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merryfortune · 1 year

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Ripples and Reflections on Penguin Lake

Written for the Reflection prompt from @femslash-friday-prompts

Title: Ripples and Reflections on Penguin Lake

Ship: Chiyu/Tsubasa

Fandom: Healin’ Good Pretty Cure

Rating: T

Word Count: 2,010

Tags: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Kissing

Tsubasa was a skilled hunter in her village. She was very proudly the top huntress of it, her reputation even sprawling afar and she was good in all areas of this occupation. From how she treated her weapons, how she treated her own body with athleticism and even how she understood the forests which were her territory as a huntress.

That last one, especially, was of import in this scenario.

She was familiar with all the fowl and poultry in the area which made good eating, from the pheasants and the geese that flitted about in the skies and grasses in the wilds to the chickens kept in coops. Even beyond just birds, Tsubasa was intimately familiar with her local surrounding ecosystems, the bears and the wolves, the tanuki and the hares, and thus, was uniquely qualified to announce that there were no penguins to be had in the area.

And yet.

Here one was.

It stared up at her, in freak and panic, as she held her bow and arrow to it, all but aiming at her foot. Tsubasa blinked owlishly at the penguin. She honestly could not believe her eyes and yet, there it was. Staring right at her. Up until it ran away but thinking that this occurrence was so odd, and being a hunter with a competitive streak a mile wide, Tsubasa naturally gave chase.

No way in Hell was she going to pass up the opportunity to successful hunt a penguin. She had no idea if they were good game animals or not but the novelty of bagging such a success, well, that sounded perfectly satisfying to Tsubasa either way.

On the tip of her boot, Tsubasa launched herself into a race against the penguin. She chased it through the fallen leaves clad in thawing snow, past bramble and wiry thickets of trees that had long since shed their bark and foliage for the winter.

The little penguin had a plump body and an awkward gait, and yet. It more than gave Tsubasa a challenge. Its little claws tore through the forest floor in its scramble to escape her but it was still just a penguin and Tsubasa was still at the peak of her game as a human huntress. She was hardly panting, hardly breaking a sweat as she closed in on the penguin.

The penguin ducked and dived through fallen branches that Tsubaa just sailed over. It squeaked and squawked every time that Tsubasa almost caught up to it, almost had the perfect shot for it with her bow and arrow at the ready. Especially as she was running out of ground to cover.

The pair had run themselves ragged right into the edge of the nearby lake - and one of them had a distinct advantage in the water, and unfortunately it wasn’t Tsubasa. Knowing that, she let pride well up through her and she knew her confidence was rightly placed. The penguin would be hunted and it would be hers as she halted how she ran into the lakeside’s beach.

Tsubasa skidded to a halt, leaf litter and mud carved up in her wake. The dried leaves fluttered around her as she readied herself for the perfect shot. She drew back her string and took her aim just as the most marvellous thing happened.

The penguin flew.

Well, not literally. Though that would have been a marvel, too, but what Tsubaa saw, it was just as good as flying, just as close. Its arms were too stubby, its body too rotund but the way that it jumped into the water, it was a most beautiful marvel. The arc of its body was perfect, the way its wings were rigid yet aerodynamic against the wind resistance and then splash.

Tsubasa paused as her eyes drank in the sight of the lake as reflected by the sky reflected by the water and the penguin in the centre of it all. A miracle, a marvel, her heart skipped an inexplicable beat and then the reverie ended.

Water cascaded over Tsubasa as the penguin dived deep into the lake. She blinked and let go of a breath that she didn’t realising she was holding. She allowed her body to go slack as she waited, and she waited, for the penguin to resurface and when it did, it gloated.

The penguin swam in circles and Tsubasa muttered under her breath. What a cheeky bastard. So she got stuck in the mud some more. Like shooting fish in a barrel, that was an expression, alright. Tsubasa would bag this out of place animal if it was the last thing she did.

With every step getting closer, Tsubasa got stuck in the mud. It was hard to clop about in it, wading into the water but the slowness made her appreciate the lake, even as the penguin disrupted its stillness with its swimming. The lake was cold given the weather yet its frigidity was invigorating.

The surroundings of the lake were an unusually pretty grey with a fog rolling in from over yonder hills. The trees that formed a ring of a forest around were a dark, chocolaty brown, even bare. The lake, itself, was a tarnished, silvery colour and were it still, would have been a perfect mirror of the sky which was cluttered with thick, murky clouds that threatened no rain.

Instead, ring after ring, ripple after ripple, spread out from as Tsubasa moved inward into the lake and as the penguin flitted about. Diving in and out of the surface of the water, giving Tsubasa all the more opportunity to ready herself. Her posture was statuesque as she pulled back the string once more, stood in the mud and water hips width apart.

She took a breath and she lined her shot with where she predicted the penguin would surface again and when it did, she fumbled.

Now, Tsubasa was a hunter. She exuded perfection in her gall that it took to hunt. She had always had a knack for it, even as a child so, it would take a lot to cause her to fumble. Like realising she had turned her bow and arrow unto another person, something she had been solemnly sworn into never doing.

“What the…?” Tsubasa gasped.

The penguin was still a penguin but its reflection… Its reflection was not of a small, dark blue penguin but rather a young woman, of about Tsubasa’s own age. She had her hair in a side ponytail and had serious eyes of blue; her working kimono was of a tasteful and mature style, with a navy sash around her waist tied into a neat bow. Tsubasa wasn’t sure of her occupation of it, however, but her immediate, though incorrect, assumption was that she were a priestess but she could tell that wasn’t right.

“Please… Please don’t shoot.” the Penguin spoke - or more accurately, the Penguin’s reflection spoke.

Tsubasa nodded. She shifted her quiver, slung her bow over her shoulder. She meant no harm. Pleased with that, the Penguin inched a little closer, letting the reflection of her human self align to Tsubasa’s. They were even about the same height, if the way the lake slanted their likenesses was accurate.

“Thank you.” the Penguin said. “Y-You really scared me for a moment, there.”

“I, um, apologise. I thought you were a penguin and I wanted to take you home as a trophy.” Tsubasa explained. “But if you're not a penguin… what - or who - are you.”

“My name is Sawaizumi Chiyu,” the Penguin said, and even managed to bow as it paddled, her reflection followed suit, “and I have been cursed by a witch.”

“A witch?” Tsubasa exclaimed, blinking owlishly. She wouldn’t have believed it were she not seeing it for herself.

“Mmhm,” Chiyu replied and the expression of her reflection turned regretful, forsaken, she sighed, “I mocked her for how this woman loved so obsessively for so little in return, I thought it was useless but she disagreed, that her love was true and she would not stand my naysaying. For my insolence, she turned me into a penguin… Never to turn back unless…”

“Unless?” Tsubasa prompted her.

“Unless I find my own true love and have them kiss me.” Chiyu confessed.

“Oh.” Tsubaa murmured.

“Oh, indeed.” Chiyu mournfully replied.

Her reflection curled in on itself whilst the penguin of her body did the same.

“Can I help?” Tsubasa asked and she held her hand in front of her breast, to hide how her heart raced, not that Chiyu could see it through either her breast plate of her leather armour, nor the flesh itself but still. It was about the principle. “Maybe we encountered each other for a reason and even if it doesn’t work. That’s one person crossed off your list.”

She couldn’t explain it but seeing Chiyu out-run her, out-swim her… It was inspiring. Tsubasa had always dreamed of running as fast as the wind, to be able to leap up and touch the sky. She couldn’t help but see a parallel to that in how she had watched Chiyu swan dive into the lake that had so perfectly reflected the sky until she disturbed it. To hear her tale, it was pitiful and so, Tsubasa thought it was only right to at least try to help.

“If you would be so kind as to oblige.” Chiyu replied, her tone of voice modest.

“It would be my pleasure.” Tsubasa insisted.

Determination flared in her dark eyes and from it, Chiyu nodded. She took heart and approached Tsubasa. She swam closer and their reflections distorted and overlapped in the water. Tsubasa picked her up and moving her out of the water, Chiyu’s voice turned to all the squeaks and squawks of an actual penguin again.

Cupped inside of Tsubasa’s hands, Chiyu seemed nervous but for Tsubasa, it was all water off a duck’s back as she leaned in and kissed Chiyu’s beak. It was hard and pokey, very awkward to kiss but Tsubasa tried her best and hardest. She closed her eyes very hard and poof!

She was not holding Chiyu now but only her hands.

Tsubasa opened her eyes and her mouth gaped. Chiyu was much, much prettier as a person than she was as a penguin. She looked so demure in her kimono as she smiled, grateful, tears welling up in her eyes as, in her overwhelming gratitude, kissed Tsubasa back.

Tsubasa smiled into the kiss. Chiyu’s lips were soft, her technique was sweet and chaste. It made Tsubasa’s heart race as she kissed back, a bit more boisterous than Chiyu kissed her but their shared rhythm was amicable. Tsubasa held Chiyu’s hands tighter, their fingers threaded together and neither let go, not even when they mutually pulled back to breathe.

“Thank you,” Chiyu gushed, “thank you for breaking my curse. I - I can’t believe it.”

“Yeah, me neither.” Tsubasa replied, shocked but smiling. It was a good kind of disbelief that coursed through her.

“Perhaps,” Chiyu suggested, coy, fluttering her dark eyelashes, “you will take me back to your village as a trophy after all.”

“O-Oh.” Tsubasa sputtered, blushing.

Chiyu giggled at Tsubasa’s embarrassment, hiding behind the sleeve of her kimono, Tsubasa now noticing the bird and water-like patterns in the fabric, “Not quite yet,” Chiyu said, “I - I would like to take you to my hometown. Not only did that witch curse me, she separated me from my home, my family and I could use a guide back to Sukoyaka, you know. When I get home, I’m sure my family will prepare a feast in gratitude for my return. We run an inn, you know.”

“Sounds good. I hope they let me hunt for it.” Tsubasa said and she grinned. “No penguins though, I promise.”

“Oh, you.” Chiyu laughed. “But who knows? There might be more than one occasion aside from my return to celebrate as well.”

Tsubasa continued to blush whilst Chiyu delighted at her expense but Tsubasa wouldn’t lie, she could hear the tolling of wedding bells, too.

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