#decided to use my yellow flicker beat first for optimal angst <3333333

[murasakiirohana]

❝ I want the H ❞

send me ❝ I want the H ❞ and I will randomly generate a number.

5. “Far too long since we’ve seen each other” hug II @narasnooze

Verse: Yellow Flicker Beat

    It had gnawed at her since she had escaped. It was almost the first thing that had crossed her mind when she no longer had to focus on survival. What were they going to think? How were her boys going to handle her return? Was her new... appearance going to be too much for them? It scared her. She didn’t want to imagine a world where they started looking at her differently. She wanted to be the same old Ino to them. She needed to be that to them. 

   It had only been her luck that both had been out on separate missions when she had made it back to Konoha. Probably an attempt by the Hokage to prevent them from taking matters into their own hands to look for her. It made sense. Her team had a penchant for pushing the limits of the higher ups’ patience. There was no way they were going to let another mission to avenge happen again. Besides, all leads had died out on Ino’s whereabouts early on in her capture anyways. Konoha couldn’t have them preoccupied in a fruitless effort. Life had to go on. 

    However, the higher ups had been surprised when Ino insisted that they not notify Shikamaru and Chouji of her return, but Ino knew better. If they had known she was back, they would’ve come running whether the mission had been finished or not--- or worse, they would’ve gotten sloppy in their rush to return home. She needed them to remain focused for their own sake. Besides, she needed time to adjust to being back home before they returned. She needed time to be the Ino they always knew again--- or at least time to learn how to pretend to. Good thing she had all the time in the world since she was prohibited from doing anything more than running her shop for the time being. 

    Ino’s thoughts were interrupted when she heard something crash to the floor and she immediately made her way to the front of the Yamanaka shop to see what it was. 

   “Hel-” her greeting was cut short when her eyes settled upon Shikamaru standing in the door way, seemingly frozen in place as he stared at her. She had wondered which of the two she would see first. The blonde’s eyes wandered to the remnants of a flower pot that had crashed to the floor in Shikamaru’s haste. “I don’t suppose you’ll be paying for that---” the wind is knocked out of Ino when Shikamaru rushes over to her to pull her into a tight embrace. 

    Her façade shatters under the weight of his emotions and she can feel the sting of tears as she returns the hug with equal strength as she buries her head into his shoulder. Just as he had not been sure that he would ever see her again during those weeks, she had felt the same and all those built had risen to the surface for her too. 

   Ino turned her head so that she could speak as she slowly loosened her embrace so she could gently pat his back though his embrace still remained just as tight. “It’s really me. I’m here.”