Well, the snow is always a source of inspiration, and the idea for this just sorta formed when I thought about how to make VK less serious and holiday-friendly without making it too fluffy. I hope it worked.

Also, this oneshot takes place before Yuki learns that Zero is a vampire. Just for kicks.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, regrettably.

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Cut that Rug

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Yuki struggles, impeccably, to pull her colorful mitten under the sleeve of her pea coat. "Zero," she whines, tossing one hand to her side and brutishly throwing the other between them; chills from the bitter air already gnawing at her exposed wrist and scurrying up her arm like spiders.

"Why didn't you put your gloves on inside?" Zero asks, looking at her with obvious annoyance and obscene amount of patience because he would rather be staring at the onslaught of fox-trotting snowflakes than a girl who can't pull off wearing a hat.

"Because," Yuki says, matter-a-fact-ly, "I didn't know that the moment I laid eyes this wondrous, white, mantle of snow, I would want to partake in frolicking. And I can't frolic properly unless both my gloves are secure." She wags her eyebrows, "So, Zero, fix it—as you are impervious to the cold, and undoubtedly the cheer. And I see that you are quite free at the moment, and your hands are sadly unoccupied."

"Are you suffering from English delusions again?" Zero asks, none the less stepping closer to the girl. "Just because you're wearing that coat doesn't give you the accent."

Yuki sighs in defeat. "I can dream can't I? Now shush up and fix my mitten." The girl notices that Zero isn't wearing gloves—probably because he's Zero and that obviously constitutes as a reasonable answer and she just shouldn't ask about it.

Carefully, he reaches out and takes her hand in his, and at first Yuki thinks it a great idea to (when the mitten-fixing is over, of course) jump the boy and shove him into the snow…it would only take a few inches, give or take. But she sees the sudden perplexing concentration in Zero's eyes as he turns her wrist up and places his own fingers against her pulse.

She lets out a puff of breath, trying to read his downcast eyes, but they're only sad for a moment, before he sighs and digs his fingers into her coat sleeve, pulling out the thin sweater she's wearing underneath and pulling it over her mitten, followed by her coat. "There," Zero says, half mocking her, half staring at her like she might die of hypothermia, "are you secure?"

"Indeed." Yuki breathes, still searching for something in his eyes. She sighs, and decks him anyway.

In the brief moment of falling, Yuki almost knocks the wind out of herself, but quickly rolls to the left and throws her arms and legs out.

Zero groans, "What that really necessary?"

"Of course." Yuki says—and it's the truth. "Everyone knows that to make a good snow angel you have to fall into the snow."

"You do realize we're laying on our own footprints, right?"

"Yes, yes I do."

"Alright then."

The two of them lay like this for a while; the silence isn't awkward. And Yuki can tell Zero's eyes are closed because the sun is far too bright and Zero never really liked the sun to begin with. Yuki on the other hand loves the sun, as a matter of fact, her father had to forcibly pull her out from under it as a child for fear she would burn her eyes out.

"Don't look directly into the sun." Zero warns.

"How do you do that?" Yuki hisses, leaning her cheek into the snow to get as good a look she could at the boy beside her.

"I think I get headaches every time you're doing something stupid." Zero says, shrugging. "And the Chairman told me you have a dangerous habit of staring at bright things."

Yuki snickers. "At least I'm not afraid of the sunlight." Almost immediately after she says it, Yuki wishes she could take it back. Something about the sentence just feels wrong when it's applied to Zero. He might not be sunshine, or bright, or cheerful or anything sunshine represented, but he was closer to that than the opposite, in her eyes.

But he doesn't think so. "Fair enough," Zero agrees; and Yuki knows that now his eyes are open.

Struggling to make the subject right again, Yuki races through her memories to find some shred of humor and sentimentality. "I think Zero's more like Autumn, than sunlight actually. The colors just sorta remind me of you."

"How poetic."

"I try."

"I think…" Zero begins, "that Yuki's like—"

"Don't say snow." She warns.

"I wasn't going to…"

"Fine then," Yuki huffs, "compare Yuki to a summer's day."

"No," Zero says softly, "it's not important anymore."

"It is!" Yuki shouts, almost sitting up. "C'mon Zero you can't just leave a girl hanging! Yuki's fragile emotional being is about to crumble if you don't tell her what season she's most like!"

"I'm sure Yuki will be fine," Zero says, giving Yuki the impression he has closed his eyes and is no longer really paying attention to her.

"Are you're arms and legs spread out?" Yuki suddenly asks.

"Not really, no."

"Then you're doing it wrong, here let me—"

"No." Zero says firmly, "Spread your own arms and legs."

"Ha." It's probably the most awkward noise she's made in a while, but Yuki keeps laughing, flailing her arms and kicking her feet like an angry toddler.

"Don't," Zero growls. "Just…don't."

"Too late." Yuki grins, trying to make eye contact with Zero, and failing. "Now, tell Yuki what season she's most like. I'm sure she'll be thrilled."

"I think she should just let it be."

"Well then…" Yuki begins indignantly, "I think that out of all the fruits, Zero is a…"

"Don't say tomato."

"A tomato."

"Damn it."

"So…" She elongates, "what fruit is Yuki?"

Zero is silent for a second before saying, reasonably, "A grapefruit."

"Ew," Yuki says firmly. "Ew Zero, no. She's not a grapefruit. I hate grapefruit…just because you like them doesn't mean you can use them to compare—"

"You wanted my answer."

"Well, then, I think that in the world of flowers, Zero would be…a forget-me-not."

"How so?"

Yuki doesn't really expect him to ask why. For a moment, she loses her train of thought. "Because I like forget-me-nots," She says rather dumbly.

She feels him shrug. "I think Yuki's a sunflower."

"How so?"

"I like sunflowers."

There's a silence again, and Yuki blinks a snowflake out of her eye. Silences are never usually awkward with Zero, for reasons she has yet to delicately explore (and she will, with lots of smiles and prodding fingers.)

Finally, Yuki moves her arms and legs. It's like jumping-a-jack on her back, a rhythmic pulling of muscles and swishing of snow.

"Zero!" She suddenly cries, "I got snow down my sleeve!"

He grunts—almost like a laugh, "I'm sorry…when I decide to get up, I'll fix it for you."

Yuki sighs, pulling off her left mitten and shaking the nearly-microscopic cluster of snowflakes out of the woolen cavern. "You're not even making an angel!" She snaps, sloppily reapplying the mitten. "Flail, damn it!"

"I'd rather not," He says, quite indignantly. "Just…let me lay here."

"No Zero, no," Yuki hisses, leaning as close to his head as she can. "We're making snow angels, you have to do it right. Now, well now you're just murdering a winter tradition—somewhere a small child is weeping."

"Are you sure there isn't some unhealthy attachment to snow angels you're not telling me?" Zero asked. "Some childhood trauma?"

Yuki doesn't answer, as the memory of red snow and a blood-splattered face flashes through her mind in a second, then disappears like the snow trapped in her ear. "Maybe that explains it…" She says, more to herself than Zero. Maybe the fact that her energy rises exponentially during the winter is an emotional effect of that scaring blizzard all those years ago.

She's staring at the white sky too intently to really notice that Zero was moving, only feels the weight she's almost leaning into suddenly pull away. Yuki feels a pressure next to her wrist, and with a quick glance, realizes it's Zero's knee.

"Yuki—"

"Your snow angel!"

"Yuki." He says firmly, leaning back on his heels in the snow and looking at her, his lilac eyes suddenly incredibly sad.

Now that she thinks about it, Yuki realizes that Zero is one of the few people she knows that can turn his eyes into such a pitying glance. It's like a mental switch can bring back all his suffering and conform it into watery circles.

He leans forward, placing his right hand just under her left shoulder, sinking into the cold snow as he gently pushes his left palm into the snow next to her head.

"Yuki…" He says again, softer, kinder.

Her brain seems to freeze up, like jamming a cycle of cogs in a rather relaxing shock. Yuki's blood seems to rush around her body quicker than normal, mostly gathering in her cheeks…

"…I really, really don't want to make a snow angel."

"Wait, what?"

"Angels," He sighs, with a slight embarrassment, "they sorta creep me out."

"Oh," Yuki breathes. "I'm sorry."

"But," Zero says, with a slightly victorious smirk, "I'm getting over it."

"Well," Yuki sputters quickly, "good for you. That's something horrible to be afraid of…especially this time of year, I mean, think of all the things—"

Zero kisses her.

And it's like a simple, fluid motion, maybe one he didn't put much effort into. But when he pulls back, Zero just stares.

Yuki knows he's trying to analyze her. He's giving her the same look he does when he's trying to teach her how to factor an equation, or sometimes when he thinks she isn't looking.

But she always is.

"I'll fix your mitten now," He says, "if you want."

"I think I'm good, actually." Yuki says simply, wiggling her fingers out of the warm mitten and raising her fingers, gingerly to Zero's forehead. He's warm, in a sort of fever-ish, comforting way, "You've got white on you." She brushes snow from his hair fondly.

This time, Yuki sits up a bit, leaning on her elbows, watching Zero watching her—both unmoving for a few seconds before she carefully leans closer to him. She's afraid she'll scare him, and in her mind she imagined kissing Zero would be like trying to corner a frightened animal. But he doesn't move.

Mentally, Yuki decides to call this, 'Testing the Waters,' as she's not too sure what she's doing, but Zero obviously doesn't seem to care. And she doesn't really care either if she looks silly pressing her lips against his, as firmly as she can.

Yuki knows that Zero has reached a conclusion when he finally responds by shoving her down into the snow.

-

"Is your glove secure?" Zero asks, raising an eyebrow at Yuki's frown. "You look incredibly upset…this is one ugly mitten…"

"Hey, don't judge my mittens, they're beautiful."

Zero sighs and runs his knuckles down her arm as Yuki stretches her legs.

"How long do you think we were down there?" She asks, laughing. "My toes are asleep…the Chairman might send a search party out for us so we should be getting back soon."

Yuki smiles at Zero half because he's looking very nonchalant at the moment, and half because he looks remarkably tired and red-lipped.

"What are you thinking about?" Yuki asks, bouncing on the balls of her feet, hoping to make a mad dash from their courtyard escapades to the warm comfort of the fireplace in the Chairman's office.

Zero points an accusing finger towards the offending snow muddle. "You set me back about three months in my recovery progress…"

Yuki nods, blushing, "Those are two ugly-ass snow angels."

The end.