The Pyre
Cephied Variable
When he was very little, Sasuke's mother used to sing him the same folk song every night.
Red leaves and fire We dance round' the pyre And for all our dreams dancing There are stars in the sky.
Black night and fire We pray round' our pyre And for all our dreams dying We don't dare ask why
In his mother's gentle, lilting voice, this is the most beautiful song in the world. They do a historical analysis on it Sasuke's first year in the academy and his teacher informs them, dryly, that it's a song about ceremonial cremation in wartime: "Which is imperative" he intones, "to keep the secrets of our village hidden from the enemy."
When he's nine years old, Sasuke reads the words in the basement of the Nakano shrine and learns what the rhyme is really about.
- because in that mad, dark world of the Mangekyou Sharingan, Itachi sings it too.