Blood Rose (Midnight Rose Sequel)

Chapter 20: Promises?

"I'd tell him to fucking run. To run as fast as he could. And I'd give him no other option. The last thing I want to do, is to lose someone else I care about."

Those words continued to bonce around in Maki's skull. They haunted her all the time. They wouldn't leave her alone no matter what she did. Even when she tried to listen to music, Mondo's words overpowered it. And even when she tended to the garden, she couldn't focus on that. The way that he said it and abandoned her on the veranda after that hit harder than she thought. The actions and words that led up to that replayed to her like a broken record. Mondo would rather have his partner run away from him than try to help him. Maki wasn't sure if she was capable of leaving Kaito alone like that. But isn't that what she was doing anyway? Running? Instead of helping, she was just running and hiding like a coward. She had enough. She couldn't stand it anymore.

Maki tried to clear her mind of it all by going for a walk in the forest. She left a note about where she's going and that she just needed some time alone. The family was fine, she had no problem with them. It's just that she needed to get out and be on her own for a while. She also wanted to think about what she needed to do. She didn't know if Mondo told anyone about their conversation. She hoped that he didn't. She didn't want anyone to ruin her plan. She still wanted to confront Kaito during the Hunter's Moon. No one will talk her out of it, she'll make sure of that.

Maki was snapped out of her thoughts suddenly. She went still and silent. Something was moving. Something big. Too big to be an animal. Someone was there with her. Maki closed her eyes, focusing only on the person. The footsteps were slow, but not slow enough to try to sneak. It could be a hiker, but the footsteps were heading towards her. Maki had a knife on her. She was ready to kill, but she won't unless she has to. For all she knew, it could just be a hiker that was genuinely and innocently asking for directions. She still needs to be careful though. The person came closer, and closer. When they were close enough, and reached out to her, Maki grabbed their arm. She twisted to limb so much that the person was on their knees with their am twisted behind their back.

"Why are you following me?!" Maki demanded, not seeing the person through her anger.

"Maki Roll! Again?!" Kaito suddenly exclaimed. Maki blinked as she was confused at that. She looked down and sure enough, there was Kaito. Down on his knees, arm twisted behind his back. He was shifting a little, but not enough to break his arm in Maki's iron grip.

"I thought that I told you not to sneak up on me." Maki remarked before she let him go. Kaito got up and shook his arm a bit. "Sorry."

"It's fine. I should've known better." Kaito grinned. Maki smiled as she saw it. So some of the old Kaito was still there. Even after all that had happened so far. She was worried that she had lost more of him. More than she thought that she would.

"So, why are you following me? I wanted to be alone." Maki asked, hiding her irritation that Kaito followed her all the way out there.

"My bad. Just making sure you're okay." Kaito said, scratching the back of his neck. Maki rolled her eyes and Kaito backed off a little. "I know you can take care of yourself, but I just wanted or make sure. I was gonna leave you alone after that."

"It's fine. I just needed to think." Maki sighed, feeling like a little kid that needed to be checked up on every ten minutes. It was quite a suffocating feeling to her again. And it was becoming more and more like that by the second right now.

"So what's on your mind then? You haven't been yourself recently." Kaito suddenly asked. It was like he disregarded why Maki wanted to be alone in the first place. What has gotten into him all of a sudden? Normally, he'd back off and leave her be.