[ D i s c l a i m e r ] nope
[ A u t h o r' s N o t e ] Sorry it's late. This chapter is more plot than fluff, but please stick with it, next chapter is when it starts getting interesting. I love how I got to play with Mrs. Kamiya's character. I've always thought she was like the coolest mom ever.
Thanks to Anthony1, ..., Silent Bob 546, Sapphire Dragons, warprince2000, redrose, Growing Pain, surgedragon99, SacredGoggles, Digimon Fan, Serenity Blossom, Prodigious Girl, Zyu, and effect20 for being the best reviewers ever.
Special thanks, hugs, cookies and proposals of marriage to wolfbane, ss3dj, Toxic Picnic and everyone else who put me on their favorites lists!
It was long past dark when they reached her apartment building. Davis had walked her there despite the fact that punishment would almost certainly follow his late arrival at home. To be honest though, that didn't really matter to him and she certainly didn't need to know about it. He was well aware that if she had known she would have never allowed him to escort her, insisting that he leave and spare his neck, not wanting him to get in all sorts of trouble for her sake. Being with her, however, at least to him, was well worth every second of being walled in his room for a week or perhaps cleaning toilets if he happened upon one of his mother's better moods.
He pushed the thought from his mind and, tired of the melancholy air that had been hanging around them since they'd left the fountain, he gave her a hard poke in the side for old time's sake. Instinctively jumping back, she eyed him warily as he shoved his hands in his pockets and whistled innocently. An evil grin spread on her features and she pounced, tickling unrepentedly. He laughed and managed to break away, speeding off down the street. With a giggle, she followed him as they wound intricate patterns around streetlamps that lit as they passed. They laughed and taunted and teased and finally he subdued her, arms pinned at her sides, wondering at the slight irony of them being in the exact same position that very morning.
"All right," he said sternly and evenly, although he was quite short of breath, "I think it's about time we started acting like adults."
She smiled up at him and happiness sparkled deep in her eyes, "You're one to talk," she joked, attempting to cross her arms over her chest but finding it impossible in his grip.
He smiled back, it was hard not to, "I don't suppose there is any way to convince such a mischievous little girl like you to behave?"
"Not at all," she replied barely holding back a laugh, "It's obvious that the only reason I'm not incarcerated right now is because you're around to keep me in line," she teased, managing to poke him square in the chest.
"Well I'm sorry for spoiling your fun," he shot back, feigning hurt and annoyance even though the toothy grin on his face widened with every word.
"You're a regular party pooper," she replied, turning her nose up and stepping away upon wriggling out of his grasp.
He pouted and lowered his eyes to the ground like a rebuked puppy, "I take offense to that," he said, digging the toe of his shoe into the sidewalk.
She laughed and took his hand, allowing him to lead her up to her apartment. Along the way they fell deep into a comfortable silence that seemed almost tangible around them, wrapping them up in their own little world of each other and no one else or at least no one else of any consequence.
All to soon for her liking and secretly for his, they reached her doorstep. With a smile and a nod, he turned to leave. Grabbing his wrist, she stopped him, daring to break the silence between them. The silence that they maintained meticulously, knowing that its absence would most certainly lead to admittance of feelings that were preferred - and even more than that - destined to be kept hidden.
Having his attention, she released her pleading hold on his wrist, soft fingertips trailing languidly down his arm, heat searing through him at the touch. He tried in vain to steady his breathing, but could not stop a blush, hoping it was too dark to notice.
"Davis," she said quietly, lowering her eyes to the ground, "Thank you."
Shoving his hands in his pockets he forced a sheepish smile, "For what?" he asked.
Before he could blink she had thrown her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. His mind short-circuited and suddenly rational thought was far past impossible, rocketed deep into the stratosphere along with coherent speech and the ability to form words. However, slowly but surely, he managed to return the embrace, petting her hair soothingly, figuring he shouldn't question miracles. And by God, if it was just a dream, it sure was a nice one so why not enjoy it?
After eternity she pulled away, looking up at him with wide eyes that glittered in the pale moonlight. And then she smiled; a true and genuine smile and he could no longer breath.
"I had fun today," she said after a while before retreating behind the doorway into her small but homely apartment.
He stood for a while, a long while, as his brain came off of overload and started to process what had just happened. It was all a blur after 'For what?'. Figuring it wasn't a wise idea to loiter on her doorstep, he turned and ambled off, burying his hands deep in his pockets. His thoughts cleared and collected, slowly registering and leaving him stuck between staying completely silent (as any noise would wake him from this quite pleasant dream) and shouting out loud in a sort of thanks to whatever god blessed him with such good fortune.
Before he knew it he was home although he was fairly sure he never remembered just when he had started to walk. Hadn't he been floating?
The sight of the door brought back a flood of realization that had been hiding meekly behind the overwhelming knowledge of recent events. A thousand scenarios played over in his head. 'You're home late again!?' his mother would scream. Reeling and desperate he'd look to his lounging father who would just snort and hide behind his newspaper. Visions of dirty toilets and yellowed toilet brushes danced in his head. He sighed deeply and stared down at his feet, suddenly tired and weary. Shadows danced on the welcome mat and he imagined himself falling from the clouds, up where Kari always managed to put him, and careening down into the chasms of reality.
Taking a deep breath and puffing up his chest, he gathered up his scant courage (wasn't bravery his strong point?) and reached for the doorknob. But from the inside, someone reached it first. The door flew open in front of him and he stumbled through the threshold, stopping himself from face-planting only at the last second.
He whirled and panted, a bit terrified. A giggling Jun stood against the now closed door. Mischief shone in her eyes, a smug and satisfied smirk dangling from her lips.
She took a step forward and snickered, "Davis, my dear brother!" she said in mock concern, "What in the world were you doing out so late?"
With a scowl he turned and made for his room, extremely not amused but relieved at his parent's absence.
Jun skipped down the hallway, following him, and plopped down unceremoniously on his bed, ignoring that he refused to acknowledge her, "You're lucky mom and dad aren't home," she chimed, pasting on a sickly sweet smile, "Although I'm sure our porcelain little friend will miss you. Hmm. Maybe we shouldn't disappoint him."
That caught his attention and he turned to face her, eyeing her warily, "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, his words laced with suspicion.
Plucking a teddy bear from his bookcase, she hugged it to her and gave a shrug. The picture of innocence, "I'm just saying...! Wouldn't it be awful if our dear, loving mother found out somehow?"
He stomped forward through piles of clothes, tired, irritable and seething, "Jun. What do you want?" he spat.
She smiled and let out a giggle, "So did you have fun tonight Davis? What ever were you doing so late?"
Clenching his fists, he turned and busied himself with tidying up his room, wanting to focus on something – anything – but this ridiculous conversation. It was quite obvious she wanted something from him and was just going to blackmail him to get it, so why did she have to play around with him instead of just coming out and saying it? He ran a hand through his hair and didn't answer her.
She sprang up and was next to him in a second, sugarcoated exterior not wavering for even a moment, "Could it be?" she asked, feigning shock, "Was our little Davis out with... with a girl?"
"No!" he shot back, annoyed, "I went out with Ken and TK for pizza and played some soccer afterwards, if you really must know."
Satisfied with his answer, she eased back, crossing her arms over her chest. On her face sat the most evil and malicious grin he had ever seen in his entire life, "That's funny," she said, "Because Ken looked an awful lot like Kari when I walked by Pixie's this afternoon."
He reared and shock was written all over his face. She continued before he could get a word out edgewise, "And the oddest thing happened to me this morning. You see, me, being the loving and wonderful sister that I am, brought my little brother the lunch he had forgotten all the way to his school. You'll never guess what they told me when I got there!" she stopped for effect and the smirk was there again, replacing the long forgotten innocent act.
Fighting off the urge to just ignore her and fall asleep right there, he sighed and slumped his shoulders in defeat, "I get the point Jun. Now what do you want?"
Sitting on his desk, she bit her lip, pretending to muse over what she would select from the cornucopia of equally as delightful options, "Today," she said finally, "Is Tuesday. Thursday after school I'm going out with a couple friends and I'm not going to be back until late. I need you stay home that day and cover for me. Tell mom and dad I'm sick in my room or something – I don't know – be creative."
To be honest, he was a tad surprised that was the extent of her request seeing as she had quite an exceptional amount of dirt on him. He frowned at her anyway, as if she had just ruined his entire life and mumbled a quick "I'll do it" under his breath before finally letting himself collapse onto his bed.
She stood and clapped and giggled and did a little happy dance of self-congratulation, which he found most irritating, but was to tired to do anything about. Planting her hands on her hips she strolled over to where he was lying and attempting to get some rest.
"Davis," she demanded, assessing his comatose state with a wary eye, "Davis!" she shook him hard and he groaned, drifting on the edges of consciousness.
"This is important!" she said sternly, eyebrows furrowed in frustration, "I know how you are Davis, you better not forget!"
He grunted in response and she was very unconvinced, "Thursday!" she yelled, "As is two days from today, which happens to be Tuesday! Not tomorrow, because tomorrow is Wednesday! The day after Wednesday, which is Thursday, that is when I'm going out with my friends! And I need you to-."
"All right I get it!" he cut her off, turning sharply to glare at her through narrowed eyes although his vision at the moment was bleary at best.
She smirked and went to leave, stopping at the last second by the door, "Just don't forget, Davis," she warned before strolling away, leaving him to sleep.
Kari sighed and shut the door behind her, taking care to be as quiet as humanly possible. Stopping to lean against the couch, she stood and mused about recent events, not exactly ready to stop drowning in denial and face reality just yet. She'd just spent a lovely afternoon and evening with Davis, of all people, and she was fairly sure she'd launched herself at him in a rib-crunching hug at one point. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire and she knew she was blushing. She pressed a hand to her face and relished at the feeling of cool fingertips against her burning skin. What was this... feeling?
"Oh! Kari, you're finally home!" her mother said, bursting into the living room from the kitchen. In her arms were a large bowl and a spoon and she was donning an overly frilly apron that was thoroughly covered in different bits of food, flour spotting her cheeks.
Kari started at her mother's unceremonious intrusion into her world of thought and bolted upright, pasting on a fake smile, "Yes mama, I'm sorry I was out so late," she quickly apologized, silently thanking God that her mother was a benevolent creature whose punishments were few and far between.
Her mother flashed her a brilliant grin and turned back to the kitchen. A moment of realization washed over her, however, halting her progress and she whirled back to face Kari, idly giving the mixing spoon another harsh flick of the wrist as her brows furrowed in deep thought.
"Kari," she said, "Your friend TK has been calling all afternoon. He was worried sick when you didn't meet him and the others to walk home like usual," she paused and stopped her whisking for effect, fixing her daughter with a sly glance, "That boy's a keeper. And cute to boot," she said with a wink.
Leaving her thoroughly mortified daughter, Mrs. Kamiya turned, and decided at last to return to the kitchen, "Call him back," she called over her shoulder when Kari made no move to do so, "And do us all a favor and marry him already."
The blush was back full force and with a vengeance. Hoping to ignore it, Kari turned and planted herself on the sofa with a sigh, more than thoroughly exhausted. Lying down, she curled into herself and yawned, opening her eyes to find herself face to face with the cordless phone someone had abandoned on the coffee table. Reluctant, but deciding it was some sort of sign, she hoisted herself up and grabbed the phone, dialing in the numbers from memory, hardly feeling her fingers hit the buttons. In her ear, she counted the rings and fought off another yawn.
"Hello?" she heard across the line. A fairly masculine voice, she knew immediately it was TK. She grimaced, thinking of how acquainted her mother probably was with that very voice by now.
"Hi," she blurted out, almost forgetting to respond as her fatigue weaved around her consciousness greedily, pleading with her to drop off into the beautiful, peaceful land of sleep.
"Kari!" said a surprised TK, "Did you just get home?"
"No," she fibbed, wiggling to get comfortable in the couch cushions, "My mom forgot to tell me you called until just now. Don't worry though, I gave her a piece of my mind," she added, wagging a fist at an imaginary target and also really, really happy that he couldn't see her right then.
"Where were you all afternoon?" he asked, skipping directly to the million-dollar question. Kari outwardly cringed and spun a lock of hair on her finger, wishing she were a smooth of a liar as Davis as the beginnings of a sweat formed on her forehead.
"Um..." she began eloquently, giving herself a mental slap. Frantically her eyes searched the room, looking for any possible excuse. Her brother Tai chose that moment to stroll in from the hall, rubbing an eye lazily and fixing her with a curious glance.
"I was at Tai's soccer game!" she said, almost too loudly, excited with the ingenious of her supposed alibi and the adrenaline rush that came with deceit
Across the line, TK was silent, and Kari breathed an inward sigh of relief. Tai scratched his head and furrowed his brows in confusion, coming to sit next to her on the couch, "Uh Kari?" he asked, "What soccer game?"
Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, knowing TK heard that and she gave Tai a quick slap on the arm, "You know..." she said, holding the phone a little bit away from her face but close enough so that TK could still hear it, "The one... today..."
There was murder in her eyes and he knew he was going to be subject to her wrath if he didn't answer this correctly, "Um... right!" he said nervously, "Yea, the one today, how could I forget..."
Kari nodded and sank down into the couch, relief washing through her limbs and making her feel like dead weight on the couch, "Sorry about that," she apologized, "You know how Tai gets some times."
"Yea I do," TK agreed passively, "Anyway, have you seen Davis? I'm kinda worried because he didn't show up either."
"No!" she shot back far to quickly. She cleared her throat and took a deep breath, trying to release her death grip on the phone, "I mean no, I haven't talked to him since this morning, but it's late I bet he's asleep already," she smiled fondly at the memories of them running around like maniacs and thanked God for the millionth time that TK couldn't see her.
"Oh..." TK said, and somehow she felt like he didn't believe her, "Well anyway, have you studied for finals yet?"
She blanched and fixed her glance on her feet, seeing if she could wiggle each one of her toes independently of the others, "Yea," she lied, "A little."
There was a bustle in the background and muted voices that Kari had to strain to hear. The receiver rattled a bit and he was back, "Sorry, that was my mom," he apologized, "She just got home from work. Anyway, I wanted to ask you about Thursday."
She cringed and searched her mind for any possible thing that could be happening on Thursday. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead and she felt like each second of silence was a fifty pound weight dropped on her chest, "Thursday..." she said with a nervous giggle, "Uh... fish stick day?"
"Close," he replied, but sounded very unamused, "You and I were supposed to get together at your house and study for finals. You really didn't remember?"
"It's been a long day," she said with a sigh, rubbing her eyes furiously and ignoring Tai's confused glances.
"Ah," pause, "Well you sound tired, so I'm going to leave you alone. Just... Kari?" he asked.
"Yea?" she answered.
"Please don't forget about Thursday," he said, sounding slightly dejected.
"I won't," she practically whispered, offering him a sad smile that he couldn't see and feeling absolutely horrible for making him worry about her, "I promise."
"All right," he said quietly, equally as immersed into the melancholy air that had blanketed them at some point during the conversation, "See you tomorrow."
"Bye."
She hung up and resisted the urge to throw the phone across the room and fall asleep before it even hit the ground. Slowly, surely she laid the phone down on its original place on the coffee table and sat back into the warm, welcoming couch cushions feeling a bit overwhelmed.
Next to her Tai's brows furrowed deeper in confusion as he assessed her tired and disheveled appearance with a wary eye, "Kari?" he asked, "What soccer game?"
She groaned and buried her head in her hands, trying to fight off the most horrible feeling of foreboding.
To Be Continued . . .