So I was just going to upload all of the oneshots of this collection in one go as I've mentioned wherever I've posted a request for help with this fic, but it's still going to take me a while to finish the Dragon/Snake, and I'm excited enough by there now being a Juuni Taisen category here that I changed my mind. So here's the first three one-shots for now, and the rest will be uploaded...eventually (because this is just a side project).

There's a longer author's note at the bottom of this explaining the inspiration for this fic and other stuff. You don't need to read it if you don't want to. So anyway, on with the first one-shot of this collection!

There was nothing particularly special about Toshiko Ino's funeral (or the wake the day before) save for it being incredibly lavish, but all the same Yuuka quietly observed every little detail, from the cut of the clothes the guests were wearing, to how much condolence money was offered by the guests, to the different flower arrangements offered. She would not be so rude as to actually write her notes here and now but all the same, from where she was sitting immediately behind what remained of Toshiko's family, she observed everything, mentally mapping out the article she'd be writing afterwards once it was over. It was par the course of being a reporter in high society, and it was not as if she hadn't done it before. Families like the Inos were well known, their exploits something everyone wanted to know about. And in any case, the Inos had asked for her, specifically, to be the one to cover their oldest daughter's last rites, because if it had to be done, it was better that it was someone from their general circle-and Yuuka was just that.

Still, she could not help but feel guilty.

The thing was, Yuuka was on the borderline of the circle that was allowed to know the precise circumstances of Toshiko's death, the specifics of the battle she'd walked into but not out of. She knew that it had been the Juuni Taisen, that particularly special once-every-twelve-years occurrence, and that only Toshiko's bones and her machine guns that had been returned to the family, but little more than that. But I know enough to know that all her father cares about is that she's let them down by not winning it, she mused as she got up to join the queues of guests.

To be sure, he was here, solid as he stood next to his sobbing wreck of a wife. But Yuuka knew it was only because of tradition, of protocol. If he felt any grief, any love for his dead daughter at all, she couldn't see it. And she'd looked, at both the funeral and the wake. She'd looked, because Toshiko's father was so much like her own (she knew, because the few times she'd ever interacted with Toshiko in life, it was over their fathers and their tastes in clothes that they'd bonded), and she wanted some indicator that she was still loved. But she hadn't seen it. Even her mother's crying seemed to be more because it was expected than because of anything genuine.

I suppose it's a mercy that she gets a funeral at all, tradition or not.

Nearing the casket, Yuuka passed the parents, and murmured her condolences as she searched Toshiko's father's face once again for something, anything that would indicate that he cared. And once again, she did not see it. But when he thanked her perfunctorily, in his deep gravelly voice, she caught something that gave her pause, but before she could dwell on it, she had reached the head of the queue, and it was time to put her bouquet down.

Since there were only bones in this casket, it had been closed, and the flowers were being tucked around a large portrait of Toshiko instead. For a long, long moment, Yuuka looked at Toshiko's perfectly made up face, arrogant smile shining out. In life, beyond draconian fathers, prominent family names and highbrow fashion sense, Yuuka hadn't seen much common ground between her and Toshiko. But now, she saw it all. They had been tall, considered attractive by others, fair haired, single-minded in what they'd chosen to do with their adulthoods, they'd been older sisters (though thankfully, Yuuka's little sister was still alive and thriving). It could have been me. If any little moment in her life had gone differently, it could have been Yuuka who'd been sent into this battle, Yuuka who would have come back only as a pile of bones, Yuuka whose parents reactions existed at two opposite extremes with little actual feeling. It could have been me.

So, I'll make sure that this article about your funeral is the best thing I've ever written, Toshiko-san, Yuuka said in her head as she placed the flowers down and bowed at the photograph. I'll do their mourning for you in their stead. I-she hesitated in her vow as she straightened, but then she looked at Toshiko's face again, and her determination solidified once again.

It's a promise, Toshiko-san.

And then, the moment she was able to leave the funeral service, she left to make good on that promise.

((It might be weird to imagine a newsarticle about someone's funeral services, but the general idea is that Yuuka's working for a publication that's akin to a posh and very exclusive celebrity magazine-basically the type of thing that details all the births, deaths, marriages and any other scandal or milestone in the lives of a particular circle of distinguished families. Either way, this fic idea wouldn't have worked without the whole reporter angle))

Anyway, so about this collection. Essentially, it occurred to me that not many of the Juuni Taisen characters are particular loved. Not in the sense of by fans, but in the sense of people in their own lives, even in the case of those who have families. Which would mean that most of them wouldn't be mourned, or even have anyone who might even care just a little about the fact that they're gone. In most cases, there just seems to be no indicator of that. And honestly, even though many of the characters have done horrible things, and some are just downright horrible people, that is something that struck me as really sad, and really unfair. So I decided to try and think of the different ways in which that each character's absence could be mourned, and write about them so that they are grieved-to basically 'fix' this unfairness. After all, one of the functions of fanfiction is to try and 'fix' things you don't like about the canon, right? And also, writing things that relate to the aftermath of a series' events in some way is kind of my thing.

Anyway, there will be a one-shot for each of the warriors (Dragon and Snake are likely to be 'grieved' in one chapter though), and each of them are short-ish (not including any author's notes they'll all be under 2000 words but they all vary widely in that range). Each is from the POV of either an OC, a place/abstract concept, or a character who canonly exists (this is the case for Dokutsu's and will be the case for Sharyu's, Hitsuji's and Nezumi's and probably sort of Tora's). They're all meant to be able to fit into the canon of either the novel or the anime or both, but could potentially be AU too. They are also meant to take place relatively recently after the character's deaths, so a lot will center around funeral services and things like that. Additionally, chapter titles will all be in the format of [warrior name]:[title of story], the obvious example being this chapter.

So, I'll leave it at that for now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you'll like this fic collection overall. And please leave feedback!