Haha… this demands to get out since earlier today. My muse would not rest until I've written it out. Short, probably can be called a drabble. Told from a first person's POV. Try and guess who it is… lol! Unbeta'ed, so sorry for the grammar, if there's any grammar mistakes all around. Keep in mind it's now 3.52am... lol!

Enjoy your reading!

It seems as if I'd been sleeping for quite some time. And yet, I still felt so tired.

I had woken up to find hushed voices all around me; people talking in low volumes, with the thought of being as quiet as possible in their minds. But they still end up with voices that are too loud, much louder than they thought, without realising it.

I had opened my eyes to see people with slightly red, puffy eyes staring at me. It had seemed to me as if all conversation stopped.

What am I doing here?

I'd thought I'd told everyone about my wish. I'd thought everyone knew I'd wanted to be at home.

"Don't give me that look," my mother had said, giving me a quick hug but still being careful as if somehow she didn't want to crush me. I had wanted to tell her it's okay, I'm not that fragile.

I looked around again. Everyone had been there: my closest family, my best friends, my team mates from Seigaku, my good friends and used-to-be-archrivals from Fuodomine, Rokkaku, Hyotei and even Rikkaidai. Heck, even Atobe and Mizuki and Kirihara had been there.

That was when I knew I didn't have much time. I had known from the start why they're all there. I'd known from the faces of the doctors who talked to my family members, and to some of my closest friends. They must've told the others.

It must have been frightening for them when I collapsed after that match I had with that American player. Somehow, when I stepped into the court, I had known it's going to be my last match. I had won anyway; and I heard the umpire announced it was 6 games to 2. My team had been overjoyed. But their joy soon turned to fear when I had collapsed. I had known that they would find out, and it's already too late for them to do anything.

"We tried," a voice had said.

I had tried to focus on him, but it was quite hard. Nevertheless, I think he knew I was trying to look at him. The drugs the doctors had prescribed had kept me in the embrace of Sleep all the time. But I had fought. I had to tell them.

"I'm sorry," Tezuka had said.

Yes, I could still recognised people. All of them had hung their heads down low, disappointed that they couldn't help me.

"It's okay," I had told them. Even just those two words, it had been tiring for me. But I had pushed on. No one has ever seen my limits before. Perhaps they never would. But somehow I had felt as if I was showing them now.

This had been my limits. This was where I had to stop and go down the bus. And I had known this was where my journey ends; while their journeys had just started.

I had told them that I enjoyed my life so far, I loved being around them, I loved the attention everyone gave me, I loved the adrenaline coursing through me every time they put me on all the matches we had, I loved the feel of our victories, I loved it when we all held the trophies that were awarded to us, I felt pride when I displayed those medals and trophies I had in the glass shelf in the living room of my house.

I had told them it was okay that they couldn't help me. I had told them I hadn't expected them to be able to do so, since even my family members couldn't as well. I had told them I had expected all of this. I had known it would happen – it's just a matter of time, it's just sooner or later. This was something that couldn't be helped. Nothing could've saved me.

I had told them how much I appreciated their help, how much I loved the challenges that they gave me. I had told them that I had no regrets going this far with them, I had no regrets for all the injuries I had, for all the fun times we had together.

What I didn't tell them was that I had just one small disappointment. I regretted I didn't tell him that I loved him, that I'd always loved him, and that I'd always had feelings for him, even until now. It had been too late to tell him now. Deep down inside, I had wished that he'd have a happy life after this.

And I had slept after I told them everything. I had known that this was going to be the sleep where I'd never wake up, where I'd fall into that black abyss that awaited me.

When the time had come, I saw Her. She was cloaked in black, with a hood over Her head. But Her face – it was so pretty. Needless to say, She was beautiful. Funny how they had always portrayed Her as a man instead, as a he, with a face that was void of everything, with the hood of a cloak that covered not a face, not a anatomical structure but emptiness; the hood as if held up by nothing but air.

I had known She'd come; I had waited as Time played her hands. She opened her arms, and smiled at me; as if to say it's nothing to be afraid of and that everyone has to talk a walk down this very same path one day in his life. And I had walked.

I never turned back. I never looked back.

I walked into the embrace of the Angel of Death.

- fin