It was a dark night, cold and still. No wind, but a light dusting of snow trickling down. The clouds covered the whole sky, not leaving and sign of the stars or the moon at all. The streets were covered in quite a thick layer of snow; not enough to cause disruption but enough to get a sense of true winter.
The pair walked down the street. Nobody stirred because they were all asleep and waiting for what the next morning would bring; and what lay wrapped up in those brightly coloured parcels.
The two left no foot prints, and meandered down the path talking with no fear of being discovered.
"Riku?"
He made a non-committal grunt.
"Why are snowflakes unique??" Naminé asked.
Riku hesitated for a moment.
"Well, water in a cloud freezes into a hexagon, then as it drifts around in the sky it goes through different temperatures and different amounts of water. That makes the branches appear, and makes each of the unique as no two go through the same route."
"Wow!" She said her eyes full of nothing but wonder and amazement.
They continued for a while, walking down the street. Naminé suddenly jumped and landed in the snow, leaving a deep pair of footprints. She giggled as she stepped out of it, and smiled up at Riku again. As she caught his eye she halted and looked down.
"Riku?" She asked again, her voice somewhat smaller this time.
"Yeah?"
"What happens when two snowflakes join together?" She asked.
"Well as they drift around they get stuck in the sky and keep going, until they are heavy enough to fall through the cloud and land. It can take hours to get big enough, but if a group of snowflakes join together, they can fall a lot faster."
"So like Sora with you guys?"
"Yeah... But if Sora were a snowflake it would more likely be made of chocolate."
Naminé laughed, and began dancing around in the snow again, leaving footsteps in the snow. Riku watched her calmly, happy that she was having so much fun for what felt like the first time. Suddenly she fell over, and Riku started forwards before another peal of laughter rang out.
"Look, a snow Xemnas!" She said, making a snow angel and then drawing horns on its head.
"Very accurate!" He said and helped her up off from the snow. She stood up but didn't let go of his hand, simply tugged at it and kept walking down the street.
Riku sighed, and quickly muttered a spell to brush away the snow where Naminé had been playing before following her.
"It's a shame we can't see the stars..." Naminé said, and Riku quickly puller her to a halt.
"All you have to do is ask!" He said, thinking for a moment then punching his fist into the air. A firaga quickly shot out and blasted away the clouds, leaving a little ring of black sky with a bright star in the centre.
Naminé gasped in wonder, staring up at the little patch of sky and clutched Riku's arm tighter.
He looked down at the back of her head, her blonde (almost white) hair seemed to transfix him, and as he turned around he still didn't look away, this time captured by her eyes; those perfect pools of dark blue.
She felt something different about him now, and looked into his eyes, the turquoise such an enchanting shade.
Quite accidentally she began to shiver, the cold of the snow finally beginning to affect her, and Riku instantly wrapped his arms around her and opened a portal in the darkness to take them back to the lab.
They arrived in the white room, and Naminé quickly stepped back and went to the end of the long table with her drawing equipment. Riku was disappointed she left so quickly, but sat down at his customary end and listened to the scratching of crayons over paper.
Half an hour later she stood up and walked over to him with a piece of paper. She often showed him her drawings, so this was nothing new.
She held it up to him and he stopped, not quite sure what to think. It was a white background with a few little blobs of grey, houses in the background and a grey sky. In the centre she had drawn a black circle with a single yellow star in the middle, and underneath it were two figures, one in black, the other in white holding each other tightly, about to kiss.
"You only had to ask."
~Fin~