My Shining Star

Everyone stood around a gravestone, honoring the loss of one of Konoha's most honored heroes. It was a very rainy day, matching the emotion the gathered shinobi felt. Not many showed up for the funeral, but many felt hate toward the one whose name was carved on the stone.

One of the very original Rookie 12 wasn't present, one was in the ground, and one was blaming herself for the death of the one in the ground. Along with the Rookie 12, were Team Gai, the Legendary Sannin Rin Yuhi, and Jiraiya, and the Hokage herself.

"S-so wh-where is s-she?" the indigo haired kunoichi sobbed.

"She likely doesn't want to appear in front of everyone. She feels ashamed for something that couldn't be helped," said a Jonin with the headband over his eye, and beautiful silver hair. "This is something she needs to overcome on her own."

"But sh-she didn't cause this . . . it was that gay snake bastard's fault!" she replied to the sensei.

"Hinata . . . she knows that she didn't cause his death, she still feels like she failed to protect her brother." A tear rolled down his cheek 'till it reached his mask. He remembered the death of his friend, and his pupil.

Kakashi stood in the rain, feeling like he did, not too long ago, in fact it was last year. It was after Ayami and Airo's battle at the Valley of the End. It felt almost exactly like it did last time. A feeling of being too late to help those he cared about. He stood in the rain, feeling exactly the same way.

But this time it was worse, it was the same feeling, only amplified a thousand times. He looked at the name engraved on the stone, with a feeling of emptiness. The feeling he felt when his best friend was killed. The boy he loved as a son was there. The rain over his head stopped.

He looked to his right, seeing Anko holding an umbrella over his head. She laid her hand on his right shoulder, a look of utmost sympathy on her face. They continued to stare at the stone, until she broke the silence.

"You know I can't say I know how you feel. You should be happy that in the end, he chose to save his little sis. It's something to be very proud of." She said, still gazing at the grave.

"I can't help but feel that I once again failed to protect those I care about. If I had taken care of Kabuto maybe seconds earlier, l may have been able to save him." Kakashi replied, another tear rolling into his mask.

A hand came down on his left shoulder. He looked over, seeing Rin. "You know you had no control of what was going on. You knew that Kabuto was a tough opponent." Rin paused. "And as the Third said three years ago as he died: Where tree leaves dance . . . one shall find flames . . . the fire's shadow will illuminate the village . . . and once again tree leaves will bud anew."

"Thanks, Rin," Kakashi said. "That means a lot." Rin looked away. "No prob."

Hinata could no longer hold back on her tears. She fell to her knees, sobbing, looking at the grave, dropping her umbrella. Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder and shielded her with her umbrella. He had no clue what to say to her.

"W-w-w-why?!" was all she could say through her tears.

"No one really knows why things happen the way they do," the Hokage stated, placing a hand on Hinata's other shoulder. "All we could do is live on, honor them, and still live on, keeping them in our hearts." She said with tears in her eyes, remembering her brother, Nawaki, and her lover, Dan.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

-Off to the side-

The rest of the Konoha 13 stood off to the side, giving Hinata her privacy to grieve in piece.

"Who do you think will take this the hardest?" Kiba asked, scratching Akamaru behind the ears.

"Kakashi-sensei's faced this before, but he's taking this hard." Stated Choji, who wasn't eating anything, for once. He too remembered the mission last year too.

"Hinata's an emotional wreck, she's not gonna get over this for a while." Ino said quietly.

"She still feels like this is her entire fault, though." Neji said, staring at the stone. "Even though she had no control of his actions, she feels as if this is her fault."

"That is the reason she will be hurt most by this," Shino said, knitting his eyebrows together at the statement. "No matter how illogical you think that is, it's something that cannot be helped in human nature. She will struggle the most from this."

"It's not illogical, Shino." Shikamaru said, one hand in his pocket, the other on the handle of his umbrella, looking skyward.

"How so?"

"It's really simple actually. He loved his sister and would do anything for her. With the loss of a loved one, comes a hole in your heart, like an emptiness. With that loss, comes a state of regret, and depression." He sighed, lighting a cigarette. "Right now, she is very depressed, and regrets not being able to save her big brother. She will feel like this was all her fault and she wasn't strong enough to do anything to prevent what had occurred. Like how I felt when Asuma . . .,"

"I see."

Listening very intently was a spiky blonde haired, cerulean eyed shinobi. The scene in front of him was very upsetting. He watched the gathered shinobi mourn over their friend, cousin, and brother. But there was one person missing. He knew that she would be having a hard time handling what had just happened to her, and he knew that she would need help getting through this.

He walked away, wiping some stray tears off his face; he had only one thing on his mind.

"Ayami . . ." he said, heading toward the place he wished she was.

A/N: Konichiwa! Please tell me how you like it! Ja-ne!!

Next Chapter: Memories and Regrets: Part I