Happy not for long

— Hanabi's POV —

"Oh, hi Hayabusa." A girl with white hair greeted Hayabusa before staring at me. Her face turned dark she looked down between Hayabusa and I where our fingers were interlocked in each other.

"Hello Kagura," Hayabusa replied, acknowledging her presence. Somehow, the way she looked at him was making my blood boil. Perhaps this was what they call jealousy. I could tell what her feelings towards Hayabusa was since I too felt the same. We admired him and saw him as someone whom we constantly want to be by his side. However, seeing it on someone else was quite upsetting. What's more, unlike me, she had connections to Hayabusa's family where they know each other. Just by her presence this once, I felt slightly pressured of my feelings towards Hayabusa as I felt like our relationship together would have no chance for a future.

"Kagura dear, let's go." The lady, probably her mother, called out to her and walked out of Hayabusa's house. Kagura waved goodbye to Hayabusa and followed after her mother but not before giving me one last glare. I was taken aback with how she openly showed her dislike to me but I realised that such negativity was better to be ignored. Just then, the remaining man and woman looked towards our direction and walked towards us happily.

"Hayabusa! Welcome home," the lady said as she approached us. "And who are they?" She asked, looking at Pharsa and I with glittering eyes full with anticipation.

"Hi mom, this is Hanabi and her sister, Pharsa. The lady I was talking to you about is Hanabi over here," Hayabusa introduced us to his parents.

"Oh Hanabi! She's pretty and seems nice, I like her! What about you, dear?" She joyfully said as she asked her husband for his opinion in which he smiled and replied with a nod. "Are they staying over? If not, do have dinner before you leave," she added with her two hands clasped together in excitement.

"Yes, they are staying over. I asked them to join me in my journey as the Scarlet Shadow Grandmaster and to bring down the previous shadow. They'll be here for awhile so we can train together with Hanzo before we leave," Hayabusa explained to his mother about the purpose of our stay before adding, "Don't worry, you will have plenty of chance to feed them with your delicious meals."

"Thank you for your hospitality, do take care of us." I said, bowing my head politely in appreciation. The mother grabbed both of my hands and ensured us that it was her pleasure and that I would have to have a conversation with her some time when I'm free, before leaving us alone.

"Sorry about that." Hayabusa apologised, rubbing his back of his head in embarrassment. "Let's go meet my Brother, Hanzo, he will be joining us as well," he added. He mentioned for us to follow him and led us down his hallway and through one of the many doors before knocking on the door at the end of the hall.

"Hanzo, are you awake? The girls are here." Hayabusa said outside the door. It was silent for awhile before Hayabusa knocked again, a little bit louder than before. Then there was a rustle behind the door and a mumbled voice as the person at the other side of the door had just woken up and brought himself out of bed.

"I'll go get ready and meet you guys at the backyard," he said as he poked his head out of his door before greeting us with his bed hair. Hayabusa pushed him back in and closed the door, asking him to quickly get ready. He then apologised for his brother's tardiness and showed us around the house while waiting for his brother to get ready. Afterwards, he brought us to the backyard where Hanzo was already waiting for us.

"Yo, I'm Hanzo, Hayabusa's brother." He introduced himself to us, reaching out his hands.

"I'm Hanabi," I said first as I shook his hands, followed by my sister.

"And I'm Pharsa," she said, shaking his hands too. Both of them held hands longer than I did to him, which I thought was suspicious but decided to ignore it anyways.

Hayabusa sat us down and asked us to name our ability one by one. The team consisted of Hayabusa, our front-liner and damager, Hanzo, our assassin, Pharsa, our support, and I, our crowd control. Both Pharsa and I would be behind them as we were given roles to analyse the opponent and plan a strategic win, while they would be at the front fighting. With the roles of our group confirmed, we were able to begin our training. For our first training session, Hayabusa and I would spar against each while while Pharsa would spar with Hanzo. We carried on with our training all the way till evening and until we all were worn out when Hayabusa's mom came to the backyard telling us to have dinner. We ended our training for the day and proceeded to wash ourselves up before joining his parents for dinner.

It was a quiet dinner with small talks to get to know each other better. Though quiet, it was a lively dinner which was nostalgic for me as I've had not had family dinners ever since I've moved out of my family house, which was a year ago. After dinner, I went to help Hayabusa's mom with the dishes while Pharsa helped out with the cleaning of the dining table. I heard his father asking the boys to set up our bedrooms for us so I assumed they went to do as they were told since they were no longer in the dining room.

"My son must've really liked you, it's my first time seeing him so proud of someone. I think it's a beautiful sight, thank you Hanabi" Hayabusa's mom said while we were washing the dishes. "I hope you can remain by his side and I would be delighted if you were to be part of our family," she continued. I was speechless and found myself being shy with how straightforward his mom was.

"I really do like him too and thank you..." I said with my cheeks flushed, not knowing how to reply. His mom found it cute and just giggled at my reaction. When we were done with washing of the dishes, we went to the dining room where Pharsa was done cleaning the table as well.

"Thank you girls for helping me, come, I'll show you your rooms." She said mentioning us to follow her. Being a huge house, aka mansion, there were individual rooms assigned to us which were thankfully side by side. "Just so you know, the boys are sleeping down the hallway while my husband and I are at the opposite hall. So if there's any problems don't be afraid to ask them for help. Have a good night sleep and rest well, girls!" She said as she left us to our rooms. As it had been an exhausting day, I managed to quickly succumbed to sleep even when there was something nagging me at the back of my head. I had a very bad feeling which was ignored as I slept the night away.

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— Kagura's POV —

"What happened? Why did they suddenly cancelled the marriage talks?" My mom asked angrily.

"How dare they? They're the most powerful sect and we almost got them too." My dad said. The hidden purpose of the marriage between Hayabusa and I was to strengthen our sect. Being an Onmyouji, we were not looked up by others as how they looked up to the Shadow and Scarlet sect. We had no chance of proving our worth since no one was looking anyways, which was why my parents had been talking to Hayabusa's parents on a marriage which we reasoned would strengthen both our sects. However, mid-planning, his parents had suddenly called off the marriage talks saying how they wanted to give Hayabusa the freedom of choosing his own bride.

"Choosing his own bride, so suddenly? Isn't he single?" My mom asked. "Wait, he isn't! He was holding hands with one of the girls earlier on. " She said as she suddenly remembered. As she knew of my feelings towards Hayabusa, she looked at me as she thought hard when suddenly she asked, "Don't you want to be by his side, Kagura?"

I nodded my head aggressively as I said that I really love him and would do anything to be by his side.

"Then dear, let's get our daughter her wish. Don't you know that old lady with plenty of forbidden spells? I'm sure one of it would give our daughter the chance to stay by Hayabusa's side," my mom said to my dad who thought hard before agreeing to what she said.

"I've heard of her doing it before but it requires someone with a strong desire as well... We have to find that someone to help us," my dad replied. Little did I know, I had been the reason for the cause of Hanabi's unfortunate date and that I'm responsible for it.