You Promised Me Forever

Chapter 1

Kaori. Age 5. Summer.

"Kaori, come down here please!" my mother called me. I slide off my bed and go to the foot of the stairs and peek at the bottom. My mother waves me over and smiles at someone near the front door. I take quiet steps downstairs and go to see who it is. There's a boy about my age and his parents.

"Mama, who are they?"

"Kaori, this is our new neighbors. They were nice enough to come say hello to us, why don't you greet them?"

"Hi, my name is Ando Kaori, it's nice to meet you," I smile to them and bow politely.

"Hi, Kaori-chan. I'm Miyashita Hideko, it's nice to meet you too," the mom says. She has shoulder length ebony curls and gentle, caramel eyes. The smile on her face matched her eyes, gentle, not too big but not small so you barely notice it.

"And I'm Shoichi, nice to meet you Kaori-chan," the dad says. Just like the mom, he had such hair of the same color, but it was very straight and short, just barely brushing the tops of his ears and eyebrows. His eyes were a much darker brown, like chocolate, and not as gentle as the mothers. His were much stronger, and he had a bigger smile too, it was more joyous and free.

"I'm Haruki!" their son speaks very loudly, making me jump. He was such a small kid, with his mother's curly black hair that reached just slightly above the eyes he has that are like his father's but a bit lighter. He smiled much like his father, huge and freely.

"Nice to meet you, Miyashita-san," I smile a bit bigger. I liked the energy he gave off, he seems like a very bright person.

"You can call me Haruki, it's okay," he shakes his head with a frown.

"Okay! Then you can call me Kaori."

"Let's be good friends, okay?"

"Yep!"

"Kaori, why don't you and Haruki-kun go play together?" my mom suggests.

"Can we go outside, Mama?"

"Sure, if Haruki-kun wants to."

"Is it okay if we go?" Haruki looks up at his parents, who both nod. He grins and grabs my hand, pulling me behind him. "Yes! Let's go!"

I laugh and start to run to catch up with him. When we go outside, he leads me a bit further down the street and then around the corner, to where there's a park. There's one slightly older boy coming to the park and he stops, waving at us with a big smile.

"Haruki-kun! Oi, who's your new friend?"

Haruki and I stop once we're in the park and the kid meets us there. Now that I can see him better, his long wavy hair is a light brown like Haruki's mom's eyes, and his eyes match them too. The boy pushes his long gray sleeves up and looks at me.

"Are you from the family that just moved in next door to Haruki-kun?"

"Yes, my name is Ando Kaori, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too! My name is Ishii Takeji, you can call me Take if you'd like."

"You can call me Kaori then," I nod and his smile gets wider.

"Take is just like an older brother. He always plays with me whenever he can. Now that you're here, we can play everyday!" Haruki squeezes my hand and I giggle, pulling it away.

"Okay!"

"What do you guys want to do?" Takeji asks.

"I want to play tag, do you want to play tag?" Haruki looks at me and I nod.

"What are the rules?"

"Have you never played tag before?" Takeji looks shocked, and Haruki goes rigid, probably thinking the same thing.

"I've played before. I mean, where are the places I can and can't go, are there any safe zones, can you call 'Timeout', things like that."

"Oh! Let's see," Takeji puts his hands on his hips and looks around the park with a hum. "You have to stay on the playground, but if you're on the slide, you're safe. If you get tired, feel free to call 'Timeout' and we'll take a break. You can't stay on the slide for too long though, and no guarding the slide if you're 'It', is that okay?"

"Rock-paper-scissors to see who's it!" Haruki declares loudly and we all put our fists in a circle. "Whoever loses this round is out, unless two people lose with the same thing. Whoever is last is 'It'. On the count of three."

"One. Two. Three!" We all put out our hands. Haruki had paper, Takeji had rock, and I had scissors. This meant that Takeji lost to Haruki and had to be out. Now it was down to Haruki and I to play against each other. This time, after the count, Haruki had Rock and I had scissors, so that meant I lost and Haruki is it.

"Ah, better luck next time, Haru-kun!" Takeji pats Haruki on the shoulder and Haruki stares at the rock in his hand, as if frozen.

"Haruki-san?" I tilt my head to try to see his expression. To be honest, I kind of wanted to be it, but I wasn't going to offer without him saying anything.

"I'm going to catch you guys so fast, you won't even see me running," Haruki looks up at the sky and shouts, making me jump away in fear. Takeji starts to laugh and Haruki begins another countdown to three.

He gives us a five second head start and then comes running after us. I immediately head towards the monkey bars before remembering I have a skirt on and decide to change direction, only to find that Takeji is being chased in circles by Haruki. I slow down and then stop altogether to watch them.

They look so cute together, like real brothers, running in circles and laughing. Takeji probably knows that Haruki won't be able to keep it up for too long, but Haruki is so persistent in tagging him, all his hair is practically flying back since he's running as fast as he can. Even I can see that Takeji is not running at top speed, but Haruki is pretty fast too for someone so tiny.

Suddenly, Haruki stops and looks dead at me. I jump a bit and then look around, wondering which way I should go, as he starts running towards me. I dart to the left and through the monkey bars, aiming to make a wide circle around the playground. I can already hear Haruki's giggling behind me and start to giggle too, trying not to get tagged.

"I'm going to catch you at this rate, Kaori-san!" Haruki pants behind me. I look back to see he's not that far behind me, and laugh harder when I see his expression. He looks so determined, yet so tired, half wanting to take a break and half wanting to win. And just like that, I'm down on the ground and I feel like all the blood in my body is rushing to my knee.

"Kaori-chan!"

"Kaori-san!"

I turn over and hold my knee tightly while the two come running over to me. It's not bleeding, but it stings from falling so hard. Haruki slams down to the ground next to me, carelessly I might add, and Takeji lightly puts his hand over mine.

"Are you okay, Kaori-chan? Are you bleeding?" he asks with a concerned but gentle look.

"It's not bleeding, I'm fine," I shake my head with a small smile. They both sigh in relief and Takeji laughs in a short, airy way.

"I was so scared you were hurt, I thought you might cry. You're really strong, aren't you Kaori-chan?"

"Not really," I blush, looking down at the ground.

"Even I would have cried!" Haruki shakes his head and I laugh.

"Are you able to get up?" Takeji asks, starting to stand himself. I nod and he gets up, holding out his hand to me. When I look up to his smiling face, with the sun framing his body and making him glow, I thought that Takeji was a saint. With a small gasp, I had come to a conclusion.

Takeji must be a prince, for I had fallen in love.