Fixing Bonds
"Kari, where are you?" Tai called as he picked up his backpack. Kari stepped out of her room in her uniform, looking a little paler than usual. Tai frowned a little and asked, "Are you alright?"
Kari smiled. "Yeah, don't worry. It's nothing a little fresh air won't fix! Besides, I'm gonna help you today after school, right?"
Tai nodded. Kari picked up her bag and walked out of the house with him. The walk to school was normal, Davis joining them halfway there.
"Morning!" Davis greeted, throwing a friendly arm around each of their shoulders.
"You are way too happy in the morning, you know that?" Tai said, grinning none the less. Davis grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. Davis turned to Kari, who was leaning on him slightly.
"Kari?"
She blushed. "I'm sorry. It's just kinda cold and all, and..."
Before she could finish, Davis had took off his coat and threw it around Kari's shoulders. "It may be spring, but it is still chilly."
Kari nodded, slipping her arms into the coat sleeves and hugging herself. "Thank you so much! But aren't you cold now?"
Davis flushed slightly at her worried expression, and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm fine, you need it more than me, anyway."
Kari, not looking convinced, entwined her arm with Davis', and smiled. "I'll keep you warm, then. Its always better to share, isn't it?"
Davis nodded dumbly, and the three of them started walking to school again. Tai wondered at the younger pair. They had acted like this in reality, too. That is, before Takeru became a permanent part of Kari's life again. How had Davis felt, to have her attention taken away? To have your best friend replace you?
Before Tai could ponder it further, they were at school, and Davis and Kari were waving to classmates. Ken and Jyou appeared next to the group, and everyone greeted each other.
"Ah! Finally! Ken, we need your help. Me and Kari were wondering if you could help us with question eight on the math homework. Story problems aren't really my thing and..." Davis started.
"Davis, nothing is your thing when it comes to school," Tai joked and Davis shot him a friendly glare.
"Yes, could you help us, Ken? You are the smartest person in the class, so you could do it, I know it!" Kari implored him.
Ken blushed slightly at the compliments and the three of them left to work on it. Tai watched the three of them walk away, chatting happily, and smiled to himself. Davis and Kari were giving Ken the confidence he needed, which often got taken away from him by his brother. Tai and Jyou started walking into the building themselves after the trio.
There wasn't anything Tai could do for Ken that his friends weren't already doing, and he had a feeling that unconditional friendship was the thing Ken needed the most.
"This-is-the-dumbest-thing-we've-ever-been-forced-to-do!" Sora whispered fiercely under her breath to Tai as their teacher's back was turned. They were in a new class called "The Expressive Arts of the Body and Mind", which currently consisted of them finger painting on the instruction of a rather scary new teacher.
"Reach deep into your soul, and let your emotions guide your hands! Do not let judgment halt your creative flow, students!" She instructed as she walked around the classroom, stopping every once in a while to look at a students work.
"It could be worse, I suppose. We could be doing interpretive dance or learning the fine art of pasta and glue jewelry making," Tai said, and Sora laughed.
"Just make sure she doesn't overhear that," Sora said back. They continued in friendly silence, randomly making smudges on their paper. Sora suddenly spoke again, hesitation in her voice.
"Taichi, why- I mean, how come..." She stumbled, then blurted, "Why Mimi?"
Tai turned to her, surprised. "Why Mimi what?"
Sora blushed and mumbled, "What made you realize that you liked Mimi all of a sudden?"
"Like Mimi? She's nice once you get past her distant front. And well...you know! You like her too, don't you?" Tai asked, watching Sora's confused face and suddenly realizing what she meant. "No! I don't like Mimi, we're just friends!"
Sora still didn't look convinced. "You spend all of this time with her all of a sudden, what do you want me to think?"
Tai sighed and considered how to phrase his answer. "If I wanted someone to help others get ideas or brainstorm, I would go to Koushirou. He is good at getting people to think and discover good ideas. Or, you for example, are good at helping others discover the good qualities in themselves, even when they forget them. You help people love themselves," Tai explained, and Sora looked oddly flushed to Tai, but she was still listening, so his continued.
"I chose Mimi because I was trying to make a group. Mimi has this strange quality that she can attract people, and she can bring people together." Tai thought about the rag-tag group Mimi had made to help battle the final Dark Master and how the digidestined weren't really a whole team again until Mimi was there with them. "I wanted to join people together, so she was just the natural choice. I guess I never really thought about this before, it was kinda an subconscious decision. But really, we are just friends," Tai concluded, turning to Sora.
Her face was clear of doubt, and she gave him a nice smile, like she was pleasantly surprised he could think so deeply. She stared at her picture, and said, "I would go to you if I wanted people to be brave. You help people find inner strength, you give them confidence. You... Mimi might help bring people together, and Koushirou and myself might help the individuals in the group, but you Tai...You are the one that keeps the group together. You are the core that we all need."
Tai realized that he face was unnaturally hot, and his stomach was twisting, not in pain, but not comfort, but a fluttering that was a completely different feeling. Sora was watching Tai, meeting his eyes, and he saw something there, something-
"My, my! What do we have here!" a voice said behind Tai, causing the two teens to jump. The teacher pulled Tai project off his desk. "Hmmm. Are you struggling with an inner demon maybe?"
Tai was startled, not realizing he had continued painting absentmindedly throughout the whole conversation. The teacher told him to study it and come to his own conclusion, and let it flutter back to the table.
As the page floated back and forth toward his desk, Tai watched as the figure of a certain orange, lizard-like animal came into view. Tai picked the page up gently. His heart gave a twist as he realized that this was ten times worse than when they were forced to separate with the digimon so many years ago, because this time it was no one's fault but his own.
"I'm coming back soon, buddy," Tai whispered to the page, and hoped that somehow, Agumon had heard it.
"Takeru! Wait a second!" Kari called, running across the school yard to him. He turned and let the girl catch up with him.
"Hi, Hikari. What do you need?" He asked.
"I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my house and watch that new anime that premieres today?" Kari put on her best smile, and Takeru looked behind her to see Tai and Davis waiting for them.
"I don't know, Hikari. My brother doesn't really think that we should hang out..."
"But what do you think-" Kari broke off to cough.
"Are you alright?" Takeru asked, worried.
Kari simply waved it off. "Come on, please come?"
"I really can't..." Takeru said evasively, but suddenly Kari seemed to loose her balance and fall forward. Takeru caught her before she hit the ground, and before he could do anything else, Tai was beside him, feeling her forehead.
"Jeez, she's burning with a fever! Kari, Kari, look at me!" Tai said worriedly, but softly. Kari's eyes fluttered open, but it looked like she was having a hard time focusing on her brother. "How long before this morning have you been feeling sick?" He demanded.
"Last night...before dinner," she said groggily, diving into a coughing fit.
"We need to get you to the hospital, now," Tai said picking her up. Takeru watched as he brought her to a cab that Davis had gotten. After a moment's hesitation, Takeru scooped up Kari's bag and got into the taxi with them.
The three of them waited in the lobby as the doctor looked over Kari. The three of them snapped to attention when he walked up to them.
"You are her brother, Taichi, right?"
"Yes sir. Is she all right? It's not pneumonia again, is it?"
"No, no. It is the flu, however. It is a good thing you got her here so fast. We were able to control her fever, and she should be ready to go as soon as your mother and father get here."
"Thank you sir," Tai said gratefully and proceeded to her room with the two younger boys behind him.
Kari was sitting up in bed, looking pale but cheerful none the less. She smiled as the boys walked in.
"I'm sorry to give you all such a scare..." She started.
"'Scare'? You gave me a freaking heart attack!" Davis retorted. "Why didn't you tell us you were sick? You are always pretending like things are fine when they aren't!"
Kari looked taken aback and frightened, and Takeru said, "Maybe you should tone it down a little..."
Davis spun around angrily. "You stay out of this! What would you know, anyhow? Always depending on Ishida to get you out of things..."
"I-" began Takeru hotly, but stopped when Tai spoke up.
"Why didn't you tell me, Hikari?" He asked, sitting in a chair next to her bed, staring at the sheets.
"I didn't want to let you down Tai," she whispered. "You asked me to help you, and I wanted to so badly, but I knew you wouldn't if I was sick, so I toughed it out."
Tai laughed, but it wasn't happy. "Kari, you are too nice to someone like me. To everyone. People are naturally selfish, they will always look out for themselves first. I'm no different. I try to look out for your interests, or others, before my own, but I usually can't. You can't depend on me Kari, you can't. I won't always be there, and even if I was, I wouldn't be making the best decision for you all the time. Do you understand?"
Tears were silently dripping down her face, but she nodded.
"Good," Tai said, wrapping a brotherly arm around her. "So, next time, you'll tell me to go solve my own problems and think about what you need, right?"
"Yes," she said, her voice a little shaky from her tears, but happy none the less.
Takeru's voice broke in after a few moments. "I really need to get home now, but..." he looked at Kari and Tai, "If you feel all right tomorrow, I'll tape the anime tonight and we can all watch it tomorrow at your house.
Kari cheered, "That sounds great!"
Takeru smiled back and left the room. Davis was staring moodily after Takeru, but didn't say anything. Tai simply smiled, knowing that one more person was better.
The three teens sat around talking for a while after he left, till a nurse stepped in and said, "Visiting hours are over now, so only family is allowed."
Davis, who had been sitting on the edge of Kari's bed, started to get up, but Kari put a hand on his arm to stop him.
"We are family," Tai told the nurse, and she nodded and left.
Davis looked at the two of them in shock.
"Family means forever, Davis, so you can't get rid of us now even if you wanted to," Tai said.
Davis gave them a touched smile. "I thought you couldn't pick your family."
Kari giggled. "That's right, you can't. We picked you!" she exclaimed and hugged Davis.
Tai laughed and the other two joined in, and they spent the rest of the time in the hospital, talking like only family could and enjoying the peace of mind only a family bond could bring.
AN- HAHAHAHA! You were all at this point, I'm sure, expecting me never to update again. But you would be wrong! I really did want to post this before the 15th, because the new Harry Potter book was coming out, but I wasn't finished, so I'm sorry. (BTW, its a good book, you should read it!)
Anywho, I hope this cleared up some questions, like "Where is the Taiora?" and "Why is there so much Mimi?" and... well, I don't know what else. But I hope it answered them!
Again, thanks to everyone who reviewed. A lot of you got close to the family issue and the people, so congrats on that!
Reluctant Dragon
Strawberry'd
Blondie121147
ghikiJ
Andrain John
KazamaFangirl- Yes, I am a girl. Thank you for all of the constructive criticism.
Digimon-Taiora
Helena Pi Myths
Takeru Tachikawa
Star- Taichi is a great character, isn't he? Ah...
Mia Kamiya
Kari Minamoto
Litanya
Ryuu-takahashi
Colormyworld- Part way right! See, you aren't braindead!
Chibi-Muse-chan- I give you the award for the longest review I have ever received. Yow-sa...
Rouroni Tai
sweetyakane- YOU ARE SO SWEET! But I guess it comes with the name, huh? I promise you, there will be plenty of Taiora parts to come.
Frootlooptrooper
Vigatus
Ratters kyr
vearix
Lady-Azura
Midnight Reaper
Mr. Seto Kaiba
Irish vampire- By all means, post the story! I'm really excited to read it now!