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Maki awoke with a start. She clutched the blanket that was pooled around her waist. She trembled. Another nightmare. One of nobara. She looked to her side to see yuuta sleeping peacefully, a soft snore escaping his mouth.
Maki turned to sit on the edge of the bed, abandoning the blanket. the cold air of the room nipped at her skin. She held her head in her hands and took some deep breaths, trying to collect her thoughts. She had been having dreams of nobara for so long. It felt like her ghost was haunting her. Nobara had died when maki was 17. In her 2nd year of highschool. Nobara had been makis first love.
Saying maki was heartbroken after her death would be a huge understatement. It had felt like her entire world was crushed that day. She had been with shoko after having been wounded by 3rd degree burns everywhere. Because of shokos rct the healing didn't take long, the harsh burns left large scars in their wake.
Maki remembers the exact moment she got the news. Shoko came into the room, her head hung low. Not unusual for the older women so Maki didn't really question it. Shoko took a cigarette out of her lab coat pocket and lit it. She held it in her mouth and took a long, deep, drag from the cigarette. "Hey kid." Shoko said, makis attention turning to her. Shoko looked away from maki. "I'm not really sure how to tell you this so im just gonna come right out and say it...kugisakis dead."
Everything came crashing down all at once. "What?" Maki asked, her voice quiet. Shoko looked at her with such a sorrowful look makis chest felt like it might explode. "The kids dead maki. Got hit by that one stitch curse we've been chasing. I tried everything but she was already dead before I could do anything." Shokos voice was scratchy as if she'd been smoking more. Probably had, the stress was definitely getting to her.
Maki looked down at her lap. She felt tears prick at her eyes and she didn't even try to hold them back. Water poured from her eyes and sobs tore from her throat. She felt sick, she was gonna puke. In a frantic hurry Maki ran to a nearby trashcan and threw up everything in her stomach and then some. Stomach acid burned her throat as she cried and screamed and gagged. She hadn't even realized that shoko was resting her head on her back and rubbing her shoulder.
For the next few days Maki stayed in shokos infirmiry. The burns on her skin had healed by now but her mind was still in shambles. Sure she had only known nobara for a couple months but they were super close. Nobara was always glued to her side, they had sleepovers all the time, trained with eachother almost everyday, and they were dating. Nobara was her girlfriend. They had been dating for almost 2 months now.
Panda and inumaki visited maki soon after they got the news of where she was. She had healed so they took her to yuuta. The reunion was a happy one as they hadn't seen eachother in months but maki was too numb to really show it. She had ended up killing her family soon after that. Not because of nobaras death but because she was tired of those pricks controlling her life. Mai had died as well. Everyone maki cared about seemed to be dieing.
Not soon after sukuna took over megumis body. The fight against him was long and tedious. Gojo died. Many others were killed. Eventually yuji was able to take down the king of curses and free megumi. The aftermath was bittersweet. Many that they cared for were lost in the fight against sukuna but they also won. Yuji would no longer have to be executed and sukuna would never have to be dealt with again.
Yuuta confessed his feelings to maki after the final battle. He had no knowledge of her and nobara. Honestly maki was suffering so much. All of her sadness and anger was still bottled up inside, not having anyway to escape. Maki thought that getting with yuuta might make her feel better, the touch of a human being was comforting to many. She lied and told him she liked him back. Everyone was overjoyed for the new couple.
Things went pretty smoothly in the relationship. Yuuta never pushed boundaries and he was a good boyfriend but maki never really liked him back. His touch was comforting and sometimes she could pretend that he was nobara, holding her, kissing her, cuddling her. But she would open her eyes and find black hair and dark eyes staring at her oh so lovingly.
A couple years later yuuta proposed. Maki couldn't really believe it. She really just wanted to settle down like all of her other friends had by now so she said yes. Honestly the wedding was beautiful. It had everything she had always dreamed of when she was a kid, except one thing, marrying the person she loved.
Being married to yuuta had been easy. He had always been a strong reliable person in her life. It was always easy for her to come to him but he wasn't the one she really loved. Heck she wasn't even attracted to men. It had been about 2 years since they got married and maki was still having dreams about nobara. Maki came back to reality. Her hands fell to her lap and she stared at the ring on her finger. It was a simple ring really but yuuta got a ring with an emerald in it instead of a diamond because he knew it was her favorite color.
Maki stood up from the bed and quietly made her way to their living room. The slipped on a pair of sandals and tossed a cardigan over her night clothes. Maki walked hurridly to her destination, the cold night air whipped across her face, her short hair flying every which way. The street was desolate, only a few people were around, mainly homeless people sleeping in back allies or people heading in and out of small noisy bars.
Maki drifted like a ghost to her destination. She had her eyes only on where she wanted to go. She had sat down on the soft grass infront of it. Feeling the grass tickle her legs and poke at her hands. She stared at the name on the stone, her throat tightening.
"KUGISAKI NOBARA"
AUGUST 7TH 2002 - OCTOBER 31ST 2018
"FRIEND, DAUGHTER, GRANCHILD"
Maki had come here countless times. Replaced the flowers when they wilted, talked to nobara about her life, had picnics, sometimes just sat in silence.
"Nobara. I know it's late, and I know I've said this countless times but, I miss you. I miss you so much. Every morning I wake up and I think about you, I go to sleep thinking about you, I dream about you. I see designer clothes or makeup and I think of you. I see the color red and I think of you. I see couples on the street and I can't help but picture them as me and you.
Maki can't help it as the tears run down her face. Sometimes when she thinks about nobara she feels numb but other times the pain is too much to bear. Maki grips the front of her shirt desperately, her breaths coming out shallow and rough. "Nobara please come back to me. I've given up. You were my first and only love. You were ripped from my arms as soon as I had you wrapped in them. Nobara please, nobara, nobara, nobara" She was chanting her name like a prayer. It felt as if that was the only thing tethering her to her body, to this moment, to nobara.
She had given up on expecting nobara to pop out of the shadows by now. Right after nobara died it felt so fake. It felt like nobara would be somewhere if you looked for her hard enough. Maybe she was in her room painting her nails or making fun of itadori out on the training feild. Maki was half expecting to see her everytime she was at jujutsu high but by now she had accepted the fact that nobara was dead. Nobara had been for years.
Maki sobbed for what felt like hours. Her face hurt from all the tears and her eyes burned. She leaned her head onto the cold stone, her hands clung to the grass desperately. After minutes of clinging to the rock, maki decided to go home. Her tears had stopped, she had none more to shed. She slowly stood, taking one last long glance at the beautiful gravestone infront of her. She turned her back to it and headed home.
Yuuta was still asleep when maki returned home. She quietly slid into bed as if she hadn't been been gone for at least an hour or 2. She settled into the warmth of her bed and closed her soar eyelids. Her face was still red from crying. Her nose still stuffy, her eyes still puffy.
Maybe one day she could move on from nobaras death and fill in that giant, gaping, bloody hole in her heart. Maki want sure how to do that. Yuutas presence did little to ease her pain. None of her friends could understand. The only person who could understand her was shoko, who had also been through a similar experience. Her dear friend had left her when she was youmg leaving her alone and abandoned. Shoko tried to comfort her the best way she could. She would always do the same thing. Sit beside maki with a soothing hand on her back and say,
"Good luck, babe."