KaeMaki Week 2018

Someone take me Home

"You can't turn your back on us, Maki. We're family."

—

Family. It was a foreign concept to Maki. After all, she grew up alone. Well, not exactly. She grew up with many other children like her, but none of them ever wanted to go near her. They were too afraid. She was an outcast. Even the people who ran the orphanage were afraid of her. That's how Maki's life had always been, and she didn't know it any other way.

Maki didn't know who her parents were. When they abandoned her, they left nothing. Nothing to identify her by but a name. They tried to find her parents, but there was no luck. Maki put that down to her last name more than likely being different to theirs. Maki Harukawa sounds too similar to the food to be true.

Maki ran away from the orphanage at the young age of 14. She had nothing there, and nobody to miss her when she was gone. She disappeared in the dead of night, and they never managed to track her down. Maki spent the next few years of her life in and out of cities across Japan. She was never in one place for long. She would do odd jobs for people to earn money. No matter the job, Maki would do it. That's how she got into her current line of work. It started off so simple, like "Hey kid you're small can you pick that guys pocket for me?" But it soon escalated to "Hey kid you're small, think you can sneak up on that guy over there and take him out?" And every time, Maki obliged.

—

When Maki first showed up at the Academy, she didn't expect to talk to anyone. She wanted nothing to do with her classmates. They were all too happy for her liking. They were too normal. So when the perky blonde in their class tried to talk to her, Maki didn't think it would turn into anything more than that. Trying. Every time she tried, Maki would shoot her down or just straight up ignore her, but that damn blonde carried on. Maki quickly came to learn a lot about her. Her name was Kaede, and she was a pianist. She had a twin sister, and her parents worked in marketing. In return, the only think Kaede learnt about Maki was her name, yet that was somehow good enough for her.

—

On one particular day, however, Kaede turned up outside Maki's door.

"...Can I help you, Akamatsu-San?"

"I've told you like a hundred times! Call me Kaede, jeez..."

Maki sighed, "Fine. Can I help you, Kaede-San?"

"You're no fun, Maki-Chan...Anyway! Momota-Kun and Saihara-Kun wanted to know why you haven't been to training lately. They're worried about you, so I offered to come visit!"

"Why do you care? Why do they care? It's not like we're friends or anything like that."

"Well, I consider us friends so therefore I do care about you!"

"I..." Maki really wasn't feeling up to this social interaction today. "Just tell them I'm not feeling well and that I'll be there Friday. I have other matters to attend to."

"...Fine. I'll tell them that. Just...Take care of yourself, okay? You have my number, right? If you ever need anyone, give me a call."

Sure, Maki had Kaede's number. It was one of the only number she had, beside that idiot Momota's. She never messaged or called either of them, even if the other party made the first move. Still, it was a nice gesture.

"Mhm... Thank you, Kaede-San."

"Don't mention it. After all, what are friends for? Well, I'll see you around!" And with that, Kaede dashed off out of the dormitories. What an odd girl.

—

Months went by in a flash, and it was soon the Christmas break. Many students were getting ready to go home for the holidays, but not Maki. After all, where would she even go? Over the past months, Maki had opened up a little and had started talking to her classmates a little more. She was now on average talking to at least three people a day, with one of them always being Kaede. Kaede had
eventually managed to get past Maki's self-built walls and actually got the assassin to open up to her, and the two had shared many nights just talking about how they felt. Kaede had become Maki's best friend, and the closest thing she'd ever had to feeling safe with someone. Kaede knew of her past, and everytime Maki had spoken about Kaede would always listen and be there for her if she needed it. The blonde always knew the right thing to say when Maki needed to hear it most. The only thing Maki kept a secret was her true talent. She was afraid she'd scare Kaede off, and she wasn't going to lose the best person in her life.