WARNINGS: The characters contained here within are owned by Yoshiro Togashi.

To Cross the Distance Between Hearts

By: Skylar Inari

He had always been different.

Her son.

Her little red-haired Shuuichi.

For the longest time it had been a dark worry in her heart that he didn't care for her.

As a young child he had always avoided her embraces and had refused to allow her to mother him or even tend his small childish scraps and bruises.

His eyes had always seemed to hold her as an inferior.

Never did the ice in his manner waver when it came to her.

Until...

Until the day that her beloved son slipped on a stool and dishes came crashing down.

She had protected her son from the sharp edges of the plates - even to the extent of getting hurt herself.

But it hadn't mattered to her that she was bleeding, what had mattered was the fact that her

Shuuichi was safe and unharmed.

After that day...

Her son changed.

While he never really become very affectionate towards her, he allowed her to tend his minor wounds and hug him whenever she wished.

And his eyes lost that look of superiority that had always injured her.

He began caring about what she did during the day while he was at school and smiled more for her.

Her darkest worry had been banished.

Her son did love her - even if he was not very good at showing it.

Then there had come the day when she had fallen ill.

Her son had come home from school on that horrid rainy day only to find her collapsed on the floor unconscious and limp.

When she had woken up the first thing she had seen had been her Shuuichi's beautiful worried eyes. She had managed to clasp his hand in reassurance before passing out again.

It was discovered that she had contracted a rare illness that the doctors would have difficulty curing.

Her long stay in the hospital began then.

Her Shuuichi came every day after school to see her, his eyes always full of love and worry.

But her condition just kept getting worse...

One day her son brought a friend with him to visit her.a friend with slicked back black hair and very direct eyes.

She had been so pleased that her son had brought a friend to see her.for her son had never made many friends even though he was popular at school.

Soon after they left the room her health took a dramatic drop.

She was placed in immediate emergency care but her body continued to falter.

She struggled to hold on to her life - so that her son would not be left with no parents at all.

Then...

She began getting better - very rapidly.

When her son came back into the room and received the news he shed the first tear that she had ever seen from him and clasped her hand.

She smiled for him and received a smile back.

Within the week she was out of the hospital and healthy again.

Healthy not only in body but in spirit for she knew now beyond any doubt that she had managed to cross the distance between her heart and Shuuichi's.

Never again would she feel like she was the lesser being.

Now she would always know that she was his mother - in all ways.

Caring...Loving...Watching...Protecting...

She'd always be there for him no matter what the cause.

Quietly so as not to wake her sleeping angel she moved to his bed side, pulled the blanket's tighter around her son and planted a gentle kiss on his head.

Leaving the room she smiled as she glanced back over her shoulder at the sleeping form of her son.

She loved him - with all her being...

And now she knew he loved her...

...with all of his.

~Owari~