Part Five: A Secret Exposed

Epilogue: The messenger

Yuuko Kamiya was worried. No, scratch that, she had been worried since she received the first phone call. Now she was extremely worried, concerned and… angry. Just after lunchtime, someone from Odaiba Middle School had called to enquire why Kari had not shown up that morning. She'd immediately called her daughter, but gotten no reply. Messages, both voice and text had been left, but those too had gone unanswered. Then, while she had been pacing the apartment in a vain effort to try and decide what to do, the second call had come. This one had been from Odaiba High School, to ask why her son had been seen sprinting from the premises at the end of morning break. A barrage of calls and texts had then been sent to Tai, but he had remained as silent as his sister. Her instant reaction had been to blame her son for skipping school and encouraging Kari to do the same, however, the rational part of her brain eventually told her that, for once, Tai was not likely at fault. No, he had at least gone to school and been there until the morning break, whereas Kari hadn't gone at all. Whatever had transpired, it had been her daughter that had drawn her son out of school.

With a hell of a lot more force than was necessary, Yuuko furiously sliced the carrots on her chopping board. Unable to do anything else, she had been forced to continue with her daily routine, wait and worry. A piece of carrot pinged forward as the knife came down upon it like a guillotine blade, ricocheted off a simmering pot on the stove and caught the back of her knife-hand. The blade slipped and almost took the tip off one of her fingers. She tossed the knife down in annoyance; leaving the last carrot half sliced. Her eyes drifted for the hundredth time to the clock on the over; 6:34 pm. Where on earth could her children… her ears pricked up as she heard the sound of the front door parting company with the frame. Hurriedly, Yuuko stepped out from behind the kitchen counter, eyes falling upon the two figures that crossed the threshold. A breath that she had been holding since the first phone call escaped from her mouth; they were safe. She watched her children take off their coats and exchange their outdoor shoes for indoor ones. Apart from the fact that Kari looked a little pale, she could detect nothing wrong with either.

When your kids had faced mortal peril on multiple occasions, you couldn't help but fear the worst. So, when something like this happens and you see that neither is hurt, there is naturally a feeling of relief. It was exactly that feeling that washed over Yuuko as she observed them. However, hand in hand with the aforementioned relief came anger. Anger that your children had, for all intents and purposes, disappeared and ignored all attempts to contact them. For normal children, it would be considered downright rude. When your children were DigiDestined, it was nothing short of thoughtless and selfish.

Yuuko strode forward and stood, hands on hips, as her children finally met her gaze. "Where have the two of you been!" she demanded. Try as she might, she could not contain her furry. "I've been worried sick all day about the pair of you!"

Both children struggled to meet her gaze. Eventually and somewhat uncharacteristically, it was Kari who spoke. "We're sorry, Mom," she said softly, "it was all my fault."

This caught Yuuko off guard. Normally in these situations, Tai would throw himself between her and his sister and take the brunt of her wrath. Perhaps on this occasion, he knew that she would have a grasp on events, thanks to their respective schools, before either of them opened their mouths. Against tradition, her gaze zeroed in on Kari. "Explain yourself, young Lady."

"TK found out about Takato," Kari said solemnly. "He came into homeroom and started yelling at me as though we'd only broken up yesterday." Her daughters head lowered and Yuuko wondered if she was fighting to hold back tears. "It was horrible, Mom... and I just had to get out. Before I knew it, I'd run out of school and was wandering the streets."

Yuuko surveyed her daughter. She could remember full well, the state she had been in after her breakup with TK and then again only a few weeks ago after she and this Takato boy had agreed to mutually end things. She sighed internally. It had seemed since the new year, that Kari had finally started to get over the loss of her boyfriend. However, she could detect that the morning's events had nearly derailed the healing process. She turned her gaze onto her son, who stared back at her. "I take it this is where you come in?" she asked, though already knew the answer. Kari had alerted her brother to the fact something was wrong and he'd come running.

Her son nodded. "I got a message from her at morning break. Mom, she was alone in the park. It's snowing outside and she was asking for help. I couldn't just leave her."

It cut Yuuko fairly deep, that Tai was Kari's immediate go-to whenever she was in trouble. Naturally, she'd tried to deny it. To convince herself that she was to blame for her daughter constantly running to her brother, rather than to herself when she needed emotional help or support. And for a time, she had succumbed to the belief that she had failed as a mother. In the end, she had been forced to accept the truth, that Tai knew Kari better than she did and would always be her daughters go-to, or drive herself mad trying to figure out where she had gone wrong. "You should have contacted me!" she then said, feeling her temper begin to boil again. Despite Tai's good intentions, there was no excuse for not telling her that they were ok.

"Sorry, Mom, "her son said apologetic, "but I forgot to charge my phone last night. It died before I actually found her."

Yuuko's gaze flashed between her children, a look of outrage on her face. "Either of you could have used Kari's phone!" Something was amiss here, but it did not seem like either of her children were going to tell her the truth. If they had already elected to close ranks, there was little she could do to force them into talking. "Both of you go to your room's. The pair of you are grounded until further notice."

Without comment or complaint, both of her children headed down the hallway and towards their respective bedrooms. Given that, at present, neither Tai nor Kari had been going out much, her punishment was hardly severe. However, there was little else she could do, save for perhaps withholding their allowance's or, in Kari's case, confiscating her headphones. If she were lucky, she might be able to coax some semblance of the truth from one or the other at a later date. Still fuming, she returned to the kitchen and her half-finished dinner.

##

Dinner that night had been a quiet, albeit slightly frosty affair. And, unfortunately, just another instance of her husband sitting down and not knowing what had happened, but that something had. After it had ended, both Tai and Kari had returned to their respective rooms. However, she was sure she'd heard Kari sneak across to her brother's while she had been in the bathroom. She'd made the executive decision to leave them to it, whatever it happened to be; probably a video game of some sort. In hindsight, being confined to their bedrooms with access to mobile phones, laptops and video games, was not the same punishment that it had been when they had been younger. In fact, they spent the bulk of their time in their respective bedrooms anyway. She shook her head. It was a little late in the day to be changing her parenting strategy, especially in Tai's case. In two months time, he would be off to University; assuming a favourable result on his entrance exam. She shook her head. Where had the time gone? She could still recall with perfect clarity, changing his diapers; the smell in particular.

Pulling herself out of her musings, Yuuko looked over from above the top of her book at her husband; he was engrossed in a recording of a soccer match. She smiled to herself. In a few short years, it would most likely be just the two of them. Perhaps it was time for them to start thinking about what they wanted to do after Tai and Kari had both left the nest. Finding her place once more, she started to read, only for the sound of the telephone to stop her mid-sentence. She looked up once more and saw her husband had not appeared to have blinked; men!

"I'll get it," she said, though she doubted he could hear her any more than he could the telephone.

Crossing the main living area, Yuuko lifted the recover. "Kamiya residence, Yuuko speaking."

"Mrs Kamiya," the voice was muffled, although she could still make out the words.

"Who is this?" Yuuko asked suspiciously.

"That's not important. There is something I need to tell you, so I need you to listen."

"Is this some sort of prank? Who are you?" she reiterated.

"I'm sorry, but it's best if you don't know. Unfortunately, I have something to tell you, but you're not going to like what I have to say."

Yuuko was about to yell at the caller to stop being childish, but stopped when they said, "it's about Tai and Kari."

"What about them?" she found herself asking, the memory of her suspicions from earlier coming to the fore once more. "Are you one of their friends?"

There was a pause for a moment before the caller said, "…yes. That's why I need you to listen. Although you are not going to like what I have to say."

On receiving confirmation that the caller was a friend of her children, Yuuko immediately began running names and voices through her head but found no match. The caller had sufficiently muffled their voice, making it impossible for her to identify them. Instead, she said, "I'm listening."

"We all met with Tai and Kari this evening, where they confirmed a rumour that started circulating amongst us earlier in the day… the reason Kari ran from school."

"Tell me," Yuuko said quietly. While the caller had already forewarned her, she now had a distinct impression that she was not going to like what they were about to say.

"Again, my apologies, but you are not going to like this." The caller paused before then saying, "Tai and Kari are involved in an incestuous relationship."

Yuuko almost dropped the receiver on hearing the caller's words. Whatever she had expected to hear, that had not been it. Memories of seeing her children together flashed through her mind as the shock took hold. The very idea of Tai and Kari, her own children, involved in such a relationship made her sick to her stomach. Inside her head, she began to see recent images of the pair together, her mind scouring them for any hint that what the caller had said could be true. As the initial shock began to dissipate, it was immediately replaced by one feeling; denial. It could not be true… No, it was not true! Her children were not involved in something so… so abhorrent!

"How dare you even suggest such a thing," Yuuko barked. "If this is supposed to be a joke, it's not funny!"

"It's no joke, Mrs Kamiya… I wish it was," the caller said firmly, clearly unfazed by her words.

"Whoever you are, you need to learn some serious respect and decency," Yuuko yelled, as she tried to block unwanted images of her children kissing from her mind. "Goodbye!"

She moved the phone away from her ear to hang it up, but still caught the caller's last words, "watch your children, Mrs Kamiya. Watch them carefully and you'll see the truth…"

Yuuko hung up the phone in outrage. Turning back to face the room, she saw her husband staring at her from the sofa. "What was that all about?" he asked, beckoning her to come back over and sit down.

"Nothing," she snapped, unable to fully reign in her outrage. She walked back over towards the couch and sat down. "Nothing," she then repeated calmly, "just some stupid prank call, that's all."

Her husband furrowed his brow but elected not to ask any further questions. "As long as you're ok," he said, before returning to his soccer game.

Yuuko did not answer. Instead, she picked up her book and found her place from earlier. However, try as she might, she could hear the caller's words whisper from the furthest reaches of her mind, "Tai and Kari are involved in an incestuous relationship." Little did she know, that in the quiet moments of the days to come, those words were going to haunt her.

##

Authors note:

So, the parents have finally found out… or at least one of them has. From where we are now, I think there is only one part left to go. For those of you who read My Brother all those years ago, the irony of saying that after what just happened at the end of this epilogue is not lost upon me. However, given that I am so close to the end, I will endeavour to get it written and uploaded as soon as I can. Until then, if you have enjoyed this story, please follow/favourite it, leave a review or drop me a PM. I really do enjoy hearing from you all and talking about parts of this story with those of you who are interested in knowing more.