Part III "Light of Day"

Tai sunk down into his chair unaware of Yamato's fate. He could hardly believe his own stupidity, why had he ever kissed Yamato? He had been crazy about his friend for so long but had never done anything about it but now he had everything was ruined. The way Yamato had ran told him his feelings were not going to be returned. Now it looked as though he had lost his best friend, his housemate and his potential boyfriend all in one fell swoop. He had briefly considered following him but it was probably better to leave him alone, sometimes, in fact most of the time Yamato needed to be alone. "Problem is" he told himself "I don't". He returned to his room and fell into a dreamless sleep, thankful that at least he had a few hours respite from thoughts of Yamato.

Kari woke up early with the memories of a bad dream. She was unable to clearly remember what it had been about, but it had involved Yamato, he had been hurt trying to protect her, but from what, she could not recall. It was a little disturbing when she saw that Yamato was not next to her. When she could not find him anywhere she started to feel worried, but told herself not to worry, that it was only a dream, and that Yamato would be back soon, he had probably gone out to get some food. Yes that had to be it, all Tai had was some stale bread and lots of beer, he'd probably gone out to buy some breakfast. When twenty minutes later TK and Davis came back with breakfast Kari started to worry.

Am I dead, or is this another dream? All Yamato could see was a brilliant white light, and happily he did not hurt which seemed to be an improvement on a few moments ago when the whole world seemed to hurt. As his vision cleared he found himself seeing more white, but this was the white of snow, and the stench of an alleyway, did I mange to drag myself here? I'm glad no one called an ambulance, I really don't want to go to a hospital. Yamato managed to stand up, and once again he hurt every single part of his body was telling him it was not happy about recent events. He groaned to himself as the events of last night came back to him, it really did seem as if the whole world was against him lately. Firstly Kari was leaving him, but he might be able to do something, no he would do something, although what was still a mystery, and then there was Tai. Well with any luck it was just the beer or his emotions, and if it wasn't well it didn't feel too bad…No what am I saying? I'm with Kari, I could have been killed but I've been given another chance, I'm not going to blow it. Slowly and painfully Yamato made his way back to Tai's and he supposed, his house leaving a pool of frozen blood in the alley as the only mark of where he had been.

Kari leapt into his arms as he walked in; it took all of his self-control not to cry out as she hugged his injured chest. Does she know about Tai? No he wouldn't have said anything; in fact it's not midday yet so he'll not be up, but whatever's up she seems happy to see me.

"Matt, I had a really bad dream and then you weren't here and I was worried"

"Sorry, I just needed some time to think" It's true at least, I couldn't lie to her

"Well you're just in time, TK's cooked breakfast" TK's as good at cooking as Tai is at decorating and I am at soccer, this should be interesting. Yamato was disappointed to see that it actually looked really good, Davis, it's bound to be him. It's good that him and TK are together, I don't think it's healthy to eat charred remains for every meal.

"Hey TK, I never knew you could cook" Might as well wind him up a little anyway

"Yeah, I'm a great chef!" TK shot what he thought was a sneaky look at Davis

"I'd have sworn Davis cooked it, if I didn't know my little brother would never lie to me" Yamato smiled as TK turned red, mission accomplished! Yamato wished his other missions for the day would be so easy, or involve bacon sandwiches.

Yamato was pleased that Tai was still asleep when he and Kari had finished breakfast, they were going to try and talk to Kari's parents and he really couldn't face the idea of talking to Tai as well, although it was going to have to happen sooner or later. I'd rather it be later. Yamato was not surprised to see that the weather was still dreadful, but he and Kari had decided to take his car anyway, he was glad since he still hurt from his accident earlier. It was preying on his mind that he couldn't really remember much about the incident, and the speed he was hit at would have seemed to cause far more damage than it had. The very last thing I need is any internal injuries, if this goes wrong I don't want to spend my last few days laid up in hospital. Kari's parents lived in a large house in the richer side of town, Yamato noticed with regret the 'Sold' sign in the garden. Yamato was fortunate that he got on well with the Kamiya's they had known him since he was young and he felt happy that they trusted him, but this was going to be difficult, still he had to try.

"So you want Kari to stay with you and Taichi?" Taichi? He must really be in the bad books, and he didn't tell me why they had fallen out.

"Yes, me and Tai would both miss Kari if she left, and we'd take good care of her"

"You'd be living at Taichi's apartment?"

"Yes, I'm moving in there too"

"It's not that we don't trust you Yamato, in fact we think of you as a son, but we just feel Kari's too young to be left with two teenagers"

"But, all my friends are here, and my schooling would suffer if I move so close to my exams, it would affect my grades". Thank Goodness Kari came up with that, 'It'll affect my grades' has been our trump card for as long as I can remember once again her parents' obsession with grades worked to our advantage.

"Well that is a good point, we shall have to give it serious consideration" Yamato left Kari with her parents, he still had things to do today, for a start move his stuff into his new home, and then talk to Tai. He was pleased at how things had gone, if they could hold Kari's move off until the summer then she would be sixteen, meaning she would have the freedom to do as she wished. Even if it fails, it'll only be until the summer, I'm sure I can go without Kari for a few months, even if I will spend a fortune on phone calls. Yamato didn't have any trouble persuading his father that moving out was for the best, the two hardly ever saw each other with his fathers' new job keeping him out until late most nights anyway. His father told him that he was proud that his son was making his own way in life and wished him luck. Yamato looked back with a tear in his eye, this was really it he was growing up and about to face life on his own. Well apart from TK, Kari, Davis and Tai. Still I guess I can be on my own with other people around, I'm really good at that.