Ebacusta: Hello. This is just something I thought of. The first chapter is kind of based on the song Family Portrait by Pink, which I don't own. There might be a little OC, but I don't think so. Digimon never happened.
Disclaimer: Me? Own Digimon? Ha! You're a card!
TK and Kari: Please enjoy the fic.
A Mistake Can Last A Lifetime
By ebacusta
Chapter 1
Old Memories
- - - 8 years ago - - -
"You never listen!" TK heard his mother yell. "Why don't you stop and try to understand?" He sat curled up on his bed shaking slightly. Matt came in. He walked over to where TK was lying.
"TK don't cry," Matt said.
"Why do they keep fighting Matt?" TK asked through his tears. "Why?"
-
Momma please stop cryin, I can't stand the sound
Your pain is painful and its tearin' me down
I hear glasses breakin as I sit up in my bed
I told dad you didn't mean those nasty things you
said
-
"You're no jewel either Natsuko!" his father retorted. "You've been staying out late, working, and I've had to stay at the TV station lately. Didn't we make a deal that one of us would always be home with the kids? We were suppose to alternate, who stayed home with the kids. Yesterday, was your day, and I found out thatTK was home by himself for an hour before Matt came home!"
"No!" TK cried out. "No it's not true!" Even though that was exactly what happened, TK would do anything to keep his family together.
"TK," Matt said, coming closer to his little brother.
-
You fight about money, bout me and my brother
And this I come home to, this is my shelter
It ain't easy growin up in World War III
Never knowin what love could be, you'll see
I don't want love to destroy me like it has done
my family
-
"Matt, why are mommy and daddy fighting?" TK asked through his tears. "Is it because of the bad grade I got for my spelling, or my letters?"
Matt looked at TK helplessly. "Yeah, but don't worry, they'll resolve it soon." Matt hated lying to his brother. What could he say? Mom and Dad are having marital problems and are most likely going to spilt up. TK would be devastated if he found out the truth.
"I'll do better," TK yelled. "I'll try harder!"
"TK," Matt said.
-
Can we work it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I'll be better, Mommy I'll do anything
Can we work it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I'll be better, Daddy please don't
leave
-
"Maybe, we should go some where else to discuss this," his father said. They had heard TK's outburst. Before Matt could stop him, TK ran out of the room and grabbed his father's hand.
"Daddy, please don't leave. I'll be better. I promise. I'll try harder. I'll be nicer. I won't paint the cat again. Please don't leave daddy," TK said as tears fell harder down his face. His father's face softened as he came down to TK's level.
"Don't worry TK, daddy and mommy are just going for a walk," his father said ruffling his hair. TK grabbed his coat off the chair.
"Then I'll go with you," TK said. "Please." Tatsuki looked helplessly at his wife and then helped TK into his coat and picked him up. Matt came out of the room. Natsuko took his hand and the family left the building. And slowly, the tears stopped, and TK's eyes closed as he fell asleep.
-
Daddy please stop yellin, I can't stand the sound
Make mama stop cryin, cuz I need you around
My mama she loves you, no matter what she says
its true
I know that she hurts you, but remember I love
you, too
-
When TK woke up the next day, the house was quiet. He looked around and saw Matt sitting on the couch. When he entered, Matt looked up from what he was doing and smiled. TK sniffled as he went and sat next to Matt.
"Where's mommy and daddy?" he asked.
"Out," Matt said.
"Oh," TK said. Suddenly the door burst open and his parents both entered the room in a heated conversation.
"You haven't done any work around the house, and it's all been put on me," Natsuko said. TK's eyes teared up instantly. He ran to his parents and began tugging on their shirts.
"Don't fight, don't fight," TK pleaded. He ran into his room and came back with a piece of paper. "Look. I did it better. See? Don't fight."
His parents ignored him and continued, "Well, sorry, but lately, you haven't been either! In fact, if I recall, it was I who picked things up last night, after you'd gone to sleep."
-
I ran away today, ran from the noise, ran away
Don't wanna go back to that place, but don't have
no choice, no way
It ain't easy growin up in World War III
Never knowin what love could be, well I've seen
I don't want love to destroy me like it did my
family
-
"Don't fight," TK pleaded.
"Well, I guess you're not totally useless," Natsuko said angrily. TK stared up at his parents and then with out warning, he dropped the paper he was holding and ran out of the house, grabbing his shoes in the process.
"TK!" his mom yelled and ran to the door. Matt pushed past her, wearing his shoes already. TK ran as fast as his little legs would carry him. He ran, until he fell over, and was to tired to pick himself up. He sobbed, his little shoulders shaking.
"TK!" he heard Matt's voice. Matt was beside him in a second. He picked his little brother up in his arms. "What's wrong?"
"Matt, what did I do wrong? Mommy and daddy are fighting again. I don't want to go home," TK said. "Mommy's mad."
"Are you okay?" a voice asked. Matt and TK looked up. A girl with brown hair and red eyes stood staring at them. She looked about to TK's age, and beside her stood, a boy with big, pointy, chocolate brown hair and eyes.
TK stared at her.
"Yeah," Matt said. "TK's just upset."
The girl sat beside him, "Maybe I can help."
-
Can we work it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I'll be better, Mommy I'll do anything
Can we work it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I'll be better, Daddy please don't
leave
-
The girl, her brother, Matt, and TK, all walked towards their house.
"Oh, that's so sad," she said. "Here," she reached into her little purse and pulled out a chocolate heart. "My aunt, just had a boy the other day, and we were on our way home to go see her. I got this for her, but here."
TK stared at her, and took in his little hands the chocolate heart. She took something from her brother's hand and held out towards the two. "Here," she said again. Matt took from her hand two roses, tied together with a ribbon.
"I hope you feel better," the girl said. She turned to leave with her brother.
"Wait!" TK, said. The girl stopped and turned. "What's your name?"
"Hikari, and this is my brother Taichi," she said.
"Come on, Kari, if we don't hurry, we'll be late, and mom will be worried," he said to her. With a final wave, the two walked and disappeared into the crowd.
-
In our family portrait, we look pretty happy
Let's play pretend, let's act like it comes
naturally
I don't wanna have to split the holidays
I don't want two addresses
I don't want a step-brother anyways
And I don't want my mom to have to change her
last name
-
TK and Matt climbed the last few stairs, and walked down the hall. They turned the door knob and walked into their house, removing their shoes and walking into the hall. Their mother stood up to greet them and ran to hug her youngest son.
"TK, I'm so glad you're okay," she said. She hugged Matt and then she noticed the heart and rose that her sons held. "Where did you get those?" she asked sharply.
"Hikari, mommy," TK told her. "She gave me the heart, and told me to feel better." TK put it in the freezer. He went into his room and fell asleep on the bed.
-
In our family portrait we look pretty happy
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that
In our family portrait we look pretty happy
Let's play pretend, act like it goes naturally
-
But even after that, the fights continued, and TK found himself running away from home more and more often, and Matt would follow. A week later, on one such occasion, he and Matt were in the park. And there was a family having a picnic. With, a girl, and a boy, with their family. The thought that his family wasn't doing that made TK start to cry.
This drew the attention, of two kind, caring, red eyes. "Look daddy, look," she said. She got up, and ran over to the two.
"TK," she said. He looked up and saw Hikari smiling at her. "Come here." TK looked at his older brother. Matt nodded encouragingly pushing, TK towards her. She took his little hand in her own, and pulled him over to her family. Matt stood their, and while TK introduced himself shyly to her parents, she ran back over and took Matt's larger hand in her own.
Surprised, he allowed himself to be pulled over to her family. She introduced him as well, and then she ran around to the corner of the blanket where the family was sitting. She took out of a little backpack this time, a camera. She gave it to her dad and said, "Daddy, will you take a picture of us?"
"Sure sweety," he said smiling down at her. Kari ran back over to where Tai, Matt, and TK now stood. Tai and Matt stood on the outside of their little siblings, but just before her father to the picture, Hikari took his hand in her own and squeezed it. TK smiled. It was the first time he had been truly happy in a while.
-
In our family portrait we look pretty happy
(Can we work it out? Can we be a family?)
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that
(I promise I'll be better, Mommy I'll do
anything)
In our family portrait we look pretty happy
(Can we work it out? Can we be a family?)
Let's play pretend act and like it comes so
naturally
(I promise I'll be better, Daddy please don't
leave)
In our family portrait we look pretty happy
(Can we work it out? Can we be a family?)
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that
(I promise I'll be better, Daddy please don't
leave)
-
But the intensity of the fighting grew. TK begged his father and mother to stop, every day. He cried and begged until his voice was hoarse. Matt, tried to cheer him up, but nothing worked. TK would climb into his parents bed at night, and snuggle with them, trying to remind them that they were a happy family.
He started desperately to relate happy family memories. He wrote notes to his parents, in his sloppy handwriting. He thought he was the problem and began to say all the things he'd do better but, though it made his parents stop fighting for the moment, overall it continued.
One day he surprised his parents by pulling out the family album, when they got home. He opened it and pointed to each picture saying in his tiny little voice, "Remember that?" or "Wasn't that fun?" And his parents smiled, but the fighting continued. That same night, he wrote a note and left it for his parents to find in the morning:
When things are touf
We stick togeher.
Becuz, famly is the best thing in the world.
-
Daddy don't leave
Daddy don't leave
Daddy don't leave
Turn around please
Remember that the night you left you took my
shining star?
Daddy don't leave
Daddy don't leave
Daddy don't leave
Don't leave us here alone
-
Pretty soon, his father would leave and not come back for hours. TK ran out of his room to greet him.
"Daddy!" he yelled jumping into father's arms.
"Hey TK," he said. He held a thick folder in his hands.
"What's that?" TK asked.
"Nothing son," he said.
"Well, daddy, will you go take me to the park so I can play?" TK asked.
"Not now, son. Maybe later on, okay?" he asked. He watched his father, walk into his bedroom and close the door. Matt came up behind him.
"Don't worry TK," he said. "Dad's probably just tired."
-
Mom will be nicer
I'll be so much better, I'll tell my brother
Oh, I won't spill the milk at dinner
I'll be so much better, I'll do everything right
I'll be your little girl forever
I'll go to sleep at night
-
And the next night was the worst night of his life. His father came in late one night. He walked over and sat beside Matt. TK watched him eagerly. He was holding a green ball in his hands.
"Matt," his father said, "pack some clothes and things you want to keep with you."
"Why? Where's Matt going daddy?" TK asked.
"Nothing, TK," he said and left the room.
The next day, TK woke up to find Matt putting, some of his favorite things in a bag. "Matt, where are you going?"
Matt shrugged. "I don't know. Dad just told me to pack some clothes and stuff." And then, Matt, went out into the living room with his bag. TK's mom came in.
"TK, honey," she said.
"Mom, where are Matt and daddy going?" he asked.
"Honey, your dad and I decided that, our marriage has fallen apart, and so we've decided to split up. And, he's going to take Matt to live with him," his mother said. TK's eyes widened. He ran out of the room, followed by his mother and ran out of the door.
"MATT!" he yelled. His brother, who was walking down the hall with his father turned. He ran and jumped on his father's leg. "Don't leave daddy! Don't leave! I'll be a good boy! I promise! Please don't leave with Matt, daddy! Please!" His father looked at his son, clinging to his leg with all his might.
"I'm sorry, son, but it just doesn't work out," his father said.
"Don't worry, TK," Matt said. "We can still visit each other."
"Now, Matt and I have to go," his father said. And with a hug and a kiss, he wiggled his leg out of TK's grasp, and TK sat there, watching his father and brother go, crying loudly and crawling after them, screaming their names at the top of his lungs, "MATT! DADDY! COME BACK! COME BACK!"
But they kept walking until they were out of sight. TK cried for hours non-stop. For the next week, he wouldn't go to school, he cried himself to sleep, and he wouldn't eat much. His mom had to stay home from work to look after him. TK would still call for Matt or his father in the middle of the night, even though his mother had let him sleep in the same bed as her, in hopes of comforting him.
And then one day, there was a knock on the door. Natsuko answered it, TK sitting curled up on the couch crying for all he was worth. At the door stood a single solitary girl with a bunch of flowers and a chocolate heart in her hand.
"Can I help you?" Natsuko asked looking at the girl. "Is it a school fundraiser?"
She shook her head, "I'm a friend of TK. I ran into Matt with my older brother, and he said that TK was sad." Natsuko stepped aside to let the girl in and closed the door.
"What's your name?" Natsuko asked as she took off her shoes.
"My name is Hikari," she said. She entered the living room, where TK sat crying. "TK," she said. He looked up.
"Hikari?" he asked.
"Here," she said. She gave him the flowers and the chocolate heart, and then she reached in her little heart shaped bag and pulled out an envelope. She gave it to him, and in carefully printed letters was his name.
"Takeru?" he said. "How'd you know my real name?"
"Matt told me when I saw him the other day," Kari said. TK opened it, and inside he found a hand drawn picture by Kari and the picture they had taken at the park.
"Thank you," he said. And Natsuko, amazed at how the girl was able to help so quickly, saw something that made her heart leap for joy. TK finally smiled.
- - - Present Day - - -
TK stared at the sky. Now 14, he sat remembering that night. The night, that his parents had loudly proclaimed that they wanted a divorce. Matt wouldn't tell him what a divorce was, but he knew that something was wrong. Something, irreplaceable was going to be lost. That night, he felt he had lost everything.
It was because of that girl, that he was able to get through his parents' divorce. And just as Matt had promised, he visited from time-to-time, but nobody knew, about the intense feelings of depression, that he harbored from the divorce. And about the decisions, he'd made because of it.
- - - Preview - - -
A new girl in school, who reminds me of someone, and she seems to know an unsettling amount about me. Yet, it's strangely comforting at the same time. And she's a great listener too, but do I really want to talk?
"It's okay, to feel sad TK. But you'll have to move on eventually."
No! She's lying! She doesn't know what happened! And she doesn't know what it feels like!
Yet, it seems she understands me more than I know...
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