A.N.: This is a response to a challenge on the legalscribbles lj group. This is angsty and most likely pretentious. You have been warned.
Snow and Memories
Rikuo does not like the snow.
Many people consider the snow romantic. They think of the wetness, the soft touch and slight sting. They think of happy couples strolling through snow-covered paths together. They think of the beauty of it, the softening of harsh edges.
Rikuo is not romantic, and never has been.
When he sees the snow, all he sees is the coldness and the possibility of pain and death by slow freezing.
He thinks of loneliness and isolation- the experiences forced on him by Tsukiko.
He thinks of Kazahaya freezing, and how much that scares him.
Some like the snow because it is beautiful. Whether it is beautiful or not, Rikuo does not care. Because the snow is cold. And cold is cold.
Kazahaya does not like the snow either.
When he sees the snow, he thinks of that winter he almost died, when his life almost ended but yet he was allowed to begin truly living for the first time since leaving his sister. Perhaps for the first time ever.
He thinks of Kei and playing in the snow, of his sister using her powers to light wet wood simply because she could, because she was 'fire,' just as her name declared. He thinks of Kei's always cold body, cold because of her power to draw fire from anything.
Cold is cold.
But snow is not just snow.