A/N – Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, I wasn't expecting to get any from just the prologue! Still, your comments really encourage me so I'll do my very best to give you a decent story in return.
Before Chapter 1 begins, I need to say up a couple things which I really should have said before. Firstly, this story takes place during the Blank and hence contains spoilers for the Nadesico series (though not the movie of course). Secondly, for those who don't know her, Mikoto was a character in my other Nadesico fanfic (she's not just some random person who I've bunged in!). Picture her as a preteen version of Megumi with a drama-queen personality and you won't be far off.
Here comes chapter 1. I sincerely apologise for its title but I couldn't resist.
Chapter 1 – Snow Problem!
Late morning, 24th December 2198
It's a common misconception among parents that it is possible to bung a group of children together and they will all play nicely with one another, regardless of their compatibility or personalities. That was the case in the Tenkawa household now, where the four children staying had been neatly divided into the 'loud pair' and the 'quiet pair'. Strangely enough though, the quiet pair had been the adventurous ones today, braving the Antarctic weather conditions to build a snowman, while Yukina and Mikoto stayed in and played Destiny Warriors on Ruri's computer.
Both children had worked well together and their basic construction of their snowman was sturdy and solidly packed together – it would take more than the winter wind to demolish this guy. They had made some spindly arms from sticks and used stones for eyes, mouth and buttons, plus a traditional carrot for the nose. Hari had even donated his scarf to the cause. A frozen neck was a small price to pay for the 'finished' look it gave to their creation. That was the final touch and now they stood back together to admire their efforts of the last hour. They spent a small silence of still satisfaction which was broken by Hari when he spoke.
"Wow," exclaimed the dark-haired boy. "I think we've done a great job here! Looks pretty good, don't you think Ruri?"
"I guess so," she replied half-heartedly.
Hari noticed her lack of enthusiasm. "What's wrong?" he asked her.
Ruri looked at the snowman again, pursing her lips. "I can't help feeling it was a waste of effort. We built him well, but it doesn't matter in the end. He'll have melted when spring comes and nothing will be left of our achievement. So why did we bother?"
Oh, Ruri's gloomy lapses. The one flaw she had, in Hari's eyes. "You can't think of it like that!" he protested. "Sure, he'll be gone in a few weeks, but we had fun building him, didn't we? And we can still appreciate him while he's here, right?"
"Yes. You're right," she turned to him with a faint smile. "I'm sorry, Hari. I shouldn't be so despondent."
"Anyway, we can have something to remember it by!" he added, whipping out his minute digital camera from his inside pocket. "How about you stand next to him so I can get a picture?"
Ruri immediately blushed and lowered her head. "Let me take the picture," she murmured bashfully. "I'm not very photogenic."
"What are you talking about?! You look great!" Hari blurted before he could stop himself. Ruri's blush deepened further and she turned away from him to hide it.
The young boy sighed. "Let me take the picture and if you don't like it, we'll delete it. How does that sound?"
Seeing that Hari wasn't about to be dissuaded, Ruri gave in. "All right," she said, biting her lip pensively. She moved over to their happy snowman and gave the camera a weak smile. The light blush still remained on her cheeks.
Whirr.
"There, I got it. That wasn't so bad, was it?"
"Let me see it," she demanded, holding out a hand.
He handed it to her. "See? You look wonderful Ruri. It would look great on your desktop!"
"It's….acceptable," Ruri conceded with a nod. "But let me take one of you now."
They swapped roles and took another fantastic photo. Then they spent another moment regarding their handiwork before Hari spoke again. "So now what shall we do?"
Ruri shivered involuntarily. "It's getting cold and my gloves and boots are quite wet. Can we go back indoors?"
"Sure. I guess lunch will be ready by now anyway,"
"You're right. Come on, let's go." Together they started to head for home.
As they walked side by side back towards the house, Hari found his eyes travelling over to his pale companion of their own accord. With a little grin, he studied her. She looked very fetching indeed in her lavender coat with matching mittens. Though it was bitterly cold, her colour and poise were constant, leaving her beauty untouched by the ravages of the final season. She was white on white, her free hair even shinier than the snow all around them, and full of life in the chilly winter breeze that nipped their faces.
"She's so beautiful. Winter's really her season."
Noticing his gaze, she gave him a smile, making him feel even happier. She didn't smile a lot, so every one he received seemed ever so special. No-one could deny that she was the cutest little girl when she was happy, and Hari certainly wasn't about to. For at twelve he was of an age where girls had become more than carriers of cooties. Ruri was the prettiest girl he knew, but it wasn't just her looks that attracted him. It was more the way their personalities connected like two pieces of a jigsaw. She saw and liked those attributes in him that were good, and accepted those which weren't. And he did the same to her. They were a perfect pair who brought out the best in each other.
"It would be so great to have a girlfriend like her."
He quickly shook those perverse thoughts from his head. Though he'd long since admitted that he had strong feelings for Ruri, he knew that he would never dare act on them. Ruri was the best friend he had, his soul-mate in truth. But he didn't want to jeopardise the wonderful friendship they already had. It was enough for Hari, even if he was frustrated, he was happy as it was. Of course that didn't mean he couldn't be happier…
The mention of his name woke him from his thoughts.
"Hari?" she said. God he loved the way she spoke his name.
"Yeah Ruri?"
She tilted her head and looked at him pensively. "I have a question. It may seem a bit odd."
"Sure, okay. Fire away."
"What does Christmas mean for you?"
Hari was baffled by the strange question and answered too hastily. "What Christmas means to me? Erm…I don't know. I guess its all about Santa, presents and stuff. And celebrating the Christmas story, you know the birth of Jesus and all that. Then there's gifts under the tree, Carol singing, mince pies…..yeah." He racked his brain for more to add. His response seemed a little, well, shallow. But what answer had she been expecting?
Whatever it was, it wasn't what he'd given her. She just gave a little unconvinced nod and looked away again. Hari tried to meet her eyes to return the question, but was interrupted by a different voice before he could.
"Heads up!"
Hari turned just in time to see a snowball headed their way. Instinctively he swayed to one side, dodging the missile, which proceeded to smash head-on into Ruri's face. It was a direct hit and she toppled like a pin to land on her back in the snow.
"Ruri!" Hari darted to her side. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Ruri spluttered, instantly sitting bolt upright and wiping her face with her hands. Hari resisted the urge to laugh at her, so comically shaken from composure in a second. As he couched down to help her, he heard running feet crunching through the snow towards them. He looked up to see Akito Tenkawa, Ruri's adopted father, approaching them with concern in his face.
"Sorry Ruri! I didn't hurt you did I?"
Ruri cleared the last of the snow from her eyes and glared angrily at her father. "Idiot!"
"That was very unfair, Mr Tenkawa," Hari said, taking her hand and helping her up. "Catching her unawares like that."
Akito laughed cheerfully. "Hey, you can't complain Hari. I was actually aiming for you, you know!"
"Oh great, that's okay then," Hari murmured sarcastically. "But hitting a lady like that is just plain dirty."
"Yeah, okay, I'm sorry. But seriously are you okay Ruri? Didn't mean to get you in the face like that."
She shook her head dismissively. "I'm fine. It just startled me, is all."
"Good. Anything I can do to say sorry?"
"Heh, I can think of something," murmured Hari, already crouching down. In a lightning movement, he scooped up a handful of snow and hurled it at Akito.
"You can eat snow!"
From point-blank range he couldn't miss and Akito recoiled in surprise as it stuck him. This gave Hari a chance to follow-up the attack and he'd chucked three decent snowballs before Akito had even begun to retaliate. Akito pelted him with efficient well-packed projectiles, but fortunately for Hari, reinforcements came in. To his delight, Ruri joined in the fight, exacting revenge on her father by taking Hari's side. It was a messy battle in such close quarters, but very one-sided being two on one. Akito was barely holding his own and was then left defenceless when he tripped backwards over a root to fall down on his back. The motion caused the branches above him to shudder and shower him with fine snow. Seeing he was vulnerable, the children eagerly raced in for the kill.
"I surrender! Have mercy!" he gasped, now a totally white figure with his arms raised in surrender. The pair exchanged a glance, then settled for throwing the final snowballs still in their hands before helping him up. He spluttered and laughed as they helped brush the worst of the snow off him.
"Sheesh, you two didn't hold anything back!"
"Served you right," Ruri murmured. "An unprovoked attack from out of the blue like that is entirely deplorable in my opinion. More like something Mr Akatsuki would do."
"Oh dry up!" Akito chuckled again and put a loving arm around his smiling daughter. "Come on, let's go back in and warm up. I'll get a fire going, how does that sound?"
"Pretty good, Mr Tenkawa!" Hari said, falling in beside them. Three smiling faces headed back towards the house, hearts happy with the prospects of the coming few days.
Hari resisted the urge to wring his hands in excitement as they went.
"It's going to be a wonderful Christmas! I just can't wait!"
* * *
While all was jolly in the Tenkawa household, things were very much different in a little apartment in central Hiratsuka, just a short distance away. While 'ri duo had been playing in the snow, Erina had been sitting in a chair and crying her black heart out.
This was it. It was over, finished. She just couldn't face another Christmas alone.
This most emotional time of year had always been difficult for her. For the past few Christmas's she had distracted herself with work which had made them so much easier to bear. She vividly recalled last year, when she'd been so snowed under with her bosun-jump research that she hadn't had the chance to think about the festive season. But this year was different – Akatsuki had told her to take some time off. 'You've been working far too hard Erina dear! Take this Christmas off! Go home and let your hair down, see your family and have some fun for a change!'
Yeah. As if she could do that. Her family had long since disowned her. Ever since she'd reached this position in Nergal she'd given them the cold shoulder. By then they were more of a hindrance than a help to her career, and she'd decided that she didn't need them anymore. It had been over three years since she'd last spoken to them, and that had been a heated argument which had resulted in her storming out of the house flinging horrible expletives behind her as she went.
Now more than ever she felt the loneliness she had inflicted on herself. In her everyday life, the pursuit of her selfish ambitions kept her content, though not truly happy. But now, with all the diversions put to one side she could see her life for what it really was. Sure she was pulling in a nine figure salary, and sure, she was as high in Nergal as she could get without Akatsuki making way for her. But what did it all matter when no-one else cared, for either her or her life? Every night she came home to a lonely apartment. She never received calls or e-mails from anyone without a Nergal-related purpose and never received any mail that wasn't bills or bank statements. Outside of work, she didn't exist. She was a machine, switched off and dormant when not in use.
All she wanted now was a dear one to take hold of her and tell her that she was loved. But that was the one thing her money couldn't buy.
It was too much to bear to see everyone else revel in the very joy she so longed far. With the arrival of Christmas, the numbing depression that had haunted her autumn had come to a head, growing to the point where she just couldn't cope with it anymore. The agony of loneliness was too great now. She was prepared to forsake all feeling, if that was the price to pay for ending this pain.
She was not a woman given to impulsive decisions and had decided that one final day on Earth was needed for reflection, and to give her life one last chance to make amends. For the whole day she would sit here at her desk, watching her clock count down the final hours of her life. Her sharpened knife rested menacingly on her desk, like a snake eying its prey before pouncing. Twelve midnight was zero hour. On the very stroke of Christmas, she would run the blade through the veins on her wrist, ending it all in one final tragic performance. Let the soulless Erina Won go out with the emotion she'd lacked in the world's eyes.
The clock struck twelve. Her final midday had arrived. Erina ran the blade along her arm, not quite breaking skin, then set it down on the table in front of her. That had been a test run. Twelve hours to go before her knife tasted flesh proper…