In Sickness And Health ~Shikamaru~

Chapter 23

The air seemed thick. Like every molacule now weighed heavy with the tension and the extream disbelief of what the two boys had said. Reira sat stalk still and her eyes were wide and unblinking. It was almost as if the statement had frozen her in her spot. Hanzo and Atari grew worried. "Rei? Rei, hellooo?" Atari said as he waved a hand in front of her face. She didn't react.

I put a hand on her shoulder and it took her a second to register what had happened. "Uh... Come again?"

Hanzo looked at her with eyes that spoke of his concern and disdain. "Your Father is the one who told us you were dead."

"We came running to the hospital to see you after the fights and just as we got there, he was leaving." I could see Atari's hands clentch tightly, so tightly they began to turn white. "And when we asked how you were doing..."

"He simply said that you had died... and kept walking."

Neither of us knew what to do and I worried about what could possibly be running through her head right now. For years she thought that her Father had simply abandond her. But to go as far as telling her friends that she was dead... Reira got to her feet, her head down, and simply started to walk away.

"Hey, Rei!" Atari called after her.

She stopped and kept her head down as she spoke. "Go... get... your... foot... checked..." It had been a long time since I heard her speak with that many pauses of process. And it made my worry grow. I followed after her several steps behind but she didn't seem to have a destination in mind. It was more like she was wondering around in a daze. I didn't call out to her, or try to stop her. I only watched her as she seemed to process everything.

Something inside me really hurt for Reira. It was painful. I thought that asking her to be my girlfriend would lessen the pain in her heart after what happened to Alsono. But this on top of that... nothing can even begin to explain what she could possibly be feeling. Reira stopped walking and stood still for a moment. We had stopped in a small area behind the hospital that was cast in shadow from the tree tops.

"Reira?" I watched as her body began to quiver and her arms slowly and shakily lifted to hug herself. Then she fell to her knees. I rushed forward and gathered her broken and limp form in my arms. She was cold and shaking. A miserable expression marred her face and she moaned brokenly, finally letting a hoard of tears run down her face.

I had never seen her so miserable and held her as tightly as I could, fearing that the moment I let go of her she would begin to break and crumble away. Her cries of anguish broke something inside me. It hurt worse than it did before. Is this what love is really like? Sharing the pain of the one you love to the degree that you could mistake it as your own? Her tears soaked my shirt and she gripped my arms so tightly it hurt.

But I was not about to let her go.

She shivered and yelled, slowly turning to whines, then moans, until she was nothing more than a shivering mass in my arms. It was a very long time before that point though. She was betrayed. By her own father. I felt that my next letter Reeva would have to include this, but that being a smart idea or not was still up for debate. Maybe I should put off informing her of this develpoment. I can hold Reira for as long as it takes. I will hold her. And I won't let go easily.

After quite awhile, Reira's shivering had stopped and she stared out past the feild with empty eyes. She was looking off in the same direction I had always seen her looking from her bedroom window. It was the direction of the worn path. She looked out over it and seemed to just being staring. It was almostas it looking to the path was a comfort of her.

However, as I watched her face with concern, I saw her brow knit together in thought. She stood from my grasp and looked at it as if she was figuring something out. The wind caught the end of her skirt and lifted her hair in a playful way. I've always thought that Reira was beautiful. But now I'm watching some kind of life roll through her eyes as she stares at the path. Her eyes narrowed and her lips pressed together. I figured if I were ever to see Reira angry, that's what it might look like.

She began to walk toword the path with purpose. "Reira." I called out.

"Come on. I know... what's down there now." The confidence in her voice was new, and I found myself moving to stand and follow her. Whatever was down there, she was going to it, and she was not happy.