Hello! In case you were wondering, Kaede is a girl's name too! (I wonder how many countless times I've had to explain this.) If you've watched the dorama 'Mukodono' starring Nagase Tomoya, you'd find that one of the sister-in-law's names was 'Kaede'. And if you play the game Sakura Wars (Sakura Taisen) you'd also find that one of the commanding officers has the name Kaede. Just some simple clarification!

Lots of flashbacks in this chapter.

x

Chapter Two

"I'm gonna miss this," I grinned at my editor, Shinohara-san, as I handed in my last volume. The 28th volume.

Shinohara-san smiled and took the manila envelope into his right hand. "I'll miss it too. You've done really well with this series. Better than the last."

"It's been a good two years," I sighed in satisfaction, drawing a hand through my hair.

x

Drawing was my eternal passion – I would never have been able to endure my parents' divorce or my brother's death without drawing.

As time passed, I had a feeling my drawings needed to be more emotive. I decided to tell stories with them. Stories about my childhood, stories about my brother's childhood, stories about the ghosts of the past that haunted my mind… Some were true, some were merely figments of my imagination that were close enough to reality to be thought of.

My art teacher decided to submit a piece of my art for the National Young Artist Award one day. I didn't expect her to; we always seemed to hate each other. The work was an oil painting of my late brother in abstract, as an angel rising high beyond the stars. She had a feeling that it would win something, and it did. I was placed as runner-up, and it was then I decided to be a manga artist. What better way would I tell stories through drawings than letting it be accompanied with words?

So I sought my father's permission before entering Kouei Publishing. That happened three years ago, when I was 14.

x

"Kaede…" Shinohara-san sighed resignedly. "If you continue to keep the sales profit this low, the high-ups will kill you off."

"I know," I replied, grim shadows obscuring my pained expression. I was trying. Really, I was.

"You're doing your best already, I can see that. Maybe you'd like to look around for some inspiration? Maybe that would help your books to sell?" Shinohara-san suggested gently.

I could only nod and leave his office.

x

My first manga, a ten-volume romance series, was a painful thing to get through in the beginning. I was still finding direction in that span of one year, and sales weren't very good. Profit was only about one or two percent in the beginning, and only picked up somewhere past the sixth volume, which was considered a loss for the company since I had projected an eight-volume lifespan. I was utterly devastated when quite a number of readers sent me hate mail after my fifth volume, saying the cliffhanger was utterly stupid and predictable.

The bosses were starting to take action somewhere then, threatening to remove all the manga artists that dropped below a five percent profit benchmark. It was a good thing Shinohara-san was extremely supportive. He could see my talent and also my frustration and loss, so he suggested collaboration with another artist for the rest of my manga.

Enter Rukawa Kaede. That year, I was a freshman at high school, and he was in his last year of junior high.

x

"Hi," I curtly greeted, extending my right hand. He shook it rather hesitantly - it was a very loose handshake, as if he was afraid to even touch me.

"Rukawa-kun, this is Tokita Kaede-san. You both share the same name, I realize," Shinohara-san introduced with a smile. I nodded politely and asked Shinohara-san, "Is there reason for this special meeting, Shinohara-san?"

Shinohara-san tapped his table with a pencil thoughtfully. "As a matter of fact, yes. Rukawa-kun here is new, young and ready for takeoff. Probably you'd like to mentor him. Both of you okay with that?"

Rukawa nodded silently.

"He'll be helping me in my manga, you mean?" I asked hopefully.

Shinohara-san raised his eyebrows and replied, "Hey, you're his mentor, you can let him do anything you want."

x

"Ru, where are you now?" I exited the publishing house, giving him a call on my cell.

"At home, trying to sleep."

I sighed. "It's ten in the morning."

"It's Saturday."

"You play basketball on Saturdays."

"…It's what time again?"

"Ten."

I heard a pregnant pause. "Kusou," was the next word I heard in the phone.

x

"The bosses approved extending your manga by two volumes, nothing more," smiled Shinohara-san, his genial face beaming up at Rukawa and me. We stood rigid for a moment, before I screamed.

"TWO volumes!" We didn't expect to be given even one.

"Yup. It turned out they liked the way the plot was developing, after the twist in the seventh volume. Plus sales grew by 200 percent, of course when held relative to previous figures. You'll have ten volumes altogether!" Shinohara-san laughed, removing his spectacles and swiping them gently with a cloth.

I turned to face Rukawa and without thinking twice, enveloped him in a grateful embrace.

"Thank you," I whispered, pools of moisture wetting the corners of my eyes.

He just patted my back awkwardly as my silent tear fell to his shoulder.

x

"Yeah, kusou it is," I cheered quietly, walking over to my bicycle.

"You submitted the beta copy?"

"Yeah," I replied, clipping the phone in between my shoulder and my ear, something that he would constantly reprove me of if he saw me. (Reprove pushing my head violently away from my shoulder.)

"Did he say if we would continue working together?"

I continued fiddling with the lock of my bike. "He mentioned we could if we wanted. If we thought we were capable enough."

"Are you coming home now?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I think I'll wait at home and discuss things over with you about this."

"Okay. No basketball?"

Again, a pregnant pause.

"Some things have to be sacrificed when money is the dominant factor."

I chortled. "Doesn't sound like something you'd usually say in a phone conversation."

"I'll see you at home," he decided to ignore my previous statement and end off.

"Yup," I replied, before clicking off the call.

x

"Since you guys are such a tag team, the manga department has decided to let you guys collaborate on your next series. This time our target audience is for you to decide. Of course, you are familiar with our standard age group. Probably you two can come up with something," Shinohara-san folded his hands and propped his elbows on the table.

"Um… What about alternate universe? Like, you know, what CLAMP did with Rayearth," I edged forward in my seat, the tingly sensation of ideas sending goosebumps up the nape of my neck.

"Sports," Rukawa spoke, folding his arms as if it was definite.

"There are too many of those around…" I started, before Shinohara-san cut me off. "Why not you guys try alternate universe sports? Come up with a new sport of your own, set in an ethereal country. Stem the story from there."

I scrunched up my nose and thought why that sounded so familiar.

"Like Quidditch?" Rukawa asked.

Oh yes. Harry Potter.

"Something like that, yes," Shinohara-san nodded and gave us a thumbs-up, which was the cue that we had to exit his room because he needed to call the high-ups.

x

The truth was, Rukawa wasn't drawing manga solely for the love of art or storytelling. He was doing it also because of the money.

His dad went missing after a marine accident when he was 10, and his mother had to provide for his two younger siblings and him. When he turned 14, he felt that he could be partly responsible for the family's income. It was a really great blessing that he could draw, and so he decided to put his talent to good use and send in his manga to a few publishing houses. None but Kouei accepted. Shinohara-san explained that just at that time a few long-time manga artists had resigned because they needed the break, hence Rukawa was recruited. Apparently he knew it too, so he worked doubly hard.

And he was in the last year of junior high… Just like me when I started out a year back.

Then, basketball became a major commitment and he went on hiatus for quite awhile, leaving me to work on a large part of the newest collaboration (the sports-alternate universe one) for three months. He would only write when he felt he could stay awake. Fans wrote in to induce more material from him, but he could not comply. It was only until he finished the basketball matches then did he come back to manga.

x

I had grown up in the urban district of London, my parents contributing to the small Japanese community. My younger brother, Matsu, was diagnosed with Down's Syndrome and severe asthma, but I loved him all the same. Dad and Mom were very adverse to the fact that their son was mentally challenged, but I couldn't care what both of them thought.

Matsu passed away in his sleep when he was nine years old because of breathing complications.

x

"You've bought an apartment for me?" my eyebrows shot up as I spun around to face my dad. "What for?"

"Well," Dad scratched his head and pondered, "It's time you learnt to be independent."

"I'm only 15, Dad," I coldly turned my back against him, walked to the kitchen and sat down at the dining table.

"Okay. Fine. I'll tell you. I'm going to live in Takamatsu."

"With her?" I softly implored. If my knowledge of geography served me correctly, we wouldn't even be on the same island, for crying out loud. Takamatsu is in Kagawa Prefecture in Shikoku, while Kanagawa Prefecture is in Honshu.

Sensing the dangerous tone I used, Dad uneasily shifted his eyes to an oh-so-interesting coffee stain on the counter and gave the slightest nod. I didn't hate his girlfriend, but I hated his guts for leaving me alone in Kanagawa just like that.

"Okay, I'll live there."

I had put my foot down on the matter. I couldn't take breathing the same air as him anyway. Walking calmly to my room, I started to pack.

Three days later, I moved.

x

Ru wrote under the pseudonym – KleaneR. I had no idea who instilled that word in him (cleaner!) but he told me the 'K' stood for Kaede and the 'R' stood for Rukawa.

I sweatdropped when I heard that, but he just waved me away and continued working.

We got along pretty well while working together, even though he could be snappy and frustrated – I concluded that was due to his lack of sleep. We spent long hours together in our production studio on weekends, working laboriously on the script and details of the story. During weekdays I had to juggle studying and drawing, while he had to struggle with studying (or lack thereof), drawing and playing basketball. I was worried for the results of the high school entrance exams, which was to be released around three weeks away from that time.

He told me stories (in very short sentences with a lot of prompts from me) about crazed fans (I laughed to death), incompetent basketball team members and challenging opponents on the basketball court.

I didn't like basketball, just like some people don't like fermented soybean. I didn't bother to find out its rules, and Rukawa didn't tell me about them since I didn't ask. But I could sense his fiery passion when it came to the topic, just as much as I had when it came to art.

X

"What's wrong?" I asked carefully, treading around the subject - entering the production studio one evening and finding Rukawa slumped on the story board with his arms hanging loosely at his sides wasn't exactly a pretty scene.

I had a bad feeling that he didn't pass his entrance exams to high school.

"My apartment. There's no electricity because no one paid the bill."

I fell silent even though there was relief washing over me. I knew that we hadn't received our pay for that month yet.

"Sometimes," Rukawa continued in a very uncharacteristic fashion, "I wonder if I'm actually helping my mother at all."

"Well…School fees are taken care of," I mused, knowing that the government subsidizes single-mothers heavily, "while you pay the bills. What other costs do you guys actually incur?"

"Food. We have four people at home."

No wonder he's so skinny. He must be giving up his share of the food, I thought.

"Your brother and sister…How old are they?"

"11 and 12."

"Oh…They need to eat more at their age."

He nodded.

Then, an idea struck me.

"If you only had to provide for three people…" I started slowly, "How much would you save?"

"A considerable amount."

I did the math and decided.

"Live with me."

Rukawa looked at me as if I was crazy. "…What?"

"Live with me," I reiterated.

"…No."

"You won't need to pay anything except for your food," I pressed on excitedly, "And my dad pays the electricity and water bills. We'll even out the costs. I live alone, remember? My dad's in Kagawa."

He looked tempted.

"It won't be that far away from your family. Oh yes. Where's your new school?"

"Shohoku. A little way from my home."

"You passed your entrance exams!" I shrieked, causing people from the other production studios to glare at me. I mouthed sorry to them and ruffled Ru's hair.

"I'm so proud of you," I grinned in delight, over the moon. I missed that kind of feeling. It felt as good as the time my brother learnt to say my name.

"Yeah, yeah," he swatted my hand away. Furrowing his brows, he asked, "You live in Ebina, right?"

"Yup," I gave him a big, affirmative smile. "And you live in Atsugi. You just have to bike to school."

"Don't have one."

"I do," I said in a satisfactory tone.

There was another pause. He thought for a long moment and finally said the magic word.

"Okay."

I grinned and informed him, "Sure. My bike's pink, by the way."

x

"Oi," I called out cheerfully when I got home. "Takoyaki!" I yelled, raising the box of food up in my hands.

Rukawa sauntered out of the room we liked to call 'The Back'.

We only had two rooms so we had to sleep in the same room since the studio (which is The Back) was basically an input of our rice bowl and we couldn't bear to detriment our income by working in a less-than-conducive environment.

He sat down on the couch and I placed the box of takoyaki on the coffee table. We ate in silence for awhile when he said, "I think I'd like to go solo."

I smiled, expecting that. "I don't mind."

He chewed for a few seconds before adding, "But it doesn't mean I'll move out."

"No problem. I understand."

He nodded and continued eating.

x

"I'm in the same class as Sendoh this year," I announced on the first day of the second year of high school, as I trudged into the production studio of Kouei.

"Un."

Looking over his shoulder at the storyboard, I told him, "You could make Vivian's eyes brighter, Ru."

He paused and looked up at me inquiringly.

"You don't like me calling you something other than Rukawa?" I questioned.

"…Whatever."

I laughed and sat down beside him, pointing out that he could call me 'Toki' if he wanted.

x

"Have you visited your mom this week?" I asked, cutting up another ball of takoyaki.

He gave a brief nod.

Another bout of comfortable silence ensued.

The shrill ringing of my cell phone punctuated the air.

"Hello darling!" a familiar voice wafted into my ears.

And it was in English.

"Mom?" I whispered. I hadn't heard from her ever since the court hearing in which Dad had gained full custody. "Are you drunk?"

"No I'm not," she slurred.

Typical.

I looked at my watch. "It's almost 3 am over there, Mom. What's going on?"

"I'm (hic) in Japan, darling. I'm at the (hic) Narita Airport…"

No way.

"Does Dad know about this?" my eyeballs darted furiously round the room for my phone but I realized I was having a conversation with my mom and it was plastered to my ear.

Rukawa jerked his head upward and gave me a frown – he wanted to know what was up. I just held up my hand, asking him to wait.

"Of course that cad doesn't know. Darling, would you please come and pick me? I'm supposed to check into the hotel at twelve o'clock."

I sighed and said no, I would not be able to be there on time so would you please hail a cab to the hotel.

"Oh, leave your own mother in the dumps, would you? Bloody hell, and to think I carried you around in my womb for nine fu-"

"Okay, okay," I surrendered, grabbing my purse and standing up. "Wait for me. Don't run about."

"That's better," she giggled like a teenager and hung up.

I turned to Rukawa.

"My mom's in Japan and I have to go to the airport. So…" I trailed of, trying to think of something for him to do.

"Let's go," he said, picking up his cell.

I stared at him blankly.

"What?" he asked, not looking up from wearing his shoes.

"Nothing," I broke into a grin.

"Ch," was the only thing he said as he opened the door, but I caught a tiny smile at the corner of his lips.

Thanks, Ru.