Sound of Snow Falling

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Zoicite found her easily enough, perched on the root of the grand, leafless sakura tree that sat next to the lake. Her blue hair seemed to glitter with silver as she ran her hands through the long tresses, staring into the water. In her stillness she appeared as if from another world.

The young princeling caught himself. She was from another world. Another realm, in fact. But it was moments like these that her beauty was especially striking.

"It's kind of late, even for you," Zoicite said as he approached her. His hands were stuffed in his jacket pockets and puffs of air made themselves visible as he spoke.

"Just a little," the goddess responded serenely, a small smile decorating her face. She looked up at him. "It is a special occasion. Join me."

Needing no further encouragement, he wordlessly squatted on a nearby root and waited.

"What's the occasion?" he asked eventually. The deity continued stroking her hair and looked up to the sky.

Her voice was soft, distant. "Look around you. Nature. What do you notice?"

Usually impatient with mystics, the boy complied. The air was grey after the setting sun and bitingly cold with the passing wind. The trees of the forest that lay beyond the lake were leafless, darkening with the onset of the night. No bird flew across the clouded sky. It was a stark contrast to his preferred summer nights.

"It's the opposite of summertime," Zoicite observed lamely. The goddess chuckled and shook her head. "I know that's not what you were looking for," he continued, giving her a sidelong glance. "What am I supposed to see?"

She tossed her hair behind her back, letting the ends settle on the ground in a pool of silver and blue, and stretched her arms to the sky. There was a light in her blue eyes that Zoicite had never seen before in their short acquaintance. She grinned at him.

"It's not what you're 'supposed to see'," she said slowly. "But what you feel."

She waved her hand elegantly over the lake and dipped down, as if scooping up a bundle of ribbon. Streams of water rose from the lake and followed the movement of her hands as she gestured. She formed sophisticated spirals of water around them as she spoke.

"I feel it," she murmured softly, closing her eyes. "I feel it deep within me. The call of the snow soon to fall." She smiled. "Like a sweet violin rising from an orchestra, the land will soon be covered with feathers of ice. Beauty."

Wind rattled against the branches of the trees as if to prove her point. Zoicite was entranced. He could almost hear the ribbons of water around them sing.

"Will we hear the sound of snow falling?" he asked with something between a smirk and genuine intrigue.

The goddess considered. She looked at him with an unfathomable expression.

"Will you?" she asked, her eyes seeming to drift. "I wonder."

Zoicite shrugged, staring into the water. They were forming more sophisticated shapes of nothing in particular. "The elements don't exactly take to me, you know."

"I know." she acknowledged. She paused, seeming to consider and choose her next words with care. "It is, however, nothing that cannot be taught."

At this the princeling laughed. "Just as how I teach you the nuances of Earthling culture?"

It was, afterall, how their acquaintance had begun. As much as he enjoyed his studies to become the next great King of the West, soon to join the coveted ranks of the Shitennou some day, he found himself escaping the burden of it all in the open space by the lake not far from the castle. It was there, one night, where he had discovered a sleeping goddess.

A sleeping goddess who, at the time, he had accidentally awakened. A goddess who could make the entire lake freeze with a bat of an eyelash and draw moisture from out of the air into a deadly weapon. To his fortune, she turned out to be quite friendly, though reserved and rather shy.

"You are already familiar with the theories of magic," the deity said, pulling him from his thoughts. "You know that each person has a natural affinity to an element. The rest is simply a matter of teaching."

With a flurry, she motioned the ribbons of water back to the lake and turned to him, waiting for his response.

Zoicite felt strange. Their bond had been instantaneous and had only deepened in the months since they first met. She was curious about his world, and in return she offered sage wisdom as he navigated court life. And while the girl, no, woman, he corrected himself, had done nothing remotely suspicious, he still could not shake the warning his tutors had told him about immortals.

They are beautiful, enchanting even,they always said.But they are very clever. Because of their lifespans, mortals are nothing but playthings to them.

It was said that centuries ago, the Moon goddess had once bewitched the Great King of Earth. It was a romance that quickly ended when the King realized the immense power she wielded. The story ends differently depending on who tells it, but the conclusion is always the same: the moon goddess had wielded her power over the King for her own benefit.

Hearing this legend, Zoicite always thought that the King was merely intimidated by a powerful woman. But who was he to say? There were a great many stories warning Earthlings against the gods. Their powers could not be controlled by man, and that was dangerous.

Zoicite stood up, making up his mind. "I should return back to the castle," he said firmly. "Thank you for your kind offer, but I must decline."

Someone else could bond with the deity. Someone younger, someone who was allowed to have misadventures. He would stay on guard. He could not risk the consequences of an offer from a goddess, not even a beautiful elemental one. His first goal had to be becoming a great king of his jurisdiction, and then a Shitennou. Nothing could distract from the pursuit of that honor.

"I somehow felt that this would be the last I'd see of you," the deity murmured as he began to turn away. "But my proposition is not some guise for me to bewitch you, Zoicite. If wanted to do that, I would have done so long ago."

Zoicite did a double take, his eyes widened in surprise. "You know about what we say about your kind?"

"Of course I do," the goddess snorted. She shook her head in exasperation. "Once upon a time, both mortals and immortals enjoyed the Earth. Earth is Gaia's dwelling place, and as one of the oldest and most loving goddesses to ever exist, she welcomed all to live in her domain."

She flicked a finger at the lake and large ripples emerged across the surface, as if illustrating the deity's sudden agitation.

"One love affair gone wrong," she continued. "When Selene broke your King's heart—which was some millennia ago, mind you—and suddenly Earthlings were living in fear and distorted reverence for us immortals. Suddenly there was mistrust."

"But is it true?" Zoicite asked slowly. "Did she bewitch him?"

As he digested this new information, something dawned on him. "And did you ever need me to teach you about Earth culture? What a fool I was," he shook his head, backing further away. "Was your goal to ensnare me all along?"

The goddess gave him a measured stare. Standing paces away from her, he stared back with eyes misted over from emotion.

"As I said before," she uttered softly. "If I wanted to do that, I would have done so long ago. You are not a game to me, Zoicite."

But why? was his silent question. Why spend time with me?

She shrugged, a slight blush gracing her face. "You are a sweet boy for a young princeling. You'd be surprised to find that even immortals enjoy the pleasure of a new acquaintance."

Zoicite considered. He considered many things—what he thought to be true, what he knew of the woman who sat before him, and the responsibilities that awaited him back at the castle. The scientist in him wished to question everything and learn everything she knew. Yet, his doubts and the ingrained fear of immortals worked against him.

"This is all too much," he groaned as he buried his fingers in his hair.

"Perhaps you should return home," she said softly. "You were about to leave just as you rejected my offer anyway. I apologize for upsetting you."

She paused. "To my people and the Earthlings who honor me, the first snow is precious. In truth, it makes the most exquisite melody." She smiled at him serenely, with a touch of mischief that escaped his notice. "Perhaps one day, without my help, you will be able to hear it. The sound of snow."

Zoicite, in his heart of hearts, sincerely hoped that day would come.

"Until next time, perhaps, m'lady," he said resignedly with a small bow.

He turned, steeling himself to continue his trek toward the castle without looking back.

But something in the air shifted. Zoicite sensed it before he saw it. As the sky now completely darkened, white tufts of ice glided in the air around him.

By the gods, he thought to himself with wonder, She was right. Of course she was.

The season's first snow had finally begun.

And he could actually hear the music playing.

Zoicite turned around to express his surprise, only to find her gone.

The lake sat serenely, the skeletal sakura tree seemed to stretch its arms forever to the sky, welcoming the snow, and he, right then, felt a dull ache in the depths of his heart.

It was an ache that would not cease until years later, while guarding his Prince, when he would meet the princess of Mercury.

And on that day, the music would be playing.

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A/N: This was inspired by the song "The Sound of Snow Falling" by Taku Iwasaki, taken from one of the Rurouni Kenshin soundtracks. It's a very beautiful melody and I had the idea of a certain future Shitennou meeting not Ami, but Ami's patron goddess. Wouldn't it be interesting if the patron goddesses of our favorite Senshi all "checked out" their future lovers to perhaps deem them 'worthy'? An interesting notion indeed.