Chapter 1: Messy Mornings
She sat up, her blankets half-way on the floor and half-way on the bed. Another messy morning. Embraced with sleep, she struggled to make it all the way to the bathroom. Makino Tsukushi slowly squinted at her reflection in the mirror, trying to avoid as much light as possible. She could clearly see the deep, dark bags that had taken over her young face. Last night had been a long night in the hospital, as she attempted to juggle five critical patients with only three small servings of coffee. She had noticed that her former teenage spirit and force had diminished before her eyes as she aged but 5 years. Of course, throughout those five years, there were so many worries placed on her shoulders that she stills finds it amazing that she was able finished medical school.
She sighed as she, grudgingly, performed the daily morning tasks. Brush teeth, take shower, get dressed, make breakfast: everything in order, otherwise it would slip her mind. Shuffling her feet, she made her way towards the hall and began to knock on the doors, signaling the inhabitants to rise and get ready for another "wonderful" day. Immediately, a young boy by the age of four with long dark curls taking hostage of his small head, opened the door, rubbing his nut brown eyes open.
"Mommy? Ish it time to wake up aweady," the sleepy yet excited boy had asked. Makino's medical career had been demanding so much of her lately, that she felt she had no choice but to leave her one and only precious son, Rikuto, with babysitters. However, she severely lacked trust in other people taking care of her darling child so she would leave him with her greatest best friend, Rui Hanazawa. Unfortunately, today they held the same shift so she had asked Yuuki, her other best friend, if Rikuto could stay with her, as long as Nishikado-san was not around. Yuuki, knowing about all of the concerns running through the mind of Makino, agreed to take care of him.
She bent down and brushed his curls out of his face, recognizing how little by little he was becoming more and more like his father. "Yes, Rikuto. Why don't you go get dressed while mommy wakes up your lazy uncle?" The small boy stumbled inside while his mother concentrated on a more pressing issue: waking up Rui. After Rui's grandfather deceased and problems had begun to rip apart the will of Makino, the two had agreed to depend on each other, and in a sense, become family. (Although feelings from one side would be present once in a while.)Thus, they both currently lived under the same roof, that being the grand house under the name, "Hanazawa."
Which leads to the current problem, waking up Rui, who loved spending time in-between his warm, permanently white, bed sheets. Makino had tried mostly everything to wake up Rui, these methods being violence, throwing hard objects, tickling him with feathers, and all kinds of rowdy noise. Rui, however, was fixated on sleeping, and no matter what she did, he would not budge. This time, however, she would use a greater resource, and going against what the medical books would approve of, she poured icy cold water on the sleeping face of Rui. With a rush, he sat up and began to dry off his wet, cold face, against the bed sheets. Makino, with a smile of satisfaction, announced, "breakfast is on the table ready for you. Hurry up and get ready, I still need to leave Rikuto at Yuuki's house." With a low grumble, and being fully awake, Rui walked to his bedroom's bathroom, telling Makino that her mission here had been a success and she could devote the rest of her morning to Rikuto.
When Makino walked into Rikuto's room, she found his feet stuck out from under his bed. She squatted down and gently dragged the sleeping boy from underneath, placing him on her lap. She smiled at his stubborn personality to fight his sleep and put on everything but his shoes. This trait, she was certain, he received from her. She rounded up his favorite pair of shoes and placed them on his limp feet. Playing with his curls in this treasured time, she began to see memories race through her head, as the father of the boy seized every corner of her mind. She refused to say his name and avoided everything concerning him, which was the major reason why the only television set in the entire house was placed in the room of Rui, who occasionally checked in on the news. However, avoiding the topic altogether was becoming hard, as the boy began to question if Rui was his dad, and later why he had no father. Once again, this man remained a plague to her, haunting her and never allowing her to break free from the strong hold he had on her heart, despite the hold being now more of hate.
"Makino?" Rui's head popped in through the doorway. Seeing the sleeping Rikuto on her laps made him smile as he entered the room. He picked Rikuto up and, pressing him against his chest, carried him to the breakfast table.
"He's getting a lot bigger. Soon I wont even be able to throw him up into the air like I used to," he snickered, knowing Makino had disapproved of that style of playing.
She picked up her pace so she was walking next to Rui, observing the relentless sleeper. "I feel as if your bad habits are already rubbing off on him," she sighed.
"You should see him when he eats. Where do you think he received those habits?" Rui threw her a joking glance, as her face became red hot.
"So I appreciate a good meal! There's nothing wrong with that!" Her face clearly spelling out "denial."
Rui grinned towards her remarks. "At least he's not violent like a certain some-" He stopped his words before they could completely come out, glancing back at Makino, who had stopped walking altogether. "Sorry," was his only response. She shook her head "no" as if it did not bother her at all, but the pain in her eyes was enough to let Rui know that the topic was still… rough around the edges.
After shaking Rikuto awake, eating breakfast, and departing towards the car, Makino could feel the day begin once again, hoping that this day would be more pleasurable than the previous ones. They drove up to Yuuki's small(at least compared to Rui's) house, and the two girls embraced each other since they had not spent time together in the last couple of weeks. Yuuki bent down and hugged Rikuto, saying how big he had gotten. Rikuto gave off a bright smile, proud of his ability to grow.
"Thank you, Yuuki. I know this is your day off from work as a tea master. I really appreciate this." Makino said softly, realizing how hard it was to depend so much on others, whether it be best friends or family.
"Nonsense Makino, I would be more than happy to spend my day with this cute little boy right here," and as she said this she squeezed Rikuto's cheeks, his response being a blush.
"Alright then. I have to get going." She gave Yuuki a sports bag full of Rikuto's necessities. "Don't give him too many snacks otherwise he'll be too hyper to take his 3:00 o'clock nap. He's allergic to chocolate. And, please Yuuki, don't let him watch TV. Give him coloring books, he really likes that. And in the bag there are some small cars, he loves to play with those. Also-" At this point Yuuki was laughing at how motherly her best friend could act.
"Don't worry Makino, I'll take really good care of him. Okay? Now go. There are lives out there you need to go save." With that, Makino squeezed Yuuki's hand and gave a short hug to Rukito.
"Bye, mommy!" Rukito squealed behind her, as she made her way towards the white car, waving back to him.
Leaving Rikuto with Yuuki, the friendship duo took off towards work, allowing the radio to fill the antagonizing silence in the car.