A.N.- Yes, yes. Long time. I know. I finally forced myself to sit down and finish it. This is my first day off in five days, so even though I'm tired, I wrote just for you guys. Hope you guys like it!

Patching Holes

Tai waited in the shadows by a classroom, watching as students milled around, heading toward their usual lunch areas. Tai's stomach grumbled, and even though Tai was usually never one to pass up a meal, this was much more important. Finally, the halls were empty, except for a few girls walking toward the classroom he was watching. Three girls went into the room, not seeing Tai, but the last spotted him and stopped.

"Tachikawa? What's wrong?" one of the girls asked.

"Nothing. I forgot my book in my locker. I'll be back in a while," Mimi replied and shut the door. She walked up to Tai, a small smile gracing her face.

"Hi!" she started, but stopped at the grim look on his face. "What happened to make you angry?"

"Why did you ignore Sora today? I thought you were helping me!" Tai exclaimed.

Mimi looked perplexed. "Sora tried talking to me today? I didn't hear her call to me..." A look of understanding passed over her face. "She was still probably calling me 'Tachikawa'. I just tune that out since people never stop saying it. I would have talked to her if I had heard her..."

Tai sighed and nodded. "This is difficult, Mimi. I thought there was some progress yesterday, but today everything is the same."

Mimi looked thoughtful. "Sometimes things need to be taken one step at a time. We are not a group of emotionally normal teens, Tai. I think you need to patch the individual holes to heal the whole."

Tai shook his head. "Can you explain that in normal terms?"

Mimi smiled lightly. "One person at a time, Tai. They need your help, so give it to them." Mimi watched Tai, who seemed lost on how to start helping one, none the less all of his friends, with personal issues. "Don't worry, I'll help, and so will Kari."

Tai nodded and led Mimi to where they could find Kari. Tai mentally sighed as they walked. Patience was not one of his strong points, and he had a feeling that this was going to need a lot of it.

"You seem nervous about something," Sora volunteered later that day as they stretched for gym class. Tai kept glancing over his shoulder, but when Sora spoke, he turned his attention to her.

"I'm not nervous about anything," Tai protested, stretching his arms high as they sat in the sun. Sora rolled her eyes.

"Then why do you keep watching the juniors playing tennis over there?" she asked, nodding the tennis courts behind Tai. He grinned sheepishly.

"I have a little plan in action," he said simply.

"This isn't going to turn out good, is it?"

"What are you implying?" Tai said indignantly.

"Tai, you speak for yourself," Sora sighed, turning to watch what disaster was forming on the tennis courts a few yards away.

"Tachikawa, who do you pick as you partner?"

Mimi pretended to consider the wide selection of guys in front of her, many who looked like they would do anything to be partnered with her. All, actually, except for one, who looked like he would just like to be anywhere except on a court being forced to go through the embarrassing ritual of picking teams.

Mimi gave an uncharacteristic smile and pointed to the lone teen. "Koushirou, ma'am."

Everyone turned in shock to Koushirou, who looked just as shocked as the rest. Mimi simply picked up her racked and walked up to him, linking their arms then pulling him to a court.

"Um, Tachikawa..." Koushirou started.

"Uh-uh," Mimi interrupted, shaking her finger at him. "We are partners now, so you can call Mimi. Or how about Mimi-chan!" she said excitedly, clapping her hands.

Koushirou some how managed to pale and blush at the same time.

"Okay then, Mimi...chan, I-" Koushirou began again, but was interrupted by Mimi.

"But you need a nickname too! How about...Koushi!" she exclaimed.

"No," Koushirou said evenly.

Mimi pretended to pout. "You can't pick you own nickname! I know, I'll call you Izzy! And no complaints!" Mimi said cheerfully, and then ran to take her place as the other two teens they were playing took their spots too.

A flustered Koushirou, who obviously accepted the fact he was stuck with the nickname, switched topics back to his previous complaint. "Mimi...chan, I can't play tennis. At all. Or any sport for that matter. My friends are the athletes, not me."

Mimi turned and smiled. "I know, I can't play at all either. That's why we will make an excellent team!"

After two games, it was obvious that they weren't an excellent team, but the two of them were evenly matched in the disability to play tennis. They hadn't scored one point, and Mimi hadn't hit the ball.

"See, Izzy? We are good partners, right? We play the same," Mimi explained as they rested between a game. Koushirou shook his head in exasperation.

"Just try and hit the ball this game, okay?" Koushirou told her as they took their spots again.

"Gottcha, Izz!" she yelled, giving him the thumbs up.

The other team served, and a determined Mimi ran up to the ball and swung as hard as she could. It would have worked, if the racket hadn't slipped from her hand and hit Koushirou hard in the head.

"I'm sorry! Are you alright?" Mimi asked as she walked up to him. He just shoved the racket back into her hands. Mimi smiled apologetically, but he stalked back to his position.

Once he had turned, Mimi frowned to herself, and tightened her grip on her racket.

Mimi turn to serve had come up, and she was doing all right, but they were weak and the other team was hitting them easily.

"You have to hit it a little harder this time, okay?" Koushirou told her. Mimi nodded enthusiastically.

She threw the ball up high, and hit it with all of her might. It was fast, but unfortunately it never made it to the other side of the court, as the back of Koushirou's head had stopped it.

Mimi yelped and ran over to him. Other students were watching the scene with curiosity. The two familiar figures of Tai and Sora suddenly appeared beside Mimi and the obviously unconscious Koushirou.

"You had to knock him unconscious?" Tai whispered to Mimi.

"The first time I let the racket hit his head, it didn't hurt him enough! It will be easier to get him to the nurse's office this way, anyway," Mimi explained.

Sora watched both of them with an odd look on her face, but all three of them finally lifted Koushirou and headed toward the school.

"What happened to me?" Koushirou asked as he groggily sat up.

"NO! Don't move!" Jyou yelled and darted forward. He started examining Koushirou and asking him how he felt, ordering Tai to find some more ice for his head.

"Shouldn't the school nurse be doing this?" Sora asked from her place by the door.

"She's sick today, so I decided I could cover, since it would only be small things, but now this! What if he has a concussion, or brain damage? What if needs an MRI, and we need to bring him to the hospital? I'm not qualified to handle this!" Jyou said in one breath.

Tai put the ice bag to Koushirou's head and then directed his attention to Jyou. "You need to have more confidence in yourself. You are doing fine."

Koushirou rubbed his eyes and Mimi stepped forward. "Is there anything I can do for you? I feel so bad. We were partners, and I knocked you out! Really if there is anything I can do, Izzy-"

"Stop calling me that!" he shouted in frustration. Everyone backed up at the outburst.

"But...it's your nickname!" Mimi said, blinking innocently.

"It's not! It...shouldn't be," he replied.

"Why not? Your father will be so proud when he hears that!" a voice spoke up from the door.

"Mom?" Koushirou said in surprise as she walked next to him.

"I came as soon as I heard. Tai called me. You seem to be recovering nicely," she said, checking his head.

"What did you mean about Dad?"

"What? Oh, well, his friends used to call him Izzy when he was younger, and he'll be so excited that the tradition is continuing with his own son! And you know he is so proud of you too," she said as she beamed at Koushirou.

"He...won't mind?" Koushirou asked, hopefully.

"Of course! You are our son, after all.

Koushirou smiled happily, as if a huge weight had been lifted from his thoughts. Mrs. Izumi helped Koushirou up and walked him to the door, but stopped to talk to Jyou.

"Thank you so much for taking care of him. I'm so impressed that the school has such a good physician looking after the students!"

Jyou blushed and nodded thanks. Tai looked over to Mimi, and she winked at him. The two of them and Sora said goodbye to Jyou and left.

"You two planned that, didn't you? For Jyou, and for Koushirou," Sora said.

"Maybe," Tai said, grinning. He turned to Mimi, "You were acting a little out of character."

She smiled vaguely, having reverted back to her stoic self. "I like to mix it up every once in a while. It gets boring to act perfect all the time," she said softly, but then quickly waved and slipped into her classroom before they could stop her.

"I don't understand her," Sora said, shaking her head.

"Neither do I," Tai replied, shaking his head. "Neither do I."

"Miyako, I need your help with something," Tai explained as he approached her after school.

She looked shocked. "With what?"

"Well, you are really close with Iori, and he seems a little preoccupied with family issues, and I thought you might know what to do to help him."

Miyako shrugged. "His dad died a few years back, and he really loved him. I guess he still feels hurt... I could talk to him, if you want me to."

"That would be great. I knew I could count on you, Miyako," Tai said.

She smiled nicely, like he had really surprised her, and said goodbye. Kari, who had been watching from a distance, came up to her brother.

"So, what did I just accomplish?" he asked her.

"Iori just needs to sort out some feelings about his dad with someone, and Miyako will do it. Miyako, since she came from a large family, just wants people to like her as and individual, and by asking for her help alone, she feels like she is recognized."

"It just seems to easy," Tai said shaking his head.

"Some people have deeper wounds then others. Theirs weren't that bad."

Tai nodded as they head out of school and back home. There was still so much to work out with the other digidestined. Not for the first time in the past days, Tai took a moment to appreciate how much the digital world had done for them.

He also wondered if his real friends had ever totally healed, or if they still had unhealed wounds hidden deep from his gaze.

He wondered if he would ever get home to find out.

AN- Muwahahahahahahahah! I hope this one didn't seem really weird. Because if you think about it, this whole story has been really odd, and I'm really surprised people like it so much. Interesting...

Anyway, 10 points to anyone who can guess who's gonna be helped in the next chapter (Hint: Its more than one person...) There's kinda of a theme to it to, so an extra 5 points to anyone who can guess that too. Or don't. I'm just trying to amuse myself...

Thanks to everyone that reviewed:

painin uranus- You really were the one to push me to update. I'm glad you like the story and hope you enjoyed your new

chapter!

Reluctant Dragon

BenignUser- Yes, I feel for my adorable Taichi too... The note? Yes, the note will be very telling...

mirai3k- Yes! Another to add to my Tai-looks-like-a-palm-tree-fan-club!

Kawaii Kitsune Cub

digimon-Taiora

ghikiJ

hair-like-a-poodle

Mew Yukari

Andrain John- Hehehe! Yeah, my friends were all very into that "teenage act" when we were in high school, so I got a lot of first

had experience with it.

Aimee

KoumiLoccness

ryuu-takahashi- Oh, jeeze...I don't hate you! I don't hate anyone! Please keep reviewing! (puppy dog eyes)

Fruitloop Trooper

Strawberry'd

Marie Darkholme

irish vampire- Yeah, I did it based on friendships. Taichi's thinking was that since they were best friends in his world, that they

might have natural chemistry in this one too.