Chapter Thirty Seven: Letters from Friends
(Kari's P.O.V)
I leaned against the tree looking at the card. I remembered what happened earlier and now that I knew Storm's reasons, I really felt bad. All she had was Evan and he was gone now. I didn't know what was going to happen now. I glanced at Storm. She had curled into a ball and fallen asleep. So far she's taking this better than what I would've thought. She wasn't breaking, completely at least or at least not visibly. She wasn't giving up in this fight; I just think this was now one more reason for her to fight.
"You're thinking too much." I jumped slightly and I looked at Koji.
I thought everyone was asleep. We were taking turns on watch, well Storm wasn't. We silently agreed to let her get some sleep tonight. Koji was watching me, only one of his eyes were open. I had to wonder how Koji even got around me knowing he was awake. I seemed on hyper alert, probably because of what happened earlier. It also seemed like after I used the card for whatever I did I seemed to sense things I hadn't before.
"How do you know that huh?" I tried to hide it but I just saw him give me a rare smile.
"You had that look on your face. Trying to make sense of something or worrying over someone." I sighed and hung my head, was I that readable or something?
"What were you thinking so deeply about?" I sighed and closed my eyes, I wanted to sleep.
"Our reasons for fighting, she's right we were lucky when it came to our reason. Storm, Evan, and Chrono have real reasons for fighting them while we're doing this because it was an old mission." I opened my eyes.
"Are we even fighting wholehearted?" My eyes drifted to Koji when he sat up.
"I can't speak for others but I am. I'm not fighting because this is some mission anymore. This became personal the moment they attacked you." I was surprised.
I smiled slightly but I bit my lip when there was a sudden gust of wind. It was strong, really strong. I shivered slightly from the gust, it was cold. The air seemed to lack warmth during the night then again it was hard to tell when it was day or night in this place. It only got slightly darker during the night. I opened my eyes that I barely realized I closed and when I did I was surprised to find pieces of paper littered the ground.
"Paper?" Koji was as surprised as I was.
I gathered the papers since I wondered what they were. I didn't know if there would be another sudden gust. Koji collected a few too. He plopped down beside me and I didn't realize it until it was draped around my shoulders. I looked at Koji but he wasn't looking at me. I smiled slightly. Earlier on I had failed to notice it, probably because of nerves; Koji had worn a black jacket tied around his waist.
"Thanks." I slipped my arms into the sleeves of the jacket that he had given to me.
"It's nothing." He's so bashful at times.
"If you say so Koji." I plucked one of the pieces of folded paper from the stack.
Before unfolding it I glanced at the pieces of paper. There seemed to be only eight pieces of paper. I wonder what they are. I unfolded the piece of paper only for my eyes to widen. The writing upon the paper made me smile but also made me want to cry. Such a mix of emotions, I felt so sad but so happy at the same time. I was also confused and surprised, how would I get these suddenly?
"Hey are you ok?" I looked at Koji, he was watching me.
"I don't know how but it's a letter from one of my friends." His eyes went wide.
"But how, how would letters from your world get here?" I shrugged.
I grabbed the other pieces and I unfolded them. They were all letters from my friends. I looked at who all wrote a letter. I could tell mostly by handwriting. Cody's neat writing, Yolei's rushed but neat-ish writing, Ken's casual messy-neat writing. I always wondered how his hand writing was messy but so neat at the same time. I took the ones from Koji and I smiled a bit wider. Matt's fancy handwriting, Tai's next to impossible handwriting, Davis's oddly neat handwriting, and then surprisingly I found one that had T.K.'s semi fancy handwriting but closer to messy than fancy.
"Who all wrote?" Koji's voice was soft, as if he knew just how much this meant to me.
"Cody, Yolei, Ken, Davis, Matt, Tai, and even T.K which I'm surprised I wouldn't have thought that the way it was left that T.K. would write." T.K. seemed oh so bitter when I left.
"You know just by handwriting don't you?" I don't know why but I blushed slightly.
"No." I tried to deny it but I saw Koji only shake his head, which is when I realized that his hair was loose currently.
"Sure you don't." Just how much did Koji know me!
"Fine, so what if I do?" He just ruffled my hair when I admitted it.
"It's unsurprising to me." I decided to ignore whatever feeling was bubbling in favor of reading the letters.
I chose to read T.K's first, curiosity won out. I wanted to know why he wrote me. His letter wasn't that long but I was surprised. It explained why he had been bitter; he described it had been like he was on the outside looking in. As if he wasn't in control of himself and after what I've seen I would believe it. He also apologized several times. He wished me luck and even said as long as I was happy he would be happy. I smiled at that, T.K. was really kind. There was a reason why I liked him after all.
After T.K.'s letter I chose to read Cody's letter, his was rather short. Quick and to the point, something that I would expect from Cody. He told about how they had found out about my past, about how Tai read my diary. That made me scowl. I couldn't believe that Tai invaded my privacy!
"What's wrong?" I looked at Koji, he looked interested then again it was rather boring out here currently but I'd take boring over a battle.
"My brother read my diary to my friends!" It was rather embarrassing to.
I watched as Koji looked away but I saw his shoulders shake slightly, he was laughing! I just sighed and went back to my letters. Cody summed his up saying that he knew I would be able to win. That made me feel rather good, a boost in confidence is needed after today. After Cody I chose to read Yolei's. It had me laughing by the end. She questioned about the boys, apparently she more wanted to know about Koji and them rather than the battle stuff. She also seemed like a demanding mother by the end, said I couldn't date any of them without her knowing them.
"From angry to laughing?" I shot Koji a small pout but he just shook his head again.
"Yolei didn't even wonder about the battle stuff, she was more in favor of asking questions about you guys. Said 'you can't date anyone you meet until I meet them and approve them'." This time he didn't really try to hide the small laugh he gave out.
"Really?" I nodded my head.
"Yolei's, interesting to say the least, she's one of my better friends." Probably the best friend that I have that is a girl in truth, then again I still have trouble making friends.
I went back to the letters. Izzy's contained information about stuff I had figured out in the process. Spoke about how there was a rumor that one of the Digital Rulers, a Ophanimon, fell from grace. That warning might've been helpful a while ago but better late than never right, at least he would've told me despite being in another world. Ken's was a bit similar but he told me a few thoughts that weren't proven. He had found things about DigiDestineds having been taken in by two Digital Rulers but I kinda knew who he wrote about. Storm and Evan had been taken in by a Digital Ruler while Chrono had also been taken in.
"So anything interesting?" I shook my head.
"Nah besides if I would've received Izzy's letter sooner we would've gotten a heads up on Ophanimon. He found out shortly before he wrote the letter." That made him roll his eyes and grumble slightly.
"Of course, now we get the warning." I shrugged.
"Better late than never right?" He didn't react at first but nodded after a few moments.
"I guess, that means we have allies elsewhere. They might come in handy if we could manage to contact them." I nodded and I thought about that.
"If only we could. Who knows, they might have gathered more information. I know them well enough to know they won't sit back and do nothing. They would want to help whatever way they could." I saw him smile slightly.
"You have some really good friends now huh?" I nodded.
"Yeah I really do. I wouldn't trade them for anything. I thought they hated me after the way I left but apparently no one does. They were stunned and apparently T.K. felt like he was looking from the outside in. I think back then the Demon Lords did something since they were so close. Probably was trying to break me then." He thought before nodded.
"Probably about the Demon Lords but you'd really never trade them for anything?" His question caught me by surprise.
"Why?" He chewed on his lip but after a few moments he shook his head.
"Nothing, don't worry about it." I eyed him, not believe him.
"Whatever you say." I eyed him for a second longer before turning to the letters, deciding to read Matt's letter.
Matt pointed out the funny things, probably realizing by the time I got the letters I might need something to cheer me up. Apparently Tai freaked out, he apparently glared at the computer for nearly a day trying to find a way to me after he learned about the Demon Lords. Also about a few other things that shifted around, he also told me about his cousin. I was surprised he'd mention her when I didn't know but as I read I was surprised.
"Kari?" I shook my head at Koji and continued to read, after a few moments I sighed.
"Now you wanna tell me what got you surprised?" I shrugged.
"Matt apparently has a cousin who met her parallel self five years ago. Rin Sylph, she's helping them trying to figure out things. Apparently she's really smart." He nodded slowly, not getting why I was surprised.
"It's not common to bring others into help us not to mention she had nothing to do with anything five years ago so why did her parallel self purposefully interact with her?" Now I think he realized it.
"Do you think she's related to this battle somehow?" I thought before shrugging.
"Don't know, maybe she's meant for something in my world. After all she's childhood friends with Ken. It might just be because her parallel self seized a chance?" He nodded slowly.
"True, bumped into her by accident and just seized the chance to see the differences?" I nodded.
"So the last two?" I sighed and looked at them.
"Davis and Tai, Davis wrote a lot and I don't know if I'll be able to make what Tai wrote." He raised an eyebrow.
"Surely his handwriting doesn't suck that badly." I showed him Tai's writing and he narrowed his eyes.
"Are you sure he even wrote words?" He looked at me and I rolled my eyes.
"My brother always sucked at writing, he usually types everything out." He grumbled something under his breath that sounded like 'I wonder why'.
"Heh maybe Takuya could make it out, his handwriting sucks too." I just gave him a glare.
"It might be true but not mock them, you're not much better." I swear I saw the faintest dust of pink across his cheeks but I might've imagined it.
"Hey my writing is good when I want it to be. I just don't care half the time." I nodded.
"Uh huh, whatever floats your boat Koji." I began to read Davis's letter.
Reading his letter he told me what the others failed to mention. I glared at the letter. He spilled everything about what happened. How some drifted away unknowing how to react to the truth being spilled, how only a few worked tried to help until recent, he also revealed something that made my blood boil.
"Uh Kari, if looks could kill who would be dead?" I took a deep breath before letting it out slowly.
"Apparently Belphemon attacked my world." His eyes shot wide open.
"Matt, Tai, Ken, Izzy, and Davis were hurt in the fight. Apparently no one was supposed to tell me about the attack because they didn't want me to worry but Davis spilled the beans, said it was only fair that I knew." He slowly narrowed his eyes.
"They weren't planning on telling you." I shook my head.
"They weren't, they didn't want me to worry. They always think they have to protect me." It annoyed me.
"Didn't they think about what would happen if they didn't tell you but the Demon Lords did? They could've twisted it to make you think your friends were dead." I would've thought that Izzy or Ken would've thought of that.
"Davis did, that's why he told me." I just wanted to thank Davis and give him a hug, after making sure they were absolutely ok.
"Didn't you say he was the one who everyone thought was dumb?" I nodded my head.
"Ah who knows, maybe he's like Takuya." Koji yawned after his words.
"Perhaps, he does seem rather smart just seems like he hates showing it." I looked at Tai's letter; it really wasn't fun trying to decode his handwriting.
I began reading the letter, slower than the rest since I had to try to figure out what he wrote at times. When I was about halfway through, he had told me about how everyone was doing and about how our parents reacted, I stopped reading. I stopped reading because Koji put his head on my lap. I stared at him, this was a first.
"Koji?" He mumbled something but his eyes shut.
"You didn't have to get up if you were tired." I muttered it but I saw a small smile.
"Night." He murmured the words but I smiled.
"Night Koji." I didn't bother to tell him to move.
Going back to Tai's letter I found that like Davis he spilled about the fight. Apparently he didn't want them to tell me because he wanted to tell me. The rest was just him being a big brother. Trying to tell me not to get into trouble which was next to impossible considering what I'm trying to do. At the end he told me I had to come back. 'You have to come back in one piece.' He was worried I knew, not only from his choice of words but because it was neater than anything else. As if he wanted me to get just that if I could only get one thing from his messily written letter.
"Promise Tai, I'll return in one piece once this is all done." I wouldn't trade my friends for anything.
When I needed them they've always been there. We might fight and ignore each other at times, it was human nature, but once the time was called for we would come together. No matter how bad the fight when we had work together we put aside our differences and work together. At times by the end of whatever that required us to work together we no longer remembered why we had fought in the first place.
I was taken from my thoughts when I heard Koji mutter something in his sleep, also because he shifted closer to me. I blushed slightly but I smiled. I also realized that at some point I had begun to play with his hair. I shifted the best I could without waking Koji up so I could get into a more comfortable position. My eyes felt heavy, I wanted to go to sleep. I glanced towards Takuya who was by the fire now, poking at it. He faintly waved towards where I was, to sleepy currently to look for where exactly I was. I wondered how he woke up by himself since when we were at home he pretty much had to be dragged out of bed just so he'd wake up.
So it doesn't have any action but I was thinking maybe a small bit of none fighting or dark things might needed. (I felt like a lot of dark things happened in a row.) Also I have to give a heads up, I'll be going back to school soon (not next week but the week after that) and I can't promise my updates will be as often at first because I'll have to settle into a routine again.