Chapter Nine: Almost Always Off Key

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN ANY SONGS, ARTISTS, BRANDS, OR DIGIMON just my story concept and style! 

Hey guys! Thanks to my reviewers, for this fic, and my new Mimato!

Chapter Nine

Jyou motioned his lips to sing again, but stopped when the music was abruptly cut off. "I wanna sing!!!!!" Yolei declared. He laughed and stepped down from the makeshift platform, and could not contain his anticipation for this spectacle. "Hit me up that 7-0-7, baby!" she said. "Uh, don't you mean 8-0-8?" Matt asked. Yolei sneered at him and held the microphone up to her mouth. "This is a story about a girl named Yolei." (She's doing a parody of Brittney Spears' 'Lucky'.)

"Oh no!" Mimi said, laughing. "Early morning, she wakes up. Buzz buzz from her clock. It's time for make-up, perfect smile, but there's no more cereal in the box."

"My friends say isn't she lovely, this computer nerd girl? And they say that she's so lucky, grade point average star, but I long for adventure in my lonely heart thinking, if there's that thing that's missing in my life, make my dreams come true this September night."

"Lost in an html image, but then I look up, I see my friends at the PC. Then the world is spinning and the digital world is becoming my alternate lifestyle."

"And I cry, I'm so lucky, for Hawkmon, my faithful partner, deranged bird, but I cry, cry, cry out my eyes thinking, when will my friends TK and Kari get together this just ain't right."

"Thank you Cincinnati!" she shouted while taking a dramatic bow. "Where's Cincinnati?" asked TK. "I don't know, it sounds kind of European," Izzy said. "AHHA! You're-a-peein!" Yolei shouted.

Kari swiftly turned off the machine. "Er, thanks for that, Yolei. Who's next?" Tai jokingly pulled up his pants and made his way to the stage. After flipping through an album of CD's, he made his selection. With a sneer, Tai beckoned Matt over. After giving him a pimp hat and sunglasses, Matt knew immediately what song he had been roped in to. He then beckoned to Sora and Mimi and showed them their part at the very beginning of the song. Matt and Tai then scampered off behind 'stage', while Ken pressed play. Into the microphone Sora voiced, "Oh. My. God. Mimi, look at her butt! It is sooooo big!"

"She looks like one of those rap guys girlfriends, like who understands those rap guys anyways? They only talk to her because she looks like a total prostitute!" Mimi said her part.

"I mean her butt, it's just so big! I can't believe it's so round…It's just out there! I mean, it's gross!"

"Look, she's just soooo….." Mimi finished. The girls ran to sit on the couch to watch the spectacle currently running onto the platform. "I like big butts and I cannot lie! My digi-d brothers can't deny!" Tai started. "When a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist and a round thing in your face you get sprung!" Matt rapped, while the two turned and bopped their butts around. They brought their hands to their chins and jerked their heads to the music, trying to look cool while singing the next few lines. "Wanna pull up tough, because you notice that butt was stuffed. Deep in the jeans she's wearing, I'm hooked and I can't stop staring. Oh, baby I wanna get with ya, and take your picture! Jyou, Izzy, Ken, and TK tried to warn me, but that butt you got…" Mimi enthusiastically shouted her next written part of the song, "MAKE ME SO HORNY!!!" Soon after a dam of giggles burst from her mouth after shouting something random and watching Tai and Matt make thrusting motions with their hips, she turned back attentively to the rest of the song. After they finished their drunken routine, TK and Ken approached.

"Oh? And what are you singing?" Kari asked. "I don't know, go pick out something for us," Ken said. She smirked. After putting her Pussycat Dolls CD inside the disk receptor, the beat began playing over the speakers. TK knew what it was at once. "Oh no……………" Ken groaned. "Dolls….." TK half-heartedly sang. After Busta Rhymes did his 'part', they began. "I know ya like me, I know ya do!" TK sang. "I know ya do!" Ken echoed. "That why whenever I come around she's all over you," TK continued, swinging his hips and head toward his audience. The 'audience' was shrieking in laughter.

"And I know you want it," TK sang.

"I know you want it," Ken proceeded, trying to get into it.

"It's easy to see!"

"It's easy to see."

"Wait a minute!" Mimi shouted. Izzy cut the music and looked at her curiously. "Oh, uh, sorry, did I say that out load? How convenient. Hey, music man, get over here for a second." Izzy followed her into the kitchen. "What's up?" he asked. "Do we have any music that TK can sing to Kari and get them together?" said Mimi, getting straight to the point. Izzy mulled it over while listening to Ken and TK further butcher the song. "Okay, hmmmmm…..Yeah……..I officially have no freaking clue, why do I have to think of these things?" Izzy whined. "Well maybe Kari can sing to TK?" Mimi said pitifully. He let out an exasperated sigh, trying to think of the perfect song. "Hey remember that song, Every Time We Touch, by that one chick? It was like really big and then it just faded away?" Mimi's jaw dropped in remembrance and at the sheer brilliance. "Ah, Izzy, you're a rock star!" she said with a quick hug. She bounded off inform Kari of the 'situation'. Specifically, that Mimi had an awesome amount of blackmail on Kari that would be released to special spectators in the song wasn't directed toward TK.

Ken and TK finished embarrassing themselves and hurried off the 'stage'. Mimi returned to the room and noticed everyone standing and teasing. "Wow guys, you got a standing ovulation!" Sora, Kari, and Yolei snickered, while the male portions of the group blushed. "Umm, I think you mean ovation," Jyou pointed out. "That's what I said! Man, what have you all been drinking?" she retorted. "Hey Izzy, hit us up on that music!" Izzy shook his head. Kari swallowed hard and reached for his hand. He looked up in surprise. "No," she simply said. "No music."

The rest of the group looked at her puzzled. Grabbing a stool from the kitchen, Kair cleared her troat and adjeusted herself. She began to count measures in her head. Only Sora and Tai had ever heard Kari's beautiful, songbird voice. Kari was frightened at the aspect of anyone else hearing it. She looked into the audience and sought TK's gaze. He smilied warmly at her, and She gently closed her eyes. The rhythm in her head took over, and her own beautiful rendition of the song poured into the living room. Everyone sat in awe. Except for Tai and Sora, who glanced at each other with knowing grins.

"I still hear you voice, when you part from me,"

"I still feel your touch in my dreams."

"Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know why,"

"Without you it's hard to survive,"

"Because every time we touch, I get this feeling,"

"And every time we are close enough to kiss, I pray to the sky,"

"Can't you feel my heart beat fast?"

"I want this to last,"

"Need you in my life."

Kari continued her heart-felt song while directly looking into the eyes of TK. Every high note she hit with passion, and every prolonged word was sung with emotion. It wasn't hard to do, considering who she was singing it to. With the last note, she stood and went to go sit down with a crimson blush. TK immediately intercepted her. "Hey, Kari, can I talk to you out there?" he jerked his finger toward the hallway. She nodded. The boy took her hand and led her down the hallway, and slyly pulled her into the bathroom. The red-faced one expected rejection, and couldn't bear thinking about what she had just done if that was indeed the case.

TK took his hand to her forehead and trailed it down her face gently. She grasped his fingers. He neatly took her hand and placed it over her chest. "Kari, calm down," he whispered. She could feel her rapid heartbeat slow at his command. He traced his fingertips down her arms, and stopped to grasp her hands. Her eyelids fluttered close. TK leaned in to touch his cheek to hers. He gently caressed her hands with his thumbs in small circles, and removed his cheek from her face just a few inches. The boy gently nuzzled her nose with his own, creating Eskimo kisses. Kari was in a state of pure joy with his soft touches. She felt the butterfly kisses of his eyelashes fluttering against her. His lips lightly grazed her own, sending electricity through each other's spines. Finally, he went in and kissed her gently and sweetly on the lips, as if they were delicate flower petals. Kari's eyes opened slowly and leaned into him, following with another little kiss, lasting a bit longer. TK snaked his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him. Her arms involuntarily wrapped around his neck. He breathed in the scent of her shampoo, and she rested her chin gently on his shoulder. After a few moments he reclaimed her hands and pulled apart slightly. TK kissed her again. Kari sensed that he was about to part the two, so she softly tipped his chin back into her direction. Out of reflex, TK's lips parted, allowing Kari to grasp his bottom with her own and pull. He moaned quietly at the sensation and broke it off. He pecked her lips one last time and suggested that the others might become suspicious if they stayed in the dim lit bathroom much longer. Kari smirked and agreed.

The two shyly walked their way back to the crowd, holding each other's hands. Tai and Matt collaborated to make room for two together on the couch. As if a yellow brick rode had been paved out for them, the younger ones make there way to the couch and curled their legs up under themselves, never losing grasp of the other's hand. They were just in time to catch Izzy finish up some Brittney Spears. Sora glanced into the kitchen at the clock on the microwave. "That went by fast! It's nearly two!" She commented. Yolei yawned as if to reinforce this fact. "Maybe we should go to sleep?" Ken asked Yolei. She nodded and smiled, standing to situate the sleeping arrangements. Kari looked at TK's drowsy eyes. "TK? Let's go get some sleep," she suggested. He glanced at her gratefully. Tai immediately eyed him suspiciously at the aspect of him sleeping near his sister. "Well, how about we set you guys up in the study, the farthest room from here, so we don't awaken you?" Mimi said. The four sleepy teens changed in Kari's room and the bathroom, and prepared their sleeping bags. Ken set up his blue sleeping bag next to Yolei's green one, and wrapped her arm around him. The two were asleep in minutes.

TK and Kari still stood next to each other, watching. When their friends had finally fallen asleep, Kari turned and smiled at TK. He returned it warmly and kissed her on the cheek. "TK, how did you get so good at this sort of thing?" she asked teasingly, while running her fingers through his hair. Even though it was obvious she was talking about something else, TK replied, "well, Matt gave a few pointers on the hair…" Kari grinned and rolled her eyes. After seducing her into a kiss, he answered seriously. "I've been dreaming of this moment for a long time." His sincere eyes melted her heart. She gazed into those eyes for quite a long time, slowing caressing the back of head. TK responding by places his hands on her hips and matching his forehead with hers. Finally, Kari's eyelids began to feel heavier. Sensing her fatigue, TK instructed her to close her eyes. He kissed the shut lids and then kissed her once more on the lips. "Come on, I'm tired too," he supplemented while beginning to set up their own sleeping bags. He completely unzipped each one, opening them into two giant squares. He laid his big black one on the floor, and lowered Kari onto it. He then covered that with Kari's purple one. Once he was satisfied and had pulled the computer room's door close, he dove into the make-shift bed next to Kari. They lay facing each other for a minute, and then locked their pinkies together, like the young digi-destined did as kids. It was childish; but symbolic of their friendship, and love.

Tai kept trying to slip off from the group to peek in at the sleeping digi-destineds. Sora and Mimi intervened every time, tired of hearing the excuse "but my sister is in there with a….boy!" "Yes, big brother, we know, but leave them alone, and get back in there," they'd retort. Once the group had passed around and downed some more ice cream, they got together to decide what to do next. "Hmmm," Mimi said, raising her eyebrows. "I brought a little something that might be fun," she said mischievously grinning.

Dun dun dun! SO SORRY ABOUT THE UPDATE!!!!! I'm going to go start working on the next chapter right NOW!!!! Please Review!!!! I think this might wrap up in maybe four chapters, maybe three!!

Beta's note: pardon the tardiness she had this chapter finished about two weeks ago and I had forgotten it was in my inbox. So it is partly my fault, sorry...