[ closed ]

[blondejokes]

Who: Ino-chan & Yosuke-kun~
When: Saturday
Where: Some rooftop somewhere
Summary: Random encounter is go.
Warnings: Will update if need be.

[ She's sitting on the roof of a building; she doesn't know what purpose it serves, nor does she care. She isn't watching the streets below. People flying past her - with or without wings - doesn't bother her anymore. The loud, blaring sirens of the flashing vehicles doesn't create alarm in her head. These are some things she's gotten used to already.

And there's still one she doesn't know if she could ever get used to.

She keeps her chin tilted up, watching the sky. She had wished for it to be cloudy, but it's just as well that it's sunny out. She isn't crying, or even feels the intent to. It's bittersweet; she doesn't want to be alone, but she knows he doesn't belong here. None of them do. ]

Comments

[blondejokes]

[ Huh. She had expected him to, like, go blushing or something. Poor guy, he was really affected by Shikamaru's disappearance/death/whatever it was. Ino doesn't take it as a blow to her ego or try to go out of her way to get the reaction, instead just sighing and staring up at the clear, cloudless sky.

Perfect day for some beach training, she notes in the back of her mind, but she thinks she deserves a day off. Besides, she had a date to get ready for that night, even though it wasn't ... hers. ]

How are you holding up?

[inthejunk]

[He glances down at the cast on his arm, almost as if he'd forgotten it was there.]

Better. Did you notice how I recognized you right away? I'm not on the morphine anymore.

[blondejokes]

I thought so. I wouldn't trust you to wander on your own outside if you were still on it. [ And she's assuming whoever is taking care of him - that Souji guy, right? Shikamaru had said something that sounded like it - would feel the same. He had been out of it when she had come to visit him. ]

[inthejunk]

I did a few times, but it usually ended kind of badly.

[He stayed at Souji's that first week, while Shika looked after the both, but he's been on his own since. Either way, it seems like he's lived through the experience!]

[blondejokes]

You're lucky you didn't get yourself hurt even more than you already are.

[ It seems like it'd be easy for him to get hurt. ]

[inthejunk]

Nah, people were pretty good about pointing me in the right direction. It might have been because someone wrote my address on my wrist, though.

[Frown.]

In permanent ink. It was probably Uryuu-san, huh?

[blondejokes]

[ She laughs. ]

Probably. Or maybe Shikamaru did a temporary seal on you until the morphine ran out. I'm sure he knew you'd try to do something like that eventually.

[inthejunk]

[The mention of Shika makes his face do something funny. A little pinch at the corners of his mouth, a slight tremble on his lip and in his eyes, a careful, blank mask everywhere else. He swallows, thickly, and doesn't speak for a moment.]

Remind me to kick his ass for that someday.

[blondejokes]

[ She sees it, a blunt thought of get over it passing quickly through her mind. Even as a shinobi trained to get over the deaths of comrades quickly, that isn't always how it works. She understands what he's going through and pushes the thought away. ]

Get in line. I have a few asskickings reserved for him already.

[inthejunk]

I get cuts, he's known me twice so I have two people's rights to kicking his ass.

[blondejokes]

[ She elbows him. Not hard, per his injury, but hard enough to make her point. ]

As if! I've known him longer, I get to be first.

[inthejunk]

Ow!

No way. If you see him in Konoha you get to be first, but around here, there's like a dozen people ahead of you in line. Nill-san and Uryuu-san, and probably a bunch of people I don't even know about too.

[He's arguing, but it's a bit more lighthearted than before. Watch it though, jeez. There are injuries under his clothes too ya know.]

[blondejokes]

That doesn't count because I won't remember this place bak home! He'll still get his ass kicked there for just being him, but it's not the same, Yosuke.

[ Man up, Yosuke! Don't let this hundred pound blonde beat you up. ]

[inthejunk]

That's a sad story, but you still have to wait your turn.

[Poke.]

[blondejokes]

No way!

[ She cocks her arm back, then remembers she can't be as rough with him as she is with Chouji and Shikamaru. She lowers it, and she crosses her arms instead. ] Hmph.

[inthejunk]

[The momentary teasing dies off quickly, and Yosuke stares off into the distance again. It's not easy to keep up the "everything is fine" game when Nill isn't there to be strong for. Without her to hold up, his resolution always crumbles.]

[blondejokes]

[ Ino stares at him, a thought of pity crossing her mind for a moment for him. She reaches out to put a hand on his shoulder. ]

Yosuke?

[inthejunk]

[He jumps a little, coughing to get his heart out of his throat, but manages a small smile for Ino again. She's a beautiful girl, after all, and she just lost a friend too. Maybe it's time to muster up some more resolution somehow, from somewhere...]

Hmm?

[blondejokes]

Are you sure you're okay?

[ She wasn't used to being the moral support for a boy, but it couldn't have been any different than with a girl. He was sensitive (aww!), and seeing any guy like this triggered something in her.

Something in the back of her mind told her that if she didn't take care of Yosuke for Shikamaru, he wouldn't be too happy with her. ]

[inthejunk]

Huh? Yeah, of course.

[The answer is automatic. It's a total lie, but if he's lucky it isn't an obvious one. Wait, is he smiling yet? Yeah, a little. Okay. There. That should do the trick.]

How are you holding up, Ino-chan? It must be difficult.

[blondejokes]

I know he's fine. [ She nods, giving Yosuke a smile. ] Back home or in some other world, he can handle himself. He's not as weak as he pretends to be.

[inthejunk]

He's dead.

[Yosuke doesn't mince words, there. He believes it, and saying anything else only seems like a kindness. In actuality, it's cruel. Just false hope. If he even hopes for a moment, Nill might catch on to it, and then she'd be set up to be crushed all over again.]

[Sooner or later, another Shika will show up and it'll all be the same for Ino, but it won't be the same for Nill at all. He likes Ino, but his duty doesn't lie with her. He made no promises to protect her from anything, not even her loved ones. So he tells her the truth.]

It happened to me, too. I'm dead, and I'm not coming back. Ask anyone who knew him, they'll tell you. I'm not the right guy. I'm just the replacement. And wherever Shika is, he's burning with me.

[He gets to his feet, almost blindly -are those tears? Wow, way to be a man, Hanamura- and stumbles back towards the stairwell.]

[blondejokes]

Hey! [ Ino stands, pointing at him, scowling. Her shout is louder than she had intended it to be, but ... who the hell did he think he was, to say things like that? Shikamaru wasn't dead. Dying didn't happen here, right? They came back? And if they didn't, then ... they were just sent back home, yeah? That was what she had been told. ]

That isn't true.

[inthejunk]

[He stops, but he doesn't turn around. He just swipes at his face, furious with himself for being so weak, even after all this time. Shika would be rolling his eyes right now...and then getting him a tissue or something.]

It happens all the time. It happened with Oz, too. Gilbert lost his mind about it. You know why? Because he's not dumb enough to believe what it says in the newspaper.

[Now he is being cruel. Lashing out, because it's easy, and she's there. He swallows, choking on an apology that won't quite come up. He's not sorry because it's cruel, he's sorry because it's true. And how do you apologize for something like that?]

[blondejokes]

[ That was unexpected. Ino hadn't been expecting a complete 180 degree transformation in his personality. Hadn't expected this to turn out this way. But ... could she really blame him? She was angry at him, sure, for saying such things, but he was more broken up about Shikamaru leaving than he would let on. Ugh-- guys were so stupid sometimes, swallowing their emotions like they'd just go away if they ignored them long enough. ]

Yosuke... [ She shakes her head. He needs time alone. Time to get himself together. They weren't particularly close, and Ino wasn't necessarily in a good mood anymore. ]

I'll talk to you later. [ She turns to leave via jumping to another rooftop to get back home. She's gettin' real tired of your shit, Yosuke. ]

[inthejunk]

[He doesn't turn around, and he doesn't say goodbye. But he does glance over his shoulder once just to make sure she really did leave before he gives in, falling to his knees and sobbing against the wall. It's pathetic, and it's pointless, and it's weak. But it's better than snapping at innocent girls. He'll get it out of his system now and apologize later. She'll forgive him. If she doesn't, he'll buy her some flowers. On Ino, flowers are guaranteed to work.]