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Battlefronts: 6


The cool morning air made me shiver. I chafed my arms to warm myself. Sunlight was beginning to filter through the trees. I looked blearily out at the water and noticed that it was really flat. I sighed with disappointment. Grumbling to myself I looked down at my watch.

If I went back now Matt would be busy in the kitchen and Mr Ishida would be enjoying his first coffee of the morning. The shower would be free since neither of the boys or Sora would be awake this early. With a groan I got to my feet and promptly stretched out listening to the cracks and pop.

My phone vibrated in my pocket before the message tone assaulted my ears. I pulled it out as I began to trudge my way back to the house; 7 missed calls (4 from Matt and 3 from Sora) and 4 messages – all but 1 was from Matt. Irritably I ignored them and opened Kari's. Firing off a quick reply to her question; I focused on trying to organize my thoughts with limited success.

Reaching the clearing near the house I paused looking to see if Sora or Matt were nearby. When neither appeared I snuck in the side entrance my sister had kindly left open for me. Quietly I opened and closed the door. I could hear Matt and Sora talking in the kitchen so I slipped into my room and grabbed a fresh set of clothes and made a dash into the bathroom. I locked the door behind me with relief.


*ts*


My dad gave me an assessing look. I ignored it in favour of my breakfast. Kari had blown in and out taking food with her, probably preparing for some surfing later. Matt and Sora were acting a bit weird and were talking together in the lounge room away from prying ears. As soon as Taka and I entered the room they would fall silent and won't talk again until we leave.

"T.K." My father's voice interrupted my musings. I looked up at him. "I know you have been bored. Your mum tells me that you hate being idle. If you promise me that you will not exert yourself, take your phone and one of the others I will allow you to go for a short walk?" he said over the top of his newspaper.

I bristled a bit at the implication he would 'let' me do anything but the need to get out of the damn house was greater. "I promise." I said pushing food around my plate. "How long is a 'short' walk?"

"20-25 minutes. Maximum." He said with a warning note in his voice. He stared me down until I acknowledged his statement. Satisfied with my muttered agreement he drained his cup of coffee, neatly folded his newspaper and got up.

"Matt." He called. Sora and Matt appeared in the doorway. "I am off. T.K. is going out for walk with Takao and Kari later. Call me if anything goes wrong otherwise I will see you later this afternoon. Enjoy your walk son."

I gave him a small smile as he left before pushing the plate away. Matt decided to take the opportunity to clear the table. Sora gave me a haughty look when Matt's back was turned. Rather than argue with the prissy cow I thanked Matt for the breakfast before going to the room Taka and I shared. With relief I closed the door behind me.

Taka looked up when I entered and gave me an amused smile. "Sora?" he asked. I rolled my eyes and nodded.

"Thanks for convincing Dad to let me go for a walk." I said flopping onto my bed. "So...when are we going?"

"Actually it was mostly thanks to Tai that he agreed to let you go. He rang your dad and had a talk with him yesterday and told me last night to ask him." Taka said hefting a bag onto his bed.

I looked at it with a sinking feeling. "You're going surfing." I said quietly my euphoria gone.

"Sorry T.K. I promised Kari last night I would go with her. I can cancel if you would like..." He trailed off.

Closing my eyes I took a deep breath. "No. I don't want to ruin your fun."

A hand clapped me on the shoulder. "Thanks man." He said. "Why don't you go for a walk with Tai?"

I wrinkled my nose at the suggestion. He gave me a look. "You have a choice of Tai or the two lovebirds. I honestly don't see Matt leaving Sora behind." He pointed out logically.

A shudder of horror ripped through me. The prospect of putting up with Sora for more than a meal was not one that I enjoyed. "Tai is definitely the lesser of two evils." I replied.

A knock on the door interrupted what I was going to say next. Taka opened the door; Kari stood in the entrance.

"You ready?" She asked. Taka nodded his response.

"Here T.K. I thought you might want to take this with you." Kari held up a large water bottle. "Looks like it might heat up. Let's go Tai's waiting for us outside."

Taka picked up his bad. I grabbed my phone from the bed and my cap from the dresser. "Thanks Kari." I said after I took the bottle from her hand.

"No problems." She replied. "See you out there guys. Just going to let Matt and Sora know we are going."

"Have fun buddy." Taka said in a low voice to me. He jerked his head to the beach trail I could just make out Tai's crazy hair some distance away.

"You too." I muttered. Squaring my shoulders I began the trek towards my walking companion. 5 minutes later I finally made it - that trail was pretty deceptive.

"Morning." Tai said quietly. Without preamble he turned and began to walk off. Surprised I followed – his normally cheery self was not evident. If knew Tai better would think he was a little depressed.

2 minutes later Tai deviated from the main path onto a small side trail. I tried to keep pace on the rocky ground with limited success. Branches had to be pushed aside to pass. It wasn't long before I was sweating and breathing hard.

"Tai?" I called out. I staggered to a stop panting like a dog. He turned back and looked at me confused. It didn't take him long to twig that I wasn't feeling well. He jogged back to me.

"Are you okay?" Tai asked concerned.

"Just tired." I said weakly.

"You will let me know if you need to stop?" he asked. "It's not much further to where we need to go."

"I will be fine." I replied; this seemed to ease his anxiety a little. We continued on the path for another 10 minutes. By the end of the walk I was feeling extremely unfit and a little dizzy. I felt a little embarrassed especially since Tai hadn't broken out in a sweat.

The path ended in a small secluded beach. It was a little cove hidden from the view of the house. I stood in the paths entryway regaining the ability to breathe normally. Tai clambered up a large rock and dangled his feet in the water after checking that I was okay.

I kicked off my shoes and peeled off my socks. Leaving them at the edge of the rocks I managed to scramble up near Tai water bottle in hand. I took a few swigs before offering it to him. He waved it off and pointed to a bag I hadn't seen. The cap of a bottle peaked out of the top.

I revelled in the peace and quiet as well as the fresh air. A message tone cut through the silence. I grabbed my phone and checked it. Tai sighed before retrieving his phone. His lip curled slightly into a sneer and then he rolled his eyes. Realising I had seen the whole exchange – he did the one thing that used to always piss me off...he raised his eyebrow at me.

I blew out a frustrated breath. "Are you feeling okay?" I asked.

"Worried about me Teeks? How sweet." He replied with a casual drawl turning his attention to the water. My blood began to boil.


*ts*


I immediately regretted my decision to bait T.K.

"Sorry T.K." I said looking into angry blue eyes. The hostile look faded from their depths turning back into their unreadable selves.

"What's going on?" he prodded taking a sip out of his bottle.

"Bit pissed off with your brother. It will blow over by tomorrow." I said with a shrug. The anger simmering coiled a little tighter inside me.

"What did he do?" For the first time I heard a bit of curiosity.

"Nothing important." I replied. Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement.

"Come on! Tell me." T.K. wheedled. He grabbed my arm. A spark of electricity shot up it. Startled at the sensation I looked up into the imploring blue eyes.

Rattled I challenged him back. "You going to talk about the other day?" The shutters came up and his face went blank.

Once again my phone went off. I broke off the glares we were sharing and unlocked my phone. Opening the inbox I saw it was a message from my friend Mimi. Surprised I opened the message and chuckled to myself. It seemed yet again that she had found the 'perfect' guy for me and really wanted to set up a meeting.

Shaking my head I replied her with a couple of questions about her mystery dude before opening the latest unopened message from Matt. I had become so engrossed with my phone T.K. managed to sneak closer without being aware before it was too late.

"He's moving in with her?" a hint of disgust laced his voice. My head jerked up and I narrowly missed whacking him in the face. Narrowed blue eyes bored into mine. I found it hard to tear myself away from the spell that they had woven on me. Confused about the sudden attraction I missed the next few sentences.

"What?" i asked in a daze.

"I sa-id I don't see what he sees in her. Do you not like her as well? Is that why you are upset he is moving in with her?" T.K. asked with a hint of eagerness.

'Lack of sleep.' I thought to myself before answering him. "I know you don't like Sora but she is my friend. I think she is jealous of the attention Matt is giving you at the moment so she resents you. She is a really lovely person once you get to know her."

"Oh and no. That is not the reason and why are you reading my messages?" I said firmly beginning to regain my composure.

He gave me a sideways look so like his brother I struggled not to laugh. "I was bored?" he said with a hint of a smile.

Rolling my eyes I finally replied to Matt's message before returning my phone to my pocket. "You seem to be feeling a bit better." I commented drily.

"Meh." He replied "You haven't answered my question.

"And I don't intend to." I said with a loud yawn. The waves hitting the rocks below began to make me feel a little drowsy.

"Can we move out of the sun?" T.K. asked interrupting my doze.

"Huh?" I asked stupidly trying to turn my attention to the younger man.

"Can we move out of the sun?" he repeated. "It is starting to get a little warm and we don't have sun screen."

"Sure, sure." I said struggling to my feet. The shade sounded like a great place to sleep. I slipped off the rock and into T.K. He actually dragged me to a nice cool spot where I promptly collapsed. My eyes began to close off their own volition.


*ts*


After retrieving Tai's bag I noticed that he had fallen asleep. I bit back a laugh and settled in the sand next to him.

My phone went off. Without thinking I answered it quickly to avoid waking up Tai.

'Where are you?' Matt's voice made me stiffen. I looked at my phone's display.

"Why are you using Takao's phone?" I growled in response.

'He gave it to me to call you. It's lunchtime.' Was his patient response.

I bit my lip to keep myself from making a rude remark. Gritting my teeth I managed to reply without making a nasty comment. "I am resting. Tai insisted on it."

This caused a major over reaction. He began pelting me with so many questions I wanted to pitch my phone in the water. "I am fine." Spitting out each word. "We will be back later. Goodbye."

A little bit of adverse pleasure filled me when I hung up on him. The phone immediately began ringing again so I declined the call and put the phone on silent.

I watched my phone ring out twice before Tai's started. Surprisingly he didn't wake up and the stupid thing rang out. When my idiot brother tried again I decided to fish the phone out of his pocket so that it wouldn't wake him. I carefully tried to manoeuvre it from the pocket without waking him. Once again a bolt of electricity ran through my arm when I accidentally touched him.

My suspicions were correct – Matt rang the phone once again. Rolling my eyes I switched the phone to silent and a message from a girl named Mimi popped out. Something about a date with some guy called Zach. A surge of annoyance ran through me. Quickly I stuffed his phone back in his pocket and leaned back against the tree. My eyes began to droop a little...


*ts*


Someone one poked my side trying to pry me away from my awesome dream. "Leave me alone Taka." I grumbled batting the hand away. A warm chuckle of amusement filtered through just before something tickled my face.

"Taka!" I snapped as I jerked into wakefulness. I blinked rapidly. My nose was less than an inch from my assailant. Not Takao like I had originally thought but Tai.

My hazy thoughts began to clear and I suddenly remembered where I was. Tai smirked at me before pulling away. Brown eyes danced with laughter. I shook my head trying to clear out the weird image that popped into my head.

"What?" I asked in a surly voice folding my arms defensively across my chest.

"We better go back before your dad and brother start to panic. It is almost dinnertime." Tai said completely unfazed by my grumpy reply. It seemed like he had returned to his normal self.

"I don't want to." I retorted with a scowl.

"Neither do I." He said with a shrug. "Unfortunately my stomach is getting quite insistent."

I huffed at the response and decided to check my phone to delay leaving our peaceful surroundings. I snorted with disdain when I saw 11 missed calls from Taka's phone and 8 messages. Only one was actually from Takao.

"Matt?" Tai asked. I looked at him and nodded.

"He is worse than Taka's ex." I said with disgust. "I actually didn't think that could be possible."

"Matt's a worrier. It is easier to answer him the first time and he will pretty much leave you alone." Tai said looking down at me.

"I did." I said with a growl.

"It was clearly not enough information to satisfy him." Tai said. "I take it you turned my phone to silent."

"Maybe." I said narrowing my eyes at him. Tai raised an eyebrow at me. A glare from me put the smirk back on his face.

"Fine. Yes. He wouldn't stop calling and you were asleep. I didn't want him to wake you." I said grumpily.

Tai just laughed. "I appreciate the gesture Teeks. Come on. Let's go."

I took the proffered hand and let him pull me to my feet. After he scooped up the bag we trudged our way back towards the house.

Lost in thought I accidentally bumped into Tai when he stopped suddenly. Another electrical wave hit me. Pulling back I saw what Tai was looking at. Once again we were on the main path quite close to the house. Near the clearing were two strangers with Matt and Sora. One of them had crazy pink hair and was wearing a short skirt and tight top. The other was a tall handsome guy with spiky golden blonde hair and weird grey eyes. A bland look settled on Tai's face before he moved forward. I followed with rising apprehension.

"Matt. Sora. Mimi. Stranger." Tai said in a light voice.

"Tai!" The pink woman squealed before launching herself at him. He staggered back a step into me when she collided with him.

Seeing me behind him she gave a huge smile. "Oh! You must be T.K. You look just like Matt!" she gushed. I repressed a shudder when she gleefully hugged me.

"Tai. T.K. This is my friend Zach!" she said bubbling away.

The strange guy lifted his hand in greeting. His eyes slide over me and landed with interest on Tai. I fumed at the insult and glowered at him and the other two.

"Matt's dad invited me out here to keep the girls company and was fine with me bringing Zach along." Mimi chatted happily away. One of her arms still clung to my shoulders. "Isn't that great?"

"Fantastic." Sora piped up.

"Dinner is just about read. Tai – why don't you and T.K. wash up? Zach and Mimi need to settle in first." Matt said diplomatically.

Mimi bounced her way to Sora's side flinging an arm around her. The pair began talking in low voices as they walked off. Zach and Matt followed the pair leaving Tai and I alone. He was pinching the bridge of his nose and looking slightly irritated.

"You okay?" I asked for what felt like the one hundredth time today.

"Yeah. Mimi can be a bit full on when she has an idea in her head." He muttered. "Let's go before she does something stupid."


Enjoy the chapter. Reviews would be much appreciated... :)

Hope you all have a wonderful New Years. Stay safe!

Love Storm xox