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ᗰOᑎᔕTEᖇ	By : Sessakag Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female > Naruto/Hinata Views: 44706 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter Fifty-One
Child

May 24, 2010

He was shaking, and try as he might, he couldn’t find his mask, his barren unemotional calm he’d honed during his time with Root. Raw emotion thrummed through his veins, his chest and throat felt painfully tight, his heart was pounding harder than he had ever believed possible. Cold sweat slid down his spine as the messenger toad hoped away. Gripping the scroll tightly, dark eyes staring blankly at Naruto’s sloppy hand writing, Sai willed his lungs to expand, to draw in the oxygen he so desperately needed to function.
He shouldn’t have left her.
He should have stayed with her.
Konoha, Hi no Kuni, they needed him, his assignment was invaluable to the world at large…
But his lover needed him too.
Ino needed him.
He had no doubt in his mind that Naruto had not minced words, that his earnest friend had leveled with him even while knowing the news would be hard to swallow. He was grateful for it. Grateful he’d been upfront and honest rather than sugarcoating the severity of her condition.
Shaking his head, the Anbu captain waded through the chaos inside his head, striving for the organization befitting an elite shinobi.
He had to focus.
He had to see this mission through, at the very least fulfilling the instructions given to him before being dispatch to Suna.
They’d journeyed to one of the locations indicated but not specified within site 9’s database.
They’d found evidence that a small portion of its population had met a grizzly end here.
He had to write his report about this…butcher shop before he could make any moves; but the moment he did, the very second was done, he was returning to Konoha.
Immediately.
Waiting here while the Hokage issued new orders after reviewing his report was an exercise in self control he no longer possessed. His ability to continue this mission was already compromised, pursuing it further, gritting his teeth and forcing himself to remain would result in nothing but poor concentration, missed details, insufficient delegation of duties and degradation of the high standards befitting this covert operation. He was a risk to himself and those assigned beneath his leadership; under the circumstances, he was pulling himself from the mission.
The guilt burning in his chest was clouding him judgment.
The fear turning him inside out was slowly chipping away at his reserve and competency.
This pain in his heart, far greater than any he had ever experienced, too great to be borne.
He had to go.
“It’s clear, sir.”
Jaw tight, Sai turned burning eyes to the man before him. Botan’s brow furrowed at the fierce expression, but made no comment on it.
“Except for the body parts of course,” the wenge eyed man add, “and rats.”
“I’m returning to Konoha immediately after the messenger hawk has been sent,” he replied, his tone steely and resolute, “you and Fuyuko will remain here and maintain surveillance until new orders are issued.”
Looking as though he wanted to question the order, Botan nodded hesitantly.
Sai stood, walking silently passed the man and into the filthy bunker they’d unearthed.
xxxxxx
‘The great divide began. We were assessed by him, we were ranked then divided by might. Those who’s vessels held great power were elevated, they became known as the main family, and we, those weaker, were relegated a step below, we became the branch. We served as living nutrients for the Shinju, mere fodder to those that outranked us. Fed naught but small slivers of the divine fruit, we hovered upon the edge of death, starving each day, awaiting our turn to be sacrificed, to be slaughtered for the main family’s survival; our essence condemned to live on within the divine fruit, forever trapped inside the recycling forced upon us by those who named themselves our betters.
We hear them.
Our brothers sacrificed through the years, Sylvana’s daughters. the very core of the Shinju; screaming within the tree, within the very seeds themselves. They are compacted over and over, torn asunder and stitched together to form a new writhing essence rife with madness and strife. The mass continues to grow, and yet the seeds themselves remain unchanged. Each recycle sees them crushed anew, and thus it continued, for years, decades, millennia.
It is crowded.
It is loud.
Yet it is but one level of their combined hell.
I will join them soon.
I will be one among the eternally suffering souls.
I am the last of my sibling cluster.
Those chosen among my unit have long since been recycled.
I do not have much longer.
Time is of the essence now.
In an effort to enhance the fruit’s power, Cyilo’s eldest son took Sylvana’s remaining daughters and fed one of them the tainted fruit. Her death was swift and agonizing. Her (unable to translate) container grew dark then began to shatter, her willowy tendrils peeled, dropping from her body in slimy chunks. Her cries were melodious, her song shattering, to this very day, it haunts me. And yet the fading of her divine light, the luminous cadence that had once shined within her chest, was more tragic.”
“The word we were unable to translate is speculated to be a color not included within our spectrum known to humans, the ‘container’ refers to their physical form of Sylvana’s daughters.”
Blonde brows crinkled. Naruto willed the words to form in his head and failed. His mind just couldn’t picture what sort of being the text described. A color that didn’t exist for them, willowy tendrils, a container that served as a body…
The daughter’s of Sylvana sounded nothing like the female Otsutsuki they’d fought in the war. Nothing at all. No pale skin, long hair or horns. That meant, Kaguya, somewhere down the line, had mutated into what she had become, following the aesthetics of Cyilo’s sons. How it occurred was at the forefront of his mind. Just as the females Takahiro and Kohei experimented on, the fruit appeared to be toxic to females, Sylvana’s daughters included. This journal entry read just like the report recovered from site 9. Injection, consumption, introduction into the female body resulted in a speedy, horrific death.
With those objective facts, what happened in Kaguya’s case?
How had the only female jubokko known to them come to fruition?
More Otsutsuki drama to add to his overwrought mind.
Exhaling beneath his breath, Naruto welcomed the frustration tugging his lips downward. There was only so much time and effort he could put into being scared, worried and everything in between. Aggravation over the bits and pieces they derived from various sources was preferable to the helplessness he’d felt. Maybe he was starting to get used to the reality that there were destructive but desperate aliens on the lose, conniving for their continued survival at the very least, maybe it was the mind blowing love making from last night that allowed this irritation to surface rather than twisting anxiety, maybe a combination of both. Either way, he could live with these new, involuntary responses to the shit storm that continued to grow.
Pulled from his musing, Naruto turned his focus back to the speaker as he continued to read.
‘As though he had heard her final cries, Cyilo awoke from his slumber. His presence had become a legend to us, whispered fables amongst the branch family. So long had he slept, so thorough had the tainted fruit rotted our cognition, we began to believe he was naught but a myth derived from an unknown pocket within our society. Sylvana herself met with this flagging remembrance. They were deities we created, tales of their feats and eternal sleep entertainment in the plagued existence we lived.
When the world around us began to quake and the earth below began to part, the undeniable truth was revealed. We had forgotten him. Forgotten her. Forgotten our beginning. It was expected, however. Those among us, the youth that had not risen until Cyilo slept, had never known him. What was left for us were tablets, ancient carvings etched by Cyilo himself, knowledge to impart to the new generation of beings.
He took them. He and those old enough to remember our creator and Sylvana ensured we remained ignorant. When he rose, we learned the truth.’
“As of now, these are the newest developments. We anticipate more information some time this week. You will be notified. Dismissed.”
Naruto sighed as the meeting concluded. Most of his friends were absent for the first round of briefing, except for Lee. Sakura was working with the Akimichi, Hinata was back on rotation for decryption, even Shikamaru was busy. The Nara reading off the latest in Otsutsuki history was one he didn’t recognize.
Sliding out of his seat, he grabbed the manila envelope he’d brought with from the table.
“Naruto-kun.”
He turned and met deeply troubled dark eyes.
“Come on Lee, if we keep stressing ourselves out over this we’re not gonna have enough energy to really worry when shit finally happens,” he joked wryly.
With documents in hand, the blonde crossed the room, Lee falling into step beside him.
“And as annoying as it is, we can’t really make any moves right now,” he continued, “all we can do is gather info, hope it’ll lead us somewhere and prepare ourself for another fight with the Otsutsuki in the mean time. Till then, don’t let it get ya down too much, dattebayo.
He flashed a self deprecating grin.
“Not that I’m one to talk,” he chuckled, “I’m still learning to push to the background as much as I can so I can focus on the here and now, but ”
“I understand,” the taijutsu expert sighed, “it is just…very frustrating hearing these disturbing narratives and not be able to do anything to intervene. To not know what we would be intervening in, in the first place.”
Naruto nodded, grim agreeance crossing his visage.
“We’re getting closer though, at least I think so,” the optimistic Jinchuuriki postulated, “we’ve gotta be on to something, dattebayo. All this information, these test sites and clues, they’re slowly forming a picture. Granted we’re a step or two behind, we keep finding things out after shit’s already gone down, but at some point, we’re bound to break that cycle. With Shikamaru, the Nara clan and all the big thinkers in Konoha, we’re gonna be able to predict their next move at some point. For now, let’s barrel through and learn everything we can while we can.”
Dark head giving a determined nod, Lee followed his down the hall leading from the restricted meeting rooms.
“True enough! Shinobi like you and I, our youth shines brightest on the field of battle, however, every great shinobi must know when it’s time to buckle down,” he enthused.
“Yeah, exactly. Oh, went to go see Tenten the other day, how are uh, things with you two going?”
Bashful and blushing, Rock Lee gave a uncomfortable scratch to his head.
“Our…arrangement remains the same,” he admitted sheepishly, as though the ‘arrangement’ was something shameful or wrong, “Neither of us has had any luck in love, so for now, we’ve agreed to continue our…arrangement.”
“You know Lee, you don’t have cringe and say it like its something you gotta be ashamed of. I know you’re concerned about what people would think of her but, when you’re with friends, you don’t gotta worry about stupid stuff like that, dattebayo. This works for you guys, you’re not hurting anyone, you’re both happy enough with it to be doing it in the first place, so its all good.”
Though his blush had yet to abate, the other man gave him a grateful smile.
The spoke for a little while after, about their friends, about the Otsutsuki before parting ways at the four way leading to different paths in town.
A familiar presence bloomed inside him the moment he began the journey home.
‘You okay?’ he asked immediately.
‘What do you think brat?’ Kurama grouched.
With a sighing pout, Naruto shook his head. Grumpy as usual, didn’t matter how long of a nap he took, Kurama always woke up on the wrong side of the bed…or uh Jinchuuriki.
‘Yep, you’re fine,’ he declared with a roll of his eyes.
Somberness rose.
‘You kinda had me worried, dattebayo. You were out for a while.’
‘Worry about yourself, Naruto. My slumber was far peaceful than your own.’
Pensive, Naruto gazed at the ground below him as he walked.
‘You could sense them huh?’
His nightmares.
‘Of course,’ the kitsune huffed, ‘your distress was…intense.’
‘Sorry about that,’ he replied sheepishly, giving his cheek a scratch.
‘Hmph.’
He could feel Kurama’s compassion despite his blustering, his deep rooted concern for his host’s nightmares was warm and encompassing.
‘They’re not real, kid.’
‘I know,’ he sighed, running a frustrated hand through his stunted locks, ‘but if feels fucking real. Even when I wake up I can still feel this…wiggling under my skin.’
His stomach churned.
Even talking about it brought echoing unease.
He shook his head in an effort to clear it.
‘I’ll get over it eventually,’ he continued confidently, ‘just gotta push through it for now; even more so than before.’
A new sensation knotted his insides.
‘Last nightmare I had, I hit Hinata trying to fight those things off,’ he admitted shamefully, ‘and that’s really fucking bugging me. Makes me not even wanna sleep. The nightmares I can handle, hurting her, I can’t handle that, ‘ttebayo.’
A frown twisted his lips.
‘She won’t let me sleep in the spare bedroom, or on the couch but I feel like I shouldn’t be in bed with her if I can’t control myself.’
‘Of course she wouldn’t. That female is beyond infatuated with you. She’d probably follow you around your apartment the moment you closed your eyes, no matter where you slept.’
‘That’s actually what she said. Even if I slept on the floor she’d get down there with me,’ he chuckled, ‘Hinata’s as stubborn as I am.’
Despite the situation they were discussing, amusement melded with the ardor her love inspired filled his chest. That was his Princess, as crazy in love with him as he was with her. He couldn’t condemn her when he’d do the same. He’d rather be beat black and blue in her arms than uninjured and safe away from her.
‘Bedding down in another room would do nothing to rid you of the nightmares, Naruto. Waking alone in the dark will only serve to exacerbate the situation,’ he declared with a yawn, ‘face it kid, having Hinata with you during these episodes is for the best for you and her. She has the patience and desire to bring you comfort after. That you are able to return to sleep following her soothing is a testament to her effectiveness.’
‘So you were awake before now,’ the blonde stated, brow raised.
‘I drifted in and out,’ Kurama admitted with a careless shrug, ‘as I said, your distress was deep enough to rouse me. Each time, Hinata had already handled the situation.’
The blonde in question didn’t even try to stop the lopsided grin.
Hinata always took care of him. Didn’t matter what she did, her very presence held the weight of the universe to him.
Releasing the tender reality that was his life, sappy sapphire eyes turned sharp.
‘You get a chance to go through my memories?’
‘What else was there to do when you woke me up?’ Kurama replied, his own teasing dissolving, ‘their doctrine explains why the song’s enthrallment effects us so deeply, why the fodder’s desire to consume us is as voracious as it was, the glimpses of knowledge that appear to me with no discernible trace of where I acquired it. Us bijuu, we are derivatives of the chakra fruit Kaguya consumed and thus, connected to those used in its creation. Their essence is a part of our construction.’
‘Yeah,’ Naruto confirmed with a nod, ‘that’s the running theory as it stands and the only one that makes any damn sense, dattebayo.’
‘It is no theory, it is fact.’
A voiceless invitation brushed his mind, raising his hackles. Naruto stopped in his tracks, a toxic brew equal parts hesitation and anxiety filled his body with tension.
‘Like the tape you reviewed at your jonin meeting, my memories are filtered and untainted. You will not suffer side effects viewing them.’
Fuck.
He couldn’t avoid it.
He needed to see what exactly Kurama had seen. The Hokage, the intel department needed to know.
Still…
Taking a breath, the nervous blonde sank within their subconscious, the sight of the big, copper furred fox bringing him a measure of comfort. Playing the part of an exasperated parent being confronted by a child afraid of the dark, Kurama gave a exhalation from his snout, blowing his short blonde locks back with its great gust.
“You didn’t need to come all the way down here.”
“Yeah well, I did,” the lightly blushing Uzumaki returned, “this shit has me on edge, not gonna pretend like it doesn’t so just deal with it, alright?”
Wouldn’t work anyway.
Kurama could feel his trepidation blaring louder than a bullhorn.
“Relax kit,’ his pseudo parent told him quietly, arm extended in a familiar gesture, ‘you’re not alone in here.”
Naruto grinned.
“I know, dattebayo,” he chuckled, bumping his minuscule fist against the mammoth one before him and opening his mind to the memories he dreaded.
He could see things, but…it’s didn’t feel like someone else’s memories…these were Kurama’s memories. From another time, another place…as another being entirely.
He felt strange.
His body was…something else.
He didn’t know what he was but…
He wasn’t a big fiery furred fox with nine tails and yet, it was him.
For the life of him, he couldn’t explain how he knew.
He was…walking or…fading?…across a vastness soaked in hazy lavender. There were begins in the murk, towering, bipedal.
Smaller creatures, scuttling along the smoky ground, webbing through crooked trees.
This place.
He knew this place, but he didn’t.
He wasn’t…supposed to be here. Wherever here was, it was not a place for him to tread.
He turned, and was high above the ground, towering above the clouds. Compact, clustered, it was so cramped…so loud…
His heart began to pound.
He was apart of the Chakura no Mi, a living writhing component of chakra fruit nestled atop the towering branches of the divine tree.
Starvation slammed through him.
The gnawing desperation to fill the void agonizing…
Maddening…
Naruto was whipped from the sensation abruptly, limbs shaking as he the memories released their strangle hold.
Several minutes passed, time in which he breathed and collected himself.
“I thought you said I wouldn’t have side effects,” Naruto muttered, “you were dead wrong because that…jumbled up whatever the fuck that was locked inside your heard gave me a headache.”
Rubbing his throbbing temples, his human mind struggling to make sense of what he’d seen and experienced.
“What was all that?”
“Our origin, I believe,” Kurama replied, “our time time in the fruit as naught but raw essence before the old man gave us form and free will.”
“Shit…that explains why my fucking head is hurting,” he sighed, rubbing his eyes, “I feel like mortals aren’t supposed to see stuff like that. It’ll break our minds or something.”
Or so he’d been told by more philosophical people he’d met. After witnessing what he had, he was inclined to agree.
He turned his curious sapphire gaze to his friend.
“The fact that you’re processing all this without so much as a shrug…”
“As I’ve told you and your female, I am not human. Bijuu are not so fragile.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, heard you the first hundred time you told us,” the blonde pouted before exhaling exasperation, “well since you seem to be doing just fine, this human is gonna take a breather. All of this is a little much, dattebayo.”
Had he been such a being, Kurama would have rolled his eyes, despite the fact that he hadn’t, what radiated from him was the equivalent in his opinion.
“By all means, rest your feeble mind, kit, but take the information to your Hokage before your brain shuts down.”
Giving his friend an actual eye roll, Naruto left their shared mental space, opened his eyes and continued his trek home. He got a few glances from the civilians around him, who wouldn’t stop and stare considering he’d been silently standing in the middle of the street for who knows how long, however, just as the village was used to his energetic outburst, his penchant of speaking aloud to a being residing inside him, Konoha’s population took this oddity in stride as well. Rather than hostile, weirded out or negative, the glances at him were openly curious and others merely reflexive.
“Already planned on doing that,” he muttered aloud.
Forming his trademark seal, Naruto poof a clone, sparing it not a glance as it bounded in the opposite direction.
Thirty-nine minutes later, Naruto sat comfortably at the window seat, the documents he’d carried from the meeting in one hand, a simple ham, cheese and mayo sandwich in the other.
The front door opened.
Hinata called out a greeting that he returned absentmindedly as he continued reading.
‘Results of test 62-B;
Subject 1974 has lost higher brain functioning. Feeding has become his primary drive.’
He heard her light footsteps on the hardwood leading towards their room. They paused in the doorway. Looking up from his papers, he gave her a quizzical look, brows furrowed as he studied the surprise splayed on her face.
“Hinata? What’s the matter?”
“I can feel the wildness in your chakra, the density of it. He’s awake,” she smiled, “can I talk to him for a moment, Naruto-kun?”
His confusion cleared and a grin curved his lips. Returning to their subconscious for a second time in the last hour, the impish blonde stood before his friend once more. Giving the now bashful fox a corporeal nudge, Naruto turned teasing orbs to the ‘he’ in question. Crimson eyes met his own, annoyance with his host reflected in their slitted depths.
“You heard the lady, Kurama. Our Princess wants to talk to you,” he chuckled.
‘Naruto…’ the nine tails bristled.
“Don’t tease him, Naruto-kun,” she admonished without heat, before speaking to the other being inside her lover, “I’m sorry to bother you, Kurama, but I just…want to make sure you’re alright.”
A beat passed before the kyuubi gave a long suffering sigh. Within their mental space, Naruto snickered, prepared to watch the amusing exchange of his future wife fussing over the big bad bijuu inside him.
‘Move brat,’ the fox growled.
Grinning like a mischievous fool, Naruto handed the reins to his friend.
“What is it, Hinata?”
Her smile was bright, luminous and so relieved that Naruto couldn’t help but echo the warmth spreading within the kyuubi’s heart. Amongst the vast sea encompassing the human race, Hinata Hyuuga was a unique genuineness, gentleness and guilelessness that held the power to ensnare even the most stubborn beast.
“I’m so happy you’re alright.”
She crossed the room as she spoke, stopping at the edge of the cushioned seat before throwing her arms around their shoulders. The blonde in the background struggled with hilarity, knowing his gut busting cackles would ruin the moment. Despite the tenderness he felt, Kurama was more than a little disconcerted. He wasn’t used to physical affection. Hinata had never done so before, not that he could see from the fox’s memories. This was kyuubi’s first hug and Naruto had to say, he was handling it really well.
While he’d fought and won the battle not to hoot with laughter, Naruto couldn’t help the snort that passed his lips as Kurama gave her back an awkward pat.
“I was so worried about you,” she murmured quietly, blind to his disconcertion, “did you sleep alright? Are you okay now?”
“My slumber was undisturbed nor have I experienced lasting effects from the fodder. Your worry is misplaced. Naruto continues to suffer nightmares, place your concern with him, not me. I am not human, Hinata and am not constrained to the distress exhibited among your species.”
Pulling back, Hinata gave the fox a soft look, her pretty lavender eyes knowing though she didn’t comment on his denial or his avoidance of the comfort she offered.
“I know,” she replied,, “even so, I had to see for myself you were alright. You had to remove those awful roots all by yourself, and seeing how the people around Ino are sickening and…struggling with their own sanity afterwards, I was concerned you might suffer negative effects too.”
“I’ve told you before, bijuu are sturdier than you fragile humans,” he grumbled.
“I know that too,” she told him, before giving a small bow of her dark head, “thank you for protecting Naruto-kun. I don’t know what would have happened to him if it had not been for you. Thank you so much, Kurama. There’s no way to repay you for saving him but, I still want to do something to show gratitude. I can make you tonjiru tomorrow, I know it’s one of your favorite dishes. Would you like that, Kurama?”
A flustered kyuubi was always a sight to see. Kurama loved tonjiru, and as much as the fox wanted to scoff at the gesture and maintain his gruff demeanor, Naruto knew he wouldn’t for two reasons.
One; he wasn’t about to hurt Hinata’s feelings with a callous decline.
Two; he fucking LOVED tonjiru.
“That is acceptable,” he postured.
Giving the kitsune the full force of her happy face, Hinata clasped her hands to her chest.
“Tomorrow then. I’ll add extra pork just for you.”
Hinata was alway super excited when interacting with Kurama, much to the bijuu’s embarrassment. When questioned about it, Naruto had explained that their interactions, while more frequent than Kurama allowed anyone excluding the remaining Jinchuuriki, she still didn’t get to see him that often, let alone spend time with him, so when she got a chance, his sweet Princess felt giddy. As though catching up with an old friend she hadn’t heard from in years. With this understanding about her ‘odd excitement’ about his presence, the kyuubi took it in stride.
But there was limit to how much embarrassment he could stand in one go.
Blowing exasperation between his human lips at her chirpy tone, Kurama crossed his host’s arms, “is that all, Hinata?
“Yes,” the Jinchuuriki’s fiancée smiled sweetly, “I’m sorry to have disturbed you.”
Rather than imply that she had indeed bugged him, he merely said, “then I’m giving control back to the brat.”
“Alright,” she said, waving cutely, “I’ll have the tonjiru’s ready by dinner time tomorrow.”
Relinquishing control, Kurama returned to their shared consciousness, brow twitching at the shit eating grin on the blonde’s whiskered face.
‘Not a word, Naruto,’ the kyuubi growled the moment he settled.
“Aww, whaaaa?” Naruto sang cheekily, “I wasn’t gonna say nothin’, dattebayooooo.”
“Naruto-kun, I planned on making your favorite meal tomorrow too, but if you keep teasing Kurama, I’ll make you a salad with an extra serving of carrots,” she chided with a giggle.
Amused cerulean snapped to mirthful lavender.
“But you know you don’t actually have to make my favorite meal, Hinata,” he began, a lecherous up curl to his lips, “all you gotta do is spread your legs. You know my favorite meal is your delicious, wet pu-”
Face rivaling that of a beet, Hinata slapped both hands over his mouth, her eyes wide and scandalized. Unable to stop it this time, Naruto dissolved into roaring laughter.
‘Humans,’ Kurama grumbled.
“N-Naruto-kun!”
“What?” her lover laughed, swallowing her dainty hands in his.
“N-not if front of Kurama!”
She looked so cute and mortified, the itch to kiss her was incredibly persistent.
“Kurama doesn’t-”
Pounding at their door halted the conversation.
The jovial moment ended abruptly. They shared a glance before Naruto headed towards the door just as the next round of hammering began.
He opened it mid knock.
Kiba stood on their welcome mat.
Looking disheveled but brimming with high energy that he wasn’t sure was positive or not, Naruto opened his mouth to question the frantic banging on their door.
“Shino’s awake!”
That was all he needed to hear.
“Hinata!” he called out behind him as he fumbled for his shoes.
She came stumbling from the bedroom, her eyes wide and questioning. Glancing from the blonde to the chestnut haired man, she opened her mouth.
“Shino’s awake, Princess!”
Her eyes widened another fraction before glistening with moisture. She said not another word as she rushed to the genkan and hurriedly slipped on some sandals.
The mad dash to the hospital was a mere blur.
Packed to the brim, the door to Shino’s hospital room hung open, several members of Aburame clan, a horde of their friends and even the Hokage and his adviser crowded around the drowsily blinking man.
Ironically, Naruto found himself unable to fully recognize the pale figure as Shino.
Without his coat, without his sunglasses, without his unsettlingly reserved demeanor, this really didn’t feel like his friend at all. His posture was slouched, dark eyes glazed and a bit distant, his skin an ashen pallor and his energy felt extremely strange, really off and more than weak. Sure he’d noticed certain characteristics that were at odds with the Aburame he knew and loved while he slept, but with him conscious and functioning, there was a depth to it that hadn’t been there while comatose.
Hinata moved, those at his bedside moving to allow her through the tight throng.
“Oh Shino-kun,” she wept happily, throwing her arms around the bewildered man, “I’m so happy you’re awake. We were worried, so worried about you.”
Like a stilted robot, Shino’s arms rose, and following a brief hesitation, wrapped them around his lover.
xxxxxx
May 26, 2010

“…its not perfect, but I believe this will keep him from declining as well as cut down on the number of chakra transfusions he’ll need,” Sakura said, her emerald eyes rapt and reflected in the older man’s sunglasses, “we’ll start with low doses for a month and gradually increase until we reach favorable responses from his network.”
Handing the white pill bottle to Shino’s father, Sakura gave the concerned parent a hopeful smile.
“I really think this will help stabilize him until a more permanent solution can be found. We’ll keep working on it.”
“This is more than I had hoped for so soon,” Shibi replied, pocketing the medication, “you have my and my clans deepest thanks.”
“It’s no problem, Shino’s a good friend of mine and my heart aches for him. I wish there was more I could do, but for now this is all that I can offer, we’ll keep working towards a better treatment. If he has any strange reactions, any negative effects, big or small, please do not hesitate to bring him back to the emergency room. I’m on call twenty-four hours for Shino, I’ll come running as fast as I can.”
After another round of deeply expressed thanks, Shino’s father left her office.
Silence filled the room and a burden easy the slightest pressure from her shoulders. The boulder on her back had gotten a fraction smaller. There was still so much to do, more work to be done, but Shino was awake, he was stable and continue that upwards trend in the days, weeks, months to come. She hadn’t the slightest idea what the end goal would be, what the final outcome would be for Shino, but she would jump through hoops to ensure it was the best possible prognosis she could give him.
With a tired but heartened sigh, Sakura stood.
This should work for a while. It was hardly perfect and she wasn’t completely sure how his network would respond but…
She was hopeful.
Better yet, she was excited.
This would work, it had to.
“Right, now that I’m finished, time to go check on Ino.”
Ino’s situation was slowly yet surely creeping towards a high note. The Yamanaka had pumped a disgusting amount of muck from her mind, unraveling the sickening presence left behind by entity 504. Those that had taken ill in the process were recovering and quite a few tricks and jutsu modifications had been discovered and created in the duration of this on-going nightmare. Should this happen again, to anyone else, the Yamanaka felt confident that the new methods they employed would lead to faster, potent, more effective purging, decreased adverse effects and a sharper decline in mental degradation.
Sakura was a bit relived by the positive outlook.
She hated that this had happened to anybody, let alone her bestie, but at least some good would come of it.
xxxxxx
The fresh air felt incredible against her skin. The blue sky, bluer than it had ever been. Ino walked the busy streets of Konoha with a reticent aura, greedily soaking in the feeling of home.
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
Turning her gaze to the pinkette beside her, Ino felt a small smile curve her lips.
“I’d be lying if I said yes,” she replied, “I’ve never…been through something like that, ya know?”
Unease pebbled her skin.
Shaking her head, the blonde once more cast her face to the warmth above her.
“To be completely honest…I’m trying not to think about it. The nightmare are bad enough,” she admitted quietly, “if I think about it, if I think about…not being okay, I’ll break down again and I don’t think…I’ll be able to put myself together again.”
Wrapping her arms around herself, Ino struggled for breath, fighting back the rising panic thrumming in her pounding pulse.
Her lips trembled.
Moisture coated her haunted eyes.
“It was hell…if ever there was place such as that fabled plane, then that was slice of it.”
Her voice was threadbare, barely a whisper. Lost in her memories of agony, Ino was unaware of her friend leaning closer, straining to hear, or the strong, comforting hand that gripped her own.
“It wasn’t even pain anymore, it was something much deeper, more horrific than the human mind can comprehend…the endless chewing beneath my skin…that God awful pulsing in my ears,” her breath hitched, “and that song…that fucking song.”
Turning burning orbs to her friend, she gripped the hand tightly within her own.
By the expression on Sakura’s face, she knew her best friend thought her crazy. That her brain had rotted away beneath the relentless hunger of the fodder. Ino couldn’t fault her, she couldn’t even refute it. Maybe she was fucking crazy. Maybe she had lost large chunks of her sanity.
It wasn’t her fault that she had.
It was that fucking song!
All of it, everything started and began with that blistering trilling vibration coated in barbed death, wretched torment and soul piercing paradise.
It was madness incarnate.
She yearned to hear it once more, even while she reviled, repudiated it with every fiber of her being.
Did that make her insane?
Did it?
“I don’t know Ino,” she replied.
Wide, wild, blue met wide, distressed emerald.
“I’m not crazy…”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“I wasn’t speaking out loud, I swear I wasn’t, it was in my head wasn’t it?”
“Ino…”
“I don’t need another sedative!”
Her voice was shrill, several passersby stopped to stare. They were all looking at her. Staring at her as though she had lost her mind.
She hadn’t.
She wasn’t crazy.
“What are you all staring at?!” she yelled, hands trembling, “I’m not crazy, I don’t need a sedative and I don’t want to be stared at!”
“Ino!” Sakura called sharply, tugging her from the crowded sidewalk.
Clear of the crush, Ino struggled to draw breath. Sweat coated her skin in a fine sheen, her insides lurched and she felt so shaky she was sure her face would meet pavement in the next few seconds. Sakura wrapped an arm around her waist as her head spun and the world around her faded briefly.
“Here,” Sakura murmured, guiding her to a grassy area far from the busy street, “sit down before you fall down, Ino.”
Several minutes of wheezing passed before Ino felt strong enough to lift her head from the cradle between her bent knees.
She felt sick.
Weak.
And so out of touch with the world around her she wasn’t sure what to do anymore.
Warm fingers stroked her back.
Ino jumped, her off sensor body recoiling at the gliding motion that had once brought her comfort. She didn’t like things that slithered and slided against her skin. Even if it was as a comforting caress from a long friend. Smacking the offending appendage away, the traumatized Yamanaka gave into the roiling in her tummy, turned and lost the meager contents within in it on the pretty green grass.
She received hesitant pats and encouraging words.
A shock wave rocked the ground beneath them a moment before the explosions began. The two women spun quickly, horrified gazes watching as buildings crumbled, high flames and thick black smoke taking their place. In grained in every shinobi, their bodies moved without hesitation, and without a word between them, they were running back into town, in the direction of the screams.
Men, women, children were fleeing in droves, knocking around and shoving the two kunoichi as they stampeded by. At the center of town, tow figures on opposing sides of the street stood out amongst the destruction. One was lean and quick, but had the strength to level the buildings around him with a single swing of his arm. The other was lumbering and heavy, his disjointed jaw lowered as he wailed a trilling scream that cracked the earth beneath their feet. Skinny sported heterochromia dojutsu, one the bright red of an oval shaped Sharingan, the other…she had no clue what it was. Shaped like a lopsided prism, it was painted a shockingly dark ebony, made even more so on the back drop of its pasty white sclera.
“I’ll take the skinny one,” Sakura decided, her voice urgent yet lined in steel, “can you handle the other one until back up arrives? Lead it away from the village if you can.”
Ino swallowed.
“Can you do it Ino?”
Stiffening her spine, she nodded.
Flipping open the pack at her waist, Sakura wiped out a kunai and handed it hilt first to the blonde. Their eyes met as the ground shook and smoke fumes filled the air, stinging their nose and burning their eyes.
“You got this.”
She wasn’t at one hundred percent, she was still shaky, but she was a kunoichi.
A Yamanaka.
She’d been through hell and back and come out alive.
‘Sakura’s right, you got this Ino!’ she boasted.
Adjusting her grip with a twirl of the blade, Ino dashed across the now empty street. Heavy stone, splintered wood beams, groves of earth hurtled down the path to combat. Heart racing, stomach turning, uncharacteristically unsteady on her feet, Ino avoid the potentially life ending projectiles. Leaping from one crumbling roof to another, her blue eyes locked onto the lumbering beast below.
The citizens of Konoha ran from the slowly progressing jubokko, others…
Others at its feet didn’t move at all.
Nausea beat at the back of her throat. Hesitation held her shaky limbs locked.
‘Snap out of it!’ she willed herself.
A woman fell and didn’t get up again.
Crimson spilled over the dirt path.
‘Move, Ino!’ she shouted to herself.
She had to go. She had to do this. The others were coming. Every shinobi in Konoha had to be on their way. Her friends…
She had to do her part.
The hell with the fear pounding in her chest.
Mouth draw, resolve hardening, Ino jumped into the fray, snatching a young boy from the heavy arm swinging towards him.
She set him on his little feet a beat before a mountain slammed into her.
Her spine hit unforgiving concrete. Muscles straining, Ino gripped the frigid fingers wrapped around her throat. The fear was gone, burned away by the fury coursing through her veins. Its face was a twisted, sharp angled mess, its sagging jaw drooling, the hot, torrid breath a mixture of something putrid and sickly sweet. Lifting her legs, Ino pressed both feet to its beefy shoulders before slamming hard over and over. The vice around her throat slackened, then fell away.
Reaching for the kunai she’d dropped to her left, holding the rabid jubokko at bay with the strength in her legs, the angry blonde gripped it, her enraged glare focused on the rolling prism in its eye.
Her arm rose then froze…
She heard it.
That sound.
That fucking lullaby that made her want to take the blade and ram it through her ears. Heart pounding, eyes wide as the sky above, Ino was helplessly swept away inside a terror laden storm.
Not again…
She couldn’t go back there!
Never again.
She was moving before she realized, screaming though she couldn’t hear herself.
Pointed blade parted supple flesh.
Warm liquid splashed her cheek.
Another traced her check, then slid down her jaw.
Her nose was next.
Her arm descended.
Splatter…
Her arm descended again.
Splatter…
Over and over she brought the kunai down. Her arm and blade became synonymous, an extension of one another. Feeling bereft, emotionally stunted, Ino felt her mind glaze as her stabbing frenzy morphed into mechanical motions turned monotone. She could feel liquid seeping through her shirt, coating her bare arms, doting her blonde hair in crimson.
She couldn’t stop.
She wouldn’t stop.
Not until she was safe.
Not until that fucking vibration, those God awful mind rending voices stopped!
She had to to do this.
She had to stop it before it began.
Before it spread.
Wailing snapped her from the terrified, murderous trance that held her captive. She jerked, startled into reality, her muscles shaking, chest heaving. Her ears were buzzing, her brain felt fuzzy. Someone else was screaming and it wasn’t her. Multiple people were screaming. One voice made it through the static, one she recognized though its pitch was painfully shrill.
Horrified…
“Ino! Oh my God, what have you done?!”
Arm raised and trembling, blade gripped as though her very life depended upon it, blood dripping down her wrist, Ino stared down at the jubokko, at the demented creature she’d slaughtered.
It was small and bloodied.
Dressed…in a pretty pink dress and tiny black shoes…
Her chestnut hair…though covered in crimson droplets…was styled in tight, playful curls…
She stared down at the form, her mind trying to make sense of it all…
What she’d killed…
It…
It was a little girl…
xxxxxx
(￢з￢)
Laters
Sessakag~
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