Disclaimer- Naruto ----- Not mine. These things get rather tedius after a while... Sigh
Click.
The door easily swung open as the jounin removed his silver key from the lock. He sighed and shook his head as he slowly raised his gaze to see his former pupil grinning at him from her spot on the kitchen counter.
"Finally home?" She asked good naturedly. He could tell from the way that she slurred as she spoke that the bottle of tequila beside her wasn't the only source of alcohol she'd been near that night. She picked up the said bottle and held it in the air for him to see. "I was hoping we could cheer each other up."
"I don't need cheering up. I'm fine." He said, his voice having a bit more bite than usual. He knew what she was referring to, for this was the anniversary of the deaths of two of their comrades. Hell, they hadn't been only comrades, they'd been a hell of a lot more.
"Well, I do, so you can help me, right?" She said, hopping down from the counter, landing gingerly on her feet. Without another word she started removing glasses from his small, and practically bare kitchen cabinets.
"What would you have done if I had been with a woman when I came home?" He asked as she began pouring each of them an amount of the substance.
She turned to him and looked directly into his eyes. Those peircing blues made him feel as if she was studying his thoughts. Her gaze returned to the kitchen cabinet, only this time, her hands were idle, laying flat against it, holding her weight. "I knew you wouldn't, you do have some respect for the dead. I know you better than you think I do."
"It wouldn't dishonor them... " He said, stepping towards her. He felt extremely guilty because he had caused the signs of weakness in the kunoichi.
She turned her eyes towards his, and he felt the guilt increase as he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. "But...?" She began, clearly confused, "Didn't you love her?"
Asuma stopped in his tracks. Had he? No, in their youndger days maybe, but what he'd had with that kunoichi was something that he'd probably never have with another person in his life. "Kurenai knew that what we had was not love... it was a... close friendship."
"So you weren't...?" She trailed off. Clearly, she had made assumptions just as all the other Konoha civilians had. She pointed towards th couch, and he followed with his drink in hand.
"No. Me and Kurenai grew up together. " He explained, taking a seat on his sofa. "We were extremely close friends, just like you and that Haruno woman."
"Oh..."
"Yeah." He smirked a bit as he leant over the table to put out his ciggarette. "What about you and Shikamaru, were you...?"
"No... " She said, shaking her head as she took a sip of her drink. "We were really good friends too. His dad and my dad were always hanging out with each other when they had to watch us when we were little. Not to mention... He was a member of my genin team."
"We can relate I guess." Asuma said, downing a bit of his drink.
"Did you see Temari? She was crying. crying. I never thought I'd see her cry, those two were together. Asuma, they didn't deserve to die."
"No, they truly didn't. They were both talented shinobi, but I blieve that they would have liked to have died the way they did, defending their country till the end." The jounin explained, forgetting his drink and lighting a cigarrete. "And I knew Shikamaru well enough to know that he wouldn't want everyone dwelling over his death."
Ino sighed. She knew her ex-sensei's words were true, but this was her first comrades' death. She'd been in such a gifted year, all of her friends had never been beaten on the battlefield. None as close as Shikamaru anyway. If only they hadn't left for that mission.
A year ago, exactly today, Shikamaru, Kurenai, and two other ANBU left for a mission. Shikamaru was a top-class ANBU, his genius coming in handy while planning mission stratedgies, and they needed him for this mission. Kurenai had been an ANBU for only three years, but was handy to have on the battlefield. Ino had no idea who the other two ANBU were, and frankly didn't care.
Two months later, Konoha recieved news that their camp had been ambushed. There was one survivor. Ino had come to discover that the one living shinobi had been Hyuuga Neji. Too afraid to ask, she'd never found out what really happened to her friend that night.
"I propose that we drink this bottle to them." Ino said, her solemness dissapearing and being replaced by her drunken happiness.
"I thought that was what we were doing anyway..." Asuma mumbled, noticing the kunoichi's ditzyness. He immediately regretted his statement as a fury of giggles escaped the woman beside him. The blush across her cheeks darkened a few shades also...
"Ooops... I guess... you're right" She said inbetween fits of girlish giggles.
Asuma sighed. Sometimes, Ino seemed as old as he, and then he would think, 'After a shinobi has killed someone, we are all the same age' But then, there were times like these, even when she wasn't plastered that she would act like a child. He would scold himself for his thoughts and tell himself he was foolish. This kunoichi is still too young.
Then it occured to him. The reason Ino got drunk off her ass almost every night wasn't because of ignorence, but her way of life.
He could ditinctly remember Kurenai explaining to him how different it was for most females to harden their hearts, to forget about the bloodshed. Females tend to take things more to heart. Ino was no exception to this rule. He could still remember the first time she had killed. She hadn't even cried. He'd felt so much pride in that fact.
But the woman before him now was broken. A woman who dulled the pain in her heart with alcohol. He'd met other women similar. In the end, they'd end up drinking themselves to death because they had been disowned by their families, friends, and their countries.
Without a thought, he grabbed the bottle sitting on the coffeetable, anlong with her glass, and dumped them down the sink.
He wasn't about to let Ino become a woman like that.
"Hey!"
"No more tonight Ino..." Asuma said, sighing. "You've had enough."
"Awwwwww. Asuma-sensei!" She said, stumbling over to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck shakily, but grinningly. "Are you worried about me?"