Goodbye My Love

A/N: I wrote this for my creative writing class so I figured that I would put it on here so it would actually get looked at instead of sitting in my desk for the rest of my life.

Jinsei Anderson sighed and looked at her reflection in the ladies' room mirror. Despite her twenty-three years of age, she looked much older. Her once knee-length brown hair was now chopped up to her ears and lined with threads of gray brought on by stress and worry. Her green eyes, once vibrant and alive, were now dull and void of any emotion. Only her pale skin remained the same, refused to darken or lighten in the past few months that had been so hard on her and her husband.

Speaking of him, it was time to be getting back to his room to check on him. Stepping out of the ladies' room into the bright white hallway of Domino Memorial Hospital, the sickening smell of antiseptic greeted her once more, reminding her exactly why she was here and that this wasn't just a bad dream she could wake up from. The way to the intensive care unit was well remembered in the few years she'd been here, making the reality all the more sickening.

As usual, her husband's room was clean, the curtains pulled back to allow the bright December sunlight in, splashing it across the pale blue wall and hard linoleum floor. The room seemed so cheerful, but so did the other rooms here on this hallway.

Jinsei forced her eyes away from the snow outside and turned to face the man lying in the bed, the breathing tube hooked around his ears, feeding the life giving oxygen into his nostrils, the heart monitor still sending out its chilling but welcoming sound, signaling that he was still alive, and the IV tube still inserted into his arm.

Her husband, Juudai Yuki had been lying in that hospital bed for four years now, slowly deteriorating and wasting away. His supple tan skin, which had once been able to retain its color even in the dead of winter, had faded to a sickening yellow and was stretched over his bones. His once beautiful brown eyes, that had looked at everyone with love, warmth, and welcoming were dull and tired. Except for when he looked at Jinsei. It was then the life jumped into his eyes and his smile, which had been gone so many years, returned. It was then that Jinsei recognized him as the man she had married, not the stranger lying in a hospital bed.

"Hey." Juudai said quietly, his once loud voice dulled to a soft whisper.

"Hey." Jinsei answered, sitting in the chair that had been beside his bed.

Juudai's hand rose to touch his wife's face, his slightly calloused fingertips running over the smooth soft flesh of Jinsei's cheek.

"You've been crying again." Juudai stated matter-of-factly. Jinsei opened her mouth to say otherwise but she caught the 'don't-you-dare-lie-to-me' look on his face and touched his hand, the flesh surprisingly cool against her own. "I thought I told you no more of that. I'm going to be okay."

"But Juudai..." Jinsei stopped herself. She knew, deep down, that Juudai was dying. There was nothing she could do about it but wait until it was over and comfort him as best she could. And Juudai knew it too.

"Jinsei, look at me." Juudai said, the authority of his alter ego, Supreme King Haou, lacing his voice and sending shivers up Jinsei's spine, filling her with a weird mix of passion and sadness knowing she would only hear his voice for a bit longer.

Looking into Juudai's eyes, the ones that looked at her with so much love, she could see why their friends had stopped visiting.

When Juudai had first fallen ill all those years ago, all their friends had come to see him and comfort him, their arms loaded with gifts such as flowers and small stuffed animals to keep Juudai company when no one else was there. But then, as Juudai's health slowly deteriorated, their friends stopped coming to visit.