CHAPTER SEVEN

A few weeks had past, and summer would soon be over, which meant kids and teens would be heading back to school, and some of the Digi Destined were planning to head to college, even Kari who was studying to be a vet.

Though she originally said she wanted to be a Pre-School teacher, she found that her love for animals and wanting to help them was stronger.

These days, it was hard for her to study.

She had been trying her very best to let go and move on, but she couldn't Davis out of her mind.

Davis had kept good on his word and kept well away from her.

Whenever she would see him walking down the street, he would catch one glimpse of her, and then immediately turn away and go back from whence he came to avoid her.

Even when she went to Liam's pub, Davis refused to come out from the back rooms, much to Liam's own disappointment.

Kari came home one night, feeling very upset, and Jun and Tai were there discussing wedding plans, and they both did not seem pleased with anything that had happened over the past weeks.

"Kari, you need to stop beating yourself up like this." said Tai.

"Tell that to my brain and my heart." said Kari, and then she realized what she had said, "I mean my brain- just my brain!"

She slumped into her armchair and backed her head many times into the back.

"Kari, stop it, you'll get an aneurism." said Jun.

Kari didn't know how much more of this she could take. "Why does he still have to have feelings for me?" she asked aloud.

"Maybe feelings are feelings because we can't control them." answered Tai, and he looked back towards Jun, and smiled at him, but very softly.

"I still don't get it!" wailed Kari "Why can't Davis just find someone else to love? The door is wide open for him, and I'm sure there's a ton of girls out there who would love to be with him."

Jun came over and put her hand on Kari's shoulder, "Kari, some people just can't get over it as easy, especially when they feel so deeply infatuated."

"She's right," said Tai "Kari, Sora and I used to be close, remember?"

"How could I forget?" teased Kari "I would often tease you and say you two would get married someday."

Jun giggled at that, and Tai felt embarrassed, "The point is, we never even tried because we just didn't feel that way.

We were really good friends, and that's how we preferred it, and besides, Matt showed how much he really cared about Sora himself."

Jun remember that, which reminded her of how she used to crush on Matt. "When I knew he had feelings for Sora, and not me, it really hurt, but I knew there were other boys out there I could be with."

Then she looked up lovingly at Tai, "And I found one."

Tai smiled at her.

Kari thought this was lovely, "But what does this have to do with Davis?"

"We just told you," replied Jun "Some people can get better from heartbreak and problems like this… but there are some people who just can't."

Tai nodded, "I told Davis about there being plenty of fish in the sea."

"Well, there are." said Kari.

"But…!" he brother snapped, not wanting to be interrupted, "I also forgot something about that; the fisherman can choose to give up, pull in his line, and not bother trying again, as he only came out to catch that one fish he wanted so desperately."

Kari gawked at him with wide-eyes. She had never thought about it that way before.

"Think of it like this," said Jun "Suppose Davis actually did agree to go out with some other girl, while he still has deep feelings for you. It's just not right, and it wouldn't be fair to the girl."

They would be living a lie, and Kari hated dishonest people. It was all making more sense to her than ever, but this still didn't solve her deeply growing feelings inside, or her concern about Davis.

She was really starting to feel drawn to thinking about him more and more every moment, and she didn't know how to really feel about it.

Suddenly, she got a text from TK on her cell-phone, asking where she was and why she was so late for their date.

"My date!" cried Kari "I completely forgot!" and ran out the door like lightning, leaving Tai and Jun to sigh.

"Things just aren't going to get any better as long as she doesn't admit to herself." said Tai.

Jun agreed, and shook her head.

The next day,

Davis kicked the ball in front of him, trying to hook it over towards Ken.

He had picked up his old skill quickly after getting back into practice, but he was still a little shaky.

The ball flew through the air, and Ken caught it on his chest, bouncing it down in front of his own feet. Davis sprinted forward, past the opposing defenders, and nearer to the goal. Ken crossed the ball to him.

"Davis, Man on!" shouted one of his teammates. He moved to the left, and the defender who had been behind him slid through the mud past him. Just the goalie left now. He dribbled forward, tapped the ball lightly in front of him with his left foot, and swung his right forward in a heavy strike. The ball flew towards the left side of the goal.

The goalkeeper dived to intercept. For a long moment, Davis though he was going to stop it. The ball scraped past the goalie's fingers and hit the back of the net.

Final Score: 2-1.

Davis collapsed to his knees, and punched one fist into the air. His teammates crowded round him, lifting him up.

He didn't spot TK watching form the parking lot near the field, and he looked pretty upset.


Davis walked out of the changing rooms, a broad grin on his face. He was about to get into his brand new jeep, when he saw TK walk up to him.

"You looked good out there."

For once, Davis didn't try to walk away or avoid him, as if all the time he spent away gave him a chance to heal inside.

"It feels great to back in the game. Is there's something you want?"

TK nodded, "We need to talk."

"About what…?"

That's when TK roared and tackled him hard to the ground.

"What are you doing?!" he shouted.

TK just snarled, "I'm fed up with you messing with Kari! You're trying to steal her from me."

Davis managed to shove him off of him and got up.

"I'm not trying to steal her! She's the one who keeps coming to me! I moved away so I could keep away from her, and out of your lives. Don't get me involved again!"

"LIAR!" shouted TK and he lunged at Davis again, pushing him up against the car and socking him hard in the face, and then kicked his shins, and proceeded to beat him up badly.

Davis made no attempts to hit him back and continued to try and reason with him, but TK only continued to thrash him.

"Kari was late for our date last night, and it's your fault for messing with her head!

…LEAVE KARI ALONE!"

POW! He punched Davis hard in the gut, making him go down on the ground, and then TK proceeded to ram numerous kicks into him.


Yolei and Ken came walking to Yolei's car, when they saw the fight.

"Davis!" shouted Ken, and he and Yolei watched as Davis took another pound to the face by the insane man.

Ken dashed over and grabbed TK!

"Get off of him!"

TK only backhanded Ken in the face threatening him, "Keep out of this!"

"Ken!" cried Yolei, and she would have rushed over to kick TK to pieces, but then she saw Kari on her bike, pulling up to a corner by the parking lot.

"KARI!" she shouted so loud so Kari could hear over the engine and through her helmet, and she waved to her like crazy.

Kari looked up at her, and saw Yolei motion to TK and Davis in the parking lot, which made her gasp in shock.

She quickly steered her bike off the road and up the hill intot he parking lot and threw off her helmet to confront the boys.

TK punched Davis in the ribs, and Davis managed to find a little strength to shove him off, but still made no attempt to hit back.

Davis stood again, shakily this time. His soccer uniform was tattered, and his face was badly bruised and he had a few cuts on the side of his face.

"I'm not going to fight you TK. I don't have a reason to." His bruised jaw ached as he spoke.

TK spoke angrily. "You're trying to steal my girl, you're messing with our lives, and you say that you've got no reason to fight?!

You're a freaking retard- more pathetic than I ever gave you credit for!"

He prepared to tackle him again, before he could hit, Kari grabbed hold of his arm.

TK thought it was Ken or Yolei trying to stop him again. "I SAID PISS OFF!" He didn't realize what he was doing as he swung his other fist around; punching his girlfriend in the eye, and Kari went down on the ground next to Yolei who was cradling the unconscious Ken.

"Kari!" cried Yolei.

He saw what he had done to her, and was most horrified, but when he turned back to Davis, there was a difference in the other man's expression.

It was bad enough he had punched out Ken, who was only trying to help, but when TK's fist had connected, and Kari hit the ground, a surge of anger had rushed through him, subsiding a good deal of the pain he was in, and twisting his face into a snarl.

He marched right up to TK and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him up and off the ground, and as TK fuss and kicked about, Davis raised his other free hand and threw his first and only punch in the fight...

KAPOW! He whammed TK right in the nose, and sending the man flying up through the air and crashing hard on the pavement, unconscious.

Davis was panting furiously, which then faded into shock at what he had just done, and the pain from his wounds began to return.

He was more concerned with Kari than himself, or even Ken for that.

"Are you okay?" he asked through his swollen mouth. But Kari stood up, holding her eye, and shouted angrily "Why did you hit him!?"

Davis recoiled as if he had come face to face with a cobra. "He... he hit you," and just as he was about to point out that Ken got hit too, Kari balked at him "He didn't mean to! You didn't have to punch him out!"

Davis's features hardened, and he grabbed her by the collar making her scream in fright as he looked ready to punch her too, but he didn't.

"You're not worth it!" and he let her go, dropping her hard onto the pavement, and he walked back to his jeep shouting, "The next time you get hit, Kari… YOU CAN FIGHT FOR YOURSELF!"

He got in and the tires screeched as he drove off in such an angry huff.

Yolei placed Ken down, and then marched straight up to Kari, and slapped her hard across the cheek. "What is your problem?!" she shouted.

"He punched out my boyfriend!" protested Kari.

"Only after "your boyfriend" had done him some injuries and punched out MY boyfriend!" she motioned at Ken, making Kari gasp. She hadn't seen Ken in all the commotion and didn't know he got hurt too.

Yolei continued to scold Kari with such vile temperament. "Kari, he only hit TK to protect you, otherwise he would have just stood there and taken it, he wasn't even shouting! If we hadn't come around the corner he would probably have been unconscious by the time we got here.

And all you could do was shout at him like that?! You really are nothing but trouble!"

Kari's face dropped into shock. Then she snapped her head up. "I've got to go find him." But Yolei grabbed her "Not right now! We need to get you some ice for that eye, and some help for TK and Ken.

The last thing I'm sure Davis needs right now is to see you. Just let him cool off awhile."

Kari reluctantly agreed.


When Davis got back home, he was surprised to see Jun there waiting for him. Yolei had called Tai and informed him what happened and told him to send Jun over to Davis' place.

Jun nearly fell into a panic when she saw how dirty and beaten up her brother looked confirming what she had been told about him and TK.

The second they got into his new apartment, she got straight to work with the first aid kit she had brought with her, and began to dab his wounds.

"Ow!" he groaned "Easy, Jun!"

"Stop struggling!" she sneered at him "It'll only hurt even more."

She continued to skillfully treat his wounds, and she was completely livid with TK and how he just attacked him like this, and she also couldn't believe Kari when Davis told her how she yelled at him.

"Is she alright?" Davis asked.

Jun was surprised he had asked that, when just ten minutes ago he had told Kari off.


Kari was at home with an ice bag over her swollen eye.

"I can't believe TK did that to you!" said Gatomon "And I can't believe he punched out Ken too."

Kari spent more time regretting how she yelled at Davis rather than how much pain she was in.

Tai came back, "I just got off the phone with Mrs. Takashi."

"Is TK alright?" Kari asked.

"He's nose is swollen, it'll be okay, but he's been grounded for a month. He's not allowed to leave home, call you or any of his friends. He's had his phone confiscated."

Kari clenched her fist- in anger, or was it pain? Maybe it was both.

Ever since last night, TK had been fuming at her for being late, and her able to jump the gun and know she had been thinking about Davis again.

He left the restaurant in a huff last night, which worried Kari something like this would happen.

"I should've told him not to." she groaned.

"Would it have stopped him?" Tai asked "TK really sank low this time, Kari. He had no right to attack Davis like that.

You're just lucky I wasn't there. If I had seen TK hit you, I would've punched him out myself."

Kari lowered her ice bag and gawked at him with shock, ready to yell at him too, but she remembered, and supposed she would understand.

"What am I going to do?" she asked sadly. "Davis really hates my guts He'll never want to speak to me again.

How do I keep messing things up so badly?"

Tai held his head and shook it. Was there no end to this repeating spiral of confusion and painful feelings? But all he could suggest was Kari leave Davis be for a while, just as Yolei suggested, and let him cool off.


Author's notes:

Kari can really be a selfish brat sometimes, especially when it comes to Davis- constantly flirting with TK for the soul-purpose of making Davis jealous (She even admits this on the Digimon Movie) and teasing him just to make him do what she wants him to do.

Davis may have the Digi-Egg of Friendship, and he may know what it means to be a friend, but that doesn't mean he has to be THE ONLY FRIEND. He can't do all the work himself.

Sometimes I feel Kari and the others are really NOT Davis' true friends (They are unworthy of him) because as Mr. Rogers once said "Real friends never make fun of real friends." (And it's never cool to toy with someone's emotions)