Shizuru's fingers twitched, and her arms and legs tried to fight the hot, sweaty blankets smothering her chest. "Hot," Shizuru wheezed, her lungs struggling for more air. No sooner had the word escaped her lips, the blankets felt lighter and breathing became much easier. The older woman cooed in appreciation when a cool damp cloth dabbed at her forehead. Feeling more comfortable, Shizuru felt her mind try to drift back to sleep.
"You scared me half to death, you know?"
Shizuru's encrusted eye lids fought to open, "Natsuki?"
The damp cloth dabbed over Shizuru's eyes enough to help reveal the curious looking rubies underneath. " 'suki!" Shizuru tried to lift a lead arm to reach for the blunette's face, but dropped it quickly from the exertion. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better." Natsuki took the weak arm and brought it to her lips. Shizuru frowned and tried to pull away, "Wait."
"No," Natsuki kissed the top of Shizuru's wrist, "We've waited long enough."
"Natsuki," Shizuru's voice rose and wavered.
"Sh sh, it's alright this time. I promise. I've got something to tell you."
Shizuru relaxed against the pillows and nodded.
"…I'm sorry. You've gone through so much and-"
"Thank the gods, you're awake!"
Reito rushed into the room and crumpled at Shizuru's side, letting tears flow unbarred from his eyes. "Do you know how worried we were? Worried sick, I tell you!"
"Reito…too…tight…"
"Right. Right. Sorry. Sorry. I'm just…" Reito threw his hands up and shook his head. Shizuru and Natsuki looked at each other before giggling at their poor distraught friend. "Shizuru, what happened out there? How did you survive for so long? We kept trying to call-" Reito choked on his tears, and took out a handkerchief to dry his eyes. Shizuru couldn't help but laugh out loud when she recognized the brightly colored, green bananas. "You remember this, huh? Friends at work call me "Banana Man", it's so uncool. But I'm never a day without it. But seriously, what happened?"
Shizuru darted her gaze between Reito and Natsuki. "Erm…well, after Natsuki left," Shizuru kept her eyes on her dry hands. "I saw the snow coming in really heavy the next day. I made sure to chop up extra wood before I was completely snowed in. I didn't really keep track of the days, and finished the manuscript," Shizuru gasped. "The manuscript! Reito, I'm sorry, it must be still in the cabin-"
"I don't care about your damn manuscript." Reito said with an exasperated hand gesture. "You're way ahead of schedule anyway. We'll have time to get it when the snow melts. Tell me what happened!"
"Alright, alright. Stop yelling at me. Um, let's see, oh yes, I finished the manuscript, but I was running out of logs and lighter fluid. I was trying to ration out the last of my supply, and used as many blankets and coverings as I could to keep warm, but I started getting really sleepy. When it was time to use the last log, I was too tired to move anymore. Next thing I know, I woke up here."
Reito and Natsuki stayed with Shizuru for as long as the nurse allowed them to stay. The pair came back the following day and would have returned the day after that had Shizuru not chastised Reito about making sure that Kiyohime was okay everyday and not whenever he went back to feed her. Sulking Reito announced he was going to stay with "the snake", and impatiently wait for Shizuru to come home. Natsuki laughed when Shizuru threw the empty hospital cup at his perfectly coifed hair.
"Natsuki?"
"Hm?"
Shizuru fiddled with her bed sheets, "You wanted to tell me something?"
Natsuki blushed and stared down at the hospital sheets too, "Yeah."
Shizuru waited for Natsuki's own time to speak, though her fingers itched to tuck the blunette's hair behind her ear.
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I left you out there when I should've been with you. I knew it was dangerous, but I was so scared and I didn't want to mess up your work-"
"It's okay, Natsuki. I'm okay now and-"
"It's not okay." Natsuki snapped.
Shizuru's smile dissolved and Natsuki took a deep breath and counted to five.
"It's not okay, but that's not the only thing. Shizuru," Natsuki gathered Shizuru's hands inside hers, "I had already forgiven you before we left for the cabin."
Shizuru's eyes widened, but allowed for Natsuki to continue.
"I know about everything. That you told Reito. Why you don't fix your study. But Shizuru I've forgiven you and I-" Natsuki swallowed hard. Natsuki stared into Shizuru's glittering eyes, the blunette watched on as Shizuru's chest heaved, she felt Shizuru's hands go lax.
"I want to stay as your assistant."
Shizuru head felt lighter than a feather, a huge grin painted her face and no matter how much the tan- headed woman wanted to hide it, couldn't bring it down even though she tried. "Of course. Of course, you can stay."
Natsuki grinned back and fervently placed kisses on Shizuru's hands. "Besides," Shizuru rolled her eyes and huffed, "Since I've finished the last manuscript, we can start working on the next one. Too bad it's holed up in the cabin. I hate starting a project without officially closing the last one. What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Natsuki dropped Shizuru's hands in favor of rummaging through the bag she'd brought with her. "I brought it with me when we were bringing you back down the mountain."
"Oh, Natsuki! Thank you! Thank you! And it's not the least bit damaged. You are definitely the best assistant I've ever had the pleasure of working with. Thank you."
Shizuru thumbed through a few pages before feeling satisfied that it was all there. Laying a hand over the stack, Shizuru caught Natsuki's eye, chewed her lip then ventured to ask, "Is it still too soon to say 'I love you'?"
Shizuru was about to apologize when Natsuki rose, but the blunette rose to place a full kiss on the older woman's lips.
"Not at all."
A/N: Hello! And goodbye? It feels good to finally put this story to rest. While I don't have any plans for anything new, I do see myself coming back to drop some goodies from time to time. Thank you to everyone who has seen everything up to this point, I really appreciate you.