Chapter Two
-------------------
Hearing a loud crack, Wufei only had time to look up before a tree branch and something only a
bit softer, sent him onto his back.
"Oh, I'm sorry," a voice mumbled into his ear.
Regaining his focus, Wufei found himself looking into large and startled eyes, the color of the
sky just after sunset.
'They even have a shimmer to them like the stars at dusk,' he thought as he felt the girl shift
to get off of him.
With the girl off, he struggled to get rid of the tree branch.
"Here I'll help."
Grabbing an end, she picked up part of it, allowing him to move from under it.
"I'm Hilde." Sticking out her hand she smiled; it was a rather sheepish smile, and he wasn't sure
if her cheeks were red from embarrassment or the cold. Shaking her gloved hand, he decided it was
a bit of both.
"Wufei," he replied simply.
She just stared inquisitively at him.
'What does she want me to say?' he wondered releasing her hand while hoping his irritation did
not show.
Grabbing part of the branch, Wufei moved it off of the ice so it would not be in the way of his
skating.
"You're not mad?" she asked his back, her voice though friendly held a tone to it that he knew if
he did not answer the question right meant he would have to deal with a defensive female.
He would have rather not answer, but that would mean having an angry female on his hands.
Wufei wanted her gone, but if he got her mad she mite stick around to pout.
"I've had worse happen to me." he settled on as an answer.
In truth, he was mad, not for having the wind knocked out of him for a minute or the branch that
had left a bruise that was already starting to throb on his face. But because of the fact that
someone had seen him. He valued his alone time and privacy, and this girl was intruding.
What was worse, she did not seem to be in any hurry to leave.
"I saw you skating, you're...Uhm, fast." She said politely.
She picked up a backpack from the ground that he had not even noticed until now.
She appeared to struggle with a thought for a while.
'What now?' he asked himself hoping it would not be -
"Would you mind if I skated here too?"
'But of course, it would be the one thing I didn't want,' he thought as he tried for a not too
hotty yes. Even though Sally was not around to point out any uncalled for rudeness, in the past
year Wufei had been trying to learn some better manners.
Looking at Hilde to give his answer, he found it was too late. She had spotted a log and had
started to take off hiking boots and trade them for ice skates, a rather fancy pair too.
Deciding it best to just ignore her and go on skating, he picked up his hat, put it back on, and
started skating again.
It was so refreshing, his exposed skin brushed by the cold air now turned light breeze. As he
sped back and forth, with no destination, just enjoying the feel of motion gave him a since of
freedom that he found lacking when in any other activity.
Here there were no rules, no attempts to please other people, no fighting with his own emotions
and thoughts. It was just him, his skates, the ice, and a scenery that shielded him from prying
eyes.
That's when he felt it. He just knew Hilde was watching him. And he did not like that one bit.
As he did a figure eight, he pictured her larger then life eyes tracing over him. Looking up to
see for himself how accurate the image was, he saw she was still sitting on the log, and unlike
the image in his head, she looked sad... and.... 'Scared?' he thought skating away. Turning to
skate backwards, he gazed at her.
She was now looking down at her skates, hands on either side of her holding onto the log for dear
life, and her shoulders hunched.
'Why would she be afraid of me?'
Sure Sally openly told him all the time that he was hard to approach, and he knew he could be
hard on others, but he did not think he had done anything to scare her.
'I can't skate like this,' he thought frustrated with her presence; but annoyed with himself for
doing whatever it was that had her so upset. He came here just to be away from others, and the
last thing he wanted was to try and comfort some girl because he startled her or some such
nonsense.
Turning to face away from her he tried to forget her existence.
The cold air was the same as before, but it was not having the same effect.
Instead of having his mind cleared of all worries and stress from work, his thoughts jumped back
and forth from the girl on the log and the chewing out Sally would give him if she were here.
'But if she were here Sally could take care of Hilde,' he thought as his frustration built up.
A year or so ago he would have shrugged Hilde's presence off or found some way to get rid of her,
but after becoming somewhat more sociable, he did not like being responsible for hurting someone.
As he fallowed the curve of the ice he found hisself heading back.
Hilde was still on the log, her shoulders shaking.
'Crying?' He wondered.
Why could he not just enjoy a day of skating? Shrugging he sped up a little to get back to her
faster, and get it over with.
Wufei ran through his mind all of their exchange and wondered what he had done. Not coming up
with anything, the girl's presence just become more of a nuisance.
Thinking back to how she had waited for something while he had moved the branch, he wondered if
she thought he was hurt.
"I'm not hurt," he said simply stopping in front of her.
Hilde looked up, with a blank face, tears making her eyes glisten.
'So that wasn't it,' Wufei thought feeling like kicking himself.
"I didn't think you were" Hilde informed him.
Skating away backwards, Wufei tried closing the matter gracefully. "You didn't look like you
believed me."
"Well I did," Hilde said back, a puzzled look on her face causing her to wrinkle her forehead
and squint her eyes.
"Then why aren't you skating?" Wufei inquired looking down at her skates already on her feet.
She shrugged, "I'm just not ready yet."
"You look ready to me, but too scared to try," Wufei said as another reason for her not skating
came to mind. Maybe she was too embarrassed to skate in front of him.
"You're not doing it right, so how would you know if I'm ready?!" Hilde's husky voice retorted
with a huff.
Moving to stand right in front of her, he tried to keep his temper under control. "What are you
talking about?" Wufei's demand came out a bit more curtly than he intended it too. "I was never
told there's a right or wrong way to skate."
Hilde still sat on the log, but she was leaning forward with eyes flashing. "Your form, it's not
as smooth as it should be." She lifted her chin a little as though daring him to mock her again.
He didn't disappoint her.
"Then get off of your royal butt and show me how my form should be," Wufei's voice demanded.
~
Hilde stood up immediately ready to answer his challenge with all the grace of a queen. However,
she fell and landed on her butt.
'He's laughing at me!' Hilde thought as her temper rose at the sound of Wufei's chuckles.
'The... the buffoon!' she angrily got to her feet. 'He wouldn't know how to do a triple axle if
his life depended on it,' she thought ignoring the fact that the same could be said of her and
be true.
Just as she was getting to her feet, she lost her balance again, "Aaahhhh!"
"Not in my ear," Wufei said as he caught her and tried to help. "You can't even skate and were
trying to tell me my form was wrong." He did not even bother hiding his displeasure.
Feeling his warm breath on her cold cheek, Hilde gripped his arm.
"I was only repeating what Grandfather would have said," she defended herself rather lamely.
A memory, her gruff grandfather instructing hopeful teens while they worshipped her mother,
flickered across her mind as she leaned on Wufei's arm to regain her balance.
The unexpected movement of Wufei letting go and moving away startled her. Acting without thought,
her grip on his arm became stronger, and she tried moving towards him.
"Hey le-" she heard him say before both of them were sprawled on the ice. This time him on top of
her.
-------------------
Hearing a loud crack, Wufei only had time to look up before a tree branch and something only a
bit softer, sent him onto his back.
"Oh, I'm sorry," a voice mumbled into his ear.
Regaining his focus, Wufei found himself looking into large and startled eyes, the color of the
sky just after sunset.
'They even have a shimmer to them like the stars at dusk,' he thought as he felt the girl shift
to get off of him.
With the girl off, he struggled to get rid of the tree branch.
"Here I'll help."
Grabbing an end, she picked up part of it, allowing him to move from under it.
"I'm Hilde." Sticking out her hand she smiled; it was a rather sheepish smile, and he wasn't sure
if her cheeks were red from embarrassment or the cold. Shaking her gloved hand, he decided it was
a bit of both.
"Wufei," he replied simply.
She just stared inquisitively at him.
'What does she want me to say?' he wondered releasing her hand while hoping his irritation did
not show.
Grabbing part of the branch, Wufei moved it off of the ice so it would not be in the way of his
skating.
"You're not mad?" she asked his back, her voice though friendly held a tone to it that he knew if
he did not answer the question right meant he would have to deal with a defensive female.
He would have rather not answer, but that would mean having an angry female on his hands.
Wufei wanted her gone, but if he got her mad she mite stick around to pout.
"I've had worse happen to me." he settled on as an answer.
In truth, he was mad, not for having the wind knocked out of him for a minute or the branch that
had left a bruise that was already starting to throb on his face. But because of the fact that
someone had seen him. He valued his alone time and privacy, and this girl was intruding.
What was worse, she did not seem to be in any hurry to leave.
"I saw you skating, you're...Uhm, fast." She said politely.
She picked up a backpack from the ground that he had not even noticed until now.
She appeared to struggle with a thought for a while.
'What now?' he asked himself hoping it would not be -
"Would you mind if I skated here too?"
'But of course, it would be the one thing I didn't want,' he thought as he tried for a not too
hotty yes. Even though Sally was not around to point out any uncalled for rudeness, in the past
year Wufei had been trying to learn some better manners.
Looking at Hilde to give his answer, he found it was too late. She had spotted a log and had
started to take off hiking boots and trade them for ice skates, a rather fancy pair too.
Deciding it best to just ignore her and go on skating, he picked up his hat, put it back on, and
started skating again.
It was so refreshing, his exposed skin brushed by the cold air now turned light breeze. As he
sped back and forth, with no destination, just enjoying the feel of motion gave him a since of
freedom that he found lacking when in any other activity.
Here there were no rules, no attempts to please other people, no fighting with his own emotions
and thoughts. It was just him, his skates, the ice, and a scenery that shielded him from prying
eyes.
That's when he felt it. He just knew Hilde was watching him. And he did not like that one bit.
As he did a figure eight, he pictured her larger then life eyes tracing over him. Looking up to
see for himself how accurate the image was, he saw she was still sitting on the log, and unlike
the image in his head, she looked sad... and.... 'Scared?' he thought skating away. Turning to
skate backwards, he gazed at her.
She was now looking down at her skates, hands on either side of her holding onto the log for dear
life, and her shoulders hunched.
'Why would she be afraid of me?'
Sure Sally openly told him all the time that he was hard to approach, and he knew he could be
hard on others, but he did not think he had done anything to scare her.
'I can't skate like this,' he thought frustrated with her presence; but annoyed with himself for
doing whatever it was that had her so upset. He came here just to be away from others, and the
last thing he wanted was to try and comfort some girl because he startled her or some such
nonsense.
Turning to face away from her he tried to forget her existence.
The cold air was the same as before, but it was not having the same effect.
Instead of having his mind cleared of all worries and stress from work, his thoughts jumped back
and forth from the girl on the log and the chewing out Sally would give him if she were here.
'But if she were here Sally could take care of Hilde,' he thought as his frustration built up.
A year or so ago he would have shrugged Hilde's presence off or found some way to get rid of her,
but after becoming somewhat more sociable, he did not like being responsible for hurting someone.
As he fallowed the curve of the ice he found hisself heading back.
Hilde was still on the log, her shoulders shaking.
'Crying?' He wondered.
Why could he not just enjoy a day of skating? Shrugging he sped up a little to get back to her
faster, and get it over with.
Wufei ran through his mind all of their exchange and wondered what he had done. Not coming up
with anything, the girl's presence just become more of a nuisance.
Thinking back to how she had waited for something while he had moved the branch, he wondered if
she thought he was hurt.
"I'm not hurt," he said simply stopping in front of her.
Hilde looked up, with a blank face, tears making her eyes glisten.
'So that wasn't it,' Wufei thought feeling like kicking himself.
"I didn't think you were" Hilde informed him.
Skating away backwards, Wufei tried closing the matter gracefully. "You didn't look like you
believed me."
"Well I did," Hilde said back, a puzzled look on her face causing her to wrinkle her forehead
and squint her eyes.
"Then why aren't you skating?" Wufei inquired looking down at her skates already on her feet.
She shrugged, "I'm just not ready yet."
"You look ready to me, but too scared to try," Wufei said as another reason for her not skating
came to mind. Maybe she was too embarrassed to skate in front of him.
"You're not doing it right, so how would you know if I'm ready?!" Hilde's husky voice retorted
with a huff.
Moving to stand right in front of her, he tried to keep his temper under control. "What are you
talking about?" Wufei's demand came out a bit more curtly than he intended it too. "I was never
told there's a right or wrong way to skate."
Hilde still sat on the log, but she was leaning forward with eyes flashing. "Your form, it's not
as smooth as it should be." She lifted her chin a little as though daring him to mock her again.
He didn't disappoint her.
"Then get off of your royal butt and show me how my form should be," Wufei's voice demanded.
~
Hilde stood up immediately ready to answer his challenge with all the grace of a queen. However,
she fell and landed on her butt.
'He's laughing at me!' Hilde thought as her temper rose at the sound of Wufei's chuckles.
'The... the buffoon!' she angrily got to her feet. 'He wouldn't know how to do a triple axle if
his life depended on it,' she thought ignoring the fact that the same could be said of her and
be true.
Just as she was getting to her feet, she lost her balance again, "Aaahhhh!"
"Not in my ear," Wufei said as he caught her and tried to help. "You can't even skate and were
trying to tell me my form was wrong." He did not even bother hiding his displeasure.
Feeling his warm breath on her cold cheek, Hilde gripped his arm.
"I was only repeating what Grandfather would have said," she defended herself rather lamely.
A memory, her gruff grandfather instructing hopeful teens while they worshipped her mother,
flickered across her mind as she leaned on Wufei's arm to regain her balance.
The unexpected movement of Wufei letting go and moving away startled her. Acting without thought,
her grip on his arm became stronger, and she tried moving towards him.
"Hey le-" she heard him say before both of them were sprawled on the ice. This time him on top of
her.