{Music begins}
Scene fades into a glittering night sky, and camera diverts to the illuminated city of Victoria, Hong Kong. Chritmas Eve 2031, and the night life is as excited as ever with an air of anticipation. A trendy-looking apartment complex in an upscale residential area. Making its way to one of the topmost floors the camera zooms into the picture window, and 36-year-old Inoue Miyako is seated in her dining room. The flat is still as the grave and dark. Miyako sighs looking at a framed picture.
// Last Christmas
I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year
To save me from tears
I'll give it to someone special//
We see a photograph of 17 or 18-year-old Miyako posing with the Teen Age Wolves, in a sound booth preceeding a Christmas Eve concert. Miyako places it flat on the table, face down so she doesn't have to bear the weight of those smiling faces. Knowing, hers was the brightest due to the bassist who stood beside her. She rises from her chair and walks over to the window, posture taut and arms tightly hugging herself. The reflection of her teen age self stares back at her.
// Last Christmas
I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year
To save me from tears
I'll give it to someone special
~Miyako speaks~
On Christmas Eve, I fell in love under this big fir tree.
Meeting you made my heart feel on fire.
I had no idea it was to feel like this.//
Odaiba, Japan some 19 years in the past. Miyako has packed away her laptop as the rock show came to a close. She is now hurriedly wrapping a gift. Before replacing the lid for the final time, she lifts an object from the deliacte white crepe paper from within the box. It is a relatively large snowglobe. In the glass dome was a winter scene and a crystal blue wolf in mid-stalk. Giving it a good shake, flurries of white and silver glitter create a blizzard, she laughs and gingerly places it back in the box. Miyako decided she will tell Yamato when she gives him his present. She knows he is neither comfortable giving or receiving gifts, only because his tongue gets twisted in the words. But he will love it. He just has to.
Miyako runs out of the booth, present in hand. She sees the shadow of a lone figure standing in the corridor. Her smile widened when she saw who it was. 20-year-old Ishida Yamato, signature bass slung over his shoulder dressed in his leather jacket and black jeans stands with his back to her. Hands jammed in pockets, oblivious to Miyako just a few feet away behind a wall. Just as Miyako is about to make her grand entrance she sees him grin and someone flings herself, joyously into his arms. Someone with red hair in a sky blue coat.
//Once bitten and twice shy
I keep my distance
But you still catch my eye
Tell me baby
Do you recognize me?
Well
It's been a year
It doesn't surprise me
(Happy Christmas)
I wrapped it up and sent it
With a note saying 'I love you'
I meant it
Now I know what a fool I've been
But if you kissed me now
I know you'd fool me again//
Yamato spun Takenouchi Sora around twice before kissing her. Mouth agape, Miyako is frozen where she stands. At an angle the camera deadpans on Miyako's face, dramatically the colours invert for a second. Feeling her knees weaken, she bites back a sob but the tears ebb down her rosy cheeks. Behind her glasses her eyes flash, and baring her teeth she violently throws the package against the wall adjacent from her and flees. Sora and Yamato broke their kiss from the suprise of a not-too-distant crash. They round the corner to discover a crushed box, leaking. Yamato kneels down and carefully removes the lid. Broken glass, distilled water, artificial snow, and glitter pour out. A frosty draft wafts in from the emergency exit door that was hanging open. Yamato looks to Sora, who just shrugged. Looking deeper into the mangled gift he pulled out the one thing that remained intact- the blue crystal wolf. He studied it carefully turning it round in his fingers but cannot figure out who was there.
The scene fades out to a calendar whose leaves are flipping rapidly, denoting the passage of time. A high school graduation at Odaiba... Daisuke, Takeru, and Miyako studying for exams at university... Hikari and Ken's wedding... the Chosen performing various duties at their professions... Taichi and his wife posing for pictures with their newborn son in the maternity ward... Jyou and Mimi in the park with their two boys... Miyako strolling down some Midwestern road with American chosen Wallace... Yamato with Gabumon and his crew smiling for the media frenzy as they disembarked from their shuttle from Mars... Sora accepting an award at one of her fashion shows... Taichi holding a press conference at the United Nations... Daisuke and V-mon doing a commercial for his new restaurant... French Chosen Catherine pulls a blanket over Takeru's shoulders as he had fallen asleep at the computer....
A Christmas party at the Ishida home. An 8-foot Douglas fir is being decorated by Daisuke and Takeru, as Jyou and Yamato fuss with light rigggings. Taichi fixes a plate for his wife and himself by the buffet and Mimi kneels down by Sora to listen for any activity from her pregnant belly. There's a little too much Christmas cheer in the air with the abundance of hot cider, punch, and alcoholic drinks. Ken and Izzy confer over Izzy's laptop. Hikari is chattering a mile a minute not expecting a response from an unusually despondent Miyako sitting on the sofa with Wallace. Miyako lifts her head up once, something about gold embossed font for the wedding invitations. Wallace had only proposed during Thanksgiving. Wallace puts a comforting arm around his fiancee, Miyako gives him a false grin.
//Last Christmas
I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year
To save me from tears
I'll give it to someone special//
Something catches the corner of her eye. On an antique secretary, sitting on one of the shelves by a couple of pens was the crystal blue wolf. Her hands began to tremble violently causing the tea in her cup to spill over onto her lap. She forgot to breathe. She doesn't hear Hikari asking if she is alright, nor does she feel the tugs on her arm. Yamato found it, but does not know. He never knew or noticed, let alone understood. Did he just see her as a fellow Chosen? Maybe just as one of his outotoo's little friends. A little sister perhaps? But after she took the job as his sound engineer their interaction increased. They talked more, or to be more exact he talked more and she listened. Yamato thanked Miyako for listening and for being a good friend. A trusted friend and co-worker. It sufficed, in the beginning. But even as she attempted flirtations with him he laughed and gave her a playful punch on the chin, as if he didn't realize. And it hit her like a wrecking ball... just another fangirl.
Abruptly Miyako leapt up from the sofa, and as a side effect her plate came clattering to the floor, her food staining the carpet. She takes her coat and makes a hasty exit.
"Miyako-chan!" Hikari calls after her.
"Miya! Chotto matte! Hold up!" Wallace goes after her. He manages to catch up with her just in front of the house on the pavement. Miyako refuses to look at Wallace, fearing that he will find out. He tries reasoning with her. She shuts him out. They argue and Miyako breaks down. Wallace apologizes and they hold eachother. A light snowfall dusts their hair and shoulders.
"It's not you," she says, "it's me. Please understand. I don't want to hurt anyone else. I hope we can still be friends." Giving him one last kiss she departs. Looking down at his fist knowing what's there before he opens it. On a tapered gold band was a single white pearl in a diamond setting. Pocketing the jewel, Wallace didn't know what to do or where to go. Surely not back to the party to face their pity and condolances. Having little choice he starts up the walk back to the house, but halts in front of the letterbox. The paint was fading written in kanji and katakana on the metal was Ishida Sora and Yamato.
Yamato!
A catch in his chest. He had wondered why Miyako was always withdrawn and ill at ease with him. Taking out his rage, he kicked the wooden post of the letterbox. "Damn you!" He tears off in his car.
//~Miyako speaks~
When you moved your mouth, suddenly it took me.
I felt shy looking at your eyes.
Your smile, so sweet, kissed my lips so gently
A crowded room
Friends with tired eyes
I'm hiding from you
And your soul of ice
My God I thought you were
Someone to rely on
Me?
I guess I was a shoulder to cry on//
Whoever said Christmas is the lonliest time of the year was right. And many Christmases passed with the Chosen becoming more and more distant and disjointed. The scene changes once more to many events in the Chosens' lives. Hikari and Ken have a third child... Takeru goes on an international book tour... Daisuke and V-mon pose for the cover of 'Time'... Taichi sees his son off to his ex-wife with her new fiancee for a summer holiday... Yamato is in the studio with his band recording a reunion album... Sora is fretting over her first blind date, she frets no more when she discovers Hikari put one over on her and Taichi is on the other side of her door... Miyako and Hawkmon settle into her new office at Hong Kong... Mimi is hard at work with Jyou assisting her for a catering job... Taichi and Sora have a simple backyard wedding, the boquet having landed in Miyako's lap since she made no attempt to catch it with the other women.
Her irritation was only furthered when she saw Yamato and the other band members lift their champagne flutes to her. She growls some obscenities and walks away, but she never lets go of the boquet.
//A face on a lover with a fire in his heart
A man undercover but you tore me apart
Now I've found a real love you'll never fool me again//
The scene fades back where Miyako is standing by her window. She gingerly creeps about her apartment carfeul not to disturb her company. Her parents, sisters and brother, in-laws, nieces and nephews, had thought Christmas in Hong Kong would be a nice change. Miyako agreed when she had thought they were planning on staying in a hotel. Standing at the door dressed in her leather pants and red jacket she leaves a note to Hawkmon before she walks out.
//Last Christmas
I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year
To save me from tears
I'll give it to someone special
A face on a lover with a fire in his heart
A man undercover but you tore him apart
(Maybe next year) I'll give it to someone
I'll give it to someone special//
Crossing a familiar bridge, Miyako goes into her favourite park. She sat down on one of the benches and admires the twinkling festive lights and decorations. She is content here and finally sighs happily. Resting her elbows on either knee, Miyako props her chin on her fingers which are laced together and counts her blessings. Her eyes fly open and she sits up straight in alarm. Parked along the iron gate was a Honda Fireblade, he sat on it with helmet in his lap looking over bay. Hesitantly, Miyako made her way over to him. The click of her heels on the red brick pavement. A breeze lifted his unruly blonde bangs, ran its fingers through his long hair. Miyako wrung her hands and was unwilling to go any further. He looks over his shoulder and arches an elegant brow. "Can I help you with something?"
Throwing all caution to the wind Miyako ran and threw herself in Yamato's arms nearly knocking him off the bike. They kiss deeply for several minutes, Miyako unable to speak coherently because of her tears.
//Last Christmas
I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year
To save me from tears
I'll give it to someone...
I'll give it to someone special//
They break apart and Yamato slips on an emerald-cut one karat diamond on her finger before she could say anything. Plastering on his patented self-appreciating smirk he asked, "So you wanna get married?" Miyako shrugged non-commitedly.
"It'll give me something to do for New Year's." Handing her the helmet she secures herself by wrapping her arms around his waist and they take off into the night. The camera once more turns to the brilliant night sky and fades out.
I would like to dedicate and thank the following cool cats who help Digifans see the beauty of YAMAKO: MeibouMiyako, R a v e (Happy Hannukah), Sarina Fannel, and all who love "KnH" and (rightfully) bitch at me to get the next chapter out! I promise you it's coming and it will be a doozy! Peace out y'all!!!