Yuzuru

"Thank you."

Even as she says the words she knows will heal and destroy Yuzuru, Kanade smiles. She has to, even as her tears well up, because if she doesn't she might regret it.

She has already regretted not thanking him before, for everything he did, everything he didn't know he did, and with this she can put those regrets to rest. She can't regret anymore.

As her world turns to white, as Yuzuru screams and begs, Kanade feels his heart breaking in her chest.

What happens when a person lets go of their agonies? The warmth from Yuzuru's clutching arms, from his tears, lingers on her skin. All she sees is white with the occasional gray blur fading in and out of existence. The air smells like honey and spring and it is an ever changing scent that lulls her. She hears a humming, a tiny chuckle. Apparently, when a person lets go of their agonies, the tactile senses do not waver, but those sounds are disturbingly human, disturbingly close.

Kanade looks to what she assumes is behind her in the expansive plane, and sees a girl.

The girl notices she has Kanade's attention and smiles. The girl is so familiar, that her heart, Yuzuru's heart, aches further.

She looks just like him.

"You're Tachibana Kanade, right?" the girl asks, her voice curious, but her rustic eyes belying the question's nature. She already knows she's right, but has turned to manners instead of grandstanding.

"That's right. Who are you?"

The girl smiles and bounds forward. She stops when she is nearly on top of Kanade, pointing at herself with boundless, childish innocence. "My name is Otonashi Hatsune."

"O-otonashi..." Kanade whispers.

"But you don't have to call me that! Brother calls me Hatsune. All the nurses called me Hatsune, too!"

Kanade nods. "Hatsune-chan?"

The red-headed girl's smile seems to grow even larger. "Yes, Kanade-chan?" The blatant informality normally would have ruffled Kanade's feathers, but there was more than one factor that decided that, really, she is okay with whatever this wise-eyed girl calls her.

"Why are you here?"

"Why are you here?" the girl shoots back.

Hatsune grasps at Kanade's hand, tugging on it insistently. Kanade takes a tentative step forward, into the white space, and is less surprised than she should be when her foot lands on nothing, but still retains a solid stance. Hatsune giggles at her reluctance and soon enough, they are walking.

"Kanade-chan, are you waiting for him, too?" the girl asks her suddenly after a few silences, a few beats in which Kanade feels more off-center than she can remember.

"Him?"

"My big brother, Yuzu-chan, of course!" Hatsune smiles again, but this one is more wistful. "He got lost somehow, but I think it's okay, because he helped you and all those other people find their way. I think it meant a whole lot to him."

Kanade looks down at their clasped hands, then brings her golden eyes to rest on the girl's face. "You're talking...about Yuzuru?"

"I can feel him in you."

Hatsune lets go of Kanade's hand, skips forward a few unmeasurable paces, before she falls still with her back to the older girl. "Brother was always a little sad, a little lonely. He worked all the time, too. But, you know...he always came to see me in the hospital. He bought me comics and gave them to me every time he would visit.

"He never seemed to have a place to fit in life, though. It was like that toy kids play with! Always trying to fit the square block in the circular hole."

The description of Yuzuru doesn't match with the boy Kanade's heart beat for, but who is she to judge? She never met the Yuzuru that had a heartbeat, only a soul that shined with more brilliance than the brightest of stars.

"When I died, Brother finally found his niche in the world. It made him happy that he could put his life to use helping others. He did it until the end, did you know?"

Kanade feels a small smile creep onto her lips. "I didn't." She takes a few steps to come to Hatsune's side. "But I did have a feeling it would be like that."

Kanade took Hatsune's hand again. They continued to walk through the never-ending white.

"Your brother...did get lost. He arrived where all the souls of anguished youth end up."

"I know about that place, Kanade-chan. But I didn't go there."

Kanade shook your head. "No, you're too young. But Yuzuru...he had no anger in his heart for his previous life. He dedicated it to helping all of us gain freedom from our own torment. He saved lives. You say he helped people until the end, but he helped them beyond those limits as well."

"That's all he's ever wanted."

Kanade feels her eyes moisten. "I don't want to regret leaving him there."

Hatsune's hand tightens on Kanade's and the white-haired girl is almost surprised by how much strength is in that little hand. "Don't regret it, Kanade-chan. Brother wants what's best for everyone, and he will understand. He'll get better, and he'll come after you. I promise!"

The little girl manipulates their fingers until both their pinkies are latched around each other. "Brother looks out for everyone, especially those he really cares about, even if he doesn't realize it. Brother loves us. He'll come here one day, and we can all start over. Okay?"

The ache in Kanade's heart, Yuzuru's heart, suddenly lessens. Each pulse soothes the agony there. "Okay."

They stop walking and stare into the white. Their hands are clasped tight, not in leadership, but in a symbol of their faith.

"You know, Hatsune-chan," Kanade says. "He used to call me Angel. I think, though, that it is you who is an angel."

Hatsune laughs.

Kanade pulls the sun hat tighter on her head, trying in vain to bring some shade over her in the summer heat. She strides down the street in her sandals and summer dress, briskly heading to the music store.

She doesn't realize the boy when she passes by him, but she does realize the sudden tapping on her shoulder. Kanade turns around and sees him, a boy with red-orange hair and rustic eyes, staring at her in some confused awe.

She feels her own face fall into the same expression.

It almost feels like she's met him before, and her heart thunders in anticipation.

A/N Blah, I dunno what this is.

Hatsune: I kinda picture Hatsune-chan to be like Kanae from Elfen Lied for some reason. I can see her with Kanae's cute, mischievous attitude and I love it. I wish Angel Beats! had characterized her more.

Also, smart dead kids are smart. And dead.

...bye.