Before I tell you anything, I have to tell you that yesterday I accomplished a great milestone—I now have over 100,000 words archived on fanfiction.net! Isn't that so cool? But anyways, let's get back to more pressing matters.
Look! Chapter 5 is here! (The majority of this was written today—because I have had no time before to write! *sniff*) Welp, the romance is finally here, folks, and I added in some Christmasy touches 'cause it's Christmas in… 11 days! (Shoot, that means I have to finish up my Christmas shopping. GRR.) I wanted to finish this now 'cause I know I won't have time next week. So here you go… hope you like! (It was fun to write! =D)
Two more things: First, do me a favor and read my one-shot "Mongo!" for me, will you? It's really funny and dumb, but it's great… T.K. and Davis become best friends at the end, for a strange but funny reason… it's only got 2 reviews, one being from my brother, who doesn't really count, so yeah… let me know what you think of that story, okay?
And… finally… the song used in this chapter is by 98°, and it's called "This Gift." (Aww, how cute.) Okay, now read, and enjoy! I know you will! =D (And review, please! thanks! =D)
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One Light, One Hope
Chapter Five: Romance
(Yes! The title says it all!)
On the first day of eighth grade, I walked tentatively into my homeroom. It wasn't that I was shy and didn't know anyone—that was last year—but I wondered who was going to be in my homeroom, and, more importantly, if Kari was going to be there. My feelings for her had steadily increased and now I had a full-blown crush on her. I tried very, very hard to hide it, although Ken had already picked up on it and called me on it.
Speaking of Ken, his was the first face I saw when I walked into the door of my homeroom. I smiled. "Hey, Ken! What's up?"
"Hi, T.K. I'm glad we're in the same class together."
"Me, too." We sat down at a table, making sure there were two more seats, just in case our two favorite people in the eighth grade (it felt so cool to say that) ended up in our homeroom. Sure enough, a chipper Kari walked in, followed by a not-so-chipper Davis. "Hi, guys," he said glumly, taking a seat.
"You're welcome," Ken replied sarcastically.
"What? Oh. Thanks for saving us seats," Davis responded, almost in a monotone.
"What's wrong, Davis?"
Ken smiled knowingly. "He just misses Lily, that's all."
"Aww, my big boy is all grown up!" I exclaimed in an unnaturally high-pitched voice that got the attention of everyone else in the room. I sank lower in my seat and blushed. "Sorry."
"It's not going to be that bad, Davis. You'll see her again," Kari reassured him. I smiled at this. Kari was such a sweetheart… she was so caring and kind towards other people.
"Yeah, but what if she finds a boyfriend down in Kyoto without me?" Davis wailed.
"Davis, listen. If she really loves you, she wouldn't even look at another guy down there."
"But I don't know if she loves me or not!"
I sighed. "Davis, do you love her?"
"I… I don't know! This is just so confusing." Davis put his head in his hands and Kari patted him on the back. "It'll be okay, Davis. You'll know love when it comes to you."
"Thanks, Kari. I just don't know if I'll ever find it."
As he said that, I glanced over at Kari, wondering the same thing for myself. Strangely enough, her eyes caught mine, and we both looked away quickly. Ooh. If this was the seating arrangement for the rest of the year, things were going to be weird.
The first three months moved along at a steady pace—not too slow, but not too fast either. Soon, it was December, and lots of things were going on, besides our HUGE load of homework. Basketball tryouts were coming up; so were finals (YUCK) and most importantly, Christmas—and Kari's birthday. (Not the same day; Kari's birthday was six days before Christmas.) I wanted to surprise her, so I came up with a brilliant plan.
-December 19: Kari's birthday (AN: I don't know if it's really Kari's birthday, I just picked the date so it's consistent with what I said in earlier chapters (and stories) about T.K. and Kari. Okay? Oh and T.K. turned fourteen a couple of weeks before.)-
"Good morning, T.K.," Kari greeted me as she took her normal spot at our table, smiling brightly. I looked at her closely. She was wearing… earrings, I noted. And a new shirt.
"Do you like my earrings?" she asked, tucking her hair behind her ears. "My mom let me get my ears pierced."
"Really? That's great!" I knew what Kari was doing—dropping subtle hints to me that it was her birthday. But she was my best friend! Of course I remembered it was her birthday. I didn't want to mention it, though, because of my plans for later. But that would hurt her feelings…
"Hey, Kari," I asked, casually, "what are you doing tonight?"
"Um…" Kari thought for a minute. "Surprisingly, nothing."
"Well… do you want to go hang out later? Just us?"
Kari smiled. "Okay. Where and when?"
"How about… after tryouts? I'll meet you at 4:30 in front of the school, is that okay?"
"Yeah." Kari smiled again, but I noticed that her eyes weren't filled with as much light as they usually should have. "That'd be great."
-4:30-
I rushed to the front of the school, with just my athletic bag. I was so happy—I had made the team (as captain, yay) and we had had our first practice. Not a huge practice, but still a practice. I had now dressed nicely for the party… oh, no. I forgot to tell Kari about dressing up…
When I found Kari, I saw that she had changed into a nice, sleeveless turtleneck tunic-type dress and knee boots, her hair up in a high ponytail. She was also visibly cold—though she had a small sweater with her. I smiled, came up to her, and hugged her. "Hi, you."
"Hey," she said through shivers. I pulled away from her. "You cold?"
She shook her head. "No, I'm just fine."
"Kari, you can't fool me. You're obviously freezing. Here." I unzipped my warm jacket (hey, I get cold easily, leave me alone), revealing another warm garment—a forest green turtleneck sweater—and draped my jacket over Kari's shaking shoulders.
"T.K., you don't have to…" she began.
"But I want to. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." I took her hand and started walking. It seemed as if we were just walking and finding out where we would end up, but really, we were heading to Kari's house. She didn't know this, of course. We took a long and obscure way.
Finally, when we reached her house, she turned to me. "Why'd we take the long route?"
"So that I could spend more time with you," I told her, truthfully, brushing a stray snowflake out of her face. It had begun to snow lightly on our way to Kari's house, but not enough that we minded. Now, the little snowflakes nestled randomly in her hair twinkled like diamonds and just made her look even more beautiful.
"T.K…. you're so sweet," Kari breathed, barely above a whisper. She was looking directly into my eyes, and the strangest feeling came over me… I felt vulnerable, but at the same time knew that I was in the safest place ever. I wanted to kiss her so badly right then… but somehow, I knew it wasn't the time or the place. So I hugged her instead. "Happy birthday," I whispered in her ear, and her eyes widened. "I thought you forgot!" she exclaimed.
I just smiled and steered her inside.
"SUPRRISE!!!!" the loud cheer came from inside the Kamiya residence. (AN: It seems that I throw surprise parties in all my Digimon stories. Weird. Maybe it's 'cause I really want one. =D) No lights were visible in the house at all when we had stepped in, but now there were Christmas lights of every color lighting the Christmas tree and the whole house. Kari gasped. "You guys! Thank you so much!" And then we blinked as a bright flash blinded us. There was Tai, holding his sister's trusty camera and smiling at us.
"Thank T.S.," Davis replied, winking. "It was all his idea."
She turned and faced me with wide eyes, like a little girl. "Really?"
I nodded.
"Oh, T.K…. thank you so much!" She flung her arms around me and I smiled. "Happy birthday, Kar."
After she had pulled herself away from me, she went exploring around her house to see what was going on. There was a trail of presents from everyone that eventually led to her room; a huge, frosted birthday cake (courtesy of Mimi) with the image of the Crest of Light on the top of it; and lots of friends and family to help her celebrate the moment.
We ate all sorts of different stuff (mostly fried rice, teriyaki chicken and sushi—GREAT STUFF!) and partied on—Izzy and Tai had set up a karaoke machine and a PlayStation, which had DDR hooked up to it (AN: DDR [Dance Dance Revolution] ROCKS! I was playing it yesterday =D) . After hearing too many of Mimi's renditions of Britney Spears and Mandy Moore, and after the huge DDR tournament that we held (surprisingly, Joe was pretty good at it, but he was second place to Matt when it all came down to everything), it was time to blow out the candles on Kari's cake and for her to open her presents.
We all gathered around as Tai lit the candles on her double-layer cake—fourteen candles that lined the circumference of the circle, and one solitary pink candle in the middle, for her to grow on. "Make a wish!" Mimi prompted, after we all sang to her, and as I was watching her intently, I saw her look right at me before she closed her eyes and blew out her candles. We all cheered and clapped as Sora picked out the candles off of the cake and we cut it up. We also had ice cream (even though it was the middle of December) and cookies, and tiramisu, another specialty of Mimi's.
Finally, it was time for the presents to be opened. Tai and Sora had helped me with this part—we had gotten everyone's presents and lined them from the living room, underneath the Christmas tree, to Kari's room. My present wasn't with everyone else's, though. I had that with me—I was going to give that to her last.
It was fun to watch Kari's different reactions to all of her presents. As a gag gift, someone gave her a fruitcake, which she grimaced at. "Yuck." All of us laughed and Mimi exclaimed, "So that's where that fruitcake went! I was wondering what happened to it!" But mostly, she looked pretty happy with her gifts. Mimi, Yolei, Tai, Matt, Izzy, Joe, Davis, Ken, and some of our other friends followed her down the hall. I hung back, with Sora, and took out my present for Kari—a silver velvet box, containing a gold necklace with a pendant in the shape of the Crest of Light; the rays of her crest were pink and the middle was blue topaz, Kari's birthstone. I stroked it lightly, thinking of what to say to Kari when I gave it to her. Tonight was the night I was going to tell her how I felt about her, how special she was to me.
"Hey, T.K., it's really pretty, you know," Sora commented, and I snapped out of my reverie.
"Yeah… I saved up a lot for this," I told Sora.
She smiled at me. "You know, ever since that first battle when we found Kari, all of knew that you two were destined for each other."
"Really?"
Sora nodded. "Yeah. You guys are perfect for each other. Didn't Azulongmon even tell you that you two were the most special of all the Digidestined? You linked the old with the new and your crests are the two most powerful. You two just go together. I'm sure that once you guys get together—finally—that you'll stay that way forever." She patted my shoulder encouragingly. "You'd better go get in place. They're almost done with the presents."
Sure enough, soon a huge clump of people streamed out of Kari's room, and went back to the PlayStation to play some more DDR. Hurriedly, I went to my spot—the backyard—and waited. I sat down on the brick border of the Kamiya's fountain (AN: maybe they don't have a fountain, but it's my story, so they do!) and looked up at the sky, which was not cooperating with my plans—ugly, fat, dark clouds were hanging over Odaiba, but they were bringing snow with them, which was currently falling lightly—but steadily—blanketing the city in white.
Just then, I heard the door open and Kari come out. "T.K.? Sora said I could find you out here."
I smiled and said, "I'm right here, Kari."
She looked at me and then rushed over to me, as I enveloped her in a hug. "Hey," I said.
Kari pulled away from me slightly so that she could look at me, and smiled. "Hey yourself. Thank you SO much for this great party. I'm having so much fun!"
"I'm glad. Your eyes look so pretty when you're happy, Kar."
(The snow is falling, the city is white
Your eyes are shining like diamonds tonight
and we're all alone; there's no one home
You're finally in my arms again
"Really?" Kari's eyes searched my own.
I nodded. "Yeah."
We stood there in silence for a minute, letting the snow fall all over us and enjoying the relative quiet that being outside gave us. I could see the Christmas lights of all our neighbors' houses brightly shining and realized how close Christmas was. With Kari in my arms, I could feel the Christmas magic—she was all I needed. I smiled as I realized that this was the perfect moment to tell Kari what I needed to tell her.
The night is silent, and Christmas is here
I couldn't ask for more than having you near
and now I know the moment is right, the moment is right
'Cause I've been waiting to give this gift tonight
I'm down on my knees; there's no better time
It's something to last for as long as you live
Tonight I'm gonna give you all my heart can give
"Hey, T.K?" Kari's voice asked.
"Yeah?"
"Did you get me a present?" she questioned, coyly.
I slapped my head. "That's what I forgot!"
Kari's eyes widened, but when she saw my smile she knew I was joking. "T.K.! That was mean!"
"I know. I'm sorry. But you didn't think I forgot your present, did you, Kar?"
Kari sighed. "Maybe. After going through all those presents and not seeing one from you… I was kind of worried…"
"Never underestimate the power of T.K.," I warned her. She cracked a smile and I gently swept away a stray snowflake that landed on her face.
"So…" Kari voiced a question hanging in the air. "What did you want me to meet you out here for?"
I smiled elusively. "One… to give you your present. Close your eyes." Kari obeyed and I opened the box gently and put the necklace around her, and closed the clasp.
"Now open them."
I thought I'd give you something shiny and new
I tried to find something worth of you
But I realized, when I looked inside,
there's some things that money can't buy
Kari opened her eyes and looked down to see her necklace, and gasped. "Oh, T.K…. it's so beautiful! Thank you so much!" She threw her arms around me and then leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek. "Really, T.K…. I love it." She looked down at it again, trying to examine it. After a few seconds of watching her, I took my finger and placed it underneath her chin, gently guiding her gaze back to mine. Her eyes searched mine again and she said, "What is it?"
"I…" Suddenly I couldn't resist anymore… it felt like there was some sort of magnet drawing me closer to Kari, and I leaned in to close the space between us, my eyes closing, my head beginning to tilt sideways, and then I felt my lips touch hers.
I feel the magic whenever you're near
I feel it even more this time of the year
and now I know the moment is right, the moment is right
To this day, I haven't forgotten Kari's and my first kiss… there was an innocence about it, but also so many different and new feelings. It was a short one, just a bit more than a peck on the lips, but as I pulled away from her, something in Kari's eyes was different. "T.K…. what was that for?"
I sighed. "I guess it was supposed to tell you how I feel about you, but didn't work." I took her hands into my own and began my speech. "Kari… we've been friends for a long time—best friends—and I've had so many good times with you. But in this last year, I began to see you in somewhat of a different light, and so many of your positive qualities shone out at me… not just the fact that you're absolutely gorgeous, but that you have such a beautiful heart. I love that about you. I just wanted to know if you'd give a regular guy like me a chance to be with you… because I don't know what it's like—and don't want to know what it's like—to be without you." I hesitated for just a second, and looked at Kari, who had a strange mixture of expressions on her face that I couldn't tell what she was thinking. "So I guess what I'm trying to say is… will you be my girl, Kari?"
Kari said nothing, but the next thing I knew I felt her lips on my own again. I returned her kiss gratefully, my arms tightening around her waist as I felt her hands on my shoulders. She pulled away and looked at me, and I rested my forehead against hers. "Well?"
Kari smiled up at me. "T.K., I've waited so long to hear that from you. You don't know how much I admire you and your optimism, not to mention your amazing eyes and killer smile." She put her hands on my face. "I'm glad you feel the same way about me that I do about you. I had no idea. And yes… I would love to be your girl. It's way better than being Davis's girl."
We both laughed at that as I pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank you, Kari."
She looked at me. "No, Takeru," she said softly. "Thank you. Thank you for making this the best birthday ever."
"Anything for you, Kar. Now… how about a game of DDR? You and me, best of three?"
"You're on." We rushed back to the door, but before I let Kari step into the house, I pulled her back. "Hold on." I pointed upwards and Kari followed my lead, and smiled when she saw the mistletoe. "Merry Christmas, T.K.," she said, before melting into my embrace once again.
Later, we were all lounging around in the living room and just hanging out, talking and (in Tai's and Matt's cases) eating. I returned from the kitchen with two glasses and handed one to Kari, and set mine down on the table in front of me. "Hey, you," I whispered to my girlfriend, as I put my arm around her. My girlfriend. It felt so… good to say that, to know that Kari was there for me like that. I felt her snuggle in closer to my arm and I smiled. "Hi," she said back to me, tilting her head up to look at me.
I could feel suspicious and wondering gazes upon us (Tai's and Matt's, undoubtedly) and so I looked around casually. Tai and Matt were eyeing me suspiciously, as I predicted. Yolei had just realized what was going on and her eyes widened as I caught her gaze. I nodded inconspicuously to the silent question being posed and Yolei's eyes widened even more, and she tried to suppress a squeal, but was unsuccessful. Everyone looked at her and she covered, "Uh… Kari, where did you get that necklace?"
"T.K. gave it to me," she said nonchalantly, although with a touch of pride, and smiled up at me.
"So," Mimi said coming into the room, but then stopped her train of thought when she saw Kari and me. "Oh, my God! Are you guys finally together?"
"That's what I want to know," our brothers said, in unison. Then they looked at each other all weird, and then shrugged.
"Um… yes?" Kari answered.
"Well, it's about time!" Davis commented, not looking back from his Spyro game.
"Didn't I tell you?" Sora quipped. "I knew they were going to get together eventually."
"Well we all knew that," Mimi said, as if she was stating the most obvious thing in the world.
"You did?" Kari wondered, turning a shade of pink.
"Yeah," a new voice said. We all looked to see Cody there. "It was pretty obvious—to me, anyway—that there was something deeper than friendship there and eventually, T.K. and Kari would admit it to each other."
"Now if only Tai and Sora would, everything would be great," I muttered. Kari giggled. I didn't exactly like being talked about like I wasn't in the room, so I tried to keep my mind off of the events at hand.
"So, does this mean you two are going to the dance together?" Yolei asked eagerly. My eyes widened and I slapped my forehead again. "That's what I forgot!" And then I looked at Kari. "And no, I'm not joking this time." I exhaled.
"What? What is it?" Kari asked, touching my arm gently.
"I was going to ask you to the dance, but I totally forgot!" I looked away, shaking my head. "I can't believe I did that."
"Hey, T.K., don't worry about it. Hey." After futile attempts to try and get me to look at her through her words, she reached over and steered my head towards hers. "The way things happened was just perfect, okay? It doesn't matter that you didn't ask me to the dance, because I know you would have anyway. Don't worry about trying to be perfect for me. I don't mind imperfection."
"But I wanted everything to be perfect for you, Kar," I told her, totally forgetting about everyone else in the room. "You deserve that."
Kari waved a hand. "It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you're with me now. And I'll save you the trouble of having to ask me… I'd go with you to the dance in a heartbeat."
"Kari… you're the best." I leaned over and kissed her forehead and as she rested her head on my shoulder, I rested my head on her head.
"Awww…" A chorus of girls was heard and then I realized where we were. I blushed as Mimi called out, "Come on guys, let's give these two some alone time." Everyone left, with the exception of Davis, who was still playing Spyro, and Tai, who came over and sat on the couch perpendicular to the loveseat.
"So, you guys are together now, huh?" he asked.
"Yeah," Kari said, smiling brightly.
Tai nodded. "T.K., I only have two things to say to you. One: If you ever, ever hurt my sister, you'll be answering to me."
I swallowed. "Yes, sir."
"And two: congratulations. As much as I hated to admit it, I knew everyone else was right when they knew you'd be together." Tai smiled and extended his hand. I took it, shaking it, and smiled back. "Thanks, Tai. That means a lot."
Tai nodded in acknowledgement and left to get more food. I turned to Kari and took her hand, interlacing my fingers with hers. "Kari?"
"Yes?"
"I just wanted to let you know that no matter what, I'll be there for you, okay? I didn't just ask you out to have this be some random, meaningless fling. I promise that I'll be here whenever you need me."
"I know," Kari whispered. "I'm so lucky to have you, T.K."
"I'm the lucky one." I kissed her gently and then hugged my angel on earth.
You know I'll always be true to you
and you know I'm the one you can turn to
Anytime, anyplace, or anywhere
You know that I'll always be there, oh baby
I've been waiting to give this gift tonight
I'm down on my knees, there's no better time
It's something to last for as long as you live
Tonight I'm gonna give you all my heart can give…)
So what did you guys think? Yay for Takari romance! And there's more in the next chapter! Yay! LOL… you guys know what to do. Give me an early Christmas present! (And if I don't update before the 25th, Merry Christmas!)