"When I found it in the attic, I found a friend for life."

Summary: Yamato and Takeru visit their grandmother Kinu in Shimane, hoping for an uneventful summer vacation. One-shot centered around the Blu-Ray Drama CD story.

A/N: This is a prelude to the Drama CD included with the Blu-Ray Box, part 2 "Digimon Mystery File: Release The 1000 Year Seal!". Takes place the Summer after Diabolomon, before Adventure Zero Two.

A/N 2: Yes, this can be considered connected to Angel's and I's headcanon, but it makes a cute stand alone as well. You do not have to have read the Drama CD translation to understand this as its only vaguely mentioned.

July, 2001

Hiroaki had insisted on driving out to the country in his van. Yamato would have called Koushiro to calculate if the gas spent getting to Shimane actually was cheaper than the bus tickets- but Yamato liked the peace and quiet. Sort of.

For once, the older sibling let his brother ride shotgun. He had taken the time to notice over the past year as the world settled down around them, that Hiroaki and Takeru hadn't spent much time together. Now, mind you, Yamato wouldn't go within fifty feet of his mother, but he wasn't going to let that get in the way of Takeru having a good relationship with his estranged parental counterpart.

Yamato had to admit, though, that without the Digimon around, he had grown quite bored with himself. He had just started sixth grade and had made a few aquaintences, but he was beginning to realize quickly that his other friends- the Chosen –were drifting to their own habits. Yamato was anxious to find something to call his own.

However, he realized Hiroaki was so used to his prescence that Hiroaki kept steering the conversation (and the wheel) towards Yamato. Takeru was sighing in the passenger seat. Then Yamato realized they were about to pass right through Kyoto and got a smirk on his face. Takeru grimaced.

"Hey, Dad, hold up."

"Uh, what is it, Yamato?" Hiroaki started, but he pulled over.

"I wanna... get a souvenier for Grandma," he started, sliding open the door to the van. "So, uh, like, you two do some catching up or something while I get something nice. Don't know how long Grandma's got and all. I wanna make sure she knows I love her- we love her. I'll pick up something for all of us, to her."

Hiroaki and Takeru exchanged glances and when they turned back Yamato was already waving at them and passing in front of the car. Yamato started around. He hadn't been to Kyoto often, although he did recall Sora mentioning it about something once. He wasn't listening completely.

After walking around for a few hours it was almost lunchtime and Yamato knew that there were only a few trains to Shimane left. So, with the souveniers in hand, he started for the station. He recalled the summer before and how Kinu had helped him ease any leftover worries from the Digital World, only to be sucked into the battle with Diaboromon.

"I swear if I get dragged into some other stupid Digimon plot-" he started talking to himself, then noticed Koushiro at the end of the platform. "Hey, Koushiro!"

"So, Takeru, how is your mother?" Hiroaki questioned.

Takeru couldn't help but sigh. At least someone cared about Natsuko's well-being, but somehow it still bothered him a little. "She's well."

"That's good to hear. And you?"

"Well... I guess I'm doing okay in school. Still, it's difficult being so far away from everyone after everything we've been through."

"You're growing up. I think you've grown at least two inches."

"I'll need it. I'm still in basketball, you know," Takeru reminded. He looked out the window and watched as they left behind the temples and crowds of people for the fresh air and countryside.

"Oh? How is it?"

"I've got a good defense," Takeru replied. He did look over at his father, but only briefly. What was he going to say to him, really? He wondered if this was why Yamato struggled with their mother so. "Dad..."

"Hmm? What is it, Takeru?" Hiroaki asked, looking over.

"I feel bad leaving Mom behind. I asked her to come, like I always do, but she wouldn't."

"Yes, well... you know they don't get along since the divorce," Hiroaki reminded, swallowing the lump in his throat. "Tell me more about school. Any girlfriends?"

"Dad!" Takeru pouted and blushed deeply.

"What about that Yagami girl you always spend time with?"

"Enough, Dad..." Takeru laughed, hiding under the bucket hat that Kinu had given him a year prior.

When Yamato finally made it to his grandmother's house it was past dark. He could hear his father's voice echoing from Kinu's front porch as he walked up the road. "He's fine, Momma," Hiroaki was saying, "He probably got distracted. Kyoto's a lively place, you know."

Yamato sighed. Lively. That's what I said. I didn't expect running into Jyou... and the others, watching Palmon warp evolve, and doing some gay hand holding while conversing with a talking stone to rebalance Kyoto. For Digi-Jesus' sake, this entire country has gone off kilter! The blonde trudged up the stairs, forcing a smile. Had he been aware that in a few short months his hair would start to grow out, he would have been thankful it was still short now as the humid night air clung to his skin. He was already sweating slightly from the walk and his own tiredness after a unnecessarily long afternoon.

"Grandma," Yamato smiled sheepishly as she stood from her chair to hug him. He leaned down to return the gesture and stood, realizing just how tall he was getting. She must have noticed, too, because she smiled at him and made a "mhmm" noise. "How are you?"

"Just fine, dear," Kinu replied.

"I uh, I got you something, Grandma," Yamato replied, blushing deeply. He thrusted the bag her direction and Hiroaki chuckled. One thing Yamato appreciated was that his father didn't smoke much up in the country. He claimed it was to 'enjoy the fresh air', but Yamato knew: he was happier away from it all.

Kinu grasped the bag and started tearing out the tissue paper as Takeru came to the door, carrying ice tea. He smiled at his brother and watched as Kinu continued to tear into her gift. Yamato was snickering at his elder's enthusiasm. Hiroaki, who watched his boys more than his mother, was glad to hear the boy laugh. Ever since the Digital World, he had changed immensely as far as his own happiness, although he didn't spend too much time away from the house. Sometimes he would go over to Taichi's for pizza and bad movies or even hang with Jeremiah occasionally, when there was a new vintage flick they wanted to share.

"Oh, it's lovely Yamato~" Kinu chirped and Yamato coughed as all the air was knocked out of him as she embraced his waist and nuzzled his stomach. He couldn't help but cringe a little but he still found himself laughing even when she pulled back.

"What is it, Ma?" Hiroaki questioned.

Yamato turned to look at his father and realized he was standing between them and stepped back. Takeru was still watching curiously.

"Camellia oil," Kinu said, squinting and smiling. "I'll be able to relax after a long day. Thank you, Yamato."

Takeru made a noise that attracted Yamato's attention."You know, Takeru, if I didn't know you better, I would say that you're hiding the fact that you expected a gift, too, didn't you?" the older brother asked with a smirk.

Takeru puffed out his cheeks, "...I've grown up a lot, remember?"

"Yeah," Yamato replied, looking directly forward- not down as he had to previously –into his brother's eyes. "So, I got you something anyway."

"What about me?"

"I'm not made of money, Dad," Yamato snorted. "If anything you owe me rent after all the cooking and cleaning I do."

"Ah, Uji Matcha Kit Kats!" Takeru cheered, running into the house.

"It's like he's a kid again when he's up here, Grandma," Yamato said, tossing a smile her way.

"Maybe he's just like that around you," Kinu nodded. "Hey, Takeru~ You better save me one of those!"

"Okay, Grandma!" he called. Yamato looked in through the screen and watched as Takeru flopped onto the couch and started to eat the entire bag in one sitting. Yamato rolled his eyes and turned to Kinu, giving her a kiss on the forehead, before following Takeru inside.

Yamato walked in slowly as Kinu and Hiroaki sparked up their own conversation. He watched Takeru as matcha crumbs got all over his clothes and half a Kit-Kat stuck out from one side of his mouth. Yamato snorted.

"Hey, I'm enjoying them," Takeru mumbled through a mouthful of wafer.

"I can see that, but you're going to make yourself sick," Yamato said, trying not to burst out laughing as he sat down next to his brother. There was some kind of news report on the television and Yamato groaned as reports of "monsters in Kyoto" were discussed.

"Eh, the Digimon?" Takeru questioned.

"Yeah, don't ask..." Yamato said, resting his forehead in his hand. "Patamon asked about you."

"Oh, Patamon did?" Takeru said, staring down at his knees. "I miss him."

"It really wasn't a big deal. Gennai said some old man stuff and gave our Digimon more Digi-Core power... Palmon took it a bit too far, though, but really, it wasn't anything major."

"You always have all the fun, Oniichan."

"W-What?" Yamato stammered, eyeing his brother.

"Last Summer you fought Diabolomon!" Takeru insisted.

Yamato placed his hand on Takeru's head and twisted the hat around. "I don't particularly enjoyed being summoned out of the blue by Taichi or Gennai or anyone. Go have your own adventure."

"Maybe I will," Takeru snorted.

"Eat your candy," Yamato muttered and turned his attention back to the television.

Yamato and Takeru had grown bored about halfway through their trip, as they tended to do. Especially now that they were older, Yamato found that he didn't enjoy playing the childish games Takeru was still clinging to and scoured the house for other interests.

His grandmother's house was very traditional, but still housed an attic he could rummage through. He was sure his father had been avoiding cleaning out the thing anyway and decided to venture up early on in the morning before it got hot with the evening sun and the rise in humidity, although early for Yamato was about nine in the morning. He had gotten up at eight to be fair, as his grandmother always made pancakes, bacon, biscuits, the whole array. Full and unfortunetly lethargic, he made his way to the ladder and journeyed up. The attic was actually pretty sparse as Kinu sold off most of their belongings when her husband died. The more Yamato poked around, he realized it was mostly heirlooms or boxes of his father's stuff leftover from childhood and college.

Yamato found a place to sit about an hour in- on an old trunk that housed some of his grandmother's old clothes and yutakas. He reached for the first box of his father's and pulled it over and flipped it open. The blonde coughed at the dust and reached in, weary of any summertime bugs lurking in the corners. He frowned at an old photo album centered around his parent's wedding and started to throw it aside. He bit his lip as he hesitated, sighed, and opened it.

His mother looked very different than he knew her. Her hair was past her shoulders and she was smiling. His father was smiling. They were standing outside the nearby Mirror Pond. Yamato recalled the myths about the mystical lake and decided to finally throw the book away.

"Ouch!" cried Takeru from near the ladder where Yamato had entered earlier. "That was my toe, Oniichan..."

"...oh, hey, Takeru. Come to find some treasure?"

"What? Are we having a garage sale?" Takeru joked and went and took a seat next to his brother. Yamato shrugged as he rummaged the rest of the box. He found a wedding cake topper of two doves, yellowed with age. Some invites, also worn from the weather and insects. Yamato, growing frustrated of being reminded of his parents, tossed the box aside. Takeru leaned over as the box slid past him to take a look. "Hey, these are Mom and Dad's."

"And?" Yamato mused, glancing through another box. Some yearbooks. Other stuff he didn't want to hear the stories behind. He tossed it aside, too and took a breath.

Takeru opened the book Yamato had thrown at him and glanced it over. He couldn't help but laugh, "Mom's so happy."

Yamato scooted away from him and rested his forehead in the palms of his hands as the heat seemed overwhelming. Then he saw something in the back of the attic, glimmering from the rising sun outside. He stood as Takeru mused over the damn book some more and pulled out a very old Fender bass guitar from the dust and cobwebs. Glancing further back he could see it had been leaning on a moth-eaten amp the size of a small dresser. "What's with the guitar?" he questioned.

Takeru shrugged, "Grandpa's?"

"It's not that old."

"Maybe it's Dad's."

"...does he know anything about music? I mean, he used to play old records when I was a kid..." Yamato mused with a weak smile. He remembered one particularly bad afternoon when he returned home from school. There hadn't been any so-titled incidents, but Yamato had felt exceptionally lonely. Most kids didn't come near him and others had been scared off by his apparent cold demeanor- something his father told him was called "flat effect". Yamato wasn't particularly fond of this phrase, either, as it was described to him as something that junkies displayed. Nonetheless, he had dragged himself home and was happy to find his father home early. He was sitting in front of the old record player and listening to some horrid sound- but as Yamato sat and his mood improved and his Dad regailed him with stories about the bands on the tracks, the boy found comfort in them and on many a lonely night he would just sit and listen to them.

"Oniichan?" Takeru questioned. "What are you going to do with it?"

"I dunno," Yamato replied rather chipperly. He held the hunk of metal in his arms. Somehow, probably from being buried in the back of the room, it had survived most weathering. And although Yamato knew nothing about guitars, he did know that the strings needed to be replaced. They were rusted over. He recalled the many times in the Digital World he spent drying out his harmonica to prevent virdigrition. "Let's go ask Dad."

"Okay. Can I help?"

"It's kind of heavy, so move all that shit out of the way," Yamato said, trying to manuever around the boxes he had dragged out and Takeru. "Okay, climb down and I'll hand it to you. It's heavy."

"I'm not a kid, 'niichan!" Takeru whined, climbing down the ladder. "I have muscle you know!"

By some grace of God, Takeru would say, they managed to get not only the bass down, but the amp and the cords, too. Hiroaki had heard the ruckus and joined them in the hall. He took a minute to recognize his old bass guitar and the ducktaped cord that held it together with the amp. The college kid in him was already deciding how to restore it. "Where in the name of... where did you find that old thing?!"

"In the attic, Dad!" Takeru said happily. Yamato was waving away a nat and trying to straighten his hair.

"...you boys should get washed up. Ma's almost finished lunch and I'm sure she doesn't want two dirty boys like you at her dining table."

"But I wanna know about the guitar, Dad-" Yamato started, but his father was giving him that look. The older brother turned to his sibling, "You go. I'll take second."

Takeru nodded and wandered off, giving a sneeze as he entered the bathing room.

"What were you two rascals doing up there?"

"I was bored."

Hiroaki chuckled, "Seems so."

"Was this yours?" Yamato questioned, leaning against the wall as tiredness began to take him.

"...yeah, doesn't mean much to me now, though. You're good with music and all and I'm sure it still works. Maybe you should take it. Certainly isn't doing anyone any good up in Ma's attic."

"Grandma Kinu, I'm raiding your shit more often!" Yamato called and Hiroaki walked over and slapped his son in the back of the head.

"Thank God she can't hear you talk like that," Hiroaki sighed. "Go get cleaned up and I'll teach you how to actually play it after lunch."

"You still didn't tell me why you have it."

"Some other time," Hiroaki sighed and pointed down the hall.