Fireside:

This is for CorGryphon feathers challenge, go check out her work, she's a great author~

A small smile crossed Madoka's lips, as she stared at her reflection in a warm mug of hot chocolate.

Sitting by the fireside, while a blistering snow storm raged outside, she couldn't believe how this day wound up ending so perfectly.

~Hours earlier~

GanGan Galaxy's stay in Russia had proved to be quite interesting, especially with Aleksei and his teams "tricks".

But having won, the team could now rest easy. With their plane not arriving for several days, they mulled over with each other what they should spend their time doing. And thats how they ended at a skiing lodge, paid by the courtesy of the WBBA (or rather Ginga's father).

"Let's do this!" Ginga grinned with excitement, dressed in a blue winter coat, and bulgy black pants.

Madoka giggled in response, wearing a puffy pink jacket over white leggings.

It wasn't often her and Ginga got to spend time alone together, mainly because he was either eating or competing with Masamune.

But Yu and Tsubasa were building a snowman somewhere, and Masamune had joined a kids snowball fight, leaving her and Ginga to go skiing.

Luckily, she had a bit of experience, her father use to take her to the mountains when she was little.

"Hey Madoka your face is turning red!" Ginga pointed out, face filled with concern as he put the back of his gloved hand against her cheek.

"I-Im fine, its the cold." She explained, lowering her cerulean eyes to the ground.

Ginga nodded, leaving Madoka to let out a quick sigh of relief when he had his head turned. That was a close one.

They were escorted onto a ski lift, overlooking the whole area. Madoka's eyes lit up as she wrapped her hands around Ginga's arm.

"it's so pretty!" She squealed in delight, pointing down below to the glistening snow. It was like they were floating on top of the world as angels.

Ginga laughed, but he seemed just as invigorated as her by the natural splendor.

Eventually they reached the top of a looming peak and they were ready to go. Madoka kneeled down in the snow to fasten her pink skis around brown boots.

"Ready?" Ginga grinned, out stretching his hand to help her up. She accepted his help, feeling her face flush pink again. She hoped he wouldn't notice this time.

Fortunately for her, Ginga acted rather dense sometimes so he didn't mention anything. His heart seemed set on the steep drop below them.

Madoka smiled, shaking her head softly. Boy was he competitive. But that was okay, she'd give it her all.

"Race ya!" Ginga cried out in excitement, and began racing down.

"We'll see!" She spoke with determination, and began sliding down as well. Gliding with ease, the world around her flashed by in a blur. It took her a several minutes to realize she didn't see Ginga. He couldn't have been that fast.

She used her poles to squeal to a halt, before putting her hand up to her eyes to try and look around.

She spotted him after several minutes, face first in a pile of snow, legs wriggling like crazy to try and get free.

Immediately a sweat drop formed on her forehead as she let out an exasperated sigh.

Eventually she helped pull him out, hands on her hips as she glared at him. "You don't know how to ski, do you?"

Ginga looked up at her sheepishly like a puppy, a small clump of snow sticking to his nose. "Not really..." He laughed, one hand behind his head, causing Madoka to fall over backwards.

"I'll teach you." She finally exclaimed, hopping to her feet. It shouldn't be to hard, right?

~Lesson one~

"Why are we on a baby hill?" Ginga groaned, trudging his feet in the snow.

"For practice!" Madoka told him, rolling her eyes.

Madoka had brought him to a small hill for young children, knowing that it was probably the best to start with, as they worked their way up.

Ginga looked on with disdain, but agreed to follow her instructions.

"Were going to work on balance first okay? Like a bey, it has to stand up straight if it wants to spin." She explained, holding up one finger intelligently.

Ginga nodded and then spoke excitedly, "Can I try now?"

She sighed, he was so impatient. "Well I, hey-!" She cried as against her wishes he took off, promptly tripping and rolling into a cartoon snowball, before reaching the bottom of the hill and crashing through Yu and Tsubasa's snowman.

Tsubasa shook his head, arms folded as his purple scarf swayed in the wind.

Yu stared in shock, green eyes blinking in surprise before he bursted into laughter, clapping his hands.

"That was fun, do it again!" Yu giggled, tugging on Tsubasa's pants legs.

Madoka matched Tsubasa's expression as she looked on in horror, "Sorry!" She called down, making a mental note to find a better place to practice.

~Lesson two~

"Am I almost ready?" Ginga questioned for about the tenth time, as he and Madoka made their way to the top of a slightly larger slope.

"Patience." She remarked, as she placed her hands on her hips. "Your second lesson is speed. You don't want to go to fast as a beginner, so I'm going to help you keep balance." She explained, looping her arm with his. "Were going to head down together."

It would be a bit difficult, but she recognized that Ginga seemed to need a lot of assistance, so if she could help be in control, thats what she would do.

"Okay!" Ginga declared as he pulled Madoka with him, arms locked.

"Wait!" She screamed, closing her eyes as they crashed into a rock, flipped over, and landed in a snow drift.

Of course, what else should she have expected?

"It wasn't too bad, right?" Ginga laughed sticking his head out of the snow.

"Oh Ginga." She sighed.

~Lesson three~

"What's my next task?" Ginga urged, pumping his fists.

Madoka smiled, gesturing to her side. "Well now it's time to learn about turning. I brought someone to help."

Out walked someone in a green snow jacket, a person Ginga knew all to well.

"Masamune!" He cried, pointing at him in surprise.

"Yup. The numbah one skiing guru is going to take you down." Masamune snickered, a smirk crossing his face.

"In your dreams!" Ginga yelled in his face.

"Calm down!" Madoka shouted, a sweat drop forming on her forehead. Maybe inviting Masamune wasn't such a good idea.

"Whatever." Both boys grumbled, folding their arms.

Madoka ignored them and instead began to explain the rules, "It's a race to the bottom of this obstacle filled course. Remember to focus on turning."

"Yeah, yeah!" Masamune moaned, rolling his eyes. "Lets go already!" With that he took off, Ginga in close pursuit.

Madoka felt her self release a silent preyer that they'd be alright. Unfortunately, she was too late.

Ginga and Masamune swerved around a tree and smashed right into each other.

Madoka winced, shaking her head as she began to walk to the next course, delicate footsteps left in the snow.

~Final Lesson~

"I can do this." Ginga whispered, breathing in and out. They had returned to the original slope, the very first one they'd been on that day.

Madoka nodded with a smile. He sure had made quite a bit of progress, even with the slip ups along the way.

Ginga let out one more deep breath before sliding down, Madoka cheering from the top.

"Keep going!" She shrieked, clapping for him. She was like a mother watching a child, all of her hard work paying off.

Ginga glided with ease, not the most gracefully but all the same. He turned back to wave at her, making her realize a lesson she had forgotten. Don't get distracted. Ginga slid off a cliff and went plummeting into the snow. This wasn't good.

~End Flash back~

"It tastes good, right?" She giggled, taking a small sip of her hot chocolate, as she looked over at Ginga.

Ginga nodded,taking a sip from his own mug. Sighing he looked down at his leg, wrapped in a cast.

"I can't believe my luck." Ginga moaned, shaking his head. "I'm going to have to stay inside for the whole rest of the trip!"

"Neither can I." Madoka smiled, nuzzling her head into his shirt.

And that's that! I hope it turned out okay, Thanks for reading, don't forget to review! ~lily