A familiar feeling

Amaya stayed up late that night, what was this feeling she was having right now? She felt conflicted about something but couldn't quite pin point it and her mind kept lingering to the way Hotaka had looked at her earlier.

She sighed heavily as she lay in bed and looked over to see everyone else sleeping peacefully.

'I wonder how Hotaka is right now...' She thought to herself.

The next morning she decided to confront him about it but he wasn't there at breakfast.

Kazuki came up behind Amaya and asked "Are you worried about Hotaka or something?"

She looked up at her brother, nothing ever escaped his notice. Not when it came to his twin sister anyway.

Amaya nodded in response.

"He acted a little off yesterday, you know, just before we all went to bed."

'So it wasn't just me seeing things?' Amaya thought to herself.

"Maybe we should ask Koga where he is." He suggested.

So after they finished their breakfast they went up to the highest cave in the valley to find Koga but it was Ayame, Hotakas mother, who answered.

"Oh Hi!" She said smiling. "What brings you guys here?"

"We're looking for Hotaka. Do you know where he is?"

"Hmm..." She pondered. "There is this one place he likes to go to do his thinking. Maybe he is there? I'll show you, if you like."

"That would be great." Kazuki nodded.

Ayame took the twins down the valley and into a secluded place past all of the houses where there was a small meadow. It was filled with daisies and bordered by tall trees.

"Just as I thought." Ayame whispered to the others and pointed towards the distance. "There he is!"

And at the edge of this small meadow they could see a figure sitting cross legged facing away from them.

"I'll leave you guys now. Bye." Ayame said.

Kazuki stared at Hotaka before turning to Amaya and said "Which one of us should approach him first?"

"Maybe I should go..." Amaya said beginning to walk away from Kazuki.

She walked cautiously towards Hotaka and admired her surroundings, and then noticed that this small meadow was like a replica of their meadow near the old cottage.

"U-um... Hotaka?" Amaya said putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Hmm?" He said lazily and turned to see who it was.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine..." He replied looking back at the basket he was weaving.

"You weave baskets? That's cool." Amaya said, trying to make conversation.

"It's something mum got me doing. Though... it's supposed to be a woman's thing..." He replied feeling slightly embarrassed.

"I think it's neat!" She said sitting down next to Hotaka.

"Is Kazuki with you?"

"Oh, yeah he's way back there." Amaya replied looking behind them seeing Kazuki staring their way curiously.

"You guys never were very far apart."

"Hmm?"

"What I mean is, where one is, the other is never far behind." He looked up at Amaya smiling slightly. "That's the way you've always been."

Amaya looked back at Kazuki who was giving her a 'is he alright or not' look. She nodded at him and he gave her a thumbs up before walking back to the village. This surprised her a little because she expected Kazuki to walk over towards them after she gave him the ok.

"What's wrong?" Hotaka asked her.

"Oh nothing... Kazuki just left."

Hotaka looked behind him following Amayas gaze, "That's odd... But I'm kinda glad."

Amaya looked back at him curiously.

"I really don't want Kazuki seeing me weave baskets. He'll never drop it." He grinned. "Just don't tell him about this ok? It's our secret."

"Okay."

"By the way, why were you two looking for me?"

"We were worried... You didn't show up at breakfast so..."

Hotaka didn't reply.

"Also you were acting a bit strange last night. Are you sure everything's alright?"

Hotaka kept weaving his basket in silence before saying quietly. "Everything's fine..."

Amaya looked at him sadly, 'Maybe he doesn't trust me,' she thought.

"You know... This meadow looks a lot like the one back home." She commented.

"Hmm?" Hotaka said before lifting his head and looking around. "Yeah, I know. That's why I picked this place. It made me feel..."

"Feel what?"

"It made me feel like nothing changed."

...

..

"I really missed you guys." He added.

Amaya fell silent and could think of nothing to say.

"Have you been there since?"

"Been where?" She asked innocently.

"Back to The Meadow?... Has it changed?"

She froze for a moment, before saying. "No, it hasn't changed."

Hotaka smiled sadly and replied. "Everything else has though."

For the next half an hour or so Amaya sat beside Hotaka as he weaved his basket and occupied herself by making daisy chains.

"Here." Hotaka said handing the basket to her. "You can keep it. I just like to make them."

"Oh! Thank you Hotaka!" Amaya said admiring the basket. "It's so cute."

Hotaka smiled and blushed slightly.

"Maybe I should fill it with something!"

He looked up at her curiously while Amaya got up and started walking towards the edge of the meadow.

"What are you doing?" Hotaka asked.

"I'm going to make a bouquet." She smiled cheerfully and started picking flowers.

Amayas bouquet was filled with all sorts of flowers of different colours, some yellow, red, blue, and purple.

"Have these two." Hotaka said putting pink and orange flowers into her basket and started picking more.

"I think it's done!" She told Hotaka when the basket was completely full with flowers.

"Maybe we should go back now."

"Okay."

Just before they arrived at the ladies cottage Hotaka told her that he had to go to his father for something and said that he'd see her later. Amaya walked into the room and put the bouquet of flowers next to her bed and admired them for a while before going with Totosai for another lesson.

When she returned she noticed Tanaka sitting on her bed waiting for her.

"How was training today?" He said looking very happy to see her.

"It was pretty good actually. Totosai just wants to make sure that I'm still not using too much force when wielding the Tetsusaiga."

"Just so you don't destroy some unsuspecting village." He laughed remembering the first time she had used the Tetsusaiga. "Come and sit down."

Amaya sat down happily after being exhausted from training.

"Where did you get these flowers by the way?" Tanaka said noticing the bouquet for the first time.

"Oh, this morning I picked them from a small meadow just outside of the village. Hotaka gave me the basket so I wanted to fill it with something pretty." Amaya grinned, and deliberately left out the part where Hotaka had made the basket.

Tanaka looked at the basket and his smile faded slightly but before Amaya noticed he looked back at her and smiled again. "That's nice of him."

"Yeah, he's a nice person." Amaya suddenly realised that Hotaka never told her what had been bothering him earlier.

That night at dinner Amaya saw that Hotaka was talking and laughing enthusiastically with Kazuki and watched them for a while before noticing a warm fuzzy feeling in her gut. It was a similar feeling that she had when she was with Tanaka.