Y/N:This is your little filler story that catches you up with the characters just a year after their last journey a.k.a. Digimon Adventure 03. The next story, Digimon Adventure 04, will be another two years after this, but this gives you a feel of life without the digital world for these kids. And, who can resist having a bit of fun before going into another long and complicated story, right? I hope you all enjoy this story and tune in for Digimon Adventure 04 when it begins soon!

U/N:U/N~ so my sister and i, while planning this story were... well we were watching seasons 5-7 of how i met your mother... which is a great show-go watch it-and that's kind of where this story idea came from as you can... as you can tell. Uhm... that's all i have to say... sorry for the delay in this story and 04... we'll get it up as soon as we can...

Title:How Iori Met Their Mother

By: Yukira King

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or its characters.

Part 1: New York Bound!

Iori:

"Hey kids," I said, sitting them down on the sofa. "I'm going to tell you a story."

"What kind of story?" Elliot, the small blonde boy asked. He was quite a sporty little boy, seven years old, and was not interested in sitting down for story-time.

His big sister, however, was very interested. She looked up at me with big green eyes. "I hope it's a love story!" she said excitedly. Louisa was just ten years old, and her brown hair curled around her shoulders.

"I hope it's funny," Elliot, said rolling his eyes at her enthusiasm.

"I just hope there's a bit of adventure," Kana, the taller eleven year old girl added. She was ever the practical girl. Her hair matched my own. It was a not very distinctive chestnut brown, though hers reached passed her shoulders. Her eyes were wide, considering all of the possibilities my story could hold.

"Adventure could be cool," Elliot said.

"There's a bit of all of that," I said smiling at him. "This is the story of how I met your mother…"

"Is this going to be anything like Aunt Miyako's love story?" Elliot asked me. "After her whole thing with Ken, and how the froggie umbrella-?"

"No." I said simply. "Just listen."

It was the summer after we'd saved the Digital World from Apocolymon and the Digimon Sovereign, not to mention those evil crest digimon. I'd taken Meiyomon home with me, and soon he was as big a part of my life as my grandfather. He'd even started taking Kendo lessons with us once a week. He'd handled the transition to human life a lot better than we'd expected. Otamamon had a slightly more difficult time, as Jun Motomiya—Daisuke's sister—was at university most of the year, and vehemently refused to bring Otamamon with her. Otamamon had claimed her as her stand-in digi-destined, but since there were no digi-vices, it wasn't a true partnership.

But summer had come at last, and we were getting ready to take a trip. I'd saved up money that my grandfather and mother had given me for the year, and got an after-school job at the nearest dojo, assisting the instructor with some of the younger children. I saved up every last yen for this trip, and once I'd collected enough, I just kept adding more, so that I could purchase some souvenirs.

We were going to New York. It was going to be a fantastic trip, and would be the first time that we were all together since the summer that Digital World was sealed off to us.

"I can't believe I get to go with you!" Meiyomon said excitedly.

"I can't believe it either…" I grumbled. Mom had paid for most of his ticket, which wasn't really fair. I supposed he really couldn't be expected to get a job though; he did come across as a seven year old.

"I wonder what we will do in this York place that is new," he said happily.

"First, it's New York," I said with a laugh. "And second, Mimi has that all planned out. She, Michael and Willis wanted to show us all of the important sites."

"Wow," Meiyomon said. "You know so much."

"I guess…" I said awkwardly. We were waiting at the entrance of the Airport. No one else had arrived yet. I was hoping they'd arrive soon though, I didn't know how many more strange looks I could handle with Meiyomon's strange questions.

"Hey Iori," a familiar voice called. "Hi Meiyo."

We'd taken to calling Meiyomon 'Meiyo' as a substitute human name while we were in public. It just seemed to result in fewer questions.

"Hello Mr. Jou," Meiyomon said. "Are you going to be awake the whole time today? Or are you going to go to sleep right away?"

"If you'd gone through the year I did, you'd want some sleep too," Jou said a little grumpily. He'd taken on a little more than he could handle I think, when he worked his schedule around to allow him to take his medical school and veterinary school at the same time. Some of the classes overlapped, and he crammed most of the extra ones veterinary school needed into some night school slots. He had school almost all day every day of the week, and used the weekends to sleep and do homework. Needless to say, he didn't get much sleep until the holidays, and even then, he had a lot of homework to catch up on. Summer was his only break, and by then, he could sleep the whole summer away and still not get enough rest.

"You only have four years left," I commented.

"Four years of hell," Jou said with a sigh.

"Hey, not with Meiyo here," I chastised, which made the both of us laugh.

"What's so funny?" Hikari asked sneaking up behind us.

"Didn't you hear, Hikari? It's me," Daisuke said from his spot beside her. She rolled her eyes.

"Is Taichi here yet?" Hikari asked, looking around hoping to catch sight of her brother.

"Not yet," I said.

"He and Yamato were taking the bus to get here," Jou said. "They should be here any minute."

"Thanks," she said.

Taichi, Yamato and Sora had just finished their first year at university, and were bound to be a little testy because of it. Sora had refused to talk to anyone, even Yamato, during the lead up to her exams. She was so stressed out by her business courses, and the added trouble of her tennis games that were a necessary part of her scholarship, she was stretched much too thin. She and Jou were wired very differently.

Yamato and Taichi had chosen each other's courses, so they were understandably struggling with some of it, though they both claimed to be very interested in their studies for the first time since kindergarten. Taichi was going through for business and politics, while Yamato was going through for sciences and maths. Apparently they'd managed to find a career out of them, but they weren't going to share just yet.

"Hey," Daisuke said, interrupting my thoughts. "Here comes Takeru and Miyako."

Sure enough, they walked up side-by-side. "My mom dropped us off," Takeru said. "She had to get to work though, so she's already gone. She'd hoped to see Yamato before she had to leave…"

"He's not even here yet," Meiyomon said happily. "So she didn't miss anything, isn't that great!"

"Sure…" Takeru said.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you? I could go and cook for you while you're there, so you and your friends don't go hungry," Mrs. Izumi's said, her familiar voice rising about the din of the lobby.

"No mom," Koushiro said. "I don't need my mom coming with me. That wouldn't help at all."

"Aw," Daisuke called out. "Do you have plans you don't want your mom to know about? Something she would not approve of?"

Koushiro's face turned red. "Don't be ridiculous, Daisuke. I have no such plans and would appreciate it if you did not misinform my mother as such."

"Whatever," Daisuke said with a laugh.

"Maybe I really should go with you…" Mrs. Izumi said.

"No mom," Koushiro insisted. "I don't need my mom there, okay?"

"Alright," she said. Tears were glistening in her eyes. I was reminded of my own mom that morning. "I'm going to miss you so much…"

"Mom," Koushiro hissed. "You're embarrassing me."

"I'm sorry," she said, hugging him tightly. "I don't mean to."

"I know," he said with a sigh. "Dad's waiting in the car though. If you go now, he won't even have to pay for a parking spot."

"I'll leave now," she said with a smile. "Just be careful, and make sure you ask that American friend of yours about the traffic laws, so you don't get hurt."

"I'm not asking Mimi how to crossing a road is different in America," Koushiro said rolling his eyes. Everyone laughed at his mother's instructions.

"I know mom!" another voice called. It was Ken. "Here's the thing, mom. No one else is going to be waiting with their parents, so you should probably go now."

"But Ken," his mother said. "I can't help it."

"I know," he said. "Koushiro what is your mother doing here? How am I supposed to get rid of mine if my excuse is proven false?"

"I was just leaving," Koushiro's mom said with a laugh. "Would you like to walk out with me?"

Mrs. Ichijouji took one last look at Ken before resigning herself. "I suppose that would be best."

Both boys hugged their mother's one last time before watching them disappear into the crowd.

"So mom had a purpose here after all," Koushiro said with a smile.

"Yeah, getting rid of my mom," Ken said with a laugh.

"We're just waiting for Sora, Taichi and Yamato now," Takeru commented.

"No, it's just Taichi and Yamato," Sora called from behind him.

"Sora!" Hikari cried running over to hug her. "I've missed you so much."

"Any university horror stories?" Jou asked her with a smile, before pulling her into a hug of his own.

"Oh no," Koushiro said. "I'm heading out next year; I do not need to hear any of those."

"Sixteen words," I grumbled.

"Sixteen words," he agreed with an impish grin.

Okay, I'll back up and explain that. It was a game the two of us developed right before heading off to face Apocalymon. We were tired of everyone complaining that we weren't social enough, and this game is a competition of a social nature. We compete to see who can input the most in a social situation… We'd never told anyone about the game, but somehow, they seemed to catch on.

"You aren't playing that game in New York, are you?" Sora groaned.

"Why not?" I asked, muttering a 'two' under my breath.

"We don't want the Americans to think we're completely nuts, that's why," Daisuke said.

"It's not crazy," I complained, making my total five words.

"Swear upon your love of digimon that you won't play that game," Miyako said.

"No way," Koushiro said. "Eighteen."

"Not on your life," I agreed. "Nine."

"Guys," Hikari started, but Ken—surprisingly enough—interrupted her.

"Koushiro, Mimi won't think it's cool," he said.

"I don't care what Mimi thinks," he said completely offhandedly and at ease. It seemed so honest, and I didn't trust him.

"Sure you don't," Takeru said rolling his eyes.

"I won't do it if you don't want to," I told him with a little smirk.

"I don't care," he repeated. "You can decide."

"If Taichi and Yamato don't get here soon," Sora said. "They're going to miss the plane. We can't wait much longer. We have to make it through customs, and be on board the plane a half hour before take-off."

"Maybe someone should call them," Miyako suggested.

"I'll do it," Takeru said pulling out his phone. He dialled his brother's number quickly, and was surprised to have Yamato answer nearly instantly. "Hello Yamato, this is Takeru. We were just wondering where you are…turn around? That's one of your songs isn't it? Oh, you mean literally turn my person to face the other direction…why didn't you say so?" He turned around quickly, and hung up the phone. He turned to face us with a big smile on his face. "He's down the hallway. He can see us from where he is."

"Great," I said, grabbing Meiyomon's hand. "We've got to get through customs, and Meiyo isn't exactly a legal citizen of earth, so we'll have to be careful."

"What's the hurry?" Taichi asked dropping his carry-on bag and opening his arms for his sister, who'd rushed to him the second she saw him. "There's still time left."

"Not much, Taichi. Why'd we take the bus again?" Yamato asked.

"It was cheapest," Taichi said with a shrug.

"We have to go…NOW," Jou said. "Customs will take awhile, and I don't really want to miss the flight, since we've already paid for it."

"Right…" Taichi agreed.

"Dad," Kana said. "Can we just skip this part?"

"Yeah, it's boring hearing about you getting onto the plane," Elliot said leaning back onto the couch.

"I guess it is..."

After a lot of running around and going through baggage and customs, we were finally called to get onto the plane. Somehow we managed to get Meiyomon through customs without too many questions. There was a minute there when we weren't sure… Meiyomon had said something about blowing something up, and the guards were giving us some pretty suspicious looks until Meiyomon was patted down. That was sure something. He was—

"Dad," Kana warned.

"Right, sorry…"

Okay, on the plane, Koushiro got the window seat, and I was at the aisle. Jou was crammed in between us. Sora figured Jou would have been able to keep us from playing our game. What she didn't count on was that he was out like a light right after takeoff. That left Koushiro and I to our own devices for the rest of the trip. Sora probably would have made sure we didn't play herself, but she was sandwiched between her boyfriend and her ex-boyfriend, and was trying to diffuse the awkward situation. Taichi and Yamato weren't really making it easy on her either. They were seated in the three seats directly in front of us. Right behind us were Daisuke, Hikari and Takeru. They weren't doing too well either. Miyako and Ken were on my right, across the aisle, with Meiyomon beside them. He was out cold just like Jou. Mom made him drink camomile tea before we left, and that stuff knocks him out as easily as a two-by-four.

Now, it's not good to eavesdrop, ever. But I didn't have anything else to occupy my time with, and no one to talk to aside from Koushiro, who was too busy inputting some data into his laptop to bother with.

"I don't know what I should do," Miyako was saying. "I don't know what I want to do."

"Well," Ken said, trying to be diplomatic. "I would miss you a lot if you went, but on the other hand, your education is important too. It could define what you do for the rest of your life."

"I know," she whined. "That's what makes it so hard. I can't decide what I want to do. Nothing seems too appealing."

"You don't have to decide right away," Ken reminded her. "You wouldn't be leaving for another year."

"But applications are due in a few months, and if I miss those deadlines, it won't matter what I want," she said. "Why does planning the future have to be so hard?"

"I don't know," he said.

"Well, what do you want to do? Do you have any idea?" Miyako asked.

"I've known what I wanted to be for more than four years now," Ken said. "I want to be either a police officer or a detective. Either one would be fine, being a detective sounds much cooler though."

"You see? Everyone knows what they want but me," she complained. "Daisuke wants a noodle cart, Hikari wants to be a teacher, you want to be a detective, Jou wants to be a doctor. What do I want? Mantarou, Chizuru and Momoe all knew, and mom and dad are asking me weekly if I've figured it out, and I don't. I don't want to be a disappointment to them."

"You're not a disappointment," Ken reassured her. "No matter what you do, you won't be a failure, even if you work in that convenience store for the rest of your life."

"If I do that I will," she said with a snort.

"Not to me," Ken told her.

That when I decided to tune out of that conversation. It was too much of an intimate moment for me to go sticking my nose where it didn't belong.

"Do you think Willis will be waiting for us?" Hikari said loudly behind us. It was enough to draw my attention away from the couple.

"Who cares," Takeru said uncharacteristically snide.

"Yeah, you've got all of us," Daisuke said. "You don't need him too."

"That's a little rude, don't you think?" Hikari asked them.

"It's just that I already have so many people to compete with for your attention," Daisuke said. "I don't need any more."

"I just don't get along with Willis that well," Takeru said.

"You got along with him just fine before we got kicked out of the digital world," Daisuke said with a snort.

"Well, I guess without his digimon he isn't the same person," Takeru said shrugging his shoulders. I rolled my eyes, but pretended to be reading a pamphlet in front of me. I knew exactly why he was acting the way he was. It was because Hikari had been e-mailing Willis since he got back to America the year before. Every time she mentioned Willis, Takeru got uncomfortable. I knew why, because I did the same thing for a few months after Noriko got together with Hiroshi… I avoided even the mention of her name. I was jealous. And heartbroken. So I knew what Takeru was trying to hide.

And I felt sorry for him, I really did.

I forced myself to tune out of that conversation. I didn't want to bring up bad memories. Noriko pretty much ruined the idea of love for me. And to make matters worse, she picked Hiroshi over me only to break up with him less than a month later. She came crying to me when it happened too. Boy was that infuriating. I was passed the depressed and moping stage at that point, and just decided to hate her instead. I didn't know whether to help her or chuck out. Mom made that decision for me, taking Noriko into the kitchen and giving her ice cream and talked to her about it. I went to the dojo and proceeded to beat a dummy for a couple of hours.

Anyway, I decided to focus on what was going on in front of me instead.

"Do you know if there are any great restaurants—that aren't too expensive—around where we're staying?" Sora asked.

"No," Taichi said. "Why?"

"Oh…well, Yamato and I haven't seen each other since spring for our reading week, and I spent most of the time working on my backswing and some overdo reports…" Sora said suggesting she was talking about a date.

"Ah, right," Taichi said turning his head awkwardly, looking out the window.

"Yeah," Sora said.

"Mimi or Michael will know of one, Sora," Yamato said. "I can play you the band's new song too. I've got a recording. It's a love song…"

"Did you write it?" Taichi asked looking like he'd rather be anywhere else.

"No, Akira, the bass player did. He just got a new girlfriend, and he's sure that this one is the one," Yamato explained.

"Wasn't the last one, the one?" Sora asked.

"And the one before that," Yamato agreed with a chuckle. "But he keeps writing great songs for them, so I don't mind his delusions."

"You met anyone Taichi?" Sora asked. She was so hopeful I almost laughed. It was just too funny. Yamato was looking down the aisle at some couple that were arguing, and Taichi was looking at the ceiling awkwardly. All because of a simple question.

"Not like that," he said after a long silence.

"But you have then?" she asked a smile on her face. This was her chance at making it less awkward. Even Yamato looked hopeful now.

"Rei," Taichi said simply. "She's fun to be around, and she's in my business classes. I actually met her before school though. She lives across the hall from you Yamato."

"And you're interested?" Sora asked. She was practically begging him to say yes.

"Not at the moment, no," Taichi said. "I don't think I'm ready for a relationship. I don't know if I can handle one. I couldn't handle the last one."

And it was awkward again.

I actually did chuckle this time.

"Rei…Saiba then?" Yamato said clearing his throat. Sora was drowning in the situation; I figured he was going to see if he could salvage it.

"That's her," Taichi said. When he turned to look at Yamato I saw how his eyes lit up. I filed it away for later.

"I don't think I've ever seen her," Yamato admitted. "I've seen her brother and her mother, but that's it."

"Well, her dad left a long time ago," Taichi explained. "But you'd know if you saw her."

"Because she's so memorable?" Sora asked hinting once again that Taichi should probably pursue her.

"Well…yeah," Taichi said. "You won't forget her in a hurry, but that's not what I meant."

"Whatever," Sora said. "I can see I won't get anywhere with this."

"I'm not ready," Taichi said again. "I want to make sure I can keep a hold of my relationship with Hikari before trying to balance that with something else. Hikari is the most important person to me right now. I have to be careful."

"Yeah, I can understand that," Sora said with a sigh. "What did you guys think of your exams?"

I decided it was going to get too boring after that, and I tuned them out too. I was going to try and take a nap myself, when Koushiro got my attention.

"Iori," he said quietly. "I'll keep track of the word on a chart I've drawn up. We'll see who wins after this vacation."

"So we're still doing it?" I asked a smile on my face.

"Oh yeah," he said.

"No one will know?" I questioned.

"We keep it to ourselves," he concluded.

"What's the prize?" I asked raising my eyebrow at him.

"We'll have to think of something good…" he said with a sigh. He had no idea.

"I'm at eighteen so far," I said.

"Not including this little conversation?"

"This won't count," I said.

"Good. The terms?"

"We have to speak with people other than ourselves," I said. "Otherwise we wouldn't talk to them at all…"

"I might…" he said half-heartedly. "But I agree to the rule. How about…we don't have to both be there, but we have to be honest."

"I'm always honest," I said. "It's the honourable thing."

"Yeah, yeah," he said rolling his eyes. "I just had to be sure."

"You plan on spending a lot of time away from the group?" I asked. "Alone time with Mimi maybe?"

"Why does everyone suggest that? I don't have anything other than brotherly affections for her. Everyone's always suggesting I'm in love with her or something…" he trailed off looking uncomfortable. I laughed to myself. He refused to accept it. That's all there was too it. He was rubbish with emotions, and love and affection? Well, those were the trickiest of all…

"Hey!" Daisuke called a little too loudly. People around us were hushing him. "Sorry people! Anyway," he said softer. "Look who it is in the back. Is that Kurayami?"

I turned to look and sure enough, Kurayami was sitting a little ways behind us. I could tell it was her, because she was dressed all in black, and her long black hair was tied up on the back of her head.

"You realize a lot of people wear black and have black hair right?" Louisa asked me.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, but if you'd just listen you'd realize that there was more to it."

"Yeah, Louisa, don't interrupt the man," Elliot said.

Anyway, it wasn't just the hair and the clothes; it was how the two together seemed to give off a dark shroud. It was almost as if she was under that hideous cloak she'd been wearing in our last adventure. She was frightening even without it though, if the way the stewardesses kept skirting around her was any indication.

"See, you shouldn't jump to conclusions," Elliot said happily.

"You shouldn't jump to conclusions," Louisa mocked rolling her eyes.

"You should stop interrupting if you want me to finish this story," I warned them. Needless to say, they shut right up.

"What's she doing here?" Hikari asked in a thoughtful voice.

"Don't know…" Takeru murmured.

"Her grandfather lives in Japan," Daisuke said helpfully.

"Maybe she's going home?" Takeru suggested.

"She lives with her mother," Hikari said confidently, though how she knew this, I didn't know. "I suppose her mom could be in New York though…"

"Maybe she's just on a trip like us," Daisuke suggested.

"Or she could be stalking us," I joked.

The three of them turned to look at me, their eyes going wide. "You think so?"

"No," I started, but they weren't listening. I rolled my eyes at some of their theories, and put some headphones on, allowing the sound of jazz to fill my mind. I leaned back and let sleep take me.

The next thing I knew, was Miyako shaking my shoulder, and hearing Meiyomon shouting at me.

"Iori, Iori you've gotta get up now! We're in the new place called York!"

"It's New York," I groaned. Why did he have to play the part of a seven year old so well?

"Right," he said. "The lady said we have to put our seatbelts back on 'cause we're gonna be landing."

"Ken, make sure he's got his on right," I said with a sigh.

"Will do," Ken said laughing. The idea of Meiyomon getting hurt in any simple human accident was laughable, but we had to make people believe he was normal…even if he hadn't grown so much as an inch in the last year… His growth spurt will make him look like a teenage if he ever reaches it. Digivolving is hard without a partner or a crest, or so he says anyway…

"I enjoyed that flight," Jou said happily. "Hours and hours of uninterrupted sleep!"

I snickered, but silently agreed.

"Do you think Mimi will be waiting for us at the terminal?" Koushiro asked. I mentally added the twelve words to his total, before noticing him jot it down on a piece of scrap paper. He was at forty-Two in case you were wondering.

"We weren't," Kana assured me.

"She said she would be there with Michael and Willis," Jou told us.

Koushiro was staring at the seat in front of him in a daze. I rolled my eyes. He'd have to learn he liked her at some point…and hopefully he'd realize that Michael was not Mimi's boyfriend too. His confused jealously wasn't even funny anymore. It was just sad. Mostly because he's the smartest in our group of friends and he couldn't even see it for what it was…

But I digress.

We got off the plane and finally made it to the baggage terminal, where we picked up our bags. It was there that we saw a small group of four holding up a sign written in Japanese: Welcome to New York Digi-Destined!

I smiled and followed after the older kids, all the while holding on to Meiyomon's hand. Mimi and Willis held the sign up high, yelling happily at us, while Michael and a pretty girl with brown hair that curled around her face and excited eyes waited by their side.

We were finally there.

Next Time on How Iori Met Their Mother: Perhaps Iori will inform us of the name of this mysterious girl, just who is she…? You'll have to read to find out!