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Of Life And Death
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Life is just a game. A game that nobody can win. Some just lose this game sooner than others do. Some quit of their own free will, and others are forced to stop playing. And no matter how much we wish we could take back a move and do it over, no matter how much we want to start over, we can't. This game cannot be reset. You don't have a choice in whether you stop playing it, or even if you begin playing at all. And once you stop, once your part in the game is over, once you lose, you can't play it again. You only ever get one chance.
I am one of the less fortunate players. I have had nothing but bad luck since I began to play this game. The players in my alliance, those I could call my friends and family, have died, one by one. The ones who did not die yet, who are still playing, are now against me. Even the girl I loved is an enemy now. We are on opposite sides of the board. Far away from each other, never to join forces again.
Every step we take changes what we will face in the later stages of this game, or whether there will be later stages at all. Everything we do counts towards either keeping us alive and in the game, or killing us and taking us out of it.
As the players in this unbeatable game, we struggle through every level, every stage, and in the end, there is no reward for playing. At most, there is a headstone, announcing your few accomplishments, but even then, it is not what you did as a person. It is what you did as a shinobi that people care about. They don't care about you as a human being. And even at that, what is the point in being revered if you are not around to know?
As in any game, there are obstacles we must conquer, and temptations we must resist. There are people who try to use us to accomplish their own goals, to win, even though it is not possible to win this game. They try to defy the boundaries set by the powers that be to keep us from winning, and in the end, they lose anyway, despite all their efforts to win, or at least stay in the game past their time.
In this game, however, there are no compensations for things lost. There is nothing to help us along, to make it easier for the "heroes" to win. In this game, good does not always triumph over evil. And once you lose, there are no extra lives. There are no second chances.
So why play a game that you cannot win? Many have asked themselves this over the years, and have found no answer. Even I, of the Uchiha, a group of the strongest players of my starting point, do not know. It is doubtful that I ever will. That anyone ever will.
All we know is that no matter how difficult it is, no matter how many hardships we must endure, and no matter how much we lose along the way, if we do not continue playing, there is only one other alternative.
And no-one wants to face that alternative.
-Owari-
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Author's Note: A depressing little drabble that is the result of yet another heated argument. Sometimes I, like Sasuke, wonder if keeping friends is worth the arguments and hurtful words exchanged. But as they say, good friends are hard to find, even harder to keep, and impossible to forget. That's all too true for this friend. And to her, if she is reading this, I'm sorry.