I do not own digimon or am associated with anyone who does.
And sorry for the wait. =)
The after party was incredible crowded and made T.K. feel uncomfortable. He recognized quite a few people, some of who also recognized him in turn and they had brief greetings, but for the most part the pizza place Davis' team decided to have their victory party at was filled to the brim with strangers. Also pizza was the last thing he wanted to see or smell.
"Why are they celebrating so extravagantly again?" T.K. wondered to no one in particular.
Ken laughed at T.K.'s expression. "It's the first game of the school year. The coach always put a big emphasis on starting out strong and promised this if they won today."
T.K. only continued to glare at his surroundings uncomfortably. "That why Davis had you helping him all morning?" he spoke in a low tone, not sure Ken could hear him over the buzzing noise of various conversations happening all throughout the large room.
"Yeah. He was pretty pumped about winning this game." Ken looked at T.K.'s plate, noting his pizza was untouched. "Not hungry?"
T.K. still felt ill—he was beginning to think maybe it wasn't just his guilt churning his stomach anymore. "Not hungry.
Ken frowned. "You sure?"
T.K. grimaced at his piece, looking over at Davis who was jabbering excitedly to Kari about his game. "You want it?" He focused on Davis, making sure not to make eye contact with Kari.
Davis stopped briefly to look at T.K. who was reaching his plate out to him. "Don't mind if I do!" and then continued his rambling, stuffing his face full of pizza.
Ken wrinkled his nose at Davis. "I hate when he talks with his mouth full."
T.K. laughed, resting his elbow on the table, propping his head up up. "He's still Davis after all."
Ken sighed. "Well I'm hitting up the salad bar. Sure you don't want anything to eat?"
"Nah." T.K. straightened from his spot and stood to let Ken slide out from behind the large corner booth they had snagged when they first arrived.
"I'll be back." Ken slipped into the crowd disappearing. T.K. grabbed his grey hoodie off the seat and slipped it on, checking his phone, seeing he'd stay an appropriate hour and waved to everyone. Half of them didn't even notice. Cody gave him a quizzical look and then waved, giving him a smile. T.K. slipped into the crowd and out into the crisp evening air. Unfortunately the pizza place had been located a ten minute drive further from his and Matt's apartment, meaning he was going to have to walk twice as far. Sliding his hands into his pockets he started down the street, cursing Matt all the while.
#
He had almost made it halfway home when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Reluctantly pulling his hands from the warmth of his jacket pockets he slid phone out of his back pocket and saw Ken was trying to call him.
T.K. clicked the ignore option on the screen. He knew he was going to be mad he left without saying anything, but he was sure Ken wouldn't have let him go and would have offered him an enticing ride home to keep him there longer.
As T.K. reached to put his phone back in his pocket it started to vibrate again. He glanced at it, ready to hit the ignore again but stopped, slowing down T.K. found himself standing still under a street light staring at Kari's name. He almost let it go to voicemail before he involuntarily answered it. "Hello?" his voice was almost a whisper.
"Don't ignore my calls!" Ken's voice hissed over the other line. T.K. expression went from anxious to irritated. "I knew you'd answer this number though." Ken's voice calmed.
"I hate you." T.K. responded calmly, starting to walk again.
"No you don't. Now, why didn't you tell me you were leaving?" Ken asked, his voice sounding a bit concerned.
"I honestly didn't want to stay and I knew you would probably talk me into it. It's easier to be mean to you over the phone than in person." T.K. smirked.
"Ha. Ha." Ken let out an exasperated breath. "Where are you? I'll come pick you up and take you home."
T.K. shrugged. "I'm almost home. Don't worry about it."
Ken was silent for a minute, T.K. could hear the party still going on in the background. "You need to decide."
T.K. frowned. "Decide what? I already said I'm almost ho—"
"Whether your friendships are worth losing because you can't get over Kari." Ken's voice was low.
T.K. grimaced. "It's not just that."
"Then what?" Ken snapped.
"I burned some bridges and I don't know how to rebuild them." T.K.'s pace slowed.
Ken almost laughed. "You think you've burnt bridges? Are you completely ignoring the fact everyone is trying their hardest to welcome you back with open arms." T.K. didn't respond. His chest started to hurt as Ken continued to berate him. "The fact that you only stayed in contact with me and Matt over the last year, is that it? Yeah, I talked with Matt for quite a while this morning by the way, between the two of us we figured that out pretty easily."
T.K. pulled the phone away from his ear, his finger hovering over the end button. "It's not that simple." He breathed.
Ken's voice was barely audible from the distance at which T.K. held his phone. "This isn't about them, it's that you can't forgive yourself, right?"
T.K. pressed the end button, his hands shaking—he blamed the cold as he turned his phone off and shoved it back into his pocket. Quickening his pace he continued his long walk home.
#
The bell rang loudly, signaling T.K.'s first day back at his old high school had ended. He had turned in all his homework—the surprise on his teachers faces as he handed in the completed homework irritated him, feeling that had given him way too much intentionally. He smiled and made it sound like it wasn't a big deal.
Walking out of his last class T.K. didn't notice as he almost ran into Davis and Kari in the hall. "Oh. Sorry." He took a step back.
Davis smiled. "Hey, how was your first day back?"
T.K. shrugged. It was almost irritating that he was getting along better with Davis than he was with any of his other friends. "Not bad. Got all my homework done."
"Eh. I got most of mine done, but I got a pass because we had the game yesterday." Davis shrugged. "You heading to basketball practice?"
T.K. nodded, finally looking over at Kari, who was staring at him, a hint of worry on her expression. "Yeah. I'll come by the computer lab afterwards and see if you guys are still there."
"Cool. See ya later!" Davis walked passed him.
Kari didn't move, keeping T.K. trapped in the doorway of his classroom. "Uhm."
T.K. looked to the floor. "Hey. Sorry."
Kari frowned. "Sorry?"
"Ken's been kind of forcing me into a lot of stuff. I'll—" T.K. was cut off by Kari.
"They're both our friends T.K. So am I. Okay?" she looked at him worriedly.
T.K. nodded. "Yeah."
"See you later?" She asked pointedly.
T.K. nodded again. "Yeah." She gave him an encouraging smile and walked down the hall after Davis.
#
T.K. loved the feeling of playing basketball. It was distracting and made him feel good, unlike a lot of aspects of his daily life. He hadn't really gotten to play like this in months. The loud thud of the basketball hitting he gymnasium floor echoed in his mind and drowned out all his negative thoughts. He knew some of the team already from before he moved, but some were new. He kind of got a sick satisfaction out of their expressions as they watched him dominate the court.
T.K. scored his fifth ball in the last fifteen minutes, while effectively assisting several of his team members with theirs in between. The coach blew his whistle, signaling that practice was over for the day. "That's it. Hit the showers!"
"Damn T.K.!" One of the other seniors on the team leaned forward on his knees out of breath. "I didn't think you could have gotten any better than last time I saw you, and here you proved me wrong."
T.K. smiled modestly. "I just really love basketball."
T.K.'s coach laughed. "We can all see that. It's good to have you on our team."
T.K. nodded to his coach. He was new, at least to T.K., apparently the coach that was working at the school before when T.K. was a student there had retired at the end of the last school year. "I'll do my best sir."
#
T.K. sat down on the bench in front of his gym locker, fully dressed in his street clothes, he still had a towel over his head—his hair was longer and took longer to dry, it was irritating but he didn't mind it enough to think about cutting it, yet. Leaning forward, he pressed his elbows into his knees and ran his hands over his face tiredly.
"Hey man." T.K. looked up to see a couple of the seniors, including the one who had addressed him earlier looking at him as they swung their duffle bags over their shoulders. "You want to come grab a bite to eat before heading home?"
T.K. hesitated. "Uhm…" This was his chance. New friends. New pass times. He could fade into the background and leave all his guilt behind without ever having to face it head on, phase himself out of the digidestined group. "No. I got plans. Maybe next time?"
They boys looked disappointed but quickly got over it, waving casually as they began to talk amongst themselves, leaving T.K. alone in the locker room.
T.K. inhaled deeply. His head hurt. Everything seemed to hurt since he got back from Hokkaido. He grimaced. It'd started hurting long before that, it was just easier to ignore when he wasn't being constantly confronted with the things that made it hurt.
Standing he opened his locker and pulled out his backpack, heading slowly up to the computer lab. After taking as much time as he could making his way to the third floor, he slowly opened the classroom door, finding it completely empty—glancing over he confirmed by the familiar gate program that everyone was still inside the digital world.
He signed and plopped down on the chair in front of the computer, staring lazily at the gate, his digivice was somewhere inside his backpack. He made no effort to dig for it as he contemplated even going.
Finally he turned and started rummaging for his digivice. Finding the white and green device he stood and slid his backpack over the back of the chair. He stared at the screen some more. "Stop running away." He spoke to himself between clenched teeth, angry with himself for being such a coward.
Raising the digivice to the screen he felt himself being pulled in. The sensation of being pulled between worlds was never something he thought he'd get used to. At least the transition was easier now than it had been the first couple of times they'd gone, back when he was a little kid.
Inside he found himself at the gate Yolie and Kari had used the on Saturday, finding himself practically inside the village. There was a small commotion coming from the wrecked buildings as his friends and the digimon of the village worked together to put the finishing touches on the patched up buildings.
"There!" Davis exclaimed proudly. His repairs were fairly discernible compared to the others for their haphazard look. Yolie and Ken just shook their heads at him as they stepped back to admire their hard work.
"Sorry I'm late." T.K. spoke up as he walked around the corner.
Patamon the first to greet him. "You came!" he seemed surprised.
Kari gave him a quick smile and turned to Gatomon. "What do you think?"
Gatomon shrugged. "It's better than a whole in the wall I guess."
Ken sighed. "It's no professional job, but it'll do."
Wormmon shrugged. "I'll take it."
T.K. walked up to everyone. "Sorry I didn't make it in time to help."
Davis raised his hands in the air. "Eh. Whatcha gonna do? You couldn't skip practice."
T.K. sighed. "Yeah."
Ken looked at him curiously. "How did it go?" He could tell Ken was still pissed from the night before, but wasn't going to say anything in front of the others.
T.K.'s eyes brightened at the mention of his practice. "It felt amazing to be back in the game. I hadn't really played since the end of the last school year."
Kari noted the relaxed expression that cast over T.K.'s face—just then realizing how tense he had been every time she'd seen him since returning. That was the real T.K., the one she knew so well. Those smiles he'd been flashing at her looked pale in comparison to the one on his face now. The familiar smile she had taken for granted before.
"I'll have to come and watch you guys at your next game." Kari spoke lightly. It made her heart hurt to see T.K.'s expression fade and the fake smile return at her injection.
"That'd be great." He felt his teeth unintentionally clench.
Davis let out a loud yawn. "When is your next game anyway?"
T.K. had to stop and think. "Oh. Maybe next Friday?"
Davis narrowed his eyes. "Yeah. I think that sounds right."
Kari frowned. "Should we postpone our usual trip to the digital world then?"
T.K. felt his chest tighten. "No. Don't change your plans on my account."
Yolie shrugged. "What about a Saturday trip instead?"
T.K. didn't want the attention. He didn't want the guilt to infiltrate the one thing that actually made him relax. "Honestly, this game probably won't be worth watching. I just joined so I'll most likely be on the bench for this game."
Ken saw T.K.'s anxiety and took pity on him. "Well I'm sure after you're more acquainted with the team and have a few more practices you'll be one of the main players. We'll start coming then." T.K. shot Ken a grateful look, hearing everyone else agree without much fuss.
Cody looked down at his watch. "I have to get going guys."
Davis and Yolie nodded, both relaying an excuse why they had to get home too. Ken and Kari silently agreed as everyone started walking toward the gate, saying their goodbyes to their partners and the various digimon in the village.
Ken looked back to see T.K. had not moved. "You coming?"
T.K. shook his head. "I'm going to stay a while."
Ken hesitated. "I can too."
"Nah. I want to catch up with Patamon a bit." T.K. glanced to his partner who was floating in the air beside him.
Kari glanced back and shot Gatomon a look before lifting her digivice to the gate. "See you guys later then."
Ken watched as Kari evaporated into the screen. Leaving him and T.K. alone. "Can we talk a minute?"
T.K. frowned. "Can we talk later?"
Ken gave him a disappointed look. "Don't be like that. I'm not mad, I'm just—"
T.K. shook his head, a laugh threatening to escape his lips. "You're pissed. I can see it in your eyes. Let it go for today, alright? We'll go grab coffee later and you can lecture me all you want."
"Lecture?" Patamon wondered aloud.
Ken sighed. "Whatever." Turning without another word he reached up his digivice and disappeared into the screen.
"T.K.?" Patamon looked at him worriedly.
T.K. ignored Patamon and all the other partner digimon who had witnessed their conversation and started walking toward the edge of the village. "Let's go."
I'm contemplating which direction to take the story from here. I have two options I'm deliberating. So it may be a little while before I post again. But don't worry. I will post again =)
That said, if you would like to check out my original work, please google The Silent Ballad Series!