Best Friends

Chapter 2

As previously said, age eight was when they really started to become friends.

At age eight, Neon was rather withdrawn. She was often seen reading a book. Her black hair had grown to trail down her back. Kira, on the other hand, while she liked to read, didn't read as often as Neon did and wasn't quite as withdrawn like Neon was. Her hair was still short.

I guess I should also mention that Yoshio had left Himeko and Kira during this timeframe. While still in Yamato, he got a new house in a neighborhood away from them and had a new wife. Her name was Fujioko.

One day in class towards the end of the day, Kira looked around the classroom and saw Neon reading a book. Neon was wearing a green, long sleeved shirt and wore gray shorts. She had red sneakers now.

Kira wore a sky blue t-shirt, white cargo shorts, and gray sneakers.

Just when Kira was about to walk up to Neon and ask her what she was reading, the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day.

Everyone walked out of the school. Kira walked home, and once she got home, she put her backpack down in her room. She then walked into the kitchen to get herself a snack, and after finishing that, she decided to take a walk outside.

Kira walked around her neighborhood, occasionally looking into the sky or around at any neighbors that happened to be outside.

As she reached the edge of town, she saw that grassy, slanted hilled area that she liked, accompanied with a lake at the end of the hill and a large, shady tree near the top of the hill.

Kira decided to climb the tree. Once she settled on a large tree branch that was big enough for her to sit on, she looked down at the grass below her, then lifted her head up to the leaves above her.

She closed her eyes and started to relax.
TIMESKIP
Kira didn't know how long she was out for. She must have dozed off. When Kira opened her eyes, it was still light out, so she assumed she wasn't out for that long. Maybe an hour or less.

Kira began hearing voices below her. When she looked down, she saw what looked like a group of two boys and one girl cornering a different girl around the bottom of the tree.

Looking closer, Kira could see that the group of kids were from her school, and they were the same group of kids she always saw picking on Neon. Turning her eyes to the girl at the bottom of the tree, Kira decided it must have been Neon.

"Why are you so weak?" Said one boy.

"Yeah. I've heard your parents actually pity raising you because of how weak you are." Said the other girl in the group. The other boy didn't say a word. To Kira, he looked very uncomfortable.

"I-I'm not weak. My parents love me." Neon stuttered, unsure of how to get herself out of this situation.

Kira had enough. Positioning herself on the tree branch, she jumped down from the tree branch and landed between Neon and the group of bullies.

"How about you leave her alone?" Kira said, shooting a sharp glare at the three of them.

"It's Kira! Run before he hurts you!" Said the boy who hadn't spoken yet, running off and leaving his friends behind him.

The girl began to smile, back up, and soon ran away just like her friend did.

"You don't scare me." Said the leader of the group.

"Then try this out." Kira said as she walked closer to him and slapped him right on the center of his head. Then she proceeded the punch him on his shoulder. That was enough to make the leader turn around and run away.

Kira turned around to make sure Neon was okay.

"Thanks." Neon said.

Kira was about to respond until Neon turned to her right and began walking away.

"Just so you know, this doesn't make us friends." She said, still walking away from Kira.

A bit shocked since she wasn't going to suggest that, Kira stood there, but then decided to say what words had escaped her mouth earlier. She'd better say it before Neon was out of her sight.

"YOU'RE WELCOME!"
********
That night, as Kira was in bed, she had a dream about her and Neon.

She saw the two of them shaking hands. She saw the two of them talking and getting along well.

The dream flashed forward to the future. She saw the two of them even closer than before. They even shared a room together.

Kira woke up from her dream that night, but seeing as dreams have tendencies to make no sense, she tried to forget about it and went back to sleep.
********
The next day after school, Kira decided to take another visit to that spot she liked.

As Kira began walking down the hill, she looked towards the tree and saw that it looked like someone was sitting behind it. When she got closer, she saw that it was Neon who just so happened to be reading a book.

"Neon, right?" Kira asked, sitting down next to Neon as she tried to make conversation with her. Neon didn't respond.

Thinking Neon didn't hear her, Kira decided to try speaking to her again.

"Ne-"

"Yes. And you're Kira." Neon said immediately, cutting Kira off, but still not looking up from her book.

"You know me?"

"I've seen you in class. My parents talk about you and your Mom sometimes."

"Really? What do they say?" Kira asked, a little shocked since she didn't hear her Mom talk about her friends that much unless she was going to meet up with them.

"Nice things." Neon said as she quickly glanced at Kira and then just as quickly returned her eyes to her book.

"That's nice. So whatcha reading?" Kira asked as she began to slouch down and try to check the cover of Neon's book.

"Are you trying to be my friend because our parents are friends?" Neon asked as she finally looked up from her book and looked at Kira.

Confused, Kira tilted her head to her side.

"I was asking you what you were reading." She said in confusion.

"Answer the question."

"Uh....I don't know." Kira said, smiling and shrugging now.

Dumbfounded, Neon closed her book and placed it next to her on the grass, all the while giving Kira a look as if Kira were the dumbest person on the planet.

"You....you don't know?" A smirk made its way onto Neon's face when she asked that.

"Well, yeah. I think we could be friends, but it's not really about our parents." Kira said, grinning and scratching the back of her head.

Neon started to chuckle, making Kira smile.

Quickly, Neon stuck out her hand.

"Maybe we could be friends after all." She said, beginning to smile.

With a grin, Kira extended her hand, and grasping each other's hands, both girls watched as a new friendship began to bloom.

"It's a deal!" Said Kira.

End chapter