It was the middle of the next morning and Rogue was still trying to get a handle on the jet lag that she'd been feeling, ever since she and Logan landed in Tokyo. As she sat in her room at the Royal Prince Hotel located in the Ginza district of Tokyo, she heard someone knocking at the door.
"Hey, kid. You awake yet?" Logan asked her.
"Yeah, Ah've been up most of the night." Rogue replied as she got up and opened the door.
"What's wrong?" Logan asked her.
"I couldn't get to sleep. Jumpin' across about ten time zones'll have that effect on a person." Rogue answered.
"Well, whenever you're ready, get your camera and meet me downstairs. I figure touring the Imperial Gardens will take up most of our day." Logan said as he walked back down the hallway to his room.
"Okay." Rogue replied as she closed her door. She then sat back down on the bed and finished painting her toes before getting dressed. About half an hour later, Rogue was finally ready to hit the streets of Japan's capital. She grabbed her dark green leather jacket and headed out of the room. When she reached the lobby downstairs, she stood for a moment and admired the simple beauty of the hotel. It wasn't a big or extravagant place, but it was nice in it's own way. She spotted Logan at the other end of the lobby having a conversation with the hotel's manager.
"So, what interesting gossip am I missing?" Rogue asked as she walked up.
"Morihiro-san here was tellin' me about how nice the cherry blossoms look in the Imperial Gardens this time of year, during the traditional season of O-Hanami." Logan answered, "So, you ready?"
"Yeah. It looks like I'm gonna get to use the extra film that I brought with me after all." Rogue replied as they started towards the front entrance.
After stopping at a local coffee shop, Logan and Rogue boarded the metro rail to the Imperial Gardens. Once they walked inside, Rogue was amazed at the beauty of it's ancient architecture and of the surrounding forestry. To have somebody try to describe it to you was one thing, but seeing it first hand was truly spectacular.
"This place is so amazing." Rogue said as she snapped photos of the cherry trees, their blossoms in full bloom.
"It is a sight." Logan replied.
"You know, this is the kind of stuff that Peter would love to paint. I think I'll snap some extra photos for him and see if he can make a portrait from them." Rogue said as she continued aiming her camera at their surroundings.
"Sounds like a plan." Logan replied, "It looks like you finally got yourself adjusted to local time?"
"Ah guess all it takes is an $8 dollar cup of coffee to do that." Rogue told him, "At least that's what I figure it is once you convert it from Yen to Dollars."
"I hope you enjoyed it." Logan smiled as they walked along the waterway that flowed through the Gardens."
"I said it yesterday and I'm gonna say it again, this new and improved you is gonna take a lot of getting used to." Rogue told him.
"What're you talkin' about?" Logan inquired.
"Normally you'd at least get agitated about paying 20 times the going American price for a cup of coffee, but it seems like you've been taking everything in stride ever since we got here." Rogue said to him.
"I've just got a lotta things on my mind that I'm tryin' to sort thru." Logan told her.
"You mean the new memories that the Professor helped unlock?" Rogue asked him.
"Yeah, ever since we got here, some 'a them have been gettin' a lot clearer." Logan told her.
"That's awesome! What did you remember?" Rogue asked excitedly.
"There is this one memory that keeps coming back. It has to do with me training under a martial arts master a long time ago." Logan revealed.
"Maybe you'll start remembering other stuff, the longer that we stay here?" Rogue responded.
"Maybe." Logan answered as he looked back out on the water. As he watched some other tourists rowing by on the waterway, Logan thought about a part of that memory that he wasn't telling Rogue, and it had been haunting him for a few weeks now. It was about a young man that had come to Japan in an attempt to bring a sense of order to his very disordered life. The young man studied every aspect of the culture and trained there with total dedication, wanting more than anything to become a Samurai Warrior, the living embodiment of honor. But despite his best efforts, the young man was told by his master that he had failed, that he was not worthy of the title. That revelation had a lasting impact on him and the young man left Japan, believing that he never would be.
"Let's take one of those boat rides, so I can get some good shots from out there." Rogue said to Logan, snapping him back into the present.
"All right." He replied.
As Logan turned to walk back down the path behind them, his mind was still on those days gone by. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, something that he never did. He accidentally ran into a young Japanese woman, knocking her down in the process.
"I'm sorry Miss, I'm usually more careful." Logan apologized in Japanese as he reached out to help her up.
"I should apologize. I was so entranced by this ancient home that once belonged to one of Japan's most important warriors, that I wasn't watching where I was going." She replied in English as she looked up at the stranger whom she had bumped into.
"My name's Logan." Logan said as he introduced himself and helped her up to her feet.
"I am Mariko, it is a pleasure to meet you." Mariko Yashida said as she introduced herself. She then looked over to Rogue.
"Is this your daughter?" She asked.
"Actually, she's one of my students." Logan replied.
"My name is Ro…Marie." Rogue said as she walked over to introduce herself.
"Nice to meet you as well." Mariko said as she greeted Rogue. She then turned her attention back to Logan as they all stood under a large pine tree.
"You speak Japanese very well. Do you teach it to your students?" Mariko asked him.
"No, we have another instructor that handles that." Logan answered as he looked at the beautiful, yet elegant woman in front of him, "So, you seem to know a lot about the history of this place, do you come here often?"
"Whenever I can make time from my busy schedule." Mariko answered.
"Well, we'd be interested to hear more about it from you." Logan said to her.
"Nothing would delight me more." Mariko said to them as she led Logan and Rogue over to the structure that had been standing since the end of the 18th century.
As they took an impromptu tour of the Imperial Gardens, Mariko explained the historical, as well as the architectural, importance of the various structures within. But as far as Logan was concerned, she could have been reading from a telephone book and hearing it from her would still have been interesting enough to keep his full attention. Logan had met many women over the years, but only a few had left a lasting impression on his somewhat limited memory. Rogue took notice of the effect that their new acquaintance was having on Logan. She stepped back a few yards and took some photos of them, while Mariko pointed out important landmarks in the Kokyo Higashi Gyoen section of the Imperial Gardens to Logan.
"Wonder what Logan would say if I gave Peter this photo and had him make a portrait of him looking at Mariko with those puppy-dog eyes?" Rogue smiled as she thought to herself.
The trio continued to walk through the Gardens for a few hours more, but to Logan it didn't seem anywhere near that long. Suddenly, Mariko stopped the mini-tour she was giving them. She looked at her watch and then looked at Logan and Rogue.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go. There is a very important person that I have to meet with this evening." Mariko said to them.
"Sorry if we kept you too long." Logan replied.
"There is no need for apologies. I enjoyed spending this afternoon with you very much." Mariko said to him as she looked deeply into his eyes. Logan had a question that he wanted to ask her before she left, but wasn't quite sure how to ask it. So he did what came naturally, he got straight to the point.
"Mariko, would you like to meet me tomorrow night for dinner?" Logan asked her.
"That…would be wonderful." Mariko answered.
"We're staying at the Royal Prince Hotel. Why don't you meet us there at 7 p.m. and we can decide where to go from there." Logan suggested.
"Then I will see you tomorrow." Mariko smiled as she started to walk away. When she was out of earshot, Rogue made an observation of her own.
"Somebody's in love." Rogue said as she teased Logan.
"What, do I look like Kitty and Jubilee?" Logan remarked, "It's gettin' late, let's get out of here."
As Logan and Rogue left the Imperial Gardens and headed back to their hotel they, along with Mariko, were unaware that they had been watched the entire afternoon by an unknown third party.
"Who are the Gaijin that were talking to Lady Mariko?" One man posing as a visitor to the Gardens asked in Japanese.
"I do not know. We were not sent to ascertain the identities of foreigners, but to learn who Lady Mariko is meeting with tonight." A second man replied.
"She is leaving, let us go." The first man said as they left to continue their surveillance of Mariko Yashida.
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Next Chapter: Who is following Mariko and why? That, and Logan & Rogue take on all challengers…
A/N: Special thanks to nd.edu for their pictures and description of the Imperial Gardens in Tokyo during O-Hanami.