~*Brothers of Reliability*~
~Digimon: Digital Monsters~

"Jou!"
Jou Kido turned around to see his brother, Shin Kido, approach him from behind. It was nice out today down at the central park in Tokyo as Jou slicked back the blue strands of hair that was dropping from his forehead. Despite his casual, cool and sometimes paranoid look, he couldn't help a little smile that crept on his lips. He always wanted to do that.
Shin caught up with Jou, panting slightly as he walked up to him. Unlike him, he had dark, dark green hair. He wore glasses like Jou, and usually wore something green, which comtemplated with his hair. He grinned at Jou despite the sweat that trickled down his forehead. "Bro! Long time no see!" He blinked. "Wow! Look at you! I haven't seen you in years!"
Jou's eyes went half-way. "Shin, it's only been two years."
"Still!" Shin cried, waving his hand at him. "Look what the world has done to you! America has made you look less Japanese and more...modern...stuff." He shrugged at the loss of words, and then said quickly, "Oh well, dosen't matter. You're back here in Japan...and you know what surprised me? You decided to call up on your good ol' brothers first."
Jou blinked, bewildered. "Why?"
"C'mon, Jou," Shin said, leaning back on the trunk of a tree. "I thought you were going to call up your old pals from your high school, or from elementary, anyone but us..." He looked feebly at the grass, expecting Jou to feel sorry for his good old brother.
But Jou was still confused. "Huh?"
"Never mind."
Jou looked around. "Where's Shuu?"
Shin shrugged. "Oh, I don't know." He snorted. "Knowing the guy, he's probably still at Mr. Takenouchi's place doing some stuff. Or, if he's courageous enough, decide to take a step outside that cooped up place, where ever it may be, and go buy a drink or something." He winked. 
"I heard that." From behind the tree where Shin was leaning appeared the dark, tall and the oldest of the Kido siblings, Shuu Kido appeared. His hair was the same greenish colour as Shin, but it was more professional as Shin's was moppy, and he wore more darker tones of clothing. He too, wore glasses, as he strode in his most professional manner up to his two younger brothers. "I'd drop the sarcasm if I were you, Shin, it never really suited you."
Shin made a face. "Are you being paid to lurk behind people's backs?"
"If I would, I know who I'd be watching."
"You mean stalking," Shin stated thinnly. 
Shuu shook his head. "You should take my advice, dear Shin, drop the sarcasm." He grinned despite his grave look. "It always suited my little brother anyways. Hello Jou," he greeted his youngest brother. "It's been a long time, little brother."
Jou smiled. "Still busy at Mr. Takenouchi's place?"
"Yah," he replied ruefully. "But y'know, I'm almost there." He lightly jabbed his brother. "And how about my paranoid brother-turned-digidestined? How is America treatin you??"
"Pretty good," Jou responded. "The job's all good and such, and I see a lot of the country. Did some interesting things here and there, met some interesting people here and there..."
"More or less, it's the life you wanted to lead," Shin finished. 
They all strolled down the park for over an hour, talking about when they were small, the pranks they used to play, even Jou had some dealings with them. From there, Shuu talked about getting the internship with Mr. Takenouchi, the interesting things he'd done, to meeting his wife, his kids. Shin talked about medical school, his work at various hospitals and buying his baby, a motorcycle, something he had always wanted. He had some pretty funny moments. 
Then there was Jou. He started with his job at one of the hospitals at New York and then moving to a really nice apartment that had a really good view of the rural areas to his special moments working. He sighed after his talk. "I don't know," he finished, "yah, it was the life I wanted to lead, but it wasn't as exhilirating as I had a long time ago."
Silence.
"I guess being in the digital world changed you a lot, little brother," Shuu said carefully. "I mean, look at you. Ten years ago, you were so ill-confident of your abilities and was always paranoid of what will happen to you. I suppose it isn't your fault. Father was always so careful of you... he was too afraid, I suppose."
"What brother here is saying, Jou, is that you've improved mentally throughout the past years following your experience," Shin conceded. "You've grown up, what can I say?" He grinned ruefully. "You ain't just Old Reliable, but more like Grown Reliable."
"If only father was here to see this," Jou said softly. 
Silence. 
"It wasn't fair, y'know," Shin said quietly. "Father wanted his family to be doctors. Shuu here got away with it but we had to live under that thought that we were made to be...doctors." He glanced at Shuu. "You got away, did whatever you wanted to do. Why is that?"
Shuu shrugged. "C'mon, I was already offered the internship before Mom went away," he responded numbly. "Then after, he decided to make you two the doctors of the family." He shrugged. "I never could wonder why though. I mean..." He voice trailed off. 
"We can't blame Father for what he did," Joe told them. "I mean, if I was asked to choose what I wanted to be, I'd probably be thinking till my hair turned gray. He did help me in a sence, even though it was long and gruelling. We can never know why he wanted us to be this way, but let's kist hope it'll turn out right."
Shin scoffed. "It's weird, y'know," he said. "It's so different without Mom and Dad around now. There's only three Kidos left to carry out the legacy."
"You make it sound like we're going to save the world," Shuu pointed out.
"Hey, Jou did it before."
Jou shook his head. "Don't pull me into these things."
"Who said I was?" Shin asked pointedly. 
"Look, the point is, we can only depend on each other now," Shuu stated.
"Spoken like a true old brother," Shin nodded.
"I am your oldest brother," Shuu told him. "Lemme finish. As I was saying, it's only the three of us now. No fights, no nuthin now, we should be supporting each other and helping each other whenever we can. Although Father was rarely around, he taught us some important things. We only have each other now."
"How bout we meet up again five years from now?" Shin asked. 
"That sounds good," Jou agreed passively. "But lucky if I can even get outta my job for a vacation here again. It was hard to get out for a leave this time, what about next time?"
Shuu smothered Jou's blue hair. "Now that sounds like my little brother."
All three of them laughed. Amidst of the laughter, there was a pang of sorrow for their parents yet a glimmer of hope. Jou never felt so alone, yet he never felt so happy with his brothers for a very long time. 
"Well, I guess five years will do, huh?" Shin asked. 
"Five years," Shuu echoed. 
"Five...is...too long," Jou sulked, but agreed nonetheless.
Shuu laughed. "C'mon you guys, group hug!" Jou and Shin protested but nonetheless they hugged, a ritual they always did when they were younger. "Brothers of Reliability," Jou told them. 
More memories came back as they finally let go and then parted ways; Shin back to his house, Shuu to Mr. Takenouchi's place and Jou...
Well, Jou decided to walk downtown Tokyo towards the setting sun. 

~End of Story~