It Would Be So Easy

[Suoh]

The wind playfull blew Suoh's loose hair across his face as he gazed down from the top of the mountain. He was absolutely still, his shoulders slumped in defeat, but his mind raced. It wasn't supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be fun, simple, and now he was trapped with no way out.

He watched the rocks, the jagged outcrops and stony crevaces that marked the mountain face. It was a long way down from here, and the setting sun seemed to stain it all a bloody crimson. No. It wasn't supposed to be like this at all.

[Oki]

There was something horribly wrong, and Oki knew it down in the very core of her being. She had no idea what, and it took a long time to figure out that the feelings of desperation and despair she felt were not her own. She had left her apartment quickly, tried to let her mind go blank while she wandered the streets of the village. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she had to get there. Eventually, she found herself making her way up the Hokage Mountain and spied a familiar form at the top, near the edge. Her first impulse was to hurry, but something else told her to take it slowly.

It seemed to take an eternity to reach the top, to make her way towards her brother. She was approaching him from behind, watching his hair as it fluttered in the wind.

"Suoh?" she called when he made no move to acknowledge her. "What are you doing up here?"

[Suoh]

For a long time, Suoh said nothing. Of course she had come, he thought bitterly. If she didn't know exactly what he was thinking, she'd at least have figured out the shape of it by now and she'd have come looking for him. He cursed himself for choosing now to be self-reflective.

"It would be so easy," he said lifelessly without turning to face her. "It would even look like an accident, like I had slipped. There are so many crags on the way down from here, there's no way I'd be alive when I finally stopped. Just broken, mangled. Gone. It probably wouldn't hurt too badly, either. If I went head first, I could probably knock myself unconscious if I didn't beat my own brains out on the first rock I hit. And then it would be over, Oki. All over."

[Oki]

Oki's heart jumped into her throat as her brother spoke. He was so calm! And what made it worse was that he was serious. Oki had no idea how long he had been standing there, but he had clearly thought this through. She continued to approach him slowly, one hand reaching out for him.

"Suoh, don't do anything stupid..."

[Suoh]

"I've already done stupid, haven't I? After all of my bitching and moaning at you, I got her pregnant. It was just once, Oki. Just once where I forgot to use a condom, and look at what happened. I've ruined her life, and my own and probably the baby's too. If her father doesn't kill us Neji will, main family be damned. I don't know what else to do, Oki. I can't fix this."

[Oki]

"Why does it have to be broken?" Oki asked softly, wrapping her arms around her brother's waist. "I know neither of you are happy about it, Suoh, it must be terrifying! But why does Riki's being pregnant have to mean things are broken, that they need fixing? Your jumping won't solve anything, you'll just leave Riki alone and grieving and frightened. You'll leave me alone and broken, only half of a person. I lost you once, Su," she pleaded. "Don't leave me like that..."

[Suoh]

Suoh brought his hands up to grasp Oki's. He had meant to pull hers loose, to free himself from her hold, but her body was warm, familiar and reassuring. He held her hands in his, hung his head and sobbed.

"What do I do, Oki? I'm not ready to be a parent! I never even wanted to be! And now I've got a baby coming in a village that isn't mine, with a girl I'm going to have to leave, and I don't know what to do. I don't want to leave her, Oki. I did this to her! And she's scared!"

[Oki]

"The first thing you need to do, Suoh, is step back from the edge," Oki said softly, holding him tighter. "Once you do that, we can figure things out. Just come talk with me, Suoh."

[Suoh]

Suoh nodded and allowed Oki to pull him back away from the edge of the mountain. He still wanted to throw himself over the edge, but could no longer bring himself to do it. Not with Oki there. He dropped to his knees once they stopped moving.

[Oki]

Oki crouched beside her brother, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him in close. Slowly, she began to rock with him. "It's a baby, Suoh, not the end of the world," she said gently. "It should be a new beginning. You always tell me that you're not even half the man you ought to be. Isn't this a chance for you to change that? Be a man, Suoh. Step up and take responsibility.

"You don't want to leave Konoha. You've been saying since you came here that you'll have to leave, but you don't want to. This could be your chance! Talk to Tsunade, see if you can stay and become a part of this village. Or take Riki with you! She'd go anywhere, so long as she gets to stay with you, Suoh."

[Suoh]

"No," Suoh said firmly. "She can't come with me, Oki. If I took her back with me, I'd hand Sudah the keys to my undoing and I have no idea what she would do to Riki, to the baby, or to both of them. But she'd do something, and it wouldn't be pleasant. I wouldn't put it past her to kill."

[Oki]

"That's a little extreme, Suoh..."

[Suoh]

"You don't know her Oki! That woman is pure evil! With the things I've seen her do, killing is the least she's capable. She lives for torture, thrills in it, and I won't put Riki in that kind of danger."

[Oki]

"Then talk to Tsunade, Suoh! She's taken in ninja from other villages before! Look at Yuki, and Cirrus! The Third took me in as a child, and Tsunade's letting Ryo stay. Leave your village and become a part of this one."

[Suoh]

"What if she says no? What if Hoshikage says no? I have a team back home that I was a part of. Staying here means abandoning them."