Disclaimer: I do not own digimon or am associated with anyone who does.

Here's another chapter. I'm pretty certain I know which direction I'm going to take this now, so chapters should be coming out a little more frequently. *crosses fingers*

Anyway, please enjoy.

Kari watched the monitor from the doorway of the classroom, seeing Ken appearing shortly after her. He skipped a few steps before catching his balance and avoided falling to the floor—something easier to do when coming through the portal alone.

Ken looked up, noticing Kari immediately. He gave her a questioning look and tilted his head at her. "Hm?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped, looking to the floor. "Nevermind." She smiled and turned, starting to walk out of the room.

Ken sighed, grabbing his bag from the desk. Closing the portal on the computer out of habit, he hollered after her. "What did you need?"

Kari stopped, almost out of sight of the classroom, turning around to look at Ken as he walked into the hall. "Uhm…"

He was trying not to be irritated with Kari, he knew it wasn't her fault. "You worried about him?"

She stared at him as he walked up to her. "No. I was just…" she couldn't think of an excuse.

Ken frowned at her. "Is everything alright between the two of you?" he decided to play dumb a little longer, not letting on he knew about T.K.'s confession and Kari's rejection.

"Yeah." She forced a smile onto her face. "I guess it's just weird having him back."

Ken gave her a sympathetic grin. "I don't know if I'd call it weird."

Kari stared at Ken unsure how to respond. "Well…"

"I have to get going. See you in a few days." Ken allowed her an escape, clearly seeing her struggling.

"Mmm." She nodded and smiled a little more genuinely, watching Ken walk past her and down the stairs. She took a step back and leaned against the wall, staring up helplessly at the ceiling.

#

T.K. and Patamon reached the edge of the forest surrounding the village, silently walking through the digital world. It wasn't until almost an hour later that T.K. stopped and looked around at their surroundings, rolling hills and swaying grass surrounded them.

"Sorry." He spoke finally, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Patamon nodded, not sure if he should ask the questions on his mind. "Are you alright T.K.?"

T.K. shook his head. "I keep trying to convince myself I am."

Patamon landed on his shoulder and looked out over the view ahead of them. "You know what?"

"Hm?" T.K. narrowed his eyes and looked at the ground.

"I think you need to be honest with yourself more often." Patamon gave his simple but needed advice.

T.K. smiled briefly, nodding. "It hurts though."

Patamon looked at T.K. sadly. "But will the pain go away if you ignore it?"

"Maybe if I wait long enough." He shrugged and knelt down to the ground, playing with a tall blade of grass between his fingers.

"How long is enough?" Patamon leapt down to the ground, almost being engulfed by the grass.

T.K. shrugged again, sighing. "A very long time. And I think in order for that to work, I'd have to leave for good."

Patamon's eyes shook with the threat of tears. "Leave for good?"

T.K. looked away from his partner. "I'm not going anywhere Patamon."

"But…" Patamon was confused.

T.K. shifted onto the ground and laid back, sprawling out, staring at the sky. "Ken was right. I need to make up my mind."

Patamon touched T.K.'s hand. "I'm confused, T.K."

T.K. nodded. "I hurt my friends when I left."

Patamon frowned. "Hurt them?"

T.K. pushed himself up and looked at Patamon. "I hurt you too."

"No you didn't." Patamon smiled encouragingly. "See, I'm fine!" he held his little hands up in the air.

T.K. smiled. "I abandoned you."

Patamon tilted his head to the side lightly. "You moved away."

"And chose not to come back here anymore."

"Because of Kari."

"No." T.K. shook his head, guilt on his face. "I chose not to come to the digital world before I even decided to confess my feelings to Kari. That… that was a stupid split second decision."

"So what? I'm supposed to be mad at you?" Patamon frowned.

T.K. felt his chest tighten at Patamon's words. "Aren't you?"

Patamon's expression softened. "Nope."

T.K. gave Patamon a skeptical glance. "You're my best friend and I just up decided never to come and see you again."

Patamon almost laughed. "T.K., we're best friends even if we never see each other again."

T.K. pursed his lips, tears stinging at his eyes. "I don't deserve you."

Patamon shrugged and smiled slyly. "I know."

"Still. I hurt Yolie, Cody and a lot of my other friends."

Patamon sighed. "I bet they aren't mad at you either."

"You're different Patamon." T.K.'s hands curled into fists at his sides.

"Then talk to them. Tell them you're sorry." Patamon suggested.

T.K. closed his eyes, the anxiety making his head throb. "Yeah." It was the only way to make this feeling stop. "You're right."

Patamon smiled and jumped into T.K.'s lap. "Smile T.K.!"

T.K. smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Thanks Patamon."

#

Kari laid on her bed, her arm lying over her face to hide the tears that crept from her eyes. Careful to hide the tears streaming down the sides of her face in case her mother decided to omit knocking before coming in, as mothers generally did.

She felt ill. All she wanted to do was go back in time and handle the entire situation differently. But it was too late and she had handle things poorly and would now have to face the consequences of her actions.

A knock on her door made her stiffen. "Honey, dinner is ready."

"'Kay." Kari muttered, grateful to hear her mother's footsteps fade away from her door.

Rolling onto her side she wiped the tears from her face gingerly to avoid making her eyes any more swollen than they already were. She fanned her face for a few seconds and glanced in the mirror—her nose was still red, but she thought she looked normal. Nothing her parents would notice, and if they did they'd easily buy the allergy card.

Inhaling deeply Kari reached for her door handle, pulling it open she stepped out into the living room, the aroma of food brought back a little of her appetite.

Before she could take another step, however, she froze at her mother's words. "Oh Tai, I'm glad you could make it for dinner tonight. We've missed you."

"Of course! I may live on campus but that doesn't mean I don't need me some home cooked meals once in a while. Even if they're burned or lack flavor of any kind." Their mother reprimanded Tai for his "joke" before moving away from the doorway, letting him inside.

Kari tried to remain calm, turning toward the door she waved and greeted Tai as cheerfully as possible. "Hey Tai!" She knew their parents wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary with her, but Tai was another story. He knew her too well.

Tai greeted her back casually, yet to notice anything off about his little sister. Eagerly he sat down at the table. Kari slid into the chair next to him, hoping that he wouldn't look directly at her or ask her any questions.

She had successfully avoided talking during dinner as her parents were busy asking Tai about university and how his classes had been going.

As she was almost finished with dinner and about to make up a homework excuse to go hide in her room, Tai addressed her. "So how's my little sister doing? It's been a few weeks since I…" he trailed off seeing the look on her face as she forced a smile.

"Good. They're cramming us with tons of homework! Senior year is no joke; I should have listened to you when you said it wasn't going to be easy."

Tai eyed her for a minute before asking the question she was praying he wouldn't. "Is something wrong?"

Both her parents looked to Kari at this question, all eyes on her. "Not really. Like I said, just a lot of homework, but you warned me, so…" she gave Tai a quick look, pleading for a subject change.

Tai narrowed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "Well I did warn you, silly." Her parents looked at them for a moment before going back to finish their plates.

After dinner was cleared from the table and the dishes had been done, by Tai no less to say thanks for the free food, he kindly offered to help Kari with her homework.

She desperately wanted to be left alone and didn't want to talk about what was really bothering her, but Tai was relentless when he knew there was something wrong with her. "Fine." She finally gave into his insisting.

After they were in her room with the door closed Tai crossed his arms and gave her his typical stern big brother look. "Okay, what's really going on?"

Kari knew talking about it was going to make tears come to her eyes and she hated crying in front of others, and even more so, her brother. "It's nothing. You can't do anything about what's bothering me."

"I can listen. Talk to me Kari." Tai sighed, lowered his arms, his stern look fading to worry.

Kari was silent for a few minutes, frowning at the floor. "T.K.'s back in town."

Tai eyed her cautiously. "That's bad? If I recall, you were pretty upset that he left."

Kari shook her head. "You just don't…" she stopped and recollected herself, Tai didn't know anything, it wasn't his fault. "Me and T.K., we…" she pursed her lips. "…I wouldn't call it a fight, but we kind of had a falling out after he left."

"What?" Tai frowned, confused. "How come you never said anything?"

Kari shrugged. "It was personal."

"Personal?" Tai raised an eyebrow at her. "What? Were you two secretly dating and he broke up with you because his mom made him move to Hokkaido or something?" he jested.

Kari shot him a glare before looking back at the floor. "No."

"Then what?" Tai walked over and sat down on her bed next to her. "Did he do something to you?" Kari blinked away tears, turning away from Tai, who grabbed her arm and turned her back around, panic showing in his concerned expression. "Kari, tell me!"

She shook her head. "I was the one…" she buried her face in her hands and leaned into Tai's chest, shaking lightly.

"Whoa…" Tai held Kari gently, pulling her away he made her look into his eyes. "What happened?"

Kari composed herself after a moment and began to tell Tai what had happened the day T.K. had left and how she had handled it afterwards.

She couldn't quite gage Tai's reaction as she told her story, a solemn look on his face as she finished. "So, I don't know what to do."

"You love him?" Tai asked, the words she had just spoke ringing in his ears.

Kari's cheeks suddenly turned bright red, as she hadn't even thought about the fact that she was telling her older brother she loved someone. Instead of speaking she simply nodded yes, looking to the floor with embarrassment.

Tai inhaled and leaned back, propping himself up with his elbows. "Well, I'd be lying if I said I never suspected you two liked one another. But this…" he sighed. "…Are you going to tell him?"

Kari looked down at her hands, her fingers fiddling nervously with the hem of her shirt. "How can I? After what I did, I don't deserve…"

Tai pushed himself up straight. "You shouldn't decide that for him."

"Tai…" Kari was a little surprised by Tai's rational reaction to everything.

"Honestly, I'm kind of mad at both of you for letting it go this far. He thinks you completely rejected him and you're here in love with him but refusing to tell him."

"It's been over a year since this all happened!" Kari yelled out of frustration. "Even if he still has feelings for me, he'll never believe me or trust me."

"You're not even going to try?" Tai asked, genuinely worried.

Kari shook her head. Lowering her face, she closed her eyes. "I can't."

Tai grabbed Kari and hugged her tightly. "Kari…" he whispered her name gently.

She bit her lip, holding back another wave of tears threatening to escape her swollen eyes. "Promise you won't tell anyone."

Tai hesitated but eventually nodded. "I promise. This is your life. But if you need me for anything…" Kari pulled away from Tai and nodded, thanking him.

#

T.K. looked at the setting sun, realized it was getting late and they headed back to the village in a hurry. It didn't take them as long to get back walking at a quicker, steady pace.

Patamon looked up at the evening sky, eerie shadows forming in the forest around them. "This forest gives me the creeps!" he said while clinging to T.K.'s shoulder.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark." T.K. joked.

Patamon made a humph sound and turned his face away from T.K. "And you're not?"

T.K. laughed. "Nope."

Patamon could tell the village was just up ahead and took off into the sky above the trees. "Fine then! Walk the rest of the way by yourself!" He laughed gleefully as he flew off in the rays of the setting sun.

T.K. stopped and placed his hands on his hips, watching Patamon abandon him in the woods. "Me and my big mouth." He muttered, slowing his pace as he continued walking. There was enough light still streaming through the leaves that T.K. could see well enough, however the shadows were growing larger as the seconds passed and the sun began to fade behind the mountains.

After a few minutes of walking T.K. began to feel uneasy, glancing behind himself every few seconds. Noises he'd probably not even have noticed if Patamon was still chirping away on his shoulder, now echoed loudly around him.

He ran his hands through his hair tiredly and ignored everything, refusing to let it get to him. He was too old to be afraid of the dark. Suddenly a cold feeling washed over him, something evil was near. Turning around his eyes darted from shadow to shadow, finding more darkness than light surrounding him now. "Who's there?" he asked firmly.

An odd looking digimon stepped out of the shadows to his left, startling him. It was shrouded in a pale hood and a maroon robe. Nothing but yellow beady eyes shrouded in darkness could be seen of its face. Black hands with sharp claws rested at the digimon's side, long, downcast, pale wings resting on its back.

"I am Wisemon." A wispy male voice sounded from the shadows.

T.K. took a step back. "Wisemon?"

It stared at T.K. for a few long minutes before continuing. "We've been waiting for the gate."

"The gate?" T.K. frowned, confused and honestly afraid. He wished desperately he hadn't teased Patamon earlier.

"You are the gate." He pointed at T.K.

T.K. felt everything change around him. Like time was shifting or stopping around him, stifling, suffocating.

He took another step backwards, his back pressing against a tree, halting him. Wiseman's clawed fingers reaching for his neck. T.K. twisted around and darted back, losing his balance he fell to his knees—The air around him turned cold and crisp. It was dark now, the setting sun seemed to have been gone for some time. He glanced behind himself—nothing. Straightening he started to stand, hearing the buzz of digimon in the village—much closer than it had been before. Patamon's voice hollering his name in the distance.

"T.K. this isn't funny anymore!" Patamon cried.

T.K. pulled himself up, still looking for the strange digimon. "What just happened…?"

Well, there you go. I hope I've intrigue you a bit. I'm excited to move further along with this plot so be sure to follow this story for regular updates. Also reviews are appreciated. Very motivating for me to keep going. And thank you to everyone who has already reviewed! I'm glad people are enjoying my story so far.

Again, if you like my writing and would like to support me in other ways, please check out my original work by googling The Silent Ballad Series.