Author's Notes

So here it is…finally. The long awaited sequel to Present Ideas that several people requested. It got longer than I expected, since there were so many fun scenes to use, so I turned it into a multichaptered fic, but seeing as it's small and relatively cute, save for one particular segment of the tale, it's pretty high on the priority list.

Enjoy, and sorry for the long delay. Got about three quarters through the first page, then hit a writer's block, then I got up in other updates, and…yeah.

Cold Trip

Sequel to Present Ideas. Mountains, snow, the sea, forests and three weeks together. What could possibly go wrong?

Kouichi K & Kouji M

Genre/s: Friendship

'Why exactly are we meeting at the airport again?' Takuya asked, tapping his foot near Kouji's bag as the two stood waiting for the JR Yamanote Line train bound for Shinagawa. 'Wouldn't it have been easier for all of us to go together?'

Kouji rolled his eyes, before looking over to his father and step-mother talking a few feet away. 'Because,' he explained, gritting his teeth slightly, 'it means Izumi and Tomoki have to take the reverse train, Junpei will have to take an extra connection and Ni-san and 'kaa-san can get to get there directly from the Asakusa line. Since we all need to go to the airport anyway, it's just easier to meet up there.'

'So we'll see Izumi and Tomoki on the train then?'

'If the unlikely circumstance of all of us boarding the same train and carriage occurs, then yes Takuya.'

'Geeze, you don't have to sound so annoyed.'

'I'm starting to regret agreeing to this...'

'At least you won't have time to finish,' the brunette quipped, ignoring the annoyance and pointing to the arriving train. 'Train's here.'

Everyone was, remarkably, on time, visibly saving what little remained of Kouji's patience, all bundled up in warm clothes and their luggage crowded at their feet.

'Waiting long?' Takuya asked, blinking at everyone who had made it before them, which was essentially all save their own little group and Junpei who had arrived right after them on the next platform.

'Not at all,' Izumi replied. 'We just got here, and bumped into Kouichi and Kimura-san downstairs.'

Kouji just looked at his brother, who smiled and nodded.

'Can we go now?' the younger twin huffed, causing his stepmother and birthmother to simultaneously scold him while Izumi eyed the brunette who had accompanied them suspiciously.

'He was already grouchy,' Takuya said in his own defence.

'Sure he was,' Junpei replied, looking as though he really didn't agree.

'He was,' the other brunette insisted, as Kouichi giggled lightly.

'He is,' he affirmed. 'Developing a cold.'

'I'm not Ni-san,' Kouji growled, tightening his jacket around himself. 'You're imagining things.'

The elder twin giggled again at his brother's stubbornness as Tomoko eyed him critically.

'Honestly 'kaa-san. I'm fine.'

'If you say so.' But she didn't sound convinced.

By then, Kousei, who having wandered off to get the tickets sorted out, had returned with the passes, handing them out to each person. The twins were grouped on one of the window-seats, with the married couple on the other. Junpei, Tomoki and Takuya were on the aisle, while the two females left were in front of the twins. Which meant there were only two problems. Who out of the twins got the window seat (Kouichi after a small discussion) and who out of the other three boys got the unfavourable middle (Takuya, after several rounds of rock-paper-scissors). Izumi had automatically taken the aisle, seeing as it was easier to talk to the boys that way, and the adults were relatively unconcerned about how they arranged themselves.

The ride itself wasn't long, and the turbulence was enough to keep all occupants wide awake...relatively. But the accompanying taxi trip, involving three vehicles and some argument about how the groups split while keeping an adult in each one, led to the twins taking one with their birthmother, the other boys with the only male adult, and Satomi and Izumi taking the last.

Kouji comfortably nodded off in the back seat on his brother's shoulder, only to wake up when Kouichi opened the door to the cold snowy cabin somewhere in the Hidaka Mountains, just on the urban side of the Hidaka pass, overlooking the sea of Japan when one climbed to a sufficient altitude.

'Are you okay?' he asked concerned, blocking half the doorway as he crouched forward, perhaps on purpose to block the cold air.

'Sure,' Kouji yawned slightly, stretching. 'Just too excited to get to sleep last night.'

Tomoko, from her conversation with the driver, chuckled, and Kouichi grinned slightly. 'So that explains your grouchiness ne?'

'I was not grouchy.'

'You were,' Takuya called from beside the other taxis. 'You said three words in the last few hours, saving right now.'

'He's right you know,' Junpei affirmed. 'And that was to complain about the hold-up at customs.'

'Can we not start a fight already?' Izumi sighed, before shaking her head. 'Boys.'

'So...now what?' Takuya asked, bright and early the next morning...well, after Kousei had left in the wee hours for a preliminary meeting of some sort which was going to go on till nine that evening, taking Satomi with him to get some grocery shopping done.

Junpei, Kouji and Izumi were seated around the table as Tomoko washed up breakfast, saving a plate each for Kouichi and Tomoki, the former which was still asleep and the later in the bathroom.

'Wait for Kouichi to wake up,' Izumi sighed, shaking her blonde hair. 'And then we'll decide something.'

'I tell him to go to bed earlier,' his mother commented from the sink. 'But he's always restless till about one in the morning. So I gave up and just let him keep himself busy until he gets sleepy, then sleep in later in the mornings to compensate.'

'He wouldn't get much sleep in school days,' Junpei pointed out, a little curiously. 'Unless he naps.'

'He naps,' Kouji affirmed, grinning and in a far better mood than he had been the previous night. The non-existent cold was still that, so he was doubly thrilled. 'I took photos.'

'Oh, show! Show!'

'Keep it down,' Tomoko shushed as the others crowded around the cell phone, a little too late though as there was the noise of someone rolling into something, then a muttered conversation before Tomoko trailed into the kitchen looking a little sheepish.

'I think I accidently woke Kouichi up,' he confessed, before the woman laughed and shook her head slowly at the drowsy son that trailed behind him.

'He can sleep to earthquakes,' she assured. 'More likely he woke up on his own.'

The boy flushed, quickly retrieving the toothpaste that Tomoki was still inexplicably clutching before retreating to the bathroom himself.

'So...now what?' Takuya asked again once Kouichi returned and stated on his share of rice, miso soup and Tamagoyaki, already bored (the pictures had been put away by this time).

'Snow?' Tomoki suggested, pointing outside, where the white flakes had piled up slightly thicker than the previous night upon their arrival. 'There's not much here though.'

'The snow should be thicker a bit past the Hidaka pass,' the elder twin supplied. 'In the valley past the first lot of mountains.'

'That's a bit of a hike,' the eldest in their group of six groaned, but he was quickly outvoted as Izumi trilled something in Italian.

'Great,' the energetic brunette declared, jumping up, before being yanked down by Kouji.

'If we're going that far out, shouldn't we at least take lunch?'

'And some warm clothes, gloves and mittens,' Tomoko finished sternly.

'Yes Ma'am,' four out of six chorused, before shooting off to retrieve the said items. Tomoki and Kouichi looked at each other, before returning to their meal in slight amusement, though the elder looked slightly bothered about something.

Tomoko noticed, but she said nothing. Whatever secrets he kept would come out when they were due.

'Tell me we're there,' Junpei groaned from the rear, while Tomoki shot a few paces past the rest to look at the white covered valley.

'We're there,' he announced confidently, digging into the rich snow and leaving two bowl like shapes there. 'This is so great.'

The others joined him, looking at the lush, pure landscape, fig trees brushed with the dusty white which literally covered the flat surface at the base between the folds of mountains.

'All right,' Takuya cheered, throwing a pumped fist into the air. 'Snow day is in session.'

Kouji rolled his eyes, causing his twin to nudge him gently in the ribs.

'So what first?'

'Snowball fight?'

Five teenagers looked at each other, before four suddenly called claims on their youngest member at the same time, causing him to jump and hide behind the one person who hadn't.

'They'll eat me alive,' he mock-whimpered, clutching Kouichi's navy blue jacket with his orange mittens.

'They won't,' the other reassured, a slight mirth well concealed in his voice. 'They're just feeling competitive.'

Seeing the two standing together, the Takuya and Izumi simultaneously groaned, before looking at the two remaining.

'I get Kouji,' Izumi announced, before Takuya could. 'You two together will bring world war three.'

'I'm not a thing to be gotten,' said boy grumbled, but good-naturedly joined the only female as they chose a well lushed spot, before being suddenly doused in cold.

'Takuya!' he shouted, rapidly flinging one back, which missed and almost hit the last pair before both sidestepped, Tomoki retaliating with a ball of his own.

Within seconds, the snowball fight was in full swing.

'So who won?' the blonde panted, collapsing on a haphazard pile of snow, being quickly joined by Junpei before she shoved him off.

Takuya, brushing snow off his hat, shrugged, looking at the twins, who shrugged themselves, then at Tomoki who had started on a snowman. 'Let's just play in the snow. Who cares who won?'

Everybody gave him sceptical gazes, but shrugged it off as they wondered to various, sometimes non-touched areas.

An hour or so later, they collected by a pile of snow that had been...something, by Kouji, beside with Takuya and Izumi, the latter rather against her better judgement, were snickering.

'Like you could do better?' Kouji shot, cheeks red from both the cold and embarrassment, pointing at Takuya's own mess pile.

The brunette grinned sheepishly, patting the other on the back. 'Chillax bud,' he laughed. 'I was just kidding.' He then looked at the older twin, who looked bothered about something again. 'I'm not kidding about this one though. Did you just seriously dig a hole in the ground that could pass for your grave?'

The other four looked at the said hole, suddenly realising the truth of what he said, while Kouichi slowly shook his head.

Feeling like teasing his brother (he really should have thought this particular one through; they did exchange jokes, insults and pranks on occasions that called for it, but there were certain lines), Kouji pretended to scrutinise the hole. 'It's just my size,' he mused, walking over to it and crouching down, before setting himself tightly into it. 'A little snug, but it fits. Anyone want to cover me up?'

He had been facing away from his twin, so he had missed the initial reaction, but suddenly finding himself looking into his brother's mortified face made him wish he hadn't.

'Ni-san?' he asked, surprised and concerned as he half rose, but the other had already stumbled back a half-step.

'I'm taking a walk,' he said abruptly, leaving before he could get a reply.

Izumi, being the only one who understood, glared at the younger twin. 'Baka,' she snapped, before going after the other. But she didn't say anything. Nor did she narrow the distance to anything less than bare eye sight.

Realising the two who had the maps were both leaving, Junpei ran after the female, leaving the other three to stare at each other in confusion.

'What just-' Takuya began to ask hesitantly, before a mouthful of snow interrupted him.

He spat it out, turning to glare at some animal above him, only for all of them to feel the root they had been standing on shake, tossing them all to the ground in a heap and dumping the snow caught in the canopy on top of them.

'Is there an earthquake warning?' Tomoki asked, in a slight panic as he tried to dig himself out, finally succeeding once the other two had managed to get themselves out of the pile and helped him.

Kouji shook his head. 'We never would have come otherwise. It's so dangerous wondering around snowy mountains with the danger of an-'

He stopped suddenly, looking at the footsteps of the other three. 'Did they go up?'

The remaining two looked at each other, then shrugged. 'Probably,' Takuya replied. 'But why-' He caught on suddenly. 'Shit, they could slip and fall so easily...'

The ground shook again; this time, they clucked whatever holds they could in the dense root system that had been uncovered. A sudden scream, female, far and echoing, almost made them lose their grip, before another, male this time, far more abrupt, following the next tremor almost immediately after, did so.

And then silence deafened them as they lay, half buried in broken debris and snow, waiting for another shudder to continue to crack what was supposed to have been the perfect vacation.

Mountains, snow, the sea, forests and three weeks together. How had it gone so horribly wrong on the second day?