She tucked a few stray locks of her long, black hair behind her ear as she flipped to the next page. These journals that her scholarly teammates had written explained a bit about the culture of the one person she dearly cared for, and she was thankful that they had allowed her to borrow them for a while. Making science wait on her desires was a big deal to the team, so she read carefully but quickly.

Gen had been kind enough to offer his services to distract the others, to give her more time with the texts by intriguing them with the blueprints that he'd obtained from the selfsame ruins; she was immensely grateful for this, but she couldn't accept. No matter how much more extra time the old inventor could buy her, it would never be enough to let her find what she needed to find. Reading these tomes was the closest she could get to reaching him, but she couldn't sit and read forever. Sooner or later, she would have to face the cold, hard truth and realize that he was gone. Gone on a long, long journey... and she wouldn't be able to follow for a very long time.

But she hadn't given up just yet. Kagu had delivered his last message to her a few years back, and even though her logical mind persistently said that he wasn't going to be returning to Sei'an City any time soon, a small part of her heart remained hopeful and naïve. She prayed every day for his safe travels and always asked the gods to bring him to her door in one piece, even if it was absolutely futile, for her heart wouldn't allow her mind to hold her back. She squeezed her precious treasure, a small wooden flute, tightly in her hand as she gazed up at the roof.

Where is that date you promised me? You wouldn't leave and break your word, would you? I want to believe that you're still out there, somewhere.

"Miss?" A reluctant voice spoke up from the doorway, startling her out of her thoughts. She glanced over at him, her face impossibly blank, and he faltered a little. "I, uh, was sent here on the behalf of the scholars, and they want me to - "

"You need the journals back."

She finished his sentence matter-of-factly, closed the book she was reading and pushed it off to the side of the table where the others sat. After nudging her spectacles further onto her face, she scooped the small pile up in her arms.

"I know we've been disturbing you a lot lately, and I sincerely apologize for that and for your loss, but... It's been three years. Surely you've found whatever it is you're looking for by now."

"Here you go, sir. Forgive me for keeping them from our colleagues for so long." Rising up from her seat, she padded towards the scholar, her hands vaguely trembling as she handed the tomes off to him, and stepped back to bow low. "I hope everyone isn't too upset with me."

"N-no, no! Of course not! It's understandable that you would take ages to - I mean... They get it. Really, they do." He smiled gently at her, but she wasn't sure if it was sympathy or pity creasing his youthful face. "Kagu moreso than anyone. In fact, she's the one who persuaded us to lay off as much as we have. She wanted you to get closure any way you could, even if it took a while."

She smiled as well, but it lacked its usual cheer. "Do thank her for me if you get the chance."

The elegant lady moved past him out onto the Aristocratic Quarter's bridge without a sound, and the scholar glanced curiously at the small pile of books she'd returned. He noticed a slip of paper sticking out of one and shuffled awkwardly around to stare at her retreating back. "Miss, wait! You left your bookmark in one of the books! Don't you want it back?" When she didn't reply, he cleared his throat and took a few steps after her. "Er, where exactly are you going?"

Ignoring him, she began to reflect on her musings as she walked. The journals that she'd just relinquished had mentioned a connection between Sagawara, Sei'an City's recently deceased politician, and Waka, a mysterious and charismatic man who had once been the leader of the Tao Troopers; he was also a prominent member of a near ageless, ancient tribe from another world. Both bore symbols on their person that very nearly matched the ones that were discovered in the ruins, which could only mean that he and Sagawara were from the same place. Just how many of them were living here on earth, right this very moment? Here in Nippon?

The Moon Tribe... His tribe, actually.

Right. Now that I think about it, you were carrying one of those symbols, too. Were you one of them, then? It's only the speculation of a desperate woman, but maybe that's where you've gone. Back to the moon...

If only she could know for certain.

Yet even if she knew those answers, what good would it do her? She couldn't just take to the skies and go looking for him. It would be easier to dig for a needle in a million haystacks. The only thing a scholar in her position could do was speculate. Could it be that the Moon Tribe was already housing him somewhere in secret, sending out ships one by one to take the rest of their people off of this world? Was he among those being sent home? As small as that hope was, and as much as she'd miss him if that were the truth, the idea gave her heart some meagre measure of relief. At least he would be safe there.

Still, it was a difficult thing to ponder when one's mind was already full of prayers.

Pausing in her ascent of the cliff face, she reverently tilted her head back to see his ghostly visage silhouetting the crescent moon. Such a thin sliver, bathing all of the country in its pale, clear light. She could almost feel him watching over her, though that didn't comfort her as much as she would have liked. Any kind of suggestion that he was dead only made her eyes sting worse.

Sagawara's gravesite stood somberly in the shadows, overlooking the decimated crater that had once housed the ancient ruins of an even more ancient tribe. Carefully the woman brushed a few dandelion seeds off of the old, worn stone steps. It had taken some doing, but everything was now as immaculate as she'd left it when last she came. Her old friend had taken great pains to maintain this section of the Northern Ryoshima Coast when he was here, so she took it upon herself to care for the site in his absence. He had said that he hadn't personally known the man, but still this grave held some kind of meaning to him. She got the feeling that visiting this place somehow made him feel less alone in the world; and tending to it was her way of showing him, wherever he was, that he still wasn't alone.

Kneeling with a sigh in front of the great stone tablet, she clasped her hands together and pressed them to her lips. "I pray that the gods give you peace, Sagawara. If you happen to see a little blonde boy from your great perch, please let him know that I'm still waiting here for him. Beseech the gods to watch over his travels and, if at all possible, send him back to me at his journey's end." Tears pricked at her eyes, and her voice grew tight. "I should very much like to see him again. We all would."

She placed a single pink lily gently on the altar before hastily making her way down the winding, rocky cliffside path. It was a difficult climb on the sunniest of days, nevermind the darkest of nights. Dangerous especially for someone thin and frail who had rarely participated in even the lightest fieldwork; but that fact had never deterred her before, as she was determined to see her prayers carried through to the very end. She'd walk straight through hell, wearing nothing but the skin she was born with, if that was what it took to have her pleas answered. Yet even in the face of such dedication, there were other mysterious oddities that existed to extinguish such a mortal spark.

On better days she was slow and methodical, careful to watch her step.

Today wasn't one of those days.

It could have been that her sight was blinded by tears, or that the rock she had put her weight on was unstable. There was the possibility that she had tripped over a small crack, or a pebble that was strangely out of place. The moonlight was playing tricks on her tired eyes, perhaps. Whatever the reason, however it happened, all she knew was that she was falling. Reaching out was pointless. There was nothing to grab, no one to hold onto. She always made these trips alone, and that was how she was going to die.

Alone. Without seeing him one more time.

That thought made her cry even harder. All of her efforts to draw him to her so that they might have a chance to get to know each other, wasted. If he was alive, now he would never find her. If he was dead after all, it would still be just as hard. So much space and time between them. Life was cruel and unfair.

Wind rushed past her face, whipping her hair around in a swath of violent, jet-black snakes. Her glasses flew off somewhere into the distance, transforming everything she saw into a blurry mass of confusing colors. The descent was fast but slow, a paradoxical moment that heightened her ability to clearly think. This was how death would come for her, and if it was her time then she wanted to leave while holding onto the only memento that he had given her. Maybe there was a slight chance that he would notice if she held it now.

The flute was floating before her eyes, free-falling alongside her as if it were simply waiting for her to make the decision. She wasn't quite sure if she grabbed it, or if it slid into her hands of its own accord. Either way it was with her, the sturdy wood providing a relaxing calm the likes of which she'd never felt before. Closing her eyes, she pressed his flute against her chest and let go.

"Hey! You okay, lady?"

She stirred a little, trying to think of where she'd heard this voice before. It was familiar but not quite the same, and it sounded far away.

"C'mon, wake up already! Is she even breathing!?"

That's right, the tone was deeper than she remembered. A man's timbre. He couldn't be the one she was yearning for, then. These similarities must be some type of odd coincidence, that's all. Her burst of joy died as she entertained the notion that this stranger might break her heart without even meaning to. Still, he was her savior and she owed it to him to cooperate as best she could.

She concentrated on making her body obey her commands, though opening her eyes was proving to be a difficult ordeal, not to mention her body felt as limp as an eel. There wasn't any searing agony shooting through her - thank the gods for that small mercy - but she felt unbelievably numb. Various times she attempted to react somehow, to ease this person's concern enough to make him quit shouting at her. Nothing seemed to work properly however, and he was steadily becoming more and more vocal.

"Don't give up on me now! You have to fight! Fight!" Desperation hardened his words, and she wished she could at least glimpse this poor man's face to reassure him that she was fine. She felt a firm grip on both shoulders, and then he was shaking her. "Wake up! I didn't come all this way to watch you slip away from me, dude!"

There was only one person she knew in the whole of Nippon who talked like that. Her heart leapt into her throat, racing at speeds she didn't previously think possible for the human heart to achieve. Valiantly she fought to pry her eyelids open, and after a serious struggle that lasted for several minutes she managed to force them open a tiny crack.

Her sight was still extremely poor, but she could make out a face hovering over her. The features were fuzzy, and for a moment she thought that she must have been mistaken all over again. Then she took the time to look closer at the shockingly blonde hair that hung down to his shoulders. It glittered like spun gold, even in her less than ideal vision.

She swallowed the lump that was choking her, and took a deep breath as she readied to step out on a limb. "... Kurow...? Tell me it's really you..."

He expelled a harsh breath of relief, and she felt a warm droplet hit her cheek. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

Instead of getting the answer she wanted, she received something else entirely. And she wasn't about to turn down a passionate kiss like that. The boy she had accidentally bumped into in the Commoner's Quarter was finally by her side once more - no longer as a child, but as a young man.

Was that possible?

"I never did get your name, lady," he whispered. His strong arms were around her, comfortable and warm, protecting her from harm just as he had always done in the past. "Won't you tell me? Or do I have to wait for three more years? I mean, I'm a pretty patient guy, but that's a crazy long time to have to wait just to hear your name."

She laughed, wishing that she had the energy to leap onto him and smother him with hugs and kisses. "You think you're the only one who's been forced to wait for a long time? I'm still waiting for that date. You do want to go out on a date with me, right? Have you changed your mind?"

"What? No way! I'm a man of my word, and I wouldn't miss our date for anything!" He gave her another short kiss, and he was close enough for her to actually see his boyish grin this time. "Thanks for waiting, by the way. I wasn't sure if you would."

She smiled back, feeling more blissful than she had in months. "You needn't have worried. But I was a little afraid that you weren't coming back, you know."

"Is that why you fell off of that cliff?" he asked, eyebrow raised. If his arms hadn't been filled with her, he likely would have used air quotes when he said 'fell'.

She shook her head, sounding hurt. "I'm not sure what I did, but I am sure I didn't do it on purpose."

"Why were you even up there, anyway? And all by your lonesome? You do realize that it's a tricky path to use, right? If I hadn't shown up when I did, you'd be a pancake right now."

She stared down at her lap. "I know. I wasn't thinking about the potential dangers of such a trek."

Kurow gently tipped her chin back until she was looking into his eyes. "Then what were you thinking about?"

Against her will, tears welled up in her eyes. She tried to blink them back, but before she could they were streaming down her cheeks. "I... I went to Sagawara's grave to pray. I do this every day, thinking that if I plead with the gods, you might come and find me. It wasn't my intention to be reckless... I'm sorry..."

"Hey, hey. There's no need to cry." His thumbs caressed her face, the motion gradually calming her until she let out only a few sniffles. "I'm here now, and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, okay? You believe me?"

"I do, but I'm a bit confused... How did you know to come here, Kurow? And how is it you've grown into a man in such a short time? I suppose it's possible that I'm dead or dreaming... Oh, I have so many questions to ask you!"

He chuckled as he helped her to stand, and tossed her a wink as he led her up the path towards Sei'an City. "Hot scholar lady, I think our date is long overdue, dude."