A few hours later, Tooru pushed open the door to the Fujiwara house, ducking her head in and stepping to one corner of the genkan to make sure the others could get inside. "Sorry to intrude!" she called into the dim hallway.
"Welcome!" Touko-san's voice called from the kitchen. A moment later, her head popped around the corner, eyes warm with welcome and concern. "It must be freezing outside! Come on, come in!"
"We're coming," Shigeru-san called from outside, as Tanuma and Natsume piled in behind her.
"I've got the stove going in the main room," Touko-san continued, "so you should all go and heat up quick as you can!"
"Thanks," Natsume said, already toeing out of his boots to give the others room. He chafed at his arms, breathing hard in an attempt to warm up.
"It really is cold out there!" Tanuma said, and looked over his shoulder. "Thanks again for driving us, Shigeru-san."
"I'm just sorry I had to ask you to walk down the mountain first," Shigeru-san said, helping to pull off Tanuma's coat. "Go on, get over to the stove."
"Thanks," Tanuma said. Tooru stepped out of his way as he hurried towards the living room. She almost wanted to leave her own coat on, but knew she'd warm up faster without it. She hung it up and followed Tanuma into the living room.
"I wish we could make it warmer," Touko fussed. "But this is about all we can manage. They say that using a stove makes the other rooms in the house colder, you know."
"There's not much we can do about the central heating being down," Shigeru pointed out. "Though I do wish we had a generator. Maybe I'll get one once the roads farther out are clear."
In the living room was a small gas-powered heater; Tanuma took a spot right in front of it it, though he looked awkward about it. He held his hands out to the stove and crouched down, shivering. Tooru went to join him, glancing over her shoulder when she saw Natsume hesitate. He frowned, then hurried across the room, bringing back a large blanket.
"Here, Tanuma."
"Oh." Tanuma half-turned and took it out of his hands, looking surprised. "Thanks."
"No problem."
"Here, Taki." He held out a corner of it to her, and she took it, huddling under one side. The blanket trapped the incoming heat quite effectively, and she could already feel her body starting to warm up, slowly spreading to the tips of her fingers and toes.
"Natsume?" Tanuma asked. "You coming?"
Natsume wavered. "I should see what Touko-san's doing..."
"Oh," Tanuma said, but he was smiling. "Sure. But don't be surprised if she sends you right back. She won't want you catching a chill."
"I'll be fine," Natsume said. "Back in a bit."
And then he was gone, leaving Tanuma and Tooru to enjoy the growing warmth in front of the stove.
Tanuma didn't seem particularly inclined to break the silence, so Tooru looked over at him, taking him in. He was a bit paler than normal, even for winter, and faint shadows under his eyes hinted at the cold he was recovering from; but his eyes themselves were bright and alert, if a bit absent as he stared into the billowing flames.
She jumped a little when he glanced over at her, feeling the weight of her stare. "Should I, uh...I have a mask?" he asked suddenly, looking awkward. "I mean, I'm probably not contagious anymore, but...if we're all gonna be in one place, I should...I don't want to make anyone worry."
"It's fine," she hurried to reassure him. "You don't need to."
"But..."
"You'd have to get up to get it, right?" She pulled her end of the blanket closer around her, for emphasis, and moved from a crouch to sit on the floor, knees up to catch the harshest of the heat. "It's not worth it."
"It isn't, is it?" Tanuma sounded amused.
"Nope. Besides, like you said, you're better."
"Okay," he said, and sat down beside her. Their upper arms brushed, Tanuma's a few inches higher than Tooru's own. She considered their positions for a moment, and then scooted over enough that their torsos were leaning on each other.
"Is this okay?" she asked, when Tanuma glanced down at her.
He looked a little embarrassed, but not unpleased. "Yeah, it's fine," he said.
He didn't feel feverish, at least not through two layers; she thought at first he might be shivering, just slightly, but the sensation died away quickly enough. It really was cozy, like this.
Tooru heard raised voices and laughing from the hallway, and then Natsume came in, looking chagrined but pleased.
"I called it," Tanuma said immediately. "Didn't I?"
"You did," Natsume said, flushing a bit.
Tooru, who was closer to the door, lifted the end of her blanket. "Come on, get in here. It's nice and warm."
Natsume looked over the two of them, curled up in front of the stove, and hesitated. Tooru thought his face looked a little bit red, especially for someone who'd been over in the presumably cooler kitchen. "I..."
"Hurry up," Tanuma said, not ungently, "before Taki lets out all the warm air."
"There's plenty more where it came from," she pointed out, but Natsume was already moving, looking sheepish. He joined Tooru's other side and took the end of the blanket from her, tugging at it slightly to get underneath it.
There was some shuffling back and forth, as everyone got comfortable, and then Tooru found herself between the two of them, blanket riding up halfway up the back of her head because they were both taller than she was. They'd each wrapped their inside arms around their knees, making sure they didn't press too close to her, but it was a very cozy spot to be in regardless.
She smiled a little and pushed the side of her head into Natsume's upper arm. "Touko-san was right, you know," she said quietly. "You feel a bit cold, Natsume."
"I'm fine," Natsume said automatically, equally quiet. "I'm sorry if it's a problem, though. I can move."
"Not what I meant," Tooru said. "And don't you dare."
"Okay," he murmured.
There was a long pause, as the three of them soaked up warmth from the stove, and not insignificantly from each other.
"Thanks for inviting us out here, Natsume," she eventually said.
Natsume, when he answered, sounded even warmer than he felt where his cool arm was still pressed up against Tooru's shoulder. "Thanks for coming," he said. "This is kind of fun."
Tooru giggled a little at that—all they'd done so far was huddle up for warmth together, so it was a slightly odd thing to say, technically speaking.
Still, when Tanuma said, "I know what you mean," she nodded her agreement and nestled her chin in her hands.
Heaters and blankets were one thing—but the warmth and welcome of the Fujiwara household went much deeper than that. If she was honest with herself—and it felt easy to be honest here, at least in her own head—she hadn't felt this cozy and at ease since the last time she'd been together with her friends. It was good to be with them again.
The rest of the afternoon and evening passed without incident. It felt a little bit like camping, with everyone in and out of the main room as though it were a tent.
Touko-san had some board games that most of them hadn't played for years (and Natsume, it seemed, had never played at all), and they spent most of the afternoon on those.
Later in the afternoon, after the Fujiwaras left for the kitchen, a familiar, fluffy figure trundled in. Unprepared to see him, Tooru didn't have any time to steel herself against her baser impulses.
"Shiny-Fluffy-Sensei!"
"Ack! Get off me, woman!" But Sensei didn't flail that hard, Tooru found, as long as she didn't try to move him away from the room's heat source. She settled in to petting him behind the ears, amused by the way they flattened to accommodate her fingers.
"Hey, Sensei," Natsume called from where he was playing chess with Tanuma. "Everyone all right?"
Sensei took advantage of the distraction and was out from under Tooru's hands in a flash, and waddling in Natsume's direction. "Yes, yes, they're fine. Don't think I'm forgetting the meat buns you promised me for doing the rounds, by the way."
"Everywhere's closed through New Year's," Natsume pointed out.
Sensei walked right into his lap, digging in his claws, and yawned, settling. "Excuses, excuses."
"I'm glad everyone's okay, though," Natsume said, running a hand absently over Sensei's back. "I know weather doesn't necessarily affect youkai the same way it does humans, but I thought something like this might."
"Everyone with an ounce of sense is laying low," Sensei said, closing his eyes.
A thought occurred to Tooru, and she was instantly curious. "It's...not a youkai doing this, is it?" she asked, tentative.
"Probably not," Nyanko-sensei said, from where he was now comfortably curled up on Natsume's thigh. "Weather just happens. Not everything is a youkai's doing. Of course," he added, after a pregnant pause, "it could be. Lots of things are possible, in this world. But one thing is absolutely certain."
"What's that?" Tanuma asked, worried.
The fat cat opened one judgmental eye. "You are not sending me out there again to find out! It's too cold for that sort of exercise."
"Sensei!" Natsume protested, but the hand stroking him didn't falter. Taki bit back a smile at their banter.
"Nope! Not even buns and hot chocolate would get me out there again," he promised, and resolutely shut his eye again.
Natsume sighed, annoyed, and pushed Sensei out of his lap, returning to his game. Tooru laughed and clicked her fingers at Nyanko-sensei, trying to entice him over. To her delight, after side-eying her for a few moments, he grudgingly heaved himself over and parked himself neatly on top of her feet. If she stretched far enough, she could reach far enough around her knees to brush the tips of her fingers through his fur.
It was hard to tell from this angle, but she thought he just might be purring.
Dinner was delicious, and by the time it was done, the sky outside had gone completely dark, and it was time to figure out sleeping arrangements. Natsume and Shigeru-san pulled out the spare futons, and everyone started figuring out where they should go.
The only one who disagreed that Tanuma should be closest to the stove, for example, was Tanuma himself.
"You're sick," Natsume said, frowning at his protests.
"I'm also tallest," Tanuma said. "I'll just get in the way."
"You won't," Tooru countered.
Tanuma looked between them, at the way Taki's hands were on her hips and Natsume's wry stare, and appeared to decide that discretion was the better part of valor.
"...Okay, fine," he said. "If you say so."
Tooru ended up between them again, lined up in a row perpendicular to the heater, with Shigeru-san and Touko-san in a further corner despite the teens' best efforts. It was warm enough throughout the room, though, and when Sensei curled up beside her feet, Tooru couldn't have been happier.
She drifted off to sleep peacefully, snug despite the sounds of the wind and snow outside.