"How's your stomach, mom?" the day after, Juro gets up earlier, greeting his mother once she awakens. "I'm fine, Juro. Just a little hungry." she replies, yawning as she rubs her eyes. "Well we just had morning roll call, I covered for you." Juro nods, "But Riki wants the whole group to eat breakfast outside today while we have a meeting for the day's jobs."

"When is it?" "It's-" "Morning, guys!" Just then, their door opens and in steps Kenshi. All the Black Foxes had their own rooms in the apartment building where their camp was situated. Juro adn Maiko share the same little apartment, though, in an apocalypse, an apartment was one of their best bets for a good night's sleep.

"Hey, Kenshi," The pair had also been introduced to the rest of the team, with a tsundere blonde named Takuto, a ginger named Hiro and two brothers, who acted much like the doctors for the group, the Kujo brothers, Taiga and Hyosuke.

"There you are, Fukuyumi," Riki greets as they come out to the campfire in the middle of the grounds. "Your stomach, alright?"

"It's fine. I can go out on jobs as well today if needed." she shrugs, sitting down on the chairs around the unlit fire pit.

"Really? That'd be great help, especially since we actually need three one tower duty today."

"Yeah, no problem. But, uh..." she moves closer to the man, making sure that Juro didn't hear anything. "Just... If I have a task out of teh grounds, just make sure that Juro doesn't go out of this area. I really don't need him in anymore trouble."

"...I guess that'd be fine. Alright, I got tasks for all of you, so listen up!"

After their breakfast and some task handling, Yuki was to be with Tatsuro and Hiro on tower watching with Takuto and Riki clearing some areas around the back since some walkers were lurking around there. Taiga and Hyosuke were working with Atsumu to organize some supplies, Juro tagging along to get used to the environment around.

Lastly, Kenshi and Maiko were heading a few ways out to collect more supplies from a few stores and markets near the area. They were in their small apartments, just gathering some weapons and stuff. Their apartments were right across from each other, so once Maiko finished changing her bandages, she met Kenshi standing right across her door once stepping out.

"You ready to head out?"

"Yeah, let's go." she nods, following behind Kenshi as the man kicks himself off the wall, walking off. Opening the gates, he waves to Hiro, Yuki and Tatsuro as they head off. "Alright, so there's no more gas in our van so we're going to get some gas for that, meaning we'll be on foot for this trip."

"Alright. That's cool." she nods, fixing her backpack as they follow the road. It was a comfortable silence, until Kenshi spoke up. "So... uh... Before Juro found us, what happened to you guys? If you don't mind me asking."

"Well... We were actually from a small little village in Hisano, but then after the raiders put up their base there we traveled over to Mura. But then the walkers started crowding in so we took the Survivor Smugglers' route and took it halfway. Then we just walked the rest of the way over here to Sanyu." she explains, walking alongside the tall brunette.

"Really? Damn, where did you sleep over night, cause Mura is a full day to Sanyu if you start walking halfway through." 

"My son found an actual tent in one of the old stores, it's in pretty good condition."

"Some luck you got there," he chuckles, making her laugh in response. "It's gonna run out soon."

"So... uh, Juro also told us that you were a teen mom... Is that true?"

"He told you huh?" she smiles a little. "Yeah, I had Juro when I was fifteen. It was a stupid choice, but I wouldn't redo it for the world. I found my husband through that and had my little boy Juro as well."

"Was your husband the same...?" he hesitated, but she shrugs and nods. "Yeah, he's the father. I just... I kind of got drunk at my best friend's party when they accidentally served me some whiskey. He was drunk as well, and it just happened."

Kenshi wanted to poke around a little more, but after Juro's reaction about the topic of his father, he didn't think that Maiko would be very keen on the idea of discussing it either. "Let me guess, you want to know about my husband don't you?" she asked with a small smirk, brushing hair away from her face.

"You don't have to, I-" "It's cool. But hopefully you've got time, cause it's a long story.""We're pretty far." "Good."

~*****~

"Me and my husband, we were childhood friends... We were the same age, with him being older than me by a month. We grew up together, we were next door neighbors in Hisano and went to Shogakko elementary together."

"Come on, Maiko! Aren't you excited to start 1st grade together?!" Yoshiko bounces on his feet excitedly. "B-But... My mommy's not going to bring me there anymore..."

"Don't worry!" he smiles brightly, grabbing her small hand in his, "I'll protect you! Besides, my mom's going to bring us there today! You'll be fine!"

"O-okay..."

"We stuck together through elementary, and eventually, moved on to middle school and moved on to the first year of high school as freshmen. Yoshiko was always popular with the ladies, and I was a little popular with some guys. But we never dated anyone, not even each other. The girls in the school were envious, and I used to be bullied a lot, and he was the one who kept me up."

"Maiko...? You okay?" he entered her room quietly, finding his best friend on her bed, curled up and crying. Taking her into a hug, he calmly strokes her hair. "You okay...?"

She decided to be honest and shake her head no, sniffling as her tears wetted his shirt. "G-Gomen'nasai..." she sniffs, clutching his shirt. "It's fine..." he breathes, still stroking her hair.

"Were they bullying you again?" she nods. "Don't worry, Maiko. I still remember my promise."

"I promise to protect you."

"We were best friends through life, had a few arguments here and there, but we always stuck together. We eventually got together in our late freshmen year in high school, when we had Juro after the whole ordeal at my friend's party, but we were like a power couple, we stayed together for about 8 years before he proposed to me."

"Just tell me where we're going, Yoshiko." she giggles, letting him lead her as the sound of running water filled her ears. "Where are we?" Being blindfolded, she had no idea where they were, or what was happening.

Just then, sweet music filled her ears with the familiar tune of her favorite song. "Yoshiko, what are you-"

He pulls off the blindfold gently to reveal a small little picnic dinner on the green fields of their favorite park, right beside the river where they had their first kiss. "Oh my-"

"Shh... Maiko... Before we do anything, I want to give you something and ask you something as well." he says gently as he gets down on one knee. A hand naturally flies to her mouth as he pulls out a small box.

"Maiko, we've been together about 8 years now, and frankly, I've been thinking about this for the longest time and I think you're the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. So I, Yoshiko Fukuyumi, am asking for your hand in marriage."

"Oh my god... Yoshiko, yes! Of course!"

~*****~

"Wow... Quite the story..." Kenshi mumbles, looking ahead. "Yeah... People were still in disbelieve about the whole 8 years together thing."

"What happened to Yoshiko, though...?" Kenshi asked quietly. "If you don't mind," she mumbles, "I'd rather avoid that topic. I can't really talk about it..."

'Not when I'm the one who killed him...'