Title: Things that could have happened had Hizashi been the older son
Author: Runespoor
Rating: T
Summary: series of unrelated drabbles/ficlets. See title.
4.
The girl's hair hid her face almost completely, but was a dead give-away to the fact that she was crying.
What is it with me, Ino wondered, that I'm always the one meeting these girls?
But Ino was a nice girl, as well as a curious one – who said nosy no not nosy never when I catch Shika he's dead dead like a dead thing that's a lie I say – so of course she stopped, crouched next to the girl, and asked her question. Hell, it'd worked last time.
"So, why are you crying?"
This one didn't sob and sniffle, but she tensed in a way Sakura hadn't when Ino pulled her hair aside. She had very pretty hair, Ino absently thought, all black and smooth and shiny.
"Is it about your forehead too, 'cause I gotta tell you, I did this just a week ago and I only have a white ribbon left. Well, I say white, but it's more grey now, so –"
But she cut herself off as soon as she saw the girl's face. Her eyes, which were white and dry, were staring at her in a way that might be a glare; Ino couldn't be sure, but that wasn't what stopped her.
A ribbon's not gonna cut it, Ino thought when she saw the huge, ugly green mark on her forehead.