Decaying Bluebells

Arc XVI - Obito

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

Warning: Angst. Language. USUAL. Character death!

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Interlude - Omniscient - 16

Ino watched her sister, fast asleep in her lap. Her fingers reached out and she brushed back strands of hair that fell over her face. Her fingers lingered a moment or two longer than necessary on her baby sister's ruined eye.

"You really love her," Shikamaru said. He and Chōji were lounging in the living room with Ino. They were waiting for Asuma to come over so they could move on to their mission, but he seemed to be taking longer than usual.

"Yes," Ino said. "More than anything else in the world."

And it was true. Ino loved her sister very much... she remembered... on that day... when she swore to herself to always protect her sister, no matter the cost.

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Flashback (post Chūnin Exams, pre-time skip)

Ino knew her sister was a very bright girl. It was something Ino was undeniably proud of and something she quite enjoyed. Her sister was always the one she could turn to if Ino ever had a problem. Ino knew she could rely on her through and through. Ino also knew that her sister was rather delicate in some manners. She learned this when it became apparent that after her Haha and Chich did not return home with her baby sister the night she was born, or the two years afterwards.

In some manners, Ino was rather paranoid when it came to her sister. For a long while, she nearly thought her sister would be dead the next day. She didn't know exactly what was wrong with her at the time, only that it always put a strain on Haha whenever Ino brought it up, and Chichi got very quiet. It was why Ino always spent as much time with her sister as she could when, as if trying to soak up as much memories of her as she could before her time was up. As an effect due to her frequent visits, she found that she quite adored her sister and that her sister was very smart.

Ino was thrilled when Nao was declared well enough to return home, but some parts of her were worried. Her sister was still weak, still fragile. True, she may have bested Ino in that one match, but that had nothing to do with strength. That was all about technique, and it did nothing to assuage Ino's worries.

Some parts of Ino never wanted Nao to join the academy. The rest of her felt ashamed of those parts because she knew how much Nao wanted to go and she knew how much fun Nao had in the academy.

But those parts of Ino would not be ignored. If anything, they would become louder and louder. It was her baby sister and already on her first mission, Nao would lose her eye. Followed by that, she would nearly dieagain and Ino risked losing her sister all over again.

Ino hated that.

She hated being useless, she hated that her baby sister was so fragile, she hated that her sister would continue to put herself in danger and worse of all she hated that her sister didn't seem to give a damn about her own life.

Why? Why didn't Nao care enough about her own life? Why did she continue to risk herself for them? It wasn't fair. She was so young and she just didn't deserve any of it.

Ino hated it.

She hated it very much.

She couldn't help her sister.