Disclaimer: I'm flattered that you care but no, I don't own Digimon or any of the characters.

A/N This is my first story ever ever ever. It's pretty exciting that you get to be a part of it so thank you for giving my story a chance. :)

The way this story works is that it switches a lot from past to present so pay attention. I'm pretty sure it's clear but sorry if you get confused. If nothing makes sense it's probably because the timeline changed lolololol. I know. Sounds super fun. And here is the full summary! It's actually only one sentence longer haha whoops.

That Full Summary: There are two plot lines that come together in the end. One takes place in the present and another takes place in the past. Kari gets ditched on her wedding day and is found by TK on the streets. Before she knows it, she's living at his house and relying on him of all people to help her get back on her feet. While living with him, memories of their past together begins to resurface and she comes to realize that he may have actually loved her from the start. Takari AU

I will be using English dub names.

Yes. It is that time! Ladies and gentlames, I present to you my first story ever. :)

Present ~ June 2012

The train of her wedding dress dragged behind her as she ran as fast as she could away from the church where she knew everyone was waiting for her. The pain of her bare feet against the cement was numb as it paled in comparison to the agony that was quickly taking over her heart. With the make-up running down her face from the tears, she knew she looked like an absolute fool; however, the horrifying situation was enough justification to ignore the judgments of nameless observers. All she could think about was one thing: to get as far away as possible because she was definitely not in the mood to be surrounded by anyone she knew at the moment.

It was supposed to be her special day. A day where she was to be adorned by families and friends when she stepped out of the wooden double doors of the chapel, clothed in white from head to toe, radiating purity and beauty as she made her way down the aisle to come face-to-face with the adoration of a man that meant the most to her. Much to her horror, she was never able to make it after a surprise note was found under her door only 30 minutes before the beginning of the ceremony.

A sweet hum could be heard from her dressing room as Kari's make-up was being applied by her best friend Sora. She stared at herself in the mirror and was in awe of her own beauty. Kari was never impressed by the image of her face in the past but something about the way Sora had presented her and the current situation of her wedding made her feel like a million bucks.

"Sora…thank you. It looks great…really" spoke Kari with a blush tint to go along with the small smile on her face.

"Of course Kari, anything for you on your special day," said Sora with the compassionate warmth that always carried in her tone whenever she spoke.

"You really are the best friend a girl could ever have. I can't believe we've come so far together and I would have never survived without you." Sora had been with Kari since they were young and grew up together in Tokyo. They knew everything about each other and supported one another through every storm of life after another.

"Oh Kari. You don't have to thank me. You know I'd do anything for you. And it wasn't all just me. You had your family's love to support you and the love from others…" Sora began to trail off as if a painful memory had resurfaced in her mind and caused her discomfort. The discomfort began to show on her face and did not escape from Kari.

"Is something wrong? You look worried, Sora. What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, it's nothing!" Sora responded with a hesitant look on her face. "Really it's nothing." Sora had always been supportive of the boys Kari had liked in the past and even gave her opinions of her love interests and spoke her mind about everything. However, there was always one boy that she knew was right for Kari but he had suddenly disappeared from her life. It saddened Sora but she knew that Kari was a strong woman and could probably live happily with any other man. She trusted Kari's fiancé after all. He cared for her and never gave a reason for either of them to doubt him. Despite his carelessness at times, his light heart was pure and genuine and could be a suitable spouse to any woman.

"Alright Sora. If you say so. Remember, you can tell me anything. Even though I guess it's a weird time right now…" Kari began to ponder. "Oh gosh. We're being so sappy. It's probably just the emotions getting to me," she giggled in amusement. Kari typically wasn't one for sappiness but the situation had called for it.

"Don't worry about it. And as sappy as it sounds, I'll always love you, Kari. I really hope he makes you happy forever."

"Thanks Sora. I'll always love you too. You know—" Kari was about to continue to take advantage of the emotional situation and reminisce on her past with Sora. However, she was interrupted by a small knock at the door. "Who is it?" Kari called out, but nobody responded. Instead, a note was slid under the door. Kari hopped out of her seat and ran toward the door to pick it up.

Sora observed her best friend and began to worry as she realized that Kari's face had suddenly gone pale and her eyes began to dull. "Kari? What's wrong? What's going on? What does the note say?" She watched as Kari began to lose the air of confidence and grace she had carried only minutes before as her posture began to weaken and her broken voice began to read the words aloud.

"'My dearest Kari, you're receiving this note from me because I'm not coming. I'm sorry. I slept with another woman last week and I can't bring myself to marry you like this. I need some time. I promise to return to you and fully explain myself in the future. Best of luck to you, Kari. Stay strong. Don't be a coward like me. I love you. –Davis'"

Tears began to stream from Kari's lifeless eyes as she tried to comprehend the situation. It was almost as if she couldn't feel anything because so many emotions were running through her mind to the point where she wasn't even sure what to feel anymore.

"No…this can't be real," said Sora in disbelief. "No…" She moved toward Kari who was still attempting to stand in her heels. Sora began to feel anger as she stared at her friend who was dressed in her wedding gown. On a day where she was supposed to feel so much love, she was instead forced to feel so much pain by the one she cared for the most. It wasn't fair at all.

"Sora…what do I do?" Kari asked her best friend as she painfully looked her in the eye. "I—I…I don't know what do…I can't—I can't—"

"Go, Kari. Run."

"What?" she asked in disbelief.

"Just go. I promise I will take care of everything and let everyone know the situation. The most important thing for you to do right now is to go. Call me later to let me know you're alright, okay? Now go. Hurry! Run!" Sora watched as her best friend nodded in agreement and stormed out the door to escape from the harsh reality that stormed upon a day that was meant to be like a fairy tale. "Good luck Kari. You're a strong girl. I know you can get through this. You always do."

After running for who knows how long, Kari grew tired and decided to stop by a park and sit on a bench to cool down. She could hear the words of the children nearby asking their mothers what was going on and the harsh words of the parents to tell their children to be quiet. None of it mattered to her. She knew she was pitiful. It wasn't news to her anymore.

After her sobbing began to die down, Kari raised her head to look around her. Something about the park struck familiarity with her. Although her heart was crying in agony, something about this place began to cool her down and almost feel at peace. Almost. After all, this was the park where she first met him.

Shaking her head, Kari gave a long sigh and decided to put her head back down against her knees. He was not a topic she wanted on her mind at the moment. She began to worry about the ceremony instead. Although it wasn't her fault, she still felt bad knowing that people were probably very angry and worried about her. Her cell phone was currently off but she knew that if she turned it on, there would probably be hundreds of missed calls and messages. She pushed the thought away and decided to let her mind wander about nothing. Thinking about the situation was not going to make anything better. However, within a few moments, she was quickly brought back to reality as a familiar voice called out to her.

"Kari?" She attempted to match a voice with the name but something within her heart refused to believe who the voice belonged to. It couldn't be…could it? She questioned God whether or not He was up to no good because if she was hearing things correctly, the voice belonged to the boy that was occupying her thoughts only moments ago. The boy she met at this very park 8 years ago.

"Omigosh! Kar! It's really you!" Kari's heart sank. There was only one person that called her by that ridiculous nickname. She hated it and he knew it. "I mean it was a little hard to tell since I don't normally see you in a wedding dress but I mean come on. You know I can recognize you from—" the voice was caught as Kari finally lifted her head no more than an inch away from his as she came face-to-face with the very eyes that had haunted her throughout almost all of her high school career.

They were nothing like the bright, cheerful eyes of her fiancé, Davis, that made her smile and laugh with ease. His eyes were deep and puzzling, and looking into them at that very moment made her forget to breathe as she tried to understand what his eyes were trying to say to her. It was those blue eyes that drove her crazy for reasons she could never understand. They were the last pair of eyes she thought she would look into that day. And though it was stirring a small, but crazy fire at the bottom of her heart, for some reason she felt truly at peace as his hand slowly came up to her face to wipe away a tear with his thumb. Kari finally withdrew a long, deep breath.

"Hi TK," she spoke. And to her surprise, his eyes warmed and he smiled at her as his hand left her face and took her right hand into his.

"Hey Kari. I missed you."

8 years ago ~ August 2004

It was the first day of Kari's sophomore year and she wanted to start it off right. This was the year that she was going to get good grades, win art competitions, maybe get a boyfriend…Kari facepalmed at that last though. It was probably not a good idea to get one with everything that was going on with her life at the moment.

Kari sighed as she stared at the six outfits she went through before deciding on one for her first day. She promised herself she would clean it up later. Hopefully. Kari decided to go with a white lace tank top and yellow curtain skirt that tied a bow around the waist. It was a simple and cute outfit that didn't go too far and so she was satisfied.

After realizing the time, she sprinted down the stairs to the kitchen. Before stuffing a bread roll in her face, she took time to look at the picture of her parents on the table. Kari smiled warmly at the picture and began to talk to her parents as if they were there before her.

"Good morning Mom. Good morning Dad. How are you two doing today? I kept the house super clean yesterday! Except my room…but you don't live in there so it's okay! I swear I'll clean that up when I get home from school!" she giggled to herself. "Alright, I gotta head out now! I love you two. Stay strong and I will visit you guys soon." And with that, she sprinted out of her door with her backpack and books to fight the time and not be late on her first day of school.

As Kari turned around the corner to cut through the park, she looked down at her cell phone to check the time. She cursed inwardly realizing she only had 10 minutes left before the bell rang. She still had a good ways to go and still had to get to her locker and find her first class. The mission seemed almost impossible. She reasoned to herself that if she set her mind to it, she could do anything. All she had to do was run the fastest two miles of her life despite the lack of status of being a runner but it was okay because she would just pretend she was a cheetah running from her prey in a jungle and—

"Look out!" cried a voice in the wilderness. Before she knew it, she was no longer a cheetah racing in a jungle, but a teenage girl completely embarrassed in a park who had just ran into a boy who appeared to be her age. She looked at him straight in the eyes. At least he was a cute boy.

After reasoning it through her mind a little more, she concluded that it was worse that he was a cute boy because she had just embarrassed herself in front of this cute boy. She decided to lower her head in embarrassment after fully realizing the situation…until she realized that she did not fully realize the situation because as she put her head down, her forehead found its way against a warm and strong chest that she was 100% certain was not the ground.

Not only had she run into a stranger, but she had fumbled and knocked both of them down to the ground. Yes. She was certain that this was the fully realized situation: she was on the ground in the arms of a stranger in the middle of a park.

"Omigosh I am so sorry! I didn't hurt you anywhere did I?" She exclaimed. "I swear I didn't mean to do this on purpose. I was just trying to get to class on time since it's the first day of school and I'm still so far away and oh shoot! What time is it?" Kari fumbled through her purse to check the time once more. "Dang it! 7 minutes left. I'm so sorry about this really, I swear. Okay I'm going to get off your arms. You're really comfortable Mr. Stranger. Thanks for shielding me from the ground. Okay bye!" And with that, she took off running again.

"You're really comfortable Mr. Stranger? Really? Did I say that? Ugh, I'm already embarrassing myself on the first day. Not good," she thought to herself. She ended up being late to her first class.

TK continued to sit there on the ground and stare off at the place where the girl had run away right before his eyes. Despite her clumsy and messy composure, he couldn't help but keep his eyes locked on hers. They were full of life and joy and one look into them seemed to give him strength. Everything about her glowed and he realized that he needed to see her one more time. He was going to find her again for sure.

Present ~ June 2012

"Hey Kari. I missed you." The warmth of the situation immediately escaped as Kari quickly jerked her hand out of his and used it to smack TK on the arm. TK teasingly wailed out in pain, only causing Kari to get even more annoyed.

"Don't give me that crap you freak!" she screamed as she attacked TK's face with pinches and flicks. She needed some way to release her anger and she had plenty of reasons to use him for it.

"Ow! What the heck woman. That hurt. Yeeowch!" he cried, but to no avail, Kari refused to stop. There was only one way to bring her to rest and he knew fully well how to do it.

"Eep!" she squealed and fell off the bench after being poked on the sides by TK. "What was that you jerk?"

TK gaped his mouth open in pretend shock. "How dare you," he said, pretending to look hurt. "I of all people, approached you, who, by the way, are looking absolutely beautiful right now—OW!" he cried in response to Kari punching him on the arm. "Stop that! I can't believe you're calling me a jerk. You're the one that started attacking me. You're lucky I'm even talking to you I mean seriously. Look at you right now. There are no words to describe how odd you look sitting on the floor by a bench in the middle of a park."

And he was right. She really did look ridiculous in the park and their childish feud was not helping her case at the moment. If it was any other person that had said those words to her, she knew she probably would have started crying; however, this was TK. And because it was TK, she was furious. And so she attacked again.

"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you," she declared with repeated slaps to his arm. "Why did you of all people have to show up in my life after 5 years of disappearing and see me in my absolute worst state ever? Why?" After a few more punches, she began to slow down to a stop and laid her head against her knees again.

TK sighed and knelt before her with an outstretched hand. "Come on. Let's go." Kari looked up at him with a confused look on her face.

"What?" she asked in wide eyes in disbelief.

TK gave a chuckle and smiled warmly towards her. "It's been a tough day right? Let's go and get you out of here. You're going to set a bad example for the kids here and mess up their idea of what weddings and marriages are all about. Then the future of the world will be corrupted and it will all be your fault. Now come on, let's go," he teased and stuck his tongue out at her.

Kari scoffed at him, not forgetting to smack him on the arm one last time. TK let out a laugh, before taking her hand and lifting both of them up.

"Since you're in a wedding dress, should I carry you bridal style in my arms, my dear?" he joked with a wink.

"Should I hit you one more time?" she threatened.

"Fine, fine. Follow me, Kar!" he responded while pretending to look scared.

"Don't call me that! It's been 5 years. Haven't you outgrown calling me that by now, TK?"

"I actually go by Takeru now. It makes me feel more mature ya know?—"

"Shut up TK," she quickly interjected

TK let out a sigh. "Fine, Kar. Whatever makes you happy."

The rest of the way to TK's car was in silence as Kari began to question herself about what she was doing at the moment. She was doing the very last thing she ever thought she would be doing at the moment with the last person in the world she thought she would be with. As they walked, TK kept a firm hold on Kari's hand because he knew that at that moment, even though she would never admit it, what she needed most desperately was someone to keep her from feeling alone.

After exiting the parking lot, TK looked over to his side to check up on how Kari was doing. "You alright there? Feeling comfortable? I know cars aren't exactly meant to hold a wedding dress in them but if there's anything I can do…"

"I'm okay," she replied with a polite smile on her face. "Honestly, I'm thankful for anything that will keep me away from the public eye right now."

TK faked a gasp causing a threatening look from Kari. He was not shaken. "Wow Kar! I didn't know you were the thankful type. Are you actually going to say thank you to me? I never thought I would see the day…"

He knew it was coming. In response, Kari smacked him on the arm without care to fact that he was driving. He deserved to get in an accident and with the pitiful state that her life was in, why not add more pity to the platter with a tragic car accident? "You're an idiot TK. You never did anything for me to deserve a thank you, you jerk."

"Oh come on Kar…"

"Don't call me that!"

"I know I did a lot of mean things to you in high school but I'm sure there was at least one thing I did for you. Come on! Think hard!"

Kari huffed at him in the familiar annoyance he had given her for three years straight of her youth. There was no doubt in her mind how much she hated this man and how he clearly had not grown up for the past five years. "Does it matter? All the good things you've done to me could never make up for the million ways you teased me and made a fool of me. So no thank you's for you. You can bet on it."

TK chuckled to himself. "You know I could totally just drop you off on the highway right now. I mean, I am doing you a favor right now? Come on, Kar! Just one thank you!" he pleaded.

"No way! But I guess it was really nice of you to give me a ride…fine. This makes up for one-third of the problems you gave me. Happy?"

"Absolutely!" he cheered with a bright smile on his face. Kari facepalmed at his reaction and grumbled to herself. She really needed to break her facepalming habit. It hurt. She could hear TK silently laughing at her and grew even more annoyed.

Kari began to wonder if this was a really bad idea. She hopped into the car of her least favorite person in the world on the day of her wedding. Not that she was going to get married…but still. This was truly ridiculous. She didn't even know for sure where he was taking her or what he was going to do to her. What if he became an even worse person of the years and became a rapist?

"I'm not going to rape you Kari," he mused at her.

"I wasn't thinking that…"

"You so were" he interrupted. "It's written all over your face. I can and have always been able to read your cute little face like a book, Kari," he winked at her with a sly smile.

Kari gave a deep sigh, "Okay. I give up. You are tiring me out."

"I'm sorry Kar" he responded with a pout.

"Yeah. Sure. So anyways…" Kari began with a drag, "why haven't you asked me yet?"

"Asked you what?"

"You know…that…"

"Kari, you're going to have to be more specific. I really, positively, have absolutely no clue what in the world you are ever so talking about." His sly smile never wavered.

"Wow, you're just trying to push my buttons every chance you get."

TK continued to laugh by himself. It seemed to be the trend that day. Kari glaring and TK laughing all by himself. That trend. "I don't know. You seemed really bummed out when I saw you. I figured you would bring it up with me in your own time."

"Wow. Mr. Jokes and Jerks can actually be thoughtful and mature at times. I'm impressed! Maybe you have grown up Takeru," she joked with him while nudging his side with her shoulder.

"What's that supposed to mean…I was being serious. I won't force it out of you. When you're comfortable and ready, you can let me know what happened and why you're…like this, I guess."

"You were being serious, huh? Really."

"Well, let me be serious with you, Kari. Just for a moment." TK took a deep breath and continued. "First of all, I'm not going to hurt you okay? We'll go to my house, let you rest up, and discuss what we're going to do tomorrow. Right now, I just want you to feel better, alright? "

Kari nodded her head in agreement.

"Second of all, even though you probably don't think so at the moment, you look beautiful. I'm sure that if your fiancé actually got to see how wonderful you looked this morning, he wouldn't have thought twice about staying with you and marrying you."

Kari was taken aback by this. It was weird hearing compliments from TK. He had always picked on her so these moments were rare and she had no plans of interrupting him.

"And finally, I meant what I said earlier. Do you remember the first thing I told you today?"

Kari stared ahead and tried to remember. She slowly shook her head.

"I said that I missed you. It's probably hard to believe thinking about all that hell I brought you through in high school, but I really did miss you, Kari. These past 5 years, I never forgot about the silly girl that made my high school life just a little bit more exciting," he stated with a warm smile towards her. "So, was that serious enough for you?"

Kari let the words sink in slowly before she responded with a quiet yes. After realizing how worn out Kari looked next to him, he decided to put his teasing to rest and allow the rest of the car ride to be driven in silence. As much fun as it was to pick on her and let her mind focus on other things such as beating him up, he understood how much she needed to rest and close her eyes and be left alone.

As they drove off into the setting sun on the way to TK's house, Kari flipped the sun blocker down and opened the mirror to check out her make-up. Not to her surprise, she looked incredibly dumb. Her mascara was ruined and messy, and she felt slightly embarrassed that she let TK see her like this, not that his opinion really mattered. Then again, he did complement her just now. However, to her surprise, she saw something she did not expect to see. As broken as Davis' letter had made her at first, there was still life in her eyes. Maybe hopping into TK's car wasn't such a bad idea. Maybe it would become the beginning of something great in her life—a new chapter of her own to show the world that she wasn't ready to back down yet.

Kari decided to give up fixing her make-up and flipped the sun blocker back up. She rested her head against the chair trying to sleep. However, throughout the car ride her mind would continue to wander back to the words TK last said to her in the car. And slowly, but surely, something strange began to stir in her heart.

As the car parked in front of his house, TK looked over to his side to see Kari finally asleep in the passenger seat. Before waking her up, he took a peek at her sleeping figure and brushed the back of his hand against her face. He smiled and admired how cute she was. Even after 5 years, she had not lost the innocent beauty that she carried with her. If anything, she had only become more beautiful in his eyes.

"I really meant it Kari. I'm so glad you're back here with me," he whispered under his breath. "I missed you a lot." And with that he gently woke her up from her nap. "Wake up Kari! We're home."

A/N: Sora is TK and Kari's age in this story. I'm not a huge fan of Yolei and Sora was always one of my favorite digidestined and seemed like an amazing friend. She's a sweetheart. :)

So that's all for chapter 1! It was pretty long. 5k words! I rocked this chapter in one day like a champ. What can I say, I'm inspired. Sorry if there are grammar errors. I proofread it 3 times but I'm prone to typo a lot, especially with such a long chapter. Hope you liked it and please review!