Authors note:

Hello everyone and welcome to part five. Who would have thought we'd get this far, lol. My thanks to the 40+ people who have followed/favourited this story and to all my reviewers, especially those who voiced an opinion on the question I posed at the end of part four. However, I'm not going to tell you which option I've decided to go with, you'll just have to continue reading the story to find out :)

After our little interlude, I've decided to keep it non-cannon. While I like the idea of exploring that sort of relationship between Tai and Kari, I think we are too far along in this story to add it in now. However, I may write a sequel chapter or two and post it separately, along with the chapter involving Matt and Teiko.

As always, if you enjoy this story, please follow/favourite it, leave me a review or drop me a PM.

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Part Five: A Secret Exposed

Chapter One: Be yourself

A dusting of snow, that had blown through the previous night, still covered the sidewalks and made a satisfying crunching sound underfoot. Wearing thick winter boots, black jeans and her 'ugly' pink winter coat, Kari Kamiya left the relative quiet of the side-street and weaved her way back onto the main road. A thin smile spread across her lips at the thought of what she might do to the offending article of clothing, once she got home. For never again would it cover her back. In her right hand, she clutched a bag that held its replacement. A dark seaweed green affair with a thick, cream fleeced lining and multiple leather straps and buckles that served as nothing but decoration. At present, fire felt like the way to go.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the figure of her mother sidestep a passerby so she could walk beside her once more. While the schoolyard typically considered it 'uncool' to shop with one's mother well before the age of sixteen, it was something Kari did not mind putting up with and for two very good reasons. First, she was not one to conform to social norms anymore; those days were long gone. And two, her mother had willingly agreed to bankroll this trip. In fact, the whole thing had been her idea in the first place. Apparently, after suffering such heartache (her mother still under the impression she had broken up with her boyfriend), she deserved something to help cheer her up. What the woman did not know, was that she had literally cheered up overnight; the night she and Tai had gotten back together. However, she had not let it go to her head. The morning afterwards, when the ecstasy had ebbed and she had been able to think straight, she'd reminded herself that her relationship with Tai did not define her. That and she could not appear to have miraculously come out of her depression overnight. Instead, over the past week, she had slowly started to appear happier when in the company of her parents. To the point that her mother had announced last night that she was taking her shopping today after school had wrapped up for the winter break. Not only that, but she had even allowed her to go to .

In the back of her head, a small voice whispered that this was all too good to be true. That sooner or later, the wheels would come off her wagon and she'd once more be thrown to the dirt. She quickly silenced it. After five weeks of languishing at the bottom of her self-made black hole, she had no intention of sliding back down that slope anytime soon. No, she was happy and planned to stay that way for as long as possible. Moments where she could be alone with Tai would probably come only once a week, she was under no delusion about that. But she would figure out ways to deal with it. Music and the reignited customization of her wardrobe would surely help; she'd gotten a new CD and several bits and bobs for her red vs blue outfit today.

Kari turned to look at her mother, "should we head home?" she asked, conscious of the fact that by this point the woman had spent a not-insignificant amount on her.

"I've one more stop I want to make if you don't mind being out in the cold a little longer," the woman replied.

Even if Kari had minded, she wouldn't have said so. Not after her mother had just bought her a new coat, jeans, shirt and t-shirt. The only things missing were gloves and shoes, which Kari had bought herself. A white pair of faux leather fingerless gloves and cheap white converse. The former would take dye and the latter paint. Both of which she'd purchased along with spools of thin red and blue ribbon. "Lead on," she replied as she followed her mother to the left and to a crosswalk.

A chilly wind started to blow in their faces when they turned to walk up the first street on the left after crossing the main road, resulting in very little being said. Instead, Kari busied herself with figuring out exactly how she was going to create her latest outfit. Every so often her mother had to tug on her sleeve to get her to turn a corner or cross a road. So absorbed in her own thought, she paid no attention to the route they were travelling. A route she had taken only once before, at the end of a different shopping trip. Nor did she even notice the neon sign above the shop door that her mother ushered her through.

The sound of a youthful, energetic voice that bore a sense of familiarity, drew her out of her musings, "hey, Kari, how'z it hanging?"

She looked around. Four walls, each painted in a different bright colour and a checkerboard floor greeted her. Her eyes then travelled in the direction of the voice and she found herself face to face with, "Teiko!" she said excitedly as she stared into those bright amber eyes.

Instead of the teal it had been last time they had met, the girl's hair was now a wicked shade of violet. Before she had a chance to say or do anything else, the girl pounced on her and pulled her into a hug; she returned the gesture. When Teiko let go of her, the girl's eyes fixed upon her hair. "What a mess, Kari," she scolded. "You should have come to see me weeks ago, so that, at the very least, I could touch it up."

"I wasn't in a very good place until recently," Kari admitted. "In fact, I almost dyed it brown." She was not sure why she was telling Teiko the truth, it would have been easy to lie. However, Tai had told her that his friend had that effect on people. Even though they had only met once before, she felt like the sort of person that was really easy to talk to.

"I see your mom finally got with the program," the girl nodded her head towards Kari's mother. "You're actually quite lucky. It took three times this long for mine to accept that I loved hair dye and punky clothing. Granted, I was only thirteen or so."

It was only at the mention of her mother, that Kari remembered that it had been her who had brought her in here. She looked at the woman, who gave her a warm smile. "I was perhaps a bit reactionary when it came to your hair all those weeks ago. And since you've maintained straight A's across the board again this term, consider this a well-deserved reward."

Kari practically threw herself at her mother as she pulled her into a hug. "Thank you," she breathed through a whirlwind of excitement, "but you don't have to do this."

"You've more than earned it, Kari. However, this does not mean I'm going to budge even an inch on the idea of you getting a tattoo or obnoxious body piercing."

She grinned, "so I can get other piercings so long as they're not obnoxious?"

Her mother cast a dark eye over her, "don't push your luck, young Lady. Now, you had better go and let Teiko do her job. Otherwise, we'll never get home."

Kari paused in her tracks on hearing her mom use the girl's name. "How did you even know about this place?"

"I had a little chat with your brother the other week."

In actuality, she had not needed her mom to answer the question. For the moment she had uttered it, Tai's name had popped into her head. It had been the only logical explanation. From beside a vacant chair, Teiko beckoned her over. She walked over and sat down.

"Ok, so, bad news is that you've got far too much brown showing for me to simply touch it up. However, on the flip side, since I'll have to go back to square one anyway, you can have something completely different if you want," Teiko said with a smile. She indicated her own hair, "case and point."

Kari had to sit and think about this for a moment. Given her continual spend on CD's, she had practically resigned herself over the past week to her hair becoming so bad that she would be left with no choice but to dye it brown until she cobbled together the funds to get it coloured again. She stared at herself intently in the mirror. Her hair was just scraping her shoulders now. "Can you make it look like a lit-match again, but leave the length," she eventually replied. "I think I'd like to try longer hair for a while."

"You're the boss," Teiko said and threw a black styling cape around her with a satisfying swish.

By the time she heard the sound of water being squirted onto her hair, Kari had already chosen to zone out and listen to the first side of Tubular Bells in her head while Teiko worked her magic.

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It was chilly inside the small single stand, despite the fact that it was relatively full. Having also finished school for the semester, Tai, at the behest of his father, taken time off from his hectic study schedule to go and watch a college soccer game; ironically between Tokyo and Kyoto Universities. Eyes glued to the match, all other thoughts, of school, his university entrance exam and even his girlfriend, had been driven completely from his mind. Yes, at present he was only focused on...

"PENALTY!" Tai roared, as he watched a Kyoto defender chop down one of the Tokyo players inside the box.

He quickly exchanged a glance with his father, who too had shouted out for a spot-kick to be awarded. For the briefest of moments, they shared a smile, only for the game to demand their attention once more as the referee blew his whistle and pointed to the spot.

"Yes!" Tai exclaimed as a crowd of Kyoto players swarmed the referee in protest; it made no difference.

"I thought you would be remaining neutral?" his father said with a chuckle. "You could be playing for Kyoto next season."

So caught up in the moment, Tai forgot that he had been planning on keeping this decision to himself for now, "even if I get enough to get into Kyoto, I'm still going to go with Tokyo."

His father did not respond immediately as the penalty taker had placed the ball on the spot and started walking backwards. Tai held his breath. Even though this was not a professional match and neither of these teams one of those he supported, he still felt the same tension. He'd been in that situation himself of course. He waited. Long run-up, pick a corner and hit it hard, he thought to himself; his method for taking a penalty. Oh shit, he's taking a short run-up. The referee blew his whistle, the player ran to the ball, hit it with force and smashed it into the roof of the goal; the keeper had dived to his right. The stand erupted into a loud cheer, with Tai's voice chief amongst them.

When everyone settled down, his father finally said, "so you've decided on Tokyo… strange, I thought you would have leapt at the chance to go to Kyoto if you scored enough on your entrance exam?"

On hearing his father's words, Tai cursed internally, shit! He'd said on more than one occasion that he would like to go to Kyoto if he got the opportunity. Not only was it the top university in the country, but it also offered a better sports program and had, on most days, the better soccer team. However, Tokyo had one thing that outweighed all of that, Kari. Since they had gotten back together and decided that they wanted a future together, he'd devoted a lot of thought to his choice of university and made the decision that he wanted to remain in the city. That way he could move out and give them a safe haven where they could be alone together. Unfortunately, that meant he needed to come up with an explanation for why he had changed his mind. Something that he'd been unable to do thus far.

With each passing moment potentially making him look more suspicious, Tai came away with the only thing he could think of, "I'm not sure I like the idea of moving somewhere completely new, where I won't know anyone. Most of my friends will be staying here." He kept his eyes fixed upon the match as he spoke, not wanting his father to see his face and have the opportunity to call him a liar.

"If that's what you want to do, Son, then go ahead. However, just make sure your certain before you formally make your choice. You only get to do this once and it needs to be what is right for you."

"Thanks for the support, Dad," Tai replied. "However, do you mind keeping it to yourself for now. I don't want to jinx anything by telling people what I want to do and then for it not to happen."

His father gave him a grin. "In other words, don't tell your mother as you don't want her rattling off facts about why you should go to Kyoto between now and the day you get your test results."

"Something like that," he replied, as the crowd let out a collective, "aww,"; one of the Tokyo strikers had just hit the crossbar.

The rest of the match passed by with little more to cheer about. In the end, Tokyo held on for a surprising 2-1 victory. Afterwards, Tai and his father made the short journey to the nearest station and caught the first train back to Odaiba. The subject of his university choice was not revisited, something for which he was very thankful. During the ride home, he made the decision that he should probably tell Kari at the next available opportunity. After all, this was something that would affect both of them and if they were serious about being together long term, they would need to start including each other in important matters such as this one.