The Song of the Wind

Summary: Two people meet on the cliff above the village, searching for answers... And the wind sings its song. OneShot.

Warnings: for untypical style, I guess. I just wanted to try it. I´ve also, purposefully, left aside any hint as to who the characters are. You may go and try to guess who is who, though there are different possibilities. I´ve done it like that on purpose, too.

Set: No specific given time.

Disclaimer: I don´t own Naruto.

There was someone sitting on his favorite hide-out on the high cliff above the village.

The man slowly stepped nearer, running a tired hand trough his hair and observing the form of the little boy – he had to be about six years old, but the man never could judge age very well – who was sitting at the outermost edge, his legs dangling above the eternal profiles of the past leaders of the village. When he was only a few meters away, the boy heard him and turned. There was something wary in his expression.

"You mind if I join you?", the man asked and smiled carefully. The boy eyed him and then shrugged. The man sat down, a bit apart, far enough not to be too close. Leaning back on his hands, he closed his eyes and sighed. They both sat there for a while without talking.

Finally, the man opened his eyes and tilted his head so he could watch the clouds in the sky above their heads. Another smile broke out on his face as he remembered something, this time, it was a real smile. He chuckled. The boy threw him a weary glance.

"Have you ever head the song of the wind?", the man said, not looking at him. He seemed to be talking to himself, his voice quiet and tentative. "Someone once told me if I listened long enough, I would hear it. I have tried, but it never worked for me – maybe I just don´t have a musician´s ear."

Now, the boy was looking at him directly. Something crossed his face, an emotion, flittering across it quickly and dissolving again in a matter of seconds.

"Has she sent you here to get me?"

"I have no idea whom you´re talking about", the man said cheerfully and leaned forwards to look at the scenery in front of him. The village was glowing in the last sunlight of the day, seemingly so far away but in reality just a ten-minute walk.

"Who´s she and why should I get you for her?"

"Never mind", the boy grumbled and fell silent again. From now to then, he would throw the man an almost curious glance. Who was this guy and what did he want up here, if he hadn´t come to get him to return? He had never seen him before, although his hair and his eyes and his appearance sparked a memory he just couldn´t fully grasp. They sat there in silence, until the boy finally made up his mind to ask something.

"You´re a jounin."

It wasn´t a question. It, also, wasn´t shyness that had held the boy back before he had finally asked, the man noted. He knew enough about shinobi to know the man as one when he saw him, and he knew enough to guess the man´s rank just by his appearance and his uniform. The man chuckled.

"Yeah. Why´d you ask?"

The boy shrugged. "Because."

"What do you want to be when you´re older?"

Actually, the man never had been good in talking to children. Some were annoying, some were spoilt, and some were simply boring. He had enough to handle without a bunch of little ones hanging out in his direct environment, and he didn´t really plan on having children of his own. (Not that he had many plans for his life. Normally, his thoughts focussed on the next few weeks, sometimes months. War wasn´t something that made you think ahead a lot.) But this little one was surprisingly easy to talk with. Maybe because he seemed so mature for his age. He´d have to ask if that was normal, he couldn´t remember being so mature when he was younger. But then, he didn´t remember much of his childhood.

The boy shrugged.

"A shinobi."

The man laughed quietly. "A shinobi, how surprising. Is there a child in this village that doesn´t want to be a shinobi?"

The boy threw him a scornful look. "Don´t make fun of me", he hissed. "I´ll be a shinobi, and I´ll be a great one! You´ll see!"

"I´m not making fun of you." The man tried to calm the boy. "Have you thought about your wish well? Because then, if you are six years old, you can enter the Academy. How old are you?"

"Almost six", was the answer and the boy pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arms around them and laid his chin on them while gazing down into the village unblinkingly.

"Then your parents can register you for the Academy", the man offered.

"Hn."

There was a long stretch of silence again. The man´s gaze alternated between the village beyond him and the sky above him. Day was retreating slowly, night was falling, but still, sunlight lingered and cast long shadows over the village. The clouds in the sky turned from white to golden and red and the soft voice of the wind in the treetops of the great forest whispered. The man listened closely and smiled.

"Why did you become a shinobi?"

The man blinked at the boy´s voice that cut through the silence unsuspectedly. Then he turned his head to the boy and raised his eye brows.

"Why do you want to become a shinobi?"

The boy, clearly not happy with the returned question, returned his gaze to the displayed village.

"My parents we- are shinobi."

"You want to be like your parents?"

"Don´t make fun of my parents!"

Suddenly, the boy was standing, glaring at the man, fists clenched at both his sides, his face furious. The man regarded him for some time and saw the boy´s sudden anger fall when he didn´t react at all. Finally, the boy slumped to the ground once more.

"I didn´t want to insult your parents", the man said quietly. "But the question still stands. Is there more to your dream of being a shinobi than simply that everyone expects you to be one?"

The boy cocked his head in concentration. "Shinobi are strong. They protect Konoha, they fight our enemies, they do missions and travel… Everyone thinks they´re cool."

"Cool", the man repeated and chuckled. When the boy glared at him, he held up his hands in defense. "No insult intended. You just sounded like… Like someone I knew when I was younger."

He sighed quietly.

"Yes, shinobi take up missions and fight for their villages and protect the ones they love… That summarizes it pretty well."

"It´s the truth. Everyone says so." The boy suddenly sounded unsure. He glanced at the man, his eyes hidden behind his long lashes and some strands of hair falling into his eyes. "Isn´t it?"

"Of course it´s the truth", the man said tentatively. "Shinobi fight and kill and hunt. They protect their villages, but they attack their enemies, as well…"

"But that´s fine. If someone attacks Konoha, we have to fight back."

"Do we?" The man gazed down onto the village, his eyes clouded. The wind brushed past them and brought the scent of baked apples and kushidango. "Probably…"

The boy turned his head away from him. "You´re weird", he told him. "Of course we have to fight back. There are many people here who can´t protect themselves. That´s when shinobi have to protect them. It´s simple."

"There´s nothing like a five-year-old to put perspective into your life", the man mused and chuckled when the boy gave an enraged outcry.

"I´m almost six!"

"Yes, you are", the man said and lifted his hand as if to pat his head. He left it hanging in the air and never finished the gesture. Instead, he smiled.

"Well, I hope you won´t hurry that much to grow up. Childhood is important, after all, you should enjoy it."

"Being a child is so stupid", the boy mumbled into his arms. "Nobody listens to me. Nobody wants to play with me or train with me. Nobody ever has time."

"You don´t have friends your age?"

The boy looked mortified.

"Friends? Like the others from pre-school? They´re boring." He snorted. "I don´t want to play with them."

The man smiled. "Maybe you should try to. You´d be surprised how much fun it can be to actually enjoy childhood. Just don´t be afraid to ask them. I´m sure they´ll happily welcome you."

"I´m not afraid."

The boy´s voice grew quiet. "They just… They don´t like me."

"Is that so?" The man directed his gaze to the sky again. "Why do you think they don´t like you?"

"They… they look at me funnily and whisper and…" The boy stopped, and his face closed. "They just don´t like me", he concluded.

"Well, it´s not like you´re some sort of a monster", the man said cheerfully and patted the boy on the back. "And even if you were – believe me, it doesn´t matter what you think you are."

"What does matter, then?"

"It matters who you are, and who you strive to be", the man answered. The boy shrugged.

"Whatever."

"Hey!" The man gave his head a hard knock. "Boy, you don´t know what you´re talking about. This is your home, this village, and you already want to become a shinobi to protect it. It doesn´t matter who you are, or what you think you are, or who your parents are. You´re part of this village."

There is a long, long silence.

Then, the boy asked: "Who are you, anyway?"

The man chuckled. "Oh, I´m nobody. Really."

They sat there a while longer, while the sun slowly set and the clouds in the sky turned to a dark violet and the wind sang its song.

After some time, the boy got up and looked down at the man, who now was smaller than him. The man grinned at him.

"You´re going home?"

The boy hesitated, then nodded. "Yep." He hesitated again, and the man could see he was wondering what to say.

"Take care", he said and winked at the boy. "And remember what I´ve told you. The advice might come in handy one day."

The boy wondered what that was supposed to mean and finally just nodded, as well.

"Bye."

And then he was gone. The man could hear light footsteps following down the path to the village, growing more silent as he got farther and farther away. Finally alone, the smile slipped from his face as he watched the village slowly being covered by darkness. The wind sings its song.

The boy has almost forgotten the meeting with the funny man on the cliffs when he, one day, follows his foster mother to the market to do some shopping. There´s a commotion, somewhere, and noise, suddenly, and she takes his hand and leads him to the side of the street to let the people who are making their way towards the Hokage´s tower pass.

"Oh, my", she says silently when she sees the shinobi in their uniforms, some injured, but they still don´t turn at the intersection that would have led them to the hospital. They continue their way towards the tall main building at the main square of Hidden Leaf.

"What´s happening?", the boy asks and tries to catch a view onto the passing shinobi to see what the turmoil is about. The shinobi pass quietly, their heads bowed, their faces expressionless. The people who see them coming make way and fall silent when they the procession passes. The commotion quiets down, until there is an eerie silence lying over the entire village. And then he sees it: the shinobi in the middle of the procession are carrying a stretcher, and on the stretcher…

"Mum!" The boy pulls her sleeve until she looks down at him, her eyes full of unshed tears. "Mum, who…"

His mother is a small woman, but she´s surprisingly strong. Now she lifts him up easily, and he can see what it is the shinobi are carrying. Or rather: who it is. The boy remembers him exactly: the unruly hair, the tired face, the smile still tugging at the sides of his lips, but now his eyes are closed and the lines along his face are smothered out and he looks much younger than he did when they met at the cliff´s edge.

"Mum", he whispers. "Who is that man?" His mother takes her eyes from the still, dead figure that is being carried towards the main square and smiles down at him. A tear is making its way down her cheek.

"It´s Hokage-Sama, my little one. You would have liked him."

A/N I had to chose whether I post a story with Kakashi and Rin or Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura or with Anko... I couldn´t decide, so I took the one that wasn´t an option. What would you like to read next? Something sad, something funny, something fluffy (as far as I´m able to write fluff) and romantic or angsty? About the characters listed above or about others? (Chose from Shizune, Tsunade, Team Ten, Team 7, Team Yondaime, Minato and Kushina, Ino or Kakashi...) You can be specific, if you like, but I can´t promise I´ll find something. The ones above are already ready, so I just have to post them^^ I´ll do it slowly, though. We don´t want to clogg the website or something like that...

I´d love to hear some feedback, if you have the time.