Cherry Petals ~サクランボノハナビラ
5. 線香花火 ~緋真~ (Sparklers ~Hisana~)
Happiness makes a person childish.
If I see you smile, then I'll smile for no reason.
You can't stop me at all,
For it's a nice feeling to share this happiness.
In Rukongai, there were storytellers that would sit down under a huge sturdy tree and read to the villagers on a weekly basis. The stories they told never repeated; and had always managed to keep the listeners captivated. The old lady was a fan of the storyteller; she would always beg me to take her to that tree where she would listen closely to his stories. I would leave her there and continue my rounds of fetching water. After the session ended, she would always be filled with vigor as she narrated what she had remembered from his words. I would laugh to myself and tell her "Granny, these are stories. They never happen."
Granny always objected to that statement,
"Child, there's no such thing as never."
There are times Granny would believe in very kid-like things, in a very mature manner. She told me that everyone belonged to a fairytale. It would be exaggerating if they all had happy endings; but Granny said everyone would have had at least one happy moment that resembled that of fairytales.
"Granny, do you have one?"
"I do," She nodded.
"When he took me out to catch fireflies," The old woman smiled as she looked over at the old man sitting by the bench. This conversation reminded her of her younger days when her husband used to take her out for night adventures. She loved fireflies most – tiny frail blinking lights on the surface of the leaves. One has to be extremely quiet to catch a handful. "That man would say very sweet things when he hands over the fireflies," The old woman would giggle at her memories. I looked at her blissful smile and thought,
Even in Rukongai, one could be very happy.
"What's yours?"
"Me? I don't have one," I replied softly.
Granny gave me a warm pat on my shoulders and I held her hand.
"Granny?"
"Yes child?"
"I am unable to bring you here tomorrow for stories,"
"You have something on?"
"Yes, I have to attend an event."
"Okay," Granny seemed a little disappointed before she thought of an idea. "Why not tell me your story when you come back from it tomorrow? You'll be tomorrow's storyteller!"
"I will, Granny!" I felt relieved that I was able to make things up for her.
When I reached my hut, I took my yukata off and began to wash it clean – turning up in a prim and proper yukata would be basic courtesy and respect for the host of the event. Girls would usually tie up their hair whenever they wore yukatas – as my hair length barely reached the shoulders, I decided it was better to let it down instead. Unknowingly, I spent my entire day inside my hut making preparations for tomorrow's evening. I double-checked that the sand colored yukata would be dry enough to be worn on the next day; I even sniffed at it thrice so that there was no weird odor. I ensured that the hair strands would not stick out in a frizzy manner; then I would dance around the wooden flooring and hop back to my reflection in the mirror– and I will smile at it like a silly child.
What is making me so excited over?
I asked questions in my head. How does a festival feel like in Rukongai? What do the people do? What are fireworks? What would he...
I stopped before I thought it out aloud; I rephrased my question.
What would everyone wear?
I shook away the weird thoughts I had in my head – I had looked forward to tomorrow because it's a festival; because everyone would be smiling there.
That's right. I loved to see people smiling.
It is better than any scenery out there.
Seeing someone smiling out from their heart
makes you feel warm and fuzzy.
When night fell, I felt a little uneasy. I would look out at the window and wished sunrise would come a little sooner than any other days. It was very difficult to shut both eyes for a long time; they will open up after a few minutes to check on the window. I repeated this over and over again before I finally tire myself to sleep.
I jumped out from my slumber when I felt the sun shining on my face – it's the next day! It was not too long before I met the first problem of the day – how would I know when would be the right time to arrive at the venue? I took out the map and flipped over to the other side; it wrote "Wait here, 5.30 pm". When the meeting time was known, the second problem of the day popped out – I could not tell the time without the presence of the clock.
I don't have a clock, neither does Granny.
We simply tell time by looking at the color of the sky. Time was not represented in numerical terms, but rather, by words – dawn, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night, midnight. What time does 5.30pm mean? I panicked at this problem, and ran towards Granny's house.
"Granny! Granny!" I knocked on the door.
The frail woman walked slowly to the window to peep at who the visitor was.
"Ah~ it's you. What happened? You look pale,"
"I need to ask you questions!"
Granny was taken aback at my anxiety.
"What time is 5.30pm? Is it now? Am I too late for the event?" I asked, my voice shaking. I thought I had missed the event.
"What event is it?"
"Fire...works Festival,"
"Silly child. Fireworks are meant for the night sky. 5.30pm probably meant somewhere before sunset," Granny smiled wearily – I guess she was sleeping when I knocked at the door.
"Thanks! I'm sorry to have disturbed your sleep."
5.30pm meant the period of time before the sun goes down.
I looked at the sky – it had just turned faint blue – there was still a long time before the sun would go down.
You know what I did next? I spoke to the sun.
"Can you work faster, Mr. Sun? Please take the day off!" I said out loud to the yellow ball of light.
What on earth am I doing?
I laughed to myself.
I was almost sure if there were villagers who heard me, they would be laughing too. Why am I doing such things today?
Perhaps it's because he always hides a surprise along with his own actions – and I want to know it. Is this how one should feel when they make friends about the same age? If that is so, I should really make more friends!
Time passed extremely slowly today. I even left for the venue early, somewhere when the sun tilted towards the afternoon hour. I ran my fingers along the route that was drawn out on the map – it seemed to be rather confusing at the end because I had to walk into the woods – trees looked awfully alike when they were placed side by side. I was thankful that I had actually left my hut early – I had to circle round the woods a couple of times; and the sun was slowly setting by the time I figured out the way out.
The sound of horses galloping could be heard from a distant.
A woman was shouting out for my name.
"Hisana? Where are you?"
"I'm here!" I had presumed that it was related to the event. The dark reddish brown wooden carriage pulled up in front of me within seconds. Everything seemed like a fairytale scene– from the horses to the princess stepping out of the carriage.
"Hello Hisana," The lady was dressed in an intricately designed deep orange yukata; sunbirds made from golden threads were pictured to be flying amongst the spider lilies. She had dark colored hair that was clipped into a ponytail by a hairpin. The woman's skin shone like sparkling bronze fragments when the setting sun reflected its light onto her.
"Nice to meet you," I took a bow. Looking up, the woman was grinning cheekily. It was our first meeting, yet she smiled as if we have known each other.
"Have we met before?"
"Of course we have. I even stood outside your house talking to you, remember?"
How come it seemed to me that I do not have the slightest clue talking to this person?
"Did...we?"
"Oya~ it's me, Yoruichi," She said it in the same tone as that talking black cat.
"So was it you hiding behind the black cat, doing all the talking?"
"That black cat is me,"
"So Yoruichi-san can turn into a black cat?"
"Yep,"
"That sounds like magic!" I wondered how it was possible to turn from a human to a cat – Yoruichi-san is like a true magician.
"It sure is. Hop on the carriage."
"Yoru...Yoruichi-san? You are really beautiful today,"
"Hahaha!" The raven-haired beauty laughed. "Wait till you see the one inside." She pointed to the window of the carriage. I took her hand and bent down a little as I entered the door. There was a cold but ravishing beauty seated at the corner, looking out at the window with eyes that had lost patience. This beautiful existence noticed my entrance, and continued to gaze out of the window, cross-legged and arms folded.
"Nice to meet you," I took a tiny bow. What an enchanting sight, I thought to myself as I saw the yukata this beautiful person was donning – dark purplish with silver bamboo shoots that seemed like they had sprouted from the ankles.
"It's me," That person shifted his eyes onto me.
It's that grumpy prince!
"It's true, Yoruichi-san," I giggled.
"Right? I told you, he's prettier," Yoruichi-san laughed out louder this time.
When I tried to look up at his eyes, the carriage took off and I bumped my head loudly against the wall. I saw his right hand trying to reach out for me, but it was too late. Yoruichi-san kept laughing and slapping the seats with her left hand; as she rubbed the back of my head gently.
"I thought he was..." I was gazing at the dark purple yukata.
"A girl, right," That boy sighed out, as if he was thinking "until when will she get it right?"
I looked down apologetically.
I wondered, if he's always so unhappy about everything,
Will I ever get to see him smile?
"Wow, Byakuya-go. It seems like you have telepathy!" Yoruichi-san jeered. His name is Byakuya? It was my first time hearing that name – it sounded very uncommon. As he wasn't the one to introduce his name to me, I did not go around calling him "Byakuya" - I tried to strike conversations without having to call his name.
Byakuya stood up and tried to pull out Yoruichi-san's hairpin, but she had successfully dodged it. It was a hilarious scene because Byakuya wouldn't give up and Yoruichi-san was very nimble with deflecting his attacks – it made the carriage rock harder than it already had. I laughed out uncontrollably and the both of them stopped; they took a glance at one another before Yoruichi-san smiled at me – it was as if they wanted me to be happy about today's event too.
The carriage stopped after traveling quite a distance. Yoruichi-san was so excited that she took my hand and push me into this room where there were 5 chambermaids waiting inside. They began to take my measurements and discuss what would be the best yukata pattern for me.
"It's okay I can just take a plain blue one..." I went over to the right and picked up the first one I see.
"No. You suit the color pink,"One of the senior maids commented and she demanded the rest to start searching for pink-colored yukatas. There were many patterns, but I particularly loved this one – the one with reddish plum and cherry blossoms.
"This one is pretty," I blushed at the design.
"One should look happy when she wears a yukata," said the senior maid.
"Can I wear this?" I asked.
"Yoruichi-sama said it's yours," one of the younger ones smiled at me. Even when I refused the offer, they insisted that I should just accept the kind favor.
"You have to fit in these clogs too," I was presented a pair of wooden slip-in clogs. I had not been wearing shoes since the first day I had resided in Rukongai – not only were they costly, they looked pretty hard to walk on. I tripped quite a couple of times due to the wooden pieces supporting the sole – if I rely too much on my heel to walk, I'll look like I'm about to fall down; if I rely too much on the front part, the clogs will tip over, causing another fall. As I wobbled my way out of the door, I saw two expressions – one was gleaming, the other was astonished. What had happened?
"Hisana!" Yoruichi-san went up the stairs and led me down the stairs.
"You look extremely adorable with this yukata," She grinned. "Don't you think so, Byakuya-go?" Yoruichi-san looked over at Byakuya, who turned his eyes to the floor.
"Ah...yeah," He lowered his head.
Yoruichi-san whispered to me, "See, he's shy. You are that pretty."
"Is it true?" I asked with my face flushed in pink.
"It's as if this piece of yukata was tailor-made for you," Yoruichi-san remarked.
"I have your beautiful yukata to thank for. Thank you, Yoruichi-san." I held her hand and smiled. She had turned me into someone I probably won't even recognize, just for this special day. When I saw Yoruichi-san smiling back at me, I knew that feeling.
She, too, was smiling from her heart.
I guess it was due to Yoruichi-san's friendliness that made me closer to her. We held hands and made our way to the jetty; and she would always catch me in time whenever I tripped over. In order to reduce the frequency of falling down, I walked extremely slowly with those wooden clogs. Byakuya's footsteps would always be heard in the background, the clogs he wore would amplify those tiny steps he took.
As the sky turned from orange to dark blue, we reached the jetty. There was a man waiting for the three of us. He was tall and had light blonde hair; his yukata was milky beige in color decorated with random dark gray vertical stripes. He opened up a wooden umbrella which revealed its black swallow patterns, and took a tiny spin.
"Welcome~ to the Fireworks Festival," he said with a light and fluffy tone.
"Kisuke, I'd like you to meet Hisana, my friend," Yoruichi-san gave my shoulders a little push.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Urahara Kisuke," The man took a bow.
"I'm Hisana." I said softly.
"She's pretty. Can I take her to the..." Urahara-san asked.
"No. She's not yours. She's mine," Yoruichi-san retorted.
"Haha," Urahara-san laughed bitterly. "That's not fair, Yoruichi-san. You take all the good things to yourself." He let out a sigh.
"This way, please," Urahara-san stretched out his hand as he led us to the boat. As he rowed the boat out to the lake, I looked at the reflection of the moon on the surface of the still water. It appeared to be a little different even when I gaze at it every night when I reach home. There were sounds of the cicadas buzzing amongst the woods and the occasional 'plop' sound when Urahara-san's paddle hits the water.
"This... was how humans celebrated Fireworks Festival," Urahara-san explained as he rowed the boat into rows of dimly-lit red and yellow lanterns. It was a stunning scene for the lanterns seemed to be floating on the water surface; yet being able to maintain unaffected by the ripples. Humans have such lovely festivals to spend their day with – they must have been really happy during such festivals. Why can't Rukongai have something like this too? I'm sure everyone would enjoy such events. Did I enjoy this much when I was living in the human world?
Urahara-san helped us down the boat when we reached a tiny island next to the lanterns. "This is where the magic begins," he smiled at us. When I heard that word 'magic', I had actually wanted to run towards the destination; but my clogs would not allow me to. For some reason, the clogs got a little easier to walk right now – if my toes grip onto the fabric thong hard enough. It was then I knew everyone wanted to know what that 'magic' was; for Yoruichi-san dashed way ahead of us, leaving behind a small gust of wind.
"Hurry! Come and see this! This is so beautiful!" I could hear her exclaim from afar. Urahara-san let out a relieved smile, "At least she loved it," he whispered to himself. I turned back and saw Urahara-san who looked over with his curious eyes, "Don't you want to see that too?" A thought just went past me – it was as if this festival was meant for Yoruichi-san only. Perhaps, Urahara-san brought back this memory he had of the real world for Yoruichi-san to experience – so that she would share the same feeling together. I looked at what was ahead of me; I saw Byakuya's dark purple yukata.
In that case, I should make Byakuya, the grumpy and hot-headed prince, smile too!
I tried to run towards Yoruichi-san's direction as fast as I could, but the clogs were hindering my speed and they were making me trip over the tiny twigs that lay across the woods. Still, I tried hard to overtake Byakuya so that I could convey the message to him. When I finally succeeded, I asked the boy, with my right hand reached out to him.
"Won't you want to see it together?"
I smiled at his astonished expression again. He stopped there, staring at my face.
"What's wrong?"
I asked but he did not reply me.
"Why...?"He muttered, out of the blue.
"For happiness is something that only can be felt if it's shared between two or more people." I replied, unsure if that was what he wanted to know.
The odd and haughty prince fell silent and gave me his hand. I grabbed it by the fingers and continued running in the same direction. I could feel from his pale and bony fingers that he was excited too; he was just unwilling to let that feeling out of him, that's all. I kept running; and I would trip occasionally, but this time was different – he would offer his hand to help me up whenever I fall. I would thank him every time for that; because it certainly took him courage to offer his hand – something he has never done before to me.
Yoruichi-san waved to the two of us and pointed to the wooden stairs that was located at the left side of the lake. Not only was it decorated by the same red and yellow lanterns, there was red shrine standing tall at the top of those steps; and it glowed beautifully under the mysterious lighting. We were standing on this huge piece of land that overlooked the lake. This place was breathtakingly stunning.
Yoruichi-san tugged Urahara-san's yukata and asked excitedly, "Kisuke! Are there any more surprises? What are we supposed to do now for the festival?" I was smiling at her, she seemed like a child in front of Urahara-san – it was really adorable to see this side of Yoruichi-san.
"Yoruichi-san, the show hasn't even started," Urahara-san assured her that there were more surprises.
"Sit here and enjoy," He led the three of us on the wooden benches that faced the lake. I sat in between Yoruichi-san and Byakuya, while Urahara-san went over to flip a yellow switch.
"Inhale deeply. Be very careful for..." He warned aloud.
What you are about to witness, they might leave you gasping for air.
There was a moment of silence when Urahara-san pressed the switch. The lake was hauntingly charming on its own, with a silver moon radiating its gentleness in my eyes. There would be a soft breeze that would blow past my face while I kept my eyes fixed on the sky – Granny said that fireworks were meant for the night sky. The magic happened in a blink of eye as the water surface glowed.
Urahara-san was a magician too.
The sky burst into different shades of red, yellow, green, blue, violet and pink. They were like huge flowers that lit up the dark sky, before they disappear into the form of smoke. There were gold ones that resembled like tiny little stars, leaving behind a trail of shimmering dust. I loved those the most, and I would always ask Urahara-san if he had anymore of those because I wanted to see them badly – they increase the number of stars in the sky. Whenever he answered those requests, I would thank him gratefully. Yoruichi-san would hug me whenever she sees the brighter colored fireworks; then she'll cheer for every single one – I thought that would make the event more interesting so I followed suit. Every time Yoruichi-san thanked Urahara-san, I would see him smiling to himself.
"Yoruichi-san, this is for you," Urahara-san shouted to the three of us.
"What?" She couldn't hear it very clearly because of the loud explosions given off by the fireworks.
"He said the next fireworks are for you," I whispered into her ears.
We looked into the sky, waiting impatiently for what Urahara-san had prepared specially for Yoruichi-san. When the streak of silver light shot up into the sky, it transformed into a huge cat face that covered the moon. Both of us laughed uncontrollably at that face and Yoruichi-san scolded Urahara-san for making fun of her – Urahara-san laughed heartily at her comments.
When you are with someone precious, be it a friend or a lover,
Happiness spreads like a fire and it explodes brilliantly like fireworks.
"These are Sparklers. I had improvised them to last longer," Urahara-san pulled a huge box out after the fireworks display ended. There were heaps of silver-wrapped sticks jutting out of the boxes. Urahara-san bent over and lighted a fire with the twigs that had piled over at the corner. What are these? I had not seen such inventions before. Byakuya walked up to the box and studied the sticks closely. The two of us were left alone to play with the sticks because Urahara-san wanted to give Yoruichi-san a mini-tour round the island. I felt awkward being stuck with someone I couldn't be close with. Perhaps, I should take the initiative to strike a conversation with the proud boy.
"How...How do we play this?" I asked nervously as I reached out for the sticks in the box. It was then Byakuya thought for a while before he spoke out.
"Sparklers. He just lighted that small fire. I guess they will need this," He placed the silver stick on the burning twigs. Nothing happened at first, so I went closer and noticed the stick was glowing orange. There was a slight shrilling sound and I found hard to describe what I saw after that.
Stars were falling out from the stick and disappear upon hitting the ground.
Bright orange stars that danced in a vertical pattern.
"What is this? Is this magic? You know magic too?" My eyes found it hard to leave the sparkler; it was such a mesmerizing sight. He kept very quiet as he stared intently at the burning stick, as if he was trying to ask me to do the same too.
When I bent down and shared the same scenery with him,
I tried to make a comparison. Which was the better scenery?
His hypnotized look at the sparklers; or those tiny orange stars?
Those eyes looked so pretty with the stars glimmering in them.
Byakuya would exclaim softly whenever the stick finished burning; then he'll stand up and take out another one. The cycle kept repeating and I would smile every time a different color came out of those sparklers.
We would sigh when the sparkler finished burning.
"The magic hasn't ended", we would hint at one another.
Then, when the new one gets ignited, we would start smiling again.
Sometimes, Byakuya would give out a melancholy expression when he looked at the sparkler. I did not want to see those eyes – today is a joyous event – everyone should be happy. I stood up and ran to the box, pulling out two longer sticks and lighted them up. Byakuya stared at my sudden movement but he was unable to anticipate what I wanted to do with them – I wanted to cheer him up. As the sparklers began to burn, I poured the sparks on his head.
"Look! It's raining stars now!"
"Ouch! You! It hurts!" Byakuya stood up immediately and started to dodge the sparks.
Do you know why they hurt?
That's because you have those sad eyes on you – the sparklers don't like to see you like that.
They will sting you every time you show that expression.
I laughed loudly when he stopped showing those eyes. Byakuya became very angry and started chasing me; he could run very fast and I would be caught in no time. He would grin and do the same thing to me. The sparks hurt a lot, but it was definitely more fun running around in them than to observe his sad expression. I only had a simple wish - I wanted him to be able to feel the happiness that is drifting in the air.
It was a rare expression, but I heard him chuckle when I fell over to the ground.
He ran up with that concerned look.
"Are you okay?" Byakuya asked.
"I'm okay," I grinned at him.
"Don't run around knowing you can't walk on those clogs,"
"As long as you are smiling, I don't care," I blurted out.
He had a surprised look.
Even when he did not offer to help me up, just like how we had first met, it did not matter much to me anymore.
Happiness turns me into a silly and willful child.
"Did you enjoy yourself?" I looked up into his eyes.
"... Not really," He hesitated and his fringe covered those eyes.
"Liar," I giggled.
I stood up and fitted on the clogs again.
There was another place that I wanted to visit.
"Can we go up to that shrine?"
"The one at the top?"
"Yes. I want to make wishes. Shall we go?"
Byakuya hesitated again, and then he reached out his left hand.
"Okay. Let's go."
"Thank you. You are a very kind person," I took the hand and started walking with him.
"By the way, I...I'm just returning the favor!" He replied grumpily.
"You can choose not to take it if you don't want it," He continued.
I gripped tighter, "If I fall, I will let go."
"You won't." He assured me with a sinister grin. "I won't allow myself to fail at such trivial matters."
We closed our eyes and made wishes at the shrine.
What did you wish for?
I wondered if I made a foolish wish - I had wished for the happiness of everyone here.
I could have made a wish for myself; but I felt it would be more appropriate for me to return the kind favor these people had offered me with.
I took a glance at the shrine before I left the island.
I made an extra wish; it revolved around that boy.
If he hadn't said goodbye, we would eventually meet again under the same sky.
I stepped out of the carriage and thanked everyone for the wonderful evening.
"Thank you for the magical moment. I hope we get to do such things like that again," I bowed and walked back home.
Only Yoruichi-san and Urahara-san said goodbye to me.
He said "We will do it, if we have the chance to."
Looks like he did not want to say goodbye too.
Did my wish come true?
I think it did.
yu-pon's note:
Done! Thank you for reading!
Hisana called Byakuya by his name because she hasn't known that he was a noble family member.
thought i should at least point this out fufu.
Chapter 6, will take place a few years later.. XDD
When Byakuya gets his Shikai. (yay)
I haven't thought of how they will meet again~
(think think think!)
Thank you for the reviews too! I really appreciate them! Keeps reminding me to work harder~
I hope to see everyone in 6 okay~
ほなおつー