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Chapter 1

It hurt. Her muscles screamed in agony. Her knuckles were beyond bleeding. Still, she would not allow herself to stop. The field was littered in training posts. Some were splintered, and some were completely demolished. Ino had been training since sunrise of this morning. She could not get the mental images of her last interrogation out of her head.

At the age of thirteen, Ino started reading people's minds. At first, it wasn't intentional. She started answering questions before they were asked. She heard people's thoughts as if they were speaking to her. The thoughts kept coming. The voices were deafening. She heard them in bed… she heard them through the walls… hundreds of stray thoughts robbing her of any chance at sleep. It wasn't long before she learned how to put up the barriers. Slowly, she learned how keep her own thoughts distinct from the others. With time, she learned how to control their intrusion. It didn't take long for Ino to master the art of mind-reading. After all, it was a gift from her bloodline. At fourteen, Ino had begun her training in interrogation. At sixteen, she was an ANBU interrogator. By 21, she had far exceeded any of her predecessors in her expertise.

Ino has seen her share of blood and gore not only in her own experiences, but in the thousands of minds she's entered. Even with her years, she still never ceased to be shocked by the extent of the actions of mankind. The mind she had read last night was the mind of a psychopath and a serial rapist. She had been hired by Silver Village to track the kidnapper of their princess. Princess Mai was the sole heir to their throne. When she found this bastard, he had been alone. His thoughts told her that the Princess was dead. The things he had done to her that led to her demise… Ino had no words for. The Princess wasn't his first victim. There were hundreds, if not thousands of girls. With each incident, he had vividly remembered every gruesome detail. With each victim, Ino had to live through his mind. Ino had to feel what he felt…taste what he tasted. She was disgusted by the pleasures he felt…. But she had to read him. She had to get the names of the victims. She had to know, so she could bring closure to the families of the many victims.

The village leaders weren't happy to hear of their Princess' death. Of course they weren't, but it wasn't just the grief they had to worry about. The Princess was betrothed to some sort of warlord of an extremely powerful country. The name of the country was never mentioned. Silver Village was an extremely rich village due to their massive silver mines, but they never invested in developing much of a defence system. They've always relied on this one country to protect them. Recently however, Silver Village had received a lot of threats. They needed to secure their alliance with this 'powerful country'. The Princess was to be their hook. This was where Ino's next mission came from.

This was to be Ino's last mission. Surprisingly, the Ino's features bared a striking similarity to Princess Mai's. For that, Ino was to assume the identity of the Princess. She had taken on a similar mission in the past. Apparently, her face was a common one among royalty. That mission, however, had only been temporary. The other princess had gained a lot of weight, and needed Ino to take her place to "charm" her betrothed while she lost the weight. In the end, the deception was unmasked. The Prince even preferred the… chubbier version of the Princess.

For her current mission, Princess Mai's death would remain a secret to the citizens. The village offered a hefty sum to buy Ino. They would have had to in order to convince Konoha to give up one of their ANBU. Of course, the final choice was up to Ino. She would have to leave behind her family and friends. She would have to desert Shikamaru and Chouji after promising her Sensei upon his deathbed that she'd look after them. She did, of course, take the mission. The amount of revenue this mission would generate was beyond helpful to the village. With the money, they would be able to expand the interrogation unit. They would be able to train more Medic Ninjas. The money would do wonders for their research department. She would be sad to leave Shikamaru and Chouji, but they didn't need her anymore. Shikamaru had Temari… even Chouji had found love.

There were personal perks for her as well of course. She would get to be a Princess. What would be better than living your life as royalty?

Ino finally forced herself to stop training. The sun was starting to set. Ino looked down at herself. She was covered in sweat and blood. She'd be sure to pay Sakura a visit before her farewell party tonight. She needed her wounds healed fast. Ino needed to be presentable for the last night she might ever see her friends and family again. Afterall, what kind of lasting impression would she leave of herself if the last image Konoha saw of her was anything other than perfection?

--

Ino didn't go to the village right away. She needed to go through "Princess training" before they allowed her to assume her new role. The training took place in one of the Princesses summer homes. Basically, Ino had to relearn everything. She was force learn how to walk properly. She had to learn how to talk and converse properly. She was even taught how to dress herself. She had to master dinner etiquette, all the favourite pastimes of the Princess, and how she should present herself in different situations. She was even taught how to dress herself… or rather, how to stand there as other people dressed her. Actually, that was one of the things Ino loved most about her new life. Only the finest silk was allowed to tough her skin. Ino only wore the richest colours, the finest prints, and the latest designs. Rarely, did she ever wear an outfit twice. There was not much Ino had to change about her appearance… except for her hair. The Princesses' hair tumbled down her back in waves. Ino was use to tying her hair back, but she guessed that it wouldn't be necessary to keep her hair out of her face if she weren't going to be fighting.

The citizens of the village were never made aware of the kidnapping situation. Everyone thought their beloved princess was away for self-defence training. The story would play to Ino's advantage. She would be able to continue to practise her ninja skills under the pretence that she had accumulated her abilities through this training. All within the supposed three months the Princess was absent.

A party was thrown for the return of the Princess. It was the most straining night of Ino's life. She had studied a brief synopsis about the people the Princess was most acquainted with, but the report was far from complete. With everyone she met at he party, she to constantly be under impression management. While keeping her conversations smooth, Ino zipped through the minds of the people she talked to in order to extract their memories of the Princess. She needed this information to know how to act around what people, and what answers to provide. She needed this information in order to joke around with the Princesses best friends and secret lovers. It was also that night where she first met the man to which she was betrothed to.

Ino had the meeting planned in her mind. She would glide in, work her charms, and her betrothed would instantly fall madly in love with her. It was suppose to be easy. The man hadn't even met the Princess before. His mind would be a blank slate. Ino was lead to a private room in the castle where this man and his travelling companions would be waiting. When Ino and her companions went into the room, she was met with deadly silence. It was as if no one dared to speak. The men in the chairs wore forehead protectors much like the ones they wore in Konoha. Clearly, they were ninja. Ino recognized the symbol on the badges right away. It was the symbol of Sand.

I'm marrying the leader of Sand Village? Wait, isn't that…

Ino glanced around that room. Her eyes stopped at the man standing by and looking out the window. His blood red hair was unmistakable.

One of Ino's companions cleared his throat. "May I present to you, the honorary Princess Mai".

The man by the window turned to look at them, thus confirming Ino's suspicion.

Gaara of the Sand. The Kazekage.

Gaara turned and started emotionlessly at her.

Does he recognize me?

His face did not give away sign of recognition. It was possible that Gaara had no idea who she was. It had been years since she'd last laid eyes on the Kazekage. They had never so much had spoken a word of greeting to one another. They had never sparred, so he shouldn't have been able to recognize her Chakra signature. Ino tried to scan his mind, but hit a wall. His thoughts were shielded… as expected of the Kazekage. His features had changed since she'd last seen him. His features were more chiselled, and he was a lot taller. He would be swarmed by fan girls had it not been for his history.

It really was her own fault that she did not pry harder for information. It wouldn't have been hard. She could have just read it off the mind of one of her guides. Although in Ino's experience, people tended to be freaked out by her uncanny ability. Out of respect for the Silver Village's privacy, Ino had only extracted relevant information about the role she was playing. It hadn't crossed her mind that the identity on her fiancé would be important. She wondered if Tsunade had deliberately kept that detail from her.

Ino smiled brightly at the Kazekage. Without any other way to access the situation, Ino decided to just play the part.