It was Kari's twelfth birthday and it was Tai's idea to have a party for her. Because she was so sweet and modest (well, she acts like it!) and would not agree to a party, he had to set up a surprise party. She woke up to the sound of Tai fussing over the oven.

"Tai's making breakfast?" she groaned.

Then he came into her room with a tray, "Happy birthday, Kari!" he announced.

"Thanks, Tai," she said as she sat up. "You made me an omelet?"

"I thought you liked omelets," he mumbled.

"I do! But you know I'm not a big breakfast eater. That's you…"

"Yeah, I know…" he pointed to her pancake that had "12" written with syrup. How he did it so legibly, Kari did not decide to ask.

"I'm going to bring the TV in here," Tai said.

"I can just move," she said.

"No, I want you to stay there where you're comfortable."

"I can't stay in here for the whole day, Tai," she laughed, "I'm not sick…"

"I know. Sora called and she asked for you to help her at her mom's flower shop if you're not busy."

"Sure, I don't mind."

"Cool," he smiled I can't believe she fell for it! "I'll go call her!" he closed the door behind him and called Sora at her flower shop, "Kari fell for it, Sora."

"How long do you want her here?"

"Until I get the party ready."

"She'll be bored to death, you know."

"Yes, but she'll be fresh as a daisy!" he started chuckling.

"Tai-ai! That's not funny!"

"I'll have her go when she's all ready."

"Bye Tai."

"Bye Sora."

He then called Matt, "hey, Matt, if you and your band's not busy, could you come over and play for Kari's party?"

"Sure, we charge ten bucks an hour…"

"What!?!" Tai cried.

"I'm kiddin', Tai. We'll be there."

Kari finished what she could of her breakfast and got dressed.

****************************

T.K searched high and low in the store for the perfect present to give Kari and there he bumped into Davis. "Oh, hi, Davis," he mumbled.

"Hi, T.H…" Davis mumbled back.

"So, what's up?" T.K asked in mock politeness. I'm going to get THE present for Kari!

"Nothin'. Just looking for a present for Kari." No way that I'm going to let him get THE present for Kari!

"Me too." T.K said, "I'll see you there, then?"

"Yeah, you bet." Davis walked past him to start looking for a present for Kari.

Then T.K turned around and saw the jewelry department. He walked by and then took a double take, "that's it!" then put his hand over his mouth to make sure Davis didn't hear him. "Hey, how much is that?" he called out.

"It's on sale for ten dollars." The clerk said.

T.K reached in his pocket and pulled out a ten, "could you have that gift wrapped?"

"Sure," he wrapped 'the gift' for him in a pink and gold wrapping. "There you go."

"Thanks," T.K said.

"If you don't mind me asking, is this a gift for your, um…girlfriend?" the clerk asked with a smile.

T.K blushed, "something like that."

"Then you can get her a card for free," he told him, "isle four." He pointed to the left

"Thanks!" T.K took off in that direction, wow, the perfect gift and the perfect card!

"I wonder what T.K's up too," Davis whispered to himself as he walked by the cosmetic and fragrance department. "That's it!" he went to grab what he thought was 'the gift' and asked for the clerk to have it gift wrapped.

"This for someone special?" the clerk asked with a smile. I love it when I see young boys buy stuff for their girls! She thought.

"Yup, it's for my girl!"

"Then you can get a card for free!" she told him, "isle four!" she pointed to the right.

Ken was in isle four picking out a card for Kari. (He's a good guy now…). He heard it was her birthday and thought he'd get her something too.

"Hi Ken!" T.K cried. "Hey, are you going to Kari's birthday party?"

"I wasn't invited," Ken said, looking through the cards, "but I thought it would be nice to bring her something."

T.K found 'the perfect card' and started to leave, "hey, you can come, there's always room for one more!"

T.K bumped into Davis again and they almost dropped what they thought was 'the perfect gift'. "Hey watch it!" they ordered each other at the same time.

Ken tried not to laugh, "I guess I'll see you too at Kari's party," he said and grabbed a card and envelope.

"Yeah, see ya!" T.K and Davis inched away from each other, thinking that the other had just bought 'the perfect gift'.

Ken smiled and walked past the floral and gifts section. "Hey, can I get that gift wrapped?" he asked, pointing to what he also thought was 'the perfect gift.'

"Is this for 'your girl?" the clerk asked as she started wrapping a ribbon around the gift.

Ken grinned, "yeah…my….um….greatest fan."

************************

"Okay, Kari, this is how you make a corsage. You take some ribbon and a flower like this," Sora instructed an already bored Kari, "hey, Kari, are you paying attention?"

"Yess," she slurred.

"And then you wrap the ribbon around the flower like so," Sora went on.

Kari looked at the ceiling, when is this going to stop? I have homework to do!

***************************

"That's great guys," Matt told his band, "Kari will like it."

Tai turned to him, holding his hands to his ears, "wha-aat!? Matt, I asked for a few songs for Kari's birthday, not a live concert! My parents will kill me if they find a mess!"

"Were we too loud?" Matt asked.

"Huh?" he still had his hands on his ears and then Matt took them off.

"WERE WE TOO LOUD!?" he yelled.

Tai nodded, "Yeah…I'm going to go finish decorating." Then he saw someone set their punch on the carpet. "Hey, you! Don't spill any punch on the carpet!"

There was a knock on the door.

"Shh, shut up! It's Kari!" Tai cried.

"Why would she knock?" Matt asked.

The turned off the lights and then Tai opened the door. "SURPRISE!!"

They found Izzy and Yolei at the door, "wow," Yolei gasped, "you people really know how to make a girl feel welcome!"

Izzy smiled, "thanks Tai, but you didn't throw have to throw a party just to thank me for all those times I helped us in the digiworld and to make up for the time you didn't take me to the digiworld when there was a PROBLEM!" he folded his arms.

"You're still on my case about that?" Tai demanded as he let them in. "I thought you were Kari." He shut the door.

Izzy rolled his eyes, "yeah, I know."

There was another knock on the door, "shh, the lights!" Tai shouted, "hey be quiet!"

Tai opened the door again just to see T.K. "Oh, hi, Tai…" he blushed. "I guess I haven't missed the party."

"No, come on in T.K." And as he was about to shut the door, Davis came up.

"Is Kari here yet?" he asked, panting.

"NO!" everyone shouted.

He groaned, "Oh, man…"

"She's still Sora." Matt said.

"I guess we can call them now," Tai said, "poor Kari, I bet she's bored out of her mind!" he started to call the shop. "Hey, we're ready, you can come with Kari now."

"But, Tai, I haven't even showed her how to make a floral wreath yet!" Sora said sarcastically. Kari was behind her learning the different types of flowers and going through the catalogs.

"Just get her over here, we're already for her."

"Okay," she hung up, then turned to Kari, "Hey Kari, thanks for the help. I'll walk with you home. I need to um," she look around and grabbed a vase, "return this to your mom."

"I don't think we have any vases that color…" she mumbled.

"Okay, well, she can keep it…."

*****************************

Tai and the others waited impatiently for Kari. Tai peeked through the curtain and he saw them coming. Kari looked so bored and tired! Her head was facing the ground, so she didn't see Tai. Sora nodded to him to get ready. Tai closed the curtain and told everyone to hide.

"Kari's coming, everyone!" he turned out the lights.

"Are you sure this time?" Matt snickered.

"Just do it," he hid behind the sofa.

Kari opened the door, "why is it so dark in here?" she said as she turned on the light.

"SURPRISE!" everyone cried and jumped out. "Happy birthday, Kari!"

Kari gasped and looked right at Tai, "Taiii! I should've known!"

"Happy birthday, sis!" he hugged her.

Sora put the vase on the counter, "I'm returning this to your mom."

"She doesn't have a vase that color," Tai said.

"Well, then, she can have it!"

"Here, open your presents," Tai said. He led her to the couch and then gave her a pink crown that said "Happy Birthday".

"Open mine first!" Davis urged, pushing the blue box into her lap. He sat right next to her.

T.K groaned and sat on the other side. "Mine next," he said.

"Okay," Kari started opening Davis' gift. She read the card. It was a silly, funny almost stupid joke card. She laughed and then opened the present. It was some perfume that she had her eyes on for a while. "Thanks, Davis. I could use some new perfume." She said.

"Here, open mine," T.K put the pink and gold box in her lap. She read the card. It had a sweet and funny message. She smiled at T.K and opened the box. She gasped and look at T.K. "Oh, T.K, you shouldn't."

Everyone peered over to look what was in it. "What'd you get her, T.K?" Matt asked.

Kari's eyes almost filled with tears as she picked up a bracelet, almost identical to the tail ring on Gatomon's tail. "I don't believe it, it's, it's perfect!" she laughed, "so that's what happened to Gatomon's tail ring!" she put it on her wrist.

"I thought you'd like it," T.K said, blushing. "I'm glad."

Davis groaned, "I didn't see that anywhere."

Yolei came forward with a medium flat box, "here, Kari."

The box held a shirt that Kari said she liked when she and Yolei was window shopping.. "Thanks, Yolei."

"You're welcome! When you said you liked it, I knew I should get it for ya."

"We should window shop more often!" Kari laughed.

"Open mine," Izzy said as he gave her a small thin box.

"I wonder what it is," Kari said with a smile. It was a computer disk with an imaging program on it. "Thanks, Izzy."

"Thought it would come in handy for you," Izzy said as he put his hands in his pockets.

"Here you go, Kari," Cody said, giving her a small box.

"Thanks, Cody," she opened it to find different colored metallic pens, "wow, cool! I've wanted some of these."

"Thought you'd like them. It's easy to lose pens at school."

"Yeah, I know," she agreed.

"And this, Kari," Matt said, picking up his microphone, "this is for you!"

"Oh geez," she put her hand on her face.

"1-and a 2 and 1-2-3-4!" he said as he snapped his fingers. "Happy, birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!" his friends started playing happy birthday with a rock feel. The others sang along as Tai came forward with the cake. Kari stood up and waited for the song to end. "Happy birthday, dear Kariiiii! Happy birthday to you!"

"Now, make a wish," Tai said, "hurry, the frosting's melting…" his eyes were glued to the cake, as if he was afraid to drop it or something. The cake was white and it said "Happy Birthday, Kari," in pink frosting.

Kari closed her eyes and made a mental wish then opened them. She leaned forward while taking a deep breath and blew out all the candles.

"Yay!" T.K cheered, "Happy birthday, Kari!"

"Yeah," Davis agreed, "Happy birthday!" then they both leaned to the side of her and they kissed her cheek, T.K on her left and Davis on her right.

Kari blushed and her eyes widened, "thanks guys…"

There was a knock at the door. "I wonder who that could be," Tai said, "I thought I invited all of your friends."

Kari went to the door, "I'll get it," she opened it to find Ken, "Ken! You weren't invited?"

"That's okay," he said with a smile, he had something behind his back, "sorry if I'm a little late. There was something important I had to DO," he brought his hand from behind his back to reveal a teddy bear, an envelope and a rose with a red ribbon around the rose and the teddy's neck, "first!"

"Oh, Ken!" she gushed, "how sweet!" she opened the door wide as she took the teddy bear and rose.

T.K and Davis grumbled as they crossed their arms. Well, my gift was better! They both thought.

"You're just in time for cake," she told him.

"Yeah, cake and ice cream!" Yolei said. She walked toward Ken, "Hi, Ken…can I have your autograph?"

He smiled, "of course."

They had cake and ice cream while Matt's band played on. Everyone danced with the birthday girl at least twice. An hour later, people started to leave. Yolei, Izzy, Cody and some of Kari's other friends left first.

"Well, I'd better get going," T.K said, "happy birthday, Kari."

"Hey, hold up bro," Matt told him.

Kari opened the door for him, "thanks for coming, T.K and for the bracelet." She held her wrist up. "We should go to the digiworld tomorrow and show it to our digimon."

T.K nodded, "good idea," then he kissed Kari's cheek again. "see ya tomorrow."

Matt and T.K left together, "happy birthday, Kari," Matt said. "Hope we weren't too loud or anything."

"The music was great," Kari said, "thanks Matt."

Davis stood up to leave, "well, happy birthday Kari," he said. "Jun wanted me to help her with something."

"Why didn't' she come?" Kari asked.

"Oh, she would've but she was busy getting cute boy's autographs or somethin'," he joked. "See you later," he kissed her cheek and left.

Ken gave his autograph to Tai and then went to the door to say goodbye to Kari, "So long, until next time we meet,"

"In battle?" she asked.

Ken blushed, "no…there's another soccer game this week. I can get you in for free."

"I'd like that," she said.

"Good," he kissed her cheek, like T.K and Davis did before, "Happy birthday Kari."

The remaining guests gave Kari their wished and left. Kari helped Tai pick up the mess. "You know, Kari," Tai started, "Mom and Dad would've freaked if they saw T.K and Davis and Ken kiss you."

Kari blushed, "oh, cut it out…they were just happy birthday kisses…"

"Yeah, right," Tai said.

Then their parents came in after some meetings and errands, "Tai, Kari, what's this?!"

Kari jumped up and pointed to Tai, "It's all Tai's fault, he had a surprise birthday party for me!"

"And you didn't invite us?" their mom demanded sarcastically. "So, did you have a good time." They already know Tai was making a surprise party for Kari and they'd celebrate as a family later.

Kari yawned, "well, I'm tired." She picked up an armful of presents, "I'm going to bed, goodnight everyone."

"Goodnight, and happy birthday," her parents and Tai said.

Kari thanked them and plopped on her bed. She looked up at the ceiling, "happy birthday, Kari," she told herself. "Next time, you have to make a surprise birthday party for Tai!"