Part One: Her Secret

Chapter Four: Poles Apart

A thumping guitar accompanied the end credits of the film and Tai stood up from the sofa and wandered over to the kitchen. They'd watched The Matrix, which, surprisingly, had been Kari's choice. Then again it was one of what he suspected would be many surprises regarding his sister over the next few days. The first being what she was currently wearing. Gone were the light colours and summery look that he'd always associated with her. Instead, she had attired herself in ripped black jeans and a slashed green t-shirt. The colours accentuating her pale skin, rather than blending with it. Altogether it gave her a sort of teenage angst/punk look. And Tai wondered whether or not she'd given any thought to dying her hair some primary or secondary colour. She'd certainly suit it, given her new look.

Tai shook his head as he caught himself wondering whether she'd look better with red or turquoise highlights. She probably would not thank him for fashion tips. Regardless, her new style of dress may well be offering him an early insight into how she currently felt. He hoped not, as he could not bear to think that his sister had been struggling emotionally and it had taken something so blatant as a change of wardrobe for him to take note. However, he had a sinking feeling that he'd not just dropped the ball on this one, but rather tossed it off a cliff. After picking the film, she'd barely even looked at him, let alone spoken to him. In fact, it had felt like a struggle getting her to talk before he'd ordered the pizza.

Opening the fridge he looked back over towards the sofa. "You want a soda, Kari?" he called, hoping it would offer him a route back through the door labelled conversation. When he got no response he tried a little louder, "Kari?"

The delayed response of, "Hmm," was accompanied by a swivel of her head to face him.

"You want a soda?"

A nod was all he received. So much for kick-starting conversation, he thought as he grabbed two cans of soda from the fridge before closing it. However, not before giving a cursory glance to a casserole dish containing one of their mother's infamous experimental nightmares. He'd rather take a second round with Piedmon before touching that, much less eat it. Needless to say, it would only be eaten as a last resort on Sunday night and even then he'd need to be starving. Assuming it was still there, of course. He wouldn't put it passed anything their mother made to sprout legs and make a bid for freedom. Not that he would stand in its way. He chuckled to himself on the way back to the sofa as he imagined the abomination sitting in the casserole dish running for the door. Sitting back down he held Kari's soda out to her and waited for her to take it.

"So I thought we could go into town tomorrow, maybe do some shopping and get lunch," he said when she took hold of the can.

Kari's reddish-brown eyes shot up to meet his own and in the space of a few seconds, he was sure her facial expression had changed from one of joy to horror and then to dismay. It had been as if he'd magically pulled Gatomon out from behind his back, slit the Digimon's throat and finally revealed it to be nothing more than a stuffed animal. It made completely zero sense. Less even, if that were possible. His sister quickly turned her head back towards the TV.

"I already told you, I've got a mountain of homework to do," she said. The dismay was evident in her tone, but given what he'd just witnessed Tai reasoned that now was the time for a good bluff.

"Really? Cos I checked with Davis earlier and he said you guys got off scot-free this weekend."

There was a pause in which Tai suspected Kari was trying to think up a lie. "What would that bonehead know?" she then said testily.

"He's in all your classes," he replied smoothly, "and if that bonehead doesn't have homework, nobody in the class does."

"So what, now you're spying on me!" she shot back with venom, her eyes rounding on him and ablaze.

Something else new, he thought. Kari of old did not do anger, at least not to this degree and certainly not so quickly. However, Tai held his nerve. "No, I just have a good idea when my sister's lying to me."

He could practically hear Kari cursing internally as he revealed his hand, the sour expression now on her face serving as further confirmation. Indeed such was the level of irritation radiating from her that he suspected she had not meant to vocalise, "so you think," when she turned away from him once more.

He took a moment to allow the tension in the air to diffuse somewhat. While it had been a cheap trick and Kari had every right to be annoyed at them both, it did give him something else to think about. She had deliberately lied to him in order to escape having to eat pizza and watch a film with him. Yet she had sounded so genuinely dismayed at having to turn him down and then relented to a simple tickle attack that it made no sense. If she had been so set against it, she could simply have told him no. This was not something he was going to unravel in one night he realised. However, he had to start somewhere, so elected to use her own last words as a jumping-off point.

"How about when you didn't like any of your birthday presents the other week?"

The unopened can of soda that Kari had been holding the entire time fell to the floor with a hollow thud. This time she turned her entire body to face him. "How did you…" she said, so stunned that she didn't actually finish the question.

While the thought crossed Tai's mind that he could come up with some clever reasoning, he decided that if he wished her to be honest with him, then he should be honest in return. "I didn't, at least not at the time. I fell for that headache excuse like everyone else."

"Then what gave me away?"

"You didn't text me to say that you would be home late today."

The look Kari gave him was now less of shock and more of puzzlement, "what does that have to do with anything?"

"At first I thought it was odd, but then I started to remember all the times lately when mom's asked me if I knew where you were. It was then I realised that something hasn't been quite right with you lately and I've been so busy with schoolwork and soccer practice to notice. I started to think back over the past few weeks and your birthday stood out in my memory. That and a time I was sure I saw you go into your room wearing black jeans."

When he finished, Kari let out a laugh but he could tell that it was slightly hollow. However, before she could reply he added, "I'm sorry, Kari."

She gave him a blank look, "sorry for what?"

"For not paying much attention to you over the past year. You had that horrible breakup and after the dust settled I just forgot about you," Tai answered, hoping that his tone properly conveyed how sorry he felt.

"You did more than enough for me at the time," Kari offered in his defence, "besides, it's not your job to look after me. I can take care of myself."

"I should at least know enough about my sister to be able to buy her a birthday gift she likes."

For some strange reason, Kari looked slightly hurt at that last comment. Even though it had only served to highlight his own failings. "It's not your fault, Tai," she said, sounding every bit as sorry as he himself had. "I've not been in a good place since I broke up with TK. And haven't really let anyone get close to me."

"At least Davis had the decency to accept that you wanted to break up with him. Unlike some people."

She laughed, "who would have thought Davis would be more understanding than TK, especially after all the flirting and showing off he used to do around me."

"I guess out of the two, he actually cared more about how you felt."

"I guess so," Kari said in a tone that told Tai that both relationships still played heavily on her mind.

At this point, he thought it best to change the subject. While there was certainly more to her issues than two old relationships, he did not want to push her too far too soon or she might close down on him again. Instead, he elected to re-broach his offer from earlier, "so since the homework gods have let us both off the hook this weekend, let's go into town tomorrow."

The same oxymoronic mix of emotion displayed on Kari's face but lingered longer. It felt like she desperately wanted to say yes, yet at the same time couldn't. It just made no sense. While she wrestled with the decision, he decided to sweeten the deal, "I'll buy you a new birthday present."

"You don't have to do that, Tai."

"I want to. You at least deserve something for your sixteenth birthday that you'll actually like. Even if its two weeks late."

Kari gave him a warm smile and Tai pondered whether it was the first genuine one she'd given him all night. "Ok, we'll go. But you really don't have to buy me anything."

"We'll have fun, I promise," he said as he reached out to give her a hug.

It took a moment or two for Kari to return the gesture and Tai could not help but feel like there had been some form of resistance from her. Still, given the now apparent distance that existed between them, he shouldn't have expected anything more. It was going to take time to re-establish their relationship and he fully intended to do so. He just hoped Kari was willing to do so too.