The bow slid easily along the strings, filling the room with the cello's low haunting melody. Yamato Ishida kept his eyes closed as his fingers moved to release the music. He just let the music swirl around him, finding a solace in it that little else gave. He knew that had something to do with the fact that it had been one of the few things in his life that he had actually chosen to learn, but he hadn't realized how much he would actually come to enjoy music at the time. He heard the door open and knew someone (most likely one of two specific someones) had come in, but they didn't speak. And he did not stop the song to look who it was. Finally, the bow drew slowly along a single string as the final note drifted into silence.

But it wasn't until a familiar voice said, "What's got you so down, Yamato?" that he actually opened his eyes and looked at his best friend, Taichi Yagami, who (despite his mother's protests) still kept his brown hair in the wild spiky corona around his head as he had when they were younger. Taichi's brown eyes were full of mirth and mischief, as they so often were (it was extremely hard to get Taichi to focus on anything seriously that didn't involve his sister), though there was currently the softest of underlining concern in them.

Yamato sighed as he stood, setting his cello and bow on their stand. Jyou, his assistant (though Taichi had other names for him), had arrived that morning with the letter from his mother he knew had been coming long before it had actually arrived. They really should have known better to hide out at his younger brother's house (again), despite the fact that it was currently out of the country as Takeru was in America on some international relations thing for the Ishida Corporation, the entertainment conglomerate their family owned and ran. The one Yamato was expected to take over one day. Takeru wouldn't have informed their mother where Yamato was, but being there had only made it that much easier for Jyou to find them. But then again, it would take more than an ocean for Yamato to hide from his mother, Natsuko Ishida.

But it had been Taichi's suggestion (again) and somehow Taichi always seemed to be able to make things sound so reasonable…at the time. Yamato had known Taichi's reasons for wanting to come here largely had to do with Taichi's sister, Hikari, who was also Takeru's wife, and their son, Raiden, whom Taichi hadn't seen in the two months since Takeru had been sent here by their parents. Yamato rather thought it was like watching Taichi go through withdrawal if he went too long without seeing Hikari. He honestly wondered how Taichi had survived the first three years of his life before Hikari was born.

"That bad, huh," Taichi said as he flopped onto the couch and propped his feet up on the table.

Yamato didn't join him, but instead went to lean against the window sill. "It's not so much the subject of marriage that bothers me, but the fact that she brings it up all the time." Taichi's only response was to laugh exuberantly. Yamato shot him a glare. "That's hardly helping, Taichi."

"Sorry," Taichi said (not sounding like he meant it in the least) after his bouts of laughter had mostly ceased, but a wide grin still remained slathered across his face. "It's just that…we run away from home, you know, again and all she says after sending the babysitter after us is 'come home and get married'?" Taichi's control seemed to slip again as he bent over and started laughing again, clutching his stomach.

Yamato felt the edges of his lips tug upwards as Taichi's mirth permeated through the room. But he still said, "That wasn't the only thing she said. There was the usual bit about disappointment and setting a bad example. Plus her belief that I'm corrupting Takeru, because, yeah, that'll ever happen," he finished with a roll of his eyes. The whole marriage thing was thrown in at the end of the letter, almost as an afterthought. But Yamato knew his mother and knew it was far more than just an afterthought. He continued, "There might have also been the threat of commandeering the army to drag me back home."

Taichi snorted at that. "What does she need to commandeer the army for? It's not like she doesn't basically have one of her own."

Yamato nodded thoughtfully, knowing that Taichi had a point. "I don't know what's she's so worried about, really," Yamato said with another roll of his eyes. "I'm only twenty-seven, after all. It's not like she and Dad are going to keel over anytime soon and leave me the company. In fact, if I had to bet, I'd put my money on her outliving me." Yamato let out a cry of pure frustration. "This is all Takeru's fault."

Taichi gave a confused smile at those words. "How is it possibly Takeru's fault?" he asked.

Yamato frowned. "I'm almost positive that Mom wouldn't bother me so much about it if Takeru wasn't already married."

A small amused laugh escaped from Taichi. "Well, he was lucky enough to have known Hikari her entire life." He laughed again. "Remember when they got 'married'"—Taichi used his fingers as quotation marks at that word—"that one summer? They were what? Five?"

Yamato chuckled at the memory. "Of course, I remember. I performed the ceremony." Yamato remembered that day with crystal clarity. Takeru and Hikari had run up to him with their faces bright and smiling. Hikari had been wearing some kind of pink flower wreath on her head that had no doubt just been made not five minutes ago. They had declared to him that they decided there was no one they liked better than each other so could Yamato please marry them. Yamato had prided himself in that he had not burst out laughing, and their faces had looked so earnest and sincere that he couldn't say no. He even helped them get a white sheet to wrap Hikari in as a sort of wedding dress as the girl had insisted they couldn't get married otherwise. And he had married them by the power invested in himself by himself. Of course, Taichi had managed to find them just as Takeru was giving Hikari a kiss on the cheek, after solemnly stating they weren't old enough for a real kiss yet.

A wry smirk crossed Yamato's lips as he remembered what happened next. He recounted out loud, "Then you wouldn't talk to me for over a week for stealing your baby sister. Which, you know, technically it was Takeru who 'stole' Hikari and not me. I never understood why you were madder at me then you were at Takeru," he finished with a shrug.

A grin splashed across Taichi's face, one that Yamato recognized oh-so-well. "Have you ever tried being mad at Takeru? It's like being angry at the sun," he said with a helpless shrug of his own. "Besides, Hikari would have been mad at me for being mad at him. And that was something that I just wouldn't be able to stand. You were the safest target."

Both of them laughed at that point. But eventually Yamato frowned again. "Why couldn't you have been a girl?" he asked Taichi suddenly exasperated with the entire situation.

Taichi's laughter abruptly cut off. "You wanna run that by me again?" he asked with the rising of a single eyebrow.

"If you were a girl, I could have just married you and then I wouldn't be having these problems," Yamato explained and even he realized that his reasoning was quite a bit more than just a little jilted.

"Yamato, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard you say," Taichi said flatly with just the barest hint of a smile.

"You're probably right," Yamato conceded. "You would've made a giddier wife than Hikari anyway."

"Giddy?" Taichi repeated indignantly. "I've never been giddy in my life."

"I beg to differ, my friend," Yamato countered, raising a finger to emphasize his point. "You become giddy every time you and Raiden seem to be in the same room."

"Could we please stop using that word?" Taichi asked imploringly. "It's just so—so—I don't know—but I really don't like it. Besides, Raiden is adorable and my insurance."

"Insurance?" Yamato repeated. "What's that supposed to mean?" He was sure that whatever Taichi would come up as a reason it would both be completely nonsensical, yet somehow make perfect sense…to Taichi at least. And he would somehow get Yamato to come along his line of logic as well.

"Yeah," Taichi said defensively. "In case the right girl never comes along for, Mom can't be too disappointed because she's got Raiden."

Yamato nodded thoughtfully. "I wonder if that would work on my mother," he mused, knowing full well that it probably wouldn't. His mother seemed to be determined to turn him into a proficient and properly married business leader for the corporation despite all of Yamato's not-really-good-and-half-hearted attempts of sabotage to the contrary. His lips curled into half a smile as he finished, "I mean, Takeru always was the more responsible one."

"What sort of trouble are you two planning now?" an amused voice asked from the doorway. Yamato looked around to see Takeru standing there with his trademark brilliant smile on his face and holding his equally smiling son in one arm. Yamato's younger brother (by about three years—coincidentally about the same age gap between Taichi and Hikari, but the brother and sister were closer in age by a few negligible months) was a little bit taller than himself, but they shared their blond hair and blue eyes, though Takeru's were slightly lighter in color than Yamato's. Raiden had inherited his father's bright eyes and infectious easy smile. The little boy's hair was somewhere between the light and dark of his parents, the lightest of browns.

Raiden wriggled slightly in his father's grasp exclaiming, "Tai! Tai!" Taichi rose from his seat, a wide smile on his face as he went and plucked Raiden from Takeru's arms. Taichi swung the small two year old boy around in the air before he set him down and began giddily—yes, giddily, Yamato noted with a smirk—playing with his nephew.

Takeru watched the two for a moment with an easy smile before walking across the room and leaning against the back of the couch opposite of Yamato. He stood casually with a gentle smile, silent in waiting. And Yamato realized again how much he loved his brother. There was no expectancy in his stance, no pressure, nothing but acceptance—something Yamato never quite felt that he got from his parents. "Skipping work today?" Yamato asked, finally scrambling through his mind to land on a subject that seemed safe enough to talk about.

Takeru laughed softly, almost as if he saw through Yamato's attempt for casual conversation, which Yamato had admit that he probably did. "I'm the responsible one, remember?" he asked teasingly, but then he just added a nonchalant shrug. "There was only one meeting this morning. So I offered to look after Raiden this afternoon while Hikari took a nap." His grin returned in full force as he finished off with, "I figured that job would be so much the easier if I just pawned him off to Taichi."

Yamato returned the smile for half a second before his mouth turned down in thought. Hikari didn't usually nap, but then again being the mother of an active two year old had to be tiring, especially since she insisted on raising and taking care of him herself rather than hiring nannies, like he and Takeru had when they were kids. Their parents had always been busy running the company. "Is she alright?" Yamato still felt compelled to ask.

Takeru's smile turned slightly evasive, but somehow also held a deeper joy. "Nothing a little time won't fix," he answered. Yamato could tell by the look in his eyes that Takeru was holding something back, leaving something unsaid, but he couldn't figure out exactly what.

"Should we leave?" Yamato asked concerned. As much as he wished for these few days of escape from his responsibilities, he would never want to do anything that would jeopardize Hikari's health.

Takeru laughed. "Trust me, Yamato. She's fine. You're welcome to stay as long as you can." He glanced over at Taichi and Raiden before looking back at him. "Though I heard Jyou arrived this morning. I hope Mom wasn't too harsh on you."

Yamato shrugged. "Nothing worse than usual," he said.

There was silence again for a minute before Takeru asked with a tone of complete seriousness, "Do you want to be in charge of the company, Yamato?" Still, Yamato sensed no urgency or expectancy from Takeru, even though his question might have implied it. Takeru was serious, but he managed to ask the question as if he might have been asking Yamato's opinion on the weather.

Yamato gave his brother half a smile before he said, "I've considered a few times just handing the whole thing over to you." He gave no further comment, just waiting to see what Takeru would say to that. They'd never quite managed to broach the subject so plainly and bluntly before, so Yamato honestly didn't know what Takeru's opinion was of having himself run the company instead of Yamato.

Takeru was quiet again for a few seconds, not a trace of his trademark smile on his face. Yamato couldn't tell at all what his younger brother was thinking, but then again, he'd always had a hard time with that. He could read Taichi like a book, but he'd realized that he didn't know how to read Takeru. It didn't help that during their childhood (actually most of their lives) Takeru had spent the most time with Hikari and in the past year, Takeru had spent more time out of the country on assignments for their mother, so Yamato had only really seen him on his few weeks he spent at home and when Yamato and Taichi had run away to see them. Finally Takeru answered, "I'd take it if that's what you really wanted, Yamato, but I honestly think you'd be better at running it than I would."

"Really?" Yamato asked in disbelief.

Takeru's smile returned as he nodded. "I'm much better suited for what I'm doing right now: public and international relations, those sorts of things. I'd do better being an advisor than making decisions. You're not irresponsible, Yamato," he added, piercing Yamato with his clear and bright gaze. His smile turned amused as he added, "You just have the misfortune of having a persuasive best friend who often tends to act before he thinks. Mom and Dad would have given up on you long ago if they didn't think you could do it."

Yamato studied his brother. "You really believe that, don't you?"

"Of course, I do," Takeru said with a wide grin. "I wouldn't say anything I didn't mean." The teasing glint returned to his eyes as he added, "What would our employees do without you, anyway? You are their 'Prince', after all."

Yamato sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose partly in annoyance and partly in amusement. "Please don't call me that," he pleaded. He had, of course, heard the nickname he'd been given by the Ishida Corporation employees. He also thought it was absolutely ridiculous. Takeru's only answer was to laugh.

"Mommy!"

Raiden's happy cry drew the attention of the two brothers to the doorway where Hikari was walking into the room holding her arms out for her son, who was running toward her as fast as his little legs could manage. Takeru straightened and that brought Yamato's attention back to him. There was mild concern in his eyes, but his smile didn't fade. Yamato really didn't know what to make of the situation.

As Hikari scooped up Raiden in her arms, he, Takeru, and Taichi all made their way across the room to where she was. Hikari had a soft beauty to her, having inherited her mother's looks. Her brown hair was the color of milk chocolate and eyes a gentle shade of burgundy. Tai and Hikari's mother, Yuuko Yagami, had once been the most famous model in the Ishida Corporation, but Hikari had turned down the offer to become one herself, preferring to be behind the camera rather than in front of it. She occasionally worked in that capacity for the company, but didn't do it often as she was always flying around the world with Takeru or spending her days with Raiden. Yamato thought of the couple as two of the nicest people in the world.

Nothing seemed wrong with Hikari as she greeted the three men with a bright smile, holding her gaze on Takeru longer than Yamato or Taichi. A quick glance at his brother gave Yamato the impression that they were speaking without saying a word to each other in a way that Yamato had never managed with his brother, but had with Taichi. He admitted then that perhaps he had spent far too much time with Taichi in his life. After a few seconds, both seemed satisfied with whatever had been understood between them as Hikari turned to Taichi and said with actual genuine regret, "I heard Jyou arrived this morning. I guess that means your stay is about to be cut short." She smiled. "It's too bad. I was getting used to having babysitters for Raiden."

Before anyone else could say another word, Jyou came around the corner of the doorway, looking slightly disheveled and flicking at his handheld with clear urgency. Yamato looked at Takeru, who was smiling at him and this time Yamato could read reassurance and faith in that single smile. And Yamato returned it with a smile of his own.