SONOROUS

(adj.) An impossibly deep and full sound.

Just like everything else, saying goodbye was never easy. But Naruto managed at his young age of twelve. Shikamaru and Choji were adopted a year ago, Kiba left last month, so Naruto had to go back to square one, building new bonds again, but he still kept contact with them through emails and skype.

Plenty of adults had taken interest in him before, but Naruto's withdrawn attitude made it difficult for him to be adopted, or so Orochimaru tried to explain lightly.

Naruto didn't want to put up an act to be favoured so he could be chosen to leave, he wanted to allow his instincts to take over whenever he met strangers so if he gets adopted, he wouldn't be afraid of disappointing his parent(s) when it came to his personality quirks.

Today, it seemed like it would be his lucky day; at least that was what Orochimaru promised.

Naruto woke up late as usual, in his comfortable bed, his window half open to let on fresh morning air to greet him with a crisp breeze.

Since it was his summer vacation he didn't need to worry about small trivial matters such as school, he laid there for a couple of minutes reluctant to leave the warmth his thick blanket kept for him before he remembered what Orochimaru would do if he slept past ten thirty.

Naruto only slept in once and had to wear a dress for the rest of the day while going out to buy groceries, humiliating yes, but extremely effective; A dress may not sound bad, but the dress Orochimaru kept for these occasions were mortifying that bordered on traumatic, the dresses could consist of having large Hawaiian flower prints that had clashing colors with polka dots everywhere, a bow at the waist, and yellow collar with a duck pattern.

It was ten fifteen when he decided to get out of bed and put on a new shirt and pants. Going downstairs to eat and play in the backyard. The back of the large house was Naruto's favorite, the grass was always soft to feel on his feet, each blade of grass was a thin slice of silk growing from the soil.

Today it seemed the majority of the other orphans had slept past ten thirty which meant they were destined to wear ugly pink dresses.

Poor bastards. Naruto thought, snickering to himself on guilty pleasure while he pondered what prank he would do today, would he apply superglue on the chaos and utensils today? Or would he clog all the toilets? Or better yet! Soak tampons and put them in the neighbour's mailboxes?

So much to do, with so little time.

His heavy debating distracted him from outside noises and the adult approaching him.

"Naruto." The voice called, a soft whisper that he'd mild hesitation.

It was a soft voice that seemed to be caring and serious, for a brief moment a boy with pale skin and nightfall hair appeared in Naruto's mind before turning his head quickly to have his hopes dashed to see a gentle looking man with spiked hair in a ponytail, cinnamon skin with a scar decorating the bridge of his nose horizontally to the middle of his cheeks.

"Who are you?" Was Naruto's first question, feeling uneasy with this man with him, afraid he might have wanted to hurt him since he was alone, of course this was common with every new adult that approached him.

"Well, my name is Iruka, I must have caught you off guard, sorry." He apologized, smiling at Naruto a friendly manner, slowly crouching to Naruto's eye level to meet eyes with the stubborn blond boy.

Just like the normal cycle, he was trying to get friendly with him, then he'd get tired of his stubbornness, and leave, at least that was how it was supposed to happen.

But he didn't seem to get the message. "So Naruto, what do you like?"

"Ramen duh." Blinking to himself in wonder as to why he answered when usually he avoided questions like these with a rude reply, he must have been reeling from fatigue.

"My favorite dish as well...what are you up to?"

He looked up to the innocent brown eyes, Naruto only scowled.

"Why do you care?"

Rude as it may have seemed, Naruto liked the orphanage he was at because he didn't believe he would fit anywhere else, he wasn't the orphan that everyone hated; he was just an orphan, any further than that was unnerving because change might have meant something bad.

Naruto wasn't ready for change.

Naruto expected Iruka to eventually give up in frustration, comment how aggravating he was, but instead, Iruka chuckled, his head lifted on the air to project his amusement.

"What's so funny?"

Iruka only shook his head, still smiling before he replied in a lighthearted tone.

"You know I was from this orphanage as a kid too."

"What? No way, you're too old." Naruto denied on disbelief, Iruka wasn't an old person in the eyes of an average person, he was in his early twenties, but Naruto liked over exaggerating.

"Orochimaru is sixty five years old did you know?"

"Liar!" Naruto shouted in rough laughter, the idea of Orochimari who looked to be around the age of thirty was absurd.

"I'm not lying, he really is that old." Iruka replied with a soft chuckle.

"So he's been taking care of kids since he was twenty or somethin?" Naruto urged his questions, quickly forgetting Iruka was a stranger.

To his surprise Iuka shook his head. "Not quite, you see, Orochimaru had quite a history, he started this orphanage a little under fifteen years if I'm correct."

This poked Naruto's curiosity, Orochimaru? Troubled past? The same person who enjoys hot saunas, crying over his soaps, reading gay porn to children?

The curiosity gleaming in Naruto's eyes did not go unnoticed. "You'll have to ask Orochimaru for yourself, not my place to say, I have to respect him since he's older." His voiced was slightly troubled, he wanted to tell Naruto since it was an intriguing story, but Naruto understood perfectly well that Orochimaru's story was his own story to tell.

"You're no fun! At least tell me what you were like as a kid here." Insisted Naruto, his stubborn will fading against Iruka's unyielding warmth. There was something in Iruka's eyes, empathy and kindness, the type that seemed so straightforward that Naruto couldn't look away.

"Well, can I take a seat?" a tanned hand gestured to the patch of grass beside Naruto. Eagerly the excited boy nodded. Naruto sat up, eagerly inching closer to Iruka.

Quietly Iruka started from entertaining pranks that succeeded more than they should have, and the pranks that just didn't work out, to the more serious stuff regarding how he became an orphan.

By the time he finished, it was lunch time and Naruto had to go back inside to help with the chores.

Iuka promised to come back, and he did. Every other week he came, Iruka along with Naruto wanted to visit more, but Iruka lived quite far away so it would have been troublesome to visit too much; Naruto understood this, he was patient for the days Iruka would visit him. Just as Iruka mentioned, Orochimaru had an interesting past. When Naruto asked and mentioned Iruka to Orochimaru, the pale man cackled before explaining that he was once part of a gang as a child that grew to the point of joining the Mafia. It was rather difficult to keep a calm expression as Orochimaru had told Naruto while he was netting a pink scarf.

Orochimaru explained he wasn't thinking during those times until his best friend had to pay the price by dying to protect him, to honour his friend Orochimaru abandoned his gang and worked on to develop a stable future, apparently the books(gay porn) he read to us were his friend's novels. The conversation regarding his background ended there, he switched to rambling about how cute Iruka was as a child, which Naruto tuned out as he washed the dishes as he already heard of Iruka's past.

After four months of consistent visiting, Iruka adopted Naruto, later explaining that he had been busy working hard to get a promotion to support Naruto better.

Though Iruka was overjoyed to adopt Naruto and call him his son, Naruto was drowning in terror.

'Son' wasn't Naruto, he wasn't supposed to have a father. Naruto was the orphan who would always be alone, his adoption was a mistake; despite his protests, he departed after his eccentric caretaker soaked him in tears and gave him a tight hug while the blonde boy had only one thought in his head

Why me?

This was a burning nightmare for Naruto. His hands shook slightly, clammy with nervous sweat, he wiped it off his orange pants, thinking it would be less noticeable on orange than his white shirt.

Suddenly, the future seemed bleak, the higher things were going for Naruto the more painful the fall would be.

And the fall made him acrophobic.

They say scars fade, and they do if you allow them to. But some people don't want lose those scars, afraid they'd forget the important memories that came with it; Iruka had gone through the same thing with his parents.

His Mother and Father were well loved by others for their patient and gentle natures, but that didn't seem to slow the unforeseeable murderer that approached them.

Many good people had died that day with Iruka's parents, when the corpses were found, they couldn't find the murderer even after he had been gunned down, the body just vanished.

Whatever happened to the body, Iruka knew the psychopath was still alive, though lonely crippled.

By some cruel trick the identification of the serial killer was vague to the point that they weren't sure if the serial killer was a man or woman, the only solid evidence they had was the newborn infant that was left behind by purpose; as if it was leaving a note that was written in a child's writing, explaining that the killer had done this because the baby's father had damned him.

The madman that had committed these horrible felonies suddenly disappeared, leaving a baby in his place to receive unjust treatment, hurting the baby from birth, the serial killer's plan succeeded by making the baby suffer.

The psychotic criminal had the vast intelligence to deduct that the public would be too ignorant to realize they were falling right into their expectations, taking on the roles perfectly in their game.

Unfortunately he was right on the mark, the entire town was blinded by hate their own anger once they saw the child that was left as proof as the murderer, to them there was no difference between a newborn to a bloodthirsty killer. The worst part of it all was that the town was tight and small, so everyone knew who Naruto was and what he represented.

Not a single person could forget that day of despair, very few were able to let go of their grudges. The ones who finally moved on were the ones that moved out of their small town to a more open and flowing city; Iruka had fought the pain inside himself, afraid he couldn't forgive because he was a coward.

To ease the pain, Iruka tried to bury his grudges so he could avoid thinking about it, it was out of sight, but it remained living like a leech crawling under his skin.

Reality caught up to him soon. Naruto, the proof of his festering grudge was laying in the cold snow, dying from the winter and water. Iruka had stayed late that night to fix the heater in the elementary school he was working at, wanting to keep the young students warm for school since the school principal was rather tight when it came to money.

The bus he stepped off of was the street Naruto had been found by him. A pale boy with jet black hair and natural striking eyes was close to tears as he tried to warm Naruto's trembling body.

Iruka was always a prepared man, so the cold weather was no bother to him, but when he saw that scene before him, his warmth ripped off his body, comfort was ejected as his grudge broke out in full throttle.

A mere child was dying, but the Naruto was that child. It was plain and simple, Iruka could walk away or call an ambulance.

The obsidian eyed boy slowly wept for Naruto, silently but Iruka couldn't ignore the desperate wreck those two were, so he took his phone out from his jacket's pocket and dialled the hospital. It was difficult to start, but Iruka forgave the grudge he held the moment his fingertips felt his cellphone.

Although he could have left right after he called with a clear conscience, his feet planted themselves in the snow, ignoring the chunks of snowflakes building up on his body as he watched.

Iruka felt uneasy for the rest of week, confused as to why until he found relief spread inside of him once he had heard the news of Naruto's recovery.

That small moment, a truth dawned upon Iuka; Naruto by himself was only a child. The whole town failed to see that, and so had Iruka.

Naruto never did anything to hurt anyone, but the adults failed to teach their children to accept others like Naruto. Iruka had held unrelated grievance against Naruto, as part of the older generation, he failed in forgiving.

But thanks to time, he started to heal because he reached out to forgiveness.

After two years went by, Iruka had concluded that by forgiving Naruto, that he could raise Naruto and give him the life he deserved, it was out of a sense of justice, but also out of the unexpected affection Iruka had for Naruto, it was platonic of course, like a brotherly affection even though neither had interacted with one another. Iruka saw himself in Naruto.

Alone and in desperate need of love.

Iruka believed in adults teaching the new generations their mistakes so that wrong judgments won't occur again; obviously his hometown was a lost cause, but Naruto wasn't.

Naruto knew suffering better than anyone, with proper nurturing Naruto could turn out to be a great man, someone that can empathize and forgive; to be the man Iruka had failed to grow up as.

Of course Iruka wanted to introduce himself to Naruto before adopting him it'd make the transition smoother. As expected, Naruto was distant at first, cold, and maybe a little pessimistic.

He still thinks of himself as worthless… Iruka would muse sadly to himself, getting angrier at himself for allowing a child to deteriorate to something empty, he could have prevented this from happening.

But to his relief, his remorse was short-lived when Naruto opened up to Iruka; Iruka expected more of a closed up reaction when they met, but he liked to think that Naruto could feel his good intentions, for that to be the reason why Naruto trusted him.

Whatever the reason was, Iruka would guarantee Naruto would never regret opening up to him. Iruka wouldn't let down Naruto after the world abandoned him.

He continued his visits through sharp management of his time, until finally he adopted Naruto.

What should have been a step forward to a new world seemed to be a possible threat to Naruto when he moved in.

Naruto was still extremely happy for most part, there were moments where Iruka would observe from the corner of his eye that Naruto would sometimes glanced outside and seem sad, like he was abandoned. Though Iruka might have been paranoid for no reason.

After a few weeks into their new family, Iruka found that Naruto was excitable, brash, and sometimes rude, it seemed whatever once weighed down on Naruto, it seemed to have lifted and faded.

Iruka never pressed on about what happened.

They were a family now, this had required time for Naruto to accept Iruka deeper inside his heart even though Iruka already accepted Naruto as his son.

Nonetheless, this didn't stop Iruka from being a good father, and it was worth every second of his time.

When it came to curfew, he'd make sure Naruto went to bed properly, ate his vegetables before eating his meat, taught, or at least attempted, Naruto manners, and scolded Naruto whenever he broke something or went overboard with his words.

Like every young adolescent, Naruto would lash back with his words from being yelled at but would later approach Iruka after calming down after some careful thinking, admitting Iruka was right and apologizing for his words.

Very soon the time came for Naruto's thirteenth birthday. This was Naruto's first birthday celebration and Iruka wanted to ensure that it would be perfect, to hopefully help Naruto take that one last step forward and allow himself to experience what a family was.

Inviting his friends from school seemed like a good idea but Iruka was afraid it wouldn't be clear enough for Naruto to see Iruka's intentions, Naruto wasn't the sharpest boy of his age, seemingly ignorant to subtle messages.

Deciding it would be best for his first birthday to be just them, Iruka hastily searched what gift Naruto would have liked.

To some grand luck, he found something of Naruto's interest; a fox plush with nine tails from his favorite band that were called Tailed Beasts to which Naruto favoured the ninth member who's symbol was a Nine Tailed Kitsune from Japanese mythology.

On the day Naruto left for school, Iruka thanked the higher force that Naruto had an extended field trip at school that day, something about laser tag for science, this meant Iruka had more time to cook Ramen and bake a birthday cake. Time was what he needed for this day to be a success.

Iruka wasn't the best at baking, last time he had attempted to bake a German Black Forest, he ended up burning it to a hardened statue of bread.

Luckily he created an edible birthday cake, with only 6 failures before, he was improving. Despite the exciting happiness Iruka felt a heavy pull in his stomach, he was worried Naruto would shut himself even more from this; but without taking risks like these, how was he supposed to achieve anything?

When the sun began to dip into the horizon, Naruto lazily unlocked the front door, yelling out "I'm home! I got socked by stupid fucking Kiba in the dark."

Iruka sighed.

Kiba was an even more rambunctious young boy that Naruto knew from the same orphanage, it was by mere luck that Naruto had enrolled in the same school. Iruka didn't necessarily like Kiba's potty mouth, but Iruka could tell from the gleam of the child's eyes, that Kiba was a soft hearted kid deep down.

"Who the hell brings their dog to laser tag? Kiba's dog ended up peeing every corner he could find, who pees that much anyway? Fuck!" Angrily, Naruto took off his shoes, mumbling in his breath about how Kiba joined his dog Akamaru in the pee fest, also peeing all over his shoes and shorts.

"Watch your mouth Naruto!" the adult warned, used to having to tone down Naruto's use of language.

Iruka lit up the candles on Naruto's cake before he headed to the front of the door, imagining the black eyes on Naruto's face.

Thinking back on it, Kiba had just moved schools to go to Leaf, so maybe it wasn't mere coincidence Kiba moved to a school farther away from his house, there wasn't anything called coincidence since everything happens for a reason.

Normally Iruka would have scolded harder for the swearing and name calling, but he refrained to do so since it was a special day, Iruka also knew that it wasn't uncommon for friends to call each other things and not mean it.

"Do you have a bruise? Are you bleeding?" Iruka asked by instinct, having gone through this phase many times when it came to the roughhousing at school, his hands rubbed the smooth skin of Naruto's chin, taking note of thin scrape that didn't need disinfecting since it had already been treated.

"Naw, I'm good like a sticker. What's with the flour in yer hair?"

Iruka chuckled and touched the side of his loose hair, the tips of his hand dusted with evidence of powder from his head.

"Yes well, I have gone through quite the endeavour that I am proud to say I succeeded." Iruka proudly stated, almost tempted to laughingly add that he was dead tired.

But it would be worth it to see Naruto happy. Slapping his hands against his pants to wipe off the excess flour on his hands Iruka gave a harmless smile, which Naruto was able to deduct the fatigue from Iruka's paler shade of skin; whenever Iruka was stressed or tired, his skin would turn a shade paler, barely noticeable to anyone except Naruto.

Naruto tilted his head to the right, one eyes slightly squinting and his mouth slightly parted.

"What d'ya mean by that?" Naruto asked when Iruka began to get up.

Shaking his head, anxious and amused to the idea of Naruto's clueless self, he walked to the dinner table which Naruto predictably followed like a puppy following a new discover

Thankfully Iruka had not spilled any flour on the ground, saving the trouble of mopping. The dinner room was a dusty black, with only a warm glow nestled in the middle. Iruka walked hurriedly to the table, smiling at Naruto nervously, fiddling with the end of his now powdery shirt with his clammy hands.

"What is…?" Naruto began in disbelief, his innocent curious expression dropped to confused shock, which worried Iruka, he wasn't sure if he had ruined their relationship by his impatience.

Silently Iruka cursed himself using extremely distasteful language, maybe this was too soon, but he had the right intentions so he went with it with confidence.

"It's your birthday isn't it? Come sit." He gestured with his left hand to the seat across the table from his own seat he was pulling up giving a smile to hopefully coax Naruto to take a seat with him.

The chair he pulled out made a smooth pulling noise against the wooden floor, to his surprise he heard a second chair being pulled out, Naruto had compliantly sat.

Naruto's face was calm if not withdrawn, his eyes were confused in a small squint, his mouth pursed in apprehension, but his body seemed relaxed.

Royal blue eyes with the reflection of candlelight were concentrated at the cake, the candles, and then to Iruka, keeping silent the whole time, an unusual occurrence for the spirited ball of electricity.

At least Naruto trusted that Iruka would never hurt him, giving some courage for Iruka to break the ice.

"I understand you may not always trust me Naruto." Iruka began, choosing easy words to be clear, although it wasn't the best beginning Iruka had a way of ending things in unforgettable ways.

"That's not-" Naruto sat up, his head snapping forward to meet Iruka's soft eyes.

"Let me finish." Iruka interrupted, his voice still a soft lavender. Naruto quieted, though his stiffened body posture did not change, Naruto wasn't used to this kind of confrontation.

Breathing through his nose he continued in a more firm tone, but not enough to scare anyone.

"As a man who grew up with no parents, I want to make sure you feel at home here,"

Iruka stopped his tapping foot, taking one more breath.

"So I made this cake and some ramen," Iruka smiled a bit at the glittering flash of excitement in Naruto's eyes, it seemed Iruka made the right move.

"And…?" Naruto urged, his eyes seemed to bore a hole in Iruka with his intense focus.

"For your birthday, and I hope you enjoy it." Iruka ceased his sentence in calm peace, the insecurity finally dying down despite the ire to say more, he refrained out of the understanding that Naruto was still a child in many ways.

"That's it?"

"What?" Iruka dumbfounded.

"Awww man, I thought you were gonna pull a cool speech about you and me!" Groaned Naruto in disappointment, smiling a little.

"When you're older." Iruka added, returning a smile, Naruto's eyes were fearless, it had seemed Iruka had succeeded in breaking down the final wall between them.

"That's what Kiba's mom said about condoms."

Iruka nearly choked on spit before clearing his throat.

"In any case, do you want some cake? Blow out your candles first. Then you can eat some cake."

"Alright! What am I gonna wish?" Pondering quietly, Naruto settled on to something after careful thinking and blew the candles out, the smoke slapping Iruka's face, but he didn't mind.

"Since you finally blew the candles out I have a present." Tanned fingers clutch the sharp edges of the cardboard box Iruka had skillfully wrapped in orange paper with velvet orange ribbons, the colors Naruto favoured.

Setting the present in front of Naruto after placing the cake to the side, Naruto's hesitation had bubbled back.

Iruka knew what he was thinking, he must be afraid to touch something wrapped so carefully. To encourage him gently Iruka said "Go on, I'm sure you'll like what's inside. It's just for you." And he meant that so Naruto would understand the gift before him would only be meant for him and only him.

The thumb and forefinger pulled the ribbon off by undoing it, and Naruto attempted to unwrap it without ripped the delicate paper before losing patience and ripped patches of it to finally open the lid and pull out the content inside.

A bright, plush, stiffed fox toy from his favorite band stared at Naruto with it's plastic eyes.

Naruto blinked, his hands still holding the plush in front of himself, his mouth parted in surprise, looking to Iruka with wonder.

"How did you know I liked the Tailed Beasts?"

"I wouldn't have been a good parent if I didn't pay attention, I've been hearing bits about your conversations with Kiba from his mother, she said you were ecstatic about the band, going on and on about how cool the fox guy was." Iruka teased, enjoying the pleasant blush that rose in Naruto's face.

"I realize it may be a bit childish since it is a plu-"

"No!" Naruto instinctively shouted, his eyes wide with panic.

"I… Really like it. I've never had a birthday of any sort I'm just…" Naruto paused, looking for a word to describe his emotion, his face scrunched in deep thought in search of the right word.

"Happy." He managed to say, finding the word odd tasting, not that odd tastes were bad, finding himself feeling a little embarrassed to have someone pay so much attention to him.

Naruto just wasn't used to these foreign sensation in his chest and face. Some unknown force pulled his face to an unyielding smile which he didn't protest, and his chest was filled with warm fire.

Nodding, Iruka understood quickly that Naruto was beginning to realize he wasn't alone anymore, that Iruka wanted to be a family with Naruto.

"I'm glad." He replied.

Naruto looked to Iruka, holding the plush close smiling.

"Thanks for all of this, dad."

Growing up, I didn't think I'd ever get to make it this far. To be in my adult years, actually making my own life without anyone to tell me who I was. This time, I'll forge my own path that defines me. I want to believe in myself with everyone else.

Each day was a monotonous arrangement of pristine order of black and white. My uniform consisted of a cashmere blazer, a smooth silk undershirt which glowed bleach white, and a black tie tucked. The soft, gray blazer had my school's symbol patched on, a white rose which was meant to signify innocence of White Sound Academy.

While school was even more dull in comparison. The desks were white, square and in rows of exact order. The desks were pure metal and had the conditions of that of a new desk, when in reality, they were quite old. Just a look of the desk told me the school consisted of order.

White sound Academy had the equal strict expectations of a military camp, though the conditions were different when compared, the students were mere drones that obeyed and studied.

This type of school was well known for whipping students into the perfect child for their rich parents since it seemed like adults had nothing better to do.

Ever since I was taken by two strangers that weren't even in love with another, it was clear that I was nearly a trophy to them since they recognised potential in me, whatever that meant.

At the beginning, I was regretful for never spending more time with Naruto; we did act like close friends, but we never spoke about whether or not the other wanted to be friends, we had thrown away any chance of clarification of our bond, and I regretted leaving his side when he was bedridden in the hospital. My pride had stood in the way, and I hated myself for it.

Reassuring words caused little effect on my anxiety when I was informed Naruto had sunken in a comatose state, they told me it was extremely mild shock to the brain and that he would be fine, but observing him lay there was terrifying to me.

In the past, I've seen Naruto sleep when I was his roommate for a week when a bunch of children had been adopted so organization could be planned for new bed arrangements.

Naruto was a lively sleeper, he twitches his wrists, legs kick up like a horse, his mouth wide open, and his body tossed and turned all around; looking at his vegetable state, completely motionless with a blank face; I thought he was dead when I saw him, maybe he would have been better off dead.

So when I departed, leaving my last memory of him in a bed, lifeless, I knew that the life ahead of me would be just as dead.

My new guardians were not fit to be parents, even if they were, the only one set of 'parents' in my life were my real ones who were buried under the cold Earth, and the idea of making room for new parents disgusted me.

Nonetheless I didn't complain, nor did I ever really cause any ruckus since my guardians ignored me. Generally when they were home, they'd argue. A lot.

It didn't bother me―actually it did. I merely chose to ignore it as I made my way to the attic, the maids would nod at me when I'd sneak up there, their eyes softly gazing at me in concern.

Normally I would glare at them, it wasn't their business to care, but for an odd reason I would just respond with a returning nod. As if I couldn't bring myself to act cruel to compassion.

I'm weak… It's all that idiot's fault… My thoughts faltered as it stopped for a moment as I reached for the ladder to the upper floor.

Naruto. It'd been so long since I've thought about him, like I had forgotten him, what did his face look like anyway? Didn't matter at this point.

Finally reaching the top, I settled cosily into the dark corner, staring at the large glass window in the ceiling. The moon illuminated milky rays of light, it was soothing to stare up to the moon. The fact that today was my thirteenth birthday didn't bother me, it was quiet today for once, it looked like the yelling settled early.

Nodding off to sleep, the last blurry memories that I saw was a sharp toothed smile, an orange shirt, a fox, and familiar laughter.

The next morning, I couldn't remember my dream.

Oddly enough, I felt an ache eat at me.