Kana always had a strange feeling when it snowed.

She noticed it, that winter. The first snowflake of the year fell much later than expected, in late November, and for some reason, she was thankful for that, even though her entire life she had looked forward to the snowfall. That year was different. Seeing those first large flakes flutter down from the cloudy sky made her nervous for some reason, and she tensed up so much her husband, Matsuda, took notice of it.

"Kana," he began, looking up from his newspaper. It had been a little less than a year that she and the salary man had been together; after only a couple of months of dating, the enamored pair had become engaged, and married shortly after. "What's the matter?"

He could see that she was unmoving as she stared off into the expanse of snowflakes trickling down onto the lawn of their small country home. "Kana?"

She suddenly snapped back into reality, though her large, brown eyes never left the window, her hand pressed up against its glass gently. "I just feel...strange."

"Strange?" the man repeated, lowering his glasses. "Why do you feel strange? Are you sick?"

"No, it isn't that..." the fresh-out-of-training doctor replied, staring at a particular large snowflake that floated down right in front of the large window she stood ahead of. "Say...when the snow melts..." she began, but she froze in place. Her husband looked at her with a concerned look, setting down his newspaper completely.

"What about it?"

Kana, at this point, turned to face the man whose last name she replaced her own with. "Matsuda Takahashi..." she began, her hand still pressed to the glass of the window. "...is an average man."

"I suppose I am," responded her husband, raising a brow at her. "What of it?"

"Matsuda Takahashi...makes average pay. Likes average things," Kana continued, her voice starting to crack. Matsuda began to grow a bit concerned with his new wife.

"You're starting to scare me, Kana."

"I don't...want...average," the doctor began, her eyes faltering down to her feet. The salary man stared at her.

"What are you saying..."

"I don't want an average man!" Kana yelled, her eyes brimming with tears. "I want someone who doesn't let me say I'm okay when I'm not. I want someone who knows that my favorite color is green, or that every time I see a vase I get scared, but I don't know why..." Now she was crying, and she fell to her knees. "I want someone interesting. I want someone who cares. I want someone I love."

Matsuda rose from his seat at this point and approached his crying wife, hesitant to hold her, but he placed his hands on her shoulders in comfort. "Kana, when two people get married, they always get... stressed, and..."

"No," Kana whispered, shaking her head. "It's more than that. It's more..."

"Then what is it?" he asked, kneeling beside her, but she turned away. She sat that way for some time, thinking it over in her head, before slowly she turned her tear-stained face to look her husband directly in the eye.

"When the snow melts..." she asked, her whisper breaking. "...what does it become?"

Matsuda stared at his wife for quite some time, but shook his head softly after a moment. "Kana..."

Kana was dissatisfied at this answer and frowned. "...I need to go."

"Go where?" her husband responded, almost amused by her. She stood quickly and he followed, trying to grab her to stop her, but she escaped his grasp and started down the hall. "Kana!"

The doctor raced out of the house, her shoes abandoned at the door, ignoring her husband's shouts as she dashed out into the snow. Through teary eyes she ran as fast as she could, her breath fogging the air around her. She ran until her lungs ached for release, and then she ran further, her nylon-covered feet damp and crusted with snow. She didn't know why, but she knew something in her life was missing. There was someone, somenwhere, who loved her. There was someone who missed her. Someone that knew her favorite color was green, and that every time she saw a vase she got scared. Someone was out there, she just didn't know who.

Whether it was her lungs or her legs that gave out first, she didn't know, but she collapsed into the snow. It took her a moment to regain her strength and catch her breath, but she slowly lifted her head, and through the fog of her tears she noticed the familiar house she had collapsed into the yard of. She saw the familiar deck, and the familiar door, the familiar windows, the familiar, snowy garden...

It was where she had trained to be a doctor, for an all-too short of a time.

Suddenly, her teary eyes became dry once more, and she stood, the front of her pink rose-colored dress damp from the snow. Just as she did this, however, she met the familiar eyes of a familiar man, a man who seemed too surprised to see her.

"Kana...?"

"Hatori..."

The two stood there, looking at each other for a long time, the only sound being the gentle chirping of a winter bird, and Kana's heavy, foggy breaths.

But, after a moment, the man spoke, after being speechless. "Kana...What are you...doing here?"

"I...I don't know," she answered truthfully, finally catching her breath, and she placed a hand to her heaving chest, since it ached in pain.

Hatori saw her pain, and, although he knew it would hurt him in the end, he offered, "Kana, why don't you come inside..."

Kana shook her head. "Hatori... A long time ago...Someone loved me."

"Kana..." the male doctor began, his voice tearful. However, the other doctor continued.

"Someone used to hold me. Someone used to tell me I was beautiful."

Hatori shook his head in disbelief, staring at her. "N-No..."

"Hatori..." Kana said, coming to a realization now, and she met his eyes, her brows knitting in pain as she asked a question she was hesitant to ask. "When the snow melts...what does it become?"

The dragon's eyes suddenly became brimmed with tears, and, staring ahead of him, he shakily responded. "S...Spring."

Kana broke down in tears, and smiled softly, as she slowly began to walk towards him. Hatori found himself stepping off the deck to approach her, and suddenly they ran at each other, and embraced tightly, their knuckles white from gripping each other's shirts. And they cried, and cried, and didn't say a word for a very, very long time.

"H-Hatori..." Kana breathed into his shirt. "I d-don't remember why... but I know that...that I love you..."

"And I love you, Kana..." Hatori whispered back, words he had not spoken aloud for an entire year. "...I never stopped."

A/N: Alright! That's my little one-shot for the night. Doesn't it sound like it needs a sequel? TOO BAD you're not getting one. Ha ha ha, yes, I am sadistic! Well...maybe I'll give you one, if enough people want it. If not, too bad! Anyway, it's been a long day for me, so good night, FanFiction. ;D