After Hidan's remains were cleaned up, the ruins finally went quiet.
All that was left was the thick stink of blood, and the dry rasp of pebbles skittering in the wind.
Teizawa turned, his gaze settling on the motionless figure not far away.
Asuma.
The man who had just been locked in a vicious fight with Hidan was now lying on his back in a pool of blood.
His chest rose and fell sharply.
But each breath was weaker than the last, more air leaving than entering.
His eyes were half open, his pupils already starting to lose focus.
And yet he still stared up at the sky.
As if he were waiting for something.
Teizawa walked over at an unhurried pace.
His boots crunched on broken stone, the sound crisp in the silence.
Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji were still trapped in the shock Hidan had left behind.
Only now did they snap back to themselves and stumble toward him in a frantic run.
But Teizawa was faster.
He was already crouching beside Asuma.
"Asuma-sensei!"
Shikamaru's shout came from behind, tight with fear.
Teizawa didn't look back.
He simply lowered his eyes to the man barely clinging to life.
To those pupils that were drifting apart, yet still forcing themselves to focus…
Then…
He smiled.
It was a faint smile, one only Asuma could see.
"Honestly," Teizawa murmured, leaning in. His voice was so low it blended with their breathing.
"Kurenai's figure really is something."
Asuma's pupils shrank hard.
Those unfocused eyes suddenly flared with disbelief.
"And," Teizawa continued, the curve of his mouth deepening, "she's… unforgettable."
He watched the violent change in Asuma's expression with open satisfaction, like he was savoring it.
"Not bad at all," he added softly, almost amused.
"Pff…"
Asuma suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
It splattered across Teizawa's robe, across Asuma's own face, and onto the rubble around them.
His eyes went wide, the whites webbed with red, locked on Teizawa with everything he had left.
That face, which had been fading away only moments ago, now held something raw and unmistakable.
Rage. Despair.
And pain that went all the way down to the bone.
He understood.
He finally understood.
Why Kurenai had changed so drastically.
Why she had come back quieter, colder, withdrawn.
Why, sometimes, she would stare out a window with a look too complicated to name.
Why…
"You… you…"
Asuma's hand trembled as he raised it, pointing at Teizawa.
The finger wavered in the air, unable to steady.
He wanted to curse.
He wanted to hit him.
He wanted to tear the bastard in front of him to pieces.
But he couldn't do anything.
His hand stiffened for a few seconds.
Then dropped.
His head tilted to the side.
And he stopped breathing.
Those eyes never closed, even in death.
Like he refused to accept it.
Teizawa looked down at him and shook his head lightly.
"Tch."
He stood, patted at nonexistent dust on his robe, and sighed with faint disappointment.
"Can't even take a little provocation. Where's the fun in that?"
"Asuma-sensei…"
Shikamaru's voice finally exploded behind him.
Teizawa turned slightly, facing the three Konoha genin who came scrambling up.
Shikamaru reached Asuma first, hands shaking as he checked for a pulse.
Ino's legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground, tears spilling over.
Choji stood frozen, mouth opening and closing, unable to force out a sound.
"Asuma-sensei… Asuma-sensei!"
Shikamaru's voice trembled.
He checked the pulse again and again, calling out again and again.
But the man who was usually quiet, usually steady, usually there when it mattered…
Would never answer him again.
Teizawa stood to the side, watching.
His face arranged itself into the right kind of grief at the right time.
"What a shame," he said softly, voice full of regret.
"Asuma died for Sunagakure."
"This debt… Sunagakure will remember it."
Shikamaru jerked his head up to look at him.
In those eyes was grief, anger, confusion…
And a thin thread of instinctive suspicion.
"Asuma-sensei…" Shikamaru rasped. "How did he…"
"Hidan's ability is bizarre," Teizawa cut in, calm and matter-of-fact.
"He takes blood, draws a circle, and syncs the damage."
"Asuma got caught without enough intel."
"We arrived too late."
Shikamaru opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
But it felt like his throat had been sealed shut.
Ino knelt beside Asuma, tears blurring her vision.
She stared at that lifeless face, and a flood of images flashed through her mind.
Asuma-sensei with a cigarette in his mouth.
Asuma-sensei leaning against the wall, acting lazy.
Asuma-sensei taking a hit for them without hesitation.
"Asuma-sensei…"
Her voice broke into fragments.
Choji finally moved again and dropped onto the ground.
Tears fell in fat, steady drops.
Teizawa watched them in silence for a few seconds.
Then he sighed, his tone turning into something almost kindly, like an elder giving instructions.
"Someone will take you down to rest."
"Treat your injuries. Get your heads straight."
He paused.
"You won't be needed for the battles ahead."
With that, he turned to leave.
"Wait!"
Shikamaru's voice snapped out from behind him.
Teizawa's steps slowed.
He glanced back with only the corner of his eye.
The boy who was usually calm now had tears streaking his face.
But there was still a thread of reason fighting to stay alive in his gaze.
"Asuma-sensei… what did he say at the end?"
His voice shook, but he forced it steady.
"I saw him talking to you."
Teizawa was silent for a moment.
Then he turned fully, facing the three pairs of eyes that were desperate for an answer.
A complicated expression rose on his face.
Regret. Weight. The right kind of heaviness.
"He…" Teizawa said, as if choosing his words carefully.
"He asked me to look after Kurenai."
"What?"
Shikamaru froze.
Ino and Choji froze too.
All three stared at Teizawa, not knowing what to say.
Look after Kurenai?
Asuma-sensei's last words were asking the Kazekage to… look after Kurenai?
"I know you don't understand," Teizawa sighed softly, sounding almost wistful.
"But that was his final wish."
He looked at their stunned faces, his gaze deep and sincere.
"No matter what, it was his wish. I'll do my best to fulfill it."
Before any of them could react, he vanished in a blur.
Only Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji remained, standing beside Asuma's body.
The wind swept through, lifting sand into the air.
Ino's tears kept falling.
Her expression had turned into pure, empty confusion.
Choji stood with his mouth open, forgetting even how to cry.
Shikamaru stared in the direction Teizawa had disappeared, his brow tightly knotted.
Look after Kurenai?
Why?
Asuma-sensei and Kurenai…
He suddenly remembered the complicated tone Kakashi-sensei had used when mentioning Kurenai before they left.
He didn't know much.
But he did know Kurenai had vanished for a month.
A month…
Shikamaru's pupils tightened.
A terrifying thought rose from the bottom of his heart.
But the next second, he shook his head hard and crushed it down.
Impossible.
How could it be…
He lowered his gaze to Asuma's face, those eyes that still hadn't closed.
They were wide, as if they were staring at something.
Or accusing something.
Shikamaru reached out and gently closed them.
"Asuma-sensei…"
He whispered, voice tangled with too many things.
"What were you really… trying to say?"
No one answered.
Only the wind cried through the ruins.
(End of Chapter)
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