"How long is it going to take for the publisher to get here? I'm freezing!"

"I know he'll be here soon- Ah! See? There's his car now."

Natsuki recognized the kind of car that rolled up the narrow alley in front of Shizuru's home. It was the kind of dark city car that whispered, "Money."

Although Natsuki expected the type of person to step out of the city car, she definitely was not expecting to actually recognize the driver. "Reito?"

"Natsuki…I wasn't sure if that was really you when I got closer to the house. I'm glad to see that you're looking well."

Shizuru picked at the flowers surrounding her front yard. "Ah, Reito, you're here. Great. Kiyo's already been fed, but I've kept the crickets in the cabinet beneath her tank. You'll be needing fresh mice every couple days, so, I've left some money by the crickets that will hopefully last until we get back."

Natsuki couldn't help the snort that escaped her nose when she watched a fully grown man pale, grimace and shiver all at once. "Every time I run out, you owe me. If she bites me, you owe me. And at the end of all of this-"

"Yes, I know Reito, I owe you."

Reito gave a stiff nod and crossed his arms over his chest. "You'd both best be going then. It's colder than if Hell froze over out here, and snow might be coming in later today according to the weather reports. Besides," Reito pushed passed the two women to scurry into the heated home, "the fast you leave the faster you come back. Good to see you again, Natsuki."

The women giggled, and climbed into the car to begin their journey into the mountains.

Natsuki was surprised to see just how secluded this cabin was when the two women were dropped off at a local snow mobile rental shop. "I assume you'll be able to ride?"

Natsuki had already hopped on a mobile painted with Duran's colors. "My question is, will you be able to handle a sled? We have too many things for one sled to carry."

"It shouldn't be too hard."

Fortunately, Natsuki was right.

The hard part, though, was making sure the blunette had enough patience along the ride up the mountain. Shizuru was the only one to know the way and the two women had to stop every so often because the older woman, as forward thinking and shrewd as she was, placed bright orange markers on the trees.

They were both cold, aching and wet when they reached a small western looking cabin. Natsuki's temper had risen from discomfort and hunger, but the mist shrouding the quaint abode felt promising. "Let's get the fire started before we do anything else."

Natsuki entered the cabin with a bundle of logs and felt like she was back at home. The cabin looked just like Shizuru's study, stacks of books, a typewriter, paper, ink, but was happy to find that it didn't let in the terrible draft outside.

Settling into their temporary cabin life, Natsuki warmed her feet by the fire, Shizuru doing the same on the seat beside. "Why do you do this to yourself for every final revision? This is awful and uncomfortable," Natsuki grumbled in time with her stomach.

"Because," Shizuru rummaged in the nearby pack for beef jerky, "after spending some time in the onsen I feel like I'm reading my book as a new person, not as an author who's been working on it for a few months. It's fresh, and it makes it easier to notice mistakes and/or make edits to perfect the story."

"Why can't you go to a commercial hot spring instead of literally trekking the snow to get here?"

Shizuru rubbed her hands over her arms vigorously before getting up to begin unpacking.

"I've tried. I didn't like the noise when sharing the water with other women."

Natsuki's heart grew prickly at the thought of Shizuru speaking to other women. "Oh, right. I…I suppose that makes sense. Sheesh, it's so cold. The fire barely helps!"

"I didn't ask you to come with me, Natsuki."

Natsuki stopped blowing warm air into her hands long enough to stare at Shizuru's measured stare.

"Indeed, you didn't."

Shizuru sighed then went to keep pulling things out of their packs, but now both women knew the tone that was set for the rest of their stay.

This is going to be a long final revision. Shizuru thought when offering Natsuki a hand heating pack, though the blunette refused it.

"No, if you put that in the fire, it will cause a lot of smoke in the house."

"But it's cold! What else do you put in a fire if not wood?"

Shizuru massaged her temples. In the last week of being bound to a house in the middle of snow, sleet and trees, neither Shizuru or Natsuki really considered how little they would get a long when there was nothing else to do than keep warm and finish a book. "Fine. Put the log in the fire, but make sure that the flue is all the way open and to leave some windows open just a tad-"

"Are you out of your mind? Why would I open the windows when the wind could blow in more cold air?"

"Just do it your way then! Tch. I'm going to get in the hot spring. Keep an eye on the fire at least."

Natsuki shook her head and mumbled about idiots who'll die getting naked and sitting in water in this weather. Truth be told, Natsuki had been listening a little too much to the satellite radio recently, and had the misfortune of hearing several weather reporters claim that this is one of the biggest winter storms in the history of Japan, and Natsuki was not glad to be a sitting duck within it.

Within minutes of adding a fourth log, Natsuki's throat tickled and her eyes burned. The smoke swirled around the room trying to find air of its own. Coughing and hacking her way around the cabin, Natsuki opened the windows as wide as they could go, but only on the side of the cabin opposite of the hot spring.

Sighing, Natsuki got bored of tending to the fire, and was tempted to eat more of their rations, but knew better. Once the air had dissipated, Natsuki walked around the small cabin for the umpteenth time. Finding her feet track her back into the kitchenette, Natsuki heaved another large sigh. The blunette's ear perked up at the sound of splashing outside. Walking in the direction of the back door, Natsuki shrugged, "When in Rome, do as the Romans."


A/N: Hey all! Hope you're having a wonderful week! Remember, even when it's hard, I'm still rooting for you 3