Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Closer ❯ Chapter 4

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

When missions were selected there was always the danger variable. People who submitted requests weren't always truthful and forth coming with all the details. The highly trained mission clerk's ranking was subjective, though for the most part he usually got it right

Asuma knew this very well. When he was a genin all those many years ago, his team was put on a mission that could have been disastrous. Luckily for him, his sensei got them though it but the event left lasting scars, lasting memories on how things should be. His rebellion was an act of pure defiance that stemmed from that particular mission. But in the end, his choice shaped who he was today, made him a better ninja and made him more aware of the plights of others.

That's why when he asked the Hokage for a Grey Mission, he got one, no questions asked. His team stood behind him as the Hokage gave them the run down.

"There's been some problems in an urban village close to the Capitol. Families are going missing. The police there have already discovered four of them." The elder leader said seriously, sliding the scroll across his desk to Asuma.

"Dead?" Ino asked sadly.

He gave a nod. "The parents were dead but the children have yet to be recovered. The police have found where they have been taken buts it's very hard for them to infiltrate and they are afraid that if they try, the children might be harmed. No one knows why only the children are taken, or what the enemy has planned for them. That is another part of your mission."

His team exchanged looks and Asuma took the mission scroll outline. "No problem. Right guys?"

"Right!" There was no hesitation in their answer which secretly pleased him. When they began to leave the office the Hokage halted him. Asuma motioned the kids to go on without him.

"This is the only time I'm going to ask." The Hokage let a puff of smoke out of the corner of his mouth. Asuma was slightly tempted to light a cigarette of his own but knew it would be disrespectful.

"Ask."

"Are you sure about this Grey Mission?"

"I am sure. They're ready." He immediately responded. The Hokage stared at him for a while before sighing and leaning back in his chair.

"You're the third one to request a Grey Mission. Kakashi left on one three days ago and Kureni's team is leaving this afternoon." He sounded a bit unsure. It was interesting. Three genin teams getting Grey Missions so soon after the kids graduated told him that the younger generation would be more skilled than his. He was glad his confidence in his team was mirrored in Kakashi and Kureni's teams.

Ino was excited about the mission. They would finally move away from them close home missions and get to explore the land. The village they were going to was urban! She would have to ask Asuma if they could catch a movie and do some sightseeing after the mission.

The night before her team left, Ino made sure she prepared her bag carefully, unpacking and repacking several times. She made a quick stop at old man Himo's shop to gather a few extra things. He happily showed her his newly acquired weapons; slender swords, nun chucks, throwing knives and a strange looking morning star. Ino frowned, finding that weapon a bit out of place and wondered who the hell would want to wield such a big heavy thing. Then one particular weapon made her eyes widen.

"A scythe?" She took it off the wall and the heavy curved blade hit the floor.

"Careful." Old man Himo cautioned and helped her put it back on the display pegs. "Your skinny little arms will snap if you pick it up again." He chuckled at her little playful scowl.

"But it looks sooo cool! I've never seen anyone around Leaf use a scythe before."

"And you want to be the first?" Himo mused. Ino trailed her finger down the carved iron wood handle.

"I don't think I would be the first to use one." She grinned. "But I would look so cool wielding one like this." She removed her eyes from the shiny crescent blade.

Himo held out his hand to stop her from saying anything. "I know I know. You love acting on your whims don't you?"

"Well—"

He chuckled at her sheepish expression. "This one is too heavy for you but I can have my blacksmith friend craft one for you." He paused. "Though it will be pretty expensive in the end, even if I manage to bargain with him."

Ino waved him off. "I'm leaving on a mission tomorrow. Just tell him of my interest and see if you can haggle a bit more." She picked up her leather bag that Himo put her recently bought weapons in.

"I'll do my best." He stroked his short beard with twinkling mahogany eyes. "You kids have such specific tastes. The Hyuga girl you brought ordered some expensive fabric and special ordered light kunai pouches and shoes. Just between the two of you, my family has been able to splurge on some little life pleasures and I've been able to reconnect with some old friends."

Ino lifted an interested brow. "Hinata is one of your new customers? That's great! You know what, I'll tell a select few of my friends about this place." She beamed. "It will be so cool."

Himo smiled. "I couldn't ask you to do that…"

"Who's asking?" Ino interrupted him. "Sometimes I feel guilty that I get such great supplies and my friends are left with the average stuff." She clenched her fist. "Supporting the shops that make Naruto an outcast. It won't happen anymore. I feel like destroying each and every one of them, making them go bankrupt and become outcast themselves." She could do it too, her family name carried more weight than they knew, and so did Hinata's.

Himo gave a little smile and patted her on the shoulder. "You're very protective over your friends aren't you? Naruto is lucky to have people like you and Hinata in his life now. He's been alone for such a long time with just us feeble old people to watch over him."

"Don't belittle your impact." Ino snapped, growing uncomfortable with the moment. She shifted her eyes away from the fond smile. "I better get going. Bye old man."

The journey to the sprawling city was a grueling one. Ino never traveled so long or so fast in such a short time. The trip to Flare Valley usually took six to eight days by normal transportation but with the chakra fueled marathon Asuma took them on, it took three days. Three arduous days Ino thought with a grimace.

Shikamaru looked as depleted as she felt and Choji, Ino looked at him, he held up pretty well considering he was never very strong in physical endurance. Asuma only had to carry him a fourth of the way.

"Looks like we made it in time." Asuma let Choji climb off his back before taking out a cigarette. "A day early. I'm pleased."

Ino was glad the journey was finally over. She felt like a sleep-deprived walking zombie. She suspected that if she even closed her eyes longer that two seconds she would drop into unconsciousness and nothing or no one would be able to wake her.

"What are we going to do now?" Shikamaru inquired, leaning against a tree, his deductive eyes sweeping the little patch of road that led to the gates of Flare Valley.

"We'll rest and then meet with the police in the morning."

Sleep…Ino thought numbly, greedily. On a bed not a hard mat, in a room not a thin tent, with a pillow not her lumpy bag pack, under soft blankets…

"Alright! Let's go!" She grabbed both Choji and Shikamaru by the arm and pulled them along with her. She ignored their groans of protest and insistently tugged them along.

The first thing she did was get her things ready for a long overdue bath, not one of those quick sponge ones she took when they happened to stumble across a small body of water. The inn was pretty modest, but well to do enough to have their own public bath.

The bath was empty once she left back to her room that she shared with Choji and Shikamaru. She tiptoed her way through the boys' carelessly tossed bags to her own bed close to the window. Asuma was in his own room so Ino didn't know if he was asleep or not. Despite her weariness, Ino was excited about the morning and she had that pleasant thought in her mind as she fell asleep.

Asuma stood before his team, taking a slow drag of his cigarette. He was a bit worried. The weather looked like it would be a problem. Late summer showers were moving across the valley. He always disliked rain for some reason. It was foreboding to him.

"So this is how it's going to go. The police have informed me that they think the children are being held in two different houses so we'll be heading west from here. Make sure your head piece is on the frequency two. Ino, report to me every twelve minutes, Choji every thirteen and Shikamaru, every fourteen. Got it?"

"Sensei—"

"I know Shikamaru. If we get caught in the storm it will be easier to move undetected but harder for us to operate. We'll just have to see what we can do."

"How many children are we talking about?" Ino asked, slipping on her headphones and clicking the radio on.

Asuma sighed and threw his cigarette bud on the floor, crushing it under his toe. "Fourteen children have been up ducted but I don't know how many will be at the house." He waited for more questions but they didn't ask. "Let's go."

Ino had done mock infiltration like this in the academy but the real thing was a lot different. Her nerves were frying and she worried about making a mistake so she stuck to Asuma's protocol very closely, reporting every twelve minutes exactly. By late afternoon they began to move in when they deducted there was no spies in the area.

She spotted the target house in the distance. They halted and circled like vultures in the trees. Ino was the first to see the kidnappers.

"Two in my view." She whispered in her mouthpiece.

"One in my view." It was Choji.

"Two doors in my view. I counted four visible windows, two in the east, one on the west and one in the back. There are lawn lights but I don't know if they work." Shikamaru's steady voice calmed her a little.

"Move twenty meters back and meet me at six degrees south." Asuma directed them.

Ino gave one last look at the house before making her way to the rendezvous. She dropped from the trees with acquired grace and dropped her heavy bag off of her shoulders with a moan, shaking her arms and rotating her shoulders. She dug into her bag and took a quick sip of water while she waited for Asuma to join them. Once he did, he explained the next steps.

By nightfall they were back in their original positions. The threatening clouds that worried Asuma earlier were thinning and the moon's light hazily lit the starry sky. The house was quiet and dark. Shikamaru and Asuma went down and took to two patrolling men out and then signaled to her and Choji to join them.

The back door was unlocked and quietly opened despite its withered appearance. The four man squad slid into the dark shadows of the low lit room, Asuma in the lead. He told them to hang back until he returned and proceeded down a long dark hallway that seemed to swallow him up. Three nerve wracking minutes later they saw the faint wave of his hand and they went forward.
"Search these rooms." He quietly ordered, opening the door closest to him. "Be careful and check for traps."

She didn't think the house would have been so big, but part of it was underground. Strange. She and Shikamaru made their way down the dark green metal stairs that led them into the belly of the earth. It smelled like fresh dirt and stale smoke. The metal stairs lead into soft, wooden stairs. Asuma followed close behind, Choji trailing. It forked into two paths, Ino and Shikamaru took the left, Asuma and Choji took the right.

Down the hallway, sounds were muffled so they kept vigilant. Ino shuddered a few times when she spotted a rat or two run across their path. Lamps were strung on wires, hanging down the top of the doors and across the walls.

"It's like a mole hole or a snake hole." Shikamaru muttered to her Ino nodded in agreement. Carefully they peeked into whatever door they came to, but each time the rooms were empty.

Ino's nerves jumped and she found herself huddling close to Shikamaru. The air was wet and the clay from the floor stuck to her toes. Then, she felt something and gasped. Shikamaru put a hand over her mouth without turning around. It was such a dark chakra signature, one she never felt in her life.

"No! Don't do this! Please!" A tearful voice of a frightened woman reached her ears. "Take me! Not her! Not my baby!"

Shikamaru and Ino ducked behind a curved corner, pressing themselves tightly against the wall.

"Shut up! I'm giving you a chance to live! Leave now!" A loud booming feminine voice snapped.

"My daughter is a good girl! She's all I have!"

"Karin! Why is she still alive?" There was a new male voice.

The earlier voice was silent; they could only hear the heavy breathing of the frightened woman. Shikamaru grabbed her arm when Ino tried to peek around the corner. The blonde scolded herself for letting her curiosity rule her movements.

"Karin I asked you a question?" There was no response. "A soft heart only brings you pain in the end. If you want to succeed in this life, in this line of work you must harden your heart." The male voice declared. Both the woman and the girl Karin gasped.

"Start hardening you heart right now. Kill her and I won't let our Lord know of this betrayal of trust."

"I-I—"

"Can't." The man said bluntly, his voice oozing with disappointment. "I'll show you how easy it is." Ino heard a strangled cry before something soft and heavy hit the floor. "Come with me. We have to go to town." It was said with such nonchalance that Ino felt her heart sink to her toes. Ice cold fear seeped its way through her who body, making her tremble. Her breaths became irregular and if it wasn't for Shikamaru holding her against the wall she was sure she would have fallen to the floor.

A tall lanky young man with grey hair tied in a ponytail and glassed passed them and a younger girl about the same age as her followed with her head bowed in compliance. The girl paused for just a second, before continuing.

They waited until their footsteps faded away before moving. In the sickly yellow lamp light, Ino saw an older woman on the floor with a spreading aura of blood. Her eyes were glassy and wide, a look of pain forever etched in her face. Ino swallowed hard and tore her eyes from the dead mother, following Shikamaru to a lone iron door at the end of the hallway.

The first thing that hit her once Shikamaru opened the door was the smell. She reared her head back in vile disgust, holding her arm to her nose. Beyond the filth, sweat and blood were rows and rows of empty prison cells. She and Shikamaru parted ways but kept a close eye on one another through the bars as they investigated.

Ino tried to keep her mind straight, but her eyes kept on wandering behind her to the dead woman. She absently ran her fingers across the rough, dirty bars, trying to gain some courage to look away. Her eyes gradually roamed from the open door, back to the empty cells. Rusted chains lay empty and dented. There was some torn blue and white fabric scattered like they had been ripped off by insane fingers. Both she and Shikamaru ended up at the end of the square room where a bright lime green light illuminated little abandoned lab.

"No one's here." Shikamaru's voice gave her a start. She credited the eerie environment to her jumpiness.

"Come back to the Y-entrance." Asuma's voice cracked over the wireless communication. They slipped back into the hallway and quickly made their way to where Asuma and Choji waited for them.

"No one was on our end. They must have moved them. The only thing we found was the adults." Asuma said.

"Stacked in a pile like a bunch of logs. I never saw anything like it before." Choji was visibly shaken.

"The other house isn't very far away. Let's go." The team left the sad desolate place. Ino could only wonder what had gone on there. It made her worry even more for the children.

The second house was much bigger than the previous. Asuma left Ino with Choji as he and Shikamaru left to bring back one of the guards stationed at the back entrance. When they returned a short while later they had a squirming bundled of pissed off ninja. His headband flashed in the moonlight and his blood shot eyes skewered her party with anger and insult. She briefly studied him, noticing the single music note imprinted on his headband. She looked to Asuma who gave her a little nod and then turned to Shikamaru who posited himself behind her. She shook her hands and then formed a seal peering though her touching fingers and left her body.

Every mind was different and she could tell whose mind was more complex and whose mind was a mere simpleton. This man's mind was fairly easy to venture into. She pushed back the man's consciousness, invaded his secret thoughts though he tried to resist. She heard Asuma's voice tell her to begin. Her chakra spiked and then rushed into his memories like a broken dam.

"There are seven guards. Two in the back, three in the front and then rest inside."

"Any important people we need to watch for?"

Ino couldn't find a name, but his face briefly flashed before her. "The leader has a special power, though he isn't sure what it is, but the main boss is gone. He doesn't know much Sensei, but the leader has an affinity to lightning and Earth. Maybe chunnin skills." She winced, feeling her chakra growing low. A headache began to form, but Asuma said she could stop. The ninja was unconscious when she left his body and the group left him there, easily slipping into the boundaries and taking out the patrolling men.

The house was well lighted inside. Low burning lamps glowed against what little furniture dotted, what Ino assumed, the living room. The kitchen was a mess, littered with take-out or easy to cook snacks like ramen and jerky. They kept their footsteps light, knowing that there was two more men, plus the Leader in the vicinity. They all heard the low murmuring somewhere in the back.

"What is with them? Why won't they answer us?" A short skinny guy complained to a taller more muscular man walking next to him.

"Let's go and see."

Asuma and Choji left from their hiding place and tackled the unsuspecting men to the ground. Shikamaru calmly joined them, handing over some binding ropes.

"Dai!" The shorter one bellowed out before Asuma knocked him out.

"Damn it. So much for a silent entry. Choji you stay here and guard them with Ino. Come on Shikamaru!" Asuma left the room with Shikamaru trailing close behind.

Ino anxiously waited for them, giving the tied up men a wary look before she turned her attention to Choji who looked as nervous as she did. She didn't like being left alone without Asuma. She feared for her and Choji both. It seemed like it took hours for them to return, though in reality only a few minutes had passed. But when they did return, they didn't look like anything had happened, but Asuma looked worried.

"What happened? Did you find the children or the leader guy?" Ino demanded, hearing the waver in her voice.

"No, but I found you." A slithery voice made her skin crawl and the hair on the back of her neck stand on ends. The whole party whirled to the sound and saw a man's head quickly emerging from the floor. Asuma jerked both her and Choji back forcefully, making her stumble against the wall.

"Go and look for the kids but be careful." Asuma barked at them. Ino tried not to be terrified of the prospect and she hesitated, watching Asuma and the other ninja begin the fight with wide eyes and a pounding heart. She didn't want to leave his side, not just because she was scared, but she had a bad feeling that if they left their sensei something bad was going to happen to him.

It didn't take long for her fears to come to fruition when she felt the most malevolent, coldest chakra signature ever. The ninja Asuma was fighting glowed an ominous blackish-purple color. There was a black mark on his bare shoulder in a strange circular pattern. It glowed red and then spread like mold across his face and down his body, twisting and changing his features into some kind of ghoulish monster. His skin became sickly grey and his eyes glowed an unnatural yellow. Ino didn't know she was trembling so badly until she grasped at her kunai pouch and the weapon she grabbed fell from her fingers. Raw, dark chakra whipped wildly in the room and the ninja knocked Asuma back with a huge spiked claw-like hand far enough that he had enough room to untie the two men on the floor.

"Useless idiots being taken by children." He hissed.

"We have to deal with them and let Asuma-sensei deal with the monster." Ino spoke up, in awe that she actually found her voice. Exactly how they were going to do it was beyond her at the moment. The main goal for her was to stay alive and to keep her team alive. At first she wasn't sure what to do. She was stuck in the middle. Choji and Shikamaru had each paired off with the underlings. Adrenaline was rushing though her veins so freely that all the sounds in the room, the yelling, grunts, snickers, clashing weapons, shuffling feet, ripping fabrics, all this seemed to drown out. She chose to help Shikamaru because Choji looked to be faring much better. Shikamaru wasn't really the type to get physical. The man seemed unsure, even against a genin like them, but her father always told her to never underestimate an enemy.

Shikamaru had somehow cornered the man, throwing shuriken like a fence, herding him to the dark corner by the kitchen area. Black shadows danced from Shikamaru's kneeling figure. It was an easy opening that Ino took. She grabbed that special kunai that was securely strapped to the inside of her headband tied to her waist. She pushed some chakra into it and threw it at the enemy's feet. A few quick hand seals and it exploded into thick thorny vines.

"Choji!" Asuma's alarmed yell snapped her attention to her teammate. Choji had dropped to his knees with a surprised, owlish expression on his face and thick stream of blood dribbled from his hairline, down his flushed face. Just seeing the blood made Ino's heart leap to her throat, panic settled over her like a rock slide. She was the closest one to him, but she wasn't sure if she could make it.

The man raised his hand, gripping a short sword and brought it down swiftly on her teammate. She felt helpless almost and forced herself to move faster to get to him. Her throat hurt because she had screamed his name in terror. She lunged, taking the guy off balance, tripping over Choji and landing hard on top of the guy. He lost his hold on his sword.

"Stupid bitch!" He grabbed both of her arms and pushed her off. Ino quickly scrambled to her feet, and produced a kunai. The man was on his feet, glaring at her with cold dark blue eyes. He picked up his weapon and they clashed together in a blind mess. Her little kunai didn't stand much of a chance against his larger weapon. He knocked it from her hand with his slender weapon and then hit her across the cheek with his other hand and she fell to the ground. Blinking her daze away and swallowing her nausea, Ino closed her eyes to stall her painful tears. Her weapon was close by and she jumped at it, slipping her finger in the hole just as the man grabbed her ankle and pulled her to him. She turned her torso, straining her back and kicked him in the kneecap with her free foot. She heard a crack and he staggered. Ino scooted on her butt to gain some distance away from him and then got to her feet. Then he lunged so fast, Ino didn't have time to get move. His grubby, thickly calloused hand wrapped around her throat and she was thrown against the wall. Her right leg hit an overturned metal fold-up chair and the back of her skull hit the wall with a deep thud.

She still had a grip on her kunai, though her trembling fingers made it hard to keep a secure hold on it and her other hand was on his wrist, trying to pry his hand from her throat. She could still breathe because his palm was loose on her windpipe, but his fingers dug into her tender neck.

"Yeah bitch what are you gonna do now?" He hissed poising his sword at her face, close to her eyes so she could see the little nicks on tempered metal. "I'm going to kill you and then finish off your fat little friend." He snickered. Ino's eyes drifted to an unconscious Choji. The other guy had gotten lose from her vines and Shikamaru was barely able to manage him. Asuma and the leader guy moved outside. She could hear their heated battle beyond the wall.

Ino's panic began filling with rage at his threat and she mustered all her strength to her leg and brought her knee up hard, catching the guy in the groin with a cry of outrage. Blood drained from his sweaty face and he immediately dropped his hand from her throat and dropped his sword to cup himself. The veins in his neck popped out and he turned beet read, spitting saliva. She didn't hesitate on what she did next. Her whole being blanked out as she tightened her grip on her kunai and stabbed him once in the neck. He stumbled, dropping to the ground holding his bleeding wound. His deep breathing sounded wet. He was still alive.

Her mind screamed at her, kill him kill him Choji and Shikamaru aren't safe yet kill him kill him. She straddled him and brought the kunai down again and again. The only thing that stopped her from stabbing him again was the kunai coated with blood. It became stuck in his chest and she couldn't retrieve it because it would slip out of her hand. She left him then, grabbing her discarded special kunai from the ground.

"One more time." She didn't even recognize her own voice. She threw it again at the ninja's feet. "Shikamaru!"

He didn't turn fully to her, but he was smart and knew what she wanted with just a single glance over his shoulder. He ducked away. Each seal she formed was made in dark deliberateness. Ino held out her hand. Her chakra rushed from every part of her body, squeezed from her core to her hand. The kunai glowed bright blue, pulsed a couple of times before vines as thick as a tree branches sprouted from it. The thorns glistened yellow, small like the blade of her kunai. The vines slithered over the ninja leaving thick ribbons of torn flesh, moved up his body. It kept moving, its speed varying. Up his hips and waist, his chest, wrapping around his neck like a python snake.

"Ino—" She ignored Shikamaru, her focus solely on her chakra link and her victim.

"You won't touch them." She bitterly whispered and released the rest of her chakra through her link. The thorns fully protruded, skewing him fully through like a kabob. Blood, flesh and organs splayed the room like a rain of gore. It smelled like blood and raw flesh. She lowered her arm, relaxed her fisted hand and dropped to her knees. All the fury and adrenaline that fed her, fled and she was exhausted. Numb even. Her thoughts slowly became less barbaric and more logical. She could feel the blood in her hair, on her clothes. Everything around her looked unreal. Shikamaru keeled beside her in concern.

"Ino—"

"He's dead isn't he?" She hoarsely whispered, turning to him. "I killed him." Tears of horror filled eyes. "I killed both of them didn't I?"

His brown eyes softened and he grabbed her face in both hands to keep her from looking at the bodies. "You did what a ninja was supposed to do."

She searched his eyes, desperately grasping onto that justification and jerkily nodded her head. "Right." She whispered, killing the regret she was beginning to feel. He gave a brief nod and left her there to check on Choji.

"He's alright. Stay here. I'm going to look for the kids." Shikamaru said. Ino didn't move, just continued to stare at her friend, watching his chest move up and down with his breathing, but no really seeing anything.

That's how a battered, but alive Asuma found her. The blonde girl covered in blood, surrounded by gore. He knew what had happened, knew what she had done, though, he paused at the dead man riddled with thick holes and shredded skin, he didn't know how she did it.

"Ino?"

"I did what I had to." She replied mechanically, still blankly staring at Choji.

He sighed and kneeled beside her. Ino…

Sasuke hated the hospital. He hated being stuck inside with all the sick people and sick stale scent of medicine and bleach around him. The only people that had come to see him were some stupid girls and his team.

He hit his head against his soft pillow in frustration. His body was still healing, but he was well enough to be out of the hospital. During his stay here he kept on having nightmares about their mission in Wave Country. Naruto's astonished face kept invading his mind.

Sasuke why…

I don't know why I did it. My body moved on its own

He scowled for a second before relaxing. Well whatever he did, he had finally unlocked his blood limit. He was glad about that. His whole stay in his room wasn't completely useless as he experimented with his eyes.

His door was open, and just outside were two nurses talking quietly to one another. He didn't mean to eavesdrop but a name made him pause.

"When is her father coming home? She needs someone with her as she deals with this process. I heard she hasn't even cried yet."

"Poor girl, but I think she's handling it pretty well. She had some nasty bruises but other than that she was unharmed."

There was a sigh. "It's hard to picture the flower princess, Ino Yamanaka ever killing anyone. She so pretty and girly."

"Kunoichi these days can have it all. Looks, strength, blood lust." The other snorted. "I wonder where she went. Asuma came by looking for her but she had been released."

"I don't know. Damn I need to get back to room 312. Talk to you later."

"Bye."

Sasuke sat up and tore the IV from his arm and slipped on his slippers. Damn it. He paused. Why was he leaving? Ino could take care of herself. Killing was just part of the job.

Go and look.

Sasuke shook his head, pushing back that little voice that prodded him.

Just to make sure she's alright. She's a fellow classmate.

He hesitated; glancing out the little square window of his room to make sure no one was coming down the hallway. He pulled on a pale hospital robe and then escaped out of his room, ducking his head and quickly walking to the fire escape stairs. He kept close to the buildings and made sure not to look at anyone. He found that if he even made the slighted eye contact, someone would take that as a cue to try and talk with him and he didn't feel very social today. He snorted, any day. He search for a good two hours before coming to a place outside the village walls. It was a river that was popular with the academy kids. When he was little his mom would take him there to find Itachi.

She was dressed in a shapeless knee-length white dress and she was washing her hands in the water, scrubbing viciously. He saw dark bruises, finger marks on her pale skin. Her hair was pulled back in her usual ponytail and he saw the dark bruises on her neck. He would have left her there seeing for himself that she was alright (overall) if not for him noticing how pink and raw her fingers were getting.

He grabbed her shoulders, making her jump. "Stop."

She stiffened in his hands. "I have to make sure there is no blood under my nails so I can get a manicure." She offered in a fake normal tone that made him warily lift a brow.

"Uh huh." He sat next to her on the wet ground. "Ino—"

"I did what a ninja would do." She blurted out forcefully, insistently. He studied her profile, wondering if she was chanting that answer in her head like a mantra or something.

"I believe you." He told her in a reassuring voice.

"They were bad men who were hurting my friends." There was a waver in her voice.

"Bad men deserve to die."

"Then why am I thinking about them? Why do I want to cry for them?" She yelled, turning to him with tearful, angry eyes. She wiped her tears from her face. "Uhh, I can't believe I'm doing this!" She stood. Sasuke noticed she was barefoot and noticed another bruise on her leg. He stood as well and put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay to cry for them. It makes you human right?" He finally said after a little while.

Ino turned to him, her chin wobbling and her blue eyes sparking with tears. A sob escaped her mouth and she latched onto him, holding him tightly around the waist and burying her head in his chest. Sasuke stood there for a shocked second. He looked furtively around to make sure no one was around before tentatively holding her around her shoulders. It was awkward for him to say the least. He never thought in a million years that he would be here, holding a crazy, annoying girl because he wanted to be there for her. Damn Ino for making him do this, for making him feel needed, for showing him weakness. He tightened his arms and lowered his head so that his chin barely touched the top of her head. Damn her…