Unfathomable

1.

Madara:

It made me ravenous.

The white hills.

The light blue sky.

The crisp air.

I felt the snow pass underneath my skis, faster and faster as I sped down the black hill. I hadn't tied my hair today, so it cascaded out behind me underneath my helmet. I bent forwards, curled up into a ball as I zig-zagged down, imagining how my red thermal trousers and marine blue jacket created a blurred line as I came down.

This was everything to me.

Everything.

Everything wrong about being a nineteen-year-old university student coming home to his parents for Christmas in a tiny Alp town in Switzerland was worth it, just for this.

I didn't exactly dislike it at home. My mother and father were good people, but stern. Stern, and with high expectations of me when it came to education and helping out at the ginormous hotel they were running. They had high expectations of me, and of my little brother Izuna, but Izuna always excelled so it didn't really bother him that much.

I smiled just thinking about him. He was fourteen, and everything to me. He was my parents absolute favourite, and I honestly didn't blame them, because he was such an angel. I felt no remorse regarding how our parents treated him; only pride.

I loved him.

I loved him with all my heart.

And I saw him at the end of the hill, clad in lime green trousers and a black snowboard jacket, hugging his snowboard to his chest. Seeing him made me speed up further; I loved teasing him and I knew he was more than a bit bitter that I was better at skiing than him. Which was probably why he switched to snowboarding last year.

"Better at skiing" was an understatement, really. I knew I was talented. Like, very talented, and that I could go very, very far if I got more time to train. I always caught the eyes of girls on holiday, and they flirted endlessly with me. Unluckily for them, though...

I smirked, thinking about the groups of boys that came to ski every year.

It was a secret dream of mine, to take a year off university just to train to be able to stand up against the world elite, and then make a living out of skiing, but my parents wouldn't hear of it. And since they payed my tuition fee, I had no choice in the matter. And I did want an education. But I also wanted this...

"Whooooo!" I screamed as I came downhill, my voice cracking. As the hill flattened out, I made a huge bend, splashing snow all over Izuna as I made a harsh break while turning.

"Oyy!" he complained, but I just laughed.

"Did you see that? Did you see that?!" I screamed, beside myself, coming up beside him.

He looked away, blushing when he realised he couldn't stay mad at me. God, he was adorable. I loved him so, so much. "You are amazing", he said. "I wish I were like you."

"Oh, God, Izuna, no!" I exclaimed, horrified, releasing my staffs so they fell to the ground with a soft "thud" and grabbed him by the shoulders. "I wish I were like you! You're smart, talented, hard-working..."

"Pshhhh..." he complained, but I could tell he loved it.

"You're the academic. I wish I had half of what you have. Besides." I tapped his nose. "You're not so bad yourself. Have you seen how the shes, hes and theys look at you when you snowboard?"