Ice Princess

Troubled Typist

A/N: I don't think its to OOC, but it might be! This chapter, but, again, I don't think its to bad.

Chapter Nine:

I'll Watch Out For You

Practice seemed to take forever to Sakuno but when it was finally over, she wished it would go on just a little longer. If she knew Tezuka at all, she knew that their first practice session would be tonight. She went off the ice with everyone else, but while they all went to the lockers to change, Sakuno sat on the bleachers waiting for someone to tell her what to do.

She felt someones hand on her shoulder and she jumped, turning to look at Eiji who was grinning at her. "Don't let him practice you to death, Sa-chan! He almost always did that to us in Tennis." He teased. Makoto beside him, nodding in agreement, even though he was never on a tennis team. She smiled as calmly as she could to the both of them, and agreed to make sure that Tezuka wouldn't accidentally put her six feet under because of to much practice and waved bye to them when they finally left her side.

She sat patiently again, waiting for Tezuka. She figured he'd be out soon as almost everyone on the team were gone from the rink except a few stragglers.

"Knew I was better than you." Sakuno blinked at the voice. It was Shimizu, and her arms were crossed over her chest and her skates were thrown over her shoulders carelessly, but well enough that the blades wouldn't hurt her. Sakuno swallowed, but nodded to the other girl.

"Y-yes. I suppose...so?" Sakuno was lost to whatever it was that Shimizu was talking about...and what did Sakuno care if Shimizu was better than her or not?

"You stumbled on a simple camel turn-" Shimizu started. Sakuno, though still timid, decided to put in her part of the story whether Shimizu liked it or not.

"I never did that turn before. I never needed to. I think that doing that for the first time with no instruction is pretty good."

Shimizu snorted. "Please." And with that, she to left the rink, leaving Sakuno lost and confused, wondering what it was that just happened.

"Ready?" Tezuka asked. Finally, Tezuka was here and Sakuno stood up, wringing her hands.

"As ready as I'll ever be." She smiled at him nervously. He nodded and motioned her to the rink.

He led her to the center of the rink and turned to face her.

"Have you ever skated in pairs before?"

"No."

"Have you been formally trained in skating?"

"No."

"You pick up on new tricks quick?"

"Y-yes."

He nodded and held out his hand. Sakuno stared at it for a few moments before looking him in the eyes. She looked back down to it and placed her hand in his. They stood like that a little while but then he pulled her to him and she collided into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and they stood like that for a while. Sakuno blinked and looked up at him.

"Um...what was that for?" She asked, trying not to pay attention to his warmth as she leaned on his torso for support. He looked down at her and she felt her breath catch at how close their faces were. She wasn't sure if he was feeling anything or not but she decided it was probably a thought that she not dwell on.

"You need to get used to being around me. It's the first step into making this work." He told her. He let go of her and took a few steps back. He then inspected her from her skates to the top of his head. "How much do you weigh?" He asked. Sakuno was taken back abruptly.

"W-what?!" She practically screeched. To be fair, Sakuno is a very sweet girl and everyone knows this. It's also fair to acknowledge that a girl's weight is just not an area that a boy should get into...or anyone really. The girl usually didn't even like being there.

"Your weight. I need to know. I'm going to be lifting you around me and above my head in less than two months. I'd like to know how much that is."

Sakuno swallowed and while she didn't like it, answered anyway.

"Erm...I dunno. Around 120 lbs. (1)." She whispered, seriously not wanting to say it. He nodded though, not noticing anything out of the ordinary.

"Alright...that'll work."

Sakuno put her hands on her hips and wanted to ask what he meant by that but he didn't give her a chance to start. He grabbed her hands again and once again just left them there. Sakuno was lost as to what she was supposed to be doing and told him as such.

"Feel it. My hands. Whatever you get from them, think it, feel it, know it." He told her stiffly. Sakuno thought that he was repeating something that someone else once told him. She did however try what he wanted her to.

She looked down at their hands. His were now basically enveloping hers gently. His fingers were long and his hands on a whole were completely calloused from years of intense training. His skin was warm, much warmer than hers.

"...me." He let go of her hands after that and took a step back.

Sakuno looked up at him confused. "Excuse me?" She asked him.

"Hug me." He was stiff and she could tell uncomfortable, but it was hard to pick up on. She was about to ask him why again but figured it was the same reason that they held hands. She also wondered why he didn't just pull her into a hug like before but she also figured the answer to that on her own pretty quickly. He isn't exactly a person to initiate a hug, she thought to herself, and perhaps he's trying to get me to do some of the work.

Sakuno was someone who hugged others, though. She opened her arms and carefully wrapped them around his neck and held on.

"I'm going to skate backwards, alright? I'm going to take you with me."

"A-alright."

They skated backwards, and stopped again. "Okay," He said, "Now I'm going to skate forward, and you're going to skate backwards."

And for the rest of their personal practice, they did this. Switching between who goes forward, who goes backwards, holding each other, and just getting used to each other.

They started to spin while holding onto each other when Sakuno tripped. She tried to correct herself and not fall on Tezuka but didn't quite succeed with the correction so while she wasn't going to bring Tezuka down with her, she was still going to fall onto the ice. As she braced herself for impact, she felt two arms circle her and grab on, stopping her descent. She looked up at him with a blush and started to apologize but he wouldn't let her.

"It doesn't matter. Just know that I'm on the ice with you. I'll do what I can to watch out for you, okay?" He asked her. She nodded and he straightened them both up. "That should be enough for today." He said, once they were both on their feet. Sakuno nodded and Tezuka started to leave the rink, she stopped him with her voice.

"Tezuka?" She said, her voice sounding scared. He didn't turn around but he did stop and cock his head to show he acknowledged her. "And I'll watch out for you too, okay?" That prompted him to actually turn and look at her. Sakuno ducked her head, feeling silly about what she just said to him. It wasn't until she felt his fingers on her chin that she realized he moved from his spot.

"That's right."

-fin chapter-

(1) – I am AMERICAN!! ...and I'm terrible at figuring out what that would be in kilos or whatever it would be...stones? Isn't that another one? Oh well.