Hi everyone. This story was well overdue an update. I was working on another theme but I wasn't entirely happy with it so I decided to save it for a later chapter as this idea just popped into my head :) My next update will be And Baby Makes Five before I update Digimon 2.5

j8919: Aw thank you. It is fun writing these little shorts where I can break away from my main story.
Sweet Cari: Thank you :)
Sweet-SnarkingFool: Aw I know what you mean. It kinda takes the mystery off as we know what happens in 2.5 :)
DinoGuy2000: Thank you. I've enjoyed writing more about the other characters

Life's Little Adventures

6. Ice Cream

Thursday 25th October, 2012

The heavy rain that had been falling all morning summed up Kari's mood perfectly.

Her week hadn't gotten off to the best of starts, and now it had gone from bad to worse last night when their beloved family pet Miko had died. In all honesty it hadn't been a complete shock as the elderly cat had been a little unwell and sluggish for over a week, but it had still hit Kari hard as Miko had been part of the family since as long as she could remember.

Kari sighed as she remained standing in front of the living room balcony doors, holding a warm cup of coffee in both hands as she continued to watch the rain fall. Despite her grief, she felt they had been lucky to have Miko as long as they had. She had been 17 years old, surpassing the average lifespan of a domestic cat. Over the past few years Miko's age had been starting to show as she wasn't as active or playful as she used to be, sometimes spending most of the day sleeping and lying around the apartment. But despite that it had always been nice to have company in the apartment when Kari had been home alone on occasions.

Apart from Gatomon still snoozing in her bedroom, Kari was currently on her own. Her father was at work and her mother had already left for the vets with Miko… Although over the years her father had complained and grumbled whenever Miko would get hairs all over his work shirts, or jump up and climb all over him for attention whenever he was trying to watch television Kari saw he too had been hit hard by her death. It felt strange to think they would never hear the little bell on Miko's collar jingling when she would run through the apartment early in the mornings… or be greeted by her at the door when arriving home.

Kari had called Tai last to tell him, and she could hear in the tone of his voice he had been a little shocked and saddened to hear the news. As he hadn't lived at home for the past five years he hadn't really witnessed the change in Miko as she grew older. After the phone call Kari had then received a text from Sora saying how sorry she was to hear the news. Whenever Sora had visited their apartment when they were younger she always made a fuss of Miko, who loved the attention.

Her cell phone had been pinging most of the morning. Late last night she had posted a photo of Miko on her social media with a broken heart emoji so it was no surprise her friends would be sending messages as they would have no doubt seen it by now. She also had a missed call from TK. She hadn't returned the call and was in no mood to speak to her best friend right now, which she felt extremely guilty for.

It wasn't long before her phone pinged again. She sighed quietly and turned to where her phone was resting on the coffee table. She was half expecting to see a message from TK probably asking why she hadn't returned his call, but as she bent down and picked up her phone she was a little surprised to see it was a message from her brother.

"Hey sis, I know the weather's lousy but can you meet me at the mall at 12?"

Staring at the message, Kari was almost tempted to text back saying she wasn't in the mood to go out, but after debating for a moment she eventually sent a reply saying she would be there. She hadn't seen her brother for quite a while and it had been nice hearing his voice last night after what had happened… and by the tone of his message it seemed like there was a reason he wanted to meet up.

Glancing at the wall clock, Kari was a little surprised to see it had just passed 11.30am. She hadn't realised the morning had gone by that quickly, and she didn't have much time before she was meeting Tai. Not wanting to wake Gatomon up, she quickly scribbled a note to her partner. She then quickly sent a message to her mother telling her where she would be in case Yuuko arrived home before she did. Kari then grabbed her scrunchie tying her hair up that she had been growing out a little longer than usual into a loose ponytail before grabbing her coat and umbrella…

After receiving instructions from her brother to meet him at the east side entrance to the mall Kari saw he was already there waiting for her as she approached, holding an umbrella shielding herself from the rain. Tai was standing casually leaning against the wall of the building with his hands in his coat pockets. As Kari got closer, she could see under his coat he was wearing a shirt and tie which she assumed he must have come from work. After finishing college, Tai had gotten an internship at Tokyo Star Bank which in turn would lead to a permanent job within the company. Kari smiled slightly to herself as even though she felt proud of what her brother had accomplished after his soccer career had ended, it still amused her that despite the fact he hated ties and would get out of wearing them wherever possible he had chosen a job that required he had to wear one every day.

"Hey Kari," Tai greeted standing up straight as she approached him. "How are you doing?"

"Okay I guess…" Kari replied with a sigh. "So what's up? Why did you want to meet me?"

"You hungry?" Tai asked with a smile. "I thought we could go get some ice cream."

Kari raised an eyebrow. "Ice cream? It's not exactly the perfect weather for it." She said, motioning to the rain that had eased off a tiny bit since she had left her apartment.

"Who says it has to be the middle of summer to enjoy ice cream?" Tai remarked. "Besides, that's why they build ice cream parlours so you can enjoy it indoors. C'mon my treat, I still remember your favourite place and it always cheers you up."

"Yeah… when I was a kid..." Kari pointed out a little flatly. She had started to feel a little annoyed when she found out that her brother had dragged her out in the rain just for some ice cream… but as she thought it over she realised it was kind of sweet of him to try and cheer her up after what had happened last night. He had done that many times when they were younger. Whenever she'd had a bad day at school, or when she lost the photography competition when she was eleven were a couple of examples when he would take her out for ice cream at her favourite place in the mall. She began to smile. "Well… I guess I would feel guilty if I said no after you've come out of work on your lunch break." She said light-heartedly. "Sure, why not."

Inside the parlour, they found a table by the window like they used to do when they were kids. Kari couldn't remember the last time she had been here, but it still was the same as she remembered. Despite looking over the menu, Kari found herself ordering the exact same sundae she always did when she was younger; strawberry shortcake. But this time she had ordered a large instead of a regular, mainly because she hadn't had much to eat all morning. Unsurprisingly Tai had gone for the hot fudge sundae.

"Don't tell Sora you're having ice cream for lunch." Kari commented whilst they waited for their sundaes to arrive.

"She won't mind when I tell her why." Tai replied with a smile. "So, I know you said you were okay… but are you? I know how much you loved Miko. You two were practically inseparable when you were little."

Kari sighed, finding herself staring out of the window at the rain once more. "I know… I will be … it's just… even though she was old and I guess deep down we knew it was coming especially since she'd been unwell for the past week it still came as a shock when it happened." She admitted. "I know it's a part of life and we all knew it would happen one day but… it still flaws you when it does. It suddenly dawns you that you won't hear the bell on her collar anymore, or remember to top up her bowl. The apartment is just going to feel… empty without her."

"Yeah I know…" Tai said a little sombre. "I'll admit it was nice coming home from school and Miko would run up to greet me rubbing against my legs. I did miss that when I left home… how's Mom and Dad taking it?"

There was a brief pause in the conversation as their sundaes were brought to their table. Once the waitress had left, Kari picked up her spoon and began poking it into her sundae. "Mom was devastated. Dad tried to look strong but I could tell in his eyes he was upset."

"Dad did nothing but complain about that cat."

Kari let out a small giggle. "I know... but you did your share of complaining too. Like father like son."

Tai frowned somewhat, slumping back in his chair. "Well, Miko did insist on scratching and popping most of my soccer balls." He grumbled.

Kari forced a smile before taking a spoonful of her ice cream. For a brief moment when she tasted the familiar creamy dessert, it felt like they were kids again just enjoying their sundaes without a care in the world… as pathetic as it sounded in her head she wished she could rewind time to those days. At least her much-loved pet would still be alive… But as she continued to slowly eat her sundae, she found herself thinking more about the good times with Miko…

"You know, Sora mentioned last month she was thinking about us getting a cat. I tried to tell her just because Miko was all sweet and innocent when she came around doesn't mean cats are like that all the time."

Kari's smile grew a little. "Don't try and put Sora off just because you'll be jealous someone else in your apartment will be getting more attention from her than you." She joked. "Miko did seem to like Sora though, maybe even more than you."

"Very funny Kari." Tai frowned.

Kari continued to smile. Even though she was still broken-hearted over Miko, she was actually feeling better than before. She had missed having these playful talks with her brother. Now he was married and living on the other side of Tokyo Bay they very rarely got to do something like this. It was just a shame it took something like Miko's passing to bring them together again. As strange as it was Kari had felt somewhat alone earlier without Miko there, but she now felt more at ease knowing her brother was still there to cheer her up when she needed it. "Thanks Tai, you always know how to cheer me up."

"And that'll be something that will never change sis,"

Smiling, Kari dug her spoon into her sundae, pulling out a large spoonful. Instead of grieving, she now decided they were just going to talk about the happy memories they had with Miko... and Kari's smile grew even more as one particular one came to mind…

"Remember the first time Agumon tried to pet Miko?"