Finding Myself [Rewrite]

ch. 15: The Best Smile

"That's what happened, and I'm perfectly okay, Mina!"

"....huh..."

"I'm sorry! Don't be mad!"

Mina tended to her friend's wounds with eye a deep shade of blue. Naruto knew exactly what those eyes meant, and while he didn't intend to upset her, he was glad she cared so much.

He figured telling her immediately would be much safer than letting her find out in class, which was one of his smarter thoughts in the string of ridiculousness that usually went on inside his head.

"Never....again."

Naruto listened closely to her words, flinching when some of the medicine fell into an open wound. "Yeah, yeah, I won't steal from the old man ever again. You have my word. I just... I wanted to pass."

She wanted to say something, anything, but she really couldn't without contradicting herself. Every time she'd look in the mirror, sinister eyes would look back on her as if they'd kill her someday, and yet she turned to that cruel gaze and asked it for help all because she wanted to pass.

They both did dangerous things just for a head protector.

Naruto sighed, lowing his head. "Never again." He repeated and Mina simply nodded.

After taking care of him, Mina shooed him away so she could have the room to herself.

"Silver... Did you know." She muttered, glancing at her reflection in the glass of a window.

"Why, whatever could you be referring to, young miss."

Silver's voice echoed in her head and she almost fell trying to hold her head to quell the splitting headache he caused.

"You knew... Mizuki was after Naruto and not me. Why did you lie." She asked.

Silver was silent for a while, then he just laughed. A spine chilling snickering that the girl could feel physically vibrating her body.

"I never lied, little princess. Now, go on, your classmates are waiting. You don't want to disappoint them, do you?"

Mina's body finally settled when she just couldn't feel their presence anymore. She started into the window for a futile few moments, trying to sort her thoughts, but inevitably just leaving it.

Silver was not a being she could apply any kind of logic to. She didn't even know what he was other than being a scary creature locked in a cage within her body... And that the seal on the cage was loosening little by little as the days rolled by.

Honestly, it made her anxious, but she couldn't tell anyone about it out of fear that those people who looked at her with eyes full of sincerity and kindness would turn on her.

Not a single person likes someone who is an issue.

"Naruto."

She went to her friend, whom she'd began to care for as if he were her own family, taking comfort in his presence, despite feeling guilty over his ordeal that she may have very well been able to prevent.

"Hey, are you ready, Mina? I got the chair! And Ren seems like he wants to come too." Naruto had already set up the wheelchair Mina had grown used to.

"I can walk..." She muttered under her breath.

In response, Naruto shook his head and guided her to the seat. "Maybe you can, but right now, you're going in your wheelchair."

Mina sighed inwardly, sitting down and strapping herself into the seat. "Okay... Just be careful. Your wounds are numb right now, but they could flare up."

Naruto grinned, "Okay!"

Mina's eyes shinned when her friend smiled, she thought it was the prettiest thing. It made her heart swell in a way she couldn't understand. She couldn't tell if it was good or bad, it just made her feel warm.

"I...." She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't find the words.

Naruto looked at her with his goofy grin plastered on his face, laughing happily, and so genuinely like he always had.

Over the years it became one of her favorite things, and the thought of someone, especially a person she could have stopped, hurting him and taking away that amazing smile...

That thought gave her a dreadful feeling. It wasn't something like fear, it would be very difficult for her to describe, but flashes of the messes Silver tended to make blinked through her mind and for once, she didn't shudder at them.

"Ah..." Mina let out a quiet gasp, fearful of her own unpleasant thoughts. She couldn't tell if her body was trembling from her own fear, or from the motion of the chair.

Naruto peeked over the chair. "Hey, you're back. You were like, dazed for a second, I dunno. Oh, are you okay? Your eyes are-"

"I'm fine." She cut him off, but not intentionally.

Mina hadn't felt like that in a long time, she nearly forgot. She nearly forgot a lot of her past, but some things were so impactful they might as well have been drilled into her bones... But that... She wasn't sure she could even remotely consider doing what that devil had done.

It made her stomach churn to even consider so she pushed those thoughts deep within her mind, further feeding the devil which enjoyed watching her squirm.

"I was lost for a second... Uh.. what's happening today." She looked back at her friend, sighing her nails into her arm to keep herself focused on the presant.

Naruto shrugged. "Being assigned teams I guess! We've both already registered and everything!"

Mina nodded, and Naruto went on to explain what he thought the day would be like. Even though she couldn't understand half of what he was saying; he tended to ramble a lot; she'd listen to him talk all day if he'd let her.