Feather moon
Scarlet sky
Living clouds
My blinded eye
Waters black
Wood in snow
Dead of night
How bright you glow
Chapter 2
"I wasn't sleeping with him," Genma protested half-heartedly.
"Oh?" Ibiki replied with implied disbelief in his tone.
"Ok. I was sleeping with him, next to him, but we weren't having sex. He was my teammate, we used to sleep next to each other all the time when we were genin. That doesn't end just because you pass the chuunin exams. Does that explain it better?"
"Much." Ibiki nodded once, satisfied.
They had already finished Ibiki's beer and were into the second bottle of strong whiskey stolen off the top of Genma's refrigerator. It'd been awhile since he let himself drink that much and somehow in the alcohol induce fog, he'd ended up leaning against Ibiki on the futon, head tilted back against the taller jounin's shoulder. He felt loose, limbs rubbery and thoughts rambling. Somehow Hayate had come up in the conversation and he'd just opened his mouth and let loose whatever was on his mind.
"You were close," Ibiki espoused, "How did he come to be on your team? He was a bit younger than you and Ebisu."
Genma nodded. "Yeah, after Raidou passed the chuunin exams, we were saddled with him. He was just a kid, graduated way earlier than most. Genius or something. Ebisu and I gave him hell."
"I remember something about you two stringing him up by the Hokage monument."
Genma couldn't help but laugh. "That's just the tip of the iceberg. But he endured all of it graciously. Polite to us even when telling us to go to hell and fry there."
Ibiki ruffled Genma's hair, then. It felt odd to have those fingers against his scalp, knowing who they were attached to. He chalked it up to the alcohol. While Ibiki had drunk considerably less so far, it was still enough to lower anyone's inhibitions.
"So tell me," he continued, fingers still left lightly against Genma's head, "When did it all change? You two had to have accepted him at some point."
Genma finished off the glass in his hand before answering. "It was on a mission that went awry. It was supposed to be a C rank mission, simply escorting these two girls to another village. Turns out one of them was running away from an abusive boyfriend or something. And he just happened to be a pretty decent ninja from Rain. We took quite a beating, even our sensei had a time of it. Hayate jumped in front of Ebisu and deflected what would have been a killing blow with his katana."
"Ah, that explains it. So Hayate saved Ebisu's life."
"Something like that. He got hurt, bad, for it, too. That night, he fell asleep with his head in my lap. So I sat there, real still, so I wouldn't disturb him. I guess seeing him that way made something in me change."
"And the rest is history?"
Genma nodded. The hand still on his head moved, fingers brushing aside strands of unruly hair. "I know Hayate meant a lot to you, Genma. But you have to let him go, just as the rest of us do."
"I know," Genma sighed. "Who sent you?"
Ibiki chuckled at him. "No one sent me. Tsunade intends to release you from medical leave soon, and when she does, she's sending you off with me. I need you to be emotionally sound for the mission we're undertaking."
Genma lifted an eyebrow, tilting his head back to look up at Ibiki's scarred face. "You are way too good at this kind of thing, you know that?"
As a child, Genma remembered standing in front of the memorial, arms at his sides and head bowed appropriately. He was only five at the time, and had no understanding of the names written in bronze kanji or why they were so mourned and celebrated. He had gone there with his father, though Shiranui Matsuharu hadn't been a shinobi for over a decade by then. Having made it to chuunin, an unfortunate accident crippled one of his legs and ended his career as a ninja just like that.
But he had friends who went on to become jounin. And one by one most of them died for the honor of Konoha. Genma was used to seeing his father a drunken mess around the house, always quick with a surly word or a slap up the side of the head. But that day, under a noonday sun, he saw his father weep for the first time, fingers against the cool letters of the monument. The last member of his old genin team had been killed recently. The blow left him a broken man, after that. He would drink what remained of his life away and leave behind a grieving widow and eleven children. Genma was ten at the time, and well into his studies at the Academy.
Genma never cared much for his father. But he never forgot that day, and the lesson it taught. For years he had been fortunate, Hayate and Ebisu lived, returning from missions with their lives intact. Finally he realized how his father must have felt that day, now that he stood in that same place, feeling the newly carved kanji representing Hayate's name.
Only he didn't shed any tears. He'd watched his father weep, just that once, and then fall prey to his own despair. Genma wouldn't walk in those shoes.
"Sad, sad, my how sad."
Genma hadn't heard anyone coming and the voice startled him. He leapt to his feet again, spinning around with an inward, mental snap. Here he was tokubetsu jounin and people were sneaking up on him?
He relaxed slowly as the little man stared back at him with half-lidded eyes and a warm smile. Wrinkled and wizened, the man was obviously elderly, stooped over slightly with a cane held in one hand unsteadily. "Oh, forgive me. Did I startle you, young man? I didn't mean to. But you look so sad at that monument. Why is that?"
"It's nothing," he replied. "I didn't hear you coming."
The man tilted his head slightly, squinting at Genma as if unable to focus on him properly. "Ah. Did you come here to pay homage to your lost friends? That's why I'm here. I heard that dear Gekkou Hayate child had passed on. My heart nearly stopped beating at the news."
"You knew Hayate?" Genma felt his suspicions prickle, studying the old man carefully. Hayate had never mentioned such a person, though to be fair, Hayate was also very private and there were a lot of things he withheld from others.
"I did indeed. He was a lovely young lad. Used to help me with my garden in spring, and shovel my walk in winter. Is he who you're here to honor? He surely had very good friends, such a kind young man."
It sounded like something Hayate would do. "Yeah. Hayate was one of a kind." Despite himself, Genma felt his wariness melt away into a nostalgic smile.
The old man reached with an unsteady hand toward the pocket of his shirt, pulling out something on a long, black cord. "He had left this accidently with me one day. I suppose if you were his friend, it really ought to go to you."
Genma held his hand out, feeling the cool of something metal settle into his palm, a pendant in the shape of a five pointed star. He had never seen Hayate wear anything like it that he could recall. "Are you certain? I don't remember seeing him with a pendant like this."
The old man paused, bushy white brows knit for a moment in contemplation. "To be honest, I can't recall if it was his or not anymore. Ah, my mind is slipping. Either way, keep it. Just in case. Now, if you will excuse me."
He shuffled off after that, leaving Genma standing at the monument alone, again, holding onto the star shaped pendant. He closed his palm over it, then shoved it into his pocket. It wasn't Hayate's, he was fairly sure of it. But, perhaps someone else would appreciate it. Anko, maybe. Or Kurenai.
When Ebisu approached, Genma heard him. The soft crunch of sandals on dead leaves preceded the jounin teacher, stopping to stand beside his former teammate and stare at the monument for a long moment before saying anything.
"You're going to end up just like him if you keep this up." He meant Hayate, who came to the monument several times a week and meditated in front of it sometimes for hours.
"Not hardly. I haven't been here that long," Genma snorted in reply. He reached over and gave Ebisu an obligatory shove, not managing to knock the other off balance in the slightest. "Don't you have a kid to be chasing around?"
Ebisu grinned despite their somber surroundings, "Konohamaru is busy causing trouble for someone else right now. Even I have to get a break from him sometimes." His smile faded, then. "So. I hear you're off medical leave now."
"Yeah," Genma replied.
"And, I hear you're going on a mission with Ibiki-san."
"You heard right."
"No Raidou?"
"He's not off leave, yet. Tsunade-sama said another week at least. His injuries were a lot worse than mine were."
Ebisu frowned. "You were spitting up blood and had a collapsed lung, Genma, I hardly call that better or worse. You just heal faster, you always have. So... just..."
Silence stretched out between them like the shadows they cast over the ground, snaking halfway up the monument. Inwardly, Genma knew what Ebisu was trying to say. Go do your best, but don't you dare get dead. One teammate gone was more than enough.
"Well, guess I'll see you when you get back." Ebisu shrugged his shoulders. He nudged Genma's arm with his knuckles, no real pressure behind them. Turning to leave, he paused just long enough to call back at Genma.
"And see if you can get Ibiki to lighten up a bit."
Feather Moon lyrics by Vienna Teng.
Scarlet sky
Living clouds
My blinded eye
Waters black
Wood in snow
Dead of night
How bright you glow
Chapter 2
"I wasn't sleeping with him," Genma protested half-heartedly.
"Oh?" Ibiki replied with implied disbelief in his tone.
"Ok. I was sleeping with him, next to him, but we weren't having sex. He was my teammate, we used to sleep next to each other all the time when we were genin. That doesn't end just because you pass the chuunin exams. Does that explain it better?"
"Much." Ibiki nodded once, satisfied.
They had already finished Ibiki's beer and were into the second bottle of strong whiskey stolen off the top of Genma's refrigerator. It'd been awhile since he let himself drink that much and somehow in the alcohol induce fog, he'd ended up leaning against Ibiki on the futon, head tilted back against the taller jounin's shoulder. He felt loose, limbs rubbery and thoughts rambling. Somehow Hayate had come up in the conversation and he'd just opened his mouth and let loose whatever was on his mind.
"You were close," Ibiki espoused, "How did he come to be on your team? He was a bit younger than you and Ebisu."
Genma nodded. "Yeah, after Raidou passed the chuunin exams, we were saddled with him. He was just a kid, graduated way earlier than most. Genius or something. Ebisu and I gave him hell."
"I remember something about you two stringing him up by the Hokage monument."
Genma couldn't help but laugh. "That's just the tip of the iceberg. But he endured all of it graciously. Polite to us even when telling us to go to hell and fry there."
Ibiki ruffled Genma's hair, then. It felt odd to have those fingers against his scalp, knowing who they were attached to. He chalked it up to the alcohol. While Ibiki had drunk considerably less so far, it was still enough to lower anyone's inhibitions.
"So tell me," he continued, fingers still left lightly against Genma's head, "When did it all change? You two had to have accepted him at some point."
Genma finished off the glass in his hand before answering. "It was on a mission that went awry. It was supposed to be a C rank mission, simply escorting these two girls to another village. Turns out one of them was running away from an abusive boyfriend or something. And he just happened to be a pretty decent ninja from Rain. We took quite a beating, even our sensei had a time of it. Hayate jumped in front of Ebisu and deflected what would have been a killing blow with his katana."
"Ah, that explains it. So Hayate saved Ebisu's life."
"Something like that. He got hurt, bad, for it, too. That night, he fell asleep with his head in my lap. So I sat there, real still, so I wouldn't disturb him. I guess seeing him that way made something in me change."
"And the rest is history?"
Genma nodded. The hand still on his head moved, fingers brushing aside strands of unruly hair. "I know Hayate meant a lot to you, Genma. But you have to let him go, just as the rest of us do."
"I know," Genma sighed. "Who sent you?"
Ibiki chuckled at him. "No one sent me. Tsunade intends to release you from medical leave soon, and when she does, she's sending you off with me. I need you to be emotionally sound for the mission we're undertaking."
Genma lifted an eyebrow, tilting his head back to look up at Ibiki's scarred face. "You are way too good at this kind of thing, you know that?"
As a child, Genma remembered standing in front of the memorial, arms at his sides and head bowed appropriately. He was only five at the time, and had no understanding of the names written in bronze kanji or why they were so mourned and celebrated. He had gone there with his father, though Shiranui Matsuharu hadn't been a shinobi for over a decade by then. Having made it to chuunin, an unfortunate accident crippled one of his legs and ended his career as a ninja just like that.
But he had friends who went on to become jounin. And one by one most of them died for the honor of Konoha. Genma was used to seeing his father a drunken mess around the house, always quick with a surly word or a slap up the side of the head. But that day, under a noonday sun, he saw his father weep for the first time, fingers against the cool letters of the monument. The last member of his old genin team had been killed recently. The blow left him a broken man, after that. He would drink what remained of his life away and leave behind a grieving widow and eleven children. Genma was ten at the time, and well into his studies at the Academy.
Genma never cared much for his father. But he never forgot that day, and the lesson it taught. For years he had been fortunate, Hayate and Ebisu lived, returning from missions with their lives intact. Finally he realized how his father must have felt that day, now that he stood in that same place, feeling the newly carved kanji representing Hayate's name.
Only he didn't shed any tears. He'd watched his father weep, just that once, and then fall prey to his own despair. Genma wouldn't walk in those shoes.
"Sad, sad, my how sad."
Genma hadn't heard anyone coming and the voice startled him. He leapt to his feet again, spinning around with an inward, mental snap. Here he was tokubetsu jounin and people were sneaking up on him?
He relaxed slowly as the little man stared back at him with half-lidded eyes and a warm smile. Wrinkled and wizened, the man was obviously elderly, stooped over slightly with a cane held in one hand unsteadily. "Oh, forgive me. Did I startle you, young man? I didn't mean to. But you look so sad at that monument. Why is that?"
"It's nothing," he replied. "I didn't hear you coming."
The man tilted his head slightly, squinting at Genma as if unable to focus on him properly. "Ah. Did you come here to pay homage to your lost friends? That's why I'm here. I heard that dear Gekkou Hayate child had passed on. My heart nearly stopped beating at the news."
"You knew Hayate?" Genma felt his suspicions prickle, studying the old man carefully. Hayate had never mentioned such a person, though to be fair, Hayate was also very private and there were a lot of things he withheld from others.
"I did indeed. He was a lovely young lad. Used to help me with my garden in spring, and shovel my walk in winter. Is he who you're here to honor? He surely had very good friends, such a kind young man."
It sounded like something Hayate would do. "Yeah. Hayate was one of a kind." Despite himself, Genma felt his wariness melt away into a nostalgic smile.
The old man reached with an unsteady hand toward the pocket of his shirt, pulling out something on a long, black cord. "He had left this accidently with me one day. I suppose if you were his friend, it really ought to go to you."
Genma held his hand out, feeling the cool of something metal settle into his palm, a pendant in the shape of a five pointed star. He had never seen Hayate wear anything like it that he could recall. "Are you certain? I don't remember seeing him with a pendant like this."
The old man paused, bushy white brows knit for a moment in contemplation. "To be honest, I can't recall if it was his or not anymore. Ah, my mind is slipping. Either way, keep it. Just in case. Now, if you will excuse me."
He shuffled off after that, leaving Genma standing at the monument alone, again, holding onto the star shaped pendant. He closed his palm over it, then shoved it into his pocket. It wasn't Hayate's, he was fairly sure of it. But, perhaps someone else would appreciate it. Anko, maybe. Or Kurenai.
When Ebisu approached, Genma heard him. The soft crunch of sandals on dead leaves preceded the jounin teacher, stopping to stand beside his former teammate and stare at the monument for a long moment before saying anything.
"You're going to end up just like him if you keep this up." He meant Hayate, who came to the monument several times a week and meditated in front of it sometimes for hours.
"Not hardly. I haven't been here that long," Genma snorted in reply. He reached over and gave Ebisu an obligatory shove, not managing to knock the other off balance in the slightest. "Don't you have a kid to be chasing around?"
Ebisu grinned despite their somber surroundings, "Konohamaru is busy causing trouble for someone else right now. Even I have to get a break from him sometimes." His smile faded, then. "So. I hear you're off medical leave now."
"Yeah," Genma replied.
"And, I hear you're going on a mission with Ibiki-san."
"You heard right."
"No Raidou?"
"He's not off leave, yet. Tsunade-sama said another week at least. His injuries were a lot worse than mine were."
Ebisu frowned. "You were spitting up blood and had a collapsed lung, Genma, I hardly call that better or worse. You just heal faster, you always have. So... just..."
Silence stretched out between them like the shadows they cast over the ground, snaking halfway up the monument. Inwardly, Genma knew what Ebisu was trying to say. Go do your best, but don't you dare get dead. One teammate gone was more than enough.
"Well, guess I'll see you when you get back." Ebisu shrugged his shoulders. He nudged Genma's arm with his knuckles, no real pressure behind them. Turning to leave, he paused just long enough to call back at Genma.
"And see if you can get Ibiki to lighten up a bit."
Feather Moon lyrics by Vienna Teng.