Digimon: The Next Generation
Chapter 1
Kari Kamiya hurried down the corridor of her high school towards the main office. The principal had asked her to come down and show a new student around. It wasn't a big deal, she had seen his schedule and he was in most of her classes. Still, for some reason she was nervous about this. It would be the first time she had shown someone around the school and she wanted to make a good impression with the faculty. She reached the office and walked in. The principal's door was closed but the secretary looked up as she came in and smiled at Kari.
"Hello, dear," she smiled. Her name was Mrs. Atkinson and she was a sweet motherly lady of seventy-six. She took all of the students under her wing and made them her surrogate family. "Mr. Dickson is informing the young man of the rules, but he should be done shortly. It was so nice of you to agree to show him around."
"Well, he has most of his classes with me," Kari explained. "So it isn't really a problem. Besides, it's always good to make new friends." Kari and Mrs. Atkinson chatted for a few more minutes, Mrs. Atkinson asking how Tai was doing in his senior year, how her mother was, was Tai seeing anyone yet, was she and the like. Finally, the door opened a crack and Principal Dickson popped his head out.
"Ah, you're here. Come in." He motioned for Kari to come into his office. As Kari walked in, she saw that there were two other people in the room. One was an older woman, blonde and slightly petite, obviously the boy's mother. The boy was tall, almost six foot two, with short blonde hair and a small goatee on his chin. He rose and turned to great her, but they both froze when their eyes connected. Kari had only met one other person who had such blue eyes. They just stared at each other for a moment.
"Yes, Miss Kamiya, this is our new student…"
"TK?" Kari interrupted, still looking into his eyes. All of a sudden, the boy let out a whop and ran around his chair and caught Kari up in a hug.
"KARI! Man-o-man, I haven't seen you in years! God, look at you!" TK held her out at arms length, a smile glowing on his face. "Christ, you grew!"
"Look who's talking!" Kari laughed back. "God, we haven't seen each other since we were kids! Look at you! I can still remember a time when I could look you in the eyes!"
"Long over now, huh?" Kari turned to the voice and smiled up at the blonde lady who had been sitting beside TK. "It's so good to see you again, Kari," Ms. Takeshi smiled as she reached out and caught Kari in a hug.
"Hello Miss Takeshi," Kari smiled, returning the hug. "Why are you back in Odiba? I mean, I know that you had planned to come back here six years ago, but that fell through."
"Well, why don't you come over after school, and TK, you and I can talk about it then? Right now, you two have classes to get to." Kari and TK smiled back at her. "Have fun, honey." Ms. Takeshi kissed TK on the forehead and turned to the Principal. "Thank you for your help, Mr. Dickson."
"My pleasure, Ms. Takeshi. I'm just pleased that Kari and Takeru already know each other." TK frowned for a moment, but let it slide as Kari grabbed his arm.
"Come on, TK. We've got a free period first, so I get to show you around the school." TK grinned and grabbed his backpack.
"Let's go. Bye, Mom."
Kari and TK walked out into the throng of students arriving for school. Kari yelled to TK over the din.
"Let's head for the music room! It's over this way!" She suddenly felt a hand grab hers and looked down to find TK holding her hand.
"We won't get separated this way," he responded to her unspoken question. Kari nodded and suppressed the tinge of anticipation that shot through her at the touch. They headed for the music room, which was empty for the moment, and ducked inside. Kari let out a sigh as the quiet enveloped them and leaned back against the wall. TK moved around the room, taking everything in. He finally turned to Kari with a gleam in his eye.
"OK, so why did we come here?" Kari smiled in return.
"They should be here any second." TK raised an eyebrow in question, but was interrupted as the door opened and five individuals walked into the room. The first was of medium height with poofy brown hair and a pair of goggles crowning his head. The second was a shorter girl with red hair, laughing at whatever he had just said. The third was a boy with blonde hair and cold, blue eyes, taller than the others. He and the redhead were holding hands. The fourth was a short boy with red hair and a laptop carrying case slung under his arm. The final member of the group was a girl with shocking pink hair. She was smiling as she talked to the redheaded boy next to her. The first boy looked up as they entered and smiled.
"Hi sis," he grinned, holding out his arms. Kari grinned at him and came over and gave him a hug.
"Hi Tai, Sora, Matt, Izzy, Mimi. See you finally got up this morning," she laughed at her brother.
"Well, not all of us like to be at school before we have to be," Tai replied as the others tried to hide their laughs.
"He ran downstairs with his shirt half-buttoned and a piece of toast between his teeth again," Matt laughed. "He's just lucky that I was driving today."
"Thanks for watching out for him, Matt," Kari grinned.
"Why did you come to school so early today, Kari?" Mimi asked. Kari smiled and motioned for a grinning TK to come over from his place against the wall.
"Mr. Dickson asked me to show a new student around today."
"Greetings and welcome to the school," Izzy said, walking up to TK and shaking his hand. Matt stood to the side, staring at the boy. Suddenly, his eyes opened wide.
"Matt, hun?" Sora wondered as he let go of her hand.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Matt screamed as he grabbed TK in a massive hug and lifted him into the air. "When the hell did you come back to town, squirt?" Sora looked at TK again and let out cry of surprise.
"It is you! Oh my God, it's so good to see you again!" She grabbed TK into a hug as soon as Matt let go.
"It's good to see you too, Sora," TK replied, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Tai and the other two looked confused.
"Kari, who is this?" Tai asked. TK grinned at him.
"I am hurt. After all, it wasn't that long ago that you asked me to watch over your little sister," he grinned. Realization dawned in Tai's eyes.
"TK!" Tai grabbed him in a hug as did Izzy and Mimi.
"So what are you doing here?" Matt demanded after the greetings had been finished. TK shrugged.
"Mom and I moved back. We've got an apartment and Mom got a job with a magazine as a reporter. Mom got me enrolled here and I start today. I have to admit, it was a kick that Kari turned out to be the student to show me around." Kari smiled back at him.
"So have you introduced him to the others yet?" Tai asked. Kari blushed slightly but shook her head.
"Others?" TK wondered.
"I'll fill you in later," Kari replied. "Right now, we have to get to literature." TK nodded and grabbed his bag, stopping briefly to give his brother another hug before he and Kari left the room and made their way down the hall. They arrived at the class room with a few minutes to spare. Kari took TK up to the teacher, a balding older man she introduced as Mr. Winston.
"Mr. Winston, this is TK. He's an old friend of mine and a new student here," Kari explained.
"Alright, I have a Takeru Takeshi starting today. I'm going to assume that's you?" TK nodded in response. "Alright. You can sit next to Kari for right now. I'm going to excuse you from the previous assignments, but remember to go over what we've already covered with Kari, since it will be on the final." TK bowed and mode his way back to their seats with Kari.
"You're awfully formal," Kari observed as they pulled out their books. TK just shrugged.
"You didn't get far in some of my old schools with out being very formal and proper." Kari sensed that he didn't want to talk about it anymore and let the matter drop.
"Oh my God; Kari, who is this walking deification of manhood?" Kari grinned up at a pair of odd looking individuals. A boy and a girl, the girl had purple hair and thin-rimmed glasses. She was of modest height and had a fair complexion. The boy next to her was slightly pale with blue hair.
"Back off, Yolei. TK, this is Yolei Inuoe, my best friend after you. Next to her is our second resident genius along with Izzy. This is Ken Ichijouji." TK rose and bowed to both of them.
"It's a pleasure to meet both of you." Ken copied his bow.
"The pleasure is ours." He then grinned. "Of course, as Yolei has been trying to teach me, you don't need to be so formal here." TK grinned back and the two warmly clasped hands.
"It's good to finally find out what happened to you, man," TK grinned. "You just vanished off the face of the Earth."
"Nope, just left town. Dad found a new job and we got out. How've you been?" TK shrugged.
"Alright. Can't really complain. Finally came home and got reunited with my old friends."
"You two know each other?" Kari broke in, slightly confused.
"Ken and I used to go to school together," TK replied as they took there seats as class started. Ken and Yolie sat next to TK and Kari. The class went by quickly and when it ended, Kari turned to Yolei and Ken.
"Hey, TK's got PE with me next, but could you show him to the locker room, Ken? I mean, you've got PE with us and all." Ken grinned.
"And you don't want Davis to catch him alone?" Kari winced as TK looked at them questioningly.
"Davis?"
"Davis Motomyia," Yolei replied. "He had a massive crush on Kari for a while. Right now, he's still trying to get her to go out with him, but he isn't as serious about it." Kari blushed a darker shade of red. TK laughed as he and Ken left the class room and made their way to the locker rooms.