Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Lost and Found

"Yamato! I am begging you!" Sora appeared at the doorway of her work room, holding Natsuko and Shou with each of her hands, "For the sake of my sanity, please take them outside!"

Yamato looked up over his reading glasses, a science journal in his hands.

"I have to complete the designs today. It's impossible with these two giving me advices over which color I should use and which I should not. I am really considering getting them enrolled in an Arts college."

Yamato laughed as he stood up from the couch, putting his glasses and the magazine down. He reached over and took Shou up in his arms, tickling him. He squealed in delight.

"Now, why are you two teasing my wife, huh?" he asked in a mockingly serious tone.

"Mommy is not doing blue bears on the trousers." Natsuko complained.

"Mommy said gween colo' is not good fo' the . . . the . . . dine." Shou said, pouting a little.

"Design?" Yamato offered, hiding his smile. Shou nodded earnestly.

"See?" Sora said giving him a tired smile, "I am really not able to do anything with these two little artists criticizing my work. Please take them out for an hour? I will love you forever!"

Yamato chuckled, closing the distance between them and kissing Sora's forehead.

"You already love me forever, whether you know it or not."

"But will you take them out? Just for an hour? Please, Yamato?" Sora gave him a puppy-eye look.

"Daddy please take us out!" Natsuko yelped at the look on Sora's face.

"Not that look, please? I am already agreeing to take them out! Cut it out now!" Yamato said quickly. Sora lost the pleading look and smiled gratefully.

"Oh, thank you!" she said, kissing him on the cheek, "Come on, Natsuko! I will get you ready."

"An' me?" Shou asked, panicked.

"Us boys will get ready on our own, right?" Yamato asked shifting him to his shoulders.

"Yayy!" Shou laughed gleefully as Yamato strode towards the nursery.

Fifteen minutes later, both kids were all ready to go out, Natsuko's blond hair tied up in pigtails with red ribbons and Shou wearing a cute sky blue shirt.

"Make sure to keep an eye on them at all times." Sora said nervously as she followed the kids and Yamato to the door, "Don't let them out of your sight. Natsuko, Shou, you must hold Daddy's hand, ok? Yamato, don't take them to crowded places. If you take them to the park, stand close to their swings. Natsuko, don't run too far from Daddy while playing. Yamato, try . . ."

"Sora, calm down!" Yamato turned around and put his hands on her shoulders, "I will be careful, don't worry. Have some trust. I have taken them out loads of times. I know what to do."

Sora took a deep breath, "Yeah, right. Of course I trust you Yamato. I just get worried when they both are going out with you. They can be handful."

"You go, get some work done. We won't be long. Maybe I will do some shopping for Shou's birthday, huh kids?"

"Yeaa! Bur-day!" Shou shot his plump fists in the air and Natsuko jumped up and down with excitement. Sora smiled lovingly at them.

"Ok. Off you go. Bye bye." she said, kissing both kids on their cheek.

"Bye, Mommy!" Shou said, grinning.

"I will bring orange birthday hat for you, Mommy!" Natsuko said importantly.

"Gee, I can't wait." Sora said mockingly and Yamato laughed.

"Bye, Mommy." Yamato said, kissing her lightly on lips and closing the door behind him.

x-x-x

"So . . . what should we do first?" Yamato asked, holding both his kids by their hands.

"Can we get my bir-day cake, Daddy?" Shou asked hesitantly.

"It's still too early, Shou. The cake will go bad." Yamato explained.

"Can we get candles for the cake?" Natsuko asked trying to sound more mature than her brother.

"That, we can do." Yamato said pleasantly, moving towards the street lined with shops.

"Orange candles!" Natsuko said eagerly. Shou looked upset as he looked from his sister to his father.

"It's Shou's birthday, Natsuko. We should ask him." Yamato said, noticing the panicked look on Shou's face at things getting out of his hands. Shou seemed to calm down.

"You want orange candles too, right Shou?" Natsuko pressed him enthusiastically.

"Umm . . ." Shou looked uncertain now at the prospect of going against his sister. Yamato hid a smile.

"Which color do you like, Shou?" he asked an easier question.

"Gween." Shou said quickly.

"Well then, we will get green candles." Yamato announced.

Shou was glancing at his sister who was pouting now.

"Can we buy gween an' orange candles?" he asked anxiously. Natsuko seemed to perk up at his suggestion.

"Yeah, can we Daddy?" she asked.

"Sure." Yamato said, shrugging. Inwardly, he was glad to see his children caring for each other.

They bought two sets of candles, streamers and some other stuff for decoration, both green and orange.

"We will write "Happy Birthday Shou" with these!" Natsuko said, pointing to the green ribbons in the small shopping bag.

"Yesh. My name!" Shou said, bouncing a little.

Just as they were exiting the shop, Yamato's eyes caught the sight of a shop with latest journals on various topics of science, lighting his interest.

"Kids, let's see this first." he said, leading them in the shop. In his one hand he was holding the shopping bag, the other holding on to Shou's. Natsuko skipped behind him in the shop.

"Wow." Yamato whistled as he let go of Shou's hand and reached for the magazine on Astrophysics. Natsuko stared around the shop, bored.

As Yamato leafed through the magazine, the shopkeeper brought more magazines on the same topic. Yamato seemed to be absorbed in those for quite a while.

"Daddy, can we buy party hats?" Natsuko asked impatiently.

"Just a minute, sweetie." Yamato said absentmindedly.

"Boring." Shou said, staring around the shop, uninterested.

"Hm." Yamato nodded subconsciously.

"There is a shop next to this one. It has some toys." Natsuko decided to talk to her brother.

"Aewoplane, twoo?" he asked, his eyes getting wide.

"Yup. Big airplane. Bigger than you."

"No way!" Shou protested. An airplane bigger than him was not suppose to be possible. How would he play with it, then?

"Yup, it is." Natsuko said airily.

"Nope, is not!"

"Wanna see?" Natsuko challenged, raising her eyebrows in an exact imitation of her father.

"Yup. You are lyin'!"

"Am NOT!" Natsuko said indignantly and marched out of the shop, Shou hurrying to catch up with her.

After what seemed like just five minutes to Yamato, he finally put down the sixth magazine with a resigned sigh.

"Come on Natsuko, Shou. Let's move on." he said, regretting to enter the shop in the first place. He wanted to buy all of them right now.

"Natsuko?" he looked around, clearly surprised for the silence. There was no one around.

"Hey, have you seen two kids around here? A girl and a boy?" he asked the owner impatiently.

"Yes. They were in here somewhere last time I checked. Maybe they got bored." the man replied returning from his task of arranging the older magazines.

"Natsuko! Shou!" Yamato called out loudly, now. No response.

Worried, anxiety filling his chest, he rushed out of the shop. He checked both the shops on either side of book shop but they were not there to be found.

"Yes, they came here looking at the airplane and some other toys. Then, I think, they found something else to interest them." the toy shop owner replied when Yamato asked him about his kids.

Damn it. Yamato thought furiously, how careless, stupidly careless are you, Yamato?

Racing from shop to shop, he asked about them, getting more and more panicky, his hands sweating.

Natsuko, Shou, come on please! Where are you? He begged in his mind.

Just then he caught sight of a red ribbon waving in air across the road, peeking from behind the jostling crowd. He ran forward, barely missing being hit by a car.

"NATSUKO!" he yelled. A blond head forced its way from the midst of the crowd and waved at Yamato.

"Look, Daddy! There are orange party hats!" Natsuko said, grinning, unaware of Yamato's anxiety. Shou was standing beside her, his nose pressed to the glass wall of shop.

"Natsuko! Shou!" Yamato said, anxiety replaced by fury, "I told you never to leave my side when we are out. Why did you come here without me?"

Shou's lower lip trembled as he glanced up at his sister, "Nee-chan said there are aewoplanes."

Natsuko hung her head, "Sorry, Daddy. Don't be mad at Shou. It's my fault."

Yamato took a deep breath and pulled them both close, hugging them tightly.

"Ok, but you made me worry a lot. You could have gotten lost. Don't try any such thing again." he said, relief calming him down as he felt the familiar warmth of his kids in his arms.

"Ok, Daddy." Natsuko said, resting her cheek on Yamato's shoulder. Shou was just plain glad to not to be scolded by his father.

"Now, why are you guys here?" Yamato asked, letting go of them. He picked up Shou in his arms and held tightly to Natsuko's hand, the shopping bag was in Natsuko's other hand. As Natsuko and Shou showed them the various hats, Yamato replayed Sora's worries from earlier and felt guilty. He decided to take as long as it take for his kids to shop, just so Sora can have some peace of mind.

After an hour of shopping of birthday and other stuff, Yamato decided to take a break.

"Who wants ice cream?" he asked, holding various shopping bags, Shou and Natsuko's hand.

"Me! Me!" Shou shouted.

"Meee!" Natsuko said, raising her hand as if she is at school.

"Come on, then."

They entered an ice cream parlor where Natsuko asked for Chocolate and Shou ordered Strawberry flavored ice cream. Yamato decided to go for Vanilla.

As he saw his kids making a mess of ice cream, having ice cream moustaches and beards, he decided to ask them a favor.

"Hey Natsuko, Shou. Let's have a secret." he said, stage-whispering.

Natsuko's cerulean eyes got wide, her spoon forgotten in mid air. Shou frowned in confusion.

"Secret?" she whispered back.

"Yup." Yamato nodded, "You know how Mommy told you not to go alone without me?"

Natsuko nodded glumly. Shou started eating his ice cream, clearly feeling no responsibility for the recent act of disobedience.

"Well, let's keep it a secret and Mommy will not know about it." Yamato offered, feeling slightly guilty for making it sound as if only they are in trouble when in fact he was in even more trouble. But that was the only way to make sure they stick to it.

"Okay." Natsuko nodded seriously.

"Shou?" Yamato asked.

"Yes, Daddy?" he looked up from his bowl of ice cream.

"You will not tell Mommy that you went on without me, ok?"

"Okay." Shou shrugged indifferently.

"Good boy." Yamato exhaled in relief.

At least that was taken care of.

x-x-x

"Hey guys!" Sora greeted as she opened the door, "You took long enough."

It was almost noon when they returned, spending good three hours outdoors.

Shou jumped from Yamato's arms to Sora, hugging her around the neck. Sora laughed as Yamato kissed her gently on cheek and asked, "What took you so long?"

"A lot of shopping." Yamato said placing various bags on the table.

"I brought you orange birthday hat, Mommy." Natsuko announced, wrapping her arms around Sora's legs.

"Thank you! This is really nice of you." Sora said appreciatively.

"Did you get your work done?" Yamato asked.

"Yes, thank you. All of it is finished now." Sora said gratefully.

"There is something I saw and thought will be perfect for you," Yamato said rummaging through the various bags and finally pulling out a small paper bag, "Here." he passed it to Sora.

Natsuko let go of Sora and started for the bags. Sora set down Shou as she reached for the bag. She flipped it upside down and something silver came out on her palm.

"It's . . . so beautiful!" Sora exclaimed.

It was a silver comb, shaped like a crescent, with a bunch of delicate white roses fixed above the teeth. In the centre of each rose was a fake diamond.

"Oh Yamato! It's absolutely beautiful!" Sora whispered in awe, "Thank you so much!" she said kissing him.

"Let's see how it looks." Yamato said pulling out the band she was using to hold her hair in a high ponytail. Her hair fell down, slightly curling at the edges.

Yamato gently pulled back a portion of her hair and fixed the comb in it, leaving few strands to fall on either side of her face. Both Natsuko and Shou were watching this with rapt attention, bags forgotten.

Sora turned around and Yamato smiled, "Wow. Not bad. Not bad at all. You look great." Yamato murmured and Sora laughed. The white roses seemed to gleam in her auburn hair. She pulled out the comb carefully and put it back in the paper bag, again pulling her hair in a high ponytail.

"Let's not spoil it." she smiling.

They went through all the shopping, Sora sometimes laughing and rolling eyes at their bizarre choice of items. It seemed that Yamato can't refuse the kids once they ask for something with proper pleading faces.

"They used it on me mercilessly." Yamato complained.

"As I feared they would." Sora said, smirking. Then she turned towards kids and said slightly sternly, "You are not supposed to bother Daddy too much about everything you like, Natsuko, Shou. This is not very nice behavior."

"We don't ask everything," Natsuko corrected meekly, "There was an orange football I liked but I didn't ask Daddy for it."

"'Cause Daddy was not there, silly." Shou said, smacking his forehead with his palm.

Three pairs of eyes stared at him.

Yamato sighed deeply. Natsuko panicked.

"What do you mean, honey? Daddy was not there?" Sora asked gently, sensing the reaction of other two.

Shou seemed to realize, a bit too late, that he had spilled the beans. He looked from his father's disappointed eyes to Natsuko's glaring ones to Sora's searching looks.

"Oops." he whispered and before anyone could stop him, went crawling under the dining table.

Natsuko and Yamato shared raised eyebrows and shrugged simultaneously.

"Shou? Come out please." Sora said, puzzled by his behavior.

"No," Shou said determinedly though his voice was wavering slightly, "Ewybody will be mad at me."

"Nobody will be mad at you, honey. Why would we?" Sora asked, her eyes confused.

"'Cause Daddy made us pwomise not to tell you an' 'cause we lef' Daddy in the shop an' 'cause you tol' us not to do that." he called out from under the table.

Sora threw a quiet look in Yamato's direction, who pursed his lips, before calling to Shou again, "Honey, if you know you have done something wrong, you should face it. Hiding is not a good thing."

There was silence for a moment, and then Shou appeared with the tablecloth tightly held around his face as if he was wearing a scarf. Sora was barely able to hide her smile.

"Please don' be twoo mad?" he asked pleadingly.

"Come here." Sora said, gesturing towards herself. Shou hesitated a moment longer, taking in the expressions of his family, then as if somewhat relieved, he left the safety of dining table to sit beside Sora on the ornamental rug where Natsuko had spread all the shopping bags.

Sora stayed silent for a moment, staring at the various items in front of her, and then finally sighed.

"What happened, Natsuko?" she asked quietly, calmly.

Natsuko bit her lip, looking down at her lap. Then she looked up at her father.

"Go on." Yamato said, smiling faintly.

"It was my fault, Mommy. I took Shou out of the shop when Daddy was seeing some magazines," she looked up at Sora, "I am sorry. I will be careful next time."

Sora was hit by the fact how mature her daughter has become. She was taking full responsibility, being the elder of the two, and apologized without fussing. She gently stroked Natsuko's blond curls, smiling affectionately.

"I am glad that you will be careful next time. You made a mistake by leaving your father and thank God you are safe. But please think twice before doing something in a hurry."

Natsuko nodded, holding her mother's hand in both of hers, "Ok, Mommy." she said. She was glad that her mother was not too mad at them and decided to forgive Shou for his mistake just like her mother did. She smiled at Shou who looked positively relieved.

"Now both of you should go, have a bath. It must be hot out there. I will see the rest of the stuff." Sora said, patting Shou on the cheek. Both kids stood up and ran to their rooms.

The tension in the room was suddenly magnified as Yamato tried to imagine what Sora might be thinking after knowing that he had been careless, he lost the kids momentarily and even made them promise not to tell her.

What was I thinking?

"Sora, I . . ." he started but was immediately interrupted.

"Yamato, it's ok." Sora said quietly, "It is not such a big deal. What happened was a little accident, nothing else."

Yamato stared at her quietly, sensing the presence of an underlying emotion. Then she looked up at him and he saw the ghost of fear haunting her eyes.

"How long were they lost?"

"Five minutes. Maybe less." he muttered, cursing those magazines, that shop and his passion with science.

Sora closed her eyes as if fearing the reality.

"Five minutes." she whispered so low that Yamato was not sure he heard it right.

"Sora, listen, I am sorry! I hate losing them for that little amount of time. I went crazy in about five seconds of knowing they were not with me. So I know how you feel. It was really careless of me and I will understand if . . ."

Sora leaned her cheek against his shoulder and said gently, "No. I know you are willing to take all the blame but no. You were with them all the time and they should have stayed with you when you found something to interest you but I know they can get impatient. They are only kids. But I am not blaming you, Yamato. No. We are bound to slip a little being parents."

Yamato put his arm around her and asked, "But there is something else you are upset about?"

Sora sighed and straightened up, a strained look on her face, "Yes. About you asking them not to tell me."

Yamato nodded, "I shouldn't have."

Sora bit her lip as she stared at the piece of ribbon in her hand, "No you shouldn't have. I don't want them to be scared of me, Yamato." she looked up at him intensely, "I am their mother. I have to be firm sometimes. They should not hide things from me because they are too afraid of me. And you trying to hide something from me with them, an accident most of all, could be the beginning of them losing trust in me. I want them to be open with me, to trust me, to confide in me. And you just . . . " she trailed helplessly, winding the ribbon around her finger in an obvious state of agitation.

"I am sorry, Sora." Yamato said after a length of silence, "I . . . I never knew that I was taking them away from you. I guess . . . I never knew it that you are suppose to share your secrets with your mother. I never . . . you know I didn't have a lot of time with Mom myself. I was never given a choice to confide in her. I guess I didn't really realize what I was doing."

Sora was stunned. Yamato was looking so lost, so deep in thought, as if it was a mystery; how to share your stuff with your mother. She desperately wanted a time turner, so that she could go back in time, force his parents not to divorce and give him the missing piece of his life.

"I understand. It's ok." she murmured. It was hurting her to see him try to imagine how it would feel to share everything with your mother. She wanted to weep. Oh Yamato, I'm so sorry.

"Do you . . . do you think she might have wanted me to share something with her? That she waited for me to tell her my problems or something else?" he asked quietly.

Sora took a deep breath, "Ishida Yamato, your mother loves you. Too much." she began, trying to make him see what she had seen on countless occasions with his mother, "And for all the divorce business, she still feels sad about it. It still hurt her, that inevitable move. And I have no doubt that she is more than just waiting for you to share your life with her. She wants you to let her be a part of your life. She wants to play a part in it."

Yamato stared at her, his mind going through all the phases of his life when, despite his usual isolation, he was yearning for someone to listen to him with blank honesty, pure intentions, just because they love him and want to help him. And all that time, his mother was waiting.

"She still wants you to do so, Yamato." Sora added, "It's not too late."

Yamato smiled ruefully, "I'm glad I have you, Sora." he said affectionately, "I'm so lucky to have you as my wife. Our kids . . . we will never let them feel lost. You are the best mother I could imagine for our kids."

Sora frowned slightly at the change of topic but just then, Natsuko came running towards them and sat beside Sora, wrapping her arms around her waist. Yamato grinned at his daughter and stood up, walking towards his bedroom.

"Mommy, let's bake cookies today? I will decorate them with beans and jelly." Natsuko requested.

"Me twoo!" Shou said as he, too, came running straight into Sora's lap.

"We'll see about that." Sora said, putting her arms around each of them.

"I love baking cookies." Natsuko said longingly.

"I love cookies." Shou supplied with his choice and Sora chuckled. Yamato came back to the living room, with a huge grin on his face.

"How about we make some cookies tomorrow?" he offered, sitting cross-legged on the rug.

"Tomorrow?" Natsuko asked, puzzled.

"Well, it's Sunday and I am thinking of making cookies early in the morning so that when we go to Grandma's house for the whole day, we take them with us." Yamato explained, shrugging.

Sora raised her eyebrows, realizing the reason of his small disappearance to his room and smiled. Natsuko jumped up and down.

"Yayy! Grandma! We are going to Grandma's house!"

"Sounds like a good idea." Sora said and Yamato looked at her. They shared a look of mutual understanding, of affection. Then, as Natsuko explained the plan to Shou in detail, Sora asked in a low whisper, "Was she happy?"

Yamato touched his forehead to hers and grinned, "Very."

x-x-x

A/N: Hope you guys like this. It was supposed to be a one-shot drabble but it became a very long drabble, so never mind.

I swear I was intending to write a funny one but it ended to be a serious one. I almost gave up on it, almost deleted it, but then I just can't make myself do it so I decided to let you guys decide whether it was worth the try. I am so sorry it is not as funny as I wanted it to be. But, some things are not supposed to happen the way we want them to. Just take this fanfiction as one of them.

I would love to have some reviews on this fanfiction. Just let me know what you think of it.