Heaven's Regulations {Rewrite}

Chapter 1 ~ Deal

To my readers: Hello! It's NarutoKura, back with another book... or a rewrite of my first book, The Healing Angel. Thank you all so, so much for giving this book a chance! I'm still working on my writing, and this is what I need! Thank you all. You guys are amazing, every one of you. You're making my day! :)

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"Oh, Rin! Do you want to play with us?" A voice rang throughout the large, traditional-style Japanese room. Nohara Rin turned towards the voice and smiled, ridding herself of troubling thoughts.

"Hashirama-san! Hello!" She grinned.

"Oh, for the millionth time, drop the 'san' already! We don't need formalities here! It's the afterlife, not Konoha! Hashirama will do fine," the Shodai Hokage smiled at the young girl. "Join us!"

"Are you sure it's okay?" Rin asked, glancing around the table. The teen noticed that Senju Tobirama was there, as well as Hyuga Hizashi. With them were many other shinobi, all wearing different headbands. She reddened to be in the presence of such respected figures. This time, it was the Nidaime Hokage who replied.

"Of course. Come sit with us. We were just about to start a round of Secret Angel."

Rin hesitantly padded over to their table of shinobi. She was cautious - until Hashirama grabbed her arm and tugged on it really hard - and she fell over and did some horrible acrobatic moves, complete with a crash, a fallen-over table, and a yelp. Rin scrambled to a kneeling position, her cheeks flushing and hot. Everyone was laughing. Rin cast her eyes down to her lap and shot an annoyed glance at Hashirama.

Unfortunately, he saw it.

"Hey, what with that look? It's fine, honestly. Hey! Okay, fine. I'm sorry, okay?" he puffed his cheeks out and pouted in her direction. Rin turned red and tried to hide a smile.

"Fine." Hashirama grinned again.

"Yay!! Let's play, then!"

The group watched as the table righted itself on its own. It wasn't abnormal; things in the afterlife tended to be rather... independent. Rin snuck a glance around the table and saw a man at the head of the table with navy-blue hair that went down to the middle of his back and striking purple eyes. They locked eyes for a moment. She turned away, embarrassed. Then, she was slapped on the back really hard. She swung her head to frown at Hashirama.

"Hashirama!" Rin grumbled. He grinned.

"Listen to Ryunosuke-sama. He's explaining the game," he said, looking down at the girl fondly. She turned to look right, but Hashirama took her head and directed it left. To the man whom she was just looking at. Who is he, anyways...? Rin wondered. She only caught the last sentence.

"-Secret Angel. Just grab a card and write your name on it."

A velvet bag with gold-lined paper in it was passed around. A feather pen appeared on the table beside each person. Rin loved the little miracles that happened in the afterlife. However, she did miss Kakashi, Obito and Minato. Rin frowned, just thinking about her old teammates. Minato-sensei seems to be doing okay, but I need to do something about those two boys down there... she thought, troubled. She was snapped out of her thoughts when a hand landed on her shoulder gently. Rin turned to find the concerned face of Hashirama.

"Rin, are you okay? You seem out of it lately..." he said. He blinked. "Don't tell me you're worrying about Kakashi and Obiko again..."

"Obito," Rin corrected glumly. "And bingo," she added.

"Darn it, child! Leave your burdens behind! You're in the afterlife! Afterlife, you hear me?" he asked, frowning at her. She sighed.

"Don't you worry about Madara-san?" Rin asked. Hashirama froze. Pain filled his black orbs and she instantly regretted saying what she had previously stated.