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Eirin wakes to complete darkness, the whole mansion quiet and still. The sun has not yet risen; the nights are longer at this time of year, she supposes. It's hard to keep track when days pass like seconds, when the years feel like minutes. It is winter. Eirin has never liked winter.
She shifts to better accommodate herself against Kaguya's sleeping body, nestled in her arms. Kaguya murmurs softly in response and holds Eirin tighter. Perhaps she's having a nightmare, though it's not likely—according to Eirin's quick mental calculations and prior knowledge of the princess's habits, Kaguya hasn't yet progressed to REM sleep. She won't be up for several hours.
Eirin, however, rises early, and places a gentle kiss on Kaguya's forehead before regretfully pulling herself out of the bed they share and facing the velvety cold morning alone.
It's nearly noon when Eirin's pharmacology work is interrupted by a rapid knock on her office door. She grumbles, having lost her focus (these medicines are important, this time of year), and begrudgingly opens the door. A small earth rabbit greets her, bowing quickly before relaying her message: "The princess would like to see you as soon as you have time."
Eirin always has time for the princess, but that's hardly appropriate to say. She thanks the rabbit before locking up her office and striding down the hall to find Kaguya. The medicines will just have to wait.
"Eirin!" Kaguya says warmly from where she's sitting, still in her pajamas in their shared futon, when Eirin opens the bedroom door. "It snowed. Have you seen?"
"I'm well aware," Eirin says, crossing the room to sit next to Kaguya. "I have been awake since before dawn."
"I know. I just thought that it was beautiful." Kaguya stretches, the baggy sleeves of her shirt falling to reveal her pale arms. "It's so different from the snow on Luna that… I can't help but find myself admiring it, even after so many years."
"Truthfully, I am tired of it." Eirin reaches for the hairbrush resting on the dresser and begins to comb Kaguya's long hair. "Shall I make you some tea?"
"Oh, no need." Kaguya tilts her head to make Eirin's job easier. She's quiet for a few short minutes before speaking again. "Eirin, do you have plans for the day?" They both know she does, and they both know it's not pressingly important. "I was considering going for a walk down to the human village to do a bit of shopping. You're welcome to join."
"Ah, I need to go to the village myself." Eirin sets the brush down and folds her hands in her lap. "If you can wait for a half hour or so, I can complete the prescription orders and deliver them while we are there."
Kaguya hums in agreement. "I will have a rabbit help me dress, then, so you may continue your work." She turns around to face Eirin again, rich dark eyes crinkling in a playful smile. "Don't keep me waiting."
Kaguya rarely ventures out of Eientei, partly at Eirin's insistence that she not expose herself to potential Lunarian surveillance, and partly from her own laziness. When she does, she takes the opportunity to dress in her fanciest clothes, to drape herself in the finest silks and ribbons. By the time Eirin's finished collecting all the medicines, Kaguya is standing outside her door in a long pink coat and a scarf bundled around her, with Eirin's jacket folded in her arms. "Are you ready?"
"I am."
With that, Kaguya slips her hand into Eirin's, and they venture out into the frozen landscape.
Eirin's seen this a million times over her hundreds of years on Earth—the tall bamboo stalks banded with snow, some of them tilting from the weight; the ground blanketed in pure white with only her own footprints making any kind of mark; the heavy grey sky sinking down upon her. Next to her, Kaguya exhales, a cloud of fog blossoming in front of her face. "I'd forgotten how cold it could be out here." Nonchalantly, she slips her gloved fingers into Eirin's free hand. Eirin says nothing, but gently wraps her own fingers around Kaguya's nonetheless. "I would like to stop by the bookstore while you deliver your medications. We could meet up after…" She blows out another long breath. "Unless, of course, you're fearful that someone else might try to steal me away?"
"I'm well aware that you can handle yourself," Eirin says, pretending the flush in her cheeks is from the cold.
Kaguya smiles slyly. "Oh?"
"That aside, do you need money?"
"Hmmm…" Those dainty little fingers squeeze so gently around Eirin's. "I still have some from the last festival we held."
"I thought as much."
The human village soon comes into view, a small settlement of houses and fences and farmlands just past the edge of the bamboo forest. Again, to Eirin it’s a familiar sight, but she's not sure how well Kaguya's acquainted herself with it, outside of Eirin's stories. To confirm her suspicions, Kaguya laughs softly. "Ah, how cute! It's like the little town where I stayed after I was exiled."
"Princess," Eirin says. It has been approximately a thousand years, and yet she still can't stand the briefest mention of Kaguya's exile. There was so much pain, for both of them, and nothing Eirin could do except watch her beloved princess suffer.
Kaguya, however, seems to have gotten over it long ago. "Eirin," she replies.
"I know," Eirin says, and decides to drop it. Kaguya's right—it's been long enough that it shouldn't matter anymore. Kaguya's not hurting, not unhappy, and that's what matters.
She accompanies Kaguya to the bookstore, then sets off to the human houses to deliver her medicines. Colds, the flu, anxiety, indigestion. Most of her human patients are elderly, and require the most care. Each of them thanks her profusely. Some try to offer her payment, but Eirin still insists on her services being free. Her lifetime will be a million of theirs, and she already has everything she could ever want.
Kaguya's figure, soft and pink and dark against the white snow, is easy to pick out once Eirin returns to the center of town. She's standing at the edge of the village's northwest border, holding a small bag in her arms, her face tilted high up. This is normal. Eirin is used to Kaguya looking up at the sky, but it's usually on clear nights when all the stars are out and shining, never in the midafternoon under a thick blanket of clouds.
Now that she thinks about it, Kaguya certainly has been acting strange today.
"Eirin!" Kaguya calls across the white field, waving her arm. In just a second she's flown over to where Eirin stands, skirts billowing. "I bought a new journal and one of these new… magazines, the woman called them. Do you have any money on you? I've been eyeing a tea set I think you'd enjoy."
"Princess, we already have a completely functional tea set."
"You think too much." Kaguya gently pokes the tip of Eirin's nose. "What good is practicality if we cannot appreciate an item's beauty as well?"
The corners of Eirin's mouth curve up ever so slightly, unbidden. "And can we truly appreciate beauty if we are not also financially stable?"
"Is that really an issue?"
"It's unlike you to suddenly ask for so many new things."
Kaguya sighs and tucks her hair behind her ear. "Perhaps I've developed a sense of wanderlust as of late."
"Perhaps you have," says Eirin, unswayed. "I believe it's about time for us to return home."
The two walk in silence back to Eientei, aside from the soft crunch of their feet against the snow. It's starting to get darker, and Eirin's absentmindedly wondering if maybe they should have left a little sooner when Kaguya says, "Eirin, close your eyes."
"Why?"
"For me."
"That is not an answer."
Kaguya sighs. "I'd like for this to be a surprise, so you have to close your eyes. I'll hold your hand, so you need not worry about losing your way."
Now Eirin is intrigued. Kaguya's little games are always something special, though Eirin is never sure if she should be expecting a sweet romantic surprise or a hundred-meter bamboo gutter for her noodles. "…Alright."
"Don't open them until I say," Kaguya says, as Eirin's eyelids close and her fingers once again find Kaguya's. Unable to see, her other senses are sharpened, and she's better aware of the cold air on her face and the snow under her boots (and, certainly not least on her mind, the feeling of Kaguya's hand). "I think you'll like this," Kaguya says, and Eirin murmurs something in vague agreement, and when it feels like they've walked just about the distance to Eientei Kaguya finally says, "You may open your eyes."
Eirin breathes in. Above her head, all around her, are tiny lights hanging from the bamboo shoots, illuminating the snow in gold. There must be hundreds of them, small paper lanterns hung on strings that crisscross and light the path all the way to Eientei's door. Kaguya's grinning, and suddenly, suddenly it doesn't feel so cold outside. "This is beautiful," she says. "I presume you had this set up while we were out?"
Kaguya cups Eirin's face in her hands and leans in so close that their foreheads touch. "You made it too easy. I'd have gotten you out of the house by any means necessary."
"I don't understand," Eirin says after a moment. Usually, it's rare that she can't comprehend something. With Kaguya, it's all too often.
Kaguya just smiles wider. "Beauty can be found in all places. I'm simply showing you where to look." And when she moves closer, her lips are warm and soft against Eirin's own. "Let's get inside and make some tea," she whispers, just a breath away. "I'm cold."
Eirin chuckles before pressing another quick kiss to Kaguya's lips. That's the Kaguya she knows—blunt and peculiar and stunning, all at once. "As you wish, Princess."