"Takeru Takaishi!" Yolei yelled at T.K.
"What did you do?" Davis asked him.
"I'm sorry?" T.K. questioned.
Yolei walked up to him and gave him a hug. "You are so sweet! I love you so much."
"I love you too and all, but…I can't breathe!" T.K. tried to pull away.
"Oh, sorry," Yolei let go of him.
"That's…O…K," T.K. gasped.
Davis and I smiled at each other.
"Looks like things are back to normal," I told him.
"Yep," Davis agreed.
"I told you it wasn't going to happen Kari. You should learn to trust me," T.K. smiled at me.
Davis looked at T.K., then at me. "That's what he was talking about at Ken's!"
"I don't know what any of you are talking about! Now, remind me next time I invite you and Davis, that I need to invite Sora so I have someone to talk to! So, who wants to play some soccer?" Tai asked.
Yolei stared at us. "I have to get home. My dad wanted me to work at the store."
"This weekend, we'll all do something together," T.K. decided.
"Ok, I'll call you!" Yolei waved to us as she ran off.
"That girl is weird," Tai told us.
"You just don't understand what's been going on," I explained.
"But don't worry Tai, you didn't miss anything," T.K. smiled.
"Hey Kari, why don't you tell Tai what happened in school today?" Davis winked.
"Yeah Kari, why don't you?" Tai agreed.
"I might have punched a guy. It wasn't anything, really," I said.
"It was really my fault. I was yelling at Josh," T.K. decided.
Tai put his hands on my shoulders and started to shake me. "You hit a guy…In school? What were you thinking? Are you trying to get yourself in trouble this year?"
I started to laugh. "I was sticking up for my friend. Also, Josh called me T.K.'s girlfriend…And I'm kind of sick of that. Just because we're best friends, doesn't me we're going out."
"He called Kari weak too," Davis remembered.
"Kari sure did prove to him that she isn't weak!" T.K. laughed.
"So, what, did you get more detention?" Tai questioned.
"Nope, the principal didn't care!" I giggled.
"Ok, that means we're not telling Mom about it."
"Right."
"So, are we going to play soccer, or just talk all day?" Davis questioned.
"Ok, it will be T.K. and Kari against Davis and me," Tai decided.
"That isn't fair, we're better than them!" Davis smiled.
"Fine, it will be Davis and T.K. and Kari and me," Tai said.
"Ok, first team to get five goals wins," I decided.
"Ok, come on T.K., you'll be goalie," Davis instructed.
"Kari, I'll be goalie. I want to see how good you are," Tai told me.
"Ok…I think," I walked to the center of the field.
"One, two…Go!" Davis yelled.
I kicked the ball passed him.
"Hey!" Davis called after me.
I quickly kicked the soccer ball into the goal. T.K. missed when he tried to get it. T.K. picked up the ball and kicked it past me. Davis kicked it into the goal and got a point.
"Tai, switch. I want to be goalie," I smiled.
"Ok," Tai slowly walked onto the field and I took his spot.
"Bring it on Tai!" Davis yelled.
Tai kicked the ball quickly into the goal. T.K. blocked it, but Tai kicked it in and got it in that time. That was our second goal.
"I'm not liking the whole goalie thing," T.K. complained.
"Play against Tai. If you can get a goal, you're worthy of my friendship," Davis pushed him out into the field.
"Good luck T.K.," Tai snickered.
"Why did I have to open my big mouth?" T.K. questioned.
"One, two…Go!" Tai yelled.
T.K. kicked it passed Tai. He ran for the goal. T.K. quickly kicked the soccer ball and got passed me. We were tied.
"You're good!" I told T.K. as I kicked the soccer ball across the field.
"Thanks," he laughed as he ran after it.
Tai made a goal.
"Tai! It's starting to get dark. Mom wanted us to be home before it got dark," I remembered.
"You won for now Tai," Davis told him.
"Ok," Tai smiled.
"You guys can get home on your own?" I asked.
"I think we can manage," T.K. said.
"Tai, I'll meet up with you in a minute," I waved him off.
Tai walked away from the soccer field.
"Davis give me and T.K. a minute," I shooed Davis off.
He walked away from us.
I hugged T.K. "I'm glad you and Yolei are ok."
"Nothing was ever wrong, I just made it seem that way," T.K. softly said.
"Your words were sweet," I smiled.
"You read it?" he asked.
"Yolei wanted me too," I explained.
"She's truly great."
I kissed T.K. on the cheek. "Go get Davis for me. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
T.K. walked off. I saw him talking to Davis. Davis walked up to me.
I quickly hugged Davis. "I'm sorry about all of this."
"About what? You didn't do anything," Davis softly said.
"I've been pretty moody. I guess it's the whole Dark World thing. It kind of scares me, but I know I'll always have you to help me. I have some great friends."
Davis stared at me. "You can be as moody as you want to be. No matter what, I will always love you the same."
I softly kissed him on the lips. "I love you Davis, but I have to go."
"I love you too. I'll see you tomorrow."
We walked away.
I quickly caught up to Tai. We walked home.
"Hey guys," my mom smiled as we walked into the door.
"Hi Mom," Tai quickly closed the door.
"How was your day?" she asked.
"Good," Tai walked over to the phone.
"Kari?"
"What?" I questioned.
"How was your day?"
"Um…Interesting."
"Tai…Don't even think about going on the phone. I have dinner on the table for you guys. Wash up and get eating," Mom instructed.
Tai walked to the bathroom; I followed him.
Tai turned on the bathroom sink. "What's wrong with her?"
"I don't know, and to be honest, I don't want to figure out," I put my hands in the water.
"So, what was going on with T.K. and Yolei?"
I dried my hands. "Nothing anymore…You already knew."
"Kari, why do I feel like you're hiding something?"
"Because you like to assume things like that."
"I won't let this go!"
I opened the door. "If you say so."
I walked to the table and started to eat. Tai sat across from me.
"You're doing this on purpose," Tai complained.
"I'm not doing anything Tai," I looked away.
"Why won't you tell me?"
"Why do you always have to think there is something wrong?"
"Because there is."
I slammed my fork onto the table. "There is nothing wrong! Just, let it go!"
"You're lying," Tai told me.
I stood up and pushed in my chair. "Just because you're my brother, doesn't mean I have to tell you everything that is happening in my life."
"Kari," Tai frowned.
I walked into our room.
I picked up a pillow. "I hate all of this!"
I threw the pillow onto the bed.
"I didn't want to know!" I yelled at myself.
I threw myself on my bed and hid my face in the pillow. I started to cry.
"Why me? Why me!" I screamed into the pillow.
I heard the door slowly open.
"Go away! Leave me alone! Leave me to cry the tears I should have shed yesterday!" I shouted.
"Shh Kari…Someone is on the phone for you, would you like to talk to him?" Tai softly asked.
I quickly got up and snatched the phone from him.
"Hello?" I asked weakly over the phone.
"Kari…It is happening," T.K. sobbed on the other side.
"Tai, leave the room…Now!" I pointed to the door. Tai left. "What's happening?"
"You know how you were saying that stuff about the Dark World and Yolei and me?" T.K. asked.
"Yeah," I softly said.
"Remember how you were saying that it's happening again?"
"Yes."
"Well…You're right, but it's different from what you said."
"What?"
"Mimi moved back to Japan from America."
"Huh?"
"And…I'm…Moving to…America."
I started to cry again. "No, you can't. Everything was going so good for you."
"I know Kari…I didn't think it would happen," I could tell T.K. was crying.
"Why?" I demanded.
"We-we f-found…My-my f-father," he stuttered.
"But, that's a good thing."
"In a way…It is, but I never thought we would find him…I never thought I would have to leave. I never thought it would happen."
"Where in America?"
"Oklahoma."
"Did you tell Yolei?"
"That's the problem…I can't!"
"Why?"
"I'm too scared. I can't get myself to do it. Kari, I love Yolei too much to tell her. I don't want to break her heart. I don't want to leave her."
"T.K., you need to calm down. I'll call Yolei and tell her, but you have to call Davis and tell him."
"Thank you Kari…I don't know what I would do without you."
"I'll talk to you tomorrow," I hung up the phone.
I quickly dialed Yolei's phone number.
"Hello?" Yolei answered.
"Hey Yolei," I slowly said.
"What's wrong? You sound shaky," Yolei told me.
"T.K. wanted me to call you because he was too scared to."
"Why?"
"Did you ever know that T.K. and Matt have two different fathers?"
"No…Should I?"
"T.K. and Matt have the same mother. T.K.'s father left for America for a business trip before T.K. was born. His father's job got moved to America, but T.K.'s mom stayed in Japan to raise him. She's been looking for his father ever since then."
"Right…Is there a point to this?"
"T.K.'s mom found his father in America."
"So, T.K.'s dad is going to move to Japan?"
"No."
"T.K.'s moving to America…No. This can't be happneing!" Yolei cried.
I was crying myself. "I know, I don't want this to happen either. T.K. doesn't want to go, but he wants to know his dad."
"I have to go Kari, I have to get to bed," Yolei quickly hung up the phone.
I listened to the dial tone. After a minute, I hung up our phone.
"Tai!" I yelled.
Tai opened the door and sat next to me.
"Mrs. Takaishi called early and told us that T.K. and her were moving. I didn't want to tell you. I guess it was bothering me, so I thought something was bothing you," Tai explained.
"You knew before T.K. knew. You knew before anyone other then Mrs. Takaishi knew. I didn't know…I didn't think it would ever happen," I whispered.
"I know this is going to be hard," Tai told me.
"Why does it always happen to me Tai? Do I ever get a break from all this horrible stuff?" I asked.
"It's going to be hard, but you have to hope that one day all the pain will go away," he said.
"Everything was going so good…It was starting to get better. What about Matt…Does he know? He'll be crushed even more than I am," I softly said.
"I don't know, but I really don't want to be the one to tell him. T.K. probably told Matt already…They're brothers so."
"They're half brothers…And T.K. had to have me tell Yolei, so I don't think it's going to be easy for the boy to tell his own brother," I frowned.
"How did Yolei take it?"
"She was in tears, just like me."
Tai stood up. "Kari, this is going to be the hardest thing your going to go through so far in your life. It's going to be harder than the Dark World, or kissing Willis and liking it. But, if you ever need someone to talk to about T.K. moving, I'm not going to be the perfect person…But Izzy would be; he went through this with Mimi because he hadn't told her about him liking her. Izzy knows how it feels, but I don't, so I'll listen to you, but I don't think I'll be of much help."
"But the one thing that is different between Izzy with Mimi moving and me with T.K. moving is, T.K.'s my best friend, and I don't like him for anything more," I explained.
Tai sighed and threw me my pajamas. "Some how, you'll figure out how to make everything better. You always do."
"Yeah, but that was when I wasn't part of the problem," I left for the bathroom.
I started to change and I thought about what happened last year.
"I am…I've been thinking. Since we met, I thought our friendship would never die, I thought we would be friends for life. When I was younger, ok, I still do, wish we could have something more than friendship. I know that this will never happen; you have only friendship for me. I was thinking about what I said to you a couple nights ago, about me losing you. I figured it out, I am losing you, and you are losing me! Our friendship will not be able to go on, not with you spending so much time with Davis and Yolei and I. Our friendship is going to die soon!" T.K. said deep with thought.
"Then we'll make time!" I screamed.
"Kari, we can't, it just won't work, maybe if our friendship is gone, I might get over you."
"Don't think like that!"
"I'm sorry."
"T.K. said he thought he was losing me. I thought I was losing him. He thought our friendship was dying. I denied it; I wouldn't believe that to be true," I told myself.
"Kari…I'm…I'm scared that I'm going to lose the only friend that understands me," he told me.
"Who is this friend?" I asked shyly, knowing that he was going to say me.
"It's you Kari," he said slowly.
"You're not losing me!" I yelled at him.
"Yes I am. I'm losing you to Davis," he said calmly.
"To Davis? Why do you say that?" I asked him in puzzlement.
"It's never just you and me, it's always you, me, and Davis," he said sadly.
"I…I don't understand T.K.," I said softly.
"You never want to hang out with just me. I want to be with just you sometimes, but I never can. Every time I get a chance to talk to just you, Davis always shows up," he said in a calm voice.
"Why didn't you tell me this from the start?" I questioned.
"Because…I was…I was…Scared I guess," T.K. said unsure of himself.
"T.K., if you wanted some time with me, just tell me, I won't get mad. Davis won't either. Trust me T.K., please. I'm sorry, I'm sorry for what I have done," I finished.
"After that night, our friendship was starting to die. We were slowly growing apart. I did spend more time with Davis than with T.K., but is it truly my fault? I can't control my heart; it plays its own games. After a friendship that was so long. A friendship since we were only nine! Now, it's getting all thrown away because he has to go to America. But, it has a reason behind it. A great reason. A father for T.K., but does Mrs. Takaishi even know what she's making him lose? Sure, he'll be gaining a father, but will T.K. ever be able to find the things he's found here? The best of friends, a girlfriend, and a life he could never get anywhere else. Is it really worth it? I will never know…I guess it wasn't T.K.'s choice. And, after all we've been through…I'm going to lose it because of a move I never thought would happen. Sadly, I wish that T.K. and Yolei broke up instead. At least I would know how to fix that," I was talking to myself.
T.K. moved my head to look at him. "I don't know my dad. My mom has been looking for him for a long time. She told me that he really won't know about me because he went on a business trip before I was born. My mom also said that his work got moved to America, and she didn't want to move there so she decided to stay in Japan and raise me herself. I just try to pretend that I don't have a dad, but I've always wondered what he's like. I really want to know him, but I'm scared that if my mom does find him, we'll have to moved to America…I don't want that."
"I just had to ask him about his father. Oh well, what else could possibly go wrong?" I opened the door and left the bathroom.
I walked back into our room as the phone started to ring.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Kari, T.K. called me…Are you ok?" Davis questioned.
"I'll talk to you tomorrow," I told him.
"Wait, but Kari-!" Davis said as I hung up the phone on him.
"Kari, what was that about?" Tai asked me.
"Oh, nothing. Lets get some sleep. I have a lot to do tomorrow," I laid my head on my pillow.
The lights were turned off. "Good night…I think."
I closed my eyes tight and cried myself to sleep.
"You're really going," I softly said.
"I knew it was going to happen one of these days…I just didn't think it would be so soon," T.K. told me.
"I guess you were right."
"What?"
"Last year, you said you were losing me and that our friendship was dying…I guess it really is."
"Kari, I was being foolish; I know better now. Just because I'm moving to America, doesn't mean that will ever break our friendship!"
I started to cry as I fell into T.K.'s arms. "What about you and Yolei?"
"Kari, she might be my girlfriend, but my heart will always belong to you," T.K. smiled.
"But T.K., you said you were over me. You said you were in love with Yolei," I reminded him.
"People say a lot of things to make themselves think the things, but that doesn't mean it's true. I was trying to hide my feelings for you, but I couldn't stop them from coming out one of these days. Now that I'm moving, I thought you should know, I might have been with Yolei, but I always loved you more than I could ever love her," T.K. explained.
"But T.K., I'm with Davis; you know we could never be more than fr-" I started.
"Shut up," T.K. told me as he kissed me on the lips. It was a hard, tender kiss.
I started to kiss him back.
T.K. pulled away. "I wanted to do that since we were nine."
"T.K., I shouldn't have done that…I'm with Davis," I looked away.
"It can be our little secret; he doen't need to know," T.K. said.
"But-"
"Did you enjoy it?"
"Well…Yes."
T.K. pulled me closer and kissed me again.
I pushed him away and fell to the ground in tears. "No!"
"Ah!" I jumped up. I was sweating from fear. I was in tears. "It was just a dream Kari…A dream."
I looked at the clock. I walked over to the closet. I grabbed something to wear and changed in the bathroom. After that I wrote a note to Tai and my mom telling them I went for a walk.
"That would never happen. T.K. would never kiss me; not on the lips," I told myself.
I walked down the road. I stopped when I got to T.K.'s apartment building.
"He wouldn't. I told him that we would never be more than friends," I remembered.
I kept on walking. I stopped when I reached Davis's apartment building. I walked up the steps and stopped at his door.
"Davis wouldn't be awake right now. I'll just wait for him," I decided.
I sat next to the door and closed my eyes.
"It was just a dream Kari; it will never come true," I said as I fell asleep.
"Kari?" someone's voice woke me up.
I slowly opened my eyes and looked around me. I looked up and saw Davis. I was confused.
"How long have you been here? What happened? Why are you here?" Davis asked.
"What time is it?" I countered.
"6:50AM," he told me.
"Oh no! My mom…Tai. I wrote them a note saying I was going on a walk, and I stopped here to wait for you. I must of fell asleep," I explained.
"What time did you leave your apartment?"
"About 4AM," I frowned.
Davis took my hands and helped me up. He saw that I had my bag. "Come on in, you can call them on our phone."
I walked inside with Davis. I saw June sitting at the table drinking a glass of water.
Davis handed me the phone. I slowly dialed the number for my house.
"Hello?" Tai answered.
"Tai, I'm at Davis's…I fell asleep waiting for him. I have my bag, so I'll talk to you when I get home after school," I told my brother.
"Kari, you had us worried. Why did you leave?"
"I'll tell you later."
"Ok, bye," Tai hung up the phone.
I hung up Davis's phone and handed it to him.
"You ok?" Davis asked me.
"Not really, but I'll tell you about that later," I looked over at June.
"Why is your little friend here Davis?" June demanded.
"Because she can be and she's my girlfriend!" Davis crossly said.
June walked over to me and scanned me.
"Leave her alone June," Davis told his sister.
I looked at the ground. "I better get going. Thanks for letting me use your phone Davis."
I started to walk away, but someone stopped me.
I turned around to see June holding me back.
"You're mad at Davis, aren't you? What did he do this time?" June questioned.
"I'm not mad at Davis. He did nothing wrong. Even if I was mad at Davis, it would be none of your buisiness. Anyways, don't you have something better to do than ask me these questions, like follow Matt around while you drool over his good looks," I said.
"I lost interest in Matt once I found out he was going out with someone," June frowned.
"Then, why don't you find someone else to stalk!" I yelled as I walked out the door.
"Kari!" Davis yelled after me.
I ran down the steps and started to trip. Someone caught my arm and stopped me from falling.
"Kari, are you ok?" Davis asked.
I was breathing heavily. "I'm sorry I hung up on you last night. I'm sorry if it hurt you. I'm sorry for anything I ever did wrong!"
"Kari, what is wrong?" Davis demanded.
I fell into his arms and started to cry. "It was just a dream, that means it didn't mean anything…Right Davis?"
"I guess, yeah," he sounded confused.
"I'll tell you what I'm talking about on the way. We need to get to school," I started to walk again. Davis followed me.
