Don't leave by LunaFair (a.k.a Anna M. Haslinger) (snow like ashes series TXT) 📖

had to be removed and other stuff no one had done for quite a while. Or it just looked so bad, because of the snow that had been everywhere for the last few months.
Soon we started to work. At first he helped, but then he was only standing next to a tree, giving me orders for about three hours, before I allowed myself to fall into the grass and take a rest.
"I should have known", I murmured, when he walked over to me.
"Hey! Who said we where taking a break?", he asked, glaring at me.
I just wiped my face and looked back at him. It had gotten hotter, and I had been working for hours while taking orders from him and getting scratched by dead or half alive plants. My armes and torso where bloody, because I had taken off my shirt in order to protect it from being scratched as well.
"I did", I told him,"I need a break, please ..."
He barely nodded, before sitting down next to me. The strange thing was, that he looked almost as exhausted as I was feeling, although he hadn't done much ...
"Let's call it a day, okay?", he asked and smiled at me.
Was he honest? Just a moment ago, he was giving me orders like there was nothing else for him to do, and now he would allow me to stop?
"You're kidding me, right?", I dared to ask.
He gave me a smirk, before looking around.
"Why should I be? We did a lot today, so why shouldn't we do something else today?", he asked and smiled even more, when he saw the irritated look on my face,"I mean, there are also things we can do inside ... like doing another puzzle or something like that ..."
I smiled at the thought. The puzzle had been fun, and he seemed to enjoy them very much.
He seemed to read my mind immediately and got up again.
"But we need to get the stuff away ... We can't just let the branches, leaves and the other dead plants lie around here on the grass. Let's put the plants on the compost heap, and the branches inside to dry, so we can use it for making a fire later.", he said, picking up some dead plants and carrying them to the said place.
I followed him, doing the same.
We worked like this for quite a while, until I noticed he was breathing heavily. I didn't do anything about it, for it seemed he wanted to continue working. Besides that, he ignored me, whenever I tried to talk to him. So I would let him have his way. He seemed to be used to that, so why not? This was just a job anyway. I told myself not to worry about him. This wasn't what I was supposed to do at the moment ...
Soon we had put everything where it should be, and I went outside once more to collect the last branches, when I noticed that something was wrong ...
I started running towards Hideto, who was lying on the ground, obviously unconscious. Kneeling down next to him, I noticed that his face was terribly pale and little drops of sweat had formed on his forehead. Immediately the image of him in my dream returned to my mind again, and I quickly picked him up, realizing that he was terribly skinny despite the huge amount of food he could eat. He was still breathing heavily and quite fast. His small body was shivering, and his eyes were shut.
Quickly I carried him inside and up to his room where I laid him onto his big bed, that seemed to be very comfortable. I kneeled down next to him an put the soft blankets over his small body.
I got up again, rushed to the bathroom and got a cloth to wipe the sweat off his face. When I returned, he looked at me, his eyes half lidded and smiling sadly, as he saw me. I sat down next to him, cleaning his face, when he closed his eyes again and drifted off to a not too peaceful sleep, as far as I could judge this. He had a fever, and I got the feeling he knew ...
He was murmuring in his sleep again, and again I was unable to understand something, until some words got to my ears quite quite clear, although I didn't understand what he was talking about ... and at whom his words where addressed.
"I'm sorry ... Ashita-sama"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~day 3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ouch...", I murmured, when I woke up because of something poking me. When I realized who the only person near me was, I looked up, right into Hideto‘s face. He looked better again, although he looked tired ... but he gave me a smirk.
"I thought you'd never wake up", he said, before standing up and pulling me with him,"Come on, sleepy head!"
Before I knew what was going on, we were in the kitchen. I could smell fresh coffee. Birds were singing outside and the sun was shining brightly, illuminating the table and the cups filled with coffee, standing on it, next to some bread, butter and jam.
He had ... made breakfast?!
He smiled as he noticed the look on my face.
"For worrying you so much yesterday", he said,"So eat. We'll go swimming today"
He couldn't be serious ... But he seemed to remember what had happened ...
"Haido ... you broke down yesterday! You should get some rest", I said, sounding more worried than I had wanted to.
He just shrugged, a neutral look on his face.
"As if it would make any difference. You have clothes to go swimming? If not, you can swim naked. There are usually not many people around the lake", he said, giving me a smirk and rushing off.
I just stared, looking at his back until he disappeared.

What the hell was he thinking? He had broken down just some hours ago and now he wanted to go out?
I had been by his side the whole night, just to be sure he was okay. His body had been so hot, but he had been shivering at the same time and sweat had formed on his forehead again and again, no matter how often I had removed it. He had been miserable, talking in his sleep and mistaking me for this Ashita person whenever he opened his eyes for a moment - and even when his eyes where closed. He had been clinging to me so tight, that after some hours I must have fallen asleep, because of his warmth affecting me.
To be honest, it was me feeling miserable now. Because after what had happened, it would be so hard not to worry about small, fragile Hideto...

"What are you staring at?", he asked when I just stood by the water, as he said, staring,"Take off your clothes and go into the water!"
Why wasn't he staring? The surrounding was so beautiful ... everything around the lake was blooming, butterflies were flying around. I had never been here before, although it was just a few minutes away from the town. It was easy to reach it on foot, or using a horse. We had just walked, because Hideto wanted me to see the landscape after I had mentioned that I had never before been outside the town - what was actually nothing unusual. For simple or even poor people like me, there was no way to leave the city. We only had our feet to move on. Horses were to expensive. Sure, I wanted to see the world, and I sure would, if there had been anything fast to visit other places quickly ...
I turned to face him after finishing my thoughts to answer him, when I felt my eyes grow wide.
Hideto was wearing some very short pants and nothing else ... I could see his almost white skin clearly, reflecting the sun a bit. He looked so pure and beautiful ... and fragile ...
"Hey blacky, you've been staring like this since breakfast!", he teased, throwing a towel at me. Somehow I managed to catch it, still staring at him.
"Wake up, silly!", he commanded, walking over to me, taking the towel and dropping it. Then he started removing my clothes slowly, with a smile decorating his innocent face ...
His tone was angry, but his actions where not. He was gentle ... soon, I was almost naked, still standing in front of him, looking in his deep brown eyes. He seemed to be amused, while he looked at me, now just wearing nothing but short pants as well.
Before I knew what was happening, he had his hands on my shoulders, pushing me back.

I was shocked, unable to think or move, when I was suddenly surrounded by something cold and dark. All air was being pressed out of my lungs, and when I tried to breath, it felt like darkness was flowing inside me. It took me quite a while to realize where I was and what was happening. This felt familiar, but not in a positive way. More like a far off memory being pushed back into my mind brutally.
I could feel panic and fear growing, when I somehow was unable to get out again.
It got darker and darker ...

"Please wake up Gacchan", I could hear Hideto‘s voice reaching me,"Please ... I'm so sorry ... I had no idea you ..."
He was holding my hand ... he was cold ... I slowly opened my eyes to meet his. He ... had he been crying? Or was it my mind playing tricks on me?
"See, he's okay after all", another voice said,"So no need to worry, Haido. He's lucky I had watched you"
I turned my head to see a brown-haired man, looking at me with a friendly smile.
"Whatever", Hideto just said before standing up and jumping into the water.
The other man shook his head.
"He's worried about you", he explained, still smiling,"I'm Tetsu, a friend of him"
"What's wrong with Hideto?", I asked, before I could think about my words.
The man called Tetsu tilted his head a bit.
"What do you mean?"
"The way he acts. Plus he passed out yesterday and today he acts as if everything was okay. He's just all teasing and getting his way ... I can't see what he feels, or when he's being serious and when he's joking or fooling around.", I said, still not really thinking.
He just shook his head.
"Haido is a difficult person", he explained, "But ... well he has his reasons ... whats your name, by the way?"
I just stared at him for a while. Difficult, hm? Nah, that was explaining nothing at all ...
"Camui ...", I said, but as he had heard the nickname, it didn't matter at all,"Gakuto Camui ..."
"Gakuto?", he asked, eyes widening in surprise.
I nodded, giving him a confused look, while he just stared at me with a look, like he had just realized something obvious and was clueless why he hadn't noticed before.
"Well, it's late, I got to go", he said, waving goodbye to Hyde who was approaching me, then rushing off.
"What the hell did you do to Tetsu?", he asked, sitting down next to me.
"Nothing. Just told him my name, thats all ..."
Hyde just nodded.
"You're not able to swim, are you?", he asked, looking at my - and changing the topic.
Oookay, he was hiding something from me. Something big ... and if I was guessing right, it was more than one secret ...
What was wrong with my name? And why had he