Let the Snow Fall

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Kai was on his way home from work when the snow began to fall, it was the middle of winter which was Kai's favorite time of year. Originally he had wanted nothing more to do than go home and pass out shower, food, and PJ's be damned. It was a long week for the department, so much so that he had not remembered the dream let alone had time to get some proper sleep. The falling flakes were enough for him to abandon his desire for his bed and instead of heading home he had started to head towards the park.

When he had gotten there, there was no one else in sight. It was quiet and beautiful the ground covered in a blanket of white, and the sounds were dampened by the snow. The lights in the park emitted a soft glow turning the powder yellow in various places and, with the moon shining down darkness turned into a soft blue hue. The park itself was nothing special just somewhere for the children to play, there were fields for sports, a jungle gym, and a pond that was frozen over.

Kai walked over to a bench that was near the pond and sat down and just stared at the glassy surface as the flakes collected on the frozen water. After a couple of minutes he began to absent mindedly play with the key that was on his wrist. It was not long that he began thinking about his past again, the calm soon went away and now he just felt frustrated. Sure work was a good distraction but it was driving him nuts that he had an entire year of memory missing. Just as he was about to get stuck down the rabbit hole, the snow began to crunch around him signaling that someone was approaching.

Kai looked up in the direction of where the crunching was coming from and saw that a man was approaching. The man was tall and had what looked like work attire as well as a black trench coat, which billowed as he walked. He had to wonder if the man had the same idea as him to come to the park to enjoy the snow.

"Oh evening I did not think that anyone else would be in the park this late" the man said with a smile.

"Evening, yeah I was on my way home from work, and noticed the snow. I came here to clear my head," explained Kai

Why he mentioned that last bit he had no idea, as he was not about to tell a stranger his problems. Not only that but he had no idea if this person meant him harm or not. In his line of work he would not be surprised if someone was out for revenge, and this was one of the reasons why he wanted his memory back; to be able to protect himself from people who wish harm on others.

"Work? Really? I came out here cause I could not sleep, I thought that I was in luck when I found this park," said the man.

"So you're not from around here? Do you live in Tokyo or elsewhere?" asked Kai.

'Oh if only you knew' thought the man.

"No I am from outside of Tokyo, I reside in Kyushu but I am here for work, so I found it funny that you were coming from work. You look awfully young to be working already," said the man.

"I'm older than I look," said Kai with a deadpan look on his face.

This was another thing that slightly frustrated him about having a baby face and that was the fact that he looked like he should still be in high school. Not wanting to be rude Kai slid over on the bench after clearing away some of the built up powder.

"Here, there is plenty of room," Kai offered.

The man took the offered spot and sat next to Kai, in those moments the two just watched the snowfall in companionable silence. It was nice, and the distraction was welcomed at least that is what Kai thought. After some moments, Kai turned to the stranger and asked for his name, after all strangers are just friends that you have not met yet.

"My name is Tsuzuki Asato, and may I get yours" said Tsuzuki while offering a hand.

"Eto Kai," responded Kai as he took the offered hand and gave it a shake.

When he did so the key slid down his wrist and caught Tsuzuki's eye, as it did not look like just any ordinary key. It also did not look like a decorative charm for the chain so he concluded that it must have some other meaning. Kai noticed Tsuzuki's gaze go towards the bracelet and it landing on the key. Kai offered that the key was something that he doesn't recall, but keeps it with him for when his memories come back.

"So you lost your memories?" asked Tsuzuki.

"Yeah but not all of them, just the ones that were from last year," explained Kai.

"Huh I wonder why year is gone from you." Tsuzuki wondered out loud.

"Yeah you and me both. I just want to get them back so that I can just live my life, I don't know how to describe it but it feels like there is something missing. I know that the answers are in my memories," responded Kai.

"Well Eto-san I have no doubt that you will find them but keep in mind, what if they do not have the answers that you seek?" Tsuzuki asked curiosity fueling the conversation.

Kai had never thought of that, he is so sure that his memories are the key, how he knows is a mystery. Thinking of that possibility was starting to make his head hurt, the fact that he had not eaten or slept recently was not helping.

Kai put his head in his hands as the headache grew worse, this is the worst that it has been. It felt like he was trying to open a lid but it refused to budge, according to his doctor he said that this was him trying to remember but the mind refusing to follow through. All of this however, was unknown to Tsuzuki.

"Eto-san, are you okay?" asked Tsuzuki. When he had received no answer he asked again, but the response that he got was chilling; even for a shinigami like him.

"Eto-Kai is unavailable at the moment. You are speaking with Kosaka Kai, what can I help you with shinigami?" Kosaka answered in Kai's stead.

Tsuzuki was frozen to the spot not daring to go near the person that sat in front of him. Instead of the gentle young man that was sitting in front of him, there sat another person in the same body, one that was not friendly.

"So you know what I am then? For how long, and does 'Eto-san' know?" Asked Tsuzuki.

"Wow curious one aren't you? Well to answer your questions I knew who you were as far back as when you first approached. As for Kai no, he does not know what you are. To him you are just a stranger that he was hoping could have answers," explained Kosaka.

Tsuzuki did not know what to do, he was hoping that he could meet the other soul residing within the young man but he did not think that it would be this soon. This was quite the anomaly and to think that Kosaka knew what he was. He wondered if he also knew that Hisoka was nearby just in case he needed back up.

"Also you can tell your friend to quit hiding, I know that he is here too," said Kosaka.

"Well I guess the cat is out of the bag, Tsuzuki," said Hisoka as he appeared before Kosaka and his partner. "What gave it away" he pressed.

"I could hear you and not in the physical sense either, to make things simple let's call it intuition," said Kosaka. "Now that we are all here now, I will only ask once: What do you want with Kai?" questioned Kosaka.

"We came here to investigate some anomalies with the recently deceased and since we are here we came to investigate Eto-san. After all it is not every day that the judgement bureau gets visits from the living," explained Hisoka.

"Ah that incident, and here I was thinking that no one saw us," said Kosaka.

Now both of them looked confused and it was at that point that Tsuzuki moved away from Kosaka and went to stand next to Hisoka. Kosaka then explained that Kai was so desperate to get his memories back that he had tapped into some spirit energy and had astral projected into the spirit realm and in this case the judgement bureau. Kosaka convinced Eto Kai that it was all a dream and for the most part helped Kai in forgetting about it. But it seems that it was all in vain as Kosaka did not take into account that two shinigami had seen them.

"If Kai realizes what he can do, I can only imagine that it would tear him apart. I have to make sure that, that does not happen if I want to live," explained Kosaka.

"I exist solely to protect Kai from anything more traumatic. When he was young he witnessed the murder of his family. That is when I was born, I take all of the bad so that he can live a full and happy life. I am far stronger than he is so I can take the burden, but here is the catch, he does not know that I exist. I am the reason his memories are missing, and once he is strong enough and quits being an idiot then I will return them to him," explained Kosaka.

Somewhere within that long explanation the snow stopped falling.