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Shirakage Mouse’s Christmas in Japan With DM
Shirakage Mouse’s Christmas in Japan With DM
Christmas time is a confusing month for me these days. Sure, I may be a 25 year old female white mouse following the Western gift giving tradition that my foster parents had raised me to do. But behind the yearly routines and gratitude that I receive from my family, friends and acquaintances who enjoy their granted wishes come true...I feel nothing.
My foster parents, Oliver Camel and Jewel Mouse, had to gently persist in asking me what I wanted for Christmas each year. Their concern for the white tailed baby mouse (Me) who they adopted from a deceased couple of Japanese origin, may have been mutual to other parents if they saw their growing child be stoic and expressionless during the most wonderful time of the year.
Unfortunately, I, Shirakage Mouse, will never tell my parents why I behave this way, despite the good will I perform in the gift giving interaction. My soul was actually placed within the womb of the pregnant Japanese white tailed mouse, before my new physical body entered the world of anthropomorphic animals.
I was once a young female human adult. But an accident killed my first life from the real world. I don’t know how this all happened to me. But the memories and current mental state remained intact as soon as I was reincarnated. With my Japanese birth parents dead from a large earthquake, a British born husband and an American born wife adopted me during their holiday in the region once the aftershocks had ceased. They’ll never know why Christmas didn’t feel so special to me. Because they wouldn’t understand my previous mixed upbringing from my past life.
My human father was Jewish; my human mother was a Unitarian. Christmas time was fun when I was a kid. But then I grew up; Santa Clause was never real (receiving a Disney’s children’s book in a wrapped up gift that I already had, unbeknownst to the Santa at the children’s hospital who just had me on his lap...should have been my first clue🙄.); I grew too close to my father, who was becoming more like a condescending, cynical kind of guy.
My mom hated how her two daughters abandoned decorating the house after our high school years, despite us trying to explain to her that our condo was too small to put up our artificial tree again.
Conflicted between my father’s critical and sardonic sense of humor, and my mother’s wish to spread good cheer...and my awful human memories of being too picky and displeased over certain gifts that friends and family had given me (I always ended up getting reprimanded over my poor behavior😒), I had no choice but to express my emotionless doll face in my new life, while still doing the good thing that’s special to both Britain and America. Every year I remember what my acquaintances want, and I buy it for them without a hint of reluctance.
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This was my second Christmas in Japan. Last year, after taking a few early visits to my foster relatives, my parents allowed me to spend my Christmas holiday in my birth country. They were also expecting their first unborn child soon, so they were more willing to celebrate that Christmas year without me. The doctors told us that I was going to have a little sister. And I couldn’t feel any more proud towards the news.
When I arrived at Tokyo airport later that night, I traveled far out into the countryside to visit my birth parents’ graves instead of checking into my hotel first. The Kanji on their graves read, “Taki Mausu” and “Kana Mausu”. Imagine my shock when I met an elderly white tailed female white mouse standing before my parents’ grave. And when she sensed my presence, her aging sapphire eyes widened brilliantly in the cold, clear night.
It was such a tearful reunion for the both of us. Why? It turned out, that the old mouse woman was the mother of my birth father. The last time my long lost grandmother ever saw me was when I was first born into this world. But she lived in a different prefecture of Japan, surviving the earthquake that took the lives of her son and daughter in-law.
My Oba-San, Kuraiyuki Mausu, thought I had died along with my birth parents. She was so devastated over the tragedy that she couldn’t possess the strength and will to contact the Japanese government, and inform them that there was one last family relative for the white infant mouse orphan. Even if I was 25 years old, Kuraiyuki Oba-San immediately recognized me as her late son’s grown up child.
Ever since we caught up over lost time for a family gathering, I now found a nice and cozy refuge that I could rely upon during any future trips to Japan. It was a wonderful Japanese traditionally styled household. My grandmother had a kotatsu within the table to keep us warm during cold winters; there was a garden outside surrounded by nature, which featured all four seasons of the year; a bathroom that included a shower hose and a bath tub, and a separate room with a toilet and sink.
There was no Western styled bed and mattresses. But I didn’t mind sleeping on a futon in the guest room next to Kuraiyuki Oba-San’s sleeping quarters. The futons here weren’t that uncomfortable as one Westerner might think...well, if you count a Japanese born white female mouse who was originally raised by a Western foster couple.
Whenever I needed to use my holiday points from my job site back in London, I’d visit my grandmother and made sure to keep her house clean, and her kitchen stocked with plentiful foods for me to cook up for the two of us. Kuraiyuki Oba-San was definitely my blood relative. She once told me a story about our family...
“Shirakage, your loving birth parents agreed to name you after my late older sister. She was the aunt of your father, Taki, you see. She was loved by everyone in our family, and became best friends with your mother, Kana. But your grand aunt never lived long enough to see you being delivered to us from Kana. After your parents married, the ancient stones that my sister often used to foretell the future drove her to commit suicide. The final note which she wrote to me explained the prophecy of the first born of my son’s child.
“If my sister wouldn’t sacrifice her life, her nephew’s wife will never bore children. I still believe that what she did was senseless and misguided. But I’m also sorry that we never saw her looking worried or concerned in the days before I found her body. She hid her emotions well, and fooled me and your parents. I only wished I could have done something to stop her from taking her own life.”
I do not dare, nor wish to dig deeper into my Grand Aunt’s life story after hearing how she died. Too creepy. And after getting away from London for Christmas again was hard enough. I had to get on a late night flight to slink out of the U.K. while Nezu-Chan and the others were sleeping.
At least now I’m enjoying another December night in Kuraiyuki Oba-San’s house in Japan. It was freezing outside; snow and ice was covering the natural wilderness in a beautiful frozen wonderland. The pond, with a bridge connecting from one side of the forest to the other, wasn’t too far from the house. The pond’s water had also frozen up into ice.
Giving our Thanks for our meal, the two of us began to have dinner at the kotatsu heated table. “Shirakage, Dearie,” my Grandma said, starting the conversation. “I hear that there’s been a young tailless white male mouse from London trying to court you into his life these days.”
I nearly choked on my Yakisoba. How did Kuraiyuki Oba-San find out about Danger Mouse and me!? What fresh hellish snitch was responsible for leaking my secret to her!?
As I remained silent (aside from pounding my chest to swallow my food properly), she continued. “Tell me...Was this mouse not important enough to you to spend Christmas with him? You are aware that, for many young Japanese folk these days, they believe that this time of year is celebrated the same way in which Westerners celebrate St. Valentine’s Day in February, right?”
My cheeks heated up, but my stubborn attitude remained clear on my face. “Like he would accept the December and Christmas cultures Japan celebrates a lot for my sake.” I snorted in disgust. “Britain’s got too much worshipping issues for this time of year, anyway. And being in London in December can get too suffocating for me to bear onto.”
Kuraiyuki Oba-San stared long and hard at me. “My Dear Granddaughter, I understand how young folks behave tough on the surface and cage their feelings inside. However...what if I told you that that young man managed to track you down here to my home hours ago? And what if I added that he rescued me from nearly falling through a weakened area of the frozen pond’s bridge, in the forest near our garden while you were out shopping today?”
I comically spewed out my hot chocolate to the side from hearing that. What the hell...!? As I hurried to clean up the mess on the floor, I gave her a horrified look. “You’re joking, Oba-Sama!! Danger Mouse can’t be here...!!”
“I’m afraid, that this white tailless mouse taking an accidental plunge into the pond’s frigid waters while saving my life, is no tall tale coming from my old lips,” she assured me calmly. “If it hadn’t been for him, my body would have already expired of life while lying at the bottom of the pond. We would not be having this conversation now, if the alternative happened. You would have given me a proper burial after grieving through a day in mourning, cremating me and setting up my tombstone next to my son and daughter in law.”
I stared speechlessly at my bold grandmother’s words as she continued. “I’m surprised you didn’t sense his presence in the house as soon as you returned home, Shirakage. You hurried over to the kitchen to make us our supper, that you must have not heard him breathing in your bedroom closet. It is quite warmer in there than in the other rooms of the house. He sleeps so quietly once he settles down from his dreadful cold symptoms.”
I rose up from the now spotless tatami mat’s floorboards, my attention entirely focused on Nezu-Chan. “DM’s sick, Grandmother...?”
She nodded humbly, an affirmative “Mm” as an additional response. That’s when we both heard somebody cough badly in the back room. No doubting Kuraiyuki Oba-Sama’s words anymore.... That was definitely Nezu-Chan’s voice.
“It would seem that your admirer is awake,” she commented thoughtfully. “Help me heat up our leftover leek stew for him to eat, my child. I sense that he must be hungry.”
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“Eh-Chheww!!”
The sneeze behind the closed closet door sounded loud and forceful. Then came a liquid sniff and a congested sighing moan. “Snf. Uggghhh...”
My Oba-San knocked on the sliding closet door lightly. “Danger Mouse San” she spoke out calmly. “My precious granddaughter has brought you a fine dish of leek stew to help feed your terrible cold. Are you well enough for us to check up on you?”
“GYAAA!!” DM squealed comically from the other side, which turned into a bad coughing fit. “Sh- Snf. Shirakage’s hobme, Lady Kuraiyuki...?” He asked with surprise in his stuffy voice. “I...a-a-a...Ah-Choo!! Heh-tchoo!! Heh’EHSHHUU!! CHOO!!”
Kuraiyuki Oba-San slid open the door, revealing a sickly, moisture spewing Danger Mouse. He was wearing my late Grandfather’s old kimono, and was sitting up from the futon on the closet cupboard’s floor.
“Bless you, Young Man,” she told him gently while picking up a cool cloth, that had apparently fell on his lap from his forehead when he sat up after hearing my name being mentioned. “Mou, you possess a lot of energy for one who has caught a dizzying fever.
“Pushing me out of the way—before the weak spot on the bridge could collapse from underneath my weight—was reckless of you, Danger Mouse-San,” she tutted again. “The happiness of my granddaughter must mean so much to you, that you’d risk falling ill in order to save the life of her last remaining blood relative.”
Both DM and I blushed nervously from my wise old grandmother’s intuition of our uncertain relationship. DM averted his gaze from her watchful eyes, while I stared down at my indoor slippers.
“Shirakage,” Kuraiyuki snapped with a subtle firmness in her tone. “Please bring that steaming warm bowl of stew over to our ailing guest. His stomach is growling like a lion cub’s tiny roar.”
As I hurried to kneel next to her and a strawberry colored faced DM, he grimaced sourly...all the while trying not to look too cross. “Kuraiyuki-Sama, you really didn’t need to describe my growling tummy in that analogy in front of Shirakage. I wasn’t that hungry.”
This time, I didn’t miss the gurgling sound coming from beneath the futon’s blanket. He grimaced sheepishly, forcing a smile to curl on my face. “You’re a difficult pest to run away and hide from, you know that, Nezu-Chan?” I remarked stoically as I handed him the bowl of leek stew.
He tried not to look disgusted when the scent of the broth wafted up to his nostrils. Unfortunately, DM gacked slightly and turned a light shade of green.
Kuraiyuki Oba-Sama laughed heartily at his comical facial expression. “Hahahahaha!! For a British agent, you remind me of my late husband and late son. They never liked the taste of leek stew either. In fact, not many men here in Japan enjoy its odorous broth.
“Nevertheless,” she continued, her tone shifting again to seriousness. “It is a good remedy to nurse back the sick folk in our culture for generations. Women have relished its delicacy on a better scale than men in today’s modern world. If you care for my granddaughter enough to survive a bit of bad luck in your attempt to be with her this Christmas in her birth country, then honor Shirakage Mausu’s cooking by consuming the meal she had made for our dinner the other night this instant, Young Man.”
Nezu-chan gulped and nodded meekly. “H-Hai, Kuraiyuki-Sama.”
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We watched him eat the stew slowly. There were a couple of times when he’d pause from his meal briefly to blow his clogged up nose. Once he finally finished eating, another sneezing fit took ahold of his rigid body.
“Ahh..” His breath hitched, jaw slacking open and eye squinting a bit, as his pupil rolled slightly back like his head. “Heh-huh-!” I took the empty bowl away from him in time before his upper body lurched forward. “Ah-CHOO! RrrAACHOO!! Heh-CHOOO!! Ga-ha...rrAHChOO!!”
“Odaijini, Danger Mouse-San,” my grandmother blessed him kindly. “I thank you for keeping your promise. Would you wish for me to make you a cup of herbal tea before we all turn in for the night?”
Nezu-San sniffled after blowing his nose again. He nodded wearily at her as he laid back down on the futon’s pillow. “Lady Kuraiyuki,” he said hoarsely. “Could you please allow Shira-San to remain by my side while you’re in the kitchen? Snf. SNF. I wish to speak to her alone for a bmobment.”
I fidgeted uncomfortably on my kneeled spot on the ground. But my Oba-San nodded thoughtfully at his request. “Take all the time you need, DM-San,” she stated before leaving us in the room.
Aw, man. I hate being alone with guys that can make me feel nervous...especially hot, cute and goofy grinning guys. How can I look at him if my cheeks are on fire?
“AaAH...CHOO!!” He sneezed again, forcing me to snap my gaze towards him. As he sniffed wetly and dabbed at his dripping red nose with a tissue, he turned his resting face at me. “Shirakage, snff. Why did you leave Britain without telling me?” He sounded hurt through his thickened voice.
“I can‘t blame you for wishing to spend more time with your long lost blood related grandmother. But when I found out on the 21st that you were already gone—your flight nearly halfway towards Tokyo—and you never informed me any of my dearest colleagues or friends in the agency about your holiday plans...your selfishness broke my heart.”
I began to feel guilty and slightly teary eyed at the crossness in his ailing tone. But Danger Mouse didn’t hide the sadness in his words, either.
“I’ve always believed...” he paused to cough out a bit of phlegm. “Snf...I’ve always believed...that you would open up your heart to bme this Christmas. As long as you were dnearby idn Lodndodn...snf...and you’d shoot bme down whenever I’m popping into your flat and chasing you around with mistletoe every year...those times would be worth going through without you ever giving me a seasonal gift.”
A tear leaked out from one of my sapphire orbs, as the fever in DM’s drowsy eye strengthened the weight of his eyelid. His breathing started to labor while he struggled to keep his exhausted gaze at me. Instinct drove me to feel his forehead. “Nezu-kun,” I said with alarm. “You’re burning up again.”
I placed the cool cloth back on his perspiring head and bowed deeply. “I’m so very sorry, Nezu-kun. I’ve been stomping on your heart for a long time now. And I wouldn’t have imagined that my insensitive actions had ruined Christmas for you to the point where you’d chase after me to Japan.
“You saved Oba-San’s life tonight, Danger Mouse,” I continued, my voice cracking with emotion. “For that, I promise to never run off from you or diss your feelings for me again. So please forgive me.”
I started to cry and heard a satisfied huff coming from the bedridden idiot mouse. I kept my head hunched over in place. Neither the approach of my grandmother, walking over and sitting back down on her futon cushion, would assure me to forgive myself.
“You’ve got quite a bit of nerve to keep me waiting for this moment, one time too many, Shirakage Mouse,” Nezu-kun breathed wearily with confidence.
I picked my head up finally and saw Kuraiyuki Oba-San handing him a cup of herbal tea. DM was already sitting up to drink the warm beverage. He hummed an approving yummy sound.
“Mmm. Thank you, Lady Kuraiyuki. The tea tastes delightful for my aching throat.” He bowed his head a few degrees towards her.
“You’re very welcome, Danger Mouse-San,” she smiled wisely. “I wish you to get well quickly before Christmas arrives. After all,” she twinkled a mischievous eye at him. “...I’ve been looking forward to meeting the manly mouse who will become the husband of my granddaughter one day.”
Nezu-chan spewed out his second sip of tea while I flushed crimson red. “OBA-SAN!!”
She laughed heartily and slid the door to her sleeping quarters shut.
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Two nights have passed so far...and I’m finding it hard to fall asleep on Christmas Eve night. Danger Mouse was sleeping on the inside of my closet again tonight; the sliding closet door separating us as I lay wrapped up in my own futon against said door. He had stopped sneezing yesterday on the 23rd, and his fever went down earlier in the afternoon today. Kuraiyuki Oba-San predicted that he’d be 100% sick free by the time Christmas Day came tomorrow.
Staring up at the ceiling while lying in my futon, I thought about how my grandmother approved of Nezu-Chan so quickly than me. And I’ve known him longer than I’ve known her. My mind was now also racing back to a Christmas, around 2 years ago in London...the Christmas before my reunion with my long lost grandmother in Japan last year....
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“Come on, Shirakage. Pleeeeeeease?” Penfold begged over our video chat session on my laptop. “Colonel K has sworn to you to remember my name this time.”
“I’m not going to your Britain’s Secret Service Christmas party at the Danger Flat, Pen-chan,” I stated stubbornly. “You Know Who’s gonna be there again. And we all know how lovely the party will end up once he spots me too.”
“Pleeeeeeeeeeeeasse...?” Penfold widened his megane eyes into puppy pout mode. “We all want you to come, Professor Shirakage....🥺”
I huffed in defeat. “Ok, fine. And I hope the Christmas tree at the flat is big enough for me to fit all of the gifts I’ve bought for you and your friends when I bring them to the party.”
“YIPEEEEE!!” He cheered. “Even Scarlett will be jolly when she hears you’ll be coming.”
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An irritated frown marked my face, along with a twitching eyebrow. This feels like the Christmas years of 2001 and 2002 back in my human life’s real world, when I spent my teenaged years of 13 and 14, watching Saturday morning cartoons...and all of the different cartoon shows’ characters got together for a Christmas morning special; on a December dated Saturday morning in 2001, the characters gathered at Professor Charles Xavier’s mansion from the 2000 cartoon series “X-Men Evolution”...
And then they met up again in 2002 in the KidsWB water tower. At least those fake promo bits were funny. My reincarnated sardonic 28 year old soul sees nothing but anthropomorphic animals from the same world that I’m brilliantly stuck in!
As I watched everybody having a bloody good time around me in the Danger Flat’s sitting room, I felt something tug near the bottom of my long brown skirt. I looked down and my inner self flabbergasted with astonished horror.
“Hewo, Pwofessor Shiwakage Mouse,” the Danger Baby, Danger Puppy cooed sweetly at me. “Will you come to the nursewy and play with us? We’re not supposed to be with the gwown ups because of the forbidden juice they dwink.”
Faster than I could ponder about the alcohol implication that he mentioned, the little future agent guided me to a vacant corner. Turning said corner to a deserted hallway, Danger Puppy pointed to a door on the left side of the hall; light was shining from around the doorframe’s creases.
“That’s our nusewy. Pwof. Squawkencluck said that Danger Mouse won’t ever find you there.”
My blue eyes widened with a mixture of gratitude and surprise. “She’s...trying to cover for me...?” But the shimmering in my eyes didn’t last for long, as I heard a slurred voice giggling suddenly from the other side of the sitting room’s staircase...far from where we were standing.
“Ohhhhhhh, Shirakage Mouse~~~~~~🎶🎵*hic* Where aaaaare youuuu, my lovely turtle dove sweeeeeeeet~~?🎶🎵*hic* Give your manly mouse a kiiiiiisssssss~~~*hic*”
I flinched fearfully from just hearing how moronic that he was behaving in his inebriated state.
“Oh, Eck!” I heard Penfold groan. “The Chief’s drunk too much Egg Nog and rum again.”
I whipped my terrifyingly pale face back to Danger Puppy. “Ok, lead the way before he finds us.” We raced to the nursery without a moment to lose.
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I groaned over this annoying night. First, I feel like the female cat with the fake white stripe on its back and tail, and DM is like a love stricken, British version of Pepe Le Pew from Looney Tunes, chasing after me again for the umpteenth time this year. Now I have to gain sanctuary through a children’s playroom, hiding out with 5 anthropomorphic cuter animal versions of the Rugrats.
I’m sorry...which nightmare is worse tonight?
“Pwofessor Shiwakage,” Danger Ellie cooed cutely at me. Danger Chick, Danger Foal, Danger Piglett, and Puppy stared at me beside her. “Will you help us play with the snow maker machine?”
I blinked at them. “Come again?”
She pointed to the freeze canon that was sitting up on a high table. “Pwofessor Squawkencluck said that we need a gwown up’s help to use her toys to play with. Pwease make a lot of snow.”
I deadpanned for a brief moment. That’s nice, Squawk. Letting me play babysitter to these ‘cuter than The Rugrats’ baby agents will be the price I’ll have to pay from escaping Pepe Le Mouse tonight. But knowing I had very little choice under these circumstances, I eventually gave in to her planned out deal and sighed.
Admitting defeat, I beamed brightly at the innocent babies. “Ok, my Kawaii Kana agents!! Let’s have some fun!!”
They cheered like normal children. An impulsive, kind smile formed on my face. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.
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35 seconds into creating snow for the Danger Babies, and my mind was at a loss. Oh, sure...they were having a blast; the perfectly altered, artificial snow lay plentiful in heaps around the room. But the dumbfounded expression which wouldn’t leave my face may have something to do with the dozens of mistletoe branches, hanging from the playroom’s ceiling.
All of this happened when I fired the modified freeze canon that Squawkencluck made for them to use. Oh, it was still snowing in the room, alright. But the canon fired, ceiling latching mistletoes were the alien like source of the falling fluffy white, cold ice crystals.
I blinked as the confusing anomaly hit me. Wait, since when do snowflakes look like cotton fluff, and still feel like winter? Before I could make sense of the alien weather matter, the playroom’s door suddenly burst open, and my worst nightmare appeared.
Danger Mouse, his white cheeks tinted from alcoholic tipsyness, dropped a small branch of mistletoe from his hand and gasped. “Wahoo~~!! Oh, Happy Christmas to Me~~!!” He praised goofily. “Snow falling from mistletoe on the ceiling~~~~!!💖”
I paled, grimaced and flinched all in one millisecond as his drunken eye fell on my form. “Well hello, Beautiful 💖. I believe you owe me a kiss.” He began to stagger his way over to me, his lips puckered up like a silly melodramatic cartoon style.
Before I could scream for help, the Danger Babies noticed the intruder stumbling towards me and leapt into action. “Snowball Fight!!” Danger Foal exclaimed. “Pwotect Pwofessor Shiwakage!!”
A rain of machine gun speeding snowballs were hurled at the drunken secret agent. I giggled giddily the more DM looked cross towards the little army of terrors, as they formed a solid line between me and him.
However, his growling scowl faltered suddenly. A twitch of his nose slackened his facial muscles as his breath hitched. “Heh-!” Then his head snapped forward. “Heh-t’CHOO!!”
The Danger Babies giggled at his silliness. Then DM sneezed again. “Harrt’cHOO!! Ah-Choo!!” He shook his head from the small fit, sniffing slightly while rubbing his nose. “Snf. Ugh.” But his nose twitched yet again, and a comical expression made him gasp. “Ahh-ha...CHOOO!! Gah...hheh...HEHHChOO!!”
And he couldn’t stop. “Gasp~~~!! Ha-er-CHOO!! CHOOO!! Heh-ehhHOOO!!”
My eyes widened in shock as I watched Danger Mouse sneeze his ego sized head off. The only thing that he was severely allergic to was the white fluffed pollen of Arctic cotton grass. I held out my white mouse paw to catch the falling mistletoe snowflake like spores around us.
I sweatdropped to myself in disbelief. I shall never understand this physics defying universe that I was reborn into. Arctic cotton spores polymerized with cold winter snowflakes that can be released from genetically spliced mistletoe...? Illogically possible to my realistic personality. But a well played seasonal mutation of natural pepper spray. Go, Professor Squawkencluck.
“Hhh-HekSHHh!! Heh-heh-t’Choo! HERRRCKTCHOO!!” DM’s sneezing left him panting with exhaustion. “Gaaahhaaa...snffl. Guhhuh...Dabmn you, Squawk,” he cursed congestedly as he fled from our allergen trap covered room. “Gasp~~! Ahhh-CHOO!!”
I laughed with the Danger Babies as his sneezing fit grew fainter outside the hallway. That’ll teach him not to kiss me again.
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The humming vibration of my smartphone brought me out of that 2 year old flashback. I reached over to my right and scanned at the notification on the lock screen. Then I deadpanned at what I saw on the banner.
“BondCharming has sent you a Gif through Critter” it read in its texts.
Sighing internally, I opened up the link. My head jerked comically when I saw the posted Critter message: It was a Gif creation of DM, repeatedly giving me his monocular puppy pout stare with quivering lips. And above that teary eyed mouse Gif was a pleading text message reading:
“Pwease let me sleep with you tonight, my Darling.... I feel so lonely without my other half...”
Kind of difficult for someone to fall over at the silliness before them, if one is already lying down on her futon. But then I heard DM chattering his teeth and shivering audibly from behind the closet door to my left. A stifled whimper and choked up cry squeaked quietly next to my mouse ear too.
Was DM...crying...? Noooo.... He was snoring peacefully away while I was thinking back 2 Christmas’ ago. I heard him myself.
Another faint sob escaped through the sliding door again. I rapped gently on it. “Nezu-Chan,” I said cautiously. “Are you alright?”
His erratic breathing and shuddering voice held signs of distress. “S-S-Sugar...p-p-plum dream...t-t-turned into a...h-h-horrible...n-n-nightmare...” Then his voice cracked. “Friends were dead...!!”
My eyes hardened at the matter. I slid open the door, got up from my futon, and moved it to line up next to DM’s. Lucky my Japanese bedding was thick enough to prevent my back from feeling the structured door crease, which ran in between the room and closet’s cupboard space.
Keeping the door open before my futon covered feet, I turned my laid down head towards the shaken up mouse agent on my left. Damn, he wasn’t kidding. The poor thing had a tear stain running down his right cheek. Whatever he was dreaming about left him wide eyed and trembling like a leaf in a storm.
“Come closer to me, Nezu-chan,” I hushed soothingly at my terrified friend. “You’ve dampened your futon in cold sweat.”
Danger Mouse didn’t hesitate to roll over and wrap his shaky strong arms around me. “Hey, get off of me, Scoob,” I grunted sarcastically under his weight.
His sniveling increased its volume. If I didn’t calm him down soon, his fake wailing would wake up Kuraiyuki Oba-San. Demo...I’ve never seen him like this before. Danger Mouse never sobs like a two year old when he’s scared. What should I do?
“Stay with me, Love,” he hiccuped pleadingly, his eye shut tight with fear. “My fever returned briefly...gave me an awful dream, it did.”
I frowned at his explanation, then reached up to feel his head. “You are a bit warm, indeed, Nezu-chan,” I confirmed in agreement. “Do you often develop nightmares through bad fevers?”
He cracked his timid eye open to look at me and shook his head. His ears reared back as he answered. “The last time I had night terror fits flaring up in my sleep was when I was a young mouse pup, recovering with a terrible bout of a cold.”
I stroked his head as he positioned himself more comfortably in my arms. “Well, I’m here now. I’ll make sure we’ll sleep soundly together while your Father Christmas works hard tonight, ok?”
He nodded timidly and sniffed. “Shirakage,” he added, sounding a little more relaxed. “You didn’t say the words that I longed to hear from you after you promised never to dismiss my feelings for you again.”
I blushed lightly as I knew what he was talking about. “I’m aware of that, DM.”
“Hrrchh!” He hitched out a stifled sneeze. “Snf. Guhh... ‘S a bit dusty in your closet...” he muttered as his jaw slacked once more. “Ksschh!”
“Bless you,” I said softly and stroked his head again. I kissed the small tuff of triangular hairs on his head. “Oyasumi, Nezu-chan. I love you.”
A weepy smile grew on his bright eyed face. “What was that, Love?” He teased squeakily. “Could you please say those beautiful words one more time?” He snuggled the side of his face against the side of my shoulder. “I’ll fall asleep if you do.” He promised tiredly while yawning.
I smirked down at him. “I love you, Danger Mouse.”
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Merry Christmas, you two,” Kuraiyuki smiled at Nezu-chan and I as we sat at the dining room kotatsu table. “I’m glad you’re feeling better, Danger Mouse-San.”
He smiled suavely at her while I blushed furiously. I may have confessed my love for him, but I still wasn’t used to having his lovey-dovey arm around my shoulder.
“A Merry Christmas to you too, Lady Kuraiyuki,” he replied pleasantly. “I wouldn’t have recovered from that nasty cold if it hadn’t been for you and your lovely granddaughter.”
“Grandma,” I smiled irritably while my eyebrow twitched. “I think I’ve been very naughty this year. May I have some melon bread for Christmas instead of Santa’s present?”
“Aie?” DM said, confused over my sarcastic request. “‘Melon bread’?”
Kuraiyuki laughed and explained to the British white mouse. “In Japan, Santa Clause doesn’t give naughty children a lump of coal for Christmas. He gives them melon bread.”
Danger Mouse frowned. “I honestly don’t see how melon bread can be a punishing gift to children on Santa’s naughty list. At least it’s edible to eat for lunch.”
I sighed. “Hate to admit it. But I agree with you, Nezu-chan.”
Hearing me state my mutual opinion out loud, DM sighed deeply like a love sick school boy and kissed the side of my head. I stiffened up slightly as he ran his fingers through my black, medium length Japanese hair.
“By the way, Shira-San,” he mused silkily. “That’s a lovely beret you’re wearing in your hair. The blue Hawaiian flower matches your sparkling eyes.”
“Arigatou,” I replied to him in Japanese. “Grandma and I exchanged gifts with each other earlier on Christmas Eve Day.” I scowled a bit while adding, “I think she’s planning on shipping us as a newly made couple behind my back.”
“Now, Shirakage,” Kuraiyuki Oba-San reprimanded me kindly. “The present that you’ve given me yesterday was just as precious as the day when I discovered that you were still alive before my very eyes.
“And thanks to the many old photos of your parents that I’ve kept for the sake of happier memories of my life, the wonderful picture that you drew of the four of us—supposedly living happily together in an alternative timeline—is more than enough to treasure another Christmas with you.”
“Awww~~💖☺️” DM cooed over her story as he turned to me. “You have a sweet and thoughtful imagination, Shira-San.” Then his face blinked in realization. “Oh, which reminds me...” He dug into his trouser pocket and pulled out a small velvet jewelry box.
My eyes widened in astonishment as he opened the case, revealing a pair of beautiful diamond earrings, cut perfectly in the signature sphere shape of a bomb.
“Nezu-chan...” I gasped breathlessly. They were so beautifully clear, shimmering in the light of the room.
“Merry Christmas, Shirakage Mouse,” he said warmly. “I love you.”
I embraced him impulsively as tears of happiness welled up largely around the corners of my eyes. “Danger Mouse, you’re the best! They’re so beautiful. If these were made back in London, then you really did want me to stay with you!!”
He chuckled nervously under my huge hug. “Steady on there, Love. Brits aren’t used to being glomped this much.”
“Gomen ne,” I laughed sheepishly. “But I see now why you got so upset when I left for Japan this Christmas. You’ve come all this way to give me these.” I bowed to him. “Thank you.”
I then began to unravel a red woven thread like bracelet, which I’ve been wearing for a year so far. “Hold out your finger for me, Nezu-chan.” He did as he was told and I tied one end of the string around his pinky. Then I tied the other end onto my own.
“This thick, string like bracelet once belonged to my late birth mother,” I explained to him. “Kuraiyuki Oba-San had kept it with her all these years when she thought I had perished alongside my parents. In Japan, the popular myth that originated from a story in China centuries ago, says that two people who are destined to be together one day are connected to a small piece of thread they call, ‘The Red String of Fate’.
“Nezu-chan, I wish for you to have this. Please wear it as a good luck charm. I’m sure my mother would have been happy if you did.”
DM’s eyes shimmered brightly as he smiled. “That’s a very romantic myth, Shirakage. I’ll accept your heirloom as a most precious Christmas present.” He then turned to my grandmother. “If it’s alright with you, Lady Kuraiyuki, I wish for the three of us to visit the graves of your granddaughter’s parents and pay my respects, on behalf of her love for me.”
Kuraiyuki Oba-San beamed her aging eyes shut. “Thank you, Danger Mouse-San. It would warm this old woman’s heart very much. I’m sure their spirits will be eternally grateful when we tell them your desire to share your life with their surviving child.”
I laughed girlishly and kissed DM’s cheek. He blushed slightly but smiled at me. “Merry Christmas, Love,” he said happily.
“Merry Christmas, Danger Mouse.💖😊”
The End
Christmas time is a confusing month for me these days. Sure, I may be a 25 year old female white mouse following the Western gift giving tradition that my foster parents had raised me to do. But behind the yearly routines and gratitude that I receive from my family, friends and acquaintances who enjoy their granted wishes come true...I feel nothing.
My foster parents, Oliver Camel and Jewel Mouse, had to gently persist in asking me what I wanted for Christmas each year. Their concern for the white tailed baby mouse (Me) who they adopted from a deceased couple of Japanese origin, may have been mutual to other parents if they saw their growing child be stoic and expressionless during the most wonderful time of the year.
Unfortunately, I, Shirakage Mouse, will never tell my parents why I behave this way, despite the good will I perform in the gift giving interaction. My soul was actually placed within the womb of the pregnant Japanese white tailed mouse, before my new physical body entered the world of anthropomorphic animals.
I was once a young female human adult. But an accident killed my first life from the real world. I don’t know how this all happened to me. But the memories and current mental state remained intact as soon as I was reincarnated. With my Japanese birth parents dead from a large earthquake, a British born husband and an American born wife adopted me during their holiday in the region once the aftershocks had ceased. They’ll never know why Christmas didn’t feel so special to me. Because they wouldn’t understand my previous mixed upbringing from my past life.
My human father was Jewish; my human mother was a Unitarian. Christmas time was fun when I was a kid. But then I grew up; Santa Clause was never real (receiving a Disney’s children’s book in a wrapped up gift that I already had, unbeknownst to the Santa at the children’s hospital who just had me on his lap...should have been my first clue🙄.); I grew too close to my father, who was becoming more like a condescending, cynical kind of guy.
My mom hated how her two daughters abandoned decorating the house after our high school years, despite us trying to explain to her that our condo was too small to put up our artificial tree again.
Conflicted between my father’s critical and sardonic sense of humor, and my mother’s wish to spread good cheer...and my awful human memories of being too picky and displeased over certain gifts that friends and family had given me (I always ended up getting reprimanded over my poor behavior😒), I had no choice but to express my emotionless doll face in my new life, while still doing the good thing that’s special to both Britain and America. Every year I remember what my acquaintances want, and I buy it for them without a hint of reluctance.
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This was my second Christmas in Japan. Last year, after taking a few early visits to my foster relatives, my parents allowed me to spend my Christmas holiday in my birth country. They were also expecting their first unborn child soon, so they were more willing to celebrate that Christmas year without me. The doctors told us that I was going to have a little sister. And I couldn’t feel any more proud towards the news.
When I arrived at Tokyo airport later that night, I traveled far out into the countryside to visit my birth parents’ graves instead of checking into my hotel first. The Kanji on their graves read, “Taki Mausu” and “Kana Mausu”. Imagine my shock when I met an elderly white tailed female white mouse standing before my parents’ grave. And when she sensed my presence, her aging sapphire eyes widened brilliantly in the cold, clear night.
It was such a tearful reunion for the both of us. Why? It turned out, that the old mouse woman was the mother of my birth father. The last time my long lost grandmother ever saw me was when I was first born into this world. But she lived in a different prefecture of Japan, surviving the earthquake that took the lives of her son and daughter in-law.
My Oba-San, Kuraiyuki Mausu, thought I had died along with my birth parents. She was so devastated over the tragedy that she couldn’t possess the strength and will to contact the Japanese government, and inform them that there was one last family relative for the white infant mouse orphan. Even if I was 25 years old, Kuraiyuki Oba-San immediately recognized me as her late son’s grown up child.
Ever since we caught up over lost time for a family gathering, I now found a nice and cozy refuge that I could rely upon during any future trips to Japan. It was a wonderful Japanese traditionally styled household. My grandmother had a kotatsu within the table to keep us warm during cold winters; there was a garden outside surrounded by nature, which featured all four seasons of the year; a bathroom that included a shower hose and a bath tub, and a separate room with a toilet and sink.
There was no Western styled bed and mattresses. But I didn’t mind sleeping on a futon in the guest room next to Kuraiyuki Oba-San’s sleeping quarters. The futons here weren’t that uncomfortable as one Westerner might think...well, if you count a Japanese born white female mouse who was originally raised by a Western foster couple.
Whenever I needed to use my holiday points from my job site back in London, I’d visit my grandmother and made sure to keep her house clean, and her kitchen stocked with plentiful foods for me to cook up for the two of us. Kuraiyuki Oba-San was definitely my blood relative. She once told me a story about our family...
“Shirakage, your loving birth parents agreed to name you after my late older sister. She was the aunt of your father, Taki, you see. She was loved by everyone in our family, and became best friends with your mother, Kana. But your grand aunt never lived long enough to see you being delivered to us from Kana. After your parents married, the ancient stones that my sister often used to foretell the future drove her to commit suicide. The final note which she wrote to me explained the prophecy of the first born of my son’s child.
“If my sister wouldn’t sacrifice her life, her nephew’s wife will never bore children. I still believe that what she did was senseless and misguided. But I’m also sorry that we never saw her looking worried or concerned in the days before I found her body. She hid her emotions well, and fooled me and your parents. I only wished I could have done something to stop her from taking her own life.”
I do not dare, nor wish to dig deeper into my Grand Aunt’s life story after hearing how she died. Too creepy. And after getting away from London for Christmas again was hard enough. I had to get on a late night flight to slink out of the U.K. while Nezu-Chan and the others were sleeping.
At least now I’m enjoying another December night in Kuraiyuki Oba-San’s house in Japan. It was freezing outside; snow and ice was covering the natural wilderness in a beautiful frozen wonderland. The pond, with a bridge connecting from one side of the forest to the other, wasn’t too far from the house. The pond’s water had also frozen up into ice.
Giving our Thanks for our meal, the two of us began to have dinner at the kotatsu heated table. “Shirakage, Dearie,” my Grandma said, starting the conversation. “I hear that there’s been a young tailless white male mouse from London trying to court you into his life these days.”
I nearly choked on my Yakisoba. How did Kuraiyuki Oba-San find out about Danger Mouse and me!? What fresh hellish snitch was responsible for leaking my secret to her!?
As I remained silent (aside from pounding my chest to swallow my food properly), she continued. “Tell me...Was this mouse not important enough to you to spend Christmas with him? You are aware that, for many young Japanese folk these days, they believe that this time of year is celebrated the same way in which Westerners celebrate St. Valentine’s Day in February, right?”
My cheeks heated up, but my stubborn attitude remained clear on my face. “Like he would accept the December and Christmas cultures Japan celebrates a lot for my sake.” I snorted in disgust. “Britain’s got too much worshipping issues for this time of year, anyway. And being in London in December can get too suffocating for me to bear onto.”
Kuraiyuki Oba-San stared long and hard at me. “My Dear Granddaughter, I understand how young folks behave tough on the surface and cage their feelings inside. However...what if I told you that that young man managed to track you down here to my home hours ago? And what if I added that he rescued me from nearly falling through a weakened area of the frozen pond’s bridge, in the forest near our garden while you were out shopping today?”
I comically spewed out my hot chocolate to the side from hearing that. What the hell...!? As I hurried to clean up the mess on the floor, I gave her a horrified look. “You’re joking, Oba-Sama!! Danger Mouse can’t be here...!!”
“I’m afraid, that this white tailless mouse taking an accidental plunge into the pond’s frigid waters while saving my life, is no tall tale coming from my old lips,” she assured me calmly. “If it hadn’t been for him, my body would have already expired of life while lying at the bottom of the pond. We would not be having this conversation now, if the alternative happened. You would have given me a proper burial after grieving through a day in mourning, cremating me and setting up my tombstone next to my son and daughter in law.”
I stared speechlessly at my bold grandmother’s words as she continued. “I’m surprised you didn’t sense his presence in the house as soon as you returned home, Shirakage. You hurried over to the kitchen to make us our supper, that you must have not heard him breathing in your bedroom closet. It is quite warmer in there than in the other rooms of the house. He sleeps so quietly once he settles down from his dreadful cold symptoms.”
I rose up from the now spotless tatami mat’s floorboards, my attention entirely focused on Nezu-Chan. “DM’s sick, Grandmother...?”
She nodded humbly, an affirmative “Mm” as an additional response. That’s when we both heard somebody cough badly in the back room. No doubting Kuraiyuki Oba-Sama’s words anymore.... That was definitely Nezu-Chan’s voice.
“It would seem that your admirer is awake,” she commented thoughtfully. “Help me heat up our leftover leek stew for him to eat, my child. I sense that he must be hungry.”
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“Eh-Chheww!!”
The sneeze behind the closed closet door sounded loud and forceful. Then came a liquid sniff and a congested sighing moan. “Snf. Uggghhh...”
My Oba-San knocked on the sliding closet door lightly. “Danger Mouse San” she spoke out calmly. “My precious granddaughter has brought you a fine dish of leek stew to help feed your terrible cold. Are you well enough for us to check up on you?”
“GYAAA!!” DM squealed comically from the other side, which turned into a bad coughing fit. “Sh- Snf. Shirakage’s hobme, Lady Kuraiyuki...?” He asked with surprise in his stuffy voice. “I...a-a-a...Ah-Choo!! Heh-tchoo!! Heh’EHSHHUU!! CHOO!!”
Kuraiyuki Oba-San slid open the door, revealing a sickly, moisture spewing Danger Mouse. He was wearing my late Grandfather’s old kimono, and was sitting up from the futon on the closet cupboard’s floor.
“Bless you, Young Man,” she told him gently while picking up a cool cloth, that had apparently fell on his lap from his forehead when he sat up after hearing my name being mentioned. “Mou, you possess a lot of energy for one who has caught a dizzying fever.
“Pushing me out of the way—before the weak spot on the bridge could collapse from underneath my weight—was reckless of you, Danger Mouse-San,” she tutted again. “The happiness of my granddaughter must mean so much to you, that you’d risk falling ill in order to save the life of her last remaining blood relative.”
Both DM and I blushed nervously from my wise old grandmother’s intuition of our uncertain relationship. DM averted his gaze from her watchful eyes, while I stared down at my indoor slippers.
“Shirakage,” Kuraiyuki snapped with a subtle firmness in her tone. “Please bring that steaming warm bowl of stew over to our ailing guest. His stomach is growling like a lion cub’s tiny roar.”
As I hurried to kneel next to her and a strawberry colored faced DM, he grimaced sourly...all the while trying not to look too cross. “Kuraiyuki-Sama, you really didn’t need to describe my growling tummy in that analogy in front of Shirakage. I wasn’t that hungry.”
This time, I didn’t miss the gurgling sound coming from beneath the futon’s blanket. He grimaced sheepishly, forcing a smile to curl on my face. “You’re a difficult pest to run away and hide from, you know that, Nezu-Chan?” I remarked stoically as I handed him the bowl of leek stew.
He tried not to look disgusted when the scent of the broth wafted up to his nostrils. Unfortunately, DM gacked slightly and turned a light shade of green.
Kuraiyuki Oba-Sama laughed heartily at his comical facial expression. “Hahahahaha!! For a British agent, you remind me of my late husband and late son. They never liked the taste of leek stew either. In fact, not many men here in Japan enjoy its odorous broth.
“Nevertheless,” she continued, her tone shifting again to seriousness. “It is a good remedy to nurse back the sick folk in our culture for generations. Women have relished its delicacy on a better scale than men in today’s modern world. If you care for my granddaughter enough to survive a bit of bad luck in your attempt to be with her this Christmas in her birth country, then honor Shirakage Mausu’s cooking by consuming the meal she had made for our dinner the other night this instant, Young Man.”
Nezu-chan gulped and nodded meekly. “H-Hai, Kuraiyuki-Sama.”
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We watched him eat the stew slowly. There were a couple of times when he’d pause from his meal briefly to blow his clogged up nose. Once he finally finished eating, another sneezing fit took ahold of his rigid body.
“Ahh..” His breath hitched, jaw slacking open and eye squinting a bit, as his pupil rolled slightly back like his head. “Heh-huh-!” I took the empty bowl away from him in time before his upper body lurched forward. “Ah-CHOO! RrrAACHOO!! Heh-CHOOO!! Ga-ha...rrAHChOO!!”
“Odaijini, Danger Mouse-San,” my grandmother blessed him kindly. “I thank you for keeping your promise. Would you wish for me to make you a cup of herbal tea before we all turn in for the night?”
Nezu-San sniffled after blowing his nose again. He nodded wearily at her as he laid back down on the futon’s pillow. “Lady Kuraiyuki,” he said hoarsely. “Could you please allow Shira-San to remain by my side while you’re in the kitchen? Snf. SNF. I wish to speak to her alone for a bmobment.”
I fidgeted uncomfortably on my kneeled spot on the ground. But my Oba-San nodded thoughtfully at his request. “Take all the time you need, DM-San,” she stated before leaving us in the room.
Aw, man. I hate being alone with guys that can make me feel nervous...especially hot, cute and goofy grinning guys. How can I look at him if my cheeks are on fire?
“AaAH...CHOO!!” He sneezed again, forcing me to snap my gaze towards him. As he sniffed wetly and dabbed at his dripping red nose with a tissue, he turned his resting face at me. “Shirakage, snff. Why did you leave Britain without telling me?” He sounded hurt through his thickened voice.
“I can‘t blame you for wishing to spend more time with your long lost blood related grandmother. But when I found out on the 21st that you were already gone—your flight nearly halfway towards Tokyo—and you never informed me any of my dearest colleagues or friends in the agency about your holiday plans...your selfishness broke my heart.”
I began to feel guilty and slightly teary eyed at the crossness in his ailing tone. But Danger Mouse didn’t hide the sadness in his words, either.
“I’ve always believed...” he paused to cough out a bit of phlegm. “Snf...I’ve always believed...that you would open up your heart to bme this Christmas. As long as you were dnearby idn Lodndodn...snf...and you’d shoot bme down whenever I’m popping into your flat and chasing you around with mistletoe every year...those times would be worth going through without you ever giving me a seasonal gift.”
A tear leaked out from one of my sapphire orbs, as the fever in DM’s drowsy eye strengthened the weight of his eyelid. His breathing started to labor while he struggled to keep his exhausted gaze at me. Instinct drove me to feel his forehead. “Nezu-kun,” I said with alarm. “You’re burning up again.”
I placed the cool cloth back on his perspiring head and bowed deeply. “I’m so very sorry, Nezu-kun. I’ve been stomping on your heart for a long time now. And I wouldn’t have imagined that my insensitive actions had ruined Christmas for you to the point where you’d chase after me to Japan.
“You saved Oba-San’s life tonight, Danger Mouse,” I continued, my voice cracking with emotion. “For that, I promise to never run off from you or diss your feelings for me again. So please forgive me.”
I started to cry and heard a satisfied huff coming from the bedridden idiot mouse. I kept my head hunched over in place. Neither the approach of my grandmother, walking over and sitting back down on her futon cushion, would assure me to forgive myself.
“You’ve got quite a bit of nerve to keep me waiting for this moment, one time too many, Shirakage Mouse,” Nezu-kun breathed wearily with confidence.
I picked my head up finally and saw Kuraiyuki Oba-San handing him a cup of herbal tea. DM was already sitting up to drink the warm beverage. He hummed an approving yummy sound.
“Mmm. Thank you, Lady Kuraiyuki. The tea tastes delightful for my aching throat.” He bowed his head a few degrees towards her.
“You’re very welcome, Danger Mouse-San,” she smiled wisely. “I wish you to get well quickly before Christmas arrives. After all,” she twinkled a mischievous eye at him. “...I’ve been looking forward to meeting the manly mouse who will become the husband of my granddaughter one day.”
Nezu-chan spewed out his second sip of tea while I flushed crimson red. “OBA-SAN!!”
She laughed heartily and slid the door to her sleeping quarters shut.
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Two nights have passed so far...and I’m finding it hard to fall asleep on Christmas Eve night. Danger Mouse was sleeping on the inside of my closet again tonight; the sliding closet door separating us as I lay wrapped up in my own futon against said door. He had stopped sneezing yesterday on the 23rd, and his fever went down earlier in the afternoon today. Kuraiyuki Oba-San predicted that he’d be 100% sick free by the time Christmas Day came tomorrow.
Staring up at the ceiling while lying in my futon, I thought about how my grandmother approved of Nezu-Chan so quickly than me. And I’ve known him longer than I’ve known her. My mind was now also racing back to a Christmas, around 2 years ago in London...the Christmas before my reunion with my long lost grandmother in Japan last year....
〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️
“Come on, Shirakage. Pleeeeeeease?” Penfold begged over our video chat session on my laptop. “Colonel K has sworn to you to remember my name this time.”
“I’m not going to your Britain’s Secret Service Christmas party at the Danger Flat, Pen-chan,” I stated stubbornly. “You Know Who’s gonna be there again. And we all know how lovely the party will end up once he spots me too.”
“Pleeeeeeeeeeeeasse...?” Penfold widened his megane eyes into puppy pout mode. “We all want you to come, Professor Shirakage....🥺”
I huffed in defeat. “Ok, fine. And I hope the Christmas tree at the flat is big enough for me to fit all of the gifts I’ve bought for you and your friends when I bring them to the party.”
“YIPEEEEE!!” He cheered. “Even Scarlett will be jolly when she hears you’ll be coming.”
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An irritated frown marked my face, along with a twitching eyebrow. This feels like the Christmas years of 2001 and 2002 back in my human life’s real world, when I spent my teenaged years of 13 and 14, watching Saturday morning cartoons...and all of the different cartoon shows’ characters got together for a Christmas morning special; on a December dated Saturday morning in 2001, the characters gathered at Professor Charles Xavier’s mansion from the 2000 cartoon series “X-Men Evolution”...
And then they met up again in 2002 in the KidsWB water tower. At least those fake promo bits were funny. My reincarnated sardonic 28 year old soul sees nothing but anthropomorphic animals from the same world that I’m brilliantly stuck in!
As I watched everybody having a bloody good time around me in the Danger Flat’s sitting room, I felt something tug near the bottom of my long brown skirt. I looked down and my inner self flabbergasted with astonished horror.
“Hewo, Pwofessor Shiwakage Mouse,” the Danger Baby, Danger Puppy cooed sweetly at me. “Will you come to the nursewy and play with us? We’re not supposed to be with the gwown ups because of the forbidden juice they dwink.”
Faster than I could ponder about the alcohol implication that he mentioned, the little future agent guided me to a vacant corner. Turning said corner to a deserted hallway, Danger Puppy pointed to a door on the left side of the hall; light was shining from around the doorframe’s creases.
“That’s our nusewy. Pwof. Squawkencluck said that Danger Mouse won’t ever find you there.”
My blue eyes widened with a mixture of gratitude and surprise. “She’s...trying to cover for me...?” But the shimmering in my eyes didn’t last for long, as I heard a slurred voice giggling suddenly from the other side of the sitting room’s staircase...far from where we were standing.
“Ohhhhhhh, Shirakage Mouse~~~~~~🎶🎵*hic* Where aaaaare youuuu, my lovely turtle dove sweeeeeeeet~~?🎶🎵*hic* Give your manly mouse a kiiiiiisssssss~~~*hic*”
I flinched fearfully from just hearing how moronic that he was behaving in his inebriated state.
“Oh, Eck!” I heard Penfold groan. “The Chief’s drunk too much Egg Nog and rum again.”
I whipped my terrifyingly pale face back to Danger Puppy. “Ok, lead the way before he finds us.” We raced to the nursery without a moment to lose.
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I groaned over this annoying night. First, I feel like the female cat with the fake white stripe on its back and tail, and DM is like a love stricken, British version of Pepe Le Pew from Looney Tunes, chasing after me again for the umpteenth time this year. Now I have to gain sanctuary through a children’s playroom, hiding out with 5 anthropomorphic cuter animal versions of the Rugrats.
I’m sorry...which nightmare is worse tonight?
“Pwofessor Shiwakage,” Danger Ellie cooed cutely at me. Danger Chick, Danger Foal, Danger Piglett, and Puppy stared at me beside her. “Will you help us play with the snow maker machine?”
I blinked at them. “Come again?”
She pointed to the freeze canon that was sitting up on a high table. “Pwofessor Squawkencluck said that we need a gwown up’s help to use her toys to play with. Pwease make a lot of snow.”
I deadpanned for a brief moment. That’s nice, Squawk. Letting me play babysitter to these ‘cuter than The Rugrats’ baby agents will be the price I’ll have to pay from escaping Pepe Le Mouse tonight. But knowing I had very little choice under these circumstances, I eventually gave in to her planned out deal and sighed.
Admitting defeat, I beamed brightly at the innocent babies. “Ok, my Kawaii Kana agents!! Let’s have some fun!!”
They cheered like normal children. An impulsive, kind smile formed on my face. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.
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35 seconds into creating snow for the Danger Babies, and my mind was at a loss. Oh, sure...they were having a blast; the perfectly altered, artificial snow lay plentiful in heaps around the room. But the dumbfounded expression which wouldn’t leave my face may have something to do with the dozens of mistletoe branches, hanging from the playroom’s ceiling.
All of this happened when I fired the modified freeze canon that Squawkencluck made for them to use. Oh, it was still snowing in the room, alright. But the canon fired, ceiling latching mistletoes were the alien like source of the falling fluffy white, cold ice crystals.
I blinked as the confusing anomaly hit me. Wait, since when do snowflakes look like cotton fluff, and still feel like winter? Before I could make sense of the alien weather matter, the playroom’s door suddenly burst open, and my worst nightmare appeared.
Danger Mouse, his white cheeks tinted from alcoholic tipsyness, dropped a small branch of mistletoe from his hand and gasped. “Wahoo~~!! Oh, Happy Christmas to Me~~!!” He praised goofily. “Snow falling from mistletoe on the ceiling~~~~!!💖”
I paled, grimaced and flinched all in one millisecond as his drunken eye fell on my form. “Well hello, Beautiful 💖. I believe you owe me a kiss.” He began to stagger his way over to me, his lips puckered up like a silly melodramatic cartoon style.
Before I could scream for help, the Danger Babies noticed the intruder stumbling towards me and leapt into action. “Snowball Fight!!” Danger Foal exclaimed. “Pwotect Pwofessor Shiwakage!!”
A rain of machine gun speeding snowballs were hurled at the drunken secret agent. I giggled giddily the more DM looked cross towards the little army of terrors, as they formed a solid line between me and him.
However, his growling scowl faltered suddenly. A twitch of his nose slackened his facial muscles as his breath hitched. “Heh-!” Then his head snapped forward. “Heh-t’CHOO!!”
The Danger Babies giggled at his silliness. Then DM sneezed again. “Harrt’cHOO!! Ah-Choo!!” He shook his head from the small fit, sniffing slightly while rubbing his nose. “Snf. Ugh.” But his nose twitched yet again, and a comical expression made him gasp. “Ahh-ha...CHOOO!! Gah...hheh...HEHHChOO!!”
And he couldn’t stop. “Gasp~~~!! Ha-er-CHOO!! CHOOO!! Heh-ehhHOOO!!”
My eyes widened in shock as I watched Danger Mouse sneeze his ego sized head off. The only thing that he was severely allergic to was the white fluffed pollen of Arctic cotton grass. I held out my white mouse paw to catch the falling mistletoe snowflake like spores around us.
I sweatdropped to myself in disbelief. I shall never understand this physics defying universe that I was reborn into. Arctic cotton spores polymerized with cold winter snowflakes that can be released from genetically spliced mistletoe...? Illogically possible to my realistic personality. But a well played seasonal mutation of natural pepper spray. Go, Professor Squawkencluck.
“Hhh-HekSHHh!! Heh-heh-t’Choo! HERRRCKTCHOO!!” DM’s sneezing left him panting with exhaustion. “Gaaahhaaa...snffl. Guhhuh...Dabmn you, Squawk,” he cursed congestedly as he fled from our allergen trap covered room. “Gasp~~! Ahhh-CHOO!!”
I laughed with the Danger Babies as his sneezing fit grew fainter outside the hallway. That’ll teach him not to kiss me again.
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The humming vibration of my smartphone brought me out of that 2 year old flashback. I reached over to my right and scanned at the notification on the lock screen. Then I deadpanned at what I saw on the banner.
“BondCharming has sent you a Gif through Critter” it read in its texts.
Sighing internally, I opened up the link. My head jerked comically when I saw the posted Critter message: It was a Gif creation of DM, repeatedly giving me his monocular puppy pout stare with quivering lips. And above that teary eyed mouse Gif was a pleading text message reading:
“Pwease let me sleep with you tonight, my Darling.... I feel so lonely without my other half...”
Kind of difficult for someone to fall over at the silliness before them, if one is already lying down on her futon. But then I heard DM chattering his teeth and shivering audibly from behind the closet door to my left. A stifled whimper and choked up cry squeaked quietly next to my mouse ear too.
Was DM...crying...? Noooo.... He was snoring peacefully away while I was thinking back 2 Christmas’ ago. I heard him myself.
Another faint sob escaped through the sliding door again. I rapped gently on it. “Nezu-Chan,” I said cautiously. “Are you alright?”
His erratic breathing and shuddering voice held signs of distress. “S-S-Sugar...p-p-plum dream...t-t-turned into a...h-h-horrible...n-n-nightmare...” Then his voice cracked. “Friends were dead...!!”
My eyes hardened at the matter. I slid open the door, got up from my futon, and moved it to line up next to DM’s. Lucky my Japanese bedding was thick enough to prevent my back from feeling the structured door crease, which ran in between the room and closet’s cupboard space.
Keeping the door open before my futon covered feet, I turned my laid down head towards the shaken up mouse agent on my left. Damn, he wasn’t kidding. The poor thing had a tear stain running down his right cheek. Whatever he was dreaming about left him wide eyed and trembling like a leaf in a storm.
“Come closer to me, Nezu-chan,” I hushed soothingly at my terrified friend. “You’ve dampened your futon in cold sweat.”
Danger Mouse didn’t hesitate to roll over and wrap his shaky strong arms around me. “Hey, get off of me, Scoob,” I grunted sarcastically under his weight.
His sniveling increased its volume. If I didn’t calm him down soon, his fake wailing would wake up Kuraiyuki Oba-San. Demo...I’ve never seen him like this before. Danger Mouse never sobs like a two year old when he’s scared. What should I do?
“Stay with me, Love,” he hiccuped pleadingly, his eye shut tight with fear. “My fever returned briefly...gave me an awful dream, it did.”
I frowned at his explanation, then reached up to feel his head. “You are a bit warm, indeed, Nezu-chan,” I confirmed in agreement. “Do you often develop nightmares through bad fevers?”
He cracked his timid eye open to look at me and shook his head. His ears reared back as he answered. “The last time I had night terror fits flaring up in my sleep was when I was a young mouse pup, recovering with a terrible bout of a cold.”
I stroked his head as he positioned himself more comfortably in my arms. “Well, I’m here now. I’ll make sure we’ll sleep soundly together while your Father Christmas works hard tonight, ok?”
He nodded timidly and sniffed. “Shirakage,” he added, sounding a little more relaxed. “You didn’t say the words that I longed to hear from you after you promised never to dismiss my feelings for you again.”
I blushed lightly as I knew what he was talking about. “I’m aware of that, DM.”
“Hrrchh!” He hitched out a stifled sneeze. “Snf. Guhh... ‘S a bit dusty in your closet...” he muttered as his jaw slacked once more. “Ksschh!”
“Bless you,” I said softly and stroked his head again. I kissed the small tuff of triangular hairs on his head. “Oyasumi, Nezu-chan. I love you.”
A weepy smile grew on his bright eyed face. “What was that, Love?” He teased squeakily. “Could you please say those beautiful words one more time?” He snuggled the side of his face against the side of my shoulder. “I’ll fall asleep if you do.” He promised tiredly while yawning.
I smirked down at him. “I love you, Danger Mouse.”
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Merry Christmas, you two,” Kuraiyuki smiled at Nezu-chan and I as we sat at the dining room kotatsu table. “I’m glad you’re feeling better, Danger Mouse-San.”
He smiled suavely at her while I blushed furiously. I may have confessed my love for him, but I still wasn’t used to having his lovey-dovey arm around my shoulder.
“A Merry Christmas to you too, Lady Kuraiyuki,” he replied pleasantly. “I wouldn’t have recovered from that nasty cold if it hadn’t been for you and your lovely granddaughter.”
“Grandma,” I smiled irritably while my eyebrow twitched. “I think I’ve been very naughty this year. May I have some melon bread for Christmas instead of Santa’s present?”
“Aie?” DM said, confused over my sarcastic request. “‘Melon bread’?”
Kuraiyuki laughed and explained to the British white mouse. “In Japan, Santa Clause doesn’t give naughty children a lump of coal for Christmas. He gives them melon bread.”
Danger Mouse frowned. “I honestly don’t see how melon bread can be a punishing gift to children on Santa’s naughty list. At least it’s edible to eat for lunch.”
I sighed. “Hate to admit it. But I agree with you, Nezu-chan.”
Hearing me state my mutual opinion out loud, DM sighed deeply like a love sick school boy and kissed the side of my head. I stiffened up slightly as he ran his fingers through my black, medium length Japanese hair.
“By the way, Shira-San,” he mused silkily. “That’s a lovely beret you’re wearing in your hair. The blue Hawaiian flower matches your sparkling eyes.”
“Arigatou,” I replied to him in Japanese. “Grandma and I exchanged gifts with each other earlier on Christmas Eve Day.” I scowled a bit while adding, “I think she’s planning on shipping us as a newly made couple behind my back.”
“Now, Shirakage,” Kuraiyuki Oba-San reprimanded me kindly. “The present that you’ve given me yesterday was just as precious as the day when I discovered that you were still alive before my very eyes.
“And thanks to the many old photos of your parents that I’ve kept for the sake of happier memories of my life, the wonderful picture that you drew of the four of us—supposedly living happily together in an alternative timeline—is more than enough to treasure another Christmas with you.”
“Awww~~💖☺️” DM cooed over her story as he turned to me. “You have a sweet and thoughtful imagination, Shira-San.” Then his face blinked in realization. “Oh, which reminds me...” He dug into his trouser pocket and pulled out a small velvet jewelry box.
My eyes widened in astonishment as he opened the case, revealing a pair of beautiful diamond earrings, cut perfectly in the signature sphere shape of a bomb.
“Nezu-chan...” I gasped breathlessly. They were so beautifully clear, shimmering in the light of the room.
“Merry Christmas, Shirakage Mouse,” he said warmly. “I love you.”
I embraced him impulsively as tears of happiness welled up largely around the corners of my eyes. “Danger Mouse, you’re the best! They’re so beautiful. If these were made back in London, then you really did want me to stay with you!!”
He chuckled nervously under my huge hug. “Steady on there, Love. Brits aren’t used to being glomped this much.”
“Gomen ne,” I laughed sheepishly. “But I see now why you got so upset when I left for Japan this Christmas. You’ve come all this way to give me these.” I bowed to him. “Thank you.”
I then began to unravel a red woven thread like bracelet, which I’ve been wearing for a year so far. “Hold out your finger for me, Nezu-chan.” He did as he was told and I tied one end of the string around his pinky. Then I tied the other end onto my own.
“This thick, string like bracelet once belonged to my late birth mother,” I explained to him. “Kuraiyuki Oba-San had kept it with her all these years when she thought I had perished alongside my parents. In Japan, the popular myth that originated from a story in China centuries ago, says that two people who are destined to be together one day are connected to a small piece of thread they call, ‘The Red String of Fate’.
“Nezu-chan, I wish for you to have this. Please wear it as a good luck charm. I’m sure my mother would have been happy if you did.”
DM’s eyes shimmered brightly as he smiled. “That’s a very romantic myth, Shirakage. I’ll accept your heirloom as a most precious Christmas present.” He then turned to my grandmother. “If it’s alright with you, Lady Kuraiyuki, I wish for the three of us to visit the graves of your granddaughter’s parents and pay my respects, on behalf of her love for me.”
Kuraiyuki Oba-San beamed her aging eyes shut. “Thank you, Danger Mouse-San. It would warm this old woman’s heart very much. I’m sure their spirits will be eternally grateful when we tell them your desire to share your life with their surviving child.”
I laughed girlishly and kissed DM’s cheek. He blushed slightly but smiled at me. “Merry Christmas, Love,” he said happily.
“Merry Christmas, Danger Mouse.💖😊”
The End
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