Sorry if it took too long. School has started and I have many homework

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It was a hot summer day. Akira was sitting at the front porch. He peered at the garden while holding a fan. He wore a light blue yukata.

A young lady who wore a short blue kimono approached him.

"Akira, do me a favor, will you?" Tokito asked, crossing her arms.

"Depends on what it is," Akira replied and turned to face the young Taishiro.

"Cut my hair. It's summer and my hair's grown long," she said.

Akira glanced at her hair. "Leave it like that" he said.

"But it's so darn hot!" she protested.

"You can tie your hair, right?" he smirked at her.

Tokito 'humph'-ed and said, "What's wrong with cutting my hair?"

"I like your long hair better." Akira stated, then startled. "Did I really say that? Is the heat driving me crazy?" he thought.

"What?" She was quite shocked to hear such a sentence coming out from the blind samurai's mouth. "He can't be serious, can he?" she asked to herself, unable to keep her cheeks from blushing faintly.

Akira finally managed to discard his ridiculous thoughts. "Anyway, there will be a summer festival tonight. Care to come?"

"No way. The place will be full with trashes like you. I don't want to dirty my beautiful skin," she replied proudly, while her real thought was, "If I go to the festival, that moron will see me in yukata…"

"Up to you then…" he said and faced the garden again. "Girls are hard to understand…" he thought, "just what IS the relation between skin and festivals?"

Then he remembered something and turned his head to look at Tokito. "By the way, why don't you wear the yukata I bought for you?" He asked.

Tokito's eyes widened in disgust. "I will never wear such clothes!" she shouted.

"You can at least respect those yukatas. I bought them with money, you know…" Akira said, adding some miserable tone in his voice.

"I've never told you to buy those stupid things!" she shouted again and left the former member of Shiseiten.

"There she goes again…" He sighed and swayed his fan. "Man, it's so hot…"

Tokito went to her room and slammed the slide door. "That darn idiot!" she grumped, "I'll kill him!" she said. She sat on the tatami and hugged her knees.

Then her eyes landed on a bag resting on the desk. The bag yukatas that Akira bought for her a week before. She didn't even busy herself to touch the bag though.

"Mother…" she said, her voice trembling. Her eyes were swollen. "No, I mustn't cry," she said and wiped her tears. "I will become stronger and I will reach his back. I will make him turn around and face me," she said. She stood up and walked to the window, looking up to the endless blue sky.

"So watch over me, Father, Mother." She said.

A woman wearing a peach yukata entered the tatami room. "Master Akira, Lady Akari has come to see you," Suzaku said.

"She is? Bring her in," Akira ordered.

"As you wish, master." Suzaku said and left the room.

Akira couldn't help but wondering about Akari's stopover. "What's that old lady doing here anyway? I thought she's been busy at her lab since 2 days ago."

He was pulled out from his wandering mind when Suzaku entered the room with Akari going after her.

"Hey, Akira!" Akari said and approached the young man, while Suzaku bowed down and left.

"What do you want?" He asked in his cold voice.

"How come you're so rude to your own sister?" she asked melodiously.

"I said I don't remember to have a sibling like you," Akira said.

"You… Is this supposed to be the attitude of the boy who always came running to me whenever he's being teased or hurt back then?" Akari said and acted as if she was going to cry.

Akira sighed and shot sharply. "I've never come running to you, Tokichiro."

"How dare you to even speak that name!!! My name is Akari, not Tokichiro!" she shouted angrily.

"Just use your true name. I feel sorry to your parents. Anyway, what DO you want?" He suddenly changed the subject, because he was really starting to think that she would destroy his house if they went on the conversation.

"Oh yeah, I came to give you a good news." She said with her usual voice. Her anger was put out easily by the young dragon.

"What good news?" He asked.

"I managed to find a way to heal your eyes," she said happily.

"What? How can you do that?" He asked. His expression became serious.

"I just need to get someone's eyes and replaced yours. You blinded your eyes by slashing your eyeballs, didn't you?" She asked

"Yeah, I do. I did it so that I can receive the sixth sense." he said nonchalantly.

"You're such a fool…" she sighed and shook her head.

"What did you say?" Akira glared at her.

"You are such a fool," she repeated.

"It's none of your concern." He said and turned around.

"Huh?" She's confused by the young man's attitude. "Usually, if I mocked on that little boy, he would get angry and challenged me. So, he does change, huh?" Akari said to herself and smiled. "So, do you want to get your eyes normal or what?"

"I'll think about it." He said.

"Yeah, you must. Tell me if you really want to get your sight back," she said

"Okay." He replied. Akari left the room and Akira was alone once again, looking at the colorful flowers at the garden.

"Tokito, may I come in?" Akira asked.

"Just enter if you want, idiot," a woman's voice was heard from inside the room. Akira stepped in, and he was quite amazed to see that the room was marvelously bathed by the sunset light.

"What do you want?" Tokito asked coldly. The young woman was standing near the window, watching the setting sun which could be seen clearly from there.

"Still not in the mood for going to the festival?" He asked and approached her.

"Never. I've told you before! Are you deaf or something?" she shot angrily

"No, I'm not. Well, that's too bad. Meaning I'm going alone to the festival," he shrugged.

"So what?" she said.

"You'll be alone here. Are you okay with that?" He asked politely.

Tokito turned sharply. "Of course I will. Who do you think I am?"

"A human." He replied calmly.

He walked away from Tokito and opened the sliding door.

"Anyway, if you change your mind, the festival is along the main street." He said and walked out of the room.

"I WON'T go," she said.

"...And I will never wear yukata." she added sadly and watched the sunset again.

At dinner time, none of them spoke out a single word. Even Akira didn't try to bring up a conversation. Akira finished his meal quickly and went to the kitchen. Tokito, who was still at the room, looked to the door that Akira just passed to leave the tatami room. Her expression was cheerless. "Am I being too rude to him?" she asked to herself, "and am I being too hard to myself? Will I always betray my own feelings just to be stronger?" She was about to cry at that moment, when Akira suddenly entered the room dressed in blue yukata.

"Tokito, I'm going now." he said.

"Ye… Yeah," She replied.

"Take care," he waved and left the room.

"Her expression… It's so sad and lonely. Am I being too cold to her? All those heartrending memories must weigh on her very much. Not to mention that her guards, her father and Hishigi had died... I just don't know what I should do," Akira thought while he was walking along the street that was crowded with lanterns, children running around, and lots of people with colorful yukatas. The twin dragon of Shiseiten didn't realize that he had already reached the venue. He just kept walking while thinking.

"Hey, Akira!" A gentle voice of a man was heard, calling the boy who was deep in his own thoughts. The voice woke Akira up from his thoughts. He searched the source of the voice, then he saw a young man with his black hair tied up, waving to him in a friendly way. He wore an orange yukata.

Akira approached the man and realized that the man was not alone. A beautiful woman with long black hair accompanied him. She wore a pink yukata that suits her just perfectly. They were none other than Kyoshiro and Sakuya.

"What are you two doing here?" Akira asked, slightly pleased to see his two old friends.

"We heard that they are conducting a festival here, so we came," Kyoshiro replied.

"Both of you are here only for a festival? There should be a festival in Nagoya too, right? So why did you come all the way here, to Osaka?" Akira asked.

"Actually we come to tell you something," Kyoshiro said, realizing that he wasn't a good liar.

"And what is that?"

"Sakuya and I are getting married next week," Kyoshiro said and looked at his lover's face, blushing heavily.

"Well, congratulations," Akira smiled, "and where will you...?"

"Nagoya, of course," Kyoshiro shrugged, still blushing.

"Hopefully you and Tokito won't mind to attend our marriage," Sakuya said, "Oh yeah, where's Tokito? I don't see her around here."

"She didn't want to come, so she stayed at the house," Akira replied flatly.

Sakuya raised her eyebrows. "That's too bad…"

"Anyway, do you know where Kyo is?" Akira turned to Kyoshiro.

"He's still in Nagoya. He never likes crowded places in the first place," Kyoshiro explained casually.

"Oh…" Akira sighed.

Sakuya noticed someone walking silently behind Akira. She smiled. "Kyoshiro, isn't it time to go now?" She asked the medicine peddler.

Kyoshiro was confused at first, but he later understood what the shrine maiden meant. "Yeah, I think we should," He smirked fully.

"Hey, why are you both smiling? And why are you going now?" The young dragon was totally confused. He didn't realize what the cause was.

"You'll see by yourself. We're leaving, okay?" Kyoshiro said as he waved a goodbye.

"See you next week, Akira and Tokito. Bye now," Sakuya said and they both left Akira.

"Tokito? What do you mean by her?" Akira shouted because they were running. He still didn't realized what the two meant.

"Look behind you!" Kyoshiro said while running.

"Behind me?" Akira asked and turned around. He saw a blonde haired girl standing there, with heavy blushes on her cheeks. She wore a white yukata with sakura patterns. The beautiful yukata suits her white skin just excellently. Even her emerald eyes looked far more beautiful tonight.

"ARE you Tokito?" Akira asked in amazement and approached the girl. He was completely shocked by the sudden beauty of the tomboy daughter of Fubuki and Hikito.

"Of course it's me, idiot," She replied harshly, but her face hid a silent embarrassment.

"But you said... you said that you didn't want to come," he said doubtfully.

"It's so darn quiet at the house, so I came here to see how the festival is like," She replied, as harsh as before.

Akira sighed. "She never changes… Maybe I am too cold. I'll try to be friendlier to her," He thought. "So, Tokito, do you want to go around the shop? Let's enjoy this festival," Akira smiled.

Tokito blushed a little when she heard that. "Whatever, now let's go," she said and walked in front of Akira.

They went to different kinds of stores and stalls. They had a great time hanging together. Akira bought her some merchandises which successfully drove Tokito into a better mood. On their way home, they still chatted and laughed a lot.

Then Akira remembered and asked Tokito something that had been bugging him for hours.

"Tokito, why do you hate wearing yukata?"

Tokito became silent. She stopped her walk. "My mother…" she muttered.

"What?"

"My mother loved to wear yukata during summer. Every time I saw these clothes, I have... I have always remembered her," she said through small voice that was so unlikely hers.

"Tokito… I'm sorry. I didn't know," The young dragon apologized, staring at the ground.

"No, its okay," she said, "This is just a challenge for me."

"And what makes you change your mind about yukata?" He asked as they resumed the walk.

"Akari came to the house and try to cheer me up," replied the girl.

"Akari? But I thought she left Osaka already…"

"No, she went to the houses and checked the villager's health."

"That's so unusual… So, what did she say to you?" He questioned, looking directly at Tokito's face.

"She told me to be honest to my feelings and sort of. I didn't pay attention to some of them," Tokito stated, trying not to sound too melancholic.

"Was that just it?" Akira was confused.

"I think…" she nodded. They eventually reached the house and both of them went straight to the second floor to get some sleep. This was a tiring day.

When Tokito was about to enter her room, Akira called her and told her something.

"That yukata looks good on you," he said and quickly entered his own room. Both of them were blushing.

"I've never seen Tokito being so happy like she was recently. She even smiled and laughed," Akira thought. He couldn't help but blushed and cover that by his hand.

While Tokito's thought was, "That yukata also looks good on you, idiot."

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Thanks to Jun and Flaylda for the corrections. Sorry for troubling you both.