After the awesome reactions on my first story, I decided I'd try my hand at a second oneshot. Here goes nothing!

Post-Mizuki.

She'd studied all day for that test. And she had totally flunked it...

That evening, Nanami was rather pissed when she arrived at the shrine. She stomped through the door and dumped her bag in her room, after which she headed for the kitchen. There was usually some leftovers from the night before being kept in the fridge. However, in her studying frenzy yesterday, she had eaten every last bit of food in the shrine. Someone would have to go shopping.

"Tomoe! Where are you, you bastard fox?!"

A white-haired head popped up from around the corner. It however lacked the fox ears she had expected. "Nanami-chaaan! You're home again!" Mizuki, upon seeing her, rushed around the corner and hugged her. She thought her ribs would break. Carefully, she peeled her snake familiar off of her. If Tomoe won't show up, I could give the list with necessities to Mizuki. Maybe that'll get Tomoe jealous enough to be around next time when I call for him.

"Hey Mizuki, we ran out of food, and I've made a list of things to get from the store. Normally I'd send Tomoe, but..." "Leave it to me, Nanami-chan!"

And off he went, on his first shopping trip. Would he even know where the shop is? Did she give him enough money? Nanami was about to run after him and had already set a few steps outside the shrine before she realized he'd be long gone already. She sighed and sat walked back a little bit to sit down on the porch. Atleast Mizuki's enthusiasm had diverted her attention from the flunked test, and now her temper had gone down quite a bit. She slumped down, suddenly exhausted, and sighed again. A familiar voice woke her up from her trance.

"What are you blowing so much wind around for? Isn't Otohiko doing a good enough job with that already?"

Startled, she jumped up, and looked around for the source of that voice. It had come from somewhere above her... She spotted the tail first, a snow-white plume graciously hanging down from a branch. Attached to said plume was her other familiar, sitting on a branch and calmly smoking a pipe. With the green kimono he was wearing, he was cleverly hidden amongst the leaves.

"You damn fox! Where were you just now, when I called for you? I sent out Mizuki to do the shopping now, who knows if he'll ever return?!"

Tomoe didn't seem to mind this very much, as he turned his eyes towards the horizon again and blew out a puff of smoke. "I can see him from here. He's-" "You can see him from there?! Let me up there, I want to see how he's doing..." "As I was trying to say, he's being confused with how modern money works. Wait, did he seriously bring-" "Tomoe, get me up there too!"

The divine power in her words was too strong and Tomoe found himself jumping down from the tree. Graciously, he scooped Nanami up bridal-style and jumped back to his branch. Carefully releasing the girl so she wouldn't fall down, he noticed her face was all red. "Nanami, are you-" "Yes, yes, I'm fine, now where is Mizuki?" He sighed, cursing humans and his lack of knowledge about them, and pointed. "Somewhere in that general direction, past the second- What do you think you're doing?!"

Nanami's house slippers were not up to the task of maintaining her balance on the slippery branch. She nearly slipped and in panic grabbed for Tomoe, managing to clutch his kimono and completely disheveling it. It however had no effect on her fall, forcing Tomoe to grab her so she wouldn't plummet down the tree and break something. Once again securely in his arms, the girl started to blush again. The familiar however wasn't very amused.

"Now, I don't know how long you plan to stay up here for, but you clearly can't keep your balance on this branch. Sit down and I'll make sure you can't fall again."

Still trembling, she did as she was told. Carefully sitting down on the branch with her back towards Tomoe, she could see half the village. Forgetting her fears, she looked out over the magnificent view with wonder, her bad test only remembered when her eyes found and darted over her school building. Behind her was the ruffling sound of Tomoe adjusting his kimono before sitting down himself. She had just found the street where Mizuki was supposed to go when she felt a pair of warm arms draped around her.

"What-" "This is the only way I am sure that you won't fall, Nanami-sama. Bear with me until you're done checking out the view."

Blushing fiercely again, Nanami was about to say something but caught herself in the last moment. Doing as he said would probably be the fastest way for both of them to get out of this awkward situation. She decided she'd make the most out of it and leaned back a bit. Tomoe's breath stopped for a minute, but Nanami never heard it. His arms adjusted so that he still held her tightly, safe from any fall, and she leaned back even more, until her head was resting against his chest. She could feel his heart beating steadily, maybe somewhat fast, but it was soothing nonetheless. Her own heart seemed to take it as a competition to see which one could beat faster, and she was astounded by her own boldness. Pressing her back into Tomoe as if she wanted to show exactly how bold she was, she looked around. The view from up here really was amazing.

Tomoe quietly tried to spit out some strands of Nanami's hair that got into his mouth. What was she doing?! She wanted to see if she could see Mizuki too, that was one thing. Wanting to view the village some more was another. But compromising his personal space by shuffling into him like that, practically locking him with his back against the tree?! Oh well, she was his master and she didn't seem like she'd move anytime soon, he might as well make the best of it...

The sun had almost completely set and the sky was a deep blue when Mizuki finally returned home with the result of his shopping. He may have bought a little too much icecream and definitely less than the amount of vegetables Nanami had scribbled on the little paper, but he hadn't been able to carry more by the time he got to that store. He hoped Nanami wasn't too angry with him... Though he wouldn't complain about being punished a little...

He walked into the kitchen and put the bags on the table. The shrine was unusually quiet. Mizuki got worried. He wandered around, shouting Nanami's name and even the fox's once, but to no avail. It seemed like they'd vanished off the face of the earth. He felt himself fall into panic, and ran outside, shouting his mistress's name. Suddenly, a single bolt of foxfire shot down and hovered about in front of him. Tomoe's nearby! The ball danced around a bit before slowly rising up to a branch of one of the trees. There, Mizuki saw Nanami, fast asleep... in the arms of that wild fox!

Tomoe could tell Mizuki was about to start screaming. He waved frantically at Mizuki, gestured for him to be quiet, and when he had visibly calmed down, to climb up to where Tomoe and Nanami were sitting. Once there, Mizuki angrily whispered "What is the meaning of this?! I won't let my master alone with the likes of-" "Oh shut up already, none of this is even remotely my fault! Listen, I'll explain everything to you tomorrow, but for now, Nanami needs her sleep. So leave her here, and I'll make sure she doesn't fall out of this damned tree." Scowling, Mizuki descended from the tree and went inside the shrine.

Once the snake was out of sight, Tomoe looked back at his sleeping goddess. He pulled her a little closer and rested his chin on her soft hair. Oh Nanami, why must you torment me so...