"It's too late."

That was the medic's verdict. "No, it's not." I thought to myself. "Just hurry up and give him the meds so we can go back!"

We were on the outskirts of the Kingdom of the Mist searching for the spies that were our current mission's target. It had started as ordinary day out. Making the rounds, searching obscure villages. Shikamaru saw the insignia peeking out from underneath the man's sleeve. The spinning ribbons that marked the members of the particular clan we needed. We followed him when he got up, to see where he would go, hoping he would lead us to the rest. But he caught us off guard, a thing that we can never afford to have happen. He had seen us watching him and knew we were on his tail. He waited until he rounded a bend in the alley. When we emerged from around the corner, some ways back, he had already taken off running into the busy market. He was slipping away. By some stroke of doom I spotted him and got on his tail without thinking.

I forgot my weapons.

The next events happened in slow motion for me. I was gaining on the man, and saw the raw panic in his eyes as I caught up with him. I watched as his terror became mirth and he laughed, the tables having been turned. His cronies had arrived. They sent a shower of kunai cascading over my head. Horrified, I put my arms up in front of my face. It proved unnecessary. Shikamaru was suddenly in front of me, taking my place...

...

I pushed past the little crowd gathered around him, all the while my numb brain trying to process what I had just witnessed, what the medic had just said. I tried to grasp the fact that it was "too late". I fell to my knees on the dusty street. I felt like pulling at my hair and screaming, but I didn't. Something about the strangers surrounding me made the situation seem too serious, too real. But it couldn't be real. Shikamaru couldn't be pouring blood from his chest, looking more like a corpse than a live person. It was childish, but I closed my eyes and opened them - half expecting the people to be gone, and that I would instead see the vast expanse of dry, empty land as we traveled back to Konoha. I had often been known to nod off at odd times. So I pinched myself. It turned purple as my nails bit into my bare skin harder and harder. My breathing grew heavy as I began to panic. I looked on with half-crazed eyes as the medic tried to save him, trying to stop the blood. "Trying to put Humpty together again."

Shika's hand reached up for mine. His fingers weakly but insistently pulled at mine, until my own were dislodged from my skin. With his other he waved away the people . " Give me some time with her. I'm dying. There's nothing you can do. Just let me say goodbye to her," he croaked. The medic tried insisting on staying, but when the others left, he stepped obediently back and turned his eyes towards the sun - giving us our final time alone. Shikamaru's hand curled around mine again. He shifted both of my hands to one of his own big tanned hands; they were so large that just one was enough to hold my little white ones. His hand was warm, rough, and sticky. I felt nauseated; it was sticky with blood. He pulled me down to him and lay me across his red stained chest. Normally I would have protested; I had always firmly told everyone who asked that we were just friends. But how could I refuse when this was what we both needed? Besides, we had but minutes left. I shouldn't waste them arguing. His strong arms encircled me and for a moment... just a moment, I could indulge myself and pretend that he wasn't dying. For just a moment I reflected on our story. It was a story of lamentations...

Hello, Hello!

Since I am in the middle of exams, I'll probably just be posting revised chapters to my old stories for about a week. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Uchihaflower14