Note to Readers: I must apologize for taking so long. I moved to another state and have had a lot of work to catch up on. Here we go into our next chapter. I hope it was worth the wait! More to come! Please let me know what you think!

The next morning Kari found herself staring back into her reflection in the bathroom. Her face was badly bruised, to the point where her mother's make-up was not doing its job. For only a second she toyed with the idea of staying home, her heart raced. Never mind, there was no way that she would stay in hell.

When she got to homeroom, she felt like she was being watched. Rightfully so, Davis was watching her every move once again. She pretended not to notice and sat down just in time before the bell. This perfect timing of hers kept Davis from asking any questions.

During class she stared down at her notebook, pen in hand, the blank lines in her vision. The blue lines blurred together as she thought about her brother, 'I am afraid Tai might be losing his courage, and maybe I am losing whatever light I have left'. This thought frightened her to death, subconsciously making her grip the pen tighter. Through thick and thin, the digidestined were able to rely on their inner strength, if their strengths were gone… Davis nudged Kari from behind. The pain snapped her back to reality; she bit her lip to keep from yelping. Her teacher was staring her down. "Well welcome back to the class. Would you mind telling me what I just said?"

She heard Davis whisper frantically, "You were summarizing the fucking book word for word, talking about the differences of cities of ancient Sparta and Athens. Not to take 300 seriously, because it was basically a bunch of crap."

She immediately uttered, "I am sorry sensei. I was thinking about the movie 300 and wondering how anyone could take that as 100% truth, just as you said, the book shows proof of mythology within the culture. I just think it is really shocking how Sparta and Athens were so vastly different when they were so close." Davis giggled at her eloquence and whispered, "Nice bullshiting."

"Well I owe you an apology Ms. Kamiya, and to answer that, it was the water and the mountainous regions that made them so close yet so far away," the teacher continued on with her rant as the two sighed in relief.

Her thoughts wondered yet again to the possibility of anyone finding out. If Davis, TK, Sora, or Matt started to ask too much, her father might kill Tai… she swallowed hard at the thought.

Tai was no different. It was five minutes to the dismissal bell that this time and his thoughts were plagued. The book in front of him was a blur, his notebook also blank. His thoughts were now consumed about a plan to keep Kari out of the apartment that night. He rubbed his eyes and looked down at his hand; they were slightly shaking from weakness, 'To little to eat'. He glanced at Sora, who pretended that she wasn't watching him. The old days where he spent debating wither to ask her out were out the window. WAIT! That's it. He scribbled something down on his notebook. Skillfully ripped it out, folded it, and flung it over to her. They were pros.

Her heart pounded, maybe this was it, he was confiding in her about what was troubling him! She glanced at him then opened the paper:

"Hey Sora,
I am sorry if this may cause you trouble but can Kari stay over your house for the night? It's Friday so I understand if you have any plans. I can't remember if Matt has a gig tonight.
Love,
Tai"

Tai noticed the smile on her face; the I-can't-believe-you smile. She flung back her reply,

"Dear Shit head,
Even IF Matt had a gig tonight, you really think I would say no? Should I just pick her up from her school?"

He smiled; she had no seen that smile in a while. He nodded while she thought, 'If I can't get anything out of him, maybe I can get something out of Kari.'

When the bell rang Tai walked out into the hallway with Sora and gave her a huge hug. "Thank you so much." Even his old gentle voice could not stop her from noticing. Her eyes widened as she felt his usual bear hug feel half its size. Maybe an exaggeration but never the less it caused her more concern. She played it off. "It's no big deal Tai, I have to go grab her. I'll see you tomorrow!" She turned the corner and pulled out her cell phone. She clicked on Joe and put the cell to her ear. Hearing the tone, frustrated, "Fuck Joe, pick up." As she reached Kari's grounds his voicemail picked up. The normal long winded voicemail of old reliable Joe answered. At the tone she started, "Hey Joe, its Sora I need to talk to you about-"She spotted Kari out of the corner of her eye, "Oh hey Kari!" she hung up. Kari didn't hear her and Sora hurried to grab her arm, startling the poor girl. "Hey Kari, you are going to be stuck with me tonight, from permission of Mr. Shithead." Kari blinked.

As they were about a block from Sora's house (they were about 30 minutes from school compared to a 5 min walk from the Kamiya's), "…so your brother signed the note as though I didn't know it was going to be from him. "Kari smirked at her brother's special moments. "It's cute though- makes it Tai official. Anyway are you sure you don't need anything?"

Kari answered, "Is it okay if I just borrow from you? I don't want to make you trek all the way to my place."

"Yep that is no problem." For a moment Sora's voice echoed in her own mind, 'How do I reach her? The two of them just have to be the two most complicated in the group.' She noticed that Kari did not look up from the ground, was wearing a long sleeve shirt in the middle of a hot day, this was just getting out of hand. Two depressed siblings… She pushed it out of her head to put a smile on her face, "I can't wait to cook for you tonight, Kari." With that her smile faded as she recognized Mr. Kamiya's car pulling up with his window rolled down.

Kari went sheet white. Sora acted normally. "Hi Mr. Kamiya!" Kari tried to act normal but couldn't stop thinking of Tai.

He peered out of the car, resting his arm on the car door, "Hey there Sora, change of plans. The Mrs. is going to be home tonight! Can you believe it?" Mr. Kamiya said causally

.

"Oh but can't she stay for just this one night Mr. Kamiya?" Sora asked, she knew without having a response it didn't work.

"Sorry but this is going to be the first time in a long time her mom is going to be home." Kari opened the back seat door and climbed in without a word.

Sora pretended to pout, "I understand….See you later then Kari. Bye Mr. Kamiya, say hello to Mrs. Kamiya for me please."

"Oh I will." He started off and Kari just looked up at Sora making her stomach drop.

In silence they arrived back at the apartment. Mr. Kamiya guided Kari with a firm grip on her shoulder to the elevator. The whole elevator reeked of alcohol when those doors closed. This silence was killing her. Without thinking she asked in a cool tone, "What did you do to Tai?" He squeezed her shoulder on the pressure point, sending shooting pain down her arm one way and up her neck to the top of her head, the other. He mumbled, "Silence is golden."

The elevator bell let them know they arrived at their destination floor. They walked to the door, he fumbled with the keys, opened the door and he shoved her into the dark room. The shades were closed. As she stumbled in she tripped on the small stair where you are to keep your shoes. She hit the floor and looked up. Tai's eyes staring right at her, she stared right into them, they were almost lifeless. "TAI!" She went to push herself up but her hand slipped on something wet, she brought her hand to look at it- covered in blood. Tears were flooding down her face, he blinked and groaned. He was only startled at the noise of her fall. She practically crawled to him; she looked at his back, also bleeding but not significant. It looked like lashes that tore through his clothes. She went to turn him over when she felt her father grab her and throw her to the floor again.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU TWO THINKING? Families stick together….right?" He drank some whiskey from the bottle and put it down on the nearest table and punched Kari in the face. "Did you tell Sora? Hmm? Family secrets maybe?" He punched her again and again. While she was dazed, he grabbed a long object. She instinctively shielded herself with her arm, then she heard a crack in the air, a sharp pain surged down her forearm. She yelled out in pain. He merely laughed. Without warning Tai tackled his father, "FUCKING LEAVE HER ALONE YOU BASTERED!" This proved to be a big mistake. He grabbed the whisky bottle from the table and slammed it down onto Tai's head, knocking him out cold. He rolled Tai off of him noticing Kari was on her feet. "Fucking faggot wasted my whiskey!"

"Dad, leave him alone please! You're going to kill him!" There was a silence as she watched her father slowly get on his feet. He back handed her and pushed her into the couch face first, he quickly took something out of his pocket and slapped it on her wrists. He chuckled and slurred, "You're under arrest! Everything you say can and will be ignored." He flipped her around; she flinched thinking he was going to punch her in the face again. When she felt nothing she slowly opened her eyes to see him staring down at her. A slow grin appeared on his face. She felt so sick in that moment, every intuition known told her to run. She went to jump up but he scooped her up, covered her mouth, and took her to the master bedroom.