Title:
It's Not A Tragedy
Characters:
Kurenai, Other Unnamed People
Pairing:
Sarutobi Asuma x Yuuhi Kurenai
Rating:
G
Week
3:
Apology
Word
Count:
308
Author Notes: There is an infuriating, and seriously regrettable, lack of AsumaxKurenai fanfiction on the internet. I literally wrote this about fifteen minutes before I had to turn it in last week. I'm so proud of this—if only because it's something I haven't written yet and I just slammed it out because I needed something. xD
She didn't sleep that night though, but not because of him; for herself and her chilled bedside.
She did not cry when ninja and civilians the same sent her flowers and sympathy cards. She did not cry when her friends tried to comfort her. She did not cry when the young Nara boy handed her a bloodied trench knife and cried on her shoulder.
There was something about crying that made her feel weak. The tears she would shed would dry on her cheeks and the redness would fade from her eyes. The hurt in her heart would mend itself, eventually. (She hoped. ) It all seemed so fake. So temporary.
They asked if she was angry, upset, tired, hurt. . .
She told them what they didn't want to hear, just to watch their reactions.
It was a travesty, an unfortunate incident. The cutting short of a life in its prime was a terrible circumstance. But they were ninja. What else was to be expected? A life, old and graying? The peaceable passing in a sleep that never ended?
It was calculated.
Sometimes, though, when she was given time to herself, she thinks about him,them. Sometimes she wonders why they never married—normally only after the pitying glances have gone on long enough, and she retires to her one-bedroom apartment. (She'll need to buy a two in a few months. )
It's okay to be angry.
It's okay to be hurt.
It's okay to cry.
It wasn't.
He was the job. They were all the job. The duty, the honor, the sacrifice.
No, she does not cry. She is not hurt or betrayed or angry. She does not question what they had, or what they might have had, or why.
His apology is in the child inside her and the love it took to create it.