an: I am ALIVE! Rejoice and be glad, everyone! =D I'm sorry it took me so freaking long to update, but you know, life gets in the way… school (ugh)… extra-curriculars… my wonderful boyfriend (yay!)… but I finally got over my writer's block, thanks to the surprise party I threw with a whole bunch of my boyfriend's other friends… you'll see some of that here. And, I was originally going to make this chapter longer, but I decided where I ended it was a good stopping place (it's already six pages long!) and if I do decide to add on to this chapter, I'll add it on when I'm done writing. I figured you guys have been waiting long enough. For now, enjoy. Let me know what you think.
A few notes…
-T.K., Kari, Davis, and Ken are now sophomores in high school. (A two-year lapse since the last chapter. Haha, that's almost what it feels like since the last time I updated, doesn't it?) There is a tiny, tiny bit of Davis bashing, but not much. I actually paint him in a good light! Be proud!
-I actually did the research for the ring just for this chapter. Again, be proud. So I hope my info is correct, but if it's not, let me know.
-K9: Sorry, no Digimon in this story. I think I stated somewhere in the beginning chapters of the prequel ("Together Again") that I wasn't going to include Digimon unless I absolutely had to (like chapter 1 of this story) so there are no Digimon to be found, much less Digi-couples. However, there are a few stories I've read with Digi-couplings… like "Till the End of All", "The Grass is Greener," and some others that I can't think of right now. Sorry if you don't like this Digi-coupleless story because of that fact, but I don't intend to write it in anytime soon. If you don't want to read this anymore, then don't. No one's stopping you.
And to my loyal and true readers… here you are. Sorry it took so long. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I've written it too many times. You know they're not mine. (Fiona and Sabrina are, but that doesn't mean much.)
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One Light, One Hope
Chapter Seven: Promises
"Okay, class, here are your assignments for your cultural projects," our teacher announced, and all of us groaned.
I was sitting in my tenth grade world history class, and our teacher had told us a few weeks ago about the upcoming cultural project she was assigning, worth major points, and we would do our presentations on our final days. We had a month to work on it, and we had a whole bunch of criteria that had to be covered by this project. While I was half pondering what I would get, and half pondering what Kari was doing in her literature class, Ms. Takenaga began calling out each person's country. There were a few groans, a "YES!" from this girl Aieko, who got America—all of us were jealous; that was the one country we all wanted to do—and some other, more neutral reactions, until Ms. Takenaga finally called out my name.
"Takeru Takashi. Ireland."
I nodded to myself as I wrote down my assignment. Ireland. It wasn't too far away from France, where my grandparents lived, but it was kind of far removed. There were a lot of different Irish things that I'd heard about, so it was going to be an interesting assignment.
-lunchtime-
"Hey, guys," I greeted everyone as I approached the table, putting my arms around Kari's shoulders. It had been almost two years now since Kari and I had been going out, and we had our share of problems, but hey, we were still together. Every day I felt so blessed to have this angel in my world… it never ceased to amaze me how lucky I was, and the feeling I got whenever I saw her or hugged her… even now.
"Hey," Kari replied softly, giving half of her attention to the book and worksheets in front of her. "Lit homework again?" I asked.
Kari groaned. "Our teacher's evil. I swear."
"I'm sorry." I kissed the crown of her hair lightly and then sat down next to her. We were just hanging out at the table, talking about what had been going on that day, when all of a sudden, a voice asked,
"Is it okay if I sit here?"
We all turned and looked at the owner of the voice; she was a tall, skinny, redhead with long, bright, curly red hair and jade green eyes. That wasn't the only different thing about her… her accent was different, and I was trying to figure out where I had heard it before.
"Sure," Yolei answered, scooting over so that the girl could have a seat. She smiled gratefully and sat down next to her.
"I haven't seen you around the school before," Davis noticed. We all looked at him in shock. "What?" he demanded, when all of our eyes were on him.
"You… actually… noticed… something!" Yolei gasped.
"Well… yeah." Davis shrugged. "It's something you kind of have to do when you want to pass your classes," he said nonchalantly.
Ken looked over at him with a touch of admiration in his voice. "I may regret saying this later, but Davis, you've really matured."
"Ahh, well…" Davis waved his hand, as if the matter were unimportant. "We've all got to grow up sometime."
The table took on a new, thoughtful silence and then Kari spoke. "So, as Davis kindly pointed out… are you new here?" she asked, her question directed to the redhead.
The girl nodded. "Yeah. My name's Fiona O'Connelly. I'm an exchange student from Ireland."
My eyes widened. "Yes!" I yelled, standing up, but then realized the looks everyone was giving me, and sat back down again. "T.K., are you okay?" Kari asked.
"Yeah… I'm sorry, Fiona… it's just that I have this huge cultural project that I have due in about three weeks and I have to do my report on Ireland and the Irish culture."
Fiona gave me a warm smile. "Don't worry about it. I'll help you out if you need me to. That's why I came here, to Japan—I wanted to know more about your culture. That, and my mom's here. She's a UN ambassador."
"Wow," Sabrina Rioko, a member of our "group" that we acquired last year, "that is so awesome." She had always dreamed of becoming a diplomat—she was the peacemaker in our group.
Fiona nodded. "So… what are your guyses' names and what grades are you in?"
"Well, I'm Yolei Inoue, and I'm a junior. This table is pretty much overtaken with sophomores, though," Yolei informed Fiona.
"I'm Ken Ichijouji," Ken introduced himself.
Davis followed suit. "I'm Davis Motomiya, It's a pleasure to meet you, Fiona."
Fiona flushed a bit, then smiled and replied, "You, too, Davis."
I leaned over and whispered in Kari's ear as the introductions followed around the table, "I think he only noticed the fact that Fiona was new because he hadn't noticed her before… if you know what I mean." Kari looked at me and smiled faintly, but her eyes sparkled. Finally, it was my turn to introduce myself.
"I'm Takeru Takaishi, but everyone calls me T.K.," I told her.
"And I'm Hikari Kamiya, also known as Kari," Kari finished. Fiona nodded and said, "Wow, that's a lot of people to remember." Then she looked at me. "T.K…. right?"
"Yeah."
"What do you need to know about Ireland?"
I sighed. "A whole lot."
Over the next few weeks, we not only got to know Fiona better as a person (she and Sabrina shared a love of Lord of the Rings—with her coming from Ireland and everything, Fiona of course loved it and knew much more about it than any Japanese person could ever know; she and I shared a love of writing, which was really cool; she was also somewhat of a computer whiz, like Yolei; and she and Davis, we suspected, shared some sort of attraction), but we got to know her culture better. Or, at least I did.
"Okay, so the majority of Ireland is still Catholic, right?" I confirmed, running down my list of criteria. We already had the basics—famous Irish people, colors associated with them, location, and some ancient background. However, there was a lot more to it than that.
Fiona nodded. "Yup. Most of us are Catholic." To add depth to her statement, she made the Sign of the Cross dramatically. I laughed. "You ever going to try out for theater?"
She shrugged. "Maybe. I love acting, but you never know, there are other things that may take preference over that. Like academics."
I rolled my eyes. "Oh, are you one of those super smart people who take all those accelerated courses?"
"Is that what you call them here? We call them honors classes back where I'm from."
"Yeah, we all know—they're the classes for the really smart people." I smiled at her, to show her that I was just kidding. "Yolei and Izzy are in them. Kari's in a few, too. I could have taken them but I really didn't want to."
"Izzy?" Fiona inquired, a puzzled look on her face.
I nodded. "Yeah. He's a senior. One of our good friends though."
"I see."
I looked down at the list of stuff I had yet to do, and crossed Religion off of it. "Hmm… oh, what are some of your traditions?"
Fiona's eyes sparkled. "The Irish have a lot of traditions," she said.
"Give me one of them that I can present in the oral part of the presentation."
I saw Fiona glance down at her hand, and I noticed a silver glint on it. Then she looked up and told me one of the wonderful traditions the Irish had.
"This," she began, "is a claddagh ring." She pointed to the silver ring with a heart in the middle of two hands and topped with a crown. "It's usually given to someone by someone else, and is a symbol of love. The way you wear it depends on your 'status' when you get it."
"Status?" I wondered aloud, a bit confused.
"Yeah." Fiona smiled. "This ring was given to me by my grandmother—it's sort of a family heirloom—and I wear it with the crown facing towards me, you see?" She showed me, and sure enough, it looked like she was wearing the ring upside down. "This means I don't have a love, like a romance. I forget how the poem states it exactly, but that's how you wear it if you're not involved. Now, if I was involved, I would wear it the other way—right side up. And if I was married… I think… then I would wear the ring on my left hand. There's a poem that goes with it, but I don't remember exactly how it goes. I'm sure I have it at home, though. I'll try to find it for you as soon as possible."
I nodded to myself as I wrote all the information down. "Thanks, Fiona. You're a lifesaver."
"It's nothing. If you really want to thank me, you'd tell me what that strange substance is that you're eating," she retorted, recoiling as I popped another bit of sushi in my mouth.
"You mean you've never heard of sushi before?" I asked her, in between bites.
Fiona shook her head. "You do remember that I'm from Ireland, not America."
I raised an eyebrow. "Girl, you have a LOT that you need to learn."
Weeks passed, and I worked feverishly on my cultural project. Fiona had given me so much information that I had to sort a lot of it out into where it belonged. The one thing that stood out at me was that ring. Every time I wrote about it, I thought about Kari, and how I wanted so badly to get her one. Finally, the day before I was to turn in my project, I finished putting the written part together and called up Fiona—she actually lived in the same apartment building as I did, as I later found out.
"What is it?" she asked, breathless, the moment I let her in the door.
I held up my finished project. "This."
"Ooh! Let me see!" she squealed, as she sat on my sofa and started flipping through the pages. Then she looked up at me. "It looks pretty good so far."
"Hey, Fiona? Can I ask you something?" I asked her. (AN: Don't worry guys, nothing's going to happen. This is a TAKARI, remember? =D)
"Yeah?"
"Where can you get a claddagh ring? I kinda… well…" I fidgeted nervously. "I want to give one to Kari."
Fiona's eyes sparkled and she smiled. "Aww… well, my family always has some, we always give them to people when they turn a certain age. I'll see if I can find one for you, okay?"
"Okay. Thanks."
The next day, I walked into my world history class after taking a killer math final, and sat down, resting my head on the desk to rest my brain for a bit. After a few minutes I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up and found Fiona. (She had transferred into our class after a scheduling mix-up, and was given Japan as her cultural project.) "T.K.! I have something you could use." She put a piece of paper on my desk, on which was attached a small bag.
I looked at it more closely. The paper, which looked old and worn, had a few words on it, and inside the bag was a silver claddagh ring. I smiled at Fiona. "Thanks a bunch. Kari's birthday's coming up soon and… this would make the perfect present."
"No problem. Now you get up there and knock 'em dead." I nodded and took the piece of paper she had given to me, as well as all my other materials, and began my presentation.
"And finally… one of the wonderful Irish traditions is the claddagh ring, a symbol of love, friendship, and loyalty. There are certain ways you can wear it: Wear the ring on your right hand, the crown turned inwards and the ring will symbolize love, loyalty, friendship. Wear the ring on your right hand, the crown turned outwards and the heart towards your heart if your heart is taken. Wear the ring on your left hand, the crown turned outwards and the heart towards your heart if you're committed to each other."
I finished up my project and bowed modestly, as I gave the written part of the presentation to our teacher. As I watched the rest of the class give their presentations, my mind wandered. It was our last day of finals, so we were probably going to go do something later, and Kari's birthday was coming up… it was her sweet sixteen… and I wanted to do something special for her. It was, after all, our two-year anniversary.
After practice that day, I trudged home… I was tired… finals had taken a lot out of my brain… I just wanted to relax and maybe sleep. As I neared my house I reached into my pocket and found the ring Fiona had given me earlier. I was rushed then, but now I saw how pretty the ring really was. It was silver, with a tiny bluish stone in the center of the heart—perfect for Kari, because our birthstone was blue topaz. I smiled and put it back in my pocket. As I walked into my apartment, my mom was waiting for me. "Mom?" I asked, in surprise. "What are you doing here so early?"
She just smiled mysteriously at me. "Don't worry about it. Just go change into something nice. We're going to go visit Matt."
My eyes widened and I smiled. "Okay!" Then my eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"Is there a rule that I can't go visit my son?" my mom retorted. "I haven't seen Matt in ages. I don't want to miss out on his growing up."
I nodded to myself as I went into my room to change. For some reason, I wanted to keep the ring with me, so I put it into my pants pocket. I had the strangest feeling something was about to happen, something that would drastically alter my life, but I didn't know what.
I kept wondering as my mom drove us way to the other side of town, to my dad's condo. I still didn't know why she was putting herself through this—my parents had had a bitter divorce when I was six and ten years later, they still acted only rigidly civil to each other.
Finally, after many minutes of wondering and pondering (there was lots of traffic in Odaiba… sheesh), we pulled up in front of Matt's and my dad's condo. I was quite excited at the prospect of seeing my father… visits were very few and far between.
As we rode up the elevator to the fifth floor, where the condo was, my mom's cell phone rang. "Hello?" she answered into it, as we walked out the elevator car and into the little lobby of the floor. "Hold on." She covered the phone and said, "T.K., I have to take this. Just go ahead and I'll meet you there, okay?"
I nodded. "Okay." I walked the familiar route to my dad's condo… second hallway, turn left… third door on the right. I pressed the buzzer. "Hello? Anyone home?"
I swear I could hear something… interesting on the other side of the door, but I didn't really pay much attention to it. "Hello?" a voice crackled on the other end. My dad's.
"Dad? It's me. T.K. Can I come in?"
A few more moments, then some static, and another answer crackled to life. "T.K.! Of course you can come in. Hold on just a sec."
The door opened a few seconds later and my dad appeared in the doorway. "T.K.! It's so good to see you!" He gave me a big hug and then pulled back and looked me over. It was interesting… the last time I had seen him, we were the same height, and now I was a few inches taller than him. "You've grown up so much. My goodness." He was smiling, but there was a hint of something… sadness… maybe regret… in his eyes. It dampened my spirits a bit, but I was still very grateful to see him. "It's great to see you, too, Dad. It's been too long." Then I looked around at the unusually dim condo. It was bright and sunny outside (because of finals, we got out of practice early), but it was really dark in here.
"Where's Matt?" I wondered. I wanted to see my brother. True, he and I did go to the same school, but he graduated last year, he was in college now, and we were both very busy.
My dad waved a hand lazily. "He's somewhere around here. Come in! Sit down. Do you want a drink or anything?"
"Sure. What do you have?"
Before my dad could answer, the blinds were opened, lights were thrown on, and a huge "SURPRISE!" was heard. My eyes widened in shock. "What is this?"
"It's your belated sixteenth birthday party, Teeks." A new voice came up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see Matt. "It's good to see you, bro."
"You, too, Matt." We had a brotherly hug (AN: *sigh*) and then I turned around to see just who was there, and to take in the moment.
It definitely wasn't as big as Kari's party, but there were lots of familiar faces. Basically, it was just the Digidestined, with the exception of Fiona and Sabrina. There were a few streamers and balloons and stuff hanging up, and a big pile of presents in one corner. There was a DJ stand set up in another corner (I was guessing that was for Matt), and refreshments set on the kitchen counter. I shook my head. "You guys! You didn't have to do this for me."
"But we wanted to," Kari said, stepping forward, smiling that bright smile that I loved. "You're always so selfless when it comes to us, that we decided we'd do something nice for you. Besides, your sixteenth birthday only comes around once in a lifetime, so why not savor the moment?"
I took her into my arms and kissed her forehead. "Okay. Thank you." Then I looked around at everyone else. "So what are we waiting for? Let's party!"
"Yeah!!!" Matt went and put on some music, and we started one of the most memorable parties of my memory.
We had some classic moments at that party: My dad, who actually had a lot of money, had a small indoor pool, which made his condo bigger than the rest of the ones on the floor. Everyone had their bathing suits (later, they told me, they had all gotten together and planned it) and so we went for a dip in the pool. When I wasn't paying attention, Davis and Tai pushed me in the pool, clothes and all. I didn't even have to get them back! I guess (I didn't know what happened until Yolei told me later) they wanted to try and push me in the pool again, so Davis was waiting for the perfect moment to push me in, but right as he was about to, Tai dashed across the room because there was food… or something… and Davis ended up pushing Tai. Not to be outdone, Tai grabbed Davis's goggles and Davis went down with Tai, both of them ending up soggy and discouraged. The rest of us, however, had a great laugh.
Later, we had cake and ice cream, and of course they HAD to get me the candles that never blow out (that was fun) and those two were at it again… this time trying to throw cake at me. However, since they were soccer stars, not baseball stars, their aim was a bit off, and they ended up hitting Sora and Fiona instead, both of whom got quite upset at their "guys" (yes, Davis and Fiona had both admitted, not to each other of course, but to the rest of us, that they liked each other) and started chasing them around. In trying to get away from them, Davis tripped and fell, scraping his knee, and Tai stood over him laughing, but he paid for it too—Sora was able to hit Tai right in the face with cake.
You'd think that those two would learn their lesson after that escapade, but no. We got around to opening my presents (I got a lot of awesome ones: new video games, a writer's guide, which I thought was really great, a few dancing hamsters [AN: those things are AWESOME! hehe], lots of money, a new basketball, and gift cards and stuff), and all the money and checks and gift cards that I got, I put in one of the bags. I guess the two wise guys were still trying to get me, so they "stole" my money bag and ran off. Of course they weren't watching where they were going, and they ended up running into the pool. Again. Thankfully, Joe was able to steal the money bag away from them again before they got soaked. Davis's and Tai's antics definitely were a highlight to the day.
I think though, that the best highlight of the day was when everyone was gone, except for Tai, Kari, Matt (of course), and my mom. The six of us were cleaning up when Matt looked at me strangely. "What?"
"Why are you cleaning up? This was your party, your birthday. You don't have to do anything."
"It's okay, Matt. Really." I proceeded to throw away a few more stray cups. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up into my brother's eyes, identical to mine. "Listen, T.K. We'll take care of it. Just go relax or something. We'll be okay."
I reluctantly put down the bag. "Are you sure?"
"Positive." Matt pushed me lightly and I rolled my eyes. "Okay, okay." I went out to the balcony and leaned on the railing, breathing in the night air and going over thoughts in my head. So this is what it was like to be sixteen. I had everything I had ever wanted, at least in this realistic world. My thoughts drifted to what lay ahead of me… how things change and become separate and everything… and then I remembered I still had the ring in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked over it carefully, thinking of how I was going to give it to Kari.
"T.K.?" I heard the sliding door open and Kari step onto the balcony. I turned to face her. "Hey. Thanks a lot for everything."
She waved a hand. "Aw, it was nothing. It was fun planning a surprise party for you." She smiled. "Did you have a good time?"
I nodded. "I had an awesome time. Thank you." I kissed her forehead and took her into my arms, and we just stood there, embracing, for a few moments, the thoughts from earlier still coursing through my brain. I pulled away and looked deeply into Kari's eyes. "What is it?" she asked.
"Sit. I need to talk to you about something." Nodding, Kari obliged, and I pulled up a chair next to her and began what I had to say.
"Light, I just turned sixteen. You'll be turning sixteen soon, too. We're growing up, facing an uncertain future. We don't know what's going to happen to us. We might be going to different colleges. One of us might move away. Things might try to tear us apart… this world isn't stable enough for my liking."
Kari's eyes widened. "What are you trying to say?" Her voice was wavering. I took her hand into mine and kissed it. "Don't worry. I'm not going to leave you. I love you too much to do that."
She sighed visibly with relief, and I continued, "That's why I want to give you this. I originally wanted to give this to you for your birthday, but I thought it couldn't wait." I presented her with the ring I was holding and told her, "The hands stand for friendship, the heart, love, and the crown, loyalty. Wear it like this." I put it on her right ring finger, and to my surprise, it was a perfect fit. "Now people will know you have a special love." I looked at her and then, like so many times before, realized why life was so wonderful. "I promise you, Kari, that nothing or no one will ever come between us. Not another person, not distance, not even time. I love you. You are the only girl I have loved and the only girl I will ever love. That is the promise I give you with this ring." I searched her eyes, looking for a sign. They were lit up with the light of love, and Kari smiled. "T.K., thank you… it's your birthday and you're the one giving me a present. You're always selfless like that. I love you for that." She leaned over and kissed me, filling my heart like only she could. And with that sweet, special kiss, I sealed my promise to her.
You never know… there may be more added to this chapter… there might not. You know what to do! It's been ages! Review review review review review review review review review review review!!! *jumps up and down giddily* Come on, you know you've been waiting for it. Please?