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You and your team had been put in charge of taking down a small group of bandits on the left hand side border of the Land of Fire, that was easy, you'd all done it many times before, the Jonin level Amegakure ninja they had hired to protect them? That you were unprepared for. You were outmatched, the difference in your new Chunnin level skills to theirs was overwhelming, all you could do was run.
They were gaining on your team of three as you ran full speed through the trees back in the direction of your home, to help, but you weren't getting back to Konohagakure fast enough, your enemy needed to be stalled or they would get all of you, stalling the enemy was what you did best. You were a Nara after all.
Stopping hard on the tree trunk you landed on, you spun, knelt, and pulled a yin release sign.
"Shadow possession jutsu!"
You managed to catch all three of the rain ninja at once, they were so close together, you knew yourself that was about as far as your luck was going to go.
"Nara! What are you doing?!" One of your teammates screamed at you.
"Go you idiots!" You yelled back, annoyed that they weren't already using the time to get away.
"But-?!"
"Go!" You could already feel your hands twitch, putting all your strength into moulding your remaining chakra, keeping your enemy, that was practically snarling at you to be released, in place. "I'll be fine!"
No, you wouldn't be, the moment your shadow possession jutsu gave up the ghost you were dead meat, but your teammates didn't have to be, they could live, your friends could live.
"Just-!" You had to swallow to stop your voice shaking, tears stung your eyes. "Just tell Shino I'm sorry!"
They didn't even bother to kill you, the cowards, they simply gutted you and left, was there no honour among ninjas anymore?
Your intestines had actually spilled out onto the forest floor even if everything was still attached. Sitting in a pool of your own blood you had never felt so cold, you felt your fingers twitch against your thigh and the dirt of the forest floor, your head leaning fully against the tree trunk you had managed to crawl to in your weakened state and your lungs felt like ice.
You had no chakra, no teammates, no way of getting help, no hope...you you would never see Shino again, never get to tell him that you loved him.
Waiting to die, that's what you were doing; all you wanted to do was cry but you didn't even have the energy, or the control over your body, for that, which only annoyed and upset you more.
You didn't know how long you sat there, lingering at the edges of consciousness, but your twitching only seemed to get worse when you suddenly heard voices. Maybe the rain ninjas had decided to come back to finish you off after all.
Three ninjas did jump down beside you a moment later, but they weren't from Amegakure.
"You are alive; thank the heavens," oh your heart gave painful thump in your chest at Shino's hands on your cheeks, even with his sunglasses and collar you could see his open concern for you, your body gave an unhelpful uncomfortable jolt, as if your arms wanted to wrap around him and never let go. "You were so very brave; I am here now; I will look after you."
Your body seemed to find the energy to cry because you could feel the tears in your eyes.
"Shi-Shi-"
"Stop talking," Ino told you gently but firmly as she literally picked your insides off the floor. "This will be a patch job at best."
"Shi-Shino," the shivering was taking a hold on your entire being. "C-Cold."
Your boyfriend couldn't wrap his green overcoat around you immediately, the medical ninja was still trying to put your intestines back into your abdomen, so he had simply pushed up against your side ready to wrap around you when he could.
When he lifted you into his arms, bundled up in his coat, the Yamanaka giving him the instructions to take you straight to the hospital, you thought you might vomit or pass out from suddenly moving with the blood loss you had suffered.
Shino insisted on carrying you the whole way home and your fingers wouldn't have been able to uncurl from their tight grip from his black coat if you wanted to.
The insect tamer laid you on the hospital gurney, as the Yamanaka instructed, you could vaguely hear the blonde yelling instructions at people but everything sounded muffled, like you were hearing it through water. As the gurney started to move, you jolted your hand awkwardly in Shino's direction and he caught it, his skin was so much warmer than yours it could have burned you whole.
"Lo-ove yo-you."
It wasn't how you wanted your first 'I love you' with Shino to go, but something, the deepest fears that pulled at your very soul, told you, even though you were in the best hospital in the five great villages, that it was now or never.
"I love you too," he told you in such a raw, torn voice, before placing a quick and desperate kiss to the back of the hand he had yet to release. "I love you; I love you so much; I will see you when you wake up; okay?"
You managed a extremely weak, barely there smile at the love of your life before he was forced to release your hand as you were wheeled into the operating room.
It was the only time Shino had ever lied to you, you never made it through the surgery, you never woke up. It was the only time his teammates had ever seen him cry.