Day 2: Cherry Blossom
All the colors and different shapes of leaves and flowers during spring drew the attention of ten-month old Sora, who was in her father's arms. Haruhiko and Toshiko Takenouchi had gone to Kyoto that weekend because he had gotten a job at Kyoto University and they were looking for a place for him. Toshiko was the headmaster of the Ikebana school, a position that required her a lot of commitment and responsibility, and she decided to stay in Hikarigaoka with baby Sora. Haruhiko was more than okay with this and promised to be with them as much as he could. They decided to spend that Sunday at one of Kyoto's parks before going back home.
"I think someone is already being attracted to the art of Ikebana." Haruhiko said with a smile after he noticed Sora was bending over his arms towards a delicate cherry blossom and almost crying because she couldn't get any closer. She only stopped when she touched the flower. "I guess you can't run away from the DNA."
"Of course not." Toshiko said without keeping her attention away from the plants and flowers she was looking at for new types of flower arranging styles." Can you help me here for a moment?"
"Sure." Haruhiko placed Sora on the ground in front of him and reached up to grab the flower Toshiko was trying to. As he was handing it to his wife, he heard happy noises coming from Sora. He looked down and saw she was amazed by a blue butterfly that had landed on the flower. He couldn't help but smile. "Toshiko, take a look at this."
"I'm busy, Haruhiko. I need to collect a few new flowers and take them back to Hikarigaoka. Please don't disturb me."
"You should pay more attention to our daughter. At this age she grows up too fast and then you'll regret missing it."
"I have an important event coming soon. It's the first one I'm in charge of since I got back to work."
Haruhiko thought it would be better to keep quiet and didn't say anything to her. Instead, he simply sat down in front of Sora and accidentally scared the butterfly away. The little girl started crying and he picked her up, placing her on his leg and rocking her slightly. The crying immediately ceased and was replaced by a giggle. She hadn't let go of the flower for not even a second. He reached out to his left and grabbed another one that had fallen to the ground and placed it behind her ear. Sora stared at her father confusedly and then let out a wide smile feeling the strange yet itchy sensation of its stem on her skin and hair. Her first few teeth had already appeared and Haruhiko thought that being a father was beyond any thoughts he'd have about it. He loved every moment he had spent with her since she was born - and also during Toshiko's pregnancy - and being away from Sora was definitely the most difficult thing he had to do in his life so far.
"Daddy is going to miss you."
Baby Sora simply stared at him before gifting him with one of the most amazing sounds he's ever heard in his life. He knew it would happen eventually, but he surely wasn't ready for this.
"Daddy." She repeated like it was no big deal and looked at the flower again. She kept repeating the words for a few times until Haruhiko stood up when Toshiko finished her job and they went to his apartment.
.
The streets of Hikarigaoka were still pretty much destroyed after the battle between the huge green parrot and the orange dinosaur. Six years old Sora had no idea what had happened but she couldn't stop looking at the city from the balcony of her apartment. Most of the inhabitants of the town refused to leave their houses, but Sora wasn't afraid at all. In fact, she thought the dinosaur felt quite familiar to me and meant no harm in absolutely any sense.
"Sora, what are you doing there?" Toshiko said nervously when she walked into her daughter's bedroom. "You shouldn't be out there, it's dangerous."
"The dinosaur is a friend, mom." She looked inside for a moment and then returned her focus to the street below her. "They can't kill him."
"What dinosaur, Sora? It doesn't exist. It was a bomb that caused this. Come back inside, please. We don't know when or if there will be another one."
Sora did as her mother said and noticed she had taken a bouquet of dead and dried cherry blossoms off a vase on her bedside table.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm throwing them away."
"Dad gave me these flowers."
"I know, but they are dead and dried. It's not good to keep them like this. You can have new ones instead."
"They won't be from dad." She ran towards her mother to try to get them back, but Toshiko simply kept her hand up. "Give me!"
"I already told you they are dead. It's not good to have dead things in your bedroom. Also, you should pack your things because we're moving away in the next few days."
"Moving away?"
"Yes, we're going to live in Odaiba from now on."
"We don't know what's going to happen next, so we might as well go live in a safer district."
"I don't want to go. My friends are here."
"Don't argue with me, Sora." Toshiko said firmly. "It's already decided. Don't take too long to start packing your things."
Sora sat on her bed and brought her knees close to her chest, hugging them. She wished more than anything her mother would believe her, but she had the feeling it was never going to happen. She buried her head down between her arms and cried silently. She didn't want to leave her friends behind and she also loved living in Hikarigaoka. It was only when she recognized a very familiar smell that she looked up again and saw her father sitting beside her with a brand new cherry blossom in his hand and a smile on his lips.
"Dad!" Sora exclaimed happily and threw her arms around Haruhiko's neck. "When did you come home?"
"Not too long ago. I saw your mother throwing your dead flowers away and went downstairs to get a new one for you."
Sora's face beamed with happiness and her eyes filled with happy tears. "It's beautiful, daddy! Thank you!"
"You're welcome, sweetheart."
"Dad?"
"Yes, Sora."
"Why no one believes a dinosaur and a bird were fighting and destroyed the city?"
"A bird and a dinosaur were fighting?"
"Yes." She nodded affirmatively. "You believe in me, right dad?"
"Of course, darling." He ruffled her red hair.
.
Sora noticed the trees seemed to have more flowers and they were also more vivid and brighter that spring. Or maybe she was just in the happiest moment of her life so far. She had been paying more attention to flowers since last year, when she decided to learn the art of flower arranging as a way to get closer to her mother. Surprisingly, she quite liked it and didn't find it as tedious as she imagined.
She entered one of Odaiba's parks along with Yamato and Takeru. The first generation of Chosen Children had decided to have a picnic in the first weekend of April to enjoy the Sakura season and also to celebrate Yamato's birthday, which was on the following day. Cherry blossoms always reminded her of her childhood and how her father always gave her one of them every spring. It was a tradition they have until now, though it hasn't happened that year yet.
"Should we sit here?" Yamato suggested when they reached an area near a large tree that offered a big shadow for them to stay.
"It's good for me."
"Great. What about you, Sora?" He looked at his girlfriend and noticed she was staring in awe at the Sakura tree not too far from where they were standing. He squeezed her hand gently. "Sora? Are you okay?"
"What?" She blinked and shook her head. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry, I was lost in my thoughts for a while."
"That we can see. What were you thinking about?"
"Can we sit down by the Sakura trees, please?" She asked. "I was just thinking about how much I miss my father. Things at work have been crazy for him lately, so he won't be able to come home as often as he wants to. We have this tradition where he would always give me a cherry blossom every spring and I'm afraid he won't get to do it this year." She sat down and embraced her knees.
Yamato smiled and sat down beside her. "I think it's a sweet thing to do. Spring has only started, so you'll still have plenty of time for that. I'm sure your father won't forget about it."
"Yeah, maybe you're right." Sora looked over her shoulder with worry. "Where are Taichi and the others? They should be here by now."
"You know Taichi, he's terrible with time." Yamato rolled his eyes and give an awkward laugh. "They are probably waiting for him."
"It's a good thing Mimi isn't living here anymore. It would be way worse, because she's often late too."
"Geez."
A cool breeze hit the small group and the tree above them lightly, causing some flowers to fall down. One of them fell right into Sora's skirt and she looked down at it surprised before picking it up. "It's so beautiful."
"It might be a sign." Takeru said.
"You think so?"
"I agree with Takeru." Yamato nodded and watched her put it behind her ear. "I think it's a way the universe found to say you should call your father. I'm sure he'll be happy to hear from you."
"I suppose so." She shrugged. "But I don't know… he's so busy lately and I don't want to disturb him."
"Come on." Yamato squeezed her shoulder gently. "It's Saturday, he's probably chilling alone at his house."
"Well, I guess it doesn't hurt to try it." She pulled her cellphone out from her pocket and dialed his number. "Hey, dad."
.
"Okay, I think we're ready to go." Sora took one last look at herself in the mirror to see if there was something she needed to fix on her wedding dress, veil or make up. Fortunately for her, everything was great and just how she wanted them to be.
"You look like the little mermaid, I swear." Mimi squealed when she looked at her best friend. "I can't believe you're getting married tonight. You're the most beautiful bride I've ever seen!"
"Thanks, Mimi." She smiled. "I do indeed feel pretty right now."
"Yamato is going be so shocked and amazed, I can already see it."
"I think so too. Come on, give me my bouquet and then we can go."
"Your bouquet?" Mimi asked in panic.
"Yes, you were supposed to go pick up my bouquet at the flower shop earlier today, remember?"
"Right. I may have forgotten about it."
"Mimi!" Sora screamed. "What am I going to do now?"
"Calm down, let me call Taichi and…"
"No, where's my phone?" She looked around the room until she found her cellphone lying on the couch. She quickly grabbed it and dialed her mother's number. "Mom, we have an emergency here. I don't have a bouquet, there's no way I can get married without one. Yeah, Mimi forgot to pick it up for me. Okay, thanks. I'll be waiting."
"I'm so sorry, Sora." Mimi said for the hundredth time in the past half an hour.
"It's okay, Mimi." Sora replied without excitement. She was really upset with her friend. "Yamato is going to be so worried. I wouldn't be surprised if he thinks I didn't want to marry him anymore."
"Would you calm down?" Toshiko said firmly. "Your father is coming back any minute with another bouquet for you."
"I can't calm down!" She said even more nervously. "It's my freaking wedding day! My fiancé is waiting for me! There are three hundred guests waiting for me and I'm freaking late! Where's dad?"
"He should be arriving any minute." Toshiko stood up and grabbed her phone. "I'm going to see where he is."
Before she could even dial his number, there was a soft knock on the door and Haruhiko's head popped in.
"Dad!" Sora said relieved. "Did you find the rose bouquet I wanted?"
"No, darling. I'm sorry." His voice echoed in the room. He was in the next room doing who knew what. "All the stores were closed because of the time."
"I can't believe it!" She cried. "That was my last hope. What do I do now?"
"We will figure something out, Sora."
"How? We are already running late and we can't find a place to get another bouquet. This wedding is a disaster and it hasn't even started already."
Sora was in the middle of her outburst that didn't even see when her father walked into the room holding a bouquet of cherry blossoms in his hands. "Dad, didn't you just say you couldn't find any store open to buy another bouquet for me?"
"I did." He replied with a smile that made more than clear he was having fun with the situation. "But then I decided to stop at a park and make a bouquet for you myself."
"You what?! Seriously?"
"That's right. Your mother told me what happened and there's no way I could ever let my only daughter walk down the aisle without a bouquet."
"Oh my God, dad. I don't really know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything, sweetheart." He came closer to her. "I just want to see you happy. And you look stunning. I'm so proud of you."
"Thank you." She smiled.
.
The autumn breeze that hit both Sora and Yamato when they walked out of the hospital was cool, almost a little cold. Yamato covered their newborn daughter a little more and Sora took another look at her.
"Seeing her sleeping so peacefully like this almost makes it hard to believe she gave me a hard time during labor."
"She did, but you were a true hero." He kissed the top of her head.
"Thank you, baby." She smiled softly. "I'm glad you were there with me the whole time to help me get through this."
"You mean after I almost passed out because of the blood?" He couldn't help but laugh.
"Yeah, that was funny, I can't disagree. Jokes aside, you were incredible. Thank you."
"You're welcome, baby. But the tough work was all on you. You were the one who had to go through thirty six hours of waiting so you could give birth to our daughter naturally."
"It was a lot of waiting, indeed. I don't know how I managed to hold on for so long. But in the end, it was all worth it." She looked at their daughter tenderly. "It's time to take our little treasure home."
"Let's go."
"It feels so good to be taking her home." Sora stated as she looked at their daughter one more time as they headed to their floor by elevator. She couldn't look away from her that much. "But I'm afraid I won't be that good to her at first."
"I have no doubt you will be the best you can be. The first weeks are going to be hard, we both know that. But I truly believe you will be amazing at this. You've been ready for months now."
"That's very sweet of you. The real thing comes now, though. What if I don't have enough milk to feed her?"
"Then we'll come up with a solution together, like we always have. Just don't ever forget you're not alone in this."
"I'll never forget that. The two most important people for me are right here with me." She leaned over and kissed him passionately. "I love you."
"I love you too, baby."
Their walk on their floor was quiet and peaceful, just like their baby. Sora raised her eyebrow when she noticed there was something standing right next to their door, leaned against the wall. For some reason, she felt her heart beating faster and found out why the moment they had stopped in front of their door.
"Flowers?"
"Yeah, they are cherry blossoms." Sora replied as she stood up after kneeling down to pick them up. Her eyes were teary and she was biting her lower lip.
"Someone must have left it here, but who…" Yamato immediately stopped talking when he noticed Sora was crying. "What happened, baby? Are you alright?"
"I am." She wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled. "It's just… I can't believe he did it."
"Who did what?"
"My father. Remember that he always has this tradition of giving me cherry blossoms sometimes?"
"Yes, you've told me this a few times."
"He bought this bouquet of cherry blossoms for our daughter. He wants to pass it on to her."
"That's sweet." Yamato looked down at their daughter, smiling. "She's already loved."
