A World of White

She stood in the snow like a goddess of winter. So beautiful with the snowflakes in her golden-brown hair that it makes him ache inside. Gonou put his hands in his pockets and walked to her side throwing a warming arm around her slender shoulders. A gentle sigh escaped her lips as she leaned into the comfort of his arms—a pleasure she should not know, but still one that she has indulged in. Gonou, both lover and brother, the one man she found her soul in. He leaned close and whispered, "We should go in." His voice, though low and soft, broke the magic of the moment and she followed him to their home.

There was a winter festival in town, but she had decided to let Gonou go alone. She wasn't the mood to be surrounded by people, she pleaded when he had asked her. Now, striping off the extra layers of winter clothing, he eyes her cautiously. He has a good idea why she stayed behind. One of the women she had befriended in town gave birth to a son a week before. They both knew that children where something they would not, should not have. The risk involved was too great. Rather than feel the sting of envy, Kanan had wisely decided to wait until the pangs of longing in her heart subsided just a bit more. Gonou felt them as well, yet he had concluded long ago that Kanan was worth any sacrifice.

When they had come here, it was their hope to have their sibling hood kept secret. Four months later and their hopes were reality. A few townspeople had remarked on the striking resemblance between them. "Who would have guessed there were two people with such amazingly green eyes?" one woman had told them in awe. For a moment, they had both held their breath, but the ruse went unquestioned.

Together they had built a life that they could never have imagined years ago. Gonou had become a school teacher. It was a job that he loved dearly. Kanan had often wondered how much pain it would cost him to be stripped of that. Would he still cherish her then? Had she ever asked him this, he would have answered "yes" without hesitation, but she never did ask. Sitting in front of the fire that he built, Gonou hummed a little song, one that reminded him of her…soft and sweet and hauntingly beautiful.

Their love was strong even if it was taboo. In this tiny, glass ball they live happily. A world of white outside their door and the warmth of love within. How gently the globe rocks back and forth setting the glistening white a drift. They life here happily never knowing that someday the globe will shatter. A world of white turned red. Happiness turned to anguish. They do not know these things, for now they are safe in the snow globe's protection.