Rakuen*

"You're the protector of flowers from now on."


Her father told her once when she was only three. Back then she enjoyed following her father to Yamanka's flower fields, where the rarest seeds were planted and grown to be blossomed into the most beautiful flowers. Although not always the prettiest ones were the most lasting. Sure they were fair yet most of the time fragile and didn't have any shield against the coldness of winter or the strong winds of fall. And they would most likely die even before the biting seasons start.

Still though, as a family tradition, Yamanaka would take them in their flower nursery in order to take good care of them and to protect them from cold or harm. She learnt this from her father. Looking at how delicately he picked the vulnerable ones and put them in a pot and placed them in the safest spot of the nursery.

Soon, she got quite fond of this task and slowly she followed most of her father's responsibility in the Yamanaka gardens. إBeing a protective, bold girl she was, she even found out the desire inside, to take care of her shy friends as well as standing up to bullies. This was what she was specialized after all. Still though when life got hard and responsibilities seemed to get heavy, Ino thought it would be nice if for once she was the one to be taken care of.

The expectations though flew away from her reach. There were times when the little girl felt tired of being a shield for weak ones, not only that but how she got rejected by people she cared so much, worsen the pain. That was why she would crawl to the flower nursery and tend the new bloomed flowers, they were her childhood friends, they would listen to her agonies for sure. And so she wished to be just a flower, to be loved unconditionally and to be protected…but that was just her, dreaming about impossibilities.

In the Shinobi world though, there was no word such as "Dreaming", was it?

Through passing time, life showed her things couldn't be any worse. And then the stormy nights came when grieves and terrors of the past, clung to her heart, and drown her into the black swamp of darkness, she ran away to the nursery again, trying to get hold of something, to be soothed, to forget all the pain the cruel war had caused her . For once the strong Ēderuwaisu* needed a comforted hand upon her lonely soul.

Closing her eyes as a habit, she wished to see old memories dancing in her sight. These days though…every time she closed her eyes, instead of seeing a paradise, she would see her dead comrades' faces clothed in crimson blood, her sensei's dull eyes and her father's sad voice echoing in her head, saying goodbye.

Fading into nothingness, after a while even a cheerful soul as herself, got indifferent, but it was then when a miracle happened.

On the flowery hill, she was lying, looking at the setting sun, pouring every last drop of its juice over the field. Her heart ached as she watched the dying sun in the crimson sky.

As the darkness swallowed the light, a single tear formed in the corner of her eye, she closed her eyes and tried to imagine the paradise she used to live in it one day, but her mind, her strongest point, didn't seem to cooperate at all. That was when she felt the warm of a familiar chakra flowing close to her, opening her eyes, she saw him… right in front of her. His black and grey figure, glowing under the setting sun as a smile played on his lips. A real gentle smile, this time.

"Miss beautiful…" He whispered, bending and placing a purple lily in her hair.

She closed her eyes again and let the familiar scent of flowers fill all her being.

" I knew the sun must set to rise." Then it could be paradise again, she thought and let a smile spread over her feature as a reassuring arm wrapped around her shoulders.


* meaning paradise

*a kind of flower that represents the meaning power and courage

Hey all

So thank you for all your kind reviews and comments, it really delights me to see how you liked these drabbles so thank you so much

I don't know about this chapter, currently I'm in a state that is, let's say, not very good. I can't focus, I'm going through a period of depression, everything and I mean everything literally makes me cry, I think I haven't been successful in my life, I didn't get what I deserved and I think I'm just wasting my youth because I'm getting really old inside although I'm in the early years of adulthood.

And... I can't get enough sleep, I can't even study, I offer poor results at work and ... you know everything is kinda... hopeless. so... yeah I wrote this chapter listening to Paradise by Coldplay and crying my eyes out and I really needed to write something really joyful about Ino cause you know Ino is this bold joyful always happy character but ... then something hit me and I realized who knows... maybe deep down in that cheerful soul something sad is lying. Like a strong reliable girl who protects everyone and listens to her friends' sorrow and sadness for hours and she smiles and make them happy maybe deep inside she does feel a little unhappy herself and then... this happened.

So I'm sorry if its poor or not good or I don't know... I don't know it just came to me and the last lines are obviously from the song. Anyway...

Thank you all for reading, following and favoriting,

Hope you enjoyed