When The Sun Shines (A Reika Namikaze Story) Book 1

Prologue

Begin memory

"Emilio!" a mother calls to a small child around the age of two.

The small child was playing in the puddles after a long storm had passed wearing a blue raincoat and matching rain boots. She is smiling and covered in mud from jumping in the puddles.

"Coming, mommy," she calls out as she rushes to the front porch of their country house. Surrounded by muddy fields, the property has a few trees and a fenced in area with a couple of horses running.

The child goes to the wooden porch where the mother takes Emilio's coat and her boots and tells her to get cleaned up.

Emilio happily nods her head and rushes upstairs pausing only once since she had a little difficulty in breathing. She brushes it aside telling herself she is just out of breath and continues on in the bathroom where she went into the already filled tub and cleaned herself off.

Of course being the little girl she is she took the bottle of bubble bath and filled the tub with it. Laughing in glee, she splashes and jumping making the bubbles and water go everywhere.

"Emilio!" Her father yells out causing her to flinch and suck a breath in. Tears brim in her eyes as she begins to have that difficulty in breathing. She begins to wheeze a bit she grabs her throat.

She begins to cough struggling to breathe. Her father breaks the door down, cigarette in mouth causing smoke to enter the room.

End memory

Ya know how they say death is a mystery? That the afterlife is peaceful while others say its emptying? Some say it's bright, others say its dark.

Well, turns out none of it is true. Take it someone who has died. From someone who had a very painful death. I mean, lung cancer from second hand smoking is an extremely painful death. Especially when one has had it for eight years, and I was ten when it killed me.

Where is the God who created me? Or the Grimm reaper? Where are the angels singing in harmony or the demons with their horns and red skin with their torture tools? Where is the pool of souls crying out in agony?

Well, when I died, it was...  hmmm, how do I wanna put it? Empty. Vague. Cold. Not warm, not boiling hot. But it was bright, not dark. I whited out and then... nothing. I felt nothing. For a bit, I was just there, unable to move, unable to breathe, yet I was calm. Just floating, looking up at nothing. It was like I didn't need to breathe. If that makes sense.

It was just me, floating. No body, no control, no panic.

Suddenly, I was moving. Albeit, not on my own. Some unseen force was pushing me in one direction. And then I had this light at the end of the tunnel sort of feeling. So something did make sense, but I should be able to stay away, right? Only, I couldn't fight back against going to the light, so no control.

The closer I got, this feeling of being smushed on all sides would overwhelm me at certain points. It was wet and weird. I want it to stop.

Sitting in an awkward position, I had quite the time to think. Why? As I feel that constriction against my body pushing me closer to the light I realize life is giving me a second chance.

Why did I have to die that way?

I hear a woman's screams of pain as my head reaches the light. I close my eyes at the sudden light protruding into my foggy vision.

I begin to cry as the nurse begins to rub very painfully a towel I find that I can't hear anything. I squint my eyes and force them to open if only a little blinking through the tears and I realized something, something important.

This is not a hospital. I'm crying even harder due to being in shock, but I come to another realization, I'm fucking Naruto. But then the fuzziness in my ears go away and I hear something different from my mother.

Her red hair a mess and her eyes tired like she was doing more than just giving birth to me which, duh of course she was. She spoke one word, or rather. A name.

She called me Reika. It got me to stop crying and I stare. Just stare at her, like really stare at her. Like she is bullshitting me and grew a second head kind of stare.

And you know what, she giggled. She fucking giggled at my stare. She poked my stomach and I blinked. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad I'm not a guy, but this means my favorite anime has been wrong.

I don't respond right away as I ponder the events I am suddenly a part of.

The story of Naruto is wrong. I was a ten year old girl in the hospital when I died. I was reborn as who was supposed to be Naruto, an orphan, a guy. Only, my name is Reika Namikaze, a female, and from what I can tell, both my parents are okay. They're alive. It's all wrong, does this mean the story, the plot, this whole new life of mine is wrong? What do I do? How do I proceed as a female in this world where Naruto doesn't exist, and I do?

I was suddenly brought into my father's arms when I wasn't responding to my mother.

His blonde hair sways a bit as his blue eyes stare into my own. I look into them in wonder.

I mean, I should do something, cry, blink, scream maybe, I can't just not respond. They probably think something is wrong with me. I don't know how to respond. Which one do I pick?

Only, I did none of the above, instead, I laughed. Mom had this depressed look on her face and my dad was trying to cheer her up with this sheepish look on his face. I laughed harder. It was not helping, but I couldn't stop. This whole situation is really fucked up. And I have no idea how to respond.

I just hope these two will actually love me and not give up. I hope at least that much is the same. They were such good, loving people in the anime.

Since I'm here, I should give actually having a family a try. This is my second life after all, I need to live my best life. Especially since my last ones didn't even try. They just gave me up the moment they heard "cancer".

I was given back to my mother and I gave her a smile. A toothless, wet smile. She cooed. I mean, I had drool dripping from my mouth, Kami I am not liking this infant body. This is just not me. I really hope it is the whole being an infant thing that is responsible. Otherwise, I don't know what to do.

I began to giggle a bit before yawning big. Man, this whole situation is exhausting. I close my eyes for a bit as my mother holds me to her chest in a protective manner.

I couldn't fully hear what they were saying, but the conversation must have been dire with the looks on my parents faces.

Then, my dad starting moving his hands in quick motion and I felt this strange aura being pushed into me. I don't like it. It hurts. I began to squirm and tears were forming in my eyes as the unpleasant feeling kept being forced inside me.

I hate it. I want it to stop. It's a white hot pain that stays in my stomach. I cry out in pain as I feel fingers rubbing the top of my head before a two finger tap. I felt something like a pinch and just like that, it was over. It actually stopped.

I felt myself getting tired again and I let my heavy lids close. It would take me a while to realize that what they did was seal the entire nine tailed fox inside me.