Some time in Japan
They were lost.
He'd realized that a few hours ago, but for the sake of his companion, he had said nothing. Now, because of what he of course chalked up to his own carelessness, she was unconscious, freezing, and in his arms. Under nearly any other circumstances, this last fact would have been cause for celebration, but when he thought about why he'd picked her up out of the snow, not to mention the fact that he was losing strength fast. Cursing under his breath, he trudged forward, ever searching the white landscape for any sort of shelter, trying not to think of how he hadn't seen anything in the last several hours since he had started searching.
Kami-sama please, he prayed, let us find shelter quickly, if only for her sake… Suddenly, as if in some sort of twisted answer to his silent prayer, the biting wind got colder, swirling around the desperate man and his prone companion, forcing him to hold her closer as he ducked his head and closed his eyes in an attempt to wait out what he hoped was merely a gust of wind before pushing onward, towards... well... something. At least, he hoped there'd be something.
Please Kami… Almost as quickly as it had begun, the swirling wind subsided, and he opened his eyes to find… A cabin? That wasn't there before, that it was not...
As he pondered this curious oddity, he simultaneously thanked Kami for answering his prayer. With what little strength he had left, he staggered to the cabin, keeping close watch over his precious burden, and made his way up the step leading to the door that he hoped would lead to their salvation. Throwing the door open with one hand, while holding the woman with his other, he could see that a small fire had been started by one of the two figures in the center of the room. Squinting to make the blurred forms come together, he uttered a single, confused, curious, and utterly exhausted "Oro…"