Love Relations

KKJ (Manga)

Disclaimer: I do not own Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne and its characters. They're the property of Tanemura Arina.

Chapter 3-A New Environment

Maron sat on her seat, still recovering from the longing and parting. When she first boarded the train, she had felt such sadness weighing her down. Now that she was really close to her destination, she felt a little nervous about meeting her relatives. She had never heard her mom mention having any relatives, then again, she hardly knew her mom. She looked down sadly.

When she walked out of the train at her stop, she had continued walking with her head down, as though she was ashamed to show her tears. She suddenly bumped into someone. She hurriedly apologized and left, not knowing that her suitcase had rolled onto the stranger's toe. Her suitcase tipped over, pulling her down with it. Maron started to weep silently in frustration and sadness. Nothing ever goes right in her life.

The stranger saw the girl's tears and ceased his silent cursing at her. Even though his foot hurt terribly, he was not going to leave a pretty girl on the ground weeping about who knows what. He pulled her suitcase upright and helped the girl up gently, unlike the way he handled the suitcase. He inhaled the scent of her hair, a mix of flower and fruity scents. Maron wiped her eyes hastily and grabbed the handle of her suitcase. She walked away, mumbling a small thank you, before the stranger could take a glance at her face.

Another girl was pacing around, a little annoyed. She was a short girl with long gleaming blue hair as dark as the sea. Her amber eyes blinked as a girl with honey brown curls walked past her very quickly. She looked at the picture she held in her hand; her cousin had the same brown locks. She looked at her other hand, which held a piece of paper with the name Kusakabe Maron. She shouted out after the brown hair girl, "Maron, wait up, Maron!"

Maron stopped and turned around. A girl bounced up to her and asked, "Are you Kusakabe Maron?"

"Yes?"

"I'm your cousin, Hikari Yamasaki, nice to meet you." She bowed slightly in respect. Maron did the same. "If you come with me, I'll take you to my place. You'll be living with us for at least two years until you're eighteen. Unless you want to stay with us longer."

"That'd be nice."

Hikari glanced at her cousin and admired her as they were in a taxi heading home.She is so pretty. She looked away when she felt Maron's glance on her for a brief moment. Soon, they arrived at the Yamasaki residence. The taxi driver stopped at the gate of a small but pretty house.

Maron got out of the taxi and gazed beyond the gate at the stone paved path that led to the door of her new house. Two pots of pastel colored flowers decorated the porch. A welcome sign was hung on the door. Her eyes strayed to the front lawn where beds of flowers were planted emitting a sweet scent. She could hear trickles of water from behind the house. This was certainly a welcoming house with its sweet scent and sounds. She's gonna like it here. It was better than her lonely, dull apartment.

Hikari had taken her cousin's luggage out of the trunk while she was taking in her new home. She paid the driver and turned to gaze at her cousin. It wasn't that she was attracted to her or something, but there was something about her cousin that made her want to stare. She sighed, she'd love to have brown curls, but she just had to be cursed with straight stormy blue hair. Perhaps she could convince mom to let her dye her hair and perm it too. She hauled the luggage through the gate and called out to Maron, "Maron, a little help here? What did you pack in here? Lead and metal?"

Maron turned to her, her eyes void of emotion and answered, "I'm sorry. I might have packed too many books and clothes." She took her own luggage out of her cousin's hand and walked ahead of her to the door.

Hikari shook her head in disbelief. That girl looked like she had never laughed once in her life. Well, that is not going to be good when she meets her dad. He had a tendency of creating awkward silence. That was the sole reason why she would never let her friends be in the presence of her dad. She gave a shudder when she remembered Maron's eyes. They seemed so empty like a deep abyss of dark brown and not a single sparkle or glitter in sight.

She walked up to the door and unlocked it, opened the door wide and called out, "Mom! I'm home!"

Megumi and Motoki came into the hall. Megumi walked up to Maron and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek, "Welcome to our home, Maron-chan. I'm Aunt Megumi." Maron looked at her surprised; nobody had kissed her before. That little display of affection warmed her heart, perhaps there are people who care about her, but until then she should keep her guard up.

Megumi flinched inside when she looked into her niece's eyes, such empty and lonely eyes. She'll change that if that was the last thing she'd do. Motoki walked up to Maron and took her luggage. "Well, sweetheart, I'm Uncle Motoki and follow me. You'll be staying in the room next to Hikari's. I trust that you had a safe and comfortable trip. I'd tell you, those bloody young cab drivers these days don't know how to drive properly. I swear they did it to pick up girls. I had the evidence to prove it too. I found someone's used-up con…."

Hikari quickly grabbed Maron's hands and pulled her into her new room before her dad said something embarrassing again. She could feel her face heat up at that thought. She glanced at Maron and no reaction appeared on her face. She shivered from those blank eyes. If eyes were really windows to the soul, Maron would be dead. Her dad followed in after with Maron's stuff and left so the girls could bond.

Maron turned to her cousin and gave her a fake smile, which sent Hikari shivering, and asked, "Would you mind letting me adjust to my environment on my own for a little bit?"

Hikari gave the same smile back to her and left. Whoopee, she had to live with a cold, "dead" cousin. She did plan on befriending her so she could take her mind off that sadness, who knew that sadness consumed so much of her heart that all that was in that girl was sadness. Little did she know, Maron did have happiness at one point in her life, but she had chose to put that all behind her mask that she had worn for everyone except her best friend.

Maron opened her suitcase, and took out the picture of her and Miyako from underneath her clothes. It's time for a new life. With a house as nice as this, I'll have no problem getting tranquil alone time. Hopefully people here will leave me alone. The only way to protect my fragile heart is if I'm ignorant of everyone else. She blinked her tears back and engaged herself in the picture album where all her good memories were treasured.

Back at the train station, the stranger with the hurting toe was joyfully skipping, happy that his dad had made a mistake. His cousin definitely wasn't visiting. That train came half an hour ago and he saw no sign of her. He was about to go back home, when he saw a flash of golden hair that could only belong to his cousin. That girl spotted him at the same time, "Yo, Chiaki, I'm so glad to be here." And I feel so unfortunate to have you here. Chiaki signed and lead his cousin to his car.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long delay…sighs…I'm such a procrastinator…. I didn't expect to get two reviews so I'm very happy.

Thank you

kawaii maron-chan: There's your wish. It's granted. Chiaki is here.

Chou ni Natte

I wonder why there's so few KKJ fanfics. KKJ is so good!

Kawaii Tenshi no Hikari