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Being always on edge was Ran's same as always ever since she had involved herself in the Haneoka vs. Hanasakigawa feud.
It was not a nice feeling, especially not when she was alone and outside of Haneoka. Being vulnerable like this made trips back home risky, any wrong move and she could land herself in a nasty fight without much chance of getting out- so she tied her uniform jacked around her waist and hurried her pace.
Though she didn't care much about the enmity between the schools, she found herself in trouble more often than she would have liked. Still, not fighting was ideal.
Ran's house was far, so she made sure to walk along the same path she always did, taking the same turns that had kept her safe every time. Every detail of the road had been carefully memorized like her life depended on it (sometimes it felt like it did), and when her sharp hearing picked up unfamiliar noise coming from a seemingly empty street, she braced herself for the worst.
As she approached, the banter became clearer. Yukina Minato's unmistakable voice was among them and she sounded distressed…
She ran the remaining distance to the alley it was all coming from. Unrelated fights wouldn't usually be her problem, but she was there and Yukina wasn't a fighter if Ran recalled well.
Sure enough, when she got there, the distinct scene of 3 Hanasakigawa students and a cornered Yukina was apparent. The aggressive flirty talk they seemed to be giving Yukina bothered Ran immensely, but her blood boiled when the tallest girl, presumably the leader, grabbed Yukina's chin.
"Get your hands off of her," Ran growled, clenching her fists at her sides.
They all turned to look at Ran, wary until they realized it was only her. Yukina's eyes flashed faintly with relief at seeing someone familiar.
"She never told us there was a prince coming to her aid," the shortest one, with short curly yellow hair, teased, an annoying smirk on her face. "What will you do, huh? Fight us by yourself?"
"Yes, so let her go."
"Mitake-san, don't be reckless," Yukina shook her head.
The leader, tall and bulky with green hair and eyes, snickered. “Yo, Harada, keep an eye on the purple girl. Shiho and I will play with this one,” she said to the final girl, with glasses and long dark hair, who held Yukina back as she and her shorter companion approached Ran slowly as an intimidation tactic. Ran was too angry to think reasonably anyway, getting herself in a fighting position.
Seeing this, the shortest howled and lunged towards Ran, who barely dodged a punch meant to her stomach, and continued to try and hit the leader to get past and take Yukina (who was hissing threats to Harada herself) with her.
It didn't work. The leader grabbed Ran's fist and twisted her arm enough to hurt. She retreated, shaking her wrist to relieve the pain when Shiho clung to her back, destabilizing Ran as she kept swinging her arms to throw the attacker off.
“Show her, Shiho!” The others cheered at the game of crazy bull before them. All the noise and Shiho’s awful jagged breaths on Ran's nape drove her mad, not caring when she slipped backwards, falling on the shorter girl. There was a clunk, the ruckus died down when Shiho fell unconscious, and when Ran finally stood up, free and having to worry about one person less, she accidentally locked eyes with the leader- the jest was gone, the death glare she received in it's place sent chills down her spine.
The furious girl threw herself against Ran. Her cheekbone received all the damage of the punch, but Ran didn't have much time to stop when the tallest kept coming at her like a bullet.
Ran was agile, not strong. At least not enough for this opponent. Yukina’s horrified calls for her name kept her fighting back with anything she could offer, getting to land jabs on the leader's jaw and stomach, which only bought her a little time, though Ran’s knuckles were sore already, and she had received bad hits herself.
A particularly strong punch to her chest made Ran double over herself, groaning and cursing under her breath. Sure she wouldn't attack soon, the tallest stopped to breathe, breaking into a fit of laughter. Ran didn't understand what was so funny, she just licked blood off her lips and shot a quick glance at Yukina.
The fear in those golden eyes was indescribable. It grew and she shouted, “Watch ou- hmm!” but her voice was muffled when an altered Harada forcibly shut her up.
This distracted Ran long enough for her to receive a hard kick on her side, which sent her against the wall. Her head was spinning, and the leader snatched her chance to strangle her.
“You had the nerve to hurt Shiho, you little shit…” the leader snarled, pressing against Ran’s throat, “I won't go easy on you.”
“You messed with Minato-san first- ack!” The pressure grew. Ran's vision blurred from the loss of oxygen, the adrenaline urging her body to resist and claw at her attacker's hands to pry herself free to help a struggling Yukina.
There was a loud cry as the captive songstress bit the bespectacled girl's hand, kicking her in the stomach. The commotion called the attention of the leader, who shortly found her head smacked against Yukina's school bag. It wasn't hard enough to completely knock out the enemy, but it gave Yukina the upper hand, so she quickly grabbed her junior's wrist, pulling them both out of the alley.
"We… don't have much time before they come for us," Ran panted, not risking looking back. She was weak, but there was no other option than push herself and escape. For both her and Yukina’s safety.
"My house is near, we can make it if we hurry," murmured Yukina, and Ran couldn't do anything other than follow.
Relief washed over Ran’s body the second Yukina's front door clicked closed.
Judging by how her senior slumped against the door to recompose herself, Yukina was glad to be here as well. Ran sat down on the entryway, coughing and taking big breaths as she rubbed her injured arm. She looked across at Yukina. She was frowning deeply.
“Your cheek is…” she said weakly, and Ran tilted her head in question. “It's, um, bleeding.”
Ran’s eyes widened. Everything hurt all over and she was so tired that she never realized. She touched just a little below her eye but it stung, and now her fingers were bloody too.
"... Minato-san, do you have a first aid kit I can borrow?"
"Ah, yes… in the dining room.” She walked past Ran into the house, stopping to help Ran up when the youngest wobbled trying to follow.
“I can walk there. I'm fine,” said Ran when Yukina gave her a pitiful glance, definitely not believing her junior's words. She still didn't protest, leading them instead.
Once there, Yukina stiffly offered Ran a seat at the table while she went up to a nearby cabinet. It was clear she wasn't used to being a hostess, or maybe Ran's presence in her home was something she wasn't prepared to deal with… Ran had to admit this was all weird for her too, but all she needed was to patch herself up and be gone.
Except that when Yukina returned with the first aid kit, she refused to give it up, keeping it close to her chest. "Let me help you.”
Ran's cheeks grew red. “I-I can do this by myself.”
“Please. You're like this because of me, It’s the least I could do.”
Ran looked into her eyes, surprised and extremely confused, but this discussion could drag on endlessly and Ran didn't feel it would be appropriate to leave blood in Yukina's dining room, so she let her senior keep the box. “Fine,” the raven head sighed.
Yukina sat next to Ran and she began preparing everything they needed straight away: some gauze, alcohol and bandages.
The eldest began cleaning the wound near Ran’s eye, then her lip. Ran would've been embarrassed if the alcohol didn't burn and had her wincing at every touch of the wet gauze, so she made an effort to not interrupt Yukina. Other than Ran’s heavy pained breathing, they were silent. It wasn’t like they were the most talkative people anyway, and this was merely business.
In need to distract herself, the silence also gave Ran the opportunity to get a proper close-up look at Yukina for the first time since they had known each other, and very soon she found herself picking up on her seniors' micro-expressions; the stoic Minato-san didn't seem so stoic when her eyes narrowed or her lips pursed in focus, a face very much alive… and she was kind of cute too…
“Mitake-san? Is there something on my face?" Yukina’s movements faltered for a moment.
“Huh?”
“You have been staring.”
Ran snapped out of her trance, having the decency to look abashed for a second after realizing she had. Yukina's eyes showed no trace of anger or discomfort, but, "Uh, no. M-maybe some dust…"
The senior nodded slowly and wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, not even asking if that was where the supposed dust was. Ran facepalmed internally. She had really made Yukina uncomfortable, hadn't she…?
But Yukina bounced back and extended… her hand? What for?
When Ran didn't seem to react as intended, Yukina had to speak up. “Your hand still needs bandaging.”
Ah! Right. Now was not the time to act silly, so she quickly let the eldest girl take her injured arm- Ran almost pulled it back when she made contact with Yukina’s unusually cold hand, though the latter seemed to not notice as she inched closer to check.
It was a little embarrassing having Yukina inspect and touch her arm like this, and she looked so pensive it made Ran uneasy. She understood it was necessary if Yukina was to help patch her up, but something about the delicacy of the older girl's movements compelled the raven-head to stay still, or perhaps it was her own awkwardness. Ran always prided herself on being tough, and wasn't used to this type of care, like she was a fragile doll and Yukina was trying her best to not damage her further.
It was strange. The treatment coming from Yukina, renowned stony-hearted songstress, of all people, wasn't helping the odd feeling.
“I had seen Lisa heal other people before, but this is…” Yukina said, trailing off as she brushed her thumb against Ran’s bloody knuckles. “You have cuts and bruises all over.”
"Nothing I can't handle, and they would've done the same if it had been only you, or maybe even worse. Some of these are old, I'm used to this."
“You shouldn’t be.” Yukina started wrapping a bandage around Ran’s palm. “... Why did you jump in? I thought you didn't like me much.”
”I-I…" and Ran didn't! Yukina could be arrogant and stubborn…and her determination was admirable, but that wasn't the point. "I just couldn't let those girls from Hanasakigawa get away with picking on one of us. Haneoka’s pride was on the line."
"But I am unimportant in this battle of yours." Add 'insufferable' to the list of adjectives to describe Yukina Minato with!
"And I spared you from getting your ass beat, Minato-san!" Ran's voice seemed to thunder between their small shared space. Yukina did reel back in shock. Ran was still stressed, she had to gather herself. "I'm- I'm… sorry. Why I did it is unimportant. I was just passing by and we're here safe in the end, I guess…"
Yukina sighed and tightened the bandage over Ran's hand, though she didn't let go, holding on a little longer after she was finished. Ran glanced from Yukina's face to their joined hands- her heart was beating unusually harder for reasons Ran wasn't sure she wanted to know yet. She opened her mouth to ask if everything was alright when Yukina cut in.
"What I'm trying to say, Mitake-san, is 'thank you'. I wouldn't have been able to get out of there without your intervention…" And from Yukina's serious but solemn expression, Ran knew it was genuine gratitude.
This time they stared at each other for what felt like hours, neither knowing well how to proceed.
"H-hey, um, I guess I have to thank you as well for… saving me at the end back then- And also for helping with the bandages," Ran hesitated with her words, averting her eyes. She was about to do the unimaginable: "Even with your inexperience, you fought back and put them in their place, so not bad, Minato-san…"
Yukina's face lit up in a subtle way the younger girl had never seen before. "My, is that a compliment?"
"I-It's whatever, just means we're even," Ran huffed defensively, though she blushed.
"Of course. I suppose that means we make a good team."
Ran chuckled at the idea. "If that's what you want to call it… but I guess we did get out of there in a team effort, huh…"
Yukina looked down at Ran's hand, still held on her own and smiled slightly. It was a sight far removed from her perceived image of Yukina Minato. Though right now, with the last afternoon rays coming through the window, it was undeniable she was breathtaking- another thought Ran didn't want to put to much thought into.
"Then I will definitely take it as a compliment…" the senior hummed contentedly, finally letting Ran go, though the latter was so stunned to immediately react as Yukina stood up. "I don't think you should go out so soon like this, so can I offer you water or tea?"
"Uh, yeah… yeah. Water is fine. Thank you…"
Without any further words, Yukina nodded and walked to the kitchen.
"Minato-san!" Ran called before Yukina was out of sight, giving the eldest time to look back. The raven-head continued, "if you ever run into trouble again… I-I hope I can be there to help."
"I hope we never live something like that, but I'm glad I can count on you, Mitake-san." Yukina flashed her a small smile and went on her way, leaving a blushing Ran to process the embarrassing offer that had come out of her mouth…
Except maybe, very deep down, she meant what she said, and her and Yukina weren't that bad of a team, after all. Nothing like a dangerous experience to bring people together, and they had a whole afternoon to get to know each other.