"The Stars Fall Down" (Naruto, Yondaime Hokage [Namikaze Minato] x Uchiha Shisui, #09)
Title: “The Stars Fall Down”
Author/Artist: yukari_rin
Pairing: Yondaime Hokage (Namikaze Minato) x Uchiha Shisui
Fandom: Naruto
Theme: #9, dash
Rating: T
Word Count: 3,178
Notes: Set in the small town AU the_lady_lamb and I created. Set a little bit before and after Lamb's " Reaper”.
Disclaimer: Naruto and related properties belong to Masashi Kishimoto and related parties.
The sun was setting as Shisui drove home from the hospital. It was a quiet ride, except for the racing thoughts spinning around in her mind as if they were being kept in motion by a tornado. Hadn't it only been earlier that day that Minato's doctor has taken her aside in the hallway and confided that her lover hadn't much longer to live? Yet here she was, desperately attempting to speed home to take care of his stupid, stupid dog so that she could return to his side so he wouldn't be alone, but was stuck behind two tractor-trailers with doublewides on their beds. The speed limit was sixty-five miles per hour along the two-lane highway with nothing but farmland ripe for harvesting only a few feet from the pavement on both sides. The tractors were moving along ten miles per hour slower, and the oncoming traffic was too unpredictable for her to safely cross the yellow dashes painted into the cracked tar surface of the road for her to pass.
Her heart was in her throat, each breath was a struggle to inhale and even harder to release. Her knuckles were white, more so than normal; her long and elegant fingers wrapped tightly around the black steering wheel. Underneath the palm of her right hand was her cell phone, its volume turned all the way up (not that it needed to be since the radio was off) with the vibration mode on. The hospital knew to call her immediately if it looked like Minato was fading fast. It didn't matter where she was, she'd turn around immediately and floor it to the hospital.
Konoha Hospital sat on the border of the town it was named for and an even less populated blip on the map, and of course, Shisui and Minato had picked out an old farmhouse to call their own that was on the opposite side of the town. While it wasn't exactly a large metropolis, the dozens of farms surrounding the barely-there main street and the college all added up to making the trip between their shared home and the hospital at least a forty minute ride. Shisui was only halfway home and was making bad time. She was torn between keeping her promise to him that she'd take care of his dog and returning to his side before the end could sneak up upon them both. She could lie very easily, say that she sped home and fed the animal and sped back, but dying had made Minato wiser than he had ever been in his healthiest times.
She noticed the red brake lights in front of her at what had to have been the last moment before it was too late. The front bumper of her car was centimeters away from the trailer. She began shaking, full body shivers that raked her to her core. She put the car into reverse and then slipped it into drive, quickly crossing the center line and speeding past the disabled trailers, not bothering to check the oncoming traffic.
The god she didn't believe in must have been on her side, for once, because no one was on course for a frontal collision. (She didn't know if she was happy or sad about this. Minato was at death's door, and she did not want to live without him.) The rest of the way home was clear. It was as if the setting sun had signaled everyone into their homes to be with their loved ones. Everyone but herself.
She cursed the large dog Minato had rescued years before. The animal adored him and Minato was worried about leaving him behind. Minato had asked Shisui to return home to feed the beast and take him out so he could moves his bowels, and to pass on Minato's farewell. There would be no more walks on the campus grounds, no more swimming after fish in the Uzumaki's pond. “Please, Shisui,” Minato had asked, his thumb tracing the back of her hand as he strained his weak voice to sound his (dying) request, “please go take care of him. You know how anxious he gets when his schedule is disrupted. He won't take long, he never does. Please, it's the last time I'll ask you to do this.” She had taken his hand in hers. It'd be the last time because he'd get better and there wouldn't be a need for her to take care of the monster of a dog she had never liked. She told him so, but he hadn't even the strength to smile humorously at her stubbornness.
Minato smiled less lately, and each time he simply looked on instead of flashing his grin the knife that had been thrust into her chest twisted and sank deeper. And that was why she wasn't by his side. She was doing this so that he would have to get better. So that she had something to remind him about. A promise is a promise, after all. (Cross your heart and hope to die.)
The sun was just dipping below the horizon, painting the sky as she had never seen it before (and despite her distress there was a small part within her, locked in her fingers that itched for her paint brushes and a canvas. But capturing fire in watercolors was something she had never been able to do.). Konoha was not a coastal town, but would the red sky over it still bring its residents a beautiful tomorrow? Shisui pulled off of the road and down the dirt driveway, the tires of her car spinning up dust in her wake as she sped closer to home.
Kyuubi was barking, pacing the hallway that led from the front of the house to the back. Upon seeing his master's mistress he began whining, bumping his nose and face against Shisui's legs and pelvis. He kept weaving about her legs, crying out to her, causing her to trip several times.
“Just shut up!” Shisui yelled at the dog, unleashing the pent up emotions she had locked away ever since that fateful first trip to the hospital with Minato. “Just get out of my way so I can go back to him!” Tears threatened to fall down her cheeks as she smacked Kyuubi's hips. Normally such action would cause the dog to growl, but he only watched her, his large gold eyes expressing his own grief and loneliness. He sat, voicing one last whine as Shisui ran a hand through her hair, marching off to the kitchen. Kyuubi looked to the door and began whining again as Shisui opened the can of dog food. She dumped it into his bowl and set it on the floor, but he didn't come as he normally did.
Instead he let out a loud, keening howl that caused Shisui to jump and drop the can, splattering small flecks of meat and sauce across the linoleum as the aluminum bounced along the floor before rolling under the table.
She swore and called out to the dog, but he was still howling. She didn't hear the back screen door open and slam shut due to his loud cries. The notes were loud and piercing, making her cringe with each new cry he sounded.
“Shisui?”
She spun around in time to see Kakashi's body twitch at Kyuubi's wailing. His eyes were open wide, stricken, and he had lost his color. “Kakashi, what are you doing here?” she asked over the noise.
“I got a call... it's Professor Namikaze...”
The world was spinning too quickly. She gripped the counter, gasping for breath. Kakashi took a step toward her, but she turned and ran out of the house. Kyuubi followed her, racing down the driveway as Shisui threw herself into her car and put it into gear. She flipped open her cell phone, cursing when she realized it had shut off due to the battery dying. She must have still been on the road when they attempted any call, so she would have missed it at the house, too.
Dammit. Dammit all.
The speed limit didn't matter. Everyone was home now. Everyone but her. Everyone but Minato.
She made it to the hospital in twenty minutes, slamming on the brakes at the security station at the entrance to the parking lot. She hurriedly told the guard who she was hear to see, and as he fumbled with the button that would raise the gate a familiar car passed by the other side of the small booth. Her fists tightened around the steering wheel.
He didn't turn his head to acknowledge her, but Shisui knew that Itachi had recognized her, or at least her car. The lights on the security booth shone dully into his car, casting an eerie pallor to his skin against the shadows. When he didn't meet her eye, she flicked her gaze further into the vehicle to the man in the passenger seat. He was even harder to see, his dark skin a perfect camouflage in the darkness of Itachi's car. His eyes were bright violet, but after a moment he looked away and shifted in his seat.
Her eyes narrowed in further distaste and focused back on her cousin who was still ignoring her, returning the parking pass to the guard. He drove off, expression cool as could be. Had he been there? The mix of rage and incredible desolation stirred faster, urging her to hurry.
She slid under the gate as soon as she could, not caring about the guard's yells about following proper safety procedures. The closest parking spaces to the entrance were taken, and the few minutes taken to find a free spot and dash into the hospital felt agonizingly slow. The elevator was a small mercy, she was able to squeeze into a full lift right before the doors closed and pressed the button for Minato's floor. She ignored the strange glances the other passengers gave her, clenching and unclenching her hands as the floors ticked by and she was jostled by those exiting and joining.
The doors opened to the seventh floor and Shisui freed herself from the clump of bodies in the elevator like water bursting through a hole in a dam. It took all her control not to race through the quiet, sterile halls to his room. She breezed passed the nurses' station, only a few more feet.
“Ms. Uchiha!” a nurse called out, rising from her seat behind the tall counter. “Ms. Uchiha, please wait, they're in the middle of-”
Shisui pushed the door open with a stumble, hair falling over her shoulders like wild rain. The doctor and two nurses in the room jumped and took her in with wide, startled eyes. “Miss, I'm afraid you need to step out.” The doctor lay his clipboard near Minato's feet.
She did not recognize this man. “I'm his-,” she choked out, biting her lip as she searched for the right title. They certainly weren't married, nor were they engaged. With no civil union to bind them she had no proper legal tie to him other than that which he had granted by giving her the power of attorney. “He's my-” The knife in her chest couldn't go any further, the knife hilt was pressing into her skin - she could feel it.
The nurse that had called to her came into the room breathlessly. “Doctor, this is Shisui Uchiha. She's the patient's partner.”
“Who are you?” Shisui demanded of the doctor.
The two nurses looked like frightened mice. The one from the station gestured to them to leave the room and they did so happily.
“Mr. Namikaze's doctor is not on call, I'm Dr. Martin, the coroner.” He glanced to the remaining nurse, questioning her with his eyes, she shook her head slightly and glanced to Shisui who was visibly shaking where she stood. “I've gotten the important information recorded, I'll let you say your good-bye now.”
He moved towards the door and paused before shutting if after the nurse. “I'm sorry for your loss,” he offered quietly.
The room had changed dramatically in sixty minutes. Earlier there had been the quiet and steady hum of medical equipment, the bleeping of the heart monitor, the strains of Minato's labored breathing. And now all that there was in the room was silence, its fragile nature only broken by the ever increasing pace and volume of her own realization that all of this was real.
The knife dropped straight down in a clean stroke, slicing down through her gut. She blundered towards his side. The thin white sheet had already been pulled over his torso and head, but she reached out to pull it off of him so that she could hold his hand, caress his cheek.
One last time.
Her chest heaved as a sob she could no longer hold back freed itself. He was so much colder than he had ever been before. Rigor mortis had not sunk its claws into his body just yet, but she could feel the tough muscle underneath his skin on its way to stiffening.
“Minato...?” she whispered. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. But is was and she shook the thought from her head violently, hands curling so tightly around his skin that if she kept her hold it'd stay like that until his body was freed from its rocklike state. “Minato, please...”
Someone had closed his eyes, but he did not look like he was sleeping. Shisui had watched him sleep for so many years, the images of him in various states of rest flicking through her mind like a film reel. Death was but sleep? She sneered at the notion. Were his cheeks really that sunken? She lifted a hand to brush his hair from his face. Death had changed him, nothing felt correct anymore. She kept her hand on his and lifted it to her cheek, kissing his knuckles tenderly, as if it may be enough to bring him back. “Please don't go.”
She was crying, the damp cloth of her sleeve told her. Silent sobs kept her chest in constant motion even as her legs grew numb and fell asleep. She lost track of time sitting there as he lay unmoving before her. There was a gentle knock on the door and Kuzunoha entered silently. Shisui didn't look away from Minato's face, but she knew Minato's mother by the fresh scent of the flowers she loved to work with. “Shisui, dear,” her voice was soft as she padded closer but stayed on the opposite side of the bed. She cupped her son's cheek in her hand and her bottom lip trembled. Parents are not supposed to bury their children - it goes against the course of nature. But that is all the older woman could say before she cried out and pressed her forehead to Minato's as she had done so often when he was growing up to check his temperature.
And so they mourn together for a few minutes, the mother and the lover over the man-boy they lived for. One letting go of all she had held onto and the other still refusing to give it up.
“Excuse, Ms. Uchiha,” the nurse from before poked her head into the room, “I'm sorry, but as Mr. Namikaze's power of attorney we need you to fill out some documents.” Shisui wanted nothing more than to ignore the woman and continue her vigil, but Kuzunoha lay a hand on top of the one that was holding Minato's.
“Go, dear. I... I'd like a few minutes alone with my son.” It is the most selfish thing she has ever heard his mother utter, but soon enough she would know the true measure of Kuzunoha's cruelty. Shisui felt the anger boil up through her throat and into her mouth, ready to pour out on a woman whose pain was no less than hers, however much she may have wish it. “Go.”
Shisui stood shakily, pain shooting through her legs and feet. She leaned over Minato and nosed his cheek, breathing in his scent that only remained in her memories now and moved her lips over his. The nurse and Kuzunoha had the decency to avert their eyes to the kiss, understanding the importance of privacy for such a moment.
She had never kissed lips so cold before. Another first, another last. She made her way out of the room in a daze and the nurse helped her to the station where she explained what needed to be filled out and directed her to a chair to sit in while Shisui worked.
She was nearly finished when the squeaking of wheels catches her attention. The coroner was being assisted by two orderlies, bringing Minato out of his room and heading to a private elevator that opened to the morgue in the hospital's basement. Shisui stood but was unable move. Kuzunoha stepped into the hall, and for the first time in a month Minato's hospital room was empty, never to be filled with visitors for him again. She turned and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I'll go see if the gift shop has any boxes we can use for his things.”
Shisui nodded dumbly and added her signature to the last form. She returned them to the nurse who offered a sympathetic smile. Shisui returned it as best she could, knowing that her smile had been anything but. She opened the door to the room one last time. It was so incredibly empty now. Just as how their - her home would be now, without Minato there. She took a deep breath and walked into the bathroom. She turned the cold water lever and splashed her face several times, letting the rivulets streak down her face instead of wiping them away with one of the thin hospital towels. She walked back into the room and began collecting the items that had attempted to turn Minato's room into something homey. There was the poem and the drawings the students in his advisory group had made, all of the flowers, and the books that Shisui had read aloud to him from. She went to grab his duffle bag, but when she opened it all of the clothes were already folded.
The knife twisted once more.
Itachi had been with him, if not while he passed, too near to its happening for her comfort.
Kuzunoha returned with a box and disrupted that line of thought for a few moments as they helped each other pack up the last of Minato's things. They left the room together and bid farewell to the nurses. They parted in the lobby, the older woman to her car, Shisui to the cafeteria where she lost herself in thought, the box of Minato's things and his duffle bag on the floor b her feet. Her obvious grief kept the staff from approaching her, and she was left alone to prepare herself for her first night of the rest of her life without Minato.
Author/Artist: yukari_rin
Pairing: Yondaime Hokage (Namikaze Minato) x Uchiha Shisui
Fandom: Naruto
Theme: #9, dash
Rating: T
Word Count: 3,178
Notes: Set in the small town AU the_lady_lamb and I created. Set a little bit before and after Lamb's " Reaper”.
Disclaimer: Naruto and related properties belong to Masashi Kishimoto and related parties.
The sun was setting as Shisui drove home from the hospital. It was a quiet ride, except for the racing thoughts spinning around in her mind as if they were being kept in motion by a tornado. Hadn't it only been earlier that day that Minato's doctor has taken her aside in the hallway and confided that her lover hadn't much longer to live? Yet here she was, desperately attempting to speed home to take care of his stupid, stupid dog so that she could return to his side so he wouldn't be alone, but was stuck behind two tractor-trailers with doublewides on their beds. The speed limit was sixty-five miles per hour along the two-lane highway with nothing but farmland ripe for harvesting only a few feet from the pavement on both sides. The tractors were moving along ten miles per hour slower, and the oncoming traffic was too unpredictable for her to safely cross the yellow dashes painted into the cracked tar surface of the road for her to pass.
Her heart was in her throat, each breath was a struggle to inhale and even harder to release. Her knuckles were white, more so than normal; her long and elegant fingers wrapped tightly around the black steering wheel. Underneath the palm of her right hand was her cell phone, its volume turned all the way up (not that it needed to be since the radio was off) with the vibration mode on. The hospital knew to call her immediately if it looked like Minato was fading fast. It didn't matter where she was, she'd turn around immediately and floor it to the hospital.
Konoha Hospital sat on the border of the town it was named for and an even less populated blip on the map, and of course, Shisui and Minato had picked out an old farmhouse to call their own that was on the opposite side of the town. While it wasn't exactly a large metropolis, the dozens of farms surrounding the barely-there main street and the college all added up to making the trip between their shared home and the hospital at least a forty minute ride. Shisui was only halfway home and was making bad time. She was torn between keeping her promise to him that she'd take care of his dog and returning to his side before the end could sneak up upon them both. She could lie very easily, say that she sped home and fed the animal and sped back, but dying had made Minato wiser than he had ever been in his healthiest times.
She noticed the red brake lights in front of her at what had to have been the last moment before it was too late. The front bumper of her car was centimeters away from the trailer. She began shaking, full body shivers that raked her to her core. She put the car into reverse and then slipped it into drive, quickly crossing the center line and speeding past the disabled trailers, not bothering to check the oncoming traffic.
The god she didn't believe in must have been on her side, for once, because no one was on course for a frontal collision. (She didn't know if she was happy or sad about this. Minato was at death's door, and she did not want to live without him.) The rest of the way home was clear. It was as if the setting sun had signaled everyone into their homes to be with their loved ones. Everyone but herself.
She cursed the large dog Minato had rescued years before. The animal adored him and Minato was worried about leaving him behind. Minato had asked Shisui to return home to feed the beast and take him out so he could moves his bowels, and to pass on Minato's farewell. There would be no more walks on the campus grounds, no more swimming after fish in the Uzumaki's pond. “Please, Shisui,” Minato had asked, his thumb tracing the back of her hand as he strained his weak voice to sound his (dying) request, “please go take care of him. You know how anxious he gets when his schedule is disrupted. He won't take long, he never does. Please, it's the last time I'll ask you to do this.” She had taken his hand in hers. It'd be the last time because he'd get better and there wouldn't be a need for her to take care of the monster of a dog she had never liked. She told him so, but he hadn't even the strength to smile humorously at her stubbornness.
Minato smiled less lately, and each time he simply looked on instead of flashing his grin the knife that had been thrust into her chest twisted and sank deeper. And that was why she wasn't by his side. She was doing this so that he would have to get better. So that she had something to remind him about. A promise is a promise, after all. (Cross your heart and hope to die.)
The sun was just dipping below the horizon, painting the sky as she had never seen it before (and despite her distress there was a small part within her, locked in her fingers that itched for her paint brushes and a canvas. But capturing fire in watercolors was something she had never been able to do.). Konoha was not a coastal town, but would the red sky over it still bring its residents a beautiful tomorrow? Shisui pulled off of the road and down the dirt driveway, the tires of her car spinning up dust in her wake as she sped closer to home.
Kyuubi was barking, pacing the hallway that led from the front of the house to the back. Upon seeing his master's mistress he began whining, bumping his nose and face against Shisui's legs and pelvis. He kept weaving about her legs, crying out to her, causing her to trip several times.
“Just shut up!” Shisui yelled at the dog, unleashing the pent up emotions she had locked away ever since that fateful first trip to the hospital with Minato. “Just get out of my way so I can go back to him!” Tears threatened to fall down her cheeks as she smacked Kyuubi's hips. Normally such action would cause the dog to growl, but he only watched her, his large gold eyes expressing his own grief and loneliness. He sat, voicing one last whine as Shisui ran a hand through her hair, marching off to the kitchen. Kyuubi looked to the door and began whining again as Shisui opened the can of dog food. She dumped it into his bowl and set it on the floor, but he didn't come as he normally did.
Instead he let out a loud, keening howl that caused Shisui to jump and drop the can, splattering small flecks of meat and sauce across the linoleum as the aluminum bounced along the floor before rolling under the table.
She swore and called out to the dog, but he was still howling. She didn't hear the back screen door open and slam shut due to his loud cries. The notes were loud and piercing, making her cringe with each new cry he sounded.
“Shisui?”
She spun around in time to see Kakashi's body twitch at Kyuubi's wailing. His eyes were open wide, stricken, and he had lost his color. “Kakashi, what are you doing here?” she asked over the noise.
“I got a call... it's Professor Namikaze...”
The world was spinning too quickly. She gripped the counter, gasping for breath. Kakashi took a step toward her, but she turned and ran out of the house. Kyuubi followed her, racing down the driveway as Shisui threw herself into her car and put it into gear. She flipped open her cell phone, cursing when she realized it had shut off due to the battery dying. She must have still been on the road when they attempted any call, so she would have missed it at the house, too.
Dammit. Dammit all.
The speed limit didn't matter. Everyone was home now. Everyone but her. Everyone but Minato.
She made it to the hospital in twenty minutes, slamming on the brakes at the security station at the entrance to the parking lot. She hurriedly told the guard who she was hear to see, and as he fumbled with the button that would raise the gate a familiar car passed by the other side of the small booth. Her fists tightened around the steering wheel.
He didn't turn his head to acknowledge her, but Shisui knew that Itachi had recognized her, or at least her car. The lights on the security booth shone dully into his car, casting an eerie pallor to his skin against the shadows. When he didn't meet her eye, she flicked her gaze further into the vehicle to the man in the passenger seat. He was even harder to see, his dark skin a perfect camouflage in the darkness of Itachi's car. His eyes were bright violet, but after a moment he looked away and shifted in his seat.
Her eyes narrowed in further distaste and focused back on her cousin who was still ignoring her, returning the parking pass to the guard. He drove off, expression cool as could be. Had he been there? The mix of rage and incredible desolation stirred faster, urging her to hurry.
She slid under the gate as soon as she could, not caring about the guard's yells about following proper safety procedures. The closest parking spaces to the entrance were taken, and the few minutes taken to find a free spot and dash into the hospital felt agonizingly slow. The elevator was a small mercy, she was able to squeeze into a full lift right before the doors closed and pressed the button for Minato's floor. She ignored the strange glances the other passengers gave her, clenching and unclenching her hands as the floors ticked by and she was jostled by those exiting and joining.
The doors opened to the seventh floor and Shisui freed herself from the clump of bodies in the elevator like water bursting through a hole in a dam. It took all her control not to race through the quiet, sterile halls to his room. She breezed passed the nurses' station, only a few more feet.
“Ms. Uchiha!” a nurse called out, rising from her seat behind the tall counter. “Ms. Uchiha, please wait, they're in the middle of-”
Shisui pushed the door open with a stumble, hair falling over her shoulders like wild rain. The doctor and two nurses in the room jumped and took her in with wide, startled eyes. “Miss, I'm afraid you need to step out.” The doctor lay his clipboard near Minato's feet.
She did not recognize this man. “I'm his-,” she choked out, biting her lip as she searched for the right title. They certainly weren't married, nor were they engaged. With no civil union to bind them she had no proper legal tie to him other than that which he had granted by giving her the power of attorney. “He's my-” The knife in her chest couldn't go any further, the knife hilt was pressing into her skin - she could feel it.
The nurse that had called to her came into the room breathlessly. “Doctor, this is Shisui Uchiha. She's the patient's partner.”
“Who are you?” Shisui demanded of the doctor.
The two nurses looked like frightened mice. The one from the station gestured to them to leave the room and they did so happily.
“Mr. Namikaze's doctor is not on call, I'm Dr. Martin, the coroner.” He glanced to the remaining nurse, questioning her with his eyes, she shook her head slightly and glanced to Shisui who was visibly shaking where she stood. “I've gotten the important information recorded, I'll let you say your good-bye now.”
He moved towards the door and paused before shutting if after the nurse. “I'm sorry for your loss,” he offered quietly.
The room had changed dramatically in sixty minutes. Earlier there had been the quiet and steady hum of medical equipment, the bleeping of the heart monitor, the strains of Minato's labored breathing. And now all that there was in the room was silence, its fragile nature only broken by the ever increasing pace and volume of her own realization that all of this was real.
The knife dropped straight down in a clean stroke, slicing down through her gut. She blundered towards his side. The thin white sheet had already been pulled over his torso and head, but she reached out to pull it off of him so that she could hold his hand, caress his cheek.
One last time.
Her chest heaved as a sob she could no longer hold back freed itself. He was so much colder than he had ever been before. Rigor mortis had not sunk its claws into his body just yet, but she could feel the tough muscle underneath his skin on its way to stiffening.
“Minato...?” she whispered. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. But is was and she shook the thought from her head violently, hands curling so tightly around his skin that if she kept her hold it'd stay like that until his body was freed from its rocklike state. “Minato, please...”
Someone had closed his eyes, but he did not look like he was sleeping. Shisui had watched him sleep for so many years, the images of him in various states of rest flicking through her mind like a film reel. Death was but sleep? She sneered at the notion. Were his cheeks really that sunken? She lifted a hand to brush his hair from his face. Death had changed him, nothing felt correct anymore. She kept her hand on his and lifted it to her cheek, kissing his knuckles tenderly, as if it may be enough to bring him back. “Please don't go.”
She was crying, the damp cloth of her sleeve told her. Silent sobs kept her chest in constant motion even as her legs grew numb and fell asleep. She lost track of time sitting there as he lay unmoving before her. There was a gentle knock on the door and Kuzunoha entered silently. Shisui didn't look away from Minato's face, but she knew Minato's mother by the fresh scent of the flowers she loved to work with. “Shisui, dear,” her voice was soft as she padded closer but stayed on the opposite side of the bed. She cupped her son's cheek in her hand and her bottom lip trembled. Parents are not supposed to bury their children - it goes against the course of nature. But that is all the older woman could say before she cried out and pressed her forehead to Minato's as she had done so often when he was growing up to check his temperature.
And so they mourn together for a few minutes, the mother and the lover over the man-boy they lived for. One letting go of all she had held onto and the other still refusing to give it up.
“Excuse, Ms. Uchiha,” the nurse from before poked her head into the room, “I'm sorry, but as Mr. Namikaze's power of attorney we need you to fill out some documents.” Shisui wanted nothing more than to ignore the woman and continue her vigil, but Kuzunoha lay a hand on top of the one that was holding Minato's.
“Go, dear. I... I'd like a few minutes alone with my son.” It is the most selfish thing she has ever heard his mother utter, but soon enough she would know the true measure of Kuzunoha's cruelty. Shisui felt the anger boil up through her throat and into her mouth, ready to pour out on a woman whose pain was no less than hers, however much she may have wish it. “Go.”
Shisui stood shakily, pain shooting through her legs and feet. She leaned over Minato and nosed his cheek, breathing in his scent that only remained in her memories now and moved her lips over his. The nurse and Kuzunoha had the decency to avert their eyes to the kiss, understanding the importance of privacy for such a moment.
She had never kissed lips so cold before. Another first, another last. She made her way out of the room in a daze and the nurse helped her to the station where she explained what needed to be filled out and directed her to a chair to sit in while Shisui worked.
She was nearly finished when the squeaking of wheels catches her attention. The coroner was being assisted by two orderlies, bringing Minato out of his room and heading to a private elevator that opened to the morgue in the hospital's basement. Shisui stood but was unable move. Kuzunoha stepped into the hall, and for the first time in a month Minato's hospital room was empty, never to be filled with visitors for him again. She turned and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I'll go see if the gift shop has any boxes we can use for his things.”
Shisui nodded dumbly and added her signature to the last form. She returned them to the nurse who offered a sympathetic smile. Shisui returned it as best she could, knowing that her smile had been anything but. She opened the door to the room one last time. It was so incredibly empty now. Just as how their - her home would be now, without Minato there. She took a deep breath and walked into the bathroom. She turned the cold water lever and splashed her face several times, letting the rivulets streak down her face instead of wiping them away with one of the thin hospital towels. She walked back into the room and began collecting the items that had attempted to turn Minato's room into something homey. There was the poem and the drawings the students in his advisory group had made, all of the flowers, and the books that Shisui had read aloud to him from. She went to grab his duffle bag, but when she opened it all of the clothes were already folded.
The knife twisted once more.
Itachi had been with him, if not while he passed, too near to its happening for her comfort.
Kuzunoha returned with a box and disrupted that line of thought for a few moments as they helped each other pack up the last of Minato's things. They left the room together and bid farewell to the nurses. They parted in the lobby, the older woman to her car, Shisui to the cafeteria where she lost herself in thought, the box of Minato's things and his duffle bag on the floor b her feet. Her obvious grief kept the staff from approaching her, and she was left alone to prepare herself for her first night of the rest of her life without Minato.