InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Cinnamon and Mistletoe ❯ Chapter 8

[ A - All Readers ]

The omelets turned out a bit on the crunchy side and the coffee had been rescued at the last moment. To Ana’s relief, there was no one in the dinning room when she came in with breakfast. At least she didn’t have to explain why the eggs were an odd shade of green – frankly, she was looking for an explanation for that one herself.

Snow was falling in huge flakes.

The landscape around them seemed taken out of a postcard – thick snow on the ground, fur trees burdened under white coats, the clear morning sky. What postcards generally didn’t portray was the mind-numbing cold which Kagome, despite her thick jacket, felt to her very bones.

Winter wasn’t really her season. She liked the heat of summer better. Even when she was running around, hunting down an ancient evil hundreds of years in the past, it was better to do it in light, summer clothing than bundled up in winter gear.

What she liked in winter were the hot springs. There was nothing better than to spend an evening at the hot springs with Sango. It was even better if they got to clobber Miroku for peeping. But there was no Miroku, no Sango and definitely no hot springs here. Just snow.

“You’re still shivering?” she heard Shuichi ask.

“It didn’t really get any warmer.”

He laughed and stood up from the stump he’d been sitting on. “You’re the one who suggested we take a walk before breakfast.”

She had to admit he was right. She thought it would be better to talk with no one listening in, even if they couldn’t be understood. A walk in the snow seemed like such a good idea at the time, but she had underestimated how cold it got this high up.

Maybe if she didn’t think of the cold anymore she could focus on why she wanted to talk to Shuichi in the first place.

“Listen… last night, during the blackout…” she started.

He frowned. “Yeah, about that…”

“How come I couldn’t sense you?”  Kagome’s experience with youkai had taught her never to give them the chance to avoid a confrontation. If you wanted to get anywhere, the best way was to ask whatever was on your mind.

Kurama smiled. So that was how they were going to play it. “Because I didn’t feel like being found out. I’ve always known you had high spiritual awareness and it’s always best not to show off around people who can sense you are different. It took a lot of concentration, especially back then. I had no idea you were going to be here, but I was used to playing it safe around people in case they could sense me so I got really good at not being noticed. Last night I was distracted by the blackout.”

He hadn’t expected her to panic, but he hadn’t expected her to take it so well either. It wouldn’t do any good to show worry now.

“You know” Kagome said, standing up. “I bet you’re a kitsune… definitely a fox.” The smile she gave him as she leaned against the tree would have qualified her as one as well.

A look of surprise flashed across the foxes face, but only for a moment. His brow arched and his voice was as clam as ever. “You’re better than I thought.”

“And you’re a lot better than you let on. You almost had me there, I was so sure you were nothing but human.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice.”

She laughed. “Practice? It takes more than practice to pass for human that well. Your parents are both human, at least your mother is. If you were a hanyou, I’d have figured you out sooner, so your dad must be human as well. How come you’re youkai, then? Not just youkai, but one powerful enough to pass almost undetected.”

She was pleased to see him speechless. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

“You’re a miko,” he observed, staring at her as if he was seeing her for the first time.

“I was raised on a shrine, yes.”

“No, a real miko, the kind that knows about us and not just as myth,” he said, drawing closer to her.

“I’ve had proper training, but I still need to work on my skills,” she said a bit shyly.

“It’s been a while since I last met a proper miko. I’m not sure if I should be surprised or shocked that I’ve been dancing with one.”

Kagome cocked an eyebrow. “How long of a while? You’re barely 17.”

“I’ve been Shuichi Minamino for 17 years,” he pointed out.

“Don’t go Edward Cullen on me; I’m not in the mood.” Twilight was the last thing she needed and she could already picture Shuichi covered in glitter. A furious shake of her head should have cleared that image away, but it lingered at the edge of her thoughts, doing nothing for her concentration.

“I won’t, but there are things that can’t be explained that easily,” he said, leaning against the tree next to her.

Carefully studying her boots and not thinking of sparkles, Kagome nodded. “I guess there’s time for that later.”

“There aren’t many people out there that could have trained you properly, not anymore,” he said absently. “What’s your story?”

She smiled and looked up at him. “I think it’s another one of those stories that would have to wait for later.” Seeing the trace of disappointment in his eyes, she added, “Let’s say time travel and leave it at that for now.”

She knew she had his interest now.

“Later it is,” he conceded.

They stood like that for a while, ignoring the cold and enjoying the view that the mountainside offered. Maybe it was worth a little frostbite.

“You have no idea how long I spent trying to get back in touch with you after we moved,” Kagome eventually broke the silence.

“I might have. It was pretty hard for an eight year old to find information before the Internet.”

Kagome stared at him in surprise. “You’ve… googled me?!”

“I don’t really have time for that but… occasionally…”

She started giggly. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

“You’d probably find me on some blog on exotic diseases,” she said and, seeing his confusion, added “Blame my grandfather; he’s the one coming up with them.”

He shrugged and was about to change the subject when a curtain of snow fell around them. With a swift movement, he pulled her into his embrace and she buried her face in his coat, shielding her eyes. The snowfall stopped as abruptly as it had started, leaving them only slightly powdered.

Carefully, she pulled back just a little so she could look up at the empty branches above them and the little squirrel that had stopped to stare down at them.

“You don’t want to scare it, do you?” Shuichi cautioned before she could burst into another fit of giggles.

She nodded and realized he was still holding her. A blush crept into her cheeks, already flushed from the cold.

He wasn’t, however, looking at her. His eyes were fixed on a point above the little creature that had caused the mini avalanche and her blush grew deeper red – it was a mistletoe bush. She quickly buried her face in his coat again, pretending not to have seen it.

“My nose is freezing!” she said with a muffled voice. “Let’s go back!”

She was sure she could hear the smile in his voice. “Don’t pretend you haven’t seen it.”

“Can we go back if I did?” she tempted.

“We could have even if you hadn’t,” he whispered in her ear.

Still leaning over her, he pressed his lips to hers softly before pulling away, but the girl stood on tip-toe too fast for him to break the kiss.

“I though your nose was freezing,” he reminded her and placed a kiss on the tip of her frozen nose.

She smiled. “You can keep it warm for me.”