The steaming mulled wine was rich and mellow, laced with the fresh scents of apple, orange, and lemon. Its flavor was complex and singular, yet balanced just right, sweet and tart in equal measure, its fragrance a pleasure in itself.
One sip went down... and dawn broke.
Orihime Inoue, freshly awake, felt a little dazed. She blinked blankly. It seemed she'd had a very vivid dream.
In the dream there had been so much good food, dancing snowflakes and a warm home, gentle and considerate elders, dependable friends close at hand, and the person she loved and leaned on...
It really was a dream, all right. So blissful it couldn't possibly be real.
Orihime Inoue believed that happiness like that existed somewhere in the world. She just didn't believe it would ever happen to her.
To someone like her...
At that thought, her chest tightened, and she opened her eyes with a pang of reluctance.
No matter how lovely everything in the dream had been, it was only a dream, and dreams didn't come true.
Sooner or later she had to wake up and go back to the life she didn't want to keep living.
The moment she shifted, though, Orihime Inoue felt something odd at her collar. Something was... inside.
A warm palm, warming her body.
She blinked, and saw Muten Natsu beside her.
Her movement had roused him. His pitch-black eyes opened, still clouded with sleep. "Orihime...?" His hand stirred, and the familiar sensation froze the expression on his face.
As Orihime Inoue turned, Muten Natsu's hand slipped free of her collar.
Paying no mind to the white fluffy strap sliding off her shoulder, she pressed close and squirmed her way up until her soft body lay fully atop his.
Gazing down at him from inches away, Orihime Inoue felt his heartbeat, his breathing, his warmth, his eyes on her.
Muten Natsu steadied her. "What is it?"
"Nothing..." She pecked him lightly on the lips, a blissful smile blooming on her face, and let out two little giggles. "I just realized all of a sudden that you aren't my dream. You're really here beside me."
Cupping his face as though to verify it, Orihime Inoue kissed him deeply, tenderly exploring everything she could reach.
He understood exactly how she felt.
Though Orihime Inoue had said only that one line, with nothing before or after it, Muten Natsu could feel her heart with perfect clarity.
To be surrounded by happiness and still be unable to imagine that it truly belonged to you.
Because she had known loss carved down to the bone, even holding something in her hands felt like an illusion, a dream.
Always afraid that everything in front of her would vanish in an instant, that the next moment would drop her into some completely unfamiliar world.
Afraid that the happiness she held right now would, a heartbeat later, become the pain of having lost it.
Still longing for happiness, yet having lost all faith that she could ever be the one to hold it.
And so, when happiness came within arm's reach, she couldn't help but hold on with all her strength.
You aren't my illusory dream. You're my real happiness.
"Muten..." Lips still pressed to his, Orihime Inoue parted them slightly. "I think my clothes got dirty."
And so the other fluffy strap, the one still stubbornly clinging on, slid from her shoulder as well, and Muten Natsu was drowned in yielding softness.
...
After tucking the blanket around Orihime Inoue, Muten Natsu tidied up a little, got to his feet, and stepped out of the room, walking straight into Rukia Kuchiki's stare.
"Orihime... wants to sleep a little longer." He pulled the door shut behind him. "We'll call her later."
Rukia Kuchiki looked him over from head to toe, found no obvious marks anywhere on him, and gave a soft snort. "Let's eat."
The three of them had been at the table for quite a while before Orihime Inoue finally came out of the room, her face red.
Dodging the eyes of Retsu Unohana and Rukia Kuchiki, she snuck a glance at Muten Natsu.
It had been the same thing as always, and yet it had felt completely different.
Muten seemed to have been studying hard on how to make her feel even more... good.
Ahh... she couldn't be thinking about that in front of everyone.
Orihime Inoue reined in her thoughts, calmed herself down, washed her hands, and sat down to eat.
Rukia Kuchiki poked at the grains of rice in her bowl. What she'd glimpsed earlier refused to leave her head.
"Everyone should eat their fill," Retsu Unohana said. "It's about time we did the big cleaning."
New Year's Day was almost here, and to welcome it, the house had to be spotless.
Unlike ordinary tidying, this meant a deep clean of every nook and cranny that normally got overlooked, sweeping a whole year's worth of bad luck out of the house to make room for the happiness and good fortune of the year to come.
And not just the inside. The outside needed attention too.
Damaged walls had to be patched, and the rain gutters had to be flushed out.
That part was easy enough for Muten Natsu. All he had to do was send spirit ink in and drag the filth back out with it.
Then there were the storm shutters, the nameplate, the windows, the doors and the like, all of which needed scrubbing down.
Inside, the dust had to come off the ceiling and walls, the furniture and light fixtures had to be wiped, the deep spaces under the furniture had to be swept out, the carpets and curtains had to be washed, the bedding had to be aired in the sun, the beds had to be stripped and cleaned...
None of it was difficult on its own, but there was so much of it that the whole thing devoured time and energy alike, which meant the entire household had to pitch in.
The kitchen especially. Grease and grime were the worst of all.
As a captain, Retsu Unohana had always left this sort of thing to Isane Kotetsu back in Soul Society.
Rukia Kuchiki, living in the Division barracks, had at most cleaned her own room. A full year-end cleaning was something she'd never done either.
Ririn had never even celebrated New Year's before.
Muten Natsu was in much the same boat as Rukia Kuchiki, and on top of that he'd spent a very long stretch of his life sitting in prison. These past two years in the World of the Living, Orihime Inoue had been the one helping with the cleaning, so he didn't have much idea of how it was supposed to be done either.
Which meant Orihime Inoue naturally ended up in charge, patiently explaining to everyone else what to do.
Nobody wanted Retsu Unohana wearing herself out, but she insisted on helping, and no one could stop her.
"Actually, I've recovered some of my strength lately." Retsu Unohana released a faint trace of her reiatsu. "If I put in a bit more effort, I imagine it will come back faster and faster."
"You really have." Sensing that reiatsu, Rukia Kuchiki's eyes lit up with delight. "How did you manage it?"
Retsu Unohana's strength had been so slow to return that Rukia Kuchiki had been worried about her for ages.
Retsu Unohana shot Muten Natsu a glance. "I've been taking some medicine recently... one I cultivated and harvested myself. It promotes blood circulation, unblocks the meridians, moves the qi, and relieves pain. It's done wonders for my body.