Disclaimer: I no own, you no sue.

Author's note: I've been sitting on this and two other ideas for a while and I've had the first part sitting in my documents for the last month or so. I want to write more but I wanna know if people would even want to read it so I'm throwing my first chapters up and seeing what people think. I don't need a huge review saying how good it is or you love it or you hate it and think I'm stupid for making such a crack pairing. If just one or two people say, I would like you to continue I would be happy. BTW please don't asked for scheduled updates, I have two part time jobs, do freelance art stuff and go to college part time so it's uncertain. That and I work better when the mood hits me so don't be mad, but I'll try not to go more then a month without an update (I'm hoping that'd be an extreme case). Otherwise please enjoy! It's been a few years so I may be rusty. BTW I'm sorry it's angsty at first but I didn't put it under angst because I actually hate angst and it goes away after the first few chapters.

Sakura-sensei

Chapter 1: A Ninja's Worth

Panting labored breaths came from Sakura as she once again took a fighting stance holding her kunai in her right hand and using her left to quickly wipe the blood out of her eyes. She stared down the two ninjas in front of her, their foreheads void of a protector to tell from which land they came. One would assume from the land of rock since that's where they were currently located, but information they had gained said they couldn't take this at face value. It was risky but she chanced a look at the sky, it was getting dark and soon it would be pitch black. By her calculations they only had an hour to rendezvous with the other recon team and make it back to Konoha. This wouldn't be such a problem except for one thing...Ino still wasn't back.

About two yards behind her in the bushes lay the unconscious form of her best friend Ino, slumped against a tree. She had mind swapped with a ninja they had come across while he was on patrol. They'd knocked him out and Sakura held him still while Ino took control. She'd been gone for almost 3 hours when apparently a shift switch had occurred and two new ninjas on patrol had come by. It was only lucky enough she felt them coming before they arrived so she could throw a genjutsu up to hide her friends body. She then made it seem like they had surprised her when they came by so their attention would be only on her. Surely Ino could tell what time it was and should be dispelling the jutsu soon. Even if she had no information she knew when they had to meet up with the other team. She still felt like something wasn't right. She'd been watching her friend for hours and she was still alive so they hadn't killed her, but something was off, she should have been back by now. 'This isn't right.'

She didn't have time to dwell on this as they attacked again. She dodged another kunai launched at her and tumbled to the right before jumping to her feet and deflecting another with her own kunai. She rushed the nearest one but once again as she approached him they both withdrew to the treetops. She knew they were stalling, but she didn't know for what. She hadn't seen them do anything that may alert others to her presence, not to say they hadn't, but it wasn't something she recognized. She was afraid the reason they were stalling had something to do with Ino. If her friend didn't return soon she'd have to take her body and run. She felt something pierce her skin and a trickle of blood run down her face, she put her hand to it and felt a thin cut on her cheek. She had let her guard down and they had taken advantage. They had no problem hurting her, but since they weren't fighting with killing intent she had to figure they wanted her alive.

She was holding off on the explosive tags for when she might need to make an escape. Her chakra was ok, but she wasn't going to waste it healing minor wounds. Instead she opted to throw them off guard and see if she could take one out. Gathering her chakra to her foot she made a dash at them again, and as they had been doing they retreated to the tree tops. This time she continued and lifted her leg up to smack against the side of the tree one man was sitting in, causing it to splinter and crack before falling over causing the man to be surprised and as he jumped to another tree she caught him under the chin with a chakra laced uppercut that sent him careening to the forest floor. She followed through by throwing three kunai at him, he jumped to avoid the lethal blows but they still hit him in his side and his upper thigh. She closed on him to make the kill when his partner showed up with a smoke bomb to cover his tracks as he hoisted him away. She felt their chakra draw back but they still stayed in the area waiting for something. Just as she was preparing to grab Ino and haul ass she heard a loud gasp that sent a chill down her spine. She created a genjustu to cover the area allowing her to create a clone undetected to deal with the two men as she made her way to Ino.

She checked her over but her mind wasn't in her body yet. Her body was twitching and writhing in unknown pain. She gasped again and bit back a scream but this time she coughed up a small amount of blood and it trickled down the side of her chin. "Ino!" She was good at genjutsu but only someone mastered in genjutsu like Kurenai could force the jutsu to an end. 'Or the sharingan!' Kakashi was in the other recon team they had to meet up with. 'If we can get there!' "Hold on Ino!" She felt her clone still out there toying with the two men and gave it a mental command. The clone acted like it heard something just out of their range and looked surprised. Once again as she was caught off guard they attacked, but she was ready and moved out of the way in a way that wouldn't leave her back to them as she started retreating to the left. The clone slowly led them away as Sakura hoisted Ino on her back. Unfortunately she had to gag Ino to make sure they weren't heard as they escaped.

She took it slowly as she made her way from where she had been facing off against the men in case they had caught on to her. But after she made it about a mile away and felt her clone was still in tact she poured chakra into her legs and pushed off intent on finding Kakashi. Every movement in the trees had her eyes darting to them to some unseen enemy or just maybe her saviors. Ino continued to twitch and scream behind her gag, she almost dropped her once as her body started seizing. She had to stop and tried using her medical jutsu on her but it only temporarily helped as this was not the body that the damage was being dealt to. So the wounds would only subside for a few moments. But in those few moments she pushed herself for all she was worth.

The sun was below the horizon as she made her way to the meeting point. She crept slowly until she found the clearing and saw it was devoid of any life, she couldn't detect any chakra but they could be hiding waiting for her. She called out in the bird call they designated as the signal. She heard them call back as they all merged in the clearing. Unfortunately she was the best looking one in the group. It looked like they had taken on more then their share of enemies and more then a few were unconscious. Thankfully Kakashi was beaten but still awake. She was upon him immediately.

"Sakura-"

"You have to help! Ino is still caught in the body swap jutsu and they're doing something to her!" She gave him no chance to reply as she quickly lowered Ino to the ground which was hard as she was clawing Sakura up in the process writhing in pain. The gag she had put on her to muffle the screams was dripping red with blood and her heart was beating erratically.

"How long?"

"The justsu? She's been under for over three hours. They only started doing something to her about a half hour ago. I don't know if they know how her jutsu works but my healing won't work if she doesn't break the jutsu! It will only temporarily help." No words needed to be said as he pulled up his hiate and exposed his sharingan and stared into her eye. Sakura was surprised it was taking time, usually he'd be able to break it in almost an instant. Then she really looked him over and noticed his left side was caked in blood and even as she stared down at her friend he was panting heavily. She was ready to ask if he needed help but if she stopped him now he might not be strong enough to break the jutsu. Almost five minutes had gone by when suddenly both Kakashi and her friend gasped in deep breaths of air like a swimming coming up for air. She looked her friend over and saw her friend's eyes now staring back at her.

"Sakura..."

"Ino what happened?" Even as she said this she was gathering what chakra she had left to her hands to help healing. She swore her heart skipped a beat as she realized how much damage had been done to her. Multi-organ failures, internal bleeding, blood pressure dropping. She immediately started on the internal bleeding trying not to panic as she realized what a feat this really was, keeping a calm exterior for Ino.

"They knew that I wasn't the guard. They didn't understand the technique but knew I wasn't him. The first thing they did was bound my hands apart, so I couldn't dispel my jutsu. Those assholes-" She stopped coughing up more blood as she gasped for breaths. Sakura's eyes were starting to water as she tried to calm her breathing. Every time she thought she stopped the bleeding one of the failing organs would start again or new bleeding would start elsewhere. She quickly took her hands away and popped a solder pill. Ino looked at her looking worried that she was doing that but continued.

"They interrogated me for a while, you interrupted them though. They wanted to know who I was working for, where the others were. I got no information from them but they didn't get any from me either."

"You should have told them! I could have taken care of myself! Ino do you know," she had to choke back a sob. "Do you know just how bad off you are?" Ino smiled in a way that let Sakura know she knew exactly how bad she was. That only fueled Sakura to try harder as she felt her friends blood pressure drop even farther. She had the jutsu and the chakra but time was something she didn't have. Things just kept getting worse and worse, the way things were going... "Medic! Is there another medic here!" A young man, younger then her came over looking a little scared.

"I-I know a little. I'm not a medic-nin though."

"Can you stop bleeding?"

"I-I think so. I know I won't make it worse." She grabbed his hands and settled it over the worst part of the bleeding on the left side of her abdomen. She looked up in her friends eyes and couldn't stop the tears that now leaked down the corners of her eyes. Because Ino had tears as well and looked more scared then she'd ever seen her. Kakashi and those nearby knew the situation was more dire then they originally thought but most could do nothing. Even if Kakashi were to copy the medical jutsu he had no chakra and had already used his own soldier pill.

"Sakura, please stay with me. Please I don't want to be alone." She grabbed one of Sakura's hands away from healing her body and held it in her own.

"Ino! I can't save you if you don't let go!" Her voice hitched and they both knew she was lying. They knew unless the godaime and Shizune were here with her and all three healed at the same time there was no way to save Ino. The thought make Sakura's heart seize up as she realized she was going to sit here and watch her friend die and not be able to do anything.

"I'm scared," Ino said just above a whisper and her voice cracked as she choked back a sob. "Please don't tell anyone. I know I signed up to be a ninja and all, but I figured it'd be quick and I'd never knew what hit me. Not that I'd be lying here slowly...," she couldn't bring herself to say the words. "Thinking about all my regrets and what I wanted to do and how I just don't want to die." This time she did sob. Sakura's hands were void of chakra and the young man who came over to help was now sitting next to her silent teammate. She held Ino's hand to her chest and did not dare let go.

"Don't be scared," she said with all the courage she could muster even as tears streamed down her face. "I'm here with you. I won't let you go, you're not alone." Ino's grip seemed to slacken slightly and her eyes seemed slightly cloudy but she still stared in the direction Sakura was in and seemed to take comfort in her voice. Everything inside of her was yelling at her to do something but she was powerless.

"Sakura...thank you. Tell the guys I was strong in the end. That I did something they could be proud of." Sakura used her other hand to wipe the tears from her face and tried to clear her throat.

"You were brave! You held on no matter what, you're so much braver then I could have been. And I'm proud of you, I always have been. You were always so brave, I wanted to always be near you so I could be brave too." Ino smiled and closed her eyes sighing but more of a content sigh then one of pain and fear. Sakura thought back to the very first time she had ever met her best friend, how she wished she could be as brave as her and stand up to those bullies.

"Thank you for being my friend," Ino said quietly as her grip completely slackened and would have fallen if Sakura hadn't still been holding onto it.

"Ino," she whispered quietly even though she knew she would no longer get an answer. Tears clouded her vision of her friend and she felt like she couldn't breath. Then everything went fast, so fast.

She kept her promise to Ino, she never left her alone. Even after everyone protested she was the one who carried Ino home to Konoha. They talked of burning her body and returning her ashes but the look Sakura gave them was enough to know that wasn't an option. It seemed like minutes but it took them all night to get home as day was breaking as they walked through the gates. She remembered going to the hospital, and delivering her friend to the morgue. She would have been content to stay there all day but her team made her come with them for the debriefing.

She didn't remember much of it, though her shishou seemed to keep staring at her with this look on her face, like she was remembering something from long ago. Their mission to collect information on Uchiha Madara had failed. They didn't know if he was tied to this group or not and had no other leads on him. Ino had died for her village, her country, but they had nothing to show for it. After the meeting was over Tsunade said she would tell her teammates and her family of Ino's death. But Sakura would not let her, she needed to look those people in the face and tell them the truth, their daughter, her friend, and teammate had died in the line of duty, because she wasn't strong enough. The confrontation with her parents had been hard. Her mother had slapped her so hard her head flung to the side, but she felt she deserved it. She had let her down, she had seen Ino's mother as a second mother when they were kids and she deserved it. Her father took it in stride knowing being a ninja carried a harsh reality with it.

What hurt the most though was telling Choji and Shikamaru. Not because they blew up at her or yelled at her, or even hit her. Because they took it quietly. Shikamaru lit up a cigarette and slid to the ground staring at nothing, she knew he was holding back until she left. Choji wept openly supporting himself on the wall of the building they were sitting outside of. It was the barbeque restaurant they always ate at when they came back from missions, they had been waiting for Ino. She hoped she got Ino's message across, though she knew her teammates were sad they would also be proud of her. All of this in her mind happened in less then an hour and she was home, laying in bed, soaked in the blood of her friend. The friend she had failed to save, because she was weak, because she wasn't prepared. She should have listened to her instincts, Ino had been gone to long. She should have went looking for her, she should have been the one spying, she should have been able to save her! She felt as helpless as a child as she curled up under her blankets and cried, seriously cried, but no matter how much she cried the pain inside of her was only stronger and stronger until it consumed her dragging her into unconsciousness.

Her dreams were nightmares as she woke up continuously throughout the night. Sometimes she'd wake up thinking everything that happened was a dream, then look down at the blood and know the cold reality of it. Other times she dreamed Ino blamed her, screaming at her, begging her to save her, and she could not. She even dreamed that she and Ino had switched places and she was the one who had died, surprisingly enough these dreams gave her some peace. The next few days she had off as Tsunade had given both recon teams the week off to deal with wounds and the funeral to be held the day after next. She finally peeled the blood soaked cloths from her body and took a bath but couldn't find it in herself to wash the outfit. She put on a black long sleeved shirt and her black shorts to go to Ino's parents house. Her mother and father were very somber and her mother even apologized for smacking her. They were the ones who were surprised when she told them not to apologize, she had deserved it.

She knelt in front of her friends picture upon the alter and stared at her smiling face, wondering if there was some type of god in this world if she may ever see her friend again. That only brought fresh tears as she hoped and prayed that there was an afterlife for her friend. She had never been very religious but the thought just then that there may not be an afterlife for her friend shook her to the core. She stayed the whole day as if she were one of her family, even a sister, rather then a friend. That night as the rest of the guests left her parents had to politely ask her to leave. Once again her day had been over for her in only an hour.

The next day, the day of the funeral, the day they would honor her with putting her name on the memorial was the hardest. It was like she had been in a daze the last few days, like it hadn't really hit her. Her best friend was gone. She was never going to see her again, the one person who had told her she was pretty, that had protected her when she needed it, who had inspired her to be better, was gone from her life. She held herself together during the funeral though she did cry. The pain was just as fresh and new as the time she held Ino's hand in her own as she had faded away. It was like the wound had started to close and someone had ripped the scab off and blood was everywhere. And it was, everywhere she looked she saw Ino's blood on her hands and cloths, the smell was all over her.

She went from bar to bar that night. She didn't even know if she paid or if the bar tenders had just been nice to her after hearing what happened. She didn't know if she was drinking to dull the pain, or to try and kill herself but with the amount of drinking she was doing the latter could be possible. She thought Kakashi had stopped to talk to her once, but she didn't remember. It might have been a hallucination, or a shadow, or a dream. Everything became dull and lifeless and she couldn't figure out if this was good or not.

Even when she eventually stumbled home from the bar she couldn't sleep. It would not come to her, nothing could help comfort her. There was nothing left of her friend. She slowly climbed out of bed to the bathroom and pulled her cloths out of the hamper. They were caked in dried blood and smelled like death, but she took it back to bed with her and hugged it to her chest sobbing. "Ino." The name came out as a muffled sob as the girl clung to what was left of her best friend getting dried blood on her cloths and in her bed probably staining them for good. But it was only then in the dead of night with her bloodied cloths in her arms, hugging them like a lifeline that she was able to drift away into a dreamless sleep which was better then what she could have asked for.