Part Five: A Secret Exposed

Chapter Six: Living on a knife-edge

If he were to look back on the time leading up to his university entrance exam, Tai Kamiya would probably remember very little beyond a mountain of books and an ever-increasing stack of empty energy drink cans on his desk. After he and Kari had narrowly escaped discovery in the aftermath of their first time sleeping together, the rest of the school holiday had passed in a blur. New Year had come and gone, during which they had attended a party, where Kari had feigned illness so that he could do the responsible thing and take her home, to an empty apartment. They'd done it twice that night and ensured they were in their respective rooms by the time their parents arrived home. After that, Tai had spent virtually every waking minute studying.

And so the big day had arrived. In the morning he had forced himself to eat breakfast, received messages of good luck from his family and then been walked to the test centre by his girlfriend. He'd then gone in to face his foe. A few hours later and it was over, done, finished. He was free. Afterwards, he'd spent some time with his soccer friends but excused himself in enough time to get to Odaiba Middle School in order to meet Kari. There was no one he'd rather celebrate with than his girlfriend.

"How did it go?" Kari asked him excitedly as she virtually pounced him.

Tai staggered slightly as he caught her mid-air and pulled her into a hug. "I think it went well," he said truthfully, "however, in my experience, that usually means the opposite."

"So long as you gave it your all, I'm sure you'll do well." She smiled at him, "so, what do you want to do to celebrate?"

"I've no idea," he laughed. "I've been studying for so long I've forgotten what else there is to do in life."

Kari reached up and whispered in his ear, "maybe I need to remind you. Dad's working late tonight and Mom is supposed to be going out to meet one of her friends for a few hours. We could have the place to ourselves for a bit… if you want?"

Tai grinned, but kept his voice low, "you know, if it wasn't me that was your boyfriend, I'd probably have to kill him for corrupting you."

She laughed. "I became corrupt long before you got involved, Brother. Now let's go."

He did not need any more encouragement than that.

##

When they arrived back home, it transpired that their mom had not left yet. So after getting changed, Tai brought the GameCube out and the pair took up residence on the sofa and began a heated round of Mario Kart to pass the time. Unlike the last time they'd played (the night they'd gotten back together), Kari was taking no prisoners.

"Brotherfucker!" Tai cursed when she hit him in the ass with a green turtle shell for the umpteenth time. It actually felt like she was deliberately letting him overtake her, just so she could do it again.

Kari flashed him a devilish grin. "You'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" she said so only he would hear. "I think you've had your head in those school books for too long, you've gotten rusty."

"I have not," he snapped back, tossing a red shell at her, only for her to deploy a banana skin behind her at the last second to block it.

She laughed, "case and point, Tai," as she burst through an item box.

He realised only too late, when he had pulled up behind her for a slipstream, that she'd deliberately slowed. Bam! The turtle shell hit him in the face and his kart went into a spin. By the time he had fended off the CPU, she was gone. He gave her a sour look, which only resulted in her laughter intensifying.

From the apartment door, he heard the voice of their mom call out, "ok, Kids, I'm going out. I'll be back in a few hours."

"Have fun, Mom," they called out in unison.

When he heard the door close, Tai saw Kari sit her pad down. "Well, that was fun," she said with a sly smile, "but…"

"Oh no, you don't!" Tai declared hotly. He knew exactly what his girlfriend wanted to do, hell he wanted to do it too, but that last shell had been one bruise to his ego too many. "I want a rematch."

She sighed and picked up her pad again. "We are celebrating your freedom from studying, I suppose. If you want to spend it getting your backside whooped, then fair enough."

"Bring it, Bitch!"

"If you insist.

He shouldn't have antagonised her. Over the next half an hour, in what could only be described as pure ruthlessness, Kari slaughtered him. In defeat, Tai tossed his pad down onto the coffee table. Maybe she had been right and he'd gotten rusty, or perhaps this was symptomatic of a far more serious problem; she was just better than him. He could hold his own against her at Killer Instinct, but he'd only managed one victory against her at Mario Kart since they had first started playing together again. And that had been when she'd felt so far down that she'd let him win. He hadn't even dared to play her at Smash Bros yet…

"Tai," Kari sing-song'ed mischievously. "Care to call me a bitch again and see what happens to you when we play our new game?"

One glance at the maniacal look in those devilish reddish-brown eyes convinced Tai that he did not want to find out. He couldn't help but shudder, which caused her to laugh.

Kari waggled a finger in a beckoning sort of manner at him. "Come here, Tai. I promise I'll be gentle."

Before Tai could even react, his girlfriend had pounced on top of him. "Wah!" he yelled, as he fell back onto the couch, Kari landing on top of him. Her lips latched onto his and he could immediately taste the familiar sweetness that he'd quickly become addicted to. Like always, their tongues began to dance together like two flames, each taking it in turns to explore the other's mouth. Despite her initial overexuberance, his girlfriend slowed her pace, allowing them time to savour each moment.

Slowly, sensually, seductively, Kari sat up and slipped out of her t-shirt; allowing it to fall gently to the floor. From where he lay on the sofa, Tai watched as she wiggled her flat stomach and ran her hands through her lit-match hair. He could feel the bulge in his jeans form as she teased him. Her hands eventually reached behind her back and unclipped her bra. It too fell to the floor. He reached up to touch the soft flesh of her breasts, only for her to bat his hands away.

"Hands off," she said with a grin as she squeezed her own breasts together. "You only get to touch when I say so."

Tai had never been to a strip club, or had a lap dance for that matter. However, he doubted that any professional would be able to turn him on to the degree that his girlfriend's seductive movements did. He could barely contain himself when she raised one of her own breasts up to her mouth and began to suck on the nipple. She then slipped a hand inside her own jeans and began rubbing herself.

A sound, that Tai knew could only belong to the front door opening, suddenly sounded and he froze. Kari had clearly heard it too as a split second later, she flattened herself on top of him. Heart in his mouth, he stared fearfully into his sister's eyes. What the hell were they going to do?

"Hey, Kid's, I'm back," the unmistakable voice of their mom called out from the front door; she sounded slightly put out.

"Roll with me," Kari hissed at him quickly.

For a split second, Tai looked blankly at his sister, then she rolled off of him and onto the floor with a thud. He quickly got her meaning, but figuratively did not follow, however, literally, he did. He landed on top of her, but quickly shifted as she scrambled to pull on her t-shirt. The noise would have undoubtedly attracted their mother's attention, but it seemed Kari had come up with a plan for that.

"TAI, YOU GREEDY GIT! THAT WAS MY COOKIE!" she yelled at him, as she rolled him over so that she was now on top, while at the same time using her free hand to shove her bra out of sight beneath the sofa.

"I DIDN'T SEE YOUR NAME ON IT!" he yelled back as they began to wrestle.

"What the hell are you two doing?" their mom then said as she peered over the sofa at their mass of tangled limbs.

They both stopped to look up at the mortified expression on their mother's face.

"Fatso here ate my cookie!" Kari spat indignantly and gave him a light punch in the gut.

"Oww," Tai cursed but knew better than to retaliate. When they were younger, Kari always had a knack for getting away with one last free hit on him after their mom had come to break up the fight. However, should he ever try it, the woman would come down on him like a tonne of bricks. "It was only a cookie."

Their mom shook her head long-sufferingly. "The pair of you are sixteen and eighteen respectively. I would have thought by now that I could leave you both at home without coming home to find you rolling around on the floor over a cookie. Am I going to have to send you to your rooms now?"

Tai and Kari looked at one another, pretended to see the funny side of the situation and began to laugh. His sister stood up and offered her hand to him by way of a 'peace offering', which he took and allowed her to help him to his feet. Fortunately, the shock of almost being caught had worked wonders on his erection. They sat back down on the couch and once their mom had disappeared down the hallway, Kari quickly fetched her bra and put it back on.

"That was too close," Tai said quietly as he took in a calming breath.

"Agreed," Kari replied. "In all honesty, I'll almost be relieved once we tell them."

"We need to go back to being more careful. That's twice in a few weeks we've screwed up now."

Reluctantly, Kari nodded. "I'm fed up having to be careful, but you're right. We're taking too many risks." He watched her pick up her gamepad. "Smash Bros?" she asked with a devilish grin.