NOTE: This is an accompaniment to chapter 75 of Lucky Child, after Kuwabara Sr. and Shiori leave the New Year's Eve party (with Shizuru in tow).
Day 18: "I am cold"
Shizuru walked out ahead of Shiori and Kuwabara Sr., the ends of her long coat flapping like bat wings around her ankles. She chain-smoked (as always), sending plumes of vapor into the frigid air. These matches the plumes that came from the mouths of Shiori and Kuwabara, smaller puffs of exertion punctuating their trip to the nearest train station. Other people celebrating New Year's Eve drifted toward the station as well, partiers headed home now that the bells had rung and the New Year had begun, voices low but happy in the wake of parties and high spirits.
Shiori, Kuwabara Sr. noted, seemed relatively more subdued. She wasn't impolite, of course. He got the sense she was rarely, if ever, impolite to anyone. But she was definitely quiet as they walked beside each other down the sidewalk, conversation spare when it so rarely chanced to appear. Turns out the Kuwabara and Minamino families didn't live too far away from one another, but after establishing that fact, the conversation petered out like a car run out of gas.
Not that Kuwabara Sr. minded that silence overmuch. Knowing that Minamino Shiori had a chaperone (two chaperones, counting Shizuru) to accompany her through the thickets of drunkards crowding the evening's final trains was all Kuwabara needed to feel like he'd made the right choice. Shiori wore heels and hose and a pretty floral-print dress with a pea coat over it, and her purse was small but clearly nice quality. Prime target for thieves, given her thin frame and delicate appearance. Plus, that coat of hers was thin. Kuwabara Sr. was glad she'd accepted the offer of his jacket, even if he was a little bit cold without it.
Still. Despite his jacket's warmth and Shizuru's comforting presence, Shiori seemed a little uneasy. She stared ahead at the back of Shizuru's jacket, walking at Kuwabara Sr.'s side with one thin hand holding the coat's collar tightly shut around her neck. She didn't a good job wearing a pleasant face, but Kuwabara Sr. was no fool. Even if he hadn't been able to see past her polite smile, the nervous quiver of her energy told him everything. He just hoped that the nerves radiating off of her weren't caused solely by him.
Eventually, Kuwabara Sr. softly said: "Your son is a special guy, you know."
Shiori startled, though she managed to hide the reaction well. "Yes, he is," she replied, dark eyes demurely lowering to the placement. "But I'm certainly biased." Those eyes of her—really, they were quite lovely—flickered toward him, curiosity brimming their dark depths. "Why do you say that, though?"
"He made a good impression," said Kuwabara Sr. "Seems he and my boy get along." A beat. Then, carefully: "I'm glad Kazuma's made friends who understand him."
Shiori's head cocked to the side. "Oh?" she asked, a frown drawing lines between her brows.
"Our boys are a lot alike, I think." When no recognition entered Shiori's gaze and she failed to take the opening he'd given her, Kuwabara amended his statement with the addition of: "Kazuma's always been a rough and tumble kind of guy. Loud, as you probably heard. Plus, the hair…"
Shiori covered her mouth when she laughed, looking sheepish. But Kuwabara Sr. just smiled.
"Sometimes kids get a little scared when they first meet him," he said, "but Kazuma is a teddy bear at heart. Seems your boy can see that. He isn't put off by appearances." His smile turned into a warm grin. "Speaks to how he was raised."
Shiori's cheeks flushed, and not just from the bite of wintery air. "You're too kind," she said, eyes dropping again to the pavement. "I'm afraid I can't take all the credit. My Shuichi has always been a good judge of character. And you're right. They are alike." Trouble thinned her full lips. "Shuichi has always been a little misunderstood, himself."
Ah. Was she going to bring up the obvious, then? Kuwabara Sr. wasn't sure, so he simply asked, "How so?"
"Shuichi is highly accomplished, but he's never had many friends. I've heard through the grapevine that some other children think he's… well. 'Stuck-up,' I believe is the phrase his teachers used." Though she spoke lightly, airily, she could not hide the pain in her eyes—at least, she couldn't hide it from Kuwabara Sr. With a bitter smile she continued, saying, "I don't know why he keeps his peers at arm's length, and I've always had to assume it was something in the way I raised him, but…" She shook her head. "Nevertheless, I am grateful to your son, and to all of those children who seem to have embraced Shuichi so. He has smiled more in the last few months than…"
Shiori trailed off. Kuwabara Sr. watched her over the tops of his tinted glasses, round spectacles slipping down his aquiline nose to rest atop his high cheekbones. Shiori, it turns out, was quite interesting, and not because of what she'd just said. It was more in what she didn't say, in fact—but Kuwabara Sr. chose not to read into the implications just then. Instead he paid attention to Shiori's bright, clean energy the color of fresh growth in spring, pale green trimmed in platinum and pale blue. It was as lovely to look at as her heart-shapes face and almond eyes. Heck, she was just plain lovely, and as they slipped into an easier, more natural flow of conversation, Kuwabara Sr. came to the conclusion that walking Shiori home had been the best part of his New Year's Eve. She grew more at ease with every step they took and word they spoke, her energy brightening and her face glowing until she was almost blinding in her loveliness. By the time they arrived in front of Shiori's home, Kuwabara Sr. fancied himself downright smitten.
The fact that Shizuru kept glancing over her shoulder to catch her father's eye (with a knowing smirk on her mouth, that little shit) said that Shizuru knew it, too.
After Shiori informed them that they had reached their destination (a touch sadly, too, if Kuwabara Sr. was not mistaken), he dipped a low bow, short ponytail bobbing over the back of his thick neck.
"Well," he said. "Thank you for taking care of my boy in this New Year." Feeling rather bold, he straightened up and added with a grin, "I hope we'll see more of each other in the days to come."
Shiori's cheeks flushed again. "Yes. I would like that, I think," she said after a moment's hesitation. Then she gave a little gasp, starting to shrug out of her borrowed coat. "Oh, but before you go, please—"
"Nah. You hold onto that for now," said Kuwabara Sr., waving one hand in dismissal. Shoving his hands deep into his pockets, he looked at Shiori and winked. "Like I said before—my heart would break if I saw you shiver."
If Shiori's shocked (but pleased, he hoped?) expression gave him any indication, Kuwabara Sr. thought he'd made a good impression on her. As he walked away from the house with Shizuru at his side, he felt eyes on his back—but although he was quite psychic, he couldn't read minds, and thus he wasn't sure what Shiori might be thinking. He just hoped that the business card with his phone number that he'd left in the coat's pocket wasn't too obvious or unwelcome a hint that he'd like to hear from her again. But if she didn't feel like talking to him, she could always return the coat by giving it to her son to hand off to Kazuma. As far as Kuwabara Sr. could tell, he'd made an overture she was under no obligation or pressure to return, with an easy 'out' built into his advance. Pretty cool of him, if he did say so himself. He'd never pressure a lady into a date, and he wasn't about to start now.
And Shizuru seemed to agree. "Smooth move, Dad," she said around her cigarette. "Very smooth."
"What can I say?" he said with good-natured humor. "Your old man's still pretty slick."
"Sure." She blew out a plume of smoke, white against the black of night. "You catch what I caught?"
"Yup." He knew exactly what his daughter was getting at. "Minamino-san doesn't know her a demon."
Shizuru nodded and took another drag on her cigarette. Just as he'd expected, Shizuru had indeed been listening to his conversation with Shiori during their escort mission, hearing him as he laid out openings for Shiori to talk about her son… but Shiori hadn't taken advantage of any of them. Her voice and energy held no traces of deception, either, when she spoke of her son's odd nature. Apparently she just thought he was… well, probably a cold-shouldered weirdo, if Kuwabara Sr. had to guess. And that meant she likely had no idea that her son's strange habits weren't just a product of awkward teenage hormones.
She had no idea her son wasn't even human.
Kuwabara glanced over his shoulder. Behind them, the sidewalk lay empty. He'd felt Shiori go inside a few seconds prior, her wonderfully warm energy moving toward the house like the sun sinking below the horizon. Good. She was out of the cold, then. He hoped her health was as good as she'd claimed. Idly he wondered how sick she'd actually been (because the way she'd so quickly brushed off questions about her recent illness was a little suspicious), but…
Shizuru asked, "If she calls you, what'll you tell her?"
"Ain't my place to tell her anything about her boy," said Kuwabara Sr. at once. "But if it comes up, I won't hide who I am, either. I won't hide my family."
Shizuru grunted. He slipped an arm around her, pulling his daughter in tight.
"I'm proud of what we are," he said, completely serious despite the grin on his face. "And if she's put off by our abilities the way kids were put off by yours and Kazuma's, then that's no skin off my nose. We'll part ways, no harm, no foul."
"Fair enough." Shizuru smiled back, leaning into her father for a moment. "Let's just hope her son sees it that way, too.
"Yeah," said Kuwabara Sr. "Let's."
He kept his smile in place until Shizuru walked a few paces ahead. Then, slowly, the expression dropped—because while Shiori had radiated warmth in every interaction they had shared, her son's green eyes had watched him with icy scrutiny during the New Year's party, sharing none of his mother's good cheer. Would Minamino Shuichi prove to be friend, or foe? There was no way to tell just yet. Kuwabara Sr. only hoped that that demon in human skin could see him for the gentleman he intended to be, and the gentleman his mother deserved.
I want to give a big thanks to tammywammy9 for suggesting this topic! This prompt really did stump me, so they were a huge help in suggesting an idea I could build upon.
More big thanks go out all who made suggestions, many of which I'll be using in chapters to come. Excited to show y'all what comes next! Prompt #19 in particular might get a few different snippets written about it.
I'd forgotten that in LC, Kuwabara Sr. gave Shiori his coat when he walked her home on New Year's. When tammywammy9 reminded me of that scene, this popped into my head basically fully formed. Never really expected to write from Kuwa-Sr.'s perspective, but it was fun to get inside his head and see more of his thoughts on Kurama keeping secrets from his mom. And since there's an emphasis on secrets in this collection, the scene fit this collection's theme really well!
Enormous thanks to all of you who left reviews and suggestions! You're the best: tammywammy9, ladyofchaos, RandomR15, rueedge, C S Stars, cestlavie, xenocanaan, Kaiya Azure and guests!