Chapter 3

"Ahh-" I scream, closing my eyes and bracing for impact, but it never came.

"Hey Reina" Shiru says sweetly grabbing the heavy bags I was carrying"

"Hey Shiru, oh thank you" I say back to Shiru, giving him a warm smile. At the lodge we skied together for a few hours. Since my sister was with her friend and my mom and dad were still skiing, me and Shiru decided to go inside to warm up and maybe go for a swim. We shuffle inside, I instantly dart towards the warm fire pulling off my gloves and raising my hands towards the fire.

"Ahh, my hands were freezing" I say with a sigh of relief. Shiru sits next to me.

"Yeah it is pretty cold outside, hey why don't we go swimming now that will definitely warm us up" Shiru says standing up and stretching out my hand to grab. I take his hand.

"Okay, I'll go get my swimsuit and I'll meet you at the pool," I say, giving him a reassuring smile. Around ten minutes later I had a light pink ruffle bikini on and was waiting for Shiru. Hearing a loud screeching noise behind me I quickly turn around. Losing my footing on the slippery tile.

omes. I feel a warm embrace. Slowly I open my eyes seeing Shiro's bare chest and feeling his strong arms hold me, as his warm eyes show concern and surprise. My face instantly goes red from embarrassment.

"Are you okay" Shiru asks me with concern as he sets me back on my own feet.

"Yeah, thank you" I mumble embarrassed of how thoughtless I was. Thankfully the situation wasn't brought up again. Shiru and I had a fun time in the warm relaxing pool. It was nice to just relax for awhile with shiru. He looked so cute in a bathing suit at times I wanted to just squeal. After that we dried off and got around for dinner. I was sitting in the warm lodge area in a simple red dress with rose lacing to give it a sparkle effect. I had red heels on so it was a bit harder to walk around in, so I sat down. As I saw my parents walking towards me.

"Oh sweetheart you look beautiful" My mom tells me, giving me a hug.

"Thanks," I reply, getting to my feet.

"Well since we're going to have dinner here me and your father are going to the dining hall and reserve a table I'll give you a call when where ready and make sure to watch your sister" My mom says looking around to make sure Emily was behaving by the lodges christmas tree with her friend as she follows dad to the dining hall across the lodge.

"Okay Emily you better be good" I say to Emily and her friend as they gawk at the christmas tree. I stand there watching as Emily and her friend play around. I hear someone behind me and turn around to see Shiru wearing a nice suit.

"Hey Shiru" I say smiling "My mom and dad are reserving a table so we have to wait here for the time being".

"Okay, oh you dropped this" Shriu says, picking up a rose pin and sticking it in my hair.

"Oh thanks" I say, feeling my hair to make sure the flowers were in right. Shiru and I sat together as Emily came up to us with my phone in her hands, she raised it up and then took a picture. "Hey what are you doing" I ask, snatching the phone from her hands.

"I was just taking pictures" Emily says smiling, as her and her friend run off giggling. I checked my gallery and sure enough there were a ton of pictures of the lodge, mom and dad, and me and Shiru in it.

"Darn it, that little thief," I say getting mad at Emily. Shiru smirks.

"I know what you mean, my little sister does that stuff all the time" Shiru says. I frown.

"Hey Shiru, may I ask you something?" I ask.

"Sure anything" Shiru says.

"Well I guess you know a lot about me, but I don't know that much about you or how it's like in japan" I say with wonder.

"Well you're right so I guess I live in Nara Japan with my mom, dad and little sister Yukki, my favorite animal is cats and I also love feeding the deer in Nara. It's really beautiful there" Shiru explains.

"Have you ever been to a Cat Island?" I ask.

"Yeah my mom and dad took me there when I was young for my birthday, I wish you could meet my parents there really nice" Shiru says, sighing with a kind of yearning look.

"Yeah that would be nice" I replied.

"Oh yeah you'll get to meet them for graduation which is only in a few months" Shiru says, His face lighting up at the thought.

"Yeah you're right, but you're going back to japan after graduation right" I say with a sadness in my voice.

"Kind off, but don't worry we'll figure something out" Shiru says, giving me a reassuring smile.

"Yeah we'll figure it out" I say, trying to reassure myself. Suddenly my phone starts playing an anime op. I instantly answered it. "Hello". It was my mom telling me the table was finally ready. "Okay I tell everyone, bye" I hang up. "Well looks like the tables are ready" I tell Shiru, as I rangle Emily and her friend towards the lodges dining hall. Shiru by my side. Shiru sat next to me at dinner and thankfully mom and dad seemed to like him. Dinner was surprisingly pretty fun. After dinner mom and dad went off to take a walk, and Emily and her friend went swimming.

"What else do you want to do?" Shiru asks, looking at the clock it was around ten p.m.

"I don't know," I replied, looking at the lodge's pamphlet "Oh scratch that we still can go ice skating" I say getting excited. Shiru agreed, and sure enough after a quick change me and Shiru were back outside at the ice skating rink.

"Wow it is slippery" I say almost falling onto the cold ice. Shiru agrees.

"Yeah, in Japan I used to ice skate sometimes for school," Shiru says, grabbing my hand.

"Really, I guess I ice skated a few times before for school field trips too" I say, taking Shiru's hand and skating with him.

"Talking about that I've been thinking since we graduated and I'm going back to Japan for the summer, I was wondering if you would like to come with me," Shiru says, turning to me and looking me right in the eye. I gasp.

"That sounds wonderful" I say with a smile spreading across my face, Shiru looks ecstatic.

"Really" Shiru says, as we hug.

"I would love to go to Japan with you" I reply, as we hug. After that we headed inside and decided to get to bed. I woke up around four a.m in the mourning from a bad dream. It was so horrible that I couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up to go get something to eat. Slipping on my black moccasin slippers I went downstairs to the kitchens in my red scottie dog pajamas and my hair with little red ribbons pulling my hair back so it wasn't entirely in my face. I thought it would be better if I did my hair in case someone saw me. The halls were dark, except the entrance area with the embers of the fire still burning red. Feeling my way through the dark halls to the kitchen walking up to the kitchen doors I slowly pull them open. Seeing a dark figure in front of me I jump back tripping on my pajamas and landing on the floor. Muffling a scream with my hand. Suddenly the kitchen lights turned on and Shiru was right beside me helping me up.

"Shiru you scared me to death" I say as he helps me to my feet.

"Sorry I just woke up and couldn't get back to bed so I decided to get a glass of milk" Shiru tells me, as we sit down at the Kitchen counter.

"Same, I couldn't sleep so I decided to come down here and get something to eat" I say, getting up to walk over to the fridge. Shiru follows. Pulling open the freezer I find a pint of Ice cream. "Yes I found some Ice cream" I say as I start to look for a few spoons.

"I found some cookies," Shiru says, holding up a package of cookies.

"Oh yeah this is going to be fun" I whisper to Shiru, feeling excitement wash away the sleepiness. Finally deciding on a spot to sit, Shiru and I went to the second lounge area in the back of the lodge. It was way smaller than the entrance lounge, with a couch and plush armchairs, a window seat, and a big warm fireplace with a tv above it. Grabbing a fluffy blanket off of a big stack on a table near the door. Siru and I decided to sit at the window seat. Shiru was wearing a grey sweater with blue plaid pajama pants. I jump up on the window seat because it was higher up, Shiru smirks as he grabs the blanket I was carrying. Snuggling up next to Shiru I sit closest to the window. Shiru wraps the blanket around us as I crack open the pint of chocolate ice cream. Taking a bite I melt with joy. "Ya gotta try this chocolate ice cream it is amazing". Shiru takes a bite.

"Mmm, this is really good".

"Hey Shiru," I ask him.

"Yeah Riena," Shiru says looking at me.

"What's your favorite ice cream" I ask, taking another bite.

"Vanilla with caramel or strawberries, your's?" Shiru asks.

"Chocolate or sometimes cookie dough" I reply over a mouthful of cold ice cream. Then for the next few hours we talked until the early morning sun started to peek through the tree's as the snow lightly fell, it was around six am. I was laying my head on Shiru's lap, my eyes half closed from exhaustion, Shiru was tired too. He gently stroked my hair out of my face.

"I love you Riena" Shiru whispers to me.

"I love you too" I whisper back. Closing my eyes I fall asleep.