Disclaimer: Kaze Hikaru is not of my own creation, its by Taeko Watanabe!
Fate
There are times when Kamiya-san reminds him of someone but he's not sure of whom. At first he thinks maybe its Sae that Kamiya-san reminds him of: hardheaded, stubborn, quick tempeedr, hardworker and remarkable inner strength…but the mere reminder of that girl is too painful even now and Soji does his best to convince himself otherwise.
After all, Kamiya-san is different. She is not a girl like Sae was but a bushi and that makes all the difference. The resemblance between the two fades completely from his mind making being close to Kamiya-san safe again.
Yet the feeling does not leave him. Kamiya-san reminds him of someone and it's driving him insane not knowing who it is. And then it strikes him during a round when the girl grabs his hand and forcefully pulls him away from the street vendor selling sweets. (Apparently close to being done with rounds does not equal being done with rounds and Kamiya-san has always been a stickler for rules).
The feeling of being tugged away (for his own good) makes him blink because he can remember of only one other time when a girl has ever grabbed him by the hand like this. And the memory overwhelms him so completely that he doesn't even fuss at all and lets her guide him the rest of the round quietly, much to her surprise. She even glances back a few times to look at him suspiciously.
He wants to deny the resemblance at first—that lost little girl all those years ago, trying so hard to keep her tears at bay—she'd been like a porcelain doll. A tomboy, yes, but so delicate looking as well. But just as he thinks this, an image of Kamiya-san dressed by Akesato's careful hands takes his breath away for just a moment. Because Kamiya-san does look like this still when she's not sweaty and donned in men's clothes, she's still that little porcelain doll who tries to not cry and is the eternal tomboy.
And this recognition—that he cannot prove without asking her outright—scares him even more then her slight resemblance to Sae…because if Kamiya-san and that little girl are one and the same…maybe it is fate.
Maybe it is fate bringing them together again and he's not quite sure how to deal with that quite yet.
Maybe he never will be.
The end.