Unsuspected

By

Marie Darkholme

Chapter Three – Time flies

"Aunt Mimi, Aunt Mimi, come quickly." The voice of a little child echoed through the apartment and reached Mimi's rooms. The girl quickly put down the nail polisher and exited the room. In front of the television, a young girl sat happily, clapping her hands in anticipation.

"Is it on, already?" Mimi asked as she took her place on the couch besides the little girl, pushing her closer to her. "Have you pulled the record button already?"

"Yeah, it's recording already, Aunt Mimi." the girl shrieked. Little by little, the publicity ended and gave space to a styling contest. "Look, there's mommy." The girl shrieked once again. Mimi smiled as she patted her head. "Mommy is in Paris! Mommy is in Paris!" she stood and sung happily.

The brown haired woman, who had recently died all her hair in a soft tone of pink smiled. "Okay, calm down Ai." She tried to calm the girl. Ai smiled innocently and sat back quietly, her legs crossed.

It had been six years since that fateful moment, when Mimi had discovered that her friend was pregnant. Even thought she didn't want to admit it, she feared that the pregnancy would bring lots of problems to Sora. After all, she was new in the company and getting pregnant all the sudden, would undoubtedly affect her work, as it eventually did.

The following years to Sora's pregnancy had been the hardest, but the two together had been able to surpass all the difficulties. Ai was Sora's most precious possession and she would do anything for her. The auburn haired had underlined that same sentence over and over, whenever Mimi was ready to give up, and now there she was. She had managed to come all the way to the top, by herself.

"Look Aunt Mimi, that girl has the same dress that mommy made for me." The girl told the woman quietly. There was silence which made Mimi look to the girls beautiful auburn eyes. "When is mommy coming back?" she asked quietly, not without trying to hide a hint of sadness. Mimi caressed her wild hair. "Don't worry, mommy will be back sooner than you expect." She assured the girl. "And I'm sure she will bring a pretty gift." She added as they both continued to see the fashion show.

"Hey, Taichi, wait up, man." Yamato yelled as he saw a familiar head crossing his path. Taichi turned to the sound of a familiar voice. Seeing Yamato, he threw his case inside the car and closed it, putting the keys back into his pocked.

"Long time no see." They greeted. "How are you, Yamato? It's been a while since I've last seen you." The blond smirked.

"Well, you know how it goes when you have a band to run." Yamato said. He waited for the brown haired to say something but he didn't. An awkward silence fell between the two. Yamato looked nervously around, trying to find a suitable issue to start a conversion. "So..." he started, but the words failed him.

"I heard Koushiro has a new girlfriend?" Taichi said out of the blue with a mocking voice. Yamato followed his lead.

"Yeah, he does. I think her name is Asuka." He replied as he tried to remember Koushiro's latest girlfriend name. He saw a confused smile appear on Taichi's face.

"Wasn't Asuka the last month girlfriend? That's the blond, right?" he asked. Yamato nodded. "But I saw him the other day and it wasn't Asuka that was with him, because this one was taller and had black hair, so…" the two laughed and Yamato cursed, amused.

"I should be the one having a different date every week." He replied.

"And why is that?" Taichi mocked. "You're only the band manager. Who gets the girls are the band members." He stated. Yamato nodded.

"Very true, very true indeed."

The same silence fell between the two again. Now it seemed like they didn't have anything more in common besides a shared friend and past. Nothing had happened between the two. The time and distance had made its way through them and when they occasionally got together, it seemed they were strangers greeting each other.

"What about you, how are you?" Yamato asked. The brown haired immediately understood what he meant. A weak smile spread across his face.

"I'm okay."

"Okay." Yamato replied after another bit of silence.

"Have you heard from Mimi?" Taichi asked. Yamato narrowed his eyes.

"Why do you ask?" he inquired. It was a strange question to make, after all, Mimi and Taichi had never been the best of friends. They were more like acquainted. They met through Sora, because Mimi was her best girlfriend and Taichi was her best boyfriend, so they got to do something together and all, but not that he would ask about her in a moment like that.

"Just thinking I could make her a visit, since I'm going on a business trip to New York next week." He replied with a faint smile.

"Well, last time I checked everything was fine, but you know how Mimi is. Anything can happen." Yamato laughed. Taichi allowed himself to accompany his laugh.

"What about Sora? Have you heard from her?" the brown haired continued. Yamato narrowed his eyes once again. It had been six years since Sora had accompanied Mimi to New York. Since then, he had news from her from time to time. She was still living with Mimi and her career seemed to be going well, but he never got into many details. Could it be possible that her best friend hadn't had news form her?

"Well, actually, I don't quite know. Mimi e-mails me from time to time but we never get into many details." He explained. "You know how it goes, how are you, what have you been doing… those kind of stuff." He could get a hint of something in Taichi's eyes, but he couldn't quite put his finger at it.

A new silence fell between the two and Taichi faintly looked into his watch. He slapped his forehead and began searching for his keys.

"Look at the time. I've really got to go, Yamato. Nice to see you though. I've got to get some paperwork done before the end of the day and send it or I'll be toast meet." Taichi said as he opened the door of his car and got into it. "See ya." He waved as the car disappeared in the road.

"Excuse moi, monsieur." Sora avoided collapsing against an old man who was walking in her direction, knocking down another man's case. She ran as fast as she could, avoiding as much as possible all the obstacles, people or objects, in her way. Her hair flew around her, unable to be kept in the small hat she used.

She could hear the number of her flight being called on the microphone in the airport. "Last call for all passengers. Flight Paris/New York on gate 23, leaving in five minutes." She sped up putting a hand over her hat, assuring it wouldn't fly behind her with the wind from her velocity. Her only case hung over her shoulder and she struggled to keep it there, while she made a nineteen degree turn. She could see the flight attendant preparing to close the doors to the plane. She made a desperate call, waving her ticket. "Wait, I'm on that flight."

Sora sat on a bench and sighed. That wasn't on her plans at all. Putting the case besides her, she took a deep breath. "If only they wouldn't have waited five more seconds, I would have made it in time." She complained, rather annoyed. But it was pointless. She would have to wait for the next flight that would be in about four hours. Still, it wasn't that bad. Had she been on the next flight and missed it, she would have to spent the night thee and catch the plane the next day.

Sighing, the auburn haired took her hat and arranged her long hair. It had grown quite a bit now that she took a good look at it. Her neck length hair had turned out to become a middle back length hair. Feeling frustrated and without nothing else to do, she braid her hair into two long braids tying them with two blue ribbons matching her hat, that she then put back on her head. Glancing to the pay phone, she saw it was already empty and walked towards it, picking her case.

She quickly inserted some euros and dialled the memorized numbers. The calling sound echoed in her ears as she waited. One, two, three times until a familiar voice answered from the other side.

"Mimi, it's me." Sora said. "No, I'm still at the airport. I lost the flight so I'll have to wait for the next one." "No, don't stay up for me. I'll catch a cab when I get there." Sora laughed to Mimi's comment. "I know it's dangerous to…" "No, don't worry." "Yeah, it's in about three and half hours so I'll have to do a lot of waiting." "Is she asleep?" Sora smiled. "Give her a kiss for me and say I'm sorry." A melancholic smile crossed the auburn haired face. "Hi, honey." She greeted in a soft tone of voice. "Mommy lost her plane." "Yes, I'll be back soon. Don't stay up waiting for me, okay?" "Kisses. Bye bye." Sora waited for the dial tone to sound again. Only then she put down the phone.

"…Please take your sits and put on your seatbelts, we're approaching the airport…" the sound of the flight attendant woke him from his trance. Of course he knew they were nearing the airport. He could quite see the lights through the window as well as other planes already landed. Yawning, the brown haired put on his seatbelt and tried to relax. Taking off and landing were the two moments he most hated in a flight.

The flight attendant dressed in her tight, yet practical blue uniform started checking if everyone was sat and had their belts on. She was pleased to see that those first class passengers were following her orders and she too returned to her place where she put on her seatbelt.

Taichi knew the plane was starting to loose altitude when his ears started being pressed. He chewed on his gum, clearing the hearing canals as he did. A little trick a friend had taught him. Through the window, the city was becoming closer and closer and as it did, he could see it with more details. He could even distinguish the cars and people in the streets. It was always a beautiful landscape, no matter how many times you fly over a city, to see it from above in the night; everything else black as pitch and then, slowly as they approach, the light of the night city becoming visible. He couldn't quite get it how people had ever survived without light.

His contemplation was interrupted by the shake caused by the contact of the plane's landing gear with the track. It was finally over. He had landed safely and without another earache like last time he had got on a plane. Of course last time it had been to Russia and it was wind and rain. He had considered it a miracle they could land without much trouble that day.

The lights with the tighten belt and the cross over the cigarette disappeared as the plane slowly directed himself to its place. Some passengers started taking their bags and cases from the compartments above their seats, but the brown haired remained calmly sat on his place, waiting for the airplane to come to a complete halt.

He crossed with relative familiarity the path that took him to the luggage picking place. After all, airports were basically the same and after a few rides you get used to their organization. The place was already filled with people, but Taichi could see that the luggage had yet not started to be distributed. The rolling carpet, however was already working. The brown haired approached and placed himself on the beginning of the rolling carpet, assuring that way that no one would, by mistake, take his suitcase. It had happened to him before and it was a real pain in the ass.

The first thing rolling in front of him was a big suitcase in shades of bright pink that immediately made him think of Mimi. He watched as a woman picked it up. She, however, had nothing to do with Mimi. Her long blue painted hair with pink stripes fell over her astonishing revealing pink shirt, which neckline showed her black bra. Her eyes were covered by way too much make-up and she wore high heeled boots that gave her a slosh walking.

Taichi turned his attention to the suitcases again. Some had already crossed his path but none of them was its. It was amazing how suitcases matched most of their owners. There was a black suitcase made of a strong plastic that belonged to a tall black suited man, whom carried it with ease through the corridor; or the small red case that belonged to a well dressed lady in a pair of glasses with thick red hoops. There was also a small girl accompanied by her parents that had some difficulty taking it off the rolling carpet, having to be helped by her mother that quickly retrieved the suitcase before it disappeared on the other end.

Suitcases came and went as all the people around him. Nevertheless, none of them was his. He started worrying when he noticed there were only other three people in the large saloon with him. One of them left with a blue suitcase, the last coming in the rolling carpet, leaving him and another man staring at the empty place, wandering where their bags were.

The brown haired sighed and immediately directed to the costumed balcony to get his explanations. So far, he had already lost his luggage for four times, which was good, considering he would carry it in airplane voyages every month. Only once had he not been able to recover it while at the hotel. When he did recover it, it had stamps from the five continents.

One hour and thousands of explanations among excuses, he had recovered his suitcase. It had been misplaced, as the company representative had brightly put it, to the New York/Tokyo connection. Fortunately, he had complained in time, otherwise, his suitcase would have returned to Tokyo.

His yawn was interrupted by a shiver as the cold of the night made contact with his unprepared skin. Now he still had to catch a cab. Fortunately, cabs were abundant in New York. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one looking for one. There were a bunch of people entering to the cabs parked in front of the airport's entrance. One by one they all left, leaving Taichi and some other people waiting.

From between the small crowd, something got his attention. There was a woman with a medium sized sportive bag over her shoulder that didn't combine with her outfit one bit. She wore a short blue skirt with a matching shirt. His eyes glued on her legs for a while. She had beautiful legs. But as he eyed her from bottom to top, something else stole his glare. Her hair was of a familiar shade of auburn, braid and partially covered by a small blue hat that fit it perfectly.

Unaware to himself he had started approaching the strange woman that seemed so familiar, nevertheless. She looked like…but she couldn't be, could she? No, it was just a coincidence. It couldn't be her. However, her hair was exactly the same colour. He was sure of that. That woman had the exact same colour of Sora's hair.

A cab stopped in front of her. Glancing around making sure that she wasn't passing anyone's turn, she opened the door and quickly shoved her bag inside and entered without delay. As she did, she glanced back again. For a moment, she could have sworn she had seen a familiar shade of brown between the crowds. Nevertheless, she was tired and it hadn't been the first time that she had seen that familiar hair, that face appearing to her. But every time she looked back, he wasn't there anymore. So this time she didn't.

The trip home was quite. She had been lucky to get an old man for driver. He listened to his music and didn't do many questions. When they arrived, she paid him and the man left without a word.

Sora sighed with happiness and tiredness as she turned the key on the lock and entered as quietly as she could. The noise of the television quickly filled her ears. She put down her bag and walked to the living-room where she found Mimi sleeping with the television on. There was an action and comedy movie on and apparently not even that had managed to keep Mimi awake.

The auburn haired bent slightly and kissed the girl's forehead, pushing the small blanket over Mimi's shoulders. Then she proceeded to the bedrooms.

"Is this time to arrive?" Mimi's sleepy voice made her turn. The woman was sitting and suppressing a yawn. Sora smiled as she tiptoed back to her side.

"I thought you were asleep." She said. Mimi yawned again and stood.

"I was, but your kiss woke me from my beauty sleep." she replied. "How was your trip?"

"Good, considering the half hour delay." Sora complained. "Is Ai asleep?"

Mimi passed by Sora and walked to the kitchen to get a cup of water. "Yeah, but she's in your bed." She informed with a smile. The auburn haired smiled back.

"Thanks. I'm going to bed then. I'm dead tired." She suppressed a yawn. "Good night."

Mimi said good night back and entered her own bedroom.

Sora tiptoed into her bedroom. A small figure lied curled in the sheets and blankets over her bed, her wild hair across the pillows. Sora smiled. She looked like an angel, sleeping so peacefully. And it was. She was her angel. She couldn't keep herself from bending and kissing the girl's smooth skin. With quick and quite movements, the auburn haired put on her pyjama's and softly slid into the bed, adjusting the sheets and covers in order to cover herself and her child. The girl smiled as she curled near the warmness that had joined her in the sheets.

"Welcome mommy." She said, her eyes still closed, as she put her small hand over Sora. The woman pushed the girl closer and kissed her. The girl's eyes opened for a moment, a smile crossing her lips. But she quickly returned to her sleep as Sora softly caressed her in her arms.

Well, how did I go? Don't forget to review.

Thanks to Anubis24 and DarkMetalAngel of Destruction for reviewing chap2. It was a girl indeed Anubis24, but just because I think girls are more sweet and woukld serve the purpose better. Of course that if it was a boy he wouldn't be a copy of Taichi. He would have Sora's eyes, just like Ai.

Thanks everyone and I'll update as soon as I can...hopefully before Christmas because by then I won't be at home and therefore won't have a computer to post the chappie.

Sayonara, minna...and if we don't talk before...Merry Christmas