That last chapter was so sweet. I wonder how good this chapter'll be? Who knows? Wait, I know! But I'm not gonna tell you guys. You're gonna have to read the story to find out! My cousins are fast asleep again and now I can have peace and quiet... Ah... So I hope you enjoy this new chapter! This chapter is my longest one because it not only deals with KojixKaren, but two other people that just needs some love too. Enjoy. I will shoot bad reviews with a giant laser gun while laughing maniacally.

Talking
Thinking/Memories
Important words/Emphasis

Chapter 13: Snowfall of a New Day

It was a very cold day in Mineral Town. All the crops have died, the animals have went into hibernation, and everyone in Mineral Town got ready for the winter by stacking up tons of firewood. When Koji woke up, he put on his hoodie and cap, and headed outside. He shivered and could see his breath every 5 seconds. He fed his animals and brushed his horse and had loads of free time to head into town. Meanwhile, Karen was still sleeping unaware of the snowfall that appeared last night. When she turned around to the other side in bed, she was woken up by a kiss. She opened her eyes and saw that Koji was in her bedroom. She freaked and fell out of her bed.

"Heheh… Morning Sleeping Beauty…"

"Ha-ha… very funny… Jeez, why is it so cold in here?"

"It's winter, what did you expect?"

She ran to her window and saw little crystals falling from the sky. She smiled in awe as she saw the whole town covered in a winter wonderland.

"I'm surprised that it actually snows here… back where I used to live, there wasn't any. All we ever receive for winter is just cold air and freezing rain."

She laughed and gave Koji her morning kiss.

"Well, you're lucky to be here. It snows every winter. I still get excited whenever it snows. You wait here while I wash up. And no peeking!!!"

Koji blushed and joked by faking a pout.

"Aw… that's no fun!"

She laughed and hit his face with her old clothes, but just when he pulled the clothes off of his face, she was already in her bathroom with the door locked and a sign that says "No Peeking!!!" He sat there quietly on her bed, bored to death. Then, he found a small album of pictures. All of the pictures were of Karen and her younger years. Then, he found a picture that he took his breath away. It was the picture of the same little girl that he met 10 years ago. He stared at the picture and looked at Karen's picture. Both of them looked nothing alike except for the eyes.

"Could she… Is she… No… It can't… but…"

He quickly put the album away and shook it off in disbelief. Then, out of boredom, he went over to her bathroom door and peeked into the lock hole. Suddenly, the door opened and he found Karen in her towel staring at him.

"Huh?"

She smiled and laughed.

"Didn't I tell you not to peek? Did you see anything?"

"Maybe…"

She pushed him back onto the bed and Karen pulled off a face.

"Well… if you wanted to see something… you should've asked…"

Koji's face turned red hot as Karen pulled off her towel. Unfortunately for Koji, as she took off the towel, she was already wearing her t-shirt and panties. Koji groaned in disbelief and Karen just laughed at him. He joked around and threw her pillow at her. Then, she got dressed and went straight into the kitchen without saying a word about what happened. Koji went in after her and thought about the picture that he saw. The girl looks so similar to Karen, but unfortunately, he couldn't remember how the girl looked exactly. He could never get a clear picture in his head All he could remember clearly about her was her voice. Karen finished her breakfast and saw Koji sitting and staring into space. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stared at him with big puppy eyes.

"Koji? What's wrong? Are you mad because you didn't get to see me naked?"

He suddenly smiled and laughed for a bit.

"No! It's not that… I'm just a little slow this morning…"

Then she grabbed her jacket and walked to the inn with Koji, holding his arm. They went inside and were greeted by Ann and Cliff. As they walked through the inn, they noticed that the walls were decorated with wreaths, the stair case was lined with tinsel, and a large Christmas tree was in a far off corner of the room. It seems that Doug and Ann were preparing for the upcoming Christmas party. As the two sat at the bar and saw that Cliff was looking a bit stressed.

"Hey Cliff, what's wrong? You're not your usual cheery self."

"It's nothing, I've… just been drinking too much, that's all…"

Koji ordered two bottles of wine for him and Karen and Ann passed by and sat next to both of them.

"Hey Koji! You're looking a little cheerful today!"

"Well, I could've been better…"

"What's wrong?"

He smiled and joked.

"I didn't get to see Karen naked!"

Karen spat out her drink and pinned Koji to the floor, laughing. She grabbed his collar, made a fist, and just when Koji shut his eyes for the impact, she nuzzled his neck softly. Koji and Karen got up and then they saw Cliff gloomily walk out of the inn.

"Hey Ann, what's up with Cliff?"

"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me… I'm worried about him… Why don't you go talk to him Koji? After all, you two are best buds."

"Yeah… I'll go see what's up…"

He went outside and Karen and Ann were left alone, talking with each other about Karen's relationship and about Christmas. Meanwhile, Koji found Cliff walking towards the church.

"Cliff! Wait up!"

"Huh? Oh… Koji…"

"Hey man, what's up? Is something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing wrong… I'm just not feeling very talky today…"

"Come on… you're my best buddy! Besides, we're guys! Guys tell each other stuff! So turn that frown upside down!"

Cliff smiled and laughed for a short time.

"Heheh… Did Karen finally cheer you up by showing you her body?"

His face turned red and smiled.

"No! I'm just trying to make you happy as a friend…"

"I told you Koji it's nothing… Now if you'll excuse me, I wanna be left alone right now…"

Then, Karen and Ann walked up to Koji.

"Did you find anything?"

Cliff went into the church and Koji looked back at Ann and Karen.

"Nah… he wouldn't tell me anything… but he does look kind of stressed lately…"

Karen put her hands on Koji and Ann looked into the window of the church. Cliff was sitting in one of the chairs with his head down. Meanwhile Koji and Karen were sitting at their usual spots near the river. Karen placed her hand on Koji's back and rubbed him gently.

"I don't know Karen… I never seen Cliff like this… If he could've just told me what's wrong… then… he wouldn't be like this anymore…"

"Oh… I know it's hard to see your best friend change sweetie…"

"I just don't know what to do…"

"It'll be alright… soon, Cliff will be back to his old self again… you'll see…"

"Yeah… I hope so…"

She held him close and kissed him gently. She stayed with Koji for an extremely long amount of time, comforting him to no end. He placed his arm around her and Karen snuggled into his body. Meanwhile, Ann was watching Cliff sulk throughout the whole inn.

"I don't know Dad… I wish I could help… if only he could just tell me what's wrong…"

"Ann… he just needs some time to think… soon, he'll be his old self again… after all, you're the one he needs the most…"

"You're right…"

The next day, Koji went outside to see if Cliff is okay. Unfortunately, he's still depressed. Karen held his hand and asked him to just talk to him.

"Are you sure he'll even talk to me?"

"Right now… He needs a friend…"

"Yeah… maybe this time, I'll be able to talk to him…"

He went over to Cliff who had just left the inn.

"Hey Cliff…"

"I don't wanna talk right now…"

"Listen… I wanna know what's up with you today…"

"I told you before it's nothing!"

"That doesn't mean for you to not tell us what's up with you…"

"Look, just leave me alone… I don't wanna talk about it…"

"Cliff…"

"I thought I told you to leave me alone!"

"…Alright then… if that's what you want…"

Cliff went inside the church and stayed there for several hours. Koji went back into the inn and Ann came out to see if anything new has happened.

"Did you find out why Cliff was so sad?"

Koji sadly shook his head and Ann's head drooped.

"Oh… well… thanks anyway Koji…"

"I'm really sorry Ann… but he didn't wanna talk about it… I wish I could've helped…"

"It's alright…"

Koji gave and a warm hug and left with Karen to talk near the river.

"I'm sorry Koji…"

"It's probably not that big of a deal anyway… I just hope Cliff will be alright… We're like brothers…"

"I know it's hard sweetie… but sometimes you just need them to have some alone time to themselves…"

"I just don't know… but thanks for being there for me Karen… I love you…"

"I love you too…"

She embraced Koji and held him the same way as she did last time. Meanwhile, Cliff was talking with Pastor Carter.

"Cliff… you need to tell me what's wrong… it's my duty as a pastor to help you through times of darkness…"

"…It's my family… I remember back where I used to live, it would always snow like this… and now since I moved here… I'm starting to miss them…"

"Cliff… you need to be strong… yes, thinking about your family is a sign that you miss them, but you need to lose the past and live in the now…"

"I don't know…"

Ann watched Cliff through the window until Cliff went outside. It was colder than ever. Cliff's face started to turn red. He couldn't walk straight and nearly tripped over a rock. He couldn't see anything in front of him. All he could see was whiteness of the snow. He stopped in the middle of Town Square and then smiled.

"The snow…"

Koji walked towards the Square to check up on Cliff. But when he arrived, he saw Cliff in the middle, smiling. Suddenly, he collapsed to the ground. Koji panicked and ran towards him.

"Cliff! Cliff!! Somebody get help!!!"

Ann heard the screaming and ran to the Square as fast as she can. She noticed Cliff on the ground with his eyes closed. She gasped and ran over to his immobile body.

"Cliff… no… please… CLIIIIIIIFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Ann? Ann…"

He opened his eyes for a quick second and then lost consciousness. It has been several hours after Cliff's fainting. He was then found at the clinic resting with Ann at his bedside. Koji and Karen watched by.

"Cliff always told me that I remind him of his sister… he always cared for me… I wanted to tell him that I like him, but… I just couldn't… I'm guessing you two would know how that feels…"

Karen wrapped her arms around Ann.

"Don't worry Ann… he'll be fine… The doctor said that Cliff is just overstressed and the winter air made the conditions worse… Before you know it, Cliff will be back to his old self again…"

"Thank you, Karen…"

Koji reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. He looked at it and it was a photo of Cliff in his younger days and his family with him.

"So this is why Cliff was so stressed lately… His family… He misses his family…"

He noticed on the side of the younger Cliff was a photo of a little girl that looks similar to Ann. Suddenly, he heard a sound. It sounded like Cliff had woken up. Ann looked up and stared at him. Her aqua eyes stared into his deep brown eyes.

"Ann…"

"Cliff…"

She quickly rushed up to his neck and held him closely with tears in her eyes. He's never seen Ann like this before. He put his arms around her and gently kissed her. She pulled away and held his hands to her face while smiling at her.

"Cliff… don't you ever scare me like that again…"

He gave her a gentle smile and kissed her again. This time, Ann returned it. Koji walked up to him and pulled out the photo of him and his family.

"Hey Cliff… I believe this belongs to you?"

He gave Koji a blank expression on his face while Koji just stood there and smiled.

"How did you?"

"I found it a couple minutes after you collapsed… I thought that you might want it back…"

Cliff smiled and took the picture back. Then he reached out his hand and Koji gave him a friendly hold onto it. He looked at Ann and smiled at her.

"Karen and I'll leave you two alone for a bit…"

Cliff and Ann looked at each other and blushed. As Karen and Koji left, Karen held onto his hand as he took her home.

"I'm glad that you were there for both of them…"

"Yeah… you know, Cliff sometimes remind me of him when he was younger. Throughout my life, I've always missed this one person…"

"Well, who was it?"

He stared at Karen and pictured her as the girl that he met 10 years ago. He smiled and gave Karen a hug.

"…I can't say… But I know she'll be there…"

Karen gave Koji a confused expression on her face and then smiled.

"Well whoever it is… I hope you'll find her…"

The two held each other until dark. Ann has finally confessed her love to Cliff and the two stayed at the inn, talking all night. The first day of winter is always one of the most comfortable time of winter. The snow, the silent winds, and the warmth of each other's hearts, always brings the love of two lovers back together.