Guardian of the Roses

"But time should wait, for until today,

For who we are, we still can't say"

The sun rose, but the students of Ryoho and Kaihoko had long been awake. Fresh spring air was a relief to everyone, for it meant that the boredom of the long winter would subside. It meant hard work again, though, and it was not exactly good news for Hikowichi.

Akira stopped walking when he noticed Hikowichi, who is supposed to be marching beside him, is missing. He looked back him and saw the boy struggling to keep his sack on his shoulder. He gave an amused smile, and stepped out of the line to help Hikowichi. He got his own sack off and properly placed Hikowichi's sack.

"Thanks, Akira-sempai." Hikowichi grunted as he gained his (and the sack's) balance. Akira nodded and got his own sack. He heaved it up and placed it properly in his own shoulder in one motion.

Hikowichi stood in awe. "Wow, sempai, how can you do that?" He asked. Akira smiled goofily. "I don't know, but it must be a part of God's many given gifts of mine. When he spread the good assets on the mankind, he always saw me." Akira laughed at his own joke.

Hikowichi looked at Akira with a mocked up disbelief in his face. "You're so VAIN, Akira-sempai!" Akira laughed even more, that Hikowichi had to laugh. It earned them weird looks from their schoolmates and their teachers.

Moichi Taoka was close enough to hear their conversation, and Moichi enough to get annoyed. He approached the two laughing boys. "What do you two think you're doing?" His voice was very irritated, and so is his face. Their school mates, who were already pretty far enough, stopped for a while and looked at them. Some were trying to suppress a laugh. Moichi saw this and glared at them, waving his hand to motion them to continue their way.

Hikowichi bit his lower lip. He never wanted being scolded by Taoka-sensei, for he was really scary. But Akira just smiled sheepishly. It was a common knowledge to the Ryoho boys that Akira never really got scared with Taoka. That did not mean it was explained, though.

"We're sorry, Taoka-sensei. Would you mind if we join the others now?" Akira simply asked.

Taoka can't help but feel annoyed. 'How come that no matter what he does, I can never get angry with him?' Taoka asked himself. He can still feel an artery in his forehead throbbing when he felt wet mud being splattered on his exposed lower legs.

He turned and saw a brown dog digging on mud behind him.

Moichi Taoka burst, again.

0o0o0

The ocean's waves were calm that day. There are few clouds on the sky, too. It will not rain. It was the perfect day for fishing.

There were six boats on the sea. Two stood out from them. On one boat were the students with the highest positions. There was Maki, standing on the boat. He was telling Akagi where to row. Meanwhile, Mitsui was preparing the net.

The other boat was a unique boat. The students in a boat are supposed to be of the same age. However, Anzai and Takatoh decided to place Kogure together with two of the youngest ones. It was for the good, because Kogure is a very well known peacemaker. Placing Sakuragi, Rukawa, and Kiyota in one boat was suicide, too. Kogure was standing, telling Sakuragi where to row. As usual, Sakuragi was rowing, and Rukawa is the one who is throwing the net.

And so, Sakuragi fumed.

"Why is it that Rukawa the one working with the net again?" He asked Kogure. Kogure gave a small smile. "But Sakuragi, the last time you tried handling the net, we ended up catching only one bucket."

"That is not my fault! You were the one giving the direction! You did not see where the fishes are!" Sakuragi retorted. Kogure sweat dropped. It had been last season since that happened, but Sakuragi had not forgotten at all. He was about to give a kind reply, yet again, when the other occupant spoke.

"Do'aho."

Such a simple word can create so much havoc, and Kaihoko students know that. For, at that very moment, Sakuragi stood in the boat. It made their boat rock with the waves. "What did you say, you stupid fox?" Rukawa sighed and threw the net again. He ignored Sakuragi, which made the latter boil with anger more. "You stupid fox, what did you say, huh? I am not a do'aho! I am a GENIUS!"

Kogure realized the danger of falling into the sea so far away from the shore. It was terror for him, for he cannot swim. "Sakuragi-kun, calm down. For the meantime, let's do this together so we can catch a lot of fishes, ne?" Kogure suggested meekly. This did not calm Sakuragi down, however. "No, I want to do the nets!"

"Do the work assigned to you, Sakuragi Hanamichi!" A shout from a nearby boat stopped Sakuragi. Sakuragi fumed a little, but decided to settle down and row the boat. In the meantime, Rukawa pulled the net up with Kogure's help.

"Wow, that's a lot of fishes!" Mitsui shouted. He saw the net all the way from the other boat. "We're catching a lot of fishes today." Maki added. "The sea is so abundant with fishes." Akagi added. The three were in the same boat, not very far from Kogure's boat. "Aah… I noticed that, too. Maybe we can invite the others here. They won't catch a lot if they fish too near the shore." Kogure suggested.

Akagi was surprised. He turned to see the others. Kogure was right. They are too near the shore. "Hey, what are you guys thinking? Get away from the shore!" Akagi shouted. The others followed, although they obviously did not want to go far the shore. Akagi noticed it.

"What? Are you guys trying to glue your boats to the shore? You won't catch anything if you're too near the shore!" Akagi shouted. The others trembled.

Mitsui sniggered. He turned to the direction of Miyagi's boat. "Hey, shorty! Are you scared of something?" Miyagi's face reddened. "Of course not!" Mitsui continued teasing him. "Oh, yeah? Then why are you trying to get away from the center of the sea? Afraid the violet roses might EAT you?"

"No, of course not!" Miyagi blushed more, perhaps of embarrassment, or maybe of anger. "I did not even think about that! Maybe YOU were thinking of that all night, huh?" With that statement, Mitsui's face reddened too. "No, of course not!"

Maki laughed. "Oh, c'mon! You were SCARED of the story?" Almost everyone in the school shouted in unison. "OF COURSE NOT!"

Akagi felt an artery throb in his forehead. "Is that the reason why you were staying near the shore?" Akagi's face was dark and threatening. Nobody dared answer. Everybody continued fishing near the shore. "Calm down, Akagi." Kogure reminded. Soon, to everyone's relief, Akagi sat down and rowed the boat to another place.

0o0o0

After a long morning of fishing, students of Kaihoko went for lunch. It was a lunch of pure seafood. After lunch, Mitsui had a 'brilliant' idea. "Why don't we walk around?" He asked out of the sudden. Most of his schoolmates weren't as excited as he is, though. "Nah." Akagi just responded. Mitsui turned to Kogure. "That'd be nice, Mitsui."

Sakuragi joined in. "I want to join, too." He said. Miyagi butted in. "Me too." Soon, Mitsui, Maki, Kogure, Kiyota, Jin, Sakuragi and Miyagi got ready for a walk in the shore. Then, Mitsui had another wonderful idea.

"Say, what if we drag the fox with us?" He asked. Everyone turned to him, silent. Sakuragi broke the silence. "Great idea, Micchy!" And so, the next scene involved a foxy boy being dragged out of the big futon.

"Leave me alone, do'aho!" He glared at the red-haired dragging him. "No, I won't!" He said. Kogure sat in the futon, next to the foxy boy who was gripping so hard at the futon's other end. "This is good for you, Rukawa-kun. You see, you do nothing in the afternoon except sleeping! And last winter, it seemed like you hibernated."

Miyagi sniggered at Kogure's statement. Rukawa saw this and shot him a glare. This distracted him, and gave Sakuragi the opportunity to drag Rukawa out of the futon. Rukawa gave out some curses. He was about to get back when someone placed an arm on his shoulder. It was Mitsui. "So, let's get out. It's a nice day today."

And so, Mitsui, Maki, Kogure, Kiyota, Jin, Sakuragi and Miyagi went out of the hut together with Rukawa.

"Good afternoon, guys. The sun is nice today, ne?" A voice greeted them right after they stepped out. There, in front of them, were a group of students from Ryoho school for farming – Fujima, Sendoh, Hanagata, Koshino, Hikowichi, and Fukuda.

Mitsui smirked. "Aren't you guys supposed to be in the fields today?" Hikowichi answered. "Taoka-sensei gave us a break and let us stroll here."

Kogure smiled. "Aah… well then, can we stroll with you guys?" He asked. Fujima smiled.

And so, they walked, until the sunset and the moon rose.

"Winter was cold the last time, ne?" Akira asked. Hanamichi laughed. "Of course, but it was nothing for me! This genius can handle anything that comes his way!" A lot of laughter emerged. "Hah? You? Who screamed last night?" Mitsui teased. "Why you…!"

While everyone else was busy talking while walking, Rukawa felt a tingly sensation in his fingers. He looked down, and saw little dust lights of gold. He tried rubbing them off, but of no avail.

"Anyway, do you guys know the legend of the violet roses?" Maki asked. "Yes, we do. In fact, we were talking about that last night. Right, Koshino?" Fujima answered. He gave a meaningful look to Koshino. Everybody from Ryoho laughed. Koshino can only mutter some curses while nodding.

"That legend is interesting, eh?" Akira said. "Do you guys see any violet roses at the sea?" He asked. Mitsui laughed. "No. That story is weird."

While Mitsui was talking, Akira felt something tingling his hands. He looked down, and he saw little dust lights of gold. It was leading somewhere. He followed the gold lights with his eyes, and saw someone rubbing his hand. He looked up and saw none other than Rukawa Kaede.

"That story is NOT true!" Sakuragi argues. However, he has no one to argue with. "I agree." Fujima said. "It's just so fun to laugh at someone who's afraid of the story!" He added with a laugh. Everybody agreed by laughing with him.

Only four people did not. Sakuragi turned red and Koshino gave Fujima a glare. "But come on! Last night was a blue moon. Even tonight it's a blue moon… and that is very rare!" Sakuragi reasoned out. Fujima laughed even harder. "Why, the great Sakuragi got afraid of the blue moon that turns the guards' eyes into gold?" Everybody laughed even harder. Koshino even laughed. But of course, Sakuragi only blushed harder. "Teme!"

Only two people were not laughing. They were left far behind by the group. They looked at each other's eyes. One pair of eyes were ocean blue, while the other had golden eyes. They were chained together, possibly forever, by the golden lights.

To be continued…