For: sundance1989

Prompt: Mission/crystal caverns/angst

Pairing: KibaIno, implied SasuSaku & KibaSaku

Disclaimer: disclaimed. I also don't own the title; it belongs to Adele.

a/n: …Basically, implied SasuSaku because I just couldn't help myself. And second-person POV.

SET FIRE TO THE RAIN

You grip her fingers in the suffocating blackness and grit your teeth as the pain in your chest roars.

"It's okay to scream," she whispers softly, and you can feel her returning the pressure of your fingers with strength that reminds you of Sakura, of the Hokage's apprentice—reminds you of pink-haired, emerald-eyed, angelic Sakura who is so unlike this interrogator's apprentice, this blonde-haired, sapphire-eyed, razor-sharp beauty that grips your hand so fiercely in the dark.

You see her eyes glittering, two ocean-blue diamond chips that spit fire as she tries to keep you awake and save your helpless, pathetic life—helpless because you couldn't save Sakura, pathetic because you can't—couldn't— tell Ino that you're (still) in love with her and that you want her back (if) she'll have you.

And you've been thinking that maybe it's too late, that maybe this mission to assassinate some noble has finally done you in.

The thought aches and burns and hurts even more than the bleeding, gaping hole in your chest. "Ino," you rasp. "Ino—"

"Shh. Don't try to talk. I'm not done healing you—"

"Ino," you repeat harshly. You have to tell her nownownownownow and she's not listening—

"Listen to me, Kiba—"

"No," you say forcefully, hissing when the effort rips a new wave of pain in your chest. "You listen to me."

She falls silent, just looking at you, her hands glowing green with healing chakra that isn't working—isn't healing. When she finally speaks, her voice is soft. "What, Kiba?"

Then you look at her. Really, truly, honestly, look.

You see the harder-than-diamond eyes, the cold skin, the pain hiding behind her eyes that looks like it hurts more than yours, and you think that you've lost her.

She's not yours anymore, and she won't think that you're doing her any favors if you bring everything you've ever had together back to the surface.

All she's doing is saving your life. She doesn't want you to save hers.

"What is it, Kiba?" she repeats, lifting her hands from your wound. It's scabbed over, and it's healing, but it's nothing like what Sakura could have done—

You cut yourself off. It's no good thinking like that.

You close your eyes and turn away from her. "Never mind."

Two hours later, you're still alive, somehow. But you might as well be dead, because even though Ino is pressed up against you in what is every man's fantasy, she won't look at you.

"Ino, why won't you look at me?" you ask quietly, using a little of what strength you have left to pull yourself into a sitting position. She shifts, her bare arm narrowly avoiding your expertly-bandaged wound as she helps you sit up.

"I'm looking at you," she answers, and you see her blue eyes glitter in the dim light as they turn in your direction.

The lack of feeling in them is even worse than not seeing them at all.

"Ino."

There's a rustle of cloth as she shrugs her shoulders. "Is there some law that says I have to look at you like I want to?"

"Am I supposed to laugh at the double meaning in there?"

She pauses, and you can almost hear her pulling apart your comment. The sharp sigh she emits a few seconds later tells you that she's figured out your wit and is none too happy about it. "Kiba, don't talk. You'll waste what little energy you've got."

"Did you just call me weak?" you quip.

"Weak as in you're not capable of defending yourself at the moment?" she snaps, and some of the old fire is back in her eyes. "Yes, you're weak."

You want her to keep yelling at you; it's masochistic but you know you deserve it. "Ino, I'm not weak."

Suddenly her eyes turn back into ice and she looks away. It's almost like she deflated, you think. "It's ironic, isn't it? That whole thing imitated Sasuke and Sakura... perfectly."

You're still watching her as she draws her knees up to her chest slowly and turns her gaze on the opposite wall of the cave. The crystals embedded into the walls reflect off her blue eyes, and it makes everything that much brighter. The fire she made earlier is starting to flicker and die, and you think that maybe it's symbolic of how Ino used to feel about you.

But the mention of Sasuke and Sakura has dredged up memories of a pink-haired girl in your arms, kissing you like you've never been kissed because there's just so much feeling and loneliness in it; memories of the cherry blossom of Team Seven healing you with hands so soft and so delicate and so innocent that you don't want to dirty her because she's not yours to clean, either; and then the same saving angel with the same healing hands crying when you gave her heart back to that dark-haired, Sharingan-blessed avenging angel who had always loved her more than life itself and would always, always need her healing.

The memories still hurt, even now, and you want nothing more than to fall silent and let Ino be alone for a while so that you can mope too. But there's really no point in the both of you wallowing in self-pity, so you reach out for Ino and tangle your fingers in her blond hair, even though in the light of the dying fire her hair is more of a hazel color than gold.

It doesn't surprise you, though, when she pulls away and your hand drops to the floor in between you both.

"Don't touch me, Kiba," she grits out through clenched teeth. "You've lost that right."

Suddenly you're furious. "Whose right is it then? Shikamaru's? Sasuke's? What other guys have you been with?"

She rounds on you, absolutely, beautifully outraged. "Shut up! You don't know anything—how dare you accuse me of Shikamaru or Sasuke!"

"Should I accuse you of someone else? Are those two still beneath you?" you spit out, incensed. "Is Neji more your style now?"

She slaps you, and it hurts.

"I've never loved Shikamaru like I've loved you, and I've never even thought about taking Sasuke away from Sakura! How—How dare you, Kiba!" she screams, and she looks like she wants to cry but she's strong enough not to.

Not weak. Never weak.

And then you realize what she's said, because she makes it so obvious when she covers her mouth with her hands and ducks her head and screams, frustrated, into her arms.

Your voice is quiet when you finally speak. "Did you mean it?"

Her body is wracked with bone-chilling shudders as she struggles to regain control. "I don't know what you're talking about."

But the hope in you is rising and it's overpowering your sense of reason; if she still loves you, you might have a chance t—

You need an answer, and you need an answer now— "Ino, do you still love me?"

Her fingers fist and pull at her hair as she struggles. "No, Kiba, please don't ask me that—please d—"

You tug her hands away, lean in, and you kiss her—the way that you've always wanted to, since before Sakura, since before pain, since before life in all of its innocence and destruction came in and ruined you.

You can taste the salt from her tears on her lips when she kisses you back, her hands holding onto you as fiercely as a drowning person in a sea of diamonds.

It hurts, it burns, it's beautiful—

—and suddenly you're whole again.

a/n: So, let me know if you didn't quite understand the relationship and background of Kiba and Ino. I tried to let you guys think what you like. Review review review, as always!