Night had fell, and from far away the howl of a lone wolf could be heard. Dark clouds had covered most of the round, pale moon. The barren branches of the towering trees shook in the winter wind and snowflakes fell onto the already white ground.
“Huff…huff…huff…”A shadowy figure panted.
Her breath condensed as soon as it came out of her mouth. She hadn’t expected it to be such a cold winter.
“Dumb wolves.” She muttered.
“Gets on the nerves.”
She had run all the way from the nearby hill where she was practicing her martial arts.
“If Ran-chan were here…”
But Ran-chan wasn’t here. And would never come here alone with her, huddled around a fire they had made, in a world of their own. Never sit under the stars with her and admire their brilliance. Ukyou sighed. Her food supplies were running low. She couldn’t hide from Ranma and Akane here forever. She rummaged through her backpack and added some sticks to the fire. Ukyou spread out her sleeping bag in her tent with a sigh and slid under the covers. Outside, the cold wind soon blew out the miserable little fire she had made.

“A-choo! What kind of stupid weather is this?” Ryouga grumbled as a strong gust of wind blew through the Tendo Dojo. Ranma and Akane were sitting on either side of him, their eyes glued to the television set. Ryouga glanced at the rapt expressions on their faces and sighed. He had never been able to understand their fascination with replays of old English shows. He bet Ranma couldn’t even understand what they were talking about… he kept asking Akane to explain the story line. Ryouga stared blankly at the screen. It had been some time since he had seen Yume Kori or Asuka. Maybe Asuka wouldn’t even like him now that he no longer changed into P-chan. As for Yume…he couldn’t make up his mind whether or not to like her. One hundred years isn’t exactly a small age difference.
“What are you thinking about huh, pig-boy?” Ranma asked him, interrupting his thoughts.
“I AM NOT A PIG-BOY!” Ryouga roared at Ranma.
Ranma made a face at him and said mischievously, “Then prove it! Come on! I’m itching for a duel.” Ryouga glared hard at Ranma. He didn’t want to change into his female form in front of Akane or Ranma just yet.
“Don’t bother about him, Ryouga. I’ll bring you to your room.” Akane interrupted.
“Aww… Akane, don’t spoil my fun!” Ranma groaned, but they had already left. *She’s getting more uncute day by day. * Ranma grumbled and went with them.

The Tendo family awoke to a rather gloomy day. Dark clouds had covered most of the sky and the snow was at least a couple of feet deep. Also, Kasumi had caught the flu and Dr. Tofu had ordered her to stay in bed for a couple of weeks. Luckily, Ranma’s Mum, Nodoka Saotome, had decided to drop over for a visit, so they were all spared from Akane’s cooking. Ranma, Ryouga and Akane had a quick breakfast, then went off to meet Hikaru, Umi and Fuu. Ryouga’s parents had insisted that he stay in Nerima and finish his high school education at Fuurinkan High and the six of them were supposed to do an assignment together. Just as they were going past Uk-chan’s Okinomiyaki Restaurant, Ranma smelt something coming from inside the shop. He turned around and peeked into the shop, and there was Ukyou behind the counter!
“Uk-chan! Where have you been?” Ranma shouted in delight.
Ukyou looked up and smiled. “Ran-chan! Come in and let me fix you something…Akane! You’re here too! And Ryouga! What do you all want? I’ll fix it in a jiffy!”
“Um...no thanks, Ukyou. My Mum just stuffed a whole ton of food down our throats.” Ranma apologized. “Why don’t you come along with us? We’re going to meet Hikaru, Umi and Fuu.” Akane offered. Ukyou nodded happily and closed her shop, then ran down the snowy streets with the three of them.

“Are you sure, Hikaru-chan?” Umi asked worriedly as the three friends chatted over breakfast. Fuu frowned. Clef wasn’t the kind to joke and this would be very serious. Hikaru had told them about her dream and Clef’s warning. Just as the other two were pondering over what they had heard, Hikaru suddenly squealed excitedly.
“Uk-chan! When did you come back?” Hikaru asked as she embraced the laughing Ukyou. The four girls took turns greeting each other and chatted happily with each other, whilst Ranma and Ryouga stood beside them, feeling a little uncomfortable. They then filled in Ukyou on the things that had happened over the week, but when Akane, Ranma and Ryouga narrated their strange encounter with Tenshi and Yume, Hikaru, Umi and Fuu fell silent.
“So it has started.” Hikaru whispered.
“What has started? You know something about this?” Ranma asked.
“Maybe you should go to Cefiro with us…”Fuu started.
“No! They cannot go to Cefiro! We are not sure of bringing them back here.” Hikaru objected. Ranma and Akane looked at each other.
“ Cefiro? Where’s that?” Ryouga asked.
“Where Tenshi and Yume came from.” Umi answered.
“Then the three of you come from Cefiro too?” Ukyou asked.
“No…not really.” Hikaru answered. “But we’ve been there.”
Ranma, Akane, Ryouga and Ukyou were silent as they tried to sort out what they had heard from their friends. It seemed too much like a science fiction story to them. Then Ryouga heard a very familiar voice behind them. “Can you get us back to Cefiro?” Yume asked. Hikaru, Umi and Fuu looked up, shocked. Regaining her composure, Hikaru looked carefully at Yume and asked, “You must be Yume Kori. Where is your sister?”
“I have no idea. She has left.” Yume told her.
“Very well. I will bring you to see Clef. Come with me.” Hikaru smiled as she took Yume’s hand.
“Clef? Madoshi of Cefiro?” Yume asked in awe as she left with Hikaru.
The six of them watched as the pair melted into the crowd. “Okay…now we’ll have to finish the assignment without Miss Hikaru.” Fuu said brightly, and the rest of them face-faulted. Of course, everyone was too busy laughing after that to notice the rather miserable look Ryouga had on his face as he watched Yume Kori disappear from his life.

That night, all alone in his room, Ryouga huddled in a thick blanket and glanced miserably around him. The room was almost pitch black, with the only light coming from the faint glow of moonlight reflected on the snow outside, on the windowsill. He had been thinking about Yume for nearly half the night, and missing her terribly.

Back in Cefiro, poor Yume had also been missing Ryouga badly. She had made good friends with Hikaru, Umi and Fuu, although she insisted on keeping a respectful distance from them, since she regarded them as being of higher status than she. But still, they couldn’t give her the companionship she had had with Ryouga.
*Ah! * She thought as she observed the stars that had been almost obliterated by the dark storm clouds surrounding Cefiro’s atmosphere. *I wonder how Ryouga-san is now? Is he looking upon these same stars? Or are they of another galaxy, different from his? * She sighed as the snow started to fall. There was now a white blanket of nearly three feet on the ground outside. She couldn’t remember seeing so much snow in her life, either in Cefiro or in Ryouga-san’s Earth. Hikaru-chan had told her of bad omens it stood for, but she didn’t care, the falling snow was beautiful in every sense of the word – graceful, white, pure and light. How she wished she could play in the snowflakes falling outside her bedroom window, regardless of the biting cold, and forget all her troubles as she did…

She turned away from her window and crawled beneath the covers of her bed and stared into the darkness. Her house was so lonely without her sister around. The house had been in a sorry state when she had returned, but now it was getting better with help from Hikaru and the other girls. Now they had left to go back to Earth…she wondered whether they would have any message from Ryouga-san. She smiled slightly as she thought of him and curled up to sleep as the strange Cefiro sun rose in the semi-darkness.