Yuki ran faster, her tears flowing continuously from her eyes. It trickled down her cheeks to her lips until she felt its salty tang against her tongue. Then to her complete surprise, the salty flavor of her tears mingled with the taste of water. She looked up only to realize that rain had started pouring down from the sky. Then without warning, she slipped and fell on the muddy ground.

"You are clumsy, Hidaka Yuki!" she scolded herself aloud as the rain steadily poured over her. Then she gave a cry as she realized the name that had just came out of her lips. With that, she tried her best to stand and run towards her secret place.

She was about to reach her thinking tree when she again slipped, this time she fell harder on the wet slippery ground. Her sense of thinking garbled, she gave out a cry of frustration as she stayed fixated on the ground. Dirt and mud clung to her yukata as she tried her best standing up. Then she gave a sharp gasp as she felt the most unusual pain on her abdomen.

"Are you all right?" a voice beside her said. Then she felt a pair strong of arms pulling her to her feet. She turned around only to see Koenma before her, drenched with rainwater. Instantly she snatched her arm away.

"Go away!" She shouted at him. She then hurriedly walked away from him, trying her best to ignore the sharp pain on her abdomen, which was growing worse by the second.

"Yuki, please…"

Yuki turned to him, her face pale, and her lips trembling. Her eyes shed tears as fast as the pouring rain.

"Please go away. Leave me alone." She said softly unable to bear seeing Koenma's tortured expression.

"No." he replied stubbornly. "I won't leave you here all alone." He added clearly, his voice quite audible through the heavy rain.

Yuki turned away from him. She gave a sharp intake of breath as she tried hard not to wince with pain. She felt her teeth chatter as she forced her body to fight the gnawing cold. Koenma took a deep breath.

"W-what you saw earlier- "

Yuki stiffened upon hearing his soft voice rich with pleading.

"- That- that woman you saw was Ayame." He continued. "She works for- for me and my father."

"I don't care." She said softly her back still on him. "Please just go away." She added.

"Not until I tell you the truth, Yuki." He said. Then taking a deep breath, he proceeded to tell her exactly whom he really was, where he really came from, about his actual work and about their situation right now.

"I-I must go back." He said softly. "If I don't- Yuki please, even though I will be far away it does not mean that I don't love you. We will see each other again, I promise." He added desperately.

Yuki felt herself weakened with his every word. She shut her eyes as she desperately tried blocking his voice from entering her mind, her heart. She clutched her abdomen as the pain grew worse.

"Now that you know," Koenma said after his tale. "Please, forgive me. Yuki, I-"

"How dare you!" she shouted turning to him, her eyes wet with tears, anger evidently painted on her face. "How dare you say those things at me!"

"Yuki, please I-"

"You even got the nerve to tell me of your woman's name!" she spat her voice quivering as she felt her chest constricting with pain. "You even got the nerve to tell me a ridiculous story just to-"

"Please I-"

"Was it just some pathetic excuse for you to- to leave me- for- that- her" she couldn't continue any longer as she felt another fresh wave of tears fall from her eyes. She cried helplessly as Koenma immediately gathered her in his arms.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted squirming from his grasp, her little fists pummeling his chest. "Don't touch me, I say!" she added as she felt herself weakening.

"Yuki please." He began as he tightened his grip even more. "I love you." He said softly, the pain clearly in his voice. With that, Yuki stopped struggling. She buried her face against his chest helplessly, her shoulders heaving.

"Please leave me alone…"

"I know that I lied to you right from the start." Koenma said his voice clearly showing hurt and dismay. "For it I am so sorry." He added.

<But I saw you with my own eyes… >

When Yuki still didn't answer, he took a deep breath.

"I lied to you because- because I am afraid of losing you." He whispered. "I've kept everything from you because I'm afraid of losing the only person I've ever loved, the only person that made me smile and laugh."

<The way her arms tightened around you, the way you closed your eyes as she pressed her pretty face against your chest… >

Instantly she felt her chest twisted as a fresh surge of pain stabbed through her heart. It greatly mingled with the unbearable pain on her abdomen that she greatly wished for death to come and end her agony.

"Then tell me-" she began as she felt her knees trembling. " Why should I believe you now?" she quietly added now feeling light-headed all of a sudden. But before she could hear Koenma's answer, blackness suddenly wheezed inside her head. She closed her eyes as she felt her body falling over him.

"Yuki?" he called as he felt her limp body against his. He knelt on the muddy ground, her body against his arms, her eyes closed.

"Yuki?" he called again as he tapped her cheek lightly. Then assuming that she had just fainted, he prepared to carry her up into his arms. He was about to lift her up when suddenly he saw something red staining Yuki's yukata. He gasped as he realized that it was actually blood trickling down on her legs.

"Yuki!" he cried as he hastily swept her pale, limp body up into his arms. He then ran quickly away from their secret place to the doctor's house, cursing and blaming himself all the way.

"Just hold on, Yuki." He thought as he rounded a corner, the rain getting heavier by the second.

"Hold on please." He pleaded as he ran faster. "If anything happens to you I will never, ever forgive myself, Yuki." He added as he, at last, reached the doctor's front door.

=======

Koenma buried his face in his hands as he sat inside the doctor's sitting room, waiting and cursing himself all along. He gritted his teeth angrily due to impatience, his wet clothes clinging to him, his body not minding the cold fiercely growing by the minute.

Just then he heard the clinic door slid open. He sprang up to his feet and walked towards the emerging doctor worry, evident on his face.

"Doctor?"

The doctor shook his head as he gently led Koenma away from the room where his wife lay peacefully. He took a deep breath, his face grim.

"You're- you're wife, Hidaka-san-"

"What about her? How is she?" Koenma almost shouted. The doctor frowned.

"Are you aware that she is with child?" he asked.

Koenma stiffened as the words hit him. He momentarily stumbled backwards as the statement caught him off guard.

"She lost the baby." The doctor continued. "Seems like she met an accident of some sort- did she?" he asked sharply.

"She- she slipped and fell." He mumbled absent-mindedly. He felt his insides turn cold as he tried hard not to cry for his unborn son. "H-how is she, doctor?"

"Then how could you leave your wife running out in the rain?" the doctor exploded angrily. "Were you not even aware that she is carrying your son?"

"I-I- she didn't tell me." He answered quietly, his body becoming weak and numb. "W-what about her, doctor?"

The doctor took a deep breath before replying.

"She is burning with fever, unconscious as of now." He said walking towards his table. "I won't keep this from you but I'm afraid that her chances of surviving are pretty slim."

Koenma looked down helplessly. He closed his eyes as he waited for the doctor to continue.

"With her losing the baby, I have to give her an immediate surgical procedure. I also fear that she might catch pneumonia, she was soaking wet when you brought her in." He began, his face austere. "With her weakened state, it would take a miracle for her to survive the operation, Koenma-san." He added quietly.

Koenma slowly opened his eyes. He took a deep breath before looking up to face the doctor. His breathing became heavy and ragged as he tried his best to stand up and not to crumble up and cry in front of him.

"What should I do, doctor?" He asked calmly.

"Well, all you can do now is wait." He replied.

"May I see her?"

"Of course." The doctor answered nodding his head.

Koenma politely bowed before him. Then he proceeded towards the room. He gently slid the door open only to find Yuki lying on a futon, her face weak and pale. He fell down on his knees as he gently touched his wife's face.

"Even in sleep you look beautiful." He whispered as his hands caressed her cheek. His lips trembled as a single tear trickled from his eyes.

"Yuki listen to me." He began. "We will see each other again just as I have promised… but not this way, not this time- not now-"

His hands then went up to her hair as his fingers kneaded her silky tresses gently.

"I want you to survive." He continued. "I want you to get through all these… you will live a happy life, raise a family, have lots of babies… and then when the time comes, we will be together again. I will come for you, all right?" He asked, his tears falling faster.

He then kissed her forehead, his heart breaking, and his chest constricting with so much pain. Just then an idea hit him. Looking at her for the last time, he stood up and made his way towards the door.

"I have to make sure." He said to himself as he stepped outside. He looked up only to see the sky now full of stars. His eyes sharpened, his face clear with determination.

"I will defy everything for you. Yuki." He said to himself as he hastily walked away from the doctor's house. "Everything…"