Broken
Summary: "I'm dying, I'm dying. Oh god, I'm dying." And Tsuyoshi cried for the first time in almost a decade. No one would fix him now.
Words: 700
Characters: MaleTsunade (Tsuyoshi), FemDan (Chiye)
Warnings: None
Pairings: TsuyoshixChiye (DanxTsunade)
Disclaimer/Claimer: While the original Naruto characters do not belong to me, these GenderBender creations are mine. Do not steal them... EVER.
His eyes widened, and his mind shut down as he slowly slid to his knees, face a perfect picture of numb-struck horror. He watched her body fall before him, hitting the ground with a gory thunk. Crimson stained her skin, that soft, soft beautiful skin he'd always loved to touch, and matted the pale locks that now fell uselessly against his arms.
Her body, a mess of kunai and flesh, bled with no sign of stopping. Though he's seen many a sickening wound in his life time, this... this was one that made his stomach turn in ways no other had before. He forced himself to look away. This time it was her.
His insides churned and bile rose within his throat, but he choked it back, instead jerking his head unsteadily up to her face, the face that watched him calmly with those dark, dark orbs of hers, as if nothing were happening, as if nothing were wrong...
The situation collided with his mind, bringing forth a strange, panicked clarity and details that had seemed muted before. Screams and sounds of battle echoed around him where once they had seemed muffled. The blood gushed from her form awaiting some force to either hold it back or let it free. Either way, it meant some kind of action.
The man jerked to with one last bit of clear remembrance, and with no more than a thought, he instantly made the motions to heal. His palms glowed an almost eerie green as he placed his hands on her stomach, acting forcefully yet gentle all at once. He would not hurt her, not now. She was already in too much pain as it was...
He shut his eyes and clenched his teeth, forcing every bit of his strength into the jutsu and concentrating to mesh bone and knit skin, repair organs and stop blood. Alarms rung within his mind as he probed her form, healing whatever was near, but he ignored them, grunting as he poured more and more chakra into the woman's still form.
He didn't speak – he was not a man of many words – nor did he pray. He'd long given up on whatever god there might or might not be, and besides that, he needed all the concentration he had. He refused to mess this up at such a critical moment.
His nostrils flared and sweat dribbled down his face, stinging the cuts he'd received within the battle and bringing the taste of copper and salt to his mouth. He worked and worked, fighting for the life of the only woman he'd ever loved...
It became even worse once she began to speak.
"I'm dying," she murmured. "I'm dying, I'm dying..." She repeated the phrase over and over again, and it took all the blonde man had not to break down right there. She required his strength, not his tears at the moment. He would not disappoint her now.
His jaw tightened as he pressed down a little harder on her stomach, making the woman grunt, in an attempt to force the chakra quicker into her body and through her system, though he knew no physical force could speed the process.
She looked at him, eyes deadened though she still took breath, but her voice revealed only panic and fear, a strange contrast to her calm expression.
"I'm dying, I'm dying. Oh god, I'm dying," she whispered desperately, tears pricking her blank eyes. "I'm not ready to die. I can't, I can't. I don't want to die."
The man's jaw clenched strangely and his nostrils flared.
She begged with what strength she had left, or perhaps merely lacked. "Tsuyoshi-kun, please..."
Tsuyoshi broke.
"Stop it! Stop!" he shouted, but any force his voice might have held was lost behind the choked sob that came after. "Stop it. I'll fix you, I swear. You won't die. You won't die. I'll-"
But the light was gone. He had already lost her.
And Tsuyoshi cried for the first time in almost a decade.
When his sister had died, he had also broken, but Chiye had come and repaired him.
This time, his angel was dead.
No one would fix him now.
.
.
A/N: Yes, it is based on the night Tsunade's boyfriend, Dan, died. Obviously, it turned out a bit different than the orginal, but I like it this way. Who wants to read a word for word retelling with the only different being a switch in genders?