Title: The Hokage's Ghost
Author: Sapphire Dragons
Series: Naruto
Rating: PG
Warnings: Character death, no spoilers.
Summary: He shouldn't be doing her work, but he is and it's her fault. She's too selfish to let go.
He's sitting at her desk doing paperwork when she walks in, and somehow she isn't surprised. His fingers can barely hold the pen, but sheer stubbornness makes it work anyway, drawing neat lies and rejections as if it were an art.
Maybe it is.
It's her handwriting he's using, though, and not his, because not a single document would be accepted with the signature of a dead man.
"You don't have to do this." She's proud of how steady her voice is. He shouldn't be here, but he is, and he's still doing everything he can to help her.
"You need the rest," he says, and she wants to hit him with everything she has, but she knows her fist will pass through to the desk, and so she doesn't. "And nobody likes paperwork."
She swallows, looking into sad eyes and a wide smile. She doesn't mind paperwork, but she hasn't been sleeping much lately, and she knows he has to feel useful. He's always had to feel useful.
"I shouldn't have told you to stay..." and her voice wavers this time, and his smile falls. "You should have gone on! This... this isn't what I wanted..."
But it was, and she looks away as he opens his mouth, and closes her eyes. His voice washes over her, loud and grating, and if she doesn't look then maybe he'll still be alive--
--but she was so selfish and couldn't stand being alone, and when she couldn't save him she begged him to stay with her instead, and he did.
"--doing paperwork for the person I would do anything for. This is as close as I can get to being Hokage, isn't it? I don't mind."
She opens her eyes to see him frown worriedly. She knows he doesn't mind, because he's never minded doing anything for her.
'It's the promise of a lifetime!' he'd said once, and she would give anything to be young again, and not old and selfish and broken.
"I'm so sorry..." she whispers, unable to look at those big blue eyes anymore, because even when they shine with love all she sees is blame.
She turns and leaves, refusing to let her stinging tears fall. It's the least she deserves.