Love at Last Sign

Have you ever imagined what kind of life you might be living if you were to lose your vision one day?

It sounds scary, right? I am no exception either.

I was scared...

I was afraid of going blind soon. What kind of life would I be living? All I would see was plain darkness. What else?

As I was struggling to go against my painful fate, a mute girl who was clutching onto her dear life reached out to me. I bet you are thinking about the irony right now.

She was dying while I was going blind. She saved me while I...

... fell in love with her at last sign.

Disclaimer: I don't own either Gakuen Alice or its characters, except for this story plot.

First Sign

His eyes suddenly flew open and the young lad found himself staring at a plain white ceiling. The swirling sound of the ceiling fan and the beeping sound of the machines were the only things he could hear clearly. He turned his head aside and saw his mother leaning her back against the back rest of the chair and was fast asleep. He did not remember seeing dark round rings at the bottom of her lower eyelids and wrinkles at her forehead. How long had he been asleep?

"Mum?" he called out and shook his mother's hand.

His mother inhaled deeply and slowly opened her eyes. She stared at her son blankly and after she had registered the situation before her into her mind, she let out a cry of joy.

"Natsume! You're awake!" She stood up and embraced her son tightly. "How are you feeling, Honey?"

"Tired," he replied.

"You should take a rest," she said tenderly to her son and gently ran her fingers through his messy black hair. "While I get the doctor."

His mother removed her hand from his head and picked up her handbag. After giving her beloved son a kiss on his forehead, she walked away.

Natsume shifted his gaze back to the ceiling. Questions were running through his mind like a windmill. Questions like 'how did I get here?', 'why am I here?' and 'what am I doing here?' were making him even more tired than before.

'Tap!'

His breath hitched for a moment. The noise sounded so close to him. Was there someone else in the ward, other than him? Maybe not.

'Tap! Tap!'

Curiosity got the better of him as he lifted his head a little higher and squinted. There was really someone else in the ward. A sickly-looking girl was sitting on her hospital bed, staring at him with a weak smile. Her fingers tapped on the side bar next to her bed, creating the tapping sound again.

Natsume continued to observed this noisy finger-tapping girl as she began to put her hands together and made weird patterns with her fingers. Finally, her hands stopped moving and beamed at him. However, he could only stare questionably at her.

Feeling the strain on his neck, he rested his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. After awhile, he fell asleep.

Natsume heard soft murmurs around him. He opened his eyes again and saw five people standing next to his bed talking softly to one another. He coughed to get their attention and as soon as they turned to look at him, he somewhat regretted his action. Two of his friends, Koko and Kitsuneme, jumped right on him and cheered loudly. They hugged him and kept sayings words like 'I miss you' and 'thank goodness, you're fine'.

"Stop it, guys. You're going to choke Natsume," another friend of his, Ruka Nogi, chided and pulled the two boys away from him.

Kitsuneme pouted and exclaimed, "Natsume is finally awake! We should celebrate this moment!"

"But you're disturbing another patient in the ward," a girl who was standing next to Ruka interrupted.

"Imai!" Koko groaned. "That girl doesn't mind it at all. Look at her! She is still sleeping."

Koko pointed at the sleeping patient whose bed was at the direct opposite from Natsume's bed.

"Correction, you will disturb her," the girl, Hotaru Imai, said harshly but in a softer tone.

"Cool it, children. The nurses are glaring at us," Natsume's mother interjected and turned to her confused son. "How are you feeling now, Honey?"

Natsume nodded silently and tried to sit up. With the aid of his friends, he finally sat up and leaned his back against the pillow. He looked around the ward and his eyes fixated at the sleeping patient at the other side of the ward. That patient was the noisy finger-tapping girl.

"Do you need some water?" his mother spoke again, gaining his attention.

Natsume did not reply to her question but instead, he said, "Why am I here?"

There was silence. Natsume stared hard at his three friends, his class chairperson whom he wondered why she was here in the first place, and his mother.

"Tell me," he demanded impatiently. "What happened to me?"

There was another brief moment of silence until Ruka spoke up, "You have forgotten, haven't you?"

Natsume continued to look at Ruka, puzzled.

"Hyuuga," Hotaru said with a serious expression. "You met with a road accident last Tuesday and landed up here."

Just then, he remembered that fateful accident. He was cycling to school. In fact, he had cycled to school every morning. Along the way, his vision had turned blurry and then, turned blanked. Everywhere was in total darkness. He could not see a thing but he could still hear the honking and beeping of the road vehicles. He remembered stopping abruptly to rub his eyes and suddenly hearing someone called out to him, telling him to watch out. However, it was too late. Something had hit him with a lot of force and he remembered being thrown into the air. Then, he had blacked out.

"Natsume, you're diagnosed with a hereditary eyesight problem," Natsume's mother added on. "Just like your father, your eyesight will deteriorate and you will lose your vision... soon."

His friends looked down sadly. Though he looked terribly fine after hearing that, he was actually horrified inside. Of course, he should be scared to lose his eyesight. His eyes meant everything to him. He was training himself to be an excellent photographer and landscape artist, and even dreamt of becoming a motorcyclist in the future. He believed that whatever his mother had said was a huge lie.

"The doctor said that you will need someone who is willing to donate his or her corneas to you but the corneas have to be compatible," his mother continued with tears welling up in her eyes. "I have tried to donate mine but the doctors said that mine is not suitable for your eyes."

"Koko, Kitsuneme and I have tried to do it too," Ruka mumbled. "But we failed as well."

"Then, we will have to wait," Koko's voice quivered slightly.

Natsume looked away and muttered, "You guys are stupid. You don't have to do this. Let me go blind and die like my father."

"Natsume!" Ruka snapped and frowned at him. "Stop being so pessimistic. We are trying to help you!"

"What if you guys lose your eyesights too? Aren't I the one who should be responsible for this problem?" Natsume argued. "Stop being childish. This is my problem so I will solve it myself."

Hotaru narrowed her eyes at him and said, "Aren't you the childish one? Your friends were trying to save your eyes. They were willing to sacrifice their eyesights for you. Yet, you called them childish. What is wrong with you, Hyuuga?"

"Imai," Ruka cut in before Hotaru had the chance to continue lashing out at Natsume.

Natsume grunted and lay back down on his bed. He turned his body to another side where he could not see anyone. He felt better this way.

His mother touched his shoulder and whispered, "Honey..."

He shrugged her hand off and groaned, "Noisy. I want to sleep."

His mother withdrew her hand to her chest and bit her lips tightly. She nodded gently and picked up her handbag which was lying next to him.

"Then, I will get going," she spoke softly and walked away, leaving the teens alone.

Hotaru picked up her schoolbag too and grunted, "Hyuuga, as your class chairperson, I am very disappointed with your attitude. Is that how you treat your mother? How rude."

Without saying any further, she picked up her bag and walked off too. Kitsuneme felt the atmosphere was turning cold at each passing second so he tried to make things better.

"Hey, guys. Imai must be having the woman's thing so that is why she was... agitated," he said with a weak laugh.

His laughter slowly died down when he realised that nobody was following him and his little joke. Just as expected, Natsume was still not responding. Kitsuneme clicked his tougue and picked up his schoolbag too.

"I think Natsume needs a break now. Let's go," he whispered to them and dragged his feet out of the ward without saying farewell.

Ruka and Koko looked at each other and sighed heavily. After saying their farewells to Natsume who did not bother to respond to them, they left quietly.

The young lad pulled the cover over his head and squeezed his eyes shut. He saw nothing but darkness. He was scared. He was so terrified that he could not help but to think about his lost vision of his future.

Was that how it felt like when a person goes blind?

Hi guys, thanks for reading 'Love at Last Sign'. Please review. I don't mind criticisms but they have to be constructive. A simple review is more than welcomed! Thank you! :)

I hope you can also read my other fanfics too! :D