Notes: I fell behind a little for various reasons, whoops. I should hopefully be caught up by the end of Christmas Eve, though!

Door 13

[Door 13 contained drawings—illustrations of part of Waiting for Rainbows, actually! You'll need to go to my tumblr or AO3 to see them~]

Door 14 (happy birthday Gundham!)

Peko stood before the door to a kingdom, mentally preparing herself for battle.

It wasn't a literal kingdom, of course, but in a way it was just as oppressive and intimidating as the real thing.

At the same time, Peko chided herself for being so apprehensive of a small-town pet shop.

"You should try doing some stuff for yourself sometimes," Fuyuhiko had said. "You don't have to hang around me all the time, especially someplace safe like Kibougaoka. Go off and do things you're interested in."

"My only interest is ensuring your safety," Peko countered.

"Oh, bullshit. You're not a machine." He pointed at her, his expression settling into a forceful glare. "Look, Hinata mentioned that there's a pet shop in Kibougaoka. When we're there tomorrow, why don't you check it out?"

"Why would I possibly have an interest in—"

"Come on, we grew up together. You can't fool me." Fuyuhiko grinned. "With all the animals at the store, there must be at least one that'll let you cuddle it, right?"

Peko was loathe to admit that the thought of cuddling a fluffy animal had been enough to pull her away from her young master... but as she stood in front of the store, she couldn't deny that it was the truth. She sighed; what a poor excuse for a swordswoman she was.

Worse still was that she couldn't even bring herself to go inside. She could see animals through the store windows—on one side of the door was a group of kittens, and on the other was a cluster of playful puppies—but she knew that the instant she stepped into the store, her menacing aura would immediately cause the poor things distress.

She hesitantly took a step towards the window of puppies. Perhaps she could try observing them first...? Once she was directly in front of the window, she suppressed the urge to tap on the glass—she didn't want to scare them more than she already would—but one of the puppies immediately took notice of her anyway, and she froze.

The puppy stared at her curiously for a moment, eyes shining through his wavy black fur, and he took a few cautious steps towards the window, gently wagging his tail curled over his back. Peko wasn't sure what to do; a small animal was showing interest in her, and she didn't want to spook him.

Peko fretted for a moment as the puppy cocked his head, before finally settling on what she determined to be the safest course of action.

She smiled.

The puppy's tail slowed to a stop, then dropped between his legs as the dog cowered back, head lowered. After taking a few steps back, he turned away, back to his playmates.

Peko sighed. Perhaps this was a battle for another day, after all.

Door 15

Sakakura didn't like to admit it, but he was curious about The Woman.

After he first spoke to Munakata a few months earlier, they began exchanging small talk every day outside the koban, gradually evolving into longer chats. When the weather grew too cold for them to talk outside for prolonged periods of time, they started occasionally meeting up for drinks after Sakakura's shift.

But Munakata never mentioned The Woman.

She had to be Munakata's girlfriend; with the way he had smiled with her, it was hard to imagine any other possibility. But if he had a girlfriend that made him so happy, why would he never mention her? Maybe they had broken up since then? (Sakakura tried not to hope too hard for that possibility. He had no intention of ever confessing to Munakata either way.)

There was no way he could ask about her, either. It would just seem too strange to ask about The Woman when Sakakura had never been introduced to her—and bringing her up would also mean admitting that he had watched Munakata like a creep for months. That was completely out of the question.

Unless, of course, she introduced herself to him first.

Sakakura wasn't sure if he particularly wanted that to happen, but there was only so long he could ignore her peering into the koban, her face pressed against the glass façade like a kid outside a candy store.

Sighing, Sakakura opened the door and poked his head outside. "Can I help you?" he called out.

The Woman jumped and looked at him in surprise, as if she had been under the impression that she was being particularly stealthy. "Ah, yes!" she said, quickly gathering her composure. "I'm sorry, but you're Sakakura-san, right?"

"Yes..." He raised an eyebrow skeptically.

The Woman smiled brightly at him. "My name is Chisa Yukizome. I've heard so much about you from Kyosuke... ah, from Munakata-kun. So I just had to come meet you!"

Sakakura wasn't sure how to feel about what she had just said. On the one hand, Munakata had talked about him. He was an important enough presence in Munakata's life to be worth mentioning.

On the other hand, The Woman—Yukizome—was on first-name basis with Munakata.

Not that he was jealous or anything.

"I see," Sakakura said, pushing aside that non-existent jealousy. "Yeah, I'm Juzo Sakakura. And, uh..." He paused, steeling himself for what he was going to ask next. "Sorry, but are you and Munakata...?"

"Oh...!" Yukizome giggled, her cheeks turning pink. "Yes, we're dating. We're college sweethearts, I guess you could say!"

And there it was, one more chip in his heart— no, just clarification of a small mystery. Not heartbreak. Why would his heart break over Kyosuke Munakata?

"Does Kyosuke ever mention me?" Yukizome continued.

"Not really," Sakakura answered truthfully.

"Aww..." Yukizome pouted a bit. "Well, I kind of expected that. He can be pretty shy."

"Shy" wasn't a word that Sakakura would use to describe Munakata—but on the other hand, why would he possibly think that he'd know more about the man than his long-term girlfriend? Frustrated, he gripped his hand into a fist.

"Still, that's kind of a bummer." Yukizome sighed and cradled her face in a hand. "He talks about you to me so much, but he doesn't mention me to you? That kind of hurts!"

And Sakakura absolutely did not have to fight down an urge to pump that fist in victory.

Yukizome quickly recovered and giggled again. "Oh, listen to me. I shouldn't be pulling you away from your work like this."

"No, it's fine," Sakakura assured her. "I think Ishimaru's got things covered."

She smiled amicably, then tilted her head to one side, and then the other, as if she were sizing him up.

Sakakura tried not to fidget uncomfortably under her gaze. "Um, what are you...?"

"No, it's nothing." Apparently satisfied, she smiled up at him again. "You know, I'm glad Kyosuke made a friend like you. He actually doesn't make friends that easily."

"Really?" Sakakura was surprised. "He seems pretty personable to me."

"Oh, people like him fine," Yukizome agreed. "He commands respect very easily. But Kyosuke is pretty... intense. Oh!" Her face turned beet-red, and she broke into another fit of giggles. "Not like that, of course!"

Okay, whether he was denying his feelings or not, Sakakura did not want to hear about that.

"In any case, there aren't many people who will approach Kyosuke to be his friend." Yukizome gave him a genuine smile. "So I'm glad he met you. You seem like you'd be able to handle him, Sakakura-kun."

Sakakura didn't miss how she had switched to the "kun" honorific—less impersonal, as if she had officially accepted him into their world. But at the same time, he didn't feel as welcome as he probably should.

He had been accepted as Munakata's friend. Nothing more.

Not that he was ever planning to become anything more. All Yukizome had done was confirm a reality that Sakakura had long accepted to be true.

So as they exchanged parting words and he waved her off, he took comfort in the fact that at least he hadn't been chased away.

Door 16

"Oh, right."

Hinata had almost nodded off, lulled by the rhythmical clattering of the train and the comfortable presence of his boyfriend, but he was pulled awake again when Kuzuryu suddenly spoke up. "Hmm?"

Blinking the sleep from his eyes, he saw Kuzuryu digging through his duffle bag. "I forgot to give you your present."

"Present?" That was enough to fully free Hinata from his drowsiness. "What are you talking about? I thought this whole trip was my present!"

Kuzuryu arched an eyebrow as he pulled a small wrapped package from his bag. "What kind of shitty present would that be? The trip was as much for me as it was for you. Here." He held out the package. "Happy birthday."

Speechless, Hinata took the gift. "Um... thanks, then?" He stared at the wrapping paper for a moment before asking, "Can I open it now?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Hinata carefully opened the wrapping on the gift to reveal dark woven fabric, soft and warm against his fingertips. "Gloves?"

"Yeah, 'cause you keep walking around outside with bare hands like a dumbass." Kuzuryu grinned. "How lame would it be if you lost a finger without even joining the clan?"

Hinata chuckled lightly, then pulled on one of the gloves to see how it fit. The glove was snug and warm, and he flexed his fingers experimentally. There were firm pads on the fingertips, and he tapped them together thoughtfully before it dawned on him. "Hey, are these capacitive gloves?"

Kuzuryu grunted. "Yeah, so?"

Hinata tried to keep a straight face, fighting down the grin that threatened to creep forward. "So if I'm wearing these, what's the reason that I can't touch your phone now?"

Kuzuryu's face went red, and he turned to stare resolutely out the window at the passing countryside. "Well I guess there fuckin' isn't a reason anymore, is there?"

No longer bothering to hide his smile, Hinata chuckled fondly. Honestly, having access to Kuzuryu's phone didn't really matter to him—he didn't particularly care to see what was on there, and he was probably better off not knowing.

But there mere idea that Kuzuryu had even opened up that avenue of trust meant all the world, and warmed him more than a pair of gloves ever could.

Door 17

Komaru gave a contented sigh, lounging across an inner tube and letting the cool saltwater lap at her body. It was so nice to finally be able to relax after the frantic rush of Comiket, and she definitely felt that the beach trip was well-deserved.

Better yet was that not only had her best friend joined in, but she had finally managed to convince Byakuya Togami to come out of hiding! It had taken commandeering several of her friends' cell phones and blowing through about seven different blocked email addresses, but finally he had relented.

The only problem was that, after all that trouble, Touko still wouldn't address him directly.

"L-look how gorgeous he is," she swooned as she clung to the inner tube, her long, dark hair floating on the water around them like a spider web. "He's like a r-real life Adonis."

Komaru craned her head to follow Touko's gaze back to the shore, where Togami was sitting underneath a beach umbrella with his nose stuck in a book. Makoto, meanwhile, was idly pacing along the shoreline, stopping occasionally to regain his balance as the surf shifted the sand under his feet.

Would it kill them to be at least a little more invested in their day out? Komaru groaned and hung her head backwards over the tube, letting her hair get thoroughly soaked.

"I would h-happily spend all day admiring his unparalleled b-beauty," Touko sighed. "O-or my entire life, even."

"Touko-chan, maybe you should try something proactive instead of just ogling him?" Komaru suggested. "I mean... he's right there. You finally have your chance to talk to him."

Komaru expected Touko to sputter some sort of excuse about being unworthy of approaching him, but instead she fell silent, her brows furrowing in thought.

Was she actually considering it? Komaru waited patiently but excitedly, not wanting to say something that would push her best friend back into a corner.

"Komaru," Touko finally said. "W-what if I drowned myself?"

Komaru was silent a beat, unsure of what she was hearing. "What."

"I could drown myself," Touko repeated, seeming to become more excited about the idea as she explained the plan, "and th-then he'd come rescue me, and back at shore he'd gently lay me atop the warm, white sand. He'd tenderly cradle my jaw, clearing my airway to perform mouth-to-mouth, and then—"

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Komaru cut in, grabbing on to Touko's wrists to keep her from actually drowning—the writer was getting worked up enough by her own fantasizing that she was losing her grip on the tube. "That's an idea, but I kinda get the feeling I'd end up being the one saving your life."

Touko huffed indignantly, but didn't argue.

Komaru pondered for a moment until an idea came to her. "Hey, I know! Touko-chan, look." She pointed towards Togami. "See how he's reading?"

Touko frowned doubtfully. "Yeah..."

"Well that's, like, your thing!" she continued enthusiastically. "It's common ground that you can build off of! So why don't you try going back to shore—you don't have to talk to him if you don't want to—but sit down with a book and start reading too! Maybe he'll try striking up conversation about what you both are reading!" She kind of doubted that last part, but she wouldn't say that out loud.

Biting her lip nervously, Touko stared at Togami again. "Y-you think that might work?"

Komaru tried to exude as much confidence as possible. "Sure it might!" Keyword: might!

Gradually, and with much second-guessing, Komaru managed to urge Touko back to shore, and she watched as her friend pulled a softcover novel from her beach bag. Touko then turned and walked on shaking legs towards Togami... and then right past him, hurrying a full five meters away from the heir before sitting herself down on the sand to read.

Komaru sighed. Well, that was better than nothing...

And then, not two minutes later, Togami put down his book and stood up, walking away in the opposite direction.

Touko looked up from her book and shot a dark glare in Komaru's direction.

Unsure of how else to respond, Komaru simply shrugged and looked away.

It wasn't her fault that Togami was jerk. And clearly far too smitten with her brother already.

Come to think of it, maybe that last part was kind of her fault... but only a little.

Door 18

[more art! You know the drill—tumblr or AO3!]

Notes: I totally gave my puppy Izuru a cameo in this batch, but is that the only Kamukura representation this AU is getting? Hmm...