Chapter 25: Snow Day

Judy moved slowly, deliberately trying to find a comfortable position to lay in, in her current bed at the rooms center. The area quietly vacant of any sound save for the occasional boisterous noises of her younger siblings padding around in the halls just outside the rooms door. Each time she moved to get comfortable her wounds reminded her the mistakes she made. Each time she surrendered to the discomfort of the position she lay in, an attempt to succumb to the exhaustion.

An irony given how much death and unconsciousness to claim her waking moments when life wasn't as assured as now. The exact opposite was a reality, every moment in that quiet room she endeavored for sleep and the passage of time it offered, the subtle hope that every second away from that day's tenuous outcome the better. But instead her mind was fully awake and charged with every event, recalling and recounting every vivid moment to memory in greater and greater details. From her own frail attempts and arrogance in her own skill over her enemy to the auburn ronin who took that sacrifice to its ultimate conclusion willingly. Her face contorted into a disappointed countenance as she admonished herself.

'I should have done better, I could have.' She thought gruffly with a childish annoyance at her emotionally driven tirades. She took in another long drawn breath, wincing instinctively as the act caused the wounds on her stomach to winge with pain at the motion. Another grumbling sigh and she let her thoughts carry her through the day again. She relived the memory of that duels finality in growing disbelief. Each time she recalled it the fight went differently within her own head, a byproduct, she assured herself of the now hazy state the ointments, scented smokes and healing concoctions she took that her mother assured her would aid in her healing.

Judy kept prodding him for answers to seemingly worthless or annoying questions in the hopes he would remain responsive, proof that he hadn't made that final leap, the very same one she attempted to make only a short while before him. Fear was a difficult sensation in her current state, but bit by bit it grew in tense layers as the fox grew increasingly motionless in each of his replies until curt nods and garbled grunts weren't even offered.

The rabbit warriors contorted expression held as she attempted at the recent memories, she couldn't remember everything in perfect detail, bouts of lost consciousness, she suspected the culprit. But still a few details reminded her of the moments of thought she experienced then.

It was the longest silence of recent memory among so many moments that her short life had so far culminated. The still, unmoving warrior failed to respond to her again and again as she called his name.

"Nick?" Her growing insistence leaving less and less time for the fox to respond before she attempted his name as a question again and then again in short order. The white flakes of early winter, before a welcome idea in how they would ensure warlord Bigs host would be unable to continue their invading march for the capital, the same dots of snow now embraced the auburn warriors pelt. They failed to melt against the ronins usually warm aura, the very one that she had reveled in, in the sparse number of times she experienced it. Instead the white speckles resembled the pale complexion on the ronins muzzle. Exposed, closed, lidded eyes and the scars that covered them, his ears and even his nose and lips showing a pale, cold expression of a smile that faded into a tired line.

Then her fears came to fruition as the fox lacked even the energy to stay in his knelt frame, falling to his side still with the sword passing through his stomach in a sickening image. The expulsion of air from his muzzle was slow and as foreboding as the death she witnessed in the elderly who passed quietly to the next world where they were honored and prayed for as they took their place among their gods to watch over them. Judy felt greedy though in her gutteral scream when that moment met her this time she did not pray for a safe passage but instead prayed that death did not stake the warrior that day.

She shivered at the cold air that kept sweeping through the room, both a welcome and alarming reminder to the winter just outside. While she was being treated for her injuries it wasn't uncommon to hear several of her younger siblings cheering and celebrating their lands victory by playing outside in the thin layers of sleet. The snow took to the ground surprisingly quickly, a sign of just how cold and early it was. This helped in knowing it would deter the warring army from taking to the southern pass for the capital. Couriers had already been dispatched with sealed messages about the day's surprising events. From warlord Bigs fraudulent forgery to their response and its subsequent end, the actions of the traitorous shrew earning charge after charge against Lionhearts empire. Another gust of wind finding its way through the burrow ripped her from her thoughts as the draft chilled the small lucid rabbit the moment it swept through the room. She shivered in place under the thin blanket at the offending cold ending with the clacking of her protesting teeth.

A tired mumble caught her attention, she stopped squirming and her ears shot up towards the sound. The voice was as raspy as her own but tired and drolled in a low, pained tone. Slowly she fought with the restrictions the bandages along the fur of her neck caused to look over the likewise patched auburn ronin lying just a couple steps away.

"Finally… Awake?" Judy croaked, scowling at the sound of her own voice scraping against her dried throat when she spoke. "Had-" She gulped uselessly for whatever saliva would help the parched feeling when she talked. "Us all worried." She stared at the fox as his chest slowly rose and fell with careful breaths. The fox's paws slowly fought against the blanket that was set on him, prodding at a couple of the bandages across his stomach with a winced hiss at the pain.

"You sure… I'm not dead?" The gruff canid noticeably cringed, gulping like she had against his own dry throat, eventually he managed to offer a tired smirk to help placate his reply.

"Don't be a big baby. Mother told me your wounds were even less severe than mine, just goes to show how much tougher I am." The rabbit openly chided, slowly the fox's own head turned and tilted to her own direction.

"Oh come on, I had a sword through my gut. You sure I'm the blind one here?" And there it was, that same unassuming and carefree attitude that the fronin, even as close to the next life as herself only a few hours before, offered in place of the seriousness of the situation. It was comforting, warm in how personable and open it always felt.

"It only went through your side. Are you sure Savage is a hare and not a vicious fox eating predator of some sort? Because from what Mother tells me he was closer to skinning you with the swords placement then he was to fatally stabbing you." She mocked with with a growing smirk as she chuckled, Nick followed the small bellow with his own, the two ending in winced, painful groans and shallow intakes of air. She plied the moment for all the playful banter the ronin offered in place of the stressful truth of how closely the two walked with death.

"Just wanted me for my fur huh? Guess you and Jack had that in common. First sign of cold weather and what do you two do? Go straight for the foxes fur." Nick said with dramatic faux offense, he flourished his paws up in front of him as if to accentuate the scene he drolled out. Judy for her own part laughed at the parallel, smiling at the end result. "Where is Savage?" He asked after a pause in a more serious tone.

"He's alive, hes receiving care in the cells, we thought you had killed him?" Judy began in confusion.

"Yea, that was the plan." Nick spoke plainly.

"The plan?" The rabbit questioned, lacking the perspective the other onlookers had during the final moments of the duel in how suspect the end was.

"Yea, you remember how I said something was off about that shinobi-the female one?" Nick ended with a cough that quickly turned violent with heaves at its end. Judy allowed it to settle with another pang of worry, another beat of silence to assure that no greater damages made themselves known on the figure of the fox beside her. The two were the only ones in the large infirmary room, recovering at the leisure and skill of her mother, herbalists and physicians.

"What about her?" Judys ears began to mirror the auburn ronins own, intent on the only other sound in that room being the other mammal beside them.

"While I was fighting savage I caught the smell of something, I couldn't place it. It was actually a little embarrassing how long it took. Eventually though, I realized he smelled a little like the vixen in the cell and I noticed she smelled a little like Jack, sly hare garnering the attentions of such a lethal vixen." He said in a low, accusatory tone that emulated the way children confided secrets. Innocent and simple as she herself was, her own wit did manage to eventually catch on to what he was implying.

"No." She started in a confused tone. "No way? Really?" She oddly warmed to the prospect of the two different mammals, it didn't take her long after that to figure out the plan. "He threw the match... For her?" He nodded.

"Romantic huh?" Nick continued with a smirk.

"But he was bound by honor? He would-"

"Give that up to save her?" Nick cut her off, mulling it over inside his head as he adjusted to try and get comfortable despite his injuries, essentially copying her own attempts to find a comfortable position. "Wouldn't you?" The foxes tone grew quizzical and serious in equally conservative measures.

"I-I don't know." She said honestly, her whole life was spent proving that a rabbit could enter the world of nobility and all the duties that entailed, including holding honor in the utmost regard. Her companion in that room held a look that even without eyes left a guilty moment in the way it took her in. His response though was worse still when he drolled out a simple non committed nod.

"Guess that's fair, you have a lot at risk." The fox spoke neutrally in a way that felt more painful than she expected. It left an awkward silence, where before she was alone in that silence with Nick still unconscious, now it hurt in that it felt intentional when the two failed to renew the conversation. "Can I make a request?"

"Hmm?" Judys brows furrowed. "Nick, you travelled across Japan for my clan and Lionhearts empire, you fought assassins for us twice and risked your life for-" Her eyes shot wide open realizing the quiet parallel. She cursed herself for the innocuous meaning his previous statement held 'Wouldn't you?' The question asked in just such a way. The dishonored ronin himself in Savages place had fought for her clan, for her. In a own brash response she accidently admonished the fox's own actions without thinking.

"I would like clan Hopps to release the shinobi and Savage and be cleared of their charges." The ronin spoke curtly and respectfully, devoid of the personability there was before, Judy noticed instantly how much she missed it.

"The two assassins admitted openly of their crimes against clan Hopps at the bequest of warlord Big. And Savage was part of the open rebellion against Lionhearts empire I can't just-I can't-" Judy began in an authoritative tone. She stopped the moment she caught the growingly worsening expression on the fox's face. She couldn't place how the sightless eyes he held bore into her until she realized her own guilt looked back at her through it. She felt the weight of honor weighing against her shoulders. "I'll have them released immediately." Her response was immediate and even surprised herself as she watched for a beat… Then two as Nick barely nodded in agreement, the makings of a silently thankful smile crossing the edges of his muzzle again, relaxing her own disappointment in herself.

"Thank you, Judy." He warmed, resigning to look uselessly back up into the nothingness of the large rooms supporting structures. Where Judy was greeted with the wooden structure of the burrows infirmary room she knew the foxes world to resemble a contemplative void. Another bout of loud children could be heard passed the door cheering and clamoring through the echoing halls that caused another chilling draft to make its way through the large room. Judy brought her own covers up to stave off the cold when another bout of silence between the two settled in. Her mind was left to wonder for the first time since her journey began where she didn't have to worry about assassins or approaching war, instead just whatever sat at the edge of her mind.

"Two swords?" Judy asked, at the forefront of her recent memory was the fox's own unique style of kenjutsu.

"Hmm?" He mulled turning back to her, his ears now having left her direction.

"When I was first going to Orsas shrine, it was to find a champion to compete against warlord Bigs own representative in a duel. It was suspected he was going to choose a ronin that had been heard of dueling along the northern part of the western provinces who wielded two swords. Was that you?" The rabbit began working the rumors and imagination of the story in her head.

"Yea, I spent a few years roaming, fighting, killing, thought I already told you the broad story of it?" The fox shrugged.

"Not about fighting Douglas, I had heard it was a female wolf?" The rabbit chided with a smirk.

"Bah, stupid rumors will never get the whole story right, and each subsequent time it's told its left to the machinations of the next to hear it." The fox laughed amicably. He was tall as far as his species went, she noted. In place her memory retooled the images through her head of the fateful day of the legendary prey samurai Ramses. In place of the wolf noble that headed part of Bigs army was now the auburn fur and charcoal paws of her ronin companion, standing in that rams path. She could see what he meant about the aggrandizing nature of a mammal left to their own creative retelling. But her memory served her well as she imagined the fox drawing against the large mammal and cutting him down with his own unique dual weaponed style.

"So you killed Ramses?" She asked pointedly.

"Who?" He quirked a raised brow denoting his confusion.

"A ram samurai that toured the western provinces to prove prey samurai could reach their level. He was a legend further east and in the northern provinces. Was told that you slew him." She waited as he sighed, delving into his own thoughts with a concerted expression.

"Oh yea him, I killed him." It was the simplest droll the fox offered in place of the explanation she wanted.

"That's it? Not why? How?" She pressed in her curiosity.

"There isn't much to say. We crossed paths, he was rude, he challenged me to a duel and then I killed him and kept walking." He shrugged. "I haven't given him any more thought than any of the others I've fought over the years. Not the wolfs I dueled in the Izumo, not the tiger I dueled in Yamashiro, the polar bear I fought I think on the road from Harima to Mimasaka." The fox seemed to shrug at each memory he passed over as he recounted the broad duels and fights with distaste.

"It sounds like you've given them a lot of thought, recalling them and where?" The rabbit asked with a cadence in her prodding question.

"I have recently, just that I know why I fought them but I don't know why I didn't. I look back on them sometimes and realize that I didn't need to…" Nick sighed, again denoting his dissatisfaction. "Just some babbling inflection, don't mind me." The fox laughed and as if to cue another bout of laughing children could be heard massing the halls and another wave of cold when they could be heard passing the large doors that made up the exit and entrance of the burrow. "I would rather be in the here and now." He beamed happily despite his pained tone. Judy felt her teeth chatter again when the wave of uninhibited air crept through the layers of blankets. 'Inflection.' She mulled the word over in her head. She nodded in agreement at the prospect of happier thoughts in that moment given that tensions were finally allowed to melt away, ironically as winter made its presence known. 'A snow day.' she smiled at the concept given her family's history as farmers and how the winter meant a break from labors.

"Agh!" Her attention shot up to her companion, the fox was sitting up holding his offending side with a snarl.

"Nick lay back down! You're going to reopen your wounds you stupid fox." She shook her head back and forth at the ronin.

"Apologies Fluff-sensei." The fox mocked before contorting against protesting wounds again as he sat further up on his knees and began to drag the whole of his own sleeping arrangement. Inch by inch with pained motions she watched him quietly close the small gap the two held before he let it fall in place just beside her own.

"What are you doing?"

"Just following orders." The fox smiled laying back down on the mat that now rested just beside her own. Nick made a show of stretching his body out carefully in its length, he began encircling her within his frame. She stammered a selection of incomplete and inaudible words and sounds while a failed tinge attempted to make its way into her exposed and attentive ears. Whatever warming effect the failed blush would have had was instead replaced by the bristling course fur on the warriors arms and his tail when it came to a rest along her opposing side offering part of the surrounding warmth.

"Nick I don't think this is appropriate." She finally stammered out.

"I thought you said it was a rabbit thing?" The fox contrived in an explanation. "And besides, I have to obey the verdict of a rabbit I traveled with to Kozuke. She made it very clear when it came to cold rabbits; 'just gonna have to share' I would be remiss as a guest to not obey the noble rabbits ascribed etiquettes." He challenged earning silent contemplation from the rabbit who began to smile.

"Sly fox." Her smile widened. "Using my own words against me." Judy sighed contentedly from within that forming circle of warmth. Nick in much the same condition as herself seemed to continue to emanate that same radiant warmth even then. She couldn't lie in that her body took to the available aura with a greedy intake of the protection it offered from the cold, her muscles relaxing into the available frame. "Still don't think it would be appropriate being seen like this." She whispered more closely but sounding already resigned to the warming effect.

"You're a clever rabbit, just tell them it's a fox thing." The same fox let out a similar content sigh of his own as his padded paws pulled her carefully further into the space under his neck, laying his muzzle over the top of the rabbits head.

"You're going to ruin your bindings like that, your wounds will heal slowly." The rabbit spoke in growingly quieter tones.

"I Don't have anywhere else to be." She heard the tone of his voice vibrate through his neck as it laid across the top of her own head. She turned her head into the core of warmth that she carefully worked further into, her paw slowly, nervously taking to the small crest of fur offered at the neck of the fabric. Her nose twitched at the prevalent smells of ointments and smoke in the cream fur undertoned by the earthy smell of his fur, her lids fell heavier with each exhausted blink, slowly her expression matched the exhaustion she felt, the silence of the rooms surroundings drifted her into a gentle sleep. The fox quietly trailing patterns with his claws in the rabbit's fur at the back of her head, he followed her into the world of slumber, coerced into sleep by the lightly offered grinding sound the rabbit's teeth began to make.

Authors Notes:

Alright and there you have it, thee end. Sorry it took so long to get the first arc up on where it had been finished on Ao3 for some time. I originally intended to only post them here after hefty improvements and edits since a vast majority of it had been written for last years NaZoWriMo hosted by ZNN, written in such a short time left it a bit lackluster in its editing and with several errors that I wanted to improve. But I never got around to it and haven't gotten much writing done period lately, so I figured I would forgo the editing and just work on finally getting the first arc on in its entirety.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed it, I'm not sure it would be appropriate to post what I had written of the second arc here on since I know their rules are a bit more strict and the story is expressly more mature in its theme by the second arc. The priority would be finishing written works for Cimars "What_If" collaboration project where I have nearly 10 incomplete chapters waiting to be properly addressed and finished. Anyway, tell me what you think with reviews and maybe I'll see you all around, later.