Electric Hearts

All in all, it was actually quite a beautiful day.  Partly cloudy, a cool breeze, and the calm that came with the incoming fall season.  The Gardens were quiet and empty.. well, except for the guards that were stationed around him.  It seemed for a bit, they were instructed to watch the young man, either due to suspicion or protection he really didn't know.  But he did know that his mother had her own guards, and unlike these people, he knew how to evade them.  Right now, though, he just wasn't feeling it.

The past couple of days affected him greatly, both the good and the bad.  He adjusted himself slightly, getting into a more comfortable position on the top of the Gazebo, and sat there, looking at his headband.  It was an interesting design, based on another lost village who's symbol just happened to be the star.  In fact, it was literally Hoshigakure no sato, and Arashi thought that this might be the lost village for a while, though it was clear from the records where the village used to be, and that wasn't Haven.

He was given a promotion, officially made a Chuunin.  It meant that he was an older ninja, practically an adult now.  He was strong enough to not only contain the elements he held inside him, and the strongest of jutsus he could learn, but also to learn how to bend chakra himself into something special.  Most would have been excited to know this, and be elated.  Arashi had been, secretly, but with the joy came reality.

He didn't think himself worthy of such a title, not exactly.  There weren't any full chuunins in the village currently, just the three leaders, and a jounin that Arashi saw occasionally.  And the mission that provided him with the promotion, he had an issue with.  He was supposed to find and bring back the Princess, the heir of Hoshi.  Instead, what he brought was her dead body, having failed to save her from what turned out to be a conspiracy.  He promised her that he would save her, that it wouldn't be her end, and yet he failed.

Not only that, but every time he closed his eyes, he saw her face, that fearful look right before she was killed.  The look that pleaded with him to save her.  The highlight to his failure.

According to his mother, he was deemed worthy enough for promotion for his actions against the rogues, and for his quick thinking.  After the confrontation with Lord Nedran, it was clear that this mission was a high ranking one, and that the Princess was under attack regardless of Arashi going in or not.  There was no avoiding it, and his stand against them was everything that it meant to be a ninja, to defend those who needed it. 

Still.. Arashi didn't feel older or more mature.  In fact the past few nights were horrible.  It was always the same dream.. he would revisit the mission and see her.  Sometime he switched with her, and sometimes he switched with Luther.. or he would have to lay there and watch helplessly as she was murdered over and over.. until he woke up screaming in a cold sweat and Akihana would rush in. 

It was embarrassing, and disturbing, but most of all, it made him consider what it meant to be a ninja.  His grandfather had always said that he wouldn't be able to save everyone, but even that one life loss hurt him.. even more so because he doomed the Kingdom to failure, and he wanted to get to know her.  She had looked beautiful, and he lost her before she even had the chance to say her name.

He couldn't give up... they saw fit to have him promoted for a reason.  He was no longer just one of the younglings.  He was now a full ninja of the village.  A captain for a team if needed, and certainly a sensei.  Standing up, Arashi flash stepped away, leaving his youth behind.

EXIT