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“You know no one else would call this a warm-up, right?” Kohaku smirked as they walked down the steep trail.
It was a wide-open gravel trail with mountain bike tracks pressed on both sides. The rest of the trail had twists and bends, but maybe whoever made it ran out of time because the end was 10 degrees off from just being a cliff. Branches, roots, and a few pieces of garbage kept Kohaku trying to remember the nature documentary she had seen about mountain goats.
“Maybe,” Homura shrugged. “But it helps with balance,” She looked down at her watch as they walked.
Kohak, on the other hand, had her eyes glued to the uneven ground. “How many times have you walked this trail, Homura?”
“Lost count,” Homura replied, turning her head up. “It’s not too much further,”
“Really?” Kohaku looked up to see if the trail opening was up ahead. Between the natural greens, browns, and shades of grays, Kohaku saw the bright red of the gymnast’s “Oh ya, I see the car,”
“See, not that bad,” Homura was in front of Kohaku, but she swore she heard the smirk.
One Kohaku couldn’t even argue with. Homura seemed as stable as ever, while Kohaku was a few seconds away from putting out her arms to try and balance herself. “Okay, but next time, can we go to the trail by my apartment?” Kohaku looked between the trail and the bright red box of Homura’s car.
“That one is just as steep,” Homura turned her head to look at the blonde.
“Ya, but I know that one,” Kohaku looked up to meet her friend’s gaze when suddenly the next step forward didn’t feel so solid.
Her legs slipped out from under her as she coasted down for a second. Her arms went down to the ground underher to stop her fall, but the mud was offering little friction. Finally, she stopped when her leg hit a protruding branch.
“Kohaku?!” Homura dashed up to help.
Kohaku took a long, shallow breath. The kind that filters through your teeth and doesn’t quite reach your lungs. “Aaaaaoooowwww,” As she breathed out her words, her arms shivered.
That’s not supposed to bend that way.
“You okay?” Homura offered her hand.
“Ya ya,” Kohaku wheezed out. “Just slipped,” Taking Homra’s hand.
“Looks like it hurts. Should we get it checked out?”
“Nah, no time. You said it wasn’t too much further down, right?” Kohaku tried to put her foot back down, but it shot pain up her right leg.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Looks like it hurts,” Homura replied, as blunt as ever.
“Yeah yeah,” Kohaku tried to lean all her weight off her foot. “Soon I can get home and get ice on it, the better,”
Homura raised a brow before looking back down the hill. “And you’ll rest when you get back?”
“Uhh,” Kohaku thought of the mess she had left her new apartment in. “Um hum,” She nodded, maybe a bit too quickly.
Homura flickered her eyes between Kohaku and her strained ankle. “Sure,” Kohaku couldn’t tell if that was sarcasm or just Homura’s normal deadpan tone. “Let’s get going then,” she turned.
Kohaku dug in her left foot as she slightly cycled the right. She tried to land just on the ball of her right foot, but even that left some lingering pain.
Just gotta get back.
Kohaku focused on the ground in front of her and just how much farther ahead Homura had gotten. “Homura, wait up!”
“Hmh?” Homura turned and noticed the gap too. “Oh sorry,” She slipped her phone back into her pocket.
Rare for someone who claimed to ‘connect with nature’ on her hikes. “What’s up?”
“Just checking the time,” Homura called back.
The drive back was mostly just Kohaku trying to find the most comfortable position for her leg without hitting the car’s dash. Finally, she landed on easing her foot on the floor. Hoping the building pressure would be like a slow boil instead of a burning pain.
She tried to remember how her coach told her something about how pain was all in one's head, and how the human brain could ignore the pain it was inflicting. A good speech for the last inning, but now, her coach might as well have said it in a different language.
If her body wouldn’t listen to her, she would just have to put pressure on the pain to remind her body who was in control.
At least now she was in her half-moved-in apartment, looking at the mess she had started with a bag of frozen peas on her ankle because her ice packs were in some unknown box. The peas weren’t even on her ankle. They all moved to one side or the other and left Kohaku with cold plastic on her ankle.
Not the day she was expecting.
Though, through it all, that wasn’t what was on her mind at the moment. No, it was on a comment Homura had made when dropping her off.
“You’re very stubborn, you know,” Kohaku’s hand stopped at the door handle. “I have no problem with it. I’m the same, but thought you should keep it in mind,”
Homura was no stranger to being brutal. God save those who faced Homura’s verbal lashing, but it wasn’t out of hostility. It felt more like an observation.
Stubbornness was one of those traits people either said was desirable or something more akin to pride. It was a good thing she could take care of herself right? It was a good thing she didn’t get in the way of things for her friends, right?
Homura would’ve been late for practice if we took any longer.
Kohaku looked up at the ceiling. She didn’t think about closing the curtains when she got in. She didn’t think she’d be lying here so long. She would occasionally try to put her foot down and get up but a quick wince and shooting pain made her lay down again. After a few attempts she conceited on lying down to take a quick nap. She had set her phone for 20 minutes at least 3 times by now. But as time moved on so did the sun. Now, the setting sunlight casts the room in orange light that not even Kohaku’s eyelids couldn’t shield from.
“Hmmhgn,” Kohaku turned into the cushions of her couch, trying to find something more comfortable. She tucked in her arm as she moved closer. It was more comfy than she thought it would be.
Knock
Okay she knew she had set a 4 alarm but no way it was that quick.
Knock
“Kohaku?” A voice called. “You in there?”
Kohaku rolled to the other side. “Yeah, I’m here Ama,”
The door clicked before unlocking. “Sorry it took me a sec. Had to meet with my professor after class for some help,” Amaryllis put down her messenger bag. “And then the bun shop mixed up my order” She knelt on the floor by the couch. “But I got it,” She smiled, holding up the white paper bag she had.
Kohaku tried to recall if she had hit her head at all. “Uhh thanks, Ama,” Seeing angels was a symptom of hitting your head right? But she didn’t hit her head. “Sorry I didn’t get something together. I didn’t know you were coming,”
“Oh Homura told me what happened,” Amaryllis pulled out the buns.
Just checking the time my ass.
Kohaku sat up against the armrest and took the bun from Amaryllis. Amaryllis sits on the edge of the couch and starts to eat the pork bun they’d always get. Kohaku, on the other hand, just looked at the bun in her hand. “You got to ask your professor everything you wanted, right?” The bun shop by campus closed only 30 minutes after Amaryllis’s last class.
“Yeah, I order take out ahead of time,” Amaryllis replied like she knew the rest of what Kohaku was thinking.
Kohaku’s lips pulled back. “So what she say?” Kohaku took the first bite of her bun.
“It took her that long for her to tell you it wasn’t the dress but the process essay she took off points for?” Kohaku tried to clarify.
“Pretty much,” Amaryllis sighed, leaning back into the couch. “I asked her how I can improve it, and she told me to take notes of my day and compare it to the finished product. But she means like anything. Doesn’t even need to be fashion related,”
“Maybe she’d appreciate notes about your girlfriend’s strained ankle,” Kohaku replied.
“Hmhh, yes. Add something about the bag of frozen peas as well?” Amaryllis grinned.
“Ehhh not so much frozen anymore,” Kohaku rolled her leg a bit to shake off some of the condensation.
“Here,” Amaryllis took the bag off Kohaku’s ankle and went to put it back in the freezer. All before Kohaku had any time to protest. “Hey, where’s your ice packs?”
“Some box…,” Kohaku looked at the almost fort she had in front of her.
“Do you know which one? It'd probably be more comfortable than the bag of peas,” Amaryllis looked over to the box fort as well.
“Uh, I think-,” Kohaku tried to put her foot down to help look, but the same alarm rang.
“I got it, Kohaku,” Amaryllis assured her.
“It’s not that bad. Just need to put the right pressure on it,” Kohaku pushed herself off the couch to her feet. “See, it’s fine,” Kohaku gulped to stop her teeth from gritting.
“Kohaku,” Amaryllis sighed. “I get it, but you need to rest. I can find it,”
“Yeah but-,”
“Kohaku,” Amaryllis shot her a glare.
And Kohaku did as she was told. “Yup, got it,” Laying down is probably the most inconspicuous way of hiding that she was blushing.
Amaryllis sorted through a few more boxes before finding the pack presumably at the bottom. A quick splash of water, and 3 minutes or so in the freezer, and it was ready to go. “There,” Amaryllis placed the ice pack back on Kohaku’s ankle. It wrapped her ankle much better than the bag of peas.
Felt like it mended something back together. “Thanks, babe,”
“Course,” Amaryllis pushed back Kohaku’s bangs and kissed her forehead. “Now get some rest,” she moved her hand down to Kohaku’s cheek.
Kohaku took a deep breath before breathing out and leaned more into Amaryllis's hand. Between the pork buns and Amaryllis’s presence, Kohaku’s mind started to feel fuzzy. Like a light tingle running through the folds in her brain. Only interrupted when Amaryllis pulled her hand back.
Kohaku peeked her eyes open to see Amaryllis look at her messenger bag. “You’re leaving?”
“Just for a bit. Need to get some fabric before the store closes,” Amaryllis answered.
Kohaku reached out for Amaryllis’s wrist. “I can come with you,”
The other huffed a laugh behind her lips. “I’ll be right back. You won’t even notice I’m gone,”
“Alright,” Kohaku let go. “You know how much you need right?”
“Nope~,” She sang, as she grabbed her bag. “Don’t even have a sketch yet,”
“Oh god,” Kohaku heaved out a laugh.
Once Kohaku heard the door lock she turned back over to the cushions to resign herself to that nap.
Flick
As if the sun had been turned back on, Kohaku saw it through her eyelids. “Ughhhhhhhh,” Kohaku groaned, rolling back over to see who turned the sun back on.
“See, before you notice,” Amaryllis dropped the bags that weighed down one of her arms.
Kohaku noticed Amaryllis’s shoulder roll. “What did you get?” Kohaku looked at the bags leaning against the kitchen bar.
“Some denim, heavy fleece, chiffon, and some thread,” Amaryllis grabbed her tablet out the canvas bag.
Kohaku scooted down the couch till her legs rested on the other armrest. “And you said you didn’t know what you’re going to make yet?”
“Well, I’m going to use the fleece for my quilt,” Amaryllis’s voice got a tad higher at then end.
“And the rest?”
“I’ll figure it out,” Amaryllis sat down where Kohaku once lay her head. “I’ll find some use for it,”
“Uhh huh,” Kohaku lay her head back down on Amaryllis’s legs. “Scariest part, I believe it,”
Amaryllis shook her head as she pulled up sketches on her tablet. “Keep talking and I’m going to steal another one our your hoodies,”
“I haven’t gotten the last one back!”
“Cause I’m not done with the embroideries,”
“Ama pleaseeeeee. I”m going to run out,”
“It’s summer, you’ll be fine,” Amaryllis ran her fingers over Kohaku’s scalp. Perhaps to satiate the other. Kohaku pushed her accusations aside for later and indulged in the gentle scrapes along her scalp. Blooming out from her crown down. “Feeling better?”
“Ya, thanks Ama,” Kohaku took and kissed the underside of Amarylis’s wrist.
Though as her thumb ran across the more delicate skin she noticed a few indents. Nothing too deep but enough to be noticeable close up. Assumedly from the plastic bags Amaryllis had just hauled in.
“Sorry I couldn’t help,” Kohaku dropped Amaryllis’s hand right above her chest.
“It’s fine. I managed to get it all in one trip after all,” Amaryllis replied.
“Still…,” Kohaku muttered.
“Geez Kohaku,” half of that coming out as a wheeze. “You’re so stubborn sometimes, love,”
And there was that word again. “Is that a bad thing?”
“Huh?”
“Do you mean that as a bad thing?” Kohaku asked again. “Homura said something similar when she dropped me off and I know if she meant it as a bad thing or not,”
“I mean you are pretty stubborn Kohaku,” Amaryllis recalled. It felt like a twist in Kohaku’s gut. “But I don’t think it’s a strictly good or bad thing. I know you, Kohaku, and I know under all your stubbornness, you’re just trying to help. And that’s fine but when people are worried about you, let them help you. In the same way you care about us, we care about you as well. Imagine if I sprained my ankle and try to walk around,”
“I’d probably freak out,” Kohaku chuckled a bit at the thought.
“Probably,” Amaryllis agreed. “There’s a reason why 'In sickness and in health' is normally part of vows. It’s good for us to be able to lean on each other,”
“Promise?”
“Promise,”
“Alright,” Kohaku hummed. “Can you get me some water please?”
“Sure,”