Chihayafuru birthday gift fic to rainbowreflects! Prompt given: Sunshine

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Suetsugu

…

Coming down the stairs the shrine at Omi Jingu, Taichi blinked at the sunshine streaming through the trees.

Suddenly, he saw a beautiful vision at the foot of the stairs – Chihaya, breathless and barefoot, in her beautiful green hakama. "I must be seeing things again," Taichi murmured.

The vision of Chihaya didn't disappear. Instead, she (it?) sat on the stairs wailing, "I don't know what I can do to beat Shinobu anymore."

"Do visions appear so solid?" Taichi wondered. Moreover, why was his vision crying? The last time he imagined Chihaya, she looked so happy to be at Omi Jingu with Arata, playing at the very peak of the karuta world.

The volume of the wailing increased and the shrine goers started to notice and point.

This must be the real Chihaya then, Taichi mused. Why was she crying? And why was she so far way from the karuta hall in bare foot?

Taichi started to descend the stairs, wondering what to do. It had been so long since he and Chihaya were alone together that he wasn't sure if he could appear natural. What could he even do? He remembered the last time Chihaya was crying in his presence, and cringed at the memory.

"You walked out of the karuta club, stole her first kiss, and now you want to comfort her?," his inner critic raged. "Don't be so self-serving."

Taichi took a deep breath in counting. One. Two. Three. Slowly he exhaled, counting again. One…two…three…

He could feel his head clearing and his anxieties calming down. Making a mental note to thank his younger sister for this tip - Rika had been loudly telling his mom what she learnt at a mental first aid camp held at their father's hospital – he countered his inner critic.

"I made a mistake. I don't have to suffer for it forever," he reasoned. Making up his mind to tell Chihaya sorry for that stolen kiss, no matter how embarrassing it would be, he assessed his options on what to do. He sighed again. There was only one correct option, wasn't there? Chihaya was his friend before he was his love. And his friend was in distress – he had to help her.

He descended some more steps. "What if you fall apart again?" a small voice in his head asked.

Taichi stilled. What if he did fall apart again? He broke when he left the club, and the following months had painstakingly put himself back together again, pouring love on himself and all his scars. Telling himself, he was good enough. That karuta didn't define him. That Chihaya's love didn't define him. He was who he was. Could all those months of hard work be undone just through one encounter with Chihaya? Just as he was finally, finally moving on?

He looked at her sitting in the cold, hair glistening in the sunshine. "There's nothing embarrasing about losing when you've tried your best!" Chihaya's voice rang in his head. There were so many memories he had with this girl. Working hard at karuta, building the club, teaching their kouhais, winning tournaments – so many precious memories. He thought of them standing together side by side, here at Omi Jingu, just a year and half ago and praying for their success. His heart swelled with emotion, and right there underneath the beautiful red of the Omi Jingu shrine – his pain broke. And the cards that had been black for so long sparkled to life with colour. He could breathe again, see again, feel again. His body felt light.

He looked back at the shrine, glistening red in the sunshine. He wondered which was more red – the shrine or the emotion overflowing in his heart.

Chihayaburu
Kamiyo mo kikazu
Tatsuta-gawa
Kara kurenai ni
Mizu kukuru to wa

"Even in the age of gods, I've never seen a red like the water in Tatsuta river," Taichi recited softly. He felt like he finally understood the poem. Understood what it meant to really love someone.

"I'll be okay," he reassured his heart. "Sometimes in life, you love and you lose. But that's okay. An unrequited love won't kill me. I'm stronger than that, you know?"

Descending the stairs, he reached out and called, "Chihayaaa."

…

Hope you have an amazing birthday, Chiaki chan. Sending lots of love!