The Orca Plushie

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Little Makoto's favourite toy in the whole world was an orca plushie. He got it at the sea life centre. His parents had taken him to see the centre's killer whale exhibit and Makoto had been really impressed by the magnificent creatures. They were wonderful, so big and powerful. They didn't seem afraid of anything. One day he hoped to be a big and strong and… what was the word his father had used? Majestic! That was it! Tachibana Makoto, age 4, wanted to grow-up to be just as big and strong and majestic as the orcas he saw. But most of all, he wanted to be as unafraid as the orcas had seemed.

Because Makoto was scared right now. Scared because he had to go to school again. He hated school. So many kids, all being loud and noisy. He didn't know anyone except Haruka. Haruka was a boy who lived nearby, just up the big steps in fact. Makoto often saw Haruka when he was allowed to play with the cats outside. But Haruka never spoke to him or anyone else for that matter. Still Haruka was nice in his own way and always nodded to Makoto when Makoto smiled and waved at him. At school Haruka let Makoto sit near him and even though they didn't speak, Makoto felt more comfortable being near someone he knew somewhat.

"Mummy, can I take Ori-chan with me to school today?" Makoto asked, pointing to his orca doll.

"Why honey? Don't they have toys for you at school?" wondered his mother.

"Everybody loves the school toys so much that they are always playing with them. I don't want to fight them for it. Besides, I rather play with Ori-chan!" Makoto explained.

"Okay honey, you can take Ori-chan today," his mother said.

Makoto face lit-up with a big smile, "Thanks mom! You are the best!" Now Makoto wasn't afraid anymore. He had ori-chan to play with all day.

Makoto got to school and like always was overwhelmed by the sheer number and energy of the other children, if only because he didn't know anyone and while he would have liked to be friends with them, they already seemed to have friends of their own and Makoto didn't want to intrude. So he just cuddled Ori-chan and looked for a place to sit down. That's when he noticed Haruka.

Haruka was sitting in a corner table with a box of crayons and lots of lots of drawing paper. Even though Haruka was concentrating on his drawing, Makoto smiled at him and moved towards him. Sitting down at an empty chair next to him. Haruka looked-up when Makoto was seated and nodded faintly. Makoto was more than happy with the acknowledgement as that was more than Haruka usually gave when he was busy drawing.

The teacher soon got the kids settled and working but eventually it was time for a break. Since Makoto already had Ori-chan and Haruka already had his drawing supplies, neither bothered to try to get toys from the toy chest. Makoto wanted to look at Haruka's drawing but he was too scared to ask and didn't want to peek in-case Haruka got angry. So he tried to concentrate on Ori-chan but every now and again, he found himself looking at what Haruka was doing.

Haruka seemed to be drawing the sea and to Makoto, it seemed he was very good at drawing. Makoto wanted to tell Haruka how good he was but he was scared that he would say the wrong thing. So he thought carefully about the right thing to say and was just mustering up the courage to tell Haruka when he was distracted by one of the bigger kids in the class.

The other boy had been playing with a police car that lit-up, had a siren and everything but he said in a whining voice, "I am bored!" he kicked the car and looked around for something new. That's when he saw Makoto's orca plushie, "Where did you get that?" the boy demanded, "I have never seen that before."

"It's mine," said Makoto, "I bought it from home."

"Well don't hog it!" said the other boy, "Share!"

"But… but I don't want to! It's mine!" protested Makoto. Makoto didn't mind sharing his toys but he didn't even know this boy and he didn't like how the boy was demanding he share. Plus Ori-chan was special! Makoto wasn't going to give Ori-chan to just anybody! Especially a person who kicked their toys!

"Come on," said the boy, going to grab the toy, "I just want to play with it a little."

"No!" protested Makoto, stumbling out of his chair, bumping into Haruka who gave both Makoto and the other boy an assessing stare but said nothing. Makoto started backing away from the boy, "You can't have Ori-chan!"

"Ori-chan? That's a silly name! You don't even know how to name your toys properly!" the boy declared, "So come on! Let me have a look, I might even be able to give it a proper name."

"I like Ori-chan! Ori-chan doesn't need a new name!" said Makoto, backing-up until his back hit the wall.

Having cornered Makoto, the bigger boy was able to grab hold of the orca plushies and pull it out of Makoto's grasp, since Makoto was a lot smaller and weaker than the other boy, "Give it back!" cried Makoto as he lunged for it but the boy simply held the toy over his head, away from Makoto's grasp. Makoto felt tears start to gather in his eyes

"Don't be such a cry baby," chided the boy, "Just let me play…" thats when he heard the siren of the police car he had just abandoned.

Haruka was playing with the police car with a big smile on his face, "Hey!" screamed the other boy, "I didn't say you could play with my car!" the boy dropped the Orca plushie without a second thought and went to wrestle the car away from Haruka.

Makoto ignored what was happening with Haruka and the boy and just scooped-up Ori-chan and hugged it to his chest tightly. Tears streaked down his cheeks but he didn't care. He almost lost Ori-chan! His only friend in the whole wide world and he almost lost him!

"Are you alright?" asked Haruka. Makoto didn't even realise he had his eyes screwed shut until he had to open them to look at Haruka through a mist of tears. "Don't cry," Haruka said as he gently rubbed the tears into Makoto's cheeks like his grandmother did for him, whenever he cried, "He didn't really want Ori-chan," Makoto was amazed that Haruka had picked-up his Orca's name, "He was just bored. My grandmother says that bored people go for anything other people have but as soon as someone else tries to take what they have, they go right back to it."

"Is… is that why Haru-chan started playing with the car?" asked Makoto.

Haruka nodded, "I don't like toys like that," he hesitated for a moment before adding, "Makoto."

"Then what kind of toys do you like?" wondered Makoto.

"Toys like Ori-chan because I love the sea," said Haruka.

"Then, then do you want to play with Ori-chan?" asked Makoto, freely offering the plushie to Haruka.

"I rather play with you," said Haruka and watched in amazement when Makoto's whole face lit-up with nearly overwhelming happiness, "Come," encouraged Haruka, "You wanted to see my drawings didn't you?"

"How did you know?" wondered Makoto.

"I saw you look at them and then trying not to look at them," Haruka said with a smile.

"I… I can look?" asked Makoto, amazed. Haru nodded. Makoto smiled again and quickly sat back down next to Haruka and started looking over all his drawing. They were mostly of the sea and they were beautiful. Specially the one of a majestic orca!

Author's note: This is from all the chibi Makoto and chibi Haru fanart on Tumblr.