Advent '09 [9/25]
Advent 09
December 9th - 16 days to go
It was silent at breakfast.
Ren seemed to devoting all his energy to ignoring Yashiro as much as possible. It was oppressive and none of the other members of the group could bring themselves to interrupt whatever was going on between them.
Kyoko fidgeted nervously. She couldn't stand this silence anymore, she had to do something. Steeling herself she raised her head and opened her mouth to ask Kanae to pass the juice.
As soon as she moved though, all eyes turned to her and she froze, her mouth open. Dithering for a moment she eventually let out a sigh and dropped her head so that she was, once again, staring at her plate.
She apparently could do without drinking anything.
The silence carried on, not even interrupted by the sound of cutlery on plates. It got to the point where even Lory looked a little concerned.
Eventually Kanae made the first move, standing abruptly.
Again, every eye turned to her to see if she would break.
"This is stupid." She announced. "I'm going to get ready for the lesson. Kyoko? Are you coming?"
Kyoko shifted slightly in her seat.
"Um...actually...er..." She cast a glance towards Ren, who interrupted her smoothly.
"I am going to be taking Kyoko-chan out myself today."
Kanae raised an eyebrow and looked back to Kyoko who was starting to blush.
"Yeah," Kyoko said, clearing her throat, "Ren said that he would take me out...remember?"
"Really?" Yashiro interrupted with a smile, "That's wonderful! I'm sure you'll have fun, right Ren?"
Ren ignored him and continued looking Kanae in the eye. She shifted slightly under his intense gaze, feeling a little sorry at Yashiro's crestfallen face.
"Right." She drawled nervously. "I'll just tell the instructor that you won't be in lessons today."
Kyoko nodded and watched as Kanae left the room.
"Kyoko-chan." Ren brought her attention back to himself. "We should get ready too if we want to get to the slopes early."
"Yeah." Kyoko nodded and followed him from the room, looking one last time at Yashiro who was slumped in his chair, Maria patting him on the hand.
-/-
"You know I..." Kyoko started when they were standing outside the front door, "I'm not very good at this."
Ren looked at her with a fond smile. "You've only been doing this for a few days. Mostly it's just practise. Once you get it you'll wonder how you ever struggled with it in the first place."
"R-really?"
Ren smiled and Kyoko felt herself relax.
"Come on, we go this way."
"Um...but..."
Ren turned to look at her questioningly. "Yeah?"
"The road to the village is that way." Kyoko said, pointing behind them.
"I know," Ren said, "But if we go this way," he pointed forward, "it cuts onto a blue slope that we can take to the bottom instead of walking all the way down."
"Oh." Kyoko flushed, "Right."
Kyoko hesitantly followed behind Ren, nervously gripping her ski poles. She wasn't ready for this, she really wasn't.
But Ren seemed to know that she was unsure of herself and slowed down until he was shuffling alongside her, correcting her stance and grip whenever she had some trouble.
Kyoko felt her face heat up every time this happened, not from embarrassment as she had first thought she would feel but because Ren looked so serious as he helped her.
It really made her feel that at that moment in time, she was all Ren was thinking about. His entire world was her.
She jerked at the thought and nearly fell over. She would have too if Ren hadn't reached out and caught her, steadying her.
"Are you ok?" He asked quietly.
Kyoko flushed and inwardly hoped that he would attribute it to the cold. "Um...yeah." she said, almost stuttering because he hadn't removed his hand from her arm. "I...yeah."
"Ok then," he looked dubious but relented, straightening up and moving out of her personal space, for which she was grateful. "If you're sure."
What was that? Kyoko thought as she followed behind Ren once again, following his instructions and trying to ignore the way his hand brushing against her back as he steadied her made her stomach flutter, and that it lingered slightly too long to be just helpful.
She was so caught up in her frantic thoughts that she didn't realise that she had gotten to the bottom of the slope until Ren turned to face her with a smile.
"That was brilliant, Kyoko-chan. You didn't make one mistake."
Kyoko blinked then looked around her, seeing that they were standing by the ski lifts her eyes widened. "I did it?" She asked, completely dumbfounded.
"Yeah."
"I did it!" She yelled, jubilantly. Then without thinking leapt forward and hugged Ren.
Or at least she would have if she hadn't forgotten she was wearing skis. The front tip caught and they both went down in a tangle of limbs. Kyoko landing on top of Ren.
It took her a few moments to work out what had happened, but when she did she tried to scramble up without removing her skis, causing them to become even more tangled together.
"I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!"
Ren wrapped his arms around her, stilling her and pulling her to his chest. "Don't worry about it. But you should really stop wiggling about, it's making this worse."
Kyoko froze.
Ren chuckled softly in her ear, his warm breath brushing against the shell. "Hang on a moment." He said, reaching down behind her and picking up a ski pole.
Within a few seconds he had popped the back of her boot clasps. As soon as she was free Kyoko scrambled up and helped to pull Ren up from his position, unable to meet his eye.
"Well," he said after he had sorted himself out, "I haven't fallen over in years, but that was one of the more enjoyable experiences."
Kyoko's blush intensified but he just patted her on the shoulder.
"Come on, he continued. "Get ready and I'll take you to another blue run."
-/-
It was late into the afternoon when they finally called it a day.
Ren led them to the same cafe in the village that he had met them in yesterday and settled them both down with a hot chocolate.
Kyoko let the quiet chatter of the locals wash over her, enjoying the peace she was sharing with Ren. They weren't speaking, but it wasn't awkward. It was a silence born of familiarity and Kyoko felt herself enjoying it immensely.
"Thank you for taking me out today Ren." she said when they had finished their drinks and were just sitting, relaxing.
Ren looked a little startled before he smiled softly. "It was my pleasure, Kyoko."