Author's notes: Okay, second chapter. Just letting those who wanted more
Takari know that that wasn't the end of it. So don't lose faith, there IS
more Takari. Anyhow, the characters aren't mine; they belong to the Digimon
creators. Well, except Yui, Saruko, Matt's GF and the other assorted DD
kids. OH! "The Two Towers" isn't mine either. It's JRR Tolkien and Co. The
excerpt is from page 19 in my book. Now, ENJOY!
1 MOVING ON
By Android Eleven
More than a month had passed since TK and his daughter had moved to Japan and the two were finally starting to adjust to life there. Yui was doing very well in school, despite her dislike for the required uniform, and had made some good friends. TK was starting to get over the pain of Saruko leaving him, helped a great deal by the support of his friends, especially that of Kari and Matt. And he had finally managed to finish the draft for his next novel and was in the process of finding a new publisher.
"Because there's not a chance in hell that I'm going back to my old one," TK explained to Kari one day, when she came over early to share a cup of coffee with him before he went down to Osaka for the day. He was going for a meeting with his next potential publisher and Osaka was the home base of the company the publisher worked for. "This time I'm going for a 44-year- old married woman with 3 kids."
Kari laughed. "Good choice."
A moment later, Yui entered the kitchen, pulling on her light slate-blue school blazer. She was straightening her collar and heading for the fridge when she was suddenly seized in a coughing fit. TK looked up at her, concerned, and patted her back. "Are you okay, Sweet-pea?"
Yui nodded, clearing her throat, still coughing occasionally. "I think I just have a little bit of a cough."
TK was still worried, in a way that only a single parent can be. "Are you going to be okay? I'm not going to be home until about 4 o'clock tonight, I'm not going to be able to pick you up from school if you get sick, you-"
But Yui was already shaking her head. Living alone with her father for more that a month and a half had taught her a couple things (like how to handle her father when he was in what she called his "worry-wart mode"). "I'll be fine, Dad. I'll bring a packet of Kleenex and some cough drops with me and I'll be just peachy. Don't worry about it. So, Kari, did you mention something about a photo-shoot this afternoon?"
"Yeah," Kari replied, recognizing Yui's attempt to change the subject. "It's a really important one, too. It's one that could make or break my career as a photographer." Kari smiled nervously. "It's really stressing me out."
Yui grabbed a glass of apple juice and coughed a few more times in between sips. "I can imagine."
Suddenly TK stood and grabbed his briefcase and laptop bag and tossed his dishes in the sink. "Well, I'm all set. You ready, kiddo?" Yui nodded and placed her glass and still-clean plate in the sink on top of her father's dishes. "Let's go then. Want a ride home, Kari?" Kari shook her head.
"Nah. I need to go shopping."
TK shrugged as Yui went to get her schoolbag, hiding another spasm of coughing. "Suit yourself. Come on, Sweet-pea!"
* * * * *
Later that day, in Osaka, TK was just leaving his meeting with his newly hired publisher. He passed by a store window where a half dozen TV sets were stacked together. They were all tuned into the same news channel where the wreckage of a train crash was displayed on the screen. "Ah, man," he muttered to himself angrily. "Don't tell me."
But the news announcer ignored his pleas. "-The accident took place 5 miles north of Osaka about a half an hour ago. As of now, no casualties have been discovered, but all trains scheduled to leave or enter through Osaka station have been delayed until further notice-"
TK cursed under his breath and caught the nearest taxi to the train station.
* * * * *
Back at Fukai Academy, Yui was not having a good day. She was starting to regret her refusal to stay at home that morning. She was coughing and she had a sore throat and her nose was completely stuffed up. She was having a hard time breathing very deeply and suspected that she had a fever. And, for the first time in her six years on Earth, Yui discovered the pain of coughing and sneezing at the same time. As already mentioned, Yui was not having a good day.
By the time lunch had ended, she was having chills and dizzy-spells along with everything else. She hadn't eaten a thing at lunch; the churning of her stomach convinced her that she wouldn't be able to hold anything down anyway.
She wanted to go home. But, like her dad said, he wouldn't be home to come pick her up. What's a girl to do when something like that happens to her?
And so, at the beginning of math class, Yui did the only thing she could do. She passed out.
* * * * *
TK was pacing exasperatedly around the Osaka train station when his cell phone rang.
"Hello, Takeru Takaishi speaking," he answered distractedly, taking a seat on one of the station's uncomfortable plastic chairs.
"Hello, Mr. Takaishi? This is Akima Haruki, at Fukai Academy."
"Oh, Miss Haruki!" he replied, startled. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"No. I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. Your daughter collapsed in class, about fifteen minutes ago. She has a high fever. We would appreciate it a great deal if you come and bring her home as soon as possible. And you might want to consider taking her to the hospital as well."
"Oh, no!" he muttered to himself. He quickly explained his situation to Miss Haruki. She was quiet for a moment before suggesting he call a friend or relative to come for her instead. He thought about that for a minute. 'Matt lives pretty close to the school,' he thought, before remembering that Matt was out of town for the week. 'Tai and Sora live too far away and Yolei and Ken have been in the hospital for the past couple days, getting ready for the baby. Maybe… Kari?'
"I think I can get someone, Miss Haruki," he answered hesitantly. "Just give me a minute to call her and then I'll call you right back to confirm."
* * * * * *
Kari was going over all of her camera equipment one last time before she left for her photo-shoot when her phone rang. She sighed exasperatedly and went to pick it up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Kari?" TK's voice, sounding slightly panicky, came over the line. "It's me. Look, I need a big favor. Are you busy right now?"
Kari looked over at all of her equipment. "A little. But what do you need me for?"
"Yui's principal just called me and told me that she collapsed in class and that she's got a fever. She wants me to come take Yui home, but there's been an accident on the tracks here in Osaka and I won't be able to get back to Tokyo for hours, sometime this evening at the earliest. Could you get her for me, please, Kari? I know that it's a lot to ask, but I don't have anyone else to call."
Kari glimpsed back at her camera as TK spoke. He sounded so desperate, but this was the opportunity of a lifetime as far as her career was concerned. What should she do?
'Knock it off, Kamiya,' she finally scolded herself firmly. 'You're being selfish. Your best friend needs you, his sick daughter needs you, and what are you thinking about? Some stupid super-model whose ass needs kissing.'
"Yeah, sure, TK," she said out loud. "I'll head right over to the school."
TK let out a breath of air he hadn't realized he was holding. "Oh, thanks SO much, Kari. This means the world to me! I don't how I survived without you for so long, you are my savior. Look, I have to call the school back and let them know you're coming. Thanks again, Kari. I owe you."
Kari smiled. "No problem, TK."
* * * * *
When Yui woke up a few hours later, she was lying in bed back at home in her apartment. She turned slightly to look at her bedside clock. 7:23 pm. Interesting. Last she could remember she had been taking her seat in math, right after lunch, when everything suddenly went black. That had been at about 1 o'clock.
She was freezing. She looked down and saw that she was covered with all of the blankets she had on her bed, plus an extra quilt and yet, she was still cold. She wondered for a moment why that was. But she didn't have the time to figure it out when someone came in her bedroom, light from the hall flooding the darkness. She squinted.
"Dad?" she asked in a hoarse voice. Then she realized that the figure was female. "Kari… is that you?"
Kari came in and shut the door behind her. "So, you're awake," she said, smiling. "I was starting to worry that you'd never wake up." She took a seat beside Yui's bed and handed the girl a glass of orange juice. "How do you feel?"
Yui took a gulp of juice and coughed. "Awful. I'm freezing and I hurt."
Kari nodded, frowning. "I'm really sorry about that, kiddo. I think you've got the flu. At least, I hope that's all you have and that it's not pneumonia or something. But, here," she said quickly, seeing the girl's scared face, "I brought you some children's Tylenol. It should make you stop hurting so much."
Yui took the pill. She had a hard time swallowing it, but after a few attempts she managed it. "Kari," she asked quietly, trying not to hurt her throat as she spoke, "where's Dad? Shouldn't he be back by now?" Kari nodded again.
"He should be. But, there was an accident down in Osaka and he's going to be pretty late. He's really sorry he couldn't be here for you right now, but he'll be here for sure when you wake up tomorrow morning."
"Oh." Yui handed her juice glass back to Kari. "Thanks."
The two girls sat in silence for a few minutes while Yui tried to fall back to sleep. When she realized she couldn't manage it by herself, she decided to read. "Kari," she spoke up, "could you get 'The Two Towers' by J.R.R. Tolkien from my bookcase for me?"
Kari retrieved the book quickly and handed it to the little girl. "The Lord of the Rings, huh? I love those books. Would you like me to read it to you?"
Yui shook her head. "No thanks." She paused for a moment and opened the book. Then she realized that the words were blurred and seemed to be moving around. She closed the book abruptly. "Well, actually…"
Kari chuckled a bit and took the book from Yui's hand. She opened it to the bookmark and started reading.
"'Stay!' Aragorn shouted. 'Do not follow me yet!' He ran quickly to the right, away from the main trail; for he had seen footprints that went that way, branching off from the others, the marks of small unshod feet. These, however, did not go far before they were crossed by orc-prints, also coming out from the main trail behind and in front…"
* * * * *
Four-and-a-half pages later, Yui had finally fallen asleep. Kari closed the book, smiling gently, and stood up quietly. She put the book back on the bookcase, accidentally knocking a picture on the floor as she did so. She bent down to pick it up and was shocked at what she saw.
It was a family picture of TK, Saruko and Yui, and Saruko's face had been violently scratched out. If it hadn't been for a jam stain on the corner of the picture Kari would never have thought that such a sweet girl like Yui would do such a thing to a picture of her own mother. She must really have hated Saruko for what she had done to her family. The picture looked as though Yui had taken a knife or a pair of scissors and had painstakingly obliterated her mother's face.
Carefully, Kari put the picture back on the shelf she had knocked it down from, deciding not to mention it to TK. She only hoped he wouldn't be the next one to find it.
Kari then emerged from Yui's room and went to the kitchen. She got a snack and carried it out to the living room, where she plopped down in front of the television. She turned it on but quickly turned it off, afraid the noise might wake Yui. And so she grabbed a magazine from the coffee table, made herself comfortable and promptly fell asleep.
* * * * *
At 10:30 that night, TK finally came through the door. He was exhausted, but he didn't even pause as he passed by his own bedroom on his way to his daughter's. He quietly walked in and kneeled by her bed. Placing his hand on her forehead, he realized that she did have a bit of a fever and pulled her blankets up around her chin. He then kissed her sweaty forehead and went out to the living room.
It was there that he discovered Kari asleep on the couch. He smiled and sat down by her head. She seemed to sense his extra weight on the couch and gave a tiny moan in her sleep.
As he studied Kari's sleeping profile, TK's thoughts traveled to a moment that had occurred about eight years before, when he and Kari had still been seriously dating. It was about a week before he had found out that he had the opportunity to go to University in London and he had been perfectly content with his life.
It was a Friday night and TK was over at Kari's place watching movies, eating popcorn and (to be honest) making out. Her parents were out of town for the weekend and Tai had moved out three years before. He and Sora were living together then and, even though they said that they only did it to save on the rent, Tai was going to propose to her two weeks later, revealing the real story.
Anyhow, TK had been at Kari's watching movies. She had just put "The Wizard of Oz" in the DVD player when TK came back in the room, carrying a fresh bowl of popcorn. The two of them cuddled together on the couch to watch the movie. By the time Dorothy's house was caught up in the tornado, Kari was occasionally throwing popcorn in TK's mouth and giggling when he'd kiss her.
When Dorothy's house landed on the wicked witch, Kari sighed happily and snuggled in under TK's arm. TK gave her a mildly inquisitive look. "What are you sighing about?"
Kari smiled softly. "Nothing. Just wishing that I could somehow freeze time and keep living tonight forever. It's been perfect."
TK smiled back and kissed her neck. "But then we'd never be able to see what will happen to us in the future." He kissed her neck again, lingeringly. "Where's the fun in that?"
TK continued to kiss her neck and Kari gave another little sigh of happiness. "But we don't know that everything that's going to happen to us is going to be good. Tonight might become the peak of our from-now-on- miserable lives."
TK kissed her earlobe and chuckled. "You're certainly optimistic," he said sarcastically, but then he spoke seriously. "All I know is that, as long as I'm with you, life couldn't be more perfect." Kari burst out laughing.
"Okay Takeru Takaishi, what are you buttering me up for? Are you trying to get in my pants or something?"
TK jerked upright at her question. "No!" But then he caught on to the joking nature of her tone and paused. Then he asked slyly, "But if I was, would it be working?"
Kari smirked and leaned towards him. "Maybe."
Takeru leaned towards her also. "I'll have to remember that, then."
He kissed her again for a couple minutes and then the two of them settled down to watch the rest of the movie. About 45 minutes later, TK realized that Kari had fallen asleep. She had curled up beside him and had her head in his lap. TK smiled gently and stroked her short hair. It was incredibly soft and he had always loved playing with it. And as he did, he pondered what Kari had said earlier and decided she was right. Tonight had been perfect. ~
But back in the present, TK was sitting on a couch in his own apartment. He stroked Kari's hair again now; it was much longer than before, but still as soft as ever. He was reminded of all the chances that he had left behind when he had gone to London. But then, if he hadn't gone, Yui would never have been born and he didn't know what he'd do without his daughter by his side. TK figured that it was just one of those "take the good things with the bad" situations.
And, he supposed as Kari cuddled up beside him, still asleep, and he laid his head back and closed his eyes, he could live with that.
* * * * *
1 MOVING ON
By Android Eleven
More than a month had passed since TK and his daughter had moved to Japan and the two were finally starting to adjust to life there. Yui was doing very well in school, despite her dislike for the required uniform, and had made some good friends. TK was starting to get over the pain of Saruko leaving him, helped a great deal by the support of his friends, especially that of Kari and Matt. And he had finally managed to finish the draft for his next novel and was in the process of finding a new publisher.
"Because there's not a chance in hell that I'm going back to my old one," TK explained to Kari one day, when she came over early to share a cup of coffee with him before he went down to Osaka for the day. He was going for a meeting with his next potential publisher and Osaka was the home base of the company the publisher worked for. "This time I'm going for a 44-year- old married woman with 3 kids."
Kari laughed. "Good choice."
A moment later, Yui entered the kitchen, pulling on her light slate-blue school blazer. She was straightening her collar and heading for the fridge when she was suddenly seized in a coughing fit. TK looked up at her, concerned, and patted her back. "Are you okay, Sweet-pea?"
Yui nodded, clearing her throat, still coughing occasionally. "I think I just have a little bit of a cough."
TK was still worried, in a way that only a single parent can be. "Are you going to be okay? I'm not going to be home until about 4 o'clock tonight, I'm not going to be able to pick you up from school if you get sick, you-"
But Yui was already shaking her head. Living alone with her father for more that a month and a half had taught her a couple things (like how to handle her father when he was in what she called his "worry-wart mode"). "I'll be fine, Dad. I'll bring a packet of Kleenex and some cough drops with me and I'll be just peachy. Don't worry about it. So, Kari, did you mention something about a photo-shoot this afternoon?"
"Yeah," Kari replied, recognizing Yui's attempt to change the subject. "It's a really important one, too. It's one that could make or break my career as a photographer." Kari smiled nervously. "It's really stressing me out."
Yui grabbed a glass of apple juice and coughed a few more times in between sips. "I can imagine."
Suddenly TK stood and grabbed his briefcase and laptop bag and tossed his dishes in the sink. "Well, I'm all set. You ready, kiddo?" Yui nodded and placed her glass and still-clean plate in the sink on top of her father's dishes. "Let's go then. Want a ride home, Kari?" Kari shook her head.
"Nah. I need to go shopping."
TK shrugged as Yui went to get her schoolbag, hiding another spasm of coughing. "Suit yourself. Come on, Sweet-pea!"
* * * * *
Later that day, in Osaka, TK was just leaving his meeting with his newly hired publisher. He passed by a store window where a half dozen TV sets were stacked together. They were all tuned into the same news channel where the wreckage of a train crash was displayed on the screen. "Ah, man," he muttered to himself angrily. "Don't tell me."
But the news announcer ignored his pleas. "-The accident took place 5 miles north of Osaka about a half an hour ago. As of now, no casualties have been discovered, but all trains scheduled to leave or enter through Osaka station have been delayed until further notice-"
TK cursed under his breath and caught the nearest taxi to the train station.
* * * * *
Back at Fukai Academy, Yui was not having a good day. She was starting to regret her refusal to stay at home that morning. She was coughing and she had a sore throat and her nose was completely stuffed up. She was having a hard time breathing very deeply and suspected that she had a fever. And, for the first time in her six years on Earth, Yui discovered the pain of coughing and sneezing at the same time. As already mentioned, Yui was not having a good day.
By the time lunch had ended, she was having chills and dizzy-spells along with everything else. She hadn't eaten a thing at lunch; the churning of her stomach convinced her that she wouldn't be able to hold anything down anyway.
She wanted to go home. But, like her dad said, he wouldn't be home to come pick her up. What's a girl to do when something like that happens to her?
And so, at the beginning of math class, Yui did the only thing she could do. She passed out.
* * * * *
TK was pacing exasperatedly around the Osaka train station when his cell phone rang.
"Hello, Takeru Takaishi speaking," he answered distractedly, taking a seat on one of the station's uncomfortable plastic chairs.
"Hello, Mr. Takaishi? This is Akima Haruki, at Fukai Academy."
"Oh, Miss Haruki!" he replied, startled. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"No. I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. Your daughter collapsed in class, about fifteen minutes ago. She has a high fever. We would appreciate it a great deal if you come and bring her home as soon as possible. And you might want to consider taking her to the hospital as well."
"Oh, no!" he muttered to himself. He quickly explained his situation to Miss Haruki. She was quiet for a moment before suggesting he call a friend or relative to come for her instead. He thought about that for a minute. 'Matt lives pretty close to the school,' he thought, before remembering that Matt was out of town for the week. 'Tai and Sora live too far away and Yolei and Ken have been in the hospital for the past couple days, getting ready for the baby. Maybe… Kari?'
"I think I can get someone, Miss Haruki," he answered hesitantly. "Just give me a minute to call her and then I'll call you right back to confirm."
* * * * * *
Kari was going over all of her camera equipment one last time before she left for her photo-shoot when her phone rang. She sighed exasperatedly and went to pick it up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Kari?" TK's voice, sounding slightly panicky, came over the line. "It's me. Look, I need a big favor. Are you busy right now?"
Kari looked over at all of her equipment. "A little. But what do you need me for?"
"Yui's principal just called me and told me that she collapsed in class and that she's got a fever. She wants me to come take Yui home, but there's been an accident on the tracks here in Osaka and I won't be able to get back to Tokyo for hours, sometime this evening at the earliest. Could you get her for me, please, Kari? I know that it's a lot to ask, but I don't have anyone else to call."
Kari glimpsed back at her camera as TK spoke. He sounded so desperate, but this was the opportunity of a lifetime as far as her career was concerned. What should she do?
'Knock it off, Kamiya,' she finally scolded herself firmly. 'You're being selfish. Your best friend needs you, his sick daughter needs you, and what are you thinking about? Some stupid super-model whose ass needs kissing.'
"Yeah, sure, TK," she said out loud. "I'll head right over to the school."
TK let out a breath of air he hadn't realized he was holding. "Oh, thanks SO much, Kari. This means the world to me! I don't how I survived without you for so long, you are my savior. Look, I have to call the school back and let them know you're coming. Thanks again, Kari. I owe you."
Kari smiled. "No problem, TK."
* * * * *
When Yui woke up a few hours later, she was lying in bed back at home in her apartment. She turned slightly to look at her bedside clock. 7:23 pm. Interesting. Last she could remember she had been taking her seat in math, right after lunch, when everything suddenly went black. That had been at about 1 o'clock.
She was freezing. She looked down and saw that she was covered with all of the blankets she had on her bed, plus an extra quilt and yet, she was still cold. She wondered for a moment why that was. But she didn't have the time to figure it out when someone came in her bedroom, light from the hall flooding the darkness. She squinted.
"Dad?" she asked in a hoarse voice. Then she realized that the figure was female. "Kari… is that you?"
Kari came in and shut the door behind her. "So, you're awake," she said, smiling. "I was starting to worry that you'd never wake up." She took a seat beside Yui's bed and handed the girl a glass of orange juice. "How do you feel?"
Yui took a gulp of juice and coughed. "Awful. I'm freezing and I hurt."
Kari nodded, frowning. "I'm really sorry about that, kiddo. I think you've got the flu. At least, I hope that's all you have and that it's not pneumonia or something. But, here," she said quickly, seeing the girl's scared face, "I brought you some children's Tylenol. It should make you stop hurting so much."
Yui took the pill. She had a hard time swallowing it, but after a few attempts she managed it. "Kari," she asked quietly, trying not to hurt her throat as she spoke, "where's Dad? Shouldn't he be back by now?" Kari nodded again.
"He should be. But, there was an accident down in Osaka and he's going to be pretty late. He's really sorry he couldn't be here for you right now, but he'll be here for sure when you wake up tomorrow morning."
"Oh." Yui handed her juice glass back to Kari. "Thanks."
The two girls sat in silence for a few minutes while Yui tried to fall back to sleep. When she realized she couldn't manage it by herself, she decided to read. "Kari," she spoke up, "could you get 'The Two Towers' by J.R.R. Tolkien from my bookcase for me?"
Kari retrieved the book quickly and handed it to the little girl. "The Lord of the Rings, huh? I love those books. Would you like me to read it to you?"
Yui shook her head. "No thanks." She paused for a moment and opened the book. Then she realized that the words were blurred and seemed to be moving around. She closed the book abruptly. "Well, actually…"
Kari chuckled a bit and took the book from Yui's hand. She opened it to the bookmark and started reading.
"'Stay!' Aragorn shouted. 'Do not follow me yet!' He ran quickly to the right, away from the main trail; for he had seen footprints that went that way, branching off from the others, the marks of small unshod feet. These, however, did not go far before they were crossed by orc-prints, also coming out from the main trail behind and in front…"
* * * * *
Four-and-a-half pages later, Yui had finally fallen asleep. Kari closed the book, smiling gently, and stood up quietly. She put the book back on the bookcase, accidentally knocking a picture on the floor as she did so. She bent down to pick it up and was shocked at what she saw.
It was a family picture of TK, Saruko and Yui, and Saruko's face had been violently scratched out. If it hadn't been for a jam stain on the corner of the picture Kari would never have thought that such a sweet girl like Yui would do such a thing to a picture of her own mother. She must really have hated Saruko for what she had done to her family. The picture looked as though Yui had taken a knife or a pair of scissors and had painstakingly obliterated her mother's face.
Carefully, Kari put the picture back on the shelf she had knocked it down from, deciding not to mention it to TK. She only hoped he wouldn't be the next one to find it.
Kari then emerged from Yui's room and went to the kitchen. She got a snack and carried it out to the living room, where she plopped down in front of the television. She turned it on but quickly turned it off, afraid the noise might wake Yui. And so she grabbed a magazine from the coffee table, made herself comfortable and promptly fell asleep.
* * * * *
At 10:30 that night, TK finally came through the door. He was exhausted, but he didn't even pause as he passed by his own bedroom on his way to his daughter's. He quietly walked in and kneeled by her bed. Placing his hand on her forehead, he realized that she did have a bit of a fever and pulled her blankets up around her chin. He then kissed her sweaty forehead and went out to the living room.
It was there that he discovered Kari asleep on the couch. He smiled and sat down by her head. She seemed to sense his extra weight on the couch and gave a tiny moan in her sleep.
As he studied Kari's sleeping profile, TK's thoughts traveled to a moment that had occurred about eight years before, when he and Kari had still been seriously dating. It was about a week before he had found out that he had the opportunity to go to University in London and he had been perfectly content with his life.
It was a Friday night and TK was over at Kari's place watching movies, eating popcorn and (to be honest) making out. Her parents were out of town for the weekend and Tai had moved out three years before. He and Sora were living together then and, even though they said that they only did it to save on the rent, Tai was going to propose to her two weeks later, revealing the real story.
Anyhow, TK had been at Kari's watching movies. She had just put "The Wizard of Oz" in the DVD player when TK came back in the room, carrying a fresh bowl of popcorn. The two of them cuddled together on the couch to watch the movie. By the time Dorothy's house was caught up in the tornado, Kari was occasionally throwing popcorn in TK's mouth and giggling when he'd kiss her.
When Dorothy's house landed on the wicked witch, Kari sighed happily and snuggled in under TK's arm. TK gave her a mildly inquisitive look. "What are you sighing about?"
Kari smiled softly. "Nothing. Just wishing that I could somehow freeze time and keep living tonight forever. It's been perfect."
TK smiled back and kissed her neck. "But then we'd never be able to see what will happen to us in the future." He kissed her neck again, lingeringly. "Where's the fun in that?"
TK continued to kiss her neck and Kari gave another little sigh of happiness. "But we don't know that everything that's going to happen to us is going to be good. Tonight might become the peak of our from-now-on- miserable lives."
TK kissed her earlobe and chuckled. "You're certainly optimistic," he said sarcastically, but then he spoke seriously. "All I know is that, as long as I'm with you, life couldn't be more perfect." Kari burst out laughing.
"Okay Takeru Takaishi, what are you buttering me up for? Are you trying to get in my pants or something?"
TK jerked upright at her question. "No!" But then he caught on to the joking nature of her tone and paused. Then he asked slyly, "But if I was, would it be working?"
Kari smirked and leaned towards him. "Maybe."
Takeru leaned towards her also. "I'll have to remember that, then."
He kissed her again for a couple minutes and then the two of them settled down to watch the rest of the movie. About 45 minutes later, TK realized that Kari had fallen asleep. She had curled up beside him and had her head in his lap. TK smiled gently and stroked her short hair. It was incredibly soft and he had always loved playing with it. And as he did, he pondered what Kari had said earlier and decided she was right. Tonight had been perfect. ~
But back in the present, TK was sitting on a couch in his own apartment. He stroked Kari's hair again now; it was much longer than before, but still as soft as ever. He was reminded of all the chances that he had left behind when he had gone to London. But then, if he hadn't gone, Yui would never have been born and he didn't know what he'd do without his daughter by his side. TK figured that it was just one of those "take the good things with the bad" situations.
And, he supposed as Kari cuddled up beside him, still asleep, and he laid his head back and closed his eyes, he could live with that.
* * * * *
