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Asagiri had always hoped she would be a kind person.
But she abandoned Ukyo to be a sacrifice for the village.
And she abandoned the village to not die for a dubious cause.
She mocked her own desperation for survival as she gulped down the dwarf blood in order to stabilise her inner turmoil of emotions and power. Even after committing so many sins, she still did everything she could to survive - a life with only despair remaining.
After this, Asagiri was captured by a fraud of a man, who sold her many times only to steal her back. Her worth had been diminished to her tiny, exotic form - her very being only reminded Asagiri of her own shame and lack of character. What did she do to deserve to live? Was living in constant darkness a life worth living?
Asagiri remained seated, silent in her tiny cage on the moving carriage. Her words and former authenticity did not have a place in the world anymore. Simply reduced to physical survival, a tiny being with nothing left on the inside.
Until Princess Sakura pointed at her small figure, determinedly announcing she would trade her kimono (the only object of worth on her body) for the small figure–Set her free!. Princess Sakura was but 10, so Asagiri dismissed the young child’s resolve as childish covetousness. The type that barely lasted on a single object for a week, and about the same amount of time it would take for the man to steal Asagiri back.
At first, Asagiri was annoyed by the little girl’s self-righteousness. Frankly, it was like an annoying itch that scratched Asagiri’s empty heart. To the little princess, Asagiri was an exploited pet that could not survive on its own. Just like the division between summer and winter, Asagiri’s frozenness would not be able to connect with Sakura’s liveliness. Snow fell first, then by the law of nature was replaced by the descent of Sakura petals.
But Princess Sakura’s stubbornness in desiring to protect Asagiri melted away the armor that she had worn to protect herself when nobody else would. Asagiri felt her heart fill up again, and she found herself tethered to the world once more. The first words in years bubbled out of her heart to reach another being.
“Asagiri. That’s my name.”
The strength that Princess Sakura passed onto Asagiri resulted in her finally finding the will to defy the man’s enslavement. So when Asagiri learned from Byakuya that Princess Sakura was fated to have her heart torn apart by fate, the snow spirit resolved to give the worth of her life to protect the Princess’ pure heart that warmed her own, frozen in survival. What was once void within her was filled with meaning.
In material terms, Asagiri was worth a single kimono to Princess Sakura. But that single kimono to Asagiri meant her reinstatement as a living being - saved by Sakura’s kindness. Asagiri hoped she would be able to reflect this kindness back, to give back that first warmth of Sakura’s when the Princess held her in her hands.
The kimono - the debt of her life Asagiri owed Sakura - would finally allow Asagiri to declare to Sakura how much she loved the Princess as a friend. Perhaps then, snow and sakura could fall together.