One day have passed after the previous events...
TK woke up late in the afternoon, feeling pretty bad. His head was aching and he had sore throat.
"Great", he quietly said to himself in a husky voice, "I have a cold now. It figures. But that walk was still worth it..."
He didn't even want to get up, but he was forced to do so by a ringing doorbell.
TK slowly got out of bed, walked to the door and opened it.
"Hi, TK! I came to pick you up!"
It was Kari.
"Hi... *cough cough*" TK replied, "I guess I can't join you today, go without me..."
"Whoa... you look pretty sick..."
"Don't worry about it, just go, the others are probably waiting for you."
"And you're home alone... There's no way I'm gonna leave you like this, someone has to take care of you."
"Thanks, Kari, but you really shouldn't-"
"Yes I should. After all... it's probably my fault that you got sick." Kari sounded very troubled.
"Don't blame yourself. I don't regret anything. We had a great time yesterday... *cough*"
"Really?"
"You bet."
That seemed to cheer Kari up a bit. But she was determined to give TK a proper treatment and wasn't going to leave. She came in the apartment and closed the door.
"Don't worry, I'll text Yoley and tell her I'm not coming today."
"I still think you really shouldn't- *cough*"
"And I think you should go back to bed." Kari looked at his feet. He didn't have socks on.
"Don't you remember what got you sick in the first place? Why are you walking around barefoot? The floor is cold!"
"You were the one who said it's healthy and all..."
"Go back to bed, Takeru. Now."
She always called him by his full name when she was completely serious. So the boy did as she said and went back to bed.
"I'll make you some hot tea." Kari said and rushed to the kitchen.
"Thanks!" TK yelled so she could hear him from the kitchen. But that was a mistake, because it just made him cough even more.
A couple minutes later the girl returned from the kitchen and brought a big and hot cup of tea with her. Then she put some pillows at the head of the bed so TK could sit and lean his back on them, and gave him the hot cup.
"You must drink all of it."
While the boy was drinking, Kari have told him about how Davis and Veemon went to Digital World early this morning, and then found and destroyed another Dark Tower all by themselves.
"...ah, Davis is so cool." she ended her story.
TK almost choked on his tea. Kari giggled.
"Why do you always tease me like that?"
"Because your expressions are so cute when I do!"
TK blushed and got back to drinking his hot tea.
When he finished it, he realized that he's feeling a lot better. A pain in his throat was almost gone.
"Thanks..." he said, putting the cup away.
"Don't mention it." Kari smiled. "I guess we should take your temperature next. Do you have a thermometer?"
TK told her there was one in a closet and Kari went to get it.
Then she came back to TK and sat on a side of his bed.
"Now open your mouth."
The boy did what he was told to.
"Actually, wait... your mouth must be too hot after that tea, we can't take a good measurement like this..."
She came closer and pulled a collar of his t-shirt to make an opening so she could place a thermometer in his armpit. TK twitched while she was doing that. And Kari knew the reason to that. TK was quite tickish.
But now wasn't the time to fool around. She had to take his temperature first.
"Please, hold your arm tight so thermometer won't fall." Kari asked. "It'll only take a minute or two."
TK spent those minutes trying not to meet Kari's eyes, cause it would have only made him blush even more.
Finally, Kari reached under the boy's shirt through the collar once again to take the thermometer out. TK twitched again.
Kari looked at the thermometer.
"It's okay, I guess. Slightly above normal, but you'll be alright very soon."
She put the thermometer back in a closet, then returned to TK.
And now it WAS the time to fool arond. He was feeling a lot better after all.
"Say, TK, why were you twitching like that? Was something wrong?" she asked with a frightening smile.
"N-no, nothing wrong, nevermind..."
TK already could tell what was waiting for him.
"Really?" she stepped closer to him.
"Yes!"
"Reeeally? You sure?" she was right at his bed.
"Absolutely!"
"I guess you're lying to me, Takeru..." she grabbed a corner of TK's blanket and pulled the whole thing off the boy with one sharp movement.
"Please, no..." TK pleaded.
"Yes!"
Kari jumped on him and began tickling him hard.
His armpits were her first targets. TK was laughing like crazy right from the beginning of his torture and couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't even say a word to beg Kari to stop. All he could let out were the laughs. And that was only the beginning.
When Kari was done with his armpits, she gave TK a few seconds to rest and breathe. Then she pulled his shirt up a little and stroked his belly with her fingers, which resulted in a new burst of laughter. She even reached for a blanket which fell on the floor previously and tickled TK's bellybutton with it's corner. Boy's laughter started to sound more like whimpering.
Kari let him rest for a couple moments again.
Then she reached under his t-shirt with both hands and put them on his ribs, no tickling yet. But TK was so sensitive after what he's already gone through, that he began laughing right away. Not histerically, though.
"This is so fun, right, TK?"
He didn't respond. Just laughed.
"Say it's fun!" Kari was looking him right into the eyes, smiling and still holding hands on his ribs.
"No!" TK was finally able to say something.
Stroke.
"Are you sure?"
"Hahahahahahahahahahaha!"
Kari made another pause.
"Aren't you having fun?"
"Hahahaha... No... hahaha... I'm not... haha!"
Stroke, stroke, stroke.
"Hahahahahahahahahahaha!"
"Care to change your mind?"
"Okay, okay, hahahahaha, it is fun, hahaha, just don't tickle me anymore, please! Hahaha!"
She gave him a wide smile.
"Why should I stop if you're having so much fun?"
And she started to tickle him again, digging her fingers in his sides, ribs and chest mercilessly.
It only lasted for half a minute, but felt like an eternity to the poor boy. He thought he was about to lose his mind when she finally stopped tickling him and stepped away from his bed.
TK was panting heavily, thanking heavens for the end of his suffering.
But then...
"I wonder if your feet are cold..."
"Noooo..." He almost cried.
"Yes!"
And the worst part of TK's torture has begun. Just when he thought it was all over. He tried to get away from Kari, but she caught his bare feet without any problems.
"They ARE cold! I should warm them!"
She started stroking and rubbing them from top to bottom, tickling his ankles and heels. TK was very sensitive, so it felt like an electric current rushing through his nerves up from his feet. His heart was pounding very fast and he could barely even breathe.
After thoroughly tickling under his toes and between them, Kari gently scratched middles of TK's soles with her fingernails. TK shrieked.
She tortured the boy like this for a minute and then finally stopped. This time for real.
TK was finally able to regain his breath, and it took him quite a while to do so. He was laying on his bed with his eyes closed.
Kari put a blanket back on him and took his hand.
"I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist myself," she said. "Maybe I went a little overboard... But look, you're all warm now."
She put a hand on TK's head and caressed his hair, which became all shaggy after his squirming around in crazy laughter.
Kari touched his ears and remembered she didn't tickle them. But the boy looked so tired and tormented, that she decided to have mercy for now.
"You should sleep now, Takeru..." Kari bent over and whispered to his ear. "When you'll wake up, your illness will probably be gone already."
And then she kissed him in the lips.
The boy smiled. He wasn't angry at all. In fact, he realized that he even liked what she did to him.
Kari smiled too.
"We should work on raising your resistance to illness, TK", she said. "I don't want you to get sick after every romantic walk we'll have together."
TK gave her a small nod of agreement. But he had very little strength left in him, and soon he fell asleep.
Kari stayed by his side until TK's mom came back home. She was surprised to see Kari, but when she heard her explanation, she thanked the girl for taking care of her son. She even invited Kari to have a dinner at their place, but the girl decided to leave.
She looked at TK for the last time before leaving. He slept so calmly it made her smile again. Then she finally went out of Takaishi apartment and headed back home.
She felt happy. Her and TK's relationship was so much more than just friendship. And there were so much more awesome things waiting for them!
