Shigure walked beneath clouds heavy with promise
The kind of sky that threatened rain but never delivered
Every step echoed through the empty path like a drumbeat from a war that never ended
Villages lay ruined on either side of the road
Homes with no names
Windows shattered
Walls burned black by time and memory
No bodies
Only silence
The kind that held too many ghosts to count
He didn't speak
Didn't breathe too loud
The air was too still
Too respectful
Even the crows kept their distance
He reached a broken gate
Half-buried in the mud
The sign above it erased by smoke and rot
But he remembered this place
Even if it didn't remember him
He'd been here once
A boy
Chasing a dream that didn't belong to him
Inside the courtyard lay a well
Cracked
Dry
He walked to it and stared inside
No water
Just reflection
Not his face
Not anymore
The boy who looked back had soft eyes
Calloused hands
A hopeful smile
Shigure touched his cheek and didn't find tears
Just dirt
Just dust
He sat beside the well and waited for the rain
It didn't come
Not even after the winds picked up
Not even after the sky groaned like it was about to break
He watched it all in silence
Because there was nothing left to say
A rustle behind him
Footsteps
Slow
Careful
He turned his head
A girl
Maybe sixteen
Carrying a sack of herbs
Eyes too tired for her age
"You're not from here" she said without fear
"No one is anymore" he answered
She looked at the well
"Did you lose someone"
"I lost everyone"
She nodded like she understood
Then she sat beside him
Close but not too close
They didn't talk for a long time
Finally she said "The rain hasn't fallen here in seven years"
"I know" he replied
She blinked "How"
"Because I'm the reason it stopped"
She didn't laugh
Didn't scoff
She just sat there
Quiet
Then stood and handed him a piece of bread from her sack
"It's dry" she said "But it's food"
He took it
Held it in both hands
"Thank you"
"You looked hungry" she said and walked away
He stared at the bread
Didn't eat it
Just held it
Like it was proof that something still mattered
Above
The sky rumbled again
Still no rain
But for the first time in years
He hoped it might fall tomorrow