Kariya had examined your reaction and smirked. You had frozen on the spot and an expression that was close to disgust was on your face. He then gave a little pull to get you in some sort of motion. When the door closed behind you and you were with your socks on the grass, you finally gave a hard enough pull to free yourself from his grip. Kariya eyed you for a moment, because you didn't turn around and stalk back towards the door right away.
"Kariya, why are you doing this?" you decided to ask, because now that you were outside it actually felt kind of good.
"Because you've been really ... absent lately. I miss hanging out with you." he sighed.
"Oh, and you want me to hang out with you without shoes?"
His eyes went to your feet and then up to your face again.
"Yeah, shoes are overrated anyway." he shrugged and his eyes went to his own feet which were also shoeless and sockless. You snorted.
"We can go back inside and put them on."
Now Kariya snorted.
"And past them again. I have my pride."
"So you rather walk around town on bare feet than go back inside and only look silly in front of them." you nodded towards the door.
"Yeah, pretty much." he smirked and grabbed your arm again. You wanted to protest, but he already pulled you along. At first running with socks on asphalt was annoying, but you got used to it quickly. You saw people staring at you in wonder and you felt that your cheeks were going more towards red than pink now.
"Here we are." Kariya stopped and pulled you next to him where he finally let go of you. You were standing in front of the entrance of one of the many parks and a sign stood in front of it. It said something along the lines of if you wanted to walk around in it, you needed to wear traditional Japanese clothing.
"You want me in a kimono?" you looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You have to get over that fear of woman clothing once in your life. Be happy I didn't take you to a park where you have to walk around in a bikini." he smirked while you hit him. After he sweet talked you into entering (which hadn't been that hard, because you did want to spend time with him) and he had dragged you to a shop where people could buy traditional clothing if they didn't have any themselves.
You knew Kariya was waiting, but you just couldn't leave the changing room. You looked down at the snow white kimono with light pink flowers going up along the left side which the shop owner's wife had picked out for you, scolding you for your hair colour. She had also given you enough pins to pin your hair up, but you had no idea what to do with it. As you now looked at yourself in the mirror, you let out a deep sigh. Your hair always fell in front of your eyes and it went in every single direction without your intend.
"Hey, [L/n]? Are you still coming out or what?" Kariya's impatient voice came to your ears and you sighed. You bit your lower lip and then grabbed your hair, putting it in a bun and actually using all the barrettes the shop owner's wife had given you. You swallowed and walked outside, knowing very well your face was the same colour as the pink flowers, but hey, it could be worse, as in your head could resemble a tomato, right?
Kariya was wearing a purple haori and a white hakama (yes, what he wore in Okita Souji's time). You didn't dare to look him in the eye, so you stared towards the ground instead. Then, you felt a tap on your shoulder and Kariya smirked at you.
"See, it isn't that difficult to be a girl."
You shot him a glare and hit him, but he just grinned now.
"Come on. It would be a waste of money if we just stood around here like that." he grabbed your arm once again and gave a small tug. You sighed and walked along with him. The two of you walked in silence, but it wasn't the comfortable silence that it used to be. It was an awkward one and somehow also very tense.
"[L/n]?"
You looked up towards Kariya, but he wasn't looking towards you.
"What is it?" you asked.
"Nothing, I just wanted to say that I'm glad that you're still you."
"What do you mean by that?"
Kariya shrugged. "We hadn't talked for so long that I was afraid that you had changed."
"Why would I change?" you frowned at him, while he still refused to look you in the eye.
"I don't know. I thought that maybe ... you had locked yourself in your room, because you were in love or something. And that, when I would see you again, you were together with some guy and would be ... someone else. Not [L/n] [F/n] anymore."
"What?" was he suggesting that he was afraid that you would change? Or was he afraid that you would be in love with someone? "Kariya, you're talking nonsense."
"Am I?"
Now he finally turned his head towards you and gave that very same examining glance he had given you seven years ago, when you had offered your hand to him and introduced yourself.