Captivated by religion.
Staring at the black body bag before her, Yamanaka Ino thought of all the memories she had of her Sensei. The good, bad, happy, sad, calm, mad… Everything that could possibly fall under the name 'Asuma' in her conscience.
"Ino. We're headed off now." The soothing voice off her teammate snapped her out of her trance.
Chouji was her best friend along with Shikamaru. Both males were on her ninja squad. Squad 10, Team Asuma.
…Team Asuma minus Asuma… There was no Asuma anymore. No teacher, no sensei, nobody to guide them.
So… Ino guessed they were called the squad formally known as Team Asuma, well at least until about 15 minutes ago.
Ino looked up at the sky as it started to clear again.
Strangely enough, it was raining only a minute ago. Now, the blue was practically visible, and the heat was rising dramatically.
She remembered a small saying for a split second.
Even the heavens cry.
Must be true.
Turning back to Chouji, who was patiently awaiting some sort of response from his blonde comrade.
"I… Think I'll stay back for a bit, and catch up with you." Ino decided, getting to her feet with small effort.
"Well… I guess that's okay…" Chouji mumbled, giving Ino a comforting smile before heading off to Konoha with the rest of their allies.
Ino needed to walk around a bit. Just get her legs to stop shaking, and calm down.
Closing her eyes she tried to remember the enemy's appearance for future reference.
'One looks around twenty, silver hair, violet eyes, carries a large scythe, Akatsuki cloak now ripped.
The other, not sure about age, wore a mask over his head, mostly covered up, green eyes with red surrounding them rather than white, strong at tai-jutsu from what I have seen, and probably insanely powerful.'
She opened them again, flinching for some reason, as if expecting them to pop out of thin air and attack her.
Looking down, she found herself at the very edge of the roof top.
The ground was covered in blood and shurriken, a weird symbol was also there, probably in blood too, Ino figured.
The sun revealed from behind the clouds a little more, and Ino squinted as a bright shine irritated her vision.
Deciding it might be worth checking out, she jumped down to it.
It was definitely pure silver, Ino decided- crouching down to get a better look at the Rosario.
There was no mistaking that the symbol in blood on the ground and the symbol on the necklace were uncanny.
Ino reached her fingers out to touch it, half concerned it might be booby-trapped or something.
Convincing herself she was just being stupid, she ran her thin fingertips over the unusual mark; a circle with a triangle inside it.
To Ino, this was a really unique, very intriguing, and extremely meaningful design.
Even if they were criminals, she was sure the owner would be upset about losing such a precious item, especially since she believed, with the utmost certainty that it was a religious emblem of some sort.
Knowing she'd probably lost her mind, Ino carefully picked up the pendant and the beads that went with the necklace carefully, and tucked them away into her shurriken pouch.
Scanning the area again, just as a precaution Ino could only mentally slap herself at being so crazy.
But, honestly… she didn't care.
Something in the wind told her, she had to return this back to the owner at any price.
Ino had spent over eight hours trying to fix the necklace up perfectly, meaning- PERFECTLY.
There was something she'd always noticed though, whenever she held the necklace… She'd feel all these different emotions, from pride to loss and confusion, a whole lot of anger and rage. It made her want to go on an interminable rampage, destroy everything, slaughter her neighbors, curse more than humanly possible and even more than that… It suddenly made her feel a bitter hatred towards those whose motivation for fighting is profit.
It was as though the Rosario captured every ounce of emotion from a human being and crammed it into a single space.
The next day, she'd started to pick up more than emotions from the necklace, and now she was seeing something more like memories, brief flashes and images from someone's past.
It captivated her; the almost surreal effect of the Rosario was emblematically telling her things, whispering secrets, and showing her a glimpse into another person's life.
Nothing like she'd ever seen before with her clan techniques.
She'd almost decided to keep it for herself, study it, and wear it even. But she reminded herself she couldn't allow her egotistical desires to stand between her original plans for the piece of jewelry.
After Asuma's funeral (During which, Ino was appalled to find out of Shikamaru's absence,) Ino had come back home to take a shower to get her mind off things. Towel drying her platinum blonde hair, she spotted her old team 10 photo, from back in the day when she was a Genin.
The blonde immediately frowned, picking up the photograph in her hands and staring at the memory intently.
She shifted her eyes from the photograph, sensing a familiar chakra making its way towards her house.
"Shikamaru" Ino called excitedly, bounding out the door to her teammate.
"We're doing this, right?" She asked hopefully, and Shikamaru's face changed from surprised, back to serious again.
"I need your help with something." He responded dully.
Ino's face dropped in sad realization.
"You mean… Chouji and I aren't going to come with you…" Ino trailed off, feeling fury in her blood.
"Chouji is…" Shikamaru paused, realizing the blonde before him was red with fury, shaking uncontrollably.
Taking a weary step back, Shikamaru gulped.
Ino had reached her limit now, taking an angry step forward she put her lungs to good use.
"YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR PROBLEM IS, SHIKAMARU?" She snapped, "YOU THINK YOU'RE KING SHIT. THINK YOU CAN DO EVERYTHING BY YOURSELF, AND YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE THE ONLY PERSON WHO WANTS TO AVENGE OUR SENSEI." Before Shikamaru had a chance to protest.
"Don't deny it. You want to kill both of them with your bare hands, and you think you're capable of it just because you're smart! Newsflash; Strategists are supposed to avoid work on the battle field and observe. So how come I'm always the one stuck behind trees, huh? Is it because I'm a girl? Or because you don't want me showing you up." The blonde spat, turning on her heel and running back inside.
Volcanic mountain; Ino had just become active again, and she was already spitting fire.
Her blonde pony-tail swung behind her back; the Rosario was gripped tightly in her hand.
The time was 2:30 am, the sky was dark and cloudy, the temperature was cool, and Yamanaka Ino walked prudently through the forest.
Both Akatsuki members weren't any more than a kilometer away now.
She liked her dry lips, humming the tune of an old lullaby as she tried to calm down her system.
I may be scared now… But in front of them, I must not show it. I am fearless, strong, and powerful. I will not be discouraged by these murderers. She repeated the incantation over nine times in her head.
"Why can't we just go back for my Rosario, huh Kakuzu? Hey! Are you even listening to me?"
"Shut up Hidan. There is someone here."
Ino froze up, wanting to turn and run. This was bad. This was really bad.
This isn't like you Ino, freezing up like a terrified rabbit. What would Sakura think?
Then something in her mind just clicked.
Ino stepped in front of the criminals.
"You've got to be kidding me! You, challenging us all by yourself? You've got some fucking nerve if anything." The silver haired man laughed.
She remained silent, and walked forward, lifting up her hand.
"Hidan. That's your name?" Ino confirmed quietly, as the beaded chain slid through her fingers, revealing to them both, the silver pendant.
"Hey! That's…" Hidan trailed off, with a frown.
"That's mine! How dare you-"
"It took a while to repair, so be a little bit grateful that I even decided to return it." Ino said harshly, holding out her arm. The two Akatsuki members watched her silently.
But she stood in her place, ready to defend attacks.
"You want it don't you?" She asked, holding it out as the moonlight reflected upon it.
"How do I know it's not a trap?" He asked suspiciously.
"I may not be Shikamaru, but I'm not stupid. Challenging two S-ranks by myself would only get me killed. If it was one- on-one then, I would have a small advantage, but it isn't… So I don't." Ino said simply, thrusting her arm forward, as if telling him to take it.
"Just throw it, and quit wasting time." The masked one, Kakuzu growled impatiently, walking past her.
The religious one, Hidan stepped up to her.
"Jashin-sama might save your sorry ass one day." He muttered, snatching to Rosario off her.
"Oh, by the way…" He paused.
"Thanks."
Ino had never stopped thinking about that necklace, with a pendant that charmed her more than any man could have.
I hope you liked it~
Review or I sacrifice you to Jashin-sama, got it.