"You came"
The day was sunny, but the air was icy cold. When Harumi went out, she couldn't help but to shiver in her thin coat. Tezuka ordered them to start warming up.
After they have done so by running around the castle under the severe scrutiny of captain Tezuka, they were all ready to go.
Harumi's first attempts at this new sport were catastrophic. She couldn't get used to these long bars pointing from both her feet. She had a hard time moving on them, but she didn't lose her balance, contrarily to what she had feared. Then, there was a moment when she got close to a little slope in front of the hut. Before she could prevent it, her skis started to glide downwards. Panicking, she tried to turn around, but only managed to entangle herself and to fall roughly on her back.
She watched the blue sky for a moment with a sad face. She didn't have the motivation to ski, anyway. Despite herself, Naoki's words kept rolling on her mind, causing her much trouble concentrating on anything else. Eiji had momentarily distracted her from the whole thing, but now that she was alone, all by herself, dark thoughts started to come back once more.
From this height, the clouds in the sky seemed so close! She felt she could touch them if she raised her hand. However, a cold sensation soon crept all the way up into her body through her thin coat. She sat up, and then tried to get up, but kept slipping on the snow. She gritted her teeth and tried again and again, but each try ended with her face diving into the cold ice.
Completely discouraged, she just sat there and watched the others train in groups of two.
Aika was making Momo mad by always collapsing on him. Amaya was skiing slowly, holding Oishi's hand. Naoko was making hesitant steps in front of Tezuka, whose mouth was voicing words Harumi couldn't hear. Chiharu, Naoki and the rest of the boys were farther away, skiing swiftly to their hearts' content. Harumi followed Chiharu for a moment, whose red hair was shining like fire under the sun, before her eyes caught someone else.
She spotted Fuji far away. He was moving graciously on the snow, his scarf flying slightly behind him. She felt a pang of sadness, but also anger. A scream to her right distracted her, though, and she saw Eiji on the ground with both skis in the air. Mai-san was lecturing him and shaking one disapproving finger at his chest.
Eiji spit out snow from his mouth, before laughing in an embarrassed way.
This is it. I have had it.
Everyone seemed to be having fun, and no one even noticed that she was on the ground and couldn't get up. This stay at the castle was the worst decision of her life. She wanted to go home.
Furious and frustrated, she took off her skis, stood up, and headed for the hut. When she closed the door behind her, shutting out the bursts of laughter, she felt a little bit better. She knew it was selfish of her to hate her friends for having a good time, but she just couldn't stand it any longer.
She took off the big heavy boots and put on her own. Sitting there on the bench, alone, surrounded by skis, she slowly hid her face in her hands.
It's all Naoki's fault! Why did she say those things? I hate her! That bitch! She is jealous that Fuji is talking more with a girl he knew for only three weeks, than with her, whom he knew for years! Serves her right! No one would like to talk and be friends with someone as stupid and selfish as she is!
She screamed more insults to Naoki inside her head.
Footsteps suddenly resonated outside the door. Harumi quickly dried her tears and froze to listen. She hoped that the person would just pass by, but the footsteps seemed directed towards the hut.
Greaaat, exactly what I need right now!! Go away!!
At the last second, she bounced up from the bench and ran behind a huge metal container that was in one corner of the room. The door opened.
Ponk. Ponk. Ponk. Made the heavy ski boots as the person wearing them entered the room.
The person coughed, then some hinges creaked while a door was being opened. Harumi risked a glance over the metal tank to see who it was.
Oh crap, no, not him! I really don't need him in the same room as me, please! Please, God, don't let him see me!
But God was watching the Simpsons on Heaven Satellite while eating French fries right at that moment, so He didn't hear her.
In her hurry to hide back, her foot hit the container, producing a small but clear "taaaang" that lingered in the air.
The person paused in what he was doing. During a few moments there was only silence.
"Hello? Is someone there?"
Harumi was biting her hands while sweating abundantly.
The person started walking in her direction.
Oh no, crap, what do I do? What do I do?
Fuji peeked over the weird metallic thing in the corner, but no one was behind it. He scratched his head.
"This is weird. I'm pretty sure I heard a noise over here." He coughed again. "Maybe it was only a mouse."
On his way out, he opened the door of an old closet in the opposite corner, and put back the little bottle that he had just taken out.
When the door of the hut closed again behind him, Harumi sighed from behind a pile of skis. She just managed to sneak to her new hiding place at the last minute. She really didn't know how she would react if she came face to face with Fuji this fast after her dispute with Naoki.
"What was he doing in here, anyway?" she muttered to herself.
She opened the dusty closet that she hasn't noticed before, and took out the transparent plastic bottle that Fuji came in for. She shook it. There were small white things inside of it. Carefully, she popped open the lid.
After lunch, the ski session continued. Since everyone has made some progress, except for Harumi, Tezuka decided that it was time to do something more adventurous.
Skis and poles under their arms, the little group walked beyond the castle's sight and arrived at the top of several ski runs, which were separated into easy, intermediate and hard. Farther away to their left were cable cars for two, gliding silently upwards and downwards along dark cables, following the mountain slope.
Tezuka stood in front of the group, his perennial seriousness displayed on his face. Immediately, the excited and hushed conversations of the others calmed down. They all raised expectant eyes towards him.
"Very well, he said at last, this is what we will be doing for the afternoon. You have warmed up this morning in your skis and you have learned how to control your speed and how to make turns. It's time now for mountain skiing."
"Yataaa!" screamed out Eiji while throwing a fist into the air.
"Don't be too excited. You will probably be the first one to crush into a tree." Said Mai in a monotonous voice.
"Nya… that was mean!"
"When you reach the bottom of the run, you will get aboard one of these cable cars over there to come back up here again. Don't stay out for too long. Get in a warm place every two hours or so. You all know your levels, Tezuka carried on, so don't do anything foolish and end up with something broken, understood?"
"Hai, Tezuka Buchou!" they all replied together.
"Beware of the bears…" uttered Momoshiro in a gloomy voice, only to be hit on the head by Aika's hand. "Don't be silly. There are no bears in here!"
"You don't believe me? Then don't come to me crying when you get devoured by one!"
He didn't wait for Aika's reply, but instantly ran away from her in a cloud of snow, laughing.
Harumi was standing farther away from the others, visibly in a bad mood.
This is aaawesome. Can this day get any worse? I mean, mountain skiing? Come on, you can't be serious!
Naoko appeared beside her and took her hand. "Come on, Harumi! Show us what you've got!"
"Not much, I'm afraid."
"Oi, what's with the depressed expression? Come on! We will start with the beginner's run. You will get it really fast, trust me!"
Harumi sighed, but let her friend drag her along. She wasn't in the mood to have fun, but she didn't want to spoil Naoko's enthusiasm with her gloomy thoughts either.
The girls put on their skis and then held tight onto their poles. Harumi risked a glance over her shoulder and saw Kaidoh and Momo propelling themselves forward with a jerk. They were heading straight towards the hardest run, and the glances they were throwing at each other indicated that this was a competition. When they arrived at the top of the run, their skis left the ground and flew for a moment in mid-air, before they both disappeared from view.
Harumi gulped. It looked like they felt straight into the void.
Ok, I'm being selfish and gloomy today, but I'm not a coward! Come on Harumi! You can do this!
She arrived at the edge of her own run. The slope wasn't very pronounced. It went straight down, but then curved slightly to the left and disappeared behind a line of trees.
"I will show you what I learned from Tezuka this morning!" Naoko declared with great fondness.
She bent forward and let herself glide down along the gentle slope. Then, with her poles, she started to make herself accelerate more and more.
"Come on, Harumi!" she yelled before disappearing behind the trees.
Harumi hesitated for thirty seconds before following her. She leaned forwards and then let herself go. She let out a little scream when her skis turned right, then left, without her consent. She bent her knees and managed to follow the curve to the left. Just when she was letting out a sigh of relief, a tree suddenly appeared in her field of vision. She screamed for good this time, realizing that she was heading straight towards it, and used her poles to deviate her course. She didn't crush into it, but her forceful actions resulted in a complete loss of control over her skis.
Her speed was increasing with every second that passed by, while the slope also became steeper and steeper. The world in front of her eyes was a blur of white snow. She wanted to stop, but then recalled with bitterness that she hadn't learned how to do so.
Her skis were gliding silently on the frozen snow, and her face was numb from the cold wind. Her hands tightened on her poles as she tried to see if any obstacle was standing there in front of her.
Suddenly, without her knowing how or why, she was flying in the air. She screamed again and watched, horrified, as the ground passed by under her feet. Then, she fell ruthlessly on the snowy trail again. She almost lost her balance, but managed to stay on her skis nonetheless. Her speed increased even more.
Helpless, all her efforts focused on not falling, she continued her mad rush towards who-knows-where.
Within the blurry world of snow in front of her, her eyes suddenly spotted something white that didn't look like snow. She narrowed her eyes, looked again, and then shrieked with terror. It was a bear! A white polar bear! Two dark dots turned in her direction, and she was sure she saw fangs showing from under its white snout as well.
It can't be a bear! It's a mirage! Like a snow mirage! There aren't any bears in here! Momoshiro was so lying! How could this be? It must be my imagination! No, wait... it DOES look alive!
Her body remained rigid for an eternity, it seemed, before she forced her knees to bend fiercely. Her skis slipped on the frozen snow as she turned violently towards the left. Before she knew it, she had gotten out of the trail and into a small undergrowth. The little roads between trees were filled with bumps.
Harumi felt her teeth clash and her knees tremble. She was certain she would crush into a tree and that that would be the end of it, but surprisingly, it never happened. She flew out of the undergrowth and landed on another, steeper trail. She noticed faintly that she had lost both her poles.
Her heart was beating so fast it felt it was about to explode. Tears were pearling at the edge of the eyes because of the cold and the speed. Her mad rush was finally stopped by a rock near the edge of the trail. One of her skis hit it, and she was sent flying once more in the air, before landing ruthlessly on her back. The shock of the impact drew the breath out of her lungs as she gasped.
Ice and snow was in her eyes, her hair, inside her coat. She was still gliding down the mountain slope, on her back. She turned to her right and used both hands and skis to stop her body, but the slope was too steep. A small stone lying half buried in the snow ripped the side of her coat as she glided on top of it.
She wanted to call for help, but no sound came out of her dry mouth. Suddenly, her feet were in the void again. She looked again and saw no trail underneath her. With a wild cry, she fell down the cliff of the mountain. Trees and blurry rocks passed her by in a second.
Is this it? Am I going to die?
She closed her eyes, terrified at that possibility. Then blankness and cold surrounded her.
When she opened her eyes again, slowly, the grey sky filled her vision. Everything was cold around her and her body was numb.
Am I dead? Is this what being dead feels like?
No, she wasn't dead. She slowly raised herself up on her elbows and realized she was half buried in a bunch of snow. Her eyes followed the mountain cliff from where she had fallen, and she saw the edge of the ski trail six meters above.
All around her were only dead trees and rocks. She was all alone. She stared at the sky again, wondering how much time she had been knocked out.
This is all because I tried to act tough! I shouldn't have come down the run in the first place. I just shouldn't have. I knew I couldn't ski. This whole thing was madness. Why did I do it?
"Help!! Can somebody hear me? I'm down here! Heeeeeeeelp!!" she screamed towards the ski trail.
People of her team had to pass nearby since they were all skiing. For the next five minutes, she just sat there in the snow and called for help, but to her distress, nobody came.
Her limbs were still feeling numb, and she didn't trust her legs to support her just yet, but if she stayed in the snow for much longer, she knew she would end up dead for good. She realized then that she still had her skis on. Gritting her teeth, she used her hands to help her stand up. Her skis refused to move. Harumi bent over and took them off.
When she tried to move her left leg, however, a sizzling plain ran through her body like lightning. Grimacing, she froze in her movement. Then, slowly, she tried to move it again. The same pain shot right through her, this time extracting a little scream from her lips.
"What the hell is this?" she cried into the still cold air. "Why do these things always happen to me? How am I supposed to go back all by myself, now? And just how on earth am I supposed to do that, anyway? I don't even know what's wrong with this freaking leg! And I don't know where I am! And no one is coming! No one cares!"
She closed her eyes and tried to calm down.
Screaming won't do me any good. I have to think, come up with a plan. First thing is first: I have to fix this leg.
Because all her body was numb, she didn't know where the injury was. Ignoring the pain, she crawled out of the snow and stood up on one leg, while with one hand she took support from a tree nearby. She noticed that now that she has moved, the pain seemed to be easing a little.
She looked angrily at the trail above her, then at the undergrowth where she was.
"Alright, so to go back I will just have to climb this damn slope, right?"
Angry against the world and herself, she seized dead branches and dark rocks and started to pull herself upwards. Regular waves of pain shot through her left leg, but she couldn't help it. Each time, she just bit her lips and kept on going.
Suddenly, one of the rocks she was holding on to started to shake. With her other hand, she tried to find other grips, but her fingers only met snow and ice. The rock shook again.
"Oh no, you won't, you bastard!" she screamed at the same time as the rock came loose.
Yelling at the top of her lungs, she fell down once more. This time she landed on her chest, the rock still gripped in her hand. Her leg was feeling like hell. She couldn't move anymore.
"Damn it! Damn it!" she hissed through her tears.
The cold wind blew past her, painfully reminding her of her torn coat.
"Why has it come to this? It's not fair... I just wanna go home..."
And no one cares about me... huh? I go missing but no one even bothers to look for me. And no one will ever know that I'm here. It's useless to go on. I will never make it to the top with my leg in this condition.
She felt sleepy now. The cold ground underneath her chest suddenly felt like an inviting place to sleep. She closed her eyes and imagined being in a warm bed in her home at Tokyo. Mom was bringing her a cup of hot tea, and Dad was laughing loudly while watching some TV show, and Katsuo was smirking at her teasingly, leaning against the door of her bedroom.
"You baka, Haru!" she heard Katsuo say with his wide grin. "What are ya doing here?"
"Shut up, oniichan" she heard her own voice replying. "It's my bedroom. I don't know what you are talking about. I'm tired now."
"Haru! I'm serious. This is not meant to happen. Think about it."
From behind a haze, she saw Katsuo coming closer and kneeling beside her bed.
"Oniichan… what the hell…?"
He put a hand on her shoulder. It was so warm.
"Don't fool around with me. Get your ass moving, now!" He said in a commanding voice.
"I... I don't understand."
She stared into her brother's eyes. He had the same ones as she did: deep, purple eyes.
"Yes, you do. Harumi, you are not alone anymore. You can go back now."
"Back?" She felt slumber trying to bring her down, but she struggled against it. "Back where?"
"Back to where you are supposed to be right now."
"But this is…"
"This is not your bedroom, Haru. It's not. Go back..."
Harumi's purple eyes opened slowly. She could hear someone calling her name from far far away.
Then the voice came gradually closer.
"Harumi-chan? Please wake up, Harumi-chan!"
She blinked, fought against the cold and the slumber, and then opened her eyes again.
"Kat…suo?" she whispered through cracked lips.
"No, Harumi-chan. It's me. Fuji!"
"Fuji…san?" Her mind just didn't seem to understand.
"Look at you! Just what happened to you?"
Fuji said while forcing her to sit up. Harumi hang her head and felt her long hair brushing against her face. She raised a trembling hand to her head and noticed that her elastic was gone. Her hair was frozen. She pushed it back behind her shoulders.
Then she turned slowly to look upon the face the tensai. His eyes were open, and were showing true concern.
"I fell." She whispered feebly.
Her body felt heavy. Really heavy. She felt like lying down on the frozen ground once more, but Fuji's hands on her shoulders kept her from doing so. She raised dreamy eyes towards his face and a small smile appeared on her lips.
"You came."
Fuji looked shocked.
"I called… and I called, just wishing somebody, anybody, would hear me. You came."
Fuji was alarmed at that dreamy look in her eyes.
"Yes, I did, he said softly, come now, we've got to get you to a warm place."
The wind was blowing more violently now.
Harumi was shaking from head to toe. "Alright."
Fuji helped her stand up, but Harumi winced when her left leg touched the ground.
"Are you hurt?" Fuji asked.
"I… don't know."
Fuji crouched down in front of her and started touching different points of her leg. When his hand touched her ankle, she screamed a little and lost her balance. Fuji stood up quickly and caught her in his arms.
"It's your ankle, he said. It doesn't seem broken, but I suppose it must hurt. We have to go back quickly before the storm catches up."
"I can walk." Said Harumi absent-mindedly.
Fuji passed her arm over his shoulders. "Let's get going, then."
They didn't climb up the incline, but rather walked through the undergrowth. None of them had their skis. Wincing at every step, Harumi could only try to stay awake and hold on to Fuji's waist. Her eyelashes were frozen, and she couldn't feel her face anymore.
The cold also squeezed inside her chest from the hole in her coat. She didn't know where they were going. She could just put one foot in front of the other, and trust that by doing so everything was going to be alright.
Soon, it started to snow. The sky was as dark as if it was midnight.
Fuji and her didn't speak. They were all saving their breaths. The snow became blizzard in mere seconds, drowning the world under a whirlpool of ice and snow, covering the landscape under a grey coat. Harumi squealed, feeling her heavy boots sinking into the snow at every step.
"Courage, Harumi-chan, we are almost there!"
His voice was muffled by the storm. She closed her eyes and pressed herself against his body to escape from the unforgiving wind.
"This is bad…" she heard Fuji mumble to himself.
Harumi didn't understand any of this. It had be a dream. She was so cold and tired and hurt that her consciousness was already half gone. Suddenly, she fell on her knees and then cried out in pain as her ankle was forced to bend. The boots were like two heavy stones that were pulling her down...down... into this ocean of snow. Gasping, feeling lost in the darkness and the cold, she cried.
After an uncertain amount of time, Harumi suddenly felt something hot wrapping itself around her neck. Then, more warmth came, enveloping her upper body. An encouraging voice whispered at her ear:
"Please don't give up yet, Harumi-chan!"
She opened her eyes slightly. She was close to Fuji, so close that the warmth she felt was the one emanating from his body. She couldn't understand how he could be this warm when her own blood felt like ice. He was rubbing her arms vigorously with both his gloved hands. She opened her eyes a little bit more and looked at his face. There was snow in his hair and on his face, but his eyes were still half open in spite of the furious wind. The pain shot through her once more. She winced.
"Please go on without me, she said weakly, I can't walk anymore, it's no use. If you try to help me, something bad is going to happen to you too. And I... I don't want that. Please leave me, now! You will have a chance to get to the mansion... call for help..."
Fuji's eyes shone as he suddenly shook her roughly by her coat. She gasped.
"Just what are you saying, Harumi-chan? Do you know what will happen if I leave you here? We can make it, the two of us! Please don't talk anymore nonsense like that! Snap out of it!"
She heard those words clearly in spite of the storm. Did Fuji just yell at her? Did he just get angry? It was the first time she saw him angry. The fog lifted in front of her eyes. For the first time since Fuji woke her up, she blinked and looked around, really seeing what was going on. The snow was blinding. The wind was so fierce. And Fuji... Fuji was kneeling beside her, warming her up, looking at her.
Her body started shaking as if all her bones were going to fall off at once. She lifted a hand to her neck and felt the warmth of a scarf that wasn't there before.
"Fuji! This is..."
She looked up at his face, and saw him managing to smile back at her.
"You need it more than I do. Don't worry, we will be in a warm place soon. Come on, I will help you stand up."
Her eyes shook with gratitude and worry, all mixed together.
"But Fuji! You are sick!"
They were both walking again now, leaving deep tracks in the snow behind them, and Fuji was holding her close with one hand to keep her from falling.
"How... how do you know?" he sounded surprised, then added: "But don't worry, it's just a cold."
Harumi looked away. She couldn't tell him she was hiding in the ski hut, could she? She couldn't tell him that she had seen him taking his pills from that closet in there. Before she could answer, however, Fuji pointed his gloved hand in the direction of a small hut.
"Is it the hut that is near Amaya's castle?" she asked through trembling lips in a hopeful voice.
Fuji shook his head. "But we will go inside for awhile. This storm is too bad and the cable cars are not working anymore. The only way to get to the castle is to walk there, but for that, we need to take a look at your injury first."
Seeing the young girl's concern, he smiled his special smile.
"Don't worry, Harumi-chan, I promise that everything will be fine. Trust me."
Covering his face with one arm to protect himself from the icy wind, he didn't see Harumi's smile of gratitude behind her tears, tears that froze instantly after they rolled out of her eyes. Her hand's hold tightened on the young man's waist.
Fuji... the only thing that I can believe in right now is this kindness that you are showing me. You will let me believe in it, neh?
aaarg, I know this chapter took longer than usual! please dont kill me for it!
i mean, i have an excuse, yeah! the last few days i have been watching naruto, and it got be hooked. alright, poor excuse, but an excuse nonetheless!! yo, i havent forgotten about my fic, dont you ever worry about that, hihi!
Actually, i have no time to reply to all your reviews individually right now, but I give you my thanks from the bottom of my heart! You guys are awesome!! Keep up the good job!! Thanks for all your encouragement, appreciation and advice! This fic wouldnt be written if not for you guys! Now take care, mina! Ja ne!