Grief

A/N: I don't know how or why this happened, all I know is that I felt like writing some KibaIno and can never bring myself to complete my attemots at them for some reason. So anyway, I bet a lot of you KibaIno readers might know my sister Infinite Katalyst who writes the KibaIno story Trauma. I imagine this story will be kinda short, and it is in no way related to my story Blood is Thicker. I really hope you guys like this one, it is my first foray into this particular pairing. They always stump me it seems, and its frustrating because I love them so much.

Ino had sworn to herself that she would not cry. The sky had been gray all day, matching her feelings of sadness. The funeral had been earlier today, before the rain had started, and Ino had stayed so strong. She allowed her mother to weep on her shoulder without shedding a single tear, and she remained composed when Choji enveloped Shikamaru and Ino in a large hug, apologizing for the deaths of their fathers when it wasn't his fault. She even absorbed Sakura's pitiful look with sheer willpower not to cry.

But for some reason it was Kiba of all people who cracked her. He merely came up to her and whispered "It gets better."

She had looked at him in shock. Did he really have the gall to come up to her and say such a thing when she had suffered such a momentous loss? All she manage to say was "Wha-" before he cut her off.

"My father, he died when I was young. You always miss them, but its less painful when you come to term with it."

By this point, most of the people had cleared from the funeral, and the drizzle was starting to fall. Ino sobbed slightly before tears started to pour down her face, waiting all day to fall. Breaking down, she turned her back to him, her body being wracked with sobs, and small raindrops intermingling with the hot tears traveling down her face. Kiba was at a loss.

"I..I tried to stay str-strong.." Ino managed out, wondering why she was telling him all this. The dolt was standing there with a panicked face even though he had caused this mess.

"Hey hey, I get it, I saw Hana do the same thing so I wouldn't get too sad," he said, hesitantly patting her shoulder. He knew he should be more consoling, the girl had lost her father after all, but he didn't know what to do with crying girls. He didn't know what compelled him to approach her, but he knew he was trying to make her feel better, he hadn't expected her to cry.

Ino continued to sob, and was surprised when she felt her knees give out, causing Kiba to try to catch her by wrapping both of him arms around her torso, but it made them both fall to the ground, Ino's face landing on his shoulder. Her tears already pooled on his leather jacket, and both parties were soaked from the rain.

A flash of lightning and a crack of thunder made her leap into his arms more than she already was, and he was startled by her close proximity to him. The raindrops became colder and fatter, and the two were drenched. Desiring a change of position, Kiba began to stand up, guiding Ino up as well with his arms. He tried to rub her back soothingly like his sister did to him when they had lost their father, but found it too awkward and pulled away from his embrace with Ino.

Her tears had subsided, and she was now looking at him, her aqua eyes red and puffy. She didn't know what had just happened between them, but was grateful for the comfort he had, albeit tried to give her. It was weird of her to accept comfort from someone she didn't know very well, but she appreciated the gesture all the same.

"Thank you, I didn't mean to cry all over you," she croaked, wiping her eyes vigourously, even though the rain kept falling. Kiba rubbed his soaked hair sheepishly, "Uh, it's no trouble."

She trembled slightly, and Kiba just sighed before taking off his jacket. "Here, put this on, we're taking you home now." He was being surprisingly noble at the moment.

She put it around her shoulders sadly, so uncharacteristic of her he thought. Had it been any normal day she would have trounced off on her way home alone, grumbling about she didn't need any of his patriarchial bullshit. It had happened to Shikamaru and Choji before when they offered to carry her home after one training session where she twisted her ankle.

Her skin was pale and cold and her hair was saturated and hung limply from her ponytail holder, he noted as led her by the hand home. "He's not going to be waiting for me at home," Ino whispered, mostly to herself.

Kiba lowered his eyes as he remembered the feeling. He would excitedly dash home from school as a child before remembering that his father wasn't there waiting for him. It was no Uchiha massacre, but his own personal tragedy caused painful twinges in Kiba's heart from time to time, and this was definitely one of those times.

"How's Shikamaru holding up?" he asked, trying to diffuse the glum situation, though he realized too late it was equally glum conversation.

She sniffed. "I don't know. He looks like he's holding up better, but he took Asuma's death harder than Choji or I and I think he's basically reliving the experience."

Ino was surprised she had said that. She had been thinking it quietly to herself all week, and hadn't meant to say it. This whole experience was very weird for her, as she was allowing Kiba to hold her hand while she wore his jacket. And since she was hugging him earlier, she was pretty sure that this was the most she had ever touched him fact, they hadn't really ever spoken much to each other.

Although, now that she thought about it, she remembered interacting with him a little during the war. "Um, Kiba?" she began, sniffing again. "Thanks for saving me that one time during the war."

"Oh, you mean when I caught you? No problem." He said, trying to remain nonchalant. He couldn't believe she remembered that, it had been literally been about 30 seconds, and so much else had happened to overshadow that moment.

"Yeah, but...who knows what could have happened..."

"Uh, Ino don't talk like that! Nothing ended up happening, so it was ok."

She faltered, and was silent for a few moments more as they turned the corner, nearing her house. The rain was beginning to let up, and they thunder and lightning had ceased. They stopped in front of her house, stepping onto the porch, where its roof shielded them from the rain.

"I'm really sorry for crying all over you, I bet my cry face was really ugly.I just, miss my Dad so much. He usually was the one who comforted me when things got rough, like with Asuma-sensei, but now he's...gone."

"It's ok, Ino, really. We've all lost a lot, and I get it. I was really sad when my Dad died too."

"Thanks, Kiba." Ino said, giving him a polite wave before opening the door to her house and stepping inside, giving him a last look over her shoulder. Inevitably, her mom and some clan members were probably inside wondering where on earth she'd disappeared to and why she was so wet.

Watching her go, Kiba turned around, hopped off the porch and sighed as he realized she still had his jacket. "Dammit," he growled, mentally smacking himself for forgetting to ask for it back. He half considered knocking on the door to ask for it, but shrugged and continued on his way.

He allowed his legs to just take him where they wanted, he didn't have Akamaru with him today because of the funeral, Inuzuka dogs would howl in grief, something he expected the Yamanaka to not appreciate, just like the prissy Hyuuga didn't.

Not really surprised, he ended up in the Inuzuka clan graveyard, right in front of his father's grave. The epitaph was slightly eroded at the corners, and very soggy, dead flowers sat at its base. He wiped them away, and sat down on the squishy grass in front of it.

"Hey Dad," he mumbled, looking at his hands. Repressed sadness bubbled to the surface, and a few tears spilled down his cheeks.

He didn't sob like Ino had, but knew it was because of her he was doing it. She reminded him so damn much of that feeling, he could not help to recall it.

Of course, what he had said to her was true. It did get easier over time, but he always missed his Dad. Sighing dejectedly, he stood, wiped his face and headed towards the compound, where he knew Akamaru was waiting patiently for him.

The sky was beginning to become less gray, and the late afternoon sun was starting to peek through the large rain clouds. Kiba entered his home, where Akamaru jumped on him excitedly. Hana looked up from a book she was reading on the couch, confused by his appearance.

"Why are you all wet?"

"It rained, dumbass, I'm gonna take a shower," Kiba said, not looking her in the eyes lest she see his were red from crying.

"But you're already wet, and don't call me a dumbass I'm smarter than you!"

"I'm cold that's why," he growled and dashed up the stairs, Akamaru at his feet.

"Oh whatever," Hana said, flipping to the next page of her book. 'Teenagers...'

A/N: What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Wish i'd quit writing?

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MyHikari