A/N- Had kind of a lousy day so to make myself feel better I wrote a little bit of Shiryu/Shunrei fluff.
"Shunrei, I really don't think we have time for this."
"Oh come now Shiryu, stop being such a worry." Shunrei's bright eyes flashed him a teasing smile. Her thick black braid bounced around her shoulders as she dragged him down the busy city sidewalk. "I don't have to be at the airport for another hour, and I told you I wanted to stop here before I went home."
"If you miss your flight it won't be my fault."
"Stuck in Japan with you a little longer? However will I survive?" She laughed at him. "Besides, you're just feeling too manly to be caught in a flower shop."
Shiryu could do nothing but smile and allow himself to continue to be dragged along in the smiling girls' wake.
"Now, where is it?" Shunrei's steps slowed as she looked around uncertainly. "I could have sworn this was where it was."
Shiryu scanned the street with his eyes. About halfway down the street a brightly painted sighn caught his eye. He pointed over Shunrei's shoulder. "Is that it, just down there?" It must have been, if the flowers hanging from its awning were any indication.
Shunrei turned her head to smile up at him. "For someone who didn't want to come, you're pretty useful."
"I never said I didn't want to," Shiryu replied, not really as offended as his words indicated.
"You didn't have to," Shunrei threw over her shoulder as she once again began pulling him down the street. Moments later she was stopping at the door to the flower shop, Shiryu slowing his own steps so he wouldn't run into her.
The gentle tinkling of a bell accompanied their entrance into the shop. A lone woman was inside, watering can in hand as she tended the multitude of plants adorning every available surface.
Shunrei's face lit up brightly as she took in the flowers filling the shop to its eaves. She released his hand to inspect a bushel of pale orange blossoms. She trailed a finger lightly across one petal, then cupped the flower in her hand to inhale its fragrance. " I want something to brighten the garden back home. It's been looking so dull lately."
"You always say that Shunrei," Shiryu said, but she was already moving deeper into the shop, stopping to look at almost every plant as she did so. Shiryu sighed. She really was going to miss her flight if she didn't hurry, but there was no hurrying Shunrei when it came to flowers and her garden. She wouldn't leave the shop until she found exactly what she was looking for.
Realizing he was still standing in the doorway, Shiryu decided to take a few steps into the store. Feeling awkward with Shunrei already lost among the plants, Shiryu inspected the nearest bunch of plants, if only to look busy. He found himself staring at a tray full of long stalked plants, with flowers blooming all along their stems in light pinks and pale yellows.
"Feeling some kinship, are you Shiryu?" Shunrei's light voice was at his ear. Shiryu hadn't even noticed her retuning from the depths of the shop. She stepped closer so she could get a better look at the flowers he'd chosen to busy himself with. "They could remind me of a certain aloof dragon when he's always away."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Shiryu asked, looking down at the top of her head.
One of Shunrei's arms wrapped around his own while she used the other to point at the tag attached to the tray. He couldn't help the small laugh that escaped him. He'd been looking at snapdragons without even realizing it.
"Grab me some of those, please," Shunrei said. Shiryu did as instructed, picking up the tray, only to instantly be dragged further into the store by Shunrei who was clearly not finished. Smiling to himself Shiryu made a mental note to check when the next flight left for China because Shunrei was not making her's today. Not that he minded one bit.