Author's Notes

I found this a rather light chapter, relatively speaking. The next one focuses more on the parents.

Enjoy, and tell me what you think.

Sakura, Mono no Aware

He's always been in and out of hospitals. But that doesn't make it any easier, or more tolerable. Especially since he's going to be there for a while yet with hopes for recovery slimming – but at least there are friends and family to help him through...

Kouichi K & Kouji M

Rating: T

Genre/s: Drama/Hurt/Comfort

Chapter 13 – As Autumn Comes

The last rays of summer had vanished a month ago, maybe more. Autumn had come in all its dull glory, bringing with it a cool change in the outer realm, and more shadows casting the inner as waking hours dwindled in prospects of sleep.

There was a sense of forced lightness in the room, but it was far better than the alternative. Essentially, they were trying to keep a wilted bud living in the hopes that it would bloom into a magnificent rose if it lived long enough, smiling and watering and bringing the sun's rays in.

Even then, there were times where the sun dimmed, when the water dried. There were times where the dark clouds would drift across the weather front and stifle the vibrant image they attempted to maintain in the sterile backdrop. Following Takuya's bright suggestion, everyone had brought something to cheer the room up on the first day of the new season, almost scaring the patient shy a few heartbeats when Junpei decided to bring one of his newer magic tricks...involving something a little too gruesome for his tastes. He had been scolded by the doctor and forced to remove it, but not before hearing the uncontrollable giggles that had erupted after the shock, and with them, the gasping for air and the slight pain that it triggered in his chest.

Things like that brought a harsh reminder to why they were there. Those who lived in Tokyo came whenever they could, generally every fortnight except for the eldest whose schooling dragged him to his books more often than he would like at a time like this. He had mentioned it offhand once, only to be scolded by both Kouichi and his mother to not cast aside such an important part of his education. After all, the entrance exams dictated what senior high school one went to, which then improved one's chances for tertiary education. And for him to go on and engineer machines to improve the new age, he would need to work hard and maintain a certain standard.

That invited the subject of their dreams, and the first of October found the six ex-legendary warriors discussing a far away future, ignoring possibilities, ignoring boundaries...because whatever limitations that could hold them back from their goals could not, in moments of light, deter them from dreaming such.

'I've always wanted to design and build stuff,' Junpei began. 'Using science and mathematics and art...'

'And simplicity,' Izumi added, remembering the boat design he had showed her when they drifted downstream after Grumblemon's attack on the mountain and subsequent scanning of the digi-code.

'A balance between substance and practicality,' the ex-warrior of thunder nodded. 'I'm working on that. My bike model got a B-.'

'That one you were doing on the train last time?' Takuya asked, referring to his last visit which had been over a month ago. 'Damn, that looked way better than a B-.'

'Says you,' the blonde giggled, keeping half an eye on Kouichi, who was being fed slowly by his brother. The nurse had tried, but the younger twin had demanded he do it himself. The poor nurse, deprived of that particular job more often than not between mother, brother, father, stepmother and assortment of friends, had left the Kayu broth on a tray and left. It had been a little embarrassing at first (and a prompt for picture-taking to lighten up the atmosphere a little further) when Kouichi had first tried to feed himself, only for the spoon to fall from his numb fingers with no fault of the restraints (which had been loosened at that point to allow him to eat), but continuing on, it became routine like the checkups, the IV drip, the clip on his finger measuring various aspects of his health, the electrical nodes sometimes attached when his heart rate and blood pressure dropped, and the constant fog in his brain.

'What about you then?' Junpei asked, turning to the female. 'A pilot?'

She gaped at him, looking comical enough in front of a vase of the bright daffodils that the twins couldn't help but laugh at the contrast, Kouji almost dropping the bowl onto his brother's lap as the other coughed and spluttered for a moment, the monotonous beeping spiking a little before he calmed his breaths.

An uncomfortable silence descended at that point, before Izumi, trying to restore some normality to the situation, replied to the question.

'Hai, a pilot.' She still stared at Junpei a little oddly. 'And you know that how?' She suddenly glared. 'You didn't steal my diary, did you? Because if you did, I'll-'

She went on to account a multitude of threats despite the other's stammers of his innocent in the accused crime. It was only when she ran out of breath herself did Junpei managed to get the full sentence out, but by this time, the other three spectators were gasping for breath themselves in their laughter. Kouichi had shut his eyes, predicting the start of the tirade and turning his mind to something else, and realising the reason, Kouji had covered his ears as well; laughter may be a good medicine, but not if it excited his heart too much in an instance where that could trigger a heart attack or failure.

Hmm...dying of laughter. That one would go down in the history books.

'It was just your spirits,' the ex-warrior of thunder continued. 'You loved flying, you're decent in math and humanities, love travelling...it just seemed like a logical choice.'

'True that,' she accepted, before rounding on the fire warrior, who had escaped to relieve his laughter when the others were done to allow Kouichi back into the conversation and since returned. 'And you?'

'I dunno actually,' the brunette shrugged. 'Definitely not a lawyer; 'tou-san's one and he's barely home. I was thinking, maybe an elementary school teacher...or a cop.'

'And those two relate how?' Kouji asked bluntly, putting the bowl away after failing to persuade his brother for a little more.

'They don't,' the brunette said impishly. 'That's the point.'

Blue eyes rolled in exasperation.

'You then?' his rival shot.

'Um...well...'

'He hasn't thought about it,' his brother supplied with some amusement, though quietly enough that the others had to strain to hear him over the monitors.

'He wants to be a researcher,' Kouji said, jerking a thumb at his brother.

'Oh?' Junpei raised an eyebrow. 'Why? I would have thought you, being so good at languages, would want to be a translator or work for the government?'

'Intel? No. I want to explore and learn new things and not get mixed up in international incidents.'

'Had enough of fighting?'

'Hmm...yeah.'

'Well, that leaves me then,' Tomoki piped up amidst the other's exhaustion. 'This is going to sound really stupid, but I want to be a Champion skier.'

'Actually...' Izumi pointed out. 'That makes the most sense, what with Chakkmon and all. Takuya and Kouichi's, no offence to you two, have nothing to do with the digital world at all. And that was like the epitome of our lives.'

'Not true,' Takuya interjected. 'Remember the Village of Beginnings? And the moon?'

'Geeze, if it was the babies, you should become a babysitter.'

'Or a father.'

They shared a smile there, though the patients one was rather slow. The hyper brunette as a father was a funny sight to bear, even ten or twenty years in the future.

'Hey, it could happen.'

'Sure, when the world flips twice over.'

Kouichi let his eyes slip fully closed, that smile still on his face. Even though autumn was here, shadowing the onslaught of winter and the grey, bleak world it brought when few plants bloomed and the chill that froze hearts, inside and out, there was still glimmers of sunlight shining through the wide branches, stripped of leaves, golden, brown, yellow...fluttering to prepare a blanket on the ground.

Even with death looming round a corner of a sphere, there were fruits scattered about a face. Maybe, just maybe, he would miss that corner for years yet, enjoying the fruits, growing, learning, dreaming, hoping...

There was nothing left in life after all, if not hopes and dreams.