Merry Christmas to all! :D I had this done a while ago, and I thought I had updated, but apparently I didn't...fail on my part. ^^; But here it is now!

(Btdubs: I have no idea how long these will be, they can be from 450 words to 2,000, I don't know. Everything's dynamic for now!)

Disclaimers: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, my OC belongs to me (and all my hard work).

My breath was heaved out faster and faster as I climbed over the rubble. Head pounding, heart sending waves of intense pain, and vision fading, but I didn't care. I could handle this some other time. It's gonna stay with me. But this, what's happening right now, it's not going to be here all the time. I was lucky enough to catch the entry into the opportunity.

I'll be coming back home.

Then everything can be the way it was and I won't have to live in utmost secrecy, and I'll be with the people from my childhood and things are going to be great.

At least, that's what I thought two hours ago.

Two hours later, I find rubble surrounding Konoha's outskirts and immediately, alert and panic levels elevate to the heavens. Emotional craze adds to my already throbbing heart.

This can't be happening. I keep chanting this irrationally over and over in my head as I dig and jump my way around the rubble. I take frequent breaks so I don't collapse due to the work. Sometimes with this I wonder how I got into the ANBU. However the injury took place during duty, so I rationalized that I was fitter than I was now for the job back then.

I hardly remember those days anymore.

After taking another break, I hear distant sounds of wood being moved, feet pitter-pattering over the distressed ground like a soft rain, and voices being shouted to one another.

I smell burns, destroyed wood, and upturned ground. But underneath all that I smell the heart of the rustic scents of the forests.

Ignoring the pains as best as I could, I rise from the ground and keep on trekking, the only thing driving me now is the comfort of home and friends again.

A refreshing, but strong breeze suddenly dances from behind me, wrapping my tattered cape around me, urging me to keep going.

I smile widely as I answer the wind by hastening my steps.

"Sensei?" I ask as we keep on walking.

Sun was streaming beautifully onto the grass and painting it like liquid gold. Faint chirps of birds arise from around us and the beauty of silence exemplified here. The dusty dirt road we follow is now familiar to me and now another place I could call home. I feel absolutely giddy from that fact.

"Yes?" he responds, smiling as I added a hop to my step, expressing my giddiness so.

"Where do people who died go?"

My senpai, always a few paces ahead of us, stopped and turned to look at sensei, also curious and waiting for an answer.

After intense moments of waiting and wondering, he finally answers.

"They go where they can watch over us, whether they are of the good or not."

"But, how do you know?" I pressed.

"You can tell by the sky." As he said this, he looked up. "When someone good watches over us, it's light and blue and we can see. But if someone isn't, then the sky turns dark and we can't see."

"Then why can't they just stay here all the time? Wouldn't that be easier for us?" I ask, disconcerted.

"Well we can't just keep them to ourselves, then we'd be robbing others of the light," he replied gently.

I relaxed as a muttered reply leaves my lips.

"Duh," senpai mumbles under his breath.

"I heard that!" I respond quickly, raising a challenging and irate fist at him.

"Settle down, you two," sensei says with a breath of laughter in his voice. "You can also tell by the wind and how it acts. A breeze might be someone you love encouraging you; or a stormy gale can be someone of destruction. It's all a cycle."

Intrigued, I stay quiet and look at the sky, seeing that it's blue, light, and happy. Realizing this, I grin back at the sky, also happy.

"Sensei," I mutter to myself under my breath, "I'm coming home."

Thanks for reading!

Remember to review, and I don't mean just saying "that was amazing!" or "please update!" (actually, both would be great, but not what I meant!). I consider a review a good point, a bad point with brush up suggestions (and don't say I don't have any-everyone always has them, because no one's perfect), with the optional update reminder.

I know that might have sounded a bit teacher-like but it's growth for both of us and that's why we're here (or at least that's why I'm here).

Arigatou Gozaimasu,

-Namite