What's that smell? It's the smell of a brand new chapter!!! When we left off, Koji and Karen have made up for their troubles. What's gonna happen to them in this chapter? Keep reading and find out! Right now, I'm already working on chapter 8. Thanks to my Thanksgiving Break, I can finally work on my fanfiction as much as I can! Hope you enjoy! Bad reviews means an angry evil me!

Talking
Thinking/Memories
Important words/Emphasis

Chapter 7: Flowers of Friendship

A couple days have passed ever since Koji and Karen have reconciled their relationship. Although, they almost never see each other anymore which still bothers Karen a bit. It was the afternoon and she went out to the inn to grab a drink. Once she went inside, she met Koji who was just coming out. They stared at each other for a moment and Koji just smiled and walked back home. Karen smiled back, but he didn't see her. Her smile faded and just went on to just getting the drink.

"Hey Karen, are you and Koji doing okay?"

"I don't know Ann… we're friends again, but I just feel worried that I'll never see him again. We haven't even talked since."

"He just needs time… here I'll go get you a cold one. Oh hey Popuri!"

She came in and sat next to Karen. She knew about Karen and Kai's relationship but it didn't really bother her because she's happy for Karen and she looks up to Karen like an older sister.

"I heard about what happened between you and Koji… I hope he's doing alright… I'm worried about him…"

"What's to worry? I mean, after all, we're only friends… friends who just never seem to talk…"

Karen got off her stool and went to see Kai.

"Hey sweetie…"

"Oh, um… hey… listen, are the pet names really necessary?"

"Well of course, honey. It shows how much I like being with you."

"Well… okay then. How's Koji doing? He's still not mad at me is he?"

"No of course not. Koji and I had a talk a couple days ago. We're friends again, but…"

"But what?"

"I just never seem to see him again… it's like as if he doesn't want to see me… I'm worried…"

Kai put his arm around Karen and held her gently.

"It's okay… he just need some time to get this through his head."

"I know… I'm just worried that he might drink himself silly because of us… I'll go talk to him."

She gave Kai a kiss and went over to Koji's house. He wasn't inside, so instead she went to check out the waterfall as well, but he wasn't there either. Getting worried she was about to go through the tunnel towards the field next to Mother's Hill. Suddenly, she bumped into Koji.

"Oh hey Koji!"

"Hey."

"We haven't talked in a while, wanna go to the inn?"

"No thanks."

"You're not really talking much to me as usual."

"I know."

"Is there anything wrong?"

"Nope."

"Okay then… well let's go to the field!'

"Nah."

"Why not?"

"Cuz."

"Because why?"

"Secret."

"Umm… okay then… I'll see you later then…"

"Later."

Ann popped out of nowhere to check out how Karen's doing.

"Hey Karen! Did ya talk to him yet?"

"Um… I think…"

She saw Koji heading towards his farm and he never seemed to look back at her again.

"So this is what Koji was talking about…"

She looked back to check out the field, but when she arrived, she saw nothing. Everything was just the same as it was before. So instead of getting into his business, she just turned back home.

"Mom… I'm getting kind of worried about Koji."

"Well what's wrong?"

"It's just that… well… I talked to him today, but he didn't really say much. I'm worried that he doesn't want to see me anymore…"

"Karen, Koji's just like that because he's still trying to recover from the aftershock of you and Kai… It happens to all of us… just give him some time…"

"…thanks…"

The next day, Karen was walking towards the inn as usual. She expected to find Koji there, but he's gone. She sat down with Ann to talk with her.

"Koji still hasn't talked to me for a while… I wonder what's up?"

"You worry too much Karen… Oh wait! Here comes Koji right now!"

Koji opened the door and sat at a stool 2 stools away from Karen.

"Um… hey Koji…"

"Hmm? Hey."

"So what's up?"

"Not much."

"Koji, I wanna talk to you about what happened yesterday."

"What?"

"Are you avoiding me for some reason?"

"No."

"Well, can you at least tell me what's up with the one word answers?"

"I dunno."

"Well, alright then…"

She left the inn and headed towards Kai, but Koji stopped her.

"Um Karen, let's talk for a bit."

She blushed and agreed to go with him. They stopped by their usual spots near the river and Koji took a rock and skipped it across.

"So Koji, what did you wanna talk to me about?"

"Not much, just wanted to talk for a bit."

"Oh…"

"I bet you're wondering why I was acting the way I was before yesterday."

"Huh?"

"I just feel like that… if we don't see each other much, our friendship could just stay as it is…"

Karen responded with just a gloomy sounding "Oh." It seems that Karen may have feelings for Koji, but not definite. She wants to be his friend, but she also doesn't want to lose him in her life.

"Can you at least tell me what was going on with you and the field?"

"I already told you, it's a secret…"

"Oh…"

"But I'll tell you one thing though."

She turned her head towards Koji's direction. Koji smiled at her and she felt like she was gonna melt.

"It's a special something for a special someone. But I'm not telling you who though."

She smiled and hugged him goodbye. It was a good talk, at least for now. She walked back towards the inn to talk with Ann and Cliff. When she arrived, she ordered herself a bottle and drank in happiness. After that, she met up with Kai and hung around with him for a while.

"I feel like that Koji and I are getting to be best friends again."

"So are you guys talking again?"

"I don't know… he never said…"

"So he's still trying to recover…"

"I broke his heart real bad… I wanted to make it up to him, but he doesn't wanna see me anymore… I still feel really bad for him…"

Kai gave Karen a warm hug and comforted her.

"Thanks sweetie… I feel a little better now…"

"No problem…"

So then she left Kai and started to look for Koji again.

"How many times have I been looking for Koji? I guess I must be really worried about him."

As she walked towards the hot springs to take a nice hot bath, suddenly, she saw Koji walking by towards the field.

"Koji's here… I better go talk to him now…"

So then she followed Koji as quietly as she can. Once she passed through the tunnel, Koji went over beside the lake and went into the trees. What was Koji doing in the trees? She started to follow him even more and still kept her secretiveness. The trees kept getting harder for her to see until she stopped in the middle of nowhere and lost him.

"Now where did he go?"

She was already tired and rested in the middle of a clearing. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her on the shoulder. She quickly turned around and noticed Koji smiling behind her.

"Have you been following me?"

"Um… yeah…"

"Hmph… come on, follow me. I wanna show you something…"

He held out his hand and took her through the trees.

"Karen…"

"Hmm?"

"Remember the thing that I was talking about earlier? About a special something for a special someone?"

Her heart was racing as Koji pulled out the branches and showed her a marvelous field of Moondrops.

"This was the special something for that special someone… you…"

Karen didn't know what to say. She was taken in by the flowers that were supposed to have died off last spring.

"Koji… it's beautiful… but how? I thought these flowers should have died off by now…"

"This field is the only place left to find them. I wanna make up for yelling at you a couple days ago. I'm really sorry for the way I was acting… and I'm sorry for making you worry about me, but I didn't wanna tell you about this yet. Go on, you know you wanna take some with you…"

So then Karen ran into the fields and took a whole bunch with her home.

"But why?"

"Let's just say that it's a gift… a gift for a friend…"

She smiled and gave him a big hug for everything that he's done. She returned to Kai and told him about what Koji did for her. He was even amazed that he could be able to find a whole field full of spring flowers in the summer. After that, Koji haven't spoken to Karen for another long while because he still doesn't want to come between her and her relationship with Kai. But Karen still looked for him and talked with him, even if it was just for one minute. Several weeks later, summer was almost drawing to a close. Who knows what awaits for Koji later on?