a/n: I'm sorry for such long delay. As usual big thanks to chyroation for the beta.

eternal oath

[ Chapter 9: Fleeting, Harmony ]

Umi was pale as a sheet when she finally burst through the hospital doors, huffing and puffing, trying her best to pull herself together before anyone else can witness her moment of weakness. The bodyguard reluctantly placed the younger woman on the stretcher while the doctors and nurses frantically rushed her to the emergency ward for immediate surgery. With shaking hands and a trembling voice, she then phoned Maki's parents to report their daughter's condition and her sudden collapse, all the while trying not to break down from where she stood rooted to the floor, outside the doors she last saw her princess.

She was not late. She was on time, she was—

She made a fatal mistake. She neglected her master's health.

She... failed her. She failed as her bodyguard, she—

"Are you one of the patient's family members?" the nurse tapped her shoulder. Umi looked up from her feet with a blank look and shook her head in response.

"The patient's condition is stable, but she is not awake just yet," the nurse announces. "We'll move her to the patient ward shortly."

She nodded her head, letting tears freely fall in relief. Umi felt a weight in her chest disappear as she wiped away the remaining moisture on her face.

The nurse looked back once more before taking her leave, "She's lucky you arrived as quickly as you did. Any later and I doubt she would've survived."

Black.

Empty.

Darkness.

All she could see, all she could feel was the cold sensation of pure blackness in between her line of sight. That's right—she remembers fainting—and she went to see this state of void again after so many years.

What was she doing before this? She ponders, she urges herself to remember, she tries to recollect her thoughts.

Ah.

She remembers now.

She was about to confess her feelings.

But thinking about it now, is she able to open her eyes? Is she able to live for a few more precious minutes again? Is she able to see the face of her beloved bodyguard once more and treasure it forever?

Or did the incident scar her bodyguard so deeply she might blame herself for everything?

Why? Why can something so simple, be so difficult? Why must she have a time limit? Why are her kidneys broken?

She groggily blinked open her eyes to see the blinding white ceiling above her. She felt numb at first, until bit by bit, her senses regained their full awareness. The scarlet-haired mistress could feel machines and catheters uncomfortably hooked up to her, and a light weight on her thigh.

Wait, a weight?

She tried to sit up but the unbearable pain told her otherwise. Her amethyst eyes wandered to find something blue and fluffy residing on her right arm.

Isn't that... Umi?

"Thank goodness you're awake," oh, she didn't notice the presence of the nurse beside her bed, changing her IV.

She requested the nurse's help to sit up on her bed and asked her about the hectic days that occurred when she was unconscious. The nurse merrily explained that said bodyguard, whom now slept soundly beside her, was awake for three days straight, refusing to leave her mistress's side until she finally woken up from her slumber. It took the constant insistence of a couple doctors and almost every nurse on the floor for her to finally relent and follow their advice, falling into a deep sleep due to fatigue as well as the stress from the following days. Maki could feel her cheeks grow increasingly warmer each split second the story continued, burning especially hot whenever the nurse recounted a particular interpretation and flashed a sly little wink at her.

"I'll be back with the doctor to change your IVs and monitor your catheter, okay?" the nurse bowed as she hurriedly left Maki alone with her sleeping crush.

Her gaze landed on Umi's peaceful face, framed by unruly hair and the tell-tale signs of sleep deprivation evident on facial features. She sighed ruefully and moved to stroke the cascade of blue, hoping that her bodyguard would stay sleeping for just a tiny bit more. That means, it had been three days since her collapse, and yet she feels as if nothing improved.

"I wonder if ..." she whispers, caressing soft, slightly pale cheeks. "If I can live for another year."

Honoka finished her work faster than she expected, and now she's delivering documents for her boss this uneventful morning.

She has been doing her job well, in fact, her boss even complimented her on how diligently she worked as surprising as it was. She accompanied her boss everywhere for work-related problems, dealt with phone calls and appointments, scheduled and re-scheduled her boss's time tables, and at times, delivered packages and mail for her.

"Kousaka-san?"

"Ah—yes, Ayase-sama?"

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman—her boss, Ayase Eli—taps her desk. She was about to return to her office but her boss sometimes moved to her desk faster than she would ever expect.

"Call me Eli, there's no need for such formality."

"But you're my—"

"Then I'll call you Honoka," she interjected with a grin. "Can I see the documents delivered to me?"

Honoka handed her boss the said documents without another word. Her eyes caught the slight shift in those sky blue orbs the moment she opened the documents. As the secretary, she took liberty in checking the document's conditions to find that it was horrifying.

"I'm guessing this is from Yazawa Nico, correct?" Eli asks.

Honoka nods numbly. Yes, the raven-haired young conglomerate sent it personally to her desk, to her utter surprise.

"M-may I ask something?"

"Hmm?"

"Why do you need someone else's medical records?"

"Dear, shouldn't we inform Sonoda-san about our daughter?"

Nishikino Ekoda briefly glanced at his wife, who had finished speaking with their daughter's bodyguard. Apparently, from what Umi explained, Maki collapsed and she is currently looking after her in the hospital. Unfortunately, because of serious circumstances they couldn't go back to Tokyo just yet, pushing all their responsibilities to Umi. No, they are not blaming Umi for anything. She couldn't possibly have predicted such turn of events to happen nor could she be held accountable for their negligence.

"You mean her lifespan?" the man tilted his glasses. "Maki won't be amused to have another person pitying her again."

"That's right... but ..." she sighs sadly. "Don't you think it's best for her to know?"

Nishikino Ekoda kept quiet, incapable of answering a simple question.

Maki didn't allow her gaze to wander from anything besides the sleeping woman, as her thoughts filled up with many, many things. In actuality, she can't allow herself to be tired, else it will disrupt her kidney functions just like the other day, or even let her mind be too stressed that it could cause a major attack. But still, she couldn't help but make a semblance of sense about their relationship, their connection, their meetings—

Fate is cruel.

While love comes uninvited;

Her life withers.

Maki's lavender orbs soften as she recalls her actions, her own failed attempt of a confession.

She brushes unruly bangs from the midnight-haired woman's face as she closes their distance, her lips light as a feather, touch the bodyguard's forehead, slow and careful as to not disturb her rest.

"Umi," her voice was full of longing, full of words left unheard. "I love you."

Her eyes opened to see shining rays seeping through the curtains of the hospital room, erasing the slightly dreary atmosphere. Her amber eyes study the room intently, finding a sleeping beauty clutching her hand like a lifeline.

She suddenly noticed a ghost of a feeling on her forehead but found nothing. She can recall someone speaking to her and—

Umi's expression blanked. She caressed her forehead, missing the pleasant warmth once there, her body remembered each and every gesture but her memory couldn't match a source.

This warmth—was it a dream?

Those words—were they imaginary?