One Week

Chapter One

Breaking Hope

Nao's POV

The rain sheeted the world, cold and grey, soaking me through to the bone. It washed away the filth from the roads and paths, leaving them cleansed. I wished it would do the same for me. I wished it would rid me of the plaguing darkness inside. It roiled like a beast, gnawing away at my sanity.

Tears fell from my face, mixing with the rain. I felt ill and clutched at my churning stomach. I passed by a shining pair of windows revealing the inside of a shopping store. Catching a glance of myself, I almost gasped at how terrible I looked. It was worse than I had imagined, my face tight and pale, my body hunched forward as my limbs lacked strength. I had been utterly defeated by the words my mother had spoken only hours before.

I have one week to live...

I bit into my lip, coppery blood filling my mouth. She had acted so innocent and calm, smiling at me as I entered her hospital ward. As I approached I began to take note of things that seemed off. Her hands were shaking, her eyes were tinged with red... She was hiding something.

A haze had filled my head and I shook it away. I remembered sitting down at her side, handing her a new pendant that I had brought her. It had made her break down, and although she pretended it was out of happiness , I knew that her tears told a different story.

I couldn't recall the name of the disease she had, but it had latched onto her body, and there was no known cure. She had been suffering from it for some time, and it was this night when she had told me. After the Carnival had taken her life then returned it, she was healed from the injuries of her earlier past, but the disease remained, and it was enough to claim her life again.

I had run from the hospital, unable to stay with her as she cried into her hands, her sobs turning into wails. I ignored helping hands as I stumbled and tripped. My knees were buckling so bad that I couldn't keep myself up. Eventually I found my way out and dove into the streets, running low, hugging myself as the rain fell.

Now here I was. I had no idea where 'here' actually was of course, just an empty street, lacking people and cars. I was alone in the shining street lights, but I didn't relish in it. I wanted to curl up and disappear. I didn't want to face losing her again. I couldn't. I wouldn't have it in me to deal with that sort of heartbreak. It had shattered me when she had been robbed of her life in the Carnival, and to have her back only to tell me that she was dying in the first place?

"Why does this happen to her?" I asked myself, tears welling in my eyes. "How can one person take so much tragedy?" I held myself tighter. "What can I do? I'm so hopeless..."

I felt it was true, to the bottom of my aching heart. There wasn't a thing I could do to help her. There was no cure, and therefore, no hope.

The final flicker of light I had inside of me went out, and I fell to my knees. Tears came down freely, pattering against my hands as I pressed them to the road. I wished that a car would finally come past and end it all, or lightning would come roaring down upon me. I wanted to die, I wanted to give in.

"I can't keep going..." I gasped, thinking of everything I would be letting go of. There was nothing, no friends, no happiness. My faithless life had come to an end as I knew it. I curled up on the ground, feeling myself breaking apart piece by piece inside. Everything ached, and I felt so tired. I just wanted to close my eyes and go to sleep.

I couldn't. My mother had tried too damn hard to try and tell me that things would be okay. Everything she had said to me since the Carnival slowly began to make sense now. She had been warning me that her time was coming to an end, and she wanted me to be ready to fight on my own. Her smile had been a lie, but it had been for my own sake.

"I can't let you down, mamma," I gasped, clawing at the road until I was on my hands and knees. "But what can I do?"

With bleary eyes, I took in what I could of my surroundings through my hazy vision. My consciousness was wavering dangerous, but I could just make out the outline of a tall apartment to my left. Using what I had left of my strength, I dragged my numb body over the footpath and up the steps to the door.

I didn't know who lived here. They could have been people who would throw me back onto the road. It didn't matter, though. I needed to get out of the rain and inside. My mother wanted it, I knew. I could think about things and work out what I had to do next. At the moment, my mind was screaming at me to get inside somewhere safe, to protect me from myself.

With trembling fingers, I rang the doorbell.

Natsuki sat at the end of her bed, leaning back casually as she chatted on the phone. She was bright red as she spoke, for on the other end was her dearest love, Shizuru.

"I'm having no fun without you, Natsuki," she said slowly on the other line, ending in a sad sigh. "Seeing my family and all is amazing, of course, but I'm still so lonely."

Natsuki bit her lip and felt herself going an even brighter shade of crimson. "I'm lonely here too, Shizuru. It's so weird, being in this house with no one else."

There was a chuckle on the other end. "My big, brave Natsuki isn't afraid, is she?"

Instantly, Natsuki shook her head and growled. "No I'm not! It's just... I don't know... Uncomfortable!"

"Oh, Natsuki, you don't need to lie to me."

"Shizuru!"

They went on, playfully teasing each other until they were both exhausted. Natsuki lay on her back with her head against her pillow as she stared at a photo of Shizuru on the side of her bed. She had her arms wrapped about her, her crimson eyes not on the camera, but right on Natsuki as she smiled cheekily and leaned in for a kiss. Natsuki herself had grown used to the passion of the woman and prepared to kiss her back, being stuck in the photo looking like a confused frog as she readied her lips and stared at the camera unnervingly at the same time.

"Are you sleeping, Natsuki?"

She jumped at the voice in her ear and sat up again. "No, no, Shizuru. I was just... thinking about you." She fidgeted with the hem of the blanket and smiled. "I've been doing it a lot lately."

"Oh, Natsuki." Shizuru sounded as sad as Natsuki felt. "I've been thinking about you too. I can't wait to come back and show you all of the photo's I've taken. But most of all I just want to be with you again."

Letting out a shuddering breath, Natsuki hugged her knees to her chest as it ached. She hated to sound so infatuated with the woman as she was still coming to terms with it all in an entirety, but she had slowly broken away the shell around her Shizuru. "I can't wait for you to come back either. It's been too long already."

"Only three more weeks," Shizuru said, sounding bleak as she said it and ruining the attempt at making Natsuki feel better. She tried again. "It will go fast, you'll see. Just think about what we can do when I get back. I'll let you chose an outing for us."

Natsuki snorted. "You sure? You're not exactly into motorbikes or anything like that. You always fidget when we go to those sorts of shows."

"It doesn't matter, Natsuki. As long as I am there with you, than I don't care." Shizuru sighed sadly into the phone.

Natsuki was about to reply to the fact that Shizuru seemed sure she would have fun when she was there as she thought it was an absolute load of rubbish when a yawn escaped her. She quickly tried to disguise it as a cough, but Shizuru's laughter told her that she had been caught out.

"You sound tired, Natsuki. I'll let you go so you can have a nice nap, okay?"

On a usual night Natsuki would have protested, but she had spent the previous night watching horror movies and playing video games so her eyes refused to stay open. Muttering a goodnight, she promised to call the next day before she clicked off the phone, avoiding Shizuru's goodnight singing to help her sleep that always drove her insane.

In that instant, the doorbell rang. Natsuki leapt off of her bed, her eyes darting about wildly. It had been such a surprise that she hadn't come to terms with the fact that someone was now pounding at the door, breaking the new silence that had settled.

"Who is even awake at this hour?" she asked herself, heading towards the stairs silently. The banging went on. Whoever it was, they were desperate, and she started to feel uneasy.

The bottom half of the apartment was dark, and Natsuki fumbled for the light. By the time her finger flicked the switch, the banging at the door had turned to weak taps.

For a moment she considered picking up the phone again and calling Shizuru. She would wait for the person to leave as she spoke to her, consoling in her soothing words, but the image she could see of herself huddled in her room in fear and confiding in her love was more terrifying than confronting the stranger at the door, so she straightened up and strode across the room to the sound of quieting knocks.

"Okay, here goes nothing." She gripped the doorknob tightly in her hand and pulled the door open a crack, her free hand ready to strike. Once the door was open by an inch, the visitor went completely silent, and as Natsuki bent to peek around their wet hand gripped the side of the door and forced it open.

Immediately, Natsuki jumped back in fear, letting out a strangled cry and hugging her hands about herself protectively. The stranger, a soaking wet girl with blazing hair plastered to her face , ambled into the room, muttering something incomprehensible. She tumbled forward, caught herself, then froze on the spot as her dimmed green eyes peered at Natsuki.

Gathering herself, the raven haired girl stood tall and yelled, "Who are you?" She wished that she still had HiME powers and longer for the comfort of her cold, steel guns in her hands.

She didn't get a reply. The girl lurched forward a clumsy step, then as though she had been shocked, she jumped back, going completely rigid, then she fell forward onto her stomach heavily.

Natsuki was left staring down at her as her wet hair fell back from her face. The sight was such a surprise that her breath caught in her throat. It was her former-HiME rival, Nao.

She was at a loss of what to do. She hated Nao, that was no secret. Everyone knew that the pair were constantly at each others throats, opposites that couldn't agree on anything. Their morals and views were different, and they had fought dangerously as HiME more than once.

Gathering herself, Natsuki cautiously stepped closer to the still form. Despite everything that the girl had put her through, she wasn't the sort of person to leave someone to die when she had the opportunity to save them. It just wasn't like her, though it was a fact that she hoped people were not aware of. She hated having a kinder side.

Nao was cold to the touch as Natsuki rolled her onto her back and checked for a pulse in her neck. Her face was as white as ash, and her breathing was shallow and forced. She seemed to had spent many hours out in the rain.

"Alright, let's get you warmed up," Natsuki muttered, dragging Nao up into her arms and slipping her over her shoulder. She grunted under the weight, noticing that it seemed to be brining down the back half of her. She stifled a laugh, glad that she had something insulting to bring up when she woke. There was no way in hell she was going to treat her nicely. She owed her big time.

She carried Nao up the stairs, glad for the strength that she possessed, and kicked open the door to the bathroom. Finally, she let the girl slide off of her and onto the tiled floor and ran a hot bath. As the water begin to fill, she sat on the edge and stared down at Nao as she lay sprawled out.

She truly looked dreadful, resembling something from the zombie movies Natsuki was so obsessed with. If it was anyone else, she would have felt sorry for them, but even though it was Nao, she felt a tug at her heartstrings. "What have you gotten yourself into this time, Nao?"

The bath was finally full, and Natsuki lifted Nao by the shoulders, pulling her forward to the edge of the bath. With another painful wince at the surprisingly heaviness of her rival, she brought her to the water and pushed her in.

It was like watching a cat. Nao thrashed around wildly the instant she was dropped like waste into the bath. Her eyes went wide like orbs and she yelped out in surprise, taking in water and choking. Her uncontrollable hands whipped out at Natsuki, but she caught them and heaved out the girl, laughing hysterically.

Nao coughed up great lungfuls of the bathwater, spluttering and gasping as her trembling hands struggled to hold her up. Natsuki began thumping her on the back, quiet unkindly, until she collapsed onto the bathmat.

"I would pay decent money to see that again," Natsuki said as she stood above her, her hands on her hips and a wide grin on her face. "That's what you get for passing out in my doorway."

Nao couldn't remember a thing. It was all fragmented. She could only remember rain, cold, and something that had happened, something tragic. She closed her eyes tightly, her head beginning to throb and her throat burning from the water. "What... happened?" she managed to gasp out as her eyesight became blurred.

"How the hell should I know?" Natsuki asked as she kneeled down at Nao's side to hear her better. "Don't tell me you have amnesia?"

Nao heard no more as Natsuki started to question her thoroughly. Her head gave a final wave of pain before the darkness swallowed her up. The last thing she saw were the worried eyes of Natsuki as she saw her slipping away.