Thirty Kisses Theme 27 - Overflow

Shinobi do not cry. The must not cry. ANBU especially are forbidden from showing any emotion on their faces, for they are the elite. They must set an example for all others, and they must bottle all feelings and hide them deep inside themselves. It is a hard existence.

And she is a good leader, a great ANBU, and a beautiful woman all in one. And she does not cry. She did not shed a single tear throughout her entire life as a shinobi. She did not cry when her jounin sensei was killed in front of her genin cell. She refused to let the tears form when her mother passed away the day after she made chuunin. And all through the wars she had been through, she did not cry.

Even more importantly, she did not cry at his funeral. As she laid the white flowers at the memorial for him, she blinked them back. As she vowed to pay back the enemy she was strong enough not to cry. But when she came home, everything hit her. She was expecting his presence, expecting him to be there. And he wasn't. She had the bed all to herself. His swords were hung in their cases, instead of by the door where he usually put them. His coffee mug wasn't in the sink waiting to be washed, but in the cupboard, still clean.

The next day Uzuki Yuugao went to the memorial to cry. She took off her mask and lightly kissed his name, Gekkou Hayate, on that stone cold memorial. The tears she had held back all her life spilled forth, overflowing from her pretty eyes. She cried for her teacher, her mother, and all the friends she had lost. But most of all, she cried for the man she loved.