"Come on! Come out! I'm sure you look great!" A six-year-old Kougyoku enthusiastically shouts to her friend who is, currently, hiding in her closet and it doesn't look as though he has any current plans to come out.
"I don't." Is the bitter retort, followed by a rustling and a loud thud. "I can't even walk!"
The little girl makes a pouty face, even though he can't see it, and she dejectedly sits down and harrumphs, because having Judal as her only friend and playmate is pretty frustrating, especially because he's always looking for a fight, and he never agrees to anyth-
"Fine, here I am. I look stupid, right?"
Kougyoku immediately jumps from her position, and Judal is standing before her, and he's wearing one of her fancier, frillier ceremonial kimonos, and oh, he look so pretty, as though he's Kougyoku's own personal doll. The dress fits him just right, and it's a bright cherry blossom pink with red ruffles, and his inky hair spills around it in dark contrast and he looks nice, but the pissed-off look on his seven-year-old face doesn't look quite right.
"You look so pretty Juu-chan!" She beams, and twirls in her own sunlight yellow kimono. She's positively ecstatic that the older boy is letting her dress him up like this, and she's not going to let him run off immediately, so she grabs something - a brush, with purple paint on it - and creeps up to Judal.
"What's that?" He looks at the brush skeptically, and Kougyoku smiles bright enough to blind him.
"It's makeup!" She happily chirps. "This stuff's paint for your eyes. Hakuei gave it to me, 'cept I don't use it 'cause I'm scared I'll poke my eye out."
Judal's carmine eyes grow wide and his temper flares. "So then why do you think I'll let you put it on me?!" He practically spits at her.
Kougyoku applies her best cutesy smile and says as pleasantly as she can, "Just close your eyes, 'kay?" The little girl is happy when Judal capitulates and eagerly begins applying the makeup - but not too eagerly, God forbid she mess it up. Judal would never let her hear the end of it. It comes out a dark, nearly blackish indigo, but she thinks it looks nice on the older boy, and finishes up. "Now open 'em."
The little boy complies and she's being stared at by bloody irises once again. She beams, then grabs a few of his glossy, thick black locks. "Now for your hair! Want me to braid it?"
Judal tilts his head to the side, showering the floor with inky dark strands, and narrows his eyes in confusion. "...Braid? What's that?"
Kougyoku made circular gestures around her head, indicating the looped braids that the high queen wears. "Gyokuen-sama wears 'em. Hakuei does too, sometimes. She taught me how."
He looks at the ceiling for a moment, as if it takes him that long to remember Gyokuen's favored hairstyle. Then it clicks, and he huffs. Kougyoku's already got him wearing a girl's kimono, and paint on his eyes, so why not let her have her fun and mess with his hair. The little girl wasn't too bad at styling her own hair, for a six-year-old. Judal trusted her enough. He leaned back towards her and he listened to her squeal happily as she cheerfully grabbed a handful of obsidian tresses.
He waits a while, not thinking it would take that long, but it does, and that's irritating.
Kougyoku's flustered, though, because she has no idea what to do with this much hair. Her own fuchsia strand are thin and a little stringy, and they only go down to about her butt, but Judal's hair is thick and there's almost too much of it, and it's spilling all over as she vigorously works at trying to collect it all into the braid that already looks pretty terrible.
"It's done!" She finally says triumphantly, flopping the messy structure that doesn't even remotely resembled Gyokuen's braid over Judal's shoulder. The little boy looks pissed-off again, as he stares at his hair bitterly. Kougyoku runs over to her dresser and brings something back, and hands it to Judal. "It's a fan!"
"Idiot, even I know that much." He hisses, and grabs the fan from her, opening it up. It has a delicate floral pattern on it. Cherry blossoms.
Feeling silly, Judal holds up the fan and flutters it in front of his face, blocking his mouth and nose from view so one could only see those carmine eyes. Kougyoku cheers, and they're both laughing slightly when someone opens the sliding door to Kouygyoku's room.
Its Hakuren, and normally the two would cheer, seeing as he was the most fun of the brothers. Hakuyuu is a poop, as Judal often puts it, what with his stuffy demeanor and high-status, but Hakuren is the fun one of the pair that will play with them on the off occasion should he find his schedule empty.
But right now he stares at the two little children playing around and dressing up, and eyes narrow upon seeing Judal, who is blushing a little harder than the Magi might realize. Hakuren swiftly turns around and utters a quick, "Get him out of those clothes." and tuts off in his own direction, away from the room.
They turn to look at each, blink, and Judal begrudgingly begins to strip. Kougyoku doesn't leave the room, of course.
They're both to young to realize that she should.