I'll rebirth for you
WMatsui version
Little Rena was as happy as her parents. Though she didn't understand why. Her parents told her they would move into a new house. A house they bought with their sweat money. That was a great house with low price. But they didn't tell little Rena why such a great, beautiful house was sold. They didn't want to scare their cute daughter.
The house was western styled with two floors. It had a spacious living room, a nice kitchen. And what little Rena liked most: a room just for her. On their old house, they slept on the same room. So the idea of having a single room for her was fascinating. And also left her a bit scared. For the first time on her short life she would spend a whole night alone.
Little Rena walked in the room it meant to be hers. It was already with the few furniture she had. Her bed was leaned on the wall on her right side. On the other side of the room was her study desk. She ran and jumped into the bed. Her mother, who was watching her fascinated daughter from the start, warned the little girl it was dangerous. Little Rena sat and apologized. Feeling her daughter would be fine on her own, the woman left the room.
The little girl stayed on the bed giving small jumps and wondering where her mother put her favorite doll. That was when she heard someone crying. Little Rena stopped what she was doing. She looked around and saw nothing. Then, she get off the bed and tried to find where the cry was coming. She thought that it might be coming from the closet. Rena approached the door and slowly opened it. For her surprise, there was a girl shrunken inside. The girl seemed to be a high schooler. She had short black hair, extremely pale skin and her dark brown eyes were red and wet from crying. She looked at little Rena quite confused.
"Hi." Little Rena started. The girl dried her tears with her hands and kept looking at Rena.
"Can you see me, kid?" The girl asked Rena pointing a finger to her own face.
"Un!" Rena answered shaking her head. The girl smiled. Her lips curved in a funny way that little Rena thought it was cute. A cute cat like smile. "Why were you crying?"
"Something really bad happened to me and I was sad." The girl answered.
"And you are fine now?" The girl limited her answer to a nod. "What's your name?"
"I think it's Jurina..." The girl looked up vaguely. "Yeah. My name is Jurina!" She looked back at Rena smiling.
"Nice to meet you, Jurina-onee-chan. I'm Matsui Rena." Little Rena introduced herself and offered a hand.
"Nice to meet you, Rena-chan! Call me just onee-chan." Jurina said. Little cute Rena-chan might get in trouble if someone caught her saying Jurina on that house. Jurina raised a hand and reached Rena's, but it passed through. Little Rena's eyes widened and Jurina gave her a sad smile.
"Onee-chan... Are you a ghost?" Rena asked cautiously. Jurina nodded again and waited Rena start cry. But the kid just kept staring her. "How old are you?"
"I had fifteen when I died." Jurina said with a dry voice. "And how old are you, Rena-chan?" Jurina asked smiling. Rena liked that smile.
"I'm four, but I'll be turning five soon." Little Rena answered showing her fingers. Jurina thought it was just too cute. "Onee-chan, will you be my friend?"
"Sure! Just don't tell anyone about me, ok?" Jurina asked.
"Un! Let's play then!" Jurina laughed and floated out the closet.
The little girl and the ghost played a lot, even though they couldn't really touch each other. They chatted and Jurina found so funny how much a four-year-old girl had to talk about. Rena's parents liked to see their daughter so happy and talkative.
The days were passing. Rena couldn't wait to arrive home to play with Jurina. She learned to play silently with Jurina when elders were around, because she knew they couldn't see the dead girl. Every day, Jurina helped Rena with homework; played with the little girl on the bathtub; talked about what Rena did at school. At night, on sleep time, Jurina watched over that little girl that was so gentle with her.
Eventually, Rena's parents started to get worried. They notice that their beloved daughter acted weirdly sometimes. Like when she was at home, her plays seemed to be for more than one person and she always acted like there was someone with her. Rena often talked to herself and laughed about something they didn't heard. So they consulted a psychologist. Was their daughter with some kind of problem? The professional said it was normal for child of her age get an imaginary friend. And it was probably due to the stress of all the changes on her life, like exchange house and school.
One day, Rena's parents sat her on the couch and sat down one on each side of the girl. They asked her if she had an imaginary friend. Rena looked at Jurina, who was floating in front of her. The ghost girl told the little to confirm. When they asked what its name was, Jurina placed her index finger on her lips. "It's onee-chan." Rena said. Jurina smiled Rena's favorite smile and showed up her thumb. Rena's parents smiled and said it was okay.
So, the two friends started to play openly. It was fine as long as they thought Jurina was Rena's imaginary friend. And Jurina grew attached to the little girl. Every moment with Rena was a happy one. She waited patiently that kid arrive from school, but it wasn't a lonely wait anymore. Jurina felt that all the hate and anger imprisoned inside her was slowly going away and that a peace and warm feeling was filling her emptiness. Unconsciously, she knew what that meant.
It was Rena's fifth birthday. Their parents held a small party just to their daughter little friends from school and the neighbors who often came to play. Jurina watched from afar Rena happily plays with other kids. Rena often looked at the ghost girl, who kept saying that Rena should enjoy the day and not worry about her. Jurina was happy just to see Rena happy. It fulfilled her. She knew something was going to happen.
At night, after Rena's mother put her on bed and gave her a good night kiss, Rena was tired and almost sleeping. Jurina was floating above the bed, looking fiercely at the girl behind her with the cat like smile on her face. Suddenly, the darkened room shone up.
"Onee-chan, why are you shining?" Rena said with a sleepy voice.
"Rena-chan, listen carefully." Jurina started. "I think I'm free from the feelings that held me here." Rena's eyes grew wide. Despite the young age, she knew what that statement meant.
"So, onee-chan is going to leave me?" Rena asked tearing up.
"My soul has to go to the other side. But I'll never leave you. If you ever miss me, think about me with your heart," Jurina touched her own chest. "I'll be there. My feelings for you will never fade. I love you, Rena-chan. You are the greatest friend I've ever had." Then, Jurina leaned down and mimicked a kiss on Rena's forehead.
"I love you too, Jurina-onee-chan." Rena said sobbing. Jurina gave her best cat like smile and her lighting specter slowly fade away; and the room turned dark again. Rena cried silently. She gently touched her forehead where she felt a slightly pressure. The sleep came without she noticing it.
On the next day, a sad little Rena said to her parents she no longer had an imaginary friend. At first they didn't believe. But then they noticed that their daughter didn't talk to herself anymore, she didn't acted like she was with someone else, she didn't laughed alone anymore. Slowly, she recovered and backed to her lively behavior.
A month or so passed and every night Rena thought about Jurina. On her mind, she told Jurina about her day, school and what she played with her friends before sleep. One day, her mother said she had a surprise for her. Her parents took her to eat in a nice place. And when she was distracted with the food she didn't eat every day, her mother said she was going to be a big sister. Little Rena smiled larger than ever. She was so happy with the idea of being a big sister.
Little Rena was fascinated by how her mother's belly grew through the months. They said that Rena could choose her younger brother's or sister's name. Rena said if it was a boy, the name would be Jun; if it was a girl, the name would be Jurina. She waited patiently to see if she would have a little brother or sister. After eight months, the baby decided to birth.
A beautiful girl was born. Rena was so happy and excited that she almost couldn't sleep at night. She asked her parents if, after the first's months, she could share the room with her little sister named after Jurina. Despite the fact the house had left rooms, Rena's parents conceded her daughter's request.
As time passed by, Rena took good care of Jurina. She gave her little sister the love she always had from her parents. The first word Jurina spoke was "Rena-chan", for the joy of the girl. They grew attached to each other. There would have only few moments when you find one of them without each other. They shared almost everything.
But the teenage came first for Rena. Of course she loved her sister and was always thinking about her, but now others thoughts occupied her mind as well. She started to worry about vanity and boys. She turned into a beautiful teenager and attracted the attention of all the boys. When Jurina was near, she would scare away them; Rena was her untouchable big sister for Christ's sake! She wouldn't allow any bastard get closer to her sister. Then, Rena lectured Jurina, saying she WANTED to have a boyfriend and that the girl should stop to drive off the boys. Against her will, Jurina stopped.
Few years passed and Rena's love life was like a rollercoaster. Every boyfriend she got left her for no reason, they cheated on her or they assumed they fell for her little sister. Of course she disliked that, but for the last option, she couldn't get mad at Jurina. Her little sister turned into a pretty mature-looked girl. If Rena was a boy, she would surely fall for her.
Jurina's possessiveness didn't decrease. She just learned to look like cooled down. But at night, when they were on their bunk, she leaned off her head and looked down at Jurina's sleeping face. She always felt happy doing this. Jurina turned to be a popular girl with both boys and girls, but it didn't matter to her. None of them were able to drive her attention towards them.
It was Jurina's fifteenth birthday. As it was a week day, she and her parents decided to hold a party on the weekend after. Jurina arrived from school, ate something light and went to her room wait for Rena come back from her part time job so they can do something together to celebrate. She ended up sleeping on her bed, the upper part of the bunk. She woke up with the sound of someone sobs. As she was at her room, the sobs could only be Rena's. Jurina opened her eyes and noticed it was already dark outside. She wondered what had happened to her sister and climbed down to the underneath bed.
"Nee, Rena-chan, what happened?" Jurina asked with a gentle voice lying beside Rena. When Rena was like that, she refused to call her one-chan.
"Yun-kun…" Rena started, but wasn't able to finish. Jurina knew what had happened just by hearing Rena-chan's boyfriend name. Or should she say ex?
"He broke up with you?" Jurina asked. Rena nodded embracing Jurina. "That bastard! I don't want to hear the reasons. He didn't deserve you. None of your boyfriends did." Jurina said rashly. Then, she softened her tone. "Rena-chan you shouldn't let that bother you. Okay? I'm here for you. So don't be sad."
"Un!" Rena tightened her hug. They stayed in this position for a long time. When Rena seemed to have relaxed, Jurina leaned over Rena and looked at her straight into her eyes. That sudden movement startled the older girl.
"Rena-chan," Jurina said and Rena had a nostalgic feeling. "I think it's about time to show you why I'm so overprotective with you." Rena got really confused by that statement.
Jurina leaned down on Rena and kisses her forehead. Suddenly, a flow of sad memories invaded her head. She recognized Jurina, but it was another one. She saw tons of the moments of the girl. The happy ones; the sad ones; and the tragic one that led her spirit to be locked into the house everything happened, her own house. Until the moment the ghost girl met a cute little girl. Rena cried hard, harder than ever. Even with all the pain Jurina passed through, she was still able to smile her beloved cat-like smile to her, to only her.
"Jurina…onee… chan…" Rena said between sobs. Jurina leaned down her body over to Rena's and hugged her. Rena embraced her tightly. "Why haven't you told earlier?"
"I just couldn't. I had to wait until my previous life death age." Jurina explained.
"I prayed for you every night. I kept praying even after you were born…" Rena started. Jurina caressed Rena's head.
"Yes, I know. They reached me every night, without fail. It is a warm feeling that I know it could only be from you." Jurina said gently smiling, backing to her initial position beside Rena. Rena smiled looking into Jurina's eyes. They drowned into each other gazes.
"I love you, Jurina." Said Rena breaking the silence. Jurina was with that cat-like smile she loved so much.
"I love you too. Rena." Jurina said holding Rena's hands and touching their foreheads. They felt so comfortable and save into each other that the two ended up sleeping.
After that Rena stopped to worry about boyfriends and started to worry about her own life. She finally realized how happy she was just having Jurina at her side. She finally understood the feeling Jurina held from the beginning.
End