They had grown up together. They had always been together. Him and her, she and him. Always together. The hospital's halls echoed with the sounds of faint beeps and whirrs of medical machines. Ones that saved lives. The only woman in the waiting room of the cold hospital at two o'clock in the morning was the same woman who had been there the days, weeks, and months before. She had been staying – practically living – at the hospital for god knows how long. Then again, so had he. And in even worse condition. All the women gathered to talk about her in their respective offices,
"God, that woman! How unclean she is!"
"She shouldn't even step foot in a hospital without being sterilized first!"
"It doesn't even seem like she showers! She's so rotten her hair's turned blue!"
And the wicked heartless women would laugh.
Likewise…the quiet skinny woman seated in a cold seat within the waiting room could hear all of it. If she had any bit of a heart left to crack, it would be practically dust by now. As the sounds of the evil women next door filled the room with muffled poison, the blue-haired woman sat staring, tear-streaked, across at a small light buzzer far on the other side of the room. Her eyes had cried out all their tears far far long ago, and all her energy left now was for the signal - for that light buzzer to go off, and for her to rush down the hall to see her best friend once more.
Her heart retched in her chest to see him in the state his sickness had brought him to. She hated seeing his pointy bones protrude out from his paper-like, over-stretched skin. Her eyes wanted to sprout fresh tears at the sight of the life being sucked right out of him. Her best friend. Being killed by something even the doctors couldn't explain. It made her unbearably angry. She wanted to crush every smile and smirk off every happy woman's face she saw. But…Konan knew it was wrong. She could imagine Nagato saying:
"Konan, calm down. Getting angry won't solve anything."
And she respected Nagato more than anyone in the world. He was her best friend, her partner, and her fiancé. All these thoughts and memories plus millions more were flashing through her head while she waited. She wanted them gone. Her heart couldn't take much more of it anymore. She lifted her head out of her hands and stared at that little signal again, waiting for its alarm to sound.
For thirty minutes, that's what the broken woman did – stared and tried to forget. After the last minute of waiting, she couldn't believe her eyes. In the deserted waiting room of the hospital, turning in from the hall, was him. The man she loved. He seemed cured! His body needles were gone, and he stood perfectly straight with no pain. She sucked in a gasp of air, rose to her feet, and rocketed toward the beautiful healthy man. Fresh new tears flowed down her cheeks as she hugged him tight – and he to her.
He slowly reached down and patted her on the back, smoothing circles like he always did, and squeezed her. She sniffled and giggled, her joy overwhelming. As the two let go, the tall man faced the woman, gave her his best, widest, whitest smile he could make, and kissed her on her trembling lips. She wanted to pass out. He hugged her again close, and whispered to her.
"It's me, Kona, I'm here…" A sob wracked from her chest. "I want to tell you how much I love you..." She lifted her grey orbs to look into Nagato's purple eyes, and he continued. "My beautiful Angel…thank you so much for coming to this horrible place every day of your life for me. I love you more than anything in the world." Her ear felt warm and it tickled her as he spoke. "You are perfect. And loving. And caring. I thank god for the day we met, every day of my life...and I want to thank you. I love you, Konan. I love you, I love you. Don't ever forget that."
She shook her head. "Thank you," He whispered back. "I can't wait to watch you walk down the aisle in a white dress. You'll be so beautiful. The groom will be the luckiest man in the world." And he winked. Konan laughed and smiled, hugging him again. He held her close. "…Konan…tell me you love me again…" The woman couldn't understand why he would ask such a thing, but all the same she lifted her glistening, beautiful eyes toward him and softly whispered the words he so loved. He smiled at her and squeezed her tight one last time. She stepped away from him, wiping her eyes as she jokingly heard him say, "I love you, my beautiful Angel…" She laughed at the nickname, and opened her eyes.
"…Goodbye…"
When her eyes could see, the handsome man was nowhere to be found.
Before the woman had time to react, a nurse slowly rounded the corner, her eyes puffy and red. She approached the blue-haired girl and gave her a letter. Nothing was said between the two, and then the nurse walked out of the room, sniffling and wiping her eyes. Konan glanced at the paper, her heart sinking. On the front, in beautiful handwriting, "Konan".
Tears once again filled her eyes as she shakily opened the envelope. Inside was a note:
"Konan. I am gone now. But I promised I would say goodbye to you. If you do see me, then that means I will be going with the angels, and I hope you will find comfort with another man who is more capable for you then my weak old shell of body was. I still love you, and I will be waiting at the end of the aisle still, except I won't be the one with the ring…
I love you forever, my Angel. See you soon.
Love, Nagato".
The blue-haired woman's body was shaking like crazy, silent tears streaming like rivers down her face. That beautiful man was Nagato…an angel. Her shaking slender fingers felt something else inside the package. She frantically pulled the small thing out.
There, in her palm, lay Nagato's beautiful wedding ring, cold and heavy in her hand. After laying her eyes upon the ring, the woman fell to the floor in tears.
Her angel had already said goodbye….