No one was particularly shocked when Kari and TK announced their relationship. Everyone knew very well that they were well on their way to a relationship from the time TK moved back to Odaiba. Their shared camping trip was not so much a cause as a catalyst.

However, the two weren't the only individuals who went. They very nearly were, though. Davis didn't go, as he was grounded for doing something to Jun's pudding. Ken and Yolei preferred to have their own vacation of sorts. Cody felt he would miss far too much Kendo practice, and we all know how Izzy hates being separated from his computer. Sora had a tennis tournament that placed her out of the trip, and Joe was, as usual, studying. But who does this leave?

~*~

Tai and Matt threw their bags into the back of Matt's car (baby, as he called it) and Matt gently closed the door. Tai rolled his eyes at his friend. "Matt, this is a Jeep. They're not meant to be babied. They're meant to be driven full throttle through muck, slime, and whatever happens to be in the way."

Matt ignored Tai, as he had quite efficiently done for seven years, and hopped in. "Where is your sister and why is she keeping my brother?" he asked, looking at his watch. "I want to get to the campgrounds before sunset."

"How should I know where Kari is? It's not my day to watch her," he replied, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Besides, if anyone's doing the keeping, it's TK. Maybe they decided to go over safety procedures and shared some body heat, if you know what I mean."

"I always know what you mean. You're hardly subtle. Maybe Kari asked TK's opinion on a bikini and his head exploded."

"Or maybe," a forceful feminine voice interrupted, "they decided to listen to their brothers discuss them and their non-existent sex lives."

Tai's eyes grew wide as he turned to face his sister and her best friend. "Heh… yeah, maybe." He looked positively petrified.

Matt, on the other hand, was his normal cool self. "Hey, you're here. Head intact, TK?"

"Nope," TK responded.

"Good. And here we go, the Ishida-Kamiya Camping Trip has officially begun!"

A few moments silence, then Tai's complaint of "Hey, why does your name go first?"

Which was quickly countered by "It's my car."

To which Tai retorted "Only because you refused to get in mine."

"That's not a car. That's a bomb on four wheels."

"It's in no worse condition than yours was when you first got it!"

"Maybe, but the difference is that I waited to fix mine before I drove her."

"Name one thing wrong with my car that affects how it works."

"Hmm, let me think on that one," Matt said sarcastically. "Hey, how about the fact that it doesn't have a brake pedal?"

Tai scoffed. "Who needs brakes anyway? They only slow you down."

~*~

Meanwhile, since they couldn't speak over their brothers without yelling, and their messages wouldn't be heard anyway, TK and Kari took to writing each other on a notebook that TK had the foresight to bring.

This trip is going to be fun, TK wrote.

It is. Assuming they stop fighting for any length of time, Kari responded.

It's just their weird way of showing affection for one another. I don't try to understand it.

It's probably healthier that way.

Neither TK nor Kari could think of anything in particular to say to each other, and their pen sat motionless on the paper. Finally, TK picked it up.

So, that stuff Tai and Matt was talking about…

Yeah?

Crazy, huh?

Yeah. Crazy. Not to say that you're not someone good enough to do that kind of stuff with.

Of course not. I'm sure you're devastating in a bikini.

Kari giggled and blushed a bit, as did TK. Their brothers had moved on to who would kick whose ass, Inuyasha or Spike from Cowboy Bebop.

They must really care about each other.

Well, they've been best friends for… wow, even longer than we have.

When they weren't trying to kill each other, of course.

They haven't done that in years months weeks.

Hours?

Yeah.

They sat in comfortable silence for a bit, then finally TK picked up the pen again.

Just what did Davis do to Jun's pudding?

~*~

"Are we there yet?"

"No Tai, not yet. And she took on the Fight Card. The Fight Card!"

Matt and Tai had moved on to another fictional character argument: Meiling vs. Akane.

"Whatever dude, Akane's been training most of her life."

"So's Meiling. And we're here."

"Finally!" As Matt parked, Tai practically leapt from the car and stretched his legs. "Oh man, sweet, sweet land."

Matt turned to tell TK and Kari that they'd arrived when he saw them asleep, Kari's head on TK's chest with his arm around her shoulder. "Tai!" he hissed to his friend, who was dancing with a tree. "Come look at this!"

Tai walked over, not bothering to keep his voice down. "What? This had better be something important, I don't think my legs can b—" Whatever he was going to say was covered by Matt's hand.

"Shh! Take a look. And stay quiet!" Tai rolled his eyes and looked in on the sleeping couple. He grinned underneath Matt's hand and had the urge to say "Awww!"

Matt removed his hand from Tai's face and dug around in one of his bags for his camera. This would make good blackmail evidence. Or fodder for a marriage album in the future. Whichever happened first.

As soon as Matt had snapped his pictures, Tai, stifling a giggle, opened TK's door and shouted, "TAKAISHI! HANDS OFF MY SISTER!"

With a cry of surprise, TK jumped and, Kari having already sat up, fell out of the car, half-tangled in his seat belt. Matt still had the camera in his hand, but had it hidden behind Tai, whose shoulder he was using for support to keep from falling on the ground laughing. TK glared at them, though he was upside-down and red from embarrassment and the blood rushing to his head. "Very funny," he muttered.

"It is!" Tai replied, clutching his sides.

TK finally unbuckled himself, with some help from Kari, who was at least as red-faced as he was, and fell flat on the ground, which sent Tai and Matt into a whole new wave of laughter. TK grinned sheepishly and stood up.

Kari walked over and, after stopping to pick up TK's hat, said, "You know, that wasn't really… wow."

"Wasn't wha?" Tai asked, staring off in the direction Kari was. "Wow."

Matt stopped laughing and remembered just why he wanted to get here before sunset. "Yeah. Wow." He threw his arm over Tai's shoulder. "Why must you always doubt the Great Yamato?"

The four of them stood admiring the sunset in awed silence, until the sun finally disappeared behind the horizon. Matt, having realised his proximity to Tai, drew away quickly, as did TK with Kari, who had been more or less in his arms during the whole sunset.

~*~

The four wandered vaguely into the forest and chose a small clearing to set up camp. TK and Kari, who claimed innocence, ended up right next to each other, while Tai and Matt set their tents up far enough to give the couple privacy, but not so far, under Tai's insistence, to give them too much privacy.

The next day, unbeknownst to them, would be full of firsts for all. Except Harley, the Jeep. She's more or less out of the next chapter.

Ah, my first and thus-far only Digimon fic. Feel free to review, flame me for liking Takari and Taito (you hadn't figured that out yet? Oops) or toss me into your favourites lists.