In Sickness And Health ~Shikamaru~

Chapter 6

We all stood in awe at what we had just seen. Reira sighed and looked disappointed that she couldn't keep playing the puzzle game, but Alsono stood and told her to stay there. She came back with three books. One was a sudoku book, the other was a crossword book, and the third was wordsearch. She handed her the sudoku book and we watched as she scanned every puzzle and filled them out perfectly. That took her all of ten minutes for the whole book. But she had too much trouble with the crosswords and that one had to be pushed aside. When the word search was placed in front of her, Reira grabbed a pen and put lines through all the words before looking at word bank and even found a few words that weren't meant to be found.

After all of that, Alsono clapped her hands together. "That's it!" She exclaimed. "Reira was injured in the communication part of her brain and is no longer quick to remember what certain things mean or how to respond, ergo the pauses in her speaking. That also causes her to be slow in remembering other things past learned, ergo the trouble with the crosswords. Now this hasn't been proven," We all leaned in alittle, curious as to what she might say next. "but it may be possible to quicken that area of the brain in her again through communication."

I had just been wondering about that. Sakura had mentioned something as well. Something about the progress Reira had made since I started visiting her. And theres no doubt, I've noticed how she's becoming faster in her processing and communication. So if that's true, can we teach her... around the brain damage?

"But then how does that explain the logic skill?" Ino asked.

"Simple, she must have learned it through something, either before or after the acident and since her communication is out of sorts she doesn't second guess herself and see's solutions a lot more clearly." I answered. Everyone looked to me, but I only looked at Reira. "What do you see when you look at these puzzles?"

She blinked afew times before narrowing her eyes in thought. I could see the thought as it went through her mind. In a way, I felt bad for having asked it, mainly because if what Alsono said was true, this entire conversation was going to be really hard for her to understand. But sooner than I had expected, she unnarrowed her eyes and looked at the table, still littered with the books. "I see lines... and... i see spots... like if... i'm working a... sudoku... the box will... light up. But if... im on a... word search... lines appear on the... paper." We were stunned into a strange growing silence. "It's like... the answers are just... there."

That last statement didn't make much sense to us, but it seemed to explain everything perfectly in her eyes. I took a quick breath and finally asked, "Are you beginning to understand faster?"

Her eyes looked up at me with great confusion that slowly turnned to understanding. "Yes. Because of you and Sakura."

"And since you've noticed this, do you believe you can get better through visiting with these guys too?"

"Yes." She smiled, mainly I think because she said it without a pause and because that was basically me telling her she would get to see her new found friends again.

"Then it's settled." Alsono said, beaming. "We'll all visit once a week together and help you to get better."

Reira looked around the room at all the smiling faces around her, all the people willing to help her and spend time with her. All of the people willing to be her friend. And she smiled, a large happy ear to ear smile that ended with loud acking sobsand a group hug I got smashed in the middle of... what a pain...