Tired. That's how Sakura felt right now, as she flung her schoolbag into the ground, and fell onto the couch. "Sakura, why are you always running around. Don't you ever get tired?" Yes, and the time was now – only, Touya never got to see her in this state. The early afternoon hours, the short time between school's end and sunset – those times were the worst. There was nothing to do; no one to talk to. Even Kero would be taking his nap at this time, and really hated being woken up. Unless he was playing video games in her room, of course – though in that case, he preferred to talk to the TV screen.
So there was nothing to do but to turn on the TV, and hope to see something vaguely entertaining. Oh, no. Pokémon. Bleh. Forget about TV, forget about everything, because she wasn't in the mood to do much of anything right now…
She opened her eyes. Why had it become dark all of a sudden? She looked at her watch, which told her the answer – it hadn't been all of a sudden, it was more like two hours. That meant Touya should be home by now; he was given a day off from work, in anticipation of the inevitable crunch that would come tomorrow. But he wasn't, and it was starting to get darker and darker… she turned on a few lights, but that didn't seem to help much; she could swear that she was starting to hear some funny noises…
Then there was the sound of someone kicking at the door. "Open up!" a shout could be heard. It figures. That was just like Touya, doing something like that instead of ringing the doorbell like a normal person.
Ding-dong! "Sakura, are you there?" asked another familiar voice. See? Now that was the right way to do it. "I'm coming!" Sakura eagerly responded as she opened the front door.
"Hey, Yukito!" she greeted excitedly. "And you too," she added with a much lower voice – and for that, Touya shoved a bag into her arms and told her to take it to the kitchen. So that's what they had been doing – grocery shopping. It looked like Dad wouldn't be home tonight, either; Touya and Yukito often cooked dinner on the days that Dad was busy.
"Dad's not coming home tonight? What are we having for dinner?" she probed.
A nod from Touya was the answer to the first question, and Yukito's response, "Curry," was the answer to the second. That was good enough; she liked curry and it was really simple to make – so easy that even she couldn't mess it up, is what her brother once claimed.
"What do you think," Yukito said as he took out a large chunk of meat. "Do you think this look good?" he asked.
Raw? Nah, no thanks. But that didn't stop Touya from answering, "Mmmm," while openly admiring the meat.
"Isn't that – a little much for curry?" Sakura pointed out.
"Not all of it's going in the curry, you dummy."
"I'm not a dummy!" she exclaimed. Why did he always have to say things like that?
"Only some of it's for curry. Some of it's for soup, and we're going to save the rest for later. Come on, we have a lot of work to do." So calm, so diplomatic. In many ways, so much like her father… sometimes she wished Yukito was her real brother, instead of this ogre who stole her food, scared her friends, and teased her all the time.
"What can I do to help?" Sakura asked.
"You can wash the rice," came a reply, but not from the person she was asking. "Oh, and get the broom and dustpan out."
"Why?" she narrowed her eyes.
"Because you'll need it, just in case you spill the rice."
That's it. That deserved a swift kick in the shin, Yukito or no Yukito. But Touya had already gone to the closet and gotten the broom and dustpan, and started sweeping the floor of the dining room. She would forgive him, for now – so instead, she smiled at Yukito as she scooped the rice and washed it – four cups of it, as usual.
Yukito was still early in the preparation process by the time she finished, while Touya was still busy mopping the floor. It was so tempting to just watch Yukito at work, as he gracefully chopped the vegetables… oh, snap out of it, she told herself. There had to be something else she could do, right? "Uh, Yukito?" she managed, poking his back to get his attention.
"Do you want to help? Here, you can chop the carrots," he answered with a small smile.
She watched eagerly as Yukito cut off the ends of the carrots, peeled them, and halved them… studied his motions carefully as he chopped a few chunks near the end… and went hard at work as she started to cut them herself. She was going to get this right, no matter what it took. Chop, chop. No, not there; that piece was too big. Better cut that one in half. OK, that was a good, clean cut. Again. Oh, no! A piece went off the cutting board and onto the counter – so she ran off to the sink and rinsed the piece several times. Let's keep going. You can do this… nice. Maybe there was hope for her after all, no matter what her brother kept saying. It was perfect – she just knew that Yukito would be pleased. Although, it had taken her a good five minutes to chop two carrots – something Touya just had to bring up while she handed over the carrots over to Yukito. That had earned him a little push, even as she swore to herself that she wouldn't go so easy on him next time.
Yukito didn't need any more help, and Touya had already set the table, so there was nothing to do but to wait. Sakura was starting to get hungry; the aroma of meat cooking had already reached her nose, to be followed by the smell of curry. She didn't feel like paying attention to the conversation her brother and Yukito were having – it was probably something about school, or something she was "too young to understand". In boredom she put her face on the table and sighed, only to be scolded by her brother and told to wash up. As she returned from the restroom and dragged herself back to her seat, she finally heard the words she'd been waiting for. "We're almost ready," Yukito announced.
The rice had stopped steaming, so Sakura stirred the rice before scooping it for everyone – a double helping for Yukito; he always ate so much! Yukito came with the pot of curry – oh, how wonderful it smelled. Touya got the soup; it didn't look too bad, either. A success. Sakura wasn't one to sit and admire her food, so she started to dig in – only to find herself beaten to the punch, as Touya stealthily made off with a spoonful of her rice.
"That's a bit much for you, don't you think?"
"Hey!" she instinctively swung her leg wildly, and missed.
The tension was soon lost, however; gone in the face of Yukito's gentle demeanor. Yukito and Touya continued their conversation from before, while Sakura was thinking about her day at school. Yes! She said to herself, for finally doing well a math exam for once. Those study sessions with Tomoyo had really paid off. Who knew that videos about math could actually be fun? She especially liked the animation with dividing fractions – how the numbers turned upside down to go from division to multiplication. The essay had also been fun to write, though she didn't know how she would finish it –
"Sakura?" Yukito asked, breaking her out of her spell. "So, what did they say?"
"Hoe?" What was he talking about?
"Pay attention, Sakura."
"Weren't you going to invite a couple of your friends?" Yukito continued.
Oh, that. "No, um – I didn't get a chance. I don't think they can make it anyway," she fumbled.
"Did you actually ask them?"
"Look. I don't think they're coming." she glared.
"Touch-y."
"So, Sakura, what else happened at school?" Yukito cut in.
She eagerly related the various events of the day, and told them – Yukito, actually – how much she was looking forward to tomorrow. White Day. That reminded her of Takashi's story, so she repeated it to them; the story of how a brave young samurai came home to his lover in the snow… hence, the title, "White Day". Such a warm, moving story…
Which only got laughs from Touya. "You actually believe that? How can you be so gullible, Sakura? Don't you know how it really got started? The whole thing was a sham. It was just a marketing ploy, to get people to buy more things."
No! That meant… the tradition… a kiss… together forever… none of these things could come true.
"He's right, you know," Yukito consoled. "But that doesn't mean that we can't do things differently. Maybe the day will come when someone will do those things for you."
Perhaps. They had always done things differently; she knew most people didn't celebrate White Day the way her family did. They did this partly because it had been mom's favorite holiday… and a part of her wished that they could always maintain this tradition; a day to gather, celebrate, and honor her mother's memory.
"Yukito," she started. "I just wish things could always be like this. And," she swallowed before continuing, "that you will always be a part of the family."
Silence. Had she said something wrong? Why was everyone serious all of a sudden?
"Maybe it can happen," Yukito said slowly, staring at both Touya and Sakura, without wearing his customary smile. "We'll see."
Immediately she felt her face growing hot – what did that mean? Was it what she thought it was? Maybe, just maybe, there was reason to hope, even if it wouldn't happen for some time…
"So, are you going to kiss him?" came a sarcastic reply, followed by a laugh.
How dare he! Didn't he know how important this moment was? This time she really did kick him – hard. But it didn't take the pain away; she found herself crying for some reason… she had to get away; she ran to her room as fast as her feet would carry her, and slammed the door shut.
"I think you really hurt her," Yukito said quietly, after Sakura was gone.
Touya didn't need to be told – he knew.