Inspired by Phenomenon and The Stranger.
Dedicated to Iva. Thank you for all that you've done.
Note: I know, I know, I should update Salamander, but… at least I'm alive? (Maybe.)
Absolute
Becoming one with nature means knowing that you're going to die.
A rabbit freezes in front of a fox, Jiraiya reflects, balancing on a square stone, because it knows it is going to die and it is afraid. The deer will run from the wolf and it is afraid. But they are set in the knowledge that whether now or in two years, they too will die.
The bird on his shoulder chirps. He turns his head to look at it. It is a small, red bird, a cardinal maybe, and its black eyes peer unafraid into his own. He blinks and the bird flies away.
Animals, Jiraiya believes, are afraid of death.
Humans, Jiraiya believes, are afraid of death.
It is not about being afraid of death, Jiraiya thinks, that makes man separate from animal. It is knowing that you will die and accepting it. Perhaps in that, he is more like an animal than a man. But, he reflects, man has never been one with nature.
Becoming one with nature means knowing that you're going to die.
Everything dies, Jiraiya knows, sinking into the lake, and he is not afraid when Pein finds him.
