Roses always grew in Kireina's garden; no matter the season or the weather, there would constantly be at least one to lend its colour - normally blood red or pure white, but occasionally otherwise.  The sapphire blue rose that was ensconced by her door definitely fell into the 'otherwise' category.  Kalei laughed softly as she caught Hikari gazing with raised eyebrows at the peculiar plant.

"Kireina has a very green thumb," she informed them with a smile as she pressed the doorbell.  Kazuya simply blinked before ignoring the blue rose.

/After finding out that you're descended from a koorime, I suppose a blue rose isn't much to be excited about. Although he did seem impressed by my light globe.../

"So, who exactly is this Kireina anyway?" he demanded loudly; Kalei hushed him swiftly.

"She works for Reikai investigating any problems that might come up."

"The spiritual world?' Hikari inquired softly.

"Does that mean she hunts down slimy ghosts and foul smelling monsters and sucks them into ectoplasmic vacuum cleaner containment units?" Kazuya wanted to know eagerly.  Kalei stared at him; Hikari shrugged.

"He watches too much late-night TriD," she explained to the youkai, who raised one eyebrow quizzically.

"Sort of," she told Kazuya in reply.  "Not normally that messy, though.  At least, not on the good days.  The pay's not exactly great, either," she muttered under her breath.  "Anyway, could you please keep your voices down while we're here?  Kireina's father is quite elderly, and I don't want to startle him unduly."

Both Kuwabaras nodded, recent family experience having already initiated them into the manner in which to act around failing elders.  Kalei sighed as she gave up on waiting for Kireina and unlocked the door, ushering both of her charges inside.  The house was still and silent, the windows shut, the curtains closed.  The fragrance of roses was the only hint of life to be found.

"Should we be in here if she's not at home?" Kazuya whispered uneasily into the gloom.

"She won't be far away," Kalei assured him.  "She doesn't like leaving him alone too long.  Wait here," she instructed, directing them into a sitting room and activating the lighting system.  "I'll just be a minute."

Leaving them alone together, Kazuya looking somewhat awkward, she made her way to the back room of the house.  Kireina had added it on several years before when it became obvious that her father was starting to have difficulties in managing the stairs up to his original room.  It had been a great blow to him to have to move from the place that held so many memories for him, a blow that Kireina had tried to soften by creating this new room overlooking his beloved roses.

/It will take much more than that to console him now,/ Kalei thought sadly.  /I doubt they're much more than a blur to him now, but I hope that their scent can comfort him a little.../

She opened the door quietly to check to see if he was awake.  /No sense in disturbing him unnecessarily./  He was half-lying, half-sitting on the bed, propped up by a myriad of pillows; his face was turned towards her with eyes closed as though in slumber.  He shifted slightly as she watched, a small frown forming as his eyes fluttered open.  The emerald green eyes of his youth now glazed by opaque film, he gazed more towards the door than towards her.

"Kurama, it's me," she said quietly.  "Kalei."

"Ah," he sighed, closing his eyes once more and reaching out with one unsteady hand.  She moved forward, gently clasping it in her own.  "Don't ever grow old," he advised in careful speech, a rueful smile playing around his lips.  "I'm more helpless than a baby.  They, at least, can scream."

She brushed her fingers through his sparse white hair, stroking softly, comforting wordlessly.

"Are the black ones ready yet?" he asked, suddenly opening his eyes, his voice a little firmer.

"No, not yet," Kalei replied, concealing her confusion.

Kurama sighed, sinking back into the pillows.  "Hiei will want to see them when they bloom..."

/Of course, the roses./  She bit her lip at the mention of the jaganshi's name.

Kurama's mumbling slowly trailed off into silence.  Kalei remained by his side for a few more minutes before carefully releasing his hand and turning to leave.

"Is it time yet, Botan?"

The hoarse question stopped her in her tracks.  "No," she repeated softly, eyes closed against the threat of tears.  "Not yet."

A sigh stirred the air behind her.

"Sleep well, Kurama."  She opened her eyes to gaze directly into a pair of deep blue pools of sorrow that mirrored her own eyes.  Kireina stood aside to let her pass, then shut the door quietly behind them both.

"He was asking for Yusuke and Keiko yesterday," Kireina stated.  "He thought I was Shiori the day before that."

"He's lived a long life for a human."

"Indeed.  Perhaps too long."

"Perhaps."

Kireina lead the way back to the sitting room, where the Kuwabaras were waiting.  Kalei, confronted with a view of the other woman's flame-red hair found herself reminiscing.

/He was so vibrant back then.  They all were.../  She tugged at a lock of her own sky-blue hair, twirling it around two fingers.  /Now Kuwabara's gone, and Kurama will soon join him.  There are times when I hate having human friends./

She frowned.  "What about Hiei?"

Kireina shrugged, the few lines creasing her face deepening as her expression tightened.  "He still won't come near."  The clipped tones warned Kalei against pursuing the matter further.

/Unfortunately, Hiei is part of the reason I'm here...  How can I be delicate about this?/

Introducing Hikari and Kazuya to Kireina - or rather, reintroducing them as Kireina had met them both when they were very young - provided momentary distraction from thoughts of the fire demon.  Hikari's dark eyes were lit with hope as she greeted the older woman in her quiet voice.  Kazuya's gaze showed a somewhat different form of appreciation.  Kalei smiled, throwing her arm around the boy's neck and drawing his head down toward her mouth.

"She's old enough to be your grandmother, you know," she whispered in his ear.  His eyes flickered towards her, startled.

"No way!"  Kalei simply laughed, while Kireina mock-scowled at her.

"Now you've gone and given it away.  How am I ever supposed to get a date with a cute guy when you keep telling them how old I am?  Some mother you are!"

Kalei's laughter was not at all quashed by her daughter's light-hearted complaints - especially as Kazuya's expression wavered between pride at being flattered by a beautiful woman and embarrassment that she was several times his age.

"Mother?" he managed, after several attempts, eyes darting between the two.

"It's a long story," Kalei shrugged.  "Nothing you need to know about."  Kazuya's face contradicted that statement, but he wasn't permitted the opportunity to inquire further.

"You were at Great-Grandfather's funeral," Hikari observed quietly; Kireina nodded soberly, the air becoming somber once more.

"Yukina's disappeared," Kalei informed Kireina, deciding at last to take the direct approach.  "The children are concerned for her.  Would it be possible for you to find out if she's okay?"

Kireina's expression was slightly troubled.  "Koenma just called for me to come in," she said worriedly.  "It might well be about Yukina.  If not, I'll definitely take some time to look into the matter."

"Thanks, Pretty."

"Mama!" Kalei laughed once more at her daughter's indignant chastisement for using her childhood nickname, but quieted as Kireina's eyes flickered in the direction of the back room.

"Don't worry; I'll stay with him," Kalei assured her, receiving a small smile of gratitude in reply.

"Then I'd better get going..."

"Hey!  What about us?" Kazuya complained.  "We want to go with you!"

"Too bad."  Kalei grasped the tall boy firmly by his upper arms and steered him out the door, Hikari following behind more obediently.  "The two of you are going home to your parents, before they think the two of you are missing as well!"

Kazuya protested loudly as she shut the door in his face.  Kalei opened it again just long enough to reprimand him, warning him against disturbing an old man, before promptly closing it again.

"You really do have a way with people," Kireina commented sardonically.

"Would you rather they tried following you to Reikai?  Or to Makai, even?"

Kireina shrugged.  "I'm surprised their parents haven't tagged them both."

"They did," her mother informed her, a half-smile on her lips.  "Hikari broke the tag code a dozen or so times before they gave up."

"How precocious."

"Indeed."  Kalei hesitated for a moment before pursing her final concern.  "And Hiei?"

Kireina's blue eyes were steady in their gaze.  "I'll see."  She bid her mother farewell, leaving her to tend her ailing father.  Yet it was not Kurama's worn countenance that worried away at the edges of her mind, but a pair of dark eyes deep enough to drown in...

It's something I can't explain, although I've tried a few times, when I thought it was worth the effort.  It often isn't, but the rare times when it is somehow compensate for the others, permitting me the precious sensation of being understood.

People generally have a hard time attempting to comprehend my deeds, my manner, my ways - even I did at first.  Teenagers often feel that they are misunderstood, myself especially - but when the glimmerings of understanding dawned I grossly twisted them to light the path I wished for and not that upon which I actually trod.  As so many before me, I fell into the trap of believing that I knew more than anyone else the best course of action to take, with the gift the gods gave to me as my justification.

I should have known better than to assume such value in the eyes of the gods.  I am a mortal, lacking the all-encompassing vision the gods are said to possess.  I see only a fraction of what they perceive, and comprehend even less.  It was no simple 'gift' which awoke in me during my youth, though naive as I was, that was how I accepted it, as no more than my due.

In my family such gifts bore legendary status.  As a child I had dreamed of such abilities being at my beck and call.  Great-Grandfather and his sister were both suspected of being privileged with such powers; but Kuwabara Shizuru died before I was born, and while her brother lived, my own powers remained mostly dormant.

It's to my regret that they didn't stay that way forever; or rather, I regret that I didn't know enough about them to act in such a way as to preserve those I loved, to protect those I love.

But then, this isn't a fairy tale.