"We're having good weather today." Ayaka said as she was busy watering the garden. She kept her promise to Iori to take care of his garden. She loved looking at the flowers because they were beautiful and they cheered her up whenever she felt down. "I wonder how Iori-san is doing overseas." She received an email from him last month. Iori was studying in France. He told her about the university, the sites and how they should visit one day. Ayaka missed him but hearing that he was doing well made her happy. Plus Iori was coming back home for summer vacation so she was looking forward to seein him.

Meanwhile, Iori was doing self-study in the university library. Then he decided to head outside for fresh air.

"Iori! Hey Iori!"

Iori awoke from his daydreaming state "Oh Tsukasa" he turned to see his roommate and friend Tsukasa; a young Japanese-French with light auburn hair and grey eyes.

What's wrong Iori? You're spacing out again."

"Again?"

"You tend to have a wistful look in your eyes. Do you miss someone?"

"I guess I do."

"Could it be your girlfriend?"

"No." Iori looked up to the sky "But she is someone special to me."

Iori never thought he would fall in love. And even if he did, he never thought it would be a girl who would become his little sister through his mother's remarriage. Ayaka was unlike any girl he had met. She was genuinely kind and honest. Iori loved her smile and always wanted to make her smile, his flower garden was perfect for that. He soon realized that he had fallen in love with her. However he became increasingly jealous of his brothers. He did not want to see Ayaka in the arms of another man. He wanted her to pay attention to him and him alone. He had to control these possessive urges because he knew that would not make Ayaka happy.

"Did you confess to her?"

"I didn't. I couldn't because of personal reasons."

He remembered that night when Ayaka went missing. He called Shirogane and his co-workers if they had seen her and ran through the rain desperately searching for her. He would have stayed out longer if not for Ukyo's call. Iori was relieved to hear that Ayaka was safe. When Natsume told them about Ayaka's adoption and her feelings as of late, Iori was surprised as well as disappointed at himself for not noticing anything. When he heard her resolve at the summer house, Iori decided to bury his feelings and took on the opportunity to study abroad. What was important is Ayaka's happiness, even if the person making her happy is not him.

"Maybe you should try again."

"I should?"

Tsukasa nodded "Whether she says yes or no, it would help you to move forward in life. You said you were going home for summer vacation so you should take that chance."

"I see..." Iori smiled "Thank you Tsukasa. I'll do that."

Two weeks later, Iori's plane arrived safely into the airport. He enjoyed his stay in France but was glad to return to Japan. After going through the usual procedures and retrieving his luggage, Iori

"Iori-san!"

Iori was surprised and happy. Ayaka was the first person to greet him on his return to Japan.

'Iori-san! Welcome home!"

"I'm back."

"Welcome back Iori"

"Kaname-niisan." Iori was taken back by Kaname's change in appearance. He had gotten a haircut and the air around him was different. "You've changed."

"Well, yeah. Thanks to Mom and her connections, I got a proper job."

"I see. That's great."

"Let's go home."

Kaname drove Iori and Ayaka back to the Sunrise Residence. Masaomi, Ukyo, Louis, Yusuke and Wataru were present to greet Iori and welcome him home. Ukyo had already prepared a feast with Ayaka's help. Satisfied with his meal, Iori returned to his old room. It was clean thanks to Ayaka and Ukyo so he did not have to worry about dust. He unpacked his suitcases, he heard a knock on his door.

"Coming." Iori answered the door. Kaname was present in front of him "Kaname-niisan?"

"I just came to check on you."

"This is good. I wanted to talk to you in private" Iori invited him inside so Kaname sat down on a nearby chair while Iori sat on his bed "Why did you leave home?"

"I wanted to be a proper older brother for imouto-chan."

"I see. It really was because of what she said at the summer villa. I left home to gain new experiences and sort out my feelings. I found my answer; I love Ayaka-chan. Not as a little sister but as a woman. So I plan on confessing to her."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I've had time to reflect and I received advice from my friend. I want to tell her. Whether she accepts or not, I want to express these feelings so I can grow as a person. And, I want to become her strength."

The next day, Iori woke up feeling refreshed after having a good night's rest.

"Good morning"

"Good morning Iori-san. Breakfast is ready."

Iori smiled; this moment felt so nostalgic. Such a simple greeting would put a smile on his face. He sat down at the dining table and ate his meal.

"Hey Ayaka-chan, would you like to go somewhere together with me? We can go wherever you want."

"Okay. But don't you think you should take it easy? You just got home after all."

"I'm fine. I feel like walking."

"Well there is a movie I want to see at the mall's cinema. How about it?"

"Yes."

Once they finished breakfast and refreshed themselves, Ayaka and Iori headed to the mall. Iori thought that not much has changed since he last visited the mall. The movie Ayaka wanted to see was entitled 'Mage Wars'. It was an action/fantasy about mages fighting an evil empire who were planning to take over the world with a zombie army.

"Two tickets for Mage Wars please."

"Yes. This week, we have a couple's discount on tickets."

"No, no." Ayaka quickly denied it "We're siblings."

Iori could not help but feel a little disappointed to hear that. But he brushed that feeling aside. He wanted to have fun with Ayaka today. Besides he had enough time to tell Ayaka how he felt about her. They bought popcorn and drinks and headed inside. As they sat down, Iori brought out two blankets from his bag.

"This will keep you warm." Iori placed the blanket on Ayaka carefully

"Thank you Iori-san. You're a kind person. You always take notice of the people around you."

"It's not like I do that to everybody." Iori mumbled. Ayaka stared at him with a puzzled expression so Iori put on his usual smile "Oh it's nothing. The movie's about to start."

Once the movie was over, Ayaka asked Iori to wait for her while she headed to the restroom. As he leaned on the wall, Iori contemplated on that one scene between the protagonist and his love interest. The protagonist was determined to proect her and his home at all costs even at the risk of his life. He succeeded so they lived happily ever after. Iori knew life does not always guarantee a happy ending but sometimes you have to take risks to get what you want.

"Hey there." Two women approached Iori. They wore heavy makeup and skimpy clothing "Do you have a minute?"

"I'm sorry. I'm waiting for someone."

"It's fine, it's fine." One woman linked his arm and the other one proceeded to do the same.

"You're pretty hot. How about we hang out for a while?"

"Please let me go." Iori told them but they refused to listen as they dragged him away

Meanwhile Ayaka was washing her hands. After drying them and checking her hair, she exited the restroom.

"Iori-san?" She looked around but could not find him. Maybe he moved to a different location? She looked around and called his phone but received no answer.

"Hey you, are you okay?" An older woman walked up to Ayaka. She wore heavy makeup and a tight short green dress

"I'm looking for my older brother. Have you seen him? He has silver hair and brown eyes."

"Yes. I've seen him. I'll take you to him." she grabbed Ayaka's arm and pulled her

"Thanks but I can walk on my own."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it."

They rode the escalator to the next level. Ayaka was starting to get worried. This woman had a strong grip on her arm and refused to let go. She manged to send another text to Iori once more while the woman was distracted.

"Over here." A man's voice called the woman so she pulled Ayaka into a corner. Ayaka noticed the man looked vaguely familiar. She felt that she must have met him before.

"I bought her. Can I go shopping now?"

"Of course." the man handed her some money so she left "It's been a while little sister."

Ayaka realized who this man was. She met him at the summer festival that the temple held "You were Kaname-san's co-worker."

"I never fully introduced myself. I'm Yunagi Chiaki a third year at Keio Univeristy. I was invited to a group date but it was boring and then I saw you. This was a nice coincidence. Now I have some questions for you. How did you capture Kana-san's heart?"

"What?"

"I may have been working part-time at the temple but I was a monk. And a monk's job is to see all sorts of relationships. Kana-san always found a moment to talk about you. He was obviously in love with you. And then he said he would leave to train and erase his worldly desires."

"That explains his behavior back at the summer house." Ayaka thought and understood that Kaname gave up on her because of her newfound resolve.

Chiaki let out a sigh "I don't understand why he fell in love with you. There are plenty of beautiful girls out there. And yet, he chose a high school girl." He smirked "Though, you were pretty cute in a yukata and you've got even cuter now that you're a university student. I'm already interested in you." He reached out his hand but Ayaka slapped it away.

"I'm not interested in you. Kaname-san decided to live his life positively. If you were a real friend, you would have been supportive." Ayaka walked away but Chiaki pulled her back

"It's your fault that Kana-san left. I'm going to make you pay for that and make you my woman."

"Let me go!"

Ayaka tried to slap him but Chiaki grabbed her other hand. Before Chiaki could do anything, he was tackled to the ground. It was Iori who sat on top of him with his hands around his neck threatening to strangle him.

"Iori-san!"

"Stay away from her." Iori spoke, the tone in his voice was cold and threatening. He glared at the man who was about to harm his most precious person.

"Iori? Oh that's right. Kana-san mentioned you, you're his little brother." Chiaki smirked and proceeded to mock him "For you to go this far, you're in love with her too right? You should join Kana-san and mediate under a waterfall to get rid of your worldly desires. I wonder how many of you perverted brothers are in love with her."

Chiaki's taunting would soon be over as Iori began to strangle him. He did not need this man to guess his feelings. This bastard had to disappear.

"Stop it Iori-san!" Ayaka shouted and Iori obeyed her as he regained his senses "Let's go!" she grabbed his hand to pull him up and they ran off leaving Chiaki to catch his breath. They continued to run until they exited the mall.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes"

Iori hugged her "I'm sorry. Two women caught me and refused to let me go." He felt guilty that he showed her that side of him that he so desperately tried to hide. Thank goodness he made it in time to protect Ayaka.

"They must have been his female friends."

"Let's go home. We should let Masaomi-niisan and the others know about this. That man might approach you again."

"Okay."

Iori continued to hold Ayaka's hand. He wanted to make sure she was next to him.

"Are you all right now?"

"Yes." Ayaka breathed a sigh of relief. She was grateful to Iori for being by her side the whole time. But she was shocked to see Iori attempting to do physical harm even though he was trying to protect her "Hey Iori-san, how about me visiit your garden? I want to plant some seeds." Right now, she wanted to do something fun with Iori so they could erase that bad memory.

They got out the gardening tools and gloves and began their work. They planted seeds and watered the whole garden. Iori was thrilled that Ayaka kept her promise to take care of his garden. It looked even more beautiful than before. He felt all of his worries washed away. Ayaka's kindness was the reason he fell in love with her.

That night Iori told Masaomi, Kaname and Ukyo what had happened at the mall

"I never thought Chi would do something like that." Kaname was upset. He had to go and apologize to Ayaka.

"I will file a report." Ukyo wanted to deal with the matter immediately. Any man who would try to harm Ayaka had to suffer the consequences.

"I'm glad you were there Iori." Masaomi smiled "Thank you for protecting her. Let's keep this a secret between us. I don't want the others to get worried."

"That's true. If Tsubaki and Yusuke learnt about this, they would go overboard."

The next day, Iori and Ayaka opted to stay home and take care of the garden. Ukyo and Kaname agreed that it would be best for Ayaka to stay home for a while until they dealt with Chiaki.

Ayaka turned on the hose and began watering the flowers. "Another sunny day."

"Yes. "

"What's the weather like in France?"

"It's quite cool during the spring but it gets a little chilly at night. The temperature starts to rise when summer comes. I've gotten accustomed to it."

They took a break to drink ramune as they sat on the veranda. As Iori looked at his melon-flavored ramune, he decided that now was the time to say what he wanted to say.

Do you remember when I gave you that iris?"

"Yes. It meant trusting in the good news. And then I received good news that I got into university."

"There was another reason why I gave you the iris. It has another meaning: risking everything because I love you." Iori held her hands "I thought I had to bury these feelings but I cannot. I love you Ayaka."

"Iori-san..."

"I'm sorry for troubling you. I know you want to become a family with everyone and you cherish all of us." He stared at the red roses "I'm a selfish and possessive person. I want you to only look at me, to only care for me. But that's not your character. I cannot take advantage of your kindness. Even so, I had to tell you these feelings. I hope you will consider me."

"..Can I have some time to think it over?"

"Of course."

Iori enjoyed the rest of his vacation. He was glad that Ayaka was not avoiding him and that she still greeted him. The Asahina visited the private island once more since Iori will be going back to France in three days. This time Hikaru and Natsume were available to go on the trip. After a full day of fun, they settled down to dinner and made plans to launch fireworks. Iori went outside to his usual spot for stargazing. The sight of those million stars always gave him comfort He then saw a shooting star streaking across the sky. He did not alwyas believe in wishing on shooting stars but he had one wish.

"I knew you'd be here." Ayaka walked up next to him.

Iori smiled at her "The stars are really beautiful."

They kept silent for a while to stargaze as the waves crashed onto the land. Iori glanced at Ayaka who continued to look at the sky. When she made eye contact with him, she shyly looked away and her face was slightly red.

"Hey Iori-san. I've done a lot of thinking so I'm glad you were patient with me."

Iori braced himself to hear her answer. Whether she returned his feelings or not, he would not regret telling her his feelings. He would be there to support her.

"I..." Ayaka hesitated but she pulled her together and looked him straight in the eye "I love you too."

Iori's eyes widened; he was in disbelief. Their feelings were mutual. He held his chest as he thought that this is what it feels like to experience true happiness. He smiled the brightest smile that Ayaka was in awe him. He showed a genuine and sparkling.

"I love you too Ayaka."

They eventually told the others about their relationship. Aside from those who had mixed reactions, Kaname was supportive of Iori and Ayaka. He was glad that they found happiness and that he should do the same. Since he only had one day left, Iori wanted to do something special with Ayaka so he took her to a chapel.

"Why did you bring me here?" Ayaka asked after they said a prayer at the altar.

"I want to share an oath with you. An oath of eternal love. My love for you will never change for all of eternity." Iori hugged Ayaka who returned the embrace and then they kissed"I will be back soon."

"Yes. I'll send e-mails and texts to you."

"Me too."

Though they will be apart for a while, they did not worry because they were connected. Iori had only one wish in his heart. The next time they return to the chapel, it will be on their wedding day.