Persevere

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

It's cloudy. A frigid cold is in the air, cold that you only feel in the northern regions of Kumo. People are locked away in their houses, heaters on full blast, thankful that they have a place to stay, things to eat, people to talk to.

Except one man.

He stands in the freezing cold, his body covered by only a pair of pants and thin t-shirt. There are tears in his eyes and his raven colored hair is hanging all across his face, obscuring the pure agony that is expressed there. His breath comes in short gasps and the mist from the exhaled carbon is visible in the below freezing temperatures. He is still, his mind and emotions in turmoil. He rolls a dented and scratched headband in his raw and scraped hands over and traces the light kanji stamped there. More tears come to his eyes.

He falls to his knees, the ground scraping away at already worn and bloody flesh. The headband drops from his hands, falling to the floor with a metallic clink. The man stares at the memorial in front of him through teary eyes and his hands brush the name recently carved into the stone.

'Hime…'

It was a mission gone wrong. False intelligence provided to the Konoha forces had cost the lives of his team and his lover. They were Team Four, recently promoted to Jounin. They had all been killed, except him.

Maito Gai.

His body shakes with tremors as strangled cries emit from his throat. Dead, all dead. He cries, the tears falling from his stricken face turning to ice almost as soon as they hit air. He looks into the sky, his mind losing touch with reality.

'Hime…'

He lets out a scream, pain and sorrow lacing his raw voice. He screams for the world to hear. He screams and screams and screams, until he has nothing left.

And then he cries.

The unrelenting cold of the day assaults the small boy as he is once again kicked out of a small shop.

"Stay out demon!" an angry voice calls after him.

He hangs his head, the bangs of his sunshine colored hair falling over his crystalline blue eyes. He's poor, unfed, beaten, abused and sadly, young.

The bitter temperature bites into his raggedly clothed figure as he wanders down the deserted street, desperately trying to find shelter. Anything, anyplace, anyone who would take him in for less than a day. His search sadly, is in vain.

There are tears in his eyes.

He stumbles down the poorly paved roads of the slum sector of Konoha. He hugs himself in a desperate attempt to generate warmth but to no avail. He is slowly freezing to death.

The fire in his eyes is going out.

The small child stops in front of a puddle and he looks into the mass of water. His reflection stares back, the blonde hair and blue-eyes of the image an exact replica of himself. He looks for a minute, maybe more. His blue eyes linger on the image of himself for a moment before he raises a hand to his cheek, fingers coming to rest on the whiskers marks across his face.

"I hate you", he says.

He glares at his reflection, eyes wandering over his worn body. The rags are hanging loosely off his thin, starved body.

"I hate you…demon"

He turns away from the reflection, shoulders slumped and head hanging down.

The tears in his eyes are free falling.

As they hit the ground they shatter, ice breaking into a million pieces.

His feet drag against the unevenly paved roads as he makes his way back though the ghettos of Konohagakure. In his hand is clutched a long, beat-up headband. His eyes are red and watery, lacking the luster of his past.

He can still see their bodies.

Gai can still hear the screams.

He can still see the blood.

Gai takes a few more steps, the haunting memories of his life taking its effect. He collapses to the ground, his hand landing on the polished surface of a nearby bench. With difficulty he eases himself onto the seat and leans back.

The tears in his eyes are gone.

He closes his bloodshot eyes and lets his ebony colored hair hand over them, casting shadows across his pale face. He sits in silence, his mind in overdrive in a desperate attempt to filter the scenes that haunt him out. He places his thin face into his scarred hands, releasing a deep, long, heartfelt sigh.

"Hey Mr. can I sit here?"

Gai is shaken out of his misery by the voice of a small child. His head twists around. He cringes at the condition of the small boy. The child recoils in fear and immediately Gai regrets his actions. He motions with his hand to the bench.

"Go ahead kid."

The young blonde eyes him warily and then pulls himself up, onto the bench and plops down. Gai returns to his thoughts and the two sit in silence. The blonde fidgets for a moment and opens his mouth time and time again, as if debating whether to speak or not. Finally, he brings up the courage to do so and turns to Gai.

"Mr.…why do people call me a demon?"

The man's eyes widen in surprise. The small child continues, oblivious of the thoughts running through Gai's head.

"I get beaten, starved, and kicked out of places…why am I a demon?"

Gai is startled and he looks over at the small frame of the blonde. With a sad look in his eyes he responds,

"You're not a demon…"

The child scrambles across the bench toward him, eyes alight with happiness.

"Really? You mean it?"

His blue eyes darken and he whispers out,

"Other people say I'm a demon…"

Gai looks the child in the eyes and lightly places his hands onto the small blondes shoulders, noticing the slight flinch.

"You can't listen to them…people will always try to bring you down but you have to keep going. It's up to you to keep going, no matter what they say. You have to find a way to keep going…"

Gai pulls away and stands up, waiting for a response. He stretches a little and stares down the dark road. The kid nods slightly.

"Then how do you keep going Mr.?" The small child looks at of the older man, noticing the small fire that is slowly kindling in his dark eyes.

Gai looks down at small blonde,

"I think of all the things I can achieve in life and the all the people I can protect, and all of the people that I couldn't. I use that to get better. I use that to persevere."

Gai turns around with a wave and begans to walk off toward home. He listens, waiting for a response from the child. He catches a faint whisper and smiles at what he hears.

"I'll get better…to protect everyone…I'll persevere too…"

A dim fire is rekindled in his spirit and Gai keeps on walking, new energy flowing through his body. The smile remains on his face and he whispers to himself,

"I'm sure you will Naruto…I'm sure you will."

-Fin-