VENUS AND VULCAN
By Stiltzkin
Author's Note: I got the premise for this story while babysitting my baby brother a month ago. We watched the Digimon Movie together, me for the first time, he for the umpteenth time. I'm probably the last person on the planet to have seen it, but I digress.
That's where I discovered that Jou has feelings for Mimi and that concept was rummaging through my subconscious for a couple of weeks when I finally penned this. Though I haven't seen much of the first season episodes I hope I stayed trued to the characters involved.
Finally, this story takes place six years after the second season of Digimon: Digital Monsters. Making Jou twenty-one and just finishing his first year of medical school. While Sora, Taichi and Yamato being twenty, just finishing their sophomore year at university. Koushiro and Mimi at nineteen were completing their freshmen year. Miyako at eighteen just graduated from High School. Daisuke, Hikari, Ken, and Takeru at seventeen just finished their eleventh grade and Iori at fifteen just finishing grade nine. Enjoy.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Well, it seems to me that the best relationships, the ones that last,
are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship.
You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more
than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere.
And the person who was just a friend is...suddenly
the only person you can ever imagine yourself with."
- Dana Scully (The X-Files)
* * * * * * * * * *
CHAPTER ONE: KINDRED SPIRITS.
Mimi Tachikawa apprehensively ascended the small hill overlooking the Hongo Campus of the University of Tokyo. It was one of two colleges, which made up the university. Hongo Collage, the smaller one, which consist of the Medical Buildings, Training Hospitals and Graduate Schools for the university. She traveled all this way to look for someone, to rectify any wrongs that she may have done that morning or at least explain her actions over the past thirteen years that she's known him.
Her dear old friend Koushiro Izumi had told her that she could find Jou Kido sitting on this very hill, especially when he wanted to be alone. He recommended her not to bother him in his sanctuary, but she needed to talk to him and she was willing to face the consequences of her intrusion.
Her plans were simple, that is, until she met him. She came back to Japan to forget about Michael and the pain he caused her when he broke up with her and secondly to win the heart of Yamato Ishida, her first crush, but now that she saw him again she wasn't sure anymore.
She saw him sitting on the hill, his dark silhouette against the red and orange vista of the setting sun. He was staring into the horizon contemplating, oblivious of the fact that she was standing behind him. 'I wonder what he's thinking about?' She thought biting her lower lip, she was obviously nervous about this conversation. 'How will he respond when I tell him?' She sighed, thinking about the events of the afternoon.
* * * * * * * * * *
Six Hours Ago...
"I'm opened!" Taichi yelled. He received the soccer ball from Mimi and kicked it past Iori and scored.
"Yes!" Mimi cheered.
It was a beautiful summer's day, perhaps the most beautiful in her recollection. Mimi Tachikawa was the typical All-American nineteen-year-old, beautiful, popular, and dressed with designer clothes from head to toe with a hunger for life. At nineteen she just completed her freshman year at University of New York with an undeclared major, not unlike many her age.
The digidestined was playing a friendly game of soccer this lazy, summer, Sunday afternoon. They were playing soccer as usual, the original digidestined team versus the new digidestined. Mimi scanned the horizon looking for the only person missing from the group.
"Don't worry Mimi." Koushiro smiled. "He'll be here."
"Are you sure?" Mimi asked with concern. She has been in Japan a week and she had yet to see him.
"Yeah." Koushiro smiled. "I hacked into the administrative files and got his schedule from the database and coerced him to come." He smiled. "An ingenious idea if I say so myself."
Mimi considered Koushiro her polar opposite. Unlike herself, her red head companion actually knows what he wants to be in life, he probably knew it since he was a child, perhaps the very day when he first set his eyes on a computer. Like her, he just finished his freshman year at Tokyo University, with a double major in computer science and computer engineering.
Of all her friends she considered Koushiro that changed the least. His love for computers has obviously grown ostentatiously through the years and alas he's still a head shorter to the other men his age. Like all the digidestined going to university he lived on campus at Komaba collage. It was a significantly bigger collage simply because it housed all the undergraduates with various majors declared or undeclared.
"Com'on Mimi!" Sora Takenouchi announced bringing her attention back into the game. The twenty-year-old woman has changed so much since she last saw her six years ago. She has become quite the women's activist on campus with an interest in political science, a course she thought she would have hated when her liberal arts degree listed that course as a prerequisite for graduation.
She had grown more beautiful throughout the years with shoulder length reddish-brown hair, which she allowed to grow. Her awkward shaped body had metamorphoses into a beautiful form. She has become a beautiful specimen of womanhood, yet throughout all her womanhood Mimi could still see the hint of tomboy in her that she tried to suppress.
"Coming!" She smiled.
They played for another ten minutes with both teams unsuccessfully making a play when she felt that someone was watching her. In her peripheral vision she saw a tall slender blue haired man standing by the oak tree watching them play. "Joe!" She greeted turning her head to wave to him.
Instead of smiling and waving back at her he tried to warn her about something. "Watch out!" Mimi suddenly stepped on the soccer ball and tripped, somersaulting on the ground.
Jou dropped his duffel bag and rushed towards her. "Are you okay?" He panted checking to see how extensive her injuries were. At twenty-one, Jou Kido was the oldest in the group. Having completed his first year of medical school Jou had little time to spend with his friends because of a job as a lab assistant and two summer school courses.
"Yeah." She smiled. "I don't think anything is broken." She sighed, feeling a little foolish for not watching where she was going.
"Can you walk?" He asked.
"I'll try." Mimi said trying to get up, her ankle didn't hold her weight and fell into Jou's arms. "Okay." He sighed picking her up in his arms as a husband would his wife and carried her towards the oak that he was standing under before the accident happened and placed her back to the trunk while he examined her ankle.
"Are you okay?" The others asked concurrently.
"I think so." She sighed. "Why don't you go back and play. I'm in capable hands." Mimi smiled.
"Are you sure?" Sora asked.
"Yes." She smiled sincerely. "Now go have fun."
The crowd slowly thinned and soon the two were left alone. "It's good to see you again." Mimi smiled watching Jou inspecting her ankle.
"Likewise." He gave a quick glance and smile.
"Really?"
"You sound surprise."
"I am." Mimi whispered. "I wasn't sure." She felt relieved to see him again; she had missed him so much, like all her friends. "I thought you were avoiding me." She sighed.
"Why would you say that?"
"Well maybe because I've been in Japan a week and this is the first time we've met." She pointed out.
"Well summer school keeps me busy and my job as a lab assistant puts more work on top of that." Jou smiled. "I'm sorry if I gave you the impression of not wanting to see you, I didn't mean to." He smiled looking into her earthly brown eyes. "I really did want to see you." He smiled nervously.
She didn't quite believe him, but she let it slide for the moment. "So what's the prognosis doctor?"
"I'm not sure." Jou sighed. "There's no discoloration or bruising to the epidermis layer, at best you probably twisted it at worse it may be sprained." He diagnosed. "I can't tell for sure without more tests." He sighed.
"Oh no." She gasped.
"Don't worry." Jou smiled reassuringly. "Stay off your feet for a while and we'll see if how serious the injury is." He sighed.
"So I'll live?"
"Yeah." Jou smiled. "Oh, you're bleeding." He said noticing that there was a slight cut on Mimi's knee.
"Really? Where?"
"It's just a cut on your knee." Jou said examining it. "Don't touch it, you'll infect it. I'll get the first aid kit." Jou said reaching into his duffel bag and took out a white plastic box.
"How bad is it?" Mimi asked.
"It's a superficial cut, it may leave a small scar though. How did this happen?" Jou asked opening the kit.
"I'm not sure, I think I cut it when I tripped on the soccer ball." Mimi explained. "There were some rocks nearby." She sighed.
"Serves you right for getting Izzy to blackmailing me to come." Jou teased. "This is going to sting a little." He said putting some rubbing alcohol on a swab to clean the wound.
"Ouch."
"Stop squirming." Jou said trying to clean the wound again.
"Ouch. Are you sure you're doing it right?" Mimi asked.
"I'm sorry about the pain, but I have to make sure that the wound is sufficiently clean, before I bandage it up." Jou explained.
"Ouch. Now I know why you're in summer school."
Jou chuckled to himself and smiled. "I didn't fail any courses, I'm just taking extra courses so my course load would be lighter in the fall." He explained.
"Ouch. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"You're such a princess." He teased looking into her eyes seeing a tinge of hurt them. "You're right maybe there's a better way to do this." Jou leaned over and kissed her wound. "How does that feel?" Jou asked affectionately.
"Better." Mimi blushed.
"Kiss the wound." Jou smiled. "They taught us that the second day in Medical School." Jou said sarcastically placing the bandage on her knee. "It might leave a tiny scar though." He sighed.
"Well now that you seen all my scars, does that mean I get to see some of yours?" Mimi replied playfully.
"I love to." Jou smiled. "But unfortunately, all my scars are emotional and psychological." Jou sighed. "All done." Jou declared throwing the cotton swab in the nearest garbage can.
"Thanks." Mimi said giving a strange look at Jou. "I'm really proud of you." She smiled looking at him affectionately.
"Why, it's just a simple cut."
"No you saw blood and you didn't faint."
Jou chuckled to himself remembering a time ten years ago when he would have. "Well dissecting a cadaver would strengthen any nervous stomachs." He sighed looking at her. He felt an air of uncomfortably by that look. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Jou asked.
"It's just that for a second you looked cute." Mimi blushed.
"Oh, that's called Florence Nightingale Syndrome." Jou quickly dismissed. "It's not uncommon for a patient to have feelings for their doctor or nurse especially after a life threatening accident." He explained. "Though a cut on a knee hardly constitute as a life threatening injury." He teased.
Mimi smiled with the same look in her eyes. "It's not that. It's just that I never realize how cute you look before."
"How much did you have to drink?" Jou said picking the bottle of alcohol that lay beside her and sniffed it. "You didn't drink out of this when I wasn't looking were you?" He asked.
"I'm not drunk, Joe." Mimi protested.
"Then you must be sick." Jou said felling her forehead.
"I don't have a fever."
"I know then it's a bump on your head when you fell." Jou said examining her head.
"No, it's not that either!" Mimi protested with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Why are you trying to discount my feelings?" She asked.
Jou scoffed to himself and sighed. "Because in the last score plus one years of my life no women said I was cute except those in my family, women whom I would consider my grandmothers, girls more then half my age, lesbians and thanks to my last lady friend, the clinically insane." Jou sighed taking a breath. "And if they're not from any category from above they generally want something from me." He sighed.
"Why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Put yourself down."
"It's one of those psychological scars that I told you about." Jou sighed.
"Joe," Mimi whispered affectionately. "I don't know who hurt you, but you don't deserve this punishment that you're giving yourself." Mimi said cupping his check. "I find you cute and attractive, can't you accept that?"
"In time." Jou sighed. "It's just hard for me to accept any compliment especially from women as beautiful as you." He smiled caressing her face; he realized what he was doing and quickly retracted his hand. "I'm sorry I acted like a jerk, it's just that I'm careful not to let anyone that close to me, that is romantically, I've been hurt too many times." Jou sighed. "We've better get going before the gang worries about us." He said getting up.
Mimi quickly grabbed his arm to stop him. "Why don't we let them worry about us." Mimi sighed. "I rather talk with you instead." She confessed. "I've been here a whole week and this is the first time we had a chance to talk." She smiled.
Jou looked into her eyes and saw sincerity in them; he could never refuse any requested from her with those eyes. "Okay." He sighed, sitting beside her under the oak tree. "What do you want to talk about?" He sighed.
"I don't know." Mimi sighed. "Are you seeing anyone now?"
"Yeah." Jou sighed.
"You are?" Mimi gasped. She was surprised, but mostly to herself. She was shocked that Jou would have a lover especially after he poured his heart to her and she was surprised at herself because she felt envious. "Who?" She nervously asked.
Jou chuckled to himself and sighed. "To a very jealous and demanding lover." He sighed.
"Who?" Mimi reiterated.
"My work." Jou exasperated. "Medicine."
Mimi felt relieved realizing that it wasn't a person, but an entity. Then she quickly gasped when she finally figured out what Jou meant. "Joe, you can't expect to hide and bury your feelings in your work." She sighed.
"No, but at least I can try." He sighed taking a deep breath in order to change the tone of the conversation. "How about you? The last I heard you were dating Michael?" He sighed.
"Yeah I was." She sighed.
"Was?"
"Yeah he broke up with me recently." Mimi sighed.
"I'm sorry." Jou whispered looking at Mimi for the first time in the conversation, he was surprised to hear that, the last he heard they were happy with each other. He looked into her eyes and saw that she wanted to cry he instinctively put his arm around to comfort her. "What happened?" He whispered.
"I got a Dear John e-mail." Mimi sighed. "Michael and I parted our ways when we left for collage, he went to U.C.L.A. to study acting and I stayed in New York. We tried the long distant thing for about a year, but recently, he found someone else." Mimi sobbed.
"There, there." Jou whispered stroking her blond hair with platinum streaks. Jou had lost count how many different hairstyles Mimi had over the years, but this was the furthest thing from his mind. "It's his loss." He sighed.
"Yeah, I keep on telling myself that, but it's not working very well." She sighed wiping her tears on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, I got your shirt all wet." She sighed patting it dry.
"That's okay." Jou sighed. "Is that why you returned to Japan?"
"Yeah." Mimi sighed. "Everything in New York reminded me of him, I thought returning to Japan would make me forget him. Unfortunately, isn't working to well." She sighed.
"Take it from me, a man who suffered from multiple broken hearts from many women. The pain would eventually go away." He sighed.
"Joe, how many women broke your heart?" She asked tentatively. "I like to hear about them." She sighed.
"Why?"
"Just curious." Mimi sighed. "That and misery loves company."
Jou scoffed to himself. "How would you like it? Alphabetically, chronologically, or order of severity of how they broke my heart?" He sighed.
"With an attitude like that, I'm surprise women fall in love with all." She sighed. "What do you do? Tell them it's bad luck to be with you?" She teased.
"Actually, I do." Jou sighed. "Which explains why I'm so incredibly lonely." He sighed leaning on her head while she lean on his shoulder.
"Joe, I'm sure you'll find someone soon, you're such a nice guy." She sighed.
"Yeah, well nice guys invariably come in last."
"You don't believe that do you?"
"Yeah, I do." Jou sighed. "It has been my experience that women say they want a nice guy, but when they get one they break his heart with a plethora of suitable reasons." He sighed.
"Joe, that's not true for all women." She sighed. "Don't paint the whole sex with the same ill brush." She pointed out.
"Yeah, well. You'll excuse me if I don't believe you." He sighed.
"Joe," Mimi whispered affectionately. "Who did this to you? Who hurt you like this?" She sighed taking her head up watching him staring at the soccer game.
"There's too many to count." He sighed. "I tend to fall in love with women that are impossible for me to be with and my heart has paid the price over and over again." He pointed out.
"Was it me?" She sheepishly asked. "Was it me who did this to you?" She asked being afraid of the answer.
"Why would you say that?" He gasped looking at her.
Mimi quickly glanced away from his eyes and looked to the bandage on her knee. She couldn't stand to see his sad eyes, to find out the truth, to wonder if she was the one who made him feel this way. She took a deep breath and sighed. "It's no secret that you had feelings for me when we were young and it was no secret that I didn't return those feelings so it's logical for me to ask: was I the one who did this to you?" Her voice cracked reiterating the question.
"No." Jou replied. "You may be the first, but it wasn't you." He sighed. "It was a series of women that hurt me that made me the way I am." He said reassuringly.
"I was your first?"
"Yeah." Jou sighed. "I loved you first, the longest and probably the best." He sighed sadly. "But that's was ages ago, in another lifetime." He sighed looking at her. "Ten years would be a long time to hold on a torch."
"Is that why you didn't want to see me?" She gasped looking at him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ask..."
"That's okay, it's a fair question." Jou sighed. "Yeah, I was afraid that seeing you again would resurrect old feelings..."
"And were they?"
Jou looked at her and studied her eyes and wondered how to respond to that question, he decided to tell the truth. "I don't know." He sighed. "That has yet to be determined." He sighed.
* * * * * * * * * *
A cool breeze passed through her bringing her out of her gaze. The sky was significantly darker and the temperature has dropped somewhat. 'How long have I been here?' She thought looking towards the bank of the hill by the foot of an oak tree. Jou was still there and she felt relieved.
'What am I doing here?' She thought reminiscing of her afternoon. She had spent the better part of her afternoon trying to get Jou out of her mind, whether it was guilt, pity, or affection she wasn't sure, but her heart lead her to him. She exasperated with frustration. "I got to tell him some time." She whispered to herself advancing him.
A star came out twinkling for the first time and she heard him whisper. "Starlight, star bright, the first star I see tonight..."
"I wish I may." Jou turned to see who was speaking. "I wish I might, to have this wish I wish tonight." Mimi smiled approaching him and sat beside him. "I haven't said that since I was a kid." She smiled.
"Me either." Jou sighed. "I guess seeing you again brought back a lot of old memories." He smiled.
"Yeah me too." Mimi sighed. "Do you want me here? I know that this is your sanctuary. If you don't want me here I understand." She sighed.
"No, I don't mind the company." Jou sighed unconvincingly.
Mimi sensed that tone in that voice, but ignored it and stayed. "You know Michael named that star after me. I know it's silly now, but at that time I thought it was romantic." She sighed watching it. "He said it's the prettiest star in the sky." She smiled with pain, reminding her of the pain she went through with Michael not too long ago.
Jou gently chuckled to himself and sighed. "He's not too far from the true." He sighed looking at her.
Mimi looked at him and blushed. She looked into his warm eyes and felt flushed and quickly returned her gaze to the star. "So did your wishes ever come true?" Mimi asked.
"No." Jou sighed returning his gaze to the star.
"Why not?"
"Well honestly, it's not really a star, but a planet." Jou sighed.
"A planet?"
"Yeah." Jou sighed. "When I was young I remembered an American cousin of mine told me that you could make a wish at the first star you see. As you know, my father was pretty strict back then."
"Pretty strict?" She teased already knowing the truth.
"All right he was strict." Jou sighed smiling secretively. "Regardless, this was the first star I would see and would make a wish and oblivious to its true identity I foolishly made a wish." He sighed.
"Really? A planet I feel rather stupid now." She sighed.
"Don't be." Jou sighed. "People have been making that same mistake for generations." He sighed. "There were some civilizations that believed that this planet were two different star, in the evening they'd call it the Evening Star because it's the first star to come out and the Morning Star because it's the last to go out." He sighed.
"I guess that's an honest mistake." Mimi sighed. "My mom use to tell me that the stars were angels when I was little and at times, I still believe that." She smiled.
"Actually, that's not an uncommon belief." He sighed.
"Really?" Mimi smiled looking at him; he was still entranced by the star. "What was her name?" She asked.
"You won't like it, but HIS name is Lucifer." He sighed.
"That Devil?" Mimi gasped. "You're right I don't like it."
Jou smiled to himself. "No, I didn't think that you would."
"Why the devil?"
"Well according to myths, Lucifer was the first angel to be born, not unlike this star. He was the most beauty of all the angels and the most vain which lead to his downfall."
"Just like this star." Mimi added.
"Yeah, his aura shines the brightest, the longest and hangs lower then all the stars in the midnight sky. Tempting anyone and everyone who would gaze upon its deadly beauty. It shines all night hoping to capture as many victims as he could." Jou said chuckling to himself and sighed. "You know, even during the right conditions you could even see this star during the middle of the day even at noon the devil still tempts the citizenry of this planet." Jou sighed.
"I don't think I like sharing my star with him." Mimi sighed. "But regardless it is beautiful." She sighed.
"Yeah, I guess that's why ancient scientists named it Venus." He sighed. "An apt name considering it's the brightest object in the midnight sky, that is, besides the moon." He sighed. "But in reality the planet is inhospitable, it's so hot on the surface that it could melt steel and the atmosphere is too poisonous for almost all earthly life." He sighed.
"Sounds like Hell." She sighed.
"I guess the mythologist were right about calling that star Lucifer, ruler of Hell." He smiled.
"Wait a minute, isn't Venus the name of a Greek god?" She asked.
"Roman." Jou corrected.
"Pardon?"
"The Greeks called it Aphrodite, the Romans called it Venus." He corrected looking into her eyes; he saw confusion in them. "Don't worry, it's one in the same thing, it's just all semantics." He sighed reassuring her. "You're quite correct the Romans named the planet after Venus, the goddess of love and beauty." He sighed.
"I don't mind sharing my star with her." Mimi smiled sighing to herself.
Jou chuckled to himself. "I didn't think that you'll would."
Mimi joined in with his quiet laughter. "So Joe, who am I to you? A princess, a wish, the devil, or a goddess?" She asked.
Jou sighed to himself. "Mimi Tachikawa fishing for a compliment?" He teased. "I didn't think you did that, I'd assume you get at least a hundred of compliments by the time you have lunch." He sighed.
"Not really." Mimi sighed. "People think that, but that's not true." She said sadly. "They think that the pretty, popular people have no problems in life, but in reality we worry about the same things as everyone." She sighed in the same tone. "You never answered my question."
Jou looked at her and pondered her question and decided to tell the truth. "I think you're human and because of that I think you're a little of all four." He sighed.
"Coward." Mimi pouted.
Jou chuckled to himself. "Yeah, but a smart coward who wants to see his next birthday." He pointed out.
Mimi sighed letting him slide from the question. "So did Venus have many boyfriends?" She asked returning her sights to the star.
"You can say that, she had many affairs." Jou sighed. "One of her most famous was that of Venus and Mars." He sighed. "Mars was the God of War, he was the perfect solider, strong, muscular, handsome and probably sexy." Jou sighed. "Mars would be the equivalent to what you Americans called a jock." He pointed out.
"That sounds a lot like Michael." Mimi sighed.
"Really?"
"Yeah, he was into all the sports, football, soccer, polo, you name it he was on that team at school." Mimi sighed. "Some days I thought I spent more time watching him play sports then actually dating him." Mimi pointed out.
"My condolences."
"It wasn't all that bad." Mimi sighed. "Most of the time I just talked to the other girlfriends watching their boyfriends play. We all didn't care much for the sports we watched, but we enjoyed the company." She sighed changing the mood of the conversation. "So, did Venus have other lovers besides those with gods?" She asked nonchalantly.
"Yeah, she had many mortal lovers in her time." Jou sighed. "One of them was named Adonis, he was once considered the most handsomest man on the planet. So much so that any women that saw him fell instantly in love with him." He sighed. "I guess if we have to put him in a particular clique he's probably be in the popular crowd." He sighed.
"Sounds a lot like Matt." She sighed reminiscing. "Half the time I see him running away from mobs of crazy fans." She sighed.
"I guess that's the price to pay for fame." Jou sighed.
Mimi chuckled to herself. "I guess." She sighed. "So did Venus ever marry?" She asked.
"Yeah." Jou started to laugh at the impending irony.
"What so funny?"
"Nothing, it was just who she married." Jou sighed looking at Mimi. "She married Vulcan." He sighed.
"You mean she married the pointed ear guy on Star Trek that has no feelings whatsoever?" She asked.
"No." Jou couldn't help but to smile at her ignorance. "You see Vulcan was the ugliest of all the gods. When he was born his parents were so disgusted by his beauty, or lack thereof, and thrown him off from heaven where they lived and landed hard on the Earth becoming crippled." He sighed.
"Why would they do that?" Mimi gasped.
"Beauty was everything to the Ancient Greeks. They believed that if someone is beautiful on the outside they had to be beautiful in the inside also, because only inner beauty make the outside shell beautiful and they believed the reverse was true." He sighed. "So you see, in a society of beauty the ugly was shunned." He sighed sadly.
"That's sounds stupid." Mimi sighed. "Just because someone is ugly on the outside doesn't mean they're not beautiful in the inside." She protested.
"Well, it's easy to judge a culture after the fact." Jou sighed. "I'm sure that we do or think of things today that a thousand years later people would think is stupid." He pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess." Mimi sighed. "So Vulcan was the God of Ugliness?"
"No." Jou smiled. "He was the God of the Forge, of Fire." He sighed. "He was meticulous, hard working, the most reliable and dependable of all the gods." He sighed. "I guess you Americans would call him a nerd."
"Kind of like you." Mimi sighed, the moment she said that sentence she regretted it and instantly wanted to take it back. She just realized what she was comparing him to. "Joe, I didn't mean it that way." She gasped hoping that he would forget what she just said.
"No, that's okay." He sighed. "You weren't the first to call me a nerd and you'll probably won't be the last." He sighed sadly. "Besides I feel very much like Vulcan. He was so absorbed in his work just like me. Vulcan made beautiful things with metal and stone and you should see what I could do with cadavers." He smiled. Mimi sighed looking at him, not knowing what she would to say. "Quite frankly, I don't know why Venus wanted to married him in the first place." Jou pointed out.
"Well you know the saying: opposites attract." She pointed out.
"Yeah, if that's only true." Jou sighed.
Mimi watched her crestfallen friend and sighed. He was so hurt, defeated, broken, with so much in pain and she couldn't help to think that she was the cause, that she was somehow responsible.
The events of the afternoon quickly flashed through her mind. She wondered about her attraction towards Jou, although fleeting that afternoon. 'Joe's right, I didn't feel that way because we were opposites.' Mimi thought. "Perhaps they were kindred spirits." Mimi sighed.
"Pardon?"
"Perhaps Venus and Vulcan saw something in each other that no one has ever seen before." Mimi sighed. "Maybe Vulcan saw through the superficial of Venus' face and saw her soul beyond her reputation. In the same way, maybe Venus went against the grain of society and saw beyond the visceral of Vulcan's face and saw the beautiful artist that laid inside." Mimi sighed. "Perhaps, that's what they saw in each other and based their marriage on that." She sighed.
"Maybe." Jou sighed. "I doubt it though."
Mimi exasperated softly to herself. Cheering Jou up would be more difficult then she thought it would be; then again she knew that she couldn't erase a lifetime of pain in just one night. She looked up to the sky and saw other stars joining the evening one. "So much connotations for one little star...I mean planet." She corrected.
"Yeah." Jou sighed. "And to imagine there are trillions of stars out there and perhaps a hundred billion of planets orbiting around them." He sighed. "You can fill a whole universe with all the connotations and them some." Jou sighed sadly.
"You know what I think of when I look at the stars?"
"No, what?"
"My future...it's so scary, so close, and so uncertain." Mimi sighed. "I wish I knew what I was doing with my life, sometimes I wish I could be like you or Izzy, knowing what I want to do with life."
"You kidding?" Jou scoffed. "I always wished that I could be like you, or any normal child. Sometimes I think I was destined to become a doctor because my father drilled that into my head and no thanks to my older brothers the pressure is worse." He sighed.
"How?" Mimi asked.
"I'm not sure I should tell you." He sighed. "You heard enough of my psychological scars already." He pointed out.
"Joe, please don't shut me out." Mimi pleaded.
Jou was surprised that Mimi was touching his hand. His heart started to beat faster with apprehensiveness and he glanced into her eyes. She sincerely wanted to know. He sighed and caved in. "My father grew up poor and worked hard all his life to provide for us so naturally he wanted and was frugal with money. He always wanted to be a doctor, but his father couldn't afford the tuition for Medical School, so instead he did the next best thing, he lived vicariously through his sons. When I was born my father was pleased with another son, three sons translating into three doctors ergo making him thrice rich in his old age." He sighed.
"I doubt that." Mimi interjected.
"Don't be too surprised." Jou sighed. "His first son became a doctor, but our father's victory was short lived because he and his wife, another doctor, which was icing on the cake for our dad, moved to Africa for their general practice. His second son thought he escaped the responsibility because the first was fulfilling our father's expectation and decided instead to do his Ph. D. with Sora's father. Technically, another doctor in the family, but this one was a hollow victory for him. Now all his expectations, pressures, and dreams rest on my narrow shoulders." He sighed. "Don't get me wrong, I love medicine, I learned to love it, but some days I wonder what I would be if my father was more...liberal like yours." Jou sighed.
"Be careful what you wish for." Mimi sighed. "You just might get it."
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing." Mimi sighed. "My father is also a slave to money, in his own way." She sighed. "His time is consumed with making money before anything else. He doesn't even know who I am." She sighed. "He thinks I'm this genteel princess whose problems could be solved by buying her a gift." She sighed.
"So we both have estranged fathers."
"Yeah." Mimi sighed. "Venus and Vulcan have something in common after all."
"It's a small world." Jou sighed watching the stars coming out. In his peripheral vision he saw Mimi rub her arms. He took off his blazer and drapped it on her shoulders.
"Thanks." She smiled.
"No problem." He whispered returning his vision towards the heavens. Silence engulfed them as time slowly passed. "Mimi do you believe that there's only one person that you're destined to be with out there in the world?" Jou asked finally breaking the silence.
"I don't know." Mimi sighed. "I used to, it's rather a romantic notion, but it's naïve of me to continue to believe it." She sighed. "But there are times when I want to believe it's true." Mimi exasperated. "What about you?" Mimi asked looking at her companion.
"Sometimes." Jou exasperated. "Sometimes I think what if the person I'm destined to be with is not here in Japan, but halfway around the world, or on a tiny deserted island that has yet to be discovered." He sighed sadly to himself. "Or perhaps the person I'm meant to be with is orbiting around one of those stars never to meet." He quietly chuckled.
"Or she could be here sitting beside you." Mimi whispered.
Jou gasped at the suggestion and darted his eyes into her mahogany eyes and ventured into her soul seeing if she's being sarcastic. Her dirty blond bangs with platinum blond highlights parted in the slight breeze giving him ample opportunity to delve into her essence. Jou chuckled to himself and returned his gaze to the heavens. "For a moment there I thought you were sincere, but just for a moment." He sighed.
"But I am." She confessed.
"If you're just saying that to save my feelings...you don't have too." Jou sighed. "I'm used to being hurt." He pointed out with sadness in his voice.
"I'm not and that's why I'm here in Japan." She pointed out.
"Com'on Mimi." Jou replied with a hint of frustration. "You wouldn't fly more then halfway around the world just to tell me that I'm the one you're destined to be with." He chuckled to himself. "I mean if you did come to Japan for that sole purpose of telling someone that you're destined to be with, it would probably be Matt." He pointed out.
Mimi gasped with apprehension and awe. He had discovered her true purpose of her trip to Japan. "Don't be...be silly." Mimi blushed.
Jou noticed the slight change in inflection in her voice and knew that his hunch was correct. "Oh my God, that's why you came." He gasped looking at her. "You came here to tell Matt your feelings." He gasped.
"I...I don't know what you're talking about."
"Please don't insult my intelligence." Jou sighed. "I know you better then you think Mimi. Remember, I'm one of the few people in the world who knows your real hair colour." He teased.
"What are you talking about?" Mimi teased. "I'm always have been a blond." She said tossing her shoulder length hair.
"Yeah and my father wants me to study art history." He sarcastically pointed out.
"Okay maybe I did return to Japan to see if Matt feels the same way for me, foolish as that may be, it was my last hope for..." Her voice trailed off.
"Happiness?" Jou added.
"Yeah." Mimi sighed above a whisper.
"So why are you here with me instead of Matt?" He tentatively asked.
"I don't know." Mimi sighed. "Just following my heart, although confused it may be, it told me to come here." She said touching Jou's hand that rested on the grass beside her.
Jou wasn't sure if it was the touch or her answer that surprised him the most, the touch sent a wave of euphoria into his essence or her explanation that revived old dreams long lost. Whatever the case, he was surprised by the sentiment. "W...What are you saying?" Jou tentatively asked.
"This." Mimi whispered closing her eyes leaning towards her companion for a kiss. Jou saw the kiss coming and was apprehensive about committing the deed. He was frozen with fright, like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. A mixed feeling of fear and adolescent dreams coming true made his lips quiver. He watched as his first crush leaned towards him with a kiss. His reactions to her soft, confident lips on his were unexpected, but involuntary, at least to Jou - he lurched away for defence. "What's wrong Joe?" Mimi whispered with surprised.
Over the years, Jou had developed a complex series of defence mechanisms when someone gets too close to him romantically. "It's nothing." Jou sighed quietly. "It's just been a long time since I had a kiss, even longer since someone wanted to kiss me." Jou replied sadly.
"I see." Mimi whispered looking into his eyes and gave a supporting smile. "Kissing is like riding a bicycle once you learn you'll never forget." She sincerely smiled parting his blue hair.
Jou turned to her to see her eyes looking back at him and saw sincerity in them. "I wouldn't be too sure." He smiled. "I had to learn to ride one twice." He chuckled softly, his hand finding its way to brush her blond hair.
"Kissing is easier." Mimi smiled leaning towards him for a second try. "Don't be so nervous, I won't bite, unless you're into that sort of thing." She teased feeling his anxiousness in her heart.
"I'm game if you are." Jou replied sarcastically closing his eyes leaning towards her, hoping to find her lips again.
Mimi chuckled softly at the comment; her heart was running wild and her soul expecting. Venus and Vulcan, Mimi and Jou were about to make romantic legends once again. "Joe." Mimi whispered reaching the apex of the kiss. "I think I'm falling in love with you." She whispered.
Jou was surprised by the declaration of her feelings and all the defence mechanisms that he suppressed for this particular moment resurfaced again. He jerked away at the kiss before it was accomplished. "I...I'm sorry." Jou stuttered. "I...I've got to go." He said dashing away from his sanctuary.
"What?" Mimi gasped seeing her companion running away. "Wait up Joe." She cried running after him, but she was too late, he was gone.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Disclaimer: [1] The names of persons, places, and events pertaining to Digimon: Digital Monster Animated Series is not my invention and is the property of Toei Animation, Bandi, and Saban Entertainment - no profit is gained from the writing of this series. [2] Although Hongo and Komaba campus are actual campuses of University of Tokyo; the descriptions are fiction and are only used for accuracy and a meeting place. [3] This is a fan fiction and as such names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination that is, those not mentioned in the previous clauses and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
By Stiltzkin
Author's Note: I got the premise for this story while babysitting my baby brother a month ago. We watched the Digimon Movie together, me for the first time, he for the umpteenth time. I'm probably the last person on the planet to have seen it, but I digress.
That's where I discovered that Jou has feelings for Mimi and that concept was rummaging through my subconscious for a couple of weeks when I finally penned this. Though I haven't seen much of the first season episodes I hope I stayed trued to the characters involved.
Finally, this story takes place six years after the second season of Digimon: Digital Monsters. Making Jou twenty-one and just finishing his first year of medical school. While Sora, Taichi and Yamato being twenty, just finishing their sophomore year at university. Koushiro and Mimi at nineteen were completing their freshmen year. Miyako at eighteen just graduated from High School. Daisuke, Hikari, Ken, and Takeru at seventeen just finished their eleventh grade and Iori at fifteen just finishing grade nine. Enjoy.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Well, it seems to me that the best relationships, the ones that last,
are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship.
You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more
than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere.
And the person who was just a friend is...suddenly
the only person you can ever imagine yourself with."
- Dana Scully (The X-Files)
* * * * * * * * * *
CHAPTER ONE: KINDRED SPIRITS.
Mimi Tachikawa apprehensively ascended the small hill overlooking the Hongo Campus of the University of Tokyo. It was one of two colleges, which made up the university. Hongo Collage, the smaller one, which consist of the Medical Buildings, Training Hospitals and Graduate Schools for the university. She traveled all this way to look for someone, to rectify any wrongs that she may have done that morning or at least explain her actions over the past thirteen years that she's known him.
Her dear old friend Koushiro Izumi had told her that she could find Jou Kido sitting on this very hill, especially when he wanted to be alone. He recommended her not to bother him in his sanctuary, but she needed to talk to him and she was willing to face the consequences of her intrusion.
Her plans were simple, that is, until she met him. She came back to Japan to forget about Michael and the pain he caused her when he broke up with her and secondly to win the heart of Yamato Ishida, her first crush, but now that she saw him again she wasn't sure anymore.
She saw him sitting on the hill, his dark silhouette against the red and orange vista of the setting sun. He was staring into the horizon contemplating, oblivious of the fact that she was standing behind him. 'I wonder what he's thinking about?' She thought biting her lower lip, she was obviously nervous about this conversation. 'How will he respond when I tell him?' She sighed, thinking about the events of the afternoon.
* * * * * * * * * *
Six Hours Ago...
"I'm opened!" Taichi yelled. He received the soccer ball from Mimi and kicked it past Iori and scored.
"Yes!" Mimi cheered.
It was a beautiful summer's day, perhaps the most beautiful in her recollection. Mimi Tachikawa was the typical All-American nineteen-year-old, beautiful, popular, and dressed with designer clothes from head to toe with a hunger for life. At nineteen she just completed her freshman year at University of New York with an undeclared major, not unlike many her age.
The digidestined was playing a friendly game of soccer this lazy, summer, Sunday afternoon. They were playing soccer as usual, the original digidestined team versus the new digidestined. Mimi scanned the horizon looking for the only person missing from the group.
"Don't worry Mimi." Koushiro smiled. "He'll be here."
"Are you sure?" Mimi asked with concern. She has been in Japan a week and she had yet to see him.
"Yeah." Koushiro smiled. "I hacked into the administrative files and got his schedule from the database and coerced him to come." He smiled. "An ingenious idea if I say so myself."
Mimi considered Koushiro her polar opposite. Unlike herself, her red head companion actually knows what he wants to be in life, he probably knew it since he was a child, perhaps the very day when he first set his eyes on a computer. Like her, he just finished his freshman year at Tokyo University, with a double major in computer science and computer engineering.
Of all her friends she considered Koushiro that changed the least. His love for computers has obviously grown ostentatiously through the years and alas he's still a head shorter to the other men his age. Like all the digidestined going to university he lived on campus at Komaba collage. It was a significantly bigger collage simply because it housed all the undergraduates with various majors declared or undeclared.
"Com'on Mimi!" Sora Takenouchi announced bringing her attention back into the game. The twenty-year-old woman has changed so much since she last saw her six years ago. She has become quite the women's activist on campus with an interest in political science, a course she thought she would have hated when her liberal arts degree listed that course as a prerequisite for graduation.
She had grown more beautiful throughout the years with shoulder length reddish-brown hair, which she allowed to grow. Her awkward shaped body had metamorphoses into a beautiful form. She has become a beautiful specimen of womanhood, yet throughout all her womanhood Mimi could still see the hint of tomboy in her that she tried to suppress.
"Coming!" She smiled.
They played for another ten minutes with both teams unsuccessfully making a play when she felt that someone was watching her. In her peripheral vision she saw a tall slender blue haired man standing by the oak tree watching them play. "Joe!" She greeted turning her head to wave to him.
Instead of smiling and waving back at her he tried to warn her about something. "Watch out!" Mimi suddenly stepped on the soccer ball and tripped, somersaulting on the ground.
Jou dropped his duffel bag and rushed towards her. "Are you okay?" He panted checking to see how extensive her injuries were. At twenty-one, Jou Kido was the oldest in the group. Having completed his first year of medical school Jou had little time to spend with his friends because of a job as a lab assistant and two summer school courses.
"Yeah." She smiled. "I don't think anything is broken." She sighed, feeling a little foolish for not watching where she was going.
"Can you walk?" He asked.
"I'll try." Mimi said trying to get up, her ankle didn't hold her weight and fell into Jou's arms. "Okay." He sighed picking her up in his arms as a husband would his wife and carried her towards the oak that he was standing under before the accident happened and placed her back to the trunk while he examined her ankle.
"Are you okay?" The others asked concurrently.
"I think so." She sighed. "Why don't you go back and play. I'm in capable hands." Mimi smiled.
"Are you sure?" Sora asked.
"Yes." She smiled sincerely. "Now go have fun."
The crowd slowly thinned and soon the two were left alone. "It's good to see you again." Mimi smiled watching Jou inspecting her ankle.
"Likewise." He gave a quick glance and smile.
"Really?"
"You sound surprise."
"I am." Mimi whispered. "I wasn't sure." She felt relieved to see him again; she had missed him so much, like all her friends. "I thought you were avoiding me." She sighed.
"Why would you say that?"
"Well maybe because I've been in Japan a week and this is the first time we've met." She pointed out.
"Well summer school keeps me busy and my job as a lab assistant puts more work on top of that." Jou smiled. "I'm sorry if I gave you the impression of not wanting to see you, I didn't mean to." He smiled looking into her earthly brown eyes. "I really did want to see you." He smiled nervously.
She didn't quite believe him, but she let it slide for the moment. "So what's the prognosis doctor?"
"I'm not sure." Jou sighed. "There's no discoloration or bruising to the epidermis layer, at best you probably twisted it at worse it may be sprained." He diagnosed. "I can't tell for sure without more tests." He sighed.
"Oh no." She gasped.
"Don't worry." Jou smiled reassuringly. "Stay off your feet for a while and we'll see if how serious the injury is." He sighed.
"So I'll live?"
"Yeah." Jou smiled. "Oh, you're bleeding." He said noticing that there was a slight cut on Mimi's knee.
"Really? Where?"
"It's just a cut on your knee." Jou said examining it. "Don't touch it, you'll infect it. I'll get the first aid kit." Jou said reaching into his duffel bag and took out a white plastic box.
"How bad is it?" Mimi asked.
"It's a superficial cut, it may leave a small scar though. How did this happen?" Jou asked opening the kit.
"I'm not sure, I think I cut it when I tripped on the soccer ball." Mimi explained. "There were some rocks nearby." She sighed.
"Serves you right for getting Izzy to blackmailing me to come." Jou teased. "This is going to sting a little." He said putting some rubbing alcohol on a swab to clean the wound.
"Ouch."
"Stop squirming." Jou said trying to clean the wound again.
"Ouch. Are you sure you're doing it right?" Mimi asked.
"I'm sorry about the pain, but I have to make sure that the wound is sufficiently clean, before I bandage it up." Jou explained.
"Ouch. Now I know why you're in summer school."
Jou chuckled to himself and smiled. "I didn't fail any courses, I'm just taking extra courses so my course load would be lighter in the fall." He explained.
"Ouch. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"You're such a princess." He teased looking into her eyes seeing a tinge of hurt them. "You're right maybe there's a better way to do this." Jou leaned over and kissed her wound. "How does that feel?" Jou asked affectionately.
"Better." Mimi blushed.
"Kiss the wound." Jou smiled. "They taught us that the second day in Medical School." Jou said sarcastically placing the bandage on her knee. "It might leave a tiny scar though." He sighed.
"Well now that you seen all my scars, does that mean I get to see some of yours?" Mimi replied playfully.
"I love to." Jou smiled. "But unfortunately, all my scars are emotional and psychological." Jou sighed. "All done." Jou declared throwing the cotton swab in the nearest garbage can.
"Thanks." Mimi said giving a strange look at Jou. "I'm really proud of you." She smiled looking at him affectionately.
"Why, it's just a simple cut."
"No you saw blood and you didn't faint."
Jou chuckled to himself remembering a time ten years ago when he would have. "Well dissecting a cadaver would strengthen any nervous stomachs." He sighed looking at her. He felt an air of uncomfortably by that look. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Jou asked.
"It's just that for a second you looked cute." Mimi blushed.
"Oh, that's called Florence Nightingale Syndrome." Jou quickly dismissed. "It's not uncommon for a patient to have feelings for their doctor or nurse especially after a life threatening accident." He explained. "Though a cut on a knee hardly constitute as a life threatening injury." He teased.
Mimi smiled with the same look in her eyes. "It's not that. It's just that I never realize how cute you look before."
"How much did you have to drink?" Jou said picking the bottle of alcohol that lay beside her and sniffed it. "You didn't drink out of this when I wasn't looking were you?" He asked.
"I'm not drunk, Joe." Mimi protested.
"Then you must be sick." Jou said felling her forehead.
"I don't have a fever."
"I know then it's a bump on your head when you fell." Jou said examining her head.
"No, it's not that either!" Mimi protested with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Why are you trying to discount my feelings?" She asked.
Jou scoffed to himself and sighed. "Because in the last score plus one years of my life no women said I was cute except those in my family, women whom I would consider my grandmothers, girls more then half my age, lesbians and thanks to my last lady friend, the clinically insane." Jou sighed taking a breath. "And if they're not from any category from above they generally want something from me." He sighed.
"Why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Put yourself down."
"It's one of those psychological scars that I told you about." Jou sighed.
"Joe," Mimi whispered affectionately. "I don't know who hurt you, but you don't deserve this punishment that you're giving yourself." Mimi said cupping his check. "I find you cute and attractive, can't you accept that?"
"In time." Jou sighed. "It's just hard for me to accept any compliment especially from women as beautiful as you." He smiled caressing her face; he realized what he was doing and quickly retracted his hand. "I'm sorry I acted like a jerk, it's just that I'm careful not to let anyone that close to me, that is romantically, I've been hurt too many times." Jou sighed. "We've better get going before the gang worries about us." He said getting up.
Mimi quickly grabbed his arm to stop him. "Why don't we let them worry about us." Mimi sighed. "I rather talk with you instead." She confessed. "I've been here a whole week and this is the first time we had a chance to talk." She smiled.
Jou looked into her eyes and saw sincerity in them; he could never refuse any requested from her with those eyes. "Okay." He sighed, sitting beside her under the oak tree. "What do you want to talk about?" He sighed.
"I don't know." Mimi sighed. "Are you seeing anyone now?"
"Yeah." Jou sighed.
"You are?" Mimi gasped. She was surprised, but mostly to herself. She was shocked that Jou would have a lover especially after he poured his heart to her and she was surprised at herself because she felt envious. "Who?" She nervously asked.
Jou chuckled to himself and sighed. "To a very jealous and demanding lover." He sighed.
"Who?" Mimi reiterated.
"My work." Jou exasperated. "Medicine."
Mimi felt relieved realizing that it wasn't a person, but an entity. Then she quickly gasped when she finally figured out what Jou meant. "Joe, you can't expect to hide and bury your feelings in your work." She sighed.
"No, but at least I can try." He sighed taking a deep breath in order to change the tone of the conversation. "How about you? The last I heard you were dating Michael?" He sighed.
"Yeah I was." She sighed.
"Was?"
"Yeah he broke up with me recently." Mimi sighed.
"I'm sorry." Jou whispered looking at Mimi for the first time in the conversation, he was surprised to hear that, the last he heard they were happy with each other. He looked into her eyes and saw that she wanted to cry he instinctively put his arm around to comfort her. "What happened?" He whispered.
"I got a Dear John e-mail." Mimi sighed. "Michael and I parted our ways when we left for collage, he went to U.C.L.A. to study acting and I stayed in New York. We tried the long distant thing for about a year, but recently, he found someone else." Mimi sobbed.
"There, there." Jou whispered stroking her blond hair with platinum streaks. Jou had lost count how many different hairstyles Mimi had over the years, but this was the furthest thing from his mind. "It's his loss." He sighed.
"Yeah, I keep on telling myself that, but it's not working very well." She sighed wiping her tears on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, I got your shirt all wet." She sighed patting it dry.
"That's okay." Jou sighed. "Is that why you returned to Japan?"
"Yeah." Mimi sighed. "Everything in New York reminded me of him, I thought returning to Japan would make me forget him. Unfortunately, isn't working to well." She sighed.
"Take it from me, a man who suffered from multiple broken hearts from many women. The pain would eventually go away." He sighed.
"Joe, how many women broke your heart?" She asked tentatively. "I like to hear about them." She sighed.
"Why?"
"Just curious." Mimi sighed. "That and misery loves company."
Jou scoffed to himself. "How would you like it? Alphabetically, chronologically, or order of severity of how they broke my heart?" He sighed.
"With an attitude like that, I'm surprise women fall in love with all." She sighed. "What do you do? Tell them it's bad luck to be with you?" She teased.
"Actually, I do." Jou sighed. "Which explains why I'm so incredibly lonely." He sighed leaning on her head while she lean on his shoulder.
"Joe, I'm sure you'll find someone soon, you're such a nice guy." She sighed.
"Yeah, well nice guys invariably come in last."
"You don't believe that do you?"
"Yeah, I do." Jou sighed. "It has been my experience that women say they want a nice guy, but when they get one they break his heart with a plethora of suitable reasons." He sighed.
"Joe, that's not true for all women." She sighed. "Don't paint the whole sex with the same ill brush." She pointed out.
"Yeah, well. You'll excuse me if I don't believe you." He sighed.
"Joe," Mimi whispered affectionately. "Who did this to you? Who hurt you like this?" She sighed taking her head up watching him staring at the soccer game.
"There's too many to count." He sighed. "I tend to fall in love with women that are impossible for me to be with and my heart has paid the price over and over again." He pointed out.
"Was it me?" She sheepishly asked. "Was it me who did this to you?" She asked being afraid of the answer.
"Why would you say that?" He gasped looking at her.
Mimi quickly glanced away from his eyes and looked to the bandage on her knee. She couldn't stand to see his sad eyes, to find out the truth, to wonder if she was the one who made him feel this way. She took a deep breath and sighed. "It's no secret that you had feelings for me when we were young and it was no secret that I didn't return those feelings so it's logical for me to ask: was I the one who did this to you?" Her voice cracked reiterating the question.
"No." Jou replied. "You may be the first, but it wasn't you." He sighed. "It was a series of women that hurt me that made me the way I am." He said reassuringly.
"I was your first?"
"Yeah." Jou sighed. "I loved you first, the longest and probably the best." He sighed sadly. "But that's was ages ago, in another lifetime." He sighed looking at her. "Ten years would be a long time to hold on a torch."
"Is that why you didn't want to see me?" She gasped looking at him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ask..."
"That's okay, it's a fair question." Jou sighed. "Yeah, I was afraid that seeing you again would resurrect old feelings..."
"And were they?"
Jou looked at her and studied her eyes and wondered how to respond to that question, he decided to tell the truth. "I don't know." He sighed. "That has yet to be determined." He sighed.
* * * * * * * * * *
A cool breeze passed through her bringing her out of her gaze. The sky was significantly darker and the temperature has dropped somewhat. 'How long have I been here?' She thought looking towards the bank of the hill by the foot of an oak tree. Jou was still there and she felt relieved.
'What am I doing here?' She thought reminiscing of her afternoon. She had spent the better part of her afternoon trying to get Jou out of her mind, whether it was guilt, pity, or affection she wasn't sure, but her heart lead her to him. She exasperated with frustration. "I got to tell him some time." She whispered to herself advancing him.
A star came out twinkling for the first time and she heard him whisper. "Starlight, star bright, the first star I see tonight..."
"I wish I may." Jou turned to see who was speaking. "I wish I might, to have this wish I wish tonight." Mimi smiled approaching him and sat beside him. "I haven't said that since I was a kid." She smiled.
"Me either." Jou sighed. "I guess seeing you again brought back a lot of old memories." He smiled.
"Yeah me too." Mimi sighed. "Do you want me here? I know that this is your sanctuary. If you don't want me here I understand." She sighed.
"No, I don't mind the company." Jou sighed unconvincingly.
Mimi sensed that tone in that voice, but ignored it and stayed. "You know Michael named that star after me. I know it's silly now, but at that time I thought it was romantic." She sighed watching it. "He said it's the prettiest star in the sky." She smiled with pain, reminding her of the pain she went through with Michael not too long ago.
Jou gently chuckled to himself and sighed. "He's not too far from the true." He sighed looking at her.
Mimi looked at him and blushed. She looked into his warm eyes and felt flushed and quickly returned her gaze to the star. "So did your wishes ever come true?" Mimi asked.
"No." Jou sighed returning his gaze to the star.
"Why not?"
"Well honestly, it's not really a star, but a planet." Jou sighed.
"A planet?"
"Yeah." Jou sighed. "When I was young I remembered an American cousin of mine told me that you could make a wish at the first star you see. As you know, my father was pretty strict back then."
"Pretty strict?" She teased already knowing the truth.
"All right he was strict." Jou sighed smiling secretively. "Regardless, this was the first star I would see and would make a wish and oblivious to its true identity I foolishly made a wish." He sighed.
"Really? A planet I feel rather stupid now." She sighed.
"Don't be." Jou sighed. "People have been making that same mistake for generations." He sighed. "There were some civilizations that believed that this planet were two different star, in the evening they'd call it the Evening Star because it's the first star to come out and the Morning Star because it's the last to go out." He sighed.
"I guess that's an honest mistake." Mimi sighed. "My mom use to tell me that the stars were angels when I was little and at times, I still believe that." She smiled.
"Actually, that's not an uncommon belief." He sighed.
"Really?" Mimi smiled looking at him; he was still entranced by the star. "What was her name?" She asked.
"You won't like it, but HIS name is Lucifer." He sighed.
"That Devil?" Mimi gasped. "You're right I don't like it."
Jou smiled to himself. "No, I didn't think that you would."
"Why the devil?"
"Well according to myths, Lucifer was the first angel to be born, not unlike this star. He was the most beauty of all the angels and the most vain which lead to his downfall."
"Just like this star." Mimi added.
"Yeah, his aura shines the brightest, the longest and hangs lower then all the stars in the midnight sky. Tempting anyone and everyone who would gaze upon its deadly beauty. It shines all night hoping to capture as many victims as he could." Jou said chuckling to himself and sighed. "You know, even during the right conditions you could even see this star during the middle of the day even at noon the devil still tempts the citizenry of this planet." Jou sighed.
"I don't think I like sharing my star with him." Mimi sighed. "But regardless it is beautiful." She sighed.
"Yeah, I guess that's why ancient scientists named it Venus." He sighed. "An apt name considering it's the brightest object in the midnight sky, that is, besides the moon." He sighed. "But in reality the planet is inhospitable, it's so hot on the surface that it could melt steel and the atmosphere is too poisonous for almost all earthly life." He sighed.
"Sounds like Hell." She sighed.
"I guess the mythologist were right about calling that star Lucifer, ruler of Hell." He smiled.
"Wait a minute, isn't Venus the name of a Greek god?" She asked.
"Roman." Jou corrected.
"Pardon?"
"The Greeks called it Aphrodite, the Romans called it Venus." He corrected looking into her eyes; he saw confusion in them. "Don't worry, it's one in the same thing, it's just all semantics." He sighed reassuring her. "You're quite correct the Romans named the planet after Venus, the goddess of love and beauty." He sighed.
"I don't mind sharing my star with her." Mimi smiled sighing to herself.
Jou chuckled to himself. "I didn't think that you'll would."
Mimi joined in with his quiet laughter. "So Joe, who am I to you? A princess, a wish, the devil, or a goddess?" She asked.
Jou sighed to himself. "Mimi Tachikawa fishing for a compliment?" He teased. "I didn't think you did that, I'd assume you get at least a hundred of compliments by the time you have lunch." He sighed.
"Not really." Mimi sighed. "People think that, but that's not true." She said sadly. "They think that the pretty, popular people have no problems in life, but in reality we worry about the same things as everyone." She sighed in the same tone. "You never answered my question."
Jou looked at her and pondered her question and decided to tell the truth. "I think you're human and because of that I think you're a little of all four." He sighed.
"Coward." Mimi pouted.
Jou chuckled to himself. "Yeah, but a smart coward who wants to see his next birthday." He pointed out.
Mimi sighed letting him slide from the question. "So did Venus have many boyfriends?" She asked returning her sights to the star.
"You can say that, she had many affairs." Jou sighed. "One of her most famous was that of Venus and Mars." He sighed. "Mars was the God of War, he was the perfect solider, strong, muscular, handsome and probably sexy." Jou sighed. "Mars would be the equivalent to what you Americans called a jock." He pointed out.
"That sounds a lot like Michael." Mimi sighed.
"Really?"
"Yeah, he was into all the sports, football, soccer, polo, you name it he was on that team at school." Mimi sighed. "Some days I thought I spent more time watching him play sports then actually dating him." Mimi pointed out.
"My condolences."
"It wasn't all that bad." Mimi sighed. "Most of the time I just talked to the other girlfriends watching their boyfriends play. We all didn't care much for the sports we watched, but we enjoyed the company." She sighed changing the mood of the conversation. "So, did Venus have other lovers besides those with gods?" She asked nonchalantly.
"Yeah, she had many mortal lovers in her time." Jou sighed. "One of them was named Adonis, he was once considered the most handsomest man on the planet. So much so that any women that saw him fell instantly in love with him." He sighed. "I guess if we have to put him in a particular clique he's probably be in the popular crowd." He sighed.
"Sounds a lot like Matt." She sighed reminiscing. "Half the time I see him running away from mobs of crazy fans." She sighed.
"I guess that's the price to pay for fame." Jou sighed.
Mimi chuckled to herself. "I guess." She sighed. "So did Venus ever marry?" She asked.
"Yeah." Jou started to laugh at the impending irony.
"What so funny?"
"Nothing, it was just who she married." Jou sighed looking at Mimi. "She married Vulcan." He sighed.
"You mean she married the pointed ear guy on Star Trek that has no feelings whatsoever?" She asked.
"No." Jou couldn't help but to smile at her ignorance. "You see Vulcan was the ugliest of all the gods. When he was born his parents were so disgusted by his beauty, or lack thereof, and thrown him off from heaven where they lived and landed hard on the Earth becoming crippled." He sighed.
"Why would they do that?" Mimi gasped.
"Beauty was everything to the Ancient Greeks. They believed that if someone is beautiful on the outside they had to be beautiful in the inside also, because only inner beauty make the outside shell beautiful and they believed the reverse was true." He sighed. "So you see, in a society of beauty the ugly was shunned." He sighed sadly.
"That's sounds stupid." Mimi sighed. "Just because someone is ugly on the outside doesn't mean they're not beautiful in the inside." She protested.
"Well, it's easy to judge a culture after the fact." Jou sighed. "I'm sure that we do or think of things today that a thousand years later people would think is stupid." He pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess." Mimi sighed. "So Vulcan was the God of Ugliness?"
"No." Jou smiled. "He was the God of the Forge, of Fire." He sighed. "He was meticulous, hard working, the most reliable and dependable of all the gods." He sighed. "I guess you Americans would call him a nerd."
"Kind of like you." Mimi sighed, the moment she said that sentence she regretted it and instantly wanted to take it back. She just realized what she was comparing him to. "Joe, I didn't mean it that way." She gasped hoping that he would forget what she just said.
"No, that's okay." He sighed. "You weren't the first to call me a nerd and you'll probably won't be the last." He sighed sadly. "Besides I feel very much like Vulcan. He was so absorbed in his work just like me. Vulcan made beautiful things with metal and stone and you should see what I could do with cadavers." He smiled. Mimi sighed looking at him, not knowing what she would to say. "Quite frankly, I don't know why Venus wanted to married him in the first place." Jou pointed out.
"Well you know the saying: opposites attract." She pointed out.
"Yeah, if that's only true." Jou sighed.
Mimi watched her crestfallen friend and sighed. He was so hurt, defeated, broken, with so much in pain and she couldn't help to think that she was the cause, that she was somehow responsible.
The events of the afternoon quickly flashed through her mind. She wondered about her attraction towards Jou, although fleeting that afternoon. 'Joe's right, I didn't feel that way because we were opposites.' Mimi thought. "Perhaps they were kindred spirits." Mimi sighed.
"Pardon?"
"Perhaps Venus and Vulcan saw something in each other that no one has ever seen before." Mimi sighed. "Maybe Vulcan saw through the superficial of Venus' face and saw her soul beyond her reputation. In the same way, maybe Venus went against the grain of society and saw beyond the visceral of Vulcan's face and saw the beautiful artist that laid inside." Mimi sighed. "Perhaps, that's what they saw in each other and based their marriage on that." She sighed.
"Maybe." Jou sighed. "I doubt it though."
Mimi exasperated softly to herself. Cheering Jou up would be more difficult then she thought it would be; then again she knew that she couldn't erase a lifetime of pain in just one night. She looked up to the sky and saw other stars joining the evening one. "So much connotations for one little star...I mean planet." She corrected.
"Yeah." Jou sighed. "And to imagine there are trillions of stars out there and perhaps a hundred billion of planets orbiting around them." He sighed. "You can fill a whole universe with all the connotations and them some." Jou sighed sadly.
"You know what I think of when I look at the stars?"
"No, what?"
"My future...it's so scary, so close, and so uncertain." Mimi sighed. "I wish I knew what I was doing with my life, sometimes I wish I could be like you or Izzy, knowing what I want to do with life."
"You kidding?" Jou scoffed. "I always wished that I could be like you, or any normal child. Sometimes I think I was destined to become a doctor because my father drilled that into my head and no thanks to my older brothers the pressure is worse." He sighed.
"How?" Mimi asked.
"I'm not sure I should tell you." He sighed. "You heard enough of my psychological scars already." He pointed out.
"Joe, please don't shut me out." Mimi pleaded.
Jou was surprised that Mimi was touching his hand. His heart started to beat faster with apprehensiveness and he glanced into her eyes. She sincerely wanted to know. He sighed and caved in. "My father grew up poor and worked hard all his life to provide for us so naturally he wanted and was frugal with money. He always wanted to be a doctor, but his father couldn't afford the tuition for Medical School, so instead he did the next best thing, he lived vicariously through his sons. When I was born my father was pleased with another son, three sons translating into three doctors ergo making him thrice rich in his old age." He sighed.
"I doubt that." Mimi interjected.
"Don't be too surprised." Jou sighed. "His first son became a doctor, but our father's victory was short lived because he and his wife, another doctor, which was icing on the cake for our dad, moved to Africa for their general practice. His second son thought he escaped the responsibility because the first was fulfilling our father's expectation and decided instead to do his Ph. D. with Sora's father. Technically, another doctor in the family, but this one was a hollow victory for him. Now all his expectations, pressures, and dreams rest on my narrow shoulders." He sighed. "Don't get me wrong, I love medicine, I learned to love it, but some days I wonder what I would be if my father was more...liberal like yours." Jou sighed.
"Be careful what you wish for." Mimi sighed. "You just might get it."
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing." Mimi sighed. "My father is also a slave to money, in his own way." She sighed. "His time is consumed with making money before anything else. He doesn't even know who I am." She sighed. "He thinks I'm this genteel princess whose problems could be solved by buying her a gift." She sighed.
"So we both have estranged fathers."
"Yeah." Mimi sighed. "Venus and Vulcan have something in common after all."
"It's a small world." Jou sighed watching the stars coming out. In his peripheral vision he saw Mimi rub her arms. He took off his blazer and drapped it on her shoulders.
"Thanks." She smiled.
"No problem." He whispered returning his vision towards the heavens. Silence engulfed them as time slowly passed. "Mimi do you believe that there's only one person that you're destined to be with out there in the world?" Jou asked finally breaking the silence.
"I don't know." Mimi sighed. "I used to, it's rather a romantic notion, but it's naïve of me to continue to believe it." She sighed. "But there are times when I want to believe it's true." Mimi exasperated. "What about you?" Mimi asked looking at her companion.
"Sometimes." Jou exasperated. "Sometimes I think what if the person I'm destined to be with is not here in Japan, but halfway around the world, or on a tiny deserted island that has yet to be discovered." He sighed sadly to himself. "Or perhaps the person I'm meant to be with is orbiting around one of those stars never to meet." He quietly chuckled.
"Or she could be here sitting beside you." Mimi whispered.
Jou gasped at the suggestion and darted his eyes into her mahogany eyes and ventured into her soul seeing if she's being sarcastic. Her dirty blond bangs with platinum blond highlights parted in the slight breeze giving him ample opportunity to delve into her essence. Jou chuckled to himself and returned his gaze to the heavens. "For a moment there I thought you were sincere, but just for a moment." He sighed.
"But I am." She confessed.
"If you're just saying that to save my feelings...you don't have too." Jou sighed. "I'm used to being hurt." He pointed out with sadness in his voice.
"I'm not and that's why I'm here in Japan." She pointed out.
"Com'on Mimi." Jou replied with a hint of frustration. "You wouldn't fly more then halfway around the world just to tell me that I'm the one you're destined to be with." He chuckled to himself. "I mean if you did come to Japan for that sole purpose of telling someone that you're destined to be with, it would probably be Matt." He pointed out.
Mimi gasped with apprehension and awe. He had discovered her true purpose of her trip to Japan. "Don't be...be silly." Mimi blushed.
Jou noticed the slight change in inflection in her voice and knew that his hunch was correct. "Oh my God, that's why you came." He gasped looking at her. "You came here to tell Matt your feelings." He gasped.
"I...I don't know what you're talking about."
"Please don't insult my intelligence." Jou sighed. "I know you better then you think Mimi. Remember, I'm one of the few people in the world who knows your real hair colour." He teased.
"What are you talking about?" Mimi teased. "I'm always have been a blond." She said tossing her shoulder length hair.
"Yeah and my father wants me to study art history." He sarcastically pointed out.
"Okay maybe I did return to Japan to see if Matt feels the same way for me, foolish as that may be, it was my last hope for..." Her voice trailed off.
"Happiness?" Jou added.
"Yeah." Mimi sighed above a whisper.
"So why are you here with me instead of Matt?" He tentatively asked.
"I don't know." Mimi sighed. "Just following my heart, although confused it may be, it told me to come here." She said touching Jou's hand that rested on the grass beside her.
Jou wasn't sure if it was the touch or her answer that surprised him the most, the touch sent a wave of euphoria into his essence or her explanation that revived old dreams long lost. Whatever the case, he was surprised by the sentiment. "W...What are you saying?" Jou tentatively asked.
"This." Mimi whispered closing her eyes leaning towards her companion for a kiss. Jou saw the kiss coming and was apprehensive about committing the deed. He was frozen with fright, like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. A mixed feeling of fear and adolescent dreams coming true made his lips quiver. He watched as his first crush leaned towards him with a kiss. His reactions to her soft, confident lips on his were unexpected, but involuntary, at least to Jou - he lurched away for defence. "What's wrong Joe?" Mimi whispered with surprised.
Over the years, Jou had developed a complex series of defence mechanisms when someone gets too close to him romantically. "It's nothing." Jou sighed quietly. "It's just been a long time since I had a kiss, even longer since someone wanted to kiss me." Jou replied sadly.
"I see." Mimi whispered looking into his eyes and gave a supporting smile. "Kissing is like riding a bicycle once you learn you'll never forget." She sincerely smiled parting his blue hair.
Jou turned to her to see her eyes looking back at him and saw sincerity in them. "I wouldn't be too sure." He smiled. "I had to learn to ride one twice." He chuckled softly, his hand finding its way to brush her blond hair.
"Kissing is easier." Mimi smiled leaning towards him for a second try. "Don't be so nervous, I won't bite, unless you're into that sort of thing." She teased feeling his anxiousness in her heart.
"I'm game if you are." Jou replied sarcastically closing his eyes leaning towards her, hoping to find her lips again.
Mimi chuckled softly at the comment; her heart was running wild and her soul expecting. Venus and Vulcan, Mimi and Jou were about to make romantic legends once again. "Joe." Mimi whispered reaching the apex of the kiss. "I think I'm falling in love with you." She whispered.
Jou was surprised by the declaration of her feelings and all the defence mechanisms that he suppressed for this particular moment resurfaced again. He jerked away at the kiss before it was accomplished. "I...I'm sorry." Jou stuttered. "I...I've got to go." He said dashing away from his sanctuary.
"What?" Mimi gasped seeing her companion running away. "Wait up Joe." She cried running after him, but she was too late, he was gone.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Disclaimer: [1] The names of persons, places, and events pertaining to Digimon: Digital Monster Animated Series is not my invention and is the property of Toei Animation, Bandi, and Saban Entertainment - no profit is gained from the writing of this series. [2] Although Hongo and Komaba campus are actual campuses of University of Tokyo; the descriptions are fiction and are only used for accuracy and a meeting place. [3] This is a fan fiction and as such names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination that is, those not mentioned in the previous clauses and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.