Part Two: His Secret

Chapter Two: Take it back

The strong smell of coffee engulfed Tai Kamiya's nostrils as he listened to the apartment door click shut. He felt like a complete and utter zombie this morning… or at least more so than usual. Still dressed in yesterday's clothes, his mass off chocolate hair was a tousled mess and felt greasy to the touch. After breakfast, he seriously needed to take a shower. In fact, had it not been for the cup currently held close to his mouth, he would probably be able to smell that need. Taking another drink he turned his attention to the plate in front of him. It seemed that Kari must have been taking pity on him as she'd gone to the trouble of making him an omelette.

At least last night seemed to have had a positive effect on her, he mused as he took his first bite; delicious. For she'd seemed genuinely happy before she left. He also suspected that she'd slept far better than he had. Casting his mind back to last night he could not remember how late it had been when he eventually keeled over. He just knew that he had sat on the edge of his bed in stunned silence for a very long time. Focusing his attention on his breakfast, he tried to force all thoughts of last night and Kari to the back of his head to be dealt with when he was more awake. It worked for a while, but by the time he was eating the last bites of his omelette and draining his glass of orange juice, his sister had managed to creep back into his mind via a moment when he pondered what she might make for dinner. A rather stealthy tactic he had to admit.

Rising from the table, Tai made a b-line for the bathroom. Stripping out of his rumpled clothes, he climbed inside the shower cubical. The jet of cold water that hit him in the face served to wake up the last part of his brain that was still asleep. It took a few moments for it to reach a suitable temperature. Under the warm jet of the shower, his brain began the process of sorting out the train wreck that was his memories of the previous night. Kari had kissed him then barricaded herself inside her bedroom. He'd then jumped onto her balcony from his parents one and proceeded to comfort her. She had then confessed to having fallen in love with him two years ago.

Tai let out a low breath and picked up the shampoo bottle. That had been the bombshell alright. Kari, his little sister, was in love with him. The revelation had stunned him completely and left him unsure how to feel. Having seen how distraught she was and upon hearing what she thought he would think of her, he had made the decision that his feelings on the subject did not matter at that point in time. Kari had needed compassion and understanding, which was exactly what he had given her. Fast forward to this morning and it seemed to have worked; given how happy she had seemed. And he had no intention of pulling the rug out from under her feet now. If she needed him, he would be there for her. No, the real cause for concern had come in the form his tentative let down and… the second kiss. Perhaps Kari had wanted to prove her point or maybe even to know what it felt like to kiss him properly just once. Regardless, he had not resisted and experienced something he had never felt before.

Lathering his hair with shampoo, Tai thrust his head back under the water and began to rinse the now soapy mass. The memory of the love and warmth he had felt in the brief moment when their lips had been in contact floated to the surface of his mind. He could still recall the detail with perfect clarity.

"So what now?" a slightly hissed voice from the depths of his mind queried. "You know the revelation you discovered while sitting all alone in your bedroom."

I was just being reactionary, Tai thought firmly, dismissing the voice. I had no idea what to think. I didn't want to hurt Kari and I simply invented some crazy notion about being in love with her too because I want her to be happy.

"If you say so," the voice replied in a mocking tone. "You're the boss after all."

"I do."

Finished rinsing his hair, Tai quickly scrubbed his body and turned the water off. Taking a towel from the rack, he dried himself thoroughly before picking up his clothes to toss into the laundry hamper. However, by the time he made it to his bedroom, his brain had started playing back snippets from last night. He tried to ignore it as he dressed in a pair of brown three-quarter length cargo trousers and a blue t-shirt with yellow trim. Sitting down at his desk he turned on his laptop and opened up an internet browser. Without really knowing what he was doing or what he wanted to find, he started searching for information regarding incestuous relationships in Japan. After a bit of reading, he found himself to be rather surprised at how liberal his country was compared to most on the matter. Not only was it not illegal, but it had quite a presence in popular culture, specifically in Shojo anime and manga. Something he had never bothered with given that its target audience was teenage girls.

Regardless of what he'd just read, that still did not make it right… did it? He shook his head. Why was he even looking at this? Kari was his sister and while she might be in love with him, he did not feel the same way about her. End of story. Making sure to clear his browser history he closed his laptop over. In a few days, things would have settled down. Kari would hopefully still be happy and they would be able to go back to having a relationship like they used to. Until then he needed a distraction. Looking around his room his eyes came to rest on his video game collection; perfect. Walking over to his bookcase he ran a finger along the edge of a shelf as he pondered what to play. He should probably pick something that was two-player in case Kari wanted to join him when she got back from the store, he mused as he started ruling games out one by one. He felt slightly dismayed when he had to reject Metroid Prime, but it would be quite douchey of him to exclude his sister. Especially after she had made him breakfast and gone shopping so he wouldn't have to suffer the unidentifiable abomination that lurked in the fridge. However, the game next to it would be perfect; Mario Kart Double Dash!

Taking the game off the shelf, he gathered together the various parts of his GameCube and carted it through to the living room. After a few moments, he had it hooked up to the TV and the disc inserted. When the title screen booted up, he could not help but smile. While they'd not played this iteration much, Mario Kart 64 had been a virtual battleground for them growing up. One on which he never lost without choosing to. Still, it had been a while since he had last played, better ease off the rust before Kari got home.

The video game did what he had intended it to do and he had become quite engrossed by the time his sister arrived home. So much so that he did not even hear her come in.

"What you up to, Tai?"

Tai jumped while at the same time trying to turn around to see the assailant, causing him to fall off the sofa and land on the wooden floor with a heavy thud. From his new position, he heard Kari burst into a fit of hysterics, while his hard-fought first place was evaporated by a blue shell of death. With difficulty, largely due to the fact he was wedged between the sofa and coffee table, he pulled himself to his feet.

"That was not funny, Kari," he said hotly, giving her a stern look.

It had the opposite effect as his sister's laughter intensified. He watched as she clung to the back of the sofa for support. Her attire today, red tartan skirt with a black t-shirt and choker, gave her an altogether different look from yesterday, but one that she still suited. Around her neck, he also did not fail to notice she wore her crest of light pendant.

When she eventually settled down, Kari replied, "you're right, Tai. It wasn't funny, it was hilarious."

A sour expression formed on his face but quickly melted at the sight of his sister's cute smile. Apparently, her get out of trouble look worked on him too, for he soon found himself smiling. "So what did you get for dinner?" he asked, the sight of the grocery bags she held only just reminding him why she went out in the first place.

"That is a surprise," Kari replied as she headed for the kitchen. He followed her only to have her turn and hold a hand out in a stop gesture when she crossed the threshold. "The kitchen's out of bounds until after dinner."

"But what if I want a snack?" he asked in confusion.

"Then you'll just have to ask me nicely to go and get it for you."

"But…"

"No buts," she said firmly, "unless you want to be eating mom's kitchen nightmare for dinner."

He gulped at how serious she made the threat sound. He searched her eyes for any hint that it was a bluff. Holly crap she was serious. Involuntarily he backed away from her outstretched hand. "Ok, Kari, whatever you say," he said with a forced laugh as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Good boy," Kari replied with a devilish grin, "now go sit on the sofa and I'll join you once I've put this stuff away."

Tai did as he was told and went back to the sofa. Picking up his gamepad he went about setting up another race. He shot a glance over to the kitchen. Well, you were the one who told her to be herself, his brain reminded him. Perhaps he'd made a slight error in judgement when he'd told her that. This Kari had an evil streak. After only one race, his sister sat down beside him.

"Can I play?" she asked sweetly, her tone unnerving him slightly.

"Sure." He picked up the second gamepad and handed it to her. "Do you still know how?"

Kari took the pad from him, "I'm sure I'll manage."

Tai quickly exited to the main menu and entered the two-player mode. On the character select screen, he wasted no time in selecting the blue boiler-suited brothers; his go-to. Kari, on the other hand, would play as Peach and Da… What the hell, Bowser and Bowser Jr! His head spun around to look at her.

She smiled at him, "just fancied a change, that's all."

He decided to ignore it as the first race began. The lights went out and he made off with a perfect start and after a few corners had taken the lead. Three laps of little incident later, he rounded the final corner and… BAM! A green shell crashed into the side of his kart and sent him into a spin. Helpless, all he could do was will his kart to get back up to speed as the father-son Bowser duo sped past him to take the win.

"Well, wasn't that a lucky shot," Kari said from beside him.

Tai turned to look at her, "one in a million," he replied with a smile. At least now he wouldn't have to go to the trouble of orchestrating a win for her.

Race two found them locked in a heated battle for the lead. Halfway through the last lap Kari once again caught him with a green shell. A flawless drive on her part and a lack of any useful items meant he finished behind her again. He gave her another sideways glance, those green shells she'd fired had not hit him by luck. "Since when did you get this good?"

A smile played on her lips when she answered, "I've always been this good. However, winning made you happy so I always let you."

Tai stared at her in disbelief. If he had not just been on the receiving end of her sharpshooting, he wouldn't have believed it. "You used to let me win?"

"All the time. As I said, it used to make you happy. If I'd wanted to, I could have beat you easily."

"No way," he said defiantly.

Kari laughed, "care to make a little wager on that?"

Tai gave her a quizzical look, "what do you have in mind?"

"Simple, winner gets to decide what we do for the rest of the afternoon... unless you're scared."

"No way!" he exclaimed, "you're going down, Sis!"

Kari flashed him a wicked grin, "give it your best shot, Bro."

The turtle shells flew, banana skins were dropped and several blue shells of death brought misery to their victims. The end result, despite a valiant effort in which he'd pulled out all the stops, Tai lost by five points. It transpired that Kari had not been lying, she really was that good. He let out a sigh of defeat and sat down his control pad. Even though he'd lost, it had still been great fun.

"Ok, you have to tell me, how did you get that good?" he asked out of curiosity.

Kari laughed, "what do you think I did all those times I was stuck at home because I was sick? Do you want to try your luck at Super Smash Bro's or Killer Instinct?"

Before this weekend, if you had suggested Kari could best him at any game he would have laughed his head off. However, given what had just transpired, he now genuinely feared for his unbeaten record should he play her at something else. Unfortunately, while the idea of genuine competition was appealing, he had lost the bet. So it was up to Kari what they did now. "You won, Sis. So you get to pick what we do now."

She let out a small laugh, "you've really matured, Tai. You would never have been this gracious in defeat when we were younger."

While he would have liked to argue the point, he knew deep down that she was right. He would probably have thrown his gamepad away, claimed she had cheated or something else equally childish. "I guess you're right," he admitted. "I've always been really competitive and I don't like to lose."

She gave him a sideways look, "I think 'don't like to lose' is an understatement." When his face fell she let out a light-hearted laugh. "It's part of who you are, Tai. That never say die attitude is the reason we all survived in the Digital world." She sat her gamepad down on the coffee table and reached over to give him a hug. "I wouldn't change anything about you."

Tai returned his sisters embrace and similar to last nights second kiss, he could feel the love and warmth radiating from her. "I love you, Tai," she whispered in his ear.

This was going to take some getting used to, he thought. Knowing exactly what Kari meant when she said those words to him. While he hoped it was just a phase she was going through, something deep down told him otherwise. His sister would never fall in love with anyone else. And by that virtue would never know what it felt like to have someone return that love. Nevertheless, he dutifully replied, "I love you too, Kari."

After a few moments, he felt her give him a light squeeze before breaking off the hug. "Wait here, I'll be back in a moment."

He watched his sister get up off the sofa and head off to her bedroom. Tai licked his lips and realised he desperately needed a drink. He glanced over at the sacred refrigerator in which he would find a delicious cold can of soda. Forgetting what Kari had said to him earlier he moved to get off the sofa.

"If you're thinking of going into that kitchen I hope you're prepared to spend the night on the toilet."

Tai froze mid-step as he recalled the penalty she'd decreed for setting foot in the kitchen. Turning his head, he glanced in the direction of her bedroom. She could not have seen him so how on earth had she known? An image of the thing lurking in that casserole dish filled his mind and he shrank back down to the sofa.

"If you want something you need to ask for it," Kari then called out.

He sighed. What kind of monster had he unleashed last night? Resigned to being at her mercy, he replied, "can I get a soda and maybe some snacks?"

His sister reappeared holding her CD box. "Of course you can, I'll see what I can find."

He turned the GameCube and TV off while he waited for her to return from the kitchen. When she sat down and handed him a soda he thanked her before cracking it open. He took a much needed long drink before hungrily eyeing up the large bag of potato chips and jar of sour cream dip she sat down on the table.

"We're going to listen to Tubular Bells again, then I want to try out the Pink Floyd album," she said as she opened the chips and dip, indicating that he could help himself.

Reaching a hand out he took a chip, dunked it, then popped it in his mouth. Kari being accretive about what she wanted was something else that would take a bit of getting used to, he mused as he crunched down on it. "If that's what you want to do, go for it," he replied as he watched Kari pick up the stereo remote.

The haunting piano and glockenspiel opening sent a shiver down his spine as he ate some more chips. Beside him, his sister had settled herself and shut her eyes. He ate his chips before following suit. While he knew what to expect this time, he found the album no less mind-blowing. He had to hand it to her, she'd broken away from the pack and found something poles apart from what all her friends would have been listening to. Also, the fact it meant so much to her and she'd chosen to share it, made him feel like she had shared part of her soul.

When it wrapped up he made a move to get some more chips, only for Kari to ask him a strange question, "so, who's Teiko?"

He turned to look at her, a dumb expression on his face.

"That embarrassed, Tai," she laughed when he failed to respond.

"No... I..." he mumbled as her laughter intensified.

"You always were hopeless when talking about girls."

He let out a slow breath as he tried to regain his composure. "We were in middle school together," he eventually answered.

The look on his sisters face told him that his response was not going to cut the mustard and he quickly buckled under her stare. "Ok, ok, we were good friends in middle school... when she decided to show up."

"So she's a bit of a rebel. Good to know."

Tai gave her a confused look, "why is that good to know?"

Kari rolled her eyes at him, "you are so dense sometimes, Brother, that it's cringe-worthy."

The confusion quickly shifted to sheer dumbfoundedness. "...What..?" he stammered.

He received a punch in the arm. "Wake up and smell the coffee, Tai. She totally has the hots for you."

"What? Don't be ridiculous, Kari. We're just old school friends."

His sister gave him a wicked grin. "I'll bet you another CD that she calls in that favour and wants you to take her out on a date."

Now she was just spouting gibberish, Tai thought. He and Teiko had been really good friends, but she'd never indicated that she liked him more than that. "And when she doesn't?" he asked.

"In the unlikely event that she doesn't, you can pick whatever you want."

She held out a hand which he tentatively took. "Fine, you're on."

Why on earth did she look so confident he wondered? Teiko was just a friend. He also had another question, "why are you so interested?"

"Let's just say I have a vested interest in who my brother dates," Kari said as her grin somehow widened. "Besides, I don't want you upsetting my hairstylist because your too thick to notice when someone likes you."

He let go of her hand and proceeded to eat some more chips. However, her comments brought to mind the catfight that she and Sora had engaged in when the other girl had shocked him by choosing Matt. It had not been pretty and he could recall vividly the three bloody lines Kari had left on the girls face; they had required stitches. If history was any indication, her last comment had not quite been accurate. It was not her needing to worry about him upsetting Teiko, it was he who needed to worry about Teiko upsetting him.