"I think that little by little I'll be able to solve my problems and survive."

~ Frida Kahlo

...

She sits in a corner, knees to her chest, tears streaming down her face. There is a smaller version of the kyuubi wrapped around her, tails spread out, teeth bared. This is where Inoichi finds her, isolated and alone pushed into a corner of her own mind. Locked away and sealed. He walked the long hallways, doors broken down, lights flickering. Like an abandoned ward. Left to rot and be forgotten.

To think that this had been the work of fuinjutsu. Not trauma, like they had originally suspected. Kosuke had carved a crater in her soul while pretending to be a god. The being he'd seen during the first mind walk had been merely a work of malicious intent. Inoichi wished he could inflict this level of destruction on the traitor.

It had taken him a while to find this corner. To locate her.

The kyuubi goes to snap at him, feral and ready to defend what was left of her mind. Inoichi holds up his arms. "I come in peace, I just want to help. Put everything back where it needs to go." He speaks easily, clearly with his intent, the Kyuubi lowers his head so it's resting on top of Mitomi's shoulder.

She looks up for the first time. The expression on her face absolutely broke Inoichi's heart. After everything she's suffered through… this was what destroyed her.

"Inoichi-sama?" Her voice cracks, and horrible sobs follow. He strides forward and delicately wraps his arms around her shoulders. This may be happening in her head… but he wanted her to know she wasn't alone. The kyuubi menature doesn't stop him.

Mitomi sobs into his shoulder.

"We're going to fix this. I promise."

Mitomi's head is splitting when she wakes up. She sits up, and almost immediately throws up in the bin next to the hospital bed. She feels dirty, and violated, and just disgusted with herself. Her memories were back, and they were not kind. First another dance with death, followed by a gross exploitation of her mind, memories, and body.

She was going to be sick again.

She scrambled out of the bed, unhooking her leads and IV as she went. Racing across the room to the small attached bathroom. Mitomi puked the rest of her stomach acid up, wiped her mouth on the hospital gown before tuning the small shower on. Water as high and hot as it would go, she sank to the tiled shower floor and let the water just pour over her body. Still wearing the hospital gown she hadn't even bothered to take it off.

How had she been so blind? It should have been so obvious… Kosuke had alway acted so odd around her.. But she'd just chalked it up to the fact that she looked a lot like her mother.. Gods she was going to be sick again.

He had used her own memories against her. He violated her body physically, tried to break her. Mitomi buries her face in her knees, as a harsh sob racks through her. This wasn't supposed to happen! She was supposed to be safe in her own fucking head! The water burns her skin but she barely notices. For a very long time she just sits there on the shower floor hospital gown clinging to her body, hair matted to her face, water and tears dripping down her cheeks. She cries until her throat is raw, until her eyes burn.

She doesn't notice when the bathroom door opens, she doesn't look up or acknowledge their presence. A hand turns the faucet and the shower stops, a towel is wrapped around her shoulders. Hair is pushed out of her face, eyes are wiped. "Let's get you in something dry." The voice is soft, caring even. Mitomi finally makes eye contact.

Yoshino smiles at her softly, helping her to her feet. "I brought you some of your clothes." Mitomi let's the woman lead her back to the bed, where a bag is sitting with a few different sets of her clothes. Including a sweatshirt she'd stolen from Shikamaru, and one of her shishou's old jounin shirts that she'd claimed many years ago.

She picks the sweatshirt, a pair of long black leggings and some fluffy socks. Yoshino wordlessly helps her out of the wet gown and wraps the towel around her so she feels less exposed. Mitomi had never in her entire life been ashamed of her body, but right now she hated it's very existence. Quickly she carries her change of clothes back to the bathroom so she can cover herself better. Mitomi avoids looking in the mirror while she gets dressed.

Yoshino is waiting for her when she returns to the main room. Mitomi sits on the bed pulling her knees up to her chest. She fights another bout of tears. "Would you like me to fix your hair? Or would you rather be alone Mitomi?" The question is asked softly, carefully. At one point in her life she would have felt reproachful of such sentiment, but right all she was is thankful.

"Can you braid it out of my face please?" Her skin crawls everytime it touches her cheeks. She can't handle that right now. Yoshino smiles and does as requested. When Mitomi flinches when Yoshina runs her fingers through her scalp to untangle her hair the other woman doesn't bother asking her if she's okay.

Because they both know she isn't.

With her memories returned they keep her in the hospital for observation for a few days despite the fact that none of ehr physical injuries called for such a thing. Mitomi doesn't complain though… mainly because she had no desire to go back to that house. She shuddered just thinking about it. How was she going to explain herself to Naruto? To Karin? How could she make them understand the wound carved into her soul without eliciting their pity, without hurting them even further. Another member of their family was dead because of heart ached for Chiyo. Who she would need to return to Uzushio for burial, who she could finally mourn. A soft knock on the door interrupts her current train of self loathing.

Ino peaks her head in after a second, there is an obnoxiously sized bouquet in her arms. Mitomi snickers at her. "Choji better have brought food." The blonde grins and pracktivallt kicks the hospital door wide open. Revealing the boys, both stumble in awkwardly.

She was bruised, not broken. Shikamaru makes a weird expression that she chooses to ignore as she pats the spot beside her. Ino fixes the flowers on the nurses table and Choji sets up food on the bedside table. Her boyfriend shuffles over and carefully sits next to her, he doesn't touch her or even try to get too close. Mitomi assumed Yoshino had probably warned him that she may flinch away or something.

Unlike in her first life, sexual assault was taken very seriously here. For shinobi dealing with someone who has gone through it can be a matter of life and death if something is done incorrectly. If they trigger the other person's trauma. They were all trained killers in the end. So for the most part the people who you worked with and interacted with needed to be aware to look out for you while you healed. So that way everyone was safe. Yoshino noticed how she flinched when being touched, so she had warned her son to make sure he was aware that it may elicit a bad response from her.

And while that was still true with most people. It didn't apply to him, Mitomi knew instinctively that he would never do her harm. He's her person. She leans forward and grabs his hand. "It's okay, I'm okay." Mitomi is't sure who she's trying to reassure more at this point.

He squeezes back, a faint smile briefly appears. Mitomi will take it. She doesn't let go of his hand as she turns to ask Choji what sorts of treats he had for them.

She was okay.. Everything is going to be okay.

Inoichi folded his arms across his chest, listening in just to make sure. He leaned against the wall carefully. Shikaku stands across from him mirroring his expression. "She's strong. Stronger than most." A hum of approval follows.

"Yoshino found her scalding herself in the shower yesterday morning. But it's been the only physical breakdown so far." Inoichi looks up, that's true, he didn't think she'd have too many more.

She was going to be okay. She wasn't broken yet.

XOXOX

The recovery for this is not going to be just a one chapter thing… there will be more chapters of coping and recovery to come.

Thank you for reading!

~LaRae