Death of Innocence
Seven o'clock, early evening.
When her punctual sensei was running late to their agreed rendezvous time with the Kazekage, she grew naturally worried.
The Kazekage herself laughed and teased her for being such a good girlfriend to the blonde's baby brother, but the young assistant could only smile sheepishly. Girlfriend? He only saw her as his former Academy student and assistant.
Still, he was seven minutes late, and this was out of character for him. So she gained permission to seek him out at his assigned lodgings.
What she eventaully found, she was wholly unprepared for.
It was only early evening but her sensei was drinking. Drinking.
As far as she knew, he never drank before.
The empty bottle on the bathroom counter top was familiar to her... could it be the gift wine that he'd gotten from his most recent diplomatic meeting?
He refused to fall asleep despite already being able to, since the Fourth Secret War.
He'd snapped at her when she tried to assist him.
The calm, composed sensei who seemed to have an infinite wealth of patience for her mistakes had snapped at her.
And then he left her standing alone in his hotel room with his customary sand shunshin.
Why... why was he becoming like this?
His professional life was as perfectly executed as always. He never faltered, never made any mistakes, and he braved unexpected events like the experienced Suna ambassador and warrior that he was.
So then why?
Why was he in so much pain?
.
.
...It was all her fault, wasn't it?
She had recently become aware of the female who had been haunting her sensei's life for years.
One day, she'd asked him who he was writing letters to, and he'd told her that they were meant for someone who was very important to him.
All of the things he wanted to say to her. All of the things he couldn't say to her.
Yes...
It was all of her fault.
And so her thoughts went, on the surface.
She resented this mysterious figure that had influenced her sensei's life to such an extent. A mysterious figure who most likely didn't realize how much he was suffering because of her.
Seeing her sensei this way was also tearing her apart, on the inside... and yet there was nothing she could do about his pain.
She made to leave the hotel room, but something on top of his desk caught her eye.
It was a hand-written letter.
It was because he was obsessing over this woman to such an extent that his life was slowly fading away.
These letters he was writing to the woman was the physical manifestation of his growing desperation.
She picked up the unfinished letter and read the opening line.
Last night, I had a dream of the past.
Little by little, her indignation at her sensei's heart ache grew.
For sensei...
As long as it was for sensei, she could do anything... anything at all...
As if possessed by a ghost, her body moved on its own.
She barely remembered rooting through her sensei's luggage and pulling out a big pile of unsealed envelopes, all containing unsent correspondence. Without hesitation, she also grabbed the little black cube from the desk. She knew it was a gift from her. It had to be, from the way he held it all the time.
Ten minutes later, she was standing in the alley behind a building several blocks away. She could not stray far because they were in Iron country, but this was private enough for what she was half aware of doing.
The small hole was dug into the ground.
The envelopes, the letters to that woman, the little black cube, were tossed inside.
A lit match followed right after.
She just wanted him to stop killing himself over a woman that didn't even remember his existence...!
With heightened emotions, she watched it all burn, burn, burn...
Cleansing fire, burning it all away into oblivion.
And then a huge wave of sand knocked her off her feet.
There was the muffled shouts of the Kazekage and several other members of her guard detail, but she barely noticed them.
Through the pain that lanced her ribs, she saw jade. She saw fire. She saw betrayal and rage.
.
.
Death of Innocence
The End
TBC...