A/N: Part two is here! Sorry for the delays, everyone! I've been REALLY busy with school, basketball, and vacation! (I went to Florida the week before last) This part is really where the action picks up, plus I will try to pay special attention to detail at the request of a reviewer! Thanks to 600665, Dave Chace a.k.a. Jolly Trolly, Angel of Light, I am Canadian, and one anonymous reviewer! You have absolutely no idea how much your reviews helped me to write this part! Super-Special Thanks to "my biggest fan", Jeff, and my awesome beta readers- Kryssa and Lime Lizard! Sorry guys, 'cause I didn't send this one to you: I wanted to get it posted since it's kind of two weeks late…
Disclaimer: (Provided in Spanish for your bilingual reading pleasure) Digimon no es Bumblebee's. (Translation: Digimon is not Bumblebee's)
Special Note to Readers: Yes, there will be a sequel after the 5(?) parts. I've got it all planned out and I'm really excited about it! =)
Awakenings 02: Nothing to Win, Nothing to Lose
"I'll be on the other end
To hear you when you call
Angel, you were born to fly
And if you get too high
I'll catch you when you fall…"
-Nickel Creek, "When You Come Back Down"
Kari didn't get much sleep that night; her normally pleasant dreams were continually interrupted by nightmarish visions, none of which she could remember when she awoke.
After about an hour of tossing and turning beneath the flowered comforter, Kari decided that sleep had become a lost cause and walked through the darkness of the living room to the kitchen, intent on fixing herself a cup of coffee.
Kari didn't really like coffee, cappuccino was more her forte, but college life often required a blast of strong caffeine to keep her eyes open through cram sessions and monotonous classes. Plus, when Kari got up early from insomnia, coffee was required to keep her eyes open throughout the day.
The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon as Kari turned on the television and flipped to the weather station, which was predicting rain for most of the morning, turning heavy in the afternoon. "Just great," said Kari, before realizing that she was talking to herself, a thought that made her grin.
Kari wasn't a big fan of rain, it made the whole world gray and dreary, the exact opposite of what she preferred. Kari was a sunshiny person; rain put her entire day under a damper.
But TK was coming over today, for the sake of Shakespeare, he had told her. Kari grinned, remembering to stop at the grocery before she ran home to stock the refrigerator. Plus, she had to remember to unearth her copy of Macbeth from under the bed and grab Hamlet from the desk before the 'study session' that night.
But something was still bothering her- the nightmares. Normally she remembered them when she woke up; she had always had an excellent memory. Her two worst nightmares had caused her to awake in a cold sweat, tears rolling down her cheeks, but she could still remember them.
Yet the haunting images that had disturbed her sleep remained on the edge of her consciousness, playing an endless game that required immense concentration and inspired fear in all who had the ability and courage to play.
ab
"Kari?"
Kari turned from her Psychology text to see the grinning face of her best friend.
"Hey, TK," she said, smiling. "What's up?"
"We still getting together to study tonight?"
"Of course! Would I cancel on you?"
"On Davis, yes. On me, no?"
Kari giggled at the reminder of the brown haired boy who had tried many times to win her affection, each time his efforts fruitless. "It wasn't like that, TK, and you know it."
"Huh?"
"I would not do that to poor Davis. Besides, he got over me eventually."
TK laughed. "Key word: eventually."
"Hey!"
"I don't think anyone who's ever loved you has ever gotten fully over you, Kari."
"And how would you know, Mr. Basketball-Star?"
TK shrugged. "Observation."
"And just who were you observing?"
"Half our class at Odaiba High, about a quarter of all males on campus, excluding present company, of course, and a handful of assorted other people. Why?"
Kari grinned. "Just curious, that's all."
"Hey, I could sell chances just to eat lunch with you. Seriously, I could. Don't give me that look, Kari…"
Kari grinned and shoved her text into her bookbag. "Oh, be quiet TK. I seem to remember a certain Jessica Campanera willing to sell her soul to me if I could get your picture…"
"You're not serious."
"Nope. I'm not."
"Hey… don't mess with my head like that…"
"Anyway, TK, I've got to go to class. Literature's in half an hour. Want to walk along?"
"Yeah, let me grab my books." He grabbed a stack of books off a nearby table and stood up. "You make me feel short," she complained comically, causing him to laugh.
"Sorry," he said, grinning, "but I'll always be taller than you."
"Isn't that what your mom used to tell you when you kept whining about Matt being 'so much older than you'?"
"Probably."
"You are very weird."
"I know, but you put up with me."
"I have to!"
"Oh, well…"
And so they left into the blazing color of a rainy autumn day, all worries momentarily forgotten.
ab
Kari had to run home immediately after class to check her phone messages before TK came over. It was still raining and cloudy, but Kari had had the sense to grab her umbrella before she left the house that morning, so she didn't get too wet.
As she let herself into the apartment, she immediately had a feeling of unease, like something very wrong was going to happen that day, but she had no idea what. The very thought sent a shiver down her back.
Trying to shake off the weird sensation, Kari went to the answering machine, which displayed a blinking 2.
"Hey, Kari, it's your older, superior brother Tai… I need help! My Literature teacher wants me to write a short story. Yes, I know what you're thinking, but help me! You're the smart one in this family… you just can't kick a ball straight! Heh heh… Anyway, I've got to go. Call me back!"
"Kari, it's Matt… Tell TK to give me the correct phone number for his phone! I can't believe that I didn't figure it out… Anyway, call me, I'll see you both soon… tomorrow actually. So I guess I'll have to kill my little brother then…. Don't worry, I'm just kidding! See you…"
Kari grinned at her messages before calling back her older brother to tell him to either get his act together or plagiarize something (She didn't have the time to 'help' him…) and letting Matt know that if he let TK know that he had figured out about the fake number, TK would give him the correct number.
She also tried to call Sora, but, to no surprise, the redhead wasn't home. Probably somewhere with Tai…
But she didn't have any time to worry about where her friends and brother had run off to- TK would be at her house within the hour.
So Kari ran around the house, trying frantically to retrieve her paperbacked copies of Shakespeare novels and her text from the places where she had left them.
The teacher hadn't wanted to study Romeo and Juliet- "It's too clichéd!" she had complained. "Everyone studies it! It's been so overused!" But the overwhelming response by females in the class had caused her to change her mind. Kari hadn't been one to complain though- she had studied it her senior year. She found that book under her desk.
Tempest was one novel that their teacher had wanted to study, but hadn't gotten around to. Along with Twelfth Night, the two novels had been skipped because of the girls in her class. Kari sighed- she had been looking forward to the new books. So she had bought them herself, just for fun.
Her textbook lay on the floor next to the kitchen, right where she had left it upon arrival to her home. She grinned and grabbed it up, remembering the day when she had bought all her textbooks- the elevator was broken and she had just about broken her back trying to lug all the heavy books up the two flights of stairs.
She could hear the doorbell ringing and ran to get it. "Hmm…" she called. "I wonder who that could be…"
Kari looked out the peephole and saw a very wet TK grinning at her. "Do I know you?" she asked.
"No," he called. "I'm an axe murderer and I've come to chop you up into little bits and then throw you into a Dumpster before I run off to Acapulco with my mistress, who just happens to be your brother's girlfriend. Then I will haunt your family by mailing them stuff like your fingernail clippings and your hair…"
Kari smiled, opened the door, and let him in. "Is this what you guys all think about in your spare time?"
"No, but it's close." He grinned. "Although chopping people up isn't on the list of my desired pastimes…"
"You never know," said Kari grinning. "Because I have no idea of what you do at night…"
TK tossed his books over onto the couch. "Hey, Kari, got a towel in this apartment of yours?" he asked. "I'll ruin your couch or whatever, since I'm so wet."
Kari tossed him a bath towel and took his coat. "Where's your umbrella?" she asked.
TK shrugged. "I lost it."
"Well, yeah. I noticed."
"I left it somewhere, don't ask me where."
"Hey, give me your sweatshirt."
"Huh?"
"Give me your sweatshirt and I'll dry it off on the heater. You can sit around in your T-shirt for a while, or if you're really cold, I'll get you a blanket."
TK peeled off the sopping layer and tossed it to his best friend. "Jeez," she said. "This thing is heavy."
He grinned at her. "It'll take forever to dry too- it's fully saturated."
She grinned back. "I can do it. The heater is warm."
"Duh."
"I know, I know."
"Hey, we should probably get to work."
"Yeah, probably…"
"Don't sound so depressed. You're the Lit major."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm just tired."'
"Caffeine?"
"Nah. Then I'll be hyper."
TK grinned at her. "HyperKari… Fun…"
"Not really. Can you reach my book? It's over there, on the table…"
ab
Kari yawned. "Hey," said TK. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just really tired. I didn't get much sleep last night."
"Do you want to talk about it?" TK asked, his eyes questioning.
"Not really."
"Okay. You hungry?"
"Kind of. There's some frozen pizza in the freezer. Do you want to heat it up, or should I?"
"I'll do it." TK got up. "Hey do you think my sweatshirt's dry yet?"
"Probably. I'll check it." Kari went to fetch the shirt from the heater, picking up papers on the way.
She could hear TK rummaging noisily through the freezer, searching for the pizza. "Hey, Kari, are you sure it's in here?"
"Yeah- look under stuff."
"Oh." She could hear stuff being moved. "Found it!"
"I'm so proud of you," she called back sarcastically. "And your shirt's dry."
"Cool. I'm cold."
"Was that meant as a pun?"
"No. I'm seriously cold." A blonde head poked into the doorway and Kari threw the shirt at TK, hitting him in the head.
"Hey!"
"Hey yourself." Kari grinned. "You couldn't hit me."
"I could too!"
"You could not."
TK wadded up the shirt and whipped it at her. It hit Kari in the shoulder. "Ha!" yelled TK. "I told you so."
Kari grinned. "Matt left you a message."
"Huh?"
"He called my house and left you a message. On my machine."
TK laughed. "Let me hear it."
Kari motioned for him to follow her. She hit the play button and they both listened as Matt's voice told TK to give him the number. TK grinned. "Let me call him back?"
"Yeah, sure."
TK dialed the number and had obviously reached a machine. "Hey Matt, it's me, TK. So you figured it out, huh? Took you long enough… Anyhow, here's my number…"
Kari left the room and picked up Macbeth. She skimmed the pages while getting herself a glass of water. TK came back into the room. "It's getting dark," he observed.
"Yeah," said Kari, looking up from her book. "Nasty weather, too."
He grinned. "Yeah."
They sat for a few moments in silence before, "Hey, TK, do you think the pizza's done?"
"Yeah, let me check it."
He peered into the oven for a few moments before he decided that the pizza was done. "Kari, toss me a towel or a potholder or something."
She obliged and TK pulled the food from the oven, baked to perfection. "Umm…" Kari said from her perch on the counter. "Looks good."
"Darn right. I made it, how bad could it be?"
"Ha ha, TK."
He grinned at her and cut the pizza.
ab
All the dishes sat in the sink, all the books were tossed around the room, and Kari had fallen asleep on the couch. TK yawned- he should probably go home…
But he didn't want to go- not yet.
He had promised Matt that he would say something. And say something he would.
Except Kari was asleep. He looked at her and grinned. She looked so young there, her hair falling in front of her face…
He had to wake her up. He ran a finger down her cheek, causing her eyes to flutter open. She yawned. "TK?" she said sleepily. "What time is it?"
"Late," he replied simply. "Ten-thirty."
Kari smiled. "That's not late. Now two AM, that's late."
TK grinned at her. "I have a story to tell you."
"Does it have to do with Shakespeare?"
"Not quite…"
"Do I want to hear it?"
"You're going to anyway. I promised Matt that I would tell you the story."
"Uh-oh…"
"Once upon a time there was a little boy of about seven. He was a sad little boy; he had no father to speak of. Only that year, he made a new friend. He and his new friend got into many scrapes, but they always managed to get out of them. But then the boy had to leave, so he had to say goodbye to his friend."
"But when he was twelve, he found his friend again. They ended up at the same school. And that was when he realized that Fate had something planned for him and his friend. They grew older and wiser. He began to play sports and she wrote. And wrote and wrote. And they grew to be better friends."
"They did almost everything together. And over time, he began to think even more of his friend. Perhaps, he thought, they could be more then friends. But he left high school before he could tell her, and then they went to college."
"College was very busy, but they still found time to be together. He still thought of her as more than a friend, but he was afraid to tell her. So when he asked his older brother for advice, he said to tell her. But he was afraid. Eventually, he decided to try and tell her."
"But," said TK hoarsely, "I need you to tell me how the story ends."
Kari was dizzy as a feeling of déjà vu slipped over her. TK's words echoed over and over in her head. I need you to tell me how the story ends.
The story was about her. And TK. And he was saying…
He loved her.
TK Takaishi, her best friend since they were seven, was in love with her.
But what was she supposed to say?
"Kari?" he said, his voice emotional, hopeful…
But she didn't know. She didn't know anything. So she would say the only thing that would come out of her mouth.
"I… I can't promise you anything. I just… don't know…" She began to cry. "I've hurt you. Nothing's ever going to be the same…"
And somehow, she knew it wasn't. She wanted to sit and cry, cry for the things that had gone and would never come again. But she couldn't.
"Hey, don't cry," TK said, trying desperately to cheer her up, but failing. "It's okay, I have to go."
He stood up, watching Kari's teary face. He laid a hand on her cheek.
"I love you," he whispered as he walked out the door.
And Kari had the strange sensation that she had lived this moment once before.
She walked over to the window, to watch him leave. She couldn't concentrate on anything any longer.
She could see his blonde head run out into the rain, without an umbrella. She could see him stop to look across the street. The old song she had sung as a child came back to her. Stop, look, and listen, before you cross the street. She hoped he would make it across and to his home without too much trouble, it was raining so hard…
And then she saw the car. It was red, some teenager out on a joyride, most likely. But this car was traveling faster then any car she had ever seen. It turned the corner, the wheels squealing on the wet pavement. And she had the uncanny feeling that he couldn't hear it.
She wanted to scream to him, she wanted to cry out, she wanted to do anything to make him notice the car. But she was three stories up, and the car was moving faster then ever, making her dizzy. She cried out. "No!"
And, as if by a miracle, he looked to his side. For one brief moment, the headlights illuminated his thin frame. She saw the startled look of recognition on his face. Suddenly, the moment she had been dreading came. She heard the sickening crack of bones as the car hit him and his body rammed into the pavement.
She screamed and fled. Out of the apartment, out of the building, she had to get to the street below. And she had realized something. She had lied. The ultimate crime, lying to the one you love.
She didn't care about the rain, she didn't care about the lightning, she didn't care about anything but him. She loved him, she knew that now. Everything about him. And she had to let him know.
But was it already too late?
A/N: THANK YOU for reading, THANK YOU for reviewing! (Hopefully!) Okay, look at it this way. Reviews make Bumble happy. Happy Bumble does HAPPY WRITING. Well, that and faster writing… Bumble was NOT depressed when she wrote this, she actually likes this part. (It's full of action! And it's pretty darn well written too… *cough*)
E-mail Bumble at bee824@yahoo.com. E-mails make Bumble happy too.
Have a nice day!
Bumblebee =) ef
"Moving right along folks. Keep it moving. Our next stop on the tour will be the forest of irrelevant road signs. No pictures, please…" -Matt Ishida, Digimon