Chapter Text
She’d read the pamphlet cover to cover. She’d read it so many times the pages were dog-eared and one panel was hanging on for dear life. She practically had the thing memorized! It contained plenty of useful information about the correct gear to wear and ample reminders to bring enough food and water for the hike. But she was certain, absolutely certain, there was nothing in the pamphlet about what to do when you fall into a crevasse in the middle of the night while trying to find the toilet.
When she’d booked a solo spot on a group hike of Mt. Fuji in winter, it seemed like a great idea. What better way to start the new year than by being bold and fearless? And, of course, having beautiful travel photos to show off how much fun she was having (and that she wasn’t at all missing that two-timing jerk Hojo!) was a bonus.
She’d read every guidebook in the library about winter camping to prepare, and spent a small fortune on the best equipment. The most stable tent. The most comfortable bedding. The warmest outwear. And none of it was of any use to her now that she was stuck fifty feet down a crevasse.
She’d tried calling for help. She shouted until her voice was hoarse and the cold, dry air sent her into a coughing fit. She supposed she could have shot off a flare gun to reveal her position to any search and rescue crew. If only she’d thought to carry one with her on a late-night potty break. As it was, she was thanking any god listening that she’d had the good sense to strap on her crampons before venturing out of her tent. At present, they were the only thing keeping her balanced between freedom and certain death.
“Come on, Kagome, you can do this,” she muttered, offering herself a little pep talk before she pulled her foot back and jammed it into the ice a few inches higher. The crampon prongs stuck and offered the leverage for her to do the same with her other foot. She’d navigate her way back to the opening—eventually. She just needed to take it one small movement at a time. Very small. Painfully, gut-wrenchingly small. Should any of the places she jammed her crampons into give way, there would be no saving her. A truth she was all too aware of as she painstakingly crawled her way towards the opening she’d fallen through.
“Just a little further,” she said, repeating the same mantra she’d been using to bolster her courage for the last half hour.
The adrenaline and shock of her initial fall had worn off. In its absence, the cold and fear rushed in. Her fingers had already gone numb and she couldn’t be entirely certain whether her body trembled from the cold or the terror that every step subjected her to. If she were out here much longer, she might lose use of her hands entirely. Or her shivers might become so bad that she’d shake herself loose and tumble into the dark.
“Can anybody hear me?!” she called again out of desperation. She summoned her strength to project her voice as loud as she dared. “Please! Anybody?! I need help!”
Silence answered, and she begrudgingly continued her dogged journey back to the opening of the crevasse. It was another half hour before she could see moonlight streaming in through the opening. When she’d first tumbled down the crack in the ice, she hadn’t thought she’d fallen so far. But now, with salvation still beyond her reach, she felt her spirit wither. She simply didn’t have the strength to climb all that way! With hot tears filling her eyes, she braced her back against the ice wall behind her.
She’d already climbed this far, hadn’t she? What was the point in struggling for the last hour if she was just going to give up now?! She would make it out of this alive. She had to. She absolutely refused to be a tragic cautionary tale!
Summoning her courage, she tilted her face towards the night sky and bellowed for help once more. Just as before, silence answered.
“I haven’t done anything with my life yet,” she protested with a pitiful sob and bowed her head. “This trip was supposed to be my first adventure—not my last!”
She doggedly jammed her crampons into the ice an inch higher than before.
“Don’t give up,” she urged, and braced her arms against the ice. “Don’t you dare give up! You are Kagome Higurashi! You will not die today!”
Her stubborn streak was the stuff of legends, but as it turned out, it was also an excellent motivator. Her refusal to die on a singles camping trip had her furiously jamming her crampons into the ice another inch higher.
“Hojo does not get to win!” she blurted out, invoking the name of her all too recent ex-boyfriend. He was the entire reason she’d felt compelled to seek adventure on a winter camping trip to Mt. Fuji in the first place. He’d wasted the best years of her life dragging her along with promises of a happily ever after, only to dump her for some girl barely out of high school when she brought up the idea of moving in together.
Just the thought of all the well-intentioned sympathy that would be lauded upon him following the news of her tragic death was enough to make her want to scream. It wasn’t fair! Why should he get that kind of attention when he was nothing but a lowdown, dirty cheater?!
Ice tumbled into the crevasse from above, and she turned her face skyward.
“Hello? Is someone there? Hello?!”
She strained to listen. There was silence from above and she’d nearly convinced herself it was all in her head when a face appeared. Whoever it was, was backlit by the bright moonlight, but she was too relieved to care. Tears of relief flowed freely down her cheeks.
“I’m here!” she called out and suppressed a sob of relief. “I fell down the crevasse. Please help!”
The face disappeared from the edge of the opening, and a prolonged silence followed. Surely, they’d seen her…hadn’t they? Maybe they’d gone to get help, or to find a rope…? She braced her back against the wall of the crevasse to give her arms a brief rest and gazed up expectantly at the opening. When no one appeared again after several minutes, she felt her hopeful optimism fade.
“Please don’t leave me here!” she pleaded as panic tightened her throat. Her legs were shaking now and her feet were numb. She wouldn’t last much longer out here. Her options were limited: she could continue climbing, making it easier for any would be rescuers to pull her to safety, or she could stay exactly where she was, panicked and terrified, and wait. Waiting to be rescued had never been her style, so she blindly jammed her crampon into the ice through her tears and continued climbing.
“Come on. Keep going. Just a few more feet,” she muttered, consoling herself as she jammed her next foot against the ice.
She’d made it another few feet closer to the opening before a rope dropped into the hole like a gift from the heavens. She cried out with relief and wound it around the carabiner dangling from her jacket belt as best she could with frozen fingers. She might not be home free yet, but at least she wouldn’t plunge any further into the crevasse. With the help of the rope, she climbed another few feet closer to the mouth of the hole. She was so close now she could almost feel the cold glow of the moonlight on her face.
She was within arm’s reach of the top when disaster struck. The shard of ice she’d wedged her crampon into shattered and gave way. She screamed as her second crampon came loose and she dangled precariously over the infinite dark below with nothing to grab hold of. The same face as before appeared at the edge of the hole, and then his hand was reaching for hers. She grabbed hold, and he pulled, yanking her free of the crevasse.
She landed atop something solid and warm, and for a moment couldn’t do anything more than breathe. She was alive! A sort of giddy delirium took over, and she giggled as she rolled off of her rescuer and laid flat on her back to stare up at the moon.
“I can’t believe I’m alive…” she gasped and turned her head to find her rescuer removing his rope from her carabiner. “I thought I was a goner for sure.”
She’d expected it to be someone from their tour group, but the man squatted onto his haunches next to her didn’t look like anyone she’d seen before. A scarf covered the lower half of his face, and an ample red hood cloaked his head. His eyes were wide and dark and peeked out overtop of his scarf from beneath dark brows. They narrowed at her. Then he stood and walked away without saying a word.
“Wait!” she called after him and scrambled to her feet. They were still numb from the cold, and she stumbled after him through the snow. “At least let me thank you!”
He didn’t acknowledge her, just continued walking with the bundle of rope clenched tight in his fist.
“Hang on a second!” she protested, stubbornly trekking along the path created by his boots in the snow. “How come I don’t recognize you from our tour group? Do you have your own campsite around here?”
He retreated without answering and she felt her ire burn. She hated being ignored. Sure, he’d gone to the trouble of saving her from certain death, but did he have to be so rude about it? She stormed after him until she realized that none of where they were walking looked familiar. She’d assumed she would see their tents near the crevasse, but looking back on the path, she saw only open snow. There was nothing behind her to suggest a campsite had ever been there at all.
She stopped dead in her tracks and swallowed down the panic pushing at the back of her throat.
“I think I’m lost!” she called out. He slowed to a halt and a white cloud of condensation revealed the sigh he heaved in reply.
“I got separated from the rest of my group,” she said and jumped back and forth from one leg to the other to keep warm. “I…I don’t know the way back to my campsite.”
He turned his head towards her and said with unshakable certainty, “There aren’t any campsites around here.”
“That’s not possible,” she protested with a shake of her head. “The tour group I’m with set up camp here just last night. I only walked far enough away to use the bathroom. I know you’re probably in a rush to get back to…wherever…but it would be really great if you could help me find my campsite.”
He listened to her story and with every word, his dark brows seemed to furrow deeper in suspicion.
“I’ve been all over this side of the mountain tonight,” he insisted, his eyes holding hers. “There aren’t any campsites.”
“So, what, I fell down a crevasse and my tour group immediately packed up and left in the middle of the night?”
He shrugged. She had little choice but to follow when he turned his back and continued down the trail. When he heard her plodding footsteps behind him, he stopped again.
“Don’t follow me,” he demanded with a scowl.
“What else am I supposed to do?” she yelled with a helpless wave of her hands. “I don’t have any supplies. I don’t have any food or water. Everything that might keep me alive is in my tent back there…somewhere… and I’m not about to risk falling down another crevasse to find it.”
It was impossible to tell if her desperate pleas were having any effect on him. He seemed utterly unmoved by her present situation.
“Look, I’m only asking you to bring me to a telephone,” she bargained. “Is that really so much to ask?”
Apparently it was, because he promptly turned his back and continued trudging through the snow as if he couldn’t put distance between them fast enough. Having no other option, Kagome doggedly followed him.
“It’s just my luck that I’d be rescued from certain death by the rudest man on the mountain,” she muttered under her breath. Was it really such an imposition to let her use a phone? One thirty-second call and she’d be out of his hair forever (and hopefully on a very warm bus back to Tokyo without delay).
She was still grumbling about her ill luck when the front pick of her crampon caught the edge of a patch of ice. With a sharp cry, she tumbled face first into the ice and snow.
Perfect, she thought as her world went dark. Just what I needed.