Prompt 22:
Real Candles on a Real Tree
“Remind me again why we’re here.”
Noboru smiled at his companion’s complaints, even if it wasn’t stated at such. He had slipped so far into his past self now that Katsumi’s remarks fell differently on his ears. Everything now came with a sort of brotherly love, in the way that even as the man whined, he could only find it amusing to heckle him back. “Tired already, Kunzite?”
Katsumi threw his axe over his shoulder with a grunt. “It’s Katsumi.”
“Yeah, I know,” Noboru paused, amused at the slip. He shrugged nonchalantly as he continued. “Sorry.”
“If you’re not going to tell me what this is all about, I’m turning around. The idea of dragging weaponry deep into the forest has lost whatever miniscule appeal it had to start with.”
Noboru kept walking. His breath was quickened with excitement, exploding in small clouds in front of him with every exhale. The axe that swung at his side was carried with ease, even as he trudged through the freshly fallen snow. “She needs a real tree.”
“Pardon?”
“A real tree. I don’t think she likes the fake one in her apartment.”
“Is that so?”
Noboru stopped at the tone of the question. He turned to face the silver-haired man, who was uncharacteristically wearing a broad smirk. “What is that look for?”
“Nothing,” Katsumi shrugged. He clearly wasn’t dressed for lumberjacking, wearing his sleek silver suit under a dark wool coat. “Am I to understand that things are going well with Makoto, then?”
“A sudden interest in my love life, Kunzite?” To hide his smile, he turned and continued walking, his eyes examining every tree that they passed.
“Katsumi, but yes. Call it, a business concern.”
“Business,” Noboru scoffed at the word.
“If we are to continue being Endymion’s guard in this life, I’m going to continue leading all of you. Part of my worries now is the interests of my men.”
“Call it whatever you’d like, but you’re just as nosy as Minako. Only your excuses are much more convincing.” Noboru took Katsumi’s silence as an agreement and continued. “She deserves a real tree. Did you know she never had one?”
“Really?” His apathetic tone was completely missed by Noboru.
“I know, it’s unbelievable. Living on her own for all this time, there was no one to put it up for her. She puts this pine-scented spray stuff on the fake one, but it’s just not the same. You can see the disappointment on her face when she looks at her tree now. I just think it’s time she had a real one. Ah, this one! This is the perfect tree.”
Katsumi looked the tree up and down, his face a bit skeptical. “Isn’t it a bit tall?”
“No,” Noboru said, lining up his axe for the first blow. “We’ll take a bit off the bottom, and trim the top for the star. It’ll be fine.”
With a thud, Noboru began to chop the tree down for Makoto. Katsumi never swung once, only watched as the dark-haired man drove his axe through the trunk of the pine tree. He watched as sweat built on his brow, as his hands readjusted to find comfort through the pain of rubbing against the axe’s handle. Blow after blow, the man kept driving through, never stopping or even asking for help. This was something he did on his own. Katsumi tilted his head, excellently hiding a smile. “So now you are the one who will do it, then.”
“Do what?” Noboru said between swings.
“Put up the real tree for her.”
Noboru stopped only a moment, grinning coyly towards the silver-haired man. “Of course. As long as she’ll let me be, I’m the one.”
Katsumi nodded slowly as the other continued to chop down the tree. Never had he imagined that these two would pick up again so quickly, but now that it was happening, it all seemed very appropriate. Nephrite had always been somewhat of a womanizer, but once he had found the Jovian princess, it was love. He had never seen the man fall so hard for one woman, and the more they interacted, the more the affection grew. Kunzite always imagined that it was because Jupiter was so strong, she never fell for Nephrite’s silver tongue. The challenge only enticed Nephrite further. Everyone assumed it was Venus and Kunzite who were meant to be, but Kunzite always believed it was truly Jupiter and Nephrite. Katsumi, heartened by this revelation, began to tease his former brother-at-arms. “Will you decorate it for her as well?”
Noboru chortled heartily through heaved breaths. “No, no. That’s all her. For some reason, she wants to put candles on it. Can you imagine? Candles. I swear, the things women come up with.”
