Unsuspected

By

Marie Darkholme

Chapter Seven – Lost

The morning rose rather dark, drops of rain threatening to fall at any moment. Sora straitened her daughter's raincoat, making sure she was as cover as she could get. The girl smiled in her blue raincoat and boots, her hair combed into two breads, each at each side of her head. She picked her little umbrella with Winnie Pooh and her backpack and prepared to go to school.

Mimi finished combing her hair. She was dressed in a long pink coat with a short skirt and boots. She exited the bathroom, just in time to see Sora stuffing Ai's lunch into her backpack and preparing to leave.

"Are you leaving already?" she asked. The auburn haired nodded, a piece of bread in her mouth. She wore black pants with a beige wool sweater and her own raincoat. The final touch was her black hat, covering half her hair, which was strapped at the right side by a black ribbon and at the end by a beige ribbon.

"Are you coming with us?" Sora asked, eating the rest of her bread and picking her car keys.

"No, I'll meet you there." The pink streaked haired replied.

Ai ran to the door. "I'm going, mommy. Bye Aunt Mimi." and she was already gone before Sora could say whatever. She waved Mimi goodbye and exited, closing the door after her.

She found Ai waiting by the car parked in front of the building, her umbrella opened, receiving the raindrops that had finally started to fall again. The auburn haired smiled as she watched what looked like a memory of herself twirling in the rain. For moments, it was like she was back in the past, watching herself. Unfortunately she was quickly brought to reality by a loud horn.

Opening the car's door, she adjusted Ai in her chair and then climbed to the driver's seat and put on her seatbelt. She looked into the clock displayed in the small monitor in front of the steering wheel. She was minutes late, and arriving at school in time would require some shortcuts and expert driving.

Mimi watched herself in the mirror. Her eyes were swollen from not getting enough sleep the night before. She applied some makeup to cover it up. Still, nothing could cover her worries. They were clearly displayed in her face. Questions dwelled in her mind. Sora had been quite clear about the possibility of telling Taichi the truth, or seeing him again, ever…still, she knew that behind that mask of insensibility before the matter Taichi, Sora herself was dwelling between the fear and the long for him.

She sighed. There was still time. She walked to her room and picked her purse, neglecting the fact that she had left her cell behind. Then, picking her car keys, she too exited to her work, acknowledging Sora was going to be late today.

He twisted in his bed, turning on his other side. The light had entered through the curtains of his hotel room and made contact with his eyes, awakening him from his slumber. The rain was falling harder than the night before, but at the moment, he didn't care. Today there were no more compromises, or the next two days. Everything was set for the offices they would buy in the large business building. It was just wait for the contract and sign it.

Languidly he rose from the bed, still dressed in his previous' night clothes. The night had been complicated to go by, with so many thoughts haunting him. And thought he had been asleep during the entire night, he was still feeling tired. Mainly, because he hadn't been quite asleep, but in a state between awake and asleep.

He slowly took off his clothes as he walked to the bathroom and put the water running, filling the tub. He watched himself in the mirror. He felt old, even thought he knew he wasn't. In fact, he was quite young still. Yet, he couldn't help feeling old and alone. The image of Sora popped into his mind.

He walked into the tub and allowed himself to relax as he felt the warm water covering his body and washing away his thoughts. His hair slowly began to soak with water, and he felt his head heavier. He closed his eyes and leaned his head on the border of the tub, relaxing his muscles. It felt so good to just lay there, thoughtless.

The school was filled with parents dropping their children off. Ai sweetly kissed her goodbye and quickly joined her classmates, talking about their own issues and quietly walking to the classroom. The woman stared at her daughter for a while, her hands on the wheel. At that moment, she tried to convince herself once again that she was making the right decision. The right decision was not to tell Taichi and allow him to have a careless life with Sakura, even if that hurt her. At least, she had her daughter. But if she told him, she was sure she would loose Ai to him, and that she couldn't allow.

She started her way to her work, avoiding some traffic on the main streets by taking shortcuts. Nevertheless, that didn't keep her from being kept in the morning traffic. She slightly cursed herself for having left late. There was an accident directly in front of her and there were no more shortcuts to take, since the building where she worked was one road ahead. But she couldn't just leave the car in the middle of the street, she had her own private place on the subterranean park.

Knowing she was going to be late for the first time in a long time, she turned to her side and retrieved her cell phone from her purse. She looked at it confused. There was something missing…she looked around, trying to find out what had she forgotten and whether it was important or not. Looking to the back seat, she noticed she had forgotten her case. Her large paste was not on the backseat as it should, and she didn't remember bringing it.

Cursing loudly, she quickly made a call to her secretary, explaining she was going to be very late. Unfortunately for her, she still had to wait until she could make a turn to go back home and pick her paste, since she couldn't reverse her march in the middle of the traffic.

Twenty minutes later she was back at her house. She opened the door and immediately spotted the case, quietly over the couch where she had put it, trying not to forget it. She sighed, entered and picked the large paste. She was about to go out the door again when a familiar ring brought her back in. apparently, Mimi had forgot her cell. She put down the case and quickly ran into Mimi's room. As she had thought, the cell phone was over the night table.

Without even thinking, she picked the cell and answered it.

"Hello?" she asked to the other side of the line, walking back to the door. As she waited for an answer, she walked to the door and closed it. Admired that no one answered her, she talked again. "Hello! Anyone there?" she could hear someone breathe on the other side of the line.

"Sora?" a confused voice replied.

The girl took the cell phone from her hear and looked at the small screen. There was no name to the number displayed. "Who is this?" she asked. "Mimi forgot her cell, do you wish to leave a message?"

"It's Taichi here, Sora…"

Taichi waited silently, holding his breathe, waiting for Sora to say something, expecting her to hang off. But she didn't. He noticed by the time it took her to reply that she was surprised.

"Hmm…hi…you wanna talk with Mimi? She's not here, but I can tell her to call you later…"she quickly said.

The brown haired couldn't help a smile. "No, there's no need. Actually, I wanted to talk with you…but since I don't have your number…" he implied.

"Oh…well…what do you want?" he could feel her awkwardness on the other side of the line.

"I wanted to ask you out." He said, closing his eyes and waiting for her reaction.

Sora smiled at his words but at the same time, the sad thought that he was married crossed her mind. Feeling suddenly enraged, she hang off the phone and stuffed it into her purse, trying to quickly forget about the conversation.

However, she couldn't. As she walked into her car, other thoughts crossed her mind and regret stroked her. She should have ended the conversation, asked his reasons, called him names, but never hung off. It surely was weird that he would ask something like that. She had surely misunderstood, or maybe, he just wanted to hang out as friends, talk about the old times…but the fear hit her again. He could want to ask her about Ai…

She tried to clear her mind as she drove but it turned out to be a difficult task to accomplish. All she could think about was Taichi. The brown haired was infiltrating her head and there was nothing she could do about it…or was it?

Mimi had everything planned. She was surprised that Sora had taken the all calling situation so well. When she arrived at work later that morning, she simply handed Mimi the phone, saying Taichi had called. She hadn't said anything else about it, even though by her face, the pink haired could tell the conversation had gone smoothly.

Nevertheless, it was weekend, and like she had promised Taichi, she would manage a way to put the two of them in a room alone again. She had managed to assure that Sora would stay at home while she left to shop during the afternoon of that Saturday. While she left, Taichi would show up and they would eventually have to talk. To finish things off, Ai was in a party of a friend till four o'clock. She had been slightly admired by the absence of an argument. Maybe Sora was already planning on spending the afternoon at home.

At the marked hour, Mimi left, leaving the way for Taichi. He would arrive half an hour after she had left, trying to make the date as casual as possible.

"I'm leaving." She informed. Sora was lying on the couch watching a movie and simply mumbled something that looked like an okay.

Taichi watched himself in the mirror. He was wearing casual clothes: jeans, a shirt and his raincoat. He struggled with his nerves as he walked through the streets, following the instructions Mimi had gave him. Mostly, he didn't need them, since he had always been very good in orienting himself and had already memorized the way to their house. The instructions were more to assure him that he wouldn't ring the wrong bell in the wrong building.

He watched the skies above him, the clouds travelling between the various buildings of New York's city. Lately all the days were rainy, but something in the air seemed to send shivers down his spines as he walked, a strange feeling travelling through him.

Reaching the familiar building, he straightened himself and pushed the door of the entrance, after marking the numbers of the code that opened the door. He didn't want Sora to leave him outside, blocking any chance of face to face contact.

He waited impatiently as the elevator came down and then ascended to the right floor, twisting nervously his fingers. He had cursed himself by the last idea. Asking Sora out like that had certainly not been a very good idea. He distrusted that there was more to her attitude than simply ignoring him.

Taichi stood at the door and took a deep breath before ringing the bell. He waited, his heart pounding uncontrollably in his chest. It wouldn't be long, he was sure, until he could quite down. He was sure that he would solve all the mysteries and problems once he was face to face with Sora again. He would tell her how important she was to him and how he loved her, and she wouldn't be afraid anymore.

A strange feeling travelled through him again as he rang the bell a second time. He waited and still there was no answer. He rang a third and fourth and fifth time, still with no answer. By then, the nerves had turned into preoccupation. Wasn't Sora home or was something happening? Why didn't she open the door?

He tried to listen to any sound coming from inside, but everything was silent. There were no sounds except for the cars outside and his pounding heart. He began to worry. Picking his cell phone he quickly searched Mimi's number. The pink streaked haired was quick to answer, a hint of worry in her voice.

"What is it?"

"Are you sure Sora's home?" he asked. Mimi could feel his voice shaking.

"She said she was going to be home all day. I was going to pick up Ai at half past five, so you could have your time with her." she answered, realising immediately that something was wrong. Suddenly, everything that had happened, things to which she had given little importance started having a bigger dimension. "Are you sure there's no one home?" she asked, praying for her suspicions to be wrong.

"Yes. I've rung like a thousand times and there's no sound coming from the inside."

It took Mimi fifteen minutes to drive all the way back from the mall to her apartment again. There, she found Taichi waiting at the door, his face pale. She passed by him without a word and opened the door. She could feel her throat drying as she opened the door to Sora's room and found some things were gone. Taichi followed her. He gasped.

Mimi opened the closet to find it empty. Ai's books, clothes and some toys were gone as well. The girl felt her legs failing her. Slowly, she walked to the living room and sat on the couch. Her friend was gone…and it was her fault. She sank her head in her hands as tears started rolling down her face.

Taichi was shocked as well, searching desperately for any signs that that would be just a joke. Instead, he found another proof of the veracity of the situation. Sora was really gone. He had lost her. There was a letter over Mimi's bed. He picked it up and started reading it.

Dear Mimi:

I'm sorry to leave like this after so many years. However, I feel obliged to do it. I won't tell you where I'm going, because I know you would tell Taichi and I don't want him to find me or Ai. Don't worry about us, we'll be alright where we're going.

We'll send an e-mail when we arrive.

Love ya, Sora.

Taichi read the letter over and over, still not believing what was happening. He walked to the living-room. There was something missing. How could they have just missed her by half an hour? Where could she have gone in such a short period of time?

"Mimi…" he handed her the letter and waited as she read it.

"It's my entire fault…" the girl murmured. "I should have never brought you back…then Sora wouldn't have left…"

Taichi stared at the ceiling. "Have you no idea to where she's going? She couldn't have gone to far…there's always traffic and I don't think she would stay in the States…" and it was then that he remembered it. The something that was missing, that small memory… She totally rocked the place with her child collection. She was even invited to go to Paris and work there. Her collection was a tremendous success.

Without thinking twice, he took Mimi's car keys that were just over the table in front of her and exited the building. Mimi only heard her red coupe's tires skidding outside and then the car accelerating.

I know, I know, you were expecting some more romance...well, you'll have to wait because I really couldn't just bring them together like that... well, hope you've like the chapter thought. I'll be finished in the next one. Sorry Sonicmixfr...

Thanks to all the usual reviewers and new:

unknow

Sonicmixfr - this was supposed to be a short story and my lust for details brought to eight chapters. I know I could develop it a little better, but the truth is that I prefer it to stay like this. It was supposed to be a simple plot...

DarkMetalAngel of Destruction - well, about the Destruction part, I agree, but Angels tend to be emotional don't they? Just joking, I don't want my throat cut...but you were the one who said and I transcribe: "I want Ai to have her daddy back. sniffs sniffs." I think that's being emotional, don't you? But, because I don't want you stop reading my stories or kill me, I'll say this: no, you're not emotional, you're very tough

Anubis24 - yup you got that right.

So, don't forget that I'm still looking for an editor who can tell me how many mistakes I have for pargraph and actually point them out to me, so I can improve my english..

Ja ne...