♠️ 𝐓𝐨𝐤𝐲𝐨'𝐬 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 ♠️

ꜰɪᴠᴇ

I yawn, stretching my arms out like a cat. I open my dim orange eyes, skimming my surroundings. "Oh, we must've fallen asleep..." I thought, sighing softly. I hear soft breaths coming from my side, only to look down and see Neko, sleeping peacefully with her head on my shoulder. I smile warmly at the sight. "...Guess I'll have to stay here a little longer," I say with a chuckle, relaxing my body again. It doesn't take long for me to go back to sleep.

...

"Huh..." I mumble, batting my eyelashes. I look around. "Gah!-" I snapped, realizing I was resting my head on Kuroo's shoulder. He looked so peaceful in his sleep...

I huff, smiling warmly and ruffling Kuroo's fluffy black hair before standing up and gazing upward. "I remember last night... Kuroo spent the rest of the day walking around and showing me around the Peaceful Valley until the two of us got tired and slept by the main tree in the middle." I look back down at Kuroo and laugh at the sight; he looks really cute while he's sleeping like this, like a little kitten.

"I'll just take a walk while he's sleeping... it shouldn't take long," I think to myself. "If anything comes up, I'll use my Kagune to scare them off."

I trail off into the valley; thanks to Kuroo, I learned yesterday that the Peaceful Valley is basically one huge square. It has the main cherry blossom tree in the center, with four paths leading away from the tree and toward the sides of the valley. The paths are huge, splitting the valley into four parts.

According to Kuroo, the four forests of cherry blossom trees didn't resemble different places; they seemed the same to him, but other nonhumans would pick a favorite corner, much to Kuroo's confusion. He even took me to all four places, asking me which side I'd liked better... I thought it was a trick question, but no, he was completely serious. In the end, I said they were all the same to me, and he sighed in relief.

But... in the end, not even Kuroo knows how all of these trees bloom all year, every year. He told me that even in the winter the trees continued to bloom, losing their petals and regrowing them fairly quickly. It's spring at the moment, so this doesn't actually concern me... but I'll have to have Kuroo take me back here during the winter.

Wow... I really need to stop thinking about Kuroo so much. Oh, wait, speaking of him, actually, I need to go check up on him... it's been a solid thirty minutes already. Time flies.

"Who are you? I've never seen a lady like you wandering around this valley since a couple years ago."

I flinch, turning in the direction of the voice. A tall brunette wearing a pretty white and green kimono stands just five meters away from me, waving to me with a soft smile. His hands are both covered by his long kimono sleeves, which I find to be kind of cute. "Who is he? He's pretty..." I trail off, eyes lighting up. He fits the 'cherry blossom' theme perfectly.

"What's your name?" The brunette asks, causing me to flinch. He lowers his arm. "Um... I'm Ineko..." I answered nervously, not daring to say 'Rizuna.' "What's yours?"

"Oikawa." Oikawa answers bluntly. My eyes light up again. "Oikawa...! The man Bokuto was talking about that used to hang out with my brother!" I thought, almost asking him about it, but I hesitated, as I still need to know if he's safe to talk to or not.

"You seem surprised. Is something wrong?" Oikawa asks concernedly, and I immediately shake my head. "No... nothing. I'm just surprised to see you, I guess... I didn't think anyone else would come here besides me and my... friend," I mumble. Oikawa's eyes light up. "You brought a friend? Is he a nonhuman?"

"Uh- I think I should actually be going now... he's probably looking for me right now..." I trail off. Oikawa simply smiles back at me. "Will you come here again, Ineko?"

I flinch. "Huh?"

"Will you come here again? I'd love to hang out with you," Oikawa repeats with his continued smile. "And get to know you better."

"Oh... sure..." I mutter, cheeks flushing. "S-See you another time." And with that, I run off without thinking. "Come back tomorrow~" Oikawa calls out in a sing-song tone. I hear him, but soon enough I'm already out of sight. I sigh, stopping. "Why did I run away like that?... I looked like a complete idiot... but I have to somehow meet him here alone... even with overprotective Kuroo trailing behind my back... this is going to be hard."

I groan, trailing off and back to the cherry tree. He's definitely awake now, and probably wondering where I am. I definitely can't tell him about Oikawa, though. He'll murder me if I try to go back here alone after that... here we go.

I arrive back at the big cherry tree only for Kuroo to already be standing up and waiting for me. "You're back," he says, turning to me with a smile. I flinch. "Did Kuroo used to smile really casually like that? Usually his eyes would just light up a little bit... well, it doesn't matter," I think to myself. "Hey," I say, smiling and waving to him. He doesn't hesitate to wave back.

I walk up to Kuroo with a smile. "Were you waiting long?" I ask. "No... I just woke up and was wondering where you went until you came back," he replies. "I was a bit worried, but... at least you came back pretty quickly. Or else I would have wandered off too."

I let out a soft chuckle. "You seem really happy this morning. Why's that?"

"Well, it's always been my dream to wake up in this valley since it got raided. Since then I was too paranoid to go, but this time I didn't let myself fall asleep on purpose... that was all you, Neko," Kuroo points out, his smile turning into a slight smirk. I flinch, crossing my arms and gazing away. "Well... it was comfortable. I have no problem falling asleep here, unlike you."

Kuroo laughs. "Ready to head back home?" He asks, and I nod eagerly. "But..." I start, "let's definitely come back here soon."

Kuroo nods back in agreement. He sighs softly, walking out of the valley. I trail behind him with a short smile. "Let's definitely come back here." I sigh too. Unlike on the way to the valley, it doesn't take that long to get back home, as there's no Bokuto trying to kill me. Kuroo makes sure to skim his surroundings before he even turns a corner, which I find hilarious. He looks like an idiot.

Eventually, the two of us arrived at Kuroo's house. He unlocks the door and opens it. "Welcome home," he says proudly, gesturing for me to go inside. I chuckle, obliging and walking in. "Why, thank you, Kuroo."

Kuroo sighs softly, smiling warmly. He slips his hands into his pockets and walks inside behind me. "My pleasure, Neko." I huff, smiling back. That's right... for six months, and for the rest of my life, this is my home now. With Kuroo, in a world where I'm not the only nonhuman. I can't believe it took me all this time to realize... but I'm in great hands.

"...Yeah." I smile. Kuroo looks at me and tilts his head. "?"

"Oh, it's nothing," I chirp, smiling warmly at Kuroo. "...Right," he mutters, taking a seat next to me. I chuckle. "Really... it's nothing."

"Seriously, what is it??" Kuroo asks, speaking a little more aggressively this time. I laugh a little more. "Like I said, it's nothing!" I tease, and he fumes up even more. "Tell me!" He whines. "It's NOTHING!!" I shout back, laughing happily.

Kuroo and I bicker through the night, which mostly consists of laughing at his cuteness and him being pissed about not knowing what I was thinking. Really, it was about him... and the adventure we were about to have together. Honestly, it scares me... The thought of going into this nonhuman life... my mother threw away my life the moment she kicked me out of her home... our home. But that doesn't matter anymore. Why? Because I've found someone who I'm willing to sacrifice my life for... and I'm sure he'd do the same for me, too.

After a couple hours, I sigh to myself, taking a seat on my futon. Spending time with Kuroo is always nice... nothing like my mom and I's 'quality time' together. I decided to calm down from all that excitement and think about my highly eventful day today. "That's right... I managed to get information from Bokuto about Junichi... he was related to this 'Oikawa' I met today. How funny... I've scheduled a meeting with him already, despite only knowing about him for half of a day." I groan, collapsing onto the futon. "Now to figure out how the hell I'm going back to the valley without Kuroo hopping on my back about it."