A/N: This is a random oneshot that popped into my head. It's a little different from my other fics, and I hope that if you end up reading it, you enjoy it. Er, that whole ownership thing... yeah I don't own nadda. This is my first SM fic, so I hope I don't disappoint any fans with it, lol. Toodles!
Oh, and uh... this has slight hinting at R/U, I guess. I dunno. So um, if you don't like, you're pre warned. (salutes)
-----------------
She stares up at the falling snow in silence. She doesn't remember a time she ever felt this at peace, even when she's in meditation. The sky is a blank grayish white. The city sounds are muffled, nearly quiet. The air is still, the large puffy white snowflakes fluttering down in hiccupping laughs.
She closes her eyes a moment. She lets the snow fall on her eyelids, her cheeks. She stands still, so as not to disturb the ones that perch on her raven colored hair and jacket covered shoulders. The air is crisp, the scent of snow filling her cold nose. She can't help but smile softly.
A small giggle from beside her makes her open her eyes and look down. Crouching next to her, blue eyes alight with joy, is her dearest, most precious person in the world. She hasn't been able to say that aloud, nor does she think she ever will. Even so, she can't help but admire her bubbly friend.
The blond scrunches up her face in an impish smile, her golden hair streaming from her odd pigtails and gently splaying out across the snow covered ground. Her cheeks and nose are rosy from the cold, but her eyes glow happily as she looks up at her towering raven haired friend.
"Do you like the snow?" asks the blond. The raven hair beauty reverently closes her eyes again, letting herself enjoy the moment.
"Yes, I like the snow."
Another giggle follows her answer, and she opens her eyes again to look at her companion.
"I didn't think you would," says the blond, her eyes turning to happily scan the temple steps in front of them. The raven haired girl blinks in surprise. Her brow scrunches slightly in confusion.
"Why would you think that?"
The blond giggles again, earning a smile from the raven haired girl. She can't help but smile when she hears that giggle.
"You have such a hot temper, and you're always in such a hurry, I guess I didn't take you for one to sit outside and enjoy the silence." The blond turns to her impishly. "Besides, you absolutely adore fire, you pyro."
The raven haired girl glares at the blond, but her blush ruins the effect.
"You're one to talk!" huffs the priestess, hands still clutching the broom in her grasp. "You're always running around late and spending you're time lazing around playing video games! I'm shocked you'd take the time to go outside and look at the snow at all!"
Instead of riling the blond up, like she thought the comment would, the blond only smiles up at her dreamily.
"The snow is my sanctuary."
The priestess cocks her head to the side, eyebrows drawn together in thought.
"Your sanctuary?" she asks.
The blond nods, eyes going back to look out at the steps.
"When you're sitting outside alone, and the snow is falling all around you, the quiet is calming. The world falls away around you, and you're left alone, to enjoy the moment without having to worry about tomorrow, the next moment, the next important thing you have to do. You have your own little world, and you get to enjoy every second of it."
The priestess stares down at her friend in slight awe at the heartfelt admission. She turns her head to follow her friend's gaze, eyes staring distantly at the gray horizon.
They'd been through a lot. The blond, having gone through the brunt of it, carried a far heavier burden then any of them could be expected to. And as always, the blond took no notice or prejudice. She only smiled that charming smile. She laughed and obliviously ran around like nothing had happened at all, like she didn't carry such a laiden destiny.
It is the most charming, and heartbreaking, thing about the girl. She is so dead set on saving everyone else, she never notices the burden it puts on her.
The priestess sighs. No, it isn't that the blond doesn't notice the strain. She ignores it. She places it behind everyone else's. When she grows sad, it's usually because she is worried about someone else. It can get her so down, you'd think she was thinking only of her own problems. But she isn't. It is always about those who are precious to her.
So, as her guardian, as her friend, the raven haired girl vowes to protect the blond, since the blond is so focused on everyone else, she doesn't protect herself.
The priestess holds out her hand and lets a few snowflakes gently alight upon her open palm. She glances down to see her dearest watching her closely. It makes her insides squirm. The raven haired girl opts to smile down at the blond, dark eyes sparkling in return.
She moves her hand and gently reaches out to touch a snowflake that hadn't melted yet on the blond's cheek. She watches with a smile as it turns to water and rolls down the girl's rosy cheek. The blond doesn't move, eyes filled with nothing but trust.
"For us, then, and the snow. Let us enjoy it every chance we get."
She's slightly surprised to see the understanding behind those blue eyes. She often forgets her dearest can be so brilliant. She has a tendency to take the girl's daily antics and place it under stupidity. But it isn't. The girl may not hit the books like Ami, but she has her own sense of brilliance tucked away beneath all the impish smiles and giddy offhanded remarks.
The blond's smile breaks into a beaming grin, and the priestess can see the mischief glowing in the girl's blue eyes.
"There is one other place I call my sanctuary," the girl says almost secretively. The priestess can only lift an eyebrow in curiosity.
"Oh?" she asks. She smirks playfully. "Your bed, perhaps?"
The blond laughs, eyes momentarily closing with the action.
"No," says the blond, once she catches her breath. "I love my bed, but it's not a sanctuary. After all, someone's always breaking in and dragging me out of it."
The raven haired girl laughs, the blond still grinning up at her.
"Then where else can you hide?" asks the raven haired girl, deciding to keep playing the blond's game. The blond jumps to her feet, racing away a few steps before turning back to the shocked priestess. She grins, rocking back and forth on her heels. "Well?" asks the priestess, slightly bemused by the blond's antics.
The blond glances over her shoulder, and her grin spreads even wider. With a mighty shout, she bellows at the people climbing the temple steps.
"HEEEEEY!!! You're all late!"
Straining her ears, the priestess can hear the muted sounds of other people yelling from below. She shakes her head in amusement. She watches as the blond turns away from the steps and bounces over to her. Just as the girl starts passing by, she leans in close, her breath fogging up and tickling the raven haired girl's ear.
"My real place of sanctuary… is right here."
Before the priestess can react, the blond skips away and into the temple. The raven haired girl is still paralyzed where she stands, her heart fluttering in her chest.
She has to blink a few times to wake herself when she spots a group of girls headed in her direction. She can only hope they'll think her red cheeks are from the cold as she steps forward and greets them with a smile.