A Very Kuro Christmas - Part II
Looking for Part I? You can find that here.
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It had been nearly an hour with nothing but strange looks from stall-owners and festival goers alike when he asked about his ‘niece’s’ stuffed animal. Just as he was about to head for the last row of stalls in his section, Doumeki walked purposely toward him, composed, but slightly out of breath.
"Got a call from Watanuki... Larg is missing now too."
Kurogane took the older--younger?--man's shoulder (he still wasn't sure how the whole ageing process worked when world-hopping) and asked, a little more roughly than needed "does Watanuki know where he went?"
Doumeki shook his head. Kurogane dropped his hand from the muscular shoulder.
"Damn." He felt ready to punch the next person to look at him the wrong way when Doumeki spoke again.
"Though..."
"Though?" Kurogane echoed, trying to not sound impatient.
"They're connected, aren't they? If Soel called out for help, Larg..."
Kurogane interrupted him by snapping the fingers of his good arm.
"That must be it. Damn buns. Why didn't they let us know? I swear that after this they're getting tracking collars or something."
If he hadn't known better, Kurogane could have sworn that Doumeki's mouth moved upward slightly.
"Should I go get Fai?" Doumeki asked, his expression now blank like usual.
"Yeah. But make him buy something warm to drink, okay? Last thing I want is for him to spend the next week or two in the hospital."
Doumeki nodded and walked away briskly, holding his phone to his ear. Probably calling the mage to find out where he was. Tch.
While he wouldn't deny the usefulness of phones, he had the feeling that they had made people impatient and lazy.
After all, he had lived without a phone until three years ago, and he found himself to be incredibly patient.
----000----
Doumeki and the mage returned shortly, carrying three drinks between them.
“Here Kuro-pu!” the mage said happily. “I got you your favorite--hot chocolate!”
Kurogane growled and looked at the cheerfully decorated cup with loathing.
Before he had known better, he had been fooled into drinking a sip of hot chocolate by the mage when they had first arrived in this world. It had taken less than a second for him to realize that the drink contained milk--the most noxious substance in existence.
His Japan got on just fine without the colorless filth, and he didn’t understand why this Japan couldn’t do the same.
But then again… if he was honest with himself, despite all of the things that this modern Japan lacked, it also had some good things too.
While he would rather slice off his arm (again) before admitting it to the mage, this ‘Christmas season’ as they called it, was actually kind of nice. While it wasn’t the same as the festivals and celebrations he was used to, there was something about it that made him feel almost feel cheerful.
Ugh. He had been spending too much time around the mage and the fluff buns. Here he was, using words like ‘cheerful.’
The mage poked him on the forehead, instantly silencing his thoughts.
“Why the furrowed brow Daddy?” He said it in such a playful tone that people were bound to get the wrong idea. Feeling heat rise to his cheeks despite the bitter cold, Kurogane responded before he could stop himself.
“Don’t call me Daddy you bastard!”
More than a few passersby gave them a wide berth as they walked toward the brightly colored stalls and Kurogane half-expected someone to ask them to leave. When nearly a minute passed without anything more than a few curious looks thrown their his direction, he turned his attention to Doumeki to avoid looking at the mage.
“Here,” Doumeki said calmly, no doubt trying to dispel the tension. “We actually got you a warm sake, but Fai thought it would be amusing to…”
Kurogane cut him off before he could finish. “It’s fine. I’ll just ration his TV time.”
“Noooo!” the mage shouted in mock-horror. “Not my shows! I need to find out what happens in this week’s episode of Lonely Hearts…”
“Serves you right,” Kurogane said with conviction, though he was only half-serious.
“Well, let’s get going then,” the mage said brightly. “‘Onward ho!’ And all that.” He began marching toward the entrance of the festival, not bothering to see if Kurogane and Doumeki were following him.
Kurogane and Doumeki exchanged a knowing look. Even though the mage would pay for this little excursion over the next week by being laid up in bed, he was feeling exuberant due to the adrenaline brought on by fear, and the small taste of freedom at being outside the house.
Because of his health the mage didn’t get out of the house much, unless it was to see one doctor or another, or to visit Watanuki and the buns at the shop.
But Kurogane wouldn’t even describe the mage as being ‘ill’ really: he was simply frail. He had this delicate frailty that needed to be protected. The only thing that scared Kurogane--really scared him--is that he would squeeze too hard, take care of the mage too much, and he would shatter.
He tried not to think about it, but it was times like this that concern for the mage was at the forefront of his mind.
Because even though the mage was trying to hide it--even now forging on ahead of him and Doumeki, singing off-key Christmas carols at the top of his lungs--Kurogane knew that the man was terrified.
They needed to find the pork buns not just for their sake, but for the mage’s sake as well.
----000----
They continued to walk the route that the white bun would have taken. They traced and re-traced, until Kurogane was sure that he would be able to walk the route blindfolded.
He looked at his watch and felt a small twinge of despair. It was getting late, and it had been hours since they had started their search.
Kurogane stopped to lean against the opening of an alleyway and collect his thoughts. He told himself that he was just tired, and that a few minutes of rest would…
He strained his ears, sure that he had just heard an annoyingly high-pitched voice coming from inside the alleyway. Could it be?
Without saying anything to his companions, he bolted down the alleyway, crying out “pork buns!?” as he passed trashcans and other substances that must have once resembled something other than glop.
The voice became louder the farther he ran down the alley.
“Good kitty…” the high-pitched voice said.
A cat?
Kurogane sped up, sure that the buns must have been injured to be taken down by something like a cat.
He was ready to grab the offending feline by its tail when he finally caught sight of the white butterball. What he saw made him stop dead in his tracks.
“Good kitty” the white bun repeated. “Don’t you look splendid! What do you think Larg, did I get the bow right?” There was a brief pause as the second bun looked at the cat.
“Looks good to me!” He clapped his tiny hands together and added, “this is going to be awesome.”
It was at that moment Kurogane chose to step forward.
“What will be awesome?” he said in the most menacing voice he could muster through the sheer relief of finding them.
“Uh oh,” the dark bun said, looking up at Kurogane. The white bun kept a hold on the cat by clutching the satin ribbon around its neck, looking as if she was ready to start crying at any moment.
He was going to try and keep the flood of tears at bay when the mage and Doumeki appeared behind him. At seeing all three of them together, the white bun burst into tears. Kurogane didn’t deal well with tears and glared at the men behind him.
“No! Now it’s ruu-iinnn-eedd!” she cried, dripping large sloppy tears onto the dirty ground of the alleyway. The dark bun walked over and put one of his ears around her comfortingly.
“There there,” he said soothingly. “It might not have been the surprise we planned, but it’s still a surprise, right?”
The white bun stood still for a moment, considering this statement. She finally nodded, and the tears seemed to become less… drippy.
“Now,” Kurogane began, “why don’t you two explain…”
The black bun puts up its arm as if to silence him.
“Wait a second Kurogane… you and Fai need to close your eyes. We have a surprise for you.”
“Okay,” the mage said obediently.
“Hey!” Kurogane barked, looking back to see that the mage already had his eyes closed.
He looked at the buns and noticed that the white bun was close to tears again after his outburst. Damn.
“Fine,” he said, doing his best to sound gracious. “But don’t think this means you’re not in trouble.”
He closed his eyes, having an inkling about what they were going to ‘surprise’ him and the mage with.
There were quite a few grunts from the pork balls in the following minutes, almost as if they were trying to push something heavy. They finally called out to Doumeki for help, who Kurogane heard walking toward them.
“Okay,” the buns said in unison a moment later. “Open your eyes for a big surprise and have a very merry… uh, EARLY CHRISTMAS!” they shouted, stumbling over their words at the end.
Kurogane opened his eyes to find eight pairs of eyes looking up at him. Four were from the buns, two from the cat, and two from what he could only guess was a dog, though it was so fluffy he could barely tell it was alive, much less what kind of creature it was.
“Hooray!” The mage cried, throwing his arms up in the air for no apparent reason.
While the idiot chatted excitedly with the fluff balls, Kurogane looked at the animals in front of him.
The dog was as dumb as a bag of hair, he could tell that just by looking at its glazed expression. No wonder the pork buns had needed Doumeki’s help in moving it from wherever they had been hiding it. But the cat… the cat, on the other hand, seemed to have an acute kind of intelligence lurking behind its green eyes.
It was all black, except for a small white marking in what seemed to be the shape of a sword.
No such thing as coincidence, huh?
He caught the part of the conversation where the pork balls said, “the cat’s for you, and the dog’s for Kurogane!”
“Nope,” he responded, striding toward them. “Cat’s mine, dog’s his.” He glanced back at the mage and said, “the mutt even looks like you: its hair is all fluffy and shit.”
Did he just hear Doumeki stifle a giggle? If so, he was promptly going to forget it.
“That’s fine with me,” the mage answered contentedly. “I’m good with dogs; I live with you, after all.”
Kurogane knew that was meant as an insult, but he let it pass. He was too interested in the cat--his cat--to care.
He held out his hand to the cat, letting it know he respected it. The cat looked at him for a moment before getting up and moving toward him stealthily.
It lay down in front of him and proceeded to show him its belly--the ultimate sign of trust from a cat.
He rubbed the smooth fur, thinking of the small sword-shaped mark it bore.
The mage was happily playing with the mutt, already telling it what a good dog it was. Tch. His cat was way better.
However, the mage did voice the question that was also on his mind.
“Where did you find them?” he asked, letting the disgusting mutt lick the side of his smooth cheek.
“The street,” the black bun answered.
“They were all alone…” the white bun said. “It was so sad Fai. We just knew that you and Kurogane would give them a good home.”
Kurogane stood up, the cat resting contentedly in his arms.
“I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but you both did good.” He stroked the cat without thinking about it as he spoke.
The mage chimed in, still letting the stupid mutt climb all over him, and said, “though next time, please don’t make us worry again, okay?”
The buns nodded, their ears flapping happily.
----000----
It was decided that the pork balls and Doumeki would spend the night, since it was already late and getting colder by the minute.
The mutt, of course, peed on the floor as soon as it got inside, which the mage just laughed off as the buns helped him clean up the mess.
Doumeki, one of the only useful people in the room, helped Kurogane finish putting up the Christmas decorations while the cat looked on, perched contentedly on the edge of the couch.
By the time three a.m. had rolled around, the tree was glistening with various orbs and baubles, and green garlands with red velvet bows flounced across the walls and hung from the edges of every counter and tabletop.
The stockings--which they would need to get more of, now that they had his cat and the mutt to think about--hung on the wall nearest the kitchen, almost daring onlookers to try and escape their tidings of holiday cheer.
When they turned out the lights and turned on the Christmas tree, the darkness was pierced by a rainbow of riotous color. The buns and the mage made little ‘ohh’ and ‘ahh’ sounds while the mutt chased its tail around excitedly.
His cat, seeming to approve of the tree, curled underneath its branches and promptly fell asleep.
----000----
When Doumeki and the butter buns had been safely escorted to the guest room for the evening, Kurogane couldn’t help but take another look at the tree.
He stood there looking at it for a few minutes, allowing the memories that he usually kept safely locked away to pass over him.
He thought of his family, and how they would have felt seeing this. He thought of Tomoyo, and how her eyes would light up with delight at seeing the symphony of lights intertwined in the green braches. And finally, he thought of the kids, and wondered if they were doing something like this in their world right now…
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Kurogane nearly jumped; he was so lost in thought that he hadn’t noticed the mage leaning against the opening of the hallway.
For some reason his throat felt very dry as the mage sauntered toward him.
“Well, it seems that we’re officially parents now, Kuro-pu.”
“Tch. You mean I’m a parent.” He looked down at his cat who was still curled up contentedly under the tree. “I don’t think you can be a parent to that mutt. It doesn’t seem smart enough to recognize its own tail, much less realize it has a parent.”
“It is a he, thank you very much, and I find him to be quite intelligent.”
At this, Kurogane laughed out loud. He just couldn’t help it. The mutt looked so damn goofy that the thought of it being ‘intelligent’ was so absolutely ridiculous and absurd that…
“So you admit it then; that you’re a parent?” the mage asked, looking down at the cat. Kurogane stopped laughing and thought for a moment.
“Yeah, I guess so. I mean, in the loose sense of the word.”
“My my my…” the mage answered, doing a kind of twirl as he circled Kurogane. “My little Kuro-pi is all grown up now and is passing on his rugged good looks to his offspring.”
“Did you just insult my cat?”
The mage continued, undeterred by the question. “If only you could pass on those ninja skills of yours…”
“Watch it, mage.”
The man stopped twirling and stood in front of him, his tone suddenly serious.
“I’m not a mage anymore, remember?”
Realization hit Kurogane full in the face, and he found himself stumbling over his words.
“But… you’re just the mage. What else do I call you?”
The blonde stepped closer, getting maddeningly close to his face, and whispered, “how about Fai?”
Kurogane could hear his heart pounding in his ears and gave thanks to whatever gods existed when the mage finally stepped backward and turned toward the Christmas tree.
He felt shaky for some reason, and it carried over to his voice when he answered, “um… okay. I’ll… I’ll try.”
The mage turned back to look at him and smiled brightly. “That would be wonderful, Kuro-pu!”
“Hey, why do you get to call me nicknames?”
“Because,” the mage, uh, man answered. “My nicknames for you aren’t connected to anything you used to be, and are therefore okay to use.”
God the bastard was annoying as ever. Why had he been so worked up over an asshole like this a minute ago?
He responded, hearing the familiar growl enter his voice. “So does that mean I can make up nicknames for you too? Like blondie, or twig, or…”
The man just laughed and said, “whatever floats your boat, Kuro-puppy!”
“Hmph.”
He looked over at the man, who was now quietly gazing at the Christmas tree, a far-off look in his eyes. Maybe he was thinking about the kids too.
He continued to stare as the lights reflected off the man’s golden hair, making strange formations whenever he moved his head, almost as if the light was rushing through his hair like water.
He had become lost in the light patterns when the mage spoke.
“Kurogane?”
“Hmm?” he answered, mildly interested at the use of his real name.
“Thank you. For this; for everything, I mean.”
He stared at the man and said, loudly, “you damn bastard, why do you have to go and be serious out of nowhere?”
The man gave him a tired smile and said, “because I’m a coward. That’s all,” and went back to gazing at the tree.
“Stupid blondie.”
Before he realized what he was doing, he reached out until his hand found the slender palm of the mage and took the considerably smaller hand in his own.
“Just look at the lights, okay?” he said, surprised by the smoothness of the man’s hand.
The man answered, almost in a whisper. “Okay.”
They stood like that for a long time, feeling that everything had somehow changed for the better.
“Oh, and Kurogane?”
“Hmm?”
“Merry Christmas.”
“You too, blondie.”