Kodomo No Hi By Sindy Feesh

G Shoujo-ai / Loli-con. Rin/Kanna; Fluff/WAFF. Rin meets Kana in a blossoming forest and forges a new friendship...or maybe it's a little bit more.

She spun through the trees, pink petals falling all around her. Her arms out stretched, her face smiling up at the sun whose warm hands caressed her. The earth kissed her feet with fresh, green grass. The sky was blue, the few clouds as white as the fleece of a newborn lamb, and the air sweeter than Rin, pure and blessed child dancing through it.

She laughed as the pale pink petals fell on her nose and eyelids, wafting their sweet perfume all around her. She twirled and twirled and the while forest sung for her. The birds and insects chirped and twittered and buzzed from ever tree and bush and clump of shade and she sang with them. It was the song of a child she sang, a song with out real words or mean, a song composed of innocence and joy and wonder and laughter and good things in this world. She held out her hands to catch flowers or invite butterflies, too lost in her joy to think of any dangers that might be waiting in the forest for such a delicate little girl. She was a flash of life and color, the warm tones of her kimono even richer in the bright, clear sun. Her soft, dark hair gathered light to it and felt deliciously warm when it brushed her face.

So deep was her rapture that she danced right in to the pale, calm girl on the path. The collision was so unexpected and powerful that both were tossed to the ground like old dolls in a perfumed flurry of fallen petals. Rin scrambled back to her feet almost immediately, blushing of her Kimono hurriedly, she then offered her hand to help the other girl up.

"I'm really sorry! I should pay more attention!" She exclaimed, her cheeks as pink as the falling blossoms, only to see that the girl was ignoring her completely, focusing instead on the shattered bits of mirror nestled in the grass and fallen sakura. The snow-white girl in front of Rin was completely silent for a moment, but then her shoulders started to shake slightly and a stifled sniffling and choking rose in to the air. Rin dropped to her knees and rapping her tinny arms around the crying girl tried to console her, "Don't cry! I'm really sorry!"

The girl tried to hold back her tears, know they were useless, but still they fell like tiny crystals from a white winter sky. Rin was utterly dismayed, holding her tighter and apologizing over and over until the girl's tears finally slowed and then stopped, leaving her sniffling and wiping at her dark eyes. Rin released her and scoured the ground for a moment, her tiny fingers sifting through the grass and twigs and soft earth till she found her prize: an intact, if slightly bruised spray of sakura, witch she heads high in pride when she sat up again.

"Here," Rin leaned forward, tucking the fallen spring behind the white flower that was already placed in the other girls hair, "What's your name?"

"K-Kanna..." She blushed, unused to such attention. Her voice was weak from lack of use

"I'm Rin! It's nice to meet you Kanna-san!" She smiled brightly and stood up, offering a hand to help Kanna.

Kanna looked up at her black eyes full of surprise in the midst of her tearstained face. Rin beamed at her, her slightly tanned face shining down like the sun on a fresh field of snow. Kanna hesitated at first, then took Rin's hand and stood. There were bitts of grass and crushed flower petals stuck to her white kimono, which she slowly brushed away, suddenly very, very self-conscious and shy.

"T-thank you...." She stuttered, blushing harder, the pink in her cheeks mimicking that of the spring flowers Rin had placed in her hair.

"Ne... Kanna-san, will you be friends with me?"

"F-friends...?"

"Rin! Rin!" Rin whirled at the sound of the toad, Jaken's voice.

"Coming!" She shouted back, "Meet me here tomorrow!"

She dashed off without waiting for a response, turning and waving before she disappeared around the bend.

Kana stood in the mildly perfumed breeze, light pink petals falling slowly all around her, her arms slack at her sides. Her face was completely blank, as it all ways was, but her heart was pounding with in her breast. She slowly placed her fingertips on her chest and felt it there; beating so strongly she thought it would burst. Her head was spinning like a top as she gazed after her, still in shock. Her hand moved from her heart to the cherry blossoms in her hair and she felt her self blush again.

"Friends... ka..." She whispered gently under her breath.

She made her way back to Naraku's fortress slowly, not reaching it till the sun was low in the sky and the air was cooling. Her sister, Kagura, pestered her about her mirror but Kanna ignored her and said nothing, much to lost in her thoughts to care.

Sleep was a long time coming to her. She tossed and turned; rather troubled by the new, tight feeling that had budded in her chest. She didn't feel ill, in fact she felt rather good. She felt almost excited, although she couldn't understand why, and when she thought about the days events her chest got even tighter. Her body then took over her brain, and her body was very, very tired indeed, so she drifted off in to a dreamless sleep.

Kanna's eyes fluttered open early the next morning, quickly adjusting to the dim light of the room. She remembered Rin's invitation after a few moments quiet slipped out of the fortress. She blink in the bright sun light the poured down everywhere through the clear blue sky. She started to walk, making for the grove of cherry trees she had stumbled upon the day before. She started to straighten out her hair as she walked, finding the sprig of sakura still clinging to a clump of hair. She pulled it out and held it flat in her palms, a smile gently tugging at the corners of her lips as she looked at it. It was very bruised now and the petals were limp and a little brown in place where they had been creased but she smiled any way, not caring how bedraggled they were.

She could smell the sakura on the breeze now and after tucking the spray of flowers in to her kimono she ran for the grove, her heart over flowing with happiness, a feeling she had never really felt before. When she saw the first tree over flowing with blossoms she slowed down, composing her self quickly, walking slowly down the windy little path, look for any sign of Rin. She had never really stopped to look at the trees in spring, thinking it foolish, but she did now, her interest suddenly caught by a particularly spectacular tree. She halted her feet and stood gazing up at it's heavily laden bows, taking in gentle color and breathing in the beautiful sent that wafted from every single one of the thousands of flowers.

"Kanna-san!!!!!!"

The sudden sound cut swiftly through the trees and met with Kanna's ears. She blinked, suddenly shaken from her trance like reverence and turned to see Rin bowling down the path, her face alight and her arms out stretched. Kanna blushed, but then smiled and waved shyly.

"Ohio, Rin... san."

"Ohio Kanna-san!" She replied, slightly out of breath, as she came to Kanna's side, "I'm so glad you came!"

Kanna stuttered, not really knowing what to say. Rin only laughed, and taking her by the hand led her down the path. She was al smiles and laughs as she carried on, pointing out a bird's nest with tiny little chick crying for their mother to come home and feed them, squealing with delight when a baby fox that run across the path with it's mother and dancing and singing when the warm breezes encouraged the flowers to go out dancing in the sweet bight forest. She was a wonder to Kanna. She had never met a person, or youkai for that matter, so full of life and joy and laughter and... every thing. She felt herself starting to smile more broadly and even lagh as the made their way through the forest. She started to relax and run and dance with Rin as the afternoon progressed. They started to play the simple gamed of children, chasing after on another, hiding only to be found again by the other and inventing all kinds of playful competitions.

As the evening slowly settled in they parted, smiling and waving and promising to play again tomorrow. They were both very tired when they return to where they had come from, but a happy kind of tired that makes you sleep peacefully, with grand expectations of the next day.

Rin and Kanna meat every day in the little cherry grove, where they started they day of games and adventure. Kanna had never been so happy in he whole life but still didn't quite understand the way she felt and no matter who hard she tried to ignore the tightness in her chest it came every time she saw Rin. The blossoms on the trees were thinning, the pink giving way the green of summer, and the ground was a carpet of velvety petals wile the air was more full of falling sakura than ever. The air was warmer and heaver with perfume every day, the sun was brighter and the sky bluer. It was as if all the world wanted was a paradise for the two little girls and it was building it for them one day at a time.

On the seventh day of their friendship Rin came with two parcels rapped in cloth in her arms. The blossoms on the trees were nearly all gone and he sun was beating down through a sky that was so blue it hurt to look at it. She was slower in coming because of her burdens but she was smiling as cheerfully as ever.

"Ohio, Kanna-Chan!!!" She hailed as she came closer

"Ohio..." Kanna responded looking curiously at the cloth-covered parcels, "What are those?"

"Well... I passed a little stream when I was going home, and I figured since it was so pretty... and I always get so hungry that we could have lunch by it. I bet there are fish!"

"What's in the other one?"

Rin beamed, "It's a surprise!"

So the pair made their way to the burbling little stream Rin had found, laying down the simple food Rin had gathered on the cloth it had been packed in underneath a very old oak tree on the bank. The talked and laughed as insects buzzed over the cool water, Rin exclaiming when ever one of the silvery fish leapt from the water to eat one. The day got hotter and hotter and while they ate they dangled their feet in the water.

When they finished Rin scrambled up the bank to get her other parcel. She carefully climbed back down the patch of dappled where she and Kanna had been sitting.

"I got to go into the town yesterday, even though Sesshoumaru-sama doesn't like to," She blushed a little, "... I got you this." Kanna blushed but accepted the package from her. She timidly undid the knot at the top holding it shut and pulled back the rest of the fabric to reveal around mirror with a black frame and cover.

"I know it's not as fancy as your old one but..." Rin blushed, swishing her feet back in forth in the cool, clear water. "But... I just felt so bad..."

Kanna let a joyous laugh fly from her chest, the sweet sound filling the air.

"Hey don't make fun!"

"Thank you, Rin... Chan."

They sat in silence for what felt, to Kana, like hours, kicking the water up in to the hot spring air.

"Ne... Rin, can I ask you some thing?" She asked Shyly, brushing a bit of her snow-white hair out of her face.

"Sure."

"What do you do if you love some one?"

"I don't know... ask the to marry you, I guess."

"Can a girl do that?"

"I think so."

"Ano..."

"What is it?"

Kana blushed and looked down at her feet splashing in the blue water of the stream, then looked Rin in the face again.

"Rin... Will you marry me?"

The end.