-~An Everlasting Vow~-
-Tachikawa IVIimi
-Just a note ^_^() There's prolly about one-two more chapters left in the story-
*~Tuesday Night~*
"Tai, could you please stop walking around like that you're making me dizzy," Kari stated and rubbed her temples as she watched her brother pace back and forth around the room.
Tai turned and gave her a slight grunt, "Oh, and this coming from the girl-who-doesn't-have-to-have-trouble-finding-a-date-that's-gorgeous-and-perfect-in-every-way-date-for-the-carnival-cause-she's-going-with-all-her-friends-and-doesn't-have-to-beg-her-friends-to-help-ask-that-date-to-go-out-with-her-cause-she's-too-scared!" he snuffed and started pacing again.
Kari tilted her head, "Who, you wanna date Davis?"
Tai suddenly ran up to her face and yelled, "NO I DON'T WANNA GO OUT WITH DAVIS, KARI! SORA! SO-RA!" he suddenly cried on the floor.
Watching her brother sob like that, Kari giggled and picked up the phone, "Well, gosh, Tai, all you really have to do is call," she dialed Sora's number to Tai's utter horror. Ignoring him waving his hands, Kari smiled and greeted, "Hi Mrs. Takenouchi. Is Sora there, this is Kari…Sora, hi! My brother Tai would like to talk to you, sure, he here is," she grinned and happily handed him the phone. "See, was that so hard?"
Tai's twitching hands slowly took the phone as he kept his furious eyes on her, "Thanks, Kari, why don't you go help mom in the kitchen now, you seem to be in a mood to help everyone," he let out and gently pushed her out.
"But I don't—"
"Just go!" Tai bellowed and shut the door. Taking deep breathes, Tai put the phone to his ear and happily greeted, "Sora—hey!"
"Hey, Tai. What did you wanna talk to me about? And why did Kari have to call me?"
Tai slightly giggled, "Uh, heh…You know Kari. Uh, Sora—I just wanted to call to, ask—" Kari quickly poked her head in and grinned at Tai who quickly got mad and threw a pillow at the door as she laughed and ran off. "Leave me alone!"
"What, you're the one who called me, Tai! What's this all about?!" Sora demanded.
"Oh, no! Not you, Sora!" Tai replied and then took a deep breathe. "Sora, I-I was just calling to ask…arrgh, here goes! Would you go to the Winter Carnival with me?! Okay, I understand you don't I'm sorry I even bothered you have a good time," he said and was about to put the phone down.
"Tai! Wait, you're really asking me to go with you, like—on a date?" Sora asked curiously.
"Well…eh, yeah," Tai replied. "But! If you don't want it to be—"
"Oh, Tai, I'd love to!" Bliss raised upon Tai Kamiya that minute, but fell the following second. "But, I can't…Oh, I'm sorry, Tai, I just remembered that Izzy had already asked me to go with him just a few days ago…"
"I—I—Iz—" Tai stuttered. "Izzy?!"
The following day Tai Kamiya stormed the whole city of Tokyo in the hunt of the friend that had betrayed him. Steam coming out of his nostrils, Tai marched down the streets with one thought running through his mind, Izzy, you're dead. Dead. Dead. Backstabber, you're dead. Dead. How can he do this to me?! He whined when he finally spotted a familiar fuzzy redhead walking along the by the stoplights. Gotcha! Tai quickened his pace until he was a few feet from him, Izzy turned and smiled.
"Why, hey, Tai," he said. "What brings you here?"
Tai fumed, "Don't play innocent with me, Izzy! Why did you do this to me, you being my friend!"
"Do what, Tai, you're making a scene."
"I don't care!" he said and took him by the collar. "You asked Sora out behind my back, you—backstabber! Promising you'd help me and then when I'm all 'Oh, he's so nice!' you go and ask her out yourself! And now you've probably got Sora head over heels for you now, huh?! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't knock the prodigious stuffing right outta you!"
Izzy glared at him, "Me, a backstabber? Tai! I had done everything I can to help you and I even said that I'd ask her out if you don't—and you didn't!"
"I did last night! But nooo, she's already going with you," Tai replied. "And I thought you were joking when you said that! You didn't have to be so un-convincing." He muttered.
"Tai, you have no one to blame but yourself, I gave you the chance to ask her but you're just too much of a coward—crest of courage, yeah ri—" before he could finish Tai had planted his fist into his jaw. "Uh, hey!" Izzy glowered and the two began attracting attention from the passing crowds by their rowdy fighting.
Somewhere upon the crowd, was Matt. Thinking that, by walking around he could get rid of those haunting thoughts of his troubles—Mimi, Mayumi, himself—or at least figure out what exactly was he not being honest to Mimi about, all ruined when he heard the familiar voices of his friends. Matt quickly ran towards the sound where a huge crowd was standing, and in the middle were Tai and Izzy. Matt let out a huge sigh before going in between and holding them both as far from each other as possible.
"Hu—let me at him, Matt!" they both complained and tried reaching for each others' face.
"What is with you two?!" Matt exclaimed and threw them both down before straightening himself. "Geez, you're causing a racket."
"Well Tai started it!"
"What are you talking about? You're the one who asked her out!"
"Cause you won't!" Izzy said and dusted himself off. "Look, Tai, you had your chance but you didn't take it until it was too late. If you really loved Sora then you should've forgotten about your fears and asked her before she slipped out of your hands." Matt stared at Izzy, mouth slightly agape.
Tai glared, "Fine, so I was a coward, happy? But if you just asked her just because you can—" he mumbled something before turning around and walking off. After he was long gone, Izzy turned back to Matt.
"Guess you're pretty curious, huh?" he smiled and Matt nodded. "Well then, I guess I can interest you in having some cocoa with me."
Matt chuckled, "You did what?"
Taking a sip of his tea, Izzy grinned, "Pretty clever, huh? Like I said, I've done almost everything I can to help Tai but he just won't ask her, so I took matters to my own hands. I asked Sora out to make Tai jealous—but of course I had told Sora that, and she's perfectly fine with it since she's also been waiting for Tai to ask her! We're both hoping that he'd finally come to his senses before the carnival and actually talk to her."
"You really have thought of everything, haven't you," Matt said then looked outside the snowy streets. "Hey, Izzy. What if, Tai doesn't 'smarten' up, I mean, you know how he is."
Izzy nodded, "Yeah, you have a point there but. We can all agree that Tai may not be the smartest guy out there, but he's one that has a heart of gold. His heart's just a bit confused right now."
"What do you mean?"
"Matt," Izzy explained, "In my opinion, hearts never die or break, they just get lost or confused about their emotions and sometimes do things that they might later regret…Tai knows deep down how much he loves Sora and how I won't do anything to harm that, his hearts just got lost and now confused about his feelings. But if he loves Sora as much as I know he does he'll figure it out. If you truly love someone—nothing can stand in your way…Matt?"
Repeatedly tilting his glass towards his lips, Matt's blue eyes just found themselves looking upon the table and not paying heed to Izzy's calls but what he had said. If you truly love someone nothing can stand in your way, he revered.
"Matt, are you okay? Hello?" Izzy waved his hands across his face before throwing a nut on his forehead.
"Uh—hey!" Matt scowled and scratched his head. "Okay, I get it. Sorry, just zoned out for a second…Hey, Izzy, thanks for the chat but I guess I better get going. I have a lot of stuff to think about right now," Izzy nodded and both said their goodbyes as Matt walked out. Izzy's words still buzzing around in his head, Matt finally found himself knocking on Sora Takenouchi's door.
"Coming!" Sora called and gingerly opened the door and smiled. "Matt, hey. Come in, what brings you here?" she asked as he walked in.
Taking his coat off, Matt answered, "To be honest, I'm not that entirely sure. I think I came by to talk to you about Tai and Izzy." Sora laughed.
"You think?" she grinned. "Make yourself comfortable I'll go get us something to eat."
Sora took a small bite of her muffin and glanced at Matt, "Well, of course I'm fine with Izzy's plan, Matt, I knew Tai wanted to ask me all along. It's quite funny, really, seeing how he's reacted."
Chuckling, Matt nodded, "But don't you feel the least bit sorry for the guy?" he asked.
"Yes, I do. But I know Tai, inside-out, and I know he'll figure it out and hopefully talk to me before the carnival, besides," Sora said. "If you truly love someone you can't let anything stand in your way."
Matt's eyes widened a bit, "Hey, Izzy said that to me too." Sora slightly laughed and said.
"Well, he is a genius."
*~Thursday Night~*
Humming a song sang by the infamous band, Teenage Wolves, Mimi Tachikawa solemnly walked into the living room to wait for her parents to come home. Laying down her cocoa mug, she slowly cuddled up against the couch to read a book, constantly finding herself day dreaming. Sighing, she gave up reading and laid her head down and stared out onto the continuously falling snow.
"Oh, Mayumi, how could you," she said. "You're gone forever without a goodbye and no one would even tell me anything about what happened between you and Matt…I feel so distant from everyone, even more distant than when I was in America, no one would clue me in on what's going on, my best friend's keeping secrets from me, everyone's so busy…busy for the carnival I'm not going to be here for, anymore," she trailed off. "I can't believe this is happening again, I have to leave on Saturday, the very day that's before the carnival. Everyone's going to be so sad again. Because of me. Yamato. We're reliving everything over again, aren't we?"
Mimi softly sniffed and fought back her tears when suddenly her porch doors burst open, "What the—" she exclaimed and shielded her eyes and face as a harsh gust of wind picked up around the room. Running towards the flying curtains, Mimi could barely keep her feet still as snow started to blow in the house. "Great! Just what I need—huh," she slowly looked up noticing that the wind was slowing down and then came to a halt, the snow flakes now gently falling around her. As if taking that as some kind of sign, Mimi reached and clutched her chest but was shocked to find her necklace gone!
Slowly closing the doors and dusting the wet snow off her sweater, Mimi looked up to the outside world, and smiled at its mysterious comfort.
The white ceiling of Yamato Ishida hasn't changed one bit since the moment Matt came home and began staring at it from his bed. Well, maybe it had changed a little bit—maybe gotten a bit blurry, or maybe that's just from Matt's weary blue eyes as he stared hard and wondered what the hell was bothering him and the things Izzy and Sora had said to him.
The silver bracelet glistened so beautifully as Mimi twirled her arm in front of the ceiling lights, half blinding herself once and a while. She laid alone in her room, melancholy sweeping through her. Happy and content of the comfort that earlier incident had brought her, and depression of what had been bothering her before that. Leaving. Yamato Ishida.
Mimi swiftly turned her body around to face the pictures on her bed post, pictures of her friends and memories of the times her and Matt shared. God, how much she hated herself for leaving like she did, putting everyone in misery especially the one she cares for the most. But she just couldn't do that again, not anymore.
Mimi hastily got up and slowly walked out of her room and onto the phone. Her trembling hand arguing to itself whether or not to pick it up, Mimi bit her lip, "I have to tell him. Even if he hates me, even if he doesn't care, he deserves to know this time that I'm leaving…Here goes," she quickly picked up the phone—and dialed Matt's number.
"I just can't, I have some things I have to figure out for myself right now. I-I'm sorry."
"Yeah, me too, Yamato. Me too…"
Matt frowned as he quietly slipped the phone back down, not believing what he had just done. He was about to turn back towards his room when the phone rang again, thinking it was her calling back, Matt couldn't bare pick up the phone and let himself fall against the wall, and onto the floor…listening to it ring.
Mimi sat on her knees, cuddling her legs as close to her as she can, listening to the on-going tone of the phone. A part of her wishing he'd pick up so she could tell him, and another praying he wouldn't so she wouldn't just break down right there. After a long while, she had thought he might've been out with Yui or his dad, and when she was about to give up the answering machine came on. And she heard his greeting voice seeming to welcome her, slightly laughing at its tiny joke.
"Hey, you've reached the Ishida residence. We can't exactly come to the phone right now but leave a message and we'll be sure to call you right—hey, is something burn—oh shit! I mean, we'll call you right back—Dad!"
Matt intently listened, hoping that it wasn't Yui calling back to leave some message while she's crying about their previous conversation. *Beep!* there it goes…Matt laid his hands on his knees and let out a sigh, still listening. A few seconds passed, and still no one was talking, it seemed like forever that he was waiting and Matt was about to leave when a familiar voice came on.
"…H-hi Matt. This is Mimi…I-I'm sorry if I'm calling so late but, I just wanted to tell you that I'm, I'm leaving this Saturday—" Matt fell back, wide-eyed, the day before the carnival…He listened. "—don't tell anyone, not yet. I wanted you to be the first person I tell this to because." She stopped. "I'm sorry for everything, Matt, I really am…I-I hope you have a great time with Yui and the others during the carnival. I—you'll always be in my heart. Goodbye."
He hadn't cried for several years now, about anything, but for once in a really long time—Yamato Ishida sat in the corner and cried for everything he hasn't cried for in that lost time.
Mimi was already crying, having the hardest time to hold it in as she left her final farewell. Bringing her knees close to her, she let herself fall upon the ground as she kept crying.
-~-
Wasn't that so sad yet so sweet? n.n\\// Sorry if that was short though! Last chapter coming soon. Please review.