HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!

(From the last chapter…)

"I've an idea." Atropos answered, "Kagura, you should decide if you would live or die. This is, after all, the world in between life and death."

Kagura just blinked at them.

Is she to die?

…or to live?

(Chapter 8 – The Thread of Life)

"I want to live because of Kyo." Kagura sighed, "But I also want to die to end my pain… I want not to suffer, I want a peaceful life, an honest life, but it's just not for me, I think. So… I should die…"

"You have a good choice." Atropos smiled, "To die is an honor."

"Do you truly love Kyo?" Clotho furrowed her eyebrows, "Live. This is the only way you could prove to him you love him, more than anything else, more than your life!"

"Are you kidding me, Clotho?" Atropos giggled, "If she's dead then, it's already proven that she vanished because she loved him!"

"Atropos is right." Kagura nodded, "I should die because even if I love him, he doesn't love me… Even if forever had bound us together; death is the only way to break the bind of eternity in marriage."

Clotho removed her shoal and said, "Here, I'll give you more reasons to live."

Clotho placed her shoal on the head of Kagura and then she can hear someone, someone oh-so familiar… someone who caught her heart.

"She can't be dead, Hatori! No, she can't!" the voice of Kagura's husband said as Hatori went out of the E.R. and looked away, saying that she's gone.

"Kyo, I'm sorry. I did my best… But my best wasn't good enough. Kyo, your wife is dead. Kagura's gone, gone forever." Hatori said apologetically, "I'm truly sorry, Kyo."

"No! She can't die! I haven't apologized for all the things I've done wrong! I haven't said… I haven't said… I…"

"It's all too late, Kyo." Hatori sighed, "She just passed away. This is to end her pain, Kyo. She's happy now, somewhere… She's going to watch over you, always..."

Clotho removed her shoal and placed it over her shoulders again. She then saw Kagura, covering her mouth, trembling and crying.

"That's actually what's happening now in the world of the living, Kagura." Clotho said, "You're not yet falling from the cliff, you can still save yourself."

"Give it back to me!" Kagura suddenly hugged Clotho, "Give my life back to me… Draw again my destiny!"

Clotho patted Kagura's back and with this hand she used to pat her, her hand glowed.

Atropos' hands glowed as well and she placed them over Kagura's head. Kagura began to glow and Clotho placed her hand on Kagura's head as well, "I shall spin again your thread of life, Sohma Kagura. I'm glad we met each other, but you won't remember anything you've seen, heard and met here… This is your Destiny."

:Back to the real world:

Kyo made a few steps backward from the Emergency Room, disbelieving that long beep sound made by the vital signs monitor. Hatori noticed Kyo's presence outside the E.R. when one of the nurses went out and the doors opened, there, he saw the shocked face of his cousin.

Hatori went outside of the said room and faced Kyo, "Kyo… Kagura's dead."

"She can't be dead, Hatori! No, she can't!" Kyo looked away and denied the facts haunting him.

"Kyo, I'm sorry. I did my best… But my best wasn't good enough. Kyo, your wife is dead. Kagura's gone, gone forever." Hatori said apologetically, "I'm truly sorry, Kyo."

"No! She can't die! I haven't apologized for all the things I've done wrong! I haven't said… I haven't said… I…"

"It's all too late, Kyo." Hatori sighed, "She just passed away. This is to end her pain, Kyo. She's happy now, somewhere… She's going to watch over you, always..."

Then…

"Doctor Sohma!" a nurse went out of the E.R. and jumped once in front of Hatori and Kyo, "It's a miracle! A miracle has happened! The patient is alive!"

Hatori's eyes widened, "How could it be?"

Kyo felt different emotions at the sound of that, happiness, excitement, guilt, surprise... Once again, he thought he must be dreaming…

"I know I just heard that long beep sound from that device…" Kyo thought.

Then, another nurse rushed outside the E.R. and happily said to Hatori jumping up and down nonstop, "Doctor, Kami-sama took pity on the patient! She's alive!"

Hatori quickly rushed back inside the E.R. and at the opening of the doors, indeed, Kyo has proven himself once again – Kagura is alive. Those short, continuous beeping sounds from the vital signs monitor were the proof.

Hatori eyed the vital signs monitor, which was making those famous noises and examined the basic vital points of Kagura's body. The pulse at the wrist, the pulse near the throat, the breathing in the oxygen mask, the rising and descent of the diaphragm, he even gently opened one eyelid and since the eyes are involuntarily moving when the person is asleep, Hatori had proven everything – she was alive.

"Congratulations, team." Hatori praised the doctors and nurses in the room, "Mrs. Sohma Kagura is alive."

The doctors and nurses clapped their hands and cheered once again, they just saved a life of an individual on the verge of death.

Later that sunset…

Kagura woke up in the same Intensive Care Unit room she was in earlier before she passed out. She looked at the beautiful sunset skies outside her window and smiled. It was dark in her room but the sunset's radiant and magnificent light glorified the room.

She felt a little better than before and even thought of something.

"Fate must be having a hard time on me." Kagura smiled, "I'm thankful still, that I am alive."

She does not remember anything from that world where she met personalities actually mentioned in mythologies alone – the Fates. But of course, she must've known like she was dead for about sometime within that day, right?

She sighed and watched the sunset skies with those colored clouds floating away, moving away in the sky, with no certainty on where their destination is.

"I guess everything is just as Destiny planned." Kagura smiled, "I wish that Destiny just made Kyo love me, too."

"I always knew I won't live for too long." Kagura sighed as her tears escaped, "I wish I can stay a little longer… But Kami-sama would never permit it. He wants to take back my life… I know it's meaningless… I live a life, loving Kyo… He was forced to marry me and he hated me all the more…"

Then, she heard the door open. As she looked on her left, she saw Kyo, in his work attire with his attaché case on his right hand, the other hand closing the door.

"Kyo-kun…?" Kagura called with a slight wonder and disbelief.

TBC…