Hi everyone - those who haven't given up on this story yet and to those who may be new readers, hi! My schedule's been pretty hectic, so I haven't been able to proofread this chapter until now. This chapter has actually been sitting on my laptop for quite some time, I just haven't been completely satisfied with it. But now, I kinda liked how it turned out, so here it is!

A huge THANK YOU to those who reviewed last chapter! I appreciate your feedback, and you guys are the reason that I'm still updating this story. I hope you like this chapter!

Chapter 4 – Tales Unfold

Yolei squinted her eyes as she raced up the steps. She was tired of being in the dark of those she considered her friends. She must've seemed angry because she suddenly felt Ken's hand on her shoulder. Unconciously, she snapped. "What?!"

Luckily for her, he didn't back away. They knew each other better than anyone else. His hand still rested on her shoulder. "Yolei, we shouldn't pry."

She narrowed her eyes, putting her hands on her hips. "And why not?"

"Because prying won't do any good for the rest of them. Or us for that matter."

"They're our friends, Ken. We can't just stand by while both worlds are in danger and listen to everyone bicker and fight all the time."

"Oh yeah? And who's going to talk to you?"

"What do you mean?"

Ken sighed and retracted his hand. It fell limp by his side. "Who are you going to get the whole story from?"

Yolei pursed her lips. Ken beat her to it before she could answer. "I doubt Kari and T.K. would give you anything to go off on. They're too private."

"But they're our friends."

"But what happened between the two of them is private. Besides we basically already know the story. Davis is a good source of information after all. He's been the bridge between the two of them since that happened."

Yolei sighed in exasperation. Ken continued, "And who else are you going to ask? Matt? Sora? They're the same way."

"I could ask Izzy," she huffed.

"Oh yeah," he nodded. "Go and ask the guy who always hasn't given anything away about his personal life. Because that's always a great plan."

"I don't need you to be sarcastic," she snapped at him.

"I'm not. I'm being realistic."

As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. Izzy was definitely not going to tell her anything. What about Tai? Or Mimi? She didn't know Tai that well enough to ask, but Mimi on the other hand, she wasn't as close with her as she was before. She wasn't as close with Kari as she was before. Nor was she with Sora.

"If I could help, maybe Tai would tell me." She settled on that. "He does want what's best for the team after all, right?"

She could she her boyfriend hesitate to answer. She wasn't sure if Tai would be one to divulge personal information about his closest friends, but she figured it couldn't hurt to give it a shot. She had to know what was going on.

"Absolutely not."

Yolei glanced on in despair as the leader of the Digidestined stared down at her.

"You're kidding."

"No. Actually, I'm really not."

"But Tai—"

"I'm sorry, Yolei, but it's not my place to tell you what went down. Besides it involved me too and I don't want to talk about it. If I don't wanna talk about it, who else would?"

"Tai, it's for the good of our team. We need to try and fix things."

"We need to start acting like adults." He responded, not budging from his stance on the subject. She glared at him again. When did he care about the privacy of others? The last she heard, he was pretty nosy into everyone's business.

She narrowed her eyes. "And if you don't tell me what's going on, you really aren't acting like an adult, aren't you?"

He shrugged in return. "I told you, Yolei. It's not my place to tell."

"Can't you tell me your side of the story at least?"

This got him to thinking for a moment. Her breath caught in anticipation. The wind blew around them—picking up leaves and swirling them about as it came and went. She shivered. It was getting cold after all. Fall was beginning. And hopefully, the mending of friendships can begin too. If only Tai could tell her what was going on. They were sitting on a park bench. He agreed to meet with her after she called; she didn't tell him why because she knew he wouldn't come if she did. But it's not like sitting in silence was better either.

After what seemed like ages, he finally answered her. "Okay."

Her eyes lit up, and she felt giving all of her attention to him, eager to know the secrets of the past.

He sighed and looked far off into the distance. "I hate Matt. And I hate Mimi."

That didn't give her anything. "But why?"

"Because of what they did to Sora and Izzy. Look, Yolei, those two are my best friends. And what happened hurt the both of them deeply. I can't just forgive Matt and Mimi for what they did."

Yolei nodded, understanding that he probably wouldn't tell her exactly what happened, but this is a start at least.

Tai opened his mouth, continuing to speak. "I was in love with Sora at the time. So I guess the fact that she was hurt by the both of them really affected me and it made me really angry. I couldn't talk to either of them for the longest time. We even graduated high school without saying that much to each other."

"If you don't mind me asking…," Yolei started, trying to choose her words carefully. "Are you still in love with Sora?"

Instead of answering he deflected with, "She's getting married to some other guy."

This definitely got her attention. "What?! No way?"

Tai laughed. "Yeah. He's made her really happy by the looks of it."

Then she noticed a change in Tai's eyes. His stare suddenly got dark as if he resented everything that happened. "She didn't deserve what they did to her back then. So it's hard for me to look at either of them without getting incredibly angry. It's not something that's fixable."

Yolei was surprised at this. Was it really that bad? "It's not?"

He ran his hands through his messy brown hair. His usually playful chocolate eyes lightened up a bit. "I mean, what happened was petty looking back on it, but I'm not sure if the friendships are fixable. Though for the fate of the Digital World, I'd put aside my feelings and I'm willing to sort things out. Try and fix things that have a chance at being fixed, you know?"

"Really? Tai Kamiya, wants to be the peacemaker?"

He laughed at that. "It's what being an ambassador does to you, Yolei. I think Mimi would be easier to get along with nowadays. She's at least making an effort. Matt on the other hand is just…an ass."

She supposed she couldn't disagree with that. Mimi, from the looks of things, wanted to mend stuff. Matt didn't seem like he wanted anything to do with anybody.

Yolei wondered if Tai still did love Sora. She didn't know if anything happened between them, but regardless, it didn't seem like he was over her quite yet. He talked like someone who put aside his own feelings and sacrificed what he felt in order to bring happiness to the person he loved. She supposed he wanted Sora to have a life outside the Digidestined.

The answers she got from him were pretty vague. But it kind of gave her an outline of the events that had transpired in the past.

The next person that might give her any indication as to what went on and the person she's been wanting to catch up with all this time was hopefully inside the apartment. Her idol. The apartment building that Mimi was currently living in seemed extremely luxurious. Knocking on the door, she hoped she could get some answers out of her.

The person in question opened the door, blinking her eyes at Yolei. She seemed surprised. "Oh hey, Yolei. What's up?"

"I wanted to come and talk to you if you don't mind."

The response Yolei gave must have been a little too straightforward because Mimi looked taken aback. "Um, okay." She stepped aside, opening the door wider for Yolei to come in.

Glancing down at her watch, Yolei realized that she didn't have that much time to make small talk. So instead of beating around the bush, she decided that it was best to be upfront about what she came here to talk about. They were both keepers of sincerity after all. If anything, Mimi should appreciate it.

"I want to know what the heck happened in high school that propelled everyone's inability to talk to each other."

"Yolei—"

"I want to piece things together. I'm a part of this team too you know. And the fact that no one is really letting the rest of us know what's going on is really hurting our chances of saving the world."

The elder girl sighed, sitting down on the couch. She beckoned for Yolei to sit as well. As soon as the two were seated, Mimi started uttered one word that gave Yolei hope that maybe something was fixable.

"Fine."

"Whoa, really?"

Mimi seemed to rethink her decision. Yolei regretted opening her big mouth. "At least my side of the story anyway. I don't think it would be fair to the others to tell you everything."

"Since when does people respect others' privacy on this team? That was never a thing!" Yolei found herself screaming, frustrated.

Mimi chuckled a bit, holding her hands up in surrender. "It matters when you're trying to patch things up with everybody. I mean, I don't think the others would be too pleased that I told their side of things."

"So you're not going to tell me what you did?"

The original keeper of sincerity mulled over the question. "I guess it wouldn't hurt. Especially since I'm the one who did it. I can't speak for the others."

"Okay…so what did you do?" Yolei hoped that Mimi wouldn't say she committed a major crime because she didn't think they could bounce back from that.

"I liked Matt a lot back then."

Honestly, Yolei didn't see where this was going and she didn't feel like drawing conclusions. She knew Mimi noticed that she didn't get how that related to everything so the story continued.

"I wanted to date Matt, but I wasn't sure of how to get his attention. It was…somewhere else." Yolei wondered what she meant by that but didn't have time to digest it as Mimi went on. "So I formulated a plan that if executed correctly, I could get his attention and get him to date me."

"So it went wrong?"

Mimi shook her head. "I wish it did. But everything fell into place perfectly, I suppose. It was the consequence of what I decided to do that concerns our problem today."

"So what was the plan?"

Mimi took a deep breath. Yolei could tell she looked uncomfortable telling the story, but she had to know what was going on. The elder girl continued to explain. "The plan was to make Matt jealous. I needed someone to do that. And the person I used to make him jealous was Izzy."

Oh. So that's what that was. "And he found out?"

"Yeah. At the winter formal. I asked Matt to do a duet with me for the winter formal so that we could spend more time together. Izzy didn't find out until we were at the winter formal after Matt and I did our duet."

Yolei did have a question though. Where did Sora fit into all of this? She hadn't heard Sora's name in the story once yet.

"It basically ruined our respective relationships with Izzy. It was never the same after that."

"And Sora?" Yolei prodded. "I know she was a huge part of this too, but I can't figure out where she fits into all of this.

"You're smart, Yolei. I'm sure you'll put the pieces together sooner or later," Mimi gave her an answer, not one she was hoping for, but it'll have to do for now. "Let's just say that I made a huge mistake by putting a prospective boyfriend over my best friend. It was something that wasn't worth ruining our friendship for."

"So was Izzy hurt by you using him that's it? Or did he really have any kind of romantic feelings for you?" Yolei decided to ask. She waited, and her idol didn't respond quite so quickly this time.

"That I can't say. Not because I don't know the answer, but because it's not my place to say. You're going to have to ask him that."

"But he probably won't tell me."

"Most likely not."

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a bit. Yolei pondered what Mimi had just told her. The pieces of the puzzle were coming together…the only thing missing was Sora. And Izzy's side, but she highly doubted he would tell her anything. Mimi cleared her throat, causing Yolei to jolt out of her thoughts.

"I want to fix things. I want to be friends with them again. That's why I'm not going to stop until we are."

And that was one of the things she admired most about Mimi. Even though she hurt a lot of people, at least she owned up to it and was willing to do anything to fix it. "Why fix it now though?"

"Hmm?"

"You've had all this time to fix it. Why are you choosing now?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Mimi sat with an air of defeat on the couch. "I tried to fix it back when we were in high school. But it didn't work. Neither of them wanted anything to do with me, which was understandable. And I guess right now's the best time because they can't exactly shut me out if I try. Time gives you a bit of perspective I suppose. I know I should've tried harder before, but I am now. And I hope that's all that matters."

"I hope you guys can sort things out and mend everything." Yolei spoke with the utmost sincerity she can gather.

But Mimi surprised her with her next comment. "And I hope you'll be able to help us get there."

After telling her findings to the others, they just sat there, somewhat dumbfounded. Cody looked unimpressed with the whole thing, she was sure Davis thought that what happened was scandalous, and Ken was surprised that she got anything out of them.

"That's seriously what this is about? Regular high school drama?"

"Cody, you can't just act all high and mighty especially when you're going through some drama of your own," she reprimanded him.

"I'm not going though any drama," he countered back. She gave him a knowing look. Wasn't he going through something with his boss and his boss's daughter? Whatever.

"If you think about it…what happened was just petty high school stuff," Davis started. Yolei was going to strangle him if he thought this whole thing was scandalous. That's just ridiculous. "But the repercussions of the whole thing had a long lasting effect on their relationships with each other. Which doesn't make it petty. What they're fighting about isn't worth it, but the feelings associated with it is pretty heavy stuff. Especially with all the backstabbing going on."

Yolei wanted to reply, but nothing came to mind. Davis surprised her with his insight. Ken sat back in his chair and she desperately wanted to know what he was thinking.

Finally, her boyfriend spoke up. "So where does Sora fit into all of this?"

That she wasn't sure about. Davis on the other hand seemed pretty sure. "Isn't it obvious? She liked Matt."

They all sat there, pondering his assertion for a moment. "But that doesn't explain why Tai would still be happy with her."

"What do you mean?" Davis blinked. Yolei replied with an exasperated sigh. "Tai's relationship with her would be ruined if she really did like Matt."

"I'm pretty sure she was in love with him," a new voice stunned everyone currently in the room. T.K. stepped inside, crossing his arms. "She was definitely in love with Matt."

"How are you so sure?" Ken questioned, wary of his statement. Yolei had to admit it was somewhat far fetched, given the fact that she's engaged to someone now.

"Because I know Sora. And I know Matt. Matt's in love with her too."

"But wait," Cody stepped in. Yolei saw a spark of curiosity in his eyes. "What about Mimi?"

"It was just a fling. Nothing serious. Even though they did date for a couple of years. She even told me that she didn't love him. And I know Matt didn't really love her, because he was pretty enamored with Sora back then."

"How long have you been listening to us?" Davis asked out of the blue. Yolei agreed with him; he had a point. Was T.K. just standing there all along listening to every single word that they said?

"A couple of minutes."

"So you know everything that happened?" Ken asked him. T.K. gave a resounding no in response.

"I wish. But I do know more than people think I do. But only because I've talked to Mimi and Matt and even Sora at one point."

"I don't get it," Cody held his head in his hands, as if he was having a huge headache from the whole thing. Yolei didn't blame him; it was pretty confusing. It seemed as if everything was a misunderstanding.

"I didn't know Mimi used Izzy for example," T.K. continued. "That makes a lot of sense now why their relationship is strained."

"But why date each other when they don't love each other?" Cody asked. His head was spinning. Yolei could tell.

T.K. shrugged. "I suppose because at that point they had already blasted all of their other relationships down without any chance of repair. So all they had was each other to go off on. I do know that Mimi knew that Sora liked Matt. She just didn't know to what extent."

Yolei gasped. That made her disappointed in her idol. "She knew?"

T.K. nodded. "Yeah, but she went through with trying to get Matt anyway because that's who she liked at the time."

"And Izzy?" Cody asked. "How does he feel about all of this?"

"I wish I knew," T.K. answered. "His side of the story is pretty enigmatic, but it's clear that he was a pawn in the whole thing. That's what they were talking about earlier – Sora knew that Mimi was using Izzy way before the winter formal, but she didn't tell him until they were actually there."

"That's harsh," Davis whistled.

"So Sora didn't tell Izzy until she knew she could use it to her advantage. To damage the chances that Mimi and Matt would get together," Cody surmised, scratching his head.

"They were essentially fighting for a boy. Which destroyed their friendship," Ken added.

"But if Matt loved Sora, why get jealous over Izzy and Mimi?" Cody wondered aloud.

"I know the answer to that one." T.K. replied. "Matt told me it was because he couldn't see them being together – because it seemed impossible that a geek could be with the most popular girl in school. I guess he didn't see Izzy as a type that Mimi could potentially date. Superficial, I know, but this was high school after all."

"That's…the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Cody declared. Yolei wanted to laugh at his reactions. He seemed to be about done with all of this. She couldn't blame him. She pondered over whether she should get everyone into one room and have them get a go at it. It wouldn't be such a bad idea.

As if he was reading her mind, T.K. glanced at her, shaking his head. "Locking them all in a room until they're ready to talk isn't a good idea."

"Then what should we do? It shouldn't have to be this hard to get everyone to cooperate. It shouldn't have to be this awkward for everybody." Davis sighed in frustration. He started hitting his head with his hands, unsure of what to do next.

"I don't know," T.K. whispered, staring down at the floor. "Just hope, I guess."

Shivering from the cold air that surrounded him, Matt shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. He could hear thunder starting to rumble as he glanced up at the sky. It was getting pretty dark. But he needed to do this. He promised T.K. that he would. Otherwise, what was the point of being a good big brother? What was the point of being the role model he needed to be?

The corporation building stood tall; it honestly looked like it was his boss, waiting for some mistake that he made, waiting for him to mess up. His teeth started chattering; it was really getting cold wasn't it?

He didn't know why he had the sudden urge to do this now…maybe it was because if he did then at least T.K. will know he's making an effort in their next meeting. Whatever. Patching things up with Izzy wasn't something he particularly wanted to do, but if he wanted to show T.K. that he's trying…if he wanted to get on Sora's good side…if he even wanted to let Mimi know that he's trying too…then he had to do it.

Speaking of the computer genius…he spotted Izzy exiting the building (really, this late at night nonetheless) with a woman by his side.

One could tell that the woman was flirting shamelessly with him and wanting him to take her home. He, on the other hand, had Matt's expression on when fan girls fawned over him. Who knew that the computer genius would turn out to be such a ladies' man?

He could vaguely hear their conversation in the distance.

"So, I assume you're headed home?"

The red head nodded his head, smiling nervously. "Yeah, so I better go do that then."

"Why don't I come with you? I would be pretty good company after all."

Izzy laughed a bit, scratching the back of his head. It did somewhat comfort Matt to know that some of his old personality was still in there. Everyone seemed so different nowadays. Except for Mimi – she's always been the same person he knew.

"You know what?" Pursing his lips, Izzy teetered back and forth on his heels. "I have a lot of work to do tonight so…."

The woman pouted. "Come on, Koushiro. One night of fun wouldn't hurt."

"See that's the thing. Can't do it tonight. Another time, perhaps?"

"I don't see what the big deal is."

He suddenly saw a change in Izzy's demeanor. It wasn't friendly or flirty. Just cold. "There is no big deal because I don't like you."

His companion stood in shock at the blunt and insulting statement. She buttoned up her coat. "Hmph. Well if that's how you really feel."

"It is."

Matt was even surprised at how he was treating her. The Izzy he knew was pretty respectful of everyone. This was out of character, even for a socially awkward guy like him.

"Then I'll be going then."

As if just realizing what he had just said, Izzy suddenly looked apologetic. "I'm sorry. I just have a ton of work to do and I can't be distracted."

The woman looked him up and down before responding. She huffed. "Well, the next time you can just say that." She kissed his cheek. "Goodnight, Koushiro."

The genius nodded his head and watched her leave. He glanced at his watch before starting towards his car.

All of a sudden, Matt could feel rage build up within him. How dare he blow her off? How dare he treat her like that? This wasn't the first time Izzy had done this – he remembered that incident with that girl over the phone during the meeting. If he's going to act like this, like an ass, then he doesn't deserve any apology from him. In Matt's eyes, at least he himself didn't do something like this. Mimi definitely didn't deserve to be treated this way. If she wanted to make amends with him, she should see the type of character he truly is.

With his fist clenched, he started towards Izzy. He could feel the anger growing stronger and stronger. He didn't even know why he was this angry. It's not like it affected him at all. It's not like Izzy didn't apologize to the woman. All Matt knew was he wanted to punch his lights out for acting this way. He wanted to beat him up to show him that he was still a better choice for Mimi, for anybody, than he was.

Why was Mimi so bent on trying to mend things anyway? There was nothing to be fixed. She should've known that. He didn't need Izzy ruining his life again. Izzy ruined his chances with Sora. Izzy was the one who ruined his relationship with Mimi – making her feel guilty about what had transpired. He deserves to be punished.

He knew Izzy saw him, as he could hear the kid speak. "Matt."

"How dare you," he raced towards him, picking him up by his shirt and wanting to punch him in the face. He drew back his hand. Izzy tried to get out of it, but physically he wasn't as strong as Matt was. They both knew it.

"Matt, what's going—"

A part of Matt knew this wasn't right. No. I shouldn't be doing this. But the other side won over. Instead of punching him, he threw him across the street. Izzy landed on his butt, causing him to fall down on his back. He picked himself back up. "What are you—"

"You know what you did you coward. You ruined my chances with Sora, with Mimi. With everything. And now you're going to pay."

Izzy, bewildered and confused, stood up. "What—" Matt didn't wait for him to finish his sentence. He decked him again. Matt wanted to stop, but he couldn't. What's going on with me? He drew back his hand and was about to punch Izzy again.

Seeing this, Izzy ducked the punch and started to run. He turned back around. "What are you doing, Matt? What is this?"

"Revenge," Matt uttered under his breath.

"It's not my fault you screwed it up with them. That's on you," Izzy sneered back. Matt didn't want to hear it. He barreled towards Izzy with as much force as he could muster. He felt like he was drunk, but he didn't have anything to drink that night. Rage seemed to seep out of his pores.

"You're the one who brought this on yourself, Matt. I didn't do anything," Izzy defended himself. Matt tried to deck him again but was brought to a full-on stop by something else.

"Matt!"

They both turned around at the voice. Mimi stood there, wondering what the heck was going on. He looked at her with distaste. She also played a part in ruining his chances at happiness. How dare she try to pretend that everything was so great all the time? She didn't have a right in doing so.

He turned to look back at Izzy. He could feel steam coming from his ears, and it seemed like Izzy was startled by what he saw because the kid took a step back. Matt spit on the ground. Izzy didn't deserve to be happy or to have any attention. Neither did Mimi.

"Matt…." Mimi started, but by then he had already picked himself off the floor and ran across the street, far away from them. He felt his conscious coming back slowly towards him. Why the heck did he do that? That was the opposite of what he wanted to do tonight. He was going to apologize, to make amends.

A little voice in his head answered that question for him. There's no need to make amends. You didn't do anything wrong. They did. You just need to focus on what's important: getting revenge.

Matt shocked himself at the thoughts that were swirling about in his head. He took a deep breath and tried to compose himself, a headache of his growing stronger by the minute. He groaned, holding his head in his hands. He didn't feel like he was in control of his actions anymore.

"Hopefully, that doesn't leave a black eye in the morning."

Izzy groaned, putting the icepack up to his face. Muttering thanks, he positioned himself so he wasn't hanging off of the counter. After putting something back in the fridge, Mimi walked towards where he was sitting and leaned her back against the counter he was sitting on.

"What the heck happened?"

"I don't know."

"So what, you guys just decided to get into a fight? That's your 'I don't know'?" Izzy glared at her as she sarcastically made an accusation.

"I didn't just decide to fight Matt. What am I, twelve?"

She scoffed. "You might as well be."

"Look, he just decked me out of nowhere. I had just finished working and then there he was, suddenly wanting to punch me in the face."

Scoffing again, Mimi gave him a look that really told him she didn't believe him. "Sure he hasn't been the friendliest guy in the world, but he definitely wouldn't just deck you for no reason."

He nodded his head, wincing a bit as the icepack rubbed against his face. "Of course you would take his side. That's how it's always been."

"You can't go blaming him for everything!"

"And I'm not! I'm just telling you the truth!" He stood up and stared her down, face-to-face. Hopefully, she'd believe him if she were looking into his eyes. It had looked like she had lost focus for a moment. She shook her head as if she was trying to shake something off and then stared right back him, glaring at him in the process.

"Well, who am I supposed to believe? The guy who has spent most of his life hating Matt or the guy who has spent just the past couple of weeks not being friendly to you?"

He clenched his teeth, and decided to back down. Izzy thought they could possibly be friends once more, but this isn't going to work. Not if she's going to take his side all the time and be subjective in everything she said.

As if realizing what she just said, she started talking again, "Izzy…."

"Don't," he swapped her hand away. "You clearly think he's always in the right. Maybe this so-called trying to mend things up isn't going to work."

"No, no." She took him by the shoulders, forcing him to look her in the eyes. The anger had washed away and now she was looking at him with a lot of sincerity he hadn't seen in awhile. "I'm sorry, Izzy. It's just…it's just not like Matt to do that."

"I even know that. Even though the past dictates otherwise. He does rush into fights along with Tai after all."

"But with you? Something doesn't add up."

He thought back to the fight. Something was off, he just couldn't put his finger on it. He then remembered the flashing red and the glowing yellow that was in Matt's eyes for a minute before phasing away. That was certainly out of the ordinary. But where was it coming from?

"What did he say to you?" Mimi's question removed him from his thoughts, as he shifted his focus back to her. Remembering the whole 'you ruined my life thing' wasn't something he particularly wanted to share with her. That definitely wouldn't make matters any better.

"Nothing. He just decked me is all."

He knew she was remaining skeptical, so he sighed and added, "It was a bunch of grumbling I didn't understand. There was something about him though…something that makes me think someone else is involved in all of this. His eyes…they flashed red and yellow for a bit before returning to its usual blue color. It startled me when I saw it."

Mimi's eyes widened as if she had just remembered something. "You don't think…?"

He squinted his eyes at the pain from Matt's punch. This was definitely going to hurt in the morning. Izzy didn't know what she meant so he just looked at her so she could give him more of an explanation.

"The Shadow King. He might be playing a part in all of this."

That thought hadn't entered his mind before. She'd be a genius if she was right. "Wait, but the Shadow King doesn't take possession of people, does he?"

Mimi shrugged. "All I know is that Giselle said that it feeds on jealousy, envy, anger, hatred, disgust…."

"Well, he seemed to have a ton of hatred and anger when he saw me."

"But if that's true…," she trailed off. He winced again, but this time it wasn't because of the pain. They might have an actual tough battle ahead of them.

"It's worse off than we thought," Izzy finished the sentence for her. They should probably call the others, warning them of this new discovery. But something nagged in the back of his mind, and he couldn't help but ask. "So why were you there anyway?"

"Hmm?"

"You were conveniently there to stop the fight."

Mimi chuckled a bit, and he could feel her not take him seriously. "Don't flatter yourself, Izzy. I was on my way home from a meeting myself."

"A meeting?" He could feel his eyebrows come together in confusion.

"Yeah. It was a dinner with my manager and my agent. I had to tell them I was going to be on leave for awhile, and we had to discuss the whole 'what the heck am I going to do with my career if I'm going to be MIA for awhile' kind of thing." Izzy nodded in understanding. He kind of felt bad…all of their careers would be on hold for awhile because of dealing with this whole thing.

"And you haven't changed. Working late has been your thing, hasn't it?" Her voice snapped him back to reality.

Responding to her question, he adjusted the icepack on his face. "Yeah, I guess."

"Is that all?"

He was confused by her question. "What do you mean?"

"Matt's feelings of rage wouldn't be there unless something activated it. He must've seen you do something that he didn't like at all. Otherwise, what would the Shadow King feed off of?"

She was continually surprising him with these observations. She did have a point though. "I, um…I don't know." He really didn't know what would set Matt off. He was just walking out of the building.

Mimi kept looking at him, hoping for an answer. He sighed in resignation. "I was just walking out of the building with a colleague of mine."

"A colleague?" She raised her eyebrows, as if she knew where this would lead to.

"Yeah, she's just someone who works in the same building. I mean all she did was ask if I wanted to go out to dinner or if I wanted her to come home with me…." He suddenly started to feel shy, scratching the back of his neck, looking anywhere but at Mimi.

She gave him an all-knowing look. "Is this the same girl you stood up at our meeting?"

"No it's a different one."

"Well, look at you all grown up," she teased. "Women are even starting to invite themselves back at your place." He could feel himself growing hotter, his face starting to blush a deep red.

"It's not like that."

"Who knew? Koushiro Izumi, ladies' man."

"Mimi."

"And what did you say?"

"I just said no."

"So you blew her off? You blew another woman off again?"

"It's not a big deal."

"How'd you say no?"

"I just said I didn't like her."

"Why?" She seemed genuinely surprised. "It's not like you to do this, Izzy. I know we haven't been friends for a long time, but it's still not like you do be that disrespectful."

"I don't know," he groaned. He really didn't want to talk about this now. Especially with her of all people.

"You're blowing off more women than I can count."

He started to feel annoyed. "It's fine, Mimi. Just leave it alone. So, do you know what set Matt off?" Maybe changing the subject would help get them back on track to figuring this thing out.

She was observant, and he could see the gears turning in her head for once, probably trying to figure out his personal life. Which he didn't want. He didn't need her dictating what he should and shouldn't do.

Finally, it seemed she settled on the problem at hand. "That might've set Matt off."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, but you acting like an ass or anyone acting like an ass but himself always makes him angry."

"I wasn't acting like an ass."

She laughed a bit. Yep, she definitely didn't believe him.

"I wasn't!"

"As if the last rejection was any indication, you were. I just don't know why you're acting like this."

"Just leave it alone." He didn't mean to snap at her, but that's the way it sounded like.

"Fine," Mimi huffed. She looked at the time on her watch. "I should probably get going anyway." She picked up her purse and started towards the door. Izzy caught her attention again by calling her name. Turning around, she raised her eyebrows, putting her hands on her hips, waiting for him to speak.

He cleared his throat. He was grateful she was there to help, and coming back with him to his apartment to help him with his injuries. "Thank you, Mimi. It was nice of you to help out even when you didn't need to."

Her eyes softened at his remark. "That's what friends are for, right?"

Izzy was taken aback. He had never really stated that they had become friends again, but with this conversation, he felt like they could potentially renew their friendship. On her end at least, she felt like they were friends, he supposed. Giving her a small smile, he nodded. She gave him a smile back and turned back towards the door.

"Mimi," he called out once more. Once he knew he had her attention, he told her what he knew would hopefully ease her worries a little bit. "I don't hate Matt. He's just a jerk, that's all."

This elicited a small chuckle from her, and for now, he would take it. "Goodnight, Koushiro." It's been awhile since she had used his full name, so it somewhat surprised him to hear it come out of her mouth. With that, she opened his apartment door and left. The door slammed back into place, and he was left alone once again.

After putting the icepack down beside him, he stood up from where he was sitting on the counter and placed his feet back on the ground. Moving his head from side to side, top to bottom, he felt it crack a bit due to the tension and stress he's been feeling lately. He meandered around his apartment, trying to discern what to do next. His home office came into view as his feet stopped in front of it.

Knowing that he wasn't going to feel good sitting around trying to make his face feel better, he decided to step in the comfort of his office. He switched the room lights and his computers on, illuminating the room with his technological screens and gadgets. Slowly, he sat into the comfort of his own desk chair and waited for his computer to fully boot up.

If the Shadow King could take control of people's subconscious and emotions, then they were in for quite a ride. He suddenly doubted their ability to patch things up and get along – if their emotions and not regular battle plans and strategy were the key to defeating the Shadow King, that's going to be a problem. How they would be able to pull this off, he had no idea. He didn't even have an idea of how to deal with his own issues.

He could pull together battle plans. He could do tactical strategies. Dealing with emotions, however, wasn't something he didn't know if he could do. He didn't exactly excel at feelings, per se. There was one thing he was sure of: he really needed to put aside and get over what happened in the past with the others. Though it shouldn't be too hard, he decided. He was kind of over everything that had happened. He had moved on.

He pulled at his tie, feeling stifled by everything surrounding him. Only the whirring of his desktop provided any sort of solace. Leaning forward, he started to type at the keyboard, with no idea of what plan to put together.

And that's that, I guess haha. I hope you all liked it! While it seems that I've revealed most of the full story, there's still more intricate details that haven't been covered yet, so stay tuned! The cause of the fight seems pretty petty, but when getting down to the details and the feelings of it all, it's not so petty anymore. I tried showing the story from the outsider's perspective, but will get down to what Sora, Matt, Mimi, Izzy, and Tai all truly feel about it in future chapters. And T.K. and Kari of course.

Please let me know what you guys think about it in a review or a PM! :) Thanks for reading!