His eyes burned into my face. He mouthed two simple words, but their meaning was clear. Get out. I ran. I didn't look back, nor did I plan on coming back.

In The Snow

An AkuKai Short-short

Well, Let's just jump right in, shall we? I was sitting on the corner like a loner because my asshole father kicked me out of the house. In the snow.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

So here I was, sitting there, feeling down in the dumps because all I had on was a thin sweater. In the snow. God, it was cold. It had to be at least below 15 degrees Fahrenheit, and I swore I was going to catch hypothermia. Rubbing my hands together, and my miserable attempt to generate heat was a fail.

"Maybe, if I lie here, I'll freeze over. He'll feel sorry, and I'll be out of my misery." I muttered under my breath.

"Now why would you want that?" I jumped. Where did he come from? Peering up at him from my miserable snow covered hole, I caught a head of flaming red spikes cramped under a gray hood. His twinkling green eyes laughed at me, even though his face was deadly serious.

"Pardon?" I managed to choke out.

"Why would a pretty girl like you want to freeze to death? I hear it's one of the worst ways to die. You know, cold and alone."

The lanky man took a snow-covered seat beside me, smirking in the process.

"Pretty?"

"Yeah." He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "Killer legs."

I blushed, turning my face away to hide the red. "Thanks, I suppose."

"Welcome."

We sat in silence for a few moments, the only noises coming from my chattering teeth. Noticing how cold I was, he took off his hoodie, left only in a V-neck tee shirt. For a second, I thought he was going to give it to me, you know, like those sappy movies.

Wrong.

He took out a bottle of AXE body spray, shot a generous amount unto the hoodie, took out a lighter and...wait what's he doing? Setting it on fire?

"Wait stop! That stuff's flammable!" I gasped, reaching for the tiny lighter. He grinned, holding it out of my reach.

"I didn't know! Thanks for informing me, Princess."

"Princess? Who do you think you ar-" A warm glow on my face cut me short. He lit the god-damn sweater on fire. Rolling the flaming mass into what looked like a cone, he held it out to me. The flames licked my face, warming me from head to toe. Normally, I'd fear fire. This was different. It was intriguing.

He cleared his throat. "You see, the AXE is what's burning, not the jacket. As long as there is AXE for the fire to feed on, then the sweater won't burn, and it's safe to hold. Fire's alive. You have to feed it, or it'll get desperate."

"I see..." I was too stunned to say anything else. So warm. So very warm.

I leaned my head on his shoulder, letting the fire warm the both of us.

"Why are you out here, Princess? Don't you realize it's cold?" He asked after a while.

"Dad. We had a fight," I murmured. When he raised his eyebrow, I hastily added, "Nothing big."

"Sure." He said flatly, running a hand through his spikes.

"And you?"

"To save people like you from a horrible death."

I blinked. "Well, other than that. You have to have had a reason for being out here."

He linked his fingers together. "Broke up with girlfriend. Wasn't working out."

"Ouch. Sorry..." I stopped short.

"Axel."

"Huh?"

"The name's Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?" He informed, pointing to his head.

I laughed a bit. Really? Got it memorized? Of course, a voice inside of me said.

"Kairi."

He turned his head, meeting my eyes. "That's a gorgeous name. Gorgeous name for a gorgeous girl." I was sure my face turned red, because I felt the heat spread across it and watched his face break into a smirk. He reached out, grabbed the sweater and beat it into the snow, extinguishing the flames in one fluid movement.

"How about you go home, make amends with your father, and call me when all's well?" He suggested, slipping me a piece of paper. I squeezed it in my fist, thinking of my choices. I could: A: Sit here and die.

B: Do as he said and go home.

C: Follow him where ever he was heading off to.

I chose B, standing up. "T-thank you, Axel." I bowed my head to him.

This earned me a chuckle from the pyromaniac. His eyes glimmered, playing my heartstrings like a lone violin. "No need to be formal. Make sure you call me, okay?" He winked.

"Y-yeah. I will. Promise," I swore, before taking off down the street towards home.

I had met a guy, named Axel, who was obsessed with fire, had hair that must have been from an expensive bottle brand, had to be wearing colored contacts, and just so happened to care about my well-being. In the snow.

Thanks for reading! Please review with your honest opinions. Creative-criticism appreciated. :)