I do not own Naruto. Speaking/Thoughts

Week 1

Zale pulled at the edge of the boat rocking it lightly from side to side. He did this for hours on end trying to make the time pass by faster, but there was little to do except shoot fish out of the water which got tiring after doing it at days at a time. He had lost weight in the past two weeks as his diet composed of the barrels of fresh water he had brought with him, and the fish he shot out of the water.

Speaking of which Zale heated the water until it blew three fish into the air one caught in his hand the others falling back into the water. He squeezed the fish and it was quickly burnt to a crisp before he took a bite popping an eyeball into his mouth after the flesh was stripped from the fish's skeleton. He leaned against the wooden edge of the boat closing his eyes as he tossed the fish skeleton over the edge.

The first few days on the ocean had been good, the sound of the waves lapping against the side of the boat was very relaxing at first, but now the noises were annoying, and he only wanted the noise to stop so he could think clearly.

Week 2

Zale groaned rolling over his skin although wasn't sun burned was still sore from sleeping on a hard wood deck for days on end. The wind was high today meaning he was making good time, but that did little to sooth his mind or wounds. Zale grabbed the barrel of water and lifted it to his lips taking a few big sips of the lukewarm water, but it did little to cool him down.

Without any consideration Zale punched a hole through the side of the boat water flooding in, but the water turned to ice a few moments later plugging up the hole. It was boring to Zale the complete isolation with no one to talk to even having Gaara the boy that almost never spoke as company would be better than this. "AHHH!" Zale screamed the first noise he had made in the two weeks he had set sail.

Month 1

Zale felt himself going crazy. Nothing but his thoughts to keep him company was agonizing, not only that, but his dreams were becoming nightmares. It was agonizing to not have a distraction from all of the terrible things that he had done, it was almost therapeutic to have something to keep him from thinking, even if the bird that had "cawed" for a whole day before it flew off.

Now Zale hoped it would return just to drown out the screams that now rang out in the silence. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the families he had killed the villages he had razed and the civilizations he had massacred without a second thought. How many families did he kill, how many lives had he ruined, how many wives had he widowed, how many children has he orphaned, how many revenge stories did he inspire?

Month 2

Zale was so sure he had gone insane, there were voices. He saw people standing out there in the ocean taunting him telling him how he deserved death that would never come. Even if he were to incinerate this body then he would end up stuck in a state of eternal limbo that would never let him move on or fade, and they seemed to know this.

First it was just one voice with no body. Then there was a body, but no matter how hard he squinted or how quickly he sailed in the direction of the form he never caught up or saw their face. Soon there were more forms surrounding him their voices like drums going off in his head. They started forming shapes all around him, and then a complete circle trapping him.

Perhaps that was a twisted way of making him pay for his sins.

Month 4

Dirty, that was all that occupied Zale's mind. He had scrubbed his skin with the last of his water clawing at his skin until it was raw and his nails were chipped, but he couldn't get at the grime that covered him down to his soul. It was impossible to deal with, Zale had never felt so dirty before and it was so incredibly hot his sweat was only making him feel even filthier.

Zale's Manipulation was gone to him; he couldn't even raise a single drop of water. He had gone completely stark raving mad slamming his head against the deck of the ship that now had several frozen over patches from the holes he had made. "No, no, NOO!" Zale screamed looking up. He ran a hand through his hair it was a storm with black clouds quickly advancing.

He couldn't control anything, and there was no way to outrun the storm in this dingy boat, and there was no way get out of its way. The wind died down leaving him immediately stuck watching the storm clouds get closer and closer to his boat. A few minutes later the rain started pelting his face feeling like pieces of ice.

Zale tore down the sails trying to catch as little wind as possible and going to ride out a wave as best as he could. That plan was immediately torn down by a gigantic wave washing over the ship filling it up halfway with water and nearly capsizing it, and he groaned rising slowly his legs and arms trembling only for another wave to knock him to the floor.

He started hacking violently coughing up water as he rose again. He lasted only a minute before he threw his upper half over the edge of the boat hurling the water that was in his stomach over the edge. Another wave sent his stomach into the edge of the boat beating a cough filled with blood out of him. The water now nearly filled his boat, but he started shoveling it out by the hand full trying desperately to keep himself from sinking.

It was a futile effort the water he shoveled out was immediately put back in three fold by a rolling wave, but he kept on trying. The water hammered down on his skin the exposed flesh made it somewhat painful, but he couldn't care for it until later.

The boat gave a mighty jerk forcing him to place his hand on the edge; another good hit was all it took for Zale to be knocked into the water. Something hit his head effectively disorienting him. 'Where's up?' Zale thought looking around trying to find his center, but there was no way to tell. 'Oh well, I guess I'll try again in another few million years, I really regret everything I did, dad was right I'll never do anything right.' Zale's eyes shut.

"Zale, Zale." two voices said in unison. Zale's eyes snapped open, and he looked to what he assumed was up. There were two figures right above the water their hands waving. All the noises of the ocean silenced drowned out by those voices. "Come on Zale."

Zale swam towards the figures bursting above the water reaching out to grab their hands. What he felt was solid and incredibly warm compared to his freezing skin; he saw the two beautiful faces of Kurumi and Satsuki each of them holding onto one of his hands. "Do you regret us?" Kurumi asked him.

"No, of course not." Zale said shaking his head violently the water shaking from his hair.

"Then you shouldn't regret life." Satsuki said kindly placing a hand on his head and brushing hair away from his eyes. "Look, you're so close." She gently turned his head, and Zale saw palm trees on sand where the storm seemed to end and the light began. "Don't give up."

A flash of lighting and both of them were gone leaving Zale to kick and paddle his way to shore coming onto the sand soaked and dropping to the sand sticking to him in clumps. He panted, but he was safe and he felt clean very clean.