Jade V
The travel companions stand outside the two rooms the doctor led them to. The men would share one and the princess and Anna in the other. Mokona said it would sleep with the princess, who now holds the white creature.
Fai and Syaoran share words. Anna looks out the window, her mind blank. She's trying to ignore any and all uneasy feelings she's having. She watches the town's people, including the doctor, walking about the town in search of the children. Dr. Kyle told them to stay in the house, not to leave under any circumstance.
"These poor people," whispers Anna. Kurogane leans in close, looking out the window. From the corner of her eye, she looks up at him. The clothes of this world are very different from what he normally wore from his world. Even so, these clothes, similar to that of her world, suit him very well. The others look nice in the clothes as well, but Kurogane looks unexpectedly handsome in them. The thought causes Anna to jump a little and inch away from him, embarrassed.
"Hey," he says to her, still looking out the window. "Are you all right with what the doc said?"
This takes Anna by surprise. She nods. "Yes."
He looks at her now. "I meant about the sister." The look in his eyes makes her look away. It's like he's looking through her. No. That's not it. It's like he's looking at her, really looking at her, seeing everything that she's trying so hard to hide,
Anna's mouth hangs open for a moment; she wants to say, "That's Hitsuzen for you. It doesn't seem to change regardless of which world you're in," but she doesn't. She smiles up at him, her eyes closed. She tells him that she's fine, there's nothing to worry about. A tear forms at the corner of her eye. Kurogane's face shows surprise. Anna doesn't say anything. She looks away from him and wipes it away.
The princess makes a comment about wishing she could help the townspeople. The boy tries to reassure her that they will do what they can, but the princess begins to fall over. He catches her. The princess is fast asleep.
Fai giggles and opens the door to one of the bedrooms. "I imagine her highness could use some rest," he says. Syaoran carries the princess into the room.
Anna lets out a yawn and mumbles under her breath. "We should follow her example," she teases, heading to the bedroom.
The boy leaves the room and stops by Anna. "Thank you, Anna-san," he says with a smile. "For staying with Princess Sakura tonight, I mean."
Anna smiles back. "It's not a problem." A pause. "I'm here to help you, Syaoran." She slaps her hands on either side of the boy's face. He yelps, surprised. Anna pinches his cheeks and pulls them. Before he can protest, she lets go and he grabs his face, completely confused. Anna smiles at him. "Please don't forget that."
"Y-Yes!" he says, bowing his head. Fai chuckles. Kurogane smirks, shaking his head.
Anna frowns and sighs. "You're much too polite," she tells him, shaking her hand through his hair. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Wifey-chan!" coos Fai. Anna ignores him. Kurogane grumbles.
"Goodnight, Anna-san!" says Syaoran.
Anna then heads into the room, closing the door behind her. The princess and Mokona are on the bed to the right of the room. She heads to the bed on the left. She pulls her hair out of the ponytail and lets it falls over her shoulders. It's a little longer than it was when this journey all started. She undoes the tie around her neck.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, she falls back, an arm draped over her forehead. It doesn't take long for the darkness of sleep to creep up on her.
"Odette!" calls Odile. "Come look at this!" The young girl leans against a window, peering out of it. The older girl runs over.
"What is it, Lile?" She pushes herself right up to Odile to see out the window. The girl lets out a gasp in amazement and a smile forms on her face. "It's snowing!" The two girls look at each other and begin to laugh.
"What's so funny, you two?" asks a man from behind.
"Look, Father!" says Odette.
"It's snowing!" completes Odile.
The man smiles handsomely and kneels down by his daughters. He wraps his arms around them and looks out the window. Even kneeling, he is still so much taller than they are. His hair is red, like theirs. Mother's hair is black and very curly. Father's is wavy, not curly. They got the red color and the waviness from Father. Odile's hair is a little curlier than Odette's but neither has hair as curly as their mother. Their mother probably styles her hair to be so curly, but it's probably kind of curly naturally.
They look up at him and point out of the window. He sighs and says, "If only it would stay till morning! Then we could play in it!"
"What?" cries Odile. "Why can't we play in it now? Before it goes away?"
The man shakes his head. "You know your mother would never allow it. It's cold and dark outside!"
Odette pouts her lip and puts her hands on her hips. "That's not fair!"
The man ruffles his hand through her hair. The girl protests but giggles. "Life isn't fair, Odette," he says, gravely.
Odile pinches his father's cheek. He yelps and looks at her with a smile and a chuckle. Odile winks. "Mommy doesn't need to find out!" she whispers, putting a finger to her lips.
"Ooh. Aren't you the naughty one!"
The three of them duck behind corners, hide behind curtains, and tip toe to the kitchen and out into the courtyard. The air is cold and sends shivers up their spines. They can see their breath as they run around through the falling snow. The girls circle each other and laugh and smile. They kick up the light piles of snow, sending packs of snowflakes in to the air like white dust. They run around their father who laughs with them. He spins around and Odette jumps onto him, causing him to fall over. Odile jumps onto them. The man wraps his arms around them and they roll around. They seem to have forgotten that they were doing this in secret.
The snow tickles their noses. They lay on their backs, breathless.
"Hope the three of you are having fun," calls a woman.
"Uh-oh!" says Father turning over to stand. The girls look up to a balcony to see their mother, tall and beautiful with her big, black, curly hair. "We've been discovered!"
Mother smiles down at them, leaning on the railing. "Come in before you catch a fever!" she orders, a laugh in her voice. The man grabs the girls around the waist and throws them over his shoulders. The girls laugh and protest.
"Anna-san, Anna-san!" calls the princess. Anna slowly opens her eyes, finding the princess leaning over her and Mokona on her chest. She sits up, tears running down her cheeks. This surprises Anna. She wipes them away, avoiding the princess's gaze.
She smiles at her. "I'm all right," she says.
"Anna-san…"
"But you're crying!" says Mokona, worried.
Anna looks down at it and rests her hand on its head. "I'm okay. It was a happy dream."
"So they're tears of happiness?" asks the princess.
It takes her a moment but Anna says, "Yes. It's something like that."
The princess smiles weakly. "That's good. I thought it was another bad dream."
Anna looks to her lap then towards the window, it's still dark out. She looks to the princess. "Why are you awake? Oh, no! Did I wake you?"
Sakura shakes her head. "No. I woke up on my own. But…" Her gaze drifts and is full of confusion.
"Did something happen?"
She looks towards the window. "I saw a woman in a flowing white dress and golden hair. She was walking through the town with black birds following her."
This takes Anna off guard. "The Golden Haired Princess?"
She nods, looking to her lap. Anna brushes her hand against the girl's cheek. The girl flinches from her touch. Anna pulls away, sadness lacing her gaze. She tells Sakura not to worry about it right now, that was probably a dream of some kind. They'll tell the others in the morning. The princess agrees and walks back to her bed. Mokona sits in Anna's lap.
The princess crawls under the blanket, facing away from her. She saw the princess, huh? she thinks. She tries to wrap her mind around it but can't.
Anna remains sitting on the bed, unable to bring herself to lie down again. She looks down at Mokona who looks up at her. She smiles at it. "You should go back to sleep, too," she says.
"You're sad," it says.
This takes Anna aback. She doesn't say anything.
"You smile and say things are all right but really, you're sad, Anna-chan. You're really sad."
Anna smiles weakly and nods her head. She decides not to hide from the creature. The thing can see through her anyway. "I am sad, yes," she tells it. "I'm sorry if I worried you." The creature's ears flop and it looks down, sad. She pokes it in the belly, causing it to look up at her. "Please don't worry about me, Mokona. I pretend I'm fine so I don't worry others." She sighs, irritated. "It worked before… You're very sharp, Mokona." She puts her finger to her lips. "Can we keep this conversation between us, please?"
It smiles up at her. "Just between you and Mokona!" it coos. Anna pats it on its head. Sooner or later, she'll have to come to terms with everything. She knows this. She knows she can't ignore everything for too much longer. Even so, she pushes the thoughts to the back of her mind and locks them away.