it's not true! I don't-I don't like her like that and she certainly hates me so don't you dare say something like that happened!"
"Whoa, whoa, chill out guys," Takeru said and got in between Michael and Matt. "Okay, if Matt says nothing happened then I believe him. Tai, where the heck did you get that?!"
Tai raised his finger and pointed at Matt, "But-didn't you, I mean, Mimi-"
"Mimi's sick, baka."
"Well," Tai pouted, "I know that, silly! I just thought-well, I got carried away, okay? So sue me, I watched this soap opera that had the exact same thing happen to a girl like Mimi and I thought-gomen, Matt."
Matt nodded and Masimachii stepped in, "Ahem, okay—erasing this whole thing from my head…Tai, demo, soap operas are made to make you think that to help keep people's lives excited," he sighed. "Speaking of Mimi…the album."
"Iie," Takeru remarked. "We are not recording this without her, she's part of the band, Art-kun! We can't record this even if she is sick. It won't be fair, she's done a lot for this group and it's not fair to make us record this album without her."
"Soya, Takeru," Tai supported. "Can't we just delay this thing for a few more days—or at least when Mimi recovers, I'm sure the fans'll understand being her condition right now."
Masimachii sighed, "Yeah, well, after the tabloids heard this every front page of the newspaper, magazines, and Cosmos published what happened. I've talked to the producers and their giving us a week deadline to get Mimi back in or they'll have to publish it without her." He saw their forlorn faces and changed the subject for he too knew that Mimi wouldn't make it, to fully recover in a week. "Ahem, another thing, I talked to Satoshii. Since we canceled, he was thinking of going over to the Tachikawas and I was wondering if—"
"C'mon! What are you waiting for, Mimi might be awake now!" Takeru exclaimed and they all cheered and walked out.
"Matt, you coming?"
Matt shook his head, "You guys go ahead—tell Mimi I said 'Hi'."
Tai's eyes furrowed and he ushered the rest to go on while he talks to Matt and he'll then catch up whether Matt decides to come or not. A few minutes after they had all gone to Satoshii's car, Tai crossed his arms at Matt, who sat back down and again started counting the raindrops that pelted from the crying heavens. (Weird) Tai stood there for a while and when Matt finally noticed that he was there he groaned as if trying to make Tai disappear.
"Stop nagging, I didn't sleep with her, okay?" he said.
"You're right, I am nagging," he said. "But not about that—Hai, I know that was a pretty stupid thought but I know I'm right now."
"Enlighten me."
"You like Mimi, I've been wondering why you've been acting so different—not to mention you haven't gone that berserk over money for a while since she came. How you act, how you talk, how you've adopted this soft spot for something though I didn't know what it was till now. I heard the night of the dance, Michael said you protected her from these guys who tried to assault her, and then you 'randomly' decide to walk home with her when where you're staying is like two miles away from her house."
"I promised her I'd protect her, so what?"
"Yeah," Tai mumbled. "And I could only imagine how Mimi was with you at her side. C'mon, Ishida are you blind? The main reason she joined this band was to meet you! Yes, you…The poor girl's tried everything to get close to you—she freaking worships you as an idol!"
Matt grunted, "Don't you think 'worship' is a bit too strong?"
Tai hesitated, "Yeah, you're right it is—she loves you, there that better?" Matt quickly turned his head to face Tai. "I don't get you, Matt, of all the years we've been best bros I've never figured you out. Honestly all I ever thought you needed was a girl in your life, to make you get over your greed and loneliness. And then here comes Mimi and I thought she'd solve your problems, but of course, stupid Tai again, I should've thought you'd just push her away like some child! Matt, I may not be the smartest or common-sensed person in the world and I may not say the right things all the time; but all I know is what love is, what it means to people, and how to share it with them."
Matt frowned, Tai too, knew what love meant…
Matt looked away, "You know—she told me she loved me," Tai's face softened. "It was raining, I didn't know if I was just deaf by the sound of the water hitting me or if I was trying to block the words out. Hn. And you know what I did, Tai? You know what I said to her…Nothing. I said I only protected her because she was business," Matt buried his face in his hands to hold back the tears so Tai wouldn't see. "I don't know why I said it, I guess I've heard those words so many times I have an automatic response or something. I couldn't even bare look at her face after I said that, it hurt me more than it did her…Everything that happened, it ran through my head for the past days now and I couldn't help but blame myself of what happened to her."
Tai laid a hand on his shoulder, "It wasn't your fault, man, the doc said she was already sick."
"Yeah, but I caused her heart to die like that—I just know that because of me she still hasn't had the heart to open her eyes. Because she doesn't want to see me."
"Stop pitying yourself for what happened," Tai said. "You're better than that, and Mimi deserves to know that and hear all these things you just told me. Who knows, you might actually be the one to wake her up."
Matt looked up, "I can't, don't you see? Not after shattering her heart like that. I've spent, so much of my time worrying about money that I barely notice the life around me, I barely noticed it till she came and lit the fire in my heart—Hai, that does sound weird but I don't have any other way on how I can put it into words. I never knew what love meant, and I guess I still don't—I really don't know, Damnit I'm so confused.
Mimi did this, Tai, she poisoned my mind with all her warm feelings and now I don't know what to do."
"Fuck," Tai muttered. "Fuck that, Yamato Ishida," he stood up. "She said she loved you—and by telling me that what you replied was 'automatic' then that really meant nothing at all, meaning you still didn't answer her."
"What?"
"She said she loved you—she deserves an answer, by hearing what you just said, I think Mimi's the only one who can tell you what love means. You do love her, don't you?"
Matt frowned and put his hand on his forehead, "I-…I don't know. Do I love her?"
Tai tossed him a smile as he headed out the door, "The answer is only important if you ask the right question. I can't tell you if you love her, Matt, you have to find that out for yourself. But by hearing all the stuff you just said—why don't you try telling that to Mimi? I dunno, maybe she can tell you. Ja." Digging his hands in his pockets he walked outside to the rain.
Matt called out, "Tai," Tai stopped in his tracks and glanced back. "You really are the smartest person I know." Tai's eyes widened a bit but then he grinned and walked out, leaving Matt to ponder the hanging conversation he left with him.
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"Howdy-hoo!"
Mrs. Tachikawa looked up from her cooking and smiled, "Ah, Taichi, Satoshii!" she smiled at the rest. "It's a pleasure to have you all here, come to visit Mimi I presume?"
Satoshii hugged his sister-in-law and spoke in a faint voice, "How's she doing?"
Mrs. Tachikawa shook her head and watched the all of their faces fall, "She's doing fine, it's just that—the doctor came in yesterday and said she was doing well and her body has regained its strength, though, she still won't wake up. Akashii said it might do her some good if her friends and family visited her and talked to her, maybe that might wake—" she sniffed and Satoshii hugged her again as she cried on his chest. "Gomen ne minna, just, a crying spell…"
After talking to Mimi's mom, they all went into her room while Masimachii and Satoshii talked while Mrs. Tachikawa prepared dinner. Takeru was the first to walk into the dark, pink room; stuffed-toys mostly in the shades of pink piled onto the wooden shelves that occupied one side of the walls. A pair of glass doors that looked out onto the neighborhood was slightly open letting the cool breeze and small spray of rain circulate around the room and bring some fresh air into the fragile body that laid breathing under the bed covers.
Tai and Michael both took seats on either sides of her bed and Takeru stood frozen by the door.
"She looks," he choked, "dead."
"Doofus, come over here," Tai groaned. "She's not dead she's just sleeping."
"Figure of speech," Takeru retorted and kneeled beside her bed, he smiled and poked Mimi's shoulder. "Hey, Mimi-chan, supp? Long time no see, huh?"
"Miss us?" Michael said and gazed down at her sleeping body, admiring her beautiful sleeping face.
"Of course she misses us!" Tai grinned. "Who wouldn't miss me?"
The three continued the conversation, bickering once and a while about someone's stupid comments and such while their hostess laid in her bed, not conscious of the conversation around her.
Mimi was still inside her own world; floating among the darkness and pondering life. She had her eyes closed and could hear her friends' voices going about her though she couldn't understand exactly what they were saying as the same when her parents were with her. Mimi, in her mind-her world, wandered aimlessly around space with a blank expression on her face, picking on a prickly rose. Her ears and head perked up when she heard Michael, Tai, and Takeru talking to her. Hey! They're here—they came to see me. How nice. I wish I could really hear them, seems like I'm just some ghost here or something. Hn, she heard yet another familiar voice come in, Sora! A smile nor grin came up on her face, Mimi still had the same blank look and kept walking. How nice of them to come and visit me after what I did. Gosh, I even forgot to call Sora after the dance, oh I hope she's not mad though who can blame her? I wonder where Matt is…who are you kidding, Mimi? It's Yamato, he wouldn't come here and I certainly can't go see him—I like this place, it's like somewhere I can escape to; It's warm, it's peaceful, it's everything I want it to be. No more homework, no more practice, no more hassling teachers and boring TV shows—and no more confusion.
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After an hour the four came out; Sora, Tai, Michael, and Takeru. They all walked over to the table Mr. And Mrs. Tachikawa, Satoshii, and Masimachii, waited.
"Well?" Mr. Tachikawa asked in concern, "any luck, guys?"
They all shook their heads. Takeru spoke up, "Gomen, Mr. And Mrs. Tachikawa—we've all tried talking as if she was awake and talking with us, but, I'm sorry." That was all he can say.
The four's faces fell with the others. The doorbell rang and Mrs. Tachikawa went to go get it while her husband talked.
"That's okay, you guys, you tried and that's all we could ask for," he said. "Maybe she needs something else…"
"Don't you mean 'someone'?" His wife said as she walked into the room with the stranger that rang the doorbell. Everyone's jaws slightly opened and Sora let out a small gasp while Takeru almost dropped the cookie he was eating, Tai was in awe for a while but smiled at the guest.
"What took you so long? I was about to call the police," he joked. (Obvious who it is?)
"Gomen," the person said. "You have no idea how hard it's raining out there, roads are completely blocked." S/he looked around, "Where is she?"
Satoshii nodded towards the pink door, "Still won't wake up, think you can help?" he smiled nicely and the young lad nodded and walked off, leaving the rest with hope in their hearts that Mimi will wake up now.
"Guess I better set up two extra plates," Mrs. Tachikawa said and looked at the group of teenagers.
"But, what's the one extra plate for?" Mr. Tachikawa asked quite dumbly and they all just laughed and took one last glance at the direction of Mimi's room.
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(In Mimi's 'world')
Mimi walked around the long extent of space that seemed to go on forever, with a plucked rose in her hand. She slightly slowed down to a halt and looked around in search of voices, she sighed in a melancholy way, I don't hear their voices anymore—are they gone or am I so distant from everything now that I can't hear them? Mmm…that smell, she put her nose up and sniffed around until she came upon an opening that stuck out from the dark space. Flowers. A field of flowers bloomed in a whole other world where there was a sun than help them grow and breeze that carried their soothing scent to Mimi. Wow, she gaped and spotted a certain patch of wild rose-thorns like the one she carried in her hand, she was about to take a step forward but stopped. Should I? If I go here I might totally forget everything—that might make me sound crazy but I, I guess that's just how I feel…It seems so nice, so welcoming…and without hesitation and conscious of what she was doing, Mimi slowly walked over to it.
-
Matt gazed at Mimi's peaceful face. He gently stroked her cheek and took a seat beside her and pulled it so he could be closer to her. His finger lightly traced her eyebrows and then outlined her whole face and stopped to her forehead, which Matt slowly leaned down and kissed. After a few seconds he drew back and examined her.
"Mimi," he frowned. "Mimi, can you hear me? It's me-"
-
Matt? Mimi quickly turned her head and focused on the voice calling her. She still kneeled around the slick patches of flowers though mainly picked on the roses that seemed to amuse her in some way. She heard the voice again—this time louder. Matt, is that really you? You really came to see me? But why? She asked herself and closed her eyes to listen and try to focus on it more.
-
"Mimi," Matt said, "I don't know if you can hear me, but please try…" he hesitated and looked at her. "Man, this would've been much easier if someone else said this for me—I've rehearsed what I wanted to tell you on the way to your house and, now even if you're just asleep it seems even harder for the words to come out."
-
Just try, Matt, Mimi thought, I'm listening, like always.
-
"I like you," Matt finally said. "I don't know if it's love or anything—but something about you makes me like you, I don't know if it's only as a sister, a friend, or even more. I've been a jerk, all you ever wanted to do was to be my friend but like everyone else, I pushed you away—mostly I pushed you away. You scare me, Mimi, that might sound weird but you do…Especially when you, told me you loved me. I didn't mean to hurt you, it's just that I've been told those words so many times, too many times that I automatically have a response for it. I also didn't mean it when I said I only protected you for business, I just wanted so bad to be at your side most of the time since ever since we met—when I trashed that car of yours," he let out a muffled yet painful laugh, "that day we saw each other you gave me such a thrill and rush of excitement that I never felt, and when you joined the band I was actually pretty glad and now I know why. You brought your light-your shine to the group and you were always so spirited and stuff, something that I never was…only when it comes to money. Hai, you were right about that too; I was a bit greedy. Though I still don't agree that you should be criticizing just because of that—I'm only crazy about money because, don't laugh now," he looked down. "I wanted to save up for college and then have money leftover to make the love of my life happy, though I haven't exactly been working on the last part for a long time now, have I? Guess I got so caught up with the thrill of getting money that I forgot my other goal of why I'm the way I am in the first place…
"Hn, main reason why I came here was to apologize. I know I caused partially what happened to you even though everyone kept saying it's not. I'm not just doing this to make you wake up-I mean, I want you to but I also want to tell you this; When you said it—those words I mean, I know I should've reacted nicer but I knew you meant it and it was actually the first time any girl has ever said that to me. I was so shocked that I didn't know what to do and did something that I was used to, be rude and cold," he paused. "Hn, guess I've said more than what I rehearsed. Mimi, another reason for why I came here was—I talked to Tai, he said that maybe you could answer my question…"
-
Mimi twirled the rose in her fingers, not noticing the pain of its thorns digging to her skin as she was occupied with what Matt was saying but dropped the flower when she heard him ask…
-
"…what's love?" Matt whispered. "How stupid the question might sound but I just, really don't have a clue of what it is. That's another reason of how I reacted to you when you said that, because I was still unsure of what it'll mean coming from you and me…" he frowned when no answer came. "I know you can hear me, but you don't want to get away from where you are now, you even look happy and peaceful in your sleep, you know…Onegai, Mimi-chan, you're the only one that can answer that question for me. That's all I ask from you now, and I shall never bother you again. Ahem," he forced a weak smile. "Michael's waiting for you outside this door, Mimi, outside this dark room and out to where your friends and family are waiting for you—and I'm one of them. After what happened, I don't think you can love me anymore, can't you? Michael, he loves you, and…you-you two make a great couple…and I'll always be protecting you along the way. But first you have to wake up, Mimi, we're not mad, none of us are and neither are your fans—yeah, your fans are still waiting for that album were making with you as its lead singer. Remember?"
-
Matt, Mimi looked down, my fans, my dream, my friends and family are all waiting? For me? I can hear them now, all this time when I heard their voices they were calling to me, telling me to come back. To them—are you still waiting for me, Matt?
-
"...and then we could all go out for dinner and celebrate," Matt said. "That world where you are right now, Mimi, in your sleep—you need to leave it, Mimi, no matter how nice and comforting it seems, no matter how much you think you can stay here to escape all your problems—that doesn't matter cause it's not real. You're not even real-"
-
Mimi let the words sink in and she suddenly felt something prickling her, she glanced at her hand and saw that it was bleeding from how tight she had clenched onto the rose and its thorns dug deep into her palms though no pain struck her. Mimi's eyes widened, I'm not-I can't even feel it…bleeding down my hands, my blood, it's not real. She closed her eyes and listened to Matt pleading her to wake up for everyone to be happy again, Matt…I can hear you, all of you…but I'm scared, I don't know why but I'm scared.
-
Matt frowned, stroked Mimi's brown hair out of her eyes and stood up, "I'm sorry I wasted your time, Mimi." And he turned to leave with a heavy heart. He extended his hand out to reach for the doorknob when someone spoke.
"'Love—a deep and tender feeling of fondness and loyalty towards someone', though I don't think love is something that can be put in words in a dictionary. Love can only be explained through the heart, you don't know why or when it happens, it just does—and when it does you have to go for it. Love is something you can feel when shared with someone."
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Matt's eyes widened. He felt as if someone used a stun gun on him and froze his exact position by the door, he knees felt weak and so did his whole body. His hand gently fell to his side and he slowly turned around to find a girl; she was about a year younger than him and had long, honey-colored hair that was slightly plastered to her neck, pink silk pajamas that was partially covered by pink bed covers. Her open, hazel eyes stared at him with more words than he could read. She had sat up and was hugging her knees as she motioned for him to sit down.
Matt did so and sat beside her, "Mimi, I, I'm so-"
"I know," Mimi replied. "…I heard you," Matt slightly smiled and nodded. "I got so acquainted to being inside this world that I made up in my mind, I made it so nice so I wouldn't want to leave since I was so scared of facing everyone—mainly you. I guess it's my turn now to apologize."
"Mimi, you don't-"
Mimi nodded, "Yeah, I do. First of all, I shouldn't have been always nagging you about money—cause you were just like that to make a future, and I'm proud of that. And, you are mainly the reason why I didn't wanna wake up, you scared me too you know." She smiled sweetly. "But now that I know, I'm not so scared anymore. I'm sorry that you never knew what love was, never knowing who meant it when they say that to you, though I'm glad you knew I meant it, and I still do—I don't know if you wanna hear it or not, but I still and will always love you, Yamato Ishida…"
Matt looked away afraid of what to say and Mimi forged on, "I, I promised myself that I would make you feel how great it is to love, even if it wasn't me though now I know deep down, I don't want you to fall in love with anyone else but me—I know it's selfish but I just can't help it. I'm happy that you're still keeping me safe as you promised, and this time, it's not business. I know for a fact, that you can't change someone's mind and heart to change, and so I won't force you to love me…But all you just said, it almost sounds like…-" She stopped there and said no more. A silence passed between the two for a while which made Matt nervous and asked something to break it.
"So, that's what love is?" he asked and stroked her soft cheek, inching closer to her face unsure of what he was doing. ( O_O;; )
Mimi shook her blushing head, "Love can't be explained, Matt, only felt. That's all I can reply to your question, the only way you can really know what love is, is when you feel it—when you love someone." Mimi bit her lip as a minute passed, and she dared ask. "Matt…after all this happening…do you love me?"
Matt quickly drew back at her question though somewhere at the back on his mind, he knew it was coming. After not answering her for a while, Mimi looked up at Matt with pleading eyes that he tried to avoid by staring at the ground. Even after hearing what Mimi said love was, after confessing everything to her, and she had did the same—Matt still didn't know, "Mimi," he whispered. "I, I don't know…I just don't know."
Mimi could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, she hadn't opened them for four days now so all the crying she wanted to do those past days now added onto this one. She bit her lip to try and stop them from flowing furiously down her cheeks and laid her head on her knees and faced the rain, she whispered, "Thanks, Matt, for—helping me. But, I think you should go now…"
Matt wanted so much to reach out and hug her though he still felt unsure at not finding out what love is, how it felt. Now, he only felt and heard Mimi's once again broken heart though, Matt couldn't seem to blame himself for her crying. It wasn't that he didn't care, he just didn't feel its burden on him as he quietly walked out the door. I'll find out what love is, Mimi, then, that's when I can only, truly answer you…
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Kleenex, anyone? o_o; Don't flame me for this~! You know how you kept saying Matt was being a jerk? Well, I did this to show you that he wasn't and isn't. And to show how sad he can be like how Mimi was and such. Don't worry-THERE'S AT LEAST ONE OR TWO MORE CHAPTER TO THIS STORY~! And I kinda went fast in the end to finish it for you guys. So please, review ^_^ *hides from Aiko* .…