Remembered Light (Naruto FanFic)

Chapter Eleven

We sat together in the Hospital, simply grinning at eachother. Anyone who walked in would probably think we're crazy, just smiling at eachother, but we understood. Atfer being torn so long, a small part of team seven was mending.

"Sounds like a lots happened while I was gone," Kakashi stated mildly.

"You're telling me!" I exclaim, "Who's he?"

"Oh," Sakura smiled, "He's Sai, the new addition to team seven," She explained.

I shifted uncomfortably. "But that means team seven has the required number of members, three--"

Naruto cuts me off, "Don't be silly, Keira!" He shouts, "Team seven will always need four members to be complete,"

I smile. The kid was to much. He had one of the kindest hearts I think I'll ever see. "Well Sai, it's nice to meet you. I'm--"

"Keira, age sixteen, A rank, rogue nin from the Leaf," He completes.

I rub the back of my neck awkwardly, "Well, I'm not really a rogue nin, I was--"

"Taken captive by Orochimaru and prisoner to him for two and a half years," He tells me.

A slight irk mark grows on my head. "Yeah, alright. Have you been stalking me?" I accuse. I had enough stalking when Gaara couldn't work up the nerve to talk to me. Even if it was sweet, it was slightly creepy.

"No, I just have read up on you," He smiles.

I turn to Sakura in disbelief, and she's smiling nervously. Just go with it, I hear her say in her mind. I shrug. "All the same, nice to meet you, Sai," I nod.

"Keira's back," Kakashi mumbles to himself. 

"Damn right," I grin proudly.

"And she she seems so... happy," Naruto mutters. 

I turn. "Is there something wrong with me being happy?" I question, raising my eyebrows. 

"No, no!" Sakura waves her hands in an attempt to calm me. "It's just, you don't seem very... you," She finishes lamely.

I clap loudly, startling everyone. "Well, people change! What's been up with you guys?" They exchange looks with eachother, when a new voice enters the conversation.

"It says here that when someone seems over exuberant or happy, oftentimes they're hiding pain," Sai looks at the book thoughtfully, flipping a page.

I'm shocked, but quickly recover. "It's just a book, what would that know?" I mutter, crossing my arms and staring out the window.

"Well, are you happy?" Sai asks. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him tilt his head in an inquisitive matter, turning another page.

I feel that pressing darkness, numbness, silence, pain, on the edge of my being, trying to pull me under again. I push against it. I couldn't go back to how I was, not now. It always made me forget myself, when I was like that. And just after I've remembered, I can't forget.

I turn back to them sharply. "Course I'm happy," I tell them truthfully. I'm just not as happy as I'd like them to think I am.

There was a knock on the door, breaking the tension. The door opened, revealing Asuma. "So this is where you were. Kakashi, can I have a minute?" He asks.

"Huh? Yeah, sure. It's great you're back, Keira," Kakashi smiles a real, warm smile. I nod back, smiling as well, and they leave.

Naruto began to unwind his bandages as I talked to Sai. "So, Sai, what are you doing?" I ask, sitting on the edge of his bed.