A/N: I've been wanting to write something about this for awhile, but it is one of those subjects that you have to be careful about. I also decided to use Mike and Emily as the couple instead of writing another Timberly fic. There will be triggers and there will be abuse, but there will also be healing and friendship and even something a little more than friendship.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Time period: Starts after Super Samurai ends

Summary: The thing about earth is that it needs the forest to survive. Without the roots of the forests to hold it together it will crumble away and erode with the current of wind and rain. The same can be said about the Yellow Samurai Ranger, without the Green she would simply erode away.

…

Chapter One:

Emily and Mike were ready to hit the road and head out to Emily's home. "I can't wait for you to meet my sister, she's going to love you!" she exclaimed.

Mike laughed, Emily was so excited to go home and see her older sister, it reminded him of himself around Christmas time. He nodded his head, "I can't wait to meet your whole family, I hope you haven't told them too many embarrassing things about me."

Emily fell silent, "It's just me and Serena."

"Just you and your older sister?" Mike repeated, sure he had heard one.

Emily nodded, "Yep, I guess that's why we're so close, it's just the two of us against the world."

Mike nodded, "I see, what were your parents like?" He loved talking to Emily and he wanted to know everything he could about her. He didn't want to admit it out loud but he had fallen in love with her.

Emily shook her head sadly, "I don't remember them, they died when I was a baby."

Mike felt sorry for her, he actually pulled her into a hug, "I'm sorry to hear that, makes me feel bad that I don't get along with my parents. They always told me what to do, now that I'm older I realize that they just wanted me to do something with my life."

"Well have you figured out what you want to do with the rest of your life, now that you aren't needed as a samurai," Emily asked with a slight nudge and a sweet smile.

"Yeah, I think I do," Mike stated, "Game design, I'm going to create a Samurai video game."

Emily smiled, "That is so cool, let me know how that works."

The two had called a cab and were talking about anything that came to mind, from the fact that Mia had admitted to having a crush on Antonio to the way Kevin had blushed when he was talking to Lauren and how Lauren actually ate Mia's food, while the cab driver smiled at the young couple, young love was so cute.

Just then Mike's phone went off, Mike shot a look at Emily, "I thought the others wouldn't miss us this quickly," he said answering his phone.

"Miss us already?" he asked jokingly, apparently it wasn't their friends, for he said after that, "Sorry thought that you were my friends."

There was a pause as whoever was on the line said something to which, Mike responded with, "Yeah, we finished, I'm going home with Emily to meet her sister."

Another pause, "Yes, of course, I'll bring her around to meet you and Dad, Mom."

Emily watched as Mike's face paled, "You got to be kidding me, how bad is it," he glanced over at Emily, "Dad's got cancer and it doesn't look good."

Emily frowned, "Well, let's visit your parents then and we can go home to my place later."

Mike shook his head, he couldn't do that, he knew how excited Emily was on going home and being with Serena, "I can't stop you from going home, you've been looking forward to seeing your sister for a while now, you go and when I get an opportunity I'll come visit."

Emily frowned, "You sure about that?"

Mike nodded his head, "Totally," with that he asked to be dropped off at a nearby hospital.

As Mike left he gave her a peck on the cheek, "Call me when you get there, okay?"

Emily nodded her head, as the cab driver smiled, "How long have you been dating?"

"We've been unofficially dating for over a year, but we just made it official."

…

Emily smiled as she saw her house come into view. She was home. After paying the cab driver she grabbed the mail from the mailbox and headed up the long drive to the house, her suitcase in her one hand. As she approached the steps of the house she let go of her suitcase to look through the mail. Bills, bills and more bills, she shook her head, she hoped that there weren't any financial problems with her gone for the past two years.

As she entered through the kitchen door she smiled, Sally, their next door neighbor was pulling cookies out of the oven, "Sally, what are you doing here?" she asked.

Sally smiled, "Emily, you're home, what a wonderful surprise, your sister's been feeling especially ill recently so I've been helping around the house."

Emily shifted suddenly, Serena had purposely avoided telling her how she was doing while she was gone and she needed an honest answer, "How is she doing, what does the doctor say?"

Sally shook her head, "He's doing his best to keep her comfortable, but at this point that's all they can do, they say that a transplant is her only hope."

Emily shook her head, "Is she up in her room?"

Sally nodded, handing her a plate of cookies, "Why don't you take these up to her, she said that fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies sounded good."

…

Serena's bedroom door was open so Emily just stopped and drank in the sight of her older sister. She was pale and hooked up to a tank of oxygen. She was propped up by pillows and working on a laptop.

"Can I come in?" she asked softly, holding up the cookies as a peace offering, even though she knew she didn't need one.

Serena's face lit up, "Emily, you're here!" However, that exclamation was too much for her as she fell back into the pillows with a groan as she let out a nasty cough.

"Serena, are you okay?" Emily asked rushing over to her sister's side.

Serena nodded, "Just tired, Emily, I'm fine, just paying some bills."

Emily glanced at the spreadsheet up on the laptop, not liking the numbers she was seeing, they were in the red, "I take it we had a hard year?"

Serena nodded, "We lost the crops last year and with my health and doctor bills, thank heavens Sally volunteers to help around the house, we can't afford a housekeeper and I'm too sick half the time to do much more than sit up in bed."

Emily looked at the spreadsheet again, "What if I get a job around town and help with the chores. I'll hate to lay anyone off, but that would help with the money situation some, and Mike is coming up soon, he'll help out too, I just know it."

Serena raised an eyebrow, "Tell me about your teammates, and I want to hear about all of them, all you seem to be willing to talk about in your recent letters are Mia and Mike. Though I'm glad you found a boy you like."

…

While Emily was telling Serena about her time as a samurai Mike was telling his parents about his plans for the future. His dad smiled, "That's a great idea son, you know I've heard of a summer program that you can start now so you don't have to wait until next school year."

Mike frowned, "But I was planning on going to Emily's place and helping out some."

After that Mike started talking about Emily and how wonderful she was and about the benefits of doing the summer course versus waiting for the next school year to start. He would have to talk to Emily about it, but he had a good idea what she would say. She was one of the most selfless persons he knew.

That night he dialed Emily's phone number, she answered before it even finished ringing once, "Hi Mike, how's your father doing?"

Mike hadn't even realized how much he missed her until he heard her voice again. It felt like someone had stabbed him in the chest, "He's doing as good as can be expected, how's Serena?"

Emily's voice was cracking as she explained how Serena's only hope was a heart transplant, and even then time was running out.

Mike told her about what the doctor had said and about the summer program his dad had told him about. As he had expected, Emily said, "Do it, it sounds like a good opportunity, you can come up when you're done or when you have a couple of days off, that's fine."

Mike shook his head as he hung up, he would do it, and he would visit Emily as soon as possible. That girl was his strength.

…

After talking to Mike on the phone Emily gathered some flowers and her flute and headed over to the cemetery. She walked over to two headstones that were next to each other and laid the flowers between them before sitting down and playing her flute.

When they were younger, on Memorial Day, Serena would come and play her flute to their parents. She said that she felt like they could hear her and loved it when she played. When Serena became too ill to play the flute, Emily had done it. Since she had been gone no one had been leaving them flowers or playing music for them.

After a while, she walked over to another grave, this one of her grandmother that raised her. She had died only weeks before she had left for Shiba House, this was the first time she got to visit her grave. She smiled, it had been a good experience being a Samurai, but it was good to be home.

…

A/N: Like I said this has been bugging me for some time, maybe now I can finish my chapter of Kim's True Identity.