As she took in the appearance of her friend, Shiori couldn't help but wonder, maybe she was truly dead. If she was, a hospital bed wasn't what she envisioned the afterlife would be, she expected more stakes burning and torture rather than a hospital stay. Of course, she knew it was more than likely she probably cracked and all this was her delusions and Nanashi wasn't actually there. However, it felt all so real.
"Shiori-chan! You finally woke up, I'm so happy," Apparently, the afterlife got his personality wrong. Her Nanashi hadn't been as gloomy, much more psychotic and cheerful, only depressing and pessimistic when he was in the zone or talking about his dreams of becoming a Mizukage. Shiori huffed, "So I'm dead now?"
"Dead?" Nanashi echoed, "What?! No! Of course, not!"
"The how are you here," Shiori commented dryly, pointing at his appearance, "Last I know of was that you killed yourself. So you can't be real."
Nanashi rubbed his head before leaning closer to the target of his obsession, his calloused hands reached out to cup Shiori's face and pressed his forehead against hers, "I'm very much real, Shiori-chan, I didn't die back then because Kiri sold me to someone who wanted to experiment on me. Then I saw you, so, well, I escaped."
Shiori narrowed her eyes, "...What was the last thing you said to be that day."
No one heard it, no one except for the both of them. Nanashi grinned and pressed his lips to hers firmly, when he pulled away, a familiar smile was plastered on his face, "See you again, Shiori-chan."
Shiori choked a sob and pressed her face into his chest, "But you're dead, how can you be here..."
Her mind wasn't even on the kiss he had given her. It seemed more like a token of friendship now rather than a kiss exchanged between lovers. He had always showered her with kisses and hugs when they were younger, and that had been exactly what he said to her that fateful day when she saw his tanto piercing through his chest. Nanashi enveloped her in a hug, "...I really hurt you, didn't I, Shiori-chan?"
"Of course, you were my first friend, Nanashi," Shiori sniffled. Nanashi patted her back soothingly, "I'm sorry..."
"You were the one who brought me back here, right?" Shiori asked. Nanashi nodded stiffly, "...Sort of."
"Oh."
"So... Who's Shikamaru? He visited you today," Nanashi asked seemingly nonchalant, but his hands were sweaty and eyes kept flickering over to Shiori's face. Shiori huffed, "Shikamaru is my good friend, he plays Shogi with me a lot and I like being around him, he's very calm."
"Oh is it? Do you like him?" Nanashi had a dark look flashing pass his face. Shiori blinked, "Of course I do, Shikamaru is a likeable person."
Nanashi seemed even moodier than before.
(_̅_̅_̅(̅_̅_̅_̅_̅_̅_̅_̅_̅_̅()ڪے
"Nee-san!" Sakura grinned at the sight of her awoken sister before she froze. Sakura stared at the boy who was seated beside her sister, crimson eyes that looked like blood, "H-hello, Nanashi-san."
"Oh! So you're Shiori-chan's sister! The one who made Shiori sad before she left for the trip. The one Shiori wanted to protect even she was hurt by them?" Nanashi commented, each word stabbing Sakura in her heart. Shiori widened her eyes and hissed at Nanashi to be quiet, "Don't be mean to my Imouto, Nanashi."
"But... Shiori-chan!! She was mean to you!" Nanashi whined. Just then, the door slid opened and Shikamaru walked in. His eyes zeroed on the hand that rested on Shiori's waist and glared at the smug smile plastered on the face of the blood-eyed bastard. He clicked his tongue before walking over, "Shiori."
