Author's Notes (Again): Okay, sorry if there was confusion people, but my last part was supposed to be foreshadowing for the events to come. And it DOES fit into part of the summary, thank you very much. And I also must point out that none of this story was pre-planned. I'm typing it as I go along. So expect a two-day to week long pause before I can submit a new chapter please. Thank you.
Chapter 1:
Davis to the Left, TK to the Right, and I'm Stuck in the Middle With Tai...
Kari Kamiya stretched her toes, then wiggled them slowly. Her blanket felt warm and soft against the tips of her feet. She opened her eyes a bit, took in the dim light of her room, then rubbed them with the backs of her hands. Kari pushed herself up in a strained motion of her arms. She kicked off the covers of her bed and swung her feet briskly around to the right of her bedside. Miko screeched in pain.
"Oh!" Kari said, startled by the loud interruption, "I'm sorry!"
Miko licked her paw where Kari had accidently stepped on it, then ran out the door. Kari sighed, stood up, and ran after.
Kari slid to a stop in front of the kitchen. Normally her mom and dad would be sitting there, drinking a fresh cup of coffee and looking at the morning paper. But today it was someone totally different.
"Hey Kari," the brown haired man before her said, sipping at a cup of hot coffee.
"Tai!" Kari yelled happily, running up to hug her older brother. "What are you doing here?"
"You didn't think I was gonna miss my little sister's eighteenth birthday just to sit in the dorm all day without a class or anything to go to, did you?" Tai asked, returning the hug. Kari giggled at his remark, then sat down in the chair next to him. "So where's Gatomon?"
"Now that you mention it..." Kari remembered that Gatomon hadn't been sleeping at the foot of her bed today, "I don't know."
"I see. Well, that's no need to worry, right? She's a grown up kitty, after all."
Kari looked at the twenty-one year old Tai Kamiya. He hadn't changed much since that time when MaloMyotismon had tried to conquer this and the Digiworld. Tai was a bit taller, and hair had been trimmed just a bit, but he still held that boyish courage in his dark brown eyes. He wore a blue band around his head that had since been a replacement for the goggles he had given to Davis Motomiya some seven years ago. Along with his headband, he had a blue denim coat on, which bore the initials of his college on the left side of his chest, and the insignia for the school on the right. The back of his coat had a bright orange sun blazoned into it, which was probably added by Agumon and himself when the coat was first received. That would really be the Crest of Courage. Tai also wore wrinkled blue jeans and ordinary brown shoes.
"So... how's school?" Tai asked, more interested in starting a topic than hearing a realistic answer. "Graduating in three months, right?"
"Yup. Then I go right into school again... but that's what I enjoy. That's why I want to be a teacher."
"Not something I'D look forward to doing..."
"Oh, don't be silly Tai. It's my life and I'll live it as I want to. But I should be asking YOU that question."
"I'm doing pretty well. They're practically begging me to be a soccer tutor. After seeing how successful I was with Davis, after all..."
"Ah ha, always the joker."
"Actually, they've been begging me to be some sort of international relations guy to the Digiworld, since I have the most experience... or something like that."
"A foreign administrator?"
"Well, I really don't have any idea what they're calling it. They just want me and Agumon to handle relations between the Digiworld and this world."
"Okay," Kari said, obviously not in full understanding. Tai never was the most depictive talker she knew.
There was a long pause before Tai stood. A very long pause. "I think I'll go find Mom and Dad now," he said, getting to his feet. "Be right back."
"Okay. I might as well look for Gatomon while you're gone."
Tai nodded and walked out of the room. Kari stood up and stretched her arms skyward. She stepped to the door, then turned abruptly when she realized she was still in her pink nightgown. She spun briskly on her heel and walked back to her room, coming out a few minutes later with her school uniform on. It was Saturday, but she had felt like wearing the pine green blouse and skirt anyway. She placed a magenta-colored clip in her strawberry-brunette hair, then slipped on her white gloves, with the fingers cut off. She pulled her white and blue scarf over her head, then tied the blue tassels together in a square knot, like she would with a neck tie.
After getting "suited up", as Kari's dad had once called it, Kari leaned her head out the window and yelled Gatomon's name into the street. No response came, but Kari caught sight of someone coming toward her house from the left side of the road. Davis Motomiya, who was carrying a ridiculously large teddy bear in his arms. The teddy bear itself was roughly twice Davis's size, with dark brown fur, two beady black eyes, a wrinkled nose, and rounded arms and legs to avoid the use of fingers and toes. Aside from the usual appearance, Kari also noticed that the bear was wearing a pair of blue-rimmed goggles, identical to Davis's in all aspects but size. She turned her head and saw another figure coming up the road from the right. TK Takaishi, who carried an identical teddy bear, but with a white bucket hat instead of blue goggles.
"Oh no," Kari muttered under breath. "Well, they ARE better than those Poi brothers from Hong Kong... they don't send me seventy e-mails daily..."
As Davis and TK neared the short lane up to the Kamiya home, their bears bumped into each other, causing both of Kari's suitors to go reeling backwards. They simultaneously shifted the bears and got a good look at each other, as if sizing each other up for a kill. Kari noted that they too were wearing their school uniforms, a pine green coat covering a button-down white shirt with matching pants and black shoes. TK still wore the same white bucket hat from seven years ago, and Davis still had Tai's blue-rimmed goggles set just above his forehead.
"Takeru," Davis said.
"Daisuke," TK responded.
"What do you think you're doing here TR?"
"Same thing you are. So what's it to ya?"
"Oh boys!" Kari yelled, hoping that the mild embarrassment of flirting with them would be overcome by the fulfillment of breaking up a probable fight. "Come on up!"
Davis and TK glared angrily at each other, then turned and faced Kari. They walked forward, with almost false grins on their faces, definitely angry at each other. When they reached the window, TK was the first to put his anger aside.
"Happy Birthday Kari," he said in a chipper tone. "Brought you a present."
"Thanks TK."
"I brought one too!" Davis added quickly.
"Thanks to you too Davis."
Davis, grinned, which made TK wince in mock pain, as well as making Kari sigh. "Why don't you two put those bears in the back and come in?" The duo nodded and ran for the backyard. Kari turned and sat down at the table, placed her elbows on the table and her curled fists on her cheeks, then sighed.
"What's wrong Kari?" a soft, melodic voice asked behind her. Kari turned and came face to face with a green-eyed, dinosaur-like Digimon.
"Agumon!"
"Hi Kari! It's been so long since we saw each other."
Kari gave the yellow-skinned reptile a quick hug. "Yes it has." Agumon's skin felt leathery against her fingers, as it always had. "What do you do when Tai's not around?"
"Eh, look through Izzy's stuff, chat with Tentomon, sleep, not much in particular."
Kari remembered that Tai and Izzy had ended up sharing a dormitory in the college, mostly because the line of work they would be in was similar. Where Tai would be a digital world ambassador, Izzy would be a digital world chief researcher. "That's nice. I thought it'd be boring for you whenever Tai wasn't around."
"Nah, there's always something to do. But I never said happy birthday to you."
"Well thank you! It was nice to see you again."
"You too."
As if on cue, Tai stepped back in. "An ambassador Kari, that's what they want me to be."
"I just figured it out."
A sweat droplet fell off Tai's face. He looked over at Agumon. "I thought you were staying in the car."
"It smells like moldy french fries! How am I supposed to breathe in there?!"
Tai dashed over and covered Agumon's mouth with his hand. "Mom and Dad are in the next room," he whispered. "If they find out, they'll be coming to the dorm and cleaning it to the bone next!" Kari giggled. "So you think it's funny, eh?"
"Yes," Kari answered. "Sorry Tai..."
"It's alright. But you should have seen how Mrs. Izumi acted when she saw our room last week..."
"What was that Tai?" Mr. Kamiya asked while walking in with his arm around his wife affectionately. "Something about your dormitory?"
"Uh... I was just correcting Agumon on his description of me and Izzy's room. He was a bit off on the coloration, right?"
"Uh, yes! Of course."
Mr. Kamiya began to speak, but thought better of it. It wouldn't have made a difference, because his voice would've been drown out by the sound of TK and Davis racing to reach the kitchen first. The duo pushed through the doorframe, only to skid to a stop when they saw Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya.
"Oh!" TK said, startled. "Hello Mr. Kamiya, Mrs. Kamiya."
"Hi TK," Mrs. Kamiya said, "and Davis too. What brings you boys here today?"
"Well..." Davis stuttered, "we were... um... just going to say hi to Kari on her birthday, right TJ... err... TK?"
"Yup. That's exactly what you were doing. I mean we!"
"I see," Mrs. Kamiya said, which made Kari wonder if she and her father really knew what Davis and TK were doing. "Well, it was nice to see you two again.
"And how long do you plan on staying Tai?"
"Just a bit longer Mom. I need to be back before 2:30."
"Alright, and don't be such a stranger."
"Aww... Mom..."
"I mean it Tai. You should visit as often as you can."
And without waiting for a response, Mrs. Kamiya turned her husband around and walked out. Kari turned from her parents to the teddy bear-toting rivals. She didn't want Tai to hear what they most likely had to say, assuming that it would be the end of her. "I think I'll look for Gatomon now," she said. "You three should chat while you can." And with that Kari walked out the door, sighing in relief.
