[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Choices

"You know you don't have to do this," The man at the mission desk had informed her when she'd handed over the mission scroll she had selected for herself for the day. The chuunin glancing over her record, name, and then back to her record with a frown. "We have a few c-ranks for setting up for the festivities if you'd prefer those instead. Cleaning the graveyards is rather menial and the one you've selected? Well the medical ward mass graveyard is... in bad shape." The man tried to put it delicately with a small concerned frown.

"It's fine. This is the one I want. I don't mind the work." Azarea stated voice firm as she tapped the scroll with a nod. The chuunin giving her one last skeptical glance before he stamps it and hands it over.

"Well it's yours then. Good luck. Just file it at the turn in desk when you're done." He ordered as the red head takes the scroll with a bow and slots it into her weapon pouch before turning and exiting the building. Her feet following an all too familiar path down the winding roads towards the Kumogakure no Sato's main shinobi hospital.

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流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 200 | @'person

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Duty

The Medical Ward Mass Graveyard was where shinobi who had no family nor friends to claim their remains went to rest. Once a small plain lot near the back of the hospital even with cremation it had had to be rapidly expanded with the plague. It now took up the space where an old dilapidated ramen shop had once been that had been torn down when the owner perished during the epidemic to make room for the deceased. Leaving a humble memorial in it's place of rows and rows of solemn white slabs inscribed with the names of those who had perished and remained unclaimed. Many families even after the bodies had been burned to ashes did not want to bring the deceased home. Some had no loved ones left alive to carry them back to family plots to lay with their ancestors. Some were simply refugees, orphans, and the unwanted who had made a new life for themselves in Kumogakure like herself who due to the plague never got a chance to live. All names were inscribed equally. Imbedded into the white stone that with time and neglect had grown gray and dingy with dirt in the village's efforts to forget the trauma of the past.

Heading through the back door into the hospital Azarea flagged down a nurse to borrow a bucket, water, soap, and cloth. Before exiting back outside her kit in hand to begin her grim task with gentle care.

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流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 244 | @'person

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Trust

Scrubbing away at the first grave Azarea carefully traced the names listed their with the cloth only pausing to bow her head whenever a familiar inscription surfaced from the dirt and grime. The first among them a simple name 'Hiroto Noki.' The man had been a shimo conflict war orphan who'd dragged his way up from the dregs of society to reach the rank of special jounin. When he'd recover, and he'd always say 'when,' he'd planned to take the jounin exams. She can still remember his face from where the man had been stuck in one of the isolation wards. He'd complained up and down that his eyes were gonna go sterile from all the white with not a lick of color to stare at unless Azarea happened to come by.

It was his words that gave the hospital councilors the idea for the 'green thumb' program. Nurses distributing little easy to care for potted plants amidst the patients in an effort to give those disillusioned about their recovery or depressed by the state of the world something to work on and watch over. A reason to keep fighting.

They gave Noki a Ficus. The "ugliest little butt shaped rooted plant he'd ever seen" the man had ranted to her, but he kept it watered and even at his weakest asked the nurses to make sure it wasn't getting too much or too little sun. When he passed Noki had willed the plant to her.

"Put it in a bathroom or something where it can remind everyone why they're there. Just don't let it die." Had been the note he left written with hands so weak and trembling she could barely make out the words. The ficus still lived on her bathroom window sill. Sheer curtains ensuring it got just the right amount of sun.

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流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 306 | @'person

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Family

The next familiar name uncovered beneath Azarea's fingers was one 'Joro Kisoko.' The woman dark haired woman was third generation shinobi and was so vivacious you might never have known she was sick. Her katon nature lent itself to her running hot and when the nurses had given her a tiny aloe plant she liked to joke it wasn't to help her, but whoever she'd lit up with her sick burns. "Come on Aza-chan! You're too young to frown so much!" She'd tease her. Kisoko never said anything, but Azarea had watched how the womans green eyes had lingered on Noki in the room across the hall from her and thinks that there had been love there tentative and new that never got to bloom. When Noki passed Kisoko lost much of her laughter. Her jokes became a little more blunt. Her quips witty, but tired. Then news came that the plague had taken her parents and the jokes stopped. The once vivacious woman growing thinner and more wan by the day until it was all Azarea could do to get her to talk to her. To care. Her aloe plant a hardy little thing surviving despite it's owner wasting away seemed almost a mockery of the situation. When news came that Kisoko's little brother, a boy barely old enough to attend the academy, had passed away and she was all that was left... There was nothing left of the once vibrant Kunoichi. Her soul was dead. But it took three days for her body to give up the chase.

It was only later that Azarea found out that her and Noki had joked about getting married, having kids, having a laugh. If they'd survived Azarea might have been a godmother. Instead in the intern they decided to be funny and name her the 'godparent's' of their plants. They would be the first. But they would not be the last.

Kisoko's aloe plant sat in it's little pot on Azarea's kitchen counter. Still as bright and cheery as it's owner had once been.

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流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 330| @'person

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Responsibility

Most of the names on the stones were from civilianborn shinobi, those from small no name clans, or orphans without a last name to claim. Few clan shinobi went unclaimed or for that matter chose to be buried in the mass graveyard. Ryujin Isamu had not been most shinobi. Azarea's fingers tracing the name once, twice, thrice. Someone had tried to slash it out with a kunai, but the imprint remained and the red head could recall the name as it had once looked the day it was inscribed.

"I don't care what those fucking cultists say I~" Isamu had wheezed out. The man was a veteran shinobi in his fifties before the plague with all the battlewounds to show for it. The virus just weakening him further with the damage to his lungs, "Don't let them take my body. I don't want them to hold me up as some figurehead to forward their doctrine. You have them cremate and bury me here kid among my fellows and the swords yours." Isamu always told her. The man refusing to give up his katana even in an isolation room. It had been a beautiful weapon and completely and utterly useless in Azarea's hands and they'd both known it, but he always offered it as a bribe to ensure he got his way anyway. If only just to spite the other Ryujin who visited and tried to cajole the old timer to see things their way.

The man didn't have any direct relatives so Azarea had signed the paperwork to be in charge of his affairs after promising up and down she'd make sure the man died nice and clean. She was nearly positive he'd been part of ANBU. Maybe an old captain or lieutenant. He'd scoffed at the prickly little cactus no bigger then his palm the nurses gave him and took to mostly ignoring it. Though Azarea noted the plant was always left in the most prime spot on the window sill and when it got cold and the sun didn't rise up high enough to reach the old shinobi's window she'd gotten him a tiny grow light for it. He'd grumbled and mumbled about stupid plants, but next time she'd visited the cactus sat primly beneath the light haloed in a soft glow.

The plague had been the worst to him. His lung destroyed beyond saving, organs failing, limbs weak and rebelling. He'd be lucky to survive at all even less ever hold a blade again. The man unable to even voice his plea from the breathing tubes shoved down his throat, but the look in his eyes was enough. It wasn't uncommon for the family of those suffering to bribe nurses to give them a painless and dignified end, but Azarea had neither money nor sway. She'd owed Riku three months of her first pay to ensure Isamu got a tripple dose of morphine and died peacefully in his sleep. The soon to be Raikage never did collect on the money she owed him and one of the first things he did upon taking office was ensure his shinobi could choose their own end with dignity even if the need for it had passed with the last of the plague.

Azarea never did get Isamu's sword. She hadn't expected to. It had taken all the fight she had in her and Riku backing her just to keep the mans body and see his wishes done. The Ryujin had made off with the weapon into the night, but they left behind the little cactus.

Azarea thinks the plant is happier with Hayato now. She thinks maybe it can bring some brightness to the dour man like it had Isamu. She hopes she's right. She hopes her old friend would be proud as she finishes that stone and continues her steady pace down the rows noting that the name would need to be freshly inscribed. She wouldn't let anyone scar it with a kunai again.

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流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 576 | @'person

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Optimism

"Hideki" was all the next name read. No last name. No family. He'd parents had been merchants who lost their lives in a treacherous Kaminari pass in winter before Hideki had even been old enough to know his own name even less theirs. It had been a miracle he'd survived where his parents had perished and the boy had grown up in the Kumo orphanage and signed up to become a shinobi with the intention of paying back the village that saved him. He'd been sixteen then and the nurses had given him Kalanchoe flowers for his plant. The plants blossoms the same shade of pale yellow as the boys blonde hair. If Azarea concentrated she could almost still see his smile.

"Just you wait! We'll be teammate when we both get out of the hospital! My other two have already graduated to chuunin, but you and me we can take the exams together! I'm sure Sensei will love you!" He'd told her beaming despite the oxygen mask covering his loewr face. Azarea hadn't had the heart to tell him his Sensei had already passed nor that his teammates were working with the medical squads yet never came to see him.

"They're chuunin! Of course their busy!" He'd always say anytime they were brought up, but truthfully they both knew his friends just couldn't bare to see him like this. His death had been one of the few peaceful ones. His heart giving out under the strain in his sleep. Gone in his dreams and the only notice Azarea had received of his passing was the pot of Kalanchoe on her windowsill. Doubtlessly left there by one of his absent friends. Now it lived on her bedroom windowsill.

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流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 281 | @'person

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Perseverance

Moonstone plants were odd little succulents, but seeing as Hanabi Rina had been barely six the nurses had let her pick whichever plant she wanted. She'd chosen a pale pink one and Azarea can still remember the kid hoisting it over her head yelling excitedly about how she'd gotten the prettiest plant of the entire batch. "When I get better Mommy says I can have a kitty!" The girl had exclaimed, "But I have to take good care of my plant to show them I am res... resp... res-spon-si-ble." The girl had sounded out the word.

"Nee Aza-chan can you help me with this homework? Koro-sensei dropped it up, but I just don't geeet it. I wanna do cool ninja stuff! You'll teach me when we're both all better right?" The Academy student had whined and while the last thing Azarea had wanted to do in the hospital was homework it had been worth it to see the kid beam at her whenever she got a problem right. Miroru chan reminded her a lot of Rina. The same bright orange hair. The kid had worked so hard to care for her plant, but each day she got a little weaker. Till she couldn't lift the little watering can any more and her Father stopped coming. Her mother told the girl it was cause the man was busy with work, but she'd see him put into the detox ward from drinking and one night he picked a fight he couldn't win. Rina's Mother wore black from then on and just told the girl it was cause it was easier to keep clean.

When Rina passed her Mother followed shortly after, but it wasn't the plague that took her. One of the nurses had been kind enough to help Azarea dig the little plant out of the trash where her Mother grief stricken and in shock had thrown it out in anger. The name 'Hanabi Kimi' inscribed in the stone right beneath her daughters. The Moonstone plant though lived on. Bright and hardy on Azarea's coffee table. One of her beetles favorite plants.

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流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count:322 | @'person

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Life

Carefully cleaning the dirt and grime away from the next name Azarea mustered a small sad smile at the sight of it. "Takeshi Hiro" had been an unlucky man. He'd had his legs injured on a mission and caught the plague while receiving treatment leaving him not only crippled, but also sick. The special jounin had known he wasn't going to make it so when the nurses had offered him a plant he'd asked not for something small and placid, but morning glories he could grow in a little hanging pot. Their vines threading down around the handles of his hospital bed with little flowers peaking out around his IV's. The staff had warned them they were perennial that come winter they would be gone, but he simply waved them off and said so would he.

"Nothing good in life ever lasts Aza-chan. Which means we must savor those good moments all the more," He'd told her in a soft rasp. There'd been no plant to take nor inherent when come winter time he'd gone in his sleep, but she'd gathered the morning glory seeds and tended to them in planters on her balcony and now each spring they spilled out to twine their vines around black painted cast iron and concrete painting a plain building green.

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流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 217 | @'person

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Hope

As the days had passed her collection of plants had grown. Until Azarea's hospital room and resembled a vivarium more then a sterile hospital place. The scent of plants and earth prevalent. The greenery at least cheering up her hive even if Azarea couldn't look at the plants without associating a name with each pot. When Riku was moved into the isolation ward and given a little thing of lucky bamboo she'd been terrified.

"Come on Aza I'm not gonna die that easily. The village needs a kage. They can't afford to have me die." The man had joked even while wan and pale and miserable. His bamboo looking as limp and ill-cared for as the man shinobi himself. Crows never really did well in cages and the Kyuumu was no exception. when his pant died Azarea was certain Riku might follow in it's footsteps, but apparently the little thing had given all it's luck to the silly bastard it had been gifted to. Riku rallied. The man fighting his way back from the sickness and plague miserable, but stubborn. Until eventually the two had left the hospital together. Her mentor leading the way and Azarea trailing in his footsteps with her endless armfulls of plants.

He'd helped her move them that day and something akin to hope bubbled within her chest.

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流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 222 | @'person

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Peace

"Are you all done out here dearie?" One of the older nurses called out as she pushed open the back door peering out into the fading sunlight. As Azarea comes back to herself the woman blinking down to release her fingers and hands are reddened and chappened from scrubbing, but the grave stones are all clean. Her eyes briefly flicking to the blank space on the last stone she finds herself eternally grateful that had never been filled.

"Ah. Yeah. Here are the list of names that need to be recarved." Azarea murmured tossing the rag into the bucket as she pulles out paper and pen jotting down those who's names have been scarred, faded, or nearly forgotten as she dumps the water out and passes the list and empty bucket to the woman.

"Thank you dearie. It's been a while hasn't it? But you know I think this is one of those rare times where I have to say I'm happy I haven't seen you around." The kind old woman murmured beaming back at Azarea who squints at her before she recognizes the name on her name tag. "Rinchi Takara," the name ringing a bell from her time stuck back in the hospital. As the old woman shifts the bucket and list to one hand before reaching out to gently pat Azarea's cheek with her palm.

"Life is for the living sweetie. They wouldn't fault you for doing so to the fullest." The woman murmured her gaze flicking to the graveyard behind Azarea before she turns away with a small smile and closes the door behind her. It's only then that Azarea realizes why she recognized the name. It had been one of the ones carved into the stones. The name of a kindly old nurse that used to give out the plants before the plague had taken her just like her patients.

As Azarea lunges through the door intending to give chase, but the woman is nowhere to be found. The bucket is back where it belongs and the list she'd written sitting on the secretary's desk. The woman uncertain how it got there. The paper simply waiting for her when she'd looked up. Puzzled, but feeling oddly lighter Azarea departs to turn in her mission and return to her home and her plants. Her insects softly humming in the evening quiet.

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流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 394 | @'person