Eleven, Naruto: Scars, part 4

So, my new OT3 seems to be Genma/Raidou/Ino. Stop looking at me like that, it makes sense in my head.

These are all really out of order. Somewhere between the last bit and this one, Ino does actually meet Genma and Raidou.
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Ino styles her hair carefully each morning, to hide the burn scars, and wears her hitai-ate as a bandana to hide the bald patches. She's been promoted to tokubetsu jounin; Shikamaru tells her she looks like a pirate and Chouji says she looks like a sexy-no-jutsu Genma.

Genma laughs when she tells him this, and says she's prettier than he'll ever be. She knows that isn't true, but she lets him tease her. In the end, what he says doesn't matter; Raidou brushes her hair away from her face and tells her it gets better over time.

She believes him, because if anyone would know, he would. Shikamaru and Chouji don't understand. They just feel guilty, and she wants them to realize that she would do it again in a heartbeat. They are her team, her family- she could look like Ibiki and she wouldn't care, as long as it meant they were safe.

When Raidou kisses her, she isn't surprised. They're a matched set; this was nothing short of inevitable to her sense of aesthetics. He kisses her like she's made of glass, or perhaps like he is. When Genma kisses her, she accuses him of being a pervert with a scar fetish.

He drapes an arm over Raidou's shoulder and wraps the other around her waist, pulling them close. He kisses them both, and refuses to say anything in his own defense.