All characters are owned by Hoshino Katsura except for Avery and Chase Allstead.
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The first snow.
It's what I look forward to the most. The glittering snowflakes, the occasional sunlight that ignites the snow and makes it spark to life, the blanket of frost on the trees that turn it into something more ethereal. The cold always makes me feel more alive.
I'm sitting outside with my back resting on the showy ash tree that had been dedicated to my brother. Waiting for the first few snowflakes to drift down had always been a tradition we had until a few weeks ago.
My brother, Chase Allstead, was sent on a mission to Russia where they had leads on an Innocence user. On the day his group came back and I couldn't find him, I had already known what happened; I just didn't want to believe it. My sketchbook – the form my Innocence had taken – had drawn in itself and it showed two Level Four Akumas beating at my brother while he told the other two to run away. And that was exactly what they did. I'd never been angrier in my life. But at the same time, I couldn't blame them because they did what Chase told them to do. Now, my brother is just a remembered hero.
I can still smell him, hear him, and feel him with me. Chase, I mean. But his scent is what continues to truly haunt me. Warm cinnamon and maple syrup. It always reminds me of Canada. That's why Chase and I always wait for winter. It's a part of our former home, before we were brought to the Black Order in Europe.
With a long, loud sigh, I find that I am alone in the small courtyard my brother's tree is growing in. I slowly unfold the piece of paper in my hand and read it. Then I read it again. And again. And one more time before I fold it and stick it into my coat pocket. My task was an impossible one.
Last Friday, to bring everyone's spirits up after losing Chase, Komui Lee had everyone sit in a circle. He told us to write a small little note with instructions on how to make the person on their right a little happier. Then, we dumped our ideas into a hat and picked out a note for ourselves. It was an interesting idea (one of only a few of Komui's non-life-threatening ones) and everyone perked up at the notion of helping someone else so close to Christmas. There wasn't a set deadline, but most people would probably have it done by New Year's just so that they wouldn't have to do it when it would feel a bit out of place.
I'm the unlucky one because, guess what? I have to make Yu Kanda smile. It sounds simple enough, but you wouldn't think so if you knew him. So, how will I try to accomplish that you ask? You tell me!
I feel hands running through my hair and I immediately gasp and pull myself forward, out of their grasp, before I hear a gruff voice saying, "Hold still for a moment, Avery." The hands pull my long, brown-black hair back and tie it with something. The moment I see a tassel on the end of the rope they're tying my hair with, I gasp again. Speak of the devil.
"Kanda?"
I turn around and I see him with his hair down. He did use his hair tie.
"The note I picked out told me to tie your hair back with something. I'm not sure how that would make you happy, but it certainly helps when someone's trying to look at your face." He looks away and – do I see a hint of a blush on his cheeks?!
My eyes widen and I blush as well. It doesn't make me happy, but it does make me feel grateful. Someone's certainly paying me a fair bit of attention. That would most likely be Allen, Lenalee, or Lavi. They're my friends as well as Kanda's.
"Thank you," I say, turning to my sketchbook and, taking the pencil I always keep in the coils, quickly draw in an idea. Once it's in there, it'll either come true or pop out of the page if it's minor enough. For my reasons, I only need it to come true. It's times like these that my Innocence really comes in handy.
Kanda leans down, trying to look over my head at what I'm drawing. I don't let him and he grunts in irritation, sliding down the tree and waiting for my quick little sketch to be finished. A bit of silence, and then he speaks up.
"So this is where you and your brother go? Just to wait for the first snow?" He sees my hesitation in drawing the next line and his eyes turn sorrowful. I remember then that he and Chase had been fairly good friends. Once Kanda found out that he was gone for good, he retreated into his room and I heard smashing sounds. I was going to go in to see if he was okay, but instead I slid down beside his door and sat in the hallway. I cried for hours while listening to Kanda's mourning.
I nod and say while continuing to focus, "It's because it reminded us of home." I realize that I'm using past-tense whilst talking about Chase. I cringe and go on. "We never really got over the fact that we'd just been "kidnapped" and brought here to fight Akuma."
I draw a line that doesn't look right and erase it. This drawing was a bit more difficult, but I have to get everything just right or it won't come true...
I take a swift little glance at his face and I laugh a moment after I see his expression. Eyebrow up, looking at me like I was a puzzle he can't seem to figure out, he looks like a regular person. Not like one that very nearly lost everything he had in his life, which wasn't a lot to begin with.
His eyes widen and he fakes a hurt look that almost makes me feel bad for what I did. I've never seen my crush like this before. "What's so funny about my face, huh?"
"This." And I poke his eyebrow. He tries to look at it unsuccessfully. Before he has a chance to paste on another face, I quickly turn to my sketchbook and draw in the last few lines and – VOILÀ. It's done! I smile and laugh again before closing my book. There's no way I'm going to let Kanda see it before it really happens.
He glares at me again although I know it's not meant to be in an intimidating way. He's just showing his frustration for not being able to see my little sketch. He needn't worry; he'll be seeing it soon enough.
Before he can blink, I lean into his face and look at him with the same look he gives to everyone else. Only, my face is slightly more playful than his expression usually is. He blinks at me but doesn't move back. I had to ask him right then.
"How come you're so much more animated now, around me no less, than you were before?"
He shifts his gaze from my face to my hand on his knee, gently grabbing it. His hand is warm and I shiver. I notice, for the first time, how cold it really is. Quietly, he whispers, "Because you make me feel so much more alive, more..." And I know that what he was going to say was normal.
"Yu," He perks up at his name. Usually, he would scold me for using his first name, but his eyes just spark to life like the snow in the sun. "In some aspects, you're more normal than the rest of us are."
And that's the moment it happens. It's the moment I drew in my sketchbook.
He smiles.
In the beginning, the corners of his lips carefully creep up, almost as if he had never smiled before. I guess he had no reason to back then. As it seems to grow more sure of itself, it blossoms into this gentle smile that lights up his entire face.
To be honest, I think the Japanese samurai is much too beautiful for his own good.
I start laughing and soon enough he joins in and puts his forehead to mine. His grin stretches from ear to ear, almost literally. And it's not like the usual smirk he has on. It's genuine.
Without knowing it, my lips meet his. He is a bit awkward at first, but he learns fast and he kisses back with a ferocity and passion I didn't know he possessed. Twisting, he pushes me up against the tree and caresses my shoulder with his fingertips. I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me and this is how we are for long minutes after. Actually, I'm not entirely sure it was minutes. Maybe it was just seconds, or it could've been hours, just sitting on the hill with Chase's tree on my back and Yu's mouth on mine.
Breaking off and breathing hard, I look up into his face before remembering something. I feel for my sketchbook in my lap and Yu quickly twists back and leans on the showy ash, shoulders and hips touching mine. Anticipation was clear in his face. I don't usually show people my talent, but everyone in the Order knows and wants to see my sketches.
I open my Innocence to a random page and flip through it to find the right drawing. I feel Yu laugh again as I pull out my note and magically stick it to the page. Yu kisses my head as I lean it on his shoulder. Mumbling into my hair, he says, "All you had to do was ask."
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a tuft of red hair disappear behind a building. He was the one sitting on my left. Somehow he knew. Or he rigged it and he got lucky with his guess. Either way, I wouldn't trade this moment with anyone. My Innocence will keep our memoires alive. Mine, and everyone else's.
I look up, and the snow begins to fall.