Those Files
Warning: major character deaths, gore, mentions of male/male relationships. Read on or turn away now. Pairings: Kakashi/Iruka, Sasuke/Naruto, Gaara/Lee and Shikamaru/Neji. Read as Seme/Uke for no actual value other then that's how I like my pairings in this to go like, oh and Jiraiya/Tsunade. I do realise that ninja would carry on and fight not run to their respective lovers but I'm a bit of a romantic and I want them to.
In the end it was always going to happen, they were shinobi they should have known that one day, the next mission might be the last mission they ever took. It was a risk that was there every day of their lives, from the moment children enter the academy to the moment before the kunai hit, present but not entirely real until it happened. Relationships were never really real for ninja, life was too fleeting and the missions too many, all it took was one mistake. Because in the end it is never you who decides who dies. But this group ignored the danger, sharpened their skills and learnt new jutsu to protect their precious people. Sharingan no Kakashi had his beloved academy sensei Iruka; the last Uchiha, Sasuke had the shining warmth of Naruto, Gaara no Sabaku had exuberant excitable Rock Lee and lazy genius Shikamaru had perfectionist prodigy Neji.
The mission was a success; information gathered and sent back to Konoha, all of the party accounted for. They never saw the rogue ninja, didn't see the attack until the first kunai hit the floor. After that it was a flurry of attacks, parry's, twirls and dodges. The world around them reduced to shining metal and the smell of blood, the adrenalin racing through their veins and the sharp focus of their battle. For all their skill and jutsu, the enemy were just as good. Their great battle lasted barely twenty minutes.
The great Sharingan no Kakashi, the man of a thousand jutsu was killed by a tiny slice to the artery in his neck, the skin unprotected because he was craning his neck in search of his lovers position, he had less than a minute, gone just as his lovers face became the last thing his special eyes saw, Iruka's name never reaching his lips. The blood in his body rushing around in the heat of battle made it swift and painless. Iruka saw the slide of the kunai across Kakashi's neck and assumed it missed but as his uniform was doused in his life blood, Iruka moved faster than he ever had before. His hand slapped over Kakashi's wound, in a vain attempt to stem the bleeding and an arm wrapped around his waist, his face screaming horror and his eyes dead with shock, his mind crumbling over the impossible thought of Kakashi's demise. The katana driven through his back, into his lung, coming to a stop before entering Kakashi's still warm corpse, was barely felt through the screaming in his head, in his heart. It took Iruka's body five minutes to drown, but his life had ended with the moment Kakashi's heart stopped beating.
The Jinchuuriki was fighting off three attackers, when a strangled cry from his lover snapped his attention from the enemies in from of him to where Sasuke knelt, his leg had been pinned to the ground with a demon wind shuriken, two of the four blades were stuck into the tender flesh and had smashed the bone. The demon inside Naruto was released in his fury and fear and all three of his attackers and Sasuke's were torn apart, he sped to his wounded partner and crouched above him in his feral rage, protecting what was his from harm. Two claw tipped hands wrapping possessively around the man, burning eyes locked on to spinning red and black, fear love and pain all being communicated in an instant. The dark haired one ripped the shuriken from his body stifling a shriek of pain between clenched teeth and curved one palm around his golden haired lover's cheek, in the heat of battle a gentle affection softening the angles of his face, Sasuke's special eyes locked with his companions and they traded instant silent conversation providing reassurance, noticing movement Sasuke's gaze flickered to the empty space where his attackers had been and saw familiar rapid hand signals. A fire jutsu stolen from the Uchiha's and powered by unnatural winds, was the last things they saw as their world erupted into white flame and searing agony. Both warriors consumed before they could scream.
Gaara, crouched in ever swirling protective sand, faced off against a brute of a man, easily seven foot and rivalled a mountain in size, his sand providing attacks and defence against the blows from the enemy. A strangled cry of his name in his beloved's voice shot into his head and he and his sand immediately sought out his lover, the eddies curling outwards in search of its masters heart to protect it even at the cost of its masters life. Lee's body was hanging limply from the hand of what looked like man-mountains twin, Lee's precious hands were shattered beyond repair and bone and blood alike splattered the ground beneath him. The frantic search of the sand halted and the curling mist became solid and crashed to the floor. His legs so powerful and graceful were broken into unnameable uncountable fractures, in angles that no human's body should ever be able to contort into. The sight of his lover's body, usually full of energy and life hanging empty and broken stirred the demonic rage that lived inside him, but the sight of those empty dead eyes that had previously shone with warmth broke his heart. As Lee was thrown to the floor with casual distain, limbs snapping together horribly like a rag doll, Gaara span aiming to tear apart all those who laid a hand on his lover, his body rippling unnaturally ready to change and wreak havoc in his demonic form, when mono filament wire loops wrapped around his wrists and throat. He never had a chance to raise his ever wary sand to help him; the shock of the death dropped his guard and his mourning teal eyes never left his partners body, even as his head was being separated from his neck.
Neji, engaged in hand-to-hand combat rapid blows and blocks nearly faster than the eye could see, neatly dispatched his opponent with a chakra strike to the heart and readied him-self for another fight. His unique eyes seeing everything, colours and shapes in sickening focus, he swept his eyes over the entwined corpses of his teachers, feeling his heart ache, over his team mate broken and staring sightlessly towards his headless lover, his heart throbbed, over the still smoking remains of the most competitive couple he ever knew, and felt his heart lance sharp pain through his body. The loss of his friends and comrades not fully registering. Every corpse that he saw his battered heart beat that little bit faster, aching that bit more, until panic set in his mind and frantically swept his gaze over the battle field to find his lover. Shikamaru was moving jerkily towards him, uniform splattered with gore and dirt slices decorating his arms and face. Neji felt his heart leap joyfully in his chest, until he noticed the puppet strings looped around Shikamaru's lithe body tightened painfully into his skin, the lines of chakra burning brightly. Neji felt his heart clench painfully, when his eyes noticed that his lover had no heartbeat, a gaping hole in his chest where his heart used to be. Shock froze his body and grief clouded his mind, so when a kunai, held in his lover's cold hand, plunged into his own heart he was powerless to stop it. Both bodies hit the ground simultaneously, a graceless mess of limbs and blood. The remaining rogue ninja, only four of the attacking thirteen, melted into the trees and disappeared with a gust of wind and a rustle of leaves, their mission complete.
Tsunade, sitting regal and proud, thanked the ANBU members who brought the files to her office and dismissed them. She stared down at the seemingly innocent pieces of paper, four files, each full of the same forms, the same thicknesses. The contents of those clean pages had torn her world to pieces. The smooth unlined expanse of her face that hid a mind older than her body was pinched and greyed, knowing what the files contained and that she had to read through all of them, each one re-told the demise of her precious people, her family and her villages light, in clinical detachment. The vibrant lives, one of them not from her village but just as big a part of her heart as the others were, ended in a meaningless struggle. Her hands rested on the crisp papers, not wanting to see but having to, to honour the men that fell, to honour who they were, why they fought and how they died, to give it some semblance of meaning. To show that in the end they would never be forgotten.
Tsunade flicked the first file's cover open and started to read, with every page and picture her stoic face faded away and horror crept in to her eyes, her lips parted in soundless gasps and cries, with every word that burned into her mind her shoulders slumped and her posture curled up a little more. Every file broke more of her shattered heart into smaller pieces and tears made their way down her pristine face, when the last page had been turned she laid her head on her forearms and broke down into sobs that wracked her whole frame with silent agony. It was not the wounds that killed them that hurt her so much it was the fact that they died such meaningless deaths, the wounds they suffered were practically god sends in the shinobi world, mostly quick and painless even if apparently gory and drawn out. The wounds were thorough and efficient, every blow placed in sure knowledge of the damage a human body could take, never having to suffer more than necessary. In reality they could have suffered so much more their deaths drawn out and more agonising than the mind could fully feel, but the fact that she would never hear Naruto call her "Granny Tsunade" or see Sasuke's quiet adoration of the blond menace glimmer in his eyes. That she would never have a livid Iruka storming around her office ranting about Kakashi's quirks and habits or witness the pure reverence Kakashi had for the academy sensei, which was so clearly shown in his voice, eyes and body. That she would never hear Lee's youthful exclamations about how wonderful Gaara was or see the devious smirk on the Jinchuuriki's face when Lee blushed so hard he couldn't have had much blood left in his body when someone remarked on the bright, conspicuous bruises on his neck especially when there was still a visible bite mark in them. Or that she would never have a satisfying non-conversation-conversation with the youngest Nara just walking side by side, or that the Hyuuga would never stop by her office to report nothing just to see his lover during the day.
Warm strong arms lifted her from her chair and carried her over to a sofa, arranged her like a baby in his lap rocking her and a strong deep voice made soothing nonsense noises. Tsunade looked up from her arms to see Jiraiya staring down at her in concern, his own eyes shining in grief and loss.
"Hime?" So many questions laced that one pet name, ones the man may never ask but still thought.
"How can I tell them, their families that they died for nothing that they are now rotting flesh and blood for no reason?" She demanded brokenly.
Jiraiya softly replied "They didn't die for nothing, Hime, I looked through those files and I saw the pictures, they died trying to protect their loved ones, their precious people. I don't think that's nothing do you?" Tsunade gazed sightlessly at her lap as she thought of the enigma that was Jiraiya, the man was an unrepentant pervert but he held so much wisdom that it was hard to see the idiot brat he was and still could be.
"They shouldn't have died that way, they..." She protested
"They knew the risks, Tsunade"
"But not like th..."
"It's true but they are shinobi" He replied firmly. She felt anger curl in her gut, she knew the statements he was making were perfectly true but she didn't want to see because it hurt, Tsunade leapt from his lap and spun towards him, fire in her eyes, needing to rage at something.
"AND THAT MAKES IT OKAY DOES IT? THEY WERE SHINOBI! IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT THEY DIED IN A PATHETIC WORTHLESS FIGHT?"
"NO!" Jiraiya got to his feet "NO it doesn't make it okay but, this is the reality of our world Tsunade! You and I both know that" His voice steady and firm, he knew that this would kill her inside; Naruto's passing more than the others. He felt the bone deep ache that the loss of those lives brought, himself and he knew that loss was something Tsunade never dealt with well.
He tried again "They are shinobi; they knew the risks of their missions, even the harmless ones, of being with the ones they love"
"OH so now it's their fault, huh for being in love?" She spat.
"That's not what I meant and you know it! It's their duty to put their lives on the line for Konoha, that's what being shinobi..."
Her eyes burned "THEY'RE NOT JUST SHINOBI! , THEY'RE CHILDREN!" her voice wavered and cracked on those few words, Jiraiya felt his heart break for her a little more, he knew why now. A sad wistful smile tugged at his lips.
"To us Hime they're all children, ninja don't get to our age and not think of them all as children" Tsunade tried to interrupt but he continued "so naïve and innocent, even if they think they aren't even though they've seen some terrifying things, that they'll never see some of the things that we've seen is a hope I carry around with me all the time, they will always be children to us Tsunade, now and always, a sad by product of seeing them born and grown. To see who they were and who they became, watching them fall in love and fall in battle… The curse of the old Tsunade" Tears formed in his eyes and trailed silently down his cheeks, for the children that fell in battle every time they were sent on missions, for the people that he saw as his own children, in spirit if not in blood.
Tsunade, tears of anger and sadness slipped down her own face, saw the longing in Jiraiya's eyes for the children he could have had, for the ones he now mourned. Stepping forward she wrapped firm arms around his body and pulled him to her, in an embrace telling him she felt the same. Endless moments later but still somehow not long enough they parted, Tsunade looked up and thought aloud "How am I going to tell the children of the academy that Iruka-sensei isn't coming back, the Nara's and Hyuuga's their children died, the rookies that their friends and teachers aren't here anymore, how can I give honour to a death that was honourless?" She let all the thoughts out in a rapid tumble, her throat feeling like it was closing trying to stop the words out but being slowly crushed under their weight.
"Tomorrow, Hime, tomorrow. Then" a bloodthirsty feral grin slowly crept across his lips "we'll find the people responsible, take all the time we need and show them the reason we are Sannin, shall we?" Tsunade's eyes burned with unholy fire and the same grin was etched on her face, both twisted and ugly on the ninja. "So we will, my love, so we will"
The End
A/N Should probably tell you that I wasn't in the greatest mood when I started this, but I don't think it turned out terribly, did it? I say not but then I'm biased aren't I. Tell me what you think… maybe?
So long fair well, auf weidersehn, good night!