Even the well insulated walls of the palace couldn't prevent a subtle nip in the air from penetrating its plethora of vast corridors and spacious rooms. The surrounding formerly impressive greenery, once decorated with vibrant fruits and fauna, now laid bare with only lingering sickly looking plant life left to showcase. The air was no longer ringing with the sounds of song birds, as these creatures have long fled to warmer pastures, and their cries were now replaced with howls of a strong gust. Moderate snow fall had already came to visit moments ago and wasn't prepared to take its leave any time soon. The remaining dwellers in the capital, who were brave enough to continue loitering despite the chill in the air, adorned layers and layers up clothing in hopes to endure the weather conditions just a little longer to complete their tasks. All these signs and more indicated a particular harsh winter would soon come barreling through.
However the bleak weather could not dampen the rising spirits of the populace. Thanks to the innovation of their Empress, Prime Minister, and their retainers, the economy was experiencing a sudden rapid, continuous growth as people far and wide were more than willing to pay a handsome sum of money to own one of these life alternating products manufactured by the Kou Empire. This economic growth made the Kou Empire an attractive place to live once more which resulted in surge of those of Kou descent steadily returning to their homeland. It also attracted the attention of hopeful foreign business men and women and their families wanting to take advantage of such growth, adding an interesting mixture of people to the once previously homogeneous population.
Meanwhile, their beloved Empress was in a meeting with a team of expertise for the purpose of establishing the Empire's first ever Department of Integration and Coexistence. Although she felt smaller than usual, sitting in a jewel encrusted wooden chair facing these three espousing visitors, with their figures drawn to their fullest height and their faces sporting a most dignified expression, with only a small matching table to separate them, there was no feeling of inferiority to be found.
"You see my Highness," began one of experts, "Once this weather abates, more and more of them, foreigners, will come during the warmer seasons, wanting to call this country their new home. They do not have to give up everything that makes them unique. Trust me, forcing them to completely give up their culture would most definitely breed resentment among them and potentially cause strife between them and the native population. I've seen this happen many times before in my career. Yet, it is of most importance that they at least understand and respect the cultural norms of their new host country so that they may coexist peacefully with the already established population and learn from each other. Don't you agree your Majesty?"
Kougyoku, who was only halfway listening to the man's droning voice, merely nodded in agreement.
"It's all very exciting your Highness", came the more enthusiastic voice of the youngest looking member, "never before have so many foreigners showed interest in this country. Not only is the economic growth encouraging them to immigrate here, the dissolved army and new, less intimidating, leadership has made this once fearful, mighty nation appear more docile and family friendly. I imagine that our population could easily double within a year, giving us a stronger work force. Don't you agree your Majesty?"
She once again nodded, but smiled slightly this time at the chipper tone of his voice.
"It may all sound very strenuous," a kind voice added, this one belonging to a woman, "but all that is required from you, Empress, is approval of the monthly progress reports. We will be responsible for all the 'fun' stuff. Us and contractors, construction crews, and so forth. When would you like us to begin your Majesty?"
Before Kougyoku could mouth just one syllable, in came a sudden interruption in the form of a wide eyed and frantic looking Alibaba.
Kougyoku shrieked at once, but not before bolting out of her chair with so much force, that the heavy cherry wood furniture collapsed to floor with an ear ringing thump. Her knuckles paled underneath the force of her grip as she prepared herself for the inevitable unpleasant news.
"Aliba-Prime Minister!? What ever is the matter with you? Did that man do something yet again!?"
In response, Alibaba shook his head with such vigor, that she was briefly reminded of a dog trying to rid its ears of water. He looked even more disheveled if possible.
"No. Just. Come. See"
Wordlessly, he hurriedly maneuvered his way to her side, practically knocking over the poor visitors who could only watch this erratic display with dumbfounded expressions, tightly grabbed her wrist and began to pull her out of the room, nearly lifting her off of her feet.
"Ok, Ok I'm coming, I'm coming," Kougyoku bleated meekly as though she even had a choice, "you three," she added snapping her head in their direction, "you may take your leave. We will continue this conversation later!"
All she could do then was to spare them one finally, apologetic look, as their bewildered faces blurred more and more out of focus.
"S-s-slow down Alibaba chan!" Kougyoku pleaded as they zoomed passed room after room, descended staircase after staircase, however, her pleads fell upon deaf ears, as he refused to stop until they were nearing the main entrance of the palace.
"Look. Out. Side," an exhausted Alibaba somehow managed to say between huffs and puffs.
"Is it. At the. Main gate?" questioned an equally tired Kougyoku.
"No. It's. Everywhere."
Judging by the sheepish looks on those who were currently wondering around the foyer, she figured it wasn't some kind of emergency. Even the stocky guardsmen at their usual position on either side of the main entrance, appeared to emit a placid demeanor.
Maybe the others finally came back! came her inner voice, small, but drenched with hope, but what does he mean by 'it's everywhere'?
The Empress released what she hoped was a dainty enough cough before commenting.
"Then let's go into the private backyard. You remember where it is, right?"
"Err."
"Not to worry!", she responded, her voice now jovial at the thought of being reunited with additional dear friends. "I'll show you!"
Now it was Kougyoku's turn to lug a friend along, albeit not as aggressively and for a much shorter distance, coming to a walk as they approached the nearest entryway to said backyard.
"Well, show me, show me!" she cried eagerly, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"Don't need to tell me twice!" came Alibaba's equally excited response.
With that, he clasps his hands around the antique looking door handles, and simultaneously swung doors wide open.
The Empress instantaneously shielded her face from the initial blast of icy wind with her bulky sleeves, from which she slowly peeked over as the breeze subsided. The brightness reflected off the snow laden field forced her to wince, nonetheless her eyes darted back and forth across the yard, trying to see who or what aroused so much commotion in Alibaba.
All she saw was a blanket of snow in a field seemingly devoid of all life.
"Well…?" Kougyoku pondered, her interest fading with each passing moment, "what did you want me to see so badly?"
"All this snow of course!" Alibaba exclaimed in a tone of astonishment from her calm composure.
She merely blink in puzzlement.
"Snow?" she began, annoyance creeping into her voice, "this is what got you so bothered? This is what you interrupted my-"
She paused once realization came crashing down like a ton of bricks.
"Alibaba chan? Is this the first time you've ever see snow before?"
His head gave a hearty nod at her question, before practically diving into the snow, seemingly unbothered by this abrupt drop in temperature.
"Wow…" he remarked in awe, "it's just as cold as I read in the stories!"
Before Kougyoku could kindly suggest putting on warmer clothing, Alibaba dashed off to explore.
"H-hey! Don't leave me behind!"
It might be better to just jump in like Alibaba chan and get over it, she hissed to herself, although not entirely convinced.
She braced herself for the immediate chill that would soon embrace her feet and leapt in to tail her swift friend. Thankfully, the snowfall lessened its intensity, but nonetheless left a few inches of snow in its wake.
How the hell was he able to move so rapidly!? Maybe it's something about those weird shoes…
Some yards ahead and oblivious to Kouguoku's plight, Alibaba stood motionlessly, admiring the landscape that was, in his mind, very reminiscent of a richly frosted pastry.
His stomach grumbled in agreement.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" came a voice from behind as soft as the very snow itself that could only have belonged to the Empress.
Alibaba hummed in response before asking.
"But what do you do with it? Snow I mean."
"Well…nothing if you're a busy adult I suppose. Except for shoveling it away to make getting around on foot easier. As for children and those who are still young at heart -"
Kougyoku crouched down and scooped up a handful of snow at her feet, shaping it into a sphere.
"They make snowmen, snow angels, or have a snowball fight. Stuff like that."
"Cool!" Alibaba exclaimed, his eyes filled with wonder as he examined the snowball in her hand as though it were a priceless treasure from a dungeon. "Can we make one of these snowmen? Snow seems way too soft to form into a human being. I gotta see this!"
"You kind of interrupted an important meeting, Alibaba ch-"
"I know, I know! But you work so hard. Harder than anybody else I know! A small break wouldn't hurt would it?"
Kougyoku's visage couldn't help but to brighten at his words of praise.
"I guess, but just this one time! If Ka Koubon finds us, you're taking most of the blame. Fair enough?"
Alibaba noted that her willingness to take even a portion of the blame, must be a sign of a furthering blossoming relationship between the two. He couldn't deny the flutter of happiness at the thought.
He grinned.
"Fair."
Much to Alibaba's disappointment, the highly anticipated "snowman", was nothing more than three large snowball stacked on top of each other, with twigs serving as its "arms". Not even the act of Kougyoku using the tips of her fingers to make small, circular indents in its face for the eyes and mouth could arouse excitement from him.
She scoffed at his lackluster reaction and demanded that he "make his own then!" to which he complied.
To nobody's surprise, Alibaba did no better, and, in fact, tried to build something far too complex for the fragile snow to endure, which resulted in his design collapsing into a messy heap.
"Good job, Alibaba-chan," came Kougyoku's voice dripping with sarcasm. "Here. Let me help."
She snapped a nearby stick in half, placing the smaller half on the very top of his failed creation.
"There! Now it has your hair horn. Looks just like you, doesn't it?"
In response, Alibaba commented, in a cool tone of voice, that he would make her snowman a fitting image of the Empress herself, but that it was already "not cute and flat chested, just like its maker."
Fortunately, it was Alibaba's snowman that became the target of her rage and was reduced to a flatten, footprint marred shell of its former self.
"Never mind!" she huffed, "let's make snow angels. Should be easy enough. Even for you. Just copy what I do, ok?"
Still lamenting the loss of his creation, he eyed her nonetheless as Kouguoku gently planted herself upon the ground. From there, she laid flat on her back, extended her limbs and made a jumping jack motion on the ground several times, before gingerly picking herself back up again, being careful not to leave any noticeable marks within the newly formed shape.
"See? Looks like an angel, right?"
"I supposed so," he answered, squinting, "but I've ever seen a picture of an angel with that weird thing on top of its head."
'That weird thing on top of its head' was just an imprint of Kougyoku's pinned up hair now embedded into the snow.
"W-well, it's too much of a hassle letting my hair down just for this! Go on! You try now."
Alibaba merely shrugged before mimicking her previous actions.
"Good job, Alibaba chan!"
This time, there was not a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
Alibaba beamed, before settling down onto the snow to lay inside the angelic shape.
"Have you ever just laid on it? It's so cold, but very soft and smooth. Wanna lay down with me?"
Though she knew Alibaba meant it as an innocent question, his words evoked a flushed expression and stuttered speech.
"L-lay with you? Lay with you?"
"Yes?"
"A-a-alright! H-here I go!"
She flopped onto the ground beside him, fiercely contemplating on whether or not she should as slide as far as away as possible, but not so far to make him believe that she was bothered by his close proximity or to stop worrying and enjoy a dear friend's company.
But if I get too close, wouldn't he start thinking something is up? Why must this be so confusing!
Meanwhile, Alibaba could only shake his head at her usually peculiar antics.
They laid in silence for some moments before the small voice of Kougyoku broke the stillness.
"Alibaba chan?"
"Yeah?"
"All this snow reminds me of a rather embarrassing childhood story. I want to share it with you, b-but don't be mean about it or I'll-"
"Yes, yes I promise."
"Well," Kougyoku began, her face once again sporting a brilliant shade of red, "I remember a time where Ka Kouban and I were playing , well no that's not entirely true, I, was the one playing and he was desperately trying to get me back inside for a midday bath…anyway, "we" were playing hide and seek. At that time, spring was arriving so most of the snow had long melted except for a few remaining mounds.
"One of these mounds had a rather large bright yellow patch on it. I've seen those colored patches before, but I ignored them before and yet curiosity got the best of me so I tracked down Judar chan to ask him what they were. He told me that they contained rare, lemon flavored snow and that I needed to eat them before they melt away and never come back til years or even decades later.
"I should have known he was lying because he had this stupid goofy looking grin on his face, but what a naïve child I was….you can probably already guess what happened when I excitingly ran to it and gathered a handful in my hand expecting a sweet, zesty lemony taste…"
Despite his promise, Alibaba was not sure if he should roar with laughter or hug her and express his condolences. He opted with pity as a safe route, biting the inner flesh of his mouth to keep from snickering.
"Poor, poor Kougyoku," he mouthed.
He turned his head to face her, hoping that his sympathy passed her test and was somewhat startled to see the Empress already looking at him with a hardened expression as though expecting something.
He signed mournfully, quickly realizing the reason behind her appearance.
"Ok, ok, I guess it's my time turn, right? Well, you remember that I grew up in the slums for the first few years of my life and was raised single handily by my mother, who was a prostitute, right? She happened to be a pretty popular one too and on most nights, despite how late it was, she sent me outside to play with friends who liked sneaking out during bedtime or to buy myself some sweets while she was busy with her errrr 'clients'.
"When I left, I'll sometimes see those very same 'clients' heading in the direction of our tent with some shit eating grin on their faces. They were the grubby, sweat-stained-shirt wearing type of guys who I couldn't imagine had anything to do with my mother, so I never paid much attention to them.
"One day, my mother was so busy rushing me to go outside, she forgot to give me the money for the milk and bread she wanted me to buy so I headed back to find her….well..right in the middle of 'entertaining' a 'client'…I had no idea what was going on at that time, only that it must have been a huge secret, because she practically threw me and money I needed back outside.
"Her face was still beet red from embarrassment even when the 'client' had long went home and it was just us again, cuddling in bed. I looked up at her with these puppy dog eyes and asked 'mama, what were you and that man doing?' She looked like she wanted to die right there and then, but simply answered `wrestling'. I then asked, 'even while half naked mama?' however, she had already fallen asleep so I never got a response.
"Until this day, I still think that she was just pretending to sleep so I could shut up and hell I don't blame her at all. Nonetheless, I was still very impressed and bragged to my friends and anybody who would listen, about how my mom was a pro wrestler and was always able to pin down even the most burliest of men…"
"…Should I ask how you knew she was able to, as you said, 'pin' these men down?"
"About that….without an ounce of shame I would interrupt her with her 'clients' with rounds of cheers for her to 'beat him up mama'. It took many, many years for me understand why she was never happy about me rooting for her."
Unlike Alibaba, who was kind enough to show sympathy instead of laughter to save her from further embarrassment, Kougyoku erupted into a fit of giggles, rolling around on the snow, clutching her stomach.
"See!" he barked, "you are really not cute!"
After his outburst, he sat up and used both hands to launch a curtain of snow towards her, drawing out a startled yelp from the Empress.
"You've got some nerve," Kougyoku voiced through clenched teeth, as she aimed a snowball right onto Alibaba's spluttering face.
Neither one had any recollection of how long their snowball fight lasted, but by the end, both were sopping wet and shivering. The fight would have carried on despite their unfavorable conditions had Alibaba not shown mercy towards Kougyoku, who broke out into a fit of sneezes. He had rushed her back inside her bedchambers and helped her get settled into a cozy spot on the floor, where she laid against an assortment of pillows facing a roaring fireplace.
"We'll call it a draw, ok?" Alibaba proposed, displaying a small grin.
Kouguoku smirked back at him, before releasing a body shuddering sneeze.
"Not warm enough, huh? I think I can fix that."
He stripped her bed of its heavy blanket and draped it on her and decided to take his place underneath the blanket right beside her.
Cautiously, he stretched his arm around her shoulders and gave her arm a comforting squeeze, bracing himself for a relatively painful reaction. He was, however, immensely surprised when all he felt was her briefly body stiffening before relaxing.
"Better?"
Kouguoku nodded and then, to his utter astonishment, leaned into him resting her still damped head onto his shoulder. He was quite thankful they she couldn't see the fierce blush creeping upon his cheeks.
I'm not dreaming right? Is she really…being this cute?
"Alibaba-chan?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. For today. For everything"
"Anything for you."
Kougyoku would most certainly be lying if she told herself that was she above lightly brushing her lips against his cheek at this very moment.
O-out of friendship of course! she assured herself.
Instead, the Empress opted to maneuver her hand around his. Their fingers immediately laced together.
Truth be told, Alibaba was already very familiar with the concept of snow as he had encountered it numerous time during his journeys. All he wanted was to show his dear friend a good time and the warmth that follows.
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