"I...I hate you Tai!" I screamed at my older brother before I stomped into our room and slammed the door. I threw myself on the bottom bunk of our bunk bed and cried hot, angry tears. How could he? On top of everything else going on in my life, he had to go and...and...I cried harder. I told him this afternoon that I had a teeny tiny crush on T.K. and what does he do? He turns around and tells Sora on the phone after dinner. I trusted him with my most private secret, as a brother, as a friend. If you can't trust a brother, who can you trust? And on top of all that, this morning I discovered two slight bumps on my ten-year-old chest. I know where they came from, but I don't want them at all. I wish that Gatomon were here. She could make me feel better. It has been almost two years since we had left the digital world, but I still miss her every day. My cries died down to sniffles. That's when Tai came in.
"Kari?" I faced the wall, and let him decide for himself whether or not I was asleep. He sighed and slowly climbed the ladder to the top bunk. Stupid Tai, I thought, remembering why I was upset. It was all I could do to not break out in a new wave of tears. I didn't want him to hear me. I thought for a while before I noticed that shallow, uneven breaths had replaced Tai's usual, comfortable snores. I went to investigate. I climbed halfway up the ladder and squinted in the dark so I could see my fourteen-year-old brother's body. It was sprawled out on the bed. His face looked troubled, but he was defiantly asleep. Maybe I hadn't been fair to Tai. He had said that he was sorry. And he had also said that he told Sora because he knew that she wouldn't tell, which was true. Sora is the most trustworthy person I know. Then I thought of what I had said to him. We've had fights, but I have never told him I hated him before. I felt bad, and sniffed again, aware that a different kind of tear was rolling down my cheek.
"Kari?" Tai said. My sniffle had woken him up, proving to me that he had not been sleeping comfortably. Tai usually didn't wake up for anything.
"Oh, Tai," my tear suddenly had company, "I don't hate you."
"I know," he motioned me into his bed by scooting over. I got in, and he held me close in that big brother hug, like he used to, during thunderstorms and particularly dark nights. I sobbed into his shirt, amazed that I had any tears left to cry. He comforted me, and I settled down. Even when my breathing became regular again, he didn't let go, and I was happy. Eventually his snores filled the room, and all I could think about was what a great brother I had. I snuggled closer, feeling safe, and let the rhythm of his heartbeat carry me off to sleep.