Forbidden Encounter of Snow

Reunion and Parents

I opened my eyes slowly, feeling fatigued. The first thing I saw was a white ceiling. Had they caught me? Am I in a cell right now? I thought, trying to make sense of the place I was in. And then, I realised that I was covered with a blanket. "No.... since when did cells have beds? Let alone blankets..?" I mumbled to myself, trying to sit up.

Pushing myself into a sitting position, I began to look at the room I was in. A closet, desk, mirror, and window. Yep, I'm definitely not in a prison cell. Unless some moron wanted to make prison cells look pretty for the prisoners and make them feel comfortable and at home, it was obvious that I was in either a strangely decorated prison cell, or.... someone's room....

I looked around further, trying to see if the person that this room belonged to was in here. At that, I heard a yawn. From beside the bed, towards the ground.

Deciding to look towards the ground, I found someone I didn't expect. A girl with black hair and blue bangs, in a fancy looking dress and jewelery, beginning to sit up and stretch her arms. She seemed familiar somehow....

She opened her eyes, and I saw a pair of familiar sapphire eyes. She looked towards me. I blinked when I saw her eyes widen. "You're awake! Thank god! For a moment there I thought you'd stay asleep forever!" She said in a happy tone.

I don't know how to react to that but okay... "Hey, how do you feel?" She stood up on her own two feet, and looked me in the eye. Her voice sounded familiar too...

I nodded slowly. She blinked at me, tilting her head slightly. "Seimei? Do you remember me?" She asked. My eyes widened. 

Could she be.... the girl back then? I tried hard to recall her name. Soon, the images of her in my memories slowly came back to me. "K...Kori...?" I said, remembering her name at last. I kinda wanted to smack myself for forgetting her name, but decided against that.

I saw her eyes sparkle. "Yeah! It's me! Kori! From nine years ago! Remember?" She excitedly said at a pace that I could barely keep up with.

I let out a soft snicker at her familiar tone of voice when she got excited about something. "Yeah.... I remember...." I gave her a small smile, that made her look even more elated than before.

Out of the blue, she wrapped her arms around me, and hugged me. I blinked, taking a minute to let my brain recognize what had just happened. "Thank goodness... I missed you... a lot." I heard her whisper.

I felt something hot and wet drip onto my shoulder. Was she... crying? I looked at her once more, surprised. Taking a deep breath, I let out a soft sigh. I returned her hug, and let my head rest on her shoulder. "I... missed you too...." I whispered back.

I felt my smile widen, as my once tense body relaxed. She undid that hug and looked into my eyes. "I didn't know you were a spirit. Why didn't you tell me?" I didn't expect her to say that, and just looked at her in surprise.

I bit my lip gently. "I didn't tell you because I was afraid you'd go tell the people at the castle, and that would ultimately lead to my death." I replied honestly. I knew how much this area's king and queen hated spirits, and if one were to so much as be in the area, that person would immediately have to face a severe punishment.

She let out a sigh of relief. Wait... relief? "Phew.... for a second there I thought you didn't trust me enough to keep secrets." She said. I looked at her, blinking multiple times.

"Seriously?" I looked at her with a dumbfounded expression.

She sighed. "Yes. Seriously." She answered me, flicking my forehead roughly.

"Ow! What was that for, Kori?!" I put a hand to my forehead, scowling.

She gave me a wide grin in response. "It's called revenge for when you flicked me nine years ago!" Kori replied, grinning widely.