Author's Notes

And now we come to the inevitable conclusion of this fic.

Chapters remaining after this: 0

Enjoy.

Immortal

He wasn't alive. Not truly. Some part of him had died that day. But the others didn't know. But they can tell something's wrong, and they won't stop till they find the answer. But sometimes, it's better off not knowing...

Kouichi K

Genre: Supernatural, Angst

Rating: T

Chapter 10 – Normalisation

Kouji found his brother in the previously spare room. It felt weird calling it 'Kouichi's room', as it didn't quite have the 'Kouichi' feel to it. The closet was rather empty, the elder twin not having owned enough to fit into it, and they had donated Tomoko's old things, save a particular kimino (Kousei vaguely remembered her wearing it at their wedding) her charge had insisted go to Satomi and the photos which went into an album or those already framed went on the dressing table as a memorial.

Satomi had insisted he paint the room and at least personalise the furniture and curtains (fevourently backed up by Kousei, then Kouji and the gang), but he hadn't really decided on a decor yet. Grey was rather untempting; it was simply too bleak of an image. Yellow was sunnier, but just not him. White...certainly not. He'd go crazy simply staring at the walls. Red, ditto. Maybe cream...no, too much like yellow. Purple...nice, but rather girlish. It was more Izumi's room to be honest. A light brown seemed to work though.

He grabbed the pencil and shaded in the outline he had drawn, not even noticing his brother standing over his shoulder before he spoke. Luckily, the lead had been off the paper when Kouji did, otherwise there would have been a few accidental lines on that drawing.

'What are you doing?' he asked curiously. 'Drawing your bedroom?'

'Trying to decide on a scheme,' Kouichi replied, though with a tone that indicated his heart wasn't 100 percent in it.

'Brown?' the younger questioned next, tilting his head slightly and inspecting the sketch. 'Nice.'

'I doubt you would have complained if I covered this place in pink and purple.'

'For a time anyway,' the other agreed, laughing. 'Until it hit how ridiculous that would look. What are you doing now?'

Having set the pencil down, the elder twin had picked up his HB and begun sketching something at the top.

'KaiserLeomon,' he replied, working on the figure until it was wholly recognisable before pulling out darker brown pencils and gazing at them with a critical eye. 'Frames?'

'You're asking me?' The younger twin cocked an eyebrow, causing the other to laugh.

'True.' He gazed at them a little longer, before selecting one. 'This one.'

'Curtains?'

'Getting there.' He thought moment, fiddling with his collection of colours, a birthday present from Izumi, before deciding debating against them. 'White? No, it will let too much light in. Maybe white on the outside, and leave the blinds.' He looked up, realising that was what he already had, and laughed again. 'I guess they're staying.'

'I thought you hated blinds.'

'No. You hate blinds.'

'True.' Kouji paused there for a moment, before considering something and restarting the conversation. 'Hey, Ni-san, are you-?' He faltered there, but his brother caught on anyway.

'Not really,' he murmured, turning his attention back to his sketchbook, before alternating it to the little shrine on his dressing table. 'I still miss her, and it's a little hard to get used to not feeling something I'd grown accustomed too.'

'Same here,' the other admitted. 'But it's better.'

Kouichi closed his eyes. '"Sadness flies on the wings of the morning and out of the heart of darkness comes the light,"' he quoted.

Another eyebrow raised. 'Where'd you get that from?'

The addressed shrugged. 'Somewhere. I forgot.'

Kouji scowled a little. 'I don't like it.'

'No,' his brother agreed. 'Neither do I. To absolute when it comes to boundaries between light and darkness. Honestly, I find it a little insulting.'

'You should. It's insulting your spirits.'

'Prejudice. Darkness has a lot against it.'

'True.' Then, changing the subject, he quickly added. 'You don't really have to change much save paint the frames and wall. Your furniture already matches.' Then, fixing the other with a mock glare, he added: 'I get the feeling you done that on purpose.'

In retaliation, Kouichi swiped the pillow of the bed and aimed it. Soon, they were engrossed in a pillow fight, until Satomi came upstairs half an hour later with snacks, which they gladly accepted.

'I believe I asked you not to be late again Kimura-kun,' Sujiyama Osamu scolded as the older twin finally made it to first period, having been held up before he could leave the house with his brother by a lawyer finalising arrangements (these things did take a few days after all) and releasing to him the contents of his mother's will. Kouji had escaped almost immediately, since his end was straightforward, but as there was still the apartment, the furniture, plus some other valuables on the side of the elder twin, it took a little more discussion and explanation before the former was leased, and the rest either agreed to be sold or kept. So instead of half an hour early as they had originally planned, he would up being late by the same amount.

'Gomen Sensei,' he replied, bowing low. 'It won't happen again sir.'

He distinctly remembered saying the same thing around the time he had first found out about his mother's illness, and it seemed his teacher remembered too.

'I want an explanation after class,' the elder said with a note of finality, gesturing his student to his sit and then turning to continue with the class.

Kouichi took the dismissal, sliding into his seat next to his brother and giving a small smile. Receiving one in return, he prepared himself for a new day at school.

And beside him, Kouji hit the bigger grin upon seeing the black sketchbook in its usual spot.

'Ah,' Takuya sighed in exaggerated relief once the six were seated at their usual table. 'The fabled sketchbook is back.'

Before the other could react, the goggle-wearing brunette had snatched it from his lax grip.

'Hey!' Kouichi protested, but it went unheard as Izumi peaked curiously over Takuya's shoulder to look at the sketches, squealing in excitement as she spotted a particular one. 'This is the Village of Beginnings.'

Takuya stopped flicking pages as the rest of the gang (save the one who had done the drawing and was now blushing slightly in embarrassment) stared at the image.

'How'd you get the leaves like that?' Tomoki wondered in amazement. 'And without any colour too?'

The raven shrugged as his younger twin looked curiously at the image, before giving a short bark of laughter. 'You've even got Pabumon thinking Izumi's his mother.'

The other four laughed at that, before Takuya flicked the page to new drawings. 'You know,' he said, stopping at another one and cocking his head. 'Lucemon doesn't really look like a cocky little brat in this one. He looks almost...sad.'

The others, this time Kouichi included, stared at the image, of the angel curled up in a small ball, the edge cracked. 'I don't remember this.'

'It's his imprisonment in the Dark Area,' the dark haired boy mumbled, fighting to hide his blush...until Junpei looped an arm around him.

'These are amazing,' he complimented, before hurriedly catching a floating image as Takuya's flipping dislodged some of the loose pictures. 'Hey, here's the Village of Beginnings again. The reunion of the ten legendary warriors.'

'Are you putting any of these in your room?' Izumi asked, having found the image he had been using to match up a colour scheme

Kouichi shrugged, taking the book back from Takuya and the loose pages from Junpei. 'There's a wall practically empty except for the dressing table, but I don't know which ones I should put up.'

'You should definitely put up those two,' Tomoki said. 'The one with the ten warriors, and Lucemon imprisoned in the Dark Area. Don't put the room though; that would be rather pointless.'

They all laughed at that. It certainly would. Until things changed and a new memory needed to be recorded.

'There,' Kouichi declared, tacking up the last drawing and climbing down from the ladder Kouji and Takuya had thoughtfully dragged up for him. 'Done.'

Izumi, who had been helping him, stepped back and gave the room a critical eye. 'That's better,' she agreed. 'But that corner looks too plain.'

''tou-san's getting the paint tomorrow,' Kouji explained. 'That's the spirit corner.'

'How'd you know?' his brother asked in surprise. 'I didn't finish the sketch.'

'It was rather obvious once Chakkmon was riding on KaiserLeomon's back.'

'True.'

Junpei, who with Tomoki had been spreading newspaper under the same upper corner, came over once done. 'Nice,' the elder said appreciatively. 'We'll have this room like you in no time.'

'You guys...' Kouichi began, before stopping at the triple glare he suddenly received. 'Okay, I won't say it.'

'You had better not,' Kouji, Takuya and Izumi shot back as one, causing Tomoki to elapse into a fit of giggles, while Junpei helped move the ladder.

'Huh?' their unofficial leader blinked at Kouichi, clambering up the latter again with all the elegance of a graceful klutz. 'You're painting without paint?'

'No, outlining.'

'Oh.'

The five, who had decided to help Kouichi decorate his room (never minding the fact that he had never decorated the one in his apartment), took a seat on the vacant bed, Junpei blinking at the stuffed black lion sitting on the pillow.

'You sleep with a stuffed animal?' he asked, causing Tomoki to blush and himself to stare in confusion before it clicked as to why. 'Oh yeah, this is the one-'

'Yeah, we remember,' Kouji cut in, rolling his eyes. 'And in case you forgot, it was on top of the closet before. We had to move it.'

'Oh yeah,' their eldest responded sheepishly, watching Blitzmon form in the 'spirit corner' and grabbing a cookie Satomi had baked for them. 'You work fast,' he commented, seeing Shutumon already coming to life beside his suddenly completed hero.

'Outlining doesn't require detail,' Kouichi explained, sketching in the wings, before starting on the last spirit, his own corrupted one.

'Uurgh,' the blonde groaned. 'Did you have to put Duskmon and Velgmon there?'

'It gives a certain flare to it,' the youngest pointed out. 'But it is a little creepy.'

'It's a reminder,' Kouji explained, before Kouichi could say a word. 'But I have to agree, that is creepy.'

Kouichi shrugged, before pointing to the image in the centre of the wall. 'You said that one was creepy too,' he pointed out, gesturing at the trinity image jumping out.

Kouji followed his line of sight, and almost fell of the bed. 'That's creepier,' he declared. 'Seriously, you might have good taste, but it's definitely weird.'

'...I thought we determined that in Ophanimon's library.'

He climbed down carefully, and Kouji and Takuya quickly reclaimed the ladder, leaving him to grab the remnant images in his sketchbook.

'You know,' the half-Italian pointed out. 'You should put those in a folio. They won't keep falling out then.'

'Yeah,' the other agreed. 'You're right.'

'Well, I know what to get for your birthday next week then. Now if only Kouji was that simple.'

Izumi walked to the door, Tomoki right behind her with the plate, Junpei and the two with the ladder having already headed downstairs.

'Coming?' she asked.

'In a minute,' the older twin responded, and the girl accepted that.

Once they left, Kouichi turned to his wall again, more specifically to the dressing table and small shrine he had set up there.

There was a lot he had always wanted to say to his mother, but had never gotten the chance. But he remembered her final words, relayed by Junpei, then later by Kouji himself, after they had managed to convince each other that things had worked out for the best. But words sometimes sounded so hollow in the air, especially those which wouldn't matter later on.

Honouring the wishes of the dead and continuing on with life were the too that did.

Goodbye didn't have to be permanent, because the dead lived in the hearts of the living forever.

So...

'Mata atode aimashou 'kaa-san,' he whispered, giving his mother's portrait a smile. 'See you later.'

The End.

And that's it guys. Hope you enjoyed the ride.

Mata atode aimashou: see you later.

By the way, for anyone whose interested in what Lowemon and Wolfmon (Lobomon) were discussing, there is a conclusion to this trilogy called Laid to Rest, which focuses on the new digital world and chances for new life, as well the inevitable for a certain someone. A oneshot like In Memoriam, so keep an eye out for that.

So, until the next update then. See ya guys, and thanks for all your support.