Naruto Of The Shikon

Chapter 19: Fall into despair

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The sound of soft chuckling could be heard as Naruto and Sango walked down a worn dirt path that led to the demon slayers village.

And then Shippou dumped the entire bottle of salt in Inuyasha's eyes. It was so hilarious seeing Inuyasha screaming his head off as he ran around like a lunatic."

Naruto chuckled silently and Kirara purred with amusement from her perch on the slayers shoulder.

Yet the comfortable atmosphere shattered abruptly as they went over the next hill and the remains of the slayers village came into view.

Sango's eyes immediately clouded with sadness and her form slumped slightly.

Naruto as well, felt a slight feeling of nostalgia. It was so similar. Both of their pains came from...from this. He felt as if he was back in the burning remnants of his village. Nothing more than smoke, ash and charred remains with which to burry the memories of those he once loved.

He sighed and once again his mask came to his defense. He turned to Sango and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Are you allright?"

She took a deep breath and nodded solemnly. "Yeah its just...it doesn't really go away, you know?"

Naruto nodded and tore his gaze away. If she only knew.

He stepped forward and made his way towards the village. Sango stood for a few more seconds before slowly following.

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It was several hours later when Sango finally deemed her weapon sufficiently repaired for the night. It wasn't perfect but she had been working since they had arrived and she was tired and sweaty from working in the forge.

Naruto had offered to help her but these were secrets that were passed on from one demon slayer to another not something for outsiders to learn, even though...there may not be a next generation of demon slayers.

She sighed as she took the Hiraikotsu and placed it on a rack on the wall. She would put the finishing touches on the thing tomorrow.

She looked out and noticed that the sun was now going down. She looked alarmed, she had been there for more than half the day and had left Naruto alone in an empty village with nothing to do. She hadn't even showed him the archives so she could actually see what he was looking for.

She immediately walked out of the hut that housed the forge works and found Kirara in her full demon form laying across the porch resting. One of her cat ears twitched as the neko heard Sango's arrival and a single lazy eye opened to look upon the demon slayer.

Sango smiled down at her long time partner and spoke. "Kirara where is Naruto?"

The Fire cat pointed one of her tails off behind a few huts. Sango smiled and nodded before walking off in the direction the cat indicated.

It was after a few seconds that Sango noticed that Kirara had pointed to the graveyard. She began feeling slightly queasy as she approached the area. She began wondering if Naruto had gone to pay his respects to the dead. The thought surprised her. Few people passed through a decimated village and paid their respects to the dead. Infact, few even bothered to burry them let alone pray for them.

When she finally caught sight of the blond she could see him kneeling before the graves and praying. Just as he detected her presence he ceased his prayers andstood as he turned to face her with a small sad smile on his face. "It is not much, but..."

She immediately interrupted him. "No no, Thank you for the thought. She looked saddened for a moment before she shook her head and smiled at him. "I'm finished for today. I was thinking that perhaps we could go to the archives and search for the demon you wanted to look up.