Chapter 4: Welcome Home Ken-Chin

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At Mikey's Flower Shop

Mikey had gotten up to see Draken gone, now leaving her alone in her apartment. Mikey couldn't help but cry knowing he had left her, feeling heartbroken and alone. Ever since that day Mikey has not been the same. She has smiled less and she hasn't been all that happy. The people who adore Mikey in the neighborhood could tell that something had happened to Mikey and that is why she is not happy. Well they have had enough of not seeing her happy, so they decided to call in the big guns.

*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*

"Hello, Shinichiro Sano speaking, may I ask who is this" Shinichiro answered over the phone.

"Hello Shinichiro-kun, this is Mrs. Ledger from the bakery across the street from your sister's flower shop" Mrs. Ledger said.

"Oh well hello Mrs. Ledger, what can I help you with" Shinichiro asked politely.

"Well I called to ask you, if you knew what has happened to Mikey" Mrs. Ledger replied worryingly.

"What has happened to Mikey? Is she okay? Is she safe? Should I drive down there? What happened is she-" Shinichiro was cut off before he can finish.

"No no no, it is nothing like that, she is safe and unharmed, but I meant as in she hasn't been herself lately. She looks sad almost even depressed I would say. And I have known Mikey for quite some time and I have never seen her this sad before, so I called to ask if you knew anything about it" Mrs. Ledger said.

"...No. No I don't know anything about it but thank you for bringing it to my attention. I'll talk to her to see what happened and get this all figured out" Shinichiro said.

"Oh okay thank you so much Shinichiro-kun. I hope I haven't bothered you too much, it's just that as long as I have known Mikey, she is always such a bright and cheerful young girl, but now she is sad that I couldn't help but to worry" Mrs. Ledger said, sounding sad remembering how she saw Mikey so sad earlier.

"It is no problem Mrs. Ledger if anything I'd like to thank you for informing me about this, without you calling me and telling me this, I would have not known that my sister was going through something so thank you" Shinichiro said politely.

"Oh well it is no problem, if anything everyone here was quite worried about her, but I am happy to know that her family is coming to help" Mrs. Ledger said smiling at the thought.

"Of course. Goodbye Mrs. Ledger" Shinichiro said as he hung up.

After the phone call, Shinichiro decided to have a family dinner and that all the Sano siblings will attend. First he called Mikey to invite her and at first she denied saying she was busy after enough convincing she agreed to join. But during the call Shinichiro can hear sadness in her tone and immediately wanted to do anything in his power to make her happy again. After his phone call with Mikey, he called his other siblings to join and that he will not take "no" as an answer. After all his siblings agreeing to go, he began preparing for tonight's dinner.

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At the Sano Household

Usually their family dinners would be filled with joy and laughter, but right now the atmosphere could not be more colder. Usually Mikey would ask everyone how their day was or do anything to make everyone smile, but right now she was dead quiet and didn't bash anyone an eye, and that's what scared the other siblings, since their little sister was never quiet. But enough was enough, they can clearly see that their little sister was sad and upset, so they have decided to get to the bottom of this.

"So Mikey, how was work today? Did you do anything fun today? Did you go anywhere? Anything?" Shinichiro asked his little sister anxiously.

"Today was okay" Mikey replied dryly not even batting her siblings an eye.

"A-are you sure, you didn't do anything exciting today? Oh maybe someone came in and confused your flower shop with a greenhouse again. Right? Anything like that" Emma asked her sister nervously.

"No nothing happened today" Mikey said quietly.

"Mikey, what happened, why are you so sad today? We have never seen you like this. What happened? Please tell us what's wrong" Shinichiro pleaded to Mikey.

"I'm okay Onii-chan. N-" Mikey herself off not wanting to say anything,

-Sighs- "I'm okay" Mikey just said instead.

After that dinner went silent. Everything was quiet until:

"I should get going" Mikey said suddenly.

"W-what so soon" Shinichiro said.

"Yeah. Tomorrow, I have to get up early in the morning" Mikey said as she was getting up.

"You can stay here for the night and we will drop you off in the morning" Emma said I'm hoping to get the sister to stay.

"No I think I should go. Thank you for dinner, it was delicious. Bye bye" Mikey said now almost walking out of the door.

"No matter what, I hope you know that we are all right behind you. That no matter what, we are right here with you, and you can come to us at anytime. You can come to us whenever you are feeling bored, lonely, sad, or even if you just want company, we are there with you okay. I love you Mikey. We all do. So don't you dare ever forget it. You don't have to tell us why you are sad, but just know that we are right here with you. Always" Izana said hugging Mikey before she reached the door, stopping her in her tracks.

Everything was quiet, until muffled sounds of crying were heard. Izana looked down to see Mikey crying in his arms not letting him go. He then proceed to go her tighter, to tell her that he was right here with her. There other siblings soon joined the hug. After some time, the Sano siblings broke apart their hug and waved Mikey goodbye, and telling her that she can always come back if she ever needed anything. Mikey gave her siblings a small smile before waving them goodbye.

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At The Flower Shop

Mikey feeling a little bit better after having dinner with her siblings, decided to keep the shop open a little longer tonight. After what she felt was everyone, she decided to finally close the shop for the night. As she was cleaning and making sure everything was fine inside the shop, she then started turning off the lights and head to the door to lock it for the night. But as soon as she was getting ready to lock it, someone came into her view. Confused on why someone was out in the street at night, she opened the door to see if they needed help or if they were lost.

"Um execuse me, are you lost? Do you need any help?" Mikey asked the random stranger.

After going no response Mikey starts to get scared not knowing what do. As the random stranger starts to get closer, Mikey builds the courage to ask again.

"Um execuse me, are you lost? Do you need any help?" Mikey asked one again.

And once again no response. Mikey feels scared when the random stranger starts to walk faster towards her. Mikey feels scared and starts to find the nearest object around her for self defense. Mikey's hand falls upon something, but she doesn't know what it is scared to even look away. As the stranger starts to get closer, Mikey tightens her grip on the object, ready to hit the stranger, if they come attacking her. Then the stranger started running towards her, and Mikey was so scared that she swung the object with her eyes closed, but the stranger caught her wrist, and without opening her eyes, Mikey pleaded to the stranger.

"P-p-lease don't hurt me. I'll give you the money, but please don't h-hurt me" Mikey pleaded to the stranger, now crying.

It was like time stopped, since it was so quiet and neither of them moved, it was like they were frozen in place. It was until someone decided to speak.

"I will never ever hurt you Mikey. Never" the random stranger said.

But oh, Mikey new that voice all to well. After having the courage to do so, Mikey decided to open her eyes to look at the "stranger". Only for her to cry even more.

"K-ken-chin" Mikey sobbed out.

"Yeah" Draken said letting go of Mikey's wrist smiling at her with tears of his own.

"K-ken-chin came back?" Mikey asked through her tears.

"Yeah. I'm coming back home" Draken said looking at her.

Mikey didn't hesitate to hug Draken and cry in his arms. She kept saying "ken-chin" over and over again as more tears came out. Draken held her in his arms not daring to let her go. Time has passed and soon enough, Mikey has passed out due to exhaustion and from crying. Draken carried her in his arms and took her upstairs before locking the place up. He gently laid her on the bed before joining her and having her in his arms. After that they both drifted off to sleep happily, by being in each other's arms.

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At Mikey's Apartment

Mikey woke up to the fire alarms going off. Mikey panicked wondering why they were going off or who set them off. As Mikey headed to the kitchen wondering what was going on, she then saw Draken clearing the air to make the alarms stop beeping. After the alarms have stopped, Draken noticed Mikey and motioned for her to sit down while he served breakfast. After both parties sat down it was quiet during breakfast, both not knowing how to bring last night up. It wasn't until after breakfast when both have freshened up and sat when in the couch, that they felt they had to discuss last nights event.

"I know you are probably wondering why I decided to show up last night unannounced" Draken said breaking the ice.

"I know that I said that I wouldn't come back or that I couldn't come back, but I-"Draken said cutting himself off.

Mikey noticed Draken's hesitation, so she took his hand and held it, as a sign of comfort. After doing that Draken looked up to look at Mikey and saw her small smile of comfort and decided to keep on going on what he was going to say to her.

"I wasn't planning on coming back because I made a promise and a commitment to my team, and I thought that my home was them, but when I returned I didn't feel anything. I didn't feel like I was at home, and then I had a long talk with my boss to see what was wrong with me and he said that I didn't feel at home with them because they weren't my home. You were" Draken said looking at Mikey.

"You are my home Manjiro Sano, and I have never ever felt more happier than the moment I shared with you in this apartment. I have never smiled more in my life, than when I am with you. I have never laughed more until I met you. I have never felt more happiness in my life until you came in it" Draken says looking down.

"You are the most important person in my life Mikey, and I can't imagine you with anyone else because I don't want you to be with anyone else. And I know that is selfish of me to say, but it is how I feel. After me realizing that, I have also realized that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to wake up either knowing that once I open my eyes I will see you by my side with me or me waking up to see you making breakfast for us because let's face it I was so close to burning down you kitchen" Draken says cocking which also made Mikey chuckle as well.

"But my point is that I can't see my future without you. I know that it is too early for me to say this but I see myself marrying you, having a family with you, living here or wherever with you. As long as I have you by my side I feel like I can do anything, be anything because of you. You are my everything Manjiro. I want to be with you for the rest of my life, and I hope that you feel the same because I-" Draken cut off before finding the courage to finish his confession.

"Because?" Mikey said hoping to hide her nervousness.

"Because I love you" Draken declared confidently and honestly, while looking at Mikey.

Minutes have passed since Draken's confession, and things could have not been more awkward and quiet. Because of Mikey's lack of communication, Draken took that as a sign of rejection and immediately began to panic and tried to ease the awkwardness.

"But if you don't feel the same it's fine too, like I am not pressuring you to feel the same. Like I mainly came here to tell you how I feel and if you don't feel the same that is completely fine too, there is no pressure whatsoever. If you feel uncountable I can just leave or if you need some time I can also leave again, but mainly I just wanted you to know and again no pressure, no pressure, just wanted you to know. Also if you want I can leave so you can be alone if you want, I don't know if you want me stay or go, but either way it's fine, as long as yo-" Draken was cut off by a pair of lips on his own.

To shocked to react or do anything, Draken stood completely still. After a few seconds they parted to take a breath. Now realizing what she did, Mikey could not help the blush forming on her face, and what made it worse was that Draken looked away with a blush on his face too, making her go even more red. After both of them having time to recover Mikey gains the courage to finally speak.

"I was devastated when you left Ken-chin" Mikey said making Draken look at her.

"I felt lost. I didn't know what to do anymore, it was like I didn't know how to be happy anymore, I didn't know how to smile, almost like a part of me was missing. But when I saw you last night, it was like that part of me that was missing finally came back home. At first I thought it was something you took, but I know realize that, that part of me that was missing was you and only you" Mikey said looking at Draken.

"I didn't want you to leave because I wanted you stay not only here but with me. I loved every moment we had together. And I want more moments with you Ken-chin. I want you and only you. I can't see myself with anyone else but you. I want to do all those things with you because I love you too Ken-chin" Mikey said with not only tears in her face but with a bright smile too.

"I know I don't deserve it but can you allow me to come back home" Draken said with tears.

Mikey opened her arms, and that was enough for Draken to go in and hug her tightly scared to let her go. And with that Mikey said:

"Welcome home Ken-chin" Mikey said smiling, knowing her Ken-chin is finally home.

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