Disclaimer: I own very few things, and Digimon is one of those many things I don't. Ok, now go read.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked Mimi as he put his hand on her shoulder.

"Been ready."

"Ok then, follow me."

Matt reached down and held her hand. It was warm and soft, and he could have sworn that Mimi had shivered slightly at his touch. He knew his hands weren't exactly warm, but they weren't that cold, were they? Or was he just imagining the whole thing?

They walked like that for almost ten minutes when they came to an overpass where the tunnel diverged, one leading to the right, the other to the left. Matt led Mimi down the right one, being careful to make sure that she didn't trip on the gradual slope downwards. Soon the light in the tunnel grew bright enough to see, and Matt noted that her eyes were completely shut, clamped tightly, refusing to open. She was really putting a lot of faith into him, making him feel a little uneasy.

"You know, you can open your eyes now," he informed her. "You'll be able to see just fine, don't worry."

Slowly, Mimi opened her eyes, noting that he had been right, and as they turned a bend, she could see light streaming out of the end of it, illuminating their figures. She glanced around, thinking that perhaps something might be following them out of the shadows, yearning to grab one of them and take them into the bowels of the sea of endless darkness. But nothing was there except their shadows, stretched out of proportion.

The light evened out as they stepped out of the cave, and Mimi gasped in wonder and awe: for in front of her was laid out the most beautiful area she had ever seen in her entire life. There were trees surrounding the steep stone ridges going up about 30 feet on all sides of the valley, mostly sweet smelling pines and a few Douglass firs. On the farther side, there was a semi large brook, babbling along until it emptied out into a deep pool of water to their right, the end of which lied underneath the rocks, making one believe that it ran into a separate part of the cave that they had just exited. To their left was a beautiful meadow of wildflowers, yellow, blue, orange, pink, and green in disarray of colors that were attractive and pleasing to the mind. She turned to her companion, in surprise and confusion.

"Is this really it?" she asked in disbelief, and he nodded, watching her reaction. "It's so calm here, so very beautiful… there's no way."

"Huh? There's no way, what?"

"That anyone could compare to anything like this," she proclaimed.

"Yes there can."

"Well, then it's not me. You were just saying that earlier to make me feel better weren't you?"

"No… and yes…. No because it's true that you are as pretty, and yes, because I knew it would make you feel better knowing that other people think your pretty. And I know T.K. does, and Sora, Kari, Izzy, Joe, and I know that even though he can act like a total jerk, so does Tai…. So you see? You are pretty."

"But what about you?"

"Mimi… I…." He stuttered, not knowing how to answer the question. "You're very pretty. You're the prettiest person I have ever known," he said, trying his hardest not to blush.

'And probably will know?" Is that what you were thinking? Boy, and I thought you might actually be forcing me upon yourself on accident earlier…. I guess you really did mean it, didn't you?' The voice came back from its temporary absence.

'NOT NOW! CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY?!'

'Not until you admit your feelings….'

'GO. AWAY.'

'Fine, but every time you even think about her, I'll be back… 10 fold. Remember that: 10 fold….'

'Wait a second, who's her?!'

'Stop acting like a blonde and open up your eyes for once. Take down the stupid walls and realize reality for a second, will ya?! God, someone could propose marriage to you and you wouldn't even have a clue! Oh yeah, I forgot, you are a blonde….'

'…What do you mean?'

'Think about it….' And the voice disappeared, leaving him a state of total confusion.

"You really think so?"

"…yes…." He answered, yet it seemed as though something else inside him was answering for him. Did he really think she was beautiful, or was he just saying that to please her? "Well, you up for a swim?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Well, I am, but what about you? What are you going to do? Do you have a bating suit with you or something?" She asked him, oblivious to the obvious.

"Uh…. No, I was going to just swim in my boxers…." He answered slowly, feeling himself turn red.

"Oh…." Mimi quickly turned a light scarlet with embarrassment.

"But if you don't want me to, I'll be fine."

"Oh, no, I want you to!" Mimi added a little too quickly. "I mean, I don't want to make you sit out and not have any fun. You're the one who showed me this in the first place. Do you like to swim?"

"Yeah, I swim pretty girl… I mean pretty good," he said, messing up what he wanted to say. 'Oh boy, this is bad… I'm in trouble!'

"Good, then let's go then!" She said, not catching his little slip up. She ran into the little area of trees, and came back changed into her bathing suit, the pink towel wrapped around her slender figure. "Your turn!"

Matt headed over to the trees and quickly took off his socks and shoes, and as he went to take off his shirt, it dawned on him what he was doing. He was really going to go swimming with one of his best friends almost completely naked. He shuddered at the thought, but remembered what he had promised only minutes before.

'The things I do for people these days….'

He quickly finished changing and went out to meet Mimi, trying to hide his embarrassment as best he could. She was already in the water, and he almost ran to get into the water to hide.

'At least I won't feel so awkward in here,' he told himself. He decided to have some fun, and diving under the water, he headed to where Mimi was treading water. The water was so clear that he could open his eyes underneath the water and be able to see without being stung by the particles getting into his eyes. Also, it gave him a good view of anything in his way, including his target. He waited until the right time, and grabbed her leg. Feeling her sudden movement told him that he had accomplished what he had intended, and resurfaced to take in some air. No sooner had he broken surface when the next second, he was back under, being pinned down by a furious Mimi. Knowing that he needed air, he let a small bubble float to the surface to tell his captor know that she needed to let him up for a second. Getting the message, she let him go, and he made his way back upwards to the surface. He came up laughing, even though he was almost gasping for air.

"That's not funny, you almost gave me a heart attack!" She yelled, fuming at him. Matt just kept laughing, now almost choking on the air he attempted to get into his lungs. After a while though, he finally found that the subject had lost its hilariousness, and now apologized. Both of them treaded water for a while, each not knowing what to say to the other.

"So… what do you want to do now?" Matt asked, attempting to get her to say something.

"I don't know, what do you want to do?"

"Well, it's probably almost noon right now, so do you want to pick flowers or something before we have to head back?"

"Do we really have to go back?"

"Why not? What would everyone say if we didn't?"

"I could really care less what they thought. No one knows where we are, right?"

"What are you saying? That you'd rather stay here for the rest of your life?"

"Over being attacked and/or killed by whatever made that scream? Yes."

"Wouldn't you get lonely staying here by yourself?"

"You mean that if I stayed, you'd still leave? You'd leave me alone to possibly get killed?"

"I have to protect T.K., no matter what. If you wouldn't leave no matter what, I'd have to leave."

"So basically what you're saying is that if you could only save one person, you'd choose T.K. over anyone? Even if he was old enough to take care of himself, and even if that meant that you'd kill one or more of your friends?! I always knew you were cold, but I thought that friends meant more to you than that!"

"But…."

"Just shut up Matt, you're no different from them! I HATE YOU!"

Mimi dove under and headed to the other side of the stream where she got out and ran into the field of wildflowers, flinging herself into them, and crying into her arms. Matt watched as he silently treaded water, going over what had just been said. What had he said? What had he done? Had he really come off as that self-centered, or was that her just being ultra-sensitive? Maybe it was a mix of the two? But the one question that really took up his mind was 'Would I really leave her alone by herself without Palmon or anyone else to guard her?'

As he dwelt on the thought, another question floated back up from his memory, an older one he'd been wondering about for a few hours now. But after how she had just told him how much she hated him, the question was finally answered, and the power of the words had been broken. But not without a price. He had hurt his friend, and she wouldn't have anything to do with him ever again, he was sure of it. He had known that those two words had only been playing with his emotions, and that he was correct in believing that she had felt the same towards him, absolutely nothing. But now that it came right down to it, was he absolutely positive he felt only friendship towards her? Could those words have been right all along?

'You mean you really doubted us?' They asked, coming back to torture his already confused mind. 'How could you, we're a part of who you are!'

'No you're not! I shut you out when I was six, and I can do it again!'

'Tisk, tisk, of all the people you could have chosen to hurt; it had to be her, didn't it?'

'You're lucky you're not real, because I could hurt you right now!'

'Oh, we're real enough, you can bet on it. The only thing that makes you mad is the fact that you can't do anything to stop us.'

'Oh yes I can!'

'Like to see you try!'

'Watch me. I will, but first, I have something more important to do.'

'Like what?'

A/N: Okies, this is how the cookie is going to crumble: No more updates until I get at least 6 reviews on this story, I'm not going to keep busting my rear to churn out fanfics if no one's gonna read them.

Got it? 'Kay.