3 years later

She scrolled through the day's messages as she walked briskly down the glass hallway of the office building. It was an ordinary day for Ashikaga Shinako as she walked down the isle of desk computers to her office which was a fairly large room occupied by books.

Paperbacks piled in the dozens on her work desk and in the pigeon holes of her office walls. There was simply never enough space for books. Not even her new house could put up with the excessive amount of novels she kept stashed into every nook and cranny she could possibly find.

'Ashikaga-san,' the door creaked open, and Shinako raised her head.

'Yes?'

'Have you signed the contract? Your signature's the seal to the deal.'

'Oh...,' she took one glance at the scattered papers on her desk and her eyes moved to the stack of books left, right, and center. 'I'll look for it and get back to you.'

The guy smiled genuinely. 'Ah, it's no problem, vice. I'll come back later.'

This was the usual case for the past week ever since she'd received the damned paper. She knew it wouldn't last long within the confines of her office, and how correct she was indeed! The A4 page had been devoured by her ceiling-high mountain of books. She sighed as she observed the lot of piled novels and moved to the shogi board at the center of her work desk.

Playing the game would usually ease her mind, and when she was calm, often things she had forgotten easily would come back to her. The game honestly had this strange effect on her memory, and she wasn't sure why. The president had signed the document to take over the neighboring office building, and the time something this important actually came up, she could not for the life of her recall where she mislaid the darn page.

Later into the day she had retreated to the conference room where the monthly company meeting would take place. As usual she had made it a point to take down the details of the meetings in lengthy notes, and contributed to the gathering at some points to correct her juniors as they presented their future plans for the company.

It may have not looked like it, but Ashikaga Shinako was in fact the vice president of a relatively large accounting firm. Ever since that day in the snow when he left, she was suddenly directionless. There were so many awaiting opportunities. There were just so many doors presented to her that with his absence, she only then realized she had to move on. She couldn't believe she was actually that foolish to take his words so literally.

Wait for him? Ridiculous, absurd, despicable, ugly yokai.

For the first week without any contact from the man whatsoever, she couldn't help but feel completely disheartened. She knew she shouldn't have fallen so hard for him... But it happened. And she had no control over her feelings whatsoever. Waiting for him though had been a ludicrous thought. Instead of lazing around with an amazing grade aggregate in her hands, she had closed the book on that chapter of her life and gotten into an excellent college.

From there she had in turn worked part-time jobs and eventually wound up in a bigger business where her natural talent for numbers and notes were greatly recognized. In turn, her hard work and perseverance had earned her the title of second-in-charge to the large, bustling accounting firm.

She was honestly happy. She was glad she had a secure job she at most times enjoyed, and yet somehow she felt her life was... Lacking. It was far too predictable. Her days were too mediocre. Her words were too controlled. Her voice was far too tempered. She was too polite; too honest; too well-behaved... And it bothered her when in fact if she'd never met the red-haired boy in her life before, she would be content with her success.

And yet she was not.

'Wait for me.'

The words often played in her head like a broken record. However each word of his was so clearly articulated, she sometimes felt as if she were constantly in that never-ending situation. The falling snow. His ruby hair in the dim light. His cold touch against her burning skin... I still can't forget these kinds of things... What am I, a kid?

Being with him had almost seemed like a dream. Even now she wondered how on earth he was even possible. That boy with red hair and heterochromatic eyes. That boy who was dangerous with a pair of scissors, unpredictable at all times, and intimidating when you stared him straight in the eyes... That boy who captured her heart; that boy who was such a beautiful disaster.

'Shin-chan, it's so cold...!' Natsume shuddered dramatically as she walked beside her red-haired friend up the countless steps to the shrine at the top.

Shinako clutched the front of her scarf and harrumphed in response. 'Natsume, your complaining over the years hasn't eased up one bit.'

Natsume pouted. 'Hah! Don't talk about me like that, when you're still tsundere-chan yourself!'

They reached the top of the stone staircase. Natsume was dressed in a large salmon pink coat (which Shinako said was an embarrassing thing to wear in public), and Shinako chose a much simpler route, wearing a gray cardigan, a woollen scarf, and a pair of boots with black jeans.

They clapped their hands together in unison and closed their eyes. An amazing stillness enveloped Shinako as she concentrated hard on her thoughts, spilling out all the contents of her heart she managed to file away for the past year. She hoped for a better new year and prayed for good health, and hoping she perhaps wasn't asking for too much, added in the little bit about the red-haired boy... That boy... What was his name again? It definitely started with an S. She frowned, concentrating incredibly hard on remembering the boy's name, but another minute passed silently, and still, she couldn't recall what she'd called him back then.

'Sei...' she mumbled thoughtlessly, and turned around.

Natsume was nowhere to be found. She found this odd at first and glanced at her watch. It was still rather early in the evening, and she didn't exactly have any plans for the night. As usual all she'd return to her apartment to would be a TV and energy drinks. Ah, not to mention the dreaded task of looking for that single A4 document! She now dreaded returning home.

She took a step forward toward the top of the long staircase and stopped just as quickly when she noticed a familiar colour from the side of her eye. She glanced in the direction of it but saw nothing. She squinted, hoping she could see further into the distance by narrowing her eyes, but jumped at the sound of someone calling her name.

'Shin-chan, I'm hungry~!' Natsume cried from the bottom of the staircase, and she stared blankly at the girl as she protested.

'I'm coming...' she mumbled, fluttering down the steep number of steps as they left off.

It was an hour later when Shinako returned home after a night out with Natsume. She was still the same from high school. Not a bit of the girl changed except for perhaps her hair style, which she practically adjusted as often as her wardrobe. She was incredibly fashion-conscious, and if Shinako recalled correctly, was in the said industry... Make-up artistry, was it? However it was incredibly easy to mistake the girl for instead being a talk show host that featured single men and women, and ridiculously bringing them together on blind dates considering the many awful things she'd put Shinako through during this time. She would often complain during the past 3 years about how 'sad' and 'lonely' her best friend looked, and immediately placed her friend's sorrows into the it's-because-you're-single box... Did she honestly look that hopeless on the outside just because her life lacked in the more romantic factions?

She kicked off her boots, closed the door behind her as it latched shut, and moved to twist open the bottle of fish flakes. She spread a good layer of it over the surface of the water and watched as the goldfish (whom she named Ichi, derived from Eikichi and whatever she remembered of the boy's ridiculous appetite) took in huge amounts of the stuff and then continued to be merry.

She moved to the open-plan dining room and removed her scarf. It was surprisingly warm in the apartment as she moved to dress out of her cardigan and then her shirt. She stopped mid-strip however when she noticed something on the short dining table.

She walked towards it, certain she hadn't left anything there earlier in the day, and on further inspection, found herself staring at the document with her signature on it. She stared at it for a moment longer blankly. Her fingers were still under her shirt on either side just above her waist, and she couldn't bring herself to move them over her head because of how puzzling this really was.

She scrolled through the document with her eyes and mentally pointed out the company president's signature. Beside it was hers, and beside hers was... A signature with an incredible amount of convoluted lines and strokes. It looked almost like a carefully planned artwork above the printed space provided.

She ignored the foreign handwriting and turned her attention to the object beside it. It was a long piece of wood. She couldn't understand what all this had possibly meant or where it came from, and she lifted the wooden plate. Her eyes went over the neatly scripted words at the front in black ink:

In the silence of the snow,

Frost on the chrysanthemums

Melts and melts,

And accumulates again

As the peahen waits

With melting eyes.

It was almost like an epiphany. She stepped back from the desk, still frowning deeply as she stared at the words on the wooden placard and a pleasant sound followed thereafter. She looked down immediately at the soft sound and knelt as she reached into the darkness beneath the table. She felt for the object and stood up, held it beneath the dim light, and her heart squeezed.

It was a silver ring that at the top sat a medium-sized diamond. She stared at it between her fingers and panicked. She had no idea what was possibly going on, and instead wracked her brain for perhaps some memories she was missing.

And then it hit her despite the chaos her mind was in. The bookmark. The two haikus. The boy...

'Seijuro...' the name escaped her lips thoughtlessly, and followed by the momentary silence, she felt a pair of strong arms around her waist.

There was no mistaking the smell of his perfume. The bright colour of his hair that she managed to see with her peripheral vision. The assuring, unwavering touches he offered her, and his even breaths...

'Good girl,' he whispered, and she shuddered as his lips touched the side of her neck.

She hadn't imagined she would react to his touch. She waited for the day she would see him again so that she could once more strike him in the face or toss her shoe at his head; to tell him how insensitive he was, how he completely disregarded her overflowing feelings, but suddenly here he was. And in his presence, she couldn't help but disregard the rage for him that over those 3 years piled up.

She wanted to be angry. She wanted to be upset with him, and yet the only thing she could feel was an incredible frustration due to how easily the boy - or man in this case - manipulated her feelings for him.

He turned her around in his arms and took the ring from her hand. She watched him as he fit it on her ring finger; how strong and healthy he looked despite how little his height really adjusted.

'How did you know where I live?' she asked; her voice a whisper in the quiet room.

Akashi smiled. The expression even after all this time still made her heart flutter uncomfortably in her chest, and the fact that she suddenly felt giddy by just being in his presence even 3 years after his sudden disappearance pained her.

Please. I don't want to feel like this.

'I know everything.'

'No, I don't think you do, Seijuro…,' she frowned. 'If you did, you would have never left me on such ridiculous terms in the first place.

'If you did, you would know that I'm currently very upset and… and I simply want you to get out.'

Don't make me feel these things again.

He didn't respond. In fact, he didn't have to. His multi-coloured eyes spoke a thousand words instead. They flared silently in a way she was certain she was never before witness to, and it struck a strange combination of familiarity and fear within her.

'I'm only going to say this to you once, Ashikaga Shinako...,' he said; his voice crisp. 'I have no need for love. I have no need for such petty emotions. I've simply come to collect what's rightfully mine...' a thin smile formed easily on his lips.

'I've come to collect you, because you are mine.'

Shinako's frown deepened. She wantedto be furious at him. She wanted to lash out somehow, however just the simple realization that the man did in fact actually keep his word and that she actually waited for him all this time settled a warm feeling in her. Her knees felt weak. Her eyebrows furrowed, and as much as she fought back the piling feelings from overflowing, her eyes softened with brimming tears.

'You really are an ugly yokai...' she hissed, however he didn't allow her the chance to muster anymore of that bubbling anger.

He grabbed her by the chin and she winced. Their faces were only inches apart, and she could feel his breath on her lips as he breathed steadily. 'That tongue of yours...,' he mumbled, parting her lips with his own, 'I'm going to bite it out, Shinako.'

As I love you with such depth

I don't know how to tell you how I feel now

Just like powdery snow gently, gently comes on

My love for you piles up a lot and it melts on my palms.

A/N: Hello, minna-san! ^.^ Gosh, it's been a while, hasn't it? I'm glad I've gotten the chance to update again, and my apologies for how long it took me really to get this up. A lot of thought has went into this chapter, yet I'm quite glad with the outcome. :) This, however, is not yet the end... I'm still going to post an epilogue, so I hope you guys can wait patiently for that~! :3

Also, the last few sentences there in Italics are in fact lyrics to a song I found incredibly fitting of this story as a whole. It's titled 'Powdery Snow', and it's a Vocaloid duet with Gakupo and Luka. So check it out, guys!