Disclaimer: Digimon is the property of Toei. That is all.

Summary: Mimi's come back to Japan, and she's set her sights on a certain Yamato Ishida.

IN THE EYES OF PERFECTION
—Chapter Three: Heat—
By Ascendo Tuum

Mimi gazed levelly at him, her crystalline amber eyes betraying no hint of emotion. If anything, Yamato thought he saw a bit of arrogance in them. He felt his insides churn, churn with something related to disappointment or even disgust. It seemed as if everyone had suddenly gone on an ego trip. Everyone had changed, for the worst. Even himself.

"H-Hello Mimi." He said at last, attempting his best to sound composed. He didn't want her to know what her presence did to him; the shivers tingling along his stiffened spine, the little butterflies fluttering furiously in his stomach.

"It's been a very long time," she remarked. "Years. I won't even bother to give a figure."

Yamato nodded docilely. Even after all these years, he knew her. She wasn't the type to be irate, ranting and gnashing teeth and throwing things around. No. When Mimi Tachikawa was angry, she was a cold simmering angry. She did not throw tantrums, but rather sharp biting remarks that dug in and hurt. "It has."

"So how are you? How are things with that woman; what's her name again?"

"Sora Takenouchi, you mean?" Miko offered, not noticing the thick tension surrounding the two celebrities.

"Ah yes, Sora. Your wife?" The words rolled off Mimi's tongue like slick gumdrops. "How is she?"

Yamato focused his eyes on Mimi's forehead, trying to stay cool. "We're good," he said feebly. Where was the cocky Yamato when you needed him to surface? He really couldn't stand how his ex-girlfriend was making him out to be some frightened and dumb man. "What about you?" He countered, wanting to even the playing field.

"I've been very well," she smiled radiantly. "In fact, I just came to Japan a few days ago. Isahara Relations Firm will be handling my public affairs while I'm here."

"Oh, what a coincidence! Yamato here is also one of our clients," Miko said. "It would be such an honor to represent you as well!"

Mimi smiled slowly. "How interesting." She figured Yamato would be incensed, especially considering the way she had spoken to him like some fool. It didn't matter though. She wanted a challenge. It was too easy to just draw him in to her. A few coquettish glances, a few choice words and Yamato was ripe for her plucking. She wanted him to be turned off, and yet turned on at the same time to her. She wanted him to be confused, to feel insulted, to suffer mental agony, to go through periods of frustration. She didn't want to be easy, because Mimi was not easy. Not before, not ever. "We'll be seeing a lot more of each other, won't we?"

"Yes, we probably will." He wondered where she was getting at. Finally his inhibitions began to fall away, and the dormant rage inside slowly began to emerge. He did not like the sneering "I'm so much better than you are and I can't be bothered to be spoken to" tone that this brunette was giving him. Forget the storied history. This was the present, and it was now that mattered. Not something that happened years ago.

"What have you been doing lately? I haven't heard any news about your band in years. Surely the great Yamato wouldn't have killed off his band. At least not the Yamato I remember..." She smirked, knowing she had hit a tender spot.

Yamato grimaced. She sure knew how to hit below the belt, and it frightenened him that she seemed to have no regrets about it. "Actually the disbanding was mutual. Sora and I wanted to focus on more worldly things."

"Like exploring space?"

"Exactly."

"Must be fun, being an astronaut." Mimi said childishly, playing with locks of her hair.

He shrugged. "You must be having a fabulous time strutting around on catwalks, being called beautiful wherever you go, posing for shoots, the like."

"You seem quite informed about the fashion world," she commented blithely. "I didn't think you the type."

"Sora's a designer. You pick up things." He said, with a little bite in his tone.

Mimi pushed back stray tendrils of her voluminous hair, adjusting the manner in which her sunglasses rested upon the top of her head. "I haven't heard of her. What is she doing, common department store stock in Odaiba?"

"She'll be moving up to a private line soon," he said coldly. How dare she just come sauntering in, and poke at Sora and him? He didn't understand her game. Was her head so up in the clouds that she now had fun taunting people? The comments about his band had stung hard, and Mimi knew that. He knew she knew how much his music meant to him. Hell, he was willing to bet his guitar that she knew all the dirt on his wife and him. No way a model like her would be living under a rock, unaware of current events. What was she playing at? "Surely you would know. She's been the talk of town for several months now."

"Has she?" Mimi examined her fingernails. "I wasn't aware of that. You know, flying around the world really is exhausting. Just a week ago I was in Milan, and then I had to go back to LA, and now here I am in Tokyo. All the frequent flyer miles... my parents are thrilled that they can go on vacations once a month!"

"How fortunate and well-off they are. My parents haven't quit their jobs to live off my salary. Must be a model thing, when you're getting paid to look pretty."

"Everyone thinks models have it easy. You have no idea how hard it is, out there, with the bloody competition. Once you hit the big three-oh, you're done. No one wants to touch you anymore, and if you spent all your twenties throwing your money away on drugs and shit, you're fucked. Simple as that." She retorted angrily. "Besides my father would never quit his job even if it meant a more relaxed lifestyle. He has pride. Unlike some people who ah, you know, so willingly give up their dreams for the most ridiculous reasons.. A Tachikawa does not quit even when offered a free ride. And as for my mother, she has always been the type to stay at home. She has no qualms about accepting my money, after all, it is only right I comfortably support my parents in their older age."

"I never suggested that I turned my back on my family Mimi, and don't you dare give me that smug look." He said coldly. "You know, right now, you make me sick. Standing here, acting like you own the world. Tch. What happened to you Mimi? What happened to the girl who wanted to become a star and help kids? You're just a snobby airhead. Stop giving me that damn smirk!"

"Yamato please, calm down. I never knew you could have such a temper!" She remarked, placing a hand to her cheek in mock surprise.

He glared at her. "Whatever Mimi. It was great seeing you. Now goodbye. I have to meet my lovely wife Sora for dinner," he said flatly. With that, he stormed off. She really did have some nerve.

Mimi turned to Miko and asked innocently, "Is he always like this?"

Miko shook her head. She didn't quite understand the underlying tension between her two clients, but assumed the overall conversation to be something of a shallow spat. "No, I don't know what's quite gotten into him. Perhaps it's the weather."

"Or bad luck," Sachiko offered, and was rewarded with Miko rolling her eyes.

"Oh hush miss superstitious. I have never met a person as silly as you are... fearing black cats walking under ladders, anything with the nubmer thirteen... hey Mimi, you're our thirteenth client!" Miko suddenly exclaimed. Her co-worker's eyes bugged and she fainted against her desk. "Don't mind her," she said off-handedly. "Would you like something to drink?"