Winter Meeting

Chill air streaked across the empty parking lot as Akira ran her hand across the windshield, brushing away a thin layer of snow. Mentally kicking herself for not grabbing the snow brush out from the hall closet before heading out that morning, she tried to ignore the sharp, cold pain in her hand as it pushed the fluffy white stuff away, but the biting cold air certainly wasn't helping. A couple guys from the office strolled by, keeping their eyes away, probably laughing at her flustered expression, but she didn't care.

Walk on by, jackasses!

Truthfully, it bothered her a lot to look so frazzled, but she had this air of cool to maintain; sometimes it felt a little like being trapped in someone else's body, though. Keeping herself contained was something that, thankfully, came naturally. It was one of the few things she inherited from her father that didn't bother her. In a courtroom, maintaining your cool was about eighty percent of getting a verdict in your favor.

Okay, that probably wasn't true, but it sounded good. Besides, it wasn't her job to spend much time in court; if she did her job right, everything was handled in a nice, air conditioned office with carefully planned discussion and paperwork. Real lawyering wasn't quite as sensational as television dramas often portrayed.

It paid the bills, though, and kept a roof over her and Lilly. Well, not so much Lilly anymore. Something about her moving into the dorms at Yamaku still hadn't quite sunk in, but after six years together that was hardly surprising. Even though she was kind of overtly prim and proper, she'd always gotten along with her little sister; despite being so different. Maybe that's why it worked, she thought. One of them had to be the boisterous, loud-mouthed pain in the ass, and one of them had to be a reserved, uptight stick in the mud.

Some television executive would probably see dollar signs if someone showed him a script based on their life together in that little apartment. Two hot sisters living in a third-floor walk-up, one of them blind, the other a lawyer, constantly at odds about everything; a modern odd couple. Throw in the quirky neighbor, a few suited-up friends, and even a few students from the special school for flavor and it'd be television gold.

Akira could write up the likeness contracts.

Smirking at her trailing thoughts, Akira finished clearing off the snow and dove into the heated car, shoving her numbed hand In front of the vent to try and warm it back to normal. Beet red and wet from the melting snow, she flexed her fingers in the warm stream of air for a few minutes, listening to her car idle. The darkened night sky and the irridescent glow from the street lamps stretched on forever into the distance, caught in the late-night silence of mid-winter, making her feel wistful.

Last year around this time, she and Lilly were busy with holiday preparations. That was really Lilly's thing, though. Akira loved the holidays because it made for a great excuse to get drunk some nights, but the spirit of the time itself never really had much affect on her. Spending some extra time with close friends was nice, but the prospect of shopping for gifts, wrapping gifts, and giving gifts never quite held any allure; receiving gifts was nice, though.

No doubt Lilly had something carefully planned for the occasion, probably involving her new best friend; that dark-haired shy girl Lilly was always mentioning. The description was a little bit lacking, but she never expected much in that department from Lilly. Hanako, by name, she recalled; it was hard keeping up with Lilly's ever-expanding list of friends, but Akira got the sense she really liked this new one.

Meeting her would probably be a big part of the upcoming visit, and Akira was secretly dreading the encounter. Not that she had anything against the students at Yamaku, or whatever problems they were dealing with, but maintaining her cool facade was something she liked to let go of around Lilly. Having to meet someone new would mean keeping her guard up, even though she'd rather just kick back and giggle with her sister.