Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I do, however, own every single spelling error in this thing. Sigh
Song: Little Wanderer
Artist: me!
The bar was still alive, even so long into this dreary night. Maybe that was why it was still crowded. The air still smelled of smoke and sake, and pretty girls in bright dresses weaved threw the tables, tossing large smiles over their shoulders.
The man in the corner ignored the fools, preferring to stare out the blurred window, into the rain struck street. Dark eyes glared at nothing as his fingers tapped his sake mug lightly. Dark hair framed his face, mostly hidden in the shadow of his hood.
Laughter erupted again, and someone called for more sake, their rough voice grating on his ears. Whoever it was demanded a toast, and nearly every person in the place replied jubilantly, before the band once again began to play and the dances started back up.
Fools, everyone of them, celebrating while a war raged on their doorstep.
A soft tug had the young man jumping violently, instinctively yanking his hand free and sliding a freshly sharpened kunai free. The metal gleamed in the dim light, reflecting in his targets large, pale blue eyes.
He glared at her warily; a small, slight girl with long silver hair and strange blue eyes. Her cloths were ragged, and several fading bruises decorated her face, marring the snow white skin.
" Penny for yer' Tellin' , sir?"
Dark eyes glared down at the girls open face. " I don't need my future told,"
Her strange eyes seemed to flickering in the dim firelight. "That's 'cause you don't be having' one, now ain't it?"
He glared down at her, not lowering the kunai still held at her throat. "I don't feed scroungers," he snapped in disgust.
" Just a penny piece, Mister!" She pleaded, seemingly uncaring towards the knife pressed against her skin.
"Go away,"
"But mister-"
"Why are you so determined to annoy me?"
The girl blinked her eyes, and he notice that they were familiar. "You look like 'im, you do."
Another glare.
"That' man that'd come threw here occasionally," She elaborated. "The one with the red eyes,"
The young man suddenly seemed much more aware of her. "What about him?"
She shrugged, "You look like 'im, is all,"
The mans shoulders slumped slightly in resignation. 'I give you a penny piece, you leave me be, got it?" She nodded eagerly, dirty white hair stinging her jaw.
He continued to glare and tossed her the bit. "There,"
She seemed to consider him, then closed her eyes. The roar of the crowd started up again, and the bar tender shouted out to someone in the back. After a moment, the young man gave in and lowered his kunai.
The girls eyes opened, and the firelight once again shaded her face.
"You gotta let go of the past, mister," She told him seriously, "What's done is done, it's today that yer livin'', aint it? I mean," she continued, "you need to remember, sure, but you can't live for a memory," Her pale face tilted slightly, considering him once more. "You ain't a bad person," She determined. "Yer just like me,"
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Your eyes," She said simply, and her blue eyes seemed to burn him. "They're just like mine,"
He snorted, sipping his sake.
She stared at him, those familiar eyes still taunting him, accusing, almost.
"He doesn't blame you, ya know," She said calmly. "none of them do. They just want you to come home, is all,"
He remembered where he'd seen eyes like that before, and glared at her harshly, standing and slamming his sake down. Without another word he walked to the bar to ask for a room, leaving the girl with the azure eyes behind him, where she belonged.
The room was a plain one, better than the ones he'd stayed in before. Rain tapped on the cheap window, and the bed creaked as he lay back on the cool sheets.
Quiet.
The memories played out across the ceiling, brighter days, leaving him feeling almost nothing. Just the itch in his feet. To get moving. To walk.
Walk where? He wondered with a ting of bitterness. It seemed sometimes that he never would stop walking. No matter where he went, the need remained.
He remember summer skies and cherry trees. Laughter and a life that didn't really matter.
So why wouldn't it fade away? Why did they remain?
He hated that the memories didn't hurt, that they blurred and faded with time. And then he hated the memories simply because he remembered them.
His feet seemed to ache.
Ka-san used to say that, if you were to close your eyes at the end of any road, any path, and just keep walking, you'd find your way back home. 'It's in your blood,' she'd say. Your heart knows the way, and your feet will always lead you home, no matter how long the road.'"
Only he had no home. So why did it feel like something was pulling at him? Driving?
He sighed and rolled onto his stomach, banishing such foolish thoughts. Things like that didn't matter. Nothing of that life was left. He felt a curios sensation in his stomach at the thought of burning down the village, erasing the past...
"You need to remember..."
"Don't forget..."
He shook his head to scatter such things, and exhaled, losing himself in the roar of the thunder and tap of the rain.
She sat on the balcony of what used to be a house. Now it was just a skeleton of bad memories and a wasted life. Her hair want' long and shinny, it was short and mattered. Her cloths weren't made by her Ka-san, but scrounged from the street.
She missed him, the strange man with the red eyes. Eyes like hers. So sad. She wished she could have made him smile, just once. A real smile, with no sorrow or pain hidden behind those eyes.
Her breath frosted in the rain chilled air, and she rubbed her arms. It was quiet, now, the celebration over, and the words once again burned the back of her throat.
"Don't forget..."
That night she sang.
For the first time in 4 years, the white hair little wanderer sang. The sad song wound into the villagers bones, pushed at the sky, as if straining to break fee and and turn into something so different, something the made your heart and blood sing, and feed your voice with fire.
But for now, it was a broken voice, bruised from disuse. But it was there.
(*)
Halo of silver light, yet to dance across the sky,
Drips it's tears across his face, as if to ask him why,
Broken promises and forgotten dreams,
seep, scarlet, into dust,
and as the silence fills my heart,
evanescent in it's peak,
leaving me among the ash,
with words still left to speak...
(*)
Keep on walking, little wanderer,
and one day you shall see,
that despite the life we live,
We're where we need to be...
(*)
And there it was. Her heart began to pound, and the words flew into the air, tearing at the colorless sky with sharp fingers and fangs, The villagers stirred in their sleep, and the heavens rumbled their delight.
(*)
With these bleeding hands of mine,
I'll re-write the story that they wrote,
erase the pain and burn away-
all that should have never been,
Falling up, just waiting,
Angel mine,
watch me as I break away,
(*)
And as my feet come to a stop,
I'll hold out my broken heart,
I know that it's a lot to ask but still,
not once did you tear it apart...
For of all the places that I have seen,
only one rings true,
And in the end it's threw those gates,
standing next to you,
REVEIWS!
And thanks for reading!
Like, a Ton!
Your's in Insantiy,
Jayne