Tinkering With Stars, a naruto fanfic

Tinkering With Stars

There are some things that Ino regrets.

For instance, that one time she forgot to water the flowers – the next day she woke up, they were all wilted and droopy, and she gave Shikamaru a verbal beating after that to cover up for her guilt.

And there was this other time, when she failed to save her teammate. She understood that the mission was S-class, and that the wound had been fatal, but it didn't stop the tears when he took his last breath, grinning and failing miserably to reassure them that he was okay, that he was going to live. He smiled and then gasped, the life shuddering out of him, and he was still.

There were many regrets that came from being shinobi, living every moment for its worth, but Ino found that the worst of all regrets came from the ones that you could have changed.

For instance, there was Sakura.

She regretted many things about her – the years that they had wasted hating each other for liking the one man that had left them both, the days that they had lost not talking to one another. It was so easy, Ino thought, to forget that their days were limited, and that each day was only one, and there wasn't always the future-

And some things, she thinks, could be lost in a moment.

There were memories of afternoons, filled with nothing but tea and the faint winds of spring.

"What? You're getting married?!" Ino shrieked, and suddenly there were heads turning, curious looks turned their ways. Sakura clapped a hand over her friend's mouth before she could say anything that could bring attention to them once more, much to the mumbled chagrin of the blonde. Sighing and drawing her hand back to her side, Sakura sent a withered glare to her still unbelieving friend.

"Yes, I'm getting married. And it's in March, so remember, no missions that month."

Still slightly delirious from the abrupt but not wholly unexpected news, Ino blinked owlishly at Sakura, who just sighed again and took a sip from her drink.

She watched the pink haired kunoichi drink her hot chocolate and Ino suddenly didn't know what to feel. They were twenty-two and at an absolutely legal age to get married, but it just seemed so… Ino blinked again. It was just early, especially for those in the shinobi line. It was that either they got married and settled, or they stayed single their entire lives.

"So, are you quitting ANBU?"

Sakura snorted, "No. And so isn't he. Getting married doesn't mean that we necessarily have to get off the field. We get to choose, sure, but I don't think we'd exchange anything for our line of work." She grinned as she forked a piece of dango and placed it in her mouth, while Ino smirked.

Sometimes Sakura was just a little too easily worried.

And to think their mother hen was the one actually settling down first. But it suited Sakura, she had to say. The member of team seven that actually kept their team together, patched them up after missions and brought them all home every limb attached. It was fitting, really.

Smiling a little, Ino let her eyes droop to cover her eyes, fingers absent-mindedly tapping the side of her tea cup. "Kakashi-sensei, eh? Never knew this day would come. You better burn his collection of Icha Icha novels, or wait until your kid finds them some day."

Sakura laughed, "Says the person whose boyfriend watches clouds all day and whose motto is 'troublesome'." She glanced up when Ino quieted, confused by her lack of response.

Ino was watching her seriously, her azure eyes suddenly unwavering and strong.

"Are you happy?"

Sakura halted, and the silence stretched between the two as customers left the shop and the chef called for the waitress, who was idly picking her nails, to get her butt over to the counter and pick up the dango. The sky was endless, cyan and specks of white dotting the wide expanse of blue; two birds chirped and glided through the quiet and shaded streets of Konoha.

Sakura smiled. The trees and leaves danced across the sunlight and brilliant patterns erupted over her skin and dress, and Ino's eyes softened.

"Yeah," Sakura whispered, "I'm happy."

Ino was running down the long corridor spread with white and red rose petals, the marble echoing her heels as she raced towards the end of the hall. Bursting into the room smelling of strawberries and lilies, she bent over to catch her breath, effectively creasing her white maid of honor dress and catching the attention of Tenten, who was busy poking ornate senbon into Sakura's hair.

"Finally," chided Tenten, "I thought you'd never come back. You got the needles?"

Ino didn't look up from her bent over position as she threw the pack of needles towards Tenten, who caught it without looking her way. Adding a few finishing touches to the back of Sakura's dress, she stepped back to admire her work. "All set, Sakura. You're good to go." She picked up her bag of thread and stalked up to the door, waving a hand when Sakura smiled at her in thanks. "Don't thank me, I'm happy to make you pretty for your big day, Sakura. I'll be waiting with Neji outside, so don't take too long."

Ino watched Tenten slip out the door, then turned around to look at Sakura. She stood with her back to her, the white gown wrapped gracefully around her figure and sweeping like sheens of water down to the marble floor. She was no longer a bud, but a flower, Ino reminded herself. Through the years of waiting and hard work and endless training, through the period of time in which Team Seven mourned for Sasuke, and through the time in which they got him back, Sakura had changed; she was no longer a girl but a woman, and Ino couldn't help but feel wistful as time slipped too fast through her fingertips. A rustle of silk caught her attention again, and she straightened to see Sakura looking at her, a small smile gracing her face. "It's time to go," Ino said, and Sakura nodded. They pushed open the door and walked down the hall in silence, and Ino quietly handed Sakura her bouquet consisting of lilies, roses, and baby's breaths. Each step was slow, and Ino could feel each second ticking by as they neared the magnificent double doors. Her heart pounded in her chest and she had to wipe the sweat from her palm. So this was it, she thought as she looked surreptitiously towards Sakura. She looked nervous and slightly nauseous, but her face glowed with something that Ino could not identify at that moment with her fuddled brain. They stopped before the entrance and Sakura gulped, turning towards her best girl friend and giving her a nervous smile.

"So this is it."

Ino tried to smile, but the twitch at the side of her mouth gave her away.

"It is."

They looked again at the large double doors, and Ino could feel everything from the past surge and ebb with her growing excitement and raising nerves. And there was the future. Unprecedented, unpredictable, and so exhilarating-

"You ready?"

Without waiting for an answer Sakura put a hand to the doors, and with a smile that dispersed the doubt from Ino's mind, she pushed. Sunlight swept across the brightly lit hallway, further illuminating the sparkling floor and encasing the both of them in a halo of white. Ino grinned.

"Yeah, I am."

"Please, Sakura, don't go," Ino pleaded as she watched her best friend pack up her knap sack and place a packet of soldier pills into the front pocket, "The mission is suicidal. Hell, it can't even be classified as S-class!"

Sakura looked up from her packing, the light catching onto her pale pink tresses and illuminating the tattoo on her bicep. Even though Ino could tell an ANBU tattoo when she saw one, it was still frightening and mildly nauseating whenever she had to watch her friends head out on anonymous missions. The chances of returning were so slim, but yet they still went, over and over and over again. The number of shinobi that they had lost was innumerable, and hell, she knew Team Seven did have the highest success rate out of all ANBU squads, but it gave Ino a panic attack whenever they were summoned. And it was always S-class. Always the risk that they wouldn't come back. Sakura smiled a tiny smile and picked up her sack, grabbed Ino by the hand and headed out the door of their apartment. A man was already standing there, his inu mask in place and sleeveless vest accentuating the ANBU tattoo on his left bicep. It was easy to identify him with his pure white blade and disarrayed silver hair, but still Ino felt her stomach roll with unease at their mission.

It was a simple retrieval mission, but there had to be a reason for it to be so highly classified. Information on the Mist, then? Arms winding around Ino's midsection woke her from her reverie and she felt Sakura slowly pull her arms tight around her, squeezing the blonde gently. Sakura took a step back and smiled her brilliant smile, and her emerald eyes twinkled with excitement and amusement.

"When don't we even not come back?" she teased, and she smiled again when Ino mumbled a 'you better', before snapping her mask into place – it was a sparrow, Ino saw – and turning towards the direction of the gates, where two men, one with a fox mask and the other behind a panther one, were waiting patiently for their teammates to come. Turning back to Ino, Sakura nodded.

"I'll come back, so wait for me. And when I do, I'll tell you something. You'll love the surprise."

Ino smirked, and she felt hopeful that perhaps, just perhaps, her friend would be okay. "You're going to have to promise me that, forehead."

Sakura laughed again, the sound light and beautiful and free, "I will."

And with a swirl of leaves and dust and breeze, they were gone.

Ino could feel her heart pounding deafening in her ears as she raced down the road towards the Konoha hospital. She bumped into a few people along the way, but ignoring the curses and threats she received she continued to tear down street as fast as she dared. She could see the faint outline of the hospital, and upon reaching the white building she burst through the glass doors. Inside the smell of medicine permeated the premises, and the hall was crammed with shinobi, both ANBU and jounin, and a few familiar faces that had dark lines of worry etched into their eyes and faces. She saw Hyuuga Hinata sniffling on a plastic bench, Inuzuka Kiba trying to comfort the Hyuuga heiress and assure himself that team seven would be okay, so don't cry, but Ino didn't stop to watch until she reached Nara Shikamaru, who looked tired and faintly revolted by the general atmosphere of a mere hospital. Ino knew that he was thinking of the mission ten years ago, the first one he received upon becoming chunnin, but she had no time to waste, because every second that ticked by could mean a million things at once-

She grabbed her boyfriend's arm, "Where are they?" she ground out, and Shikamaru opened his mouth to reply but turned suddenly to look behind him, where there were suddenly a multitude of hurried footsteps; a black haired woman was shouting orders to the medical staff and many hurried off to do their designated tasks.

"Get Tsunade-sama!" Shizune shouted to one of the men who scrambled to do as he was told, "Tell her that we have the Mist squad coming back in!" There was the rolling of wheels on the floor, and the squeaky screech of iron abruptly turning, and then all Ino saw was blood blood blood blood blood-

She grabbed one of the med-nin that raced nearby her and fisted her hand in his collar, ignoring Shikamaru's sharp voice that was telling her to put that innocent man down. She didn't respond to his tone, and all she could see was the man who squirmed uselessly before her, watching her with wide, dilated eyes.

"Who," said Ino, the false sense of calm permeating from her chakra surrounding her petite figure spiking dangerously across the nin's face, "What happened?"

The man gulped. "One ANBU squad was intercepted by enemy nin, and two men were taken down. I heard one was –"

"Who is it?!" Ino shrieked, and a few heads turned their way, eyes weary and tense. The med-nin quaked in kunoichi's hands, and he cleared his throat.

"It was Panther and Sparrow. One was the med-nin of the team. She was trying to protect Fox but the enemy was initially aiming for her deliberately, so she took the brunt of the attack. She's in a critical state, so – oof!"

The med-nin quickly scrambled to his feet as Ino dropped him to the ground, her senses numbed by disbelief, anger, sorrow, indignation, pain, and then, nothing –

She promised, she thought.

And the world darkened around her until she could see nothing.

And those were memories.

Of all the things in the world that Ino regretted, and of all the things that she did not, there were things that stayed in her memory and things that slipped away.

She cooed at the pink haired child perched in her lap, who giggled when Ino tickled him about the waist. His childish laughter left a soft smile on Ino's lips, and she anchored her hands under his arms and lifted him towards the sky in one swift movement. He let out a cry of delight, but he seemed to see something behind Ino, and he waved his hands in glee at the two figures behind them. The Yamanaka turned in time to see Hatake Kakashi spread beneath a tree in the far distance, and Sakura leaning back into the bark of the cherry blossom tree. The breeze billowed in the distance, drifting through the branches and bringing a cascade of petals and sunlight towards the earth, sweeping across the serene couple. Shadows danced once more across the green hills.

Ino smiled.

There are many things that Yamanaka Ino regrets –

The sky was blue and endless and brilliant, and Ino could only think of the future within these boundless skies –

But she knows that there are even more things that she does not.

Finish.

Some recent events have really gotten me thinking - and here's the product! :D Hopefully you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing, and hopefully I'll have the time to update my other fics later this month (hides from rotten tomatos and rusty pans).

~Hyousetsu