It's been almost a year since I last updated ANYTHING. And I sincerely apologize to anyone who read my 40k story (which I still may continue). Sorry for any displeasure with my absence!
This is probably a one-shot, but I couldn't help but notice the dearth of Yakumo x Harima fiction out there. Oh, and if you think it has any, I apologize for WAFF.
It was snowing
'Well of course it's snowing, its winter…' thought Yakumo as she quietly sipped her tea. Over on the other side of the table, Tenma was enthusiastically cheering on the samurai in the new episode of "The Three Who Were Slashed!" Because Yakumo had never found the show particularly interesting, she turned away from the TV and looked outside. The snow wasn't coming down like a blizzard, but there was enough that there wouldn't be any school for the next day or two. As the snow noiselessly fell outside of the Tsukamoto residence, the only sounds that could be heard were the enthusiastic "go get 'em!" and "HIYA!" cries of Tenma.
Across town, someone else was having these same thoughts about the new episode.
"OH MAN!! Mangoku is so cool!" exclaimed Harima in a voice loud enough to annoy his landlady.
"HARIMA! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP HERE! TURN THAT BLASTED SHOW OFF!"
Knowing what would happen if he disobeyed the will of his landlady, Harima reluctantly reached for the remote and clicked the power button. As Mangoku's vicious battle against the ninja bandits faded to black, Harima noticed the reflection on the dead TV screen.
'Hm…its snowing outside…"
To Harima, who didn't attach any specific emotion to the weather, it just meant a day off from school, and probably a day without seeing Tenma. Harima chuckled softly to himself and thought aloud
"Heh, its hard to believe a guy such as me could ever feel romantic, huh?"
With thoughts of his former complete bad-ass street-thugness floating around in his head, he put on a jacket and went out onto the porch of his apartment. He didn't really have a reason, he just felt like it. As he opened the door, the icy wind rushed in, causing Harima to shiver a bit. As he stepped out onto his porch, he looked around, and realized how beautiful the snow really was. As he thought of this beauty, he said
"Heh, it really is all the small things isn't it?"
He thought briefly of Tenma, and how picturesque it would be for her to be standing beside him, watching the snow fall over the muffled city like a blanket of silence. He thought of her, wearing that coat that he had seen her wear once or twice, and how cute she looked in it. 'Actually, she's pretty damn cute in anything, really' came into his head as a sort of afterthought. He took one last look out over the picturesque city, and imagined Tenma, standing next to him, just smiling that Tenma smile. Then he went inside.
"You know what would be a lot of fun? I should go snowboarding again!"
With this thought in his head, he went to his computer and started looking up snowboarding places and ordering a lift pass.
Back across town, the new episode had ended, and Tenma was munching on the remnants of the once glorious food tray prepared by Yakumo especially for this episode. While Yakumo was making hot chocolate in the kitchen for the both of them, Tenma squealed with delight and practically screamed
"Yakumo! It's snowing! IT'S SNOWING!"
Yakumo knew well of Tenma's love for the snow. One of the few things that Tenma did very well was ski, and one cannot ski without snow. As she walked back into the family room with two piping hot cups of cocoa with extra marshmallows for Tenma, she said
"Yes nee-san, I noticed earlier. Very beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yay! I love the snow Yakumo! You know what this means?! NO SCHOOL TOMORROW!"
Over Tenma's head, Yakumo could only see one word, Happiness . She chuckled quietly to herself, and simply smiled, perfectly content to let Tenma talk on. So long as her sister was there, Yakumo could be content with just about anything. As Yakumo sat quietly in her reverie, Tenma suddenly blurted out
"We should go skiing! Oh my god, that's the best idea I've ever had!"
Although taken aback by Tenma's sudden determination along this path of action, Yakumo had been expecting it. Whenever school was closed for the snow, Tenma always loved to go skiing at this little resort town that was about 4 hours away by train. Thankfully it was a Wednesday, and the school's website had declared school off for the rest of the week because the forecast had predicted increasingly heavy storms until late Saturday afternoon. Knowing that her sister's resolve would not change, Yakumo said
"Ok nee-san, you go get your things packed, and I'll call up and get a reservation at the ski resort for the rest of the week. We'll leave tomorrow morning"
"HUZZAH! WHOPEE!"
As Tenma happily skipped away to her room to pack her things and grab her skis from the attic, Tenma thought to herself 'This will be nice…just me and nee-san'. She then picked up the phone and started booking the cabin that they always booked.
"Just me and nee-san…."
And Yakumo smiled.
"YES! IM GOIN' SNOWBOARDING! WOHOO!" cried Harima in exultant joy as he slammed down the phone on the receiver.
"SHUT IT HARIMA!" cried his landlady from across the wall.
Harima, with barely contained glee, fetched his snowboard and boots from the closet in which he kept his miscellaneous stuff. He tried them on to make sure that they fit, and then, satisfied with the fit, he started packing things in a day bag, because he didn't count on staying for too long. Harima, perpetually broke, didn't have enough money to rent a place, even the cheapest little rent-a-room, for any amount of time. So, sadly, he'd have his one day of fun and then come back to the drudge. He then lay down in this bed. His final thought before drifting off into unconsciousness was 'I wonder if SHE'LL be there?'
Across town, at exactly the same time, Yakumo was putting herself to sleep. As she closed her eyes and Iori curled up at her feet, her last thought was 'I wonder if HE'LL be there?'
A/N: I do not know Japanese high school policy for snow days, so I kinda made it up
A/A/N: "urehg"speech
'dfee3'thought
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Read and review. And Yakumo and Harima will need the flames to keep warm in future chapters!