DSC: Did I put it in the first chapter, yes I did, it's there. Refer to first chapter for dsc (disclaimer)!!! Nothing to be happy about…
AN: I know, I know, I'm really lacking on the updating, Since summer is here I thought I might get to update more but my mother is mad at me, since I took solong with online school she doesn't want me going on the internet this summer so I only get to go on unless I absolutely need it or unless she needs it. So I'm afraid so say you guys might get less updates then you were expecting but I do have a computer that is not hooked up to the internet but my story's are there so I will continue working from them. I will have more than one update for each of my stories. So I'm sorry to you guys if you're one of those people that waits for a scanlated manga release online I definitely know how you feel but I didn't totally abandon you so look forward to more updates.
P.S I am working on Twilight stories also but I'm not releasing those stories any time soon, they will be released in a group with other new stories and hopefully new chapters, so I'm up to my knees in work for you guys. Remember to R&R.
Ch.2
"No school!!!" Yuzuyu shouted.
"Yes, no school for quite a while." Kokoro informed her.
"Then what are we gonna do today?"
"Well what do you usually do for summer break?"
"Well sometimes me and mommy would go to the pool, rent a dog, or to the beach, we would even go the park to fly hand made kites." Yuzuyu responded, getting all worked up about the possibilities summer vacation could bring. Kokoro laughed at her enthusiasm.
"Wow, sounds fun, we have to be sure to do all that stuff." Kokoro said, she listened to Yuzuyu chatter some more about past summers until she dazed off to thinking about her own past summers, with her mother.
"Yuzuyu, how would feel about starting a garden this summer, they say it's the best time of year to grow strawberries, mangos, and a lot of other good stuff." The idea brought Kokoro back. She remembered the laughs she and her mother shared while she watered and weeded the plants. They always had fed the birds, never neglecting any animal that came into their garden because they contributed to its beauty. At the end of every summer it paid off, beautiful red strawberries, plump, juicy mangos, bright roses, and enormous watermelons. "Let's do this forever, okasa!" "How about it, Yuzuyu? It could be right here in the back yard so you could see it everyday."
"Will we get to eat it when we're done?" Yuzuyu asked, ecstatic about the garden now. Kokoro chuckled, that was the part she looked forward to every year too.
"Of course, why should we miss out on one of the best parts of gardening? You'll see it's so much. Breeding life, taking care of it, and tending to it every day, it is really wonderful." Yuzuyu was enraptured in Kokoros words. "So, sounds like a plan, right?"
"Yep!"
"Should we let Kippei in on it?"
"No way, it should just be between us girls, right, Onee-chan?"
"Definitely. You and I will need to go to the market soon, let's go find something for you to wear."
"Alright! Follow me!" Yuzuyu happily bunny hopped to the stairs and up them all the way to Kippei's room. "Here is the closet. Onee-chan, you're going to put your clothes in here too, right, since we're family now?"
"Well I could or maybe you guys could leave some of your clothes in my apartment, we could spend the night there too."
"Really, I wanna see Onee-chan's house! Is it a castle?"
"Well, not technically but the building is really big, we should have fun there." Kokoro looked inside the closet to find an assortment of clothes. "Your clothes are so bright, there's not that many though, I'll definitely buy you some more new cute ones. Alright now, how about something purple or green?"
"That one!" Yuzuru said pointing to the lime green jumper.
"Good choice. Great minds think alike." Kokoro pulled the lime green jumper down as to dress Yuzuyu.
"Hands up." Kokoro commanded.
"Hands up!" Yuzuyu repeated happily, doing as she was told.
"Now all we need are our shoes and we're good to go." Kokoro told her when the job was done. "Let's go tell Kippei and you're family where we're going so they don't think I'm kidnapping you."
"Your family too." Yuzuyu said looked up at her.
That's right.
"KOKORO!" Kippei came running down the hall.
This house was definitely too much excitement for her.
"What?! Be careful, you almost knocked Yuzuyu down. What are you yelling about.
"Kokoro-chan! This is horrible." Kippei sobbed at her feet.
"What's so horrible?"
"I-I-"
"You what?"
"I didn't get to see you undress."
CRASH!
"You idiot."
"Onee-chan, why does Kippei-onii-chan wanna see you take your clothes off for."
"Yuzuyu, he's just weird like that, don't you listen to a thing the per-little girl-son says." Kokoro turned her attention back to Kippei who continued to sob on the floor. "You're such a wuss." And with that she granted him a kiss on his cheek for going through so much trouble for worrying about the removal of her clothing. He calmed down for that. Two babies dwelled in the house. Or maybe just one. "I'm taking Yuzuyu to buy some gardening supplies, do you think your mom will mind if we claim just a bit backyard for a garden. It'll be worth the while in the end, won't it Yuzuyu?"
"That's right!" Yuzuyu nodded.
"Yeah, I'm sure mom won't mind. I should come with you guys." Kippei said finally on his feet.
"No way!" Yuzuyu said. "It's only for girls Kippei Onii-chan, and you're a boy."
"No kidding." Kippei responded which earned him a flicked in the back of his head by Kokoro.
"It's true it's just us girls but when everything blooms we'll definitely feed you." Kokoro told him.
"Only if you a good boy." Yuzuyu added.
"That's right, only when you deserve it, So I suppose you're gonna try to keep wandering eyes from eyeing undressing young girls." Kokoro said, smug now. She gently tugged Yuzuyu out the door.
"But I still don't understand why he wants to see you undress." Yuzuyu complained, still confused.
"Yuzuyu, darling, when you're older you'll understand but until then I'll teach you how to fight so you can avoid bad situations like that."
"Okay, Onee-chan." Yuzuru said and with that Yuzuru and Kokoro left the house.
Soon enough the two made it to the store.
"What does that say Onee-chan?" Yuzuru asked.
"It says Botany Boutique. My mother and I used to come here all the time. The shop keeper is really nice and she the best of the best supplies. It's quaint and it's cute you'll like it, it also doubles as a flower shop. I think I may get a job as a florist here." I haven't been here in so long. I wonder is Sae-san still works here. The last time I came here it was with my mother. Well, it's now or never. The bell at the door rang as Yuzuru and Kokoro made their entrance.
"Oh, look Onee-chan daisies!" Kokoro allowed Yuzuru run off in the direction of the daisies. There were six other females in the room along with three four males. Some of them, Kokoro already knew, were Sae's family but it wasn't a family member who approached her at that moment.
"Hi, can I help you with something?" A young man asked.
"Oh no I just need to see Sae-san." Kokoro responded.
"Oh, alright I'll get her for ya, but before that I'm Minashiwa Kouta if you become a regular you can call me Kouta." Kokoro laughed in response. "Oh, what the heck you can call me Kouta anyway. Let me get Sae-san!" He turned and yelled for Sae-san. Kokoro thanked him,
"No problem, by the way cute kid, she yours."
"Oh no,she's…" Kokoro pondered. "…family, she's family."
"'Kay, so I'll see you around. Oh wait, I didn't get your name."
"Tokunaga Kokoro, you can call me Kokoro-chan." The boy's eyes lit up.
"The Kokoro-chan? Sae-san talks about you all the time." A voice interrupted their conversation.
"Oh just a minute I'll be there!" said the distant voice.
"I'd better go, Sae-san is pretty strict when she wants to be but you probably already know that. See ya, again!" With that the young man darted off. After that Kokoro heard a door open and shut and followed by that, the patter of shoes on the floor.
"Sorry I had some stuff to ta-" The tall woman looked up from her apron. "-take care of." Kokoro saw disbelief, relief, and joy in the woman's eyes. "Kokoro? My goodness how have you been?" Then in a rapid mood swing the woman rushed over and went for Kokoro's cheek. "Geez! Would it kill you to call me once in while? What? Is it such a bother to pick up the phone? And just look at you! You're a mess of bones but mind you, you've still got your mother's pretty face." All the while Kokoro struggling to get free.
"Geez Sae-san!" Kokoro said, exasperated when Sae finally let go.
"Oh get over it, you act like such a stiff sometimes." Sae-san smiled. "So how are you, and your father?"
Getting over the urge to pout, Kokoro remained composed and answered appropriately. "We're both fine."
"Well, I'll take your word for it, after all you don't look that skinny. If I was like you when I was your age all the boys would have been after me. Some people get all the luck." Sae-san said jokingly. Kokoro finally gave in and smiled.
"So, I hear that no good father of yours remarried." Sae-san commented and she approached the back of the counter. Which she noticed was empty. "You guys, I thought I told someone to always be at either one of the counters, I'm getting a new one installed and you guys can't even manage two! Keep this up and I'll practice my kendo on you all, you know I'm still training." The employees laughed and went about their work.
"Sae-san, you know he's not bad." Kokoro said in defense of her father.
"Well he ain't half bad if that's what you mean but if you asked me the guy could use a slice and dice, courtesy of me."
"Well he's the only family I've got."
"Now, you and I both know that ain't true, you got plenty of family, and biological or not one of them is me and you'll find that I'm plenty enough." Sae-san winked. Kokoro smiled, that was definitely true. If any one had taught her how to smile it was her mother and Sae-san, Kokoro had always admired the way Sae-san could smile at any given time and under any circumstance and the way her smile made her stronger, it hid some things, it uncovered some things, one thing she admired about Sae-san was definitely her smile. "So you getting comfortable with my Kouta?"
"What? We jus-" Kokoro said trying to deny any hints of attraction that she might have put off.
"I don't mind that you date him but remember he's still got a job here."
"Sae-san I have boyfriend, as a matter of fact I brought his little cousin with me tod-Yuzuru!" Kokoro began looking around her frantically. Hearing Kokoro's surprised call Yuzuru emerged from the flowers and raced over to Kokoro with petals in her hair.
"Yes, Kokoro Onee-chan."
"Oh, you're alright, that's good." Kokoro crouched down to Yuzuru's level. "You look like you fell in, I wish I had a camera. Oh my phone, just a minute Sae-san." After they were done taking the picture Kokoro introduced Yuzuru to Sae-san.
"This is my boy-friend, Kippei's, little cousin. Her name is Yuzuru, as you probably heard."
"How are you doing flower girl, from the looks of it you were in my daisies." Sae-san observed.
"Mm-hmm." Yuzuru nodded and exclaimed.
"I'm Sae, you can call me Sae-chan, cutie." Yuzuru smiled at her new friend. "Do you like daisies?"
"Yes, can we put them in our garden Onee-chan?" Yuzuru asked.
"Of course we can, Yuzuru."
"Than I've got just the thing for ya, cutie." And with that Sae-san got up. She soon came back with a flower and a package of seeds for it. "Here ya go, do you like pink?"
"Yes!" Yuzuru exclaimed. "Look Kokoro it's a pink daisy!"
"Isn't it pretty, hurry up and take it before it disappears!" Kokoro told her. Quickly and gently Yuzuru grabbed for the flower and it's seeds at the thought of it disappearing.
"I gave Kokoro-chan her own pink flower when she was little and cameto my shop. Pink is said to show kindness in love so if you have pink flowers in your garden it will definitely prosper and everything there will grow to be as beautiful as the flowers. So take care of it. Alright?"
"Okay!" yuzuru exclaimed.
"This will be the very first thing we plant in the garden Yuzuru." Kokoro informed her. Yuzuru smiled up at her.
"Okasa! Okasa, look, Sae-san gave me a pink rose!"
