~ Day Four ~
"Alright, Hikari-chan, what is wrong with you?" asked Maia, using her
pet name for Kari, "You mope around the apartment, you lie on your bed
and stare at nothing, and you don't even want to go shopping for new school
clothes. You are going to college in the fall."
Kari shrugged. "Later."
"No, not later. What's wrong?"
"Nothing." The phone rang and Kari picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hello, Kari? It's Yolei. Do you want to come over later and watch
a movie with us? We're going to rent something, and it'll be kinda like
a party."
Kari smiled slightly. "Not today, Yolei. Why don't you watch it with
Ken?"
"Come on, Kari! It'll be one of the last things before classes start.
We might as well enjoy ourselves all together."
Kari moaned and complained, but finally gave in. "Tonight, then."
"Great! We'll see you!" The phone clicked and the dial tone resounded
in Kari's ear. If she was going to hang out and enjoy herself with friends
later, why did she feel that she had just sealed her fate?
~~~~~
"I'm going out later!" Kari called to Maia.
"Uh huh."
Kari looked into the kitchen. "Where's Tai? Wasn't he coming over today?"
Maia finished her drink and raised an eyebrow at Kari. "Yes, he was
coming but he… has made other plans."
"Other plans…Oh, I see… Sora, huh?"
"Yep. Finally struck gold."
Kari smiled widely. "So when's the wedding?"
Maia laughed. "Don't rush things! Give them a few months at least!"
~~~~~
The phone rang. T.K. hesitated before picking it up. He didn't want
another telemarketer yapping in his ear about how good their product was…
but then again, he could always just hang up. He picked it up. "Hello?
Oh, Yolei! …Sure, that sounds good…" He glanced over at his cousin, half
curled on the couch, watching some show. "Hey, could Susan come? …Great!
That's really nice of you, Yolei. …Okay, bye." The phone clicked as he
hung up.
"Hey, Susan, you want to go hang with some of my friends tonight?
She looked up. "Sure, why not? They're nice, right?"
~~~~~
Gennai let out his breath in a long hiss. "The storm is rising."
The other raised an eyebrow, unseen within the deep shadows of its
hood. "That depends."
"Obviously. When have destinies ever really been fixed?"
~~~~~
Kari grabbed onto one of the poles as the bullet train gave a lurching start. She had still not been able to shake that sense of foreboding that continued to nudge at her. "I'm going to be late!" she whispered to herself. Why had she waited so late to catch the train? "Come on, come on…" she muttered, "Hurry up…" The train hummed down the tunnel into the darkness.
~~~~~
Davis was lounged across an easy chair, lazily tossing popcorn into
his mouth. "So, when're they coming?" he mumbled around a mouthful of popcorn.
Yolei glared at him. "They'll be here soon. I don't see you helping."
She pulled the cushions straight on the couch.
"Sorry."
She sighed disgustedly. "It's all right. I'm done anyway."
Cody and Ken came in the back door. "Hey, Yolei," called Cody, a pile
of DVDs and videos in his arms, "are these movies okay?"
She went over to look, just as the doorbell rang. "Davis, could you
get that?" she yelled back at him.
"…Sure…" The boy jumped upright and strode over to the door. Yanking
it open, cursing the stiff hinges silently, he grinned at T.K. "Hey."
"Hope you guys don't mind that I brought my cousin."
"Bring her in, T.K.!" Yolei said, coming to the front door. "She's
welcome too."
Susan smiled shyly from behind T.K. "Thanks very much."
Yolei beamed, every inch the gracious hostess. "No problem. Come in!"
~~~~~
Kari sighed. The train had eventually got to the station, despite stalling
once on the way. Why did she seem to be having so much bad luck today?
"Yolei?" she called, knocking on the door.
The door opened, and Yolei peeked out. "Oh, hi, Kari!"
"Sorry I'm late. I missed the first train and the second one stalled.
Is everyone else– "
She stopped, staring past Yolei into the room. The group was having
a popcorn fight, pretty much Ken and Davis versus everyone else, but that
wasn't what had made Kari freeze in her tracks. She was staring at Susan
and T.K. With one arm, Susan was blocking the popcorn from Davis and Ken
who were using the easy chair as their defences. With the other arm, the
blonde girl was hugging T.K's arm tightly. He shook himself loose, which
made Kari relax slightly, but draped an arm around the blonde's shoulders
as she put a hand on his shoulder.
Kari stiffened. Storming over into the middle of the room, the popcorn
stopped flying. She halted in front of T.K. He suddenly realised why she
looked so furious. "Kari–" he began, removing his arm from around Susan's
shoulders.
"Save it." She glared at him, and slapped him across the face. "Player."
Turning on her heel, she ran out the door, leaving a very stunned group
behind.
~~~~~
Maia: Thanks for reading! Happy Holidays everyone!