Chapter 4

            When they got back to Sora's house, everyone else had arrived and there were several pizzas sitting on the kitchen counter.  The five of them all grabbed slices and sat down.  The group talked for an hour about just little things.  Finally the conversation turned towards the next days picnic.

            "So are they going to be there?" Mimi asked Davis and Izzy.  Both of them nodded in confirmation.

            "I got in touch with her right before she was going to go to bed," Davis confirmed.  "She's looking forward to meeting all of you.  She's also going to bring a few of her friends."  He turned towards Mimi with a twinkle in his eye.  "Michael says hi,"

            "Oh my god!  Michael's going to come?"  Mimi gushed.  "I need to find something new to wear tomorrow!"

            "You already have an outfit picked out, and Michael loves you no matter what you're wearing," Sora pointed out.

            "Anyone else that we know?"  Izzy asked.

            "Just one or two others," Davis admitted nonchalantly.  TK studied Davis' seemingly innocent expression.

            "Alright, what are you hiding?" he demanded.  "I know you too well, and you're hiding something.  Now who else is coming?"  Davis grinned.

            "Now that would be telling."  He held up his hand to forestall any further questions.  "It's a surprise and Maria spent quite a bit of time setting it up.  She'd kill me if I just told you guys and ruined all her planning."

            "And Mina's really looking forward to this too," Izzy confirmed.  "She says that if Kari and I are any indication, then it should be really interesting to meet the entire group."  He turned towards Kari.  "She says that she's also looking forward to meeting TK," he commented.

            "How did she find out about me?" TK asked, slightly perplexed.  Kari let out a nervous cough as Izzy's face broke out in a broad grin.

            "Probably from when Kari described you to the Poi brothers," he responded.  TK looked at Kari, his curiosity evident.  Kari let out a sigh and gave Izzy a dirty look.

            "When we went to Hong Kong during the World Tour, the first digidetined that we met were three brothers who all had Syakomon.  They all kind of developed a crush on me."

            "All three of them?"  Joe demanded, trying to hold back his laughter.

            "Yes," Kari responded.  "They were nice enough, but there were times when it was like dealing with three versions of Davis."  By now everyone was laughing except Kari.  Even TK was having a hard time holding back his laughter.  "I finally got them to back off by telling them that I was taken."

            "You lied to them?" Tai asked, still chuckling.

            "Not exactly," Kari replied quietly.  "I told them about an angel from heaven who was my best friend and protector and how I was just waiting for him to make the first move."  TK smiled and leaned over and kiss her.

            They spent the next few hours in idle chitchat and around midnight they all began to drift off to sleep.  Tai, rather surprisingly, didn't object at all when TK and Kari lay down together on some spare blankets and went to sleep, although he did look rather sullen.

            The next day dawned bright and sunny.  Kari woke up to a feeling of emptiness.  Looking over she confirmed that TK was missing.  As she got up to look for him, the smell of breakfast drifted to her nose.  Her curiosity peaked, she softly padded into the kitchen.  TK stood next to the stove, clad only in a pair of boxers and a tank top.  Kari smiled and moved to hug him from behind.  If TK was surprised by her sudden appearance he didn't show it.

            "Morning, Love," he greeted her as he continued to fry bacon.  "Sleep well?"

            "Until you left," she playfully accused.  TK turned around and gave her a brief kiss.  "Should I wake the others?"  She asked indicating the already prepared plates.

            "That wonderful smell should be enough to wake even Davis up," Ken commented from the doorway that separated the kitchen from the living room where they had all gone to sleep.

            "Morning Ken," TK greeted the blue hared boy.  Ken nodded in reply.

            "Smells wonderful," the guineas commented gesturing towards the plates.  "Where did you learn to cook so well."

            "Necessity," TK smiled.  "TV dinners get really old really fast.  Matt showed me most of the basics."

            "And its days like this that I'm glad I did," Matt commented from behind Ken.  Sora stood next to him, and there were signs that the rest of the group was waking up to the smells of a wonderful breakfast.  Kari, Ken and Matt all helped TK move the breakfast plates out to the living room and to the large oak table that Sora's father had bought several years ago to serve as a dinning table.

            Breakfast was a fairly quiet affaire.  It was pretty much a buffet atmosphere with everyone sitting where they could.  Since the number of people far outweighed the number of available seats, the resemblance to musical chairs was unstoppable.  After breakfast, everyone began to get dressed in various places and occasionally in groups.  They had decided to leave from Sora's for the Digital World last night.  So finally, around one in the afternoon, they all gathered around Sora's computer with the food and their digimon.

            "If you would do the honors," TK indicated to Sora.  She smiled and held up her D-3.

            "Digi-port open!"  With a bright flash, the entire group and their digimon were drawn into the Digital World.

            They emerged next to a large lake.  A lush green forest sat nearby and across the lake stood a large diner.  They all took a moment to gather in the beautiful scenery of the Digital World and then started towards the diner.  It took them roughly a half an hour to reach the diner.  Waiting outside were several children roughly there same age, each with a digimon partner.

            The first one on the right was a dark-skinned young woman with flowing black hair wearing an orange and red colored sari.  The Candlemon by her side confirmed her identity as Mina, the Indian digidestined.  Next to her where two men and another woman.  The men were both fairly tall, though one was slightly taller than the other, and had blonde hair while the woman was more petit and had red hair.  The tall one they immediately identified as Michael, with his Betamon partner swimming in the lake.  The other boy though.

            "Willis!"  TK shouted and bolted ahead of the rest of the group.  The shorter blonde looked up from where he had been talking to the redheaded woman and a broad grin broke out on his face.  He ran towards TK and the two friends met half way.  The two exchanged a brief but fierce hug and then fell into conversation.  They seemed oblivious to the rest of the digidestined until Kari walked up to TK and he put his arm around her as she stood next to him.  The redhead did the same with Willis though he wrapped his arm around her waist.  The four of them moved off to the side and engaged in a quiet conversation.  The rest of the digidestined greeted the others. Izzy introduced everyone to Mina and her Candlemon.  Meanwhile, Davis was looking around, a worried expression on his face.  Michael broke off from where he had been talking to Joe and Mimi and laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

            "She probably just had to finish up some chores or something," he commented.  "She'll be here.  Maria wouldn't miss this for the world."  Davis smiled at Michael in gratitude and nodded.  He and Michael moved back to where the rest of the digidestined were standing and joined in on the conversations.  After a little while, TK, Kari, Willis and his girlfriend came over to where the others were standing.

            "Everyone, this is Rachel," Willis introduced.  Everyone greeted her and the group began to talk about where to set up for the picnic.  Davis sat back, not having anything to contribute at the moment.  He was beginning to get worried.  Maria had said that she was going to be here, and yet…  His train of thought was broken when a pair of feminine hands reached around from behind and covered his eyes.  At the same moment, Davis felt warm breath on his neck and a petite mouth began to leave butterfly kisses on his neck.

            "Guess who," a soft voice breathed into his ear.

            "If you aren't Maria, I'm in deep trouble," Davis joked, turning around to look into her eyes.

            "Damn right you'd be," Maria laughed before the two kissed.

            Now that the group was complete, they began to seriously consider where to set up their picnic.  TK and Kari finally ended the debate with the expedient method of getting up and leaving.  They made no real noise as they left and they didn't respond to the repeated calls by various people to say where they were going.  Everyone finally stood up and followed them.  The couple's silence seemed to set the mood for the group. No one spoke while they all followed TK and Kari around the lake until they were on the opposite side.  TK and Kari then veered into the forest, following a seemingly meandering path through the trees.  The path twisted and turned so much that after a while no one knew for sure which direction they were going in.

            Roughly half-an-hour later, TK and Kari suddenly turned into a thicket of trees and disappeared from sight.  Ken and Yolei were immediately behind them and saw them slip through an opening in a clump of bushes.  Ken and Yolei exchanged a questioning glance and then slipped through the bushes and the others followed.  They struggled through the bushes for a minute, guided only by the slight path that TK and Kari had left in their wake.  They finally emerged into paradise.

            It was a slopping cliff that ended rather abruptly about fifty yards from the edge of the bushes and hung out above the water.  At one point the cliff and the water connected, forming a kind of beach.  Bushes and trees surrounded the entire cliff, so that it was cut off from the rest of the forest.  The grass was green and lush and the water of the lake sparkled blue and inviting.  Everyone stood in awe, looking around, as TK and Kari started to set up the blanket and food for the picnic.  Davis was the first to break the silence.

            "This place is awesome!"  His exclamation seemed to jerk everyone out of their trances and they quickly made their way down to the center of the clearing where TK and Kari had set out the food.  They all sat around for two hours just eating, talking and enjoying the serenity.

            "How did you know about this place?"  Davis finally asked TK and Kari.  The two exchanged a nervous glance, before TK replied.

            "We just kind of stumbled upon it when we were exploring one day."  Davis didn't buy it.

            "This place doesn't seem like the kind of place that you would just stumble upon," he commented.

            "We were flying," Kari answered.  "Nefertimon and Pegasusmon were taking us up for a flight and we did some airborne reconnaissance and spotted this place.  We thought about it when you guys mentioned wanting to do a picnic."

            "What else?" Ken asked suspiciously.  "I know you two well enough to know that you wouldn't have just immediately thought of this place if it didn't have some significance to the both of you.  What is it?"

            "I don't know what you're talking about," TK responded with a look that said 'It's none of your business, so butt out.'  Ken didn't take the hint.

            "What's so special about this place that you two didn't even think of at least half a dozen other places that were closer than this place."

            "He's got a point," Cody chimed in.  "When we started talking about where to have the picnic, you two just got up and made a beeline for this place."

            "Look," TK exploded, "if you don't like that place, then go find your own picnic spot.  We just thought that you might like this place.  Excuse me for trying to be helpful!"  With that, TK stood up and stormed off into the forest.  Kari shot Ken, Davis and Cody looks of death and took off after TK.  Everyone sat stunned for a minute.  Joe finally broke the silence.

            "Well that was nice," he commented to Ken.  "Why didn't you just pull a knife on him?  At least that would have been fairly direct."  Ken looked around confused.

            "What did I do?"  Yolei shook her head.

            "Honey, you may be a guineas, but sometimes you can be so dense."

            "TK felt that you were attacking him," Sora supplied from her place in Matt's lap.

            "But I was just trying to get him to open up some more," Ken defended.  Matt let out a short bark of laughter.

            "That's not TK's style," he explained.  "He's very slow to open up to anyone.  I'm sure that the only person who has seen all of TK is Kari.  She's probably the only one he trusts enough to bear his soul too."

            "Not really," Sora countered.  "TK just doesn't see his problems as being very important.  He'll go out of his way to help someone else work out their problems, but he doesn't want to burden other people with his own worries.  Kari just isn't giving him that choice.  She's making him put some of his problems on her shoulders."

            "What kind of problems?"  Davis finally asked.  "I mean, TK's always been the rock, you know?  He's always there for us when we need him and he's always so optimistic about our battles."  Sora shook her head sadly.

            "He's still only human," she replied softly.  "You have to remember that TK was the first one of use to kill and is the only one of us to have actually lost his digimon, even if it was only temporary.  And all of this happened when he was only eight years old."

            "He hates fighting," Matt picked up.  "He just feels that it's his responsibility to fight so that no one else has to."

            "I'm going to go apologize," Ken spoke up.

            "Where were you going to start looking?" Tai asked bluntly.  Ken gave him a helpless look.  "He and Kari'll be alright," Tai continued.  "They've known each other so long that watching each other's backs is instinct.  Besides, Kari could find TK anywhere.  They'll be back," he said with a note of certainty in his voice.

            "And where are you going?" Matt asked Willis as he stood up.

            "I thought that I'd go for a dip," he replied as he removed his shirt.  Mimi looked at him skeptically.

            "I didn't think you brought a swim suit," she commented.

            "I didn't," he shrugged as he unbuttoned his pants and began to walk to the edge of the lake.

            "You're going to go skinny dipping?" Izzy asked incredulously.

            "Why not?" Willis asked.  "I don't know much about Japan, but in Nebraska we do it all the time in the summer to cool off."  Davis shrugged and pulled off his shirt as he stood up.  "Well, why not?" he demanded.  Several others also began to strip.  Soon the water was filled with laughing, naked digidestined.

            Kari moved through the forest with a sureness that she didn't feel.  She knew instinctively where TK was.  The two of them had been able to sense each other for years now.  She smiled at the memory of when TK moved back to Odiba.  She had not seen him for three years, but that day she had known that he was going to be in her class that year.

            She could feel him up ahead in an area where the trees thinned somewhat, so she stopped to considered her options.  TK had been on edge about taking the others to the clearing, and Ken's digging hadn't helped matters any.  She knew on an intellectual level that Ken was their friend and that he was only trying to help, but emotionally, she was pissed at him.

            That clearing was special to them, though.  TK had found it on an aerial survey just after Ken had been turned back to the side of light.  He had taken her there one night after a school dance four months after they had started going out.  It was there that they had first said that they loved each other.  She glanced down at her finger and the small gold band that encircled her left ring finger.  It was also where he had proposed to her.  They weren't planning on getting married for several more years yet, but the fact was that they knew that they would.  That was also the first night that they had made love.

            She knew that part of TK's frustration was from how much of their relationship they had to keep a secret.  She knew that TK wanted to scream about it from the rooftops, and, to be perfectly honest, so did she.  But Japan was still a changing culture.  It was no longer common place for teenagers to marry and have children.  The law would look fairly harshly upon their actions.  So they had to stay quiet.  There was no getting around that.  Kari finally decided to play it by ear.

            She walked into the clearing, trying to stay as silent as possible.  She found TK sitting beneath a massive pine tree.  His face seemed serene, but his eyes held a look of sadness in them.  Kari sat down next to him and the two stayed silent for a few minutes until TK finally spoke up.

            "Guess I really screwed up back there, huh?"

            "They'll forgive you," Kari replied.  TK let out a massive sigh and dropped his head in his hands.  Kari gave him a look of concern.  "Are you still having those headaches?" she demanded.

            "It's nothing," TK dismissed.  "I'll be fine," he assured her, looking up and giving her a wan smile.

            "I thought that we agreed that you'd talk to Joe about them if they didn't get any better," Kari reminded him.

            "They're nothing.  I can handle them."  Kari sighed in defeat and hugged him.

            "I'm just worried about you," she murmured against his chest.  TK sighed and leaned his head back against the tree trunk.  Kari maneuvered herself so that she was lying curled up next to TK with her head resting on his chest.

            "We should probably get back to the others," TK pointed out after a while.  Kari mumbled something unintelligible.  "Kari, I mean it," TK prompted.  Kari responded by slipping her hands up under his shirt and racking her nails down his chest.  "Stop that," TK laughed.  Kari relented for a moment, then she began to kiss his stomach.  "Kari!  We don't have time, Love," TK pointed out while struggling to maintain his fabled self-control.  Kari pulled his shirt up over his arms and kissed his right nipple.  'Screw it,' TK thought as he pulled Kari up for a passionate kiss.  The two looked into each other's eyes for a moment as TK began to undo the buttons on her blouse.  He finished and removed it, tossing it to the side to join his own shirt.

            "I thought we didn't have time," Kari giggled as TK removed her bra.

            "We'll make time," TK breathed into her breasts.  TK gently lowered her to the soft grass and traced a line down her left side with his hand.  "You are so beautiful," he whispered.

            "If you say so," Kari blushed.  TK let out a throaty laugh and kissed her.

            "I love you," he whispered into her ear.