F A M I L I A R

Reliving the Past

The breeze smelt of clay as it whipped my hair around my cheeks. I could hear birds in the distance and I smiled to myself as I skipped through the Yuna compound. My cousin Chiro and I were going to practice our kunai skills together and I couldn't hold back my smile. Chiro was 8, 2 years older than I was, and we were inseparable. His mother was my mom's sister, so we knew each other for as long as I can remember. 

At the academy, Chiro had a great reputation of being a fast learner. He was always sent home with notes to his parents commending his skills and early development. I, on the other hand, needed more practice and did not receive much recognition at all from any of the teachers. I knew that I just started, and that it would take time, but no one ever went out of their way to help me. In fact, most of the other kids didn't even look at me. It was discouraging sometimes, and made me feel like I would never be as good as he was, but Chiro would always offer to help me practice. He was my best friend.

"Chirooo!" I yelled as my skipping brought his house into view. It was easy for me to find my way around the Yuna compound, especially since most of the houses stood vacant. I wasn't sure why they were empty, but my mom would always tell me not to ask about it.

I saw Chiro push his door open and smile at me as he kicked his shoes on.

"Last one the tree is a rotten egg!" He yelled and sprinted to his right. We always practiced in the same spot be three with the bullseye on it. We had no idea how long it had been there, but we claimed it as our own.

"Hey!" I scrunched my eyebrows together, "that's not fair!"

By the time I reached the tree, Chiro was already there grinning widely.

"I beat you! I beat you!" He said sticking his tongue out.

I just smiled at him, panting heavily, trying to catch my breath. He reached down into the kunai pouch he brought with him and handed me one.

"Let's start!"

After a couple hours of practicing our throws, I was kicking my feet in the dirt. Chiro had made almost every throw, but I had only hit the bullseye once and it wasn't even in the center. Chiro looked over at me and smiled.

"Hey," he said, coming over to me as I plopped down on the ground. "You did great today. All you need is some more practice and you'll be hitting the target like me in no time."

I knew he was just trying to be nice, but it still made me feel better. He sat down across from me and leaned against our tree as I placed my hands down on the dirt behind me so I could lean back slightly. I started to feel vibrations coming off the ground, like a giant was stomping really far away and shaking the ground, but when I looked at the houses around us, nothing was moving.

I brought my hands up to my face and scrunched my eyebrows together in a confused expression.

"What's wrong?" Chiro asked, watching my puzzled face.

"Do you feel like the ground is shaking?" I asked, placing my hands back on the ground. Sure enough, I still felt it.

Chiro raised an eyebrow and put his hands on the ground in front of him. He shook his head.

"No, it just feels like dirt."

"Hmm." I hummed in confusion. With my hands still on the ground, I dug my fingers into the clay and held some in the palms of my hands, bringing them together in front of me.

"Weird," I said.

"What's weird?" Chiro inched closer to me, his curiosity getting the best of him.