"I'm sorry, Hana?" asked Tohru, while getting ready for bed, under her covers. Hana was already tucked in her sleeping bag and her cozy blanket. "Memories; the reason I wanted to visit that lake house, one last time. I haven't been there for so long or so many times but the memories there are always cherished. When you spend such precious time with the people you care about, you never want to forget those moments."

"I understand what you mean. It's like when I use to spend time with my mom. I cared about her so much and I never want to forget any of those moments we shared. They just mean that much to me." said Tohru, with a smile.

"I'm sorry to hear about your mother. Brother Yuki told me about it. I can't imagine how that would feel for a person. I'm deeply sorry."

"It's ok. Even though I was really sad about it the first time, I knew my mom wouldn't want me to be miserable all the time. So I have to stay happy, so that she'd be happy for me!"

"That's sweet. I bet your mom was the best. Brother Yuki told me your friends would call her a legend of some sort."

"Uuh . . . yeah . . . Uo and Saki miss her a lot too. She was like our best friend, altogether. By the way, why do you keep calling Yuki 'Brother Yuki'?"

"Just a nickname I thought of. It makes him sound cute too! Which reminds me, do you wanna see some photos of us at the lake house? I looked for them before I moved here."

"Ok, I guess it's not too late to." so Tohru climbed down from her bed to the floor and Hana searched her backpack for a nice little photo album. "Did I also forget to mention these were the times when I first met Yuki, Kyo and Kagura?"

"Really? So Kyo was really there?" asked Tohru, some what surprised.

"Yeah, but he was going through a rough time though. It was some time after his mother passed away. At that time he knew Kagura and Yuki already so the story begins as I arrived." Tohru was excited to hear Hana's tale.

"It was a lovely winter just like this but the snow was thin enough for us all to walk through. In the guest room, I felt lonely. I didn't have anyone to play with then because my mom wouldn't let me play with normal children, fearing my transformation. I was always kept indoors, never to go beyond the household gates. Then one day, Yuki came into my room and gave me the sweetest smile ever. He asked me if I wanted to come outside with him so I didn't hesitate."

"So the first person you were real close friends with was Yuki?"

"Yeah, we became close after that. He was still a quiet boy who didn't really join in many games but he just asked me to walk with him. He told me he liked walking around with a friend and that's why, since I'm here, Yuki likes to walk with me no matter where and sometimes for no reason. We just like walking together and there, we'd walk all around the lake house from the patio compound to the lake and back."

"That's wonderful! Can I ask, what would you two talk about when you were out on your walks?"

"We'd talk about anything! Yuki use to tell me that he was also very lonely before that. Meeting new people was always a bit strange to him but he wanted to. He wanted to make friends, but it was hard for him to. So I told him 'I'll be your friend for you!' and I made him smile again."

While Hanai was flipping through the few pages of the old photo album, Tohru thought to herself that she was glad to learn more things about Yuki, such as how lonely he felt when he was younger, how he behaved with others and how close he was to Hana. Tohru didn't know that they were this close.

"Here we go! This is one of my favorite pictures in this album. Take a look!" as she showed a picture of Kagura, Yuki and herself enjoying a their snacks and drinks together. "How adorable! You all look so cute! I can't believe that Yuki still looks pretty much the same ever since." said Tohru with a kind chuckle.

"Tell me about it. Also, there's someone else there too! Can you see him? The hint is that he's somewhere next to Kagura and the cushion."

"Huh? Really?" said Tohru and looked at the picture again, carefully. She saw sweet little Kagura with her mug and the cushion that was beside her and somewhere behind the cushion, Tohru then saw a face, almost hidden. "Is that . . . Kyo??"

"Yup! That was when I first met Kyo and Kagura. We all sat together to have some drinks and one of the adults came with a camera and took this shot. Back then, Kyo was often unfriendly yet Kagura never left his side. She was madly in love with him even since then."

Tohru and Hana were enjoying themselves, seeing photos of their past at the lake house. Hana could almost remember every story behind each photo which led to more cheerful moments. But they didn't notice someone was watching them having their fun.

Kyo remained still at Tohru's door, hearing every word and story Kasumi told. Kyo was amazed that Hana would keep such photos still, but then he thought to himself that of course, he wouldn't understand Hana's ways as well as Yuki would.

"Here we are with our first giant snowman. Kagura, on the other hand, made her own snowman for Kyo. That's why it looks like a cat. But then this photo holds an uneasy story for me. Kyo started being mean at Yuki." said Hana.

"Why? What happened?"

"Well, Kagura was bothering Kyo with her cute 'snow-cat' and Kyo didn't look rather happy about it so I played a little game on him. I made an easy snowball and tossed it to him. He was surprised about it at first but then Kagura joined in and we continued playing, but Yuki wouldn't play . . ." and on went the story.

Outside Tohru's door, Kyo remembered that certain game of snowballs that day. He had a flashback of his own.

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R&R!!