Under the Cherry Blossom Tree (Rewritten in Seasons of Time)

Invitation

Memories,

They keep us human

Without memories

There is no joy

Laughter, sorrow

Hatred, or love.

Is it better to get rid of memories?

Or to keep them forever,

Till the end of time.

Summer has come, i sat on a grassy hill with my back leaning against the Sakura tree. I had my eyes glued to the book that Ryuu gave me, it had such an interesting story.

"Hello Chiharu!" Greeted Ryuu, " How are you today?" He waved at me and smiled.
I put down my book and smiled back.

"I'm doing fine, i was just reading the book you gave me Ryuu." I replied. Ever since our meeting last spring Ryuu had taught me how to speak, read and write in the human language, since then we became great friends. He sat down beside and leaned over and looked at the pages of the book

"So, you like the story of Kaguya-hime huh." He says. I nodded at him.

"Hey Chiharu, remember last spring when you first spoke to me." Said Ryuu, "Can you translate the words you said? I really want to know what they mean."

I giggled a little, "Alright Ryuu, if that's what you want." I began to translate the words

" Time does not break the bonds we make, but because we know our time is short, our bonds become stronger."
I turned to look at Ryuu, his eyes were closed and a smile was on his lips. He sighed and opened his eyes again. He stands up and held out his hand toward me. 'Beautiful' he whispered to me.

"Chiharu, there is going to be a fireworks festival tomorrow night and um...." Ryuu blushes, "I was wondering if.....you know.... Would you l..like to go w..with me?" He stutters, my chest gets that warm feeling again. But I ignore it and accepted his outstretched hand.

"Yes Ryuu, I would like to go with you." I answer. Ryuu's smile was big, he was really happy.

"But..." Ryuu stops smiling, his face looked worried, "Ryuu, what am I going to wear?"
Ryuu fell down starts laughing, I asked him why and he said that he was worried that I didn't want to go with him. I thought that was silly. Why wouldn't I want to go with Ryuu, he's my best and only friend. I offered him my hand and pulled him up. He then holds my hand tighter and pulls me.

"Well then, let's go to town and find you a yukata!" Pulling me with one hand, he runs. I tried to keep up with him, but it was quite hard since I've never ran in my entire life.

We arrived at the town, it was filled with so many stalls, stores, and people. I've never seen anyplace so busy! Ryuu continues to hold my hand so we don't get separated. He started to lead me through the busy town until we came to a small shop. Inside was a room filled with lovely yukata's! An elderly lady greets us, despite her age she still had plenty of youth in her eyes. She puts a hand on her cheek and smiles at us.

"If it isn't Tadashi-kun! It's so nice of you to drop by my shop, and you brought such a beautiful friend too!" She looks behind Ryuu and greets me.

"Hello, I'm Hiraoka Mitsuki. I'm the owner of this shop." Her voice was elegant and refined, she puts her hand in between us and I gingerly shook it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Hiraoka-san, my name is Chiharu." I greeted.

"Just call me Mitsuki Chiharu." She turns back to Ryuu, " Tadashi-kun, why didn't you tell me about your friend! She's such a polite child." She closed her eyes and sighed, as if she was reminiscing in the past. "Well, what brings you here today?"

"Well Mitsuki-obāsan Chiharu and I were going to the fireworks festival tomorrow night and we were wondering if you could help her choose a yukata." Ryuu puts his hand around his head and rubs it, he was nervous.
I saw Mitsuki-san grin a little...

"Why didn't you say so! I would be happy to help." Mitsuki-san exclaimed. "Chiharu-chan is there any style you like, any preferences on design or color?"
I think about it a little, what is my favorite color? Then I remember the day me and Ryuu first met under the cherry blossom tree, the sky was so blue back then.

"Well, I like the color blue, but the blue I like is the same color as the afternoon sky." I exclaimed. "And for a design, I would like sakura trees or petals. If...that's okay with you Mitsuki-san."

"Sora, and sakura right?" She repeated. I nodded my head. " i don't have both on one yukata but I'll try my best to find something that fits."

I bowed my head in gratitude, "Arigato Mitsuki-san"

I watched Mitsuki-san weave through rows of elegant yukatas. My eyes darted from wall to wall trying to take in all at once and decide on which yukata I would like. Ryuu and I waited for a while, we were about to go searching for Mitsuki-san until she showed up in front of us again. This time though she was holding a heap of yukatas between her fragile arms. I immediately take some of them from her, and Ryuu did the same. Ryuu started sweating a little, then he asked Mitsuki-san a question.

"Ne, Mitsuki obaa-san, do you really want Chiharu to try on all of these yukatas!"
Mitsuki-san replied with a little smirk. "Why of course Tadashi-kun, Chiharu-chan is just so beautiful that I wanted to see how she looked like in different yukatas"

Ryuu sighed as we followed Mitsuki-san to the changing rooms. She then handed me a yukata with different shades of blue dyed on it, it was also stitched with blue and black butterflies circling around each other. I went inside the changing room and began to undress. We repeated this process multiple times until we tried out all of the yukatas. But by the time I finished trying out the last one Ryuu went outside the shop. He said it was because he was bored. Now it was the hard part, it was time to choose between all of the wonderful yukatas I tried out. It was such a tough decision.

Thankfully I managed to narrow it down to two. One was a blue and white yukata, with a white obi. It's pattern was of white and blue flowers at the bottom. The next one was a white and pink yukata. Different shades of sakura petals were embedded on it. After a careful decision I decided on the white and blue one, I was disappointed that I couldn't get one with a cherry blossom design, but Mitsuki chan fixed that problem. As a gift she gave me a hair piece that was in the design of a cherry blossom branch, I was so happy.

Definition...
Yukata : a casual summer kimono (usually worn on festivals or Christmas/new years)

-kun : a Japanese honorific sometimes used when addressing males.

-chan : a Japanese honorific sometimes used when addressing females

-san : a Japanese honorific that can be used casually or formally, it can be used for addressing anyone.

Obāsan : grandmother or female senior-citizen

Sora : sky

-hime: princess or a young lady of higher birth

Arigato: thank you

Note : Kaguya-hime is an old Japanese folktale. The original tale is called "The Tale Of The Bamboo Cutter" I recommend reading this story.