Lovely Complex
by deina-kun

Disclaimer: Characters are the creation of Akiyoshi Hongo. The fanfiction is an based on Nakahara Aya's Lovely Complex.

The Prince asked the Princess if he could walk her home...

Step 02.

"Yes, jerk?" Mimi asked flatly, looking sharply into his blue eyes to find any trace of ulterior motives he might have.

Yamato's grinning face spasmed into a frown and he turned away. "Just shut up and follow me!" He turned and walked at a seemingly fast pace to the location where their apartment was from the Academy.

Mimi glared at him, letting his rude attitude get to her, but as he was rounding the corner, she quickly went after him, not wanting to be left behind. 'This is so unromantic.. but who would be stupid enough to think that while walking home with him. Jerk.'

The two of them found themselves at the nearby McDonalds, sitting away from the crowd in order to avoid any of their classmates seeing them together in public. Mimi groaned as she drank her root beer, asking in between her sips while Yamato scarfed down his burgers and fries. Her eyes narrowed. "Why do I have to be with you even after school anyways? And your table etiquette sucks."

"Because I can't tell you what I'm to say if we're at school." he replied, taking a sip from his soda.

Mimi's brow furrowed. "So what is it?"

"You..." Yamato began as he had a French fry dangling from his mouth like a cigarette. "...like Taichi-kun, don't you?"

Mimi choked on her drink and caused some of her root beer to spill over the table. "How... How did you know!" she glared at him wide-eyed as she frantically wiped the table of the root beer. Her hair stood on end and the pitch of her voice raised in surprise.

Yamato grinned with his victory and leaned back into his seat. "I can tell just by looking at you."

'How did he find out?' Mimi stared at him in anger as her cheeks blushed wildly red. Her lips quivered as she spoke, "Are you going to threaten me for money now?"

"Of course not." Yamato sat up in his seat and took a French fry between his fingers, holding it like a cigarette while a sly look spread across is eyes. "I'm a much better person than that."

"I'm best friends with Taichi. Maybe I can get you two together." Yamato took a sip of his drink.

"Eh? Really!" his proposal caused her to subconsciously stand up in suprise, anticipating his response.

He took another sip. "Yes, I'm serious."

The growing anticipation exploded into a frenzy of overjoyment, and a sparkle in Mimi's eyes could be seen. She ran over to his side and hugged him around the neck, forgetting her hatred of him before that point. "Okay then!" My treat! What do you want? Hamburger? Friend rice? Or Value Meal?"

"Value Meal!" Yamato replied. "And also!"

"And?" Mimi asked him with a sweet smile as she had her arms still wrapped around his neck.

"And," his eyes lost their cheeriness and grew cold. "get off of me."

Mimi's whole body froze when she realized the position that they were in. She quickly removed her hands and stood up to walk back to her seat, but Yamato continued. "I also want Takenouchi-san."

'Huh!'

"Eh? This Sunday?" Sora blinked at Mimi with curiosity as her hand paused in between her flower arranging. "Yes, I'm free..."

"Really?" Mimi's face brightened up. She clasped her hands together in excitement. "Since it's such a great opportunity, let's go to the pool together!"

A wide grin spread across her face. "Miyako-chan and her boyfriend Ken-kun are going too!"

"Me too!" Miyako squealed in excitement. She was going through her bag trying to decide on which bathing suit to wear at the pool.

"Oh! Sounds like fun!" Sora smiled amid all the cheery faces.

Mimi took Sora's hands in her's and looked pleadingly into her friend's eyes. "Then, it's okay if I bring some other friends of mine, right?"

"Sure, the more the merrier."

Yamato caught up with Taichi before he ran off to his soccer practice that Friday after school. "Taichi!"

The soccer ace stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned to face his friend. He took off the microphone that was in his ear. "Hey, what's up, Yamato?"

"Wanna go to the pool with me tomorrow?" Yamato asked with a wide grin on his face.

Taichi looked at him, wondering if he meant going on a 'date' with him. "Hm... Sure..."

"Sorry to make you wait!" Mimi apologized as she lightly jogged over to the group. She kept a bright grin in between slight gasps of air.

Yamato scoffed. "You're late!"

"let's go! Let's go!" Miyako chirped in excitement as she tugged on Ken's arm.

'However...' Mimi cupper her hand to the side of her face to block the other from hearing, "I never would've thought you would like Sora-chan."

Yamato groaned. "Idiot! She's cute! I've been interested in her for a long time."

"Oh---" Mimi detached herself from her bickering with Yamato and glanced over at Sora, 'It's true. Even to a girl like me she does look cute...'

"But there's something that might be an obstacle for you..." Mimi said when she stopped walking. Yamato stopped as well as her response had piqued his curiosity and aggravation.

"Why would that be?"

"Sora-chan doesn't like being around guys." Mimi stood with a straight face recalling the years in junior high.

Yamato raised an eyebrow. "Really now?"

"Look," Mimi turned her head in the direction of the others, "she looks uncomfortable with all of the other guys here."

"If you think about it, it's cute." Yamato replied with a grin on his face. He turned to Mimi with an undeniable determination in his eyes. "So what if she dislikes guys? I'll cure her from it."

"You're not convincing at all..." Mimi watched with a straight face as Yamato coolly walked away.

After a few steps away from Mimi, Yamato turned around to face Mimi again, "Tachikawa, you'd better catch up with Taichi! He has the 'What am I doing here' expression on his face."

"Wah!"

"And he doesn't have a girlfriend, either!" Yamato continued with sly enjoyment ringing in his voice everytime he teased his female rival.

"You sure?" Mimi blinked and furrowed her brow to make her disbelief apparent to Yamato.

Yamato closed the space between them and looked straight into her eyes with this convincing all-knowing, "Yeah, so the rest is up to you now."

"You have to do your best as well!" Mimi gave him a sweet smile and felt herself more confident than before.

Not far away, their friends watched as the Royal Couple were smiling an laughing together. "Those two look awfully happy."

"Yeah, they seem to be on good terms with each other." Sora replied, giving Taichi a soft smile.

'If it's like this, I have to put more effort into it!' Mimi smiled as she thought to herself, glancing every direction at all of the things the pool had. Her glances paused at the blonde-haired boy and she smiled, 'Yamato, thank you!'

The group paused. Taichi and Sora's eyes lit up. "It's the pool!"

(A/N: In Japan, the 'pool' is like a water amusement park. Especially in Odaiba, Tokyo, there wasn't enough room among all of the apartmentees to have their own personal pools, so water amusement parks were their pools.)

"Yeah, we can see it..." Yamato said bluntly, but he smiled at Sora's smiling face.

"Are you that happy?" Mimi asked blinking her eyes in wonder.

Miyako grabbed Ken's arm. "I'm happy!"

Sora crouched down to her knees and looked at her reflection over the side of the pool. "I haven't been here for over a year now!"

"Me too! Me too!" Taichi bounced in excitement and jumped over the edge, causing a large spray of water to deluge on his friends.

"Kya! This feel great!" Sora exclaimed after surfacing to the water. Taichi had pulled her in with her.

Taichi laughed as he splashed water around. "You can't even compare the school pool to this! This is so much better!"

At the edge of the pool, the group looked down at them with blank faces. Taichi and Sora blinked at one another in realization and grew silent. Yamato gave Mimi a poke in the arm and whispered loudly in her ear. "This isn't the time for you to stand around! Get over there!"

Hearing these words, Mimi's eyes burned with anger. "Yeah, like you didn't! What about you!"

"Hmph!" Mimi walked over to where Taichi was climbing up the ladder on the side of the pool. She held an inner tube in her hand and was motioning to give it to him. "Ta... Taichi-kun. Do you want to go to that pool over there?"

He gave her a smile. "Sure!"

They began walking over to the pool she pointed out, but Mimi was trailing slowly behind, lugging the inner tube with her. Taichi noticed a reasonable distance between them and gave a short laugh. "Mimi you're slow!"

"I'm sorry..!" she apologized as she continued trailing behind.

Taichi continued, "I wouldn't have come if you wanted to stay with Yamato the whole time."

With this, Mimi paused and blinked at him in bewilderment. "What do you mean?"

"It's amusing watching the two of you."

Mimi's eyebrow raised. "Amusing?"

"Are you and Yamato going out behind my back?"

"We're not!" Mimi shrieked at the impossibility.

Taichi narrowed his eyes and grinned. "Oh, really?..."

They made it to the pool and stood in the water next to each other. "Taichi-kun, did you have to attend summer classes because of low grades?"

"No, I didn't feel that well on the day of the exam so I had to stay home."

"Oh, so that's how it is..."

"Yeah."

'I have to say something! Say something! What should I say!' Mimi's face began to grow red as she panicked in the silence. "Ah... That... Um..."

Taichi blinked, unable to understand where she was going in the conversation. "Huh?"

'I don't know what to talk about!' Mimi bit her lip in despair. In her mental frenzy, she didn't realize an object making its way to her at fast speed and was snapped out of her contemplation when a beach ball hit her head. "Ouch!"

"Are you having fun?"

Mimi shook her head of the slight daze and realized that Yamato was standing a few feet in front of her with Sora smiling next to him. She let out of a sigh of relief and smiled, 'Yamato!..'

"Let's play ball together, the four of us!" Taichi exclaimed as the splashed his way through the water to get the ball.

Yamato furrowed his brow at the suggestion, "Wouldn't it be more fun to play inside?"

Mimi felt herself twitch and took Yamato to the side. "Hey, what's up with the 'more fun inside'? How are we supposed to keep playing when you say it like that?"

Yamato's stood a little dumbfounded, but his eyes grew narrow and he clenched his teeth in a snarl, "But I had no idea what to say!"

"Don't act all spontaneous!"

"What!" Yamato's face burned. As Mimi turned around to return to Taichi, Yamato took Mimi by surprise and took her underneath the water with him for a few seconds. When they surfaced, Mimi was coughing out water from the surprise.

"That hurt.." she glared at him miserably through her hair, stringy from the water.

Yamato smiled softly. "Okay! Let's have fun!"

Mimi blinked at him in surprise with his change of attitude and gave a weak smile as he turned to meet up with Sora once again. 'He's right!'

She began trailing behind him and just realized that some people were missing. "Oh yeah, where is Ken-kun and Miyako-chan?"

"The just left to ride that thing." Sora pointed behind her. "It looks like a water slide."

Yamato and Mimi stared blankly behind Sora. "Water... slide..." Ken and Miyako's screams could be heard as they rode in the water slide on their mini raft.

"That one was awesome!" Miyako squealed as she took a towel to dry her hair off. Ken was smiling happily at her side.

Taichi's face lit up. "Really?"

Sora turned. "Yamato, would you like to try it out?"

"Ehh.. I'll pass..." he looked at the water slide and shifted his glance to Miyako and Ken, noting their wet hair.

Sora frowned in dejection. "Oh? Really...?"

"What about Mimi-chan?" Taichi's voice chirped as he beamed with a wide smile, itching to ride the slide.

"I'm... also scared..." Mimi laughed weakly and hid behind the beach ball for protection.

"Oh..." Taichi frowned, but he quickly put on another smile as he put his hand out, waving the group good-bye. "Then I'll be away for a little while."

Sora waved as well. "We'll be right back!"

Yamato's expression stayed the same. "Sure."

"Oh... okay." Mimi returned their waves as their "dates" were running off together to play at the water slides.

Yamato's eyes glanced over to Mimi's, the expression on his face a shade darker than when he stared at the water slide in disbelief. Mimi perked at his glance and grew wide-eyed, finding his dark expression new to her and somewhat disturbing as if he had an intent for murder. "I didn't go to this pool to have a date with you."

Mimi's fear went away as she boiled in anger at his words. "What's that supposed to mean!"

"Exactly what it's supposed to, but I guess you're too light-headed to understand." he turned his back and began treading through to water to get back onto the walkway.

'So rude! I don't even know what I did to get him so mad! This pisses me off!' Mimi took the beach ball in her hands and threw it at him, striking him in the back.

The ball plopped onto the water as Yamato halted and slowly turned around. "Are you trying to pick a fight with me?.."

"Err.." Mimi bit her lip as she began to slowly take steps back.

Yamato took a few quick strides toward her. She began to run away from him, but he caught up and took a leap, dragging her into the water with him as she let out a squeal drowned out by the water.

'No! This is worse than earlier!' she panicked in her head as Yamato's weight seemed to pull her down. She only saw darkness as her eyes were tightly shut, and she lost her sense of direction with up and down.

A slight rush and she felt herself break the surface and a splash of water hit her hard. She coughed harder this time than earlier and opened her eyes, adjusting it to see Yamato with a smirk on his face. She whimpered, "You're so mean.."

"You're my competition, remember?" he scoffed and splashed more water her direction causing her to withdraw in protection. She glared at him when she regained her composure and returned him the challenge sending a splash his way, and they continued doing so until Sora returned.

"Sora, you're back!" Miyako waved to her. "Was it fun?"

"Yeah, it was totally awesome!" she smiled as she took a towel to dry off her hair. "What have you guys been up to?"

Miyako giggled at the question. She pointed to the pool in front of them. "Mmm.. watching Mimi and Yamato."

"They've been arguing the whole time, but it looks like they're enjoying themselves." Ken added.

"Hey, when did you two get this close, anyways? Did something happen?" Taichi's voice boomed through Mimi's and Yamato's fighting.

Yamato and Mimi paused at his words and they stared at each other in disbelief, realizing what they had been doing the whole time.

"It's all because of you!" Mimi snarled.

Yamato grew wide-eyed. "What!"

Mimi stormed back onto the walkway with Yamato following her to get back to the group. She tooked at Taichi. "Where did you go?"

"I got thirsty so I went to buy some juice. I bought some for you too." he smiled and offered his hand with the juice container.

Mimi blushed and gladly took the juice. "Taichi, sorry for the trouble!"

"Here. Is that one okay?" he asked her, unsure of what her favorite flavor was.

She smiled. "Yeah, thanks!"

The two of them sat to the side drinking their juice together while having a conversation. Mimi smiled cheerfully at Taichi as they talked and drank. 'Be myself! Be myself!'

"It was really fun back there!" Taichi laughed as he rubbed his nose with his finger.

Mimi turned her head to him in surprise. "It wasn't scary?"

"Not at all!"

"I see," she turned her attention to her juice bottle and watched it as she turned in between her hands. She took a breath in, "then, maybe I'll try it later!"

Taichi returned with a grin. "Yeah! Let's do it!"

'This feels totally right----!' Mimi smiled as she finally was moving somewhere in their "date." In front of her and Taichi, Yamato was sitting with Sora having a conversation of their own. 'Yamato looks like he's having a great time too!'

'Now that I think about it...' Mimi blinked. 'He actually managed to help Sora enjoy it here.'

Yamato and Sora began to laugh as Mimi continued to observe them. 'Yamato really is amazing..'

"Byebye!" Miyako waved cheerfully as she and Ken were walkind to the direction of their apartment.

"Sora-chan and Taichi-kun live in the same direction." Mimi stood waving good-bye with a hint of sadness in her voice as she watched them walk away together. "Will Sora-chan be okay?"

"Don't worry, Taichi isn't a bad person." Yamato replied. He turned around and began walking the opposite direction. He looked back and Mimi with a smile on his face. "Also.. Sora-chan and I are doing great."

Mimi smiled, recalling the two of them while she was drinking juice with Taichi. "That's right! The atmosphere when you're together seems to be really good!"

"Hehe," Yamato turned and continued to walk again. "Mimi, you're not doing to bad yourself."

Mimi took a few seconds to reply, finding Yamato's compliment new to her. She felt a warm sensation go through her body and her voice responded happily. "Thanks! It's all thanks to you."

"Alright! Let's do our best tomorrow too." Yamato waved back to her while he continued on walking.

Mimi agreed and ran to catch up to him. They walked to rest of the way back to their apartments together. 'This is great! If Yamato and I can keep things up like this, then I'm sure it will turn out just fine!'

'I hope we'll be able to find our happiness together!'