Shortest chapter I have ever written, but the feeling in your heart for it is endless... I have gotten some comments from some of my cousins lately, thinking that the story so far is a little repetitive. Well, I'm sorry. Although the story line WILL change once Year 2 starts. I'm not telling you on how it's gonna be, however, there will be something surprising in Year 2. Then, Year 3 will be another good year and Spring of Year 4 will be the last part of the story. I'm not, however, gonna tell you how it's gonna be. So read the story, and I hope you like the chapter! Enjoy!

Talking
Thinking/Memories
Important words/Emphasis

Chapter 14: The Stars Say I Love You

Christmas was only a couple of weeks away. But the village folks will have to wait! Instead, for now, they get to something that's more of an appetizer for the upcoming Christmas day, Starry Night Festival. A festival where everyone joins their family for a party at night where the stars shine best. When Koji woke up, he found Karen sitting on his bed smiling at him. She reached out her hand and stroked her finger down from his forehead to his chin.

"Morning…"

"Huh? Oh hey… morning… So why are you in here?"

"Just wanted to see you sleep… you look so cute when you're sleeping…"

He blushed and gave Karen a morning kiss. Karen returned it affectionately and smiled. He washed up and went outside with Karen.

"You do know what tonight is right?"

"Umm… beats me…"

Karen stopped in front of Koji and held his hands.

"Come on… you know…"

"Not really I don't know…"

"(giggle) You're hopeless… today's the Starry Night Festival…"

"What's that?"

Karen laughed and glomped him.

"It's the day that the stars shine the brightest and everyone is staying with their families for the night… Are your parents coming?"

Koji sadly shook his head.

"No… they're always too busy to come visit me… But it's okay though… I actually like living without the nagging of my mom and the barking of my dad…"

Karen laughed again.

"Poor you… Well, you can always come with my family…"

"I don't know… wouldn't your dad get angry at me?"

She smiled and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Don't worry… he won't be annoyed… much…"

They both laughed and headed straight for the inn, where they found Ann and Cliff at the bar. Doug kept giving Cliff free wine with a huge smile on his face.

"Come on Cliff! Why won't you join us for Starry Night?"

"I don't know…"

Ann hugged him and stared at him with big puppy eyes.

"Aww… please? Do it for me?"

"Alright…"

"Yay! Oh, hey guys!"

"Hey Ann… I see you and Cliff are getting along well…"

She smiled and stayed with Cliff for a bit longer before she had to go back into the kitchen. Koji and Karen ordered two bottles for each other and sat there smiling at each other.

"Come on Koji, I wouldn't feel right if you didn't come."

He took a big swig out of the bottle and put it down.

"Well… I'll think about it…"

"Well, you better think fast because it is sort of last minute…"

Then Koji and Karen left the inn and walked along the beach talking a bit more of their childhood.

"Did you ever do anything like this back in your home town?"

"Yeah… All my friend and family would come over and have tons of talks. My parents and my aunt and uncle would keep talking and talking and talking until I got sick of it. Some of my cousins would try to pick on me and call me names. I got back at them of course."

Karen laughed.

"So what'd you do?"

"Well, whenever they sleep, I always would put in gravy or ground beef in their underwear. They couldn't get the smell out for weeks!"

They both laughed and Koji almost fell.

"So what about you Karen? What has your Starry Night Festivals been like before I came to town?"

"It was fun. Sometimes some of my own family would come over. I would always talk with one of my cousins and always get mad at the ones who were putting pranks on me."

"So did you get back at them?"

"Yeah. I would always have Gauguin sleep in their food and have her catch mice and bury them in it. Then, when they find the dead mice, they freak out and I ran away laughing so hard."

They shared so many laughs at the beach and then things got a little calmer.

"Then… years passed… and some things happened…"

"What kind of things?"

"I don't wanna tell you… I'm afraid it might ruin our relationship… I'm guessing it's best to just leave it in the past…"

"Oh… I have that same feeling too… my cousins always bugged me on how my summer vacation was… I didn't wanna tell them… it was too sad…"

"Aww…"

She held Koji tight and he took her hand. Koji waved goodbye to Karen and then headed on to the waterfall to wait for the festival to start. He looked at the water and thought about all the things that have happened 10 years ago. He kept looking at the water and had memories of his childhood.

"Koji, your cousins are here!"

"Alright mom! Be down in a minute!"

He went outside of his room and went downstairs to meet his cousins.

"Hey Koji! What' up?"

"You guys still haven't changed a bit…"

"So how was summer? Meet any cute girls lately?"

"Well…"

He shyly looked at the ground and smiled for a bit. Then his cousins oohed and ahhed.

"There was this one girl…"

Then Koji remembered the time they both met. Her voice rang through his ears and it was the most beautiful sound that he has ever seen. He remembers the time when they were playing in town with a bunch of other kids. There were some kids that Koji had met when he first came and didn't remember who they were, but the little kids in his memories looked a lot like most of his friends. He played with the mysterious little girl and a littler Ann, Elli, and a littler Cliff. He smiled at his memories of 10 years ago, but unfortunately, it was all but forgotten after his summer break. The only person that he remembers the most, was the small girl that he made a promise to. He remembers when he was back in the city, his whole life changed. His friends back home wanted to know how it went, but he didn't talk about it. Then Koji looked at his watch, saw the time and noticed that it was almost dark.

"How long have I been sitting here? I better get to Karen's house fast!"

He got up and ran as fast as he could. There, he saw Karen in the window and came in.

"Koji, you came!"

"Hey…"

She ran and hugged him.

"So where're your parents?"

"Oh, they figured that maybe I should stay at home for a bit while they go out. So here we are… alone… together…"

"You don't sound very happy…"

"No, I am! It's just that this is the first time that my parents left me the house all to myself. I'm guessing that you would feel comfortable. It must be sad living by yourself."

"No, it's alright actually. Although… I do sometimes get kind of lonely at times…"

"Well, now that you're here, let's eat!"

They sat at the table and ate and talked. They had many laughs and romantic parts while they were having fun.

"(sigh) wow, my mom should really learn not to cook so much next time… Koji?"

She found him on the table sleeping. She laughed and woke him up with a kiss. He opened his eyes and got up suddenly. He looked over to his shoulder and saw Karen laughing. He smiled and laughed too.

"Hey Koji… let's go to Mother's Hill…"

"In the snow? In the middle of the night?"

"Yeah! We can be alone there…"

"Aren't we already alone?"

"(giggle) Come on…"

She grabbed his hand, went out the door, turned off the lights and locked it. They went through the winter night hand in hand smiling at each other, switching "I love you"-s with one another. Then, they reached the top and sat down in the cold snow.

"Look up…"

Koji looked up into the sky and saw many stars shining brightly in the clear winter night. His mouth opened as he saw how many there were. Karen watched with him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Koji… I'm cold… hold me…"

He turned around and warmed Karen with his hug. She smiled and snuggled into Koji and closed her eyes, whispering how much she loves him. He smiled and looked up into the sky again. There, he could see the memories of his childhood and the good times that went along with it. It was cold, it was dark, but both of them didn't care. Because the warm feelings for each other got them through until the next morning, where everyone is finally preparing for Christmas.