Shattered Pieces [Mae]

Mae was soundly asleep that morning on the couch. Sharaku probably had noticed she had fallen asleep with her clothes still on since yesterday. To be honest, Mae was probably not aware of this fact herself... But not that there was anything she could do about it now. Her dreams had gotten quite pleasant as of late. No longer did the images of her Shadow nor Charles leaving her behind plague her sleep. No longer did she have to fear for Ayane's life... She was finally at peace.



"Hrm... Wha...?" Mae mumbled groggily as she slowly rose up on the couch. Her hair was a complete and utter mess, and her eyes were foggy with sleep... That's when she noticed Sharaku sitting on a chair, burying his face in his hands, surrounded by broken pieces of glass... What had gone wrong here? Had he just dropped a glass or something? No... Something didn't feel right... "Umm... Sharaku?" She would start in a worried tone. "Are you okay?" She would ask, as she approached him carefully. Something was dreadfully wrong... But what?

Well... Something was definetely wrong, now that she got a good look at his face... Mae would grab a nearby chair, sitting next to him after scooping up all the broken pieces of glass on the floor, putting them in a neat pile on the countertop before turning her attention to Sharaku. " You don't look well at all..." Not at all was an understatement. Had the situation been somewhat different, then he could've been really ill... But this was something worse than that... or at least, that's what she feared it might be... She would gently caress his cheek with her left hand before leaving it to rest on his shoulder. "What is it that's troubling you, Sharaku...?" She would ask quietly, looking at him with a worried expression on her face... "Well... You did wake me up with that glass... But don't worry about it. It's not an issue..." Not as large as what was going on inside Sharaku's head that's for sure... What could be troubling him so? She had not seen him, or anyone for that matter, like this before... Sure, she was good with this kind of stuff, but would she really be able to help him through this? Only time would tell...

Mae looked at Sharaku... What would she even do? She had to do something! Anything! She felt panic kicking in, alongside the worry that had been bottled up inside ever since she first laid her eyes on him that morning. "What is it? I know it might be difficult to talk to me about this... But I can't just sit idly by watching you like this either..." This was indeed nothing she had prepared for. But in all honesty, she needed to help, prepared or not. After all... She loved him. And seeing him in this much emotional pain... She couldn't bare it. Mae HAD to do SOMETHING!


Hopefully she got through to him... Because she was telling the truth there... She would never leave him, regardless of what the issue was... as long as the issue wasn't Mae herself... Then she would probably leave him alone, for his sake. But it couldn't be her... could it?

"But I won't, Sharaku... That would just be heartless of me..." Mae looked at the small puddle left behind by Sharaku. "I'm just glad I woke up at the time I did... You shouldn't need to deal with this alone. That much I can tell..." She would lay an arm around him as she spoke to him gently. "So, don't feel bad about that, alright?" He really shouldn't be dealing with this himself. "Heh... I would be one lousy girlfriend if I didn't do anything to help you..."

"Then what are you worried about? Let me help you..." She looked at him with a determined gaze. She wouldn't simply slide this off as nothing. She cared about him more than any other person in the world right now... All Mae wanted was to see Sharaku happy, together with her. But in order to get to the good you had to wade through the bad first... "Oh... Don't feel bad about that..." Quite frankly, there was no reason to feel bad about it in Mae's eyes. She embraced him tightly, refusing to let go of him. "You've done nothing wrong, Sharaku... Absolutely nothing." She'd whisper in his ear, her voice trembling somewhat... "I love you, Sharaku... And nothing will ever change that..." Mae would look into his eyes. Her vision was quite blurry from all the tears she attempted to hold back. Why did he think this way? There must be a reason why...

"Well... You're not bothering me..." Mae would say carefully. She finally got where he was coming from... No one liking him... Was that really how he saw things? Was this caused by those experiments? Sure, he was a bit of a tease, but that wasn't enough of a reason in Mae's eyes to dislike him. "Sharaku... Please, don't beat yourself up over it... I like you for who you are... Would I be sitting here with you if I didn't?" Probably not... But she did like him, alot...

Sharaku needed someone that accepted him for who he was... "If they don't believe you... Give them a reason to... I know very well you're capable of showing emotions, and I know you're definetely capable of caring... Maybe one day, people will see you for the wonderful person you really are... I can help you with that if you want..." She would look deeply into his eyes... How would she get through to him? Sharaku meant the world to her. How could she at least show him that someone cared? That would be a good start.

"Well... If anyone has a problem with what you do, talk to them about it... I personally don't see an issue with it as long as you don't go too far... Which, you have not done yet..." Was he crying? "Sharaku... getting together with you is the best thing that has ever happened to me... Don't you see? You're everything to me..." She squeezed him a little closer to her... "I'm here for you... Just let it all out... No need to keep all of this bottled up inside you anymore, Okay?"

She looked at him with a gentle smile... "I don't blame you for having a hard time trusting people... Considering what you've been through, I'm honestly not suprised... It might be difficult for you... But if you try to open up a bit more to someone... Maybe they'll understand... But please... Take it slow... No need to move out of your comfort zone too quickly..." Just like he had let her into his life... That was the first step... "Not everyone's out to hurt you... I can promise you that much, Sharaku..." Mae closed her eyes slowly, taking a deep breath, awaiting his response...

"I'll find a way, if it's necessary." Mae gave him a warm smile. "If there isn't one... I'll make a way myself. For your sake." One of the things she wanted the most was Sharaku being happy with who he was. Giving him some sort of self-respect... How Mae would get him to that point, she did not know... But that didn't stop the girl from trying, now did it? The next part... she wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer to... but nothing ventured, nothing gained. The girl took a deep breath before asking: "What do you mean by 'the way I used to before...'?" There... she asked it... Hopefully she didn't dig up any old wounds from his past by accident... That would be... less than desirable.

"Well, then they are just not willing to give you a chance... Which is entirely their fault... Not yours. If they dismiss what you're telling them like it's nothing... Then there's not much more you can do... At least you tried explaining... They just didn't even try to understand..." That was just flat out not fair of them... Not even giving Sharaku a chance... She would've gotten pretty angry about it, but right now... she couldn't. Not in front of Sharaku when he was like this.

"Sometimes it's okay not knowing what to do, Sharaku... That's why we have friends, after all... We can't do everything by ourselves. That's just impossible... It's difficult for you to get friends, yes... But at least you have people close to you who care... I want you to be happy, Sharaku. And arguments are unavoidable for the most part... Sometimes, it's just healthier to not be together with someone if you argue half the time..."

Mae frowned at him. "That's not true, and you know it. You're worth just as much as everyone else, with or without a persona... Sure, you don't get to do all that stuff, but does it really matter that much in the long run? You've done things I can't even dream about..." Tears had begun rolling down her cheeks, dripping down slowly onto Sharaku's back.

"Well, don't give up, Sharaku... I'm with you every step of the way, okay?" At least he was opening up to her... Completely... It was kind of touching, in a sense that he was willing to let her in on this... And Mae was grateful for that. Now she had a chance to help him for a change... "Well, you've gotten this far, right? Why stop trying now?" Honestly, would he just give up after all that...? "You can't get along with everyone... So there's no reason for you to be upset about it, okay...?"

"Like what? Ignore you and go do other things? I would never do that... I know you want me to but... I can't just leave you to deal with this stuff alone... No one should ever be alone at a time like this... Especially you." Mae looked at him with a worried facial expression... Mae gasped lightly as he explained what it was... "You...?" She covered her mouth with her hand, looking at him blankly. Luckily he didn't go through with it... "I'm sorry to hear that... But at least things are slowly getting better, right?"

"I know... But you don't have to blame yourself all the time either... That leads you nowhere..." Mae looked at him with a light frown... "What do you want then...? You don't know? It's okay to not know, Sharaku... Most people spend their entire lives finding something they want to do... Most eventually find it, some don't..." She sighed deeply... "Just give him some time... He'll get over it most likely." How would she respond to that last part...? She took herself a moment to think about it before answering. "Happiness is different for everybody... Mind if I ask you something?" She'd look at him straight in the eyes. "When you are with me... are you happy?" She wasn't necessarily refering to now... "Like... Back in the park... When I confessed... were you happy then?" It might've been a little unfair to ask that of him now... but honestly, she didn't expect him to answer that straight away... Things like that took time... Even if he said no... she would still stick by his side... But hopefully she'd get the answer she wanted... If nothing else, that'd give him something at least to keep him from getting into this king of situation in the future...

"You'll find something... Who knows? Maybe you'd make a good father." She said, sort of jokingly, but a part of her was still serious about that statement... She would sob quietly against his shoulder before looking at him again... "I-I'm sorry... I guess I must've overreacted a bit... I meant every word I said though..." She would give him a sheepish look, wiping away some of her tears on the sleeve of her hoodie... "I..." She fell silent, looking down at her hands... Was this even helping?