Dead (IO, P, NK, Sora)

Hanako grinned a little... which actually looked like nothing more than the tiniest twitch of her lips. "Arigato, Sora-kun," the glaze-eyed girl said, a bit less solemnly than before. She sped up a bit, the icy treat bringing her thoughts off the blood of her mother. Oh, it was just such a bother that her hands and knees were covered in the red stuff... Ew. Well anyway, the ice cream stand quickly entered her range of senses, and the lip-switch transformed into a bigger lip-twitch. "Mmmmm, I'm gunna get a vanilla. What's your favorite?" the genin asked as they neared the stand.

"Yea... no problem Hana-chan." the boy responded. He sighed at the thought of nice cool ice cream. He always did enjoy things that were cold and sweet. In fact, anything that was cold pretty much caught his attention. His teammate's question made him think for a bit, although not for a long time. His favorite ice cream? Well he had around three... but he mostly likes one of them. "Cookie Dough." he said with a small smile. If they both continued to walk, then they would have reached the stand by the time he finished talking. There wasn't any people there yet, so that meant they didn't have to wait for anyone. Sora went to take a few steps closer to buy his ice cream, and maybe even buy one for Hanako, until he noticed the girl was still holding onto his hand.

"Um.." he mumbled, "Hana-chan? Think you can let go so I can get us ice cream?" he asked politely. His cheeks seemed to have turned a bit red while speaking, not enough to really stand out though.

Hanako let his hand go immediately, her cheeks turning a bit pink as well. Actually, the color matched her shirt almost perfectly. "Ano... yeah, sorry... Cookie dough's good," she said, stuttering a bit at the start of her sentence. She crossed her hands behind her back and 'gazed' over at where she heard the ice cream stand, ears pinpointing it's exact location. Wait... that note. Did she just read her mothers note?? That would mean... Okay... ice-cream stands had signs, right? And a menu. Well, this was as good a time as ever.
 
"Hey, I'm gunna try something..." That was her only warning before she suddenly rushed over to the stand, eyes wide in curiosity. It only took a second before the found the large menu of flavors, and the Genin immediately reached her hands out. She trailed her fingertips across the surface, a giant smile lighting up her face. "Mint chocolate chip, vanilla, cookie dough, chocolate, cake batter... Ohmygosh!" she giggled, forgetting her mother for a moment. She turned around and 'looked' at Sora, eyes shimmering with unshed tears that would never fall. Except these were ones of joy, not grief. "Oh, Sora-kun! I can read again! My training worked... I can... All my books, my letters... All the songs and stories I wrote... I can read them again!" the girl was simply overjoyed, running over and embracing Sora in a big hug without giving a single thought on the action. A real laugh escaped her smiling lips as she released him, skipping back a few steps.

(Losing her ability nearly killed Hanako. Literature was her life, her only escape from the world, and she had written many stories, songs, and quotes. That's why she is so elated that she has it back.)

Sora slightly grinned at the girl and swiftly reached into his pocket once she had let go. His cheeks also went back to normal at the action. The boy peeked at the price of two ice cream cones and his eyes almost went wide. Only 12 ryo for two cones! That's was one awesome deal they had there! The genin pulled the 12 out of his pocket and turned to Hanako for a moment. "Sure, go ahead." he replied to her comment. However, he was surprised when she dashed over to the stand and begun to... read it? He never knew that she could even do that. 'That's actually pretty incredible.' he thought, 'Wait.. is she... crying?'. He took a step back ocne Hanako even went to hug him, but got caught in it anyway. She was making it so hard to breath! "Hana-chan... release.. me." he gasped out. Once she did, Sora almost went onto his knees and practically tried to gulp the air in.

He might have been over exaggerating, but that's really how he felt after that that.. murder hug! "One vanilla and one Cookie Dough, please," he told the man waiting in front of him while rubbing his chest. The boy lightly coughed and exchanged the ryo for the two cones. Cookie Dough was in his left while the vanilla was in his right. "Congratulations Hana-chan. I award you with an ice cream cone!" he exclaimed, and handed her the vanilla. He then took a large lick on his cone and waited for her reply.

While Hanako wasn't crying, she was close to it. He took the cone happily, taking a large lick of the ice cream. "Na, Sora-kun, you don't get it. Writing and reading are my life, and I've not been able to do either for three months - that's how long it's been since I was blinded. I've written countless songs and stories, and I have books stacked up to the ceiling in my room. You have no idea how incredibly happy that makes me, though it would have been nice to find out after.... y'know," the girl explained, rubbing furiously at her eyes. The took another huge lick of her treat, 'looking' at Sora. Then, she got an idea. "Mmm, your hair looks nice today, Sora-kun," she said nonchalantly. Her inner self was giggling though, wondering if he would catch the joke... Heheh.

He continued to eat his delicious ice cream while listening in onto what Hanako was saying. However, the treat caught most of his attention. He knew that wasn't a good thing, but it wasn't like he completely ignored what the girl was saying. 'Reading and writing are her life?' he thought to himself. Sora didn't even know Hanako liked to write, must less read. If he had a choice between those two things and training, he would most likely just pick training. Even if he didn't want to do it! "Well, I guess I'm happy that you're able to read and write again... maybe you could write another song and sing it to me?" he questioned with a little grin. He took lick of his ice cream after he spoke. It seemed to have gotten a bit colder somehow. Was that even possible? It really didn't matter to the boy, the only made the ice cream get better.

"Eh?" he questioned while in mid-lick. He unconsciously rubbed the top of his hair at Hanako's comment. "You really think s- waaait a minute," he said with squinted eyes. She was.. joking wasn't she. Oh! So that's how she was going to play it huh? He'll find a way to get her back at the little joke...

Hanako blushed a bit at his suggestion. "Ah... sure, I can do that," she said quietly, her cheeks as pink as her sweater once again. She took another big lick of the ice cream. Vannilla... is just like... awesome... and cold.... but mostly just awesome.... the cold is even awesome.... wait I like cold........ wait what....? the girl thought, not even really thinking about what she was, well, thinking. She began to giggle as he responded to her compliment, her giggle morphing into a full-on laugh by the end. He fell for it! "You fell for it!" she exclaimed, giggling madly. Okay... maybe blindness wasn't totally bad. She still missed the colors, but it gave way to more pranks. And suddenly, a thought crossed her mind. Was this how she used to act? Maybe she was finally coming back to normal... no. Daiki still lived, so that couldn't be right...

Could it?

Sora furrowed his eyebrows at the girl's laughing while shoving the rest of his ice cream cone into his mouth. He already finished it while they were in their small conversation, being one to finish things cold very quickly. 'You won't be standing there laughing for long...' he thought darkly. He smirked at the girl in front of him after he finished chewing. He swiftly took several steps forward, a good enough amount that set him right in front of her face. The boy put a single hand on her head, pushing her face closer to his. He made them close enough to where their foreheads were almost touching. "You know you have really pretty green eyes? Almost like a jewel, that's how nice they are," he whispered, a smirk still planted on his face. Heh, he was such a clever boy. Just how was she going to react to something like that huh? Sora would try to hold them in that position for at least a minute before taking a step back.

Now that he thought about it, has Hanako really ever seen his face? With being blind and all, he bet there were many people who she can only recognize by voice. It made him.. feel a bit upset for some reason. 'Maybe there could be a way... to help her see for just a moment?' he wondered. Yea, there had to be something out there he could use to help her sight...

Hanako was still giggling as he finished his cone, this having been her first prank since she was 10 years old. However, her laughter stopped abruptly at the hand to her head. As he moved her closer, the girl's breath hitched in her throat. And then came the compliment. "You know you have really pretty green eyes? Almost like a jewel, that's how nice they are." Something that would have made most girls melt was simply another dagger in the back of this 11-year-old. But like all sudden wounds from a sharp knife, she didn't feel the pain right away. For the first thirty seconds after he spoke, she simply 'stared' at him in shock, mouth forming a slight 'o' shape as her cheeks were, once again, turned sweater-pink. She closed her eyes suddenly and backed out of his grasp, backing up a step of two.
 
"Don't say that. Don't ever say that again," she said forcefully, eyes fixed on Sora and completely blank. She'd shut off her emotions again... on the outside anyway. My eyes aren't pretty, my eyes are my father's. He gave them to me and he took them away. Don't ever, ever, say that again... she thought. Hanako took a deep breath and another lick of her ice cream. She wondered if she could maybe tell him how she was blinded, just leave out the part that it was her father who did it. It would be awesome to get even that much off her chest, and she knew he wanted to know. Sora-kun, do you want to know how exactly I was blinded? Such simple words, but she doubted this was the time nor place to ask. However, she was tired of keeping this a secret.
 
"Sora-kun, I remember once you and Sensei asked me how I was blinded, I believe the first day we met. Do you... Do you still want to know...?"

Sora was shocked when Hanako pulled herself away from him. Maybe she was so flustered she was forced to take such an action? Of course, that had to it... unless it was something about her eyes that made her upset. She was blind so it might as well be a bit of a touchy subject. "Why not? I've never seen anyone with such green eyes. Well, except for your dad... but they're pretty because they're your eyes," he replied with a small smile. His head was also slightly tilted to the right as he spoke those words. He watched the girl take a lick of her ice cream, obviously thinking about something. But just what was that something? The boy shoved his hands into his pockets and sighed. The wind lightly blew, making his hair sway along with his clothes.

Sora then rose an eyebrow at the girl. "Oh yea, you said you got blinded in a spar with your friend. Heh, I didn't believe that one bit... so yea, I want to know. What really happened?" he questioned his teammate.