A/N: Hi everyone! How're you? Here is my newest fic, You Belong with Me! It gave some trouble while writing because in some parts it was difficult for me to know exactly how the reactions of the characters would be, but it's finally done! Phew. Now, sorry if you think one of them is acting a bit OOC, but here they're older, so it's normal for them to have changed a bit, right? And there's the situation happening to consider too...
Well, anyway, I have two things to say. The first one is that I thank Chiaki Konaka for helping me with my problem of lack of inspiration XD Thanks nee-chan! ^.^ The second thing is that the fic is based on the music "You belong with me" by Taylor Swift. It's a really sweet music and conveys some feelings in this fic ;)
Well, I'll let you read now. I hope you like it! And if you can then please leave me a review! That's all now. Enjoy your reading ;)
Under a clear sky in a starry night in the autumn, several passersby walked through the streets of Odaiba, some chatting merrily with another person, some headed to their homes after a hard day's work, some just taking a walk. A light breeze passes and moves the colorful leaves that lie on the sidewalk of a nearby park. Most of the city lights are turned on by this time and the few that aren't are soon being and joining the others in illuminating the city with their brightness. Walking in the middle of the other people, two teens go hand in hand through the park while chatting.
"Come on! Tell me where we're going!" One of the teenagers asked while she looked to her company with brownish eyes. The girl with long brown hair quivered slightly when a particularly cold breeze passed, which made her company pull her closer to him while he put one arm around her shoulders.
"I'm not saying anything," The other teenager replied with a small smile and a mischievous glint in his blue eyes, which clearly indicated that he was really enjoying the situation. The blond boy laughed slightly when a small red leaf was brought by the wind to the girl's face, where it got stuck between a few strands of her hair. The girl looked at him completely clueless until he used his free hand to gently pull the leaf away and let it be carried again by the wind. The girl huffed frustrated realizing that this was just another attempt of her company to distract her from what she wanted to know.
"C'mon, TK! Tell me! Please," the brunette girl appealed to her famous look of puppy; this surely would convince him to tell her.
TK looked a bit surprised by the look before he turned his face away and after a moment in silence he finally answered. "Nope."
The stunned expression on the girl's face didn't go unnoticed by the blond boy, who laughed again, causing the brunette to pout. "Ah, that's not fair." She simply replied.
"I won't spoil the surprise, Kari. Try to be just a little more patient," the blond boy said while he looked at his company with a smile. "All right?"
"Okay, okay," Kari replied rolling her eyes playfully. "But I hope it won't take much more time for us to get there, I'm already hungry."
"Don't worry, we're almost there," TK said looking at her with a smile. Kari's eyes widened at his clue before she turned to look at the surroundings and try again to discover where TK was taking her to dinner. Looking at him with the corner of her eyes, she couldn't stop a big cheerful smile to slowly appear on her face. She couldn't put into words how happy she was.
It had been five years since the incident with MaloMyotismon and since then the Digital World finally got to enjoy a time of peace. From that event, more and more digidestined had started appearing around the world making the original groups in Japan believe that soon most people around the world would have a partner digimon. Thus, now it wasn't unusual for you to see people walking around with digimon, which was a relief to the digidestined.
With the absence of fights against evil digimon, the digidestined started trying to re-adapt to their new everyday life. The digimons of the Chosen Ones now had an easier access between the two worlds and often the partners of the younger generation remained in the Digital World for a while to help maintain the peace and order there (of course with the help of their human partners too, who also went there with them several times).
Besides these changes, the digidestined underwent transformations over time as well. Now, most of them were much older than when they had first gone to the Digital World. The older Chosen Ones of their group were already in college, while most of the younger ones were almost there. However, a change that brought so much joy to Kari was the fact that, finally - like many of her friends said -, she and TK were together. And this for months now!
Sure, in the beginning TK had to hear Tai and his speech about how to treat his little sister (with some minor threats here and there), but now everything was going very well for the two teens. Well, very well until that very night.
The Saturday initially passed without incidents for them. The two went out together for a walk and decided to go see a movie and later, when they came out, they decided to go have dinner somewhere, seeing as it was already dusk. Taking advantage of the situation, TK chose the place where they were going to and decided to surprise Kari, acting as her guide till there so she wouldn't know where they were going to. But in the end, Kari discovered his intentions quickly and soon started trying to guess where exactly was their destination; when this didn't work, she tried to convince TK to tell her, which also didn't work. It was then that it happened.
"We're very close now," TK muttered to Kari with a big smile on his face. He really was finding the whole situation very amusing. He observed Kari as they left the park - which in reality was just a shortcut - and continued to walk down the street. "We just have to cross the street and it is on the other side."
TK saw Kari's eyes widen slightly and a big smile appear on her face while she released him and began to look around. Oops, it looks like she found out. The blonde boy playfully realized while he watched Kari turn to him with a glint in her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but before the brunette managed to utter anything, she suddenly felt someone bump into her, which made her almost lose her balance.
TK quickly grabbed her shoulders and after hearing she say she was fine, just had been surprised, TK turned to see that the person who had bumped into Kari was still there. When TK found himself staring at a young blonde girl with his age, his breath suddenly stopped in his throat and his eyes widened in recognition. He knew that person!
"I'm really, really sorry. I'm in a hurry so I wasn't looking very carefully at where I was going," the girl said with an accent while looking guiltily at Kari with light blue eyes, a small spark of recognition shining on them. The two girls stared at each other for a while, both feeling they knew each other from somewhere, until Kari muttered that it was okay. The blonde girl turned to TK and immediately a huge smile spread across her face.
"TK? Is that really you?" She asked anxiously looking at the blond boy, which confused Kari. She knew the girl was familiar, but she wasn't able to remember why and know exactly from where. But then to suddenly discover she seemed to know TK...
Kari saw TK smile back and nod to the girl as an answer. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the blonde who quickly wrapped him in a hug (a little too friendly, in Kari's point of view). The girl soon released him and held his hands in hers while she looked at him with a smile. "We haven't seen each other in a long while." She said excitedly.
"You're right." TK replied smiling. "You changed since the last time we saw each other, Catherine."
"You too," Catherine said with a small laugh. "You've grown a lot, besides getting really handsome."
Kari watched the exchange with her brows slightly furrowed while she saw TK get embarrassed with that last comment. By the name Catherine, she supposed this was the girl that TK and Tai had met in France when the digidestined had to separate and go to different parts of the world. She knew that the three continued to maintain contact and had become good friends, but she also knew they hadn't met in person again. Yet Catherine seemed to be acting so close to TK... No. Kari shook her head. I shouldn't be thinking like that. Catherine is a good girl and the two of them are just friend. There's no problem with that.
"Kari?" TK's voice took her out of her thoughts. Turning to him, she saw him smile before motioning to Catherine. "I don't know if you remember, but this is Catherine. We met in France when I and Tai went to take care of the digimons that had appeared there."
Kari nodded, having her suspicions confirmed, and smiled slightly toward the blonde girl. "I remember. It's a pleasure to meet you personally."
"It's a pleasure to meet you too," Catherine said with a smile. "I've heard a lot about you from TK here." She finished with a wink, causing TK get embarrassed again.
Kari chuckled slightly; she found it very cute that even though the two were already dating for some time, TK could still get very embarrassed with certain things.
Smiling a little more comfortable, Kari joined the two while they talked some more, until Catherine remembered that she was late for some appointment and bade them farewell before rushing out again. With this, Kari and TK continued their way to go dinner.
Glancing at TK, Kari saw that the smile that appeared on his face when he saw Catherine hadn't disappeared yet. Sighing slightly, Kari shook her head. She shouldn't keep thinking about it for too long. She trusted TK, and Catherine seemed like a nice girl from what she had seen; she knew they wouldn't do anything. Besides, Catherine knew that they were dating. Leaving the uneasy feeling that she was feeling aside, she decided to forget it all and enjoy the evening. After all, the girl was only there during the autumn recess in her school. Soon she would go home and everything would return to normal.
Right?
Seven days. How can so much change in just a week? Kari thought with a sigh. If things keep going this way I'm sure... She shook her head. No. She shouldn't think like this. There were still a chance that everything would return to normal... There had to be.
Now seven days had passed since the day that Kari and TK found Catherine while going out to dinner. Since then, Kari had seen the girl almost every day, although only by a glimpse, since TK suddenly decided to be Catherine's guide while she was staying in Japan. As it was her first time in the country it made sense he wanted to help a friend, but with this TK had begun to pay attention to the blonde almost 24/7 and Kari was left alone.
During all these days, Kari tried to call TK so they could go out together (she wanted to be able to talk and see him besides during school), but whenever she suggested it the blond boy said he already had something to do and to leave it to another day. Then, at the end of the classes, she saw him get out and meet Catherine, who was always waiting somewhere near the school.
Kari sighed again before suppressing a yawn. With all this, Kari wasn't getting much sleep. Whenever she closed her eyes, possible images of TK and Catherine laughing and having fun together in some of their tours haunted her. And to add to all of this, she sometimes thought she was listening to the sound of waves (which was impossible because she was never close to the sea at these times. By now she had already decided to believe that this was one more invention of her tired brain).
Although she wouldn't admit it, she was afraid of losing TK to the blonde. With the so much time they spent together and the friendship they already had for years, Kari wouldn't be surprised if TK started to feel something for her (if he already didn't feel...). And if that started, she didn't know if she would have a chance against the girl with curly hair. How would she, if she could barely talk to him? And even if Catherine were to return to France, long distance relationships weren't completely impossible and besides, TK had family living there so it was even easier for him to go visit her when he wanted.
Kari shook her head again before rubbing one of her eyes. Even if she didn't want it, these thoughts didn't leave her alone, something that her tired mind was no longer managing to put up with. Looking around, Kari shifted slightly in the bench where she was sitting.
Now was the only chance that the brunette was going to have to see TK since a week ago (again, excluding their time during school, although they didn't even stay much time together anymore, and the slight change she saw when TK was close to her… she didn't even want to think about it). They had agreed some time ago to go see a movie that Kari was very anxious to see when it was its premiere. And the day had finally come. Kari had confirmed the day before with TK and happily realized that the blond was still going. With that, here was Kari, sitting on a bench in the square close to the place where she and her brother used to play when they were children, waiting for TK to arrive so they could go to the cinema. Even the tickets had already been purchased; he just needed to appear...
Kari looked sleepily the people pass through the square that afternoon. One more suppressed yawn. She was really sleepy... Kari then blinked confused before looking around. Had it been her imagination? Rubbing her eyes again, she searched more carefully around. Yes, this must have been her tired mind playing tricks on her. It was impossible for her to have heard the sound of waves there, right?
Again, she began to look at the people around her, always searching for a boy with blond hair to appear and come toward her. She had arrived a bit earlier, so it was only natural for him to not have arrived yet. She remained doing so for a few minutes until the sound waves came back. Kari frowned.
"I'm not going crazy, I'm not." She muttered to himself while she looked around. This time the noise didn't stop. "The sea isn't near here, it must be my imagination. Yes… I'm just tired."
A sudden thought crossed her mind causing her to quickly get up. No, no, no. It can't be. Soon, the sounds of the waves grew stronger until it was the only sound she could hear. How... can it be?
Kari looked around frantically but she had just started seeing everything through a haze until she couldn't see anything besides the fog. No... Why? I thought the Dark Ocean had left me alone!
Trembling, Kari put her arms around her while trying to see the square where she was. "Calm down, Kari. This must be just your imagination. You're sleepy and that's affecting you." She muttered to herself.
A sudden feeling of tiredness caused Kari to blink her eyes a few times. This wasn't the time for her to sleep. But the more she fought the feeling, the more it became strong, until Kari felt her legs give in and let her fall to the ground on her knees.
"TK..." Kari mumbled slightly while she tried to fight the cold feeling that indicated she was getting closer to the Dark Ocean. Oh, how she wanted the blond boy to be there right now...
The slight autumn sun was shining merrily that afternoon while TK was walking. Looking at the time on his wristwatch, he decided to hasten his pace a bit; it was almost time for his date with Kari. See a movie for sure would be a good way for him to relax, especially after a hectic week.
During those last days, after school, TK went with Catherine to places all over the city, sometimes going somewhere a little farther away. And with that they, obviously, hadn't stood still for one minute. That was exactly why TK was more than happy to have a calmer day. Not that he didn't like spending time with Catherine, no, he was really enjoying it (he still remembered how good it had been to find her by surprise a week ago after not having been able to see her for a long time), but he felt that there was something wrong in all this, something he couldn't figure out exactly what it was, and a calmer day was what he needed to try to discover it.
Arriving at one of the entrances of the square, TK began to look around searching the point where he and Kari had combined to meet. He entered the place a bit more before he felt he was being watched by someone. Looking around cautiously, TK spotted two pairs of wide blue eyes hiding in a tree near where he was. Recognizing to whom those eyes belonged to, TK approached the tree with confusion written on his face.
"What are you two doing here?"
The two pairs of eyes looked at each other before their owners left their hiding place quietly revealing that they were Patamon and Gatomon.
"We... Well..."
"We were watching you."
TK blinked surprised at the blunt response. "What?"
Gatomon crossed her arms and replied. "That's right, we were watching you."
TK looked at Patamon and when he nodded, confirming what the cat Digimon had said, he furrowed his brow slightly. "But why? I thought you had stopped doing that a long time ago."
"And we had," Patamon said. "But we wanted to know what was going on between you and Kari, so..."
"But nothing different is happening. Everything is as normal as always," the incredulous stares of the two digimon made TK pause. "Is something going on...?"
"That's what we should be asking you," Gatomon answered.
"But ...!" Now TK was completely lost.
"I told you he probably hadn't noticed anything," Patamon said looking to Gatomon.
The feline Digimon sighed. "But he should have!" Her gaze then turned to the blonde. "You're not dense TK. Can't you understand what's going on?"
"What are you two talking about?" The blond boy asked looking from one Digimon to the other.
"Haven't you noticed Kari's strange behavior these days?" Gatomon questioned.
In this sentence the blond stopped for a moment. Now that they had talked about it, yes, there was something strange about the brunette in this last week. She seemed to be getting more dejected and sleepy each day, and when he asked what was wrong she just smiled and said 'it was nothing to worry about; that she just wasn't sleeping very well these days '.
TK then began to feel guilty. Now it seemed obvious that there was something really serious and troubling her and as her boyfriend he should've realized that and made her answer him seriously. TK almost snorted. He didn't notice it because he was distracted thinking about what he and Catherine were going to do in the afternoon. What a great boyfriend he was...
Something suddenly clicked in his head and finally everything came together. TK's eyes widened and his mouth formed an "o".
Patamon and Gatomon exchanged a look. "It seems he realized." Commented the orange Digimon.
TK shook his head incredulously. He couldn't believe it. Had he really been that stupid? Turning quickly, TK started running while searching for some sign of Kari in the square. He had to find her soon.
"Hey, wait TK!" Gatomon and Patamon exclaimed while they began to chase the blond teenager.
TK couldn't believe how stupid he was. He wanted so much to give himself a slap in the face so he'd never do it again (and he'd do that if he had time, but now he had to find Kari and apologize to her).
How stupid of him... Since he had seen Catherine again he had begun to feel different. Initially he just thought he was happy to see her, but it soon became apparent to him that he was feeling something beyond friendship; he was falling for her.
But now that he's analyzing his feeling better, it was clear to him that it wasn't that. He was just feeling attracted to her because of her beauty. He knew this because all the time they spent talking through the computer, he hadn't felt anything for her (besides friendship, of course).
But worst of all is that because of that he began spending most of his time this past week with Catherine, what ended up in him not having time for Kari and not going out with her when she asked. If his reason was now clear to TK, it was even clearer that Kari had also noticed this, but being her she didn't say anything (especially because he was happy, even if she wasn't). The way she had been this last week perfectly indicated that what TK had just thought was true.
With a frustrated grunt, TK hurried his step. He really couldn't believe how blind he had been. Kari was feeling bad because of him and he hadn't noticed anything! Now he had managed to hurt the girl he really loved because of a silly almost crush on another girl!
"TK," A gentle tug on his hair made the blond teen did pause for a moment and look up. Lying on top of his head was Patamon (this was an old habit the Digimon had a long time ago and which still existed), who was looking to his right. A slight tug this time on his pants made him look down and see Gatomon pointing to their right.
"There, TK." The feline digimon said making TK quickly turn his head.
In front of a bench, not far from them, was Kari. The brunette girl was looking around with confusion, and maybe a little panic, written on her face.
"Kari?" TK wondered with confusion before he saw something that turned his blood cold. Kari was slightly fading, her figure gradually becoming more and more transparent only to return to normal and then immediately re-start to disappear.
I remember this. This has already happened once. TK thought with wide eyes. The blond didn't waste another second thinking about it; he immediately ran toward the brunette with Patamon holding tightly his hair and Gatomon running alongside him.
"Kari!" TK yelled causing some people who were passing by to stop and look at him.
Suddenly, the brunette fell on her knees appearing to be more lost than ever, her figure now almost completely transparent... TK quickened his pace and quickly knelt beside her before he placed a hand on his shoulder. He wouldn't let Kari be taken to the Dark Ocean, not while he could do something.
To his relief, the brunette immediately stopped disappearing and her figure turned completely solid in front of him. Her eyes widened and she breathed shakily while some color returned to her face. He heard Patamon and Gatomon sigh relieved near him. Yes, it had worked, just like the first time when he called her during class and prevented her from being brought to the Dark Ocean (though at that time she ended up going there later, but this time he wasn't going to let that happen).
TK saw Kari tremble slightly and his grip on her shoulder tightened. Just thinking that if he hadn't started running when he had to search for Kari he wouldn't have found her in time to stop her from going to the Dark Ocean. And that really distressed him.
His grip on Kari's shoulder finally seemed to get her attention and she quickly turned her head toward him. Once she identified the blond in front of her, accompanied by two digimon she knew very well, Kari finally seemed to relax. The brunette then lunged forward and hugged TK tightly, making the blond boy realize that she was still trembling slight.
Standing up with Kari calmly and carefully, TK looked around and saw that several people had stopped walking and were staring at them confusedly.
"Come on Kari. We better find a quieter place," TK muttered to the brunette. He saw her nod with her head still hidden in his chest. With that the two started walking, with TK leading Kari, who still seemed shaken with the situation.
They walked a bit until they got to the other side of the square, far away from where they were before. Thanking the fact that the square was quite large and therefore that area was emptier, TK sat on a bench with Kari. The blond saw Patamon get out of his hat and follow Gatomon until they go closer to a tree not far from them; they were going to give them enough privacy to talk.
TK realized then that Kari hadn't let go of him yet and didn't seem to want to do this anytime soon. Tightening his grip on her with one hand, he used the other to lightly stroke her hair while trying to calm her; he didn't want to just release her yet too.
"I'm sorry," the blond boy murmured after a while in that position. He felt Kari shake her head before answering:
"No. This isn't your fault," he heard the brunette sigh. "I was the one who was weak and couldn't resist when the Dark Ocean was calling me."
"No, Kari." TK replied lightly. "I should have helped you. I should have realized that you weren't well. Instead I just made you feel worse which helped the Dark Ocean in trying to pull you."
Kari shook her head again. "TK, you can't control what you feel. You were happy; of course you wouldn't see how I was. The Dark Ocean just used this moment of weakness. I can't blame you for something that happened to me because I didn't want to accept the truth."
"Huh?" TK stared at Kari blankly. It was then that he realized what she was really saying. "No!"
His exclamation was enough to surprise Kari, who ended up releasing him to look at him confusedly. Placing his hands on either side of her face, TK made Kari look directly at him.
"Kari, listen to me, please. I do not like Catherine like that. I admit that I was a fool to let her beauty and my excitement that she was here influence me. But it was only this. Nothing more," The somewhat doubtful look on Kari's face was still there, which made TK sigh frustrated. "It's true, Kari! I'm not saying this to make you feel better. I love you, not her! "
And with that TK pulled his face close to hers and kissed her. The kiss didn't last long, but it conveyed everything that TK was feeling. When they finally parted, a somewhat surprised look was now on Kari's face. Not caring that it sounded cliché, Kari wondered if she was dreaming or if it was reality. Was she wrong all that time? "Are you… sure?"
TK laughed lightly at the brunette's expression before hugging her tightly. "Of course I am, silly. You know I wouldn't lie to you."
TK felt Kari hug him tightly back and they stood there like that for a while. "I'm really sorry, Kari. I didn't want to have made you think like that and go through this all."
Kari smiled while she breathed in the familiar scent of the blond next to her. Everything seemed to be returning to normal to her relief. "It's alright, TK. I'm just really happy that I was wrong in the end. "
And with that the whole mess was finally resolved. With this, TK was now firm about not letting anybody else influence his feelings towards Kari. No, he wouldn't be so foolish again and run the risk of losing her. Not anymore.