Disclaimer// I don't own Naruto or any of the characters therein. The song Slipped Away is by Avril Livigne. I would love to some up with a more sarcastic disclaimer but I don't have the energy. On to the tale of woe…
Night of Remembrance
It was a night of memories. All around Konoha those who had lost loved ones stood at their windows and stared out into the night, remembering those who had passed on. They all heard the mournful song as it drifted through the streets. But if they searched, the singer would not be found. She was nothing but a half-forgotten memory who existed solely to remind others of those who had fallen. Her name had been lost in the mists of time. She was the Singer now; nothing was left of the girl she had once been. Her voice rang out soft and eerie but silent, heard only in the heart, heard by those who had felt loss and grief.
I miss you
Miss you so bad
I don't forget you
Oh, it's so sad.
I hope you can hear me
I remember it clearly…
Gaara Sabaku, the Kazekage of Suna, stared down into the sands contained in his gourd and wondered if the men whose blood coloured the granules were remembered by their family. He felt no guilt at killing them, just like they would've felt no guilt if they had succeeded in their mission and had taken his life, but he did wonder… He wondered if he would be remembered when he died, as something more than the monster he occasionally was. He moved to the window of the hotel he was staying in and stared out at the stars. He couldn't remember his mother's face, recalled his father with no affection. He wished sometimes that he had been born to a normal family, had not been cursed with Shukaku's power, but there was no point in dwelling on what could never be changed. He laughed softly. Tonight was not a time for bitterness – it was a time for remembrance. Tonight he would try to remember the innocence of his childhood, when he hadn't realised what he was. When he'd been happy… He would not remember the deaths that marked his passage through life.
The day you slipped away
Was the day I found it won't be the same.
Hinata Hyuga cried silently as she gazed at the shadows in the square outside her father's house. She was remembering her mother, her frail beautiful mother who had died so suddenly, casting pain and uncertainty in her daughter's life. She hated the way the details slipped away from her, hated the way she needed a photograph to be able to recall the exact shade of her mother's hair, the way her eyes had creased when she laughed, which was often. She bled inside as she thought of how her mother's death had destroyed her father, had made him the hard man he was today. Her little sister couldn't remember their mother anymore, she'd been so young when it happened. Hinata wept for the pain that her loss caused, hating the way she was so weak, hating the way she couldn't stop crying. She just wanted to be strong, to make her father proud. She did not want to be like this…
I didn't get around to kiss you
Goodbye on the hand.
I wish that could see you again
I know that I can't.
I hope you can hear me,
Cos I remember it clearly…
Naruto Uzimaki wondered what his parents had been like. The young shinobi sat on top of the gates of Konoha, his eyes on the sky and his thoughts far away. Would his parents have loved him, if they had've been alive when the demon-fox had been sealed inside of him? Would they have loved him like normal parents when their child was anything but normal? Or would they have hated him, mistrusted him because he was the vessel in which the creature that had killed so many of their friends and comrades was sealed? Naruto sighed and opened baby blue eyes. "It's not good to think about this kinda stuff," he murmured. "It'll just make me upset. Believe it." But even those words couldn't pull him away from the wall so he promised that he'd go home as soon as he began to get cold. Until then he would think about his parents, indulging in his unhealthy whim until the sun rose. And then he would push away those thoughts again and go on living as the Number One Hyperactive Knucklehead Ninja, who never thought deep thoughts like these, who never showed his doubt, who laughed and annoyed people but never ever let them see how much they hurt him. Until dawn he would be weak…
The day you slipped away
Was the day I found it won't be the same.
Sasuke Uchiha had many people to remember this night and only one to forget. He remembered his mother and father, his aunts, uncles and extended family. He remembered birthdays, and Christmas times, remembered the laughter and happiness. He tried desperately to forget the blood, to forget his brother's maniacal laughter as he struck down all that Sasuke had held dear, leaving him, the soul survivor out of a family of hundreds. He tried to forget whirling red eyes in darkness and falling to his knees only to feel wetness as his loved ones' blood seeped through the knees of his pants. He pressed a hand against his eyes, feeling the burn of tears behind the closed lids. He didn't want to cry – he was afraid that if he began he would never stop. There was so much pain he wanted to forget, but never could. He lost his fight against the grief and began to cry in terrible, tearing sobs, covering his face with his hands and letting the heartache pour out in hot, salty water. Just for tonight he would allow himself to bleed. Tomorrow he would begin the fight against his past all over again.
I've had my wake up
Won't you wake up?
I keep asking why.
And I can't take it
It wasn't fake it.
It happened, you past by.
Kakashi Hatake wasn't watching the sky like four young people were. He was gazing at a stone on which was carved the names of his best friends. He stood silently in a deserted clearing and thought about the Uchiha who had saved his life as a boy. He thought about the medic-ninja who'd been his other team mate. Both were carved on this stone, had been for years. Kakashi lifted a hand slowly to his forehead protector, untying it and pulling it away. He stared at the stone with eyes that were, for the moment, both black, not one black, one red. Obito's gift had been reclaimed for the night, Kakashi didn't need the eye to remember his dead best friend. Tonight was about remembrance. He sat down on the ground next to the stone and leant against it, thoroughly disrespectful but seemingly the right thing to do. He tilted his head back and looked up at the stars. For a second he thought he could see his friend's face in the swirling grey clouds that cascaded across to hide the silvery moon.
Now you're gone
Now you're gone
There you go
There you go
Somewhere I can't bring you back.
Now you're gone
Now you're gone
There you go
There you go
Somewhere you're not coming back.
The day you slipped away
Was the day I found it won't be the same.
The day you slipped away
Was the day I found it won't be the same.
The stars were hidden and suddenly the world seemed too dark. Kakashi sighed and stood up to go home, putting his forehead protector back on as his left eye turned back to its usual red. He grinned suddenly as he wondered how many other people had been remembering the past and those who had inhabited it. He walked home as the sky opened up and began to pour its watery tears down upon the earth. The song was whispering through his soul and banging inside his head. He turned just as the memorial stone wavered in his sight, hidden by the rain. He searched for the words to say what he wanted to, but then, finding none, he just smiled slightly and turned to continue the long, soggy trip home. He would always remember them…
I miss you…