Disclaimer: Digimon Frontier is the property of Toei and Bandai.

Brother of Brothers

By

The Analyzer

Chapter 1: Warm Snow

Shinya crouched down. The danger of someone sleeping on a raised bed was that it gave them a grand view of the room, but Takuya was too busy snoring to notice. He had an intense soccer session the day before, and was sleeping off all the spent energy. Shinya's eyes still felt itchy from insufficient rest, but the wet, slippery object in his fingers would more than make up for his tiredness.

Shinya made sure to hide behind the desk, cringing down further whenever Takuya moved in his sleep. With his other hand, Shinya creaked the closet door open as quietly as he could. He was going to have to be quick, or Takuya would know the perpetrator before the water even stopped dripping from his hair. Slowly pulling his arm back, Shinya got behind the closet door and threw the water balloon. Just as the balloon burst on Takuya's hair, Shinya swiftly shut the door. Shinya sat between a set of boots, and tried to suppress a guffaw as Takuya cried out.

Another door banged open, and Mrs. Kanbara's stern footsteps ran in.

"What happened, Takuya?"

There was a noise of disgust. "Someone threw a water balloon at me!"

"There's no one in the house beside the three of us. Your father has already left for work."

"Well, who else could – Shinya!"

Takuya's voice bellowed, and Shinya fought down laughter with all his might.

"Why do you have to suspect Shinya?" Mrs. Kanbara asked.

"Unless you're saying someone broke into our house to throw a water balloon at me, who else could it be?"

"Honestly, Takuya-"

"Did you do it?"

Shinya could almost see his mother's withering look. She sighed and turned her back.

"Very well, I'll talk to him. Be sure to get up earlier in the morning, though."

Resignedly, Mrs. Kanbara's footsteps slipped from the room. There was the thud of Takuya landing on the floor and padding over to get the clothes he threw on the chair yesterday, grumbling to himself.

"Stupid Shinya…always fooling around. If I didn't know any better, he's probably watching me right now, snickering proudly to himself."

Shinya was actually doing just that, though with both hands over his mouth and feeling like he was turning blue in the face. He was lucky Takuya was the type to at least leave his next day clothes somewhere convenient. Otherwise, Takuya would have opened the closest and Shinya would have been in deep trouble.

"And there are my shoes. Now to find my phone, and get in the shower, and – what's that?"

Shinya felt his stomach squelch as Takuya's footfalls paused somewhere in the middle of the room. As subtly as he could, Shinya felt himself, and found one of the buttons to his own pajamas had gone off. He had been aware of it coming loose in the last week or so but dismissed its importance until now. He heard the creak of Takuya suddenly getting up from the floor, ominously silent.

"That's strange." Takuya was saying. "Was Shinya in my bedroom yesterday…anyway, I'm hungry. Time for breakfast!"

Sounding oddly cheerful, Takuya got his shoes and phone, and left the room. Shinya counted thirty seconds and thirty more before slowly opening the closet. He snuck quietly to the door, made sure there was no sound outside the room, and cautiously opened the door.

There was a splat, and Shinya had water and red rubber in his hair. Shinya yelped. Takuya laughed at him.

"Your brother is smarter than he looks, Shinya." Takuya teased. "Now we're even. Next time, hide your water balloons better and ask before you throw one in my face."

Whistling cheerfully, Takuya entered the bathroom. Sourly, Shinya picked the rubber out of his hair and went to see how to dry his head.

*Sometimes having a brother sucks.* Shinya thought.

Shinya leafed through his comic with approval on the kitchen floor. His mood improved since Takuya got back at him, and he was now reading Naruto. He connected very much with the title character and thought he was cool, unlike Takuya. He was just getting to the part where Naruto and his rival got into their latest scuffle when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Takuya called.

Shinya kept this current event at the back of his mind as he continued to leaf through the comic, at least until an unfamiliar voice rang out.

"Good afternoon, Takuya-onii-chan!"

Shinya's head whipped up, staring at where the front door was, out of view. *Onii-chan?*

Comic forgotten, Shinya crept through the house until he saw his brother, shaking hands with a boy a year younger than the junior Kanbara brother. The boy was pale and his green eyes were sincere and bright.

"It's been a while, Tomoki." Takuya said.

The boy called Tomoki nodded. "Yeah. Ever since we came back, we have been so busy it was hard keep in touch."

"Now that everything's settling down, the gang could come together again." Takuya waved an arm. "C'mon, we have this cool video game we bought recently."

"Ni-chan, who are you talking to?" Shinya asked, deciding to step in.

"Ah Shinya, good timing." Takuya said. "This is Himi Tomoki, a friend I made while I was out. Tomoki, this is my brother Shinya."

"Nice to meet you." Tomoki said cheerfully. "Takuya-onii-chan has told me a lot about you."

"Why are you calling him Onii-chan?" Shinya asked.

Tomoki looked sheepish. "Because he helped me a lot when I was in trouble once…technically."

"Technically?" Shinya said suspiciously.

"Well, anyway, why don't you join us?" Tomoki said. "Takuya-onii-chan says you like video games, so it'd be fun to play with you."

Shinya felt a little stung that a complete stranger was giving him permission to use his console but since Tomoki was so nice, he decided to let it slide.

"Alright. I'll show you how it works."

He led him to the television and took out the game console, where he started to explain how each button works.

"I know this one!" Tomoki interrupted. "I used it for a while before I got a trendier one."

"Hey, are you saying mine isn't trendy?" Shinya said.

"Of course not." Tomoki said. "I was being a brat until recently and always went for the cool toys."

Far from being assuaged, Shinya was further insulted. Was Tomoki implying he was more mature than Shinya? Before he could work up a retort, the game console was started, and Tomoki and Takuya took their game controllers.

"Join us, Shinya-san!" Tomoki said.

"But we only have two game controllers." Shinya protested.

"Really?" Tomoki said. "I'll give you yours, then."

"No, I'll give you a chance to game, Shinya." Takuya said, moving away from his controller.

"No, never mind!" Shinya said sullenly.

"Shinya?"

"You two play your games." Shinya said. "I'm in the middle of finishing a comic."

Shinya left Takuya and Tomoki at the television in a foul mood. He didn't know why. Objectively, he should be thanking this Tomoki person. Takuya was an annoying big brother, acting like Shinya was a barrier to whatever he was doing, and going overboard when he wanted to fulfill his role as protective senior sibling. Now that Takuya had Tomoki to fawn over, Shinya was free to do whatever he pleased. Like read a comic without any interruptions.

This lasted for about forty seconds before his eyes glazed over, and he threw his comic down in a fit of frustration. Why couldn't he concentrate? Through the kitchen entrance, he could hear Takuya and Tomoki laughing as explosive blips came out of the television speakers. Shinya should be able to block out the sounds, but they penetrated his brain like a parasite that kept reminding its host it existed. With a sigh, he picked up the comic, and tried to concentrate on the pages.

If Shinya didn't care if Takuya ignored him for Tomoki, why did his chest feel funny?

This wasn't the only time Shinya had heard of Himi Tomoki, not by a long shot. The next day, Shinya awakened to find Takuya and Tomoki had vanished off to who knew where. Takuya didn't elaborate to Mrs. Kanbara. By the time Takuya returned, it was night and he had a contented smile on his face.

"Where were you?" Shinya asked, waiting listlessly on the couch.

"Out with my friends." Takuya replied.

He placed his hat and goggles carefully on the coat wrack. Shinya found this odd. Takuya wasn't a slob, but he had a habit of leaving his clothes flopped on chairs not too concerned if they were wrinkled or not.

"Were one of these friends Tomoki?"

"Yeah." Takuya plopped on the couch next to him. "He's going to come over again tomorrow."

"Huh."

Takuya glanced at Shinya. "Are you okay? You're acting strange."

"Nope, I'm not acting strange at all." Shinya said tonelessly.

Takuya watched Shinya closely, concern etched on his face. "You sure? You could tell your big brother about it, you know."

Instead of being comforted by the brotherly offer to help, Shinya felt that irritated twitch in his chest whenever someone gave him the option to be mushy. Shinya got off the couch, turning his back on Takuya.

"I'm growing up, Ni-chan." Shinya said. "You don't need to protect me all the time."

Before Takuya could respond, Shinya had left for his room. He sat in bed even as there were one or two quiet knocks on the door, but he didn't answer.

With the week starting, school came but that didn't stop Tomoki from coming by the Kanbara household in the afternoon. Tomoki had come by with a third game controller and invited Shinya over the first few times, but when the game turned to banter between Takuya and Tomoki, Shinya stopped joining them. After one or two more attempts to invite Shinya, they gave up. A few other of Takuya's friends came over, a cool boy with a wide range of skills in martial arts and a heavyset kid with the ability to do magic tricks. But Tomoki was the one who appeared most frequently and he didn't just stop over for video games.

Takuya and Tomoki watched their favorite cartoons, browsed the internet together, went in the backyard to play sports or horse around with the water hose. They always seemed to be having fun, and when Shinya wasn't watching them, he was hearing their laughter clearly. Sometimes, Shinya would hear them in Takuya's room, speaking too quietly to hear, but strange words and phrases like "Digimon" and "Legendary Warriors" came up. Did the pair meet at some gaming convention? Shinya didn't know, but he did know that when Tomoki was around, he became confused and angry.

"What's the matter with you, Shinya?" Mrs. Kanbara asked.

Shinya was sitting at the kitchen table. His mother puttered around, washing dishes with a worn out towel, and had been muttering to herself about her husband. Tomoki was in Takuya's room, giggling over something amusing but the room had gone quiet the last hour. If Shinya had been any older, he would have suspected naughty shenanigans afoot, but all that had been occupying his mind was the feeling of being left out when his mother talked to him.

"What do you mean?" Shinya replied.

"You have been very depressed lately. You don't play with your video games anymore, you don't go out as much…is there something wrong?"

Shinya sighed. "You could say that."

Mrs. Kanbara watched him closely. "Does that something have to do with your brother's new friend?"

"Yeah."

"I don't understand. He's such a sweet boy, it's good that Takuya's looking after him."

Shinya felt incensed. Was his mom implying Shinya wasn't sweet? He didn't try to argue. Once you got into an argument with Mrs. Kanbara, she often walked away victorious. He decided to pursue a question that had been gnawing at him for a while

"How did he meet him anyway?"

"I'm not exactly sure. When Takuya talks about his new friends, he always speaks in vague terms. The most detail I could get out of Takuya was that he met them on a train and they helped each other in some disaster that happened."

"You mean a train crash?" Shinya sat up, eyes wide.

"There were no reports of crashes on the trains Takuya claimed he took. It's really funny, though. It's like he and his friends are keeping some secret among themselves, a secret they fear would get out..."

Shinya's thoughts were swimming. Takuya was keeping a secret? Of course, Shinya had his own secrets he wouldn't even want his mother to know about, but this one sounded like a big deal. Takuya, Tomoki, and those other guys were in on something awesome, and Takuya didn't trust his younger brother with this secret. Shinya was slighted, and felt like it was time to take action.

"Thanks for the information, Mom." Shinya said, slipping out of the chair. "It was very helpful."

"Where are you going?" Mrs. Kanbara asked.

"To see Ni-chan about the truth."

"If you're sure. Just don't make too much noise."

Shinya marched up to Takuya's door, and paused to listen. There was that whispering again, and that "Digital World" phrase just jumped out. He raised a fist to knock hard, and there was a sudden silence.

"Ni-chan, I know you're in there. We need to talk now!"

There was a pause, and the sound of the door unlocking (*It was locked.* Shinya thought, incensed) followed as Takuya's annoyed face poked out.

"What is it, Shinya? We were having an important discussion."

"You two are always doing something important." Shinya replied. "I want to talk alone, just the two of us!"

Takuya looked in his room, presumably at Tomoki.

"That's alright." Tomoki's voice said. "I can wait."

Takuya nodded, and closed the door behind him. He followed Shinya to a corner where the younger brother stood, steaming.

"Well," Takuya broke the silence, "what has gotten you so mad lately?"

"Tell me how you met Tomoki."

"What?"

"How did you meet Tomoki, and all those other friends you made?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Just tell me!"

Takuya looked puzzled, but did as Shinya asked. "We met on the train at Shibuya station. We got the call to some game a company was advertising, and got involved with a bit of a tussle. We got stuck in the basement, and through trying to get out without damaging anything, we got to know each other. By the time we escaped, we became quite close and have been friends ever since. There, that's how we met."

Shinya examined his brother's face. Takuya looked a bit confused and nervous, but stared right back. There was quiet.

"I think you're telling most of the truth." Shinya said slowly. "But not all of it. Can you give more details?"

"Well, you see…"

"Ni-chan!"

Takuya looked away. "I can't tell you everything. Company stuff. It's a secret."

"A secret you can't tell your own brother?"

"Well, you wouldn't believe me if I could tell you anyway."

"Try me!"

"I told you, only the six of us can know – well…Katsuharu and the others makes it ten – but anyway, I can't tell anyone else!"

"I knew it!" Shinya yelled. "I knew you liked that Tomoki boy more than me!"

"You aren't making a good case for why you should know with how immature you're being!"

"Well, if you would just explain how you met him and why you're so close to him-"

"If I had to say why I can't tell you one more time-" Takuya started, frustrated.

"You'll never play video games with me or other stuff, right?" Shinya cut in. He gritted his teeth and his fists shook. "You'll just go with that Tomoki and forget all about me. I hate him, and I hate you too, Ni-chan!"

"Is that how you think of me, Shinya-san? As your brother stealer?"

Takuya and Shinya turned. In the midst of their shouting match, they hadn't noticed Tomoki had slipped out. Tomoki watched them with sad eyes. Then he bowed lowly.

"I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble."

"Tomoki, but…" Takuya began.

"Anyway, I'll take my leave!"

Tomoki ran out of sight and Takuya went after him, distressed. Shinya stood there alone, staring at the spot where Tomoki had been. He felt a flash of regret.

*Did I really have to be that mean?* Shinya thought.

Tomoki stopped coming over, which would have been a plus, except that Takuya was now going out each afternoon to the Himi household. Shinya could be slow, but he was capable of putting two and two together. Takuya only came back in time for dinner and the few times the brothers talked, it was stilted and awkward. Takuya seemed torn between resentment to how Tomoki was treated and confused sympathy for Shinya's plight. Shinya wished his brother would stop exhibiting such complex emotions, because it wasn't helping his own guilt much.

Shinya felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. He thought it would be rewarding to finally wring out his annoyance at Takuya, and Tomoki by proxy, but instead he couldn't go an hour without that unpleasant wince around the navel. In the process, not only did Shinya hurt someone he didn't know, but Takuya wasn't hanging out with him either. In the end, Shinya's actions had only exasperated the problem, and he didn't know what to do.

Shinya rolled in his bed, stewing in anger and guilt. Takuya had again left for the afternoon, and Mr. Kanbara was working, as usual. Mrs. Kanbara was doing housework. She had knocked and tried to prod Shinya out of the room with the excuse of cleaning it, but Shinya knew she had done so four days back, and refused to budge. Mrs. Kanbara gave up with exasperation.

There was the distant ring of the doorbell, but Shinya tuned it out. He pawed at his bedcovers, digging into them with more and more intensity. If nothing happened soon, Shinya was going to burst. He just wanted this to be over. Shinya hated to admit it, but he liked Takuya and wished he would hang out with him again. But with those new friends of his, it was never going to be the same…

There was another knock on Shinya's door, and he groaned.

"Go away, Mom!"

"I'm not your mother." The voice on the other side of the door was amused. "But I know she's a pretty nice lady, and she wouldn't like that tone."

Shinya sat up. "Tomoki?"

"That's me. Can I come in?"

Shinya was so caught off-guard by this change in circumstance, that he could only answer, "Yeah, I guess."

The door was open, and Tomoki slowly entered. He looked left and right, appraising the game posters and stacks of comics as though he were entering a sacred shrine. Tomoki stopped and smiled at Shinya.

"Nice room you have here. Hey, I think I have that comic."

"Really?" Shinya glanced at the comic in question, a Rurouni Kenshin volume. "You have good taste."

"I look up to Kenshin. He's such a hero, defending people while swearing not to kill."

"Well, I think that's kind of wussie, but whatever. So why are you here?"

Tomoki grew a bit serious. "I just wanted to clear up the issue between Takuya-onii-chan and I."

"What's there to clear up?" Shinya's expression went sour. "You have some secret you're keeping from me, and I can never know."

"There's that." Tomoki nodded in acknowledgement. "That doesn't mean you aren't precious to him, though."

"Really?" Shinya said dubiously.

Tomoki nodded. "Really. Takuya-onii-chan talks a lot about you."

"I bet it's a lot of complaining."

"That's not true…well, it is actually. But it's fond complaining!"

"All he does is sing praise about you."

Tomoki lowered his head. "Oh, well. I wasn't always someone who was praiseworthy. My older brother can tell you that. However…meeting Takuya-onii-chan and the others had helped me grow as a person. We supported each other, through those trials and tribulations."

"That must make a great bond." Shinya said enviously.

"Yeah. You're worried I'm taking your brother away from you, aren't you?"

"Huh?"

"I could tell."

Shinya was silent for a moment. "I was jealous of you. You and Ni-chan got along so well that I thought he didn't care about me. Sure, we annoy each other and he can be overprotective, but there are times I think he's cool. At the rate you two were settling in, I thought…"

Tomoki smiled. "Don't worry. Siblings can't be replaced. Not to mention we don't fight much and when we do, not like brother brothers. To put it in different terms, Takuya-onii-chan is kind of like the fun uncle who comes around, showers you with affection and rarely punishes you. Being friends and an honorary brother to him is different than being actual brothers."

"Ah, I think I get it." Shinya said, slowly brightening. "What you're trying to say is that being an honorary brother is special, but being an actual brother is a different kind of special."

"That's it, that's it!" Tomoki said. "You are smart, Shinya-san."

"Well, Ni-chan didn't get the intelligence genes." Shinya put his fists on his hips and stood proudly.

Tomoki laughed. "Takuya-onii-chan isn't that bad. He can be pretty smart once the chips are down."

"Until he shows it, I won't believe it." Shinya replied.

"Hey, that's not fair!"

"Brothers aren't supposed to be fair."

Shinya and Tomoki laughed. When they settled down, they smiled at one another, enmity falling away. Tomoki held out a hand.

"Friends, Shinya-san?"

"Friends, Tomoki."

They shook hands, Tomoki looking thoughtful.

"You play video games, right?"

Shinya smirked. "You have a short memory. I showed you the game console when we met."

Tomoki smiled sheepishly. "Oh, right. Sorry. Anyway, I have some games at home that you might be interested in. Would you like to see them?"

"Sure." Shinya looked intrigued.

"That would be great, especially if…"

Shinya wondered what Tomoki was trailing off about. His gaze turned inward, as though going over a script. With a nod, Tomoki continued

"You could also meet my brother. His name is Yutaka."

Next time…

Cold Flames