Ill News: Departing with the Wind

''Two days have come and gone since Shin told his students to prepare. In that time, he'd contemplated whether it would be best to divulge the full truth to Kenji and Gray; or if a lie that could cause even more damage later would be the best and safest route...''

Kenji awaited at the gate, his arm fully healed. "One good thing," He thought, with the wind blowing through his black-hair, "about being a Jinchūriki is the accelerated healing." He was the host for the Two-Tailed Monster Cat, though his position as such didn't warrant half as much prejudice as that experienced by past Jinchūriki. Gray was late, leaving Kenji to stand alone as stray leaves blew past him. ''"What is taking those two?"

At Gray's home...

"... She's alive?" Goosebumps rose on his arms and a ghostly whiteness crossed his face, the air rushing from his lungs as though struck in the chest. His uncles nod was all the clarification Gray needed. "But," Of course he'd have his doubts. He watched her fall. "I seen here - we seen here - fall clean off the edge of the chasm. That fall would kill anyone."

Shin was pacing and the minute he noticed it, he stopped and growled; a low, predatory sound directed more in disgust as himself than towards his nephew. "I know its unlikely when you stop to think about it," As unlikely as pigs flying and sheep speaking. "But the ANBU are rarely wrong, Gray. I should know. I used to be one." His tone never shook as he spoke, but his fists shook in a white-knuckled grip.

Gray dropped into his chair before his astonishment caused him to collapse into it. What were they going to tell Kenji? The guy had loved her, and she loved him. He still wasn't over her death - despite the fact he tried to hide it. "This'll tear him apart and bring everything he's done to shatter like glass."

Reading the unasked questions, Shin simply sighed and took the small stool in the corner, dragging it to sit just in front of his nephew. "I don't know how we're gonna tell him. She's a Missing-nin, Gray." He whispered that, eyes closed and head down. "The Hokage has assigned us to the mission." Gray's head bolted up, knowing full well where this was going.

"Sensei, he can't!" Christ! They're planning on killing her! "Take me with you, but leave Kenji here! If he learns what your planning... I would excuse his actions." It was Shin's turn to look surprised; with his blue eyes almost bulging, either through sheer anger or frustration. "You know how he felt about Harumi..." Gray was shaking with rage. He didn't often lose his temper, or even come relatively close, but right now, in light of these events; he found himself close to snapping.

"... We need to tell him, then." Shin stated, without a shred of emotion except the growing sadness in his eyes. He thought of both boys as his nephews and couldn't bare causing either one harm. "Come on." And with the sudden howling of the wind, as though it too were saddened, blowing at their backs as they departed; Gray felt a sudden weight pushing down on his shoulders. "This is going to tear him apart..."

The Hokage's Room

Okita Souji stared out across Konoha, taking in the lush landscape and the surrounding forest with a single, sharp inhale of breathe. He didn't like how things had turned out, with either Shin, Kenji or Gray; but the bad had to be taken alongside the good or growth could not occur. ''"Kenji Nagakura... I pray she listens to reason."

Konoha's front gate...

Kenji tapped his foot impatiently as both Shin and Gray approached, though both looked like they hadn't slept in a week. With a closer look, he found neither would quite meet his eye, averting their gaze as though they suddenly found the ground very interesting. "... What now?" He asked, not really angrily, but with enough edge that both snapped their heads to meet his gaze. "You two look like you've seen a ghost."

Gray made a motion, but Shin stopped him with a hand across the chest and a slow shake of the head. "... I'll do it. Kenji, we need to speak about this mission..." His eye twitched, as though he were still contemplating whether to reveal what he knew, or to keep it hidden. "Its about... Harumi."

The blood drained from Kenji's face, leaving him weak-kneed and light-headed. Even now, six years on, he couldn't bare thinking about Harumi without recalling the day she fell down that chasm. "... She's dead," He whispered, the words burning as they left his mouth. But Shin and Gray shook their head in solemn disagreement, with Gray tightening his grip on his pant pockets.

"She's alive, Kenji. The ANBU report seeing her not a week ago crossing into Konoha. We've been given the order to bring her back... or execute her as a Missing-nin." Everything happened so fast after that, but when Kenji was aware of himself again, Shin lay on the ground holding his jaw with Gray standing firmly between the two. "That's enough, Kenji!"

Hyperventilating, sweat beading on his forehead and hands shaking, Kenji caught a handful of Gray's white under-shirt in a white-knuckled grip enhanced by the rage and frustration that allowed the Two-tails to manifest. But Gray never budged. Not even a hair. "Is this helping anything?" He asked, tone as calm as a mountain creek. "She's out there, Kenji."

Easing his grip until he eventually released him entirely, Kenji helped Shin to his feet, muttering apologies in the process. "I'm sorry, Sensei. I-" A strong hand, firm and fatherly, grasped his shoulder. "I know, Kenji." Shin interrupted, tone and expression understanding. "No apologies needed. Lets go bring her... home." And Team Takahiro set out to reclaim one of their own, previously thought lost...

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