My very first fanfic, so please be nice to me... Kakashi and Sakura, my favorite pairing so far...
disclaimer: i own a lot of things. Naruto is not one of them. The characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. The plot belongs to me.
Tale 1: Shinigami
It was a warm summer night at the memorial, and the fireflies were dancing to the soft breeze. Before the tombstone stood a beautiful young woman. She wore a simple kimono and her pink hair were loose framing her face, as the wind moved them. She was at the center of a melancholic sight.
A soft whisper escaped her lips. A whisper directed to a person that didn't exist anymore,a whisper containing soft words of her loss and her despair. A person that she hoped to be next to her.
A few feet away from her, a figure laid it's back to a tree. The figure belonged to a man,fourteen years older from the woman. He watched her every move, from the way her shoulders trembled from her sobs to the slow dance of her hair to the breeze. A sigh fell from his lips, only to fade in the night. Only his heart knew how much he wanted to cross these few feet between them, and hold her smaller frame within his large arms in a warm embrace. Trap her to a pleasurable torture of love, whisper to her his heart's content, never letting her go.
But he couldn't. Not in the state that he was. He cursed. This was so unfair for both of them. If only a second chance to be given to him. To them. He couldn't ask for it though. He didn't know where to go for his wish to be grunted. Dazzled by the view of her and so lost in his thoughts he didn't even notice the lone figure approaching him.
Now next to him stood a creature with inhuman looks. The creature was tall and lean and its face didn't look like a woman's or a man's. The creature's eyes had no pupils or iris, they were blank,to the color of a haunting white. It's hair were pitch black, darker than the midnight sky, but under the faint lights they shone to a deep red. The creature wore a white yukata on top and black hakama pants, and across it's neck, until it reached it's chest, there was a red necklace made of what seemed to be red round pearls. The creature looked at the man and spoke in a clear deep voice. A voice free of emotions. A voice colder than ice.
"Good evening. I suppose that you know the reason to my arrival here, don't you?"
"Good evening to you too. And no i don't have the slightest idea of why you are here. I don't even know what you are. What the heck are you anyway, are you a man or a woman?" The man asked in bored voice mockingly.
"I am a shinigami, a death god, and i am a male. You are Hatake Kakashi. Am i correct?"
"Yes you are, what's your name by the way?"
" I do not have one." he paused for a moment to look at Kakashi. "Since you seem to avoid my questions, let me inform you for what i do. I am here to collect you, or for better words your soul. You died, but you seem like you want to linger on, to this world, so my job is to help you pass to the other."
"And what makes you think that i will follow you?" He asked with his voice sounding a little edgier than before. The woman still seemed to ignore the two men a few feet away from her completely.
"And why is that?" The shingami asked in a calm manner
"I have unfinished business" with that Kakashi looked at the woman "and life's too good to just leave it, you know. A good bottle of warm sake and a good company always makes the day. The world isn't that bad anyway. And there is someone..." his voice trailed off, while with his last comment a melancholic sigh left his lips and his gaze wondered at the distance that separated him from the woman.
The shinigami looked puzzled at Kakashi's remark for life but his mind processed the last part of his speech . He couldn't understand humans they were far too different, far too complicated. He gave up on comprehending them years ago, when the world was still young. Against his better judgment he asked the question that troubled his mind.
"Excuse me Kakashi-san, but i do not understand what you mean. How can you say that this world is nice since you died at a war not to long ago? This war destroys your lands and your homes, a war created by humans nonetheless. How can you like such a world, and you so desperately trying to cling to? And what about unfinished business, and who is that someone? A friend? A lover?" the shinigami voiced his thoughts and waited patiently for an answer. Upon hearing the shinigami's remark about "a lover" Kakashi looked at the woman for one more time that night.
A few minutes later Kakashi spoke, but his voice wasn't colored with the slightly bored and slightly amused tone that he used earlier. Now it was quiet and sad.
"I loved her you know. I was supposed to come back and marry her, have children with her and live the rest of my life peacefully with her, next to her. I knew her since she was this tall" with a motion of his hand he pointed to a short distance from the ground, which could indicate the height of a twelve-year-old child. "I was older than her, but that didn't stop us for falling for each other.She was so happy and carefree, and she always had a vibrant smile on her small lips. Even when life was unfair for her and decided to show her it's cruel face, she still managed to smile. And not a fake smile, a real one, that made those around her smile as well. And then the war came, the stupid war against that greedy man..." his voiced trailed of as the memories came to him.
The memories from the first time he met her, the first time he looked at her, but not as the girl she was, but as the woman she became. The first time he kissed her, the first time he made love to her, the first time he told her how much he loved her without using the unnecessary words that people seemed to use very often. He never was good with words anyway. He was always silent, in truth he was more of an "actions speak louder than words" type of man, and that is how he lived his life until the very end of it. Actually that was the way he wanted to live his after-life as well. But then the memories changed to memories overwhelmed from horror, death, blood, loss, despair. The memories of the dead at the body and the rotten at the soul.
They stood quiet for a long time watching the fireflies dance freely in the air. The shinigami tried to understand the man's feelings but to no avail. Kakashi on the other hand replayed in his mind the happiest of their common memories. He felt a longing sadness within his heart, as the ghost of a smile graced his face, as the thought that those memories belong to the past and they were never to return again came to him. Never. The simple word echoed in his mind, terrifying him, leaving him half, leaving him numb.
They both awoke from their thoughts when hurried footsteps echoed in the darkness. Another woman, older from the first and humble looking, came into view as she approached the first one and bowed.
"Sakura-chan, Tsunade-sama and Naruto-kun are waiting", she said with a low voice full of seriousness and sadness, for she has lost a lover in this war as well.
" Yes Shizune-san. Tell her that I'll be there in a few minutes". Her voice was like an old enchanted folk song. Soft, ethereal, sad and almost lifeless.
The older woman bowed and left, leaving Sakura alone before the memorial stone.
The shinigami looked at Kakashi and announced him it was time for their departure, according to him they lingered long enough while watching the scenery.
Kakashi couldn't help and ask, his curiosity overpowering his pride.
"What's it like? You know where we are going?"
For the first time that night, the shinigami showed emotion as a smile made its way to his thin and firm lips, making less intimidating, and with a graceful motion of his hand he gestured at Kakashi to follow him while speaking.
"Ah! You will see. And let me tell you that you will not be disappointed." He sounded amused, relaxed, indicating that there was no reason for fears, doubts and regrets. Kakashi on the other hand wasn't so eager to find if the shinigami spoke the truth or not. He didn't care if it was Eden, Heaven, Paradise or any other name that world had, he preferred the earth were Sakura was.
At that exact moment, Sakura made her way towards the path that led to the village. Giving the memorial one last glance, she turned around, walking gracefully and slowly away from her last connection with him.
Kakashi was finally able to see his name carved upon the same stone Sakura was looking for hours. Giving it a last look, he gave it a crooked smile and followed the Shinigami to the world's end.