flower days || k. chikage

five.

a/n;; chikage is 19 yrs old and y/n will be turning 12. (a 7 yr age difference). and even though chikage is smart and understands the matters between the clans (like .. he understands marriage and contracts, and that it is needed to join two clans together), but he doesn't exactly understand what love is and neither does y/n.

at least, that is what i'm going for while writing these beginning chapters
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"You're twelfth birthday?"

Chikage mused at the question he posed. For the past few days after his encounter with y/n's father, y/n herself has been ... ecstatic about something. And that was because her twelfth birthday was coming up.

"Yep! That means I'll be almost older than you!"

Chikage really wanted to laugh at her, but he managed to keep it in, "older than me? I'm nineteen, y/n."

"Heh?"

"I'm taller, older, and smarter than you and honestly .. by thinking that by turning twelve will suddenly one up me isn't exactly-"

"Oh, shut it! I thought by turning twelve, I'll start to pass you in age, and when I turn thirteen, then I'll really start to pass you!"

"That's not how aging works .. the only way you'll pass me in age is if I die or something," he said the words carelessly as he waved his hand about in a dismissive manner.

"Die?"

"Yeah, you know, pass away. Leave this earth. Pushing up daisy's. Kicking the bucket. I don't know the terms that you're used to hearing, but that's basically the gist of it."

She frowned at him.

"Well .. if that's the case then I don't ever want to pass you in age! I'll just .. I'll just pass you in height instead!"

"Good luck with that," he said amused once again. Honestly, she's a weird one.

Huffing, she stood up from the grass. The two were playing in the Kurosaki gardens again.

"I'll show you! I'll be taller than you by tomorrow!"

Tomorrow was her birthday.

He waved her off causing her to fume even more.

"Just you wait!"

"Oh, I'll be waiting alright. For a few hundred years. You'll never be taller than-"

"See you tomorrow," she yelled cutting him off. A determined look on her face as she rushed out of the gardens.

Definitely a weirdo.

He couldn't help but to crack a smile.

.
.
.

"Mikazuki!"

The guard in question jumped from his place on a sofa. He was currently lounging around on his break. His head poking out of a few blankets that were surrounding him.

"Huh?"

"Mikazuki! I need your help! It's urgent."

Mikazuki was, in a short sense, Y/n's personal guard. But sense the dealings with the contract between the Kazama and Kurosaki clans, he has been reduced to guarding the meeting room. (The only reason why he wasn't guarding the room right now was because he was on break, of course.)

"Urgent?! What happened?! Are you hurt?!"

She shook her head as Mikazuki had jumped from the sofa. His form now in front of her as the two panicked together.

"It's something else! Something else far more important!"

Are we being attacked, he thought worriedly.

"I-"

"You," he urged her to finish her sentence.

"I need to get taller!"

"You need to get taller! What should I do! Oh, I know! Maybe we can- wait. What?"

Mikazuki sort of froze in place as he slowly looked at the girl. His face unreadable. Stiff. Tired. And annoyed.

"I need to get taller," she repeated. The determination clear on her face.

Sighing, Mikazuki resigned himself to his fate. It was going to be her birthday tomorrow after all.

I better not regret this...

.
.
.

Chikage, along with his parents sat in the living room of the Kurosaki's main household. Seika, Miyuki, and Kizama were all in the kitchen preparing lunch and most importantly, a cake. Honestly, Chikage didn't know what the big deal was. He understood if it was her sixteenth or even eighteenth birthday, but twelve? Were they really celebrating a twelve year old's birthday?

"Chikage, did you get anything for your friend?"

His mother nudged him knowingly, a sly smile on her face.

"Not really," he said.

"Eehhh, but-"

"Alright, Chikage! The day has come! I am finally taller than you!"

Chikage, lazily turned his head his expression blank when he saw y/n "walk" through the living room door. She was wearing a giant blanket, and it was painfully obvious that she was riding on someone's shoulders.

Might be that Mikazuki fellow i heard about, Chikage mused to himself.

"Nice try y/n. I know there's someone under that blanket. Your guard, perhaps?"

"Wha - what? How did you know?"

There's the pout Chikage was waiting for.

"I told you this wouldn't work lady y/n," came a muffled voice from the blanket. The cover being tossed off as a teenager was being careful not to drop the heir/birthday girl onto the floor.

mikazuki
age 16
y/n's personal guard/babysitter

"Darn it," she muttered. Mikazuki carefully kneeling to the floor so she could slide off his shoulders. Her pout remaining.

Chikage merely grinned.

Maybe celebrating a twelfth birthday won't be so bad after all.