Characters: Shizune, Kabuto
Summary: The reach of shadows is chasing her, so Shizune must scurry back to the light.
Pairings: KabuShiz
Author's Note: This should be noted as taking place during the time skip.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
This is the only time and place their eyes ever meet—across smoke and fog and the dimming of the light as the sun goes down—and if they are alone, then for some odd reason Kabuto wants to talk.
Shizune hasn't got a clue why Kabuto seems to be so conversational. It does unnerve her though, and she suspects that perhaps that is the point of all of this.
And the genuine interest in his eyes unnerves her even more, along with the fact that Shizune, always lonely, seems to be happy for even this brand of company. She's always glad when it's time to go.
The reach of shadows overtakes them in these moments, and Shizune narrows her eyes and keeps a sharp look out for kunai in the dark or anything else Kabuto might try to pull—he'll try anything and she knows it.
But still, it's nice to have someone to talk to who doesn't treat her like an idiot for once, even if that mockingly polite tone he takes from time to time is quite grating.
She knows better than to let anything come of this. He is a creature of shadows, overtaken by their reach, and she's edging away from the shadows that lap at her feet, just barely keeping them at bay herself. Shizune has enough on her plate without adding Kabuto to it.
The smoke and the fog and the dim twilight separates them from each other's view again and, half-relieved, half-regretful, Shizune stands and goes home.
She does have her regrets. This, maybe, may become one of them.
But the reach of shadows is chasing her, so Shizune must scurry back to the light.
She knows Kabuto can't follow her there. He'd evaporate like smoke.