Title: Suitable
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: G
Length: 1000 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Post-canon nonsense fluff with Umi and Clef because write what you want to read, right? *grin*
Summary: Clef doesn't understand Umi's choice of crockery. (Umi finds not explaining amusing.)

oOo

Clef watched as Umi poked through his selection of teacups, ignoring the one he'd been rinsing and re-using the last few days - which was reasonable enough, he supposed - but also ignoring the entire front row of cups on the shelf he'd given over to tea things, picking up ones from the back and peering at them a moment, then putting them back down. She was humming absently as she looked through them. There was plenty of choice - he had more than two dozen cups, and only a few that matched each other in terms of decoration, or even of shape.

He'd seen her in this mood before, but any questions had just been met with a 'these cups are good' despite the fact the others hadn't been objectionable the week before. Today, he just sat back and watched her.

After a minute, she picked out one, and considered it a little more closely, then nodded firmly and set it down. This one had glaze in soft greens and pinks, a delicate pattern in fine gold lines over the top of the swirling colours, and it was thin enough that it glowed when Umi held it to the window. It didn't take her long to pick another cup to go with it, this one shades of light green with pink and purple petals picked out over the top of it.

"You felt like green and pink today?" he asked, as she set the cups down and reached for the tea pot - he'd picked the tea, but she'd insisted on picking the pot as well as the cups, picking out one which was mostly cream with little green leaves about the base and the lid.

Umi just shrugged at him. "Have you seen outside? Anyway, they go better with this tea."

Turning about, Clef stared out the window at the sprawl of Cephiro below them, which mostly looked varying shades of green, as it did pretty much all year. There were a few trees coming into bloom down in the gardens, petals a pink so light it was almost white, just a glow from here. Beyond the gardens, he could see the deeper pink flush of wilder varieties, and pursed his lips. "What, the uinka coming into bloom?"

"Don't worry about it," she said, patting him on the shoulder as she set a cup of tea in front of him. (He got the cup without the gilding, he noticed.) "These just suit today, that's all. I don't normally worry about things like that, but you've such a collection, why not bother?" She sat back to admire the lightly scented, pale gold of the tea in her cup.

Clef shook his head. "Is this one of those seasonal things I don't understand because Cephiro isn't that good at seasons?"

Grinning at him, Umi stayed silent, and sipped at her tea.

Giving in, Clef just picked his cup up, looking at it closely before he took a sip. It was nice, but then, so were all his cups. Then again, the tea was delicate and almost floral, and… he wasn't sure he understood why Umi thought these cups complemented it more than any of the others, but the delicate porcelain mixed with the soft colours was somehow akin to the lightness of the flavour…

Five minutes later, he realised he'd drunk the entire thing while thinking about absolutely nothing else but the cup and the flavour of the tea, not even making conversation with Umi. He felt obscurely offended she'd managed to distract him so much - but she was smiling happily as she poured herself another cup, her university work spread on the other side of his desk, and he'd lost some of the tension he'd been carrying since the Council meeting that morning. "I don't understand," he muttered, again - and poured himself another cup.

oOo

Over the next few months, he started to pay attention when Umi picked the tea things out, and tried to work out what she matched together - and tried to find any kind of reason to it, when she refused to explain, apparently finding his confusion amusing. It didn't help when Fuu and Hikaru came along as well, and Umi somehow had four cups out which didn't match, but were similar somehow anyway, and Fuu nodded in a satisfied way over them as the tea was poured. But though he didn't know why she chose the cups she did, he started looking at what he chose, and found he had opinions of his own about which cups suited which tea. The strong, dark blend he drank most mornings looked good in a cup with a bright white inside, so light could bring out the deep red of the tea, and he had one like that which had a deep blue outside with scrolling gold - he liked those together, and Umi didn't object to the combination.

He even found himself lingering in the market, eyeing the tea sets, and a few more somehow found their way into his possession.

But it wasn't until the height of what even he recognised as 'summer' that she came in just as he was pouring and looked at the tea, and the cups he'd used - they were different, but both were a blue-tinted white with fish swimming about the inside - and beamed at him. "I like it," she declared, and sat down, accepting the cup he offered her.

It was a ridiculous thing to feel so proud of, but feel proud he did, and the feeling lasted him the whole week.

oOo