Epilogue
A soft breeze is tugging at the hair and clothes of the two shinobi walking between the granite stones glistening in the morning sun. The grass softly bends with the wind, letting a shimmer flow across the open field.
Both are silent as they approach the only tree standing there. It's massive trunk, rough and scarred, and wide canopy, dressed in lush green leaves make it appear as if it has stood there for decades. Yet, it is the only one in this field, screening two of the stones, placed exactly between them. As if someday, someone, somehow had simply dropped it there.
The younger shinobi steps up to the stones and looks at them, hands shoved into his pockets and the kunoichi heads towards the one just to the left of them.
"The inauguration isn't for another hour. We got time," she calls.
"Yeah- I know." A wind gush makes his short locks dance wildly around his head. He crouches down and brushes some leaves of the right stone and picks up the flowers that had rolled off the left one.
After a while he speaks up. "You know- I can't remember them at all. Your dad and my sensei- all of them really- they always tell stories on what kind of people they were, what they did. At the academy they talked of them as war heroes." He pauses. "But that's really all they are to me. Stories. I look at their pictures and try to imagine them doing it all- but I can't."
The kunoichi gets back up, after having brushed over the stone and crosses her arms. "I'm sorry."
"No- you don't need to be. It's alright. It's just- sometimes they feel so surreal. As if they never really existed."
She shifts on her feet. "I can only remember your father vaguely. I mean, I was five after all. But when I try to think of him, the picture of a quiet and kind man pops into my head. I think I sat on his lap once, during dinner night, pulling at his locks. But maybe I only think I remember it because dad and mum always talk about it." She lets out a sigh. "But what I do know, is that you look exactly like him. The hair, your eyes, your nose- even the way you walk."
The boy hums and gets back up.
"And your mum. Well, I did know your mum a lot better than him. She was my godmother after all. But even her face slips away from my memory with every year. She-" The kunoichi lets out a soft chuckle. "Well, I would describe her as shy, but she wasn't. She was stubborn, that I definitely remember. But she was also very drawn back in public, or towards strangers. Always preferring being quiet to being loud. But then again- when she was with my dad or godfather-" She gives a quick nod over the stone in front of her, "and she was comfortable, well, then she could be really funny. And she would laugh a lot."
She steps back to the shinobi and puts her hand on his back. "You remind me a lot of her. I maybe start to forget what she looked like, but seeing you- I know exactly what kind of person she was. Just like you she sometimes had phases were she liked to be on her own, enjoy the silence. But the people she cared about, she cared about deeply."
"Sometimes I envy you. For remembering them- for having memories of them," he mumbles.
She opens her mouth and closes it again. "You know- something my dad never really tells-" The tree rustles softly in a breeze. "What I remember very sharply, because it was so unlike her- Your mum had been very sad the weeks before the war. A friend of her had died during the border incident that summer. She was angry and ill tempered, but I know now it had just been grief eating away at her." She lifts her finger and points to a spot just slightly to the right of them. "His grave's a few stones down from your godfather's. He was her best friend. I never really met him, but dad sometimes chats with mum about him, when talking about the others."
She takes her hand of his back, putting it in her pocket. "What I want to say- You're acting just like her back then. What happened on the mission- it was just bad luck. A chain of unfortunate events. What happened to your teammate-"
"Don't."
They fall silent again.
"I just wish I could talk with them, you know- Not only to them. But then again, I'm not even sure they're listening."
"No, they are. I'm sure of it."
Another breeze brushes along the grass, shaking the tree and letting the kunoichi's vest flap against her body.
Suddenly, the boys shoulders tense and his head snaps up, before they relax again.
So, he had felt our hands on his shoulders after all.