Before I arrived at the gates of Konoha, I stumbled upon a situation.
A girl was holding her hands up in the air, looking terrified as a man with a scimitar demanded her pack. She looked to be around fifteen years old, and was clutching the pack and begging the man to leave.
I walk up slowly, observing the situation. "What seems to be going on, here?" I ask quietly.
The man startles, then turns the sword towards me. "You too!" he shouts. "Give me everything you own!"
"Please," the girl begs. "My mother is sick. We can't afford to lose anything!"
"I don't care!" the man snaps. "Now give me everything!"
"Help me!" the girl begs me.
The criminal snorts. "What can some girl do? She's as helpless as you are--"
He freezes as I level a glare towards him. I make a single handsign and the man froze. Then he began to scream. I stalk towards him slowly, taking my time and never releasing the hand sign. "I am not helpless," I murmur calmly over his screams. "I am far more than 'some girl'. You wan't to know what I can do?" I force more chakra into the jutsu, using my will to control the genjutsu. "This is what I can do."
The man suddenly gives a strange half cough, half retch, and blood spews from his mouth. It didn't matter that this was simply a genjutsu. All it took was the mind believing in it. The mind was powerful. What it believed was powerful.
And right now it believed that this man had just been stabbed in the stomach by twenty kunai.
The criminal collapsed.Unaffected, I watched calmly as he slumps over, unconscious. I then turn back towards the girl. She flinches back, clearly frightened by me. Her mouth opens and closes several times, but no words come out. I walk closer to her, and she takes a half step back.
Regarding her for a moment, I finally open my mouth and utter two words before continuing on my way.
"You're weak."
It disgusted me. She hadn't attempted to fight back. She hadn't decided to give up everything she was carrying. She hadn't run. Instead she had stood there, indecisive as she begged for mercy.
She reminded me of me.
And I hated her for it.
***
I didn't know what to do now that I was back.
I had shown the gatekeepers my I.D and been allowed in, and now I was standing just inside the gates, unsure of what to do. Instinctively I had take several steps in the direction of my parents house before realizing that that was the last place I wanted to return to. Despite knowing konoha like the back of my hand, I felt lost.
"F...Fuzen?!"
I turn slightly, and immediately spotted Mizu's shock of blue hair. I gazed at him for a long moment before a smile crossed my face, the feeling unfamiliar.
"Fuzen! It is you!" He walked over to me quickly, grocery bags swinging from his hands. I had to make sure not to stare at the scar on his face. He hadn't ever told me exactly how he got it, but I suspect that he had told Shun. "Just wait until Shun sees you! Fuzen--Fuzen?"
"Hm? Oh, yes. Yes, hi. Where is he?" I ask.
I see the slightest falter in Mizu's smile. "O-Oh. Shun's back at the shop. Walking all the way to the market and back and carrying groceries... Is a bit much for him... For his leg."
"Run," Sensei urged us. "Faster, faster! Remember my training! Use your chakra!" We push ourselves, Sensei taking up the rear to protect us.
"Why don't we fight, Sensei? You were a former Anbu, you could hold your own!" Shun pants out.
"Not against these guys. They're at least S-ranked criminals. The figurine must have been stolen from a wealthy family and they hired those criminals to retrieve it! I am going to murder the client for not informing us. No, keep running," He orders.
How could have this gone so wrong?
***
"Me." Shun whispers.
***
I pull out a kunai, about to throw it at the mans throat, then I hesitate. Can I really kill? Could I really kill this man?
"Kill him! Do it!" Daisuke shouts. I have to. I prepare to throw it, but hesitate as they shift quickly and Daisukes head appears in the place I was about to throw.
"Do it! Do it! Kill him!" I aim. Now or never, now or never. "Kill--!" I throw it.
***
I don't bother to sit up, opting instead to lay next to him. Next to Daisuke's corpse.
Did he know I loved him?
***
"Your teammate, Shun... Well, he's... He will never be able to perform ninja duties again."
I blink in surprise. "What?"
"I'm sorry. They tried to save his leg, and they managed, but they couldn't regain full functionality. His knee is destroyed, several ligaments were snapped, and one part of a muscle had to be removed due to the extensive damage. He'll be crippled for life. He'll need to use a cane to walk. And he'll never be able to perform ninja duties."
***
"Fuzen? Are you okay?"
I blinked the memories away. It had been awhile since I'd been sucked in to the memories like that. "Yeah," I reassured him. "I'm fine."
"You want to come back with me to the shop?" Mizu offered. "Shun would be ecstatic."
"The shop?"
"Yeah," Mizu grinned. We started up a shop. Half supply store, half bakery."
I smile to myself. "Sounds just like the two of you. Shun, whatever happened to your old village? Shri? All that?"
Mizu's stride faltered only slightly. "I don't know," he answered quietly. "I never did go back."
"Oh," I mumbled. Coward, the thought crossed my mind before I could stop it and the guilt followed soon after. There was no need to go back there. There was no need for Mizu to confront Shri.
"Here we are," Mizu announced cheerfully. "Shun!"
"Yeah?" Shun's voice was deeper than when I'd last seen him. In comparison Mizu's seemed to have barely dropped at all.
"Where are you?" Mizu shouted, unloading the groceries onto the counter.
"In the back sharpening kunai!"
"There's someone here to see you!" Mizu said cheerfully, shooting me an excited note.
"Who is it?" Shun asked curiously.
"Come out and see!"
There's the sound of a chair scraping across the floor and a groan of effort as Shun forced himself to his feet. I heard the sound of his uneven gait and then he appeared in the doorway, wiping his hands on a cloth. His hair was longer, reaching just past his shoulders, part of it pulled back in a ponytail.
He froze when he saw me, then a grin crossed his face. Dropping the stained rag, he bounded towards me with his odd hoping gait, limping more severely than he normally would without his cane.
"Fuzen!" He crowed, pulling me in for a hug. "You're back!!"
He was wearing civilian clothing; long dark pants and a long sleeved light sweater. I wrapped my arms around him, accepting his embrace. "I'm back," I whisper.
Shun pulls away, studying me. Somehow I felt younger and older than him all at once for just a moment. "Where did you go? You didn't respond to my letters."
"I read them though," I reassured him. "I read them and they gave me strength. They helped me."
"Good. Good. Uh, do you want something? A cookie?"
I actually laughed out loud at that one. "That's alright, Shun," I chuckle. Mizu stands next to Shun, linking arms and subtly supporting him.
"Oh. Oh! Do you want to go see Sensei?"
Suddenly he stops walking, people streaming around him as he stands there, dead to the world. I hesitate, hand still slightly raised in a wave that he had yet to see.
He clutches at his stomach before dropping to his knees, hair brushing the ground as he doubles over in pain in the middle of the crowded street.
My eyes widen as my breath catches in the back of my throat. "Sen...sei?"
People slowly began to gather around him, ask him of he's alright, how they could help, what was going on. He didn't answer, just stayed crumpled on the ground.
Broken.
Everyone had been thinking of Daisuke. Of his parents. Of his teammates, of Shun and me. But no one had taken a moment to think about the seventeen year old boy who'd lost a student. Who now had one dead student and one crippled student. The boy who felt as though he'd failed, the boy who couldn't afford to show his weakness. The boy who was losing everything and everyone all over again.
No one had taken the time to think about Sensei.
***
"Well... I think it would make more sense for a psychiatrist to explain this to you, but I'll tell you what I can before you see the psychiatrist," the doctor make a it clear that what he was saying wasn't a decisive diagnosis. "Well, I think he's depressed. Grieving. The stress of life is getting to him. He hasn't had a chance to unload any of his emotions and it all just came crashing down on him now."
"So he's just sad?" Shun asked, confused.
"No, not at all. It's... He's hopeless, right now. He sees no light and no hope and has gone through so much and he just couldn't handle it anymore, I guess," the doctor explains, losing his professional air. "Right now... He's catatonic."
"What does that mean though? For him?" Shun asks.
"He can eat. He can drink. He'll walk, if someone leads him. He can do simple tasks if someone gets him started. But his mind has flown," the doctor says.
I stare at him, confused. the doctor squeezed his eyes shut, and could only say,
"I'm sorry."
***
"Is he... Better?" I ask slowly.
Shun's gaze lowered to the ground. "On some days," he murmurs. "Others...not so much. He asked after you."
"Oh?"
"Did you tell him you were leaving?" Shun asked.
I shook my head. "I... No, I didn't. I was--" Weak. Cowardly. Pathetic. "No."
"Well, we can go and tell him you're back together," Shun offered.
I shook my head. "No. I'll go now. Myself." Because now I was strong. Now I could do this.
"Come back tonight, then. We'll close a little early. Seven?" Mizu offered.
I nodded sharply and turned my back on them, walking out the door.
"Will she be okay? Is she okay?" Mizu asked Shun, gazing up at him.
Shun pulled his arm from his grasp only to wrap it around Mizu's shoulders and pull him close. Whether it was to _ comfort Mizu or support Shun was unclear. Mizu waited expectantly for an answer to come from Shun's lips. And finally it did.
"I don't know."
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Merry Christmas! An update for you fantastic people!
For Christmas I would like COMMENTS! Lots of long and beautiful comments!
And fanart! And fanart can be sent to gaaralover119@ gmail.com!
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I put in a few flashbacks for those who haven't read Imperfectly Perfect in a while! For those who just recently read Imperfectly Perfect, sorry, just skim over those parts!
Picture at the top is of Shun!
Hope you enjoyed this update!
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gaara119