A bouquet of aloe and basil was placed at the headstone, and a weary hand scraped away dust and dirt to better read the letters engraved there.
Mebuki tried to smile with trembling lips at the gravestone of her only daughter, clasping her hands in her lap as she knelt before it.
"Hello again, sweetie," she greeted. "I'm so sorry I haven't been able to visit as much lately."
Her words caught in her throat, emotion suddenly surging forth despite her best efforts to restrain it. She blinked rapidly, swallowing hard past the lump in her throat. She brought out a handkerchief to dab her watery eyes, giving a little sniffle.
"Um," her voice wavered. "So. I think you'd be pleased to know that… um… your little brother has finally decided not to try to become a shinobi."
Sniffling again, she tried to laugh. "It's funny… I should be so disappointed. My child's dreams are being crushed, and yet… all I can feel is relief. Things are really… really bad down here, Sakura."
Mebuki dabbed at the corners of her eyes again and straightened her back a bit. "Your father finally got a big order," she reported with a tiny smile. "A rich one, it seems. They want outfits for the… um… for the royal wedding happening in a few days."
Then her smile faded. "Oh… right. I suppose I didn't tell you. Sasuke is getting married, finally, and it seems like he really likes this one."
The aging woman bowed her head. "I wish you could be here, my poor little girl… How I miss your comfort. Perhaps you could have kept our family together. Your aunt wants nothing to do with us now, not when we're…" she trailed off, staring into space for a moment, before starting again awkwardly. "Well, anyway, she wants nothing to do with the protesters in Konoha. Her husband has talked at length about blasting them with fire jutsu should they come knocking on their door… so that's… nice."
Her lips trembled once more, and she sniffled loudly. "I wish you were here, darling. I wish I could hold you in my arms again."
Nothing but silence answered her. Nothing ever would answer her… not that she expected it by now. Six years of silence had passed her by, and she was starting to feel a little silly talking to her dead daughter's headstone.
A gentle breeze rustled through her graying hair then, and Mebuki's pale green eyes brightened with hope. She smiled, clasping her hands together as it tousled her hair and brushed against her wet cheeks.
"I wish I could have more than just the wind as your word from thereafter," she murmured with a heavy sigh that seemed to drain the very life from her shoulders. "Please, gods… hear my pleas. Please watch over our little family. Please give us deliverance."
"It won't be long now," Sasuke assured the headstone as he lay down a few buds of chamomile flowers. As he lay his hand on it, feeling its warmth seep through his skin, he smiled. "I've found a surefire way to bring you back. That book… that man has helped me beyond what words can describe. I'd never known such a technique existed - or that it could be used like this."
A breeze rustled through his hair, sending a little shiver up his back.
"Soon, I'll be able to see you again," he continued softly. "Naruto, you, and I. Just like it used to be. Who knows? Maybe if the technique goes as well as I suspect, perhaps I could bring back Hinata too. It would be like old times again."
Then, after a moment of thinking, he frowned, brushing his thumb across the stone. "I'm sorry I haven't told you… I'm getting married soon. I think you would really like her, though. She reminds me so much of you."
Letting out a deep sigh through his nose, he knelt before the stone and bowed his head. "If I had it my way, I would be marrying you," he confessed. "I'm sorry I didn't realize my own feelings before I lost you. But I've been looking through the ancient texts, and it never mentions anything scorning the heir having a second wife." He winced. "As disrespectful as it sounds to call you a second anything, perhaps Mother and Father would honor a marriage between us once I become king."
He closed his eyes, pressing his forehead to the headstone. "Praying to the ancestors didn't save you. Pleading with the gods couldn't save you. So now it's up to me alone to bring you back… and I don't intend to lose a battle with anyone, least of all a god."
Then his eyes opened, blazing Sharingan meeting the sky, a silent dare towards the heavens. "No... because I'd sooner become a god myself than rely on any higher power again."
Nothing except the wind would answer him, threading through his hair and caressing his cheeks, and he took it as a silent plea from the hereafter to hurry.
