And so here we are, chapter 10… didn't think I would make it this far…but it's been fun. Thx for all of the reviews!!! Sorry bout the last chapter…I tried to make it exciting or full of suspense or whatever…I dunno if I succeeded… Anywayz... on with the fic, and a note to all of you who are waiting for Kari…She's coming! So don't you sweat, and I'm going to switch from putting the last name first, to putting it after the first name. Putting last names first don't work well in English.

Disclaimer: Obviously not…

Mask of Deception

Chapter 10: Confrontations

"…and who would this boss of yours be?" TK asked the man.

"I already gave you the clue's boy, you just have to piece them together." The man said evilly.

TK slowly walked up to the man. "Tell me…"

"I already told you the snake wi—"

*Thump

The man had fallen to the ground after TK had hit him across the head with his gun.

"Why did you do that for!?" Tai asked.

" He was annoying me, and I knew that he wouldn't talk."

"And how do you know that?"

"It's the way they work…"

"They?"

"Never mind about that, I'm hungry, lets go get something to eat!"

"Yeah sure…"

After they apprehended the suspects and assured the rest of the hostage's safety, TK and Tai went to get a bite to eat.

"Okay, tell me what's up now." Tai demanded.

"What is up?" TK said, acting completely clueless.

"Why did you freeze up at the club, and who are "They"?" He questioned.

TK hesitated, and looked down at his drink in efforts to avoid Tai's stare. " I guess I can't avoid this any longer eh? You know, that band that was playing at the club tonight?"

"Yeah, the teenage something's."

"Yeah, the teenage wolves…The lead singer."

"That Blondie?"

"Yeah…Well, it turns out that…"

"That what?"

TK hesitated again.

"It turns out that the guy on the stage…was my brother…"

"Your what!?"

"My brother…Yamato Ishida…"

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, I didn't know…I shouldn't have taken you with me then."

"No it's fine, really, It's just that I was a little shocked to see him. That's all. Don't you find it ironic though? You came here to search for your sister and Mom, and I find my brother instead…"

"What are you gonna do then?"

"To tell you the truth…I have no clue. I guess I should confront him. I don't know what else to do."

"I think you should do that too. I guess I won't ask you more questions then. For today, that is."

"Thanks Tai. Now all we have to worry about, is what we're going to tell the others on Monday."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sojuku High

Monday 11:01 AM

As Tai got ready to leave the classroom, a voice called out from behind him.

"Tai"

"Huh?" He said, turning around to reveal a worried looking Sora.

"What happened on Friday, why did you guys just rush out like that? We were all so worried."

"Thanks for worrying but everything is okay now."

"Really? What happened?"

"…My dog, he was at the vet's and…he died," Tai lied.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry to hear that. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine… but I don't know about TK. He was really fond of that dog."
"Poor guy."

"Yeah. Why don't we go to the Cafeteria now?"

"Sure!"

Elsewhere in the halls…

TK walked behind the group of his new friends who were laughing and talking. He had told them the same excuse of Tai's dog dying. They actually bought it as being "Urgent" and even showed a little bit of sympathy. With their worries about TK out of the way, his friends continued to talk and goof around like they usually did, completely ignoring the fact that he was there. He was actually grateful for their ignorance, because it gave him some time to think. Think about things that needed thinking, and some details that didn't.

The whispering and snickering of the girls in the hall was what brought TK back to reality. He was curious to see who or what was causing all of the commotion, so he looked down the hall, behind him. He stopped walking, to stunned to move. His friends were still walking to the cafeteria. They didn't notice that he had stopped. Down the hall, heading his way, was none other than his brother…"Matt…"

Yes, it was Matt, TK's older sibling and brother. He was walking down the hall, surrounded by a huge group of people. He walked right by TK, without even noticing who he was. Before Matt was out of sight, TK summoned up all the courage that he could find, and called out to him.

"Matt!"

The Young 'Idol' turned around to see who was calling him. TK then stepped forward.

"It's been a long time…" TK said.

"What? I'm sorry do I know you?"


These words hit TK hard, as if he had just taken a bullet in the chest.

"Are you a fan? Look I'm sorry, I meet a lot of people, it's hard for me to remember them all. Maybe you could help me out a bit, where and when did we last meet?"

"You really don't remember." TK said, making it sound more like a statement than a question.

"I'm sorry…"

"Open your eye's Matt!" TK said furiously.

"Hey, now you look here, do you even know who I am!"

"The question is, do you know who I am!" TK countered.

"I already told you kid, I meet a lot of people, it's really hard to remember them all!"

"Even your own bother!!?"

"What…?"

"It's me Matt. TK! You know, Takeru, your brother!!"

"TK..? TK, TK….hmm….. Oh yeah, I remember now."

TK was boiling with anger.

"How, have you been?" Matt questioned. "How's mom?" He asked.

"She's fine, as for me, I'm not too sure." He said coldly

The thing that really made TK mad, was not only that his own brother didn't remember him, but how casual he was acting. He was acting as if they see each other on a regular basis. It had been Ten years for heaven's sake. Didn't he even miss him a little?

"Whoa, chill out little bro…being angry is bad for your health." All of the guy's surrounding Matt started to laugh. Seeing that he had nothing else to say, Matt turned and left with his friends, not even trying to start a conversation with TK. TK started in the other direction, away from the cafeteria.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"…oh there he is! Matt, over here!" Sora waved to the blond.

"Hey beautiful" The blond smiled and said, pulling Sora into a hug, and kissing her on the forehead. The people at the table started to cheer and whistle. This caused Sora to blush.

When she finally remembered how to speak, she introduced Matt to Tai. "Matt, This is Taichi Yagami. And Tai, this is my boyfriend, Yamato Ishida."

"Pleased to finally meet you Tai, Sora has told me a lot about you. By the way, you can call me Matt." He said holding out a hand. Tai took it and shook it. [lol it rhymes] "The pleasure's all mine." Tai said.

As Tai observed everyone's behavior around Matt, they all had seemed to change in one why or another, and from what Tai could see, Matt was a pretty cocky guy. Thinking that he was the greatest, and that he was the coolest. He even showed Sora off as if she was some prize. His character was really bugging Tai. 'I wonder where TK is.' Tai thought to himself. 'Probably trying to avoid Matt.'

"Hey Tai, why so quiet?" Matt asked, suddenly breaking from his conversation

"Huh?" Tai said while shaking himself out of his thoughts. "It's nothing hehe just thinking about things I have to do today."

"Oh, well, you want to hang with us after school?"

"Sorry but I have soccer practice."

"What? No way, skip it. Who wants to go to soccer practice when you can hang out with us?"

"Sorry but I'm not skipping."

"That's a shame man."

The rest of school went by quickly. Tai didn't want to admit it but…He was actually looking forward to soccer practice. He had a strange feeling that something good would happen today, but he didn't know what.

Sokuju High soccer field

Monday 5:00 PM

Tweet!

"Alright boy's. Bring it in." The coach waited for all of the tired and dirty soccer players to huddle up around him. "That was a good practice. Just remember to work on your passes and shots. See you on Wednesday!"

Tai was tired from the long practice. He tried squirting some water into his mouth from his water bottle, but realized that it was empty. He groaned, then made his way to the school, where he could get a drink from the water fountain.

As he stood there, waiting for his bottle to be filled with water, he heard a loud 'crash!' come from around the corner of the school. He decided it best to see what was going on, remembering that the school was a suspicious place.

As he turned the corner, he saw a whole pile of boxes that seemed to bury someone underneath. He heard a groan of pain come from under the boxes and decided that he would help the person who had fallen.

"Are you alright?" He asked concern, even though he knew that the answer was pretty obvious.

Another groan of pain could be heard, then the person said "Not really." It was a girls voice. She sounded younger than Tai, and for some odd reason, he felt that he had heard that voice somewhere before.

Tai slowly began to pick up the boxes and piled them up. He saw a few boxes that must have tumbled from the fall, and went to pick them up, exposing only his back to the fallen girl.

The girl got up, brushing the dirt off of her, then picking up the boxes.

"You want any help with these?" Tai asked, while he was still gathering up the stray boxes.

"If it's not too much trouble." She said, apologetically.

Tai turned around and gave the girl a gentle smile, but the instant he turned around, she dropped the boxes in her hand, and her jaw hung agape. She brought her hand to her mouth, and sank to her knees, slightly shaking. "Tai…"

By this time, Tai had realized who stood in front of him. It was her, his baby sister.

"Kari…" He managed to choke out. "Is that really you?"

Through teary eyes, the girl, Kari, managed to nod her head. Tai dropped the boxes in his own hands, and approached his sister, slowly and cautiously, as if he were approaching a wild animal, afraid that he might scare it away.

He was now standing in front of his sister. Tear's threatened to come to him, but being a boy, he thought that it would be wrong to cry, especially being the older brother. He couldn't stand it anymore. He lifted his sister from her sitting position, and pulled her into a tight hug. "I finally found you." He said happily. Kari was now crying helplessly into her brother's jersey.

This reminded Tai of an incident that had occurred many years ago…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Flash Back*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was late in the evening, and everyone was heading home for the day. The sun had already set, and the park was deserted, accept for two small figures, standing on the soccer field.

Tai had just had a game earlier before but to his disappointment, his team had lost. His little sister Kari, who was watching in the stands, was also very disappointed that he had lost his game.

"I'm so sorry Taichi. I didn't mean to make you late. It's all my fault that you guys lost."

"No it's not Kari, it's not your fault. Don't worry about it, we'll win next time."

"But it is my fault!" The little girl retorted, then she broke into tears and started crying.

Tai didn't know what to do when his sister cried. He remembered once on a TV show that his mom watched (a soap), a woman was crying and her boyfriend had pulled her into a hug, and she calmed down after he said a few comforting words to her. Tai figured that if it worked for the guy on TV, it would work for him too. So he pulled his little sister into a hug and assured her that it wasn't her fault. After Kari had stopped her crying, Tai decided that he would treat his sister out to some ice cream, so he reached into his pocket for some loose change. He realized that he only had enough for one cone, but he didn't care, as long as his sister was happy.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*End of Flash Back*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Kari…"

Tai decided to break the tension.

"You busy?" He asked her.

"Huh?" She said dumbly.

"I'll treat you out to some ice cream!!" He said, smiling to her. She responded by smiling back.

Ice cream Parlor

Monday 5:45 PM

"I can't believe that you're back." Kari said in disbelief. "I thought that I would never see you again, or at least for a long time."

"Well, I'm back." He said, grinning. He was so happy, he couldn't believe it himself. He found her. He actually found her. "So how's Mom? He asked, eager to hear about his mother.

"She's great. She'll be so happy when she finds out you're here. What about Dad? How is he?"

"Well, the last time I saw him, he was okay, he's still sulking about loosing mom though."

Kari chuckled a little. "Wait, what do you mean the last time?"

"Oh, didn't I mention that I moved here by myself?"

"What!? Really? How did you get enough money to stay by yourself?"

"Back in Hokkaido, I used to work for an old rich man, and I was paid well." Tai felt a little bit guilty that he had to lie to his sister though.

This had been the story that both he and TK had used to avoid suspicion from other people.

"Do you have time?"

"Me?"

"Yes you" she laughed.

"I guess, why?"

"Come over for dinner. I'm sure Mom will be fine with it, especially considering that she gets to see her son for the first time in ten years."

"You really think that it would be okay?"

"Of coarse." Kari chirped, and she dragged Tai out onto the street, and led him in the direction of her home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So? The chapter might have been a little weak, not to mention short, because I kind of rushed it, and guess what!? Kari's back!!! Well, I guess it's pretty obvious though :P