R&R

In Secret, In Silence

Important Author's Note: Okay, so before you jump to conclusions and think that I stole this from (insert x's)IgnoranceIsBliss(insert x's), let me tell you that my friends, is an old account of mine. An account, may I add, that I lost the login information too. I vaguely remember changing the email address, and since I can't remember what the new email was, I lost my ability to log in. Sooo, I couldn't continue this story properly! To be honest, I kind of forgot about it until recently, the reason I decided to repost it on this account. I hope I don't get any doubts or angry people at me. Really, this is completely my story. I promise.

Summary: AU. How can someone ever know the full truth to what is told? Ino has always questioned this, but this question has never seemed so true until she comes across people that just can't be human, and the choice of a lifetime. SasuxInoxNeji

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto, but I do own this plot(really).

Chapter One

Ino Yamanaka had always known better than to believe everything she was told, for she knew there was always a twist to the truth. The only truth she could believe, was the one she was to create, and even then there might be holes she had not meant to create, holes placed by the twists of what she thought she knew, or rather, didn't know.

To some, this might seem mind boggling, but today, her philosophy had been proven clear.

Head pounding, she looked up through blurred eyes at the tan walls surrounding her and groaned as she struggled to move from her awkward position on the cold elevator floor. She was alone, and she was glad for it. She wasn't sure what was going on, and her mind struggled to piece together what the hell had just happened. All she knew was that something was out there, something not human. If she were any other person, she would be freaking out right about now, but she knew better than to doubt the truth of what she had just seen. They looked human, sure, but they moved with inhuman abilities. No one could possibly move so fast undetected by the naked eye, no one could burst through walls by simply placing their hand on it. This just couldn't be possible.

Yet she knew better than to doubt the reality of it. Standing up, she looked at herself to check for any major injuries, and was relieved when she found none. She looked around, not sure how she would get out of this predicament.

She held in a scream that threatened to escape her throat as she felt the elevator shake from the impact of something falling on top of it. She was aware of the fast pace her heart begun to race in anticipation, and could feel the sweat on her hands from where she was tightly grasping the bar inside the elevator. She was trapped. Trapped like an animal in a cage with nowhere to go. Nowhere to go but up, and that was where the hunter was.

Unconsciously, she pressed herself tightly against the wall of the elevator as she heard the person above move. Thankfully this elevator had no emergency opening in the top, and she hoped it was enough to keep whoever was up there away from her. Whoever they were, they could not be a good thing, not after what she had seen earlier before.

She gasped when she saw a weapon thrust straight through the metal of the elevator, and cleanly cut away a circle enough for a a person or two to fit through. The metal fell to the floor with a loud clank and she wasn't sure if she should get ready to scream and put up a fight, or get ready to die.

A wave of anger suddenly ripped through her. Screw this! If she was going to die, she was not going to go easily. She tensed for what was to come, and watched with a frown as a figure gracefully slipped through the hole and landed on one knee. The first thing she noticed was the long dark hair, but it was no female, the broad shoulders she could she under the pale long-sleeved shirt showed her that. The male looked up to show pale gray eyes that she had never seen before, and they made her breath catch. On his forehead was a sort of metallic headband with symbol etched in the center. I seemed oddly familiar...

Before she could try to place why that was, the male stood and looked over the blond girl in front of him. He said nothing and instead placed a finger to his ear where she saw an ear piece neatly tucked in.

"I have located the girl in the elevator. She is unharmed from what I can see," his voice was purely calm and collected, and she could see this man had placed a mask of cold indifference on his person, a sign that he had seen much in his life. He seemed to be listening from the other end.

"Affirmative. I will proceed," he looked over at the girl once more and saw the fear and awareness in her eyes.

"I won't hurt you, but I must ask you to come with me. I will make sure you get out of here safely," he saw the hesitation in her eyes, "If you do not come with me, someone else might kill you."

Her eyes narrowed.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Ino knew that he could be telling the truth as easily as it could be a lie. She could take his offer, and maybe he would be the hero, or he could be the villain. She could could also refuse, and take her chances, wait until the police arrived and get her out of here, or be killed if what this guy was saying was the truth. She received no answer however, as it seemed he was once again contacted by whoever else was communicating with him. She froze as his gray eyes fixed on hers.

"Forgive me, but there is no time," before she could say anything she found herself snatched from her place against the wall and pressed against his hard body as he quickly jumped back out from the hole he had created. Before she knew it this guy was easily jumping from wall to wall up the dark elevator shaft with incredible speed and agility until they reached the blown up elevator doors to what she guessed was the fourteenth floor of this building.

It was incredible, that a human could have such abilities. If he was even human that is. She had no time to dwell on the thought as she was brought back to the reality of the situation when she noticed they were surrounded by half a dozen male forms, all armed with some sort of knife weapon she had seen the guy who got her from the elevator make the hole with. They all wore the same outfit, what looked like a skintight black layer under a gray robes tied around the waist. Black ski masks hid everything but their eyes and they too adorned a metallic headband on their foreheads, only the symbol etched in the center was of a music note.

She took this in as she was gently placed on her feet by the male, only to be quickly pushed behind him.

"Stay here," he commanded as he drew his knife. Suddenly she felt as if an invisible force of power went right through her, and she saw the long-haired male rush towards the group of guys. Her eyes widened as she thought it was the end of this guy, only to be amazed further as he gracefully handled the knife in his hand as well as his body to fight those men. He seemed to be using a form of fighting style she did not recognize, where he only had to place a palm to the chest of his opponents to render them either immobile, or dead as they fell to the ground. He also used his knife to slice through their bodies and kill them off and within minutes no one but the pale-eyed man was standing, untouched from what she could see.

She wasn't sure if the men he killed were good or bad, doubt about that man still present in her mind. However, as she felt movement behind her, she once again froze when she felt the cool metal of a gun being placed against her temple. She noticed the long-haired male calmly turn around and she gasped. In his quick and fluid movements she had not seen it, but now, she could easily make out veins now surrounding the male's pale eyes in an unnatural way as he glared at her captor. Just what was he?

"Don't move, or I will kill the girl," her captor spoke, she could tell this guy was not very confident in himself, for he sounded more scared than anything else, still it did not make her feel any better as the gun was held tighter to her head causing her to wince.

"You know where he is! We want him back, so tell me!" her captor demanded, though she had no idea what he was talking about. She squirmed in his grasp, wanting to vent out and just yell at this guy, using her as a victim when she didn't even know what the hell was going on here, but she couldn't, not when a gun was placed against her face.

"What makes you think I would tell you? Or anyone else for that matter. He has all the information we need to bring all of you down. I suggest you let go of the girl, and walk away safely, or I will not hesitate to kill you, even if you kill the girl," Ino could not help the pang of fear that hit her chest at the sound of those words. Would he honestly let her die? Wasn't he supposed to be the hero who kept her from death? Ok, so she had doubted him before, but from this point of view, he seemed to be the good guy.

She felt the grasp of her captor tighten around her as he begun walking backwards.

"This isn't over," she heard him say, "We'll get him back."

"Catch," he said as he jumped into the elevator shaft, dropping her into thin air while he used his inhuman abilities to jump up higher. Her eyes widened as she felt nothing beneath her feet but air, a scream ripping from her throat. She caught a flash of black and white before she closed her eyes, waiting for what might be the final pain she ever felt.

It didn't come, instead she once again felt a tight embrace and a soft thud as they landed on the elevator below. She opened her eyes to see his cold gray ones looking back.

"Oh god," she said, gasping for breath and hoping her racing heart would calm, "that was a close one."

He did not reply, only looked up and once again jumped up to the same floor where the dead bodies remained. He placed her on the ground and looked to the left and right.

"This way," he said as he ran to the left. He once again saw her hesitate but saw with satisfaction as she followed close behind. The lights had long gone out, and she could just barely make out the cubicles that littered the floor. She knew her own was only two floors below.

"Where exactly do you plan on going?" he heard her demand. He guessed she did not like the idea of following him somewhere she wasn't sure of, but he had no time to indulge her with an answer as his mind worked to formulate a plan to escape the pursuers he knew were heading their way.

"Hey! Did you hear me? Goddamn it!" he hear her mutter the last part and stop in her tracks. He stopped and spun around with a frown.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on and where you plan on going! The stairs were the other way and I'm pretty sure the only way out is heading down," her hands were on her hips and her blue eyes shone with defiance and anger.

"There's no time, more are heading this way," he saw the anger and defiance falter and fear take its place as she looked behind her before looking back at him, a suspicious look on her face.

"And how do you know that?" he did not answer as he saw movement once again behind her. He prepared his body to dash forward and come to her aid when she surprised him, ducking down to avoid the slash of the knife headed her way and instead kick his feet from under him, causing the man to fall down and the knife to clatter harmlessly to the floor. She didn't hesitate to grab it and begin running once again before the man had the chance to get up.

"Ok so maybe you're right, lets run!" he followed her down the hallway until they came to an open area which looked like a lobby. He saw the emergency stairs heading up and motioned to them.

"This way," he said and this time she did not hesitate in following him. He did not stop running, even as he heard the girl panting for breath a couple of floors later. He knew she too could hear the sound of running feet behind them. It was not much longer before they reached the roof and he had no intention of slowing down. He was sure her adrenaline filled body would keep her going as well.

He finally saw the doors leading to the roof and barged through, the cold air hitting him in an almost soothing manner. The light of the full moon barely visible through the maze of lit buildings that made up the city. He brought a finger to his ear piece he spoke into it.

"I'm at the roof, where are you?"

"We're almost there, how many are there?" he heard a familiar feminine voice answer him.

"There seem to be fifteen heading here. Less than fifteen seconds before contact," he looked to find the blond girl next to him, listening to what he was saying and looking tense as she watched the door in front of them.

Sure enough fifteen other men arrived at the roof, quickly surrounding them and cutting off any way of escape. They looked left and right, and Ino watched as the man beside her readied to once again fight these other man. Was he strong enough to take them on? Somehow, she believe he was. And yet...

"We're so dead..." Ino said as she felt the atmosphere change, and it seemed as the group of men were beginning to charge towards them. However, they heard a thudding sound and saw a helicopter heading their way, and hover just above them, the wind from the rotors whipped their hair around as the men below paused. Two figures in the night air were seen jumping down from the helicopter, and something was dropped, causing a smokescreen to fill the area around them. It was followed by a rainfall of weapons that fell upon the scene, impaling those who had not been able to see the incoming weapons.

The two figures landed in front of them. As the smoke cleared up they could see one was female, and the other was male. The woman wore a white and maroon shirt with maroon pants, her hair up in to twin buns on her head. The male wore green jumpsuit, his hair cut into a bob shape from what she could see. They looked back for a brief second to see Ino and the male beside her before turning back to those who had survived the attack which was about half of them.

"I guess we arrived just in time," the female said, as she readied her knife.

"Forgive us for the delay my friend, but we are here to aid you against these opponents!"

The opposing group seemed to hesitate at the new arrivals, but the door behind them opened to reveal a white haired male with glasses calmly walk to the front, a smile on his face.

"Well, well, well, four little kiddos against all us from Sound. You all know I could easily take all of you down," Ino saw the three which she considered to be the "good" guys of the situation tense further at the sight of this man, and she felt he must be a bigger threat than he looked, specially from the way he spoke his threat.

"I don't think you give us enough credit Kabuto," the girl in front of Ino said through gritted teeth. Kabuto only chuckled as he pushed up the glasses from his nose and his gaze traveled over the group in front of him, pausing at a new pair of eyes he was not familiar with. Ino took this opportunity and held his gaze.

But you will not stay, she thought as she continued to look him in the eyes, you have other matters to attend to. She felt herself envelop his mind, manipulating him into what she wanted, as she had done many times before.

"As it turns out, we have other matters to attend to," Ino felt instant relief at the knowledge that her manipulation had worked, and even more when he turned around and motioned to the others to follow him. The "enemy"seemed to share a look between themselves before they followed the man with white hair. The three beside her did not move until they were sure the others were gone.

The two in front of them turned around with a confused look on their face.

"Well that was odd, why would he go through all the trouble to track you and chase you only to leave at the last minute?" the female asked the two men.

"I'm not sure, do you think something else might be up? A trick maybe?" the male with the green outfit suggested.

"I'm not sure, but you both should return to headquarters and report back," the long-haired male spoke.

"What about you?" the female asked. Ino was surprised when he looked at her.

"I will make sure she gets out of here safe," the two others seemed to understand and nodded.

"Alright, be careful," she replied, he nodded and motioned up to where the helicopter still stood to lower the latter that would bring the two others back up. The helicopter flew off, leaving the two behind.

"So is it safe to assume that there won't be any more incidents like that for the rest of the night?" she asked with a sigh as she felt the sudden need to sit down.

"I can't be sure, but it seems so," he answered her.

"Great... that was enough excitement for one day," she groaned, "can I ask for a favor?"

He looked at her as he waited for her to continue.

"Can you take me home?" she asked as calmly as if she was asking the weather. He gave her an odd look before nodding, it was the least he could do after putting her through this.

"Where do you live?"

They had jumped a couple of roofs before they finally made it down to the street below. When she says they jumped, she meant he jumped while she held on for dear life. He had assured her this was to make sure they were not followed and soon enough they were at her apartment complex.

On their way there, she had noticed he was not much of a talker, and it had been silent. Although she herself was a babbler mouth, tonight too much was going on in her head for her to continue that practice. As much as she hated to think about it, what she had witnessed that night would change her life forever. She already knew. And she was determined to get some answers.

He walked her all the way to the third floor where her apartment was. The halls were empty, not surprising considering the late hour, and they stopped at the white door labeled 32C, but she didn't immediately go in. Instead, she turned to him.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you that," he replied with ease, as if expecting the question. She was really getting annoyed now.

"I want answers," she calmly stated. He wasn't sure what to think of it as he looked at her, there was a certain air around her that told him to be careful, that she was up to something.

"I'm afraid you must forget what happened tonight, continue to live on as you have, there's nothing else you can do, for I can't tell you anything more than what you saw," she narrowed her eyes.

"See, that's just not an option," he watched as she brought her hands, forming a triangle with her hands, and as he watched her body collapse to the ground, he felt the sudden presence of something that didn't belong in his mind.

He was mentally strong enough to realize that she was in there and with a gasp he immediately put all walls around his mind that he could muster. He could feel her trying to fight through them, but he would not let her. What he knew was probably the most valuable thing he owned, and he could not let her through. Using all his might, he fought force her out, the exertion he was doing causing him to fall to his knees. I seemed like hours passed before he finally managed to push her out, and by the time it was over her was gasping for breath. He looked to see her body stir and her eyes open. She looked annoyed as she watched him.

"No one has ever managed to keep me out of their mind," she said as she got up, "You're not normal, but then again, I should already know that."

He stood and regained his composure.

"And I see that neither are you. Do you work for them?" he asked with narrowed eyes. Could she have been under orders this entire time? He reached for his weapon and readied himself end her life or take her into custody.

"I work for no one!" she said as if she was insulted. He looked at her in silence, regarding her answer and what she had shown. He could almost sense the truth in her indignant tone, and he was very good at reading emotions. There was always the possibility she was that good of an actress of course, but still...

"Maybe you'll get your answers after all," without another word he sheathed his weapon and turned and walked away, leaving her to ponder the meaning of his words. His footsteps seemed to emit no sound as he walked and she watched him until he disappeared into the door that led to the stairs. Turning to her own door, she unconsciously reached for her bag to retrieve her keys when it hit her.

She had left her bag back at her office.

"You have got to be kidding me..."

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