Disclaimer: I do not own Hotarubi no Mori E!

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Sweet memories filled the patient's head as her raspy breaths filled the room, mixing with the beeping of the machines. In her grasp was an off-white painted wooden mask with limited colors decorating it.

Patient: Takegawa Hotaru.

Age: 73.

Condition: critical.

Weakly, Hotaru pulled the mask closer to her heart with her thin arms. The only object remaining to remind her of him. Her eyes fell on the tubes attached to her arms.

She wanted to get out of here.

The mask supplying her oxygen was getting uncomfortable.

She wanted to remove it.

Her dull brown eyes averted to the machine beside her. The only object that would break the silence with its beeping.

She hated it.

She stared at the machine. The waves were slowly, but surely, getting smoother.

She didn't have much time left.

"Hotaru…" a quiet voice called out. It was distant and Hotaru wondered was it even real.

A small creak of the door was added to the dull sounds of the patient's room. A young woman's head popped from the space. "Takegawa-san, it's 3 pm. You have to drink your medicine now."

The old woman nodded faintly with a polite smile. "Thank you for reminding me."

The nurse nodded and closed the door, taking her head out. But, not before sparing a glance at the old, chipped wooden mask. Her patient had always kept the mask near her as if it were the one supporting her life and not the machines. She couldn't help but wonder why the mask was so important.

Hotaru's eyes widened as a her fragile figure shook with a series of coughs. Her left hand kept clutching the mask close to her chest, while her right hand reached for the pills.

At this rate, she will die alone.

With only millimeters away from the medicine, her arm couldn't take it. The machines beeped loudly, alerted.

That's what she thought.

"Hotaru, take the medicine. Your body can't handle it," a familiar voice rang through her ears. She obeyed and strained her arm, but managed to get a hold of the medicine. Still coughing, she fumbled with the box, almost dropping it at one point, but got the tablets out.

She doesn't want to be alone.

"Good girl," the voice complimented. She noted the glee in the voice. Still trying to take out the tablets, she looked around and saw a white blur next to her which was clearly out of place.

It was too late. Her arms froze. She couldn't move them.

But she has no choice.

"Hotaru! What's wrong!?" the voice panicked as she coughed. Unable to control it, crimson liquid came out of her mouth. From the corner of her eyes, she stared at the white blur. The blur became much sharper and defined.

The machines beeped like crazy.

The doors slammed open and the number of people in the room increased.

"Takegawa-san! What're you doing!? We're loosing her!"

"Grab the defibrillator!"

"Come on, quickly!"

Voices seemed distant to her. All the surroundings blurred as the colors of it mixed. Unconsciously, her grip tightened on the mask.

She's dying.

The blur became sharper and sharper until she saw a figure standing next to her. Now no longer a blur or invisible stood a human figure.

Alone.

He was a boy. He had average length pure white hair matching his kind amber orbs. Considerably tall, he stood with a surprised expression on his face. His ever-so-familiar pale complexion was covered with a familiar red shirt which was under a white open-buttoned cloth.

"H…Hotaru…"

She flinched, but smiled, at the mention of her name. Was this a dream?

"…Gin."

Or maybe not.

The doctors stared at the dead patient. Each doctor and nurses mirrored the same expression: shock.

The dead patient was clutching the mask close to her chest with both hands. Her skin was now dead pale and contrasted with the blood which dripped from the edge of her closed mouth.

Patient: Takegawa Hotaru.

Age: 73.

Condition: Deceased.

What perplexed the doctors was not the death of the kind old woman. No, it was the fact that...

...She died smiling.

"...Gin."

The boy gulped, his eyes still widened at the sight of the girl seeing him. "Hotaru..."

Oh, how she wanted to hug him and never let him go. She missed that silky voice of his. She missed his kind eyes. She missed his white hair.

Overall, she missed him.

'Idiot! Even if this is a dream, he could disappear! Control yourself!' Hotaru mentally scolded herself as the solid picture of him disappearing in front of her came to her mind. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of the boy, who still hasn't aged.

First thing's first. "Gin... where am I?"

Gin's shock calmed at the voice of Hotaru. He regained his composure but couldn't try and hide his sorrow. "Hotaru... you... I'm sorry... you're dead."

Whatever she was expecting, it was definitely not this. "What...?"

"Look around you, Hotaru."

She complied and looked around. What she would normally see would be the bland sight of the hospital room, but instead, she was now in a room. The room had nothing, excluding Hotaru and Gin, and was completely colored in white, but it did have one large opening in the side instead of a wall.

She noticed one more fact.

Her eyes traveled down her body. Her legs... her legs...

She was standing... She... was standing... She was standing!

She didn't even bother to hide her excitement. Wait, so this means- yes! There are no tubes attached to her arms. Her hands came up to her face and covered the lower half of her face. She... wasn't wearing that mask!

Unable to control, she screamed a 'yay!' and jumped up and down to test her feet while fist pumping the air. She... can finally get off of that bed!

Gin stared at the hyperactive girl. His features grew fond of the girl. Yes. He missed her too.

Hotaru stopped jumping suddenly and took notice of something. She looked at her arms. She didn't have any wrinkles. No, she looked like she was back to her teen age.

17?

"Gin... I'm standing."

"Yes. You are."

"I... don't have any tubes attached to my arms."

"Yes. You don't."

"I'm... not old anymore."

"Yes. You aren't."

"What's... happening?"

Gin paused to answer. It wasn't easy to give an answer to. "Hotaru... you remember when you coughed a lot, right?"

She nodded in confirmation.

"Actually... that time the doctors were trying to save you. You just broke into a fit of coughs and you coughed blood. You... actually died at that time," he slowly explained. He understands that this isn't easy for the girl to accept. "You died of old age and your condition."

Hotaru tried to accept it. She died. She knew she was dying but... how did she end up here?

Almost reading the thoughts in her mind, "This is where the souls of the dead come. They usually leave through that opening there," he explained and point at an opening. It was large enough for a few people to go through together. Huh. So that's what its there for.

"Wait, so... how come you haven't gone there yet?" asked Hotaru, her voice painted in confusion. Gin's eyes softened at the girl.

"I... was waiting for you."

Hotaru blinked twice before she completely understood what he said. Heat grew to her face, making her fair face go red. She tried her best to suppress it, but couldn't so she hid her face with her hands. Gin smiled at her.

"Actually, I was next to you from time to time. Since you were alive, you couldn't see me, but... while you were dying, I became visible until I became completely visible," he explained while staring at the mood change of the girl. First, flattered. Next, realization. Last, shock.

"Gin... you were waiting for over 50 years for me!?" she yelled in shock. He... was waiting. For her. Even after he had died, he still waited.

Her hands slowly fell to her sides. She flashed a bright grin at him. "Thank you!"

His eyes softened further while his lips tugged upwards and formed a serene smile.

"So..." he began. He couldn't hold it in anymore. She was right in front of him and could see him. He walked towards her, closing the distance between him and her, until he stood right in front of her. She innocently blinked at him. "It's fine if we do this."

Her eyes widened as he pulled her. Gin's arms slid onto her waist and pulled her towards him. His right hand firmly resting on her waist and the other feeling her shoulder-length hair. He played with locks of her hair while his chin rested gently on the crook of her neck. He inhaled the sweet smell and closed his eyes.

This. This was the scent he had smelled when she last hugged him.

How he yearned to touch her again, he couldn't even find words to describe. It didn't matter now.

She's in his arms.

Hotaru couldn't think that this would happen. One minute, he's talking and the next, she's in his embrace. What the hell was happening?

She struggled to get out of his arms. 'W-what're you doing! You... Gin, you could die again! I... I don't want to lose you again. Gin...' she thought, but lost herself when she realized he didn't disappear. 'Gin...'

For now, she pushed her thoughts deep into her mind. Her arms connected behind his nape and leaned into his chest and mesmerized the warmth of his embrace. It was just so... warm and filled with love. It halved the shock and calmed her down. She... wanted to be like this forever.

This time, unlike the last time, Gin didn't disappear.

After a while, they broke the warm hug but kept their hands at the same position.

He stared into her eyes. How he missed everything about her. Her fair skin. Navy blue eyes. That twinkle in her eyes that he loved. That lively grin she flashed at him.

Gin leaned his forehead against her forehead and took a closer look at her eyes. She was trying her best not to avert her eyes out of embarrassment.

His hot breath felt quite nice for her actually. His eyes didn't even try to hide the immense love for her and that smile... she could feel herself melting. She smiled at him.

His face flushed at the sight and took off his left hand. His slender fingers soothingly and slowly caressed the surface of her blushing cheeks. He leaned towards her, connecting his lips to her's. Slowly, he cupped her cheeks and closed his eyes.

Hotaru's was shocked. No- shocked was an understatement. First, she was dying. Next, she-no, her 'soul'- was taken to wherever this place is because she died and apparently, her first love was waiting for her for almost 55 years. And now?

Oh yeah, he was kissing her.

Kissing her.

Because starting the day normally is too mainstream.

'Shut up mind, let me enjoy,' she thought as she closed her eyes and deepened the kiss with a gentle force to his neck. The passionate kiss lasted for a while until they pulled apart to breath.

Gin gave a boyish grin to her and nuzzled his forehead against her forehead. Hotaru chuckled, until something fell off.

A flash of worry passed through his face as he saw what was happening.

Small, colorless droplets of tears fell down her pale face as she shivered a bit. Her beautiful navy-blue orbs was glassed with tears and she couldn't stop the flowing of the tears.

"Hotaru... are you okay? You're crying," asked Gin, keeping his composure. His face came to a poker-face but a frown was etched on his face as he departed from the warmth of her forehead. Surprisingly, the boy was calm about whole thing.

Or so he wanted her to think.

Inside he was panicking. Was this suppose to happen? Is she sick? What's wrong?

She stared at him with shock. She didn't even notice it.

'Ah! This is embarrassing! I was crying and I didn't even notice it! Gin must be thinking I'm weird..." fretted Hotaru in her thoughts, too embarrassed to be seen crying by Gin.

Gin removed his hand from her cheeks and wiped the emotion-filled liquid pouring out of her eyes and left a tender, light kiss on her forehead.

"I-I-Is t-this suppose t-to happen? Gin..." whimpered Hotaru as her voice broke. She was crying. She didn't have a solid body, she was simply a wondering soul with no body, but yet, she was crying.

Gin didn't know. He didn't know. He's never seen this happen, and to be frank, he was really scared.

He did the one thing he could to soothe her.

He tightly wrapped his arms around her covered her in an affectionate embrace. "No matter what happens, I'm not letting anyone take you away from me."

The sharp yet gentle tone calmed her down and she stopped crying. She returned the hug and snuggled against the crook of his neck.

Realization hit her to realize why she cried. "Gin... I missed you."

The whisper struck his heart with warmth, but he tried to hide it from his face. Obviously failing at it, he smiled genuinely at the girl of his affection, though she can't see. "Yeah... I missed you too, Hotaru."

She smiled against his neck imagined what his face would be like while he told. She giggled.

Pulling apart completely from the hug, Gin analysed her face and slightly pouted. "What are you giggling about now?"

"Nothing~" she playfully drawled, much to Gin's displeasure. He shook his head in defeat and chuckled at the mischievous smirk on Hotaru's face. At this point, the forgotten opening seem to glare at the two, urging them to go.

'Alright, alright. Almost 55 years after seeing her, and I don't get to spend more time with her?' he asked in his, clearly annoyed but suppressed it. His ruffled his pure white hair in an attempt to release the frustration building up.

But one peek at Hotaru's grinning face tranquilized this anger. Really, he wonder how she does it.

"Well then," he began and extended his hand to her and motioned the direction of the opening. "Shall we?"

"We shall," Hotaru beamed at him and clasped his warm hand with hers. With intertwined hands, they walked hand-in-hand together towards the opening. "Hey, this is like a date, right Gin?"

And enter the infamous line.

Gin let out a long 'hmm'. "Not a very lively one."

Seeing how she's dead, she smiled at his attempt to make a pun. Even though they are dead, she didn't let it get to her. She saw Gin. She could say that she was pretty happy. Though, letting go of her old life isn't much hard as she was bedridden, but she kind of will miss the nice and polite hospital staff.

"I...I'm kind of n-nervous," she stuttered. What's beyond this? Is it safe? What will happen next? After giving a hard stare at the opening, she looked at Gin. Most importantly, will she be with Gin?

Gin replied, "Yeah." It's fine, I'm here. I won't let you go.

She nodded in reply. I believe in you.

He smiled and unconsciously rubbed his fingers in soothing circular motions on her wrist to calm her.

She breathed out the breath she was holding and grinned brightly at him.

It's going to be alright.

They took a step towards their awaiting future.

It definitely will be.

Step by step they closed in to the opening.

Because no one is left behind this time.

They entered the opening where a flash of light covered the whole room and the two souls were there no more.

Because this time, they were in this together.

That was pretty fun to write. Hope you enjoyed.