A/N: Today's prompt is brought to you by the letter U, and the word 'umbrella' is brought to you by the reviewer Kozakura Dere, and xionnevermore, and also a guest reviewer, who all requested it ^_^

Thank you and *hugs* to everyone else who requested what the U prompt should stand for! They were all excellent ideas, so I had some trouble deciding which one to go with.

Umbrella

...

Nanami had thought she was going to have to walk home alone in the rain, until a certain fox showed up at her school with an umbrella in hand.

A weird sight to behold, considering the two of them had gotten into a fight that morning, resulting in her ordering him to not attend school with her today.

Were sacred word bindings worth nothing anymore?

Sheets of water colored everything from the sidewalk to the sky in a steely grey, and Tomoe stood just in front of the school entrance, dressed in his usual traditional clothing with his ears covered up and an umbrella held up over his head to keep the rain off of his immaculate form.

As Nanami exited the front doors of the school, several of her female classmates rushed past her to gush about Tomoe looking even more handsome than usual while dressed in traditional style clothes. The Land God, for her part, just stood there gaping at him with a look of confusion and slight annoyance on her face.

Amethyst eyes stared back at her blankly, totally expressionless.

Of course, Nanami could only take so much of the staredown before she was marching up to him angrily.

"I thought I told you to stay at home, Tomoe!" She all but growled, hovering in the space just under the umbrella with him so as not to get soaked through by the steady rainfall.

"You forbade me from attending classes, and classes have ended now." He replied simply, turning the umbrella a bit more over in her direction, since droplets of water were just barely hitting the back of her hair. "I could smell the rain from miles away, and you left your umbrella back at the shrine."

"I could have managed just fine without one." She huffed, folding her arms and glaring up at him.

Tomoe stared at her for another moment, before the corner of his mouth twitched knowingly. "You are still upset about our discussion earlier this morning, I see."

The young human girl pointed a finger at him accusingly. "Have you no sense of shame? You were being rude, and-"

"I believe the term is called honesty, Nanami. How was anything I said to you this morning impolite?"

"For the record," Her voice became leaden and flat as she quickly changed the course of their conversation. "You started it, you were the one who said that you didn't want to-"

"Yes, of course. I started it by stating my honest opinion, and you overreacted to it."

"I can't believe you!" She stomped her foot against the slick pavement. "You're such a-"

"If you would like me to leave, and never return, you have the power to arrange that." He interrupted breezily, eyebrow raised in question of whether she would or not.

That seemed to make the Land God shut her trap for a minute or two.

And then, in a much more timid manner of speaking, she asked him, "Would that be... Something that... You would want?"

"Do you wish to hear honesty, or a polite lie? Given your reaction to honesty this morning, I assume the latter would be more to your lik-"

"Honesty would be preferred this time around." She was staring at him with this sense of tension about her that made him nervous. "It kind of always is, so..."

Her words drifted off uncomfortably as she bit her lip. Tomoe paused to assess, staring back at her with something like surprise fluttering across his face in the next instant. "Isn't it obvious what my answer is, Nanami?"

"Seriously? You are never obvious about anything!" Her more fiery attitude came back in full force.

"Then let me make it easy for you to understand, this once." He responded more gently than before. "I am perfectly happy being your familiar."

Unfortunately, it was never that easy with this stubborn Land God of his, and she started to argue. "But what about-"

"This morning? Nanami," The fox was smirking now. "I didn't need a break from you. The day off I had planned for myself was actually for your benefit. I was going to spend my time preparing for..." He paused, looking away in silent contemplation over something.

"For what?" Nanami edged closer to him underneath the umbrella.

"It was supposed to be a surprise," He sighed, agitated.

"I don't care about that, just tell me-"

"Your birthday is in a few days, and I wanted to make preparations for it." He gave her a particularly sour look, at that. "But you had to go and ruin it with your blubbering about me asking for the day off today, and what the reasoning was behind it, and why it was so important to me that I-"

The human girl threw her arms around him in a warm embrace, startling him into a sudden bout of quietness.

"I'm sorry I overreacted, I really should have known better than to accuse you and get angry and... and..." She was crying, he could hear it in her voice. Great. What had he done now?

"Nanami, I-" He stuttered awkwardly, not sure where to put his hands.

"You didn't do anything wrong." She nuzzled against him, and his cheeks flushed as a few of their classmates pointed and stared.

"It's okay, let's just go." He was speaking too fast as he quickly shoved her off of him.

Brown eyes met amethyst with the utmost affection and gratitude, and when Nanami took his clawed hand into hers, Tomoe just about jumped out of his skin. He suddenly wished for a second umbrella, and mentally made a note to buy one so that they never had to share one in such close quarters ever again.

"Sorry, sorry." The brunette laughed uneasily, sniffling to get rid of any leftover trace of tears she might have shed. "It just... It means a lot to me that you wanted to celebrate my birthday in a special way. You were even trying to make it a surprise..." She sighed, shaking her head at herself. "I'm an idiot. I worry too much about stupid things."

"What is it that has you so worried?" He blinked down at her as she pulled him along up the sidewalk. "It's not like I'm going anywhere-"

"I still worry about you leaving the shrine. Leaving me..." She shrugged pathetically. "I mean, you weren't exactly thrilled when I made you my familiar. It was against your will, after all..."

"Nanami-" His tone held the beginnings of an apology, and something along the lines of a promise, but she stopped him by providing his hand with a firm squeeze.

"You don't need to say it." She hummed happily, edging closer to his warmth in the small space they were forced to share under their single umbrella. The umbrella he had gone out of his way to bring to her, so that she wouldn't get wet and risk catching a cold on a lonely walk home in the rain. "I already know."

She really should have learned to trust him by now. It also occurred to her that, when it came to Tomoe, words weren't needed - his actions spoke volumes.