Three days. They'd been home for three days. Resting his head on his pillow, Loke stared wistfully out his window. Three days since he'd seen any of the digidestined. Three days since he'd been someone special. Rolling over in his bed, he glanced at the clock. 10 PM. 10 PM on a Friday night, and Loke Kido had nothing better to do than go to bed early. Closing his eyes, he kicked the blankets off his body. It was too warm for them anyway.

His family wasn't home. They were visiting relatives in Kyoto. Unfortunately, these relatives had a cat, which Loke was allergic to. The Kido family had left Loke alone, promising to be back sometime the next morning. He really didn't mind that much, he was used to being alone.

Lonliness and isolation were something Loke was accustomed to. He was used to being the last one picked, the one nobody noticed. But for the time in the Digital World, he was more than that. He had been someone important, part of a team. They had needed him.

But that illusion was over now. Three days. . In the pit of his stomach, Loke felt a longing. A longing for the companionship of the magic World, a longing for friendship. With another sigh he closed his eyes in a vain attempt to sleep.

The phone beside his bed rang sharply. With a soft grunt, he reacher for it. "Hello?" His voice was strained.

"Hello. May I please speak to Loke?" The female voice seemed somehow familiar to him.

"This is Loke." He replied, sitting up in his bed.

"Hi Loke! It's Lucy!" A smile broke out onto his face. Of -course- he had known the voice. Three days wasn't anywhere near the amount of time it would need for him to forget Lucy.

"Hi Lucy." There was a slightly more upbeat tone to him now, with an edge of nervousness. Why was Lucy calling him anyway? Was this some sort of practical joke?

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go for a walk or something." He could feel her smile. "It's a really nice night out, but I can't go anywhere without my bodyguard."

Loke smiled at the memory. Once they had broken off from the group, Lucy had started affectionately calling Loke her bodyguard. "Uh, sure."

"That's great!" She listed off her address for him, saying she'd be ready in fifteen minutes and then promptly hung up to "get ready" as she had told him.

Loke smield thoughtfully at the receiver for a moment. Maybe he could be get those memories of the Digital World back once more.

It was one of those nights. The summer air hung there like a heavy wet towel, waiting to be dropped onto someone. Most houses had sprinklers on their lawns, watering the grass. There was no difference in temperature between the inside of Loke's non-airconditioned apartment and the streets of Odaiba. With his hands in the pockets of his shorts, he made his way to Lucy's home.

There was something peaceful about strolling the streets on a summer night. Some quality of lethargy that seemed to be felt by everyone, yet nobody cared. On a summer night, everything moved with an infinite amount of patience. Deliberate and languid movements were the only option on a night like this one.

When he reached Lucy's door, Loke hesitated. Why had she called him? Why not Tai? or Matt? or even Izzy? His ponderings were interrupted by the door swinging open. Before him stood an angel. An angel in a pink hat, but an angel. The hat, slightly smaller than her old one, sat snugly on her head. Replacing her fringed dress were demin shorts and a simple pink t-shirt.

"Loke!" She exclaimed, embracing his tightly. "I've missed you." She breathed against the front of his shirt. "I've missed you so much."

Loke was confused slightly. It had been three days. Maybe the Digital World had altered her perception of time as well. When you spend months with a group of people, it's hard to be suddenly ripped away from them. Ackwardly petting her back, Loke whispered. "I've missed you too."

"Really?" She pulled away and grinned brightly. "I'm glad, I wanted you to miss me!" With a girlish giggle, Lucy leaned inside her house and bid her parents farewell, Saying she was going to 'hang out' with a friend. "Lets go for our walk, Loke."

She led him through the neighbourhoor. Residential streets lined with trees. The languid and heavy air of a summer night hung around them. Lucy talked of the last three days. How much she missed Palmon, How much she missed everyone, how different it was to be home... Lucy talked, and Loke listened to her, absorbing all of her words into his very being. It seemed as though she was speaking the inner workings of his own heart.

When her hand had taken his, he couldn't say. He could just remember glancing down and noticing their fingers entwined. The thought brought a small smile to his face. inside his, Lucy's hand seemed like milk. Her skin was soft, her bones delicate. It occured to Loke then, that he had never before seen her hands when she didn't have gloves on.

Her steady conversation had ceased and she too, was glancing at their entwined fingers. She smiled up at him then, shifting slightly closer. "You have nice hands." he admitted, his voice taking on the lazy quality of the summer night.

Lucy's smile radiated and she gently squeezed his hand with her own.

They came upon a conveinence store, and Lucy turned, breaking the contactthey had been staring. She stood before him, her lower lip slightly extruded. "Can we go inside?" Loke shrugged, and followed her into the small store.

The man at the counter watched them warily. A couple of kids, out late, without their parents. Lucy chose a bottle of water, explaining that the heat was getting to her. On his insistence, she allowed Loke to pay for it, and they left the convenience store, the bells over the door jingling behind them.

The bench wasn't anything special. Just a bench among many others outside an Odaiba Convenience store. But it was the bench that Lucy chose for them to sit on. Loke slid beside her on the wooden seat, and she scooted towards him. He sucked in a breath as she leant her head against his shoulder. Lucy sipped her water silently, watching the sparse traffic streak by.

It was the silence that Loke enjoyed the most. The sense of companionship he felt, just being with someone. Out on a summer night, it seemed to him like this was a normal activity. He felt like one of the older boys at school, who spent Friday nights with their girlfriends. He, Loke Kido, was seated on a wooden bench, outside of a Convenience store with a beautiful girl leaning against his shoulder. For a little while, everything in the world was perfect.

Lucy finished her water and rose, grasping almost absently for Loke's hand. Then she continued to lead him along the sidewalk. The road the walked along was slightly larger than the residential streets they had travelled before. The streetlamps cast an eerie glow around them. To Loke, it seemed they illuminated Lucy from within. Her hair shone. That's what he noticed the most. The tendrils peeking out from beneath her hat caught the light, making them seem golden. Gently, almost hesitantly, Loke reached out, and brushed one of those tendrils from her face.

She turned towards him once more, reached up her own hand to brush a wyward lock of blue hair from Loke's face. He returned her smile, as they stood under the lamplight. How long they stood there, neither could tell you. Loke's hand rested lightly in her hair, and hers against his cheek. Out of the blue, Lucy hopped onto her tiptoes and brushed her lips lightly against his. Then, as if nothing had happened, she reached for his hand once more and continued to lead him on their walk.

He hoped she hadn't seen the shocked look on his face when she had hopped up and kissed him. The feel of her lips, like the brush of a flower petal, teasing his. Not quite touching them for a splitsecond, then capturing them for a light, sweet kiss.

Lucy continued to talk. She reminisced about their days in the magic World, mourned for her lost friends, and laughed happily when he reminded her they were being reborn at the Primary Village right that instant. "You know what changed the most, Loke?" She asked him. "When I got back, nothing I used to enjoy seemed as important. None of my old friends seemed as genuine. It was as though I had matured, but wasn't exactly ready for it." Her brow furrowed slightly. "But now, just walking out here with you, it feels like I'm back in that place where everything I do is important. You make me feel important, Loke."

They had reached a park by then, and before Loke could make any reply to her words, Lucy had squealed softly and bounded off towards the swings. "Puch me!" She commanded giddily.

"Yes Princess Lucy." He teased, gently pushing her on the swing. Despite the fact she was the one in the air, Loke felt like he was flying. Each time his hands connected gently with her shoulders, he could feel her shiver. The world seemed somehow peaceful yet again. Another few moments of perfect contentment for Loke Kido.

Abruptly, Lucy hopped from the swing, and launched herself against Loke. She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaned her head against his chest, and danced to imaginary music. She swayed with the non-existant wind, the steady beating of Loke's heart directly below her ear. Her tentatively rested his arms around her waist, and she smiled, snuggling closer.

"This is nice." She whispered. "Just being near you. I missed your smell, Loke." She smiled against his shirt. "You smell clean, like fresh water."

"Thank-you, Lucy."

"I feel alive. These last three days, I've felt like I was stuck between life and nothingness. I wasn't quite gone, but I wasn't quite living... I wasn't important."

"You're important to me."

"Thank-you, Loke."

They danced to their silent music for a few more moments before continuing, finally turning in the general direction of the Tachikawa's home. Their hands joined, Loke and Lucy walked alongside eachother, dodging sprinklers. Loke's heart felt as heavy as the heated air when they reached her doorstep.

She faced him one last time. "Thank-you again, Loke. For walking with me, and protecting me, and making me feel important. You're important to me too, Loke."

The words seemed to lift an invisible load from his shoulders, and Lucy's final smile lit up her face. She leaned towards him once more, slowly this time. When their lips met it was slow, sweet.

They were young, with their lives ahead of them, yet their eyes had seen so much more than others had. They had lived through so much together. Like a retired superhero, they needed to feel important, to feel needed. And for those moments in time, Loke and Lucy needed eachother. They needed the support the other provided, the unconditional love. They needed to feel important