A/N:
Hails: I certainly took a year to get this Christmas one-shot out. Oh, well. Hope you all like RinShi! I've never written about them before, shocker!
There were two things Rin had learned in the past five years.
One, he was absolutely clueless about what girls wanted.
Two, Yukio was absolutely clueless about what girls wanted and no one should ever ask him for romantic advice.
Rin put his head in his hands and let out a helpless groan.
"Okay, so… maybe it's not the best idea ever."
"No shit, Yukio!"
Said idea in question involved snagging one of the special keys from Mephisto and taking Shiemi to the gorgeous Giardino Dei Cieli, the secret garden hidden in a pocket dimension somewhere in Vatican City. To be fair, Yukio wasn't aware of the bitter memories Shiemi had shared with Rin about what had happened there. When she was nothing but a tabula rasa meant to mindlessly serve Shemihaza. He couldn't expect Yukio to be that emotionally sensitive when he only knew the surface of what she'd suffered.
"Okay, okay," Rin said, turning his back. "I can do this. I can figure something out."
"Well, when you do, I hope for her sake it's not over-the-top ridiculous," Yukio said, standing up from his place at the cafeteria table. "I may not know her as well as I used to but I do know she likes subtle."
With that, Yukio rounded the corner and was out of sight. Grimacing and grumbling, Rin shoved the kitchen door open and went to work. His head always worked better once he went into a post-mind-muddle cooking haze. Who knew, maybe the answer would lie in food.
Rin reached forward and turned the radio on. It blared loud and cheery music that filled the air while Rin washed his hands while absently looking at a recipe for cherries jubilee. Shiemi liked that, maybe he could make more tomorrow.
As Rin worked, he absently hummed to the radio's sweet sound.
"We'll be singing the songs we love to sing, without a single stop~ At the fireplace when we watch the chestnuts pop. Pop! Pop! Pop!"
He mixed the cherries, careful of the rum on the stovetop. Rin had used his flames to cook before but only seldom due to complications with the True Cross Order. Shura had been legally obligated to warn him of the dangers that his flippant use of flames could cause after a close miss with disaster during a Vatican dinner party.
The rum went up in a fiery blue column that Rin had to tame. As he added the cherries to the sauce, Kuro made himself known and leapt onto the counter with a soft mew.
"Whatcha making Rin?"
"Dessert. To most likely be eaten tomorrow," Rin answered simply. He allowed himself a few moments of rest while the sauce cooled. He stretched, leaning up against the counter with a worn out yawn. "And no, you can't have any." He finished, sticking out his tongue.
Kuro made a face of ire. "Why noooooot?"
"Because it's for me and Yukio," Rin said, pointing an accusatory finger at the Cat Sith. "And because the last time I let you have anything with cherries in it you got sick and I had to take you to vet. Didn't you hear the way the doctor yelled at me or were you too zonked out on drugs?"
"Riiiiiiin!" Kuro whined.
"La la la la la! I can't hear you!" Rin sang, turning back towards the fridge. "Our cheeks are nice and rosy and comfy cozy are we! We're snuggled up together like two birds of a feather would be!"
While Kuro sulked and glared at his master, Rin continued to croon like a Christmas caroler in the snow. "Let's take that road before us and sing a chorus two. Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with yooooou~"
Rin was laughing at Kuro's pout as he scooped vanilla ice cream into a couple dainty glass bowls when a thought hit him.
"Sleigh Ride…" He trailed off. As the thought multiplied and formed in his head, he grew more excited until he was practically flailing. "Sleigh ride. Sleigh ride! Kuro!"
"I know already, Rin. I can't have any," The Cat Sith growled.
"No, Kuro, sleigh ride!" Rin exclaimed. "I've got a brilliant idea. I need your help."
"What's in it for me?"
Rin rolled his eyes. Ever since Mephisto encouraged Kuro to start asking for things in return for his indenture to Rin, the little scheming devil rarely ever did anything for free anymore. He supposed it was within Kuro's nature as a demon anyway.
"I'll make you something special," Rin promised.
Kuro sat up a little straighter.
"Rin, where on Earth are we going?"
The biting chill of Winter nipped Shiemi's cheeks as Rin led her along. Prior to the proclaimed surprise he mentioned after getting out of a debriefing, he had tied a blindfold around her eyes, leaving her to wonder what exactly Rin had in store for her. They had gone from the warm corridor of the True Cross Consultation Center to the busy city sidewalks somewhere in town and each clue leading up to the mystery of their date had her badgering him with questions. Yet Rin merely answered them with a mischievous "you'll see" and a light kiss on the nose.
"Just hang on a little bit longer, we're like ten steps away!"
"I'm going to start counting the steps and if we're not there in ten, I'm taking my blindfold off."
"No, don't do that!"
"I am a twenty-year-old woman, I can do whatever I want."
"Okay, okay!" Rin yielded, taking her along just a bit farther until they stopped. "You can take your blindfold off."
As soon as she did, she gasped. Stationed in front of her was a homey carriage fashioned to look like a sleigh and drawn up to Kuro's largest form. Rin took her hand and helped her step into the seat where a wool blanket and a pair of lidded hot cocoa cups waited for them (which Rin seemed to take a mild interest in reheating.) When nestled together with Shiemi, Rin gave an excitable command in rough Gehennan and Kuro was off with a jolt.
Shiemi tentatively raised the cup to her lips and immediately tasted rich cocoa and peppermint. With a soft hum, she laid her head on Rin's shoulder. Even after their years spent together, she could still feel him stiffen at her touch like every time she did he was falling in love with her for the first time all over again.
"Merry Christmas, Rin," She whispered.
Softly, he returned to her: "Merry Christmas."