Under the same Sakura tree we made a promise under,

Our first encounter wasn't very pretty,

But it secretly left an imprint of your shadow in my heart.

-.-.-.-

"Father seems to have some guests coming over today, Mother... It's so troublesome. I guess they're some big shot but why would I need to attend? That's just stupid and a waste of my time. I would rather sneak away into a human village for a bit instead." I complained while touching the bark of Mother's favorite sakura tree gently as my complaints get longer and longer.

I have never once attended anything no matter who the guest is, yet now just this guest that's visiting today, I actually have to go greet him?? What kind of sense does that make? Absolutely none to me. It doesn't even matter if I am there or not. It will just be old people's talk anyway.

A gentle breeze flew by as I closed my eyes and take a deep breath. The soft, sweet scent coming from the tree calms down my nerves as I try to decide what to do. It's perfectly peaceful as if time have stopped and I can't be disturbed by anyone or anything.

"I've decided! I am totally not going to go meet that guest! I will just sneak away from the formalities and go explore outside!" I declared to no one but myself and the tree... Or so I though until I hear someone snickering from above.

I look up and saw a boy with a weird looking and pointy armor with pink stripes on both sides of his face sitting on a branch of the tree. He's the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my life. He looked down at me with an amused look.

"W-w-what are you laughing at?!" I asked, irritated.

"An idiot." His smirk grew wider which only add on to my irritation.

"I'm not an idiot! And get down from there! You're not allowed to climb this tree!" I yelled at the man at the top of my lungs.

"Says who? I can do what I want."

"Ugh! Just get down from there!"

"No."

"Fine! Stay there!"

After saying a silent apology to Mother, I begin to climb my way up the tree. Even though I know I will get in trouble for it later but I simply can't stand and do nothing when an arrogant guy like that sits on Mother's favorite tree.

"Oh? Can you even climb?" He mocked.

I looked up at him and glared daggers at him, "Just watch me!"

It would be a lie if I say I know how to climb when I clearly don't. Well at least not trees this big. I grabbed onto a branch and tugged myself up. It was very straining on my arms.

"You are so slow." The guy sighed.

"Shut up! I'll climb up there eventually!" In the midst of arguing with him, my hands slipped.

I'm going to fall!

I squeezed my eyes shut and embraced myself for the impact.

"Tch, you're a clumsy idiot." I felt myself being pulled towards someone as we landed with a thump. "Tsk. You're heavy too."

"I am not!" I glared at my savior, who was the guy that was mocking me earlier, as I sat up.

"You are not cute either."

"What's up with you if I'm cute or not?! You can't just show up to someone's home uninvited and climb an important tree! That is very rude!" I glared at the guy straight in the eyes.

I guess I didn't look at him closely earlier but now that he's only a couple feet away from me, I realized he have beautiful golden eyes although they seem rash. But that still doesn't change the fact that he was super rude!

"Yeah, yeah. Get off me. You're too heavy." He sighed.

"Huh?" I looked at him confused then realized that I'm sitting on top of him. Almost immediately, I scooted away from him. "RUDE!"

"Huh? You're the one who fell me." He scoffed as he stood up and dusted his clothes off.

"Just whose fault it is that I fell from the tree?!" I glared at him.

I can't stand this guy. Why is he so rude and what is he doing here anyway? Better yet, who is he!?

"Your own. If you can't climb a tree, don't climb it. It only causes trouble for others around you. What an idiot."

"Stop calling me that, you jerk!"

"Hn."

This guy...

"Yuki, come out. I know you're here so stop hiding."

Natsume's voice. I need to hide quickly if I don't want to be dragged back to meet that guest.

"You've never seen me, okay?" I said to the rude guy as I looked around and run into the surrounding forest quickly.

"Idiot."

I think I heard the guy mumble something as I ran into the forest but I didn't pay any attention to him. I just wanted to hide from Natsume right now so I won't have to attend that meeting. What's so special about meeting someone? It's not like I need to know them to live, right?

"You... Why are you here?!" I pointed at the guy from earlier after I came back from hiding since I figured that the guests probably left already. But no, that is not the case here! That rude guy from earlier is still here, drinking tea with another guy who looks a lot older than he is.

"Welcome back, Yuki." Aiko smile at me. "Would you like some tea?"

"Uh... Yeah, sure." I answered her awkwardly as I sat down next to Natsume, which is the farthest seat from the rude jerk from earlier.

"This is my friend, Inu no Taisho, and his son, Sesshomaru. And this is my troublesome daughter, Yuki." Father introduced with a sigh.

"I do behave myself... sometimes..." I grumbled.

Gosh, what is wrong with my family?

"Lord Soku, it would be wise to keep her on a lease." That rude guy – what's his name again? Sessho... Argh! Screw it! I am not going to remember his name!

I glared at him. Oh, only if glares could kill... "Please, are you sure you're not the one who needs to be kept on a lease?"

This time it was his turn to glare at me and it's probably over a hundred times more effective than mine but I continued glaring at him as well. There's like a silent war between us while our Father starts talking about something. I was too focused on trying to win the glaring contest with this rude guy to pay attention to what's being discussed.

"Okay. We all know you're in love with each other but keep it under control and stop staring at each other so intensely, do it in your private time." Natsume sighed, shaking his head.

"We are not in love!"

o 3o~