Beautiful Mistake | Imaushi Wakasa

Prequel

"Shin I am so sorry for being late, Wakasa tried to use Benkei to lure me into a trap, and when I realized Wakasa had already seen me so I ran-" Maeve trails off hearing two very familiar voices frantically whisper yelling.

Maeve runs through the motorcycle shop looking frantically for her best friend and who she suspected to be Kazutora and Baji.

Maeve skids to a stop baffled by the sight in front of her, Kazutora freaking out, Baji kneeling next to Shinichiro who was on the floor.

"Keisuke take Tora out of here to my house," Maeve says eerily calm, throwing her keys to the shaking boy who was sobbing and looking pleadingly up at her.

Maeve kneels next to the bleeding boy freaking out, she had tried being calm for the young boys but now that they were gone she could freak out.

Maeve rips off her flannel holding it to the boy's head before rummaging around her bag for anything that could help.

"Thank you," Shinichiro whispers putting his hand over hers.

"For what Shinichiro," Maeve whispers back, her voice cracking betraying her semi calm composure.

"Thank you for being my friend, I love you," Shinichiro says grasping her hand tighter before his eyelids close a bit.

"Don't talk like that," Maeve whisper yells her heart breaking into even more pieces, she knew that Shinichiro thought he wasn't going to make it out but she wouldn't let him die on her.

"Tell Emma and Mikey I love them, and tell Izana to take care of himself and that I love him," Shinichiro whispers looking up at her eyes just as a tear slides out of his.

"Shut up! Shut up! You are going to live and tell them yourself," Maeve yells, her voice dying down to a whisper, kissing his forehead just as paramedics rush in.

"Shin you can't leave me you promised," Maeve says letting go of his hand that she had no idea when she grabbed pleading him to just hold on for a little longer.

And that's what he did, he thankfully held on just for the paramedics to get there. The paramedics picked up Shinichiro leading him onto an ambulance while she stared down at her hand, covered in her friend's blood.

"Miss, what happened here?" She hears a voice behind her ask, and what used to be sadness was replaced with anger she saw her best friend almost die and the stupid cops couldn't even give her a minute.

Trying to hold back her anger she looks up at the police and opens her mouth to explain what had happened, "I was hanging out with my friend Shinichiro, and we went out for ice cream then we decided to go to my house to hang out for a bit when I realized I didn't have my keys so I asked him to go get them, they were at his shop, where two of his little brothers best friends were at. I had given my keys to them so they could look at the motorcycles to see which one would be best for their friend whose birthday was coming up and he wanted a motorcycle. So I'm assuming when Shinichiro walked in unannounced the two boys got scared that somebody was trying to break in so they hit him over the head with something to protect themselves, and that's when I realized that I had spare house keys so I came running just to see all this happening and I sent them away just in case the worst happened and Shinichiro died, I didn't want them seeing that," Maeve lies looking up at the police officer who stood in front of her writing down notes. Maeve knew that lying to a police officer was a bad idea but she couldn't help herself but protect the two.

"Could you bring the two in for questioning?" The police asks and they both knew that it was a demand, not a question. "Can I do it tomorrow I think they need some time," Maeve whispers grabbing her bag off the floor and walking off when she saw that the officer had nodded.

***

Maeve throws open the door to her house, spotting Baji staring blankly at his scarlet hands and next to him, pacing is Kazutora whispering to himself.

Maeve quietly walks towards them putting her hands on Kazutora's shoulders, he stops pacing but doesn't look up at her.

"It's all Mikey's fault," Kazutora says his head whipping up to glare at her. Maeve stumbles back at the surprise, surprising Baji as if he hadn't seen her come in which maybe he hadn't with how focused he was on his hands.

"Tora let's get you to bed," Maeve whispers, dusting her pants off before slowly guiding him to the couch and pushing him down, laying him flat on his back. The boy doesn't even flinch as she pulls a blanket over his body and closes his eyes too focused on repeating, "It's all Mikey's fault."

Mave kisses his forehead hearing his whispers get quiet as he gets closer to sleep until he finally succumbs to his exhaustion.

Maeve looks down at a guilt-stricken Baji who looked pleadingly up at her.

"Come on Kei," Maeve whispers grabbing his wrist and leading him to the kitchen where a sink lay surprisingly not full of dirty dishes.

She turns the left knob letting the water warm up before grabbing his hands and putting them under the water.

The water spilling over his hands was perfectly clear until it spilled through his hand and straight into the drain scarlet tainted, proof that what they all experienced was real and not a nightmare they would wake up from.

Maeve grabs soap rubbing his hands together washing off the scarlet liquid from his hands until the water wasn't stained anymore.

"I'm sorry!" Baji yells collapsing in her arms, shoving his guilt-stricken face into her ribs. Maeve hugs him tighter when she feels him try to pull away knowing the boy needed comfort, and only tried to break the hug because he thought he didn't deserve such affection after he almost killed her best friend and still hugged her.

"Hey bud it's not your fault, you guys were just trying to do something good for Mikey and Shin isn't dead, the ambulance got there before he could die so just hope that Shin will get better," Maeve whispers sliding down her cabinets with the boys in her arms.