Author: Uchiha Yumi
Title: Destiny on strands
Genre: Romance, Angst
Summary: "Why…" this time it was her turn to speak "Why do people suffer?" Kankuro sighed, then tilted his head towards the sky "I guess it's our destiny" Challenge, One Shot, KankuTen
Rating: PG
Parings: Kankuro x Tenten
Main Characters: Kankuro, Tenten
Special thanks: A special thank to Lilya-chan and FunnyNeko, for reading and correcting all of my nasty stuff.
Notes: English is not my native tongue, so please, tell me about my mistakes!
Here I am, another challenge, given by Maiyuko-chan… If the question is "Do you accept challenges?" the answer is "Yes". If the question is " Do you have enough time to accept a challenge now?" the answer is "NO"… I wrote it for Mai-chan because she is special to me: she answers to my mails and she follows both of my chapter works. Sooooo….
Thanks to Mai-chan for she edited this one for me!
Dedicated to her!
DESTINY ON STRANDS
It was late at night. Three o'clock, exactly. A tall, slender girl was standing in front of a bedridden, black-haired boy. The pale moon shone timidly out of the window, casting her eerie beams in the dark room, sinking every object in a surreal atmosphere. No sounds filtered, except for the steady, unconscious breaths that parted from the boy's lips and the soft, rhythmic sound of the medicine dripping in his I.V.
Everything was calm now. After the great turmoil, the quietness. After the blood and the wounds, the bandages and medicines. That's it, the life of the Shinobi. The eternal oscillation between peace and war. But…what if it's one of your mates, a member of your village to betray everything you both believed in – or, rather, believed to believe in? What if you had been almost dragged to the world from where no one returned in the desperate attempt to save those things? Only the good die young, that's true. And, even if there actually was a tiny chance to save Neji's life, why did it always had to happen to them? Why always to her friends? Just a few months before, Lee. And now, even Neji.
Why did destiny want to leave her alone?
Tenten sighed, then turned away, closing the wooden door behind her shoulders and walked down the corridors and up to the front door of Konoha's Hospital. No one was there, it was too late. She had just secretly sneaked in to take a glance of Neji's sleeping face and have him by her side. Even if just for a mere, frail second.
There wasn't wind outside. Just a soft, soothing breeze that timidly rustled among the foliage, rocking in its big, protective arms the sleepy village. There was no one outside as well. No one except for a brown-haired figure who stood up on the small bridge in front of the Hospital, staring at the flowing of water and, from time to time, absentmindedly tossing some stones in the quiet river.
"It looks like I'm not the only one still awake in here." those words came in a whisper, revealing his male, calm voice.
"I…I came to visit a friend…" Tenten answered without even knowing why.
"I see." the voice replied, idly, turning for a second to look at her.
The girl gasped a bit. She knew that boy. She had seen him a couple of times, before. But now, maybe because of the moonlight, or the soft breeze blowing among his hair or maybe because without his make up on and with just simple a black set of clothes on, instead of his usual uniform, he seemed…different.
Her legs moved on their own and, soon, she found herself standing next to him, her back leaning against the railing, her eyes turning up to the stare at the starry sky.
There was nothing but them. Them, the water and the slight wind.
"I'm waiting." his voice came again, his words filling the void, thin air.
"Your siblings?" the weapon-mistress asked after a few seconds.
The boy nodded. "Temari must be still with that Shikamaru boy. And Gaara…" he paused for a second, his eyes staring ahead of him "I guess he is with Naruto."
Then, it went all silent again. The river kept on flowing below them, his peaceful pace interrupted from time to time by the flopping of the stones in the cold water. There was still no one around them. The world seemed to have forgotten about them. And they seemed to have forgotten about the rest of the world as well.
"Why…" this time it was her turn to speak "Why do people suffer?"
Kankuro sighed, then tilted his head towards the sky "I guess it's our destiny"
The girl sighed too, biting her lower lip. Words started flowing out of her mouth again and she found herself speaking without even being aware of it "How…how do you feel when you move your puppets?"
He turned to look at her, a questioning look painted on his face. "Huh?"
"I mean…" Tenten started "It looks like…you being the God of your own puppets. How does it feel like?"
The puppet-master was silent for some long moments. "It's…It's just a matter of wires, I guess. To pull and attach tiny strands. Then, really, it's all normal. Exactly like you and weapons, I guess, right?"
She politely shook her head. "No, it's nothing like that. I can move my weapons and throw them, but they don't live. You can somewhat decide the destiny of something… Normal people could never do anything similar to that."
He indulged in staring at her a bit more, then turned again towards the river. "Why not? You can decide. Your own life, that is."
"Think so?" Tenten sighed heavily and narrowed her eyes at the sky. "What if…we were all puppets unable to see our wires? Then suffering, pain, sadness… it wouldn't be our own fault..."
"Right, but…" Kankuro hurriedly replied, with an higher tone and turning towards her. Than, his gaze lowered again. "But neither would joy…"
"Yeah, joy, but…" her brown eyes were now teary and shiny "Where is it joy now?"
He shrugged, tossing a flat stone in the dark water and watching it rapidly sinking in the depths of the river. "Who knows? Maybe there…"
"Or maybe in the sky…" she smiled a bit, a small tear running down her cheek. "What do you think? Will we never reached this "joy"?" she turned towards him, more and more wet droplets shining on her skin. "Are our wires long enough?"
He raised his hand and reached her face, his fingers brushing away her tears. "Yes, we will. And if we won't, we…" he took a deep breath. "We will break those threads and be free."
Tenten just stared at him a bit more. A faint glint of hope flashed in her watery, swollen eyes, emerging from the ocean of confusion she had sunk in. "C-Can you promise me that?"
His eyes widened and his mouth hung open for a second. Then again, he looked at her in the eyes and hugged her closer to him. "I swear you that."
There still wasn't wind that night. Just a soft, soothing breeze that timidly rustled among the foliage, rocking in its big, protective arms the sleepy village. Still, no one was outside. Just two figures embraced in a tight, deep hug as if both their lives and the destiny of the whole universe had been sealed in their limbs.
And the water, just kept on flowing by below them.