The sun shined down on earth, about two weeks had passed since Tomia arrived at the temple. The spring was slowly rolling into the valley as flowers were beginning to bloom. The quiet chirping of birds and hum of the wind blowing through the house filled the quiet morning.
Tomia was sitting in her room some time after breakfast sitting in front of a mirror brushing her hair with a big smile on her face, softly humming to herself some tune she had overheard from the TV. She was still in her pajamas that Yui had given her from when she was younger.
Though a pile of clothes lay beside her on a futon.
Today was a day Tomia wanted to have a bit of a date with Kaito, thanks to a small nudge that Yui gave her yesterday in the evening about having to ask Kaito to do stuff.
Once she was finished brushing her hair she swept her hair up and let it spill over her shoulders.
Eventually she'd get dressed up in a black shirt and a white skirt with roses on them.
As she got up and walked to the courtyard she could hear Kaito and Yui talking in raised voices, slowly moving to the door and attempting to listen in, the sounds of her feet against the wooden floors were basically muffled.
Yui standing above Kaito who was sitting on the stairs to the temple. Her face was stern but a slight tear was running down her cheek as she glared down at Kaito.
"What on earth do you mean duty? I don't care if you're a Deadly Sin, the Devil or God himself! End of the day you're still Kaito, my twin-brother to me! Hell could come and try to pull you away from your home and you best not let them, your place is here with your family…not in some wasteland…"
Her voice trailed off as Yui looked to the side, gripping on her arm tightly.
Kaito took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh. As he looked up to Yui with a soft expression.
"Yui…if hell comes for me there won't be a home, i'd much rather sacrifice myself so that you and dad are safe to make sure tha–"
Before Kaito could finish his sentence Yui sent a slap across his face and stared down at him with a glare again, tears forming at the corner of both her eyes.
"To hell with your self sacrifice! There definitely won't be home without you! We lost mom already, I can't imagine losing you too…you absolute moron! Dad might not say it but he thinks it too, don't you fucking dare even consider the fact that you will have to leave to do your duty again! That can wait, for now be with your family and be with Tomia, isn't that all we have at the end of the day?!'
As Yui finished her sentence, tears rolled down her face in large amounts, still glaring down at Kaito who was frozen and couldn't form a sentence from the shock of being told off by his sister.
Yui letting out a quiet whimper would shake her head and storm into the house, passing by Tomia she quickly wiped away her tears and gave her a half broken smile as she walked.
Kaito sat in the courtyard with his face buried in his hands, not knowing what he was doing wrong or why he felt that Yui was right.
Tomia stood shocked in the hallways looking at Yui who moved past her into her own room, for a second she contemplated on following her but, she instead decided that it'd be better to give her space, instead she went outside to meet Kaito.
"You okay?"
Tomia whispered gently as she leaned over Kaito from behind, looking down on him with a worried smile.
Kaito looked up at Tomia and jumped up a little.
"Ah! Y-Yea I'm fine…I assume you overheard that?"
Kaito said as he glanced down and looked down at his hands.
Tomia moved up and sat down next to Kaito, her arm slightly brushing against his as she continued looking at him.
"No point in hiding it..I overheard something about you wanting to leave to do your duty?"
Kaito shook his head and leaned back a little, resting his body on his arms as he used them as supports and looked up to the sky.
"No, I don't wanna leave…Yui asked me if anything is gonna change now that I'm a Deadly Sin, and I told her that if anything were to come up i'd have to leave to do my duty, and she didn't like that..I could never leave her behind, or dad, or this temple…"
Tomia continued looking at Kaito, a bit of confusion sweeping through her smile but she leant in again to be close to him.
"She's afraid of losing you I think, and no wonder she is…afterall the two of you have each other and you'd go where she can't follow, I could maybe follow you to hell cause I'm a Deadly Sin but.. Yui can't go in the footsteps like that…in a sense she's right but so are you, I don't think I can say much about it but…it I were in her shoes I'd be terrified of losing you too, hell the idea of you disappearing from a day to day already scares me as is"
Kaito sits up straight again and looks at Tomia, the look on his face hard to read but he sighs a little.
"I worry that if I won't listen to hell's call…hell will come here to take me, no matter if I like it or not, and I don't want either of them to get hurt just cause I don't do what I must, I will never leave unless I have to and Tomia–"
Kaito said and looked at Tomia, grabbing her by her shoulder and smiling softly as he looked into her eyes.
"I could never leave you alone, you of all people don't deserve to be lonely again..I will protect you from such a horrible fate"
Tomia smiled softly and tilted her head whilst looking into Kaito's eyes. Gulping a little and every inch of her body screaming to hug Kaito but…she held herself together.
"Thank you…I will make sure to follow you wherever you go so that you too are not alone."
Kaito's heart skipped a beat as he let go of Tomia's shoulder and scooted a bit away, then stood up.
"I should go apologize to Yui "
Tomia looked up at Kaito and quickly stood up.
"Kaito…!"
Kaito looked down at Tomia, a bit shocked as Tomia bolted up.
"What is Tomia?"
Tomia fiddled with her skirt a little and swayed from side to side.
"Would you…show me around the temple grounds a little? Since it's quite warm today I'd like to visit some places you spoke of…with just you"
Kaito's heart stopped as he looked at Tomia, the spring breeze making her hair fly up as the sun illuminated the side of her face while looking at him, he noticed the faint blush on her face and the fidgeting of her hands.
He felt special and smiled a little himself, his heart skipping a beat again he wondered to himself .
"What is this feeling…?"
But then he quickly nodded.
"..S-Sure! I'll just apologize to Yui…you can wait for me in the courtyard!"
Kaito said and speed walked into the temple, his face heating up and going a bit red.
Tomia's face went beet red as Kaito left, she quickly covered her face, a big smile appearing there as she quickly moved to the courtyard, happiness filling her up as she wanted to jump up and down in happiness.
Back in the temple Yui was in her room, sitting on the floor with a leatherbound book, filled with photos. She was browsing through it looking at the photos with tears in her eyes, photos of their whole family when their mother was still alive.
Then a photo of her and Kaito playing in the courtyard, a photo of her parents' marriage.
She wept silently while looking at them.
Soon the sliding door would open behind her and Kaito stepped in.
Yui looked back, and then quickly went back to the book. Unable to say anything.
Kaito took a few steps forwards and looked down at the book in front of Yui, he sighed and his expression quickly changed from happy to sad. He sat down beside Yui and pulled her in.
"I ain't going anywhere any time soon Yui, Pandora said it herself…but one day I will have to leave, no matter what and that's something we'll have to embrace…hell maybe you'll leave before I do."
Yui let out a soft sob as she leaned onto Kaito, slowly wrapping her arms around him and hugging him.
"I know…Kaito, I know…but I don't want it to be that way, I don't want our family to be more fractured, hell I wish our entire generations could live in this temple..but I know that's impossible with how the world is"
Kaito gave Yui a gentle pat on the head and smiled.
"Maybe we'll be able to do something about it in the future, but now we must not worry…we must endure the hard days so that the good days may come. I'm sorry Yui that I make such a hard decision so early on, and that I put it so bluntly, I won't leave unless I'll have no choice, I promise you that…after all all I want and all I need in my life I have right here, with all of you."
Yui wiped away her tears and grinned a little through the sad expression.
"Especially since Tomia arrived huh? Keep her happy Kaito, that girl suffered so much and she seems to enjoy your company…"
She pushed herself away from Kaito and sniffled a little as she closed her eyes and closed the photo album.
"Now…don't keep her waiting and be with her"
Kaito blushed a little, starting to see why Yui is teasing him about this stuff so much. He chuckles a little and stands up again, giving a slight pat on Yui's head as he turns to leave.
"Make yourself some tea, and rest a little…you've been pushing yourself so hard lately…enjoy the day off we've been given"
Yui smiled softly and nodded a little as Kaito left the room, she picked up the book and carried it over to a wardrobe that she opened, inside were all sorts of mementos of her family, from Kaito's first training sword to a dress her mom gave her.
She smiled gently and another tear ran down her cheek as she placed the book in the middle on a pedestal and closed it.
With a deep breath she closed it and went to the kitchen to make herself a tea.
In the meantime Kaito and Tomia outside set out into the nature around the temple, Tomia of course put on some shoes, the two would be walking side by side under the trees, the wind wrapping around the two. As Kaito talked about the places the two went to, and about the stuff he did here with Yui when they were kids. Eventually the two came up on a hot spring.
Kaito stood beside it and smiled with a soft sigh.
"Man, we'll be able to use it again since it's getting warmer! My body will need the relief.."
Tomia looked down at the water, not even knowing the concept of a hot spring she stared in awe.
"This water relieved your body? Is it because of the warmth?"
Kaito nods and looks to Tomia.
"Indeed, the volcanic activity heats up the water to a very comfortable heat and makes it perfect for relaxing, it was too cold to walk down from here to the temple during the winter, but now that it will be warmer it won't be an issue anymore, you're gonna have to try it with Yui one day!"
Tomia looked up at Kaito with a curious look and tilted her head to the side, innocence oozing from her.
"Why couldn't I just try it with you?"
Kaito's face quickly went red as Tomia had said that, he quickly realised that to Tomia it's different than how it is to him. So he quickly settled down as he took a deep breath and came up with an excuse.
"Well Yui will be able to show you a bit better how to enjoy it to the fullest..so you know?"
Tomia, a bit upset by that answer, pouted and crossed her arms as she looked down at the water again.
"You could at least try to teach me you know?..."
She muttered to herself, giving Kaito a bit of a side-eye.
Kaito gulped a little as he looked down at Tomia, he thought to himself.
"But what if she wants to bathe with you Kaito? No, no, no…she's a girl younger than you by 3 years…you can't possibly be thinking of that…she is pretty but that won't change that I can't be thinking of this stuff!"
He sighed and shook his head as if to get the thoughts away.
"A-Anyways, I have one more spot I wanna show you…its got a nice, sunset viewing position"
Tomia glanced up, her ears perking up as she smiled again and unwrapped her arms.
"Lead the way Kaito!"
The poutiness washed away quickly as she heard about a sunset viewing position, ever since she escaped the sunsets were always nice to watch, so she'd happily get to enjoy it more.
After a bit of walking Kaito and Tomia arrived at a spot that was by a forest path, a raised platform stood at the edge of the mountain and had a couple of benches. The place was silent and the two arrived at a perfect time as the sun was slowly setting.
Both of them sat down on a bench and looked at the sun slowly set down.
Kaito, overwhelmed with the moment, couldn't bring himself to say a word.
Tomia sat beside him and was staring at him, she'd blush slightly and scooted over to him a bit closer and smiled as their arms were brushing against each other. In her head she wanted to say it but she was afraid and embarrassed.
So in her head she told herself.
"I love you…Kaito, you're literally the best person I ever met and you've done so much for me already "
A word she did let out as she leaned a little against his shoulder.
"Thank you…"
Kaito flustered, looked down at her, her eyes closed and her face illuminated orange from the sun. He let out a slight smile himself as they sat there, his heart was racing fast but…he felt happy.
The two then sat there for a little longer, watching the sun dip behind the hills and mountains of Japan.