Our challenge is remembering the Heros in our lives. Whether it's our military who keep us safe, our firefighters and police who protect and serve or even the guy down the street who save a child's life by pulling them out of the way of a speeding car.
Idea: Memorials stand to honor Heros. A slight glimpse into the lives of those affected by their lives and deaths.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Title: Heroes and Memorials
(My Hero)
The Memorial Stone stood alone in Training Ground Seven; it was a tall piece of jet black stone and upon it was carved the names of those who died to protect Konoha, their home.
There was a slight breeze blowing and the day was warm and bright. It was an unusually warm day for October in Konoha. While it almost never got cold enough to snow in the hidden village, is was still usually very cold in the winter months.
On this day, October tenth, there was a young man kneeling before the polished stone memorial. He'd been coming to the stone faithfully for three years, but this time he wasn't alone. In a sling on his back slept a child no older than three years of age. This child was blond and when they were open; his eyes were the brightest diamond blue the young man could only ever remember seeing on any but one person: His Sensei.
His silvery hair shown in the sunlight and his dark eye seemed even darker as pain swam in his eye, today; three years ago he had lost his father figure and the woman that had been like a mother. But it was worse for the child on his back who had never even had the chance to meet the two most amazing people who would have been his parents. And now they were being forced to leave.
"This is how they honor your sacrifice…" the silver haired seventeen year old muttered in disgust, feeling much older than he actually was. "They would run your son out of his home over something he had no control over…" he sighed.
It wasn't fair no matter how the teenager looked at it, in a way; he was reminded of how his father had been treated before his death. The teen turned, gave one last look at the memorial, and left.
There weren't many places they could go, but the teen remembered fondly, making the two week trip to that Lagoon, which, according to his sensei, had been the place where his clan had first appeared, at the base of the mountain on which their Summons lived. Making that journey however… was going to be much harder now than it had once been.
"Kakashi, wait!" someone called behind them.
The teen, Kakashi paused, turning to the voice, "…Rin…"
"You're leaving aren't you?" the brunette with purple facial markings asked, "Why?"
Kakashi sighed and looked away from his old teammate, "The Clan isn't welcome here anymore Rin…" he replied looking up at her, "Sensei Blood Adopted you too didn't he?"
Rin faltered, "Well, yeah but…"
"I already have our passes," Kakashi told her, "We'll be leaving once the Compound is packed up."
"But, that doesn't explain anything!" Rin shot back in frustration, "I thought Sensei… I thought… they all…" her voice trailed away as she began to cry softly.
Kakashi shook his head, "Not all of them died Rin, Nee-san…" the silver haired teen hugged the slightly older Kunoichi, trying to give her any comfort that he could. "Naruto is still here, and we have to take care of him."
She nodded miserably, "Why did this have to happen to us, to them?" she asked hopelessly, looking up at him with tear filled brown eyes
Kakashi shook his head again, "I don't know, but with all the death threats, it's just safer if we leave… do you remember how to get to the Lagoon?"
Rin nodded as she pulled away sniffling, "…Yes, I remember…"
"Good," Kakashi replied.
Rin sighed, "The question is, are they going to allow us in?"
"They wouldn't have any choice," Kakashi shrugged, "We are the only ones who can get passed the security seals anyway…"
"…That's true…" Rin conceded, "…Where is he?"
"He's in the sling," Kakashi replied.
"Has he been attacked?" Rin asked in horror.
Kakashi shook his head, "Not yet, but it's only a matter of time and we both know it."
"Thank goodness…" Rin sighed in relief, "So… we're heading to the Namikaze Lagoon then?"
"Yes," Kakashi confirmed, "It's not going to be easy though…"
"No it's not…" Rin agreed sadly. "How long is it going to take?"
"It usually takes two weeks, but since we've got a toddler…" Kakashi shrugged.
"…It will take longer…" Rin continued, "Though, how much longer in uncertain, right?"
"Right," Kakashi agreed.
Rin sighed, "Well… we'd better go…"
Kakashi nodded, "We need to leave soon… If the Elders find out what we're planning they might try to stop us…"
Rin nodded sadly, "That is a possibility, one we cannot allow to happen," she turned to her teammate, "How much of the compound have you already packed up?"
Kakashi ran through his mental checklist, "…The forge still needs to be packed up and some of the equipment from the Clan Store needs to be sealed away, other than that though… just the Main House remains."
Rin blinked, "…How long have you been at this Kakashi?"
"Since last year, when I found some civilian kids throwing rocks at Naruto," Kakashi replied coldly, "It's taken this long because I didn't want to arouse suspicions."
Rin nodded sagely, "Good thinking, when did you get the passes?"
"Last week, I knew that we wouldn't be able to leave without them but if I'd gotten them any sooner…"
"Someone might have started asking questions," Rin finished for him, "And that's exactly what we don't want."
Kakashi nodded switching to telepathy, "We'll have to use telepathy now that we're out of the training grounds and in the village center."
Rin nodded, "It's not like that's hard to do… it's gotten so engrained by now that I have to remind myself that we're the only ones with it…"
Kakashi snickered, "According to Tou-san, he was always falling back on telepathy when he was in the Compound with his mother, and he fell back into the habit after I moved in when he adopted me… sometimes we even forgot that you and Obito were even there during training…"
Rin nodded as she smiled wistfully, remembering how the two of them used to lapse into silence for sometimes very long periods, "I thought you were thinking about your father and things like that until Sensei Blood Adopted me too… Now I understand how hard it is to remember to make noise…" she giggled.
Kakashi shook his head but didn't answer, "…Do you think that we might find other Namikaze in the Lagoon, I think we might need the old Head to open Naruto's mind…" He looked back at the sleeping toddler in the sling, "He must be going crazy in there, with no one to talk to…"
"Not connected to the Unit at all…" Rin agreed, she still couldn't understand how she had lived at all before Minato-sensei had opened her mind to his world, it had been like being blind her whole life and then opening her eyes to a vibrant world that she hadn't even known existed…
They headed in different directions, Rin to the hospital and Kakashi back to the compound. They couldn't overtly act as if anything was going on after all, and until they left they had to keep routine.
Hopefully we'll find other Namikaze there," Kakashi told her from where he was near the gate to the Namikaze Compound.
"Yes, hopefully," Rin agreed as she signed in for her shift at the hospital.
Of course, both had forgotten that while there were Namikaze in the Lagoon, only one had ever been a ninja, and that was the Old Head, in this case, Namikaze Inazuma, Minato's own mother.
Inazuma was not going to be pleased at all with the way things were going for her grandson when she learned of what happened, in fact, she would probably summon the Fox Boss to deal out punishment. Not that there was much that could be done…
How the villagers had forgotten so thoroughly about the Namikaze's Fox Summons, neither of them knew, but it was bad. But, they'd be leaving in at the very least a week so soon the torment would be over.
It was a new adventure that had started with a single stone: a monument to dead heroes.
(End)
Ok, so this is a bit longer than I thought it would be. I might do a follow up of the journey to the Namikaze Lagoon later, but not sure when I'll get to it and yes, I know the ending's a bit abrupt, but I just wasn't sure how to end it.
The Namikaze Lagoon is a place of my own creation, as is the information about the clan. I've been playing around with Minato's back story and this is what I've come up with, it's come quite a ways since I first started Life and Times so I might do a bit of a rewrite, which shouldn't be too hard since there are only a few chapters that need redoing.
Again, Namikaze are telepathic, and they can extend their telepathy to those that they bring into the clan, in this case Kakashi and Rin have been adopted.
I hope you enjoyed this little blurb, it took a while to come together.
Neph