JUST A LITTLE TOO LATE
By Nutty Scribbler
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Warning: Spoilers for Chapter 233. Unbeta-ed.
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Just a little too late
It's always been this way, just a little too late.
Tardiness is not a foreign to me. Just ask my genin-team. They know my tardiness very well too.
Ahh, my genin-team, or more accurately, my former genin team. I love them so very much; they were my precious people after Obito and the Yondaime. Obito and Yondaime have left me, and now Sasuke and Naruto has followed their footsteps, too.
Obito, who taught me kindness; Yondaime, who thought me responsibility; Naruto, who thought me perseverance; Sasuke, who reminded me so much of my old foolish self – all of them were my precious people. What is the use of my library of 1000 justus when I could not even protect them?
It's funny how life works sometimes. I chose to be late for certain events because I'm not sure how I should behave. Waiting; the bore of the expected or the anticipation of the unknown might be what Shikato or Shikamaru deems, "Too troublesome." It is something that even the fantastic Icha-Icha Paradisu cannot erase completely. Therefore, I prefer to let the others do the waiting.
But it is ironic the way I am always just a little too late for the important things. Just a little too late to save the ones I care about. It's always the same. Am I cursed? Is this retribution for my chronic tardiness?
You see, I was only just a little too late; just a little too late to arrive to do anything about it. If I had arrived just a little earlier, would I have been able to do something to change the course of events?
As I pick up the frozen body of my student, a single tear escape my normal eye. Seeing the blonde boy motionless is something I never thought I would see – he has always been in motion. Even in sleep, I could detect the soft rise and fall of his chest, the sound of his breathing and the trickle of spittle down the side of his mouth.
Maybe, if only I had been on time, things would have been different.
Pakkun is howling to his team mates. The low guttural cry echoes my mind's silent ululation.
It's entirely unfair that that I'm just a little too late for everything, but am the first in line for emotional grief. Entirely unfair that the task of breaking the news to the rest falls on the one who was just a little too late.
I ran the fastest I could, back to Konoha. If there was just a little hope, I want to hang on to it, as a drowning man would hang on to his last breath. And maybe, just maybe, I won't have another name to stare sorrowfully at each time I visit the memorial.
Maybe, for once, I won't be just a little too late.
Please, Kami-sama, for once, let me not be a little too late.
Just a little too late in reaching them.
Just a little too late to save Sasuke.
Just a little too late to save Naruto.
Just a little too late to save Obito.
Just a little too late to save the Yondaime.
Altogether too early for grief.
Owari
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Post Talk:
I can't say that I'm a great fan of 233. It's a horribly angst ridden chapter. The last few panels inspired this ficlet, though, as did Visions' This is Where. I realize that this is horribly angst-ridden and it's unbeta-ed. But bear with me as I'm still shocked over the unexpected turn of events.
Anyway, I had always been a little amused over Kakashi's chronic tardiness. And I think this is what he must have felt when he reached Naruto.
I just checked a translation (because the scanlated version isn't up). Kakashi said, "I was too late" in the end. Funny thing is, I didn't check the translation before I wrote the fic.
Surprisingly fitting no?
-Goes and starts an "I Hate Baka-suke" fan club-
Nutty Scribbler