Ch. 10: Memories

I gasped as I jerked my eyes open. Wait, open? They already were! I realized with a feeling of stupidity that I had been dreaming. But even though it was only a dream, I couldn't shake off the feeling of a foreboding life-death urgency. And who was that boy? I had never met him before! But somehow, I knew I'd be seeing him again sometime soon.

"Tomoko, you okay?" A voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Tsubasa?" The name suddenly slipped off my tongue. What the heck? Where did that come from? "I mean, Kazu?" I corrected myself after seeing who it really was. "What are you doing out here?"

"Well, you were gone for a while," he explained while chewing on a straw. "Yumi wanted someone to check on you to see if you were alright, but she was trying to lose Washi, who downed one too many sodas and was attempting to flirt with her and she was sure he'd follow her and bother you if she came, and Deki was having a debate with that one lazy kid with the weird hair. Kaida was comparing weaponry with one of Iruka's teacher aides, she was ten or eleven, I think her name was Eleven (1) or something, and with all the sharp and explosive objects around them, I don't think it would have been safe to disturb Kaida. So she, Yumi, sent me out here."

"Oh."

We stayed there for a while, me sitting with my back against the wall, and him standing in front of me, but a little off to the side a few feet away. I barely noticed when he slid down to sit next to me.

"Hey, you remember that one day when we were five? The day that—"

"The day that I met you," I finished for him. "How could I forget?"

A small girl of five stood, wiping her eyes in a corner. She had no friends; no one liked her. They called her a nerd, but said she was stupid at the same time. She was an outcast. Her mother said she was a clever mastermind, but no one else even knew her, other than as the 'freaky Asian girl'. At times she wanted to curl up and go away, it was these times that she would run. Just run, and she usually ended up in the one place that mattered to her. The girl was there then.

She sat in a little room she had slowly grown together herself, using her own unnamed jutsu. Flowers, plants in general, made her happy. They made her feel hopeful, pretty, useful. On that particular day, she had run to her secret refuge a little away from one of the surrounding towns by the Mist Village after the popular girls had made fun of her. She had finally discovered one of the rare flowers that was her favorite, but they started insulting her, calling her an 'ugly flower lover.' Then, right before her eyes, they stomped on the flower, crushing it, snuffing out its life. There she sat, still sniffling.

A boy who seemed the same age as she was suddenly stumbled into the room. "I'm lost," he sniffed. She nodded, then took his hand to lead him back to town. She showed him her favorite flower from another secret spot where she had replanted all the flowers she had found, then had even picked a blossom to show him. They continued on their way, but right as they were about to enter, the same girls and their male counterparts had popped out and were about to beat up the boy next to the small girl. They called him names, worse than what they called her. She got angry.

Her eyes narrowed into dark slits, and the flower in her hand shriveled and turned to ashes. She reached out a hand to a large, sturdy, ancient tree, moving it to her will. The branches grabbed at the offenders, snatching for them. The bullies took one more look, then ran. The two left reached town without any more trouble, and the boy ran off.

A few days later, she was back, crying again. Her eyes were closed, tears coming out, and her body shook with silent sobs. An arm found its way around her, hugging her. It stayed there, its owner waiting patiently for the girl to stop crying. She did stop, and looked up out of red, puffy eyes to see who her visitor was. It was him again. Except this time, he was holding a flower, exactly like her favorite one, with five teardrop-shaped petals, except it wasn't snowy white, like her favorite usually was. It was a deep, blood red. Her favorite color.

She sat with an open mouth as he put it in her hand and closed her fingers around it. But right before he ran off again, she absorbed some of his chakra. As she watched him sprinting back in the direction of the village, she pushed his chakra into the flower to keep it alive.

The boy in the girl became best friends after that. The boy was named Kazu. And the girl's name—Tomoko.

I opened my eyes after the few seconds-in-reality memory, then smiled at the boy sitting next to me.

"Hey, Kazu, from that day, there's something I've been meaning to give you. Close your eyes."

I took out the small, miniature scroll, opened it, then sent out a tiny tendril of chakra to release the item stored inside. After a small cloud of fog, two identical deep red flowers lay on the inked paper of the scroll. I gingerly picked up the two flowers and rolled up the scroll, putting it away, then I whispered 'thank you' before turning and running swiftly, leaving one of the crimson blossoms in my place.

A flower for my first friend.

(1) Yep, it's Ten-ten!