Konohagakure no Sato, Sunday Morning

( There was one good thing... )

( The sun was slowly rising. )

[Annnd we're done! A million thanks to the ridiculously amazing need_no_moon for all her help. NFB, NFI. The entire thing can be found here.]

MHA #1, Sunday Afternoon

Something in her relaxed and tightened all at once when the portal closed behind her, leaving her staring at the empty Causeway. Go back to your island.

Well, she had. Here she was.

It didn't really feel solid or real or firm. Like walking through a fog. Those were her feet and they were moving but Ino didn't remember making a conscious decision about where to go. She should go to the dorms. Was she going there?

It didn't really matter, did it? Not right now. There was something wrong with that train of thought but she couldn't be bothered to figure out what it was. There was walking, that was close enough to properly functioning for her, right now.

Maybe she was heading towards her garden? That would make sense, almost. Things felt muffled, strangled, thoughts only half-formed before they skittered back, dissipating under the weight of the ennui that had fallen over her.

The preserve was another option. She had a hideaway there. That seemed… almost… like a good idea. Ino didn't really feel like company. She didn't feel like a whole lot, honestly. Blanked out, washed out, numb.

When her feet stopped moving, she blinked at her surroundings. Oh.

Well that wasn't much of a surprise either, though it twisted weirdly in her chest.

Ino didn't so much sit as collapse like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Slumping down against the wall outside the door, sandaled feet out in front of her, as she just closed her eyes.

Knocking just seemed like too much effort right now.

[For he whose apartment she's sitting outside of.

Warning: There is discussion of character death happening in this post.]