Chapter 2: Leaving

The bee is not afraid of me;
I know the butterfly;
The pretty people in the woods
Receive me cordially.
The brooks laugh louder when I come,
The breezes madder play.
Wherefore, mine eyes, thy silver mists?
Wherefore, O summer's day?

-Emily Dickinson

Two cats sit stoic at the entrance. No one is home. This estate lies just outside the walls of Kumogakure. Stones too tall to crawl over line the perimeter making it impossible to see what's inside. It is backed up against a mountain. Looking closely, one can see stairs emerging from behind the walls that have been cut into the mountainside. They lead to a place above the cloud-line. Twilight looms painting the front façade a deep orange, mixing with its natural stone-blue hue.

Visitors are few to Kumo. Not much word of other villages reaches its inhabitants. They live their secluded existence, oblivious to what occurs beyond the mountain range. No one acknowledges the grand walls of the last remaining Uchiha estate as they pass. It is a blemish on the face of their home. The boy who lives there is as elusive as a star on a cloudy night. What few sightings the villagers have of him circulate only as rumors.

Sasuke opens his eyes to a heavily shadowed Kumo. Somehow, his home looks almost like it exists within the village walls viewed from so high a place. Maybe it's only his desire manifesting, changing his vision. Shifting his view to the incoming cloud cluster, he watches as the sky whitewashes the valley floor. He closes his eyes just before the last bit of earth is covered by cloud. The next time he opens them, it is dark.

The stretch of his leg makes him yawn as he prepares for his descent down the mountainside. This outcropping has been Sasuke's place of solace every since his family was murdered. The top step is marked by two tall pedestals which hold oil in bowls to be burned for light. He clinches the fire. Down one step.

Rain. Down the next.

I guess it's time to leave. In all his years, never has it rained while Sasuke was on the mountain. The message in each drop that dampened his clothes was all too clear: leave. It was not a malicious request, but one of reassurance. Sasuke had felt the need to get out of Kumo for quite some time now. The rain on the mountain simply told him it would be okay. The estate meant nothing though Sasuke was using it as an excuse to stay. If he left, the people of Kumo would destroy it. They would remove the last remaining blemish. Sasuke still had his fire. He still had his clan.

Naruto wakes before the sun as usual. Not that it would shine in his apartment anyway. He doesn't know why he wakes up so early. It's not like he has anything to do. No one waits for him. No one makes breakfast for him. Breakfast. Oyakodon again. Naruto's made it so many times, he can cook it by muscle memory alone even in his half-asleep state.

Through hazy vision he inspects his plants, rice stuck to his cheek. Realization that the sun wasn't coming out today came when rain flooded his bowl of egg and rice. Had he been more awake, he probably wouldn't have stepped outside to check on his outdoor creations. I guess the rain is still apologizing for leaving the earth. The grayness of the sky somehow made Naruto's blue eyes glow with unprecedented radiance. He grew accustomed to seeing them in his reflection, but everyone passing stares at their brilliance.

I think I'll leave for awhile. His plants were telling him they would be okay. Just a few days. And so Naruto packed: some clothes, a little food, and a promise to find something new.