#yulrich

Holding his scarf, he was walking around the Yukino village after entering the gates. He looked around, and noticed a stranger walking by. The stranger he saw was beautiful— she had white skin and short black hair, tied in a half-ponytail, along with some snow-white ornaments on her hair. She also wore a white kimono with an ice blue obijime*. The kimono had some snowflake motifs on the skirt. Ulrich also noticed that the stranger wasn't actually walking— she was floating like a ghost!

However, the stranger he saw got startled, and accidentally struck him with her ice powers.

"Please, don't come near me! I don't want to...", she said.

Ulrich saw a quick flash of light before he fell down, unconscious.

"What have I done..."

The stranger felt instantly guilty. Ulrich was frozen into a block of ice. She realized that she was still unable to control her powers due to her wavering emotions. Instantly, she carried him into an empty cottage. After arriving, she instantly shut the door and put the frozen traveler in the corner of the room.

A few moments later, she noticed that the cottage was dark and gloomy during the cold weather. Her black eyes instantly focused on a box of matches, that was placed on a small table. She took it in an instant.

However, she WAS weak to fire. The young lady tried to light up the matches without hurting herself. After several attempts, she finally lit up the hearth, located in the middle of the tatami floor. Her right hand was about to melt, so she instantly stepped back to recover. The frozen traveler was put next to her, because she didn't mean to hurt him anyway.

A few hours later, the ice block melted and the traveler slowly woke up. His eyes had a blurry vision at first, but he immediately looked at the stranger that helped him.

"You're finally awake. That's a relief...", the stranger said.

"Uh... where am I...?"

"You're in an empty cottage in the Yukino village. I'm the one that brought you here. What's your name?"

"I'm Ulrich Stern. Who are you?", he asked.

"My name's Yumi Ishiyama. I'm a Yuki-onna that lives here. I've been like this since birth, and because of this, I don't have lots of friends."

"Yuki-onna? You're the snow yokai people talking about?"

"Yep.", Yumi nodded. "Anyway, I'm so sorry for accidentally striking you with my ice powers. I actually don't mean to hurt you...", she took a bow and immediately apologized to him.

Ulrich noticed that the person that accidentally froze him wasn't a human, but a yokai. He knew that she froze him by accident. He thought, why did her powers become like that?

"My powers are mostly controlled by my emotions. However, because I was lonely and had no friends, my emotions became a bit unstable as a result. I was unable to control them, especially when seeing random strangers."

"I see. You often get startled easily, don't you?"

"Yeah.", Yumi nodded. "Also a lot of people in this village fear me just because I control ice and snow. I was to blame whenever a snowstorm appeared. They also said that I look intimidating.", she continued.

After hearing Yumi's story, Ulrich instantly sat down next to her. He felt a bit better. He took off his scarf and jacket, then adjusted his shirt.

"I have an advice about your powers and emotions. Someone told me that taking a deep breath is important to calm down, before using your powers right away.", he told Yumi.

"Really?"

"Yep, but it's not an easy task. Trying it slow and steady will help you, though!"

A few moments later, the duo had nothing to do. But Ulrich came up with an idea.

"I think sharing various stories here is the best option. I'm really bored.", he said.

"Sure, go on.", Yumi nodded.

Ulrich then started his story.

"My story is rather simple. I'm just a normal, wandering traveler from Akikaze village. I really love sightseeing and have an interest in various mysteries and folklore. The reason why I went here in the first place is just because I'm curious about the yuki-onna legend there, alongside the scenery. Yukino village is a beautiful place, and I love it."

"Yeah. Yukino village is beautiful..."

"Anyway, do you mind if I stay here? I just really want to know more about various things here."

"Nope, I don't mind. This cottage is empty, after all, so we can stay together like this.", Yumi replied.

Yumi and Ulrich decided to stay in the empty cottage for a few months. Every day, they ate food together, had fun, and shared various stories about both the Akikaze and Yukino villages.

Time flew so fast. It's almost springtime, which was the time the yuki-onna disappeared temporarily, before appearing again next winter. Before Yumi went away, she hugged Ulrich.

"This is my first time I talked to a kind human. Thank you for accepting me the way I am. I promise I'll protect you in the next winter.", Yumi told him, before disappearing in the springtime. Ulrich, on the other hand, went back home to his hometown, Akikaze village. He had the most beautiful experience ever.

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*Obijime is the rope-like thingy that is tied on top of the obi/sash.

Some additional trivia:

Here's the quick thread which I found my original idea.

Design of Yuki-onna Yumi is here! I made this way back in 2017

Also, I love the name Akikaze (秋風). It means "Autumn Wind" in Japanese (my current tumblr username has this name too!). Yukino's kanji is written as 雪野, means "snowy field".