Ku ku ku ku ku ku ku... I AM BACK!

Don't hate me! I am apparently a very busy person! I'm trying to finish making an Akatsuki cloak before Halloween, I have a bunch of presentations to do for my classes, and … GAH! Stuff happens!

But anyway... HERE! Written during school... I bring you...

Red Dragons and Paper Cranes

I walk into the white building, the receptionist I've come to know so well smiling at me as I pass. I walk down the familiar white-washed halls, stopping in front of the door that I have spent at least an hour behind every day for the past two years. I push the door open, and the room comes into view.

Balloons decorate the ceiling, most starting to lose their helium. Card and vases of half-wilted flowers cover the tables, along with a few painted sculptures that I made. The walls are a nice cream color, the tiles white with specs of iron pyrite. Two chairs line the wall opposite the floor to ceiling windows with a beautiful view of the traditional Japanese garden.

He sits there, waiting, just as he always is.

"Good morning!" I say cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood.

He doesn't reply. I don't expect him to. He never does.

"I brought you a new sculpture!" I chirp, placing the little red dragon on the table.

He makes no move to take or examine it. I expected that, as well.

"It's a dragon," I say sweetly. "They're apparently good luck in China. Though, you probably already knew that. You always did know a whole lot more than I did."

I smile gently, looking over at him. He shifts a little. It startled me. It's very rare for him to move like that, if at all.

"It's very nice outside, today," I continue. "I wish you would come outside, sometime. I'm sure you'd really like it. The garden is really well kept, and the fish are always hungry."

I chuckle. He'd never admit it, but he'd always loved feeding the fish. He'd drag me to the park, and we'd spend hours just talking and watching the fish swarm at the shore, begging to be fed.

"You'd love that, wouldn't you..." I sigh. "God, you just look so frail, like that. I just... I hate it! You were supposed to be the strong one! The one who could get through anything, could make it..."

By this time, tears had welled in my eyes. It kills me to see him like this.

"Why did you push me out of the way? I could have taken the hit! It would have s-spared me all this pain... D-Do you have a-any idea how h-hard it is t-t-to s-see you like this?" I wail.

Exactly two years ago today, we were out on a date. We were laughing and cracking 'blind Itachi' jokes, like we always do. But as we were crossing the street, some moron (who I later learned was completely wasted and was trying to get to the hospital because his wife was in labor) missed the light and was headed straight for us. But he pushed me out of the way at the last second and took the blow himself.

Four of his ribs broke and two were cracked, his leg had been all but crushed, and he nearly died of shock on the way to the hospital. Since then, he's been here in the comatose ward of Amegakure General Hospital. The rest of us (our little gang, the Akatsuki) used to visit all the time, but eventually, the all lost hope.

Not me.

I knew he'd wake up eventually, and I had vowed that I would be there when he does.

But hope is a sneaky little bastard.

He slips into people's hearts like a ninja, taking with him everything good in their life.

The notorious hope had struck again.

"W-W-Why won't you w-wake up?" I sob.

I must look so pathetic, sitting here crying over something so pointless.

"P-Please, Danna... I-I-I miss you, un!"

I nearly kicked myself. I thought I got rid of that!

I have this really annoying speech tic that I inherited from my parents. I used to get teased about it as a kid, so I spent a lot of time trying to conquer it. I thought I had finally gotten rid of it, last year...

I guess not...

6 months later...

Same hospital, same receptionist, same hallway, same door, same room, same chair, same everything.

It never changes.

"Hey, Danna..." I say tiredly as I plop into my usual chair.

I just got back from work. I'm in the art restoration department of the art museum downtown. We just got a new piece, and they want to see if I can do it on my own.

"Hidan and Itachi say hi," I chuckle.

The didn't say that directly, per se. They were telling me that it was pointless to keep coming to see him and that I should just have then put him under. I didn't want to think about it. It seems kind of inhumane, ne?

I sigh. "Hey, Danna...? Do you ever get tired of being asleep?"

I know it was a futile effort, but that question had been bothering me for a while.

"Don't you ever miss me?"

The sad thing was, I actually expected an answer.

2 weeks later...

"Happy birthday, Danna~!" I call happily as I walk through the door, trying to hide the bag I'm carrying. There's no point, though. It's not like he'll see it.

"I made you something!" I chirp, setting the bag next to the bed. "...okay, a couple somethings."

I produce a red velvet cupcake from the bag and set it on the table.

"It's red velvet. Your favorite. You still like red velvet, right?" I ask timidly, as if he would actually answer.

I then pull a little statuette from the bag and set it by the window.

"I made you another dragon," I say as I dust it off."Bright red and gold. It's really pretty. You'd love it if you saw it. Maybe we can blow it up when you wake up..."

I sigh and walk back over the the bag, producing a rather large tree of paper cranes.

"Danna... You remember the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, right?" I ask quietly. "I made you some cranes... I wonder if they'd actually work..."

I sigh and set the cranes on the floor next to the bag.

"I realize that it isn't much, but I think you might have liked it, had you been awake..."I say softly, sitting in the chair and drawing my knees to my chest.

I set my chin on my knees and close my eyes.

"I wish you'd wake up, un..."

3 weeks later...

"Good morning, Danna!" I chirp, struggling to bring my bag in while on my crutches. I lean the metal abominations against the wall and fall back into the chair with a lour thud.

"I'm sorry I didn't visit you, last week. Some bastard hit me with his truck and broke my leg," I chuckle. "Gave me a nasty concussion, too. They only just let me out, yesterday."

I scratch the back of my head nervously, not really expecting a reply.

"But, to make to up to you, I got you something!"

I pull a little wooden scorpion from my bag.

"My first shot at woodworking. Pretty good, ne?" I giggle, setting the scorpion on the table with my other creations.

"Well, it better be good, at least. I put a lot of effort into that. When you wake up, you better like it, or there'll be hell to pay," I chuckle.

I sit there in a semi-awkward silence, and somewhere off in the distance, I hear a little newborn baby crying.*

December...

"Merry Christmas!" I half-shout as I hobble through the door with my bag. They still have me on crutches since I still couldn't quite walk right, yet. The truck screwed my leg up pretty badly.

"I brought presents~!" I sing as I set the bag beside me and sit down. I pull out a little thermos and a set of cups. "And tea! I know how much you loved it, so I even brought your favorite cup in case you decide to wake up, today!"

I pour some tea into both cups and sit sideways in the chair, putting my feet up on the chair next to me. I sigh and turn to look at him.

"You look so peaceful..." I mumble. "Almost like an angel."

I laugh. "An angel on Christmas. How ironic."

He groans and rolls over, nearly scaring me out of my chair.

"D-D-Danna...?" I stutter, cautiously making my way over to the bed. His porcelain face was scrunched up, his hand slowly curling into fists.

"Danna, are you okay?" I ask slowly, praying to every got I know of that he answers.

He grumbles and shifts again, throwing one arm over his eyes.

"No... Brat, close the curtains... It's too earl for this shit..."

My eyes widen. A lot. They probably look like saucers, now.

"Danna...?"

I must be dreaming. There's no way he could have woken up... Either way, it's the best dream I've ever had.

He growls and lift his arm a bit to look at me.

"Yes, brat?"

I smile really wide, tears gathering in my eyes.

"I missed you."

Several days later...

"Gah! Brat, get off me!" he shouts, struggling to push me off him.

"But I'm so happy! You're going home, tomorrow!" I squeal, hugging him tighter.

"Look, I'm happy, too... But that doesn't give you the right to strangle me to death!" he cries, finally shoving me off.

I pout, crossing my arms and biting the inside of my cheek. "Fine, then. No cake for you."

"Cake?" He perks up, almost like a dog.

"Not now," I grumble. "You reject my affection, you reject my cake."

He sighs and wraps his arms around me. "Brat, I love you, but you're such a pain in the ass."

I giggle and hug him. "Yes, but I'm your pain in the ass."

"Jeez, cliché much?"

I stick my tongue out at him. "Only for you."

"Well, keep it up. I think it's working," he chuckles.

"It better be," I laugh, snuggling my head into his shoulder. He pulls me closer to him and sighs in content.

Perfect.

End

Yus. Random. Took me a couple days to do. XD

I didn't use names. I was too lazy. But I was painfully obvious about which person was which. If you don't get it... then it seriously sucks to be you. XD

So, what do you think? Do you like it? Any errors that I should fix? Please leave me a review and tell me! ^^

*You know the saying 'whenever there's an awkward silence, another gay baby is born'? Yeah. Right there. Little gay baby to make another yaoi story about. XD GO AWKWARD SILENCES!

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