Hello all you amazing people. Sorry it's been so long but this was a long chapter. Actually I originally had chapter 19 and 20 as one chapter, but then thought it would be cooler to have 20 chapters. A nice even number. So, I'll post them both at the same time.

Xanpluto

hmmmm, what amazing disclaimer should I use this time...well you all know what it's suppose to say anyways

They were best friends…

They were stuck in a forest together…

They almost had sex…

…but even with all of this Sora was still lost. She gave a pity filled glance at Kari.

"Please Kari, tell us what happened out there." Tai and Kari's mother was on her knees begging her daughter to talk. It would have been funny in any other situation mostly because why would Kari refuse to talk to Tai and then talk to her parents. Her and Tai were so close that she'd defiantly tell him something before them.

"Kari, enough of this," their dad added sternly, "tell us what happened now."

Kari didn't make any motion of acknowledgement and after 15 minutes of pestering her parents were getting frustrated.

"Enough of this! We're taking you to a hotel to get cleaned up." Her mother finally stated while her hands swung through the air, obviously exasperation.

Kari's hair was whacked out, her body scratched and covered with dirt, plus she was wearing a huge and baggy shirt. But, even so she was not going to leave Tk, therefore shook her head violently at her mother.

Her father was at his wits end and simply through her over his shoulder and started carrying her out like an 8 year old. Kari tried to fight it but quickly gave up and gave a pleading look to her older brother.

Tai knew he couldn't stop his parents, but rather than do nothing, he ran after her so she would have to deal with them alone.

"Tai give me the keys."

Man, Tai thought while throwing the keys, he's so pissed. Probably, at me to from losing her in the first place. Tai second guessed his decision about fallowing his parents, but then decided Kari was worth it. And so, the Kamiyas drove off to a near buy hotel so that Kari could clean up.

After Kari's continuous silent begging forced her parents even further off their rocker, Tai suggested they go back to the hospital. The parents agreed, for they loved Tk like a son, too, and cared about his health dearly.

After a painful ride back to the hospital, Kari burst into the waiting room and looked eagerly at the other children. They stared back. Finally Yolie got up the courage and shook her head slowly while muttering "no change."

You could seriously watch the happiness drain from Kari's eyes.

She walked over and plopped herself down on a couch besides her brother and parents. Her heart was filled with dread, but then she stopped. She had done it again she had lost hope. No! I'm not allowed to be a blob or a hopeless droid, Tk can't survive on that. What he needs are people to believe in him.

Kari looked around at all the sad faces. This couldn't be happening, not now. "I have to go to the bathroom." Kari said before quickly exiting the room.

She made her way down the empty hallway to Tk's room. She knew it would be against the rules to go in there. But yet, she had to. She needed to show him her new found hope. So, with that she turned the cool doorknob and slid into the room.

With a spring in her step she made her way over to Tk. He looked better than he had earlier she happily noted; more color had returned to his face. She sat herself down on the edge of the bed and grabbed Tk's hand. It was slightly cooler than normal, but Kari looked on the bright side and noticed that at least it wasn't frozen.

She gave him a quick look over and then placed one of those classic Kari smiles on her face. People always told her that her smile brightened a room and made others happy, so now she would use its magic on Tk.

"So I was thinking," she started in a springy voice, "I never did give you your present. I spent a long time working on that, mister, but no you just had to get hurt." Kari joked. "And now I'm thinking that you owe me, for wasting my time and all. So, in payment I think you should take me shopping. I know, I know; it's not like me to go shopping. But, it'll be worth it just to hear you groan." At this she swore she saw him give a faint smile, therefore continued in even more excitement. "But that would be a little mean…so I'll make it up to you afterwards. We could go do whatever you want, anything at all."

Kari paused a moment and stared at Tk, is it my imagination or is he smiling again, it looks like a bigger smile than last time.

"Takeru Takaishi, if that smile is from what I just said than you are in a whole lot of trouble. I'll whip you straight."

Kari stared as the smile grew and then her words hit her in the face.

"Not seriously whip, I mean like train you to be better—ah, that came out wrong, I mean like—ah—I'll punish you hard…I mean firmly…AH, I mean strictly, ah…"

Kari quit her rambling as the smile on Tk's face grew almost to max.

"Tk you are a perverted boy. And mean, too." She added as an after thought while squeezing his hand, "I'm worrying sick about you but you won't even open your eyes or speak to me. Instead you let me ramble like an idiot while you imagine perverted things."

She watched his face keep the same giddy expression sadly, but quickly hid that from him.

"I told you, you were mean." She waiting impatiently, but got no change in him. "I see how it is; you're still imagining all those perverted things in your head. You don't want to come back to reality where you'll never get a single one. Where you'll never get your hands on me…" Kari gave herself a mental high five as she watched the smile disappear off of his face; satisfied, she bent down and whispered seductively into his ear, "…or will you?"

The smile sprung back onto his face within a spit second and Kari gave herself another mental high five; she was good, really good. "Then again there's always Davis," the smile disappeared, "I think I might go find him now, unless that is, you can convince me not to."

Kari made a fake attempt to get up causing the bed to squeak a bit, then she released his hand from hers.

"don't"

"Tai, where'd your sister go?"

Tai looked up at his father curiously, "I think she said she was going to the bathroom."

"Said?" Sora interrupted.

"Yeah, so?"

"You idiot," Matt insulted, "she said she was going to the bathroom."

Tai gave a blank look then it finally hit him, "She spoke!"

The others sighed as he celebrated. "It's been a while, why don't you go make sure she's ok." His mother asked.

"I'll go, too." Sora volunteered, "So as Tai doesn't go storming into the girls bathroom."

"Thank you dear," Mrs. Kamiya said with a smile, as the two left the room in search of the brunette.

After walking a few yards Sora randomly said in a sweet voice, "You're cute when you're stupid."

"Thanks—I mean HEY." Tai said dumbly while stopping in his tracks. Sora had continued walking but soon turned back to face him.

"Are you coming?" She said with a very untraditional Sora finger curl of the hair, making her look very childish but in a sexy way.

"Ya, don't leave me!" Tai shouted while jogging up to Sora, causing the pair to receive critical stares from other people in the hallway.

Line

"I think I might go find him now, unless that is, you can convince me not to."

Kari made a fake attempt to get up causing the bed to squeak a bit, and then she released his hand from hers.

"don't"

Kari stared at those beautiful lips that had just spoken the most inspiring and meaningful word she had ever heard in her life. "Tk…" She looked at his blank yet slightly frowning expression and tried to hold in the tears. "Tk—you had better get better soon so that—so that I can take you shopping and then give you 'whatever' you want after wards."

Kari watched as the smile perked on his lips, then as they moved once again and uttered the two letters which caused way her whole body warm, "o.k."

Kari wanted to scream, to jump with joy. Reluctantly she kept herself under control knowing she'd attack attention if she did any of those things. Instead she quietly spoke in a high pitched voice, "I'll hold you to it."

Tk gave a weak smile and the realization hit her, "Tk go to sleep, stop using your energy on me."

"stay," he uttered while mustering all his energy to reach out his arm and touch her. Kari immediately leaned into his arm for her self.

"Of course."

With that last word she laid her small body next to his muscular one on the bed.

"Tai she's not in there."

"WHAT?"

"It's probably not a big deal, just calm down," Sora said soothingly.

"Not a big deal! Are you kidding? She's gone again, for the umpteenth time."

"Think about it, Tai, where'd she go last time?" Sora folded her arms and gave him a 'this is obvious' look.

Tai was in no mood for it and was on the edge of cracking, "I don't know!"

"Tk, you big haired idiot. She went to Tk."

"oooh" he said as he realized his stupidly before noticing that Sora was already walking off, fallowing the sign directing room numbers.

A few minutes later the arrived at room 213, and after a double look to see if anyone was around opened the door. Luckily for Tai's nerves, she was there. She lay next to Tk, her eyes quickly flashing over to his making no move to get up. But, within that glance they both seemed to come to an understanding and Tai quickly shut the door. "Let's go back." Sora nodded and they walked back to the waiting room only to be met with questions.

"Where's your sister, son?"

"Well dad, think about it, she didn't have food for almost 2 days then got back and stuffed her face. What do you think is happening right now?" He finished with a 'this is so obvious' look he had stolen from Sora.

Mr. Kamiya just nodded his head, while soon other people in the room flashed a disgusted but understanding expression.

"Hey Tai," Sora called to him before he managed to sit down.

"Ya?"

"I need to grab something from your van, do you mind showing me where it's parked?"

"Sure, let's go." He said with an expressionless face.

Sora walked out of the room, Tai right behind her. They walked side by side the whole distance outside, but as soon as they reached the van Sora through Tai against the van door and firmly held him there.

"Sora? What the—

"You know how earlier I said you're cute when you're stupid?"

"Yeah, but—

"Well, did I mention how hot you are when you're smart?" Then Sora held him even harder against the van and reached up and began kissing him passionately on the lips.

After a minute or two, Sora released him and backed away a few steps breathing heavily. After Tai had regained his breath he took the few steps forward to Sora and asked, "I'm guessing that was a rhetorical question?"

"Oh shut up," she responded jokingly while placing her arms on his shoulders and tracing a line from his ear to neck. "Shut up, and just kiss me again."

To this he happily obliged.

[Two Days Later

Kari, once again, snuck into Tk's room; Tai providing another accuse on her behalf, seeing as she had gone back to not talking to any body. Luckily she hadn't been caught so far. Once she did have to hide in the bathroom for a few minutes, but that was the extent of her troubles. Since his three spoken words two days ago he had said nothing else. He hadn't even shown his perverted smile, but she wasn't worried; he had a promise to keep.

She lay in bed next to him and staring at the side of his face. She was very careful not to move or touch him in any way that could cause harm.

"I was thinking about next year. We're going to be juniors in high school, which means we get to go to prom. I know it's still almost a year till prom, but just thinking about you in a tux is quite amusing. I remember when you had to go to your cousins wedding and you had a frilly powder blue undershirt. It was hideous. But, don't worry I'll help you pick out your tux this time. You'll be the hottest guy in there—TK, YOU'RE AWAKE!!!" She screamed as she saw his eyes slowly flutter open.

"You'll be the hottest girl." He said in husky voice while completely ignoring her excitement.

"Tk, you're awake!!!" She repeated while sitting up straight.

"I noticed," he said sarcastically, "and my chest is burning."

"Poor baby," she said while kissing his forehead, "I'll get the nurse."

"No—" he was interrupted by a coughing attack from which his face whinced in pain. Kari just help onto his hand praying it would be over soon. Lucky for both of them it was. "No, don't leave," he finished his thought.

"But Tk—"

"Don't worry about me."

"But I have to because I love you." She flashed a contagious smile.

"I love you, too." He said as his lips curved upward, too.

"But," she continued, "I'm going to get the nurse and tell everyone else."

Tk gave a defeated look, "don't be long."

"I wouldn't dare," she said while giving him another kiss on the forehead before slipping out of the room. Tk couldn't help but long for her to be beside him again. The warm feeling tickling his body was worth the sever pain, but he understood why she had to go.

As he sat there his mind wondered off and tried to recall the events from the days previous. Everything was fuzzy. He could remember Kari freaking out about a present, but everything else was a blur of colors and sounds.

If he concentrated real hard the blurs would form short glimpses of his memories, but they were often scattered and unordered. Perhaps, it would come in time but that meant being patient.

His eyes were closed once more in thought until a small bang popped in his ears. He watched as a nurse clad in blue scrubs rush over to him and began sweetly talking to him, "Are you feeling better? Does anything hurt?"

"Um…yes and yes," he answered awkwardly.

"What is it?" She asked while already pulling down the covers to examine his chest.

"It burns like a hot fire inside my flesh," he explained while wincing as she touched his bandages.

"Ok dear, I'm going to go get you some morphine so just hang in there," she made her way to the door.

"Wait! Can I see my brother and Kari?"

She turned around with a pity filled face, "I'll see what I can do." With that she exited the room and left Tk all to his lonesome.

"He's up!"

"What!?!" They all screamed in excitement at Kari's announcement, all startled that she talked at all.

"Yeah he woke up when I was in there." She said as a huge grin appeared on her face.

Her father gave her a queer look, "In there? Tai told us you were too scared to tell us what happen in the forest therefore were writing a book about it on the computers downstairs."

"Well, he was just covering up for me. I've been with Tk the whole time and good thing I was because he woke up."

"Is he doing all right?" A worried Matt asked with tons of compassion.

"Um…I think so. He said his chest was burning and so I got a nurse who's hopefully giving him drugs for it."

Matt questioned further, "Can I see him?"

"Probably, but you'll have to ask the nurse—" before she had even finished he once again had sprinted out the door.

"Kari, are you ok?" A concerned Mimi asked.

"Why would you ask that?"

Yolie gave her a 'what the hell' look and then pointed out the obvious, "You haven't talked to us for three days, so of course we're going to ask it once you finally do talk."

Kari gave a fake chuckle, "Never better." Yolie stared her down. "I'm serious."

"Teeks! You ok?"

"Sure am, have you ever tried this stuff" he said pointing to the white pill on the counter with a 'out of it' expression, "it makes you feel so happppppppy."

Matt gave a small laugh at his semi-high brother. Than a though struck him, maybe he would talk about what happened. "Hey Teeks, what went on when you and Kari were in the forest alone?"

Tk gave a giddy expression, "There was this flower—it was white. Made a sign, froze ass off. A present and a wolf…"

Matt gave his brother a quizzical look not comprehending any of what he said, "That's all great, but why is Kari so down."

"Got hurt 'cause her. Guilty about what almost happened." Tk said in fragments.

"What almost happened?" Matt said now curious beyond belief.

"I said her beautifuler than flower. She kiss me. I take off her shirt. She push me into tree then ground. I stop."

"Wait, wait, wait! You had sex with Tai's sister, he's going to kill you." Matt said concerned for his brother's safety.

"NO. Her I stop."

"I'm confused, she wanted you but you denied her. Are you stupid?"

Tk shook his head, "Postponed not deny. She's hot, but not doing it when desperate in forest."

Matt finally understood, "Well little bro I have two things to say, number one—way to go, you defiantly take after me and two—Tai's going to pulverize you if he finds out."

Tk gave a goofy laugh, "He won't."

Five days later Tk was released from the hospital. His mother, whom had finally arrived along with his father, was wheeling him out to her car. He waved goodbye to the Kamiyas and his brother and father, everyone else had gone home four days earlier after long goodbyes, then pulled himself into the passengers seat. His mother, Nancy, started up the engine of the car and began to back up. But suddenly stopped.

Tk looked over at her and saw that see was looking behind her; he too turned around and saw a blond haired boy running towards them. "Matt?"

"Hey little bro, Dad said I could ride with you guys." Nancy gave him an approving smile and he opened the back door. Tk stared at his brother as he fastened his seat belt. This must be hard for him; he and their mother didn't really talk. Not because they didn't like each other, mostly because they found nothing to talk about therefore were accompanied by an awkward silence. "Take a picture it'll last longer, Teeks."

Tk fell back down to earth and looked at his brother, "Sorry," and he turned around.

"If you're gong to be sorry don't act so happy," he said sarcastically.

Tk gave him a smile of which he saw the reflection of in the window. After that nobody said anything for a good 15 minutes. At that 15 minute mark Ms. Takaishi got a phone call and plugged in her headset. Matt used this opportunity to talk to Tk.

"So Teeks, what's going to happen on your next date with Kari?" An evil grin appeared on his face.

"What do you mean?" Tk asked because of his confusion.

"Let's just say that when you're high you'll talk about anything."

Tk's cheeks flushed scarlet. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Matt bobbed his head, "Sure you don't?"

"Don't what?" Ms. Takaishi asked as her call ended.

The boys answer in unison, "Nothing Mom."

And here's the next chapter...BUT WAIT, don't forget to review first.