Seek for the Little Flower

'Seiichi-chan!!' The eager voice of an eight-year old girl echoed in the snowy field. It was like a bell to Seiichi. He dropped the stick he was drawing on the snow with and hurried to the direction of the call. Full of excitement, he couldn't wait to see what new things Ruka had found this time. She stood in the shade of an oak tree, her eyes fixed on something below her.

'Look, a flower!' She pointed with her fluffy, pink gloved finger at a bright red flower of an unknown breed. It seemed to be blooming. Seiichi crouched down beside it to take a closer look.

'Mother said all flowers sleep during winter!' Seiichi gasped with surprise. Being of the same age as Ruka, he believed in the magic fairytales told by his parents. Indeed it was an extraordinary sight to find a blossoming flower in the middle of December. The plant was like a little drop of blood, an irregular shaped crimson dot on the pure white snow. It seemed to have feelings, as if it was glad it was an object of interest for two young children.

'D'ya think it wants to come with us?' Seiichi wondered. He felt it too, that the flower was alive and had emotions.

'Won't the tree be lonely though?' Ruka glanced up and down the tree. The trees behind it were all pine trees, the oak stood at front like their leader. It seemed to be like a shelter for the petite flower, even though it has lost all of its leaves.

Seiichi shrugged his shoulders and thought over his decision thoroughly.

'I think it should stay here, with the tree.' He said finally and stood up for a final glimpse at the plant.

'Yup,' Ruka nodded 'That's where it belongs.'

A little flower and its guardian, the mighty oak tree. Two plants so different and yet so close.

Still breathing, even in the bitter cold.