AN: Wow! It's good to be back. At first I got the idea for this story when a friend of mine broke up with his girlfriend because he loved someone else. Said friend of mine, my "T.K." from WITD, went through a really tough time but he never gave up hope for his new relationship. It just struck me as well, T.K.! I had to write a story featuring the Child of Hope but I wanted to keep all of the great things from WITD, mainly Onizuka. Thus, I put the idea of a sequel on the drawing board. Don't worry, this is a T.K./Kari story, they won't be breaking up like I originally planned. Instead they…well, you'll just have to read and find out! And please note…the Denny's in my area are really nasty...so if you like Denny's I'm sorry!
For those of you who have read "Walking in the Dark" I'm chipper to inform you that Ron, or my "Davis", is my friend again. How…I'm not really sure, but it's all better now! Good things come to those who wait!
Please forgive me if the updates are not as fast as my previous story. I'm having a really busy summer.
I hope that you all enjoy this story when it's completed. And if you haven't read "Walking in the Dark" you should check it out because it will tie into later chapters.
Constructive criticism is allowed and thanked, flames are not. And please review!
IMPORTANT: The beginning to each chapter is set in the present...or future depending on how you want to think about it. The rest is the present or past depending on how you'd like to fathom it. Italics later on it the story are dream sequences.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or Eikichi Onizuka from GTO, they own me.
Something I Always KnewPrologue
T.K.'s eyes went out of focus for a moment as he dully stared at the computer screen. Vacant, everything was empty. He opened up a new Word program and just stared at the blank, white page. His eyes burned; T.K. didn't know if it was either the lack of sleep or the tears he refused to cry. The screen seemed to mock him, taunt him with how empty his thoughts were. He rose up a hand and ran it though his shaggy, dirty blond hair; trying to remember.
Remember, yes…remember. That was it.
He felt his fingers flutter across the keyboard and his eye widened as he saw the black lettering battling with the white bareness of the screen.
I remember. It was something I always knew; something in the back of my mind that I could never really recall, but it was there. I remember it now, and I want to tell you what it is…but it's so hard to describe in words really.
I don't really know what happened to her, how it all transpired …why it started. All I know is that somehow it happened. Something happened that tore my world apart. A world filled with fireflies and laughter; hugs and kisses…friends and family. All that's gone now, and it's my entire fault. I chose to walk to the dark by myself; and now, I regret it.
He closed his eyes, feeling the pressure in his head swell and smother his coherent thoughts. Rising up a hand he pressed it to his forehead and shuddered. How did it start? Where to begin? Thoughts flooded in all at once, the memories came crashing back. He winced and grabbed fistfuls of hair with both hands, "What do you want me to do?"
His outburst echoed around the empty apartment until the darkness swallowed it. T.K. rubbed his eyes and gazed at the clock, 2:13 AM. His attention focused back on the computer screen, "This is your last story Takashi, you better make it count."
He set his fingers on the keyboard and began his struggle with the white page.
"It was something I always knew…."
"I can't believe that it's summer vacation already!" Kari grinned and jumped on T.K.'s lap, "We'll have to go to the beach and Kyoto and play DDR down town and—"
"Whoa there kitten!" T.K. smiled and ruffled her hair, "We can do only one thing at a time!"
She giggled and pulled T.K.'s hat off and put it on, "But summer vacation is going to fly by! We need to do everything so we don't run out of time!"
"Well...I can't go to the beach if you don't give me my hat back!"
"Well, it looks better on me!" She slid off his lap and grabbed both sides of the hat to hold in down on her head, "You shouldn't wear it so much T.K., my mom going to start to think you really are Gilligan!"
He rolled his eyes and stood up, "Seriously Kar….give it back?"
"Why?"
"Do I steal your mascara?"
She gave him a funny, "Well…that one time when we went to the…"
"Besides that!"
"Oh, never. But what does my mascara have to do with it?"
He ran a hand through his short-cropped hair, "Well….do you ever leave the house without it?"
"no."
"Do you feel naked when you don't have some on?"
"In a way…"
"Well," he looked at the hat, "That's the way it is with my hat…so give it back okay?"
She sighed and handed it back. As T.K. carefully put it back on took a seat next to him on the bench and swung her legs back and forth, "Ken and Davis were supposed to be here 5 minutes ago."
"Well…. knowing Davis they're probably—"
"Standing right behind you?" Goggle Boy II laughed, "Jeez T.P. took you awhile to notice."
Ken gave small smile, "Actually…. Eikichi held us up a bit at the school."
T.K. arched his neck to get a view of Ken standing behind him, "Why?"
The indigo haired teen took a seat on the other side of him and sighed, "Wanted to make sure I knew to be home by 10 PM this time."
"This time?" T.K. laughed, "Is he still sore about Davis getting you that one time at 10:06?"
Ken nodded, "Well….you remember what happened that night."
A dark look fluttered across T.K.'s face, "I'd rather not."
Ken manage to give a small smile, "It's okay T.K., no hard feelings okay?"
The blond shrugged it off, "I thought since it's the first night of break we could go see a movie."
Davis sprung, "That a great idea!" He grinned wickedly at Ken, "Let's go see a scary movie!"
Ken shuddered, "Come on Davis…you know I hate horror films."
"That's the point!"
"Well then Davis, you'll have to hold T.K. too!" Kari laughed, "He's a chicken when it comes to scary movies."
"Am not!"
"Are too! You told me you couldn't even attempt to write a short horror story because it'd scare you too much."
He frowned and pulled the hat down more over his eyes, "I'm not afraid of writing one, I'm afraid of what'll happen to me during that process." He shook his head and stood up, "Well….let's go see that movie then."
"I can't believe you made me see that movie Davis," T.K. groaned and pulled his hat off his head to cover his pale face, "dear lord….why did I see it?"
Davis shrugged, "It really wasn't that scary!"
Ken's eye twitched, "Yes….yes it was."
Kari rolled her eyes at Ken and T.K., "It wasn't scary at all. He was just a little kid!."
T.K. banged his head on the dirty table, they all decided to go to Denny's after the movie but he really didn't feel like eating anything. "It was the gore," he murmured into his hat, "it was that little kid."
Davis wrapped a lazy arm around Ken's shoulders, "I had no idea a little kid freaked you two guys out."
Ken buried his face in Davis' shoulder, "Hence the reason I'm gay. No little kids."
Davis hugged Ken tighter to him and ruffled his hair, "Awwww Ken! I thought it was because you loved me!"
"Well I guess he lied to you then!" Kari snickered, "but seriously! Why do little demonic children freak you out?"
T.K. banged his head against the table, "Because it's a demonic little kid who'll grow up into a demonic big kid, that's why Kari."
"Sorry to interrupt, but I'm your waiter…Mikage. Have you decided anything yet?"
Davis snapped in front of Mikage's face to get his eye off of Kari, "Yeah….we'll take a.." He looked at Ken, "Didja want strawberry or chocolate?"
"I know you want chocolate so we'll go with that."
"Chocolate milkshake then."
Mikage nodded, "Two glasses?"
Davis' eye narrowed slightly, "Uhhh…one?"
"Sure…right. And what would you like miss?"
"Me and my boyfriend would like to share the sampler."
T.K. could almost hear the waiter mutter something along the likes of 'dang it' as he jotted down the orders, "Would you like anything to drink?"
"Two cokes."
T.K. banged his head on the table as the guy left, "I'm not going to be able to go to bed now."
Davis laughed, "Jeez, you're really freaked out man."
T.K. looked up and then down at the table. There was some kind of harden substance on it but he couldn't tell what it was; one thing was for sure though…it didn't look sanitary, "Ewww…"
"Next time we'll see a funny movie sweetie!" Kari leaned over and kissed him on the cheek as Mikage came out with the drinks and milkshake.
"Here you guys are…the sampler will be up in a few."
Davis grabbed a straw and stuck it in as the waiter quickly walked back the kitchens, "He's really weird."
Ken nodded, "I don't think he likes us Davis. Hopefully he didn't do anything to our milkshake."
The table grew silent as all four of them peered at the glass of chocolate ice cream goodness. Davis slowly shook his head, "No one…not even a waiter at Denny's would ever sink that low."
A few minutes passed, all of they still staring at it.
"Maybe you should…you know….try it Davis…." T.K. mumbled.
"Maybe…." He looked at it and slowly took a sip, "Tastes normal….for Denny's."
"Something wrong?"
Davis and Ken both jumped as Mikage gave them a somewhat sarcastic look. T.K. and Kari both contained their giggles as Davis blushed, "Well...you see...we were worried that you….might've…"
"You thought I wasted my worthy spit on the likes of you two? Hell no." He set the sampler in front of the other two and winked at Kari, "If your boyfriend ever turns into a poof like those two you can always go out with me."
T.K. pushed his way out of the booth and yanked the guy up by his shirt, "I suggest you leave," his growled in a low whisper, "Unless you want to pay for that broken window and a load of hospital bills."
Mikage grasped T.K.'s wrists and laughed, "We'll see who flies through that window buddy."
Kari hefted an annoyed sigh, "T.K. put him down; he's not worth it. And you…we want a different waiter or I'm telling your manager that you sexually harassed me."
T.K. pushed Mikage away and glared at him. The waiter cleared his throat and then stiffly walked away.
The basketball player slid back down in his seat, "So…what was your favorite part of the movie?"
"The birthday party…because it was before things got crazy." Ken sipped some of the milkshake, "After that….well, I had to cover my eyes."
"You totally missed the whole movie Ken!" Davis flicked him on the noise, "the best part was when the photographer's head got looped off!"
He shuddered violently, "Do you have to bring that up? Seriously, that movie was creepy….just stop with the gore okay?"
He bent his head down and kissed Ken on the nose, "Okay."
The indigo haired genius smirked and pulled Davis down for a real kiss. Kari giggled and started munching on a mozzarella stick while Davis and Ken continued to make out. The tall blond chuckled and bit into a greasy onion ring, "You guys are too much."
"I'll agree with that."
T.K. looked around, "Who said that?"
Two hands held up a bucket of water over Davis and Ken's unsuspecting heads; before T.K. and Kari could bark out a warning the bucket turned over. The two yelped at the ice-cold water and sprung apart.
"What the f—?"
A head of bleached blond hair slowly came into view and Eikichi Onizuka leaned over their seat into the booth. He pinched the bridge of Davis' nose and had a dull sarcastic look on his face, "Daisuke…I thought you said you were taking Ken out to a movie? Not sucking the life out of him?"
Davis swatted the hand away, "Come on Onizuka Sensei, I was not sucking his life out!"
"You guys didn't stop for air in like…3 minutes!"
"I had plenty of air!" Davis retorted, "Look…why are you even here?"
He slid down and walked around to the end of their table, "I'm just looking out for my Kenji-kun." He ruffled Ken's hair and gave a funny grin, "Besides…I need to go out and fun too—"
"Fun spying on us Eikichi?" Ken swatted his hand away and leaned his head on Davis' shoulder, "Aren't I allowed any time by myself?"
Onizuka frowned, his eyes wondering down to Ken's sleeved arms, "Last time I left you alone Ken, that happened."
He looked at the table, lost at what to say and then spotted the same substance T.K. did, "ewww….what is that?"
T.K. followed Ken's line of sight and his eye twitched, "That? In a way…I don't want to know what it is?"
"Boys!" Kari sighed, "It's just some dried….dried…..what is it?"
Onizuka hopped out of his booth and smelled it, "Hot Sauce." He sniffed it again, "From two days ago."
Ken scooted further way from the table and more into Davis, "That's disgusting."
"Honey, it's Dennys!" Davis set his napkin over the spot, "There, now you can't see it."
"That doesn't help!" The genius protested, "I know it's there!"
"Drink your milkshake."
T.K. grinned and threw an arm around Kari, "Well, this is a good way to start the summer."
T.K. start in front of his computer screen and groaned when he saw an IM pop up from Leopard, his somewhat annoying Internet stalker of two years. After T.K. published a short story in a magazine Leo would never stop emailing him; after a while the annoying IMs grew on T.K. and he couldn't really concentrate without them.
Leopard: Hey Hope child, how was your day?
PatamonRocks: It was okay..
Leopard: Get any work done on your new story?
PatamonRocks: I can't find inspiration for it…everything seems to be turning out dry.
Leopard: Well, it sucks to be you. I had a crappy day. Goldie called me a bastard.
T.K. rolled his eyes and typed:
PatamonRocks: Look, I'm really busy right now Leo.
Leopard: He was all Emo and told me I was a loser for talking to people on the Net.
PatamonRocks: I'm tired, I have to go, good night.
-PatamonRocks has signed off-
He hit his hand on the computer desk, "God that kid annoys the crap out of me." He looked at the empty word document, "Well…I could always write a horror story." The ticking of his clock grew louder over the passing minutes, "Or maybe not." He leaned back in his chair and stared at the dark ceiling, "There was something I wanted to write…but I can't remember what it was…" He sat up, "and I'm talking to myself again…maybe I'm going crazy like Dad." T.K. shook his head, "It's no use…I'll never find an idea this way." Turning off his computer he felt his way towards his bed and tripped over several unidentifiable objects that felt like textbooks. Plopping down on the bed he stared at the ceiling again, "I'm a happy little buffalo….I'm a happy little buffalo...yes…buffalos.."
I remember.
It was warm that night. She was wearing a light pink shirt and braided her hair with flowers. Jasmines I think…or honeysuckle, it smelled sweet. Her hand felt warm and loving in mine; I don't think there was a time I have ever felt happier. No worries, no cares…just flowers and laughing.
I remember now.
A lingering kiss on the doorstep, a whispered good night as I hugged her again and smiled in her hair. In started raining as I walked home, and my head started to hurt.
What happened after that? Something must've happened.
Something must've happened to take away the flowers and laughing.
But I can't remember.
He woke up with a start, "What happened after that?"
When no one answered him the blond tripped out of his tangled sheets and over to his laptop. The screen grew bright as he quickly typedhis log in password and hit enter, "That's it! A tragic love story…she gets…uhh.. kidnapped! Oh that's good." He grinned opening the word document, "And he has to find her. The location is a place he always knew about, but never suspected. Something he always knew…" T.K. paused and looked at the half a page he already typed, "It'll make one hell of a story…or something more." He banged his head against his desk, "names…names….male name…Rosuto! Female name…Korede." He took a deep breath and looked at the screen, "I have my story."