AN: Hi everyone! Caught writer's block. This is roughly 1,936 words and was posted on Wednesday, April 15, 2020. Please read and review. Thank you to all who have. Happy reading!
Ninth Skate:
The Decision
Minami's POV
I woke up feeling extra energetic on the morning of February 24. I got a message from Guang Hong Ji last night telling me that they made it to Hasetsu okay. The message also said that they're coming get me today, but until then I followed the routine that me and Haru-chan developed. I took the bathroom first before knocking on her door when I was done to wake her up. It was only 5 a.m. but Haru doesn't like sleeping in much. I went back to my room, after hearing her confirm that she was in fact awake, to brush and style my hair, make sure I got everything for skating and ballet practice, and grab my laptop. My self proclaimed imōto-chan knocked on my door telling me that it was safe to go to her room where we did a few stretches before we checked for any funny videos online.
After breakfast those that go to the rink were allowed to leave. The walk there once again turned into a race, but hey it was fun. Even though Kimura-kouhai has definitely gotta be cheating to win almost every day, imōto-chan beats him sometimes though. We were greeted by Yuko-sensei as we switched into our skates in the locker room. A quick group warm up and then I took Haruhi to one side of the ice while Yuko-sensei dealt with the rest of the class on the other side.
It's fun getting to train imōto-chan all by myself. She's such a great skater. I hope she'd be allowed to do competition!...
When she's old enough that is. And only if she wants to, no point in competing if you don't have the ambition to win right? Anyway we were practicing the double salchow while everyone else was working on how to jump in skates at all when they walked in, skates in hand, ready to get back on the ice. It was amazing to see my idols and soon to be family here.
"Hi Yuuri!," Yuko-sensei said cheerfully skating to the edge. All of mine and Haru's skating friends have stopped to see the top three figure skaters in the world, even I did, but Haru just took the opportunity to perform a spread-eagle into a triple axel jump with a small step sequence before entering a scratch spin just as Yuko-sensei turned around. "FUJIOKA-SAN!"
The frightened yell startled Haru and she looked like she lost balance, but luckily Maehara-kun was fast or she would've been hurt. I skated over as quickly as I could too so I got there just as she was stabilized on her feet again. "You ok, imōto-chan?" I ask her.
She nods her head. "Yeah, I'm ok Nii-san. Yuko-sensei just startled me is all." I could tell she was too shaken up to skate so I led her back to the bleachers that held are things.
"Your triple axel is getting better every day. I'd say you're likely to have it mastered by tomorrow at this rate!" Haru smiled. That's better, she's been frowning since she almost fell.
I could hear Yuri Plisetsky scoff and mumble, "Yeah right. Her free leg was sloppy, she over rotated, and her landing was atrocious," before let out an "oof" while Guang Hong Ji whispered for him to be quiet. He must've elbowed Yuri to get him to stop talking. I just ignored them as I gave Haru-chan a side hug.
Looking at her I noticed her perk up at something Yuko-sensei was saying so I listened more closely to the conversation between the three adults. "–can't believe she's still skating after what happened."
"What do mean, 'what happened'?" Victor Nikiforov asks.
"You don't recognize her?" Yuko-sensei shot back.
"She's always seemed familiar," Yuuri-sempai replied. A thoughtful look on his face.
Yuko-sensei sighed. "You remember Hot Springs on Ice?" They both nodded, even Yuri Plisetsky did showing that he was listening. "Fujioka-san was that little girl who was screaming so much." Something must have clicked because Yuuri-sempai joined me and Haru-chan on the bench sitting on her left.
He looks at me with pleading eyes. "Can I talk to her alone please Kenjiro-kun?" I hesitate because I don't really want to leave imōto-chan but I also know that Yuuri-sempai wouldn't hurt Haru-chan. Conflicted I look to see what Haru thinks about it and she nods almost unnoticeably. I bite my lip, a habit I picked up from Haru-chan, before getting up and heading to the ice.
Haruhi's POV
"I'll be practicing if you need me sis," Nii-san says while he walks to the ice. I bite my lip once his back is turned and looked at the black haired man in front of me. I've seen him before, but, to know that he was there when my parents died and finding out he was actually mine and my parents' favorite figure skater, I felt like I needed to know more. Everyone except for the two of us were on the ice skating now I observed. I looked right at the man next to me silently begging him to start the conversation.
"Do you recognize me from that day?" he asked. He sounds nervous. I nod. I recognized him as the skater I was fangirling over when my parents had to save me. "Vitya and I were trying to calm you down, remember?" I shook my head no. I didn't know that. Then a smile came to my face a few moments later, when I realized I was the girl he was talking about in his vows to Victor-san, I played a such a big part in their love story that I was mentioned at their wedding. I was mentally jumping up and down. He was calm with a sympathetic, kind, and gentle smile while it clicked in my head. "I was the one that brought you home that day." I stayed silent. "Victor was always questioning what happened to you. We didn't think we'd ever see you again." I put my hand over his. He seemed like he needed the support when he smiled gratefully at me.
We sat in silence for a few minutes just watching the others skate. Guang Hong Ji, Plisetsky-san, Victor-san, and Nii-san were having a quad contest by the looks of things on one side, while Yuko-sensei continued with the beginner jumping lesson. When I looked back at Yuuri-sempai there was a determined fire in his chocolate brown eyes. Before I could ask what he was thinking he called his husband over. I don't think I've ever seen Victor-san skate so fast, or run that fast either.
"Yes, my love," he said hanging on to Yuuri-sempai like a koala.
Yuuri-sempai looked at him and with complete determination said, or was it declared, "I want to adopt Haruhi." I was stunned. Everyone who heard was stunned and stopped skating. All the noise stopped at that declaration. Victor-san looked at me then at Yuuri-sempai, then back at me, and then one of his trademarked heart-shaped smiles came to his face.
He only said one word, but that word changed my life forever. In his overly optimistic, enthusiastic, and happy tone Victor-san said, "Okay!" If I wasn't sitting I would have fallen. My idol, my favorite skater and his husband wanted to adopt me. When Yuuri-sempai said it I didn't get my hopes up but hearing Victor-san say yes to the idea made my heart beat faster.
After a bit everyone was back to skating, even Yuuri-sempai joined, with an excited atmosphere. The other orphans that live with Nii-san and I at the orphanage were a little sad but that didn't dampen their excitement for me. An hour later Ms. Isogai-san came to the ice rink while we were all packing up.
"Hello children," she says. A chorus of greetings went around the room in response before she saw Victor-san and Yuuri-sempai.
"Hello you must be Ms. Isogai-san," Yuuri-sempai says diplomatically while shaking her hand.
"I am," she replies before looking at the children under her care, "Minako-san called and cancelled class today so we will be returning to the orphanage ahead of schedule. I'm sure if you ask politely one of the helpers will be willing to give you all a treat before Kenjiro-san leaves this afternoon." That line triggered a storm of replies.
"And Haru-chan too," Yukimura-kun said with a smile.
"Yeah," Maehara-kun said in agreement.
"May be we can get cake!," Kimura-kun and Terasaka-kun shout. Those were the only replies heard in the mess of voices while I stay quiet huddled against Nii-san. Ms. Isogai-san looked annoyed at all the loud noise and stomped her foot.
"Quiet! You are not wild animals," she says firmly. My friends slowly quiet down. She nods, "Thank you. Now, can one person tell me what that was all about? Hm?" No one said anything. "So no one wishes to tell why you were all making fools of yourselves in front of everyone here?" Her eyes scanned each of us and landed on me when I took a small step forward.
"Katsuki-Nikiforov-san and Nikiforov-Katsuki-san said that they would like to adopt me," I said with my voice betraying my nerves. She looks at Yuuri-sempai and Victor-san.
"Aren't you the nice men who are adopting Kenjiro-san?" Ms. Isogai-san asks the two. They both nod.
"We were there when her parents passed away and by the sounds of it Kenjiro-kun has taken her in as a sister. I have a sister myself and know I wouldn't want to be separated from her if our parents had died when we were younger," Yuuri-sempai says. "Victor and I are more than willing to take her in as well." Ms. Isogai-san looks between the two of them and Nii-san and me. She let's out a sigh.
"The two have been very close since Kenjiro-san arrived and the file does state that housing and finances wouldn't be a problem. Considering what I have heard it seems that the children you've adopted also bring in their own income and are used to traveling for skating competitions. I suspect Fujioka-san will be joining you on such trips?" They nod. "You will make sure to keep up with her educational requirements?" They nod again and she turns towards me. "How do you feel about this couple adopting you?" She looks me dead in the eye and I look back with just as much seriousness.
"They're good men. They took care of me the day my parents died. I've looked up to Katsuki-Nikiforov-san since I was little. I don't want to leave Nii-san. I find it an honor that they want to adopt me." The look in her eyes could only be described as pride. She looked back at my potential parents.
"You already know the rules and have been approved to adopt from this orphanage; however girls are a bit more difficult. There is a bit more paperwork to fill out than boys but luckily half of it was already taken care of when you were filling out the paperwork to adopt Kenjiro-san. If you would follow us to the orphanage we can get everything filled out in time to have both Kenjiro-san and Fujioka-san in your care by the time you leave." They nod their consent and then we all set off to the orphanage. I still can't believe this is happening.
AN2: Thank you all for reading ~lumigo
P.S. Total word count is 2,078 with the Author Notes.