Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu! Happy New Year! Here's to a good year ahead, at work and in writing, and good health as well.
Title: See below
Disclaimer: Bleach/Gundam Wing/Kuroko no Basuke doesn't belong to me... I just borrow the characters for my muse to play with.
Rating: PG-13
Warning/Info: Some sweetness.
Pairing: See below. Includes ByaRen, ByaUki, RenIchi, 1x2, KagaKuro
A/N: Thanks again for the prompts! New Year's prompts this time. I definitely miss New Year's in Japan, so you'll see quite a bit of that. I'll be turning both the non-Bleach prompts into longer stories as well, so that will come by the holidays next year hopefully. XD Drabble specific author notes below each drabble under the cut. Enjoy~
Hatsuhi
After they got together, they always arranged it such that both of them had no duties on New Year’s Day. They slept after the customary visit to the local jinja just past midnight and woke before dawn, racing off to a mountain in Rukongai, kido lighting their way.
With Renji’s hand over his, they greeted the dawn; Byakuya watched the sky grow lighter with streaks of orange appearing, before the sun emerged from the horizon, imparting a warm glow to everything.
Wishing upon the sun they would be able to do this the following year and ever after, they kissed.
A/N: For
rii_no_ame's prompt: "first sunrise", ByaRen. Hatsuhi means first sunrise of the New Year and jinja means shrine. Getting a good view is definitely one of the things to look out for.
Reflecting
“How did the year go?”
“It went fine.”
“Rukia’s growing into her position as Lieutenant. I’m sure Kaien would be proud of how far she’s come.”
Byakuya nodded. He was proud of her too. He wasn’t sure what he could say about himself though. He hadn’t been forcefully strict on himself or others since but that pain from Hisana’s passing still remained - it was one thing that motivated him; there was now more he wanted to protect.
“It’s fine. You don’t always need to forgive and forget. Do what you think is best.”
Ukitake smiled. Byakuya nodded, thinking, understanding, appreciating.
A/N: For
sardonicista's prompt: "'Forgive and forget.' Were the familiar options always the best ones?" [ByaRen or ByaUki, something New Year's themed]. Can be read as a follow up from the ByaUki I did for the holidays two years ago.
Bright Hues
The lanterns and spotlights lit the surroundings up in a blaze of yellow and orange, highlighting the jinja’s vermillion pillars and reflecting off the white and brown walls. Small stores decorated in a myriad of colours from tentage to signboards, offering a variety of food spanning the colours of the rainbow and more, were scattered all over the grounds and Ichigo tailed Renji with a smile as he went once around, stopping ever so often to buy something that looked interesting and then wolfing down the food or passing it to his partner when he found another thing he wanted.
They bit into taiyaki almost bursting with sweet azuki paste as they queued in line to wait for the New Year. As the crowd erupted in cheers, they whispered “Akemashite omedetou!” to each other, hands briefly grasping in lieu of a more public display of affection. The bells toiled in the distance as the queue started moving and soon after they reached the haiden. After making their prayers, they headed back, warm in their matching coats, brown and orange for Renji and a deep maroon for Ichigo.
“You’re gonna be mine for the rest of the night.”
Ichigo blushed, smiling.
A/N: For
writerx75's prompt: "holiday colors", RenIchi. I wanted to squeeze this into a hundred words but there was too much detail I wanted to put in, so I made it a 'double drabble' of two hundred words instead. XD Haiden is kinda like the worship hall in the shrine (jinja). I can't remember seeing taiyaki surprisingly, (I'd be having more of the other stuff Ren was having) but the rest is based on everything I've seen (and miss).
Brunch
“Rise and shine, sleepyhead.”
Duo opened his eyes to see Heero in an apron and… what was that smell?
“Mornin’, what are you cooking?”
“Brunch.”
Enticed by the smell, he got up and cleaned up quickly. There was a small bowl of rice and a larger bowl of soup waiting for him across from his boyfriend.
“That’s zoni, with meat, vegetables and mochi. It’s traditional New Year food. Ittadakimasu.”
“Itadakimasu.”
“Heero, it’s delicious. You’ll be doing all the cooking next time.”
“Baka, making it isn’t that difficult. I’ll teach you next time, though finding the mochi elsewhere might be difficult.”
A/N: For
sharona1x2's prompt: Heero showing Duo how to celebrate the New Year holiday in Japan. This is a good idea for a way longer fic in an AU setting, which I will attempt to create over the year, which will include this drabble of course. I'm looking forward to writing 1x2 since well, after having read so much, it's difficult to think of new/interesting/original stuff.
Hatsumode
Kagami was tucking into his fifth bowl of toshikoshi-udon when Kuroko rang the bell. They counted down along with the television, greeting each other with “Akemashite omedetou!”, then headed to the jinja dressed up in formal kimonos.
After making their prayers, they each bought an ema for their New Year wishes, writing it in secret before hanging it up.
Unsurprisingly, Kagami’s went, “I want to be the one to teach Kuroko everything in the future.” There was only so much he could tolerate about Aomine teaching Kuroko how to shoot.
Neither was Kuroko’s. “I want to be Kagami-kun’s shadow forever.”
A/N: For
sharona1x2's prompt: Kagami is jealous of Kuroko playing basketball with Aomine, but then he realizes maybe it's not the basketball playing he's jealous of. Close enough to the prompt I hope, but this begs for much much longer fic and after reading enough about KuroBasu, (I eventually gave in on waiting for the better scanlations and am now on top of things in the manga) I'm comfortable enough to write more. =) Hatsumode is the first shrine (jinja) visit of the New Year and ema is the wooden tablet to write your wishes on.
Might put up New Year's resolutions later when I'm more awake to think about them. ;P