BLOND HAIR

CHAPTER 25: THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

Aoi stayed at Shinya's house during her recovering period. She soon found out that Shinya live with his mother. His mother was a kind old woman. She wasn't so healthy so Shinya helped with most of the housework. When Aoi was able to walk and some ofher energy had returned, she helped with the household.

That morning, Aoi woke up as usual and she headed to the garden to water the plant. Shinya came out a few minutes after and told her he was going to the forest to gather herbs. " Can I come?," Aoi blurted. She was eager to learn more about medicating herbs. She was hoping she could teach what she learned to the ninja in Konoha so that the knowledge can be used to save people's life. Shinya was skeptic at first. " I don't know about this.. you should be resting…," he protested gently. But after Aoi convinced him, he allowed her to follow him.

They walked in the forest slowly. Aoi was looking around, absorbing what she saw and tried to identify the herbs she saw. At one time, Aoi stopped walking and stood silently for a while. Her face was frowning. She squatted down and observed the herb in front of her. Aoi watched the plant for a very long time. " Argh!! I can't remember your name…," she said to the flower. Aoi pressed her index finger to her lips. She was thinking hard.

Shinya laughed when he saw her face. Aoi looked up to him. " What? What's so funny?." Shinya couldn't stop laughing. He was laughing his head off. When he stopped, Aoi was standing in front of him with an nnoyed face. " Fininshed??," she sounded annoyed. Shinya nodded, still smiling. " So, can you tell me the name of that herb," she pointed to the plant she observed before.

Shinya shrugged. " I don't know..,: he replied and turned around, continue their walk. Aoi stood there in disbelief. Then she dashed into a run and smacked behind Shinya's head as she ran past him. " What was that all about?." Shinya shouted when he recovered from the shock of being smacked behind the head. " You dare to laugh at me while you don't even know the name? That's what you got!!!," Aoi shouted as she ran in front of Shinya. Shinya dashed into a run when he heard her answer. " I'm gonna get you for that!!!," he screamed as he ran after her. Aoi smirked. " Catch me if you can!," she shouted and disappeared from his view.

Shinya stopped into a halt. " Oh, I forgot she's a ninja," he told himself as he looked at the trees in front of him. There was no sign of Aoi. " Aoi! Come out! I give up! How could I possibly beat a ninja?," he shouted. No answer. Shinya turned and looked around. He was walking at looking for her at the same time. " Aoi!!! Come out!!," he shouted in despair.

Aoi was sitting on the tree as she watched Shinya looked around for her. She cupped her mouth with her hand to sniffle her giggle. She was very amused by his reaction. " That served you right for laughing at me before…," she murmured to herself as she was smiling and continue watching Shinya who was looking for her.

Shinya sighed as he sat on a rock. He gave up looking for Aoi. But somehow, he got a feeling that Aoi was watching him. He also had a bad feeling that Aoi was laughing at him. And he was right, Aoi was sitting on a tree nearby and she was giggling as she saw Shinya sat on the rock, clearly tired after looking around.

Aoi stopped giggling when she saw Shinya sudden;y fell to the ground. At first she waited to see if he was just kidding around. But when he didn't get up, she panicked and quickly headed to him. When she reached him, she knelt by his side as she shook his body. " Shinya! Shinya! Wake up! Talk to me!," she called him in panic as she shook his body.

Aoi turned around to run to the village to get help. She had her back towards Shinya when suddenly, Shinya got up and hugged her by the waist. " Got you! Now you can't run away!," he laughed as he was holding her. Aoi was astounded, her eyes were wide. Shinya didn't realized Aoi's reaction since she had her back towards him. Shinya continued laughing as he commented on how brilliant of him to think of the trick. Aoi was stunned. She said nor did anything. " It felt like déjà vu….."

(flashback)

" You can't catch me!!!," Aoi yelled as she was running in front of him. He smirked. " You know I can and I will..," he shouted back as he increased his speed. Aoi decided that she can't won him if it was involving speed. Both of them were fast so she decided to use tricks.

Aoi dashed into a run and within seconds, she was out of the view. He came to a halt.

That was their game. 'Catch Me If You Can' was what they called it. One person run, and the other try to catch the running person. And they took turns of the running and catching person. They always do it in the forest. That day, it was Aoi's turn to run and his turn to catch.

He looked around, straining his ear, paying attention to even the slightest movement. Aoi can saw him from where she was hiding. Now, it had turned into a game of Hide and Seek. Aoi watched him as he turned around to where she was hiding. She knew he had found her so she started to run.

Aoi had lost him for her sight but she knew he won't give up that easily. Neither of them would. She turned to the left and jumped around on the trees. Then, she saw him. He was underneath a tree, looking around for her. Aoi smirked. She just loved it to see him like that.

Out of the sudden, he felt to the ground. Without no sound, he just felt to the ground. Aoi didn't move. She waited to see his reaction. She knew it was his trick to catch her. He did it once. And she lmost fell for it. Aoi started to worry when she saw he wasn't moving. Last time, he got up when she didn't come out from hiding.So, she dashed towards him. She knelt by him and turned him around. She had him facing her when she noticed a trail of blood that was coming from his mouth. Aoi started to panic. She shook his body, calling his name but he didn't answer back.

Aoi stood up and looked around. She was trying to look for something to help him. She turned around and was about to walk to the nearby river when she felt his arms around her wrist. " Got you! I told you I would gotcha!!!," he laughed. Aoi turned around to see him, his hand still around her waist. She was relieved to see him standing in front of her, smiling. Then only she realized she was tricked.

" You tricked me!!," she yelled to his face. He replied it with a wider smile. Aoi put her finger on the blood and brought it in front of her face. " Ketchup..," he blurted and licked it from her finger, his hands never left her waist. Aoi said nothing. " I was worried sick you know," she murmured, her head was down.

He stopped smiling. He pulled her towards him and hugged her. " I'm sorry. That was a stupid way to win…," he confessed. Aoi nodded. " Glad you noticed." He said nothing. Aoi broke the hug and looked him right into the eye. " Don't do that ever again, ok?," she warned him. He nodded with a grin and kissed her cheek. " Let's go home.. I need to cook dinner..," Aoi curled her hand around his waist. He put his hand on her shoulder and they headed home. They had enough game for that day. " I'll cook dinner tonight. To make up for what I did," he offered as they walked out from the forest. " Ok, but make sure you don't the kitchen down…."

(end of flashback)

Shinya stopped laughing when he noticed Aoi said nothing. He let go of her waist. Aoi didn't turned to him. " I better get back.. I forgot I have some things to do..," she murmured to him without turning to him and started to walk away. Shinya said nothing. Aoi walked outside from the forest. " That shouldn't happened…, Stupid Aoi.." she scolded herself. " That was my memory with him. How could I tainted it by doing the same thing with someone else?????."

Shinya watched her from afar. He knew he had reminded her of something sad. Shinya smirked. " Part One completed….," he murmured to himself with pride and walked the opposite way. " She'll soon be mine…."

That evening, Shinya's mother, Natsumi was cooking dinner while Aoi was watering the plant at the backyard. Shinya stii hasn't returned. Aoi had finished watering the plant and she was closing the tap when she heard someone was coughing badly. Aoi quickly headed inside the house and went to the kitchen.

When she entered the kitchen, she saw Natsumi was coughing by the sink. Aoi went to her and holding her shoulder to support he. " Are you ok, Natsumi-basan? Let's go to your bedroom. You need to rest." Aoi helped Natsumi to get on the bed. Aoi then headed to the kitchen and took a glass of water and her medicine. She came back to the bedroom and helped Natsumi to eat her medicine.

" I… have to cook.. dinner. Sinya will be.. back soon. He'll be very hungry when he's back," she said as her eyes very closing. After a while, she felt asleep. Aoi looked at the old woman who was resting in front of her. " Still worried about her son…," she murmured to herself. That was when she realized something. " I haven't meet Naruto in quite some time….. I should be going back as soon as I'm healed…" Her face fell when she remembered what happened in the forest that morning. " I shouldn't be here for too long…"

Aoi entered the kitchen and picked up where Natsumi had left off. She had rough ideas about what Natsumi had planned to cook. She was so caught up into preparing the dinner that she didn't noticed Shinya had came back and he was leaning at the kitchen's door, watching her cook.

" Where's mother?," he asked after watching Aoi for a while. Aoi wasn't surprised by his question. She didn't notice him coming in but she noticed him leaning by the door. " She resting in her room. Oh, you can call her now. Dinner's ready..," she announced as she placed plates on the dining table.

Shinya nodded but he didn't leave immediately. He stared at Aoi who was placing the food on the table. Aoi noticed Shinya was staring at her but she pretended like she was busy with the food. Deciding that Aoi won't look at him, he left to call his mother.

The three of them had seated at the table, preparing to eat. Shinya was the first one to eat. Natsumi chewed slowly. Aoi didn't lift her head, she just kept staring at the plate in front of her as she ate. " Thank for cooking the dinner..," Natsumi thanked Aoi. Aoi looked at her and just shook head with a smile. " It was nothing…" Shinya looked at Aoi. " You're a good cook," he commented as he swallowed his food. Aoi smiled reluctantly, without no reply.

They ate in silence when suddenly Aoi blurted, " I plan to go back to my village tomorrow." Natsumi put down her chopstick slowly. Shinya stopped eating, clearly surprised by Aoi's decision. "Tomorrow? So fast? When did you decided?," he asked in concern, soft of panicking.

" I though about it when I was preparing dinner." Shinya stared at Aoi but replied nothing. He was worried. " You can go back! You haven't healed completely.." he objected impatiently. " I know. But I'm strong enough to go back on my own..," Aoi explained. Natsumi nodded, agreeing with Aoi. " You can go back now!!," Shinya half-shouted.

Aoi and Natsumi both looked at Shinya, puzzled by his tone. " And why is that?," Aoi asked patiently as she looked at Shinya who was squirming with worry. " Because.. because…," Shinya wasn't able to give an explanation. Suddenly he remembered." Ah! Because we have our moon festival tomorrow!!! You must stay for the festival?? It's very rare!!!," he explained excitedly, as if finding a solution to his problem. " You can go back the day after tomorrow..," Natsumi suggested to Aoi.

Aoi was about to turn down the offer but Natsumi and Shinya's face was filled with such high hope, she didn't have the heart to reject. Aoi let out a sigh and smile. " Why not? I'll stay for the festival. I'll go back the day after tomorrow." Her decision was accepted by Natsumi with a wide smile and by Shinya with an even wider smile.

Aoi was wahing the dishes and Shinya helped her dried the dishes. Natsumi was in her room, resting. Shinya had ordered her to go to rest after dinner. There was an awkward silence as they do the dishes. "You're awfully quiet today..," Aoi tried to start a conversation. " Yeah.. Quite tired about the preparation for the festival," he replied with lack of interest. Aoi just nodded. "Why were you panicked when I said I wanted to back tomorrow?," Aoi asked boldly.

Shinya stared down at the dishes. " I.. Well… I want you to go to the moon festival… Like I said before." Aoi looked at Shinya, as if waiting for him to tell the truth. But since Shinya said nothing, Aoi continued her work. Aoi quickly went into her room after they finished washing the dishes.

Shinya let out a sigh of relief when he saw Aoi went to her room. "Change of plan. Can't wait anymore…Part 2 had to be done tomorrow…."