I've tried sooo many different ways of writing this story and they all have failed… Yeah… So you know what I decided to do? I'm forgetting my normal standards of writing and just trying to get it out. xD It'll fail, but that's life, right?

The lights go out all around me
One last candle to keep out the night
and then the darkness surrounds me
I know I'm alive, but I feel like I've died

-Beauty from Pain by Superchick

Sakuno hated the word "normal". The entire concept of normality didn't even make sense and yet people accepted it without batting an eye. How can you define what is normal? What is normal for one can be so different from what is normal for another person. Normal was entirely comparative. For something to be abnormal it must not be like a certain object which could be defined as normal.

She rapped her fingers softly across the desk in frustration. Time was being wasted ever single second she sat in that classroom and listened to the things that she had already heard a million times over. Of course the United States of America was not a part of the UK anymore, that was why they were another country! She glanced out the window aimlessly as she continued to listen to the teach drone about the splitting of the colonies.

It felt like forever, but she finally heard what she needed to.The shrill whistle escaped her phone and not a moment too soon. Sakuno shot up from her chair and gave a slight bow to her teacher before escaping the clustered room. She ignored the envious stares of her classmates as she escaped into the halls early. She pulled open her locker and quickly started packing her books into her bag for later on. "Math, History, and English… That's all then."

She flipped the canvas cover back on her bag and gave it a short pat before turning towards the stairs. "Yo girl. Shouldn't you be in class?" Sakuno clutched at her heart in shock from the sudden voice. She took in a deep breath before turning to face the boy behind her. The teen looked just as casual as ever. He was sloppily groomed with the gray mop for fair pulled back into a short ponytail and dull green eyes. "Iie, Niou-sempai. My sensei have excused me for the rest of the day, now may you excuse me? I'm going to be late."

Sakuno hardly waited for a reply as she turned to the stairs. She grabbed the railing before pulling herself up and over the side down to another flight of stairs. She really didn't have time to waste, her grandmother was busy enough with Seishun Gakuen and having to drive Sakuno every Monday hardly helped. The girl didn't even notice the skeptical eyes watching her depart the building. "Hn…"

-There is a man who waits for the tests -

"Ne, Sakuno-chan. Are you sure that you're ok at Rikkaidai? I'm sure I can have you transfer back to Seisgaku by the end of the week if you want." Sakuno sighed at the antics of her grandmother. Ryuuzaki Sumire had always been rather protective, but it was rather unneeded and sometimes annoying. She stared wistfully out the window as she watched the cars stream past. "Iie, obaa-san. I'm fine at Rikkaidai. I'm sorry if it is hard for you to drive to separate schools."

It was hard to miss the slight twitch her grandmother gave. "Don't worry, Sakuno-chan. You have nothing to apologize for." Words, they were just words. She watched the water gather upon the window gloomily as she remembered her old school. The first few years were fun, but things had changed since then and Seigaku lost a member of its soon to be freshman class.

The rest of the trip was silent, there was really nothing to say after all. What was done was done and there wasn't anything to change the past. After the car pulled to a stop, Ryuuzaki turned around to look at her granddaughter. "They're still asking about you, ya know? You didn't have to close contact with them. I betcha they would understand." The blank stare that came in reply wasn't unexpected, but still saddening in a way. "Alright, alright, I'm off your case. Come on, shoujo."

- To see if the cancer has spread yet, and then he asks-

"It could really depend, Ryuuzaki-san. We think we can schedule you in three weeks from now. Would that work for you?" Warm hazel eyes stared at Sakuno, well, they looked warm to most. To Sakuno they were disgusting, they were filled with pity. Pity was something she would never want and would never need. Pity was the world's way of saying, "My life is so much better than yours. I feel sorry for you."

"Hai, Tomio-sensei." Sakuno's eyes had long lost their cheerful spark. There was nothing to be happy for now was there?

Tomio sighed softly as he looked at the little girl. She was much too young to be going through this sort of ordeal. There was so much life left to be lived and it appeared there wouldn't be much time to live it. "One of the nurses will give you a package detailing what will go on. Your grandmother will be your primary provider I assume?"

Sakuno nodded in acknowledgment and left the room enveloped in silence. "That'll be all then, Ryuuzaki-san. You'll need to go off your current medicine two weeks before the surgery. We'll see you in three weeks then." The group rose from their chairs and trailed out of the room. The walls were suffocating. The walls were so stark and sterile. It was the kind of color that would be easy to paint over if any blood ever stained the walls. The color was so bright and yet at the same time depressing.

Sakuno sighed as she left the hospital. Time was moving by so fast and she wished that it would just stop. Forget the time space continuum, she wanted everything to stop hurting. It hurt knowing that she couldn't rely on anyone. She was alone.

"Yo, what are you doing here?"

- So why did I wait to live when it is time to die?-

Yukimura Seiichi's "cure" hadn't been all it was cracked up to be. Ten post-surgery he had been returned to the hospital for an emergency surgery for his lungs. The "God" had a developed a pneumothorax in his left lung. It started as shortness of breath, but they had all said that it was because he was unfit due to extended bed rest. They had told him it would be fine and it would all go away soon. They didn't understand what he was feeling. It was the feeling of suffocation, but there was nothing doing the suffocation. He just couldn't breathe.

It took them long enough to get the hint. During tennis practice the tennis "god" passed out from lack of oxygen. They rushed him to the hospital and barely got him into the surgery room in time. It pained the regulars to see him back in the hospital, pale like a sheet with that blasted oxygen mask taped around his face. That was what the world was. Children were complainers and they should leave it to those that knew what they were doing.

Some said that was the day something changed within the regulars. It was the reason why they took no coach and no manager. Adults who could so carelessly put their friend in danger just couldn't be trusted. Despite this "truth", their friend was still placed under lock in key in the hospital. The pneumothorax had long been resolved, but other complications occurred due to the immune-suppression that came from it.

The 2009 swine flu pandemic reached and ravaged the hospital and caused the return of the once dormant acute panautonomic neuropathy within Yukimura. The new therapy given to the boy had high toxicity levels that could only be justified by the high mortality rate given to the illness. Yukimura had begun to stabilize over the past few weeks, but some part of him began to wonder if it was worth it if he would never get better. Stability wasn't a cure, and was a cure even in sight?

When Yukimura voiced his thoughts it worried the regulars. He was the "god", the undefeatable leader of Rikkaidai. It was impossible for him die, wasn't it? Yukimura was a person they couldn't lose, ever.

On the regular's weekly visit the last thing they expected to see was another yellow and black uniform. "Hmm? That's our new kohai, ne Yanagi?" The redhead peered over the Brazilian's shoulder to stare at the girl walking out the sliding glass doors.

"Ryuuzaki Sakuno. She's a transferee from Seishun Gakuen and was the manager of the tennis team while presiding there. Though I do wonder who she was visiting there… My data doesn't suggest that she had any ill relatives."

"She wasn't visiting." Eyes turned towards the fukubuchou with interest. "She has a tegaderm around her left arm."

Niou noticeably froze at his vice-captain's observation. So that was where she had gone during school. He casually sauntered up to Sakuno and said, "Yo, what are you doing here?"

Prologue ish I suppose. O3o The part with a bio on Yukimura was a bit awkward to write, but I tried to make it as realistic as possible. Acute Panautonomic Neuropathy is a type of Guillien Barre Syndrome and since I never heard of a specific type that he was given I'll give him one. I'll make up some junk for medicines since I don't know much about treatment since the mortality rate is so high. |D

I'm estimating about… 10-17 chapters? I dunno. xD I'm basing this off a song so I'll probably give a few lyrics at the beginning until I get to the end. It depends if I wanna wrap it up when the song is over or use another song that really fits as well.

I'll churn through this faster than my other story since I've decided to screw fancy writing and just put it out. This means no editing! YAY! XD Reviews make me happy and alerts make me squeal. |D I'll try doing daily updates for a bit and see how it goes. I've been having problems concentrating and it drives me nuts. Ja ne~