"What's next, obaa-san?" asked a young boy as he looked at his grandmother gleefully.

"Few months later, Akio felt ill. One day, while I was visiting him, with a smiling face, he said to me, 'Rei-chan has come to fetch me'. Truthfully speaking, I had never seen a person who greeted death so happily, now that they can see each other again. I was happy for him, yet I was also sad to part from my friend, until I met your grandfather. Akio-kun, you always keep on asking me to tell you this story over and over again. You might have memorized it already" the grandmother said to her grandson.

"But that's my favourite, Rie-obaa-san, since I was named from Akio" Akio said, and added, "Are you in love with Akio-san?"

Rie was quite shocked with the question; nonetheless, she answered "Of course I love my grandson!"

"Obaa-san..."

Rie couldn't help but to smile with her grandson's curiosity and she said, "You're too young to be asking that, Akio-kun. But to ease your curiosity, I love your grandfather more."

"Obaa-san, that's not the answer..."

"That's right! I thought you'll meet with your friend in the train station, am I wrong?"

"But grandmother, it's still one o'clock in the afternoon, we'll meet by 2."

"Geez, Akio-kun is not aware of the time, ne?" teased Rie with her grandson "Now, I'm late with my train ride"

It was then Akio noticed the time. It was now fifteen minutes before two o'clock.

"Shimata! Let's go, obaa-san! I'll take your bag" said Akio while picking up her grandmother's bag "I'll call the taxi."

Precisely five minutes later, they were on their way to the train station.

-0-

At the train station, Rie and Akio were seated in the side while waiting for the train to arrive.

"Geez, Akio-kun, I have never rushed like this before..." said Rie tiredly.

"Sorry, Rie-obaa-san" then, he searched for his friend.

Rie asked, "So, who's that friend of yours? Is it a classmate of yours?"

Akio replied "Yes, obaa-san, we are at the same grade and class, grade six class B at Hakusen Academy. It's his birthday today and his brother will arrive from a trip from Kyushu."

"Is that the school with that they called Special A, those seven students which topped the whole school?"

"Yeah. My friend's brother is one of them. Oh, there he is. Sui!"

Akio waved at a boy the same age as him, and in respond, the boy with grayish brown hair and ochre eyes approached them.

While the boy approached them, Rie thought, 'He's like a small version of Akio-san.'

"Geez, Akio, next time, be time-conscious."

"Ahaha! Sorry. By the way, Obaa-san, this is my friend, Sui Takishima. Sui, my grandmother" said Akio as he introduced the two.

"Please to meet you, obaa-san!"

"So am I, Sui-kun. Happy birthday!"

"Thanks" Sui then noticed the bag at Rie's side. "Are you two going home in the province?"

"Only me. Akio-kun is staying here for a while."

The three continued to chat, and then a train, which came from Kyushu, arrived.

"Ahh! Nii-chan is here! Let's go, Akio!" then, in the matter of seconds, the two ran towards the opened doors of the said train.

Rie smiled with her grandson and his friend's enthusiasm, and she picked up her bag and slowly went to their side while waiting for the arrival of Sui's brother. Instead, they were greeted by a female voice not far from where they were standing.

"Sui! You're here already!"

As Rie glanced to the direction of the voice, she saw a beautiful teen-aged girl about sixteen years of age, with a long black hair and big, dark blue eyes.

'She looks familiar...' Rie thought.

Sui then answered, "Of course I'm here to fetch my brother, stupid woman! How dare you kidnap him! You even made him ride on the train. If anything happened to Nii-chan, I swear that you'll be sorry!"

The girl smiled at Sui, and said cheerfully, "It's not my fault! He was the one who followed me. Besides, happy birthday, Sui! You're so cute when you miss your brother!"

"What are you thinking, stupid woman!"

"Welcome back, Hikari-onee-chan!" chirped Akio.

"Oh, Akio-kun, you're here too! Is this your grandmother?"

"Hai! Rie-obaa-san, this is Hikari Hanazono. She's also part of S.A."

"Nice to meet you, obaa-san."

"The pleasure is mine, Hikari-chan."

"Where's nii-chan, stupid woman?"

"What did you call her, Sui?"

They were all surprised when they heard another male voice near them, more shocked when they saw a teen-aged boy the same age as Hikari's, who was surrounded with a dark aura.

"Eh... nii-chan, welcome back..." Sui said nervously.

"Takishima, calm down. Sui just misses you a lot." Hikari said.

"I'm not!" Sui said while blushing.

Instead, the dark aura surrounding the boy settled, and, now surrounded with a more pleasant aura, the boy said, "Is that so, Sui? Then how's my younger brother doing?"

"Eh? Why you always listen to her?"

"It's natural for the boy to listen to his girlfriend, right, Hikari?" he said while looking at Hikari and smirked.

"What are you talking about, stupid Takishima?"

"Don't call her stupid, stupid woman!"

"She can call me whatever she liked, right, Nii-san?"

"Don't call me that!"

Yet, Rie wasn't really paying attention to their conversation. Instead, she stared at the young man with a grayish brown hair and ochre eyes, the same as his younger brother, and the same as the man she met years ago.

"Akio..." Rie whispered.

"What's wrong, obaa-san? I'm here. That's Kei Takishima, Sui's brother. Also the top of the S.A. Hikari-onee-chan's the second."

Rie then woke up from her reverie as Kei bowed to her and said, "I'm Kei Takishima. Thank you for taking care of my brother."

"Nice to meet you too. Akio, it's time for me to go. Your mother will come and fetch you after the party. Stay out of trouble, 'kay?"

"I will, obaa-san."

"Sa, minna, please take care of my grandson." And Rie waved goodbye to them. She heard them saying,

"Have a safe trip, obaa-san!"

"We'll take care of Akio-kun!"

"Take care!"

She glanced back and she saw the remaining four waved goodbye.

Sadly, the train started to move when she waved back at them, and she saw them looking smaller as the train advanced, until the train left at the station.

-0-

It was around ten minutes before five when Rie arrived at the province. From the moment she stepped out from the train, the first thing that came to her mind was to visit the flower shop, the place where she first met Akio. As she arrived at the flower shop, she noticed little changes to it, yet it was still the same for her.

The shopkeeper greeted her, "Welcome back, Rie-san."

"You've kept this shop very well, as expected from you." Rie said.

"Well, I promised father to take care of the shop before he died 5 years ago. Thanks for the compliment, Rie-san! Are you buying the same bouquet?"

"Yes, please."

In no time, a bouquet of red and white roses and lilies with some bluebells was placed in front of her, as if it was specially prepared for her.

Rie stared at the bouquet, remembering her grandson's question

"Are you in love with Akio-san?"

Her cheeks were pink as she remembered her grandson's question. Yes, the moment she first saw him, at the same place where she was standing, the same place where Akio was standing when she saw him, she fell in love at first sight with him. The days that she spent with him grew; her love for him also grew, yet she knew that Akio can never love her the same way she did, for his heart only belonged to Reika.

"Rie-san, is there something wrong with the flowers?" the shopkeeper said.

"Uhh... no, they're beautiful. Sorry for spacing out. I shall take my leave now."

"Come back soon!"

-0-

It was already sunset. Rie walked along the cemetery, yet the tomb that she was visiting wasn't in the cemetery itself. She continued to walk, until beyond the graves she saw a large tree half kilometres away. She headed towards it, and she saw underneath the shade of the tree was a single tombstone, the same tombstone where she and Akio used to visit forty years ago. However, the words that were engraved in the tomb were different from before; it was now read "In memory of Reika and Akio Maeda".

Rie as sat up in front of the grave, she placed the bouquet near the tomb, and her bag beside her, and said; "Today's such a special day, for you two, ne? Happy anniversary, you two."

She, then, took out the thing which she had treasured for the past forty years. It was the same golden locket which looked like a pocket watch from the outside. She opened it and it revealed the same miniature painting of Akio and Reika.

Rie said, "Ne, did you know? Before I came home here, I met two youngsters bearing the same faces as you two, who appear to be lovers. All these years, I never thought about reincarnation, yet it seems that fate has found a way for you to be together again."

Then she closed the locket, and placed it in the tomb and said,

"To be able to see each other again... to be able to love each other again..."

"...for the second time around..."

_End_

Thus concludes the story... and thus the title of the story. At least, for now, I can start with my new fanfic! It is a Maid-sama fanfic and the title will be ...

Oops! That'll be a secret for now... *smile*

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those people who reviewed and added my two one-shots as their favorite story, namely "Beautiful Girl" (SA fanfic) and "The Sole Reason" (Maid-sama fanfic). Well... happy reading!