“Memory loss,” the Doctor proclaimed. “Not so uncommon for someone coming back from such a state as the young master.”

In the audience were a bunch of servants and the little sister.

“But, it must come back. Surely?” asked one of the tall ones - a man with a head of complete grey - the one named Jun. He had begun to memorise.

“One cannot say,” the Doctor explained. “If doesn’t come back in a few days, then it might just be permanent. Sometimes, a little comes back, and what remains are holes in memories. Am I right, Young Master?”

He didn’t know what to say. There were a thousand things going on in his head, least of all this most obvious of things. He seemed to understand every word though. How did that work? And then you had –

Young Master?

“And the …?” the grey haired servant hinted.

“The speech? Ah, yes. Young master, how many fingers are these?”

He rolled his eyes. “Four,” he whispered.

“Just weakness, Jun,” the Doctor said. “Everything else seems to be healthy. I would like for him to be kept in at least a week of observation.” The Doctor nodded, and then turned to him. “If, in between, you would like to take a stroll, a few minutes of walking in the gardens would do you a great of deal of good. Make sure you do it close to noon time, as that is best for your body. Plenty of sunlight would do you very well. I have prepared for you, young master, excellent crutches and walking sticks. I’m sure you would like a few of them.”

Walking sticks?

“What do you mean?” he mumbled.

Perhaps they were not expecting the question, or perhaps they were surprised that he had spoken another sentence after mouthing no words for half an hour, but they stood in silence looking at one another.

He turned to look at the girl called Narumi, and she had hid her face with her hands.

“I’m sorry, young master, we tried our best,” the Doctor said. “There was an … incident, and after you were rescued, we tried our best to heal you, but nobody could do it completely. We even got Healers from Navori, but … we couldn’t save your lower right leg.”

“It’s still there,” he said, confused.

“By the grace of the healers. It was frost-bitten. Hard as ice, if I be so impudent to say in front of you. I didn’t think it could be saved, but by the will of the kami it has been. But, I don’t think you can walk on it. Fear not, though,” he said as he got up. “We will find the best brace for your foot and rehabilitate it. Now, I feel you should take rest, young master. Later, exercise. You have had quite the ordeal.”

He turned to see Narumi’s face, and her lips were quivering. Stop crying, kid. Stop crying for me. I don’t even know who I am.

---

When they had left him to rest, and get some sleep, for it was the early hours of dawn that he had woken up in, something strange happened.

He had already slipped into a dream, a dream of lightning and storms, trying to find within his mind a sensation of this boy named Kuro. But, he found nothing but a disturbed peace.

Some time had passed, and his eyes opened. It couldn’t have been more than a few hours. The sun had risen, and the curtains were leaking the bright lights reflected off the snowy mountaintops, still visible through the parting. His eyes flitted from the windows to the table and heavy blanket, when he heard a thud on his bed.

A large, stately cat, with fur as dark as midnight, had jumped on the bed and was staring at him with two shiny amber eyes. The slit in the eye had narrowed, and it was looking at him.

For a moment, the two shared in a staring contest.

Then, the cat bent down and rubbed its whiskers on his face.

It seemed to have decided this was a very good move, because the next moment, it rubbed its back all over his face, putting all of its gorgeous black fur into his nose and mouth.

And, amid all the darkness inside of his head, he laughed.

“Enough, Ylinat! Enough.”

The name had sprung from within that darkness. He knew this cat. He didn’t know how, and he didn’t know where it had come from, but that was its name. He was so damned sure it was that!

“But, that’s not your name …is it?”

The cat purred.

And gave a short meow.

It is. But, they don’t call me that here.

He froze for a moment. He couldn’t have heard what he had heard, could he? It was a whisper from a distant place right in the middle of his head. Perhaps he had dreamt of the voice and his dreams had not yet ceased.

The cat got up and looked into his eyes with its own amber ones that seemed to glow now even in the morning.

Sleep, my lord. Sleep now.

---

He was woken up for breakfast later when the Sun was almost at midday. It was brought to his bed and, despite his protests, he was fed by a servant named Yoko. And it rubbed him the wrong way: he was strong enough to feed himself, at least.

Narumi was every bit a devoted sister. She sat beside him as he was fed, and reprimanded his attempts at rejecting a not-so-tasty porridge. They chatted about the mountains outside, and the garden that the window looked out to. She was kind, she was attentive, and she wanted to inform her brother of everything that was happening.

She seemed to also have a spring in her steps and a cute smile on her face.

“I have sent a messenger to mother,” she said. “She is at Castle Hisaka, so that’s why she isn’t here. In fact, that’s why nobody is at home.”

He didn’t know where exactly his home was, nor what exactly Castle Hisaka meant. But he had to ask if what he had seen was true.

“Mother will be so, so happy to see you. And, Naoya-nii too!”

Of course, he had a mother. And another brother. He may have cousins and uncles and all that a person has, too. Maybe even lovers and feuds with people. Or maybe they had all forgotten him. But there were other questions that were pressing his mind.

“Do you … do we have a cat? A large black one?”

Narumi’s eyes were wide. “Kurochhi! You saw him?”

He nodded.

“He’s been gone for a few days. I was sort of worried, but he is like that,” she said. “Comes and goes as he pleases. Did he sneak up to see you?”

He nodded. “He did come by.”

“We have another cat. Her name is Mimi. I don’t think you would remember her; she was a little kitten when you – well, you know…”

A little wall of silence descended on them.

“What happened to me?” he asked.

Narumi’s smiled vanished, and she bit her lip.

“An accident in the mountains. I remember they brought you back after you hadn’t returned in a few days. I saw you … your lips were blue and your skin pale and grey. It was a frightening time.”

He remembered snow and ice, the feeling of being buried underneath them, the feeling of suffocation. But, he didn’t know if that was all a bad dream. It seemed to be the reality, though.

“The Healers and doctors all said that you were sleeping, and that you might never wake up again. And you kept sleeping, for three whole years. So … that’s what happened - I thought I had lost my brother, forever.” She was quiet for a moment. “Kuro-nii, can I get a hug?”

He then decided that it didn’t matter if couldn’t remember - she was a sweet being, and it didn’t matter if he couldn’t a remember a sister - if she wanted a brother, he would be one.

“Yeah. Come here,” he said, and they embraced each other - him under the blanket and her outside of it. And they stayed like that in silence, hugging each other for a while.

“So, my name is Kuro?” he asked.

She nodded into his shoulder, and said, “Kuro Karahashi.”

“Then, my dear sister, I, Kuro Karahashi, promise to never sleep for as long as I have. And never to leave your side.” She gave a few loud sniffs hearing this, and buried her head deeper into his chest.

“Also,” he thought aloud, “I would like to very much go see the garden, and take a walk.”

She pulled back from his chest and held his hand firmly. And then she gave him the sweetest of smiles.

“Yes, Kuro-nii,” she said.