They started visiting her grave on the weekends. It was an hour drive to the graveyard, so there wasn't any other good time to go. Kuwabara wasn't sure why they went so often. It wasn't like she was there. They couldn't see her, or talk to her, so what was the point?
Kuwabara had a hard time finding a point in anything these days.
Mr. Kuwabara always stared intently at her gravestone whenever they went. He often cried as well, but he never let his attention waver from the stone. "What are you doing?" Kuwabara asked one day, confused about his father's concentration.
His dad looked down at him and smiled, just a little. "I'm talking to her."
"But Mom isn't here," Kuwabara said.
"True," his dad said, "but I think her spirit is watching us still, making sure we're okay."
Kuwabara bit his lip. "What do you say to her?"
Mr. Kuwabara placed a hand on his and Shizuru's shoulders. "I promise her I'll try to take care of you two the way she'd want me to do."
A promise… Kuwabara looked at her gravestone, considering. Could he make her a promise that would make her happy too?
"You'll make the best knight there ever was, love."
Determined, Kuwabara stepped forward and knelt in front of her gravestone. Placing his hands on it, Kuwabara said, "I will know only valor. My heart will know only virtue. My blade will defend the helpless. My might will uphold the weak. My word will speak only truth. My wrath will undo the wicked."
He looked back at his dad. "Do you think she'll like that?"
"Yeah," he said in that rough voice Kuwabara had learned meant he was fighting tears. "Yeah, I think she will."
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AN: I really want an illustration of this moment, but know I could never do it justice. If any of you happen to be artists, I would love you forever and a day and then some if you'd draw this for me!