at annon: Thank you for your review! And yeah, it is hard to refer to Sebastian as Hotaru, isn't? And yes, Hotaru looks exactly like Sebastian from the anime because it's the same person -- only difference is the outfit. :P

Thank you guys for the review! My friend, Noodles, read this fanfic and was inspired to draw Shiori and Sebastian. She drew it and showed it to me, and oh my god, she did a fantastic job. I imagined Shiori the same way she drew her. I tried copy/pasting the link here but it won't show. Do any of you know what I need to do to show you guys the drawing?

Visit

Today, Wakana had come to visit.

"Shiori, do you like this kimono? Itsuki's mother gifted me this. Isn't pretty!?" Wakana twirled around, displaying her midnight blue-colored kimono with vibrant colorful swirly pattern running across it. Her extremely long rust-colored hair swayed as she turned, Shiori always thought the woman had such beautiful hair – but she wasn't going to let her know she thought that. She might develop even a bigger ego.

As for the kimono, Shiori didn't like it. It wasn't the style she usually wore. Or maybe in the back of her mind she knew if things went normal back then she'd be the one getting the kimono by Itsuki's mother, not her. Shiori quickly brushed off the thought.

"I hate it." Shiori narrowed her eyes at her cousin. Wakana, in return stopped spinning and gazed down at her kimono with a frown, tilting her head ever so slightly. "Really? – you really don't like it? I thought it looked very pretty.. " the long-haired girl felt her kimono's fabric for a couple of minutes. then quickly remembered she was in Shiori's room and turned her attention towards Shiori again with a forced grin.

"Oh, that's right! You probably got some nice kimono of your own from Hotaru's mother, right? Can I see them? How are your in-laws like? Are they nice?" the girl asked, skipping over to Shiori's closet.

"Hotaru doesn't have parents," Shiori grumbled. She wasn't going to tell her older cousin her husband was actually a demon who was bounded to her because of some contract to get revenge on the people who murdered her family.

Wakana instantly closed the closet's door and her mouth formed a small o, not really looking sympathetic but instead she looked like she was thinking deeply about something. "Oh.."

Shiori sighed. She really hated uninvited guests, they were so troublesome and annoying. When was she going to leave?

"You never got around to it, Shiori, how did you meet Hotaru?" Wakana asked, again attempting to try and finding out information of her cousin's mysterious and handsome husband. She was really curious how he was. He was so dashing and attractive, too good for her dumb little cousin.

Shiori's eyes widened. They hadn't thought of that. Why would they? She couldn't really discuss their fake romance with the demon. It was such a silly and strange topic that she would be too embarrassed to talk about it. But Shiori thought it was reasonable enough question for anyone who was nosy and curious.

Shiori felt like pushing her cousin off a cliff.

"Oh, I was lost in the woods.. and, um, he found me.. and, uh, I – we got married."

Wakana gasped. "He married you just because he found you lost in the woods? Incredible!"

"Yes, it was love at first sight." Shiori answered in a bored tone as she looked outside her room's window. Hotaru was teaching Arashi how to trim the bushes in the garden and the twins were taking turns poking Yasu, who was laying down on the grass. Shiori let out a small smile for a millisecond.

"I've noticed you changed, Shiori." Wakana frowned as she noticed the blue-haired girl was not really interested in talking to her. Shiori blinked in reply. "Did something happen to you in your one year absence that changed you so much? Honestly speaking, my parents have been really worried for you too after the way you behaved in my wedding reception. You use to be so naive and gullible, and you always use to listen to whatever I said, and lie about your opinions on things to agree with me – "

" – Don't remind me, Wakana – "

" – I told you to call me, Kana! See, you used to call me Kana before! What is wrong with you!?"

"I don't care if if you're Wakana or Baka-na or Pakana, get out my house. And don't just barge in to people's houses, ask for their permission first. Didn't aunty even taught you that?"

Wakana gasped. "How dare you! – "

"Hello there! good afternoon, misses!" Satoshi entered the bedroom with a big smile pasted on her face.

Shiori narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing in my room? Who gave you the right to barge – "

" – Oh my! Is this lady your relative, Mistress?" the short woman asked running to Wakana and running her hand through the older girl's hair. "She's so pretty! I love your Kimino, miss."

Wakana laughed with a hand clasped over her mouth in a boastful manner, looking over at Shiori and pretending to be embarrassed. Shiori must feel stupid now since her hired help complimented me and not her, she thought.

Shiori smirked, her arms folded, and pointed at the woman's hands with her eyes. Wakana's face fell as she looked down to see the round woman feeling her kimono. The curly-haired person's hands were covered in some kind of curry, and she was leaving imprints of her fingers on her brand new kimono. Satoshi then looked up at Wakana staring at her with a horrified expression and grinned, displaying her disgusting unclean teeth. A whiff of her bad breath entered Wakana's nostrills.

Wakana screamed and pushed the woman away. The middle-aged woman tumbled on the floor and started kicking her feet up in midair, yelling in agony yet again and calling for help. Shiori chuckled at the sight. So I guess she isn't that useless, afterall.

Wakana was fuming, her whole face was red. Shiori thought her head was going to expand wider and wider and was on the verge of exploding any moment. "Urgh! Look what your servant did to my clothes! What am I going to tell Itsuki's mom!? Don't you have any authority over the people working in your household? Haven't you given them adequate lessons, you stupid girl!? Urgh, whatever – I'm leaving! I just came to tell you that since your back you're suppose to hold a party for all the villagers because of your 'grand' return. Since you're the leader of the Akiyama clan, currently."

With that, Wakana stomped away.

---

"Shiori, do you like this?"

Shiori's father sat a eight-year-old in his lap and held out a hairpin. They were sitting under the koyo tree, the tree that sprouted colorful leaves in the autumn. The little girl's eyes widened at the posession. The gem at the end interested her. "Yes, It is so pretty! But what's that, father?" the little girl pointed at the weird figure carved out of a stone in the end of the hairpin.

The man laughed. "That's a firefly, your mother loved them. I'll show you them today, we'll go to the pond nearby here at night. They're very beautiful. This hairpin, Shiori, was intended for your mother. I was going to gift it to her on her Birthday. But I couldn't because your mother went to heaven the same year." Shiori's father patted her head, a sad smile formed on his face. The little Shiori cocked her head to the side with her mouth wide open, noticing a new expression on her father's face.

"This was mother's?"

Shiori's father nodded. "I'm going to give this to you today, Shiori. I want you to wear it when you have blossomed into a young beautiful woman. Please take good care of this until then. Can I count on you to do that, Shiori?"

The little girl nodded head head enthusiastically. "Mmm!"