Old oneshot, but I'm separating it from a oneshot collection that, I suppose, wasn't relevant to this. Written for a contest of some sort.

"Gakupo, what do you call this?"

"It's snow, Gumi. You've never seen snow before?"

A pale, young girl with cropped green-hair stood in a plain field of snow, occasional twisted trees speckling the location. Next to her was a purple-haired man dressed in traditional wear, much like a samurai's. He held his long hair up in a ponytail.

The girl shook her head. She looked off to the side, her dull green eyes thoughtful. "Didn't I tell you? I've been in the hospital most of my life, Gakupo," she replied simply as though it were nothing.

Gakupo frowned. "Oh yes, I know. But I just thought you might have before."

"Snow is beautiful."

He nodded. "Beautiful, yet deadly. Minuscule, but yet much more. Alike, but so different."

He hesitated. "Aren't you cold?"

Gakupo noted how they were outside in the dead of winter, yet she was not wearing a jacket or anything suited for the winter. The only thing she had on was a plain, white dress. In fact, it might've even been a hospital gown.

"Nope!" she laughed. "Isn't taking care of your hair hard to do?" She changed the subject lightly.

He instinctively glanced over at his long strands of purple hair. "I suppose so," he replied quickly. "But, Gumi, you're shivering! Are you sure you're alright?"

Gumi jumped around a bit. She loved the sound of the crunch-crunch the snow made under her bare feet. "Yup, I'm fine."

"Gumi... I can't just let you stay out here in the cold," he spoke softly. She twirled around, her arms spread out. Had she even heard what he had just said?

"You'll catch a cold," he added. "You need to go back to the hospital before you get even more sick! I just can't watch you freeze yourself like this."

Gumi froze.

She slowly turned to face Gakupo, her movement rusted.

"No!" she shrieked. "No! No! No!"

Gakupo took a cautious step back. Her mood changed eerily quickly.

"They're evil! They're horrible!" she continued on. "Why else don't you think I've never seen snow before? Because they never let me! I was trapped inside!"

A soft smile appeared on her face, her eyes glistening. "But now I'm free... Gakupo, I'm free!"

"So that's why." His voice was just over a whisper. "That's why you're—we're here. You ran away from the hospital." It was more of a statement than a question. "Nevertheless, you still need to go back."

"No! Stop persisting! You'd have better luck dragging me there." She laughed bitterly.

He sighed. "That, I cannot do. I just can't physically do it."

She scoffed. "Whatever."

"As I said before, I can't just watch you freeze yourself like this."

"Yeah, so?"

"So, I won't watch." Gakupo twirled around gracefully, then began to stride off.

Gumi blinked a few times, having trouble comprehending what he had just said, along with his current action.

"Wait!" she called after him weakly, her hand out in front of herself.

He stopped, but didn't look back.

The wind was beginning to pick up, causing snowflakes to whip around furiously.

Gumi stared down at her reddened, numb feet. "Please... Please don't leave me. Please don't leave me like my parents did."

He glanced over his shoulder, a truly apologetic look on his face.

"I'm sorry, Gumi."

"No, Gakupo! Please!" She sprinted through the snow, quickly catching up to his still figure. She grabbed his hand.

Tears were beginning to spring into her eyes. "Please...," she begged hoarsely.

"Gumi, stop. I can't promise you a thing," he shouted. Gumi cringed at the harsh tone he used. "I don't even exist!"

She blinked. "What do you mean?"

"For heaven's sake, Gumi, I'm four-hundred-years old. I can't be real. I can't be here."

"Wh-what?" she stammered.

"Just... just look down."

She followed his gaze obediently, confused. She found herself staring at her hand wrapped around his. Except... it wasn't. She felt nothing. She could no longer feel his hand. "H-Huh?"

Gumi frantically reached for his arm, sleeve—anything! But her fingertips only grazed the air. Her eyes widened in shock.

She watched in horror as Gakupo began to walk away, began to leave her. And she couldn't do anything. She couldn't do anything to stop his fading figure from disappearing in front of her. All she could do was watch, watch as he vanished into nothingness.

Gumi fell to her knees, sobbing. The freezing snow burned her skin. Snowflakes pelted her fiercely.

Why? Why? Why?

Was she really that lonely? So lonely, that she make Gakupo up in her mind? But yet she missed him so much. It hurt. It hurt to feel lonely, that lonely.

Her heart ached, ached with what she could only describe as desolation. Her body flared in pain, pain from being so isolated.

Now, she was in the middle of no where with of course, no where to turn. Had she really run so far away from the hospital? She didn't feel that sense of accomplishment or wave of happiness that she thought she would after escaping that horrid place.

She felt nothing.

No, not nothing. She felt glum.

Gumi shifted about as she wiped tears from her eyes. She lay on her side in the snow, closing her eyes. She hated herself for being so useless, so vulnerable. Her body shook as a fresh batch of tears came pouring out. Gumi gasped in despair, clutching the cloth of her dress in front of her heart. She felt so destroyed on the inside, so empty.

So there she lay, for however long, just crying. She cried and cried, until she could cry no more. Crystal flakes drifted softly, landing right around her. They weren't as harsh as before. Soon, she was covered in a thin blanket of the diamond dust.

Gumi lay still, wanting to go back. Back to a happier time. Back to a time when she was so carefree and joyful.

A time that wasn't now.

A time that didn't make her feel so upset, so broken, so dead.

She didn't know what to do, how to feel. So she just laughed, a hollow laugh. Her face twisted into a pained expression. Her life had not been a happy one, one with many wishes that had fallen on deaf ears.

Gumi wished to escape the hospital and see the world, but not like this. She wished to have friends. She wished her parents hadn't decided to abandon her, after they found out about her disease. She wished she was cured.

Of course they were never granted.

It hurt so much, knowing that was so. It hurt so much, being the way she was. It hurt so much, living her life.

It hurt.

"I... I just wish the pain will stop now," she whispered weakly.

Unlike any of her other wishes, it came true.