Thoughts Are Awoken
Remembrance
Chapter 2
"Um, Lee,"
Lee looked up from the poor log he was training on. "Yes?"
"…Could….we go back to that place…."
"And what place do you mean, Neji-san?"
Neji looked to the ground in frustration. "The…one place we visited the other day. The place where you delivered the glasses,"
Lee looked at Neji quizzically. "You want to go there? Why, is there someone dead that you would like to talk to?"
Neji looked at Lee again. He opened his mouth to say something, but decided not to and shut his mouth again. He shook his head.
Rina… She was two years younger than me; I met her when I was 7. She was only 5. I had to watch her 5 days a week, after lessons from the academy that is. At first, I was very reluctant to even meet her. On the first days I thought of her of only a burden. I could've done better things than watch her. She probably thought that I was cruel and boring. I just sat on the couch with my hands crossed, looking at her angrily. Not exactly as a glare, much softer than that, but still angry. After all, she was only 5 right?
Apparently, one day she got sick of me looking at her like that, so she walked out the doors, just simply walked out, not mad, not anything, uncaring of what I had to say. I kept yelling at her to stop, not getting any reaction back. I glanced around uneasily. Maybe Hinata was around? Even though she was only 6 she was way better than me at taking care of little kids. She found enjoyment in that, and I will never understand why.
So I chased her outside. When I caught (and picked up) her, she wiggled like crazy trying to break out of my grasp, crying later. And when she saw that I wouldn't let go, she turned around to look me in the face, and just bit my hand. I dropped her on the ground, but she didn't care. She was content with the fact that she was free of my grasp. She stood up and started running again. At that moment I realized I forgot that she wasn't just some little kid. She was actually more mature, quiet, nice, kind, giving, logical, and skillful. My hand may have been bleeding, but I shook it off. I chased after her some more. She probably figured that I was faster than she thought, so she took off running even faster. All I could think to myself was 'What a brat.' She led me to a flower field, filled with everything. I looked around. She could be hiding anywhere. I walked around a while, desperate to find her.
Later though, she popped up from behind me and ran toward me. I whirled around quickly, angry. So angry there might have even been steam coming out of my ears. But she simply took my hand, opened it, and put a blue flower that was the style of a lavender like flower. It was a light pale blue. The calming kind. She just smiled at me.
After that time, we got along just fine. I never felt annoyed around her, and in fact, as time passed, I started liking her. Then…two years later…when she was 7 and I was 9…there was a day when she had to stay the night. Staying the night was normal for her now, so we never really thought that much of it. But on that night…someone snuck into the house. It wasn't a robber, more of a murder. I happened to wake up from the ground, hearing the sound of him walking. I sat up staring at him, him staring at me. I opened my mouth wide to scream. No sound uttered out. It was not like that scream would've gotten me anywhere anyways. Hinata was with the group of people that were going on an exploration. I instantly picked Rina up off the couch and ran upstairs. Rina slowly woke up on my back. 'What's going on?' she murmured sleepily.
'Just stay calm,' I'd reply to her. I looked back down the stairs and saw that he was following us. I swallowed hard and bolted to my room. I closed the door and locked it. I quickly took the phone with one hand because I never wanted to let Rina down. Obviously she saw who was following us because she started to cry. 'Just stay calm,' I kept telling her as I quickly dialed the cell phone that was my uncle's. To my despair, he never answered. I tried calling other people but it never worked. And I tried to call the police. The line on my phone was cut. I started to breathe hard. I was starting to lose my cool, and hearing the murderer opening each door one by one, I started to freak out more. I heard the door of the room next to me open. My room may have been the last one in the hall, but that didn't give me enough time to think critically on what to do.
I set her on the ground and asked her if she could walk across the branch on the tree outside of my window. She said she could so I opened the window for her. She crossed it well, and started to climb down. The murderer opened my door. I was still standing next to the window when he was there. Rina had made it down to the bottom. I was grateful of that. I climbed out of my window and shut it. The murder took out a rifle and shot the window. Glass shattered and a couple shards hit me. I winced at the pain. 'NEJI-NIISAN!' I could hear Rina calling out worriedly. The murderer grabbed my shirt and pulled me in my room.
'RUN!' I screamed down to her. I saw her start running as fast as she could. She was running toward the police station. (ANBU) I broke free of the man and started running toward the window. As I jumped onto the windowsill the man shot my leg causing me to fall from the window. I maneuvered myself so that I landed on my back. I cried out in pain and stood up. I then started running. The murderer jumped from the window and chased me. I thought that I was going a different route than Rina because I took the opposite route. But our paths met. She stood staring at me. When she saw my condition in full view, she started crying. I probably would've taken a different route if I were thinking straight. The murderer caught up and tried to shoot Rina. I pushed her onto the grass and took the shot, and 2 more after that. My view was getting blurry; I was dizzy and couldn't think straight. I kept on coughing up blood.
Then my adrenaline kicked in and everything slowed down. Then they sped up. Before I knew what I was doing, I started to hit the guy with every kunai I had. He only staggered back, still breathing. He tried to shoot me after that, his life withering away. The next thing I knew, I saw Rina start to fall, screaming. He shot Rina! I ran toward Rina and caught her. 'Rina, Rina!' I screamed. I even started to cry. Rina smiled a tiny smile. Her eyes were getting duller and duller by the second. They were shutting as well. But even that little bit of her bright little eyes that were there showed kindness and sympathy. And all she said was:
Thank you.