Kari sat on the window seat of her apartment, staring at the distant skyline of the city where lights twinkled and shone brightly through the darkness. TK had been gone for a whole day now and the emptiness in her heart just seemed to grow and grow. She gave the phone on the table next to her a long wistful look and turned back to the window. Suddenly, the phone rang, shattering the silence. Kari jumped up immediately and grabbed the phone. Tai rolled his eyes at her eagerness although he grinned in understanding and her parents smiled indulgingly. "Hello?" came the voice over the phone, faint and indistinct.

            "TK!" exclaimed Kari, recognizing his voice despite its distortion because of the distance.

            "Hey Kari," he replied, his voice filled with love.

            For a moment, the two of them said nothing, sharing the moment in silence. TK didn't need to say anything for her to know that he missed her and she knew he understood her feelings too. Kari bit her lip to keep herself from crying and decided to break the silence. "So, how's New York?"

            "Considering I stepped off the plane a couple of minutes ago and it's seven in the morning here as well as raining, there's not much to see," TK replied dryly, "Unless, of course, you want me to describe the airport to you…"

            Kari smiled and although she couldn't see him, she was sure he was smiling too. She was touched that the first thing he did when he got off the plane was to call her but as she looked at the clear, dark skies over Tokyo, she was reminded of how far apart they were. She sighed softly, but nevertheless, TK heard it. "Oh Kari-chan," he sighed as well, "I know this isn't the way things were supposed to be…with you in Tokyo and me halfway around the world, thousands of miles away. I promise, I'll come back as soon as I can…"

Kari's throat tightened as she whispered huskily through her welling tears, "I know you will…I love you."

"I love you too."

~*~*~

Days passed, then weeks. Every night, Kari would sit by the phone, waiting for TK to call, and every night he would. They talked until he had to leave for school and then they'd pick up where they left off the next day. TK talked abut his new school, his mom's new job and the city; about how everything was so different, but at the same time so similar. Kari updated him on news at school and the antics of the other Digidestined and their Digimon. Occasionally, Gatomon and Patamon would talk too after TK had to leave for school. Kari was the first one to know when TK made his school's basketball team and TK was the first to celebrate Kari's captainship for her team. TK had a picture of Kari in her captain's jersey that she had sent him on his locker at school and on Kari's desk, she had a picture of him standing in front of the Statue of Liberty.

            Months went by and the nightly phone calls became shorter and shorter, as TK had to get to school early for practice. Soon their number dwindled too. He called every other day, then every week, then every month. Their conversation became more and more stunted as TK talked about people Kari had never met before and Kari talked about others whom TK hadn't really known either. Kari had gotten a card and present for her birthday and she sent one for his but they accepted the fact that their lives no longer intertwined like it used to. She no longer had that lost look in her eyes that marked the first few weeks of his absence and the only thing that remained the same was their habitual exchange of "I love you".