In the village of Suna the Konoha refugees had set themselves up in the market district, due to the circumstances the council of Suna had provided their rooms free of charge until they were able to reach a decision.
Inuzuka Hana walked into the room that was shared between her and her brother, he was sitting cross-legged at the edge of the windowsill Akamaru was laying on his belly, in subdued silence on his lap as Kiba absently scratched his head.
Hana stepped forward, her footsteps, echoing quietly off the walls.
Kiba suddenly spoke up. "She's…not coming…isn't she."
Hana looked to her feet, trying to push back the tears as pain shot through her chest. She knew the reality of the situation, most of their family had been cut down, only Kiba, herself, and three more Inuzuka remained along with whatever others had sided with the opposing faction, which was about a dozen or so.
She silently walked to her little brother and wrapped him in a hug. He clasped one of his hands over hers, his shoulders shaking as he tried to hold back tears. Hana placed her forehead on the base of his neck as tears leaked from her eyes as well. Akamaru whimpered in sadness as the salty scent reached him. He nudged Kiba's hand offering what little comfort he could.
Shikamaru sighed as Chouji, himself and Sakura stared at the blond haired girl who had not spoke a single word since their arrival. Not even her mother, who was equally distraught had managed to get her to speak.
Shikamaru had become something of a…support for his teammates, hiding the pain of his father's passing in order to help them cope, letting his tears fall only when he was alone or in the middle of the night, in his sleep.
Chouji was still in a form of shock, or perhaps disbelief and still hadn't been able to fully wrap his mind around his own father's death. He knew, somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that even when they were talking in the Hyuuga mansion that it was his way of saying goodbye.
He just couldn't accept it.
Sakura had been trying in her own way helping them out, being that her parents were civilians they left with the group. She felt terrible for her friends. She didn't know what to say or do really. What could she really say? She couldn't say she understood, because she knew she didn't, her parents were both alive and were volunteering in the hospital to help treat some of the remaining injuries the survivors had right now She didn't understand their pain, and so she wouldn't pretend to.
Chouji moved to step forward but Shikamaru's hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to his lazy friend with a confused gaze but he merely shook his head. "I'll deal with it." He sighed tiredly.
Sakura nodded and grabbed Chouji's hand. "Come on Chouji. Lets leave them alone and see if we can help out at the hospital."
"Yeah, sure." He absently said walking along side her waving at Shikamaru who waved back.
Shikamaru sighed again as they left and he walked into the room.
He sat down at the edge of the bed, next to her. "Ino?" He prodded.
She gave no answer.
He sighed. "Ino…come on this is unhealthy." He said, holding back his customary mutter of troublesome.
She still gave no answer.
He sighed. He then stood to leave but her voice stopped him.
"Why did they stay behind?"
He paused and sighed again. "Because…if they ran, the enemy force would have caught up to us…they had to protect us…"
She bowed her head, placing her forehead on her knees, letting her blond hair cascade forward like a platinum waterfall. "So…its our fault?"
Shikamaru snapped his head to her. He walked around the bed and sat infront of her. He firmly but gently gripped her shoulders. "Ino…listen to me." He paused trying to find the right words. "Your dad loved you right?"
She nodded.
"Don't you think…he would be angry at you for blaming yourself for his death, when there was clearly nothing you could do.."
"But…"
"Ino." He firmly cut her off. "There was nothing you could do…there was nothing anyone could do." He said, somehow both for himself as well as for her.
She muffled a sob in her throat as her shoulders shook. "Its not fair…its not fair…its not fair…" She continued to repeat over and over again as she shook her head. Shikamaru slowly wrapped his arms around the girl as she continued to cry.
Slowly he felt her arms wrap around his waist as she buried her face in his chest and wept bitter tears of loss.
Meanwhile in the Suna council chambers several individuals were locked in an argument.
"These recent events make it abundantly clear that we must reinstate our alliance with the leaf village immediately. If the eye witness accounts have any merit at all then that means they possess a ninja that can single-handedly wipe out at least 1/3 of our ninja. Not to mention that a good portion of the ninja he faced were those of the renowned Hyuuga clan. If we could somehow arrange a political marriage then surely…"
"Are you insane man!" Another cried out, cutting him off. "This fool intends to lead war across the nation, if we ally with him then we will surely be dragged into this war which is impossible to win. What we must do is attack Konoha now while they are weak! It is the perfect opportunity to increase our influence along the central forests region. We could nearly double our income."
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