Snowflakes and Cherryblossoms
By: puppet-dancer
Snow.
Lately, it has been snowing, covering the front lawn in a thick blanket of white snow. Rikuo loved the snow. It reminded him of his childhood days when he had spent the winter making snowman and snow bunnies only to stomped by the younger Ayakashi that played alongside with him. Even so, he adored this kind of weather.
The young heir settled beneath the old Cherry blossom tree. For the past hour he busied himself dusting off the snow from Cherry blossom petals that has fallen defenseless on the snow covered ground. Yuki-Onna, who came looking for him found him looking quite melancholic underneath his favorite tree. She walked towards her master; her feet buried in the cold snow. She didn't mind the coldness that brushed on her feet. She was used to it. It's not like she was called Yuki-Onna for nothing.
"What are you doing, master?" Yuki-Onna settled beside Rikuo, marveling the piles of Cherry blossoms dusted off with the snow.
Rikuo turned up to meet Yuki-Onna's golden eyes and flashed his infamous brilliant smile. Yuki-Onna blushed at his settlement.
"Fragile objects should always be protected, right?" He asked the Akayakashi beside him. "These beautiful Cherry blossoms are frail petals that needed to be protected from the winter chill of the snow. Don't you agree, Yuki-Onna?"
The blue-black haired Ayakashi agreed. Fragile objects should always be protected. Rikuoisfragile. He too must be protectedtoo. A decision, Yuki-Onna promised to be fulfilled in the future.
"There's also one thing in this world that is as fragile as those flowers. Do you want to see it, master?"
Rikuo turned up to look on Yuki-Onna's face. He nodded as the young girl beside him clasped her hands together, blew out a swivel of white smoke from her mouth to her clasped hands. In seconds, the white smoke dispersed with the winter wind and Yuki-Onna opened her hands for her master.
Rikuo watched as Yuki-Onna's hand opened like a flower in blossom. He watched closely and found a single snowflake lying beautifully on her open palms. He took the snowflake to his hand and watched the carvings embedded inside of it. For some reason, the snowflake was shaped like a flower. ACherryblossom.
"You like it?" Yuki-Onna asked, clasping her hands in eager excitement.
Rikuo shook his head and then turned to smile at Yuki-Onna's stunned expression. "I love it!" he laughed.
Yuki-Onna sighed in relief, covering her smile with her Kimono's long sleeves. "That's good."
"A snowflake huh?" Rikuo's voice came like a whisper. "It's as fragile as these flowers beside me. But much more fragile." He watched as the short life of the snowflake on his hands melted into water.
Yuki-Onna watched as the snowflake-turned water cascaded down from Rikuo's hand to the pile of Cherry blossoms lying idle beside them.
"Thank you, Yuki-Onna! For giving me another reason to be more protective."
Yuki-Onna narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean by that, master?"
Rikuo stood up and dusted the snow off his blue Kimono and his orange-brown hair. "There are also people I need to be more protective. Not just my friends; Kana and the others. Not just my mom but everyone here. Grandpa, the others—" he took a flower from his pile and turned to look at Yuki-Onna. "You." and he handed the snow-free flower to Yuki-Onna's outstretched hand.
In that moment, Yuki-Onna began to feel something fluttering in her stomach. Butterflies swarming her insides with happiness. The young Ayakashi took the flower to her hand and marveled at its brilliant pink beauty. Obviously, she did not understand what her master has told her. But for some reason of why he is beneath his favorite tree; he must be thinking of something. Somethingthatwasbotheringhimatthatmoment.
Rikuo left her in the snow covered lawn and went inside the house to have his lunch. Yuki-Onna turned to where her master took off to and then turned back at the flower on her hands. She watched it as she turned the pink colored hue into a silvery-white, shaping it into a snowflake. She lifted her hand in the air and felt the winter breeze carry off the fragile flower turned snowflake with it. She looked up and tiny snowflakes landed on her pale face, itching over her; clinging for their dear life not to wasted back into water.
Yuki-Onna smiled. Just like a snowflake, she too was as fragile as those cherry blossoms. Though she can be as fragile and helpless in certain situations, she knows she can survive it. She needed to be, for her master and everyone else in the mansion. Like how those cherry blossoms lived during the winter season and how snowflakes learned to survive more by being carried with the wind, she too must endure it.
"Thank you master." Yuki-Onna mumbled to herself, blush now apparent on her pale cheeks. "That means a lot." And she walked back to the house, a trail of snow dancing behind her.
Author's note: Have a beautiful winter season! :D