To the place where I find peace again
You are the strength that keeps me walking
You are the hope that keeps me trusting
You are the life to my soul
You are my purpose; You are my everything-
"Everything" -Lifehouse
Guys and Girls: Epilogue:
"So, how's life?"
It was amazing how everything in the kitchen seemed to be twice as messed up as it had been in the first place. The floor was now covered with broken dishes, more pudding, and various cooking materials and ingredients; all of which had been thrown around in cries of battle by Rick and Rachel. Julie simply refused to keep on cleaning and Kari had decided not to be in the room at all.
"If I'm lucky" Kari mumbled to herself "Maybe Rick will just finish her off himself" She heard Rachel's distinguished scream all the way from outside. Amidst all the madness that was going on inside her thoughts drifted elsewhere and she began to get worried about TK, it had been a while since he had left out in a hurry to see Bugs, well, she assumed (and rather hoped) that he had. Curiosity slowly crept up her mind as she realized it had been quite a while since he was gone.
Her thoughts were interrupted as she saw Christy's tiny figure run down to her all the way from the hill at top speed. The child was rather anxious and excited to see her. "Aunt Kari, Aunt Kari come quick!"
"Wow, calm down Christy" She kneeled down and placed her hands on top of her shoulders "Breathe and then tell me" The child obeyed and deeply took in air "Ok now" She beamed "Is there anything wrong, did something happen to any of the kids?" She said softly
She rapidly shook her head from side to side "No, no, Auntie Sammie wanted me to get you"
"Did something happen?"
Again she shook her head in a quick motion "Uh-uh, she said it was really urgent. Something happened at the boy's cabin!"
Kari lifted herself up but never took her eyes of Christy "Which one?"
"The counsellor one, number four I think"
That was TK's cabin, her pulse began to race at the pictures that ran through her head "Did something happen to TK, or anyone else?"
Christy put one hand on her hip and took one of Kari's hands with the other "You ask too many questions, lets just go already!"
Right then Julie came out, she was covered in flour and wore a look of sheer murder on her face "I swear I'm going to get them for this one"
"You're just a casualty of war"
"Very funny Kari, hey, what's Christy doing here?"
Christy did not let her reply "She has to leave, quick" Kari apologized to Julie, but she just smiled and let her go on.
"It's not like we were getting any work done anyway, and besides I'll just stay and keep an eye on those two" In reality she was very aware of the Davis plan. Kari and Christy thanked her and began running hand in hand in direction of the cabin.
She went back inside, her resolve for revenge was strong and she decided to go along with it. She looked around for any hints that might help her get rid of Rachel. Samantha had asked her to keep the ruddy girl out of the way so she wouldn't interrupt the 'operation' that was to be going on. But now that Rick was there as well she was enlightened with the idea of getting them both. "Simply killing two birds with one stone" She said to herself in a chilling voice.
An idea hit her like a bolt of lightning when she saw a large bucket in the corner of the room. She took some keys from her pockets and proceeded to take her small plan into action. "Rachel!!" She bellowed at the top of her lungs.
"What do you want?" Rachel was raging, if it was one thing she disliked it was being stopped from fighting.
She smiled innocently at her, masking her snickers "I just need some bleach from the closet to keep on cleaning, could you and Rick go along and get it for me?" She knew that Rachel wouldn't get the large bag all by herself.
"Why don't you just go yourself, you're the one who wants it so badly"
"And I suppose you want your dear uncle to come in here and see all this mess, at least be grateful that I'm cleaning, unlike you" Rachel did not answer Julie's statement.
Rick focused his stare on Julie "And why should I go, why can't the loudmouth just go get it by herself?"
"Be quiet, it's because she is the only one who knows where it is but can't carry that huge pile all by herself" Rick also kept quiet "Fine if its such a big task for you I'll just get it" She knew that both their stubborn prides wouldn't be allowed to be insulted.
"We'll go" Rachel took his hands and lead him through the short, narrow passage that lead to the broom closet where all the cleaning materials where stored. What they did not remember though was that the light switch inside the closet didn't work.
The space was a bit large and very packed with cleaning products so it did not take either of them much time to settle in and start looking for the bleach, another fact they neglected was that there wasn't any bleach to begin with. "I can't find it here Julie"
Julie went to the closet also and stood behind the doorframe, holding the door itself in one arm "Are you sure? Just keep looking" She muttered, and with a swift movement threw the door and closed it. In an instant both her nemesis were locked inside.
Rachel banged the door from inside "Get us out of here Julie!"
"And just why should I do that?"
"This is really mature" Rick yelled with a sarcastic snicker "Locking us up, come on you couldn't think up something better?"
Julie knew he was mainly trying to get to her; she also knew that within minutes of them being in there they would rip each other to shreds "It might not be, but that doesn't change the fact that you are locked up does it?" She placed the keys on the counter "I have to go see TK and Kari, you two lovebirds just try and have a nice time ok? I'll just be out there enjoying the fresh air and the daylight, see you later" She heard a muffled scream coming from inside, and she merely went out the door with a delighted grin on her face "She had that one coming for weeks"
********************
Davis and Sam stood outside the cabin, waiting for their victims. "Davis" She shot him a sceptical look "Are you really sure this is going to work, I mean, we could get in loads of trouble for this"
"One hundred percent" He pointed to the large container of paint placed beside them "When they get here they'll see the incredible mess and aren't going to have any other choice but to clean it up"
"And what if they don't? What if they go look for help or something?"
"Seth and Charlie have boarded up the windows, and we'll just have to lock the door from the outside"
"Seems like you've thought this thing through" She praised him "And then what?"
His pretentious attitude suddenly seemed to have vanished, and a small frown replaced his grin "What do you mean 'what?" He hadn't thought about what would happen after that, he just simply assumed that they would start talking or something. He knew that TK had been meaning to do so for weeks, and this was their perfect opportunity….being placed in an atmosphere where there was no other choice but to talk "He's smart, lets just hope he'll catch the hint and tell her"
"Tell her what? And what if the Bull comes?" She didn't like criticizing his plans, but she did have to admit that it was rather haphazardly scheamed. Too many things could go wrong, and what if Rachel was still around, she wasn't sure if Julie had found a way to stop her or not.
"Alright" Davis bit his lower lip, and took Sam's hand, causing her to smile sweetly "Lets just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best" He looked around so to see his friends straggly located around the bushes, he then caught Charlie's signal. "Sam, they're coming"
And indeed they were, surprisingly at the same time from opposite directions. The two children were dragging TK and Kari to the cabin. It was when they reached the front steps that they noticed each other.
Kari was relieved to see him, TK was grateful to see her. Lori pulled at TK's sleeve "Uncle TK look!" She referred to the cabin, which was all around splashed with paint. Christy let go of Kari's hand and took Lori's, remembering what Davis had told her about leaving the scene right away. Lori and her started running "We'll go get more help" They shouted when they were already a long way ahead.
"And how did this happen?" TK couldn't take his eyes off the immense pile of garbage that lay around and inside the cabin, no matter where his eyes aimed he would see bright red paint spattered around every angle, and he noted how everything inside the cabin seemed to be turned upside down.
"I don't suppose it was Rachel" Funny how that was her first guess, though she rapidly brushed off the idea as she remembered that Rachel had never left her sight while they were in the kitchen.
"What about Bugs, maybe she told him to" Even though Bugs was lacking in the intellectual department he did take orders extremely well.
"I don't think it was him either, why would Rachel go after your cabin?" TK cringed as she pointed that out.
"And what do you mean by that?"
"You can be incredibly naïve sometimes TK, either that, or an incredibly good actor" She didn't say anymore as she went inside to inspect the full damage. TK went in running after her, there was no way he was going to leave things hanging like this.
******************
Sam and Davis kept looking from their little spot in the bush, Davis was ecstatic "So far everything is going as planned" He took some time to smugly look at the sky "Damn I'm good" Samantha rolled her eyes and playfully punched him in the stomach. They both felt something shifting around them and were gratified when they turned to find Julie and not the Bull.
"So, is everything going well?"
Samantha didn't let Davis speak, even though he did look awfully cute to her when his ego was in the stratosphere "So far so good, so what did you do to Rachel?"
Julie sighed evilly "Lets just say that I followed up on Davis' idea about locking lovebirds up" Samantha was utterly dumbfounded, but that didn't matter since she had to signal Seth to lock the door. She waved her hand and made a peace sign, which was his que to lock them in.
******************
While inside neither TK or Kari were aware of all the ruckus going on behind the door, they were inspecting their surroundings and calculating how much it would take to clean it up. Kari plumped down on the floor "The Bull is going to hang you guys in the flagpole if he sees this"
"I didn't even think about that" How could he? All that he was thinking about was her and that single moment they were living now. He knew she must have been mad, and he had decided that if he ever had the guts to tell her how he felt this would be the perfect time, before he lost her completely.
"We should call the others, tell them to help us out. I'm pretty sure we can get this sparkling clean before the Bull even comes close to it" She stood up. As she headed for the locked door, TK stopped her by placing his arms around her waist. A light shiver ran down her spine as she felt his warm closeness.
"Don't leave," He pleaded with her, mustering up all of his courage. She slowly turned around; he still didn't let go of her. Their gazes were inches from each other and TK could feel her light breathing in his neck; it made it even more difficult for him to concentrate. "I think we should talk" He lead her down and they both sat on the floor.
Kari tried to remain calm, she was almost scared of what he might have to say, and she decided to play hard. "About what? I already told you I really don't know who could of done this"
TK sunk his head "Don't do this Kari, please, not now"
"I really don't know where to start" She tensed up as she felt his grip loosen from her and his arms taken away.
"Then I'll do it then" He looked up at her, his eyes locked with hers. His lips began to move but nothing came out as he was interrupted by a loud, strange noise banging near the cabin.
*****************
"Shoot, somebody stop that idiot!" Davis was angry, he wasn't going to let Bugs ruin all that had taken him hours…well, ok, minutes to think out!
Bugs was trying to see inside the cabin, he had been hollering for TK "He was lying! That little insect thought he could get to me. I'll kill him, who does he think he is trying to act all smarty on me" Bugs hated being treated like a complete dope. He kept crunching his fingers as he walked up the steps of the cabin, throwing off everything in his way and making a lot of noise.
Seth and Charlie didn't know what to do "No way Davis" Seth argued "That guy knows about every single style of Kung Fu out there, I'm not taking my chances at getting my spine split in half" Charlie meekly nodded his head as to agree with him.
Julie bravely stood up "And you call yourself men"
Charlie was very intrigued "Are you going to punch him or something" He sounded anxious.
"Do I look like I have a death wish? No, I'm just going to try to reason with the guy" And that was all it took, within a few minutes of her going up to him everything was resolved. They went off together; as they did Julie took a moment to give them the 'thumbs up'.
"I wonder what in the world that girl did" Charlie though out loud.
Davis was swept by an overwhelming feeling of utter relief "Whatever she did, I'm glad she did it"
*****************
The bang they had heard looked as if it had already ceased, yet again TK drew his attention towards the girl in front of him "I was trying to say something wasn't I?" Kari laughed at his lousy attempt to make a joke, her laughter died down when he lightly coughed.
"Yes you were TK" She got more serious too "Is there anything particularly important you had to say to me?" She knew her tone would give her feelings right away, she was truly an awful liar.
He took her hands in his and began playing with them "You know, there are about a million things that I would like to say to you right about now" His right hand released one of hers and he lead it up to her cheek "For the longest time I've had these feelings for you Kari" Being blunt was the only way he could think of to say this to her "And I know what you're going to say"
"And what would that be?" But she was cut off as TK traced his index finger to her lips.
"That we're just friends" He stated "And we are. But to me, you are so much more than that" He could see a small tear gently escaped her eye "Kari, I've known that I loved you for the longest time"
Kari gasped inaudibly at his confession, she had dreamed of this for as long as she could remember, but never thought the day would actually come.
"I'm sorry if it's all a bit too sudden for you, but I wanted you to know this. I'm so sorry for letting it all get in the way of our friendship and the other things" He felt himself go a bit pinkish in the cheeks "With everything that has been going around sometimes I need to remind myself that I am a bit daft when it comes to you, but I really can't help it." He grinned sheepishly "It must be the effect you have on me"
Kari was extremely overwhelmed; this was the side of TK she always loved, the chivalrous poet. It almost melted her when he softly spoke his words, his voice was just so sincere and his eyes shined with truth. "Takeru" She rarely addressed him by his full name, but when she did so she was dead serious "Since we started to work here, it all seemed to come down on us didn't it? I thought this would be the perfect chance to be with you and instead it's all been one very interesting experience after the other" She paused to choose her words carefully "What I'm trying to say is, well, none of this has been your fault, and you're not the only one who has had something to say"
TK took this time to wipe of more of the tears that came from her eyes "TK, I've just been so afraid, afraid of everything I mean. I didn't want to loose you after so long" She took a second to grin "And besides, I do know that I didn't fall in love you" She noticed him frown but kept on talking as she placed her hands on his chest "Takeru, I didn't fall in love with you, I threw my self in"
"You know, you actually scared me there" He took her waist and pulled her on top of him, so she would be curled on his lap. She intertwined her hands through his neck.
They stayed like that for several minutes swaying back and forth in a pendular fashion "When did it all change Kari?" He stroked her hair in a gentle motion, breathing in her soft scent.
"To be honest" She placed her head on the crook of his neck "I have no clue, but I'm glad as hell that it did" They laughed together, both very pleased with themselves.
TK looked down on her, smiling "Would it be ok if I kissed you now?"
"Heaven knows that I've waited long enough for it already"
"Enough said" He lowered his lips to hers and they met halfway in a deep kiss. He grazed her soft lips slowly, pouring out every emotion through his lips. They had kissed before, but this one seemed to break the mold for every other one they had ever had. It was a single, solid moment of pure bliss compassed in a fraction of eternity.
He pulled away, almost cursing the need to breathe. "What's going through your mind?" He pulled her even closer to him
"How lucky I am" She played with his collar "But besides that, you have to wonder; we've been here for almost an hour and there have been no signs of Rachel.."
***********************
"Damn it Arisawa, we've been stuck here for centuries, the least you could do is talk"
"Oh I see, now you want me to talk" Rachel said through the dark "What happen to all the 'loudmouth' remarks?"
"I get desperate in the dark, must be my insanity talking. Nevermind" Rick shifted his position and took a match out of his pocket. He lit it up.
"You've had a match and you didn't tell me about it. We have stayed here in the dark for all this time and all the while you had a match!" She stood up for a second and reached for the counter till she came up with a candle. Rick saw it and gingerly placed the lit match above the candle to turn it on. Rachel put it on the floor "At least we've got a light source here"
Rick couldn't stand the silence "So, you're Arisawa" He thought of a topic of conversation "Funny, we have the same initials"
"I noticed that, R.A." At least they were getting somewhere.
"I heard that you're Wilbur's niece, is that true?"
She was quite glad when he had said her uncle's full name "Yes. You know, no one I know at this camp has ever called him by his real name"
"I guess you could say I'm just one of those respectful people deep inside" There was an akward moment of silence "So what's your story. You got a boyfriend or something?" He couldn't think of anything better to say.
She was a bit sad at his comment, the truth was she had never really had one she liked. "Plenty, but none of them were much as boyfriends"
"What about this blonde guy?"
"TK, he's all right, he's cute and nice. But not really my type" She was very straightforward.
"That's odd, word around here is that you've been hunting him down like a hawk" But it was true none the less, Rick didn't seem to think that TK was much her type either.
"I enjoy the hunt. And besides, he's safe. I saw they way he looked at Kari, they're meant for each other."
"Why did you all this then?" He was confused, from what he had heard, this girl never surrendered.
"I like playing the role of the villain" She admitted "Everyone must think that I am such a cruel person, but I knew that making Kari jealous was a definite way of getting her and TK together. You could sort of say I did this for them, even if it does sound like a lie" But she wasn't lying, she really didn't feel anything at all for TK, but she was very amused with playing with him. She was a romantic at heart.
"It doesn't. Being the evil hero can be good, even if every one does think you're vicious"
"I don't care what they think. It's not like I deserve a merit for playing Cupid" She looked at Rick, she somehow knew that she could trust him "And if that is so, than you have to give some credit to Bugs too"
"Bugs?"
"He's my cousin. He's not very bright, but he'll always do you a favor. I figured that the jealousy wasn't enough on Kari's behalf, I had to make TK jealous too" She pulled her legs up to her chest and looked at the tiny candle "I just really hope my efforts weren't worthless" And beyond her knowledge, they hadn't been it all.
"Then why not let anyone else know what you're up to?
"It would ruin everything, it had to look natural, as if I had all the interest in the world to make him mine" She sighed "Every story needs an evil witch don't you think?
Rick sat a bit closer to her "I actually think you're kind of nice, to do all this for someone you don't even know"
She smirked "Don't tell anyone, it might ruin my reputation" They were both beginning to forget where they were and what was going on. They kept on talking about each other. They had discovered a lot about one another and were really started to get interested on everything each had to say. Maybe it was the start of a beautiful friendship, or perhaps something far greater…
********************
It had been a couple of hours and TK and Kari still hadn't tried to get out of the cabin. Seth had already unlocked the door, and they had all patiently waited outside to see their faces as they came out. They all saw Julie approach them with a content grin on her face.
Davis was curious "And where have you been all this time?"
Julie gathered herself up "Well, that Bugs guy might be as smart as a piece of wood, but he's one heck of a kisser" They kept looking at her "What? It's true" She smirked, and everyone just shrugged.
"Well Davis" Samantha went over to him and hugged his waist "They've been there for some time already, I guess you can consider this a big success"
Charlie patted his back "We have got to hand it to you, you're the master of sneaky plans"
"Thank you" He bowed down his head accepting their praise. "It's good to see this all come to an end" He admired his work.
Holly sighed, she was a bit depressed "Is it really all over? I mean, we've worked for all this and then one moment the finale comes"
Seth agreed with his sister "You're right, it's all concluded"
"So this is it?"
Davis shrugged "Yeah"
"I'm bored" Seth cleared up "Now we have nothing to do"
"Yes, afraid so" Sam nodded…they all remained quiet, thinking of something to do.
"So….how's life?"
The End
Ok, so it was a bit more corny than usual, but it just came out that way. You could say it was almost inevitable.
It's been a long and heavy road to this, but I'm proud to say that it's over. I would truly like to thank all those of you who reviewed, it meant a lot to me since this started out being my first story in FF.net. To all those of you who kept coming back, I'm eternally grateful, thank you so much for your ideas and your advice. I have learned a lot in the entire year that I have been here, and it is all due to you guys. I was thinking of maybe doing a little one-shot sequel, like what happen to everyone a few years after the conclusion….I don't know, what do you guys think?
Signing off till later:
TK's Angel