For SK-fan7's contest; under sub-subject "e" for Osorezan Revior. This will be a three part story, and I intend to finish it until Friday. I hope you like this I would very much appreciate some feedback from you guys… Happy Valentine's Day!

Part One

.

The one who awaits you

Will never let you feel lonely

Know this at least

Know this at least

.

She walked down the empty cobbled road, the chilly breeze carrying the sound of her footfalls to unknown places. The streets of Aomori were empty; with the exception of a couple shopkeepers peeking out from the fogged windows of their shops to see if there were any potential customers. Tiny snowflakes swirled around in the air, as if invisible ropes were pulling them from side to side. She focused her attention on them, choosing to empty her mind by watching them flail about, then slowly fall to the ground where they be added to the thin layer of snow that covered the sidewalk. She watched them be carried away by the wind; she watched them fly away until she could no longer see them. She watched the few that fell on her pale hands melt. They all disappeared. Everything disappeared.

Passing by the rare inhabited houses, she could hear their voices. They jumped around in her head like a disoriented swarm of bees. Sometimes they stung; and she knew that if they started to sting too much, someone would get hurt more than her. She pushed each little stab back, throwing them aside and trying to make them disappear like the snowflakes. She didn't want those feelings in her anymore; she feared the ones she could understand. She understood hate, remorse, envy, anguish… They were the ones she knew well; the ones she could relate to in one way or another. Then there were others that felt too far off into the distance. She knew what they were, but she had no experience to say what they would feel like.

So she ignored them, instead of adding their meaning to the long list of burdens she had to carry. She walked alone, her companions the wind and the snow.

.

The one who awaits you

Will never let you feel lonely

Know this at least

Know this at least

.

Then there he was, standing amidst the sidewalk, yelling at someone who she knew normal people couldn't see. He stared at her with a dumbstruck expression; she offered him a sharp glared of her own.

"You're blocking traffic. Die." She said, peering right into his widened eyes. Then she walked passed him, continuing along the road, ignoring every single word he uttered behind her. Stopping a couple of feet before him again, she huffed in annoyance.

"Yoh Asakura. I'm supposed to marry that?" she said slowly, letting her words sink in; clearly aware of the effect they would elicit on this airhead husband-to be of hers and not afraid to exploit it.

She walked away again, feeling his shock, feeling his confusion. Feeling his desperation to understand…to understand why this total stranger had acted in such a way towards him. He was weak and immature. Another burden. Why had Kino-sensei chosen this happy-go-lucky slacker as her future husband? She didn't have the faintest idea. But she wondered…

She wondered what it might be like; to feel those emotions she could not yet comprehend. To feel joy, hope, trust… even love…. Maybe one day, there would be someone, perhaps this boy. Maybe one day she would feel them all these distant emotions at the same time. Then she would get a third companion, one that would still hang around even when winter came to an end.

.

xxxxx

.

Abandoned on the streets

Desolate

Sulking in the shadows

Feeling the weight of the world

Love is hellos, goodbyes and gossamer

Mt. Osore le voile

.

xxxxx

.

He sat in front of the wooden table, fiddling with a frayed seam on the cloth that covered it. The split tailed cat stood close to him, already lost in his book. Kino Asakura stood by the table in waiting.

So many things had happened in the course of just a couple of hours. So many unanswered questions, and so many left to ask. For the time being, the demon didn't bother him. Matamune had finished it off pretty easily, he would learn how to do it… somehow. That matter was beyond him at the moment, and he was not one to dwell on issues that were above him. Though there was another issue, one which he couldn't yet decide if beneath or above him. Maybe it was right at the same level. That girl…

Over the years, he had met many people who had behaved hostile towards him at first sight. Hostility wasn't anything foreign to him. He had survived through it his entire childhood, he was used to it by this point. A death threat on the other hand… now that was new. Never in his life had anyone told him to die simply because he was standing in their way. The rest of the conversation had left his already confused mind in an even worse state. "Yoh Asakura. I'm supposed to marry that?" He recalled, shuddering slightly. So that was his chosen fiancé…

She was the reason he had made this journey from Izumo. That was the girl he was betrothed to marry. The idea made a cold chill, that had nothing to do with the snow, run through his body. Scary, he thought to himself. Though he was reluctant to admit it, the girl had scared him out of his wits.

Maybe it was the cold expression that had never left her face. Or perhaps it was her icy tone that had affected him to most; and the unsettled stream of energy that started from her, and flew right over to him. Whatever it was, he hoped it went away quickly.

He heard the creek of metal hinges, a moment later he could hear the shuffling of light feet in the hall way. The shouji door that separated the entrance from the living room where he sat with Kino and Matamune cracked open. One half of a pale face peeked through the opening. Her blonde hair fell across her eyes, shielding them from Yoh; but even through that tiny part of them that he could see, he caught the pain buried deep in them. It baffled him, to see emotions so strong twisting and turning inside the mind of one so young. He had never though it possible, but apparently he had been wrong.

"Here." She stated solemnly, dropping the plastic bag full of groceries by the door, then sliding it shut. It fell to the ground with a dull thud. Yoh stared at the bag for a second or two, watching as a couple of articles fell out and rolled off in opposite directions.

Silence. That was how his future fiancé had officially greeted him. That was what he would live with for the rest of his life. He didn't want to count the death threat as their official meeting. No, he would rather throw that memory away. This one, as disturbing as it was, was more pleasant than the latter.

"What kind of a greeting was that?" he yelled, making Matamune look up from his book for the first time since they had gotten home.

"It was her! I didn't get a good look at her face but – " Yoh started, but his words were cut off by his grandmother.

"Don't bother. It won't do any good… to yell at her."

"What? I came all this way to see her, and she threatened to kill me! What am I supposed to do? I know you wouldn't have chosen her if she didn't have a lot of talent but... you've spoilt her! Her manners stink."

His eyebrows furrowed in frustration as he stared at the aged itako, awaiting her explanation.

"Young fool." She said curtly, glaring at him with eyes that couldn't see. "Words mean nothing…to Anna."

.

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XXXXXX

.

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Behind the closed door, the blonde girl stood frozen. Words… what did words really mean to her? Her shoulders slumped and she dragged her feet back to her room at the very edge of the corridor. Sliding her door open, she stepped inside, and slammed it back in place. She stared around the room, trying to conjure up something that interested her, but came away cold. Her frown still etched on her face, he threw herself on her bed, curling into a ball.

Small.

Weak.

Yet somehow still strong.

He shut her eyes tight, squeezing her fists to the point where she started to lose feeling in them. She liked it. She liked not feeling anything; she only wished it would work on parts of her other than her hands.

She didn't want to feel anymore.

.

Each night she patiently bears

The endless mystery in solitude

A thousand black paper cranes

Not folding

Not folding

.