A/N: Written for the Sincerest Flattery Challenge on the DFC (link in profile). The challenge is to write a fic based off a fic that someone else entered in the challenge has written about. So my author was Flaming Platinum (Flame), and the fic I chose from her was the first drabble in the collection titled "Fire's Spirit". It's a side-story, of a sort; that fic was from Takuya's perspective, and this is about Shinya's and a little more zeroed in on a specific scene, the Takuya burning Lucemon's look-alike toy that belonged to Shinya one.

Hope you enjoy, and let me know what you're thinking. :D Shinya might've been guided by fate but he's no psychic, and neither am I. :D

The Box of Stuffed Animals

Shinya either had the power to see the future or his choice in toys was purely coincidental. Granted, those toys were things he hardly played with now; he considered himself too old and matured for stuffed animals and little action dolls. He played on the PlayStation instead – whenever Takuya wasn't playing and hogging both controls or, more of late, playing with a friend. But that boxed of stuffed animals had come out of the closet again, after Takuya brought five new friends home.

Shinya didn't mind Takuya's friends terribly; they were all pretty cool. Koji kept Takuya in line, and they made a pretty dynamic pair if they started arguing – or fighting with their avatars. Koji was the better fighter though, even if Takuya could wipe the floor with Shinya. And he didn't yell back at Takuya, which was asking for world war three.

Zoe was the one who entertained that, but she was a neat girl, as far as girls went. Shinya was at that age where girls were awkward, but Zoe was three years older and looked like she had a crush on his brother anyway, so she was an automatic exception. And, Shinya reflected, if he had to deal with a sister in law, Zoe was a pretty good choice. Takuya's brash attitude didn't faze her in the slightest; she just dragged him along by the ear and scolded him – or yelled at him if the situation called for it.

Koichi was quieter than the both of them, the observer more than anything, but watching the three squabble always amused him, leaving a quiet smile on his face. Shinya could understand that; it was pretty amusing watching them – and he was a good observer too; Shinya found he'd learnt a few new things about his brother from talking with him.

Then there was Tommy who was Shinya's age, and came over half the time to play with him instead of just Takuya. Which was fine and all; Shinya had thought it was pity at the beginning, but he could quickly see it wasn't. Tommy probably missed playing with someone his age too; most of his friends were older than him.

Like JP, the eldest of the group. He was great with electronics though, and mechanics. Shinya's old battery operated crane had been broken and he'd fixed it up in a jiffy so it was better than before. And if Shinya needed another reason to move on from stuffed toys, that was it. Who needed a cloth animal when electronics were so much cooler? And most of his friends didn't get to see the cool stuff JP could whip up. Granted, it was more JP showing it to Takuya or Tommy, but he didn't mind Shinya looking – and Shinya wasn't the sort to be jealous for too long, particularly when he got to share his brother's friends.

He did wonder sometimes how they'd met, how they'd become so close and what was that shadow behind their eyes when they talked quietly together. Sometimes they talked about a "Bokomon" and a "Neemon" and an "Ophanimon", "Seraphimon" and "Cherubimon" – and a "Lucemon" that made the usually stoic Koji look like he was about to cry, and Takuya ball his fists up like he wanted to crush something. And then when the others would be gone and Takuya would be on his own, Shinya would catch him looking at the crane JP had made, or his stuffed animals: the dragon, the bird, the lion, the beetle, the bear, the wolf, the rabbit and a few angel ones. One of their cousins had given Shinya those angels; they were too girlish for him to think about buying them. One of them was a girl angel on top of that, with blonde hair and a blue dress. Actually, there was another girl angel, but Takuya didn't seem interested in that one. Or the rest of his stuffed animals – though he sometimes had the blue bean bag he'd made in art class, or the stuffed cat, or a few others. And he had the battery operated train sometimes too.

Shinya was perfectly mystified at that, particularly when he saw one of the male angels, the one where he'd accidentally dropped it sideways into a tin of black paint so half his wings were now permanently that colour, being crushed in Takuya's hands. His shoulders would be shaking, and if Shinya managed to creep close enough, he'd see tears in his brother's eyes as well, so he wouldn't say anything. He couldn't say anything, because Takuya rarely ever cried, so whatever he'd been talking about with his friends, whatever that black and white winged angel reminded him about, was something that made him very angry and sad.

One day Takuya burnt the angel, and their mother had been mad. Understandably so, because setting fire to things was a dangerous business, and Shinya had been upset as well. After all, even if he didn't play with those anymore, it was his and his brother had no reason to ruin it – but then he guiltily remembered Takuya's face whenever he was staring at it, and he wondered just what horrible thing some lookalike somewhere in the world had done.

He also remembered those other stuffed animals, particularly the dragon that was rarely far from Takuya's side. The one he'd showed his friends and they'd all laughed about: if Shinya recalled correctly, he'd given Koji the wolf like one, Koichi the lion, JP the beetle, Tommy the bear and Zoe the bird. Naturally, they'd given the stuffed animals back, but Takuya had looked at them often, played with them often. Never as much as the dragon though; it was never missing whenever Shinya found that old box of stuffed animals out.

When Takuya was grounded after that little fire incident, Shinya took the dragon out of the box. It was a green one – or it was supposed to be green. Shinya was surprised to see the marks from a red marker on it, and wondered if that was his brother's doing.

He didn't know what it reminded his brother of, but he knew it was important, and it should be red, not green. He asked his art teacher for help with that, and she'd helped, dyed the cloth nicely – unlike the hard crusts of dried paint that was on the once unburnt angel's wings. He presented it to his brother the next day, and panicked when it looked like Takuya would cry again. Takuya had cried before, naturally, but not when he thought Shinya was looking. Not so openly.

Shinya wanted to know what it all meant: what was with those stuffed animals and what they represented, and what it was with those friends of his brother that made his brother like this – what they'd shared together. But he knew it wasn't the time to ask.

'Don't you want to know?' Takuya asked him, when he turned to leave.

Shinya studied his brother's face again. The eyes were still wet, and he certainly didn't look ready to talk. 'Later,' he replied. 'When I know my big brother won't start crying on my shoulder.'

They had a bit of a play fight after that: the sort of play fight that brothers shared when little brothers teasingly insulted their big brothers. But both of them were still thinking about other things: Takuya, whatever that stuffed red dragon reminded him of, and Shinya, wondering about what that thing was. But no little brother liked to see their big brother cry, no matter how much Shinya thought he'd grown up – away from stuffed animals and towards more high-tech stuff – and yet, he mused afterwards, his older brother had picked those stuffed animals up again.

One day, hopefully, he'd understand.