Wouldn't It Be Nice (A Toradora Soulmate AU)

13: Build Me Up Buttercup

Ryuuji and Yuusaku speed down a slope, now proficient after a long day of skiing. When they reach the bottom of the hill they're greeted by Ms. Koigakubo, who lets them know there's a snow storm coming and that everyone is going inside. She quickly walks away to alert another group of students who are conveniently being taught by the ski instructor she's been hanging around all day.

"Well, we better get going then," Yuusaku says. "We can meet up with the girls later." Ryuuji nods and they head inside, eager to change out of their frigid gear and warm up. After warming up, they grabbed dinner (a choice between beef stew and vegetable soup), and sat down at the same table as before. They're nearly done with their meal by the time Ami and Minori join them.

More pajama-clad people filter in from the dorms as time goes on, and snow starts pouring down outside the window. "Where did Taiga go?" Minori asks the boys, who stare back at her with matching blank expressions.

Ryuuji breaks the pause. "Wasn't she with you guys? I figured she was still putting her pajamas on or something."

"No, us three were skiing together and she said she was going to wait for you guys to come down and do a few hills with you. You didn't see her?" Ryuuji and Yuusaku shake their heads. "Well, she's got to be around here somewhere. I'll go check back in her dorm. Ami, you check the showers, and you two look around the rest of the lodge." Everyone nods, so they return their bowls and start looking.

Ryuuji goes to each of the tables and asks some of his peers if they've seen Taiga, but to no avail. The last time any of them saw her was on the slope. He peeks into the kitchen and the billiards room--no Taiga there either. "I'll go see if one of the girls found her," he mutters while pulling on his hair.

Ryuuji knocks on the girls' dorm, and Ami opens the door. Her expression says all he needs to know about whether she was found or not. "Is there anywhere else in the lodge she could even be?"

"Oh! I have an idea," Minori offers, pulling out her phone. She calls Taiga, but is only met by a buzzing halfway across the room in a dresser. Ami walks over to it and pulls Taiga's phone out.

"So... she didn't come back to the lodge?" Ami says. "We all left our phones in the room before leaving. She would have come back up here to change into her pajamas."

Ryuuji's heart begins to race. "She's still out in that snowstorm then. We have to go looking for her." He opens the door to rush to his room, when he bumps into Yuusaku who was just coming in.

"Did you find her?" Three voices shout at Yuusaku.

"No, I-"

"I'm going out looking. Cover for me, okay?" Ryuuji hastens to get out the door, with Minori shouting "I'll look too!" behind him.

Ryuuji meets Minori right as he's slipping out the door. "I'll search the bottom, you search the top. We need to find her quickly; she's going to freeze. If you find her, call me."

They head out in separate directions, both trying their best to run through the snowfall. Ryuuji looks for anything sticking up weirdly, and ends up brushing snow off of ice chunks, ski equipment, and other snow piles, but not Taiga. Twenty minutes go by with wind that seemed so pleasant earlier now burning his face and trying to hinder his search. He leans against the border fence to check his phone. No messages from Minori or anyone else.

Just as he's considering calling Minori to see if they should ask for more people to help, he sees a familiar shade of brown sprawled across the ground past the fence. Ryuuji sprints over to the break in the fence and then to Taiga. She had been protected from the snow by the trees, and only has a light dusting over her. Ryuuji yells her name while trying to wake her, and runs his hand over her face to get the snow off. Her skin is icy.

He tries to roll her over in order to carry her on his back, but her ski is stuck on a branch. He pulls on the branch until it releases the ski. Finally free, Taiga is able to be lifted up onto Ryuuji's back. Once he gets her situated, he pulls out his phone and calls Minori.

"Hello? Did you find her?"

"Yeah, I've got her. She's unconscious but mumbling a little bit so she could be okay. I'm gonna bring her back now."

"Okay, great. Good luck." Minori hangs up.

Ryuuji continues to talk to Taiga in case she has a concussion.

"Hey, I hope you haven't been out there for too long..." Taiga mumbles in reply, but it's incoherent. "You feel pretty cold, but don't worry, I'm going to bring you to the lodge and we'll tuck you in bed, and you can have hot chocolate when you wake up. Does that sound good?" More mumbling. Ryuuji sighs. "I was so worried about you... you're safe now."

Taiga moves her head a little bit. "Y...Yuusaku?" She says sleepily.

Ryuuji doesn't reply. His heart sinks as he trudges on. Is she wishing this is him? Did she want him to rescue her? I still remember when he rejected her, and she was heartbroken. I don't want that to happen again. Even if... Even if I wanted her to know I brought her back... I could make sure everyone else keeps it up that it wasn't me. Yeah. I'll do that... for her.