Stills

Quinquereme

They were on the brink of war. The realization crashed down on her for the nth time. The sky was a perfect blue, and from it hung the shining sun.

Shizune's eyes flickered to the faces of the other medical-nin, saw their jaws set in determination, ears pricked and alert. She moved to study her fingers, slender and tapering. They had seen many an injury. Infected flesh, swelling and green. Torn ligaments, festering wounds. Intestines hanging out. A war, she thought. She sniffed the air, appreciating the pleasant smells of earth and grass and treebark. She thought of how quickly death permeated everything.

"Squee."

Tonton wriggled listlessly in her other arm, begging to be let down. She bent, releasing the pig. Shizune's mind flew as she watched the fat roll of flesh scamper around the legs of the other troops. It would be good to triple-check the supply inventory, re-finalize the medic station positions, and as a last safety measure, to pray.

A flash of pink in the distance caught her eye. Sakura and Rock Lee were causing a commotion over Guy, who lay sprawled out on the ground.

She thought of the secret techniques, of drawn-out deaths that even her most advanced ninjutsu and precise chakra control couldn't stop. But why fear death? She thought, Been there, done that. It was not within her ability, she found, to describe the experience of having your soul sucked out of your body.

Neither was it possible to describe the joy of opening your eyes to the painful blue of the sky again. The joy of the smell of sweat and crushing your fist into the soft earth. The joy of discreet glances, half-open mouths, scalding broth.

A slight breeze stirred, and she felt it on her cheeks.

She clung to life now, clung to the very idea that with her mind and her hands and her chakra, she could stave off death's finality—

"Shizune."

"Yes!"

Suddenly, he was there. A familiar breathing pattern, the way he said her name.

"Squee."

A protesting Tonton was shoved gently into her arms. For a moment, his fingers brushed hers. Shizune tilted her face up to meet the lone eye of the copy ninja, a man also on his second life. Briefly, she thought if any sort of connection existed between fellow resurrectees. At the very least, they both knew the terrible, beautiful worth of living. She studied his face and asked: What would it be like to die again?

"We're counting on you." The eye crinkled in a smile. He sounded a little tired, but there was sincerity in his tone. She offered a grin in return, an energetic flash in her eyes. "I'll do my best!"

The reassuring nod, the sound of his footsteps in the grass, the way he held himself, the list of things he had loved and lost. The way the sunlight caught the shock of silver hair. Shizune watched Kakashi's retreating figure, the murmurs of war preparations all around them. She lifted her fingers to her face, studied carefully the part that he had touched.

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Hurrah, my first story! Drop a review? :)