A/N: For some odd reason,
my fics were deleted. Therefore, these might seem late but they're not.
Life, Death, and
Everything in Between
By: Pridefall
"My father didn't
tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it."
- Clarence Budington Kelland
Life
1. Though for all of his genius and strategy he can’t
quite see it yet, Shikamaru is living exactly how his father wants him to –
slow, carefree, and most importantly, happy with just being himself.
2. Saosori felt as if his
entire life hinged on gaining his father’s acceptance, and died knowing that if
he could not get it in this life, he would most certainly get it by bringing
the man along with him into the next.
3. Every time he looks at
Naruto, Iruka feels as if he’s getting closer to upholding the dream his father
died to protect, and does everything in his power to see that Naruto becomes
the man he wants to be and not the monster the villagers need to
see dead.
4. Chouji keeps a small,
frameless picture of the young Genin 9 in his wallet and looks at it every
night before he goes to sleep or leaves on a mission to remember exactly what
and why so many before him have died trying to protect, and never realizes that
the man who gave him the power to do so was the same man who took the picture
all those years ago.
5. Hinata spends her entire
life watching her father try to shape her life for her, and isn’t grateful for
his unkind words and stern, even glances until she inherits the Main House and
realizes that everything Hiashi did, he did for her.
Death
1. Kiba watched his father die on the battlefield, and after killing the
Missing-nin that ambushed them, he made it his solemn duty to make it back to
Konoha and mourn with his family as every son should instead of
tarnishing the man’s memory by never moving on.
2. Gaara openly smiles at
hearing of his father’s death, but, after an enlightening conversation with
Naruto about the subject, he makes sure to visit the man’s grave to both pay
his respects and thank him for shaping him into the man – not the
weapon, not the psychopath, not the demon – that he was today.
3. Kakashi never saw his
father die, but keeps to heart the last words the man ever spoke to him as if
they were the very secret of life itself. “Though I am alone, I am not lonely.
The love of my comrade’s will be with me and shine light into even the darkest
of times forever.”
4. Orochimaru killed his
father in a more metaphoric sense than a physical one – where the other two
Sannin’s fathers would forever know their children as “Legendary” and proudly
smile down on them throughout their lifetimes, Orochimaru’s father died of a
heart-attack upon hearing exactly what his son was using the techniques
he taught him as a child for, and cursed ever bringing such an evil thing into
the world.
5. Kankuro was the
first-born son of his family, and with that right came the privilege of knowing
the man behind the title of Kazekage; behind the hatred and the scheming; the
man who couldn’t cook without burning everything, the man who kissed his wife
in front of stuffy Daimyo, the man who loved his son and his family as if he
were the only good thing left in the world.
Memory
1. Asuma knew his father through the myths and legends he heard about him from
his comrades, and never once thought that there was anything legendary about
the old man who folded his socks before he went to bed and cooked dinner
wearing an apron with the words “Baddest Hokage that ever Hokage’d” on it.
2. Neji’s most distinct
memory of his father is not of a man that was forced to give his life to his
clan; but of the man who stepped into the Chuunin Exam ring at the last minute
and stopped him from making the biggest mistake in his life.
3. Itachi’s only memory of
his father is of the night he killed the man. Before that, Uchiha Fugaku only
existed as an ever-watchful presence pushing Itachi’s forward in life; not a
man who bravely stood in front of a murderer to take the killing blow meant for
his wife.
4. Lee’s memories of his
father are fleeting, but every time he drags Neji and TenTen, and Gai to watch
one of those cheesy martial arts movies the Rock puts out every so often, he
feels more at home than he would ever care to admit, and thinks that maybe,
just maybe not having a father didn't meant you would never have one.
5. Kurenai never knew her
real father and never pushed her mother to explain where the man went after she
was born, but in Uchiha Fugaku she sees the father she would always want to
have – stern, disciplined, and most of all, proud of his heritage.
Word
1. Deidara cared about his father about as much as he cared for Tobi, but
realized that had the man never told him to “follow his dreams no matter what
stood before him” he would’ve died like the rest of his family at the hands of
Saosori’s puppets and not join the Akatsuki
2. If being an orphaned
taught Anko anything, it was not to trust adults. So when Orochimaru begins to
act suspicious enough to warrant worry, she thanks her father for never being
there for her and saving her from becoming one of the Snake’s…experiments.
3. Sasuke does not remember
the last words his father told him, but had he listened to Fugaku instead of
his Itachi that one faithful night, the Uchiha Prince would live by the words
of a warrior instead of the words of a murderer.
4. Gai held his father’s
hand as his heart gave out and sent him into the next life, and took the dying
man’s final words so seriously that no man or woman in Konoha that knew of them
would ever find him mad. “The flame of youth…is not eternal, my son.”
5. As a woman, Ino learns
to know the sound of pretty words from real ones, buts thinks that when her
father tells “I will take care of everything.” she should believe in him more
than anything else in the world.
Promises
1. Kabuto realizes, rather quite distinctly as Uchiha Sasuke drives his hand
through his chest during his coup, that had he never promised his father to
seek perfection in his craft first and keep to his morals second,
he would stayed in Konoha and have never ended up following Orochimaru into the
depths of hell in the first place.
2. Ibiki is well known
amongst his generation as the man whose father caused the death of another’s,
and promises to the ghost of Hatake Sakumo that he will never let the pain
or fear of death cause him to sell his comrade’s out.
3. Though he lies about his
original reason for wanting to be in the Akatsuki, Kazuku’s story of wanting
vengeance against those who wronged his family so long ago by stealing their
Hero Water makes more and more sense to him than greed and simple bloodlust do
any day.
4. Hidan’s teachings have
taught him that all men lied to one another, in time, but the mere fact that
his father kept his word and let his son kill him without a fight when he
converted to Jashin is the only thing that makes Hidan question his belief in
the god.
5. Sakura never believed
her father was happy from how often and how loudly he argued with her
mother, and they eventually divorced she promised herself at that she would be
the perfect wife first and leave her own happiness up to the will of the
gods.
Legacies
1. Jiraiya never knew his father outside from what his mother told him about a
samurai who left for the war long, long ago; but the mere fact that he has seen
the man’s grandson and great-grandson live up to everything a warrior should
stand for makes up for it.
2. Though she is more of
her mother’s daughter than her father’s, Temari unknowingly honors the memory
and the mission of the man she hated more than life itself by keeping Gaara
alive and well.
3. The Samehada has only
had two wielders in its entire history, and the fact that Kisame had to kill
his brothers to keep the blade out of the hands of his tyrannical father only
makes holding onto it that much more important.
4. Shino stood by his
father’s side as their bloodline ran its course and began to devour him, and
vowed then and there that no son of his would suffer the same horrible fate.
5. Her father is not a holy
man, but the fact that he believes so fervently in something as simple as a sword
makes TenTen want to attain his same conviction and shapes her life from cradle
to the crave.
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Finis