Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Okay, little one, hold still." Four-year-old Shizune giggled as her uncle tried to brush her hair. She wriggled into a more comfortable position. At this point, Shizune could almost forget that it wasn't her mother doing this for her. That her mother would never do this for her again.

Dan hummed as he brushed out the little girl's short black hair. Both of his sisters, dead. One in battle, the other—Shizune's mother—from accidental poisoning. His cousin—for Dan and Natsumi had been the second cousins of Natsumi's husband, and all bore the Miyako name—had recently committed suicide.

Natsumi and Hitomu. They went and left, and pretty much saddled me with their kids.

A small ahem came from the door. Speaking of Seiya… Dan's twelve-year-old nephew hung in the doorway, looking uncomfortable and a little guilty.

"What is it, Seiya?" Dan asked absently, using his hands to undo a particularly tricky snag in Shizune's hair.

"Uncle Dan?" Seiya moved into the bright sunlight filtering through the large, tall window. "I know you wanted me to come with you and Shizune to the park, but my sensei told me we have training this morning, and…"

Two world wars. Who would have ever thought there would have been a Third? Dan managed a half-hearted, sad smile. "I understand, Seiya. Don't feel ashamed if your career as a shinobi must override the time you spend with your family. I discovered this a long time ago."

Seiya nodded, cheering a little. "Thanks, Uncle Dan." He stepped up and somewhat begrudgingly kissed his sister on the forehead. "I'll be back later, alright Shizune?"

She smiled up at her brother. "Bye niisan!" she cooed as he left.

Dan returned to what seemed like a full-time task. Finally… "And we're done!" They began to walk towards the front door. "Shizune, you did eat breakfast, didn't you?"

She flashed a cherubic gap-toothed smile up at her uncle. "Yes, uncle. The cereal was good."

The silver-blue-haired man smiled. One less thing to worry about. "Okay. Let's go to the park!"

--

Thank God for shore leave, Dan thought as he walked with his young charge through the park. I'd never get to spend time like this with her otherwise. It was spring time; the birds chirped happily as they traversed through the park.

Finally, they came to their favorite bridge. It was the bridge that Dan had always played on with his friends as a child; his sisters, and his cousin/brother-in-law.

The water was like polished black glass; large dappled, shimmering fish would occasionally disturb the peace of the lily pads and their white flowers. Rose-colored cherry blossoms drifted lazily to float on the sluggish river.

His niece seemed now somewhat pensive and subdued. As Shizune stood on tiptoes, her small slightly pudgy hands braced on the black metal of the railing so she could see over the side, her brown eyes almost obsessively watched a mother duck leading her two ducklings.

"Uncle Dan?" the little girl suddenly asked, dropping back wholly on her feet.

Dan tensed; he knew that tone of voice. Seiya had been using it a lot, except the preteen's voice was laced with anger when he spoke in this tone.

"Why? Why did they have to die? It wasn't even in battle! I could have lived with that, but poisoning? Suicide?" The boy abruptly broke in to angry sobs.

"What happens…when we die?" So she wasn't going down Seiya's route of fury and insensibility. But there was still something disturbing in Shizune's small voice, something that was setting off alarm bells like crazy.

Dan sat Shizune down on a bench; he'd heard that it was better to have serious conversations with small children when sitting down.

"Shizune…I…When people die…" Dan let out a long breath. "Oh, man," he whistled, whispering. "This is hard."

--

Tsunade had been let off for a couple of days, and was fully enjoying her time away from the roar of the battlefield by indulging in the serenity of the park.

In a place like this, she could almost forget the fate of her otouto. Almost. Ripped to pieces, mutilated to the point that the only way I could even recognize him was by his dental records. The carnage… If only I had been there…

Tsunade stopped walking suddenly. She lowered her platinum blonde head, clenching her fists, her eyes nearly shut from a sudden wave of pain. She felt the sudden urge to smash something. Though she was only in her early thirties, Tsunade felt like the weight of ages was putting an excruciating yoke on her back, bowing her shoulders.

She urged herself to keep walking. She was going to go to that bridge where she had spent so many happy days with Dan…

"Hey, Tsunade-sama!" A woman maybe two or three years older than Tsunade herself was waving to her. The woman was playing in the grass with a toddler, with a black-haired kunoichi standing by.

Tsunade smiled and made the distance to the shade of the oak tree in less than a dozen long strides. "Hello, Keiko-san, and you, Akiko-san." Akiko nodded.

Keiko cast her green-eyed gaze upon the slug sannin. Tsunade noticed with dismay that Keiko's red hair was beginning to show just a few sandy strands. Only three or four, but enough to show that the med-nin's hair was graying prematurely. And beneath her smile, there was a heaviness to her eyes.

"Are you alright, Tsunade-sama?" Keiko enquired quietly. "You seemed a little…preoccupied at yesterday's meeting."

"It's nothing," Tsunade tried to wave off her friend's concern with a wave of the hand. She looked with interest upon the child, maybe two years old, three at the most, who Keiko was playing with. "I didn't know you had a child, Keiko."

Tawny-red brows were furrowed. "I don't." Keiko's voice was especially quiet, and Tsunade knew without knowing, that she had hit a sore spot. "This is the boy Yoshiro and I adopted."

It was never Tsunade's style to dwell on a social faux pas. "The child Yakushi-san found at Kikyo Pass, of course," Tsunade murmured. "Where is Yakushi-san, anyway? I've been meaning to talk to him."

"He's in the field." Keiko's heavy eyes darkened with worry. "I'll be joining him in a few days."

"Ahh, I see." Now Tsunade was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable. "I'll see you later, Keiko." She walked off, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck prick from discomfort.

--

"Shizune, I'm not exactly sure what happens when people die." Shizune's eyes widened in amazement. Dan almost smiled as he stared out at the other end of the bridge. Was she really still at that age when she though adults knew everything? Dan found it hard to believe that he had ever held in his possession that sort of guileless innocence.

It will be shattered, and it will be shattered so soon. Oh, my niece, I fear for you, growing up in this world…

"You mean you don't know?" Shizune's voice was filled with heartbreaking disappointment. She looked down at her rocking feet. For a moment Dan wondered if he was caught in some sort of genjutsu meant to inflict guilt. Sure feels like one.

"No one can really claim to know what happens to us after death," Dan tried to explain to her. He planted a hand on top of her dark-haired head. "I don't think there's any pain, though."

The girl frowned. "But when okaasan died, she seemed like she was hurting."

Natsumi! Dan couldn't help but think with annoyance of his older sister. What were you thinking? Taking a brand new poison in front of a child, your child!

"I meant after death, Shizune. Dying itself can be very painful. But, but," he quickly added after seeing her face fall stunningly, "death doesn't always have to hurt. Sometimes it can be very peaceful."

Shizune caught on his "sometimes". "But not always," she pointed out, frowning and beginning to stare out at the ducks again.

"No, not always," Dan reluctantly conceded, realizing with a slight jolt of panic that if he gave his niece any more ground, he was going to lose this civil fight. "But listen, Shizune. Death is a natural part of life. You can't stop it. You can't hope to stop it. If you deny death, then you're denying life. It happens to all of us. Whether death takes us in our old age or in the flush of our youth, eventually, we all die. It is the way of the world." He fervently hoped that Shizune's spirits would lighten. Dan soon realized that he had said the wrong thing, and what worked with a shinobi did not necessarily work for a young child.

"So you're telling me that you'll die, too? And Seiya?" Shizune looked like she was about to cry; she began to shake, tears dribbling down her baby round cheeks.

Dan opened his mouth then shut it again. This wasn't working at all. If anything the situation had spun well out of control, well beyond his ability to control it. Dan felt sweat slick his forehead. How was he supposed to fix this?

--

Tsunade continued to walk on, beginning to think that it was a bad idea to come to the park. She didn't see anyone she knew, and that bridge was the only place that didn't stir painful ghosts for the slug sannin.

There was someone on the bridge. That cemented Tsunade's resolve to walk back towards home; she had no desire to talk to anyone at the moment.

She frowned; the frown almost immediately melts into a wide, warm smile. She recognized that head of silver-blue hair.

"Dan!" Tsunade waved brightly as she made her way over to where her boyfriend was sitting, but stopped, frowning.

Who's that kid with him? Tsunade felt a slight icy sheath of jealousy cling to her body.

"Tsunade-chan!" Dan grinned and patted the area beside the bench. Despite herself, Tsunade sat down, and gave him a hard glance. "What?" he asked innocently.

The little girl sitting between them looked up at Tsunade shyly, clutching the material of Dan's shirt as she did so. Tsunade had to admit, even extremely grudgingly, that the little girl was adorable, with black hair, huge chocolate brown eyes, and a soft dove gray dress.

Dan noticed Tsunade staring at Shizune. "Oh, Tsunade, this is my niece, Shizune. Shizune, this is Tsunade."

Tsunade relaxed, smiling in relief. Dan's perfectly innocent smile had never so much as fluctuated throughout; he obviously had no idea of what had been going through her head a second before.

Shizune smiled shyly up at Tsunade, tugging on her uncle's shirt. "Uncle," the little girl whispered in a way that Tsunade could hear. "You're right. She is pretty."

Dan blushed and Tsunade roared with laughter. Then she noticed the tear tracks on Shizune's face.

"Dan!" she scolded. "What have you been doing to this poor girl? She's crying!"

Her boyfriend grimaced. "I've found myself having to explain "death" to Shizune for the past half hour. Please help, Tsunade," he hissed through gritted teeth.

Tsunade would have laughed at the pathetic amount of desperation on his face if it weren't for the weighty topic at hand.

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune asked, looking as lost as anyone could, "where do people go when they die?"

"No one really knows. I mean, it's not like anyone's ever died and been brought back to life, so we don't know." Tsunade was blunt enough that she wasn't going to try to soften it like Dan had.

And oddly enough, Shizune looked more comfortable with that harsh answer than she had with Dan's gentle one.

Shizune relaxed and continued to peer over the side of the bridge, staring now at two little kids who had made paper boats and were having a race to see which boat could get to a certain point the fastest. They had drawn quite a crowd.

Tsunade smiled and pulled Shizune up into her lap so she could watch the race without the obstruction of the iron guardrail, gently ruffling her coal-black hair.

"Oh, Dan, I almost forgot. I've got something for you."

Fin.