A/N: So I was nearly done with this chapter a few months back, and I was in the middle of making adjustments when my laptop's charger pin decided to fall out & cause me immense distress. I didn't have the patience to buy the piece and then have it soldered, and it would take too long to recover my data from an ancient, dead laptop. Therefore I had to start from scratch, so I really am sorry for the huge delay. This chapter could possibly not live up to its full potential because of this inconvenience, and I'm still grieving over it. Anyways, enough about my horrible luck. Thank you guys for being patient.


Ino tossed restlessly well past midnight, apparently not meant for sleep that night. She was instead forced to wage war against unjustifiable thoughts, nearly regretting her choices but choosing to ignore reality as much as possible. She was miles past frustrated, uselessly knowing the guilt that clawed at her veins would dwindle away eventually.

It wasn't like Sai understood why people did what they did, and she wasn't the easiest to figure out. She even wished there was a better explanation. Too bad his memory was in full operation.. Maybe it was a selfish thing, but it was definitely unlike Ino to not be able to clear her conscience.

The blonde was half-motivated to give up on the idea of rest, get out of bed and do something productive with herself when a thunderous bang on the door jolted her right out of her musings. Her first instinct was to cover up with blankets and pretend nobody was home, before remembering that she was supposed to be a fearless, resilient kunoichi. She convinced herself of a wrong address.

When the persistent banging became impossible to disregard, she clumsily untangled herself from the bedspread and blindly made her way to the front door. Hastily readjusting her orange T-shirt and muttering complaints, she promptly let whoever know that they were unwelcome by jerking the door open and crossing her arms impatiently. One of her best poses.

"Who the fuck comes by at this hour?" Ino's last words fell flatter than she would've liked, because what she saw wasn't what she had expected at all.

She must have whitened at the sight of Kiba, because he lowered his fist and hesitantly took a step back.

"Ino," He began sheepishly, about to voice an excuse but deciding against it. "I was.. I didn't mean to wake you up."

At first she felt somewhat flattered, right before recalling their little disagreement from what felt like weeks ago. "You better have some damn good reason."

His expression immediately turned sour, matching her pose. "I'm for sure not here to apologize, if that's what you're expecting."

The Yamanaka rolled her eyes at his defensiveness. "Well I definitely wasn't expecting you at this time of night."

Kiba didn't speak for what seemed like minutes; Akamaru's panting the one and only sound filling the tense, night air.

"I'm not sorry," He said the first thing that popped into his lagging mind, "I felt like.. I had to see you." He leaned heavily against the door frame, outstretching his hand toward her with intentions of a pathetic embrace or halfhearted handshake; she wasn't able to tell.

Ino couldn't guess from his eyes if he was telling the truth or not, but she didn't feel like stressing herself out even more. She swayed away from him for a brief, contemplative moment before locking her arms firmly around his neck. "I don't care, Kiba. I don't want to talk about anything."

Just taken off guard, he used one arm to support her back, not comprehending her desire to latch onto him. The familiarity of her scent was overpowering then, and he wondered if his scent ever stuck to her. The ability to say anything drained from him instantaneously.

She buried her face in his neck, shutting her eyes without worrying for some sweet time. Being physically close to him, despite remaining mentally far away. Finding comfort in his embrace. It was enough for then. She rested her palms against his shoulder blades, gripping the fabric of his jacket.

Kiba had long since been lured in by his own interest, finally moving to rest her feet on the ground again. "I can't blame you for missin' this." Modesty was an unimportant characteristic that he just didn't possess, donning a smirk visible even in partial darkness.

Ino squinted, allowing her eyes to accustom to lack of light. For the first time since seeing him, she noticed his headgear and uniform perfectly in place. Unwrinkled, clean and all around intact.

"Where have you been, anyways?"

"Nowhere really." He looked over her shoulder, somehow discouraging any further questioning.

Akamaru suddenly made his way past the couple, well on his way to his favorite spot on the couch. He rustled a paper bag at their feet, immediately piquing Ino's interest.

"What did you bring me?" She glared as he swaggered by her, slamming the door shut with one foot.

Kiba smirked once more, "Sometimes it isn't all about you." he followed her to her bedroom, side glancing at the bed, predicting and hoping they would be there any second now. He had never planned for things to go a different way. "Sometimes it can be about both of us."

Ino's shoulders slumped in disappointment when his grand reveal turned out to be only alcohol, watching him get rid of the cap as if he had done it a thousand times. "Right when I thought you could be capable of something romantic." But she wasn't expecting much, to be honest. Cheap romanticism wasn't something that wowed her. "You just come over to get drunk? Must have taken some deep thought coming from your minuscule brain. Where the hell do you even get this?"

The shinobi plopped down on the bed, flinging sheets aside. "Let's just say my mom needs a good drink a lot of the time," he said matter-of-factly, her sarcasm falling on deaf ears. "makes her a little less of a... you know."

"I see," The interrogator held one of the chilled bottles up to the light, "you must be such a pain for her."

"That's right," Kiba openly boasted, stealing her lips after taking a generous drink. "you could use some."

"Eww, what the fuck? It smells like shit and I can taste it on your breath! Do not ever think about kissing me again, do you hear me?!" She thrust her hand at his face, distancing herself. "nasty bastard."

Her anger was met with mere laughter, hysterical for a while as she glowered disapprovingly. When his laughter finally died down, he playfully got in her face. "Scared, Yamanaka? Can't take it? 'Cause you know I could outlast you any day. It's okay, babe. I understand."

Feeling belittled, Ino stared him dead in the eye and drank from the same bottle. It was possibly the most acidic thing she had ever tasted, and she had to try unbelievably hard not to gag. "Fine, Inuzuka. Since you think you're so badass. Now I'm really gonna embarrass you."

Soon the bitterness didn't matter quite so much. His lips tasted the same as before, and she wasn't prone to grimacing the next few rounds. Time grew distorted quickly after, where seconds felt like minutes and life could actually slow down and seem tranquil from the outside looking in.

Blinking rapidly in an effort to clear up her wavering vision, Ino yanked him closer possessively. "Kiba, why are you so hot? Stop it."

He took her face in his hands, seeming vaguely pensive for a few seconds. "I'm blessed, okay."

They shared stupid, uncontrollable laughter, the daring blonde wrapping her legs around his midsection. Draping one arm around his neck, she whispered, "Tell me how blessed I am."

"Very," Kiba drug his hand through his nicely tousled hair and focused mainly on making out for a while.

Most of their conversations were depth-less, meaningless strings of words that weren't worth remembering. Reiterations of repeated feelings and drunken thoughts only confessed during the a.m. hours.

Ino collapsed against the pillows, training her eyes on him wearily. "Let's not fight."

"You're cute," He used one arm as a prop, lost in his own world, sentences slowly drifting off. "when you're pissed, though.."

"I can be scary," She giggled, all of her guards down a while ago. "I hate most people right now anyways."

Empty bottles littered the floor, accumulating so easily. That things could still make sense to her was a mystery in itself.

"I feel that way."

Instantly confused. the blonde tried to snap out of her trance. "What? ..what'd you say?"

"What do you mean?" Ino asked again carefully, struggling to stay conscious.

Kiba rejected eye-contact, turning on his side. "I was too late."

"For what?" She nervously pulled at her hair, ever so slowly processing. "I don't.."

His voice got lower, causing her to lean in. "It was fast.. I don't know. I wasn't there."

Ino still wasn't grasping anything, accidentally knocking over the remainder of the alcohol. She suddenly sought soberness. "What?"

"My team's in the hospital."

She felt shock finally register, her mouth dropping in awe. "Why.. oh God, no. You should be with them, you should go. They okay?"

"Fine, they're fine." He stumbled over his words. "Shino's left leg is swollen and I think.. Hinata might have a concussion, but.. they don't want me there. I shouldn't be. I wasn't there."

Ino wasn't positive she was hearing right, but she could see he was overwhelmed, in a way. She would be throwing a raging fit if her team embarked on a mission without her, injured themselves and then refused her company. Even if she disagreed with her team a lot, there was no way she could bear the thought of not being there for them. Asuma would have wanted them to stay together through anything.

She quit talking for a while, unsure of what to say. Typically she would be better at comforting somebody. But their right minds were someplace else, so she pathetically took his hand. "It isn't your fault, Kiba. It could happen to anybody.. even me."

"People fuck up, you know," She continued thoughtlessly, "like I do them sometimes. You just don't admit it to yourself."

"Like what?" He asked stubbornly, gritting his teeth. Being accountable for his team was top priority. He wouldn't let them down on purpose, even though it had been done a lot lately on his part. The mind tortuously replayed countless what-if situations, kicking him down again and again for his absence.

Ino laughed because she didn't know what else to do. "I kissed another guy just the other day. If you want to count that as a mistake." She dug her own grave, "..and I liked it. I think about him sometimes. You know?"


A/N: Want to say sorry again for the delay. Hope you guys continue to follow and review; thanks for reading~ ;D