Part Three: Their Secret

Chapter Twelve: A new machine – Part 2

Once more Tai Kamiya found himself sitting in school with his mind dominated by only one thing; Kari. After their conversation that morning, he had been left feeling both stupid and afraid. Yet at the same time, with a maddening desire to hold his sister in his arms. To feel the softness of her lips against his own and to run his hands all over her smooth skin. However, it had been the first two that had occupied most of his time.

It had been downright idiotic to say, "do you understand why I thought this might be a bad idea now?" to her. Not only had it suggested that he still thought of her as a child, but also that he had gone against his better judgement just to make her happy. While she had not commented directly on the latter, he knew full well it had not escaped her notice. Her suggestion that he should think about what he wanted, had said as much. That's where the fear had come in.

Had you asked Tai yesterday what he would have wanted in regards to his sister, he would have said, without hesitation, a proper relationship. However, the events of this morning had thrown all that into question. Overnight, they had gone from being able to express their feelings openly, as they had been doing for five days straight, to keeping them shuttered up indoors. And at no point before sleep had taken him the previous night, had he ever imagined that it would become so difficult so quickly. As he'd sat there at the breakfast table, he had felt a burning resentment towards his parents for having come home. For sitting on either side of him and forming a metaphorical wall between himself and his sister.

Tai felt the scabs on his right wrist itch and it took him a great deal of effort not to reach over with his other hand and start to scratch at them. His day had dragged ever since he had left Kari that morning and even though he now sat in his final lesson, his mind had still not left his sister. Would his feelings settle down after a few days, once he got used to his parents being home? Would spending what time alone he could with his sister ease the pressure? Or would each subsequent time they were together only increase the problem? And what exactly did he want? So many questions… no answers.

The clock on the wall ticked by slowly as Tai desperately tried to find something, anything that might help him figure out what to do. Of his questions, he had so far only figured out one thing. The only one of them he could actually get a definitive answer for was the last one. For he alone could tell him what he wanted. Tai let out a mirthless laugh that somehow managed to go unnoticed by the teacher at the front of the room. The past five days had given him that answer; Kari. If she were anyone but his sister, he would not hesitate to start a relationship with her. Except she was his sister. Did he still have an issue with that fact..? No… if he did, kissing her would not feel so right. And it felt more right than anything else ever had. But what sort of relationship could they have? Everything they did would have to be hidden from everyone they knew. Not to mention that they might have a very limited amount of time together where they could be a couple. Would it even be enough to sustain a relationship? And if not, could they contain themselves?

Tai let out a sigh just as the end of day chime sounded. Rising from his seat when given leave to do so by the teacher, he quickly packed his bag and headed for the exit. Out in the quickly crowding hallways, he made his way to the nearest exit and across the school grounds to the bike racks. A few people tried to catch his attention en-route but he ignored them. Unlocking his bike, he wheeled it around and walked it to the main entrance. He saw on approach that Kari was already waiting for him; her green uniform standing out amidst the sea of light blue and grey. When he drew closer and got a proper look at her, his eyes were drawn to how her lit match hair glistened in the sunlight. Her smile, set below those perfect reddish-brown eyes, melted his heart the moment it formed on her lips. He had his answer now.

"Hey, Tai," she said sweetly when he drew up beside her. "How was your day?"

"Hey, Kari," he greeted with a smile, before answering, "my day was long. How about you?"

"Not much better. I had to bail on Yolei to come here and was subjected to the usual twenty questions plus another ten about whether it was because I felt depressed again," she replied.

"I bet that was fun," he said sarcastically, before asking, "so, any ideas about where we should go?"

"There's a park not far from here. We should be able to find a relatively secluded spot where we won't be heard or disturbed."

"Sound's good, lead the way."

Kari flicked up the stand on her bike with her foot and started wheeling it through the crowd of milling students. He followed at her side as they walked the short journey in silence. When they reached the park, the siblings found a shaded spot beneath a tree that lay a good distance from the nearest groups of people. Resting their bikes against its thick trunk, they sat down on the ground.

"So," Kari began, adjusting her position so she could look into his eyes, "have you thought about what you want?"

Tai met her gaze and nodded, "yes…"

"And?"

"…I want you," he answered truthfully.

She reached out a hand and gripped his own, the light in her eyes brighter than that of twin suns. "So you want to be with me?"

Another nod, "yes."

He felt a light squeeze as her eyes closed for a second and a smile spread from ear to ear. "I'm so happy to hear you say that." Her expression then turned serious for a moment. "You understand that this won't be easy… for either of us."

"I know, but the thought of not being with you is far worse," he admitted. It felt like part of the weight had lifted from his shoulders, now that he had expressed his wishes to her. "However, I'm worried about where we go from here."

He watched Kari take a deep breath. "Ok, " she said slowly, "that's why we're going to talk about it and try to figure out how we're going to manage."

"First things first, I think we need to get through the next few days," Tai said, thinking it best to start with the most pressing issue. "If we can't act 'normal' around mom and dad, we might as well let them in on our secret and they can forcibly keep us apart."

His sister let out a macabre laugh at his suggestion. "They'd probably take us to a therapist to try and cure us of our incestuous feelings. However, I think we were just caught off guard this morning. Neither of us had realised the past five days had shifted the dynamic of our relationship to a point that suddenly closing the door on it was too much of a culture shock."

"That's certainly true, he agreed. "I suppose we'll know tonight whether or not you are right."

"If I am, then we should be able to cope. However, given that we won't always know when we'll next be able to spend time together, I suggest we employ my technique for getting through the days as opposed to yours."

Tai knew without her saying it that she was referring to using music to temper their urges instead of a shard of glass. "What if you're wrong?" he asked, dreading the answer.

"If I'm wrong, then we're in trouble. However, I'm hoping we don't have to cross that particular bridge."

As expected, her words did little to reassure him. "Ok, so say we are able to keep a lid on things, how are we supposed to be together if we can't be together?"

Kari sat with a ponderous expression on her face before she replied, "I suppose we'll have to keep a close eye on mom and dad's schedules so we know when we'll have the apartment to ourselves. And plan things well in advance, including cover stories if we decide to go out."

It felt slightly strange for Tai, to be the one asking all the questions. As the leader of the DigiDestined, he was used to being the one others turned to for answers. The only time he got to ask questions was when he needed information from Izzy and that typically only served to help him make the decisions. At the thought of his tech-savvy friend, a lightbulb turned itself on inside his head. He gave Kari a smile. "We can use the internet."

His sister gave him a funny look, "I know we can, but how does that help?"

"Easy. If we can't physically be together at home without arousing too much suspicion, we can sit and talk over the net without mom or dad ever finding out."

Kari then returned his smile as she said, "that's a great idea. If we can at least talk freely to one another it might make things slightly easier in the times between when we can be together."

"Let's give it a try tonight," he replied decisively.

"I'll lend you my CD box so you can copy them to your mp3 player. Only listen to Amarok at your own risk. It'll probably still make your ears bleed first time around."

They both started to laugh and Tai shifted over so he could put his arm over her shoulder. Kari responded by leaning her head against his chest. It was going to be difficult. They both recognised that fact. However, in that moment, neither cared for they had each other. The next hour that they would spend sitting under that tree, would be their first as a proper couple.