A Winter of Ghosts Read Online Free Page B

Bengal tiger.
    She tried not to think about it.Over the past few months, the idea of love had started to frighten her almostas much as Kyuketsuki's curse. All she knew was that, just as her father wantedto see where things would go with Miss Aritomo, she was curious to discoverwhat the future had in store for her and Hachiro. And she couldn't wait to tellhim she would be back for her senior year.
    For a long time, they had done akind of dance, hesitant to open their hearts fully when they knew that shemight be returning to America in the spring. After their encounter with theHannya, knowing that life was too short for such hesitations, they had becomecloser than ever, but the question of the future remained.
    Now she hurried down the streettoward the school, hoping that his parents had already left, though that seemedunlikely. If they were gone, Hachiro would have called her by now. She slippedher cell phone out of her pocket and double-checked — with her hat on andthe thickness of her new winter coat, perhaps she hadn't heard the ring tone — but there'd been no calls.
    She crossed the street to thearch at the edge of the school property, but immediately veered off of the paththat would have led to the front door. With the short winter day's lightalready dimming toward late afternoon darkness, she passed beneath the shadowof the school building, its architecture still so reminiscent of some ancientfortress out of feudal Japan.
    A cold wind blew off the baybehind her, whipping around the corner of the school, but now she put thebuilding between herself and the bay and the wind dropped to almost nothing. Thelast of the day's sunlight glowed gold through the trees to the west. Her newboots crunched in a patch of snow left over from the last storm, though most ofit had melted away from the low-lying areas for now.
    Sakura and Miho had only visitedfor a couple of hours. They had rushed right over to visit her upon theirarrival, and had to get back to prepare for the next day's resumption ofclasses. Plus, they wanted to eat dinner in the dormitory's dining hall withthe rest of the boarding students.
    Kara had hung around at homeuntil her father had come back, about two-thirty in the afternoon, and they haddiscussed their own dinner plans. But then Kara had finally gotten a text fromHachiro telling her that he was back on campus. Her father had recognized thelook on her face immediately and told her to go, but to be back by six o'clock.
    She walked across the quad tothe dormitory, noting the cars in the lot to the right of the building. Someparents were only just now dropping their children off, and several studentswere walking up from the parking lot. A guy she vaguely recognized used his keyto unlock the dorm's front door and Kara picked up her pace to catch it beforeit closed again.
    Hachiro's parents couldn'tpossibly still be here. He hadn't brought anything but a suitcase home, sodropping him off should only have taken a few minutes. But he hadn't calledyet. She told herself he was just putting his things away, but a part of herfelt hurt by this. Miho and Sakura had rushed over to see her first thing, notbothering even to unpack, but Hachiro seemed in no rush. Had he had secondthoughts during the holidays? Had he met someone in those two short weeks?
    She told herself she was beingfoolish, but still quickened her pace up the stairs and down the hall to hisroom. After hours, girls weren't allowed in the boys' halls, but for now thecorridors were busy with friends getting reacquainted, laughing and gossipingand trading small New Year's gifts. She and Hachiro had agreed on no gifts atthe holidays. People tended to put too much weight on such things, interpretingany gift as if it defined the relationship, and she didn't want that kind ofpressure for either of them. Now she regretted it a little. A sign of hisaffection would be nice.
    Oh, great. Doubting him already.He just got back
. She rolled her eyes at her own insecurity,