Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon in any way, shape or form. I am not making a profit of any kind from this story.
T.K. managed to calm his girlfriend down following the brawl in the park. He took her out to eat at a local pizzeria (how original, T.K.). Neither spoke of the incident afterward. T.K.'s mother had conveniently popped up to pick up dinner for herself and offered the couple a ride to the Takaishi residence.
Upon seeing Kari's banged up hand and injured neck, she proceeded to give her younger son the 3rd Degree. T.K. managed to convince his mother that she'd hurt herself falling down some stairs and her neck was a bit sunburned pretty easily. She knew T.K. wouldn't hurt Kari and figured he'd tell her the truth when everything worked itself out.
"It's not good to keep secrets when it comes to injuries. Just remember that." She said as she rubbed some medicinal cream on Kari's neck.
Kari, however, had a much more difficult time selling a situation that hadn't happened to her own family. Her brother nearly tore the front door down in rage after seeing the redness on Kari's neck. It took everything Kari and her mother Yuuko could muster to keep Tai from hunting down and destroying T.K. for his little sister's neck. She managed to sell the redness as a sunburn from being in the park, but Tai still had a hard time believing her.
"How does your neck get a sunburn when you're wearing turtlenecks all the time?" He asked.
"Well, I am allowed to wear shirts without a turtleneck collar, you know. Or do I need to keep one on me all the time?"
Tai sneered. "I'd rather you wear one. It'd keep your boyfriend from getting any ideas."
Kari visibly blushed at her brother's accusation, her face nearly matching the color of his neck."Shut up, Tai. T.K. isn't like that and you know it. Besides, exactly what T.K. and I do when we're together isn't any of your business."
"Oh really?" He lifted her now bandaged hand. Blood slightly seeped into the coverings. "Then how do you explain this?"
Their mother stepped in. "Yes, Kari. What did happen to your hand? That looks pretty bad."
Kari yanked her hand from her brother. "I slipped on some stairs." She rubbed her sore fingers. "I tried to catch myself on the hand rail. I reached for it a bit too late and scraped it on the underside of the handrail. T.K. helped patch me up."
"Well, that was nice of him. As long as you're okay, dear."
"I'm fine, Mom. Really."
"Alright then." Yuuko collected her purse and started toward the door. "I'm going grocery shopping. Your father's going to be late tonight, so I should beat him home. Try not to kill each other, or go hunting." She glared at Tai for the last part. "I'll be back as soon as I can." With that, she walked out the door.
Kari turned for her room. "I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me when Mom gets home, please." Tai quickly walked up to her and grabbed her wrist.
"Hold on," he said as he stopped her, trying not to hurt her any more than she already was. "What really happened?"
"I already told you. I got a sunburn and slipped on some stairs."
Tai rolled his eyes. "Oh please. I've come up with better stories on my computer." He wasn't lying. He was secretly fulfilling his personal mission to be a fanfiction writer. Well, it'd be a secret if Kari hadn't walked in on him unexpectedly one day while he was writing. She'd promised she wouldn't tell anybody about it, especially Sora.
"You think I'm lying?" Kari asked, feigning shock.
Tai rolled his eyes again. "Knock it off, Kari. I taught you that, remember? Just tell me what happened. If T.K.'s been putting his hands on you..."
"Oh dear God, Tai. You know T.K. better than that. He wouldn't even think about hurting me. Besides, even if he did, Matt would kill him long before you even got the chance."
"Then what happened?"
"Nothing. Just leave it alone."
"No!" Tai shouted, not caring if the neighbors or the crazy old lady upstairs with the fifty cats (at last count) could hear him. "Something happened and I want to know what it was. I'm going to find out, one way or another. Might as well tell me now before I go beat it out of T.K."
Kari sighed. There was no way out of this one.
"I...got into a fight."
"With T.K.?"
"Would you stop blaming him?" Kari shouted herself, showing as much compassion for her neighbors that her brother did a moment before. "Nothing that happened was his fault!"
Tai put his hands up in defense. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry. Well, if it wasn't T.K., then who was it?"
"Yolei."
"Eh?"
"Yolei and I got into a fight."
Tai sat down on the living room couch and motioned Kari over. She sat down, leaving some space between them. "Okay, maybe I wasn't clear enough the first time, so I'll go ahead and say it again. Eh?"
Kari sighed again. Can't I breathe normally today? She thought to herself. "Okay, here's what happened..."
Five minutes later, Kari hung her head in shame while Tai pinched the bridge of his nose.
"You do realize how ridiculous you and Yolei acted, right?" He asked her. Kari glared at him.
"Don't try and make this sound like it's totally my fault. She choked me, remember?" She pointed to her red-neck. Not to be confused with "redneck."
"I know. But you started it."
"Did not!"
"Yes you did."
"How?"
"You insulted Yolei." Tai said flatly.
"Er...well...what about T.K.?"
Tai looked confused again. "What about T.K.?"
"He refused to avenge my honor!"
Tai fought to keep a straight face. "'Avenge your honor'? You sound like one of those lame period samurai movies. What were you expecting him to do, smack Yolei around?"
"Would've been nice."
"And Ken would've throttled him. Then there'd be lawsuits...national TV coverage...millions of yen lost...human sacrifices...cats and dogs living together...MASS HYSTERIA!" Tai flailed his arms around.
Kari, however, was far from amused. "This isn't funny, Tai. He refused to try and help me until Yolei had her hands around my throat."
"I don't blame him. You every try to break up a fight while fists are flying? Not fun, I tell ya what."
"Like you wouldn't have pummeled Matt's face in if it were you two."
"A few years ago, maybe. Nowadays, I'm not about to go smack Matt in the face if he insults me." Tai slid closer to his little sister on the couch, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling into a hug. "So she choked you, and you punched a tree...did you do anything to her, by chance? Or did you take all the damage?"
"Oh shut up."
Tai grinned his signature goofy grin. "Just kidding. Look, I'm not going to tell Mom about you two fighting, and I'm not going to try and act like anything other than your older brother. That said, I personally think you should apologize to Yolei for your part. With any luck, she'll apologize for nearly killing you. Then everything'll be marshmallows and sunshine. Right?"
Kari giggled. Tai looked confused. "What?"
"T.K. said the same thing. Marshmallows and all." Tai grinned again.
"We probably subscribe to the same magazine."
"Doubt it. He doesn't have anything he wouldn't want his mother to see hidden under his mattress."
Tai broke the world record for going from normal complexion to beet-red. "You promised you'd never speak of that!"
"Speak of what, exactly?" A voice came from behind. It was a female voice, and it was not amused.
Tai paled as quickly as he'd reddened, his complexion going from tomato-red to correction-fluid-white in no time flat. He slowly turned around on the couch, making eye contact with his grocer-holding mother. the expressionless face she had at the moment was one both he and Kari agreed they never wanted to see. It usually meant blood would be drawn.
With a chainsaw.
A dull chainsaw.
A dull, rusty chainsaw.
"Uh..." he blanked. "Hi mom! How long have you been there?"
"Just long enough to now know to go searching through your room for materials not suitable for this household." Yuuko replied as she calmly set down the groceries and head for Tai's room.
I'm dead, he thought to himself as he followed her in. She'd find his magazines, and they'd be burned at the stake, with him alongside them.
Kari slipped into her room. She noted Gatomon sleeping soundly on her bed. That sounds like a good idea. She quickly changed into her pajamas and slid into her bed alongside her partner. All I need is a good night's rest. Maybe tomorrow I'll let this go, like everyone wants.
It never happened.
Instead, Kari found herself wide awake late that night, gently stroking her partner Digimon behind her ear. The brawl played in her head over and over again. She could remember yanking on the eggplant hair that tried to harm her. She remembered scratching the flesh that threatened her well-being. She also remembered how Ken and T.K. stood off to the side, gawking like idiots who'd died and gone to Heaven.
That does it, she thought. There's no way I'm just gonna let this go. I'll get even with her. But how...? Kari mulled over how to exact revenge against the source of her sleepless night. No matter what she came up with, though, it always ended up the same way: Kari somehow beaten senseless while Yolei walked away with that damn smirk on her face.
She replayed the fight once more in her head. She brought her hands up to her face. Dammit. T.K. beat Ken up pretty easily. Why can't I take Yolei?
…
…
…
Wait a minute.
That's it! She reached over to her nearby nightstand and retrieved her D-Terminal. She quickly began typing up a message. Once she finished, she clicked "Send," not really caring if the person who she sent the email to was awake or not.
