Children of Sorrowful Fate
AN: Naruto is not mine, though the second generation is.
Book Three, Chapter Eight
It was still raining at the funeral, a slow and steady rain that seemed to echo the tears everyone had.
Hitori stood quietly at the memorial stone after everyone had left, her eyes strangely dry, one of the few sets that were.
She watched as Teuchi and Ayame placed a bowl of pork miso ramen down next to the sake that Shizune had brought. Other villagers came with small reminders of the blond shinobi.
Kiba had somehow found the old photograph of Team Seven.
"He asked me to," the canine nin said to the girl as she looked at him in wonder, "I think he knew..." Akamaru whined a bit, and he turned to the old dog, "We had to sniff it out of some old debris, but I know that he wanted you to have it."
She took the picture in it's shattered frame gingerly, "Is there an old picture of Mama's team?" she asked in a small voice.
He nodded a bit, "I always carry one with me. Shino and I sometimes meet up and talk about those days." he handed it to her, "We were angry at him for the longest time, but..."
She smiled, "Daddy would have just taken your punches," her lip quivered, "That's just how he was."
He placed a hand on her shoulder and walked away leaving her looking at the two pictures. Strangely, though she felt like screaming and yelling, she still stood silent, with dry eyes.
The tears had stopped coming as they drug her away from his corpse, now as she stood at his memorial stone, they just didn't flow.
She folded the two pictures so that it looked like her parents were standing next to each other and smiled very briefly, there weren't that many pictures of them together, she and Neji had one of the only ones at their house.
Now there wouldn't be any. She looked up at the stone, with the many offerings from everyone he had ever affected, many of whom she had never met, littered the ground. More people came and went, the procession lasting for hours, all of them clasping her shoulder as they left.
A tired call from Chi, and she nodded, clapped her hands, and offered a silent prayer for her father, for his friend, and for her mother. Clapping again, she bowed and left the memorial.
"How was the funeral?" Neji asked as she laid her head on the hospital bed he was in.
"I didn't know Daddy had touched so many people," she whispered, "I mean, I had heard and everything, but to see everyone come..."
He patted her head, "That's the legacy he left you," she looked up at him, "Your father was loved greatly by those who knew him, even those who once considered him an enemy. He somehow got under our skin, and every time he showed us that we could be better."
She nodded, "I don't know if I can live up to that."
"You can try," he smiled, "That's all you need to do." he looked over at the door where he noticed Chozo and Kiyoshi peeking in at her, "Your friends are waiting on you... Taran is heading back to Suna tomorrow, you should try and spend some time with him instead of worrying over me."
"They were probably visiting Shiro." she smiled though, even if it was a sad one, and kissed her uncle on the cheek before leaving.
It was a long moment before any of them spoke as the three walked out of the hospital, and it was Kiyoshi who broke the silence, "Shiro's doing much better. They said something about having to take him back to the clan home to reintroduce the beetles though."
"That's good," Hitori chewed her lip.
"He asked about you," Chozo said, "Hey, do you want to get some cinnamon buns?"
She stared at him for a moment, vaguely remembering that it was her favorite food he was asking about, an attempt to make her feel better.
"M...maybe later," she whispered, "Um... is it alright if I catch you guys later? Your dad's cooking a dinner tonight for everyone right?" the plans were made before the chunin exams had started, back when the two teams had met, Chozo had invited everyone to his house for a banquet before they had to go back to Suna.
At the time it sounded like a great idea... before everything...
"Yeah he's still doing that," Chozo said quietly, "Jin and Lian are coming too," he reached into his pocket and handed her a bag of chips, "Be there at eight alright."
She nodded, and ran off, leaving the two alone.
"Should we go after her?" Kiyoshi asked.
"Nah," Chozo stared after her, "We're not the ones who can talk her through this."
Hitori ran through the streets of Konoha, then jumped to the roofs, not even sure of where she was going, just that she had to go somewhere.
She ended up on the Hokage monument, right on her grandfather's head, and she collapsed down, hugging her knees and burying her face in them.
"You're really going to sit around and mope?" Taran asked as he came to stand next to her.
"Like you can say anything," she retorted, "I remember Uncle Gaara having to force feed you after Auntie Maya died, and you cried for weeks."
He sat down, "Yes, but I was seven then, and very much in love with my mother. That and she was the whole world to us. You remember."
She nodded, "Yeah, she was always with us wasn't she, and those walks we took," she giggled, "Do you remember how we delivered lunches and Grandfather Ebizo would always slip those carved animals in my pocket before his nurse chased us out."
"There's still the mad rumor that he finally gave up on life because he could no longer have my mother's cooking," Taran said quietly, "Hitori... your father came back now for a reason."
"I have to be strong," she said venomously, "I have to carry on his will... damnit, Taran I've been hearing it all day." Tears did finally come to her eyes, "All I ever wanted was my Daddy, and he finally came back and he..." she couldn't finish, and her face turned back to her knees, "Why did they have to fight anyway? What's so damn important about who has the bijuu anyways? What the hell were Kurai and his father doing?"
He chewed his lip, then taking a deep breath, wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed into his chest.
"Your daddy came back because he was worried about you." a new voice said, an elderly one, and both children stared in wonderment at the old toad, leaning heavily on a cane, "When that ghost of a crow came and told him about your being sick, he rushed back. And in that he realized he had to finally finish that fight he started so long ago." he hobbled over, and reached into a pocket, "He wanted you to have this," he handed her an old, dog-eared book, "And when you're ready... Myobokuzan is waiting."
She clutched the book, "But... I don't have a contract with the toads... Daddy said he was going to let me sign it after we finished the rasengan training."
"That's not a problem," Fukusaku smiled sadly, "If memory serves, that Konohamaru has a contract with us, ask him and he'll get you to sign it." he pointed to the book, "Read that first. All of your father's hopes and dreams are based in that book. If you're going to pick up the fight from him, then you figure out what it was he was fighting for."
With that the toad disappeared, leaving Taran and Hitori staring at the volume in her hands.
"The Tale of the Gallant Ninja..." she looked at him, "Have you ever read it?"
He smiled and nodded, "I won't spoil it for you." he stood, "I'll see you tonight at the Akimichi residence?"
"Yeah, I'll be there," she smiled softly, the tears finally ebbing, and she turned back to the book, and opened the first page, "The Tale of the Gallant Ninja...written by Jiraiya... dedicated to the children of this violent world..." she continued reading in silence from her perch over the village.
Above her, Chi watched her quietly from his branch.
"Are you sure she's coming?" Choji asked his son, as he glumly finished setting out the dishes.
"I don't know..." Chozo said just as glumly and Kiyoshi smiled gently at him from where she was sitting next to her sister.
"Will you two stop, it's getting annoying," Kiyomi grumbled.
"I think it's interesting," Jin said as he scribbled in his sketchpad, "The puppet shows more compassion than the master."
"How the hell did you defeat me," came another grumble, "Still... you think that Taran had a chance to speak with her?"
"It would make the journey back a bit more pleasant," Kiyoshi noted, "But I don't know." She surveyed the rest of the guests, many of the adults that were in Naruto's age group were talking together, and even though she noted laughter coming from them, their eyes were sad and tearful. "They must be telling stories about his life," she mused, "I wonder how much of them they told to Hitori."
"Nearly all," she looked up to see Aiko standing next to them, tears still in the red eyes, "As soon as she set foot back in this village, she sought everyone out for stories."
"Do you think she'll come here tonight?" the sand puppet asked.
The red-eyed girl shook her head, "No... but she'll most likely be at the gates in the morning, doing her best to give you a cheerful goodbye. That's just how she is... just like how he was."
They didn't notice Taran taking a bento box from Choji after a hushed conversation, or the older man smiling at the boy, "Take care of her for us."
He slowly nodded and disappeared in a swirl of sand.
On top of the hokage monument, where he had left her earlier, Hitori was still reading, activating her byakugaun to read in the dim evening light.
"Wouldn't it be more efficient to carry a flash light?" he asked sighing.
She jumped and turned towards him, "I... I suppose... but I didn't grab one on my way out this morning, and I really didn't want to go back into the..." she stopped as he tossed her one from his pockets, "Thank you."
He set down the bento, "You do know everyone is worried about you?"
"Just a little longer, then I'll go back and talk to everyone," she smiled, "I think I see what Grandfather Toad was saying about this book though... it does have Father's dreams and hopes in it."
"So what are you going to do?"
"I haven't fully decided yet, but I'll be able to tell you in the morning," she looked up at him, "Don't leave without my saying goodbye alright."
He nodded, then the sand came and he was gone.
"Taran... she's not coming," Kiyomi said, "We should get going..."
"No," he said, "You two can go ahead, I'll wait." the twins gave each other a look, and nodded.
"Catch up quickly," Kiyoshi said, "We still have to make a report." the two ran after Temari and Kankuro, who had left a few moments ago.
Gaara stood quietly by, watching his son, "She promised you?"
He nodded.
"Then she'll come."
The words barely left his mouth when the girl in question jumped in between the two of them, "I made it!" she said happily, "I was so worried when I found out I had fallen asleep up there."
"Everyone else had already left," Taran said, "Have you decided?"
She nodded, "I have to go track down Sensei in a bit, and then somehow mull it over with Uncle Shikamaru, but if I can get Grandfather Toad to explain..." she shook her head to stop the rambling. "Taran... I'm going to continue what Daddy and Grandpa Jiraiya were fighting for. I think I have to. So I'm going to go disappear for a long while to that place... Promise me though," she chewed her lip, "You won't forget me right?"
Emerald eyes widened, "How could I?" he asked, "For all I know I'm going to get a letter everyday complaining on the humidity levels there."
She shook her head, "There won't be any letters this time, but I'm not going to forget you, so you can't forget me and let Shukaku get any sort of hold. Because everything he'll try to say about me is going to be a lie, I'll be thinking about you the whole time."
She hugged him then, and then went to hug Gaara, and then skipped merrily back into the village, going to track down Konohamaru and the Hokage.
"I won't have to tell you how much of her father is in her," the Kazekage said to his son, "You've seen the memories."
Taran turned so that his father wouldn't see exactly how red he had turned, "Let's go home," he grumbled, a very small smile coming to his lips. She's going to be alright after all.