If it was any time of year that the two first met, it wasn't the time you'd think. Not summer when the temperature is so hot love almost seems to burst out from inside to find someone to share itself with; it wasn't spring when new beginnings came and old endings disappeared so as to promote the feeling of the purity of a first love; it wasn't autumn when the leaves fall and the world becomes a land of color and wonder that pulls out simplistic and gentle words of affection. No it was winter, the dead of winter, when all the land was painted white, when there was no new life and the temperatures were well below; it was winter that first time they met and it would always and forever be winter.

But winter wasn't such a bad time to start.

For Tsukkuyomi, the story started with a fight. It wasn't hers, and she didn't want it, but it was the thing that pushed her forward; it was a fight between her parents, or two people who pretended to be her parents. Nothing ever seemed to be so simple in her house and the two who were fighting were just one of the couples who over time had taken the eight year old in and taken care of her. The fight was over money or food or something like that; she had covered her ears immediately when the first plate broke so she wasn't too sure.

Sitting in the corner of the dark living room, curled up into a ball with her hands over her ears and her eyes shut tight, she hid from the fighting, the yelling, the throwing. She didn't like the fighting at all but this seemed like all the two could do. She wondered if this was all people in love did.

She carefully opened one eye, glancing out over the arm of the couch she was hiding beside, seeing into the lit kitchen; the man, a nice man to her, was yelling angrily, holding papers in one hand and his suitcase in another. The woman, quite sweet to Tsukkuyomi, was screaming and brandishing a knife at the man as if daring him to come closer, to make her hurt him. Tsukkuyomi frowned but no tears came; she pulled back, looking down at her stuffed owl Kuromu-chan at her feet but no tears came; she held the owl closer, biting her lip but never she cried. She looked up at the window above her, at the sky beyond the glass and curtains; snow was falling and she thought of the snow. It mesmerized her, it called to her; it seemed so much nicer than the screaming. Another crash made her jump and Tsukkuyomi let out a soft whimper, alerting the two that she was indeed awake and in the other room. The yelling and screaming stopped for a moment, followed by footsteps towards the living room; the woman yelled at him about yelling at her in front of Tsukkuyomi. The man yelled back that it was the woman's fault. Tsukkuyomi felt fear, deep fear, strange fear, and as the man came up she moved: Tsukkuyomi ran past him and towards the door, opening it before running outside and away, away from the house, away from the people, just away. The soft sound of yelling was drowned by pure white; Tsukkuyomi liked that, she liked the silence of the snow and holding her owl she kept running through the snow.

It took her a while before she realized how cold it was. She'd just run out of the house, she wasn't wearing shoes or wearing a jacket, just her light blue night gown, her long black hair in a little bow; she was wearing practically nothing outside in the snow. And so she sneezed. Once, twice, three times, she shivered and held Kuromu closer before looking at her surroundings; the nearby park, she was at the park she usually played at. It was familiar yet odd; the swing set was empty and silent, the slides white with snow, the tunnels and domes and tetter-totters all quiet as the grave. She was truly alone there and she was cold.

Tsukkuyomi whimpered slightly and sneezed again before walking over, her frozen feet moving numbly through the powder-like snow and leaving footsteps soon covered by fresh flakes. She shivered more and more, feeling very cold as she climbed into one of the tunnels, the inside of which was empty of any snow or anything else. It wasn't a warm spot but it was dry; she curled up, her owl tight in her arms, her eyes starting to drop. She felt sleepy, very sleepy and started to drift off when she heard something. More footsteps, the crunch of shoes in snow; worried it was the man coming for her she went in deeper into the tunnel, her eyes wide and watching the way she came. The footsteps got closer and closer and she whimpered a bit; they stopped right beside her, silence fell again and she waited, biting her lip, hugging Kuromu tight to her. She hoped she would be okay, she hoped they wouldn't be mad, she just hoped.

Then a head popped down, smiling lightly at her, "Hello."

It was a boy, her same age, with blue hair in a strange sort of hairstyle, it could only be called pineapple despite also being short; he had two colored eyes, one blue and pretty, the other red with a strange symbol in it, a bruise around the eye. He had earrings on his ears and wore a plain t-shirt, white in color, and a pair of short pants as well as tennis shoes; he didn't look any better dressed than she did except that he actually had shoes on. Still there was something about him, beyond just his eyes, beyond that he was smiling when she was not, that told her he was different than her; he was in a world apart from hers and his world was more dangerous.

He came in and Tsukkuyomi hugged her owl closer, incidentally catching his eye to the animal, "Cute owl, what's it's name?"

"K-Kuromu," she said her voice barely above a squeak.

"Kuromu, hm?" He sat down next to her, still smiling, seeming to be thinking on the name, "And yours?"

"Tsukkuyomi," she said; she wasn't sure why she told him though, she just felt like it.

The boy laughed softly, "Kufufu, nice to meet you Tsukku-chan."

Silence more fell and the two children sat alone together, one staring into space, the other staring at them; moments passed, an eternity before finally Tsukkuyomi spoke up, "Why are you out here?"

The boy looked to her, silent before his smile returned, "No reason really, I just felt like going for a walk."

"In shorts and a t-shirt?"

"Says the girl wearing a nightgown."

She blushed and looked away pouting, "Hmph."

"Kufufu," laughed the boy, seemingly amused by her somehow; she glanced back at him frowning, "Why are you laughing?"

"Because," he responded, "Just because, kufufu."

She pouted again, a little annoyed. The boy was laughing at her, just laughing at her. She'd run off again but she felt too numb to do so; she sneezed again and curled up to try to get warm again, not noticing the boy look at her. Tsukkuyomi closed her eyes, trying to imagine somewhere warm; she was on the beach in the sun, playing and making sand castles, running around in her swimsuit and laughing with the sun smiling down on her. She could really feel the warmth too, like it was real, like it wasn't just a dream; a small smile crossed her lips as she kept imaging it. No one was fighting, no one was screaming, it was peaceful and nice on her imaginary beach. She felt especially warm on her arm, just one spot, one little area on her upper arm; somehow though that warmth felt the nicest, gave her some peace of mind.

She opened her eyes and the warmth was still there, somehow the beach was there too, only she wasn't running around; she was sitting on a towel in the sun, wearing his nightgown, the boy right beside her with his hand on her arm right where that special warmth was coming from. His blue eye was closed but his red eye was wide open, a number one symbol where his pupil should be. At first she felt worried, scared; she wanted to cry and push him away but something stopped her. His smile was serene in a way and she didn't really feel scared at all, not of him at least. Carefully as not to dislodge his hand from her arm, she leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder as she felt sleep come over her again. She mumbled, "Thank you….."

"Kufufu" was the last thing she heard.

/

Veneziano: Yay, I finished. I rather like this actually. Please review, tell me if it's any good; I'm thinking of continuing it into a full story but I don't know yet. I need to know if I should first. Well bai-bai for now!