A Kitsune in the Forest
Drabble 02 Sun Smile
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Drabble # 2: Sun smile
Yamato doesn’t remember much of his childhood.
He remembers training and fighting under his sempai,
Kakashi.
He remembers training and fighting with peers like
if their business with ANBU and Konoha in Itachi’s case is done.
He remembers the Sandaime always telling him to be careful,
make sure he comes back on a mission, make sure he takes care of his comrades
with a somewhat sad light in his eyes that made Yamato wonder if it was him the
old man was talking to or someone long past.
But, Yamato doesn’t remember childhood.
He does not remember getting up late, worried that he was
going to be late for something as trivial as the Academy.
He doesn’t remember sneaking out of class with friends, only
to be caught and chased around the village by irate Chunin.
He doesn’t remember smiling at simple things like the rain,
or a sunny day, or ramen that only took three minutes to cook.
Yamato doesn’t remember smiling much growing up. Sure there
were occasions were he had a laugh or two with his comrades, like when
Icha Icha Paradise books and held them hostage for a
month or that time where Itachi was mistaken for a maiden on an undercover
mission, but…
There was no true happiness there.
Because being raised for the purpose of existing in shadows
does not equate a happy existence.
It is a sham life, dictated by the genes of a man he was
forced to bear.
It was unbearable for a long while.
Until he saw the sun smile.
Yamato doesn’t remember much in his life. The blur of
training and killing and missions makes the past fuzzy and unpleasant, but he
remembers that sun smile.
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He was in the shadows that day, watching the people of the
village.
More specifically watching over the legacy
of the Yellow Flash, the unknown son of the martyr Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto.
Yamato often volunteered to that duty for he understood to a
degree the burden that the gold child bore. The burden of being an unwitting
legacy was great and painful.
Most especially for Naruto.
He would often go on guard duty for the child, only to find
that the boy had been beaten or starved or burned or cut. Pain and suffering
that no one, especially a child, potential ninja or not, should endure.
Everyday he would come with a first aide kit, and clean all
the wounds and bandage them up all the while silently sending thanks to all of
the Kami, that the child had not been killed or crippled and silently curse the
village for their ignorance and extreme disrespect of the dying wishes of a
great man.
Naruto would always look him dead in the eye in wonder and
awe because Yamato took care to make sure that everything was taken care of.
The ANBU would clean his cuts and heal him with a level of care and kindness
that only the Hokage had shown him before.
Every time that Yamato finished healing him, he would place
the boy in bed for some much needed rest and keep watch the whole night.
Naruto would remember the kind ANBU’s
diligence in making all the wounds go away and would reward him with a bright
smile, right from the heart.
Yamato remembers everything since that smile.
And when he was assigned as Naruto’s new team captain, he
was overjoyed.
And hoped to see that sun smile again
soon.