Rituals: More Drabbles From the Daring Mind of Crystalazer

Reluctance
adj. unwilling

There's no such thing as an easy killing. Taking a life, human or otherwise, is never easy. That's why, when she plants a kunai deep in an opponent's chest, she slashes his throat to make sure he is truly dead because the only thing crueler than killing a man is leaving him only half-dead.

He watches from afar as she does this, being the one who was not assigned to engage the enemy directly, but to provide back-up in case the attack got out of hand. He knows why the Hokage assigned him this position; it was to be her first kill as ANBU and even though a mask covers her face, he would know from anywhere that it was her. No one moved like her, turned her head to look at him the way that she did. And when she does, looking up from the body of the dead missing-nin to where he is perched on the highest branch of a nearby birch tree, he can see clearly her eyes behind the mask, asking him why she did what she just did. It is the same look he gives himself every day when he looks into his bathroom mirror and sometimes, he feels like he's hiding himself behind a mask too.

That night, she tries to make herself as small as possible as she lays against his side, and he knows that it's to prove to herself that she is not just a murderer, that there is more than death that has built a shroud around her. It is for this same reason that he wraps his arms around her now and feels her heartbeat against his hands, slow and steady, but proof that she is still alive.

- o –

WTFyay. Taking a break from my other fanfic to bring you the next installment of "Crys-Does-the-Ananymous-Ninja-Angst-Love-Thing," also known as "Rituals." This one'll probably end up being longer than "Universal" because there are a lot more "R" words in the world than "U" words. Well...I'll stop it with the author's notes now. See you at the end of the series!

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