[color=57c5db][h2]Tsubasa Yukimori[/h2][/color]

[b]10:30PM, Sunday[/b]

[color=57c5db]"It's summertime..."[/color] the woman brushed a hand through her long, thinning hair before letting it fall limp to her side from the ponytail she had tied it up in. [color=57c5db]"A season full of new beginnings, and happiness abound. And still, it makes me so very...[i]melancholy.[/i]"[/color]

Tsubasa gazed up at the gentle black sky, stars glittering as bright as the notorious lights of Shine City itself. She stood in the centre of the park, in what seemed to be pitch blackness otherwise. Pulling the fabric of her coat over her sky-blue dress a little tighter, she breathed a soft, weak breath before lowering her head, and with her eyes focused firmly on the ground before her, took step after step to the one place she knew she had to be that evening. It was unusual, but hers was one of the special cases handled by the psychologist, Bridge Templeton. After all, it was not an easy feat dealing with somebody whose problems could not be fixed with mere medication alone. She only hoped he had time to hear her out, and offer her somewhere warm to sit, and perhaps have a little cry.

For a warm summer's evening, Tsubasa Yukimori felt [i]very, very[/i] cold.

[color=57c5db]"Doctor Templeton, I beg, please, let me in..."[/color] a soft voice called from behind the door of the psychologist's office. Her hands shook delicately as she prepared herself to mentally break the news to her psychologist/psychiatrist, too. He was as good as both, to her, even helping her as far as getting the required medication to keep her moods in check. [color=57c5db]"...I need to speak to you. Please, doctor. Please..."[/color]

The door to the small apartment creaked open, and the young Bridge Templeton, hazy in the evening's glow, blinked up at the woman from behind spectacles. Something about him signalled his emotions. It was concern, and far from disgust, to the young woman's relief. "Miss Yukimori. Please...[i]please[/i] come in."

He ushered the woman inside, and almost immediately, upon noticing her shivering, left her alone in his 'therapy room', on the lavish couch, as he went to fetch a shawl or blanket to put over her shoulders. When he returned, he had noticed the woman staring blankly into the distance, where his psychologist's chair stood. It was empty, and the leather stared back at Tsubasa. Her eyes didn't focus at the chair, no. Instead, it seemed her gaze went right through it, and she had the expression of a deer being caught in the headlights. It took Dr. Templeton a little while to have the young woman open up, after providing her with a hot drink and fetching his pen and pad hurriedly. There was still a tired look about his eyes, but concern for his patients was the overriding emotion. Especially this woman right here.

Tsubasa had been seeing Dr. Templeton since soon after she was diagnosed, and had always seen him just as much of a life counsellor as a psychologist. Despite some of his suggestions, her parents chose to do the opposite, such as foregoing the necessary medical procedures that might have had a chance - albeit very small - of saving their daughter. Needless to say, they would spend the world's fortune or more on her, evidenced by the little envelope she carried, filled with bills she would use to pay for this particular session. This, or any future one, might be her last, after all.

[hider=A Bluebird's Lamentation]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=783zSwswkZw[/youtube]
[/hider]

[color=57c5db]"Doctor Templeton..."[/color] she croaked, voice hardly above a mixture of a stammer and a whisper, and her eyes never looking up at his. Instead, she continued to stare, right through the chair, her lips in a traumatised frown, only moving ever so slightly when she was made to speak. [color=57c5db]"...they told me."[/color]

"Told you, Tsubasa?" he responded, his voice caring, coaxing the information out of her. Despite the fact that he was a chatty enthusiast, he also knew how to be serious when the occasion called. And this woman looked as if she was about to break down any second.

[color=57c5db]"I have a month, doctor."[/color]
"A month until...?"
[color=57c5db]"The doctors say I have thirty days until I..."[/color] her voice trailed off, and she bit her lower lip, only to notice its quivering. Nevertheless, what had to be said could not be avoided. It had to be said.
[color=57c5db]"It's getting worse, doctor. My hair is beginning to fall out. I have to visit the hospital again and again now, more frequently than ever. They have to take care of me. One day, I'll...I'll be in a hospital bed, and I'm afraid I won't be able to get up again to see the sunrise. Or the sky. Doctor Templeton, you know how much I love the sky. I'll...miss it, when I leave."[/color]
"Leave, Tsubasa?"
[color=57c5db]"Doctor. They told me that I have about thirty days, give or take, before my life comes to an end."[/color]

"...I see." the psychologist murmured, hardly fazed. After all, it was in his profession to maintain his cool, especially at times like this. Still, it was unnerving, hearing about someone's imminent death, and being powerless to stop it from happening. Something, he wished, something there was to do for her. But in this case, Tsubasa had been sick for a long time, and not many people made it past two months tops if diagnosed in such a direct manner. It could be sheer luck that she made it another six months, but still. Bridge Templeton knew as well as his patient that every single day would have to be lived as if it were the [i]last[/i].

[color=57c5db]"There's no hope, is there, doctor...?"[/color] the woman curled up where she sat, into a smaller ball, kicking off her flats and huddling close on the couch. [color=57c5db]"I'm really going to die, aren't I?"[/color]

"You might be, Tsubasa. But that doesn't change who you are. It won't change who you are until you end up dying, after all. I know you, and I know that this isn't...how you want to spend your life. I could do a lot of psychological readings, and prescribe you medicine, but that wouldn't help either of us in this case. For now, Tsubasa, I want you to enjoy what you can, while you're still here. I want you to make the most of it for me."
He paused.
"Can you do that, for me?"

The woman looked up from behind teary hazel eyes. They had collected in the corners of her eyelids, and when meeting his gaze, spilled like tiny streams down her cheeks. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth open, as if in disbelief, as if she was going to say something. Yet, as it were, nothing came out. One second passed, which became five, which then became ten.
[color=57c5db]"...yes, doctor."[/color] the woman whispered, her lips contorting into a forced, melancholy smile as she reached up a hand to wipe away her tears. 
[color=57c5db]"I promise I'll live out these days like I wanted to live out the rest of my life."[/color]

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