Life Made Anew

6: Allevaition and Tragedy

A/N First I must say this: I got rid of chapters 6-8 because I figured the plot was stupid. I thought about it and didn't like the whole time travel mechanic. I wanted to keep piano and music in there. I'll do that for another book later on. Now, let's get back to the normal romance of this story.

Kazama and Maki walked home together. Maki remembered what Kamino said to her the day before: that she wasn't right for Kazama, or that he could be using her.

Kazama saw her face and could tell that she was pondering something. Over the months they've been together, he has learned her facial expressions quite well. He can tell her mood even by how she speaks, by texting or orally, even if she tried to hide it.

"What are you thinking about, Maki?" Maki didn't hear him as she was too deep in thought. He poked her, and she jumped back a bit.

"What is it?" She asked after she regained herself.

"Tell me what caused you to be so deep in thought that you couldn't hear me."

She shook her head, not wanting to talk. Regardless, he probed further and she finally let up. She sighed. "Can I ask you something? Though I know you'll say yes because you keep pushing me to tell you."

She paced a bit and stopped when she was facing the street. "Kazama, why did you originally start dating me?"

He was shocked to hear that from her. He originally thought that she believed that it was originally love. But was it? "I feared the day that you would ask that. I loathe that Kamino made you doubt me, but it was rightfully so." He turned to face the same direction as Maki.

Maki turned her head to face him. "What do you mean?"

"I'll be completely honest with you. I agreed to go out with you in the first place because you were being so nice to me. I didn't like you in a romantic way at all. I guess you could say that I really was taking advantage of your kindness." He turned his head toward her. "Did Kamino make that assumption yesterday?"

Maki nodded. "So you didn't really like me? Does that still hold true?"

He walked over to her and hit her softly on the head. "Stupid, of course not. I originally thought that if I went out with you that you would keep being nice to me, and I was right. But over time, I grew more and more attached to you. I started to fall in love." He pecked her on the cheek. "Now I never want to let you go."

She was taken aback to the day that they met. Was she really in love with him then, or was it originally something else as well? "I'm not even sure why I asked you out in the first place myself. I guess that I just wanted to make you happy. Maybe I did it give you something akin to happiness." She walked to the fence on the other side of the sidewalk. "To give you hope. To show that there are people who really care about you.

"I only blushed because your aunt brought up me possibly liking you. I don't think I actually liked you in the first place either." She faced him. "I just wanted to be charitable like my parents are. But I eventually did fall in love as well." She walked over to him. "Now all I can think about, because of Kamino, is becoming more appealing to you. I want to be only yours."

Kazama smiled at her. "I kind of figured that. No one could get that close that fast, or at least they shouldn't."

Maki nodded in agreement. "Too true." She continued to think on her words. Kamino mentioned that she would be a better match because of her love for classical music and that she could play several instruments. That gave Maki an idea.