"Mr. Akiyama, how nice to see you again" a nurse said bowing at the twenty-one year old young man that stood before her.

"My pleasure nurse," he said walking away from the desk the nurse sat behind. Ryo Akiyama was in St. Allen's hospital in New York where teenagers of the age eighteen or lower could stay if they had physical or mental problems that needed curing. The place was of the highest standards and always kept spotless. It always smelled of meadow flowers from the antiseptic they used, and though the typical white walled and tiled corridors appeared to make the place seem hostile, a multitude of hand drawn pictures from children were pinned to almost every square inch of the walls. This is what seemed to make the place seem more special in Ryo's opinion. Children of all ages fought here, as did his true love.

As Ryo moved away from the desk and moved in perfected motion to the corridor he wanted, a secretary walked over to the desk and tapped the nurse's shoulder. "Are you done with your daily 'stair at the pretty boy' routine yet?" the middle-aged woman said to the younger nurse.

"Oh yes, you may get back to your job" the girl said, sighing as she looked at Ryo walking down the hall. She wasn't in love with him, just infatuated with his looks. He wore some slack low cut Nikes with a pair of faded jeans worn low around his waste, showing the line of his checkered boxers. Along with that he was adorned with a "Sex Pistols" shirt that was tight around his muscles. The nurse began to drool after she saw him turn the corner slowly. My, Ryo had grown over the years since the tamer days.

Of course, he was twenty-one; meaning that his pubescent stages of live were practically over and he had developed from his usual boyish features into a more suitable form. His usual shining cerulean eyes had never changed, always expressing his emotions in a heart beat and making girls swoon. Not only that, but his perfect teeth and trademark grin are two things he had never grown out of either; he was the same old Ryo, just standing at about six feet now, a more muscular form, a more defined jaw line, and he had matured a little more. Though, this maturity had still not permitted him to escape his mischievous streaks once and a while. Yes, Ryo Akiyama had grown into and out of a lot of things, but his heart had never changed, and never would, as many years as he was alive and as was his love.

Walking down the corridor, Ryo thought about things. Rika had undergone some type of psychological distress and had entered a state of what was like catatonia. It was quite odd; she had been sitting in a classroom in college on the first day of school and suddenly fell out of her chair as soon as the class started. Her eyes glazed over and her muscles would not move. The only thing that had proved she was still alive was her pulse thumping at its normal pace. It was when he arrived at the door that read, 616 that he stopped thinking about the past and remembered where he was.

He quietly opened the door, letting only the little click of the handle resonate into the eerily quite room. He stepped in softy, not letting his sneakers make a sound as he entered the room. He then turned around and closed the door just as softly before trailing across the room to the opposite side where "his chair" sat steadily. It was odd, whenever he did things in the room; he always did everything in a hushed sound even though he knew she wouldn't wake up. It had been two months since she had been flown to this hospital because of her predicament and she had not moved a muscle since. Her eyes always stayed closed and she always laid on her back, her rhythmic breathing the only sound that ever sounded through the room.

"Hey Rika" Ryo said, flipping the chair around so that his chest could lie against the back, and he could prop his arms on it. He looked at her still form, the quiet killing him slowly inside. He had flown in the helicopter that took her to this hospital, and had visited her everyday since she had been diagnosed with this coma thing. The doctors had told him what her ailment was, but he had never kept track of what it was because it was some extensive Latin term that he couldn't remember and didn't care to. All he needed to know was that his wild cat lay solemnly in some type of coma, and she couldn't talk to him.

Looking at her face, he could see how much thinner and gaunt she had become. Her face remained just as beautiful but she had definitely dropped ten pounds and it showed. Her eyes looked so peaceful when she slept, yet her mouth had formed into some contorted frown, typical Rika. Her hair was down, her scarlet locks of hair extending neatly around her head like a crown. She looked like a sleeping queen, the queen to Ryo's king.

He noticed that he had been staring at her for ten minutes before realizing that he must respect her privacy as if she were awake. If she were awake she would have socked him in the stomach if she even caught him glimpsing at her for more than a few seconds. "So anyway," he started, "I saw Takato today. Remember him?" Ryo said thinking as if she had amnesia or something.

Ryo chuckled, "Of course you do, what am I saying? You guys are good friends." He continued, "Anyways I just thought I'd tell you that he, Henry, and I are all going over to Japan to go visit our parents. I'll go say hi to your mom too." He stumbled on his words a little. Her mom, it would be so hard to face them because they didn't want Rika go over to New York with the rest of them in the first place. She wanted Rika to stay home with them, but now her daughter was in a coma and the family had no care to come see her. They thought it was their fault.

"I'll be over there for a month; I know that nothing will really happen to you in that time. Nothing has lately." He said putting his hand on hers. Her hands felt frigid compared to his, her white, white hands that had no reflex when he held them. He laced his fingers with hers, and said, "Rika Nonoka, you know I love you right? I guess I told you that too late, but as I've said from the first day you were here, I love you." He paused to look at her face. Nothing. His heart sank a little more, no matter how many times he stated he loved her, she never responded. He began again, "Now, I'm going to leave my address for you so if some miracle happens where you can move again, just write to me over there. The doctor said that you would get your movement back some time soon, and your voice would come later." He unlaced his fingers from hers.

Ryo looked at her again, her face like porcelain in his more rough hands. Hesitating, her placed the other hand on her face and turned her head towards his. He had never dared to do this before, knowing she would kill him whenever she woke up, but he bent over and lightly placed his lips on hers, and feeling the chill that it sent down his spine. Their lips only had slightly touched, the positive tension between them definitely apparent, but he could feel how lifeless she felt in his hands. He then retracted his head, and laid hers gently back in the position it was in before.

Ryo figured, without being able to tell her his love for her everyday, he had to allow her some token of remembrances for the month he would be gone and he needed to feel some sort of compassion back, whether it was her saying it or their lips touching only for a brief moment. Then he stood completely up, and pulled out a piece of paper and took out a pen. He scribbled his address down in case she forgot, and laid it on her bedside table before heading for the door. He turned one last time to her, wanting to see her face before he would have to leave it for a month, Damn, she was beautiful. "Good Bye pumpkin," Ryo said as he turned around and opened and close the door in the same manner he did before: a silent turn of the handle and the click of the latch.

As the latch of the door closed, Rika's breathing became less steady and more uneven. Her eyelids began to twitch as if she was having a seizure, and then her heart monitor began to hasten a little. Her eyes opened.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

To whomever it may concern, this is the end of chapter one. I

am planning on making this fan fiction more a chain of letters

with a few little actions in between. I won't continue this story

for very long if no one rates my story. My one last time was

pretty OOC, but I mean at least someone could have constructively

criticized it. Thank you guys for reading this and I would like

suggestions on how to write the next part. Please respond, thanks.

Sincerely,

Xander