Well, welcome back everyone. I know the last part was goofy, but that was its intention. As it was pointed out, the last part was only meant to be an overview. Anyway, this particular chapter features Koushirou and the Izumi family, as this chapter's title implies. There will be some things in this chapter that will be referred to, but not really explained as to what Koushirou's life is currently like. No need to worry, though. It will be mentioned and focused on a little bit later in the story. The same pretty much goes for everyone, to be completely honest.

Oh yes, I must give thanks to the reader, kacsnaruhina, who gave me the idea of having Koushirou's sister, Miki, finding out about his adoption and how she would react to it. I tried to get that in here, even though this chapter was already written when the idea was passed along to me. I'll say this now, though, Miki's character is going to be very open and laid back.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor.

Chapter 01: A Day in the Life of Izumi Koushirou...

It was a nice, beautiful summer day in Manhattan, New York, the year 2029. There were many sights to see and many places to go. It was definitely the perfect place to live if one truly enjoyed the hodgepodge of city life, but there were suburban parts of the state for those who preferred a much quieter atmosphere. This is where a certain little boy lives along with his mother and father. Both of the boy's parents told the young boy the two most terrifying words ever to be uttered to any average ten-year-old child with a decent amount of friends, "We're moving."

The boy was completely against the idea of moving. He refused to, but seeing as how he didn't have much of a choice, he, reluctantly, went along with it. This is what the American boy thought about as he packed for his long trip to the Asian country across the sea. He didn't want to move to Asia. Sure he knew and understood that his mother was Asian, but he was just too used of America's ways and his friends. His parents promised that he would make new friends and that he would like the new place that he would be going to, but he was still pessimistic about it...

x x x x

Odaiba, about two weeks later...

In a research facility, there sat a man in his late 30s typing away on his computer. "Hmm, I wonder if...no, that won't work," the person muttered, as he continued typing in data. He stopped temporarily and smiled triumphantly. "Wow, this may be exactly what I've been looking for! This may finally answer the question I've had for the past 20 years of my life!"

"Yo, Koushirou-kun," a person greeted while entering the somewhat dark, medium-sized office.

Koushirou turned to see a tall, blue-haired man wearing glasses in his late 40s. "Hello there, Kido-san."

"You've known me for years now, why not call me Shuu? I always have to remind you to."

"I guess it's a force of habit. I didn't know you all that well when I first met you, and even when I did, I was still a child myself."

"I understand, but no need to be so formal with me. You should learn to lighten up a bit." He grabbed one of the free chairs in the room, turned it backwards, and sat in it, resting his chin on the back of it. "Anyway, kyouju and I were wondering if you'd like to go out for a few drinks. You've been working extra hard here lately." He lifted up his head, and said with a laugh, "You make the rest of us look bad. You work a lot of extra hours. I'd say you manage to get in at least an extra 12 to 14 hours a week. It wouldn't surprise me if you got more than that."

"I'm not so sure about that. There's just a lot of work here that needs to be done. I'm still researching Digimon evolutionary paths and if they differ every time."

"You worry way too much about your work. You do more than your fair share around here and take on multiple research projects at a time." He stood up. "Why not actually leaving at quitting time today? The work will be there when you get back, and I'm sure you can finish your side-project of evolutionary paths later."

"You are quite different from Jou-san," Koushirou chuckled lightly. "Jou-san would let me finish my work; no, he would insist on it."

"Well, I am the black sheep amongst us Kido brothers," Shuu playfully grinned.

Koushirou started to shut down his computer. "I really don't think I'll be able to join you and Takenouchi-san for a drink tonight. I really ought to get back home to my mother. She's watching my daughter."

"At times like this, I'm glad that I do not have children the age of yours, even though I'm sure your daughter can probably watch herself fine, right?"

He nodded. "Yes, but my mother just insists on staying around. She enjoys spending time with her."

"Well, either way, I'm glad that mine are all in their mid to late teens, even though they can be a bit crazy at times."

The redhead started to pack up some of his work. "I'm glad that I have a few more years before I have to even encounter that."

"So it seems you're going to take my advice and leave at a normal time today."

He nodded. "I have a surprise for my daughter."

"What is it?"

"I'm planning on spending the day with her in Aqua City and take her to Venus Fort to the game center. With everything that's been going on between her mother and me, I really feel that she could use a bit of cheering up. It's been almost four months since all that's happened," he finished up with a frown.

"That's really nice of you to do, but what about your mother?"

"She and Sui-obasan are planning on spending the day together doing whatever it is women do when they hang out together. They are going to spend it with Miki and Kimiko for some bonding time or something. My mother hasn't seen much of Miki since she returned home for her summer break. The only things on her mind are boys. I think that every night this week, she's gone out on group dates. I don't like it, but there really isn't much I can do about it. She's an adult, and I guess she has good judgment."

Koushirou didn't really believe himself completely after he said that. That's just what he wanted to believe. When Miki was in high school, she seemed to make bad choices when it came to boys. To him, they were wrong for her and jerks who didn't care much for their futures. Why his sister had the tendency to keep attracting "morons" was beyond him. She even put off going to college for a year because she wanted to goof off. He felt that her friends were bad influences, especially the male acquaintances of hers.

She was now finishing up her final year at Odaiba University. She was majoring in Computer Programming, but in her spare time, she liked to write music and sing, and showed to have a skill at both. She was smart enough, though, to not even attempt pursuing that type of a career, though, and had mentioned how at some point in her life, she would like to write and sing professionally, but decided to aim towards something a bit more stable in the job market. Surprisingly, jobs for computer programmers and computer analysts were thriving at the moment.

Koushirou was always impressed with Miki's computer skills and how much she managed to learn about them at such a young age. That was one thing he was glad of, his computer skills rubbing off on her. Whenever he would use the computer, a two-year-old Miki would teeter into the room, and hang around, always saying, "I want to use the computer like oniichan." He, of course, showed her everything there was to know about computers.

Miki used to hang around Koushirou's place a lot when she was very young, and Koushirou never minded watching her either, even though he was in high school and university at the time when she seemed to worship the ground he walked on. That was the main thing Koushirou missed most about her, her adoration for him, like how Takeru was with Yamato and Hikari with Taichi. It made him feel important and needed and just made him even more determined to protect her from harm if he could help it.

Even though both he and Miki were older, he still felt the need to keep a watch over her. In all honesty, he'd felt that the two of them had grown slightly apart, but their age difference and social circles were to mostly blame for that, but it was still obvious that the two did love each other. Even when Miki got into her teens and found out about Koushirou's being adopted, she just shrugged her shoulders and told her parents, "Oniichan is oniichan. He'll always be oniichan to me. Who cares about adoption? What's the big deal?" Those words made the redhead glad and proud, reassuring him that adoption isn't a big deal after all, especially with Miki's generation coming up.

"You know, when my oldest daughter wanted to go out with a boy, it scared me," the man whistled. "Jun told me to calm down and to just let her go, and that the boy was okay. I agreed, but she's my little girl and she was my first born. It's hard to let them go sometimes, and in some ways, you always feel that no guy is good enough for your daughter. In my mind, though, I was always worried that the boys may try something, but I've learned to calm down with that. I don't want to run them off or have them hating me."

Shuu was now married to Motomiya Jun. After she graduated from high school, she, Momoe, and a few others from their school ended up going to Tokyo University. The only time she'd actually seen him was when he had dropped her brother, Daisuke, off and apologized to her mother for keeping him out so late. She found him cute, and Daisuke explained that he was the older brother of Jou. She never thought more about it after that mainly because she didn't see him anymore after that, except for when her brother and his friends were fighting against BelialVamdemon, but that didn't count much due to the fact that she was worried about her brother. She didn't encounter Shuu again until she started her first year at Toudai and Shuu was in his final year. The two met up with one another one day, and Jun reintroduced herself to him, but in a non-fan-crazed type of way. She'd definitely matured in that sense quite a bit. After that one encounter, the two started to spend time together. They eventually started dating and the rest was history.

The two have three daughters, the 18-year-old Aya, the 16-year-old Joruri, and the intelligent, 13-year-old Shiori, who constantly manages to pull in perfect scores on her tests and exams.

"If I'm lucky, Misayoshi won't date until she's 40...or until I'm dead, one," Koushirou shuddered. He didn't want to even remotely imagine his daughter in those types of situations.

"I'm sure that you'll have no trouble with your daughter since she is so well-mannered and calm," Shuu assured him. "Now my daughters are all hyper and energetic, and then having Jun along with them...you get the picture," he laughed.

"I can only imagine," he laughed along, recalling how Jun was when she used to pursue Yamato.

"They're quite a handful, but I wouldn't trade them in or my life with Jun for anything," he stated proudly.

Growing uneasy talking about marriage and family life, he decided that then was a perfect time to leave. "Well, I better get going." He stuffed some papers into his briefcase. "I'll see you in about a week."

"A week?"

"My vacation begins tomorrow. I'm not returning until the new term starts in September. That's why I was trying to get as much work done as possible before leaving this evening. I promised myself not to do anything work related for my entire vacation."

Shuu smacked his forehead in stupidity. "How forgetful am I? I forgot you were going on vacation! You need and deserve it!"

"He sure does," the two heard a deep voice say.

"Takenouchi-san..."

"Kyouju..."

"Hey there," the older man greeted the two as he stepped into the Izumi office. "I overheard you two talking and I wanted to wish Koushirou off."

"Thank you, sir."

"Now, I don't want to see you until September. That is an official order from your supervisor!"

"Yes sir! I will try my very best to relax and I will also postpone my Digital World research on the process of evolution until I return."

Koushirou waved to the two and exited the large building, walking home. It was very nice out for a late Friday afternoon. He could have driven, and even held a driver's license, but never felt the full need of actually doing so when he could get around fine using the train, the bus, or just plain walking or biking, but he did own a car. For long trips, he would use it. He still chose to walk more, though, because it was a good form of exercise and he rarely did any type of physical activities anymore since he sits around all day.

He knew that going on vacation was going to drive him a bit crazy. Koushirou was the type who hated to leave projects unfinished, especially his research. He also hadn't had a vacation since the incident with his father a few months earlier, but he didn't truly count that. There was nothing vacation-like about it. Other than that, though, he'd never really taken a real vacation. He's even worked through Golden Week.

While walking along, passing many people along the way, Koushirou was thinking of the past few incidents that had occurred in his life recently, all negative, though. His immediate family was now down to two, him and his daughter, and he knew how down his daughter was over the drastic change, even if she tried her best to hide it, but she failed miserably. He really hoped that he could cheer her up.

After the brisk walk, Koushirou reached his apartment and walked up the four flights of steps. When he walked in, stepping out of his shoes, he headed to the living room to see a petite woman engrossed in an interesting book. The redhead liked how his mother preferred the old-fashioned way of reading, as opposed to using electronic book readers or one of those newer book readers which would project holographic images of the pages. They were called Holoreaders, but they could be used for other purposes, though. Hearing someone walk into the living room, she looked up from her book to see who it was. "Koushirou! You're home so early! It's only 17:00 (5:00)." He nodded and sat down next to her. "What are you doing home so soon?"

"My vacation officially starts this evening."

"I know, but you always work until at least 20:00 (8:00) or 21:00 (9:00)."

He gave her a warm smile. "Not today. From this point forward, it's going to be family day, only it'll last all week until I start back to work in September, and Misayoshi with school."

"Oh, that's so sweet of you," the old woman smiled. He stood and headed towards the kitchen, Mrs. Izumi following right behind him. "I haven't cooked anything yet since you're home so early, and I knew that Misayoshi-chan wasn't going to be back until much later."

"Don't worry about it. I can cook. You deserve a rest."

"Now you know I don't mind cooking for you. At least you have an excuse, you're rarely home due to work, and I can't let my only granddaughter eat conbini bentos or starve now, can I?"

"I guess that's true," Koushirou started slowly. "What were you planning on preparing? Looks like you have a lot of vegetables chopped up and out already."

"I'm preparing *nikujaga, miso soup, and rice. Everything is already prepared to be cooked. I even cleaned the rice; just have to put it into the rice cooker."

"You actually saved me some trouble."

"Oh no you don't!" Mrs. Izumi warned while shaking her finger at him. "I am not going to let you prepare a stew all by yourself. I've tasted a stew of yours once that came out looking like curry, and I've yet to taste anything by you, aside from something instant, that's been edible! My granddaughter deserves better."

"Well, it's because you've never shown me how to properly prepare nikujaga."

"That's because it's a secret since I add in my own spices, and that's why everyone likes it so much," she said with a wink and flashing the computer whiz the victory sign. "Your father used to call it 'Kitchen Stew'. He used to love it. Nikujaga was his favorite dish."

"Wait, 'Kitchen Stew'? I've never heard you call it that before. Father either."

She sighed wistfully, as she thought back, a small smile coming to her face. "Well, you see, when your father and I were first married, we didn't have much money to work with. One day, we didn't have much in the house to eat. All we had were some vegetables, a bit of rice, and some meat, but not enough for a full meal. I decided to cook the best thing I could think of and used almost every spice I had to spare in the kitchen cabinet. The result ended up being a somewhat odd nikujaga dish mix, even though there weren't too many ingredients included with it. It lasted a good while, though. Your father loved it, and from that day forward, I would make my famous 'Kitchen Stew', and that is why your father was such a fanatic whenever I prepared nikujaga. It always reminded us of how thankful we were because of what we had and how we stuck together during that rough time."

Wanting to avoid the subject of his father, he changed it abruptly. "So-so, um, where is Misayoshi?" he asked while taking out a can of juice from the fridge.

Mrs. Izumi stared after her son before answering. She decided to overlook the fact that Koushirou was, once again, avoiding talking about his father. "Miki-chan took her out to play along with that Motimon of hers and Tento-san since he didn't go to work with you today." She started adding rice to the rice cooker. "Miki-chan also mentioned that she was going to take her to the movies and then the Mediage for the Summer Anime Film Festival. There are a lot of movies out this year."

"Yeah, I noticed," he said while guzzling some of his juice down. "That is one thing that will probably never change, those anime film festivals that are held in the spring and the summer. You know, the Toei company has even started up an anime called Digimon Adventure based on the books Takeru-kun wrote dealing with our adventures. They are starting with a movie and then sometime in the fall or winter, they'll start a series up. They've been showing previews for it in quite a few countries, including America. I know he's going to be cleaning up off of that," laughed Koushirou. "If the anime is a big success and if they make merchandise and stuff like that, he probably will, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Toei is pretty good when it comes to marketing, which is why I have so many shares of stock with the company." He swallowed down the rest of his juice. "Are you sure you don't want my help preparing dinner?"

"I'm sure, now stop worrying about me and go watch some television. You're always working; you should rest for a while. Do you even remember how to?"

"Of course I do."

"When Miki-chan and Misayoshi-chan come back, you all can help clean up."

"Okay, mother."

Koushirou headed back to the living room, and decided to catch up on his reading. Sitting comfortably on the couch, he picked up his electronic book reader, and read through one of his computer magazines that he subscribed to. He was trying his best not to go to his computer room and do any type of research or theorizing. He was growing pretty finicky and wished that his sister and daughter would hurry up and return to get his mind off of it.

After Mrs. Izumi finished dinner, Koushirou helped her clean up the kitchen and set the dishes on the table. His mother had checked the time, and informed Koushirou that Miki and Misayoshi should be getting home soon and that they could set the table.

Once done, the two took a seat at the table, and Koushirou started telling his mother about his day. A short while later, Miki returned home along with Misayoshi holding a small, pink Digimon.

"Otousan, you're home!" the girl said in surprise.

The redheaded girl set Motimon down and rushed to her father and hugged him without realizing it. The short, slim, shoulder-lengthened, copper-haired Miki laughed at the scene. She was just as surprised to see her brother home as her niece was. "Wow, I can't believe you're actually home, bro!"

"I do live here you know."

"You know what I mean," the girl retorted while giving him a playful look.

He smiled back. "Yeah, I know." He put his attention back onto his daughter after she let go. "I decided to come home so that I could get an early start on my vacation. I plan on spending it with you."

"Really?" the girl asked eagerly.

"Really."

"I'm a little surprised," she replied as seriously as could be. "I thought your work was very important to you."

"It is, but family is important too...especially you. Anyway, I have a surprise for you."

"What's the surprise, father?"

"I have the entire day planned out for us for tomorrow. It shall be an entire day dedicated to just us. It's been a long time since we've spent any time together."

This was pretty much true. He actually couldn't recall the last time he'd spent a lot of free time with his daughter. He worked six days a week and overtime included with that. By the time he would return home, his wife, or either his mother, would be getting Misayoshi ready for bed. Other times, like on Sundays, where he was actually off, he would go in anyway; especially, if he had made some kind of new discovery or had a big project to work on. He would itch to get back to it. In some ways, he really regretted ever doing that.

"What are we going to do?"

"It's a surprise. You'll see tomorrow."

"Okay, father!"

Misayoshi rushed off towards her room along with her Motimon, who hadn't managed to get a word in edgewise.

"Miki, where is Tento-san?" asked Mrs. Izumi, noticing how quiet it was without Tentomon's usual blabbing and sitting down in hopes of receiving a meal.

"Tentomon decided to go back to the Digital World and said that he'll be back later."

"Ah, so that's it."

"So, big brother, what do you have planned for her?"

"The film festival was one of the things I had planned on taking her to, but you already did that for me."

"Then take her again. They show something new almost every week. Tomorrow is the premiere of that new Digimon Adventure movie. I wouldn't mind seeing it myself, but if it's as nearly as exciting as what you all have told me about your real-life adventures, I'm sure it's going to be great!"

"You know, thinking about it, wouldn't you and the others get royalties or something since it is based on you and your other friends?" asked Mrs. Izumi.

"I'm actually not sure. I'm sure Takeru-kun would let us know if that was the case. I knew that the movie was coming out, but I didn't know it was starting tomorrow."

"That shows how many anime film festivals you've been to. The stuff starting for the upcoming fall anime shows always come out towards the end of summer."

"Not when I was a child," Koushirou explained. "They always showed the stuff for newer series or their debuts in the early spring and for anime series that start in the fall, they just show their movies that following March for the Spring Anime Festival."

"I guess things have changed then."

"Well," Mrs. Izumi began, "I should probably head home."

"Yeah, we'll see you around, bro."

"No, wait, why are you leaving? Mother, you prepared so much. There's enough here for all four of us!"

"But I'm a bit tired out."

"Then stay overnight. You and Miki are always welcome here. You can have my room."

"I wouldn't want to impose."

"You are not imposing! You're my mother!"

"You don't get sick of being around us girls all the time?" Miki asked with a laugh.

"To be honest, I think I've grown used to it."

"Well, I guess I could stick around. I am a little hungry, and I don't have a group date tonight. Whatever mom cooked smells good."

"I'll go set down two extra places then," Koushirou insisted. After the redhead did so, he went to fetch his daughter and Motimon. Once together, they all sat down to their meals, enjoying the time they were spending together, even if they were two family members short...

Author's Note

Note 01: Nikujaga is a Japanese beef-stew made with beef, onions, potatoes (sometimes people use pumpkin, to my knowledge), peppers, a sweetened soy sauce, and vegetables.