[Gekkou Hayate] [midnightdiddle]
Title: Lucky Boy
Author: midnightdiddle
Character: Gekkou Hayate
Rating: PG
1. Hayate was born four days ago, a full three weeks early. His mother calls him her baby, her boy, and she tells him, as he screams and as he eats and as he sleeps, how lucky he is. She touches his hair, baby-soft and fine, and whispers lucky boy, lucky boy, such a pretty, lucky boy.
2. Hayate’s father will die when Hayate’s only three. The funeral will be Hayate’s first memory, and memory will be about a stiff kimono and kneeling in front of a body, his mother helping him clap his hands. Hayate will always, always remember this, though he’ll remember the fabric and the old women in the back of the room more than he’ll remember that it is his father.
3. Hayate’s family will be very poor after his father’s death. He won’t realize it, and it’ll never occur to him that other people don’t live the same. He’ll watch his mother leave to teach at the Academy in the morning, and wait for her to come home from the mission room at night. He’ll spend most of his time at his grandmother’s house, and that’s where he’ll lose his first tooth, and where he’ll learn to write his name, and where he’ll take his afternoon naps. He’ll never realize he should miss his mother.
4. Hayate will wear hand-me-downs from his sister and his cousins. He won’t hate it, at first, because he won’t know better, but when he grows older, he’ll begin to resent his sister and cousins, because he wants something all of his own. He’ll refuse the hand-me-downs one time, and his mother will throw the bag of clothes on Hayate’s bed before leaving for a shift at the mission desk. That night, she’ll rip the clothes apart, seam by seam, and she’ll painstakingly cut the fabric and sew it back together, until the clothes look like new.
5. Hayate’s papers for entering the Academy will be filled out, signed and stamped, when he’s six. A week before the school year, though, Hayate will cough. He’ll rub his eyes, eat breakfast, and help his sister wash the dishes. He will cough again in the afternoon, and he’ll cough during the night. By the first day of school, he’ll be in the hospital, sleeping fitfully in the long, white bed, and his mother will be withdrawing the papers from the Academy.
6. Hayate will finally enter the Academy when he’s seven and a half. He’ll be older than all of his classmates, but after a few months, his teachers will discuss him, and decide to move him up to his age group. The rest of his career, Hayate will flit around from class to class, wherever his teachers think he’d learn the best, learn the most. Moving from class to class, he’ll never make many friends.
7. Hayate will have one friend, though. It will be the Umino boy, who’s the same age as Hayate. The boys won’t have too much in common, but sometimes they will eat lunch together during recess, and sometimes they’ll even go swimming in the river together. Most of the time, though, Iruka will run off with other friends while Hayate stays at home, sick.
8. The Kyuubi will attack three times between Hayate’s tenth birthday and his eleventh. The first time, he’ll sit in the living room with his mother and sister, listening to them argue. The second time, Akino will sneak out of the house to go help push the Kyuubi attack and their mother will be beside herself. The third time both his mother and sister will go to push the Kyuubi back, and Akino won’t come home. Hayate will wonder what’s the point of being a ninja, if it’s so easy to die. He won’t figure out the reason.
9. Hayate will begin smoking three weeks after the last Kyuubi attack. At first, he won’t like the taste of cigarettes, but after a while it won’t bother him anymore, and then after a while, he’ll almost kind of like them. He’ll be a chain-smoker by the time he’s twelve and a half.
10. Hayate will graduate from the Academy when he’s twelve years old. He’ll be the second oldest in his class, and he’ll feel slightly out of place, surrounded by ten and eleven year olds, and the occasional eight or nine year old. His mother will cry that night and Hayate will try to convince her it’s alright, that he’s not going to do anything dangerous, that he won’t get hurt. After all, he’s only a genin now.
11. Hayate will pass the chuunin exam less than a year after he graduates from the Academy. He’ll be one of the younger students in the exam, and he’ll feel just as out of place as he did at his Academy graduation. He’ll do well, though, almost top of the exam, and though no one will ever tell him, he’ll pass with flying colors.
12. Hayate will lose his first teammate when he’s thirteen and a half. Toshi will die in the hospital, dragged back by the skin of Hayate’s and Michiko’s teeth, missing more than half his body. Michiko will cry on Hayate’s shoulder and Hayate will lean on their sensei’s shoulders, and their sensei will look very old. Hayate will wonder, for the second time in his life, why he became a ninja. He won’t remember the reason.
13. Hayate will be slapped three times by his mother. The first time will be the only time he comes home drunk. The second time, he’ll be screaming at her, and she’ll be screaming back, and he’ll say that he hates her, wishes she was dead. The last time he’ll be sitting on her couch, and she’ll be asking him what he was thinking.
14. It will take four years for Hayate to be slapped all three times. Hayate’s mother will hate herself for years afterwards, and she will always be able to remember the sound of her palm hitting his cheek. Hayate will only remember two of the times, but he’ll forgive her for all three.
15. Hayate will join the ANBU when he’s fourteen. He’ll be the youngest current agent, and one of the smallest. He’ll join because he needs the money, and because his sensei will tell him it would be a good career move. Hayate will decide, after his first mission, while he’s wiping off the blood and dirt and bones in the river, that his sensei lied to him. He’ll wonder why he’s even a ninja, what the point is. He won’t want to know the reason.
16. Hayate will have an identity crisis when he’s fifteen. He’ll kiss a boy, he’ll kiss a girl, and he’ll make himself sick. He’ll be confused and angry and scared, and he’ll hide in his mother’s house, because she always listens to him, even when she’s rolling her eyes. He’ll lie on the porch, his head in her lap, and she’ll touch his hair, rough and thick. Lucky boy, she’ll tell him, and he won’t believe her.
17. Hayate will die when he’s sixteen and a half, when he’s on a mission for the ANBU. There will be a small skirmish, and Hayate will find himself on the wrong side of a sword. He will go into cardiac arrest from the trauma, and he will die. He won’t have a pulse, and his chest won’t move. The medic on his team will jumpstart his heart with chakra. It won’t work. She’ll jumpstart it again. It won’t work. On the third try, though, his heart will catch, then beat.
18. Hayate will die again when he’s nineteen. This time it will be part of the mission. It’s like a poison, and after he swallows it, it shuts down his body. He won’t breathe. His heart won’t beat. He’ll be dead, just like that. After a few hours, a teammate will stab a syringe into his leg. It will start slow. His heartbeat will be slow. His breathing will be slow. It will speed up, though, and then he’ll be rolling onto his side, coughing and choking and puking out the poison. He’ll call it his “little death.”
19. For Hayate, the third time will always be the charm. He will die when he’s twenty-three, for the third time in his life. He’ll be on a mission, listening in on a meeting between a Sound-nin and a Sand-nin. He’ll be caught, and he’ll be surprised, because he hasn’t been caught for years. He’ll draw his swords, and then he’ll die. Wind will catch him, across his chest and face, tearing through cloth and flesh and bone. He’ll bleed to death, on the rooftop, under the cold stars.
20. Hayate is four days old. He has no idea what his life holds. He’s not aware of anything other than the need to eat. He screams his mother awake and screams himself asleep. He’s very red and very small and very lucky. If only he knew how lucky he is.
Author: midnightdiddle
Character: Gekkou Hayate
Rating: PG
1. Hayate was born four days ago, a full three weeks early. His mother calls him her baby, her boy, and she tells him, as he screams and as he eats and as he sleeps, how lucky he is. She touches his hair, baby-soft and fine, and whispers lucky boy, lucky boy, such a pretty, lucky boy.
2. Hayate’s father will die when Hayate’s only three. The funeral will be Hayate’s first memory, and memory will be about a stiff kimono and kneeling in front of a body, his mother helping him clap his hands. Hayate will always, always remember this, though he’ll remember the fabric and the old women in the back of the room more than he’ll remember that it is his father.
3. Hayate’s family will be very poor after his father’s death. He won’t realize it, and it’ll never occur to him that other people don’t live the same. He’ll watch his mother leave to teach at the Academy in the morning, and wait for her to come home from the mission room at night. He’ll spend most of his time at his grandmother’s house, and that’s where he’ll lose his first tooth, and where he’ll learn to write his name, and where he’ll take his afternoon naps. He’ll never realize he should miss his mother.
4. Hayate will wear hand-me-downs from his sister and his cousins. He won’t hate it, at first, because he won’t know better, but when he grows older, he’ll begin to resent his sister and cousins, because he wants something all of his own. He’ll refuse the hand-me-downs one time, and his mother will throw the bag of clothes on Hayate’s bed before leaving for a shift at the mission desk. That night, she’ll rip the clothes apart, seam by seam, and she’ll painstakingly cut the fabric and sew it back together, until the clothes look like new.
5. Hayate’s papers for entering the Academy will be filled out, signed and stamped, when he’s six. A week before the school year, though, Hayate will cough. He’ll rub his eyes, eat breakfast, and help his sister wash the dishes. He will cough again in the afternoon, and he’ll cough during the night. By the first day of school, he’ll be in the hospital, sleeping fitfully in the long, white bed, and his mother will be withdrawing the papers from the Academy.
6. Hayate will finally enter the Academy when he’s seven and a half. He’ll be older than all of his classmates, but after a few months, his teachers will discuss him, and decide to move him up to his age group. The rest of his career, Hayate will flit around from class to class, wherever his teachers think he’d learn the best, learn the most. Moving from class to class, he’ll never make many friends.
7. Hayate will have one friend, though. It will be the Umino boy, who’s the same age as Hayate. The boys won’t have too much in common, but sometimes they will eat lunch together during recess, and sometimes they’ll even go swimming in the river together. Most of the time, though, Iruka will run off with other friends while Hayate stays at home, sick.
8. The Kyuubi will attack three times between Hayate’s tenth birthday and his eleventh. The first time, he’ll sit in the living room with his mother and sister, listening to them argue. The second time, Akino will sneak out of the house to go help push the Kyuubi attack and their mother will be beside herself. The third time both his mother and sister will go to push the Kyuubi back, and Akino won’t come home. Hayate will wonder what’s the point of being a ninja, if it’s so easy to die. He won’t figure out the reason.
9. Hayate will begin smoking three weeks after the last Kyuubi attack. At first, he won’t like the taste of cigarettes, but after a while it won’t bother him anymore, and then after a while, he’ll almost kind of like them. He’ll be a chain-smoker by the time he’s twelve and a half.
10. Hayate will graduate from the Academy when he’s twelve years old. He’ll be the second oldest in his class, and he’ll feel slightly out of place, surrounded by ten and eleven year olds, and the occasional eight or nine year old. His mother will cry that night and Hayate will try to convince her it’s alright, that he’s not going to do anything dangerous, that he won’t get hurt. After all, he’s only a genin now.
11. Hayate will pass the chuunin exam less than a year after he graduates from the Academy. He’ll be one of the younger students in the exam, and he’ll feel just as out of place as he did at his Academy graduation. He’ll do well, though, almost top of the exam, and though no one will ever tell him, he’ll pass with flying colors.
12. Hayate will lose his first teammate when he’s thirteen and a half. Toshi will die in the hospital, dragged back by the skin of Hayate’s and Michiko’s teeth, missing more than half his body. Michiko will cry on Hayate’s shoulder and Hayate will lean on their sensei’s shoulders, and their sensei will look very old. Hayate will wonder, for the second time in his life, why he became a ninja. He won’t remember the reason.
13. Hayate will be slapped three times by his mother. The first time will be the only time he comes home drunk. The second time, he’ll be screaming at her, and she’ll be screaming back, and he’ll say that he hates her, wishes she was dead. The last time he’ll be sitting on her couch, and she’ll be asking him what he was thinking.
14. It will take four years for Hayate to be slapped all three times. Hayate’s mother will hate herself for years afterwards, and she will always be able to remember the sound of her palm hitting his cheek. Hayate will only remember two of the times, but he’ll forgive her for all three.
15. Hayate will join the ANBU when he’s fourteen. He’ll be the youngest current agent, and one of the smallest. He’ll join because he needs the money, and because his sensei will tell him it would be a good career move. Hayate will decide, after his first mission, while he’s wiping off the blood and dirt and bones in the river, that his sensei lied to him. He’ll wonder why he’s even a ninja, what the point is. He won’t want to know the reason.
16. Hayate will have an identity crisis when he’s fifteen. He’ll kiss a boy, he’ll kiss a girl, and he’ll make himself sick. He’ll be confused and angry and scared, and he’ll hide in his mother’s house, because she always listens to him, even when she’s rolling her eyes. He’ll lie on the porch, his head in her lap, and she’ll touch his hair, rough and thick. Lucky boy, she’ll tell him, and he won’t believe her.
17. Hayate will die when he’s sixteen and a half, when he’s on a mission for the ANBU. There will be a small skirmish, and Hayate will find himself on the wrong side of a sword. He will go into cardiac arrest from the trauma, and he will die. He won’t have a pulse, and his chest won’t move. The medic on his team will jumpstart his heart with chakra. It won’t work. She’ll jumpstart it again. It won’t work. On the third try, though, his heart will catch, then beat.
18. Hayate will die again when he’s nineteen. This time it will be part of the mission. It’s like a poison, and after he swallows it, it shuts down his body. He won’t breathe. His heart won’t beat. He’ll be dead, just like that. After a few hours, a teammate will stab a syringe into his leg. It will start slow. His heartbeat will be slow. His breathing will be slow. It will speed up, though, and then he’ll be rolling onto his side, coughing and choking and puking out the poison. He’ll call it his “little death.”
19. For Hayate, the third time will always be the charm. He will die when he’s twenty-three, for the third time in his life. He’ll be on a mission, listening in on a meeting between a Sound-nin and a Sand-nin. He’ll be caught, and he’ll be surprised, because he hasn’t been caught for years. He’ll draw his swords, and then he’ll die. Wind will catch him, across his chest and face, tearing through cloth and flesh and bone. He’ll bleed to death, on the rooftop, under the cold stars.
20. Hayate is four days old. He has no idea what his life holds. He’s not aware of anything other than the need to eat. He screams his mother awake and screams himself asleep. He’s very red and very small and very lucky. If only he knew how lucky he is.