Gin watched as her clone dispersed. Wonderful. Now she had lost a good portion of her chakra, half of what she had left. The fight was getting out of hand. Both she and Jurou were covered in injuries. Burn wounds were scattered all over the young Kazekage's body. She was panting and out of breath. The cloud of smoke surrounding her made her have coughing fits once every couple of minutes. The heat from the forest fire was almost unbearable. It made her sweat profusely, not to mention how excreted her body was. And what for? A sword? She looked at Jurou, who now had 14 long gashes around his body. He was losing blood quickly. The sight of him like that made Gin want to simply call out the entire match. It hurt her to see Jurou like that, though she didn't know why. Weren't they supposed to hate each other? Weren't they enemies? No... Truth be told, they weren't. Deep down inside, Gin still cared for Jurou. She didn't know in what way, exactly, but hurting him like that didn't feel right. It didn't feel as relieving as it should have. Hurting him should be satisfying, not... not this. Gin managed to swat away Jurou's fire release technique with the flat end of her blade. As the clone attacked her, she deflected his blows, placing her full concentration into parrying each blow and finding an opening to disperse the clone. It was difficult, seeing as the clone was using two swords. But Gin was a skilled swordsman, one of the most powerful ones in the world. She managed to make the clone stagger, using her sheer increase in strength. With another slash, it would disperse, spreading flames across Gin's stomach once again. Through the corner of her eye, she saw Jurou using water release jutsu to heal himself or at least to keep his injuries at bay. She let him, spending even more time with the clone than she could have. She saw that he was panting and losing even more blood. But he still had no intention of giving up. She could see it in his eyes. Both of them were much too prideful to simply give in to the other, especially given their current situation and how they got along.
When the clone finally dispersed, Gin felt like she was about to collapse. But she couldn't for one very specific reason: Boil Release. Gin winced. She knew what that meant perfectly well. She felt the mist hit her skin. It was hot, almost burning. But she knew that the jutsu took a while to sink into the victim's skin. She had some time, still. But she felt her clothes - what little remained of her bra and underwear - burn off of her body. But being naked in front of Jurou right now was the least of her worries. Nothing he hadn't seen before, really. She stood in her stance, still eyeing Jurou carefully. She knew that the Skilled Mist Jutsu wasn't the only thing that he would use against her. But he was dying of blood loss, she could just see it. She wanted to stop this madness.
"Jurou-" She called, but it was too late, he was already using Infinity Slice, two slashes aimed at her arms and another two at her legs. She had dropped her guard and was barely able to deflect two of the slashes and was able to redirect one of them to her torso instead of her arm. She screamed. The slash had hit her burn wounds, causing her even more pain. She wanted to bend over and rest, hold her injuries and take a time to breathe, but she couldn't, not right now. She had a limited time to run away from the mist. In the process of deflecting his blows, she had managed to slice the skin on his face, over his nose, with the tip of her sword. It would leave a scar on his face, much like the one he had left on her. They were both marked, now. They had left their marks on each other. Their destinies were bound together. The scars were but proof, a symbol of their union. Gin switched her sword from one hand to the other. Jurou had managed to slice the arm that she was holding Naiya with. Gin panted. Her vision was faltering, she was exhausted. She didn’t want to attack Jurou anymore. The fight was over; it had been for a while now. She breathed in deeply. She sheathed her sword and dispelled her jutsu. This was enough. She walked towards Jurou slowly, she could see that he was about to collapse. His vision faltered. He was closing his eyes now. Gin broke into a jog and caught him before he fell.
“Jurou? Jurou!” She yelled. He couldn’t die. No, she couldn’t have killed him. No! She knew little of medicine, but she could tell that his heart was still beating. He collapsed into her embrace. They were now both kneeling on the ground. Jurou’s head was leaning on her shoulder. She leaned into him, laying her head on top of his.
“How did it come to this?” She whispered as she held him against her. She ran her fingers through his hair as she remembered how they used to be. She pressed her lips to his temple for a moment.
“You can rest now, Jurou,” She whispered and threw him over her shoulder. She had to take them both to the hospital. She drew Naiya again, using it as a cane. She staggered through the flames of the forest, covered in injuries and trying to carry Jurou over her shoulder. She was tired and panting, but she had to get them both to safety. She couldn’t let them die, not like this. Two Kages dead in a fire because of their own stupidity, now that would make for a pathetic story. They would be No, that wouldn’t be them.
Gin etched her way through the forest, still nude and bleeding and hugging Jurou to her to keep him safe from the flames. She finally reached the edge of what was left of the Dense Forest. She was about to collapse, her vision was blurry. But she couldn’t faint now. The pain was excruciating, but if she faltered now, Jurou would die of blood loss. She refused to let that happen. She wouldn’t be the one who killed Jurou. That would only send her into a downward spiral. She couldn’t go through a loss like that again.
“Jurou, if you die, I will hunt you down in the depths of hell and make sure I’ll kill you again.” She said. Tears welled up in her eyes and threatened to spill over. But she could see Konoha now… She was so close now. So close. As she walked, memories of that night filled her mind.
_____
Gin laughed at what Jurou said. He had always been kind to her. Most people saw him as cold and ruthless, but he wasn’t. He was warm, underneath his façade.
“You know that’s a lie. Men have needs, despite the fact that you say you just dedicate yourself to training. Besides, of course there are plenty of movies out there. They’re good ones, too. Graphic, you can see every detail.” She said, shaking her head. She hadn’t realized that she had said too much. She didn’t believe one word of what Jurou said. And now that she was buzzed, she would prove to him that he had needs just like everyone else. She pressed her lips to his harder, responding to his passion just as he was doing. She let him take the lead the way she always did when it came to anything physical. She pressed her chest to his. She moaned as Jurou moved his hips against hers. It was almost as if he were teasing her. Gin only separated herself from Jurou so that he could take his shirt off. She ran her hands down his chest, tracing his firm muscles with her fingertips. Her fingers lingered over the edge of his pants. She let Jurou run his hands over her breasts and even spurred him further when he grazed his teeth over her bra. In her drunken haze, she realized that her clothes were getting in the way. She pushed Jurou off of herself gently so that she could stand up. Why not try to give Jurou a show?
Gin stood up, only a few feet away. She moved gracefully, slowly running her hands down her own body before running her hands over the edge of her pants once. Her hands stopped over her zipper, which she slowly and teasingly pulled down. She peeled her tight pants off of her skin and stood there for a moment, letting Jurou admire her physique. She then decided to slip out of her bra so that she was essentially half naked in front of her boyfriend. She walked towards him again, straddling him so that they could continue to kiss. She moaned at the feeling of her bare chest over his skin, the feeling of his mouth trailing kisses all over her body.
That night was the first and last time they had made love to each other. They had both lost their virginities, but they had gained so much more. That was the happiest they would have both been for a long time. But only a week later, Gin found out she was pregnant. Only a week later, Jurou’s mission was called off and he had left her in Suna, stranded and bearing two baby girls inside of her. He had preferred his duty over his love for Gin. So she had called it off. They had broken up. They began to hate and resent each other with a passion. But now… there was something about that fight that changed her. She was sure that he felt the same.
Gin could finally see the doors to Koonha’s hospital. They would be safe now. Jurou would live. She let herself faint in front of the hospital doors, cradling Jurou to her as she did.
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