~Reflection~ Disclaimer:  Okay, last disclaimer for this story, folks.  Let’s see…gotta make it a good one…(Gwen: How about “I don’t own Digimon, so please don’t sue”?) Okay that works—whatever she said. A/N: Wow I can’t believe I made it to the end!  (G: Neither can we.) *ignores her* Thanks to all of you who have stuck with me all this time and a special thanks to those who have reviewed my first fanfic after practically every chapter (i.e. Athena, blood thirsty digimon fan, moonwing lobo and metabee, and goldenstar555 among others.) Oh yeah, and thank you, Lady Jayde Une, for letting me post this fic on your great site.  (G: I can see why you’re not writing the Thank You cards for Christmas this year.  Enough already! It’s not as if you’ve won an Emmy or something. Just let them read the dang epilogue!)  ^_^;;;  One last thing, my apologies to those who aren’t satisfied with the ending.  Being sick over the holidays and having to write this isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world. *** Epilogue Months later… It was a hot, sunny day when Ken Ichijouji walked home from soccer practice.  He raised a hand to wipe the beads of sweat on his forehead as he adjusted the heavy backpack on his shoulders and looked up at the clear blue sky. He may have been putting more effort into practice than he used to, but he could still outrun anybody on his team if he tried hard enough, even without his former ‘Rocket’ speed. “Hey, Ken!” a tall girl yelled behind him and waved her hand. Instantly the indigo-haired boy turned around, a wide grin rapidly growing on his face.  “Yolei!” The bearer of the Digieggs of Love and Sincerity raced up to him and jumped into his waiting arms. “What are you doing all the way here in Tamachi?  It’s not as if I’m feeling sick or anything this time,” Ken asked her in surprise. “Awww, you mean I can’t come over to see my boyfriend for no apparent reason?” she jabbed at him playfully.  He let her go and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders as he continued on his walk home, this time with Yolei at his side. For the rest of the trip, they both chatted about how everything was going with the other and frequently declared how much they missed each other, like typical young lovers. As they entered the elevator in Ken’s apartment building, though, Ken suddenly remembered something and hurriedly turned to rummage through his backpack.  Yolei began to wonder if he had forgotten something at school, or if he were looking for the keys to his apartment or something to that extent.  She didn’t have to wonder for long, however, because soon enough, he pulled out a piece of paper with a few red marks on it and handed it to her. “What’s this?” asked Yolei, puzzled. “My last history test,” Ken proudly declared. “An A minus? That’s great!” The lavender-haired girl threw her arms around him joyfully. Smiling and patting her back, Ken said, “And it’s all thanks to you, Yolei; you helped me study for it.” Yolei looked up and blushed.  “Oh come on, I was probably more of a hindrance to you than a help.  After all, I kept getting all those dates and rulers mixed up.” “But that’s why I remembered them—it was because you made so many mistakes beforehand that I recalled them correctly on the test.” Yolei didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted.  A few seconds later it didn’t matter what she felt for Ken leaned his head down and caught her lips in a long kiss that lasted the entire elevator ride. So enwrapped were they with each other that they didn’t hear the ring of the elevator announcing their arrival at Ken’s floor or the sound of the doors sliding open. “Awww, isn’t this sweet?” came a saccharine voice from outside the elevator. Ken was the one who broke their kiss and looked up—and his jaw nearly came crashing down to the floor at the sight of the person before him.  “MAMA?!?” Yolei instantly pulled herself off the tall boy at his exclamation and jumped a few steps away from him, rubbing the back of her neck and blushing.  “Oh, um, hi, Mrs. Ichijouji,” she greeted the friendly woman sheepishly. Even though Yolei’s and Ken’s parents knew about their relationship and were okay about it, both children still felt uncomfortable about showing signs of affection in front of their folks. “Oh, where’s my camera when I need it?” Mrs. Ichijouji piped up cheerfully. Ken’s face turned a brilliant shade of red. “Mom…what are you doing here anyway?  Aren’t you supposed to be working or something?” “Of course I am, but I forgot something at home and came back to get it.  Too bad it wasn’t my camera…” “Mom!” “Yes I know, it’s embarrassing, but you two just looked so cute at that moment.” Yolei cleared her throat and attempted to save the two of them any further humiliation.  “Well, I guess I should be heading back to Odaiba.  It was nice seeing you again, Mrs. Ichijouji—and of course you, too, Ken,” she said hurriedly and stepped out of the elevator to make her way as quickly as possible to the stairs. “Wait a minute, Yolei,” called Mrs. Ichijouji to the lavender-haired girl, who stopped dead in her tracks a few paces away from them.  Then the woman turned to her son and said, “Ken, aren’t you going to be a gentleman and invite her to dinner?” This caused both of them to turn even redder, but the indigo-haired boy complied.  “Um, ah, Yolei, wo-would you care to stay and have dinner with us?” It took some time for Yolei to get her head straight to think, much less speak.  “Well, since I don’t have to watch over the store tonight…” she thought aloud and turned around, her face still slightly flushed, “sure, I’d love to.  I just have to call my parents, that’s all.” “Oh, by all means use our phone,” Ken’s mother offered.  “In fact, you can stay over here until I come back to prepare dinner.”  With that, she traded places with Ken in the elevator, which miraculously wasn’t called away by anyone else throughout this entire incident.  “I’ll see you two soon,” she chirped as she pressed the button to go down and the elevator doors started to slide shut. The two Digidestined bashfully waved good-bye to her until they made sure that the elevator was heading down. “My, that was pretty awkward…” Yolei bluntly stated after a few seconds of silence between them. “Yeah, that’s my mom for ya,” said Ken, giving a short, nervous laugh.  “How about we go in and you make that phone call?” “Oh yeah, right,” the girl agreed. Taking her arm in his, Ken teasingly escorted Yolei to his apartment, where she called home the minute Ken showed her where the phone was.  In the meantime, the former child prodigy entered his room, was nearly tackled down by his partner digimon, and spent the entire few minutes that Yolei was on the phone assuring Wormmon that everything went okay that day. By the time Ken had pried the little green digimon off him and set him on the bed, Yolei strolled into his room and looked around.  “Wow, even though we’ve been going out all these months, I think this is the first time I’ve been in your room since that one night I fell out of your computer,” she commented.  Then, something shiny on his desk caught her eye.  “Hey, you still have that mirror I gave you.” She walked up next to him and both looked in the silver, oval-shaped mirror at the same time.  At that instant, the incompleteness that Ken had felt the first time he peered into the mirror was made whole as both his and Yolei’s reflection filled up the entire looking glass. “You know,” she stated, “I’ve always thought this mirror would have been better off as a picture frame.” Scarlet and indigo eyes stared back at scarlet and indigo. Two contented smiles met two contented smiles. *** G: (cheering) Finally it's over! Gwen: Good, we were starting to run out of running gags to do at the end of these chapters. Gaia: I’m thinking of writing a sequel to it, though… G and Gwen: What!?! Gwen: *faints* G: But why??? Gaia: Well, since I had to rush the end of this, I didn't get a chance to do all the things I wanted to do with Emperor Ken. G: Are you insane? Gaia: Well… G: Never mind.  C'mon, Gaia, who's gonna want a sequel from you, anyway?  Wasn't this story torture enough? Gaia: *angrily kicks G out the window* (calming down and turning to readers) Well, what d'ya say?  If I get enough responses, I'll probably put up a preview of the sequel at the end of this story some time soon so y'all can see if it's worth my time to write it.  'Til then, see ya!