After The Fact Version 3 Chapter 2: After The Fact Version 3 Part 1, a x/1999 fanfic

Disclaimer: X! Not Mine! sobs

Note the timeline and the X references. =)

This part is for Aishuu, who gave me my first ever review for an X fanfic I wrote, and asked in that same review that I would continue to write S/S. So I have.

Skuld once wrote that my writing improved after the first five or so chapters. However, I have chosen not to revise the initial chapters… because, I suppose, I have a fondness for this old piece. =) Sadly, I still need a better title. Yuk.

After The Fact (Version 3.0)
Part 1: When Harry Met Sally

It was a fine day in Ueno Park.

The sakura were in full bloom and the grounds of the park were littered with people who had come to admire the blossom-laden branches. Here and there, a family picnicked happily, complete with groundsheet and baskets of food; at one side, groups of high school students in their distinctive uniforms laughed and flirted with one another; at another, young couples strolled under the trees, fingers linked in the most romantic of gestures. But the place by the lakeside was by far the most popular.

The lake was an artificial one that had been added about a century ago, in the year 3068 AD, and was an unusual shape…from the top it looked exactly the shape of a puddle of water (though certainly not the size!). It was called a lake merely because it was really too big to be called a swimming pool, it was certainly not an outdoor Jacuzzi or bathing spring, and it was decidedly too small to be called anything else. So it was called a lake, although it was quite easy to see clear across it to the other side. It was a very pretty place, with a green slope leading down to it (the slope was also an artificial addition, but it had once been a real and very steep series of humps that had appeared because of several tremendous earthquakes that had almost razed Tokyo to the ground over a millennia ago). It was a much sought-after picnic spot.

But the peace was shattered by a shriek.

"Someone, help! My babies!"

A large stroller, in which two squalling babies were strapped, was rolling down the slope, and picking up speed as it went. There were numerous cries of dismay and many scrambled to their feet to try to stop the runaway stroller.

Sumeragi Honami was running breathlessly after her babies, her face very pale, because she knew that she could not reach them in time. All she could do was to hope and pray that someone, anyone, could save her babies in time—

Halfway down the slope, the stroller came to a stop, in accompaniment to an extra loud squall from both babies. Honami raced down the slope towards the stroller, nearly weeping in her relief and caught hold of the stroller from its saviour. Her mouth fell open in astonishment.

A sturdy, handsome little boy of about six years old was bracing the stroller on the other side, preventing it from trundling down any further. He had dark hair that was windblown, a little face tanned to a rose-brown by the sun, and eyes of deep, honeyed amber. His face was flushed with exertion, but he gave her a shy little smile.

"Arigatou gozaimasu," murmured Honami with a bow of profuse thanks, smiling with relief all over her pretty face. "Arigatou!"

He ducked his head shyly again. "You're welcome." He glanced at the babies in the stroller. They were looking at him with big, curious green eyes. One baby reached out and tried to grab at him; the other just stared at him with those wide eyes.

"Honami-san?"

Sumeragi Honami looked up at the new arrival and her eyes widened in pleasure. "Suzuki Setsuka-san! Is it really you? I thought you moved abroad years ago, when we were in high school!"

Sakurazaka Setsuka laughed. "Yes, but I came back three years ago. Are these your children?"

"Yes—yes." Honami smiled proudly and then blinked. "Are you—are you two…?"

Setsuka smiled gently as she pulled the little boy close to her. "Yes, this is my son, Sakurazaka Seishirou."

The little boy was still looking at the two babies in the stroller. "I like them," he announced suddenly. "Are we going to be friends?"

The two mothers blinked in astonishment and amusement, and then they both laughed.

"Yes," Honami assured her friend's little son. "Yes, I think my babies would be very happy to have you as their friend, because you saved their lives. I think they will want to know you when they grow older, and I think that you will be a very good friend to them!" She turned to Setsuka with another, more grown-up laugh. "We must exchange numbers and addresses. It's so good to see you again. Why didn't you write to me?"

"I lost your address." Setsuka shook her head. "You know I've always been terribly untidy. I think I lost my address book somewhere in the airport the day I left, but I never went back to claim it. I don't think it's there anymore…"

They strolled off together, exchanging years worth of lost gossip, and little Seishirou trotted gamely by the side of the stroller as the two grown-ups ambled on into the Park.