"Kaa-san?" Ino asked, looking at her mother curiously from outside the bathroom. Her father wasn't home, and Ino was only four, so she couldn't be at the Academy.
Her mother, Noriko Yamanaka, gasped, and shot up, looking at her daughter, a green tinge around her face.
"Oh, Ino." the brown haired woman sighed in relief, shaking with the effort to keep herself up.
It happened in a second, but Ino could swear it lasted for an hour.
Noriko smiled in relief, tremors racking her body and small amounts of blood covering her teeth. Her grip loosened on the sink's counter, and her eyes rolled back into her head, making it impossible for Ino to see the brown iris' of her mother's calming eyes. Ino could only watch in horror as her mother began to fall, her head aimed for the side of the tub.
The young, four year old blonde stood, frozen to the spot, as Yamanaka Noriko's head slammed against the white porcelain and a crack was heard. The brown haired woman's head bounced off the tub's side and she crumpled to the ground.
And Ino screamed.
Ino ran to the first person she saw with a Konoha hitai ate proudly displayed on their forehead.
"Shinobi-san!" Ino screamed, running into the man's legs.
"Hm?" the man asked, looking down at the blonde. She looked up at his face.
"Shinobi-san!" Ino exclaimed, tears streaming down her face. "My Kaa-san! Please help her! You have to help her!"
"Huh?"
Ino ignored the intelligent answer from the man and dragged her towards her home, a urgent and frantic aura surrounding her. The man, who was wearing his ANBU uniform and was just patrolling the civilian districts let the little girl drag her straight to the Yamanaka flower shop.
The girl pulled him into the living area of the family and shoved him towards the bathroom. The man didn't even get to look around.
When Ino had finally gotten the ANBU shinobi to look in the bathroom, the man's lone eye widened in shock and he quickly rushed inside.
Pressing two fingers to Ino's mother's neck, he found a faint pulse. What on earth had caused this? Looking over his shoulder at the terrified blonde girl, the man sighed.
"Shinobi-san, what's wrong with her?" Ino asked timidly, her big blue eyes worried for her Kaa-san.
"I don't know Yamanaka-san," the man sighed. "I'm going to get some medical nins in here, okay?"
Ino froze, and suddenly latched onto his arm.
"But what if Kaa-san gets worse while your gone!?" she exclaimed. "Tou-sama can leave copies at home when Kaa-san's shopping, and Kaa-san does too! Can you make copies Shinobi-san?"
The man suddenly realized what she wanted. To leave a clone that will send information on the little girl's mom to him if she gets worse.
"Yes, I can make Bushin," he confirmed, and the girl's blue eyes looked at him happily. "And my name isn't Shinobi-san. It's Hatake Kakashi."
"I'm Yamanaka Ino," Ino introduced, then shoved him towards the bathroom window. "Make a bushin Hatake-san!" she exclaimed. "Save Kaa-san!"
Nodding once, Kakashi quickly made the shadow clone needed, and launched himself out the window. He dashed towards the hospital, hoping they could spare a few nins to help with Ino's mother.
Ino looked at her mother sadly. "Kaa-san, what happened?"
Kakashi poofed into existence in the Yamanaka living room just as Ino came out of the bathroom in a sprint.
"Hatake-san!" she shouted, after running into him. "Kaa-san's mouth is drooling red!"
Kakashi's eyes widened as he shove Ino out of the way and quickly rushed to the bathroom. Kneeling down next to Ino's mother, he quickly began performing CPR.
"Make way!" Medical ninjas shouted, dashing down the street towards where the Yamanaka shop was. Ino heard some doors open, so she rushed out to greet some more ninja.
"Where's the patient?" one, the leader, questioned. He looked around for someone, but all he saw was a four year old girl.
"Hatake-san is pressing on her chest, Medic-san!" Ino exclaimed, leading the man towards the bathroom.
"Thank kami your here!" Kakashi exclaimed, getting out of the way of the woman. "Blood's coming out of her mouth!" And the medic nins began to work on Ino's mother.
Kakashi looked down at the young blonde and placing a hand on her shoulder, he led her out of the house and towards the hospital. Both were just walking when Ino suddenly clasped Kakashi's hand in her own.
"Do you think Kaa-san's going to be okay?" Ino asked.
"I don't know," Kakashi responded bluntly. "But she might die." Ino bit her lip in fear, her eyes sad.
"But if that happens, will you come to her funeral, Hatake-san?"
Kakashi didn't respond.
On that day, on September 23, four years after the Kyuubi attack of Konohagakure, Yamanaka Ino spent her birthday worrying about her mother and in the hospital. In fact, Ino didn't even remember it was her birthday until a month later.