Hi everyone! I have a feeling that updates will be a bit more frequent. I have a new job that allows me a lot of time to write and do as I please. Hopefully I can keep chapters at this length or maybe make them even longer. Hope you enjoy this. Please review!
She smiled at him once more before going back to the bed and lying down. Tai waited for her to get comfortable before closing the diary and putting it back in her dresser drawer. He didn't want anything to interfere with her getting some much needed rest, no matter how badly he wanted to read the passage. He turned back to face her just as her eyes fell closed. After tucking her in—something he hadn't done in years—he left the room and made his way to the kitchen. It had been a long day already and he desperately needed some food and a nap in order to function later in the afternoon.
Tai hadn't even known he fell asleep until he was suddenly awoken to the sound of Kari's voice calling his name.
"Mom and dad are on their way home." She said, her voice almost quivering. Their parents did not sound happy on the phone, and she had a good idea as to why. Even though she knew they were going to find out that Tai was home eventually, she still felt that it was her fault all of this was going on.
Once his eyes focused to the light he looked at the clock on the wall in the kitchen. He had slept a very long time. It was almost eight in the evening, which meant that their father was picking up their mother from her long shift at work. Tai looked back over at Kari and saw her bite her bottom lip. That small habit alone was enough to make Tai realize that his parents knew he was home.
He sat up and stretched as he stifled a yawn. He wasn't too concerned about the situation. He had no regrets about coming home for her. He would rather his parents be angry than for her to be harmed. Besides, he didn't even need to go to that soccer prep camp, in his opinion. He was perfectly capable of dominating the rival team without any outside training.
Tai stirred from his thoughts when he felt Kari sit beside him on the couch.
"Don't worry," he assured as he put his arm around her shoulder. "They won't be mad for long. I'll just make up something. Besides, the camp officially ended yesterday. I was just going to stay longer for some extra practice."
She gave him a half smile and nodded her head in acceptance. She still felt guilty, but she knew there was nothing that could be done about it.
Just as Tai began running excuses through his head, the front door opened and his parents came through the entrance. His father looked happy to see him home safely, but his mother's face was flushed and she looked none too happy to see him sitting in the living room.
She got the call from Tai's coach an hour before telling her that the coach at the camp called to say that her son ran off that morning and hadn't been seen since. All kinds of thoughts ran through her mind and she'd been worried sick. She called the camp herself and when the camp coach told her he was headed in the direction of the train station, her intuition told her where she would find him. Home was the only obvious choice. What she didn't understand, however, was why he left to come back without telling anyone.
Mrs. Kamiya walked closer to him and started her inquiries.
"Tai! What are you doing back? Why aren't you still at camp?"
Tai put his hands in front of him as a sign of surrender.
"Sorry mom. I have a good reason for coming back." He countered.
Mrs. Kamiya placed her hands on her hips and looked at him, clearly anticipating the excuse he would come up with. Tai sweat dropped at the look she was giving him.
"Mom, it's no big deal. I was there and I realized that I..." He wracked his brain to think of a good enough excuse. He went through all he had done that passed week and then remember how tired and bruised he felt. That excuse would just have to do. He was all out of material at the moment.
"Well?" She asked.
"I was just so exhausted, mom. I had a lot of stuff on my mind and I guess I felt like being home and practicing on my own would be the best thing I could do for myself. I didn't want to come back for the big game and be completely tired just because I've been training non-stop for three days."
He took a deep breath as his mother and father processed his words. Even if that wasn't the most believable excuse in the world, it did hold some truth. He was very tired from a week of non-stop soccer. He didn't want to train so much that he ended up losing his love for the sport (not that that would ever happen). He looked up again to see his mother sigh and shake her head at him.
"Well, regardless of how you felt, you should have told someone. You had me and your father worried."
Mr. Kamiya came from the kitchen with a freshly made sandwich and put a hand on his wife's shoulder.
"Honey, he's home and safe. That's what really matters right now. Give the kid a break. As hard as he was training, I'm surprised he didn't use up his savings and go to a hot spring resort."
Tai smiled as his father winked at him. Mrs. Kamiya couldn't help but smile at that comment and follow her husband's advice. Letting Tai off the hook for the time, Mrs. Kamiya walked up to Kari and placed her hand against the girl's forehead.
"How are you feeling, sweetie?" Mrs. Kamiya averted her attention to Tai long enough to ask if he'd been taking proper care of her since he'd been home.
Kari giggled as she saw Tai almost panic at the tone their mother used.
"Of course, mom!" He said very seriously. That was exactly what he was doing. The only thing about this situation that was frustrating to him was that he couldn't tell his parents what was going on. Yes, they knew about digimon and the digital world, but aside from Myotismon coming to Odaiba and all of the chaos he caused, they had no idea what other things the didgidestined had to go through. Even through the Oikawa saga, their parents had no clue about the hardships they had to overcome. They saw two of the major dangers that the digidestined had to face, but they never saw the smaller, more menacing horrors they faced the remainder of the times. The dark ocean may not have been one of their most dangerous enemies, but they left a lasting effect on Kari. That in turn affected Tai, and especially T.K.
T.K and Kari had been officially dating for a few months now, much to Davis's devastation. Both could no longer pretend nothing was between them after Kari's first encounter with the Dark Ocean. He came over the night after the incident and sat Kari down and professed to her everything he had been holding in since the both of them were in middle school.
Tai smiled at the memory. T.K was the only one he deemed worthy of dating his precious little sister. Davis was a good friend and all, but he didn't trust him with Kari's safety as willingly as he trusted T.K. The only thing Davis seemed to be able to accomplish was making Kari laugh...at his own expense. T.K and Kari had something that only years of friendship and experience could build. Both shared an unbreakable bond of loyalty to the other, and no matter how hard Davis tried, he could never break it.
Tai decided to leave Kari to his mother and go make the calls to the digidestined. He already felt useless to her; at least calling would make feel somewhat needed until everyone else was involved. He decided that Matt and T.K should be the first to be called.
~Takaishi Residence~
"...and then you just repeat the same formula as number 18, and you've finished completing the square."
"Boys!" Ms. Takaishi called from the kitchen. T.K looked up from his math homework and Matt, whose gaze was already directed at his mother, looked on quizzically.
"Tai is on the phone. He said he wants to talk to both of you."
Matt and T.K exchanged questioning looks before informing their mom that they would be taking the call upstairs.
As soon as T.K entered his bedroom he dove for the cordless phone on his bedside table. He had his suspicions about what this late night phone call would be about. Both T.K and Matt knew that Kari was involved somehow. Tai told all the digidestined that he would be away this week. Who else could break Tai away from soccer aside from Kari?
"What's up, Tai?" T.K asked, the anxiousness evident in his voice as he held the phone a little away from his ear so Matt could listen in.
"Hey guys. I'm holding an emergency meeting at my house immediately after school."
"What's going on?" Matt asked.
"I don't know all of the details, but something is out to get Kari."
T.K's face turned stern as his worst fears were confirmed. Matt put a hand on T.K's shoulder for support before telling Tai that they'd be there and volunteering to call everyone else while he took care of Kari. Tai thanked them both before hanging up, leaving them to themselves. Before T.K could panic, Matt sat him down on his bed and knelt before him.
"Look T.K." He started. "Try not to worry yourself about this all night. I want you to go back downstairs and help mom with the rest of the dishes while I call everyone."
T.K was about to protest; he wanted to tell Matt that he had every right to worry right now. Kari was one of the most important people in his life. Truthfully, he had been worried about her before Tai's phone call. Completing the square was one of the easiest things in the world to him. The fact that he had to ask Matt that simple question on his homework just confirmed that fact.
"T.K, I'm only telling you this because I know you. You'll spend all night thinking about this. You have a lot of things to do tomorrow, and you won't have the energy to emotionally handle the problem tomorrow if you keep going through the 'what-if's' in your head tonight."
T.K took a deep breath as he nodded his head at his older brother. He was right. T.K was always considered the logical, clear headed one of the group along with Cody. He wouldn't be any good to Kari if he was freaking out about the situation before he knew anything about it.
He stood and hugged his big brother before promising not to think too much tonight and going down to help his mother.
Matt waited for him to leave before running his hand through his blond hair and sitting at T.K's desk. It was already nearing nine in the evening. He decided to start with Cody and work his way by age. He wasn't the one to really do any of the calling, so he wasn't sure who had which curfew. After he called them all he would go check on T.K one more time before taking his leave and making his way back home.