"It's fucking COLD!"
Leiko had her arms locked around one of her husband's and huddled against him to steal as much of his body warmth as possible, which seemingly didn't work. She used it as an excuse to hold him closer, and the smile that floated on his lips let her know he knew.
"We'll get you some warmer clothes," he hummed.
She pushed herself against him further.
"Babe!" she whined. "How the fuck do you expect me to wear warmer clothes? Under the armour? You know this thing is form-fitting."
"Well maybe you should've thought about that before you got it made. It's not like you didn't know you'd be travelling the world!" he countered while the smile didn't leave his face.
It did make her feel a little bit warmer. Mostly, as she stared at the pleasant fold of his lips, it bared a smile on her own and heated her cheeks. She buried her face against his arm and the fur lining his armour.
"It's not fair. Your armour is like, all-season."
She rubbed her face on the fur.
"So soft!"
He had a chuckle and a sigh all at once, an expression she knew all too well. It generally meant something like fine, I give up, and in this instance that meant he turned to face her and gathered her form against his chest, wrapping his arms around her. It gave him pause.
"Wow. You are shivering."
She lifted her face to look at him, but never moved to separate from him. The smile hadn't left her face even if it had his, and fondness bloomed in her eyes when she watched worry fold his eyebrows.
"Well, I wasn't lying just to get a hug," she said. "If I wanted that, I'd have just asked."
He didn't grow less worried.
"We'll have to get you a cloak, at least. But that's just a temporary solution. We have to make your armour more cold-friendly. We might be here a while, and you never know when we'll have to work somewhere cold again."
Before, when he'd talked about going to Lumi and staying there for a long time, he'd get annoyed, or at least bothered. Now, it was as if he'd forgotten all of that – just because she was cold. The knowledge, the feeling overwhelmed her, and she couldn't help but squirm to release her arms and reach up to hold his face.
"I'll be fine," she assured in a soft voice. He stared for a moment, his worry very slowly melting away.
She pushed to stand on the tip of her toes.
"Hey," she whispered now that she'd managed to get herself closer to his face. "I love you."
A smile he couldn't help broke out on his face. She brought his face down and laid a kiss on his lips. He leaned into it gently, and when she pulled back he didn't bother to do the same.
"I love you too," he breathed, and it warmed her lips.
She slid her arms from his face to behind his neck and locked her hands together there. A shiver ran through him where her cold fingers laid on her skin.
"We really need to get you some gloves."
She laughed.
They'd been flying on the boat for a while now. Lumi was a medium-sized town (much larger than Yatori, but much smaller than Dundorma) in the mountains, known for its cold, snowy winters and its large merchant community. If a product came from this region, chances were it passed through Lumi at some point.
Leiko knew two things about the town apart from that: Akio was from there, and he had somewhat of a strained relationship with his family, who lived there. She hadn't pressed him about the subject, because he clearly didn't want to talk about it. Not because it was a tough subject (he'd have told her about that), just because it didn't bother him much. At least, that's the impression she got – and, as his wife, she'd gotten pretty good at reading him, if she did say so herself.
Their assignment there didn't exactly weigh on his mind, but it did slightly bother him. She hoped for his sake that they would be out of there soon. But, as was the work of the Ace Hunters, she doubted it would be that easy.
At least they'd get to work with Yuki and Kanta again. If she wasn't particularly fond of the man (although she didn't have anything against him specifically), the knowledge that Yuki would be there was plenty to make up for it. And she was happy for Hana, too, who'd get to see her wife again.
She'd heard that Kyoko would be around as well, and that made her very glad. They hadn't had much time to hang out when she'd come along with the Guild fleet when they'd fought that army of Velociprey, and Leiko was looking forward to hunting with the Kindred Hunter again.
They'd written to each other, but Kyoko apparently didn't like to talk about her feelings on paper, so they hadn't had any actually serious discussions. Leiko wanted to check up. Their being apart for so long had her realize that she truly, deeply cared for Kyoko.
All of those things had been on Leiko's mind on the past few days, ever since snow had begun gracing the Unaaq's bow. Now that Lumi was coming into view, the thoughts bloomed within her mind and trickled down into apprehension and excitement at the bottom of her stomach. She reached out for Akio's hand and appreciated the warmth on her cold fingers, then looked back and met eyes with Hana with a wide smile. The Gunner didn't react.
The Unaaq docked at the bustling port of Lumi to join dozens of other boats. Leiko ran her gaze over the hustling crowd to try and find a familiar face.
She glanced to Akio, who apparently had. He made a face and she softly squeezed his hand.
The foot he laid onto the docks carried much the same kind of weight Leiko remembered bearing when they went to Yatori, if slightly subdued. She obediently followed his lead as he weaved through the crowd, the rest of the Aces also at his heels.
And then he stood there, his shoulders squared and his chin lifted, in front of two people.
Leiko immediately noticed the resemblance between Akio and his siblings. There was a woman, tall (taller than Akio, even!), with the same platinum blonde hair and familiar features. And, besides her, a short man with black hair, ever so slightly taller than Leiko, sharing with Akio the shape of his eyes and the cut of his jaw.
They all stood there staring at each other for a moment.
"It's been a long time, Akio."
"It has."
His sister having spoken first seemed to alleviate some of the discomfort from Akio's shoulders, and he turned to gesture to his companions assembled.
"You've met Hana," he begun. "As well as Hideaki. That is Haru, my pupil. And this is my wife, Leiko."
Akio's sister's eyes widened suddenly.
"Your wife?"
He didn't avert his gaze, but Leiko felt the shock pass through him and shake his composure.
"You're married?" his sister insisted.
Leiko knew he hadn't invited his family to their wedding. They'd talked about that. But the fact that they hadn't even been informed that it was happening was news to her.
She shot him a look, but kept it all in for now. They'd discuss this later.
"Well, uh, yes," was Akio's only excuse.
His sister stared at him. Then, she took in a sharp breath and let out a long sigh, settling the indignation that had begun to take her features.
"You... Ugh. Fine."
He averted his gaze, looked over his companions, then met eyes with Leiko and some of the unease in his irises let up. They had a quiet conversation for a moment which he ended with something like Sorry.
"So, everyone... That's my sister, Miyuki, and my brother, Shigeo."
Leiko untangled their fingers and took a step forward to offer her hand for her siblings-in-law to shake. She offered a fierce smile to try and compensate for the fact that they didn't actually know she existed until just a moment ago.
"It's nice to meet you," she said.
Both siblings had a firm handshake, although only Shigeo actually shared her smile. Afterwards, Haru stepped up to offer a hand too.
They all hovered a bit awkwardly around each other after that. Finally, Miyuki took a step back to disengage from the conversation (although it could hardly be called that).
"Well, we'll let you guys settle in with the town chief."
"We will. Thank you for coming to welcome us."
Miyuki pursed her lips but nonetheless gave a small nod. One more step back and she left, Shigeo at her heels.
Leiko spun to face Akio.
"Babe..."
"We'll talk later. We have to go check in with the town chief."
She sighed and shook her head but reached to grab his hand anyway. He briefly turned to Hana, Hideaki and Haru.
"You should go find your wife, Hana. The rest of you, well, you're welcome to come with us or not."
The Gunner's eyes twinkled although her expression remained neutral, and Leiko couldn't help a smirk. Hideaki chose to follow her, and Haru broke off to go and find Kyoko and the Caravan.
As far as Leiko knew, Akio hadn't been to Lumi in several years – perhaps longer than she'd stayed out of Yatori. Yet he still seemed to know the streets well enough to navigate them without trouble, and they soon found themselves in front of a large building.
They went in, settled their affairs with the woman leading this town (and with the Guild representative), then headed back out.
Going back to the cold sent a long shiver crawling along Leiko's spine, and she closed her teeth so that they wouldn't chatter. Akio extended an arm to drape it around her shoulders and brought her against himself.
"Oh, darling. We really should get you some warmer clothes."
"Don't play innocent with me, babe. Please."
He made a face, but didn't retract his embrace – neither did she get out of it.
"I know, but I'm not. I won't try to weasel out of this. But you do need warmer clothes, and it's more urgent than you would think."
She sighed, melting slightly into his embrace and letting her head fall on his shoulder.
"You're impossible."
He squeezed her softly against himself.
"I know."