A small girl, around the age of 3, sat up in her bed wailing hysterically. She had just woken up from a scary dream and was begging for her mommy and daddy to come.

After a few moments of crying, a woman quickly approached the bed and took her in her arms.

"Ichigo! What's wrong? What happened?" The mother asks concerned for her child. The girl looks up at her in her mother's arms, tears falling down her cheeks. "Mommy! It was awful! I had a bad dream that you and daddy were gone!" She exclaims before bursting into tears again.

Maki sighs and holds her close, caressing her daughter's mess of red hair. "It's okay. I'm here now. So let's go back to bed so..." "I can't!" She cries out holding her tight, "you guys'll disappear again!" The mother hums disappointedly before smiling down at Akane. "What about a story?" She asks. The little girl looks to her, eyes lighting up. "For real?" She asks breathless. Maki chuckles and nods. "For real. Now what story do you want?" She asks. Akane let go and sat in a thinking position before coming to one. She jumped back into her mother's lap, shouting; "I wanna hear your and daddy's story!"

"Really? I thought you heard that one before," she says with a smirk, knowing she has. "Yeahhh. I just wanna hear it again," Akane says before giving Maki her best pussycat eyes, "pleeeease~!"

Maki laughs and agrees. "Okay. Now get comfortable. Remember I'm trying to get you to sleep," she smiles as she boops her nose. Akane giggles as she and her mom cuddle up under the covers.

"Okay. Ready?" Maki asks as she brushes her baby's hair out of her face. Akane nods as she cuddles into her excited. "Alright. This story begins a long time ago, when I was in middle school,...."