Disclaimer: St. Seiya is copyright Kurumada Masami and Toei. No infringement of intellectual property rights held by the owners of existing copyrights in Saint Seiya or its derivative works, or disrespect of said copyright holders, is intended by this non-profit work of fan fiction.
Set before Sanctuary, in an AU where the Kiddo mansion hadn't burned to the ground during Docrates' attack.
Written for mrsnott in the Yuletide 2010 fiction exchange. The prompt was "Shun and Hyouga, without overly-girly!Shun"
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Thaw
by Silverr
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Seiya had joked that there was no way Shun was going to talk Ikki into getting out of bed so early in the morning to help prepare the Kiddo mansion for Miss Saori's holiday banquet, but Hyouga knew better. Ever since he had told Ikki to give Shun some credit and to stop babying him, the protective older brother had been Shun's constant chaperone whenever Hyouga was present.
There was, of course, no use telling the pig-headed Phoenix Saint that his behavior was likely to cause his teenaged brother to chafe and rebel. Nor was there any point in telling Ikki that there was, in fact, nothing to worry about, nothing to protect Shun from, because Ikki would likely take any such comments as an acknowledgment of the type of things that could happen. Not that they would: Hyouga was content with the friendship that he and Shun shared. If, from time to time, certain thoughts and feelings appeared briefly outside the perimeter of what Hyouga considered decorous – well, such things were easily controlled, and so were no one's business but his own.
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"I'm glad you came this morning, oni-san," Shun said, refusing to let his brother's natural grumpiness bring him down. The chance to do something with his friends that didn't involve blood and pain and death was a wonderful change, and he had been looking forward to the party all week.
"Human beings weren't meant to get up this early," Ikki grumbled as they scuffed up the steps to the Kiddo mansion's main entrance.
Shun laughed and pulled open the door, hurrying into the large, echoing foyer when he saw Hyouga standing next to Seiya and Shiryu, but before he could go to them, Ikki grabbed his arm. "Just stay here for a minute, Shun."
"A – alright." He was puzzled; why wouldn't Ikki let him go to the others? Hyouga and Shiryu were watching him calmly, and so he gave them a quick wave hello. When Hyouga nodded once, smiling faintly, Shun felt relieved.
"Good morning everyone," Tatsumi said, striding into the foyer and waving a clipboard. "Miss Saori wishes to hold a traditional Western Christmas celebration this evening for the Graude Foundation employees and friends. We have twelve hours to prepare for this celebration. I will be assigning each of you a very specific task. Do not do anything that you have not been assigned. That includes placing unauthorized items anywhere in the mansion." He glared at Seiya, who appeared to be twirling a sprig of mistletoe behind his back.
"Tatsumi," Ikki said, walking over and pulling the clipboard out of the bald major domo's hands, "You have much more important things to oversee than telling us how to hang lights and decorate a tree." He flipped though the first few pages on the clipboard. "I'll see to the tasks on this list, while you go to the kitchen and get the goose and chestnuts roasting. Or just go somewhere, kick back. Relax for a while."
"But – but " Tatsumi's brow was already glistening with stress.
"I insist," Ikki said. He squeezed Tatsumi's shoulder; Shun could have sworn that he saw a momentary twinkle in Ikki's eye.
"All … alright," Tatsumi left the ballroom in a daze.
"Now listen up," Ikki said as soon as Tatsumi was gone, "We're gonna make this the best party Miss Saori has ever had. With no screw-ups!" He ran his finger down the first page, flipped to the second, and then pulled the first two sheets out of the clipboard and handed them to Shun. "Go help Seiya and Shiryu decorate the rooms. Those sheets have a floor plan of the house and instructions about what goes where."
"But what about – " Shun glanced at Hyouga.
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"No buts, Shun." Ikki was reading the remainder of Tatsumi's notes. "Everyone has to do their part for this to work, so get moving." He pointed at the large wooden crates stacked against the far wall of the foyer, and watched as Shun walked over to them, joined by Seiya and Shiryu.
Hyouga, now standing by himself in the middle of the hall, folded his arms, more amused than irritated.
"You five – " Ikki pointed at Jabu, Ban, Nachi, Geki, and Hydra, who had slipped in and were clustered by the front door, "Firewood. Lots of it. Every stick and log you can find. I want to see stacks high enough to keep all of the fireplaces in the mansion going all weekend."
"Are you serious?" Jabu asked amid the others' grumbling. "All weekend? Why?"
"Because it's festive," Ikki said grimly.
"Couldn't Miss Saori just have firewood delivered?" Nachi asked.
Ikki did nothing but raise his eyebrow. The five hurried out.
"What about me?" Hyouga asked.
"You," Ikki said with a smile, "You can decorate the outside of the house. Icicles on the eaves, frost on the windows ... and snow. Plenty of snow. All around the house. Make sure the ground is covered, as far as the eye can see from each window. It won't seem like Christmas without snow. And make it deep enough that guests can make snowmen or play in it without exposing the lawn."
"Putting down that much snow is going to take all day," Hyouga said mildly. "And once the sun gets higher most of it will melt."
"Well then, you'd better get started," Ikki said, turning his back and paging though the sheets on the clipboard.
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Shun watched Hyouga go outside, then helped Shiryu and Seiya unpack the crates, laying out bags of red velvet bows, packages of tiny white lights, and boxes of fragile glass ornaments.
Ikki and the clipboard had disappeared, so Seiya folded his arms and leaned on the wall as he peered in the crates. "This is crazy," he said. "If we put all of this up the house will collapse."
Tatsumi bustled back into the entrance hall just then. "Less chit chat and more working!"
"We're going to need a ladder," Shiryu said. "And the list mentions popcorn and cranberry garlands for the tree – where are those? There are none in these crates."
"And where is the tree?" Seiya asked.
"The tree is on its way," Tatsumi said. "This foyer has to be completely decorated by the time it gets here. There's a ladder by the greenhouse," he told Shiryu. "There are no garlands in the crates because they have to be made fresh. The kitchen is popping corn now. Your friend Shunrei said she'd bring it out."
"I'll get the ladder," Seiya said. "Garland-making isn't my thing." He grabbed his jacket and ran out the front door.
Just then Ikki came back into the foyer from one of the side rooms. "It's all under control, Tatsumi," he said curtly. "I'll get the fires started down here if those five morons manage to bring back some wood. You should show me which bedrooms upstairs have fireplaces that need to be lit."
Tatsumi blinked in surprise. "Bedrooms … er, follow me." He turned and went up the stairs, Ikki following.
Shun consulted the pages, then, seeing that he and Shiryu were alone in the foyer, sat next to the Dragon Saint. "Shiryu, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, Shun, what is it?" Shiryu said absently, still sorting the various decorations.
"Do you think ... do you think Saints can be more than friends?"
"More?" Shiryu put down the package of glass ornaments he was holding. "What do you mean?"
"Never mind," Shun said quickly. "Well, I hope Seiya gets back with that ladder soon! We have a lot of lights and bows to put up!"
"Oh." Shiryu was looking at him with surprise. "Do you mean – "
Before he could finish there was a loud bang on the front door. Shun hurried to open it, and Seiya ran in with a huge ladder. "It's getting colder and colder out there! I'm glad we're stuck doing the inside work." He propped the ladder against one of the hall's tall pillars, took the bag of red bows that Shiryu handed to him, and skittered up the rungs.
"We can talk some other time, if you want," Shiryu said quietly to Shun, who was holding Seiya's ladder steady with one hand while using his other to direct a string of lights as if it were one of his chains.
"Sure," Shun said, but he regretted bringing the subject up.
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Huouga had enjoyed making the icicles on the eaves, but the drawback was that he had pulled so much moisture out of the air that there was very little left over for snow. As he considered how he could put a small lake's-worth of water into the air over the Kiddo estate, the five Bronzes who had been sent for firewood converged on him, their arms full of dripping logs and kindling.
"He's crazy," Jabu said, "All of this stuff is soaking wet."
"Worthless for a fire," Geki added. "Good for smoke."
"Here, let me try something," Hyouga said. "Put the wood down and stand back." He sent a blast of cold over the piles, turning them and the lawn around them white with hoarfrost; then, after a moment, he sent a second blast that evaporated the frost and left much drier wood.
"Look at that," Ban said, "Freeze-dried."
Hyouga followed the five firewood-carriers into the main entrance hall. Shiryu and Shunrei were sitting in an alcove, making popcorn and cranberry garlands, while Seiya, balanced on an extension ladder steadied by Shun, was attaching huge red bows and strings of tiny white lights to the tops of pillars and doorways.
As they stood there, Ikki and Tatsumi came down the steps, talking amiably until they saw the six standing in the foyer.
"Firewood," Jabu said sourly. "Where to?"
Ikki motioned them to follow him into the large sitting room to the left of the entrance hall. "That first load can go in there. I'll show you where to put the next load."
"Next?" wailed Hydra, dropping his armload of kindling with a clatter. "We have to get more?"
"Of course," Tatsumi said, "The mansion has fourteen fireplaces."
The other four Saints carried their firewood into the room, piling it into a large metal rack. When they were done Ikki took a few of the logs, tossed them into the hearth, concentrated a small part of his cosmo, and made an emphatic gesture, expecting the wood to burst into flame – but all that happened was a sizzling noise and a tiny puff of smoke.
As Ikki leaned down to try to figure out what the problem was, Jabu said, "Maybe you should hypnotize the wood into thinking it's burning."
"I wouldn't have to, if you idiots hadn't brought me wet wood in the first place," Ikki said.
"Hyouga was supposed to dry it out for us," Jabu said hurriedly.
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Shun looked up as he heard someone mention Hyouga, and saw the blond Saint standing in the doorway of the sitting room watching him. Shun was having a hard time getting used to this new feeling he got lately whenever he noticed the Cygnus Saint looking at him, an odd, ticklish nervousness that made him feel as if Hyouga was a stranger he'd never seen before.
A stranger who could read his mind, and knew about the daydreams he'd been having, the ones with kissing and bare skin and pale blue eyes ...
"Earth to Shun!" Seiya sang out. "More lights, please!"
"Oh, sure," Shun said, quickly moving his hand to lift another string of lights into the air. "Sorry!"
"It's not doing anything!" they heard Tatsumi say angrily from the sitting room.
"Is that so?" Ikki shot back. There was a sharp flare of cosmo, a cry of "Ho Yoku Ten Sho!" and then a thick cloud of smoke billowed out of the sitting room into the foyer. "Now it's doing something. Happy?"
Tatsumi yelled, "Ikki! How dare you!" There was the sound running feet, of windows opening.
"Calm down," they heard Ikki say. "At least it's lit now. Would have been worse if I hadn't remembered to open the flue."
This was followed by the sounds of a scuffle and an outraged yelp. Before Shun could head for the door Ikki walked out of the sitting room, Tatsumi slung over his shoulder like an ungainly sack of potatoes, struggling to get out from the broad hand splayed firmly across his ass. "There's just something about a red-faced man that drives me wild," Ikki deadpanned to a gaping Shun and Shiryu as he walked past the ladder and down the hallway leading out of the foyer.
"Oni-san, what are you ..." Shun started to ask.
Ikki didn't seem inclined to reply, though, because he kept walking until he was out of sight. Tatsumi's incoherent cursing became fainter and fainter until something that sounded suspiciously like the door leading to the cellar slammed, and then all was silent. A few moments later Ikki came back, sans Tatsumi, and pointed to the boxes. "Finish up. The tree will be here soon."
"What did you do to Tatsumi?" Seiya asked with a laugh from the top of the ladder.
"He's choosing the wine for dinner," Ikki said. He glanced from Shun to Hyouga, as if measuring to see if the distance between them had changed while he was gone, and then walked to where Hyouga stood in the doorway of the sitting room, stopping so close to him that they were almost bumping chests. "Why are you standing here doing nothing? I didn't see much white out of the windows when I looked just now."
Shun frowned. Even though it was ridiculous, he was beginning get the impression that his brother was deliberately trying to prevent him from even looking at Hyouga, much less talk to him. Which was stupid, wasn't it? What was wrong with looking? He moved a little to the side, to where Shiryu and Shunrei were steadfastly continuing to thread popcorn and cranberries onto string, so that he could see Hyouga's face as he talked to Ikki.
"It's too dry outside to make any more snow," Hyouga was saying. "Cold without moisture does nothing."
"Moisture? What – like rain?"
"Or steam," Hyouga said with a shrug. "If you're dead set on making more snow, heating a high-pressure stream of water might work."
"Keep decorating," Ikki said to the others, then turned back to Hyouga. "Let's go."
"What's that all about?" Seiya asked, climbing down to move the ladder to the last set of pillars after Ikki and Hyouga had gone outside.
"I don't know," Shun said. "I think he's angry at Hyouga about something."
"That's crazy," Seiya said. "The bigmouth that usually makes people mad is me. Hyouga is one of the quiet ones. He never makes any trouble."
Shiryu, still threading strings of popcorn and cranberries, looked up at Shun but said nothing.
Ikki and Hyouga came back in a quarter-hour later. "Did it work?" Shun asked, noting Ikki's scowl.
"No, but it'll be dark by the time the guests arrive," Ikki said brusquely. "They won't care if there's snow or not." He looked up at the decorations. "I guess that's enough." He pointed. "Now hurry up and get those crates out of the way. I'm going to go let Tatsumi out of the cellar and see where he wants the tree to go."
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The remaining hours before the party flew by. A subdued Tatsumi directed the placement of the tree and the remaining firewood, then disappeared into the kitchens with Ikki and Shunrei, leaving the Bronze Saints to finish up the tree.
Hyouga and Shiryu unpacked brightly-colored glass spheres and crystal angels and handed them to Jabu and Hydra, who in turn passed them up to Shun, Seiya, and Nachi, who stood on the ladder hanging ornaments and draping garland while Geki slowly turned the massive tree.
Hyouga found himself glancing too often at Shun – the clean line of his leg as he stood on the ladder, the lean muscles in his arm as he stretched to hang the angels on the tree, the overall glow he seemed to have – or perhaps that was just an effect of the Christmas lights.
Perimeter, he reminded himself. Perimeter.
When it was all done and the empty boxes and bags packed into the wooden crates and whisked away to a closet under the stairs, Seiya said with a grin, "One more thing before we take the ladder back." He pulled a clump of slightly-flattened mistletoe out of his pocket, and handed it to Shun to hold while he moved the ladder next to the arched doorway leading to the mansion's library.
Hyouga, puzzled, watched Shun furtively break off a leaf of the mistletoe and tuck it in his pocket before handing the sprig up to Seiya. When Shun turned around, accidentally meeting Hyouga's eyes, he quickly looked away.
Once the mistletoe was hung – snuggled into the loops of the big red velvet bow above the doorway – the Saints went upstairs to their guest rooms to shower and change for the party.
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An hour later, the mansion was packed with partygoers, most of them Graude Foundation employees. The decorations sparkled, the fireplaces burned merrily, and delicious smells from the kitchen floated through the air. Tatsumi, dressed in formal wear, was expansive and friendly; Ikki was almost smiling, and presiding over all was Saori, elegant and gracious.
Hyouga had been happy to help with the work, but the crowded rooms were too loud, too bright, and too hot for someone so accustomed to the quiet, expansive beauty of glaciers. He slipped outside and began to walk around the side of the mansion, smiling as he noticed that large, soft snowflakes had started drifting down from the cloudy night: it seemed that Ikki would have his white scenery after all. The grass crunched underfoot as he came around to the north side of the mansion, passing the outbuildings clustered around the kitchen entrance. A wintery wind brushed over the landscape, bringing heavier gusts of snow.
As he walked toward the east side of the mansion he saw a dark, pagoda-like shape through the swirls of white, and he wandered down a hill to it. A gazebo, placed to look out over a small pond at sunrise. And even though the pond was frozen, and the moon, if rising, was nowhere to be seen, it still seemed as good a place as any to sit and think.
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"You're not having a good time?" Ikki asked. "You look like someone just killed your … puppy or something."
"Oh no, it's a nice party," Shun assured him as he scanned the room for a head of blond hair.
Ikki leaned in. "You're looking for Hyouga." It wasn't a question.
Shun gasped a little and felt his face turn red.
"Why?" Ikki asked. "What is it about that guy that you think is so fascinating?"
"Because he's my friend," Shun said, but he couldn't look his brother in the eye.
"Friend? Really? I don't see you looking around for Seiya. Or Shiryu. They're your friends too, aren't they?"
Shun finally looked at Ikki, his forehead furrowed. "Why are you being so mean?"
"Shun …" Ikki sounded angry, but just then Saori and Tatsumi came up with some scientist and his wife, who gushed compliments at Ikki about the holiday decorations.
Shun took the opportunity to dive into the crowd, threading his way out of the sitting room and into the foyer. He saw Seiya holding a laughing girl under the red bow that held the mistletoe, and then kissing her cheek, and the sight made him feel sad and angry and … eager, all at the same time.
Eager to find Hyouga.
He ran up the staircase to the empty hall and then stood very still, reaching out delicately with his cosmo, searching for the pure white light of the Southern Cross.
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He heard the light footsteps coming over the snow-dusted ground, and turned to watch Shun's form emerge from the flurries of snow.
"There you are," Shun said, coming around the bench to stand in front of him.
"And here you are," Hyouga said, without thinking lifting his hand to brush the snowflakes from Shun's hair – and then he stopped. This was one of those moments, outside the perimeter, that he could not allow.
"Hyouga," Shun said, bringing his hand up and catching Hyouga's wrist while his other hand dug in the pocket of his jeans. "I've been hoping all week I'd get to do this," he said, and Hyouga's pulse pounded in his throat as Shun held up the tiny dark sprig of mistletoe.
"Shun," Hyouga breathed, warmed by a sudden flood of Andromeda energy as Shun held the mistletoe aloft and leaned down to kiss him, feeling his icy perimeter melt as Shun sat astride him and put his arms around his neck, and finally blazing with joy as they held each other tight and kissed again while all around them the snow danced down and covered the land with wonder.
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~ The end (of the beginning) ~
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Odd as it sounds, this is a side story of sorts for a never-finished Christmas story that the wonderful musouka and I worked on and briefly posted (both in G and M versions :p) back around 2006. Every year during the holiday I've thought about that old story, and this year, I decided to use it as a starting point for this.
(06) 25 dec 2010