How? She often times wondered. How, after so many times, after so many years, could this happen to her again? She couldn't quite comprehend what was happening in her mind as she clutched the blonde haired woman to her chest, her tail moving to gently wrap around Temari's waist in a comforting gesture as her large wings folded over both of them. Oh, heart! heart! her heart could not be felt in such evil times. "Don't leave me." She whispered as she pulled her ever closer. It felt like she'd sat there for a millennium, her eyes staring down at her pale face. Why did it always end this way?
There would be no more lying on a bed without clothes on, her long red hair draping over both of them as if it were a blanket. There would be no more soft kisses or whispered "I love you's." There would be no more sarcastic comments about how her hair would be long enough to tie up anyone that threatened them on their travels between Suna and Konoha.
"Stop..." She whimpered as her tail curled around her tighter, trying desperately to stop the flow of liquid iron out of the poor woman's gut. "Stop..." She whimpered as she tried in vain to breathe breath back into her lungs with her own lips. "Stop..." She whimpered out as she died in her arms. "Stop!" She sobbed as her mind forced away the spell she'd tried to force upon herself. Hope was a cruel thing. It was the one thing that had killed her heart over so many years, and now, at the age of seventy three in such a young body, she felt like her heart would give out and stop supplying her body with the blood it desperately needed to live.
She wouldn't stop. She would never stop. She'd always been that way, she supposed, over the thirty three years they had been with each other. Temari had never once stopped for her and in turn she'd never stopped for Temari. But now, she would give up anything in the world, just to have five more minutes with her. "Please..." She murmured. "Fuu is waiting for us at home... Hisaki, Houka, they'll miss you! Kin!" She sobbed out harder as she thought of the two children she'd had with the woman as well as the two that had welcomed the blonde in just as their own mother had.
Oh! But in vain, was it all. Because now here she lay, curled up with the corpse of her lover in her arms for the second time in her immortal life. Because as she fell asleep, Temari did not move and would never move...
It had been a year; an entire millennium since the day her world had died for the second time. It hurt her to think of it, but there wasn't a day that could go by that she hadn't relived the memory. A shudder ran down her spine as she felt the blood soaking her tail and wings, felt the distinct pang in her head where her horns connected that symbolized the death of a mate. "I miss you." She murmured softly to the moon and the stars. There was never an answer. She hadn't been expecting one either, but perhaps she'd drank too much that night or maybe her mind was under the influence of a genjutsu, because as she'd whispered the words, just as she had every night since then, she felt the arms of her late lover wrap around her neck from behind, and felt the warmth of her cheek resting against the top of her head.
She'd run out of tears long ago. There weren't anymore to be given. But when she turned her head and caught a vision of four matching pigtails and cuts of pure turquoise, she felt the breath in her throat hitch and fresh tears spring to the corners of her eyes. She didn't dare to move or to even breathe, in fear of breaking such a bittersweet spell. Maybe these were those five minutes she'd wished for all of that time ago, maybe this was her invitation from God to the other side. She wasn't certain what it was, but it was entirely too welcome by the small succubus. More so than any visit of another human ever would be.
A single pale finger was held up to her lips, before they were replaced by the cool warmth of the woman she'd become so accustomed to, her lips instantly melting into the others, ghost or not. Sobs threatened to spill from her throat as the tears poured down her cheeks as if they were waterfalls. A cold hand brushed them away.
"Don't leave me..." She whimpered to Temari for the first time in a year. But there was only a saddened smile on her lips as she shook her head, looking back to the stars. "Please..." She whispered, her hand reaching out for the cold one that had just stroked her cheeks. Temari shook her head and took a step back. "Please!" She begged, her hand stretching out further. Temari shook her head with another step. "Don't go!" She was gone.
Her heart pulsed rapidly within her chest as she slammed her hands into the wooden flooring beneath her, her tears flowing even more freely. "Why...?" She whispered to God. He didn't answer her. There was nothing left for her within this world. Her children were grown, her brothers were happy with their alive mates, she was stripped of any hope of kunoichi services by being deemed not stable enough for work.
She stumbled to her feet quietly, slowly moving over to her once shared bed. It was too much. She needed to rest. She needed to rest and to fall asleep for a long time. Maybe when she woke up she would be prepared to handle life once again. Maybe when she awoke she would be able to figure out what to do with her wretched life. Maybe once she woke up she could be happy again.
But the fire never awoke that day.