Sakura trees don't grow well when confined in shadow and cold places; they need sunlight and open spaces. He knows this, Fuuchoin Kazuki, and worries for her as she silently follows him and her brother into the infinite fortress. He would see her continue to grow and to blossom -- a noble lady in her own right -- but how can beauty grow in this confined space between discarded dream and grim reality?
He is her rightful lord, even though she wears the mantle of older sister and care-giver. It is his duty to make sure that Sakura's roots remain undisturbed and deep, so that she can grow tall and steady enough to weather the coming storms; strong enough for her family, for him, to lean on. But bringing sunlight into Mugenjou is no easy task, even for the young heir to the Fuuchoin string thechniques.
Kazuki will not be discouraged from his responsibilities however, and like a master tender he provides his precious garden with rays of light, whispers of fresh air and trickles of nourishing water. A smile here, a laughing dance there, and the odd gift presented from a lord to his lady in waiting.
One day he gifts her with a potted plant. It is a gardenia, strong and healthy and full of eager buds. The rare smile that she rewards him with nearly makes him crumble on the spot. Only propriety and a mind already made up stops him from leaning into her warmth, and embrace her like strands of choking ivy. His decision is made; he will find his way out from the shadows and prepare a place in the sun for them all.
It is his job, one that he must do alone. They will understand, Sakura and her brother, for they know him as well as he knows himself. That is why he doesn't tell them when he walks away from his steel and concrete garden, a gardener leaving his charges to fend for themselves.
It is only upon his unlooked-for return, when his best friend tries to kill him, that he realises how wrong he was. His sudden departure had plunged his trees into darkness and his absence had sown bitter wormwood. Kazuki had failed, and the thought of his treasured cherry blossom dried up and estranged pierces him as cruelly as the needles from his healer's hands.
But unlike the sakura tree, a gardenia bush grows well even when confined to a pot. Its flowers are as lush and fragrant as those of the tree, and they last far longer. While the gardener's capricious departure was mourned, his lady's strength prevailed and offered support and comfort for orphaned growths. She kept her gardenia and cared for it -- she even found a chute that would let precious rays of sunlight into the innumerable shades of her castle. In that place she nurtured Kazuki's last gift to her, and watched it grow free of poison and untouched by doubt.
And so it was that when the prodigal master was reunited with his old flock, he found the sweet scent of gardenia trailing the lady who awaited his return.