Summary: It's TK and Kari's senior year in high school and they take a surprise Thanksgiving trip to America where things get super complicated. It doesn't look good for TK and Kari's relationship when Kari decides to move back to America and have nothing to do with TK. Can their relationship survive the test of time or will Kari's stubbornness keep them apart forever?
Hard to Love You
'Because of You'
(don't own Ne-Yo either)
Kari got on the first bus that stopped. She paid the bus fee and sat down in the last open seat. Kari looked around at the other people riding the bus with her. She could tell they were all shift work people. On Kari's right there was a middle aged woman in a nurse's uniform. On her left, was an older gentleman in a suit and tie sleeping against the window.
Kari twisted her body so she could look out the window. She enjoyed watching the familiar buildings pass her by. After a few minutes, she began to wonder if the bus driver knew where Odiaba High School was. She felt like she was in her old neighborhood again but it certainly didn't look like it. Kari got up and walked up to the bus driver.
"Excuse me!" Kari said as she tapped him on the shoulder. "Are ya going the right way?"
"You still want to go to Odiaba High School, right?" The bus driver asked.
"Yes sir," Kari politely answered.
"Yes ma'am, we're are going the right way." The bus driver informed her.
Kari was confused, he couldn't possibly be going the right way. Kari walked back to her seat and sat down. She continued to stare out the window. It was starting to look more like the ghetto than her old neighborhood. Now she was starting to realize why Sora, Mimi, and Yolie didn't want to come along. Did they know something she didn't? 'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.'
The bus slowly came to a stop and the bus driver opened the door. Kari watched but no one got up to leave. She realized this was her stop. Hesitant to get up, she considered going back to the hotel but her curiosity got the best of her. She was already here, she might as well go and visit her old high school. Kari finally got up and walked off the bus.
Kari stood under one of the few working street lights. The cool night air sent shivers up her spine. She wished she had grabbed a jacket before she decided to drive across town to visit her old school. 'Why didn't I bring my limo?' Kari asked herself, she would have felt much safer in her limo. It was something in the air, it made Kari scared to be out here all alone.
The neighborhood had change considerably since the last time she was here. It use to be a respectable part of Tokyo where established families lived. It was a safe neighborhood where you could go out late at night and not have to worry about trouble. But now it looked like a dirty ghetto. There was graffiti on every wall. Many windows were broken and many were fixed with duct tape. There was trash scattered everywhere and the rats out numbered the people who lived here. Now she understood why her parents moved away from her old neighborhood.
Kari took a deep breath and started walking towards the school. As she walked, she could hear the prominent click clack her high heeled shoes made on the cracked concrete sidewalk. The farther she walked, the more she felt like someone was following her. Kari turned around but she couldn't see anyone. She was becoming paranoid and was regretting coming out here alone.
The closest working street light was half a block away. Kari quickened her pace towards the street light. When she got to the light she stopped to turn around again but she couldn't see anyone behind her. Kari was relieved but still had a gut feeling someone was following her. Kari took another step towards her old school when she felt someone grabbed her from behind. She tried to scream but the stranger muffled her scream with his hand.
"Letgoofme!" Kari tried to say but his hand stifled her voice.
"What is such a purddy lady doing out this late at night?" The stranger asked her.
Kari couldn't see the person but she knew he was taller than her. He had a raspy voice and his breath reeked of alcohol. Kari tried to wiggle loose, but his grip was too strong for her.
"Letgoofme!" Kari tried to yell louder. She screamed and kicked as much as she could but the stranger only held her even tighter. "Someonepleasehelpme!"
Kari began to fear for her life. She had seen enough Lifetime movies where situations like this happened but never ended well. Kari began to panic even more. She screamed and kicked but it didn't seem to matter. There was no one there to save her.
"You look like one of those purddy super models on TV," the stranger slurred his words. "I always wanted to meet a super model."
"Letgoofme!" Kari yelled again but he didn't listen. Tears of fear started to stream down her face.
"How about we go somewhere a little more private?" The creepy stranger asked as he started dragging her off the sidewalk and out of the street light. Kari screamed and kicked some more but he continued to drag her off the sidewalk.
"LET GO OF MY WIFE!" An angry voice yelled out to the stranger.
The stranger stopped dead in his tracks. He quickly turned around to see who was there, giving Kari a major case of whiplash. When Kari opened her eyes, her vision was blurred but she could see a blond haired man standing under the street light.
"I said let go of my wife!" The blond haired man angrily said again.
"He's your husband?" The stranger asked Kari. She nodded her head yes and held up her hand to show him her giant engagement ring. The stranger quickly got scared and pushed Kari away from him. She fell to the ground as he turned around and he drunkenly stumbled away.
"Are you alright Kari?"
"TK?" Kari couldn't believe after the way she had treated him this week that he would even come to her rescue. "Oh TK! I was so scared!"
"It's going to be ok," he assured her
TK helped her up off the ground. She immediately wrapped her arms around his big, strong neck. She forgot how safe she use to feel in his strong, muscular arms. It brought back a lot of memories. Kari randomly looked over his shoulder to see her left hand. She began to panic when she saw her engagement ring missing!
"He stole my ring!" Kari exclaimed.
"What?!" TK asked as he looked down into her fearful eyes, then at her hands, and then he looked up at the man still suspiciously stumbling away.
"That creep stole my engagement ring!" Kari clarified.
"Stay right here," ordered TK.
TK handed her his gun and took off running after the stranger. When the stranger realized he was being chased, he began to run too. Kari stood all alone under the street light. She held the gun tightly in her hands, ready to pull the trigger if anyone else tried to grab her. Ten minutes passed and TK still hadn't returned. She began to worry about him and wondered if she should go looking for him. Kari waited a few more minutes and finally heard footsteps. She held the gun tighter but when she saw TK walking back towards her, she ran into his arms.
"I believe this is your's," TK said as he grabbed for Kari's left hand and slid the ring on her finger.
TK felt awkward as he did so. He couldn't help but remember that he planned to do that very thing ten years ago. Kari looked up into his eyes. TK could see the fear in her eyes, but he knew for the first time in years, it wasn't because of him. She began to cry and TK pressed her against his warm body.
"Ya saved my life!" Kari cried into his chest, "oh TK, I was so scared!"
"You're alright now. I won't let anyone hurt you," TK assured her as he moved his hand up and down her back to comfort her.
"I was just walking and that creep just snuck up on me and grabbed me!" Kari explained between sobs, "I was so scared!"
TK continued to told her tight in his arms under the street light. He missed holding her in his arms but he couldn't figure out why Kari was here so late at night. She started to calm down.
"Kari, why are you here?" TK asked her in a serious tone of voice. "What are you doing in this part of town?"
"I wanted to see the old high school," answered Kari as she wiped her tears with her arms.
"At ten o' clock at night?" TK asked, "you could have gotten hurt or even killed!"
"I know that now! I'm so sorry!" Kari apologized as she started to cry again. "How'd ya know I was here?"
"That's not important." TK avoided her question, "let's get you back to the hotel."
"NO!" Kari angrily replied, "I want to know!"
"Mimi called me after you left the hotel," answered TK.
"How'd ya get here so fast?" Kari asked curiously.
"What do you mean?"
"Well...it must have taken ya forever to get here! Did ya take the bus, a car..."
"Kari, I live here!" TK interrupted her.
"What?!"
"I live here." TK repeated again, "don't you know anything about what happened here after you moved away?"
"No?" Kari quietly answered.
TK started walking towards the old school and Kari followed. She wasn't sure what he was doing but she was too scared to be out here alone. They walked side-by-side as TK planned what he was going to say.
"Not long after you moved away, we don't know how but Digimon started transporting themselves into our world." TK started to explained, "the Japanese government didn't know how to handle them. So whenever a Digimon would transport here, the Japanese military would attack them. Obviously the Digimon would get scared and retaliate back. The battles destroyed many parts of Tokyo but mainly Odiaba. We did our best to transport most of the Digimon back to the Digi World but there were so many we couldn't save them all."
"Why did they start coming here?" Kari asked curiously.
"We think it's because of you," answered TK.
"Me?" Kari asked confused, "why?"
"Well actually, we don't know why they really came here." TK answered, "but Izzy believes you leaving had a lot to do with it."
"Did they stop coming?" Kari asked quietly.
"Eventually," answered TK. "Everyone who use to live here got scared and moved away, even your parents. Then all the homeless and welfare people started moving in. This neighborhood turned into a ghetto literally over night."
They continued walking towards the school. It made Kari sad to think that she was the reason why her old neighborhood looked why it did. They passed by her old apartment building. It had changed drastically since she last saw it.
"So what did ya do after high school?" Kari asked.
"I went to Toyko University on my basketball scholarship," replied TK.
"Oh, thats great!" Kari exclaimed.
"But I really struggled in my classes. I couldn't keep my grades up enough no matter how hard I tried. I was put on academic probation and a few weeks later I lost my scholarship. I ended up dropping out and enrolling in a small community college. I graduated two years later with a degree in journalism. But because I have a two year degree, no one will hire me. They all tell me my writing skills are some of the best they have seen but they would rather hire someone with a four year degree instead of me. So now I work here at a little newspaper that is distributed to like thirty people," explained TK. It broke her heart to hear how downhill TK's life went after she moved away.
"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," she said sympathetically.
"I can barely afford to keep my apartment, let alone my electric bills, water bills and my student loans. I can barely afford to by new clothes and put gas in my car," added TK.
"Why don't you ask Matt for some financial help?" Kari asked curiously.
"Matt and I don't really get along anymore," answered TK quietly.
"Really?"
"Yeah," TK replied. "The first newspaper I worked for had me do a story about Matt's band. So I went to one of their concerts but that night, the band showed up drunk and they really sucked. As much as I wanted to sugar coat it and write a good feature about the band, I ended up writing a bad review for them. Matt got pissed at me and ended up suing the paper. Needless to say I was fired that day. Matt and I haven't really talked since."
"Wow, that sucks. What about your parents?" Kari asked, "they were both very successful news reporters."
"They were killed in a car accident." TK mumbled, "a scared and angry Gorillamon jumped off an apartment building after being attacked by the Japanese military and he landed on their car while they were on their way to work one morning."
"Oh my gosh," Kari's heart literally stopped, he felt so bad for how TK's life turned out. "I am so sorry TK. I had no idea."
"You didn't know about any of this?" TK asked, shocked she didn't know. How did her parents, Tai or Sora not tell her about all this?
"No," answered Kari.
"It made news all over the world. It was in every newspaper, magazine and all over the internet. How could you not know?" TK asked shocked.
"I don't know!" Kari exclaimed.
She was beginning to feel frustrated. She remembered she had said the same thing to TK about her engagement to Brian and she felt even worse. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes. TK knew she was trying not to cry again and he put his arm around her waist. She wrapped her arms around his torso and let the tears fall. A few minutes later, they stood in front of the old school high school. It was a sad sight to see. Like every other building, it was graffitied, vandalized and had become popular target for paintballers.
"If you want to get some drugs, I hear you can get a good deal in there," whispered TK.
Kari had seen enough. She turned around and started walking back to the bus stop. TK stared at his old high school a moment longer and jogged to catch back up to her. He knew this was a big shock to her. Kari reached for his hand, she felt safer when he was holding her. TK pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arm around her waist while Kari laid her head on the lower part of his shoulder. They walked in silence until they came to the bus stop.
They waited a few minutes until a bus finally came. Kari started getting on the bus, but looked back at TK. He could see the fear in her eyes, begging him to come with her. TK followed her on the bus. Kari paid for both of their bus fares and sat down in the seat TK had saved for her. She laid her head on his chest as he put his arm around her shoulders. He couldn't help but look at her. She was still as beautiful now as she was ten years ago.
Not five minutes after they got on the bus, Kari fell asleep in his arms. When the bus stopped in front of the hotel, TK didn't have the heart to wake her up. He carried her off the bus and into the hotel. He walked past the desk clerk showing him his version of a hotel key, Kari. The desk clerk just sat and stared as he watched him carry her into the elevator. Not even the dim hallway lights woke her up. When TK got to her door, he sadly realized he had to wake her up. He gently shook her until her eyes fluttered open and he put her down.
"I realized I never thanked you for saving my life," Kari quietly said as she looked into his deep blue eyes.
"You're more than welcome," TK replied as he looked back into her eyes.
Kari searched her purse for the room key while never breaking eye contact. She finally looked away as she turned around to open her door. Kari quickly turned back around again, keeping her door open with the heel of her foot. TK looked at the fear in her eyes. He was so relieved that the fear wasn't because of him. He was glad she wasn't running away from him anymore or yelling at him.
"I love you Kari," he blurted without thinking and immediately regretted it.
He expected her to get surprised. He expected her to slap him and slam her door in his face. He expected her to runaway from him and their problems. He expected her to start hating him again. He never expected this.
"I love you too TK."
Kari wrapped her arms around his neck and started kissing him passionately on the lips as she pulled him into her hotel suite.