Based on: Naruto Neglect Collection: https://archiveofourown.org/series/3339685

Xander

“Bless The Beasts and The Children“

Bless the beasts and the children
For in this world they have no voice
They have no choice

He had been born to a surprised drunken mother, while she was at work dust mopping the floor in the high school library.
The principal found her and the barely surviving baby the next morning in the center of the room.

Bless the beasts and the children
For the world can never be
The world they see

His father’s friend’s daughter saw to it he was fed and changed roughly as needed before and after school in his early life. But there was no encouragement to speak, and lots of discouragement about making noise.

Light their way when the darkness surrounds them
And give them love, let it shine all around them

He quickly learned to feed and care for himself.
Quietly.
Never having learned to speak by the time he was four.

Bless the beasts and the children
Give them shelter from the storm
Keep them safe, keep them warm

He learned to show what he meant more than to speak it, as by the time his parents were forced to take him to a doctor for medical care. And they found he was too quiet; he had learned his lessons well.

Light their way when the darkness surrounds them
And give them love, let it shine all around them

The school, when he finally went, called him a troublemaker, son of the town drunks, and one that would never amount to anything.

Bless the beasts and the children
Give them shelter from the storm
Keep them safe, keep them warm

Who knew the difference a yellow crayon would make in his life.

(the children)
(the children)
(the children)