Word Count: 264
E is for Escape
"Chidori, this way!"
"I can't believe you got me into another mess!" she yelled as three guards rounded the corner behind them.
"Hurry!" Sousuke ordered, tugging her behind him and around another turn, jumping over a rail and onto the pavilion below, running along the wall and stopping at a thick, potted growth. "Hide here," he said pulling her in and stomach-down in the dirt. She wanted to scream at him for ruining her new outfit, but security came charging up just then and both froze in silence. Her only way of punishing him now was by pointedly ignore him, so she glared at everything in sight but him.
And then she saw their hands.
When it had become clear they were in trouble, Sousuke had grabbed her hand and led the escape. As a result she'd been jerked, dragged, stretched, and yanked all over the premises. But he never let go. And now, with their pursuers so near, his hand closed a little closer around hers.
And after a moment, she squeezed back.
The guards left, and Sousuke had them back on their feet and sprinting towards the exit.
"You know," she told him, her voice more tolerant than before, "if you would just stop pointing your gun at everyone, we wouldn't have this problem."
"I thought he was spying on you."
"He was a sales clerk."
"Never underestimate the enemy."
"Ugh, sometimes I swear—"
A mall security guard suddenly appeared in their path. "I've found them! They're cutting across the food court!"
"Chidori!"
"Yeah, yeah. I know."
Holding tightly, they ran.
-owari