In Sickness And Health ~Shikamaru~

Chapter 46

"EEEEeee!!" Reira screamed in joy as Hanzo tossed her into the water. A pool party wasn't a half bad idea. And we are celebrating in a way too. Today marks three months since Reira's operation. Since that time, she has moved out of the hospital and into her parents home. Everyday, I still find time to see her, as long as I don't have any missions and god knows those have been slow. All my team gets is in village D ranks and a handful of C ranks.

Well, no we had a B rank last month that took almost a week to complete.

Reira popped her head out of the water and laughed as she tried to swim away from Atari and Alsono in some strange game. It made me smile just watching her as I sat next to Choji on the side of the pool, my feet in the water.

"It's kind of amazing, isn't it." Choji mused next to me as he watched them play.

"What is?"

He motioned to Reira. I knew what he meant. She's made impressive progress in the past three months. So impressive, she managed to put her doctor in a state of shock when she went in for a check up last week. It was almost funny really.

Reira looked over my way and ducked under the water. I watched her blurry form swim under the surface over my way and finally she came up in front of me and grabbed my leg. "Save me, Shikamaru! They're going to get me!"

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"If you give me your hand... I'm safe!" What a weird game. But I gave her my hand anyway and instantly felt myself being pulled into the water. When I brought my head above the water again, I shot a look at my little girlfriend. She only moved behind me and hugged me. "Shield!"

"Oh is that all I am then." I said with mock hurt.

Alsono was the first to reach us. My eyes wondered over the right half of her body and face. Those scars are never going away, that much is for sure. But she wears them with pride. These two women sure are entertaining. Their scars no longer hinder them, and while one's is external, and one's is internal, they over come some of the same hurdles and help each other everyday.

Al put her hands on her hips and grinned. "Okay, that has to be cheating."

Reira stuck her tongue out at her and hid more behind me. But I grinned and reached back, grabbing her and holding her out in front of me. "All yours."

"Traitooooooorrrr!" She screamed as Alsono and the others began to viciously tickle her stomach and sides. Her screetch of laughter made me want to laugh too. It's been steadily getting to this point everyday. Watching her progress for the second time... it's a blessing. The more I think about it... the more I realize just how lucky we are to still have this great little gift in our world.

As the day wore on, we decided to light a fire in the pit and start some food. Reira's parents were out for the weekend, so we wanted to throw this party to make sure she wouldn't get lonely. Even now... we think she has flash backs of her lonely days in the hospital. So we try to keep those to a minimum.

Her doctor still thinks that without regular conversations, she could have a lapse. While it's still only a theory, we have no intensions of testing it. Sitting around the fire, we put in some light chatter. By the time it got dark, Alsono was nodding in and out of consciousness. So Choji took her home, Atari and Hanzo not far after them.

Finally it was just Reira and myself. She leaned against me and watched the fire in silence. It was nice. I watched her face and the shadows that danced across her features from the moving light. She's beautiful. Not in any normal way. Her face is blocky and her skin is pale, her hair tends become fluffy at the smallest hint of humidity and she's bony. But to me she is the most beautiful woman I know.

Reira looked up at me with a smile. "You're quiet."

"So are you."

She let out a small laugh. But her face dropped a little in the next moment. I'd seen this expression quite a few times in the past few months. She has something on her mind that she hasn't been able to drop. "What is it?"

"Nothing..."

I pinched her arm. "So it's been 'nothing' for three months?" She looked down. "I know when something is on your mind, Rei. And I've been waiting for you to talk about it on your own. But I'm starting to think you plan to keep it to yourself forever. What's wrong."

She seemed reluctant to tell me. In fact, she turned her face into my shoulder and hid herself for a minute. But what came out of her mouth next... I had never anticipated this thought or question in her. "When I was dying in the hospital... why did you stay?"