The sky was dark, the sun concealed from sight by void-black clouds. It reflected the mood of the sad day, the girl thought, as if the sky were crying for one who was lost. But the Konoha ninja were wrong. She was very much alive.

They were crying, just like the sky. All of them gathered together around a photo of her, the single monument marking her 'passing'. The girl stood in the crowd of black-clothed figures, and yet they did not sense their friend was still breathing, and living. Had their emotions not said so, this would certainly mark them as failures of Shinobi.

Gentle, cutting winds combed the grass-covered clearing all around the figures, tempting leaves to leave their binds. And with the promise, a few did, betraying their mother root and trunk, leaving her to expire. But she would still live long after them. One of the leaves landed on the girl's outstretched palm, and without thought, she crushed it, letting cold juices run onto her bare hand.

It was ironic, the girl thought. The leaf represented her in ways no human did. Yes, she had run away, with the promise of power, but even before she'd left the gates, the girl had decided against it again. And carefully, she'd returned to her bed. And yet, power had tempted her, and still tried to draw her away from her birthplace, the Leaf. But unlike her counterpart, the girl had stayed.

If only her family had agreed with her choice. Perhaps they wished her to find power also, before going to her namesake – if she were allowed, with the numbers she had killed. They threatened her, even disowned her, but the girl had simply dropped their claim on her with one simple stroke of the brush. She gave a cruel smile.

The girl wondered of her ability to let go of the past, if she should return here. Her teammates had always cheered her on, but they moved so quickly ahead, in their lives, in their careers, it seemed she was always glancing at their backs. At first, it had been a few steps, then more, and then almost a mile. And the girl wondered if she was still so far behind them.

Then, with almost no effort, she pushed away the thoughts. They were not right, in her point of view. She was no longer weak, no matter what they thought. Even though her small family had pushed her away, almost succeeded in their attempt to kill her for no reason she could see, the girl had not complied with their wishes. Briefly, she wondered what others would think of her change.

Once, she had adorned a shade of red, but now, she dressed for comfort. Her hair was still cut in the style, though not necessarily length, it had once been, and yet tied for efficiency. And she, yet again, wondered what her teammates would say if they saw the light grey jacket and shorts she wore, and still wore underneath the dark cloak concealing her identity.

But for the moment, she looked straight ahead and listened to the sermon given by the priest. Then finally, he reached the end.

"This kunoichi, loved by all, will never be forgotten."

She wondered if they really meant that, from the youth up ahead, giving no thoughts of his emotion. The young woman, did not know if he really gave one of his precious thoughts to the fact that 'she had died', or any emotions to the 'tragedy'.

Then she remembered that, despite all her other team mate said, he did have emotions – they were just well hidden. And she herself knew it also, from the few times she'd seen him give a tiny smile.

A miko came, and carefully brought the photo to a nearby shrine, where she put it under blessing, much like all those other pictures lying neatly beside it. Water from a sacred river, blessed by the priests, was tipped over the photo, much like others would do for the Buddha on his birthday. This amused the young woman to some extent. She was no holy angel.

She slipped out when the funeral dissipated, carefully avoiding her team mates and not bothering to put on a flower. But later, when no one was around, she glanced in again, a small smile reaching her lips when she found her elaborately written name. It was hard to miss, the young woman realised, and yet did not stand out too much to draw unwanted attention.

And there she stood until the sun went down, when she finally realised cold had seeped through her traveller's coat, jacket and thermals underneath. And the young woman realised she needed to be more careful about the temperature in the early-autumn days, before the leaves fell. There was temptation to remove her clothes completely and bath in the fresh breezes, but she sensed another person before her plan could be put into action.

The girl shook her head, leaving to go back to her rented apartment. It was not the best time to move too much, in case one she knew found her there perfectly alive. Unless it was a certain blonde, the girl doubted the person would believe she were a ghost. Would she be taken as missing nin? Probably.

Now the girl gave a smile. Had she told her story to someone else, they would never have guessed it were her. The young woman would not have seemed that type to leave and search for power. But everyone had their little secrets, their ambitions. Even the lazy geniuses. And her private thoughts were just slightly stronger than others.

The girl would not call her journey's end a gateway to heaven, but in some ways, that was just what it was.