Title: The Importance of a Rose
Author/Artist: Jenbunny
Medium: Fanfic
Theme: Day 1: Rose
Genre: general
Version: I'm not sure ... anime maybe, pre Sailor Moon
Rating: G
(Disclaimer - I obviously don't own Sailor Moon or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them for awhile.)
Mamoru gently touched the fragile rose, frowning as he watched a few of the withered petals fall to the ground. It had been allowed to fall into disrepair, most of the flowers allowed to wither and die over the years, but there was still hope. There was still life within some of the flowers and with careful tending Mamoru was certain that he could bring this garden to life again.
The child gazed sadly at the garden, feeling a kinship with it. It had been abandoned, which was how he sometimes felt. Most days he knew that it hadn't been his parents fault when they had left him. Most days he was sure that they would still be here if they could be. If only they hadn't driven over the cliff that day two years ago, but then there were days like today. Days that usually occurred when he happened to watch some other kid safe within their mother's arms, or sharing a special moment with their father. It was days like those that he longed for his parents most, days when he felt the most like this garden, abandoned and lonely.
Mamoru was only eight, but he had always had a way with flowers for as long as he could remember, which admittedly wasn't very long. Roses were his specialty. There was something about those particular plants that called to him. Something important, though he wasn't certain what.
He would have liked to think that maybe it was something that he was remembering without realizing. Perhaps they were his mother's favorite flowers, or maybe there had been a rose bush outside the house that they had lived in before the accident, just something to connect him with the family he had lost.
As much as he tried to pretend that those reasons were why the rose was so important to him, Mamoru never could do it for long. There was some part of him, some deeper part of himself that told him that was wrong. The rose was far more important to him then some forgotten memory of his parents. It had to do with something deeper, something to do with just him. If only he could figure it out, perhaps he would have the keys to knowing more about himself.
After a moment he shrugged and turned to head back to the orphanage, such deep thoughts unable to hold a child's attention for very long. He would have to remember to get permission from the nuns to bring this rose garden back to life. Mamoru couldn't think of a reason they wouldn't let him, after all the gardens were located within the orphanage's gates. He would return tomorrow and with any luck he would have the roses blooming come spring.