Part Three: Their Secret

Chapter Six: Time

Tai's hands stopped massaging his sister's shoulders abruptly when he heard the sound of the telephone ringing. So much so that one could have been forgiven for thinking someone had just walked through the front door. His neck snapped around to look in the direction of the ringing device, while his hands tried to disentangle themselves from the inside of her t-shirt. He could feel a cold sweat trickle down his back as he tried to scramble to his feet; forgetting that Kari still had her arms wrapped around his shoulders.

"Tai…" His sister somehow got one of her hands free and brought it up to touch his cheek. He felt his head turn around until he found himself staring into those bright reddish-brown eyes. "Tai," Kari said again soothingly, "it's ok. It's just the phone."

His respiration rate slowed as he came to his senses. It was only the telephone. And it was still ringing. Gently he lowered his sister back to the floor so she could let go without her falling. "Sorry," he breathed apologetically.

"It's ok," Kari laughed as she let go of his back, "I jumped a little bit too."

Tai straightened up. "I suppose I'd better answer it. It might be Mom."

His sister nodded and he heard her get to her feet and follow him to the phone.

"Kamiya residence, Tai speaking," he said when he picked up the receiver and held it up to his ear.

"Hello, Tai, how are you and Kari getting on?" his mom said from the other end.

He turned just in time to see his sister's head appear from underneath his free arm as she cuddled into him. "We're fine, Mom," he replied, trying to keep his tone neutral.

"Hi, Mom," Kari chipped in. "How's Grandma?"

Shaking his head, Tai shifted the phone across his body so that they could both listen in. "Your Grandmother is doing a lot better. The doctors are optimistic that with the right support in place, she'll be able to go home on Tuesday."

"That's great news," the siblings said in unison.

"However, it means your father and I are going to be staying another few days so we can help make all the arrangements and get her settled back home."

Tai instinctively looked at his sister and saw a large smile spread across her face, like the Gatomon who had not so much gotten the cream, but the entire dairy farm. "When do you think you'll be back?" she asked, beating him to the question.

"Your father spoke to his boss this morning and has been given extended leave until Wednesday. So unless something unforeseen happens we should be home sometime that evening. Will you Kids be ok until then?"

"We should be fine mom," Tai said, struggling to keep his tone level as his sister slipped one of her hands down and started massaging one of his butt cheeks. Unfortunately, due to the position of his arms, he couldn't swat her away without dropping the phone.

"Do you have enough food money to last until then?"

Kari, who had been left in charge of the food budget (1. Because she had been doing the cooking and 2. To stop him from buying junk and takeout), answered, "I used most of it to buy food for the past few days. And we don't really have any money of our own left after I got my nose ring done and Tai paid to get me a tattoo."

His face practically turned green and he looked at his sister in horror. She grinned back at him just as their Mom yelled, "WHAT!"

Kari let out a chuckle and quickly diffused the atomic bomb before it could go fully nuclear, "I'm joking, Mom. I made a promise on Gatomon's life, remember."

On the other end of the phone, Tai could almost hear the warning sirens shut down as the detonation counter stopped with barely a second remaining. "That was not funny, young Lady."

"Sorry, Mom, I couldn't resist," Kari apologised in her 'get out of trouble free' tone.

Letting out a grateful sigh, he decided to take back some control of the conversation before his sister got him flayed. "What she meant to say was that she's used most of the money buying proper food for us to eat since Friday."

His sister stuck her tongue out at him in a spoil-sport manner.

Their mother's voice returned to a semi-normal pitch and tone when she said, "well if you run out, take some from the savings jar in my wardrobe. But remember…"

"…no junk food," Kari finished for her. "Don't worry, Mom, I'm sure I can keep Tai's urges for empty calories at bay."

It was his turn to make a childish face as he listed to her talk. However, when the thought of a deep dish chicken and jalapeno pizza floated through his mind and made his stomach growl, he was internally forced to concede the point.

"Ok, but make sure the two of you keep out of trouble. I don't want to come home to find you've burnt down the entire apartment complex."

"We'll be fine," they said together while giving each other a knowing smile.

"Say hi to Dad and Grandma for us," Kari then said.

"I will. Goodbye, Kids."

"Bye, Mom," they both said before the line went dead.

Tai hung up the phone and then looked at his sister. "That was not funny," he said hotly.

Kari responded with a cute smile and squeezed his bum.

"And will you take your hand off my butt!"

The cute smile effortlessly vanished to reveal the devilish grin that lurked beneath. "You seemed so tense, I thought you could use a massage."

Before he had the chance to reply, she shifted him around to face her. Reddish-brown eyes full of love and mischief stared into his own and he could not help but smile. Yet again, Kari had gotten herself out of trouble with only a look. Had she always been so knowingly manipulative or was this a recent development?

"I have been under a lot of stress lately," he said in feigned admittance, though it did actually ring true. "Maybe you should give me a proper one."

She reached up and teased his bottom lip with her teeth. "If you're a good boy and get your schoolwork finished, maybe I will."

His lips touched hers and within the tenderness of the kiss, the memory of his panic when the phone had rang melted away in the warmth that filled him. While he had already fallen in love with Kari without even realising it, he could not quantify how he felt in this moment as anything but that; falling in love. Perhaps the best way of explaining it was that he had fallen in love with his sister as she existed in his head. Now he got to do it with the real thing. And nothing had ever felt so right.

"Sounds like the perfect incentive," he said when their lips eventually parted.

"Good, you go back to the books, I'll make dinner."

Kari kept one hand firmly on his backside as she escorted him back to the table. If their tussle on the floor was anything to go by, it seemed that she craved intimate physical contact between them too. However, he had promised himself that no matter how strong an urge he felt, he would not overstep a boundary they had not first discussed. They needed to sit down and have a serious conversation on this matter he realised. For he could already tell that finally allowing their pent up emotions free rein held the dangerous potential to rush them into something that neither of them was ready for yet. It seemed that the bonus alone time they had just been granted from their parents would now be invaluable. For it would hopefully give them a chance to talk some more and ride out these initial bubbles of lust that were overcoming them. Picking up his pen, he pulled his world history textbook towards him and opened it at the relevant page. Unlike these source questions, which had to be done for tomorrow, it seemed that he and Kari now had time.