Say You Love Me

Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age. -Jeanne Moreau

Inochi moved quickly toward Konoha. Rumors had reached him shortly after completing his mission, the assassination of a diamyo in Bird country. Incredible amounts of smoke were seen rising from his home city, despite the tree cover that should have blocked anything from view. No news had left, though the smell of blood and ash drifted down.

The shinobi feared the worst. Inoshi normally would have taken over a squirrel, or some other inconspicuous woodland creature, but the chance of his body being discovered and killed while he was scouting the situation… I could be killed by a common villager even if there is nothing wrong. Damnit. Yamanaka's always travel in pairs, just for this reason. Hold on Ino-chan.

Caught up in his internal berating, Inoshi didn't quite see the cloaked red eyes that followed his path. When the man disappeared from her considerable view, Kurenai judged it safe to drop her genjutsu. She still considered herself 'rookie jounin', and knew confronting the high-strung ninja could prove disastrous. For both parties. Retreat is the better part of valor. Isn't it? Misunderstandings comprise most of my life.

Kurenai waited for left over chakra to dissipate, then dialed a little-used number on her cell phone. Ninja's didn't use much more than radios, because chakra liked to create static on anything not short-range, but this was Nokia. The cell that used to only go out to ANBU, which is privately considered the reason they were always late. ANBU gossiped the worst and missed important calls.

"Hey, yeah. This is Kurenai. Hinata-chan, Inoshi is returning."

"Inoshi…he wasn't on the list. Hmmm. I don't think he'd agree with our methods. He doesn't like civilian bloodshed. He will need to be eliminated."

"I've only talked to him once, but he really cares for his family."

"What are you thinking, Kurenai-san?"

"Ino-chan. If she could meet him and explain before he gets inside the gates…"

"But she killed her mother. You heard the screams as fire licked her sides."

Kurenai frowned. Hinata put a bit more description into that than needed. When did her shy student leave? Maybe she never was, but nothing mattered. Hinata would always be Hinata, and Kurenai would watch over her. "If he truly loves her, it will not matter."

"…okay. I'll tell Tsunade-hime and call Ino."

Purple, simply put, was the best color of all. In the natural world it was elusive compared to the rest, and symbolized royalty. Ino loved all shades of it. That's why the walls her new room glowed with it. Lavender walls were decorated with animal watercolors, mostly deer made by Shikamaru, and her bed lay under a thick purple and white quilt. A small end-table held up a bowl of crushed iris floating in water, with a flame beneath it to sent the room.

The kunoichi rested on her bed, enjoying the feeling of belonging that came with the room. Her muscles grunted at her one attempt to move, still tired from yesterday's workout with Gai-sensei. Since she started training her speed and skill and increased by leaps and bounds and Ino was sure if she ever fought Sakura the traitor would be surprised. With a little extra concentration the blonde could hit concrete with enough force to make it crack. Imagine what I could do to bones…

"Ino-chan?" A soft whisper came from beyond the door.

The requested girl smiled, took a deep breath, and shouted: "It's open!"

Hinata stepped in, a slightly worried look on her face. "Ino-chan. You need to meet your father. He's going to be here soon."

Sore muscles vanished as if they had never been as the girl shot up, her pony-tail stinging her face as she spun. "Papa? He's back! What if…no." Ino clenched her fists and cleared her mind of negative thought. In. Out. In. Out. Breath. She had to keep her mind clear, like he taught her. "What is it?"

Hinata looked away. With her own sad family history she wasn't quite sure how Ino would handle this. Inoshi had a history of village loyalty. If he came back and saw what had happened, he might snap and try to attack them like the previous two returning jounin. Expendables they were, but this was Ino's family. Family is important. Naruto-kun taught me that, but we can choose our family on merit. Ino cares about her father. "Do you think you can talk to him."

Ino gave an inane smile. "She's not in the way anymore. Where is Papa?"

Hinata plucked a piece of lint from her sleeve. "He should be near entrance seven soon."

When the brilliant girl looked up her blonde friend was gone, and her weapons pouch no longer hung from the back of her chair. Ino moved faster in the minute it took to get to entrance seven than she ever did before. Deep in her mind, she recognized what would be going through her fathers head. Though she and the others had grown accustomed to the musty smell of blood and ash, Inoshi would get it full force.

Natural instinct would require that he take precautions, and assume the worst. That woman was always tip-toeing around him, avoid issues and sucking up. Father would be observant, and no doubt sense her coming. The question was, how would be react?

Ino bit her lip and launched herself into the trees, the absence of hair against her neck was worrying. That pony-tail had been a constant link and reminder of her father, but it had been lost during the battle with Sakura. Cutting it took more than Ino would ever admit. Does he still love me? I have to reach him…I have to. In desperation she channeled chakra to her legs, moving even faster. "He has to. He has to."

Closer and closer he came, the smell started growing stronger. It was the same smell that lingered on major battle fields, only muted. Distantly, Inoshi felt a bundle of wildly fluctuating chakra heading towards him like a bullet. His hands moved to form a seal, ready to ahnialate whoever it was, when it broke through the leaves.

Her familiar purple outfit dropped his guard, snaking arms around his wait and burying her face into his chest. "Ino?" Inoshi stumbled from her sudden weight, wrapping one arm around his daughter and using the other to catch a large branch.

"Papa…" Ino muttered into her chest. She's gone. She'll never take him away form me again! Papa loves me!

"Ino-chan. What happened? Was there a battle? Who won? Are you okay?" Rapid fire questions flew from the disturbed man in a calm tone. He never cracked under pressure.

"Papa, say you love me." She sniffled, her blue eyes staring distantly up at her father. The man she wanted to make proud, who told her before he loved her for being Ino.

"Excuse me?"

"Say you love me, even if I did bad things."

Calloused hands cupped her face as he leaned back against the tree. "What is this? Of course I love you Ino. Where's your mother? Is she okay? What happened?"

Her face slackened at the mention of her mother, the woman that pushed her too far. That abused her. "Papa, I know. And I killed her." It was said with such finality and pleasure that Inoshi pushed her away, holding her at arms length.

"How could you…your not my daughter."

Fear sparked in her eyes. He had to love her. He always did before, even when she nearly poisoned the bully in elementary, and kicked the teacher in the balls. "Yes I am! You don't know what she did to me! What she did every week! Every day!" A single tear made it's way down her cheek. "You don't love her. She wasn't even your first choice. She told me that."

"That's-"

"A secret. I know. She was going to do it to me as well, arranged marriage to carry on the Yamanaka line. Find a 'proper young man' to support me. She used to drill me in wifly duties.

"I stopped it. I had to. She said I had to be thin to attract a good suitor. That's why I skipped dinner so much. It's not that I wasn't feeling well or didn't want to, she wouldn't let me. And that's not the worst of it."

Inoshi felt his resolve soften. He didn't want to believe what was coming out of the girls mouth, but she was his daughter. It was starting to make sense. All the things he contributed to being a 'girl' were not normal. The things his wife said to him were lies. A wife's first duty is to make her husband happy and comfortable. I guess that included lying.

"Oh Ino…" He brought her back into a full hug, kissing her head as he did it. Her aura was different now. That old dark shadow was gone, 'teenage angst' it was not. "I love you. I will love you if the sun stops rising and the ocean floods the land. I will love you if blood is spilled from your hands. I will love you forever and always, for you are my daughter. I love you."

"Papa?"

"Yes?"

"Let's go home."

END.