Characters: Dan, Shizune
Summary: "This isn't the way I expected to see you again." Spoilers for 515, 526. AU.
Pairings: None
Author's Note: This is only somewhat AU. It's basically a confrontation that would have taken place had Dan been sent to where Shizune and her group are camping out instead of to the location of Darui's division. Taking out as many medics as he can so the enemy are left without adequate medical aid is probably somewhere in Kabuto's mind, and given that Shizune once said, in his hearing that Dan's her uncle… Well it seems like something he would do.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
The constraints on him are not in any way obvious to the outside skin, but to Dan, they're clear.
The voice is in his mind, and its imperatives are clear. Battle. Kill. Destroy. There is no alternative. You must attack.
Dan has already felt the injunction in his mind, and it's growing more difficult to ignore and disobey with each passing moment. Within a few moments, a minute or two at the most, he will have no control over his will and he will be forced to attack whomever he comes upon.
It's a medic's camp, where he's been sent. Having been a medic himself, Dan recognizes the layout with no trouble; it's the standard, at least among Konoha and Suna with tents in a circle and the most severely wounded placed at the center where they can be more easily protected.
The camp is half-deserted, and Dan is able to avoid the detection of those nin who are still there with ease. It's disturbingly easy in fact; all these shinobi are either preoccupied to the point that they notice nothing but their wounded charges or they're so painfully green that his stealth can evade their notice.
You must find the captain of the division and kill her. After that, kill as many of the medics as you can on the way out.
How am I supposed to know the captain when I see her? Dan's internal question is sardonic, and frankly he's shocked when he gets an answer.
You'll know.
That is not in any way reassuring; Dan scans the area, feels the cool mist without really registering it, and, in the center of the nearly deserted camp, he spots a young woman in uniform, kneeling over an injured man.
When she looks up, and her dark eyes meet his, Dan feels his breath catch in his throat.
He had no idea how long he had been dead. The last time he saw this girl, she still had chubby hands and a faint, vanishing soft-palate lisp. When he last saw her, her face had yet to grow thin and tired. Now, she's a long-bodied grown woman with a face whose structure is a blurry reflection of his own. Dan's corrupted eyes tell him the tale.
Shizune stands and, the color draining out of her already pale face, stares at him as though she's never seen anything quite like him before.
There's a good chance she hasn't.
"Shizune… niece…" Oh God, not her, please not her. But his mind tells him that she's the one he's come for; Dan doesn't need the sinuous outside voice to tell him that. "You've grown a great deal."
Shizune is still silent, and Dan wonders where his talkative girl has gone.
Dan swallows hard. "This… isn't the way I expected to see you again."
A stiff nod comes from the dark-headed woman. "I feel the same way," Shizune answers him softly.
Is there no other choice?
None.
"Forgive me." A kunai is drawn.
A few needles, glinting like ice, slip into her hand. "Of course."
This is war, and they have no choice.