Whispers of the wind

I'M ADDICTED TO IRIS

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:38:54 GMT

current desktop wallie detailing my absurd IRIS obsession that started 1 hour 30 mins ago. XD when I first started watching episode 1. my friend was spazzing out about it so I promised I would watch IRIS after I finished watching You're Beautiful (which ended a week-ish ago) :'(

SO, TO SUMMARIZE, I FINALLY GOT AROUND TO WATCHING IRIS *NOW* and immediately fell head over heels in love with it XD I think I was always a sucker for action-y espionage dramas. (I loved Cain and Abel and A Man's Story to list a few)

fjsdklfjslfjdlghaslghsdlkfj back to watching. I'm only on episode 2! D:

ETA: on episode 5. too much wtf for me to handle, i'm going to bed :(((

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR IRIS (IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED) BENEATH CUT. I forgot to include when I wrote the cut :/

Watching & updating/spazzing here:
- episode 3!!!! in japan. so pretty. but the scene where seung hee (SH) snuggles with hyun jun (HJ) in bed is so motherfucking cute. omg, every time that couple so much SMILES at each other i go into fits of fangirly joy. OTP I LOVE YOU
- sa woo is a bamf
- TOP is the bamfiest bamf of all bitch
- OH AND DID I MENTION LEE BYUNG HUN IS FUCKING *FIIIIINE*. like, watching him in bed (shirtless scenes! hell yeah) i was like "I AM SO JEALOUS OF KIM TAE HE ARRRRGH SHE GETS TO TOUCH THAT SEXY BODY OF LEE BYUNG HUN'S" T_________T
- THERE IS A FREAKING ORANGE ALERT IN KOREA AND YOU'RE SEXING IT UP IN JAPAN?
- uh oh sa woo uh oh uh oh
- aw shit top's back being a bamf and killing ppulz
- STARTING EP 4
- poooooooor sa woo. he got the hint
- OMG BACK TO THE BEGINNING HOSHIT HJ'S GONNA GET SHOT?
- I CALLED IT I CALLED IT I CALLED IT I KNEW SA WOO WAS GONNA BE WATCHING THEM KISS I CALLED ITTTTT. korean dramas are so predictable (cough shinwoo cough always creepin)
- WHY GO AFTER THE NORTH KOREANS? go after the americans (aka TOP)! T___T
- byung hun in glasses speaking english is SEXY
- dun dun fucking dun D:
- AHHHH "STANDING BY" NOT "ON STANDBY" HJ
- omgomgomgomg administering first aid to himself OMFG
- SA WOO WHAT. THE. FUCK. okay so i was goign to end my drama escapades at episode 4 (tired. wanna sleep. it's 3:30 am!) but if THAT type of ending was the type of ending I have to deal with I am going on to episode 5 >___< screw sleep!
- ughhhh drama why must you play stuff from the beginning but really sneakily cut out most of it so i have to rewatch it anyways. D: GIVE ME THE EXCITING STUFF
- still wtf-ing over sa woo WTFWTFWTF this better not be real. okay, it isn't real. :((
- buffer faster, damn you
- this is so sketchy why are the south koreans killing the north koreans for "tension" but v.d. told HJ it was to solve the differences, and now v.d. told sa woo to kill HJ?!?!?!? sketch sketch sketch
- "NSS IS ABANDONING HIM" WTFWTFWTFWTFWTF
- cruel cruel cruel seung hee would be even less able to kill HJ than sa woo DDDDD: v.d. you are a BASTARD
- why is HJ being abandoned by the world (again!) D:
- WHY IS V.D. LYING TO THE PRESIDENT WHUT WHUT WHUT
- WTFFFFFFFFFFFF is my response to this whole drama D:
- AND RIGHT AFTER I WROTE THAT KIM HYUN JUN ESPIONAGE OMFG WTF BRAIN CANNOT HANDLE THIS MUCH WTF
- I AM SO FUCKING CONFUSEDDDDDDDD
- i don't understand. don't understand at all.
- i feel so bad for hyun jun and seung hee. sa woo can go back to korea kthx
- HE DROVE RIGHT PAST HER LSDHLD:GHKSDKL:GJSDKL:Gfj
- WHY DID HE SHOOT SA WOO AHHHHH WHAT THE MOTHERFUCKING FUCKITY FUCK?
- omgomgogmogmogmgomgogmogmogmogjngo;skdjgh;selkfhsl;ghsldf you do not know HOW happy i was to know that was a dream omgogmogmogmgomgomgogm sdlfh;shig
-HYUN JUN IS THAT YOU WATCHING HER SLEEP?
- elite security team my ass.
- OH FUCK DON'T TELL ME SEUNG HEE WAS IN THAT CAR SDLfjasl;dkgh;lw
- idk how he can drive with a bullet lodged in his arm or smthg. fjlsdkfjlfjdklfjs;jfsldfjdlf
- OMG MORE EPIC SA WOO/HYUN JUN FACE OFF? HALE NO
- WHERE IS SEUNG HEE
- i give up on life.
- if you haven't noticed, the later it gets, the more hyper i get. D:

I LOVE SUPER JUNIOR

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:26:13 GMT

enough said. ♥

Desktop meme

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:06:45 GMT

from coffee_spree

Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper on their LiveJournal.
Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper!
Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on!

1. Lee Hong Ki is looking hot.
2. Choi Jonghun is looking hot.
3. I love blondies.
4. The gray background was pretty too! ;___;
5. The Litmus photoshoot scans were super HQ which actually looked good against my huge ass monitor's desktop. :]

It was nice, yeah, but the white background was a bit too glaring for me. Oh, F.T. Island.

Shooting Star. pre-production

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 06:22:20 GMT

pages 1, 3, 5 of my planning :P

pages 2 and 4 :P

drawing of fuji's aparetment, part headers, random formatting :)

Helpful Links:

Bartok's solo violin sonata, III. "Melodia" (what Fuji plays in part one)

Dvorak's Symphony no. 8 in G major (what Fuji says the Tokyo Symphony is playing when he invites Eiji to his concert)
- (link is I: Allegro con brio)

The info source I used to research Acute Myeloid Leukemia .

NEWS music video: Hoshi wo Mezashite
- lyrics (romaji/kanji/english) for Hoshi wo Mezashite .

--
a kotatsu is a low, wooden table frame covered by a futon, or heavy blanket, upon which a table top sits; used almost exclusively in Japan)

LHC = Large Hadron Collider

--

SHOOTING STAR PUBLISHED!

Too lazy to publish on LJ~

ahaha.

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 06:00:39 GMT

You know you love your fandom when you're laughing your ass off over badly-written, cliched fanfiction at 2AM in the morning.

And you know it's good effing quality fanfic (sarcasm SO prevalent) when you must stifle your laughs as to not wake up sleeping other members of the house.

:D

new layout!

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:36:05 GMT

;______; it's a quite pretty layout except

a) the header is too small! oh noez!

b) replies to comments are in a REALLY fucking small box.

:((((((( i'm crap with CSS so two options:

a) deal with it!
b) .........paraibaocean ?

;__________;

breakkkkkk

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:06:40 GMT

I'M HOME!!!!!!!!!

UNTIL SUNDAY.

Whoaaaaa

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:46:40 GMT

Hahahaha this is pretty cool! I didn't know Livejournal had an iPhone app! :D

(from my iPod touch)

woooooooooooo

Wow this is pretty awesome

Okay I'll stop rambling :)

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

KAME RAPPING

Mon, 18 May 2009 03:15:48 GMT

DOES ANYONE ELSE WANT TO SEE KAME RAPPING IN REAL FACE?? according to fanreports for the BTR concertttt

tell me I'm not the only one!

comment ♥

KAME KAME KAME

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:44:10 GMT

誕生日おめでとう亀梨和也!!!!!!!!!

IT'S KAME'S BIRTHDAY TODAY/TOMORROW (February 23rd). Happy birthday to our favorite turtle!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HERO JAEJOONG

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:10:48 GMT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAEJOONG!!!!!!

I wish the prettiest boy in DBSK/TVXQ/Tohoshinki the BEST 23rd birthdayyyyy!!

Sigh...he's all grown up...*tear*

Also important:
- Boys Before Flowers episode 7 coming out today!
- HAPPY (official...I thought it was yesterday!!) CHINESE NEW YEAR!!! Year of the ox! ^___^

Oh, I love me some serious DBSK :D I just finished watching all of their mini dramas on YouTube... My favorite has got to be Dangerous Love (because of YUNJAE ftw) then Tokyo Holiday and Unforgettable Love :D

Anyways, wish Hero Jaejoong a very happy birthday (get a kiss from Yunho!! Teehee) and much success to DBSK in 2009!!

(what I'm also spazzing about: ss501, lee min ho, kame's birthday next month!, yunho's birthday next month!, still disappointing lack of kami no shizuku subs...sadface, voice...medical j-drama with eita and toma! I recommend it it is so good, 200 pounds beauty...touching movie, Korea in general...my new loveeeee, and of course DBSKKKKK)

Dong bang dong bang dong bang shin ki fighting!!

5 JE drabbles (3 Akame, 1 Ohmiya, 1 Aimiya)

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 04:14:01 GMT

I stole Anne's idea for multiple drabble-dumping in one post. :3

Lips [Akame]

Jin sometimes gets indignant when the fangirls scream a bit too loudly at their concerts after Kame intentionally swipes his tongue around his lips and winks at the audience. Jin wonders why whenever he does that, the fangirls don’t scream as loudly as they do for Kame.

He thinks their audiences sometime are just biased towards Kame, all the time, but he doesn’t think he counts as a fangirl if he goes a little crazy too whenever Kame licks his lips, winks, or blows a kiss to the camera.

--

First Encounter [Akame]

When Akanishi Jin first meets Kamenashi Kazuya, he thinks that the other boy is too skinny for his age, with an unnaturally pinched waist so the jeans he wears are too loose to be fashionable.

He keeps on mentally criticizing Kame during the ride with the other members to the studio for their first practice – somehow, he overlooks the other members at first, just nodding and returning their greetings. He thinks Kame’s hair is too flippy, the nose is slightly crooked, his grin too wide.

But after warm-up, when Kame starts dancing and thrusting his hips, Jin’s mind completely shuts down.

“What’s wrong, Akanishi-kun?” the manager yells during a break. “Do you not understand the dance moves?”

“No, no, it’s nothing,” Jin mutters, throwing down his water and stepping back into line next to Kame.

“It’s easy,” Kame hisses, trying to be helpful. “You just do it like this.”

Kame proceeds to roll his hips again, and Jin forgets everything else.

--

Uchiwa [Akame]

“Jiiiin, I don’t like my uchiwa,” Kame complains one day as they ride the bus to the recording studio past a stall prominently displaying the faces of JE members on posters and uchiwas.

“I like it,” Jin defends, liking the way Kame’s hair falls around his face.

“My hair looks weird,” Kame sighs, playing with a lock of his light-brown hair.

“Your hair looks fine,” Jin replies, exasperated.

The next day, as Kame struts into the recording studio with freshly permed hair, Jin groans and buries his head into his arms.

--

Board Game [Arashi love in general, Ohmiya]

“I’m winning, I’m winning!” Aiba shouts gleefully, taking more cash than necessary from the Monopoly bank.

“No you’re not,” Nino points out scornfully. “Riida has more money than you.”

Ohno, who has tuned out the chattering of the rest of the Arashi members, jolts back to consciousness and looks at Nino. “What?”

“You’re winning,” Nino informs Ohno.

“Oh,” Ohno replies placidly. “That’s nice.”

“Jun, stop it!” Sho snaps, trying to protect the precious cash in the bank from Jun’s greedy fingers.

“I didn’t do anything!” Jun says hastily, scrabbling to hold onto the multicolored bills he has in his fingers.

“Whatever,” Nino mumbles, as Aiba starts to bicker with Jun over who has more money, as Sho tries to mediate. He gives up trying to find where Aiba has last thrown the dice, and instead turns back to Ohno. “Do you want some tea?”

Ohno starts. “Hm?”

“Tea?”

“Are you done playing?”

“No.”

“Tea would be good,” Ohno says faintly, fading back to his happy place.

Nino wonders if he’s included in Riida’s Happy Place, as he steps over Jun tackling Aiba to get back the money Aiba stole from Jun, dodges Sho trying to pull Jun off of Aiba, and walks into Aiba’s kitchen to locate the tea.

--

Ryusei no Kizuna [Aimiya]

Nino doesn’t like watching his own acting because he doesn’t think he’s that skilled of an actor. He supposes he’d rather be playing his guitar, or goofing around with Arashi, but something still makes him accept drama and movie roles.

When Aiba runs into work and informs Nino that he spent the whole night watching Ryusei no Kizuna, Nino twists his hands uneasily and thinks that no doubt Aiba will point out where Nino was a very bad actor, since Aiba is blunt like that without thinking.

After Aiba gets through rambling about how he bought the DVD when it JUST came out because Nino looked so pretty on the cover, but he misplaced it and just found it yesterday under his sofa, he exclaims, “I really liked it! The ending made me cry,” he recounted.

“It wasn’t that good,” Nino tries to explain.

“Yes, yes it was,” Aiba insists.

“Nishikido-kun did a better job than me,” Nino says.

“Who?” Aiba asks blankly.

“Nishikido-kun? …Taisuke?”

“Oh,” Aiba starts brightly. “He looked like a monkey.”

Nino can’t help but crack a smile at that.

“Wait,” Aiba says, his eyes growing wide. “Nishikido-kun, as in the one in NEWS and Eito? Blue-pants-man at the Countdown?”

Nino nods silently.

“Oh, that Nishikido,” Aiba says dismissively. “Still looks like a monkey.”

Nino full out laughs at that one, and pulls Aiba in for a kiss.

“You should watch it with me sometime.” Aiba says, fingers tangling in Nino’s hair.

Nino hums. "Maybe I will."

I WAS WRONG.

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:36:31 GMT

DAMMIT. BLEACH 339 WHYYYYY allsdkjflksdjf. Yama-jii pwns ass and Stark is mighty hot.

WHY STARK WHY DID YOU HAVE TO BE NUMBER ONE

MR. PRIMAVERA OR W/E

T______T MY PREDICTION WAS SOOOO WRONG ALSKDJALSKDJ!

Yeah, Bleach 339 was out early on Onemanga :D Although ALKSDJFLSKDJFLSJDF

Yeah, Bleach 339 was out early on Onemanga :D Although ALKSDJFLSKDJFLSJDF

On a rl note, school sucks. I failed my math final because my teacher is a bitch. She was like, "The good news is, that you HAD a 92 before the midterm. But AFTER you got a 69 on the midterm..." me: "fuck. fuck it all."

I hate her.

Ummmm I have bio tomorrow, and english. I'm not too worried about them. Yesterday was my hardest day (AP Environmental! PRECALCULUS alkfjdsldkf!), today I had a half day, and tomorrow is going to be a breeze (hopefully). Friday is also a half day, I just have my AP Bio lab exam in the morning :)

Ugh, my hopes of getting at least a B for the semester in precalculus seems totally trashed now :/

And I haven't even started on my fic exchange that's due on December 30. Crap :( It's Perfect Pair (from PoT), so if anybody out there has any ideas, I'm open to them.

I hope everybody on my f-list (sorry that I haven't been here in forever and a day, and I hope you didn't forget about meeee!) has a happy holidays ^___^

PS: raikune did you see this coming? T____T *refers to stuff at top of page about Bleach 339* Since I know you follow Bleach manga and all (hopefully hopefully?)

Animal analysis.

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 00:35:28 GMT

Thanks to embryo_ed, who let me post this on my journal for the public viewing pleasure of all...since the original post is locked.

However, if you want to access it, go here

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Happy Animal Divination

Nishikido Ryo would analyze based on the image of six animals. The other members took part in his test as well. To take part in this test, firstly, pick your favourite animal out of the elephant, black chimpanzee, dolphin, fox, okapi deer and rabbit. Nishikido would give his analysis and love advice based on the characteristics of these animals. Do not choose based on the choice of the NEWS members but rather, choose the animal you truly like the most.

NOTE: Okapi (Nomenclature: Okapia johnstoni) was found by a western scientist a hundred years ago. It is generally believed to be a hybrid of giraffe and zebra.

Are you done with your choice? Ryo's analysis is below (the cut)
Do leave me a note if you want to repost this :) thanks </a></font></b></a>hello_q for the corrections! <3

You who chose the rabbit is.. (Yamapi)
Rabbits are animals that would die from loneliness should they be away from their pals. That's what is commonly said, no? In reality, they are animals that are easily pressured, hence they would die immediately should they be surrounded by too many people. YamaP is rabbit type- one who isn't good at dealing with situations involving interactions with a group of strangers. By the way, although rabbits have cute faces, they seem to have the strongest sexual desires among all the animals (laughs).

Love advice for the "rabbit"
Judging based solely on your choice of such a caged animal, you are one who prefers to stay indoors. You tend to close yourself up when it comes to love. Hurry, go to the crowded Shibuya to find love now!
translator's note: coughs. so yamapi has strong sexual desires? but it's true that rabbits reproduce ALOT

You who chose the fox is.. (Koyama)
Single eyelidded with pointed eye corners, you should be this type. Koyama seems to be possessed by the fox spirit (laughs). That guy, even if he's smiling happily, he's really suffering from suppressing his brutal soul. Based on the fox's personality, he's harmonious and generally the type who's concerned of his friends. Koyama is like this as well, during concert rehearsals, when Massu is scolded by the dance teacher, he would try his very best to defend him.

Love advice for the "fox"
The sociable you is gentle to anyone, hence it is hard to express your love to the one you like. If you merely are extremely gentle to your loved one, your love-life would not be smooth-sailing!
translator's note: I don't quite get what ryo's trying to say here, but i THINK he meant the person should go a step beyond just being gentle to his/her loved one =.=

You who chose the elephant is.. (Ryo)
Extremely gentle, like me! However, when you get angry, you would be scary like how the elephant would stamp on others. A big physique, i guess. On the contrary, i'm very small-sized (smiles) .

Love advice for the "elephant"
What to do for your love-life to be smooth-sailing..I want someone to tell me too (smiles). However, I'm a really good person, more popular than any of those people who chose the other animals! If the 6-nin NEWS go to a social gathering, I think I would be ranked first. Ma, actually I would be ranked third. The most popular should be shige? He has high qualifications, is manly and gentle.
translator's note: lol ryo no advice for your type? :(

You who chose the chimpanzee is... (Shige)
Chimp.. hm.. is really smart! Should be smarter than massu (laughs). For the sake of his meals, the chimp is honest and Shige is like this. That guy's face is like a monkey. Because he's witty, he gives others the feeling that he can get along with workmates or a certain person quickly. I'm unable to do this kinda things. This type of person only has a good brain hence he is usually found in the university.

Love advice for the "chimpanzee"
If he changes the pen he usually holds in his hands to something else, your luck for love would rise. As for that "something else", please find it yourself!

You who chose the okapi deer is... (Massu)
Massu's clothes- striped at the top, circular patterns at the bottom and then checked shoes with designs...it's always really weird. Similarly for the okapi deer- brown body yet spotted limbs. Putting different patterns on the body, this point is exactly the same (laughs). Although he looks very fancy, he shockingly has a very shy personality. However, because he likes topics involving prints, "is today's prints kawaii?" If he says things like this, we can chat immediately.
translator's note: haha ryo probably creates topics to talk with massu by criticizing the prints on his clothes o.0

Love advice for the "okapi deer"
"Today's zebra (stripes), tomorrow's giraffe (circles)!" If you can standardize your prints this way, your sense of direction for love would naturally appear (laughs).

You who chose the dolphin is.. (Tegoshi)
Although Tegoshi has a kawaii face, he is actually very tough. Even if you keep attacking him, he can stand up. Judging from this point, he does give the feeling of a cockroach a little (laughs). The dolphin, when performing in the aquarium, may be trying his best to swim but there are times when it gets injured all over. Also, both (Tegoshi and the dolphin) have very high voices (high sound frequencies).

Love advice for the "dolphin"
Since it is rare that you can sing so well, try your best to increase the chances of singing in front of your loved one. Not bad yo. I recommend a karaoke date!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BYAKUYA

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 21:37:04 GMT

I can't believe I forgot! It was circled on my calendar big and pink and everythingggg

SO.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KUCHIKI BYAKUYA!!!!!
i would uh, write something to celebrate the occasion but I gotta run. but celebrate, you byakuya fans!!

:D (pink for Senbonzakura!)

Meme time! You know you wanta do it.

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:48:55 GMT

ganked from shadowgirl1605

"IF YOU'RE ON MY FRIENDS LIST, I want to know 36 things about you. I don't care if we never talk, or if we already know everything about each other. Short and sweet is fine ... You're on my list, so I want to know you better!

BE HONEST! COPY FROM HERE, THEN SEND DIRECTLY TO ME IN A COMMENT, THEN REPOST THE EMPTY QUESTIONS. (in your journal)"

1) Are you currently in a serious relationship?
A.

2) What was your dream growing up?
A.

3) What talent do you wish you had?
A.

4) If I bought you a drink what would it be?
A.

5) Favorite vegetable?
A.

6) What was the last book you read?
A.

7) What zodiac sign are you?
A.

8) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where.
A.

9) Worst Habit?
A.

10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride?
A.

11) What is your favorite sport?
A.

12) Do you have a Negative or Optimistic attitude?
A.

13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
A.

14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?
A.

15) Tell me one weird fact about you.
A.

16) Do you have any pets?
A.

17) What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly?
A.

18) What was your first impression of me? (hmmm...careful!)
A.

19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
A.

20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
A.

21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
A.

22) What color eyes do you have?
A.

23) Ever been arrested?
A.

24) Bottle or can soda?
A.

25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?
A.

27) What's your favorite place to hang at?
A.

28) Do you believe in ghosts?
A.

29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
A.

30) Do you swear a lot?
A.

31) Biggest pet peeve?
A.

32) In one word, how would you describe yourself?
A.

33) Do you believe/appreciate romance?
A.

35) Do you believe in God?
A.

36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?
A.

Bleach popularity poll rejoicing

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:36:12 GMT

It's a rejoicing day, as the Bleach popularity poll is out! Yayyyyy!

I was rather pleased at the results (even though I didn't vote...shhh. I probably couldn't, anyways, seeing as it was Japanese. Well, I can still dream).

10 - Ukelala! (aka Ulquiorrrrraaaa)

9 - Kira! Poor Kira, haven't seen him in ages.

8 - Orihime. I don't like her that much.

7 - BYAKUYAAAA yayyyyyy

6 - Hinamori! We haven't seen her in forever, either.

5 - Ishida. Glinty glasses and all.

4 - Grimmjow! In like, normal flashy clothes.

3 - Ichigoooooo...it would be sad if the main character wasn't in the top 5, ne?

2 - Rukiaaaaaa

1 - HITSUGAYA BAHAHAHA THE SHORTY GOT #1 (quite a surprise, but I'm happy!)

Go read the latest manga chapter just to see the yummy drawings of the characters, hehe.

Still waiting for the Prince of Tennis manga ;__;

Oh yeah, and sorry to people that I kind of disappeared off of Livejournal. Never fear, I'm still here (oh look, rhyming)!

[I should go write some fanfic now.]

Gift-fics

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 16:45:31 GMT

Well, kittyfu , I have completed your gift-fic claims - One TezuFuji and one OsamuShiraishi, and to reiterate, I still have no idea which drugs I was on when I wrote them ;__;

Merry Christmas! And thanks sooo much again for the pretty Christmas card! ♥

The untitled TezuFuji contains traces of AtoRyo and Silver Pair ;)

“Nya, Fuji, are you going to the Christmas party at Atobe’s house tomorrow night?”

Fuji Syuusuke sat down on the bench next to Kikumaru Eiji, taking a long sip from his water bottle before answering. “Probably,” the tennis tensai of Seigaku answered at last. “Yuuta might be there.”

Echizen Ryoma sidled up to where his senpais were sitting and leaned against the back of the bench, tugging his cap lower over his eyes. “Is buchou going?” he inquired casually, jerking his head towards where Tezuka Kunimitsu stood, watching the heated battle between Momo and Kaidoh drag on.

Oishi Syuichirou slid onto the bench next to Eiji (“Oiiiishiii!” Eiji squealed at his doubles partner). “Probably not,” the vice-captain of Seigaku’s tennis club told Ryoma. “But why don’t you ask him, Echizen?” Oishi’s eyes were kind but Echizen just shrugged it off.

“No thanks, Oishi-senpai.”

Eiji gasped in a mock dramatic tone. “Does ochibi have something for Tezuka-buchou?” he asked excitedly, twisting around to look at Echizen.

The portion of Ryoma’s eyebrow visible from beneath the brim of his cap twitched dangerously. “Of course not, Kikumaru-senpai,” the freshman snapped. “Don’t say such foolish things.”

Fuji laughed along with the others as Echizen stormed away towards the vending machines, presumably to buy yet another can of Ponta, but if one looked closely, his eyes were open just the tiniest sliver, revealing a flash of the brightest cerulean.

--

After practice, Fuji idled outside by the door, watching the various members of the tennis team leave. Momo dragged Echizen down the street, cheerily singing about hamburgers, and Eiji and Oishi walked off together down the opposite way to study for a bit at Oishi’s house.

At last, Tezuka emerged from the locker room, turning around to lock the door so he didn’t’ see Fuji approach him. It was only when he turned around when he was confronted with a smiling Fuji.

“Oh…Fuji,” Tezuka said, as blandly as ever. “I didn’t see you. I thought you had left already.”

Fuji shook his head, his light brown bangs flying. “I was hoping we could walk home together, if you didn’t have anything else you wanted to do, Tezuka.”

“Aa,” was all Tezuka said, but he started walking off in the general direction of where their houses lay, so as Fuji ran to catch up, he assumed that Tezuka didn’t have anything else to do.

The two of them walked in silence for a bit down the streets, tennis bags swinging from their shoulders, until they stopped at a crosswalk and waited for the light to turn green. Tezuka seemed inclined to wait in the continuous silence until Fuji spoke up.

“Echizen wants to know if you’re going to Atobe’s Christmas party tomorrow night,” Fuji said in his usual mild tone, not even bothering to look up at Tezuka to see the tennis captain’s reaction.

The light turned green and Tezuka started to cross the street, and Fuji hurried to also cross the street before the light turned red again. He wondered if Tezuka had heard him over the chatter of people leaving work and the dull roar of cars passing by on the street.

Fuji took a breath to ask again once they had crossed over to the other side of the street and resumed their walk towards their houses, but before he could get the words out, Tezuka had already spoken.

“Probably not,” Tezuka said, saying the exact same thing Oishi had when the vice-captain had spoken to Echizen earlier. “Are you going, Fuji?”

“Maybe,” Fuji replied, smiling merrily as they passed a store window bedecked in Christmas lights and a large wreath plastered prominently on the door. “You should go, Tezuka.”

There was a long, stretched-out silence, and by that time, Fuji was already standing by the gate to his house.

“I’ll go if you go,” Fuji added, as if it was an afterthought that just took a really long time to process.

Fuji decided that Tezuka didn’t want to grace him with an answer, so he unlocked the gate of his house and stepped inside, starting down the walkway.

As the gate swung shut behind Fuji, Tezuka spoke. “Maybe,” Tezuka said distantly, and Fuji turned around just in time to watch him walk off down the street and then disappear around the corner.

--

The next day, there was no tennis practice so Fuji didn’t get a chance to see Tezuka again after their math class together. He walked home by himself, only accompanied by his thoughts and the faint Christmas music drifting from the slightly open shop doors lining the streets.

He changed into an appropriate outfit for Atobe’s party (although knowing Atobe, his simple outfit of a comfy sweater and jeans wouldn’t have been so appropriate, depending on whatever crazy theme Atobe had chosen for this party), having made up his mind to go and take his chances with his hope that Tezuka would attend too.

As Fuji stepped inside the gates of the vast Atobe mansion a little ways out from Tokyo, he could already hear the loud music booming from inside the mansion, and Fuji wondered why exactly he was going to a holiday party again (hosted by Atobe, no less).

He knew already that Yuuta wasn’t going, as his brother had gruffly informed him when Fuji had phoned the St. Rudolph dormitory last night.

Tezuka immediately sprang to mind as Fuji mentally scrolled down his list of reasons for attending a ridiculous Atobe holiday part, and as much as Fuji didn’t’ want to admit it to himself, he knew that probably the only reason that he was going to the pompous holiday party wasn’t for the illegal alcohol and excuse to dance dirtily to the blaringly loud music (as the incentives for other guests), but the possibility that he might catch a glimpse of Tezuka outside of the surroundings of school, or tennis – if Tezuka was coming, that is.

The moment Fuji entered the mansion, his vision was immediately assaulted by the rapidly swirling, flashing strobe lights and he grimaced as he pushed his way through the crowd, aimlessly trying to retreat to some wall and hide there for the rest of the night.

He drifted around, encountering tennis team members from Hyotei, Rikkaidai, and Fudomine, as well as watching Momo and Kaidoh engage in what looked suspiciously like a drinking contest.

Echizen, to Fuji’s surprise and half-horror, was sitting on the lap of none other than the Monkey King himself, and he looked willing and compliant (and not even half-drunk) as Atobe proceeded to cover the smaller Seigaku freshman with soft kisses.

Fuji pointedly looked away, spotting Eiji and Oishi lounging against the opposite wall, and Fuji tried his best to push through the large crowd towards his friends. When he finally made it, Oishi was mildly observing the surroundings and Eiji was bouncing up and down in time to the music.

“Is Tezuka here?” Fuji asked.

“No,” Oishi reported as Eiji, distracted from his bobbing to the music by the arrival of Fuji, promptly started glomping Fuji.

Fuji gently pushed Eiji away (Aww, Fuuuujiii,” Eiji complained) and waded back into the crowd. He shoved his way through gyrating couples (he wondered if Atobe knew what went on in the mass of people on the dance floor during his parties), and passed what looked like the Silver Pair, or at least, one half of the Silver Pair, because that was definitely Ootori plastered against the wall with what looked like (from the back) Shishido sticking his tongue down the other boy’s throat.

They were probably drunk, anyways.

This party was no place for a Seigaku tennis tensai like Fuji, and he was relieved when he finally burst through the French doors leading to the gate from which he had entered. The fresh, cool air was chilly, but a welcoming relief from the sticky atmosphere inside of the mansion.

Fuji waited by the gate of Atobe’s mansion as the stars started to come out in the clear night sky. His hands became stiff and cold, and he jammed them into the pockets of his jeans, but they did little to help.

When finally, the luminous moon peeked out from behind a cloud and lit up the whole night sky, Fuji decided that Tezuka wasn’t going to come after all, and he started on the way back to flag a cab to go home.

--

The next day was Christmas Eve, and Fuji decided that he didn’t want to test how far his sadism would go by calling Echizen’s cell phone and seeing if the boy wonder was drunk, and/or waking up at Atobe’s mansion (and if he was with Atobe, that garnered extra points).

Fuji wandered out on onto the streets of Tokyo near his house, clutching only his camera. Back at home, his mother and Yumiko (home for the holidays from her university) were whipping up a storm in the kitchen and Yuuta was home from St. Rudolph, but was out somewhere doing something again.

Fuji halfheartedly snapped a picture of a tree barren of its leaves, until he heard the distinctive sounds of a tennis racket slapping a tennis ball back and forth near the neighborhood tennis courts.

He wondered what sort of tennis fanatic would still be out on Christmas Eve at the tennis courts, and curious, he went over and was surprised when he was presented with the lithe form of one Tezuka Kunimitsu, easily batting a tennis ball back and forth, seemingly uncaring of the harshly cold wind that was so cold that even Fuji had bundled up in a scarf and gloves.

“Tezuka, what are you doing? It’s Christmas Eve.”

Surprised, the ball sailed past Tezuka and landed a little ways off behind the tennis captain. Slowly, Tezuka cocked his head and met Fuji squarely in the eye.

“I could ask the same of you, Fuji.”

Fuji laughed, his breath blowing visible puffs in the air. “I’m just taking pictures.”

Tezuka adjusted his grip on his racket. “And I’m just playing tennis.”

“But tennis isn’t fun unless you’re playing it with somebody else,” Fuji pointed out.

Tezuka’s eyes glinted. “Was that just an offer?”

Fuji smiled and set down his camera on one of the benches before going over to Tezuka’s tennis bag and rummaging through it for a spare racket. “Think of it more like a challenge.”

--

An hour, or maybe two, later, Fuji dropped the racket he was holding and looked at Tezuka from beneath his lashes. The tennis captain still stood strongly on the courts despite the wind threatening to rip his clothes off (now wouldn’t that be a sight, Fuji thought cheerfully).

“I surrender,” Fuji called out amiably, trotting over to the net to extend a hand to Tezuka.

Tezuka looked rather put out. “But we were still only in tiebreak, 31-32,” he said, and Fuji would have said that he was pouting if he didn’t know the fact that Tezuka never pouted.

“We’ll continue it another time,” Fuji promised. When it’s not so cold, he added mentally. Fuji hated the cold.

“Come on, let’s go to a café or something,” the lighter haired boy continued. “I could use something to warm me up.”

Tezuka nodded and started to put away his rackets, easily slipping back into the Seigaku tennis jacket he had brought along. Fuji wanted to protest at the sight of those lean, rippling muscled arms being thrust unceremoniously into the blue and white sleeves of the jacket, but he refrained.

A thought suddenly popped into the tennis tensai’s mind, and Fuji smirked as he wondered if Tezuka had caught the double innuendo in the words Fuji had just said.

--

The boys sat in the warm atmosphere of a café, open for the afternoon before they closed early for Christmas Eve. The waitress who had cheerily bustled away with their order of two hot chocolates had even had earrings of jingling bells, and Fuji thought that things like that took the general idea of Christmas spirit too far.
“Saa, Tezuka,” Fuji started. “Why didn’t you go to the party last night at Atobe’s?”

Tezuka looked a bit curiously at his friend, wondering why Fuji would ask. “I didn’t feel like going after all,” he said stiffly, after a while. “I decided to read up a bit in English.”

Fuji arched an eyebrow at Tezuka, knowing that the other boy had finished the whole English textbook in the first two weeks of school, but he didn’t say anything. “It was fun,” Fuji said lightly, even though he was completely lying through his teeth when he said this.

“Really?” Fuji could tell that Tezuka was only playing along to this conversation out of politeness, and not because he was truly interested, but Fuji pressed on.

“Yeah. Echizen and Atobe were making out on the couch.”

If it had been a normal man, he would have sputtered and gasped and choked and asked Fuji what exactly he had just said. But in the case of Tezuka, he just raised an eyebrow that rivaled the one Fuji had raised just moments earlier, and asked in a completely monotone voice, “Good for Echizen and Atobe.”

“Mm,” Fuji replied, and returned to staring out of the window at the few people still hurrying down the avenue to get last minute Christmas gifts of the like.

Silence seemed to best suit the two boys, until the waitress returned and plunked two steaming mugs of hot chocolate in front of them, hurrying off again and humming “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” under her breath.

Fuji blew on his hot chocolate, watching in fascination as the whipped cream generously added on top of the liquid slowly melted into the chocolate. He took a sip, nearly scalding his tongue, and set the mug back down.

“I waited for you, you know.”

Tezuka looked up, startled. “What?”

“Outside of Atobe’s mansion. The party was kind of turning into a massive orgy, so I just left,” Fuji said easily. “I waited for you to come at the gates of Atobe’s mansion, but you never came.”

“Oh,” Tezuka said stupidly after a minute or two of silence. “I’m…sorry.”

“No problem,” Fuji replied, and Tezuka was shocked to see Fuji’s usual cheerful mood restored again. “I figured that you probably weren’t going to come, but I decided to take my chances anyways.”

“Oh,” Tezuka said, again, and the two boys lapsed back into silence again.

--

Tezuka, under the premise that he was blowing on his hot chocolate in an attempt to cool it down to a reasonable temperature, kept stealing covert glances at his lighter-haired friend sitting across the table with him.

He had purposefully ventured from the tennis courts closer to his house to the ones that were near Fuji’s home, so that in the slightest chance that Fuji wandered out of his house and down the street, Fuji might see him.

Tezuka didn’t know this odd feeling that made him want to crack a smile as he watched Fuji’s peaceful face and half-open cerulean eyes look dreamily out of the window, or watch in rapid fascination as Fuji’s long, elegant fingers twirled one lock of silky light brown hair.

Fuji’s mood swings, always unpredictable and fiercely stubborn-headed at times, set most people who met him in a state of trepidation, but Tezuka found it oddly cute and to some degree of interesting as Fuji could flash between sadistic, cheerful, and philosophical in the span of forty seconds (Eiji had timed it, and Echizen had declared that his head was spinning in a very bad way).

As Tezuka gracefully sipped his hot chocolate, his eyes freely roamed over Fuji’s body, his perfect torso (the few times Tezuka had seen it in the locker rooms) clad in a soft lavender sweater and a navy colored scarf after Fuji had shed his gloves and overcoat upon entering the warm, heated café.

Something about the design and pattern on the scarf set something off in Tezuka, and his mind tried to grip around it, before it finally dawned on him.

“You have my scarf,” Tezuka suddenly blurted out, his tone accusing.

“Hm?” Fuji asked, pinning Tezuka with his cerulean gaze. “Oh, I do. You gave it to me last winter, remember?”

“It’s cold outside,” Fuji remarked unhappily. “I hate the cold.”

Tezuka shrugged, as stoic as always. “It’s not that bad, Fuji.”

Fuji cracked open one bright blue eye and regarded him for a moment. “Actually Tezuka, yes it is.”

“You have on…six layers?”

“Four,” Fuji corrected him grumpily. They were holed up in Seigaku’s locker rooms, and Fuji refused to leave and even pondered spending the night in the tennis locker rooms, all for the reason that the locker rooms were much warmer than the weather outside.

Tezuka didn’t think Fuji would appreciate him mentioning how much better smelling it would be outside, though.

“…anyways, I forgot my scarf at home this morning because I was rushing,” Fuji continued. “And my neck is really sensitive.” He eyed the door that was their only barrier between the cold and the warmth they were currently in. “Especially to the cold.”

Tezuka suppressed a shiver, wondering just how sensitive Fuji’s neck was, and how exactly he could find out.

Tezuka rolled his eyes in exasperation just for the show and turned to root through his school bag. “Here.” He thrust something soft and blue into Fuji’s arms.

“Eh?” Fuji picked up the material, which unraveled into a long, navy blue scarf.

“Keep it,” Tezuka grunted. “My grandmother makes me tons of them every winter.”

Fuji grinned up at Tezuka, burying his nose in the scarf before tenderly wrapping it around his neck. “Thanks, Tezuka,” he said softly.

Tezuka thought that losing his favorite knitted scarf from his grandmother to Fuji just might be worth it to see that brilliant grin on Fuji’s face again.

“Now are you ready to go?”

“Right,” Tezuka muttered, blushing at having forgotten. “Sorry.”

Fuji grinned at him, all flashing teeth, perfectly shaped pink lips, and glittering blue eyes rolled into one package. “It still smells like you,” he mentioned, bringing the end of the scarf up to his face and letting out a soft sigh before dropping it and taking another sip of hot chocolate, like nothing had occurred.

Tezuka’s mouth had nearly dropped open (actually, it had dropped open for a millisecond before he snapped it shut again), and his eyes were blinking rapidly beneath his stoic mask.

Fuji glanced at his watch, and he let out a sound of disappointment when he saw the time. “It’s 4:45, and I promised Okaa-san that I’d be home by five,” Fuji said. He stood up, luxuriously stretching, and Tezuka pointedly looked anywhere but at the strip of flesh exposed between the hem of Fuji’s sweater and the top of Fuji’s pants.

Hot breath smelling faintly of chocolate tickled his ear, and Tezuka started, nearly having his glasses knocked off as he looked up and was confronted with a face full of a smiling Fuji. “Walk me home?” he asked Tezuka teasingly.

Tezuka shrugged, and then nodded. “Sure.” Even if Fuji hadn’t asked, Tezuka would have anyways.

After they had paid for their hot chocolates and once again set out into the cold, Tezuka couldn’t help but notice his blatantly growing attraction to Fuji, who skipped around on the sidewalk and abruptly stopped to take a picture of the cracks in the sidewalk, nearly causing Tezuka to walk on him.

This was going to be complicated, Tezuka thought tiredly as he followed Fuji up another street, this time, waiting patiently as Fuji snapped a picture of the sun behind a massive pile of clouds. His parents wanted Tezuka to marry a girl from a respectable family – their son would never be gay!

Maybe Fuji could pass as a girl, Tezuka mused. From a respectable family, of course.

--

Fuji wasn’t blind, nor was he stupid. He had been noticing Tezuka’s not-so-subtle glances at him all afternoon, and he had made a whole, unnecessary show of smelling Tezuka’s scarf, although it really did still smell faintly of the lingering scent of spices and vanilla that hung around Tezuka.

Tezuka was driving Fuji mad, and Fuji decided that if Tezuka was too prissy and respectful to do something about this tension, then he would.

His heart fluttered nervously in his chest as he stopped at the end of a deserted street, not so far away from his house, and motioned Tezuka over. Reluctantly, the tennis captain stepped over to stand next to Fuji. “What is it?” he asked.

“Look,” Fuji said simply, pointing up at the sky, and Tezuka followed his gaze to see nothing but an endless mass of clouds. Maybe it would snow, he thought idly.

“I don’t see anything,” Tezuka stated, wondering if this was another one of those random Fuji moments.

“No, no, over here.” Fuji tugged Tezuka’s face a little to the left, and his cheek tingled from where Fuji had touched him.

“I—”

Tezuka’s sentence was abruptly broken off when Fuji stood taller than he ever had, and feeling a surge of adrenaline, he tugged Tezuka’s head down and met the other boy’s lips with his.

Tezuka seemed to deliberate for a few moments, before he decided and roughly kissed Fuji back, his mouth willingly opening and allowing Fuji’s tongue to plunder the warm cavern.

Tezuka’s arms pulled the smaller boy closer into his body. “Kunimitsu…” Fuji moaned, his lips seeking Tezuka’s.

“Syuusuke,” the other boy replied simply, before delving back into the throes of Fuji’s mouth.

Suddenly though, Tezuka’s lips weren’t with his anymore and Fuji whimpered slightly, looking up insistently with his eyes at Tezuka.

His eyes widened, though, when Tezuka’s tongue rasped along the side of Fuji’s jaw bone and down, dipping onto his neck and doing wicked, pleasurably good things to the bit of warm skin accessible that wasn’t covered by the scarf.

“I always wanted to see how sensitive your neck really was,” Tezuka remarked after they had finally separated, and Fuji found it hard to stand after what Tezuka had just done to his neck, much less his whole neck. Thank god for Tezuka’s scarf.

“What does this mean?” Fuji asked, searching for the sincere truth.

“Well, it means that I should ask you to be my boyfriend,” Tezuka replied, the corner of his mouth quirking up in a way only Fuji could make it quirk up. “So, Fuji Syuusuke, will you be my boyfriend?”

“Only if I get to be yours,” Fuji replied rather cryptically, and Tezuka wondered what he was implying. “However, the simple answer is yes.”

Tezuka smiled, an extremely rare smile that only a few people had seen on occasion, and pulled Fuji into his arms. “Also, it means that I just got my Christmas present a little bit early.”

Fuji squirmed around in Tezuka’s arms, finally twisting around so that he grabbed the collar of Tezuka’s shirt and brought it down so their eyes were equal.

“Well then, does this make it as your early New Year’s present?” Fuji asked, before he laughed and kissed Tezuka again.

Yes…our first kiss as a real couple. I like the sound of that, Tezuka thought distantly as he unconsciously hugged Fuji closer to his body.

-fin-

And here is the OsamuShiraishi - my first time writing this ;__; I'm sorry if the ending is really bad. I'll re-write it for you if you don't like it!

The first time Shiraishi Kuranosuke met Watanabe Osamu, it had been the day he was unanimously voted captain of the tennis club only a week into his second year at Shitenhouji.

Before, Kura only faintly registered the coach’s presence, and as a first year with no real status in the tennis club, Kura had decided the best way to go was to keep his real tennis moves to himself and he didn’t bother much with the training of the regulars unless it involved picking up the tennis balls left over from their games.

That day, however, Kura had been aware of the presence of the odd man with the ever-present floppy hat, scraggly blond hair, and desperate need of a shave standing in the shadows of the locker room building adjacent to the tennis courts and watching Kura graciously accept his position as tennis captain with keen blue eyes. Kura didn’t notice, however, the man move from his spot in the shade when Kura got up to make a short speech to the tennis club, the first speech he would make as captain with many to follow.

“…Thanks again, everyone, and I look forward to dealing with the challenges of being captain of the Shitenhouji tennis club,” Kura finished off, to smattered applause and loud whooping from what suspiciously looked like the general vicinity of Yuuji and Koharu. Kura started, however, when warm, silky breath grazed the back of his neck and he whirled around to see eye-to-eye with the blond tennis “coach”.

“On of these challenges will be dealing with me, “Osamu had said rather arrogantly, but the whole effect was diminished when he cracked a grin and Kura could have sworn that he winked at him.

“Watanabe Osamu, Shitenhouji tennis club coach,” Osamu continued, unabashedly sticking out a hand for Kura to shake and altogether ignoring the quotation marks that should have been surrounding the “coach” in “Shitenhouji tennis coach”. “Have we met before?”

“I don’t think so,” Kura said dryly, and shook Osamu’s hand, noticing the warmth and smooth dryness of the skin of his hand, which contrasted with the overall appearance of the rest of his body and clothing. “Shiraishi Kuranosuke, Shitenhouji tennis club captain.” The words “Shitenhouji tennis club captain” still sounded bulky and foreign on Kura’s tongue, but he forged through, and even managed a smile through his careful observation of Osamu from beneath his lashes.

Osamu grinned again and Kura found himself oddly noticing the way his clear blue eyes lit up with mirth as he smiled. “I think I gathered that fact already,” Osamu replied, quirking one blond eyebrow.

Kura found himself laughing with Osamu, even though what Osamu had said wasn’t particularly funny, but maybe it was just Osamu that Kura liked to laugh with.

--

Kura eventually got used to Osamu’s fleeting more often annoying-than-not presence during tennis practice. At first, he started out with calling Osamu “Watanabe-sensei”, as politeness dictated him to, but due to Osamu’s protests that that particular title made him sound like an old, stuffy teacher, Kura simply started to call him “sensei” or the occasional “Osamu” that slipped out of his mouth sometimes and Osamu never failed to catch these instances and gleefully point them out to the rest of the tennis team (much to Kura’s chagrin) as proof that the steel-hard shell around Shitenhouji’s tennis captain was slowly but surely cracking.

Kura fondly recalled those days when he sometimes thought Osamu was just another nutter fresh from the asylum (honestly the man had a predilection for wasabi sushi) or a hobo off the street that had no knowledge or experience whatsoever concerning tennis.

Then Kura started to notice how Senri’s serves were noticeably improving after Osamu worked with him for a few days, and Yuuji’s and Koharu’s coordination together as a doubles pair increased largely as a result of some well-said advice from Osamu.

Kura was finally convinced of Osamu’s great skill at tennis (no matter how much he liked to keep it hidden under his ratty floppy hat that reeked of cigarettes) when one day, almost as if on impulse, Osamu picked up Senri’s tennis racket, and finding its weight satisfactory in his palm, he promptly challenged Kura to a tennis match.

Kura had been a bit surprised by the sudden challenge of a tennis match, but all the same he boldly accepted, thinking that going head-to-head with weird, wasabi sushi-eating Osamu would be no problem for someone like him.

He was shocked, when almost exactly six minutes later, he collapsed on the baseline of the tennis courts, aghast at the fact that the same Watanabe Osamu that Kura believed had spent half of his life in an asylum with other nutters, had neatly beaten him, the Shitenhouji tennis team captain, 6-0, without even having his hat falling off.

From that day on, Kura looked at Osamu with more respect in his eyes and kept his mutterings about how Osamu belonged in a proper asylum to himself.

--

Kura had always wondered if there had been something between him and Osamu, as he picked up on the covert glances he would catch Osamu stealing of him during tennis practice, and the too-often phone calls that Osamu would call to his cell phone at six in the morning under the pretense of “tennis talk” but really, he just liked to piss off Kura because almost everybody in Shitenhouji knew better than to piss off Shiraishi Kuranosuke before 10 AM in the morning. Osamu, being Osamu, was probably the only one Kura couldn’t (and probably knew he wouldn’t) hurt as a result of Osamu’s too-fucking-cheery voice crowing in Kura’s half-asleep ear before the sun was even half up.

Maybe Kura was first alerted to something odd going on when Osamu clapped him on the shoulder in a friendly gesture after Shitenhouji had just won the Kansai region tournament, advancing to Nationals. Osamu’s hand was warm and it lingered on Kura’s shoulder for just a moment longer that what was considered usual, and Kura was acutely aware of the tingles that emanated down his arm at Osamu’s touch, and the sudden chill that blanketed his shoulder once Osamu took his hand away and moved on to congratulate Yuuji and Koharu on their doubles one win.

Kura had been slightly disturbed as he suddenly realized his newfound attraction to Osamu, but he violently shook off any hope of a relationship between the two of them. He didn’t even know if Osamu reciprocated his confused feelings, or if the hand on his shoulder had really just been that – a friendly gesture, and nothing more.

In the following months before Kura led Shitenhouji to the Nationals as Captain for his first time, he threw himself even more than before into perfecting his tennis. Osamu flickered hazily around the edges of Kura’s vision at times, but no words were exchanged and Kura always squashed down any fleeting, small possibility of a relationship between tennis “coach” and tennis captain with the fact that Osamu was twice as old as he was – Kura was only thirteen, after all, and still a bit confused on matters like romance and relationships. The girls at Shitenhouji squealed and fawned over the “cool”, reticent tennis captain, but Kura never really found himself attracted to any one of them. They were too loud. The only person Kura could really imagine himself being with was twice his age…

At the National championship, Shitenhouji wowed the crowds and fiercely battled its way to the top until the great power of Rikkaidai stopped Shitenhouji from accomplishing their goal of becoming National champions. It had been close, though, with the winner of the National tournament weighing on the outcome of the Singles 1 match between Kura and Yukimura Seiichi, the genius tennis captain of Rikkaidai who Kura imagined with a vision with piercing lavender eyes and flying violet hair.

Kura and Yukimura had battled it out for hours, point tying with another point, until eventually, the referee declared it was into tiebreak. Kura slumped on the bench, draining his water bottle, and Osamu regarded him from underneath his hat, his one visible blue eye alert and calculating.

“Do your best, Kura,” Osamu said in a low voice before he turned away again, and Kura nodded confusedly and walked back onto the court. Something nagged at him about Osamu, but he couldn’t place his finger on it.

Yukimura smirked at him from across the court as the Rikkai tennis captain bounced a ball and readied for his serve.

As the ball flew towards Kura, he realized what was off concerning Osamu.

He neatly hit the serve and watched the ball sail back towards Yukimura across the net. Osamu had called him “Kura” today, for the first time – Kura had told everybody to call him “Kura”, but Osamu had always balked and called him Shiraishi.

Kura wondered what this meant.

The tiebreaker was long and valiant, but at last, Yukimura scored the last point, 27-25, with a drop shot that came out of nowhere and Kura was too far away to make it.

Shitenhouji accepted their silver medals, shook hands with Rikkaidai, and went back home to Osaka.

--

The rest of the school year passed uneventfully, as did the summer, and when Kura returned to Shitenhouji for his third, and last year, he was named tennis captain once again and he recruited two new regulars for his team – an enthusiastic, hyperactive first year named Tooyama Kintarou who liked to wear leopard print but was a genius concerning tennis, and a subdued second year that Kura had noticed last year amongst the first years, named Zaizen Hikaru. These two joined the rest of the team, consisting of Kura, Chitose Senri, Oshitari Kenya, Hitouji Yuuji, Konjiki Koharu, and Ishida Gin from last year’s regulars.

Kura satisfactorily viewed his newly formed team on the first day of tennis practice, and felt that this year, they were definitely going to Nationals, and this year might even be better than the last.

His gaze accidentally fell on Osamu, talking quietly with a glimmer of amusement in his eyes to an intently listening Kintarou, and Kura thought that this year would be better for maybe completely different reasons.

--

“You told Kintarou that my left arm was poisoned by some sort of radioactive experiment gone wrong when I was eight?” Kura dangerously asked Osamu one afternoon after tennis practice in which Kintarou had promptly burst into tears whenever “Kura’s poisoned arm” got too close and Kura had spent the better part of tennis practice trying to convince Kintarou that his arm wasn’t poisoned at all. Kintarou still didn’t believe him though, and Kura found it rather unflattering that the boy would rather listen to their bum of a coach as opposed to the tennis club captain.

Osamu’s reply was to shrug.

Kura threw up his hands in annoyance. “It was an accident, Osamu,” he said irritably. “I was working on my aunt and uncle’s farm in the country over the summer, and I got scratched kind of ugly down the arm with a pitchfork,” he finished.

“You look cute when you’re annoyed,” Osamu interjected randomly.

“And now look at what I have to deal with—eh?”

“You,” Osamu repeated, waving a hand in the vague direction of Kura, “look cute when you’re annoyed. And angry, sometimes,” he added as an afterthought.

“…Oh.” At a lack of better words to say.

“I knew about the pitchfork accident by the way,” Osamu said cheerfully, causing Kura to go back to the source of his irritability right away.

“Then why didn’t you just tell Kintarou that?”

“Well, think of it this way. He’ll be much easier to manage now, if just threaten him with your ‘poisonous arm’. The kid’s read so much manga that his brain is probably just boiling over with all sorts of mangled images of your poisoned arm.”

Kura grimaced. “Let’s not go there. And what about when the wound’s healed and I have to take the bandages off?”

Osamu shrugged and then turned to leave the locker rooms as if it were the simplest thing in the world. “Just keep the bandages on.”

--

Nothing happened between the two of them, yet again, for months, until that day at Nationals, when Shitenhouji faced off opposite of Seigaku and lost.

On the train ride home to Osaka, Kura tried to offer his team some solace. “We all did very well,” he said firmly. “So lighten up and celebrate.” The captain cracked a rare smile, and the team all felt compelled to do the same.

“I can’t believe I just left my last Nationals championship,” Kura muttered as he sat down next to Osamu, who lazily opened one eye.

“You did very well,” was all Osamu said before he closed his eye again and pretended to fall asleep.

--

It wasn’t until nearly May, near the end of the school year, when Kura summoned up enough courage to do what he had to do, no matter how cliché that sounded.

“Osamu?” he inquired one afternoon. “Can I speak with you in private for a while?”

Curiosity piqued, the coach followed the tennis captain to the secluded area behind the locker rooms and watched with interest as the normally calm and cool Shiraishi Kuranosuke paced back and forth.

“Are you gay?” he suddenly burst out, before he looked horrified at just having said such a thing. “Sorry…”

“Well, this is a surprise,” Osamu said, checking to make sure his hat was still on right. “And to answer your question, yes, I am gay. What brings this sudden question?”

Kura blushed a becoming shade of pink. “I didn’t want to ask Yuuji and Koharu,” he mumbled, his voice growing more and more inaudible by the second. “ButIthinkI’mgaytoo.”

Osamu blinked. “What?’

Kura chewed his lip and stared firmly at the ground. “I think I’m gay too.”

Osamu blinked again before suddenly, he swooped down, and tangling his fingers in Kura’s fine hair, he kissed the tennis captain.

Kura suddenly found himself pulled against a warm, muscled body, with fingers dancing through his hair and down the sensitive skin of his neck. He involuntarily moaned into Osamu’s mouth, and Osamu took this opportunity to dive in and taste the lingering traces of Kura’s mint gum.

“Osamu…” Osamu’s name suddenly floated out of Kura’s compliant lips and Osamu stopped kissing him to back the younger boy up against the wall.

“What?” he whispered, his hat askew and his blue eyes gleaming in the sun. “That kiss just then was just an experiment to see if you were gay, Kura. I—what—”

It was rare to see the Shitenhouji tennis “coach” this flustered as he tried to process what exactly Kura had told him. “What if,” Kura hissed, boldly reaching up and grabbing a handful of Osamu’s shirt, effectively jerking him down and knocking off his hat, “I told you I wanted you? What if,” Kura continued, one finger tracing the shell of Osamu’s ear and watching with satisfaction as the older man’s body shivered at his touch, “I told you that I dreamed about you, about this day?”

Osamu arched his neck and tried to dance out of Kura’s bewitching touch. “I—I—Kura, you’re fourteen, and I’m twenty-seven. This age difference…”

“What if I told you that I didn’t care?”

The reasonable, rational Kura hiding inside Kura’s body winced at the words that were coming out of Kura’s mouth, seemingly of their own accord. The real Kura, though, knew that these words were true and he didn’t pause to take them back.

“Kura…” Osamu breathed as he leaned dangerously forward and Kura thought that his name, floating silkily from Osamu’s lips and kind of just hanging there in the air, never sounded so good.

“Is this what you really want?” Osamu’s eyes were hard and glinting, and an evil smile twitched at the corner of his mouth.

“Is this what you really want?” Kura challenged back, the adrenaline rushing through his body and making him tingle all over at the feel of Osamu’s breath brushing over his cheeks and nose – they were that close.

“Yes,” was all Osamu said before he captured Kura’s lips once again with his.

--

It was a new experience, being gay, and having a 27 year old boyfriend that could switch between quiet and sweet one second and raucous and perverted the next, Kura mused. It was the beginning of a new school year, and Kura was just starting high school.

They, as in Kura and Osamu, hadn’t told anybody of their relationship in fear of the retaliation they would receive from the rest of the world concerning the relationship between and twenty-seven (going on twenty-eight) year old and a fifteen year old.

However, the two of them were perfectly content in the small world they had carved for each other, all stolen kisses and breathy gasps.

Osamu continued “coaching” at Shitenhouji, under the watchful eye of Zaizen, whom Osamu informed Kura had taken up captaincy this year. The new regular team was turning out very well, and Osamu said that he felt as if Shitenhouji would make it Nationals again this year. Kura was proud of his former school.

High school for Kura passed all too quickly, and it was on the day when Kura received his acceptance letter to the University of Tokyo – the most prestigious and sought-after university in Japan – when he realized that his fast-paced romance with Osamu would soon have to come to an end, because Kura could never turn down an acceptance from Todai and it would be impractical for Osamu to move to Tokyo with Kura.

Osamu took the news in an unusually stoic fashion, and after one long, lingering kiss in the Osaka sunset in the park they frequented, Osamu walked away, his hands tucked deep into his pockets, just as usual and looking painfully like that very first image Kura had had of Osamu four or five years ago (it had really been that long?).

Even though Kura knew deep down inside that this would be the best for both of them, if they ended their relationship, he still couldn’t stop the tears that formed and stung painfully at his eyes.

--

Osamu watched from beneath the floppy brim of his hat as Kura hugged his family and friends from high school one fresh June morning before casting one last look around the familiar Osaka train station, Kura took his bags and stepped onto the train.

Osamu bit the inside of his mouth, almost feeling as if he could still taste Kura’s tongue and his soft lips over Osamu’s.

But then the train doors closed, and all that was left of Kura to Osamu was the top of his head, a hazy image from behind the windows of the train, as the train pulled out of the station and out of sight.

Osamu had known a long, long time ago that this day would inevitably come, and he had, of course, been prepared.

The Shitenhouji tennis “coach” strolled off of the platform, winding his way through the crowds to the ticket counter.

“One ticket for the next train to Tokyo,” he murmured softly.

If Kura left him, Osamu would have no choice other than to follow.

-fin-

As for raikune 's gift-fic, I'm working on it, but I don't think that I can get it up on Christmas day. Maybe it can be your New Year's present? :3

And evergrnterrace , my mind is blank for Fruits Basket. I'll get you those Furuba gift-fics some other time, but meanwhile be content with the ByakuRuki :D

Merry Christmas to my whole f-list!! ♥

I LOVE YOU, JESS.

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 05:08:43 GMT

SHE SENT ME A RIKKAIDAI CHRISTMAS CARD.

AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL.

THE CARD. RIKKAI GUYS. HOT, NO?

A CLOSEUP. GACK. TOO HOT FOR WORDS.

CLOSEUP OF NIOU, YAGYUU, AND MARUI.

CLOSEUP OF YUKIMURA, SANADA, AND KIRIHARA. I AM DEFINITELY LOVING HAWT!YUKIMURA IN RIKKAI UNIFROM, NOTSOBITCHY!SANADA, AND ACTUALLYKINDOFANGELIC!KIRIHARA.

THE NOTE ON THE BACK OF SAID BEAUTIFUL CARD. IN WHICH THERE IS BEAUTIFUL HANDWRITING AND WHERE I KIND OF SQUEALED OVER THE POLAR BEARS AND JAPANESE NEWSPAPER. :]

AND ANOTHER PIC OF THE WHOLE CARD AGAIN, BECAUSE I CAN. LOOK, NOT SO MUCH FLASH THIS TIME.

...I just realized I just did that whole thing in caps. Well, woe is me. I was excited, bite me :P

I LOVE YOU JESS. THE END. ALHFLAHGLAJDAAS *GLOMPS!!!*

Jess, I promise you that those Osamu/Shiraishi and TezuFuji giftfics shall be up tomorrow!

*squeals in excitement and leaves*

[The TezuFuji is like WHOA. I don't know what drug I was on when I wrote it, I'm sorry.]

Is you wanting excerpt? :3

An hour, or maybe two, later, Fuji dropped the racket he was holding and looked at Tezuka from beneath his lashes. The tennis captain still stood strongly on the courts despite the wind threatening to rip his clothes off (now wouldn’t that be a sight, Fuji thought cheerfully).

“I surrender,” Fuji called out amiably, trotting over to the net to extend a hand to Tezuka.

Tezuka looked rather put out. “But we were still only in tiebreak, 31-32,” he said, and Fuji would have said that he was pouting if he didn’t know the fact that Tezuka never pouted.

“We’ll continue it another time,” Fuji promised. When it’s not so cold, he added mentally. Fuji hated the cold.

“Come on, let’s go to a café or something,” the lighter haired boy continued. “I could use something to warm me up.”

Tezuka nodded and started to put away his rackets, easily slipping back into the Seigaku tennis jacket he had brought along. Fuji wanted to protest at the sight of those lean, rippling muscled arms being thrust unceremoniously into the blue and white sleeves of the jacket, but he refrained.

Bleach 304 && Naruto 383

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:01:23 GMT

Yes, it actually was a decent chapter :O I'm glad that they showed a bit of everything - Kenpachi/Nnoitora, Chad w/ Unohana but no Arrancar (what happened there??), Rukia waking up and seeing Byakuya (BIG FANGIRL SQUEE SOME REAL BYAKURUKI LOVIN'), hanatarou!!!!, uhhh, and major Mayuri/Szayel action. bwahahaha.

I loved Renji x Ishida. maybe that can be my new cracky-but-not-so-cracky pairing. XD

Ishi: "I have developed antibodies to the toxic gas!" ...HEY YOU DERANGED SCIENTIST GET THE COUNTERPOISON OVER HERE...*HACK HACK*
Renji: *half ded* ANTIBODIES MY ASS.
Mayuri: I'm too superior to be defeated by human antibodies.
Nemu: Mayuri-sama...?
Ishi: YEAH YEAH YOU'RE A GENIUS GET THE COUNTERPOISON OVER HERE NAO.
Nemu: MAYURI-SAMA.
Ishi: GO UNTIE HER. (OOOH DOES ISHI HAVE FEELINGS FOR NEMU?...well, too bad.)
Mayuri: blah blah blah
ALL: ...WTF?
Creepy!fairy: Dood yoo think yoo can beat me THAT easily? HAHAHA I HAVE REGENERATED MYSELF. And my prey (aka Nemu!) IS NAO DED.
Mayuri: BUT MY BANKAI BABY ATE YOU, WTF.
Ishi: NEMU!!!!

right. so now mayuri and apporo are gonna go at it. again.

and i demand more byakuya. RIGHT NOW. with rukia by his side, of course ;)

I'm so glad bleach and naruto got uploaded/are functioning and readable.

JIRAIYA BETTER FUCKING NOT BE DEAD.

okay, he was perverted and stupid but but but still he better not be dead asdkfhalghasdlsfsdjg.

AND DAMN THAT KISHIMOTO. STOPPING THE CHAPTER RIGHT WHEN THE UCHIHA VS. UCHIHA (and no Tobi/Madara, you're not included) FIGHT IS GONNA BEGIN.

I'm gonna go and bet good money that itachi will be blind (COUGH COUGH "LET'S SEE HOW GOOD YOUR EYESIGHT IS") and then sasuke will kill him. because no matter how much i love itachi, he was destined to die because he's an EVIL character ;__; (no! Ita-kun!)

and i wonder what happened to the rest of sasuke's gang. juugo's probably sleeping, or off on another homicidal rampage since nobody's around to control him. uh, karin either tailed sasuke to where the fight is taking place because of her "love" for him, or she's moaning about how she misses him already. and right, suigetsu! suigetsu's fighting kisame! don't know where this one will lead, because if kisame dies (and itachi's ded) then the akatsuki basically has nothing/nobody besidse pein, madara/tobi, and the plant guy (i forget his name).

DED AKATSUKI MEMBERS: Sasori. Hidan. Kakuzu. (hidan and kakuzu's reign was too short lived ;__;) Deidara (NOT DEIDARA NOOOO). soon-to-be Itachi. (ITA-KUN!!!)

adskfhalagahlfsdjf NEED MORE HAWT!UCHIHA-FIGHTING.

YAY NEW TENIPURI CHAPTER. YAYYYYY.

NOT MUCH. JUST COCKY!RYOMA AND HOT!YUKIMURA FINALLY STARTING TO BATTLE IT OUT.

maybe yukimura will actually play seriously against ryoma. but ryoma's gotta win, because seigaku's gotta win, because that's just how happy endings work out :P

okay, and that wraps my manga-chapter-ramblings up. kudos to you if you actually read this XD

HanaKimi

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:05:03 GMT

ASDDHJASFLHDAASLSDAF I JUST FINISHED WATCHING HANA KIMI (the drama), BECAUSE I HAVE NO LIFE BUT WHATEVER. IT WAS AMAZING AND STUPID BUT THAT MADE IT MORE AMAZING.

OGURI SHUN.

OGURI SHUN.

ASDHALAFASLLAFJGH MADE OF WIN.

That EXACT same hanazawa rui smile, except this time on Sano Izumi!!!! hotness squared. or maybe cubed.

and the rest of the gang at osaka gakuen! (and those bitches for st. blossoms.) was adorable. and nanba-senpai!! hilarious. especially at the beach. I love nanba and then the sakura committee harharhar.

and nakatsuuuu! i thought nakatsu was annoying at first, and then he was comic relief, but in the end sano got the girl...kind of. HK ended WAY too quickly for my likes. sano x mizuki didn't even KISS until the end and then she didn't kiss him back but just LEFT throwing an "i love you" over her shoulder. GRRR. I wish sano made her stay in japan, but then again, i have no control over my little japanese obsessions D:

ANYWAYS. FOR ANYONE READING THIS, I WOULD DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THIS, NO MATTER HOW UNREALISTIC AND IDIOTIC THE DRAMA MAY SEEM, IT'S REALLY SWEET ~~plus hot guys! Oguri Shun, have I mentioned??~~

yeah, that's all for now. i'm going to go bawl some more.

speaking of bawling, a drama is a good drama when I cry at the end, and cry I did when Mizuki went through all the good-byes D: it was so sad and angsty.

<3, all

ON A LIGHTER NOTE, THE BLEACH AND NARUTO MANGA CHAPTERS USUALLY RELEASED EVERY THURSDAY, ARE NOT ON ONEMANGA.COM YET. THAT KIND OF PISSES ME OFF, BUT MAYBE THE MANGAKAS IN JAPAN ARE TAKING A HOLIDAY BREAK. IDK.

Christmas Cheer - Bleach, ByakuRuki [gift-fic for evergrnterrace]

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 19:25:59 GMT

Woohoo! Here you go, evergrnterrace - I finally completed the ByakuRuki gift-fic, OOC-ness, fluff, and all.

Title: Christmas Cheer
Rating: PG...
Word Count: 3,322
Summary: Byakuya doesn't understand why Rukia loves Christmas so much, until he slowly gets drawn in by her Christmas cheer.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. KT does ;__;
A/N: Yes, sorry in advance for excess!fluff and ohnoez!OOC-ness. Haha. ♥

italics = flashbacks.

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays from arizaki_shisaku !

Christmas Cheer

If asked what her favorite holiday was, Kuchiki Rukia would immediately grin and proudly proclaim, “Christmas!”

The carefree spirit surrounding Christmas and New Year’s just somehow seemed to fit the cheerful disposition that Rukia normally embodied. She was one to always get into he joyous spirit weeks before Christmas – in fact, as soon as the calendar was flipped to December, Rukia would start whipping up lists of presents to give to people, plans for decorating the spacious Kuchiki mansion in holiday cheer, and humming Christmas tunes not-so-subtly under her breath.

Kuchiki Byakuya had long grown accustomed to these sudden bouts of holiday cheer Rukia liked to spring on him without warning, whether it be hanging a wreath on the door of his study to abruptly propping a pair of reindeer antlers on his before dinner (effectively ruining his kenseikan, mind you). Byakuya had thought Rukia’s suddenly good mood when Christmas started getting near was rather annoying, but her always-present grin and infectious laughter started getting to him as he watched the gloomy Kuchiki mansion get transformed into literally, a wonderland with garlands of tinsel and boughs of holly stretching down the hallways for as far as the eye could see.

“Why do you like Christmas so much?” Byakuya asked, eyeing with distaste the long string of blinking multicolored Christmas lights Rukia was valiantly attempting to string over the railing above the main staircase.

Byakuya took in the surroundings of the threshold of the Kuchiki mansion, from the glimmering garlands of tinsel and pine needles adorning the space above the front doors, to the sweet-smelling pine cones placed artfully on the tables next to the doors, to the evergreen tree branches tied to the banister of the staircase, all the fruit of Rukia’s hard work.

At last, Rukia managed to loop the lights just so and connect them so they flashed various colors onto the grand marble staircase. She hopped down from the ladder and beamed at Byakuya. “I don’t really know why I love this holiday so much,” she admitted sheepishly. “It’s just…it’s just that this holiday cheer, and the carefree spirit floating around in the air gets to me, and it reminds me of the childhood I never really had, so I guess that’s why I throw myself into it so much to make sure that I thoroughly celebrate it.” She chuckled a bit sadly at her statement before returning to her usually-cheerful self, proceeding to pick up a wreath almost as big as her that had been lying on the floor and carting it over to the main door.

“Give me a hand, will you?” Rukia yelled from the front door amidst the mess of holly berries and pine needles. Byakuya thought that all of the Kuchiki ancestors must have been turning in their graves as he reluctantly stepped over to the doorway and helped Rukia pin up the obnoxiously large wreath on their front door.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Rukia murmured satisfactorily, before she picked up a box of tinsel and walked off, assumedly to go decorate more rooms that hadn’t been graced by her holiday cheer.

Byakuya stood in the main entrance, shaking his head and thinking that Rukia truly was special.

“Ten more days until Christmas!” Rukia called out as she lugged a large evergreen tree down the hallway. Byakuya cocked his head at her as he looked up from the paperwork he had been reading.

“Is that our Christmas tree?” he asked in confusion, indicating the tree Rukia was struggling to push down the hallway (and making a mess of dirt down the pristine hallways of the Kuchiki mansion).

“No, of course not,” Rukia replied airily, as if the thought of Byakuya thinking that this was their Christmas tree was too much to bear. “This is only going in the parlor – it’s quite small, actually. I got a much bigger one to be our main Christmas tree!” With that, she flashed a grin at him and disappeared around the corridor.

--

Way back when, Byakuya didn’t like Christmas all that much. He thought it was another stupid, useless holiday where gifts were exchanged (gifts that he didn’t even really want or like in the first place) and people held long, extended parties that were really just a waste of time, and they celebrated the New Year just for the sake of celebrating.

Well, at least that had been his mindset before he had met Rukia.

Rukia tumbled into his dreary life in a mess of holly, cinnamon, pine cones, and tinsel. Byakuya all-too-fondly remembered that very first Christmas, when Rukia had ordered almost fifty boxes of Christmas decorations upon finding out the shocking news that Byakuya didn’t own any.

“How many boxes did you order again?” Byakuya asked testily as the deliverymen continued carting in boxes upon boxes of what Byakuya assumed were Christmas decorations.

“Um, I forgot,” Rukia said. “Wait, I think it was…fifty- six?” She looked up hopefully at him, but Byakuya thought that his expression must have been dark enough because Rukia immediately looked away, and mumbled something that sounded like “No, it might have been fifty-four.”

“What’s the big deal about Christmas, anyways?” Byakuya asked, changing the subject when Rukia continued her mutterings, deviating between “fifty-three…?” and “fifty-two”.

She perked up at the new subject. “I love Christmas!” she raved. “It’s the fun of the holiday season, when it’s cold outside, but in the houses it’s always warm because of all of the celebrations going on…and you can feel good about giving gifts because during the Christmas season, it’s always more about giving than receiving.”

She paused to tell one of the deliverymen entering with a new box of Christmas decorations “No, no, no. Those are the Christmas lights; they go over there, not over here with the wreaths and boughs of holly.”

Byakuya had chosen this moment to wearily rub his temple, pray to the highest being there was that he wouldn’t get disowned by his family because he adopted a mental case, and leave the room as quickly as possible.

--

He had been awestruck when a few days later, he returned back home from a Hollow-hunting mission and saw that the entire mansion had been transformed into a glowing, shockingly cheerful atmosphere resplendent with flashing strings of Christmas lights, garlands upon garlands of tinsel running amok everywhere, holly and mistletoe strung from every corner, nook, and cranny, and large, bushy wreaths hung on nearly every door.

“It looks beautiful, doesn’t it, nii-sama?” Rukia asked, sidling up to him in a Santa hat.

Byakuya didn’t want to tell her that it looked amazing, because then she might degrade him even more. Instead, he chose to ask, “What the hell are you wearing?”

She looked affronted at this. “It’s a Santa hat!” she replied indignantly.

His mind drew a blank at this. “…Santa?”

“…You don’t know who Santa is? Dear god, what happened to your childhood?”

He looked amusedly at her. “I didn’t have one,” he remarked dryly.

“Well,” she said, a surprised look on her face, “I suppose I’ll just have to explain everything to you, then. Come on, let’s go the kitchen—the cook can give you some of the homemade apple cider I instructed him how to make a few minutes ago—and I’ll explain everything to you, okay?”

Byakuya opened his mouth to protest, to tell her that he had things to do and he wanted to rest a bit after that extremely tiring mission, but Rukia smiled at him, Santa hat and all, and surprisingly, Byakuya found himself nodding and following Rukia down the hallway to the kitchens.

--

Byakuya would never admit it unless under very dire circumstances, but he loved the perky, cheery Rukia that bustled around the mansion (trailing garlands of tinsel and all) during the impending days to Christmas. He was supposed to be stoic and strict as the Kuchiki head, but he found himself attempting to hide a grin as Rukia struggled to hang a large red velvet bow just right on a mirror, or resisting the urge to run over and help Rukia tie mistletoe from the archways in the mansion.

He remembered that Christmas, five long years ago after the first Christmas he had spent together with Rukia.

Byakuya blinked rather owlishly in the dim light. “What are you doing up so early?” he asked. The sun was barely up, but still here Rukia sat in the living room with the giant Christmas tree bedecked with ornaments and lights she had lovingly hung on its branches several days ago.

A fire roared merrily in the hearth (Byakuya couldn’t remember the last time any occupant of the house had used the large fireplace in the living room). “I’m waiting to open the presents,” Rukia replied solemnly without even turning around to look at Byakuya.

Byakuya had only gotten up at this rather ungodly hour because he had heard footsteps in the hallway that sounded suspiciously like Rukia’s heading towards the kitchen/living room area. Naturally curious, Byakuya had very reluctantly left the warm cocoon of his bed and followed Rukia to where she was now, in the living room.

He stifled a yawn as he shuffled over to Rukia and took a seat on the sofa next to where she sat on the floor next to the Christmas tree. “There’s a special time to open presents?” he inquired.

Being taichou of the sixth division, Byakuya wasn’t required to work on Christmas (unlike the poor lesser shinigami in his division that still had to report to work on Christmas – the Gotei 13 had to be operating at all times, of course) which was why for all the other years he had always awoken at six or seven in the morning (considered quite late already for him, who had been drilled into waking up at five in the morning by his father since the age of eight) and wandered into the dining hall to see Rukia already seated there, usually with her customary mug of eggnog (he couldn’t see why Rukia drank up eggnog so much like it was the best drink on Earth – the one time she had gotten him to try a sip, he had promptly spat it out and effectively bruised his dignity with Rukia’s ensuing raucous laughter).

“Of course,” Rukia replied, looking a bit scandalized because Byakuya didn’t know that there was a special time to open presents. “It’s either when the sun comes up or when everybody in the house has woken up and gathered around the tree,” she explained. She pulled on a strand of hair, still unruly from when she had rolled out of bed. “Of course, it’s better if the whole family is gathered around the tree when the sun comes up,” she added thoughtfully.
Byakuya stretched out languorously on the sofa, his kenseikan-free hair spilling around his shoulders in a mussed-up mess. If it hadn’t been Christmas, Byakuya wouldn’t even have dared to go out into the open from the safe haven of his room until his kenseikan had been adjusted to perfection and his scarf wrapped securely around his neck, as befitting the status of the head of the Kuchiki clan. “Do you do this every year? Waking up this early, I mean.”

Rukia slowly swiveled her head around to meet Byakuya’s eyes before she quickly looked away again. “Yeah,” she said softly. “It’s kind of become habit for me, and anyways, I can’t sleep much on the night before Christmas.”

Byakuya immediately felt guilty because while Rukia had been “waiting for the whole family to gather” since approximately four in the morning (too early for Byakuya’s likes, even if he was one to wake up at five mostly every morning), Byakuya had been sleeping in until seven o’clock.

“After the sun comes up, I get a bit bored of waiting,” Rukia continued conversationally, “And the presents get too tempting to look at, so I go into the kitchen and make a cup of eggnog.” She peered at him through the slim rays of the rising sun cutting in through the window. “This is the first time you woke up to accompany me.”

“Well,” Byakuya remarked, “it’s the least I can do, right?”

Rukia turned her head away, back to staring out of the window at the sun rising above the hills beyond the Kuchiki mansion, but Byakuya still caught the small smile that spread across her face.

--

A few hours later, they sat amongst a pile of wrapping paper, shiny new presents, and mugs of hot chocolate Rukia disappeared and then brought in (Byakuya let out a very pronounced sigh of relief upon peering into the mug Rukia handed him and discovering that it was merely hot chocolate and not the dreaded eggnog).

The sun was up and it cast bright, golden rays of light through the window, bouncing off the large ornaments that adorned the tree.

Byakuya didn’t know what happened just then, but he found himself moving closer to Rukia and gently cupping her face in his larger hand.

She looked up at him in mild puzzlement and surprise. “Byakuya?” she asked hesitantly, as she had long outgrown the habit of calling him “nii-sama”.

No words were exchanged except the little puff of air from Rukia that was most probably a muffled gasp as Byakuya leaned forward even more and captured her lips in his.

She tasted like the hot chocolate they had just been drinking, and her lips were still sticky and sweet. The wrapping paper that she had been clutching limply in her hands fell from her grasp as he small hands then slowly moved up and fisted in Byakuya’s hair.

Looking back on their very first kiss, Byakuya’s and Rukia’s, Byakuya decided that what made that particular Christmas so important and special wasn’t the fact that Byakuya kissed Rukia, but the fact that she kissed him back.

--

From his study, as he pored over another stack of paperwork that was due tomorrow, Byakuya could just see from his half-open door the form of Rukia, singing another holiday tune and affixing frames of pine and holly to the ancient calligraphy scrolls hung up on the wall.

“Hey, Byakuya,” she called out from the hall. “If you go to the kitchens, I just made some hot gingerbread that smells delicious, and I’m sure there’s still some spiced apple cider left.”

He stood up from his desk, abandoning his paperwork to sweep out the door of his study and regard Rukia for a few moments as she added the last finishing touches to the frame of pine needles around a long scroll. Rukia let out a rather ungainly squeak of surprise as Byakuya suddenly pulled her flush against his body and gently kissed her. It was all in a whirlwind, and Byakuya noted as he walked off in the direction of the kitchen to investigate the gingerbread Rukia had been talking about (leaving a rather shell-shocked Rukia in his wake still holding a few boughs of holly), that she smelled like cinnamon and nutmeg.

“I don’t cook,” were the first words Byakuya blurted out when Rukia started tugging him towards the kitchen to “make a gingerbread house!” “Or bake,” he hastily amended.

“No, no, no,” Rukia said, pushing open the door to the kitchen. I already baked the gingerbread, we just have to stick all the pieces together and add all sorts of candy to make the house beautiful.”

She took one look at Byakuya’s blank face and lapsed into another one of her mutterings about how Byakuya’s childhood must have been horribly, horribly twisted.

--

“See, it’s really quite simple,” Rukia chirped as she made a perfect line of icing down one wall of the house and stuck it to another gingerbread wall.

Byakuya sat next to her at the counter, taking in this new experience with wary eyes. “And this is all…edible?” he asked cautiously.

“Oh, yes,” Rukia assured him, showing him by picking up a piece of gingerbread and popping it into her mouth.

“Didn’t you need that piece?”

Rukia shrugged noncommittally. “It was only the chimney, anyways.”

--

Many years ago, if somebody had asked Byakuya what his favorite holiday was, he would have fixed them with an icy glare and proceeded to say that he didn’t have a favorite holiday, and most holidays were stupid, anyways. He hadn’t been one to believe that a person could throw themselves into a holiday so passionately because they truly loved it – well, at least that had been what he thought before he met Rukia.

It had been three years, and two Christmases past since that first kiss, and their relationship had blossomed into a romance. It was hard to believe that this Christmas morning, Byakuya and Rukia lay sprawled on the floor after a friendly race to see who could get to the tree first (and sadly, Byakuya had lost, but the compensatory kiss Rukia had given him afterwards seemed to make up for it). Rukia shifted so that she lounged more comfortably against Byakuya’s muscled chest, and Byakuya lazily wrapped an arm around Rukia.

They breathed in silence for a while, and Byakuya felt Rukia pulse beating through his arm, and she smelled like pine needles and cinnamon.

He knew that now, it would be as good a time as any.

When the sun finally peaked and threw a golden sheen over the room and the Christmas tree, Rukia tackled the pile of presents that had slowly accumulated over the course of the days leading up to Christmas.

“Here, this one’s yours,” she said, chucking a box wrapped up in green paper to Byakuya.

Slowly, they worked through the presents, Rukia as enthusiastic as ever, and Byakuya trying to hide a grin but eventually failing. At last, Rukia flopped backwards, covered in a mess of wrapping paper and ribbons.

“I think that’s all of them,” she remarked, rolling over onto her stomach.

“No, not quite yet,” Byakuya said softly, and he reached under the Christmas tree, right next to the trunk, and withdrew a small box wrapped up in gold paper with only Rukia’s name printed plainly on it. “This one’s yours, from me.” He had purposefully hidden the small box way under the branches so that Rukia wouldn’t see it and he could give the gift to her.

Rukia reverently took the box from Byakuya’s palm and gently tore open the paper. A dark blue velvet box tumbled out and she let out a small gasp. “Byakuya…” Her hands trembled as she pried open the box, and Byakuya suddenly felt extremely nervous as she took in the dazzling diamond ring.

“Rukia…I think we bonded over Christmas, and I…really think that you might be the one meant for me.” Byakuya started panicking, because this wasn’t really the way he had planned for his proposal to do. He couldn’t believe the sap coming out of his mouth, and he decided that he might as well be blunt and hope that Rukia would say yes.

“Rukia…will you marry me?”

Tears that had welled up in Rukia’s eyes overflowed and fell down her cheeks as she launched herself into Byakuya’s arms. “Yes,” she murmured into Byakuya’s shoulder. “Yes, yes, yes!”

Byakuya enveloped Rukia in his embrace, breathing in the sharp spicy smell of cinnamon and allspice and all those other good things that had woven themselves into Rukia’s hair.

Outside the window, far away from the warmth exuded by the crackling fire, it started to snow.

--

Now, if somebody asked Byakuya what his favorite holiday was, all he had to do was look over at Rukia, his wife, who was probably up decorating again with holly and tinsel and attaching bells to every other railing.

Rukia would beam at him, and Byakuya would smile back (a rare smile, mind you), and he would say simply, “Christmas.”

-fin-

Gift-ficcing (part 2)

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 01:05:53 GMT

Oh man. Okay, I think it's time to organize my gift-fic requests ~~and possibly get started on more than a few of them...~~.

for disorientedly:
-SasuSaku (Naruto)
-FujiRyo (Tenipuri)
-AtoTezuRyo (Tenipuri)*
-...NO, I am not doing Oguri Shun x Matsumoto Jun.

for raikune:
-Hokage!Kakashi and Team 7 (Naruto) *

for evergrnterrace:
-~~ByakuRuki (Bleach)~~
-YukiHaru (FB) *
-YukiKyoHaru (FB)
-UlquiHime (Bleach) *

for kittyfu:
-TezuFuji (Tenipuri)
-OsamuShiraishi (Tenipuri) eeee, Shitenhouji. *

*sigh*

* = have yet to think up a suitable plot bunny.

Midterms are NEXT WEEK. (aka, winter exams.) *gnashes teeth*

Also, I'm in the midst of the riveting Hana Yori Dango (j-dorama!) and I think I've spent more than what is deemed healthy in front of the computer watching HYD (and HYD2!)

...also, disorientedly, I've started slightly on your SasuSaku. If you so wishes to see, an excerpt is below.

Sasuke smiled sleepily and Sakura felt her breath catch as she expected drowsy dark eyes to flicker open any second as Sasuke stirred. Sakura started to stand up to check on him, but she stopped herself when instead, Sasuke murmured a few incoherent words and rolled onto his side, his eyelashes fluttering against smooth, pale cheeks and drawing the hospital blankets securely up around his neck.

D: Hope you likes! As to the rest of my gift-fic requesters, I have a few plot bunnies outlined out, and I'll get to writing them ASAP.

♥!

'Tis the time for gift-ficcing!

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:53:27 GMT

The holiday spirit is most definitely getting to me.

But yes, I am gift-ficcing. Mostly any pairing (whatever you like!) within Prince of Tennis Bleach, or Fruits Basket fandoms (or Naruto, for that matter). I'll try to work holiday spirit into it, but if that doesn't work out, it'll just be...a fic. :3

I promise to have it done for the requester by Dec. 25 (Christmas!) :D

I would say that what I would be writing were drabbles, but as ketchupblood has so helpfully pointed out, my definition of "drabble" tends to gravitate more towards "fic".

~~Yes, evergrnterrace , I'll even write YukiHaru.~~

So request away! ♥

Yummy.

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:53:23 GMT

Mmmm, I found yummy Prince of Tennis lovebars!

NOT MADE BY ME. Taken from http://community.livejournal.com/visualmidnight/2656.html?view=629088#t629088 [I would post it in a link, but the LJ link thing isn't working for me right now.]