Deserve
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Masashi Kishimoto's world. I make no money from this. Inspired by ZheM's "Still". You should read it.
Summery: An ANBU comes storming into the Mission Room to fulfil a promise. Angst.
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: This has not been proof-read by anyone but me, so it might have a lot of grammatical errors. Please be nice about pointing them out—being mean only encourages me to use only LEET speak. This piece was inspired by ZheM's "Still". You can find it at http/www. fanfiction. net/s /3366383/ 1/ (remove the spaces) or on my favourites lists.
The whole Mission Room froze as the bloody ANBU stormed in, radiating a cold fury that had everyone who could suddenly finding much better places to be.
"ANBU-san—" Izumo rose half-way from his seat, clearly intent on trying to distract her from her target.
"I hope you're happy." She snarled, planting herself in front of her objective. "I hope it was fuckin' worth it."
Iruka blinked. "I'm sorry?"
She barked out something that could have been a laugh—if laughs were angry, bitter, and hate-filled. "Your big innocence eye act isn't going to work on me, chunin." She spat. "I know better than to trust unfaithful whores."
"Excuse me?" Iruka's eyes flashed furiously and the circle around them doubled in size instantly.
"Chunin WHORE." She taunted. "Do you spread you legs for everyone or do you reserve yourself only for those you can break?"
He slowly got to his feet, nearly shaking in rage. "I don't know who you are or what you're doing here—"
"Oh, that's right. Your time is precious and you can't waste it on just anyone, now can you? Well, let's make this quick, shouldn't we?"
Iruka instinctively ducked, a kunai in his hand as the ANBU threw something in his general direction. When nothing hit him and the only noise was the sound of something hitting the Mission desk and skidding a little, he took his eyes from the masked warrior.
A small box, reminiscent of a jewellery box, sat on the desk, slightly blood-stained.
"You don't deserve that." The ANBU hissed, but this time there was something other than raw anger in her voice. "You don't deserve anything at all. But I keep my promises, even if they are to ungrateful and worthless assholes like you."
"I never asked for anything from you." Iruka cautiously opened the delicate box.
She snorted rudely at him. "I do it for him, not for pathetic scum like you."
He stared at the box, slightly puzzled. Inside was a small but sturdy ring, clearly very expensive and in very high taste. It looked to be Iruka's size, but…it couldn't be. He was quite certain he didn't know this ANBU, even without her mask. "I'm afraid I don't understand."
"Of course you wouldn't." Her tone was condescending now. "You wouldn't remember that far back, would you? It was so very long ago. Well, let's see if I can refresh your memory.
"About two weeks ago, my team got in from our mission. It had been a long one and there had been very short notice before we had left. Starting to sound familiar? No? I'll continue. One of my team mates spent the majority of the trip talking about his one 'precious person'"—said bitterly and mockingly—"and how perfect this person was. How he was making arrangements so he could spend the rest of his life with this 'precious person'. How when he got back, he was going to show them how much he loved them.
"Hear that? Someone who's not supposed to be feeling anything and is supposed to only be a cold-blooded killer is talking about love. I figure it has to be a pretty important person to pull someone like him up like that and how I would LOVE to have a person waiting like that for me at home. How we all would love to have someone like that.
"Aw, is this starting to sound familiar? Well, you haven't heard the best part yet!
"So we come home, and he's bloody, tired, dirty, and disgusting, and the first thing he does after dropping off his report is run to go let this 'precious person' know he's okay and that he'll be over soon because he's got big plans. Only know what? This 'precious person' tells him not to come. Tells him that they're sick of how he treats them or some such utter bullshit. They tell him they don't want to see him again. EVER. Tells him that he's not a good boyfriend. Tells him that he never has time for them. Tells him he's never there when they need him. They go on and on about what a shitty person his is."
The white porcelain mask pushed itself near Iruka's increasingly pale face. "Ever seen a man who has nothing left to live for? Ever seen one fight?" She straightened up. "You took everything that man had to live for away. You had his hope, his life, his heart, and you just threw it AWAY!!" She screamed the last part at his bloodless face. The rest of the room stared on in the same way one watches a plane crash.
This seemed to be the breaking point for the ANBU. She screamed everything into Iruka's pale face. "Because of YOU, Konoha has lost its most powerful and strongest ninja! Hound is DEAD because of you! I lost the best team mate that I've ever had because of your selfishness! He let himself be killed because he had NOTHING! You took everything from him!
"And that," she gestured coldly to the small box Iruka was clutching. "Is what he wanted you to have. He wanted you to know how much he LOVED you.
"You don't deserve it!" She snarled, the pain starting to override her anger. "I don't think you should have that, but it's what he wanted, so there. Take it and live out your little pathetic worthless life. I hope you're happy with your fuckin' decisions."
The ANBU stomped out of the Mission Room, leaving Iruka to slowly sink back into his chair.
Constructive criticism is always welcomed.