"There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love." ~Washington Irving

.11

Sakumo had been right. Hibiki wasn't in fact happy about her the two jump promotion she'd been given. The frown was still on her face ten minutes after he told her. She was sitting up in the hospital bed, under at least three layers of blankets. Fully awake and frowning. He rolled his eyes at her expression.

"But why?" She actually whined, he snorted at her expense. Glad to see that she was beginning to act herself again.

"Sandaime's orders. Don't question it." He shakes his head as she pouts. Hibiki crosses her arms over her chest.

"Do you know how much more paper work I'm going to have to do?" She questions as if he doesn't know how much she actually enjoys paper work. Her intelligence clearance was just as high as a Jonin's so it wasn't like it would be added that much more to her work load. He fixes her with a pointed look.

"First of all, you actually like doing paperwork and second it's going to be at least another month before you will return to work." His tone is half serious, she huffs. As if the concept of down time annoys her.

It probably did. Sakumo lets out a sigh. She was too much like him sometimes for her own good. He pats her blanket covered leg and makes a mental note to bring the pack with him during his next visit. They were worried about her too, especially his pack leader Akito. Besides himself, Hibiki was Akito favorite human. The teen was always very kind to the dog. Hibiki was kind to everyone.

"You make it sound like I'm a workaholic." Hibiki had a petulant look her face, he snorted standing slowly.

"You are, get some rest. I'll see you later." He leaves through the window and he wondered why it was her preferred method of entering his house. Hibiki leans back into the pillow. Thoroughly exhausted.

She still hadn't regained a lot of her strength, there was no way she was even close to going back to work. Even if she wanted too and for the record she really didn't. Not yet at least. Hibiki knew she needed to actually take time and recover. Especially if she wanted to go back to field work. Although desk work for an undetermined amount of time sounded really appeasing at the moment. A small sigh escapes her lips.

A little while later Kushina stopped by with a treat. The red head sat in the chair her teacher had occupied earlier and they talked while munching on mochi. "Mikoto is probably going to come by tomorrow with Itachi, they've finally been clear to leave the manor." Kushina tells her once the sweets are gone. Hibiki finds herself smiling.

"I can't wait to meet HIM." She smirks in the red head's direction, now that the relief of being awake has cleared she can revel in her victory. Even if she's cheated. Kushina huffed at her.

"You're never going to let it go are you?" She questions, her tone sarcastic. Hibiki gives a small nod of her head in confirmation.

"Absolutely not." Kushina groans, a bit dramatically if you asked the younger teen.

"I hear that they're going to move you to outpatient by the end of the next week if your PT keeps going as well as it is." Hibiki nodded her head, internally groaning at the concept of her physical theory. She was just glad her muscle hadn't atrophied then it would have been so much worse.

"Anything to get out of here, and back in my own apartment. To control the heat of my own room." She answered wistfully. Kushina snickered at her.

"How many blankets have managed to have brought to you now?" The red head eyes the layers her friend is under a bit suspiciously. Hbiki grins.

"Three, plus two hospital issued ones. Atsuko-obaa brought me two of her handmade quilts and then I convinced sensei that bringing me the fur blanket that he never uses.-" "The one he keeps thrown over the chair in the living room?" Hibiki nods before continuing. "-Yep. So five in total and it's still cold as Iron in here." Kushina shakes her head. Only Hibiki would compare a hospital perpetual low kept temperature setting to a foreign country. One that was usually covered in snow.

Kushina gave the teen an unimpressed look, then it turned into concern. "Didn't the nurse say something along the lines of feeling really cold being a side effect of…" The words died on her tongue. Hibiki cast her eyes down at her hands.

"Yes, feeling cold, unusually so can be a side effect of the type of torture I went through and the following coma." Her voice was quiet, her eyes lost the previous light in them. Fingers dig into the covers as she tries to push away the remnants of memories. Hibiki wanted to forget it ever happened.

She wouldn't.

Kushina reaches forward, she lays her hand over the girl's shaking hands. She offers her friend the most reassuring smile she can muster at the moment. "It will get better." Her words though spoken with good intentions, do more harm than good. Hibiki isn't confident like Kushina, she doesn't do blind faith, she needs proof to believe. Right now there is none.

So how could she know? How could Kushina sound so sure? What if it didn't? What if mentally she never recovered from this? Hibiki couldn't push the doubts away. It felt like she was at the edge of a cliff and that anything could tip her over. Silence became them.

Hibiki couldn't find the words to speak after that, and so they sat together in the quiet for a little while longer. Kushina eventually left as she had to report into the mission's desk and file a mission report. The dark haired girl was alone. She found herself staring out the window, longing after a while. The idea struck moments later.

It was absolutely a terrible one too. But she longed to be free of this confinement. The white walls of the hospital room we're beginning to feel like a mockery. Healing took time, and she was growing impatient. She was no longer connected to IV's or even the heart monitor, the nurse wouldn't come to check in on her again until dusk, they wouldn't even realize if she momentary stepped out.

It wasn't a good idea.

Hibiki threw the blanket back, exposing her legging cover legs and sock covered feet. She was freezing in here. A little sun wouldn't hurt. The question now was if she could make it out the window without hurting her progress. It wasn't like this was one of the higher floors either, it probably wasn't even be that bad of a drop.

She grabbed the crutch that was leaned against the wall next to her bed. Limped carefully over to the half opened window. The drop was maybe, maybe 10-feet. Hibiki took her chances, and dropped the crutch first. Her sock covered feet hit the ground next with a light thud, the grass beneath them warm to the touch. Carefully she stood fully, adjusting the wooden crutch under her arm and took a step forward.

She could do this.

Hibiki eventually ended up at her apartment, she needed a sweater and shoes before continue her little miss-adventure. She wondered if the hospital staff realized she'd left or not. It wasn't like they could really make her stay, she was an adult and could theoretically make these decisions for herself. Although she should have probably just checked herself out in hindsight. It wasn't like they weren't planning on moving her to outpatient soon. Also she was Hatake Sakumo's student so they should have expected her to try to leave. The teen tries desperately to rationalize her spontaneous outing.

It's no wonder she ended up here.

Her hand brushed along the cold surface of the marble stone, fingers memorizing the grove of the names. New ones had been added since she'd last been here. People she knew, shinobi she worked with, fought with, some she's even witnessed die. The crutch under her arm buckled from the weight and she collapsed to the ground. Her still frail limbs screamed in protest.

She'd almost become one of those names.

The reality broke her, tears streamed angrily down her face. She cried. Burring her face into her hands, everything she'd been holding in since she woke, all of her mixed feelings, all of her pain came flooding out. Her tears eventually dried on her rosy cheeks, eyes puffy, throat sore. Hibiki readjusted her position of crumbled at the base of the memorial stone. Carefully she leaned her back against the step, pulling her protesting legs up to her chest, still barely holding herself together.

This is how he finds her. Leaned against the stone, her arms wrapped around her legs, face buried in the top on her knees. He's not surprised. With a great amount of reverence he takes a seat next to her. She doesn't acknowledge his presence. But she does shift ever so slightly closer to him. He wraps one arm around her shoulder. As if to say, you are not alone.

The mind walker knows her. He likes to that he knows her better than anyone else. Because he knows, and that knowledge is power. He is the only one she ever told. That this life, was not her first. She had lived a life before this and it had ended tragically too soon. It still haunted her. Of course there were things she hadn't told him about, things that he knew she never would. But it is this knowing, this understanding of the how that draws him to her.

She leaned into his side, her breathing beginning to even out. There were no more tears to be cried. He doesn't speak, doesn't try to scold her for being irresponsible, he's just there. Sitting quietly next to her, silently telling her that she is not alone. That this isn't something she has to go through by herself.

"I nearly died." Hibiki mutters, speaking the truth out loud. Making it real. She can deny quiet thoughts and small whispers. But spoken words, they can never truly be ignored. Not for long, or forever.

His posture stiffens slightly, as if he hadn't expected her to speak as if he thought she'd just continue to ignore it. Hibiki always hated the harsh truth, the bleak reality that was the world around them. He figured she'd hate this one too. As he did. As they all did.

They'd almost lost her.

She had nearly died, they thought she wouldn't make it back to the village. It had been a feet keeping her breathing, keeping her heart pumping. He doesn't know how the medic did it, how exactly the saved her life. And he doesn't care. All that matter was that she was in fact alive.

"It was touch and go for a while." He murmurs back after a moment, as if he hadn't wanted to admit it.

She takes in his words, pondering over them. Drawing in a long breath, her eyes close with the light flutter of her lashes. He watches her think. Painting a picture in his mind, the light flush her face, the smooth curve of her cheeks, the small fall and rise of her chest, every little detail he commits to memory.

Because the other image of her, the one stuck in his mind, the one he can seem to get to leave him is the one of her dying in sensei's arm. Bleeding and broken, the bruises around her neck, the fresh burn marks running up her side, mangled limbs. And while those things are forever burned into his brain, it's not the one that haunts him the most. Her eyes, black on red, rolling to the back of her head her heart stopping and the frantic cry of the medic as she forces life back into Hibiki. That's the one he will never be able to forget.

So he wants to commit to memory as many good as he can. Because the bad is awful, and for every time he thinks of it he wants to replace it with a post picture of her smiling, happy, alive. He takes everything in. The alternative hurts too much.

After a while she reopens her eyes, he memorized that as well. Her gray/blue eyes are no longer swimming in hurt. She appears to have accepted whatever internal battle she was fighting. "Ready to go?" He questions lightly, Hibiki nods her head.

A groan escapes her lips, as if something has just hit her. "I can't get up." The smile on her face is embarrassed. He shakes his head, unwrapping his arm from around her shoulders. Slowly he stands dusting off his pants before leaning down and hocking one arm under her knees. His other arm holds her around the lower back. She doesn't make much protest on the matter, as they both know she won't actually be able to walk on her own.

Hibiki leans her head against his shoulder and wraps one arm around his neck. Helping to support herself. As if she thought she was heavy. She's not, at the moment it feels like she mostly skin and bones. Her muscle tone was mostly gone and it would be a while before she'd be allowed to start really working on gaining it back.

"Thank you Ino." She mumbles into his shoulder, he smiles.

"No problem." He carries her away from there, heading back in the direction of the hospital.

The crutch laid forgotten against the stone.

XOXOX

Thank you so much for reading the last chapter and letting me know what you think! Your reviews really help me write! SO please keep letting me know how you are feeling about the chapters. You guys are the best!

I hope you like this chapter, I promise in the next chapter we will have more interesting plot things going on. But I did want to show some of Hibiki's mental recovery here and how she's copping with all of it.

Also I think it's good for someone to be in on the secret. Not the one where she's living in a world surrounded by fictional characters. But the fact the she is in fact a reincarnate and this is not her first life. Who better to trust with that that your teammate? Someone you've entrusted your life too. So yeah.

Thank you for reading! Please continue to let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcome too, everything helps.

Sincerely, La'Rae