Snow Job 2001 -- DigiDestined Style
Chapter Four
As it turned out, all the DigiDestined had a reunion at the hospital when Sora was brought in with her broken leg. Davis' amnesia proved temporary, and Sora's leg wasn't badly broken fortunately. A cast and plenty of rest, and she'd be back on her feet.
"I'm sorry this trip wasn't what you thought it would be," Willis apologized.
"Don't be," Matt said.
"Yeah, with us around, you can't make predictions," Izzy laughed.
All the DigiDestined, including Davis (who was finally discharged from the hospital), were back at the cabin they'd been staying in for the past five days, sitting around a blazing fire and sipping hot chocolate. It was late, around ten o'clock at night.
Sora had a rather pissed look on her face, mostly due to the fact that she hadn't been outside in a while, nevermind on a snowboard. Her frown was severe as she poked marshmallows under the frothy surface of her hot chocolate with her spoon. Sora's leg, encased in plaster, was propped up on a footstool in front of her. It was now covered in scribbles: signatures, various doodles Sora'd drawn when she was bored (which right now was often), doodles from everyone else, and mushy notes from Tai she'd discovered written across the toe after a nap. Looking at Tai's notes made her smile though. He'd been her constant caretaker the whole week, without being suffocating. Now he was sitting on the couch next to her, listening to the conversation and interjecting with his comments infrequently.
"You okay Sor?" he asked quietly while Yolei and Davis were arguing over something trivial.
"Huh? Yeah," she answered. "I'm bored out of my skull though. Sitting around all day sucks." She spat the last word out like a bad taste.
"Well, we'll be going home soon and then you can sit around in an entirely different environment," Tai said jokingly. One glance from the girl next to him and he knew she wasn't in a joking mood. "Sorry."
Sora stifled a yawn and sipped the hot chocolate cautiously. "'Kay..." she murmured, setting the mug down on an end table. Sleepily, she leaned against Tai and stared at the fire. He reached his arm over and held Sora's hand in his own until she fell asleep.
"Are you sure you don't want to keep snowboarding?" Matt asked Mimi.
"Yes," she answered stubbornly. "I will NOT have my leg broken too."
"Ah, that's it," Matt said. "You know that was an accident. There was ice on that trail."
"I hate ice. Ice sucks. Hot chocolate is good," Mimi declared, peering over the top of her mug as she sat curled up in the corner of a couch. Her eyes smiled.
"C'mon Mimi," he said. "Snowboarding? Tomorrow? Just us?" Matt made a sad puppy face and was ready, willing and able to force his blue eyes to well up with tears, but Mimi put down the mug and gave him a half smile.
"All right," she sighed. "Only 'cause I can't stand that face."
Matt grinned. "Thank you!"
"You owe me one, Ishida," Mimi joked. She glanced over at their friends. "Look at them," she said, referring to Tai and Sora. "They're so sweet together, aren't they?" Sora was asleep, with one of Tai's arms around her shoulders and the other holding her hand. Mimi got a dreamy look on her face and kicked herself mentally for being a complete sap.
"Yeah," Matt agreed quietly. He inched a little closer to Mimi. "You like him or something?"
Mimi whipped her head around and looked at Matt. "No! No way!" she exclaimed. "I'm just kind of a sap, you know?" He nodded, an eyebrow raised. "Okay, I do like someone... and I'm not telling you!"
"Aww come on," Matt teased. "I won't tell him, honest." He put one hand over his heart and looked solemn.
Mimi rested her chin on her hands and shook her head. "Nope."
"I'll do the face," he threatened.
Considering the situation, Mimi decided now or never. "All right. Come here," she said. Matt leaned over, and Mimi whispered the answer in his ear.
Matt's eyes went wide and he stared at Mimi. "Wha? You mean..."
"Yup."
"For how long?"
"As long as I can remember."
"And you've wanted that for the same amount of time?"
"Uh-huh."
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
He blinked several times and then leaned back on the couch. He glanced at Mimi from the corner of his eye, and a mischeivious smile crossed his face. In one swift movement, Matt leaned over Mimi and planted a kiss right on her lips. Mimi knew no other action but to return the kiss, and soon everyone else was pushed into oblivion.
"You two! Get a room!" Oodles of laughter ensued.
Matt and Mimi turned incredibly red and sat bolt upright. Their expressions were pure embarrassment. The one who interrupted them was T.K., who was laughing the hardest of them all.
"T.K...." Matt warned.
"Well, do we have *another* couple in our midst or what?" Kari asked.
The response was stone silence.
"Joking, Matt, sheesh," Izzy laughed.
"Forgiven," Matt grumbled.
~*~**~*~
That night, T.K. couldn't sleep. Something was nagging at him and he got out of bed. Pulling a soft gray fleece blanket around his shoulders and putting on his slippers, T.K. went outside on the deck.
Staring out at the snowly landscape, the white material on the ground glittering in the lunar glow, there was a tug at his heart that seemed to tell him, 'Go over there.' Doubtfully, T.K. followed his conscience to his left.
A short walk down the deck and T.K. found a startling sight. Perched on the precarious edge of the railing was... Kari. She wasn't moving, just watching the trees.
"Kar? Kari?" T.K. said quietly. "It's cold out here. What are you doing?"
Kari didn't look at him. "You could really hurt yourself falling off here, couldn't you?"
"Yeah," T.K. answered. "Are you okay?"
"I could be. What do you think?" Kari asked, rather irritated in her tone.
T.K. fumbled for words. "I... I... You've always seemed-"
"Yeah. I've always *seemed* to be everything. Happy even. But nobody ever really knows..." she trailed off. "Never..."
He took a step closer. "Kari, don't... whatever you were planning. Come on. Take my hand," he said, extending his open palm towards Kari. "Just take my hand, we can go back inside and talk. It'll be okay."
Kari finally looked at T.K.. "I've never been 'okay.' I just feel so suffocated sometimes. Everyone's always hovering over me, asking that irritating question: 'Are you okay?'"
"But Kari," T.K. told her, "you always say yes to that. Whenever anyone asks you, you're always okay. You're allowed to be angry or sad or whatever you want to feel. Take my hand Kari. Please."
Kari stayed still. "T.K.... what made you come out here?"
"Intuition, I guess. I don't really know. I just couldn't sleep and something told me to come out here," he said. "Come on Kar. If you died... or got hurt... I would be the one who wasn't okay. Take my hand."
She drew in a sharp breath. "I can't let go. Now I'm afraid I'll fall."
T.K. walked up behind her and put his arms around Kari's waist. "I've got you. I've got you." He helped Kari off the railing and she fell against him, and then she began to cry.
"Thank you T.K., thank you," she sobbed. "Thank you."
T.K. enveloped Kari in his arms, cuddling her with the blanket around them, letting her cry. "It's all right Kari. Everything's all right. Come inside now, it's cold." Back in the cabin, T.K. brought Kari to the little kitchen and sat her down on one of the wooden chairs. "Want anything?"
She shook her head. "Just... hold me..." she whispered. T.K. sat next to Kari and held her tightly. Her body shook with quiet sobs.
"What's going on?"
T.K.'s head snapped up at the sound of Tai's voice. Not only was Kari's brother there, but Matt, Yolei and Mimi as well. Kari seemed oblivious to their prescence, but T.K. tried to stammer out an answer, unsure if Kari wanted them to know about her failed suicide attempt.
"I'm okay Tai," came quietly from T.K.'s shoulder. "I think so anyway..." Kari jerked out of T.K.'s embrace and into Tai's. "You can tell them T.K.."
"Well T.K.? What happened?" Mimi asked gently.
T.K. stood. "I... I went outside and Kari was sitting on the railing," he started.
Yolei gasped.
"She... she was thinking about jumping off."
Silence engulfed the group. Looks of shock were on some faces, disbelief on others. Tai muttered "Oh Kari," sadly and held her tighter.
"So what did you do?" Matt asked.
"We talked a little, I convinced her otherwise and we came inside."
It was still quiet, except for Kari crying, until Tai made a descision. "Let's go to bed now. It's late," he murmured. The others mumbled their agreements and trudged towards their rooms. Tai took Kari to the room she was sharing with Sora and tucked her in.
Sora was awake, and asked Tai quietly what had happened. He explained it to her. Over Tai's shoulder, Sora could see T.K. slip into the room and kneel next to Kari's bed. He didn't speak, but merely stared at Kari's face with his lips set in a tight line. Before Tai turned back around, he silently mouthed some unrecognizable words and left the room. Sora noticed a glistening tear-trail on T.K.'s cheek.
"... I just hope she'll feel better soon," Tai finished.
"Me too," Sora agreed. "Go to bed Tai. We all need some sleep."
"Yeah... 'Night Sora," he said. Moving over to Kari's bed again, he placed a kiss on his little sister's forehead and told her good night, then went to bed himself.
"Sora?" came weakly from across the room.
"Yeah Kari?"
"You don't think I'm... stupid... for what I tried, do you?"
"No, Kari, of course not," Sora answered. "I don't think you're stupid at all."
"I feel stupid."
"You're not stupid."
"Why do you think I did that?"
"I don't know. I wasn't there."
"I told T.K. that I wasn't 'okay.' Maybe that's really it."
"Maybe you're just confused."
"About what?"
"Everything, perhaps?"
"That's probably it."
"I'm even more confused than before now. T.K.... he, well, rescued me, you could say."
"Yeah?"
"T.K. kept talking to me and didn't leave or anything. And... he... he said that if anything ever happened to me then he'd be the one that wasn't okay. And then just now he said I was one of the most important people to him. What does he mean?"
"You really want to know what I think?"
"It would eliminate some of my confusion, so yes."
"I think he loves you Kari."
"Me?"
"Yes. You."
"I... didn't think about that..."
"I didn't either with Tai. But you know, sometimes it takes a big scare to get something out of someone. When Tai and I were out there, he refused to leave me until help came. And T.K. refused to leave you until you were safe. He must've been scared out of his wits."
"I was scared too. I was scared to try it, to get up on that railing, and then to even get off afterwards."
"That's why it's great to have guys like them around."
"Yeah. We're lucky, aren't we?"
"Very."
"I think I get it now." Kari yawned. "Good night Sora. And thank you."
"You're welcome. 'Night Kari."
~*~**~*~
"Tai? Tai, wake up."
Tai opened his eyes slowly and saw his sister standing over him. "Kari? You okay?"
She shook her head. "I'm scared."
"Come here." Tai let Kari climb in bed with him, like he'd done when they were little kids. "What's scaring you?" he whispered.
"I'm afraid I'm gonna go out there again."
"You won't. Trust me, 'kay?"
"'Kay..." Kari trailed off as she fell asleep.
~*~**~*~
"Look at them."
"That's adorable."
"Shhh, it's still early."
"Awww..."
"What are you all doing here?"
Silence.
"Well?"
"We were, um, watching you and Kari sleep," Matt said.
"We shoulda brought a camera," Mimi commented. "So cute!"
"Shut it you guys." Tai carefully got out of bed so as not to wake the still-sleeping Kari. "She was afraid she was gonna try again last night," he whispered.
"She all right?" Izzy asked.
"Yeah, I think. Just... just lay off, unless she asks you to do something," Tai said. "I don't want her to feel suffocated."
Everyone agreed to that, and went on their way to... wherever they planned on being, except T.K.. He sat with Kari until she woke up.
"Hey... T.K.? Wha-" Kari mumbled.
"Good morning," he said.
"'Morning... T.K., I thought I'd let you know..."
"Yeah Kari?"
"You're the best," she said, sitting up and wrapping her arms around him.
~*~**~*~
Davis noted the whole Kari thing in his brain. He decided that now was not the time to be his normal jerkwad self. If T.K. was making her happy, then so be it.
That didn't mean he couldn't make her happy too...
Chapter Four
As it turned out, all the DigiDestined had a reunion at the hospital when Sora was brought in with her broken leg. Davis' amnesia proved temporary, and Sora's leg wasn't badly broken fortunately. A cast and plenty of rest, and she'd be back on her feet.
"I'm sorry this trip wasn't what you thought it would be," Willis apologized.
"Don't be," Matt said.
"Yeah, with us around, you can't make predictions," Izzy laughed.
All the DigiDestined, including Davis (who was finally discharged from the hospital), were back at the cabin they'd been staying in for the past five days, sitting around a blazing fire and sipping hot chocolate. It was late, around ten o'clock at night.
Sora had a rather pissed look on her face, mostly due to the fact that she hadn't been outside in a while, nevermind on a snowboard. Her frown was severe as she poked marshmallows under the frothy surface of her hot chocolate with her spoon. Sora's leg, encased in plaster, was propped up on a footstool in front of her. It was now covered in scribbles: signatures, various doodles Sora'd drawn when she was bored (which right now was often), doodles from everyone else, and mushy notes from Tai she'd discovered written across the toe after a nap. Looking at Tai's notes made her smile though. He'd been her constant caretaker the whole week, without being suffocating. Now he was sitting on the couch next to her, listening to the conversation and interjecting with his comments infrequently.
"You okay Sor?" he asked quietly while Yolei and Davis were arguing over something trivial.
"Huh? Yeah," she answered. "I'm bored out of my skull though. Sitting around all day sucks." She spat the last word out like a bad taste.
"Well, we'll be going home soon and then you can sit around in an entirely different environment," Tai said jokingly. One glance from the girl next to him and he knew she wasn't in a joking mood. "Sorry."
Sora stifled a yawn and sipped the hot chocolate cautiously. "'Kay..." she murmured, setting the mug down on an end table. Sleepily, she leaned against Tai and stared at the fire. He reached his arm over and held Sora's hand in his own until she fell asleep.
"Are you sure you don't want to keep snowboarding?" Matt asked Mimi.
"Yes," she answered stubbornly. "I will NOT have my leg broken too."
"Ah, that's it," Matt said. "You know that was an accident. There was ice on that trail."
"I hate ice. Ice sucks. Hot chocolate is good," Mimi declared, peering over the top of her mug as she sat curled up in the corner of a couch. Her eyes smiled.
"C'mon Mimi," he said. "Snowboarding? Tomorrow? Just us?" Matt made a sad puppy face and was ready, willing and able to force his blue eyes to well up with tears, but Mimi put down the mug and gave him a half smile.
"All right," she sighed. "Only 'cause I can't stand that face."
Matt grinned. "Thank you!"
"You owe me one, Ishida," Mimi joked. She glanced over at their friends. "Look at them," she said, referring to Tai and Sora. "They're so sweet together, aren't they?" Sora was asleep, with one of Tai's arms around her shoulders and the other holding her hand. Mimi got a dreamy look on her face and kicked herself mentally for being a complete sap.
"Yeah," Matt agreed quietly. He inched a little closer to Mimi. "You like him or something?"
Mimi whipped her head around and looked at Matt. "No! No way!" she exclaimed. "I'm just kind of a sap, you know?" He nodded, an eyebrow raised. "Okay, I do like someone... and I'm not telling you!"
"Aww come on," Matt teased. "I won't tell him, honest." He put one hand over his heart and looked solemn.
Mimi rested her chin on her hands and shook her head. "Nope."
"I'll do the face," he threatened.
Considering the situation, Mimi decided now or never. "All right. Come here," she said. Matt leaned over, and Mimi whispered the answer in his ear.
Matt's eyes went wide and he stared at Mimi. "Wha? You mean..."
"Yup."
"For how long?"
"As long as I can remember."
"And you've wanted that for the same amount of time?"
"Uh-huh."
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
He blinked several times and then leaned back on the couch. He glanced at Mimi from the corner of his eye, and a mischeivious smile crossed his face. In one swift movement, Matt leaned over Mimi and planted a kiss right on her lips. Mimi knew no other action but to return the kiss, and soon everyone else was pushed into oblivion.
"You two! Get a room!" Oodles of laughter ensued.
Matt and Mimi turned incredibly red and sat bolt upright. Their expressions were pure embarrassment. The one who interrupted them was T.K., who was laughing the hardest of them all.
"T.K...." Matt warned.
"Well, do we have *another* couple in our midst or what?" Kari asked.
The response was stone silence.
"Joking, Matt, sheesh," Izzy laughed.
"Forgiven," Matt grumbled.
~*~**~*~
That night, T.K. couldn't sleep. Something was nagging at him and he got out of bed. Pulling a soft gray fleece blanket around his shoulders and putting on his slippers, T.K. went outside on the deck.
Staring out at the snowly landscape, the white material on the ground glittering in the lunar glow, there was a tug at his heart that seemed to tell him, 'Go over there.' Doubtfully, T.K. followed his conscience to his left.
A short walk down the deck and T.K. found a startling sight. Perched on the precarious edge of the railing was... Kari. She wasn't moving, just watching the trees.
"Kar? Kari?" T.K. said quietly. "It's cold out here. What are you doing?"
Kari didn't look at him. "You could really hurt yourself falling off here, couldn't you?"
"Yeah," T.K. answered. "Are you okay?"
"I could be. What do you think?" Kari asked, rather irritated in her tone.
T.K. fumbled for words. "I... I... You've always seemed-"
"Yeah. I've always *seemed* to be everything. Happy even. But nobody ever really knows..." she trailed off. "Never..."
He took a step closer. "Kari, don't... whatever you were planning. Come on. Take my hand," he said, extending his open palm towards Kari. "Just take my hand, we can go back inside and talk. It'll be okay."
Kari finally looked at T.K.. "I've never been 'okay.' I just feel so suffocated sometimes. Everyone's always hovering over me, asking that irritating question: 'Are you okay?'"
"But Kari," T.K. told her, "you always say yes to that. Whenever anyone asks you, you're always okay. You're allowed to be angry or sad or whatever you want to feel. Take my hand Kari. Please."
Kari stayed still. "T.K.... what made you come out here?"
"Intuition, I guess. I don't really know. I just couldn't sleep and something told me to come out here," he said. "Come on Kar. If you died... or got hurt... I would be the one who wasn't okay. Take my hand."
She drew in a sharp breath. "I can't let go. Now I'm afraid I'll fall."
T.K. walked up behind her and put his arms around Kari's waist. "I've got you. I've got you." He helped Kari off the railing and she fell against him, and then she began to cry.
"Thank you T.K., thank you," she sobbed. "Thank you."
T.K. enveloped Kari in his arms, cuddling her with the blanket around them, letting her cry. "It's all right Kari. Everything's all right. Come inside now, it's cold." Back in the cabin, T.K. brought Kari to the little kitchen and sat her down on one of the wooden chairs. "Want anything?"
She shook her head. "Just... hold me..." she whispered. T.K. sat next to Kari and held her tightly. Her body shook with quiet sobs.
"What's going on?"
T.K.'s head snapped up at the sound of Tai's voice. Not only was Kari's brother there, but Matt, Yolei and Mimi as well. Kari seemed oblivious to their prescence, but T.K. tried to stammer out an answer, unsure if Kari wanted them to know about her failed suicide attempt.
"I'm okay Tai," came quietly from T.K.'s shoulder. "I think so anyway..." Kari jerked out of T.K.'s embrace and into Tai's. "You can tell them T.K.."
"Well T.K.? What happened?" Mimi asked gently.
T.K. stood. "I... I went outside and Kari was sitting on the railing," he started.
Yolei gasped.
"She... she was thinking about jumping off."
Silence engulfed the group. Looks of shock were on some faces, disbelief on others. Tai muttered "Oh Kari," sadly and held her tighter.
"So what did you do?" Matt asked.
"We talked a little, I convinced her otherwise and we came inside."
It was still quiet, except for Kari crying, until Tai made a descision. "Let's go to bed now. It's late," he murmured. The others mumbled their agreements and trudged towards their rooms. Tai took Kari to the room she was sharing with Sora and tucked her in.
Sora was awake, and asked Tai quietly what had happened. He explained it to her. Over Tai's shoulder, Sora could see T.K. slip into the room and kneel next to Kari's bed. He didn't speak, but merely stared at Kari's face with his lips set in a tight line. Before Tai turned back around, he silently mouthed some unrecognizable words and left the room. Sora noticed a glistening tear-trail on T.K.'s cheek.
"... I just hope she'll feel better soon," Tai finished.
"Me too," Sora agreed. "Go to bed Tai. We all need some sleep."
"Yeah... 'Night Sora," he said. Moving over to Kari's bed again, he placed a kiss on his little sister's forehead and told her good night, then went to bed himself.
"Sora?" came weakly from across the room.
"Yeah Kari?"
"You don't think I'm... stupid... for what I tried, do you?"
"No, Kari, of course not," Sora answered. "I don't think you're stupid at all."
"I feel stupid."
"You're not stupid."
"Why do you think I did that?"
"I don't know. I wasn't there."
"I told T.K. that I wasn't 'okay.' Maybe that's really it."
"Maybe you're just confused."
"About what?"
"Everything, perhaps?"
"That's probably it."
"I'm even more confused than before now. T.K.... he, well, rescued me, you could say."
"Yeah?"
"T.K. kept talking to me and didn't leave or anything. And... he... he said that if anything ever happened to me then he'd be the one that wasn't okay. And then just now he said I was one of the most important people to him. What does he mean?"
"You really want to know what I think?"
"It would eliminate some of my confusion, so yes."
"I think he loves you Kari."
"Me?"
"Yes. You."
"I... didn't think about that..."
"I didn't either with Tai. But you know, sometimes it takes a big scare to get something out of someone. When Tai and I were out there, he refused to leave me until help came. And T.K. refused to leave you until you were safe. He must've been scared out of his wits."
"I was scared too. I was scared to try it, to get up on that railing, and then to even get off afterwards."
"That's why it's great to have guys like them around."
"Yeah. We're lucky, aren't we?"
"Very."
"I think I get it now." Kari yawned. "Good night Sora. And thank you."
"You're welcome. 'Night Kari."
~*~**~*~
"Tai? Tai, wake up."
Tai opened his eyes slowly and saw his sister standing over him. "Kari? You okay?"
She shook her head. "I'm scared."
"Come here." Tai let Kari climb in bed with him, like he'd done when they were little kids. "What's scaring you?" he whispered.
"I'm afraid I'm gonna go out there again."
"You won't. Trust me, 'kay?"
"'Kay..." Kari trailed off as she fell asleep.
~*~**~*~
"Look at them."
"That's adorable."
"Shhh, it's still early."
"Awww..."
"What are you all doing here?"
Silence.
"Well?"
"We were, um, watching you and Kari sleep," Matt said.
"We shoulda brought a camera," Mimi commented. "So cute!"
"Shut it you guys." Tai carefully got out of bed so as not to wake the still-sleeping Kari. "She was afraid she was gonna try again last night," he whispered.
"She all right?" Izzy asked.
"Yeah, I think. Just... just lay off, unless she asks you to do something," Tai said. "I don't want her to feel suffocated."
Everyone agreed to that, and went on their way to... wherever they planned on being, except T.K.. He sat with Kari until she woke up.
"Hey... T.K.? Wha-" Kari mumbled.
"Good morning," he said.
"'Morning... T.K., I thought I'd let you know..."
"Yeah Kari?"
"You're the best," she said, sitting up and wrapping her arms around him.
~*~**~*~
Davis noted the whole Kari thing in his brain. He decided that now was not the time to be his normal jerkwad self. If T.K. was making her happy, then so be it.
That didn't mean he couldn't make her happy too...