Thanks again for the wonderful reviews. Many of you said something about Matt & Mimi kissing in chapter 2, well, all I can say is that there will be a lot of kissing & fluffy stuff going on between our favorite couple. And I might raise the rating as we go farther, but let's not worry about that right now. Anyways, I noticed that the previous chapters were quite short so I made the effort to make this one longer. Enjoy!

Chapter Four: A Realization

Flashback

Mimi's eighteenth birthday

It wasn't Matt who kissed Mimi on her eighteenth birthday. By that time, their worlds had changed & so had they. By her eighteenth birthday the two friends became three, & then two of the three became a pair.

"I can't believe you kept him secret from me for so long." Mimi challenged him with one elegantly raised eyebrow. "Did you do it to torture me or were you waiting 'till i had straight teeth?"

"As if I'd want to inflict you on any of my other friends."

She surprised him by leaning forward & plating a warm kiss on his cheek. "I love you, you know."

Matt wiggled his eyebrows. "Yeah, you & half the female population."

One elegant finger tapped on the tip of his nose. "Well, I was first & don't you forget it."

He reached out to steady her arms as she swayed towards him, smiling indulgently. "And you, my old friend, are a little drunk from all that wine, aren't you?"

"Me? Why, Ishida, I'm shocked you could even think of such a thing." She wrapped her arms around his waist, smiling up at him from his shoulder. "But I am having a really great birthday. How about you?"

Blue eyes shone down into brown. "It's not my birthday."

"I know that, but are you having a great time?"

"With you? Always."

Mimi frowned at him with an all too familiar pout on her full lips. "You're teasing me."

"Am I?"

"Yes, but you know what?"

"Go on, Tachikawa, amaze me." He smiled again. "What is it?"

"I forgive you."

Placing one strong arm around her tiny waist, he half carried her towards an empty table. "Well, I'm relieved about that. Now, why don't you just have a little rest at this little table for a while & I'll get you some nice birthday coffee?"

Sitting down into the offered chair, Mimi looked up at him. She frowned for a moment, looked around & bar, and then patted the chair beside her. "Sit down, Matt. I want to talk to you."

"I'll just get some of that birthday coffee first."

"No!" she grabbed hold of his shirtsleeve. "Please, sit down."

Matt watched as the wheels turned in her head. Then she smiled at him. Looking at him from beneath long eyelashes, she was positively flirtatious, & for some reason he couldn't stop himself from noticing it. Damn, but she'd grown up. And it wasn't just the removal of braces that got her noticed by Michael, his college roommate. She just seemed to have blossomed overnight.

He slowly sat down beside her. "What's up?"

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

The question caught him off guard. Especially considering he already begun to notice how she looked. For a second he looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car.

Mimi giggled. "Why, Ishida, I do believe for the first time ever I've managed to make you speechless. Happy Birthday to me!"

He tried to stand up. "I'll just get that coffee. I'd really like a cup, wouldn't you?"

She placed her hand on his thigh & pushed him back into the chair. She gave another dangerous smile. "Don't avoid the subject at hand."

Matt was trying to avoid 'the subject at hand'; the burning sensation on his thigh where her hand rested. Hadn't anyone told her what happened to nineteen year old males whenever good-looking females touched them that close to…?

He carefully removed her hand, placing on her lap. "Why would I avoid it? Of course you're pretty, Mimi. You've always been pretty. Taking your braces off really helped."

"Is it just the brace?" She leaned in close to him, her voice low. "Is it just the brace or have I changed at all…you know, anywhere else?"

If that rabbit didn't move soon it was going to be squished. He blink, blinked again, & then Matt's brain started to work. "Uh, what exactly are you fishing for?"

"Have you noticed anything different about me?" Her face was dangerously close to his. "I mean, since you last saw me?"

Matt swallowed hard to moisten his dry throat. Wow, but she smells good…all soapy & slightly perfumed, like flowers. Get a grip here, man. Hormone alert! "In what way exactly?"

"You tell me." Mimi stood up in front of him & turned around before holding her arms out at her side. "How do I look to you?"

Matt did as he was asked & looked at her. He took a really good, long look at her. She was sensational…really sensational. He looked at her legs & in a split second decided that he was a legs man. Not that he didn't know Mimi had great legs. Hell, he'd seen them in shorts or swimsuits every summer for the past eight years…but not like this. She was wearing the sheerest of black stockings with her feet in the silliest strappy high heels he had ever seen. And the skirt she was wearing should be made illegal for it left nothing in the imagination.

"Well?"

"Huh?"

"Well, what do you see?"

He waved away her protests with one arm. "I'm still looking."

She had the smallest waist he thought he'd ever seen. Was she too skinny? Did she have some kind of dumb obsession with her weight? Nah, she pigs out sometimes. His eyes traveled upwards. No, her weight was jut fine. She had breasts now…small, full breasts that peeked out at him from the deep vee of her tight top. Maybe he was a breasts man after all. Then he looked back down at her legs. Nope, still a legs man.

Then he looked up at her face. She had this creamy complexion, full moist lips that showed a smile with perfectly straight white teeth. Wide chestnut brown eyes above an elegantly upturned nose…

A hand waved in front of his face. "Well…can you see it?"

His voice was sharp. "Dammit, Tachikawa, see what?" He'd seen a lot & it irritated him that he noticed that much. "You look just fine to me."

"FINE? I look just fine?" She looked annoyed. "Thanks a lot, big man."

"Oh, hell," Matt ran long fingers through his long hair. "What am I supposed to notice?"

With a sigh he could hear above the music, she moved forwards. Placing one slender hand on either side of his face, her eyes smiled into his. "Don't you see it, Matt? I'm in LOVE. For the first time in my life I'm in love. And it's with your friend, Michael. Thanks to you, I'm going to find out exactly what it's like to be with that special someone."

Matt's stomach twisted. How could he have seen that his two friends would end up wrapped in each others arms? He met Michael his first term in college & he instantly liked the guy. With his golden good looks & extrovert nature he was popular on campus, and so much more outgoing than Matt himself. He had an ease about him that people instantly liked.

Michael was the captain of the basketball team, top of his class in business studies, & rich family in New York City in America. The guy had everything. All the criteria that overly protective brother figures would look for in a boyfriend for someone they really cared about. So why did he suddenly wish Mimi & Michael never have met?

End of Flashback

Much as she hated to admit it, Matt had been right again, this time about the evening being perfect for swimming at the beach near Sasaka Cottages. It's a place only locals & a few cruise boats ever knew about. This also meant that on a sunny summer evening it was normally filled with townspeople. Most of them seemed to be smiling more than usual when they greeted them.

Lying on their stomachs, side by side on a large rug, they watched as people watched them. Mimi pushed her sunglasses onto her head & turned to look at Matt beside her. His eyes were closed; long dark lashes against his tanned skin. "I never realized we were so interesting. It's like we're celebrities being watched by the crowd."

He didn't open his eyes, but his head was turned towards her. "We've always been interesting. We just didn't notice it so much before."

"Doesn't it bother you now that you know?"

"You've been away. I've had this kind of attention & speculation aimed at me ever since college. That's what comes of being single in a small town. You can't even say hello to a pretty female without the gossips starting."

The wheels turned slowly in her head.

Matt smiled a slow, sleepy smile, still with his eyes closed. "Okay, I can hear those wheels turning. What is it?"

She hated the way he could do that. Is he Psychic or something? "Haven't you dated anyone since I've been away?"

"Why?" the smile transformed to a grin. "Jealous?"

"Ha, ha." She nudged him with her elbow. "No, I mean, well, what I mean is…I'm not cramping your style, am I? Living with you, I mean?"

He opened his eyes & looked up at her, curious as to what her face might tell him. But she turned away before he could see anything, studying the crowd who lined the shore. "Meems, if you're asking me whether or not your living in my house is affecting my sex-life, then I think we're about to hit uncharted territory here."

"Well, we've always been up-front with each other, & half the population already seems to believe that I am your sex-life. So I was just curious." She shrugged her shoulders. "I just want to know, that's all."

Matt tuned onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow to study her closer. He was rewarded for his patience when she turned to look at him. There was concern in her eyes, & he realized she was genuinely worried about 'cramping up his style'. Without thinking about it he reached out to her, brushing a long lock of damp hair away from her cheek.

"Even if I was seeing someone, which we both know I'm not…unless, of course, you count yourself…I wouldn't be able to make love to them in the house while you were there."

Mimi noted the quiet affection in his voice & smiled down at him. He really was a nice guy. Still she couldn't resist teasing him. "What's wrong? You make too much noise?"

His eyes widened in surprise at her comment. Recognizing the teasing gleam in her eyes, he knew he had no choice but to play along. "Baby…" he blew onto his fingernails before polishing them on his t-shirt, "it wouldn't be me making the noise."

Mimi erupted into convulsive laughter. "You are so arrogant, do you know that?"

They laughed together for a moment before watching the crowd again in companionable silence. Matt thought about the conversation. "So if you met someone, & the situation was reversed, would I cramp your style?"

"Make love to someone while you are in the house?" She blushed like a tomato & laughed again, "No way, Jose."

"You make too much noise?" The question did things to his imagination that it had absolutely no right doing.

She hid her face in the blanket while he watched her shoulders shake with laughter. Her voice muffled when she spoke, forcing him to lean towards her to hear her words. "I don't think I could concentrate on what I was doing if I knew you could hear anything."

Jealousy, like a bad cramp, gripped his chest hard, shocking him with its intensity. Thinking of Mimi in that way had always been off limits. Now their conversation opened a doorway he hadn't intended looking through, & he didn't care much for his reaction.

Clearing his throat, he stood up & took off his t-shirt. "Just as well, Mimi, because whoever he was I think I'd probably be forced to beat the shit out of him." He frowned as he looked towards the water. "I'm going for another swim. See you in a while."

Mimi's head shot upwards at his sharp announcement. But she only focused her vision in time to see him walk briskly to the water before diving smoothly underneath. Where did that outburst come from? She knew he could be protective, but even so…

Their relationship was changing. It hadn't been the same since she came home. She began to realize that when she noticed Matt staring at her so often, it was as if he never really looked at her before.

And these last few days they walked onto very new grounds; she supposed it was only natural they'd need time to adjust. Time to find & test the new boundaries, but they cared about each other in ways in which she, certainly, had never cared about anyone else. Matt was her most special of friends & no matter what adjustments they made she knew they wouldn't affect their longtime friendship. They just couldn't.

"Someone as lovely as you shouldn't frown like that."

Turning onto her back, she looked up into Joe Kido's smiling face. Dressed in pristine white t-shirt & khaki shorts, he resembled a model from the pages of a summer catalogue.

"I'll keep that in mind." She smiled. "It's nice to see you again. How are you?"

"I'm just great." His dark eyes moved down over her body & her long legs before returning to her face. "You should wear a swimsuit all the time, Mimi. Wow!"

She sat upright, unconsciously drawing her knees up as she glanced towards the water.

"He's still in the water."

"Who is?" She blinked at him.

Joe smiled. "Your FRIEND."

She glanced back towards the water. "Oh, you mean, Matt. Yeah, he likes to swim. We used to have swimming races here when we were kids."

Taking a deep breath, he sat down beside her. "There's a lot of history between you two."

She looked at his face, surprised to find him so close. "Yeah, we're really close. We've known each other for a long time."

A quick glance over his head caused her to smile at the look of disapproval on Mrs. Ryuichi's face, a woman who has a knack for good gossip. "I think you'll find your sitting here is setting quite a few tongue wagging."

He didn't look too worried. "Your Matt is well known & liked in this community. How can I possibly compete with that?"

"From what I hear, a guy like you doesn't let a little competition get in his way." The words were out before she could stop them. But the minute she spoke, Joe's jaw dropped & Mimi regretted the comment.

"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I've always considered a person innocent until proven guilty. I guess I shouldn't treat you any differently."

"Mimi…" he reached out, touching her arm with one long finger, then running the palm of his hand towards her shoulder as he held her gaze with his, "I…"

"I believe you're occupying my space!"

Their heads snapped upwards at the same time as Matt's shadow fell over them. For a moment Mimi didn't recognized him any more than she recognized the tone of his voice. His face was dark…almost threatening…and for a split second she was shocked. It was a side of him she didn't see very often.

"Matt…sorry, I didn't see you there." Joe quickly removed his hand from Mimi's arm & stood up. "I was just saying how great Mimi looks in a swimsuit."

Matt stepped closer to Joe, water running off his body in long silvery rivulets. He ran his hand across his face to remove some water & then lowered his voice. "So I saw, Kido. The next time you compliment her with your hands you'll have me to deal with…do you understand?"

Mimi jumped to her feet & stood between them, facing Matt. "Are you crazy? Apologize to Joe right now."

Joe smiled smoothly, his eyes warming for Mimi. "Its okay, Mimi, I understand." His eyes swept back towards Matt. "Matt obviously feels the need to stake his claim. I get the message."

Matt nodded tersely. "Just make sure you do."

Mimi gaped at the two men. "Oh, I can't believe you two."

Ignoring Joe for a moment, Matt frowned at Mimi. "This guy was touching you. Are you telling me that's okay with you? Because it sure as hell isn't okay with me!"

Without hesitating she grabbed his hand & pulled him away from Joe, towards the trees at the back of the cottages. "We need to talk, NOW."

By the time they reached the trees Matt was smiling at her. "Wow, you can drag me into the trees any time, Meems. Did you see the looks we got from the people?"

"What the fuck were you doing out there?" She was mad…really, really mad. He could tell because her brown eyes sparked angrily & her face was flushed. He thought she looked amazing.

"We're supposed to be a couple, right? Well, I'm not going to stand around while some other guy runs his hands all over my girlfriend, am I?"

Mimi shook her head. "Even as my boyfriend, or for that matter as my lover, you wouldn't go around acting like Neanderthal man without me going crazy about it. Don't you know that?" She glared at him. "What the hell kind of woman have you been dating over the years?"

He actually had the grace to look apologetic. "I'm sorry. I just…well, I guess I didn't like it much. As a friend or as a boyfriend." Realizing she still held his hand, he squeezed her fingers. "I guess we both need some learning to do if we're going to pull this off."

Calmer, she looked up into his eyes & smiled wryly. "They're all standing out there waiting for us to come out, aren't they?"

"Yup."

"So, what'll we do? Wait for a minute?"

Matt took a deep breath. "They'll probably expect us to kiss & make up first."

"Oh."

He stepped towards her. "And we should probably practice that kissing thing again before we try it out in public, right? After all, they'll expect you to come out of here looking like you've just been thoroughly kissed, & the best way I know to make you look like that is…"

Mimi interrupted him, suddenly aware of how little clothing he was wearing. Her mouth was dry. "I get the idea, Ishida. So you'd better just shut up & kiss me."

"And they say romance is dead."

This time Mimi was ready for the kiss. She even moistened her lips automatically before his lips covered hers. It's only Matt, only Matt, only Matt. She repeated it over & over her head, but after a moment it was hard to concentrate.

It shocked him when he felt her kiss him back. He didn't know what to expect, but he certainly wasn't ready for how hot she felt, how easily their mouths fitted together. With a kiss there was always that initial moment of hesitation as the two couple felt for the correct 'fit' before they deepened the kiss. But not this time…this was right from the first touch.

Moving instinctively, she wrapped her arms around his neck, reaching up to pull herself closer to his damp body. In turn, Matt's arms circled around her waist to hold her there. Her curved body fitted perfectly along the full length of his, curling in & touching him everywhere.

The minute his tongue touched hers, she was lost & her mind stopped working. In her entire life she couldn't remember being kissed so thoroughly…& by Matt, of all people!

By Matt. She froze. Oh, no, this couldn't be happening. She couldn't possibly be enjoying kissing Matt. It wasn't something that was supposed to happen when you kissed a friend.

The moment she went still he knew they went too far. Whatever was happening, it was too much. He pulled away carefully & stepped back, taking a moment before he could look at her.

Mimi, on the other hand, was staring at him with large unblinking eyes, as if she'd never seen him before. Her lips were red & swollen, & her cheeks were flushed. She was beautiful. When did she become so beautiful? All of a sudden he realized that was what was different about her ever since she got home. She matured & grown into a very beautiful woman & he was so stupid to realize it.

He smiled at her softly. "I think they'll know what we've been doing when we go out there."

Turning away from him, Mimi found her voice. "Well, thank goodness someone knows what we're doing."

AN: Another kissing scene for you guys! Do you like it? Expect more of that in the next couple of chapters. Don't forget to review!

Kaye – I wanted to make Joe's character a little different from the one we usually know. He's quite the opposite this time around. Reijin – I'm glad to hear from you. It's nice to know that you like my stories. I expect to hear from you more so keep R&R! Kuruta – oh, you're Filipino? That's so cool! I'm Filipino, too! Where you from? Riven – well, they've been friends for a long time & Mimi never thought of him any more than a brotherly figure…but let's see what happens. Janay – I agree with you sista! He is GORGEOUS! Pink-writer – glad to hear from you. I did say I'm posting it this week, but I never thought I'd be putting up chapter four already. Yay! Angel – take your time, my dear, there's no need to hurry. Maybe I can even post it here, eh? Bubbles05 – hi, I do hope you continue on reading & reviewing my story.