This is currently planned as a three part, but I don't know if it will be enough for a whole three parts. Otherwise, it's just for fun.

Although CLAMP has done fanstuff, that's been doujinshi, and not of their own work. I think this makes the point clear.

"Why do you think the cherry blossoms bloom so beautifully each year?

Sakurazuka Seishirou – Tokyo Babylon, Volume 1.5 – Destiny

Spring had heralded its appearance with a brilliant array of sakura, filling the air with its potent scent. Ueno Park was filled with visitors admiring the soft pink blossoms, picnicking under the trees.

But Himura Rikuo was not there for simply viewing the flowers, no. He, instead, was accompanying his coworker on a job initially meant for Kazahaya alone, to the other man's dismay and their boss's amusement.

"Kudo-kun, I have a job for you!" As usual, Kakei's voice was not loud, but carried easily through the store. Rikuo watched Kazahaya carefully set down his box before going over.

"What is it, Kakei-san?" he asked eagerly, obviously hoping that it would not be as...interesting a task as the one that involved school uniforms and his immense embarrassment.

The memory of it still made him smirk, much to his continued amusement and Kazahaya's noise whenever he was caught doing it.

"I need you to go to Ueno Park and bring me a branch of cherry blossoms." Kakei had one of those Cheshire Cat grins that promised it would not be as easy a task as it sounded. "But not just any branch that you could take from any tree. It must be a branch from a tree that never stops blooming."

Rikuo hadn't expected that, and hadn't even heard of an ever blooming tree even that was coniferous, and certainly not a cherry tree, and he expected Kazahaya's cheerful demeanor to wilt and collapse. But to Rikuo's continued (unseen) surprise, his grin only grew more pleased. "Of course Kakei-san. I was hoping for a chance to see him again anyway!"

Kakei's smile was as close to honest and kind as Rikuo had ever seen it before a job. "If you leave right now, you may even have more time to talk."

Rikuo found himself frowning, both at Kazahaya's exuberance in removing his apron, and at the fact that Kakei hadn't said anything about his also being involved. The store bell rang out brightly as Kazahaya left at one of his cheerful strides, and he fought with himself for the space of a minute before walking over to talk.

"Why isn't it a two person job?"

Kakei had that cat smile up again, the one that promised great terror and horror for any hapless person caught by it. Rikuo liked to think he wasn't one of them. "Are you feeling jealous of Kudo-kun have someone else who he'd be excited to see?"

He was not affected by that comment, he swore to himself. Nevertheless, his jaw ached suddenly from finding his teeth clenched together. "You know his tendency to get involved in something over his head."

Kakei only chuckled in reply to that. "I assure you he will be fine. Perhaps even safer than when he is with you."

Rikuo wasn't certain he liked the implications of that comment. But Kakei brushed off any acknowledgement of baiting him. "If you want to go along, I won't stop you. But you won't receive any payment for it."

Rikuo barely remembered to remove his own apron before exiting the store, and as such, didn't comprehend Kakei's last comment. "Not everything that is dangerous intends harm, nor do they choose to inflict it on those who can't fight back, and don't deserve it."

It had only taken him about the span of a block to catch up with Kazahaya, and not even a second before he was hissing and spitting like a cat scared out of its wits. "Damn it, Rikuo! I am perfectly capable of walking somewhere without needing you to be there!"

And then it wasn't hard at all to find his smirk again. "I don't know about that, you are pretty accident-prone."

Kazahaya growled in his throat, but turned his back to him indignantly instead. "Are you getting paid for stalking me?" was the snarled reply.

"No." And he watched some of the tension drain away from the other man's shoulders, although there was still a lot of indignant annoyance there.

Kazahaya turned back around to face him, his scowl showing that he was still displeased with him. "Fine, but you aren't scaring him off by glaring." And he returned to walking, each stride punctuated by a hard thump as he stomped his way to Ueno Park.

Rikuo's smirk felt oddly close to a smile.

And with only a small (compared to usual) amount of arguing that was less frustrated and possibly bordering on playful, they had arrived at the park, to find it packed with school kids, young couples, older couples, friends and all sorts of other kinds of people crowding up the entire ground space, talking and laughing and generally adding a strangely pleasant buzz to the air.

Kazahaya had been part of the buzz at first, barely able to muster up his usual scowl for Rikuo, but as they walking on the paths lined with violently pink flowers, his face took on that oddly melancholy look.

The one he got right after any of the times he had seen Tsukiko through Rikuo's memories.

"Hey." It wasn't breaking a true silence, not with all the humans around in their loud, but well-meaning demeanors and actions, but there was a silence that was interrupted nevertheless. That dark look on Kazahaya's face melted into his usual intriguing mix between a scowl and a sneer. "Who are we meeting in the middle of this park, and why couldn't we meet them elsewhere?"

Kazahaya huffed animatedly through his nose, arms crossed firmly against the lower part of his torso, but he deigned himself to answer with a vague semblance of politeness. "I call him Sakura-san, since true names are a dangerous thing to give away among those like us."

The meaning behind those words was not missed, and Rikuo felt that twitchy nerve of an idea that this wasn't as safe as it seemed, and he was right to come along.

"So he calls me by a different name, and I will hit you if you laugh." Kazahaya added, "Or call me by my name, or give away yours. He's nice, but he'd rather not know."

Rikuo scowled even more as they stopped at a fork in the sidewalk and Kazahaya took a moment to deliberate on which one. "So why do you talk to him even?"

Kazahaya deliberately kept his face turned away, it seemed. "He's lonely, and kind. He would have done more when I...left, if his job didn't make it dangerous to share more than a few minutes of his life with anyone."

And that was more confusing than what he had originally thought of this 'Sakura-san', and raised his hackles even more. As Kazahaya strode off down the left branch, he found himself walking closer than was strictly necessary, to his companion's annoyance and the soft giggles of a gaggle of teenage girls watching them.

"Do you have to stand that close?" he growled softly, enough that the spectators probably couldn't hear.

"You don't actually have a problem with it, do you?" Rikuo dodged the question by way of another, as Kazahaya took a fork in the road to the right this time, and the ground itself became more layered with petals.

Kazahaya groaned in frustration, but did nothing to move away from him, and a very tiny, traitorous part of him did something like thrusting a fist up in triumph.

Kazahaya took a second right, and another left, and then stopped in front of a larger than usual tree, absolutely coated in the blossoms it seemed. His eyes lidded over as he stepped forwards to touch the trunk. "Are you his tree?" Rikuo heard him mutter softly as he laid his hands on the rough bark. He stepped forwards just in time to catch him as Kazahaya's eyes shot open wide and he collapsed.

A moment passed with several odd and worried looks from passing strangers before his eyes fluttered open again and he immediately sprang up from their slightly awkward position, face flushed. "You don't have to do that!" He yelled, the tone more embarrassment than frustration. "In fact, don't. I can handle falling on the ground just fine."

Rikuo ignored this statement, not ever planning on listening to it. "Is that the tree you were looking for?"

Kazahaya stopped his yelling and his scowl was replaced by a thoughtful look. "Yes, it was. But I haven't gotten that memory from it before..." he trailed off, teeth absentmindedly pulling at his lower lip in thought.

"What did you see?"

Kazahaya's face held not just thoughtfulness, but a tinge of uneasiness as well. "Just two people talking under a tree. One was a teenager about our age, the other was a child."

Rikuo got the feeling that he wasn't telling the whole truth, but was prevented from prying by a duo of young women who suddenly seemed to feel the need to make sure that Kazahaya was sure he was alright, and tag-teamed up on him in a way that left him fully amused and not willing to help out his coworker at all.

Kazahaya explained things with a slight laugh, a kind word or two, and an explanation that, while probably not true, seemed to make sense to them, and they left with a couple of kind words of farewell, and a complement to Rikuo for being 'such a caring boyfriend' that left Kazahaya's smile threatening to become much more villainous and his eye twitching slightly.

Rikuo eschewed their usual banter in favor of casting a critical eye around their surroundings. "Where is this Sakura-san, and why is he taking so long?"

Kazahaya bit down on his annoyance, glancing around the area as well. "I'm not sure, I thought he'd be here by now.

The air shivered visibly, and he caught Kazahaya's arm, pulling him behind as cherry blossoms, clinging to the breezes drifted into the shape of a human, before scattering to reveal a man dressed all in black but for the color of his skin, and the mismatched eyes he opened slowly.

Green and gold glinted in annoyance before almost switching over to a much kinder glance. "Hello, Hana-san."

And despite his very strong feelings of danger and distrust of this stranger, Rikuo found himself wanting to laugh.

"It's because of the corpse."