Shoot me now. I'm out of excuses. My update schedule idea was a complete and utter fail. And unfortunately, I'm in town right now, so this is all I can give you guys. FLUFFY ONE-SHOT! All right, I know I usually fail at fluff. (Mostly because I don't even try. XD) So I tried my best this time! (No, this does not mean lemon, you sickos.) I don't think it ended up that bad...what do you think, Celia?
...Celia?
Celia: *hiding under bed*
*face/palm* Everyone's a critic. All right, since there's not much else to say, on with the one-shot!
"Why the heck wasn't I informed of this earlier?" I muttered, pacing back and forth on the Moon Turret. My hand was practically glued to my forehead due to a combination of concentration and outright panic. "Yeah, I'm thankful that Shami gave me the power to transform whenever I want to. But couldn't she have mentioned a bit earlier that the people in Nippon celebrate Christmas? I mean, come on! This is ancient Japan! I didn't think they'd celebrate the day of Jesus' birth!" I sat down on the wooden platform, heaving a sigh. "All right, gifts. Gifts would be good. Gifts on short notice usually fail, but at least I won't feel guilty...even though it's not my fault."
"Need any help?" A voice asked.
"Yeah, help would be nice, Ms. Procrastinator." I glared at the wolf in front of me. Even though she was half-transparent, her golden fur seemed to gleam in the sunlight and her blue markings almost glowed.
She gave a wolfish shrug. "Hey, you came here on your second day of Christmas break. Don't blame me. Do you want me to take back your gift?"
"...you win." I grumbled. "I won't have time to get gifts for everyone I've met. I'm thinking just Ammy and Issun."
"What, no presents for the dead friend?" Shami pouted with an obvious smirk.
"I'll get back to you on that when I can think of something you don't need to be alive to enjoy. But being serious, you've known Ammy a lot longer than I have. What do you think she'd like?"
"There isn't that much you can get for a wolf." Shami pointed out, but she took a second to think about it. A grin suddenly came to her face. "Hey, try a chew toy."
"Nice try, comedian. Come on, she's your mom! And I'd really like some help on this!" This was about as close to begging as I'd ever get. Readers, there is your gift.
"I could go say hi to her and tell her it was your idea."
"Seriously?" My ears perked up in interest. All right, so Shami wasn't powerful enough to let me transform completely. I still had wolf ears and a tail, so I was pretty much an anthro at the moment. But hey, beggars can't be choosers. "I'd hug you right now if you weren't a ghost."
The wolf laughed. "Yeah, well, your gratitude is all I need... dear Yomigami, that sounded way cheesier than I thought it would."
"Yeah, it did." I agreed with a smile. "But hey, I guess you can defend yourself with the excuse 'I'm Ammy's daughter.'"
"Well, speaking of, I guess I'd better go give her the Christmas gift now. See ya!" Shami said before disappearing. Only a second later I remembered I still had another present to decide on.
"...This should be interesting."
"Okay, it's already sunset and I have yet to think of anything." I complained quietly to myself. The present exchanging stuff had already happened earlier. Ammy gave Issun a replica of the Lucky Mallet (Where or even how she got her paws on it was beyond me.) and gave me a new weapon. It was a purple glaive that looked like it was made out of crystal and sort of changed colors in the light. It was pretty cool, to say the least. Ammy had received, obviously, the visit from Shami and a picture from Issun.
Staring at the celestial brush in my hand, I couldn't help but feel guilty about not being able to get a gift for the annoying little poncle. Yes, I said celestial brush and not paintbrush like I normally do. Guess what I had received from everyone's favorite helping character? I clutched the present tighter in my left hand. Then a thought crossed my mind. It was possibly the dumbest idea I had ever come up with in my entire life. Not to mention it was cliché beyond all reason. Even more so than the comment Shami made back on the Moon Turret.
"Hey, Silver!"
"Speak of the devil." I muttered under my breath. Timing, could you be any worse? Girl trying to have a debate with herself over here. Adding the cause of the problem doesn't help in the least.
"What're you doin' in Sasa Sanctuary?" Issun (The size of a normal human, I might add.) questioned, weaving his way through the bamboo stalks to reach me.
"I could ask you the same thing." I countered and crossed my arms.
He just shrugged. "Ammy and I were looking all around Nippon for you. She wondered where you went."
"I don't need to be babysat." I snapped, glaring at the poncle. "If anyone needs that, it's you."
Issun held up his hands in surrender. "Whoa, whoa. Calm down, all right? It's Christmas. Let's not argue for once."
I stared at him. "Us? Not argue? What have you been smoking lately, bug boy?" I saw the annoyance and anger flash in his eyes, but he actually seemed determined with the whole 'getting along' idea. I sighed and shook my head. "Okay, fine. You're insane, but I guess I'll go with it. Only because today is a holiday." I told him. "And by the way, thanks for the celestial brush."
"No problem." He shrugged again and went quiet. I narrowed my eyes at him. He seemed...to put it simply, out of character. It was starting to creep me out.
"All right, what's wrong?" I questioned.
"Y'know, you never gave me a gift." Issun pointed out.
"All right. Well, what do you want? Because I've been trying to think of something all day and so far I've got nothin'." I saw an evil look flash on his face for a second and face/palmed. "Yeah, not happening, buddy. Try something else." At least he's back to his normal self...I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing...
"Would a love declaration be too much to ask?" He questioned with a smirk.
"Hmm...I dunno. Ask again later and we'll see." I said with an eye roll. "Now seriously. Something reasonable. And it'd be nice if we could get off this topic."
"Why? Trying to dodge the subject?"
"N-no." Thank you, brain, for failing me now of all times! Seriously! I appreciate it! Merry Christmas to you, too! Issun's smirk just seemed to grow and quite a few swear words went through my mind. In all honesty, I think I made about half of them up right then and there.
"Right. Sure you aren't." He agreed with an eye roll of his own.
"I never knew you were capable of sarcasm, Issun!" I gasped and started clapping. My face turned bright red when Issun suddenly put his hand on mine. He came closer to me until his body was pressed against mine. I felt like I was frozen and couldn't move at all.
"You're still dodging it...and I think that's not the only thing you're tryin' to dodge." He whispered in my ear.
"And what do you think I'm evading, exactly?" I questioned, trying to keep a level head and ignore the rapid beating of my heart.
"Your feelings, maybe?" He pressed his forehead against mine and all I could do was stare into his eyes. They had a hint of seriousness in them, but I could still easily detect the humor and mischief that was always present. There was something else... No, no, no. That's totally impossible. This is Issun. The perverted, simple-minded, idiotic player of a poncle. And this day really doesn't need any more cliché moments.
"Maybe." I agreed softly while my organs all morphed into one giant trampoline. A second later I was scolding myself. What was I saying? I swear I didn't mean to say that out loud. Was I even thinking it? I just said it automatically...
Remember how I mentioned blushing, my heart beating quickly, and my organs going all crazy on me? Yeah, it all got much, much worse when I felt Issun's lips on mine. And even though I normally hated all three of those things, I have to admit...I kind of enjoyed them at that moment. I closed my eyes and just let myself forget about everything else. I felt so happy at that moment I can't even begin to describe it. The kiss was surprisingly gentle...I know assumptions aren't that great, but I really didn't expect it from Issun. I wrapped my arms around his neck and the kiss became more passionate.
Yeah, don't get too over-confident, bug boy, I thought before I pulled away, although I still kept my face close to his.
"And there's your present. Merry Christmas." I told him with a smirk.
"Aw, no love declaration?" Issun pouted.
"Greedy, greedy!" I teased, giving a small laugh. He returned it with a smile. "All right, fine. I love you." I lowered my voice for those last three words, amazed I had actually said them.
"I knew it!" He bragged happily.
"Okay, so you were right... this must be a monumental occasion for you." I could tell the comment slightly ticked him off and smiled. "Issun, just shut up and kiss me again."
He seemed a little shocked, but it went away as quickly as it had appeared. "Sure thing, babe!" As he leaned forwards to do that, I just put a finger in front of his lips.
"Yeah, never call me that again."
Celia: *glances up at writing and faints*
Hehe...my job here is done. Merry Christmas, everyone!