Cross My Heart

Summary: Mimi's idol career is losing steam and so she pulls a publicity stunt, pretending to be dating Yamato Ishida, but he is blissfully unaware of the situation. During the tour, reflecting on the past, will they develop a relationship or is it really just all an act? Mimato

Warnings/Pairings: Adult themes/situations (some graphic), fluff, angst / Mimato, with hints of Jyoumato, ex-Sorato, Taishirou, and maybe tiny hints of Sorami and Takari.

A/N: This is a part of my headcanon, but since it only revolves around Mimi and Yamato, you don't need to read anything else to understand it. Enjoy~

[1]

"Oops, I did it again. I played with your heart. Got lost in the game..."

- Britney Spears

Mid September, 2009

The young woman's hips swayed as she walked off the stage. She nearly tripped, still not used to the platform boots they made her wear after the last five years. When she was out of eyesight, she was glad because she could finally kick the things off. They landed at the feet of Ryan, their lights expert. She blushed with a wave as he picked up the heavy shoes for her. With a smile he handed them over, "Long night, huh?"

"Yes," Mimi sighed, then giggled. "Have you seen the Wolves anywhere?"

"Most of them went to complain to Mr. Downes about Yamato..."

"Why am I not surprised? My God, this tour has only been going for two months and it's already a train wreck," Mimi replied. "Thanks again."

She continued down the hall, this time in a huff. When she got to the door, she didn't bother waiting like she once did. I mean, there used to be some kind of sign at one point. First, a rubber band around the handle. But, that was the same one he was using to quit smoking, so both of those went out the window quickly. Then, a piece of clothing, usually whatever the latest whore decided to toss off first. Now, nothing. The door was barely even shut, for Lord's sake.

"Yamato, stop whatever you're doing, because I really don't want to know about it, and come save what dignity..." Mimi trailed off, crossing her arms. The girl riding him was drowning her out. "Nope, nevermind. You have no dignity," she mumbled, walking across the room as the act went on. She caught a glimpse of him in the mirror, the blonde's face pressed into the comfort of two, soft breasts. Mimi stamped her foot, grabbing her cell phone from the dressing table, and then went back to her original position in the middle of the room and waited.

"I thought~~ we moved past this~~ Yamato~~~" Mimi sang. "It's been five years sweetheart. Don't you have a thesis to work on?"

"U-U-Um, Yamato," the girl whispered, slowing to a stop.

"What?" he breathed/snapped.

The girl stopped and sheepishly ducked into Yamato's shoulder. Blue eyes formed annoyed slits, "What is it, Mii?"

"I've been standing here ten minutes, that's what," she muttered. "Would you just... I don't know... look presentable and meet me in Evin's office?"

"What the Hell for?"

"I don't know..." she sighed. "This was your idea, remember? Don't you owe them an explanation for your behavior?"

"I don't owe anyone anything," he hissed, pulling the brunette forward, looking into her eyes as he bucked against her slowly.

Mimi stormed out, slamming the door closed. She struggled several times to toss her bracelet on the handle, having to pick it up twice, to spare any other unlucky soul the things she had been dealing with for the past few months. She checked her phone for messages and seeing none, she slammed it closed.

No more offers. No voicemails. What am I going to do...? I'm about to lose everything I worked so hard for.

She gave a knock at Evin's office, then stepped inside. Yutaka, Akira, and Takashi were gathered around the desk. Evin was behind it, peering out from behind the shades he constantly wore.

"Where is Yamato?" Akira demanded.

"Where do you think?" Mimi snapped. "So, what is this meeting about anyway?"

"Well, we're leaving," the others replied. "This obviously isn't about us."

"Can't you talk to Yama-"

"It's not about him," Takashi interrupted, nodding towards Evin.

"What they're saying is," Evin Downes started, "Is the public really only wants to see you and Yamato."

"It's Sorrow Sea all over again," Mimi whispered. During the peak of her career as a pop idol, she had been part of a group. However, in recent years she was bumped up to a solo career. "I guess, you're all alright with it, though..."

"To be honest, we have other things."

"I have a family," Akira noted.

"Thanks for working with us," Yutaka replied, bowing to Mimi. The others followed suit and soon left. Mimi stared at the empty chair, wishing Yamato was here to see his band shatter. A second time.

"So... what does this mean?" Mimi questioned.

Evin turned to her, removing his shades. The man had stubbornly straight blonde hair and blue eyes. His face was round, giving him a more sincere look than he lived up to. Not that he was a bad manager by any means, but he was definetly all business. That's why Mimi needed to know the catch.

"We want you and Yamato to be a couple."

"What?" she squealed. "I refu-"

Evin raised his hand, "One, you're a woman and you have no say in what We do with you. Two, it's for publicity only. You don't have to do anything except look like a couple."

Mimi pouted, crossing one leg over the other as she leant back in the chair. Inadvertently she had given Evin a damn good view. "I can't believe this."

"You'll inform Yamato of our decision?"

"Yes sir," she replied. Not like I have a choice... "Speaking of, what do you want to do with him?"

"What of him?" Evin smiled.

"His behavior!" Mimi barked, then realized she was starting to grind on the manager's nerves. "It's... a little lewd?"

"He's just doing what the public wants him to do. If you were smart, you would do the same thing. See, Yamato knows this entire thing is bullshit. That's why when he came to me wanting to reform the band again I told him it wouldn't be permenant. We labeled this a reunion tour, but really, all it is, is one cash cow for you both."

Mimi bowed her head in disappointment. She was sure Yamato didn't realize any of that. Not that he cared to, at the moment. She was more concerned with the fact that she hadn't realized any of it and was now stuck in a dead end no matter which way she turned.

So, as she left the room with a bow, showing off her chest because she was still in her pop star dress, Mimi decided she would make the best of the situation. When she returned back to the dressing room, the woman was gone and Yamato was staring off some other direction with a cigarette in his mouth. This time, however, he noticed Mimi enter.

"Have fun?" she snapped, tossing the door closed behind her. She sat down a few feet away on the couch the particular venue had provided.

"Yeah, I guess," he replied, breathing out a long trail of smoke. "So, what did His Fucking Highness want?"

"Well, your band left."

Yamato scoffed.

Mimi closed her eyes in frustration, "Also, there's something else..."

"What?" the blonde asked, standing. Mimi looked over the young man's back and the scattered marks across it, before looking away.

"Ah well...," Mimi noted, blushing. "They want us... We have to..." Yamato found his jacket near the door and slipped it on. He hadn't been listening and so only heard the tiny squeaks of Mimi's voice. "We're dating," Mimi announced.

"D-Dating?" Yamato questioned, thinking about it from where he stood. "Mimi, I-"

"We have to, for the fans, you know?"

If that's the excuse you want to use. I still think it's a bad idea, Yamato thought. Why did she pick now of all times to ask me out, anyway? "Alright, okay..."

"That means no random women anymore," Mimi said, pursing her lips.

"What about men?" Yamato asked, flashing a smile.

Mimi's cheeks burned red. That... would be nice... I do like that... I still can't get that one time out of my head, at least... Mimi had maybe taken advantage of her little uninvited run-ins on a few certain occasions. "No men, either," she said despite her mind's wanderings. She had to be firm. Anything like cheating would certainly blow this entire label scheme out of the water.

"I'll let you join," Yamato breathed, walking closer to her. He leaned over her, placing his palms on both arms of the chair.

Mimi could smell the sex and smoke on him and weaseled out from under one of his arms and started for the door. "Don't even think about it. It's 'too early' in our relationship for that."

"That's fine, you're classy, I get it," he replied, following her.

"I mean what I said. If you go messing around this will never work," Mimi snapped, waving a finger at him. "I thought you straightened your life out... I mean, I never thought you would be in college, and then Koushiro told me about all that tutoring you're doing lately..."

"Yeah so?" the blonde remarked as they made their way outside where a bus was waiting. Their tour bus. The entire thing was going to be pretty spacious without the rest of the Wolves around.

"Why are you like this again? I really need to know in case the tabloids bring it up..." Mimi added the last bit to not look so caring. She knew Yamato hated pity.

"No reason."

"Yamato Ishida," Mimi stated as they boarded the bus. "I've been your friend since we were kids-" "Really? Did we talk all that much?" "-now you stop giving me the silent treatment. It's really unlike you."

"Why do you want to know so damn bad, anyway?" he breathed, holding his arm across the stairwell, not letting her pass him.

She stared up at him, trying to ignore that he had glanced at her chest, even for a second, and tried to remember her point, "I had to sit back and let you destroy yourself before, but this time I'm here and I won't let you forget the lesson you learned."

"Oh? And what is that?" he breathed.

"That you're a wonderful human being and you don't deserve to add on to whatever troubles you already have," Mimi insisted.

Yamato made a whine like he'd been caught in a lie and in a way, he was. He continued silently into the bus, giving a quick wave to their driver, Sandrah, before he found his bunk and climbed in. Mimi followed, finding a comfortable spot at their dining nook, kicking her aching feet up on the opposite cushion. "Takeru and I had a fight, okay?" Yamato admitted finally.

Mimi smiled to herself. I knew you would come around. "Brothers fight, don't they? Although, outside that time in the Digital World- and honestly I was crying too much to remember exactly what was going on –you two have always been close, haven't you?"

Too close, Yamato thought, fumbling around underneath his pillow for some very squished cigarettes. "I told him about the divorce. Things Dad and I waited too long to tell him... he didn't take it well."

Mimi wasn't going to question further on the why. Although she was known (okay, IS known) for her gossiping ways, she respected her friends' privacy. She also had no real say in the matter, either. Her parents were still happily married and she rarely saw them argue. When they did, they always ended up crying in each other's arms for five minutes before forgiving one another for both of them being little idiots.

"So, he'll get over it right?" Mimi questioned, hoping for a good answer.

"We haven't spoken for eight months. It's... it's like my Mom all over again."

Mimi wasn't sure what he meant, but she knew the two had never gotten along. She had spent quite some time observing the tiny family during the Vandemon incident while wondering where her own parents were.

Mimi also had to wonder about Takeru. She had been closer to the kid than anyone else, save Hikari and Yamato, and she couldn't imagine him acting in such a way. "Still, that's no excuse," Mimi started, waving smoke from her eyes.

"...yeah, it isn't. I just thought..."

"You would fall back into your old habits?" Mimi smirked. "Doesn't that kind of life tire you out? I did it for a weekend and said fuck it."

Yamato blinked at her, "Uh, well, yeah, actually... but it doesn't matter, now, right? We're dating after all."

Mimi winked, "Exactly, so no funny business, mister."

"Hey, Mii," Yamato started, putting out the cigarette prematurely for her sake. Just because he was on the way to destroying his lungs, didn't mean he had to kill Mimi's assetts. "What's going on with you?"

"Excuse me?"

"I don't mean that to be rude, I mean, really, I've been touring with you a few months and we've barely said a word-" "Well, your mouth was full..." "-and I wanna know what's up with you. Come on, give me someone else's problems to worry about."

Mimi chuckled, "Oh, Yamato, I have no problems."

"Oh, come on," he growled. "Amuse me."

"I'm not one of your bimbos."

"Please?" the blonde whined.

Mimi checked her watch with a yawn. "It's not like you sleep anyway..."

Yamato smiled and fell back against the pillow again, listening to her voice. Mimi struggled at first to find anything to talk about, but soon the words fell out of her. She was always thinking, always changing topics, getting distracted. Perhaps that's why she found it so easy to write. Then, collaborations with Yamato had been difficult. He would muse for twenty minutes over the exact word. For Mimi, if it sounded good it was fine.

"Well, since I got back to Japan four years ago, I've just been finishing school when I'm not touring. The entire mess has been kind of nonstop. I've really missed all of you. It's like... since I've been back, I haven't really been back at all..."

\

August 2005

Mimi smiled with tears in her eyes as she reached down to pick up their old nameplate. The thing used to always fall from their door and now, it was falling from the boxes in her arms as she kicked open the door to their house. She was surprised they hadn't moved back into an apartment, but somehow, her father had managed to find an actual house. I guess we got used to it in America, Mimi thought, fiddling with the keys in her free hand (using her inner elbows to support the boxes). She opened the door as she heard her parents coming up the steps behind her.

The entire place smelled new. Fresh paint. Fresh wood. Freshly cleaned. The first thing Mimi noticed was their kitchen. The thing was enormous. Then again, Mimi's mother had landed her own cooking show in America and was now moving to the Japanese branch and they would be filming at the house once a week for eight months of the year.

Mimi pranced through the house until she found her room. She set down the boxes and threw open the blinds (I'll have to replace those with some beautiful curtains.). Outside she could see the passerbys on their bikes and a group of school kids playing with cards. The view was strange compared to the city. In downtown Odaiba and downtown New York, the view had been pretty much the same: cars, waves of people. Here, things were so quiet, Mimi was scared of being driven insane by being able to hear her own thoughts.

"Mimi, dear!" called her mother. "The box is-!"

Mimi cringed as a loud crash echoed throughout the home. "Oh, Mom..." she sighed and trotted out into the living room which was now covered in an array of cookware. Mimi quickly helped her mom gather the pots. Her father laughed before lending a hand himself.

"You're going to tease me about this, aren't you?" Mimi's mother sighed.

A Week Later

Mimi wasn't fond of the light blue, but at least she had bypassed the atrocity of the Odaiba Middle School uniforms. She straightened the bow in the mirror and gave herself a peace sign before heading out for her first day back. She had been so busy, or everyone else had been too busy, that this would be her first day seeing everyone.

The group had decided to all gather in the hall near their homerooms, if just for awhile, to say Hi to their old friend. Mimi had no trouble finding them: not much had changed. Taichi was missing, but she would later learn he attended a different school on scholarship and that there was a very spicy dish being cooked between him and Koushiro.

"Tell me," Mimi urged, clasping her hands together. "I wanna hear all the details."

Koushiro was sweating bullets. "M-Mimi, I'm not comfortable discussing my personal matters with you, much less in public."

Mimi pouted. She noticed Yamato had been there when she arrived, but he was now buried in his locker by another boy. Did everyone turn gay while I was gone? She wondered. Wait, wasn't he with Sora? This prompted her to look for her old best friend and she found Sora rummaging through her own locker with an annoyed groan.

"Sora!" Mimi called. "How are... you...?" Mimi had to trail off as the locker door was slammed shut in her face.

"Mimi, trust me. I'm so happy you're back, but right now isn't the best time, okay?"

"What happened?" Mimi questioned, following Sora to her class. Sora didn't answer, but she continued to white-knuckle her text book. "Weren't you and Yamato...?"

"Just drop it, Mimi. I'll talk to you later," Sora said. She disappeared into her classroom. Mimi fretted a little, anxiously hoping she could find someone willing to relive old times with. Next on her mental list would have been Jyou. At least he hadn't changed. He was at his own school, halfway through his way to his graduation. She made an automatic text on her phone to call him later, hoping that between three and four was still a viable time to call.

Everyone else was at middle school, still. Mimi gave a long sigh. "We're not even a group anymore... I feel like we're all drifting apart..."

"Sorry," Yamato interrupted. "I guess anytime we've seen each other I've been a little messed up."

"I remember feeling so alone. Everyone had moved on without me." Yamato had to smile. He felt like that every day. He waited for Mimi to continue. "Luckily, Jyou is always someone I could rely on."

Yamato smiled weakly.

Mimi's automatic text reminded her late that afternoon, as she poured over the mountain of homework she had already amassed, to call Jyou. She dialed, hoping the number was still valid. She had been meaning to call all of them back in New York, but over the last year, she had taken on a multitude of extracuriculars, including singing classes to refine her voice (despite having had classes as a child, too), and time had slipped away.

"Hello? This is Kido, Jyou."

Silly boy, never looking at his phone. "Hey, it's Mimi."

"M...Mimi? Oh, hi," Jyou sputtered. He sounded like he was waiting on the subway.

Mimi chuckled, "How are you?"

"As good as I can be. I have a cold, but I almost never have nothing going on with my sinuses," Jyou said. "Actually, I'm glad you called... I really could use someone to talk to."

Mimi blinked curiously and removed herself from her desk and flopped back onto her bed. A comforting billowing of silky blanket and stuffed animals enveloped her. "Tell Mii all about it."

"I... I don't know how much longer I'll be staying with my father. I'm worried I won't have a place to go..."

Mimi cycled through their friends. Taichi: gone. Sora: she wasn't going there. Yamato: possibly. He was maybe sort of free and didn't the two have a thing for one another? Koushiro: also a possibility, but he was still living at home and Mimi wasn't sure how the boy's parents would feel. Also, Koushiro was with Taichi, so that wouldn't be too ideal for them to get their sweet yaoi on. Mimi sighed, most of the other kids were out of the question, too. "I see... have you asked Yamato?"

Jyou groaned. Mimi listened as he shifted the phone in his hands. She could hear the subway doors. He was stepping off of it, since the sound dimmed from a steady roar to the idle chatter of the sidewalk. "Well, that's the problem. Then again, he's everyone's problem lately..."

"...how so?" Mimi questioned. "No one has told me anything."

"I won't go into details because I know only a little more than you, but he's just..." Jyou sighed. He couldn't bring himself to actually say Yamato was acting like a spoiled brat. "He punched my father in the face!"

"He still has a short temper, I see..." Mimi chuckled.

"It's not funny. He almost had another sheet of paperwork to add to his file and a night in jail," Jyou remarked.

"Calm down, Jyou. I'm sorry I mentioned it. What are you going to do?" Mimi questioned.

"Basically, Dad told me it's the last straw. Next time I'm out. I don't even know how I'll afford my school... it's really too late to change my major..."

"Oh, it's never too late to change your mind, Jyou," Mimi hummed, wondering if there was any hope for him and Yamato, despite recent complications. Her mind drifted back to Koushiro and Taichi and she wondered why the two couldn't be more like them.

"I'm just stressed, Mimi," Jyou sighed.

"When aren't you?"

"What's going on with you?" he questioned. Mimi listened as the jingle of keys, the turning of a lock went off. Despite the fact she knew he would be ending the conversation soon, he had still asked her out of courtesy.

"I just got back to Japan, as you know. I really haven't done anything else but get school worked out and help Mom with her TV show. I... Well, I..."

"What's up?"

"I've been thinking of trying to be a pop idol. It's been my dream since I was a kid, and all."

"...that's a hard business to break into, Mimi." Good old Jyou. There to shoot down any hope of anything at a moments notice. No, he's just being a realist... "Still, if anyone could do it, I don't see why you couldn't." Oh my, where is this newfound optimism?!

"Ha ha, Jyou said that?" Yamato snorted.

"Yes, now stop interrupting," Mimi said, sticking out her tongue. She nearly bit it as the bus went over a bump.

"I was thinking about asking Yamato," Mimi said. "He knows how that thing works, right?"

"You could ask him. I don't think I'll speak to him again after..." Jyou trailed off. Mimi heard a door open and close. "Look, I can't talk too much longer or Dad will throw me out on the spot. He isn't kidding when he said one slip up and I'm gone."

"Do you at least have his number...?" Mimi whispered, as if being quiet for Jyou's sake.

Jyou frowned, reaching into his nearby desk from the bed and rummaging through a drawer. He removed a rusty, mechanical monstrosity from the drawer that was sitting in the way of his notebook. When it caught on his watch he angrily tossed it across the room where an 'arm' broke off. At one point, the hand-crafted metal seal had been a prized possession, but right now he was too angry to care. He pulled out the notebook and read the numbers over, then hung up quickly.

Mimi had barely gotten out her goodbyes and confirmed the number when the line went dead. I guess I hit a nerve... Oh, Jyou, I'm sorry. You're still fighting the love bug along with that cold, aren't you?

She dialed the number she had input into her phone and thought back to New York and her friends. She had spent hours just calling and chatting with them. School had been a cinch in America. A full two days off a week and barely any pressure to complete assignments... it was like Heaven and she was an angel. She stared nervously over at the stack of papers on her desk and rolled back over as the phone rang.

And rang.

And rang.

Yamato could see his phone glowing across the room as he mind swam. He wasn't sure if it was the single beer he had managed to get down earlier that night or the blows Sho had given him. He had barely been home a few minutes and he hoped his father wouldn't come back again. Yamato had been an idiot. He cursed at himself as he stood and limped across his room to the connecting bathroom. When he flipped on the light, his eyes burned. He looked in the mirror and a giggle escaped his mouth.

Ugh. That's not good, Yamato. You're cracking up. Perfect. He regained himself and turned on the water, wiping the crimson/copper colored smears from his face. His nose wasn't broken, at least. He had a black eye he wouldn't be able to hide. His neck was beginning to bruise from where Sho had choked him.

"Dad's going to think my erratic behavior went horribly wrong... What am I saying, that's exactly what happened," Yamato sighed. He then heard a thump from his room. When he glanced back, he saw his phone had vibrated off the dresser and was now glowing from the floor. He grumbled as he answered it before whoever it was blowing up his phone called again. He could only assume... "Jyou, if you were that damn worried, maybe you should have walked me hom—"

"Yamato?"

The blonde felt dizzy again. Mimi? What the Hell? Oh, right. She was back today... I think I saw her this morning. "How are you, Mimi?"

Mimi hesitated to say more. He wasn't talking as clear as he probably imagined he was. "Um, well, I tried to talk to you this morning..."

"Oh, right," Yamato thought, remembering the classmate that had pinned him against the lockers, right in front of Sora's ugly face. "I was a little busy." Yamato cursed at himself again, "Fuck, sorry Mimi... I wanted to talk to you, too."

Mimi caught herself blushing in her full-body mirror, "Well, I've just been trying to catch up with my friends. Especially one of my best friends."

"...best friends? Me?" Yamato questioned, sitting at the edge of his bed. When he flopped back, he realized he had laid in something cold and wet and made a mental note to wash the bedding. He needed a shower, probably, considering he couldn't remember the last day he had one.

"Of course, my little protige. I hear the Wolves' have gotten pretty popular," Mimi giggled. Am I flirting? I hope not. I'm not getting involved in that train wreck.

"I suppose," Yamato replied. I'll just... not tell you that we're on the verge of breaking up. Yeah. That. You don't need to hear that.

"I've been taking singing lessons again."

"That's good," Yamato replied.

Mimi rolled in her comfortable bed. "Yamato-kun~"

The blonde tried to wipe the heat from his cheeks. "W-What?"

"I was wondering if I could do a duet with you... I've been working on a song and all... I was hoping you could put it on your next album."

Yamato nearly choked on the air he was breathing. Where the Hell is this coming from?! My band is about to break up, Mimi. Break up. End. Overwith. Run it's course! I can't! "Uh..."

"I know, you're absolutely stunned, aren't you?" Mimi smiled. "I met a music manager through my mother's connections and well... he says if it goes well, I could have a nice start to my future."

God. Damn. Yamato thought. I'm going to have to convince Takashi, Akira, and Yutaka... and they aren't going to like it after the way last weekend went... "Alright, Mimi... when... where do you want to do this thing?"

"Whenever is convenient for you?" Mimi suggested.

How about never? Yamato sighed. "Anytime, I guess. I'm not at school and our band doesn't practice as much as it used to. Just give me a ring. If I don't answer, leave me a message and I'll get back to you, okay?"

"Why does it already sound like I've reached your answering machine, Ishida?" Mimi piped. "Do you have plans tonight? With a certain boy perhaps?"

Yamato was blushing again, "I'm not actually seeing anyone. Permenantly..."

Mimi had hoped Jyou might have taken his chance while he had it. Of course, after what she could gather of the events of that night, they probably weren't on the best of terms. "I need to lecture you about that..."

"About not seeing anyone? Or sleeping around? Because, damn, is that any of your business? I am doing you a favor, you know."

"What?" Mimi questioned. "No, not that."

Yamato sighed, "You were spacing out again, Mii."

"Sorry, Yamato... I just..." Mimi wanted to tell him she had heard about the incident with Jyou, but she decided not to. After all, she had just learned that from him and she didn't want to add fuel to the fire between them... unless it was sexy, at least. "It's nothing. You take care of yourself, will you?"

"Sure, whatever," Yamato hissed. "Goodnight, Mii."

"...night, Yamato," the girl sighed. She hung up the cell phone and curled into her blanket. She stared at the alarm clock nearby and watched as the minute changed over. After she pushed her worry for her friend aside, she reached under her bed and removed a shoebox where she had rolled up a spiral notebook. Mimi had drawn teardrops all over the cover. She opened it. The notebook as the closest thing to a diary she would ever have: a book of lyrics she had been working on for the last year. She needed to focus on the good things: Yamato had agreed to let her perform with the band. She thought maybe he would discuss it with his band mates first, but maybe the blonde still had a few friends left on this earth that he hadn't burned all the bridges to.

"Let's see... Yamato's band is... peppy, right?" Mimi tried to recall lyrics in her mind. She had listened to their albums enough. "I guess, they're.. optimistic... Hmm, his style is different from mine. I hope this isn't a bad idea, but my manager says it's a sure-fire thing."

"That was why you called me in the middle of the night," Yamato snorted. He had rolled over now onto his stomach, curling the pillow under his face and arms. He had his eyes closed, but the smile was plain as day.

Mimi snorted back, "You lied to me, you bastard."

"I didn't lie... I just... spared your feelings a little."

"Are you doing that now, too?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you really going to give it up this time?" Mimi urged, biting her fingernail. "I mean it, last time, you-"

Yamato made a discontent noise and turned away from her, pulling his pillow close to him. He tried to look as if he was sleeping, but he could only stare at the dead wall in front of him and listening to the rumbling of the highway beneath them when Mimi picked up her story again...