Okay, this story isn't going to be super long, but because I'm so bad at updating, I'm sure it will go on for a while yet.

BUT! That's not what I wrote/typed this message to say. For anyone who's interested, I'm already planning out my next Digimon story for when this is finished. It will be Taiora, but the actual plot will revolve around something different, and, hopefully, totally original.

Chapter Six

Kari arrived home to an empty household. However, she'd just had time to throw herself facedown onto her bed when her mother stormed into the apartment, a sullen Tai following a few strides behind.

Her tears ceased momentarily as she picked her head up off the comforter to listen to the latest storm.

She heard her mother slam her car keys down on the counter, slam the crock pot down on the counter, and finally, the unfortunate unidentifiable species of bird that had found its way into their freezer that morning joined the rest with a mighty thunk down on the table.

Normally, her mother was all cheer and laughter. Tai must have done something positively awful to get her into such a terrible mood. She could almost see him, leaning against the wall, sulking at whatever punishment had been handed out. It wasn't unheard of for her brother to do something catastrophic, but his disastrous moments had begun to occur less and less since returning from the digital world. Tai had matured quite a lot. So what had happened to cause such a regression?

If she strained her ears she could just make out her mother muttering certain words, including, "suspended for the next week."

Kari raised her eyebrows. Suspended? It had been an even longer time since Tai had done something stupid in school.

"Honestly, Tai! What were you thinking?" her mother finally burst out.

There was a method to surviving their mother's enraged lectures.

Until the explosion she was usually too wrapped in her own furious mumblings to pay any attention to you. Therefore, you really didn't need to pay much attention to her.

Once the explosion was underway, it really wasn't too smart to do much other than keep quiet until she was on her way to being dormant again.

Kari wasn't sure what had happened to make Tai forget this basic rule. After all, he was the one who'd taught her all the cues to look for.

"Obviously, I wasn't, was I?" he muttered sarcastically.

Kari could almost see her mother blow, but she didn't have to. She heard it instead.

"Taichi Rida Kamiya! You go to your room this second and stay there!"

It was actually a little funny listening to your high school aged brother get sent to his room like he was five. She heard him stomp off.

Normally, this would have cheered her up, but the first person Kari would have called to share in her amusement would have been TK, and this thought just dragged back down into the depths of despair.

She buried her face back into her pillow.

…

Tai grumbled to himself even after he'd slammed his door shut and flopped down on his bed. Today had royally sucked. There was no other way to describe it.

Dark, dark thoughts were skipping merrily through his thoughts. The type of horrible thoughts that just seem to take a hold of you and refuse to let go.

Tai would have gone through the motions of thinking through how to execute each and every one of these plans. Only one though kept stopping him.

The knowledge that Sora was probably with Matt, and there would be no way to execute such an awful plan and still save her from the wreckage.

…

Sometimes ignorance truly is bliss. For it only would have put Tai in a worse mood if he'd learned that he was right.

Matt and Sora were currently sitting at Matt's kitchen table, laughing.

Yes, Matt's mother would have been just as pissed as Tai's had she discovered that Matt had been suspended for a week. But Matt lived with his father, and said father was still at work. So Matt was safe… for a little while anyway.

Sora had come over after school. They actually had had a study date planned for that afternoon.

Unfortunately, they weren't getting much studying done. Their math homework had quickly turned into a discussion about their math teacher.

"Well," said Sora after the laughter died down. "At least it shows that she used to be really pretty."

"Sora!" Matt exclaimed with somewhat false astonishment. "I never thought I'd hear you speak about someone so shallowly."

Sora almost blushed. "Well, what was I supposed to judge her on? She's evil on the inside."

They both started when the phone rang and Sora glanced up at the clock.

"Wow, it's pretty late… I should probably be getting home soon."

"Yeah…"

The two gave each other an awkward hug goodbye, the phone still ringing in the backgroud. They said their goodbyes, and then Matt moved at last to pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Matt?"

"TK. Actually, I wanted to talk to you."

"Good. I'll be there in a minute."

With no further words, his brother hung up the phone. Slowly, Matt laid the phone back in its cradle.

TK was true to his words. It wasn't much longer before he was knocking on the door to his father and brother's apartment. Despite all the years his parents had been divorced, it was still strange to go over his dad's house. When Matt opened the door, he walked in and sat a bit awkwardly at the table, unknowingly taking Sora's spot.

Matt sat down opposite him, "So, what's this I hear about you getting a girlfriend?"

Matt watched his brother squirm. "Oh… Miwa. You'll have to meet her sometime… she's really nice."

"Uh-huh…" said Matt, motioning to continue.

"And she's been after me to go out with her since we were both seven…" he muttered under his breath.

"So what is it? Did you finally cave?"

"What does that mean?" TK asked, sounding just a little defensive.

"Well, I always thought you had this thing for Kari."

TK looked down. There was a moment of silence.

"TK?" Matt prodded.

"Yeah, well, I'm sure everyone thought Tai and Sora were gonna end up and be our happily-ever-after couple too."

Matt's eyebrows raised. "TK… I explained what's going on… you know this isn't real."

"Yeah, well…. I'm not so sure anymore. And besides, Sora doesn't know what's going on, and she picked you, didn't she?"

Matt was silent. It was true, his plan could only have been foolproof if Sora had turned him down from the beginning, but that didn't mean he was just giving up on it.

"Maybe there aren't any garanteed happy endings," TK went on. "I mean, if Tai and Sora aren't going to end up together, what are the chanced Kari and I are?"

"TK," said Matt, slightly exasperated, and knowing that he wasn't exactly in the position to be giving out advice or pep talks. "You shouldn't worry about the what ifs… I mean… what's going on with Tai and Sora, has nothing to do with you and Kari. But I can say one thing… if you never make the attempt to get together, you and Kari never will be able to live happily ever after." Actually, having watched his parents' divorce, Matt wasn't so sure he believed in happily ever after. But he knew it was what TK needed to her. "If you love it… you should just go for it."

TK picked his head up, and Matt was surprised to see a mischevious grin. "Exactly," said his brother, getting up and making for the door. "You should probably take your own advice."

And with that, TK shut the door behind him.

Review please!

I know that TK's actions probably aren't going to be received well, but you have to understand that he's only got his brother's best interests at heart… Wow, this is turning out a lot like the last one… well, TK and Kari's parts in the plot anyway.

I don't own Digimon.

Good news! J This update came much quicker than the last one! J