Author's notes: Yeah, I know I should be working on "The Arrow…", but I got
sick of writing just one fic, so here it is. This shouldn't be nearly so
long as "The Arrow…", and I've already written most of the story, so don't
worry about the time between chapters. It'll be short.
Anyhow, TK and Kari are 26, I'm sure you can work he other ages out yourselves. The characters belong to the Digimon creators, except for Yui (who is 6), Saruko and Bill. Thanks for bothering to read this, but now, GET ON TO THE STORY!
1 MOVING ON
By Android Eleven
Takeru Takaishi looked down out his window on the landscape far below the airplane, deep in thought. It was a long ride from London to Tokyo and it wasn't always entirely pleasant. They had been bumping around quite frequently for the past two hours and, looking around him, Takeru wondered how any of the passengers were managing to stay asleep, even if it was 3 o'clock in the morning British time.
He looked back out the window. At long last he was moving back home to Japan, after living away from it for so long. It had been a couple of years since he'd been back there, even for just a visit, and he felt sorry for it. He had missed his friends and family dearly and was thrilled to be seeing them again, even if it wasn't in the best of circumstances. His wife had left him two weeks ago.
Suddenly his cell phone rang, jerking him from his thoughts. He scrambled to answer it before the noise woke someone up. "Takaishi speaking," he said quietly, not bothering to be polite to anyone with the nerve to call him at 3am.
"Hello to you, too, TK," he heard a familiar voice tease. "Are you always this pleasant to people who call your work number or is this treatment just reserved for family?"
Takeru chuckled slightly. "Fine, then. Hey Matt, how are you this dreary morning?" He paused for a moment and then continued sarcastically, "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot! It isn't 3am over in Japan, is it? It's 1 in the afternoon!"
Before his brother could manage to retort, someone shifted in the seat beside him. A moment later the young girl lifted her blonde head from her armrest and sleepily blinked her ice-water blue eyes at him.
"Are we there yet, Dad?" the girl murmured, yawning. Takeru muttered to Matt to hang on for a second and placed the cell down on his leg. He then reached over to stroke the blonde girl's hair soothingly.
"Not for another few hours, Sweet-pea. But don't you worry; Daddy'll wake you up when we get there. I know it's been a long, boring trip, but it's only a bit longer. Now, go back to sleep." He spotted something on the floor by his feet and picked it up. As he handed the little girl her stuffed bear, she glimpsed the phone resting on his leg.
"Who're you talkin' to?" she asked, putting the bear under her head and nuzzling against it.
Takeru smiled at the tender sight and pulled the airline standard blanket that was tangled around her knees up under her chin. "Just Uncle Matt. Now go to sleep."
She put her hand out for the phone as she closed her eyes. "Lemme say hello first and then I'll go to sleep."
Takeru sighed in defeat and picked up his phone. "Sorry about that, bro, but someone here wants to say hello."
He passed the phone to his daughter, who curled up into a little ball to get better access to the phone, but still didn't open her eyes. "Hey Uncle Matt." She paused for a moment, listening, before replying, "Tired." After another few moments she chuckled lightly and said, "I'm too scared to be really excited." Then she yawned loudly, apologizing to her uncle before saying her good-byes and handing the phone back over to her father. "'Night Daddy," she whispered, snuggling back down in her seat. Only a few minutes later she was dozing, again making Takeru wonder how she'd managed it with the turbulence.
"'Night Sweet-pea."
Picking the phone back up, he heard Matt chuckling. "I really love that kid of yours, TK. I'm really glad you two are coming to live here, even if it's for a crappy reason."
Takeru rolled his eyes, even though he knew his brother couldn't see it. "Thanks so much for the condolences, Matt."
"Oh, come on, TK!" Matt exclaimed. "You know I feel really bad about you and Saruko! I'm just trying to get your mind off her."
"Yeah, well, so far you're doing a pretty piss-poor job of it," TK muttered. Yamato was not impressed.
"You better not be saying that within hearing range of my niece, kid brother," he advised darkly.
Takeru snorted. "I'm 26, Matt, I am not a kid anymore."
"Then stop acting like it." Takeru snorted again. "Look TK," Matt continued, ignoring him, "I'm not going to argue with you right now, seeing as, to you, it's still an ungodly hour of the morning. I just called to see how your flight was going and to warn you that there's going to be a huge Welcome Home crowd waiting for you when you get here. So be prepared. You still scheduled to get here at six o'clock tonight? Oops, I meant to say 8 o'clock this morning. Is that right, Mister Touchy-Time-Zone Man?"
TK laughed and confirmed that those were, indeed, the times, before saying farewell. Pressing the "End" button, he clipped his cell phone back to his belt and gazed back out the window at land below, much too bright for someone whose body was telling him it was only a few minutes after 3.
'Yes,' he thought to himself peacefully, closing his eyes, 'it'll be good to be home.'
* * * * *
"So?" Tai Kamiya asked eagerly as Matt hung up the phone. "How is he?"
Matt glanced over at the brown-haired man standing at his kitchen fridge. He seemed to be looking for something, but it didn't appear that he had found it. "TK's fine, if not a bit cranky. Apparently he's still on London Time. I forgot that it's still 3 am there." He paused and watched Tai continue to dig fruitlessly through his refrigerator. "Are you looking for something?"
Tai was about to reply when a brown-haired, brown-eyed, not-quite-five-year- old boy peaked into the room. "Dad, where's my juice?"
Tai, who, Matt now noticed, had a child's juice cup in his left hand, was about to reply when Sora's voice echoed in from the living room. "Koji, you can get it yourself, you aren't handicapped and your father is not your butler, despite what you may believe!"
The brown-haired boy muttered under his breath for a moment, before calling back to the living room, "Yes, Mum!" and taking the cup from his father's hand, who promptly left the room. Turning to Matt, the little boy asked politely, "Do you have any grape juice?"
Matt nodded, but warned him that it would be warm because it hadn't been in the fridge. Young Koji Kamiya shrugged, found the jug in a cupboard, poured himself a glass and went back out to the living room where the rest of the guests at the Ishida apartment were gathered. Matt grabbed a bottle of spring water from the fridge and followed him.
In the living room, Matt seated himself down beside his girlfriend amidst the crowd of former-Digidestined and their families. There was Tai with Sora, his wife, and their two children, Koji and two-year-old Keiko. Joe and Mimi were there with their son. Ken and a very pregnant Yolei had also come with their boy, Osamu, and their 18-month-old girl, Yoshiko. Davis and Cody were there and, though their wives had decided not to come, Cody's daughter had. Then there was Izzy, who was in America now as often as he was in Japan and had always been too busy at work to get into a serious relationship, and Kari, who, for some strange reason, had never bothered starting a family.
Matt, along with most of the others, had always suspected that the reason behind Kari's mild isolation from men had been Takeru's departure for University in England when she was 18. The two had been in a serious relationship for about a year then and had both promised to call and write all the time, but as time passed they faded apart and they had both moved on to someone else. The difference between them, though, was that TK had eventually married his "someone else", while Kari had only continued trying to get over TK. The whole situation had been rather depressing.
But now here they all were, 8 years later, all of them except Matt, Izzy, Kari and Davis with children of their own (but not for lack of trying on Davis's part) and only a few hours away from being reunited once again.
And so, aside from being crowded, Matt's living room was also noisy. The children were running around, spilling food, playing games and screaming so loudly that the casual observer would have sworn that there were at least a dozen of them in there instead of the small amount of six. Koji, Osamu and Mimi and Joe's boy got into a game of tag, while the girls squealed when the boys ran into them. Matt cringed inwardly when he saw Koji's cup of grape juice tumble out of the boy's hands and all over his rather expensive welcome mat. 'I guess I'll have to get a new one tomorrow."
But the kids weren't the only ones being noisy. Matt's simple little living room was just too small a place for the eleven Digidestined (not to mention Matt's girlfriend) to get together. They'd have to think of something better the next time everyone had to celebrate.
Matt was listening to something Davis was saying when Tai yelled to him from across the room. "Hey Matt! Are we going to wait for TK to get here before we all go out to supper or are we going beforehand?"
"When was the last time you've tasted decent airplane food?" Matt called back. "We can wait until he gets here, to protect the boy's health if for no other reason!" A few of them laughed and everyone went on talking, but through it all, Matt noticed Kari sitting quietly off to the side, not exactly avoiding the others but only speaking when she was spoken to. Matt went over to talk to her; his girlfriend didn't even notice. She was busy pretending to be entranced by something Izzy was saying.
"Hey," he said in a friendly tone, taking a seat beside her. "You don't mind if I sit here, do you?"
Kari smiled at him, but there was a distant look in her eyes. "Why would I mind? It's your apartment."
"Yeah," Matt replied, falling into thought. A few moments later, he asked hesitantly, "Are you okay, Kari?"
"I guess so. I'm just excited to see TK again, it's been ages." She paused for a minute, seeming to want to ask a question, but reluctant to actually ask it. "Matt… why exactly is TK coming back? You've told us all that he's having some 'personal problems', but that's all you've really said. I was his best friend, I don't think he'd mind if you told me…"
As she trailed off, Matt sighed. Kari had a point. If anyone were to know, aside from his family, Takeru would have wanted it to be Kari. But even so, Matt took his sweet time answering. "Well, by 'personal problems', what I actually meant was 'marital problems', but I'm betting you've already figured that out." Kari nodded. "Yeah, well, Takeru's wife… Saruko, you remember Saruko?" Kari nodded again, the picture of TK's black-haired, green-eyed wife forming faintly in her mind. She had met Saruko three years ago when Takeru had come home for Christmas. The two women hadn't exactly hit it off.
Matt continued nervously. "Well, it seems like Saruko… two weeks ago… well, she left him. With his publisher."
"What a bitch!" Kari muttered angrily. What kind of woman would it have to take to do something like that to Takeru Takaishi? He was loving and hard working and honest and handsome and he would have done whatever it took to make his marriage work, Kari was sure, if only he'd known the peril it was in. And, even if Saruko hadn't married him for HIM, he was rich now, too. Plus, the two of them had had a daughter together for Pete's sake! You don't just run away from that!
But even as Kari mentally cursed the woman for what she'd done to TK, she knew it was pointless; there wasn't much anyone could do about it now, except to try and make TK and his daughter feel as welcome there in Japan as was humanly possible. 'And I'll make sure that happens,' Kari promised herself.
* * * * *
About five hours later:
"Dad? Da-aad! DADDY!" Takeru groggily opened his eyes in response to the shouting in his left ear and the shaking of his shoulder. For a moment a blur of yellow and pink and blue passed in front of his eyes before they came into focus. There was his daughter smiling at him, a dark blue headband holding her short, straight, smooth blonde hair, which she wore in a style not unlike the one Ken had when he had been younger, out of her face. She was wearing a light blue sweatshirt and a short skirt that was the same shade as her headband.
"'Morning Sweet-pea," he murmured, pulling himself up straight in his seat.
"'Morning, Daddy!" she replied back happily. "The lady here wanted to know if we wanted something to drink."
Takeru glanced over the little girl's shoulder at the amused-looking flight attendant pushing a cart covered in glasses, bottles and coffeepots in the aisle. "Oh, coffee, please. Black. And, uh… apple juice for her," he said to the woman quickly, pointing to his daughter.
The attendant quickly prepared their drinks and gave them to him, then continued on to the passengers sitting in the seats behind them. Takeru handed his daughter her juice and watched her down it completely within seconds. "Thirsty?" he asked, chuckling.
She nodded and wiped her mouth. "Hungry, too. Are they going to serve breakfast?"
"No, we'll get something to eat after we land. It should only be a few more minutes now."
Just as he finished saying this, a voice sounded through the plane, "Hello ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I am pleased to report that we will be arriving in Tokyo in ten to fifteen minutes, right on schedule, so we ask that you now please remain seated, make sure your seats are in their upright positions and buckle your seatbelts. I hope you've all had a pleasant and comfortable journey. Thank you for flying Delta Airlines."
Takeru smiled at his daughter as the announcement was repeated a number of times in different languages. "There you go. We'll eat as soon as we get there. Now you sit down properly and buckle your seatbelt. We don't want you falling in the aisle."
After getting the young girl settled, Takeru buckled his own seatbelt and stretched out his knees. "Ooohh!" he moaned slightly, realizing just how cramped he was. His daughter giggled.
"That's how I felt when I woke up, too."
* * * * *
Down below the two Takaishis, in the airport, a large crowd was forming at gate 23. The eleven Digidestined, their six children and Matt's girlfriend were gathered around, talking excitedly, and young Koji Kamiya was even carrying a colorful sign that read, "Welcome Home Uncle TK". He felt special to be given such a privilege and was as excited as any of the adults about Takeru's return, despite the fact that he had been an infant the last time he had seen him.
While Koji was busy showing off to any passer-by that would look in his direction, the other children were standing (or sitting) in front of the window, watching the airplanes, pointing excitedly at them and yelling at their parents to come over and look.
The group had been there only a few minutes when the announcement of Takeru's flight landing came over the loudspeakers. Gate 23 suddenly became even noisier than before. Tai stood up and walked over to his son, lifting the boy onto his shoulders and strode over to the window to join the children. A couple of the others followed him, Matt among them, and a few moments later the plane landed.
* * * * *
On board the plane everyone was collecting the last of their baggage and waiting for the flight attendant to open the door off the plane. It was a relief to finally be back on the ground. Takeru was digging through the overhead compartment for his daughter's over-nite bag and his laptop when the door was finally opened and his fellow passengers began to surge past him. His daughter gave an indignant squeak and jumped over into her father's seat so as to avoid being squashed, but Takeru ignored them and pulled out his laptop.
A few moments later, when he finally got the over-nite bag out, the plane was already half empty. Takeru merely shook his head and picked his little girl up in a piggyback ride, before joining in the line.
It took a couple minutes, but the two of them finally managed to make their way through to the terminal. There waiting for them was, as Matt had said there would be, a huge Welcome Home crowd waiting for them.
Takeru managed to lower his young daughter to the floor only just in time, for Mimi, Sora and Yolei all rushed over, hugging, kissing and generally smothering him in all manners of the word. They didn't even notice the little blonde girl who stood next to them, staring.
But Matt did. He walked over to her and grabbed her from behind and swung her up in the air in a giant bear hug. "Hey, Blondie! How have you been?"
His niece twisted around to look at him and shouted out in joy. "Uncle Matt!"
The two of them hugged a few more times, talking and laughing, before Matt set her down and went to greet his brother. There were a few more minutes of hugging and ecstatic greetings when Kari finally came over.
"Kari!" TK shouted as he caught sight of her. He strode over to her and, seeing a grin spilt over her face, he reached over and hugged her tightly. Then, without thinking, he kissed her. She pulled away blushing and when TK realized what he had done he began to blush, too. But, trying to hide it, he exclaimed happily, "Man, Kari, I missed you so much! It's great to see you! And look at your hair, it's so long now!" Kari said nothing, but couldn't wipe the broad grin from her face. They hugged again and spoke for another second or two before Davis shouted to TK through the others and TK went over to say hello.
Kari smiled at his back and then, glancing down, found herself looking into the face of a little girl with the same blue eyes and blonde hair as TK and who was looking at her skeptically. "Hello," she said, smiling pleasantly, "You must be TK's daughter. I'm Kari."
"I'm Yui," the little girl stated simply, smiling tightly back. "Yui Takaishi. Nice to meet you, Kari."
Kari had a feeling that Yui was looking at her like that because of the kiss TK had given her and she didn't know how to react. It had been an accident, but still, the girl's mother had only been gone for two weeks and it probably wasn't the best thing for her right now to see her father kissing some strange woman, whether she was an old friend or not.
"So, uh," she said uncomfortably, "You're dad told me you like dogs. Is that true?" Yui nodded cautiously. Kari gave her the best smile she could manage and walked back to her chair, grabbing a shopping bag and bringing it back over to Yui with her. "Well then, here you go! Welcome to Japan, Yui."
With this, Kari pulled a large brown plush dog from out of the bag and handed it to the little blonde girl. Yui's expression turned from one of shock to one of utmost joy. "Oh, wow! He's so soft and cuddly! I love him! Thank you so much, Miss Kari!"
Takeru glanced over from his conversation with Tai and Davis in time to see his daughter jump over and give Kari a quick hug as a thank you for the dog. 'Cute,' he thought to himself, smiling.
It had been a while since he'd seen Yui hugging anyone other than himself, which was a pity because she was a very affectionate child. That was one of the things he and his wife Saruko had frequently disagreed about; Saruko wasn't very fond of children and she didn't usually try and trouble herself to bother hiding it from their daughter. Takeru, on the other hand, thought the world of his darling little girl and took offence to Saruko's occasional dislike of her. But then, Yui hadn't liked her mother a whole lot either.
But it was obvious, from that moment on, that young Yui liked Kari a great deal and the two of them became close friends.
* * * * *
Two hours later the entire group was to be found in a restaurant about a five-minute drive away from the airport. They were eating and talking and laughing and had very obviously lost track of time. None of them realized how late a night it was becoming for the children until Koji, who was still carrying his "Welcome Home Uncle TK" sign, fell asleep on the table, accidentally knocking his plate, glass and dessert bowl to the floor in the process. He immediately jerked awake again at the noise of the three items shattering on the linoleum floor, but the damage was done.
The group hurriedly finished up and got ready to leave. Tai went over to the front to pay for the broken dishes, while Matt picked up his friend's sleepy son, as Sora was busy with baby Keiko. Izzy offered to pick up the check and, after a brief argument with TK, he paid the substantial bill.
Out in the parking lot everyone said good-bye to TK once again, hugging and whatnot, promising to call him soon or drop by his apartment, before they all left in each of their own respective vehicles, until finally only TK, Yui, Kari and Matt and his girlfriend were left. Matt explained that, as much as he would have liked to drive his brother over to his new apartment, Kari only lived two blocks away from TK's new place, so it'd be easier for him to go with her. TK agreed and so, with a final hug from Matt and a cute little wave from his brother's girlfriend, they all took off, going their separate directions.
Kari was a little surprised when she noticed, as the twenty minute drive from the restaurant to her neighborhood went by, that Takeru's little girl wasn't tired at all as she fidgeted in the back seat. It took her a few minutes to remember that, to Yui, it was still ten in the morning, despite the darkness outside. Kari idly wondered, waiting at a traffic light, how long it would take her to get herself set to Japanese time. It wasn't many six-year-old girls who could manage pulling a "Dracula" in that day and age, especially with school coming up.
"So, TK," Kari spoke up, noticing her friend staring out of the car window silently, "have you decided yet where your adorable daughter here is going to go to school?"
"Uh huh," he answered blankly, pulling his eyes away from the window. "Fukai Academy. It's a private school on the edge of town. I mean, I know I sent her to a public school back in England, but Tokyo's a big city and heaven only knows what goes on in the schools here, so I decided on Fukai. It's kind of expensive, but I figured that since I have one less person to spend my money on now, it'll work out fine."
There was an awkward silence after Takeru brought up his apparently ruined marriage and even Yui had stopped her incessant humming in the backseat and coughed. Finally Kari spoke, breaking the uncomfortable quiet. "So, uh, when does she start?"
TK went on to explain that, since the spring break was only a bit more than a week away, she wouldn't be starting for another two weeks. That would give her adequate time, he hoped, to get used to living in the city and to adjust to the time change. Then the two young adults managed to change the conversation to more interesting subjects. Takeru found out that some of the pictures that Kari had taken on a recent expedition to New Zealand had been featured in the previous month's National Geographic, and that she would be doing a photo-shoot with a world-famous super model in a week's time. He was also informed of some of the more interesting bits of information about Davis' wife, whom he had not yet had the pleasure of meeting.
It seemed like no time had passed at all when Kari pulled up at TK's new apartment building. "I helped Matt pick the place out for you," she confessed, letting her long hair fall over her face to hide a faint blush. "And I helped set some of your stuff up for you, so you and Yui wouldn't have to sleep on the floor your first night here."
TK chuckled. "I imagine that she and I will be awake for a good while yet. We would have had plenty of time to do it ourselves. But thanks anyway." He paused. "So, since you've been here a couple times before, I'm betting you know your way around. Care to give the two of us 'British Chaps' a tour?"
"Yeah Kari!" Yui put in eagerly. "Come up with us! Stay for a while and have a cup of coffee or something!" She paused for a moment before poking her father in the shoulder. "Did we pack the coffeepot?"
TK started to laugh before he stopped with a thoughtful look on his face. "I'm not sure," he finally admitted.
The young blonde girl merely shrugged and jumped out of the car, pulling her new stuffed dog out with her. TK and Kari followed her out and into the building. There they met the large, beefy doorman who seemed to recognize Kari on sight. "Hello, Miss Kamiya," he greeted pleasantly. "Would I be correct in assuming that this is the infamous new tenant, Mr. Takaishi?"
"You would," Kari agreed, grinning. She spoke to the doorman for another few moments, while TK stood beside her silently with Yui gripping his leg tightly. Then, saying good-bye, Kari led the two of them across the plush lobby to the elevator. Once they were inside, she hit the button for the 24th floor and they took off.
"That was Bill. He's your doorman. Extremely nice, even though he looks like he could bench-press a pair of elephants. And he's very good at his job. If you ever need to catch a taxi or something, Yui, and your dad isn't there with you, just ask Bill and he'll wait with you." Yui nodded, but remained silent. Nice as Kari may insist he was, he still looked scary, and it was going to take a number of weeks for her to get used to him.
After a considerable wait, the elevator finally reached its destination and, with a DING, released its passengers. The three of them walked a fair distance down the hallway until they came to the door at the end and Kari reached into her pocket. She pulled out two key-cards and handed them to TK. He handed one to Yui, warning her against losing it and went over and unlocked the door.
While TK bent down to pick up his daughter and place her on his shoulders, Kari opened the door and went in ahead. She flicked on the lights as TK came in and she murmured softly, "Welcome Home, TK".
* * * * *
Anyhow, TK and Kari are 26, I'm sure you can work he other ages out yourselves. The characters belong to the Digimon creators, except for Yui (who is 6), Saruko and Bill. Thanks for bothering to read this, but now, GET ON TO THE STORY!
1 MOVING ON
By Android Eleven
Takeru Takaishi looked down out his window on the landscape far below the airplane, deep in thought. It was a long ride from London to Tokyo and it wasn't always entirely pleasant. They had been bumping around quite frequently for the past two hours and, looking around him, Takeru wondered how any of the passengers were managing to stay asleep, even if it was 3 o'clock in the morning British time.
He looked back out the window. At long last he was moving back home to Japan, after living away from it for so long. It had been a couple of years since he'd been back there, even for just a visit, and he felt sorry for it. He had missed his friends and family dearly and was thrilled to be seeing them again, even if it wasn't in the best of circumstances. His wife had left him two weeks ago.
Suddenly his cell phone rang, jerking him from his thoughts. He scrambled to answer it before the noise woke someone up. "Takaishi speaking," he said quietly, not bothering to be polite to anyone with the nerve to call him at 3am.
"Hello to you, too, TK," he heard a familiar voice tease. "Are you always this pleasant to people who call your work number or is this treatment just reserved for family?"
Takeru chuckled slightly. "Fine, then. Hey Matt, how are you this dreary morning?" He paused for a moment and then continued sarcastically, "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot! It isn't 3am over in Japan, is it? It's 1 in the afternoon!"
Before his brother could manage to retort, someone shifted in the seat beside him. A moment later the young girl lifted her blonde head from her armrest and sleepily blinked her ice-water blue eyes at him.
"Are we there yet, Dad?" the girl murmured, yawning. Takeru muttered to Matt to hang on for a second and placed the cell down on his leg. He then reached over to stroke the blonde girl's hair soothingly.
"Not for another few hours, Sweet-pea. But don't you worry; Daddy'll wake you up when we get there. I know it's been a long, boring trip, but it's only a bit longer. Now, go back to sleep." He spotted something on the floor by his feet and picked it up. As he handed the little girl her stuffed bear, she glimpsed the phone resting on his leg.
"Who're you talkin' to?" she asked, putting the bear under her head and nuzzling against it.
Takeru smiled at the tender sight and pulled the airline standard blanket that was tangled around her knees up under her chin. "Just Uncle Matt. Now go to sleep."
She put her hand out for the phone as she closed her eyes. "Lemme say hello first and then I'll go to sleep."
Takeru sighed in defeat and picked up his phone. "Sorry about that, bro, but someone here wants to say hello."
He passed the phone to his daughter, who curled up into a little ball to get better access to the phone, but still didn't open her eyes. "Hey Uncle Matt." She paused for a moment, listening, before replying, "Tired." After another few moments she chuckled lightly and said, "I'm too scared to be really excited." Then she yawned loudly, apologizing to her uncle before saying her good-byes and handing the phone back over to her father. "'Night Daddy," she whispered, snuggling back down in her seat. Only a few minutes later she was dozing, again making Takeru wonder how she'd managed it with the turbulence.
"'Night Sweet-pea."
Picking the phone back up, he heard Matt chuckling. "I really love that kid of yours, TK. I'm really glad you two are coming to live here, even if it's for a crappy reason."
Takeru rolled his eyes, even though he knew his brother couldn't see it. "Thanks so much for the condolences, Matt."
"Oh, come on, TK!" Matt exclaimed. "You know I feel really bad about you and Saruko! I'm just trying to get your mind off her."
"Yeah, well, so far you're doing a pretty piss-poor job of it," TK muttered. Yamato was not impressed.
"You better not be saying that within hearing range of my niece, kid brother," he advised darkly.
Takeru snorted. "I'm 26, Matt, I am not a kid anymore."
"Then stop acting like it." Takeru snorted again. "Look TK," Matt continued, ignoring him, "I'm not going to argue with you right now, seeing as, to you, it's still an ungodly hour of the morning. I just called to see how your flight was going and to warn you that there's going to be a huge Welcome Home crowd waiting for you when you get here. So be prepared. You still scheduled to get here at six o'clock tonight? Oops, I meant to say 8 o'clock this morning. Is that right, Mister Touchy-Time-Zone Man?"
TK laughed and confirmed that those were, indeed, the times, before saying farewell. Pressing the "End" button, he clipped his cell phone back to his belt and gazed back out the window at land below, much too bright for someone whose body was telling him it was only a few minutes after 3.
'Yes,' he thought to himself peacefully, closing his eyes, 'it'll be good to be home.'
* * * * *
"So?" Tai Kamiya asked eagerly as Matt hung up the phone. "How is he?"
Matt glanced over at the brown-haired man standing at his kitchen fridge. He seemed to be looking for something, but it didn't appear that he had found it. "TK's fine, if not a bit cranky. Apparently he's still on London Time. I forgot that it's still 3 am there." He paused and watched Tai continue to dig fruitlessly through his refrigerator. "Are you looking for something?"
Tai was about to reply when a brown-haired, brown-eyed, not-quite-five-year- old boy peaked into the room. "Dad, where's my juice?"
Tai, who, Matt now noticed, had a child's juice cup in his left hand, was about to reply when Sora's voice echoed in from the living room. "Koji, you can get it yourself, you aren't handicapped and your father is not your butler, despite what you may believe!"
The brown-haired boy muttered under his breath for a moment, before calling back to the living room, "Yes, Mum!" and taking the cup from his father's hand, who promptly left the room. Turning to Matt, the little boy asked politely, "Do you have any grape juice?"
Matt nodded, but warned him that it would be warm because it hadn't been in the fridge. Young Koji Kamiya shrugged, found the jug in a cupboard, poured himself a glass and went back out to the living room where the rest of the guests at the Ishida apartment were gathered. Matt grabbed a bottle of spring water from the fridge and followed him.
In the living room, Matt seated himself down beside his girlfriend amidst the crowd of former-Digidestined and their families. There was Tai with Sora, his wife, and their two children, Koji and two-year-old Keiko. Joe and Mimi were there with their son. Ken and a very pregnant Yolei had also come with their boy, Osamu, and their 18-month-old girl, Yoshiko. Davis and Cody were there and, though their wives had decided not to come, Cody's daughter had. Then there was Izzy, who was in America now as often as he was in Japan and had always been too busy at work to get into a serious relationship, and Kari, who, for some strange reason, had never bothered starting a family.
Matt, along with most of the others, had always suspected that the reason behind Kari's mild isolation from men had been Takeru's departure for University in England when she was 18. The two had been in a serious relationship for about a year then and had both promised to call and write all the time, but as time passed they faded apart and they had both moved on to someone else. The difference between them, though, was that TK had eventually married his "someone else", while Kari had only continued trying to get over TK. The whole situation had been rather depressing.
But now here they all were, 8 years later, all of them except Matt, Izzy, Kari and Davis with children of their own (but not for lack of trying on Davis's part) and only a few hours away from being reunited once again.
And so, aside from being crowded, Matt's living room was also noisy. The children were running around, spilling food, playing games and screaming so loudly that the casual observer would have sworn that there were at least a dozen of them in there instead of the small amount of six. Koji, Osamu and Mimi and Joe's boy got into a game of tag, while the girls squealed when the boys ran into them. Matt cringed inwardly when he saw Koji's cup of grape juice tumble out of the boy's hands and all over his rather expensive welcome mat. 'I guess I'll have to get a new one tomorrow."
But the kids weren't the only ones being noisy. Matt's simple little living room was just too small a place for the eleven Digidestined (not to mention Matt's girlfriend) to get together. They'd have to think of something better the next time everyone had to celebrate.
Matt was listening to something Davis was saying when Tai yelled to him from across the room. "Hey Matt! Are we going to wait for TK to get here before we all go out to supper or are we going beforehand?"
"When was the last time you've tasted decent airplane food?" Matt called back. "We can wait until he gets here, to protect the boy's health if for no other reason!" A few of them laughed and everyone went on talking, but through it all, Matt noticed Kari sitting quietly off to the side, not exactly avoiding the others but only speaking when she was spoken to. Matt went over to talk to her; his girlfriend didn't even notice. She was busy pretending to be entranced by something Izzy was saying.
"Hey," he said in a friendly tone, taking a seat beside her. "You don't mind if I sit here, do you?"
Kari smiled at him, but there was a distant look in her eyes. "Why would I mind? It's your apartment."
"Yeah," Matt replied, falling into thought. A few moments later, he asked hesitantly, "Are you okay, Kari?"
"I guess so. I'm just excited to see TK again, it's been ages." She paused for a minute, seeming to want to ask a question, but reluctant to actually ask it. "Matt… why exactly is TK coming back? You've told us all that he's having some 'personal problems', but that's all you've really said. I was his best friend, I don't think he'd mind if you told me…"
As she trailed off, Matt sighed. Kari had a point. If anyone were to know, aside from his family, Takeru would have wanted it to be Kari. But even so, Matt took his sweet time answering. "Well, by 'personal problems', what I actually meant was 'marital problems', but I'm betting you've already figured that out." Kari nodded. "Yeah, well, Takeru's wife… Saruko, you remember Saruko?" Kari nodded again, the picture of TK's black-haired, green-eyed wife forming faintly in her mind. She had met Saruko three years ago when Takeru had come home for Christmas. The two women hadn't exactly hit it off.
Matt continued nervously. "Well, it seems like Saruko… two weeks ago… well, she left him. With his publisher."
"What a bitch!" Kari muttered angrily. What kind of woman would it have to take to do something like that to Takeru Takaishi? He was loving and hard working and honest and handsome and he would have done whatever it took to make his marriage work, Kari was sure, if only he'd known the peril it was in. And, even if Saruko hadn't married him for HIM, he was rich now, too. Plus, the two of them had had a daughter together for Pete's sake! You don't just run away from that!
But even as Kari mentally cursed the woman for what she'd done to TK, she knew it was pointless; there wasn't much anyone could do about it now, except to try and make TK and his daughter feel as welcome there in Japan as was humanly possible. 'And I'll make sure that happens,' Kari promised herself.
* * * * *
About five hours later:
"Dad? Da-aad! DADDY!" Takeru groggily opened his eyes in response to the shouting in his left ear and the shaking of his shoulder. For a moment a blur of yellow and pink and blue passed in front of his eyes before they came into focus. There was his daughter smiling at him, a dark blue headband holding her short, straight, smooth blonde hair, which she wore in a style not unlike the one Ken had when he had been younger, out of her face. She was wearing a light blue sweatshirt and a short skirt that was the same shade as her headband.
"'Morning Sweet-pea," he murmured, pulling himself up straight in his seat.
"'Morning, Daddy!" she replied back happily. "The lady here wanted to know if we wanted something to drink."
Takeru glanced over the little girl's shoulder at the amused-looking flight attendant pushing a cart covered in glasses, bottles and coffeepots in the aisle. "Oh, coffee, please. Black. And, uh… apple juice for her," he said to the woman quickly, pointing to his daughter.
The attendant quickly prepared their drinks and gave them to him, then continued on to the passengers sitting in the seats behind them. Takeru handed his daughter her juice and watched her down it completely within seconds. "Thirsty?" he asked, chuckling.
She nodded and wiped her mouth. "Hungry, too. Are they going to serve breakfast?"
"No, we'll get something to eat after we land. It should only be a few more minutes now."
Just as he finished saying this, a voice sounded through the plane, "Hello ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I am pleased to report that we will be arriving in Tokyo in ten to fifteen minutes, right on schedule, so we ask that you now please remain seated, make sure your seats are in their upright positions and buckle your seatbelts. I hope you've all had a pleasant and comfortable journey. Thank you for flying Delta Airlines."
Takeru smiled at his daughter as the announcement was repeated a number of times in different languages. "There you go. We'll eat as soon as we get there. Now you sit down properly and buckle your seatbelt. We don't want you falling in the aisle."
After getting the young girl settled, Takeru buckled his own seatbelt and stretched out his knees. "Ooohh!" he moaned slightly, realizing just how cramped he was. His daughter giggled.
"That's how I felt when I woke up, too."
* * * * *
Down below the two Takaishis, in the airport, a large crowd was forming at gate 23. The eleven Digidestined, their six children and Matt's girlfriend were gathered around, talking excitedly, and young Koji Kamiya was even carrying a colorful sign that read, "Welcome Home Uncle TK". He felt special to be given such a privilege and was as excited as any of the adults about Takeru's return, despite the fact that he had been an infant the last time he had seen him.
While Koji was busy showing off to any passer-by that would look in his direction, the other children were standing (or sitting) in front of the window, watching the airplanes, pointing excitedly at them and yelling at their parents to come over and look.
The group had been there only a few minutes when the announcement of Takeru's flight landing came over the loudspeakers. Gate 23 suddenly became even noisier than before. Tai stood up and walked over to his son, lifting the boy onto his shoulders and strode over to the window to join the children. A couple of the others followed him, Matt among them, and a few moments later the plane landed.
* * * * *
On board the plane everyone was collecting the last of their baggage and waiting for the flight attendant to open the door off the plane. It was a relief to finally be back on the ground. Takeru was digging through the overhead compartment for his daughter's over-nite bag and his laptop when the door was finally opened and his fellow passengers began to surge past him. His daughter gave an indignant squeak and jumped over into her father's seat so as to avoid being squashed, but Takeru ignored them and pulled out his laptop.
A few moments later, when he finally got the over-nite bag out, the plane was already half empty. Takeru merely shook his head and picked his little girl up in a piggyback ride, before joining in the line.
It took a couple minutes, but the two of them finally managed to make their way through to the terminal. There waiting for them was, as Matt had said there would be, a huge Welcome Home crowd waiting for them.
Takeru managed to lower his young daughter to the floor only just in time, for Mimi, Sora and Yolei all rushed over, hugging, kissing and generally smothering him in all manners of the word. They didn't even notice the little blonde girl who stood next to them, staring.
But Matt did. He walked over to her and grabbed her from behind and swung her up in the air in a giant bear hug. "Hey, Blondie! How have you been?"
His niece twisted around to look at him and shouted out in joy. "Uncle Matt!"
The two of them hugged a few more times, talking and laughing, before Matt set her down and went to greet his brother. There were a few more minutes of hugging and ecstatic greetings when Kari finally came over.
"Kari!" TK shouted as he caught sight of her. He strode over to her and, seeing a grin spilt over her face, he reached over and hugged her tightly. Then, without thinking, he kissed her. She pulled away blushing and when TK realized what he had done he began to blush, too. But, trying to hide it, he exclaimed happily, "Man, Kari, I missed you so much! It's great to see you! And look at your hair, it's so long now!" Kari said nothing, but couldn't wipe the broad grin from her face. They hugged again and spoke for another second or two before Davis shouted to TK through the others and TK went over to say hello.
Kari smiled at his back and then, glancing down, found herself looking into the face of a little girl with the same blue eyes and blonde hair as TK and who was looking at her skeptically. "Hello," she said, smiling pleasantly, "You must be TK's daughter. I'm Kari."
"I'm Yui," the little girl stated simply, smiling tightly back. "Yui Takaishi. Nice to meet you, Kari."
Kari had a feeling that Yui was looking at her like that because of the kiss TK had given her and she didn't know how to react. It had been an accident, but still, the girl's mother had only been gone for two weeks and it probably wasn't the best thing for her right now to see her father kissing some strange woman, whether she was an old friend or not.
"So, uh," she said uncomfortably, "You're dad told me you like dogs. Is that true?" Yui nodded cautiously. Kari gave her the best smile she could manage and walked back to her chair, grabbing a shopping bag and bringing it back over to Yui with her. "Well then, here you go! Welcome to Japan, Yui."
With this, Kari pulled a large brown plush dog from out of the bag and handed it to the little blonde girl. Yui's expression turned from one of shock to one of utmost joy. "Oh, wow! He's so soft and cuddly! I love him! Thank you so much, Miss Kari!"
Takeru glanced over from his conversation with Tai and Davis in time to see his daughter jump over and give Kari a quick hug as a thank you for the dog. 'Cute,' he thought to himself, smiling.
It had been a while since he'd seen Yui hugging anyone other than himself, which was a pity because she was a very affectionate child. That was one of the things he and his wife Saruko had frequently disagreed about; Saruko wasn't very fond of children and she didn't usually try and trouble herself to bother hiding it from their daughter. Takeru, on the other hand, thought the world of his darling little girl and took offence to Saruko's occasional dislike of her. But then, Yui hadn't liked her mother a whole lot either.
But it was obvious, from that moment on, that young Yui liked Kari a great deal and the two of them became close friends.
* * * * *
Two hours later the entire group was to be found in a restaurant about a five-minute drive away from the airport. They were eating and talking and laughing and had very obviously lost track of time. None of them realized how late a night it was becoming for the children until Koji, who was still carrying his "Welcome Home Uncle TK" sign, fell asleep on the table, accidentally knocking his plate, glass and dessert bowl to the floor in the process. He immediately jerked awake again at the noise of the three items shattering on the linoleum floor, but the damage was done.
The group hurriedly finished up and got ready to leave. Tai went over to the front to pay for the broken dishes, while Matt picked up his friend's sleepy son, as Sora was busy with baby Keiko. Izzy offered to pick up the check and, after a brief argument with TK, he paid the substantial bill.
Out in the parking lot everyone said good-bye to TK once again, hugging and whatnot, promising to call him soon or drop by his apartment, before they all left in each of their own respective vehicles, until finally only TK, Yui, Kari and Matt and his girlfriend were left. Matt explained that, as much as he would have liked to drive his brother over to his new apartment, Kari only lived two blocks away from TK's new place, so it'd be easier for him to go with her. TK agreed and so, with a final hug from Matt and a cute little wave from his brother's girlfriend, they all took off, going their separate directions.
Kari was a little surprised when she noticed, as the twenty minute drive from the restaurant to her neighborhood went by, that Takeru's little girl wasn't tired at all as she fidgeted in the back seat. It took her a few minutes to remember that, to Yui, it was still ten in the morning, despite the darkness outside. Kari idly wondered, waiting at a traffic light, how long it would take her to get herself set to Japanese time. It wasn't many six-year-old girls who could manage pulling a "Dracula" in that day and age, especially with school coming up.
"So, TK," Kari spoke up, noticing her friend staring out of the car window silently, "have you decided yet where your adorable daughter here is going to go to school?"
"Uh huh," he answered blankly, pulling his eyes away from the window. "Fukai Academy. It's a private school on the edge of town. I mean, I know I sent her to a public school back in England, but Tokyo's a big city and heaven only knows what goes on in the schools here, so I decided on Fukai. It's kind of expensive, but I figured that since I have one less person to spend my money on now, it'll work out fine."
There was an awkward silence after Takeru brought up his apparently ruined marriage and even Yui had stopped her incessant humming in the backseat and coughed. Finally Kari spoke, breaking the uncomfortable quiet. "So, uh, when does she start?"
TK went on to explain that, since the spring break was only a bit more than a week away, she wouldn't be starting for another two weeks. That would give her adequate time, he hoped, to get used to living in the city and to adjust to the time change. Then the two young adults managed to change the conversation to more interesting subjects. Takeru found out that some of the pictures that Kari had taken on a recent expedition to New Zealand had been featured in the previous month's National Geographic, and that she would be doing a photo-shoot with a world-famous super model in a week's time. He was also informed of some of the more interesting bits of information about Davis' wife, whom he had not yet had the pleasure of meeting.
It seemed like no time had passed at all when Kari pulled up at TK's new apartment building. "I helped Matt pick the place out for you," she confessed, letting her long hair fall over her face to hide a faint blush. "And I helped set some of your stuff up for you, so you and Yui wouldn't have to sleep on the floor your first night here."
TK chuckled. "I imagine that she and I will be awake for a good while yet. We would have had plenty of time to do it ourselves. But thanks anyway." He paused. "So, since you've been here a couple times before, I'm betting you know your way around. Care to give the two of us 'British Chaps' a tour?"
"Yeah Kari!" Yui put in eagerly. "Come up with us! Stay for a while and have a cup of coffee or something!" She paused for a moment before poking her father in the shoulder. "Did we pack the coffeepot?"
TK started to laugh before he stopped with a thoughtful look on his face. "I'm not sure," he finally admitted.
The young blonde girl merely shrugged and jumped out of the car, pulling her new stuffed dog out with her. TK and Kari followed her out and into the building. There they met the large, beefy doorman who seemed to recognize Kari on sight. "Hello, Miss Kamiya," he greeted pleasantly. "Would I be correct in assuming that this is the infamous new tenant, Mr. Takaishi?"
"You would," Kari agreed, grinning. She spoke to the doorman for another few moments, while TK stood beside her silently with Yui gripping his leg tightly. Then, saying good-bye, Kari led the two of them across the plush lobby to the elevator. Once they were inside, she hit the button for the 24th floor and they took off.
"That was Bill. He's your doorman. Extremely nice, even though he looks like he could bench-press a pair of elephants. And he's very good at his job. If you ever need to catch a taxi or something, Yui, and your dad isn't there with you, just ask Bill and he'll wait with you." Yui nodded, but remained silent. Nice as Kari may insist he was, he still looked scary, and it was going to take a number of weeks for her to get used to him.
After a considerable wait, the elevator finally reached its destination and, with a DING, released its passengers. The three of them walked a fair distance down the hallway until they came to the door at the end and Kari reached into her pocket. She pulled out two key-cards and handed them to TK. He handed one to Yui, warning her against losing it and went over and unlocked the door.
While TK bent down to pick up his daughter and place her on his shoulders, Kari opened the door and went in ahead. She flicked on the lights as TK came in and she murmured softly, "Welcome Home, TK".
* * * * *