Decaying Bluebells

Arc I - Growing

Disclaimer: Only Nao is mine in this story.

Warning: Nothing really.

Beta: Kalafina94

Beta: silverseed

Edit: 1/1/2018

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Despite the comfort provided, Ino did not change drastically, as one would have expected from such a break down. She did not join us for lunch—though she was politer to Shikamaru and friendlier with Naruto. And at home, she was very nice and open with me again; which was a pleasant surprise.

Unfortunately, she still did not take her training too seriously ever again. She preferred to hang out with her other female friends of the academy. While that may have upset me months ago, I had come to the conclusion that Ino would not be taking her duties as a kunoichi seriously until needed to.

That did not please me, but I did not complain. She had no real reason to take it seriously for the moment. It did not stop me from worrying over her, nonetheless.

A boy named Chōji had joined our lunch group. Shikamaru said he was 'cool' and I had recognized him as the son of my Papa's other best friend. We had not interacted much before as he was shy and I was far shyer.

Between training and academy, I had found myself to be busy.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Momma," I asked with a tired yawn. My footsteps following behind said woman echoed softly in the quiet house. Momma, dressed in dark clothing and holding a bouquet of flowers from our store, paused in her movement to glance at me.

"Yes, dear?" she inquired in her honey smooth voice. I always liked her voice.

"Where are you going?" I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. The sun was barely up and Ino was still fast asleep along with Papa. I wasn't exhausted from work or simply a late sleeper like them and slept lightly the previous night. Momma had awoken me when she peeked in my room to check on me before leaving.

Momma turned fully from the door and gave me a gentle smile. "I am going to visit a friend, dear."

"Who?" I asked, ever curious.

Idly, I wondered if my curiosity was because of my youth, or because I was generally a curious person.

"You wouldn't know her," Momma said softly. "She died long before you were born."

Naturally, that spiked my interest even more so. "Who was she, Momma?"

Momma eyed me for a moment before motioning to follow behind her. Wordlessly, I trailed behind Momma into our sitting room, where she sat down carefully on the couch. She placed her flowers beside her and picked me up. Carefully, she sat me in her lap and brushed back a stray bang from my face.

"Her name was Naomi," She said. "She was my best friend—my first real friend from the academy. You are, in fact, named after her, little Nao-chan."

My eyes widened considerably at such a fact.

Momma brushed my hair gently with her fingers, her eyes glazing over as if she were lost in another world. "We were at war; my team and her team were grouped together at the front lines. We shouldn't have been; we were much too young—still Genin—but it was war and we were desperate. I-I had made a foolish mistake. I had injured an Iwa shinobi, an older shinobi, and he fled. I was mad at him at the time for illogical reasons."