Naruto and Sakura
Naruto sighed and sank back lower, his butt drooping over the lowest bar of the railing. He gazed up at the Hokage mountainside, his gaze longing.
Wish I was that strong, he thought glumly, his mind traveling hazily to the Valley of the End. It was a hot summer's day, too hot for his brain to register pain and regret fully. But the nagging was still there, chomping happily on his brain. He sighed again, his fingers losing grip on the railing, and he slid back till he plopped onto the hard concrete of the balcony.
"Clumsy as ever, eh, Naruto?" a lazy voice behind him drawled, and Naruto turned his head, frowning.
"Hey, Shikamaru," Naruto called, turning back to the mountainside, still frowning.
Shikamaru leaned against the railing Naruto had recently been sitting on, the picture of ease. "Nice day, huh?" he commented, but in a tone that told Naruto it was a rhetorical question.
"This is sort of your spot, isn't it, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked, still sprawled on the ground. Shikamaru nodded, a small smile on his lips. "Sure is peaceful," Naruto said, his eyes on the fissure that ran through the Third's stone face.
"I come up here when I need to get away. What are you getting away from?" Shikamaru asked, still gazing up at the sky. Naruto appreciated how insightful Shikamaru really was and covered his face with his hands, feeling defeated.
"Well, it's just . . . things sort of began to unravel when the old man died, don't you think? I mean, his death was a huge blow to the village, and it left us all weak. A perfect opening for an attack. So that Itachi guy and the fish dude showed up, and that sort of set off Sasuke. And now . . . things are just so different. It all started began with the old man's death . . . it all began with that snake Orochimaru." Naruto sighed for the third time, and peeked out through a crack in his fingers to stare once again at the Third Hokage.
Shikamaru was silent for a while. Naruto switched his gaze to look at him, and Shikamaru was now pursing his lips, gazing at the mountainside.
"Yeah, that does sort of sum up how it feels," he finally said, turning his head to give Naruto a small, sad smile. "But you can't dwell on the past, 'cause it only fogs up the present. But you gotta remember that nothing happened in vain. We were all pushed down a little bit by the devastation of the Hokage's death, but we need to remember how proudly he spoke of our village and remember that it was precious enough to the guy for him to die for it. That strengthened all of our wills and determination. And . . . Sasuke leaving . . . it does suck, but think of how much stronger and wiser it made you. You learned from the experience, and it's driving you to train harder than ever before; same goes for Sakura. Everything sucks a little bit, but if you focus hard enough, you might be able to find the good, no matter how small it is. The more you focus on it, the bigger and bigger the inspiration it gives gets. You just have to try to be positive," Shikamaru said, scratching his chin absent-mindedly.
Naruto could only gape at him. Good grief! Did Shikamaru say this kind of stuff on a daily basis?! He was like a mini philosopher! After several awe-struck minutes, Naruto finally said, "You should write a book."
Shikamaru laughed and gazed up at the clouds. "Way too time consuming. I'd rather sleep or something." Shikamaru turned to look at Naruto, who was still on the ground. "Just so you know, you look like a total idiot."
While Naruto scowled, a familiar voice called, "What, even more than usual?"
Without even looking up, Naruto moaned, "Sakuraaaa!" and ambled clumsily to his feet, a huge pout on his face. Shikamaru laughed at his facial expression and patted Naruto on the shoulder.
"Tough break, kid," Shikamaru chortled, nodding at Sakura, who walked over to the railing and poked Naruto playfully.
"Just joking, doofus. But let's try to stay on our feet, shall we?" Sakura asked, smiling as Naruto climbed onto the railing, sitting on the top bar with his feet dangling over the edge. "What are you guys doing up here, anyway? Imagining your face on that mountain, Naruto?"
Naruto stuck his tongue out at her and said indignantly, "You won't be acting so high and mighty when my face really is engraved up there, and when I'm known as the greatest Hokage ever to grace this village!" His roiled-up spirit diminished slightly and he added, "but we were really up here talking about how things started going downhill and uphill at the same time since the old man died."
Sakura's eyes widened, and she swallowed. She leaned against the railing, also staring up at the mountainside. "Yeah, I've thought that too," she said quietly, her green eyes sober. "And yeah, I've also thought of the positive stuff, like how much stronger it has made the hearts of our village. It's not really fair, is it?" she suddenly asked, her eyebrows pulled down. "Everything was going fine, we were all getting along, and then one thing sets off an avalanche of disaster. Like a game of dominoes. Once the first falls, the rest follow suit."
This saddened both Naruto and Sakura, but Shikamaru piped up, saying, "Well, yeah. But you know how sometimes in a game of dominoes, if you set one too far apart from the one in front of it, it doesn't get hit and doesn't fall over, and neither do the ones behind it. Kind of reminds me of our village. When stamina is defeated, our hearts stand apart from physical skill and remain strong, and that's stronger than any stamina."
Again, all Naruto could do was gape, along with Sakura.
"Geez, Shikamaru, I'm dead serious about the whole book thing, now. You'd change so many people's lives," Naruto said, looking at Sakura for encouragement, and she nodded, her eyes wide. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and tried not to smile.
See? Naruto felt like asking out loud to the leaves dancing in the wind. We're all okay. You can try to take us down, but we're all okay. You think you can bring us to our knees, but we're all bound to an iron pillar that won't fall no matter what.
A raven soared past, and Naruto saw Sakura's eyes rest on it, just as his did. Naruto mentally shook his head and looked from the raven, now flying away, to the faces of the brave leaders that had once lead the village through times of trouble at the cost of their own lives. Naruto thought of their example, and how the village looked up to their former leaders with courage and faith.
With a flip in his stomach, Naruto saw that Sakura was also looking at the mountainside, the raven no longer in sight.
We're okay.