"You have an unfair advantage," Naomi accused teasingly. "You're just as relaxed in the snow as I am, don't deny it." It was obvious, at least to her, that he was at ease in the snow. It was something about the way he moved that gave it away. Of course, it didn't hurt that she knew his sister was an ice elemental. That had to count for something.

"True. Just means you have to work harder for it." Hiei smirked and moved a few steps away, starting to stalk in a circle around her.

The kids had all figured out that Hiei wasn't about to go on a murderous rampage and were instead watching with interest. So was Harry. Although he'd argue he was watching for purely research-based reasons.

Naomi slowly turned, watching him as he circled her. If she was going to be able to get him, she reasoned, it was going to have to be with something too big to completely dodge. Carefully, she slipped her youki down under the snow. She needed to keep her energy thin and flat, if she was going to use it to create a wave of snow around them. She didn't care if she got buried, it was her own element; she could dig her way out easily. And she would make sure to keep it away from Osa and the kids.

Hiei continued circling her slowly, watching her.

Of course, what neither of them realized was that Osa had been plotting with the Carpenters and Harry. Each Carpenter now had two handfulls of snow, and when Osanna nodded, they all started pelting snow at the two with yells, and Osanna managed to convince the trees to dump their snow on the two.

Naomi yelped and threw her hands up over her head, deflecting the snow as it came down on her and barely managing to keep from being buried. When the sparkling dust settled, she was standing knee-deep in snow, but none of it was on her head or jacket. She glanced around before her gaze settled on Osanna and she grinned.

"You're the mastermind," she said, "I know it."

Osanna just grinned and stayed in the middle of the group of Carpenters. She figured she was safer in numbers.

Hiei had simply melted all the snow off him and he shook himself briefly, just to be sure there was no moisture left. Then he glared at them, debating retaliating against them. After a few moments he decided against it.

Naomi grinned and raised her hands. Snowballs pelted the group of Carpenters and Osanna from all sides, albeit regular snowballs rather than the youki-enhanced ones she'd been throwing at Hiei.

"Snowball fights against an ice-element rank right up there land-wars with Asia on the Not To Do list," she commented.

Harry grinned and put up his shield spell, protecting him and Osanna from the worst of it. The Carpenter kids were on their own, especially since they already had a fort built for them. The kids took advantage of that, and Osanna grinned as she kept pelting Naomi and Hiei with snowballs.

Naomi laughed and started hurling snowballs of her own, although she sent them more towards the Carpenter kids than towards Osanna. She knew when she couldn't win, and she couldn't win against magic. The kids, however, were hiding out in the snow fort that Naomi had built. She could take advantage of that.

The Carpenters put up a valiant fight, throwing snowballs back at her in the greatest numbers they could manage. Now it was more a question of who was going to tire out first.

Naomi managed to match them projectile for projectile, and soon the snow fort wasn't much more than a pile of lumpy, disintegrating chunks of snow. The training she'd gotten seemed to have paid off: she was only just starting to get winded. Before, she'd have already been tired out.

"Truce?" she called when she saw the last piece of the fort fall apart.

The Carpenters all agreed, with some grumbling. At least until one of them pointed out that they could probably get hot chocolate since they were now all wet and bedraggled looking. Then they all headed inside.

Osanna rolled her eyes while Harry snickered at them.

As the Carpenters filed back into the house, Naomi went over to Harry and Osanna.

"It's been a while since I've played around in the snow like that," she commented.

We didn't have enough snow last year, Osanna agreed. Did you have fun? And that was maybe just a little bit teasing.

"So who's he?" Harry nodded to Hiei. He was still a little worried. He could tell Hiei was stronger than Naomi, and therefore probably more volatile. In this case perhaps literally.

"Shut up, you," Naomi muttered to Osanna, fighting back a faint blush and giving her friend a shove. Then she turned her attention to Harry. "He's a friend of ours who got dragged along with me when I popped through," she said. "His name is Hiei."

Harry nodded after a moment. Okay, that was acceptable. As long as Hiei didn't do anything stupid.

"And you're vouching for him?" Harry asked carefully. He didn't want to outright offend either one of them, but he did need to ask.

"I'll keep an eye on him," Naomi replied. It wasn't as if she'd be able to do much about it if Hiei decided to cause trouble, since there was a world of difference between his power and hers, but she still felt kind of responsible for dragging him along. It wouldn't take too long to get him back home, either, provided she could get the book to behave long enough.

Harry nodded. "I don't know if you want to stay here for a little while longer. The Carpenters are good people. But I was about to head home anyway."

Osanna pouted a little at that. She'd been having fun with the kids. But that was okay; she figured she could come back another time.

"Up to you," Naomi replied as she went and picked up the book from the snow. She brushed the snow off the cover and tucked it under her arm. "I was originally here to find Osa again, anyways."

Osanna blinked. You figured it out? she asked, curious. That would be very helpful. And probably much nicer than being thrown around randomly.

"Sort of," Naomi replied. "Figured it out enough, at least. For now." She could get it to send her where she wanted, with a few careful phrases. She couldn't figure out how to land on her feet, however. That was her next project.

Osanna nodded, grinning. Excellent. So now we sort of direct it's chaos? She glared at the book. She still didn't like the thing. At all.

"Right," Naomi replied. "I got it to quit throwing me around, at least, and stop when I said so." She still didn't like the book much, either, but at least she had slightly more control over it now.

Osanna nodded. Well that's good at least. Planning to do more traveling now? Again, teasing. But she was genuinely curious. She knew she wouldn't mind going back and visiting everyone again.

"...Kind of," Naomi admitted. "You're thinking about it too, don't deny it." Because she knew that Osa had been missing her fox-friend. And yes, it would be fun to go back and visit people. It would be interesting to drop in on the Elrics again at some point.