Protection of the Light
by Kari
A/N:Hey all! I'm back! I decided to get this all typed up and sent in before all my readers go away... :( Um, I wanted to dedicate this to somebody, but this isn't the right kind of fic for that! ^_^ Anywayz, there WILL be a sequel to this, non-romance (well, mostly... it'll have that scattered Takari in there, b/c this one is Takari after all, but it'll focus mostly on Davis's problem.) What is Davis's problem you ask? You'll have to read this stupid thing and see! :) It's weird, this one is... and I don't consider this Davis-bashing... Davis is an awesome character, he's so funny! But I don't want him with Kari... EVER. ^_^ Okay, enough of me, you can read now! Kari :)
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Part 1
Kari awoke at 5:30 in the morning, and she felt AWFUL. Her stomach felt as if thousands of tiny needles were stabbing her simultaneously. Kari staggered out of bed and into the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and cringed. Her face was flushed and her eyes bloodshot; her hair hung limply around her pretty face, damp with sweat. What's wrong with me? she wondered miserably. She had more than half a mind to just stay in bed all day and sleep this pain off. Unfortunately, it was Thursday, and she couldn't be absent because she had a test in Pre-cal... and in physics.... and in computer systems... and she was sure she probably had a quiz or some essay test in her history class too, she almost always did. And besides, she had promised T.K. she would go watch his basketball game after school. She splashed some water on her face, took a few aspirin to make her feel a little better at least, and got dressed for school.
She walked into the entrance of Odaiba High School. She, T.K., and Davis were all juniors now, and all the others, except Cody, a freshman this year, had graduated and went to the local college. Kari felt thousands of eyes on her as she slowly walked through the hallways. She didn't hear a single hello from any of the friends she passed...
T.K. was walking through the crowded hallways when he spotted Kari, staring at the floor and walking uncharacteristically slow. He felt his heart ache when he saw her, and he rushed to her side. "Kari, are you okay?" he asked as her walked quickly to her. Kari looked up at T.K. and her eyes lit up. "Hey T.K.!" she said as enthusiastically as she could, but it came off as painful. "Kari, you look terrible... of course, I mean that in a good way... are you alright?" T.K. asked her in a worried tone as he slipped his arm around her shoulders. "Not really T.K., I think I need to sit down..." Kari began to faint, and T.K. grabbed hold of her from under her arms. "Kari!" He scooped her up into his arms and rushed her to a bench in the courtyard. He sat down with her on it and she leaned against his shoulder, moaning softly in pain. "Maybe some fresh air will make you feel better." T.K. was worried... she was flushed, warm, and clammy... he had only seen her like this once before, when they were 8, in the Digiworld. He held his blond hair off of his forehead and touched his to Kari's. His heart was pounding inside his chest from his face being so close to Kari's... yet he couldn't kiss her... not now, while she needed him to help her. "This is how my mom used to be able to tell if me or Matt had a fever..." T.K. cringed as his forehead touched Kari's and continued, "... and you've got one." Kari looked at him with a heartwrenching expression. "Again?" Her eyes began to water as the pain inside became almost unbearable, and she began to cry out in agony. T.K. was extremely worried. He held her trembling body in his arms tightly, rocking her back and forth in a desperate attempt to make her feel better. Kari sobbed quietly in his arms in physical pain. Emotionally, she was way more than okay. The boy that was her best friend in the entire world and that she had secretly loved for so long was with her, holding her to him in her time of need. Her body, however, felt as if it were about to explode. "Shhh... it's okay, you'll be okay..." T.K. whispered soothingly to her as he lightly kissed the top of her burning head. He was incredibly frightened for Kari... for the first time ever he had no idea how to help her. He looked Kari in the eyes and saw her pain. "Kari, what's wrong? Do you need to go to the nurse?" "Yeah..." she replied, her voice faltering. "Here, get on my back, I'll carry you there." Kari slowly climbed onto T.K.'s back and held to him tightly as he took hold of their bookbags. "Hold on Kari, you'll be okay soon," T.K. said quietly to the semi-conscious girl as he walked as quickly as he could to the school's nurse.
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Kari awoke suddenly when she felt a soft, warm hand stroking her hair. She opened her eyes and slowly blinked them as T.K.'s smiling face came into view. "Wh-where am I?" she asked groggily. "Shh... you're in the nurse's office." T.K. suddenly grinned. "You must have been really tired, you slept all through school." "What time is it?" "Almost 5:00." Kari sat up so quickly that the room began to spin and she felt lightheaded. "But T.K., your game...!" T.K. gently lowered her head back to the pillow and smiled. "Don't worry Kari, I told them I couldn't make it... and besides, it was only a scrimmage." Kari smiled softly. "Were you here all day, T.K.?" Kari asked playfully, but she didn't expect the reply she got. "Yeah... well, except when I went to go tell the coach I wasn't coming today... but other than that I haven't moved from this spot all day." Kari's heart caught in her throat and she realized she was having difficulty breathing from the thought of T.K. staying beside her all day. "You were here... with me... all day?" she repeated softly. T.K. smiled and nodded. "Couldn't think of a better way to spend one." Kari sat up, more carefully this time so she wouldn't get dizzy, and pulled T.K. into a tight hug. "Thank you..." she whispered. T.K., after getting over the shock and slight embarrassment of Kari's sudden act of affection, hugged her back. "You're welcome Kari, anything for you," he whispered back. (A/N: Just a quick note to Sora/Amber, one of my friends... she wrote a fic called Anything For You, it's really cute... on www.digiexperience.com,along with my other fics and Logan's other fics as well, but I credit this to her... it's her fic!) After a brief silence, T.K. asked, "So are you ready to go home now?" "Yeah, but can we get something to eat first? I'm starved!" "Sure Kari, my treat." "Oh you don't have t..." "I know, but I want to take you out..." T.K. froze for a moment, wanting to say what his heart really intended to, but he thought better of it, "...to eat." Kari smiled as T.K. helped her to her feet and they walked out of the school together.
"Whoo, Takaishi's got a hottie!" a boy called as T.K. passed the soccer field with his arm around Kari's shoulder. He hadn't meant the action to be one of affection, although both he and Kari thought of it that way, but rather it was just a supportive precaution in case Kari felt faint again. T.K. blushed furiously, as did Kari, and they nervously laughed it off and continued walking past. Davis eyed the two of the and inwardly was enraged... it was all he could do to keep himself from running and beating the living daylights out of the blonde boy... but his thoughts of revenge were interrupted by the impact of the soccer ball with his head. "Oops! Sorry man..." Kari and T.K. laughed as they heard the little accident with Davis and the ball, and walked on. "Hey Kari, are you going to homecoming on Saturday?" T.K. asked a bit nervously. (Day check... I said this up there, but in case you forgot... it's Thursday.) Kari noticed the nervousness of his voice and blushed slightly. "Um, I don't know... nobody's asked me." "You're kidding!" T.K. looked at Kari with a truly astonished look, and she giggled. "No, I'm not... I mean, Davis asked me, but I turned him down... he was so mad!" Kari laughed and continued. "He kept grumbling as he walked off, 'You're going with T.M. aren't you, I'll get him!' It was so funny!" Kari paused for a moment, a little crimson appearing on her cheeks. "Well, would you want to?" T.K. felt the redness appearing on his cheeks as well. "Want to what?" "Go with me?" Kari was speechless... she had turned every other guy down, the five others she hadn't told T.K. about, just to go with him to the dance, and now he was asking her. "Sure T.K., that'd be great!" "Great!" Another brief silence followed. "Well, when should I pick you up?" "Whenever, just warn me before you get to my house. Or you could come and talk to Tai while I get ready, it really doesn't matter." "Okay, I'll be there early then... I haven't talked to Tai in a long time." T.K. grinned at Kari. "What are you gonna wear?" "I'm not gonna tell you... you'll just have to see!" Kari smiled sweetly at him as she playfully poked his chest. T.K. felt as if his head were about to explode. *I asked Kari to homecoming... and she said YES... and is she flirting with me? Kari's head was swimming as she walked down the sidewalk with her best friend. Oh my gosh, T.K. asked me to homecoming, just like I wanted him to... and is he flirting with me? Does he like me? Could he possibly even love me...? T.K. took Kari to a small fast food restaurant to eat a quick bite, and then continued home with her. The two of them finally reached the Kamiya's apartment, and they were sorry that they had. Time had seemed to fly by as they had walked the distance to Kari's home. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow..." Kari said, awkwardly standing outside the cracked door. T.K. suddenly made up his mind. He was gonna do it... T.K. pulled Kari into a tight hug, and Kari inhaled sharply. She couldn't believe it... and frankly, neither could he. She tenderly returned the hug, and though it was merely a childish act, that normally had no intimate symbolism intended in the action itself, both T.K. and Kari felt as if it were the most wonderful feeling in the world. T.K. finally pulled away from Kari, smiling boyishly. "See ya tomorrow, I'll walk you to school so you're not all by yourself like you were today," he said with a wink. With that, he turned and walked down the hallway to the elevator. Kari looked after him for a bit, and then walked into her apartment, shut the door, and leaned dreamily against it. She sighed happily as she walked into the kitchen, where Sora and Tai were sitting. "Hey Kari, how've you been?" Sora asked her cheerfully. "Oh, I'm better than okay..." Kari sat at the table, looking off into the distance with a light smile on her face. "Um, earth to Kari..." Tai said, waving his hand in front of her face. "Hm?" Kari snapped out of her daydream and looked sheepishly at her brother and Sora. "We were studying here..." "Sorry Tai... is that what they call it now?" Kari stood up and with a sly grin at Tai's furiously blushing face and Sora's laughing one, walked out of the room The phone rang from inside the room she and Tai shared (no more bedrooms in the apartment, you see) and she ran to answer it, as Tai was obviously a little... preoccupied. "Hello?" "Kari?" "T.K.?" Kari laughed softly at the caller. "What?" "It's just that you dropped me off no more than 5 minutes ago... what did you do, run home?" She heard the caller laugh sheepinshly on the other end of the phone. "Uh... well, I just ran to Matt's house... and I still wanted to talk to you." Kari almost screamed in delight, but contained herself. "About what?" "I dunno, nothing I guess... but I like hearing your voice." That's it, I'm gonna faint... Kari thought, speechless.
T.K. was a little worried he had said too much when he listened to the silence on the other end of the line. "Uh... Kar? You there?" "Yeah, I'm here," he heard Kari say quickly. "I was just thinking about something." "About what?" There was another brief silence... "About what I'm gonna wear to homecoming." T.K. and Kari laughed briefly, nervously, and he heard her and Tai's mother telling them dinner was ready. "You have to go Kari?" "Yeah, dinner's ready, I'll talk to you later, okay?" "Okay Kari, I'll be there early tomorrow to pick you up!" "Bye!" "Later!" T.K. hung up the phone, his heart pounding in his chest. Yeah, that did it... I'm head over heels, he thought as he flopped down onto his brother's bed. "Hey T.K., if you know what's good for you, you won't lay on my bed." T.K. sat up suddenly and looked at his brother, Matt, now standing in the doorway. "Sorry Matt, I'll get up... didn't know you were so sensitive about your sheets!" "Shutup T.K." Matt looked at the happy expression on his brother's face. "What's up with you?" Matt asked slyly, raising an eyebrow. "Oh nothing..." T.K. said, smiling inwardly. "Yeah right, I've seen that look before... Tai gets that look about Sora and Joe gets it about Mimi..." Matt gasped as if talking to a small child. "Awww, does widdle Takeru have a giiiiiirlfriiiiiiiiiiend???" T.K. felt the crimson rise to his cheeks. "No..." he said quickly, and then under his breath, "but I'd like to." "What?" "Nothing." "Whatever... I'm going to the store to get a new string for my guitar, it snapped when I was tuning it again... don't touch ANYTHING in here!" "Sure." Matt walked out of the room and out of the apartment. T.K. promptly flopped down again. He couldn't wait for Saturday.
Saturday rolled around and at 3:00 T.K. was ready. He was wearing a tuxedo... Matt had told him that's what every guy wore to homecoming when they were upperclassmen. He had begged Matt before he left to use the car so he didn't have to walk, and after $15 and a promise to do laundry for a month, Matt gave in. T.K. drove down the road to Kari and Tai's apartment, his blood pumping and his heart fluttering. He had never before been so excited about anything as much as he was about this dance, and he couldn't wait to see what Kari would be wearing. Davis had found out the day before that T.K. had asked Kari to homecoming and T.K. found toilet paper strung in the tree in front of his apartment that morning. No wonder Kari doesn't like him... he's such a jerk, very immature... T.K. reached the Kamiya apartment and knocked with a shaking hand on the door. Tai opened it. "Hey T.K., come on in... you're a bit early, don't you think?" "Haha, hey Tai, how've you been?" "Great thanks, and Sora's great too!" T.K. laughed. "Is Kari ready?" "Are you kidding? It's only 3:15!" As if on cue, Kari called from her room down the hallway. "Who was at the door, Tai?" "Oh nobody, just T.K.," Tai grinned and put on a *bad* british accent and added, "and might I say that he looks absolutely smashing this evening?" "T.K., I told you to warn me before you got here!" T.K. smirked. "Isn't that what the doorbell does?" T.K. heard Kari sigh in amused exasperation at him, and Tai just laughed. "Well T.K., let's watch a little tv, shall we?"
T.K.'s eyelids felt heavy as he and Tai flipped through the entire span of 127 channels for the hundredth time. "Hey Tai, where did I put the Tylenol?" T.K. snapped to attention and looked to the origin of the voice. There was Kari... she looked like an angel. Her shiny brown hair was pulled back and piled high on the back of her head in curls. Strands were loose here and there and were curled into delicate spirals. Her long, satin, spaghetti strap silver dress swirled around her, hugging her slim frame in a way that made T.K.'s jaw drop and his eyes widen. Her tanned shoulders were covered by a sheer pink scarf that flowed around her arms, much like the scarf that hung around Angewomon. She wore sheer pink lipstick, pink eyeshadow, and a light pink blush that accentuated her soft features. She smiled sweetly at T.K., blushing when she saw his dreamy expression. Tai looked from his sister to T.K. and smirked. He took his hand and firmly pushed T.K.'s jaw closed. "Stop drooling over my sister," he cracked in a low voice, "or I might just have to gouge your eyes out." T.K. snapped out of his trance, causing Kari to giggle. "Huh?" Kari blushed even more. "I'll take that as a compliment," she laughed. T.K. felt his face glowing red. "So are you ready to go now?" T.K. said, smiling at his angel. "Yeah, let's go." T.K. offered his arm and Kari gladly took it. "Have fun you two!" Tai called after his sister and T.K. "And T.K.," he added as T.K.'s face paled, "if you want to see tomorrow, you'll have her home by 3." "Sure Tai," T.K. said in a faltering voice. Kari laughed at T.K.'s pale tinge. "Don't worry T.K., he won't do anything." She looked at her feet and added, "I would never let anyone hurt you." T.K.'s expression softened and the color came back to his face. He smiled at the girl on his arm as he opened the car door for her. She got in the car, and T.K. went to the other side and climbed in the driver's seat. "How much did you pay Matt to use his car?" Kari giggled playfully. "Fifteen bucks, and laundry for a month... for a minute I thought I'd get away with just the laundry offer." They looked at each other for a moment and smiled. "Well, let's get going," T.K. said, and he started off towards Odaiba High.
To be continued... Part 2 coming as soon as I get it typed up! ^_^ You poor people... I haven't even gotten to the good part yet! At least, what people said was the good part... well, I have to get goin, it's 1:00 and I think Bush is winning.. YEAH! Hopefully get the rest of this up by tomorrow or thursday! Kari :)