[FIC] Shounen Onmyouji
Title: N/A
Fandom: Shounen Onmyouji
Pairing: N/A (Masahiro, Mokkun, and Akiko)
Rating: G
Word Count: 489 words



Masahiro chewed thoughtfully on the end of his brush, staring down at his paper without really seeing it. The thick black lines of his kanji seemed to bleed together into meaningless patterns. The more he looked at them, the worse it became. He wondered if maybe he should just start over, or better yet, give up completely--

"Oi, Masahiro. Did you fall asleep or something?" Curious red-orange eyes stared into his from mere centimeters away.

"Wha--" Masahiro jerked backwards in surprise, the action overbalancing him onto the floor behind him. "Mokkun!" he complained as he picked himself back up. "Don't surprise me like that! I was thinking, okay?"

The mononoke snorted, his tail flicking from side to side. "Spacing out is more like it. What were you writing?" He peered down at the paper lying next to his paws.

"Don't!" Masahiro yelped, grabbing it before Mokkun could do more than glance at the kanji. He clutched the paper to his chest possessively as his face slowly began to heat. "It's personal!"

"Ooooh?" Mokkun's eyes narrowed. "Was that possibly... poetry I saw?"

Masahiro's face was bright red. "So what if it was?" he muttered.

Laughing, Mokkun brought a paw to his forehead in an overly-dramatic gesture. "Could it be? My cute little Masahiro is all grown up and writing poetry!"

"Mokkun," Masahiro said irritably, "you sound like Grandfather when you do that. Stop it."

"The next thing I know, you'll be slipping off to have illicit affairs with court ladies," Mokkun continued, ignoring him. "So, who's it for? Akiko?"

An unintelligible mumble was his only reply.

With a shrug, Mokkun leaped from the desk onto Masahiro's shoulder with the ease of familiarity. "What was that?" he asked teasingly. "I couldn't hear you."

"I said it's none of your business!" Masahiro yelled, trying to shrug the mononoke off. In retaliation, Mokkun merely jumped to the other shoulder instead, which caused Masahiro to stick the paper down the front of his kimono.

"Let me seeeeeeee," Mokkun whined, attempting to wriggle down Masahiro's clothing after it. "Seimei's grandson, you're so stingy!"

"Don't call me that!" came the expected shriek. The flailing that followed managed to knock over both the folding screen and the inkwell.

---

Akiko eyed the ruins of Masahiro's room with a sigh. Scrolls, the usual weapon of choice, were scattered everywhere, along with several fans, and entire set of calligraphy brushes. Even the fortune-telling table was overturned. Seeing the inky pawprints scattered across the tatami, she set the broom aside, realizing it wasn't going to be of any use. Honestly, she thought, those two...

A crumpled sheet of paper caught her eye right before she stepped on it. Kneeling down, she smoothed it out carefully. The kanji were partially covered by more of Mokkun's pawprints, but they were still mostly legible.

a flickering flame
is too brief for the beauty
of a crimson bloom

As she read, Akiko began to laugh, and not just at Masahiro's horrible poetry.