Date: October 21, 2:08pm

Pairing: Kakashi/Shikamaru

The two of them met in the cemetery. Kind of grim, when you get right down to it,. But it stands to reason, Shikamaru thinks, that everything ends where it starts.

Kakashi doesn't like to be so morbid about it. He thinks it won't be so long before they're both in the ground, much less time than Shikamaru thinks it will be. After all, one can only really expect to live so long with a job like theirs. They all know their work will kill them, even if they won't admit it. Only bad ninja die of natural causes.

Shikamaru, however, won't be so dark. He won't anticipate his own death until he sees that goddamned light in his eyes. Kakashi, well, he isn't so optimistic.

But really, they were fated to meet and die there, Neji thinks, dropping a single flower on yet another set of early graves.