Late-and-yet-not Furuba Fic
Happy Birthday Celeste!
Look, I even managed to finish after a fashion your request in time for your birthday! And I think it shows how I was rushed! Also, Skye's because it's the same fandom.
1. Glass Houses
Kazuma sent Shigure a package whenever he took an exodus into the mountains. Their relationship was an odd correspondence. Kazuma was most open when he was farthest away from not merely the Souma compound, but any resemblance to confinement. Truly, it was the most striking thing about the otherwise withdrawn and taciturn martial arts instructor.
His letters always came with a gift, something from the farthest corners of Japan, which always seemed out of place even in a home as cluttered as Shigure’s. Kazuma never picked practical gifts, or gifts that represented anything in particular of the relationship. Their physicality was like Kazuma’s presence, something that had to be wrought over before the meaning would make sense. For he was never direct except in his letters.
This gift would be no different. At this new arrival, Shigure nudged the wrapped box with his toe and complained at how cruel Kazuma was to send his dear cousin a package that was heavy enough to be loaded with bricks. They weren’t bricks of course. They were thirteen polished stones with a shumi brush placed on top. And the note, which seemed heaviest of all.
“Found these on the path. I thought an old-fashioned soul like yours would make good use of them. Kyou is growing stronger each day. When he is ready I will send him to you, as you ordered.
Please accept him in your home the way I have accepted him in mine.
-Kazuma”
Shigure picked up the brush and set it balancing on his nose. The phone rang and shifting his head at all he answered it. “Ah, Akito. Yes, I’ll be visiting. Yes, tonight.”
He hung up the phone and started painting the stones. One of the things Shigure learned from Kazuma’s gifts was how, in being out of place everywhere, they managed to leave their impression. The myriad held their own balance, and like old toys with missing button eyes or chipped paint, they became more distinct over time. They would make wonderful pallets for his zodiac.
On the way to the main house Shigure dropped the thirteenth stone in the road. He would write about his carelessness to Kazuma in the morning. And Kazuma would wait until his next retreat to write back.
2. Stalemate
Mit-chan liked to think of herself as a patient and upstanding person. Not deserving of karmic punishment. She led a good life, really. Took her sister’s kids to the park, extra polite to the local police, she didn’t even cheat on her taxes. And yet-
“Sensei! Your manuscript is two weeks past the due date! You have to give me something or they’ll cancel the contract and we’ll both be out of a job! Me especially!”
The heavy wood door of Shigure’s office, the only place actually structured like a barricade, remained silent.
Mit-chan felt like crying. “Sensei!”
A second longer than was necessary for dramatic suspense, Shigure poked his head out. His hair was tussled and his glasses were slipping off his nose. “Ah? Mit-chan! I didn’t hear you. I was entertaining a guest!”
“At a time like this?! Can’t you ever finish your work before yo-”
“I’m keeping Shigure-san from work?! OH WHAT A HORRIBLE IMPOSITION I’VE CAUSED WITH MY CARELESSNESS!” a voice cried out from behind the door and a young man’s desperate flailing could be seen from behind Shigure.
“Ah ha, Ritsu Souma, meet Mit-chan!”
“No! No no no! It’s not you, he always does this!”
“Clearly my relation to him has caused Shigure-sensei writer’s block of a horrendous degree! I should be struck down by the muses!”
“Wha-what?! No! Don’t say that you didn’t do anything wrong I just-” Mit-chan looked close to tears. “Sensei!”
“Ah, you’re getting along to well I’ll get you two snacks~!” Shigure sing-songed before escaping.
There was a crash and two voices identical in their despair rose up and filled the house with wailing. He felt really bad, leaving them both like that. He just didn’t know who to feel sorry for really. But that important decision could come later, after his nap.
3. Halcyon
“Hey, A~ya, let’s play a prank on Hari. He’s been avoiding us since the entrance exams and we should remind him we’re not the Flower Blossom Trio with only two people.”
“Truly, how beleaguered he must be, locked away from our shining presence and our Manly Romance!”
“Oh A~ya, I knew I could count on you,” Shigure snickered. “Whipped cream and feathers or leeks up the nose?”
Ayame’s attention was focused on fumbling with the lock to Hatori’s dorm, which probably the only reason they were halfway quiet when they entered the dark quarters. Shigure took the lead, trying to guide them in so as not to arouse suspicion.
An act that was completely irrelevant as Hatori was sitting up on his futon, glaring balefully at them with both eyes. “Good evening.”
“Ah, is it evening?” Ayame chirped, “It seemed to be closer to early morning aha!”
Hatori ran his fingers through his hair and sighed heavily. “You have two choices. Either you get your prank out of the way, I kick you out, and go back to sleep. Or you give up now and I let you stay without having to mention any unnecessary things to your teachers.”
“Only if I can share the futon!” Ayame crowed, just as happy with these events as anything else. With an appropriate level of slithering Ayame had curled up at Hatori’s side as if it were his original intent.
Shigure paused for a moment, weighing the pros and cons. “So if I wait until the morning to surprise you will you let me sleep in your futon too?”
Standing out in the cold, Shigure realized Hatori’s bedside was looking more and more appealing.
4. The Magician’s Apprentice
He didn’t plod when he entered Shigure’s home. Despite all the talk of how slow and clumsy Haru was, how he could never match the grace of Kyou or Yuki in his fighting, he always stepped gingerly. It was Hatsuharu’s way, to hold back so much of himself that when he reached for others it had an imperceptible touch.
Shigure knew that control was fundamental to their existence. Where the curse’s trigger was all about how far they could push, and how much pressure they could exert without changing. Haru had spoken to him later that the rigors of living this way could become such a burden even someone as solid and dependable as he was could want to run away. And Shigure knew it to be true, which is why he knew that anyone who came to him in supplication was going to ask for escape.
It was simply a matter of what kind they desired.
Haru bent down and touched his forehead against the boards. From the angle of his neck and the shift of his spine, Shigure knew just how forcefully he prostrated himself. Knew from first-hand experience.
Haru spoke softly. “I will do anything you ask if you take Yuki out of the main house. Anything.”
“Ah.” It was all he needed to say.
“Please.”
Shigure took a long drag of his cigarette. Rin had asked him the same thing, once before. And only once. She threw herself on his floor and crept to him looking for the answers to escape from Akito’s shadow. She trembled with the want of it, even though she was defiant when he asked her for whose benefit this request was truly made. Like Haru, Shigure knew it was a selfless act for the benefit of another cursed member. Like Haru, Shigure knew if he granted her the answer she would be honor-bound to him for the rest of her life.
“Hmm, such a simple request. Very well then, I’ll put in a word and accept Yuki-kun here if he wants to stay. But...” Shigure trailed off.
Haru’s eyes remained fixed on the floor. Never giving anything away. It was the difference he had from Rin, who gave everything away by how tightly she concealed it. Haru simply...ceased to let himself exist if it was necessary. Oh, the black would come out in force sometimes, which was troublesome. But the point was the young ox had already naturally learned to break apart the darkness in him, slip it away for the sake of the greater good, a goal that carried the burdens of his cousins and ached for them without ever revealing it. The perfect apprentice should Shigure fail and need another Souma to carry on the administrations for the next generation.
“My one iron-clad requirement is this! Brace yourself Haa-kun!” he said, snuffing the cigarette out with one jab. Shigure smiled, filled with foolish menace and hidden importance. “You’ll have to call me sensei from now on. Deal?”
5. Honesty is Easy
“Akito, you have a weak heart. Please sit down and rest. For all our sakes, you must keep your health intact.”
The pale figure didn’t move from the veranda. “You’re disgusting. Even a dog would be a better companion than you.”
“Would you want me to lick your hand then?” Shigure replied.
“Disgusting,” Akito repeated. “You all can’t offer me anything besides your ties to this filthy curse. It’s your fault I’m sick, and you’re happy about it. Happy that I’ll die because of this.”
“...I love you.”
It was the truth. And Shigure wondered, in his life of writing fiction, why it didn’t sound so readily different.
Akito sneered. “Of course you do. You all have to love me. I’m your god.”
Shigure bowed his head deferentially, hiding the smile. “Of course.”
1. Comedian
“Hey, Kisa! Kisa! It’s your favorite cuddly cousin, Momiji! I’m here to cheer you up, eheh! Even sourpuss Hiro wants you to smile. Your mama said it was okay since you aren’t doing homework now! Lucky you~!
“Kiiiiisa, lets sing a song, okay? We can make one up and I’ll clap my hands at the chorus! I’ll start! Oh the flowers bloom and kittens groom la la la, and you want to make something up too?
“Ah! I have this really funny joke Haru told me! Why did the bunny eat the wedding ring? It’s reeeeeeeally hard, you have to think!
“Kisa?
“…eh-heh! I’m okay! See? I just forgot the punchline for a minute there and had to think! Haven’t guessed it yet? It’s because he heard it was 20 carrots! Get it? Karats and carrots sound alike! But, hey, wasn’t that a really funny joke?”
2. First Time
“It’s unnatural.”
“He’s our son. A healthy baby boy. Our little Momiji.”
“It makes me sick to look at him. He doesn’t even cry.”
The father held the baby in his arms and shifted it so she could see his face. Perhaps hoping the image of a human child would ease her mind.
Momiji shifted, staring back at the horrified eyes of his mother with rapt attention. Somehow sensing unease in the creature before him, the toddler squirmed in discomfort while his father tried to rock him and at the same time offer him to his mother.
Momiji held out a red hand to her and giggled.
She turned away, shuddering. “Unnatural.”
3. Bruised Pride
Momiji never liked learning martial arts from Kazuma Souma. Unlike Yuki’s natural excellence, Hatsuharu’s rage, Kagura’s determination, or Kyou’s entire reason to live, Momiji had nothing of him that could be helped by this course of action. He could dodge most attacks set against him, but like the offer of human touch outside of the clan, Momiji seemed to view this ability as more of a burden than a gift.
As expected of the Jyuunishi Soumas, he went. And only trained for one day.
“Don’t cry you idiot! I’m not even trying to hit you, but you need to watch out in case some lousy girl triggers the curse!” Kyou snarled and bopped Momiji on the head.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, Kyou-kun hit me because he wants to hug all the girls himself! Kagura-chan, make him stooooooop!”
“Che, relying on-I don’t hug girls don’t say that!”
But too late, for Kagura’s selective hearing had caught the words she dreaded to here put together and left the rest up to her imagination.
“Kyou, how could you!” she cried, pulling Momiji away from him to hug tightly. “We all want to be embraced by someone who loves everything about us.”
Momiji bounded away, knowing the inevitable result of his cousin’s passion. It was a time when he was glad he could run so fast.
Kagura charged, knocking Kyou ten feet in the air. “YOU SHOULD APPRECIATE MY LOVE FOR YOU KYOU-KUN! I, WHO WOULD HOLD YOU EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE!”
“Clear victory for Kagura,” Haru said listlessly.
Remembering that one day of training made it easy for Momiji to smile again, even if he never learned to fight back. He could defend himself just with the happy memory.
4. The God’s Gift
“Ha’ri...what’s so good about rabbits?”
Momiji was peeking over Hatori’s desk, even though he had grown tall enough to see its contents easily. He preferred to hang and stare precociously as the doctor worked. When he got like this, Hatori knew he would be better off indulging him.
“They are fast.”
“But not as fast as the cheetah or a deer!”
“They can burrow.”
“So can moles and snakes. Ha’ri, you’re smart. Tell me something really special about them! Pleeeeeeeeease?”
“All right. In times of famine...” The soft creaking of Hatori shifting in his chair could be heard as he went to put away his latest file. “The mother rabbits...have the ability of absorbing their unborn back into their uterine lining, and waiting until a better season comes along before giving birth.”
Momiji was still for a moment before pushing away from the desk. He closed his eyes and smiled. “Then every little bunny born would know its mama wanted it, wouldn’t they Ha’ri?”
“That they could provide for the litter, yes.”
“...that’s why rabbits are special. They know when they come into the world God wanted each and every one!”
5. Hide and Seek
The first time Momiji got to see his little sister was not when she was in the hospital. There were complications, Papa said. And her mother, his mother too but not really, was too sick to let anyone visit, so Momiji would have to wait some other time.
And Momiji did wait patiently, when one day he was sitting in his father’s reception area, waiting to hear if his father would have time to spare for his recital, and he saw Momo. She was fussing in her carrier when his mother brought her in and let her rest in the bench across from Momiji.
At first he was too shocked at the sudden meeting he could do nothing but stare. Indeed, the baby in the carriage was his little sister, with soft blonde hair and assuredly light brown eyes that squinted at him sleepily. A face that looked like the pictures Hatori kept of him in the office.
Momiji’s fear set in and he slipped down in the chair, hiding his face from view. His baby sister, Momo. He had to make a good impression, even if she wouldn’t know. Momiji had read that babies learned through mimicry in the beginning. So smiling at Momo would mean she would want to smile back at him.
He carefully peeked over and gave her the widest grin imaginable.
But by then Momo had fallen fast asleep.
...also it took me an hour to get lj to post it. That should be factored into timing. *whistles*
Look, I even managed to finish after a fashion your request in time for your birthday! And I think it shows how I was rushed! Also, Skye's because it's the same fandom.
1. Glass Houses
Kazuma sent Shigure a package whenever he took an exodus into the mountains. Their relationship was an odd correspondence. Kazuma was most open when he was farthest away from not merely the Souma compound, but any resemblance to confinement. Truly, it was the most striking thing about the otherwise withdrawn and taciturn martial arts instructor.
His letters always came with a gift, something from the farthest corners of Japan, which always seemed out of place even in a home as cluttered as Shigure’s. Kazuma never picked practical gifts, or gifts that represented anything in particular of the relationship. Their physicality was like Kazuma’s presence, something that had to be wrought over before the meaning would make sense. For he was never direct except in his letters.
This gift would be no different. At this new arrival, Shigure nudged the wrapped box with his toe and complained at how cruel Kazuma was to send his dear cousin a package that was heavy enough to be loaded with bricks. They weren’t bricks of course. They were thirteen polished stones with a shumi brush placed on top. And the note, which seemed heaviest of all.
“Found these on the path. I thought an old-fashioned soul like yours would make good use of them. Kyou is growing stronger each day. When he is ready I will send him to you, as you ordered.
Please accept him in your home the way I have accepted him in mine.
-Kazuma”
Shigure picked up the brush and set it balancing on his nose. The phone rang and shifting his head at all he answered it. “Ah, Akito. Yes, I’ll be visiting. Yes, tonight.”
He hung up the phone and started painting the stones. One of the things Shigure learned from Kazuma’s gifts was how, in being out of place everywhere, they managed to leave their impression. The myriad held their own balance, and like old toys with missing button eyes or chipped paint, they became more distinct over time. They would make wonderful pallets for his zodiac.
On the way to the main house Shigure dropped the thirteenth stone in the road. He would write about his carelessness to Kazuma in the morning. And Kazuma would wait until his next retreat to write back.
2. Stalemate
Mit-chan liked to think of herself as a patient and upstanding person. Not deserving of karmic punishment. She led a good life, really. Took her sister’s kids to the park, extra polite to the local police, she didn’t even cheat on her taxes. And yet-
“Sensei! Your manuscript is two weeks past the due date! You have to give me something or they’ll cancel the contract and we’ll both be out of a job! Me especially!”
The heavy wood door of Shigure’s office, the only place actually structured like a barricade, remained silent.
Mit-chan felt like crying. “Sensei!”
A second longer than was necessary for dramatic suspense, Shigure poked his head out. His hair was tussled and his glasses were slipping off his nose. “Ah? Mit-chan! I didn’t hear you. I was entertaining a guest!”
“At a time like this?! Can’t you ever finish your work before yo-”
“I’m keeping Shigure-san from work?! OH WHAT A HORRIBLE IMPOSITION I’VE CAUSED WITH MY CARELESSNESS!” a voice cried out from behind the door and a young man’s desperate flailing could be seen from behind Shigure.
“Ah ha, Ritsu Souma, meet Mit-chan!”
“No! No no no! It’s not you, he always does this!”
“Clearly my relation to him has caused Shigure-sensei writer’s block of a horrendous degree! I should be struck down by the muses!”
“Wha-what?! No! Don’t say that you didn’t do anything wrong I just-” Mit-chan looked close to tears. “Sensei!”
“Ah, you’re getting along to well I’ll get you two snacks~!” Shigure sing-songed before escaping.
There was a crash and two voices identical in their despair rose up and filled the house with wailing. He felt really bad, leaving them both like that. He just didn’t know who to feel sorry for really. But that important decision could come later, after his nap.
3. Halcyon
“Hey, A~ya, let’s play a prank on Hari. He’s been avoiding us since the entrance exams and we should remind him we’re not the Flower Blossom Trio with only two people.”
“Truly, how beleaguered he must be, locked away from our shining presence and our Manly Romance!”
“Oh A~ya, I knew I could count on you,” Shigure snickered. “Whipped cream and feathers or leeks up the nose?”
Ayame’s attention was focused on fumbling with the lock to Hatori’s dorm, which probably the only reason they were halfway quiet when they entered the dark quarters. Shigure took the lead, trying to guide them in so as not to arouse suspicion.
An act that was completely irrelevant as Hatori was sitting up on his futon, glaring balefully at them with both eyes. “Good evening.”
“Ah, is it evening?” Ayame chirped, “It seemed to be closer to early morning aha!”
Hatori ran his fingers through his hair and sighed heavily. “You have two choices. Either you get your prank out of the way, I kick you out, and go back to sleep. Or you give up now and I let you stay without having to mention any unnecessary things to your teachers.”
“Only if I can share the futon!” Ayame crowed, just as happy with these events as anything else. With an appropriate level of slithering Ayame had curled up at Hatori’s side as if it were his original intent.
Shigure paused for a moment, weighing the pros and cons. “So if I wait until the morning to surprise you will you let me sleep in your futon too?”
Standing out in the cold, Shigure realized Hatori’s bedside was looking more and more appealing.
4. The Magician’s Apprentice
He didn’t plod when he entered Shigure’s home. Despite all the talk of how slow and clumsy Haru was, how he could never match the grace of Kyou or Yuki in his fighting, he always stepped gingerly. It was Hatsuharu’s way, to hold back so much of himself that when he reached for others it had an imperceptible touch.
Shigure knew that control was fundamental to their existence. Where the curse’s trigger was all about how far they could push, and how much pressure they could exert without changing. Haru had spoken to him later that the rigors of living this way could become such a burden even someone as solid and dependable as he was could want to run away. And Shigure knew it to be true, which is why he knew that anyone who came to him in supplication was going to ask for escape.
It was simply a matter of what kind they desired.
Haru bent down and touched his forehead against the boards. From the angle of his neck and the shift of his spine, Shigure knew just how forcefully he prostrated himself. Knew from first-hand experience.
Haru spoke softly. “I will do anything you ask if you take Yuki out of the main house. Anything.”
“Ah.” It was all he needed to say.
“Please.”
Shigure took a long drag of his cigarette. Rin had asked him the same thing, once before. And only once. She threw herself on his floor and crept to him looking for the answers to escape from Akito’s shadow. She trembled with the want of it, even though she was defiant when he asked her for whose benefit this request was truly made. Like Haru, Shigure knew it was a selfless act for the benefit of another cursed member. Like Haru, Shigure knew if he granted her the answer she would be honor-bound to him for the rest of her life.
“Hmm, such a simple request. Very well then, I’ll put in a word and accept Yuki-kun here if he wants to stay. But...” Shigure trailed off.
Haru’s eyes remained fixed on the floor. Never giving anything away. It was the difference he had from Rin, who gave everything away by how tightly she concealed it. Haru simply...ceased to let himself exist if it was necessary. Oh, the black would come out in force sometimes, which was troublesome. But the point was the young ox had already naturally learned to break apart the darkness in him, slip it away for the sake of the greater good, a goal that carried the burdens of his cousins and ached for them without ever revealing it. The perfect apprentice should Shigure fail and need another Souma to carry on the administrations for the next generation.
“My one iron-clad requirement is this! Brace yourself Haa-kun!” he said, snuffing the cigarette out with one jab. Shigure smiled, filled with foolish menace and hidden importance. “You’ll have to call me sensei from now on. Deal?”
5. Honesty is Easy
“Akito, you have a weak heart. Please sit down and rest. For all our sakes, you must keep your health intact.”
The pale figure didn’t move from the veranda. “You’re disgusting. Even a dog would be a better companion than you.”
“Would you want me to lick your hand then?” Shigure replied.
“Disgusting,” Akito repeated. “You all can’t offer me anything besides your ties to this filthy curse. It’s your fault I’m sick, and you’re happy about it. Happy that I’ll die because of this.”
“...I love you.”
It was the truth. And Shigure wondered, in his life of writing fiction, why it didn’t sound so readily different.
Akito sneered. “Of course you do. You all have to love me. I’m your god.”
Shigure bowed his head deferentially, hiding the smile. “Of course.”
1. Comedian
“Hey, Kisa! Kisa! It’s your favorite cuddly cousin, Momiji! I’m here to cheer you up, eheh! Even sourpuss Hiro wants you to smile. Your mama said it was okay since you aren’t doing homework now! Lucky you~!
“Kiiiiisa, lets sing a song, okay? We can make one up and I’ll clap my hands at the chorus! I’ll start! Oh the flowers bloom and kittens groom la la la, and you want to make something up too?
“Ah! I have this really funny joke Haru told me! Why did the bunny eat the wedding ring? It’s reeeeeeeally hard, you have to think!
“Kisa?
“…eh-heh! I’m okay! See? I just forgot the punchline for a minute there and had to think! Haven’t guessed it yet? It’s because he heard it was 20 carrots! Get it? Karats and carrots sound alike! But, hey, wasn’t that a really funny joke?”
2. First Time
“It’s unnatural.”
“He’s our son. A healthy baby boy. Our little Momiji.”
“It makes me sick to look at him. He doesn’t even cry.”
The father held the baby in his arms and shifted it so she could see his face. Perhaps hoping the image of a human child would ease her mind.
Momiji shifted, staring back at the horrified eyes of his mother with rapt attention. Somehow sensing unease in the creature before him, the toddler squirmed in discomfort while his father tried to rock him and at the same time offer him to his mother.
Momiji held out a red hand to her and giggled.
She turned away, shuddering. “Unnatural.”
3. Bruised Pride
Momiji never liked learning martial arts from Kazuma Souma. Unlike Yuki’s natural excellence, Hatsuharu’s rage, Kagura’s determination, or Kyou’s entire reason to live, Momiji had nothing of him that could be helped by this course of action. He could dodge most attacks set against him, but like the offer of human touch outside of the clan, Momiji seemed to view this ability as more of a burden than a gift.
As expected of the Jyuunishi Soumas, he went. And only trained for one day.
“Don’t cry you idiot! I’m not even trying to hit you, but you need to watch out in case some lousy girl triggers the curse!” Kyou snarled and bopped Momiji on the head.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, Kyou-kun hit me because he wants to hug all the girls himself! Kagura-chan, make him stooooooop!”
“Che, relying on-I don’t hug girls don’t say that!”
But too late, for Kagura’s selective hearing had caught the words she dreaded to here put together and left the rest up to her imagination.
“Kyou, how could you!” she cried, pulling Momiji away from him to hug tightly. “We all want to be embraced by someone who loves everything about us.”
Momiji bounded away, knowing the inevitable result of his cousin’s passion. It was a time when he was glad he could run so fast.
Kagura charged, knocking Kyou ten feet in the air. “YOU SHOULD APPRECIATE MY LOVE FOR YOU KYOU-KUN! I, WHO WOULD HOLD YOU EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE!”
“Clear victory for Kagura,” Haru said listlessly.
Remembering that one day of training made it easy for Momiji to smile again, even if he never learned to fight back. He could defend himself just with the happy memory.
4. The God’s Gift
“Ha’ri...what’s so good about rabbits?”
Momiji was peeking over Hatori’s desk, even though he had grown tall enough to see its contents easily. He preferred to hang and stare precociously as the doctor worked. When he got like this, Hatori knew he would be better off indulging him.
“They are fast.”
“But not as fast as the cheetah or a deer!”
“They can burrow.”
“So can moles and snakes. Ha’ri, you’re smart. Tell me something really special about them! Pleeeeeeeeease?”
“All right. In times of famine...” The soft creaking of Hatori shifting in his chair could be heard as he went to put away his latest file. “The mother rabbits...have the ability of absorbing their unborn back into their uterine lining, and waiting until a better season comes along before giving birth.”
Momiji was still for a moment before pushing away from the desk. He closed his eyes and smiled. “Then every little bunny born would know its mama wanted it, wouldn’t they Ha’ri?”
“That they could provide for the litter, yes.”
“...that’s why rabbits are special. They know when they come into the world God wanted each and every one!”
5. Hide and Seek
The first time Momiji got to see his little sister was not when she was in the hospital. There were complications, Papa said. And her mother, his mother too but not really, was too sick to let anyone visit, so Momiji would have to wait some other time.
And Momiji did wait patiently, when one day he was sitting in his father’s reception area, waiting to hear if his father would have time to spare for his recital, and he saw Momo. She was fussing in her carrier when his mother brought her in and let her rest in the bench across from Momiji.
At first he was too shocked at the sudden meeting he could do nothing but stare. Indeed, the baby in the carriage was his little sister, with soft blonde hair and assuredly light brown eyes that squinted at him sleepily. A face that looked like the pictures Hatori kept of him in the office.
Momiji’s fear set in and he slipped down in the chair, hiding his face from view. His baby sister, Momo. He had to make a good impression, even if she wouldn’t know. Momiji had read that babies learned through mimicry in the beginning. So smiling at Momo would mean she would want to smile back at him.
He carefully peeked over and gave her the widest grin imaginable.
But by then Momo had fallen fast asleep.
...also it took me an hour to get lj to post it. That should be factored into timing. *whistles*