I wanted to write a small, simple chapter about Komaki, since we didn't get a lot of her last time. Then I decided I wanted to write out Mini-Chapters or Drabbles about certain characters within an arc to give them more screen-time and development. Mini-Chapters/Drabbles aren't like the Interludes, which are chapters after an arc. I hope you guys do not mind. I was thinking about having the next Mini-Chapter be about Ren or his friends.

So I hope you enjoy this Mini-Chapter. The next chapter in the Misao Arc is coming soon!

Mini-Chapter/Drabble I - Cold

As Komaki added some fresh dill and parsley into the boiling pot, she heard Kazuma cough and sneeze up a storm. She took a peek at him from the kitchen and saw him laying down on their navy blue kotatsu sofa, underneath the blanket with another one wrapped around him. He wore a dark blue sweatshirt with a white scarf tied tightly around his neck. His nose was red-tinted with flushed cheeks and a sheen of sweat on his face. His skin was pale and clammy as his eyes were weary and tired. The steam of the honey and lemon tea she made for him earlier, curled and coiled in the air.

Without a doubt, Kazuma looked positively miserable.

Komaki shook her head. He bought this on himself for not dressing warmly.

She told him to wear the new coat she bought him and to carry an umbrella, but he told her it wasn't that cold outside and he'll be back home before it rained. Obviously Kazuma didn't follow through with his own plan and is now sick.

Fuujutsushis were more susceptible to the cold. Rain doesn't bother Komaki and, unlike Kazuma, the cold doesn't affect her much. She's no Enjutsushi, but her element keeps her warm enough. It also helps that she's a born and bred Hokkaido native. So the cold is just an old friend.

"Kazuma, get back under the blanket." Komaki ordered, firmly. She tasted the soup, smacking her lips together a little, thoughtfully, then decided a pinch of salt was much needed.

"I don't wanna..." Kazuma complained, wiping away some dripping snot with a tissue. "It's too hot..."

Komaki rolled her eyes, she turned down the stovetop into a simmer. Whenever Kazuma was sick, he'd try the "tough guy" act and insisted all he needed was some cough medicine, only to have a dizzy spell and stumble on his own two feet. Then, after a while, he would act like a baby, whining when it was too hot under the blankets and kicking them off, only to throw them back on when it was apparently too cold.

And when he wanted cuddles, Kazuma suddenly became a lovechild of a Koala and a Boa Constrictor.

"Alright, then I'll mash those potatoes and put them on your-"

"No! No, no, no, no, no!" he whined before coughing. Kazuma, grumbling under his breath, threw the blanket over his head, covering himself and the pot of steaming potatoes in front of him.

Breathing in the steam of potatoes is a free inhaler that will make anybody forget that they were sick, as her Babushka always said. She taught Komaki all of the natural home remedies to, not only cure a cold, but also a massive hangover after a night of heavy drinking.

However, Kazuma wasn't the most...accepting of some of the remedies. Then again, when he caught a cold back in Krasnodar, he had a small disagreement with her Babushka. While Kazuma was still respectful towards her grandmother, he wanted to go to a pharmacy to buy some medicine as the elderly woman wanted to take care of him and use the family's old remedy of placing some mashed potatoes on his chest to warm up the cold area and clear out the mucus.

Komaki could see on his face that he thought the remedy was stupid, which kind of offended her, since her Babushka used the same method on her when she was younger.

But of course, Babushka won the argument, because nobody can win an argument against her. Kazuma, with a look of embarrassment, ended up laying down on the sofa with his chest exposed. Komaki remembers her Babushka smiling smugly with a bowl of mashed potatoes in her hands. Needless to say, when she put the potatoes on Kazuma's chest while singing an old song, Komaki couldn't hold in her laughter, even when her boyfriend was glaring at her.

Komaki sighed, turning off the stovetop, slipping on a pair of red oven mitts and putting the soup on a pot mitt on the table. A hearty Chicken Noodle Soup with homemade noodles. Babushka's recipe. She should really call her Babushka. She had promised to call her after landing in Tokyo.

Since coming back to Japan, it was like experiencing culture shock again. What was similar was the little things, like taking shoes off before entering a house and the love of fish. But there were still many differences between the two countries.

Renting an apartment and house was still ridiculously impossible. It was no wonder why her and Kaa-San were homeless and lived in a tent when she was a child. Komaki suspected if Kazuma wasn't with her, she would've been rejected by some housing companies, because of her Eurasian features, despite that she speaks Japanese and was born in the country.

She saw most of her neighbors eat out at restaurants and buy prepared meals from the nearest konbini, much more than buying groceries to cook at home. She's sure that her neighbor, who lives across the street, Kitamura-San, never shopped for groceries. But seeing the price for a single apple from Aomori made her understand her neighbor a lot more.

Even though Komaki has been settling back in her country of birth, she still misses Russia. She missed helping her Babushka out in the garden and listening to her spill the latest gossip about her neighbors over countless refills of tea.

A lot has happened since her and Kazuma have landed in Tokyo, because of his former family and moving into a new house, so she put off calling her Babushka. She also needs to call Polina, see how she's doing, especially since she moved to New York City with her boyfriend, Sasha and Komaki's high school ex-boyfriend, Viktor.

Then it hit her like a hard, freezing gust of wind. Komaki never thought of reaching out to her old Hokkaido friends.

She hasn't spoken to them in years. Her and Tsuko's friendship dissolved in Junior High before she had to leave for Krasnodar. She wonders if Erika still flaps her arms in excitement. Does Tatsuya still bake? Do Tsuko, Erika, and Tatsuya still play their instruments? Do they even still have them? Did they keep her old Bass?

Komaki scooped up some soup in two bowls with a shaky hand, wanting nothing more than to fiddle with fingers. Just like with Kaa-San, she didn't want to have any contact with anyone back at home right now. Anyone could inform the Inuzuma's of her return, which meant her stepmother and...he would know where she was.

The Raijutsushi took a breath, trying to calm her nerves, picked up the bowls and headed to the kotatsu. She tapped Kazuma on the shoulder. "Pryanichek, I have some soup for you."

So, a bit about Komaki, her thoughts, and history! I looked at Russian remedies on Youtube and the rest of the internet and it's so interesting! My mom says that the best way to get rid of a cold is to put a half chopped onion on your chest to help clear the mucus. What are some family home remedies you have?