Author's Notes

The title means "To all life". It's from the song Happy Birthday from Dragon Ball Z. It just seemed…fitting.

Enjoy, and tell me what you think.

Subete no inochi ni

If finding the perfect present doesn't work, then making one is the next best thing. Now that's not exactly Koji's strong suit, but with some help, he hopes to pull it off, and in time for their birthday too.

Kouji M/Koji & Kouichi K/Koichi

Genre/s: Family/Friendship

Rating: T

Last year, we, Koichi and I that is, celebrated our first birthday together. It was okay. I mean, it was great and all, but there was one point that really bothered me.

There are certain customs, traditions, conventionalities (that last one was Koichi's way of putting it) that define birthdays: a cake, a get-together with family and friends (even if you don't call it a party)...and presents. That's the bit that bites to be honest, that neither of us knew what to give to each other except, well, each other's presence.

I suppose that worked out well enough last year. We lived so far apart that seeing each other on a regular basis was near impossible, especially for Koichi as he and Mum weren't quite as well off as we were (though she has a better job now much to everyone's relief); I know Koichi had used his birthday money (again) for the train pass. Which was the result of some poor planning, or else the fact that we could not simply wait anymore to see each other...which resulted in a crash meeting when transferring trains, though we both wound up returning to my place where the others were waiting (I suspect from Dad's twinkling eyes that he played a major factor in it; probably all his idea).

But both of us have moved since then, closer to each other. Takuya wasn't too pleased we weren't in the same vicinity or school anymore, but I wound up being Tommy's next door neighbour in return. Mum's apartment is a little further, but close enough for the two of us to go to the same junior high school.

So now, two weeks before our fourteenth birthday, I was trying to think up of an appropriate present. And failing epically.

Nothing just seemed...right. Special enough I mean. If he wasn't my brother, I'm sure I could have found something by now. I probably would have found enough presents for consecutive birthdays, but they would be meaningless.

Okay, not entirely meaningless, but you know what I mean. I'm not the best with words. Go to Takuya for that. Unless you're after a philosopher; JP's probably better. Koichi's smart, but he's about as hopeless at getting words out of his mouth than I am. He absorbs them like a sponge though.

I'm getting off topic here. Point is, when you're not close to someone, it's easier to find them a present because the obligatory threshold is lower. You're not best buddies or family or anything, so you don't have to produce anything spectacular. They don't expect you to either. Friends are a few levels up, so a little more time and expense and sentiment goes into that. I can manage, or I have so far anyway. JP's always bringing greasy fingers and overalls to our occasional get togethers, so I know he's at least enjoying it. But family is higher than that, especially when they're both your twin and one of your best friends.

You've probably read all that or skimmed through it and are now wondering: 'What the heck does this guy give his parents?' That's a long story I'm not going into, because that's another sort of problem chain completely. The simplest was when I spent the night at Mum's apartment for the first time on her birthday. I just wound up giving her flowers the next year (that I had spent literally hours trying to pick). Dad and Satomi gave her a far better one, a photo album with all sorts of embarrassing photos in it. The adults found it amusing though. So did Koichi. They would; it wasn't photos of them.

Getting back to the original topic, my ideas for a present was zilch. Until the photo album gave me a sort of idea. Not photos of me growing up though, but of us. Family, friends, the world we had fought, and he had sacrificed his life, to save. If it had been anyone else, the idea would probably never have come to me. But all at once, I knew it was something he would like.

Which brought up the next problem. How the hell was I going to pull that off? I suck at art, bluntly put, unless it's some form or extension of martial arts...and yes, that does include some extent of traditional dancing. Besides, I didn't have many photos anyway...which meant I was going to have to swallow my pride and ask for some help. Because somehow, the image I could get from my expertise didn't seem satisfactory. Because I know for a fact that my brother has a very keen eye for aesthetic detail; he has to, with how much he reads, writes and draws. And it couldn't be anything short of perfect. And I wouldn't do that for many people.

Roll your eyes if you want. But you still have to deal with the fact that I'm a perfectionist. Quite pedantic, one of my elementary school teachers had commented with some amusement.

Obviously, none of us had any photos of the Digital World; our phones had after all turned into D-tectors. Zoe however had taken quite a few since we got back (as had we all, but not nearly as much); she emailed some occasionally too. But I had only five or six, and I'm pretty sure Koichi had those too. She had others though, and she would be glad to help in order to stop one of her "boy" friends (emphasis: two words, not one) from doing something stupid.

A fact she enforced as soon as I told her my idea. Which didn't take very long as I'm not the twin that tends to mince their words.

'What are you planning to do with the photos?' she asked immediately once she sensed I had finished talking. 'A scrapbook?'

To be honest, I hadn't thought that far ahead. And she surmised as much from my silence.

'Get JP to help with the scrap-booking layout,' she ordered me. 'He's good at that sort of thing.'

He was.

'Koji!'

'Okay, I'll call him. That girl could be very demanding when she wanted to be.

'Actually,' she mused. 'It might be better if I call. He probably has some photos I don't. I'll call the others too.'

Before I could protest, she said: 'You want this to be perfect, don't you?'

She got me there.

'Tommy's mother can get the photos printed properly,' she continued, obviously getting stuck into the idea. 'Normal or glossy?'

'Uhh...'

Now she sounded amused. 'You have no idea do you? We'll be over tomorrow at twelve.'

Surprisingly, everyone was available at that time, even Takuya whose name hadn't even come up in the conversation. That was, everybody except Koichi of course; I couldn't ask him to help with his own present.

I wondered at that point if he was having as much trouble as I was. The others, when I voiced that sentiment wondered the same thing...except a very awkward looking Tommy.

'You know something!' Takuya exclaimed.

'Erm, well...' the younger boy stuttered, looking very 'put-on-the-spot'. 'I promised I wouldn't tell.'

Takuya took a large, exaggerated breath. 'Oh, all right. But how do you know?'

'He wants some help with something,' was the rather vague reply.

Everyone was surprised at that. What sort of help had Koichi wanted that took him to Tommy only. I ask one girl for help and wind up with the whole gang.

We found out eventually of course. But the next order of business was getting through all the photos. They were several duplicates which were quickly eliminated, but it took hours to go through the rest. No-one lost patience though; Takuya for one kept things lively as he always did.

'That's enough,' JP said, looking up from the scrap pages he had been figuring layout designs on. 'What do you guys think?'

'Perfect,' Zoe cried upon seeing them. The design looked quite complex, but imagining photos in the place of black rectangles, I had to agree with Zoe and say as such.

JP was practically glowing.

You'd think the rest of the work would be easy. No way.

First problem was picking a scrapbook from the arts and crafts store down the street, which was almost as bad as the actual thinking. I did that on my own, despite Zoe's insistence on coming with. After all, this was my present to my brother, and I wanted to do at least something on my own.

What I wound up going with was an ebony coloured cover with pale silver pages as opposed to white and a darker silver embroid. Takuya had brought over those glitter pens, and there was a silver in there that matched perfectly. It actually wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be, but that wasn't important anyway.

And if you're wondering where I'd be without them...you probably know. No place much.

The others approved, but then we had problems with the glue. The first glue looked too...icky to use. Shinya's poster glue; we were in junior high school by that time and we didn't do so much messy projects anymore. It sort of oozed all over the place hardened into little lumps. Luckily, we had tested the glue first outside the scrapbook. Not very presentable.

The alternative, the glue we all used sometimes to stick papers down or together, wasn't strong enough. We only found that out after I stuck everything down, which was pretty annoying.

Satomi had material glue. Unfortunately, while it was good at sticking fabric, it didn't work too well with the photos. It was a good think Tommy had brought along spares, and it was also a good thing that the glue dried quickly and vanished as if it had never been there.

We eventually found the right blue when we went back to the arts and crafts store and asked the girl at the counter.

It basically took the whole day sticking those photos down properly.

JP came alone the next day. I had half expected him to try and do the decoration himself, and I wouldn't have been able to blame him. It was, after all, his design. But all he did was explain, start me off, then watch with a hawk's eye and carry conversation.

And I wonder why people have a habit of under-estimating or misunderstanding him. It is somewhat reflective of his obsession with magic tricks; nothing is what it seems.

It wasn't so difficult, once I got the hang of reading off the design. It's doing all that off the top of my head that I can't manage to any great value. My lines had come out far firmer than JP's, but it worked just as well.

To be honest, I was surprised at how smoothly everything had happened.

'You doubted us?' Takuya grinned when I mentioned that.

Well...with those guys, you never know. But Koichi is their friend as much as they are mine. And they knew how much it meant to me.

'Koichi's going to love this,' Zoe declared, closing the finished product with a gentle snap.

It was funny. Despite all the help I'd had, there was still that distinctive 'Koji' touch on it. Which was good; this was my gift after all.

And Zoe was right. He did love it. Once he had carefully folded the wrapping paper and put it aside, by which time I was about to burst quietly from impatience, seeing as it had somehow wound up at the bottom of the pile which meant it came after all the other presents.

What was rather ironic was that he handed me his present straight after. I opened it...to find a bound book (oak brown with a gold trimming) with drawings of various scenes of the digital world.

'That's why he needed me,' Tommy piped up as I fingered Lobomon. 'Mum bound it together.'

So he had a similar idea. Only, he gave me the photos I would never have been able to find.