Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ A Scream in the Night ❯ Nightmares in the Darkness ( Chapter 5 )

Nightmares in the darkness

 

A new day has started in the village of Konohana. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the sky is a beautiful color that promises to stay clear all day long. It would seem like nothing could be wrong in the village on a day like this.

 

Oh how deceiving the day is. The day may be beautiful, but the villagers can't seem to appreciate it. They are all filled with sorrow and despair. Why you may ask. They are getting their just deserts. Ever since that day a few months ago almost none of the villagers can get a full nights sleep.

 

Dreams of what has been and could have been haunt them in their sleep. Some of the villagers and ninja leave the village with the hope that by leaving the dreams will stop. Even the ones that have left the village still suffer the dreams of the dammed. Ever since the night where the screams of the Kyuubi pierced though the night a few weeks ago everybody, but a select few, has had nightmares of his past and possible futures that could have been.

 

The worst of his tormenters in the village have been admitted to psychiatric wards and hospitals for attempted suicide and mental breakdowns. After watching their actions through the eyes of the one they hurt most many of them couldn't take it anymore. How can the memories of one little boy cause this much pain you may ask. His life was one painful memory after another. What can be worse then having to live out the memories of the very person you hurt? The answer is seeing what could have been had their attempts at murder succeeded.

 

It is only now that they realize how big an influence one child's life could make in the world. Visions of what their precious village would be like had he died early on haunt their waking hours, and refuse to stop replaying in their few moments of rest at night. Villagers wake up screaming after witnessing the torture they evaded by his very existence. Visions of Konohana being burnt down to the ground by Orochimaru during the chunin exams had he not been there. Their loved ones dead, killed by the demon of the sand that they now know as the Kagekaze of Suna. Phantoms of all the lives he would have saved that day haunting the minds of those who killed him. A bridge in Wave incomplete and broken down can be seen. The villagers there are all slowly starving to death each day thanks to a man named Gato. A little boy cries for his grandfather and mother living in fear of what will happen to him. His grandfather died on his way back to wave, killed by Zabuza. A boy pure of heart is now driven crazy by the blood on his hands. The blood of those that tried to kill his master stain his hands forever, but that won't bring back his master. Wars go on around them. The world is in chaos. The people who would have stood up live in fear of what will happen if they stand up, and those who had a chance to fight back live in regret. Had they just taken the chance they could have won, but they were afraid and now the chance has left.

 

None of this can compare to the other dreams though. What can be worse than to see what his death would cause? What could possibly haunt somebody worst than to see all the lives that could have been saved by one life?

 

A dream of a little boy with golden hair as bright as sunshine, eyes that sparkle so blue they put the sky to shame and make the vivid of sapphires to shame. He is about five years old and has the most beautiful smile in the world. His eyes are clear and unstained by hatred, fear, and judgment. He laughs and it is a sound of pure joy and seems to make those around him just as happy and seems to give them a boost of confidence. He radiates happiness. This is what he could have been as a child. This is what could have been had he been seen as a child. This is a child that would have been loved by all.

 

He grows and as he does he achieves great things in his life. He is one of the best and the brightest in the academy. He seems to make those around him want to become better just for knowing him. The darkness that can be seen in the Uchiha seems to have lessened and the other children are happy to be in his presence.

 

Again he seems to grow and now he is a man. He stands strong and proud becoming the next Hokage after Tsunade. The third is there as well off to the side happy in his old age that his student, brought back after the chunin exams by the child, hands the title of Hokage onto the son of the 4th. Garra, the Kazekage of Suna, stands off to the side he came specifically to witness the ceremony of his best friend becoming Hokage. People all over the elemental countries rejoice and feel a little envious in knowing that the Fire country is getting such a great leader. It is a beautiful day and all witnessing the event know that their future has been put into the best hands.

 

It is a beautiful dream that due to their own hatred and fear may never come true. The child in their dream is gone and in its place is the reality of a child whose eyes only seemed to know fear when looking at the villagers. He can never be due what they did to him. There is such sorrow in not being able to know that child due to their actions. In place of that child that could have been is a boy not yet a man that has never known that type of happiness. For the past three weeks he has been sleeping in a coma after meeting death only to be brought back by the creature they thought of as a monster. The so called monster gave more love to that child then any of them ever thought to.

 

The past can't be change, but the future is unwritten. Many villagers hope that when he wakes up they will get a new chance to meet this person and maybe not all of that dream will be false. Maybe there is hope for them yet. All their hopes and dreams for the future are on a boy that they are hoping, praying will forgive them. All he has to do is wake up. Then maybe their nightmares will go away. The worst nightmares don't always take place in the darkness. Sometimes it is from viewing such a radiant light of what could have been, and seeing what is that is terrifying. Knowing that it is entirely your own fault that you aren't living in such a brightness, that is a terrifying prospect to face in both the dark of the night and the light of day.