[center][b]Konoha Team 7
Kensuke Nimatsu - Hisoka Uchiha[/b][/center]

Politely knocking on the door as he arrived at the Hokage's Office, he sighed. His first official mission as a Jounin team leader. Practically a disaster. The only one who escaped unscathed was himself. All of his genin had gotten themselves wounded one way or another, and they even had to carry one of them back to the village. He ignored the commotion around him as he set his mind on calmly reporting what had happened during this mission, irrelevant of the recent attack on the Konoha hospital. He admitted to himself he wasn't in the right mood for this right now, but he'd just have to deal with it.

From the behind the door came a short and almost snappy [b]"Enter."[/b]

Carefully opening the door and closing it behind his back, he entered the Office. He had been here so many times now, and it never ceased to inspire him with a sort of respect, this room. As if he had to do everything extra careful and make sure he'd do nothing wrong. [b]"Lord Hokage, I'm here to report about Team 7's mission, concerning the prisoner execution."[/b] He said, as ever impressed by the mountains of paperwork awaiting the Hokage's attention, and decided that he didn't want to waste Hisoka's time, especially with the entire ruckus around the attack on the hospital taking most of the Hokage's time.

Hisoka knew it was Kensuke who would enter his room before the boy had even set a foot inside and he felt bad. No, he felt guilty. Guilty for what he was going to tell the boy in a minute. Guilty because he would be lying about something that had hurt him just as much as it would hurt Kensuke now. But, it was for Konoha and for Konoha he was prepared to do everything. Kensuke was here to report about the mission and while Hisoka wanted to hear everything about the Genin there was simply no time for that now. He had things to do of greater importance, but this was something he had to tell Kensuke personally and he had to tell him now. 

[b]"Sit down."[/b] He said as he took a seat himself: [b]"please."[/b]

Kensuke nodded and took a seat on the chair in front of the desk, making sure he wouldn't knock over the towers of paperwork with the sheath of his katana as he did. He had knocked over a cup of hot chocolate milk at home that way once, and both the emotional and physical pain had been a good way to remind him to be careful for the rest of his life. [b]"The mission is a succes, all prisoners are executed. However, ... We suffered-"[/b]

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Hisoka interrupted him by raising his hand. The boy fell silent immediately and for a split second Hisoka was slightly amazed by the respect Kensuke seemed to have for him. the way he listened to what he said. And he would betray that respect, but Kensuke would never know. [b]"I have something to tell you. Something that comes before a mission report and I fear... It is not good news."[/b] He said. He did not avert his eyes from the shinobi before him, but gave him a steady unwavering look. He could not mess this up now. This had to be done. Kensuke was going to lose his friends. 

[b]"While you were away another team was on a mission as well. A team consisting of Tsubasa Kokoro, Katsuko Moto, Yumi Hasegawa and... Ryo Katsu."[/b] He paused for a second and forced air into his lungs. [b]"Their mission was not succesful and... unfortunately... none of them made it back to Konoha."[/b] Hisoka closed his eyes for a second and his hands curled into fists. 

Blinking his eyes and shaking his head as the Hokage told him his old friends, his only real friends, had died on a mission. Surely there was a misunderstanding somewhere, right? Katsuko, Ryo and Tsubasa, yes, even that sadistic bitch Yumi, they were all like weed. You just couldn't get rid of them. Team 4 had faced impossible odds time over time and had proven every single time they were not to be eradicated. They were that stubborn group of shinobi who just refused to die. As the Hokage kept staring at him, awaiting an answer, and judging on how the man looked, truly sorry for what he was saying, he knew that this was real. 

[b]"What? Are you sure? Have they found any bodies? Are they really confirmed ... dead?"[/b] He asked with a rising desperation that consumed everything going on in his mind. The entire farce of a mission, a stain on his carreer, was meaningless compared to this. His friends... No, this wasn't possible. Right? Right?!

Hisoka could see Kensuke's bewilderment, his desperation and he could feel it too because he knew those feelings. It was the disbelief that the people close to you were just... gone and you would never see them again. Hisoka's friends had been burried under that bridge, but with Kensuke... He would never know their true faith. How could he be so cruel? Was this what Konoha made him do? Was this... Hisoka shook himself awake. It was done. It was over either way. [b]"I am sure."[/b] He only said. [b]"They... died serving Konoha."[/b]

It felt like a physical fist in his guts when the Hokage confirmed it. He wanted to ask further after the details of their deaths, but he knew damn well that the man infront of him wouldn't tell more details anymore. They had been classified as an ANBU team after all, and their business were often less [i]proper[/i]. Thereby, Hisoka probably didn't want Kensuke to get revenge for his former teammates, but Kensuke didn't feel like he wanted revenge at all. He had carried the vessel of hate and vengeance with him once already, and once he had killed the one person he hated so much, he didn't feel any better. His eyes searched the Hokage one last time for a small light of hope, but only found cold compassion. His shoulders dropped a few inches and he needed to support his head with his hand as the news finally got through to him. Katsuko Moto, Ryo Katsu, Tsubasa Kokoro... His only real friends in Konoha. The three people who had made living here worthwile, who had given his life as a hostage a purpose here in Konoha, ... All dead. He would never see them again. Never. Again. 

Without realizing he let out a deep sigh, and closed his eyes. It seemed that every time he was on a mission without the people he cared about, that they'd have horrible things happen to them. He should have... Why was... If only... If only he could have been there, to protect them. It was just like that time when Matsuri went rogue. He had been on a mission without anyone he knew, and Matsuri had fled the village and became a hunted criminal. Another unconscious sigh followed the first one, as he thought about how he could have done more to prevent this. They were his only friends. One by one, those he cared about were dying. Who would be next? Kaori? Kiyomi? ... Noone else... Wow. He really had no other friends. All the others were dead. He cou-. No. He had promised he would not start blaming himself again. He wouldn't. He couldn't. Not after all his friends had done to him to stop him from blaming himself. He couldn't do this to them. Blaming himself for their deaths now would be an insult to their legacy, if their young lives had even left any. He sighed once more. He would live on. He would make sure they had a legacy. Just like all his other friends that had died. He would make sure their will would live on.

Standing up from the chair he politely bowed to Hisoka, his Hokage. [b]"Thank you for informing me of this, lord Hokage."[/b] He said with a voice that was devoid of any emotion, and life, before turning around and leaving the office. Somehow he was even more careful than when he had entered, making sure the chair would make no noise when he slid it back into place, and that the door wouldn't even make a sound as it was closed again. Soullesly he walked through the circular halls of the Hokage's Office building towards the exit, ignoring everything around him. The friendly guard that had given him a friendly nod, the sweet elderly lady he had met along the way that had said him hello, they didn't seem to exist anymore.

His friends were dead.

Back in the office Hisoka still sat unmoving. His eyes were pinned on the door that was now closed, pulled shut by Kensuke as he shut the barriers around him. Hisoka could see it. Suddenly he got up and almost rushed to his window to see the young shinobi leave the building. He saw him walk, he saw him disappear both physically and mentally, he saw him freeze inside. There were a thousand things he could have told Kensuke, but none of them would have made any difference. Only Kensuke could take the next step, whatever that step might be. 

Hisoka's hands were resting on the window still. He burried them so far in the wood that it hurt, but he didn't look away. He had just doomed someone to his own faith, to his own pain, his own problems. He could only hope that Kensuke would not go down the same road as he had. He could only pray that Kensuke would keep walking, would find peace and courage in new places, in new people. 

But for now his friends were dead. And it was Hisoka's fault.