Summary: It's on a fateful night in which Nico crosses paths with Maki's carriage, when the redhead saves her from starvation and gives her a life together.
Nico/Maki

One night turned into a life together

A long tired sigh escapes her lips as she rests her head on the cushion behind her letting her body relax and sink into the comforting feeling that the seat of the carriage gives her after a particular long and hard day of work at the hospital, before she closes her eyes for a brief moment, feeling the vibration of the clattering of the carriage lulling her as well as inviting her to sleep.

- Maki.

The soft voice of her best friend and personal knight calling her name interrupts the redhead from actually falling asleep, causing her to open her eyes to look at the blonde sat across from her.

- Are you okay? – Eli asks concerned drawing a tired smile from the redhead across from her.

- I'm okay, Eli. I'm just a bit tired.

Maki exhales heavily, eliciting a sympathetic smile from Eli.

- Why don't you lie down for a bit? We still have a long way until we reach the Nishikino mansion.

Eli offers her best friend, and Maki can only smile at the blonde's care, ready to answer her, when the abrupt and violent halt of the carriage they're travelling in along with the loud neigh of the horses cuts their talk.

- Rin-san, what's wrong!?

Eli asks in alarm to their chauffeur, a young orange haired girl, her hand already on the hilt of her sword ready to draw it to protect them from any attack or danger.

- Ah, it was nothing, Eli-san! Somebody just crossed our path suddenly and the horses got scared, nya.

Rin says as she tries to calm down the horses, but her explanation little does to ease Eli's worries.

- Wait here.

The blonde commands Maki as she gets out of the carriage to inspect their surroundings just in case there is any criminal trying to make an attempt on the prestigious doctor's life.

Maki for her part, can only follow Eli's advice, waiting inside the carriage for the knight to inspect their surroundings and come back, when she notices a petite woman on the ground through the window.

Worried that she may have been injured, Maki ignores Eli's advice and steps off the carriage to approach said woman and help her.

- Excuse me, are you okay? Are you hurt?

She asks the woman, noticing her poor almost worn-out clothing, before a pair of bright magenta eyes looks into hers taking her breath away with just a single gaze.

- Please miss, buy me for a night.

The petite woman begs her as she tries to take one of her hands in hers making Maki's stomach churn, and the redhead can't help but slap the woman's hand away disgusted by such an indecent request.

- What the hell? No!

Maki curses out loud sneering at the petite raven haired woman on the ground, before turning to quickly go back to the carriage without taking a second glance at her.

Eli, on alert due to Maki's yell, rushes to the scene just in time to see her best friend walking away while the petite woman on the ground looks on the verge of tears, feeling sorry for her.

- I know it's not much, but I hope this could be of any help to you.

The blonde knight offers the raven haired woman as she takes a couple of gold coins from her pockets to place them on the palm of her hand.

- Thank you, miss.

The raven haired woman thanks the knight, a grateful smile playing on her lips as her hand takes Eli's in hers feeling the contrast of their cold and warm hands touching, before the blonde smiles apologetically to her and bows to then go back to the carriage and resume their way back to the doctor's mansion.

As Eli steps into the carriage, she can't help but observe her redhead friend looking through the opposite window clearly bothered by what just happened minutes ago.

A soft sigh escapes the knight's lips, before Eli knocks on the frontal window.

- Rin-san, we can keep moving now.

Eli tells their chauffeur once is safe to keep moving, seeing the young girl smiling and nodding in return.

- As you say, Eli-san, nya!

Rin exclaims chirpily as she spurs the horses to keep moving. Eli can only smile softly at the young girl, before she turns her attention back to her best friend sat across from her, seeing now a frown taking over her beautiful yet tired features as she's undoubtedly thinking about the recent events.

- Maki – she calls her friend's name ever so softly, hearing her sighing, before she turns to look at her – It's been a long day and after what happened, you need some rest. So don't worry, I'll warn you once we reach the mansion.

Eli tells her fondly, and Maki can only give Eli a soft smile, nodding as she gets comfortable on the carriage's seats once again and closes her eyes in an attempt to rest and forget about what happened, but Maki can't stop seeing those bright magenta eyes looking into hers, into her soul, nor the warm smile that the raven haired woman gave her.

She can't stop replaying the petite woman's words in her head, nor the urgency in her tone, making a heavy feeling settle in her chest and at the pit of her stomach.

Given her status and her work at the hospital as one of its main and most important doctors, Maki always sees different types of patients coming in and out of there as well as how hard life could be for poor people while rich ones had it all. But she couldn't even fathom the idea of getting to the point of having to be selling their bodies or do who knows what other immoral and illegal activities to have something to take to their mouths.

She knew the economic situation in the country wasn't buoyant, but not to such a point.

Maki can't help but let out a heavy sigh as she tries to relax and successfully forget about those bright magenta eyes and their beautiful owner as she finally falls asleep in the carriage.

It's a couple of days later when Maki finds herself, once again, staring into those same pair of bright magenta eyes that has been haunting her.

She's treating a woman around her 40s looking rather pale and with thin complexion with apparent signs of exhaustion and malnutrition that seems awfully familiar although the redhead can't put a finger on why, when she hears a quiet voice behind her.

- Is my mother going to be okay?

A feminine voice asks worriedly, causing Maki to lift her gaze from the board in her hands to look at the petite woman before her, getting trapped in a pair of bright magenta eyes and hair as raven as the night.

Maki's breath gets caught in her throat at the young woman in front of her, before the look of pure concern leaves a mark on her, making her let out a sigh.

- She will be fine. Your mother is just exhausted and malnourished.

A sigh of relief escapes the petite woman's lips as she nods at the doctor's news.

- Thank you doctor.

It's all the petite woman can say, before three kids identical to her and her mother rush through the hospital's hallways to hug her tightly.

- One-chan! Is mama okay!?

One of them yells as they hug their sister tightly, worried about their mother's condition.

- She's okay, she's just tired.

And even though the little ones don't seem to believe their sister's explanation, a simple smile and a catchy phrase seem to calm them down.

- Nico Nico Nii! Don't worry about mama little ones, she'll be okay soon.

Maki hears the young woman, Nico, saying, observing the three kids smiling happily.

- Can we see her?

They all ask in unison, seeing their sister nodding to then point at the stretcher in which their mother is resting. Soon enough, three kids are running to see how their mother is doing clearly worried about her and her well-being.

The young raven haired woman in front of her is about to follow her siblings, when Maki's voice stops her.

- Why?

It's the only thing the redhead asks with a frown on her face, seeing Nico turning around confused.

- That night, why did you…

She trails off, seeing the shame taking over the petite woman's features as she lowers her head.

- I… we needed some money… My salary isn't enough to pay for everything and mama has been working too hard to bring a loaf of bread home so we can have something to eat. So I just… I needed more money so mama didn't have to work so hard, and to treat her illness and it was the only thing I could think of...

Nico explains ashamed, and Maki's stomach churns upon her explanation because nobody should have to go through that, neither should be working until the exhaustion to be able to feed their families nor have to sell their bodies for it.

- I… I'm sorry if I disgusted you, miss. I'm also truly grateful for your knight's assistance that night so I was able to pay for my mother's treatment without having to…

The next words are left hanging in the air, and Maki doesn't realize how she exhales relieved that the petite woman didn't have to sell her body thanks to Eli's money.

She can only look at Nico for a brief moment, before the following words come out of her mouth without even thinking about them.

- You didn't disgust me… – she whispers while shaking her head, before she continues – Do you know how to cook and do the household chores?

Maki asks changing the subject abruptly, seeing the raven haired woman blinking.

- I do, why…?

- Then I expect you at the Nishikino's mansion as sharp as the sun goes up next Monday.

The doctor says turning around to go and keep taking care of her patients, leaving a surprised Nico standing in the middle of the hospital's hallway as much as she is upon saying those words. Upon letting herself get carried away to the point of hiring the poor young woman for her so neither she nor her family will have to starve ever again.

Maki can only sigh heavily, bringing a hand to her face at what she just did, before she focus on the patient before her not wanting to give a further thought as to why she did something as impulsive as that.

The next Monday, as sharp as the sun goes up, a petite raven haired woman is standing right in front of the Nishikino mansion's gates as she was asked for days ago, looking at the great building before her astonished. Maki can only chuckle at Nico's cute expression, before she lets her in and tells her what her chores would be from that moment on as she begins to serve her.

A long sigh escapes her lips as the redhead snuggles closer to the naked body of the woman in between her arms in search of warmth, wrapping her tighter in her embrace to bury then her nose in the petite's long raven hair and inhale her sweet cocoa shampoo scent, leaving a kiss on her bare neck.

A soft smile spreads across her lips as she hears said woman grumbling in between dreams, before she turns around in the embrace opening her eyes sleepily to trap Maki in their bright magenta color.

- What's wrong? You can't sleep?

Nico asks sleepily, a yawn escaping her lips as she brings a hand up to Maki's cheek to cup it clearly worried for the redhead, knowing how she sometimes loses sleep over her work and patients, over not being able to save everybody.

Maki can only smile warmly at this, feeling guilty for waking Nico up, before she takes her hand in hers to leave a kiss on it, close to the gold ring on her ring finger that shines radiantly under the moonlight.

- No, sorry. I was just thinking about that night when we first met by accident.

That fateful night in which Nico crossed paths with Maki's carriage. In which she offered her body to her, only to be dismissed, and in which thanks to Eli's kindness she was able to see Maki again at the hospital where she works as she treated her mother's illness, before she started to serve her and they ended up falling in love with the passage of time and getting married in spite of the difference of their statuses.

Nico can only smile timidly at it, before she pulls the doctor and wife into a sweet deep kiss, resting their foreheads together.

- Let's not think about that. You had a long exhausting day at work and need to sleep, my love.

Nico says, melting Maki's heart upon being the one being taken care of and not the opposite.

- You're right.

She whispers with a soft smile on her lips, kissing Nico's forehead and then her lips briefly, before they go back to sleep wrapped tightly in the love and warmth of the other, thinking about how that fateful night was the first one of many more nights together for the rest of their lives.