I awoke to the feeling of something jumping on my back trying to get my attention and I let out a groan sitting up and feeling the object fall between my legs, I twisted around and rubbed my eyes looking at the blue fluff ball that was staring up at me.

"Ren?" I yawned turning over and picking him up, and placing him in my legs. "What's the matter?" I stretched and pulled hair over my shoulder and proceeded to smooth it out as I slowly began waking up.

"It was time you woke up." Ren said immediately, laying on my legs, and looking up at me. "Also there has been a change in the climate outside, Mink told me to tell you when you woke up. Apparently, he believes you will have fun today." I gave Ren a confused look and gathered him into my arms, and kicked off the blanket shivering as my feet hit the cold wooden floor. I crossed the room to the window that was in our bedroom and winced as I pulled the curtain back. Everything seemed so much brighter, and it briefly hurt my eyes. I squinted them shut and slowly opened them allowing them time to adjust little by little. I let out a loud gasp as the scenery came into focus. The ground was covered in white and the trees looked like someone had covered them in powdered sugar.

"Ren it snowed!" I shouted putting him on the bed and quickly getting dressed in layers before grabbing Ren, and bolting out of the bedroom. I sat down and pulled on my boots before running outside shivering slightly as the cold air hit me. I let out another gasp as I jumped off the porch into the fluffy snow, listening to it crunch beneath my feet. I paused and lifted my foot before placing it back on the ground amazed as the snow crunched beneath my feet once again.

"You should be careful Aoba," Ren gave a warning from my arms. "Snow will turn to ice if stepped on too much. Besides, there's a good chance that there is already ice in some patches."

"Don't worry Ren." I laugh as I take a step forward, but I blink as my foot slips out from under me. Before I have time to think about what happened I land on my back. I give a gasp of surprise as I felt a sudden coldness on the back of my head and neck.

"Agh!" I give a small shout and bolt up brushing the snow off my head.

"I did warn you." Ren remarked from lap. I shot him a glare, and stood up brushing the snow off my back.

"Oh, be quiet." I sat Ren down. "How does it feel?"

"It's cold, and slightly wet." Ren remarked, and I snorted, kneeling down to watch him. He lifted his paws slightly, and sat them down. Watching his front paws as they touched the snow, making the same crunch sound only quieter. "It's also rather fluffy." I laughed at his offhand remark, and stood up stretching slightly.

Mink was right, I was gonna have fun today. We never had snow back in Midorijima. I mean sure it snowed, we do live by the ocean after all, but since Midorijima is a city, and full of people the snow never actually stuck around for more than a couple hours. And what snow we did have wasn't anything like this. The snow was everywhere, not just on the ground but on the trees and the roof of the house. Oh, the porch was covered too. I hesitated, but went to the shed behind the house and pulled out the broom; Ren followed close behind me as I walked back to the house and set to work on sweeping the snow off the porch.

"Do you think this will be ok Ren?" I asked him. "Or will it make it slippery?" I don't want Mink to fall as he comes in or leaving the house, but I also told him I would take care of all the cleaning while he was away at work. No matter how exciting the snow may be for me I can't slack off on my chores, while Mink may not get angry at me I still won't allow myself that laziness while he's out working hard.

"I'll take care of the ice." a gruff voice replied instead of Ren's deep one. I looked up just in time to see a large pink bird fly up to me and land on the railing.

"Welcome back Mink." I called excitedly. "Welcome back Huracan." They both nodded to me as Mink walked up the stairs and stopped in front of me. I looked up at him, and he stared at me seemingly indifferent.

"What are you doing?" Mink asked me suddenly, and I tilt my head. Doing?

"I'm sweeping off the snow?" I replied hesitantly. "Are you not supposed to?"

"You can yes." Mink replied deeply. "However, I figured you would be enjoying the snow."

"Oh…" I blushed slightly and looked down. "Actually I was, so I don't have any of the other chores done…wait, why are you back so early?" I looked up at him, and his arms are crossed. He's not mad so it doesn't make me uneasy, but I am curious as to what he's thinking about.

"There's another snow storm on the way." Mink explained as he looked down on me. "So they closed the town for the day, they didn't want anyone to end up stranded there."

"A snowstorm?" I replied uneasily. This was also something Midorijima never had so I don't know much about them, but I did know that snow in large quantities could be extremely dangerous.

"It's nothing to worry about." Mink sat his bag inside the house and shut the door, he looked back at me and continued. "I already prepared for the snowstorm, we always have one in these lands. The only thing left to do is wait for it to get here."

"Is there anything I need to get done before hand?" Needless to say my nerves were a little on edge, but Mink didn't seem concerned in the least so that kept me somewhat calmer.

"Enjoy the snow while you can." Mink leaned against the house and studied me. "There's no point in sweeping, it'll be covered in a couple hours again."

"I see." I said as Mink grabbed the broom and leaned it against the wall next to him. Ok? Usually he wants everything back to where it was, but I guess not right now? I resist the urge to shrug and look at Ren who had curled into a little ball while we talked.

"You ok Ren?" I leaned down and patted his head. "You're not getting too cold are you?" Ren was an old model so I had to be careful with him, it's not that I couldn't or wouldn't fix him if something did happen, but it would definitely take me awhile, and I didn't want to be without him. I'm sure Mink would leave Huracan behind on the days he worked if I asked him to, but it wouldn't be the same. No offense to Huracan. I glanced over at him as if he could read my mind, but he wasn't paying me any mind. Instead he was staring off into the forest, as if guarding the house.

"I'm fine." Ren replied, and I returned my attention back to him. "Also Aoba, you're thinking too much again. If…."

"Yeah, yeah I get it." I interrupt him before he could finish. "I get it." I brushed the snow off him and held him tight in my arms. "So Ren, what should we do?" Ren was quiet for a few moments before he spoke up.

"I looked into a few snow activities you might find interest in." I slightly winced at his formal way of speaking, but listened closely. "You could make a snow angel, which you nearly did early anyways." I blushed when he brought up my earlier fall. "Or you could possible attempt to make a snowman."

"Let's go with the second one." I respond, I didn't feel like having my hair in the snow again. It was cold. Really cold. Ren gave me basic instructions on how to build a snowman, and I sat to work with Ren watching me from the porch. Mink stared at me as well, unmoving from his spot, and it made me self-conscious at first, but then I slowly started getting into it and forgot about the watchful eyes. I didn't want to make a really big snowman, honestly the one I was making was probably only going to be slightly taller than Huracan. But for some reason the snow kept falling apart every time I tried to pack it together. I let out a sigh before jumping slightly as I saw something come near me out of the corner of my eye. I jerked my head up as Mink kneeled down beside me.

"Mink?" I said quietly, as he shifted beside me; he brought one arm around my shoulders and cupped both my hands in his.

"The snow is still soft." Mink said scooping snow up in our hands. "So you'll have to work with it a little before it'll get hard enough to stay together." With a little force we managed to get the snow to harden and packed it together until we got the bottom part of the snowman done. Though to be honest, I was more focused on Mink's warmth than I was on the snowman. It was something I noticed often, but the size difference between Mink and I was pretty incredible. I don't mean just in height, that's obvious, but he's also more muscular than I am, he's broad. And honestly, I loved that fact about him. He also smelled so much like cinnamon, being around Mink was a calming matter, I no longer held any fear of him. I still had the occasional nightmares about what happened in Platinum Jail, but I don't hold it against him anymore. I forgave him, and while it wasn't easy, I allowed myself to move past it, and see the man that was in front of me as he is now.

"Aoba?" Mink looked down on and I snapped my focus back to what was happening. Our hands had stopped moving and he was stared at me.

"Sorry, just got a little distracted." I felt me face heat up completely, and I had to look away.

"Maybe we should get you inside before you get sick." Mink stood up, and I immediately felt lonely.

"But I'm fine!" I said, but went silent as a strong gust of wind blew between the trees and whipped my hair around. I looked up as the wind calmed down and saw that Mink was focused on the sky.

"No, we go inside now." Mink strode off towards the house, and glanced over his shoulder to make sure I had followed him. "The storm arrived sooner than expected. We shouldn't be outside right now." Just as he finished his sentence the wind picked back up and along with it large snowflakes began falling from the sky. Apparently the blizzard had hit early.

Me: Hey! How was chapter 2? I felt Mink was a little OOC, but I'm not used to his type of personality so I'm going to have to work on him. I have to admit I was starting to sweat a little, I thought I wasn't going to get this chapter up in time, but I did! I hope you all liked it! Also I want to make a little clarification cause I can almost hear the flames starting; I don't approve of what Mink did to Aoba back in Platinum Jail, not one bit and I'm not saying that at all in this chapter. And honestly, I'm not going to go into that little war at all. However, this chapter is set after DRAMAtical Murder RE:Connect where Mink has changed, and is TRYING to make amends with Aoba. And with Aoba's personality (and as is said/hinted to in the game), I believe Aoba has forgive Mink over time, not forget, but has allowed himself to move on rather than linger in a past that tortures him. And I truly believe Mink regrets his actions, that much is really clear (again this is all my opinion), and that's what I went with in this chapter. Anyways, I said I wasn't going to go into it, and I kinda did, but I didn't want to make anyone mad by having them think I forgive Mink's actions in the first game cause I don't, so please don't blow up my inbox with hate, it'll make me sad.

ANYWAYS! Merry Christmas everyone, and look forward to tomorrow's chapter! Who will it be? Heck, I don't even know yet -_-'

Later ;P