Chapter 11: The start of a new life

After a long while of being in the darkness, Tatsurou began to open his eyes, and the first thing he saw, was a white ceiling.

"Where, am I?" Tatsurou asked himself as he opened his eyes.

"Well, well, look who's up!" A raspy voice of a woman said to the still confused Tatsurou and as he looked to the right side, he saw a tall slender woman in her 50's, with long wavy light blond hair that had a few strands of gray hair and green eyes, the bangs of her hair were pinned back and she had a scar in her right eye, she wore fancy clothes, under a lab coat, this woman's name was, Emma Muller, she was from Germany and she was a doctor in district 4's public hospital.

"Emma-san..." Tatsurou said as he tried to get up, but stooped because of the pain.

"You shouldn't get up like that, Kurokami-kun, after just waking up..." Emma said as she helped Tatsurou get into a better position, and after being put in a sitting position and getting more comfortable, Tatsurou looked at Emma for a bit.

"How long, was I out...?" Tatsurou asked Emma, as he looked down on him seeing that he was wearing hospital clothes.

"You have been out for three days..." Emma said as she took a pack of cigarettes from her lab coat.

"What? Three days no way...wait! You're going to smoke here?" Tatsurou asked this to Emma as she placed a cigarette in her mouth, and lighted it up.

"What's the problem, it's not like your going to die because of it..." Emma said as she took a puff from her cigarette.

"No I'm not saying this because of my well being, I'm saying it for yours..." Tatsurou said this to Emma but she didn't understand, until...

"Doctor Muller, what do you think you doing?" A young nurse, said from behind Emma, with her arms crossed and with an angry face.

"Ah, crap...!" Emma said as she turned to the nurse.

"Doctor Muller! I already told you, to stop smoking inside the hospital, especially inside the patient's rooms, didn't I?" The nurse said this with an angry tone as she placed her hands on her hips and glared at Emma.

"But..." As Emma was trying to excuse herself, she was interrupted by the nurse.

"No buts! And I'm confiscating these!" The nurse said as she took the cigarette that was in Emma's mouth, and her pack of cigarettes.

"Wait a sec, don't do that...I need them to stay alive!" Emma said in a distressed tone, but the nurse wasn't taking any of it, as she turned her back to her and left the room.

"Damn it..." Emma said as she dropped to the ground on all fours.

"I tried to warn you..." Tatsurou said this to Emma but she got up, with an angry expression.

"No, you didn't! If you knew she was behind me you should have said so...god, I just hope she doesn't throw them away those were expensive..." Emma said as she placed her hand on her forehead and sighed.

"Why does she have to be so uptight, about smoking inside the hospital, that's why we have these air filters..." Emma said as she looked up to a vent in the ceiling.

"I'm pretty sure, the purpose of these filters, is not for you to smoke inside the hospital..." Tatsurou said with a stoic tone to Emma.

"Hush now!" Emma said as she got close to Tatsurou.

"So Kurokami-kun, how are you feeling?" Emma asked as she analyzed Tatsurou.

"More or less ok, it's my head and back that hurt a bit..." As Tatsurou said this to Emma she took out of her lab coat, a bottle with pills.

"I see, I see, take this it will make the pain go away..." Emma said as she handed a pill to Tatsurou, but he just looked at her, with a stoic expression.

"Hey, don't look at me like that, it's a painkiller, it's safe for use!" Emma said with an angry tone to Tatsurou, he just smiled, and after taking the pill Emma began looking at him in silence.

"Is something wrong?" Tatsurou asked with a curious tone.

"No, it's just rare for you to be hospitalized, especially unconscious..." Emma said to Tatsurou with a worried tone.

"I was just asking myself, what made you do something so reckless, that you had to be hospitalized, but then during the visiting hours, I got my answer!" Emma said with a smile on her face, as she looked over her shoulder.

Tatsurou then tilted his body to the side to see what Emma was looking at, and from the corner of the room's entrance he could see a pink ahoge poking out of it, that vanished as soon as they looked, it was Shirayuki.

"She's a real cutie Kurokami-Kun, I wouldn't mind being hospitalized for a cute girl like her!" Emma said to Tatsurou with a mischievous smile on her face.

"Wait! It's nothing like that...!" Tatsurou said with an embarrassed expression and tone to Emma.

"I know, I know, it's never how we think, I will leave, so you two can be alone!" Emma said as she left the room, still with that mischievous smile on her face and winking at Tatsurou, he just looked away from her still embarrassed, and then after a brief moment Shirayuki came inside the room Tatsurou was in, and as she got close to the chair next to Tatsurou's bed she took a seat, and both he and Shirayuki were in silence for a while, and as they were about to break it...

"Tatsurou-chan!!!!" Wise barged into the room saying this, making both Shirayuki and Tatsurou jolt.

"Tatsurou-chan! I was so worried about you, don't ever scare me like that again!" Wise said as she cried and hugged Tatsurou really tight and her tail wagged uncontrollably.

"Alright, I get it Wise-san! But you're hurting me!" Tatsurou said as he gently tapped Wise's back to make her let go of him and as she did, she looked at both Tatsurou and Shirayuki.

"Wait? Am I interrupting, something?" Wise asked with a confused tone and expression.

"No, your not!" Tatsurou said as he looked at Wise and for a while, she stayed quiet.

"Ah! I see you must be hungry and thirsty after being out for some days, I will go and see if I can get you something!" Wise said as she left the room, but without giving a small wink to Shirayuki, without Tatsurou noticing, this made Shirayuki blush a bit.

"That Wise, she's like a hurricane..." Tatsurou and Shirayuki said at the same time which made them both look at each other, and then right after, they began to laugh together.

"But she is a good person at heart, she was the one that took care of me, and brought me to the hospital, to see you these past few days..." Shirayuki said as she looked at Tatsurou.

"She did?" As Tatsurou said this he stooped as he was hit with sudden realization, Shirayuki noticed that.

"Don't worry, she told me a lot about you, but it wasn't embarrassing things or anything, and she was really nice!" Shirayuki said as she flailed her arms around trying to explain.

"You don't have, to be like that..." Tatsurou said as he laughed at Shirayuki's reaction, she began pouting for him laughing at her reaction, and after a moment when Tatsurou calmed down.

"I'm happy, that you are okay Shirayuki-san, I really am!" Tatsurou said this and Shirayuki started to blush a bit.

"Now, Shirayuki-san, I'm going to tell you something, so I want you to listen to me..." As Tatsurou said this, Shirayuki looked at him with curiosity written all over her face, he then began to tell her what he saw while he was unconscious, and after a while...

"So, you were at the Yomi..." Shirayuki said as she looked at Tatsurou.

"Yes, that's right..." Tatsurou said as he remembered the words of the black-haired girl.

"I see, so mother really is..." Shirayuki said as she looked a bit down, but Tatsurou held her hand upon seeing this.

"I'm...I'm sorry, Shirayuki-san..." Tatsurou said in a sad tone as he looked a bit down.

"Deep down, I already knew, but I kept my hopes up, that she would be alright..." Shirayuki said this as she lowered her head and began to tear up, this made Tatsurou question himself, if telling her was the right choice, but after a bit he continued.

"Shirayuki-san, when I was in the Yomi, your mother asked me to tell you something..." As Tatsurou said this Shirayuki looked at him again with a curious expression.

"She told me, that she's sorry for what happened and...that she loves you more than anything in the world..." As Tatsurou said this, Shirayuki began to cry, and upon seeing this, Tatsurou hugged her.

"Mother!" Shirayuki said as she was hugged by Tatsurou and cried with her head placed in his chest and grabbing Tatsurou's hospital shirt, and it was like this for a while, until.

"I know that it is hard losing someone we love and being alone, so I want to know, if you want to stay with me?" Tatsurou said this to Shirayuki, which made her look up at him.

"No, I can't accept your offer, you already did so much, and what if..." Shirayuki said still in tears and Tatsurou knew what she was going to say and so he interrupted her.

"No excuses here, you don't have to worry about that, I will always be there for you and even if I have to fight, I will always win and come back, I promise!" Tatsurou said with a confident smile to Shirayuki, which in turn made her tear up again.

"Tatsurou-san...thank you..." Shirayuki said as she kept hugging and looking at Tatsurou and as their eyes locked at each other, a silence reigned in the room but it was short-lived.

"Tatsurou-san...I..." As Shirayuki was about to say something, she was suddenly interrupted...

"Tatsurou!!! You bastard!!!" Yumeko barged inside the room screaming, this made both Tatsurou and Shirayuki jolt as they got away from each other blushing.

"You goddamn idiot, do you know how much trouble you caused me, do you?" Yumeko said as she grabbed Tatsurou by the collar of his shirt and shook him.

"Wait, Yumeko, I'm still hospitalized, you shouldn't do this kind of thing!" Tatsurou said as Yumeko kept going, she then stooped and pushed his face close to hers.

"Do you know that for the past three days my superiors gave a giant earful and I had so much paperwork and covering up to do, thanks to you and I will be punished with a cut in my Soteria salary!" Yumeko said as she gave Tatsurou the death stare, that was short lived as she looked at Shirayuki then back at Tatsurou.

"Am I interrupting something?" Yumeko asked with a puzzled expression.

"No your not!" Both Tatsurou and Shirayuki said this at the same time, which took Yumeko by surprise, as she let go of Tatsurou.

"But all that, is nothing compared to what Hime would do to me if you got hurt really bad, I'm happy, that you're ok!" Yumeko said as she looked away from Tatsurou.

"Well, I will go find Emma and see when your gonna be discharged..." Yumeko said as she left the room, while giving a wink to Tatsurou, without Shirayuki noticing, needless to say, he got embarrassed, and again he and Shirayuki looked at each other in silence for a bit.

"So...what were you going to say, Shirayuki-san?" Tatsurou asked this to Shirayuki with a innocent tone, but Shirayuki's face became completely red as he heard him.

"Huh? Well I, hum, I...was just going to say that I am happy that your awake and that you going to let me stay with you...now if you excuse me I will go find Wise-san..." Shirayuki said as she got up and left the room running in a comedic way, leaving Tatsurou sitting on his bed with a confused expression on his face...

As Shirayuki got out of the room, she stooped a bit further away from it, on a hallway with her face red, from embarrassment.

"What was I thinking, Tatsurou probably thinks I'm weird now!" Shirayuki thought as she put her hands in front of her face while she squatted.

"Well then, Shirayuki-chan, did you get your man?" Wise asked this to Shirayuki from behind, which made her jolt.

"W-Wise-san?!?!" Shirayuki said as she looked at Wise with a surprised tone and expression.

"So, tell me how it went!" Wise said as she waged her tail in excitement, and curiosity took the better of her.

"We, were interrupted, by Yumeko-san..." Shirayuki said with a sad tone as her ahoge got down.

"Heeeeh? Damn her, interrupting a young maiden trying to win the heart of the one she loves!" Wise said in an angry tone with her fist closed.

"Wait, Wise-san! Don't say that out loud!" Shirayuki said, as she got up and signaled Wise to calm down with her hands.

"Well, you didn't confess, but at the very least, you already have a kiss in the bag..." Wise said as Shirayuki became red from toe to head from embarrassment.

"H-How, d-did you, k-know that?" Shirayuki asked as she began to sweat nervously.

"Emma told me that today, when she was entering the room to check on Tatsurou, she saw you kiss him on the lips and that you got scared when she saw you and that you ran away, I was so surprised, I didn't know you were such a rascal Shirayuki-chan!" Wise said with a hand placed on her face, as she giggled like a child.

"I just wanted Tatsurou, to wake up and my mother told me once, that if you kiss the person you love, when he doesn't wake up he will wake up..." Shirayuki said as she moved her arms around and her face still red from embarrassment.

"You read too many fairy tales, and I think your mother tricked you good, Shirayuki-chan, but it actually worked, as he's up and back at it again!" Wise said as she laughed a bit.

"If I tell him I did that, he will think I'm a pervert..." Shirayuki said with a sad tone as she looked down.

"Shirayuki-chan, believe me, he won't think that about you, but if it makes you more at ease, let's keep this a secret for now and when you're finally ready, you tell him how you feel!" Wise said to Shirayuki with a reassuring tone, as she patted her head.

"Wise-san..." Shirayuki said as she looked at Wise with a face filled with happiness and relief.

"Well, how about we go back and spend some time with him?" Wise said as she looked at Shirayuki and began walking towards Tatsurou's room.

"Y-Yes!" Shirayuki said as she followed Wise with a smile on her face.

And so on the 14th of May Kurokami Tatsurou and Izanami Shirayuki met they're meeting caused a change, that would make their lives and the world change, as this meeting began to make the cogwheels of destiny turn, no one knew exactly what would await them, but one thing is for sure whatever was going to happen next, was going to start, far away, from Takamagahara, it was going to start in France...in Paris to be more precise...