Author's Note: I know you're all going to hate me for this, but this is another Naruto story.

But it's not just any Naruto story. Oh no, this is different.

You'll recall my two Sound-nin from my NejiTen story, Behind Those Icy Eyes, the brother-sister team known as Kunomi Karin and Kunomi Kyoushi. ...What do you mean you don't remember? Well, go read it now, then! You can come back here AFTER.

This is a songfic revolving entirely around those two. But it's different from most songfics in that the only actual dialogue is the song itself.

You'll see what I mean when you read it.

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Siblings

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The song carried through the otherwise silent wood, eerie and mournful, the voice lightly laced with unshed tears.

Under cover of the midnight shadows, a lone figure dressed in white danced under the strangely dull shine of the stars, long, dark hair fanning out over her shoulders, falling down her back and tousled by the night breeze.

How did she get here, to this point in her life, now even more miserable than she had been the years after their mother died? Her decision had made captives of them both, and still her brother said nothing to show any signs of resentment towards his elder sister. He had followed her, knowing her choice was wrong, but never speaking a single word of question.

They couldn't bring her back. They knew it. But although for them, it was an impossible task, perhaps somewhere out in the world, there was someone who was capable of helping the two in realizing their dream. Since she was but a little girl of eight, they had searched through every place within their reach, but they had found no-one. By the time they came upon him, when the elder was eleven, they had given up hope entirely. When the snake man had assured her that he could, indeed, revive their late mother, she had not stopped to think nor consider any consequences. She had retrieved her brother from their camp of that night and brought him before the man, pledging allegiance to him for the both of them, despite her brother never voicing his agreement. She had not believed it would matter. The two had already been robbed of their childhood, forced far too early to become adults. It was too late to turn back.

They were slaves now. And it was entirely her fault. This song was her only way to prove her shame to all who would listen. It was her apology to her baby brother, the one she had hurt the most. And such an apology, if it should serve to even begin to redeem her damned soul, she would scream to the heavens, if only the gods would take pity on her.

"How can I repay you, brother mine?
How can I expect you to forgive?
Clinging to the past, I shed our blood,
And shattered your chance to live."

Since he was a child of six and she seven, she had been forced to take the role of mother, watching over the little boy as he grew with her. She could never take her mother's place, nor did she ever wish to. She could not, because she had done so many things her mother would never have condoned. She and her brother had committed so many crimes and sinned so much, she was no longer sure she wished for her mother's return to the world of the living. She did not believe that her mother would want to see her the way she was, and what she had become.

She knew now, after seven years, that the snake man had never intended to keep his promise. But when she was only eleven years old, she wanted so badly to believe him that she threw aside all caution and reason, giving herself up so willingly to him as his follower in order to obtain what she so longed for. She and her brother took every order and carried out every command, becoming the "Hidden Sound's Deadly Twin Duo." That only proved that their master knew nothing of them. They were not twins, though they looked very much alike and appeared identical in age. But for fear of losing their lives or each other, they never spoke back, and did not bother to correct him.

At first when the two accepted their roles as his servants, they believed things would change, if only a tad. No longer would they have to commit any dishonourable acts. No more would they be forced to resort to thievery to survive. Their new lord and master would take care of them now, they believed. But they had been wrong. They still needed to look after each other and survive in any way they possibly could. The man who had seemed so kind, who had acted as though he cared so much about them, had been lying to them from the very beginning. He could revive their mother quite easily, but he would not do so.

Over the years, they became numb to everything. They were dead inside, their hope was gone. They did not have any faith in their foolish dreams; their trust in people, and now each other, was fading.

"Though I knew the laws I paid no heed.
How can I return your wasted breath?
What I did not know has cost you dear,
For there is no cure for death."

She could see it. Her brother was losing faith in her judgement. He could no longer place his trust in her, she was sure, and for this, she did not blame him. After all, was it not her mistake that had brought them into the snake man's service?

Oftentimes, she would contemplate suicide. Perhaps if she was no longer breathing, her brother could live as he had always wanted to. He could be free, even if she could not. He could have the life they had always dreamed of.

But her bond of blood, the one thing that kept her tied to their master, was not strong enough to destroy him if she were to take her own life. She was connected to him by her very blood; the blood of their leader ran through her veins, and hers in his, linking the two. He could kill her with a single hand seal if he so chose, but she was powerless to so much as scratch him. He had taken away her freedom, her life. No matter what she were to try, she could never free herself from his grasp. She was forever trapped within his coils. But at least her brother was free from such a chain. His blood was entirely his own; nothing controlled him or placed his life in immediate danger. She could find solace in that she had protected him from this, at least.

At that night's chosen campground, the little brother she worked so hard to protect lay asleep by the fire she had built to provide the boy with warmth and defense against the biting winds of that cold November night.

"Beautiful mother, soft and sweet,
Once you were gone, we were not complete.
Back through the years, we reached for you.
Alas, t'was not meant to be."

His bright blue eyes fluttered open at the sound of his sister's lovely singing voice, the one she had inherited from their mother. He recognized this sorrowful melody. The two of them had written it together and sung it every year on the anniversary of their mother's funeral, the picture in both their minds of the casket being lowered into the earth and buried.

Karin...Are you in pain once again?

He could feel her sorrow and her grief. He had been mentally linked with his elder sister since the day of his birth, able to feel what she felt, know what she knew, as she felt his emotions and knew his thoughts, though lately she had begun to block him out. Did she no longer trust him?

He did not know. What he did know was that his sister needed him now. He pushed the weather-beaten blankets off of himself and rose from his bedding, following the sound of his sister's strong yet shaking voice.

And how can I make amends,
For all that I took from you?
I led you with hopeless dreams.
My brother, I was a fool."

As he gently moved the leaves of the shrubs aside to allow himself passage into the clearing, he accepted his cue to sing.

"Don't cry for the past now, sister mine,
Neither you nor I are free from blame.
Nothing can erase the things we did,
For the path we took was the same."

Karin turned towards the voice, unable to bring her own blue-eyed gaze to meet that of her younger brother, the little boy who had so quickly become a man before her eyes. The guilt she had carried for so many years weighed so heavily on her shoulders. How long could her guiltless facade continue before she broke?

Kyoushi...are you hurting? Is your heartache as strong as my own?

Kyoushi understood all too well his sister's shame. Why could Karin not see that he was as much to blame for their plight as she? Every verse they had written together for this very song expressed the guilt of each, apologizing not only to their mother for their sins, but to each other.

"How could I expect to call you wrong?
How could you be blamed for what we've done?
Both of us were fools in our desires,
As we flew too close to the sun.

Beautiful mother, soft and sweet,
Once you were gone, we were not complete.
Back through the years, we reached for you.
Alas, t'was not meant to be."

The pressure behind her eyes increased, now entirely unbearable. The tears she had kept inside for so many years to keep both of them strong spilled from her eyes and poured down her cheeks, drawing forth tears from her brother as well.

"My dreams made me blind and mute,
I longed to return to that time.
I followed without a word.
My brother, the fault is mine."

Their trust in each other had been broken, they now realized, not because of the fault of one, but both of them. They had given their master exactly what he wanted: their bond as siblings broken. They were unable to trust each other because they could not trust themselves. If they could forgive, they could return to their former closeness and unified strength.

"So where do we go from here?
And how to forget and forgive?
What's gone is forever lost.
Now all we can do is live."

As the harmonized voices of brother and sister faded into the night, the girl embraced her brother, no words required to be said. When he had chosen to join her and sing together with her tonight, he had showed his sister that his faith in her was still true.

Her brother would always look up to her. She understood that now.

And that was all she needed.

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-Owari-

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Author's Note: You'll be pleased to hear that this angsty little number was NOT the result of an argument. Actually, I'm in a very good mood today. I just wanted to expand a bit more on Kyoushi and Karin, seeing as Takane (Lackofname) liked them so much.

The song used is the English version of FullMetal Alchemist's Brothers, sung by Ed's voice actor, Vic Migngona, (Whom I MET this week at CNAnime when he hugged me and gave me the "I'm sorry, Al" speech, thank you very much) albeit with one minor change: Where the word "sister" is, it's "brother" in the original song. But, these two siblings here are opposite genders, so I couldn't very well have Kyoushi calling Karin "brother," now could I? A very sweet, sad song, you should definitely check it out if you can find it. Try Youtube, some nice videos to it there.

You'll notice that this story was written quite differently from my other ones. The reason for that is none of your business.

Anyway, dedication time...This is for Takane, seeing as she liked these two so much, and she gave me some very positive feedback on them. So there you go, Kane. Another story for you.