In the middle of writing this chap, I brilliantly baptized my keyboard in whiskey.
Really, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself.
….
The Taste of Life
…
Kakashi
….
Well… Looks like this might be it for me.
This wind is wearing my earth barricade down to nothing and, as far as chakra is concerned, I'm running on empty. Only to be expected, I suppose. This is a wind god. Not an opponent I'd pick for myself, given a choice. The best people for this job would have been Naruto and Tenzou, but Naruto is his usual impulsive self, charging off without thinking things through.
That kid… I wonder if he'll grow out of it? Naruto as a responsible adult... it strains the imagination.
And letting him go without Tenzou to keep him under control would have been asking for trouble.
Tenzou, too… to think he swallowed that clap-trap about my being able to handle this on my own…
Not that I expected it to go this badly, myself. I did think I had at least a chance. Well, Raikiri I expected to fail—lightning is weak against wind—but the lack of impact made by the rest of my jutsu was something of an unpleasant surprise: Katon Goukakyuu puffed out like a candle, Suiton Suiryuudan dodged with ease, and so on down the list. No wonder Orochimaru wanted this being under his control. It's a good thing Kabuto's experiment failed. If this is a god weak and on the edge of starvation, then I wouldn't care to fight one in its prime.
Not that I wanted to fight this one, either. In fact, I did my best to settle it peacefully. Why, I very logically pointed out to the god, would it want to follow the orders of a cracked bastard like Kabuto? But apparently, beneath the sharp tongue and cynicism, this god has an overblown sense of duty and honor. "A god does not break his word," he said, and then, "So let us hurry and finish it, this ridiculous battle between two starving fools." Whatever that meant. Anyway, so much for negotiation. Every time I popped my head out to talk after that, the god tried to blow it off with a wind ball.
The only thing that seems to have any effect is my Mangekyou. I managed to suck in a foreleg as he tried to get past me. That gave him pause, at least. He retreated, and his image seemed to waver for a moment, disappearing into the air around him. But then his form solidified again, leg intact. Oddly fuzzy around the edges, though, and possibly a little transparent, especially about the paws. Just my vision getting worse? But, no, the god's image has been growing a little hazier each time it blocks one of my attacks, or makes one of its own.
It's losing its form; running low on power. We're in the same boat. This is an endurance match between me and him, to see who can hold out the longest.
Sadly, endurance has never been one of my strong points. I've had to use my Mangekyou two more times to keep the god from passing me and going after Naruto. The next time I try, it will probably cost me my life.
If I even get the chance to try. The god seems to have decided to finish me off before trying to go after the others. Through a combination of dodging and doton, I've managed to survive the barrage of wind attacks up until now, but this about as far as I can go, I think.
A large section of earth breaks off from the edge of my barrier. It strikes my shoulder and spins away on the wind. I get as low as I can. No point in dying before I have to.
Maa. I would have liked to live a little longer—see the kids grow up, and all that. The Icha-icha Paradise series isn't finished yet, either. But… maybe it's better to die while it's still going? There's nothing worse than the end of a good series…
…And… at least I didn't encourage Tenzou. I'll be able to go knowing that I didn't leave behind that kind of pain for him. As it is, he'll get over it. He must be half fed-up with me by now, anyway.
Right. Tenzou will be able to move-on, now, and find somebody else. I was hoping for that, wasn't I. Somehow, though, this silver lining seems rather tarnished…
The wind finally dies, but so does the remainder of my shelter. As it crumbles, I catch sight of the god stretching its jaws wide in preparation for another blast. Its form is wavering. It's definitely reaching the end of its power.
But it's outlasted me. I don't have the chakra left to put up another wall.
I'm on my feet. I'll try to dodge, but even as I tense to run, I know it's impossible. The attack is too wide, and there's no time. Already, the blast is howling toward me. Instead, I start to activate my mangekyou. One last time.
And suddenly, my view is obstructed by a familiar back.
My brain doesn't quite know how to believe it, but it's Tenzou.
This is about the closest I've ever come to a heart attack. Fortunately, I manage to deactivate my mangekyou before I do any damage to him, but it's a close thing. As great wooden beams spring out of the ground and close over our heads in a sturdy half-shell, I work on preventing my heart from hammering its way out of my chest.
"Oi, Tenzou…" I begin shakily, but the rest of the thought refuses to form in my head. I'm not even sure whether I'm happy to see him or not. On the one hand, it's a stay of execution. On the other hand, the fool nearly got himself killed rushing recklessly in like that… just like Obito, damn it. And we're not out of danger yet. What is he doing here?
Tenzou doesn't seem to have been listening to me, anyway. The wind is whistling ferociously by outside, and our shelter is beginning to creak and groan. Tenzou's shoulders are tense. He seems to be straining to maintain the jutsu. Then I catch the sound of a roar above the wind, and a moment later something crashes against our shelter. The timbers buckle, and Tenzou's jaw tightens. There's another blow, and another, and another, and the wood finally gives way. The fierce wind surges in, and both of us are hurled back amidst a jumble of splintered wood.
….
Gradually, I become aware that I'm lying on my back. On the ground. It's lumpy, and long blades of grass tickle my hands. My head is on something relatively cushy, but the throbbing ache at the back of my skull suggests that maybe that wasn't always the case. Otherwise, I seem to be fine, though. There are hands running expertly over my limbs checking for injury, and there are no tell-tale stabs of pain. I open my eyes, and squint up into daylight, waiting for my eyes to adjust. When I can gaze up into the cheerful blue sky without flinching, I turn my head in search for the owner of the hands. It's Tenzou, of course. I don't know why he's fussing over me. He looks rather like a porcupine, with all those splinters slicking out of him at odd angles. I look him over minutely, and satisfy myself that there's very little blood. No serious injury. Certainly no injury to anything vital. He's not wearing his vest (I suppose that's what's under my head) and I gather from the integrity of his shirt that none of the splinters managed to get through it.
I suppose I should probably let him know I'm conscious. I make an effort to sit up, and somewhat to my surprise, I find that I can. My head spins a little, but now that the rush of adrenaline is gone, I expected to be paralyzed from over expenditure of chakra. After using mangekyou three-and-half times, not to mention a dozen other techniques, I shouldn't even be able to budge my pinky finger. A wild idea darts into my head. What was that the god was saying about humans sharing chakra through bonds of admiration, friendship and…? I abandon the idea as absurd. I must have just misjudged how much chakra I used.
Tenzou has stopped checking my shin for breaks. He's sitting back on his heels, observing me carefully. "Are you alright, Sempai?" he asks when I look his way.
"Mm. Fine. Bit of a bang on the head, and my ribs feel a bit bruised, but otherwise fine. What happened?"
"Your head hit a rock when you landed. As for the ribs…" He pauses, looking a little embarrassed. "I'm afraid I landed on top of you. Sorry."
"…Ah." I cast around for another topic. "The god? I gather he's not here."
"He seems to have sort of… blown himself out with that last attack. Just disappeared into thin air."
"I see. Good." I eye Tenzou, who is now de-splintering himself. That wild idea was, of course, ridiculous. But there was something behind it; something that's been sort of sticking in my head for quite a while, and I have the feeling that I've exceeded the safe procrastination period on it.
The thing is, I told Tenzou to go support Naruto.
Tenzou has always displayed an almost pathological in ability to disobey my orders. Or even my suggestions.
Yet here he is, and as far as I can see, he doesn't have any hyper-active blonds in tow.
And not only did he disobey an order, he charged into the middle of a very dangerous situation. As it happens, he's fine, but it could have easily gone another way. If he'd been a second slower putting up his shell, the God's attack could have ripped him to shreds. If I'd been a fraction of a second slower deactivating my mangekyou, I could have pinched his head off into another dimension.
Still watching Tenzou closely, I observe in the most neutral tone I can manage, "You could have died, you know."
Tenzou looks up from working a large-ish splinter out of his thigh and meets my eyes squarely. His face is as carefully blank as my voice was, but there's something about his bottomless, unmovable black stare that puts the final nail in the coffin of a policy I've been living by since Obito's death.
"Yes," he says with quiet finality. "I know."
Here's where I have to admit to myself that I've been something of a fool. Tenzou has made up his mind, and he doesn't look like he's going to budge. Whether I like it or not, I'm important to him. At any rate, important enough that he would disregard a pretty important order and risk getting himself killed to save my neck. I suppose that's about as important as something gets to a person. So what exactly have I accomplished by keeping him at arm's length all these years? Clearly I haven't done Tenzou any good. How about myself? I didn't want him to be important to me, either. I'd like to say that I've managed at least that, but well… there's a limit to how deep even I can burry my head in the sand.
So… what?
Fortunately, I can give myself a pass on that question for the moment. For one thing, there's about a hundred people about twenty meters away who may or may not be dead. I get gingerly to my feet, and after assuring myself that I'm perfectly steady on them, I start walking in that direction. Tenzou follows me. We reach the first body. No signs of consciousness, but I think I catch the slight movement of breathing. Tenzou kneels down and reaches out toward the body, but half way he flinches and snatches back his hand. At first, I think there's something wrong with the body, but then I see Tenzou staring at his palm with an expression of such abject horror that it's almost comical. I lean over to find out what he's looking at. The kanji for "two" stands out clearly against the skin of his hand. As we watch, it morphs into a three.
Without a word Tenzou swivels in the direction Kabuto escaped and springs away like a spooked deer.
