Enjoy, guys! :) This chapter is bit longer.

-X-

In the bathroom of the dinner, Ino watched herself in the mirror, her hands clawing at the cracked porcelain sink. She likewise clawed at the last glimpses of herself; they faded in and out of the darkness under the swaying lone light bulb. She scowled at her reflection, greedily seeking the thin wrinkles around her lips and eyes. With her fingers, she smoothed each line until she was once more placid, perfect, beautiful. Out of habit, she retouched her lipstick, redrew her eyeliner because she couldn't bear the thought of was people not watching her, eyes not following her, hands not seeking her.

When the door of the bathroom flew open, Ino startled dropping her makeup in the sink. In the mirror, she narrowed her eyes at Naruto. His head hung in the doorway, glossy, painted in yellowish shadows.

"So, we have a problem..." Naruto reached across from her, tapped on her elbow, as if demanding attention, and Ino froze, between a snap and a whisper. He didn't look at her like she was used to. He didn't devour her features, he didn't pick at them. In front of him, she felt imperfect. "Remember when I said I had about 130$ on me?"

"Yeah..." Ino shook his hand off. As she flipped her hair over her shoulder, she reached with her other hand for her makeup. Out the corner of her eyes, she saw him bobbed his head, his eyes still widened, his hand still mere centimetres from her elbow twitching in the void.

"Then I said something about an ATM."

She paused, then turned slowly toward him.

"I don't think I like where this is going."

"I was high on adrenaline, I thought you had a gun..." He whined.

"We aren't dining and dashing, Naruto." Ino angrily interrupted him. "If you don't have the cash, I'll just pay."

"This isn't what I'm saying!" He hissed urgently, and his eyes tore away from her, moving swiftly around the room.

"Then what?" She snapped, her hands to her hips and he flinched.

"I was high on adrenaline, I thought you had a gun..." Naruto shifted from one foot to the other, still nodding his head, and the door bounced off him with each movement. "I jumped out of my skin when I saw the hoodie because I thought, "waattt?" and, "howwww?". And now I can't find my wallet anymore."

"It's in the desert."

His face crumbled and a moment later, he forced a sheepish smile.

"It's in the desert." He drawled out, scratching the back of his neck. "Of course, it's in the desert, I'm such an idiot," he then whispered to himself, shaking his head brutally, and the door closed softly.

Briefly, Ino turned back toward the mirror and she caught the blurred lines of her exasperation and amusement. She wiped away from her reflection, holding on to the details of a hint of a smile, her eyes sparkling, vivid and soft.

-X-

Don't fear nightfall

by Clementive

-X-

They searched the desert, hunting down traces of the car tires, the cooling gush of winds had long erased, carried away. Above their heads, the light dimmed, streaks of blue thinning and overwhelmed by yellow and orange blending on hot red and purple. Sweat pooled at the collar of Naruto's shirt and Ino picked at individual grains of sand encrusted in her clothes and skin.

She groaned for the umpteenth time.

"It's like we are treasure hunters!" Naruto turned to smile at her, uneasy and seeking her stare. She merely clenched her fists, glaring at him. "Okayyy, so wannabe treasure hunters?"

"This little joke of yours made me react hours ago, but now, I just want to soak my body in a white clean tub of bubbly water."

Naruto whistled.

"You have very specified tastes."

"Yeah, you're right, this is just great," Ino replied flatly and her open palms embraced the colours of the sky and the last of the sand gleaming on the horizon. It included all that surrounded them, untouched and shining like a mirage. She wiped at her brow and sat on the bumper of the car. Then, she lay atop of the hood, squinting up at the setting sun. The metal was warm against her skin, but she wanted to drift.

"Why did you do it?" Naruto asked soberly and she turned her head toward his stilled darkened form.

"What?"

"The hairdryer, jumping in my car... Everything!"

She blinked, propping herself up on her elbows. Her mouth twisted when she saw his eyes flashing with anger. Briefly, she was too shocked to speak. He didn't watch her contained like he did at the dinner. He wasn't vulnerable, ticking, bursting with energy and it scared her. It cornered her, pushed her too close to her truth.

Ino clenched her jaw.

"It's your friend's car."

"Actually, this is all your fault!" Naruto erupted abruptly and the movement of his arms no longer condensed, his tone escalating until syllables blurred, pressed together, fast and brutal. "I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time! And you're just there whining about the sun and I tried to say it was a treasure hunt and all sorts of things, but you..." He flapped his arms, deflated, and watching and watching, expecting and expecting anything, something she couldn't give him.

"Newsflash, Naruto," Ino replied coldly, "you stopped here and dropped your wallet all on your own."

"Hey!" Naruto shouted, his voice trembling. "We're in the middle of the desert. You owe me at least that much. Why did you do it?"

"I owe you nothing!" She tossed her hair over her shoulder, punctuating her words, before she slid off the hood of the car. She became flippant. She became defiant. Her feelings twisted and stormed inside her. She wanted to dare him to abandon her. She wanted to dare him, under a bleeding sky, under unnoticeable stars, to dismiss her. Dark excitement, pulsing anger, coiled beneath her skin. It raged, screamed, deafening, when he looked at her without fidgeting, without moving. He was seeing her. He was paying attention to her.

They faced each other.

"You mean except a ride to a village?" Naruto said drenched in sarcasm and it gave her pause.

She knew she needed to relent, but she flashed her teeth in the sinking darkness, part-beast, part-victim.

"Fine... I did it because if I needed to disappear for a while."

Ino gave him as little as she dared. Less than she wanted, but more than he could crave from a stranger.

"The mafia is after you." Naruto whispered dramatically gesturing, slipping over a moment that she turned away from. Her skin pickled, cold, and she shook her head, disappointed and scared. If he had remained still, she would have told him about the way she was used to be confined to a camera lens, always polished, always printed in specific angles and shots and perspective.

"Look, I'm a bit in the same situation as you. Safe from all the melodrama of destroying houses and stealing cars. I got dumped. I was going to get out of the car the second we reached a village and just disappear," she said slowly instead. Inwardly, she yelled about her career, her beauty and the mirrors, how they spoke and break beneath her perfect features, her stare elusive once more. If he hadn't stopped looking, if he hadn't turned away from the car lights, she would have screamed about people looking through her, patting her hand when they learned about Shikamaru. When she saw Naruto fidgeting in front of dry ramen noodles, she had merely thought that people wouldn't look at her when a gun is pointed at them. They would just look at the gun.

"I'm sorry." He kicked at the dust

"We are done talking about it."

"Ino..."

"I said we are done!" She shouted, almost immediately regretting how her voice echoed in the desert, a boast, as rigid as the sound of a cracking whip.

"No," he whispered, as frozen as her, as seemingly sad as her. "I meant "Ino can you please look behind you, I think it's my wallet"."

They stared at it in silence, a black square in a golden world, half-nested, half-buried. Ino shook her hair, her steps sinking in the sand as she reached for the car door.

"You're paying the hotel. I need a shower."

Naruto reached over her, picking up his wallet in a swift gesture. He then grabbed the car door as he had done once before and it all rushed back to her as if it had happened months ago.

"We should hug it out." Naruto smiled warmly, puffing his chest grotesquely. It irritated her, how he claimed back a role of buffoon, one of dismissal and stupidity. They both lied in wait behind unbreakable ramparts, but she refused to consider it. She preferred the pretence, the cliché story of strangers travelling, getting along without strings attached.

"Touch me and you lose whatever limb is nearer me." Ino threatened in a hiss.

"With your hairdryer?" Naruto bounced, leaning down slightly to look at her as she carefully sat in the car. Neatly, she folded her hands on her laps before glancing up to him, light blue meeting dark blue.

"With one of the wires inside it, I can cut through your fingers like pie."

With widened eyes, he softly closed the door, then contoured the car. For once, he was silent because all he could think about was that the last woman who had scared him, who had taken his breath away, was Sakura. And he was kilometres from her. And for once, it wasn't about her.

And Ino didn't notice how the key quivered in the ignition before he pushed it in.

-X-

In sync, they leaned toward the windshield as if the motel would seem larger, grander. Glancing side-way at each other, they knew it wouldn't stand out of the darkness, abruptly not shrouded by the greenish lights of projectors. They shivered.

"Is this the best there is?" Ino whispered, immediately wincing at the sound of her broken voice. They had driven in complete silence, Naruto distracted, signalling his blinker or braking only at the last second. They drove through the town with only the rare bystander walking, his shoulders hunched, on the side-walk. The dusty town had shut down within itself with nightfall, stumbling in blissful ignorance or drunkenness. Now, in front of them, the motel bent, crooked, buzzed to life with only three projectors' green lights. In red neon, the word "motel" sprang in the darkness, off-putting, and covered in spider webs and attacked by flies and mosquitoes alike.

"They have only one motel." Naruto answered, barely moving his lips.

"Take one room." Ino straightened up.

"What? Why?" Naruto whipped her head toward her, then the motel. He cleared his throat and his hand alternatively touched his blushing neck and cheeks to compose himself.

"Because the woman alone in the creepy motel room always gets murdered." Ino didn't stare at him, her answer almost automatic. Oblivious, she stared at the stillness of the main entrance. Its pale door stood out of the darkness, flickering alongside the greenish projectors. Their skin shone, green, then dark and Naruto almost reached for her more pronounced cheekbone, her blinking protuberant collarbone.

"Oh, right!" Naruto cleared his throat once more, then unbuckled his seatbelt. Before she could add anything, he was jogging in front of her toward the main office. Ino bit her below lip, watching him disappear before her. Without glancing away from him, her hand reached for the key still in the ignition. Ready to pounce, but not ready to leave him behind.

Delicately, she turned the ignition off.

At the same moment, Naruto pushed the door open and shook the key to their room above his head, like a victory. Ino climbed out of the car, pulling at the keys and her handbag before joining him. Their room was located near the main entrance, on the second floor. Before Naruto opened the door for them, he moved theatrically, still blushing, but she pretended not to notice.

She was too tired, too aware of her dirty and sandy clothes clinging irritably to her skin. With a flourish, Naruto hushed her inside the room before tapping at her elbow. He was too close.

"Do you have a phone? I need to call the kids."

"You and this Sakura chick have children?" Ino frowned, her hands tingling, cold and uncomfortable.

"Oh no-no-no, don't look at me like that! They are only mine figuratively. Anyway, they are taken care of by the other monitors."

"What?" She asked, almost disinterestedly. Through the ajar door, the two beds seemed inviting and she finally noticed how sore and tired she truly was. Shrugging the tension in her shoulders, she stepped in front of him.

"I work at a youth shelter. And I left my phone in my real car." He forced out a laugh, watching her, almost begging her with his eyes, to look up, to reach for him. He couldn't help but feel he had somewhat abandoned them like he had once been abandoned. And Ino always had clarity even when he didn't want to hear it.

Ino felt herself nod, involuntarily avoiding his blue shiny stare, before her hand rummaged through her handbag. She shoved her purple and sparkling phone toward him without looking back.

"Sure, here."

Naruto stared at her retreating back as she walked to the bathroom. The wallpaper appeared faded and worn in the semi-darkness, but the bed sheets shone bright and immaculate. She flickered open the bathroom's light, when he tore away from her. He leaned over the railings and the cracked paint, detached itself under the strength of his grip as he composed the only number he knew by heart.

"Oi Konohamaru! Did you do your homework, you little punk?"

Naruto softly closed the door behind him.

-X-

Ino crouched in the shower, the surrounding porcelain morose and yellowish. Without echo, the hot water battered the flowery shower curtain. Her long wet hair stuck to her body and she watched the water run clear below her. It occurred to her only then that she had left her clothes behind at the hotel where Shikamaru and her were supposed to get married. She had no clean clothes, no further options than what she had in her handbag or on her. Ino closed her eyes, her eyelashes growing heavy with leaking make-up.

"Hey, Ino." Naruto suddenly knocked on the door of the bathroom.

"I'm busy!" She shouted her eyes snapped open, trailing on the closed door. Shivering, she stood up and hugged herself. She stumbled, inefficiently, avoiding leaning against the wall.

"Shika unicorn smiley-face heart heart... I don't know that last emoji, but I wanna say deer... Or Bambi! Anyway, Shika is calling you..."

Her skin turned to ice in the heat of the water. Her fingernails drew red half-moons on her skin, and her arms tightened around her, holding her up. Holding her still.

"Decline the call."

"You sure?" Naruto rasped against the door and she closed her eyes, shaking her head even if he couldn't see her. His voice echoed as if he was the one under water. "Maybe it's like a second chance or something. Maybe he got scared. Men get scared really easily, you know? It's like me with darkness, it still makes me uneasy. You just can't be sure of the state of things in the dark." He babbled on and she hung on to every word, pushing away the vacuum created in her chest. "They move, they don't, who knows? Then, there are things like insects. And I just don't trust elevators. Or airplanes. I mean, if gravity was meant to be defeated, we would be flying."

"Naruto..." She said weakly, to herself more than to him.

"Yeah?"

Ino hesitated. She could try to explain to him that Shikamaru moved like shadows, but she didn't know how to describe him. How his voice was a drawl, his eyes rolling, half-closed, while his mind severing everything sharply. And he saw everything ahead, except her. Her, he ignored. Her, he dismissed as vain, even if often, she saw as clearly as him, her voice, sulky, her head rolling back, her eyes half-closed. When she did it, she was troublesome. When he did, he was a lazy genius.

Ino shook her head, firmly, her hand already closing around the shower handle.

"Please, decline the call."

The water stopped above her head and she breathed in the humid air, relieved and shivering. Blindly, she reached for a towel.

-X-

Naruto sprawled across his bed, abandoned, a disregarded ragged doll. His dirty clothes hung to his slowly moving chest. Atop the duvet, he dreamt of foxes, toads and surrounding, towering, trees closing in. Flickering myriads of green and brown slid in front of him, out of reach, amid Sakura flowers, eclipsed, faded. He hung on, his body involuntarily stiffening, then relaxing when he sensed Ino tiptoeing in the room. In his dream, he called out to her.

Help me.

Find me

Then, Naruto sensed only darkness and he slipped further, his fingers grasping, twitching, for the rare flowers, seeking Ino, all muddled, all lost sensations

He floated, he drifted.

"Good night," Ino muttered to the darkness.

-X-

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