"You naughty little brat, how are you going to prove it to me?"
When Hyuga Seigo landed beside the Cherry Blossoms tree behind the training grounds with Kurenai Yuhi in his arms, petals were drifting down.
(Ordinary Cherry Blossoms bloom in March and April, but Little Days Tulip Cherry can bloom until July, making it a rare summer variety.)
"Hahaha, what a shower of Cherry Blossoms!"
Qingwu grinned.
"Heh, better to arrive at the right time than early." Qingwu deliberately lowered his voice and brushed her windblown hair back from her temples. "Even heaven's helping me, honey. So beautiful!"
(Haku Zetsu Qingwu: Original Body, I did all this!! Am I your heaven? This is so moving...)
Kurenai had meant to chide him for being "so cheeky," but when she looked up, she met the Guang in his eyes. Against the sky full of Cherry Blossoms, it held such boundless tenderness that her heart suddenly melted...
"Yes, so beautiful," Kurenai murmured, her voice softening at the end. Women loved romance, and Kurenai was no exception. She gazed, entranced, at the Cherry Blossoms dancing through the air...
"I meant you're beautiful, honey," Qingwu repeated, his voice rising at the end, almost coaxing.
Kurenai's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
It wasn't as though she'd never heard sweet words before, but coming from this boy several years younger than her, they always carried a reckless sincerity—just like the way he did things. Either he didn't do something at all, or he poured every bit of his Heat into it.
Her body softened, and she leaned fully into his embrace. Through the thin fabric of their clothes, she could feel the Heat rise and fall in his chest.
And his heartbeat.
Its steady thudding was clearer than the sound of falling blossoms.
*This young man