Sky on Fire: Slow Burn - Chapter 5 Part 2
Title: Slow Burn
Chapter: 05 Revelations (Part II)
Author/Artist: Skylar Inari
Pairing: Yamanaka Ino/Nara Shikamaru
Theme: 10 - thunderstorm
Word Count: 14,610 in total (9105 in this post)
Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me. It's Kishimoto's and I just play with it. AU immediately after the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. Part 5 of ? Unbeta’d.
Ino approached the clearing that she was to meet with the rest of her team for a mission - their first mission in so long! - with more than a little trepidation. She'd managed to avoid Shikamaru's 'talk' for the last two days by dint of pleading training with Shizune-sensei and then rushing off before he had more than a moment to respond.
She doubted that she'd be three times lucky.
A quick glance around the sunny area proved that she was the first to arrive. With a faint smile at having beaten Asuma-sensei (who was usually on the scene before any of them) Ino quickly fell into her morning stretches. The routine helped to steady her mind even as the early morning light grew stronger. She still hadn't figured out what to say to Shikamaru. There wasn't much that she wanted to say, even though Ino knew that he'd want her to talk a fair bit. Shaking her head, there was no point in dwelling on it right now, Ino turned back to her exercises with a renewed will.
Chouji arrived as she was finishing up. Tossing him a quick smile, Ino straightened up and dusted off her hands. The bandages on them were no longer a strange sensation, months of wearing them had let her get used to them - to the point where she felt almost naked without them.
"Morning, Ino." Chouji said as he began his own routine. "Asuma-sensei not here yet?"
Fiddling with her hair (it was in two pigtails, one on either side of her head, her hair being at that awkward state where putting it up was more bother than it was worth) and making sure that her glasses were secure, it took Ino a moment to answer. "No," she frowned as looked around the clearing, "he hasn't been around at all. It's not like him."
"What's not like him?" Shikamaru asked as he entered the clearing with a quick hello for Chouji and a thoughtful look for her.
Ino sniffed at the look and when his gaze hardened she pointedly turned away and pretended to fiddle with her sandals. "It's not like Asuma-sensei to be late. You're here before he is." This was said as scathingly as possible even though Shikamaru had managed to show up on time.
Chouji sighed.
---
Asuma wasn’t really playing hooky.
He’d spent the night at Kurenai’s - she refused to stay over at his place unless he did some cleaning first - and had simply decided that he’d show up at the training ground with Kurenai and her Genin.
The first sign that it might not have been the best idea was finding Chouji leaning against a tree on the outskirts of the training ground. Chouji’s face brightened upon noticing them. “Asuma-sensei!”
“Hey,” he lifted one hand in response, “what are you doing out here? And where are Shikamaru and Ino?”
Chouji made a face and pointed behind past the tree he was leaning on, “They’re back there, attempting to kill each other.”
Kiba snickered and there was a small titter from one of the other two. Asuma sighed. He had hoped that they would have gotten better since passing an exercise, but while they had proven that they could work together while actually on task having them around each other was still risky business.
“Let’s go talk to them then.” He said, leading the way as Chouji fell into pace beside Kiba and had a short whispered conversation.
To his surprise when they entered the clearing, Ino and Shikamaru were arguing any more. Asuma wouldn’t have said that they were getting along, as they were on opposite ends of the area with their backs turned to each other. Good enough, he supposed. Reaching the center of the clearing Team 8 spread out behind him while Kurenai stepped up on level with him. Ino and Shikamaru reached him at almost the same time and he wasn’t surprised by the glares they gave each other.
“I thought we were doing a mission?” Ino asked him, frowning slightly at Team 8.
“Now, now,” he said before she could get irritated, “we’ll do a mission tomorrow - but I promised Yuuhi-sensei that we could hold a session of combined training a while back and this is the first time we’ve managed to coordinate schedules.”
---
This was another match up that really had the odds stacked against them, Shikamaru thought, casually glancing at Team 8 as Asuma-sensei talked to Yuuhi-sensei. They hadn't been told yet what they were doing, but Asuma-sensei had said something about combined training and that meant either an all out spar or a lecture.
The area they were in suggested a spar.
Transferring his gaze from Team 8, Shikamaru let his eyes rest on Ino, who was talking to Chouji, and frowned. Team 10 hadn't been created around the idea of an all out battle - neither had Team 8 for that matter - but the fact remained that thanks to their bloodline talents Team 8 was far better prepared.
He'd have to watch out for Ino. Kiba looked like he could take her out in one solid hit, Hinata's demeanor notwithstanding she was no pushover, and he simply didn't know enough about Shino to classify his threat level. Other than it was probably high.
“The only restrictions for this match are: you are to remain within the clearing at all times, we want to see what you can do, and absolutely no soldier pills. You’ll never improve if you rely on drugs to boost your power.” Yuuhi-sensei said firmly once Asuma-sensei had finished talking.
“You’ve got five minutes to come up with a game plan.” Asuma said, pulling out a timer and setting it, “Starting… now!”
Immediately Shikamaru put as much distance between his team and Yuuhi-sensei’s team, Ino and Chouji following after him. On the other side of the clearing Team 8 had done the same.
Turning his back to them, Asuma-sensei was a stickler for following the rules and he doubted that the other team would try anything before the timer went off that would incur his wrath. Shikamaru looked at Ino, who was fiddling with her glasses, then to Chouji, who was flexing his hands and settled down to think of a plan that would give them a chance at winning.
“Alright,” he said after a minute had passed, “this is what we’re going to do…”
---
"The most logical approach is to go after Shikamaru first." Shino said firmly, "Chouji is their muscle and Yamanaka's most developed skills are rendered useless by the requirement of remaining out in the open. Therefore the largest threat is whatever plan Shikamaru will come up with."
This time Hinata remained silent on the training that Ino-san had been doing. She had tried several times before the spar to speak of it, but Shino remained unconvinced. Kiba was even worse, in his way, talking loudly about how there was no way that a girl so obsessed with her appearance would be any challenge at all. She resolved to keep an eye out on the other kunoichi no matter what the plan was decided as.
Other than that, Shino's statements were likely correct. Nara-san didn't look like he was much of a hand-to-hand fighter and no matter how much Ino-san trained she would never match the sheer strength of her teammate, Chouji. Casting an eye over at the other team, Hinata was mildly surprised to see that they were arguing heatedly.
"Kiba will lead the assault." Hinata snapped back to attention, as Shino outlined the start of the fight and the roles that they would play. "I'll be his support and my kikai bugs can drain their chakra. Hinata hang back a bit and get an idea of what they're planning."
She nodded, using her Byakugan would give them a valuable advantage in predicting jutsu before they were used. Team 8 spread out into their standard arrowhead formation, Kiba in front, Shino just off to one side and Hinata on the other side. Bringing her hands together, Hinata waited for the signal to start.
It wasn't a long wait. Sarutobi-sensei took a long drag on his cigarette and said, "And, start!"
---
Ino crouched behind Shikamaru, her glasses perched firmly on her nose and strapped securely around the back of her head, her hands flew through the seals for Hypnosis no Jutsu. It would be the first chance she'd found to use it in a combat situation. Murmuring the name of the jutsu quietly enough that Shikamaru didn't even twitch she activated it.
After over a month of training on the jutsu the pink circles, that would give the whole game away if spotted, were hidden by the glasses. Barely. It was progress though, and she was interested to see what would happen. Besides, it would give her something to do until Shikamaru managed to snare one of Team 8 in his shadow. Then things would get fun.
It rankled a bit that she was the one at the back of their formation but Ino had to admit that this plan was one that Shikamaru might have created even back before the Chuunin Exam had changed everything.
Smiling at Chouji, he'd backed her up saying that she could do this, Ino was careful to avoid looking at his eyes. She didn't want to handicap her own team before the fight even started. Not when Chouji was serving as their first line of combat. Baika no Jutsu coupled with Nikudan no Jutsu would make a good opening move - and distract them from what Shikamaru would be doing.
Asuma-sensei pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and said, ""And, start!"
Ino watched as across the field Hinata's hands did the seals of her blood limit. She'd thought that it would be one of the first things that Team 8 did and Ino was pleased with being proven right.
Her grin got wider when Hinata, with the Byakugan on, went deathly white, stumbled, and fell on her knees. Ino knew how that felt - her father had used it several times on her during training. It wasn't pleasant.
Hypnosis no Jutsu was a success.
"Chouji, go!" Shikamaru snapped as Team 8's formation faltered as Kiba and Shino turned to look at Hinata.
---
His plan was falling down around his ears and they hadn't even had the chance to enact the first move. Shino was irritated about that and about his failure to predict that they would do something like that.
Hinata was on her knees and had deactivated her Byakugan. Her rapid breathing and the beads of perspiration on her face told that something was still wrong. She covered her eyes with both hands.
"What's wrong?" Kiba asked, concern clear in his voice and manner. "Are you feeling sick?"
She shook her head as Shino took a few steps closer to her. "A jutsu then." It hadn't happened until after Sarutobi-sensei had said they could start, so that tallied with it. "Do you know who did this to you?"
Hinata took a shaky breath, "Ino-san." Her voice was very clear on that point, "I was fine looking at the others."
Being proven wrong was never a joy. Shino throttled his regret that he hadn't paid more attention when Hinata had been trying to explain that Yamanaka had been training. He would apologize later to Hinata.
"Change of plan," he said quietly, "Kiba, take out the girl." She had, with one move, made herself the dark horse of the fight. They hadn't any idea of what other tricks she had up her sleeve.
It was logical to remove her first.
"You've got it!"
"Baika no Jutsu! Nikudan no Jutsu!" While they'd been talking Team 10 hadn't been idle. Chouji, now many times his size, was bearing down on them. Kiba flung himself to one side while Shino pulled Hinata up and dodged to the other.
He hadn't planned on Chouji managing to turn and follow him though. His kikai bugs crept down his legs and into the long grass. If nothing else they’d be able to slow Chouji down until his lack of chakra put him out of commission.
It was sloppy though and Shino despised that.
---
Shino was fast for all that he was burdened with Hinata. Chouji was navigating mostly on vibrations through the ground - it was a trick that his father had taught him while he'd been recuperating in the hospital - and he could tell that Shino was starting to get tired. No matter how strong he was, carrying around a teammate was no easy task, and he'd been doing it now for a few minutes.
Chouji was aware that more than one of Shino's bugs had managed to crawl on to him and had started to drain off his chakra. He wouldn't be able to hold up the jutsu's for much longer but that was alright.
He only had to hit Shino once.
There was a pause in front of him, longer than normal, and then Chouji knew that Hinata had re-entered the fight because Shino's steps were suddenly a great deal lighter. Excellent. He hadn't really wanted to hit Hinata when she wasn't feeling well.
Not when he wasn't sure what the hell Ino had done to her in the first place. He'd have to see if he could get her to talk about it after - but Chouji had the sneaking suspicion that it was covered under the Clan Confidential and that she wouldn't say much.
Using the last bit of his chakra, Chouji converted it into extra speed for his rolling form. The surprise of it was enough for him to catch Shino off guard and the smaller boy went flying. Chouji came out of the Jutsu dead tired. Sagging to the ground he closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing. If he was lucky he'd manage to regain enough chakra, Yuuhi-sensei's restriction on soldier pills was a nuisance, to join the fight again.
A slim pair of hands and Hinata's determined face put an end to that hope and Chouji spiraled into unconsciousness as she closed his tenketsu points.
---
It had been stupid, he saw that now, to attack Shikamaru head on in an attempt to get past him. Kiba had seen first hand just how capable the other Genin was at thinking his way out of a bad situation so he couldn't even blame this on anyone but himself.
But goddamn, Kagemane no Jutsu was the most annoying jutsu ever.
Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck and Kiba helplessly copied him. He fought the jutsu's hold every inch of the way but it made no difference whatsoever. Kiba grit his teeth, whatever they decided to do he'd just have to live with it until he could break free.
"Anytime, Ino."
The blonde standing safely behind Shikamaru - and wasn't that just like a girl? - grinned wickedly at him. "Did you forget what I can do?" She asked him sweetly.
Oh. Oh, no way in hell.
Kiba renewed his struggles against the shadow jutsu. There was absolutely no way he was going to be made to attack Hinata, who was at least standing on her own over the fallen form of Chouji, or Shino, who was picking himself up off the ground and looking wobbly on his feet. Just no. It wasn't right.
"Shintenshin no Jutsu!"
There was a pause and for a moment Kiba thought that she'd missed. Then he was slammed into by an invisible force and there was a brief second of utter disorientation before he found himself locked into a small corner of his mind.
Shikamaru had let the Kagemane drop and managed to catch his teammate as her body slumped to the ground. With a gentleness that Kiba thought was surprising, Shikamaru lay her down carefully, then stepped over her assuming a guard position.
The girl cracked his knuckles and laughed, "Lets have some fun, shall we?"
---
Shikamaru shifted slightly over Ino's prone body and watched the rest of the fight with narrowed eyes. It was taking place too far away for his shadow to reach and he didn't dare leave Ino's body unattended.
She wasn't doing too badly, he supposed. Kiba's body was obviously different from what she was used to but the surprise afforded by attacking while contained within the body of their teammate gave her an edge.
Shino stumbled back as 'Ino' managed to land a solid blow to his chest. The smaller boy - at least compared to Kiba's body - came up with kikai bugs pouring out of his sleeves and 'Ino' was forced to put some distance between those dangerous creatures and Kiba's body. Chouji was still out of it and for a moment Shikamaru thought about moving over to where he lay.
Wait a second, he thought scanning the clearing again, Where's the Hyuuga?
"A good shinobi is always aware of their surroundings, Nara-san." A soft voice said from behind him. Her fingers pressed gently to the base of his skull and the ground came rushing up at him as he fell like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
---
Ino saw Shikamaru fall out of the corner of her eye - what had he been doing that Hinata had managed to sneak up behind him? - and knowing that her body was left unprotected, at the mercies of the 'enemy', cuffed Shino roughly on the head then flung herself towards Hinata.
The other girl, her movements intent, slammed her hands down onto Ino's chest. There was almost an audible snap! as Shintenshin no Jutsu was broken and her mind was sent flying back to her own body.
Long practise was the only thing that enabled her to dodge Hinata's next blow and Ino drove her elbow sharply into Hinata's stomach, making the other girl cry out. Ino, putting some distance between herself and the Byakugan, looked up to see Kiba bearing down on her.
Fury was written on his face.
Oh shit, Ino thought as she brought her arms up to block his first blow. It was so powerful enough that it nearly knocked her over. I'm screwed. She wasn't going down without a fight though and narrowing her eyes in concentration managed to bring the side of her hand down sharply on one of his wrists.
He growled.
---
Alright, it wasn't sporting to hit a girl as hard as he was during a friendly spar but Kiba was pissed off at the way his body had been taken from his control and his blows were landing with more force than he normally used when it wasn't life or death.
The way that the blonde winced every time he managed to land a hit made him feel both a bit guilty - she really was just a slip of a girl after all - and better about the whole body snatching thing all at once.
He was glad though, fiercely glad, that the girl wasn't pathetic at taijutsu. That wouldn't have been any fun at all and she was putting up more of a fight than he would have guessed. Kiba had thought she'd be crap at it from what he remembered in the exams. Her form had always been good but her power...
Well, most girls had sucked at that.
She ducked under his fist and kicked viciously at his knee caps. Swearing, he managed to connect a swift blow to her shoulder that sent her reeling back. Kiba followed up the motion with a kick to her stomach and to his surprise she managed to keep her feet.
Twisting like an eel she slipped under his guard and before he could pull away had smashed her feet on his. He yelped and she took that second of distraction to blacken his eyes. Kiba came up out of the pain a moment later, narrowly dodging a kick to his groin.
No longer playing now - his face fucking hurt - Kiba advanced on her ruthlessly. Grabbing at her trailing arm as she tried for another blow, Kiba pulled her against him forcing her arm behind her back painfully.
She cried out, sharply.
The shrill noise of a whistle pierced the air. "That's enough, kids. Break it up and discuss the spar with your respective teams." Sarutobi-sensei's voice rang over the clearing. Kurenai-sensei held the whistle in her hand.
Kiba let the girl go, she sank to the ground, and went to see if Shino and Hinata were okay. It had been fun, and he had a lot to think about.
Like why the hell Shikamaru smelled so strongly of anger when Kiba had attacked the girl. What else had he been supposed to do?
---
At Asuma-sensei's call to end the spar Ino slumped down to the ground and lay there, unmoving, for a minute before hauling herself up and beginning to stretch. Ino didn't want to move but knew that if she didn't that by tomorrow she'd be stiffening up.
Her arms hurt badly enough that Ino knew they would be black and blue by the afternoon. Kiba, even back in the Academy, had always been one of the stronger physical fighters. From the way that his blows had landed on her, even the ones she'd blocked, Ino knew that he had only gotten stronger. She approved of that in the abstract but wished that he hadn't taken it out on her so much.
Raising her arms about her head, Ino winced as her shoulder sent a jolt of pain down her spine. Rolling it helped to dull the pain but she was glad that Shizune-sensei's lesson was still on for later. Shizune-sensei would fix the worse of the bruises.
Ino watched as Hinata and her team talked quietly to their sensei for a minute before heading for the exit. She paused as a thought occurred to her, and without even looking back started in the same direction that Team 8 had gone. There was something that she'd wanted to talk to Hinata about.
"Ino?" Shikamaru called, sounding annoyed, "Where are you going?"
"I'll be back!" Ino said with a flippant wave of her hand, as she increased her pace, "I want to talk to someone. Hinata-chan! Wait up!"
---
"Well?" Asuma asked Kurenai after they'd watched the kids untangle themselves, cool down, and trudge off. He found it interesting to notice that the Hyuuga heir walked off with Ino, both of the girls talking quietly. Asuma hadn't known that they were friends - Ino hadn't shown any sign of it during the Chuunin Exam. "What do you think?"
--- ---
Hinata gingerly probed at her forearm and winced. She wasn’t sure quite when she’d gotten hit there, but it was going be a nasty bruise. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off various aches and pains were making themselves known. She was obscurely glad of the pain, it meant that there was still more training for her to do.
“Hinata-chan! Wait up!” Ino’s voice carried effortlessly to her in the morning air.
Turning, Hinata paused and looked back. Beside her Kiba and Shino stopped and did the same. They were planning on heading back to Kiba’s place and review the fight in detail. There were several things that wanted answering.
Like what on earth Ino had used to disorient her. Her head still hurt and she’d managed to surprise even herself by carrying on so well after the first shock of it had worn off. One hand crept up to rub under her eyes.
“Ino-san.” Hinata said once the girl had reached them, faintly pink from running and a nasty looking bruise already forming on her cheek.
She got a grin that lit Ino’s face. “It was fun today, wasn’t it? You guys flattened us though.”
Hinata quickly tallied up her bruises and pounding head, the way Shino wasn’t walking quite straight or steadily on his feet, Kiba’s blackened eyes and swollen wrist. In her opinion the fight had been more even than the word ‘flattened’ suggested. “Ano, Ino-san - “
“Your team fought better than projected.” Shino interrupted her, and Hinata lapsed gratefully into silence. “I did you a disservice with my assumptions.”
Ino-san looked mildly put out and she placed her hands on her hips, “What do you mean, a disservice?”
Shino sighed quietly, and a grin cracked Kiba’s face. “He didn’t think you’d put up much of a fight, flower-girl.”
“Excuse me?” Ino-san’s voice went frosty and Hinata hunched her shoulders just a bit. She didn’t want Ino to get mad at them, but at the same time what Kiba had said was true. While Hinata had objected to the assumptions she had still gone along with them.
“Hinata mentioned that you’d been training hard. In planning however I made the decision to overlook that and formulated our battle strategy based upon what I saw from you in the Chuunin Exam.” Shino’s voice was even, and the look he gave Kiba was mildly irritated. “Your improvement from then is marked.”
Which was as close as Shino had ever come to giving an apology. Hinata fidgeted and wondered if it would be good enough for Ino-san, who seemed like the type of girl that wanted things said straight out.
Ino-san’s anger deflated and her grin came back, this time a little smugger. “I was a surprise then? That’s good, it’ll teach you to make assumptions about me.”
Shino nodded his head, “It was educational.”
“Ano, Ino-san, what did you want to speak to me for?” Hinata asked in the resulting silence as Kiba smirked at Shino.
“Huh? Oh!” Ino’s eyes darted to the boys then back and she said, “Can I walk with you a while?”
“We’ll let you have your girl-talk,” Kiba said, with a laugh, he’d been finding everything funny since Shikamaru had woken up for some reason. Hinata wondered if he’d tell them once they were back at the training ground, “Come on, Shino.”
The boys picked up their pace and slowly Hinata and Ino followed. They walked together in silence for a few minutes, Ino's steps falling lightly into pace beside her. Hinata wondered what it was that she wanted. Ahead of them Shino said something that made Kiba throw back his head and laugh.
"So..." Ino said with the air of a person striving for nonchalance and not quite hitting the mark, "Tenten said that you'd talked to your Father about things. Is everything alright now? You getting along better?"
Hinata was touched that confident and easy going Ino-san would think to ask, and care, about what was going on in her life. "Neji-niisan and I talked to the Elder's." She said quietly at they rounded the corner that lead into Konoha proper, "We told them that it wasn't our wish to marry."
A grin tugged at Ino-san's lips, "Because you like someone else, right?"
She flushed, just a little bit, and Ino-san laughed. It was a kind laugh though and when Hinata answered with a simple 'yes' she took it seriously.
"Do they know who you like?" Ino asked, "I know you think Naruto's great and everything, he's definitely a good guy, but I thought your Clan mostly stayed within it's own lines."
She did not mention that it was unheard of for a Hyuuga of the Main family to marry outside of it. Hinata was grateful for that. It was something that she couldn't even think about at the moment - not when Naruto wasn't actually interested in her, which made the entire point moot. And there was the small rebellious bit of her that remembered that Naruto had promised to change the Hyuuga.
"It does." Hinata said at last, "I have not told my Father the one that caught my eye. At the moment he seems to think that it is a member from another Clan." Which, while not acceptable for marriage, wasn't a dishonor to the Clan. That had been the gist of his speech when she'd told him.
Ino-san considered that, "Do you have a guy picked out? If he asks?"
Hinata flushed at the very idea, "Should I?" she asked worriedly, "But what if Father..." she trailed off, knowing that the rest of her sentence wouldn't happen. He'd never open negotiations with a lesser Clan for the marriage of his heir.
“You might want to think about it,” Ino-san advised kindly, “just in case.”
Shinobi rules weren’t supposed to apply to ordinary situations. All the same, many of them were easily adaptable. Shinobi Rule #42: Good Shinobi remove as many variables for failure before initiating any plan of action.
“I’ll think about it.” Hinata promised, smiling just a little at the absurdity of what she’d have to go through. Should she make a list? A flow chart? Something about her confusion must have shown because Ino-san looked considering.
“We could have a sleepover at my house to pick a suitable not-boyfriend.” Ino suggested, already looking enthused about the idea even as Hinata stammered, “Sakura would come for sure, and I’m sure that between the two of us we could track Tenten down so she could come too. What do you think? It’d be fun!”
Looking at Ino’s bright eyes and knowing that the other girl was only doing it to help her, Hinata capitulated. The whole idea made her feel embarrassed about it, but at the same time she thought that it might be easier with input from more worldlier kunoichi.
“Alright,” she said quietly, “Finding a date to set it might be hard though…”
--- ---
Sakura wanted nothing more than to fall into a nice warm bed and stay there for a century.
Possibly two.
It had begun raining not long after they'd left the sleepy little town that had been their mission base. A simple affair of bandits that had started getting ideas of grandeur. The villagers had sent for a team after the Elder's youngest daughter Umeko --
who'd had long black hair and pretty brown eyes wide and sightless, fear written on her face and the soft folds of her kimono had done nothing to hide the ruin of her chest or the blood, dried to brown, and the entire small building smelled of decay
-- had been kidnapped. They'd been able to save the village, but had been too late to save her. She'd been long dead by the time they had reached the village. Sakura shook her head and gently pushed the memories away.
There would be time later for nightmares. Right now she had to focus on her surroundings. Genma-taichou insisted on the strict observance of the rules. He'd mentioned in passing that none of them were good enough to get away with slacking off.
In front of her Chiba Yasuo walked point. His senses were the most advanced of the Genin and he was the most likely to spot an attack or anomaly. On the left was Nakamura Ima, a pretty girl with dark blue hair and a cheerful smile, and on the right was Ito Akira. Sakura could just make out his stocky body from the undergrowth and he flashed her a smile when he saw her looking then melted deeper into the forest. Their sensei had been killed during the Oto Invasion and they'd told that Tsunade-sama hadn't yet decided where to put them.
Sakura hoped that they found a good sensei, they'd made her welcome in the weeks she'd been with them. Behind her walked Genma-taichou who'd been a proctor in the Chuunin Exam.
As they reached the gates of Konohagakure and the Chuunin at the entrance confirmed their identities, Sakura wondered what he had thought of their performance. The bandits had proven to be a bit of a challenge to locate and infiltrate, but the actual eliminations had been almost too easy - they hadn't been prepared for shinobi to confront them and Team Genma had managed to do the job with nothing but a few minor scrapes and Yasuo's snapped wrist. She'd done the best she could, but had told him that he was going to have to see a full medic nin once they were finished.
"Alright, you four scatter." Genma-taichou said as they reached the Administration buildings, "You'll be called in for a debriefing within the next few days, but Hokage-sama won't need you all for the preliminary report."
And, Sakura thought wryly as Yasuo and Akira nodded their heads and headed off, this would let him talk about them freely. Ima rolled her eyes at Genma-taichou's back mouthing 'What, does he think we're stupid?' before, with a scattered wave of her hand, following after her team.
Taking a moment to adjust the straps of her pack - the water was making the shoulder straps hideously uncomfortable and Sakura was sure that she'd end up with friction burns - she shook her hair back and headed for home.
The rain had plastered her hair to her head and Sakura was glad that she wasn't one of the shinobi that wore white in their uniforms. Nothing was dry at this point and she took small comfort from the fact that at the very least no one could see her underwear.
Around her the streets hummed with activity as people rushed about concluding their business and heading off home for supper. It was a bit quieter than normal, the rain muffled many of the sounds, and Sakura could tell that she wasn't the only one glad to be heading home.
Turning on to her street Sakura picked up the pace, not caring if the water splashed at her toes since she'd be able to dry herself off in a few minutes. Spotting the light on in her kitchen, Sakura wondered what her parents would say. At least she'd come home unharmed - if she was lucky that would help to calm them down.
Knocking once on the door, just to alert them, Sakura tried the door knob and found it unlocked.
She frowned at it - even in a shinobi village that was abysmally poor security. With a sigh, it wasn’t the first time that she’d found the door unlocked, Sakura stepped inside and breathed deeply of the smells of cooking rice and vegetables.
“Sakura?” Her father was coming down the stairs, a book in his hand and a tired smile on his worn face, “We weren’t sure when to expect you home.” The look in his eyes made her want to cringe, but there was nothing that she could have done about it. Mission details like that were confidential for a reason and Sakura wasn’t about to blab just to sooth her parents minds.
“Sakura!” Her mother came out of the kitchen and stopped dead at the sight of her. Sakura wondered if it was the fact that she was dripping enough water on the floor to fill a pool or that they’d ended on such bad terms when she had left that kept her from coming closer. “Are you hurt?”
That question made her smile, and she shook her head. “I’m fine, Mom. Soaked, and tired of course but nothing worse than that.”
Her parents exchanged a long glance and Sakura shifted uncomfortably. Her clothes were sticking to her skin and she was becoming aware of the fact that she rather desperately needed a bath.
“I know you’d like to rest, sweetheart,” her mother said quietly, “but while you were gone your father and I talked about things, and a few of them we’d like to discuss with you before anything else.”
That, Sakura knew without a doubt was a bad sign. Even worse was their insistence as they hurried her to the living room, still soaking wet and carrying her pack, that she would have to wait to get changed into something warm and more importantly, dry.
Pushing her sodden hair back from her face, Sakura touched the cold metal of her hitae-ate for reassurance. She was a proud shinobi of the leaf, she could survive what was shaping up to look like a highly unpleasant conversation.
Especially when they want me as miserable as possible.
Her eyes when she was seated on the couch, taking a small bit of pleasure in the way that her mother's eyes winced at the trail of water she left behind her, were icy. This wasn't what she'd wanted to do - if Sakura had had her way then she would have been asleep by now. Already she knew what they were going to say and felt impatient with them for not getting it.
She wasn't quitting. Nor was she going to start refusing missions just because her parents thought they were too dangerous.
Satisfied that her resolve was still steady, knowing that what they said wouldn't make a difference, Sakura settled in to ride out the argument that was going to happen. The quicker she got this over with was the quicker she could rest. Her sandals were rubbing her feet raw and Sakura reached down to tighten the strap so it wouldn't move as much against her skin. Her mother watched her with weary love as her father handed her a small peach towel and a cup of tea.
"To dry your face." He told her almost apologetically. Sakura both mechanically and swiped at her face a few times. Taking a sip of the tea, it nearly scalded her, she wondered what he would have told her had they been alone. When she'd still been in the Academy her father had told her once, then never mentioned it again, that he'd always wanted to be a ninja. His parents hadn't let him though.
"Sakura," Sayako said in a gentle voice, leaning forward, "we talked about what you said when you left, about how it was in your blood, and we want to know if they did anything at the Academy to you."
Did anything? Sakura furrowed her brow in confusion - they'd trained her day in and day out on how to think, how to react, what to say... did that count as anything? She wasn’t sure what her mother was asking here.
Her father, Haruno Manzo, upon seeing her bewilderment spoke, “Your mother wants, I mean we want to know if they did anything to… alter your mind. Like drugs, perhaps.”
Sakura’s eyes widened as what they were insinuating hit her and she struggled with a fury that made her breathless. Inside she was shrieking obscenities, but all that showed to them was a narrowing of her eyes and the sudden stiffness of her body. She gently put the cup down before it broke.
“How dare you,” she said in a low dangerous voice that Shizune-sensei had taught her to use when she wanted to be listened to, “How dare you think that I don’t know my own mind?”
Sayako's eyes welled up with tears and Sakura was too furious with them to care. "We just want to know what's wrong with you, sweetheart. You used to be such a good child and we're trying our best to understand the young lady you've become. So cold, so distant. You used to tell us everything. What changed?"
This, at least, she could answer. “I graduated, Mom.” Sakura said, tucking her arms around her to ward off a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature, “As an active kunoichi there’s much I can’t talk to you about.” Shinobi Rule #67: Shinobi are required to maintain silence towards civilians in all matters pertaining to the village and the affairs thereof.
Becoming Tsunade-sama’s apprentice meant that nearly everything Sakura did fell under that rule. It was also true that after the break up of her team - which she’d only mentioned sketchily to her parents - that she had pulled back from them and turned more to her ninja friends.
They understood her.
“We’re your parents.” Sayako said firmly, “And we think that you should be speaking to us about what’s going on in your life. The details that form you, our daughter.” Manzo looked uncomfortable about this and Sakura wondered again what he would have said if she talked to him alone.
“If I did that,” she said quietly enough that her mother had to lean forward to catch the words, “then I’d be entertaining the T&I specialists of ANBU very quickly under suspicion of treason.” The law made that quite clear. Tsunade-sama had made it even clearer.
It was one thing to speak of shinobi matters with other shinobi - Sakura knew that Ino talked to her father quite often about what all went on - and quite another thing to speak of it to civilians. Another shinobi would have the training to resist having information pulled from them, civilians had no such protection.
Her mother gasped, “But you’re just a baby, barely a Genin, surely they wouldn’t, if you’d just quit then none of this would - “
“I’ve been Genin for nearly a year.” Sakura fumed over the ‘baby’ comment. Under shinobi law she was considered a full adult with all the rights and privileges. She was young, yes, and in a situation where another shinobi was in command she would defer to them… but legally she was just as grown up as her parents. “And I’m not quitting.” That, as far as she was concerned, had never been an option.
Sakura looked at the weary face of her father, to the beseeching eyes of her mother and thought that she’d never felt more alone. They never would be able to understand her, she realized with a heavy heart, she’d never be able to talk to them without the wall built by the law standing between them. There was a time for this conversation, she knew that it wouldn’t be put off indefinitely, but the time wasn’t when she was tired, cold, and hungry. I’ve got to get out of here.
“I’m going.” Sakura said abruptly, cutting her mother off. She stood up, wincing at the weight of her pack - medical supplies for a novice medic-nin weren’t light - and stepped towards the door.
Her mother hurried in front of her before she’d made it to the hall. “Where are you going?” She demanded, blue eyes furious, “We’re not done talking.”
“I forgot.” Sakura lied, saying the first thing that came to mind, “I’d promised Ino that I’d sleepover with her tonight. With the mission, I almost forgot.”
Then, before her mother could tell her to forget about Ino, Sakura quickly pushed past her and sped down the hall and out the door. The rain hit her hard, it had only worsened while she’d been inside, and within seconds the small warmth she’d regained had fled. Shivering, she crossed her arms over her chest and let her feet lead her.
Eventually, Sakura knew, she’d end up at Ino’s. Somehow, she always did. Ino had, even as a child, a gift at solving other people’s problems. Right now though she wanted to be alone.
Slowly she walked, heedless of the rain and of common sense telling her to stay inside, and when she paid attention to her surroundings found that she was standing on the bridge that Team 7 had always met on.
Running her hands along the railing, then leaning against it, Sakura stared down at the rushing river and wondered what she was supposed to feel. Already she could tell where this line of conflict with her parents was going to lead. Things would only get worse over time, not better, as she advanced in rank and learned more and more information that was on a strict need to know basis. Should she be feeling sad? Angry?
All she could really think about was the exhaustion that it would bring with it. If she had to face her parents after every mission and fend off their need to know what she’d been doing, and heaven forbid if they had to come and visit her in the hospital… Sakura knew she wouldn’t be able to deal with that for long.
Time passed, how long she wasn’t sure, before she slowly became aware of a familiar presence. She wondered what had brought him, wondered if he missed their team as much as she did. Sakura raised one hand in greeting without turning around. “Kakashi-sensei.”
“You’ve gotten better.” He commented stepping up to lean against the railing beside her,
“Before… you wouldn’t have noticed me.”
“Hmm.” Sakura didn’t disagree and occupied herself with studying her sensei from the corner of her eye. He looked well, though she wouldn’t have put money on that diagnosis before seeing him under plain light. “I’ve had a good teacher.”
He winced at the tone of her voice - both of them knew that she didn’t mean him. Kakashi-sensei said nothing though and they lapsed into silence. It was the first time she'd seen him since Naruto had been brought back, nearly dead, and Sasuke had left them. There was no excuse that he could give her that would make up for being left out in the cold. Yes, he’d have been busy - but Ino’s sensei had been just as busy and yet had still found the time to show up at Ino’s party.
“What do you want, Kakashi-sensei?” Sakura asked finally when her irritation overcame her apathy and the man showed no signs of leaving her alone.
“Couldn’t I have just wanted to see one of my cute students?” He asked lightly, avoiding her question.
Sakura snorted, pushing away from the railing and crossing her arms, “You haven’t wanted to see me for months. I don’t see why that would have changed.” It had been easy not to think about it while she was so busy, and Tsunade-sama was everything that she’d ever wanted from a teacher… but confronted with the man who had been, had supposed to have been teaching her, Sakura found it a little harder to forget about it.
Kakashi sighed and kept his face turned from her. “I know,” he said so quietly that she had to strain to hear him over the sound of the rain, “that you have every right to be angry… but I really did come to see how you were doing.”
A smile twisted her lips, and Sakura found that she didn’t want to be angry with him, not with everything else that was going on. Not right now. “You’re always late aren’t you, sensei?”
He shrugged and Sakura could tell that he was smiling behind his mask as he turned to face her. “Have been for years.”
Sakura shook her head and changed the subject, “You’ve been busy then?”
“Of course.” The look he gave her made her wish she hadn’t asked. Of course Sharingan Kakashi would be in high demand after a disaster like the invasion. “What about you?”
“I’ve been working.” Sakura told him with a shrug, “Tsunade-sama keeps me busy.”
“And that’s why you’re out here?” he chided her, “All alone in the rain?”
Sakura thought about the answers she could give to that. Did she want to go into the details of what her home life was turning into? Or how she was working so hard that sometimes even her dreams would be filled with nothing but scrolls and texts all dealing with medicine. In the end the one she gave was, “Fifty percent right. Kakashi-sensei, you’re slipping.”
“What’s the other fifty?” He asked and she could tell that in his own way he did care. He was just abysmal at showing it.
“Personal stuff.” Sakura said with a shrug, starting to walk off. She would have to get to Ino’s soon if she wanted to have a chance of finding her friend awake. “I’ll see you around, Kakashi-sensei.”
A crack of thunder drowned out what her teacher said in response. When she looked back he was gone.
--- ---
Rabbit. Boar. Bird. Rabbit. Dog.
"Hair Tie no Jutsu!" Ino said firmly as her chakra soaked into the hair on her desk. The few golden strands gave a convulsive shiver and then were still. Narrowing her eyes at them, and without removing her hands from where they rested just an inch above the hair, Ino checked the flow of chakra.
It was still there. The jutsu was still active.
Biting down a squeal of delight, the last thing she needed was to disrupt her own concentration, Ino carefully lifted her hands further away from the hairs. Chakra continued to trickle from her hands and she took painstaking care to make certain that her movements were smooth.
When her hands rested in her lap and the chakra flow had stabilized (there had been a few dicey moments when the table had come between her hands and the hair) Ino nodded her head decisively. The chakra drain was slight enough that it wasn't likely to become a serious danger to her reserves. Shizune-sensei had said that the constant drain, however minor, was likely to be beneficial to increasing her reserves.
More importantly though - it was working.
So far, at least. Now to try the next step. She had to be able to control the hair long enough to have it grasp the glasses, then 'harden' the hair so that it wouldn't shift. What use was a jutsu that would let her control her hair only to have it fall out of her power the moment she stopped focusing on it? Ino knew that she needed to get this next part to work for the jutsu to be of any use in the long run to her.
Go on, Ino thought sternly at the strands of her hair, go on and grab those glasses. Go on, go on...
Slowly, almost enough so that she wanted to shiver with her impatience, the hair began to twitch. First the left side, then the right, the hairs began snaking over the desk top towards the battered pair of glasses that were serving as her object of desire.
The real glasses were resting on her bed, where they'd been tossed, since the night before, on her final attempt of the night, the jutsu had backfired on her and the hairs had gone ballistic. They'd nearly crushed her old pair of glasses before Ino had remembered to stop gaping in shock. As it was though, Ino didn't want her pink glasses anywhere near homicidal hair.
The hairs on the right reached the glasses first and she, using her chakra, directed them to twine around the handles. Once that side was settled to her satisfaction Ino turned her attention to the left and positioned it the same way.
There. With a peculiar mental stomp, Ino hardened the hair around the glasses. Hopefully they would stay secure with that.
She had her hair shake the glasses. At first nothing but a gentle tremor but carefully Ino gradually increased the power of the motion until she was satisfied that the glasses weren't going anywhere.
Letting the jutsu lapse, the hair falling quiescent around the glasses, Ino tugged forward her heavily marked up scroll and put a little red star next to the one that had finally worked. Shikamaru's idea about compensating for the repeated rabbit seal was what had done the job, though it had taken her a bit of work to come up with the pattern for the seals. Ino bit her lip and then nodded her head firmly.
She'd show Shikamaru and thank him for his help tomorrow. A fight's a fight, her mother's voice rang in her ears, but always give credit where it is due.
Ino could do that. She would.
(And if she hoped that it would unsettle Shikamaru enough to be less persistent than normal in wanting to know how her mind ticked... well, that would be a major bonus.)
He'd finally cornered her into naming a time and place for the Talk (as she thought of it) and Ino wasn't looking forward to it. Shikamaru had been acting darker than ever since they'd lost to Hinata's team.
It had been galling to lose, but at the same time, Ino could freely admit that Team 8 was far, far better equipped for an all out battle. And the look on Kiba's face as she'd countered him with pure taijutsu - all stuff that her father had been teaching her - was something that Ino would treasure for a long time.
Downstairs the doorbell rang. Once, twice, a momentary pause, then once, twice...
Ino got to her feet slowly, stashing a kunai in the wide sleeve of her nightgown. A quick glance at the clock showed that it was after ten at night (and that she really should be sleeping).
Heading downstairs Ino could hear the sound of the rain patter through the open window in the kitchen. She winced at the scolding that was sure to come of that. Her mother wouldn't accept 'I didn't hear it!' as an excuse for water all over the tile.
Ino wondered who it could be. Her mother was out at a dinner party with a group of her old friends and her father was still out on mission and not expected back for the next few days. And neither of them would have used the ringer, Ino thought.
Who ever was at the door didn’t seem to be getting tired of waiting. The bell rang again, and again. Ino straightened her shoulders - it wasn’t like she could ignore it because what if it was a message from Asuma-sensei or something? - and ruffled her hair to make it look like she’d been sleeping. That way she’d have an excuse if it was someone important.
Unlatching the door, Ino peeked around it narrowing her eyes at the sting of rain. It was a very familiar face she found on the other side.
“Sakura?”
Sakura looked worse than a drowned rat and a wet weekend all rolled into one, and Ino could see from the way that she stood that Sakura was nearly ready to collapse. She opened the door wider, letting more of the light from the kitchen out.
“What happened to you?” Ino demanded, her voice rising with her agitation. It was obvious that Sakura had just gotten back from a mission - she still had her pack hoisted on her back for starters - and Ino couldn’t think of why Sakura would be here instead of at home. Asleep.
“Hey,” Sakura said with a weak attempt at a smile, “Can I stay with you tonight?”
Previous Chapter // Chapter List // Next Chapter
Chapter: 05 Revelations (Part II)
Author/Artist: Skylar Inari
Pairing: Yamanaka Ino/Nara Shikamaru
Theme: 10 - thunderstorm
Word Count: 14,610 in total (9105 in this post)
Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me. It's Kishimoto's and I just play with it. AU immediately after the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. Part 5 of ? Unbeta’d.
Ino approached the clearing that she was to meet with the rest of her team for a mission - their first mission in so long! - with more than a little trepidation. She'd managed to avoid Shikamaru's 'talk' for the last two days by dint of pleading training with Shizune-sensei and then rushing off before he had more than a moment to respond.
She doubted that she'd be three times lucky.
A quick glance around the sunny area proved that she was the first to arrive. With a faint smile at having beaten Asuma-sensei (who was usually on the scene before any of them) Ino quickly fell into her morning stretches. The routine helped to steady her mind even as the early morning light grew stronger. She still hadn't figured out what to say to Shikamaru. There wasn't much that she wanted to say, even though Ino knew that he'd want her to talk a fair bit. Shaking her head, there was no point in dwelling on it right now, Ino turned back to her exercises with a renewed will.
Chouji arrived as she was finishing up. Tossing him a quick smile, Ino straightened up and dusted off her hands. The bandages on them were no longer a strange sensation, months of wearing them had let her get used to them - to the point where she felt almost naked without them.
"Morning, Ino." Chouji said as he began his own routine. "Asuma-sensei not here yet?"
Fiddling with her hair (it was in two pigtails, one on either side of her head, her hair being at that awkward state where putting it up was more bother than it was worth) and making sure that her glasses were secure, it took Ino a moment to answer. "No," she frowned as looked around the clearing, "he hasn't been around at all. It's not like him."
"What's not like him?" Shikamaru asked as he entered the clearing with a quick hello for Chouji and a thoughtful look for her.
Ino sniffed at the look and when his gaze hardened she pointedly turned away and pretended to fiddle with her sandals. "It's not like Asuma-sensei to be late. You're here before he is." This was said as scathingly as possible even though Shikamaru had managed to show up on time.
Chouji sighed.
---
Asuma wasn’t really playing hooky.
He’d spent the night at Kurenai’s - she refused to stay over at his place unless he did some cleaning first - and had simply decided that he’d show up at the training ground with Kurenai and her Genin.
The first sign that it might not have been the best idea was finding Chouji leaning against a tree on the outskirts of the training ground. Chouji’s face brightened upon noticing them. “Asuma-sensei!”
“Hey,” he lifted one hand in response, “what are you doing out here? And where are Shikamaru and Ino?”
Chouji made a face and pointed behind past the tree he was leaning on, “They’re back there, attempting to kill each other.”
Kiba snickered and there was a small titter from one of the other two. Asuma sighed. He had hoped that they would have gotten better since passing an exercise, but while they had proven that they could work together while actually on task having them around each other was still risky business.
“Let’s go talk to them then.” He said, leading the way as Chouji fell into pace beside Kiba and had a short whispered conversation.
To his surprise when they entered the clearing, Ino and Shikamaru were arguing any more. Asuma wouldn’t have said that they were getting along, as they were on opposite ends of the area with their backs turned to each other. Good enough, he supposed. Reaching the center of the clearing Team 8 spread out behind him while Kurenai stepped up on level with him. Ino and Shikamaru reached him at almost the same time and he wasn’t surprised by the glares they gave each other.
“I thought we were doing a mission?” Ino asked him, frowning slightly at Team 8.
“Now, now,” he said before she could get irritated, “we’ll do a mission tomorrow - but I promised Yuuhi-sensei that we could hold a session of combined training a while back and this is the first time we’ve managed to coordinate schedules.”
---
This was another match up that really had the odds stacked against them, Shikamaru thought, casually glancing at Team 8 as Asuma-sensei talked to Yuuhi-sensei. They hadn't been told yet what they were doing, but Asuma-sensei had said something about combined training and that meant either an all out spar or a lecture.
The area they were in suggested a spar.
Transferring his gaze from Team 8, Shikamaru let his eyes rest on Ino, who was talking to Chouji, and frowned. Team 10 hadn't been created around the idea of an all out battle - neither had Team 8 for that matter - but the fact remained that thanks to their bloodline talents Team 8 was far better prepared.
He'd have to watch out for Ino. Kiba looked like he could take her out in one solid hit, Hinata's demeanor notwithstanding she was no pushover, and he simply didn't know enough about Shino to classify his threat level. Other than it was probably high.
“The only restrictions for this match are: you are to remain within the clearing at all times, we want to see what you can do, and absolutely no soldier pills. You’ll never improve if you rely on drugs to boost your power.” Yuuhi-sensei said firmly once Asuma-sensei had finished talking.
“You’ve got five minutes to come up with a game plan.” Asuma said, pulling out a timer and setting it, “Starting… now!”
Immediately Shikamaru put as much distance between his team and Yuuhi-sensei’s team, Ino and Chouji following after him. On the other side of the clearing Team 8 had done the same.
Turning his back to them, Asuma-sensei was a stickler for following the rules and he doubted that the other team would try anything before the timer went off that would incur his wrath. Shikamaru looked at Ino, who was fiddling with her glasses, then to Chouji, who was flexing his hands and settled down to think of a plan that would give them a chance at winning.
“Alright,” he said after a minute had passed, “this is what we’re going to do…”
---
"The most logical approach is to go after Shikamaru first." Shino said firmly, "Chouji is their muscle and Yamanaka's most developed skills are rendered useless by the requirement of remaining out in the open. Therefore the largest threat is whatever plan Shikamaru will come up with."
This time Hinata remained silent on the training that Ino-san had been doing. She had tried several times before the spar to speak of it, but Shino remained unconvinced. Kiba was even worse, in his way, talking loudly about how there was no way that a girl so obsessed with her appearance would be any challenge at all. She resolved to keep an eye out on the other kunoichi no matter what the plan was decided as.
Other than that, Shino's statements were likely correct. Nara-san didn't look like he was much of a hand-to-hand fighter and no matter how much Ino-san trained she would never match the sheer strength of her teammate, Chouji. Casting an eye over at the other team, Hinata was mildly surprised to see that they were arguing heatedly.
"Kiba will lead the assault." Hinata snapped back to attention, as Shino outlined the start of the fight and the roles that they would play. "I'll be his support and my kikai bugs can drain their chakra. Hinata hang back a bit and get an idea of what they're planning."
She nodded, using her Byakugan would give them a valuable advantage in predicting jutsu before they were used. Team 8 spread out into their standard arrowhead formation, Kiba in front, Shino just off to one side and Hinata on the other side. Bringing her hands together, Hinata waited for the signal to start.
It wasn't a long wait. Sarutobi-sensei took a long drag on his cigarette and said, "And, start!"
---
Ino crouched behind Shikamaru, her glasses perched firmly on her nose and strapped securely around the back of her head, her hands flew through the seals for Hypnosis no Jutsu. It would be the first chance she'd found to use it in a combat situation. Murmuring the name of the jutsu quietly enough that Shikamaru didn't even twitch she activated it.
After over a month of training on the jutsu the pink circles, that would give the whole game away if spotted, were hidden by the glasses. Barely. It was progress though, and she was interested to see what would happen. Besides, it would give her something to do until Shikamaru managed to snare one of Team 8 in his shadow. Then things would get fun.
It rankled a bit that she was the one at the back of their formation but Ino had to admit that this plan was one that Shikamaru might have created even back before the Chuunin Exam had changed everything.
Smiling at Chouji, he'd backed her up saying that she could do this, Ino was careful to avoid looking at his eyes. She didn't want to handicap her own team before the fight even started. Not when Chouji was serving as their first line of combat. Baika no Jutsu coupled with Nikudan no Jutsu would make a good opening move - and distract them from what Shikamaru would be doing.
Asuma-sensei pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and said, ""And, start!"
Ino watched as across the field Hinata's hands did the seals of her blood limit. She'd thought that it would be one of the first things that Team 8 did and Ino was pleased with being proven right.
Her grin got wider when Hinata, with the Byakugan on, went deathly white, stumbled, and fell on her knees. Ino knew how that felt - her father had used it several times on her during training. It wasn't pleasant.
Hypnosis no Jutsu was a success.
"Chouji, go!" Shikamaru snapped as Team 8's formation faltered as Kiba and Shino turned to look at Hinata.
---
His plan was falling down around his ears and they hadn't even had the chance to enact the first move. Shino was irritated about that and about his failure to predict that they would do something like that.
Hinata was on her knees and had deactivated her Byakugan. Her rapid breathing and the beads of perspiration on her face told that something was still wrong. She covered her eyes with both hands.
"What's wrong?" Kiba asked, concern clear in his voice and manner. "Are you feeling sick?"
She shook her head as Shino took a few steps closer to her. "A jutsu then." It hadn't happened until after Sarutobi-sensei had said they could start, so that tallied with it. "Do you know who did this to you?"
Hinata took a shaky breath, "Ino-san." Her voice was very clear on that point, "I was fine looking at the others."
Being proven wrong was never a joy. Shino throttled his regret that he hadn't paid more attention when Hinata had been trying to explain that Yamanaka had been training. He would apologize later to Hinata.
"Change of plan," he said quietly, "Kiba, take out the girl." She had, with one move, made herself the dark horse of the fight. They hadn't any idea of what other tricks she had up her sleeve.
It was logical to remove her first.
"You've got it!"
"Baika no Jutsu! Nikudan no Jutsu!" While they'd been talking Team 10 hadn't been idle. Chouji, now many times his size, was bearing down on them. Kiba flung himself to one side while Shino pulled Hinata up and dodged to the other.
He hadn't planned on Chouji managing to turn and follow him though. His kikai bugs crept down his legs and into the long grass. If nothing else they’d be able to slow Chouji down until his lack of chakra put him out of commission.
It was sloppy though and Shino despised that.
---
Shino was fast for all that he was burdened with Hinata. Chouji was navigating mostly on vibrations through the ground - it was a trick that his father had taught him while he'd been recuperating in the hospital - and he could tell that Shino was starting to get tired. No matter how strong he was, carrying around a teammate was no easy task, and he'd been doing it now for a few minutes.
Chouji was aware that more than one of Shino's bugs had managed to crawl on to him and had started to drain off his chakra. He wouldn't be able to hold up the jutsu's for much longer but that was alright.
He only had to hit Shino once.
There was a pause in front of him, longer than normal, and then Chouji knew that Hinata had re-entered the fight because Shino's steps were suddenly a great deal lighter. Excellent. He hadn't really wanted to hit Hinata when she wasn't feeling well.
Not when he wasn't sure what the hell Ino had done to her in the first place. He'd have to see if he could get her to talk about it after - but Chouji had the sneaking suspicion that it was covered under the Clan Confidential and that she wouldn't say much.
Using the last bit of his chakra, Chouji converted it into extra speed for his rolling form. The surprise of it was enough for him to catch Shino off guard and the smaller boy went flying. Chouji came out of the Jutsu dead tired. Sagging to the ground he closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing. If he was lucky he'd manage to regain enough chakra, Yuuhi-sensei's restriction on soldier pills was a nuisance, to join the fight again.
A slim pair of hands and Hinata's determined face put an end to that hope and Chouji spiraled into unconsciousness as she closed his tenketsu points.
---
It had been stupid, he saw that now, to attack Shikamaru head on in an attempt to get past him. Kiba had seen first hand just how capable the other Genin was at thinking his way out of a bad situation so he couldn't even blame this on anyone but himself.
But goddamn, Kagemane no Jutsu was the most annoying jutsu ever.
Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck and Kiba helplessly copied him. He fought the jutsu's hold every inch of the way but it made no difference whatsoever. Kiba grit his teeth, whatever they decided to do he'd just have to live with it until he could break free.
"Anytime, Ino."
The blonde standing safely behind Shikamaru - and wasn't that just like a girl? - grinned wickedly at him. "Did you forget what I can do?" She asked him sweetly.
Oh. Oh, no way in hell.
Kiba renewed his struggles against the shadow jutsu. There was absolutely no way he was going to be made to attack Hinata, who was at least standing on her own over the fallen form of Chouji, or Shino, who was picking himself up off the ground and looking wobbly on his feet. Just no. It wasn't right.
"Shintenshin no Jutsu!"
There was a pause and for a moment Kiba thought that she'd missed. Then he was slammed into by an invisible force and there was a brief second of utter disorientation before he found himself locked into a small corner of his mind.
Shikamaru had let the Kagemane drop and managed to catch his teammate as her body slumped to the ground. With a gentleness that Kiba thought was surprising, Shikamaru lay her down carefully, then stepped over her assuming a guard position.
The girl cracked his knuckles and laughed, "Lets have some fun, shall we?"
---
Shikamaru shifted slightly over Ino's prone body and watched the rest of the fight with narrowed eyes. It was taking place too far away for his shadow to reach and he didn't dare leave Ino's body unattended.
She wasn't doing too badly, he supposed. Kiba's body was obviously different from what she was used to but the surprise afforded by attacking while contained within the body of their teammate gave her an edge.
Shino stumbled back as 'Ino' managed to land a solid blow to his chest. The smaller boy - at least compared to Kiba's body - came up with kikai bugs pouring out of his sleeves and 'Ino' was forced to put some distance between those dangerous creatures and Kiba's body. Chouji was still out of it and for a moment Shikamaru thought about moving over to where he lay.
Wait a second, he thought scanning the clearing again, Where's the Hyuuga?
"A good shinobi is always aware of their surroundings, Nara-san." A soft voice said from behind him. Her fingers pressed gently to the base of his skull and the ground came rushing up at him as he fell like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
---
Ino saw Shikamaru fall out of the corner of her eye - what had he been doing that Hinata had managed to sneak up behind him? - and knowing that her body was left unprotected, at the mercies of the 'enemy', cuffed Shino roughly on the head then flung herself towards Hinata.
The other girl, her movements intent, slammed her hands down onto Ino's chest. There was almost an audible snap! as Shintenshin no Jutsu was broken and her mind was sent flying back to her own body.
Long practise was the only thing that enabled her to dodge Hinata's next blow and Ino drove her elbow sharply into Hinata's stomach, making the other girl cry out. Ino, putting some distance between herself and the Byakugan, looked up to see Kiba bearing down on her.
Fury was written on his face.
Oh shit, Ino thought as she brought her arms up to block his first blow. It was so powerful enough that it nearly knocked her over. I'm screwed. She wasn't going down without a fight though and narrowing her eyes in concentration managed to bring the side of her hand down sharply on one of his wrists.
He growled.
---
Alright, it wasn't sporting to hit a girl as hard as he was during a friendly spar but Kiba was pissed off at the way his body had been taken from his control and his blows were landing with more force than he normally used when it wasn't life or death.
The way that the blonde winced every time he managed to land a hit made him feel both a bit guilty - she really was just a slip of a girl after all - and better about the whole body snatching thing all at once.
He was glad though, fiercely glad, that the girl wasn't pathetic at taijutsu. That wouldn't have been any fun at all and she was putting up more of a fight than he would have guessed. Kiba had thought she'd be crap at it from what he remembered in the exams. Her form had always been good but her power...
Well, most girls had sucked at that.
She ducked under his fist and kicked viciously at his knee caps. Swearing, he managed to connect a swift blow to her shoulder that sent her reeling back. Kiba followed up the motion with a kick to her stomach and to his surprise she managed to keep her feet.
Twisting like an eel she slipped under his guard and before he could pull away had smashed her feet on his. He yelped and she took that second of distraction to blacken his eyes. Kiba came up out of the pain a moment later, narrowly dodging a kick to his groin.
No longer playing now - his face fucking hurt - Kiba advanced on her ruthlessly. Grabbing at her trailing arm as she tried for another blow, Kiba pulled her against him forcing her arm behind her back painfully.
She cried out, sharply.
The shrill noise of a whistle pierced the air. "That's enough, kids. Break it up and discuss the spar with your respective teams." Sarutobi-sensei's voice rang over the clearing. Kurenai-sensei held the whistle in her hand.
Kiba let the girl go, she sank to the ground, and went to see if Shino and Hinata were okay. It had been fun, and he had a lot to think about.
Like why the hell Shikamaru smelled so strongly of anger when Kiba had attacked the girl. What else had he been supposed to do?
---
At Asuma-sensei's call to end the spar Ino slumped down to the ground and lay there, unmoving, for a minute before hauling herself up and beginning to stretch. Ino didn't want to move but knew that if she didn't that by tomorrow she'd be stiffening up.
Her arms hurt badly enough that Ino knew they would be black and blue by the afternoon. Kiba, even back in the Academy, had always been one of the stronger physical fighters. From the way that his blows had landed on her, even the ones she'd blocked, Ino knew that he had only gotten stronger. She approved of that in the abstract but wished that he hadn't taken it out on her so much.
Raising her arms about her head, Ino winced as her shoulder sent a jolt of pain down her spine. Rolling it helped to dull the pain but she was glad that Shizune-sensei's lesson was still on for later. Shizune-sensei would fix the worse of the bruises.
Ino watched as Hinata and her team talked quietly to their sensei for a minute before heading for the exit. She paused as a thought occurred to her, and without even looking back started in the same direction that Team 8 had gone. There was something that she'd wanted to talk to Hinata about.
"Ino?" Shikamaru called, sounding annoyed, "Where are you going?"
"I'll be back!" Ino said with a flippant wave of her hand, as she increased her pace, "I want to talk to someone. Hinata-chan! Wait up!"
---
"Well?" Asuma asked Kurenai after they'd watched the kids untangle themselves, cool down, and trudge off. He found it interesting to notice that the Hyuuga heir walked off with Ino, both of the girls talking quietly. Asuma hadn't known that they were friends - Ino hadn't shown any sign of it during the Chuunin Exam. "What do you think?"
--- ---
Hinata gingerly probed at her forearm and winced. She wasn’t sure quite when she’d gotten hit there, but it was going be a nasty bruise. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off various aches and pains were making themselves known. She was obscurely glad of the pain, it meant that there was still more training for her to do.
“Hinata-chan! Wait up!” Ino’s voice carried effortlessly to her in the morning air.
Turning, Hinata paused and looked back. Beside her Kiba and Shino stopped and did the same. They were planning on heading back to Kiba’s place and review the fight in detail. There were several things that wanted answering.
Like what on earth Ino had used to disorient her. Her head still hurt and she’d managed to surprise even herself by carrying on so well after the first shock of it had worn off. One hand crept up to rub under her eyes.
“Ino-san.” Hinata said once the girl had reached them, faintly pink from running and a nasty looking bruise already forming on her cheek.
She got a grin that lit Ino’s face. “It was fun today, wasn’t it? You guys flattened us though.”
Hinata quickly tallied up her bruises and pounding head, the way Shino wasn’t walking quite straight or steadily on his feet, Kiba’s blackened eyes and swollen wrist. In her opinion the fight had been more even than the word ‘flattened’ suggested. “Ano, Ino-san - “
“Your team fought better than projected.” Shino interrupted her, and Hinata lapsed gratefully into silence. “I did you a disservice with my assumptions.”
Ino-san looked mildly put out and she placed her hands on her hips, “What do you mean, a disservice?”
Shino sighed quietly, and a grin cracked Kiba’s face. “He didn’t think you’d put up much of a fight, flower-girl.”
“Excuse me?” Ino-san’s voice went frosty and Hinata hunched her shoulders just a bit. She didn’t want Ino to get mad at them, but at the same time what Kiba had said was true. While Hinata had objected to the assumptions she had still gone along with them.
“Hinata mentioned that you’d been training hard. In planning however I made the decision to overlook that and formulated our battle strategy based upon what I saw from you in the Chuunin Exam.” Shino’s voice was even, and the look he gave Kiba was mildly irritated. “Your improvement from then is marked.”
Which was as close as Shino had ever come to giving an apology. Hinata fidgeted and wondered if it would be good enough for Ino-san, who seemed like the type of girl that wanted things said straight out.
Ino-san’s anger deflated and her grin came back, this time a little smugger. “I was a surprise then? That’s good, it’ll teach you to make assumptions about me.”
Shino nodded his head, “It was educational.”
“Ano, Ino-san, what did you want to speak to me for?” Hinata asked in the resulting silence as Kiba smirked at Shino.
“Huh? Oh!” Ino’s eyes darted to the boys then back and she said, “Can I walk with you a while?”
“We’ll let you have your girl-talk,” Kiba said, with a laugh, he’d been finding everything funny since Shikamaru had woken up for some reason. Hinata wondered if he’d tell them once they were back at the training ground, “Come on, Shino.”
The boys picked up their pace and slowly Hinata and Ino followed. They walked together in silence for a few minutes, Ino's steps falling lightly into pace beside her. Hinata wondered what it was that she wanted. Ahead of them Shino said something that made Kiba throw back his head and laugh.
"So..." Ino said with the air of a person striving for nonchalance and not quite hitting the mark, "Tenten said that you'd talked to your Father about things. Is everything alright now? You getting along better?"
Hinata was touched that confident and easy going Ino-san would think to ask, and care, about what was going on in her life. "Neji-niisan and I talked to the Elder's." She said quietly at they rounded the corner that lead into Konoha proper, "We told them that it wasn't our wish to marry."
A grin tugged at Ino-san's lips, "Because you like someone else, right?"
She flushed, just a little bit, and Ino-san laughed. It was a kind laugh though and when Hinata answered with a simple 'yes' she took it seriously.
"Do they know who you like?" Ino asked, "I know you think Naruto's great and everything, he's definitely a good guy, but I thought your Clan mostly stayed within it's own lines."
She did not mention that it was unheard of for a Hyuuga of the Main family to marry outside of it. Hinata was grateful for that. It was something that she couldn't even think about at the moment - not when Naruto wasn't actually interested in her, which made the entire point moot. And there was the small rebellious bit of her that remembered that Naruto had promised to change the Hyuuga.
"It does." Hinata said at last, "I have not told my Father the one that caught my eye. At the moment he seems to think that it is a member from another Clan." Which, while not acceptable for marriage, wasn't a dishonor to the Clan. That had been the gist of his speech when she'd told him.
Ino-san considered that, "Do you have a guy picked out? If he asks?"
Hinata flushed at the very idea, "Should I?" she asked worriedly, "But what if Father..." she trailed off, knowing that the rest of her sentence wouldn't happen. He'd never open negotiations with a lesser Clan for the marriage of his heir.
“You might want to think about it,” Ino-san advised kindly, “just in case.”
Shinobi rules weren’t supposed to apply to ordinary situations. All the same, many of them were easily adaptable. Shinobi Rule #42: Good Shinobi remove as many variables for failure before initiating any plan of action.
“I’ll think about it.” Hinata promised, smiling just a little at the absurdity of what she’d have to go through. Should she make a list? A flow chart? Something about her confusion must have shown because Ino-san looked considering.
“We could have a sleepover at my house to pick a suitable not-boyfriend.” Ino suggested, already looking enthused about the idea even as Hinata stammered, “Sakura would come for sure, and I’m sure that between the two of us we could track Tenten down so she could come too. What do you think? It’d be fun!”
Looking at Ino’s bright eyes and knowing that the other girl was only doing it to help her, Hinata capitulated. The whole idea made her feel embarrassed about it, but at the same time she thought that it might be easier with input from more worldlier kunoichi.
“Alright,” she said quietly, “Finding a date to set it might be hard though…”
--- ---
Sakura wanted nothing more than to fall into a nice warm bed and stay there for a century.
Possibly two.
It had begun raining not long after they'd left the sleepy little town that had been their mission base. A simple affair of bandits that had started getting ideas of grandeur. The villagers had sent for a team after the Elder's youngest daughter Umeko --
who'd had long black hair and pretty brown eyes wide and sightless, fear written on her face and the soft folds of her kimono had done nothing to hide the ruin of her chest or the blood, dried to brown, and the entire small building smelled of decay
-- had been kidnapped. They'd been able to save the village, but had been too late to save her. She'd been long dead by the time they had reached the village. Sakura shook her head and gently pushed the memories away.
There would be time later for nightmares. Right now she had to focus on her surroundings. Genma-taichou insisted on the strict observance of the rules. He'd mentioned in passing that none of them were good enough to get away with slacking off.
In front of her Chiba Yasuo walked point. His senses were the most advanced of the Genin and he was the most likely to spot an attack or anomaly. On the left was Nakamura Ima, a pretty girl with dark blue hair and a cheerful smile, and on the right was Ito Akira. Sakura could just make out his stocky body from the undergrowth and he flashed her a smile when he saw her looking then melted deeper into the forest. Their sensei had been killed during the Oto Invasion and they'd told that Tsunade-sama hadn't yet decided where to put them.
Sakura hoped that they found a good sensei, they'd made her welcome in the weeks she'd been with them. Behind her walked Genma-taichou who'd been a proctor in the Chuunin Exam.
As they reached the gates of Konohagakure and the Chuunin at the entrance confirmed their identities, Sakura wondered what he had thought of their performance. The bandits had proven to be a bit of a challenge to locate and infiltrate, but the actual eliminations had been almost too easy - they hadn't been prepared for shinobi to confront them and Team Genma had managed to do the job with nothing but a few minor scrapes and Yasuo's snapped wrist. She'd done the best she could, but had told him that he was going to have to see a full medic nin once they were finished.
"Alright, you four scatter." Genma-taichou said as they reached the Administration buildings, "You'll be called in for a debriefing within the next few days, but Hokage-sama won't need you all for the preliminary report."
And, Sakura thought wryly as Yasuo and Akira nodded their heads and headed off, this would let him talk about them freely. Ima rolled her eyes at Genma-taichou's back mouthing 'What, does he think we're stupid?' before, with a scattered wave of her hand, following after her team.
Taking a moment to adjust the straps of her pack - the water was making the shoulder straps hideously uncomfortable and Sakura was sure that she'd end up with friction burns - she shook her hair back and headed for home.
The rain had plastered her hair to her head and Sakura was glad that she wasn't one of the shinobi that wore white in their uniforms. Nothing was dry at this point and she took small comfort from the fact that at the very least no one could see her underwear.
Around her the streets hummed with activity as people rushed about concluding their business and heading off home for supper. It was a bit quieter than normal, the rain muffled many of the sounds, and Sakura could tell that she wasn't the only one glad to be heading home.
Turning on to her street Sakura picked up the pace, not caring if the water splashed at her toes since she'd be able to dry herself off in a few minutes. Spotting the light on in her kitchen, Sakura wondered what her parents would say. At least she'd come home unharmed - if she was lucky that would help to calm them down.
Knocking once on the door, just to alert them, Sakura tried the door knob and found it unlocked.
She frowned at it - even in a shinobi village that was abysmally poor security. With a sigh, it wasn’t the first time that she’d found the door unlocked, Sakura stepped inside and breathed deeply of the smells of cooking rice and vegetables.
“Sakura?” Her father was coming down the stairs, a book in his hand and a tired smile on his worn face, “We weren’t sure when to expect you home.” The look in his eyes made her want to cringe, but there was nothing that she could have done about it. Mission details like that were confidential for a reason and Sakura wasn’t about to blab just to sooth her parents minds.
“Sakura!” Her mother came out of the kitchen and stopped dead at the sight of her. Sakura wondered if it was the fact that she was dripping enough water on the floor to fill a pool or that they’d ended on such bad terms when she had left that kept her from coming closer. “Are you hurt?”
That question made her smile, and she shook her head. “I’m fine, Mom. Soaked, and tired of course but nothing worse than that.”
Her parents exchanged a long glance and Sakura shifted uncomfortably. Her clothes were sticking to her skin and she was becoming aware of the fact that she rather desperately needed a bath.
“I know you’d like to rest, sweetheart,” her mother said quietly, “but while you were gone your father and I talked about things, and a few of them we’d like to discuss with you before anything else.”
That, Sakura knew without a doubt was a bad sign. Even worse was their insistence as they hurried her to the living room, still soaking wet and carrying her pack, that she would have to wait to get changed into something warm and more importantly, dry.
Pushing her sodden hair back from her face, Sakura touched the cold metal of her hitae-ate for reassurance. She was a proud shinobi of the leaf, she could survive what was shaping up to look like a highly unpleasant conversation.
Especially when they want me as miserable as possible.
Her eyes when she was seated on the couch, taking a small bit of pleasure in the way that her mother's eyes winced at the trail of water she left behind her, were icy. This wasn't what she'd wanted to do - if Sakura had had her way then she would have been asleep by now. Already she knew what they were going to say and felt impatient with them for not getting it.
She wasn't quitting. Nor was she going to start refusing missions just because her parents thought they were too dangerous.
Satisfied that her resolve was still steady, knowing that what they said wouldn't make a difference, Sakura settled in to ride out the argument that was going to happen. The quicker she got this over with was the quicker she could rest. Her sandals were rubbing her feet raw and Sakura reached down to tighten the strap so it wouldn't move as much against her skin. Her mother watched her with weary love as her father handed her a small peach towel and a cup of tea.
"To dry your face." He told her almost apologetically. Sakura both mechanically and swiped at her face a few times. Taking a sip of the tea, it nearly scalded her, she wondered what he would have told her had they been alone. When she'd still been in the Academy her father had told her once, then never mentioned it again, that he'd always wanted to be a ninja. His parents hadn't let him though.
"Sakura," Sayako said in a gentle voice, leaning forward, "we talked about what you said when you left, about how it was in your blood, and we want to know if they did anything at the Academy to you."
Did anything? Sakura furrowed her brow in confusion - they'd trained her day in and day out on how to think, how to react, what to say... did that count as anything? She wasn’t sure what her mother was asking here.
Her father, Haruno Manzo, upon seeing her bewilderment spoke, “Your mother wants, I mean we want to know if they did anything to… alter your mind. Like drugs, perhaps.”
Sakura’s eyes widened as what they were insinuating hit her and she struggled with a fury that made her breathless. Inside she was shrieking obscenities, but all that showed to them was a narrowing of her eyes and the sudden stiffness of her body. She gently put the cup down before it broke.
“How dare you,” she said in a low dangerous voice that Shizune-sensei had taught her to use when she wanted to be listened to, “How dare you think that I don’t know my own mind?”
Sayako's eyes welled up with tears and Sakura was too furious with them to care. "We just want to know what's wrong with you, sweetheart. You used to be such a good child and we're trying our best to understand the young lady you've become. So cold, so distant. You used to tell us everything. What changed?"
This, at least, she could answer. “I graduated, Mom.” Sakura said, tucking her arms around her to ward off a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature, “As an active kunoichi there’s much I can’t talk to you about.” Shinobi Rule #67: Shinobi are required to maintain silence towards civilians in all matters pertaining to the village and the affairs thereof.
Becoming Tsunade-sama’s apprentice meant that nearly everything Sakura did fell under that rule. It was also true that after the break up of her team - which she’d only mentioned sketchily to her parents - that she had pulled back from them and turned more to her ninja friends.
They understood her.
“We’re your parents.” Sayako said firmly, “And we think that you should be speaking to us about what’s going on in your life. The details that form you, our daughter.” Manzo looked uncomfortable about this and Sakura wondered again what he would have said if she talked to him alone.
“If I did that,” she said quietly enough that her mother had to lean forward to catch the words, “then I’d be entertaining the T&I specialists of ANBU very quickly under suspicion of treason.” The law made that quite clear. Tsunade-sama had made it even clearer.
It was one thing to speak of shinobi matters with other shinobi - Sakura knew that Ino talked to her father quite often about what all went on - and quite another thing to speak of it to civilians. Another shinobi would have the training to resist having information pulled from them, civilians had no such protection.
Her mother gasped, “But you’re just a baby, barely a Genin, surely they wouldn’t, if you’d just quit then none of this would - “
“I’ve been Genin for nearly a year.” Sakura fumed over the ‘baby’ comment. Under shinobi law she was considered a full adult with all the rights and privileges. She was young, yes, and in a situation where another shinobi was in command she would defer to them… but legally she was just as grown up as her parents. “And I’m not quitting.” That, as far as she was concerned, had never been an option.
Sakura looked at the weary face of her father, to the beseeching eyes of her mother and thought that she’d never felt more alone. They never would be able to understand her, she realized with a heavy heart, she’d never be able to talk to them without the wall built by the law standing between them. There was a time for this conversation, she knew that it wouldn’t be put off indefinitely, but the time wasn’t when she was tired, cold, and hungry. I’ve got to get out of here.
“I’m going.” Sakura said abruptly, cutting her mother off. She stood up, wincing at the weight of her pack - medical supplies for a novice medic-nin weren’t light - and stepped towards the door.
Her mother hurried in front of her before she’d made it to the hall. “Where are you going?” She demanded, blue eyes furious, “We’re not done talking.”
“I forgot.” Sakura lied, saying the first thing that came to mind, “I’d promised Ino that I’d sleepover with her tonight. With the mission, I almost forgot.”
Then, before her mother could tell her to forget about Ino, Sakura quickly pushed past her and sped down the hall and out the door. The rain hit her hard, it had only worsened while she’d been inside, and within seconds the small warmth she’d regained had fled. Shivering, she crossed her arms over her chest and let her feet lead her.
Eventually, Sakura knew, she’d end up at Ino’s. Somehow, she always did. Ino had, even as a child, a gift at solving other people’s problems. Right now though she wanted to be alone.
Slowly she walked, heedless of the rain and of common sense telling her to stay inside, and when she paid attention to her surroundings found that she was standing on the bridge that Team 7 had always met on.
Running her hands along the railing, then leaning against it, Sakura stared down at the rushing river and wondered what she was supposed to feel. Already she could tell where this line of conflict with her parents was going to lead. Things would only get worse over time, not better, as she advanced in rank and learned more and more information that was on a strict need to know basis. Should she be feeling sad? Angry?
All she could really think about was the exhaustion that it would bring with it. If she had to face her parents after every mission and fend off their need to know what she’d been doing, and heaven forbid if they had to come and visit her in the hospital… Sakura knew she wouldn’t be able to deal with that for long.
Time passed, how long she wasn’t sure, before she slowly became aware of a familiar presence. She wondered what had brought him, wondered if he missed their team as much as she did. Sakura raised one hand in greeting without turning around. “Kakashi-sensei.”
“You’ve gotten better.” He commented stepping up to lean against the railing beside her,
“Before… you wouldn’t have noticed me.”
“Hmm.” Sakura didn’t disagree and occupied herself with studying her sensei from the corner of her eye. He looked well, though she wouldn’t have put money on that diagnosis before seeing him under plain light. “I’ve had a good teacher.”
He winced at the tone of her voice - both of them knew that she didn’t mean him. Kakashi-sensei said nothing though and they lapsed into silence. It was the first time she'd seen him since Naruto had been brought back, nearly dead, and Sasuke had left them. There was no excuse that he could give her that would make up for being left out in the cold. Yes, he’d have been busy - but Ino’s sensei had been just as busy and yet had still found the time to show up at Ino’s party.
“What do you want, Kakashi-sensei?” Sakura asked finally when her irritation overcame her apathy and the man showed no signs of leaving her alone.
“Couldn’t I have just wanted to see one of my cute students?” He asked lightly, avoiding her question.
Sakura snorted, pushing away from the railing and crossing her arms, “You haven’t wanted to see me for months. I don’t see why that would have changed.” It had been easy not to think about it while she was so busy, and Tsunade-sama was everything that she’d ever wanted from a teacher… but confronted with the man who had been, had supposed to have been teaching her, Sakura found it a little harder to forget about it.
Kakashi sighed and kept his face turned from her. “I know,” he said so quietly that she had to strain to hear him over the sound of the rain, “that you have every right to be angry… but I really did come to see how you were doing.”
A smile twisted her lips, and Sakura found that she didn’t want to be angry with him, not with everything else that was going on. Not right now. “You’re always late aren’t you, sensei?”
He shrugged and Sakura could tell that he was smiling behind his mask as he turned to face her. “Have been for years.”
Sakura shook her head and changed the subject, “You’ve been busy then?”
“Of course.” The look he gave her made her wish she hadn’t asked. Of course Sharingan Kakashi would be in high demand after a disaster like the invasion. “What about you?”
“I’ve been working.” Sakura told him with a shrug, “Tsunade-sama keeps me busy.”
“And that’s why you’re out here?” he chided her, “All alone in the rain?”
Sakura thought about the answers she could give to that. Did she want to go into the details of what her home life was turning into? Or how she was working so hard that sometimes even her dreams would be filled with nothing but scrolls and texts all dealing with medicine. In the end the one she gave was, “Fifty percent right. Kakashi-sensei, you’re slipping.”
“What’s the other fifty?” He asked and she could tell that in his own way he did care. He was just abysmal at showing it.
“Personal stuff.” Sakura said with a shrug, starting to walk off. She would have to get to Ino’s soon if she wanted to have a chance of finding her friend awake. “I’ll see you around, Kakashi-sensei.”
A crack of thunder drowned out what her teacher said in response. When she looked back he was gone.
--- ---
Rabbit. Boar. Bird. Rabbit. Dog.
"Hair Tie no Jutsu!" Ino said firmly as her chakra soaked into the hair on her desk. The few golden strands gave a convulsive shiver and then were still. Narrowing her eyes at them, and without removing her hands from where they rested just an inch above the hair, Ino checked the flow of chakra.
It was still there. The jutsu was still active.
Biting down a squeal of delight, the last thing she needed was to disrupt her own concentration, Ino carefully lifted her hands further away from the hairs. Chakra continued to trickle from her hands and she took painstaking care to make certain that her movements were smooth.
When her hands rested in her lap and the chakra flow had stabilized (there had been a few dicey moments when the table had come between her hands and the hair) Ino nodded her head decisively. The chakra drain was slight enough that it wasn't likely to become a serious danger to her reserves. Shizune-sensei had said that the constant drain, however minor, was likely to be beneficial to increasing her reserves.
More importantly though - it was working.
So far, at least. Now to try the next step. She had to be able to control the hair long enough to have it grasp the glasses, then 'harden' the hair so that it wouldn't shift. What use was a jutsu that would let her control her hair only to have it fall out of her power the moment she stopped focusing on it? Ino knew that she needed to get this next part to work for the jutsu to be of any use in the long run to her.
Go on, Ino thought sternly at the strands of her hair, go on and grab those glasses. Go on, go on...
Slowly, almost enough so that she wanted to shiver with her impatience, the hair began to twitch. First the left side, then the right, the hairs began snaking over the desk top towards the battered pair of glasses that were serving as her object of desire.
The real glasses were resting on her bed, where they'd been tossed, since the night before, on her final attempt of the night, the jutsu had backfired on her and the hairs had gone ballistic. They'd nearly crushed her old pair of glasses before Ino had remembered to stop gaping in shock. As it was though, Ino didn't want her pink glasses anywhere near homicidal hair.
The hairs on the right reached the glasses first and she, using her chakra, directed them to twine around the handles. Once that side was settled to her satisfaction Ino turned her attention to the left and positioned it the same way.
There. With a peculiar mental stomp, Ino hardened the hair around the glasses. Hopefully they would stay secure with that.
She had her hair shake the glasses. At first nothing but a gentle tremor but carefully Ino gradually increased the power of the motion until she was satisfied that the glasses weren't going anywhere.
Letting the jutsu lapse, the hair falling quiescent around the glasses, Ino tugged forward her heavily marked up scroll and put a little red star next to the one that had finally worked. Shikamaru's idea about compensating for the repeated rabbit seal was what had done the job, though it had taken her a bit of work to come up with the pattern for the seals. Ino bit her lip and then nodded her head firmly.
She'd show Shikamaru and thank him for his help tomorrow. A fight's a fight, her mother's voice rang in her ears, but always give credit where it is due.
Ino could do that. She would.
(And if she hoped that it would unsettle Shikamaru enough to be less persistent than normal in wanting to know how her mind ticked... well, that would be a major bonus.)
He'd finally cornered her into naming a time and place for the Talk (as she thought of it) and Ino wasn't looking forward to it. Shikamaru had been acting darker than ever since they'd lost to Hinata's team.
It had been galling to lose, but at the same time, Ino could freely admit that Team 8 was far, far better equipped for an all out battle. And the look on Kiba's face as she'd countered him with pure taijutsu - all stuff that her father had been teaching her - was something that Ino would treasure for a long time.
Downstairs the doorbell rang. Once, twice, a momentary pause, then once, twice...
Ino got to her feet slowly, stashing a kunai in the wide sleeve of her nightgown. A quick glance at the clock showed that it was after ten at night (and that she really should be sleeping).
Heading downstairs Ino could hear the sound of the rain patter through the open window in the kitchen. She winced at the scolding that was sure to come of that. Her mother wouldn't accept 'I didn't hear it!' as an excuse for water all over the tile.
Ino wondered who it could be. Her mother was out at a dinner party with a group of her old friends and her father was still out on mission and not expected back for the next few days. And neither of them would have used the ringer, Ino thought.
Who ever was at the door didn’t seem to be getting tired of waiting. The bell rang again, and again. Ino straightened her shoulders - it wasn’t like she could ignore it because what if it was a message from Asuma-sensei or something? - and ruffled her hair to make it look like she’d been sleeping. That way she’d have an excuse if it was someone important.
Unlatching the door, Ino peeked around it narrowing her eyes at the sting of rain. It was a very familiar face she found on the other side.
“Sakura?”
Sakura looked worse than a drowned rat and a wet weekend all rolled into one, and Ino could see from the way that she stood that Sakura was nearly ready to collapse. She opened the door wider, letting more of the light from the kitchen out.
“What happened to you?” Ino demanded, her voice rising with her agitation. It was obvious that Sakura had just gotten back from a mission - she still had her pack hoisted on her back for starters - and Ino couldn’t think of why Sakura would be here instead of at home. Asleep.
“Hey,” Sakura said with a weak attempt at a smile, “Can I stay with you tonight?”
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