Rainy Night.
A Nara Family Tribute
By: Hissori
"Wow, the storms not letting up…" Suki said, staring out the window. Her twin sister Emiko stood next to her also looking out, and their father Shikamaru sat at the table finishing his dinner.
"Do you think its raining in Suna too?" Emiko asked her sister, only to be elbowed in the side by the lazy Nara daughter.
"Of course not. It's a dessert, it doesn't ever rain there" Suki sighed and walking away form the window, "jeez Em" she yawned, "think before you ask something." She walked toward the hallway.
"Going to bed already Suki?" Shikamaru asked, looking at one of his 6-year-old daughters.
"Yeah. Mom won't be home from visiting uncle Gaara and uncle Kanky until tomorrow. And I'm tired" she yawned again and continued down the hallway.
"Alright, it's getting late anyway. Em you should go to be too" Shikamaru stood, "its Eleven o'clock"
"…alright" Emiko wanted to wait for her mother to get home before going to sleep, but she was tired, and slowly followed the path Suki had taken to bed.
When she entered the room she shared with her sister, Emiko found Suki had already fallen asleep, and the lights turned off. She walks to her bed and lay down to sleep, when the store worsened. Rain loudly pounded on the roof of the Nara home. Lightening flashed brightly illuminating the room for a split second at a time, and not long after each flash, a booming, crashing thunder wave would sound, making Emiko jump and burry deeper into her bed, covered only by her blanket. The room would go pitch black, with only rain and some thunder, when lightening would flash in succession and created terrifying shadows in the room. Emiko hid her head under the blanket and whispered out into the room.
"S-S-Suki?...a-are you awake?" she kept hidden under the blanket so none of the possible monsters in the room could see her. "S-Suki?" There was no answer. Either she was in deep sleep, or those monster shadows had already taken her sister. Emiko shivered in fear under the blanket, and bravely lowered them from her head to look into the room, just as another, strong wave of thunder and lightening came, making her hide again.
'Dad probably went to bed and mom's not even here. What do I do? I'm too scared to stay here' Emiko thought, cringing in fear as the loudest crash of thunder yet came. 'That's it!' she cried slightly as she sat straight up, looking in the dark room, still flashing once and awhile. She quickly stood up and ran out of the room and into the hallway.
Opening to door to her parents' room, Emiko timidly walked in, lightening still flashed and a bout of thunder rolled. She moved faster until she was next to the bed where her father lay asleep.
"d-dad?" she stuttered, shaking Shikamaru slightly form his shoulder. Shikamaru woke up about half way, and looked at the scared Nara girl.
"Em?..." he yawned, "what's the matter?" he sat up slightly.
Emiko whispered, as if she didn't want the monsters to hear her admit this, "I…I'm scared…"
Shikamaru sat fully up as Em sat on the bed, "Scared? Of what, the rain?" Emiko nodded
slightly and hugged him, "there's nothing to be afraid of…its just noise and light."
"But it's too loud…I can't sleep and it's scary" Emiko pouted and clung to her father.
Shikamaru hugged her back and rocked slightly, "Just try not to think about it…"
"Easy for you to say…" Emiko whimpered at another loud crash of thunder.
"Nothing's gonna hurt you Em…"
"But I thought I saw…" Her voice trailed off.
"Monsters?" Shikamaru asked, as his daughter nodded, "They don't exist Em. It's only shadows."
"But they're scary shadows…can yours beat them?" Em looked up at her father hopeful.
Shikamaru laughed slightly, "Em, I don't have to beat them…you can."
"But how?..." Em looked back down, still clinging to him.
"Figure out what the shadows really are…then they wont be as scary." He smiled at her, "Make sure you use a flashlight so you don't wake Suki up okay?"
Emiko nodded and stood up. She went to the hallway to grab a flashlight out of the closet, flinching when the thunder crashed now and then. Once she had found a flashlight, she tip-toed back into the room she share with Suki, aiming the flashlight down so Suki wouldn't see it and wake up.
The lightening flashed again, and Emiko quickly aimed her flash light at one of the monsters.
"I-it's just a chair?" Emiko mumbled to herself, and then she aimed at the rest of the shadows in turn.
Once she had revealed that there were no monsters in her room, she placed the flashlight on her night stand and lay down in her own bed. She no longer flinched at the thunder and the lightening didn't bother her one bit.
The next morning Temari came home. It was early and only Shikamaru had woken up.
"So…how'd it go?" Temari sat across from her husband at the table.
"Fairly well…Emiko was a little scared, and they both missed you." The lazy Ninja replied after a yawn.
Temari smiled slightly, "What'd you do?"
"Logic beats monsters every time" He smiled back at her.
-okay that's it. Its short and took WAAAY to long to write for some reason…well anyway this is a tribute to my good friend Awaii and her Nara family story that just plain rocks -