'Cause the Fic Gods hate you.

pimptastica

2009-12-15T20:24:03Z

I saw mommy
kissing Santa Claus

BUT MOSTLY THIS. That is the fic somebody wrote for me at je_holiday and it is magnificent. I'm all kinds of in love with it. I am going to be late for work but it is so very, very worth it. Please go love on that author for me.

...and LOVE

2009-12-07T20:20:27Z

MORE IMPORTANTLY:
I saw mommy
kissing Santa Claus

I'm not sure what's going on but today when I checked my e-mail I had six v-gifts. I think I missed a meme or something but whatever it was THANK YOU. I love you guys, too. In fact, if you sent me a snowflake and would like to leave me a character/pairing and a prompt I would like to write you each a drabble.

Randomly: Dear to f-list: Thank you for being on the internet. ♥

Now, back to cookie making for the kids' school concert bake-sale. (Note to self: Never again try to make snowflake cut-outs with the almond cookies This will always end in tears.)

...

2009-11-30T18:13:36Z

So I finished my je_holiday fic (the first one, Andii, not the other one) and I...I am really not very happy with it.

I'm going to try to finish the other one tonight or tomorrow and maybe I'll like that one better but for now if there is anybody who wants to read and possibly do a fast and nasty beta let me know. I work this afternoon/evening so it might be a while.

*scrubs brain* I think I'm just plain worn out, fic-wise.

Not that it will stop me from trying to have something for THIS:

I saw mommy
kissing Santa Claus

I think I might have an idea, actually. Now it's a matter of crying my way through it.

Another five minute fic

2009-11-21T05:29:03Z

In my continuing quest to just write something damn it I bring you another five-minute fic. This one is for Erin for no particular reason at all.

And now, to bed with me.

They're all so tired and that's where it starts.

Five boys with their arms around each other and each other the only thing holding each of them up.

Nino, their mood maker, curls in to Sho's side and hums under his breath. Nothing special, just radio songs that play during ordinary days. Just a hum and a breath of almost-words to go along with it.

Sho drapes his arm around Nino and holds him closer still. He doesn't sing along.

Aiba's arm is warm against Sho's own when it finds a place just under it, laying across Nino's back. Aiba hums, too, but it's more just breathing than actual sound. Sho can feel it.

Ohno joins the circle on Sho's other side and Sho can barely feel the brush of fingertips against the nape of his neck. Ohno, like Sho, doesn't sing along. He leans against him and radiates warmth and it's Ohno who brings Jun to the circle.

Jun is a wiry, tricky thing in their circle and it takes a moment and Ohno's arm and Aiba's too, before he calms down. He doesn't sing but he sighs as he leans in to the warmth and peace of their leader and their Aiba.

They've been at this for a year and it's hard to imagine two years, five years, ten. They're so very tired, so weary and so young for what it is that they do. But when they're all together, at least, they can turn their back on the storm and look into the center together and find the calm and the blue sky and the sun.

MPREG AHOY.

2009-11-16T03:51:14Z

This is for flange5, for being productive. This is also thanks to an old conversation that lazulisong and kegom had about mpreg. It has never left my mind. But no, I still don't know how the doctors would tell them.

Five Miracles (of Questionable Origin) That Happened to Arashi

1: Full of grace

"So," said Nino coming into the greenroom and throwing his bag at his chair, "guess who got who knocked up."

"Oh, god, Nino," said Sho.

"Exactly," said Nino and dropped his coat.

He stomach was as round and distended as though he had a basketball under his shirt. Except he couldn't have because his shirt wasn't big enough to cover his protruding tummy and it was resting just above the swell of it.

"I don't care if you thought the look on Jun's face would be funny," Sho roared. "You do not tell the angel of the lord that you'll bear the next Jesus even if you DO think it's only a dream."

2: With a Wave of My Magic Wand

"I'm so happy," Sho said, touching his stomach with reverent hands.

"So, let me get this straight…" Jun said as he massaged his temples with the heels of his hands. "Nino took you out drinking at a bar staffed with magicians and…"

"She asked me what I wanted most," Sho beamed at him. "And now look at me! I'm gonna be a daddy! It's going to be the most beautiful baby, too. She was gorgeous."

"He'd say that even if it was some hairy, dirty, drunk hobo baby, wouldn't he?" Jun asked in quiet despair.

Sho was too busy glowing to hear him but Nino looked over. "Yep," he answered.

3: Pollination Tech Number Nine

"Remember that dream I had about being abducted by aliens?" Jun asked them in lieu of saying 'good morning'. "Well, it wasn't a dream."

"I always wanted a little brother or a sister!" Ohno said, kneeling down and pressing his cheek to Jun's gently rounded belly.

"Oh-chan," Nino sighed, "I don't think now is the time to joke about how you're a UFO-alien man."

"I don't think he's joking," Aiba said.

Ohno nuzzled Jun's abdomen again and cooed at it. "You're gonna love it out here! There's ramen and fish!"

4: The Lies of Health Class

"Well," said Aiba. "Well, see, I was at this porn theater—"

"Oh, god," Sho muttered into his hands.

"—and I went to the toilet," Aiba continued on blithely.

"You used a porn theater toilet?" Jun demanded.

"And I sat down," Aiba went on with a faintly hunted look.

"YOU SAT DOWN?" Jun howled.

Ohno put his arm around Aiba's shoulders and leveled a sad look at Jun. "He's in a delicate way," he said softly. "Don't be mean to him, Jun-chan."

"He is good," Nino announced to the room in general as Jun wilted.

"Okay," Aiba went on briskly, slinging his arm around Ohno's waist. "So anyhow I called Sho-chan's sister and—"

"You called MY SISTER?" Sho asked, his head jerking up out of his hands. "Why?"

Aiba blinked at him. "Well, I don't have a sister," he said reasonably.

"I think Sho meant 'what the hell for'," Nino said helpfully.

"Oh," said Aiba. "Well, the girls get that special health class about sex and periods and stuff, right? So I wanted to know if it was possible to get pregnant from a toilet seat."

Jun buried his face in the arm of the couch and made a keening sound of pain.

"What did she say?" Sho asked in horrified fascination, absently patting Jun's back.

"She said 'no'," Aiba reported dutifully. "But I'm pretty sure that's how it happened."

5: The First One to Use the 'S' Word

"Well, we can at least rule out members of KAT-TUN," Sho sighed.

"…" said Ohno.

"What the hell?" Nino demanded.

"Ew, Leader," Aiba said.

"We can't can't rule them out?" Ohno offered.

"I am giving you a bath in hot bleach as soon as I possibly can," Jun said feelingly.

Ohno put his hands protectively over his stomach. "I don't think that'd be good for the baby," he protested.

"That's why I said 'as soon as'," Jun told him. "The red-hot second that kid pops out, you're going right in the bleach-water."

"But what if it's not KAT-TUN's?" Aiba wanted to know.

"He's getting that bath just for the thought of it," Jun assured him.

Ohno pouted magnificently.

"…so," said Aiba an hour later. "It could basically be any guy in Japan."

Ohno scowled. "Not any. I have standards."

"You're such an easy drunk," Jun said, shaking his head.

"He's an easy sober," Nino said, hands on his hips. "That had better be my baby, that's all I'm saying."

No time

2009-11-14T20:07:55Z

No time to write today thanks to real-life. Check back later for my love of flange5.

ACK.

Nino the fish au

2009-11-13T18:27:58Z

Remember the au where Ohno caught a fish and named it Nino? Well, I wrote a little more in that universe just because I felt the need to write something.

Ohno is a little bit lonely out on his island all by himself. He's not sure how the little yellow fish is going to help but he's sure it will. He's also sure that Sho and Jun think he's a little bit crazy for keeping it. Aiba might think he's crazy, too, but at least with Aiba it would have more to do with the fish riding shotgun rather than the fish in general.

Ohno loves his bandmates so much more than he can ever really say.

"I really love those guys," he says to the tiny fish as they leave the airport behind.

The fish stares at him through the plastic of the bag and opens his mouth a few times like he's saying 'me too'.

Ohno's first stop after the airport is a pet store; his fish needs a proper home. A bell lets out a merry jingle when Satoshi opens the door and it makes the puppies in the back start to bark.

"Hey," comes a very absent welcome from the guy behind the counter. The guy is busy with a handheld game, his eyes focused intently on the screen. He's totally not paying attention to Ohno so Ohno feels free to stare a little.

Hullo, thinks Ohno, you're lovely.

The guy snaps the game off and looks at him. "Do you know how distracting it is to be stared at like that?" the guy asks.

"I have a fish," Ohno says and holds up the bag.

The guy stands up and leans forward over the counter to look into the bag at the fish. "Yellow clown goby," he announces.

"Ninomiya," Ohno says, reading the nametag pinned to the guy's chest. Ninomiya is a nice name, he decides. "Nino."

"What?" says the guy.

"That's his name," Ohno says watching Nino watch Nino through the plastic and the water. "Ninomiya."

Nino, the person, stares at him. "You named your fish Ninomiya."

"I named him after you. The two of you are very alike." He is somehow certain of this.

"Right," says person-Ninomiya. There's a smile flirting with the corner of his mouth and Ohno sort of desperately wants to kiss him. Which is odd—Ohno's not normally the type to want something like that off of somebody like Ninomiya.

"He needs a home," Ohno says a little mindlessly "now that he's living with me."

Person-Nino looks at him then goes around the counter. He walks down aisle two and is back a moment later with a plastic fishbowl. "Problem solved."

Ohno looks at fish-Nino. Fish-Nino mouths at him. "He likes simple," Ohno says, "but he's not a cheap date or anything," he tells the person.

Ninomiya smiles at him suddenly and fully. "I know a guy who makes hand blown glass and does his own etching. His name is Toma. Ikuta Toma." And he produces a business card from out of nowhere. "Give him a call and use the plastic one for now. Just for now," he says, directing his words to the bag of sea-water and fish.

When Ohno takes the card their fingers brush and it makes his heart thump hard in his chest.

To quote Meg: Coffeeeee, coffeeeeee, braaaaaiiins, coooooffeeeee.

2009-11-11T18:50:25Z

For Andii. Thank you for the prompt.
Written in about five minutes.

Love Love Drink

Jun's coffee was expensive and it tasted that way—all dark and rick and lush with hints of chocolate and a bright, smooth finish.

Nino's coffee was cheap instant stuff and tasted that way. Especially when the taste was coming from Nino's tongue being shoved unceremoniously in his mouth. "EW, Kazunari!" Jun yelped, pushing him off.

"It DOES taste good, Oh-chan!" Nino reported from his new seat on the floor. He crawled over to the chair Ohno was sitting in and put his head in his lap, rather like a dog looking for affection. "Want a taste, yes?"

"Sure," Ohno answered and Jun watched them kiss in a small, sippy bursts. Ohno hummed in delight. "That is good coffee."

Nino nodded. "I know, right? It almost makes me want to buy some."

"I want more too," Ohno said and he stuck out his lower lip in a fantastic pout.

"Coming right up," Nino said, crawling back to Jun and putting his head on his knee. "Coffee?" he requested politely.

Jun knew better than to refuse and that was the only reason why he gave in to Nino's kiss with only a soft sigh.

Quick note before I go to work

2009-11-10T13:55:10Z

Thanks to Zel I now have the 'Making of' video for the My Girl PV. God, they are cute dorks and Jun is adorable. Also: I SAW YOU TWO HOLDING HANDS UNDER THE TABLE, OHMIYA. (13:54)

I would buy more LEs if they came with 'making of' footage. I love backstage stuff.

Aaaaand a quick five-minute fic.

Jun gets into Harry Potter before it is popular to be into HP. Jun gets into it because Ohno gives him the first book one day out of the blue. Jun doesn't say it but Ohno gives him the whole world that day because that would be embarrassing.

Jun also doesn't say that he loves the Mirror of Erised and that's because when he imagines looking into it the only thing he can picture looking back at him is the five of them all wrinkled and gray and together. That is mortifying.

But it's so, so true. He can see himself as being so very happy and calm inside and out and he doesn't hurt so much and his heart isn't full of glass. He folds himself up on the couch next to Ohno and it feels like the movements of an old man trying to find a comfortable place on his old bones. Jun is sick of life hurting. He leans his head on Ohno's shoulder and ignores the looks Nino and Aiba and Sho throw at him.

"I see the five of us together and happy," Ohno says and just like the book it's completely out of the blue. And like the book all over again, Jun falls hard.

ThumbleMiya

2009-11-06T18:03:43Z

For blood_opal. A belated 'happy birthday!' because I love you and you are so good to me. I'm sorry it's not better than it is--I'm just unhappy with everything I write lately and it was either post this or trash it.

ThumbleMiya

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, there were two young men who lived together in a little cottage at the edge of the big forest at the edge of their small town. Their names were Sho and Satoshi and they were the very best of friends. They were also very polite and very cute; so much so that the women in town—teenaged girls and their mothers and their grandmothers too—would bring them delicious food every day just for the pleasure of watching them eat. It was a charmed life, both of them very happy every day and yet…

There was something lacking.

"A baby," Sho said over breakfast one morning. "Just one would be enough."

Satoshi didn't look up from his scrambled eggs. "You could knock up the neighbors," he suggested.

Sho looked absolutely scandalized. "I could not!" he gasped in affront.

"Or I could," an unperturbed Satoshi offered.

"You'll not," Sho told him firmly. "It's rude to get somebody pregnant with no intention to marry them and much more worse to do so with every intention of giving the baby to me."

"If you shan't and I shan't then you shall have to make a wish at the enchanted wishing well," said Satoshi. "You can go today since I'm going to go fishing."

"I'll pack us both a lunch," promised Sho.

Satoshi smiled gamely. "I'm sure it will be delicious."

The forest was big and deep and dark and only the most daring entered it. Sho stood at the edge for a very long time before drawing in a deep breath and plunging in. Though the day was sunny and bright it was impossible to see the sunlight through the tall, thick trees. The forest was not silent. In the spaces between there was the constant rustling hush of unseen animals and insects. Sho was frankly terrified.

"Do it for the baby," he kept repeating to himself as he picked his way carefully along the leaf-strewn forest floor, stepping cautiously over and around the raised roots of some of the foreboding trees. "Do it for your baby."

After an unknowably long stretch of time, Sho saw a glimmer of sunlight through the trees and he found a small, bright clearing at the center of which was the magic wishing well.

Sho clutched his gold piece hard in both hands, lifting it to his forehead. "Just one," he said into the quiet of the clearing. "Just one tiny person that I can love forever and ever."

His coin made a pleasant splash-tink when he tossed it in the well.

"I don't think it worked," Sho sighed several many months later.

"It takes time to make a baby," Ohno reassured him absently.

Sho sighed again and went back to making their breakfast. He picked up an egg and rapped it soundly against the edge of the bowl of pancake mix.

"Ouch!" said the egg. A second later out tumbled a small, naked little man who landed with a splash-plink in the bowl of batter. "Ick," said the little man.

"My wish," Sho realized with dawning glee.

"I can't eat him," Ohno said with dawning realization.

"A little help here?" said the tiny man.

"Oh!"

Sho and Ohno named the new addition to their family 'ThumbleMiya'. It was supposed to be 'ThimbleMiya' since he was not much bigger than a thimble but Ohno couldn't spell for beans and Sho both thought it was a cute mistake and was also helpless against Ohno being cute in general.

"How did you get into the egg?" he asked ThumbleMiya as he helped him take a bath in an eggcup.

ThumbleMiya gave him a look that said 'do you really want to know'.

Sho decided that he really rather didn't. "Well, first things first; you can't very well go around naked," Sho said as he handed ThumbleMiya the edge of a dishtowel so that he might dry his hair.

"I very well can so," said ThumbleMiya, peeking up from under the dishcloth.

"You most certainly can NOT," said Sho.

"Don't fight him on the clothing thing," advised Ohno.

And so the tailor was called that very day.

The tailor was a smart, whip-like man named Jun. Jun wore a purple sash that said 'Seven with One Smile'. There were rhinestones and sparkly-spangles all over it and ThumbleMiya was so astonished at this person that he didn't even make a snide remark.

"Seven what?" he wanted to know.

"Never you mind," said Jun, snapping out an edge of cloth with a flourish. The cloth was very fine indeed, soft and satiny with a fine sheen to it. It was also pink and embroidered with more pink and some pink glittered flowers. "It's a gorgeous color," said Jun.

"Gay," opined ThumbleMiya.

Jun rolled his eyes, eloquent in silent expression. "It's a gorgeous color and works with you skin tones. Now," he said, brandishing his tape measure "let me get your measurements."

"You're going to need a bigger tape measure for my inseams," said ThumbleMiya.

"You wish," Jun said as he set to work.

"SO gay," said ThumbleMiya sometime later.

"Keep it up," warned Jun, "and I'll make you a fuzzy, yellow muppet suit. Don't think I won't; I've the cloth for it at my workshop."

ThumbleMiya shut his mouth with an audible snap and Sho put down his camera and went to fetch a pencil so that he might make notes for himself.

(As it happens, when ThumbleMiya's wardrobe arrived from Jun's shop there was a fuzzy, yellow suit amongst the items. It was marked as pajamas and ThumbleMiya wore them because Sho thought it was adorable.

"He looks like a fuzzy, yellow chick!" said Sho in rapture.

"He looks pissed off," observed Ohno astutely.

"I'm only wearing these for you and if you take even a single photograph of me in this getup I will lay waste to your camera with every instrument and by every last mean at my disposal," ThumbleMiya informed them.)

Time went by, as time so often does, and soon Sho could hardly remember a time before ThumbleMiya had come to them. Satoshi sometimes spoke longingly of a time when he didn't have to worry about tiny hands pinching his bottom but Sho knew him well enough to know that he didn't truly mind for they both adored their tiny ThumbleMiya and his itty-bitty clothes and his weensy small shoes and his teeny little toiletries and even the way he bitched about every large thing in the house in his teensy voice.

"I do believe it's time," mused ThumbleMiya one day as he lounged in his eggcup bathtub.

"You are getting as wrinkled as a prune," Sho agreed, picking up ThumbleMiya's towel.

ThumbleMiya accepted the towel and secured it around his hips. "Not that time," he said as he grabbed Sho's thumb to be helped from his bath. "Time for me to go out into the world and find what waits for me."

Sho nearly dropped ThumbleMiya as he fell back in shock. His bottom found the top of his chair purely by chance and he sat heavily. "Go out…?" he said dizzily. "You mean you want Satoshi and me to take you to town?" he asked hopefully after a moment. "It has been a while. We could stop by Jun's and get you some new pants!"

ThumbleMiya sighed heavily and climbed to Sho's shoulder. "Listen, Sho, you and Satoshi are the best but I sort of mean it's time for me to go out on my OWN. I'm not your baby, you know."

"But you're my ThumbleMiya," protested Sho. "You're so much better than a baby. You can play checkers and chess and use the cheese wheel as a stage when you sing."

"And that's all great," ThumbleMiya reassured him. "But I'm still not a pet."

"Think of him as a freeloader," suggested Satoshi who had been listening to the entire exchange, "one who needs to get a job and pay his fair share of the rent."

"Job?" Sho gasped, one hand hovering protectively over ThumbleMiya.

"RENT?" gasped ThumbleMiya.

"Sho can pack you a lunch," Satoshi said, handing ThumbleMiya a pair of trousers.

"Sho can pack ptomaide, you mean," muttered a very betrayed ThumbleMiya.

"I'm worried about him," Sho said. "He's all alone out there in the big, big world. And it's even bigger for ThumbleMiya!"

"It's been an hour," said Satoshi. "He's probably still in the front yard."

"He was at your gate actually," boomed a new voice.

Sho and the ceiling both shrieked as the roof was peeled away from the top of the house and a rather large face loomed in the opening. "Satoshi, duck and cover!" Sho said, tugging on Satoshi's hand.

Gamely, Satoshi crawled under the table. "Hello," he offered to the newcomer. "You've not squashed ThumbleMiya, have you? Only we'd be terribly bereaved if you have."

The large face broke into a smile that could have put the sun to shame, had he not been blocking the sun. "I haven't! I've been super careful! Right, ThumbleMiya?"

"Hullo," called ThumbleMiya, waving from the shirt pocket of the giant who was holding up their roof. "This is Aiba and I'm going to keep him."

"You can't keep a giant!" Sho protested.

"Have you found a job, then?" Satoshi wanted to know. "Because you can't keep Aiba if you haven't found a job, you know."

"Ah, but ThumbleMiya," said Aiba the giant, "I'm going to be living with Jun-chan, you know. Once I find that person he was talking about. Which reminds me," and Aiba looked back down to where Sho and Satoshi were making their way out from under their breakfast table. "Jun-chan said that somebody here was the exact same size as my brain. I've always wondered just how big my brain really is—which of you is it?"

ThumbleMiya slapped a hand over his face and then peeped out between his fingers. "This is why I'm going to be the brains of our loan-sharking business," ThumbleMiya told him. Then, "Let's just say it's Sho-chan, all right?"

"All right!" agreed Aiba.

"Loan-sharking?" said Sho.

"Sounds profitable," said Ohno.

"Oh, it will be," said ThumbleMiya, rubbing his hands together gleefully. "It will be."

And it was.

With ThumbleMiya as the brains and Aiba as the well-intentioned muscle they turned a tidy profit in a short amount of time. Enough to pay for half of the new roof that the cottage needed—Sho had tried to protest that ThumbleMiya didn't need to pay for it at all, so glad was Sho to have him home again and Satoshi had tried to make him pay for the whole thing seeing as how Aiba was ThumbleMiya's giant to begin with.

There was even enough leftover that ThumbleMiya offered to buy new suits for both Satoshi and Sho. They rung up Jun at once to have him come and make their suits for them.

"Did you know there's a baby on your doorstep?" asked Jun, holding several swaths of fabric and a pink-blanket-wrapped bundle.

"Really?" asked Sho.

"Oh, it's been nine months, hasn't it," said Satoshi.

"Get rid of it," said ThumbleMiya. "Babies cry and eat and poop and cost money."

"That's cold," said Jun.

"Jun-chan!" said Aiba, "Jun-chan let's keep it."

"Okay," said Satoshi.

"Not okay," said Sho.

"That's a good idea," said ThumbleMiya.

"That's the dumbest idea ever," said Jun, who was still holding the baby and cradling her rather close to his heart.

"We can name it 'Mao'," said Aiba.

"No."

And they all--Satoshi and Sho and ThumbleMiya, Jun and Aiba and Mao and eventually little Shunkerbell (whose story is as long as this one but can be summed up by saying 'Shunkerbell was a fairy ThumbleMiya met before he moved into the egg and who also frequented Jun's tailoring shop'), too--lived happily ever after.

Kamen Rider Kabuto ficlet

2009-11-04T23:05:00Z

I just really feel like I can't write at all lately. Which is bad because I have je_holiday to do. ACK. ONE MONTH. So, again, I gave myself five minutes and told myself to just write whatever the hell I could.

WARNING: CHARACTER DEATH.

Shine on
Shine on this life that's burning out

Kageyama is dying. His one and only partner, his little brother, his sad and broken and perfect Kageyama, his. Yaguruma Sou brushes the hair back from Kageyama's face, out of the way of his eyes and his scar. "Partner," he says and he sounds bored and disaffected. "Looks like you found the light we can reach for together."

And Kageyama smiles at him and holds his wrist. "If you still believe in love, I'll be waiting for you." There is something beautiful and sweet in that smile, something light and not dark.

"Don't be a liar," he says, shaking his hand off and pushing with tender roughness at the hair that insists on falling in eyes that are changing, changing, changing. He cups Kageyama's face. "I'll come and get you again."

One last smile and then he snaps Kageyama's neck before the change can take him away.

Repost

2009-11-04T04:50:38Z

Firstly:Happy anniversary, Arashi!
Thank you for all that you've given me--joy and hope and courage and friends. Thank you for pulling me and my family closer together as we sing along (badly! in bad Japanese!) with you. Thank you for loving me even though we'll never meet. More than anything my wish for all of you this year is your happiness--no matter how sunburnt or girl-kissed that might be. Be happy, Arashi! I love you!

I am SO that fan.

Moving on: This was my entry for HallowShoneen as well as a fic for tangiblewhimsy.

The Fairy Queen

Sho knelt on the golden floor of the fairy palace's throne room and wondered why he had been summoned before the King. The young prince had barely finished breakfast when the junior apprentices had rushed him, fetching him before he'd managed even one step in the direction of his lessons. Now, head bent in respectful submission, he could feel the king's eyes on him like a heavy weight. He bowed a little more.

"Sakurai," Johnny said with solemnity, "the official announcement will be at this evening's ball but I wanted to give you warning. You are no longer a junior apprentice to the throne."

The words made his breath catch with a painful hitch and his first instinct was to whip his head up and stare and plead. Instead he kept still. "If that is His Majesty's will," he said. His voice didn't even tremble, a feat he was proud of until Johnny laughed.

"You are being made Crown Prince, Sakurai Sho," said the king. "You will become the king of the fairies once your training is complete."

Sho caught his breath again and nearly choked on it. "Sire," he said and he didn't even care that his voice cracked on the word.

Johnny laughed kindly. "Robes have already been prepared for you for tonight's announcement. You're dismissed from your lessons today. Oh, and Sho? One more thing…"

"…and then he told me that I have to find a bride. I have to get married," Sho said. He got no reply but he didn't expect one. It wasn't like ladybugs could talk, after all. He continued to rub polish on the shell of the large ladybug and despair. "I don't even know any girls! What do I do, Spot?"

Spot didn't answer but continued to chew placidly on her aphids and mites.

Sho sighed. "As good a sounding board as you are, Spot, I think we're going to have to talk to the guys." He put away the polishing rag and when to get his saddle.

Truthfully, Sho did not need a saddle. He was rather too big to ride a ladybug, with his knees up by his ears as he sat. As a child he had begged and begged for a ladybug but his parents had always told him 'no'. When he'd been made a junior apprentice to the throne it had been his one request from King Johnny. Spot had become a confidant as well as a mount and he saw no reason to feel ridiculous riding her. So what if everybody else had a dragonfly? Sho had love.

Which reminded him of his current dilemma once again.

"Damn it," he sighed as he mounted his steed.

Sho had lived a bit of a sheltered life in the fairy court but that sheltered life had also given him his four greatest friends: Jun, Aiba, Nino, and Ohno. He never would have meet any of them without being a member of the court because the others were not fairies. They were members of the greater woodland court.

And as it happened, the first of his friends that Sho found was Nino. Nino was a rarity—a crossbreed between a woodland nymph and a hairy troll, the result of a love spell gone awry. He was small and delicate with the fox-like face of a nymph and he had an untidy mop of black hair that never behaved itself. Which was fitting since Nino never behaved himself either—the troll-born mischievousness, no doubt. "Nino!" Sho gasped Spot landed.

Nino looked up from shuffling petals in his hands. "Sho!" he mock-gasped in return.

"I'm in trouble!"

Nino put his petals in his pocket. "It's all right," he said, putting both hands on Sho's shoulders before sliding them down to hold his hands, "We'll get married today and tell everybody that the baby was born early."

"What?" said Sho. Then, "It's not that! C'mon, I need all of you guys to help me!" He twisted his wrist to take Nino's hand in his own. "It's seriously serious!" he said, dragging his friend over to his waiting ladybug.

The next friend Sho set off to find was Ohno, the gnome. Like all gnomes, Ohno was short and stocky with big, dark eyes. Like all gnomes, Ohno was picking mushrooms though he was munching idly as he worked. "Ohno," said Sho, landing Spot on top of a large toadstool. "Ohno, I'm in serious trouble."

Ohno gazed up at him looking sleepy and slouchy. "Just marry Nino and pretend the baby came early," Ohno said, stuffing another mushroom in his mouth.

"That's what I told him," Nino called from his perch on Spot's back.

"Not that," Sho huffed.

"It's too early for trouble," Ohno said with a little pout.

Sho ignored it easily. "Come on; let's find the others."

Nino groped Ohno's ass instead of saying 'good morning'.

"Hi, Nino," said Ohno.

"I have a problem," Sho reminded them.

It was more cramped on Spot's back with both Nino and Ohno on board but Sho was in dire need of good counsel. That naturally led him to think of Jun, the elf. "Jun!" said Sho when they found him on the path to the pond. He landed Spot and scrambled off her back. "Jun!"

Jun and Sho were of a height, as elves and fairies often were. But where Sho had wings Jun had none and where Jun's ears were pointed Sho's were round. Jun's dark hair was also longer and had no need to part around a pair of antennae. "Yo," said Jun as Sho drew up beside him. "Hello, Satoshi," he said as Ohno ambled over. "Hi, Nino," he said as Nino draped himself over Sho's shoulders.

"I'm in trouble," Sho told Jun.

"I told him to marry Nino and say that baby came early," Ohno added helpfully.

"So did I," chimed in Nino.

"Oh god," said Jun hopelessly.

"It's not that," Sho protested. "It's serious trouble!"

"Then," said Jun, "let's go to Masaki's pond first and you can fill us in all at once."

"I love you best," said Sho with all of his heart.

Masaki's pond was small and shallow and had a fair covering of pond lilies and duckweed. It also had a thriving community of water sprites, tiny beings formed out of water and magic. They tended to skate on the surface of the pond when not swimming in its depths. By luck, Aiba was out skating.

"Sho!" Aiba called, waving wildly.

"Put some pants on!" Sho called back.

"Oops!" giggled Aiba.

Sho landed Spot and tethered her to a buttercup. "I've got a serious problem!"

"Can't you just marry Nino and pretend that baby is super early?" Aiba asked.

"It's NOT that kind of trouble!"

"Can't you just marry Nino?" Aiba asked at the end of Sho's story.

"What?" spluttered Sho.

"I'm out of here," said Nino, getting up and wandering back over to Spot, patting her nose.

"Seriously," said Ohno. "Can't you just marry Nino? King Johnny didn't say it had to be a girl, right?"

"But that—!" said Sho, flailing wildly.

"I agree with them," said Jun. "Just marry Nino."

"But—"

"Sho-chan," Aiba said, cupping Sho's face. His hands were wet but held the warmth of the summer sun that glittered on the water. "Sho-chan, just ask him." And he was so solemn and sincere that Sho could only nod in response.

"Nino?" Sho coughed nervously, "Nino, will you marry me?"

Nino looked at him, his eyes calculating. "Why?" he asked.

Sho blinked. "The guys thought you would?" he offered.

"Then no," said Nino and he stomped off in a huff.

"You asked him wrong," Ohno said, chewing on the edge of a float grass seed.

"Totally wrong," sighed Aiba.

Jun sighed and nodded.

"But you said to ask!" Sho protested vehemently.

"Ask again," said Jun. "And do better this time."

Sho found Nino sitting under the clover, shuffling his petals again. "Nino," he said, "I'm really sorry I asked you to marry me like that. I really don't know any girls and I really need some help."

Nino's shoulders hunched up around his ears. "Did you ever think that maybe there was somebody that I liked?" he asked. He threw his petals down and stalked off, his whole posture defensive.

"…somebody?" said Sho.

"He likes somebody," Sho reported to the other three. He threw himself down to sit on the bank of the pond, uncaring of the dirt, feeling hurt in a way he couldn't ever remember feeling before. He felt torn up inside, like somebody had scooped out his heart. "Nino has somebody that he likes."

"…" said the other three.

"Oh," Ohno said after a minute. "Sho-chan doesn't know."

"You knew?" Sho demanded.

"The whole kingdom knows," Jun said, rolling his eyes. "He's pretty obvious about it.

"Who?" Sho wanted to know. He wanted to find that person and kick them solidly in the shin for some reason. "Who does he like? When did it start?"

Aiba giggled. "He's liked that person since the day he met you," he said but he would say no more and nor would the others no matter how much Sho tried to command the answer out of them.

Sho spent the day flying and was tired, a little sore, a lot miserable, and no closer to an answer than he had been in the morning. He was worrying about being late to the ball as he landed Spot in her stall in the stables and he nearly missed Nino completely.

He was so tired and Nino was in his formal robes and there was an announcement/engagement ball to attend after the fastest (and probably coldest) bath in the forest. "Who do you like?" he asked wearily.

Nino slapped a hand over his face and then peeked out between his fingers. "Do you honestly not know?" he asked.

"Nobody will tell me," Sho sighed as he climbed off Spot's back "And I don't like it."

"You," said Nino.

"Me what?" Sho asked, signaling to the stable-fairy to take care of Spot.

Nino's hands dropped to his sides. "I like you."

"…me?" Sho asked, automatically taking Nino's hand in his own.

Nino didn't look at him but nodded anyhow. And then he disentangled their hands. "That's why I won't marry you. You can marry Mao-chan. She likes you well enough."

Sho thought of Mao. She was a lovely fairy, smart and loyal and he worked with her closely in the library at the palace. He also had zero interest in her.

He took Nino's hand in his own again. "I want to marry Nino," he declared.

Nino looked at him.

And smiled.

"Want to pretend the baby came early?" Nino asked on a laugh.

And they did.

Another five minute fic

2009-10-30T18:23:27Z

I just really can't write at all lately. ;__; I actually just wanted to let you all know that there is still time to write for shoneenclub's contest--several hours, as a matter of fact!
HALLOWSHONEEN

Now, for a fic I wrote in five minutes based on an old prompt from 31_days.

Not Even Roses

Mimura has thousands of flowers at his disposal every single day. He's allowed to be picky about which ones he uses and he can discard them all if he needs. He can give them all to Yamada Tarou if that's what he wants to do.

But Tarou prefers to pick the wildflowers and weed-flowers that grow in the space between the buildings and the sidewalks. "Ah, pretty! Yellow flowers always look so happy, don't you think, Mimura-kun?"

The yellow flower in question is not one that Mimura knows the name of—that's how much of not a flower it really is. "Mm," he humors Tarou anyhow.

Tarou beams at him and Mimura suddenly has the urge to pick weeds with petals for him. "Pretty," Tarou says and Mimura blinks and sees Tarou touching the edge of white-and-purple flowers that have taken root under the shelter of a hedge. Mimura reaches out to pick them—to offer them to Tarou for his bouquet, to simply offer them to Tarou—but Tarou stops him. "No. Not these."

"Why?" he asks, honestly curious about what he's done wrong now. He and Tarou fit together surprisingly well but that doesn't mean that their lives mesh even the slightest bit. Mimura is used to it but he still sometimes wants to live flawlessly in Tarou's life. It's the one place where he dislikes feeling like an outsider. "Why not?" he asks again.

"They're violets," Tarou says and his hand drifts away from the petals. "My dad picks them for her. When he lived at home he used to make her bracelets and necklaces out of them. If I pick them, they'll make her cry and that's no good."

Mimura thinks of Tarou's mother and his father and his six little brothers and sisters. He thinks of his own grandfather and of the voices of flowers. "Okay." He picks the next dandelion that they see. The best and most honest thing that he can say about it is that it is yellow.

Tarou's mother positively sparkles when she sees the flowers. "How beautiful!"

"Mimura-kun helped!" Tarou sparkles back at her.

And somehow, with all the flowers in the world at his disposal, Mimura doesn't even wish they were roses.

Pimptacular!

2009-10-29T17:43:58Z

A quick reminder that shoneenclub's contest ends tonight. Details of said contest can be found here:
HALLOWSHONEEN

Moar fic plz.

(PS. Once you write fic, go over to flange5's journal. She has been making awesome posts.)

Just a quick fic

2009-10-23T16:14:29Z

Working full time takes it toll on fic writing (and so many other things)so I haven't been around much. I miss being around and I miss writing. So I sat down and did a five minute fic just to do something.

Before the fic, however, comes another family Arashi moment!

My husband just got a new cellphone at work. He was showing it off in the car when our daughter, Faith, (who was sitting right behind me as I drove) called him. His ringtone? 5x10. That's right. My husband made himself an Arashi ringtone and he used 5x10. I was overwhelmed with love.

Me: *speechless*

Him: *defensively* What?

Me: My heart.

And now a five minute fic.

Falling

Aiba knew he should stop running; the video's director had definitely called the cut already. He should stop running but it was such a perfect day for it. The sun was shining and warm and the leaves were falling in orange-red-gold flashes and the wind was a cool, eddying rush that whispered 'follow me, run, run, run'. Beside all of that, however, was the fact that he was busy chasing Nino.

Nino darted through the staff. "Help me!" he shrieked.

The staff parted helpfully for Aiba, all of them laughing out loud.

With a last burst of speed Aiba snagged Nino around the waist, lifting him off his feet. Nino's whole body arched and twisted but Aiba had known Nino for so long that he knew Nino was not trying to get away. Nino was squirming in pleasure at being held by somebody he loved completely. "I caught Nino!" Aiba called, laughing and laughing as Nino twisted around to face him. Nino's hands squished his cheeks, making the words smush up.

"Idiot," said Nino and his voice was as warm as his hands.

Finally: HALLOWSHONEEN

Quick pimp and a fic

2009-10-12T19:09:55Z

HALLOWSHONEEN

If Nino ends up at Thumbelina it is all Erin's fault. (He'd be so tiny! And cute! And Sho would be so smitten! Because omg! Tiny!Nino! Pocket-sized!Nino! O.M.G.!) Which is to say that I might or might not be writing for this contest. I DO have less than two months to do my je_holiday fic. *cue flailing*

Now for a fic I wrote in an hour! My creativity feels so weak and my desire to write, too, seems very far away. So I wrote just to write something before I have to go to work.

Re-open

They're empty and just closing up after lunch, to take a break and then to set up for their dinner hours, when the door opens.

"Sorry we're clo—right this way," Taisuke says.

"Taisuke," Koichi sighs, looking up. He can see why his brother let this last customer in; she's very pretty, with long dark hair framing a heart-shaped face dominated by big, dark eyes. Koichi is going to let her stay—and probably put her meal on the house—because of the way she looks: simultaneously hard worn thin with sorrow, yet soft and light with acceptance, relief. Koichi has seen that look before. It's his own.

Koichi turns to get a plate. "The only thing we've got warm is the hayashi rice," he says apologetically. "But it's free," he adds, setting it in front of her. She smiles just a little and Koichi can't help but think of Kashihabara and himself and the betrayal and how he lives each day and isn't 'the bereaved' anymore. He hands her the spoon.

She takes it and gasps suddenly her eyes going glassy and mirror-like. Koichi can see everything he felt in them, can see only himself in her eyes for a moment. Then she gasps again and Koichi is gone from her eyes and she's only who she is again. Then she goes ashen white and faints.

Taisuke freaks out.

Koichi fishes her out of her hayashi rice and tells Taisuke to find Shizuna. He's a little freaked out, too, but one of them has to be rational.

And really? It's the perfect time for Hagimura and Nakanishi to come in. A situation like this is always improved by the presence of law enforcement. "Taisuke, get them some hayashi rice," he instructs, still holding the unconscious girl's face out of her plate.

Shiori wakes up warm, surrounded by softness. A soft bed and sweet, soft blankets. When she turns her head there is a man sitting beside the bed with warm, soft, far-away eyes.

He's not so far away that he fails to stop her as she starts to sit up. "Ah, no, no! Nakanishi said to make you rest," he tells her.

The familiar name and concern behind the order make her comply and she lays back. "I'm sorry," she says quietly. She feels drained and full both and so, so tired.

The man smiles at her and it is sad. "Why are you sorry?" he asks. "According to Nakanishi it's my fault you're in this state anyway. I'm sorry."

She shake her head and is about to apologize for intruding when she realizes where she is. "This is your room?" Above the cute little restaurant, she remembers. The place he shares with his beloved sister and brother. The place that filled him with love and with sorrow. She remembers it all.

He seems to misunderstand. "Don't worry; my sister and Sagi dressed you." It's the first time she's noticed that she is not wearing her own clothes anymore but instead a long, pink nightgown. "We wanted you to be comfortable and they said you wouldn't want to sleep with food in your hair."

"Your sister and—?"

"Axel!"

He closes his eyes, pinching at the bridge of his nose.

"Hey, you mayu-nashi, let him be!" says another male voice.

"Let go of me you nuresenbei!"

The door bangs open and a pretty woman and a pretty young man tumble in to the room.

"Sagi," says the man she knows is named Koichi even without the introduction. "My brother's girlfriend."

His brother and the woman make nearly identical shrieks of outrage. "I'm not dating this eyebrow-less girl!" says Taisuke, pointing at Sagi.

"I'd never date this soggy cracker!" Sagi says, slapping Taisuke's hand aside.

"See," deadpans Koichi.

"You two!" say a third voice and a lovely woman—who Shiori knows is 'Shi'—come in to the room, grabbing both Sagi and Taisuke by the ear. "She's supposed to be resting! Tch. And we still have to clean up from dinner. You two are on dish-duty."

Again, nearly two identical sounds of outrage emerge from the pair as they're dragged from the room.

Shiori can't help giggling just a little.

"That's good," says Koichi. He's smiling; it's just a little crooked. "If you can laugh you can eat."

He is careful as he helps her out of the bed. She's a little shocked by how unsteady she is on her feet. "Sorry," she apologizes as she sways on the spot.

"You've been out all day," Koichi says, holding her steady with a firm grip on her elbow. "That retired detective said you'd probably be out for quite a while. He said it's hard on you when it's accidental. The restaurant is closed so don't worry about the pajamas. Shi eats breakfast in hers all the time."

Despite the firmness of his grip, there is a deep gentleness in Koichi. She leans in to his hold a little more as he leads her out into a familiar little hallway and down some familiar steps. "You're happy here," she says without meaning to.

"It's different but…I guess I am," he says. They pass the kitchen where three voices can be heard bickering inside. "If you break anything it's coming out of your share," Koichi calls. The bickering increases and he sighs but he's smiling in his eyes. He smiles with the rest of his face as he leads her to a table. There's a post that blocks the view of most of the room but it seems friendly and comforting and private instead of obstructed. "Wait here."

He comes back with two plates of truly heavenly-smelling hayashi rice. "Oh," she breathes as she realizes just how hungry she really is.

"A hundred years of cooking went in to this," Koichi tells her, setting the plate in front of her. Shiori is a little cautious as she takes the spoon.

He can see the slight hesitation as she takes the spoon but doesn't comment on it. Instead he watches as she samples a small bite. He takes pride in the way her eyes widen with delight. "It's all right?" he asks for form's sake.

"It's delicious," she tells him. "Just like always."

It's the first time she's ever eaten it, he doesn't say. Instead he asks. "What did you see?" He's not really asking what she saw when she touched his spoon earlier. He knows what she saw, or near enough. He takes a bite of his own rice and waits.

Shiori looks down at her plate and he wonders how he can feel so close to somebody he's just met and with whom he's never shared a proper introduction. But then she smiles again. "A light," she says. "in a dark tunnel."

And he knows.

"Isn't it funny," he says, "how bright it is?"

Last day of the meme

2009-10-07T16:32:17Z

Apparently when I say 'later tonight' I mean 'the next day, after I pass out for thirteen hours straight and then have to play catch-up with household chores'. But here! Have the rest of that meme!

For one week, recommend / share:
Day 1: a song
Day 2: a picture
Day 3: a book/ebook/fanfic
Day 4: a site
Day 5: a youtube clip
Day 6: a quote

Day 7: whatever tickles your fancy Peach flavored pig-placenta! And other horrifying soft drinks from around the world! I love you, flange5.

Finally, an image that came to mind while listening to Jillian, the five-year-old, sing along with Arashi:

Ohno crawled on to the couch, clambering over Nino to reach his spot. "Kazu no mukou e," he said triumphantly.

Now, off to work with me. While I'm there, somebody please tell me that NaNoWriMo is a bad, bad idea.

Meme: day six

2009-10-06T16:04:27Z

For one week, recommend / share:
Day 1: a song
Day 2: a picture
Day 3: a book/ebook/fanfic
Day 4: a site
Day 5: a youtube clip

Day 6: a quote "Now, concentrate on this spoon and start chanting."

I ♥ starsystems. I say it practically every time I make one of the kids stir something.

Day 7: whatever tickles your fancy

In other news: I have to go to work but expect some Roadtrippage some time tonight. Hopefully.

Meme, day five

2009-10-05T15:56:45Z

For one week, recommend / share:
Day 1: a song
Day 2: a picture
Day 3: Day 3: a book/ebook/fanfic
Day 4: a site

Day 5: a youtube clip This clip is for Zel because CLAMP are bitches.

Day 6: a quote
Day 7: whatever tickles your fancy

Five minute drabbles

2009-10-05T05:25:15Z

Three drabbles while I wait for the laundry to finish so I can fold it and go to bed. I love you, flist. ♥

Loveless

"So many breezes, but never enough," Soubi says and the butterfly in his painting lights onto a flower.

"You're weird," sighs Ritsuka from his folded-up huddle on the floor by the bed.

"If Ritsuka says so," Soubi allows.

"If you're tired, you should rest," Ritsuka says and he unfolds himself like the loveliest of flowers.

Soubi puts down his brush, puts his hand in Ritsuka's. "If Ritsuka says so."

Ritsuka makes an inelegant sound that is half resigned sigh, half amused snort. "C'mon," he says and leads the way to the bed.

They lay down together and it is enough.

HYD

Soujiroh looked thoughtfully into the bassinet at the sleeping newborn. "You know, this child is special" he said musingly. "The perfect blend of Makino and Tsukasa."

"Mmm," said Rui.

"You're right," said Akira.

"The thing about perfect blends, though," Soujiroh went on, "is that it depends on what you're blending. Tsukasa's temper…"

"…and Makino's right cross," Akira said.

"With Tsubaki as an aunt—"

"—and that witch for a grandmother…"

They looked at each other. "I am not babysitting once this baby can lift his arm," said Soujiroh.

"Me too," Akira agreed.

Rui laughed and picked the baby up.

Arashi

Nino is the first person to see Ohno's new apartment but that's because Nino is helping him apartment hunt.

"How come Nino got to help?" Aiba demands.

"Because he'd make sure it's cheap," Jun says.

"It's not in a bad neighborhood, right?" Sho asks.

Ohno and Nino both understand that this is something of a formality. "Of course not," says Nino.

"It's not too far from Jun's place," Ohno says happily. "And it's still close to home, too!"

"But most importantly," Nino says officiously, "is that there is room enough to have piggyback rides down the hallways."

Nobody even asks.

Meme: day four

2009-10-05T01:58:42Z

For one week, recommend / share:
Day 1: a song
Day 2: a picture
Day 3: Day 3: a book/ebook/fanfic

Day 4: a site Rifftrax. They don't make movies--they make fun of them! This is the crew from MST3K--Mike Nelson, the head writer and host; Kevin Murphy, the voice of Tom Servo; and Bill Corbett, the (second) voice of Crow. They are hilarious. I love what they did with 'Batman: The Dark Knight' and 'Twilight'. ♥

Day 5: a youtube clip
Day 6: a quote
Day 7: whatever tickles your fancy

Meme, day three

2009-10-03T23:47:09Z

For one week, recommend / share:
Day 1: a song
Day 2: a picture

Day 3: a book/ebook/fanfic If I tried to make a fanfic rec list it would be a disaster--nothing but mad flailings at the keyboard and heavy on my flist (because you're awesome!) so instead I'm going to recommend a book that I truly love. It's Only Companion: Japanese poems of Love and Longing. I love the traditional waka poetry. Love.

Day 4: a site
Day 5: a youtube clip
Day 6: a quote
Day 7: whatever tickles your fancy

Meme day two

2009-10-02T17:07:14Z

For one week, recommend / share:
Day 1: a song
Day 2: a picture Please click the cut.

Episode three. Out of twenty-four. AND the het is amazing. I can't pimp this show enough.

For those of you who wanted something better:

Nothing says 'love' like cake. I love you, flist. And non-flist. And lurkers. I think about you all while I'm at work. Thank you for being awesome.

Day 3: a book/ebook/fanfic
Day 4: a site
Day 5: a youtube clip
Day 6: a quote
Day 7: whatever tickles your fancy

Meme!

2009-10-01T18:26:54Z

And now for the meme that everybody else is doing! (AKA: The 'my flist is awesome' meme.)

For one week, recommend / share:
Day 1: a song I always feel like I'm on the low end of the 'has music to share' scale because, well, I'm old and I live in Wisconsin and I liked Arashi for the music before anything else. But I DO have things to share ~~and get you hooked on, oh yes~~! MU, MF The song called 'Iron Man' and is by Color Band. It's from the Black & White soundtrack. Here, have the main theme, too! MU, MF.

Day 2: a picture
Day 3: a book/ebook/fanfic
Day 4: a site
Day 5: a youtube clip
Day 6: a quote
Day 7: whatever tickles your fancy

If you need another format or there's a problem with the links let me know and I will fix it/re-up it when I get home from work. Also: Dear to F-list. I love you all. You make my life so much better.

HYD/MAOU crossover.

2009-09-30T01:28:20Z

I wrote a small HYD/Maou crossover in my head while I was mowing the lawn. Then I typed it up and if you click the cut you can put it in your brain!

To Loss

"We find in favor of the defense."

Tsukushi heard the words and for a moment felt as though the wind had been knocked out of her. A moment later she felt a small wash of relief. Though she had lost, she felt that justice had been done and that mattered more to her than winning her case.

Much more.

"Naruse-sensei," she bowed to the defense attorney. "Congratulations."

The attorney had a gentle smile. "My condolences," he told her.

She couldn't help smiling back at him. "Hey, do you want to have dinner with my family tonight?" she invited. She could see Tsukasa and their children at the back of courtroom, by the courtesy exit. She sent them a little wave.

Naruse looked startled. "Ah," he said. "I—"

"You're definitely coming," said a small voice. Tsukushi touched the top of her daughter's head as five year old Tsukino continued, "My mama invited you specially!"

Tsukushi didn't know why but somehow Narsue's smile seemed warmer and gentler as he looked at her daughter. "I don't want to intrude," he said softly.

Tsukino took his hand and tugged, her curls bouncing against her cheeks. "C'mon, mister! I'm gonna get super pissed if you don't come! And then my mama and my papa will get super pissed, too!"

"Unbelievable," Tsukushi smiled at the scene.

"I guess I'll intrude then," Naruse said, smiling even more.

Naruse was an excellent guest, Tsukushi discovered. Somehow he had flowers delivered before they arrived home, put up with being dragged around by an excited child, and was a flawless conversationalist—keeping to light topics until Tama-senpai had taken Tsukino out to have a bath and Tsukasa had brought out a bottle of wine.

"To justice," Naruse offered.

"To my first loss," Tsukushi responded.

"To lawyers," Tsukasa said, drinking his wine.

"Your first loss?" Naruse questioned in his gentle voice.

Tsukushi nodded. "But I'm not upset. I did my best and justice was done after all, right?"

Naruse dipped his head slightly. "So it seems."

"Doumyouji Holdings isn't going to be doing any more business with that company," Tsukasa announced.

"Pardon me," Naruse said softly, "but isn't that a bit rash?"

Tsukushi snorted quietly into her wine.

Tsukasa shrugged in that regal, dismissive way of his. "Any company who can treat their workers like that, and makes unnecessary trouble like this, is not a part of ours any longer. That's just the way it is."

Naruse looked at them both and somehow he seemed almost empty, like a hollowed, empty shell. Then he smiled again and it seemed even worse instead of better. "A family like yours is rare." He lifted his glass. "To your first loss; may it always be the biggest you ever suffer."