A/N : After many years, I have come back to write one last fic. Or maybe more I have ideas, but Gaara Ino has always been my favorite couple, and I truly believe that they should've ended up together. The whole Ino/Sai thing doesn't sit with me.

DO NOT read this fanfic if you are NOT caught up with Naruto – as in the ending of the war. I will start from the ending then proceed to change it as it fits the fanfic. So MAJOR spoiler alert for those who have not arrived to that stage of the anime/manga. Thank you.

Summary: Ino and seven other medics were assigned the northwest corner of the major battle field. Collect the injured and bring them in for surgery. And 2 years later, she finds herself in an odd position.

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Prologue

Shizune stood under the neon lighting that swayed as people walked in and out of medic tent 13. Around 200 medics alone were in that tent, standing next to each other like sardines. Shizune climbed onto a desk to be visible and proceeded to give instructions.

"We have officially received word. The war is over. Naruto, Gaara, Sasuke, Kakashi, .." Ino zoned out as the names were being listed.

She envied Sakura in this war in the sense that Sakura was only a medic, and fought only a few times on the front line before being pulled back. After her father's death, Ino had to… literally feel people die as the Ultimate Mind Telepathy technique lost one chakra signal after another. From death in her head to death on the medic stretchers, Ino was constantly sick to her stomach. Not to mention it takes a lot out of a person to … well do all that. She didn't have the chakra reserves for half of what she did, and if it wasn't for Tsunade's slugs, she'd been dead from the start.

Ino's head snapped to attention at the sound of her name.

"Ino, Kira, Risa, Enna, Hanabi, Kuro, Ketsuki, Hikaru, I would like you 8 to scour sector 5." Pointing to a map it was the section automatically west of the Gedo statue. "Your biggest priority is to bring back those who are still breathing. When rescue is completed, you will return for the fallen so they can have a proper burial in their respective villages."

The eight nodded.

"You 8 are dismissed, and Ino," the girl turned on her heels to look at Shizune, who very pointedly said, "report."

A curt nod, and Ino vanished to catch up with her team.

She stood atop a rock that she assumed Naruto or Madara or Kaguya, or well anyone fighting really was able to dismantle from the mountain, and stared out at the sea of dead people. She needed a moment to readjust. She personally felt practically everyone on the battlefield in front of her, die. Hand symbols, Mind Trace Search. 20 paces north, 30 paces east, and each time she gave a location, one member vanished. She remained, and continued to scan the area.

One chakra signal was familiar, but in heightened despair, surrounded by what could only be bijou chakra, and another faint chakra signature. Ino headed there.

Gaara, she thought.

She initially concealed her chakra signature just to see what was happening, but to her surprise, instead of a battle, Shukaku was sitting and talking to Gaara, who seemed to be crying.

"I'm sorry Gaara that it had to end this way, and after all the feats you performed during the war, I would also like to apologize for what I've done to you while you were my jinchuuriki. All I can offer is my strength as is. I've saved some of your mother's chakra in your sand but you know that by now don't you?"

Gaara, sobbing, nodded, crying into his gourd.

"Kaa-san."

Wounded, Ino could tell from a distance, and probably incredibly wounded, too. He no longer had fast healing powers due to Shukaku sitting next to him instead of being inside of him. If she didn't heal now, she'd be liable for the Kazekage's death. And another war is not what they needed, or any of them could afford.

"Kazekage-sama," she approached quietly, "Would it be alright if I healed you?"

He looked up at her and suddenly returned to a very stoic face, eyes cold as ice. He obviously hated showing any sign that he actually HAD emotions to anyone. There was that one incident while battling his father, but that could be ignored. However, the evidence could not, as the last tear continued to trickle down his cheek. Instinctively, as she had done many times with Shika and Chouji when they were kids, with her mother and father, Sakura and practically everyone else she knew, she wiped the tear.

As if she touched fire, she remembered that she was in fact speaking to the Kazekage and took a step back, apologizing.

"Shukaku-sama," she bowed, "Thank you for your service in this war."

Shukaku seemed to be taken aback, but thanked the mortal human for the acknowledgement.

"Gaara," his rough, echoing voice breaking rock, "She seems nice."

Ino got on one knee and started to heal visible wounds on the Kage, who made no comment or attempt to stop her.

"Shukaku-sama, I overheard you saying that you were sorry. I just thought that since you were forcefully ripped out, if Gaara is okay with it, you can be resealed. From what I understood from Naruto, if his mom's chakra is bound to you, his mom's presence in the sand will increase tenfold, yeah?"

"Yes."

Now they waited for Gaara to respond.

"Shukaku, I have said it before. I can finally stay up with you all night."

Laughter resonated across the battlefield.

"I'll let you sleep this time, Gaara."

"Child, what is your name," he turned to Ino, demon eyes boring into her soul.

"Yamanaka Ino."

"A medic, and a Yamanaka, how would you like to do the honor of resealing, as it was your bright idea."

"Oh no no sorry, I couldn't. I'm not versed in sealing jutsu's and I could fuck something up. Plus, since I'm a Yamanaka, I'd have to know my patient intimately to be able to induce the jutsu properly and effectively."

She hurriedly continued her ramble as the monster cocked his head.

"Plus, I won't be a medic anymore after all of this is over, so I really .. I won't be in a position to do such a thing. From Gaara's current state and from what we've seen resealing do to Naruto, it would be at least another 2 years before he's back in full form, and I wouldn't want the Kage weakened by a stupid idea from a medic."

"Not a stupid idea, and since it would take that long, it gives you time to hone your skills, ne?" Shukaku inquired. The other tailed beats beasts dispersed back to wherever they lived prior to being captured by humans, like Shukaku who used to live in the desert. All except Kurama who was now, whole, sealed within Naruto.

With this, Ino couldn't argue.

"Demo…" She rubbed the back of her head, and gave a sheepish smile, now regretting she ever opened her mouth.

"Ino-san, as a tailed beast who could also be the reason you die," the death threat was only a matter of time with the particular tailed beast who never seemed to be in a good mood, "I ask of you personally to do the sealing. With help of course."

"Hai!" She acknowledged, and then, apparently, promised as well.

She turned back to healing the biggest wounds of the Kazekage, who the whole time stared at a small spot between his legs. After healing, Ino stood up and dusted her mesh knee accessories, and then proceeded to alert the heads of nations, and anyone else this thing could possibly concern.

"Kazekage and Shukaku were found by the Gedo statue on the border of sector five and three. Since they fell within my jurisdiction, I felt it a priority to heal the Kage. Long story short, I healed the Kage, but Shukaku requested personally of me to reseal him into Gaara two years from now. Shukaku in the meantime will be in the sand dunes of the Wind Nation, lying in wait."

No response, then.

"That is EXCELLENT NEWS! I won't be the only jinchuuriki anymore. From this point on, I think we'll be quite the female catch."

"That is EXCELLENT NEWS! I won't be the only jinchuuriki anymore. From this point on, I think we'll be quite the female catch."

"You're awfully chipper for someone who was mortally wounded," resounded Tsunade's voice, "Naruto, stay out of this. But yes, he is right, that might be for the best. Gaara is accustomed to Shukaku, and this could strengthen his position as Kage further."

"Mizukage here! No objections, may we attend if there is a celebratory party after? Shukaku and the other tailed beasts helped a lot during this war, and we are in debt to them after all."

"Tsuchikage, I'm too old to even care anymore. When I appoint a new Tsuchikage, I'll be sure to tell him to agree to this. Unless all the good candidates DIED. Ughhhh my back hurts!"

"Raikage – and hn."

"That's not a response, sir." Ino almost giggled, but attempted to remain calm and professional.

"Fine. As long as he's kept under control."

"I've ALWAYS been under control." The tailed beast was in on this, too.

Apparently.

Affirmed and reported, Ino stood up from Gaara and gave him her hand. He accepted and hauled himself up.

Shukaku nodded to them a goodbye and a see you in 2 years off handed remark, then turned into sand and was gone.

Ino, coughing up sand, attempted to ask the Kage where he needed to go, and if he required further assistance, but he, too, was gone in the sandstorm.

Without further ado, and not questioning why the Kage didn't bother with a thank you, Ino proceeded to mentally kick herself for ever opening her stupid big helpful mouth, and went about her duties.

She did have two years to figure this out. Maybe Shukaku would forget. Or Gaara would die, Kami-forbid, or she would, that was more likely, and she wouldn't have to deal with this anymore.

Staring out at the sea of corpses and ruined landscape, Ino jumped off searching for wounded survivors.

Amidst death, signs of life were welcome.

- A few months later –

Ino stared at herself in the mirror and wasn't comfortable. She looked 16, she was 16, but she didn't feel 16. She felt… old, traumatized, tainted, matured, and all in all not like she was 16. Maybe it was the ponytail. Maybe it was the short skirt. It wasn't the mesh and purple, but maybe it was everything else. She raised her hand and pulled her pony tail off, letting her hair fall down loosely around her bum.

Poofy. Her hair was poofy at the top. The way hair generally is when kept in a tight pony tail for centuries, or what she felt was that long. Running her hands through her hair she found her scalp actually hurt, and maybe, if nothing else, leaving her hair down for a few years would do her scalp some good. Hours of brushing later, and a hairclip or two, Ino liked how it accentuated her features, cast shadows on her cheekbones that made them more pronounced, mature. She then realized in a few years, they actually would look like that.

As for the outfit, time to go shopping. She lived alone now. Her mother couldn't bear to look at her recalling how much she reminded her of her dad, so the agreed to once a month visits. Ino, as a good daughter, still took a lot of the shifts in the flower shop when she could. She grabbed the keys from a small woven wooden basket on her kitchen counter, grabbed her purse, and left into blissful winter sunlight.

Konoha was cold and Ino didn't have a mission. A light blue sweater, dark blue jeans, and a black woolen coat would suffice. Au contraire, Ino didn't only own purple. It was only her ninja outfit that was purple, and it was her favorite color. But Ino was still a girl, and fashion did not only contain purple stuff.

She pulled a black woven hat over her head, and headed towards Konoha's makeshift shopping sector. Konoha was reviving from the war, but it hadn't gotten quite there yet.

Shop here, shop there, Ino found fishnet tights, black skinny ninja edition shorts, shin protecting ninja sandals – black, and a variation of her old top, except this time, it had an off-white trim beneath the breasts, and it was a button up top, vs a pull on with buttons for show. After a moment of inspection, she noticed the slightly raised collar was the same color as the trim.

Searching around, she found a purple skirt that fell all the way to mid-calf, and buttoned at the front. Wind blowing would send it flying around her as there was quite a lot of material, for movement. This was a ninja store after all. Picking the items up, she proceeded to the changing room.

A tear rolled down her cheek as she looked at herself. Her waist visible as always, but something about this was more mature, more womanly, and definitely, although still hot, gave off the impression that she as a whole changed.

Sort of.

Deep down Ino was still loud and rambunctious, and flirty and insanely obsessed with her wait and looking good. She was still hard headed and looking for true love, and taking shit from no one.

Hard to act like your true self when your father died a few months ago.

Shikamaru was no longer lazy, that's how far the change went when the Headquarters was bombed, and news of it was released, via Ino.

She gulped. How odd, I had to tell the world my father was dead, my best friend's father, was dead.

Everyone is dead.

She collapsed and cried until she passed out.

A soft hand on her shoulder woke her up and she a speckle of pink hair altered her to Sakura.

"Sakura-chan…" she hadn't seen her since the war.

"Ino, come on, let's go grab a drink." She pulled her old best friend and rival up, and before exiting, realized Ino wasn't wearing her usual outfit.

"That new?"

"Oh yeah, shit," Ino wiped her nose, "I forgot to pay for this."

Ino returned, and having not bothered to redress, threw on her black coat. It would suffice until they reached the bar.

"How are you holding up, Ino?"

The blonde just looked at her, and reflected the question.

They spoke of simple stuff. Their new hairdos, and tried to break tension with boys. The topic always circled back to the war, though.

Sakura broke crying over her beer, recalling how she had to physically pump Naruto's heart to keep him alive.

Ino cried recalling all the people she physically felt die, her father, and all the relationships that dimmed as the old Konoha genins tried to cope with the after effects of the war.

After a nice sob session, Ino laughed.

"We should, honestly find something to occupy us. A new purpose, a new direction, a new goal."

Sakura twirled her glass, the last ounces of beer following.

"You have choices, Ino," Sakura was mesmerized by the beer swirling in her cup, "An interrogator, head of this division, that division, a psychologist, mind medicine, torture, medicine in general, you could even be a model – me, I'm just really strong, with excellent chakra control, and have always been trained to be a medic. What NEW purpose could I come up with, except work at the hospital, become the best doctor."

"Surpass Tsunade?" Ino offered.

"Hm, she'd kill me." Sakura laughed, sadness lacing her voice, with an abundance of matter-of-factness. The woman really would stoop to that level if she thought her underling was actually going to be better than her.

Ino placed her hand over Sakura's, "We'll figure it out," she reassured her.

Sakura, finally peeling her eyes off of the beer, downed it, and smiled at Ino. Hope.

Ino scrunched her face up. Sakura's face was changing from that of a lost, sad excellent ninja to that of a shocked, terrified school girl who was just told she had been expelled for something she didn't do.

"Sakura, what's wrong, what did you remember?"

"You, Gaara! You should be training for that!"

Something broke inside Ino's head and heart. Oh right, she forgot. She had to seal a monster inside of a dead thing. With feelings when no one is looking, apparently, but still for the most part, a dead thing.

Sakura, catching her inner turmoil over Gaara, giggled, "Well, you should've seen that boy show emotion when Naruto was in question. I've never seen someone more determined, and emotional and helpful, and willing to fight. He was honestly scared and not afraid to show it. Maybe it's just around you. He doesn't know you after all, and he knows me, Naruto, Kakashi, and the rest that were on that front line, pretty damn well. Madara and Obito don't count."

Another round of beers was ordered.

"That's not the problem Saku-chan."

Sakura raised an eyebrow in question.

"I need to intimately know him to be able to seal Shukaku within him. Unlike the Hyuuga I can't see every chakra point. Unlike everyone else we know, I don't have an insane chakra reserve on a whim. I'm a Yamanaka. To seal, I need to know the mind to understand the body, and how it works, for the seal to be on par with that of Minato and Kurama/Naruto."

Sakura giggled and took a swig of her beer.

"Intimate time with Gaara is needed."

Ino gulped, "I just hope he let's me search his brain and that's where it stops and ends. He doesn't seem to like me."

"When will you see him again?" The mood was suddenly lighter as the girl's got a little more drunk and Sakura now sprawled onto the booth couch like an evil queen, sneered in good humor at her best friend.

"Three months before the sealing. The council has allowed us that much time to get to know each other. One month and two weeks will be in Suna, the other half in Konoha." Ino had shrunk in on herself.

Sakura leaned dramatically over the table, "Alone time with the Kazekage, ouuuu." She winked.

Ino almost spilled beer into her face, but decided throwing a napkin at her would be less disastrous in this cold Konoha winter.

"It's just a promise – business, Sakura." Ino reassured Sakura, but mainly, was reassuring herself.

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A/N : And there you have it, Prologue. I hope you like it.

I wanted to stray away from the "marriage" and "forced marriage" and Ino getting shipped off, and broken hearts.

Ino did serve partially as a medic. Ino is medically trained and would've logically been on that mission.

After the fallout Shukaku and Gaara had when Shukaku was being pulled into the Gedo statue, Shukaku's feelings aren't far out. Gaara, I hope, isn't too OOC.

Ino was always the helpful, bright, blabbing bimbo that she is. She would spurt out a good idea and get herself caught up in the mess.

This gives Ino and Gaara a legitimate reason to spend time together, and romance can bloom.

I hope you enjoyed it, Review please and let me know if you want me to continue.

XxTruth-of-a-Thousand-LiesxX