Hi! In fact, all I wanted to tell you is:
I wish you all an happy and wonderful new year!
Joie et Amour for everybody!
2005 kisses, minna-san!
Reviewer's corner: first, congrats for the (visible or invisible) ones who read « Gambler » till the end, you rock!
Tiqa: Got your mail (very happy).OF COURSE, I'm relieved! I was less worried than the day I sent you the mail since nobody said anything scary about Singapore the few days after, but I'm very glad to hear that from you…Take care.
Crimson: Loool! More 58? For that kind of things I'm pretty sure you're more talented than I am, that's why anytime I'm in the mood for fluffy 58 I go and Read your stories…(Personally, I can't picture real 58 before the end of Chin-Yiso's arc…that explains your frustration with Gambler: sorry about that again…)
Cesmith: the naughty site forgot to tell me you let a review, I'm lucky I saw it before loading. Anyway…Thannnnks! I'm always so glad to discover which part you liked in the story and each time it helps me a lot…Arigato for taking the time to let me know!
Sanada: (glomps)I WON'T forget the new year's greeting mail…So, « see » you soon…
Warnings (applies about both of the ficlets): even the new year won't change it: the characs aren't mine…And now, read the consequence of letting the gull glued to the window of her car during ten hours looking at naked plane trees carrying mistletoe clusters along the road…It has a sad effect on her brain…
« Mistletoe? »
Summary :Kougaiji-taichi and mistletoe is a bad mix (set during the journey). Mild yaoi.
oOoOoOo
« Of course it's mistletoe! » a shrill child's voice was squealing.
« It isn't, » another female voice calmly replied for the nth of countless times…
« Yes, it is! I'm sure of it… » And the stamping of a raging foot could be heard on the centuries-old cobblestones.
« Ririn-sama, how would you find mistletoe in Tenjiku? Look at that: the leaves are different and the berries are the wrong colour! » And poor Yaone couldn't know any more whether she thought the kid's stubbornness on the subject funny or totally annoying… For it had been a while they were at it… She was a chemist (sometimes vaguely alchemist, too), had all her papers as an apothecary, as a pharmacist… She knew what mistletoe looked like, didn't she? And all this racket because of some poor and random branch of vegetation which was hanging from the vault above one of the passage of Hôtô's fortress. A wanna-be decoration in order to celebrate the new year…
However, the two protagonists eventually fell silent as they heard steps coming closer. Two low chatting voices reached them. None of them could be wrong, this time: Kougaiji and Dokugakuji were coming their way. A huge smile broke on the little redhead's face:
« I'm gonna ask Oni-chan! » she proudly announced. Yaone heaved a deep sigh. She was beaten. Kougaiji-sama wouldn't disappoint his little sister, and even knowing for sure he was wrong about the said weed, he would be able to indulge himself with the small lie if it could please Ririn.
The youkai prince arrived past the last turn, with his favourite shadow close behind. At his sister's sight, a smile had instantaneously appeared on his lips. As for the gaki, as most of the times, she had instantaneously thrown herself on him... Almost to the point of pushing his brother backwards with her enthusiactic behaviour. Poor Kougaiji found himself hurled against his bodyguard, standing ground only by sheer miracle. The said bodyguard wasn't that lucky…Still in precarious equilibrium on the last step of the stairway, he couldn't help a noisy fall of a few feet down (as painful for his bottom as for his pride)…
Kougaiji experienced a few hectic seconds, trying to inquire about his right arm's state (this one being currently uttering strings of various insults, curses and other bad words Kougaiji hoped Ririn was to busy to take care and note them for later use), to help him stand up, to hear Yaone apologizing for his sister's behaviour, to listen to the later ask him a crucial botanical question and to attempt to have a look at the poor incriminated branch just above his head in the same time…
An all relative silence was actually reborn only as Dokugakuji stood on his feet again.
« So? » Ririn asked finally, full of hope. Kougaiji had reached out with his hand for the shiny leaves of the vegetal crown, brushing it slightly with his long claws. Oblivious of the argument before his arrival, he was about to tell his sister to ask Yaone who was more competent than him in the matter (even 500 years of boredom had never bent him to open a single one of the botanical manuals scaterred in the castle's library: what for reading about plants he would never see? he had thought, then) as a hand fell on his shoulder. Turning on his heels, he met eyes with a obviously fully recovered Dokugakuji, whose face clearly showed he had some hidden intention (and heralding noooo good).
Before Kougaiji had time to say anything, a strong arm circled firmly his waist to bring and hold him very, very close of his second who (unfairly) took full advantage of his surprise to take his lips. The more the prince leaned backward trying weakly to extricate himself from this affectionate demonstration, the more Dokugakuji leaned forward to deepen the kiss. Kou felt compelled to bring back his arms around the swordsman's neck in order not to be knocked over ( or at the least, that's what he stubbornly maintained later as his second brought back the matter of this kiss…). His fingers were losing themselves in the short dark hair while Doku' hands were clearing their way under his leather jacket, of almost unbearable coolness on the burning skin… The prince tried for a mere second to remember how (the hell) they had come to that while he was still discussing « sutra-hunting » with his right arm two minutes ago…
Absentmindedly kissing back, now, he played back again the events in his mind until…Ririn's pointless question. Ririn? At the sole thought, he abruptly pushed back his second. A disappointed Dokugakuji let him do as he pleased, but kept the red-haired youkai's waist in a firm grip… The youkai prince refused to think of all the questions the child was about to ask in less than a second… But Ririn never asked any question. She only had a huge smile while raising her gaze to Yaone.
« You see I was right: it's mistletoe! » she claimed triumphantly by pointing to both the embraced youkai, just under the poor plant…
And Yaone heaved a desperate sigh, hiding her face in her hands… The three of them are impossible…
oOo Owari oOo
(evil grin): now, let's play with the sanzo-ikkou…