In Memoriam Tales
by TwinEnigma
Disclaimer: I'm doing this for fun, I don't own Naruto, I don't make money off this. I am, however, really fond of my fancharacters.
AN: This fic is in REVERSE chronological order, but is structured in such a way that you can read it in regular chronological order (starting with chapter 9) and it will still make perfect sense.
It does feature fancharacters heavily and relates to my DR: In Memoriam Project on dA. I will also post artwork for each chapter over there. This is very character driven, so there's very little physical description in this - after all, I got artwork of them on my dA, you can look there if you need to. This fic does hint at and mention both NaruSaku and SasuKarin, so if you absolutely can't stand those pairings, this fic may not be for you. If you read it anway, try to appreciate it for what it is, and not the pairings or fan characters. You may be surprised and actually like it.
Warnings for the fic include: OCs, character death, futurefic, violence
I: Salad Days
Shuu was always a bit of an odd girl. She prayed for the souls of those enemies they killed and spent a lot of time watching butterflies. Occasionally, she'd mangle an idiom completely or stare blankly at something, as though she had no clue what it was. Sometimes, she would give people a long gaze and she'd frown, but it was almost as though she was staring beyond them, at something unseen. In many ways, she seemed like she'd come from another world and just happened to like it in Konoha.
Raisei never paid it much mind but, then again, he'd never been able to read people well. Whatever had happened to his family had nearly destroyed him and it had taken years before he'd allowed anyone to get close enough to fill in the gaps, let alone know what had happened to him. And then he'd gone and run away, shattering their fragile team at the seams.
Shuu would never forgive him for that.
She'd gone home after Raisei left, back to Wave to help with her father's business. She'd seen no point in sticking around with Minoru training and Raisei gone rogue. Occasionally, she'd send letters – silly things about red dragonflies, learning new techniques and asking how things were – and Minoru treasured them dearly. As much as Shuu was an odd duck, she was one of his closest friends and he missed her. Yet, he knew she was happy and getting stronger, so he was glad for her.
Three years passed and finally, Minoru managed to catch up with Raisei. They fought, tore each other half to pieces, and somewhere in between the bloodied knuckles, bruised ribs and fractured limbs, Minoru managed to finally get through to their wayward teammate. He was the only one that could, really – Minoru was tenacious and had a habit of changing people for the better just by being himself and not giving up. Everyone said he was like his grandfather that way and it was true – he was just like the sixth Hokage, Uzumaki. He believed in his ability to beat some goddamn sense into that prick and everyone else believed in his determination.
In the end, Minoru dragged Raisei back home, hoping beyond everything that his words stuck fast. They both spent a month in the hospital recuperating and Minoru's father lectured his ears off more times than he could count about how stupid and irresponsible he'd been and what was he thinking? But he knew, more or less, that his dad knew why he'd gone off like that – Raisei was his friend and he may have gotten away three years ago, but Minoru wasn't going to give him a second chance to run off and do something even more stupid. Shinobi who break the rules may be trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than that and Raisei had desperately needed a reminder of that crucial lesson beat into his skull, because that's what friends do.
He and Raisei argued again in the hospital when he came around, years of pent up rage coming off. Yeah, and he learned all about that shit that went down in Raisei's childhood and why he'd buggered off like he did. Raisei may have had a shitty past, but he had friends now who would always have his back and the stupid jerk didn't realize that all he'd had to do was tell them and they'd have trained their asses off just to help him put his ghosts to rest. And, jeeze, running off to join up with a jutsu-addicted cannibal - talk about stupid ideas of how to protect your friends!
Honestly, Raisei may have been smart and the number one rookie as a genin, but, goddamn, that had to be the stupidest idea Minoru had ever heard of.
They left the hospital better friends than when they'd stumbled in. Then Raisei asked about Shuu and he'd insisted on seeing her, so it was off to Wave.
Shuu nearly put Raisei back in the hospital when he tried to apologize for leaving and then healed him, saying it was the least he'd deserved for doing what he did.
Some of Shuu's odd habits made sense after that visit: her parents were certainly quite strange for a pair of shopkeepers and Minoru was left wondering how they ever sold anything. They'd given him the oddest looks when he'd said he was interested in buying Shuu another skull-shaped good-luck charm for her gear – she'd told him how much she liked them when they were genin and it really wasn't that strange to want to do something nice for her, was it? Then, they pounced on him, demanding that he promise to keep an eye on her and never to regret things.
Shuu spent weeks after that apologizing for her parents behavior, but Minoru supposed he didn't mind so much – his own parents had done far worse to the teammates of his older sisters.
Years passed, he and his teammates rose to jounin.
Raisei finally found his peace, having avenged his family, and worked hard to build himself a new future. Oh, he still didn't get things at times and his attitude was as surly as it had ever been, but he had definitely mellowed out and left that angry brat he'd used to be behind. He still did stupid shit sometimes, the over-protective neurotic bastard.
Minoru achieved his childhood dream of becoming Hokage. He'd swore he'd get there, that he'd uphold and protect his grandfather's legacy and now, there he was – the ninth, latest successor in the line. The future of the village was now his to decide and that was kind of terrifying. Then, the white coat with the red flames came from the tailor, with his new title spelled out on the back, and an old folded note from his grandfather, congratulating him on making it. Minoru had laughed and laughed after that – the goddamn old fart knew he'd make it someday and, even though he'd died back when Minoru was still a genin, he'd made sure that he could still say something about it.
Shuu was still an oddball. Her parents had left and moved the shop to warmer climes, or so Shuu was fond of saying. She had taken over the inventory they'd left and moved it to Konoha, but it almost seemed like she never sold anything either, as she was always closing shop to go on missions. She didn't mind, though, saying her parents served only a select clientele and they only stopped by once in a blue moon.
Every once in a while, the three of them would sit down and drink. He'd threaten to put Raisei in ANBU if the bastard wanted to protect him so bad, under his oldest sister's command (and man, Tsubaki would eat Raisei for breakfast). Raisei would call him a moron, as usual, and beg off ANBU, because he liked being a jounin better. Shuu would sip her sake and giggle madly, suggesting that Raisei be given some genin to corrupt, and he would sputter and laughter would ensue. Sometimes, Shuu's gaze lingered too long on them on those nights. And then she would smile and Minoru knew everything was all right.
AN: They're a strange, dysfunctional functional team. Parallels with Team 7, history in cycles... etc.