Cloud Cover
In my dreams, everybody is smiling.
Not like real life, where everyone is a step away from tears. Where years of hardship, dead friends, dead family, dead hopes crush in on us, breaking us…Where smiles are only tools that conceal daggers, and the world is grey.
When I sleep, I see clouds.
Not the dark, grim, heavy harbingers of sullen days that fly overhead when my eyes are open to this world. No, these clouds are light and beautiful, splendid in their singularity, no two clouds are the same, and they're all just waiting up there for me to join them.
When I close my eyes, it becomes so simple.
Momma scolds me for the grass stains on my corduroys, Papa tinkers absent-mindedly with a Shogi piece. Laughter rings out in the streets. My doorbell rings, and all my friends have come to play, even the ones I know are dead. Everyone is still here, breathing, seeing, thinking, warm to the touch.
Everything is dimming now, and I just want to sleep.
She's yelling at me to wake up, shaking me. My chest feels warm and damp, I'm not sure why, and I can't seem to move my legs. That's alright though, because from here I can see those beautiful clouds. I can hear my friends calling, their voices are so sweet and pure, not like mine, harsh and raspy. I can see that sunny hillside I want so badly to go back to. The ache in my heart at this moment is greater than any flesh wound I might receive, and I just want to be there with them. I'm coming, my friends! I'm coming mama! I'm coming papa!
I'm coming home.
Rest now, weary traveler.
A shikamaru PoV from my one-shot "Reflections"
I've always retained in my mind that when Shikamaru is alone with his thoughts, his inner child speaks most clearly.