We'd like to inform the reading public that Puck is now AWOL and running amok in our writing endeavors. Please, be on the look-out for signs of excessive character angst and confusion, the telltale marks that he's tampered with things. Though he's normally loud-mouthed and obnoxious, Puck can be very subtle when it suits him, and could have easily influenced our thought patterns (It is rather crowded in here, after all) as we were working on this chapter.
The Whisperings of Two Hearts
(also known as)
A Takari Psychosis
The Third Part
Kari, in Gatomon's opinion, was a delightful person to sleep next to, normally. But tonight was not a normal night for Kari.
Gatomon watched helplessly as her beloved human tossed and turned in her sleep. She'd tried to wake Kari up, but the gentler conventional methods had proven unsuccessful, and she could not bring herself to take more drastic measures and deny Kari her sleep. 'Even when she has nightmares, it isn't normally this bad...' the digi-feline thought, worriedly. 'What's gotten her so upset?'
Kari began to mutter something in her sleep, causing Gatomon to perk her ears in order to better hear what her friend was saying.
"TK..." Kari murmured.
'TK?' Gatomon wondered, quite surprised. 'What about TK?'
* * * * *
TK bolted upright in bed, gasping desperately for air while trembling uncontrollably. His bedclothes were thoroughly soaked with cooling perspiration, and his entire body was severely entangled with the sheets.
The Dreams had visited again tonight.
Immediately, TK tried to catch the feeling fragments of the dream, trying as hard as he could to catch more than just flitting images and sensations, hoping tonight he might be the night he'd receive some key clue as to what the dreams meant and why they woke him in such a state.
The soft sound of Kari breathing as she slept peacefully in his arms... the warmth he felt while holding her... the feel of the silk-smooth skin of her shoulders as he embraced her tightly... her silvery laughter coming from both her mouth and eyes as they shared a joke over a picnic... the feeling he'd had when he told her...when he told her that... that he loved her...
The last fragment startled him. "Do I?" he asked himself aloud, his voice rasping dryly amongst the silence of the dark bedroom.
'You can't!' screamed a voice within him. 'Do you want to lose her forever? Stay away from such thoughts!'
'You can't deny you care very deeply for her, TK.' another voice said calmly, drowning out the screams of the other. 'You already love her as a close friend does another. Is it not possible, then, that you love her in other ways as well?'
"I... I guess... " TK answered. "...maybe."
The voices vanished, and TK realized that he'd gotten so sidetracked that he'd lost everything else from the dream. Cursing himself he looked out his bedroom window. The sky was turning to the pale grey of early morning. 'I need to clear my head.' he thought as he untangled himself from the bed sheets.
Changing into his jogging clothes, which consisted of one of Matt's old sweatshirts, a rather careworn pair of sweat pants and a pair of rather ratty sneakers, TK grabbed his house key and quietly left the apartment.
The second his feet hit the street, they were running. He immediately settled into the familiar stride that was used in all of his morning jogs. His breathing automatically became a rhythmic pattern matching the beat of his feet hitting upon the concrete. All conscious thought fled as his entire mind became focused on the rhythm that resounded in every inch of his body.
TK didn't pay particular attention to where he was going. Nor did he take notice of how much time had passed since he began. TK merely ran for the sake of running.
He felt his body beginning to reach its limit, yet he struggled to keep the rhythm from collapsing as long as he could. His lungs burned from the cool morning air rushing in and out of them and his muscles protested the continued abuse. It all served to tell him one thing: "You are alive."
Not wanting to overextend himself too much, TK at last slowed to a stop. No longer focused on the single-minded task of running, he took in his surroundings. When he realized where he was, he couldn't help but laugh softly to himself.
'And here I'd thought I was running to get away from my problems.' TK thought to himself, sardonically. 'Instead, I end up going straight to their source...' He was now standing in front of the very apartment complex that Kari Kayima called home. Though he'd thought that his pattern of turns had been decided at random, apparently, though, his subconscious had still somehow steered him here.
"It always comes back to her, doesn't it..." he sighed as he smiled weakly. After gazing thoughtfully at the building a few moments, he began to walk in the direction of home.
'I know that I...that I have... strong feelings for her.' TK admitted mentally. 'But could she feel the same way about me that I do about her? How can I possibly find out the truth?'
Autumn leaves crunching beneath his feet, TK began to lengthen his stride. 'There's only one way to find out for sure... and it's simply just asking her about it.'
'What if she says no? ' asked a snide voice inside his head. 'What if she thinks of you as a friend and nothing more? Things would never be the same between you two; once that door is opened, it cannot be shut again. Is finding out the truth really worth losing a friend over?'
'Is she really just a friend to you, though, TK?' another voice within him asked in argument with the first. 'Is that all you really want her to be?'
'Yes.. No... I... I'm not sure...' TK replied to the warring forces churning within him.
'What do you want, TK?' both the voices asked him simultaneously.
'I...' TK was shocked by the question and was unsure how to respond. 'I... I don't want to lose Kari..'
'But what do you want?' The voices demanded at the same time, not at all satisfied with his answer.
Every image, every sensation he'd managed to capture from the dreams he'd had replayed in his mind. 'Is... is this what I really want?' He wondered.
No sooner than he had asked himself that, another thought came to mind; this one being of Kari leaving his life almost completely. It deeply frightened him.
'It is the risk you take, if you should decide to try and discover the truth.' one of the voices told him. 'The images are of the possible the rewards for the truth's discovery. Do you want to run the risk in order to discover if these images are part of the truth?'
The voices vanished once again into void which had spawned them, leaving the TK alone with his thoughts. 'Do... Do I want to find... the truth?'
* * * * *
Kari awoke exhausted and blurry-eyed. Her dreams had been anything but pleasant, and left her feeling much worse than she had before she had gone to sleep.
She tried to recall the scenes and images that had so haunted her slumber. She remembered seeing TK and calling out to him. He'd turned and saw her. Flashing her that smile he only seemed to give to her alone, he'd begun to walk towards her... only to suddenly stop, as if he had run into a wall or something. Puzzled, she began to walk towards him, to see what was wrong... only to run into an invisible wall herself, a few mere feet from TK had. If TK took a step back, the wall seemed to relocate so Kari could move just that much forward, and vice-versa. No matter what they tried, they just couldn't find a way to get closer to one another.
Suddenly, TK called out her name, as some unseen force started to try and drag him away from her. She knew she had to get to him, or she might never see him again. As TK fought against being taken away, Kari desperately searched for a way to bypass the barrier between them. She noticed TK's voice growing fainter as he was pulled further and further away. Looking up, she saw that he had almost reached the dark aperture that had appeared in the distance, and she still couldn't any closer than when the force started pulling TK away.
"TK!" she remembered crying as she beat upon the invisible wall as hard as she could, trying desperately to break through. TK began disappearing into the dark vortex...
Kari shuddered, not caring to remember anything further. 'It was only a bad dream,' she told herself silently, 'Nothing like that could ever really happen.'
Could it?
"G'morning Kari..." yawned a white ball of fur on the foot of her bed.
Kari frowned. Normally Gatomon slept snuggled up right next to her. Why was she now all the way down there?
"You feeling alright, Kari?" Gatomon asked as she started her routine morning cat-stretches. "It looked like you were having a nightmare last night, the way you were tossing and turning in bed. I tried waking you, but you just wouldn't wake up, no matter what I tried."
"I'm fine, Gatomon," Kari assured her friend as she got out of bed. "It was only a nightmare."
"You want to talk about it?" Gatomon asked.
Kari shook her head. "No, I'd really rather just forget about it."
"Sure." Gatomon said, jumping off the bed and gracefully landing on the floor. "By the way.... how's TK?"
Kari choked from shock while in mid-yawn, creating a rather hilarious bout of coughs and hiccups, which in turn caused her to trip over her own two feet and go sprawling to the floor. Gatomon struggled to remain serious, but the whole thing was just too much for her to handle and she burst out in a fit of laughter.
"It wasn't that funny, Gatomon..." Kari said, still on the floor.
Gatomon was laughing so hard that her eyes had begun to water. "I'm... I'm sorry...Kari..." She panted, trying to get control of herself and regain her wind. "It's just... It's just that... I've never seen anyone... do something... like that before."
"Well, I'm glad you found it so amusing, Gatomon." Kari grumbled as she got beck to her feet.
"So..." Gatomon continued, pointedly ignoring her grumbling, "How is he?"
Kari felt a slight blush beginning to color her cheeks. "W-What makes you ask that?" she asked, trying hard not to stammer. She turned her back to Gatomon, using the pretense of searching her closet for a weekend outfit.
"You called his name out in your sleep." Gatomon explained.
Kari's blush flared furiously upon hearing this. "So?"
She could feel Gatomon's teasing grin, even with her head half buried in her closet. "Is there something going on that you haven't told me about?" Gatomon asked.
"No..." Kari replied. "You know how I feel about TK better than anyone."
"What was he doing in your nightmare then?"
Kari sighed as her eyes cast towards the ground. "Mom... raised a rather... upsetting scenario when I talked with her about him, yesterday."
"Which was..?"Gatomon pushed, urging her to elaborate.
"It... it involved TK being taken by another girl." Kari felt a dull ache in her chest as she said the words.
"And that bothers you." Gatomon replied, sounding for all the world like a rather annoying psychotherapist.
"Yes, it bothers me!" Kari snapped as she turned around, suddenly feeling quite waspish.
Gatomon's face was unreadable, even for a cat's, save for her eyes... which showed just the barest hints of compassion. Kari immediately felt bad over losing her temper like that. "I'm sorry," she apologized quickly, "it's just that...well..." She sighed heavily, unable to think of what to say next.
"Kari," Gatomon started, "I'm quite positive that he cares a lot about you, too. Why are you worried about him becoming interested in another girl?"
"I... I don't know, Gatomon." Kari replied. "I've just got this horrible feeling that I can't quite understand..."
Gatomon sighed. "Kari, you worry way too much for someone your age."
Kari smiled weakly. "I'm not exactly typical, though, am I?"
Gatomon smiled. "You could never be just 'typical' in anything, Kari."
* * * * *
TK had taken his time walking home from his morning run, and by the time he'd returned home, he was quite relaxed in both body and mind. It was a beautiful autumn morning, the kind of morning that makes worries, sorrows, and troubles easily forgotten as you feel that nothing could possibly go wrong the rest of the day.
Mere seconds after walking through the apartment door, TK was in the shower, singing happily as he cleansed himself from the results of his earlier physical exertion. Feeling renewed, TK threw his jogging clothes in the laundry hamper and set out to find something to eat.
He found his mother sitting at the dining table, nursing her morning cup of coffee. "Good morning, TK." she greeted him.
"G'morning mom." he returned as he put two pieces of bread in the toaster and pushing down the lever. Finishing that, he went and sat down across the table from his mother to wait as the bread was mystically transmuted into toast.
"Thinking of starting your own band?" his mother asked with a half-smile.
Though he liked music, he'd never had Matt's natural talent, thus decided to pursue other ventures where he felt he wouldn't have to compare with his older brother. So, naturally, his mother's question confused him. "Huh?"
"Well," his mother explained with the same half smile, "I thought I heard you practicing earlier."
TK's cheeks colored slightly. "Sorry..."
His mother laughed warmly and smiled at him. "Don't be so embarrassed, TK, it honestly wasn't that bad. I'm just glad you didn't inherit your father's singing voice."
"Dad sings?" TK asked, surprised at hearing her mother mention his father like that.
His mother's smile seemed to reflect a feeling of... fondness? Perhaps he was mistaken.
"Kind of. He'd go looking for the notes, but it sounded as if he'd forgotten where he put them. He sang me a love song once, while we were dating. I thought it was incredibly romantic of him, the neighborhood pets voiced their approval as well as they sang along with him."
TK laughed at the thought of his father singing a sappy love song while cats and dogs played the role of backup singers. This was the first time his mother had talked this way about his father in a long time. It gave new strength to TK's glimmer of hope that one day his family might be whole again.
The toaster popped, sending the two pieces of toast airborne. One piece landed on the waiting plate TK had set out on the counter, as the other was suddenly intercepted by a speeding Patamon, who had seemingly materialized out of nowhere.
"I'll never understand how the two of you manage to coordinate that so well every morning without one piece having ever hit the floor." His mother sighed as she shook her head in wonder at the daily toast ritual.
TK and Patamon both grinned mischievously at her, earning them a roll of the eyes. They both knew how it exasperated her... it was their very reason for doing it, besides the fact it simply looked cool.
Finishing breakfast, TK set out to work on his homework for the weekend. He'd barely gotten started though, when he heard the phone ring and his mother answer it.
"TK," she called, moments later, "There's a young lady on the telephone asking for you."
* * * * *
Kari paced back and forth in her room, her phone sitting on her desk. After eating she had set to planning how she could possibly TK what she really felt for him. After an hour Gatomon suggested that she just call him and arrange a meeting with him for later so she'd have until then to work everything out. It was an effort to keep Kari from driving herself insane, but had instead caused her to start wearing a hole in the floor.
"For the last time, Kari, just call him already!" Gatomon said, frustrated with her human friend's behavior.
Kari, for the fifth time, stopped her pacing and picked the phone up. Hands trembling, she slowly began to dial the phone number...
And froze after she entered the fifth digit. Her hand now refused to move to enter the final two numbers.
'You can do this Kari.' a voice within her urged, 'Don't give up. Take a deep breath and keep going.'
'I can do this.'Kari told herself taking a deep breath. She somehow managed to input the final pair of digits in.
'That's finished... but why do I feel sorta dizzy?' Kari wondered.
'You forgot to exhale.' the voice chimed helpfully.
Returning to a normal breathing pattern, she began to pray to any divinity that might possibly be listening. 'Please let him answer the phone... please let him have the afternoon free... please let me be able to do this...' she reverently begged as she brought the phone up to her ear.
She had expected to hear TK's voice, or maybe his mother's, or even Matt's small though the chance might be. She tried not to think about what she'd say if she got the answering machine. She had to ask this of him herself, not wait for some machine to ask him to call her at some later time.
She had not expected what she now heard coming from the phone, sounding loud and clear to dispel any doubt of its meaning.
It was the sound of a busy signal.
We're sorry we have to leave it off here. We honestly didn't for this to happen, but we wanted to post one more chapter before we leave on vacation for a week. This was as far as we were able to get after three very long sleepless nights of working on it. Not even Puck would be this cruel on purpose(we think). We'll be working on writing out chapter four the low-tech way (pencil and notebook) on the drive there and back so we'll only have to type it up on Friday night so we'll be able to release it early Saturday morning (if we don't edit it too much and things go well, we should be finished by four or five a.m.).
Since Miss Mew asked about Mind Games, we thought we'd spend a little time to tell about it. Its on Neon Genesis Evangelion, one of our all time favorite series (even Puck loves it!), and before you start ranting about how messed up / perverted the whole thing was because of the End of Evangelion movie for those of you who know what I'm talking about, when I said series, I meant series. I haven't been able to see the movie yet and I'm not quite sure I want to.
Anyway, about the fic. It involves another romance story(at least it started out as one, it sorta took on a mind of its own and has spun into all sorts of directions I hadn't originally intended). The romance isn't as key as it is to this piece, being that it has taken a much longer time to develop it.
To summarize it for those of you who might be familiar with the characters, Shinji mysteriously gets a slight attitude adjustment and tries to get under Asuka's skin and inside her head... which happens quite literally.
Wow! You actually listened through that? Will wonders never cease... a few more small things. For those of you reviewed this work and left an email address, we sent you each a personal notice and thank you for your reviews mere minutes after posting the second chapter. We're thinking of continuing to do this, unless you don't want us to and so inform us, each time we post a chapter. If you don't want me to email you, simply send the flaming letters of threats, insults, and detailed descriptions of what you really think of us(have fun and be creative!) to dnd02000@yahoo.com. If you'd like me to inform you when a new chapter comes out via email, just send it to the same address and ask for such in as few or as many words as you like.
Are you still reading this? Well... thanks. We're really touched, but you probably could find something else more enjoyable to do without too much difficulty. So... thanks for reading and we'll talk to you again in about a week.
