Chapter 4-Visit

"Mommy, Daddy! Aunt Mikan's here!" a pink-haired girl shouted as she ran towards the visitor. Mikan couldn't help but smile. She carried the little girl, and planted a kiss on the child's cheek, while saying, "How have you been, Ayame-chan?"

Ayame giggled, before answering, "Ah, aunty, I've been very good! Mommy and daddy can tell you that!"

"How can I say that, when in truth you had been naughty?" her mother appeared, with a grin on her face. She turned to her sister-in-law, and said, "It's been a long time since you visited. Have you been so busy? Your brother gets annoyed when he doesn't see you often, you know."

Mikan let out a laugh, and replied, "Well, Tsubasa-niisan is too overprotective. He thinks that whenever I don't visit, I'm in trouble. Where is he anyway, Misaki-neesan?"

Misaki motioned towards the back garden. As they walked, they talked about Mikan's work. Meanwhile, the five-year old child hummed a song as she skipped. When they got to their destination, Mikan saw her brother immediately.

He was sitting on a chair underneath a sakura tree, a newspaper on his hands. He looked up when he heard footsteps, and his eyes widened when he saw his sister. He placed the paper on the table next to him, got up, and spread his arms, while saying, "Mikan! What a surprise! You visited!"

Mikan faked a glare, but then hugged him, and replied, "I believe it is only these last two months that I haven't visited. And you were very busy yourself that you cannot visit me."

"So, I heard something intriguing," Tsubasa said, quickly changing the topic. He had a smile on his face, and yet his voice was serious. Mikan already knew where the conversation would be going, and so she readied herself. Her brother continued, "I heard about Natsume's engagement, and the fact that you'll be the one to design the bride's gown."

Her smile didn't falter; on the other hand, it grew wider. She sat on the chair across her brother, looked straight into his eyes, and replied with an amused tone, "It is not hearsay. It is the truth, nii-san."

"Even the second part?"

"Even the second part," Mikan confirmed. The couple looked so incredulous that Mikan wanted to laugh. But she kept her face straight, and waited for them to recover. When they did, Tsubasa's eyes fired up, and his lips formed a deep frown.

"Mikan," he said in an icy tone, "Please do not involve yourself in his business. I believe that you are not yet over him, even though you always insist that you are. It is a mistake to accept the job."

She dropped the smile and replied just as cold, "Listen to yourself. I thought you do not like using your business tone within the family? Nii-san, I am perfectly capable of detaching personal problems from my work. I am not a child anymore."

"Your work does reflect your feelings, my dearest sister; it is, after all, art. I don't care if I need to act as Yukihara Tsubasa, the businessman and heir of our family, not as Tsubasa, your brother. I'll do everything just to make you realize that it is wrong, and prevent you from doing it."

His words struck a nerve. Mikan stood up, and said, "You promised never to interfere in my work!"

"But I also promised before that that I will protect you from any more pain, especially the one you experienced before! I will break my other promise just to fulfill the other."

"Please stop being so overprotective! I am an adult now. Let me make my own choices, my own mistakes! Let me learn from experience myself!"

Tsubasa opened his mouth, but no sound came from him. Mikan, meanwhile, glared at him defiantly. A few minutes passed in silence, until Misaki, who was just listening and watching at the two siblings fight, broke it.

"Tsubasa, your sister's right," she said quietly, "Let her make her own wrong choices. Let her learn from them. The only thing we should do is to support her, and help her stand up if she falls. That is our job."

He looked at his wife, and saw the conviction in her eyes. He took a deep breath and released it slowly, while he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the fire was gone, replaced by a look of surrender.

"Fine," he wearily said, "but when you fall, please do remember we're here for you. You tend to forget that."

Mikan relaxed. The smile on her lips came back, and so did the twinkle in her eyes. She replied, "And please do not blame yourselves for anything that goes for me."

Then they heard Ayame shout, "Mommy, daddy, aunty, look! A butterfly!"

All of them looked at where she was pointing. They all smiled when they saw the child laughing, happy that she saw a beautiful butterfly. They watched her run around the garden, chasing the butterfly.

'How lucky a child is, as she doesn't have any difficult problems yet,' Mikan thought.

Short! =)) I'm so evil. but, if you haven't noticed yet, all chapters really are meant to be short. I don't know why, I just had this rule only for this story. I guess it was because I rarely did short chapters. No wonder I never finished a story (until I finished this. :D )

Thanks for all who reviewed, made this story a favorite, and had it on story alert. I'm very grateful! More reviews please! :D

And since it's Christmas time... :D I'll be posting another chapter! I'll probably post on the 26th (here in our country). Have a happy holidays!