Her Eyes

By:

Fear Die Rothaarige

It was her eyes that would forever haunt him. It was the way they held no life, as if she was already dead while her heart still beat in her chest. He could remember a time when they held life, a time when she was more than the model ninja.

He remembered the love that was in her eye when she would be with her boys. Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi. They were hers and no one could change that. He had often marveled at how much she loved the team that did nothing but underestimate her. They saw her as nothing but dead weight, even their sensei thought she was a lost cause in the ninja world. He would find himself wondering why she loved them so, but he could never come up with an answer.

He remembered the burning passion in her eyes when she trained. No one knew it, but she was often at the training field on their days off, trying to become like the rest of Team Seven. She wanted to become someone who had a purpose in life. She wasn't like Naruto who strived to become Hokage. She wasn't like Sasuke, either. She wasn't consumed with the hatred for an older brother who had destroyed his whole world. Nor was she like Kakashi, who tried his best to make his deceased, but still loved, teammates proud of him. Those days when he saw her trying to become something more, he wondered what drove her.

He remembered the peace in her eyes when she watched the sunrise. One day he wake early in the morning, right as the sun rose, and she was already awake. She was be sitting in the direction of the rising sun was, her knees pulled up to her chest, her chin resting on her legs, and her hands held losely in front of her. He had never seen her so relaxed. The tension that was usually held in her shoulders was gone, the worry lines that often creased her forehead, no longer lined her skin. She seemed at peace with the world as she watched the sunrise color the sky thousands of different shade of pink, orange, and red. When he saw that tension back in her shoulders, and the worry lines perched on her forehead, he wondered why should couldn't be at peace.

He remembered the sadness in her eyes the night he left. He never could figure out how she knew he was leaving. Maybe it was just a lucky break that she had seen him, maybe it was more. The tears that poured from her eyes made him believe every word that she said. He believed that she loved him, with that fragile 12 year-old heart of hers. He believed that she would willingly follow him to the ends of the earth, just to be by his side. But he could never quiet understand why. Maybe it was the way that the tears seemed to be part of the truth that she kept locked away. When he thought back to that night, he wondered about the side of her they never got to see.

He remembered the emptiness in her eyes when he finally came home.

Ten years after he saw the sadness in her eyes, he finally walked back through the village gates. He was beaten and bruised, but he was home after being dragged back by, none other, than his blonde teammate. He didn't expect a warm welcome from most people, but from her, he expected more tears, but this time from happiness. He expected a bone crushing hug and maybe a little of the tension to losen from her shoulders. He didn't expect the Anbu uniform that clug to her body that left little to the imagination, he didn't expect the way she walked past him without a glance. He didn't expect the emptiness that filled her eyes.

They would train like they always would. Naruto and Sasuke battling all out, like nothing had changed. Kakashi would read his porn book like always, keeping an eye on his former pupils. And she would be watching them, studying them. He noticed her trying to mimic their moves, and to his surprise she would get them. The day his curiosity got the best of him, he challenged the girl with the empty eyes. To his surprise, she laid him flat on his back. But to his happiness, he saw a smirk and a flash on life in her empty eyes.

Two years later and the blonde idiot was the Hokage. Yes, he was happy for him, but he was happier that she had a little more life in her eyes. But it all changed in one fatal swope. An illness swept through the Land of Grass, taking close to 10,000 lives with it. She was a medic nin, she worked hard to save as many people as she could. But so few survived. Day after day she tried to save them, and day by day they kept dying. But then, the blow that hit her the hardest happened. Naruto, fell ill. Twenty-Four hours after he started coughing up blood, his heart stopped. Not long after, Kakashi followed him to the grave. Her brother and her sensei. He no longer saw life in her eyes.

In the years that followed, he never got any of the old her back. Her heart had been broken far longer than he had ever expected. He became the new Hokage. It had been Naruto's dying wish. And as the new Kage of Kohona, he learned many things.

Her father, still nothing but a child himself, abandoned her before she was born. Her young mother had died during childbirth, giving her life. The people who adopted her were butchered before her young eyes when she was barely five years old, leaving her all alone again. She was put in an orphanage where she was sexually molested by the people in charge of her well being. At the age of 13, she moved into her own apartment and supported herself. While he was hell bent on revenge, she almost died on a mission while trying to save the Yamanaka girl. The young blonde was beaten, raped, and murdered in front of her eyes. She went on numerous seduction missions, many of which she had to give her body over for the success of the mission. She became pregnant at the age of 19 from one of these missions, she had been forced to abort the pregnancy, even though she had been willing to have the child. Then of course came the death of two of her boys, two more members of her family. That night and many nights afterwords, he cried knowing how she had gained those deadened eyes and that he would never be able to bring her back.

In her last year, he tried to bring her back. Deep down he knew it was wouldn't happen. She was so far gone, so much farther than he had ever been. He took her out on dates, trained with her, showed her new techniques. Every hair-brained idea that he thought could even remotely worked, he tried. After every hair-brained idea, he failed. They had taken to sleeping together, not because they loved each other, but because they had come to an understanding. He would do anything for her, and she would never forgive him for it. He would yell at her, shove her against the wall, trying his best to bring something, anything to her eyes. Nothing ever came from trying to force life back into her. And after these attempts, they would harshly take the other. The scars that line their bodies helped each other to remember, the sex helped them forget.

One night she made a request, knowing he would never tell her no. As Onyx meet Jade, she asked him to die. She asked him to free her from the ties that held her to this world. She asked him to do her one final favor. She did not demand an answer right away, she allowed him time to think it over. Though the both knew he would never say no.

They meet at the training grounds where they had spent so much time together as children, trying to conquer the world. She was dressed in her normal attire. A simple black half-shirt, a pair of knee long pants, and her sandels. She had all her normal gear. She was dressed like it was a normal day, but to him it was far from normal. Shortly before the sun rose, she handed him a syringe full of a clear liquid. When he gave her a questioning look, she explained that it was an untraceable posion that made it look like the person infected had had a heart attack. In her own way she was telling him he would never be caught, that he would never have to face this crime. Though to her it was not a crime. To her, it was nothing more than a means to an end.

He placed the needle in her skin, but didn't feed her the posion. He looked her in the eye, looking for anything to say she didn't want this. Anything that would allow him to stop. Anything that would make her live. He saw nothing. As he pushed the posion into her veins, he held her and watched her. In the last few moments of life, she smiled up at him and whispered the two words he had once said to her, "Thank you."

As the sunrise painted the sky a thousand different shades of orange, pink, and red, her heart finally matched her eyes.

He almost vomited at the sight of her eyes. They looked the same at the did when she was still alive. And it was this look that he would forever remember, that would haunt him till he took to his grave to join all the others.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these Characters from Naruto. If I did, the manga would probably have a mega shit ton of angst, like most of my writing.

Not sure where the idea for this one came from. The line 'Her eyes would forever haunt him' popped in my mind. I took it and ran. Sorry for any and all mistakes in grammar and spelling, but no one is perfect. Hope you enjoy.

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Later!