Hi everyone! Miss me? Well, if not me then at least the next chapter! This one was tricky. There were so many ideas I had for this, but I knew only one would make the story a little spicy. I was planning on this for a while, but I really hope none of you hate me after. :( But, it's your opinion. So why don't you read it and tell me what think... ;) (Just a hint, that a reminder to review when you finished!)

Chapter 12: Recovery

"Tombo?" My voice was soft, but still audible. I felt tears begin to form. Once his eyes were completely open, I let go of the tears and ran to his side, hugging him.

"Oh Tombo, you're back! You came back to me!" The doctors began removing the tubes and equipment that kept him alive all throughout the long months of his coma. I did not mind them. All I wanted was to be close to Tombo.

"What's going on?" Was Tombo's first question. He did not even seem surprised to see me. After being in a coma for almost four months, he surely would have trouble understanding a few things, like the fact that I was here in Koriko sitting at his hospital bed.

"Copori," the main doctor said, using his real name, "I am Dr. Eiko Watanabe. This may come as a shock to you, but you've been a patient here in the Koriko Hospital for almost four months…in a coma." Tombo stared at the doctor in a puzzled way. He was not even shocked at what he was told. "I would like to run a couple tests on you to see how well you have… recovered." I reluctantly let go of Tombo's hand and let the doctor do his job. He held a minuscule flashlight in his hand, waving it from one of Tombo's eyes to the next. He then used a stethoscope to measure his heart beat.

"Okay, you seem to be feeling alright, but I would recommend some time to rest and relax. The nurses will come back and give you more tests later on." I was very angry with this. "What?" I asked, "He just came out of a coma after four months. He's had plenty of rest." I was not going to let him get away again. Not again.

"While that is true, Copori does seem to be confused. He needs to slow down his thoughts and take things little by little. I would advise you to leave him alone for a while. Your friends and family should have been informed by now and-"

"Tombo!" All I heard were screams and people rushing through the door to see Tombo. Aimi was the first, and then Nori. They were the closest he had to family, since him and Aimi lost their parents when they were very young.

"Oh, it's true! You're awake!" Aimi screamed.

"Yeah, I…I guess so," he said. Confusion stayed in his tone and he stared at each and every one of us, trying to put pieces together.

"How are you feeling?" Osono asked, "It must have been a shock to see Kiki after all this time. She's grown up so much since you last saw each other." I smiled at Tombo, but he did not smile back. In fact, the confusion in his face grew even more intense.

"Kiki?" He asked. I nodded, hoping he would remember the short-haired witch that he had befriended long ago. It seemed like he did not remember me at all. Of course, my hair was longer, I traded in my dark, violet dress for a simple white one, and I was older. He hadn't seen me in over six years.

"Alright," Dr. Watanabe said, "Copori has just woken up after a long coma, and he needs to relax. For now, I want him to rest for a couple hours. Once he's awakened, I would advise only two people per visit." We could not argue with the doctor. He knew what was best for Tombo, so I simply stood up, grabbed his hand and said, "I'll be back. I promise."

"What's taking so long?" However much I grew older, I did not lose my impatience. We had been waiting for too long. Ursula and Lewis had to discuss which paintings she would use in his gallery, so they left not too long ago. Nori had a job interview to go to, as well as Aimi. Kimi was becoming tired, waiting for her friend to wake up, so Osono sent her and her father home to care for Kimi and the bakery. I felt like her twin at the moment.

"Patience," Osono said, "we must wait. He needs his rest."

"He had four months of rest! What's an hour or two more?" Osono seemed to imagine me as that young, thirteen-year-old girl waiting for adventure, with no care in the world whatsoever.

"Kiki, the doctor said-"

"The doctor isn't Tombo! He doesn't know what he needs!" I shouted. Luckily, no one, especially the doctor, was around to hear that. I sat down and covered my face with my hands. I felt like there was barrier between us, me and Tombo. He was supposed to be mine and I was supposed to be his, but there was this thin barrier blocking everything from happening. It was not fair. Life was unfair.

I heard footsteps walking towards us, but opened the door to Tombo's room inside. Doctor Watanabe, I presumed. He was the only one allowed to enter his room, along with the nurses that aided him.

"Do you think he'll be able to return back to his life?" I asked Osono. I uncovered my face and stared at the door. "Like, will Tombo's life be back to normal?" Osono stared at me and held me close. I needed comfort. "Of course he will!" She replied, "He'll return to college, go back and live with his sister, and things will go about as if this whole incident never happened." For a minute I was relieved. I sighed in contentment, ecstatic to hear Tombo's life had a chance to revert to normal.

Doctor Watanabe came out of the room and removed his stethoscope from his ears to his shoulders. "Copori is doing perfectly well," he said to us, "He is awake and can have visitors. I would advise only-" I didn't care what else he had to say. Once he said Tombo could see us, everything else was meaningless to me. All I saw was the door and Tombo on the other side.

He was sitting up, observing his surroundings. He continued to show confusion. It was as if he had never seen a hospital room before. "Tombo, you're awake…again." Even he had to laugh that. "When Doctor Watanabe said you could see us, I rushed right in. I just…I needed to see you." Osono opened the door and stood next to me. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright, thanks," He said. Tombo smiled, but it was different. What I saw was someone entirely different from the Tombo I used to know.

"So, did you recognize Kiki the second you saw her?" Osono asked him, "I have to confess, it took me a while to see the resemblance. The things that reminded me were her broomstick and her cats, Jiji and Jin. You remember them, don't you?" Tombo nodded and smiled again. I began to worry for him.

"Tombo," I began, "Are you lying to me?" His face dropped while mine stayed in its seriousness. He looked down at his twiddling fingers and nodded. I was taken back.

"So, you…you're saying…" The words could not come out of my mouth. I was frozen. Something seemed different about him. No, there was something different about him. Like a part of him was missing. And that was where he confessed.

"In all honesty, I don't remember either of you, nor anyone else who came earlier." Gasps filled the air, but none from me. I just sat there, lifeless. I could not believe what he said. How does one forget their family and friends? Osono rushed out to get the doctor, but I stayed. I was frozen in time. My thoughts kept jumping around. He doesn't know me. He doesn't remember me. Which means he won't understand my feelings for him. If I tell him the truth, he will just become even more shocked than he already is.

"What does this mean, Doctor Watanabe?" I heard Osono ask as she and the doctor entered the room. They stared at a bewildered boy and even more confused girl. "We do not have as much advanced technology as I had hoped we would for this sort of accident, but I would say Copori is suffering from amnesia. He has lost most, or even all, of his past memories." Tears were trying to form, but I would not let them. Tombo would see me cry, and he never had. Of course, he wouldn't remember it, but I did. And if he saw me cry, he would wonder why this girl who he had just met hours earlier, was crying so deeply over him.

"Tombo, can you tell me what the last thing you remember was?" I asked. I was at his bedside, gripping his hand. He stared intensively into my eyes. He was trying hard to remember something. "I…I remember an airplane, I think." My eyes grew wide. "Yeah, I was flying an airplane!" He seemed excited, until he remembered more of what happened. "But something happened to the engine and it failed. I was heading towards a pile of rocks. Then I blacked out."

"It seems he remembers what happened to him," Doctor Watanabe informed us, "but everything else is just a blur to him." I wanted to stay, tell him his memories would come back. I wanted him to tell me he knew the little witch girl that came to Koriko when we were teenagers. I wanted him to tell me he felt the same way I did. But I couldn't have that. One wrong mistake and everything went into flames. My fantasy was burned to a crisp. He was gone. Forever.

I ran out as fast as I could. I just kept running until I made it outside. I rested my head on a tree and let the tears free. I was convinced my Tombo was gone, and this new one was sent to replace him. I wanted to believe Tombo could be saved, that his memories would one day just come to him, but this was the real world. Fantasies such as mine only happened in fairytales.

"Kiki," I soft feminine voice called to me and turned me around. Osono made me look at her directly so she knew I would listen to her. "Doctor Watanabe said there was a chance he could reminisce his memories. All we have to do is guide him: tell him stories, show him videos, and remind him of whom we are to him." I nodded, showing her I understood. I was going to help him in any way I could. Tombo was going to remember me, he was going to remember all the good times we had together, and most importantly, he was going to remember the feelings we had for one another.

If you already guess that would happen, smart thinking! If you didn't, then I'm glad I surprised you! Kiki is going to have to learn some new skills, like how to help Tombo retrieve his memories. But the question is, how far will she go to remind him... I'm not saying any more, I'll just give it all away! But I really really REALLY hope you would all take the time and review. It means so much to me if you would review. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers!

Anabelle ;)