Some IV and some herbal infusions that were recommended by the Akimichi later, and Ino was no longer worried. She even enjoyed spending her time in Kiba's room when she was not needed elsewhere; petting Akamaru has always felt nice and even Kiba could be good company - well, provided he was unconscious.

Of course, during the day, she would not be there so much since Hinata and Shino would sit there instead, and it will still take her some time to learn how to feel comfortable around them - well, mainly the latter. Kiba was still out of it most of the time and the two of them were not exactly the most talkative people ever, so she had no clue how they spent the hours in that room, but well, again, she did already come to the conclusion that this team was a tad weird and she would leave it at that. But unlike the days, the nights, those were free and with Kiba still in this state, at least she had a good reason to spend them here, in his room, and awake, by herself.

"You know… you don't have to stay up all night. If something happens, Akamaru will go wake someone up to alert them."

It took a moment for Ino to realize that the dog-nin was actually awake, staring at her with one eye open.

"And you should know that I am the medic in the room. I decide what is necessary and what is not." she snapped back instantly.

After a second thought, she realized that unlike it was usually the case, his comment did not have that snarky undertone to it. Perhaps he was trying to be nice? In his own… unique Kiba manner? Or he was just too out of it and tired. Anyway, she could give him the benefit of the doubt, it was 2 am anyway and the boy had some hard time lately.

"Besides… If I weren't here, who would give you these delicious cookies that Hinata baked for you last evening?" she smiled and handed him a box that she took out of her bag.

Kiba's eyes widened. "She- she made cookies?"

"Well, we all figured it could help."

She expected Kiba to be excited and enthusiastic about cookies because well - who wouldn't be - but the dog-nin just looked terrified. Oh.

"You don't have to eat them all, don't worry, she will not get offended. These should be easily digestible, so don't worry about trying some, but again, only if you want." she added.

Kiba reluctantly grabbed one of the cookies, now seeming to have regained his composure. Ino was pretty sure it was still mostly to not upset Hinata, but well, whatever works, Ino thought. He sniffed it and sneezed instantly. Ino laughed.

"Yes, it has a strong cinnamon flavor. Hinata hoped that would help with that… everything."

Kiba actually looked grateful for once and bit a piece of the biscuit. Then his stare went back to Ino.

"So, I have cinnamon cookies to help me get over my issues. What do you have?"

Ino felt like she was just slapped.

"Wha- what do you mean?"

"Your issues. This is the third time that you don't have to be here at night and you are here anyway-" Couldn't he just go back to sleeping? "-I have also overheard the medics earlier in the corridor discussing how much you are overworking yourself all the time-"

Damn the Inuzukas and their stupid hearing-

"and you also smell strongly of cortisol and stress and exhaustion in general-"

and their stupid noses! How was she even supposed to respond to this?

"What I do is none of your business!" her compassion was very quickly disappearing, medic in her or not.

"I thought the same two weeks ago and look where I am now."

"That is a very different kind of a problem, idiot. You cannot simply refuse to eat and overdose on energy pills and expect things to be fine, that's just dumb."

"And you cannot stay in constant stress and keep overwork-"

"Just shut UP!" Ino wanted to punch him so bad but knew it could undo quite a lot of the work she had already put into fixing his physical condition. And well, she was still a bit paranoid about Shino and Hinata watching her somehow even now, in the middle of the night, and that would not be a good look if she wanted to prevent fights with the two the next day.

"I can see how maybe I am not the right person for you to talk about this, but I am sure there are many around you who are. You girls always talk about everything all the time, so why not talk about this?"

Ino sighted. This guy really knew how to push her buttons. It wasn't often that she felt like beating up someone who was still bound to a hospital bed and barely conscious.

"You are such a pain in the ass, you know that?"

"You are not the first one to tell that to me." Kiba smirked.

"In any case, look, many of us are screwed in some way, it's okay to admit that." and was he trying to console her? It almost sounded funny, Kiba of all people.

"Yet you did not admit that to anyone in the last four weeks."

"I was on a mission, trying to help people. Plus, after all, from the two of us, you are supposed to be the smarter one." Kiba joked again and Ino had to genuinely laugh at this. After an awkward moment of silence, Kiba spoke up again.

"Ok, fine, I will go first. I cannot eat because wherever I turn, I can still smell death and rotting in some form, which makes me want to puke. And then the images from the last few weeks come up, and even when I don't smell it anymore, it just stays in your mind and… " Kiba cringed and Ino did not need him to continue to understand the problem. She was surprised that he was willing to discuss this with her directly without her bugging him about it.

"Don't you have some kind of a mechanism to block these things…?" she inquired.

"I do, but it requires chakra. Not something we had that much of during the last month."

"Well, if you ate, maybe you would have had more."

"Don't you think I know that! It's a cycle. I had no idea it was such a problem until I was too deep into it and too tired to bother doing something about it."

Made sense, Ino reflected.

Sigh.

She figured it really was her turn now.

"I lost my father and I have still not come to terms with that. And this mind transfer jutsu I used during the war… It has some kind of feedback. Emotional feedback. I can get my thoughts and emotions to other people, but a part of it also goes the other way. And people were not exactly in the best state of their minds during the war, I can tell you. And… there were many of them that I got that stuff from." It felt weird to finally voice all of this. Ino had to hold herself back from breaking down. That's exactly what she was trying to avoid by being here.

She saw Kiba staring at her intently and she wondered again why the hell she was even spilling all of this in front of someone like him, in the hospital and in the middle of the night.

"So you see all of that? … when you try to rest or sleep? That's why you overwork?"

Ino had to admit that she did not expect Kiba to be this perceptive. Or basically, perceptive at all really.

"I- yes, I mean, it feels like it was all received, but not really properly absorbed yet. And the… absorbing happens when I give my mind some time to rest, so obviously… I don't want to rest, I don't want to see those things… I would normally just ask my dad how to deal with it but…"

"I am sorry, Ino. Aren't there any other clan members who could help? Or something in your clan's library?"

Ino now laughed loudly, all of this was too absurd.

"What's so funny?"

"It's just weird that you are the one giving me rational advice."

"Hey! I can be rational!" Kiba responded angrily, but with amusement in his voice, faking sulking. The small tease did its job in dissipating some of the tension in the room and both of them could appreciate that, judging from the fact that even Kiba's expression got visibly relaxed afterwards.

"No, Kiba, I can't believe I am saying it, but you are right. You try to finish this cookie and in the morning, I will try to speak to one of my cousins. And in the meantime, I can try to get some rest." she smiled.

"Ino, Akamaru could help you with that if you want. We know a very nice place which will bring you to different thoughts, especially at night, I promise."

A night date with Kiba's dog? She thought this evening was already as absurd as it could potentially get, but apparently not. She shook her head, she was a medic first.

"I would still not leave you here alone Kiba, especially also without Akamaru."

"C'mon, do you see those flies over there?" Kiba pointed at the wall opposite to her to insects she has not even noticed yet and giggled. "If I start to feel bad, Shino will be here within 5 minutes and Hinata within another 5."

Ino rolled her eyes. So her feeling paranoid was actually perfectly justified.

"Your guys are just plain creepy. Doesn't it bother you? The complete lack of privacy?" she replied back slightly amused. She was surprised when Kiba went back to serious.

"They are both overprotective, even more than usual, but I cannot blame them. They are not the type of people who grow close to many - especially Shino, but also Hinata. And both of them were confronted with losses during the war… They would take it very hard if there was another one - especially if they could avoid it."

Oh. She has never understood really how the Team 8 friendship worked given their very different personalities. But at the same time, she indeed did not know anyone else who would be a close friend to Shino or Hinata besides the other Team 8 members - and well, Neji for Hinata, but that did not apply anymore unfortunately.

So they must have been fairly close indeed. And given their abilities which allowed them to be constantly aware of what the others were doing or feeling - which many times was probably quite beneficial during their missions actually - perhaps this really was an unusual bond.

"Anyway, I promise you, you will love it! Akamaru, c'mon you big lump, get up!"

Akamaru stood up from under the bed and placed himself next to Ino, tail enthusiastically wiggling, as if asking her to give her a ride.

"I am really not sure-"

"I am!" Kiba smiled. "He will be also happy to finally go for a ride outside; he has been confined here for days with me."

Ino really wanted to object to this because what the hell, but somehow she could not find the will to do that. After all those weeks of non-stop work at the hospital and avoiding rest, maybe a little adventure would be nice. And this was so spontaneous and random; maybe it was exactly what she needed.

Almost instinctively, she dropped down on Akamaru, who, in an instant, jumped with her outside of the open window. Initially, she had some trouble finding her stability riding on the big dog, but soon adjusted and enjoyed the ride. A few minutes later, they were just outside of the village, at a place Ino has actually never been to before.

At first she wondered what exactly was so unique about this place until she turned around - and saw a large lake which was reflecting thousands of stars from the sky. And when she looked up, she could see those thousands of stars even better! In most places around the village, there was quite some light from the street lamps and houses. Here, the sight of the village was blocked by a large rock formation and the field was clear of any trees that would otherwise hinder the sight. She could understand what Kiba saw in this place.

Akamaru settled down on the ground and Ino followed him, placing her head on Akamaru's belly - first a bit reluctantly, but when the dog licked her, she figured that it was acceptable for him.

She just lied there and stared at the stars. She recalled what Shikamaru once told her after he returned from a mission with Kiba. Kiba, just like any tracker and navigator, obviously knew constellations well. According to Shikamaru, however, apparently he has also created his own version of them - the dog equivalents - and wouldn't shut up about it all night while they were on a night watch. And Ino couldn't help but laugh at the image of annoyed-to-death Shikamaru just wishing to watch the sky silently in peace with Kiba next to him introducing to him his own constellations ranging from a "chewy bone" to "a pack of little puppies".

Now that she had some time to reflect about it all, she was quite happy that she could confide in Kiba. She never wanted to bring up these problems with Choji and Shikamaru, because she knew that they would try to shoulder them with her when they already had a lot on their plates after the war, especially Shikamaru. While she knew that Kiba probably still would feel for her and offer his opinion (well, it was Kiba after all, of course he would offer his opinion), they had enough respect but also distance between them that she did not expect him to view her or treat her differently afterwards, which was all she needed. At the same time, he was kinda forced to confide in her as well beforehand, so to reciprocate only felt fair.

She was staring at the night sky and realizing that it was not that difficult to not think about the images from the disturbed minds of her fellow ninja or the memories of her father. She was looking at the stars and she was starting to understand where Kiba could see all the puppies and bones - one could imagine absolutely anything with so many stars. Maybe she could also make up her own constellations - with flowers - just to see the look on Shikamaru's face if she brought it up to him the next time they went on a mission together.

She was resting but at the same time, her mind was occupied, and that was one of the best things that has happened to her in the past month.

She must have dozed off, because she woke up as Akamaru's nose gently nudged her. She saw that the stars have started to disappear - the Sun must have been close to rising. Without protest, she jumped back on Akamaru and they made their way back to the hospital. In it, she saw Kiba sleeping peacefully. Several of the cookies from the box were gone. And she herself also overcame some of her demons tonight. This was a good night.