Summary: It's been a year since Diaboromon was defeated the second time. Tai feels sad because he knows he's losing Sora to Matt. T.K. wants to be more than friends with Kari, but doesn't want to ruin their friendship. To top it all off, Gennai has something to tell the group.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any of it's characters.

A crowd of happy teens raced toward the door of the Odaiba Middle School, glad that the day of torture was finally over. Among the stampede was a brunette with crimson eyes, Hikari Kamiya. She exited the school with the other students. But instead of racing home with the others, she stayed behind. She was waiting for him to show up. Takeru Takaishi. Ever since the defeat of Diaboromon a little over a year ago, Kari and T.K. had started a trend of walking home together. Much to Davis' dismay. The huge group passed by, and Kari noticed that T.K. wasn't with them.

Must have been held up, Kari thought.

"Hey, Kari!" Davis walked up and forced Kari to hug him.

"Hey..." Kari said, gasping for breath.

"Where's T.S.?" Davis asked.

"Davis, for the last time, it's T.K.!" Kari scolded as she managed to get away from Davis.

"T.R., T.M., whatever. Where is he?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure he'll be along in a minute," Kari answered.

"You know, I could always --" Davis started.

"Thanks, but no thanks, Davis. I'll just wait," Kari cut him off mid-sentence.

"Fine, suit yourself. See you tomorrow," Davis said.

Daivs left Kari, much to her pleasure, and she waited for T.K. to show up. So, she waited. And waited. And, well, waited some more.

"He never takes this long," Kari said to nobody in particular.

It was now 3:30. T.K. had made her wait half an hour. Wondering what was taking so long, she pulled out her cell phone and selected T.K.'s name from her lengthy contacts list. 'Hey, this is Takeru. I can't talk right now, please leave a message,'

"Straight to voice mail? That's strange," Kari whispered to herself.

She didn't give up, however. She pulled out her D-terminal and emailed T.K.

T.K. was sitting silently up against the trunk of a tree in a forest the Digital World. He was studying his home work. T.K. had recently decided to start working and studying harder and bring his grades up. He started doing his home work in the Digital World because it was far too distracting back home.

"33 minus negative seven, divided by two, plus 15, plus negative 11... Man, that's a long problem!" T.K. said rubbing his temples.

Suddenly he heard his D-terminal go off. Great, now what? he thought.

He picked up the D-terminal and found somebody had sent him an email.

'T.K., where r u? ur supposed to walk me home!

- Kari'

T.K. quickly got up from his spot on the ground. "Damn! Got carried away," T.K. muttered.

He quickly gathered up all his books, all the while feeling like he was being watched. Suddenly, he heard some of the brush behind him start shuffle.

"Huh... Somebody there?" T.K. called, looking for whatever was moving.

The brush continued to shuffle. T.K. psyched himself up for what was in there. Finally, something emerged from the brush. A Yokomon came bouncing out, followed shortly after by a Tanemon. They were playing tag.

T.K. wiped his brow. "Phew. That had me worried for a minute."

T.K. got his D-3 out of his pocket and and activated the T.V. which served as a portal between the Digital World and Earth. Little did T.K. know somebody had been watching him. The figure, hidden by the shadows, dawned a large, evil grin.

Kari was still waiting by the entrance of the school. He's not coming. I guess I'll just go by myself. she thought to her self.

She was about to set off for home all alone when she heard T.K.'s familiar voice.

"Kari, wait up!" Kari turned to see her blonde-haired friend running toward her.

"There you are. I was beginning to think you forgot," Kari said, trying to act hurt.

"Oh, Kari. I'm disappointed. How could you ever think I would forget to walk you home?" T.K. answered, trying just as hard to act hurt.

They both laughed at the way they were trying to make each other feel sorry.

"What held you up?" Kari asked as they started walking.

"Hmm? Oh. I decided to step up my work ethic because I'm tired of my sloppy grades. I went to the Digital World to study and do my home work because there's to many things here to distract me," T.K. answered. Kari giggled at this.

Distractions? Like what?" Kari asked. T.K. scratched the back of his head.

"You know. There's stuff like T.V., and the computer. That kinda stuff," T.K. answered. Not to mention the thought of you, T.K. though.

Kari's only reply was a small laugh. They walked on in silence for a moment.

"So... how was your day?" T.K. asked.

"You know, the usual," Kari replied.

"That bad, eh?" T.K. teased. He knew Kari was a straight-a student.

"Whateva!" Kari crossed her arms and stuck out her lower lip.

"C'mon, you know I didn't mean anything!" said T.K. Kari laughed as they reached the building.

"Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning," Kari said.

"Oh, but I'm not done walking you home yet," T.K. replied. Kari shot a surprised look at T.K. "I don't stop until you're all the way home."

Kari stood there dumbstruck for a moment thinking of what to say. "So... I get the 'special' escort today, huh?" she finally said.

"I am a gentleman, after all," T.K. said, dawning a big smirk.

They both laughed and walked inside to the elevator. Kari pressed the button for her floor, then noticed the song that was playing. It was Brave Heart.

"I remember that song. It was real big when we went on our first adventure in the Digital World," T.K. said.

Kari stood there stood there remembering all the adventures they had in the Digital World when they were eight.

"Yeah. Good times. Well, except for all the near-death experiences," Kari said. They both chuckled.

The rest of the ride was silent until the elevator dinged to indicate they had reached their destination. They both stepped out and walked quietly down the concourse to Kari's apartment.

"Let's try this again," Kari said stopping by the door. "Bye, T.K.,"

T.K. took Kari's left hand and kissed it. "Goodbye, princess of light,"

Kari just stared at T.K. and all T.K. could do was blush. Kari fluttered with the door knob, still shocked at the way T.K. acted, and T.K. turned to go back to the elevator, when Kari asked him something.

"Umm, T.K.?" She started.

"Yeah?" T.K. said, looking over his shoulder, trying to hide hide his huge blush.

"I was thinking, I haven't gone to the Digital World since before the world tour. I was wondering, would you like to go with me Saturday? It would be nice to see Gatomon again," Kari asked.

"I would love to, Kari," came T.K.'s reply.

"Great. I'll see you Saturday, then," said Kari. With that, she went inside.

T.K. walked back to the elevator and got inside it just in time to hear the end of Brave Heart. He hit the button for the ground floor.

Man, whoever ends up with her is going to be one lucky-ass son-of-a-bitch. I just hope that lucky-ass son-of-a-bitch is me. Oh, c'mon, Takeru, you know you and Kari would never work. But, she did as me to go with her to the Digital World. Does she feel the same way? No, I'm just day dreaming, he thought.

The elevator reached the ground floor, and T.K. exited the building and started for off for his apartment. He was still thinking about Kari when his phone rang. It was his mother, Nancy.

"Hey, mom," He said.

'T.K., where are you? What's taking you so long to get home?' T.K. could hear slight worry in his mother's voice.

"I, uh... had to stay a little longer than usual and study. Then I walked Kari home. I'm on the way now," He answered.

'Oh, okay. See you in a few minutes. Love you, honey. Bye,' said Nancy.

T.K. put his phone back up and continued on his way home, when he heard a familiar voice.

"Well, if it isn't Takeru. Long time no see," T.K. turned to see Tai walking up to him.

"Hey, Tai. Haven't seen you in a long time. How's it goin'?" T.K. asked as they slapped fists.

"Great. My math is finally starting to make since to me now. How 'bout you?" Tai responded.

"Not to bad, I guess. Well, I gotta get home. Mom'll have a stroke if I don't get back soon," said T.K.

"Believe me, I know what you mean. See ya," Tai said. They both went their separate ways.

T.K. quickly walked home after he got done talking to Tai. When he got to his apartment complex, he decided to test himself. He ran up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. He made it up to his floor without even breaking a sweat. He walked inside and his mom was waiting for him as soon as he entered the door.

"There you are. I was beginning to get worried about you," she said.

"No need to worry. I was just doing some home work before I left," T.K. answered and headed for his room.

"Oh, T.K., your brother called. Said he couldn't get a hold of you and he needs you to call him," said Nancy.

"Okay, I give him a call. Thanks for telling me," T.K. said entering his room and closing the door. "I'll call Matt later. First, I need to get my work from before done," he said, holding his D-3 up to his computer. He was engulfed in light as he was sucked into his computer screen.

"WOAH!!" T.K. shouted as he landed face first in some sand. His back pack, which flew off his back while being transported, landed on his head. "OW!!!" he said rubbing his head.

"Sure, they can put a man on the moon, but Izzy can't come up with a way for us to land softly here," T.K. muttered.

He got up and dusted himself off. He took a look at his surroundings. He had ended up inside of a dessert. He sat up against a large boulder and started back on his home work from before. After several minutes, he finally got finished. He got up and got his books together, getting that feeling like he was being watched again. He looked around to make sure he was the only one there.

Just my imagination. I need to lay off the action flicks for a while. Better get back before mom discovers I'm not there. Don't want her to have cows, kittens and horses. And I sure don't want to go through the whole 'I went to the other world where the monsters are' conversation, he thought.

He activated the T.V. and went back home. When he emerged, he crash-landed on his bed.

At least the landing zone was soft this time, he thought.

He picked himself up and sat down in his desk chair. He dialed Matt to find out what he wanted.

'T.K.,' Matt said.

"Hey, mom said you tried to call me earlier today," T.K. said.

'Yeah. I called when you were supposed to be out of school. Where where you?' said Matt.

"I went to the Digital World right after my last class to study in peace. As you know, our cell phones don't work there," T.K. answered.

'Oh, I see. I was afraid you got detention or something,' Matt said.

"Wasn't there something you needed to tell me?" T.K. asked.

'Oh, yeah. Izzy called. Said Gennai has something important to tell us. All the Digidestend are going to meet in the park Saturday,'

T.K. felt his heart sink. "Oh. I see. Thanks for the heads up," he replied, trying hide the disappointment in his voice.

'You bet. See you Saturday,' Matt said, and hung up.

T.K. flipped his phone shut and tossed it on his desk. Great. Now Kari and I can't go to the Digital World. What's so important that Gennai has to get all of us together? Pain in the ass, he thought.

"T.K.! Dinner's ready!" Nancy called from the other room.

Some things are going my way at least.