Coffin
This wasn't, and couldn't be happening.
Try as he might, his eyes stopped at the casket.
The top was swung open, and there she lay, clad in a black kimono and the headband of Suna wrapped around her forehead.
Her fan was rested under her left arm, and she looked so peaceful…so unreal. It was as if they had replaced her body with a mannequin or a china doll.
Her pale skin was smoothed over her cheekbones, and her arms lay restfully at her sides.
He wanted to feel her warm face over his rough hands again, to hear her laugh, and to see her genuine grin.
He wondered how someone as strong as her could be taken away in one fatal swoop.
Tears budded in his eyes, and he fought the urge to cry that had taken grip of his heart so well.
Her two brothers stood as still and as hard as statues, their ivory skin giving one the assumption that they were sculpted form marble.
Their eyes were as cold as ice, and he nodded, moving along. His best friend placed her delicate hand on his shoulder, and shot him a sympathetic look.
He was in a daze. He plopped down into a chair, burying his face and no longer attempting to hold the tears back.
Another friend joined him, and said nothing. The two sat there in silence, the quiet young man unsure of how to approach his mourning companion.
"She loved you," the friend said hesitantly, not looking up from his feet.
"Yeah," the other replied, his voice shaking.
He remembered her last moments, trying to hold on long enough to tell him. He had silenced her, to let her use her final bits of breath for breathing.
The gears in his head churned, replaying it over and over.
…
"I…I should tell you…" she gasped, holding her hands over the gash in her side to attempt to stop the bleeding.
He covered her mouth,
"No, don't use up your breath."
She pushed his hand away,
"You need to know…I can't…I won't…if I don't tell you…I love-"
She coughed and hacked, blood pouring from her mouth.
He cradled her, even after he knew that she was long gone.
…
Part of him died that day. He should've let her finish. He should've told her. There were so many regrets, but one crushed him in particular.
It was that he was too late. He wasn't fast enough, he wasn't strong enough.
He would've given anything to do it all over again, and to hear her say those words without them being her final breaths. He would've killed to see her smile and let them live out their lives together.
Of course, it was too late for that now, and dotting on the past wasn't going to get him to the future.
But then again…without her, the future seemed like a pretty lifeless place to be.
Doubts. Regrets. Broken dreams.
He finally stood up ad migrated to the casket once more.
This time, he reached in and clasped her hand. The fact that her fingers and skin were as cold as death made it all really set in. She was dead. Temari was dead. His Temari was dead.
He recalled the warmth they used to have, when she entwined her slender fingers through his.
As he cried, he could almost hear her,
"Come on, crybaby, it isn't really goodbye. Just promise you'll wait for me, 'kay?"
He nodded, his fingers brushing her cheek for one last time.
"I'll wait forever," he whispered before leaving.
Six Years Pass
The blond woman looked onto his best friend's newly dug grave.
She then glanced to the one beside it, reading it to herself.
Sabaku No Temari
1990-2010
Beloved Sister, Ambassador, and Friend
Killed in Action
She placed an iris on the stone, and turned to that of her friend.
Nara Shikamaru
1993-2016
Friend, Son, and Teammate
Waited for as long as he could
Ino ran her fingers over the engraved words, and a single tear fell onto the stone.
She gently set a rose onto his grave, the words to her from his suicide note still on her lips upon reading it aloud during his funeral:
Stay beautiful, dear friend.
Someone locked her into a loving embrace, and stroked her hair.
Sai didn't know loss, he'd admit thatmuch, but he stroked Ino's head nonetheless, murmuring words of comfort into her ear.