Losing a family member to the terrible clutches of death is one of the worst things in the world. People think they've experienced all this pain, all this horrible suffering, but then they hear those words that make them realize that this, right now, is the most painful thing to ever happen.

When it comes to family, it's usually someone you've spent your entire life with. Someone who's been there through thick and thin, becoming part of the foundation for what is your life. But one day they'll go away, and for some, it happens way too early. For some, it happens before their time, and that is truly horrible.

"I am afraid… this part of your kin has passed away." The man said with a grim voice. The boy took a step back and shook his head.

"W-What? No… no, that's not true." The boy mumbled, and those words destroyed so much of his foundation and there was not much left inside of him to hold onto.

"She is dead. I am sorry."

"She can't be dead!" The boy screamed, falling to his knees with pure agony on his face.

"Yup, you're right. She's alive." The man suddenly said, an awkward apologetic look on his face as the girl stood up looking quite healthy.

"Miraii!" Kiraii shouted and rushed over to her, holding her tight whilst tears streamed down his face. "How could you live through this sort of blood loss?!"

"Oh, this isn't my blood." Miraii said with a smug grin on her face, seeming quite proud. "I kinda blew up a police officer."

"Oh, thank god." Kiraii chuckled in relief. "Don't know what I would do without you."

"You'd crash and burn." Miraii smiled. "Literally. You're terrible on that bike."

"Yeah, I know." Kiraii sighed. "So, how well did that guy blow up?"

"It was so cool, you have no idea."

"I witnessed it." Karthamar said, the one who had named Miraii dead, at a fault. "'twas… quite impressive."

"Hell yeah, it was." Miraii added.

"Let's get nachos." Kiraii said.

"Yeah, let's."

"I do enjoy Mexican cuisine." Karthamar mumbled darkly.

"Alright, cut!" Ami shouted. "That was good, but I think we should try once more where Ryuuji doesn't make the funny parts, like… not funny."

"Sorry." Ryuuji grimaced and scratched at his hair.

"It's fine, just get ready to try it once more." Ami said, almost sternly.

"Amiiin, I get all tingly when you take control like that." Yukuri said as she crept up to Ami, leaving a soft kiss on her cheek.

"That doesn't change the fact that your last scene sucked." Ami said in a sing-song voice, and Yukuri practically shriveled into an ashamed raisin.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled with puckered lips, and Ami giggled softly.

"It's fine. As long as you keep that promise on dinner tonight."

"You know I will, babe." Yukuri grinned, and Ami sighed.

"Yeah, I know. Seriously, you never let me down with the food you make. It's kind of annoying, because now I don't have anything to complain about." Ami shook her head and looked at the actors. "Okay, action!"

They finished up their scenes for the day, and then Ryuuji and Taiga had to head off for work. It was common knowledge by then that Ryuuji's mother had cancer, and everyone understood why he and Taiga were working so often now. Ryuuji had gotten a job at a local grocery store, mind set on doing it alone for his family. But Taiga wasn't happy with it, and went behind Ryuuji's back to beg the manager to give her a job too.

"Okay, you two." The manager said when they both arrived, ready for work. "You'll be stacking some groceries for now. You'll find it all in the back, alright?"

"You got it!" Ryuuji replied, and the two of them made their way into the back of the store. They got to work and started stacking new groceries where they belonged, working harder than their manager would ever have expected of a couple of teenagers.

"Look at them," he said to the woman manning the cash register. "Both working so hard. I wonder what drives them." He said, shaking his head with a smile on his face. "Youth."

"Oh, you don't know?" A woman said as she was paying. "The boy's mother… she's sick. I heard it from a friend of mine who works with her. I think they're trying to make some money for her treatment."

"Tragic…" The manager mumbled, and the cashier nodded in agreement. "So if he's the son… who is she?" He asked, looking at Taiga as she worked next to Ryuuji. They could see the little girl turning to the boy next to her, smiling reassuringly.

"Yes, I wonder." The customer hummed.

The manager could see then, how the boy turned to the girl next to him, and it was all so clear in that moment. The look he gave her. A look of absolute trust and admiration. "Oh, I don't think that's a question anymore. It's obvious now, isn't it?" He asked, but it was more of a statement than a question.

"Oh?" The cashier asked curiously. The couple had only worked there for two weeks, so they didn't really know much about them, and so she was curious.

"She's his salvation." The manager smiled, his wrinkles now showing sincerity more than they showed age.

As Taiga and Ryuuji worked hard to stock the groceries, with a kind of fire burning inside their chests, they had a little accident. Taiga slipped on the floor, that had apparently been waxed very recently, and in a futile attempt to save her, Ryuuji went with her. They fell down in a clumsy heap of limbs and body parts, knocking over a tiny shelf with bread. They struggled to get up, but they were just too tangled up in each other to move properly, and then they heard footsteps approaching.

"Ryuuji, I'm sorry," Taiga yelped, feeling the fear coming over her like a flood. Maybe she'd get them fired. Maybe she'd mess everything up, just like she had feared. Maybe she'd cause trouble for Ryuuji and Yacchan again.

"You two…" The manager sighed, and they then managed to turn their heads enough to look at him where he stood. "As soon as you've cleaned that up…" he started. "I'll give you both a raise. You've deserved it." He chuckled softly and returned to his own work, leaving Taiga and Ryuuji completely dumbfounded.

"He'll give us a what now?" Ryuuji asked, his voice practically squeaking.

"Maybe… he's an anarchist." Taiga said, sounding way more serious than Ryuuji could ever imagine her being while talking about something as weird as anarchy.

"So you're telling me he wants us to ruin his shop?!" Ryuuji exclaimed, barking like a dog in a rut.

"Ryuuji!" Taiga said, climbing onto Ryuuji's chest with a determined look on her face. "I think we should try!"

"There's no way we're thrashing our place of employment!"

"With the power of anarchy, fight!"

"Taiga! We're not anarchists!"

"Oh, right, we're not." Taiga mumbled, puckering her lips almost sadly. "Hey, Ryuuji."

"Yeah?"

"This is kinda nostalgic, isn't it?" Taiga asked, suddenly smiling softly down at her boyfriend.

"I'm pretty sure we haven't worked in a shop together before." Ryuuji noted, raising an eyebrow in question.

"No, but… joking around like this… like children… we used to do it all the time, didn't we? But then… everything became so serious… even with the movie happening, everything seems so… grim, you know?"

"I… guess I know what you mean. Okay, then." Ryuuji nodded.

"What?" Taiga asked, looking a tiny bit confused. Ryuuji lifted her off of him and he stood up waiting for Taiga to do so too.

"I promise to become a both childish and serious husband, one who can take care of you, and also one who can act like a child with you." He said, pushing out his chest proudly.

"H-Husband?" Taiga stuttered, turning completely red.

"Well…" Ryuuji started, a sudden look of nervousness on his face. "One day, that… might, you know… be an option, or something, and…"

"Ryuuji… are you…"

"N-No! I'm not… proposing or anything." Ryuuji mumbled.

"Oh… I see."

"When that day comes… I'll do it properly. Romantically, perfectly, just like you deserve."

"Don't give away the whole thing… dummy." Taiga murmured, looking down in embarrassment.

"Taiga. I love you."

"I love you too… Ryuuji." Taiga said carefully, and then she stomped her feet. "Geeeez, this is embarrassing!" She complained. "Let's get back to work!"

…

"Oh, my…" Yasuko mumbled as she pulled her fingers through her blonde hair, noticing how it was slowly but surely falling apart. She rubbed her fingers together to discard some hairs into the sink. "Ryuu-chan!" She called, and her son appeared in the bathroom door soon after. "Do you think it would make sense if I got rid of my hair?"

"Got rid of it? You mean, like, shaving it?" Ryuuji seemed a bit surprised that his mother was actually thinking of going through with that.

"Well… there are all these patches with no hair now, and… it's not exactly pretty." She mumbled, puckering her lips like a sad child. Ryuuji nodded slowly.

"If you think it would be best, you should." Ryuuji said.

"Oh no, I won't do it. It's too scary to do myself."

"Want me and Taiga to do it, then?"

"Yes… yes, that would be nice." Yasuko said, turning towards her son with a soft smile. Ryuuji nodded again and went to get Taiga.

"Yo, Taiga." He said casually. "We're shaving off Yasuko's hair."

"Are you serious?" Taiga asked, looking up from one of her textbooks.

"Yup, I'm serious. She doesn't like it with all those bare patches." Ryuuji said. They'd become quite casual about the whole situation. After Ryuuji had let go and cried, everything seemed much easier. He had true hope now, and he didn't even notice how Taiga still seemed a bit unsure of everything. Ryuuji knew that after only two chemo treatments, their money was slowly but surely running away from them, and Taiga didn't like it.

"Let's… get the razor, then." Taiga said, eyes still a bit wide with surprise. The next hour was filled with Yasuko both laughing and crying as her hair fell to the floor, bit by bit. She would be terrified of her cancer, had it not been for Ryuuji and Taiga. They made her feel safe. With family by her side, she knew that she could pull through. She had people who believed in her, people who truly thought that she would make it out alive, and that's why she couldn't let them down. She felt bad about Ryuuji and Taiga taking on work to get the money for her treatment, but she knew better than anyone that there was no way she'd be able to talk them out of it.

Once those two had set their minds to something, they'd finish it, no questions asked. They were a force to be reckoned with. They were a couple of determined, bright, and hopeful teenagers, and there was no way no one could ever stop them. Not when they were together. Taiga had saved Ryuuji, and he had saved her. And they had both come together to save Yasuko, their closest family, the one person they both cared about most in the world. They juggled everything; the movie, school, and keeping her alive. And they did it perfectly well.

The weeks passed on. Yasuko had more treatments, the movie club finished the recording of their movie and everything from then on was up to the ones of them who were good at editing. They got closer and closer to finishing their school year, and Taiga went deeper and deeper into her belief that she was making everything harder for Ryuuji and Yasuko. Sure, she worked with Ryuuji to get money for treatment, but a lot of that money went to getting food on the table for her. It scared her more than anything had ever scared her in her life, and she wasn't sure what to do about it.

Ryuuji's mother got more and more sick, and eventually she spent most of her time in bed. When she wasn't in bed, she was throwing up in the bathroom. It got hard on Taiga and Ryuuji, and the fear in Taiga's heart grew bigger, darker, more terrifying, and one day Ryuuji woke up alone in his room. He was too busy with his mom's cancer to see what had grown inside of Taiga. Fear, like its own cancer, spreading doubt and misery throughout her. Ryuuji woke up alone, and Taiga was gone. Vanished, like smoke in the air.