forever ago, tonight
Reimu deftly made to snatch the hem of her skirt and yanked the whole thing up, her legs pressing on like two wild animals into the stream ahead. The water crashed into her like a hundred needles, but her speed hindered them in pushing all the way through, and her feet fell, slow but hard, upon the pebbles at the floor with a constant, ignorable ache. The laws of physics didn't apply to her – she wasn't at all slowed – and in triumph over the universe, she laughed unrestrainedly into the night.
The cacophony of splashing from the stream only grew louder and louder as a tall blonde in a purple dress made to follow, screaming playful swears at the top of her lungs and catching up hastily. Reimu half-dropped her skirt for a split second to turn and toss her companion a grin and a middle finger, but the weight of the now drenched right side of her skirt held her back, and she tripped. A white mob cap had fallen off somewhere along the way due to the momentum, and the two were still laughing as Yukari took the brunette in her arms and walked back to shore.
"Put me doooown!"
Reimu's joking struggles subsided as soon as Yukari's feet made their debut above the surface, and she was giddy with happiness when lowered to the ground. Her heavy feet sunk into the sand as she stumbled back, and the sediment stuck to her freezing feet. Now that the moment was over, Reimu was beginning to shiver; a little bitterly, she thought, she probably ought to have taken her clothes off before playing in the water.
As though she had just read her mind, Yukari began to do exactly what Reimu was considering, and while it was still just her gloves that were all she had discarded, the shrine maiden turned away, rather flushed. It was silly to be embarrassed, she scolded herself, when this was probably the hundredth time – but somehow Reimu knew that even if it were the millionth time it would always feel like the first. The youkai was quick to sense her discomfort, and – rather than taking advantage, as was custom – in an uncharacteristically courteous manner, she decided to snap open a border and reach inside for a couple of old, baggy shirts and a blanket.
In what was mostly a comfortable silence – the odd jab at one another breaking it once in a while – the two got to work setting a fire, and sat before it, wriggling their toes, sharing a blanket and in each other's warmth. When the cold of their endeavours in the water began to evaporate, they lay down, clasping each other's hands and stretching their moulded limb into the sky, tracing the stars. Reimu's heart jogged ahead of itself a little the whole time.
"Do you want to go back yet?"
Reimu shook her head. Yukari's voice held in it a quality of something gorgeous, altruistic – and at the same time, still – heartbreaking. It was fickle, and suddenly the brunette – felt the need to – let go of her hand to hold on to her. In a moment, their limbs were a tangle, and in another, she felt their hearts beat together, rushed, fervent – tranquil.
"Oh, so even the great Hakurei Reimu has trouble resisti–"
"Shut up."
Reimu pushed her nose to her lover's and smiled into her lips.
"I love you, you moron."
It ached dully to know that tomorrow she would be older and Yukari wouldn't – but tonight was the greatest she'd ever known.