*****UPDATED AGAIN***** 9/26/2018

Hey friends, So, as I'm having a bit of a mental block with the second last chapter I decided to go back and read some of the first chapters, and then I needed to change some things. SOOooooOo here we are.

Spotify - Playlist FF - If you have trouble looking it up let me know!

Summary: TK set out after college hoping to get the life experience he needed to write his first novel, what he didn't expect was to be reintroduced to a girl from his past, and how it would completely change his story.

Disclaimer: I don't own "The Minstrel's Prayer," by Cartel. I also don't own Digimon or we would have gotten more then a water bucket scene by now in Tri…

Playlist

*Cue Music*

"Shelter me oh genius words

Just give me strength

Just to pen these things

And give me peace to well her wings

And carry on, oh carry on

All you minstrels of the world

We will catch our ladies ear

We will win for us the girl"

"I know you'll be getting on the plane about now so there wouldn't be any chance for you to turn back…She needed a place to stay…"

Shit.

I slammed my laptop shut, closed my eyes, and leaned back into my seat. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"You gonna be sick?"

I cracked my eyes open and looked to my right, a guy a few years older than me was awkwardly holding an airline sickness bag in my direction.

I put up my hand to polity wave him off, "I'm good."

I'm screwed, I thought instead.

My name is T.K. Takaishi, and my summer was not going to go as planned.

I'd recently graduated from Nihon University, I studied English and Journalism, and had a job lined up at the newspaper where my mother worked. Suddenly though, everything fell through, there were budget cuts and I no longer had the position she'd worked so hard to get for me.

I was ecstatic.

I didn't want it, a life so carefully planned for me, with no room for side stories. I tried to go for creative writing, but my mother thought it was a wasteful path, and she wouldn't help me pay for anything wasteful. So, I got my degree while sneaking in as many other writing classes as possible, hoping that eventually I'd get to tell the stories I really wanted to.

Without a job, and no real motivation to look for one in the field I spent four years working towards, I struggled to figure out what I wanted to do with myself.

My brother, Matt, called me to catch up a few weeks after school ended and told me about the tour he was about to go on with his band, Astral Shade. They'ed been on a two year hiatus, wanting to work on new music and take some time away from the road, but were finally ready to get back out there. I felt myself drifting off during our conversation, feeling jealous at the way he took risks, knowing he'd always land on his feet. I'd gone quiet, stopped responding with the normal noises of acknowledgment. He asked what was up, I proceeded to word vomit out everything I'd been holding in, my irritation at looking for a job in a field I wasn't passionate about, and my lack of a plan otherwise.

"What do you actually want to do?"

I paused, no one had bothered to ask me that in a long time. I told him I wanted to tell stories, and write fiction, but I needed some actual space and time to do that without being badgered about a forty to fifty hour a week day job.

Then he gave me an offer I never expected. He told me to come with him on tour, that I could help out and essentially get a free trip across the country. I said, too quickly, that I couldn't do that, but he prodded. Why, what's holding me back, what's keeping me there?

Nothing. Nothing was here anymore, I thought to myself.

"Just think about it," he told me, before we ended the call. So, I did. I kept myself up all night, head spinning in circles, trying to talk myself out of it.

The next day when my mother got home from work, she started interrogating me about job prospects, and telling me I needed a plan. It clicked then. I needed to get the hell out of here for a bit. I called my brother and told him I was in, and proceeded to argue with my mother about the fact that I was an adult now, and it was time to make my own choices. In the end she gave me a half hearted blessing, but I didn't care either way. It was time to do something for myself.

As I started planning for my trip I thought about the last time I'd seen my brother, about a year ago, and how good it would be to get some time together.

Our parents divorced when I was young so we didn't have a normal childhood together. When they separated, so did we, I went with my mother and he went with our dad. I think the divorce kept us closer than most siblings though. We rarely argued with each other because we didn't occupy the same space, and we were always just happy to be spending any time together at all. It wasn't worth it to get worked up about any random annoyances.

He could be aloof, and more sensitive than he would outwardly admit. You'd find him alone before you'd find him in a big group. I, on the other hand, had always been outgoing and overly friendly, up until the past few years there wasn't really an event I wouldn't go to. I started to see why he appreciated the solitude though.

As social as I'd been growing up, I'd become a bit of a hermit the past hew years, much to the dismay of my friends. I didn't have an expansive social life in college. I played basketball, which took up most of the free time I had outside of work and studying. I was a good player, and probably could have taken it further, but I wasn't all that passionate about it. My senior year I helped coach more than play.

Now, I'd pretty much get thrown right in the thick of it. My brother was, by no means, a party type of guy, but I knew it kind of came with the territory. I knew he tended to go out quite a bit while on tour, but luckily he wouldn't be the only person I'd know, his girlfriend, Sora, would be coming as well.

She went to college in the States to be a fashion designer, and was currently working on a portfolio so she could start applying for jobs. She'd proclaimed herself their stylist for the summer, quipping that, "They'ed never make it big dressed like budget normcore," whatever that meant.

Regardless, I was happy she would be coming with us, I missed her almost as much as him. She'd been like family since we were kids when we met her at camp one summer. They started dating in high school and besides a few minor bumps along the way they ended being the most solid couple I knew.

I'd offered to help work on their social media pages for them, editing copy and such, since none of them were that great at it. That was what I expected to do when I opened up my e-mail, read the copy he'd sent, but instead I received an atomic bomb.

She needed a place to stay. I thought over and over again, trying to figure out what the heck had happened in the three weeks since I'd said I would be coming.

I opened up my laptop and read the rest of the letter. I wanted to be angry with him but I couldn't bring myself to it. I mean, Matt was pretty level headed about things like this. He could be intense and argumentative, but to invite someone into his home wasn't some split second decision. On top of that, he had always been extremely protective of me and would never want me in an uncomfortable situation, but I was still having a hard time processing what he was telling me and how or why it was even possible.

I hadn't seen or heard from her in over four years and now she was staying in my brothers spare room. There are approximately 8.5 million people that live in New York City, didn't she know anyone else? I knew she lived there, but I thought she was still dating Michael, so why was she staying with my brother?

Kari Kamiya, was my best friend, then girlfriend, until she left without a word a few days after high school ended.

We originally met the same year my brother and I met Sora. Her brother, Tai, and my brother had become friends at camp and we initially bonded over being youngest two. We became fast friends since our brothers spent a ton of time together, and we both wanted to spend just as much time with them, we were unintentionally paired off. I went to a different school until fifth grade so we only saw each other a few times a month. I transferred after my mom got a new job and after that we started spending almost every single day together.

Everyone picked on us about dating, from an age that was probably too young to be suggestive, but we insisted we were only friends. Things started to change after our second year of high school. We started dating people and it always came down to this choice of them or us, they were threatened by our closeness, and neither one of us was willing to diminish the friendship for someone else. It wasn't until senior year that we finally realized there was more. We were only officially together for a few months, but since I'd known her for so long, it felt like we'd been together forever.

We made plans. We were going to go to the same college, move in together after two years, we talked about getting married after college ended. We were young and maybe that's just what you do when you are young, make lofty romantic plans without thinking through the reality of it all. Even though she was just as involved in making the plans as I was, maybe it's what eventually scared her off.

That was the last I saw or heard from her, that is, until my friends started sending me the pictures of her with Michael at movie premiers. Michael's father was a famous actor and it appeared he helped him launch his own career. At the moment he was on some teen drama in the States. I ignored it as much as I could, but every once in a while someone would send me another story, because I apparently needed to know. I was surprised she ended up with a guy like that, he was close with a mutual friend of ours and we met him twice while we were teenagers, but he always seemed really pompous, and for lack of a better word, a huge tool.

I wondered if she knew I was coming. What would I even say to her when I saw her?

"Hey!"

"How's life?"

"What are you doing now?"

"What the hell did I do to get ghosted?"

"Where's the best place to get sushi in the city?"

I probably should have been more over it than I was, but when you spend 10 years of your life with someone, you don't get over it that easily. I mean, I dated other girls during freshman year, but no one ever stuck for more than 3 months or so. After investing all that time into a person it just didn't seem worth trying again.

At least we would only be at Matt's place for a week before we left, I thought maybe she would just avoid me and we wouldn't have to deal with it at all. I settled into what was going to be a long fifteen hours.

By the time I landed at JFK I had about 32 conversations in my head with Kari, none of which ended well. I was feeling pathetic, this wasn't how I expected to start my, 'epic summer of inspiration.'

No, that's not the name of my book, that would be a shitty name, I'm working on the name though, and it will absolutely be better than that.

Anyway.

I spent most of my life quietly drowning in memories from the past, trapped in the spirals they often created, even before she left. The past few years had only made it worse, but I finally seemed to be managing it better, reading that though sent me right back down.

I knew I was looking rough from the flight so I popped into the bathroom shortly before we started to land. My eyes were bloodshot from the lack of sleep, making their normally sky blue color look too pale to be healthy. I let my hair down, shoulder length now, after years of letting it go and embracing that I could at least grow hair out of the back of my head. The men in our family were terribly pathetic in the facial hair department, so I took what I could get. I tried to comb it through with my fingers, but I gave up, and threw it up onto the top of my head securing it with the elastic I had dug out of my pocket.

As I headed toward the gate I tried to tug at my clothing and pull out some of the wrinkles to look slightly more presentable than I knew I did. My grey cargo shorts managed pretty well but my old camp shirt had seen far better days.

"TK!" I looked up when I heard my name being shouted over the bustling crowd. Any annoyance or anger I had at my brother faded the moment I saw him, he had the biggest grin on his face, and the only thing that stopped him from running over to me was him trying to keep his cool. I could always see through him.

I walked as fast as I could without breaking into a jog and when I got close enough I grabbed him for a tight hug. I was caught off guard as I was embraced from the side.

"T.K., it's so good to see you!" Sora had her arms tightly around me.

We pulled back while taking each other in.

Matt looked mostly the same except his hair was much more kept these days, it use to stick out all over the place with the help of way too much hair gel. Now it was shorter, faded on the sides with the top slicked back. I didn't know who looked like more of a hipster, him or me. He was wearing tight dark blue jeans, a black v-neck tee and black motorcycle boots.

Sora, on the other hand, had changed a lot, gone was the tomboy I had grown up with. Her auburn hair had gown a little past her shoulders and she had it dyed so it was a little darker at her roots than the tips. She was wearing one of those long one piece outfits where the pants and top were connected. It was black and she had on a pair of black scrappy sandals.

"It's good to see you too Sora." I looked back over to Matt. "I've missed you both way too much." Matt reached over to grab one of my bags as we started to walk away from the Gate.

"Well we have a whole summer to catch up." He smiled brightly, but after a few seconds his face fell. "So, um," he started to mumble.

I cut him off. "Yea, I got your e-mail right before takeoff." He looked down and Sora sent him a scolding look.

"You just emailed him before his flight left?" She stopped in the middle of the airport, fuming, a few people bumped into her until Matt grabbed her arm to pull her along.

"Don't be so dramatic, I just didn't want him to freak out."

"Who's being dramatic?" She responded flatly, crossing her arms and glaring in his direction.

I sighed, "It's fine we'll manage. She does know though, right?" I asked.

He remained quiet. This time we both stopped walking and started at him wide eyed. "You told Kari I'm going to be in your apartment, right?" I said, slightly panicked. I may have been uncomfortable with the situation but I didn't want her blindsided.

"She doesn't know," He was looking away from us and scratching the back of his neck. Sora and I were both about to start berating him but he put up his hands to stop us.

"You don't understand. I couldn't risk her leaving, something more happened with this break up then she's telling me, and I can't have her running back into a possible bad situation because of this. I know what she did, but she's still like family, I know you would have wanted the same thing. She's performing tonight we will go see her then."

Sora nodding in understanding but I was still stuck in the middle of what he said. "What do you mean, bad situation?" I felt myself tense up, it didn't matter what she did to me I would never want her to be hurt in any way.

"I'm not sure, I could be reading it wrong, but I don't think she would have come to me unless she needed a place she truly felt safe, it's just a gut feeling." He shrugged and started walking again. Sora and I shared a look before we followed him out, her eyes were apologetic. At least someone else thought it was as weird as I did.

The air felt good on my skin after being stuck on a plane for most of the day. I closed my eyes as the breeze crossed over us, but I stopped dead in my tracks again once my brain had finally registered what else Matt had said about Kari.

"Wait, what do you mean preforming?"

He looked back smirking at me. "You really stayed away from seeing what she was up to didn't you? You'll see if you stop stopping in the middle of the airport"

"We're outside now." I quipped as I started moving again.

"Whatever."

Same old Matt.

The alarm blared in my ears for the fourth time that morning, I knew it was time to stop hitting snooze but getting out of bed hadn't been easy lately. I opened my eyes to the unforgiving glare of the midday sun and rolled over to stop my alarm for the final time.

I picked up my phone and noted the half empty glass of Jack and Coke sitting next to it. When I couldn't sleep, some vices made it easier. Trevor would have suggested a meeting and I would have rolled my eyes as far back into my head as possible, but as I contemplated taking a sip now I thought maybe he would have been right.

I rolled out of bed, grabbed a long sleeve shirt from the floor, and pulled on a pair of leggings. I cracked open the door and peaked out to see if anyone was home, but the apartment was quiet. I headed into the kitchen to try and scrounge up some breakfast but there was already food made for me on the counter. "We will be out for the day but will see you tonight, break a leg!" My face contorted into a rare smile, I didn't do that much anymore. He was so good to me, but I couldn't help but feel a bit more relaxed with everyone gone.

I had known Matt since I was a little kid, our brothers had met at camp and become best friends, or the worst friends, depending on the time of year, or day. They bickered like an old married couple but if something went down, for one, the other would be there in a second. I spent most of my time growing up with Matt's little brother T.K. We were inseparable as kids and dated at the end of our senior year, but then I ran away, and ruined all of that.

I left after graduation, ran from my family, friends, and most of all him. It wasn't that I didn't love him, because I did, and more than I've ever loved anyone, but after what happened I knew I needed to leave.

Matt actually found me on campus one day shortly after classes had started. When I saw his face I felt sick, I wasn't ready to face anyone, least of all him. As much as he was like a brother to me I always found him to be slightly intimidating. He was my boyfriend's brother, and I wanted his approval as much as I wanted their mother's approval.

I headed over to him, fully aware that he would probably lose it on me, but he didn't say anything, he just kept leaning against the wall looking out at the other students as they walked to, and from, their classes. I stood there looking at my feet for a long time until he finally took a deep breathe and opened his mouth to speak, "Why?" was all he said.

When I looked up at him I saw only concern, "Why are you crying?"

I realized for the first time that I had tears streaming down my face. I wiped them away and muttered, sorry. Then I spilled, I let the words tumble out of my mouth as fast as I could. They were desperate for air, I hadn't told anyone, and it felt like they'd been scratching at my insides, demanding to be released. My mouth felt dry when I was done. My head hurt. I was probably dehydrated from crying.

We stood there after I finished, quiet again, except for the sound of me catching my breath.

"I'll keep your secret," he said to me evenly. There was no if, no stipulation, nothing I needed to do in return. Matt understood running away, even in this instance, and even from his own brother.

When my life was spiraling out of control Matt was the one person I knew would take me in with no questions asked. He didn't make me explain anything. He just showed me to my room and made me a hot meal. Sora wanted answers though, it was harder for her to stay on the outside of any situation. The mother in her wanted to heal, to fix, but she couldn't fix what had happened, no one could. All I could do now was try to start over again hopefully this time it wouldn't be a mistake.