A few days pa.s.sed since the sign on the door of Sena"s Flowers read "closed." Sena hadn"t responded to Rick"s texts either. Rick put down the phone and sighed. "Yeesh what a dissapointing day." He turned to Maru who was staring out the window. "Mm." She responded not taking her glance off the window. "What"s wrong kiddo?" Rick walked over to the couch and sat down next to her. "I wanted to go the park today." She pouted. "Don"t worry," Rick began. "There"ll be several other opportunities to go to the park, just not today." He smiled twirling her hair between his fingers. "Mhm." Maru nodded, still pouting. "Ah wait," Rick began. Maru turned her head towards him in confusion. "I just remembered I needa get groceries." He clicked his tongue in annoyance."Do you want anything while I"m gone?" Rick questioned turning his head to Maru. "Hmm." Maru bit her lip while in thought. "Strawberries!" She smiled. "Got it." Rick smiled as he walked out the door giving a wave.
"Man I really hate this kinda gloomy weather." He mumbled. "Especially walking in it." As he was walking he turned his head to a building with a sign on it that read "s.p.a.ce available." The sign however wasn"t what caught his attention. It was the woman sitting under it that did. Is that- "Oi!" He shouted. The woman didn"t look up. She was sitting with her arms hugging her legs with her head down.
"Abbey!" He shouted once more. She looked up startled. She then put her head down once more. "Go away." She mumbled quietly. Rick hustled over. "You"ll catch a cold," He began. "So what." She said not budging. Rick scratched his head. "Does Sena know you"re out here getting drenched?" She looked up. "It"s none of her concern." "Do you know what used to be here?" He asked eyeing the sign. Abbey gave a hard look, then sighed. "It was my fathers dojo." "Ah." Rick nodded. "I couldn"t do it." She whispered. "Hm?" Rick leaned closer to hear better. "I couldn"t save him or his precious dojo!" She began to shake. "When he got sick," she began. But fell silent. Rick c.o.c.ked his head. "I don"t wanna bore you with any tasteless detail-" she stopped and watched as Rick sat next to her, holding the umbrella over her head. "What?" Her eyes began to water. "I wanna know every tasteless detail, if that"s what it takes to get you and I outta this rain." He smiled. A couple of tears streamed down her face as she gave a slight nod.
"My father was a man who loved kids." Rick nodded. "What he loved even more were swords. I wasn"t born yet, but he tells me one day while polishing one of his favorite swords he had an aha moment." She chuckled. "Which was?" She closed her eyes and smiled. "Why not combine the two?" Rick smiled, nodding. "So he opened this dojo." She motioned her hand towards the building. "I was his only child, but he didn"t mind at all. As long as I would learn to love the sword the same as him he would be content." She let out a sigh. "And of course I did." She looked up. "He taught me what he taught each and every one of his students." "Which was?" Rick asked while cleaning his gla.s.ses. "To love the sword." She nodded to herself. "Oh!" She exclaimed as she looked up. "Look!" She said pointing. Rick put his gla.s.ses back on and looked. It had finally stopped raining. What was left from the bitter rain was now a beautiful rainbow. Rick looked towards Abbey with a unique twinkle in her eyes. "Sure is beautiful." He smiled as he looked up.