09/05/2010: So I updated this story a bit. It's so, so old, but it keeps getting hits and reviews and such, which is just painful for me because it's so old and pretty badly written. So I fixed it up a little, just smacked on a new paint job basically.

I only saw her at the end of the afternoon. As I biked home everyday around three-thirty I'd pass the small park with the oak tree and there she'd be. The little blonde was always up in that tree, climbing up with speed I didn't know anyone had, and then she'd swing down from branch to branch and start over.

Just like a monkey.

At first I never gave her a second glance. She was always just there as important as a dead leaf in the fall. One day I stopped my bike a little ways away from the park and watched her climb for maybe ten minutes. A couple times she fell with a groan. But she'd brush herself off and get back into the tree.

She was determined. I'll give you that.

For the next three weeks I rode past her, sometimes if she was low enough in the tree to see me she'd flash me a grin and wave briefly.

Every time she did I felt a little less alone.

But a week later I was riding past her tree slowly, enjoying the warm weather of late spring when the scratch of sneakers against bark and a yell echoed from the tree. I stopped my bike and turned in the seat to see the girl slip on a high up branch and fall like a rock through the branches. Wood snapped but the snap when she hit the ground was no stick.

Forgetting everything I leaped from my bike and flew to her side. Her arm was twisted at an inhuman angle under her. I panicked, my brain a jumble of thoughts as I frantically thought of what to do. While I freaked out the girl lifted her undamaged hand and placed it on my arm. I blinked and looked down at her.

"There's a cell phone in my bag," She told me. I nodded my head dumbly and rushed to the bright blue backpack lying a few meters away. Within four hours she had a cast on her arm and was doodling randomly on it as we walked back to the park together from the hospital.

"Thanks a lot," She said for the fifteenth time that day, which I reminded her.

"Yeah, sorry!" She said with a laugh, "So, you gonna come by tomorrow?"

That was what started our friendship.

From then on everyday on my way home I'd stop at the park and we'd hang out and talk. For weeks and weeks we would climb the oak tree, tell each other our secrets, split candy and catch butterflies. We were good friends; we even had nicknames for each other. Hers' was Monkey, and mine was Taru-Taru.

I was happier than I had ever been.

"Bless you," I said idly after she sneezed. Wiping her nose with a sniff she grinned at me. We were sitting on a thick branch of the oak tree, nearly suppertime, munching on chips watching the birds fly by.

"Thanks. My mom would be mad if she heard me sneeze," She told me offhandedly.

"Hmm? Why's that?" I asked slightly curious. Thing is, I just love the sound of her voice.

"Well my immune system's really weak, so if I get a horrible cough I could be in bed for weeks!"

She didn't seem to care that much about it and I watched her for a few more minutes. "Dear! Time to come in for supper!" A motherly voice called out from a house behind the small little park.

"Coming!" She yelled back, flashed me a grin and left, climbing down careful of her right arm. I sat there for a moment or two, enjoying the remaining feeling of joy bubbling in my stomach that resigned there whenever she was near. Then I jumped down to the ground and biked home.

"Tart. Tart!" Kish snapped his fingers in my face and I blinked.

"Hmm? What?" I asked distractedly as I fell back to earth.

"Jeez! You've totally been out of it for weeks! What's with you!" Kish exclaimed.

"Maybe he's coming down with something," Pai suggested in an uncaring voice from where he was reading one of his boring logical books.

"Yeah…" Kish said slowly, dragging out the word, "Or maybe Tart's in love!"

I jumped in surprise.

"Aww shudd-up!" I slurred angrily, "What do you know!"

"A lot," Kish replied loftily, "And you're in love!"

I growled and tackled the moron.

Pai turned a page in his book ignoring the wrestling match.

"Hey, Taru-Taru?"

"Yeah?" I replied, twirling a leaf in my fingers.

"You're my best friend,"

"Wha—err… really?" I said jerkily.

"Mm Hmm…" She said with a nod, "Everybody else doesn't like me cause I can't do a lot of sports cause I get sick so much an' I cough a lot sometimes."

"Oh…Umm… Thanks, that means a lot… You're my best friend too, Monkey"

"Really!" She squealed, "Yay!" She jumped on me, hugging me tight she rubbed her face against mine.

"My friend! Friend, friend, friend!" She chanted.

"Hey! Space!" I yelled almost jokingly. With a grin she pulled away.

"Sorry!" She apologized still grinning.

"Yeah…whatever…" I mumbled.

A couple weeks passed, she got her cast taken off, summer came and we spent whole days together, slurping up freezies, playing at the beach, going to comedy movies, eating pounds of ice cream, and just hanging out in the small park as usual. By the time August was winding to a close we were as close as two friends could be.

Sure maybe I was starting to like her as more than that, but even if I told her, what difference would it make? We'd still spend our days together, sharing a tub of chocolate ice cream, but all the same my soul lifted high when I was around her. Kish became more and more suspicious as I spent everyday with her, his thoughts more and more perverted, but I managed to ignore him.

It was the first day of September and I was biking to the park, excited to spend another wonderful day with her but my spirits crashed when I arrived at the park and she wasn't there. I sat in the tree for a couple hours, waiting for her. As the sun reached the middle of the sky I climbed down and headed for her house just behind a small waist height black gate that separated it from the park. Slipping over it I walked to the door of the neat little house and rang the doorbell.

A young boy of five or six opened it a crack and peered up at me. "Sissy! Sissy, it's your friend!" He yelled behind him then turned around, "You can come in," He told me and rushed back inside the house.

Slowly I stepped inside. What I found was a traditional Japanese house, complete with rice paper walls and a low eating table. "Oh hello, I'm sorry but my daughter has caught a horrible cough," A woman said warmly stepping into the living room, "Why don't you come back tomorrow and then you can see her?"

With nothing else to do I nodded and walked outside, my stomach heavy with disappointment. I biked home early by five hours. Kish instant started his teasing.

"What? Your girlfriend dump you? Did you get in a fight? Did you hit her? You know that would ruin your relationship forever… Especially if you bruised her, you really shouldn't hit girls Tart, it's inappropriate-"

"I didn't know you knew that word, did you have Pai teach you?" I remarked coolly.

"Huh? What?" Kish blinked with his idiotic what-I-don't-get-it expression on.

"No, surprisingly he learned it himself, maybe he found a dictionary," Pai slipped into the conversation.

I grinned at Pai, Kish looked from me to him confused then stated,

"I don't get it,"

"Hello," A little girl greeted me at her door today.

"Hey, I'm a friend of your sister, may I come in?"

"Sissy's sick, you can't see her," The girl said flatly.

"Yes I know, but your mommy said I could today," I explained in a warm voice.

"But mommy didn't tell me,"

"Why don't you go ask her now," I suggested. The girl was gone and in a few seconds she returned and told me to come in and take off my shoes. When I did she lead me upstairs to a room where the blonde lay on a bed.

"Taru-Taru!" She exclaimed happily, her once high-pitched girly voice was accompanied by a cracking cough.

"Hey Monkey," I greeted her casually, "You don't look so well,"

She tried to laugh at the use of her nickname but her giggles ended in a horribly painful sounding coughing fit. After gulping down a cup of water she smiled wobbly up at me. I sat by her bed for an hour, we had small conversations for a while but soon her voice was gone and I had to leave.

The next day I returned and her mother greeted me at the door.

"Good morning," She looked tired, "I'm afraid Purin is still sick," She told me.

"Oh. When do you expect her to recover?" I asked.

"Well… I'm sorry," Tears built up in the woman's eyes, turning them glossy in the daylight, "but the doctors don't think she will recover from this, it's worse than it seems,"

Her words echoed in my empty head as my stomach went cold.

No. Oh god no…

As late summer slipped into fall I found myself standing at the base of the oak tree, one palm pressed up against the bark on the trunk, staring at the house. Laughter and conversations from the past echoed softly from around me and in the branches above me. If I looked up ghostly figures of me and her would flash for a second then disappear and re-appear somewhere nearby as if we were running, or climbing around me right then.

I saw her swinging from branches like the monkey I always called her. My eyes fogged up and I closed them to keep the tears in.

That was the first day I gave up on her.

Day, and weeks passed by and I spent them sitting in the exact spot I used to always sit as she chattered on happily.

Sometimes out of the corner of my eyes I'd see her there, her ghostly laughter ringing in the air. But my days of laughter were over. My childhood was slipping away with her. As September oozed into October I met Monkeys' little sister out by the oak tree.

"Sissy misses you," She said, "Mommy's gonna let her go out for Halloween, but Sissy won't go out unless you go with her,"

"Oh, then tell her that I'll definitely go with her," The girl nodded and ran off towards her house.

"Wait!" I called, the girl stopped and looked back over her shoulder, "Tell her that I'm sorry I haven't been visiting." Another nod and the girl was gone, leaving me alone with the memories the oak tree held.

"Taru-Taru!" She greeted me happily, her voice hoarse.

"Hey Monkey, good to see you," I said with a smile. Her Halloween costume was that of a monkey, mine was of some elf-warrior dude.

"Let's go get candy!" She exclaimed and yanked me out the door. We were lucky, we got almost two pillowcases full of candy, and by the time we returned to Monkeys' house we were practically dragging the pillowcases.

"Oh no!" She exclaimed softly, "We didn't get to visit your house!"

"…Don't worry about it," I assured her, "They won't miss us,"

"But, don't you have a family?"

I was silent.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! Did I hurt your feelings?" She exclaimed again in worry.

"No, no it's okay, my parents died a long time ago, Pai and Kish are all the family I have left,"

"Oh… Sometime can I meet them?"

"I dunno, they may be a bit…much for you," I told her.

"But, someday I will meet them, right?"

"Yeah,"

And as Halloween passed I went home and stared at my sack of candy for a long time. Kish actually suggested we call a doctor, and Pai felt my forehead twice before I took notice.

"I'm fine, okay? I just don't feel like candy," I told them.

"Oh my god! He's going to die!" Kish shrieked running over to Pai and shaking him by the shoulders, "He's going to die!" Kish shrieked louder, shaking Pai more vigorously, who remained impassionate.

Pai glared at Kish as he was rattled back and forth and eventually Kish released him.

"Taruto, it isn't because of your friend, is it?" Pai asked calmly. I jerked up.

"No!" I replied to quickly.

"Mmm Hmm…" Kish hummed in a disbelieving tone.

"Don't say it!" I snapped.

"I didn't say anything yet," Kish complained.

"Fine you want a reason? I'll give you one!" I yelled, jumping to my feet, "My best friend is gonna die. You happy now?"

Silence followed. I didn't notice the tears brimming in my eyes.

I didn't visit her for almost a month and it was late November when her mother approached me in the park.

"I know this may come as a shock, but… but the doctors estimate this as Purin's last few weeks with us," She told me sadly. Her breath rattled the words inside her mouth and she just stared at the ground, and I just stared at her. There was a moment of silence.

"Can I see her?" I asked, my voice cracking.

"Yes," She nodded, her voice a whisper, and led me into the house.

I rushed up to her room and knelt next to her bed. "Taru-Taru…? Is that you?" She asked weakly, her voice whistled out of her throat, her eyes half open.

"Yes, it's all okay now," I reassured her, and grabbed her hand, I couldn't think of anything else to do. Eventually I lay next to her, half propped up against the backboard of her bed, cradling her head in my arms. We slept that way until late the next morning. I made sure she ate breakfast and then we sat together again.

"Look at me," She laughed, "No tree-climbing for me!"

"I'm sorry," I said after a few moment of silence, "I should have been here for you,"

"Taru-Taru…"

"No. You need rest, don't speak," I said soothingly, pressing my fingers to her lips. I oozed out of her bed and left the room, quietly shutting the door behind me. The next morning I sat in the oak tree all alone, the fading whispers of the past floating around me. Sometime after noon I returned to her side.

"You came back?" She asked disbelieving

"Yeah," I muttered, "I wouldn't abandon you, you're my best friend,"

"And I'll never abandon you!" She said cheerfully, her voice a croak. I smiled faintly as I remembered what she had told me once long ago in spring; "Now that you're my best friend I'll never abandon you! I don't abandon anyone!"

As the sun began to set I returned home, but returned the next day and didn't leave her bedside for the entire day, and everyday for a week. Sunday was cool, the wind lightly brushed fallen leaves across the ground. Once so very long ago she was as important to me as one of the dead leaves that crunch under my bike tires, but not anymore. She was my world, she was my childhood.

She was very sick that day, I had noticed her coughs had been getting thicker, her voice more faded, even in the past two days. As I walked into her room she grinned at me but didn't say anything. She couldn't. I sat on the edge of her bed and watched her slip in and out of a feverish sleep, listening to her cough rip at her throat.

My Monkey was dying.

I stayed with her even after the sun had slipped below the horizon and the few stars of the city were appearing.

"Taru-Taru…?" She croaked.

"Hmm… Yes?" I asked softly.

"Thank you…for being here for me."

"Isn't that what friends are for?"

We sat in silence staring out the window right next to the bed watching the stars for a long time before one of us spoke.

"Taru-Taru? Promise me—" She coughed, the sound crackled deep in her throat, "That I won't see you up there for a long time…"

I jerked up; mist filled my vision as I looked down slightly at her laying beside me.

"I promise," I said sincerely.

"Thank you." She murmured.

"Isn't that what friends are for?"

A smile lit up her face and I slipped my arm around her shoulders and held her close to me as I felt her heartbeat falter.

The next morning I returned to the oak tree. But today I wouldn't be alone. My Monkey will be there too. We'll split our Halloween candy, share our secrets, and climb the tree together.

And even if I can't see her I know she's there, and that is why I'm still alive.

As always, reviews are fantastic. But more than that I hope you enjoyed reading this silly little story about a silly little boy and silly little love.