***Author's Note***
Hi!
Thanks for all the reviews! I got so many! NEways, hope you enjoy this next
part!
Takari and Taiora
By: ME jus1digigirl *Maura*
In her car, a sixteen year-old teenager was driving
home in the rain. Inside, she was a mixture of different feelings. Anger,
confusion, sadness. It was the day of her tennis tournament. He had not come.
Although it rained, it was played indoors and she had been one of the
finalists. She had won of course but she didn't feel like a winner.
He was not there. All her friends and come to root
for her and cheer her on. Her mother and father and come to wish their little
and only daughter good luck. But he was not there.
He. The boy she had known since the age of seven.
They had grown up together. Little soccer buddies. In middle school they had
been best friends and just two years ago had they started going out. It had
been bliss and all those two years, she had felt like the luckiest girl alive.
Everything was going perfect, more or less. They had had their share of fights and arguments of course but what
happened today was unforgivable.
How many times had she hinted and reminded him
about her tournament and their two-year anniversary. How many times? It was
uncountable. And he had still forgotten both.
And he hadn't even called on her cell phone to
apologize or caught up with her after the tournament. The rain kept coming down
hard on the car roof and the windshield wipers kept doing their job, faster and
faster.
She pushed the brake at the stoplight as it changed
from yellow to red and sighed. What to say if he showed up? One thing was clear
though. This time, there was no way she would forgive him in open arms. Today
had to be one of the most important days of her life. She was nervous about the
match and waiting all day for him to reassure her but he was not there. And she
had waitied months for their anniversary. She had planned a perfect evening and
bought the perfect present. But had he remembered? No.
Gas pedal. The car shot forward. Almost home, she
thought as the glanced around at the street names. Almost home and then she
could collapse and cry. And then perhaps bury herself in a mound of ice cream and ignore any calls from him and call
a friend to rant about him. This was unforgivable and she figured that the only
thing that could make her forgive him was a very, very good excuse and
surprise.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Are you serious?" Tai asked staring
goggle-eyed at his younger sister. She looked back at him with a completely serious
expression. Kari had just suggested that he ask Sora to marry him. "I'm
only sixteen for heavens sake! Almost seventeen in one month!"
Kari however continued staring back calmly. It was
quite amusing to see her brother so stressed out and having to rely on her, the
younger one. But the expression on his face now was just too much. Finally
breaking, she burst out laughing. "Oh...my...gosh!" She said in
between giggles. "I
can't...believe...you actually believed...me!"
Her older brother's expression had now changed. He
glared at her. "Haha. I'm in a serious crisis here and you torment
me."
Shrugging, the younger girl answered, "What
can I say?"
"Something helpful perhaps?"
Continuing her giggling, Kari didn't notice a third
figure come into the room.
"Did I miss something?" The brother and
sister pair turned. "I go to the bathroom for just one minute and miss
something really funny." It was TK. He came over to the round table and
sat down across from Kari.
"Don't worry," Kari reassured him with a
smile. "Nothing important except that Tai's going to propose to
Sora."
"What?" two male voices rang out in the
kitchen.
More giggling. "Kari, think of something else
will you and be serious!" Tai shouted with another glare.
TK now had begun to laugh suddenly stopped. "I
think I have an idea." The other two stopped glaring at each other and now
two pairs of brown eyes turned to the blond boy. "Tai," TK started
looking at him. "Why don't send her some balloons and chocolate and mark
them as a 'secret admirer' cause I'm sure she's too mad at you to forgive you I
bet. Then tell her to meet you
somewhere!" He finished with a
triumphant smile.
However, the others continued to stare. "TK, you are a really sweet and smart
and nice person but I'm sorry. That idea isn't very original and Tai's already
done that like, twice." Kari said straightforwardly.
"Well it's better than your idea!" TK
stated in defense. Seeing his male ego being somewhat hurt, Kari reached over
and took his hand.
"But I still like you so nothing to freak
about." TK looked down at their hands and blushed.
Tai finally had calm down enough to notice
something different was definitely up between the two. He looked back and forth
between the smiling and blushing teens. He realized with a sudden jolt that
they had not told him why they were sitting under the blanket or why TK was
wearing his clothes. Figuring that they had avoided talking about it, he
brought it up.
"So you guys still haven't told me what
happened." Quickly, Kari shot her hand away from TK's and TK put his hand
on his lap, both now rose-red.
Thinking of another plan, Kari changed the subject.
"Listen big bro. I've got an idea and I think it'll work."
Tai gave her an exasperated look. "Is it
anything like your last plan?"
"Yes."
"Then count me out."
Kari reached over a hand and smacked the older
boy's arm. "Just listen! First, you've got to call her to find out if
she's mad or not."
Reluctantly, Tai agreed and shuffled his way over
to the phone. Picking it up, he gave Kari and TK, who were standing behind him,
a helpless look. "Why don't one of you do it?"
This time TK answered with a roll of his cerulean
eyes. "Because, she'll think we were siding with you and won't talk to us
and then it'll ruin the plan."
"My brother is such a big baby. He can handle
large evil digimon, he can handle tough guys but he can't handle a simple
little phone call to a girl."
That did it. The tall brunette set his teeth
together and dialed. Two rings. He listened and then whispered, "Answering
machine."
He continued listening and it was in Sora's voice:
Hello. You're reached the Takenouchi residence. Please leave your number, the
time you called, and a brief message after the tone and we'll get back to you
as soon as we can. But, if you're Tai
Kamiya or anyone calling for him, PUT THE PHONE DOWN AND DON'T CALL BACK!
At the last part, he jumped back, shocked. Never
had he known Sora to be like this. Sadly, he replaced the phone. He really was
sorry for what he had done. Or actually, what he hadn't done. And he really wanted to talk to her but the
answering machine pretty much told him that she didn't want to speak to him.
Dragging his feet, he returned to his seat around
the kitchen. Now anyone else who called the Takenouchi's would know that he had
done something wrong. Wonderful. Just great. He groaned and put his head down
on the table, ignoring the questions from the other two.
What to do? Just one lousy day had ruined his whole
life. The bad grade he got in class and the zero on the project would surely
lower his grades. Normally, that would have been okay but now, he had even
messed things up with the one girl he cared most about. Life wasn't fair.
He
felt so awful. He felt like...like drenching himself with the rain that
continued pouring down. He didn't feel like he deserved to be sitting at a
table underneath a nice roof in a nice, warm room. The kitchen was a too happy
atmosphere for him. Outside was where he wanted to be. Yes, that was it, he
would go outside. Forget the plan. Slowly, he lifted his head up, only to find
two faces staring down intently at him.
Those two faces. Kari and TK. They brought him back
to reality.
"Well? Why didn't you leave a message?"
asked Kari.
Groaning, he responded, "Let's just say that
anyone who calls her or her parents are gonna know that I messed up
something."
"So that means she is mad," TK concluded.
Tai rolled his eyes. "Nice deduction Sherlock.
And just to let you know, I don't think I can go through with the plan."
"Excuse me Mister?" Kari said looking
down at him. "I don't think so. Unless you want to lose her, you will
follow the plan as I say. Now, we'll start right now. You drop me off a block
from Sora's house and then you two boys will go do a little shopping. At Jane's
Jewlers. Got it?"
The determined look on his younger sibling's face
was all it took for Tai to realize that he had only this one chance.
"Okay." He stood up. "Grab your jackets and let's go. And,"
suddenly a sparkle could be seen in his eyes. "During the car ride, you
two will explain everything that I missed, and you know what I mean, otherwise,
the plan is a no--go. Got it?"
But TK and Kari didn't answer. They had raced off
to get jackets; TK of course, borrowed one of Tai's.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The caller ID light blinked. Sora walked over to
see who was calling and whether or not she felt like talking to them. KAMIYA is
said under the name box. Grinning slightly, she turned on the answering
machine. The new message she had made, made her feel somewhat better.
Turning away from the phone, she went back to her
room and flopped down on her messy bed. It had been nice and neat when she had
gotten home but the bed only felt comfortable when messed up. And right now,
she needed some comfort. Her parents were out for the night and she could call
a friend over to spend the night but even though she was upset, she would never
ask someone to drive in the rain unless it was vital.
Sighing, she flipped on her stomach and pulled the
ice cream bowl towards her. Mmmm...Vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry topped
with a mound of whipped cream and a few cherries. She knew it would be a lot of
calories but to her, ice cream was the medicine of depression and sadness. And
anger.
She stayed on her bed, eating ice cream and
flipping through magazines for a while. It helped her to calm down and sort out
her feelings. Her temper and gone down an extreme bit when suddenly, the doorbell
rang.
The sudden noise in the midst of the silence made
her jump and the spoon in her hand flew to the floor. Slowly, she got up. If it
was Tai, she would...she would, well, she would just pretend not to be home.
But if it was someone else, she quickly glanced down to see what she was
wearing and decided that no one should see her in her pj's.
So grabbing the robe, she made her way down to the
front door and peered through the peephole. It was dark and hard to tell who
was there and the dim outdoor light didn't help much but she could just make out the face.
Standing at her front step was Tai's younger
sister, Kari. For a fleeting moment,
she didn't know whether to let her in or not. The idiot had probably been too
scared after her answering machine message to come himself so he had sent his
sister.
Well, it wouldn't hurt to see what she had to say
so very slowly, Sora unlocked the door and swung it open.
"Can I help you Kari?"
Kari stood there looking at the older girl.
"Sora, listen. I'm just gonna say that I decided to come myself and Tai
didn't send me. I found out what he did, forgetting about today and I thought
that you might need a friend. Even though I'm younger, I can still
help."
Sora studied her for a minute. She sounded sincere
enough. Oh well, a friend would be nice. Smiling, she moved over and said,
"Come on in."
For an hour, the two girls talked and never once
did Kari mention the reason for Tai's forgetfulness. She had made sure to
ignore that question or change the subject or simply pretend like she didn't
know every time it came up. Sora still, though much calmer, was feeling
depressed.
So, Kari suggested that she dress up in clothes and
make-up to cheer her up. Of course, this was all part of the plan. At first,
she hadn't wanted to but gave in in the end.
In front of her full-length mirror, Sora stood and
twirled. She wore a lovely red mini-dress with black platform sandals.
"You're right Kari," she giggled. "I do feel better. Who needs
guys when you've got friends and all this?" She gestured her hand over all
the outfits and make-up strewn over her room.
Kari agreed enthusiastically aloud but inside, she
disagreed. Boys did make many stupid mistakes but she knew that she wouldn't be
able to live with her TK.
Glancing around the messy room, Kari spotted a comb
and brush."Let's do your hair now Sora!
I love making great hairstyles!" She pointed to a chair and motioned for
the eleventh grader to sit.
Giddy, she obeyed and closed her eyes. "I like
surprises so I don't want to look until you're done."
"Okay."
Kari set to work and for an hour, Sora sat with her
eyes closed. Putting on the finishing touches, Kari announced her done. Slowly,
Sora's eyes fluttered open and she turned to look in the mirror.
A gasp.
"Kari!" Sora continued staring.
"That looks so wonderful!" And it did. She had curled up Sora's hair
and tied it up in an elegant twist. Red ribbons floated down softly among the
brown hair. And even more, Kari had done the make-up. Eye shadow, eye liner, blush, lipstick, and glitter.
"Thank you Kari! I look so pretty. I feel like
I should be going somewhere and not sitting around in my messy room." She
laughed slightly and thanked the younger teen once more.
Kari grinned. She was proud of her handiwork and
even happier that Sora was actually laughing. But she was getting tired and
couldn't do much longer. She silently urged Tai and TK to hurry with their
shopping.
The urging wasn't really necessary because just
then, a loud knock was heard. Silently
cheering and sighing at once, Kari turned to Sora, her eyes wide and concerned.
"Oh no! What if it's Tai?"
Standing up, Sora said, "Tell him that I don't
want to see him. In fact, why don't I tell him myself?" She prepared to
march to the door when Kari blocked her. If Sora opened the door, all would be
ruined.
A light bulb clicked and she said, "I have an idea.
Why don't you go sit in the living room where you'll be out of site if it is my
brother? If it's not, I'll call you. Okay?" Kari held her breath, waiting
for her answer.
"Fine." Air was let out. "Let's go
down now. The knocking's getting louder."
Kari followed Sora downstairs and then she went to
the front door while Sora veered off to the living room. Making sure that she
couldn't see the door, Kari cautiously opened the door and let out a sigh.
"Thank goodness you're finally here!" she
whispered.
Tai stood there in a suit and TK still in Tai's
clothing. Kari knew that Sora was still waiting and listening for either a door
slam or a welcome so she motioned for Tai and TK to walk in quietly and then,
to the air, she shouted, "Look Tai! What you did was unforgivable! Poor
Sora! So good-bye and I'll see you at
home!"
The door slam shut.
Waiting in the living room, Sora heard those loud
words and nodded in satisfaction. She really hated to turn Kari against her
brother like this but then again, it was her choice.
Heavy footsteps were now coming towards the living
room. Sora sat up a little straighter, ready to talk with Kari. The realization
of the fact that Kari had taken off her shoes earlier didn't click in Sora's
mind. She turned towards the doorway
and gasped.
After the moment of shock had worn off, the anger
and sadness that she had worked so hard to diminish came back to her in a sudden
rush. "How dare you!" she said standing up, tears springing to her
eyes. "How dare you come into my house after what you did! How dare you
come to me hours later?"
Without answering, Tai walked across the room,
gently pushed the crying Sora down onto the sofa again and kneeled down beside
her. Seeing this, Sora went even more frantic but Tai shushed her by placing a
finger on her lips.
"Sora," he started, first looking down at
the carpet and then straight into Sora's eyes. "I know you probably hate
me for forgetting about your tournament and then about our two-year
anniversary. It's just that, well, I had remembered but then, today, I failed a
test, got a zero on a project for not turning it in, and then got bummed out
because our soccer game was cancelled. Not only that, there's still something
wrong with my car. Oh what the heck!" He suddenly shouted surprising Sora.
" Listen, all my excuses in the world won't make up for what I didn't
do. I'm so sorry and please believe me
because I really and truly am. Since I first met you, I knew we'd be friends.
When I was older, I knew you were the one for me. Sora Takenouchi, I love you and," he pulled out a little
velvet box.
Sora gasped. "Are you-I mean.... we're
too..." she trailed off, speechless.
Tai slowly opened the little box, the hinges
creaking. It seemed to take forever and the only noise that could be heard was
their breathing and the rain still coming down outside. Finally, it was open.
Inside the box, cushioned into the slit, was a small golden ring with a tiny
diamond encrusted into it.
As Sora stared at it, her head began to swirl. She
finally managed to clear her head long enough to state the obvious. "We're too young."
She looked up at the boy whose serious face
suddenly broke into a tiny, lopsided grin. "I know. But," the serious
face came back. "I know and I'm not saying that we get married now or even
right after high school because I'm sure that you want to finish collage
because I know I do. This ring I guess, is just a symbol of my love. You could
call it a long-term engagement ring if you want because I know I'll never
change my mind about this. Or you could just call it a waiting ring. I mean,
yeah..." he took a deep breath and took Sora's hand. "Sora, what I'm
trying to say is, well, I mean, we're young but I know I care for you and well,
if you accept this ring, will you wait to marry me when we're old enough? I
know we've only been a couple two years but..." he finally trailed off and
held his breath, waiting for a reply.
Tears trailed down the make-up covered face of the
sixteen year old girl. She seemed lost for words. Nothing had ever prepared her for something like this. Well, she had dreamed of it but in her
dreams, the two had always been at least in collage. Slowly, she wiped away a
few tears and opened her mouth.
"I-I," her voice sounded hoarse and she
cleared it. "Tai...I don't know what to say! I'm so sorry for not knowing about
your bad day and I can't believe you, you actually listened to my yelling on
the answering machine and then bought
this beautiful ring. I don't deserve it. Kamiya, you are the sweetest boy
and...and... will you forgive me Tai?" She looked up through teary eyes.
Now, Tai grinned once more. "Only if you
forgive me for forgetting and if you accept my ring."
"Of course I do!" Sora yelled and collapsed
into Tai's outstretched arms, still sobbing but now out of happiness.
Smiling, Tai rubbed and patted her back.
"Which are you saying 'yes' to?"
Sora looked up and a slow smile spread across her face. "Both."
Tai's eyes lit up and he leaned over. Sora leaned
closer as well and both closed their eyes. Embracing, their lips came together
and it was as if all their troubles were over. Nothing else mattered in the
world except the two of them. The
terrible, stormy weather continued outside but inside, they felt happier and
brighter than the hot sun. Blazing with happiness, they finally let apart and
smiled at each other.
"Now," Tai said lifting up the little
box, still on his knee. "Will you let me put this wait ring on you?"
In answer, Sora held out her hand and Tai slipped
on the tiny ring. "There. And if you look on the inside, there's something
engraved in it."
"Hmm?" Sora slipped of the ring to peer
on the inside of the golden band. It read: TAI + SORA = Love but instead of the
word love, there was a little heart.
"Oh Tai!" Once again, she hugged him and
once she let him go, she put the ring back on.
Then, a thoughtful look came upon her face. "Tai,
is this a real diamond and is this real
gold?"
Tai nodded, still smiling.
"Tai! This must have wiped out your
savings!" Sora cried out.
He shrugged and sent her his famous lopsided grin.
"Anything for you. I hope it made up for missing the tournament and our
anniversary."
And in answer to this, Sora leaned over and kissed
him once more.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
While all this was happening in the living room, TK
and Kari had still been left standing by the front door.
"Well...," TK said.
"Well... ," Kari echoed. "Let's go
sit down."
"Okay."
The two teens walked into the kitchen and took
seats around the table. They were slightly uncomfortable because of what
happened earlier. They still weren't a couple but perhaps that was about to
change.
"Ahem," TK cleared his throat and looked
at Kari.
She looked back into those sky eyes and almost
melted. Instead though, she just gave
him a questioning look. Why is he acting so weird? She thought.
TK took a deep breath and stood up. He walked over
and stood behind Kari. "Close your eyes," he demanded.
Doing so, Kari was even more confused. She felt TK
lift up her hair.
I hope I'm doing this right, TK thought to himself.
He lifted Kari's hair and locked the clasp of the necklace that he had just put
around her neck. He dropped her hair and went back to his seat. "Okay. Now
open."
Slowly, Kari's eyes opened and she immediately
knew. Her hands flew to her neck and she looked down. Gasping, she slowly
looked at the tiny, silver heart-shaped locket. Engraved on the front was:
TT & KK. Then, she carefully opened it on its hinges and inside was a
picture of the both of them. On the left side, TK and on the right,
herself. She closed it with a snap and looked on the back. Engraved on that side
were the words : 4EVA.
"Ok TK!" she jumped up in happiness and
leaped onto his lap, hugging him tightly. "Thank you so much! This is
beautiful. You don't know how much this means to me!"
Not expecting this sort of reaction, the boy still
hugged her back. "Well, just don't think it's real silver. You'll have to
wait for a long while till I can get you some real jewelry."
Letting him go, Kari looked down at him. "
Well I didn't expect it to be real silver. If it had been, that would have
wiped out your savings and I wouldn't want that!" She hugged him again but
then, let go. "You know, we're still not an official couple," she
said shyly.
"Oh how could I forget?" TK asked
pretending to be surprised. "Might as well make it official then. Kari,
will you go out with me?"
Kari pretended to be thinking it over.
"Aw come on! It's not that hard of a
question!"
Grinning, Kari gave TK a quick kiss on the cheek
and then responded, "Yes."
At that, the happiness that shined out from both
was bright enough to have dried out all the rainwater outside. They were two
wonderfully happy teens and nothing could change that for the moment, not even
the bad weather.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A little while later, all four high schoolers sat
around Sora's kitchen, beaming. They were drinking steaming mugs of hot cocoa
and while TK and Kari drank theirs, they periodically giggled because it
reminded them of what had happened earlier.
Seeing their strange behavior yet again, Tai
remembered that the two little rascals had somehow managed to avoid explaining
to him what happened. Well, now was the time. "One of you start talking to
tell me what happened or you'll have to walk home in the rain."
Not wanting to get soaked with rainwater twice in
less than a day, Kari started. "Fine fine. Here's the thing, I was walking
home without an umbrella, I collapsed on the front lawn, TK found me, brought
me inside and got the both of us warm before we got seriously sick. And then
you came. The end."
TK tried to suppress his laughter at Kari's short
tale. She had left out many details but of course, Tai and Sora didn't' t need
to know that much.
But the two older ones weren't fooled. "I know
you're leaving out a lot because for example, if you were wet and fainted, how
did you get into clean dry clothes? And I'm guessing TK just borrowed some of
my clothes so he wouldn't be wet. And why were the two of you snuggling under
Sora's and my blanket?"
After these questions, the younger ones were red in
the face. "Well, you see...uh...if
Kari didn't get into some dry clothes she could have died or something,"
TK said not looking up.
"And the blanket was the closest thing there
to keep us warmer so uh...we used it," Kari didn't want TK to have to
answer all the questions.
Tai and Sora looked at each other and grinned and
then turned their gaze to the two others, both who were staring at the tabletop.
Tai, being an older brother, just had to give his sister and TK some grief.
"Ooh-la-la! Ka-ri and TK sitting in a tree!
K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes-Oof!" He never finished
because being the younger sister and used to this sort of thing, Kari knew how
to respond appropriately. She gave her brother a blow in the side.
"Shut up!" both Kari and TK chorused.
Laughing, Tai jumped up and resumed him singing.
Sora, just sat laughing at his idiotic behavior while TK and Kari chased him
around the house, all yelling, laughing, and having fun all while the dark rain
kept coming down on the house with bright teens.
***Author's Note***
Whew!
I'm done! I actually finished. Woohoo! Well, I guess I don't know what to say.
I hope you noticed how I kept mentioning the rain and all. Umm... like I said,
thanks for the earlier reviews and please do it again! Wish my fic luck in the
contest and ttyl!
*Maura*