( First person P.O.V)

Ahh another day, different month, year, place but one thing always remained the same.

Those eyes, full of pity, and sympathy, self-righteous bastards thinking they knew what I felt. It never changes, everywhere I go it follows me like a pack of hungry dogs and I'm the meat.

The world lost it colors ages ago and considering I'm in my early teenage years that's saying a lot. I don't have any friends…any parents, not anymore at least they said I did but I can't remember. I've forgotten who they were….what they looked like….whether they loved me or not. Every time I try to think of them all I see are two headless bodies…just standing in the distance.

It's not like they didn't leave anything for me, in fact, they left me with all of their assets and a home. It's the sole reason I'm surviving after all.

The reason why I don't have any friends? I'm sick. I think they called it the Congestive Heart failure, I didn't know kind of hard to remember all of their technical mumbo jumbos. Anyway, they told me (since I don't have any guardians or any that I know of) that I've only got a few years left. Hurray! Not like I've got anything left to live for, at least that's what I used to think.

The arrival of NerveGears and the virtual gaming changed my life, not directly but it gave me the chance to meet someone. I didn't go to school, couldn't actually, so I'm always on the game except when I go to eat. I tried a ton of games, some good, and some bad, some just plain wired. But the thing I noticed was that she was always there, or her avatar name was always there. We didn't meet often but we talked, it was bound to happen after seeing each other for so long.

I didn't see her for another month or so, and then I heard of Alfheim Online. I tried it and fell in love with it. There I could do everything I wanted to do, move freely, I could fly for god's sake, explore the world, and meet new people.

And then like clockwork I met her, Yuuki, I didn't know it was her at first but when she approached me I knew it was her.

"Hey, you're here too, haven't seen you for months."

It was like he remembered her to be, cheerful, more excited than a puppy, and the distinct spark in her eye.

"Hey," I replied. What should I do in this situation? It was new to me. Maybe I'm panicking, just a little bit.

We talked for a while then went out to do quests and explore, which was incidentally what she also wanted to do. So we went about it and she told me what she was doing since the last game. That she had some friends with her.

It made me a bit sad. She would travel with her friends but I would be alone. Like always. At that time I realized just how alone I was. Wouldn't matter if I was in class, a crowd, the streets, I would always be alone. There was a distinct pain in my heart but before I could drown deeper in my despair, she said something that would change my life.

"So, want to go together with us?"

I was speechless. Nobody ever wanted me with them.

"Yeah, I would love that."

Yuuki was the one that brought back the color back in my monotone life and it was beautiful. I was invited into their guild, Sleeping Knights. It was a great place, no one argued, much, everyone was accepting of me. So I after a very long time I felt happy, content. I was constantly looking out for tomorrow, I was in paradise I decided. The guild and its members became my new family.

They say that bad thing happens so that good thing happens later in life. I found out that after good thing worse things tend to happen. After just 6 months of heaven, it went straight down to hell. Two of our members passed away leaving seven of us in the Guild. I was finally told the truth about the guild.

Every single one was a patient in a hospital with a time limit hanging over them. They were in the same hospital just different wards. How each and every one of them had life threatening diseases that were going to, eventually, takes their lives.

They were in the Yokohama Kōhoku hospital in the Kanagawa prefecture. I went to meet up with them there, even though their characters were different from the game their mannerisms were the same and their habits. We became fast friends after that. I told them of my condition, my deadline, the noose hanging around my neck.

It was almost funny how I practically stumbled upon people who knew what I felt like in a game of all things rather than the real people who could only give their fake sympathies and pity.

I talked with Yuuki more than the others, not that they seem to mind. I was more of Yuuki's age than theirs anyway.

A month passed away like that and I started to get how Yuuki was in the hospital and how she could be set free. She was suffering from Leukemia and aplastic anemia due to the incompetence of the doctors that treated her when she was but a young baby. The solution to her problem was blood, lots of it, even though she was getting the blood it was not enough as her body needed more to heal, so there was progress, just not fast enough.

But maybe my blood could do the trick, I didn't develop every single one of the symptoms that was supposed to show, the doctors did say that my body was fighting the disease rather heavily even though I couldn't move much, something about my blood being special.

So I proposed it to the doctor currently watching over Yuuki, I was immediately rejected. He said that I was much too young to donate blood. When I showed him my deadline, he clamped up after that and said that he might consider it. I had nothing to lose so I started writing my will, which was a lot weirder since I was under age, but it was all under my name so why not. I told Kurahashi what I was doing and he helped me through all the paperwork's, reluctantly.

The deadline was coming closer so the Guild decided that we had to leave a mark so that everyone would know of us. We started to grind the bosses with just us as a group, which was a lot harder to do since it was a boss and was recommended to go against it with at least four groups.

We tried again and again but it was just not working so we decided to bring another one in the fold. We discussed who to bring for a length of time and decided to let Yuuki do the recruiting while we prepare the items and other things ready for the boss raid.

While Yuuki was busy with recruiting, I was also busy with meeting with Kurahashi, letting him sample my blood to see if it would work or not. We found out that my blood works like a parasite, kind of, it killed the damaged/infected cells and replicated healthy ones, we also found out that my blood regenerated more rapidly than normal giving me some kind of healing factor, effectively curing the disease Yuuki had, but it would take time to prepare all the instruments to do the procedure so we had to wait for a while.

It seemed that Yuuki had grown rather fond of the new recruit, Asuna, as she was called. Rather amusingly they almost shared the same name "Yuuki". While "Yuuki" was Yuuki's given name, for Asuna it was her family name.

And so the day to take down the boss and take names had finally come and we went to challenge the boss.

We died.

We were so close but not close enough. There was also a huge group of players gathering outside of the boss floor too. The try with Asuna leading was for a lack of a better word awesome. It was like we were well-organized gear, not just a party.

But then Asuna told us to get to the Boss room immediately since the group was stealing the bosses from right under our noses by spying on us when we were battling the boss with their familiars to know of its movements, patterns to kill it more easily.

We got there in record time, faster than we've ever reached before. But the group would not let us through saying that we would have to wait for them even though they were not using it.

I don't know what happened clearly but we beat up the lot and with the reinforcements coming for the group we knew we were late. Then like a knight in black armor and a legendary sword, Kirito, Asuna's boyfriend came in to help us. It was cool watching him split apart magic with his sword and his back up in the form of a samurai. But we had a boss to kill and engrave our names on the 'Monument of Swordsmen'.

We had done it. We killed the boss with just the eight of us. The group outside of us couldn't believe it and to taunt them further we gave them victory signs. We went to check on the 'Monument of Swordsmen' and at the time I saw my name there, I couldn't describe in words how happy I was. It finally felt like I would be remembered for me, not just someone people caught a glimpse of in the street.

We partied. We ate. We celebrated because we had done something for ourselves just because we could and we wanted to.

For the next weeks I was busy with Kurahashi so I couldn't play with the group, seems that Yuuki was getting in on some projects with Asuna and Kirito.

It was finally time for the procedure, they drugged me so that they could start it. Before everything went black,

'I hope you don't forget about me'

Was the last thought going through my head.

(Yuuki P.O.V)

It was starting to get harder to stay up she noticed, as he breathing started to come in short gasps.

Is this how dying works? It feels more like going to sleep.

I looked around, there were a lot of people coming here, but he was not here. Maybe he was just coming late.

"Why are so many people here?" I muttered, feeling the energy leaving me, I'm glad that I got to pass 'Mother's Rosario'.

"Because you are the most powerful swordsman in the game." came the tearful reply. It was Asuna, she looked so much like Ran-nee-chan, it brought back so many bitter sweet memories.

"I'm so…happy." It was getting harder to just stay conscious. The edges of my visions were turning black. "I just wish Naruto was here."

If only I could see him again, one last time. He was different from other people, so quiet yet so loud, so cheerful yet so sad, a list of contradictions and most importantly my best friend, maybe more.

'If only we had more time.'

"Thank you." I meant it to be louder but I couldn't even focus properly.

For everything.

'I wonder if it will reach him.'

I can hear them crying, sobbing but I can't even twitch my finger, but I felt glad, relieved even since it meant that I would be remembered.

Then everything went black.

(General P.O.V)

When Yuuki opened her eyes it was to a nurse hollering for the doctor to come, the bright light from the window didn't help any either.

As she was waking up she tried to remember when she felt so comfortable, not in pain. The answer didn't come to her any faster. As she became more aware of her surrounding through the haze of sleep, she finally noticed that she was not in her confined, sterile room. Rather she was in a regular room and she could see another bed beside her.

There was a yellow mop of hair on top of a face marked with six whiskers like marks on the cheeks. The boy was currently asleep.

"What?"

How had she survived? She was pretty sure that she was going to die. The feeling of strength being sapped away was still fresh in her memory. So was the pain of being in the Medicuboid but they seemed so far away.

As she was thinking the doctor came into the room with a massive smile on his face, though the smile quite didn't reach his eyes, something Yuuki noticed but couldn't comment on as he started talking.

"Ahh, finally awake Yuuki-kun. How are you feeling? Any grogginess, disorientation?"

"Uh no, I'm fine. How? What happened? How am I here?"

At the series of questions, the doctor raised his hands as he signaled for her to calm down as he gave her the answers.

"About a month ago I received a…proposition…for a procedure. We verified its methods a week ago but only got the necessary equipment ready yesterday when you were playing. You most likely blacked out in the game since you were given anesthetic. The brain does operate faster than the body so it may have seemed like you were slowly losing your consciousness."

Well, that answered that question but why was Naruto here?

"Why is he here?" she questioned, gesturing to the boy sleeping in the bed beside her.

At the question, the doctor became little more subdued.

"He was the one that gave me the proposition. We've been meeting in secret for the past month."

What? That did not make any sense as Naruto didn't know anything about medicine.

"Through numerous testing, we found out that Naruto's blood has something of a healing capacity, so we did a blood transfusion using his blood. As we speak his blood is purging all the infected cells in your body. You will be fine to leave in about a week time."

Throughout the explanation the doctor had refused to look in her eye, something she noticed, since the beginning the doctor had stated everything looking at her.

"What's the catch? What's the price?"

Nothing was free in this world after all.

"During the process, we needed more blood than expected. He is experiencing slight anemia and his heart condition caught up to him due to the lack of proper amount of blood. He's…going to be different than what you remembered him as."

As he finished the doctor looked away.

"And his time was cut short by half."

That struck her like a bolt of lightning, all her hope of enjoying her time with her friend shattered much like glass. Her elation turned to horror. He had told her in secrecy that he had less than two months. So if that was cut to half then it meant that he had less than a week.

"At most me has three days. It all depends on his condition."

"Why did he do this?"

It was getting harder for her to breathe, just as she was getting something she always wanted, something equally precious, maybe more, was being taken from her. It was not fair.

"I…donot know, he said to give this to you when you wake up."

With that, the doctor put a file on the table and went out.

As she took a look the file she saw many documents laying inside and an envelope addressed to her.

Yukki,

If you're reading this then it means that the surgery was a success and you're going to be fine. I don't think I get to speak to you again. I've got a feeling that this is it for me; this is the end of my journey. I've given you all of my assets; everything that I owned once is now yours. Talk to the doctor he knows what they are.

I'm going to go now the procedure is about to start, they have to give me the anesthetic, so I'll probably not get any time to talk to you. I'll be going now, I know you'll make it. You're stubborn like that. Haha.

Even though I'm going now, don't follow me too quickly alright. I want you to get old, experience all of the things you couldn't before, marry, get kids, and when you're old you can come to where I am. You'll have to tell me new stories. How you lived your life. I bet it will be a great tale. I'll wait, so you can take your time coming here.

Oh and don't blame yourself I did this for my own. My world had gotten gray pretty early in my life. There was no color in my life. Then you came, it became so fun after that. You brought color to my monochrome life, for that I can't thank you enough. I guess this is me repaying my debt to you. If it means saving your life at the cost of then so be it, I was ready for it before I met you, and so I'm not afraid.

Thing is, I just want to say…Thank you, for the time we had, even though it was short lived, it was the best time of my life. Take care of yourself. It was fun, maybe we'll do it again someday and maybe at that time we'll have more time than this.

Goodbye and Farewell.

She was losing her greatest friend and she couldn't do anything about it. Tears started to trail down her face as she kept reading the last sentence.

Too focused on the letter she didn't see the bedsheet move beside hers.

"Uhh, why are you crying?"

Startled she turned to face the one that had spoken.

And there he was awake looking at her in concern. He looked so much more fragile than she remembered him. His hair was wilted, his eyes were duller as if he was out of focus, but he was looking at her.

"It's nothing." She replied trying in vain to wipe out the tears in her eyes. She looked at him trying to burn his image into her mind.

"…"

"…"

"Umm who are you? I think I've met you before."

"It's me Yuuki."

"…"

He just continued to give her a blank look and with a jerk, she realized that he had forgotten about her. She knew what this meant; his condition was worsening every second so he was starting to forget.

'Ahh…that hurts.'

It was the most painful experience in her short life. As she looked at him she could see him trying to keep his eyes open.

"It's getting kind of dark in here. Are you there?"

"Y…Yeah, I'm here."

It was getting harder to speak like there was something stuck in her throat.

"Can you hold my hand; it's getting kind of scary."

"Sure."

This was exactly what she had experienced, except it was in real life and he was probably not going to wake up.

There were so many things she wanted to say to him, so many things she wanted to do.

"Goodnight, I'm going to sleep now."

His breath was starting to come in short gasps now. He was so close.

"Goodbye."

It was like a whisper but she had heard it clearly. His arm went limp and he stopped breathing. If anyone had seen him from afar they would have thought that he was sleeping.

And like a broken dam her tears came out. Like a piece of her was taken away from her. So she stayed there clutching him as she cried.

This idea came to me in the night and I just couldn't leave it like that in my head. Took bits and pieces from different sources but tada. R&R.