Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters…
Pirika slowly did her chores. She was quite happy that she didn't feel so scared around Ren anymore. She felt so free and so happy. She hummed a familiar lullaby and did the dishes. She caught some movement outside in the window. She bent over the sink and looked outside with wonder. A grin appeared on her face as she saw Ren out practicing. 'Guess some things doesn't change.' Pirika thought in her head as she watched him move with force and grace. She finished up the dishes and put on her coat. She needed to buy some groceries. And walked out the backdoor, leading to the yard where the young Tao was practicing. She closed the door and turned around and came face to face with the deadly end of his kwan dao. Pirika didn't scream, but she let out a gasp. Ren, hearing and seeing who had interrupted him, quickly withdrew it. Pirika let out a sigh of relief.
"Uh…sorry." Ren muttered as he withdrew his weapon.
"It's alright." Pirika said with a smile and headed out the yard.
"Where are you going?" Ren asked subconsciously. She turned to him, kind of embarrassed that the question coming out of his mouth.
"I'm going to the village to go get some groceries." Pirika said innocently. She continued walking, but paused and turned around. "Do you want to come along?" she asked shyly. Ren blushed at the sudden question. 'Maybe as her bodyguard…' Ren thought and convinced himself that it was nothing else. He nodded and Pirika smiled timidly. Together, they took the snowy path heading to the village.
Pirika walked along, kind of bummed that it's such a silent journey. But to fill up that space, she looked about in her surroundings. Such crisp white snow…such beauty. She stopped walking as she turned to see a field filled with a fresh coat of snow. Ren looked on her face, on her beaming face. 'She must've gotten over you already…' Ren thought sadly, as he noticed her friendliness returning.
"Why are we stopping?" Ren asked, kind of clueless on what the Ainu girl was looking at.
"Look." She said dreamily as she pointed to the field.
"It's snow." Ren pointed out.
"Nice of you to point out the obvious." Pirika said teasingly. "Onii-chan and I used to go up that hill and snowboard. Have you ever played in the snow?" Pirika asked Ren.
"No. Who would waste their precious-" Ren began smugly but was interrupted as he felt cold wetness fall splat on his face. He wiped it away and saw a playful Pirika standing in front of him with cupped hands.
"What did you do that for!" Ren shouted angrily. Pirika let out a giggle and picked up more snow.
"Why, Mr. Hothead needs to cool down a bit." Pirika said and threw the snowball she formed and ran through the field. It hit him splat on the chest. Seeing the playful Pirika in action, he couldn't help but smirk. He too picked up snow and began to form a ball.
"Ooohohoho, you're so going to pay for that!" Ren shouted and threw the snowball. It hit her on the back, but she continued to run. They continued throwing snow around until they were soaking wet. Ren got really frustrated after missing her three times in a row. 'For a girl, she's pretty good at dodging…but not for long.' Ren thought to himself. He raced after her, no longer throwing snowballs. He plans to tackle her and then start torturing her. No one has ever dared to throw something at Ren Tao before. Pirika may be good at dodging, but she isn't good at racing. As soon as Ren was a few feet away from her, he pounced in on his prey.
"Prepare your doom, Ms. Usui!" Ren said victoriously and grabbed onto her coat. But she tripped; she wasn't paying attention where the heck she was running to as long as she was out of the way of Ren's wrath. Fortunately, Ren caught hold of Pirika; unfortunately, they both started tumbling downhill.
"Ah!" Pirika let out playful giggles. They finally stopped tumbling at the end of the hill in a rather uncomfortable position.
"Hahahaha…that was so much fun!" Pirika squealed. Ren was on top of her, and he smirked after learning his position. He grabbed a handful of snow and brought it close to Pirika's face, threatening to let go of all the fluffy whiteness.
"Ooh no!" Pirika cried. "Ren-kun, get off of me!"
"After what you did to me? Not likely." Ren said as he basically sat on her. She squirmed to try to wiggle herself out, but it was in vain.
"Reeenn-kuuunn!" Pirika begged childishly. Ren let out a chuckle.
"Nope, I'm getting too comfortable." Ren said teasingly. Pirika, determined to get out of here, began to gather snow into her hands. Ren seeing this released the snow in his hands and let it lop on her face. Pirika gaped and spit out the snow on her mouth. Ren finally got up and extended a hand to help her up.
"Well, I see you two were having fun." A familiar voice approached. It was Horo Horo and Tamao on his back, quickly approaching on his snowboard.
"Onii-chan, Tamao-chan! Shouldn't you be in bed?" Pirika said cheerfully.
"Well, yeah, if a certain two people would've left a note, telling us where the heck they went!" Horo Horo said as he expressed his concern of his sister's whereabouts, especially since Ren was mysteriously missing too.
"Oh, sorry Onii-chan. We went to buy groceries." Pirika said. Horo Horo looked around them mockingly.
"Where are the groceries?" Horo Horo asked his sister, teasing her.
"Um…we sort of got sidetracked." Pirika said shyly.
"Ooohh…" Horo Horo said as he eyes the two. An evil smirk appeared on his face. Ren, catching this, became quite flushed.
"What!" Ren asked as he narrowed his eyes. Seeing another inevitable argument between the two, she grabbed Tamao and headed to the village.
"Men." Pirika said as she walked off. Realizing the girls were gone, the boys postponed their fight for later and ran to catch up with the girls.
As the girls lulled around, chattering quietly to themselves as the passed the stands in the village, the boys were a few steps behind, but they were sending glares back and forth.