Mend my Mind {Kakashi Hatake}

11 | marigolds

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There was silence for a while. Miyoshi wasn't crying anymore, but she was staring at the tree with a lost sort of look in her eyes. It was like she wanted to cry, but she had no tears left to shed. I knew how she'd loved Itachi. Not in the same way she loved me, but as much as a person can love a friend.

"Do you want to stay here for a while?" I asked quietly. "It's going to get dark soon, but I don't mind staying out with you."

"There's one last place I want to go first," Miyoshi said. "The KIA stone."

"Your name is on there, you know," I said.

"Really?" Miyoshi smiled a little. "That's always been a goal of mine."

"I'd rather it wasn't." I frowned. "You were twenty-three. That's way too young."

"There have been some that were half that age," Miyoshi reminded me quietly. Of course; Rin, and Obito, had he died in the rocks. Both had been twelve when they were lost to me forever.

Miyoshi took my hand and squeezed it lightly, and accompanied by a brief kiss on the cheek, brought me back to the present. "To the KIA stone, then?"

"Yeah. Remember the way?"

"I could walk it blind," she murmured.

"Let's not test that theory," I advised. "Come on."

There was just one person at the memorial: a little girl with short brown hair, barely more than ten at a guess. She was a little thing, skinnier than even Miyoshi, who was about the same width as a twig. The girl was staring at a name, and didn't notice our approach until I purposefully snapped a branch under my foot as I walked to announce our presence without alarming her.

The girl glanced up and saw us, and her eyes widened. "Oh, I can go..."

"No, no, it's fine," Miyoshi said reassuringly with a warm smile, the kind she usually reserved for children. "You here to see someone?"

The little girl went red and looked back at the stone. "M-my mother. She died in the war."

Before I had time to notice her moving, Miyoshi had left my side and was crouched next to the girl. "What was your mother like?"

"She was really nice. The nicest person you'll ever meet," the girl said. "Everyone says I look like her."

"Oh, I bet she was beautiful."

"She was." The girl turned pink. "What was your mom like?"

"Well," Miyoshi murmured, "my mother died many, many years ago, probably before you were born. From what I remember, though, she was very gifted. She was a medic like me, but she could also fight like a lion when she needed to. I've been told by a lot of people that I'm like a clone of her."

"She sounds nice." The girl smiled. "Is her name on here?"

"No," Miyoshi answered. "She's with my dad at the cemetery. But I have friends whose names are on here."

"It's a very long list," the girl commented, running a finger down all the names. "Can you even find a few names on all this?"

"Of course." Miyoshi pointed out the names as easily as if they'd been burned in her mind forever. Obito Uchiha. Rin Nohara. Minato Namikaze. Kushina Uzumaki. Asuma Sarutobi. "I'll never forget where they are. Ever."

"And I'll never, ever forget my mom," the girl promised.

"I'm sure you won't." Miyoshi smiled. Oh, how I'd missed that smile. "What's your name?"

"O-oh, sorry! I'm Shizuka Yasu," the girl answered.

"Miyoshi Uraka," Miyoshi introduced herself.

"Like the extinct Clan?"

"That's right. Let me show you something cool." Miyoshi put a hand on the ground, and when she lifted it, she pulled up flowers, and I recognised them instantly as marigolds. Her favourites.

"Wow," Shizuka whispered.

"These are marigolds," Miyoshi said, picking one from the ground and handing it to Shizuka. "Some cultures use marigolds to honour the dead, partly for their bright colour and partly for their meaning."

"What do they mean?"

"Marigolds generally mean grief, but they can also mean cruelty," Miyoshi explained. "They represent the cruelty of having our loved ones taken from us, and remind the dead that we still miss them and love them."

"They're beautiful," Shizuka said. "But, um, I have to go... I promised my dad I'd be home before it got dark."

"Yeah, you'd best get going." Miyoshi glanced up at the sky, and I did too. The sun was setting already. "Kakashi, we should start heading home as well."

Home. And she'd be there with me. I felt a surge of happiness rise up in my chest, but I kept my voice steady as I said, "alright then."

Miyoshi led the way, but then faltered just outside my front door. "It's different," she said.

"Well, when we said the whole village was destroyed in the Pain attack, we literally meant the whole village," I replied. "This place had to be rebuilt."

"It's the same inside, though, right?"

"As close as I could make it." I pushed the door open to let her in.

Miyoshi poked her head into each room as we walked through the house, likely making sure that everything was how she remembered. She reached the bedroom last, but she relaxed in the door frame, and went into the room. I followed, and found her over by my desk where three framed photographs sat: one of Team Minato, one of Team Seven and one of me and her out by the lake.

"They're so cute," she said, picking up the one of Team Seven.

"I remember when we took that photo. Naruto and Sasuke were in the middle of an argument, though I can't remember what it was about."

Miyoshi laughed, and put the photo down. The next one she picked up was the one of us by the lake. I could remember that, too - it was on my twentieth birthday, with the two of us sat by the lake, talking. Miyoshi was laughing, and even I was smiling. The picture had been taken by Garake while we weren't looking, and it was actually a very good shot. The light was hitting the lake nicely, and while you could see a few others in the background, the focus was on us. Garake had given it to me two years later as a birthday present.

"I remember this," she said. "I didn't know you kept it."

"Of course I kept it," I said. "It's the only one I have of you. Losing it would have been like... like letting go of you. I couldn't bring myself to do it."

Miyoshi put the photo down on the desk. I couldn't see her face, but she turned and put her arms around me. I welcomed the embrace, and retuned it, letting myself remember her scent and lose myself in it. She smelled of grass and sap, and walking out in the forest with no shoes on, enjoying being outside. She smelled of freedom and adventure, yet at the same time it was home and it was comfort.

"Stay with me," I whispered, voicing my new greatest fear aloud. "Don't leave me again. Please."

I felt Miyoshi's grip on me tighten. "I'm never, ever leaving you, not while I have a say in the matter."

I closed my eyes, silently praying with every ounce of strength I had that she was telling the truth.