Title: Human
Author: AppleL0V3R
Beta-reader: Terror-Of-The-Crimson-Night
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Uzumaki, Naruto and Yamanaka, Ino
Rating: T
Type: One-shot – Complete
Summary: She was a shinobi, it's what she did, it's what she chose. So why did she always feel so awful about it?
Theme: #32 – Kill
Word Count: 545
Disclaimer: If you've heard of it before, then obviously it's not mine.
..:Xx0o0xX:..
All shinobi are human.
No amount of guiding or time or talent could change that. No rule is going to make one stop feeling. No order is going to stop one from thinking.
So why did she always feel so awful about it?
It only made sense that someone like her, so bright and full of life, would fall to her knees and cry her heart out while still amongst all the gore. Because she was human, and by taking another's life for the first time, she'd killed part of her own heart. But she was a shinobi and ninja's follow orders. She was ordered to kill, so she did. And now her heart was paying the price.
She hadn't realized how much it would hurt, how much her heart would ache. She'd fought before and felt the adrenaline rush that accompanied it every time. But she'd never killed, and felt that rush come to a screeching halt as reality set in.
When she took on this mission, she thought she was prepared. Now she knew she wasn't. It would continue to hurt, she knew now. She wouldn't ever forget. Not completely.
But that's why she had family. Unlike so many and unlike the one she'd just deprived that possible privilege to. Her heart ached even more at the thought. At the thought of just how much she'd taken away from her victim and those connected to this person.
Arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her from her knees. Still she did not move, paralyzed with pain that had nothing to do with her physical wounds. "Come on, Ino." The voice told her, rubbing soothing circles on the small of her back. She turned and buried her face into the strong broad chest and allowed her shoulders to shake as her entire body trembled. He let her, being her comforter and crying shoulder for as long as she needed it.
Later she'd come to her senses enough to realize that the voice had belonged to Uzumaki, Naruto. And he'd carried her all the way home. Whispering words in her ear that she couldn't seem to comprehend – then or later on.
And somehow, she made it through her first kill. But she'd been sent to commit more. On orders. Because she was a shinobi, it's what she did, it's what she chose.
Without him though, she wouldn't have. She would have crumbled to the floor and when she found a way to her feet she would have walked away. He was there though. Every time, as soon as he could be. So she stayed. She stayed next to him and was grateful that he was like her. Sunny and bright, happy and tenderhearted.
Without each other, they both would have fallen. They kept each other on their feet and able to face the world, side-by-side.