********* (I Love You)Chapter XXVII:Yukata-A FFXI Love StoryFollow

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Sorry this chapter took so long...I actually wound up rewriting this chapter three or four times, adding and cutting material more than once to try and make it perfect...editing sucks and takes FOREVER!

By the way, thank ya’ll for the e-mail and /tells I have gotten, supporting my writing. I am glad that so many people read this story, and that makes me very happy^_^ Oh, and to answer one readers’s question...no I’m not married (or engaged for that matter) but I am actually single in real life. However, I’m not really available at the moment...

Read and review please!

Previous chapters, aki, and Interludes

Part I - Connection (Enishi)

Kasho II - Kodoku (Solitude)

Part III - Reunion (Saikai)
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Interlude III:
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1120830198339317613

Aki XVI:
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1121087964210903847&num=1

Dedicated to...anyone who loves Summerfest, and can’t wait for it to come about this year.
*****
Sometimes...

All it takes is a change in clothes to make someone you are in love with truly notice you.
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Chapter XVII: Yukata
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“The moogle’s down at ta docks, juss talk ta him, and you are in.” the wrangler said, as he then mounted my once former ride, and made his way slowly over to the chocobo stables.

I simply nodded a couple of times, the light breeze floating in from the sea causing my black hair to partially obscure my eyes. With that, I then started to head down to the docks where the moogles were all calmly flapping their wings together. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Hitomi following me, dragging her feet through the warm sand that got tracked into the city from the beaches surrounding Selbina by tourists and travelers alike.

The town was all dressed up, with paper lanterns hanging everywhere on strings, glowing all sorts of different colors from the melting wax candle inside each of them. Off in the distance, I could hear a a mixture of drums and wood flutes playing a delicate tune that only seemed to add to the atmosphere. The fireflies were out, dancing over and under everything that seemed to move in a carefree way, their lights blending into the stars hanging above.

Even though I had not been to a summerfest since I was a child, I could tell that it was as beautiful as ever...

After a few minutes, we arrived at the docks, where the ferry was just pulling out from port. Looking around, we spotted a moogle that was flapping its wings, floating lazily nearby. As we drew closer to it, the moogle’s face lit up and his mouth split into a wide grin.

"Welcome to Summerfest, kupo!", it said in that sing-song voice moogles have when they are really happy. "Would you like a free yukata, to help celebrate this summertime tradition kupo?!" Without waiting for a response from me, the moogle then reached into the satchel slung over its shoulder, and yanked out a folded blue yukata outfit. Looking a bit at it, I could make out to be a fruit design inked into the soft-looking fabric. Gratefully, I bowed my head, and then took the bundle from the moogle.

The moogle then turned to Hitomi, and I could see that there was a look of confusion spread across her face. The flying being took a good long look at her, after a couple of uneasy moments the moogle erupted into a flurry of words that I couldn’t understand, (judging from how the confused look on her face disappeared) Hitomi must have understood. After a couple minutes, the moogle reached into his pouch once more, and pulled out another yukata, pale purple this time with a design I couldn’t make out, and handed it over to Hitomi.

"Over there is the changing rooms! You can also store your regular clothes there too, kupo!" the moogle said in English and then probably said in that other language (as evidenced from the sudden understanding on Hitomi’s face) as it spun around in three complete quick circles before pointing over at two makeshift tents set up near the fisheries on the far side of the dock, away from the festivities.

Hitomi and I both bowed our heads in wordless thanks, as we went over to the changing stations. Once I got into the men’s one, I stripped completely nude, and shoved my clothes into a convenient iron locker that was stacked up against the left side of the wall. Once that was done, I opened up my yukata, and allowed everything was wrapped up in it to fall down to the sandy floor.

Bending over slowly, I first picked up a pair of white tabi socks, and placed them on my feet first, being careful to slide my big toes into their proper place. Once that was accomplished, I picked up the yukata itself, and wrapped the right side of the outfit around my body and over the left side, trying to make sure the back seam was centered along my spine at the same time. After that, I picked up from the ground and then tried to tie a cotton obi belt around my waist, but failed miserably to make it look decent.

After about fifteen minutes of struggling, I finally gave up and tied it onto my body using a cheater’s knot, that would hold up to all but the closest inspection by other visitors to Selbina who also happened to be enjoying the festivities. With that, I slipped on the tatami-material zori sandals (the last thing that had fallen out of the bundled yukata) onto my feet, and then pulled back the tent flap to wait outside for Hitomi.

After a couple more minutes had passed, I made my way carefully over to the ladies’ tent, and rapped on the tent’s door. "Hitomi, you ok?" I called out to her, slightly worried.

I could hear muffled sounds inside, and then Hitomi’s voice coming out to me. "Hai!" she said in a half-shout, obviously excited, "just doing hair!"

My worries gone, I shuffled from foot to foot for a few more minutes, until I saw Hitomi’s hand reach outside and gracefully lift the tent’s edge up to make her an exit. When she passed through, and I could see her clearly...

My jaw dropped and my breath was stolen away from me.

Hitomi was dressed in that pale purple yukata, but it had a design that matched mine. The yukata’s left side was tied tightly over the right, wrapping her body tightly, and giving her quite a feminine figure that was only partially obscured by her perfectly tied obi belt. Her silky black hair was allowed to drape freely behind her back, and was held in place by a emerald pin that only served to accent her glowing green eyes. When Hitomi saw where I saw, her face split into a wide grin, and she then reached behind her back and pulled out a slender metal piece that she then snapped open into a white fan with some sort of red lettering drawn upon it. She started to wave the paper fan towards her face as she headed over towards my body, which was still paralyzed in place.

"Wow...Hitomi...you look so pretty..." I finally was able to mumble out.

Hitomi blushed a deep red, and covered her face with her fan for a few moments until the color disappeared.

"Thank you...", she stammered back to me in a shy voice, "Dimitri-chan...you handsome too..."

-fin Chapter XXVII: Yukata

Edited, Thu Jul 14 11:46:19 2005 by Nightsintdreams

I'm all psyched, for summerfest now! /cheer
(...and suddenly, the summerfest music is, once again, stuck in my head. LOL)

Good read, sir.

Edited, Thu Jul 14 13:52:47 2005 by TheWanderingShadow

Awesome! I just stumbled onto this thread and have just now finished all the chapters so far.

I cant wait for the next chapter ^^ Keep up the good work. ~from unicorn