Disclaimer: The entire series for Harukanaru Toki no Naka de (including the games, various animations, and manga) is owned by Mizuno Tooko and Koei. I merely borrow the characters for a short time.
Love
Now and then moments passed during which Yorihisa wondered why Akane had chosen him, but it was no easier to formulate a simple answer when he asked himself why he had fallen for her.
Even with her time as Miko finished, or perhaps because the bonds of duty no longer held him to her, Yorihisa found himself drawn toward Akane. An emotion stronger than loyalty kept him by her side, something he hadn't thought possible before he met her. Honor held a higher priority than life itself for a warrior. He had followed that belief through his training and into service, but none of it had prepared Yorihisa for love. His self-control, something he prided himself in, had eventually been overpowered by the need to take Akane into his arms and hold her.
The everyday things about her pulled at him the most: how her eyes lit up with she smiled, the faint blush that colored her cheeks when he used her given name, the gentle motions of her fingertips when they brushed over flower petals. Yorihisa felt he could watch her all day and never tire of her sometimes-graceful sometimes-awkward way of moving through life.
It was selfish, he knew, to derive such a great amount of happiness from the way his heart throbbed within his chest when he saw her, or to wish fruitlessly every now and then that he had the freedom to take her away to a place where she could be his alone. Yorihisa would no sooner desert his sworn master than deny his emotional attachment Akane, and without either he felt he would cease to exist.
Yorihisa protected her now, not out of loyalty or duty, but out of the simple desire to keep the one he cherished safe. Every time he swore those words to Akane he realized he had been granted the highest honor of all.