by Tochira

*****

The sunlight had been slanting lower for the last few weeks, but it was early still for the cold snap that had come the night before. Sanzo woke rigid with the chill, his breath visible in the clammy early-morning air. It took four cups of tea to banish the worst of it from his limbs, which didn't help his mood in the least since coffee, he felt, would have done the job more efficiently. Stuffing his hands into his sleeves, he stalked the halls, wanting the sun to rise higher so he could sit in an obliging patch of sun without being quite so obvious about it.

He'd made it halfway around the veranda towards his office when he happened to glance down at the orchards. A small figure crouched under one of the apple trees, dark against the silvery sheen of frost in the blue morning shadows.

"Are you stealing fruit again?" Sanzo didn't yell, not quite, but Goku jumped guiltily anyway and straightened up as Sanzo approached, grass crunching under sandaled feet. He didn't say anything, only stood there looking mournfully over his shoulder. Sanzo was impatient to get to his office, where the tall windows faced east and there was a brazier stashed in one of the cupboards. He didn't have time for this crap. "Well? Answer me! It's too early for this stupidity."

"It's frozen." Goku's face tilted up again, and Sanzo followed the boy's gaze up to the just-ripe apples overhead, now covered in a glistening fuzz of frost. "It's not supposed to freeze this early, is it? I didn't want winter to come just yet..." He shifted from one foot to the other, a little worried frown puckering his brow.

"Idiot. They'll be fine." To illustrate, Sanzo reached up and picked the closest apple, immediately regretting it when his hand closed around the cold, wet fruit. Ugh. He passed it to Goku and quickly put his hand back in his sleeve, surreptitiously crossing his arms a bit tighter.

Goku flinched at the cold touch as well, which mollified Sanzo somewhat. He rubbed the apple with a corner of his jacket, rolling it around in his hands until it was dry and shone deep red. His expression smoothed, a rare moment of still satisfaction as he inspected the fruit, which was large enough to fill both his hands. "It's still too cold to eat. I'll save it for later." With that, the apple disappeared into one of his voluminous pockets, and Goku scuttled away from the tree. "Hey, Sanzo."

Sanzo turned, heading back uphill towards the veranda. "What now? It better not be about food."

"I'm freezing!" That was all the warning Sanzo got as he was tackled sideways at waist-height. Goku burrowed under his left arm, his head pushing at Sanzo's elbow. He peered up from the space between Sanzo's arms and his chest (Sanzo refused to take his hands back out of his sleeves, even to beat the stupid monkey) and the pleading look on his face gave Sanzo a split-second of deja vu. It was enough to make him pause, enough for Goku to tighten his arms that little bit more. "Can I stay inside with you today?"

"The hell you can! Get off of me!" Grumpiness returned and Sanzo kept walking, but Goku just shuffled along, still glued to his midriff. "I mean it, let go or you're dead meat!" Goku grinned and didn't budge. He'd figured out remarkably fast, which threats Sanzo actually meant and which ones were just for show.

"Nope! You're nice and warm. I'll be good, I promise! I'll even stay away from your desk... I know you've got that heating thingy nobody else's allowed to have, c'mon, please!" The barrage of promises and requests continued all the way up the steps, and down the corridor, and by then it was pointless to argue. Sanzo resigned himself to getting very little done that morning. Maybe by lunchtime it would thaw enough to kick the idiot out without making him whine too loudly.

Besides, the arguing and swearing kept him warmer anyway.

~

*****

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Author's Notes: This was written for a theme challenge ('hoarfrost'). It's rough and I merrily ignored a few practical things like, oh, temple layout and whether or not frostbitten apples /really/ are okay to eat (Google, why hast thou forsaken me?!) but I liked the images it brought to mind. The last line is total cheese, but I couldn't think of anything else that wasn't even more blatantly sappy, so there you go.

And if Sanzo's anything like me when it comes to cold (and I bet he is, being that bony and thin and a poor sleeper to boot) there are few things he hates more than waking up shivering, and not being able to get properly warm again. XD