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Different Paths	By : SumiHatake Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 1204 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I didn't make money writing this.

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- 1-Different Paths
- 1
Title: Different Paths

Pairing: ShinoHana and alludes to a past ShibiTsume relationship

Summary: Sometimes parents want to see their kids follow in their foot steps and sometimes they don't. Tsume reflects with Shibi on old possibilities.

Warning: M/F relationships, one shot, no sexual content, COMPLETE

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor will I ever.

Dedicated To: Jyukai-Koudan as a point commission

A/N: This is connected to 'Drowning' which you can find in 100 themes although it isn't necessary to read that to understand this. There will probably eventually be more stories in between the two anyway.

Tsume sat down on the ground, stretched her legs out in front of herself, and leaned back against the tree. Her uniform shifted quietly with the motion, the tough green fabric of her vest scrapped the tree.

The sun edged closer to the horizon and soft noises broke the silence of the forest around her. Out here beyond the new walls of the city the old growth of the forest still existed. The tree she sat under and the ones surrounding her had been there since she was a gening, longer in fact.

Circling the tree several times, Kuromaru settled himself on one side of her. His movements stiffer than they had been twenty years ago when they'd visited here more often and he let out a huffed breath before laying his head on his paws.

"You didn't have to come," she pointed out simply, popping the lids on two dark brown bottles.

He chuffed and didn't move.

"Well I don't want to hear it later." She knew she would anyway.

The recent war had not been kind to her friend and the old dog was beginning to feel his age more now because of it. The blue of his fur was more gray these days and white was thinner. Both matted easier, a visible sign of age most would not notice. There were other more obvious ones, a limp, a crook to his tail, and scar that stretched over his hind quarters. All that said and even though he no longer went on missions with her, he didn't leave her side when she was home. She was glad for that small fact, but saying as much would likely have hurt the old ninken's pride.

Tsume watched him for a moment then turned her eyes to the trees.

There was no sound to give him away, but a moment later another old friend stood beside her.

"Sit down, Shibi. Old dogs like us should enjoy the breaks we're given," Tsume stated, setting one of the beers down on her left and taking swig from the other.

He stood there for a moment, his hands in the pockets of his oversized-coat, before finally kneeling on the ground beside her. His eyes shifted from her to the beer and after a moment he picked it up.

Neither spoke and they sat there drinking their beers and watching the sunset.

"Did we make a mistake?" Tsume asked, not looking over. There was no saddness or regret to her voice, the tone nearly flat. Despite her unconcerned manner, she wondered sometimes. Shibi wasn't afraid of her strength and the man she'd married had been. He'd been weak that way and in the end she'd chased him off for it. It had been a marriage for the better of her clan and it had given her her children, but she hadn't respected the man she'd accepted as her husband let alone cared for him in the slightest. Shibi however, even now she held a fondness for him.

"No." The answer was simple and straight-forwards, not unlike the man who gave it.

Tsume threw her head back and laughed, distorting the red triangle tattoos on her cheeks and making them appear even more like fangs. "If I were any other woman..." The statement implied that she'd have been offended if she was not who she was and it was obvious enough that she didn't bother finishing it.

Shibi made a sound, a huff of breath through his nose that might or might not have been a snort if it were louder. "If you were anyone else we would not be having this conversation."

She smiled, shrugged, and down the last of her beer. His marriage had been no different from hers even if it was more successful and she wondered if it was because of his ability to keep his emotions in check or simply because he was simply more passive aggressive than she was. Whatever the case was she understood what he meant. If she had been different, not the tempermental, over-emotional bitch she was, he wouldn't have fallen in love with her and if she hadn't been the heir to the Inuzuka clan the conversation would also have been moot. If things had been different they might have ended up married and their lives would have been different. In the end, like usual, he was right. It wasn't a mistake because it would have implied they had regrets. They had their families, their clans, and neither of them was the type to regret anything, especially not those things.

"Humor me, for old time's sake then. If we had to do it over, if we were them, do you think it would have worked?" Hana wasn't her nor was Shino him, but the similarities were enough that the question was valid.

Shibi looked over at her, arched one dark eyebrow, and stared for a long moment. "Perhaps."

Tsume wondered then if either of them had a regret she was blind to. If it was there, it was unlikely either would ever admit it. She wouldn't, that was for sure.

He continued to stare at her for several long minutes before turning back to watch the sunset. "I suppose we will have to wait and find out."

She turned and watched it with him, not commenting further. There wasn't anything else to say and she was finally getting old enough to know when to shut up. It was odd to watch her daughter and his son following so closely in their paths and yet to see them step so far away from it at the same time. There were a lot of complications but maybe their kids were more stubborn than either of them had been. She hoped so.
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Different Paths