AN: Would someone like to explain to me why in the name of Naruto I can't stop writing drabbles and put out an actual fic? 500 word drabble, Genma x Hayate.
Warning: Spoilers for the anime episodes sometime after the second test in the Chuunin exam. Where exactly? I'm not sure, but before the second round of the third part and after the first. :D Oh, and death fic, obviously.
Disclaimer: Not mine, doubt they're yours either.
Death is an everyday occurrence. It is a part of life, and it surrounds everyone, no matter who they are or what life they lead. It is inevitable, and in the world of a ninja, life is not something taken for granted. But that doesn't mean that death doesn't hurt. Because it still does, and it always will, no matter how many times you see it, or how close you are to it day after day. No matter how many comrades you see fall in front of your eyes, no matter how many you slay, no matter how many parents, brothers, sisters, lovers, friends you wake up to find not with you anymore, it still stings.
Hayate is one of these ninjas to experience death itself. He is one of these ninjas that one goes to sleep knowing and wakes up missing. He is one of these ninjas, one of these brothers, these friends, these teachers and these lovers. He is one of these that makes the sting in the hearts of many just a little bit more unbearable, and to Genma Shiranui, that pain is something that he will be forced to keep with him always.
Because Hayate wasn't just someone that he went to bed knowing, he was someone he went to bed loving, and woke up still loving. Even as the phone rang at such an ungodly hour as 5 am, just after sunrise, and even as he picked it up, knowing something was wrong. Because Hayate wasn't beside him, and he wasn't beside him as he fell asleep that night before and that meant that something was wrong.
And as he breathed softly into the receiver, as he listened to the medical nin calling from the hospital, he cut one more notch into his heart. One more was dead. One more to cry over and to mourn for. One more to plague his dreams at night. But this one more would hurt a lot worse than the others, and this one more would haunt him beyond the norm. Because this one more was closer to him than he had allowed anyone to get in so very, very long.
Genma sighed, hanging his head low. He placed the flower on the monument before him, and he wished Hayate one last good-bye, like so many before him had done. He wasn't the only ninja to have lost someone, he wasn't the only ninja to have lost Hayate, but death will never get easier with time, and it will never get easier to deal with. And as Genma walked away, hands shoved in pockets and head still hung low, he let a few tears fall to the earth below.
Because Hayate was dead and Genma knew it wouldn't be easy to keep going. But he would, he was Genma Shiranui, he had duties to fulfill, and he would never take the easy way out. And Genma Shiranui was one of the few ninjas to be gifted with the knowledge that the only easy death is your own.
AN: Listening to the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex soundtrack makes me a depressed person, can you tell? Might re-write parts of this later, but it's a drabble, so I suppose there isn't much to re-write. Oh, and, reviews make me happy :D