Continued from previous message

happy without this being in her life and he would make any sacrifice if it
meant she would have happiness."
    "Yes." Naoki told them. "But once we leave, we won't be coming back. She
won't miss you, though she may miss those years that you enjoy that she'll
skip over, but you will miss her."
    Chikako thought about it. "Our daughter's happiness matters a lot to us."
She declared. "And though I know you love her and mean well, I must decline.
I can't let you marry her.
    Naoki looked crestfallen. "No?" He asked. "I don't understand. I saved
her life, I've treated her and you with kindness... how can you say no?"
    "It just isn't right." Chikako told him. "You may remain here as her pet
if you like, but..."
    "I am a sentient being," Naoki snarled, feeling angry and hurt, "and I
do *not* intend to live out life as a *pet*." He went into the adjacent room,
put his clothes on (he was still in his robe), and headed off into the snowy
night.
    Nozomi wanted to go after him, but her parents forbade her. "Its for the
best." They told her.
    After they had gone to sleep, she put some of her clothes into a bag and
sneaked out of the house. She wandered through the blinding snows, knowing
he would've started off for his campsite, hoping she could find her way
there.
    "Naoki!" She called out. "Naoki!" Her foot snagged on a snow-buried root
and she fell onto her face. She got up and then saw something that made her
heart go into her throat...
    Naoki was lying in a snowdrift, suppine with his head turned to one
side, blood running from his muzzle and from a wound in his stomach that
could only have been made by a bullet.
    Nozomi screamed out in anguish and ran to him, knowing that he was dying.
Had her parents had him shot, she wondered.
    "Naoki!" She sobbed. "Naoki, no! Don't leave me!!" She wailed.

 * SLMR 2.1a * "Myaa!"   ...  Ryo-ohki