O' Bokuseno Tree by Peridot Miko
O' Bokuseno Tree
Standard disclaimer: All characters named here are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. This is my first oneshot, done in response to Kaoruhana and Chie’s Xmas challenge using the first 10 prompts. It’s AU, set in the present, and please be warned un-beta’d. OK here goes!
O’ Bokuseno Tree
Jaken nervously opened the medium sized cardboard box. It contained a small pre-lit Christmas tree that really didn’t need any additional decorations. Though the tree itself wasn’t dangerous Jaken was risking bodily harm in deciding to display the foreign trinket on the living room coffee table in the very trendy Tokyo apartment he shared with Lord Sesshoumaru Taisho.
To Sesshoumaru, Christmas was an annoyance, but he tolerated it out of respect for his many international contacts that celebrated it. He would sometimes receive “Merry Christmas” wishes that he would respond to with a neutral “Happy Holidays.” Similarly, he very rarely received official Christmas gifts but made sure to respond appropriately depending on the significance of the giver.
But this time an American entrepreneur that was not having luck setting up an appointment directly with Sesshoumaru approached Jaken instead and asked to meet with him for a cup of coffee or hot chocolate near the Taisho offices. Jaken opted for the latter with an extra big helping of perfectly white whipped cream. The American handed him a box wrapped in hideous paper that featured cartoon reindeer wearing red suits like Santa surrounded by green polka dots. As Jaken opened the gift the foreigner said, “I know it’s not much, but this is a favorite decoration of mine that I always put up in my conference room as a reminder of the good will and hope of the season. I hope it can go up somewhere to remind Mr. Taisho of that as well.”
*****
In another part of the city, Kagome Higurashi was excited to be putting up Christmas decorations in her very own apartment. She was opening a small boutique with her friend Yuka and wanted to move closer to their shop. The two young women had just returned from a trip to Europe to check on upcoming fashion trends there, and she couldn’t resist purchasing as much shiny garland and other sparkly baubles that she could stuff in her spare suitcase. Her favorite ornament was a ceramic gingerbread man she was relieved survived the journey back to Japan.
She looked out her window at the shrine nearby and the very old sacred tree that was there. It was a giant magnolia tree – the biggest and oldest one that she had ever seen in her life! But something always bothered her about that tree too. She swore that if the tree had a face it would be frowning all the time. She looked at the leftover garland and ornaments in her hands and decided that the best place for these pieces of Christmas cheer would be on that tree!
What Kagome didn’t know was that the tree in question was actually a yokai tree named Bokuseno, and he didn’t really care too much for his 21st century surroundings. If he could sprout legs he would get up and run as far away as possible from Tokyo’s noise and pollution. But since he couldn’t he would go through long hibernation periods and awaken only when he was approached by other yokai like Sesshoumaru and Jaken with forms that enabled them to blend in with the human populace. Sesshoumaru liked to visit the old tree late in the evening when very few others were around. The Taisho family had always found Bokuseno to be a great source of wisdom, but as time passed they couldn’t deny that his energy seemed to be fading.
*****
Simultaneously, Sesshoumaru finally made it back to his place after a ridiculously arduous day. Whether his employees were yokai or human they couldn’t seem to get anything right today. Missed deadlines and mistakes loomed everywhere as did the increasing likelihood of unemployment for them if he wasn’t placated. Some things finally got back on track but not before 8pm unfortunately. It was Friday but part of the mess would still have to be fixed in the morning. Then he saw the coffee table.
“Jaken!”
The response was whimpered back by his assistant, “Yes Milord?”
“Why is that ugly thing here?”
Jaken gulped, “Th-that American gentleman wanted for you to have it. He said it was a reminder of good will and hope for him and wished to share his sentiments with you.”
“Hn.” Up until that time Sesshoumaru hadn’t had a chance to fully examine the business holdings of the man that had given him the little tree, so he really couldn’t throw it in the trash yet. He supposed he better wait a while before passing judgement on it. Maybe he would eat something quickly, get some fresh air, and visit Bokuseno. “Very well, I’ll let it be for now.” With that statement Jaken stopped turning blue and took a breath.
*****
Kagome’s plan to deck her tree of choice had been sidetracked for about an hour due to a phone call from Yuka. She had just gotten engaged and couldn’t wait to tell Kagome the good news! Kagome was ever so slightly jealous but still really glad for her friend. She thought to herself that most people would probably think she was nuts going out to decorate a tree after 9pm on a Friday night, but she still had some serious jet lag from her travels and plenty of energy to burn. ‘So my date is going to be a tree – I’m sure Mr. Tree is going to be a much better companion than the last guy I went out with. He turned out to be such a creep. How could he possibly think it’s OK to look for a lost contact lens up my skirt…if I never hear from that Miroku guy again it’ll be too soon.
Kagome stood before the old magnolia and began to unfurl an iridescent blue garland. A decorated pine cone had hitched a ride on it, but she didn’t think she needed it so she tossed it back into her bag. Since she was short and didn’t have a ladder to use she decided to toss one end of the garland onto the lowest hanging branch, twirl the rest around Mr. Tree, and then try and put up a few more decorations by using some little hooks that should hang from his bark.
It was then that Sesshoumaru arrived on the grounds. He hid in the shadows of some other trees nearby as he tried to decipher exactly what the girl’s purpose was. He could only see her from the back and had to admit to himself that he had a good view. She was wearing a short jacket, a sweater that clung closely to her curves, tight leggings, and boots. He could also notice a slight aura of power around her, ebbing and flowing as she reached around Bokuseno in her attempt to dress him up. Once upon a time this frivolous girl would have been trained as a priestess with abilities to pulverize any threatening yokai, but instead she had turned away from her victim to dig through a large yellow backpack muttering something about wishing she had brought green glitter glue for accents. He had a feeling he was in for quite a show.
Bokuseno felt truly undignified! He didn’t need any improvement, and certainly not by synthetic plastic rubbish thrust upon him by this insolent slip of a girl. As a tree yokai, most of his energy was spent in prolonging his very long life and didn’t have the ability to move, but he did have a few tricks up his boughs. He redirected some of the energy in his branches, aligned it along the garland, and with a quick “poof” it disintegrated.
Kagome thought it was odd that she suddenly smelt something burnt. She turned around and yelled, “Hey!” All that was left of her wonderful European garland was ashes. Did a smoker walk past and accidentally light up the garland? But she didn’t see anyone. Well she wasn’t going to give up. She had been putting hooks onto some snowflake ornaments and was going to put them up next.
Suddenly the wind grew stronger and on second thought she decided to forget the hooks and opted to use some double-sided poster tape instead. Hopefully this way the flakes would stay up for a couple days and she could take them down after the holiday. After she was done placing two dozen of the glittery items she stood back and took a breath. Much better! Just two more decorations were needed to really make the tree festive.
She turned away and Bokuseno roused his energy again. He hadn’t realized it but he really missed using his dormant powers. The adhesive the girl used was making him itchy and he wasn’t going to put up with it – twenty-four itchy spots on his bark felt instant relief as the fake snowflakes where quickly eaten up by twenty-four little flames.
When she smelled smoke for the second time, Kagome spun around quickly and when she again saw no one she knew something funny was going on. Growing up she could feel surges of power coming from different people and things and had accepted those occurrences as part of life. Through a little meditation she had discovered she could manipulate her own energy in response.
From his vantage point Sesshoumaru couldn’t help but snicker. He wondered how far the old tree would go to defend himself. From time to time there were humans that discovered the secrets of the youkai walking among them, and depending on the situation either pledged silence or had their memory eradicated. It would be such a shame alter any part of the pretty almost priestess. The more he watched her, the more intrigued he became. From the swells of energy slowly bubbling up from the girl it looked like she was up to something Bokuseno wasn’t going to like.
Kagome grabbed the final two decorations she had left – a long artificial vine with holly and a shiny metal gold star. She took a deep breath, infused as much of her aura and positive Christmas cheer into them as she could and with a startling yell charged at the tree. She jumped up as high as she could and plastered the star on the trunk as the vine whipped around its circumference and stuck good. Success!
Bokuseno was impressed. He didn’t think the girl realized it but she had essentially put a reiki barrier around her decorations so that he couldn’t do anything to them. He decided he needed to congratulate her. His wizened face appeared on his trunk and he jovially said, “Hello! You did quite a good job.”
Kagome fell backwards onto her butt and felt her jaw drop open lower than it had ever dropped before. The tree was talking! It was alive! Well, of course trees were alive and she always thought they had feelings but she never thought one would try to communicate with her. Maybe she was hallucinating? Then she heard footsteps and decided yes, she must be hallucinating because the most attractive man she had ever seen was walking her way and she was still on her butt on the cold cold ground.
Sesshoumaru extended his hand to her and introduced himself, “Good evening. My name is Sesshoumaru and this troublesome ground dweller is Bokuseno, a very old friend of my family. If you’d like to get a drink with me, I can tell you all about it.” He had a feeling the girl could be trusted with the knowledge of their existence, and maybe he could get her to share a few of her secrets over a glass of wine. Maybe he could figure out how her eyes enchanted him, or how much rosier he could make her cheeks glow.
Bokuseno watched with interest. It seemed his good friend was going to pursue this young woman, so hopefully he would have some juicy stories to listen to soon. He was no Christmas tree, but his existence seemed to have brightened considerably this day.
Kagome felt like she was Alice and about to go down a rabbit hole, but decided she needed to have some Yuletide adventure. She accepted the hand offered to her and responded, “Thanks, I’m Kagome by the way. I will definitely have that drink.”
Later that night Sesshoumaru returned to his apartment re-thinking the artificial Christmas tree that was on his coffee table. Maybe the person that had given it to him had a point after all. He had extended some good will to Kagome which had boosted his spirit a thousand times over, and he hoped the pine cone she gave him as an impromptu gift was going to find its way under Jaken’s rear end for a good laugh.
*****
Merry Christmas Dokuga!
(Prompts = Christmas tree, hot chocolate, white, red suit, green, ornament, ginger bread, holly, wine, pine cone)