Forget-Me-Not

Here lies Tenjo Kaito

Beloved brother, son, friend and dragon tamer

You shall be dearly missed

I chuckled bitterly at 'dragon tamer', it sounded like something Misael added. Misael...he was the reason that Kaito had died! If he didn't keep brutally attacking him, then Orbital wouldn't have had to use most of his power to protect him and Kaito would still be...alive. Tears slowly streamed down my face and hit the freshly dug earth.

No, I couldn't blame Misael. It wasn't his fault, if anything Don Thousand was to blame and he was long gone. Kaito was probably Misael's first friend, by clashing several times in their duels, they came to know and respect each other. Yuma told me that Misael took the news the hardest because he forced Vector to duel him and used the card that Kaito lost his life to ensure that we could beat the Barians.

It had been two weeks since Kaito had d...di...I still couldn't bring myself to say it, it all felt surreal and nightmare-ish. There was so many things I wanted to say to Kaito, so many things I wanted to do with him. Now, those words hung dead in the air and our future together was over before it had began. What hurts the most is that we ended on such bad terms. Before I lost my duel against Merag and got sacrificed to the Barian World, we had a little disagreement that looking back on now seemed rather petty but at the time it didn't feel like it.

I thought that after this war was over, we would make up before arguing again. I guess it's true what they say, treat everyday as if it's your last. With a sigh, I bent down by Kaito's grave (getting my dress muddy in the process but I didn't care) and laid down the bouquet of forget-me-nots that I held in my hand. I remember Kaito once said that he liked Forget-Me-Nots, not because of how the smelt or looked but what they represented.

After doing extensive research, I discovered that forget-me-nots have many meanings but the two most common ones are: remembrance and true love. To this day, I still don't know what this particular flower means to Kaito. I can only assume that he was talking about the former meaning because Kaito isn't the most romantic person in the world. On the other hand, who knows, maybe he did believe in true love. That's another conversation that will never happen.

"I brought you a gift Kaito," I whispered. "Forget-Me-Nots. I remember that you once said that these are your favourite flowers, I hope you like them."

I pulled off one of my gloves and used my now bare hand to trace the white marble headstone.

"Did you know that one of the most popular legends regarding how forget-me-nots got their name was about this knight who was in love with this lady? He knew that she loved these specific blue flowers that were hard to obtain, yet he still wanted to give them to her as proof of his love except he ended up drowning in this river. Before he drowned, he threw the flowers at his beloved and told her to 'forget-me-not'. Even though the knight died, he was probably comforted by knowing that his beloved would never forget him." I said.

That was when I noticed that there was a small white statue, resting on top of the headstone. I couldn't help but crack a smile. It was Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, his favorite monster. I wondered who was responsible for it, the obvious candidates were: Dr. Faker, Misael or maybe even Haruto. They all knew how much that card meant to him, it was only right that it remained with it's master.

For some peculiar reason, I felt comforted by the idea of Photon Dragon guarding over Kaito, as well as making sure that he was never alone. I stared at the statue until my vision became obscured by the tears in my eyes, I quickly wiped them with the back of my hand.

"Don't you dare cry," I cursed at myself. "If Kaito saw this, he would probably say that there are other ways for me to waste the water in my body then by crying."

I slowly moved my hand away and slid my glove back on, but not before I noticed the small curved scar in the palm of my hand from when I had cut it on that rose thorn. I looked at it for a few seconds and remembered how I obtained it.

Flashback

It was the third day of the World Duel Carnival and I still needed one more Heart Piece to enter the finals. However I wasn't in a rush because I wanted to stop and smell the roses...literally.

I spotted a rose bush next to this wooden bench, so I pulled off one of my elbow length gloves and plucked the reddest rose I could find. I admired its petals before I stroked them with my index finger, it had a nice velvety feel. I closed my eyes and deeply inhaled its scent.

"Do you know how ridiculous you look right now?" A low pitched voice commented.

My eyes snapped open, I could see Kaito standing a few feet away from me with his usual stoic expression on his face. I almost dropped the rose because before I felt contempt but now I felt embarrassed. Although instead of dropping it, I subconsciously held it tighter.

"I don't want a fight Kaito, can't we forget about this feud for a few minutes? My family doesn't have anything against you personally, but if you continue to fight for Dr. Faker then you have brought this upon yourself." I sighed.

Although that might have been the wrong choice of words because yesterday V might have...kidnapped, his little brother. From my own observations, it is clear that Kaito adores Haruto and would do anything for him.

Kaito narrowed his cold grey eyes, "Get this into your head. I do not fight for Dr. Faker, I fight for Haruto because whatever Faker does is no concern of mine. You got that?"

On that note, he turned away before I could answer that statement. However before he could walk away, I blurted out the first thing that popped into my head.

"What's your favorite flower?"

Kaito briefly stopped, I thought he was going to respond with a harsh comeback but he didn't. I don't know why he gave me an answer, maybe it was because I caught him offguard or maybe it's easier to answer small, trivial questions.

"...Forget-Me-Nots." He murmured softly. It was so soft that I almost didn't hear him at first.

"I like forget-me-nots as well, they are such a prett-"

"Forget-Me-Nots mean more to me than just simply being 'pretty'." Kaito left on that note, leaving me puzzled by that riddle.

It wasn't until after he left that I realised there was a steady stream of blood flowing down to my elbow. I realised that I had squeezed the rose so tightly, it's thorns had dug into my palm.

I pulled my glove back on, covering the scar once again but the memory was still fresh in my mind. Suddenly, a feeling of hope pumped in my bosom. Even though Kaito was gone, I would always have the memories that we made together and instead of focusing on what we never got to do, I should be focusing on everything we did together in the brief time we knew each other.

It was in that moment, I finally understood why Kaito's favorite flower was forget-me-not. After all, it was the flower of remembrance. I would always remember Kaito and the impact he had on everybody's life. His death was a lot of things, but it wasn't meaningless.

He died protecting Earth from the Barians. He died to let us all live in peace.

He died because he knew he had to.

I rose to my feet, but not before I brought my fingers to my lips and pressed them to the headstone. I managed to muster a small smile.

"Good-night sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest." I quoted as I walked away in silence, regaining a small feeling of peace for the first time since Kaito's departure.