This story takes place several years after the Digidestined leave the
Digital World after they defeated Apoclyamon, and also after the Saga of
the Second Generation of Digidestined. Kari and T.K. are both 19, attending
college part-time.
Winter-snow in particular-is fine to look at through a frosted window
while having the heater on, but not, apparently, if you are caught up in the
middle of the worst snow storm of the season. Such a situation can only be made
worse if your car is one of many that have succumbed to the powers of winter.
This is the fate which had befallen T.K. Takaishi, coming home one Saturday
from his part time job at the city's main newspaper. His car stopped two or three blocks from Kari's house, fortunately on an infrequently used side street. After taking in one more breath of warm air from the noisy heater, he pulled on his gloves and stepped out into the elements. The wind was blowing at a good rate, enough to creep through any crack or edifice in clothing and chill any skin exposed beneath. Snow was falling slowly and silently, accumulating like cotton beneath a gin.
Some twenty labor-intensive minutes later when the car had been pushed
near to the curb, T.K. snatched the keys from the ignition, pulled his hood tighter around his head and trundled up the empty street. The wind blew the snow in a wide funnel before him, masking what lay more than a few yards ahead. T.K.
thought futilely of the many summers he had spent in the far south of Japan with
his friends, stretched out on sun-bleached beaches, where the temperature
wavered around three digits. A blast of snow into his face kept him anchored to
reality. Water dripped from forming icicles, upside down snow-capped peaks of
mountains slowly melting in the spring. Everything was nearly unrecognizable
under a thick blanket of the snow, here and there flashes of red signs, like a
ghastly murder scene in the arctic. The snow seemed to stifle everything, like the whole world was slowly suffocating. A giant pillow gilded with pallor slowly
drowning out furtive cries for heat and a halt to the snow.
As he was making his way up another empty side street, T.K. paused
suddenly, as if someone was walking just behind him. He turned, but saw
nothing but the silent falling snow. There was no footprints in the loosely packed snow save his own-there weren't any cars parked on this side of the street. He continued on his way after a moment, but could not shake the notion that cold eyes were upon him.
He made it to Kari's apartment nearly a half-an-hour later, and paused in
the warm, bright lobby, allowing the waves of heat cascade over him like a
torrential waterfall. Pulling off the now cumbersome coat, gloves and hood he
moved across the lobby to the elevators. The floor was tracked with numerous
dark footprints and bits of salt like snow that had come in to get warm. Two
small trees stood upon either side of the elevator, waving gently to and fro from the air from the heater, as if they were laughing at their counterparts that were being encased in an invisible carapace of ice as the chill winds mounted.
He punched the button and the metal doors slid silently open, allowing
the traditional chamber music mingle with the warm air in the lobby. The
elevator was immaculate, with the rear wall being composed of mirrors. T.K.
pushed the bottom labeled '4' and the doors slid shut silently. There was a slight feeling of rising into the air but T.K. scarcely paid attention. His mind was still on the strange feeling he had that someone was watching him. The eyes had been invisible and cold, the fact that they could not be seen adding an edge of fear to their memory.
He stepped off on the fourth floor onto a long red and blue carpet which
ran the length of the empty hallway. T.K. followed the familiar path to Kari's
apartment door and knocked twice on the dark oak door. There was a pause and
the door opened. Kari stood there, her amber brown hair tucked behind one ear,
her chestnut-colored eyes suddenly coming to life as she looked upon T.K. She
wore loose-fitting gray sweatpants and a small sweatshirt dotted with brown
teddy bears. Not exactly something she would wear to the television station
where she worked as a part-time weather reporter, but it still looked great. She
carried a remote in her hand; the opening tunes of the Brady Bunch coming up
softly in the background.
"Hey, T.K.!" She said, and accepted his hug as he stepped into the warm
apartment. He kissed her lightly on the tip of her nose and she giggled-a habit
they had fallen into a few weeks ago. She took his hand and held it tightly in her hand. "You feel frozen. Come in and sit around the heat vent."
"My car died a few blocks away, and I didn't really want to bother you
but it was kind of far from-"
"I'm glad to see you. Mom is in the kitchen making half a leg of ham.
She's taking those American Culinary Classes a little too seriously. There's more than enough for all of us." Kari said, and then smiled.
"Thanks. That would be great." He smiled as Kari took his bundle of
clothes, managed to sort them out, and hung them up in the coat closet. She took
T.K. by the hand and led him into the living room, passing through wafts of
delicious smelling ham and baked apples. The Brady Bunch was turned off and
T.K. recounted what had happened during the day while Kari listened, her head
leaned against his shoulder as she lay on the couch. He got to the part where his car died and momentarily debated about telling her about the strange feeling. He decided to and Kari looked up at him for a moment with an unreadable
expression before telling him not to worry about it.
Kari quickly began telling T.K. about her day at the Television station,
leaving T.K. under the impression that she did not feel comfortable talking about the cold eyes. She touched his hand and pulled back. "Your hands are still frozen solid." Slowly she took his hands and wrapped them around her waist beneath her sweatshirt. T.K. smiled and kissed her, pulling her closer to him. Their eyes were inches apart, and T.K. stared into the depths of her mahogany-colored eyes, bringing back memories of spring with lush flowers and new trees shooting up from the thawed ground. She returned the kiss slowly, their lips lingering together for a moment which was altogether too short. Kari rested her head against T.K.'s chest, and he buried his face in her brown hair like spun, dried leaves of cornstalks.
"Think I could spend the night?" T.K. whispered.
Kari stifled a giggle and leaned back to stare up at T.K. her eyes sparkling.
"We'd have to be careful. My mom's not really a heavy sleeper."
"We'll have to be quiet, that's all. T.K. squeezed Kari's waist tighter and she giggled again. His hands slid down her waist until they touched the hem of her sweatpants and they teased the fabric, not ready to stray beyond.
"The ham's ready! T.K., you are staying for dinner?" It was more like a
command than a question, so T.K. could hardly argue. T.K. got up reluctantly
and pulled Kari up after him. Together they went into the dining room, to see the table laden with food. There was a large platter heaped with ham, steamed corn, mashed potatoes and gravy and small wheat biscuits. It all looked delicious, save for the puce glop that was in their water glasses.
"I took the liberty of pouring all of us some Eggplant Cider. It's really
fresh! If you don't want that, I have Asparagus Juice with Sprout for a chaser." Ms. Kamiya said, smiling broadly as Kari and T.K. took seats next to each other.
Ms. Kamiya sat down opposite Kari, and a brief blessing was said. There was more than enough of everything, all of it which was delicious, save for the
Eggplant Cider, which tasted roughly like raw fish, grass clippings and an old
boot strained through an old coffee filter. Two or three sips was all that T.K.
could manage without gagging.
Ms. Kamiya spent much of the dinner talking about her American Cuisine
cooking classes so T.K. could hardly get a word in edge wise, but he didn't mind.
When it came to dessert, it was a choice between apple pie or Avacado Cake with warm mango chips. T.K. chose the apple pie and found that it was very good
even though Ms. Kamiya had not baked it. After the dishes were done they all
sat around the table for an hour or so talking about occupations and college
when Ms. Kamiya insisted that T.K. spend the night as his car was not going to
be fixed that night.
Ms. Kamiya pulled out the hide-a-bed in the couch and brought out extra
blankets and pillows from the linen closet. T.K. sat with his back up against the cushions of the couch with Kari leaning her head against his shoulder, their
fingers intertwining, and they watched television until ten o'clock when Ms.
Kamiya announced she was going to bed. Kari got up and went into her
bedroom, first saying good night to her mother and then to T.K., her eyes
sparkling with anticipation in the low light.
T.K. laid back in the bed after bidding Ms. Kamiya good night and
thanking her for her hospitality and pulled the soft covers over him. The last
light snapped off and Ms. Kamiya moved into the bedroom she shared with her
husband, who happened to be on a business trip. The door closed and T.K.
waited at least ten minutes before he even dared to sit up. He sat up in the hide-a-bed for a few moments, and after hearing nothing from Ms. Kamiya's
bedroom, he quietly got out of bed and moved as quietly as he could towards
Kari's bedroom. Ms. Kamiya's room was at the far end of the hall, a bathroom
and Tai's empty bedroom separating Kari's bedroom from her mother's.
T.K. paused at Kari's bedroom door a moment before placing his hand on
the cool doorknob and opening it as noiselessly as he could. The room was dark,
a small amount of light spilling in through the windows, cast by a streetlight.
The light fell across Kari's bed, a shining slat in darkness, the covers thrown
back. T.K. knew the layout of Kari's room enough that he did not stumble in the
dark while his eyes adjusted. Kari was sitting on the edge of the bed, and she
rose when the door opened.
She was wearing short blue shorts which clung to her figure and what
appeared to be a very small t-shirt with brown and gray rabbits across the front. Her brown hair was pushed back behind both her ears, and as T.K. took both of her hands in his, her eyes seemed to light up the room like a lighthouse slicing through fog. They held each other for a moment, staring into the recesses of each other's eyes, seemingly falling into pools of one color hue.
T.K.'s lips met Kari's, the previous encounters merely trailers for the
coming attraction. Her lips were warm, velvet and fresh-baked bread. His hand
gently rose to her face, his fingertips tracing her cheekbone, touching the spun
strands of dried willow strands which came undone from behind her ear. Her
arms went around his waist, pulling him closer to her, their body heat mingling
as one, breathing slowing as all attention was turned to one another.
Their lips parted briefly as they stared into one another's eyes and then
met again, more focused than before. T.K. fell back onto the bed, pulling Kari
down on top of him. She giggled before continuing the long kiss. T.K. enjoyed
the feeling of her warm body atop of his, pushing down slightly, her hair falling slowly like a graceful curtain around his face.
She withdrew her lips for a moment to push her hair away from her face
and T.K. allowed his hands to travel down Kari's sides until they reached the
bottom of her t-shirt. He pulled up slightly and Kari smiled in the dim light and pulled the t-shirt over her head, revealing a rather skimpy green bra. T.K.'s fingers traveled down her bare back, lingering for a few moments at the bra strap before coming to a rest on her hips. Kari shivered slightly and T.K. pulled off his shirt just as the kissing took up where it left off, deeper than before. T.K.'s hands slipped into the back of her shorts rubbing slowly against her butt and Kari shuddered, her back slightly arching in the middle of a deep kiss. The shorts were slowly drawn down along Kari's smooth legs until they became lost among the bedclothes.
Kari slowly rolled onto her back, pulling T.K.'s full weight onto her. Her
warm fingers unzipped T.K.'s jeans and pulled them down off his legs, her lips
creating a long trail of kisses down his chest. T.K. slowly pulled the bed covers over the two of them, creating a very warm and inviting cave through which little light shone. Heat was present about them, and as their bodies pressed against one another, they slowly became more aware of each other. Kari's legs wrapped themselves around T.K.'s as he slowly reached towards Kari's bra
straps, the kissing growing even deeper than before.
The blast of cold wind that swept through the room alarmed them both,
and they broke off, huddling deeper beneath the covers. T.K. glanced at the
windows and saw that they were shut tight and the shades drawn. The blast
filled the room again like an arctic whirlwind, and T.K. suddenly felt those cold eyes upon the bed like several invisible peeping toms, all eyes rimmed with hard icicles and snowy, far-off pinnacles. Kari shivered, pulling the comforter up to her chin. T.K. sat up, trying to find out where the eyes were coming from. The breeze continued to whip about the room, tearing posters off the walls, sending books flying to the opposite end of the room and ruffling the shades. The wind began to whistle as if going through an invisible tunnel, and it took several moments for T.K. and Kari to realize that the whistling wind was actually high-pitched laughter, which echoed eerily off the walls like echoes in a vast cave.
T.K. huddled next to Kari, pulling her closer to him, as the den-like atmosphere of the covers was gone, all warmth sucked out of them. The winds slowly began to solidify, drawing together in the air in front of the windows. A dark shape emerged in the midst of the winds, framed by the faint light of the outside. The winds died down suddenly, and a figure perhaps five feet in stature stood, hovering a few feet off the floor, sitting indian style and learing down at T.K. and Kari with large red eyes searching them like embers in the midst of a fire. The creature was limber, the color of freshly fallen snow with a sheen of ice. It had long claws at the end of its arms and feet, and a mouth which slid into a grimacing smile with sharp white teeth. The eyes continued to
stare almost lifelessly at Kari and T.K., two small fires burning in a valley of
tumbled snow.
The creature hovered in midair for a few moments staring down at Kari
and T.K. who were huddling under the comforter with an unreadable expression, his neck craning towards them. T.K.'s hands fumbled under the comforter, trying to find his shirt and pants. He located his pants and pulled them on and was about to get out of bed, when an icy glance from the creature nearly forced him down like a sack of potatoes.
Once more the wind howled, and it took T.K. and Kari several moments to
realize that the wind came from the creature, that it was laughing at them. T.K.
slowly got out of the bed until he stood upright. Kari shrank back under the
comforter, pulling it up to her chin.
The laughter died down suddenly as the eyes turned upon Kari and T.K.
with renewed force and T.K. felt his knees quivering as if a great weight was on
his shoulders, and winds ripped around the room.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Kari asked fiercely. "Leave us
alone!"
"I am merely a messenger." The creature said, its voice sounding like
wind howling through a cavern. "It would not be fair for the other world to be
destroyed and not have anyone come and see the glorious show."
"What?" T.K. asked, shooting Kari a glance as if they both knew what the
other world was.
"My name is Arktos. I have been sent by my master, the soon to be Digital
Potentate. He is going to take over the Digital World, and he wishes you to
journey to the Digital World so you can see his supreme power." The creature
said, with a slight bow.
"The Digital World is not our concern anymore. Others have taken up the
mantle of its guardians." Kari said.
At this, Arktos leaned further still, his neck seeming to stretch out towards
Kari, his red eyes gleaming. "It is not for this reason that my master wishes
council with you. He wishes to bring you to his side."
"What makes you think we would work for the darkness of the Digital
World?" T.K. asked.
"Do not use such labels as 'good' and 'evil'. It insults my master. He
merely wishes for power. He would readily share such power with you. Think!
You would no longer need Digimon to do all the fighting for you." He paused
and floated closer to Kari, his red eyes fixed upon hers. "You wish for all people to live together in peace. With such power as my master offers, it can be yours." He turned his head and T.K. found himself receiving the full blunt of his gaze like twin red spotlights. "You, T.K., would be able to go on protecting the one you love, and never fear the lesser beings that use evil vices of ever harming her again. You could live in peace for all time. Join my master, and you will have this and more. The Digital world would be yours, to mold to your desires. Strip it of all trouble and strife, rid it of all virus types and be content that you never again have to fear for its safety."
Against his better judgment, T.K. found himself seriously considering
what Arktos had to say. It was actually tempting, to be free of the evil that had long plagued the Digital World. A small voice was growing louder and louder in his head, repeating Arktos' message over and over again in his mind. A glimmer of light erupted in the back of his mind, a very small voice which told him that Arktos was lying, the Digital World could not exist without the darkness to balance the light.
Kari spoke at last, and as she did, her voice slowly erased Arktos' message from T.K.'s mind until it was gone and he could think clearly again. "You master wishes for power over others. What gives him the right to govern the rights of others? Every Digimon, no matter how good or evil they are, has a right to live. Your master merely wants to make us into what he is, someone who seeks power over everything else. In the end, you would even set us against each other." Kari reached out and took T.K.'s hand, a small anchor amidst a stormy sea. "That will never happen."
"Do not be quick to brand out 'good' and 'evil', child. For what have you
done on the Digital World besides deprived these evil Digimon of their lives?"
"That's different and you know it. Those Digimon had to be stopped."
Kari said.
"But why use violence? There are other ways to peace?" Arktos asked
quietly.
Kari did not answer, as the creature had hit on one of the big moral issues Kari had often struggled with. T.K. however, spoke up. "Go back home and tell your master we're not interested. Never will be. Get out."
For a moment the creature seemed to grow big, to fill up the room, his red
eyes growing as big as manhole covers. Then, Arktos shrank down to his normal
size and floated backwards a few feet. "If that is your answer, you will both
regret it. My master will not be pleased at all. He will have no choice but to
destroy you both when he comes to your world." The winds came up once more,
and the creature began to dissipate into them. His last words were, "Keepers of
Light and Hope, you had great possibilities. Now, you'll never know the true
meaning of power."
The winds whipped about the room for a few more moments, before
dying down into nothing. T.K. and Kari stared at the spot where the creature had
been a few moments before, neither one saying anything. The creature's last
words echoed in their minds, like a skipping record, and they both wondered
what might have happened, if they had actually considered what Arktos had
offered them.
T.K. sat down on the edge of the bed, his mind still on the offer, when Kari slowly touched T.K.'s shoulder. He turned to her and their eyes met. Fear lined Kari's for a moment, and her face was white. T.K. took her face in both of his hands, and her face felt cold under his finger tips.
"What-what does he mean? How can we possibly . . ." her voice died
down and her eyes furtively met T.K.'s, appearing to be a small girl in a very
strange place with no one she knew.
"I don't know. We got rid of him, and that's all that matters."
"No. What he said was true. Violence is not right. There must've been
another way-"
"Kari, listen to me." T.K. climbed back into bed, taking hold of both of her hands between his, staring into her eyes, trying to find the sparkle of life he had seen before. "Arktos was just trying to freak you out. The only thing we could do to stop the Dark Masters, Apoclyamon, Daemon, MaloMyotismon, and all the other bad Digimon was to destroy them. We tried talking to them, to get them to reform, but it didn't work! I don't know who Arktos really is, or who this 'Digital Potentate' is or what he wants, but you can't listen to him."
Kari stared at T.K. for several long moments without speaking, and a
glimmer of her old self glimmered in her eyes. She closed her eyes and collapsed
against T.K., crying silently on T.K.'s shoulder. T.K. rubbed her back, kissing her hair and the tip of her nose.
It took Kari at least five minutes to calm down, remembering all of the
destruction they had caused to bring peace to the Digital World. She did not
regret it, but it was like a dark ember in her soul, burning like an ulcer. T.K.'s fingers slid through her hair like silken threads and kissed both of her ears. Kari suddenly took T.K.'s hands in hers and kissed him fiercely, then collapsed against T.K. again, but did not cry.
They held each other for a long while in silence, the silver rays of the
moon falling across them. The stars glinted, their light slicing over the still-falling snow, turning it into natural silver confetti. After long while, Kari fell asleep with T.K.'s arm around her bare waist. He kissed the top of her head once more and fell back upon the pillows and allowed sleep to take him. What Arktos had said troubled him, but for the while, he would sleep for what was left of the night. He could think about evil in the morning, with the darkness of night lying like fog about them, it would not do to think of evil, increasing the fear of it.
The falling snow hit the frosted windows, slowly turning to sleet. The
moon shown full upon the city, for a moment, chasing away the shadows to lurk
in sewers and under rocks . . . and wait . . .
Winter-snow in particular-is fine to look at through a frosted window
while having the heater on, but not, apparently, if you are caught up in the
middle of the worst snow storm of the season. Such a situation can only be made
worse if your car is one of many that have succumbed to the powers of winter.
This is the fate which had befallen T.K. Takaishi, coming home one Saturday
from his part time job at the city's main newspaper. His car stopped two or three blocks from Kari's house, fortunately on an infrequently used side street. After taking in one more breath of warm air from the noisy heater, he pulled on his gloves and stepped out into the elements. The wind was blowing at a good rate, enough to creep through any crack or edifice in clothing and chill any skin exposed beneath. Snow was falling slowly and silently, accumulating like cotton beneath a gin.
Some twenty labor-intensive minutes later when the car had been pushed
near to the curb, T.K. snatched the keys from the ignition, pulled his hood tighter around his head and trundled up the empty street. The wind blew the snow in a wide funnel before him, masking what lay more than a few yards ahead. T.K.
thought futilely of the many summers he had spent in the far south of Japan with
his friends, stretched out on sun-bleached beaches, where the temperature
wavered around three digits. A blast of snow into his face kept him anchored to
reality. Water dripped from forming icicles, upside down snow-capped peaks of
mountains slowly melting in the spring. Everything was nearly unrecognizable
under a thick blanket of the snow, here and there flashes of red signs, like a
ghastly murder scene in the arctic. The snow seemed to stifle everything, like the whole world was slowly suffocating. A giant pillow gilded with pallor slowly
drowning out furtive cries for heat and a halt to the snow.
As he was making his way up another empty side street, T.K. paused
suddenly, as if someone was walking just behind him. He turned, but saw
nothing but the silent falling snow. There was no footprints in the loosely packed snow save his own-there weren't any cars parked on this side of the street. He continued on his way after a moment, but could not shake the notion that cold eyes were upon him.
He made it to Kari's apartment nearly a half-an-hour later, and paused in
the warm, bright lobby, allowing the waves of heat cascade over him like a
torrential waterfall. Pulling off the now cumbersome coat, gloves and hood he
moved across the lobby to the elevators. The floor was tracked with numerous
dark footprints and bits of salt like snow that had come in to get warm. Two
small trees stood upon either side of the elevator, waving gently to and fro from the air from the heater, as if they were laughing at their counterparts that were being encased in an invisible carapace of ice as the chill winds mounted.
He punched the button and the metal doors slid silently open, allowing
the traditional chamber music mingle with the warm air in the lobby. The
elevator was immaculate, with the rear wall being composed of mirrors. T.K.
pushed the bottom labeled '4' and the doors slid shut silently. There was a slight feeling of rising into the air but T.K. scarcely paid attention. His mind was still on the strange feeling he had that someone was watching him. The eyes had been invisible and cold, the fact that they could not be seen adding an edge of fear to their memory.
He stepped off on the fourth floor onto a long red and blue carpet which
ran the length of the empty hallway. T.K. followed the familiar path to Kari's
apartment door and knocked twice on the dark oak door. There was a pause and
the door opened. Kari stood there, her amber brown hair tucked behind one ear,
her chestnut-colored eyes suddenly coming to life as she looked upon T.K. She
wore loose-fitting gray sweatpants and a small sweatshirt dotted with brown
teddy bears. Not exactly something she would wear to the television station
where she worked as a part-time weather reporter, but it still looked great. She
carried a remote in her hand; the opening tunes of the Brady Bunch coming up
softly in the background.
"Hey, T.K.!" She said, and accepted his hug as he stepped into the warm
apartment. He kissed her lightly on the tip of her nose and she giggled-a habit
they had fallen into a few weeks ago. She took his hand and held it tightly in her hand. "You feel frozen. Come in and sit around the heat vent."
"My car died a few blocks away, and I didn't really want to bother you
but it was kind of far from-"
"I'm glad to see you. Mom is in the kitchen making half a leg of ham.
She's taking those American Culinary Classes a little too seriously. There's more than enough for all of us." Kari said, and then smiled.
"Thanks. That would be great." He smiled as Kari took his bundle of
clothes, managed to sort them out, and hung them up in the coat closet. She took
T.K. by the hand and led him into the living room, passing through wafts of
delicious smelling ham and baked apples. The Brady Bunch was turned off and
T.K. recounted what had happened during the day while Kari listened, her head
leaned against his shoulder as she lay on the couch. He got to the part where his car died and momentarily debated about telling her about the strange feeling. He decided to and Kari looked up at him for a moment with an unreadable
expression before telling him not to worry about it.
Kari quickly began telling T.K. about her day at the Television station,
leaving T.K. under the impression that she did not feel comfortable talking about the cold eyes. She touched his hand and pulled back. "Your hands are still frozen solid." Slowly she took his hands and wrapped them around her waist beneath her sweatshirt. T.K. smiled and kissed her, pulling her closer to him. Their eyes were inches apart, and T.K. stared into the depths of her mahogany-colored eyes, bringing back memories of spring with lush flowers and new trees shooting up from the thawed ground. She returned the kiss slowly, their lips lingering together for a moment which was altogether too short. Kari rested her head against T.K.'s chest, and he buried his face in her brown hair like spun, dried leaves of cornstalks.
"Think I could spend the night?" T.K. whispered.
Kari stifled a giggle and leaned back to stare up at T.K. her eyes sparkling.
"We'd have to be careful. My mom's not really a heavy sleeper."
"We'll have to be quiet, that's all. T.K. squeezed Kari's waist tighter and she giggled again. His hands slid down her waist until they touched the hem of her sweatpants and they teased the fabric, not ready to stray beyond.
"The ham's ready! T.K., you are staying for dinner?" It was more like a
command than a question, so T.K. could hardly argue. T.K. got up reluctantly
and pulled Kari up after him. Together they went into the dining room, to see the table laden with food. There was a large platter heaped with ham, steamed corn, mashed potatoes and gravy and small wheat biscuits. It all looked delicious, save for the puce glop that was in their water glasses.
"I took the liberty of pouring all of us some Eggplant Cider. It's really
fresh! If you don't want that, I have Asparagus Juice with Sprout for a chaser." Ms. Kamiya said, smiling broadly as Kari and T.K. took seats next to each other.
Ms. Kamiya sat down opposite Kari, and a brief blessing was said. There was more than enough of everything, all of it which was delicious, save for the
Eggplant Cider, which tasted roughly like raw fish, grass clippings and an old
boot strained through an old coffee filter. Two or three sips was all that T.K.
could manage without gagging.
Ms. Kamiya spent much of the dinner talking about her American Cuisine
cooking classes so T.K. could hardly get a word in edge wise, but he didn't mind.
When it came to dessert, it was a choice between apple pie or Avacado Cake with warm mango chips. T.K. chose the apple pie and found that it was very good
even though Ms. Kamiya had not baked it. After the dishes were done they all
sat around the table for an hour or so talking about occupations and college
when Ms. Kamiya insisted that T.K. spend the night as his car was not going to
be fixed that night.
Ms. Kamiya pulled out the hide-a-bed in the couch and brought out extra
blankets and pillows from the linen closet. T.K. sat with his back up against the cushions of the couch with Kari leaning her head against his shoulder, their
fingers intertwining, and they watched television until ten o'clock when Ms.
Kamiya announced she was going to bed. Kari got up and went into her
bedroom, first saying good night to her mother and then to T.K., her eyes
sparkling with anticipation in the low light.
T.K. laid back in the bed after bidding Ms. Kamiya good night and
thanking her for her hospitality and pulled the soft covers over him. The last
light snapped off and Ms. Kamiya moved into the bedroom she shared with her
husband, who happened to be on a business trip. The door closed and T.K.
waited at least ten minutes before he even dared to sit up. He sat up in the hide-a-bed for a few moments, and after hearing nothing from Ms. Kamiya's
bedroom, he quietly got out of bed and moved as quietly as he could towards
Kari's bedroom. Ms. Kamiya's room was at the far end of the hall, a bathroom
and Tai's empty bedroom separating Kari's bedroom from her mother's.
T.K. paused at Kari's bedroom door a moment before placing his hand on
the cool doorknob and opening it as noiselessly as he could. The room was dark,
a small amount of light spilling in through the windows, cast by a streetlight.
The light fell across Kari's bed, a shining slat in darkness, the covers thrown
back. T.K. knew the layout of Kari's room enough that he did not stumble in the
dark while his eyes adjusted. Kari was sitting on the edge of the bed, and she
rose when the door opened.
She was wearing short blue shorts which clung to her figure and what
appeared to be a very small t-shirt with brown and gray rabbits across the front. Her brown hair was pushed back behind both her ears, and as T.K. took both of her hands in his, her eyes seemed to light up the room like a lighthouse slicing through fog. They held each other for a moment, staring into the recesses of each other's eyes, seemingly falling into pools of one color hue.
T.K.'s lips met Kari's, the previous encounters merely trailers for the
coming attraction. Her lips were warm, velvet and fresh-baked bread. His hand
gently rose to her face, his fingertips tracing her cheekbone, touching the spun
strands of dried willow strands which came undone from behind her ear. Her
arms went around his waist, pulling him closer to her, their body heat mingling
as one, breathing slowing as all attention was turned to one another.
Their lips parted briefly as they stared into one another's eyes and then
met again, more focused than before. T.K. fell back onto the bed, pulling Kari
down on top of him. She giggled before continuing the long kiss. T.K. enjoyed
the feeling of her warm body atop of his, pushing down slightly, her hair falling slowly like a graceful curtain around his face.
She withdrew her lips for a moment to push her hair away from her face
and T.K. allowed his hands to travel down Kari's sides until they reached the
bottom of her t-shirt. He pulled up slightly and Kari smiled in the dim light and pulled the t-shirt over her head, revealing a rather skimpy green bra. T.K.'s fingers traveled down her bare back, lingering for a few moments at the bra strap before coming to a rest on her hips. Kari shivered slightly and T.K. pulled off his shirt just as the kissing took up where it left off, deeper than before. T.K.'s hands slipped into the back of her shorts rubbing slowly against her butt and Kari shuddered, her back slightly arching in the middle of a deep kiss. The shorts were slowly drawn down along Kari's smooth legs until they became lost among the bedclothes.
Kari slowly rolled onto her back, pulling T.K.'s full weight onto her. Her
warm fingers unzipped T.K.'s jeans and pulled them down off his legs, her lips
creating a long trail of kisses down his chest. T.K. slowly pulled the bed covers over the two of them, creating a very warm and inviting cave through which little light shone. Heat was present about them, and as their bodies pressed against one another, they slowly became more aware of each other. Kari's legs wrapped themselves around T.K.'s as he slowly reached towards Kari's bra
straps, the kissing growing even deeper than before.
The blast of cold wind that swept through the room alarmed them both,
and they broke off, huddling deeper beneath the covers. T.K. glanced at the
windows and saw that they were shut tight and the shades drawn. The blast
filled the room again like an arctic whirlwind, and T.K. suddenly felt those cold eyes upon the bed like several invisible peeping toms, all eyes rimmed with hard icicles and snowy, far-off pinnacles. Kari shivered, pulling the comforter up to her chin. T.K. sat up, trying to find out where the eyes were coming from. The breeze continued to whip about the room, tearing posters off the walls, sending books flying to the opposite end of the room and ruffling the shades. The wind began to whistle as if going through an invisible tunnel, and it took several moments for T.K. and Kari to realize that the whistling wind was actually high-pitched laughter, which echoed eerily off the walls like echoes in a vast cave.
T.K. huddled next to Kari, pulling her closer to him, as the den-like atmosphere of the covers was gone, all warmth sucked out of them. The winds slowly began to solidify, drawing together in the air in front of the windows. A dark shape emerged in the midst of the winds, framed by the faint light of the outside. The winds died down suddenly, and a figure perhaps five feet in stature stood, hovering a few feet off the floor, sitting indian style and learing down at T.K. and Kari with large red eyes searching them like embers in the midst of a fire. The creature was limber, the color of freshly fallen snow with a sheen of ice. It had long claws at the end of its arms and feet, and a mouth which slid into a grimacing smile with sharp white teeth. The eyes continued to
stare almost lifelessly at Kari and T.K., two small fires burning in a valley of
tumbled snow.
The creature hovered in midair for a few moments staring down at Kari
and T.K. who were huddling under the comforter with an unreadable expression, his neck craning towards them. T.K.'s hands fumbled under the comforter, trying to find his shirt and pants. He located his pants and pulled them on and was about to get out of bed, when an icy glance from the creature nearly forced him down like a sack of potatoes.
Once more the wind howled, and it took T.K. and Kari several moments to
realize that the wind came from the creature, that it was laughing at them. T.K.
slowly got out of the bed until he stood upright. Kari shrank back under the
comforter, pulling it up to her chin.
The laughter died down suddenly as the eyes turned upon Kari and T.K.
with renewed force and T.K. felt his knees quivering as if a great weight was on
his shoulders, and winds ripped around the room.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Kari asked fiercely. "Leave us
alone!"
"I am merely a messenger." The creature said, its voice sounding like
wind howling through a cavern. "It would not be fair for the other world to be
destroyed and not have anyone come and see the glorious show."
"What?" T.K. asked, shooting Kari a glance as if they both knew what the
other world was.
"My name is Arktos. I have been sent by my master, the soon to be Digital
Potentate. He is going to take over the Digital World, and he wishes you to
journey to the Digital World so you can see his supreme power." The creature
said, with a slight bow.
"The Digital World is not our concern anymore. Others have taken up the
mantle of its guardians." Kari said.
At this, Arktos leaned further still, his neck seeming to stretch out towards
Kari, his red eyes gleaming. "It is not for this reason that my master wishes
council with you. He wishes to bring you to his side."
"What makes you think we would work for the darkness of the Digital
World?" T.K. asked.
"Do not use such labels as 'good' and 'evil'. It insults my master. He
merely wishes for power. He would readily share such power with you. Think!
You would no longer need Digimon to do all the fighting for you." He paused
and floated closer to Kari, his red eyes fixed upon hers. "You wish for all people to live together in peace. With such power as my master offers, it can be yours." He turned his head and T.K. found himself receiving the full blunt of his gaze like twin red spotlights. "You, T.K., would be able to go on protecting the one you love, and never fear the lesser beings that use evil vices of ever harming her again. You could live in peace for all time. Join my master, and you will have this and more. The Digital world would be yours, to mold to your desires. Strip it of all trouble and strife, rid it of all virus types and be content that you never again have to fear for its safety."
Against his better judgment, T.K. found himself seriously considering
what Arktos had to say. It was actually tempting, to be free of the evil that had long plagued the Digital World. A small voice was growing louder and louder in his head, repeating Arktos' message over and over again in his mind. A glimmer of light erupted in the back of his mind, a very small voice which told him that Arktos was lying, the Digital World could not exist without the darkness to balance the light.
Kari spoke at last, and as she did, her voice slowly erased Arktos' message from T.K.'s mind until it was gone and he could think clearly again. "You master wishes for power over others. What gives him the right to govern the rights of others? Every Digimon, no matter how good or evil they are, has a right to live. Your master merely wants to make us into what he is, someone who seeks power over everything else. In the end, you would even set us against each other." Kari reached out and took T.K.'s hand, a small anchor amidst a stormy sea. "That will never happen."
"Do not be quick to brand out 'good' and 'evil', child. For what have you
done on the Digital World besides deprived these evil Digimon of their lives?"
"That's different and you know it. Those Digimon had to be stopped."
Kari said.
"But why use violence? There are other ways to peace?" Arktos asked
quietly.
Kari did not answer, as the creature had hit on one of the big moral issues Kari had often struggled with. T.K. however, spoke up. "Go back home and tell your master we're not interested. Never will be. Get out."
For a moment the creature seemed to grow big, to fill up the room, his red
eyes growing as big as manhole covers. Then, Arktos shrank down to his normal
size and floated backwards a few feet. "If that is your answer, you will both
regret it. My master will not be pleased at all. He will have no choice but to
destroy you both when he comes to your world." The winds came up once more,
and the creature began to dissipate into them. His last words were, "Keepers of
Light and Hope, you had great possibilities. Now, you'll never know the true
meaning of power."
The winds whipped about the room for a few more moments, before
dying down into nothing. T.K. and Kari stared at the spot where the creature had
been a few moments before, neither one saying anything. The creature's last
words echoed in their minds, like a skipping record, and they both wondered
what might have happened, if they had actually considered what Arktos had
offered them.
T.K. sat down on the edge of the bed, his mind still on the offer, when Kari slowly touched T.K.'s shoulder. He turned to her and their eyes met. Fear lined Kari's for a moment, and her face was white. T.K. took her face in both of his hands, and her face felt cold under his finger tips.
"What-what does he mean? How can we possibly . . ." her voice died
down and her eyes furtively met T.K.'s, appearing to be a small girl in a very
strange place with no one she knew.
"I don't know. We got rid of him, and that's all that matters."
"No. What he said was true. Violence is not right. There must've been
another way-"
"Kari, listen to me." T.K. climbed back into bed, taking hold of both of her hands between his, staring into her eyes, trying to find the sparkle of life he had seen before. "Arktos was just trying to freak you out. The only thing we could do to stop the Dark Masters, Apoclyamon, Daemon, MaloMyotismon, and all the other bad Digimon was to destroy them. We tried talking to them, to get them to reform, but it didn't work! I don't know who Arktos really is, or who this 'Digital Potentate' is or what he wants, but you can't listen to him."
Kari stared at T.K. for several long moments without speaking, and a
glimmer of her old self glimmered in her eyes. She closed her eyes and collapsed
against T.K., crying silently on T.K.'s shoulder. T.K. rubbed her back, kissing her hair and the tip of her nose.
It took Kari at least five minutes to calm down, remembering all of the
destruction they had caused to bring peace to the Digital World. She did not
regret it, but it was like a dark ember in her soul, burning like an ulcer. T.K.'s fingers slid through her hair like silken threads and kissed both of her ears. Kari suddenly took T.K.'s hands in hers and kissed him fiercely, then collapsed against T.K. again, but did not cry.
They held each other for a long while in silence, the silver rays of the
moon falling across them. The stars glinted, their light slicing over the still-falling snow, turning it into natural silver confetti. After long while, Kari fell asleep with T.K.'s arm around her bare waist. He kissed the top of her head once more and fell back upon the pillows and allowed sleep to take him. What Arktos had said troubled him, but for the while, he would sleep for what was left of the night. He could think about evil in the morning, with the darkness of night lying like fog about them, it would not do to think of evil, increasing the fear of it.
The falling snow hit the frosted windows, slowly turning to sleet. The
moon shown full upon the city, for a moment, chasing away the shadows to lurk
in sewers and under rocks . . . and wait . . .