Series: Buds & Blossoms||Story Title: Flower of Life
Characters: Mimi, Hikari|Pairing: Mimi x Hikari/Hikari x Mimi
Chapters: 4-5||Words: 1,054||Total: 4,260
Genre: Drama, Romance||Rated: G
Prompt: Digimon Femslash Week, day #1, flowers
Notes: For the purpose of this story, this is set a few years after the defeat of BelialVamdemon and doesn't acknowledge anything that happened after that.
Summary: Hikari's life hangs in the balance and Mimi rushes to find the antidote, which grows in a territory ruled by the Queen of the Flowers. And Rosemon is not one to hand over her possessions lightly.


Bright Rosemon flew at least twice as fast as Lilymon did. Mimi held onto the Lifeblossom, keeping it close to her so she wouldn't drop it. She tried not to pant, tried to keep herself calm, when every moment brought her that much closer to finding out what – if anything – happened to Hikari while she was gone. She didn't want anything to have happened, at least not anything bad.

She wanted a chance to talk to Hikari. Everything she'd told Rosemon rang true still. Emotions had crept up on her without warning and now that she knew them, to whatever extent, she wanted to make certain they at least had a chance to try them out. It wouldn't harm anything to ask. It could harm everything to just let the chance slip away.

Mimi didn't like chances slipping away.

"There!" Bright Rosemon gestured and Mimi could see the tiny forms gathered around one more as they flew closer. She hugged the Lifeblossom even closer.

"Mimi!" Sora waved to her as soon as they were close enough to understand who was there. Then she blinked. "Rosemon? IS that..."

"This is Bright Rosemon," Mimi corrected her with a smile of pride. "She was Lilymon."

Noises of pride and encouragement rose up from the others as the two of them settled down and Mimi held the Lifeblossom out to Koushirou.

"Here it is. It's not … not too late, is it?" Mimi hated the stutter in her question. She almost didn't want to know the answer. As long as she didn't know, then there was hope that it could be a good answer.

Jou answered, though. "She's still alive. I don't think -"

Mimi cut him off quickly. "That's good enough." She really, really didn't want to know anything other than that. She turned toward where Hikari lay, Taichi by her side now, Yamato beside him. She had an idea of what Jou might've wanted to say when she saw how pale and still Hikari really was.

She was alive, that was true. If Mimi stared enough, she could see the rise and fall of her breathing. But slow, so very slow, and so pale that Mimi had to wonder if they were in time after all.

Jou hurried over to Koushirou and the two of them got to work, muttering to one another. Mimi shifted to Hikari's free side and reached down for her hand. She could hear the murmurs from the others and ignored them.

"I'm sorry, Hikari," she whispered, saying what she'd wanted to before having left in the first place. She hadn't had time then. Now it was all up to Jou and Koushirou. "If I'd recognized those thorns, you wouldn't be like this now."

Bright Rosemon rested a hand on her shoulder and Mimi smiled up at her partner, no matter how weak the smile felt to her. A heartbeat passed, and then a flash of light, and Bright Rosemon was gone, leaving Tanemon in her place. Mimi scooped her up with her free hand.

"You're going to get the very best dinner I can get my hands on when we're home," Mimi promised her. Tanemon snuggled against her.

"Can't wait," she whispered, before falling asleep.

That seemed like an amazingly good idea to Mimi herself, no matter how much she wanted to stay awake to see how the medicine turned out. She struggled to keep her eyes open, watching for the slightest sign of anything from Hikari.

She didn't know if she'd fallen asleep or not, but somehow, Jou and Koushirou got there without her being aware of it. Jou held a bowl in his hands, and the mixture within it gave off an aroma that Mimi could've lived the rest of her life indulging in.

"It's ready," Koushirou said. "We need to put some of it on where the thorns hit her to draw out the poison and a little on her tongue."

Mimi nodded; that didn't make any sense to her, but she didn't know anything about medicine other than taking an aspirin when she got a headache.

Taichi moved aside so they could get to where the thorn punctures were, though he still didn't let go of his sister's hand. Mimi wouldn't have wanted to either, nor did she. They did both watch, however, as Jou and Koushirou carefully unwound the bandages from where they'd removed the thorns hours earlier, and began to spread the paste there.

The paste itself was thick and fragrant, somewhat greenish, and it stuck to Hikari's skin. Mimi hoped it wouldn't have to be there long. It smelled good, but Mimi couldn't help but wonder how it tasted, as Jou set a small dab of it on Hikari's tongue.

From the way she scrunched her face up almost right away, it probably wasn't chocolate or anything else actually good. Mimi squeezed her hand softly.

"You're going to be all right," she promised, not caring if it wasn't true, because it was. She wasn't going to allow it otherwise. She'd give up everything in her heart and soul if it meant that Hikari would live. She'd give up her own life if that was what it took.

Hikari didn't respond, though, her features easing back, but with a little more color in her cheeks, and her breathing much better now. Mimi sighed herself. That had to be good, didn't it?

"Is that good?" Taichi asked what was on Mimi's mind and Jou peered down at Hikari.

"I think so. It's hard to tell here, you know. We don't have what I'm used to." He sounded more as if he were apologizing for not being able to wave his hands and have Hikari well again. Taichi just grinned, a very tired grin all of his own.

"It looks good to me. You two go get some rest now. You need it." He glanced at Mimi. "And so do you. You look like you're about to fall down where you're at."

Mimi wasn't going to argue that point. Hikari was going to get better. They would talk. That was all she'd allow herself for now. She made herself as comfortable as she could get while still holding Hikari's hand, made sure Tanemon wasn't going to roll off anywhere, closed her eyes, and the world faded away.

To Be Continued

Notes: One more chapter!