A Dash of Chili Powder

49

"Shut up!" the small snapped, her arms crossing over her chest. All she wanted was to beat that bloody woman. She frowned angrily and kicked at the dirt. But she got away because of Vell. She growled quietly. Great. 

A chilly gust blew by, ruffling Yuki's fading purple hair, rustling the leaves in the trees. The air carried a subtle hint of frozen water vapor as it swirled on by. An abvious indicator winter was coming. Great.

Yuki didn't like the winter. It was too cold. She shook her head. "C'mon, Vell." A soft sigh and she instantly calmed down, zipping up her white jacket and whirling around to face her adoptive uncle.

Gracie

[Had to throw in Amaya and Rage and the others. ><]

White steam swirled around Vell's nose as he let out a big sigh and turned away from Yuki, ear flicking. "Right...."

Winter was nice. Vell liked the winter. The summer was too hot for him to bear so to have a crisp coolness to the air was refreshing rather than repulsive. The sky was light gray with the prospects of snow and the ground crunched with invisible frost under Vell's boots, and Yuki's smaller ones, tromping at a higher pitch than his' behind him.

I can't believe Onii-san's doing this to me, he thought miserably. It was painfully obvious that Kakashi was trying to throw Vell and Yuki together, as if time would make them friends. But Vell didn't do well with friends. The ones he had now were from when he COULD make friends, when he was little. But he was sixteen now - in two more weeks, seventeen - and he was pretty set on staying antisocial for--

Vell stopped. Two weeks? His birthday was in two weeks? The realization hit him like a pillow to the side of the head. Startling, surprising, but caused no real damage or significance to him. He blinked a few times before carrying on, without a word to Yuki.

Huh. Well, at least those three will have forgotten... ... ...I hope.

"Vell-kun's birthday is in two weeks!" Scythe announced as he came from his room into the living room, beaming.

Rage looked up from his seat on the floor, blinking, while Awaji muted the TV and frowned. "Huh? Really? I thought it was in January?" he squeaked.

Scythe beamed mischeviously and flopped onto one corner of the couch, Awaji on the other. Amaya was in a chair nearest to Awaji - it had become her chair, somehow. Personally hers. Well, at least, no one ever sat in it but her.

The brown haired man continued, "Nope, it's this month, and there is no way we're skipping it. Vell-kun get's the best outraged face when we make a big deal about it," he cackled with an evil grin.

Rage sighed deeply and turned back to the TV, where the sitcom still acted out without sound. Not before one of his customary glances at Amaya.

Over the past two weeks things had been back to normal, along with their plus-one. Amaya's seals had been taken care of and there'd been no more seal-breaks like before, which was good. Still, Rage couldn't help but feel a certain tension around her. It wasn't uncomfortable, but-- It just seemed that he was more aware of Amaya than he should be.

Scythe and Awaji continued their plotting and Rage sat as mute as the television in front of him.