Pulling out a Mira I wrote a few months ago and doctored up to be acceptable for internet consumption. I'm actively rooting for my ultimate OTP lately, and if no one else will write about them, I suppose I have to.

Mimi had always known that Sora wouldn't pick her.

It wasn't even as if she was in the running; Taichi surely had to be hurting that much more than she was. He had been given an opportunity to win her heart, and yet he'd somehow lost out. Though part of her wanted desperately to be angry with him (and she surely did share his frustration), Mimi felt it more prudent to bond over their collective loss. Once a week they would meet for coffee or cake--followed by a long walk in the park with Mimi's Shiba Inu, Sukiyaki--and reminisce over the days when Sora had graced their lives with her presence.

At least, the young woman thought, she and I are still close without that awkwardness hanging between us. Things between Sora and Taichi had been strained lately, due to the former being fully aware how badly she was hurting her oldest friend, and burdening Sora was something Mimi refused to ever do.

But then again, Taichi never had to deal with such painful conversations as "I'm not sure, but I may be ready to...be with him, Mimi-chan."

And he had never been subjected to situations that began innocently enough: "Mimi-chan, I hate my breasts. Look at them! They're so tiny compared to yours!"

--

"Mi-chan," Sora breathed, her voice low and solemn and alerting her friend to the fact that she was about to unload an emotional landmine. The brown-haired girl sat up straighter, prepared to comfort the love of her life any way she could. Even if the next words out of her mouth were "I slept with him."

Though she deeply, truly, hoped that this was not the case.

"Yes?" she prompted, laying a hand tenderly on the older girl's.

"I think I may be an awful kisser."

Mimi expelled a sigh of relief. Once she noticed that Sora was frowning, most likely assuming that the sigh signaled the end of her friend's patience, she scrambled to respond positively.

"No way! I bet you're the best kisser ever!"

A bit strong, perhaps, but effective. Sora chuckled.

"I doubt it. I bet you get complimented on the way you kiss all the time," Sora faux-complained, and while this was indeed true, Mimi couldn't bring herself to let the other girl know that it was women who were always administering the praise, "it doesn't ever seem like Yamato wants to kiss me." With this she dipped her chin and drew her knees up, staring intently at her bedspread.

"What an idiot," Mimi snapped before she realized what she was saying. Flustered, she emitted several sputtering sounds and sentence fragments. "What I meant to say was..."

Sora was now gazing directly at her. Slowly, a smile bloomed across her gorgeous features and she leaned forward to hug Mimi.

"Thank you," she whispered, tickling the other girl's ear, causing her heart to palpitate.

"A-anytime," Mimi responded and grinned like a fool.

"Hmmm," Sora hummed, still embracing her friend. "I want you to teach me how to be a good kisser. I want to be irresistible."

You already are, Mimi thought and for a moment panicked while thinking she'd said it out loud.

"How can I do that?" she asked instead.

Leaning back, Sora assumed a pensive expression. Suddenly, an idea dawned and a devious grin split her face.

"I don't know that I like that look..." Mimi began but was instantly muffled as Sora lunged forward, pressing their lips together. All logical, masculine functions in the young Tachikawa girl's brain instantly ceased, but Sora pulled away almost as quickly.

"I-I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have sprung that on you," she stammered, looking rather worried, "I didn't think you would mind, but your heart just about stopped for a second there and I probably should've asked first..."

Had the pragmatic centers of Mimi's mind still been operating, she might have awkwardly laughed the situation off. But now her emotions were in control.

And she promptly cut off Sora's yammering with a passionate pounce.

Pinning the other young woman to the bed, she aggressively kissed her repeatedly, prying her lips apart with her tongue and deftly diving into Sora's mouth. As the few moments of shock wore off, the athletic girl responded in earnest, clapping her arms around Mimi's waist and drawing their bodies closer together. Her tongue, in a rather uncharacteristic fashion, wrestled with the brown-haired girl's, her neck craning upward into the kiss.

Due to her normally reserved nature, even those close to her often overlooked it, but in this moment Mimi was truly aware of how strong Sora was. She was certain that if the other girl was so inclined, she could easily have her way with her...the thought made Mimi both giddy and ridiculously aroused.

Finally, due more to her lungs burning for air than any desire to stop, Mimi pulled back and rested on her knees, still straddling Sora. Both of them panted.

"Wow," the tennis player whispered, staring contentedly at the ceiling, "you really are a great kisser."

"Yeah. Well. I don't think I need to teach you anything," Mimi replied, gulping down air.

--

Later, while reading the paper serenely in their newly purchased Shinagawa apartment, Tachikawa Keisuke noted that his daughter looked far happier than she had in years.

--

"I'll tell you, that deadbeat husband of yours should be around more often," Mimi grumbled, angrily plucking toys from the floor.

"Don't be so hard on him," Sora chided half-heartedly, fastening her infant daughter's diaper, "he does the best he can, and he really does love his family."

Mimi responded with nothing more than a disgruntled snort.

"I bet I'm still a better kisser than he is," she murmured softly under her breath, hoping Sora wouldn't hear. Though she had hoped desperately for a subsequent confession of feelings following that fateful day, neither she nor Sora had ever mentioned that kiss again and continued on with their lives as usual. It seemed that the other woman didn't even remember it.

Then again, why would she? It was over ten years ago.

Not everyone could remember minor events from that long ago in such obsessively vivid detail.

"I think he feels guilty," Sora continued, a pleading element creeping into her voice. It was sad; she and Taichi were still close, but he very obviously opposed her union with his other best friend. As much as he wanted to hide it, at least that was what he confided to Mimi, his disdain was plainly apparent anytime the Ishida family was mentioned, and anyone could see how that weighed on Sora.

"Good. He should."

"Sometimes," the mother whispered, almost as if she were trying to speak without letting the baby hear, "sometimes I think that he wants to stay away from me."

One of these days, Mimi would die from the sharp pangs that pierced her heart at some of the things Sora said.

Drawing up behind the older woman, she wrapped her arms protectively around her waist, hugging her gently.

"Don't think that. Don't ever think that," she ordered into Sora's shoulder.

"Mimi..." she breathed, turning around.

With barely enough time to register the yobisute, Mimi found herself locked in a tight embrace, the eternal love of her life sobbing into her neck. This moment...

It was time.

"Sora," Mimi uttered softly, a bit displeased at the tremor in her voice, "please look at me."

The wine-colored eyes she adored beyond belief shimmered with tears; the sparkling light within them only seemed to magnify her misery. At the sight, Mimi's heart broke.

Confessing would only hurt Sora more.

"You're perfect," she let herself say, savoring how it felt to be completely and totally honest, even if it was only for a brief heartbeat, "that's what he thinks."

"How do you know?" Sora sniffled.

"He told me so."

For several tense seconds the women held each other's gazes, each daring the other to question the validity of what was just said, but then the baby began to cry and Sora scooped her into her arms and hurried off to the nursery.

Mimi promptly let herself out of the apartment and briskly walked home, white hot tears searing her cheeks the entire way.