A/N: Hey, it's chapter 6! Thank you to all who reviewed, followed, and favorited!

MyHikari - Thank you, thank you, and I promise that this chapter is extra long!

Quirkista - Thank you dearly!

Stallion6 of Deviantart - Indeed. "Tobi is a good boy!" LIES.

OreoLover13 - Thank you! I'm amazed that you overcame the pairing barrier for my story!

Shishuco - Thanks! Short? I've got some work to do...

koolkid - Never fear, the update is here!

Spykee - Oh, thank you so very much! I'm touched that you were moved on an emotional level by my story!


Kiba's eyes flew open, and he jolted upright, having woken up from his latest nightmare. He rubbed his eyes, feeling more drained now than he did when he fell asleep.

He couldn't fathom why he had that dream. It wasn't even similar to what had actually happened, but it still made him uneasy. It was as if Ino had fallen from the sky, rather than falling down out of exhaustion. It was extremely distorted, to say the least. He was in and out of sleep for the rest of the night, tossing and turning.

When he woke up in the morning, he wasn't sure if he slept at all after the dream. He forced himself into an upright position and rubbed his eyes. He looked over at the end of his bed to see Akamaru still asleep, laying on his back with his paws up in the air. They twitched every now and then.

"Come on, buddy. Time to get up," Kiba said wearily. He patted Akamaru on the stomach, who snorted and rolled over. The two went downstairs to make breakfast just as they had the day before. Tsume was in the kitchen cleaning dishes.

"Where's Hana?" Kiba asked, stifling a yawn.

"She went to work."

He checked the clock. He'd gotten up later today than he had yesterday. He ate breakfast and got dressed in a rush, having to make up for lost time. Soon enough, he and Akamaru were out the door.

What would he tell Ino when she asked about how he slept? He couldn't tell her he'd slept fine, because his haggard face would give him away. He could say he simply had another bad dream about the war, but she'd want something specific. If he couldn't tell her something believable, she'd probe his mind for the truth. He didn't want her to know about his actual dream just yet, as he himself was still figuring out what exactly it meant.

What did he mean by that? It was just his head messing with him, that was all. Making him feel guilty about another lost friend, nothing more.

But he caught her, and she wasn't in danger, so why...

No. Just his head, nothing more.

At least, that's what he told himself.

They arrived at her house before long. Kiba was about to knock on her door, but hesitated. He needed something to tell her. Maybe he could say he dreamt about Neji? That would work. The thought of him brought an image of his dead body to Kiba's mind. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and knocked.

"Hey. You're later than you were yesterday," Ino said.

"Yeah, sorry. I didn't sleep so well."

"I see. Come in."

As Kiba and Akamaru situated themselves in the living room, Ino disappeared into the kitchen.

"Tea?" she called.

"Uh, sure."

She came back out carrying a tray with a teapot and two cups. She set it on the coffee table, poured tea into each cup, and offered one to Kiba. He took it, taking a large sip. It was hot, and he wanted to get it out of his mouth as quickly as possible because it was burning him.

However, he hadn't quite decided whether he wanted to swallow it or spit it out, so there was a lot of swishing and snorting noises. Once he'd figured out that he didn't want to spray hot tea all over the girl sitting next to him, he swallowed it with some difficulty.

"You okay, there?"

"Hot," he said simply, trying to air out his mouth.

"You're supposed to blow on it if you're going to drink it right away," Ino said, chuckling. "So, what kept you up last night? More nightmares?"

"Yeah."

"About what in particular?"

"Neji. The flashback I had yesterday was about him." Kiba thought about his dead body again, but pushed the thought away.

"Would you like me to take a look at it?"

"Nah, I don't really want to think about it again right now."

"Alright."

"So what do you have planned for today?" he asked, blowing on his tea in an exaggerated manner before taking another sip. Ino rolled her eyes, but smirked.

"I thought maybe we could go see the memorial in the training field today. Get out, you know? Maybe have some on-site therapy."

"Okay. Sounds good."

They finished their tea and made the short trip out to the field. When they got there, they sat down in front of the new, large memorial stone that had been placed there after the Fourth Shinobi World War.

"I figured we could start by reading the names on the stone."

"Oh. Okay." Kiba peered at the list of names engraved on the stone. Only the names of those from Konoha that died were on it, similar to the one next to it from the Third Shinobi World War. There wasn't enough room on it to include the name of every single person who died for the Allied Shinobi Forces, though Kiba was sure that such a memorial existed somewhere in one of the Five Great Nations.

He read the first name. "Muta Aburame. He was one of Shino's family members."

"Yes. He was blown up."

"Oh. Lovely."

Ino frowned at his sarcasm before continuing. "Read the next one."

"Shikaku Nara. He was Shikamaru's dad. Died when the HQ was destroyed."

"Yeah. Shikaku was the head of the Nara clan. He was a really smart man, like Shikamaru. Shikamaru looked up to his dad. Now Shikamaru's mom is in charge of the clan while Shikamaru is preparing to become the new head of the clan. Shikaku was good friends with Choji's father and my own." She looked down sadly.

"Are you alright?" Kiba asked, concerned.

"Yeah. Just read the next one."

"Inoichi Yama - oh, no..."

Tears came to Ino's eyes. "Dad was so nice, and he loved me so much. He made sure I turned out right, that I loved my family and friends, and that I did well in my training. He wanted me to symbolize a violet flower. Before he died, I was going over a strategy with Shikamaru and Choji when I heard his voice in my head. He was telling me how much he loved me, how proud of me he was, and that I'd blossomed into a violet flower just like he'd hoped I would. He was saying goodbye. When I turned around, the HQ was gone, and so was he. He was the head of my clan, so now my mom has to run the clan and the flower shop. She was devastated when he died. So was I, but I couldn't show it. I had to keep going. Then, I had a war to fight, and now, I have to be strong for mom. But I love him and I miss him." She began to sob.

Kiba hugged her. "Hey, I get it. I lost my dad, too. I was really young, and I hardly knew him. Hell, I barely remember what he looked like, but I know Hana looks more like him than I do. He wasn't from my clan, and he was having doubts about becoming part of my family. My parents weren't married, so one day my mom asked if he wanted to get married and join the clan. He said he wasn't sure if this was what he wanted, he wasn't sure if this was right for him. He said he needed to figure things out. So my mom made it real easy for him, said if he was having doubts, he should leave. So he did. I haven't seen him or heard from him since. Part of me feels like my mom scared him away and didn't give him a chance, but part of me feels like she did the right thing. It's almost like he ruined relationships for her, because she hasn't gotten involved with anyone else after he left. Anyway, I don't know exactly how you feel, but I do get it. I hope that's enough to help."

Ino had relaxed by then and her crying had stopped, so he let go of her.

"Thank you, it does help. I kind of just...needed to deal with my emotions for a minute. I've been pushing them aside to put on a brave face for everyone, but sometimes you need to let yourself feel sad. Mourning helps you cope with loss," she said with a sniffle.

"So you'll be okay now?"

"I think so. Could you read the next one?"

He checked the stone for the next name. "Uh...could we skip this one for now?"

"Is it Neji?"

"Yeah. I've thought about him enough to last me a while." Another flash of Neji's corpse came to his mind, so he read the next name to distract himself.

Ino and Kiba read the names of more people until lunchtime. Neither knew very many of them, but since Ino was a medic, she was able to tell Kiba who each one was and how they died. They stopped halfway through the list to talk about what they were going to do for lunch.

"Do you wanna go somewhere? I know a good barbecue place," Kiba suggested.

"Barbecue isn't really my thing, and we got Ichiraku's yesterday," Ino said.

"What other options do we have?"

"Well, we could go back to my house and I could make something for us to eat. We can save the rest of the list for another day."

"Alright. Let's do that, then." He stood up and brushed himself off. "Come on, Akamaru. We're going now."

Ino looked over toward the middle of the field to see the dog rolling around in the grass and laughed. Kiba pulled her to her feet as Akamaru trotted up to them, and then the three were on their way back to Ino's.

"I'm sorry for my little freak-out earlier," she said.

"No problem. Didn't I do the same thing at various times yesterday?"

"You did."

"See? No harm done. I guess visiting the memorial was good for both of us."

"Yeah."

Once they reached her house, Ino went into the kitchen, followed by Kiba. Akamaru made himself comfortable on the couch in the living room.

"What do you want?" she asked, checking her fridge.

"I don't know. What do you have?"

"Well, I usually make myself a bento to take to work for lunch, so I could make a couple of those."

"Sounds good."

"Alright. Why don't you go in the living room? They'll be done in a little while," Ino said, shooing him.

"I can cook, you know," Kiba said, crossing his arms.

"Really? I thought your mom took care of that stuff."

"She does, but I make breakfast for Akamaru and I in the mornings because we get up later."

"Interesting. Are you any good at it?"

"I'm okay."

"Then you can fill this with water and boil it for me. If you do a good job, I'll let you put the rice in," she said, handing him a pot.

He rolled his eyes. "Do you have meat?"

"I have some, but I usually eat fish instead."

"Why don't I make the meat while you make the rest?"

"Wow. Helpful."

"It's more help than you thought you'd have, and if it means that much, I'll make the fish, too."

"Deal."

Ino set water on the stove to boil for the rice and began to sauté some vegetables, while Kiba started pan frying pieces of beef and fish. She was kind of impressed by the fact that he could cook, since she didn't know very many men who could.

"Son of a bitch!" Kiba suddenly exclaimed, putting his finger in his mouth. He'd accidentally touched the stovetop and burned his index finger. Ino stared at him.

"What?" he asked, taking his finger out of his mouth and shaking it. "'Bitch' isn't a big deal when you've lived with the Inuzuka clan all your life."

She laughed, putting the rice into the now boiling pot of water. "Need me to heal it?"

"Nah, I'm good." He flipped the pieces of beef in one pan, then did the same with the pieces of fish in the other.

"You know, Shikamaru's having a party of sorts tomorrow night. He's going to be sworn in as the new head of his clan."

"Oh, yeah? Shikamaru doesn't seem like the kind of guy who'd throw a party."

"He's not. His mom is throwing it for him. Anyway, I'm going. Are you?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Oh, come on. You can come with me. It could be good for you to see the others again."

"Are you sure?"

"If you come over again tomorrow morning and we work with you some more, you should be fine. I doubt there'll be any triggers at the party, and I'll block your memories again if I have to."

"Well, alright."

By then, the food was done, so Ino turned off the stove. Kiba grabbed a couple of Bento boxes, and they started to place the food in them. She scooped rice into the first section of each box, while he put beef into the second section of his and fish into the second section of hers. She put some vegetables next to the beef and the fish, and the bentos were done.

"There's some extra rice. Why don't you give it to Akamaru?" Ino said. Kiba scooped the rest of the rice into a bowl, and then they went out into the living room with the food.

Seeing Akamaru on the couch, Ino scolded him. "Aka, no! Get down!"

Kiba smirked.


A/N: I'm so sorry for taking forever to update! I've been super busy, along with a mild case of writer's block. However, I'm absolutely thrilled to say that Trauma has reached over 1,000 views, 34 reviews, 20 follows, and 11 favorites! It doesn't sound like much, but for KibaIno, it's huge! Thank you guys so much for taking the time to read this story. Thanks even more for reviewing and following and favoriting. It means the world to me that this story has made it as far as it has, and it's all because of you guys. I've still got a long way to go, but I think I can do it with your help!

Anyway, I hope you guys liked the chapter. Until next time!