We were walking to school like we usually do every morning together just talking and laughing. She looked so beautiful when she smiled. I couldn't help but just stare at her when she smiled. Granted, she was beautiful even when she wasn't smiling. But her smile is where her true beauty shined. Shana and I have been friends since we were kids. We always liked being together. But...I've actually had a crush on her for some time now. And I want to confess to her eventually, but...I don't know if she feels the same or not. Shana's parents died from unknown causes when she little, so she's been living with me and my mother ever since. But today I noticed something was...off about her. She looked like a bit tired, her steps were a bit more sluggish than they usually were and she wasn't talking, laughing and being her usual cheerful self. She was beginning to worry me quite a bit.

"Hey, Shana? Are you alright? You don't seem like yourself today." I asked in a worried tone.

"Huh? What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Don't worry." She replies giving me a smile.

I look forward with a half smile and half frown. "Alright, if you say so."

"Something seems really off about her today. But I can't place my finger on it. I hope I'm just paranoid..." I thought to myself.

We arrived at school about ten to fifteen minutes where we're greeted by our friends and class begins shortly after we walk into the classroom. After a few of hours of classes, the bell rings for lunch and our group heads up to the roof for lunch. I noticed Shana was hardly eating and she was still really quiet. I was going more and more worried about her.

"I don't think I'm paranoid about this at all. There's something wrong with her today."

After the bell rings for us to go back to class, Shana and I walk back to class together. And then I notice a completely drastic change in her composure. I noticed that she was walking really slowly, wobbly, her face had a red tint and she was breathing slightly heavy.

"Shana, are sure you're okay? You don't look well." I said with a worried tone in my voice.

She looks at me again and tries to smile "I'm fine, Yuji. Don't worr-"

She then collapses and nearly falls to the floor as we walk inside the classroom.

"SHANA!" I catch her before she hits the floor.

The attention of all the students in the classroom becomes focused on us. I hold her in my arms as she grips my shirt tightly, has her eyes shut tight and starts breathing even more heavily. I put my hand to her forehead and feel her burning up horribly. She has a terrible fever.

"Damn it, Shana. You idiot. Why didn't you tell me you were sick?"

"Sakai!"

I hear Ike, Yoshida, Ogata, Satao and Tanaka run over to us and look at Shana in my arms.

"You should get her to the hospital! She looks really sick. We'll tell the administrators what's going on." Tanaka suggests.

I nod quickly and thank them before running out the school building. I quickly run to Misaki General Hospital. Her breathing has grown significantly heavier. "Just hold on, Shana...We'll be at the hospital soon."

After awhile, I managed to get the hospital. One of the doctors brings a gurney and takes her to the back. I call mom to let her know the situation and she says that she'll be there soon. After awhile, both my mom and the rest of my friends walk into the hospital as I stand up and approach them.

"Yu-chan! Have they said anything about her?" Mother asks

I shake my head. Everybody begins to frown. Awhile after, a doctor comes out of the back through the double doors and walks over to me. I stand up as he approaches us. He looks at me.

"Are you Yuji Sakai?" he asks me.

I nod. "How's she doing?"

"It's hard to tell right now. She's asleep right now. But she had a terrible a fever when we took her back. We've given her some medicine. So hopefully her condition will improve. Although, while her fever has gone down a bit, she's still breathing a bit heavily and is still very ill. We'll have to keep her overnight to keep an eye on her condition to see if it improves or worsens. Hopefully the former. But we'll do everything we can."

"Do you know what's wrong with her?"

The doctor shakes his head. "No, but she seems to have contracted a horrible infection from something and has caught a fatal virus. We're not sure what it is though. Her immune system isn't doing to well in battling with the virus."

The word 'Fatal' was the only word I heard in that sentence. That fact the infection she had a possibility of killing her terrified me.

"Can...Can I see her?"

He nods and takes us all back to her room. Everybody goes in before I do. But when I walk in, I see her awake with some machines attached to her like the heart monitor and the IV. I sit on a chair next her bed as she looks at me and smiles.

"Hi, Yu-" I cut her off.

"Why didn't say anything!? Why didn't you tell me you had a fever and weren't feeling well today?" I snap at her glaring.

"I-I'm sorry...I just...I just didn't want you to worry..." She says in a quiet voice looking down. I instantly feel bad for snapping at her.

"I was worrying about you anyway. I knew there was something off about you this morning because you weren't yourself. We weren't talkative like you usually are and you didn't eat hardly anything today at lunch. I just...I wish you had told me, Shana."

"I'm sorry, Yuji..." I see a tear fall down her cheek. I wipe it away with my finger.

I'm smile at her softly. "You really worried me this afternoon, Shana. I'm glad you're alright now."

We both smile at each other. I leave the room soon after and head home. I hoped sightly that she would get better. But I had a really bad feeling that things would get much worse.

Much Later That Night

It was around 2 or 3AM in the morning when my mom woke up. I felt her shaking me slightly trying to awake me. I opened my eyes and saw a horribly worried look on her face. I grew worried as well.

"The hospital just called. Shana's condition has worsened significantly. They said she...might not make it through the night." She says with dread in her voice and tears flowing down her cheek.

"I'm going to the hospital! Can you call my friends and let them know?" She nods as I run out the door.

As soon as I run out the door, I feel my eyes grow wet. I feared the worst. That I would lose the person I cared about the most and loved. When I arrived at the hospital, I ran straight to Shana's room where Shana was breathing extremely heavy. She had an oxygen mask on her face this time. I ran to her side and gripped her hand tightly. She grips it tightly in return and I see her struggling to look at me through her wincing and heavy breathing.

"Yu-Yuji..." She said through her breathing

"Don't talk. Save your strength." I said.

The tears had already started to fall as I gripped her hand even tighter. The heart monitor continued to sound slower and slower. Shana looks at me and tears begin to fall down her face.

"I'm s-sorry, Yuji...If I to-told you, things probably wouldn't have gotten...This...bad..."

"Don't be sorry. Just stay quiet and save your strength."

I see give me a small smile as more tears fall down her cheeks. "Looks like...My time is up..."

I shake my head violently. The tears begin to fall hard from my eyes now.

"No, Shana! That's not going to happen! Your time isn't up! You'll make through this! I know you will! You're strong, Shana! I know you can!" I said through my tears.

The doctors begin to rush into the room and try to tend to her.

"Y-Yuji...I'm s-sorry, that I never...told you...But...I've...I've loved you since...Since we were...kids..." She says through her heavy breathing and tears. My eyes widen at that and I hold her hand to my face and kiss the top of it.

"I love you too, Shana! Please! Please don't leave me, Shana! I want us to have a life together! I want us to be happy together! I want us to go on dates! I want us to live happily ever after! So you can't go, Shana! Please, don't leave! Don't leave! I beg you..." I cried.

Tears fall from her eyes more and more as the heart monitor begins to sound at a snails pace. I began to fear that Shana would pass away soon. I couldn't accept that fact. The fact that I could lose the most important person to me.

"Shana! Please, you can't! You can't go!"

"I'm sorry...Yuji...I've enjoyed...All of the time I've...Spent with you...And I wouldn't trade it for...Anything. I love you...Yuji..."

I hear the heart monitor make one continuous beep as her eyes close shut, her hand falls limp and her breathing ceased. My eyes widen in horror. My best friend. My childhood friend. And the girl I loved had been taken from me. The tears began to fall uncontrollably as I put my face to her chest and began cry uncontrollably.

"Shana...Please, wake up...Wake up! Please wake up!" I plea as I look at her in the face.

But Shana's eyes wouldn't open again. The doctors begin to escort me out of her room as they begin to remove the machines from her body. I walk out to the waiting room where I see my mom and friends and waiting. With zero emotion on my face. After a few moments of looking at them, the tears begin to fall once more as I fall my knees. All of the others begin to cry with me as they can easily figure what happened due to my current state. My mother hugs me tightly as we both cry together.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Shana..." I cry out.

My best friend, childhood friend and the girl I loved had been ruthlessly taken from me. And I knew she would never come back.

Several Weeks Later - Misaki Cemetery

A day or two after she had died, the hospital called and told us what had happened. They were still unsure of what she had gotten sick from. But whatever it was destroyed her white blood cells and her immune system couldn't fight it off. So she wasn't able to fight it and took her rather easily. My mom, my friends, students and teachers at school as well as myself were still grieving. It's been about 3 weeks since Shana passed away. I visited her grave everyday I got the chance to and would just talk to her. Even though she was gone, I knew Shana was still there.

"It's been really lonely since you've been gone. Everybody has been sad since you left." I said speaking to her gravestone.

"But...I know that one day. Somebody. We'll be reunited again. Someday we'll be reunited again."

Moments later, I feel something strange around me. I felt as if somebody was hugging me tightly and trying to comfort me. I have a feeling that it was none other than Shana. The tears began to run down my cheek again. I stand up and walk closer to her stone.

"Goodbye...My beautiful Shana." I say goodbye to Shana as I feel the presence leave and plant a kiss upon her tombstone.

I then turn around to walk out of the cemetery. After a few steps, I turn around once more and look at her tombstone and smile softly as my hair blows in the breeze and cherry blossoms blow by. As I walk out of the cemetery, I hear an all too familiar voice. Her beautiful voice.

"Yes, Yuji...One day, we'll be reunited...Until that day, goodbye...I love you..."

I turn around and there is nobody there. I then knew for a fact that it was Shana that had spoken to me. I smiled as one last tear rolled down my cheek and closed my eyes.

"Goodbye...Shana."

I then finally walked out of the cemetery. And from that point on, I longed for the day that we would be reunited again.

Shana's POV - In the Afterlife

I watched sadly as I saw Yuji walk away from the tombstone. There was a smile on my face and began to talk.

"Yes, Yuji...One day, we'll be reunited...Until that day, goodbye...I love you..."

I saw Yuji turn around abruptly. It was as if he had heard my voice just then. And I think he actually did, because I saw a smile creep up on his lips as one last tear rolled down his cheek. As he closed his eyes, I heard him something.

"Goodbye...Shana." And he then walked out of the cemetery.

I smiled to myself with my hand over my chest. While I was very sad to leave the boy I loved, but I was also happy. Because I knew that even if wouldn't be until hundreds of years from now, we would be reunited. I then here a voice call my name. I knew who it was.

"Shana, dear? Are you ready?" I heard a warm and kind female voice.

I turned around to see two smiling faces looking at me as I smiled back. One of them was my mother. She had long black hair and green eyes, like me. And the other was my father who had brown hair, blue eyes and wore glasses, both of which had died when I was little. My father held his head out and tilted his head to side smiling.

"It's time to go, Shana. Don't worry. You'll see him again someday." He said in a soothing voice.

I then looked back, with my hair blowing in the slight breeze and cheery blossoms blowing by and a big smile grew on my lips.

"Yeah...I will..." I said softly.

I then took the hands of my mother and father and we walked toward the light that was ahead of us. And I happily and patiently waited for the day that we would be reunited once more.