Gods I'm sorry for delaying this and making it so short! I swear, writer's block and laziness is the worst combination ever!

"Hey Liz~!" Someone shouted from behind me. A pair of arms wrapped themselves off my neck. I didn't have to look over my shoulder to know who was hanging off my back.

"My name is Elizabeth, Chun Wang. Not 'Liz'." I lifted her arms and shook her off my shoulders. I was satisfied to hear the annoying girl fall down with a bump and an indignant cry. I turned around and glared at the short little girl who was currently rubbing her backside.

"Aiyaa!" Chun pouted and got to her feet again. "You're as cold as ever aru!" She looked up at me.

No, she does not admire me in any possible way. If anything, she hates me. And why wouldn't she? I did serve as a nurse in the army of England during the opium wars. She served as a soldier in the Chinese army. We clashed a few times and developed an instant dislike for each other. Chun was short. Very, very short. She only reached my waist. The only reason she looks taller than her actual height is because of her hair. Her deep auburn hair is done in two big buns on the top of her head. Even though I told her that it would attract too much attention, she still does it.

"Glad to know it." I said and continued walking down the cobblestone path that was in front of me.

"You reeeaaaaalllllllly don't have a sense of humour aru!" She picked up her basket from the gravel scattered ground and jogged to keep up with my pace. "Why?"

"I see you're as dumb as ever even though we've lived in the same house for over three centuries." I responded without looking back.

"I'm elder than you aru! Treat me with some respect already aru!" Her words annoyed me but I held my tongue. Whatever her faults, Chun could haggle with the farmers and get the bread on the table.

I was carrying a basket filled with freshly baked bread and delicious butter while Chun carried the flour and milk. Further down the path, we passed one of the farm boys working in the field who waved at us. Chun waved back happily while I continued walking on without giving a glance to him.

"You could have at least smiled aru."

"For what?" We got into this very same discussion over and over again. The the results? A splitting headache. Next thing, she'd be lecturing me on the value of being friendly, how a smile brightens up life, etcetera, etcetera.

"So that people will know you are more than a lifeless doll aru!" She snapped.

My feet stopped moving and I froze. "This isn't something you would say..." I whispered in a barely audible voice. Of course, nothing can escape Chun's sharp ears. She ran so that she was in front of me and grinned. That grin unsettled me.

"What are you smiling like an idiot for?" I said.

"I'm glad we've become close enough so we can understand each other so much!" She practically squealed.

Her words struck a chord within me. My mind flashed back to that incident. Would it be okay? After all this time...

.

No. I wasn't going be trusting and gullible. I would never trust anyone or anything, except my own mind. My mind registered Chun's face. It was smiling up at me, eyes sparkling with happiness and hope. A rare moment were you could read something in them. I had to destroy that expression. Who knows what she could be hiding behind that innocent looking face.

"Do not mistake me as one of your so-called 'friends'." The words came out of mouth but I felt as though somebody else was speaking. "I don't consider you anything but a being that needs taking care of. Unless I can predict how you think, how can I survive under the same roof as you?" My eyes bore into hers as I watched her expression change. The light faded from her eyes and though her mouth was still smiling, her eyes were unreadable. I walked past her silently, my skirt swaying as I did. A small crunch from behind told me that Chun was following me. It wasn't as though she had any other place to go to.

We continued walking in silence. Before long, the house where we stayed in came into view. It was a medium sized house but Chun always claimed that it was a mansion.

I unlocked the door and made a beeline for the kitchen. I arranged everything neatly in their respective shelves, ignoring whatever Chun was shouting from the dining room. Once I had put the last loaf of bread in place, then and only then, I turned my attention to Chun.

"What is it now?" I sighed.

"Liz! Hurry up and get here aru! Aiyaa! I knew that there were others like us! Hurry up aru!" She screamed in Mandarin Chinese. I was able to understand her, thank god. I made a mental note to smack her with a broom every time she called me by that annoying nickname. I rushed to the dining room and my eyes fell on the black portal swirling away in mid air.

You're not going to let me go until I explain the portal are you?

Fine then. Though I don't really understand the need to do so. It should be perfectly clear.

Some time after she had moved into my house, Chun had the 'brilliant' idea to keep a look out for 'more people like us'. Of course, we couldn't very well go country hopping like those oversized children 'working' in their governments. So in order to fix this problem, Chun decided to get a portal set up. The portal works in such a way that if more people like us appeared on the global map, we'd be alerted of it.

Did you get that into your thick skull? Good. I'm not going to bother explaining it again.

I rushed over to Chun's side of the portal and watched as it showed an image. I don't know why but I felt as if my heart was trying to jump out of my chest. I pushed my glasses up my nose and gazed at the figure of an albino girl with long hair stride out of a meeting room. My heart pounded even harder. This person... I knew her. The image changed and I saw white. Pure white. Then it cleared up a bit and I could see a flash of pink. If I stared hard enough, I could make out the figure of a person wearing a pink coat. I let out a breath I hadn't even realised that I was holding.

"What-?" Chun said before the image changed again. I sneaked a glance at her now pale face.

This time, it showed a house in the middle of some countryside. Two figures could be seen outside but the perspective was too far to make out any fine details.

"Can you zoom in on that?" Chun pointed. I snapped my right hand in response. The image focused on the two figures until we could see them clearly.

'They' were two girls, probably sisters, maybe twins. Both of them looked around eight. They were both busy hanging up some laundry. Suddenly the door of the house opened and a man with a curl of hair sticking out of the left side of his head came out. Judging by the spoon he was waving, he was probably calling them in to eat. The portal dissolved on itself and attached itself to the wall where it reverted to it's disguise. A mirror.

Chun sat on the ground and let out a shaky laugh.

"Well! It looks like there are many like us aru!"

"You just noticed?" I said and went back into the kitchen, not waiting for her response. I prepared two cups of earl grey tea and carried them carefully to the table. Chun was now rocking herself back and forth on the floor. I place one cup on the table and began to sip tea from the other. After some more rocking, she finally spoke up.

"Don't you feel anything?"

"Do I have a need to?"

She laughed bitterly. "I should have known."

"What?" One of my eyebrows went up. She didn't respond to my words. Instead, she gazed into space as if reminiscing some long forgotten memory. I went back to the process of adding sugar to my tea.

One teaspoon... two teaspoons... half a teaspoon... Perfect. I began to stir it.

"If you had siblings you might be different."

"Pardon?" The stirring paused momentarily.

"I... I grew up in the care of another person, a foreigner. She loved me like a little sister. One day, she just left. The last words she said to me..." She took a deep breath. "She told me to find more like me and be a big sister for them aru. I never really had hope until now."

"You're hiding something." The stirring resumed.

"Aru?"

I sighed. "I've been putting up with you under the same roof for over a century. There hardly are any secrets are there?" A weary smile appeared on her face.

"Says the girl who nobody knows about aru. Never mind. I'll tell you anyway."

"Get to the point. I don't have a whole four and twenty hours to listen to your story." Chun shook her head.

"Aiyaa... I don't understand youngsters anymore aru..." I gave her a frosty nosed look.

"A-as I was saying, the girl who took care of me always wore a long pink winter coat." It took a few seconds of turning her statement over in my mind to get what she meant.

Long pink coat... Winter... Snow... Wait a moment!

"You think you saw her in the portal." It was a statement, not a question.

"Not 'think'. I know I saw her in there." She frowned. "Oh and your tea-"

I took a sip from my cup and made a face.

"-is cold." Chun finished off.

Told you it was short ;-;

Urgh... I don't know why I ended it there...