EDIT: Added one line in the summary after I found that the original was misleading. Gah, I don't believe this. Over 100 hits and no one bothered to leave a review? This is quite demoralizing...
Inspired by the cold weather – rain, rain and more rain.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Winter came early that year and was especially harsh. The freezing wind blew non-stop and on more than one occasion, hailstones were mixed in with the falling snow. These rattled the rooftops when they hit, creating leaks in many a household.
The palace staffs were severely shorthanded during these months as the bitter cold caused many to fall sick and impeded the recovery rate. It was worse than the last time (1), but luckily for Masahiro, he remained healthy. The downside was that he had to take over some of his colleague's work while they recuperated. While his sense of duty and youthful energy (and Mokkun teasing him whenever he lagged) maintained him, it was a relief to reach home.
Masahiro blinked. A series of soft knocks against the door sounded again; belatedly he realized that he must have dozed off and that the knocking on his door was repeating itself a third time.
Sitting up from his sprawl on the floor, he called out. "Come in." Or tried to. What came out sounded closer to "Kahhnn", but Akiko must have understood his intended meaning, for the shoji screen slid open.
"Welcome home, Masahiro and Mokkun. I brought tea and snacks." Akiko's statement was followed by the rejuvenating aroma of green tea and steamed buns. Kneeling down beside him and setting out the various plates and mugs, she nodded to herself as though confirming something.
"Mokkun's not in?"
"He weeeent off to see Grandfather." Masahiro grumbled and stretched at the same time, causing his words to stretch with him. As he settled back into a sitting position, he reached for a bun and continued. "It's about the divination we performed today for the upcoming festival. He didn't have to check, my divination has improved! One of these days he wouldn't need to report to Grandfather anymore and then I'll...." The rest of his words disappeared into an indistinct mutter as he popped the bun into his mouth and chewed vigorously. Akiko, well used to this by now, merely smiled and handed him the cup.
"Is it something serious, if he went over immediately?" She wondered aloud.
"Nah, he was just surprised at the results and wanted to double confirm with Grandfather." Adding a few choice words under his breath at the fact that his skills were still in doubt, Masahiro looked at Akiko curiously. "How did you guess that?"
"I noticed that it always was warmer in the room when he had been around. I'm glad he's usually by your side, maybe he also kept the sickness at bay?" Akiko giggled slightly at the mental image.
Although he was struck by her comments, Masahiro had to laugh at the thought of using Mokkun as a shield, with all the germs bouncing off barrier-Mokkun and not getting to him. He was aware that the temperature always dropped slightly when Mokkun wasn't around (which wasn't often), but had dismissed it as a side effect of not shouting at the top of his lungs (a daily occurrence).
Because he was always poking fun at me! Just thinking about all the entertainment Mokkun had at his expense made him glower.
Correctly inferring the turn his thoughts had taken, Akiko looked down and took a sip of tea to hide her growing smile. She had always thought that the Masahiro and Mokkun got along marvelously well with each other, almost like a pair of siblings that would tease each other (albeit rather one sided) and bicker over nothing, but when necessary would not hesitate to put their lives on the line for the other. However, when she mentioned it to them sometime back, the reaction and resulting chaos required Seimei, Kouchin and Rikugou to step in and intervene before the garden caved in. She bit her lip to keep her laughter in. They're not honest at all. Really.
Fortunately, Masahiro was too caught up with stamping out those embarrassing moments within his mind to notice. He visibly twitched a few times before resuming his normal expression with an effort.
"Perhaps," he mused to himself, concentrating on the puzzle to shove those memories away, "Because he's a shikigami? But that couldn't be since there were no such phenomena around the rest of the Shinshou. Unless it's a side effect of his physical manifestation? Or...." He brightened up. "The reason must be due to fire being his element. I'm sure of it!"
Memories successfully forgotten, Masahiro leapt to his feet in a burst of renewed energy and grinned down at the surprised Akiko. "Come on! We're going to test it out!"
"........Test?"
Thus it was that Mokkun found himself swept up and out when he came back, ending up on a bench in the snow covered garden and feeling somewhat squashed between Masahiro and Akiko.
"He-ey! What's this?! Are you two trying to catch a cold?" He wriggled his body experimentally, trying to see if he could extract himself from this uncomfortable position, but discovered to his chagrin that he was stuck fast, unless he resorted to sheer force. That he was reluctant to do so, since Akiko was sitting on his other side. Who was, at the moment, looking out at the white blanket of a garden with shining eyes. When she noticed his gaze on her, she tilted her head slightly to face him and gave gentle smile.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?"
Mokkun paused in his struggling and blinked, then looked out onto the landscape. She's enjoying herself, he thought. There weren't many chances for her to relax this winter, with everyone falling ill. For both of them, in fact. They had more than earned this respite.
But, if she was not here.... he would knock Masahiro flat into the snow for this stupid act. "Fine!" Mokkun huffed, turning to glared balefully up at him. "Don't drag me down with you when you fall sick!"
"No way!" Said target cheerfully ignored the daggers flying his way. "You never fall sick. And it's so rare to be able to enjoy the winter scenery outdoors, without fearing that we would catch a cold. Although we could probably do this as much as we like from now on...."
"Ah? You must have already fallen sick, to be sprouting such delusional nonsense."
Masahiro didn't react to the bait. Instead, he only grinned and ruffled the warm furry head. "I thought you knew. You generate heat, Mokkun. Probably due to the fact that you control fire and all. That's why, we don't feel the cold that much when you're here."
All thoughts of restraint and non-violence vanished at that.
"I'm not a hot water bottle!" Mokkun spluttered, leaping up.
The resulting squabble ensured that Kouchin's quiet chuckles in the trees above them went unheard.
(1) There was one winter scene (early in the Kazane arc, I think) where Masahiro was busy substituting work for the sick.
Well, this took longer than I thought. Glad I made it before winter ended (technically anyways, since my location is an all-year-one-season). I had fun writing this, let me know if you enjoyed reading it too!
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