This is for everyone who's waiting O so patiently for SH's next chapter.
For everyone else, just enjoy.BTW, I don't own Fruba in any way. Shigure's
story on the other hand, that's mine.
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Snow started to fall a few hours before, light flakes of crystallized water falling from heaven. Each flake of snow held its own identity, for in a vast field of snow flakes you would never find two exactly alike. It would fall softly down to earth and find that there was no other snow flake like itself, yet there would be hundreds upon hundreds of different snow flakes that happened to fall with it. On its trip down to earth, one poor snow flake felt very alone.
Yet quickly the snow flake realized something. As she looked below herself, she watched other snow flakes land in white mounds of the frozen ice and mold into each other. She realized that even though she was just a simple snow flake, that there were other simple snow flakes down there waiting for her to come join them. She realized that even though one snow flake may look different, have too many points, be big or small, that they're all made from the same thing.
And as she landed and met other snow flakes, some with many proud points, others with small pretty designs, she found that she fit in perfectly well with the other snow flakes. She loved her new home.
And though all snow melts in the end and the season turns into spring, it didn't matter to her. For in that moment, she belonged.
*Snow Flakes*
By SAL-Chan
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Snow.
If there was anything in the world I hated as much as I hated the rain, it would be snow.
I shivered again and rubbed my hands together, blowing my cloudy breath between my bare palms in a futile attempted to warm the almost frozen digits. The store was warmer than outside at least, and as I walked thought the metal detectors I shook my head -taking my hat off at the same time- trying to rid the snow from my body.
I ran a hand through the unruly mat of hair that had the pleasure of sitting on my head to torture me as I rounded the corner -grabbing a basket- and fished out a small piece of folded paper from my pocket. I stopped in the middle of the isle and unfolded the paper with shaky pale fingers, and after a second of reading I reached out behind me and grabbed a can of cranberries.
About a half an hour later I finally put the basked full of food particles down on the check out counter and continued to wait as the woman rang up my groceries -stopping for two price checks on a bag of potato chips and those stupid cranberries- and was out the door and back into the cold.
Now don't get me wrong, for in certain predicaments I like the snow. I like the snow.while I'm inside and warm. And I really like it when I'm away from where it is snowing. I tend to hate it any other time, epically when I'm in it.
I watched it fall from under the small canopy that stuck out from the grocery store, and a small flake pushed itself underneath the over hang and landed right my nose. It melted instantly, and I brushed the small amount of liquid away with a flick of my finger and a frown on my face. I checked my watch quickly, and then proceeded to walk down the sidewalk.
There was one thing I did enjoy that came with snow, and it was the utter quiet. I barley heard the snow crunching under my pair of tan work boots, my breath gushing out of me in puffs of white air. The street's were empty, not a car on the road and an occasional person on the other sidewalk shuffled through the few inches of show, quickly trying to make it to any type of warmth. The snow always dulled everything and made it numb, just the way I like it.
I dug my hat out of my pocket and pulled it on again, trying to cover my ears best I could. Cold still prickled at the tips of them and I knew they were red, as well as my nose. I shrunk my head into my coat and buried my free hand into my pocket, clutching the plastic bag in my other hand. I grumbled slightly to myself about the cold and shuffled my feet, coming to a stop at the corner.
I guess I'm not that much of a winter person, eh?.
My ears prickled as the sound of something ripping flew to them, and I immediately froze. I stood and held my breath, and slowly as understanding dawned upon me I felt my eye twitch. And slowly - O so slowly - I turned my head down toward the floor to find my grocery's lying in the 2 inches of show.
I felt my eye twitch again. Damn it.
Two minuets and few colorful words later I had a bag of lemon's in one pocket, some green beans in the other, a bag of chips under one arm, those cranberries in one hand, and the problem box - the thing that has stabbed a hole through the bottom of the bag- full of broth in the other. My hand's were freezing and I felt chill's fly up my arms and sink into my lower back, my knee's hitting together while I shivered. My knees were wet as well as some of my sleeves, and I truthfully wasn't happy.
I really, really hate the snow.
"What did you do baka?"
I felt my eye twitch again as I turned in the direction the voice came from to find him standing there, a black bag slung lazily over his shoulder. The hood from his dark blue sweet shirt covered his hair from the falling show, but he left his black jacket that buttoned down to about his knees open. A pare of wrinkled black pants covered his legs and black boots held his feet.
In a fluid movement he set the bag down half in the snow and half on his feet and crossed his arm, giving me a shivering gaze. I shrugged it off gruffly and turned back to the street.
"Shut up." I murmur softly, glaring at him ever so slightly from the corner of my eye. He glared at me for a moment and then slowly raised an eyebrow.
I'm not sure who was more surprised in the next moment's - him ore me - be he did just that. He turned toward the street and uncrossed his arms then shoved them in his pockets, and shut up. I blinked and turned my head toward him, slightly surprised that he didn't say anything back. I then realized that the tone I had used to say said words was a lot softer then normal, and that it had sounded more like a question than a demand.
Moment's of silence passed until I blinked again and turned back to watching the snow, a slight grin on my face. It was a bit awkward for a moment or two after that, but slowly the snow numbed me to his presence, and everything seemed to fade from my senses.
And the snow continued to fall.
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"Kyo!! Yuki!!"
I turned, shivering despite trying to stop myself, and felt a slight smile form on my face despite the cold.
She bounced toward me, a smile lighting her face, hair covered in droplets of water and fresh fallen snow. Her face was pale in the snow, a red and white scarf wrapped around her neck, a blue air filled jacked that stopped around her waist keeping her warm. A pare of loose black pants fell to an old pair of boot's on her feet. Her lips were bright red as well as her nose, but her eyes glimmered and reflected the falling show in the forest green depths.
I couldn't stop my smile from getting warmer.
She bounced to my side and smiled up at me, then turned to him and smiled also.
"Ready to go?" She asked simply as I grabbed the bag of dry clothes that had been sitting on my foot for the past five minuets and swung it over my shoulder.
"Hun." Was his simple answer, his cheeks and nose faring about as well as hers. Bright red, almost the color of the hat he was warring
"If you are." I said and started to walk down the street, hurrying and moving about more then normal, trying to create a little body heat that the cold had robbed of me. And so our long trek home began.
She stood in-between us with a smile on her face, while I took the spot on her left side near the street. She gazed passed Kyo - who stood on her right- and admired the shinny Christmas decorations that hung in the shop windows. She swung her arms back and forth while she walked, and her soft humming just barley reached my ears.
I slowly felt another smile form on my face.
I blinked and raised my head a little to follow her gaze as she stared at the shops, but I caught something else instead.
His eye shifted quickly, from her face to mine, and he blinked. I saw his eye twitch the same time mine did, and then he looked away with a frown on his face. I turned back to looking out at the street, a ghost of a smile on mine.
He had been caught, mark for him.
It's was a game -you see- that's not really a game but is at the same time. It started one time at dinner where we had caught each other looking at her, and for about a year afterwards we would catch each other staring but trying to not look guilty of doing it our selves. And pretty soon there were two columns drawn on the chalk board one morning after I had been caught. On the top of the columns our names were written, and underneath mine there was a single tally mark.
Tohru and Shigure have asked us about it quiet a few times, - like what were we counting and such- but I haven't told and neither has he. And until the day one of us tell her, that tally board will stay up on that wall; 97 to 98. Well, 99 counting this one.
I couldn't help the grin forming on my face as we crossed the last main street and continued on our way home. The numbing cold was fading slightly, and a comforting feeling settled in my chest.
The quiet that engulfed us as we reached the much walked path that brought us home was golden. The falling show created boundaries and horizons only a few steps away and yet would never be reached. The crunching of the snow under our feet was enough noise for my own taste, and at this moment I was quite content.
And then I was startled form my snow filled haze as her had brushed against mine. I gave her light cream colored face a short glance, yet saw nothing but bright forest green eyes and smiling cherry red lips. I furrowed my eyebrows and turned my gaze back to the long path, only to be surprised as this time I felt her lace her chilled hand through mine.
I turned my head sharply toward her, my eyebrows flying up and my mouth opening in a silent attempt to say something that I knew wouldn't come out. I blinked as she continued ahead with shining eyes focused in front of her, her face captivated by a slight smile.
She continued on like she had done nothing so sweet.
I felt that very familiar feeling creeping up to my cheeks again, and I was sure that there was steam coming off my face. I blinked and looked at our intertwined hands for a moment, then back up to her face. I stared at her for another heart beet or two, and then I shot a look over her head.
He was looking down also, face beet red and eye's slightly wider then normal. His eyes quickly flew up to her face, then to me. He blinked at me, a slow cat like smile forming on his face, and shrugged his shoulders while turning back to the path.
And still, she continued along, both of our hands clasped in hers, swinging them slightly while humming lightly to herself. I'm not sure if she knew neither of us would pull away, but I don't think she did. And after a moment I realized why she did what she did, and smiled to myself.
Though my cheeks were still bright red, I relaxed my arm and let it swing along with hers. The sack I held in my left hand didn't seem as heavy any more, and the cold that had been nipping at my ear's seemed to disappear. And suddenly my last name didn't matter any more, and who cared if I was a bit strange?
The only thing that I believe was important to us right now was her hand holding ours, the sweet silence that flowed around us, and how peacefully the snow continued to fall.
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I smiled to myself from my bedroom window, watching the trio walk up the path from town, only to stop when I believe Kyo (for he was the only one wearing a hat) dropped a can of something. This was one of the rare times where I didn't see any of their mouth's moving, there were no dirty look's being shot, no uneasiness in any one of their gates, or any other emotion on their face other then a peaceful one.
Leaning against the window frame, I watched them stroll to the front door and with a slightly raised conversation (on one orange-headed Sohma's part) and a bit of quiet comeback's, I heard their voices spill into the house as the door slid open.
"Shigure! We're home!" Her timid voice rang through the entire house. I called back, telling her I was upstairs, and then quiet settled into my house again.
Wait, let me change that. It's *her* house, and I just happen to have the pleasure of living in it with her. We all did.
There was no real noise now, yet unlike before when they were out, the house felt like a house again. The room seemed to warm up and it was not so quiet, but as quiet as homely quiet is. Faintly I heard pot's clang together in the kitchen, and the slight pop as the TV turned on was barley audible over the stomping of Kyo coming up the stairs and into his room. That was the quiet I was addicted to, the homely quiet of other people living.
I turned back to my desk and sat again, grabbing a mug of coco I had made earlier and sipping the hot liquid quickly. I then grabbed my pen and stared down at the blank peace of paper that had stayed that way for about an hour now. I was trying for a children's book again, the idea falling out of my mind the last time I tried and ended up with a novel. And any time I tried to think up another one, nothing would come.
I sighed and almost had my pen to the paper when the call of "Shigure! Kyo! Dinner's ready!" came drifting up from downstairs. Who am I to resist the call of food?
One big procrastinator, that's who.
I made it back to my room about an hour later, stomach full and brain still unable to think of any ideas. Sprinkles of light just barley lit the sky, the day heavy and tired of all the snow.
The snow.That's it! The snow!
I grinned to myself, recovering facts about snow that would interest a child. I tapped my pen on the paper and at one began to write. Then another idea hit me, and I scribbled it down on the side of my paper. But not before another idea struck and I was forced to grab another piece of paper and continue the idea.
Thank you, Tohru.
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~Once upon a time there was a young girl who lived on her own. She was very responsible and loved her friend's and family. She worked very hard or school and job, pouring all her time and effort into both.
Yet this girl was very lonely, for she had to live in an apartment by herself. The only thing the girl ever thought about was belong to something, or to someone. Her apartment was near her school, while her parent's jobs were on the other side of town and that was the only reason she lived alone. It was very hard for her to live by herself, and soon she didn't have enough money to live alone anymore.
So this girl looked for an apartment where she could pay enough to live. Then one day she stumbled upon this one apartment where a man and his two sons lived. They were very nice people, but the rent was higher then she could afford. So the father decided to let her stay with them for as long as she wanted, and all she had to do was the household chores that none of the men could do.
The fathers two sons were a little weird, and before the girl moved in neither of the boys could stand each other. They fought all the time about stupid things like making the bed and washing dishes. And after a month or two of the girl living in the apartment, they slowly started to stop fighting and started to get along.
Slowly, the girl began to fit in to the strange routine that this family lived in. She also found out that the two boys went to the same school as her. They would go to school together every morning and would walk home close to each other at night. And slowly they began to rely on each other more, and to two boy's almost stopped fighting all together.
The girl had neglected to tell her friend's that she was living with a family of guy's, and when she finally did her friends demanded to meet them. The two girls came over the next day and met the father and two boys. They started off on the wrong foot, yet after some light conversations, the question's started. Though the two boys seemed a bit scared at first to say what they really meant, the two girls got it out of them.
"She's special to us now. She helps us and we help her." The quitter boy had said to them, his eye's on the ceiling. The louder boy nodded in agreement.
The two girls were touched at this statement, and though the girl didn't know why, her two friends didn't get mad at her for staying in that apartment. In fact, they wanted her to stay there. And so she did, for another few months.
Then one day she got a phone call from her grandfather. The girl's grandfather told her that she should come live with him, her real family, and that she should come right away. The girl was suddenly troubled, and she wasn't sure if she should stay with the family she grew to love or to go back to her real family. Yet her grandfather pushed, and forced her to agree to come and live with him.
It was hard for the girl to tell the whole family, so she only told the father that she would be moving out. She gathered her stuff while the two boys were out and wrote the direction's to her grandfather's apartment on a piece of paper. She left before the boy's came back, and the snow started to fall.
When the boy's did come home to find that she had gone, the loud boy got angry while the quiet boy got quiet.
"Why did she have to leave!?!" The loud boy shouted, walking back and forth in the living room. The quiet boy just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, letting his brother yell for both of them. The father just looked at his boy's from the kitchen and shook his head, sad that the girl who had brought so much light into his boy's lives went away. He had started to feel like a father figure to her, but that was long gone now.
Meanwhile, the girl had to get accustom to living with her grandfather, as well as her aunt and cousins that shared the apartment as well. They were all mean to the girl, save her grandfather, and started to make her question who she was. She wasn't happy and she longed to be back with the family in their little apartment. She was very lonely, and she just wanted to belong again.
Then one night, after being teased by her cousin's and being yelled at by her aunt, the girl ran out of the apartment and into the snowy cold. She cried as she ran, the cold not even affecting her. The snow continued to fall as she ran into the park, her eyes blurring her sight. Then suddenly she tripped and tumbled down a hill, her ankle twisting on her way down. She then lay in the snow at the bottom of the hill, tear's still sliding down her cold cheeks. And she stayed there, watching the snow fall toward her cold body, and she wished with all her heart that someone would come and find her.
Then suddenly she heard heavy foot steps and the panting of breath, and then a familiar loud and quiet voice called her name throughout the park. Her eyes widened and she sat up, calling out to them in turn. Their heavy foot steps came closer and stopped at the top of the hill.
For a moment she didn't know who they were, a bright light behind them making their dark figures glow with angle-like light. The two angles then slid down the hill toward her, but before she could see their faces, blackness grabbed at her and pulled her down.
The two angles shook her, trying to wake the poor girl but she would just not wake. Then they worked together to hoist her up onto their shoulder's and tried to walk thought the cold snow up the hill and back into the populated part of the park. Neither of these angles had on any jackets, and so their angel bodies shook from the cold. Still, they tried to pull her up the steep hill. Yet they couldn't do it.
One angle-boy slipped and fell back down the hill, the other one following shortly. The girl's still body slid after them, and at once it was quiet.
The girl woke slightly, only to now find herself wrapped in the warmth that she had missed very much. Then, remembering the angel-boy's that had saved her, and she sat up to look for them. Yet what she saw was not what she expected. She expected to be back in her grandfather's apartment, waking up form a silly dream. Or she expected to see fluffy white clouds and be in haven where the angle-boys would greet her.
Yet she found herself back in her old apartment, the apartment where the father and the two boys lived. She was lying on the father's bed, and she wasn't alone.
The loud boy was sleeping on her left, laying on his right side so if she were to lie down again he would be facing her. His golden brown face had a hue of red to it, and his nose was brighter then a red light bulb. On her other side was the quiet boy, laying on his left so he would be facing her if she lay down again also. His almost white skin also had a red hue around his cheeks, and his nose was bright red also.
She thought a second, then lay down in between the two boys and held both of their hands in hers. Both of their hands were quite cold and they were both very still, but she didn't care to notice. She realized laying there that this was where she was supposed to be. This was her real family, that she belonged here, and that at any time the father would walk thought the door and tell them all to wake up and go to school.
She realized that she fit in here, even if she was different. Even though the loud boy tends to leave his clothes on the floor, even though the quiet boy tends to leave his school things all over the living room, even though the father tends too work to late to be home in time for dinner, she didn't care. This was where she fit, this was where her family was.
Her small body shivered as she stared at the ceiling, waiting for the father to come in and wake them. She waited for what seemed like minuets, she waited for what seemed like hours, she waited and waited. Yet he never came in, and neither boy moved. And slowly she grew tired also, but not the same type of tired you are after a long hard day. So she let her eyelids slip shut, and she let her breathing slow down, and she let herself fall asleep.
And in her dream she met two angle-boys with snow white wings, whose arms were out stretched and their own unique quiet and loud smiles on their faces. She dreamed that she flew to them, her own snow white wing's flapping with her will, and together they flew into the sunset holding hands.
And she lived happily ever after. The end.~
I smiled sadly, closing the book for the 12th time that day.
"This is really wonderful Shigure." I smiled at the dark haired man, his grin never fading since he brought home a rough copy of his new book. I knew this story line from somewhere before, yet is seemed quite new. And very sad as well.
"Thank you again, Tohru." He responded almost automatically, his chocolate brown eyes skimming over his own rough copy, the pen in his hand scratching stuff out and writing other things. I smiled at him and flipped the book open again.
"But Shigure." I glanced up at his grinning face, my eyebrow arched. "I have some question's." He nodded to me, his grin fading as he scribbled something out and turned the page.
"The loud and the quiet boys, they were the angel-boys she saw, right?" I waited a moment, looking at him with questioning eyes. His pen stopped as his eyes traveled from the paper to me, a small smile on his face.
"What do you think?" Was his simple reply. I blinked at him.
"I think they were." I replied, looking down at the book once again. I had flipped to the one of the last pages. There was a picture of the back of 'the girl' character's head at the bottom, and the two 'angle-boys' up near the top. Yet neither of the angle-boy's faces were drawn in, unlike the loud and quiet boys. They had the same hair and clothing, and they were drawn the same. So they had to be.
I then blinked at the book and turned back a few pages and re-read. I barley noticed Shigure's eyes as they lifted from his own copy to me. I slowly felt the tingling sensation at the corner of my eyes, and I quickly wiped a tear from the corner of my eye.
"They died, didn't they?" I asked, shutting the book and putting it down in front of me. Shigure just raised and eyebrow and did the same to his book.
"Do you understand the moral of the story?" He asked, removing his reading glasses and putting them down next to his book. I nodded.
"That she just wanted to fit in. She just wanted to belong, and the only way she could was to be with the family." I replied, sighing to myself. Shigure grinned to himself and looked down at the book.
"I guess it not really a children's book any more." He sighed and trailed his fingers along the spine of it. He shrugged his shoulders and looked across the table to me again. There was a moment of complete silence in the room, and then he smiled warmly at me.
"What are you doing?" His voice surprised me, and I jumped and turned around to find Yuki in the doorway. He had a towel on his head and was rubbing it back and forth slightly. He wore a pair of dark blue sweatpants and a white long sleeved shirt that was about a size too big for him. One of his eyebrows were raised slightly, and the light form the hallway made him almost glow.
"Reading." Was Shigure's strong answer and I herd him pick his own book up to show Yuki. He blinked.
"Well, what the hell are they doin'?" Kyo's voice echoed down the hallway and was quickly followed by its owner. He stood behind Yuki and gazed into the room, his black short sleeved shirt standing out behind Yuki's white shirt. His tan cargo pants hung low on his hips and for once he wore a pair of white socks. His eyebrow arched also and he quickly crossed his arm's, glaring at Shigure. The light from the hallway flickered, backlighting him also.
I blinked, staring at the two of them, and then I turned back toward Shigure. Slowly, a small father-like smile formed on his face and his eyes softened. I blinked again and looked down at the book.
The cover was drawn with snow covering all the ground, the horizon split by the bright blue sky. Snow looked like it was falling from the sky, and in the middle was the girl character building most of a snow man, a carrot still in her hand. The title of the book was printed in black at the top of the book.
I then turned back to Yuki and Kyo, a small smile on my face. The both looked puzzled, Yuki taking the towel of his wet head and Kyo uncrossing his arms. I stood up and flattened my skirt out, my eyes watching my small hands in their movements. I hummed to myself for a second, and then looked up at the boy's again.
"I feel like going out in the snow. Will you come with me?"
She didn't need to hear their answer; she knew they would both agree. She always knew the answer, deep within her heart, and it always made her smile. They were her angel-boys, her loud and quiet boys, and her family.
And the snow continued to fall.
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Snow started to fall a few hours before, light flakes of crystallized water falling from heaven. Each flake of snow held its own identity, for in a vast field of snow flakes you would never find two exactly alike. It would fall softly down to earth and find that there was no other snow flake like itself, yet there would be hundreds upon hundreds of different snow flakes that happened to fall with it. On its trip down to earth, one poor snow flake felt very alone.
Yet quickly the snow flake realized something. As she looked below herself, she watched other snow flakes land in white mounds of the frozen ice and mold into each other. She realized that even though she was just a simple snow flake, that there were other simple snow flakes down there waiting for her to come join them. She realized that even though one snow flake may look different, have too many points, be big or small, that they're all made from the same thing.
And as she landed and met other snow flakes, some with many proud points, others with small pretty designs, she found that she fit in perfectly well with the other snow flakes. She loved her new home.
And though all snow melts in the end and the season turns into spring, it didn't matter to her. For in that moment, she belonged.
*Snow Flakes*
By SAL-Chan
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Snow.
If there was anything in the world I hated as much as I hated the rain, it would be snow.
I shivered again and rubbed my hands together, blowing my cloudy breath between my bare palms in a futile attempted to warm the almost frozen digits. The store was warmer than outside at least, and as I walked thought the metal detectors I shook my head -taking my hat off at the same time- trying to rid the snow from my body.
I ran a hand through the unruly mat of hair that had the pleasure of sitting on my head to torture me as I rounded the corner -grabbing a basket- and fished out a small piece of folded paper from my pocket. I stopped in the middle of the isle and unfolded the paper with shaky pale fingers, and after a second of reading I reached out behind me and grabbed a can of cranberries.
About a half an hour later I finally put the basked full of food particles down on the check out counter and continued to wait as the woman rang up my groceries -stopping for two price checks on a bag of potato chips and those stupid cranberries- and was out the door and back into the cold.
Now don't get me wrong, for in certain predicaments I like the snow. I like the snow.while I'm inside and warm. And I really like it when I'm away from where it is snowing. I tend to hate it any other time, epically when I'm in it.
I watched it fall from under the small canopy that stuck out from the grocery store, and a small flake pushed itself underneath the over hang and landed right my nose. It melted instantly, and I brushed the small amount of liquid away with a flick of my finger and a frown on my face. I checked my watch quickly, and then proceeded to walk down the sidewalk.
There was one thing I did enjoy that came with snow, and it was the utter quiet. I barley heard the snow crunching under my pair of tan work boots, my breath gushing out of me in puffs of white air. The street's were empty, not a car on the road and an occasional person on the other sidewalk shuffled through the few inches of show, quickly trying to make it to any type of warmth. The snow always dulled everything and made it numb, just the way I like it.
I dug my hat out of my pocket and pulled it on again, trying to cover my ears best I could. Cold still prickled at the tips of them and I knew they were red, as well as my nose. I shrunk my head into my coat and buried my free hand into my pocket, clutching the plastic bag in my other hand. I grumbled slightly to myself about the cold and shuffled my feet, coming to a stop at the corner.
I guess I'm not that much of a winter person, eh?.
My ears prickled as the sound of something ripping flew to them, and I immediately froze. I stood and held my breath, and slowly as understanding dawned upon me I felt my eye twitch. And slowly - O so slowly - I turned my head down toward the floor to find my grocery's lying in the 2 inches of show.
I felt my eye twitch again. Damn it.
Two minuets and few colorful words later I had a bag of lemon's in one pocket, some green beans in the other, a bag of chips under one arm, those cranberries in one hand, and the problem box - the thing that has stabbed a hole through the bottom of the bag- full of broth in the other. My hand's were freezing and I felt chill's fly up my arms and sink into my lower back, my knee's hitting together while I shivered. My knees were wet as well as some of my sleeves, and I truthfully wasn't happy.
I really, really hate the snow.
"What did you do baka?"
I felt my eye twitch again as I turned in the direction the voice came from to find him standing there, a black bag slung lazily over his shoulder. The hood from his dark blue sweet shirt covered his hair from the falling show, but he left his black jacket that buttoned down to about his knees open. A pare of wrinkled black pants covered his legs and black boots held his feet.
In a fluid movement he set the bag down half in the snow and half on his feet and crossed his arm, giving me a shivering gaze. I shrugged it off gruffly and turned back to the street.
"Shut up." I murmur softly, glaring at him ever so slightly from the corner of my eye. He glared at me for a moment and then slowly raised an eyebrow.
I'm not sure who was more surprised in the next moment's - him ore me - be he did just that. He turned toward the street and uncrossed his arms then shoved them in his pockets, and shut up. I blinked and turned my head toward him, slightly surprised that he didn't say anything back. I then realized that the tone I had used to say said words was a lot softer then normal, and that it had sounded more like a question than a demand.
Moment's of silence passed until I blinked again and turned back to watching the snow, a slight grin on my face. It was a bit awkward for a moment or two after that, but slowly the snow numbed me to his presence, and everything seemed to fade from my senses.
And the snow continued to fall.
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"Kyo!! Yuki!!"
I turned, shivering despite trying to stop myself, and felt a slight smile form on my face despite the cold.
She bounced toward me, a smile lighting her face, hair covered in droplets of water and fresh fallen snow. Her face was pale in the snow, a red and white scarf wrapped around her neck, a blue air filled jacked that stopped around her waist keeping her warm. A pare of loose black pants fell to an old pair of boot's on her feet. Her lips were bright red as well as her nose, but her eyes glimmered and reflected the falling show in the forest green depths.
I couldn't stop my smile from getting warmer.
She bounced to my side and smiled up at me, then turned to him and smiled also.
"Ready to go?" She asked simply as I grabbed the bag of dry clothes that had been sitting on my foot for the past five minuets and swung it over my shoulder.
"Hun." Was his simple answer, his cheeks and nose faring about as well as hers. Bright red, almost the color of the hat he was warring
"If you are." I said and started to walk down the street, hurrying and moving about more then normal, trying to create a little body heat that the cold had robbed of me. And so our long trek home began.
She stood in-between us with a smile on her face, while I took the spot on her left side near the street. She gazed passed Kyo - who stood on her right- and admired the shinny Christmas decorations that hung in the shop windows. She swung her arms back and forth while she walked, and her soft humming just barley reached my ears.
I slowly felt another smile form on my face.
I blinked and raised my head a little to follow her gaze as she stared at the shops, but I caught something else instead.
His eye shifted quickly, from her face to mine, and he blinked. I saw his eye twitch the same time mine did, and then he looked away with a frown on his face. I turned back to looking out at the street, a ghost of a smile on mine.
He had been caught, mark for him.
It's was a game -you see- that's not really a game but is at the same time. It started one time at dinner where we had caught each other looking at her, and for about a year afterwards we would catch each other staring but trying to not look guilty of doing it our selves. And pretty soon there were two columns drawn on the chalk board one morning after I had been caught. On the top of the columns our names were written, and underneath mine there was a single tally mark.
Tohru and Shigure have asked us about it quiet a few times, - like what were we counting and such- but I haven't told and neither has he. And until the day one of us tell her, that tally board will stay up on that wall; 97 to 98. Well, 99 counting this one.
I couldn't help the grin forming on my face as we crossed the last main street and continued on our way home. The numbing cold was fading slightly, and a comforting feeling settled in my chest.
The quiet that engulfed us as we reached the much walked path that brought us home was golden. The falling show created boundaries and horizons only a few steps away and yet would never be reached. The crunching of the snow under our feet was enough noise for my own taste, and at this moment I was quite content.
And then I was startled form my snow filled haze as her had brushed against mine. I gave her light cream colored face a short glance, yet saw nothing but bright forest green eyes and smiling cherry red lips. I furrowed my eyebrows and turned my gaze back to the long path, only to be surprised as this time I felt her lace her chilled hand through mine.
I turned my head sharply toward her, my eyebrows flying up and my mouth opening in a silent attempt to say something that I knew wouldn't come out. I blinked as she continued ahead with shining eyes focused in front of her, her face captivated by a slight smile.
She continued on like she had done nothing so sweet.
I felt that very familiar feeling creeping up to my cheeks again, and I was sure that there was steam coming off my face. I blinked and looked at our intertwined hands for a moment, then back up to her face. I stared at her for another heart beet or two, and then I shot a look over her head.
He was looking down also, face beet red and eye's slightly wider then normal. His eyes quickly flew up to her face, then to me. He blinked at me, a slow cat like smile forming on his face, and shrugged his shoulders while turning back to the path.
And still, she continued along, both of our hands clasped in hers, swinging them slightly while humming lightly to herself. I'm not sure if she knew neither of us would pull away, but I don't think she did. And after a moment I realized why she did what she did, and smiled to myself.
Though my cheeks were still bright red, I relaxed my arm and let it swing along with hers. The sack I held in my left hand didn't seem as heavy any more, and the cold that had been nipping at my ear's seemed to disappear. And suddenly my last name didn't matter any more, and who cared if I was a bit strange?
The only thing that I believe was important to us right now was her hand holding ours, the sweet silence that flowed around us, and how peacefully the snow continued to fall.
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I smiled to myself from my bedroom window, watching the trio walk up the path from town, only to stop when I believe Kyo (for he was the only one wearing a hat) dropped a can of something. This was one of the rare times where I didn't see any of their mouth's moving, there were no dirty look's being shot, no uneasiness in any one of their gates, or any other emotion on their face other then a peaceful one.
Leaning against the window frame, I watched them stroll to the front door and with a slightly raised conversation (on one orange-headed Sohma's part) and a bit of quiet comeback's, I heard their voices spill into the house as the door slid open.
"Shigure! We're home!" Her timid voice rang through the entire house. I called back, telling her I was upstairs, and then quiet settled into my house again.
Wait, let me change that. It's *her* house, and I just happen to have the pleasure of living in it with her. We all did.
There was no real noise now, yet unlike before when they were out, the house felt like a house again. The room seemed to warm up and it was not so quiet, but as quiet as homely quiet is. Faintly I heard pot's clang together in the kitchen, and the slight pop as the TV turned on was barley audible over the stomping of Kyo coming up the stairs and into his room. That was the quiet I was addicted to, the homely quiet of other people living.
I turned back to my desk and sat again, grabbing a mug of coco I had made earlier and sipping the hot liquid quickly. I then grabbed my pen and stared down at the blank peace of paper that had stayed that way for about an hour now. I was trying for a children's book again, the idea falling out of my mind the last time I tried and ended up with a novel. And any time I tried to think up another one, nothing would come.
I sighed and almost had my pen to the paper when the call of "Shigure! Kyo! Dinner's ready!" came drifting up from downstairs. Who am I to resist the call of food?
One big procrastinator, that's who.
I made it back to my room about an hour later, stomach full and brain still unable to think of any ideas. Sprinkles of light just barley lit the sky, the day heavy and tired of all the snow.
The snow.That's it! The snow!
I grinned to myself, recovering facts about snow that would interest a child. I tapped my pen on the paper and at one began to write. Then another idea hit me, and I scribbled it down on the side of my paper. But not before another idea struck and I was forced to grab another piece of paper and continue the idea.
Thank you, Tohru.
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~Once upon a time there was a young girl who lived on her own. She was very responsible and loved her friend's and family. She worked very hard or school and job, pouring all her time and effort into both.
Yet this girl was very lonely, for she had to live in an apartment by herself. The only thing the girl ever thought about was belong to something, or to someone. Her apartment was near her school, while her parent's jobs were on the other side of town and that was the only reason she lived alone. It was very hard for her to live by herself, and soon she didn't have enough money to live alone anymore.
So this girl looked for an apartment where she could pay enough to live. Then one day she stumbled upon this one apartment where a man and his two sons lived. They were very nice people, but the rent was higher then she could afford. So the father decided to let her stay with them for as long as she wanted, and all she had to do was the household chores that none of the men could do.
The fathers two sons were a little weird, and before the girl moved in neither of the boys could stand each other. They fought all the time about stupid things like making the bed and washing dishes. And after a month or two of the girl living in the apartment, they slowly started to stop fighting and started to get along.
Slowly, the girl began to fit in to the strange routine that this family lived in. She also found out that the two boys went to the same school as her. They would go to school together every morning and would walk home close to each other at night. And slowly they began to rely on each other more, and to two boy's almost stopped fighting all together.
The girl had neglected to tell her friend's that she was living with a family of guy's, and when she finally did her friends demanded to meet them. The two girls came over the next day and met the father and two boys. They started off on the wrong foot, yet after some light conversations, the question's started. Though the two boys seemed a bit scared at first to say what they really meant, the two girls got it out of them.
"She's special to us now. She helps us and we help her." The quitter boy had said to them, his eye's on the ceiling. The louder boy nodded in agreement.
The two girls were touched at this statement, and though the girl didn't know why, her two friends didn't get mad at her for staying in that apartment. In fact, they wanted her to stay there. And so she did, for another few months.
Then one day she got a phone call from her grandfather. The girl's grandfather told her that she should come live with him, her real family, and that she should come right away. The girl was suddenly troubled, and she wasn't sure if she should stay with the family she grew to love or to go back to her real family. Yet her grandfather pushed, and forced her to agree to come and live with him.
It was hard for the girl to tell the whole family, so she only told the father that she would be moving out. She gathered her stuff while the two boys were out and wrote the direction's to her grandfather's apartment on a piece of paper. She left before the boy's came back, and the snow started to fall.
When the boy's did come home to find that she had gone, the loud boy got angry while the quiet boy got quiet.
"Why did she have to leave!?!" The loud boy shouted, walking back and forth in the living room. The quiet boy just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, letting his brother yell for both of them. The father just looked at his boy's from the kitchen and shook his head, sad that the girl who had brought so much light into his boy's lives went away. He had started to feel like a father figure to her, but that was long gone now.
Meanwhile, the girl had to get accustom to living with her grandfather, as well as her aunt and cousins that shared the apartment as well. They were all mean to the girl, save her grandfather, and started to make her question who she was. She wasn't happy and she longed to be back with the family in their little apartment. She was very lonely, and she just wanted to belong again.
Then one night, after being teased by her cousin's and being yelled at by her aunt, the girl ran out of the apartment and into the snowy cold. She cried as she ran, the cold not even affecting her. The snow continued to fall as she ran into the park, her eyes blurring her sight. Then suddenly she tripped and tumbled down a hill, her ankle twisting on her way down. She then lay in the snow at the bottom of the hill, tear's still sliding down her cold cheeks. And she stayed there, watching the snow fall toward her cold body, and she wished with all her heart that someone would come and find her.
Then suddenly she heard heavy foot steps and the panting of breath, and then a familiar loud and quiet voice called her name throughout the park. Her eyes widened and she sat up, calling out to them in turn. Their heavy foot steps came closer and stopped at the top of the hill.
For a moment she didn't know who they were, a bright light behind them making their dark figures glow with angle-like light. The two angles then slid down the hill toward her, but before she could see their faces, blackness grabbed at her and pulled her down.
The two angles shook her, trying to wake the poor girl but she would just not wake. Then they worked together to hoist her up onto their shoulder's and tried to walk thought the cold snow up the hill and back into the populated part of the park. Neither of these angles had on any jackets, and so their angel bodies shook from the cold. Still, they tried to pull her up the steep hill. Yet they couldn't do it.
One angle-boy slipped and fell back down the hill, the other one following shortly. The girl's still body slid after them, and at once it was quiet.
The girl woke slightly, only to now find herself wrapped in the warmth that she had missed very much. Then, remembering the angel-boy's that had saved her, and she sat up to look for them. Yet what she saw was not what she expected. She expected to be back in her grandfather's apartment, waking up form a silly dream. Or she expected to see fluffy white clouds and be in haven where the angle-boys would greet her.
Yet she found herself back in her old apartment, the apartment where the father and the two boys lived. She was lying on the father's bed, and she wasn't alone.
The loud boy was sleeping on her left, laying on his right side so if she were to lie down again he would be facing her. His golden brown face had a hue of red to it, and his nose was brighter then a red light bulb. On her other side was the quiet boy, laying on his left so he would be facing her if she lay down again also. His almost white skin also had a red hue around his cheeks, and his nose was bright red also.
She thought a second, then lay down in between the two boys and held both of their hands in hers. Both of their hands were quite cold and they were both very still, but she didn't care to notice. She realized laying there that this was where she was supposed to be. This was her real family, that she belonged here, and that at any time the father would walk thought the door and tell them all to wake up and go to school.
She realized that she fit in here, even if she was different. Even though the loud boy tends to leave his clothes on the floor, even though the quiet boy tends to leave his school things all over the living room, even though the father tends too work to late to be home in time for dinner, she didn't care. This was where she fit, this was where her family was.
Her small body shivered as she stared at the ceiling, waiting for the father to come in and wake them. She waited for what seemed like minuets, she waited for what seemed like hours, she waited and waited. Yet he never came in, and neither boy moved. And slowly she grew tired also, but not the same type of tired you are after a long hard day. So she let her eyelids slip shut, and she let her breathing slow down, and she let herself fall asleep.
And in her dream she met two angle-boys with snow white wings, whose arms were out stretched and their own unique quiet and loud smiles on their faces. She dreamed that she flew to them, her own snow white wing's flapping with her will, and together they flew into the sunset holding hands.
And she lived happily ever after. The end.~
I smiled sadly, closing the book for the 12th time that day.
"This is really wonderful Shigure." I smiled at the dark haired man, his grin never fading since he brought home a rough copy of his new book. I knew this story line from somewhere before, yet is seemed quite new. And very sad as well.
"Thank you again, Tohru." He responded almost automatically, his chocolate brown eyes skimming over his own rough copy, the pen in his hand scratching stuff out and writing other things. I smiled at him and flipped the book open again.
"But Shigure." I glanced up at his grinning face, my eyebrow arched. "I have some question's." He nodded to me, his grin fading as he scribbled something out and turned the page.
"The loud and the quiet boys, they were the angel-boys she saw, right?" I waited a moment, looking at him with questioning eyes. His pen stopped as his eyes traveled from the paper to me, a small smile on his face.
"What do you think?" Was his simple reply. I blinked at him.
"I think they were." I replied, looking down at the book once again. I had flipped to the one of the last pages. There was a picture of the back of 'the girl' character's head at the bottom, and the two 'angle-boys' up near the top. Yet neither of the angle-boy's faces were drawn in, unlike the loud and quiet boys. They had the same hair and clothing, and they were drawn the same. So they had to be.
I then blinked at the book and turned back a few pages and re-read. I barley noticed Shigure's eyes as they lifted from his own copy to me. I slowly felt the tingling sensation at the corner of my eyes, and I quickly wiped a tear from the corner of my eye.
"They died, didn't they?" I asked, shutting the book and putting it down in front of me. Shigure just raised and eyebrow and did the same to his book.
"Do you understand the moral of the story?" He asked, removing his reading glasses and putting them down next to his book. I nodded.
"That she just wanted to fit in. She just wanted to belong, and the only way she could was to be with the family." I replied, sighing to myself. Shigure grinned to himself and looked down at the book.
"I guess it not really a children's book any more." He sighed and trailed his fingers along the spine of it. He shrugged his shoulders and looked across the table to me again. There was a moment of complete silence in the room, and then he smiled warmly at me.
"What are you doing?" His voice surprised me, and I jumped and turned around to find Yuki in the doorway. He had a towel on his head and was rubbing it back and forth slightly. He wore a pair of dark blue sweatpants and a white long sleeved shirt that was about a size too big for him. One of his eyebrows were raised slightly, and the light form the hallway made him almost glow.
"Reading." Was Shigure's strong answer and I herd him pick his own book up to show Yuki. He blinked.
"Well, what the hell are they doin'?" Kyo's voice echoed down the hallway and was quickly followed by its owner. He stood behind Yuki and gazed into the room, his black short sleeved shirt standing out behind Yuki's white shirt. His tan cargo pants hung low on his hips and for once he wore a pair of white socks. His eyebrow arched also and he quickly crossed his arm's, glaring at Shigure. The light from the hallway flickered, backlighting him also.
I blinked, staring at the two of them, and then I turned back toward Shigure. Slowly, a small father-like smile formed on his face and his eyes softened. I blinked again and looked down at the book.
The cover was drawn with snow covering all the ground, the horizon split by the bright blue sky. Snow looked like it was falling from the sky, and in the middle was the girl character building most of a snow man, a carrot still in her hand. The title of the book was printed in black at the top of the book.
I then turned back to Yuki and Kyo, a small smile on my face. The both looked puzzled, Yuki taking the towel of his wet head and Kyo uncrossing his arms. I stood up and flattened my skirt out, my eyes watching my small hands in their movements. I hummed to myself for a second, and then looked up at the boy's again.
"I feel like going out in the snow. Will you come with me?"
She didn't need to hear their answer; she knew they would both agree. She always knew the answer, deep within her heart, and it always made her smile. They were her angel-boys, her loud and quiet boys, and her family.
And the snow continued to fall.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Owari * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *