Heartbreak

"She lives up this way," Nichiren said, pointing up the street at an apartment building at the end.

"Well, let's head on up there and help her feel better," Naruto said, hands held behind his head.

"I can't believe Daisuke married his jounin partner," Sakura said incredulously. "Ino was trying to date him for months and she's one of the best girls in the village!"

"I guess that Daisuke just likes older women," Naruto replied, frowning in consternation.

"Still," Sakura grumbled, folding her arms and pouting. "I've…heard…things about her."

"Like what?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Hey, Naruto! Sakura! Nichiren!" They looked up and saw Rin running up to see them. "How'd the mission go?"

"It went okay," Nichiren shrugged. "Did you hear the news?"

"No, what news?" Rin asked politely.

"Daisuke's back in the village," Sakura answered.

"He is?" Rin suddenly got this extremely excited smile on her face. "Yes! I knew he wasn't bad! Do you know where he is? We should go see him!"

"Hold on a second," Nichiren gestured for her to calm down. "Apparently he married his Jounin partner and they're off on their honeymoon."

Rin shook her head in surprise. "Oh! Well, good for them."

There were nods of middling agreement. It was then that Rin noticed the absences in their group. "Wait, Sasuke's off visiting his family, right? Where's Hisako-chan?"

"Yeah, Sasuke's off visiting family," Nichiren nodded. "Hisako? Well…"

Naruto sighed. "Hisako-senpai was in love with Daisuke. When she heard the news, she ran off crying."

"Oh no," Rin replied with a frown. "You were going to go see if you could cheer her up?"

"Yeah, give her some support," Naruto nodded.

"Can I come?" Rin asked with a smile.

Nichiren blinked. "Sure. I didn't think you'd want too, given how she, you know…introduced herself to you."

Rin scoffed and waved it off. "No worries. She was just being protective."

"Alright, follow us then," Nichiren said.

They walked up several flights of stairs to Hisako's apartment. Nichiren took the lead and knocked on the door, loud and hard.

No one answered.

Nichiren took a breath and knocked again.

Again, there was no answer.

"Do you think she went off to train somewhere?" Sakura asked with a frown.

"Nope," Nichiren shook his head, knocking again. "She's here."

After several minutes of waiting, the door slowly creaked open. "What?"

It was Hisako. Her eyes were red and swollen, tears still falling from them. Her trademark red jacket was absent, leaving only the white t-shirt underneath. Her hair was a complete mess, looking like it had been pulled violently. In threaded in her clenched knuckled were senbon, held tightly enough that her palm had started to drip blood down the needles.

"Hey," Nichiren gave a small wave. "We wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine," She said, slamming the door.

Nichiren let out a breath and Naruto walked up, knocking on the door.

It flew open. This time, Hisako looked angry. "What?!"

"We're not leaving," Naruto said automatically.

Hisako sobbed. "Fine. Come in."

The entourage followed Hisako inside. The living room was spotlessly clean, matts and chairs arranged around the coffee table in the center. To the right was the kitchen, also spotless, neat with not a cup or spoon out of place.

Hisako led the party to her room.

Her room was a disaster area.

The bed had been upturned; the frame's legs having been snapped off. The shredded remains of clothes and pillows covered the floor. A t-shirt sliced in half was draped out the open window. In the walls were embedded senbon needles, thrown with enough force to crack the wall around them.

"Ooh," Nichiren muttered as he knelt down and picked up two scraps of red cloth.

It was her jacket, messily torn in half straight down the center. The collar had popped along the seams.

"Sorry about the mess," Hisako offered lamely, sniffing.

"I am so sorry," Rin said with a deep frown. "Let's talk about it."

Hisako started breathing, trying to contain more tears and hiccupping. "O-okay."

The group gently swept away spots for them to sit, while Hisako more…fell down into a sitting position on her knees.

"So-" Nichiren started.

"I loved him."

Hisako said that and started crying again. "I did. I really did. He always amazing."

"Why don't you tell us about it?" Rin asked with a kind smile.

"I met him in the academy," Hisako started. "He just stood there like a beautifully sculpted statue, daring anyone to challenge him."

Nichiren adopted an incredulous expression at the words 'beautifully sculpted' but wiped it off of his face an instant later.

"So, I did. He beat me," Hisako continued, oblivious to the reaction. "I challenged him again. And he beat me. Every time there was a Taijutsu practice, we sparred together. He sort of became a rock I could lean on."

"How so?" Sakura asked.

"My parents both returned to active duty as shinobi," Hisako explained. "So, I was alone most of the time and when they came back, they were usually too tired to do anything with me. Or they just didn't want too. But Daisuke? Daisuke never complained. He never said 'not now' or 'not today'. He just said 'okay'. I beat him sometimes, but he won mostly without effort."

"Sounds like someone you could really depend on," Rin said.

"He really was," Hisako said. "Then we would up on a Genin team together and that's when things changed."

Hisako took a deep breath.

"That's when he started to take off," Nichiren replied with a nod.

Hisako just nodded. "I was so cruel to him over that."

"Started to take off?" Rin asked with a curious expression. "You mean that's when he started to get more powerful."

"He went from academy graduate to god-like over the course of a year," Nichiren explained, sighing.

Rin started blinking in surprise. "O-okay. Wow. Um, so you were saying, Hisako?"

"I was cruel," Hisako replied. "I was. My parents didn't like him. Still don't. And I wanted to get…into their department so I could spend time with them again. But in order to get there, I had to be the best of the best. So, Daisuke became the wall I had to climb to get there. All was fine…until Nichiren invited all of us to dinner."

"What happened?" Rin asked.

"He came to dinner with a charisma boosting kimono," Nichiren explained. "Daisuke, apparently, can get boosts to his stats, which are tied very closely with his bloodline, from wearing certain items. Even he admits that it doesn't make any sense."

"As in he wore a good outfit that made him look good?" Rin asked with confusion on her face.

"It didn't just make him look good," Hisako said, a sad smile growing on her face. "He became so charming, so polite…everything I could've wanted. No misunderstandings or accidental offenses on anyone's side. It was wonderful. That's when I fell in love with him."

Hisako let out a breath and a new wave of tears. "I didn't want to live without him. But my parents hated him. But I knew that if they just met the Daisuke that I met that night, they'd love him. But he was taking so long to fix this issue while he was improving in every other way. The wall I was trying to climb just kept getting taller and it seemed effortless on his part."

She shook her head. "That was the real issue. It was effortless. He went from academy graduate to Jounin before our first C-rank and killed an A-rank missing Nin. All while not training, not thinking about it, not working at it."

"That happens a lot when one team has a prodigy," Rin said with a sad smile on her face. "The other two really don't have any choice but to suck it up and be glad he's there to protect them."

"I know that," Hisako barked, looking like a wounded puppy. "I know! But the whole time, I couldn't shake the feeling of how unfair it was. If I could get as good as he was as fast as he was, I could've had my parents back! I could've joined them whenever I wanted! But here he was, getting better at everything except the thing that really mattered!"

Rin just nodded, listening patiently.

"Hisako-senpai, if Daisuke could've fixed the issue, before he did, he would've," Naruto said with a deep frown. "Believe me, he hated it more than you did."

"I know," She frowned. "I know. But the only thing I could feel was just how unfair it was that the boy who could make up any jutsu he wanted with a few moments of thought wouldn't magic up a solution to his own social idiocy."

"Right, that makes sense," Naruto nodded. "Wasn't there another reason you hated how powerful he was getting?"

"I didn't want to lose him," Hisako replied. "I didn't want him to get snatched up by some clan heiress like that Ino and for him to forget all about me. With every leap in power, I couldn't keep up and it was more likely he'd choose someone closer to his station."

Hisako snorted. "Not that it mattered in the end. He picked…his Jounin partner. Which means Ino's a loser too."

Then she started laughing, before that laughter turned back to tears.

Sakura got an angry frown on her face, but she didn't say anything.

"Right, Ino," Naruto said, his eyes wide. "She's not going to be happy about this either."

"She won't be too upset," Hisako snarled. "She only wanted him for his power. She didn't actually like him."

A vein actually bulged out of Sakura's forehead and her eye started twitching. Naruto saw this and immediately started deploying safety measures. "Well, let's not talk about Ino right now. We're here for you, Hisako-senpai. So, are you feeling better?"

"Sort of," Hisako shrugged, wiping her eyes. "I just feel like he did like me back. At one point. Before I completely and hopelessly screwed it up."

"How so?" Nichiren asked with a curious expression.

"How do you think, Nichiren?" Hisako asked, exasperated. "The part where I freaked out on him when he asked to help us get stronger? How about the book club, where I was there entirely to force Ino out of Daisuke's life instead of actually spending time with him talking about books? No, I guess it's the big one, when he killed Orochimaru."

"I remember Orochimaru," Rin said with a frown. "What happened?"

"We ran into him during our Chunin exams. He forced him into a retreat," Hisako explained. "It turned into this huge thing and then Daisuke went out and hunted him down in Suna's sand dune. Executed him then and there."

"Wow," Rin's eyes got wide.

"After that, Daisuke started snapping at the Hokage. Talking about how he didn't need the village," Hisako shook her head. "How it would be better to be a missing nin than to deal with leadership that didn't trust him."

"That must've been like a knife to the heart," Rin said, placing a hand on Hisako's shoulder in sympathy. "I'm so sorry."

"Th-thank you," Hisako sniffed. "And you're right. It was. Here I was, trying to get Daisuke to the point when I knew my parents would like him, and he was threatening the leave the village. He was forcing me to choose between him and the village. Between him and my parents. I didn't want to make that choice. I'd rather actually take a kunai to the heart than have to make a choice like that."

"I know what you mean," Naruto shook his head. "When Daisuke left the village, that was the most gut-wrenching thing I've ever experienced. That's why I wanted to bring him back so bad; so I wouldn't have to make that kind of choice."

"But then I blew everything up," Hisako started crying again. "Because I blew up at him over it. Shouted at him for not trying to be a better Shinobi. Then he got angry. Rightfully so, but he was surrounded by Jounin instantly. Kunai's to his throat. Then he left and that's when I lost any and all hope with him."

Hisako broke down crying again and Rin, saintly girl that she was, embraced Hisako and let her cry into her shoulder.

"Just cry it out," Rin whispered to her. "It's okay. It's okay."

Naruto looked over the Nichiren and muttered. "I feel kind of useless."

"I know what you mean," Nichiren said with a nod. "I've got no clue what to do with this touchy-feely stuff."

"No, not that," Naruto shook his head. "I just kind of figured that I'd be the one doing the comforting and helping her talk through her problems, but Rin's doing a great job."

"Yes, she is," Sakura muttered curtly, still glaring at Hisako. "She just needs to stop trash-talking Ino. Now."

Hisako gasped, separated from Rin. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Rin said.

"It's a good thing he's back now, right?" Nichiren offered. "Since that means you don't really have to pick."

"Sure. Now he's back. But then he marries his Jounin partner," Hisako shook her head. "How long did he even know her? A few months? She must've done something amazing to actually get him to look at her."

Then Hisako got a dark, dark look on her face. "Or dirty."

"Well, now that he's back in the village, you can talk with him about it," Rin said kindly.

"He probably still wants to be friends with you," Naruto pointed out. "I don't think he was ever really mad at you for what you said. I mean, I never got that idea from him."

"Sure," Hisako sighed, still wiping tears away. "I just…well…I hope he's happy."

"You do?" Nichiren looked shocked.

"I do," Hisako nodded. "I blew my chances with him. I really did. And I accept that. But Daisuke found a girl he was willing to marry. So, I hope Daisuke's happy. I hope Mitarashi makes him as happy as he possibly can be. But if she ever betrays him, or hurts him in any way? I will kill her."

Anko was smiling happily underneath the sheets, her husbands' arms wrapped around her as he slept.

The lights of the vault had dimmed acceptably for nighttime and their room was pitch black.

She had been really worried that, with the drama of the day and all the things that happened, that their marriage might've truly been in trouble. But, thanks to the fact that they talked through things like adults, they were able to clear things up properly so they could get back to enjoying their honeymoon.

Anko was still a little bewildered by everything. Married to the man who she felt she had done unforgivable wrongs too. Then absolutely, homicidally furious when he left for a few hours to take care of some emergency, to desperately afraid when she read the quest in his black book telling him to not commit suicide.

Her face shifted from a contented smile to a small frown.

What kind of headspace would her husband have been in if needed a quest to tell him not to kill himself? She had been going through her day, telling a few off-color jokes, just enjoying her time with him when he got a horrified look on his face. After a few, quickly muttered excuses, he disappeared.

She figured that her fears had come true. That he realized that he had made a giant mistake in picking her and was going to run away, just like all of her boyfriends had done before. She had grown angry and then tore into his black book in a desperate attempt to find out where he had gone and that's when she saw it.

Reasons to Live.

It stopped being 'he left because he realized he was too good for me' and started being 'I drove my husband to suicide'.

She remembered how she had started sobbing uncontrollably into the pillow, unable to stop herself from berating and beating herself up over being such an unbearable witch that she couldn't even manage to be married for a few days before killing her husband.

Then he came back and she couldn't tell anyone how impossibly relieved she was. He actually came back! Her husband, the man she loved now more than anything.

But she was also angry.

That part confused Anko the most.

She was mad at him. Honestly and truly considering ramming a kunai through his skull. Instead of trying to talk through it like an adult, she jumped down his throat and threw a tantrum. How dare he leave? How dare he terrify her like that? How dare he make her thing she drove him to death?

Thinking about it now caused a splash of cold water to rush over her head.

If he actually was suicidal, what would that have done? If he actually was considering ending himself, what would blowing up at him, again, have accomplished? If he was at the brink, she easily could've sent him over the edge.

Anko rubbed her eye and shifted to lay on her back. Her husband's arm came to be draped across her chest, a sensation she enjoyed with more than a little regret. I could've killed you.

Boyfriend's had left before. It happened. Sometimes she pushed them away, sometimes they just left on their own accord, but they left. She remembered her reactions ranging from 'good, he was a waste of skin' to 'I'm going to kill him!'

This was the first time this situation ever caused her to feel Unyielding Rage. The absolute heartbreak at the violation of the sacred bond that they shared and now that she was of a cooler head, it was freaking her out.

I don't understand it, Anko shook her head. How could I ever be mad at you? Especially over something so…minor?

Why did she just jump straight from 'he's left' to 'he's gone forever'? Was it just because of the bond? Maybe, but it shouldn't have been so…fragile. What was it that they didn't have? This called for honest examination.

Again.

She's had to do that a lot over the past few days and she probably would have to do that a lot more over the coming months and years if she wanted this to last.

And she did.

Anko racked her brain for the answer. Figure out what was missing from her relationship with her husband.

Oh.

I don't think I trust him.

With the epiphany, she smacked her forehead in irritation before freezing and look over at Daisuke.

He was still asleep. Like a rock.

Good. Good.

She took a deep breath. I don't trust my husband. That…that's not good. That's really bad. We have something special and I don't want either of us to do anything to ruin it. But it's really hard for our relationship to survive if we don't trust each other. Right?

Thanks to Katsuki, a girl whom Anko would allow to sleep with her husband if only for the Ninshū, Anko understood Daisuke on a level few would ever get too. She knew she had very, very little to fear in regards to Daisuke leaving her or damaging the relationship from how hard he was working at it. So maybe I trust him now. That's good. But why did it take Ninshū to patch that hole?

Because we got married and went all the way within an hour of being romantic.

Anko resisted the urge to smack her forehead again. But she really wanted too. Right. So simple. Duh. Well, if it wasn't Ninshū, the remedy would be time. Which would've been fine. It's just what happens when you rush things. Nothing to be done about it except to try to keep talking about things. Like adults.

She turned again, facing toward her husband and pulling herself close, pressing herself into his muscular body.

And I need to let Daisuke have his space and pick up the slack: if he keeps trying so hard without support, he's going to break and I will not let that happen.

"Why are bandits so troublesome?" Shikamaru groused, slouching forward with his hands in his pockets.

"Well, if they weren't troublesome, we wouldn't get missions to handle them," Chouji pointed out, sliding a potato chip into his mouth.

"Exactly," Shikamaru pointed out. "If they didn't want Ninja getting called on them, they shouldn't be bandits and then I wouldn't have to interrupt my cloud watching to deal with them."

"Oh, stop whining, Shikamaru," Ino barked with glare. "The mission's done, you can go back to watching clouds and daydreaming all you want."

Team 10 handed in their passports.

"You all did great today," Asuma, a man with a thick black beard across his chin, wearing a Jounin uniform. "After we get our pay vouchers, what's say we celebrate?"

Team 10 had just finished their first C-rank mission, clearing out civilian level bandits stalking one of the roads from one village to another. It was easy for each of them; there were no survivors. Given how they had heard them bragging about their crimes around the campfire, Team 10 had been given plenty of fuel to absolve themselves of guilt as they set up their attack from the shadows.

"Can we celebrate tomorrow, Asuma-sensei?" Ino asked. "We've been gone for days; I'd like to see my Mom and some other people."

"That's the first suggestion of yours that I've agreed with in a long time," Shikamaru added with a lazy gaze in her direction.

"Sure," Asuma said with an approving nod. "You've worked hard, we'll go out for breakfast tomorrow."

"Yeah, lets, uh…let's go," Chouji said with a nod.

They collected their pay vouchers and dispersed. Ino quickly walked, looking around for Sakura or perhaps Naruto but they were nowhere to be found. So instead, she found her way to the Ramen stand, where Ayame-sensei worked.

Ino ducked under the flap, and saw Ayame stirring a pot. "Hey, Ayame-sensei!"

"Ino!" Ayame greeted her with a grin. "I'm so glad to see you? How was your first C-rank?"

"It was," Ino began, taking a seat. "I'm not sure. We killed the bandits."

"Well that's good, right?" Ayame asked, still smiling. "Mission accomplished."

"Yeah, I expected it to not be anything," Ino said, taking a breath. "And they, well, they were…evil. But I still feel kind of, I don't know, queasy."

Ayame hummed. "Have you been home yet?"

"Mom's still tending the flower shop and Dad's meeting with the clan elders today," Ino reported as if by rote. "I don't want to get home to talk about this until they're done for the day, so here I am."

"What about your team?" Ayame asked.

"We've been together for days," Ino shook her head. "We all agreed we needed a break from each other."

"Alright, well," Ayame said. "I'm happy to talk with you about this, but usually this is something you'd talk to your sensei about."

"I know." Ino shrugged noncommittally. "I just like talking to you, too."

"Fair enough," Ayame replied. "What would you like?"

"The usual, please," Ino replied.

"Coming right up," Ayame said, grabbing a bowl and starting to ladle ramen into it. "Wait, you just got back today?"

"Yes, I did," Ino replied. "Why? Did something happen?"

Ayame took a deep breath. "Daisuke came back."

Ino slammed both hands on the bar. "Really?"

Ayame just nodded.

"I have to go see him!" Ino jumped off her chair. "Right now! Is he at his apartment?"

Ayame suddenly looked sad, giving Ino a concerned and somewhat guilty look.

"What is it?" Ino asked with a now very, very deep frown. "What's wrong?"

"Daisuke is also on his honeymoon."

It was like the world froze. Ino's eyes started to bug out of their sockets and her skin paled. Then, of course, she started to cry. "What?"

"His honeymoon," Ayame replied with a shrug. "It was all over the village after it happened; he married Mitarashi Anko just a day after he came back."

Ino fell forward, bracing herself on the bar and gently sitting back down on the bar. "Are you serious?"

Ayame nodded. "I'm sorry."

"It's…" Ino started sniffing. "It's okay. I guess I should've expected it. Daisuke liked her too and I was gone and he doesn't do anything slowly and…and…"

She started bawling right there on the bar. Ayame laid the ramen bowl beside Ino and laid a hand on her shoulder in sympathy.

"I could've been here!" She cried into her elbows. "I could've been here when he came back! But I was on a mission. Why was I on a mission? Why today? Why did he have to come back now?"

"I'm sorry, Ino," Ayame said with a sympathetic frown. "I know this is heartbreaking."

Eventually, after several minutes of this, Ino was able to take a breath and calm down. Her eyes were very red as she wiped them off with her arms. "Thank you, Ayame-sensei."

"You are very welcome," Ayame said with a smile. "I'm sorry things worked out like this."

"It's okay," Ino said. "As long as he's happy, that's all I care about. Really. She'll be good to him. Or at least she'd better be."

"Did you have any other boyfriend candidates?" Ayame asked. "That's the quickest way to get over someone, in my experience."

"No," Ino said with a frown. "No, I don't have anyone else. I didn't think I'd lose. Hm."

"Well, what about your teammate?" Ayame asked. When she noted Ino's annoyed expression, Ayame sighed. "Sorry. He's not your type?"

"Too lazy," Ino replied. "Do you think Anko-sensei would mind Daisuke having a second wife?"

"Uh…" Ayame blinked quickly. "Well. I would assume so. That's not really common, though, is it?"

"It's more common in civilian circles," Ino replied with a thoughtful frown. "Hidden Villages can't really afford to reserve powerful kunoichi for child bearing since having more bodies can help keep casualties down and birthrates aren't usually brought so low the emergency options aren't so often talked about. So, in Konoha, at least, its rare."

"Really rare, right?" Ayame asked with a frown.

"Only mandated in the case of a new and powerful bloodline," Ino replied with a thoughtful look upward. "Even then, that's just a harem, not a polygynous marriage and since he's married, Anko would have to sign off on either of those things."

"Would you be okay in a polygynous marriage?" Ayame asked with a frown.

Ino looked to the side and sighed. "I don't know. Like I told you when we first met, I want Daisuke all to myself. I don't want to share."

"Right, I thought so." Ayame nodded. "You seem to know a lot about it."

"Well, I am a clan heiress," Ino replied, interlocking her fingers around her ramen bowl. "The idea of being married off or even becoming someone's concubine for the betterment of the clan is something that I've been raised with and I don't want that to happen. If it were Daisuke, that switches to a maybe. A hard maybe. Bordering on no."

"I didn't think Daisuke was the type to want more than one woman," Ayame said.

"That's because he's not," Ino replied with a sigh. "At least, not without a lot of convincing or warming up to the idea. He's got monogamy pretty stuck in his head, which is why Anko is a very, very lucky woman."

"That is true," Ayame said with a firm nod.

Ino hummed inquisitively.

"I'm just saying I agree with you," Ayame said.

"Ayame-sensei, did you ever consider, you know," Ino paused to think of the right words. "Trying to get with Daisuke yourself?"

Ayame sighed. "Well, yes. He's the most powerful shinobi in the village and he was a really good guy once you got to know him. But that was just idle fantasy, I never really thought about doing anything about it. Especially not since you called dibs."

Ino laughed slightly. "Well, thank you. I appreciate that a lot."

"Besides, now that Anko's married him, she's the one that has to fend off home-breakers with a kunai," Ayame said with a smile. "No one wants to be between her and the mob of fangirls that are going to show up the second he comes back."

Ino laughed harder. "That's true! The streets will be filled with dismembered fangirls and broken hearts before you know it."

Ayame then resumed tending to the counter while Ino ate her ramen with a cheered smile on her face.

"By the way, did anything else happen while I was gone?" Ino asked.

"Well, to start, Daisuke brought members of the Uchiha clan back…"

In took a deep breath, and raised her hand to knock. She had just finished breakfast with her team in celebration of their first C-rank. Now, however, she had a hatchet to bury.

She knocked on the door and it quickly opened.

"Oh. It's you," Hisako said, letting out a breath of disappointment. "Ino-kouhai. What can I do for you?"

"Well, Hisako-senpai, I wanted to make amends," Ino said with a bow. "You helped save my life when the fish-men took me, and I have been very remiss of that fact in our competition. I apologize, and I hope you can forgive me."

"Oh." Hisako took a second to awkwardly bow back. "It's okay. Really. You heard the news?"

"Yes, I did," Ino said. "Our chances basically shot, so I thought it would be dumb to not try to patch things up."

"I appreciate that," Hisako said. "Come in, I've got sushi in the fridge. Would you like some?"

"Well, actually, I had another idea," Ino said. "I've heard that Daisuke has a house-sitter in the compound that he built and I was wondering if, maybe, you'd like to come with me to meet her? I heard she's from Iron."

"Iron?" Hisako blinked. "You know what, sure. Let me get my sandals on…"

"Great!" Ino replied with a smile.

Hisako pulled her sandals onto her feet and closed the door behind her.

Ino frowned. "What happened to your jacket?"

"It didn't survive," Hisako replied with a forlorn expression.

"Oh," Ino replied. "I'm very sorry."

"It was a gift from my dad," Hisako said. "I don't know what he'll say when he finds out I ripped it in half."

"I'm sure he'll understand," Ino replied with a sympathetic expression.

"I hope so," Hisako said, not looking very sure of that at all.

They went down the stairs to the road.

"So, your clan has a flower shop, right?" Hisako asked.

"That's right," Ino nodded. "I help out over there when I'm not training or on a mission."

"That sounds nice, actually," Hisako said. "Sounds like something nice to do to fill in the hours."

"It can get pretty dull, to be honest," Ino replied with a shrug. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Hisako asked.

"Don't you do something to fill the hours?" Ino asked. "You can't train or do missions all the time."

Hisako started stammering. "Well, you see, I, uh…um…well…"

"What do you do?" Ino pressed with a mischievous smile on her face. "Don't worry, I won't judge."

"I, well, um…" Hisako continued to stammer, her face going slightly pink. "I sometimes like to write poetry."

"Really?" Ino asked with surprise. "That's wonderful! You could've brought some to the book club."

"Yeah, before we ruined it," Hisako pointed out with a frown.

"You know, that really wasn't our fault," Ino retorted. "If the other clans just stayed out of it, it would've been a good thing."

"I'm talking about how we just used it as an excuse to snip at each other," Hisako replied.

"Oh," Ino went a little pink. "Yeah. But I thought we had some good time with Daisuke while it lasted."

"I guess," Hisako shrugged, before finding someone bump straight into her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," It was Hinata, who was in a hurry running…somewhere. "Please excuse me, Hisako-senpai."

"It's fine." Hisako recovered quickly. "What were you running from?"

"Hey Hisako-chan! Ino-chan! Hinata-chan!" Naruto rounded the corner, greeting them with a wave. He was holding Sakura's hand with his other hand. "How are you?"

"I'm better," Hisako said with a nod. "Thank you. Is Rin-chan around?"

"I think she's working the mission desk today," Naruto said. "Sakura-chan and I were just on our way to lunch."

"Oh," Ino said, looking down at Hinata who was doing her best to keep a neutral expression. "Well, I don't think we should keep you."

"Where you guys going?" Sakura asked.

"Well, we heard that Daisuke has a house sitter," Hisako said. "And we were on our way to meet her."

"Wait, seriously?" Naruto asked. "Can we join you?"

"Uh, Naruto?" Sakura spoke up with a frown.

"Oh. You don't want to go?" Naruto asked.

"I'd rather have lunch first," Sakura replied with a decidedly worried look at Hinata. "With just the two of us."

"Oh. Well, okay then," Naruto shrugged. "We'll see you guys later."

As Naruto and Sakura turned their backs, Ino saw Hinata's expression change. To one of sadness, one of pain…one of watching their loved one walk away with someone else.

"Hinata, why don't you come with us?" Ino asked kindly.

"I…" She bit her lip.

"I think it'd be better for you if you didn't need to see that," Ino pressed.

"We don't mind the company," Hisako said, having quickly picked up on what Ino was saying. "Seriously, come hang out. We can go to lunch or something afterwards."

Hinata clenched her delicate hands into fists, then let them go. "Okay."