The woods were hushed and still, locked within a frozen and dark winter's night. The black silhouettes of the trees were stark against the moonlit snow and their branches were glistening with icicles, prisoners within their own prisms of glass. From the bare canopy above they kept vigil over the motionless, quiet earth below. Even the angel seemed part of the landscape, for his wings were so long and white, it was difficult to tell where they ended and the snow began.

His eyes were no longer burning with gold, but rather were heavy and cold, as if winter's touch had not exempt even heaven's most celestial being. He walked silently and slowly, each graceful step hardly leaving a print in the snow, never looking up to see where his path was leading him. Even covered in snow, he had walked this trail too many times to forget where it lay. And each time he hated it more than the last.

He pressed on beneath the watchful vigilance of the frozen forest until the trees began to give way to more open space. A white meadow glistened in the moonlight, dotted with what looked like oddly shaped rocks that were two or three feet tall. Krad stopped at the edge of the clearing and finally looked up. For the briefest of moments, he felt his heart fight against the inside of his chest and his fingers twitched in an effort to stem tears that had not seen the light of day for centuries. Taking a few steps forward, he neared one of the rocks, eyeing it almost cautiously from behind his golden bangs. Etched into the stone was a simply entry:

Shiro Tanaka

1686-1690

Krad took a step back and lifted his gaze to the rest of the tombstones in the clearing. There were hundreds of them.

"I hate this." The choked words came through clenched teeth. "I hate this. I hate you. Dark." His hands balled into fists. "My other half. If only they knew…yet it would seem that the two of you give me no other choice."

The angel grabbed his long ponytail and pulled it around, reaching for the metallic cross that hung at its end. Swiftly removing it from his hair, he smiled bitterly at the artifact and almost laughed to himself. "Perhaps if I take as much joy in this as you once did…perhaps then, I will truly be your other half."

A/N: Talk about dusting off the writing pen. Just a quick snippet to let you know I am reviving this story. omgyay.
I also deeply apologize about the unforgivable hiatus I took from this...I HATE when authors do that. HATE. So no hard feelings if you hate, too. ^_-