Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Poisoned Petals. Enjoy the 1200-word chapter. I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto and a few others do.

Mareo heard Ino before he saw her. The soft footfalls the florist created announced her arrival.

"Afraid I'll go somewhere?" Mareo asked as Ino took her seat next to his bed.

"Very funny…" Ino stated before resting a hand on his temples. "You still look like you picked a fight with a Tailed Beast. Your concussion is gone, isn't it?" Ino questioned as Mareo nodded.

"Somewhat, yes." Mareo responded while he turned to look to the side. "I still feel like I've been broken in half. It comes and goes to be honest." Mareo hummed and then turned to the side.

"And you've been resting?" Ino questioned to which Mareo nodded.

"Not like I have a reason to do anything at the moment." Mareo muttered as he looked at Ino with his good eye. "How are you holding up? Business wasn't the best today?" Mareo questioned as he tapped the fingers of his casted arm.

"Do you remember what I told you last night about the Jutsu?" Ino questioned as she traced a finger over his bruised eye.

"The one who would allow you to look through my mind?" Mareo asked which caused Ino to nod. "What about it? Your going to use it to look into my head, right?" Mareo said which was greeted by another nod.

"I want to warn you…" Mareo said and sighed as he looked Ino in the eye. "Whatever you find? Wont be pretty. Theres a lot of mental nightmares upstairs. Do I have anything mentally I have to deal with up there?" Mareo asked as he looked up at Ino.

"No, just don't struggle a lot." Ino responded which caused Mareo to hum.

"I'll try, I'm not used to this." Mareo put in as Ino nodded which caused him to close his eyes.

Ino put her hand on his face. Mareo hummed and fell silent for a moment.

(Mareo's Mindscape)

Then his body went limp as Ino entered his mind. He didn't feel much as he thought. The Jutsu did indeed pierce his head. He could hear Ino hum to herself as she manifested in an avatar of blue light.

His own avatar was a more crimson. He looked down at himself at the moment which caused him to blink.

"Well, this is much more different then I expected." Mareo said as he turned to look at Ino. "I'm sorry that it doesn't look the best. I'm not exactly used to people looking through my head in the end. It's odd." Mareo stated as he crossed his arms.

"There's a lot of bad memories up in your head. I can see that." Ino said as she started to pick through said memories.

Each one was like an arrow to her. She could feel the pain and suffering that he had tried to bury. It hurt. It hurt plenty to the florist. She turned to see that Mareo cringed slightly before starting to straighten back up.

"There's a lot to unpack up here." Mareo stated to himself before opening his eyes for a moment. "I'm sorry, I'm trying as hard as possible to focus." Mareo said as he rubbed at his arms and looked around the landscape.

This was odd for his mental landscape. Then again? He hadn't seen his mental landscape before now. He could see things rushing by, he could feel memories flooding back… Ones he didn't want to relieve. They cut deeply which made him sigh and shake his head. He dug his fingers into his head, trying to cut them out when it came down to it.

"Ino?" Mareo questioned which caused Ino to turn to look to him once more. "Be careful. Some of these memories? They hurt when I recall some of them." Mareo stated as he hummed.

Ino watched something fly by. It was a memory of Mareo watching his mother threaten someone. She held a kunai in her hand as he shook and wavered from the woman.

Another, Mareo moving faster and faster through an obstacle course. He turned to help one of his teammates who tried to cut at him with a kunai. He leapt back onto another pole, trying his best not to collapse off the pole and into the ground.

Ino turned to look at Mareo who was simply trying not to fall over wrapped in pain. These memories were quite painful, but he said nothing at the moment. He didn't want to focus on his memories, but he didn't want to push her away when she was focusing.

"This will do for today." Ino said which caused Mareo to blink and raise an eyebrow as he turned. "Mareo?" Ino questioned as Mareo hummed and turned to nod.

"Yes, Ino?" Mareo questioned as he hummed and then turned to her. "I'm sorry, some of these memories are painful as I pointed out." Mareo stated while he rubbed his head.

Mareo didn't want to push Ino out of his head. This pain was something that merely ached which caused him to sigh. He couldn't ponder what would happen. This caused Ino to straighten up slightly as he rubbed his temples with pain.

'Ow, this is hurting more then I thought possible. It hurts when I think about it. I'm surprised she can dig this much into my memories… Just who is she?' Mareo thought to himself as he turned to look at Ino once more.

Still? He couldn't think of anything bad about this. He gave Ino permission to dig about in his head once more.

Mareo allowed Ino to take them out of his memories. He couldn't think about the depths of whatever he thought. Ino would be digging through them once more. Mareo wanted to push through them.

(In the Real world)

Mareo felt his memories flooding back to him as he turned to look around the room. Ino was quite curious when it came down to it.

"You have a lot of clutter in your head." Ino stated as Mareo hummed and then turned to the kunoichi once more. "But I'm sorry for how painful it is. I'm not used to digging around inside someone who has mental baggage. Not like that when it comes to that end of the road… But I'm sure that I'll deal with it sooner or later." Ino stated which caused Mareo to hum and nod.

"Just don't cut things up much more when it comes to that, please." Mareo stated and rubbed at his temples gently.

Mareo hummed once more and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

He grunted and went back to sleep once more. He was quite tired. He had to think once more.

Author notes

Phew, another chapter done! I want to point out that next chapter will be delayed or such. Next chapter will be in 2-8 months and will show bonding and such. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!

P.S: Next chapter will be 900-1500 words. Sarada and Sakura are 900 words. Tsunade, Karin, Kurotsuchi, and Delta are 1200 words at the moment and such.