III - WINTER BLOSSOMS
(Y/N) wasn't very forgetful, not in her mind at least. She had a complete internal schedule that if she didn't follow she'd probably have a bad stomach ache. Snow came early this year, disgustingly early. (Y/N) didn't hate snow, in fact when she was little she would pray for fat flakes to fall from the sky. However, what was ugly about this weather was the spike in the heating bills, which was nothing to look forward to, however Megumi's first birthday was right round the corner! In a month and half her baby boy would be officially one years old.
He'd learn to walk and talk, sort of. Nobody could really understand him but (Y/N) and sometimes Tsukimi and he could only get a few steps in before falling forward.
Tsukimi on the other hand had become uncharacteristically officious when the first snowfall started, so much so as to hide cooking utensils from her mother in order for her to cook instead. (Y/N) never liked punishing her daughter, but no matter how much she had requested for her to return her essentials she had been ignored. Therefore, (Y/N) had no choice but to use her authority as her mother in order for her things to be returned.
(Y/N) left for the grocery store in the early afternoon, Megumi strapped on her back with a soft blanket. There were a few boys in dark colored school uniforms, they stuck out in the virgin snow. (Y/N)s' heart dropped once she recognized whom the uniforms belonged to, soft puffs of air escaping her lips.
They were uniforms from Jujutsu tech school, she knew it from the bloodied shapes that Toji would show her oh so proudly.
"Look at these teenagers I thrashed."
Avoiding eye contact, she continued on to the store. The baby on her back is still unconscious and with red cheeks, the puffy jacket hood was still cold against his skin. (Y/N) came back with laundry detergent and a few new clothes for her children. She was excited to see Tsukimi's reaction to the new boots and leggings she had gotten-- despite the fact that she's technically due for a punishment.
The two teenagers that were across the street where (Y/N) first noticed them were gone now, hopefully they were just passing by... The school isn't exactly in the prefecture.
Megumi had begun to fuss once (Y/N) had stopped moving and spaced out, she reached her hand behind her and over her other shoulder to pat his head to reassure him. Once they had gotten home Megumi was fed ochazuke, which he happily ate.
"It's cold!" He expressed with a jump.
(Y/N) furrowed her brows when she could see the visible steam coming out of the bowl of soaked rice, "It's hot, not cold."
"Hot, hot!" He exclaimed, breathing heavily on the spoonful in an attempt to cool it off.
"It's hot!" (Y/N) replied, rubbing a napkin against his damp cheek, "Don't eat it too quickly."
Megumi made a noise of acknowledgement as his mother continued with the laundry, she solemnly looked out the window at her withered plants. If she were to touch the leaves they would surely fall apart at her fingertips, a tingle of excitement entered her chest, she was anxious to plant the next set of vegetables and fruits for next year.
(Y/N) hoped that Toji would come home for Megumi's birthday, but it would be pure luck if he came back at that time during December. He always came back to spend time with her during new years, and she couldn't help but get excited at the thought of seeing him again.
"Hey mama!" Megumi called, (Y/N) turned to his messy face, "When will sis come back?"
(Y/N) looked at the digital clock on the stovetop and then back at him, "In about an hour."
He furrowed his brow, "What's an hour?"
She thought to herself for a moment, not sure how to explain it, "It's a lot of minutes."
He gasped, "How many?"
"A lot," she repeated.
Megumi made another noise of surprise before taking another bite into the rice. (Y/N) continued doing her laundry, particularly noticing the candy wrappers that were still in Tsukimi's pant pockets. Throwing away unnecessary trash she couldn't help but notice the growing weariness in Megumi's eyes when she had finished putting all the clothes away.
"You wanna nap, baby?" (Y/N) asked while she cleaned up the mess he had made all over his baby table.
He didn't reply, he only groaned before chewing on the plastic spoon that was in his hand. (Y/N) took the lack of response as a message that he did need a nap... And the fact he was nodding off. Now that Megumi had officially grown out of breastfeeding, whenever he cried there was a sore ache within the fat in her chest.
Since there was a consistent swollen soreness since there wasn't an immediate need to breastfeed anymore, wearing bras felt so painful but not wearing them made them even more sore... All of her sources pointed to her just sucking it up for a few more weeks until the swelling dies down.
Not like she could afford any sort of appointment anyways.
Carrying Megumi to (Y/N)'s shared bed, she lied there with him until her troubles had become to consume her mind as they usually did. At first she attempted to distract herself from the growing stress in her stomach by watching the afternoon snowfall, but the churning in her stomach only got more uncomfortable.
She was being as careful as she could with the remaining money she had left, however a golden opportunity presented itself in front of her when she was going through her insurance letters.
Within a certain plan she could get free daycare and the first few months of pre-school completely free. Of course, this meant having to switch insurance plans and spending more money than she'd like-- especially when she was trying to use the remains as sparingly as possible. In about a year and a half Megumi could be enrolled in preschool, which gave (Y/N) the opportunity to start working part time. The only issue was that the preschool and the daycare were a good 10-20 minute walk one way, which meant transportation may also become an issue...
She displayed her options inside her head.
(Y/N) nodded off before her mind could race any longer and was consumed by the familiar warmth of sleep. Tsukimi had entered the compound quietly, seeing the harshly written note that had explained her punishment on top of her new clothes, she found her mother and her sleeping brother in the shared bed. Without a word, she took the pigtails out of their place on her hair and laid on the bed present in front of her.
Exhaustion from the day had consumed her and the safety of her mother filled her with such joy. She made her way between her mothers arms, cradling the unconscious form of Megumi.
"Tsu, tsu..." Megumi mumbled, remembering the sweet crisp smell of his sister.
It didn't take long for the exhaustion to catch up with her.
_____
(Y/N) never liked elderly people, mainly because she never understood their comments about "preserving her innocence" and whatever creepy sounding things they had to say. Now that (Y/N) was almost 23, she was able to see what her grandparents meant-- it didn't make it any less weird though.
She wasn't innocent, at least not in the way she might've been when she was much younger. The fresh virgin snow that the Fushiguros were so excited about playing in was gone almost as fast as it came. Clumps of white and sleet littered the crevices of the curbs and in parts of a few front yards, roofs were still littered with thick white flakes.
It wasn't as cold as it was when it was snowing, which was the immediate cause for the sudden melt of it all to begin with. (Y/N)s face decorated a soft smile once she finished taking out the dead and withered plants out of their pots and replacing them with sprouts, it's still likely that they would be unable to grow in the uneasy temperatures and lack of humidity. However, trying never hurt anybody and if they didn't grow she could always wait until next spring.
Hopefully...
The coming weekend was dull, it didn't consist of much except helping Tsukimi read and a trip to the library. Megumi walked by (Y/N)'s side in the park, too little to join his sister on the playground toys. He didn't seem to mind, he entertained himself with whatever acorns he could find.
"Look, look at it!" Megumi shoved a handful of tree nuts in (Y/N)'s face, mainly consisting of hatless acorns.
(Y/N) made a noise of interest and looked at the things in her son's palms and noticed a few dead walnuts, nothing she could particularly use since she didn't know if it was safe to cook acorns.
"What's this?" Megumi asked, holding up a single acorn hat he had found at his feet.
She took an acorn out of his other hand and put the top on it, "It's a hat for the acorns, that way their heads aren't so cold in the harsh winter months."
He seemed unimpressed, "But don't all the squirrels eat all the acorns?"
"I'm sure the squirrels wear the acorn hats for themselves too."
She technically wasn't lying, she'd seen a squirrel wear an acorn hat before. It wasn't wild but it didn't matter as long as Megumi was eating it up.
Tsukimi made her way over to ask her mother for some water, she pulled out a kids water flask out of her handbag. Megumi had become bored of acorns and was pulling out clover and dandelion buds, he was tempted to try and pull out the spiny plants that decorated the trunk of the tall acorn tree. He thought back to when he saw his mother pull out violet blooms and ate the leaves right there, also recalling how she'd snack on the pansies she'd grow. He held the fist full of plants up to his mother which earned him a look of confusion, he then shoved the clover into his mouth.
(Y/N) wasn't concerned, clover was edible. She'd roasted leaves of clover often, but she couldn't help the gasp that left her lips.
"Spit that out! Don't eat random plants you find on the ground!" She scolded, pulling him towards her and squishing his cheeks in an attempt to get him to spit the greenery out.
Megumi didn't budge until the bitter taste of dirt invaded his taste buds, turning away from his mother and spitting out chewed clover covered in spit.
Nobody else was around, (Y/N) thanked her luck for not having to explain to any angry parents that she wasn't trying to teach her children to eat random plants.
Instead of eating the next plant he saw, he picked it and smelled it and then offered the bloom to his mother to do the same. (Y/N) noticed the baby blue bloom and did as her son requested and smelled it, she then took an acorn hat out of the pile of tree nuts by her legs and put it on the sprout. It surprisingly held it up, the bloomage bent under the light weight of the top.
"It's got a hat!" Megumi exclaimed, he smelled it again and it smelled more salty.
(Y/N) hummed in acknowledgement, she couldn't identify the bloom and she warned Megumi not to eat it.
As they made their way back home, winter peonies framed the right side of the sidewalk. The white puffy snow didn't dare touch their vibrant bloom, the red called out to (Y/N) as her children took the liberty to sniff them.
"You are beautiful, so beautiful," the peony seemed to mock her.
She wanted to speak back to the peony, but it fell silent once Megumi had pulled on (Y/N)'s belt line.
"Let's take a flower home, and grow a big garden."
(Y/N) felt pride flow through her body for a second, "I've never grown flowers, but I grow a lot of veggies and fruits..."
Megumi's eyes seemed to sparkle, and then his attention was turned back to the bright winter blossoms.
"Having a pet flower would be nice..."
Tsumiki turned to him, "You can't pick these flowers, that would be mean to the person who grew them!"
Megumi argued, "But there's so many!"
"Yes but someone planted the bulbs and put their love into every part of the soil, these peonies are for looking, not for picking or eating like the weeds or clover," (Y/N) explained, placing a hand on her son's head.
A few minutes into the walk, Megumi had begun to complain so (Y/N) had no choice but to carry him the rest of the way. He pointed excitedly at the man who was walking a large shepherd dog.
"Mama! Let's get a dog!"
Maybe getting a pet flower isn't a bad idea after all...