"Please say you'll do it, Koushiro. You're the best candidate for the job, not to mention I need someone else sane on the team. And before you say anything, Yamato doesn't count. Because his IQ tends to drop at least a hundred points when the two of them are together."

"Sora…"

"Please don't say no. I know Taichi's our leader, and we couldn't ask for a better one. But everyone knows we would have died the first week in the Digital World without you. And many more times following that."

"Sora…"

"Don't make me beg. I will, you know, if I have to because I am that desperate but I'd rather not have to."

"Sora! Taichi asked me yesterday. And I already accepted."

- Sora and Koushiro, at the Izumi front door, after Sora accepted the position of Secretary and Koushiro, Treasurer

Taichi thought he looked fantastic in a yukata.

The problem was Taichi thought his younger sister did as well.

"Well, what do you want me to do about it? Wear a parka?" The sister in question stood with her hands on her hips. A single finger was moving up and down in a tapping motion against her hip.

He lifted his eyebrows at her. "Are you seriously giving me that option? Because I will take it."

Hikari threw her hands up. Her face lifted to the sky in an expression Taichi could recognize from anyone. His friends tended to do the "why me?" expression around him often. And by often, he meant a lot. As in it was a rare day when he didn't get it from at least one of them. "It's July, Taichi. I'm not wearing a parka." She walked passed him to the front door. Taichi followed her.

Objectively, Taichi thought Hikari looked positively beautiful. With her hair pulled halfway back by a giant pink flower hairpin above her left ear, she looked radiant. Her yukata matched the hairpin (or perhaps it was the other way around). It was made with a pink fabric that contrasted with her pale skin. The gold embroidered flowers shimmered in the light, catching attention to them.

Subjectively, Taichi thought Hikari looked positively beautiful. Which meant many others (males to be more specific) might think the same. Taichi twisted his lips as they rode the elevator down to the ground floor and tried to come up with a solution. In reality, he understood it wouldn't be fair of him to lock her up. Forever. Where no one could get to her.

But the protective part of him sure wished sometimes that he could.

The elevator doors opened, and the siblings stepped out. His eyes were drawn to his sister again as she pushed her hair behind her ear. The golden accents of her hairclip glinted in the waning sunlight. There was something about the hairpin that drew his attention to it. It was new, but that wasn't it. Hikari wore a new hairclip every Tanabata Matsuri. As he studied it, another face popped into his mind and he found himself asking, "He gave that to you, didn't he?"

Hikari's hand lifted to the clip in her hair, though Taichi hadn't given any sign that was what he was talking about. A smattering of pink dusted her cheeks as she said, "Of course he did. He gives one to me every year on my birthday. And it matches my outfit again, even though I've been so careful this time to keep it secret. I wish I knew how he always manages to find out! Miyako swears it isn't her."

Taichi would never tell Hikari that he may or may not find out from Yamato who may or may not find out from him. Because, you know, sometimes you have to betray your sister to help a brother out. So, instead, he asked, "How did that tradition start between you guys anyway?"

"In fifth or sixth grade, I made fun of him that he only had one hat. Then he pointed out that I only wore one hair clip, and that wasn't any different. My next birthday, he got me a butterfly clip to match my yukata. So, his next birthday I got him a new hat. And we've been doing it ever since." She stopped walking and turned to face him as they reached the train station. Her eyes moved about his face, like she was trying to read him. "Why the sudden interest?" she asked.

He shrugged and shook his head. Taichi wasn't exactly sure himself. "I dunno," he admitted. "It seems a bit different from the other times."

Her hand lifted to the clip again. The tips of her fingers brushed along it. "Well, it is bigger this year than before." Hikari beamed up at him. Though she smiled often, Taichi didn't often see his this radiant. "But I still love it!" she exclaimed. At her words, some stray thought tugged at Taichi, a thought that was more of a feeling than words. Some realization that he felt he should have figured out ages ago but still had no words to describe.

Taichi continued to follow his sister into the train station and onto the train. His mind was still trying to figure out how to put together the jumbled pieces in his mind. He felt the pieces should fit together easier than they did. He moved himself around Hikari to protect his sister from the crowd of people as they entered the train. His thoughts snapped back to their original conversation. "Hey! Don't change the subject!"

Twisting her head to look at him, Hikari looked confused and startled for a moment. Then she began giggling into her fist. Eyes dancing with merriment, she said, "Taichi. You're the one that brought it up."

Taichi reviewed their conversation in his head until he realized that she was right. He had been the one to bring up the hairclip. "Oh, yeah," he drawled, causing his sister to giggle again. A minute later, the train stopped at their stop, and they got off. As they exited the train station, Taichi caught her arm before she could keep walking. "The conversation isn't done, though. I still haven't come up with a plan."

Hikari threw her hands into the air again. "I don't understand, Taichi. We've done this with everyone for years. What is your problem all the sudden?"

"You didn't turn fifteen before." And yep, that came out exactly as childish as it had sounded in his head. But the bigger part of him didn't care. He was one hundred percent serious. After all, he remembered what it was like to be a teenage boy. Not taking into account that he was still a teenage boy.

Hikari started to laugh again. She continued to walk down the sidewalk. Taichi frowned scratching the side of his head, walking after her. "I don't see what's so funny," he muttered, following after her. He was trying to be serious here. To him, this was a real problem. His sister was pretty and creepers liked pretty girls. He didn't know how she couldn't see that this was a crisis situation.

"You are," Hikari replied. "You do know you're being ridiculous right now, don't you?"

Taichi folded his arms across his chest and thought about it. He hadn't thought he was overreacting at the time. But once he went back over what he'd said when Hikari appeared from the bedroom ("What are you wearing?! I'm not letting you out of the house looking like that!"), he had to admit that it did hit rather high on the Mimi Scale. Still didn't mean this wasn't an actual problem that needed a definite plan of action.

Hikari sighed. Another thing that Taichi knew rather well. That "I am so done with you" exasperated sigh was one his friends gave him about as often as the "why me" plead. "If I stay within a foot of the boys at all times, would that make you feel better? With Mimi gone, you do about outnumber us girls almost three to one."

Taichi latched onto this idea. It sounded about perfect to him. "Could you make it six inches? Except not Jou because he hates confrontations. And Koushiro's shortish. So is Iori, except he's kind of young. But he does take kendo, but he's kind of a pacifist. Not Daisuke either because we wouldn't want the police to get involved. Ken's kind of timid, too. And let's not even mention the Ishida brothers who are sometimes even more protective of you than I am and might actually murder someone who tried to hurt you." He snapped his finger as another idea came to him. "Here's an idea. Why don't you stand between Sora and Miyako and the rest of us could surround you three like bodyguards? That way no one could even approach you at all." Taichi grinned, proud of himself for coming up with the perfect plan.

Judging by his sister's face, she did not agree. In fact, if her incredulous expression was anything to go by, he should give serious consideration to what exactly he'd said that made him sound like a raving lunatic. "What?" he asked.

Hikari's face softened, and she tilted her head to the side a bit. "I'm curious, Taichi. What is your actual plan for when I start dating someone?"

Panic. That was his honest to goodness gut reaction. "Dating?" he repeated. "Who said anything about dating?" A horrible thought struck him. "Are you dating someone, Hikari?"

"No. That's not—"

Taichi cut his sister off. "Who is he? Do I know him? Whatever. I don't care. He's a dead man."

"Taichi!" Taichi stopped talking. It wasn't often that his sister actually yelled at him. Hikari closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I am not dating anyone. But, trust me. When I start dating," she began. Taichi thought she put more emphasis on the word "when" than necessary. She continued, "It will be to someone you approve of. After all, if you didn't approve of him, it would be because he was some kind of jerk anyway. And not for some stupid reason like he's a male, right?"

Taichi couldn't exactly say that was a legitimate reason now without sounding petty. He felt he couldn't say anything except a simple agreement. At least not without implying that he didn't trust her which he did. And judging from the small mischievous glint in his sister's eyes, she knew it too. Now he wondered if she'd been taking lessons from Sora. Sora was the one that usually used his own words against him and talked circles around him. So, Taichi said the only thing he could at that point. "Right. Of course." Then, something in her words struck him as rather odd. She had said "approve" as in present tense not "will approve".

As he was about to ask her about it, a familiar voice broke through the crowd around them. "Taichi! Hikari!" With that shout, he realized that they had reached the shrine without him knowing. It didn't take him more than a few seconds to locate his best friend standing outside the entrance. Taichi took a quick head count, noting with no surprise that Jou and Daisuke were still not there yet. He waved back to their friends and grabbed his sister's hand to lead her over to them.

As soon as they got over to them, Hikari's hand slipped out of his own. This action drew his attention back to his sister, and he watched her approach the boy in the center. The two middle schoolers created the bridge between the two different units of the group. In both a figurative and literal manner in this case. When he saw the bright smile on her face when she greeted him, all those puzzle pieces that had been jumbling around in his mind slammed into place. Only two questions ran through his mind. Namely, 'when did that happen' and 'how did I miss this before'.

Taichi allowed his brain to process this new information, thinking about the possible conclusions. He felt a bit too much like an old grandmother when visions of brown-haired, blue-eyed children that he could spoil rotten bloomed in his mind. He shook his head to dismiss the images. Shrugging as he realized that he didn't mind at all, it still kind of raked him that Hikari had been right. So, he decided it was time to do what any good older brother would in this situation.

Embarrass the heck out of her.

He reached out and grabbed Hikari arm, tugging her back over to him. Her question died after the word 'what' when he leaned in close to her ear and spoke so that only she could hear. "Just don't kiss him in front of me, alright?"

The grin on his face only grew wider when he leaned back and saw her bright red face and mouth hanging open. She sputtered a moment before she cried out his name with indignation. But he only chuckled as he backed away and Miyako swooped into ask, "What did he say?" Hikari only groaned and buried her red face in her hands.

When he turned to his other friends, Yamato had one eyebrow lifted in a silent question. Sora had her lips pursed in disapproval. "What?" he asked. Almost as one, both of them rolled their eyes at him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jou had arrived at some point during all this. He strode over and clapped the older boy on the shoulder. "How're you doing these days, Jou?"

Jou pushed his glasses further up his nose. Before he could answer, the whirlwind that was Daisuke Motomiya arrived. The boy looked frantically about as he exclaimed, "Did I beat him?" When his eyes landed on Jou, he dropped his gaze to the ground and muttered, "Dang it."

In his mind, Taichi added to the tally in his head. Daisuke had a one-sided competition with Jou over who could arrive first whenever their group officially gathered together. So far, in the almost two years since the competition began, Daisuke was 0 for 43. Well, 44 counting today. Taichi kept count because he planned to make a big deal about when he finally beat Jou. The plan was to buy him a cake with 'Congratulations!' and the score written on it in bright, bold red letters. Like Sora told him, sometimes he was easily amused.

"Well, guys," Taichi said, raising his voice so that they all could hear him. "Let's go." Without waiting for reply, he turned and lead the way into the shrine, knowing they would follow him.

Koushiro was sure that the Goddess of Fate must enjoy testing them. That or some god of trouble must get a kick out of watching them suffer. Because, seriously, no one else could walk into a festival with the intent of having some relaxing fun and cause this much trouble.

"Well, at least no one broke their arm this time."

"Hey! I resent that."

"It wasn't meant to be insulting."

"Well, in that case, I totally agree."

Leaning over panting, Daisuke raised his hand, drawing the attention of the group to him. He stood up straight and took a deep breath. "So…" he began. There was a second's pause before he continued, "Why did I have to punch that guy?"

"Because Taichi and Yamato are idiots," Sora stated. Her words were muffled somewhat. Which was understandable considering she was currently slung over Yamato's shoulder. Koushiro wondered why he had slung her over his shoulder rather than carry her as the other two had. Then he remembered that Yamato's arm with still in it's brace, so that was probably why. "Also, could you put me down now, Yamato?"

"Right. Sorry." Yamato complied with the girl's request. He set Sora down on her feet and waited long enough that she was steady before taking a step back.

From Taichi's arms, Hikari added, "I would like to second that statement."

"Me three!" Miyako yelled from Jou's arms.

As Jou put the girl down, Koushiro could have sworn he heard the older boy mutter, "Which one?" It took him a moment to realize what he meant. When he did, he had to turn his head away to hide his laugh in a cough.

Koushiro hadn't actually seen what had happened to start all this. One moment, he and Takeru had been hovering around a fishing game watching Hikari play. The next moment, Taichi had appeared from nowhere and scooped his sister up into his arms. Then, just as abruptly as he had appeared, he took off running. Takeru had followed with only a "hey, wait" falling from his lips.

On the other hand, Koushiro had taken a second to look around. It was a habit and ability of his to take note of everything in a half-second. Yamato with Sora over his shoulder and Jou with Miyako in his arms followed after their leader. All the others trailed behind. There were a few young men surrounded by what appeared to be their friends getting to their feet from where they had somehow fallen to the ground. After taking in the scene, Kushiro followed the rest of the group. Now that he knew Daisuke had punched someone, the boys being on the ground and everyone running away made a lot more sense.

Yells and hollers had chased the Digidestined as they had pushed their way through the crowds. Soon enough, the sounds died out as they found refuge in a more secluded part of the shrine's grounds.

"Wait. You punched a guy?" Takeru asked.

"How did you miss that?" Miyako asked.

The blond boy shrugged. "I only saw Taichi grab Hikari and run."

Miyako's eyebrow lifted and her lip curled into what could almost be called a sneer. Except that Miyako did not typically sneer. Except at Daisuke. "And you just followed? Without even knowing why?" she demanded to know.

Takeru looked at her with confusion on his face, as if he didn't understand her question. And Koushiro reasoned that to the younger boy any other option likely hadn't even occurred to him. It was times like these that he remembered that most of the younger generation hadn't experienced what they had. That they hadn't spent months in a hostile world with no one but Taichi to lead them. That they didn't remember what it was like in the time he wasn't there.

That they didn't know that if Taichi ran, yes, you did follow and wait for the explanation later.

If only because anything that could make the recklessly brave Taichi run away was not something you wanted to deal with.

Koushiro had only hesitated because it was a habit he'd developed over the years. He'd gotten used to assessing situations as fast as possible. This was so that, later, he could feed Taichi possible plans as necessary.

"I want to point out that I only punched the guy because Taichi punched someone first."

As everyone looked at Taichi for an explanation, their leader folded his arms across his chest. A frown turned the sides of his lips down, and he stared right back at them. "What? He was pushing Yamato, so I was backing him up."

"And what were you doing that he felt the need to push you?" Sora asked.

Yamato pressed his lips into a small line before he answered. "I may have gotten a little confrontational with him and his friends."

"Why?" Sora pressed.

"They were looking at Hikari in a way I didn't like, alright?" he spat out. There was a moment's pause as everyone took that in. For no apparent reason, Hikari started to laugh. Koushiro heard Takeru mutter a question to her, most likely asking why she was laughing. She waved her hand at him, laughing too hard to answer him.

"In that case, I'm sorry I didn't punch my guy harder."

"Ditto."

"And if you had gotten in trouble for it?"

Taichi, Yamato, and Daisuke exchanged glances. "Still totally worth it," Taichi said as the other two boys made sounds of agreement.

"Boys." Sora muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

Taichi beamed and looked down at his sandals. "Well, on the bright side," he started. "I now know that I can run in these sandals while carrying Hikari if push comes to shove."