The Little Sparkler of Joy

In Prompts ・ By ToumaYukimura

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It’s a little dark this evening, Kazahana squinted his eyes for a moment and sighed quietly to himself.

It is that time of the day.

That day where he could watch some sparklers from the side and he would play with his temari ball in the night. He and his ghosts would watch outside over the walls of Fei’s courtyard to gaze over the succubuns who were enjoying their time and day of the new year.

He never expected to see the streets of Burrowgatory to be alight with those same sparklers that he grew to like. Some of it has been set with various colors, others would try to make their sparklers spark even brighter than the others.

They all seem to be having a good time.

“Hey.”

Kazahana perks up from the large tree branch that he is sitting on and looks down at his dangling feet. There stood Fei, his body slightly obscured by the dark yet the soft light of the lantern that he is carrying on his hand gives off a dim glow to his pale features. The way he looks up to see Kazahana shows eyes of both worry and concern.

“Do you want to go down?” Fei asked yet Kazahana scoffed for a moment. “I made some tofu donburi in the dining room, get down so you can eat it while it’s hot.”

“Huh, oh… yeah… sure.” Kazahana said as he gracefully fell from the tree branch and landed successfully on the ground. His feet touched the cement pavement while the three ghosts around him floated down slowly by his side. “Let’s go.”

Fei doesn’t say a word but guides Kazahana back to the temple they call together as home together, the lantern on his hand swaying as they walk silently.

The soft clattering of utensils echoed in the dining room, both greed succubuns dine together as they face each other while eating in their bowls. Kazahana chews on to the crispy tofu that Fei made until…

“Do you like what you see outside the courtyard?”

“Hmm?” Kazahana looks up from his bowl and faces Fei who still has his eyes set on to his bowl to eat. “What do you mean?”

“You were sitting on that branch throughout the day looking outside the temple walls.” Fei stated and sighed. He slowly sets his chopsticks down above the rims of his bowl as he finishes his meal. “You never budge or even jump down for a bathroom break.”

“Ah, that…” Kazahana trailed off as he fiddled with the tip of his chopsticks, slightly playing with the crispy tofu in his bowl of rice. “I am just… looking.”

“Looking at what?”

Kazahana breathes through his fanged teeth. “...the sparklers.”

Fei’s eyebrows perk up for a moment in surprise yet returns his poker face. “The sparklers of the other succubuns? What about it?”

“I am curious… about them.” Kazahana gently taps the tip of his chopsticks again on his tofu. “What is so special with them? The street during the night is bright enough, why would they start to add more?”

Fei scoffed for a moment as he then shoved the finished bowl by the side of his arms so both of his arms were now on the table for him to lean on. He seems to act like a caring father although both he and Kazahana have some differences that they beefed on.

“It is a long history…”

“I would rather not listen to your old man ramblings.” Kazahana dismissively waves his hands and sets them back to his bowl so he can raise it then starts eating the rest of the contents in a hurry like it is some soup. “I will be going now, see you.”

“Wait.” Kazahana flinched when Fei stood up and grabbed the finished bowls to place them back on the sink. “Let’s go out.”

“This late? Are you crazy?” Kazahana stated and Fei chuckled to himself. The dishes can wait, Fei must show Kazahana a little more of the sparklers that he seems to be interested in. “Dude, the shops must be closed.”

“Not all… I know a place.” Fei said and gestured a hand as if to beckon the fellow succubun. “Come, get some shoes as well… I know you like to walk while having socks but it won’t do good for you. The pavement is cold on this night and the last thing I would want to see you is getting sick of the lack of clothes on your legs.”

The walk was shorter than what Kazahana would expect, they stood in front of a small stall of other succubuns who had just recently bought some blueish-white sparklers from the vendor. Kazahana stood by a light pole as he waited for Fei to walk back to him with a couple of sticks in hand. It reminds him of the incense sticks that he and Fei would use back at the temple that he resides in although it looks more... durable.

"Take one." Fei said almost in an order and Kazahana looked over to the sticks of sparklers and raised a brow at him. "Don't make me shove one of these back to your throat."

"Fine, fine..." Kazahana snatches one of the sparkler sticks from Fei's hand and looks over it. It looks like a normal stick... although the smell is odd, probably there is something applied to it that can make this sparkler go alight.

Kazahana watched as Fei took one stick from the bundle he bought and went over to a nearby live candle from the store. He brings the stick to it and in an instant, the sparkler is now alive and sets out a small sprinkle of sparkling light.

He hums softly, following his actions as he sets his sparkler alight as well. It reminds him of a large flower that is glowing brightly in the dark. It's pretty...

"You are smiling." Fei teased yet Kazahana didn't bark back. It's not like he doesn't care, but having a sense of light on his hand gives him a sense of happiness to himself. "To the new year... Kazahana."

Kazahana softly chuckled and nodded back to Fei, raising the still-alive sparkler between his fingers. "To the new year..."

Kazahana sat by himself in the courtyard. It is very late, he can tell what the time is now and he can assume that he is still up around one in the morning... or maybe it is two? He can't pinpoint well of the time, but he doesn't mind.

The little Candyl named Andre Cris who is sitting by Kazahana's feet puffs out the tuft of fire above its head to help Kazahana open up the rest of the bundle of sparklers that he never used. Kazahana plays with the remaining sparklers with his little imps by his side.

Orochi curls up around its coils and watches the sparklers that Kazahana set alight with a beaming look in its eyes. Neige who would often butt its head to Kazahana's feet with its little horns would look over the sparklers for a moment and continues trying to cutely and violently ram its head on Kazahana's foot. Ryonosuke, that one majestic Ryudra flying above his head would gleefully play along with the sparklers and would even try to steal the sparklers from his hands.

"Oi, Ryonosuke, off with it." The little dragon-like imp seemed to happily nibble on his ears before Kazahana swatted him away playfully. Orochi hissed a little to the Ryudra, almost breathing out its darkish red fire at it.

Andre sloshily approaches the Sceil and wiggles playfully as if to tease it, Kazahana chuckles as he finds happiness and enjoyment with his little imps.

"Come on, Neige... stop fighting. It's not like I will accept more of your fucking fighting."

The little Freign is still ramming its head at his foot causing the greed succubun to sigh and shake his head. "Stubborn little thing."

Kazahana opens one more sparkler to finish the night and smiles softly, the soft dim light illuminating his face. His blue eyes sparkled for a while and giggled to himself. His imps look over to their owner with slight interest and he just waves the hand where the sparkler is on his fingers.

"To the new year to you all you little critters..." Kazahana said before he snuffed out the sparkler to head back to bed. The temple has now fallen silent.