Konohagakure no Sato, Saturday Afternoon (Fandom Time) / Feb. 15th (Konoha Time)

[intraspective]

Really, it had been a month and a half now and Ino had to admit that she was—feeling better. Between her father teaching Zack (and water walking had proved to be quite a hilarious thing to watch) and her father teaching her, she was feeling useful and busy without it being anything too taxing.

She hadn’t seen either of her previous teammates, which stung, but Ino stomped down firmly on that as she disentangled her mind from her father’s and ignored his look. It wasn’t the first time she’d avoided… whatever it was he’d wanted to talk about.

And she doubted it would be the last.

“That’s enough for now,” he said, after a moment. “How about you go and get some air?”

It was phrased as a suggestion, but Ino was well used to her father’s orders. With a quick kiss to his cheek, she left the room, went down the long, dark hall and out into the sunshine. It was a lovely day—February, already, which made her head hurt if she thought too hard about the days and how they related to Fandom—but, Ino thought, as she leaned against the balcony and pulled out her phone, hitting speed dial, maybe all that time had been what she’d needed.

And, across universes, her phone call reached…

[For ze raspberried one. Mwahaha. NFB.]

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[intraspective]

If asked, after it all, Ino would never be able to say how much time had passed from the initial attack to Zack finding them, to her father deciding that they'd done enough in this area and that orders were, Hokage-sama's orders, were to move.

Afterwards, she'd think, that had it not been for Hokage-sama's orders, that she'd have died.

The previous explosions were like nothing that hit them in a world of fire and rage and furious chakra that swept through the village, obliterating everything in its path as she and her father ran because there was nothing to do but run as the world exploded behind them in a mass of destruction that left Konoha little more than a crater in the ground. Only a few homes on the fringes surviving. The Hokage Monument destroyed but, and Ino knew she wasn't the only one that hoped fervently, that the civilians who'd made it far underground there were still alive.

All of that came later, though. Thought went out the window as the ground shook and the ground screamed and that was joined by thousands of other screams and Ino couldn't see Zack.

Her screaming then, as her father tugged her along, got shriller. Zack had been back there, helping with civilians.

[puppy_fair]

Zack hadn't seen it coming.

Once he'd found Ino, he'd been given his mission. Once he'd been given his mission, the entire world began and ended with assisting in any way possible with the evacuation. He'd been back and forth to the monument a few times, using his sword to tear away at rubble blocking the path, every now and again going so far as to risk a few seconds of Combat Mode to tap into a few of his more physical Materia. Assault Twister, he'd learned, was excellent for clearing a path quickly, without resorting to fire.

He'd managed a few trips to the Monument and back again, had used more Potions than he'd anticipated, leaving him practically empty-handed, but didn't mind in the least. Potions were easy enough to replace. Human lives weren't.

He was on his way back into Konoha when the explosion had hit, levelling buildings, throwing debris and stragglers about like confetti thrown into the wind. For a split moment, he found himself wondering if the gods themselves were attacking, to be able to strike with a force like this.

And then everything had gone black.

It might have been moments, a matter of seconds or minutes, or perhaps even hours before he finally stirred, every square inch of him feeling exactly like he'd been through hell and was unfortunate enough to wake up somewhere in the aftermath. He couldn't take stock of his injuries. Not with his head spinning the way it was.

At first all he really noticed, ignoring the pain and trying to at least sit up, was that everything was quiet. A minute later, the haze that he'd fallen into gave way completely into something entirely different. Even half-buried in debris as he was, he could see far enough to realize just what was left of Konoha.

The haze gave way to horror, and he didn't have any breath left with which to scream.

[intraspective]

Though she didn't know it, Ino had screamed enough for the both of them, her throat gone ragged as she'd tried to, to figure out what to do.

What was there to be done? Konoha was gone.

"Search for survivors," her father ordered, voice taut and Ino realized with horror that they had no way of knowing if her mother was alive. She had to have made the shelter of the Monument but the Monument was... no longer there...

She shook and barely realized it. "With your mind," her father said, brusque in his own horror. But the hug he gave her was tight and Ino was desperately grateful for it as she dropped her shields and went searching.

Look for survivors, that was what she was supposed to be doing, but the only person, the first person she had to find was Zack. Otherwise she was just going to scream and scream and scream as her world crumbled even further.

[puppy_fair]

Zack sat.

Zack sat, and he stared at the crater that was once a village that he had been starting to grow comfortable in. Fond of. He was still half-buried, planks and stone and gods only knew what else pinning his legs to the ground. He was one hell of a sight, burned and battered, clothing shredded. The Buster Sword was laying nearby, knocked clear from his back in the blast, but it had served as a shield in the most critical moments, keeping the flying ruins from shredding him open from behind.

He should... should do something. Pick himself up. Search for survivors.

Konoha was populated by normal people. He couldn't imagine most of the people who hadn't made it to cover surviving the blast.

... Where had Ino been?

Zack sat. For all that he knew that he should pick himself up and make himself useful, there didn't seem to be anything left in the world that he could possibly manage.

[intraspective]

Zack sat and Ino searched, her voice cracking out where survivors were--mostly shinobi, a small sane part of her observed, very very few civilians--and all the time looking, seeking desperately for the one mind that she knew better than nearly any.

Another few survivors and then--Ino all but burst into tears. She'd found him, she'd found him, thank Shiva but she'd found him.

<<Z-Zack!>> And her voice cutting into his mind, desperate and relieved and shocked all at once. Too much was happening for her to handle, but he was alive.

He was alive.

[puppy_fair]

"Ino...?" One of Zack's arms didn't seem to be working, and he wasn't even going to bother to look to see how smashed up the bones had to be in order to manage that on a SOLDIER. The one that wasn't injured as severely moved, his hand covering his mouth as he bit back a sob of relief. He couldn't see her, try though he might to turn to find her. But she was alive. "Where are you? Are you okay?"

He was speaking out loud. Had no idea how to talk to her this way, or if she'd even hear him, but he had to make the attempt.

She was alive.

[intraspective]

She couldn't hear the words he was speaking out loud, but his mind resonated with them well enough.

<<I'm safe,>> she assured him, getting to her feet, barely able to see for the tears that she was leaking. <<I'm coming to get you. How badly are you hurt?>>

[puppy_fair]

"I..."

There was a good question, wasn't it? Zack was too much SOLDIER to be able to tell how severe his injuries were simply by judging the pain. He knew that his left arm was in a bad way, but only because it didn't work, and he couldn't see enough of himself to be able to judge how badly-off the rest of him was.

He had no idea how badly he was hurt. That was... quite an unsettling realization, unto itself.

"I'm pinned," he offered, instead. Which really didn't answer anything at all, but if nothing else, it meant that his wounds had to be serious, to keep a SOLDIER from digging himself out.

[intraspective]

<<Okay.>> And it was through sheer force of will that Ino didn't let on how badly those words scared her.

She glanced around for her father and, not seeing him, shrugged. There was no one else she'd truly answer to in this and, with a brief touch of her father's mind--a mind she could find easily, no matter what--she darted off before anyone could think to realize where she was going.

Clambering through people bunched up in defencive little knots, over fallen buildings, the crying of the survivors--it was all faint in her ears, her head, her heart.

<<Talk to me, Zack?>> As she stared down with wide eyes and a shock-white face at the full extent of the crater. Once upon a time it had been her home. <<Please?>>

[puppy_fair]

"Okay," Zack said, still gabbling on aloud, flopping backwards to stare up at the sky. "It's quiet here," he offered, just picking around for words. "There weren't many people left in the area I was trying to clear. I can't see anybody now."

The rock in the pit of his guts pointed out that if there had been anybody here, they were dead and buried and gone. He didn't voice that.

"It's so weird," he added, tiredly. "How blue the sky is."

Everything was gone. At least hundreds, if not thousands of people were dead. The sun kept on shining.

[intraspective]

Ino wasn't looking at the sky, Ino was looking at the ground at sight that where once a village had been there was...

Nothing?

Rock and rubble and a crater that was deep enough to get lost in. The silence was unbearable and Ino felt vulnerable--her purple, surely, stood out. But there was no one to spot it.

She followed Zack's voice, one foot in front of the other as the full horror sunk in. She was walking on ground made of dead people, shattered lives, and broken buildings. When she found him, which didn't take so very long, Ino was still crying. A slow, but steady, steam of tears from otherwise steady eyes.

"Hey," she murmured, a bit brokenly, a lot gratefully. "Your very own personal medic here and at your service."

[puppy_fair]

"Hey," Zack echoed, trying a little smile on for size. "Personal medic, huh? I must be the luckiest guy around here..."

Really, considering how deep into the crater he was, he was more like the only guy around here.

He was trying very hard not to think about that, yet.

[intraspective]

She brushed her fingers against his cheek.

"The luckiest," Ino whispered, "but we'll talk 'bout that once you're feeling more like yourself."

Potions first, to give him more strength to work with and then she'd deal with that arm of his and... and... everything else. She'd take it a piece at a time, that way Ino didn't have to think too hard about how smashed up he was and what that meant for everyone else who'd been here.

Her hands shook as she unscrewed a Potion and offered it to him.

[puppy_fair]

It took a bit of work to get himself sitting up again, but he accepted the potion with a grateful little smile, and downed it. It was always so easy to tell when he needed them the most, because he didn't have it in him to make a face after the fact at the taste.

"Thanks," he murmured. He tried to move his other arm... still no dice. But at least he was sitting up now without feeling the overwhelming need to flop over again. That was a start. "I was all out."

He'd given them to people who might not have made it, after all. And he only had one Phoenix Down left.

It wasn't fair.

[intraspective]

Another potion then, and her eyes watched him intently. Looking for any sign of him--not getting better. Her lips trembled and she forced them to not.

This wasn't the time to lose her mind. He needed her to be strong.

"I've got mine still," she replied, a third potion already in her hands and waiting for him. "And I'll heal your injuries."

Then get him out of there. Get herself out of here. Being in the middle of what used to be a village, in the deadly quiet, was wrecking her already sorely pressed nerves.

[puppy_fair]

Zack nodded, downing his second potion and trying his arm again. He managed a slight twitch in his fingers. That was encouraging.

"After this next one, I'll try to get out from under this stuff," he decided. He was probably pushing his luck, trying after three potions... But he wanted to get out of here almost as badly as she did. Look for survivors. Try to dig out what he could from what was left to the entrance to the underground. Something.

[intraspective]

Something.

As the ground rumbled and Ino's head jerked up to see what she could spot. The feel of chakra was heavy against her senses but she couldn't see anything out of the...

Ino shook her head and offered him the potion. "Quickly," she said, eyes large.

[puppy_fair]

Really, with a look like that on her face, Zack didn't need to be told twice. Down went the potion, and, useless arm or none, he was reaching for the heaviest of the debris, giving it a shove before scooting back on his behind, squirming his way out.

The damage that had been done underneath was way worse that his arm had been. That was not stopping him from pulling himself to his feet. Better they get the hell out of there now in spite of his injuries. Whatever that was that was coming...

He didn't want to be caught up in it.

[intraspective]

She handed him another two potions. He could drink on the move.

"Come on," she said, tense and worried and fear writ large across her face. "Something's happening."

The needed to get out of here fast.

[puppy_fair]

"Right." Zack nodded, limping the few paces to his Buster Sword and grabbing it in his good hand. He could barely lift it, he couldn't hope to get it on his back at this point, and he'd probably collapse under the weight of it if he did. But he'd drag it out of there with him if it came to that.

He wasn't leaving Angeal behind.

"Lead on," he said, pocketing one potion so that he could down the other. He'd drink that one too, once they were moving. He was expecting the going to be a little rough, but he didn't have time to linger and wrestle with the stupid cap.

[intraspective]

She watched him for a second, then two, then forced herself to turn and start moving.

It wasn't the pace she'd have liked to take--a full out run over the ground--but it was as fast as she thought Zack could handle.

Because he wouldn't leave Angeal behind and she wouldn't leave him behind.

[puppy_fair]

This was as fast as Zack could handle. At least without risking further injury. But, Zack noted, seeing how anxious Ino looked, it was entirely possible that he was damned either way, and 'further injury' could amount to far worse by lingering than it would by pushing himself too hard.

He was unscrewing the next potion with his bad arm and his teeth. And picking up his pace in spite of how much his body was protesting to doing so. A fast walk. Still not fast enough for what he wanted, either. But better than the limp, which he'd get back to in spades once they were somewhere safer than in the middle of a smoking hole in the ground.

[intraspective]

A fast walk was better than nothing, she repeated over and over to herself, as she picked their pace through what had been Konoha only an hour? Two? ago.

Tears blurred her vision and she shook them away. The oppressive feeling of chakra was growing, slithering around her senses like a poisonous veil and it only added urgency to her steps.

Whatever had happened here... it wasn't over yet.

There was a... mound of earth rising, a ball of dirt and rubble and trees being lifted into the air and Ino wondered what could possibly be doing that, what sort of technique was it, when the ground shook as an inhuman scream ripped through the air and a monster appeared, on top of where the Hokage Monument had been.

"Kyuubi no Kitsune," she said, voice small and terrified, and eyes larger than they'd ever been as she stared.

[puppy_fair]

".... That's not good," Zack suggested, staring up at the creature before deciding, to hell with how much he could hurt himself, he was shouldering his sword, grabbing Ino by the wrist, and hitting the wreckage at a run.

... While all the while biting back the nagging thought that he could totally take that thing on. Running was too much for him right now. He wasn't in any state to right.

[intraspective]

It was a childhood story come to life in the form of a nightmare. Everyone knew how the Kyuubi had wrecked their home once before, when she'd been less than a month old. Seeing it, in the wreckage of Konoha... Ino ran, her wrist held firmly by Zack, and she was doing her best to keep up, not stumble, no matter how much the shock got to her.

"It... It..." There were no words to describe it, Ino clamped her mouth shut and continued to run. They'd hide with the remnants of Konoha until it was safe to go home.