The winters were cold. Fueled & warmed by nothing but the steel furnace in the corner of your shared hut, & the embrace of your aged lover's arms each & every night.

It was tiring, for your aged body. He often moved as youthful as he was when you were both, excitedly, in your twenties. Whilst your aching joints, in your winter-bound fever, never seemed to encourage your body to move as you once did. Often leaving you winded to breathe in the spiky, cold air,

Sakonji always took proper care of you. After 54 years of marriage, being married at 16 & 17, he would still come home, covered in snow & tainted in grime from chopping the frozen wood,

& run you a warm bath in your mahogany bath tub. He'd still start a fire, & boil the water for you to ease yourself into.

This evening was no different.

As the cabin's door creaked open, & the wind chimes, placed neatly by the edge of the screen, hummed a soft tune, Sakonji let out a gruff huff as he lowered his sack of frozen & dampened fire-wood to the floor. A small pile of snow lying in a mound below his feet. His robe, cloak, gloves, scarf, & mask, didnt seem to do him much justice. As he was frigid, & covered in white flakes.

He removed his crimson-colored mask at the door. Sakonji hung it, neatly, on a curved-metal hook by the door frame.

Snow fell from his hair, & the scarf wrapped around his face, alike.

"You're cheeks are all red.." You commented, a shiver in your bones from where you were huddled over a porcelain cup of tea.

"It's freezing out there." He nodded. "Have you had anything to eat, today?" he suddenly asked. He scaled the absence of glazed dishes in the aged, cracked, & porcelain sink.