Sayonara
Prologue: Sunflower/ Himawari
The sunflower she had clasped desperately in her hands had been slowly dying, counting down to the time where he would vanish. She had known him for all of twelve years, though the last eight had been without him completely. It was only when he turned up in her school with no word of warning that she had to come to terms with herself that he was still real. In the eight years they spent apart, he had seemed like a great childhood dream that she had simply made up. But her heart began beating rapidly and painfully when his eyes met hers across the hallway. It brought her mind back to that spring.
She sat alone in the field that surrounded the local playground, her legs out at an angle beneath her, her eyes and hands focusing on the half finished daisy chain in her lap.
"Misa?" Her head turned as he sat down beside her, his hands clutched behind his back.
"Hi, Ta-chan." She smiled but her smile faded quickly as his eyes remained trained on the grass below. He brought a sunflower out from behind his back and handed it to her.
"I- I'm leaving." He murmured softly, so softly in fact that she was sure it was just the wind talking.
"Huh?" She couldn't read his emotions as his head raised and he watched her silently.
"I have to go. My father wants to take me to England." Her face clicked over in recognition and her eyes filled with fear, glassy tears obscuring her vision.
"You can't go Ta-chan! You can't leave me!" He stood, pulling her up with him. His hand cupped her cheek. As she was, a helpless ten-year-old girl, she couldn't do a thing. He bent his head forward and his lips met hers briefly. A tear streamed down her cheek and she began to shake silently.
"Goodbye, Misaki." And the last she saw of him was his back retreating away from the playground. With the passing of a bus hiding him from her view, he was gone. Her knees gave way and she cried hopelessly, holding the sunflower tightly against her chest.