Sometimes when she has a moment between the endless missions and reports, Yamanaka Ino thinks that life is like an enormous wheel. At least it seems that way, when the screams have stopped and the blood is mopped up and her head is still spinning. Sometimes the wheel would bump and jar against the ground, and parts would splinter or fall off, and be left behind. Splinters that got stuck in the ground were unable to move at all, and some (Shikamaru, she thought), were in very deep. Not moving to her will. Unwilling to move.

Then her brief moment is gone, and she has to hurry to catch up again, stumbling across all those stubborn splinters who littered her path, clutching papers in one hand and humanity in the other. She likes to think if she really wanted to, she could pull out those stupid splinters, and then they would stop pricking her. But she must roll with the wheel, and it was spinning so quickly, Ino figured she couldn't get a good grip anyways. Besides, instead of pricking her head or heart, some went straight for her ass, and she didn't enjoy that too much. Splinters hurt.

Time is a real and constant motion, always rollin' us along. Tell me who, wants to looks back on their youth and wonder where those years have gone. (Lee Ann Womack)