A/N: Wahoo! So here I come with what will probably end up being a series of fairly depressing drabbles featuring a mix of canon characters, OCs, and pairings from the Tegamiverse, including my OCs and whoever else strikes me once I finish the one I'm working on, all based around the central theme of "those things we never say"...or in a more Tegami Bachi-like way of putting it, "the letters we'll never send."

Anyway, thanks to Chibi for sneaking on during grounding to Beta again and all of you readers! Hope everybody enjoys them!

Disclaimer: Tegami Bachi belongs to Hiroyuki Asada, my OCs and oneshots belong to me.

Now, on with the fanfic...

With Love

He stared up at the enormous armored bug in defeat, breathing heavily. His body was covered in gashes and cuts, his shindanjuu trembled in his hands and his dingo lay not too far off from where he stood, in a pile of blood and fur, letting out keening half-growl, half-howls of despair. "This is it, I guess." He muttered, glancing to his dingo. "I'm sorry, Oursa, we kinda blew it, eh?" He almost laughed, the beaten boy who was looking into the "face" of his demise. Somehow he found it hysterical that he had gotten this far to be beaten here, like this. She was supposed to be coming soon, too, and he wouldn't be there to fulfill his promise to her after all. Instead of trying to run away when he knew he would never get anywhere and his dingo could never follow him, he stood still with his arms outstretched, looking up to the Gaichuu that he knew would be the death of him and smiled as he thought of her.

He wondered if she would cry. She almost never cried; she tried to put things in the best light that she possibly could. He had always loved that about her. The question brought back memories of her—the glint of dark mahogany infused with a crimson blush of their own as her curls bounced like springs when she ran ahead of him, her brown eyes radiating nothing but warmth and kindness, the ringing laugh that he never got tired of hearing, the squirrel that was often found curled around her neck like a scarf, how she had told him that she would follow in his footsteps to Yuusari to become a Bee because she didn't want to lose her best friend… How ironic that was, she had made it to the interview and she was going to lose him anyway… "I'm so sorry, Sumomo." He whispered the words, still smiling.

That was when the Gaichuu lunged.

She arrived one week later, while the search for him was still in progress. They found blood, fur, and evidence of a pretty fierce fight, but no bodies or armor; whatever had happened, it was fairly unlikely that he was still alive. They told her three days after her arrival, the moment she set foot in the Beehive after finishing her exam and being given a position as a Letter Bee of the Yuusari Beehive. In spite of the tears that she shed over him, however, she still wished to keep her position as a Bee. It was what she had gone there to do, she was not about to quit simply because he was gone. It would honor his memory, after all.

~Three Years Later~

She stepped out of the Beehive into the half-light that the man-made sun in Akatsuki cast over the city Central Yuusari, a city that was still half-asleep, as it was fairly early. Beside her, a blond boy clad in the same blue uniform she wore and a large, sturdy-bodied and brindle-furred dog tagged along a half-step behind her as she walked, leading the way. "So, Sumomo, you have any idea why Melody and I were assigned to go with you today? The town isn't that far away from Central and the gaichuu threat is minimal. Why waste two Bees to deliver a letter or two there?" The boy finally spoke up as they were reaching the end of the street, prompting the girl to look over at him and smile. This was the first time they had been on a delivery together, he and Sumomo had spoken before, but never at length, however, she seemed like a pretty cheerful and capable young woman. Lloyd's reason behind having he and Melody go with she and her dingo to make a delivery only a few towns over mystified him.

"Lloyd won't let us go on a delivery on our own outside of Central because apparently he thinks that Aki can't protect me, even if we passed the exam just fine on our own." At this, an angry chittering started up from Aki's scarf before a small, brown-furred head poked itself out from the folds of Sumomo's pale blue scarf. It seemed Aki highly disagreed with Lloyd's assumption. "There, there, shush Aki. You know I think it's really just an excuse—I think it's really because of him." The angry chittering stopped as she spoke a reached up to pet the discontented animal, who slipped his way out of the scarf entirely to perch himself on her shoulder. The squirrel was a rust color, a shade not entirely beyond being called a lighter, more faded shade of Sumomo's own rich deep mahogany red ringlets, with a compact body, but a rather long and fairly fluffy tail. Aki was surprisingly intelligent and good at his job in spite of his size, so far as he had heard.

"Him?" The boy asked, noting that this time when she looked at him, her eyes held sadness.

"My…well, he was my best friend best friend since childhood. We grew up together and he's actually my reason for becoming a Bee myself. He told me that his family was having a rough time with money, so he was going to come to Central and become a Bee to help out his family. I didn't want to lose my only friend, so I promised him that I would follow him as soon as I could, and he seemed happy about it. After convincing my parents to let me go and getting all the paperwork done, it took about a year, but I finally made it to the interview and exams, but then—would you like to meet him, Tripp? He's on the way to the town we're delivering to…well, as close to him as any of us can be." The boy, Tripp, frowned at her, wondering just what exactly she was going on about. She looked sad, but she wanted him to meet his guy? But then, the wording seemed a little bit off as well…what was wrong? What happened to this guy? It made Tripp curious, and he nodded, stumbling as he did, but Sumomo caught him before he fell.

"Sure, why not if he's on the route?" He shrugged as he finished speaking which brought the smile back to her lips. "Hey, I'm curious, the way you keep talking about him…what happened to him?" The smile faded as Sumomo blinked, eyes filled with happiness one moment, distant and sad the next.

"Nobody knows." She said flatly, Tripp paused a moment before he came back to his senses and went back to walking with her again, but looked away from her while Sumomo looked heavenward. She had always found the sight of the stars comforting, as thought that was where she thought her friend had gone and looking up at them meant she was looking up at him—something she had done her whole life. The conversation now effectively killed, she took up a one-sided conversation in her head, a kind of mental letter-writing and a comfort she engaged in nearly as much as she looked at the stars.

Hey there, how is death treating you? Just as always, I miss you, but that's probably a line you're incredibly sick of hearing… I have a few out of town deliveries today, so Lloyd has sent Tripp and Melody with Aki and me. You remember Tripp and Melody, right? I've told you about them before—Tripp is a clumsy kid, but his heart really is in the right place, and his dingo is this really big dog who is incredibly sweet—that's Melody. She's so nice that she doesn't even bark at Aki! Anyway, you'll see soon, I'm taking them to meet you today…I hope you don't mind.

I wonder if you've met anyone nice or cool in Heaven? Director Lloyd told me years ago that he lost a friend when he was young—her name was Elena Bran, do you know her? Also, just like always, I have to ask-have you run into Gauche there? We still haven't found him or heard from him of found him yet, so it'd be nice to know one of us finally found him after two years and finally put all the wondering and questions to rest—kinda like how it was with you—only we can't even look for him because he went missing in Akatsuki…

Anyway, life has been going fine for me, though I wish Lloyd would let Aki and I take out of town deliveries on our own. That's the only thing I really blame you for, you know? He watches me like a hawk because of you—it's ridiculous! I swear it's like he thinks I can't properly defend myself because you didn't come back! I not going to give up, I'm going to do my job well in your memory since that's why I'm here to begin with—why let a year's worth of trouble and pain go to waste? In her head, it all seemed so logical, but maybe she was just illogical, she thought. How many girls were well enough to get up and go to work the day after they found out their best friend was most likely dead like she had and didn't explode into tears every time she thought about him? She remained fairly cheerful, optimistic girl who liked to brighten up the world around her like a star given human form. Sure, she got sad sometimes-she was human, after all—but she didn't let it get to her.

One of the first things Sumomo had done with her first pay was send some money with a letter home to his parents because she knew they needed it. The letter told them that she had gone to take the job there because of their son, but she seemed to instead be taking over for him. If so, she decided to go ahead and do just that. Her next pay was the start of a grave marker fund, which she informed his family in the next letter. Part of the money that she sent came back in the form of a letter covered in tears spots and ink smudges from his mother, telling her that the family could never thank her enough, could never repay her for her actions. Sumomo replied in a letter when she was paid next that she didn't wants thanks or money; it was what was right, so she was glad to do it. Eventually she had enough saved for the marker, which she had engraved with an epitaph that had resulted from a collaboration with his mother, and had it placed (with permission) on the roadside halfway between their hometown and Central.

She looked back to the path then, and realized with a jolt of surprise that they had traveled quite far in their time of silence. She smiled faintly as she spotted the familiar gray cement marker ahead, growing slowly as they closed the distance between them and the marker. It was almost as though he stood in the distance, waiting for her like he used to do what felt like forever ago. "They think he died, Tripp." She spoke suddenly, breaking the silence and startling the boy beside her. Tripp stumbled and she caught him once more, keeping him from hitting the road on his face, while the blond stared at her in complete confusion.

"W-what?" He sputtered in surprise; Sumomo turned her gaze on his face as she stood him back upright.

"You asked what happened to him and I told you no one knows. That's true, but they think he died." She pointed to the marker in the distance and Tripp's deep green eyes followed her finger before widening as he realized what he was looking at.

"They couldn't find his body, so we—his family and I—agreed to have the grave marker put up here because his heart was torn between our hometown and Central Yuusari. This is halfway between the two so people from our hometown and Central both can travel the same distance to see him. His mother and I came up with the epitaph together, and I paid for it. It was the least we could do." Melody ran ahead of them, oblivious to the serious conversation between her master and the normally cheerful girl, as Sumomo explained. Tripp listened the entire time, still wide-eyed and now possibly a bit pale. Suddenly his expression lightened as he seemed to puzzle something out.

"You…" He wasn't sure how to exactly bring up the question that would prove his sudden idea true, finally he just blurted it out. "You loved him, didn't you, Sumomo?" She responded oddly, tilting her head back with her eyes closed, the girl laughed softly.

"Once, when we were little, we said we were going to run away and get married some day. It was something silly, a ridiculous little kid thing, we didn't even really know what getting married entailed back then, but we were going to do it. I remember telling him that we would live in a big, pretty house in Yuusari and that every morning I would cook breakfast for us and kiss him goodbye on the cheek before he left for work. He told me that he would work hard and bring home funny stories to tell me about his day along with the money for us and our families to live comfortably, and before we went to sleep, he would make sure to tell me I was the prettiest girl in all of Amberground, and promise that that would never change. Over the years I never forgot about that—even kind of hoped one day that our silly imagined future as kids might end up coming true… I loved him as much as I could at a young age, and that love only grew because we were always together." She murmured the words gently, fragile smile returning to her lips as she recalled the memory. To Tripp, it looked like she could have been any other girl for once; she wasn't being overly cheery or weird, she was talking about a childhood friend that she had loved and lost. The conversation seemed to bring a certain softness he had never seen before to her face, more peaceful than purely happy or sad, was it wistfulness? He would have bet anything that she would have done absolutely anything to see this friend of hers again.

As they came to a stop before the marker, Sumomo placed a single gloved hand on the smooth, cold cement shaped in the typical stick-star shape not unlike the hundreds that sat crowded together in one window of Dr. Thunderland Jr.'s massive research lab. It wasn't incredibly remarkable, but it was a grave marker—there were hardly ever any here that were remarkable. "Hey old friend…" He heard her murmur as she kneeled down before it, but only barely. She spoke softly enough that the words almost escaped his ears, and what she spoke after was lost to him. Instead of trying to hear her, he focused on the words engraved in the cement: "Faus Cartez; his heart was always divided between work and home, so his mark has settled here. A wonderful son and brother, best friend to all who needed one, he is greatly missed. May he always be remembered with love." Underneath the epitaph were his birth and death dates, and Tripp shivered as he read them. He had only been sixteen.

"Oh?" Sumomo's murmur of surprise brought Tripp's attention back to her. She was still crouched down, but a slip of paper rested in her gloved grasp.

"What is it?" His curiosity got the better of him as he leaned over to look at the paper as well. The girl shrugged and Melody sniffed the paper as she pulled off one glove with her teeth to unfold the paper.

"I don't—Oh!" Sumomo spoke as she unfolded the paper, breaking off in a gasp as she looked down to see the eerily familiar handwriting. She turned as bleached white as the starlight-covered sand in Jose, the White Desert as she read, while Tripp read silently over her shoulder what appeared to be a poem written on the paper.

"After all this time has passed,

Wouldn't you like to know one thing true?

I left this world with a smile on my face,

Comforted by memories of you.

-I'm so sorry, Su-chan."

There was no signature, but with the way Sumomo was acting it didn't need one. Shakily, the Bee stood with a shake of her head. "C'mon, Tripp," she told him, suddenly firm, "let's get these deliveries done." She jammed the paper into her jacket as she walked away as quickly as she could without running. She wanted to run, she wanted to run away as fast as she could and never look back. Against the empty road and permanent night with no company but the squirrel on her shoulder, Tripp swore she looked like the most lonely person in all of Amberground. Sumomo had to hide her tears—it was a sick joke to play, she thought, but couldn't help wondering. Su-chan….that used to be his nickname for her, no one else knew that, and that had been his handwriting. No one else's but his, and she had at least one letter to compare it to prove it to anyone that doubted.

Could he…? No, he would have come back if he was! And the way it was worded… Sumomo shook her head again in effort to clear it, fighting to keep a level head among all the confusion welling up inside her as a result of the poem-letter. Trying to ground herself to Amberground before she drifted away, she repeated the last line of his epitaph over and over again in her head like a mantra. May he always be remembered with love, may he always be remembered with love, may he always be remembered with love…

Tripp and Melody followed a distance behind her, wondering just what it was about the words on the paper that had gotten her so upset. They would never know because she would never tell them; she would even deny the note's existence after that day, ignoring the fact it was hidden in one of her dresser drawers along with his last letter to her. She told no one else about it, and, though she continued to visit the marker regularly, nothing like it would ever appear again. However, she always carried that tiny hope that the letter-poem had given her deep down in the very bottom of her heart—maybe, just maybe, he was somehow still alive…

The day after, a note could have been found at the marker's base. Written in small, elegant handwriting, one opening it would have found a very short message inside. It read as follows:

"Faus,

Maybe one day, we'll make amends

For all the letters written that we'll never send.

-I miss you."

By the time she passed by the marker again that day in the evening, it was gone. Mentally, she tried to convince herself it had been blown away by the wind, but, like always since she'd found that first note, the suspicion nagged at her. Maybe, just maybe… It whispered to her. In response, Sumomo only shook her head, scattering the thoughts before they had the chance to hurt her, before the idea could make her cry. Ironically, as she predicted, he wrote a response, but never "sent" it to her as her had the first. He knew it would only cause her more grief.

A/N: And there's an end to the first of hopefully many to come! Hopefully you guys enjoyed it, and if you didn't get the end...well, just keep an eye out for updates. If you liked it or had questions/comments, please review! This author loves hearing feedback. :)