Disclaimer: I don't own HYD or any of its characters, but one day I dream of marrying a really rich guy who's mother hates me because I'm poor and who has a lot of handsome friends who are all in love with me too. Until then I guess I'll just write about it.


It was midmorning before the Makino women made it to Nagoya. It had been years since she had been home, and she had aged so much since she walked down these streets, but everyone seemed to remember her fondly. The neighbors Mama Makino passed grabbed her hands welcoming her home and welcoming Tsukushi.

When they made it to the house Tsukushi couldn't believe that her mother had grown up in such a home. It had two stories and was brick, completely different from all of the other homes on the street. There were eight or ten windows, and this was just the front of the house. There was a large picture window that showed through to the living room where a roaring fire could be seen from the front yard.

"Grandmother lives here?" Tsukushi whispered still in shock.

"Yeah," Her mother sighed. "This is her house." She pushed down on the intricately designed door handle. "Okasa, I'm home."

A little old lady, hunched over worse than Tama Sempai, hobbled over to the door and cheerfully threw her arms around Mama Makino's neck. "I'm so happy you're home."

Tsukushi bowed to the older woman and smiled. "Nice to meet you grandmother."

The elderly lady giggled so hard she started laughing. Mama Makino shook her head in embarrassment. "This isn't your grandmother."

Tsukushi blushed and apologized to the woman who raised her hands saying that it was an honest mistake. "My name is Himiko." She smiled sweetly. "I'm your great aunt."

"Very nice to meet you." The woman almost cooed before she threw her arms around Tsukushi's neck. "You need to go upstairs and meet my sister; she's been waiting for you."

Tsukushi looked at the little woman before looking at the second floor landing. "Don't worry," Himiko placed her hand lovingly on her back before she pushed her extraordinarily hard towards the stairs, "she doesn't bite."

Mama Makino reached for her daughter but she was held back by her aunt. "Let her make her own decisions." Himiko said softly as she pulled her niece away from the door toward the kitchen. "Tell the old bag I'm making tea, ok sweetheart." She yelled over her shoulder.

"Oh, ok."

The house was oddly cold and the farther she went up the stairs the more it smelled of cloves. As she climbed the stairs she looked at the pictures that laced the walls. The pictures seemed so old as if they had been around for centuries. Finally just before she reached the landing she found a picture of a girl who looked like she could be her mother.

The girl had long black hair that reached the bottom of her back. She was almost as pretty as Shizuka or maybe in the same league with Tsubaki, but she looked like her mother. She couldn't believe it. It wasn't that her mother was an unattractive woman; it was just that her mother looked so old for her age. Her mother was only in her late thirties, but she looked to be in her late fifties.

Makino ignored the rest of the pictures as she heard someone coughing and remembered her current task; meeting her grandmother.

It took a few tries before she finally stumbled into the room where the coughing had originated. As she took a few steps into the room she watched as the older woman, who looked exactly like Himiko, turn to stare at her.

"It's nice to finally meet you Tsukushi." The woman smiled softy before returning to her coughing.

"It's very nice to meet you grandmother." Makino was a little unsure about the situation, here was the woman who had given birth to her mother, but she knew so little if nothing about her. Makino stood glued to the doorway.

"You can come closer dear, I'm not contagious."

Makino blushed furiously as she contemplated the comment. "I didn't think you were." She raised her hands to defend. "I'm just so shocked to finally meet you."

The woman laughed, which resulted in her coughing again. "I didn't think you did." She signaled to Tsukushi to come closer, which she did. "Let me get a good look at you." She sighed and motioned for her granddaughter to take a seat. "You're not as beautiful as your mother was, but I guess I'm to blame for making sure your mother's life was as hard as possible." She admitted sadly.

Tsukushi looked confused at the admission, but before she could question, her grandmother continued.

"I was so angry at your mother when she left us. I couldn't believe that she wanted to marry that good for nothing Makino, when there were so many other well respected young men courting her. But a mother's wishes are always ignored right?" The older woman started to look out the window longingly. "So many years wasted."

Tsukushi tried to signal that her mother was just in the kitchen, but was again interrupted before she could start.

Grandmother sighed again before continuing. "I don't want the line to end with me." She reached over and patted Tsukushi's hands that sat on the side of the bed. "I want you to continue the family traditions."

Makino was shocked at the request coming from this woman she couldn't have picked out of a line-up the day before. "I don't think I understand," was all she could muster.

The woman reached under her shirt and pulled out a necklace with a beautiful sapphire pendant. She picked up one of Makino's hands and pooled it into her palm. "This has been passed down to the women in this family for as long as our bloodline can be traced back. It belonged to my mother's mother and to my mother before me. It had even belonged to your mother at one point in time, but she returned it when she forsook her heritage to marry that bumbling idiot." She shook her head and looked up to see a look of displeasure lining Tsukushi's face. "I know he's your father, but all he is to me is a thief who stole my only daughter."

A single tear streaked down her pale wrinkled skin as she reached for the ring on her finger. "Please wear this." She placed it on Makino's ring finger. "It will protect you always. As long as you believe in yourself and in the strength of this family, you will never need for anything else."

The sound of music broke through the moment and Tsukushi fumbled in her pockets for the telephone. "Hello?" She couldn't hide the smile that pulled at her lips when she realized who was on the other line. "Hi Doumyouji."

She looked at her grandmother almost pleading to have permission to take the call, which the woman could only smile warmly at her granddaughter's expression.

Makino walked out into the hallway gripping the phone to her ear. "How was your day?" She could hear the tension in his voice as he recapped the meeting with the French investors. They apparently had been completely unreasonable and uncompromising, so Tsukasa had wanted to have them removed from the building, but had decided against it.

She listened to him talk for fifteen minutes before the first yawn broke free. "You sound tired."

"Forget about that." He scolded as he yawned again. "This is the longest conversation we've had in months." It was true. The longer he was gone, the more she missed him, but life went on. She still had to work and so did he. He was always in meetings when she had free time and she was always in school when he was free.

"I'm at my grandmother's house right now." She could here him undressing on the other line and blushed a little at the thought of his bare chest.

"The one with the farm?" He asked pulling her from her reverie.

"No I've never met this one before today." She shook her head before she realized he couldn't see her. "But I'm really enjoying myself. She's really nice and she gave me a beautiful necklace."

"Not prettier than the Saturn one I gave you." He boasted.

Makino rolled her eyes and smiled. "No, not as pretty, but it has a sapphire pendant that looks like it has water inside of it." She hadn't examined the necklace before and she admired the deep blue stone carefully.

"I miss you." She finally heard on the other line and it took her breath away. "I know we promised to not bring it up anymore, but I can't help it. It feels like I have a balloon in my chest and it won't make room for anything else." He chuckled softly as he remembered. "Do you know I called some girl Makino today? I was yelling at her for bringing me the wrong copies and I unconsciously called her Makino because she frustrated me so bad."

All she could do was giggle at the mistake, because she had already started to cry silently. She missed him too and it hurt her to know that he was on the other side of the world missing her. She had berated herself a million times after he left for not going with him, but it had been months now and she was finally adjusting. At first they would tell each other how much they missed one another, but it became too hurtful, and that pain still didn't subside no matter how long it had been.

"I love you." She said softly trying to hide the fact that she was crying. Maybe he hadn't noticed, or maybe he ignored it on purposes as not to drag out the melancholy, but he just sighed and blew a kiss into the receiver before saying his own sweet 'I love you' and 'goodnight,' before the line went dead.