T.K. opened the door. "Mom! I brought Kari over for dinner!"
"What are you doing home so soon…Did you skip detention?" Mrs. Takaishi asked.
"No, the teacher decided that we don't have it anymore," he smiled.
"Ok then…I'm going to order pizza for dinner seeming that Kari is over."
"Right," T.K. nodded and motioned me into his room.
I hadn't been to T.K.'s house in awhile. Right when when I looked around, I remembered the last year. Most of the bad things happened here and the concert hall. So many bad memories…But out of them all…There came good ones.
"Sorry about the mess Kari, I haven't had a chance to clean," T.K. apologized.
"Have you been packing?" I wondered.
"Not really. Mom decided that we'll just take what we need for the first few month, and we'll come back for the rest of the stuff at a later date," he frowned.
I looked at the walls, only one picture was hanging; the picture I gave to him. The one of Matt and T.K. It looked lonely. "T.K., what have you decided to bring with you?"
"Well…I haven't given that much thought. I'm going to bring my clothes and my shampoo. I'm also going to bring my basketball…But the things I want to take most must stay in Japan."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I mean, I can't take my friends with me."
"Oh T.K.," I got up and hugged him.
T.K. hugged me back. "I'll live with it…I'll have to cope."
There was knocking on the door. "The pizza is here!" T.K.'s mom said.
"Come on Kari," T.K. smiled.
We walked out of the room and sat at the table.
T.K. pulled out a chair for me; I sat down. He sat next to me. He then placed two slices of pizza on our plates. Smiling, T.K. motioned me to eat. I slowly grabbed the slice and bit into it.
"So, Kari, how has school been going?" Mrs. Takaishi broke the silence.
"It's been going pretty good," I forced a smile on my face.
"That's good."
"Yeah, we were going to have a good school year…Too bad I won't be here," T.K. hinted.
"T.K., be a little positive about your move," I frowned.
T.K. finished his pizza. "Excuse me." He stood up and walked to the bathroom.
I looked at the pizza box as I slowly finished my last slice.
"Would you like more?" Mrs. Takaishi asked.
I shook my head.
"What's bothering you?"
I looked away. "The fact that my best friend has to move."
"Kari, we have to…This is his father."
"But he's been doing fine without one."
"I know you don't understand."
"I understand perfectly fine!"
"Please, don't yell."
I stood up. "You're taking T.K. away from more than just his friends…You're taking him from his life. I just hope you know what you're doing is a mistake." I stormed off into T.K.'s room.
What has happened to me? I was yelling at T.K.'s mom…I was being a jerk. I guess I'm not ready to lose a friend. What am I talking about? I'm not losing T.K.! Our friendship can only grow. It's just so hard to figure all of this out, I thought.
The door opened.
"I'm sorry T.K.," I softly said.
A hand was placed on my shoulder. "You did nothing wrong. Now, lets talk about the real reason I wanted you to come."
I had forgotten the true reason for why I was invited, but now that I remembered…I didn't really need that answer anymore. I had figured it out already.
"No need to talk about that," I softly smiled.
"Kari…I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I still have feelings for you," he frowned.
"T.K., you learn something new everyday…Today, I learned that Davis is the cause and the healer of my pain. You learned that you can never over come the feelings in your heart."
He nodded. "Come on, lets get you home."
I smiled as we walked out the door. We went to the elevator. When it opened, Yolei and Davis were inside. They stepped out.
"You guys are back early," I smiled.
"Davis got us kicked out," Yolei frowned.
"You're joking…Right?" I wondered.
Davis shook his head. "No…They said I was being too loud."
"But he was making a good point," Yolei decided.
"Well, seeming that you guys are back…Davis, you can walk Kari home or whatever, and I'll walk Yolei up to her apartment," T.K. said.
"Right!"
Davis and I took the elevator down first.
As we walked out of the elevator, Davis grabbed my hand. I pulled myself closer to him and leaned my head on his shoulder.
"How was your dinner?" Davis questioned.
"I think Mrs. Takaishi is mad at me," I frowned.
"Why?"
"I yelled at her because she didn't think I understood why T.K. and her were moving."
There was a moment of silence. I guess that Davis was thinking of something to say, but he never spoke a single word.
"Davis," I faintly said.
He stared at me. "What is it?"
This time, I was the one that didn't say anything.
"Kari, don't worry about Mrs. Takaishi being mad at you. You have much better things to do. Anyway…You have a poem to write," Davis smiled, but I could tell it was fake.
I looked away. "Your smile…It's forced on your face. Why do you have a false smile? Just…Don't smile at all."
"I'm sorry…Ididn't really even notice," Davis frowned and let go of my hand.
I pulled the hand he held up to my face.
"Kari…This is your stop."
I looked up at a building; my apartments.
"Come on, I'll walk you up," Davis decided.
Without me giving a response, we walked up to my door.
"Kari, try to have a good night. I hope tomorrow I don't have to find you in front of my door…Next time, just wake me up," Davis told me.
"I forgot about that. Davis, I'll see you tomorrow…Have a good night," I put my hand on the door nob and began to turn.
"Um…Ok, bye," Davis started to walk away.
I quickly turned around. "Hey Davis! You forgot something!"
He walked back. "What?"
"Good night, and I love you," I pulled him towards me as we began to kiss.
After a few seconds, we pulled away.
"I love you too, and I'll have a great night now," Davis smiled as he waved good bye.
I opened the door and walked in.
"I'm home!" I yelled.
"Welcome home honey," my dad welcomed me back.
"Daddy!" I cried as I gave him a big hug.
My father worked almost all the time so Tai, my mom, and myself didn't get to see him that often. When ever he came home, I would always be asleep, and he'd leave before the next morning.
"I hope you don't mind me being home. Anyways, Tai told me about T.K. moving. I hope you'll end up being ok. Why should I be worried? You're always happy!" he smiled.
"Of course," I forced a smile and a laugh. "I have to get ready for bed, I'll talk to you later." I walked into the bedroom.
"Hey Kari," Tai smiled as I walked in.
I walked over to the bed and grabbed my pajamas. I turned back to the door.
"What's wrong?" Tai questioned.
I looked at him. "It hurts to keep secrets…No matter how small they are."
"Huh?"
"Dad's home…And he still doesn't know."
"Are you talking about not telling Dad about your depression?"
"I…Have to change," I quickly left for the bathroom.
I quickly changed. I had a feeling that when I got back to Tai, he'd be asking me a whole bunch of questions. I looked at myself in the mirror.
"I'm not always happy…It's just when you're around."
A tear fell from my eye. I quickly wiped it of my cheek.
Stupid secrets…They do nothing but bad for me! I just can't tell this one; I promised Mom, and breaking a promise with her is the last thing I want to do, I thought.
I pulled open the door and walked back into the bedroom.
As I walked into the room, I saw Tai strangling his pillow.
"Tai!" I yelled.
He quickly turned to see me. The pillow was dropped.
"What are you doing?" I demanded.
"I didn't mean for you to see that; I just lost my temper," Tai frowned.
"Why?" I wondered.
Tai looked away. "Because of Dad."
"Dad?"
"He's pressuring me into telling him something I shouldn't….He thinks I'm hiding something when I'm not. Now, he won't leave it alone."
"But Tai, you are hiding something from him. You're not telling him about my depression. Also…He doesn't know about you and Sora…Or Davis and I."
"You said you told him!"
"I lied. I couldn't let him know. It would have broken his heart to know that his little girl is growing up."
Tai pushed me on the bed. "What about me? You don't care about breaking my heart!"
I tried to push him off, but I couldn't. I quickly punched him in the stomach; he punched back. We hit each other back and forth until Tai nailed me to the wall. His hands were wrapped around my neck. He started to squeeze; started to choke me.
"Ah!" I tried to scream. It was soft, but it was heard.
The door crashed open.
"Taichi Kamiya! Let go of her!" our mom yelled.
Tai let go of me and turned around.
"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.
"I was choking my sister," Tai admitted.
"Get out in the living room," our dad said.
Tai walked out.
"Kari, are you ok?" Mom wondered.
"Leave me alone," I frowned.
They walked out.
I laid my head on my pillow. I closed my eyes. "Thank you Tai…Thank you for showing me how you truly feel about all of this."
I began to cry.
"Thank you," my words faded as I fell asleep.
It was a terrible night, and an even worse morning. Tai had to sleep on the couch. I blamed myself. I didn't talk the whole morning, and I wouldn't even eat. Everyone tried to get me to say something, but I never did. I wouldn't even smile; my depression was shown. After I was ready to leave, I went to get Davis. We all decided to not go to school and just hang out.
I knocked on Davis's door.
The door opened. June was there. "What?"
"Is Davis ready?" I wondered.
"Davis! Hurry up! Someone is here for you!" June yelled.
"Uh-"
The door was slammed in my face.
What a jerk! I thought.
The door quickly opened back up. Davis smiled and gave me a hug. "Sorry about her."
I pushed him away. "Lets just go."
Davis was shocked by my action. I began to walk away; he followed.
We stopped in front of Yolei, T.K., and Cody's apartment building.
"Kari, are you ok? You don't seem yourself," Davis pointed out.
"I don't want to talk about it," I frowned.
"Oh, ok," Davis went to the elevator.
He's not pressuring me into saying what's wrong, I thought.
"I'm sorry about pushing you away," I told him as we got into the elevator.
"Don't worry about it," Davis softly smiled.
I tried to smile back, but I couldn't.
"So, are you ok? From your fight with Tai, I mean. If you're wondering, I have a way of figuring these things out, and I also noticed a few scratches and scrapes on your arms. I'm guessing you weren't going to tell me, so I had to ask. I just hope Tai didn't hurt you too much, because if he did I'd…Well, I wouldn't be too happy. I don't like seeing you get hurt. It just breaks my heart."
I looked at the floor as the elevator came to a stop. "Dai…"
He stepped out of the elevator and pulled me with him. Davis walked us to Yolei's apartment.
Davis stopped at her door and turned to me. He began to blush.
"What?" I wondered.
"You called me Dai."
I knocked on the door. "He got mad because I didn't tell our dad about me going out with you or about him going out with Sora. Tai got mad because I said I didn't want to break our dad's heart, and I didn't think our dad would want to see me grow up so fast. Then, Tai pushed me onto the bed yelling about breaking his heart, and yeah, that's kind of what happened."
The door opened as Yolei smiled at us.
"Hey Yolei," I softly said.
"Hey guys! We've been waiting for you to get here. T.K. and I already decided what we're going to do today. You're going to be so surprised! Don't worry, you'll like it," Yolei pulled us in.
As we walked in, I heard T.K. and Cody arguing.
"Stop changing the channel!" T.K. yelled.
"I'm not the one who changed it first…I was watching this first!" Cody yelled back.
Yolei walked up to the TV and turned it off. "You're acting like three year olds! Now, lets go."
T.K. and Cody turned to her and nodded.
"Is Ken going to be coming?" Davis questioned.
"He can't get out of school, but he'll be coming to the airport tomorrow morning…When I leave," T.K. explained to him.
I sighed. "I wish he could come with us…Where ever we're going."
"Lets get going. We have a great day planned," Cody smiled.
With the nodding of our heads, we were on our way. I still didn't know where we were going, but I guess I would find out when I got there.
"Ok, we don't want you to know where we're going, so…Both of you will have to be blind folded," T.K. told us.
"Blind folded? Uh…Why?" I questioned.
"Because, we don't want you two to know where we're going," Cody smiled.
Davis sighed. "Can't you just tell us?"
"No! Now, hold still so we can get you blind folded!" Yolei yelled.
I grabbed Davis's hand. "Ok."
"Ok, now that we have those on you guys, we can get going. Oh, and so you go the right way, I'll pull you in the right direction," Cody took my free hand and pulled me down the road; I pulled Davis.
"It feels like we've been walking for hours," I complained.
"Yeah, and I've almost tripped over a million times!" Davis yelled.
"Don't worry, we're there," Yolei giggled.
We stopped and our blind folds were taken off. It was an amazing sight we saw. Such an amazing sight, it made me cry. I fell to the ground in tears.
"Kari!" T.K. shouted as everyone turned around.
"We're sorry, we didn't think it would make you cry," Cody explained.
A picnic was set up in the same place we had it last year. I had notice etching on the tree.
It read:
"We've made it this far. Nothing can hold us back." -Davis Motomiya
"To some, T.K. is just a friend, to another, he was a boyfriend, to me, he was my best friend. So, we are losing more than a friend, we're losing a part of our lives, and a piece of our hearts." -Kari Kamiya
"May I engrave something?" I asked T.K. and Yolei.
"Go ahead," T.K. smiled.
I walked up to the tree and slowly marked a few words. I then walked back to the group.
"Forever you'll be beside us no matter how far you go. Ocean, sea, river, it doesn't really matter. We see the true you. Let your hope shine on us. Never change. Forever stay the same. Just be our T.K.," Yolei read what I wrote.
"That's sweet," Cody whispered.
"Th-thank you K-Kari," T.K. was shaking.
I placed my hand on his shoulder. I let out a soft sigh. "It will be ok. Don't worry T.K."
"Come on, I'm getting hungry…Lets have this picnic," Davis decided.
We slowly walked to where the picnic was set up. We sat down and began to eat. It was silent.
I was scared. The thought of losing my best friend. What parent would do that? It was so sad. The thought of not having that one person that was always there for you not there. It was so scary. I know I'll see him again, but why did he have to go so far? The bad stuff…It always happens to me.
"Kari? Are you ok?" Cody asked.
"Huh? Yeah…I'm fine," I slowly came back to reality.
"Kari," T.K. softly spoke. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean for this to happen."
I looked up in surprise. "T.K, it's not your fault. Don't ever think that! You couldn't prevent this from happening. It will never be your fault…Never."
"And…It's not your fault either," Davis stared into my eyes.
"It's nobody's fault," Yolei decided.
I jumped up with a rice ball in my hand. "Lets blame Tai!"
"Tai?" everyone wondered.
"Yeah…Or, we could blame Joe," I took a bite.
"Where do you come up with this stuff?" Cody questioned.
"…My…Head…"
"Sit down Kari," Davis told me.
"No."
"Sit."
"No."
"Kari, please sit."
I had a little piece of rice ball left. I threw it at Davis's head. "No."
"Ok, that wasn't nice," he got an evil smile. He took a piece of bread and threw it at me.
We started to throw food back and forth. T.K. and Yolei joined in. Cody quickly stood up.
"Stop!" Cody yelled.
We quickly looked at Cody. He never yelled. We were shocked.
"Sorry…I just don't think we should be wasting food," Cody picked up the last rice ball and took a bite. "We should eat it, or we could do this." Cody threw the rice ball at Yolei.
"Hey! But it's ok for you to throw things at me?" Yolei demanded.
"Maybe…"
I stood up and tackled Cody down.
"Wait, I'm younger than you…You're not allowed to hurt me!" he cried.
I got up and lost my balance. I fell ontop of Davis.
"Hey, good thing you don't weigh that much!" Davis yelled.
"Sorry Davis…I can't walk today," I smiled.
T.K. walked up to me. "Do you need a hand?"
"Yes please."
He began to clap.
"Hey!" I whined.
"Just joking!" T.K. pulled me off of Davis. He looked down at him. "I think you can manage…Right?"
Davis sighed and looked towards the sky. "It's sad, you know? The thought that we might never have a day like this again…"
"We never had a day like this before," Yolei softly pointed out.
"I know…And it feels so good. I love spending time with you guys. Have you noticed? I haven't fought with T.K. all day," Davis slowly got on his feet.
"That's rare. We always have someone fighting in our group, but it hasn't happened all day," Cody agreed with him.
"It's pretty nice," I frowned.
"If it's nice…Then why are you frowning?" T.K. questioned.
"I can't help it. It hurts," I looked towards Davis. You could see tears forming in his eyes.
Davis put a hand on Yolei's shoulder and his other hand on my shoulder. "Lets try our hardest to make this day the best day. We'll always remember today. It will be our national friendship day…Ok?"
"I like that idea," Yolei turned to Davis.
"So, lets not ruin this day. Lets go have some good team fun!" Cody decided.
We spend the whole day together until it was 5PM. T.K. had to go home because he had to finish packing. Everyone else decided to go home. Davis and I decided to stay out for a little longer.
