The air smelled like fresh summer and a light breeze ruffled the leaves. The road was filled with stalls and nets of Chinese lanterns. The summer festival was incomplete without the bustle of the crowd and the giggle of the teenage girls. People dressed in their light kimonos stopped at stalls, had street food and hung around in groups.
Sakura tried her hair into a high bun to keep it off her shoulders. She stood waiting at the corner of the stairs in her red kimono. Her fingers typed with a great speed when she was angry.
--
Shiro: Don't get mad...
Sakura: I don't know why you won't leave your room.
Shiro: It's my bat cave, okay.
Sakura: But it's so wonderful out here. We could make up for the dates we had to cancel.
Shiro: You know I hate social spaces.
--
Sakura sighed and kept back her phone. In the distance, she could see three familiar figures in the distance walking towards her.
"I didn't expect you to be on time." Touya smirked.
"Sakura..."
She looked behind Touya to see her father smiling at her. She bit her lip and ran to his embrace.
"Dad... How are you?" No matter how tall she grew, she always felt tiny in her father's embrace.
"My arm is better. I wanted to watch the fireworks show." He explained.
-
No matter how much she tried to console herself, the pangs of truth disturbed her, that she was the reason why he was injured. Years back, when things were slowly falling apart, she had lost control over her emotions and also her powers.
The day was vivid in her memories like a freshly sharpened knife. She was deeply upset about something that happened in college and was immersed in her self pity. That was when her father noticed that she wasn't doing too well, and had gone up to console her.
He asked her if she was unable to cope with the academics and if she wanted to switch subjects. He comforted her that he and Touya would take up the responsibility and work overtime to save up for her, but what he didn't realise was that Sakura had to fight this battle alone. Her father's offer to help deeply upset her, and these strong emotions pushed a series of events which changed the course of her future.
With a flash, an arrow of ice swept through the glass windows beside them, leaving both of them in momentary shock. When Sakura opened her eyes, she had her hand bruised slightly, but when she looked down, she saw her father lying on the floor with deep cuts all over his arm and glass pieces with blood glistening on the rims. In a state of panic, she looked around in search for someone she could grasp to move out of this shock. When her vision cleared a bit she saw a figure standing outside with a bow. When she looked carefully, she realised it was 'The Arrow.'
Ever since then, she moved out of her home, and took up the flat she is living in as of present. This was also just before her cards suddenly disappeared for a day.
-
Sakura tried to brush away these thoughts and put on a cheerful face for her family.
"Well then, fireworks it is!" Sakura put her arm around his and stood by him.
"I want to try out some of the food from the new store that has recently opened. Let's go get some snacks before the fireworks start." Yukito added.
"Same here" Kero chuckled from inside the bag she was carrying. Touya glanced at the bag and a sweat fell from Sakura's forehead.
As she walked behind Yukito, Sakura noticed a silver ring on his finger. She suddenly stopped walking and spoke with a suspicious tone.
"Wait a minute..."
The three of them looked back at her with confusion.
"TOUYA YOU PROPOSED?" Sakura screamed.
Touya was taken off-guard and awkwardly hinted her to calm down. Yukito looked at his ring and smiled with a slight blush. Her father laughed at the scene.
"When did this happen!? How did it happen?!" Sakura could not contain her excitement.
Touya covered his face in his hands and tried looking away.
Embarrassed, Sakura walked up to Yukito and pulled him to look for the new food store.With her arm tugged onto Yukito, she repeated her question as they tried to walk through the crowd.
"He asked me a few days back... We didn't want to tell you by the phone. We didn't even officially tell your father about it. We thought today would be a good day to declare it, but well.. " Yukito wavered.
Sakura let out a sheepish smile. Yukito stood thinking deeply as looked at the food on display before him.
"How did he ask you? Did he give it to you in a book like I told him to?" Sakura asked with suspicion.
With his order given, Yukito turned to Sakura and added, "No, he didn't. Touya didn't exactly... propose to me. What happened was, one day when I came back from work, there was a ring kept on the table. Touya was waiting for me and he casually asked me to wear it, and I had no idea what was happening. I thought it was a late birthday gift or something. Once I wore it, he suddenly asked me if I agreed." Yukito added.
Sakura frowned. "He could have done better than that!" She frowned.
"It took me a long time to realise what was going on." Yukito blushed as he took the packed food from the vendor.
"Touya has always been weird with expressing his emotions. He annoys the hell out of me, but I know it comes from a place of love." Sakura explained.
"I know... Even I... would have disappeared if he hadn't given up his powers to Yue..."
Sakura's eyes revealed a sad reflection. If her powers has been strong enough back then, Touya wouldn't have to sacrifice his abilities.
"He could not bear to see you disappear... He did it.. because he cared about you... A lot... Even back then..." She spoke softly.
"He was so concerned about you. He told me to protect you at all times." Yukito looked towards Touya and his father in the distance. Touya was helping him buy some Takoyaki from one of the vendors. Touya, as aware as he was at all times, looked back at Yukito with his cat eyes.
"He's such a wonderful elder brother... If I could amount to be half as responsible as he is... I would be very happy..." Sakura whispered as she flattened out her kimono to make it more even.
With a flash of light, brilliant colours lit the sky. All the people turned towards the lights and their faces lit up with amazement.
Sakura's phone vibrated with a message and she checked the screen.
'Shiro - 1 new message' was displayed on her phone.
Sakura turned off her phone and looked up at the sky with her eyes sparkling with wonder.