Chapter 2: Matter of Time

---

Kurama,

It's been awhile, hasn't it? I can't believe I haven't seen you once in the last year... But, I guess that's what happens when ya go and move on us. What, are you suddenly too good for Tokyo? Eh, I know, I know, college. So, how is Kyoto anyway? Is it much better than Tokyo? I'll bet it is. It's more of a student-oriented town, isn't it? Must be, why else would you have moved so far out of your way? I mean, I'm sure there's plenty of respectable universities in Tokyo. Like, oh, say, Tokyo University.

Well, I hope this letter gets to you. I'd have called, ya know, but Keiko and I didn't want to ring up a costly bill, and besides that, we don't have your class schedule, so we wouldn't know when you're actually free to pick up the phone. 'Course, I s'pose you coulda just called us, you have our number don'cha? Either way, you have Shiori's number and she can get hold of us for you if you really needed to talk. Guess you don't need to though, eh? Or, do ya just not wanna keep in touch with us? I'm kiddin' you know. I know you're busy with your studying and stuff.

Anyways, I hope you're doing well; how's school? Kuwabara actually passed his entrance exams so he'll be a first year college student in the fall. Clear in Osaka. Can you believe that? Kuwa moved farther away than you did all for his education. Who woulda thought? But, even though he's farther away, I've still heard more from him than you, ya know. Yeah, ok, I know, enough with the guilt trip thing, right? Sorry.

Hey, have you seen Hiei? I haven't even heard from him since Makai. You'd think the little bastard would want to be around a bit more often what with Kuwabara and his sister and everything. Wait… does he even know? For that matter, do you even know?

Guess it couldn't hurt to tell you. Kuwabara proposed to Yukina. It was a few weeks ago, just before the Chrysanthemums came back into bloom at the beginning of spring. He wanted to wait until the Sakura blossomed, I think, but because of their blooming time he wouldn't have had the time to come down, what with his own school schedule and classes. Anyways, she said yes. She was a bit confused about it at first, you know she can be so naïve, but then she agreed. You'd think she knew how he felt all along from the way they act now. They're engaged, and once Kuwa finds a house of his own near campus or can manage to afford a co-ed dorm room, they're gettin' married. To think Hiei and Kuwabara are going to be in-laws… Kill me now...

Anyways, I'm avoiding the topic at hand. And, you're probably too busy with your studies to really have time to wade through all my ranting. But Keiko wants you to come visit. She had me write out all these letters to everyone, you know, since no one stayed in Tokyo. In fact, the only one Keiko has managed to invite face-to-face was Genkai-oba-san, and she can't make it.

There's something important she wants to tell you all, and she's bent on having everyone together for it. Speaking of everyone, if you see Hiei tell him too. I'm sure he won't pass up a chance to see Yukina, or a chance to harass Kuwa for that matter. And, I'd let up on telling him about Kuwa's and Yukina's engagement. I'm pretty sure Kuwabara wants to LIVE to see his wedding day.

But, if you can come, please come by the Ramen-ya on Friday. We'll be waiting for ya and hopin' to see ya.

Thanks man,

Yuusuke

Friday.

That gave me two days.

Two days to request advance assignments from my professors at the University. Two days to ask personal leave at my workplace. Two days to get the money to buy a rail pass for the JR Tokaido Shinkansen---

Two days to find the time to make it…

I sigh tiredly and re-fold Yuusuke's letter, setting the slightly worn fragment of paper atop my desk gently.

What to do? I shake my head, I don't know. There was a time---I suppose when I played an active part in the Reikai Tantei---when I would drop everything for my friends. I would do anything for them. I would always be there.

And now I simply cannot find the time.

Really, a part of me thinks it is not that I cannot find the time, but rather that I do not wish to find the time.

What point would there be? What reason do I have to drop everything in my life just to make an idle appearance at the Yukimura Diner? Yes, of course my 'friends' want to see me. They must, or Keiko wouldn't have wasted her time hassling Yuusuke to pen the letters; but what other reason do I have?

I glance warily at the phone on my wall. Perhaps I could call. I could tell them how terribly sorry I am for not being able to make it. After all, for all they know, I'm too busy with my studies to find the time to travel two full hours out of my way to Tokyo.

I feel a slight frown crease my features. No. I cannot lie that way.

While it is true that between coursework and my job I have been busy, Tokyo is only roughly two hours away. It wouldn't make all that much of a difference if I decided to visit. And, on Fridays classes dismiss early. Keiko must be aware of this; and it is undoubtedly why she picked Friday---so Kuwabara and I would both have enough time to make it if we so chose.

"I don't know…" the sigh deftly, looking blankly toward the folded letter on my desk, as though expecting it to give me some definite answer, finding myself deftly intrigued at how the fluorescent light cast upon it's ivory body radiates most spectacularly.

Who would have thought that something so simple as a letter could have such an adverse effect on me?

And that in itself is another curious thing…

Why per se did it have such an unfavorable effect on me?

I don't really understand it. I care deeply for my friends; I should want to see them. Especially after such a length of time. And yet, here I am, making excuses as to why I can't see them.

Why?

'Hey, have you seen Hiei? …You'd think the little bastard would want to be around a bit more often…'

Idle lines of Yuusuke's hastily scrawled letter replay themselves in my mind.

No. No, I have not seen Hiei lately. The last I saw him was the day we all returned home. The day he should have come home with us. The day I lied in a hollow attempt to save face.

Ironic. In trying to save face I still ended up losing, didn't I?

Ever since that day, or ever since that evening down at the seashore, I have thought about what I said. Why I chose to lie to him still isn't clear to me. Perhaps it was because after I had said the words, his expression clearly dictated he would have murdered me on spot if I had truly meant them.

As I've said before, I don't know why I lied, and I don't think I shall ever fully know why.

But, upon pondering that question, I have given myself the answer to another.

Why don't I want to see my friends?

Because after what happened with Hiei I lost face. I had lost the only true friend I had known in my life, and so, of course I no longer cared what was to become of the rest of them. After all, when you lose that which is most important to you, what do you care for everything else? Simple, you don't care.

Or, you pretend not to care…

No matter how despondent I may outwardly appear, I'm not foolish enough to believe that I truly don't care. I know better; I know otherwise.

Well, isn't this pleasant? Just when I thought I had the answer to why I wanted to avoid my friends, it seems I have only found reason not to avoid them.

I stretch tiredly, feeling my back crack slightly as I do so. I had been at my desk most of the afternoon working on a term paper for my physics class, to be due next week, and so hadn't moved much from my spot since coming home.

"I don't suppose a small break would hurt," I mutter to myself, standing up and yawning slightly, "and I could definitely use some fresh air," I add as an afterthought, as I reach for the jacket hanging limply over the back of my computer chair.

I slip the worn jacket on and pull my keys from my pocket. With a last fleeting glance towards the abandoned letter lying on my desk, I step from the threshold, resolved to work through the tangled thoughts it had brought on in a more favorable location.

---

Skimming over the newspaper held in my hands, I glance halfheartedly at the center page. Of course the page is merely a tribute to those truly unique individuals who claim to have been abducted, or otherwise harassed in some way, by aliens. The page spouts nothing but lunacy and exaggerations of course, but it had once contained a picture of Hiei. Ever since I've been keeping an eye on the mid section of the paper to see if he had mad another slip-up on his patrolling duty.

Apparently not.

I shrug, hand the cashier a few yen, and retire to an abandoned booth overlooking Arashiyama Station. In a few minutes time another train would pull up and I would board it, traveling due west on the Keifuku line until I reached my desired location.

Until those dreary minutes come to pass, however, I must find amusement in watching rushed pedestrians swarm around the station platform with little purpose.

"Minamino-kun?"

I faintly register the familiar voice calling my name and turn expectantly in the direction the tone had issued from. I manage a thin smile as I come to recognize the woman approaching me.

She has light brown hair, which is usually up in a tight bun, but is currently cascading over her shoulders haphazardly in the late evening breeze, and soft blue eyes flecked with pale green that always harbor a mischievous glint. Her usual attire of a clean pressed navy skirt and blouse have been replaced with a loose pair of jeans and a ragged looking windbreaker jacket, thrown hastily over a white sweater.

"Good evening, Ikura-san," I greet her respectfully, nodding towards her in exchange for bowing, due to my current seating situation, as she comes within a manageable distance.

Ikura-san is one of my professors at Kyoto Seika University, you see. In fact, she teaches the subject I major in. Biological Sciences.

"What are you doing all the way out here in Keifuku, Minamino-kun?" she inquires brightly, a delicate smile curling her lips. "Exams are looming in the very near future, I'd expect students to be locked in their dorms studying."

"Too much work and not enough play can ruin your chances at passing the Exams just as much as too much play and not enough work," I reply lightly.

She nods, laughing lightly. "Couldn't have put it better myself Minamino-kun," she agrees, "but still, why are you such a length away from campus? Keifuku heads quite a ways away and you have classes tomorrow. Where could you possibly be going?"

I nod, knowing full well that Keifuku was a great distance out of my way. "I know."

"So, where are you headed then?" she persists with curiosity reminiscent of a student.

I can't help but smile, one thing several of my fellow classmates admire about Ikura-san is that when she isn't in the classroom, she acts just like us--that is to say, like them. When not bound by the codes of the four-walled teaching institution, she treats us just as any other person, and not as her students. I suppose it's a trait of hers that I, too, admire.

"Well?"

I ponder for a moment on what to tell her, and then decide the truth would suffice. "I am just heading to Arashiyama Nakanoshima."

She nods in understanding, "the Park, right?"

"Indeed."

"I see. Well, I'll join you then, shall I?"

"Pardon?" I ask, not fully understanding her intentions.

"I'm heading out there too. In fact, I'd say most people on the platform are. Not many worthwhile places branch from the Keifuku line after all."

"Well, if you are so inclined," I comply. Besides, who am I to say no to a professor?

"I am," she grins, "so, we'd best be off then, the train's just pulled in and people are boarding. We'd best get a move on."

She moves aside so that I may exit the booth and then I proceed to follow her down the platform, and after much bustling, aboard the train.

---

Loose Sakura drift on the breeze, their fading pinkish-roan tint brilliantly offsetting the darkening sky. I gaze at them wistfully as they fall about me. Here, in Kyoto, the Sakura had almost run their few week course, if I were to go to Tokyo, they would have only recently begun anew. It might seem strange, but location can have a great deal of impact on the curious little blossoms.

As much as I should be enjoying the Sakura, I can't help feeling distraught, almost as if a part of me were dying alongside the slowly withering blooms.

In an attempt to offset the feeling welling within me, I gaze at anything but the drifting petals. The cobblestones beneath me lead a winding path towards an upcoming inlet, draining further down into a small lake. People walking in the area, many of them, as Ikura-san had predicted, having come from the Keifuku line as well, stroll happily amid the blooms. They are impervious to the miserable implications the blooms carry with them. And for good reason, I suppose. After all, they care nothing for the troubles and whiles of a meager college sophomore, so they pay me no mind, and in turn, pay no mind to the miserable thoughts, that the Sakura, innocent in themselves, can bring on.

Yet, as hard as I try to avoid looking at the blooms, my straying thoughts lead me to gaze once more towards them. I can't say why, because honestly I don't know why, but there's something painfully soothing about the blossoms. So innocent and pure, yet melancholy all at once. In a sense, it's reminiscent of the reason that brought me here: The blooms are as innocent as Yuusuke's inquiry; and they are as melancholy as the effect that his inclination had on me.

"Minamino-kun?"

At Ikura-san's familiar voice, I start slightly. I don't suppose I had expected her to be walking alongside me as she was, and so I must have forgotten about her presence.

"Gome ne, Ikura-san," I apologize quickly, dipping my head into a slight bow, "nan desu ka?"

She raises a credulous eyebrow at me, her arms crossed loosely before her. "Minamino-kun, why so formal? It's not as though we're attending class. There's no need for all the rigid formality you show."

I sigh. "My apologies Ikura-san," I cast a wistful look towards the Sakura dancing in the wind around us. "I just didn't think you'd accompany me this far. I honestly forgot you were there."

She nods in understanding, a wisp of her pale hair slipping over her shoulder. "That's understandable. You know---" she turns from me slowly, walking a few steps along the cobblestones and stopping beneath a cascading branch of still blossoms. With a sort of graceful ease she reaches up towards the hanging limb and plucks a flower from the branch, holding it in her open palm. "---If I were gazing as thoroughly miserably at the Sakura, as you were, I'd probably have forgotten too."

Though I'm sure she hadn't meant it sarcastically, or condescendingly, I can feel a pale flush of embarrassment creep into my cheeks. I avert my gaze from her respectfully.

"So tell me, Minamino-kun," she voices thoughtfully, "why do you gaze with such a pained longing at the Sakura?"

I consider her question for a moment, not sure what answer to give. For a moment I must actually stop to remind myself that she is still, despite the circumstance, my teacher. And, being so, I have no right to add my problems to her own. Yet, from the tone of her voice as she asked, to the sincere look in her eyes as she gazes upon me now, waiting for a response, I feel worse for not answering.

"Well," I begin tentatively, deciding that I would tell her what she asked. Just nothing more and nothing less. "The Sakura are nearly out of season here in Kyoto." Many things are falling out of season here in Kyoto... "And in Tokyo they'd only just be starting to bloom at this time." Just as so many other things have started to...

She gives me a small smile, a smile that makes me wonder if she knows something I do not... A smile I myself am all-too-familiar with.

"Of course, Minamino-kun. But why only so suddenly?"

"Pardon?"

"The Sakura have been falling out of season for the past week now, yet only now you mourn their soon-to-be departure. Why so suddenly?" She casts a wondering glance around the premises, watching the Sakura with newfound curiosity.

I hesitate slightly, "I received a letter from a friend in Tokyo, requesting my presence this coming Friday."

"So then, what's the problem?" she asks mildly, turning back to me. As the wind picks up it sends her hair cascading into her eyes and she swipes at it distractedly to push it back behind her ears once more.

"Well, it's been a full year since I saw them last. I moved here to attend school and have only returned to visit a few times. I'm not so sure I'd be fully welcome there after such a long time." After all, they've changed... I've changed... We've changed… Everything has changed…

"If you can willingly call them 'friends' then I'm sure they'd welcome you back with open arms," she comments knowingly.

"It's nothing more than a word---"

"Don't be foolish," she scolds lightly, cutting across me and beginning to walk along the cobblestones. The notion that she was not finished speaking is what makes me follow slowly after her. "They are your friends. Why would they lie? Besides, why would they write asking you to show up if they didn't want to see you?"

"Common courtesy?" I suggest feebly.

At this she stops abruptly and turns back to face me. As swiftly as she had managed it, I thought for a moment that my comment had angered her. But, the look in her eyes was not one of anger. In fact, it resembled something closer to pity.

"Minamino-kun, for being at the top of your class and notably intelligent, some of your assumptions borderline moronic."

The utter bluntness with which she had said it sent me into a momentary lapse of thought. Before I could so much as mutter a retort she had taken up her tread in the conversation once more. Her voice had returned to its soft alto and her eyes shone in unspoken understanding.

"I'm sorry that you think so little of yourself, that you would deny your friends, Minamino-kun," she begins softly. "It's sad that a student such as yourself should act this way, and should hold such a strong sense of pessimism at the world..." At her words I can feel my body tense and go numb as buzzing encompasses my thoughts. "...I can only assume that something slightly-less-than-happy occurred to you to make you this way, but it's not my business."

I nod slowly.

She gives me a wry smile, "but my advice, for what it's worth is this: Go home. Even if not for your friends---" She stops and takes a slow step towards me, following them in succession until she stands a mere few feet from me. Before I can say anything, or have the opportunity to object, she takes one of my hands in hers and presses something firmly into my palm. The next thing I know, she is retreating from me, her back already growing progressively smaller against the backdrop. After a moment she looks back at me, the familiar glint in her soft blue-green eyes returned, "---The Sakura are still worth seeing," she calls, a knowing smile curving her lips.

Then, she is gone, and I am left looking after her.

A few minutes of uneventful silence pass, in which the sky grows darker and the straggling park walkers disperse, their numbers dwindling to gone. It is then that I realize I had best be heading back as well.

Before I begin to make my way home, I turn for a moment to the object Ikura-san had pressed into my hand. Opening the corresponding fist, a withered, and now slightly battered, Sakura flower drifts out of my hand, falling limply to the cobblestones. My eyes linger on it sightlessly until the wind picks up and sweeps it across the earth and away again.

I nod to myself and turn away.

It's about time I got home...

And it's about time I made a phone call...

---

Author's Ramblings

Well, now that A Glass Rose is finished, it's time I started up on this again. It should progress into a nice long multi-chapter story, but it really depends on what you guys as readers want. So don't forget to let me know. Speaking of knowing, if you're a fan of my writing, please check out my new forum, From Plotbunnies to Stories, for update dates and all other related stuff.

Anyways, please leave your name at the door with a review. Critiques, constructive criticism, flames... all happily accepted. Thanks.

Blackrose