Well... I'm kinda nervous about how this one turned out.

Ah, well... enjoy!

Chapter 5

Mio raced through the blizzard, tears freezing on her face before they even had a chance to run all the way down. She needed to get away from Ritsu, the girl who caused her to lose who she was. Stumbling blindly against the strong wind which seemed to push her back two steps after every step forward.

Everything in Mio's life was set for her. She was to be a straight A student, talented in everything she did, ambitious yet reserved and polite, the perfect high school girl. Her parents settled for nothing less. Even her grandparents were extremely straitlaced and expected nothing less than perfection. She was to graduate with honors, get accepted into a prestigious university, become the perfect woman and marry the perfect man. They never asked her what she wanted. They told her who she was going to be.

She'd never argued with them. She'd never felt the urge to fight something that was out of her control. Her life was out of her control.

The dark-haired girl stumbled again, snow seeping underneath her scarf causing her to shudder and choke on a sob.

"Mio! Stop running!" A strong voice called out to her, but it was so far away.

Ritsu.

Ritsu flipped her world upside down. Mio couldn't deny it any longer.

She was in love with her best friend.

It must have been the aura of absolute freedom that surrounds the drummer like warmth to a fire. She didn't answer to any order, laughed into the face of authority, blazed her own path. Mio loved that inner fire. She wanted Ritsu to fly her away, help her escape from the prison that was her life. She didn't want to be what they wanted her to be.

She was the caged bird. And everyone knows why the caged bird sings.

But, if her parents found out about this… well. She couldn't bear the thought of being separated from Ritsu. They would make her transfer schools, probably send her to a shrink, try and mold her back into the perfect daughter they raised.

That would hurt Ritsu, too. So, she couldn't let it happen.

"It's a blizzard, Mio!"

Mio stopped and looked around. Nothing but white, swirling around and around, making her dizzy. The cold stung. Her heart stung. She didn't remember which way she came, and dropped to her knees, bruising them slightly as she realized she was on stone now.

"I'm here!" she shouted, voice cracking from the effort. Her mouth was dry. She closed her eyes hard, trying to protect her teary eyes from the frigid gusts. Suddenly, she heard a thud and a pained groan beside her. Mio gasped. Ritsu.

She could see it now. There was a rocky, snow-covered ledge which was a few yards high to her right. Ritsu, blinded by the snow, ran straight off of it and landed in a heap next to her. It was perfectly camouflaged, and Mio was lucky she hadn't fallen off it as well.

"Ritsu!" The dark-haired girl turned her friend onto her back and shook her, trying to wake her up. Her blood ran cold. No response. Mio broke down again. She was so helpless. Memories of the dream she had before came flooding back. Everything was just like her dream! "Wake up, Ritsu! Please, we can go back now, just get up!"

The brunette beneath her stirred. Amber eyes opened slowly and smiled up into grey, before snapping shut again in pain.

"Augh! My leg!" Ritsu moaned through gritted teeth, grasping her knee in agony. Mio's eyes widened. What am I supposed to do!? This is bad.

The bassist twisted her head this way and that, searching for anything that would help the situation. Grey irises landed on the ledge that the drummer fell off of. Beneath it was a crevice that looked sufficient to shelter them both. It was almost a small cave. Oh, the irony, she thought bitterly.

"Ritsu… do you think you can you move at all?" Mio asked urgently. They needed to get out of the searing wind and snow. Ritsu, unable to speak, shook her head. Her face was becoming paler by the second and Mio felt awful for causing this. Ritsu would not be here, writhing in pain, if she hadn't run off like a maniac. Of course her best friend would follow her, she was staunchly loyal like that. Plus, it wasn't like she was acting her usual self, so obviously Ritsu would be doubly concerned. More tears leaked out of Mio's eyes.

"Ok, I-I'm going to try and pull you underneath that ledge," she pointed a few yards away, "You tell me if it hurts."

"It hurts," Ritsu attempted a grin. She couldn't pass up an opportunity for a joke even at a time like this. Mio restrained herself from getting angry. Now was not the time.

"Wait until I start, idiot."

"I-I know." Ritsu braced herself as Mio hooked her hands underneath her arms and slowly walked backwards. The dark-haired girl was almost always gentle. Thankfully Ritsu was the smaller of the two, or this would've been more difficult. "Ah, Mio! Wait!" Mio stopped immediately, crouching down to give Ritsu a rest. The brunette clenched her teeth before taking a deep breath.

"I'm sorry! So sorry, Ritsu!" she fretted, eyes still streaming. Why couldn't she stop crying?

"It's ok, I'll be fine…" The brunette attempted to grin reassuringly. "So, please, don't cry. It's not like I'm going to die or something."

"I-Idiot! I know, but this is all my fault. I'm sorry, I'm sor-"

"Shh, Mio. Calm down! It's not your fault, and we can argue about this later, but right now I -ugh- need you to be cool, ok?" She panted, energy quickly draining from the pain emanating from her right leg in waves.

Mio took a deep breath. "Ok."

She hooked her arms around the shorter girl once more and walked back towards her destination. She went painstakingly slow. Making sure to not cause her friend any more pain. Ritsu whimpered every few steps and she was breathing hard, but they finally made it to the safety of the small cave. Mio, afraid to move Ritsu anymore than she already had, simply sat down and leaned back against the stone wall behind her, letting Ritsu relax in her lap.

"W-Where does it h-hurt?" Mio asked warily. She wanted to do something, anything. She hated the feeling of helplessness. Ritsu pointed to her right shin, about four inches below the knee. The dark-haired girl slowly lifted the brunette's pant leg, which was not too difficult considering they were loose pajamas. It was indeed swelled, and the skin around the area was already black and blue. She wished Mugi was here, she'd now how to handle something like this. "Can you move it?"

Ritsu grunted with effort, but shook her head as her foot remained motionless.

Oh no, it might be broken. Geez, I broke Ritsu's leg! What is wrong with me?

Mio sniffed and wiped her face with the back of her sleeve. But jumped when she felt a hand on her own. She looked down to find the brunette smiling up at her. Well, attempting, but the message was clear.

"Hey, what I say about crying, hm?" Ritsu chuckled, much to Mio's surprise. "See, it doesn't even hurt anymore."

Mio shook her head disbelievingly. "Y-You're probably just in shock… it'll wear off soon."

Ritsu chuckled again. "Way to be positive, Mio-chan."

Mio's averted her eyes guiltily and wrung her hands together in nervousness. Ritsu reached above her head and grabbed the dark-haired girl's hands, effectively stopping her from the needless fretting.

"Look, it's all going to be ok. We'll just wait out the storm and go back in when it clears up. There's nothing to worry about, got it?"

Mio shook her head. "B-But, if I hadn't freaked out like I did none of this would've-"

"Mio, it's not your fault… geez. I lied when I said we could argue about it later, I don't want to argue. So stop blaming yourself, it's not like you asked for a blizzard to happen at this particular moment!" The tone in Ritsu's voice was starting to sound impatient.

"…I'm sorry."

"Don't apolo-, you know what, forget it. I forgive you, even though you didn't do anything wrong."

Mio wanted desperately to argue. She wanted to make Ritsu angry at her like she deserved. She needed to be told what she did was an idiotic thing to do and she should pay dearly for hurting her friend. Mio couldn't find her voice and buried her face into Ritsu's shoulder instead. It was an awkward position. The drummer was sitting more upright from when she'd been speaking more heatedly, and Mio was sitting cross legged behind her, clutching the brunette's arms and face buried into the back of her shoulder.

The raven-haired girl felt Ritsu tense. "W-Why did you… run anyway?"

Mio stiffened, she didn't want to answer that question. She could feel her face heating up, it slowly crept up her neck and flooded her head. It made more tears spill hotly, as if they were trying to escape the heat. That's when she realized she was too close to Ritsu.

…Too close!

She let go of the drummer and pressed herself against the rock behind her, causing Ritsu to fall back and cry out from the sudden movement. Mio gasped as she realized her mistake and apologized profusely, grasping at her own hair in anxiety. Ritsu reassured her for about the tenth time, lied back down, and rested her head in the distraught girl's lap. Mio sighed.

"So… why did you run? You looked at me like I was a monster or something," she clenched her teeth as she shifted her leg to a slightly more comfortable position. "I mean, I know I like to scare you and stuff, but seriously, I wasn't even doing anything like that…"

"Well, um…" Mio didn't want to say the reason she ran, mostly because she didn't have a reason. She just… freaked out when Ritsu held her close. She felt… free for a moment, like she could do whatever she wanted and everything would be ok. That feeling scared her, and she needed to escape what she didn't understand. But they were trapped now. Trapped underneath this rock in a blizzard nowhere close to home.

There was no running away.

Ritsu waited silently. Patiently. Since when was Tainaka Ritsu patient? Mio glanced down at her companion. Grey met amber.

"Mio, it's ok to tell me what's bothering you. I'm you're best friend, right?"

"Yeah, of course…" she trailed off, apprehensive. Even if she wanted to tell Ritsu her feelings, she would still hold herself back because of her accursed shyness disease. "But, I-I don't want to talk about it…"

Ritsu sighed, but said nothing. Mio forced her muscles to relax, she didn't have to say anything if she wasn't ready. She ran her fingers through the brunette's hair absentmindedly, recognizing vaguely that Ritsu had her hair down.

Has it been down this entire time? Yeah, Ritsu doesn't sleep with her headband on… How long have we been out here, anyway? I wonder if the others have even noticed we're gone. Doubt it, they were all fast asleep.

Ritsu's eyes fluttered shut at the soothing motions of Mio's fingers, calloused from playing the bass. Mio's eyes softened at the sight, the drummer was adorable with her bangs down. She blushed at her own thought.

Without opening her eyes, Ritsu mumbled, "I think I know why you ran away."

"Hm?" Mio's heart skipped a beat, but then she laughed to herself. There's no way Ritsu figured it out on her own. Then again… all those time they'd almost kis-

"Can I tell you my theory?"

"I, er… w-well…"

Ritsu took a deep breath, eyes still closed. "Well… my theory is that you're afraid of me for some reason… am I right?" She opened one eye and peered up at Mio.

Silence.

"I can tell because even now, you're acting different. One minute you avoid me like the plague, next you're worried sick about me! …Usually you just hit me for being a jerk and move on. Did I do something?"

The silence pounded in Mio's ears, heart thumping frantically.

"I'm not... afraid of you…" she mumbled.

Ritsu grinned, but it had a trace of sadness in it. "What is it then?'

Agh, questions, questions! Mio wished with every fiber of her being that the drummer would just drop it.

"I'm afraid of… hurting… you…?"

Ritsu burst out in laughter, clutching her stomach. "Mio, I think it's a little late for that!"

"H-Hey! You said it wasn't my fault!"

"I-It's not! I was just kidding! Geez…" The brunette tried not to grimace at the repercussions of her sudden movement. Mio caught the flicker of pain flash across her face and her heart ached.

"So… you're afraid of… hurting me? I don't understand…" she said as soon as they'd settled down again. The blizzard seemed to be intensifying as the wind whipped the snow from the ground. Both girls watched the storm rage outside with fascination. Their cave was completely still compared to out there. "I mean… you hit me all the time, but that's normal for us, and I don't really mind it."

"I-I… Ritsu… d-don't make me say it… p-please," the dark-haired girl whispered. She was cornered.

"That must mean you don't want to hurt me… emotionally…?" Ritsu wondered out loud. "But that's understandable, Mio… we're friends, of course you don't want to hurt me. Explain?"

It seemed the adrenaline of their mad chase was wearing off, because Ritsu's voice was becoming more and more constricted with effort to bite back the ache in her leg.

"Because you hurt me when you looked at me like I'd burned you... you hurt me when you ran away even though I begged you to stop."

Mio couldn't breathe as guilt seemed to fill her lungs with lead. She swallowed with some struggle, and her hands shook. She couldn't speak.

"…You hurt me when… you're too afraid to tell me your feelings, Mio."

That did it. Mio couldn't take it anymore. She burst out in tears once more.

"I'm sorry, Ritsu! I just can't tell yo-"

Suddenly, she felt hands around her head and neck as she was pulled down inches from Ritsu's face. The drummer's range of movement was limited and they were practically looking at each other upside down.

"Stop thinking for once!" The brunette pleaded before slowly reaching up and touching her lips softly to Mio's.

Mio gasped and pulled away on instinct, immediately regretting it when she saw Ritsu's shocked expression.

Realizing what had happened, Mio, grey eyes wide with fear, slowly… painstakingly leaned back down to Ritsu… but stopped before their noses grazed each other. Her heart was thumping thunderously and she could only imagine how red her face was. She attempted to blink back the tears that still burned behind her eyes, but her quivering lips conveyed her anxiety anyway.

The drummer smiled softly, reassuringly, beneath the bassist, taking her actions as quiet permission to try again. This time she gently took Mio's face in her hands and pressed her lips to the dark-haired girl's shaking ones.

Lightning raced through Mio's veins. Her mind blanked. She could only vaguely recognize how soft and incredibly warm Ritsu was. The warmth spread from her lips to her face to the rest of her body and completely relaxed her. She gently ran her fingers through the brunette locks and deepened the kiss.

Suddenly, Mio felt Ritsu grimace into the kiss and she quickly pulled back, forgetting about the brunette's leg. Well, for those few seconds, she'd forgotten about everything. It felt amazing.

"I'm sorry…. I-I forgot about your leg…" Mio whispered shakily, afraid to speak any louder as to ruin the moment.

"I'm fine as long as I don't move too much..." Ritsu whispered back, an awed, dazed expression gracing her features. Mio couldn't help but melt at the adorable look on her face. And knowing that she caused it was… oddly satisfying.

She glanced back down to find Ritsu smirking impishly back up at her.

"I knew it. You like me."

Mio's face lit up faster than a brush fire. In any other circumstance she would've smacked the shorter girl into apologizing, but she couldn't bring herself to, considering the current state the drummer was in. She valiantly resisted the impulse and took a deep breath, effectively calming herself down.

"Yes…" Was all she could trust herself to say. Ritsu's amber eyes visibly softened.

"I like you, too… Mio."

"Heh… I kinda figured that out when you… er… kissed me?"

"Well, I just thought it should've been said anyway."

"…Yeah."

"Hey.. remember when we had that snowball fight, and we ended up covered in snow, and you were really pissed off... and I promised that I'd make it up to you somehow?."

"Yes, I remember." Mio knew where this was going.

"Did I do a good job?"

Mio just chuckled and shook her head in disbelief. Ritsu had an accomplished look on her face. That was the first time Mio had laughed all night.

They settled into a comfortable silence, letting themselves sink into their own thoughts. Mio's finger's found short brown locks once more and Ritsu sighed contentedly.

There's one thing I know…

Mio, gathering up all the courage she had left, leaned down and pressed her cold lips to Ritsu's feverish forehead, causing the latter to smile tenderly in her half-conscience state. Both girls were exhausted beyond comprehension.

…and that there is something here.

"Go to sleep, Ritsu…" The raven-haired girl cooed, continuing her hypnotic and soothing ministrations on the drummer's hair, who mumbled something inaudible in reply.

And though I may not quite know what it is…

"Don't worry, I'll wake you up when the storm's over." Mio reassured, even though she herself was returning to her anxiousness over Ritsu's condition.

And even though I'm terrified of the future...

"Thank you, Mio."

As long as Ritsu is here with me... I… I think everything is going to be just fine.

Hope this makes up for the horrid cliffhanger in the last chapter! ;)

I need reviews for this one, guys! How did I do? Answer honestly, 'tis the only way I can get better!

And no, its not over!