Dressed For A Blizzard
Written for the 12th MLSF Challenge with the theme of Two characters running away together.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
XXX
Her lungs burned, but she forced another breath down her throat, desperately crying out to her legs not to stop moving.
The ground was shaking under her feet, making it even harder to continue onwards, but that just meant that she had to try harder. Stopping was not an option.
The roar behind them was proof of that.
Tsukasa was holding on to her wrist in a way that would probably cause it to bruise, but the pain was better than risking being separated from each other.
She kept her eyes fixed on the ground, doing her best not to stumble as she was dragged along by the taller girl.
The snow underneath her shifted and she almost fell, but Tsukasa somehow managed to balance them both back to the relative safety of running.
Falling was death, stopping was death, even running wouldn't save them, but it might give the opportunity for survival. And so, they ran.
The roar was closing in, there would be no escape, there would be no salvation, there would only be death.
Tsukasa suddenly changed direction, somehow managing to speed up even when she had already been running at full power from the get-go.
Yutaka caught a glimpse of rock and then the world turned black as the roaring whiteness crashed down upon them.
And they didn't die.
Yutaka blinked, feeling disoriented and confused at this sudden development.
She could hear Tsukasa breathing heavily next to her in the darkness, and she could feel her heart racing as if to try and leap out through her chest.
She could also feel the rock that she was sitting on.
Rock.
There was also a faint outline of more rock above them.
A cave. Tsukasa must have seen the cave when they were running from the avalanche.
They were alive.
Yutaka hadn't seen this safe haven amongst the endless snow, but she was thankful to it. Immensely thankful.
They were alive, she was going to be able to see her friends again. They were alive.
Tears finally escaping from her eyes, Yutaka hugged the older girl.
Her savior.
XXX
Yutaka was happy that Minami had been very insistent on her being dressed for a blizzard, even if she was just going to play in the snow for a bit.
She'd have to remember to tell the taller girl that once they got out of here.
The cave wasn't big, or at least it didn't feel very big now that it was half-filled with snow, but there seemed to be a steady supply of air through cracks, so suffocation wasn't an issue. Freezing to death however, was a different story.
Tsukasa wasn't dressed for a blizzard.
She was also quite soaked from a mixture of snow and sweat. The latter being something that Yutaka could relate to, her own reasonable warmth only adding to the stickiness that was developing under her extreme amount of clothes.
There was a clear difference in their sizes, but when the smaller girl offered to share some of her warmth, it didn't take them long to figure out how to make it work.
Their solution was tight, kind of moist, surprisingly soft, and most definitely embarrassing, but it was warm. And right now, that was all that really mattered.
XXX
When Yutaka's eyes started drooping, Tsukasa started trying to strike up a conversation, having a clear recollection of Miyuki telling them that falling asleep in the snow was a very easy way to die.
So, they started with their friends, comparing the way that some conversations seemed to be universal. Continued onto their schoolwork, and quickly moved away from that when they realized that they were getting tired from simply thinking about homework, instead moving along towards their personal histories.
Yutaka told stories of the many hospitals she'd visited over the years, and Tsukasa told her what it was like to grow up working as a shrine maiden.
Unfortunately, neither of them were very good at remembering even their own stories and they arrived at the present all too soon.
So they began to speak of hobbies.
Yutaka admitted to her own lacking of one, and tried instead to tell tales of her friends and their more enthusiastic moments in regard to their own hobbies.
They spent a moment laughing at how similar their friends were.
And then Tsukasa began to speak of cooking.
And Yutaka realized that despite what she said cooking wasn't actually the older girl's hobby, or talent, or even a pastime.
It was her life.
Her eyes seemed to shine with a soothing warmth in the cave's darkness as she spoke, happily lost in another world, and Yutaka was left alone in the cave's twilight wondering if it was normal to forget to blink when looking at another person.
She hastily looked away.
XXX
Yutaka wasn't sure how long it continued, how many hours they spent talking happily with each other, but when the sounds of people and digging started to close in on their location, she wasn't sure if she was happy, or disappointed.
She leaned mostly towards happy, if only because Tsukasa brightened up considerably.
Years spent in the close vicinity of Hiyori had made her quite aware of the first symptoms of love. Or at least attraction. And Tsukasa had spent the last few hours ringing her warning bells in a sort of endless loop.
It was actually kind of... neat.
She supposed that it made a lot of sense.
First she was saved from what she'd classified as certain death, then she'd shared her clothes with the other girl in a way that resulted in a lot of skin touching, then they'd talked about anything and everything, this even before the girl started to prove just how admirable her dedication to her craft truly was.
She'd been pushing a lot of Yutaka's buttons, in more or less no time at all.
So when a twin-tailed girl finally appeared with a large shovel in her hands, filled with obvious relief at seeing her younger sister unharmed, Yutaka couldn't help but blush as she waited for the inevitable.
Kagami's reaction however, was only instigated when a third party appeared on the scene. One who were currently giving her a thumbs-up, and saying something about flags.
Tsukasa took even longer before she seemed to remember her current state of undress.
A part of Yutaka wondered how she could possibly miss it, since she herself had been very much aware of the girl's lack of clothing and general softness as she was pressed up against her. That part of her was also very pleased that Tsukasa reacted to her embarrassment by trying to hide in the clothes, thus pressing them even closer together.
Unfortunately, Minami had brought a blanket with her.
Yutaka could read the taller girl like an open book, and she currently looked a lot like Sojirou did whenever Konata hinted at getting herself a boyfriend. Pleased, disapproving, possessive, and with a glare in store should the person in question show up at their doorstep.
Quickly coming to the conclusion that Tsukasa shouldn't be forced to weather a glare from Minami for not doing anything, Yutaka decided to distract her from noticing.
Of course, not really knowing how to do this, she did whatever came to mind first.
To be fair, the girl's lips were just as kissable as they looked.
And as Tsukasa's arms wrapped around her waist in response, she couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't done this earlier. It would've made their stay in the cave much more interesting.
XXX
A/n: I just thought "Yutaka x Tsukasa", and then sort of suffocated from a fluff-overload. Hopefully, I didn't screw it up when writing it down.
