Snow swirled furiously outside the frosted windows, making Ahiru immensely glad to be inside during the snowstorm. She had been wandering outside aimlessly when the first flakes of the white fluff fell, landing on her nose and nestling themselves in her pinkish-orange hair. Soon she was practically caked in cold snow, and was rather glad when she was then dragged aside, rather harshly, into a warm house. Fakir's house, as it turned out. Ears, nose, and cheeks red from cold, she stood and shivered in the entranceway of the quaint cottage. "Get a move on, idiot, or else you'll die of frostbite or something like that," Fakir hissed from farther inside.

Not really knowing the layout of the house, she followed his voice and soon found the kitchen, in which stood Fakir at the small woodstove in the corner. He turned and gave her a sideways glance. The snow that covered her was beginning to melt, covering her in super-cooled water. "Oh for heaven's sake. You're drenched. Why the heck were you out there anyway?"

Ahiru looked down sheepishly. "Jeez. It's not like I wanted to be out there! Pique and Lilie said that I needed to deliver something to someone, but I don't even remember anymore!" She scowled and threw her arms in the air.

They stood there for a few moments, Ahiru dripping, and Fakir just standing at the stove. Finally he spoke up. "Well, if you just stand there like that," he said impatiently, gesturing to the puddle she was making in his kitchen, " You'll get hypothermia... And you'll wreck the floors in here! Get out!"

Turning around, Ahiru shot Fakir a glare-- not just any glare, but the scariest, evil-est , I'll-Kill-You-Later stare that she could manage. Fakir was only mildly stunned at the face she had just made. What surprised him more was that he heard the door open. That idiot! She isn't actually leaving, is she? That's not what I meant! Doesn't she understand--? "Arrrgghh!" he growled, grabbing his coat to go after her.

The blizzard was one that rivaled any snowstorm that Kinkan Town had ever seen. Many people locked their doors and lit their fires to ward away the cold. In fact, all except two people were holed up inside their houses. Those two people were (guess who?) Fakir and Ahiru. Unfortunately, they couldn't even see where they were going, and they both really didn't want to be outside.

After wandering for what seemed like hours, they finally found what they thought were the dorms of Kinkan Academy. The doors were unlocked, much to the surprise and relief of the two teens, because most of the students had gone home for their short break from school. Inside, the duo concluded that they were in the boys' dorms, so they went to Fakir and Mytho's room. Only once they had arrived at the dorm did Fakir realize how this could be taken the completely wrong way. He was in his dorm room... with a girl.

He blushed. When did I start thinking like that?!

Looking quickly over to the petite girl who had been dripping (again) all over the floor, he nearly fell over in shock. There she was, ASLEEP ON HIS BED! "H-hey!!" he stammered, going over to her slumbering form.

Suddenly, she awoke, gasping. "What--? Why?" she seemed confused as to why she was somewhere other than her dorm, and why the place that she happened to be also had Fakir. Then, reality came crashing back down. "Oops!" a crash sounded as she dropped a glass onto the stone floor.

Fakir just stood there, mouth slightly ajar, staring at Ahiru who just fell asleep, woke up, forgot everything, broke something, stretched, and then fallen back asleep; all in the same two minutes! "WHAT... THE... HECK...!" he yelled, startling Ahiru from her sleep once again.

She opened her mouth as if to protest, but Fakir cut her off. "Okay, first of all, that is my bed. MY... BED! Second, you have just made MY BED very, very damp. Third, unless you want to die very quickly, I suggest you get off of MY BED and change your clothes so that you don't get some stupid illness, because I for one will not put up with you puttering around sneezing and coughing and who knows what else!!!"

Ahiru stared at Fakir, turning red. "... Change my... clothes?"

Fakir reddened, and his mouth fell open once more. "t-th-THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! I JUST RANTED ABOUT WHAT AN IDIOT YOU ARE AND ALL YOU GOT FROM IT WHAT THE FACT THAT I DON'T THINK IT IS GOOD FOR ANYONE TO BE WEARING WET CLOTHES?!"

After yelling, Fakir was quite winded, and it was Ahiru's turn to be flabbergasted. The girl scowled. " I don't know if you've noticed this, Fakir, but I don't carry another set of clothes with me. Now, you might, but that is not something a normal human being would do, is it?"

Fakir scowled back. "I don't care, just get off of my bed. Take some clothes of Mytho or something!!"

Ahiru reddened, thinking about wearing the Prince's clothes. Fakir saw her expression and scoffed exasperatedly. "Oh, that's right, you can't touch the holiness of his Highness, right? Gah, whatever!!"

He stalked over to the bathroom, grabbing his spare school uniform on his way, because he, as he had just noticed, was also dripping slightly. When he came back out, Ahiru was rooting through HIS dresser. "What? You-- You can't just-- THAT IS MY DRESSER! DO YOU HAVE NO RESPECT FOR PEOPLE'S PERSONAL SPACE?!?"

She whirled around, startled. "I wasn't-- I just... err..." In her hands she had a t-shirt and some pants that had randomly been pulled from his drawer.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room. Fakir stared at Ahiru, and Ahiru stared at the ground. "Whatever," Fakir said as he turned and flopped on his bed.

No sooner than he landed on his bed that he jumped back up, gasping. "C-c-cold!" he whipped around to face the culprit. "You. Get into that bathroom and change into something dry before I wring your neck."

He tried his best to look menacing, and apparently it worked, because Ahiru stumbled and scurried to the bathroom, nearly tripping over her own feet as she went. Fakir nearly laughed, but worked hard to smother his laugh before it was heard by the duck-girl.

In a few minutes, she came out, wearing his spare clothes. Her hair was still dripping, leaving a trail of water, and Fakir was tempted to just take out a pair of scissors and cut the offending braid off and throw it out the window. Her nose scrunched up as she noticed the death stare her hair was getting from said black-haired knight-turned-writer. "What now?" she was cold, still rather damp, had been gallavanting around outside in a blizzard, and was now just feeling cranky.

He looked at his hand, surprised that he had actually grabbed the scissors. "Bah, nothing!" he said, hiding the scissors behind his back.

Ahiru looked like she suspected something, but then dismissed it, and went and sat at the desk in the corner. "So, what do we do?" she asked, looking up at Fakir.

An innocent enough question, but Fakir, being the teenage boy that he was, took it the completely wrong way. "I-- well, it... erm, see, you-- ah, uh..." he sputtered, turning red.

Of course, the asker of the innocent question, Ahiru, the epitome of innocence, had absolutely no clue as to why Fakir was suddenly acting very flustered. She went closer, but Fakir gulped and stepped back, heightening Ahiru's curiosity and confusedness. "Fakir? What's wrong?"

He pointed to the door. "I think that it is time for you to go back home," he said shakily. Ahiru looked at him as if he had grown an extra head, arm, or other appendage. "What?!" he snapped, feeling less flustered, and more irritated.

"Have you gone crazy?" Ahiru accused, "I can't even see outside your window! How do you expect me to go--Anywhere?!"

A rather uncomfortable and electric atmosphere settled over the two, and they each retreated to opposite corners of the dorm. For the full three minutes that Ahiru could actually take the silence, save for their breath, Fakir regretted ever being born. He knew he wasn't at fault for his existence... it was his parents', and therefore he should not feel as if he should crawl into a hole and die, right?

Finally, neither the pink-haired girl nor the black-haired boy could bear the silence and started talking at the same time. "Fakir, I--"

"Ahiru, what--"

Both blushed. Of course. Who wouldn't?

"You go ahead, Ahiru," Fakir said quietly.

"N-no... you."

He blushed even darker. "erm, nevermind..."

They both turned back around, facing their new friends: the walls of the corners of the dorm room. Ahiru nearly exploded. There was absolutely no way that her duck-brain could stand this silent torture. Suddenly, she whipped around, and was startled by Fakir. His face was mere inches from hers.

She nearly quacked right there. He placed a hand on each of her shoulders, then sat facing her. His face mirrored hers, but only in color. A deep, dark red, that slowly spread to the very tips of their ears. "Ahiru, I," he started, pausing slightly, as if gathering both mental and physical strength, "I-I-I just wanted to say--" he groaned and his head dropped, "I'm so weak... but I have to say it; Ahiru! I love you!"

A rare silence from Ahiru answered his confession. He looked up, wondering what kind of expression she might have. Her eyes were brimming with tears. Dang it! I failed! How could I ever think that one day I might be her knight? He nearly smacked himself right there.

Ahiru nearly started to cry, she was so happy, but looking at his face, she wasn't sure that he understood that she was relieved, not upset. "Fakir..."

He held up his hand, and his head dipped again. "You don't have to say anything, Ahiru. Just forget I ever said anything."

Then, his hand was in hers. He was thoroughly shocked, to say the least. "Fakir, I--I think that I love you too. That is why I'm crying... which is rather silly of me, huh? Heh, here I am, crying because my crush confessed to me, and he thinks that I hate him or something, which I really don't, and I am not sure--"

"Shhh. Don't worry. That was just a small misunderstanding. Besides, it really is so much better when you don't babble," Fakir said in a fake annoyed tone.

Ahiru blew out her cheeks in frustration. "Hey! That isn't very nice, you know!"

Fakir flashed her a rare but radiant smile. "I'm not a very nice person, but you'll have to get used to it, huh?"