A/N: Hello, everyone! I hope you're all having a good Valentine's day. For today and as part of Femslash February, I decided to whip up a one-shot of a series I follow: Hayate the Combat Butler! Its time for femslash!
A desire to live without regrets
A Hayate the Combat Butler one-shot
takes place immediately after chapter 512
"What is with the Grand Canyon!? It's too big!"
The despairing cry rang out, echoing into the crevices of the merciless canyon. At the top of a nondescript plateau stood the source of the cry, one Chiharu Haruzake. Next to her was the equally distressed Ruri Tsugami, who was both internally and externally lamenting about the situation she found herself in.
"How is it that this keeps happening to me?" Ruri complained. "After chapter 511 I was hoping to move the stone plotline enough to propel myself into some more prominent screen time. But instead I've been thrown into situations like this!"
Chiharu wasn't dealing with the situation much better herself, at least in her own head. After spending so many hours in the Grand Canyon she was very tired and hungry, and she could swear she could feel death hovering over the two of them. It was all she could do to keep from throwing herself onto the ground to waste away.
But with Ruri throwing a tantrum next to her, Chiharu couldn't afford a meltdown of her own. She would have to be the one to keep things together until they could find a way out of the situation, or at least until help finally arrived for them. As such, she took on her standard aloof attitude for Ruri's sake.
"Well, it seems like we've been thrown into a troublesome situation," Chiharu stated simply. "likely by someone suffering from intense creative frustration. But that's no reason to fall apart here."
"Says the girl currently holding my hand," Ruri countered. "A hand that's trembling a lot, I notice."
Chiharu looked down to find that both those statements were very true. She wasn't even entirely sure when she had started holding the other girl's hand, but she couldn't let this fact rattle her.
"Well, it's only natural to want to extend some comfort at a time like this," Chiharu said. "After all, you don't seem to be interested in letting go."
At this Ruri turned beet-red, and not willing to let Chiharu one-up her, she shouted, "You know, I'd actually believe that if I hadn't caught you looking up my skirt earlier!"
"I already apologized for that!" Chiharu blurted out, blushing intensely. "What's more, now's not really the time to be bringing that up again!"
A sullen silence fell over the two girls, and they continued to stand on the plateau looking for some way out of their predicament, too tired to move and afraid that if they sat down they wouldn't be able to get back up. But after several more hours passed with no sign of help despair began to settle in, and Chiharu found herself squeezing Ruri's hand.
"H-hey, no need to do that," Ruri said, still red. "I mean, it's not like we're actually going to die up here."
"Well, we may still perish," Chiharu said, unable to look Ruri in the eye. "So maybe instead of bickering we should be focusing on making these moments enjoyable."
"Where are you going with this?" Ruri asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, for example I haven't had a first kiss yet," Chiharu continued, her entire face heating up with each word that came out of her mouth. Perhaps her few interactions with Ruri hadn't been the best, but they hadn't all been bad. She wouldn't have considered it in any under circumstances, but if Ruri was truly was truly going to be the last person she would ever see….
"Well what do I-" Then the implications of Chiharu's statement hit Ruri, and words failed the would-be mercenary. She contemplated the words for quite a while before finally saying,
"You know, most people at would at least ask a girl out on a date first."
"Fine, then! Would you like to go on a date after we get out of the Grand Canyon?" Chiharu asked, finally completely losing her cool.
"Finally dropped that mask of yours," Ruri said triumphantly. "in that case, I will go out on a date with you."
The prospect of a date was actually very effective at lifting Chiharu's spirits, which caused her to smile. The entire time the two girls had been on the plateau they had not stopped holding hands. Now Chiharu took Ruri's other hand and faced the other girl. Leaning in a bit brought no objections, so Chiharu closed the rest of the distance between them.
The kiss was surprisingly soft given the kind of girl Ruri had demonstrated herself to be, such as her use of the SYSTEMA in a prior encounter. For a moment Chiharu found that she could actually forget that she was tired, starving, and stuck in the middle of a desolate place.
After a good minute of kissing the girls parted, both in a significantly better mood than they had been at the start of the day. Maybe it was just the overly-flowery way the prose was written, but Chiharu could swear she could see a light emanating from Ruri.
"That was pretty good for your first kiss," Ruri said. "I really wouldn't mind more of that in the future."
"We are going to be dating in the future," Chiharu stated, assuming her more dignified persona again. "It would be disappointing if I made a poor first impression."
Ruri was about to answer back to this, but a loud noise suddenly filled the area. Chiharu looked around, and learned that the light that she had seen behind Ruri earlier had been from an approaching helicopter.
"Finally! Looks like we're going to join everyone else!" Ruri shouted in joy.
The two girls boarded the helicopter, profusely thanking the pilot that had found them. As soon as they took their seats exhaustion claimed them, and Chiharu and Ruri fell asleep resting against each other. They had managed to survive their terrible ordeal, with a date to look forward to in the future.
A/N: This inspiration for this one-shot stemmed from the fact that in one of the last panels of chapter 512, Chiharu and Ruri are indeed holding hands, and smiling at that. Hopefully the next time I'll see everyone, it will be later today with a new chapter of TSOMS. Until then, this has been Orion Fowl, and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance.