Categories > Anime/Manga > Naruto > If Only
Author's Disclaimer - Note: Wrote a bit with Ino introspection. She's pissed off about what I did to her two best friends in my future verse, but she loves the spot light, so I'm still all in one piece. Now, as long as no one sues -- since I don't own Ino, or Shikamaru, or Chouji -- I should be fine. Kishimoto doesn't need them any way.
~ ~ ~
The line between civilian and shinobi in Konoha is very thin, she thinks as she sets the bandage more firmly in place. Blond hair slips to distract her from the massive cut on the boy’s chest, but her blue eyes ignore it, seeking only to repair the damage with her chakra. Black eyes shake with pain, and stare past the blood stained apron that once cheerily advertised the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Ino sighs, and doesn’t think that this is much of a forty-first birthday present, as she gets out some needle and thread for the stitches. A hand on her shoulder stops her, and she sighs again.
“I really didn’t want to waste that much chakra today.”
“We’re sorry,” she tries to imagine that the familiar voice is only so flat and emotionless because there is the vulture shaped ANBU mask in the way. “If Sakura-sama wasn’t out on a mission, we would have asked her.”
“Since when did Forehead Girl become “sama”?” Ino asks rhetorically, her fingers flowing with blue light over the patient, who is twitching in pain. “Besides, patching up prisoners for interrogation is a waste of her skills.”
“You’re supposed to be retired though.”
“Since when has that stopped anyone from keeping up their training?” Ino asks tiredly. “At least I’m not in the interrogation room with you guys.”
“You might have to be soon,” the vulture replies tonelessly. “His mind is almost gone, and we still haven’t gotten the location of the genin cell out of him. Been keeping up on the mind control?”
“One of the Ino-Shika-Chou trio, remember, Captain? As long as there is still a trio I’m still game for anything.”
“Two of the trio are supposed to be civilians,” the vulture points out. “And there isn’t a trio, any more.”
“Now honey,” she laughs, standing up and trying to brush the dried blood from her apron. “We can’t argue like this in front of the prisoner. You know it scares the Hell out of them.”
“I’ll report to the Sixth, then. You get some sleep, and we’ll need you tomorrow about noon.”
Ino knew it was a vain hope to get him to rise to her bait. She exits the dark room that smells of blood, and echoes with soundless screams. She knows he’s been down there for the last week, trying to pry the location of Chouji’s little group of geinin from the fifteen year old kid. When he was still part of the trio he never fought with his hands. But from the injuries she just healed she knows the Rain shinobi was just beaten senseless over and over again.
The line between civilian and shinobi is very thin in Konoha. The gulf between shinobi and civilian, however, is vast, and she’s certain Shikamaru has stopped trying to see the other side.
~ ~ ~
The line between civilian and shinobi in Konoha is very thin, she thinks as she sets the bandage more firmly in place. Blond hair slips to distract her from the massive cut on the boy’s chest, but her blue eyes ignore it, seeking only to repair the damage with her chakra. Black eyes shake with pain, and stare past the blood stained apron that once cheerily advertised the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Ino sighs, and doesn’t think that this is much of a forty-first birthday present, as she gets out some needle and thread for the stitches. A hand on her shoulder stops her, and she sighs again.
“I really didn’t want to waste that much chakra today.”
“We’re sorry,” she tries to imagine that the familiar voice is only so flat and emotionless because there is the vulture shaped ANBU mask in the way. “If Sakura-sama wasn’t out on a mission, we would have asked her.”
“Since when did Forehead Girl become “sama”?” Ino asks rhetorically, her fingers flowing with blue light over the patient, who is twitching in pain. “Besides, patching up prisoners for interrogation is a waste of her skills.”
“You’re supposed to be retired though.”
“Since when has that stopped anyone from keeping up their training?” Ino asks tiredly. “At least I’m not in the interrogation room with you guys.”
“You might have to be soon,” the vulture replies tonelessly. “His mind is almost gone, and we still haven’t gotten the location of the genin cell out of him. Been keeping up on the mind control?”
“One of the Ino-Shika-Chou trio, remember, Captain? As long as there is still a trio I’m still game for anything.”
“Two of the trio are supposed to be civilians,” the vulture points out. “And there isn’t a trio, any more.”
“Now honey,” she laughs, standing up and trying to brush the dried blood from her apron. “We can’t argue like this in front of the prisoner. You know it scares the Hell out of them.”
“I’ll report to the Sixth, then. You get some sleep, and we’ll need you tomorrow about noon.”
Ino knew it was a vain hope to get him to rise to her bait. She exits the dark room that smells of blood, and echoes with soundless screams. She knows he’s been down there for the last week, trying to pry the location of Chouji’s little group of geinin from the fifteen year old kid. When he was still part of the trio he never fought with his hands. But from the injuries she just healed she knows the Rain shinobi was just beaten senseless over and over again.
The line between civilian and shinobi is very thin in Konoha. The gulf between shinobi and civilian, however, is vast, and she’s certain Shikamaru has stopped trying to see the other side.
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