A thick daikon leg stepped tentatively on the cloud, her nerves biting at her that she might fall through. However, to the girl's relief, it was solid and the softest thing she had ever felt. Yashiro Nene was in No.7's boundary, and she swore it was the most beautiful place she had ever seen, and, the most Yugi Amane thing she had ever seen.

Stars glistened in the sky like diamonds hung from velvety blue silk. She noticed larger stars were hung on strings. And in the centre of the boundary, a large, bright moon hung in the sky, beaming light onto the fluffy clouds below. Sat upon one of the fluffy clouds was Yashiro's best friend and soulmate, Hanako, the leader of the supernaturals. She felt like it had been a lifetime since she'd seen him last at the severance. He'd seriously scared her when his body had started disintegrating into shards. She thought he was dying a second time! Silly Hanako-kun. Stupid, stupid Hanako-kun. Always doing things without an explanation.

She puffed out her rosy cheeks in annoyance, her red eyes narrowing. Still, she missed Hanako. Through his absence, she had realised just how much she cared for him, despite Kou-kun's rational points. She softly walked on the clouds towards her best friend and climbed the stars to get to him. He was in a daze, his amber eyes solemnly fixed on the moon before him. He looked sad, regretful. Seeing Hanako with such a different expression, such a tragic expression broke Yashiro's heart, She stepped forward and quietly slid her arms around his neck, hugging him from behind as he had done to her many times before.

"Hanako-kun," she called softly. Hanako jumped, startled. "Yashiro? What are you- why are you here?!" He swivelled his body around so they faced each other, his large hands grasping Yashiro's shoulders roughly and his amber eyes full of pain and fear. "You aren't supposed to be in the spirit world. How did you get here?" His voice cracked, his eyes glistening. "You've saved me many times," Yashiro said quietly, "so this time, I came to save you." Hanako stared at her, his grip on her shoulders softening to the relief of Yashiro. "Yashiro… but I hurt you."

Yashiro bit her lip, "I told you I wanted to live in a world with you and all our friends," her hands reached up and caressed the sides of Hanako's face. "You're my best friend, Hanako. Yeah, you did hurt me but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop caring about you. I want to be with you, through both the good and bad days."

Hanako stared wide-eyed. "Your life span…"

Yashiro smiled sadly, sweeping a strand of cream hair out of her face. "I...I'm going to try not to care about my life span now. I'm going to focus on living with all I've got until I die. Living with Aoi, Kou, and you." Hanako let out a shaky breath, his eyes twitching, "Yashiro..I- I want you to live!" He shouted, burying his face into her shoulder. Yashiro removed an arm from his neck and stroked the back of his head, trying to shove down the growing lump in her throat. She liked how soft his hair felt between her fingers. "I want you to live until you're a hundred and I want you to fall in love and do everything you want to do. I don't want you to die."

Yashiro only hugged him tighter, feeling hot tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. She didn't want to die either. Up until a few months ago, she thought she was going to grow up like any other ordinary kid. She was going to go to college, become a novelist and fall in love with a man who didn't tease her for her daikon legs. Of course, that had changed. Clueless and naive, the young girl had wasted her precious time on fantasies about falling in love with a man who was like a prince. Even if she didn't actually love him for who he was. She'd thought it'd be fine, she'd thought she wouldn't have cared who it was as long as he liked her. The thought of falling in love with someone who was almost the exact opposite of a prince would've appalled her a few months ago. But suddenly, the most annoying boy she'd ever met came into her life. Yashiro didn't know what to think about him at first besides annoying. He'd jump for joy and take every opportunity he could to tease her relentlessly. He was openly a pervert, (What kind of boy would hang out in the girl's bathroom if not a pervert?) and he was excessively clingy. Yashiro let him because she figured he was touch-starved, but it was strange because he was only clingy with her. He'd waltz over and distract her from doing her cleaning duties by hugging her from behind, he'd scare the heck out of her in class then play with her hair, smiling in amusement when she'd scream then get embarrassed. He always seemed to be touching her in some way.

But she'd also seen him when he was serious. She'd seen how scary he could be when he was mad. How broken he looked after telling her about his relationship with his brother. She'd seen the scared, shy boy named Yugi Amane who'd run away with bandages wrapped tightly around his bleeding arms. She'd seen his bad side. But then she'd seen the side of him that made her heart beat fast. How he'd done everything he could to save her, even when he was wrong about it. The countless times he'd saved her from her impending doom. Then the fake world, when she'd found out about her short life-span. The fake world was bitter, but a fond memory nonetheless. It was a fairytale fantasy he'd created just for her. Then the other day on the night of the study camp, he'd saved her again from her impending doom. Then the utter betrayal she'd felt when he told her he'd traded her life for Aoi's, but even more so, she felt the complete and utter terror of never seeing him again. She never wanted to feel how she'd felt as she watched Hanako break into pieces in her hands again.

Then she remembered Hanako was dead. Somewhere out there, his bones were lying deep beneath the surface in a grave alongside his brother. She felt the barrier between them thicken. A boy who was dead, and a girl who was dying. Yashiro wanted to laugh, the concept seemed to be something that would've come straight out of one of the more angsty romance fantasy novels she lapped up daily. It reminded her of the phase of her life when she'd been obsessed with vampire romances. It was too similar. Falling in love with a ghost was quite the opposite of what Yashiro had always imagined when she thought about romance. She wanted a prince, and she'd gotten a ghost. Stronger than the barrier though she felt the unbreakable bond between the two. She felt comforted that thanks to the mermaid's curse, her and Hanako's fates were tied. She knew she'd be able to find him no matter what happened. She hoped Hanako would reincarnate. She hoped she would too. She wanted a life where Hanako was alive, too, so they could both be happy forever.

"At least one thing is checked off that list..." she mumbled quietly into his shoulder. Hanako looked up and Yashiro's heart wrenched in her chest when she saw the tears in Hanako's eyes threatening to drip on to his cheeks like poison, "What..?" He whispered faintly. Yashiro's hand left his soft hair and moved back to his cheek. Hanako closed her eyes as her thumb moved across his cheek, wiping the traces of a tear away. Then without any warning, his lips met hers. Although Hanako's lips were chapped, they were soft and tasted like honey. The moment only lasted a second before Yashiro pulled away, her cheeks heated. "I like Hanako-kun," she said quietly, "that's why I don't want you to be sad. I want to make my last wish if you'll allow me." How funny, she was once again asking for a wish, whilst sitting on a cloud. Hanako hadn't processed anything. His amber eyes were probably the widest she'd ever seen, the moonlight reflecting off of them as if his eyes were pools of water. He blinked, then blinked again. Scarlet erupted on to his face, staining even his cheeks with red. Yashiro resisted the urge to laugh. Of course, it wasn't like she wasn't in a frenzied state herself. "Y-Yashiro, what-" "I want you to be happy. That's what I wish for. I wish that God will grant you a second life and that you'll never be in pain again."

It was funny how different her wish was then the first time she'd asked. Her first was for a boyfriend. Her first was selfish. It was naive and self-centred, considering how she had so many people around her who cared about her. And her last was still selfish. At least to her. It was selfish to have kissed him, at least. She wanted him to be happy because she loved him.

Love.

A word that she had romanticised and excessively given to anyone who had given her at least the smallest ounce of human decency. However now, it seemed that the word only fit the boy in front of her. A boy who had always gone out of his way to help her. So she prayed to the heavens to save him. Perhaps if God took pity on the dying girl's pleas he would grant Hanako a second chance. She felt he had already served enough of a sentence. Of course, she still didn't know the full backstory behind Hanako's crime, but that didn't mean she cared about him any less.

"But Yashiro, I-" "I don't care." She interrupted. "I don't care what you've done, or how you've hurt people. I forgive you. Even if the rest of the world doesn't." It took him a while to register what Yashiro was saying. Then, his whole body relaxed. Hanako looked as though the weight of the world had just come off his shoulders. He gave her the softest smile she had ever seen. It was weak and quiet, timid, even. His eyes crinkled with a smile. His real smile. And with Hanako's back to the moon, he glowed. A rosy blush still highlighted his cheeks and his eyes were still red from crying. His hair was shaken and dishevelled. He was a mess, but Yashiro swore he was the most beautiful person she had ever seen.

"Call me Amane."

Amane. Hanako's real name. She thought he'd decided to get rid of that identity long ago, but she realised that underneath the facade that was Hanako, he was still Amane. Her heart squeezed deep inside her chest and she fought back happy tears when she realised that he trusted her. He truly, deeply trusted her. She beamed at him and squeezed his hand. "Amane, please call me Nene."

It would've been an understatement to say they kissed. It was soft and sweet, yet intoxicating. The same way you'd want to eat more doughnuts after eating one, the two kept going back for more. It was almost like a silent conversation, whispering words of love and trust with each time their lips met. It was much better than Nene's previous fantasies of kissing a prince. Amane's hands wrapped around her tightly and pulling her closer left her wanting more. His grasp on the small of her back was strong, yet gentle if that made any sense; like he was going out of his way to make her feel comfortable. His other hand littered through Yashiro's long hair, tangling themselves in the cream and teal strands. At that moment it didn't matter to either of them about their situations. A dying girl and a dead boy were worlds apart, but here they were.

Yashiro was hit by a car.

She heard the sickening crunch of her bones as she hit the ground and saw the doughnuts she had made for Amane splatter on to the ground. She should've looked both ways. She'd been so excited for their third date that she just forgot. Forgot about her impending doom. And finally, here it was. Her vision flickered and blurred. Blood was leaking out of her body, judging by the large stain of red surrounding her. She thought she heard someone scream, but her ears were ringing too loudly for her to tell properly. She wanted to cry. It was unfair how sudden it was. But that's just how life was, she supposed. She wondered if it had been the same for Amane. Probably not.

Amane.

Kou-kun would tell him about her death. She wondered how he'd react, what sort of face he'd make. She didn't even get to be next to him when she died. He'd be devastated. She hoped Akane and Kou would take care of him and Ao-chan for her. Aoi probably wouldn't react well to the death of her best friend, especially so soon after Aoi's own temporary death. She hoped Kou-kun would be okay. She hoped her parents didn't have another baby to replace her.

She remembered her wish, her prayer to God as her mind started to slip.

"Please save Amane," she whispered. Then she was gone.

Unlike Yashiro's hopes, nobody took her death well. Especially Amane.

When the kid had told him about her death he felt himself break. He heard his heart shatter as loudly as glass in his head. He knew the kid would never lie about Nene and he had always known about her coming death. But why was it so sudden? Why? Why? Why? Why? WHY?! It was worse knowing she died on her way to their date. The kid told him about the doughnuts. With one thought in mind, Amane slipped back into his identity as Hanako. He climbed through the spiritual world despite the kid's pleas. He almost died a second-time multiple times thanks to some tricky supernaturals. He forced his way to the top of the spiritual world where God lived. God couldn't stop him, even if he wanted to.

"Why?!" He challenged God, littered in cuts and bruises.

God didn't reply for some time. "Her prayers reached my ears, no.7. Your sins are forgiven. You may go." He flicked his hand and the world changed in front of Hanako's eyes.

He stood in a field. It was night time, and the moon had cast a brilliant light on to the field below. Then Hanako noticed something odd. He could feel the cold night air and the heat of his tears. He was Amane. He was a real boy. In the distance bathed in the light of the moon, Amane recognised a familiar face. He found himself running before he could even think. He found himself crushing the girl tightly in his arms, sweeping her off her feet. Nene only smiled and took his hand. And together they walked into the light of the moon and disappeared.

A/N

WhEW I didn't even have the intention of writing the last bit it kinda just happened. I wrote this while sick so please don't be too annoyed if I made any mistakes. I hope you guys like it!

Word Count: 2559