Chapter Thirty Five: KIA: Killed In Action

Kiba stared at the letter clutched in his hand. His fingers trembled, and the paper fluttered to the ground.

"No. No, no, no, no."

"Kiba?" Ino said. "Kiba, what's wrong?"

The ninja were in the Great Hall, eating lunch, when Dumbledore had come up and delivered to Kiba a letter from Tsunade.

Kiba's face crumpled and he slammed the table with his fist. The fellow Ravenclaws he was sitting with jumped in their seats, and eyed him warily.

Ino took the letter and read it herself. Her eyes grew wide, and she stared from Kiba to the letter and back to Kiba again. She stood up, and then called out, glad her voice didn't waver.

"ANBU," she said, her voice commanding and strict. The ANBU jumped to attention, all apart from Kiba, who was slumped on his chair. "Outside. There's important news."

"Ino?" Sakura said questioningly. The others gathered around her in the Entrance Hall, away from unwanted ears.

"What's happened?" Shikamaru asked.

Ino took a deep, slow breath, closing her eyes in the process. The ANBU stared at her cautiously, waiting, waiting…

She opened her eyes again. "Yuhi Kurenai, Konoha jounin and past sensei to Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino, has been killed whilst on a mission to Iwagakure, by two minor rogue ninja. Aburame Shino was present as a bodyguard to a client, and he was injured in the battle, but survived," Ino paused, glanced at the letter, and then continued, trying to ignore the looks of blank shock on all of the shinobi's faces, "From what Aburame has reported, Yuhi Kurenai suffered a fatal blow after getting impaled by a katana wielded by one of the rogue ninja. She died in Konoha hospital."

Ino dropped the letter as Tenten covered her mouth with a hand, and Neji simply stared at her. She watched as Naruto's face shattered, and Sakura held her elbows. She heard Shikamaru give a startled intake of breath, and as her throat closed over.

Harry found Kiba sprawled on the grass, breathing heavily as Akamaru sat next to him. He had been taking out his frustration on a magically enforced wooden dummy, and now it lay cracked and broken on the ground.

"Fuck," Kiba whispered. He laid there, one arm thrown over his face, his eyes squeezed shut.

Harry sat down next to him.

"Hokage-sama," Kiba said through clenched teeth.

"What about her?" Harry asked, his voice dull. "She's your village leader, right?"

Kiba nodded. "She–she just informed us that my past sensei, Kurenai-sensei had been killed in action; KIA. There was a letter; Dumbledore-san gave it to us in the Great Hall…"

Kiba removed his arm and stared up at the blue sky. He looked like he wanted to cry, but he didn't. Not yet.

"She's the lady in the photo, isn't she," Harry said quietly. He didn't show any sign of surprise; the loss of Sirius had numbed his reactions and senses. He remembered the photo, the one with the pretty woman, who had red hair and lips, dressed in a scarlet dress with white bandages and chocolate-coloured hair. She had a child with her.

"What about her kid?" he asked. Kiba shrugged helplessly.

"I think Shikamaru wants to take care of the baby," Kiba said. "But it will be hard. He's a shinobi, after all, and I don't think he will quit just to take care of a child."

"…"

"She… she was part of my family," Kiba said whispered. "Kurenai-sensei had become part of my family. Hinata had become part of my family. How can I lose two family members in such a short period of time?"

"Sirius was the closest thing I had to a father," Harry said, "he was a parent and a friend, rolled into one."

He knew exactly how Kiba felt. He knew the gaping loss, the bewilderment, the ache.

Harry simply sat there, Kiba next to him, both staring up at the clouds.

"Stupid, aren't I?" Kiba said. "I'm such a fucking dipshit. I failed this mission."

"What do you mean? I didn't die."

"No, officially, this mission has been successful so far, but we didn't take care of you mentally. We couldn't protect him or her."

"It's alright." No, it wasn't alright, but Harry was far from blaming the ninja. It was his own stupid fault for believing the dream.

"I am the one to take care of you. I should be the one comforting you, and yet here I am looking like a wimp."

"Better a wimp than someone who doesn't care," Harry said. "And those reasons are not enough to prove that you can handle it by yourself," Harry said, his voice soft. "You need your precious people."

"Have the others been talking to you?" Kiba said, smiling wanly at him. "They are always going on about protecting your precious people, your important people."

But Harry knew that he believed in that just as much as the other shinobi.

"Yeah," he said. Kiba drew in a breath.

"We will mourn when we get back home," he said. "Not here. We haven't finished our mission yet."

"Mm…"

"I don't think it has hit me yet," he said. "I will actually cry–like a baby, I might add–when I am back in Konoha."

"It's okay to cry," Harry said, shrugging. "It proves you are still human."

He pressed his lips together as he realised that he had paraphrased what Dumbledore had told him, the night Sirius had died.

"Yeah…"

"Did you know," Kiba said, staring at the sky, "that we are a very inexperienced team?"

"What?" Harry said, completely taken off guard. Kiba glanced at him.

"This ANBU team," he said, "The ninja here, we are very young in terms of knowledge and field work. We are the most inexperienced ANBU team in Konoha."

"Oh," Harry blinked. Kiba turned away from him.

"That is probably why we lost someone this time," he said quietly. "We still have a lot to learn… ka?"

Harry didn't say anything.

"Let's go back up to eat, Harry," Kiba said finally. He motioned to the setting sun. "It's getting late."

"Alright," Harry said. "Let's go, Kiba."

"Ano… Trelawney-san?" Naruto said hesitantly, popping his head up the trapdoor, and then climbing up, "You there?"

"Why hello, my child," said the mystical voice, "How nice of you to visit."

Naruto shifted uncomfortably as the unbearable heat hit him. "Uh, well, I figured I wouldn't see you again, so I came here to say goodbye."

Trelawney ghosted towards him, her magnified eyes looking as though they were going to pop out. Naruto restrained himself from closing his eyes at her glittery-ness.

"So," Naruto said, edging towards the escape route. "Yeah, goodbye. I'll… I'll be going now…"

He turned his back towards her, before a strange voice stopped him.

"The Boy Who Lives shall die by the hands of He Who Must Not Be Named," said a thick, screechy voice. Naruto froze, his blue eyes wide open. He turned around to see Trelawney going into a weird spasm thing.

"Trelawney-san?"

"He shall die, and will meet the one who he hates and cherishes," Trelawney continued, in the same raspy voice. "Gone are the days where his innocence rules him. Gone are the days where he believes that the world can be saved without sacrifice. The boy who survived fifteen years ago will die by the hands of He Who Must Not Be Named. He shall die…"

Naruto had stared uncomprehendingly at the Divination teacher, and then she slumped forward, snorted, and then jerked awake.

"Oh, my apologies, dear," she said dreamily. "Just the heat, you know…? I must have drifted off."

"Um," Naruto said. He knew at once that he had just witnessed a prophecy. "Um… I better go now. It was nice meeting you… I think," he added in a whisper. He descended the ladder and into fresher air, and then sped off.

"Your face is empty," Ino said. She was picking at a loose thread on the armchair in which she was currently sitting on. She was visiting Kiba in the Gryffindor common room. Thankfully, it was about two in the morning, and so no one was about. Both ninja were sitting in positions that suggested that their muscles were hurting.

Kiba sighed. "Is it?"

"Yes."

"Ino… how did you deal with it when Asuma-sensei died?"

A pause. "I didn't. Not at first."

"How did you move on?"

"I can't tell you that, Kiba. You have to work it out on your own."

"Why?"

"Because different people do it in their own way."

"That's not helpful."

"It wasn't meant to be."

Silence.

"Kiba?"

"Hm?"

"I want to tell you something. I want you to promise me this."

"Alright, what it is?"

"Please… don't go and seek revenge…"

"…"

"Kiba? Don't tell me you were considering it."

"… No… no, of course not…"

"Kiba…"

"Don't worry, Ino."

Ino stared at him, trying to gauge his emotions. He kept them carefully beneath the surface.

"Kiba," she whispered. "Promise me."

"… I promise."

there are things throughout this story that i planted as plot seeds for the sequel, which is never going to happen. i'll explain them next chapter, which will be the last one.