Requiem

By Dan'yu

Chapter Five: Keiko

She held Puu's limp, lifeless form in her arms, and she could not stop the tears from falling, nor her helpless scream of his name. Yusuke, Yusuke. Why him, why now, why again? She couldn't bring herself to believe it, to believe he was really gone. For all his strength, for all his sacrifice, was an early death the only fate in store for him?

She remembered the first time, the first time he had left her. She had been so hopelessly longing for him just to come back, just to hear him say her name, or see him pull another stupid prank. Then, like now, the tears had fallen like rain and would not stop, for she could not bring herself to accept that he was fully gone.

She loved him so completely, there was no end to the strange feelings of tenderness and affection and passion he invoked inside her, oblivious to everything she felt for him. Now, now she would never get a chance to tell him. Now, his place in her life, ingrained so deeply into her world as he had always been, would be an empty chasm, a hole in her heart she could never fill again.

The world suddenly felt like such an empty, lonely place without Yusuke beside her.