Never Far

Chapter 20- Resolution

Being surrounded by so many of her close friends was wonderful for Kari. She could think of nothing that could make her happier than spending a week in a house filled with people that she loved.

Early that afternoon she found herself sun bathing in a lounge chair beside the pool with Yolei, Sora, Mimi, Lynn, and Hannah. Before long, a vicious game of water volleyball erupted, bringing back memories from a trip to the beach two summers previous.

The beach ball came dangerously close to Kari's chair and she lowered her wide sunglasses half an inch to glare at whoever had hit the ball her way. T.K. climbed out of the pool to retrieve it, giving her a cheeky smile as she glared at him. His wet body was gleaming in the sun and her glare quickly became a small smile as her thoughts turned into provocative memories. He stooped to pick up the ball, blushing as his eyes met hers, as if sensing the nature of her thoughts.

"Oh T.K.!" Mimi called out, "will you fetch me the tanning lotion from the table over there?"

Being the nice guy he was, he quickly brought Mimi the desired object and even assisted her in making sure that her back was completely covered. She giggled as his hands rubbed the lotion into her skin.

Kari replaced her sunglasses but this time directed her glare in Mimi's direction, suppressing an unfamiliar urge to rip Mimi's head from her body.

"Thank you sooo much, T.K. Make sure you don't miss any spots," Mimi said flirtatiously.

"Always glad to help," he replied with a cocky smile.

Kari rolled her eyes, though no one could see behind her shades. Then T.K. finished his task and leapt back into the pool where the game had not waited for him.

"My, I still can't believe how much T.K. has grown," Mimi said to Sora. "When he came to visit me in New York last summer with the Teenage Wolves he still seemed like a little boy. But I definitely would not consider him a boy anymore."

Lynn laughed from Kari's other side, catching Mimi's sexual hints.

"Sora will you help me untie my bikini top? I don't want to get tan lines."

Kari could not believe her friend was behaving like such a slut. Who really goes sunbathing topless? Kari tried her best to ignore Mimi and start a conversation with Lynn, but she could not overpower Mimi's high-pitched voice. After Mimi situated herself lying on her bare stomach, she continued her assessment of the adult T.K.

"I bet he's fabulous in bed," she contemplated with Sora and Yolei. "I wonder if he's had much experience."

"I don't think he's been with anyone lately, at least, as far as I know," Sora told her.

"Why don't you ask Kari? She would know," said Yolei. "Hey Kari, Mimi wants to know how good T.K. is in bed."

Refusing to take part in this conversation, Kari gathered her beach towel and flip-flops and climbed out of her lounge chair.

"I'm sure Mimi will find out soon enough," Kari said coldly as she headed down the path back towards the mansion.

Kari marched down the paved sidewalk and through the air conditioned house. When she got to her room, she couldn't help but slam the door shut behind her. She felt a little sunburnt as she entered her shared bathroom and climbed into the wide Jacuzzi tub. She filled the tub with fragrant bubbles and submerged herself to help relax, clear her head, and cool her temper.

She definitely agreed with Mimi that T.K. had changed in the last year. Physically, he was undoubtedly no longer a boy, and apparently, he had changed mentally as well. But if anybody had changed over the years, it was most certainly Mimi. For as long as she had known Mimi, the girl had always been a boy-crazy flirt, but now it seems she's turned into a sex-crazed nymphomaniac.

The longer she absorbed the hot water and relaxing aromas the further her frustrations seemed to drift. She was almost asleep when the door creaked open and T.K. stepped into the bathroom.

He didn't even notice her as he stripped out of his bathing suit and wrapped a towel around his waist.

"I think we need to create a system or something," Kari said, surprising him so much that he jumped several inches into the air.

He blushed deeply as she rose out of the bathtub, her meditation ruined.

"I think knocking would work fine," she told him, but he was looking at the floor to keep his eyes anywhere but on her naked body. "You took my towel."

"I'm sorry," he stammered, looking up into her eyes. "I'll get you another one, or here, have this one."

He took the towel from around his waist and draped it around her shoulders. She grabbed the ends and secured it around her body, but when she looked up at him, he hadn't moved away.

Before she even knew what was happening, he lowered his face to hers and kissed her on the lips. The kiss was soft and innocent and Kari was too surprised to respond, and unsure of whether or not she wanted to.

But he moved closer to her, deepening the kiss and destroying any form of thought. Unable to focus, Kari responded to his kiss instinctively, moving her mouth against his. Her heart was pounding as he sandwiched her between his naked body and the counter. Then her towel fell away, and their bodies collided, skin on skin.

"T.K. stop," she finally managed to say, pushing him away from her. "We can't do this." She gathered her towel and repositioned it tightly around herself.

"Why not?" he asked. "We're not kids anymore, Kari."

"But it's not right. Maybe it was before but that doesn't work for us now. We're not in love anymore."

She could tell he was hurt by the way his eyes seemed to glaze over as he stalked out of the bathroom.

She followed his example and headed into her room to get dressed, her words to him echoing in her head. We're not in love anymore. Was it true? Why had he kissed her? Why had she kissed him back? Why had if felt so good? The kiss had not been meaningless to her. When kissing him, she had felt emotions that were not incited by friendship or even a hollow attraction.

And then it hit her. She loved him. But had she fallen in love with him all over again? Was it the same love that had resurfaced? Or was it a completely new love with the new person he was? Maybe she had never really fallen out of love with him.

She was staring out the window wearing only a skirt and a bra when the bathroom door flew open and the very object of her contemplation barged into the room. The sun was setting outside her window, coloring the pink of her room with it's golden light and illuminating the boy that she could now admit to loving.

There were tears in her eyes as he slowly walked towards her. When their eyes met, she knew he had reached the same conclusion. When they were standing only inches apart he wiped away her tears with his index finger and cupped her face in his hands.

"T.K., I…" she started to say, but he shushed her and covered her lips with a finger.

"Kari, I'm sorry about everything that happened between us. I love you so much, and that hasn't changed. I've been denying it for a year now, and trying to forget about it, but I don't ever want to go there again. My life has been so empty without you. I know now that you are the most important thing in my life. I figured that out a few weeks ago, and I've been waiting for the perfect time to tell you of my acceptance to Stanford. Tai told me that's where you want to go, so I applied there and worked my ass off to get in." He laughed at the surprised look on her face.

"Kari, I promise I'm not making any of this up. I love you. I know now that I can live without you. If we leave here and never see each other again, I'm sure we'll both be just fine. But the thing is, I don't ever even want to try. I'd rather jump off this third floor balcony than go back to Japan without you in my life. I need you Kari."

Her tears were falling steadily now as she buried her head into his shoulder.

"Kari, are you okay? Why are you crying?"

She sniffled a little, and then looked up at him to tell him, "I love you too. And if you jumped off that balcony, I'd have to jump off after you."

He smiled and then kissed her. This kiss was much shorter than their last, however, because right when it began to heat up, Kari's bedroom door burst open and Matt and Tai exploded into the room.

The two older boys were definitely surprised to find their siblings in such a state. Kari rushed to pull on a tank top and the brothers backed out of the room, pulling the door half shut.

"Sorry if we're interrupting anything," they yelled from the other side of the door. "But dinner's about to be served." They walked away from the room but Kari and T.K. could hear their laughter from the hallway.

Kari rolled her eyes at her brother and headed toward the door when T.K. grabbed her arm and pulled her in for another quick kiss. "We'll finish this later," he whispered and she pulled him with her out of the room.

Dinner was a slightly awkward affair, what with T.K. struggling to eat, caress Kari's thigh beneath the table, and push Mimi away from him all at the same time. But Mimi soon learned where she stood with T.K. the next morning, when Tai and Matt walked into Kari's bedroom once more, this time finding their two younger siblings in bed together.

It didn't take long for the story to spread through the house, but the gossip, fortunately, didn't phase T.K. and Kari as they extended their stay at the Digi-destined's Mansion. They parted sweetly this time, knowing that their separation would be brief before they met again in Stanford, California.

The End