Kiku giggled excitedly as she let the snow dust her upturned face and smiled eagerly at the newfound significance of the year. She had heard of the concept from her father. He told her all that he had learned from the outsiders he sheltered in his lands of this special occasion. Some foreign missionaries who had traveled far from the west had brought it here from their country. The few Europeans granted entrance here in her county quietly celebrated this religious tradition every time this year…or so she was told…
They held strange, outlandish practices for this special…she searched for the word they had used…holiday! They would bring a tree within their homes to decorate them with these delicate ornaments. And then underneath would place these…presents wrapped in paper and ribbons. These presents were part of some sort of gift giving ritual that occurred annually at this time of year.
Her father told her also of the songs, tales and other peculiar customs that they practiced just for this holiday. Like mistletoe…what strange magic it held. And then the wonderful spirits that graced this day! Angles, elves and this Santa…Kulasu…It was the like the festivals that were held here at the castle! If only they could celebrate such a wondrous occasion here as well! The princess smiled at the vision and began to dance in excitement beneath the dying storm clouds.
She spun in dizzying twirls, laughing up at the heavens, until she had started swaying unsteadily, the pull of gravity quickly taking hold. She had begun to fall when she felt her back being firmly supported by two strong hands. Somewhat startled she looked up and then sheepishly grinned into the impassive face of Rikimaru staring back down at her. Underneath his mask he gave her a curious frown before setting her upright again. The princess quickly turned to face him.
"Rikimaru!" she cried and wrapped herself around his midsection, her arms barely encircling his more massive torso. Rikimaru, surprised by her sudden outburst, had raised his arms from his sides. He hesitated slightly before returning the young girl's affections with a brief squeeze of her small shoulders.
She was soon laughing again when she released him from her childish embrace and then promptly threw herself into the snow anyways. Rikimaru gave a small sigh of annoyance at the sight. He had turned to leave when the princess called out to him.
"Rikimaru!" she called.
He turned and stood aghast as he watched the girl rolling in the snow. She was then lying flat on her back and had swung her arms and legs along the ground's surface, scrapping away the powdery substance in a repetitive motion. After some time she sat up satisfied and skipped off to one side to study her latest creation in the snow. She waved at Rikimaru to summon him closer to come and join her.
"Come here! See what I have done!"
He silently padded over next to where the princess sat squatting, wondering what could have possessed her to such aberrant behavior and then looked down to see the strange impression left behind in the snow. It was the girl's contour, but had triangular forms replacing what would have been her arms and legs. The bases of these triangles ended, curving into graceful arcs. He raised a questioning brow as Kiku clasped her hands in delight. Rikimaru couldn't help but to ask.
"What's it supposed to be?" She looked up at him in surprise.
"Didn't father tell you?" He shook his head not understanding.
"It's a snow angel!" She explained easily as if he should have known from the start. She gestured to the imprint and described the form. "It's wearing a kimono, see?" He nodded. "And these are its wings! Isn't it wonderful?" Before he could respond she entwined her diminutive fingers around his bigger ones and had begun to pull on them.
"Let's go show it to Onee-chan!"
He found himself reluctant but at the sight of her endearing smile he soon acquiesced. She then took off in a delighted pace, her feet kicking up a flurry of flakes and crunching the icy crystals together beneath them and trailing a resigned Rikimaru after her in her footsteps.
They had looked all around the manor, but could not find the missing kunoichi upon the premises. This did not seem to deter the princess much as they peeked into every room, and peered up at every rooftop, shuffling across the wooden boards and verandas as they sprinted around the structure. The castle guards would smile as they watched the pair with interest, entertained by the antics of the princess and her ninja, but saying nothing of their thoughts remained faithful to their posts. Occasionally though some paused long enough to ask exactly what the couple were seeking for or just to give the princess a friendly pat on the head before passing on to their duties or patrols. The pair eventually ran into Sekiya in their search, the princess coming to an abrupt halt at the brief glimpse of the old family advisor passing by.
"Oji-chan!" she called out affectionately. The old man had slowed to a stop and waited for Kiku to join him. He even obliged the young girl by bending down a little at the knees so as to talk to her eye to eye. She caught up to him huffing in excitement.
"Have you seen Onee-chan?" Kiku asked, raising hopeful eyes to the old servant. He had stopped to ponder this for a moment and seemed to attain some kind of response that perhaps he had. However, in that same moment he appeared to reconsider his words before he shook his head in apology.
"I'm sorry, Princess. I do not recall ever seeing Ayame today." She bowed her head slightly in disappointment.
"I see...Thank you, Oji-chan!" She ran off again towing along a more decidedly unenthusiastic Rikimaru behind her. Sekiya carefully covered his smile of amusement before continuing on his way.
After some more time spent in fruitless search around the castle, the princess had begun to fret. They had already scrutinized the whole fortress, within every room more than once, having taken more than one lap around the perimeter.
"Where could she be?"
Kiku sat in the snow again the middle of the courtyard not too far from her snow creation mulling over her predicament. The princess pouted as she thought while Rikimaru crouched dutifully nearby, still trying to decipher the "angel". She then seemed to suddenly brighten as something dawned upon her.
"I think I know where she is!" She set off again. Amidst her excitement Rikimaru found he had no time to ask where this latest revelation was leading them. So he kept silent as he followed his little charge and tried to keep pace with her mounting speed, focusing upon not overcoming her small footfalls.
She led Rikimaru to the end of the secluded courtyard and stopped at the wall. The princess took a cursory look at their surroundings, scanning as if making sure that they were alone. She motioned for Rikimaru to lower himself to her height. He did so and noticed her anxiety. She was still determining the degree of their privacy when she spoke to him in a low, furtive manner.
"You have to promise me to keep this a secret and to never tell anyone that I found this," she decreed. Her childish features were solemn; it had looked alien on her normally cheery facade. It immediately seized his attention. She was wringing her hands now apprehensively.
"If father or anyone else finds out about this I could get into a lot of trouble." The possibility of such a scenario becoming a terrible reality truly seemed to frighten her. She clasped her hands tightly together. "So…can you keep a secret?" Her tone was nearly pleading at this point and Rikimaru sighed once again. Another secret. Another promise. Unequivocally one of the more easily fulfilled demands upon his honor and he nearly smiled at how seriously the girl held him to this oath. Still, he gave her a curt nod and reassuringly covered her hands with his own. He made a firm grip to their joined hands and gave a slight bow of his head. He locked his gaze level to her eyes before he spoke.
"I swear, Princess," he intoned solemnly and gently released her hands. Convinced of his vow to secrecy, Kiku let out a sigh of relief and the smile returned to her face.
She made a small nod of approval. "Good."
"Now," she whispered inconspicuously. "Make sure nobody's looking okay?" She turned her back to him as she felt along the ground, her palms sifting through the snow blanketing the frozen ground. Her face scrunched up in concentration in her task.
Rikimaru did as he was told and kept on the lookout spreading his senses to locate any nearby individual ki. Every now and then he would glance down behind him, curious as to what she was searching for. It was not long before the girl gave a small noise of triumph. She nudged Rikimaru to help her lift something and he smoothly obliged easily raising the handle of some concealed door. It was made of timber, however, had been cleverly disguised by its maker with a thin layer of earth and false foliage attached to the wooden surface. The entry had revealed a hole that bottomed out a few feet below the ground level before leading into a well-constructed tunnel. Rikimaru privately wondered when she had discovered this hidden passage when she had begun to lower herself into the opening with the ease of familiarity. She had motioned for him to follow before disappearing into the shadows. He gave one last sigh and brief glance at his surroundings before he dropped into the crawl space, making sure to close the door behind him.
Rikimaru found the space surprisingly less enclosed than previous thought. He was able to crawl without having to hunch his shoulders doing so. In the dark he heard the princess' soft breathing and the rustle of her elongated sleeves draping across the floor ahead of him. Never once did he hear her pace falter. It was as he had suspected from her confidence from when she had first plopped herself in at the surface, this was not her first experience down this path. As if to confirm his assumptions true, her voice broke the monotony of their silent trek through the darkness.
"It's just a little farther now…"
Some handful of minutes passed before Rikimaru's sharp hearing detected Kiku slowing to a stop. He soon heard the sound of her small hands patting along the face of something lying in front of her. It was followed by some small grunt of effort and the girl seemed to struggle with some obstacle. Blindly reaching out next to him, Rikimaru tried to edge along the space to try and assist the girl. Fortunately, it was revealed to be unnecessary. The princess had managed to push out the door that had been sealing the exit.
They both trudged carefully out of the passage. Exposed into the cold mid-afternoon sunlight, Rikimaru waited for his eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness before trying to judge exactly how far from the castle the passage had brought them. The exit had shown that it was a fair distance from the outer castle walls. The hole being further concealed behind a small slope to allow for stealthy treading across the guarded territory unnoticed. Rikimaru gave silent appraisal to the creator of the passage. It was well placed and thought out. A possible security liability if ever discovered by Lord Gohda's more undesirable "guests". He then looked down and watched as the princess pat herself down, succeeding in only smearing more dirt on her once pristine attire. When she was done she smiled up at him. Rikimaru smiled back.
After they had resealed the tunnel and carefully concealed whatever tracks or disturbances made, the princess led them to the closest perceivable landmark, a small region of bamboo forest. He felt an eerie sense of foreboding fill him as he looked upon the tall, willowy shapes of the wood before him. His bouncing charge seemed unaware of his discomfort.
"Onee-chan must be here!" And before he had time to make any sort of objections she was running again.
They had quickly traced their way onto a well-worn path through the small wood. Rikimaru occasionally taking lead to navigate around the several traps or pitfalls left as a safety precaution against invading troops from other neighboring territories. He would from time to time have to swing them over a particularly wide gap in their path, leaving the princess squealing in delight.
Kiku had soon begun to slow down as they neared a small-secluded enclosure of forest.
He could perceive from the illuminating steam rising from behind the incline just beyond them that they were nearing their objective. Faintly he could hear the sound of the lapping water and splashes upon the stones. And for the first time since their little excursion Rikimaru held the princess back. She looked back, confused at his reluctance.
"I don't think I should go with you any further..." He said softly hoping unwelcome ears were not hearing his words. Kiku waited for him to continue as he tried to delicately extract himself from impending disaster. "I'll just wait for you to come back with her." The princess tilted her head off to one side. Her volume was louder than what would have been preferred when she spoke. Rikimaru inwardly winced; he knew how sensitive his comrade's hearing was.
"Why?" she inquired simply.
Rikimaru paused contemplating how he would explain propriety of the situation to her before giving up. "She wouldn't be happy to see me right now..." he replied vaguely. The girl seemed shocked and concerned at this.
"Did you do something to make Onee-chan mad?" she whispered quietly looking up at him with wide eyes full of understanding; it wouldn't have been the first time such had occurred. He looked away at this and seemed to consider something before answering.
"No..." He admitted slowly and was suddenly hesitant, wondering what he should say to make her understand. The princess though relieved was even more confused than before. She was, however, still not satisfied with this response and asked that ever-infuriating word again with another question.
"Why...? Don't you want to see Onee-chan?" she asked surprised at his behavior. She sensed his uncertainty.
He then caught the train of some hummed melody drifting upon the cool winter breeze. Rikimaru looked up, instantly recognizing the owner's voice. It made him pause and he found himself listening. He'd never heard her sing before. Her usual brash tenor was now soft, almost serene. In that moment he nearly flinched. He did want to see her. However, he was unable to articulate this to the princess. At his silence Kiku took advantage of this opportunity of drag him the last small gap of the distance to their destination.
They both nearly stumbled into the hot spring though Kiku did not seem too concerned at the prospect of a possible drenching. Rikimaru tried to turn away from the spring's occupant but discovered that he could not.
Ayame had just broken the water's surface, her head lifting out as she lunged to the opposite shore from where the two were standing. Rikimaru couldn't help but to notice she had let her hair down from the severe ties she had always held them in. She was now standing in the shallows revealing her back to them as she combed her fingers idly through the wet strands. Rivulets of water flowed down the contours of her lithe figure. He had suddenly realized that he was staring and finally managed to turn away, ashamed that he had not done so sooner. The princess called out to her.
"Onee-chan!"
She turned, the water droplets flying forming a crystalline aura about her form. Ayame smiled at her little sister from across the small pond.
"Kiku!" she cried, pleasantly surprised. Her smile faded as she noticed the girl had not come alone.
"Rikimaru?" she said incredulous. She saw his back stiffen nearly imperceptibly at the sound of his name. He turned his head only slightly in her direction if only to let his voice carry over the distance between them.
"Ayame...I'm sorry...I...the princess..." he stumbled over his words trying to explain his presence. He could not see Ayame's expression as he floundered, but Kiku watched her older sister's reaction with interest.
At first the initial surprise had already faded from her features and changed to indignant fury. She had crossed her arms over her chest and appeared to be waiting for Rikimaru to finish explaining himself. Her expression suggesting that there better be a good reason for intruding upon her bath or she was going to raise hell. But as she had begun to listen to his nervous rambling the angry mask had begun to fracture at the edges a little. It was small at first, but there was a curl, a smirk of amusement at the corner of her mouth. It then looked as if she was trying desperately to maintain the furious expression, her lips and sides trembling as she suppressed some terrible surge of emotion. And it seemed she might have succeeded in controlling it if Kiku did not start giggling herself. The dam burst at the cracks and Ayame had started chuckling...and then it transformed into a full-fledged chorus of laughter leaving her holding her sides. Ayame faintly heard Rikimaru ceasing his ranting long enough to notice she was not angry anymore.
Ayame tried to speak between fits of laughter, but was failing miserably. She could have sworn as she tried to restrain herself that she saw Rikimaru's face flushing briefly in humiliation, which only resulted in her falling back into more hysterics. When she finally calmed down enough, only the occasional snort of amusement slipped into her speech as she spoke.
"You," she breathed, "are one unpredictable bastard, you know that Rikimaru." She carefully watched his reaction from behind as he raised his lowered head in confusion. She smiled when she took in the disheveled appearances of the two standing before her.
"I see Kiku has taken you on a little bit of an adventure. In fact," she paused sizing them both up, "you both look like you could use a bath yourselves," she chuckled. Ayame gave the little girl a hearty grin as she swam over to where Kiku and Rikimaru were still standing. "So tell me," she asked conversationally as she looked up at the princess. Ayame leaned up against the shore and rested folded forearms upon the rocks, "what did ya do to make him agree?" Kiku beamed and began excitedly retelling every detail to her older sister. Ayame was still inwardly laughing at the concept of such a dainty, little girl dragging around a nearly full grown man when the princess finished relating an enthusiastic, if not muddled, account of their 'modest' escapade.
Rikimaru never once turned to peek back over his shoulder throughout the duration of the tale, his back ramrod straight with nervous tension. Ayame was enjoying every minute of his discomfort; it wasn't often when she witnessed such an event. Serves the pervert right anyways. Ayame stretched and noticed the length of the shadows along the forest floor. She's been in this bath long enough.
"All right, Kiku," she declared brightly. "Since you've come all this way, how's about I go back with you to see this angel after I, of course," she pointedly glared at Rikimaru's back, "get dressed." She said these last two words loudly, deliberately emphasizing each syllable. Ayame privately added another point on her scorecard as she watched him flinching at her words, reveling in the power she held at the moment. It made for a nice future trump card and she was going to abuse it while she still had the chance.
"Go wait behind the hill over there until I'm ready okay?" She waved and the princess nodded and began to skip away when Ayame suddenly smiled as she thought of something else. "Oh, and take that slack-jawed baka with you too while you're at it," she drawled, referring to a nearly stricken Rikimaru.
Author's Notes: A little abrupt at the ending, huh? Sorry about that. It was getting a little long on me as originally this was supposed to be a simple one shot. Personally, I didn't quite know where to go on from there ;p Though to me it kind of feels like a good place to stop. I might keep going on with this if I can remember exactly what I wanted to do with it--;;
I tried to keep the Japanese on the sparse side. Hopefully that doesn't take away from the story. Oh, and in case you guys were wondering…I couldn't really think of a good title so I came up with something cheesy. The title translates to "Pure White" for the snow obviously ;p It sounded better in Japanese anyway.
Santa Clause of course! With the oh so perfect Engrish accent ;p At this point of Japanese history Christians were pursecuted. Therefore not exactly the best thing to go blurting out. Then again it was bad to be a foreigner in general back then...with a few exceptions of course. I'm not sure if the concept of ol' St. Nick or snow angels were around this time, but I thought it was something fun to throw in just for the heck of it ;p Happy Holidays peeps!