Sadly, I don't own Digimon. Still. Enjoy the chapter!

While Stella and Tai were talking, TK and Kari were looking up at the stars up on the "roof". "The stars are so pretty TK," Kari murmured. "It's nice sitting here with you."

TK looked at her and grinned, deciding to finally come clean, because there's nothing like the prospect of being destroyed by evil Digimon to make you realize what's important. "Yeah, Kari, it's beautiful. The stars are almost as beautiful as you."

She blushed, and brushed her hair behind her ears. "Come on TK, you don't need to goof around."

"No, I mean it Kari. Look, we're close. You're my best friend. Patamon's been bugging me about why I haven't told you how I feel yet and says he won't stop until I do, so here goes. Do you remember what I said to you back in 7th grade? When the dark ocean was trying to take you?"

"Of course. You told me that you cared for me too much to let it take me without a fight. You never did explain that." She leaned on her right hand and turned to look at him. "What did you mean? And don't just say stuff."

"Ummm…. Well…." Crap. Harder than I thought. Damn you Patamon, and your incessant nagging. And damn my incessant wimping out. And damn…. Everything.

"Tk, come on. Just tell me! Maybe I care about you too, but you're too stubborn to tell me how you feel, so you won't know!" She glared at him. Motherfucking idot. Just tell me you love me.

TK rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Kari, you know I care about you. You mean more to me than anyone, even Patamon. You're the most amazing girl I've ever met." God damnit I'm such a wimp.

"Then why did you date around if you care so much about me? Didn't think that hurt me? TK I'm crazy about you, and I've had to sit here watching you date all those girls and tell me all about them, and I had to just sit there, quietly, pretending I wasn't going cr-" she was interrupted by TK grabbing her head in both hands, and kissing her deeply.

They kissed for a few minutes, TK pulling her closer to him before breaking the kiss. "Kari, the only reason I dated any of those girls was to try to make you jealous. I figured that if you liked me you would do something or-" this time he was shut up by Kari kissing him and pressing herself against him, as he wrapped his arms around her. They stayed like this for a while longer, kissing each other more and more deeply.

They were interrupted by someone downstairs, yelling "She's gone!" in an anguished voice. They broke apart, and smiled at each other, then looked at the floor wondering what was going on. TK stood up before offering his hand to Kari. She smiled, and after taking it stood up and let him lead her downstairs.

The sight that waited them was dismal. Tai was sitting with his head in his hands, a folded up letter in his hand. Sora reached for it, and he yanked it down and put it in his pocket. Everyone else looked upset, and worried. TK and Kari got downstairs without anyone noticing them, and then she dropped TK's hand. "Seems like the wrong time to say anything" she whispered, and he nodded.

"So Tai, tell us what happened." Agumon prompted his partner.

"I already told you. I walked into my room and saw a note waiting for me. She's left. She says that she and Feymon would only get in our way and that she's sorry, but she knew that we would never let her leave. How could I let her do this? She needs m-us. And I-we, we need her. I have to go find her." He got up, but before he could take a step, Matt grabbed his hand. I don't know why he's this upset, she can handle herself, and it's silly to just rush off to find her in the dark.

"Tai, be reasonable. She knows these woods better than any of us, she's got at least 30 minutes on us, and it's dark. And besides, we need to focus on finding the last Digidestined, and figuring out who we have to defeat." Matt could tell Tai was upset, but knew this was what he needed to hear. "Look, yes, she's a digidestined, but she isn't a crest bearer. And all Feymon can do is digivolve to the champion level. We don't need her as badly as we do this mystery Digidestined. I'm not saying she isn't important, but right now she's not at the top of my list."

Sora saw Tai's face, and rushed to intervene before he punched Matt square in the face. She knew the last thing this group needed was another fight between the two. "What Matt means, is that we have a lot to do. Remember when I left the group because I felt that I wasn't needed, and when Matt did the same thing? We both came back. I'm sure Stella will come back. Why don't we all go to sleep, we're leaving tomorrow." She could tell Tai was still upset, but he nodded and wordlessly walked to his room, with Agumon behind him.

In bed, he took Stella's letter out of his pocket and read it once again:

Tai,

I'm so sorry. For lying, for everything. I never should have kept this from your group, and especially not you. I'm leaving, with Feymon. I just can't face you right now. You must despise me. I'm sorry for ruining…. this. For ruining everything. You will all do better without me lagging around anyways. I can't do anything right, and I don't want to get in your way. You'll find someone much more suited to this crest then me. Please don't try to find me.

I'm sorry,

Stella.

"I will find you." he whispered, holding her locket containing her crest, before rolling over, and going to sleep.

The next morning was a blur for everyone. They were leaving as the sun rose, and a select few were very grumpy. Davis didn't understand why they couldn't just leave later, because "wasn't sleeping in more important for the 'Digimon,'" and refused to humor any explanation from Izzy. In turn, Tai was snapping at Davis for being difficult, Veemon was yelling at Tai for snapping at Davis, and Gabumon was holding back Agumon from knocking Veemon over for yelling at Tai. Mimi and Joe were trying to be positive, but Joe just kept yawning, which for some reason irked Tentomon. Besides Sora, Ken, and Izzy, Kari and TK were the most (and only) cheerful ones in the bunch. "Stupid morning people" Davis muttered while shoving toast into his mouth.

After a few hours of walking, everyone seemed to be in better spirits, and they also knew they were on the right path. They kept running into Digimon who were coming out of hiding, and were more than eager to share the direction of the Digimon they were hunting. Not that it was hard, there was a path of destruction that showed the way. Matt kept trying to get Tai's attention, but whenever he tried, Tai would scoot over to walk with someone else. He felt bad for last night, and sensed that Tai had something he was hiding. Ugh, Tai. Just let me talk to you.

Meanwhile, walking in the trees near the group was Stella and Feymon. Last night, after she had Feymon slip the note on to Tai's bed, she had ended up walking in circles all night. She knew that Tai was up there telling all of them what she did. She didn't know what she was doing, but a part of her hoped that Tai would veer off to look for her. She had thought long and hard, and decided she should fight. For now, she was going to hunt these dark digimon, because she was tired of hiding. She was ashamed of lying to all of them, and was going to try to do something right. She wasn't going to sit back anymore. All of these digidestined put themselves in danger, and while Stella knew that Feymon couldn't digivolve to a strong enough level and Stella herself was broken, maybe they could do something to help. If not, they would die trying.