Digimon 1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.  
  
  
  
  
  
Summary: Five months after both Tai and Mimi's parents got divorced, Mimi's dad and Tai's mom are planning to get married to each other. The problem is, Tai and Mimi are in love with each other. MICHI.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Coldness  
  
Chapter one  
  
  
  
  
  
The white snow beneath her came few inches below her knees as Mimi stood outside alone, letting the cold wind play around with her long hair that rested on her back. She could feel the bottom of her feet slowing turning numb from having nothing on but simple socks as she watched the gray sky flowing down with more snow.   
  
  
  
Mimi loved snow. It was what made her feel calm and relaxed despite how cold it would make her feel whenever she touched it with her bare hands. However, the snow did not make her feel calm today. It made her feel the loneliness and the sadness that she tried so hard to hide from her family, friends and herself.   
  
  
  
It's been a little over a year since she had tried to hide those feelings from people around her as to not make them worried. Before than, she was always so happy, carefree, and outgoing and thought there was nothing more she could possibly ask for in her life. Her world seemed near perfect. That is until one year ago when her parents began to fight every night whenever her dad came home from work. Mimi knew the reason was because her dad came home drunk with lipstick marks on his cheeks and a scent of perfume that could only belong to another woman besides her mom.  
  
  
  
Her dad would tell her mom the lipstick mark was just from one of his friends whom he had a simple dinner with. Her mom didn't believe him of course considering that he came home drunk with lipstick marks way more than she could count with her fingers. It continued on for few more weeks like that as Mimi's parents became distant and only spoke to each other when they fought, breaking glasses and such. They even broke the fish tank Mimi loved so much when she was a child and left the fishes in the broken fish tank to die in the most painful way. Mimi did try really hard for weeks to stop her mom and dad from fighting but they always seemed to push her away, telling her to go to her room or something.   
  
  
  
As months passed by, Mimi realized that they no longer loved each other and the only reason they were still living in the same house was because of her. They wanted her to focus on school and not worry about them getting divorced or the fights they were having. But how could she possibly focus on school whenever her parents fought at late night, waking her up from her sleep or whenever she would hear her mom sobbing in the living room while trying to clean up broken glasses and topped over items? That's when she truly felt great sadness and depression for the first time in her whole life. After all, she was always her daddy's spoiled princess who was always surrounded by people.  
  
  
  
"Mimi? What are you doing outside? Don't you have school?"  
  
  
  
Mimi snapped out of her thoughts and looked at her dad standing in their house door way, his hair sticking out of all places. "School's closed from snow."  
  
  
  
"Well than, come inside! You don't even have your jacket on! You don't want to catch a cold, do you?"  
  
  
  
Mimi stood in silence and ignored her dad. She hated him. She hated him for causing so much pain to her mom and her. The only reason she acts as if she loves her dad is because he is simply her dad. Nothing more.  
  
  
  
After few moments passed by, Mr. Tachikawa sighed and went out in his bear feet and dragged Mimi inside. She's been acting cold toward him ever since he got divorced with her mom five months ago. He was planning to let Mimi's mom take care of Mimi because he knew how much Mimi liked her mom but a week after their divorce, Mimi's mom moved far away to Europe without telling anyone which left him to take care of Mimi. He didn't mind or anything of course but he just thought Mimi would be far much better living with a mom than a dad.  
  
  
  
Mimi hasn't noticed that her dad was dragging her inside until she felt a ting of warm air coming from inside of the house. Noticing what her dad was doing, she immediately shrugged her shoulders to lose the grip that her dad had on her arm, and walked the rest of the way on her own. She quietly brushed off the snow from her hair, shirt, pants and stomped her foot gently on the ground and let the snow fall from her socks before going inside the house.  
  
  
  
Mimi sighed as she entered the messy house which haven't been cleaned for weeks. Her dad never had to clean the house when he lived with her mom but since she was no longer living with them, the whole house looked at if a strong wind had passed by. Mimi knew she should probably clean the whole house once in a while and not just her room but she didn't care much since she usually locked herself in her room when she wasn't going out anywhere. Her room was quite big and roomy and she had a computer, television, desk, telephone, bed and two book shelves along with other items. However, there were no posters on the wall, dolls sitting on her desk, or anything decorative items that she once had in her old room when there were three people in her family and not just two. She didn't and couldn't see any point of decorating her dull room.  
  
  
  
"Do you want something for breakfast?" asked Mr. Tachikawa as he entered the kitchen after he closed the front door when Mimi had entered the house.   
  
  
  
"No. I already ate," lied Mimi as she sat down on the edge of the couch before taking her wet socks off and rubbing her numb foot with a clean towel she found next to a flower base that contained dead roses which have been there for over a month now. Even though she hasn't eaten anything, she really didn't feel like eating any thing this morning especially if her dad was cooking. Her dad had never been good at cooking so she was the one who usually did the cooking unless her dad bought a box of pizza or something on his way home from work.  
  
  
  
"Ok. Well, I should go to work now. I probably can't take the car out with this much snow. If I walk to my office, I should get there in half an hour or so, unless the side walk hasn't been cleaned out yet which will take me longer..."  
  
  
  
Mimi just sat there on the couch, trying to warm herself while she pretended as if she was listening to her dad who now was walking around the living room, looking for his watch. It'd take practically hours to find something as small as a watch considering how messy the living room was. Piles of clothes was sitting on the corner next to the television and there were few dirty dishes laid out on the coffee table. An empty pizza box was right next to where Mimi was sitting and papers were just everywhere. She never touched the papers because they belonged to her dad for his office but it seemed her dad was a little too lazy to organized them. He was so unlike her mom...  
  
  
  
"Damn! I can't find it! Oh well," said Mr. Tachikawa and he stormed into his bed room to get dressed.  
  
  
  
Mimi snorted as she scanned around the room once and found her dad's watch next to the same table with the dead roses. It was right there the whole time and yet her dad had failed to see it. He was definitely unlike her mom.  
  
  
  
  
  
---   
  
  
  
  
  
"Kari? I know you're in there! Open up!" Tai banged on his sister's door over and over again until his hand had turned dark red and began to hurt like it had just been hit by a hammer. Usually, his first class should be starting right now in school but due to snow, the same school he went with Mimi and his few other friends had been canceled. Good thing too because he was in no mood to be in school, surrounded by his class mates and teachers. "Kari! Please, you got to eat something."  
  
  
  
Tai quietly waited for a responds but when none came, he sighed and leaned against the wall. Kari had been in her room ever since yesterday after school when she got a letter in their mail box and hasn't come out since except once during midnight to use the bath room. He could tell Kari had been losing weight lately from skipping lunch in school and often dinner and he was starting to get worried.   
  
  
  
Tai turned his head and looked at the his mom's door at the end of the hall way and sighed once again. His mother was probably sleeping from coming home so late from work. She had three jobs now and never really got a good amount of sleep since five months ago when his mom and dad got divorced. Tai never knew why they got divorced but he guessed it had something to do with his dad. Tai frowned at the thought of his dad. Just three weeks after his mom and dad got divorced, he remarried to another woman and moved to the other side of Japan, giving both him and Kari the look of regret before leaving. After that, Tai often wondered if he ever loved him and Kari in the first place or if he was just pretending to love them because part of his blood was in theirs.  
  
  
  
With a low creaking sound, his mom's door flung open. "Tai, I'm going to work now. Take care of your sister."  
  
  
  
"Mom? Why are you leaving so early?" asked Tai to his mother who just came out of her room fully dressed with a lot of make up on her face. He knew the only reason she wore make up was to hide her tiredness that he often saw when she came home late at night with her make up worn off. She had also lost a lot of weight and whenever she smiled, it looked like she was forcing it. The happiness he once saw in his mom's eyes was no longer there. They were gone.   
  
  
  
"There's too much snow out. It'd be best if I leave early," said Mrs. Hinamori who once used to be Mrs. Kamiya. Tai nodded even though he knew his mother wouldn't be able to see him as she passed by him and left their apartment without eating any breakfast. He wished she had eaten at least an apple but he knew his mom thought her jobs were more important than her health. It was the only choice she had unless she wanted both her son and daughter to live in the streets or get sent to a foster home. However, Tai wanted nothing but his mother and Kari to be happy. But it was just so hard. Kari would just push him away whenever he tried to talk to her and he never really get any time to sit and have a talk with his mother.   
  
  
  
Tai closed his eyes shut and knew that he had to keep trying no matter what. Even if he had to give his life for it. With that in mind, Tai gently spoke through Kari's door, hoping that Kari would listen to him this time and open the door. "Kari, listen to me. I don't know what was written in the letter you got yesterday but you got to eat something. I know mom's very worried about you and I'm worried too. I know this is hard for you but you got to keep on going. Kari... please. Open the door."  
  
  
  
There was a small sob on the other side of the door and few minutes later, the door was unlocked and Kari flung out with tears streaming down her eyes. Tai looked down at his sister in surprise and hugged her tightly while he tried hard not to cry himself. He needed to be strong for Kari.  
  
  
  
They stood in that same position for few moments without any words until Kari's tears came to a stop and she parted away from her brother. "T-tai... Our grandmother... Sh-she's planning to take me a-awy..."  
  
  
  
"What?" said Tai in disbelief. "Who told you that?" He was definitely not expecting this.  
  
  
  
Kari walked into her room and picked up the same letter she had gotten yesterday from her bed and handed it to Tai. With out hesitation, Tai quickly read the letter twice before he crumpled it in his hands. It was from his grandmother wanting to take Kari away because she thought it would be better if she lived with her instead of their mom who has barely enough money to pay for the cost of the apartment they were currently living in. Tai knew their grandmother was fairly rich and apparently, their grandmother had thought Kari living with her would make things much easier for everyone.  
  
  
  
Tai was beyond mad. How could his grand mother possibly think about taking Kari away with out even discussing any thing with them? If his mom found out about what their grand mother was planning to do, he knew she would definitely be just as mad as him. She loved Kari too much to just give her up.  
  
  
  
"Tai? She's not going to take me away, is she?" asked Kari in a quiet voice. Kari wanted to stay here with her brother and mom even though she never really got anytime to see her anymore. But Kari understood perfectly what her mom was going through and wanted to stay with her and Tai no matter what may happen.  
  
  
  
"No... Of course not. Don't worry. We wont let her," whispered Tai, dropping the letter on to the floor before he hugged her tightly, afraid of losing her.  
  
  
  
"Please don't tell mom about what our grandmother's planning to do," whispered Kari and Tai looked down at Kari in surprise. "I don't want mom to worry... She has enough things to worry about and... t-the letter was actually for m-mom. I knew grandmother wanted to take me away so I read it instead so mom won't have to... "  
  
  
  
Tai understood what Kari was saying and nodded his head. It'd be best if their mom don't find about the letter or she would get very upset which is something neither him or Kari wants. He would some how find a way to change his grand mother's mind. He had to. 


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two  
  
Tai sat on the sofa yawning every few minutes, his eyes being forced to stay open. It was almost three in the morning and he was waiting for his mother who should of arrived home over an hour ago. He was a little worried and hoped that the snow outside wasn't causing her any trouble getting home. The snow had stopped many hours ago but considering the amount of snow outside, he guessed that they won't be having school tomorrow either. It's been years since they had a snow storm like this and Tai decided to enjoy it to the fullest and take the advantage of schools being closed.  
  
He and Kari along with few of their friends had went out earlier that day and played in the snow like they did when they were young. The only person that didn't come was Mimi. It seemed Mimi was being distant with everyone for few months now and Tai was beginning to worry for his friend. He knew her parents had gotten divorced as well and wondered if that had anything to her being distant toward everyone. She seemed to be doing fine in school like nothing was wrong but it was a complete different story when they were outside of school. It was as if she was afraid to let her feelings show to anyone and she always acted like nothing was wrong when Tai could clearly see that there was something always bothering her. She had... changed.  
  
Tai felt himself drifting slowly to sleep. He hasn't gotten much sleep lately, worrying about Kari and all. He had forced Kari to go to bed few hours ago despite all of her complains. She had wanted to stay up and wait for their mom as well but Tai knew Kari needed to get some sleep. She probably stayed up all night yesterday worrying about the letter they got from their grandmother.   
  
"Tai, shouldn't you be sleeping?" Tai's eyes snapped opened and saw his mother standing in the door way with someone behind her. It seemed he had dozed off for few seconds and didn't hear the door open.  
  
"Oh, uh, I was waiting for you," said Tai looking at the figure behind his mother. His mom caught Tai's eyes wandering off to the person behind her and smiled before she stepped aside for the person to come in. It was Mr. Tachikawa. Wait, Mr. Tachikawa? What's he doing here?  
  
"Hi, Tai. How are you doing?" asked Mr. Tachikawa as he came into the living room with a gentle smile. For some reason, his smile looked a little... different. It reminded Tai of one of those smiles his father used to give him before his mom and dad got divorced.   
  
"I'm doing fine. What are you doing here?" asked Tai as if he was accusing him for doing something wrong before he could stop himself. He just hoped that he didn't sound like he didn't want Mr. Tachikawa to be here or anything. However, to Tai's relief, Mr. Tachikawa didn't seemed to notice as he was busy unzipping his black winter coat before sitting down on the opposite sofa.  
  
"I met your mother while I was walking home and she invited me here because I had a little trouble getting home with all the snow."  
  
Tai nodded his head, feeling that something wasn't quite. He was sure that Mimi's dad only lived few minutes away unless Mimi had recently moved to another place without telling him so what was the point of his mom inviting him here? He shouldn't had much trouble getting home since it's very near from here. While Tai was deep in his thought, his mother came into the living room few moments later, changed into a simple shirt and jeans. She smiled at Mr. Tachikawa. "So, will you be staying here for tonight? It's a little late don't you think, Tom?"   
  
Tom? Since when did his mom call Mimi's dad by his first name? "Oh no. I couldn't do that. I don't want to give you any trouble."  
  
"Nonsense. I'll get you some blankets and you could sleep out here. It's very chilly outside," said his mom with a cheerful smile that Tai hasn't seen in a while. His mom was smiling at Mr. Tachikawa like they were very close friends or something. But surely he would of known by now if they really were close friends unless they've been keeping their friendship a secret. But why would they do that? This is just weird.   
  
Mr. Tachikawa looked a little unsure about his decision but when he saw Tai's mom smiling at him, he smiled back. "Thank you. That'd be great. I guess I should call Mimi and tell her than..."  
  
"Oh no. I'll call her," said Tai quickly when he saw Mr. Tachikawa digging through his pocket for his cell phone. He hasn't talked to Mimi in a while and he did not want to stay in the same place with his mom and Mr. Tachikawa. It made him feel uncomfortable for some reason.  
  
"Thank you, Tai. Just tell her I'll be there tomorrow morning." Tai quietly nodded his head and left the living room as quickly as he could after picking up the telephone on the coffee table. As he began walking to his room, he heard his mom and Mr. Tachikawa starting a conversation. He was curious as to what they were talking about because his mom had begun laughing at something Mr. Tachikawa had said but he knew better than to eavesdrop.   
  
---  
  
Mimi stared off at her ceiling, wondering where her dad was. She wasn't very much worried or anything but she knew she'd sleep better tonight if she knew where he was. She couldn't really sleep any ways because she kept having these odd dreams and whenever she tried to remember what those dreams were about, she just couldn't. She had been having those dreams for over a month now and all she knew was that they were very unpleasant and... sad.   
  
Suddenly a ting of unhappiness came over Mimi as she remembered back to earlier today. Sora and Joe had called her to come and hang out with them and everyone else but she had refused. She could still remember the disappointment she had heard in their voices as she hung up and stared out the window where most people in her neighbor were clearing the snow from their side walks with a shovel in their hands. She wasn't very sure why she had refused except that she just wanted to be... alone. She knew she was avoiding everyone for quite a while now but it just couldn't be helped. Except for when she's in school that is.  
  
Mimi turned sideways in her bed to face the wall of her room as she found the ceiling one of the most boring things in the world. She didn't even know why she was staring at it in the first place. Her mind was screaming the word "bored" over and over but there really wasn't anything she could do at this time of the night. She hasn't watched T.V. or went on her computer for weeks because she no longer felt any enjoyment in them and she doubt that she would now. Actually now that she thought about it, she couldn't find any enjoyment in her life. The happiness she once felt was gone. It was as if her old self had been shattered in to little pieces so that could no longer put them back. She just couldn't help but hate herself for everything she did and didn't do.  
  
Why was she acting like this? Isn't she suppose to be a shopping freak who loved the color pink? Had she somehow gone mad after her mom had left? What would Palmon think of her if she came to the real world and saw her now? It's been months since Mimi had last seen Palmon and she hoped that she wouldn't have to see her any time soon. Palmon would probably worry her head off if she saw the way she, Mimi Tachikawa, had been acting lately and faint if she found out that she no longer can find any enjoyment in shopping.   
  
The phone began ringing which brought Mimi back to the real world and out of her thoughts. With a groan, Mimi stood up from her bed and grabbed the phone that was right next to her computer.   
  
"Hello?"   
  
"Hey Mimi!" said the person on the other line.   
  
"Tai?" said Mimi in surprise as she looked around her room for a clock until she realized that she didn't have one in her room. She mentally smacked herself on the head before reminding herself to get one sometime soon. Mimi opened her bedroom door and looked out the hall way where there was an old wooden clock hanging on the wall. She thought it looked stupid for an old clock to be hung in the middle of the hall way but she didn't say any thing about it since it was her dad's idea. She looked at the clock once and shut her door quietly. "It's three in the morning. What's up?"  
  
"Yeah, I know and I was worried you might of had fallen asleep," said Tai and when no responds came from Mimi, he continued. "I just called you to tell you that your dad's going to spend the night at my house."  
  
Silence took over and Mimi couldn't help but frown. "What? What's he doing there?"  
  
"Something about not being able go home because of the snow," answered Tai with a shrug. He couldn't really understand it either.  
  
"But it won't even take him ten minutes to get here! He must have a crack somewhere in his brain."  
  
"Uh... Maybe but my mom invited him to stay. They seemed to be very close friends."  
  
"Huh? Since when were they friends? I mean I've never heard him mention your mom to me or anything," said Mimi and she slumped down on her bed, sending her long hair flying everywhere. Mimi immediately brushed them away from her eyes with a huff. Her hair was really starting to annoy her. She did thought about cutting them many times but she just couldn't do it because she knew she would miss it too much.  
  
"Well any ways, your dad told me to tell you he would be there tomorrow morning."  
  
"Alright... like I care," said Mimi, the last three words coming out as a low whisper so Tai wouldn't be able to hear her.  
  
"Hey Mimi? Do you want to hang out together tomorrow. I doubt we would have school and I haven't really seen you in a while. Well besides in school but you never seemed to really talk all that much any more."  
  
"Oh well... Sure." She had already refused to go out with her friends earlier that day and she thought it wouldn't be very wise to refuse again or he'd start asking her questions as to why she was... probably being distant with everyone. She didn't quite know how she would be able to tell him that she just wanted to be left alone and make him understand. She wasn't even sure why she wanted to alone... Maybe it's because of her mom. Maybe when she left her months back, she just...  
  
"Ok, so I'll come over your house and we could go to the park or something. Gee, we haven't done that in awhile," said Tai, breaking Mimi from her thoughts.  
  
"No!" said Mimi in a hurry. Her house was messy as a dumpster, besides her room, and she didn't want her friend to see how her life was at home. No one has been at her house for months now because she hasn't invited any. "I mean... no. I'll go to your house."  
  
"Oh. Ok, I'll see you around... one?"  
  
"Yeah, I'll see you than. Bye." With that said, Mimi hung up the phone and dropped it on the other side of her bed. Well, she wasn't sure if she really wanted to hang out with anyone tomorrow or the day after that but at least she found out where her dad was. It was still a shock to her that her dad would be at Tai's house out of all of the other places he could be but she knew there was no point about wondering why he was there. It's his life after all and definitely not hers.  
  
--  
  
Mimi sighed before shoving her hands inside her pocket. Tai had positively not told her that few of her other friends were going to meet her and Tai at the park. After she had arrived at Tai's house around one, they went out to the park where they met Yolei, Davis, Matt, Izzy, Sora, T.K., Kari and Cody. It wasn't that she didn't like her friends or any thing but... it was just hard being around many people outside of school after wanting to be left alone for so long.  
  
"Mimi! Wow, it's been such a long time since I've seen you outside of school," said Yolei all too cheerfully. Yolei was acting as if she hasn't seen Mimi in years which amazed Mimi a little bit considering that they always ate lunch in school together with their friends. Maybe she had been avoiding everyone a little too bit.  
  
"Hey guys," said Mimi and everyone greeted back besides Davis who was trying to start a conversation with Kari. Even after all these years, he still had that crush on her. It was obvious to any one with eyes that Kari did not feel the same way about him and Mimi often wondered if Davis knew that himself. She sometimes felt sorry for him whether that was a good thing or not.  
  
"Where's Joe and Ken?" asked Tai who was still standing next to Mimi.  
  
"Ken's busy and Joe's off somewhere. So any ways, what do you guys want to do?" said Matt looking at everyone.  
  
Everyone thought for a while. There was no point of all ten of them going to the movies or get something to eat since not everyone had brought money and the only thing around the park was snow and more snow. "I don't know. We could just walk around for a while, thinking of something we could do," said Davis with a shrug and everyone agreed.  
  
As they walked around the park talking to one another, Sora had noticed some younger kids edging away from them as if they were some kind of a gang that went around beating up people. Sora couln't help but point that out to her friends and some of them laughed while picturing themselves threatening the little kids for their lunch money or something.  
  
Kari was happily chatting with T.K. while Davis was giving off a lot glares at T.K. who seemed to have either not noticed or was just ignoring him. Probably the second choice because no one can possibly ignore the glare that he was giving off. Sora was walking ahead of everyone with Izzy, Yolei and Cody and they were engaged in some kind of a conversation that Mimi could not hear. She was standing next to Matt and Tai in the back, walking silently while the snow crumpled with every step she took. The sun was shinning brightly, melting some of the snow to Mimi's disappointment. Most of the snow was being cleared away from the road and the side walks which most likely meant that the school would be open the next day. Mimi sighed. She didn't do all of her homework yet thinking that they may have another day off.  
  
Tai stopped in the middle of his sentence while he was talking to Matt and glanced at Mimi who he had just heard her sigh. Matt looked at Mimi too and he stared at her for a while before a small smile was formed on his lips as he bent down on his knees to gather some snow in his hands. Tai looked at Matt in a questioning way before he smiled at well, bending down to gather some snow in his hands.   
  
Mimi was too busy locked in her thoughts that she hasn't noticed what her two friends were doing next to her and before she knew what was going on, two snowballs came flinging at her head. Mimi gasped at the sudden coldness and looked at Tai and Matt who were snickering uncontrollably. Anger flared inside Mimi as she quickly brushed the snow off of her head and gathered some snow in her hands. Without bothering to make the snowball round, she hit it directly at Tai's face who had immediately stopped laughing.   
  
Tai blinked two times as Matt laughed harder than ever, pointing his right finger at him with his left hand holding on his stomach before he was also hit in his face by a snowball. Mimi laughed, looking at her two shocked friends and she felt all of her worries lifting away from her. Everyone turned their attention to Mimi and the two other guys with snow covering their faces at the sound of Mimi's laughter.  
  
"What did you guys do to yourselves?" asked Kari and she couldn't help but let out a small laugh.   
  
"What did you do that for?" asked Matt to Mimi who now had stopped laughing.  
  
"What? You guys did it too," said Mimi motioning to her head which was covered by snow just few moments ago as Matt and Tai brushed off the snow from their faces.   
  
"Oh, well... It's was Matt's idea so he should be the one hit with the-" said Tai but before he was able to finish his sentence, he was hit by another snowball in his face. Tai could feel his face stinging from the coldness of the snow and he shook his head couples of times, letting the snow fall from his face. "Hey! Who just-"  
  
Unfortunately, Tai was hit by another snowball and before he knew what was going, snowballs flew from every direction. Everyone was throwing snowballs at one another, ducking behind benches and Trees.   
  
Davis was hiding behind a tree, aiming his snowballs only at T.K. who was standing next to Kari. He wanted to be the one standing next to Kari as she and T.K. were both throwing snowballs at their brothers. Mimi was running as Izzy and Sora chased her around with snowballs in both of their hands. Izzy threw his snowball which nearly missed Mimi and she turned around to stick her tong at him until she bumped into Tai. They both fell to the ground as snowballs continued to fly everywhere.  
  
"Sorry about that!" said Mimi as she got up on her feet and brushed the snow from her coat. But Tai wasn't going to forgive her for that. Tai gather snow in his hands before he got up with a evil look on his face. Mimi ran, not liking the look on Tai's face. "Tai! I said I was sorry! It was an-"  
  
"Ha! I got you!" said Tai as Mimi quickly brushed off the snow from her shoulder. He wasn't able to hit her face like she had done to him but it was good enough for him.  
  
"Tai! I'm going to get you for that!" Mimi picked up some snow and this time, it was Tai who was running away from her. They ran around in circles as Tai and Mimi tried to dodge the snowballs that came at them from the others and trying not to bump into anyone while Mimi held the snowball in her hand in a threatening way.   
  
Mimi couldn't help but smile as she chased Tai around. It was the first time she had truly felt happy in weeks or perhaps even months since the day her mom had left her.   
  
She would treasure this day forever. 


	3. Chapter Three

Hi everyone! I know it's been a while since I last updated and I hope no one hates me for that. Any ways, someone left a review saying that this fic was just like a Mimato fanfic they read and I just want say that I did not copy anyone's work. I mean, there's thousands of Digimon fanfics and it's not I read every one of them to make sure no one wrote any fanfics like mine before me.   
  
I'll try to write as much of the next chapter as I can tomorrow since I don't have school(I really hate school) and hopefully, I'll be able to get it up as soon as I can.   
  
Disclamier: I don't own Digimon!   
  
Chapter Three  
  
"Mimi! Time to get up..."  
  
A girl in a light yellow pajamas stirred in her bed for a moment before she rolled up her thick winter blanket over her head and covered her ears with her hands. She really wanted to sleep longer but with her dad's voice booming through her bedroom door, it was nearly impossible.  
  
"Mimi! Are you up yet? Mimi?"  
  
Mimi groaned before forcing her eyes to open and threw her blanket over to the side. She swung her legs over to the edge of her bed and just sat there for few moments, deciding whether to stuff some cotton in her ears and go back to sleep or just get up like her dad had been telling her for the last minute or so.  
  
"Are you awake?" came her dad's voice after three gentle knocks.  
  
"Yeah I'm up so stop yelling!" yelled Mimi with a sigh and when there was no reply, she shrugged her shoulders before opening her closet. Most of her winter clothes were hung up by the clothes hangers while her summer clothes were neatly folded across the top shelves. Without paying much attention to what she was going to wear for the day, she picked out the navy shirt in front of her and one of the jeans on the bottom of her closet.  
  
After getting dressed, Mimi went inside the bathroom that she had in her room and came back out ten minutes later with her hair neatly brushed and the look of sleepiness washed away from her face. Mimi couldn't help but let out another sigh as she gently opened her door bedroom and made her way down the stairs to face the day. Something told her that today wasn't going to be a very good day considering that her dad had woken her up so early on a Sunday morning.  
  
"Tom, can you pass me the salt?"  
  
Mimi's eyes widen as she heard a feminine voice coming from the kitchen and stopped her walk down the stairs. The voice sounded very familiar but... who could it be? It couldn't be her mom... could it? No, why would her mom be here? But than again... As far as she knew, her dad wasn't seeing anyone at the moment and he didn't have many lady friends... Maybe it is her mom! And maybe she and her dad are really getting back together again!  
  
With those thoughts in her mind, Mimi ran down the rest of the stairs. It just has to be her mom. It just has to!  
  
With a bright smile on her face, Mimi jumped down the last three steps and ran over to the kitchen. If just thinking about seeing her mom made her smile like an idiot, she wondered what would happen if she really did see her again.  
  
"Good morning, Mimi!" Mimi's smile immediately disappeared as a frown slowly made its way across her face after she had entered the kitchen. It wasn't her mom... It was Tai's mom. No wonder her voice sounded so familiar... Mimi bit down the corner of her lips, feeling awfully stupid. How could she have thought that her mom had came back? And even if she did, what had made her think that her parents were getting back together? They didn't love each other. That's why got divorced in the first place.  
  
Mrs. Hinamori quickly gave Mimi a smile, not noticing the slight frown on Mimi's face as she went over to the toasters. She put two pieces of bread and pushed down the lever before going over to the refrigerator as Mimi carefully watched Mrs. Hinamori's every move. It was kind of odd how Mrs. Hinamori was using the kitchen like it was her own.  
  
Mimi than glanced over at her dad who was standing near the counter, helping Mrs. Hinamori with small things. When he caught his daughter staring at him, he smiled softly, knowing exactly what his daughter was thinking and answered her question. "Mimi, Laura came here early this morning to help me clean up the house and cook breakfast."  
  
"Laura? Who's... Laura?" said Mimi and when she looked over at Mrs. Hinamori and found her smiling at her, she immediately understood that she was Laura. She had always known her as Mrs. Kamiya or Mrs. Hinamori but never as Laura. "Oh... I see."  
  
"I called Tai and Kari to come over here few minutes ago to have some breakfast so they should be here any moment," said Mrs. Hinamori as she carefully balanced five eggs in both of her hands and walked over to the heated frying pan. Mimi was confused. Maybe Tai was right when he told her few days ago that his mom and her dad seemed to be close friends. But if that was true, how come she never knew about it?  
  
The sound of doorbell ringing snapped Mimi out of her thoughts as she saw her dad leaving the kitchen to get the to the door. "No, I'll get it," said Mimi walking in front of her dad. She didn't really feel comfortable being near Tai's mom for some reason.  
  
When her dad didn't say anything, Mimi walked by him and went through the living room. Surprisingly enough, the living room very clean. Everything was stacked neatly on the shelves and all the dusts had been wiped away from the tables. Even the dead roses were replaced by new bright flowers, lightening up the curtains covering the windows. For the first time in months, the living room actually looked... nice.   
  
Taking her eyes away from the living room, Mimi unlocked the front door and opened it for Tai and Kari to come in along with some cold winter morning's wind. As Mimi stepped away from the door, she noticed Kari's cheeks were pink from the cold and that she was shivering like someone had dumped icy water on her. "Are you all right, Kari?"  
  
Kari smiled at the older girl and nodded her head. "I'm fine. It was just very cold outside."  
  
"Why is my mom here?" asked Tai as Mimi shut the door behind him before shrugging her shoulders.   
  
"I'm not so sure but she's cooking in the kitchen right now. First I thought it was my..." Mimi stopped in the middle of her sentence. Her friends would look at her like she was crazy if she told them she first thought it was her mom who was cooking in the kitchen.  
  
"First thought what?" asked Tai as they headed for the kitchen.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Tai, Kari! I hope it wasn't too cold outside. Take your jacket off and have a seat. Breakfast will be ready soon," said Mrs. Hinamori as soon as she saw the three of them entering the kitchen and Tai and Kari did as they were told. They went out in the living room to take off their jackets and laid them on the sofa before coming back into the kitchen. When they came back, Mimi was already sitting on the end side of the table and Kari went to sit next to her while Tai sat on the other side of Kari.  
  
"Here you go!" said Mrs. Hinamori few moments later as she passed out plates to everyone. There was an egg for each of them with toasts and hams. Mr. Tachikawa laid out few different kinds of jams in the middle of the table before handing a cup of orange juice to everyone. After that was done, Mr. Tachikawa and Mrs. Hinamori sat next to each other and smiled cheerfully. "Well, let's eat!"  
  
Everyone ate mostly in silence with Tai glancing at his mom and Mimi's dad every few minutes. He had caught his mother and Mimi's dad looking at one another nervously couple of times and he couldn't help but wonder if they were hiding something. But than again, his mom would have told him and Kari if something was going on... Wouldn't she? Well, only one way to find out...  
  
"All right, what's going on? Why are we here exactly?" asked Tai, setting down his fork on the table.   
  
Mimi's dad cleared his throat and fidgeted with the bottom of his shirt, setting down his fork as well. "Oh... Well... We weren't going to tell you guys this until breakfast was over because we weren't sure how you guys would react and if things would be all right with you guys and-"  
  
"We're getting married!" cut in Mrs. Hinamori.  
  
Mimi chocked on her orange juice while accidentally swallowing a small ice cube and Kari dropped her knife which landed beside her plate, almost knocking her half-eaten egg in the process. Tai's eyes widened.  
  
"What? How? When?" said Kari as Mimi coughed beside her.  
  
"Oh well... Actually..." started Mr. Tachikawa as he twisted his fingers around the end of his shirt. It was a bad habit of his that usually occurred when he was nervous. "We started going out one year ago and..."   
  
"Are you saying that you guys went out with each other when both of you were married?" said Mimi and her dad scratched the back of his head, avoiding her eyes as best as he could. Mimi no longer needed an answer. "So the lipstick marks, perfume and everything was from Mrs. Hinamori? You were cheating on my mom?"  
  
"Ah, well. Uh, you see... Yes but-"  
  
"Wait! Hold on a second! Was this the reason why you and dad got divorced? Because you were cheating on him with Mimi's dad? Is that why dad got remarried to someone else?" said Kari. She had always thought it was a little strange how her parents and Mimi's parents got divorced around the same time but now that the confusions she had carried for the last five months were slowly fading away by each second, she wasn't so sure how she should react to the situation she was in right now.   
  
Mrs. Hinamori was slightly shocked at the question her daughter had asked her. She had thought that her daughter would be happy that she was getting married again but there was no look of happiness on her face. None at all. "Kari, you got to understand. One year ago, I met Tom at the super market and he gave me a lift home. We became good friends after and than... I just fell in love with him. I know it was wrong because I had a husband and all but you can't help who you fall in love with," said Mrs. Hinamori almost in tears. It was hurting her to see her own daughter looking at her like she had committed a terrible crime. But she couldn't blame her though because she knew she would be doing the same thing if she was in Kari's place.  
  
"So it was your fault?" said Tai looking at his mother angrily. All this time, he had thought it was his dad's fault for causing so much pain to his mother and leaving her to take care of him and Kari but it was her who had caused it. She was the one that had cheated on his dad and ended up ruining their family. It was all her fault!  
  
Tai waited for a reply of any sort but instead, his mother lowered her gaze. "Mom, say something! Why didn't you tell any of this to us sooner? Why didn't you tell us that you were in love with Mr. Tachikawa? How could you have gone out with Mr. Tachikawa for a year now without telling us until today?"  
  
"This is unbelievable..." said Mimi and she walked out of the kitchen before a tear rolled down her cheeks. She didn't want anyone to see her tears. She wanted to be strong in front of everyone and not to be seen like the cry baby she was years ago when she was little. She wanted to be happy. She wanted everything she didn't have. She wanted to be... alone.  
  
"Mimi! Come back here! Mimi!" yelled Mr. Tachikawa but he let out a sigh as he heard a door being slammed shut.  
  
--  
  
Tears streamed down her face as Mimi slumped down on the floor, her hatred toward her dad growing by each second. Everything was just so... wrong.  
  
Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, Mimi reached up to one of the books on the bookshelf and opened it slowly as a picture of her mom slipped out and landed on her knees. She dropped the book next to her and picked up the picture of her mom. She wanted to keep this picture of her mom in a picture frame but she didn't think it would make her dad very comfortable so instead, she hid it in one of her books.   
  
Mimi wished dearly that her mom could be here right now instead of in Europe or wherever she was. She wanted to talk to her, see her and for her to tell her that everything was going to be ok.   
  
Mimi wiped her tears with the back of her hand again but more and more came spilling down, confusion rising up to her. Her dad has every right to marry any women he wants so why was she so upset? Why was she crying like a little girl who had just dropped her ice cream on the ground? Why was it hurting her so much? Why?  
  
"Life sucks. Life sucks. Life sucks. Life sucks. Life sucks..." repeated Mimi over and over again, hoping that maybe she would forget everything that had happen the last few minutes. However, it was nearly impossible with hundreds of questions going through her mind.   
  
First, she wanted to know why her dad didn't tell her sooner that he and Mrs. Hinamori were going out with each other and how in the world they were able to keep their secret without letting anyone know. She also wanted to know if her mom left far away just because she couldn't bring herself see her dad and Mrs. Hinamori tog- Wait! Her mom and Tai's mom... they were friends! They weren't very close friends but still, they met up with each other every once in a while to have lunch or something so they are kind of like friends. Which means that Mrs. Hinamori fell in love with a married man who was married to her friend! Why didn't this little fact occur to her sooner when she was down stairs in the kitchen? She would have argued with Mrs. Hinamori or something to make her feel bad for doing such a thing. She had always thought of Tai's mom as a kind person but what kind of a person steals her friend's husband? This truly was unbelievable.   
  
"Mimi? I want to talk to you," came a voice from the other side of the door which belonged to her dad.  
  
"Go away. I don't feel like talking," said Mimi in a muffled tone.  
  
On the other side of the door, Mr. Tachikawa tried opening Mimi's door but it was locked which wasn't very surprising. He stared at the door for a while, hoping that the door would somehow magically open but he left with a gentle shake of his head. He knew the best thing to do at the moment was to leave his daughter alone and not bother her to get her even more upset.  
  
---  
  
When Mr. Tachikawa entered the kitchen, he saw Laura and her children getting up from their seats, ready to go home. He felt very awkward just standing in the door way not saying anything, but he knew he would probably make things worst if he said anything which is something he does not wanting happening.   
  
Mrs. Hinamori smiled weakly at Mr. Tachikawa and she walked by him with her children behind her to grab their coat from the living room. When their coats were on, she gave another quick glance at Mr. Tachikawa before she opened the front door and left with Tai and Kari in silence.  
  
As the cold wind hit her face, Kari held up her hand right above her eyes and tossed her hair back as they tried to block her view. She knew having her hair covering her view wouldn't be a very smart thing to do. Bringing her head up slowly to look at her mom who was few inches taller than her, she couldn't help but feel bad for the look of sadness on her mom's face. Maybe... if she said that she was happy that her mom was going to get married and she was going to get an older sister instead of just getting mad at her... than maybe her mom wouldn't look so sad right now... But how could she had been not mad at her? If her mom had told them the truth about her and Mimi's dad instead of keeping it a secret, than maybe things could of been a little different.   
  
It hurt her to know that her mom, who she had trusted very much, hasn't told her that the reason she and her dad got divorced because she was in love with someone. She had always thought it was her dad's fault for leaving her mom and she was sure that's what Tai had always believe too.   
  
Kari coughed and covered her mouth with her hands, wishing that she could of brought a scarf or something. She really didn't want to get sick and carry cough drops and tissues wherever she went. She guessed that the short walk she had while coming to Mimi's house had definitely been a bad thing to do and walking back home for another ten minutes in this cold weather wouldn't make things any better.  
  
"Kari, are you alright?" asked Mrs. Hinamori as she looked at her daughter worriedly.  
  
Kari shook her up and down, her face heating up from coughing. "I'm fine."  
  
Mrs. Hinamori shook her head with a sad smile. "I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have called you out all the way over here in this cold weather. How about you Tai? Are you alright?"   
  
Tai looked up at his mother and instead of answering her question, he asked one of his own. "Why didn't you tell us sooner that you were going out with Mimi's dad until today?"   
  
Mrs. Hinamori looked at her son in surprise. She didn't think they would talk anything about the things that had happened the last few minutes until they got home. "Well, I guess I was just afraid. Afraid that... you guys would hate me."  
  
"Oh," said Tai and looked down at his shoes before kicking some snow. 


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four  
  
With her throat aching in pain, Mimi ran through the hallway of her school, her back pack flaring wildly behind her. She had been running for the pass ten minutes, which wasn't doing any good to her dry throat, and every now and than, she would wish that she could stop by a water fountain and take a sip of the water.  
  
Only few students were seen out in the hallways and they were also hurrying to get to their first class. The bell would be ringing soon and if Mimi didn't get to her class in time, she was sure that her art teacher would give her a detention like she would usually do to the students late for her class. Her teacher was just a mean-headed woman without any consideration of... well, anything. Or at least that's what Mimi thought of her as.  
  
Mimi was well aware that her appearance didn't look too good at the moment with her hair tied in a messy pony tail and her green skirt of her school uniform wrinkled in few places. She had just gotten it out of the dryer this morning and had no choice but to wear it since she was in a hurry. She usually woke up on her own every morning even without an alarm clock and on the days that she didn't, her dad would always come knocking on her door, telling her to get ready for school. However this morning, thinking that Mimi was still mad at him for what had happened on the Sunday morning, her dad had left to go to work quietly, leaving a turkey sandwich on the kitchen table for her to take to school for lunch.  
  
Mimi scowled slightly at the thought of her dad as her mind drifted off to the day before when Tai's mom had announced that she and her dad were getting married. Just the thought of them getting married gave a sick feeling to her stomach and she did not like it. Sure, they might be in love with each other but still, she couldn't find any happiness toward them. And she was fine with that.  
  
After running for few more seconds, Mimi forcefully opened the door of her art room class just as the bell began ringing and let out a long sigh. She didn't think she'd actually make it.  
  
"Mimi! Over here!"   
  
Mimi looked around the room and found Sora and Tai sitting at a table in the back of the class room. Sora was smiling at her and Tai was well... he was looking at a crack on the wall as if it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen in his whole entire life. It was obvious that he was trying to avoid having any eye contact with her and Mimi couldn't blame him. They haven't spoken to each other since yesterday morning after she had stormed away to her room and she felt a little awkward being near him and he probably was too.  
  
Mimi smiled back at Sora and made her way toward the empty seat next to her. This was the only class she had with Sora and Tai because they were a grade higher than her and somewhere deep in her mind, she was very thankful for that. She wanted to stay as far as she can from Tai so that they wouldn't have to talk about the whole marriage between their parents. She just didn't want to talk about any of that stuff yet. After all, Tai's going to be her stepbrother sometime in the future and after being very close friends with him for many years, she was afraid that they would lose their friendship and become distant toward one another. She knew they could still be friends and everything but... things wouldn't be the same for them. They are going to live in a same house, eat at the same table every day, be around each other more and...   
  
"Mimi Tachikawa!"  
  
Mimi jumped slightly in her seat and stared at her teacher who was peering down at her over her shoulder with a clip board in her hand. She was tapping her fingers on them which probably meant that she wasn't very happy. "I said, would you show me your homework?"  
  
"Oh. Sure," said Mimi and she opened her back pack and digged her hand through it. Their home work was to simply draw anything that came to their minds and write a paragraph explaining their drawing. It wasn't really that hard but it did take her most of her afternoon yesterday.   
  
Mimi stopped her searching through her back pack when she realized with nervousness that her sketch book wasn't inside her back pack. She was so late this morning from over sleeping that she had forgotten to bring it with her.   
  
After putting on the sweetest smile that she could manage, Mimi looked up at her teacher. "It's at home... Can I show it to you tomorrow?"  
  
"Hm... let's see," said her teacher while she pretended to be thinking very hard as if she was considering Mimi's question and for a moment, Mimi almost fell for her trick. "No," said her teacher sharply and she scrambled something on her clip board with her cheap looking pen. She probably stole it from the bank or something. "You have a detention this Friday after school. Come to my desk after class to receive your detention slip."  
  
"But that's the day before our winter break! Come on, Mrs. Nazumi. You are my most favorite teacher in this whole world and none of my favorite teachers had ever given me a detention before!"  
  
"Miss Tachikawa, would you like another detention?" said her teacher, narrowing her eyes. Oh well... At least she tried.  
  
---  
  
Mimi entered the cafeteria looking very angry with her lunch in her hand. The cafeteria was filled with students, but it wasn't very hard to find her friends because they usually sat at the same table near the windows. Grumbling, Mimi made her way toward her friends after almost bumping into few people and sat next to Matt, almost smashing down her lunch on the table which startled Matt, Izzy, Sora, Yolei, and Tai. They were all sitting in the same table.  
  
"Mimi? What's up?" asked Sora, wanting to know the reason why her friend looked as if she was either going to blow up everyone on earth or just break down and commit suicide.   
  
Mimi sighed. "I got two more detentions this Tuesday and Wednesday for falling asleep in my math class. I can't believe he gave two detentions just for falling asleep! That's three detentions this week."  
  
"Why did you fall asleep? Didn't you get enough sleep last night?" asked Yolei as Mimi began taking her sandwich out of her lunch bag.  
  
"I couldn't sleep last night," answered Mimi, poking her turkey sandwich to make sure it was ok to eat. The sandwich she had just poked was on the kitchen table this morning with a note from her dad saying that he had made it for her to eat it for lunch, and seeing that she didn't have any time to pack her own lunch, she had stuffed it in her lunch bag with a chip and a soda. Her dad had always been bad at cooking and couldn't even fry eggs without making it greasy or burning it while making a big mess at the stove so how could she possibly trust this turkey sandwich wrapped inside a plastic bag? What if he had put egg shells in them by accident? Or worst, fish scales? Mimi frowned at that thought and pushed away her sandwich before deciding to munch on her chips instead. Better to be safe than sorry.  
  
"Why not?" asked Izzy, looking at his lunch in disgust. He had bought school lunch today because he had forgotten to bring his lunch from home and he was terribly regretting for that. The pizza on his plate looked like it was soaked in grease for hours. Oh well. Maybe he could ask for Mimi's turkey sandwich since she doesn't seem to want to eat it.  
  
"Well, I had a lot to think about. I mean, my dad and Tai's mom are..." Mimi quickly snapped her mouth shut before silently glancing at Tai, trying to ignore her friends who were waiting for her to finish her sentence. She had not told any of her friends that her dad and Tai's mom were going to get married yet and she was quite sure that Tai had also not told them anything by the look on everyone's faces.  
  
"Your dad and Tai's mom are what?" asked Sora curiously. Everyone was now staring at her and it was starting to make her feel uncomfortable. She knew she had to tell them sooner or later, but she just didn't...  
  
"They are getting married." All wide eyes turn to Tai.  
  
"They are getting married?" said Sora and she saw Mimi slowly nodding her head with a blank expression. "Oh. That's great... isn't it?"   
  
Mimi looked down at her chips. Should she just tell them the whole truth? About how her dad had been cheating on her mom with Tai's mom and about how much she dislikes her dad? But even if she did, would they understand her or would they just think of her as a selfish girl who can't even be happy that her dad's getting remarried? What is she suppose to do? She's just a teenage girl after all and not some perfect girl who has answers to everything.   
  
"Yeah... I guess so," said Tai but deep inside of him, Tai did not feel the same. He didn't hate his mother or anything for ruining their once happy family by cheating on his dad with Mr. Tachikawa but the pain he had gained these last couple of months for worrying about Kari and his own life had made a great effect on him.   
  
"Oh. Well, you guys don't look happy. Is there something wrong?" asked Matt, knowing fully well that something was troubling both Tai and Mimi.  
  
"No. Nothing's wrong. I'm just... happy for them," said Mimi cheerfully, forcing a smile on her face. She knew lying was never a good thing but sometimes hiding the truth behind a lie made her feel more secure. It was much better than showing her real feelings and have people pity her.   
  
"Well, all right..." said Yolei and she changed the subject to something else, knowing when to end a certain subject and start a new one.  
  
--  
  
It was after school and Mimi was walking home alone after she had parted with her friends out side of her school. Usually, she would walk home with them but it seemed everyone was busy today. Sora had to go and work at her mom's flower shop while Izzy and Joe stayed behind in school to do their after school actives. Tai had told her that he had a soccer practice which Mimi had thought was very weird because there weren't any outdoor sports this week or even this month. Besides, it's too cold outside and the school soccer field was still covered in snow. Besides them, Matt had to go to a meeting with his band members while Yolei went off to look for her older sister which left Mimi all alone to walk home by herself.   
  
Even though Christmas was just a little over a week from today, the sun was shinning down on Mimi as if it was a bright summer day and she couldn't help but cover her eyes with her with her cold hands. Wearing gloves probably might have solved that problem but what was the point? Her hands would get warm again when she get home any ways.  
  
"Ah!" A scream escaped from her lips as Mimi quickly reached for a nearest object which happened to be a mail box and held it as tightly as she could. She had tripped over a pile of snow and had nearly gotten herself to fall on her face. She could just imagine the look on everybody's faces as they laugh at her in school the next day with a big scrape on her head if she had fallen...  
  
"Mimi?"  
  
Mimi let go of the mail box and looked in front of her as well as her sides. Funny, she could have sworn that she had heard someone calling her name.  
  
"Mimi!"   
  
Mimi jumped and turned around sharply and gasped. There stood a woman with light brown hair tied in a low pony tail that she knew very well and Mimi's visions began to blur. "Mom!"  
  
Without a second thought, Mimi jumped to her mom in a big hug. This couldn't be a dream, could it? No. Her mom here. She was actually here!  
  
"Oh Mimi. I missed you so much!" cried Mimi's mom and the tears she had be holding back ran freely down her cheeks.  
  
"I missed you too!" said Mimi and she took a step away from her mom to look at her face to face. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in Europe? Why did you leave in the first place without telling me? What have you-"  
  
"Mimi, it's ok. Calm down," said Mimi's mom and Mimi nodded her head. She still could not believe her mom was standing right in front of her.  
  
"We could go to my house and talk. It's just a minute away and dad's at work," said Mimi grabbing her mom's hand. It felt so nice to around her again.  
  
"All right. Lead the way."  
  
Mimi smiled and began to walk toward her home. Her dad was at work and would be until dinner so she wasn't very much worried about her mom being at her house. Not that she had any reason to be. "Mom? Aren't you suppose to be Europe?"  
  
Mimi's mom nodded her head, while gazing at the street signs and the stores that were open. It had only been five month since she had last seen this place but everything seemed so different. Maybe it was because she had seen and been to many new places at Europe that were so much more different than this place that she had once called home since she was a kid, but it didn't really matter to her at the moment. What mattered to her was that she was with her daughter. "Yes, but I came back because I missed you so much. I felt terrible for leaving and my boss had let me off on a one week vacation."  
  
"What do you do there? Oh, and when did you arrive here by the way?"  
  
"I'm a cashier at a large Japanese restaurant, and I'll be staying at your aunt's house for a while until I go back in a week. I just got here a couple of hours ago."  
  
"Than why didn't you call me? Why did you leave without telling me? And why are you going back?" asked Mimi, trying her best to make her voice sound even. She was sad that her mom would be going back but she didn't want to waste her time being all gloomy and sad while her mom was going to go back in a week. It would just be a big waste of time.  
  
As Mimi's mom answered all of her questions, something that Mimi wasn't planning to tell her mom today stumbled out by accident and Mimi couldn't help but mentally call herself stupid. She had just told her mom that her dad was getting remarried to Tai's mom.  
  
"Oh, is he now?" asked Mimi's mom as if she wasn't very interested but deep inside, she was a little shocked. She knew her ex-husband had been cheating on her with Tai's mom but she had never thought they would get married. "Well... it's his life. He can go and do whatever he wants for all care."   
  
Mimi looked up at her mom in surprise as she saw a ting of sadness in her mom's eyes before it quickly disappeared. It was as if her mom was upset... But upset about what? Her mom can't be still in love her dad, could she? No! That's impossible. Although... her mom had been in love with her dad for many years since she had met him in college and love doesn't just fade away easily, does it? Maybe she's still in love with him...  
  
"Hey mom, we're here!" said Mimi stopping in front of a brick house and her mom looked at the house with her brows raised. There were no pretty signs or whatever at the front door, no nice looking curtains on the windows and there weren't any decorations outside of the house, making the house looked like it was being occupied by dead bodies. So this is where Mimi lived with her dad... In a dull looking house that seemed to be filled with nothing but coldness.   
  
Mimi digged through her back pack before she got her key out and went up to her front door to insert the key while her mom stood behind her. When a clicking sound was made, indicating that the door was now unlocked, she went in and almost dropped her back pack in shock.  
  
"Dad! What are you doing here?" yelled Mimi and Mimi's mom's eyes turned wide before she turned around to the other side so she won't have to face Mimi's dad. She hasn't expected to see him again. That's why she had left to Europe. To move on and start a new fresh life and hope that she would never have to see the man she had once called her husband. What was she going to do now?  
  
Mr. Tachikawa who had been drinking some tea took a small sip before speaking. "I took a late lunch break today and thought I'd eat at home. Who's that person behind you?"  
  
Mimi moved aside and her mom turned around to face him. Oh well. She knew she would have to see him again at one time or another.   
  
Mr. Tachikawa's mouth and eyes opened wide in shock and just for a second, Mimi wondered how much she would make the people in her neighborhood laugh if she took a picture of him to make many copies before posting them around her neighborhood. Her dad would probably go around wearing a paper bag with two holes for his eyes so no one would recognize him until the day he decides to move far away from the city.  
  
But sadly... Mimi was in no situation to take any pictures. "Jasmine! W-what are you doing here?"  
  
"I came to see Mimi. Is there a problem with that?"  
  
"N-no! I just thought you'd be in Europe!"   
  
Mimi's mom glared at him. "It's none of your business and wipe that ridiculous look on your face, won't you?" Mimi's dad opened his mouth to say something but Mimi's mom didn't even have to listen to what he was going to say to know what was on his mind. He wanted her to leave. "Mimi, I should get going. I'll come back to see you tomorrow."  
  
"But mom... You just came back today!"  
  
"Don't worry. I promise I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
"Well... Alright. Bye." Mimi's mom smiled sweetly at her and gave her a hug before leaving the house.   
  
As soon as Mimi's mom was outside and the door behind her closed, she sighed and leaned against the house. She had wanted to spend all of her time with Mimi today but her mind kept telling her that it'd be best if she stayed as far away as she could from her ex-husband. He had hurt her so much in more ways than anyone could possibly imagine. After all, she had trusted him, loved him and stayed by him and yet he had gone off with another woman who just happened be someone she knew. Laura Hinamori. The mother of Mimi's two close friends. The woman she had once considered as a friend.  
  
---  
  
Tai had begun walking home few minutes after Mimi had left. He had lied to her that he had to stay behind at school because of his soccer practice since he knew everyone was busy and had their own things to do after school. Which meant he had to walk home with Mimi. Alone. And he knew if he had to walk with her, they would eventually talk about her dad and his mom and getting married and he did not talk about it.   
  
He wasn't sure what they needed to talk about but he knew that he just wanted to be left alone for a while and that was exactly what he was doing now. He was avoiding people. Especially Mimi because whenever he was near her, he would sometimes feel nervous for no reason and it was beginning to bug the hell out of him. He would never admit this to anything but that day when Mimi had bumped into him while he and his friends were having a snow fight, he had felt his face heating up a little. Why had that happened?   
  
"Ow!" Tai's hand immediately went over to his forehead and glared at whatever had just killed some of his brain cells. However, his glare turned into confusion as he stared at his apartment door. He was so deep in his thoughts that he hasn't realized that he was home already.  
  
Still rubbing his head, he searched inside his pocket and got out a key. He inserted the key and opened the door and froze. Blinking once, he immediately walked through the door and closed it at the sight of his mother, Kari and his grandmother. They were all sitting around the small living room, looking very serious and there were tears in Kari's eyes although she did not let them fall.  
  
"What's going on?" asked Tai and his grandmother looked at him as if that was the most stupidest question she had ever been asked.  
  
"I came to take Kari away," said his grandmother and Tai looked from his mother to Kari. No... She can't be taking Kari away! She was his sister and even though they may not be the richest people in the world or have the most perfect family, he couldn't let Kari go. Kari is his sister and he would do anything for her. Anything.  
  
"But... You can't do that!" Because of all the events that had taken place the last few days, he had completely forgotten about the letter that Kari had received from their grandmother last week...  
  
"Oh yes I can. I got these papers from my lawyer and all your mother needs to do it sign it and she'll be taken care under my name." His grandmother grabbed her purse and took out few sheets of paper with a pen and handed them over to his mom. His mom refused to look at them though and threw them on the table.  
  
"But why are you taking her away? Why now?" asked Tai, trying to think of a way to change his grand mother's mind. He knew his grand mother was a very stubborn person but if he could somehow make her see that taking Kari away with her isn't a very good idea, than maybe he she would just leave Kari here and go back home. Just maybe.   
  
"Tai, listen to me. I've noticed that every time I had visited here for the last couple of months, Kari has been getting thinner and thinner. I just want her to be healthy and have a good life and since you're older than Kari and can take care of yourself, things would be much better if Kari lives with me. She could go to one of the best schools in my town and get the good education she needs. And deserves."  
  
"Mom, Kari is not going!" said Tai's mom for the first time he'd been in the house. She looked like she was going to blow up in steams.  
  
"Yes, I'm not going. I want to stay here," said Kari quietly before looking up to face her grandmother with a sureness in her eyes. She wanted to stay here with her friends, her mom and her brother. This place was her home and she was not going to leave.  
  
"But Kari-"  
  
"No. Grandma, I'm staying."   
  
Tai's grandmother looked around the room fanatically. She came all the way here to take Kari with her to live with her for her own good and this is what she gets? How rude of everyone.  
  
"I'm worry for Kari. Can't you guys see that?"  
  
"Mom, don't worry," said Tai's mom curtly, "Kari will be taken a good care of once I get married. She and Tai will have a father and-"  
  
"You're getting married?" asked their grandmother with wide eyes. It seems that their mom hasn't told their grandmother about anything but who can blame her? Her grandmother was probably one the world's most self-centered person. "Why didn't you tell me before? Who is he? Is he rich? Where does he work?"   
  
Mrs. Hinamori rolled her eyes. She knew her mom would be like this and that was exactly the reason why she had neglected to tell her until now. "Mom, just go back home. I have to go back to work. And don't ever tell me sign that dumb paper again to take Kari."  
  
Mrs. Hinamori stood up from her seat and took her mothers hand and tugged on them, signaling for her to leave. She knew she wasn't being very polite, but she didn't think she'd be able to stand another minute of being in the same room as her.   
  
Kari and Tai's grandmother huffed, knowing that she was not wanted at her daughter's house. "I'll be glad to leave! I just can't understand how you can live in this crummy old apartment!" She grabbed the papers on the table and her pen and shoved them in her purse before turning back to her daughter with a smile. "But before I leave, tell me about this men your marrying to."  
  
"I told you, I have to go to work. You'll meet him... eventually. Now, please go home. I know I don't make much money and I know Im not the world's best mother but I can take care of both Kari and Tai on my own."  
  
"Alright! Don't be so rude! If you weren't my daughter, I would have-"  
  
"Mom! Please, just go!" yelled Mrs. Hinamori unexpectedly which caused Tai's grandmother to bring her hand up to her chest in shock. She hasn't expected for her daughter to yell at her like that.   
  
"Didn't I teach you that yelling to someone older than you was rude when you were young?"  
  
"But you do it all the time, my sweet mother," said Mrs. Hinamori, putting on a smile and quickly lead her mom towards the door.   
  
Tai couldn't help but sigh. His mom and his grandmother were so different... Too different.  
  
When the door closed as soon as his grandmother was out the door, Mrs. Hinamori sighed and went to sit next to Kari. She gently patted her back and hugged her tightly. "Don't worry Kari. She won't take you away. Now, I got to go back to work. Stay home and don't go outside. It's really cold."  
  
Mrs. Hinamori stood up from the couch and grabbed her jacket and keys before going out the door without saying another word. Even though she had been trying hard to pretend as if nothing had happened, small glitters of tears were shown in her eyes and Tai had noticed it.  
  
"Kari?" spoke Tai gently as he walked towards her and he almost wished a hole would appear below him and take him away. Tears were silently creeping down her cheeks and he wasn't very sure what he could do to make them go away.  
  
Maybe it would have been best for her if she had left with her grandmother... She'd surely get a good education, and be more happy. Besides, even though he was her brother, he felt as if he didn't deserve to be... A real brother wouldn't let his sister go through so much pain, would he?   
  
Tai slowly lifted his hand and reached towards Kari to gently move her hair out of her eyes, but Kari quickly stood up before saying "I'm going to my room," and walked away. 


	5. Chapter Five

There were some problems with the spacing so instead of skipping many lines to indicate that a new scene or whatever was talking place, I just put '---'. I'm sorry for the late update and thank you very much for those who reviewed!  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter Five  
  
  
  
  
  
---   
  
  
  
  
  
Tai yawned as he stared at the glass tubs filled with different substances as he lazily laid his head down on the cold lab table. He was in his last class of the day, chemistry, which also happened to be his least favorite subject. He probably wouldn't have taken chemistry if he didn't need to take another science course to graduate from high school.   
  
"...And after you take the tub A out of the boiling water, you should use a beaker to measure two center meters of it and slowly pour it into tube B. Make sure you don't pour more than two center meters or it's going to overflow and possibly make a huge mess. You will be allowed to work with a partner so..."  
  
Tai slowly closed his eyes as the direction his teacher was giving out to his class for the lab that they were doing that day went through one side of his ear and came right back out from the other. He knew he should be a good student and pay attention to his teacher but he couldn't help it. He was just too damn tired.  
  
It was another cold winter day just like the day before so the school janitors had blasted the heat up in every classes due to the complains from the teachers and that was exactly why he had his head on the cold table. Every classes were just too hot now, causing him to be even more sleepy. If only he had a pillow with him...  
  
Just as Tai was about to drift into his dream land, he snapped his eyes open as he heard his class mates moving around the lab area to get started with their assignment. And as usual, Tai began to panic, not knowing what he's suppose to do. All he heard from his teacher's direction was something about a beaker.  
  
"Don't worry. I payed fully attention unlike you so we'll do fine," said a voice from Tai's left.  
  
Tai turned to look at Izzy in surprise before smiling in relief. "Oh yeah. We are allowed to work with a partner, aren't we?" said Tai before grabbing a goggle to put it over his eyes just like Izzy had done a second ago. "Okay, so what are we suppose to do?"  
  
Izzy sighed. "Did you hear a single word our teacher had said?"  
  
"Hm... I did hear him say something about a beaker..." said Tai, adjusting his goggles. The goggles were a little too tight on him and he was very sure it would leave a bright red mark over his face at the end of the class.   
  
"Right..." said Izzy, resisting the urge to roll his eyes and he began to retell the directions to Tai. How Tai had managed to make it pass his first grade was still a big question to him.  
  
  
  
  
  
---   
  
  
  
  
  
"She's... back?"  
  
"Yes. I met her yesterday and she was with Mimi."   
  
"Oh..."  
  
Mrs. Hinamori quietly sipped on her tea, looking outside the window of the small cafe she was in with Mr. Tachikawa. She was taking a twenty minute break from her work and Mr. Tachikawa had come to pick her up to have lunch together.  
  
"Mimi must have been really happy..." whispered Mrs. Hinamori. She had been just told by Mr. Tachikawa that Jasmine, Mimi's mom, had came back to Japan yesterday. She had been really hoping to get a little closer to Mimi since she would be becoming her step mother in the near future but with her real mother back here in Japan, she didn't think it would ever happen. "Do you know how long she's staying here?"  
  
Mr. Tachikawa shook his head. "No, but there's really no need to worry. I know you're worried of what might happen if you bump into Jasmine but everything will work out fine."  
  
Mrs. Hinamori nodded her head slowly. "I know but... she was my friend and I had betrayed her by falling in love with you. I just hope she can forgive for all the troubles I had cost her."  
  
  
  
  
  
---   
  
  
  
  
  
"No Tai! That's too much! Stop!" yelled Izzy, dropping the glass tube he was holding in his hand in order to stop Tai, but he was a little too late. The glass tube he dropped landed hard on the table and shattered into many small pieces while everyone in the class room stopped what they were doing to see the reason for Izzy's yells.  
  
Everyone was dead silent for a moment until a loud nasty blurbing sound was heard all across the room. Izzy and Tai both immediately backed away from their lab area, making a face at the sticky blue stuff bubbling and spilling from a glass tube to all over their lab area. Everyone in the class came by Tai and Izzy's lab table to get a closer look at the mess.  
  
There on the lab table was a broken glass tube, and next to broken glasses of the tube, there was another glass tube, where the blue substance was continuously flowing out. It was causing a huge mess on the table as well as the floor. Their chemistry teacher is definitely not going to be happy when he sees the mess.  
  
"Everyone! Move aside!" yelled their chemistry teacher as he pushed through his students to see what the problem was. "What in the wor- ah!"  
  
Everyone in the class held back laughters as they saw their teacher sitting on the floor, his white lab coat smudged in blue gooey stuff everywhere. It seems that he had accidentally slipped on the blue substance on the floor after trying to get pass his students.  
  
"Who's responsible for this?" asked their teacher angrily, slowing getting up from the floor by the help of his students. He looked down at his lab coat and made a disgusted expression before he saw Tai and Izzy both raise their hands. Their teacher looked surprised. "Izzy Koushiro, you are partly responsible for this?" asked their teacher with a disbelief look on his face. Izzy had always been his top student and had never caused any troubles before so it came as a big shock to him.  
  
"Yes. I'm sor-"  
  
"No, it was my fault," said Tai. It really was his fault and he didn't want his friend getting in trouble for some stupid mistake he made.  
  
The teacher looked at Tai with no surprise or what so ever. "How much of the substance in tube A did you pour into tube B?"  
  
Tai thought for a while. "Two... inches?"  
  
"What?" his teacher blanched out at him. "I told you to pour only two center meters! Not inches! I said in the beginning of the class that it would over flow if you put more than two center meters! Tai Kamiya, you'll stay after school today to clean this mess up and Izzy Koushiro, since it wasn't your fault for this awful mess, you will not receive any punishment. Now everybody, go back to your lab areas and start cleaning up! The bell's going be ringing soon."  
  
Tai nodded his head, but and didn't say any thing as the teacher walked away while mumbling something about getting his lab coat washed. "Good luck with that," said Tai out loud to himself.  
  
  
  
  
  
---   
  
  
  
  
  
Mimi Tachikawa walked into an empty science class room with a sponge and a small bucket full of water. Today was her first day of detention and the detention teacher she had just met a minute ago had assigned her to go wash the black boards of the each class rooms of the second floor near the stairs. Boy, is she going to have a great time or what?  
  
Mimi sighed. She hated getting her hands all wet and dirty while wasting her time cleaning when she could be doing something else. Something that doesn't concern school. But than again... that's just how life is sometimes. Cruel and unforgiving.  
  
Mimi dropped the bucket full of cold water on the floor before rolling the sleeves of her school uniform up. Than with the hand that was holding the sponge, Mimi dumped it inside the bucket, watching it as it became bigger and fatter by absorbing the water. It was an awfully boring sight.   
  
Picking up the wet sponge, she squeezed it and walked over to the black board. She stood up on her toes and tried to wipe the top part first but unfortunately, being that she wasn't what someone would prefer to as a tall person, her arm felt as if they were going to fall off in a matter of seconds. She quickly dropped her arms to her sides and grabbed one of the nearest chairs and brought it over to the black board before stepping on top of it. Now this was much better... She no longer had to stand on her toes or strain her arms.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
Mimi jumped slightly in surprise at the sound of Tai's voice in the door way and lost her balance on the chair she was standing on. She started to wobble, her arms flying back and forth and in fright, she shut her eyes tight. Tai, seeing Mimi wailing her hands, dropped the mope and a bucket of water that he was holding and ran over to Mimi to steady her by holding onto her waist.  
  
Seconds passed by when Mimi no longer felt like she was going to fall, she opened her eyes slowly. A light blush soon appeared on her cheeks as she realized her position. Her nose was barely brushing against Tai's.   
  
Three seconds passed on by in silence until Tai's brain began to register how close he was to Mimi and he let go of her waist before she turned her head to the side to hide her blush. Why was she blushing any ways? Tai was her friend and it wasn't as if their lips have actually met... Although, it was pretty close...  
  
"Uh, so Tai... What are you doing here?" asked Mimi, unconsciously tugging on a piece of loose tread on her shirt.  
  
"Oh, I made a little mess during chemistry so I came to clean it up," said Tai walking over to his mope that was dropped on the floor along with his own bucket of water. Good thing the bucket didn't tip over or anything.   
  
Mimi looked at him in question before looking around the class room and gasped at the sight of blue yucky looking stuff all over one of the lab tables and the floor. She hadn't noticed it when she had first came inside the class room.  
  
When Mimi turned her eyes away from the mess and looked at Tai, Mimi turned her gaze immediately at the sponge in her hand when her eyes came in contact with Tai. Tai did the same thing as well and they remained in silence, both of them looking away from one another.  
  
"What are you doing? Start cleaning!"   
  
Tai jumped a little at his teacher's voice and turned around to face him. His teacher was holding his lab coat in his hands and by the looks of it, it seemed his teacher had failed miserably at trying to remove the blue smudges.  
  
Tai nodded his head to his teacher and walked over to the mess to start cleaning while Mimi focused her attention back to the black board. She just couldn't get the thought of what might of happened if she had leaned an inch closer when Tai had helped her regain her balance... Their lips would have touched.  
  
Mimi huffed and removed a strand of her hair that was getting in her eyes before scowling. How could she possibly be thinking about something like that? It was just wrong. Definitely wrong.  
  
  
  
  
  
---   
  
  
  
  
  
"You like Mimi." It was a simple statement yet Tai had failed to see it that way. Who wouldn't if your friend had just said something like that to you out of the blue?  
  
"What? Where did you get that idea?"  
  
Matt gave a smile. "One of my friends had a club meeting so he had to stay after school and he told me while he was walking around the halls, he saw you and Mimi about to kiss."  
  
Tai poked at his pizza before picking the mushrooms out. He was at Matt's house to work on their English project and since they got hungry, they had ordered a pizza. Tai didn't want to have mushrooms on his pizza but since Matt was the one who was on the phone ordering the pizza, he had no choice.  
  
"We are suppose to be talking about our project! And beside, it was an accident!" yelled Tai, poking harshly at his poor defenseless pizza. He was starting to get frustrated for some reasons he did not know.  
  
"Ha! So you guys did kiss!"  
  
"What? No! Mimi lost her balance on a chair she was standing on so I tried to help her and we somehow ended with our faces close to one another! We did not kiss!"  
  
"Why are you yelling and getting so defensive? I was just playing around. Gee... If I didn't know better, I'd say you really like Mimi."  
  
Tai picked out a mushroom with his fork and threw it at Matt's face. It landed right on his nose which Tai snickered about before looking at his friend with a serious look. "I don't like her. I can't. Not in that kind of a way at least. Her dad and my mom are going to get married and it'd be wrong for me to like her in any other way than as friends."  
  
Matt growled before wiping the mushroom off of his nose. "So you are saying that if Mimi's dad and your mom were not to get married, you would like her as more than a friend?"  
  
Tai did not answer that. He instead, chose to pretend that he did not hear anything.  
  
  
  
  
  
---   
  
  
  
  
  
It was finally Friday afternoon, and Mimi walked happily down the streets of her neighborhood, humming a random tune that came to her head. She had just finished serving her detention and was very happy that she would not have school for the next couples of weeks since school was being closed for winter vacation. She couldn't wait till Christmas which was just a couple of days away.   
  
"So... you are gonna come with me aren't you?"   
  
"Of course. I'll ride in the car with you."  
  
Mimi stopped humming whatever song she was humming and stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes became wide at the sight in front of her. Her dad was leaning into the face of a woman that she had never seen before.   
  
Mimi's mouth opened to say something or at least walk up to her dad but her foot stayed frozen at the spot. What the hell was her dad doing with that woman? She had seen the woman before when she had visited her dad at his work few months ago and she really seemed nice back than so what was she doing leaning so close to her dad? It was as if they were going to kiss...  
  
Her arms and shoulders soon gave into the weight of her back pack and they slid down her arms to land with a loud thud on the ground. Mimi's dad immediately backed away from the woman in front of him and stared at his daughter in shock.  
  
"Mimi?" said her dad and when he saw the look on his daughter's face, panic arose in him "Mimi, I can explain!" said Mr. Tachikawa. He knew his daughter had probably thought that he was about to kiss the woman in front of him but all he was doing was checking the women's forehead. She had bumped into the car door by accident and he was leaning into see if her forehead was alright or not.  
  
"Oh really?" said Mimi, backing slowly away from her dad. "Than I guess you'll be able to explain things just fine to Tai's mom when I tell her about this."  
  
Lifting her heavy bag pack, Mimi began running toward the direction of Tai's house. At the moment, she didn't care about anything. She just wanted to run far away as she possibly could from her dad.  
  
"Wait! Mimi!" said Mr. Tachikawa as he watched Mimi running crossing the street. He turned to look at his friend. "You go on ahead and tell the boss that I would be arriving a little late. I have to follow Mimi."   
  
"Alright but I'm so sorry Mr. Tachikawa. It's all my fault your daughter misunderstood us. I'm so clumsy..." said Mr. Tachikawa's friend but he shook his head, indicating that it wasn't her fault. After giving her a reassuring smile, Mr. Tachikawa ran down the road... Without looking for any signs of cars passing by.  
  
Mr. Tachikawa's friend gasped in fright as she saw a speeding car coming down the road. She stretched her arm to grab Mr. Tachikawa's shoulder to stop him but she was a little too late.  
  
"Mr. Tachikawa! Watch out!"  
  
Having heard his friend's voice, Mr. Tachikawa looked at the on coming car with wide eyes, and tried to move out of the way. However, before he or the driver of the speeding car knew what was going to happen, Mr. Tachikawa's body came in contact with the car. Blood spread everywhere as the car came to a screeching stop.  
  
Gasping in fright, Mr. Tachikawa's friend ran up to the bloody body, oblivious to the fact that Mr. Tachikawa's was soon going to take his last breath. He was going to die. 


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter 6  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Mimi kicked a random piece of rock and watched it as it flung in the air before it disappeared below a pile of snow. She looked around for any more decent sized rocks to kick and when she realized that there was none, she just kicked some dirt out of frustration. She had been running to Tai's house just few minutes ago, determined to see Mrs. Hinamori and tell her exactly what she had seen, but instead, she had somehow ended up in a corner of an ally next to an old building.  
  
She was starting to have doubts about seeing Tai's mom which for some reason she couldn't figure out and it made her frustrated. Perhaps it was because she didn't want Mrs. Hinamori to get hurt just like her mom or maybe it was because she was afraid of what people might think of her dad. Despite how much she might dislike her dad, he was still her dad and she didn't want people pointing their fingers at him, saying terrible things. Also, there was a big possibly that a gap between her friendship with Tai and Kari would appear when they find out her dad had cheated on their mom. Could she possibly risk their friendship by telling them the truth? They would hate her dad and some of the hatred may be thrown at her without any of them realizing it.   
  
"What should I do?" said Mimi out loud to herself. As far as she knew, she had two choices. One was to tell Mrs. Hinamori the truth while hurting her at the same time and the other was to just keep her mouth shut and pretend that nothing had happened.   
  
Mimi sighed at the second choice. She just hated lying even though not telling the truth wasn't really like lying. Well sort of...  
  
"What the..." said Mimi, blinking as she felt something land on her cheeks. Looking up at the sky which was turning darker and darker, she noticed that it was starting to snow. Great. Now she's going to have to find some place to stay unless she wanted a big pile of snow to land on her head.  
  
Gripping her back pack, she slung it over shoulders with some difficulty due to it's weight and started to leave the alley. She might as well as go see Mrs. Hinamori now...  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Mimi stood in front of the mail box of her house. She had actually gotten to Tai's house but when she was about to ring the door bell, she chickened out and left. She just didn't have enough courage to tell Mrs. Hinamori so she just came home.  
  
Dusting some snow off of her head and clothes, she turned around to face the road. The road was blocked due to a car with yellow tapes surrounding it. There was a dent in the car as well as what looked like little pieces of glasses lying beneath the car where no snow could land. She guessed that someone must have gotten into a car accident while she was gone and hoped that whoever was in that accident didn't get hurt too seriously. She'd hate it if someone she knew had gotten into a car accident like that.  
  
Turning back around, Mimi took a good look at her house to delay as much as she could from walking up the front steps. She didn't want to admit this to herself but she was a little unnerved of the thought of facing her dad. He would no doubt in her mind try to come up with some lame excuse of her seeing him leaning into some other woman's face. He would have probably kissed her if she had come few seconds later...  
  
Mimi shrugged away that thought and walked up to the front door after passing by her dad's car that was parked in the drive way. She was first hesitant about ringing the doorbell but when the wind started to blow hard, she quickly ringed the bell two times. She felt like she would freeze and become some ice statue if she didn't go inside somewhere warm.   
  
Seconds passed by like minutes with no one answering the door so Mimi pushed the door bell once again. However, there was still no answer which brought great annoyance to Mimi. With another push of the doorbell, she took her keys out and opened the door herself.  
  
As soon as she stepped inside, she was met darkness with none of the lights in her house turned on. She was sure that her dad would be home watching the television or something since his car was outside but there was only silence in the house. It freaked her out slightly.  
  
"Dad! Are you home? Dad?"  
  
Turning on one of the lights, Mimi took her back pack off along with her coat and went over to the telephone to check if anyone had called while she was away. Her eyes became wide and she stared blankly at the sixteen messages left on the answering machine. Worry suddenly crept up to her and she pushed the 'play' button to listen to the messages.  
  
"Mimi? Where are you?" There was a short beep before the next message came on which was from the same person. "Hello? Oh come on... I need-"   
  
Before the message ended, the telephone suddenly rang, causing her answering machine to be stopped. Mimi hastily picked up the phone.  
  
"Who is this?" said Mimi, ignoring the fact that she must have sounded rude to the other person on the line.  
  
"Mimi! Where the hell were you? I've been trying to contact you for the last few hours!"  
  
"Do I know you?" asked Mimi and her grip on the phone became tighter. The person on the other line had the same voice as the one on the answering machine.  
  
"I'm a friend of your dad, Allison. You met me a while back at his work place and this afternoon before you ran off," said Allison in one breath, rushing all of her worlds.  
  
Mimi frowned. What would she want with her? "Oh. Well dad's not home so I'll just hang up."  
  
"No wait!" said Allison and she took a deep breath, trying her best to keep her voice in line but she had failed. Her voice came out as a strangle. "Mimi... your dad... I'm so sorry. He-"  
  
"If you have something to say, just spill it!"  
  
"Your dad's here at the hospital. He... he didn't see the car and..." Allison's voice shook and tears rolled down her already tear stained cheeks.  
  
Mimi's heart suddenly felt heavy and she found gripping on her phone even more tighter. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Perhaps Allison was... lying? No, she wouldn't lie about something this serious... "Which hospital?"  
  
Allison thought for a while before answering. Her mind had been so hazed when she had arrived to the hospital that she didn't even think about where she was. "I'm at the one near the bridge on route ten. The one-"  
  
Before she was able to finish her sentence, Mimi hung up the phone and grabbed her keys along with some money and ran out the door. She didn't need to hear the rest of Allison's sentence since there was only one hospital near the bridge on route ten.   
  
Without even making sure that her house door was locked, Mimi ran down the drive way before stopping dead in her tracks in front of the mail box. She stared at the same car that she had been looking at a few minutes ago before and covered her hand to her mouth. Her dad couldn't have been hit by that car... No. It just can't. She knew he must have gotten into a car accident from what Allison had said about him not seeing a car but...   
  
Mimi shut her eyes tightly and hastily wiped her tears before reopening them. She needed to get out of her neighborhood and into the big street if she wanted to grab a taxi and so she began running.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Hello grandma. Back so soon?" said Tai with an annoyed look on his face.  
  
His grandmother ignored him completely and walked over to Kari with a smile. His grandmother was back again and this time instead of trying to take Kari away, she was here to see the guy that his mother was getting married to. It wasn't really much of a surprise to him but apparently, it was to his mom. She was just standing with her mouth wide open.  
  
"Hi Kari. My, I think you've grown since the last time I've seen you," said their grandmother, extending her arms to give Kari a hug and Tai rolled his eyes. Although she was back for another reason this time, it was obvious that she still hasn't given up on taking Kari with her if her being too nice was any indication.   
  
"Mom, you should have called before coming over," said Mrs. Hinamori, quickly going over to pull Kari away before her mother was able to give Kari a hug. She was angry with her mom for trying to take Kari away from her and didn't want her going near Kari. She was sure Kari felt the same too.  
  
"If I did, you would have told me to not to come, dear. All I want to do is meet that Tachiwaki person. There's nothing wrong with me wanting meet him."  
  
Tai snickered at the way that their grandmother had said Mimi's last name while his mom looked at their grandmother with a frown on her face. "It's Tachikawa grandma."  
  
Once again, she ignored her grandson. For some strange reason, she seemed to not like him very much. "Why don't you call him and invite him for dinner? I know it's on short notice but..."  
  
"No," said Mrs. Hinamori, cutting her mother off. "I don't think he would very much appreciate you calling him over for dinner on such short notice. Besides, how can I introduce you to him if can't even remember his last name correctly?"  
  
Tai's grandmother's eyes narrowed. "I am your mother and you'll do as I say!"  
  
"My mother? No mother like you would try to cause pain to her own daughter! You always only think for yourself and not what you're doing to the others! You're making my life harder than how it already is!"  
  
Tai's grandmother raised her hands and before anyone knew it, there was a loud slapping sound that brought Tai to raise from his seat. His mom's hand slowly reached for her stinging face and looked toward the end wall.  
  
"You..." said Tai's grandmother, pointing her finger at her daughter. "You have always been the weak and troubling kid out of all of my children. Look at your siblings. Do you see any one of them divorced or living in a dirty old apartment that you can barely afford? No and that just proves that you will never ever be as good any of them! I'm ashamed to call you my daughter!"  
  
Mrs. Hinamori's lips slightly parted in shock and she stared at her mother in disbelief. She could understand her mother liking her the least out of her siblings despite it hurting her greatly but her existence bringing shame to her mother was something she had not expected.  
  
Tai's grandmother put a hand over to her heart and looked at her daughter with an apologetic look. She had not meant what she had just said. She was just so angry that her own daughter wasn't listening to her that those harsh words just came out of her mouth. She wanted to take her words back or at least say that she didn't mean them but her lips felt as if they were glued as guilt weighted heavily on her heart.   
  
The telephone rang but no one moved from their spot. Tai was hesitating whether to answer it or not but he was too late in deciding as the answering machine came on after five rings. "Hello. No one is availably to take your call so please leave a message after the beep."  
  
There was a short beep before a voice belonging to a woman spoke. "This phone call is for Laura Hinamori and it's from the hospital. Mr. Tachikawa had gotten into an-"  
  
Tai's mom's eyes widen before she quickly ran up to the phone and picked it up. "This is Laura! What happened? Is everything all right?"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Taking deep breaths, Mimi ran down the hospital hall ways, ignoring the warning looks that some of the nurses gave her as she ran past by them. She knew people running in the hospital wasn't something that the doctors or nurses recommended incase they got hurt but she wanted to find her dad and no little glare was going to stop her. The nurse in the front desk had told her that her dad was on the fourth floor where she would have to take a right turn when she got out of the elevator or the stairs and take another right.   
  
Mimi stopped in front of the elevator and pushed the arrow that pointed up and waited and waited until she couldn't wait anymore. She sprinted toward the stairs.  
  
It took her quite a while to get to the fourth floor and when she did, she had to lean against the wall for support. Trying to run in the skirt of her school uniform with shoes that weren't designed for running was definitely something she hoped to do never again.   
  
Reaching for the exit door after catching some breath, Mimi turned right and jumped slightly when she almost bumped into a small child who was on a wheel chair. She immediately apologized but the child only smiled before being wheeled alway by someone. Mimi looked sadly at the child before she started running again. She took a right at the first turn and she took another right before seeing Allison sitting still on bench.  
  
"Where's dad? How is he? What happened to him?"   
  
Allison rose from the bench while she silently wished for the courage to answer the younger girl's questions. Her voice was already hoarse for crying for the last few hours and she felt what little strength that she had in her fade away from her like the sun setting down to bring darkness to the world. Allison closed her eyes much to Mimi's annoyance before she opened them and forced herself to look into Mimi's eyes before speaking. "Mimi, your dad... after you ran off, he went to go after you but he didn't see the car and... Your dad... He..." Allison paused briefly, fresh new tears forming in her eyes. "I'm so sorry. He's gone. He didn't... he didn't make it. I'm so sorry."  
  
Mimi opened her mouth to say something but ended up bringing her hand to her mouth to prevent herself from letting out a strangled cry. Tears welled up in her eyes and they soon fell down her cold cheeks.  
  
Allison reached her hand out to her. "Mimi? Are you-"  
  
"Don't touch me!" yelled Mimi, backing away. "He... he couldn't have died. Where is he? I want to see him."  
  
Mimi's eyes wandered to the door that Allison was standing next to and walked over to it. She had a feeling her dad would be in there but as soon as she was about to push open the door, Allison stopped her by holding onto her shoulders. Mimi struggled to get free but Allison wouldn't let go and the fact that her shoulders were still hurting badly due to carrying her heavy back pack for hours wasn't helping.   
  
"No Mimi. I don't want you going in there," said Allison, gripping onto Mimi's shoulders more tightly, not knowing how much it was actually hurting her. Allison had already been inside the room as soon as a doctor had came over to tell her that Mr. Tachikawa did not make it. Allison let out a steady breath as the image of her friend kept playing over and over in her mind. There had been blood everywhere on his body... Seeing her friend like that had scared her and that was why she was refusing to let Mimi go. She didn't want the last memory that Mimi would have of her dad to be all bloody with him looking so... lifeless.  
  
"Let go! Please..." whispered Mimi before she stopped struggling and fell onto her knees. She couldn't stay standing up anymore with her legs feeling like huge rocks were tied around them. "He can't be gone. What happened? How did dad... What happened to him?"  
  
Allison got on her knees as well and hugged her crying girl. "I'm so sorry. I..." Allsion hesitated for a moment to decide if it was the right time to tell Mimi how her dad had gotten into a car accident but she knew Mimi would want to know sooner or later. She just hoped Mimi wouldn't blame herself. "I had accidentally bumped into the door of my car and your father had leaned in to see if I was all right but... you saw us at a bad position. After you ran off, he went to follow you but he didn't... he didn't see the car coming his way and..."   
  
"So, it's my fault? If I didn't run away-"  
  
"No. Mimi, it's not your fault," said Allison, shaking her head. "The driver of the car had been over speeding. If he hasn't been driving so fast, your dad wouldn't have... Don't blame yourself."  
  
Mimi, however, wasn't listening to a word that she was saying. She wasn't listening or paying attention to anything as all she could feel was the coldness that started surrounding her heart.  
  
"Mimi!"   
  
Mrs. Hinamori, Kari and Tai ran up to Mimi and someone they did not recognize. Mrs. Hinamori's eyes were red and watery and her usually neatly tied hair was down. She looked at Mimi with sad eyes and told her children to stay with her while she walked aside from them before disappearing though the door that Mimi's dad was suppose to be in. She had came straight to the hospital with her mother back at home, not knowing anything about Mr. Tachikawa's condition. When she had picked up the phone after the answering machine, the nurse had told her that Tom had gotten into a car accident and which hospital he was in. Besides that, the nurse wasn't able to tell much and ever since than, she just couldn't shake off the feeling that she would never be able to see Tom again.  
  
Allison moved her arms away from Mimi as the boy whom she guessed as Mimi's friend got on his knees to hold her close to him. He took a deep breath and let Mimi cry on his shoulders just before he heard his mother calling Mimi's dad's name in sorrow behind the closed door. 


	7. Chapter Seven

"Here. Take this."  
  
With her hand held out, Kari looked up at her brother in confusion before he dropped some money and their house key in her open palm. She looked at her hand for a second, counting the money he gave her before asking what it was for.  
  
"I want you to go home and get some rest. The money I just gave you isn't probably enough for you to take a taxi home so you should take the bus," said Tai, checking his pockets to see if he had any more money. It wasn't something very easy for him to do so however with Mimi's head resting on his shoulders. She had fallen asleep awhile back and he didn't want to wake her up. "I was sure I had more..."  
  
Kari saw Mimi briefly stirring next to Tai so she held her other empty hand to touch her brother's arm gently to tell him to stop moving. She felt terrible for her older friend and couldn't possibly imagine what it would be like to lose someone close to her.   
  
"But I want to stay, Tai."  
  
Tai shook his head. "No. Our grandmother is probably wondering what had happened. Go tell her that me and mom will we home later," said Tai before looking over at his mother. She was sitting on another bench in the hospital hall way with Allison trying to comfort her although she looked like she needed some comfort herself. Kari had tried to be there for her mom but she had decided that it would be for the best if her mom could talk to Allison for awhile. It felt a little strange though since today was the first time Kari had ever met Allison and since she didn't know much about her. All she knew was that Allison was Mr. Tachikawa's friend and that her mom would probably feel more better talking to someone that knew Mr. Tachikawa than someone who didn't know him too well.  
  
A while back when their mom had went into the room where Mimi's dad's body had been lying, Kari had soon went after her when everyone had heard her mom screaming out Mimi's dad's name. After going into the room, Kari had found her mom clutching the white sheet that was covering all of Mimi's dad's body except for his head. Kari had immediately wanted to leave the room at the sight of the blood on his face and that's exactly what she had done. Tai wanted to go see if their mom was alright when he saw Kari coming right back out but with Mimi crying in his arms, he could not let himself move. She looked so vulnerable and miserable at the same time that it surprised him. Mimi had always been known as the cheerful yet spoiled girl when they were young but as he held her in his arms, Tai realized just how much time had really passed by to change them to who they were now.  
  
"But still..."  
  
"Don't worry. I'll stay here with Mimi until she wakes up and go home when mom's ready," said Tai, smiling at Kari in a reassurance.  
  
Kari found herself smiling back slightly. "Alright. I'll go home."

-----

"Mimi. Wake up."  
  
Despite the tiredness she was feeling, Mimi opened her eyes. She looked around her surroundings and wondered for a brief moment where she was. Her heart was feeling as if something heavy was weighing on it and when Mimi saw a nurse passing by, everything that had happen for the last couple of hours came back to her. That was when she realized why her heart was feeling that way and she lifted her head to face Mrs. Hinamori who was smiling at her with a forced smile. It didn't suit her at all and even though her eyes were no longer red, she looked very shaky as if she was trying to press back all of her sorrows just for the sake of others.  
  
"What time is it?" asked Mimi, looking around for a clock. Her mind felt all jumbled up and she silently pondered to herself as to when she had fallen asleep and how she was able to sleep with what had happened to her dad. Guilt suddenly enveloped her as sadness took cover of her eyes with tears beginning blur her visions. Mimi tried to make sure that she wouldn't let them fall and she was glad that she was able to do so.   
  
"It's nearing mid-night," said a voice behind Mrs. Hinamori. Allison walked up to Mimi with a cup of water.  
  
"Oh," said Mimi, taking the cup from Allison but not before realizing that there was something covering around her shoulders. She touched material of Tai's jacket and looked to her right to find him sleeping.  
  
"We are leaving, Tai," said Mrs. Hinamori, shaking her son's shoulders. Mimi removed the jacket and placed it on her lap as she stared at Tai who stirring slightly from his mom's voice. Mimi was quite surprised that Tai had stayed with her all this time. He must've had something more important to do and yet he had stayed all this time next to her. Well, he might have gone off while she was asleep but she was still thankful that he had stayed.  
  
After few more seconds of trying to wake him up, Tai finally opened his eyes and looked at his mother. She was standing in front of him with her coat on, ready to leave. Tai abruptly turned to his left to see where Mimi was and felt relief washing over him to find her still there. For some odd reason, when he didn't feel her head resting on his shoulders anymore, it made him worry.  
  
"What time is it?" asked Tai the same question that Mimi had asked. Allison might have chuckled if they were in a different situation.  
  
"Almost mid-night. Allison told us that she would be driving us home," said Mrs. Hinamori and Allison handed Tai a cup of water as well. He thanked her and drank half of it.  
  
"What... what about..." Mimi looked toward the room her dad had been in and found herself unable to finish her question. It was really just hard for her to bringing out his name. It was partly her fault her dad was gone after all... wasn't it? If she hadn't ran away when she had seen Allison and her dad... He would be still alive now and no one would be in so much pain. If only she wasn't so quick at judging things.  
  
Picking up Tai's jacket with her head down so he could not see the fresh tears that were threatening to spill, she handed it to him. "Thank you."  
  
"No problem," said Tai, taking the jacket but when he noticed that her face was cast downward and her shoulders were shaking slightly, he gently put his hands on her shoulders. He was worried about her. "Mimi, are you ok? It's... okay to cry."  
  
Mimi leaned forward so her head was resting on Tai shoulders and let her tears spill freely. She didn't want to cry but she just couldn't help herself and she was glad that she had someone like Tai who was willing to lend his shoulders.

-----

The way back home had been quiet just like the low wind blowing outside. Tai and Mimi were both seated in the back of the car, staring out at the window with their minds drifting off in their own world. Tai's mom was looking out the window as well with Allison driving next to her and she was staring at the barely visible moon that was being covered by the clouds. Her eyes looked empty as if her soul had been dispersed into the thin air and despite the fact that she was dead tired, she just could not go to sleep.  
  
"Do you have your house key, Mimi?" said Allison, slowing to a stop as the traffic light turned red.  
  
Mimi suddenly had the urge to bang her forehead against the window. "No. I know I brought it with me but I think I left it in the taxi that I rode on my way to the hospital. I'm an idiot"  
  
"Maybe you should call your mom. My mom told me she was back," said Tai and he frowned when he saw Mimi make a face that told him he had said something that reminded her of something very important.  
  
"Oh no... I forgot all about mom," said Mimi as she realized for the first time with a dreaded feeling that she would have to tell her what had happened to her dad. Even though her mom and her dad had gotten divorced, she had a feeling that her mom still loved her dad but never said anything about it. Her mom is definitely not going to be happy when she tells her the news...  
  
Mimi felt tears beginning to form in her eyes but she quickly brushed them off. She turned her attention back to the world outside of her mind and gave a reply to Tai's suggestion.  
  
"Mom's staying at my aunt's house and... I don't know my aunt's phone number or even really where she lives," said Mimi and she was about to call herself an idiot again but stopped since she knew it wouldn't help anything. All she knew about where her aunt lived was that she lived somewhere not so far away from her home. Mimi hasn't seen her ever since her parents got divorced and she heard from one of her cousins that she had moved some place near her.  
  
"Why don't you come stay at my house for tonight than?" said Mrs. Hinamori before she started to tell Allison the direction of her apartment.  
  
"Ah, but..." Mimi glanced sideways at Tai while trying to find an excuse to not to stay at his home besides not wanting to be a bother. Especially since she had heard something about Tai's grandmother staying there.   
"It's too late to go any where so just stay for the night," said Mrs. Hinamori and the conversation ended there. Things became quiet again.

-----

Turning on the lights to the small apartment, Mrs. Hinamori dropped her keys by the counter as Tai and Mimi walked in after her. All the lights had been turned off and there were no sounds which probably meant Kari and her grandmother had gone to bed. It reminded Mimi of how her home had been when she had first entered and called out to her dad, not knowing he was in the hospital...   
  
"I'll quickly check on Kari and get something from her room for you to wear," said Mrs. Hinamori to Mimi and she quietly slipped through Kari's room. She walked over to the night stand and turned it on before feeling relief washing over her when she saw that Kari was just fine. She was sleeping peacefully on the floor on top of few neatly laid out blankets. She had been feeling a little uneasy about leaving Kari alone with her mother incase... she took her daughter away from her. Mrs. Hinamori knew well enough that her mother wouldn't do something so stupid but her mind was very open for any kind of possibilities. She didn't want to lose two people on the same day...  
  
Looking at the bed, Mrs. Hinamori saw her mother lying there with her face against the wall. She couldn't tell whether she was asleep or not but Mrs. Hinamori couldn't help but cry as she stared at her mother back. She was crying for the hurt her mother had given her and for the love that she had lost. Just when she had thought she would be able to spend the rest of her life with Tom, everything just had to end like this...  
  
At hearing someone crying, Kari's grandmother stirred slightly and opened her eyes. At first, she thought she was just dreaming until she realized that someone was actually crying and turned her head around as quietly as she could to see who was crying. Upon seeing Laura crying, she couldn't help but wanting to go and hug her like she used to when Laura was young. Kari had told her what had happened to the man that Laura was going to marry and seeing her crying like this made her realize just how much she was going through. Perhaps she was wrong about trying to take Kari away. Laura would be so much more broken and who knows what her life would become after that. Kari's grandmother couldn't possibly watch her daughter suffer more because of her.  
  
When Mrs. Hinamori seemed to have stopped crying, Kari's grandmother closed her eyes and turned her head back around so she could pretend to be asleep. She didn't think her daughter would feel any better when she realizes that her mother had caught her crying so heartbrokenly.

-----  
  
"I'm sorry it took me so long. I hope these will fit you," said Mrs. Hinamori as cheerfully as she could but there was no smile on her face. "Tai's grandmother is staying at Kari's room so I guess you'll have to share Tai's room with him," said Mrs. Hinamori, not fully realizing what she had said. Her lack of sleep was starting to affect her and she was only able to think back to her words after seeing both Mimi and Tai looking away from one another. "Oh, silly me. I don't know what I was thinking."  
  
"It's ok. I can sleep out here," said Mimi, taking the clothes from Tai's mom.  
  
"No, I'll sleep here. You can use my room," said Tai but Mimi shook her head.  
  
"No, I'll be fine here."  
  
"But I don't mind sleeping here."  
  
"I don't mind either."  
  
"Sure you do and I want to sleep out here."  
  
"You are just saying that, Tai."  
  
Mrs. Hinamori looked back and forth between Tai and Mimi, as their little verbal battle continued. She stood there for a while, waiting for their final decision until she decided to let them sort the problem out by themselves. Kids these days...  
  
"I'll put out an extra tooth brush in the bathroom," said Tai's mom although she was doubtful that both Tai and Mimi had heard her.

-----  
  
Mimi woke up the next morning when the window in Tai's room flung open by the harsh morning wind. She had lost their little argument last night and she ended up sleeping in Tai's room while he stayed in the living room. Tai won out of his stubbornness, something Mimi was lacking in. Still not fully awake, Mimi sluggishly walked over to the window to close it and noticed how rusted the hinges were. No wonder they just opened like that... She looked around the room for a clock to find that there was none. Tai probably did have one but due to the mess in his room, she just probably couldn't see it. Tai's room was just as messy as her dad's.  
  
Mimi's face suddenly sadden at the thought of her dad and sat on the bed before bringing her knees up to her chest to rest her head on them. Few tear rolled down her cheeks before she soon found herself sobbing. She was crying for the thought of never being able to see or hear her dad talk again. She was crying for all those times she had stayed mad at him. And she was crying for the guilt that just would not leave her alone.  
  
"Are you awake?" came a voice from the outside of the room.  
  
Mimi nodded her head before realizing that Tai couldn't see her behind the door. "I'm awake," said Mimi, quickly wiping her eyes.  
  
At the other side of the door, Tai frowned. "Have you been crying?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Are you lying?"  
  
There was a small pause. "No."  
  
"Ok than," said Tai, knowing fully well that Mimi wasn't telling him the truth. He could just tell by hearing her voice. "My mom's going to take a day off from work today and she's going to take us to your house after breakfast. We'll just have to somehow break in to your house."  
  
"Ok."   
  
Tai stared at the door, pondering on whether he should just leave or say something. He wanted to help her in any way he could but he didn't exactly know how to. All he knew was that she hurting and he wanted to help her out in any way he could because he... he... Tai shook his head and walked off to the kitchen. He did not want to think about it at the moment.

-----

Mimi's mom paced around the outside of Mimi's house worriedly. She had been trying to call Mimi since the day before but when no one picked up the phone, she decided to visit her in the morning. However, no matter how many times she rang the door bell, no one answered. It was possible that Mimi might have gone to stay over at her friend's house but still... she had a nagging feeling that just would not leave her alone.

"Where are you Mimi?"  
  
Surprisingly, she got her answer. "Mom!"   
  
Mimi's mom turned around in a swift movement and ran to her daughter who was walking toward her with Tai and Laura behind her. Mimi's mom slowed down and took uncertain steps as she looked at Laura with a slight surprise. She had not seen her since the day she had gotten divorced and it made her feel uncomfortable being around her.   
  
Mimi's mom hugged her daughter with a sigh of relief until she felt tears on her neck. She became worried again. "Mimi, what's wrong?"  
  
Mimi, lost in her emotions, told her mom without any objection. "Mom... Dad's gone. He..."


	8. Chapter Eight

"Thank you so much. I'll return it to you right away!"  
  
Mimi held the top side of the ladder while Tai held the other side and together, they walked out of Mimi's neighbor's garage. They had tried every attempt to get inside Mimi's house but had only managed to fail every single time. It was very frustrating for Mimi to say the least but she had done well to keep herself calm. She had thought about throwing some heavy rock and breaking into her own house but before that happened, Tai had suggested that they borrow a ladder from someone. If they were lucky, perhaps one of the windows up stairs was not locked unlike the ones on the ground floor.  
  
Tai and Mimi passed by their mothers without a word and set the ladder below a random window. Both of their mothers were sitting on the door steps where it wasn't covered by the snow and they were talking very quietly as if they were afraid to speak up. Tai's mom and Mimi's mom seemed to be getting along just fine although they could tell that there was some sort of tension between them that would probably take a lot time to get rid of. They were trying to advoid the topic of Mimi's dad by asking each other how they had been for the last couple of months. Talking about him brought pain to both of them since they had loved him so much and Mimi's mom still carried the inner scar from when she found out that Mimi's dad had been cheating on her with her friend.  
  
"I won't hold any responsibilities if you fall," said Mimi as Tai began to climb up the ladder. She would have gone up the ladder herself if she wasn't wearing a skirt or afraid of heights.  
  
"Don't worry, I wont fall," said Tai, smiling down at Mimi but his smile was soon washed away as if a tidal wave had swept through his face when he suddenly started wobbling while flailing his arms in the air. He looked like he was about to fall which caused Mimi gasped. If that were to happen, there was a chance that he might get hurt and it would be all her fault. She would never forgive herself if such thing were to happen.  
  
Noticing the worry in her eyes, Tai stopped wobbling as if he had the world's most perfect balance. His smile returned to his face. "Just kidding."  
  
Mimi did not find anything funny about it. She had thought he was really going to get himself hurt and after what happened to her dad... "Tai, you idiot! I thought you really were going to fall! Don't scare me like that!" said Mimi and she gathered some snow into her hands to make it as round as she could. She threw it at Tai who laughed before ducking his head. "Don't you ever do that again."  
  
"Alright. I won't." Tai gave a reassuring smile and climbed up the last few steps until he was able to reach the window. He wasn't exactly able to tell which room it was with the white curtain covering his view but he didn't bother to think it about much. The most important thing was that he could see the lock and to his relief, it was unlocked. He looked down at Mimi who had a hopeful look in her eyes before he tried to pull the window open. It didn't budge. Why it didn't open, he didn't know but he kept trying any ways. It would be a pain to go through every single window up stairs and not to mention that it was freezing cold outside. If he was cold, he guessed that it was even colder for Mimi since she wasn't wearing proper winter clothing. He was worried she might catch a cold if they had to stay outside for too long.  
  
Grabbing firmly on the edges of the window, he pulled it as hard as he could and to his surprise, it opened. He didn't have to look down to know that Mimi was probably jumping up and down from the thumping sounds he was hearing. Opening the window further, Tai walked through it while making sure he wouldn't slip. The room was slightly dark but there was enough light going through the curtain for him to tell that he was in a bathroom. There was a stack of newspapers against the wall, towels were laying everywhere and there a basket full of clothes that needed to be washed. He could remember Mimi once telling him that her dad was a very unorganized and even a messy person so he guessed this was his bathroom.  
  
Tai took his shoes off ran out the bathroom before making sure to close the window. His shoes were wet from stepping on the snow outside and it would definitely leave a messy stain on the carpet if he wasn't careful. Mimi had enough things to worry about besides him messing up the carpet.  
  
He was directly faced with a rush of cold wind as if he was its main meal right after he had opened the front door to let Mimi in. Her mom was still talking with his mom but when they both noticed that the door had been opened, Tai saw them standing from the ground with their conversation ceased. He turned to Mimi to tell her that he would be going but instead, Mimi had walked up to him and gave him a hug. This action caused him to be stunned but his arms circled around her back without even thinking properly. It was just a friendly hug so there shouldn't be any need for him to hesitate. No, there shouldn'tbe.  
  
"Thank you." Mimi was very thankful. She was thankful for him staying with her, for letting her stay at his house, and for everything he had done. She couldn't even imagine where she would be right now if it wasn't for him.   
  
They parted soon after they heard Tai's mom calling him. He wanted to stay for a little long with reasons he did not know but left any ways because he knew she probably needed some time to talk to her mom. He would just put away the ladder himself which he didn't mind at all.

* * *

It was snowing again. Out of all the days to snow, it just had to snow on the day that her dad's funeral was being held. Thankfully, the snow had started to come down after the funeral was almost over but because of that, few people had looked anxious to leave as soon as possible which some thought was impolite and disrespectful. It had been three days since her dad had died and in those days, Mimi and her mom had shed a lot of tears. It went for the same for Tai's mom and although she always seemed to have a smile on her face, Tai had heard her cry many times during the night. He knew she was crying only during the night when she thought he and Kari were asleep but he wished his mom wouldn't do that. He wanted her to cry when she wanted to and not smile when she didn't want to.  
  
Mimi's mom had come to the funeral as well and some of the relatives from Mimi's dad's side had given her a questioning look. They couldn't understand what she was doing here which was quite understandable because she herself couldn't understand either. Tom had moved on and was even planning to marry Laura so why had she come? There was nothing left between them except for their child so what was her real reason for coming?   
  
As Mimi bowed to her grandparents in respect as they were about to leave, she had caught Tai looking at her direction. After her grandparents left, she turned to look at him to see why he was staring at her but he was talking to his mom. It was true that Tai didn't know much about Mimi's dad or even met him very much but he came with his mom and Kari which Mimi was grateful for. Just knowing that he was near her gave her a comfort that no one else could give her. It was a strange feeling but she welcomed it.  
  
When most of the people have left, Mimi's mom walked up to Mimi after standing off in the side for a long time. She felt a bit out of place so she had been trying to stand away from everyone. She knew most of the people here and used to be even close to some of them like Tom's sisters but she didn't want to make them feel uncomfortable.   
  
Mimi's mom gently placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder and bit the corner of her lips as she wondered if right now would be a good time to ask her what she had been wanting to ask the whole day. Her boss wanted her to start working again in four days so she has no choice but to leave in three days. Maybe four but she needed to get there the day before so she can organize some things. She needed to know what Mimi was going to do from now on as soon as possible.  
  
Mimi adverted her gaze from Tai with her face reddening slightly when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. She hasn't realized that she had been staring at him. "Hey mom."  
  
"Hey Mimi. Can we talk for a while?" Mimi nodded her head and her mom gave a weak smile. "I'm really sorry but I have to leave in three days and I was wondering... if you would like to come with me. The process may take a while but I can have you attend school there. You don't have to of course. This is just a suggestion because I don't want you to be alone here. If you want to stay here though, you can stay with my sister. She had already agreed on it."  
  
There was a moment of silence before Mimi finally spoke. "I... don't know."  
  
"It's alright. You don't have to answer now. Just any time before tomorrow will be fine."

* * *

"Hello!"  
  
Her voice was carried out the house with something similar to hopefulness but there was no reply. Of course there wouldn't be anyone replying back to her in an empty house but she just had to try it any ways. She couldn't help but hope that her dad would come running down the stairs with a warm smile and greet her. It was stupid really but at the moment, she was willing to do or think about anything that would make her feel like everything was like the way they were before. If she had to jump off of a tall building to bring back her dad and her once happy family, she would do it. As long as everything would go back to the way they were a year ago, she was willing to do anything.  
  
Mimi locked the door of her house and walked over to a mirror to dust the snow off of her hair. It was snowing very hard now but from what she heard on the radio while being driven back here from the funeral, the snow would stop sometime very soon. It didn't really matter to her since snow did nothing but to make her feel even colder than she already was right now.   
  
The floor creaked as Mimi walked away from the mirror and toward the stairs. She dragged herself up to the very last step and instead of going to her room, she went into the one on the opposite side. Her dad's room. She wanted to stay there for a while and surround herself with her dad's belongings and perhaps come up with a decision as to what she was going to do. She hasn't answered her mom when she asked her if she wanted to go with her or stay here. She didn't know how she was supposed to answer or what would be the right thing to do. She certainly didn't want to leave because this place was her home. All of her friends were here and they meant everything to her. How is she suppose to choose?

* * *

"Are you going somewhere, grandma?"  
  
Tai and his family watched as his grandmother started to put her coats and gloves on. She had her purse by her side in which she soon started to look through until she grabbed an envelope out. She handed it Kari who accepted with a confused look.  
  
"I'm going home now and my Christmas present for all three of you is inside that envelope."  
  
Kari's immediate reaction to her grandmother's words was to look at a calendar. She had not realized that tomorrow was Christmas with all the things that had been going on in her life. She doubted her mom had known either.  
  
"You're leaving? Now?" said Tai in surprise. His family had came back from the funeral not too long ago so he thought his grandmother would stay for a while.  
  
"Yes. I think I've caused enough trouble here."  
  
Kari eyes brighten as her lips curved upward for a smile. If she was leaving now... "So is that mean you're not going to take me with you? I can stay here?"   
  
There was a brief silence as everyone eagerly waited for her responds. "Yes."  
  
For the first time in days, Mrs. Hinamori let out a real smile and gave her mother a hug. "Thank you so much. Here, let me carry your bag. I'll walk with you and grab a taxi for you," said Mrs. Hinamori and she quickly ran into her room before coming out with her coat on.  
  
"I'll go too," said Kari and she handed the envelope to Tai before putting on her coat as well. She was smiling and looked very happy, something that Tai had missed seeing. It was good to see everyone happy again.  
  
Tai said his good-bye to his grandmother and closed the door after everyone left. With an exhausted sigh, he slumped down on the sofa and wondered what was inside the envelope. There's no harm in taking a peak, is there? Whatever was inside was also his too so he carefully ripped the side open. What he saw inside surprised him. There was money inside. A lot of money. His mom probably won't have to worry about the apartment fees for at least four months. His mom is definitely not going to be happy about this... She doesn't like asking for help from anyone and she would probably think that his grandmother gave her the money because she didn't think his mom could handle things on her own.   
  
A quiet knock came from the door that he was barely able to hear and Tai quickly stuffed the envelope between the cushions. He guessed that it must be his grandmother who came back to get something that she forgot about.   
  
"Did you forget something, grandma?" said Tai as he opened the door.  
  
"Grand...ma?"  
  
"Mimi! I thought you were... never mind. Come in."  
  
The bewildered look that she had for being called grandma faded away and she went inside. She wasn't sure why she was here of all the places she could have went but she had felt the need to talk to someone and he had been the first person to come into her mind. She had been debating with herself for almost an hour as to if she should leave with her mom and decided it would be best if she asked someone for their opinion. If she were to leave, she wanted to go without having any regrets.  
  
As Mimi sat down on the sofa, she couldn't help but feel a bit nervous about being here all alone with Tai. She had bumped into his grandmother, mom and Kari while getting off the elevator so she knew he was the only one at home. It didn't bother her or anything since Tai was her friend and all but her heart seemed to be beating faster with Tai so close to her. She knew it wasn't right for her heart to feel such way but she couldn't help it.   
  
"So... What's up? Is everything all right?" said Tai, sitting across from Mimi.   
  
"Everything's fine. I just need your help on something. You don't mind, do you?"  
  
"No, not at all. What do you need help on?"  
  
Mimi smiled a little, feeling herself relax a bit. "Well you see, my mom is leaving in three days and she wanted to know if I wanted to come with her or not. I'm not sure what I should do."  
  
The shocked look on his face was something Mimi did not miss and when he noticed her eyes on him, he forced himself to look calm. Why did she come to him for something like this? What was he suppose to say? He knew deciding whether to go with her mom or not was probably difficult for her because he could remember how hard it had been on her when she had to move to America few years ago. She had cried so much at the air port and although she had made many friends in New York and gotten used to her surroundings, she had been so happy when her dad's job had been transferred back to Japan. He could still remember the night when she had called him to tell him that she would be coming back. She had been so thrilled which made him wonder if she missed living here that much.  
  
Tai didn't want her to be sad once she got to Europe but on the other side, she wouldn't be happy here without her mom. She had been so upset when her mom had suddenly left couple of months ago after getting divorced with her dad. She had skipped about a week of school and during that time, she didn't want anyone coming over to her house. He didn't want her to be that unhappy again although this time, she would know where her mom would be staying.  
  
"My mom didn't say this but I think she wanted to me go with her. Besides my aunt, I'm really her only family."  
  
Tai saw Mimi smile as she talked about her mom and he realized something. She probably needed her mom more than anyone else now with her dad gone. "You should go," said Tai and he avoided meeting his eyes with Mimi's confused ones. Even if he wouldn't be happy without having her near and even if he might not be able to see her again for however long... He wanted what's best for her. "I mean, you want to be with your mom, don't you?"  
  
"I guess..."  
  
As Tai watched Mimi think silently to herself, he knew what her decision was going to be. His mind was screaming at him to tell her to stay but could he really do that? Could he really be that selfish to say such a thing?  
  
"I think it would be best... if I leave here," said Mimi after a long silence. Tai was right. She wanted to be with her mom.   
  
Her words brought forth a pain that was different from any other that he had ever felt. He had been sad when Mimi had told him that she would move to America but that had been all he had felt. He had wanted her to stay of course but not as much as right now.  
  
There was no point in denying any more. His feelings for the girl in front of him were different than how he had felt for her months ago. He didn't like her just as a friend. Things were different now. He didn't want her to go and he wanted to tell her that. He wanted to be a little selfish for this one time. If she still wanted to go after that, he would let things be.  
  
"Well than, I'll guess I'll go home and call my mom to tell her. Thanks for your help."  
  
Tai walked over to Mimi who was getting up from the sofa and to her surprise, she was pulled into a tight embrace. This action caused her heart to speed up and she felt her face heating up without really knowing why. When she had given him a hug few days ago after he helped her get into her house, she had done it to thank him but what was this suppose to be for? All she knew was that she liked being in his arms and she wanted to stay that way forever whether it would be wrong or not.  
  
"Mimi, don't--"  
  
"Tai! We're home!"  
  
Tai and Mimi immediately parted and without a second thought, Mimi bolted out of the apartment after giving a short greeting to Kari and Mrs. Hinamori, her cheeks tinted in red. Her heart was still pounding heavily and even though she didn't get to hear what Tai was about to say to her, she just wanted to be alone and make herself understand just why her heart won't stop beating so fast.

---

A/N: The next chapter or the chapter after that is probably going to be the last chapter. Everyone's reviews are always greatly appreciated and I hope this chapter wasn't as bad as I think it was. I'm going to work on the next chapter now so I can hopefully get it out as soon as possible without taking over a month.


	9. Chapter Nine

Although she looked wide awake on the outside, it was a different case in the inside. Her eye lids felt heavy with sleep and the sunlight coming through the car window and directly onto her face wasn't making her feel any better. Ever since she had gotten a phone call this morning, she had to visit couple of places to meet people so that they could decide on whom her legal guardian was going to be and such. Her mom had come with her as well and was sitting right next to her in the taxi that they were in. She looked happy with the smile that she wore on her face and it didn't look like the smile would fade away even if she were to be stuck in the snow without a place to go. She had been looking like that since last night when Mimi told her that she would go to Europe with her and leave her current home.  
  
It had been decided this morning that the house would be put up for sale unless the person now responsible for the house would like to leave it as it is. It was too bad Mimi was too young to live by herself in the house or even be in control of it. It didn't matter to her though because a house was just a house. She didn't care what happens to it or about any of her dad's wealth. They all went to her since she was his only child but that didn't bring even crack of smile.  
  
"Only two days..." In just two days, she would no longer be able to see her friends, go to school with them or even talk to them as frequently as she did now. The fees for the international calls weren't exactly the cheapest and she doubted her mom would be very pleased to find that she has to pay ten times more than she does right now for herself. "Yup. Definitely not."  
  
"Did you say something?"  
  
Mimi found her mom staring at her with a curious expression, her smile still on her face. It was almost... annoying. She was glad that her mom was happy but that didn't mean she couldn't be annoyed. "No. I was just thinking out loud."  
  
Her mom put on a worried look and was about to reach over to feel Mimi's forehead before realizing that it probably wasn't needed. She could tell by just looking at her face that she was tired. "Did you get good enough sleep last night?"  
  
"Yeah. I did," said Mimi although it was a lie. She had only been able to get a little over three hours of sleep because she had so many things on her mind. From thinking about her dad, her friends and Tai especially, she could not lie down for more than ten minutes without finding herself pacing around her room or just staring at the ceiling. She just could not help but wonder about what Tai had been trying to say before his mom and Kari interrupted him. He was about to tell her to not do something but what? She couldn't call to ask him because than he would know that she had been thinking about him. She didn't want him to get the wrong idea because that would only make them feel awkward.  
  
"Hey, aren't those people your friends?"  
  
Mimi leaned over toward the window on her mom's side as the taxi came to a stop at a traffic light. She was right. In a small café by the large window, she could see some of her friends. She couldn't tell exactly who was there but she wanted to go meet them.  
  
"Would it be alright if I-"  
  
"Sure," said Mimi's mom, already knowing what her daughter was going to say. It scared Mimi sometimes how her mom knew her very well but she had gotten used to it. "But remember that you have to be home by five."  
  
"Five?" Mimi looked at her mom's watch. That was twenty minutes away which means that she only has ten minutes to talk to her friends or so since it would take her at least ten minutes to get home. But still, it was better than nothing.  
  
Thanking her mom, Mimi got out of the car before the traffic light turned back to green and made her way toward the café after making sure that there were no cars. She had been very conscious about crossing streets after what had happened to her dad and she always made sure to look both ways, something that her dad had failed to do all because of her. Mimi shook her head at that thought and focused on what she was going to say to her friends. She had been wanting to talk to them because she hasn't told any of them that she was going to leave. As far as she knew, Tai was the only one that knew and knowing him, he probably didn't tell anyone so she could tell them.  
  
Entering the relatively large café, Mimi went her way to the table by the window. She curved her lips upward for a smile and tried to look as happy as she could. However, her smile faltered slightly when she noticed that Tai was also there. Her heart started beating faster and before she knew it, she changed directions and headed for the exit. She felt nervous about seeing him and wanted to get away as far as possible. It was stupid, she knew but whatever her feelings were for him was scaring her. Too bad not everything went her way because one of her friends had spotted her and called her over.  
  
Stupid Sora! Why did she have to see her?  
  
Mimi put up another new smile and changed her directions once again. She looked at anywhere but Tai. Even though he was just a friend to her, from the way her heart had started beating just after one look at him...  
  
Something hit her on full force and as she was being greeted by everyone, she decided to take her chance and glance over at Tai. He was looking at her and the moment their eyes connected, something tugged at her heart. She forced herself to look away from him as he did the same. She felt her face heat up and hoped no one would notice it. Everything was still a big bundle of confusion but she at least new something. She liked Tai and not just as friend.  
  
"Have a sit!" said Sora, pulling up a chair. She noticed the tint of redness on her friend's cheeks but didn't say anything about it. Mimi had been looking at Tai when she... Sora's eyes widen and she turned to look at Tai on the other side of the table who seemed determined to look at anywhere else but Mimi. Was something going on between them? "I tried calling you this morning to ask if you wanted to come out with us but you didn't seem to be home."  
  
"Oh, I had some things to do. Where did you guys go?"  
  
"Nowhere particular," answered Yolie. "We just hung out and came here to get something to eat."  
  
The conversation carried off after that and the sadness that had been dominant in her heart was soon replaced by the contentment that nothing else could replace. It felt nice to be with her friends and she was enjoying every second of it. Her friends really were important to her and the thought of not being able to see them again for a long time made her go into a state of unhappiness.  
  
Sora noticed that Mimi seemed awfully quiet and became quickly worried. Even though Mimi might look okay on the outside, Sora knew that her friend was still suffering from her father's death and it worried her. "Is something the matter?"  
  
"Actually..." Mimi was painfully aware of the time that was ticking like an explosive material, indicating her that she had to head home soon. She didn't have much time to tell her friends that she would be leaving for Europe so it was now or never. She had to tell everyone. "My mom's going back to wherever in Europe that she was staying at and she..." Everyone stopped talking in order to listen to what she had to say. They were all watching her now with interest, waiting for her to continue without realizing that they were making her nervous.  
  
Mimi lost her courage to continue. Her friends were in a strange way like a family to her and it was hard to say good bye to them. They had been there for her whenever she needed them while her mom… Abandoned her?  
  
Mimi frown at that thought but somewhere deep down, it made some sense. As soon as her mom had gotten a divorce with her dad, she left without a word and didn't bother to call her own daughter even once. She left Mimi to suffer alone while she was enjoying herself with her new life. If her dad had never died, her mom would have probably never asked her to go to Europe with her. She would have just left again.  
  
"Never mind. Forget what I was saying. I'll see you guys later."  
  
"But Mimi-" started Matt but she was already out the door. "She doesn't look too well. Maybe someone should follow her?"  
  
Sora nodded as her gaze fell on Tai. "Tai, go after her and make sure she's okay."  
  
"Me?" said Tai in surprise. It wasn't that he was complaining since he was also worried about Mimi but why would Sora pick him out of everyone else?  
  
"You're the only Tai here, aren't you?"

* * *

"Mimi should be here soon, Hana." Mimi's mom motioned for her younger sister to have a sit on the sofa while she stuffed the house key in a drawer. After Tom's death, Mimi had given her an extra key to the house so she could visit any time she wanted. Besides, Mimi wasn't technically allowed to live alone in a house all by herself although that problem had been taken care of.  
  
"There's something that I need to talk to you. It's about Mimi," said Hana, shifting a bit in her seat. She waited for her sister to sit down before continuing. She had come over to help Mimi pack but she also wanted to talk to her sister a bit. "Do you think it really is a good idea for Mimi to leave here? She's a high school student and having to adjust to a new school while trying to learn a new language might be a bit too hard on her. I could understand if she's little but she's not."  
  
Mimi's mom understood what her sister was saying. She had also thought about it as well and was even concerned about it. It wouldn't be easy to learn a language that she never spoke before and there was no guarantee that she would be able to attend school as soon as she gets there. The process would take a while and she would at least have to know the basics of the language before attending. And than there's her friends. Mimi would not want to be separated from them.  
  
"You know, the reason that you first left was because of Tom, right?" began Hana and she rolled her eyes when her sister looked at her with surprise. "Come on. I'm not stupid. Even though you never said anything to me, I knew you left because you couldn't bear to see Tom with another woman since you loved him very much. Any ways, why don't you just quit your job in Europe and move back here since he's... well... dead."  
  
It was a simple question but Mimi's mom had never thought about it. If she just moved back here, things would be much easier for Mimi and she wouldn't have to go through the trouble of having to adjust to anything new.  
  
"Why didn't I ever think of that?"  
  
"Well, you were never the bright one in our family," said Hana and she was hit in her head with the sofa cushion.

* * *

She let her feet take her home while her mind was floating in her own little world. She wanted to laugh at how silly she had been for thinking that her mom had ever abandoned her. Her mom wasn't like that and she felt disappointed in herself for even thinking of such thing. Sure, she had been hurt when she found out that her mom had left all of a sudden but it wasn't like she hurt her on purpose.  
  
A hand reached out and gently grabbed her arm, taking Mimi by surprised. She whirled around and placed a hand over her thumping heart. "You scared me! What are you doing here?"  
  
"I called your name about five times," Tai said before letting her arm go. "Sorry I scared you. I was just worried about you."  
  
There it was again. The feeling that she always got whenever she was with him.  
  
"Are you still leaving? I mean, you didn't tell the others." He saw her give a simple, meekly nod. "Than I have something to tell you."  
  
"I'm sorry but I really got to go home," said Mimi and started to walk away. She wanted to be alone right now.  
  
"Wait! Mimi, I don't want you to go. To Europe I mean." Those words caused her to stop and before she knew it, she was pulled toward him so they were standing close to each other. Their eyes met and she found herself being drawn to them like those were the only things that she wanted to see. Her mind screamed at her legs to move but they were like a statue, unmoving and still. "I'm not saying that you shouldn't go. I'm just telling you how I feel and I don't want you to go. I want you to stay."  
  
"Why? Why do you-"  
  
"Because, I like you." There was no need to elucidate. Mimi understood what he meant and that was good enough for him.  
  
This wasn't right. Or at least, it wasn't before when their parents were about to get married. It was okay now. It was okay to like or perhaps even love each other but even knowing that, Mimi pulled away from Tai. He could have stopped her or even followed but all he was able to do was to watch her disappear into the crowd.

* * *

Knowing that the door would be unlocked, Mimi opened it and went inside where it was warm and nice. She quickly took her shoes off and left it spawn messily, not caring that it had knocked her mom's shoe to the side. She just wanted to go to her room to either hate herself for pushing Tai away or to try and to forget about what he had told her. The latter didn't seem very likely though because she had actually liked hearing those words from him. However... in a way, Mimi thought that she had done a good thing by pushing him away. Who knows when she would able to come back once she gets on that plane to Europe in two day? She would only be hurting herself and Tai if she had responded positively to what Tai felt about her. With him constantly on her mind and wanting to see him at every moment that she gets... No. Things would not work out between them.  
  
"I'm home," said Mimi to her mom and she greeted her aunt before heading for the stairs. They were looking at her oddly for being in such a hurry to her room but she guessed she would do the same if she was in their place.  
  
"Wait. Please come here for a moment. I have something to tell you."  
  
"I don't-" The look on her mom's face told her that she would want to hear whatever she had to say. It must be something important because her mom looked serious. "Alright."  
  
Mimi took a seat next to her mom and focused her eyes on the coffee table. For the first time in weeks, she noticed how dusty its surface was.  
  
"Mimi, you are going to stay here."  
  
"What?" Hearing such thing while thinking about the dusty coffee table made her mom's words more important than they already were.  
  
Hana couldn't help but chuckle at the look of bewilderment on her niece's face. "You are going to stay here with me while my sister goes back to Europe to quit her job and gather her things. She's going to come back here in couple of days and stay with you." There was no response or a different reaction from Mimi. It almost made Hana frown. "What's wrong? Aren't you happy?"  
  
"I can stay here?" said Mimi almost to herself and before anyone knew it, she ran for the door. There was the sound of the door closing and the whole house went silent.

* * *

She first went to his apartment to see if he was there but she only met Kari who told her that her bother wasn't home yet. She didn't know where to go after that but she tried going to the café that her friends had been except all of them had left already. She was completely lost to where he could have gone to but she kept on walking and walking until she ended up in the soccer field.  
  
Just as she thought, it was empty. The place looked cold but inviting in an odd so she decided to stay. She wanted to stay at the place where Tai had used to love spending his time on just to see how it would feel. She had never been interested in sports that much but she held a different view for soccer. It was the only sport that Mimi found bearable to watch and that was only because of Sora who used to drag her to the soccer games in their school. Sora used to love soccer before she started playing tennis so there really was no stopping her.  
  
Mimi stopped by the goal area where she found a deserted soccer ball. It was old and tattered but seemed perfectly usable.  
  
A small smile graced her lips and she decided to give it a kick. She wanted to see how badly she would do and just as she was about to kick it, someone sneaked up behind her. The person kicked the ball away to the side, causing Mimi to kick nothing but air.  
  
"Hey, who-"  
  
"If you want to kick the ball, you should be more quicker before your opponent steals it away from you."  
  
So she finally found him. "I guess I did the right thing by coming here," said Mimi more to herself and she turned herself around to face Tai. "I've been looking for you."  
  
"Oh really? Why would you-"  
  
Mimi got on her tip topes and leaned forward, not knowing where she got her courage from. Their lips connected and at that exact moment, Tai understood. He understood her feelings and that he didn't have to say anything because she understood his as well. They wanted to be with each other and that was all that mattered.  
  
"Tai," said Mimi once they parted. "I'm staying. I'm not going to go any where."

* * *

End.  
  
After over a year, I'm glad I've finally been able to finish it. It felt strange writing about something that takes place in winter during the summer but it was fun any ways. **Thank you** so much for reading and I hope everyone enjoyed it!!!


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