.the waiting boy and the comatose girl;

Everyday, a orange-haired boy went to the hospital after school;

Everyday he visited the girl, bringing new flowers to her vase in the window of her room to be more colorful, vivid; He knew how much Tsubasa liked flowers.

Everyday, without fail, he would be there for some hours, until night, sitting beside her, listening to the sounds of the instruments, the sounds of her heartbeats.

Everyday, tirelssly, he would be there, at the same hour, waiting for her to finally wake up.

Many times, he would talk to her about the same things as before, and that she shouldn't be "lazy" or she would lose a school year, and it would be sad if she was left behind.

For many times, he said things about himself he didn't have the courage to tell anyone else, besides Chad.

Sometimes, he was the one to appear with some bruises on his face, thanks to the fights he had with the real delinquents of the Mashiba school.

The nurses had already noticed the boy's intinerary, and were moved by the boy's tireless and loyal efforts to the girl who was still asleep.

"He comes everyday, and brings her flowers."

"Yes, right? Maybe he's a boyfriend?"

"If that's so, I would love to have a boyfriend like that, so dedicated."

"Her brother doesn't like him. Well, with that orange hair... Is bleached, isn't?"

"That's called jealousy. And of course he wouldn't like to see a guy watching his comatose sister everyday."

"But he came here more times than her friends."

"Even in weekends, he's still here."

And I always will. - he thought, listening to the voices from the corridor.

By the time winter came, he had grown worried.

She still hadn't woke up.

At the second week of december, he dared to touch the hair that was falling in her cheeks.

He didn't try anymore. Instead, he started to hold her right hand when no one was looking.

"If you are still there, please wake up."

"I'm wating for you here, outside."

The day after the New year's eve, she finally opened her eyes. And he was there, holding her hand.

Tsubasa temptingly moved her fingers, feeling the warmth of his big hand.

And a question, that silenced him for a moment:

"Who... Are you?"

She saw the crushed, disappointed look in the orange-haired boy, who was still holding her hand. He resumed to look at her in schock, and let her hand fall gently on the mattress.

At the beginning, he couldn't process the right words to say, so he said the first thing in his mind:

"A friend."

Fujitaka and Touya couldn't be more happier, now that Tsubasa was with them, back and finally awake.

Of course, the effect of being asleep for so long was taking its toll on the girl, and the mess in her memories about Ichigo wasn't exclusive; She forgot about a lot of other things, too, including her schoolmates, whom went to visit her, and bring her late christmas gifts, and they let Tsubasa borrow some of their anotations for school - Tsubasa was given another chance at the school to do her final exames and finish the ginasial.

Before that, Ichigo didn't back down; Even though it was the first thing he wanted to do, he couldn't. It was hard enough to lose months of friendship, and he wasn't losing her just again.

At one of his visit's days, he brought flowers, like always; Red flowers, this time. They made her remember her mother's name, like she told him in one of their many conversations.

She said something that made hope spread again in his chest;

"I... Remember your voice. Always talking with me. Everyday, I think." - she made a brief pause, breathing in, a litte tired - "You... No... Ichigo-kun was always here, wasn't? Coming to visit me..."

"Aa. That's true." - he said with a half smile, and she smiled back at him.

Not everything was lost just yet.

He felt sorry for her not remembering of the times she was a spirit briefly, and of their many talks. But everything was okay now. Tsubasa was alive, awake, well. As long as she was there, they still had a chance to reform their bond again.

To help her, his visits became some sort of a study group, in which Ichigo helped her with the studies for the exames in the next week, before she got out of the hospital.

It was still January. Snow, there was a lot of snow out there.

Even the sight of the snow falling made her smile, appreciating this new chance she was given to live.

At times like these, when Ichigo saw Tsubasa's smile, he felt like smiling, too.