A/N: Chapter 3 has arrived! Thank you to all who reviewed, followed, and favorited!
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Stallion6 of Deviantart - While Tsume is aware of PTSD, she isn't yet aware that her son has it. I'll explain that more in this chapter.
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"Kiba, does your family know about this?" Ino asked Kiba as he appeared in front of her again.
"Hana knows something's wrong, but I'm not sure if she knows I have PTSD."
"And your mother?"
"She doesn't know anything. I don't want her to, either. At least not right now," he said, looking down.
"Why is that?"
"It's just...not something I want to discuss with her. It's not something I want to discuss with anyone, actually."
"That's ironic, since you're talking about it with me right now. You're pulling away from everyone, you don't want to talk about it with anyone, and yet you came to me, wanting to talk about it," Ino said, raising an eyebrow.
"This is different, and you know that. I came to you for help, which shows just how serious I am about this, since I don't normally do something like that. I'm not incredibly close to you, and your family has a history in dealing with the mental faculties. You're sort of like an outside source that I could turn to in my time of need. I just want to fix this."
Ino's eyebrows furrowed. "Point taken, but it won't be that easy. Now, what is it that you're having the most trouble with?"
"Honestly? The fact that I have it. I don't know why I do. I like going out on missions and getting into the thick of things. So why...why am I, of all people, struggling with this? What if I can't go on missions anymore? What if the people I care about think I've become a different person? And what if I have?"
"That's a lot of questions I can't answer right now. The only thing I know is that this can be fixed over time. I'm sure people would understand if they knew."
Most people didn't see this side of Kiba. They only saw him as a conceited, arrogant, or cocky jerk. Yes, he acted like that on the outside sometimes, but that was only to mask what he was on the inside, which was so much more. Most people didn't know that, didn't get to see that, but Ino did.
Kiba shook his head. "I don't want people to know right now. They'd start walking on eggshells around me if they did. I want to be more...stable before I tell anyone."
Ino nodded in understanding. "I see. Why don't we try showing you some more memories?"
Kiba stiffened. "Will that really help? It sounds like it'd just make me feel worse..."
"That might be the case at first, but you'll get used to it over time. Then you'll be able to start coping with it. It won't cure you condition, but it's a critical step in doing so."
Kiba sighed. "If you say so..."
"We'll start with the worst memory you haven't yet repressed."
"I can do that?"
"Yes, but it's not healthy, so I strongly suggest you don't try to. Repressed memories can also be recovered through therapeutic treatment, so even if you managed to, I'd still find it," she informed him.
"Never mind, then."
"Memories that have been repressed are usually the worst ones, so we won't work on those right now. We'll save them for when you're ready."
"Alright..."
Kiba did his best to brace himself.
"This one looks promising," Ino said after scanning through the grisliest of what he remembered from the war. Kiba materialized next to her and took deep breaths as she let the memory play in his mind.
They watched as the Ten-Tails roared and thrashed about. Tobi had just managed to create him, knowing that he would cause massive amounts of destruction and casualties.
Ino knew what the beast did, she saw the damage he created, but she didn't see it firsthand, whereas Kiba did. He paled, knowing what would happen next.
The Ten-Tails wiped out an entire village off in the distance with a single Tailed-Beast Ball before aiming another at the Allied Shinobi Forces' Headquarters, destroying it.
Unfortunately, the fathers of Ino and Shikamaru were inside at the time. They died, as did hundreds of other shinobi that day. Among the dead was their friend Neji Hyuga.
Ino swallowed back tears as a large Beast Ball decimated the Headquarters, her father lost with it. Then they saw the branches from the pinpoint attack that were meant for Naruto, that were intercepted by Neji. They sliced through him, killing him, and then - blank.
The memory stopped, Kiba's mind went dark, and he faded away. Ino suddenly snapped awake in her own body. She blinked several times to clear her blurry eyes.
"What happened?!" she asked, confused.
"I-I'm sorry...I just...I just can't do this...I need to go," Kiba said between sobs. He quickly got up and left with Akamaru.
"Wait!" Ino exclaimed, trying to stop them, but they were already gone. She sat back down on the couch and sighed, temporarily defeated.
After a while, she went out to look for him. First, she stopped by his house.
"Kiba?" she asked, knocking on the door.
Hana opened the door and was surprised to see Ino. "Ino?"
"Hi," she said somewhat awkwardly.
"Hello. What brings you by?"
"Is Kiba here?"
"No, he hasn't been here since he left to see you this morning. That's the last time I saw him. Is he okay?"
"Yeah, everything's fine. He just left a little while ago because...we're going out to lunch, and I can't remember where we were supposed to go," she lied.
"Oh! Well, you could always check Ichiraku's," Hana suggested.
"Ichiraku's, that's right! Thanks, Hana!" Ino said, leaving.
"Glad I could help."
Ino checked Ichiraku's Ramen, but Kiba wasn't there, either. As time went on without a sign of Kiba, she became increasingly worried.
"If I were Kiba, where would I go?" she asked herself. Then she stopped, remembering something. "I know where he is!"
Ino took off in the direction of the training field. She got there and looked around for him. He wasn't by the wooden poles. She was starting to think she wouldn't find him there, or at all, when she saw him sitting in front of the new monument, looking at all the names on it.
The village had built a new monument for the Fourth Shinobi World War like they had for the Third Shinobi World War. They were side by side in the training field.
"Hey," she said quietly, approaching him.
"How...how did you find me?" he asked, his voice still shaky from crying.
"I had a hunch," she replied sitting down next to him. "What happened back at my house?"
"I told him to see a medic. I told him. But he didn't listen. Too stubborn, too caring. He was exhausted from using his Byakugan, and he just kept using it. He even passed out, and he still had Akamaru take him out to the battlefield. He was fighting again, but Hinata was in trouble, so I went and got him. We managed to ward off the attacks, but then Naruto was in trouble, and...Neji saved him. I'm so glad that he saved Naruto, but it's so upsetting that he died, you know?" he said, speaking quickly.
Ino did know. "I'm sorry, Kiba. I can't empathize with what you went through, but we're all upset about it."
"I'm sorry about earlier. It was just too much too deal with all at once."
"It's alright. But I think you should tell your family about this."
Kiba sighed. "Right now?"
"No. They think we're at Ichiraku's."
"Why?"
"When I was looking for you earlier, I stopped by your house. I didn't want to scare your family, so I lied and said we were on a date," Ino said.
"Great. Now they'll ask me all about it."
"Which is why you'll tell them."
"Oh. But I kind of want ramen now," Kiba said, stalling.
"Alright. Why don't we pick some up and go back to my house? We can talk a little more before you tell them."
"Sounds like a plan."
After they had their ramen and talked some more, they went back to Kiba's house.
"Okay. It's time to tell them. Are you ready?"
"Not really."
"Too late," Ino said knocking on the door for the second time that day.
Hana answered the door again. "Hey! How was your date?"
"We didn't go on a date," Kiba said.
Hana looked confused. "What?"
"Could we come in?" Ino asked.
Hana nodded and motioned for them to come inside.
A/N: Thanks for reading, and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review, as it's very encouraging and inspires me to write more for you guys! Happy Holidays!