Kari walked slow, TK was describing the details of his last class and Kari barley registered he was talking. She couldn't shake the darkness she had seen at school that morning.
She had been running an errand for her teacher when she felt like she was in a dense fog. She paused to try and rid her mind of the illusion in front of her. But the fog stayed. She started to feel scared. A dark figure appeared within the fog. Kari squinted and recognized the silhouette to be Cherrymon. She gasped and then a voice spoke.
"Do you have a pass?" Kari turned and saw a teacher standing behind her. The fog was gone and Kari tried to understand if she had imagined the fog or not. She was still in shock but eventually she found her voice and flashed her hall pass. The teacher turned and left and Kari turned around seeing nothing but an empty hallway. Kari was afraid but gingerly moved forward down the hall to complete the errand for her teacher. She went on with the rest of her day without seeing anymore fog or shadows of strange digimon. But the encounter continued to plague her mind.
"I was lucky though I managed to duck back to my desk before he saw so James was the only one who got caught." TK finished but Kari was only acutely aware he had been speaking.
"Kari?" TK asked and his voice reached her a little louder. She looked up at him and smiled,
"well I'm just glad you didn't get detention." She said with a smirk. Kari tried to hide the fact that she was only half listening. Of course she couldn't get anything past TK. He squared his shoulders to face her and stopped walking. He had placed his hands on her arms stopping her as well and Kari tried to look surprised,
"what is it?" She asked but her voice had a slight catch in it and TK frowned.
"What's bothering you?" He asked sternly. Kari rubbed her lips together and slowly answered,
"it's nothing, I guess I'm just sad about Gatomon." She lied. TK wrapped his arms around her and Kari was slightly surprised by the action. He held her against his chest and whispered,
"I know, me too." Kari was wide eyed. She couldn't believe he believed her. She quickly blinked and hugged TK back trying to play into her pretend grief.
"I'll be okay. We all miss them right?" She tried to sound sad and she felt TK nod his head against her own. He then stepped back and Kari did as well. She made sure to have a sad look as he looked at her face. He put a finger under her chin and made her look up at him. She felt suddenly guilty looking into his warm eyes. She didn't want to lie, but then, she was exhausted of always having some ailment to talk about. She already had cancer and lost her digimon partner. She didn't need anymore reasons to be a victim and even more so, she didn't need the others to have another reason to worry about her. TK leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips. Kari welcomed the contact but also felt ambivalent about whether or not she deserved it. She pulled back and TK frowned. Kari quickly smirked and grabbed his hand,
"We should keep going. Tai said he would meet us at the bridge." TK suddenly looked to his left and Kari giggled,
"you're fine." She reassured and TK relaxed. He brought their intertwined hands to his mouth and gently kissed Kari's knuckles. She nearly melted at the gesture but composed herself and focused on walking
"come on." She said with a smile and led TK towards the bridge that was close to her apartment. TK happily obliged and Kari pushed whatever strange event took place earlier, to the back of her mind.
Tai waited for his sister. He flipped his phone open to check the time and sighed trying to relax. He then saw two figures moving slowly along the sidewalk and squinted. He could make out TK's blond hair and relaxed seeing his sister walking next to him. He walked towards them and as he got close he waved and called to them,
"hey you two." He greeted and Kari beamed at him. Tai felt better seeing his sisters smiling face.
"Sorry Tai, were you waiting long?" Kari asked taking a step towards him. Tai shook his head,
"not at all. Anyways good to see you TK. Come on Kar. I've got some plans for us." He turned to leave but then stopped. Kari wasn't at his side. He turned back and saw she had walked back over to TK.
"Thanks for walking me TK." Tai heard his sister say. He rose an eyebrow and saw TK's cheeks go red.
"Sure, anytime." The young blond mumbled. Tai then narrowed his eyes as Kari wrapped her arms around TK's neck and gave him a hug. He returned it and then Kari stepped away. She turned to face Tai who was looking at the two junior high students very suspiciously.
"Ready to go Tai?" Kari asked and Tai snapped back into reality,
"right yeah. Let's go." Kari walked past him and Tai took that moment to shoot a warning look at TK. The boy seemed to cower slightly and when Tai turned to follow his sister he slowly let a smile creep onto his lips. He was happy he had scared TK. Matt's words at lunch were making Tai ansy. The last thing he needed was to fend off boys from his sister. He caught up to his sister with ease as she wasn't walking very fast.
"So how was your first day back? Was coach okay with you missing practice this morning?" Kari asked.
"It was fine, very uneventful. As for practice, you let me worry about how much practice I need. Don't forget your brother is the captain and eligible for many upcoming soccer scholarships." He grinned and was happy when he saw Kari giggle,
"right, I won't question it then." Tai looked forward. He thought about TK again and frowned. He really didn't want to ask but knew if he didn't, he'd never stop thinking about it. "Er, Kar?" His sister looked up at him,
"uhm, you and TK... you guys are pretty close, wouldn't you say?" He watched his sister shrug her shoulders,
"yeah, we're close." She replied casually.
"So you two wouldn't be, I don't know, into each other would you?" He prayed for a "No!" from his sister. But he watched her bite her lip and Tai panicked,
"wait? What?! Are you?!" He exclaimed and Kari blanched and turned to face Tai.
"I mean, I don't know! But don't-" Tai cut her off,
"you don't know?! Kari you're fourteen! You are not to be dating until you are at least 30!" Kari frowned,
"what? That's ridiculous!" Tai put his hands on his hips,
"Kari, I mean it, you tell me right now. Are you and TK a thing?" Kari blew her cheeks out in frustration,
"Tai I really like him, and he likes me." She looked down and Tai saw sadness in her eyes. His face fell and he started to feel guilty.
"I'm sorry Kar. I guess look, if you're gonna date someone I can't stop you.
I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled." He saw his sisters eyes look at him.
"So why did you?" She whispered and Tai looked up,
"because that's another sign of you growing up. It's hard to let go. But you are strong and I need to let you make decisions for yourself. I just worry." He finished and then he stood tall,
"it's fine if you want to date TK. I want to talk to him however and remind him just who he is taking out. You're not just anyone Kar, you're Kari Kamiya. You are my little sister. Which means if he does anything to hurt you, he will feel the wrath of Tai. And believe me, not even Peidmon, Myotismon and Apocolypsemon combined can stand my wrath. So he'd better watch out." He grinned at the end of his sentence and watched his sister laugh. She then wrapped her arms around his left arm and rested her head on his bicep.
"I love you Tai." Tai leaned his head down and kissed the top of Kari's head.
"I love you too Kar."