Healing Kisses (ch41)

EARLY RELEASE FOR MY $20+ PATRONS!

I couldn't manage much for a Christmasy fic this year, so this really isn't anything special T_T Just an excuse to write a quick Mayakuro in my 2 minutes of free time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.

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						Chapter 41. Cold Hands

If there's one thing everyone at Seishou Music Academy knew, it was that nothing would stop any of the dedicated Stage Girls from practicing, even on their days off.

Well, almost nothing.

Sometimes Mahiru needed to keep Karen and Hikari back in favor of cleaning their room, and sometimes Futaba had to force Kaoruko to help her with the laundry, and sometimes Nana would insist Junna skip practice for a day and sleep in instead, and things of that nature.

But at least for Maya and Claudine, hardly anything ever stopped them from going to their weekend morning practices at the school dance studio.

Though there have been a few times when things have come close to demotivating them.

For instance, like this morning.

Claudine had woken early, not as early as she typically would for a school day, but still rather early.

The first thing she'd noticed was Maya sleeping peacefully beside her, hair in a somehow still-organized disarray, hugging her pillow and turned toward Claudine, as if still unconsciously seeking her out. Claudine had spared a moment to smile and poke her cheek.

The second thing she'd noticed then, was the grey brightness seeping in past her curtain. And upon further inspection after getting out of bed to investigate, she'd discovered the world outside coated in white, with flurries still spiraling down.

Now, not much could even begin to dissuade Claudine from thoughts of practice. But the idea of the icy, windy, brittle cold of a frigid winter morning certainly came close.

At the time, she had briefly considered crawling back into her warm bed and curling herself up next to Maya.

But of course, even when she thinks fondly of her partner, Maya always manages to be somehow infuriating. Because what had Tendo Maya done in that moment but wake up, witness the cold outside and Claudine's evident dilemma, and given a smirk while saying, "My, it seems like a wonderful day for some dance practice. Wouldn't you say, Saijou-san?"

And of course such a sneakily teasing and knowing comment from her had snapped Claudine right out of whatever calmer, more intimate mood she'd been willing to accept, and instead ignited a flame within her.

"That's right," she'd replied stubbornly, refusing to admit that she'd much rather stay inside today. "Now get up and get dressed before we waste any more time."

And so Claudine had ushered Maya to get ready, and had gotten ready herself to brace the outside world.

Which had gotten her to the present moment.

Bundled up in her warmest beige trench coat, with her pink wool scarf, matching gloves, and white earmuffs, Claudine now stands at the exit of Starlight Hall, preparing herself to brace the cold.

But even in spite of the chill of the lobby, she doesn't feel it much due to how particularly heated she is at the moment. Because Maya had gone on ahead of her, conceitedly inviting Claudine to follow at her leisure whenever she was ready. Which really got on Claudine's nerves.

"That woman," she mutters to herself, stomping her boots like a bull preparing to charge. "I wasn't delaying on purpose because of the cold, if that's what she was implying! I needed to find my scarf that Maman sewed for me!" Claudine reminds herself of her justification for leaving later, though she does grimace at the snowfall on the other side of the glass as she does so. But simply picturing Maya already arriving at the school building so far ahead of her has Claudine letting out a snort of mild contempt.

After drawing in one last warm breath, she pushes her way outside in one swift motion.

The wind blasts at her, instantly icing her face over and cutting through the fabrics of her clothes to cling directly onto her skin. A sharp shudder jolts right through to her core, and she lets out a soft yelp. With her eyes squeezed shut against the raw air and the wind buffeting her back, Claudine feels her boot skid on a patch of icy sidewalk. A different kind of shudder shoots up her spine as she feels herself falling back.

But before she can even call upon her instinct as a performer to regain her balance, something soft and firm bumps against her back for support. A pair of arms wraps her in a secure hug, and a bemused voice hums against the plush of her earmuff.

"My, are you all right, mademoiselle?"

"Hah-?!" Claudine tries to whirl around on reflex, but due to her awkward angle she only ends up grabbing onto Maya's arms around her and clinging to her. She tilts her head back to meet her gaze and huffs.

"You-! I thought you left already!"

"It's a good thing I didn't, or else you would have fallen." Maya ensures Claudine has her balance back before guiding her a few steps away from the ice and then releasing her. Cheeks red, Claudine turns to face her a little more slowly, giving a slight glare before glancing away.

"Merci…"

Maya beams.

"You're quite welcome. Though it would be nice if you could thank me with a kiss."

"Huh? What's that annoying sound? It must be the wind." Claudine brushes past her and begins strutting off. Maya chuckles and quickly follows.

Still in a huff and wanting to get out of the cold as quickly as possible, Claudine walks briskly down the sidewalk. Perhaps a little too briskly, because she nearly slips again. Maya leans in and offers her arm. Claudine grumbles, but ends up accepting, for the warmth more than anything else.

She shivers all the while as they continue the walk, though she does try to appreciate the scenery at least a little bit. The trees without pines left are blanketed with silver, and those with pines are heavy with snow on each branch. There haven't yet been enough cars that have driven by to turn the snow on the edges of the streets brown, so for the time being everything all around them is pleasantly white.

Every sound of a passing car or twittering bird sounds amplified by the layer of snowfall. If not for the way her earmuffs dulled those sounds, Claudine might've enjoyed how keen her ears felt.

Maya, who has never been quite as affected by the cold, walks along beside her with only a coat and gloves on, and nothing more. Claudine hasn't even felt her shiver once past all of her own shaking.

"So you hadn't gone on ahead…" she mumbles.

Maya flashes her another smile.

"Of course not. I wouldn't simply leave you to this walk on your own when I know how sensitive you are to the cold."

"I'm not sensitive!"

"Oh?" Maya reaches up to knock Claudine's earmuffs down onto her neck, exposing her ears for half a second. Claudine shrieks outright at the unbearable cold that assaults them.

"Kyaa! What do you think you're doing?!"

"Proving a point. Pardon me."

Claudine mutters a string of things under her breath as she promptly adjusts her earmuffs. Maya pulls her a little closer and kisses the top of her head.

Only a few minutes later, the school building is in sight, and they quicken their pace to reach it. The moment they're finally inside and out of the cold, Claudine lets out a whining breath. Rather than shed her outer layer of clothes right away, she wordlessly turns to Maya who welcomes her with open arms.

As Claudine's body adjusts to the temperature change, she shivers for a solid minute in Maya's arms before she's finally able to pull away. When she does, her face is flushed and still a bit damp from melted snowflakes. Maya leans in to brush their noses together, feeling the difference in the cold on Claudine's skin versus her own.

"My," she murmurs. "You're freezing, Saijou-san."

"I'm aware."

"And what of your lips?"

Claudine huffs.

"Just cold enough."

"Cold enough?"

"To need a bit of assistance… Consider yourself lucky."

"But of course."

Maya smirks to herself for just a moment, but when she does eventually lean in to kiss Claudine's lips, it's a sweet and tender contact. Claudine has to do her best not to let her teeth chatter for the sake of her already-weakened pride.

Maya holds the kiss for a moment, until she can feel a bit of warmth coming back to Claudine's mouth. When they ease back, her seems a bit more rejuvenated.

"There. Do you think you're up for some practice?"

Claudine scoffs.

"Don't patronize me. Of course I am." To prove it, Claudine begins shedding her earmuffs, gloves, and scarf right there, though she does still shiver a bit when her coat comes off.

She and Maya head to the studio and joint changing rooms, which are thankfully heated nicely enough for them to be able to bear the thin materials of leotards even in the middle of winter.

From there, they proceed as usual, stretching, moving, and dancing as fiercely and elegantly as ever.

But once stomachs begin to growl, they come to a mutual stop, agreeing to head back to the dorms before even more snow falls.

After tidying up the room and getting changed again, Claudine begins bracing herself once more to go back outside. Maya can't help but tease her some more.

"It would appear it's snowing even harder now."

"I know."

"And it looks windier, too."

"I know."

"Forgive me." Maya can't keep the smile off her face as she loops her arm around Claudine's elbow and begins walking with her toward the exit doors. Like before, Claudine needs to stand there for a moment to steel herself, subconsciously pressing closer into Maya's side. Maya waits patiently, ignoring the rumbling of her own stomach until Claudine is ready to move.

"All right," Claudine mumbles. "Let's go."

Maya takes the liberty of walking out first so she absorbs the brunt of the wind chill. Claudine slips out behind her, groaning softly as the warmth of her workout is instantly canceled and overpowered by the sheer cold. Maya chuckles and coaxes her forward.

"It's only a ten-minute walk," she reminds her. "And then you won't have to venture out here for the rest of the day."

"Right…" Claudine is already failing to fend off convulsive shivers as she clings to Maya's elbow and follows at her side. In hopes of keeping Claudine's mind off the biting cold, Maya strikes up conversation and steers it toward warmer images.

"Would you care for some coffee when we get back? Or perhaps tea? Or I believe there is still some leftover hot chocolate that Aijou-san brought."

Claudine ponders the question, letting her mind indulge in the thought of cozy warm drinks.

But before she can answer, a little gust of wind has her shying her face to one side. Maya puts an arm around her shoulders, and Claudine ducks her face into the sleeve of her partner's jacket. It's then when she realizes only half her face is touching material, but the other is touching cold hard skin. Blinking, Claudine looks down to discover Maya's hand is bare and turning red from the cold. She yelps.

"Tendo Maya! Put your gloves on before your fingers fall off!"

At this, Maya looks ahead a bit sheepishly.

"It would seem I've left them back at school."

"What?!" Claudine stops dead in her tracks and turns to look back. They're about halfway in between the school and the dorms now. "Then let's go back and get them-"

"There is no need for that."

"Listen, you." Claudine rounds on her with a stern glare. "Just because you don't seem to feel the cold doesn't mean your body isn't still affected by it. If you don't keep your hands warm on a day like this, you'll get frost bite!"

"Surely nothing so extreme."

"We can't take that risk. We're going back."

Maya had, of course, realized she'd forgotten her gloves a while ago, but she hadn't wanted to make Claudine walk extra in the cold to go back to the school again. Even now, she resists.

"I assure you I will be fine, Saijou-san."

"Really? Can you even feel your hands right now?"

"Not exactly…"

"Mechante!"

Claudine adamantly tries to turn Maya around, hellbent on going back. But Maya does her best to reason a better solution.

"Saijou-san. I will be fine so long as I keep my hands in my pockets."

Claudine stops, as if realizing that's a much more logical thing to do than walk all the way back to school in the snow. She gives herself a shake to dislodge some snowflakes from her hair.

"Then do that! Hurry!"

Removing her arm from around Claudine, Maya slips her hand into her pocket instead, and her other is already inside its respective pocket as well. Maya smiles.

"You see? This is perfectly fine."

But Claudine isn't satisfied. She quickly begins unwinding her scarf from her shoulders and holds it out to her partner. Maya cocks her head in confusion. Claudine grunts.

"Give me your hands."

Maya extracts her hands from her pockets, and both are quite brittle and red. Claudine makes quick work of folding her pink scarf around Maya's hands, layering them in the warm fabric as tightly as possible. But the end result is a rather loose bundle that still lets in the cold, and it's a bit awkward for Maya to keep her hands in front of her tangled up that way. With care, Maya begins unwinding the scarf from her hands.

"Saijou-san, I will be fine the rest of the way back. The scarf your mother made for you shouldn't be wound in such a manner." Maya smoothes the scarf out again and curls it back in its proper place around Claudine's shoulders. Claudine pouts, reaching out to grab Maya's hands and rubbing them in her own to generate a bit of heat.

"Your fingers are going to fall off… Idiot."

"Now that would be a shame. I wouldn't be able to hold your hand."

"Then don't forget your gloves!"

And then the simplest of solutions comes to her. Claudine promptly pulls off her right glove and hands it to Maya. Maya slowly puts it on, looking worriedly at Claudine's bare right hand. But Claudine has the solution for that as well. She loops her right arm through Maya's left, and once they're locked together, she returns her bare hand into her coat pocket. Maya understands and does the same. This way, their unoccupied hands are each gloved, and their bare ones are both sheltered, and they're also able to keep close and press up against one another.

"There," Claudine huffs. "That should do."

"Indeed. Thank you, Claudine."

Claudine blushes and looks on ahead.

"Come on before we both lose our fingers."

And so they hurry on back to Starlight Hall, until they can finally take shelter in the heat of the building. But they don't enjoy it for long before Claudine is herding Maya to the bathroom.

"Run your hands under warm water. Lukewarm! Not hot! You'll burn yourself before you can even feel it!"

Maya does as she's told, putting her frozen red hands under a warm flow of water for a moment. When she's done, Claudine is waiting readily for her with a fresh towel to bundle them up and dry them. After holding them as such while scolding Maya for a few moments, Claudine slowly unravels the towel to see her hands have started returning to their proper color.

"Good," she mutters, then leans down to hold a long kiss to the back of each. Maya had to admit that the warm water and fluffy towel had felt nice on her frozen hands, but the soft, tender warmth of Claudine's lips can't be bested by anything. Maya leans down to leave a kiss on Claudine's head in return. When Claudine straightens up she kisses Maya's lips as well.

"Still a bit cold there," she murmurs. "Let's go see about that hot chocolate."

"That sounds wonderful," Maya agrees.

Taking hold of each other's hands, they head out into the hallway toward the lounge, ready to spend the rest of their day bundled up together warmly.

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A/N: Once again going off the headcanon that Maya with her insane metabolism is always warm and likes to tease her more sensitive French girlfriend about it haha. I just wanted an excuse to write them with their arms looped together in their pockets walking in a nice snowy scenery together.

Warmest wishes for your holidays!