A/N: This is my humor release from writing chapter fifteen of 'Survival of Hope'. Rated T for silly teenage humor and innuendo, plus some Takari fluff.
Background: TK and Kari are dating. Kari has the ability to heal others. TK fights with katars, Matt with a metal bo staff, and Tai with a large sword.
Tai was extremely annoyed.
He realized that he shouldn't be, but here he was in the midst of a sparring match against someone who wouldn't have stood a chance against him back in the days when they were first traveling the Digiworld, and he was losing. Regardless of how much they had grown, he still had his pride as a fighter, and right now it was being dented.
"Sit still for a second, would you?" he yelled in frustration.
TK just grinned and bounced on his toes a little. "Nope, your sword scares me."
Tai growled and charged forward, swinging. He missed TK completely as the younger boy jumped to the side and practically danced around him, and as he tried to attack again, he felt a gentle tap on the side of his head.
"Gotcha," TK smiled playfully, drawing his katar back.
"Come on Tai, you can fight better than that," Matt called over from the sidelines. Next to him, Kari just clapped politely, apparently torn between the two in who she should cheer for.
Tai just grit his teeth as he and TK began sparring again, ducking and parrying while the younger boy dodged blows and occasionally dove in for a strike with a katar. It was difficult, Tai had to admit, to attack when the opponent had two blades and could follow up each slash with another one in quick combination.
After what might have been merely seconds or several minutes later, TK suddenly fumbled, his normally well coordinated movements momentarily clumsy and slow as his attention seemed somewhere else. Tai took that opportunity to jump forward and take a swing, knowing to hold back despite them both using blunt weapons.
The edge of the sword hit TK in the side.
"Finally, I got one," Tai sighed in relief, as TK groaned and rubbed where the sword had hit.
"Man, this is not fair," he whined a little, though Tai could tell he was still smiling in good nature. "I get bruised every time you get a hit in, and it doesn't help that someone," he said pointedly, looking over at a slightly smug looking Kari, "distracted me so I didn't see it coming."
"Oh, you helped me?" Tai perked up in surprise. "Thanks Kari! Family loyalty, always a plus."
TK sheathed the katars and crossed his arms. "And what, no love for the boyfriend?"
Kari made a flirty gesture in his direction. "I figured you'd jabbed Tai enough. Besides, I'm sure you wouldn't mind having that bruise healed."
He lifted an eyebrow. "I certainly don't. Is there something you're not mentioning?"
Her smile grew wider and slightly more cheeky. "Maybe. Or I can distract you more."
"You're doing a pretty good job."
She giggled, holding up a floppy cloth object in her hand and waving it like a flag. "Mine now!"
TK dropped his mouth in mock outrage. "Hey! I gave you that to hold onto so I could spar with your brother!"
Kari just laughed and took off running. TK went after her, following as she pushed the doors of the room open and sped into the hall; moments after both vanished from view, Tai heard a loud female squeal and the sounds of two people laughing.
He and Matt shared a glance. "Well, I guess that sparring match is over," Matt commented, putting his hands in his pockets and grinning like an idiot the couple's antics. "Wow, you must be really out of practice, needing your sister to distract her boyfriend like that."
Tai just planted his sword on the floor and leaned on it tiredly. "Come on, I have one blade, he has two. Use a sword sometime and see how easy it is beat that."
"Excuses. I still don't see how you deal with having such a large sword, I mean it's huge and clunky and gets in the way."
"Really? I'll take it over your walking stick any time!"
"Hey, I've beaten you before with that 'walking stick'. A damn hard metallic one at that. Your sword is just freaking big. Is there some particular reason why you stuck with the big swords, 'cause the fact that you like them seems like it's saying something about you..."
Tai's jaw dropped.
"Oh. It's on. It is on. You get your stick and your ass over here so I can show you what I can do with this 'big sword'."