Push! For My Heart

Maruki Kaore          Aiya Hitomi

Push! For My Heart

Chapter I:



It all started that spring morning in the snack room at preschool. The small plastic table by the window had been sun bleached over the many years to the point the red dye had turned an ugly, faded pink. The table had been moved over time away from the other tables, giving it more privacy. The two toddlers were the ones whom to be the ones that occupied the table, were not ones to converse and play with the other children like they were supposed to. Their daily snack that came before playtime on the playground was boring as usual, you would think one would mix it up a little to keep it interesting. Despite is boring appearance, the two new friends always found a way to entertain themselves and get what they wanted at the same time. The snacks that were provided from the daycare, preschool consisted of mixed melons, sliced grapes and various nuts.

 Their daily entertainment was swapping out the food they did not like and giving it to the other, instead of wasting the food. The young one with rosebud lips did not like cashews or watermelon. The young one with infinite chubby cheeks did not like peanuts or Concord grapes. The young, new friends switched these exact food, everyday. Some others who tried making them lose their short-term focus by hurling other nuts and other food at them, never succeeded. This is when it all started, the bullying started at a very young age for these two chubby babies. While the boy with infinitely chubby cheeks was a year younger, he was already in preschool. 

After school almost each and every weekday, mothers would come and pick up their children. The young one with the rosebud lips' mother would come everyday to pick him up. The one with the infinite chubby cheeks, rarely had his mother come, for she was always working; bouncing from one mediocre job to the other, never being able to stay at a job for no longer than a few weeks.
Though she considered herself a hard worker, the child with the rosebud lips' mother never worked, her income came from the government and her late husbands life insurance.
The child with the infinite chubby cheeks, both of his parents were hard working. His father had a low paying office job which made him work dozens of hours a week of overtime, of which he would never be paid for. His mother, her last job was cleaning factory floors, of which did not provide safety equipment, causing her to become very ill. 

Back at a very younger age, the child with the rosebud lips' mother and father were on their way home from an evening dinner and drink. After that, the father had drunk too much and was in no condition to drive. The mother, she only had a few drinks, keeping herself sober enough to keep an eye on her children. 

In an instant, after driving through a red light due to her reaction times being delayed from the alcohol, at a busy intersection their car was struck, throwing them from one side of the street to the other, crushing them between the other car and a light post. The father, who was sitting in the passenger seat, had absorbed most of the impact more so because he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt, making him lose consciousness instantly. If it were not for the sturdy child seats, the children would have been lifeless projectiles, thrown out onto the street. The mother, she was saved by the only airbag in the car.

 The unconscious father and the children were trapped in the car when the fire started as emergency personnel were trying to get them out of the vehicle. All had been saved before the fire could take their lives. The children escaped with only minor burns on their legs and torsos and had temporarily collapsed lungs. They had been in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for only a few weeks before they were released back home. 
The father on the other hand, never regained consciousness. Passed the broken bones and dislocated shoulder, his body could not heal the brain hemorrhaging and separated spinal cord. After a few weeks, once the children had been emitted, his fighting body had finally given up; leaving the mother to raise the children by herself. 

Quickly sinking into a drunken depression and having everything she ever loved taken away from her, the child with the rosebud lips was only starting a hell the he was never going to escape from. The child was normally neglected of attention, but was always fed properly everyday.

After losing her husband, the mother had stopped caring about life and everything around her, once her son was to be old enough to see it, it would have been too late to fix it. The other child, was somehow never spoken of again, that child was given up for adoption after the mother deemed raising two children too daunting of a task.

If not for the boy with the chubby cheeks’ parents working as hard as they did, they would not have the new house they did to help support their young children. They were now rarely around to take care of their young son; their older daughter took care of him most of the time happily. After eight years of raising a beautiful daughter, the two parents were happily blessed with another child. 

The daughter may have been only eleven years of age, but she was very responsible in tending to her cute, little three-year-old brother. Today, on this beautiful spring morning, the birds were chirping, the flowers had all been in bloom and the sky was bright and clear, all for the chubby cheeked boy. For at least once a year, the busy parents got a day off of their busy jobs to relax and have fun with their young son and beautiful daughter.

After preschool, both mothers had come and picked up their children. After seeing each other every weekday and seeing that their sons were becoming good friends, they had decided to start talking to one another for their son’s sakes. The two families had been living very close to each other for many unknown years, making it easier for their children to go see each other. With children walking hand in hand of their mothers, as well as the two new friends holding each others hand, they all walked sweetly together in the safety between the two mothers. The chubby cheeked boy looked over at his friends with the rosebud lips, smiling softly. He looked to their connected hands before dropping his gaze to the gravelled ground sheepishly.

The chubby cheeked boy’s family owned a modern, two story home, it was something that they had worked very hard for. This was not the first time that the young boy with the rosebud lips had been over to his home, yet he still loved it. He only lived a few blocks away, in a small bungalow home with bad heating. If they were a little older, most peers would assume he liked going over to his home because he was envious of him, but this was not the case. The young boy with the rosebud lips loved going over to his new friends home because there, he did not act, he was himself at home. They had only been friends for a couple of weeks, little did these toddlers know was it would be a friendship that lasted a lifetime. At the daycare, the chubby cheeked boy would always lie to peer students in telling them that he liked something that they did, even when he didn’t. He only told the truth to his new friend, he felt that the others needed every one of the other students to like what the did.

The four of them had entered the dark chestnut door that lead to the small entranceway. Each mother assisted their child with their spring jackets, unbuttoning them and placing them on the hooks on the wall. The children’s boots were made of rubber and easy for them to remove themselves. After tending to their children’s outerwear, the mothers tended to their own. All of the jackets were placed perfectly in array of colour on the wall, with each shoe on the ground in order from smallest to largest. 

In the kitchen, the mothers had begun preparing the simple food for the birthday party. Standing at the marble island rolling balls of cooled sticky rice, the mothers were chatting amongst each other while their children ran off and played in another room.

“Sou, Ezaki san.” The guest mother looked over at her side as she handed her an unfinished Onigiri to be wrapped. “I have noticed that you have been glowing lately. Any reason?” from mother to mother, she could tell that the little bump on her stomach was not weight gain from being unhealthy, nor was the warm glow on her cheeks from heat exhaustion.

Kaore looked over to her side, smiling at her child’s friend’s mother with a warm smile on her round lips.

“You could tell, Ayatsu san?” her husband knew, they were both greatly excited to have a new child on the way into their already perfect family. “Yes, I am expecting another child.” She put a finger to her lips, hushing Hitomi. “Maruki chan and Kyoko chan don't know yet so please, keep this between us.” Hitomi smiled and nodded sweetly, trying to hold back a smart little chuckle of knowing such a beautiful secret.

Trampling up the stairs, the two new friends dashed off to the birthday boy’s wide, clean room to play before the other children were to arrive. Hopefully, if the young chubby cheeked boy could use his surprising intelligence properly, he could keep all of the other children in the den where all the activity would be commencing. Due to the teasing at the daycare, the chubby cheeked boy was not fond of other kids, especially if they were in his room. The child with the rosebud lips was the only one allowed in his room, for he was the only one that he could trust.

The chubby cheeked boy ran into his door, slamming it open by slapping his hands against the flat surface. His room was full of bright toys and a few learning electronics. On his small school desk was a small play computer which was used for teaching children their alphabet and numbers, it was rarely used for the young intelligent boy had already known these academic skills.

The boy with the chubby cheeks sat himself down on the lower bunk of his bunk bed. When he had turned four he was promised to by his hard working parents that they would buy him a bunk bed that was to last him many years of having friends sleep over. As it was so far, their son had only befriended one child. Four years old was a young age to force a child to have friends, it was also strange that he was not trying on his own either.

The shy boy with the rosebud lips sat down at his friend’s desk chair quietly where the toy computer sat, gathering dust. He sat with his cute hands clasped together, pressed firmly together between his small knees. The boy with the chubby cheeks had looked up at his friend, a wide smile spreading on his lips, lifting the baby fat on his cheeks. His wide almond shaped eyes lit up as he smiled, instantly he became a bright and happy bundle of joy.

The young boy stood, grabbing his new friend’s hand, pulling him to sit on the bed with him. The chubby cheeked boy shifted to face his friend, the bright smile still plastered on his smooth lips.

The boy with the rosebud lips’ narrow eyes widened when his friend grabbed his hand, pulling him to the bed. This was what he loved about his friend, he was kind to him, unlike all the other kids at the daycare who would always tease him. The boy with the rose bud lips’ eyelashes fluttered as he blinked nervously. The young boy parted his lips nervously, he wanted to speak, but he did not want to so his friend would not cry as to what he was going to say to him. Small noises came from his throat, yet no real words came out. 

“I am sorry, Maruki chan.” The boy with the rosebud lips apologized for no reason. His eyes rose to surprisingly meet with his friend’s, who were still as happy as ever. “My mother could not afford to get you a present.” He apologized sympathetically again. The young peer felt bad that he could not get his first and only friend a toy car or a block set for his birthday like he had told sensei he wanted. These were mature thoughts for such a young pair of friends.

Maruki laughed a little at his friend’s comment, he even fell back on his bed holding his chubby tummy. After getting out his cute, hysterical laughter he sat up again, leaning forward to take his friend’s hand in his own.

“I do not need a present from you Aiya chan.” Maruki spoke in a sweet tone, his cute, baby voice was squeaky and high pitched. He sat silently for a few moments, holding his friend’s hand warmly. Thinking in those few moments, he got the perfect idea. “You can promise me something for a gift!” Though cute and happy still, Maruki was serious about wanting that as a gift. His actions were very different and abnormal for any child his age on their birthday.

Aiya was a little taken back by his friend’s suggestion, but he accepted it as long as it would make him happy. A promise? What kind of promise? Maruki's epiphany shout had shocked the poor, shy boy slightly, making him jump in his seat as he watched Maruki move his hands around excitedly. 

“What promise is that Maruki chan?” Aiya was nervous and not entirely sure what this promise could be, his sweating hands told the whole story as to how nervous he was.

Maruki nodded happily, a small ‘un’ adding to his agreement that Aiya took his suggestion for a gift. It was rare for a child so young to not want a present, but the gift he was to ask for is the best he could ever receive.

“I want you to promise me that you will always be my friend.” It was a cute request from someone so young. Maruki looked to his slightly older friend, he was as serious as could be. He smiled down at his shy friend cutely, offering him a hand. 

Aiya had frozen a moment, hesitantly taking his friends hand. He nodded in the same cute manner that Maruki did, accepting his gift suggestion and happily standing up with him.

“I promise, Maruki chan, I will always be your friend.” Aiya now had a gift for Maruki, the promise of eternal friendship. Being pulled away from the bed, Maruki had begun to spin Aiya around the room, making both of them very dizzy. 

One call came from the bottom of the stairs, another call came from the bottom of the stairs. Maruki and Aiya were having too much fun spinning around the room in a vortex of happiness. Finally a third, louder call had got their attention and they went running for the door to come to his mother’s call. Standing at the top of the stairs, Maruki and Aiya looked down to see a half of a dozen of kids flooding into their house holding gifts for him. It was not a sight he liked seeing, but this, he could endure for a few hours before he could have fun with Aiya alone again.

It was a perfect end, to a perfect day. Maruki had received only a few presents, just like he wanted. There were a few slices of cake left which would be left for Maruki. Presents were scattered in various places of the living room. He didn’t know where some were already, he only knew that Aiya’s gift was always with him.

Saeko had sent the rest of the children home, Hokuto had left Aiya to his sleep over with a kiss good night. Hokuto had told Saeko that she would be back the next evening to pick up Aiya. It was quiet and dark in Maruki’s room, the blinds and door were closed. Yet nether stopped the light of the lightning’s glare from entering the room. Maruki lay on the bottom bunk, Aiya on the top. The monstrous sound of the thunder made a large whimper escape Aiya’s lips. At that sound, Maruki sat up and listened again. The second crash of thunder was enough confirmation for the birthday boy. 

Maruki pulled the blanket off him and stood on the full-sized mattress and peeked over the bars to see Aiya. He took Aiya’s hand and tugged gently a few times. It didn’t take much force for Aiya to jump down the ladder and move down to Maruki’s bed. Maruki sighed softly, not having been afraid of the thunder or lightning and flopped back down on his pillow. Maruki let his arm lay across the pillow, where Aiya had curled in. shivering Aiya cuddled into Maruki’s chest, his eyes closed tightly in order to not see the flash. 

Both were young, but one was brave like a lion, the other weak like a sheep. With Maruki holding him, it didn’t take long for Aiya to fall asleep in the comfort of his new friend’s arms. With light constantly coming in the room it took Maruki took a little longer, but in the end, Maruki and Aiya fell asleep arm in arm. This, would be the first of many incidences that Maruki would be the guardian angel for Aiya, his own personal Rosebud that he would always feel that he’d need o protect his blossoming delicacy.