Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or anything from the television show.

Walk Home

Molly checked her lip-gloss in her locker mirror. Assuming things went as usual, she'd accidentally bump into TK as he talked with Devon. Her hair was perfect, eyes were perfect. Just a quick coat of lip-gloss, and she was perfect.

She grabbed her books and closed her locker. She began down the hall and spotted Devon. As usual, he was talking with a bunch of guys. TK smiled at something Devon said. She smiled and began walking with her head down to make the bump plausible. However, when she made contact with someone, that person was definitely too large to be tall, lean TK. She looked up to see she had bumped into a wrestler. She took a few steps back and turned toward Devon and his group. TK was gone. She spotted him as he made his way out of the front doors.

Following him, she noticed he was heading to the bike racks. Perfect, she could ask if she could ride his handlebars and he could bike her home. However, he didn't approach a bike. No, he approached another girl. Molly felt appalled. How dare he walk home with a girl she didn't know? A girl with chin length brown hair wearing a simple pair of jean flares and pink tee. From Molly's distance, she couldn't tell what the girl looked like, but assumed that she was nothing special. She decided the girl must be TK's cousin.

"Is there going to be beer?" Kari asked.

"Probably," TK replied. "You don't have to drink, but I suggest you at least grab a cup and fill it a little. Just carry it around with you, it'll attract people to talk to you."

"What if I want to drink?" Kari asked.

"Don't get too drunk then," TK said. "And if you think you've gone beyond a limit, find me so no one can take advantage of you."

"Won't you be with someone?" Kari asked.

"Define 'with someone'," TK said. "Because it's not like I'll be in a bedroom with anyone."

"Well, I just assumed that's what all your friends did," Kari said, a little blush coming to her cheeks.

"My friends, yes, a majority of them do," TK said. "But I don't."

Kari smiled. "Just keep an eye out for me, will you?"

"Wouldn't dream of anything else," TK said.

"Should I, like, dress up special or something?" Kari asked.

"Well, it's not school," TK said. "Keep that in mind. Or ask Sora to help you pick out an outfit if you want."

Kari smiled. She could do that.

"So what have you been up to lately?" TK asked. "You've been MIA for a few weeks now."

"If by MIA you mean on the other side of the lunchroom," Kari corrected him.

TK laughed and slung his arm around Kari's slender shoulders. "You should come over and talk to me once in a while."

"Why don't you take the initiative?" Kari asked.

"Because I am forever hoping you will," TK joked.

"I guess I just haven't seen the light to show me the way," Kari caught on.

"You still never answered my question," TK said.

Kari looked up at the boy. "What question was that again?"

"What have you been up to lately?"

"Oh," Kari said. She began digging through her mind for anything she could tell him that wasn't a lie, but didn't make her seem like a lifeless freak. "There was this photography contest that I spent some time trying to find the perfect photo for. And, uh, I've been hanging out with Davis and Yolei quite some bit. We spend a lot of time at the mall. Reading, been doing a lot of that. And…" She couldn't think of anything else. "What about you?

TK laughed. "Let's just say basketball, basketball, eating, and basketball."

Kari bit her lip and turned her head away from him. He was so gorgeous to her, and how he admitted he'd been up to only one real thing for the last several weeks was astounding her. "Didn't basketball season end a few months ago?"

"Technically," TK said. "But then there's post-season training, the fact that all the guys ever want to do is play basketball, oh, and more post-season training to keep in shape for next year."

Kari giggled and looked forward. Her apartment complex was just visible. She didn't want the walk to end. She hadn't had a real heart-to-heart with TK in a while, and its ending could only come too soon. It seemed he felt the same because she felt him slow his pace slightly as he continued to talk.

"What were your pictures of?" TK asked.

"Oh, anything I happened to take a picture of or thought looked cool," Kari said. "The picture I sent in ended up being this candid shot of Tai, Matt, and Sora all laughing their heads off while they were on the couch. I just walked out of my room with my camera in hand, and there they were laughing like idiots—"

"Do Tai and Matt ever laugh any other way?" TK asked, causing Kari to giggle. He smiled down, enjoying the smile on her face. It looked like it was long overdue. He seriously began to wonder why she stopped coming by to talk to him and drag him through the lunch line with her like she had everyday the first half of the school year. He noticed something wrong when she bent forward laughing. He could see every vertebrae of her spine poking through her shirt.

She turned back to look at him and immediately noticed the look on his face. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Have you lost weight?" he asked, seeing it on her face now. As well as her shoulders and breasts. He stopped his mind for a moment. Had he really just thought about her breasts?

"Not really," Kari said. She continued forward and heard TK behind her. They were quiet now. She prayed her stomach wouldn't growl until after he left. So what if she lost a little weight? She was still not one of the sticks that all his friends dated. If she wanted to spend time with him, she needed to be accepted by the sticks before anyone else.

"Please don't lie to me, Kari," TK said. "I can see it."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kari said. "Maybe I just shaved off a little more of my childhood fat."

"You never had any childhood fat to shave off," TK protested. "You look like you've been living off of salads for weeks or something."

"You know me better than that," Kari said, even though it was mostly true. "Like I said, I had a little extra fat."

"Your breasts shrank a little," TK said, even though he hadn't meant to.

Kari's jaw dropped. "You've been looking at my breasts?"

TK scrambled for something to say. His mind was failing him. "That came out very wrong."

"You think?" Kari snapped.

"Kari, you never had any excess fat," TK said, trying to calm down. "What I meant was that you're too thin to be losing any weight."

Kari's eyes were slits, even though she knew he was probably correct. She turned away and began toward her apartment anyway. TK was still behind her. "You are eating, right?"

"Of course I'm eating," Kari said, still angry. Next, he would be admitting sex fantasies he had about her or something.

"Look, Kari," TK said running in front of her. "I'm sorry what I said."

"Why the hell have you memorized my breasts?" Kari asked, crossing her arms in front of them.

TK took a breath. "It's not like I sit and stare at them. But, sometimes I'll be talking with you and then when you walk off, someone like Davis will point out something about you. Well, more likely Devon or Pat, but they'll say something along the lines of you having perky breasts, and well, I might get a glance at them." He could not believe that he was putting the blame on other people. "To clear things up, Davis usually talks about your hair and eyes." He had already pissed her off enough, the least he could do was save Davis's ass.

"Do you have sex fantasies about me?" Kari asked suddenly. She didn't know why she was interested even.

"Is there a correct answer to this?" TK asked. He was afraid it was a question that if he said 'yes' she'd call him perverted and if he said 'no' she'd complain that she wasn't hot enough and question why she wasn't hot enough.

"The truth."

TK shook his head. "No, I don't, Kari. You're a friend. Would you expect me to?"

"I suppose not," Kari said, her head looking down.

"You're now upset thinking you're not hot enough, aren't you?" TK asked. Before Kari could even deny that, TK continued. "I don't have sex fantasies, period. It's nothing that has ever come to my head. Not there. My head is too filled with basketball, school, and digimon to think about sex. It's not you."

Kari nodded. It made her feel a little better, though she still couldn't believe the breast comment. They had finally reached her apartment complex. She looked at him. "What are you going to do to make it up to me?" Kari asked.

TK smirked. "I'll buy you an ice cream cone tomorrow after school."

Kari smiled at that idea. She could go for an ice cream cone. "Meet you at the same place?"

"Definitely," TK said. "See you tomorrow."

"You too, TK," Kari said before turning inside her apartment.

TK watched her retreating. "Please be eating, Kari. You're too thin to starve yourself like those sticks that other guys take advantage of." He continued toward his own home. He'd have to keep an eye on her a little more closely. Kari was special.