Rating: PG-13
Category: Romance/Angst(?)/Drama, UST (maybe), Takari, Jouimi (very very light), lime-scented, tangy citrus aftertaste
Archive: Sure, fine, whatever...just let me know so I can visit
A/N--end of chapter
feedback: Please!! Flames are appreciated, also. I like to burn my meditation incense and candles with 'em.
Disclaimer: I asked. They said no. So Digimon still doesn't belong to me. It belongs to some great big company out there and I'm not making any money off of this. All the profit I'm getting comes strait from the feedback. Even that only constitutes for intellectual profit, and so in the long run, I get nothing but what you donate. That was long. Borring enough for all of you?
And on with the show...
"I'll meet you after school by the...."
"Four thirty? Sounds like..."
"Hahaha! And then in bio, Mr. Kerugada said...."
She walked past the happy teenagers. Walked down the road, ignored their blithe calls. What was the point of mutilating their merriment and mirth with her own bitter heart? She shook her head and walked on...
"Wait up!" A voice dragged her from her thoughts. The identity of this voice was well known to the walker, but she kept going as if she hadn't heard. "C'mon! Wait a second!"
"KARI!" the owner of the voice caught the girl by the arm and spun her around. The girl, Kari, half scowled, half pouted up at the tall young man, wishing he wasn't there. He cocked his head at Kari, and gave a lopsided grin, blond hair spilling out from under his hat. The same stupid hat he's had forever, she mused. "Why didn't you stop? You heard me...?"
"Umm...I guess I wasn't paying attention..." Kari turned her head and moved as if she meant to leave, but he had no intention of letting go. Quietly, she mumbled, "Let go of my wrist, TK, I have to get somewhere..."
"Like where?" TK rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. "Hey, you still there?"
Kari had drifted out of the conversation, staring at the pavement behind her left shoulder with such intensity, someone who had never before met her would assume there was something life changing there, and, out of impulse, turn to see what it was. They would be, however, highly disappointed to see that there was nothing but the average blackish blue asphalt.
"Hikari," TK sounded seriously concerned. He tapped the side of her head, regaining her attention. "You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah...." she whispered so softly that he had to strain to hear. "I gotta go though because...."
"Mind if I walk with you?" TK let go of her hand, gently, but slowly as if he was worried she was like a little bird that would fly away the second it was given the chance.
"What about your fan club?" Kari pointed at the cluster of giggling groupies behind them. TK sighed in good humor.
"Maybe they'll take a hint and follow someone else?" Kari nodded in agreement, and turned and started walking back towards her home, TK following only a few steps behind.
TK watched Kari walking, graceful and agile, as if she was the embodiment of an cat. She was attractively slim, but not skinny. Curved in all the right places. She was still short, but did it really matter? Her brown hair, grown out to her waist, was pulled up into a high ponytail. It bounced with each step, contrasting with her pessimistic nature. A morbid character she had only developed five months ago.
The two approached Kari's house fairly quickly, as it was only a short walk from the school. The Kamiya household, which was usually a busy place, was relatively quiet these days. Kari's father was always away on business these days, since he got a new job as a consultant to a large corporation. Tai was, of course, in collage on a soccer scholarship. Her mother had filed for divorcee a while back, and ran off with someone or another. At least there were no more fights.
"Is you dad home much these days?" TK asked softly, so as not to startle Kari, who was yet again in her dreamland.
"Nope," Kari shook her head as she walked up the porch steps towards her house door. Unlocking the front door, she continued, "Just me. Wanna come in?"
"Sure," he smiled.
"Just be sure you don't try anything, okay, TK?" Kari grinned mischievously, a flicker of her old self. "Just because honorable big brother isn't home to protect me doesn't mean I don't have his phone number. And I can always sic the dogs on you if you get too friendly."
"Oh, yeah?" TK laughed. "Maybe I'll try something just to see what happens. Anyways, you don't have any dogs."
"Huh. I can always call Davis...." Kari stated seriously as she could manage.
"He looks enough like a dog," TK's grim expression matched Kari's. "That I would be ready to run if he even came near this house."
The two erupted with guilty snickers.
"We shouldn't talk so badly about him behind his back....." Kari said thoughtfully at last.
"You're right!" TK snapped his fingers and grinned. "Do tell, where's your phone? We'll call him up and say it to his ear!"
"I'm sure he'd love us for it," Kari shook her head gleefully. It was impossible to stay depressed in his company, which was probably his plan. "To tell you the truth, I don't think he'd even understand what you say."
"Watch what you say, Lady," TK's deep, rich laugher filled the room as Kari grinned and nodded stupidly prepared to agree with everything TK said. "You never know. He might be sitting right outside the window, listening to everything we're saying."
"Tekeru, this is something I can promise you," Kari raised an eyebrow as she spoke, taking a can of Sprite from the refrigerator. "If that's true, then I mean every word I said to him this morning. And, as I didn't--though I feel bad for leading him on--I have to tell you in utmost honesty that I think you're an idiot for thinking he's eavesdropping."
"You're such a cold hearted minx," TK punched Kari's arm lightly, grinning as he did so. "I hope you don't talk about *me* this way when I'm not around!"
"Oh, no, *TM*, I just say bad stuff about other people when you're around. You're such a bad influence!"
As fate would have it, the irony of this situation was that Davis actually *was* standing outside the door, listening to everything the two were saying. Kari's last few comments made him feel like someone had ripped his heart out of his chest.
Davis thought back to the morning, when he had intercepted Kari on her way to advanced geometry. He thought she was being so sincere....
(FLASH BACK MODE)
"Hey, Kari! Wait up!" Davis jogged up to Kari and waved annoyingly in her face. "Hi! I guess you didn't hear me because I kept saying hi. Maybe your ears are filled with wax or something."
"Oh, hello, Davis," he greeting was friendly enough. She smiled lightly. "I guess I've got alot on my mind so I really wasn't with it. It's nothing against you."
"Where you going?" His happy-go-lucky attitude was getting on her nerves, but Kari did her best to keep her mood in check.
"Advanced geometry."
"What's that?"
Kari started to laugh, until she realized that Davis was joking around. "Um...it's the higher level math class."
"Okay," Davis shrugged. "Did you watch the soccer game yesterday? I was dominating the field for the whole game. I *own* that game!"
"Yeah! You were awesome!" Kari nodded enthusiastically. The truth was that she hadn't even paid attention to the game, just sat and remembered the days when that was Tai. Even though she was seventeen and a senior, Kari couldn't help but let the little girl inside of her creep out and wish that her protective older brother was still there. Nostalgia took hold of her, and kept her blind for most of the game. But she wasn't about to tell this to Davis.
"I don't think I've seen anyone play that well ever before!" she smiled at Davis, making him feel, pathetic as it may be, week at the knees. "You're the greatest at everything you do."
"I..." Davis stuttered, before shouting, "I KNOW!! I'm the GREATEST AT EVERYTHING!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Right, then, Davis..." Kari edged away from the crowd that was gathering. "You stay wonderful. I have to go to my next class...."
"Oh, okay." He watched her back as she walked into the math room, pony tail swishing back and forth behind her. To all that would listen, Davis boasted, "That girl has a MAJOR crush on me! One of these days she's going to become my girlfriend, and maybe even..."
The group of people smiled and laughed good naturally at Davis. He grinned back. "What? I only speak the truth!"
"Give it a rest, Goggle Head," one of his friends chortled, slapping Davis on the back. "She's got eyes for TJ or TL or whatever his name is."
"Somehow I doubt that."
*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
Davis glared at the door, and at Kari and TK's flirtatious conversation which continued on the other side. How dare she do this to him? How dare either of them do this?
Hot tears burned in his eyes as Davis looked down at the bouquet of roses in his hands. They were meant for Kari. His plan was to ask her to go to the prom (which was still two months away, and no one but the "populars" had decided on who they were taking just yet), and maybe to be his girlfriend for the rest of the year.
Instead, he took great pleasure in ripping the head off of each stalk, and then dumping the whole thing into a trash bin on the corner of the street. He felt so stupid. He felt beyond stupid. He didn't know why people who used to be his friends would verbally trash him that way.
He did know he would make both of them sorry.
a/n: This took me all of an hour to write. It's crappy, and I don't think I'm going to finish it. *shrug* What else is new?
special thanks to: Lizzy-sempai, cuz you influenced that weird dream I had last night which was the mother of this story, and Miguel and Jon for being assholes so I can base the bad guys on you. Arigato, minna!