"Obaasan, do I have to go?" the young woman sulked, shuffling behind
her grandmother.

"Hikari, I haven't seen your great uncle Ran since I put him in the
nursing home", Aya said, trying to be patient with the 20-year-
old. "I'm sure he must get lonely. He will be glad to see us."

"How could he be lonely? He has that weird boyfriend living there
with him". Hikari argued. "And anyway, I don't want to see him. He's
so funny looking. All toothless! And he drools on everything. It's
nasty!"

"That's quite enough out of you, young lady", Aya scolded, dragging the young women behind her into the building.

*

"Nii-chan! Ken!" Aya called pleasantly into the room.

An old man with an athletic build and graying hair approached Aya and
Hikari, greeting each of them with a hug. "Aya-chan! We're happy you
could visit us!" he exclaimed, leading each of them to chairs at
either corner of the room. "Have a seat."

"Arigato." Aya relaxed into the chair, nodding warmly at her
brother's lover of the past 62 years. A moment later, a nurse wheeled
Ran into the room. He'd had obviously just been given a shower. He
was wearing only a white bathrobe and his hair was still wet.

"Would you like me to brush your hair for you, nii-chan?" Aya asked
gently.
A toothless face looked up at her, nodded and smiled.

Hikari turned her attention to the snow covered landscape. She was
always uncomfortable around old people. Especially her helpless great
uncle, who needed to have everything done for him, so the white
blanket that covered the earth and dusted the trees was a comforting
sight.

"Snow", Ken sighed, taking the girl out of her thoughts. If it wasn't
for the snow, I don't know that Ran and I would even be together.

Hikari rolled her eyes. Sometimes, Ken made no sense at all. It was
no secret that he was a demented, senile old man. He fancied himself
to be staff at the nursing home, even going so far as to try and
order around his own nurse. Once, Hikari caught him naming the
buttons on his shirt, and even talking to them. Even Ran seemed to
notice that his lover wasn't quite right in the head.

"Is that so?"Hikari finally responded.

"Actually, it is" Aya answered for Ken. Ran told me the story years
ago. It's really very sweet." She looked at her brother, who was
staring misty eyed at Ken, his eyes saying 'tell them the story
again.'

Hikari gave a small moan. "Fine. Ken, will you tell me the story
about you, Ran and the snow?"

"I'd be happy to" Ken beamed.
(Begin flashback)
"How is Omi?" Ran asked, looking up expectantly at Ken.

"Well, his fever has gone down, but he's still coughing up blood. I
called the doctor, and he said to go ahead and refill Omi's
medication. I can go, if one of you doesn't mind sitting with him for
a while.

"No, I'll go", Ran offered. "I need to get some things for myself
anyway."

"You sure?" Ken eyed the redhead with worry. He looked tired and
weak, and had a bad cough to boot. It looked like he was getting the
same thing that Omi had. "I mean, if you make me a list-"

"I'll be fine" Ran insisted, zipping up his coat. "be right back."

Ken and Yoji sighed, watching the redhead leave. "Stubborn and
brooding, that's Ran for you", Yoji muttered, shaking his head.

*
Ken looked up at the clock with worry. "Where the hell is Ran? It's
been almost two hours and..." he looked outside. "The storm has
gotten worse. Much worse."

"Yeah. I hope he's okay", Yoji echoed Ken's concern, lighting a
cigarette.

"I'm going to look for him", Ken decided, standing up and walking to
the door.

"Are you crazy?" Yoji gave Ken a look that told him he'd already made
up his mind what the answer to that question was.

"What? You want me to just leave him to die?" Ken glared at his
friend, walking for the door.

"We don't know if he's-" Yoji began. But it was too late. Ken was
already gone.

Ken didn't have far to go before he found Ran. Looking ahead, he saw
that Ran's car was still there. Forging ahead, he kept his eyes
peeled for any sign of the redhead. His foot hit something. Something
that moaned. Ken looked down. "Ran!"

Ran looked up, dazed at disoriented, at Ken. He opened his mouth, the
speech that came out senseless and slurred.

'Oh no!' Ken panicked. Please don't let it be...' He looked Ran
directly in the eyes, trying to get the violet orbs to focus on
him. "Ran." He spoke slowly. "Ran, can you stand up?"

Ran didn't answer. He simply lay there, teeth chattering, eyes
darting about. Ken knew what was wrong. Hypothermia. He also knew
that, at this stage, if Ran didn't receive treatment soon, he would
surely die.