A/N: It's chapter 5! Thank you to all who reviewed, followed, and favorited!
Stallion6 of Deviantart - Tsume did intentionally make that pun.
MyHikari - Maybe they are!
Shishuco - Thank you!
videogamenerd101 - Thank you. Pretending to be in a relationship will definitely complicate things for the both of them. I'll try using more indirect characterization.
Quirkista - Thank you!
Le Dancing Flamingo - Thanks!
Kiba just couldn't get that sound out of his head, that horrible scrape of the knife against the plate. It wouldn't go away. He heard it over and over in his head, and he felt himself starting to panic. His mind was a ticking time bomb, each replayed scrape signifying a second closer to self-destruction. At this point, it wasn't a question of if, but a question of when he would explode.
Tick, tick, tick...
He needed to get away. Fast.
"Excuse me, I'm going to the restroom," Kiba said as he got up from the table. He quickly went upstairs to the bathroom.
Closing and locking the door behind him, he stared at his reflection in the mirror. He was getting paler by the second and he was starting to shake. He felt cold inside. That wretched sound just wouldn't leave him alone. It reminded him of...almost like...the clashing of kunai...
Suddenly, he and Akamaru were out in the battlefield again, fighting off another of the many White Zetsu clones. They managed to defeat it, despite their growing exhaustion due to several consecutive battles.
The sound of metal colliding in combat rang through the air around him. The distinct jab of a weapon piercing it's target was sickening. Listening to the gasps, the shrieks, and the last breaths of his dying allies who struggled to stay alive was torturous.
He couldn't do this. He felt lost, drowning in this sea of death and despair. He didn't know what to do, and that made him feel absolutely useless. There were so many White Zetsu clones, and the opposing forces were very powerful. It was possible that Konoha would lose this war.
"No! Don't give up! Losing is not an option! We have to win this, for Naruto, Killer B, and the world!" Kiba told himself.
He prepared to continue fighting when a comrade fell to the ground nearby. He was severely injured; blood dripped from his mouth and the large wound in his torso. He reached out weakly to Kiba.
"Help..." he pleaded in a whisper.
Kiba ran towards him, but the clone that hurt him got there first and delivered the final blow. The man died then and there, right before Kiba's eyes. Horrified and drained of his new motivation, he turned and ran, Akamaru close behind. The dog wouldn't abandon his companion.
Not at all sure of where he was going, he stopped when he saw Hinata rushing forward to protect Naruto from an oncoming attack. Deciding that he couldn't stand by and watch either of them die, Kiba searched the battlefield for Neji. He spotted the long haired Hyuga man and called out to him.
"Neji! Naruto and Hinata are in trouble!"
Neji nodded and finished off his adversary before quickly rushing past Kiba to his endangered cousin and friend. Hinata had just reached Naruto and spread her arms out in front of him in a sacrificial act to save his life. Neji wasn't going to allow that. He jumped in front of her, and the attack that was meant for Naruto went straight through him. The great Neji Hyuga died within minutes.
Then, Kiba was back in reality.
"That was all my fault! I could've gotten to them in time! I could've saved them on my own!"
He punched the mirror he had been staring into. It cracked and shattered. Several pieces of it broke off and fell down with a clatter.
"He didn't have to die! No one had to, and if someone did, it should have been me! Me..."
His right knuckles were bleeding, and that added to his hysteria. He sank to the floor and began to sob.
"Why did this happen?"
Downstairs, the three women looked up in alarm when they heard a crash and yelling. Kiba was still upstairs.
"I'm going to go check on him," Ino said with concern. Tsume and Hana were also a little worried.
Ino dashed up the stairs. She tried to open the bathroom door, but it was locked.
"Kiba? Kiba, are you alright in there? We heard a commotion."
No answer.
He did seem pretty disturbed by that noise earlier...I can only imagine what's going on in his head right now...
"Kiba, please open the door."
The doorknob wiggled a bit before the door opened. He didn't look good. He'd been crying again. Ino glanced past him at the mirror.
"What happened?" she asked. He opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out.
"Your hand is bleeding."
He nodded, and she squeezed past him into the bathroom, closing the door again. He looked away when she picked up his bloody hand to examine it. Looking back at the mirror, she determined that he must've punched it.
"Did you have another panic attack?" she asked, starting to heal his knuckles. A green chakra glowed around her hand as she placed it on top of his.
"Yeah. Really bad flashback, too," he said quietly.
"The sound?"
He flinched. "Yes."
Ino inwardly cursed herself for reminding him of it.
"Your hand is all better now. Are you?"
"Overall or right now? Because the answer to both is no. I'm getting tired of this really fast, I keep losing it. Tears, shakes, nightmares, panic attacks, flashbacks, all of it. It hasn't even been very long. How in the hell am I supposed to get through this?"
"I know this is tough. I know it's frustrating," she said softly, attempting to calm him.
"Do you?" Kiba shot back defensively. Ino eyebrows pulled together and her jaw dropped.
"I'm sorry, that was harsh," he said apologetically.
"This is stressful for both of us, more so for you than myself, and I get that, but you need to relax a little. This will be a long process. You can and will eventually overcome this to a certain degree."
"A certain degree? What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you can get better, but it's possible that you'll have some trouble with it every now and then in the future. There's no perfect cure for PTSD because every case is unique."
"Great," he said with sarcastic enthusiasm.
"Take some deep breaths and rinse your face. Come back down when you're ready," Ino said, heading back downstairs.
Kiba watched her go before he slowly breathed in and out a few times. He washed his face and looked up at the mirror.
Oh, yeah.
Remembering that he'd broken it, he looked at the new little scars on his knuckles.
"Mom's not gonna be too happy about that," he said to himself as he turned off the light and went downstairs.
"Fall in?" Tsume asked as he seated himself at the table again.
"No."
"Then what was all that?"
"I...er...zipped myself...it hurt and I got mad, so I yelled and punched the mirror."
"You broke the mirror?!"
"Sorry!"
"Were you crying?" Hana asked.
"It's very painful, okay?"
"Did you have to heal his hand?" she asked Ino.
"Yes."
"Did his genitals also require your medical attention?" Tsume inquired curiously.
Kiba looked at Ino, who glared back and swallowed before very slowly saying "Yes."
"It's a little soon for that, don't you think?"
"It was strictly professional, I promise," she said, slightly uncomfortable.
Tsume laughed. "I know, I'm just messing with you. It looks like everyone is done with dinner. Hana, would you help me with the dishes?"
"Sure."
The two Inuzuka women got up and cleared the table. They went into the kitchen and started cleaning the plates, glasses, and utensils in the sink.
"Well, that was kind of humiliating," Ino said to Kiba once Tsume and Hana were out of earshot.
"Don't worry, that's how dinner usually is here."
She was not amused.
"Right. Sorry."
Ino turned and went into the kitchen.
"Are you leaving?" Tsume asked, handing a plate to Hana so she could dry it.
"Yeah. Dinner was very good, and it was a pleasure to meet you today."
"Thanks. It was nice to meet you, too."
Ino walked back to Kiba.
"I'm going home now. Get some sleep tonight, and come back to my house in the morning."
"Okay. See you tomorrow."
He watched her leave.
"You got lucky. She's too good for you," his mother called over her shoulder from the kitchen. Hana chuckled.
"Yeah. Yeah, I know."
That night, Kiba lay in bed, tossing and turning. He looked at the clock on the nightstand next to his bed. It read 1:00 a.m. He sighed. Sleep would not come easily.
Eventually, the world fell away from him, and he turned around to see Ino in the distance. She was using the Mind Body Switch Technique on Obito Uchiha. She'd managed to take control of his body long enough to divert an attack that was aimed at Choji. Though he was able to regain control quickly afterwards, it was still a very impressive feat. However, she had exhausted herself, and she passed out. She started falling.
Kiba needed to catch her.
"Ino!" he shouted, trying to rouse her. She did not wake up and continued to fall. He started running, but it was as if he was running in place.
"Ino!" he yelled again. He ran harder, but nothing happened. He wasn't going to reach her in time.
Her body hit the ground with a loud thud that made Kiba wince. Now able to move, he rushed to her side.
Is she...dead?
Several of her bones were broken and her head was badly damaged on impact. Hoping he wasn't too late, he checked her pulse. Nothing. No breathing. No rise and fall of her chest. Ino was dead. The life had been knocked out of her. Another friend had become a casualty of war because of him.
Kiba held her lifeless body in his arms.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I should've caught you. I should've prevented this. Please be okay. Please wake up. Please wake up. Look at me, please!"
Then, Kiba woke up.
A/N: And that was chapter 5! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Penny for your thoughts? Leave a review and tell me what you think!