Here is the drabble for this week. The prompt is "Holy".
Beyond the Clouds
Shikamaru had never been a religious man.
Many shinobi weren't since it was hard to believe there was an omnipotent being watching over them that allowed such horrible things to happen in the world.
He had been raised to rely on nobody but himself and the occasional closely trusted team mate. People in his line of work couldn't afford to hold their breath and wait for miracles.
But a recent encounter with a certain religious fanatic had sent the gears of his analytical mind turning. Was their really someone who created this world and all the people in it? Who saw all the suffering and death but allowed it anyways? If there was a God, then was their a heaven? And if there was a heaven, was that were his beloved sensei was at this very moment?
Shikamaru grit his teeth in anger and frustration at his own helplessness to bring back the man that had taught him so much. He lay on his back the beneath the warm rays of the sun, watching shifting clouds pass by, but now his favorite activity held no joy. Even though he dealt with the loss differently than his sobbing team mates, he was devastated by the loss of their captain.
The man responsible for his death had been a lunatic, raving incoherently about rituals and prayers, forming a sick and twisted rendition of what Shikamaru had always pictured religious faith to be. The silver haired Akatsuki was more a follower of the devil than any god Shikamaru had ever heard of, but that didn't change the fact that Azuma was gone.
A wisp of white floated across the backdrop of blue above him and Shikamaru wondered for the hundredth time that day what lay beyond it. Was his teacher watching him right now, taking a deep drag off the cigarette in his hand like he always used to? Or had he simply ceased to exist, his soul gone as if it had ever existed?
Shikamaru closed his eyes, knowing he had stumbled onto a subject that was far too complex for him to wrap his brilliant mind around.
He opened them a moment later when he heard approaching footsteps and a minute later his blond haired team mate plopped down beside him.
"Cloud gazing again?" she asked quietly and he gave a short "hmm" of affirmation.
She said nothing but lay down beside him, an action that was unusual for her considering she was always giving him a hard time for being such a bum while watching something as boring as clouds.
She stared up at the sky, silent beside him for a long time before finally echoing the question he had been pondering all day.
"Do you think Azuma is up there somewhere?"
"I don't know," he answerd truthfully his eyes remaining fixed on the fluffy white puffs.
"Do you think there's a God?" she whispered, and Shikamaru could tell by her voice that she was on the verge of crying.
"I believe that to survive, I can't depend on anyone but me. I have to solve my problems alone," he responded, even though it didn't really answer her question.
"That's not true," she said, sitting up and leaning over him, her tear streaked face blocking out his view of the sky. "You have Chouji and me to come to. You'll never have to be alone."
Shikamaru gazed into aquamarine eyes that reminded him of the sky reflected in a pool of water, lucid and pure.
He allowed Ino to take his hand and squeezed it back gently.
"You're right," he said. "I suppose we aren't really alone."