Archive of Our Own ^beta

Stupid, stupid girl, getting caught under the mistletoe. Kyoshi would have backed away, but there was nowhere to go. Her back was to the wall. Yun stood on his toes, his fingers hooked into the neckline of her dress, compelling her to lean forward. Even with her eyes closed, she could see the grin he would have when they broke apart.

Everyone must be staring. That was the downside to having a nice, quiet Christmas lunch. Just family, and friends close enough to count. Their parents, and the Mikajimas, and the Sei'nakas. Including everyone who could tease her till Easter. The last berry on the mistletoe, too—the only one Kuruk and Ummi hadn't picked.

It was an eternity. He had plum pudding on his lips. Her father was there. So was his. Wasn't Yun getting tired of leaning up? Hei-Ran would make them kneel on rice. Amak could use this as blackmail.

Yun let go of her. Eventually. Kyoshi wanted to push him away, pretend she hadn't liked it, but what if she surprised him, and he fell? So instead, she stepped sideways, out from under the mistletoe.

He laced his fingers with hers and placed her other hand on his shoulder. She couldn't help laughing.

"I can't dance," she protested.

"Aha!" Yun said, a glimmer in his eyes. "Finally I get to be the teacher."

She smiled. "I'm sorry if I crush your feet."

"I couldn't stay mad at such a lovely girl."

Why he flattered her, she didn't know. Jianzhu took a cynical view of it, but Yun had been the one to offer to marry Kyoshi when he found out she was to have his baby. Honest life may have been new to him, but he had embraced it with the same enthusiasm he had for everything.

Kyoshi watched their feet, trying not to kick him in the leg. "Slow down," she murmured. "I can't focus with... everyone here."

"Ah, forget about them," he said with a wink.

One of the men at the chessboard sighed. "A draw," Jianzhu said, sitting back and beginning to gather up the pieces he had won. Kuruk surveyed the board for a moment more, then nodded. Leaning back and stretching his arms behind his head, he glanced over at the young couple.

"Kid's got the right idea," he said, standing up. His wife and sons sat on the floor, playing with the boys' new marbles. Kuruk held a hand out to Ummi. "Care to dance?" he asked.

"All right!" she said, hoisting herself up and taking his hand. They twirled onto the open floor.

"There, Kyoshi," Yun said, "we're not the only ones now."

"This isn't a dancing song," Ummi said, looking thoughtfully at the phonograph. "But any song's a dancing song if you listen hard enough."

Kelsang picked up the baby, out of the way of the two couples. "What have you got there?" he asked, making a half-hearted attempt to get the thing out of his grandson's mouth. Some sort of bauble. Shizuo made a noise of protest an tugged it back. "Awright, awright, you can keep it." With his free arm, Kelsang lifted a chair aside to make room for the dancers.

The song ended, and a livelier one began. Kelsang gently bounced the baby, though he took no notice.

Mui nudged her brother.

"What," Jianzhu said.

"Don't you want to dance?"

"With who."

She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Jianzhu—"

"Oh—oh, fine." He got up and approached Hei-Ran, who sat reading a new book. He cleared his throat. She looked up, smiling, an eyebrow raised. "Uh—would you like to dance?"

"Sure." Jianzhu held himself as stiffly as an instructional diagram, but Hei-Ran didn't seem to care.

Kuruk laughed as he caught sight of his friend's face. "You're a Christmas ornament."

"What."

"'Cause your sweater's green and your face is red—"

"Shut up!"

Mui and Kelsang each picked up one end of the table and took it as far out of the way as it would go. She smiled at the baby in his arms. "Here, I'll take him," she said. She bounced him for a few bars of the song before setting him down by Kuruk's sons.

"Hey, buddy," Tonraq said, and poked the baby in the nose. Shizuo made no sign that he'd noticed. "Sheesh," Tonraq muttered. "He's a weirdo baby like you were, Unalaq!"

Mui and Kelsang stood for a moment, watching their friends, before Kelsang realized why she'd set the baby down. "Would you like to dance too?" he asked her.

"Yes!"

She barely came up to his shoulders, but they were no less awkward a pair than the ones who had started it all.

"Tonraq!" Kuruk called across the room. "Now's your chance!"

"To what!" he called back.

"To learn—" Kuruk looked around the room and frowned. "...Hey, where's Rangi?"

Kyoshi stopped dancing, and Yun nearly tripped. "What?" he asked, slightly annoyed. "She probably just—she'll be back in a minute."

She was not back in a minute, nor after the song ended. "Let's look for her," Yun said, seeing the worry in Kyoshi's face.

"No, you're right, she's...."

"Come on. It's Christmas, you shouldn't worry." He tugged her by the hand towards the door.

"Where are you two going," Jianzhu snapped.

"To look for Rangi. We'll be back in five minutes," Yun said, and before his father could object, he had dragged Kyoshi into the hall.

Rangi was not in the neighboring rooms. She was not in the water closet. She had not sneaked into the kitchen for a snack. Yun climbed on Kyoshi's shoulders and hollered Rangi's name through a vent that led to the upstairs hallway, but there was no reply. At last they found her in a dusty, neglected room that overlooked the courtyard. It was empty except for a couch, and a few paintings, and Rangi, who stared out into the cool, foggy garden.

She jumped as they opened the door. "Oh," she said, turning away from them again. "Hello."

"Hey, Rangi," Yun said. He glanced around. "What brings you here?"

She shrugged, still staring out the window. "It's not like I have anyone to dance with."

"Running away from Amak, huh? You wouldn't be the first."

"Hm," she said, in imitation of a laugh.

"I'll dance with you!" Yun said brightly. "You don't mind, Kyoshi, do you? Just a friendly gesture."

"I don't mind," she said quickly. If it cheered Rangi up, of course she didn't mind.

"I don't want to dance with you," Rangi said indignantly.

Yun looked surprised, but then he broke into a grin. "You've got someone in mind, don't ya?"

There was a pause, an anxious moment, before Rangi gave a very small, hurried nod.

"Ha-ha!" Yun clapped his hands together. "Let me guess—"

Rangi sighed. She didn't want to yell at him today, not on Christmas, so she would just have to wait for him to get tired of guessing.

"Is it... Jae?" he asked.

"No."

"Lee?"

"No."

"The other Lee."

"No."

"Too ordinary for you? Is it someone from—no, never mind, your school was all girls.... Is it Amak?"

"Goodness no!"

Yun turned to Kyoshi. "Do you know who it is, Kyoshi?"

Kyoshi shook her head. She had no idea. Even the thought was strange to her—Rangi had always been above the whirl of love and foolishness. Though she was eighteen, noble, and quite pretty, Kyoshi had never heard of her having any suitors. Perhaps boys were a little afraid of her. Or of Hei-Ran.

Undeterred, Yun rubbed his chin, thinking of how to narrow down the possibilities. "Is he older than you?" he asked.

"No," Rangi said.

"A younger guy?"

"No."

"A fella your age, then."

"No."

"Aw, come on, you have to play fair."

"I'm telling the truth."

Yun frowned, stumped for only a moment before he said, "Ah! You don't know how old he is."

Rangi glared at him, and he went quiet. Before either could say something, Kyoshi put a hand on Yun's shoulder. "We—we should go back," she said. "Jianzhu will start looking for us."

"Yeah," he said, obviously disappointed. "All right."

He led the way out, back towards the party. To Kyoshi's relief, Rangi followed them. "We found her!" Yun called once they were in earshot of the others.

"Not—a word," Rangi said through gritted teeth.

" 'Course not. I'd never tell them I lost the guessing game."

"I never know if I'm supposed to put the chess board away," Kyoshi said. The sun was down. The party had dispersed—some going home, some elsewhere in the house. Shizuo had crawled under some wrapping paper and would scream when anyone tried to lift it off, so Kyoshi had stayed with him, and decided she might as well clean up. Rangi, to her surprise, had offered to help.

"I think Jianzhu likes to keep it out on the table," Rangi said. "But if you think it'll distract Yun, I say put it away."

"He could use some distraction," Kyoshi said. He had a break today, for Christmas, and tomorrow, for Sunday, but after that it was straight back to the study regimen. Yun had caught up remarkably well since Jianzhu brought him home; surely he should be allowed do only an ordinary amount of work.

"He has quite enough of it lately," Rangi said, her voice unexpectedly cold. She crouched to fetch a marble that had rolled underneath a glass cabinet.

"What do you mean?" Kyoshi asked. He studied for eight hours some days, not counting the calisthenics and lessons in table graces and whatnot.

Rangi straightened up, an eyebrow raised. Kyoshi stared at her. She seemed angry. "What do I mean? Kyoshi, I mean you."

"Oh. Well, I—I don't mean to—"

Rangi snorted. "Maybe not, but you can't help it. You distract him by existing."

Kyoshi froze in the middle of winding a string around a yo-yo. If Rangi was scolding her, why was she almost smiling?

"You're much prettier than you realize."

Kyoshi numbly set the yo-yo on the table, making a mental note to bring it to her cousins next time she saw them. "Thank you," she said, her voice small. She was out of her depth, at an utter loss for what to say. Perhaps she should take the wrapping paper off her son's head. She'd have to eventually, why not use his protests to make her escape? But instead, she held up a book that had been left on a table. "The Interrelationship of Mental Abilities," she said with a feeble attempt at being casual, "is this your mother's?"

"Yes," Rangi said, "could you give it to her? I don't think she meant to leave it here."

"Sure." Kyoshi started for the hallway before noticing a few more rogue marbles on the floor. She stopped to pick them up, turning to hand them to Rangi. "Hey, I found a few more—"

Her words were cut short. Kyoshi froze, her eyes wide open. There was a thunk as the book she'd been holding hit the floor. It was Rangi. She cupped Kyoshi's face in her hands, her hands like warm cocoa on a chilly night. They were nearly as soft as her lips, pressed to Kyoshi's. A shaking gasp flooded her lungs, her mind, with cinammon and roses. Rangi's hair tickled her face, because she was kissing Kyoshi, and the world had turned upside-down.

It was over. Kyoshi stood there, unable to move. Unable to think. Rangi stepped back. She waved a hand in the vague direction of the ceiling. "You were under the mistletoe," she said simply. It was the last berry, the one Kyoshi and Yun had forgotten to pluck.

"I... yeah."

Cinammon. And roses. But of course, Rangi had only been following the rules of mistletoe.