Chapter 3
After hours on a plane to California, Kari and Haruki finally arrived at 8:45 a.m. I was waiting right at the gate exit when they came out laughing about something. Kari looked so beautiful and I could tell Haruki had gotten taller.
"Hey you two! What's so funny?" I asked startling them.
"Oh! T.K., hi," Kari said.
"T.K!" Haruki yelled in joy. He ran right up and gave me a big hug, which I returned.
"Hey Haru! How've ya been?" I asked. I was so happy to see them.
"Good! I'm so happy to finally see you again!" He said. Then he looked around with a confused look on his face. "Uh, where's Shaun?" He asked.
"At home asleep!" I answered with a smile.
"You mean he's not here to welcome us?!" Poor Haruki. He seemed so disappointed.
"Sorry, bud," I sympathized. "I tried my best to wake him up, but he wouldn't budge! I even told him that today was the day that you guys were coming and all I got was a mumble."
"Figures!" He pouted as he rolled his eyes. Then he got some kind of fire in his eyes, like he'd get revenge on something. "When we get there, I'll make him pay! He won't know what hit him! Ha ha ha!" He declared as he held up a fist.
"Oh yeah! He definitely won't know what- or who- hit him!" I laughed, amused by his "rage". I turned to Kari. "Hi," I said softly.
"Hello," she greeted back nodding her head with a smile. I walked up to her.
"I missed you most of all," I whispered. She blushed a deep crimson. I miss making her blush like that. It always made me smile, and I could feel a huge grin creep up now that couldn't be held in.
"T.K? What are you smiling so big for?" Kari asked.
"Oh... no reason!" I sang, maintaining my smile and making it bigger.
"Yeah right! You're smiling because of something I did!" She squealed. Her blush had already completely faded, and now she had a suspicious look on her face.
"Okay, fine. I'll tell you why I was smiling..." I said.
"Then, please, do," she said.
"...When we get back to the house!" I finished slyly.
"Oh, Takaishi..! You're dead!" She warned playfully, slapping my arm.
"Hey, what's going on?" Haruki said, finally getting into the conversation. He'd been in his moment of "revenge" for several minutes now, and I guess he snapped back just now.
"Oh, nothing sweetie," Kari answered to our son. "We're just giving each other a hard time."
"Me more than her!" I said continuing what we were just doing to each other.
"Whatever! I was the one getting picked on more than anything!" Kari defended herself.
"Sure... You just keep telling yourself that," I played.
"You know what buster?! I'm gonna-!" Kari started to say when she was interrupted by our son. She was holding up a fist like what Haruki had done when he said he would get his "revenge".
"You two act like a couple of teenagers!" Haruki said. That made us get quiet and look at each other and blush tremendously. Luckily, Haruki didn't notice because he was already turned around to start heading towards home.
"Do not!" Kari shot, jokingly of course.
"Whatever!" He shot back over his shoulder. "Come on!" He led with a hand waving past his ear. He's just like his uncle. "Let's go home!"
"Ay ay, Captain!" I said humoring him. This caused Kari giggle. I picked up her luggage and we headed out of the airport.
On our way home, Haruki and I had multiple conversations about what we were going to do all weekend. Kari butted in a few times wondering why we were going to do certain things we mentioned, and we just said that it was none of her business, and she'd laugh it off. I'm so happy that I married a woman who has a sense of humor and doesn't mind it when I act childish with our children. This weekend, I'm going to ask her if she would be my wife again- but this time, it's definitely forever. I'll make sure of it!
"Well, you two... we're here!" I announced. "Welcome to your second home... in San Francisco!"
"Oh T.K! You're so commercial!" Kari laughed.
I love her laugh. I've missed everything about her since we last saw each other. Her smile that shows off her wonderfully white teeth, her laugh which includes her sense of humor, her cute little nose, her chocolate brown hair that always smells like strawberries, and her beautiful chocolate-ruby eyes. Especially her eyes. I could melt every time I look into her eyes. She's just so beautiful!
"Indeed, I am," I said almost dramatically.
"Wow! It's so big! I can't believe we're finally here! T.K. this is gonna be so awesome!!!" Haruki cheered.
"Haruki, calm down! You're going to wake Shaun with all this noise," Kari scolded with a hint of chuckling in her voice.
"Provided that he's still asleep," I cut in, matter-of-factly.
"Right," Kari said giving me a half-death glare.
"See?! He could be awake already!" Haruki exclaimed.
I unlocked the door and Haruki made a break for it inside the house by pushing past both his mother and I! I couldn't help but to chuckle at his physical outburst. Kari and I knew he was planning to wake Shaun up by scaring him out of his wits.
We walked inside to hear a very loud "BOO!!!" and sudden scream of horror. Kari and I cracked up hysterically at the pictures playing in our minds about the scene that had just occurred without us actually seeing it. Next thing we know, Shaun's running out of his room and jumping up into Kari's arms without even knowing it was Kari's arms he jumped into. There were tears in his eyes and a terrified look on his face.
"Dad! Haruki scared me!" He wailed. Then his expression changed from terror to realization. "Wait a minute! Haruki's here?! That means..." He trailed off while turning his head towards Kari. A huge, open-mouthed smile played across his face as his eyes lit up with happiness. "Kari!!!" He practically screamed into her ear. He furiously hugged her, which she returned. Haruki came out of Shaun's room still cracking up at what happened. I couldn't help but to laugh myself!
"I can't believe it! I got you good Shaun!" Haruki exclaimed.
"Shut up!" Shaun said and stuck his tongue out at him.
"Now boys," Kari started, "let's not start arguing already. We just got here. How about we go for a swim? Sound fun?"
"Definitely!" Haruki agreed.
"Totally!" Shaun said along with him.
"Hey, that does sound like fun! Count me in!" I said getting in on all the excitement.
"Sorry, but no adult males allowed, T.K.," Kari said. This really took me by surprise.
"What? But- Why?" I asked confused.
"Just kidding!" She sing-sung in a giggle. "Come on, get dressed!" She welcomed with a slight wave of her hand.
"Okay," I said, relieved she wasn't serious. Although, this is my house! It's a good thing she only jokes around about these things.
We got into our bathing suits and headed for the heated pool out back. It wasn't long before we were completely soaked and having the time of our lives splashing each other, doing summersaults off the diving board, and playing fun water games. It felt like pure family fun and I know Kari felt the same way. It's just a shame the boys don't know how family-like it really is. I'm going to make sure that they find out they're brothers soon. I just hope Kari wants them to know too.
After three hours in the pool, we got out and went inside to have lunch. So many conversations picked up as soon as we sat down at the table. There were conversations of what's been going on in Odaiba, conversations about friends, and anything miscellaneous.
Kari, Shaun, and I learned from Haruki that he has a big crush on Michiko and what happened between the two when they were at the airport. It's good to know that my son is just as into girls as I was at his age!
Shaun told Haruki and Kari about a girl at school who has an obvious crush on him and he thinks she's cute, but won't admit it to any of his friends. Kari started getting very giddy and girly when she listened to all of this. Typical female. Although, I can understand. It's great to know that your children have crushes and to think about how cute it is. I think Kari and I should let them have a date with their sweethearts. Then we can embarrass them all we want!
After lunch, the boys and I played video games while Kari cleaned up the kitchen.
"Kari, you don't have to clean my kitchen, or any other part of my house," I reasoned, not looking up from the intense game I was playing.
"I know, but someone has to do it," she insisted.
"What? You don't think I will?" I asked.
"Exactly," she simply replied.
"You know what?"
"What?"
"You best knock it off or I'm gonna come over there and give you a tickling!"
"Really? Then, come over here," she taunted. I guessed she'd put her hands on her hips.
I pressed pause on the remote control and got up to chase Kari around the whole house. Soon, Haruki and Shaun found amusement in our little chase and they got up to chase too. We turned it into a game where Kari was the princess and I was the villain while Haruki and Shaun were my goons. The objective was to capture the princess and make her mine.
By dinnertime, we were all so tired! We ended up taking a nap and when we woke up, it was 8:30 p.m. Since it was so late, we had something small that would fill us up, but not be too much. After dinner, we got into our pj's and watched some movies. Before the last movie was over, Haruki and Shaun had fallen asleep. Kari and I took the boys into Shaun's room and put them to bed.
After putting the boys to bed, I led Kari to the porch in the backyard to have some time alone. I took her hand, looked deep into her eyes, and smiled; of which, she returned. While we stared intently at each other, I thought about what I was going to say and how I would put it together. Then, it finally came to me, so I took a deep breath.
"Light," I started, "we have loved each other for so long and we have two amazingly wonderful boys together that I just can't seem to get enough of." She smiled warmly, but kept quiet; waiting to hear what else I had to say. I continued, "There's no way I'm going to let you get away from me again. You're my soul, my world, and my spirit. We are- and will forever remain- Light and Hope. We stick together through everything." I got down on my knee, taking the ring box out of my pj pocket as I did so. "So with this ring," I said as I opened the box to expose the ring to its new beholder, "I ask you to be my wife once again; this time, forever is the truth." With the conclusion of my proposal, I took Kari's left hand and slid the ring onto her ring finger. She gasped in shock and stared at the ring; her eyes widened.
"T.K. I... of course will marry you!" She said as she jumped into my arms as I stood up, making me fall down with her in my arms. We laughed, and then shared a passionate kiss.
After my proposal, we went inside, made some coffee, and got comfortable on the couch to talk all night; just like we had done the first time we were engaged. It was amazing how many topics we had to talk about considering all the talking we did with our sons.
By the time we realized it, dawn had come and it was 5:30 a.m. We started feeling tired, so we lied down on the couch and fell asleep; Kari lying on my chest.
When I woke up, I heard two voices that sounded really young. I instinctively recognized them as Haruki and Shaun's voices. I kept my eyes closed; pretending to be asleep, so as not to make them think I was awake. This way, I could hear what they were saying and tell Kari about it later. She was still asleep on top of me and from what I could tell, it was a peaceful sleep. I caught up on the boys' conversation.
"Haruki, what do you think my dad and Kari are doing sleeping together?" Shaun asked in a whisper.
"Don't know. Maybe they were talking late last night and somehow fell asleep like that," Haruki whispered back. He had no idea how right he was!
"Yeah, could be. Hey, do you see that ring on Kari's finger?" Shaun said.
"Mm-hm. And it's on her left ring finger. That usually means that a woman is married or engaged. Do you think T.K. proposed to my mom last night and that's why they're sleeping together?"
"I have no idea, but that would be so cool if Kari was my mom, my dad was your dad, and we were brothers!" Shaun cheered in a whisper.
"I've always wish that! And it would work out great because T.K.'s already my idle, so there would be no awkwardness," Haruki explained. "Oh!" He exclaimed suddenly. "I just remember a dream I had last night."
"Really? What was it about?" Shaun asked.
"Well," Haruki started, his tone sounding as if he was thinking about it, "all four of us were in it. I dreamt that Mom and T.K. told us that we really are brothers."
"Whoa! That's so weird! I had a dream that Dad and Kari got married and we all lived happily together forever."
"That's how my dream ended!" Haruki yelled in excitement.
I felt Kari move and make some noise. I could tell she was waking up.
"Haruki, keep it down," she said sleepily. She's so cute! I felt her sit up.
"Morning Mom!" He greeted cheerfully.
"Morning Kari!" Shaun followed.
"Morning boys," she replied in the middle of a yawn. I could only assume that she was stretching.
I decided to pretend to wake up, so I forced a yawn and stretched while sitting up.
"Morning everybody! Have a good sleep?"
"Yes!" Haruki and Shaun yelled.
"It was good until these two numbskulls woke me up," she teased, looking at them with a quarter-death glare. Then, she got a look of sudden realization that she was still sitting over me and that the kids were there when she woke up. "Oh no!"
"What's wrong?" The boys asked.
"Boys, why don't you go get your clothes on for the day?" Kari suggested quickly.
"Okay," they said in unison. They left the room and closed Shaun's door.
"T.K. how could we fall asleep like that and let them see us? They must have a million questions just swimming in their heads right now," Kari said as she got up from the couch after the boys left.
"It's fine, Kari. I heard them talking when I woke up. They're close to knowing everything," I said as I sat up and stretched.
"Huh? What do you mean? What did you hear?" She questioned. She was looking at me with her beautiful eyes that were full of curiosity and a slight bit of confusion and worry.
"I woke up and heard them talking, so I pretended to be asleep," I started.
"You eavesdropped on our children?!" Kari exclaimed in a whisper.
"Well, I had to see what they were saying or else I'd never know, and I wouldn't be able to tell you. It's actually quite interesting," I explained.
Kari paused a moment and spoke. "So what did you hear?"
"First, they were wondering why we were sleeping together. Haruki suggested it was because we stayed up late last night and somehow fell asleep like we did. Then, they saw the ring on your finger and started wondering if we were engaged. After that, they talked about how it would be so awesome if they were brothers. Haruki started talking about a dream he had where we tell them that they really are brothers, Shaun said he had a dream where you and I get married, and Haruki exclaimed that his dream ended like that. That's pretty much when you woke up."
"Oh no, they had premonitions. They get that from me. Especially Haruki. What should we do?" She said. She always looked so cute when she was stressing.
"We tell them, of course," I said calmly and simply.
"Why?"
"Why not?"
"Because we don't know how this will all turn out! They could end up hating us for all we know."
"Yeah, or they could jump for joy knowing that they're actually brothers. I think we should tell them and get it over with," I said never once breaking my calm shell. I was trying to calm her down too and I think it was working.
"When, do you think?" She said after thinking it over.
"Tonight," I replied simply.
"Don't you think that's a little late?" She asked. She finally looked like she was okay with the idea of telling them.
"You asked when I thought would be a good time and I answered," I said matter-of-factly.
"I know, but we're leaving tonight. It'll be hard if they find out they're brothers one minute and are separated the again the next," she said as she turned her back to me.
"So then stay one more day," I said as I wrapped my arms around her small waist from behind her.
She responded to my touch by holding her arms over mine. We swayed in silence; big, happy smiles on our faces and our eyes closed. We were interrupted when the boys came running out of Shaun's room... loudly.
"Boys! Boys!" I yelled over their cries of "battle" as I let go of Kari. "Be quiet, or I'll put you both out your misery." I played.
They grinned, suspiciously looked at each other, and tackled me onto the couch screaming, "YAAAHH!".
"Be careful!" I heard Kari caution as we landed on the cushioned piece of furniture.
"RAAAAARR!" They roared.
"Yeah? Well, 'rar' to you too!" I laughed.
They responded with laughter, as well. I got up in time to hear Kari sigh. I walked over to her and began rubbing her shoulders.
"You need to loosen up…" I said and finished off by whispering into her ear, "babe." I felt her jump and she whipped herself around to look at me in a slightly feared way while still held onto her. She quickly changed her look and peered around me at the boys.
"Hey boys, good news! We're staying one more day!" She suddenly said with a big smile on her face. Then, she looked back at me and got on her tippy toes to whisper in my ear. "This way, we can tell them tonight; like you suggested." She quickly pecked me on the cheek without the boys noticing. They were too busy cheering that they get to spend one more day together. "What shall we do today?" Kari asked in a spunky manner.
"Movies!" "Carnival!" "And the arcade!" They suggested loudly in excitement.
"How about all? We'll start with the carnival, move on to the arcade, and finish the day off with a movie. Sound good?" Kari planned.
"Yeah!" They cheered.
"And T.K. pays for it all!" She suggested in a cutesy way. I glared at her suspiciously. She responded by giggling.
"Oh, fine." I reluctantly gave in.
With that, Kari and I got dressed. When we all had eaten breakfast, we piled into the car and left for the carnival. It took us 20 minutes to get there and when we did, the first ride we hit was the... roller coaster!
On the roller roaster, Haruki and Shaun were screaming at the top of their lungs with huge, open-mouthed smiles on their faces. Kari looked a little like she was going to be sick, but she seemed to have gotten over it when I patted her on the back. She started having a lot of fun on the ride after that. I was having a total blast already! I was on an amazingly fun ride with the three most important people in my life.
Excluding my brother Matt, of course. If he was here, things would be way more fun, but I'm happy with all who's with me now.
When that ride was over, we went on the Swing Twirler. The boys were once again having a great time. Kari was really close to getting sick again, but held her own. I was also starting to get nauseas, but my stomach is stronger than Kari's smaller abdominals.
We decided to slow ourselves down a bit, so we headed for corndogs and cotton candy. While we had already finished our corndogs and were working on our cotton candy, we decided to play some games.
Shaun won a fish in a bag, a giant stuffed panda, and fifteen bucks. I still have no idea how he did that!
Haruki won a remote-control dinosaur, a $100 gift card to the San Francisco Mall- I guess we're going there tomorrow before they leave, and a stuffed purple butterfly. That kind of shocked us and the carnie a bit, but he told us that it was for Michiko when they got back. We heaved a sigh of relief; thankful that he wasn't getting it for himself. Then, Kari suggested getting stuff for everyone else; namely Keiji, Carly, and Dru. I threw in Laken, Jorryn, Akio, Makoto, Channery, and Kayo.
Kari bursted out, "Don't forget about little Kert!"
Being an eleven-year-old boy and being in another country, Haruki didn't have much to buy at the mall. So he agreed that he would use his gift card on his friends at home.
After two hours of playing the carnie games, we decided to end our fun at the carnival by riding the Ferris wheel. Haruki and Shaun ran to a box to ride, so Kari and I followed.
When we piled into the box, I nudged Kari when the boys weren't looking and whispered, "Do you think we should tell them now?"
"I thought we were going to wait until tonight." She whispered back, getting over her startlement from when I nudged her.
"I know, but we're secluded in a Ferris wheel where no one could ever hear us and it's such a perfect setting. Come on, they need to know now. Please?" I begged in the boyish way I always had. She never could say 'no'.
"Oh, T.K. You're so pathetic," she teased. "Okay, let's do it," she gave in. Like I said!
"Boys," I simply said, calling them to attention. "We have something to tell you."
"What is it?" They asked in unison.
"Well, eleven years ago we got married...," Kari started slowly, "to each other," she finished quickly.
"What?" The boys said in slight confusion.
"It's about time you learn the truth of our past, kids." I sighed putting my arm around Kari's waist. "You see, I asked out your mother after we defeated VenomMyotismon. We dated ever since then and fell very much in love. By the time we were in college, I proposed to her and we got married. We got pregnant on our honeymoon. Haruki, you are, indeed, my son and Shaun's brother. A year after we had you, we had Shaun. We were so much in love and wanted children badly. One night, when Haruki was two years old, Kari came home looking exhausted and sad. She started crying and told me that she regretted to tell me that she didn't love me anymore. It broke my heart to hear that, but there were no arguments spouted between us. We divorced that night and I took Shaun while Kari took Haruki."
"Five years later, we reunited you two, but told you that you were friends when you were toddlers," Kari added. "I fell back in love with your father that day," She said looking up at me in the eyes.
"It's a good thing I was still in love with her." I said with a smile, running my fingers through her hair.
"We weren't sure how you would've reacted if we told you that you were brothers, or if you understood," she continued, looking at the two confused boys. "We made sure to get you two together as much as we could after that. I hope you boys aren't mad at us," she concluded with a small smile.
"Uh... mm... huh?" Haruki stuttered. "We're really... b-brothers?" He finally sputtered out.
"Mm-hm," I replied nodding my head.
"A-and you're m-my d-d-dad?" He stuttered more.
"Yes, sweetie," Kari answered for me.
"You're my mom?" Shaun asked.
"I am," Kari said a hint of hope in her voice; hope that Shaun will accept her as his mother.
"Uh... YAY!" He suddenly yelled in extreme joy. "I have a mom! You're my mom! You're my mom!" He cheered jumping on her to give her as many hugs as he could. "I love you, Mom!" He said calming down.
"Oh, Shaun!" She said breathlessly; starting to cry. "You don't understand how long I've waited for you to tell me that and call me 'Mom'! It broke my heart every time you didn't."
"You could've said something, you know! I would've called you 'Mom' if you wanted. And you know I love you!" He said hugging her more and wiping a tear from her cheek.
"But then the secret would be out and besides, your father and I wanted to tell you and Haruki when we were all together," she explained still in tears. This is so overwhelming!
I looked at Haruki. He still seemed to be a little confused.
"It's okay, son," I coached, "if you're still confused- or even upset about this, I'll give you some time. You don't have to-" I was cut off by Haruki's sudden lunge at me.
"Dad!" He whispered through tears. "I knew it! I knew you could be my dad! Something told me that some confusing event would happen when we came here... but it never told me it would be a happy experience! I knew there was a way I resembled you and Shaun resembled Mom. It wasn't my imagination! My dream came true!" He said continuing to sob. I assumed the dream was the one he had last night. It was so touching that I, myself, started crying- out of joy of course!
"I'm so sorry I was never there as your father Haru! You have no idea how hard it was for me to pretend that I was just another adult and not your dad! I wanted to tell you badly and it always made me feel like I was missing out when you didn't call me 'Dad'," I sobbed, holding him tightly. I never wanted to lose my son again.
We all finally settled down and dried our eyes in time for the Ferris wheel to stop. We got out, refreshed as a new found family. The sky had turned to sunset without our knowledge. I checked my watch which said, "6:38 p.m."
"Well, on to the arcade!" I cheered raising my fist high in the air.
We went to the arcade as planned where we had pizza for dinner and played tons of video games. I hung with Haruki and Shaun hung with Kari. Haruki and I won 5,000 tickets and Kari and Shaun won 4,900 tickets. Haruki rubbed our victory of tickets in Shaun's nose and I would be doing the same to Kari as soon we got home. The boys spent they're tickets on dinky gadgets and unnecessary toys.
After the arcade, we went to see a movie- also as planned. It was a comedy flick, so we were cracking up the whole way through. I thought Kari's sides would split because she was laughing harder than I was. Although, no one was laughing as hard as the boys were. They probably would've wet their pants if the movie was any longer.
Finally, after ten or eleven hours of fun, we were home. The poor boys were dead tired by the time they got their pj's on, so they went straight to bed and possibly passed out. Kari and I had to force ourselves not to laugh at their sleeping positions. Kari calmed down enough to go to a closet in the hallway and grab a blanket to put over them.
She backed up into my sideways, outstretched arm with a warm smile on her face. I looked down at her and she looked up at me while keeping her smile. I smiled back at her and kissed her forehead. We turned so that our bodies were facing each other and she reached up to wrap her arms around my neck. I responded by encircling my arms around her waist and rubbing her back. I leaned down, she tilted her head up, and we passionately kissed; smiling on the inside.
End of Chapter 3
Hey it's me yet once again! It's getting interesting isn't it? R&R please! ^-^
FYI: The chapters will be in different point of views. Kari's POV is next! And I obviously don't own the TV series. I don't think anyone on FanFiction owns it. The only things I own are the added names and the plot of this story. Happy? Well, who cares! JK! ^-^
Reminder: I accept flames.
Note: I only accept flames that will help me become a better writer.