"Come on Hatori! Hurry!" Kana laughed, grabbing his hand and pulling him from the car. They were going on a picnic, which he had only been talked into with the promise of being allowed to take along his beeper and a stack of paper work; but they both knew that he wouldn't pay any attention to either. Kana let go of his hand and ran ahead while he took the basket and followed, watching her yellow cotton dress swish about her as she ran. Hatori was happy.
It was late spring but trees were still casting their petals off in the wind, and the couple was greeted as though they were Roman heroes returning from a victorious conquest. Kana stopped at the top of a grassy hill, the sun falling behind her and illuminating her like a goddess, "C'mon slow poke!" she smiled.
"Oh I'm slow, am I?" Hatori laughed, "We'll just see about that!" And he took off after her. They laughed as they ran up hills and down into tiny valleys until they found a large shady tree. "Here" they said in unison.
"Jinx!" Kana yelled, "Now you can't talk until I say your name three times." He looked at her with his deep green eyes and she stopped laughing. "Hatori," she giggled. "Hatori," she said again, this time softer. She looked into those eyes, and they answered with "Kana…, Kana…," …maybe something else too. "Hatori," she breathed, now realizing how close he had reeled her in with those eyes. For a moment they just stared.
"That was very childish."
"You played too, didn't you?"
"For your happiness." At this, she blushed. What was he trying to say? "Shall we eat? Whatever you made smells wonderful." She smiled and nodded and together they spread out the blanket and lunch she had packed.
"Tell me about those two friends of yours," she requested in-between bites of a pink sweet bean cake.
"They're idiots," he said flatly; then he turned and looked at the shocked expression on her face and they both laughed. "But they are my idiots and we've been inseparable for most of our lives. Once in college Ayame…" and he began recounting stories that he had nearly forgotten for lack of telling. Kana laughed along with him as they worked their way through the lunch basket. He never told stories so freely; it was almost frightening.
"I hope I will get to meet them, someday," she said as he finished another story.
"Yes me too," he replied. Kana began digging in the basket as he continued, "Ah, Kana, I… that is to say… I…"
"Found it!" she exclaimed, apparently not hearing his stammerings. She held up a plain white diamond kite with a multi-colored tail. "Wanna fly it?" she asked. Hatori smiled a little and nodded and her cheeks crinkled up beneath her eyes in a huge grin.
They ran off through the hilly meadows and when the kite was high enough and there were no trees they lay down and watched the diamond twist and dip with the higher gusts. Hatori looked more closely at the kite now and saw that it had the Kanji for 'harmony'. He took in a deep breath and looked over at Kana—yes, he had found his harmony.
"Oh! Hatori! Look at where we are!" He sat up and looked around. Fuzzy globes batted in the gentle wind all around them.
"Dandelions," he said, "We're surrounded by dandelions."
"Can you believe it? A whole field of wishes! Let's make some!" She got up and shut her eyes with a very determined look on her face.
"What are you doing?" he laughed.
"Wishing! C'mon! You do it too," she replied. He walked over and held her hand and together they stood for a few moments, wishing. Kana drew in a deep breath and Hatori imitated her. Then they ran around the field making the seeds fly up like a thousand tiny birds taking flight at once, and as they ran they slowly breathed out so that they could pretend that they were causing the flight the traditional way. And they were both so happy.
Author: So? What do you think? Would anyone be interested in reading more? It will mostly continue being a sweet, feel-good story i think.. maybe hatori will confess his love or maybe kana could hug him while he's napping so he wouldn't know or.. i don't know.. what do you think? Please write me a reply and let me know! Thanks!