A/N: Well here I am, finally writing something! It's about time, this writers block thing was really bugging me! Hehe.. OK, this isn't exactly the best fic I've ever written but it's better then what I've been writing lately. AKA nothing! Plus it's Takari and that's always good, well for those of us who like Takari anyway. And for those you who don't I really don't know why your here. Plus there's a little bit of Mimato in here too, so be warned!
So anyway, as far as TK and Kari are concerned, they're sophomores, so I guess they're about 15, and I'm modeling their school system somewhat after mine so it's only their first year in high school. Get it? Got it? Good! Jeeze, I act like it was a hard concept to grasp or something. OK, well anyway, I'm done babbling. You can read the fic now. I hope you like it! And please r/r!! Thanx!
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- Perfect -
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Takeru stood silently before the bathroom mirror, softly brushing his golden hair out of his eyes. He was looking rather sharp, as his mother had put it only moments ago. And it was true he realized as he stared at himself, standing there in his neat black suit, azure eyes shining, and just a dab of his brothers special imported hair gel to keep his bangs from disrupting his vision. He didn't want to miss anything this evening. Things had to be perfect tonight. He had to be perfect tonight. It was all key to this nights being a successes. And tonight would be a successes. It had to be.
It was still hard for him to believe how lucky he was. The homecoming dance was tonight, his first, and he was going with the nicest, kindest, most beautiful girl in the entire school. Heck, in the entire world as far as he was concerned. Hikari Kamiya, the girl he'd only loved since he was eight-years-old. The only girl he'd ever loved. And tonight was the night she'd finally find out how he really felt.
It wasn't really supposed to be a date. In fact TK hadn't planed on attending at all, but that was before Kari asked him.
~~Flashback~~
"Hey, TK." Kari called to the blond haired boy as she ran down the hall to catch up with him. Takeru stopped dead in his tracks at the mere sound of her voice.
"Yeah?" He said casually, turning around to greet her. He grinned as he got a glimpse of her face. She was so beautiful, so perfect, so...
"So are you going to homecoming?" The girl asked, pushing a stray strand of her shoulder length brown hair behind her ear. A gesture which only made TK smile more as he thought of what he had just been asked.
"Uh, um....I...a....What I mean is....Homecoming....?"
Kari couldn't help but laugh a little at the babbling boy before her. He was so cute when he didn't know what to say. "Yes, TK." She barely stifled another giggle. "Homecoming. Are-you-going-to-homecoming?" She said the words slowly as though to make him understand.
"I, a, yeah I was thinking about it...uh, yeah..." He nodded as he trailed off, doing his best to sound cool. Although he was pretty sure he wasn't doing that great of a job. Kari was getting sarcastic, that wasn't exactly the best sign of anything out of the ordinary.
"Well, are you going with anyone?" She asked, amused by the boys reactions.
"No." He said more quickly then he'd meant to.
"Well, do you want to go with anyone?" She wondered. "In particular I mean."
"Me?" He said dumbly, receiving a slow nod from the other. "No, I mean, well, I wasn't really planing on going with anyone. I mean, there was this one girl but I really don't think I'm gonna ask her." He finished, then gave himself a mental slap for the way he'd chosen to phrase the words.
"OK, well, me either." She said simply. "Well, at least no ones asked me yet and I'd really like to have a date, so I was thinking that maybe you and I could..."
"Yes!" The boy exclaimed. "Sure."
"Cool." She said giving him a friendly peck on the cheek. "I always knew I could count on you."
~~Flashback ends~~
OK, sure he knew that they were just going as friends, but that didn't mean that they couldn't become something more. Especially after he told her how he felt. He knew it would work, in fact he'd never been more confident about anything in his entire life. It really would be perfect.
"Hey, TK. Ya plan on coming out of there some time tonight?" He heard Matt ask knocking lightly on the bathroom door.
"Yeah, I'm coming." He said, quickly running his fingers through his hair before reaching for the door to reveal his brother standing there somewhat impatiently, dressed up in his own way.
"Thanks Bro." Matt said with a smile, patting his brother on the back as he ushered him out of the bathroom and stepped in himself.
"Wow! Lookin good, Takeru!" The boy heard Mimi voice her approval from the living room where she was waiting for Matt. He couldn't help but blush a little as he smiled back at her. She was wearing a beautiful lavender dress that suited her perfectly and had her hair left down and curled.
"Thanks Mimi." He grinned getting a glimpse of his brothers girlfriend. "Your not lookin to bad yourself."
"Why, thank you, TK." She laughed walking over to where the boy stood. "Glad to have your approval."
"Hey." Matt said coming out of the bathroom rather quickly, running his fingers through his hair the way TK had done earlier. "Quit flirting with my girlfriend!" He said with mock defense.
"Jealous, are we?" The pink haired girl asked in an amused tone.
"Well, yeah." The older boy said, jokingly. "Your out here telling my little brother how great he looks and you haven't said a thing about my hair."
It was all Mimi could do from cracking up at her boyfriends statement. He could act so silly sometimes. "Well, can I help it if your little brother is looking rather attractive tonight." She said as seriously as she could, seductively twirling a piece of her hair between her fingers.
"Yeah, and you know where he gets if from don't you?" Matt said softly, into the game playing.
"Oh yes, cause I hear his older brothers pretty hot too." She replied, sliding her arms around his waist.
"Oh, but he is." The older blond said as he leaned forward and kissed the girls lips softly.
"Oh jeeze." TK said, rolling his eyes at the couple before him. "This is pathetic! Please tell me that Kari and I'll never be as weird as you two!!"
Mimi giggled as she turned away from the boy she loved, giving TK happy smile. "With any luck you will be."
"Yeah, it's really very fun." Matt Chimed in.
"I'll bet." TK said, rolling his eyes one more time.
"Hey, don't knock it until you've tried it." His brother laughed, leaving Mimi's side to talk to TK.
"Yeah, if I ever get to try it." The younger boy said, his smile quickly fading. "What if Kari doesn't like me, you know, like, that?"
Matt sighed yet continued to smile, Mimi did the same. "Don't worry so much." The older boy said. "Everthing'll work out just fine."
"Yeah," Mimi added. "How could she resist you now, you look great."
Matt nodded. "Plus she did agree to go out with you."
"She's the one who asked."
"Even better." His brother assured him.
"Yeah, but it's not really a date, you know." TK reminded the pair. "We're just going as friends. She knows it and I, well I know it to. She only asked me cause no one else asked her."
"Yeah, but she wouldn't have asked you if she didn't like you a little bit." Mimi said reasoning with him.
"Yeah, I guess." The boy said trying to sound hopeful.
"And I know!" Matt exclaimed, in an attempt to cheer his little brother up. "Everything'll be great, you'll see."
"I just want it to be perfect." Takeru said honestly.
"And it will be." Mimi said, grinning at the boy. "Don't you worry about it. It'll all fall into place. So, do you have anything to give to her?"
"I bought her flowers, Sora gave them to me on sale. I wanted to rent a limo too, but it was a little out of my price range." He replied, sounding a bit happier then before.
"Is that all?" The girl asked, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Shouldn't you give her jewelry or something?"
TK's eye's went wide at the statement. "Why? Am I supposed to??" He exclaimed in a semi frantic state. Could he have actually forgotten something? What if this ruined the whole night??
"Calm down, TK!" Mimi said, mentally slapping herself for making the boy so worried. "It's not like it's a requirement or anything!" When TK didn't look any less upset the girl thought a moment before sliding what looked like a diamond ring off of her finger. "Here, give her this, I'm sure your mother has a nice box you can put it in."
"Hey, where'd you get that?" Matt asked, surprise at what he saw.
"At the mall, Mr. jealousy. Jeeze, I do buy jewelry for myself ya know?"
"Oh." Matt said feeling a bit foolish as his brother took the ring from Mimi staring down at it momentarily before tilting his head up to look at her.
"Wow, thanks Mimi. Kari'll love this." He said gratefully, then thought a moment. "It's not real, is it?"
"Oh, no!" Mimi replied immediately. "Gold plated and cubic zirconia. I said I buy jewelry for myself, not expensive jewelry. It's good for a first date though."
TK couldn't help but smile up at the girl, as he was now exceedingly happy. "It's not date, remember?"
"Sure it isn't." She said, gently ruffling his golden hair as they heard the phone ringing from the other room.
"TK, it's for you." He heard his mother call, apparently referring to the phone. "It's Kari."
TK grinned as he glanced over at Matt and Mimi. "Hey, she's probably calling to find out when your picking her up." Matt smiled, sliding an arm around Mimi's waist.
"Yeah." Mimi agreed. "Now don't keep her waiting, girls hate that."
TK smiled some more as he made his way over to the phone and put the receiver up to his ear. "Hey, Kari." He was happy just saying her name.
"Hey, TK. Your never gonna guess what just happened to me!!"
"What?" He asked a little confused. She'd sounded so happy.
"Andrew Kiyoshi just asked me out to the dance!" She said all to excitedly.
TK's heart fell at the words could she really be serious?? "What did you tell him?" He barely managed to mutter.
"I said yes!" She chimed merrily. "This is so great, now maybe you can ask that girl you had in mind. Unless she's already got a date. Does she?" TK couldn't believe what he was hearing. Kari really didn't like him, that much was obvious. She didn't like him at all and his he could feel his perfect night falling apart as she spoke. "So does she?"
The boy tried hard to swallow the lump forming in his throat. He tried hard not to let himself sound hurt as he spoke to the girl. "As, as a matter of fact she does. I, I've got to go."
"Hey wait, TK!" Kari shouted in hopes that he wouldn't go yet.
"What?"
"You'll still save a dance for me, right?" She asked to the boys surprise and dismay.
"Don't I always?" Was his reply.
"Good." Kari said. "I'll see you later then."
"Yeah." TK said, still barely able to keep his voice at normal tone. "I'll see ya." And with that he placed the phone down slowly, staring at the ground in disbelief of what had just occurred.
"TK, what happened? What's wrong?" Mimi asked her friend worriedly.
All the boy could do was shake his head slowly as he stared sadly at the two doing his best to hold back tears. "You were wrong." He said so suddenly that it caused both Matt and Mimi to jump simultaneously. "You were both wrong." He said again, his voice still eerily calm. "Kari doesn't love me, she doesn't even like me. And she's going to the dance with some other guy."
"TK, I..." Matt tried to comfort his brother.
"No, just shut up Matt. I don't want any more of your stupid advice. I just, I just gotta get out of here." And with that he turned and headed for the door never looking back at his brother or Mimi as he ran out of the apartment.
"TK, Wait!" Matt exclaimed as his brother ran away.
"Matt, what's wrong?" His mother asked coming into the living room as she heard the door slam. "Where's TK?"
Matt sighed, staring down at the floor as he gave her the only response he could think of. "I don't know."
"Well, what are we gonna do?" Mimi asked staring at her boyfriend. "Shouldn't we go after him?"
"No," Matt said shaking his head. "We're going to the dance."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hikari couldn't help but smile she entered the crowded gym, followed closely by her date. She could hardly believe how great it looked, beautifully decorated in purple stars and crescent moons. The gym actually looked nice. And nice was not a word one used often to describe the attractiveness of the Odaiba High gym. The, Jr. High never decorated this well for anything.
"Wow, they sure did a nice job in here." Andrew said with some enthusiasm as he took Kari's hand and began leading her through the massive crowd. Andrew was a well known boy who was rather tall for his age with had brown hair and green eye's. He played on Tai's soccer team, was Jr. class president and quite easily one of the most popular boys in school. Plus he was a year older then Kari and already had his own car, a hot little red SUV that anyone would be proud to own. Most of the girls in school would've killed to be in Kari's position right now, although why exactly, she of all people was the one in that position was beyond her. Not that she could complain.
"Yeah, it looks great." The girl commented, grinning up at him. Thinking mainly of how lucky she was right now before she started to wonder about something else. "Where are we going?" She asked still holding tight to his hand so not to get separated.
"Oh, I told some of my friends I'd meet up with them first." He replied as they seemed to be heading for the tables. "I hope you don't mind."
Kari shook her head slowly. "No, I don't mind." She said, the grin returning to her face.
"Cool." He said, as they approached a table surrounded by a bunch of guys Kari recognized as some of her brothers team mates. Ryan, Tim, Mike, Alec, and Jim if she remembered correctly. "Hey guys." Andrew said as he reached the table with his friends, and was immediately meet with a round of "Heys" and "What's up" from the group of guys.
"Sorry I was late, I had to pick up my date." He said placing an arm around the girl beside him. "This is Kari, she's Tai Kamiya's sister."
"Oh, hey, Kari." The boy whom she was pretty sure was Ryan said from the back of the group.
"Yeah, Tai's little sister," Alec said nodding his head. "What's up?"
Kari just shrugged a little before saying "hi" herself, truthfully she felt a little uncomfortable around this particular group without her brother. The rest of them just gave her a nod and a smile before they turned their attention back to their friend.
"So Andrew, we were just talking about the game yesterday." Mike offered him the information.
"Cool." Andrew said grinning. "Our offense was great in that game!"
"Yeah I know, that other team didn't know what they were up against!"
"Oh yeah! Guess it's safe to say, we won't be seeing them in the playoffs."
And bluh, bluh, bluh, bluh, bluh...Kari couldn't help but tune them out as they continued talking about the game as though they were super stars, especially since they'd only one by two goals. Tai didn't even think the game was that great. She didn't mind though, they'd be dancing soon, then maybe he wouldn't act like such a jock.
It was then at that moment when he though of him. Odd that she would think of him at a time like thins. But she couldn't help but wonder, where was he now? She really hadn't seen him anywhere. "Uh hey, have any of you guys seen TK?" she asked, receiving mixed and confused looks from the group. "Takeru Takaishi?" That didn't seem to help much either. "Tall, blond, on the basketball team??"
"Oh," Jim exclaimed obviously realizing who she was talking about. Figured that she's have to bring sports into his description. "Takaishi!" He nodded. "Ishida's little brother, I know him."
Kari nodded slowly. "Yeah, Matt's little brother, have any of you seen him?"
"No." Alec replied. "I don't think he's here."
"Oh."
Andrew smiled at her. "Don't worry, you've got enough guys over here, don't ya think?"
"Yeah, whatever." The girl uttered still wondering where her friend was as the guys got back into their oh so interesting conversation. She sighed as she looked at him, Andrew, it sure would be nice if he'd actually give a little bit of his attention to her. After all she was his date. "Andrew?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm getting kinda thirsty." She said hoping that he'd get the hint.
"Yeah, you know what, I am too, would you mind garbing a drink for me too?" OK so he didn't get the hint. "The drink tables right over there, I'm sure that you'll be able to find something you like."
Kari was somewhat stunned by his words, and she actually hopped that he could see it in her face. "Gee thanks." She said in annoyance as she turned around and headed for the drink table. It was a few moments before she returned, oddly enough to find that their were five girls added to the group, most likely the other guys dates. She'd been wondering where they were.
"Oh, there she is." Kari heard Andrew say as she approached him. "Thanks." He smiled, taking his drink and placing his arm around her once again. "The girls were all wondering where my date was."
"Yeah." One of the girls said. "We all thought he'd be bringing Lauren."
"Lauren?" Kari looked confused.
Andrew nodded. "My ex."
"Oh," Kari said. "Well, I'm here now." OK, she knew that sounded lame, but at that particular moment she didn't care much. Besides, what was she supposed to say.
"Oh my Gosh! She is so adorable!" Another girl, Courtney, exclaimed, receiving mixed expressions from Kari.
"Um, thanks Courtney," The brown haired girl replied, doing what she figured was humoring the excited blonde before her. "You look really nice too."
Courtney looked confused for a moment as she stared at Kari. "Do I know you?"
"Huh?"
"Well, you did know my name, plus you look kind of familiar." The girl replied to Kari's bewilderment. Could she really be serious??
"I'm in your geometry class." She reminded her.
"Seriously?" The blonde looked skeptical.
"She's Tai Kamiya's little sister." Andrew said in an attempt to jog the ditzy girls memory.
"Oh yeah!" She suddenly exclaimed. "You sit in the front. Oh and you were that girl at that party at Tai's house." She sounded so proud of herself.
"Yeah," Kari nodded in disbelief." My house." Could this girl really be that dense?
"Uh, Kari, ya wanna dance?" Andrew asked quite suddenly, as he was probably picking up on pointlessness of the current situation.
"Yes!" She replied a little to eagerly. Anything to get away from these morons.
They were out on the dance floor moments later, leaning on each other as Kari tried to have a better time. Tonight, it had barely begun and she already knew that it wasn't going to be half as fun as she'd first thought. She was so sure that it was all going to be prefect, that it would all fall perfectly into place. After all she was there with the perfect guy, wasn't she?
A few more songs were played a few more dances were danced, but from Kari's perspective they were all meaningless. "You wanna go sit down for a bit?" Andrew asked staring down at the girl.
She gave a single nod as she replied. "Sure." She sighed, actually she just wanted to go home. And then suddenly she felt someone tap lightly on her shoulder as they headed back towards the tables. "Yeah?" The girl turned around to see someone she hadn't expected.
"Here, these are for you." Matt said as he thrust a rather magnificent bouquet of flowers into her arms.
"Matt?!" Kari said surprised by his actions. "What....?"
"They're from TK." The blond boy explained to her. "He picked them out especially for you."
"TK?" Kari didn't know what to say, had TK actually bought her flowers? No one ever bought her flowers.
"What is this all about Ishida?" Andrew suddenly exclaimed as he watched the scene unfold. "You trying to steal my girl?"
"Your girl?!" Matt and Kari exclaimed simultaneously.
"Your what??" Matt looked surprised to see the other boy. "Oh my God, Kari, You broke TK's heart over him??"
"Huh?" Andrew seemed confused, but no more then Kari herself.
"Whoa Matt, what are you talking about, I broke TK's heart?" Kari asked, unable to believe his words.
"Oh, Kari come on how blind can you be?" Matt wondered shaking his head at the girl. "He likes you. He likes you a lot and all he wanted to do was make this night perfect, for you. And then you go and dump him for Andrew."
"Matt, TK and I were just going as friends." Kari reminded him.
"Yeah, that's what TK said too." He replied to her statement sadly. "But I don't think he really believed it." And with that he walked away to meet a slightly annoyed Mimi on the other side of the gym, leaving Kari totally shocked by what she'd just heard.
"Kari?" Andrew said putting a hand on the girls shoulder. "What's this all about?"
"TK." The girl said sighed a solemn look upon her face. "Look, I'm really sorry Andrew, but I have to go."
"Go where?" He looked confused.
"I'm not really sure yet." She replied honestly.
"But your my date, if you leave I'll look like a total idiot!" Andrew said sounding alarmed.
"Well, then I guess you'll look like an idiot." She replied simply. "But I think I made a really big mistake tonight, and now I have to go fix it."
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Takeru looked on annoyed as the ball slammed of the backboard, quickly ricocheting back in his direction. He never played well when he was upset, and tonight he was particularly miserable. But no matter how pointless, this was where he always came when something was bothering him. Here, to the park so that he could shoot dozens of balls that would never go in due to both the force behind them and his constant lack of aim.
But what did he care? It wasn't like his making a shot would fix anything. Why should he care? If there was any good reason, he sure couldn't think of it. He'd lost Kari, that's all he knew. And even that statement was wrong, because he never had her to begin with. All he lost was his chance, and somehow that hurt him even more. Maybe if he'd at least had chance...
He didn't wanted think of that, it only made things ten times worse to think of what could have been but never was or would be. He could never be with Kari now. So instead he just picked his basketball up off the ground and hurled it at the hoop like he didn't care at all if it went in or not. And it didn't, just slammed off the backboard again and was thrown sideways out of the court.
The boy frowned as he watched the ball roll off into the bushes, now he'd have to go get it and even that simple fact made him feel worse. He sighed jogging in the balls' general direction, not quite sure where it went. He carefully pushed the bushes out of his way as he searched, having a hard time see where it had gone. It was really much to dark for him to find anything here. And then,
"You looking for this?" He heard someone ask in a soft familiar voice.
"Kari?" He knew it was her without even looking up, but he just couldn't believe that she was there. And yet there she was, standing there before him in a gorgeous pale pink spaghetti strap gown, her hair done up in a beautiful array of curls that framed her face perfectly. She looked like an angel, that was the best way he could describe her. An amazingly beautiful angel who just happened to be holding his basketball in her hands.
"Yep." She smiled down at him as he stared up at her, quickly getting to his feet in order to be closer to her.
"Kari, what are you doing here?" He asked, surprised at seeing her. "Aren't you supposed to be at the dance with Andrew?" He said the other boys name with just the slightest hint of bitterness in his voice.
"Yeah," she said with a tiny laugh, placing the ball on the ground beside her. "I guess I am."
"Well, why aren't you?" He asked somewhat confused by her statement.
She just continued to smile at him. "Because I don't want to be there with Andrew." She said taking a step towards him. "Because I'm much rather be here with you."
"What?" The boy looked on in amazement. Could she really mean that? "Kari, I don't understand, I thought you...."
"TK, come over here and sit down." She cut him off, taking a seat on a nearby bench. "We really need to talk."
"Yeah." He agreed as he walked over and sat down beside her.
"Look TK, I'm really sorry about tonight." The brown haired girl said honestly. "I never meant to hurt you by going with Andrew. I never knew..."
"Wait a second Kari," TK cut her off. "What are you talking about?"
"I know how much I disappointed you." She began. "And I'm sorry for that. I mean when Matt told me how you felt..."
Takeru looked surprised as the girl trailed off. "What? You mean Matt told you? How could he do that? I, I just wanted you to have fun tonight, Kari. I didn't know he'd go and tell you, I never should have told him!"
"Don't get mad at Matt." Kari urged. "I'm glad he told me."
TK frowned despite her words. "Yeah but I ruined your night, I didn't want to do that. I just wanted you to have fun."
"TK, my night was ruined long before Matt came along and told me how you felt." The girl laughed. "I was introduced to everyone as Tai Kamiya's little sister. Who knew that Andrew Kiyoshi could be such an idiot. And his friends, Oh my God TK, I'm almost ashamed that my brother hangs out with them."
"Really?" He sounded a little happier now.
"Oh yeah." She practically exclaimed. "And let me assure you, I rather be here with you then any where with them."
"But now you know how I feel about you." The blond turned away from her as he spoke.
"Yeah I do." She replied. "And I couldn't be happier."
"Huh." He couldn't help but look back at her. "What do you..."
"Do you remember how good of friends I was with Daisuke?" She asked totally changing the subject?"
"Uh, yeah." The boy replied. "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Everything!" She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Dai and I, we used to be so close. He was like a sergeant best friend before you moved here to Odaiba, but then we grew up and his feelings towards me started to change. It was just a childhood crush, I know that, but it really screwed our friendship up and now we barely even talk. And the thing is, I couldn't stand it if that ever happened to us."
TK sighed. "You mean about me liking you?"
"No." She shook her head and TK looked more confused then ever. "I mean about me liking you."
"What..."
"Your my best friend, you know that right?" The boy nodded. "Well, that's just it. Part of me has always loved you, you know. That's the way it's always been with you. But then the feelings started getting stronger and stronger and I was more confused then ever. At first I thought it was just because we'd known each other for so long, because we were such good friends. But the more I thought of it, the more I felt it, the more I knew that it was bigger then that. And that my feelings had nothing do with friendship. And you see, that just really scared me."
Despite the girls words TK still had a sad and confused look in his eye's, almost begging to look happy again. "I don't understand, Kari." He said somewhat sadly. "How could something so wonderful scare you?"
"Because of what happened with Dai. Because I'm barely even friends with him anymore, and because I couldn't stand it if I lost you too." She replied, and TK thought he could see tears welling up in her eye's.
"Kari don't do this to yourself." TK begged. "Please don't get all upset."
"I'm sorry." She apologized. "It's just that, I ruined everything tonight. I ruined your night and I ruined mine. I ruined what could have been the best night of my life and for what? To go out with some dumb jock who couldn't even get his own drink. How could I be so stupid?"
"Kari calm down." The boy pleaded. "Please, Kari! You didn't ruin anything. I was an idiot too, I should have told you how I felt a long time ago."
"Yeah." She sighed staring hard into his eye's. "And I should have told you." Takeru couldn't help it after that one, and he wrapped is arms around the girl in a comforting hug. She hugged him back briefly before pulling away and wiping her eye's. "Thanks, TK. Ya know, this is just like old times, you were always my shoulder to cry on. You were always there for me."
"Just like you were for me, that's why your my best friend, that's why I..." He trailed off as she shivered a bit, wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm. "Oh my Gosh, Kari, look at you, you must be freezing!"
"No, I'm all right." She lied, rubbing her bare arms for warmth.
"No, your not." He stated the obvious as he took his jacket off and handed it to her. "Here, I think you need this more then I do."
Kari smiled at him, taking the jacket gratefully. "My, my TK. Aren't we the chivalrous one?"
"Well, what can I say?" He joked, a smile now coming to his lips as well.
Kari laughed too. "You can start by saying your welcome."
"And you can start by saying thank you." The boy grinned.
"TK!" She continued to laugh shaking her head at him slowly. "Fine, thank you. Ya happy now?"
"Yes." He replied. "And your welcome."
The two of the two just stared at each other for a moment, smiling the whole time before TK once again placed an arm around her allowing her the lean her head against his chest. They just sat there comfortably for a moment before either of them spoke again.
"TK?" Kari said looking up and doing her best to see the blonds face from her position.
"Huh?"
"What are you thinking about right now?" She asked, curious as to what was the boy might say.
"Honestly? I was wondering how I could improve my jump shot, I figured if I..."
"Hey!" The girl exclaimed, sitting up immediately as she heard him speak.
"Oh come on," He laughed. "Kari you know me better then that!"
"All right, then what were you really thinking?"
"I was wondering whether or not I should give you your present."
"Present?" The girl looked intrigued.
"Yep." He nodded. "Check out my right jacket pocket."
Kari smiled, placing her hand in the pocket and began feeling around for anything that could possibly be her present. "Oh," She said as she inadvertently slid her finger through the ring and pulling her hand out of the pocket to take a look. "Wow, TK, it's beautiful!" She beamed. "Thank you so much! I love it."
"Good, I was hoping you would." He replied, staring at the girl. "Kari, what are you thinking about?"
"Me?" She asked and the boy nodded. "The same thing I think about every time I look at you."
"And that would be?"
Kari was silent for a moment before she replied to his question softly. "How much I really want to kiss you." She said gazing at TK seriously as a tiny smile crept over his lips.
"Well, I think that can be arranged." He replied as he leaned forward as placed his lips on hers, wrapping his arms around her tightly. Kari kissed him back longingly as she too wrapped her arms around him. They were both in total bliss at that moment, both happier then they ever thought possible. It was about a minute before they broke their kiss and just stared at each other. "I love you, Hikari Kamiya." Were the first words off of his lips.
"And I love you Takeru Takaishi. More then anything." She grinned at him with love in her eye's. And then she stood up, to Takeru's surprise.
"What are you doing?" He asked, slightly confused.
"Well," She began, her smile never fading as she took the boys hand in hers. "You did tell me that you'd save a dance for me."
"What?" He laughed. "You want to dance now? Here?"
"Why not?" She asked playfully." It'll be fun."
"All right," TK said getting to his feet. "But only if you play me in a game of basketball next."
Now it was Kari's turn to laugh. "Deal." She said as they wrapped their arms around each, leaning on each other for support and began swaying to the none existent music. "I know I'm not all that great, but from the way I've seen you playing lately, it shouldn't be a problem."
"Very funny." TK said sarcastically. "You know I'll beat you." He said, even though he was pretty sure he was going to let her win. Kari didn't even reply to the statement, just laughed as she hugged him a little tighter. And although he couldn't see her face, TK knew that she was smiling. He was too, he'd wanted this night to be so perfect. For everything to just fall into place. They both had. And he'd been so sure that things were over before, so sure that they were ruined. And yet, here, now he couldn't think of anything better. He couldn't have been happier if things had gone exactly they way they were supposed, because then he wouldn't be here, it would be now. And nothing was more perfect to him then this.
~~~~~~~~
- The End -
~~~~~~~~
A/N: OK, so what do ya think? Did it get boring? I hope not, but I dunno, oh well. As for Andrew and his little group, I hope I didn't offend anyone in some odd way. I kinda modeled Andrew after my ex, only I made him slightly more annoying. And as for his friends, well what can I say? Some people are just dumb. Oh well, hope you liked the story! And that's about it. I'll C'ya.
So anyway, as far as TK and Kari are concerned, they're sophomores, so I guess they're about 15, and I'm modeling their school system somewhat after mine so it's only their first year in high school. Get it? Got it? Good! Jeeze, I act like it was a hard concept to grasp or something. OK, well anyway, I'm done babbling. You can read the fic now. I hope you like it! And please r/r!! Thanx!
~~~~~~~
- Perfect -
~~~~~~~
Takeru stood silently before the bathroom mirror, softly brushing his golden hair out of his eyes. He was looking rather sharp, as his mother had put it only moments ago. And it was true he realized as he stared at himself, standing there in his neat black suit, azure eyes shining, and just a dab of his brothers special imported hair gel to keep his bangs from disrupting his vision. He didn't want to miss anything this evening. Things had to be perfect tonight. He had to be perfect tonight. It was all key to this nights being a successes. And tonight would be a successes. It had to be.
It was still hard for him to believe how lucky he was. The homecoming dance was tonight, his first, and he was going with the nicest, kindest, most beautiful girl in the entire school. Heck, in the entire world as far as he was concerned. Hikari Kamiya, the girl he'd only loved since he was eight-years-old. The only girl he'd ever loved. And tonight was the night she'd finally find out how he really felt.
It wasn't really supposed to be a date. In fact TK hadn't planed on attending at all, but that was before Kari asked him.
~~Flashback~~
"Hey, TK." Kari called to the blond haired boy as she ran down the hall to catch up with him. Takeru stopped dead in his tracks at the mere sound of her voice.
"Yeah?" He said casually, turning around to greet her. He grinned as he got a glimpse of her face. She was so beautiful, so perfect, so...
"So are you going to homecoming?" The girl asked, pushing a stray strand of her shoulder length brown hair behind her ear. A gesture which only made TK smile more as he thought of what he had just been asked.
"Uh, um....I...a....What I mean is....Homecoming....?"
Kari couldn't help but laugh a little at the babbling boy before her. He was so cute when he didn't know what to say. "Yes, TK." She barely stifled another giggle. "Homecoming. Are-you-going-to-homecoming?" She said the words slowly as though to make him understand.
"I, a, yeah I was thinking about it...uh, yeah..." He nodded as he trailed off, doing his best to sound cool. Although he was pretty sure he wasn't doing that great of a job. Kari was getting sarcastic, that wasn't exactly the best sign of anything out of the ordinary.
"Well, are you going with anyone?" She asked, amused by the boys reactions.
"No." He said more quickly then he'd meant to.
"Well, do you want to go with anyone?" She wondered. "In particular I mean."
"Me?" He said dumbly, receiving a slow nod from the other. "No, I mean, well, I wasn't really planing on going with anyone. I mean, there was this one girl but I really don't think I'm gonna ask her." He finished, then gave himself a mental slap for the way he'd chosen to phrase the words.
"OK, well, me either." She said simply. "Well, at least no ones asked me yet and I'd really like to have a date, so I was thinking that maybe you and I could..."
"Yes!" The boy exclaimed. "Sure."
"Cool." She said giving him a friendly peck on the cheek. "I always knew I could count on you."
~~Flashback ends~~
OK, sure he knew that they were just going as friends, but that didn't mean that they couldn't become something more. Especially after he told her how he felt. He knew it would work, in fact he'd never been more confident about anything in his entire life. It really would be perfect.
"Hey, TK. Ya plan on coming out of there some time tonight?" He heard Matt ask knocking lightly on the bathroom door.
"Yeah, I'm coming." He said, quickly running his fingers through his hair before reaching for the door to reveal his brother standing there somewhat impatiently, dressed up in his own way.
"Thanks Bro." Matt said with a smile, patting his brother on the back as he ushered him out of the bathroom and stepped in himself.
"Wow! Lookin good, Takeru!" The boy heard Mimi voice her approval from the living room where she was waiting for Matt. He couldn't help but blush a little as he smiled back at her. She was wearing a beautiful lavender dress that suited her perfectly and had her hair left down and curled.
"Thanks Mimi." He grinned getting a glimpse of his brothers girlfriend. "Your not lookin to bad yourself."
"Why, thank you, TK." She laughed walking over to where the boy stood. "Glad to have your approval."
"Hey." Matt said coming out of the bathroom rather quickly, running his fingers through his hair the way TK had done earlier. "Quit flirting with my girlfriend!" He said with mock defense.
"Jealous, are we?" The pink haired girl asked in an amused tone.
"Well, yeah." The older boy said, jokingly. "Your out here telling my little brother how great he looks and you haven't said a thing about my hair."
It was all Mimi could do from cracking up at her boyfriends statement. He could act so silly sometimes. "Well, can I help it if your little brother is looking rather attractive tonight." She said as seriously as she could, seductively twirling a piece of her hair between her fingers.
"Yeah, and you know where he gets if from don't you?" Matt said softly, into the game playing.
"Oh yes, cause I hear his older brothers pretty hot too." She replied, sliding her arms around his waist.
"Oh, but he is." The older blond said as he leaned forward and kissed the girls lips softly.
"Oh jeeze." TK said, rolling his eyes at the couple before him. "This is pathetic! Please tell me that Kari and I'll never be as weird as you two!!"
Mimi giggled as she turned away from the boy she loved, giving TK happy smile. "With any luck you will be."
"Yeah, it's really very fun." Matt Chimed in.
"I'll bet." TK said, rolling his eyes one more time.
"Hey, don't knock it until you've tried it." His brother laughed, leaving Mimi's side to talk to TK.
"Yeah, if I ever get to try it." The younger boy said, his smile quickly fading. "What if Kari doesn't like me, you know, like, that?"
Matt sighed yet continued to smile, Mimi did the same. "Don't worry so much." The older boy said. "Everthing'll work out just fine."
"Yeah," Mimi added. "How could she resist you now, you look great."
Matt nodded. "Plus she did agree to go out with you."
"She's the one who asked."
"Even better." His brother assured him.
"Yeah, but it's not really a date, you know." TK reminded the pair. "We're just going as friends. She knows it and I, well I know it to. She only asked me cause no one else asked her."
"Yeah, but she wouldn't have asked you if she didn't like you a little bit." Mimi said reasoning with him.
"Yeah, I guess." The boy said trying to sound hopeful.
"And I know!" Matt exclaimed, in an attempt to cheer his little brother up. "Everything'll be great, you'll see."
"I just want it to be perfect." Takeru said honestly.
"And it will be." Mimi said, grinning at the boy. "Don't you worry about it. It'll all fall into place. So, do you have anything to give to her?"
"I bought her flowers, Sora gave them to me on sale. I wanted to rent a limo too, but it was a little out of my price range." He replied, sounding a bit happier then before.
"Is that all?" The girl asked, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Shouldn't you give her jewelry or something?"
TK's eye's went wide at the statement. "Why? Am I supposed to??" He exclaimed in a semi frantic state. Could he have actually forgotten something? What if this ruined the whole night??
"Calm down, TK!" Mimi said, mentally slapping herself for making the boy so worried. "It's not like it's a requirement or anything!" When TK didn't look any less upset the girl thought a moment before sliding what looked like a diamond ring off of her finger. "Here, give her this, I'm sure your mother has a nice box you can put it in."
"Hey, where'd you get that?" Matt asked, surprise at what he saw.
"At the mall, Mr. jealousy. Jeeze, I do buy jewelry for myself ya know?"
"Oh." Matt said feeling a bit foolish as his brother took the ring from Mimi staring down at it momentarily before tilting his head up to look at her.
"Wow, thanks Mimi. Kari'll love this." He said gratefully, then thought a moment. "It's not real, is it?"
"Oh, no!" Mimi replied immediately. "Gold plated and cubic zirconia. I said I buy jewelry for myself, not expensive jewelry. It's good for a first date though."
TK couldn't help but smile up at the girl, as he was now exceedingly happy. "It's not date, remember?"
"Sure it isn't." She said, gently ruffling his golden hair as they heard the phone ringing from the other room.
"TK, it's for you." He heard his mother call, apparently referring to the phone. "It's Kari."
TK grinned as he glanced over at Matt and Mimi. "Hey, she's probably calling to find out when your picking her up." Matt smiled, sliding an arm around Mimi's waist.
"Yeah." Mimi agreed. "Now don't keep her waiting, girls hate that."
TK smiled some more as he made his way over to the phone and put the receiver up to his ear. "Hey, Kari." He was happy just saying her name.
"Hey, TK. Your never gonna guess what just happened to me!!"
"What?" He asked a little confused. She'd sounded so happy.
"Andrew Kiyoshi just asked me out to the dance!" She said all to excitedly.
TK's heart fell at the words could she really be serious?? "What did you tell him?" He barely managed to mutter.
"I said yes!" She chimed merrily. "This is so great, now maybe you can ask that girl you had in mind. Unless she's already got a date. Does she?" TK couldn't believe what he was hearing. Kari really didn't like him, that much was obvious. She didn't like him at all and his he could feel his perfect night falling apart as she spoke. "So does she?"
The boy tried hard to swallow the lump forming in his throat. He tried hard not to let himself sound hurt as he spoke to the girl. "As, as a matter of fact she does. I, I've got to go."
"Hey wait, TK!" Kari shouted in hopes that he wouldn't go yet.
"What?"
"You'll still save a dance for me, right?" She asked to the boys surprise and dismay.
"Don't I always?" Was his reply.
"Good." Kari said. "I'll see you later then."
"Yeah." TK said, still barely able to keep his voice at normal tone. "I'll see ya." And with that he placed the phone down slowly, staring at the ground in disbelief of what had just occurred.
"TK, what happened? What's wrong?" Mimi asked her friend worriedly.
All the boy could do was shake his head slowly as he stared sadly at the two doing his best to hold back tears. "You were wrong." He said so suddenly that it caused both Matt and Mimi to jump simultaneously. "You were both wrong." He said again, his voice still eerily calm. "Kari doesn't love me, she doesn't even like me. And she's going to the dance with some other guy."
"TK, I..." Matt tried to comfort his brother.
"No, just shut up Matt. I don't want any more of your stupid advice. I just, I just gotta get out of here." And with that he turned and headed for the door never looking back at his brother or Mimi as he ran out of the apartment.
"TK, Wait!" Matt exclaimed as his brother ran away.
"Matt, what's wrong?" His mother asked coming into the living room as she heard the door slam. "Where's TK?"
Matt sighed, staring down at the floor as he gave her the only response he could think of. "I don't know."
"Well, what are we gonna do?" Mimi asked staring at her boyfriend. "Shouldn't we go after him?"
"No," Matt said shaking his head. "We're going to the dance."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hikari couldn't help but smile she entered the crowded gym, followed closely by her date. She could hardly believe how great it looked, beautifully decorated in purple stars and crescent moons. The gym actually looked nice. And nice was not a word one used often to describe the attractiveness of the Odaiba High gym. The, Jr. High never decorated this well for anything.
"Wow, they sure did a nice job in here." Andrew said with some enthusiasm as he took Kari's hand and began leading her through the massive crowd. Andrew was a well known boy who was rather tall for his age with had brown hair and green eye's. He played on Tai's soccer team, was Jr. class president and quite easily one of the most popular boys in school. Plus he was a year older then Kari and already had his own car, a hot little red SUV that anyone would be proud to own. Most of the girls in school would've killed to be in Kari's position right now, although why exactly, she of all people was the one in that position was beyond her. Not that she could complain.
"Yeah, it looks great." The girl commented, grinning up at him. Thinking mainly of how lucky she was right now before she started to wonder about something else. "Where are we going?" She asked still holding tight to his hand so not to get separated.
"Oh, I told some of my friends I'd meet up with them first." He replied as they seemed to be heading for the tables. "I hope you don't mind."
Kari shook her head slowly. "No, I don't mind." She said, the grin returning to her face.
"Cool." He said, as they approached a table surrounded by a bunch of guys Kari recognized as some of her brothers team mates. Ryan, Tim, Mike, Alec, and Jim if she remembered correctly. "Hey guys." Andrew said as he reached the table with his friends, and was immediately meet with a round of "Heys" and "What's up" from the group of guys.
"Sorry I was late, I had to pick up my date." He said placing an arm around the girl beside him. "This is Kari, she's Tai Kamiya's sister."
"Oh, hey, Kari." The boy whom she was pretty sure was Ryan said from the back of the group.
"Yeah, Tai's little sister," Alec said nodding his head. "What's up?"
Kari just shrugged a little before saying "hi" herself, truthfully she felt a little uncomfortable around this particular group without her brother. The rest of them just gave her a nod and a smile before they turned their attention back to their friend.
"So Andrew, we were just talking about the game yesterday." Mike offered him the information.
"Cool." Andrew said grinning. "Our offense was great in that game!"
"Yeah I know, that other team didn't know what they were up against!"
"Oh yeah! Guess it's safe to say, we won't be seeing them in the playoffs."
And bluh, bluh, bluh, bluh, bluh...Kari couldn't help but tune them out as they continued talking about the game as though they were super stars, especially since they'd only one by two goals. Tai didn't even think the game was that great. She didn't mind though, they'd be dancing soon, then maybe he wouldn't act like such a jock.
It was then at that moment when he though of him. Odd that she would think of him at a time like thins. But she couldn't help but wonder, where was he now? She really hadn't seen him anywhere. "Uh hey, have any of you guys seen TK?" she asked, receiving mixed and confused looks from the group. "Takeru Takaishi?" That didn't seem to help much either. "Tall, blond, on the basketball team??"
"Oh," Jim exclaimed obviously realizing who she was talking about. Figured that she's have to bring sports into his description. "Takaishi!" He nodded. "Ishida's little brother, I know him."
Kari nodded slowly. "Yeah, Matt's little brother, have any of you seen him?"
"No." Alec replied. "I don't think he's here."
"Oh."
Andrew smiled at her. "Don't worry, you've got enough guys over here, don't ya think?"
"Yeah, whatever." The girl uttered still wondering where her friend was as the guys got back into their oh so interesting conversation. She sighed as she looked at him, Andrew, it sure would be nice if he'd actually give a little bit of his attention to her. After all she was his date. "Andrew?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm getting kinda thirsty." She said hoping that he'd get the hint.
"Yeah, you know what, I am too, would you mind garbing a drink for me too?" OK so he didn't get the hint. "The drink tables right over there, I'm sure that you'll be able to find something you like."
Kari was somewhat stunned by his words, and she actually hopped that he could see it in her face. "Gee thanks." She said in annoyance as she turned around and headed for the drink table. It was a few moments before she returned, oddly enough to find that their were five girls added to the group, most likely the other guys dates. She'd been wondering where they were.
"Oh, there she is." Kari heard Andrew say as she approached him. "Thanks." He smiled, taking his drink and placing his arm around her once again. "The girls were all wondering where my date was."
"Yeah." One of the girls said. "We all thought he'd be bringing Lauren."
"Lauren?" Kari looked confused.
Andrew nodded. "My ex."
"Oh," Kari said. "Well, I'm here now." OK, she knew that sounded lame, but at that particular moment she didn't care much. Besides, what was she supposed to say.
"Oh my Gosh! She is so adorable!" Another girl, Courtney, exclaimed, receiving mixed expressions from Kari.
"Um, thanks Courtney," The brown haired girl replied, doing what she figured was humoring the excited blonde before her. "You look really nice too."
Courtney looked confused for a moment as she stared at Kari. "Do I know you?"
"Huh?"
"Well, you did know my name, plus you look kind of familiar." The girl replied to Kari's bewilderment. Could she really be serious??
"I'm in your geometry class." She reminded her.
"Seriously?" The blonde looked skeptical.
"She's Tai Kamiya's little sister." Andrew said in an attempt to jog the ditzy girls memory.
"Oh yeah!" She suddenly exclaimed. "You sit in the front. Oh and you were that girl at that party at Tai's house." She sounded so proud of herself.
"Yeah," Kari nodded in disbelief." My house." Could this girl really be that dense?
"Uh, Kari, ya wanna dance?" Andrew asked quite suddenly, as he was probably picking up on pointlessness of the current situation.
"Yes!" She replied a little to eagerly. Anything to get away from these morons.
They were out on the dance floor moments later, leaning on each other as Kari tried to have a better time. Tonight, it had barely begun and she already knew that it wasn't going to be half as fun as she'd first thought. She was so sure that it was all going to be prefect, that it would all fall perfectly into place. After all she was there with the perfect guy, wasn't she?
A few more songs were played a few more dances were danced, but from Kari's perspective they were all meaningless. "You wanna go sit down for a bit?" Andrew asked staring down at the girl.
She gave a single nod as she replied. "Sure." She sighed, actually she just wanted to go home. And then suddenly she felt someone tap lightly on her shoulder as they headed back towards the tables. "Yeah?" The girl turned around to see someone she hadn't expected.
"Here, these are for you." Matt said as he thrust a rather magnificent bouquet of flowers into her arms.
"Matt?!" Kari said surprised by his actions. "What....?"
"They're from TK." The blond boy explained to her. "He picked them out especially for you."
"TK?" Kari didn't know what to say, had TK actually bought her flowers? No one ever bought her flowers.
"What is this all about Ishida?" Andrew suddenly exclaimed as he watched the scene unfold. "You trying to steal my girl?"
"Your girl?!" Matt and Kari exclaimed simultaneously.
"Your what??" Matt looked surprised to see the other boy. "Oh my God, Kari, You broke TK's heart over him??"
"Huh?" Andrew seemed confused, but no more then Kari herself.
"Whoa Matt, what are you talking about, I broke TK's heart?" Kari asked, unable to believe his words.
"Oh, Kari come on how blind can you be?" Matt wondered shaking his head at the girl. "He likes you. He likes you a lot and all he wanted to do was make this night perfect, for you. And then you go and dump him for Andrew."
"Matt, TK and I were just going as friends." Kari reminded him.
"Yeah, that's what TK said too." He replied to her statement sadly. "But I don't think he really believed it." And with that he walked away to meet a slightly annoyed Mimi on the other side of the gym, leaving Kari totally shocked by what she'd just heard.
"Kari?" Andrew said putting a hand on the girls shoulder. "What's this all about?"
"TK." The girl said sighed a solemn look upon her face. "Look, I'm really sorry Andrew, but I have to go."
"Go where?" He looked confused.
"I'm not really sure yet." She replied honestly.
"But your my date, if you leave I'll look like a total idiot!" Andrew said sounding alarmed.
"Well, then I guess you'll look like an idiot." She replied simply. "But I think I made a really big mistake tonight, and now I have to go fix it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Takeru looked on annoyed as the ball slammed of the backboard, quickly ricocheting back in his direction. He never played well when he was upset, and tonight he was particularly miserable. But no matter how pointless, this was where he always came when something was bothering him. Here, to the park so that he could shoot dozens of balls that would never go in due to both the force behind them and his constant lack of aim.
But what did he care? It wasn't like his making a shot would fix anything. Why should he care? If there was any good reason, he sure couldn't think of it. He'd lost Kari, that's all he knew. And even that statement was wrong, because he never had her to begin with. All he lost was his chance, and somehow that hurt him even more. Maybe if he'd at least had chance...
He didn't wanted think of that, it only made things ten times worse to think of what could have been but never was or would be. He could never be with Kari now. So instead he just picked his basketball up off the ground and hurled it at the hoop like he didn't care at all if it went in or not. And it didn't, just slammed off the backboard again and was thrown sideways out of the court.
The boy frowned as he watched the ball roll off into the bushes, now he'd have to go get it and even that simple fact made him feel worse. He sighed jogging in the balls' general direction, not quite sure where it went. He carefully pushed the bushes out of his way as he searched, having a hard time see where it had gone. It was really much to dark for him to find anything here. And then,
"You looking for this?" He heard someone ask in a soft familiar voice.
"Kari?" He knew it was her without even looking up, but he just couldn't believe that she was there. And yet there she was, standing there before him in a gorgeous pale pink spaghetti strap gown, her hair done up in a beautiful array of curls that framed her face perfectly. She looked like an angel, that was the best way he could describe her. An amazingly beautiful angel who just happened to be holding his basketball in her hands.
"Yep." She smiled down at him as he stared up at her, quickly getting to his feet in order to be closer to her.
"Kari, what are you doing here?" He asked, surprised at seeing her. "Aren't you supposed to be at the dance with Andrew?" He said the other boys name with just the slightest hint of bitterness in his voice.
"Yeah," she said with a tiny laugh, placing the ball on the ground beside her. "I guess I am."
"Well, why aren't you?" He asked somewhat confused by her statement.
She just continued to smile at him. "Because I don't want to be there with Andrew." She said taking a step towards him. "Because I'm much rather be here with you."
"What?" The boy looked on in amazement. Could she really mean that? "Kari, I don't understand, I thought you...."
"TK, come over here and sit down." She cut him off, taking a seat on a nearby bench. "We really need to talk."
"Yeah." He agreed as he walked over and sat down beside her.
"Look TK, I'm really sorry about tonight." The brown haired girl said honestly. "I never meant to hurt you by going with Andrew. I never knew..."
"Wait a second Kari," TK cut her off. "What are you talking about?"
"I know how much I disappointed you." She began. "And I'm sorry for that. I mean when Matt told me how you felt..."
Takeru looked surprised as the girl trailed off. "What? You mean Matt told you? How could he do that? I, I just wanted you to have fun tonight, Kari. I didn't know he'd go and tell you, I never should have told him!"
"Don't get mad at Matt." Kari urged. "I'm glad he told me."
TK frowned despite her words. "Yeah but I ruined your night, I didn't want to do that. I just wanted you to have fun."
"TK, my night was ruined long before Matt came along and told me how you felt." The girl laughed. "I was introduced to everyone as Tai Kamiya's little sister. Who knew that Andrew Kiyoshi could be such an idiot. And his friends, Oh my God TK, I'm almost ashamed that my brother hangs out with them."
"Really?" He sounded a little happier now.
"Oh yeah." She practically exclaimed. "And let me assure you, I rather be here with you then any where with them."
"But now you know how I feel about you." The blond turned away from her as he spoke.
"Yeah I do." She replied. "And I couldn't be happier."
"Huh." He couldn't help but look back at her. "What do you..."
"Do you remember how good of friends I was with Daisuke?" She asked totally changing the subject?"
"Uh, yeah." The boy replied. "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Everything!" She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Dai and I, we used to be so close. He was like a sergeant best friend before you moved here to Odaiba, but then we grew up and his feelings towards me started to change. It was just a childhood crush, I know that, but it really screwed our friendship up and now we barely even talk. And the thing is, I couldn't stand it if that ever happened to us."
TK sighed. "You mean about me liking you?"
"No." She shook her head and TK looked more confused then ever. "I mean about me liking you."
"What..."
"Your my best friend, you know that right?" The boy nodded. "Well, that's just it. Part of me has always loved you, you know. That's the way it's always been with you. But then the feelings started getting stronger and stronger and I was more confused then ever. At first I thought it was just because we'd known each other for so long, because we were such good friends. But the more I thought of it, the more I felt it, the more I knew that it was bigger then that. And that my feelings had nothing do with friendship. And you see, that just really scared me."
Despite the girls words TK still had a sad and confused look in his eye's, almost begging to look happy again. "I don't understand, Kari." He said somewhat sadly. "How could something so wonderful scare you?"
"Because of what happened with Dai. Because I'm barely even friends with him anymore, and because I couldn't stand it if I lost you too." She replied, and TK thought he could see tears welling up in her eye's.
"Kari don't do this to yourself." TK begged. "Please don't get all upset."
"I'm sorry." She apologized. "It's just that, I ruined everything tonight. I ruined your night and I ruined mine. I ruined what could have been the best night of my life and for what? To go out with some dumb jock who couldn't even get his own drink. How could I be so stupid?"
"Kari calm down." The boy pleaded. "Please, Kari! You didn't ruin anything. I was an idiot too, I should have told you how I felt a long time ago."
"Yeah." She sighed staring hard into his eye's. "And I should have told you." Takeru couldn't help it after that one, and he wrapped is arms around the girl in a comforting hug. She hugged him back briefly before pulling away and wiping her eye's. "Thanks, TK. Ya know, this is just like old times, you were always my shoulder to cry on. You were always there for me."
"Just like you were for me, that's why your my best friend, that's why I..." He trailed off as she shivered a bit, wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm. "Oh my Gosh, Kari, look at you, you must be freezing!"
"No, I'm all right." She lied, rubbing her bare arms for warmth.
"No, your not." He stated the obvious as he took his jacket off and handed it to her. "Here, I think you need this more then I do."
Kari smiled at him, taking the jacket gratefully. "My, my TK. Aren't we the chivalrous one?"
"Well, what can I say?" He joked, a smile now coming to his lips as well.
Kari laughed too. "You can start by saying your welcome."
"And you can start by saying thank you." The boy grinned.
"TK!" She continued to laugh shaking her head at him slowly. "Fine, thank you. Ya happy now?"
"Yes." He replied. "And your welcome."
The two of the two just stared at each other for a moment, smiling the whole time before TK once again placed an arm around her allowing her the lean her head against his chest. They just sat there comfortably for a moment before either of them spoke again.
"TK?" Kari said looking up and doing her best to see the blonds face from her position.
"Huh?"
"What are you thinking about right now?" She asked, curious as to what was the boy might say.
"Honestly? I was wondering how I could improve my jump shot, I figured if I..."
"Hey!" The girl exclaimed, sitting up immediately as she heard him speak.
"Oh come on," He laughed. "Kari you know me better then that!"
"All right, then what were you really thinking?"
"I was wondering whether or not I should give you your present."
"Present?" The girl looked intrigued.
"Yep." He nodded. "Check out my right jacket pocket."
Kari smiled, placing her hand in the pocket and began feeling around for anything that could possibly be her present. "Oh," She said as she inadvertently slid her finger through the ring and pulling her hand out of the pocket to take a look. "Wow, TK, it's beautiful!" She beamed. "Thank you so much! I love it."
"Good, I was hoping you would." He replied, staring at the girl. "Kari, what are you thinking about?"
"Me?" She asked and the boy nodded. "The same thing I think about every time I look at you."
"And that would be?"
Kari was silent for a moment before she replied to his question softly. "How much I really want to kiss you." She said gazing at TK seriously as a tiny smile crept over his lips.
"Well, I think that can be arranged." He replied as he leaned forward as placed his lips on hers, wrapping his arms around her tightly. Kari kissed him back longingly as she too wrapped her arms around him. They were both in total bliss at that moment, both happier then they ever thought possible. It was about a minute before they broke their kiss and just stared at each other. "I love you, Hikari Kamiya." Were the first words off of his lips.
"And I love you Takeru Takaishi. More then anything." She grinned at him with love in her eye's. And then she stood up, to Takeru's surprise.
"What are you doing?" He asked, slightly confused.
"Well," She began, her smile never fading as she took the boys hand in hers. "You did tell me that you'd save a dance for me."
"What?" He laughed. "You want to dance now? Here?"
"Why not?" She asked playfully." It'll be fun."
"All right," TK said getting to his feet. "But only if you play me in a game of basketball next."
Now it was Kari's turn to laugh. "Deal." She said as they wrapped their arms around each, leaning on each other for support and began swaying to the none existent music. "I know I'm not all that great, but from the way I've seen you playing lately, it shouldn't be a problem."
"Very funny." TK said sarcastically. "You know I'll beat you." He said, even though he was pretty sure he was going to let her win. Kari didn't even reply to the statement, just laughed as she hugged him a little tighter. And although he couldn't see her face, TK knew that she was smiling. He was too, he'd wanted this night to be so perfect. For everything to just fall into place. They both had. And he'd been so sure that things were over before, so sure that they were ruined. And yet, here, now he couldn't think of anything better. He couldn't have been happier if things had gone exactly they way they were supposed, because then he wouldn't be here, it would be now. And nothing was more perfect to him then this.
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- The End -
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A/N: OK, so what do ya think? Did it get boring? I hope not, but I dunno, oh well. As for Andrew and his little group, I hope I didn't offend anyone in some odd way. I kinda modeled Andrew after my ex, only I made him slightly more annoying. And as for his friends, well what can I say? Some people are just dumb. Oh well, hope you liked the story! And that's about it. I'll C'ya.