On the morning of October the twenty second, 1993, six months and ten days after the accident that nearly claimed her life, Shizuru's eyes opened under her own power. She was sitting upright in a hospital bed that felt cold to the touch. This was the first thing that surprised her, the sense of touch that flooded her; the crispness of the blankets, the cushioning of the pillows behind her, the cool air as it circulated around her. It thrilled her. Next came sound; she could hear the buzzing of the air conditioner, the beeping of the EKG, the sound of footsteps outside her door. Next came taste, she could taste the plastic of the feeding tube that was wound down her throat, her only life line for over six months. Smell was fourth; the fresh lemon smell of the newly mopped floors, the smell of the flowers that were sitting next to her on a shelf, the smell of chemicals that usually surrounded hospitals. Last was sight; the white ceilings above her, her feet sitting unmoving under white hospital blankets, Natsuki sitting in a chair beside the bed.

This was the sight that captivated her. Why was Natsuki sitting in the chair? How had she gotten to the hospital in the first place? And how much time has passed? These questions ran through mind as she watched Natsuki writhe on the chair like she was being attacked, small whines and cries escaping her lips. Finally she woke up and practically threw herself off the chair, pacing back and forth at the foot of the bed as if to banish the spirit that haunted her. Natsuki looked over at Shizuru and saw her eyes were open. "Good morning, sweetheart. Did you sleep well?"

Shizuru blinked slowly, as this was the only muscle she could move at the moment, and Natsuki froze. "Can you hear me?" She blinked once more and Natsuki rushed over to the bed, looking right into Shizuru's eyes. "If you can hear me, blink twice." Her eyelids fell once, then twice and the breath left Natsuki's lungs. "Doctor!" She shouted as she ran out of the room looking for the nearest doctor. She found Dr. Heinrich signing in at the nurses' station. "Doctor Heinrich, she's awake!"

"Really?" He said it with a nonchalant voice and put on a face like a safari tour guide, a face that seemed to say 'Let's go see what's going on over here'. He followed a bouncing Natsuki into the room and noticed that her eyes seemed to follow him. Indeed they seemed to widen a bit when they looked at him. Shizuru didn't know why, but she felt like she had seen him somewhere before.

He took out his penlight and shined it into her eyes, getting uncomfortably close and looking into them. "Hello, Ms. Fujino, how are you today?" Her eyes blinked slowly, he started to move the light around. "Follow the light with your eyes, now." It moved too fast but she tried and he seemed satisfied with the results. "Now, blink once for no and twice for yes, can you hear me?" Shizuru blinked her eyes twice. "Good, do you feel any pain or discomfort?" Shizuru blinked her eyes once. "That's a good sign." He pointed to Natsuki. "Do you recognize her?" The edges of her lips turned up in a vague approximation of a smile and tears welled up in her eyes. She blinked twice.

He clicked off the penlight and stood from the bed, he retrieved from his bag a notebook and wrote a few lines into it. Natsuki took his place at Shizuru's side. She ran her hand through Shizuru's hair, which had grown long and unkempt in her time in the bed. "Hi, beautiful." Tears were in her eyes as she looked down into red eyes she had longed to see. "I missed you."

If Shizuru could have talked, she would have said "I missed you too." Instead she closed her eyes as she felt weary and fell asleep. Natsuki mistook this for a problem. "Doctor, I think something's wrong. She's going away again."

Dr. Heinrich sauntered over and started to take measure of her vitals, starting with her pulse. "Nothing is wrong, she's just asleep. Being awake after this long must be tiring. Over the next week or so she'll be able to stay awake for longer."

He would prove to be right. The second day she managed to stay awake an entire hour, an hour punctuated by her parents nearly crying at her recovery. The next day she stayed awake for three and a half hours, in which time she would receive more visits from friends and well wishers than she even remembered she had. Even Haruka and Yukino stopped by. Haruka walked up to the bed and took her weak hand in her own. "It's good to see you awake."

The fourth day the nurses removed the feeding tube and started her on a diet of broth and water until her system strengthened. Since she could barely move, during the day one of the nurses would spoon feed her. She hated it, having only recently been able to do such things for herself. At night Natsuki would usually feed her, and, though she didn't mind it as much then, it still weighed on her mind.

By the eighth day she was on a regular sleep schedule, but that is also when the headaches started. She had been on a regular dose of painkillers and so had never felt the effects of the headaches, but recently Dr. Heinrich had lowered her dosage and as she became more lucid the pain set in more. It started with a distant buzzing sound, like bees swarming to protect the nest. It traveled to her eyes and became an intense burning pressure that filled her head. She cried out, and heard her voice for the first time since waking. It was raspy and hoarse from disuse and the feeding tube, but it was enough to get her father's attention, who had been talking on his new cellular phone when he heard her and immediately spun around.

He hit the call button and the doctor rushed in. "I don't know what's wrong. She looks like she's in pain."

Shizuru tried to clutch her head but her arms were weak and she couldn't lift them that far. The doctor consulted the chart at the foot of her bed and saw that her morphine dosage had been reduced. He increased the dosage and she fell back to the bed drowsy. "It's most likely severe headaches from the brain surgery. We'll keep her dosage up until she recovers from them."

The headaches were strong in the beginning, but over the course of two weeks they fell away until they were nothing more than a mild throb. In that time Shizuru found her voice again, though it was quieter and raspier than before she was ecstatic at being able to talk again. She didn't reveal this fact immediately, not until Natsuki had fallen asleep in the chair by the bed did she say her name. It was difficult, but she managed to get it out. "Na-tsu-ki."

Natsuki was awake almost immediately. "Wha?" Shizuru was smiling at her from the bed. "Did you say something?"

"Yes. I...said...Natsuki."

Natsuki leapt from the chair and threw her arms around Shizuru's neck. "When did you get you're voice back?"

"Just the...other...day. I...wanted to...surprise...you."

"Well you did." Natsuki took Shizuru's hand in hers and laid down in the bed beside her, keeping an eye on the door in case someone came in and saw them like that. She wasn't sure, but she imagined they would frown on her lying in bed with one of the patients. She buried her face in the crook of Shizuru's neck and closed her eyes.

"What happened? Why...am I here?"

In her mind, Natsuki panicked. She didn't know whether it was okay to tell her what had happened. In her mind she pictured Shizuru's mind reverting back to when she was unconscious and starting the cycle over again. She couldn't bear that again, but she also didn't want to lie to her love either. She finally settled on telling the truth. "You were in a bad car accident. It was icy and you lost control of the car and hit a tree. You have been in a coma for over six months."

"Six months?" Shizuru tried to remember something, anything a out that day but nothing was forthcoming, and she finally gave up. "It's no use, I don't...remember...anything."

"It's better that way." Tears were in her eyes and she choked in her words once before she could say them. "It's been hard watching you waste away, while I was sitting here powerless to help. In moments of weakness, I even considered..."

"It's...okay." Shizuru squeezed the hand that Natsuki held as tightly as she could, which wasn't that tight but the gesture was still moving. "I'm here now, and I love you."

Natsuki had been longing to hear those words for six months and the tears only flowed more freely after that. She planted a soft kiss on Shizuru's lips, very soft as she was afraid to hurt her in any way. "I love you too, baby. I love you so damned much."

-IPR-

Natsuki awoke still lying in the bed with Shizuru, who was asleep. She woke up to the sound of the door opening and noticed Dr. Heinrich standing there looking at her. Shizuru woke up when Natsuki got up and grunted at having been disturbed. Natsuki wiped the sleep from her eyes and stood up from the bed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep like that."

"Under the circumstances, I don't think anyone can blame you." He set his bag down on the chair and opened it, taking out his stethoscope, the notebook in which he had written his notes on her condition and his penlight. This he walked over to the bed holding and looked closely into Shizuru's eyes again. "Good morning, and how are you feeling?"

"Pretty good...doctor."

This brought a smile to Al's face, a bright smile. "You can speak. That's excellent, Ms. Fujino, you are recovering at a good pace."

"You can...call me...Shizuru, doctor."

"It's nice to meet you finally, Shizuru. I'm doctor..."

"Heinrich. I feel like...we've met...before."

"You can call me Al, Shizuru." Al continued his examination, checking the condition of her eyes and taking her pulse and other vital measurements. "How are the headaches? Have they gotten better?"

"Much better. They...barely hurt...anymore."

"That's good, now it's time to focus on your body's recovery. I've asked a physical therapist I've worked with before to come up some time today and talk to you about starting on a regimen. The sooner you start the sooner you can get out of this bed." Al pulled the blanket down so that he could read her heart rate with the stethoscope, Shizuru looked down and got her first look at her body since the accident. It was skeletal and gaunt, her skin pale and drawn like old leather.

"I look terrible, don't I?"

"You're alive, Shizuru, and that makes you the most beautiful woman in the world to me."

If she could have, Shizuru would have swooned. Instead she settled for a wide smile. Al finished writing in his notebook and packed all of his implements back into his bag. "I think my work is done here." He handed Natsuki his business card. "If her headaches start getting too bad just call me and I'll set up an appointment immediately."

Natsuki nodded that she understood and shook his hand vigorously. "Thank you, doctor, for everything you've done. I could never repay you for what you've given back to me."

"Seeing that true love really does exist is payment enough for me." He turned to the bed and took Shizuru's hand. "Shizuru, it has been a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, doctor."

He left the room leaving Shizuru and Natsuki alone in it. Natsuki opened the window and looked down on the courtyard four stories down from Shizuru's room. The sun was out, there was a light breeze blowing and eveything just seemed perfect. "Hey Shizuru," Natsuki was struck with an idea, "do you want to go outside?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then I'll be right back."

Natsuki bounded from the room and returned a few minutes later with a wheelchair. She lifted Shizuru off the bed, quite easily as she didn't weigh a thing, and set her in the chair. She pushed the chair while pulling the IV pole along with them to the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. When the elevator doors opened Natsuki pushed the wheelchair towards the main desk, where she was stopped by the front desk secretary. "Is she okay to be outside? She looks rather pale."

"I asked and the doctor said it was okay, but only for a short time. We won't be long."

"Okay. It really is a beautiful day for it."

Natsuki wheeled the chair out of the front door and Shizuru relished the feeling of the sun on her face and the cool breeze that ran through the courtyard. There was a jogging path that wound around the courtyard and Natsuki followed it around twice, pointing out to Shizuru a few interestting things about the buildings. Shizuru was just happy to be spending time with Natsuki again. They walked around for nearly a half an hour before Natsuki wheeled her back into the hospital.

Once they got back to the room, Natsuki easily lifted her back onto the bed before sitting beside her. "Thanks, Natsuki. I...needed that."

"So did I."

-IPR-

Later that day, the physical therapist that Dr. Heinrich had called arrived. She was an older woman, most likely in her fifties, with graying hair pulled into a tight bun. To spite that, however, her body looked half her age, with hardly a wrinkle or sag out of place. "Hello, I'm Trudy Cartright. I assume that Dr. Heinrich told you I was coming?"
"He did."

Natsuki strode forward to shake her hand. "Natsuki Kuga, I'm Shizuru's girlfriend."

"It's nice to meet you." The woman smiled faintly then turned to the bed. "And you must be Ms. Fujino."

"You can call me Shizuru, Ms. Cartright."

"You've regained your voice already?" Trudy seemed impressed by this feat. "That's a good sign." Trudy approached the bed and took the blankets in her hand. "Do you mind if I take a look?"

"No."

Shizuru did feel a little apprehension when the blanket was pulled down and what was left of her body was revealed. Trudy started poking and prodding at some of the muscle, especially around her upper arm and thigh areas. "You've lost a lot of muscle, it will take some time to replace it. so, Shizuru," she looked into Shizuru's eyes, "how would you like to walk again?"

"I would...love it."

"Keep that energy, you're going to need it. This won't be an easy process, nor will it be a quick one. You are going to have to train day in and day out to get back to where you were. But with perseverance you will get there someday." She turned to Natsuki. "And you will need to be there for her, be her strength until it returns to her. That means taking care of yourself as well. Dr. Heinrich told me how you've been missing meals and overworking yourself. No more, Ms. Kuga. She needs you healthy now."

"I...couldn't have...said it better...myself."

Faced with the dual front of Trudy and Shizuru, Natsuki was forced to back down. "If it's for you, Shizuru, I'll do anything."

"That's good to hear, Ms. Kuga. Now we'll have to start slowly, first we should work on restoring function to your limbs and extremities. Can you move your fingers, Shizuru?" Shizuru demonstrated that she could, but not well. "That's impressive after only two weeks. How about your toes? Can you move them?" Shizuru's face scrunched up while she tried to move first her toes, then her whole foot. Neither of them budged. "That's okay, I didn't expect you to actually do it. Still, I'm surprised at the progress you've made already. It's my professional opinion that you'll be walking in no time."

"That's good...to hear. Thank you...Trudy."

Trudy smiled. "I'll schedule you for daily appointments until you regain some of your basic motor functions, so I'll be seeing you tomorrow then." Trudy left a smiling Natsuki and Shizuru behind her, both of their hearts lifted from the darkness that just weeks ago had threatened to consume them both. Their healing had begun.