As the rising sun began to peek over the treetops, turning the sky from a pale grey to a washed out blue, Kakashi Hatake could finally make out the names etched into the surface of Konoha's memorial stone. Not that he needed the light. He had memorized the location of the four names that meant the most to him even before he had been old enough to buy his first copy of Icha Icha Paradise.

Obito Uchiha

Rin

Minato Namikaze

Sakumo Hatake

The only four people in his life that he had ever come to love, and the only four people he had failed to save.

"Oh."

Kakashi looked away from the memorial to see Shikamaru Nara standing at the edge of the clearing. The young chunin had his hands in his pockets and a lit cigarette held loosely in between his lips.

"Sorry," Shikamaru said, glancing over his shoulder "I didn't think anyone else would be here this early. I'll come back later."

"That's okay," Kakashi said hastily, glancing at the sharp lines of one of the newer names to be inscribed on the stone. The edges were still vivid, the wind and rain not having had the time to round them out. "I'll go. I've been here for some time now."

"No, I don't want to intrude-"

"Tell you what," Kakashi said, smiling through his mask, "Why don't we both stay? The clearing's big enough for the two of us, I think."

Shikamaru hesitated, then he said, "Sure."

The two shinobi stood beside each other for several long minutes, staring at the names of their fallen comrades. Kakashi was counting silently to himself. He decided that an hour would be long enough of a wait to convince Shikamaru that his presence had not driven him away, and then he could excuse himself.

"I almost forgot he was gone yesterday."

Kakashi looked sidelong at Shikamaru.

"I was sparring with Choji," Shikamaru elaborated, "One of my blocks was too slow, and he landed a hit he shouldn't have been able to. I actually thought for a second that Asuma was going to scold me for slacking off again, before I remembered."

He chuckled lightly to himself, as if he were forcing himself to laugh at a joke he didn't think was funny.

"The week after my first teammate died," Kakashi said after a moment, "I waited for him. My sensei had him and me meeting twice a week so that I could tutor him in taijutsu. I waited for him for almost ten minutes before I remembered that he had died."

"…Does it ever get any easier?"

"Sort of. I still think of them all the time. But now, sometimes, my memories of them don't hurt as much as they used to, and I can remember the good times as well as the bad."

"I'm good with strategy," Shikamaru said, "I've always been able to plan ahead for anything. Now, though, I don't know what move I should make. I don't know what to do."

"I didn't know either, at first," Kakashi said, "It took me awhile, but I found an answer."

"What was it?"

"Honor their memory," Kakashi replied, placing a hand over his covered Sharingan eye. The eye that had once belonged to Obito. "And no matter what, keep looking forward."

They were silent for several more minutes. The sun had risen above the treetops, and the sky was now a bright, cloudless blue.

"Well," Kakashi said, "I need to be going now. I'm late for a meeting."

"Right," Shikamaru said.

Kakashi made a hand sign and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Shikamaru alone by the memorial. He stared silently for a moment at the space Kakashi had just left. Then he looked back at the marker, at the name of his sensei.

Asuma Sarutobi

Shikamaru closed his eyes, and smiled.