Lunch hour was ending by the time Soushi made it to Rakuen. At least it meant the booth was free, and he could sit down to look at his work while eating. It also meant Kazuki would be done with his work soon, he thought as he looked up, smiling as he caught the sight of Kazuki cleaning up behind the counter. Maybe they could go for a walk or something.

Kazuki came over after a moment and set down a cup of coffee. "Here you go," he said, then took off his apron and sat down across Soushi. "I'm done here," he added as Soushi sipped his coffee. "Also, are you free? I think I have something for us to do during the afternoon."

"Hmm?" Soushi placed the coffee cup down. This saved him the trouble of suggesting Kazuki they'd do something together. "Not in a hurry to go back to work. What did you have in mind?"

"Well. I was wondering," Kazuki explained as he reached to his pocket and pulled out something. "You don't happen to remember what this is?" He asked, handing over a piece of paper. "I was cleaning my room last night and found this folded inside an old story book."

It was obviously drawn by a child, Soushi noted as he studied the thing. It seemed like a map of some kind, and he smiled a little. Rather neat and precise work for a child, just as expected of himself of something under ten years old. "It's a treasure map, don't you agree?" Soushi said, studying the landmarks the map had scribbled on it. "And I'd dare to claim this is my handwriting."

"I recognize that much," Kazuki replied. "I thought it might be from that one time when we played pirates with Kenji, Koyo and Mamoru, but I think Kenji made the map back then, and then I looked at that date." He pointed at the edge of the paper Soushi was holding, and he took a better look. "Besides, it's got our names on it, not the others. So it's something we did."

Soushi went thoughtful for a moment, reading his younger self's handwriting. "There's another date here," he pointed out. "Which would be exactly five years after the first one. Although..."

"The original date was when we were seven years old, right? So this second one happened when we were twelve," Kazuki said, sounding a little melancholy. "We..." He trailed off, not too happy to be thinking about the five years he had spent avoiding Soushi. "Weren't exactly speaking to each other on that date, were we?"

"I wonder if we had remembered this even if we had been," Soushi said, studying the map again. "But this? It's a time capsule. A treasure box. I think I kind of remember it now. A collection of precious things seven year old us left for twelve year old us to find, but it's as you said." He raised his head and looked at Kazuki as he placed the map on the table. "Either way, we never actually went back there."

A hint of a smile touched Kazuki's lips. "And now it's been a little over ten years already. I gathered it's a treasure map and we could check it out, but now that you mention it, that's probably how the whole thing went. So how about it? Want to go take a look what seven year old us thought was worth leaving for the twelve year old us to find?"

Soushi finished his coffee and nodded. "I don't see why not."

They left Rakuen, and a stop to Kazuki's house to pick up a shovel later, they headed off to find this treasure. The map had quite good landmarks, Soushi noted as he did his best to figure out the exact location. Looking at the map, he could see that it was rather clever - a general area the map led to was clear, but it took him to actually know what the tiny little hints about the exact spot were.

"You think it's actually still there?" Kazuki wondered. "What if the site got damaged in a Festum attack and they just more or less restored the landscape?"

"It's still here, I'm fairly sure. I don't remember any damage in this sector. Look at this." Soushi pointed at a certain area in the woods. "Anything around that place look familiar to you?"

Kazuki stopped and looked around. "Now that you mention it..." He smiled and walked to a tree. "I'm pretty sure we've climbed this one a few times. It was difficult to climb. Doesn't really look like it now, but guess it might've been, if you're seven years old... And hey, those rocks and that tree stump." He crossed over some small bushes to take a closer look. "...Wait. Wasn't this one of our secret hideouts? It feels like it's been so long since we've been here."

"Because it has," Soushi stated, as matter-of-fact as ever, and Kazuki chuckled. "Many years, either way. Now then, let's see..." He tapped the map with his index finger and looked at the trees. "Past there..." He walked past Kazuki and stopped under a large tree. "Kind of hard to say. You don't happen to remember what seven year old us meant with this kind of a scribble?"

He handed the map over to Kazuki, who looked at it for a moment. "Oh. Oh, hey I remember now. That?" He took a few steps past Soushi and pointed at another tree. "Look at this, the branch is in a weird angle like this. It means this tree." He picked up the shovel he had been dragging along and circled around the tree. "It's got to be around here somewhere!"

Seeing Kazuki was more enthusiastic about the physical labor part, Soushi was quite happy to leave it to him. Instead, he sat down under the larger tree he had been standing next to and looked around the place, smiling to himself. There were memories here, memories of when they had been young and innocent. He didn't remember all of them, but this had been one of their secret spots.

There was low 'clunk' and Kazuki paused his work for a moment then grinned and kept at it, seeming excited. Soushi looked at his direction, wondering if this was it. "Did you find it?" He questioned.

He got no answer, not until after a while as Kazuki placed the shovel away and leaned down to brush away some dirt and to pick up something. "It's here," he declared as he got up and moved over to where Soushi sat. He knelt down next to him and showed him the plastic container he had found. "This is it. See, it's even got our names crudely carved on the lid."

"Hmm?" Soushi leaned to look, getting even more curious now. "Well, what are you waiting for? Open it."

It turned out they had sealed the container rather well for kids, and it took Kazuki a moment to get it opened. He managed after a while then carefully placed the container down, picking up one item at a time and carefully placing them down on the grass.

Several five yen coins. A foreign silver coin. A couple of peculiarly shaped seashells; some rocks found from the shore with an interesting shine to them. A small toy car, which Soushi out of nowhere suddenly remembered to have been something he had liked so many years ago. A fancy-looking pen. Something metallic that Soushi wasn't actually sure what it was, but Kazuki studied it with a thoughtful expression, like he recognized it from somewhere. A handmade toy boat made out of tree bark. Two marbles. A plastic key chain or some kind of a charm that was so worn that Soushi wasn't exactly sure what had once been printed on it.

Finally, Kazuki took the last item - a carefully rolled up letter - and opened it. "To Kazuki and Soushi," he read, then read the date of when the container had been buried. "We left you, who are now twelve years old, these. Hope you find them and remember where they're all from! Best friends are forever. Signed, Kazuki and Soushi." He turned to look at Soushi with a smile on his face. "Better late than never?"

At this point, Soushi laughed a little. "Seven year olds really have such silly concept of what's a treasure," he said, leaning his back against the tree, and Kazuki sat down next to him, studying one of the sea shells.

"How so?" Kazuki asked. "I have to admit I'm letting the seven year old me down a little, because I'm not exactly sure about all these. Most of them, though! These shells and the rocks are from the beach, picked up that summer. The five yen coins are so we'll have great luck when older. The silver coin is something your dad gave us, I think?"

"The toy car was mine, so was this pen," Soushi added. "Your father made that boat, I'm pretty sure. The marbles, I have no idea, and the key chain, even less. Think it was something you had, though. What's with that metal piece?"

Kazuki picked it up again. "This? It's from one of dad's broken tools for clay work. It was unusable so he tossed it away, but I snatched it." He looked at it again and chuckled. "Okay, maybe you're right. Seven year olds really think the oddest things are treasure."

"But you know." Soushi said. "I learned something over those years," he mused as he shifted a little closer and wrapped his arm around Kazuki's shoulders, pulling him close. Kazuki was quite happy to snuggle next to him and press his head against Soushi's shoulder.

"Mmm. Like?" Kazuki asked.

Soushi leaned in for a kiss, then ran his fingers through Kazuki's hair, smiling at him. "Best friends are forever, though I think I have something better now," he said. "And the treasures I have now are things that can't be buried or hidden away."

Author's notes:

Written for "treasure" prompt, literally treasure in this case.

- Lady Harken (December 2015)