Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine.

Warnings: Just some language this chapter.

Finding Sakura

By Michiru's Mirror

Chapter Three


"Okay, Shikamaru," said Ino, "I have a deal for you."

Yamanaka Ino was not as dumb as some people thought she was. She did, admittedly, have a broad shallow streak in her: she loved clothes and lavished more attention on her appearance than strictly necessary. But if these girlish leanings made some of the more unobservant think her stupid, well, that was their problem...and their loss. Ino never found it easier to defeat an opponent than when they underestimated her.

Shikamaru was not usually one of the people she could fool. First of all he simply knew her too well—years of watching her in action had clued him in to exactly how sneaky his blonde teammate could be when she wanted to be. Second of all, as a boy who had done his best to fool the world at large into thinking he was too lazy to think his way out of a paper bag let alone a fierce battle, Shikamaru was not prone to fall for any bullshit acts from others.

There were times that Ino could pull the wool over his eyes, though, when she tried hard enough and had the proper incentive. She did now: if Shikamaru was concerned about Ino's eating habits, Ino was almost frantic about Shikamaru's smoking. Aside from how detrimental it was to his physical health, it showed an alarming attachment to the memory of their deceased teacher. True, it hadn't been long since Asuma had died, and Shikamaru certainly seemed to be moving on in other ways. But Ino was still worried enough to decide it was high time to butt in, whether Shikamaru wanted the help or not (and he didn't, Ino had no illusions about that).

In the beginning she had just gone her regular route and nagged. That hadn't worked; instead it angered Shikamaru into grumbling about troublesome females who didn't know their place, which in turn angered Ino into giving him a black eye, which didn't help anyone.

Ino had been thinking of what to do when her teammates had dropped the solution into her lap. After Ino had started dieting again in an attempt to grab Sai's elusive attention, Shikamaru and Chouji had almost immediately begun making a fuss. She didn't understand why on earth they were making such a big deal out of a couple of little fainting spells, but they were. Just how big a deal they made out of it came to light when they started inviting her to dinner and spending money they really didn't have getting her to eat. Ino had realized right away just what they were up to (and deep down, she was quite touched by their devotion).

If they were really that worried, Ino knew she could use it to her advantage. She had been eating the food and letting the two boys think they had won in preparation for this day. She decided she had let them savor their "victory" long enough, and it was high time to pull the rug out from under them. When Shikamaru found his telepathic teammate in the alley behind her family's flower shop taking out garbage bright and early one morning, he asked her to accompany him and Chouji to Chouji's for dinner that night. Ino made a big show of turning him down.

"Can't you see how fat I'm getting? God, two months eating with you guys and I'm turning into a total cow! No more restaurants for me until I drop at least five kilograms!"

Shikamaru looked gratifyingly alarmed (which for him meant that he raised his eyebrows) and told her not to be stupid, it was just once or twice a week.

"No!" Said Ino firmly. "No, I'm never going to get Sai's attention if I'm fat." She pretended she didn't see Shikamaru roll his eyes. "There's nothing for it but to go back onto celery and water!"

In recent years Shikamaru had grown far more hardworking than he had been in the past, but purging himself of all his lazy habits was something he had yet to manage. Faced with a stubborn teammate, his frustration pushed him to abandon all complicated plans in favor of simple, straightforward rudeness. "Ino you stupid woman, you're not going to attract any man as a walking skeleton, you're just going to kill yourself!"

Ino plastered the most innocent expression she could muster onto her face and turned around. "Why Shikamaru, you sound really worried!"

She knew she'd gone too far with the unassuming, puritan act when her teammate's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Damn, he was on to her.

"...What do you want?" He finally asked in a deeply harried voice.

Oh well, if he'd caught on there was no more point in being coy. "Okay, Shikamaru," she said in a voice totally devoid of the mock-innocence of a moment ago. "I have a deal for you."

Shikamaru groaned loud and long, and when he did Ino plucked the cigarette from his mouth. "Hey!" He yelled.

"I want these," said Ino flatly. "If you never light one of these again, I'll bring myself up to 45 kilograms and stay there...permanently."

Shikamaru studied Ino's face and realized that she was deadly serious. She was putting her life in his hands.

"Oh you bitch," he said, and meant it.

"Yup," Ino agreed. "So what do you think?"

"I think," said Shikamaru with great hostility in his voice. Then he paused, and his gaze moved off of her to the roof of the Yamanaka flower shop. "...I think I´m looking at something really suspicious behind you."

"Nara Shikamaru, don't you dare change the subject!"

"No, look!" Shikamaru grabbed his friend's shoulders and spun Ino around to face the street. A masked figure in black was sitting on the next door ramen shop's roof, preparing to leap to the next building.

Ino looked back at Shikamaru, irritated. "So?"

"So why is that person masked and armed?"

"Because this is a ninja village, stupid! ANBU wear masks—"

"That person isn't ANBU. Besides, don't they just...feel wrong to you?"

Ino gave her teammate a searching look. On one hand, he might well be trying to make her forget the subject. On the other hand, Shikamaru had unfailing instincts. "Don´t think I'm letting you off the hook," she said finally before leaping into the air after the masked figure.

In the very likely chance that their prey was just a wandering ANBU (or somebody like Kakashi who had a mask fetish), the teammates agreed to try talking first.

"Excuse me!" Ino called once they'd caught up. "Could we talk to you for a moment?"

The figure froze, and then took off twice as fast as before.

"Okay," admitted Ino, "That's a little suspicious."

Shikamaru glared at her as he sped by, doubling his own speed to catch the masked person. "You think?"

Ino kept an eye on the street as she leapt along, but saw no ninja who could help them. True, it was an ungodly hour, but even so there were plenty of civilians up and about preparing their businesses to open! What, were all ninja just late risers except for her?

Shikamaru yelled, "I'm gonna get him from a distance!" The leader of Team Ten wrinkled his brow as he concentrated, trusting Ino to let him know if he was about to trip. His shadow began to stretch along the ground against the rays of the sun, lengthening until it became a distorted ghoul-like shape upon the rooftops. Another leap and Shikamaru's shadow merged with that of his prey. Both of them froze in place, and Shikamaru called, "Over to you!"

Ino leapt in front of the imprisoned figure and put her hands to her temples. Shikamaru couldn't keep their friend trapped for long, so the easiest way to get him them over to Ibiki or the Hokage was for Ino to take their body and command it herself.

To Ino, pushing her mind into another's body was almost like birth. There was a feeling of comfort that she had in her own mind that was replaced by a disgustingly tight, pressurized feeling as she forced her way into a space of confusion and unfamiliarity. The horrible sensation passed after a mere second, but Ino dreaded it every time.

She counted seconds as she waited for the feeling to pass

One, two, three

waited for her mind to settle into its new home

Four, five, six

waited for her power to adjust in a strange new environment.

It didn't.

The pressure around Ino´s very essence began to grow stronger, shoving at her, pawing obscenely at her soul. Panicking, Ino tried to pull out, only to find herself trapped by the mind she had naively thought she could overcome and dominate with her own.

Ino screamed as loudly as she could, but didn't know if her body had successfully made a sound. She was lost, her mind and soul lost forever, doomed to be pushed and shoved and bent to the will of the horror that trapped her now...

"Ino! Ino!" Shikamaru was holding her body and slapping her face gently, and Ino had never been so happy to be slapped because it meant that she could feel her own body again. She was back in her own flesh.

"Oh my God, oh holy hell, of fucking shit—" Ino rolled out of Shikamaru's arms far enough to vomit up an alarming amount of stomach acid.

"Holy shit, Ino!" Shikamaru kept a grip on his teammate's shoulders until she finished. "What was that?"

Ino wanted to keep vomiting, wanted to hug Shikamaru until she felt her bones crack to remind herself she was alive. But the same loyalty that made her confront Shikamaru moments ago made her roll onto all fours now. Shakily, she pushed herself to her feet.

"Shikamaru," she said, "How much of a head start does she have?"

"Barely seconds."

Ino nodded, but stopped when it made her head spin. "Shikamaru, listen to me. I need you to go to the Hokage right now, as fast as you can, and tell her to send a squad down to the training grounds."

Shikamaru did not even think to argue. Thought Ino had relinquished the title of "team leader" to him long ago, he could tell by her tone that it wasn't ego, but worry, that made her give orders now. "Okay. She'll want to know why."

Ino looked Shikamaru right in the eye. "Because if she doesn't, Sakura, or Naruto, or both of them, are going to die."


Ino ran as fast as she could, but despite her best efforts her body was still appallingly weak. Her head spun, her feet slipped out from under her, she tripped and ran into people. In the end, it was a wonder she reached the training grounds at all.

But she did because she had to, and as she all but flew over the hill leading to the grounds she was treated to the sight of Naruto preparing to bash Sakura's head in.

"Naruto!" She screamed, stumbling along and wildly windmilling her arms to keep herself upright. "Naruto don't, don't hurt her, don't!"

As Naruto looked away from Sakura, she slipped out from under his grip. He cursed. "Ino, goddamn it! Why not?"

Ino reached him, panting and wild. "You moron, you idiot, don't you see, can't you tell—that's Sakura!"

"What?" Said Naruto as though he hadn't heard correctly. "But she's not...that's not...Kakashi-sensei, is this some kind of training exercise?"

But the Copy Ninja looked every bit as flabbergasted as his former student. Ino, who had collapsed to her knees in exhaustion, could offer no help either.

Sai, however, kept his head. With a swoop of his paint brush, he sent the eagle he had created after the masked ninja that Ino knew now was Sakura. She dissipated the ink creation with a single, mighty punch, but not before black talons ripped away the side of the ninja's mask. The assembled combatants could see none of their opponents face, but that moon-pale flesh and bright pink hair were horribly, shockingly familiar.

Naruto suddenly looked as ill as Ino. In his whole life he'd made two dear friends, and now even the one who had sworn to stay by his side had betrayed him.

The masked ninja—Sakura—stood frozen for a moment before running away over the grassy field without a word as though a nightmare were chasing her down. She was so fast that within seconds every trace of her had disappeared.

No one moved.

From the ground, Ino groaned and forced herself upright. Men were bloody useless without guidance! "What are you doing? Go after her!"

Kakashi gave her a look that would have frozen the devil in his tracks. "Do you know how strict the law has gotten since Orochimaru showed up? After what she's just done—and everyone's going to know with the racket you made coming down here—ANBU and the elders will all be screaming for her death. Even the Hokage won't be able to prevent it. Escape is her only chance."

Ino shook her head, frustrated enough to start hitting people. She was obviously not communicating the situation clearly. "No! It's not like that! Don't you—how could you even think Sakura would betray us?"

"I'd like to know that myself," said a familiar voice. The four ninja turned to see the Hokage standing behind them.

"I've sent a party of ANBU out with specific instructions not to kill her, and they won't, at least until we get to the bottom of this."

Tsunade pointed at Ino, and fixed the full force of her gaze on the younger woman. "You, young lady, are coming to my office, where you are going to tell me just what the hell is going on. And you gentlemen—" her gaze swept across what remained of Team Seven "—are coming too. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that what Ino has to say involves you a great deal."


Twenty minutes later in the Hokage's office, Tsunade was finally able to shut her door on the men of Team Seven and all of Team Ten. Shikamaru and Chouji had wanted to be with their teammate, and Tsunade had not fought them. She fully wanted to encourage team unity, and besides, Team Ten could be trusted to keep their silence if Ino came out with anything personal. Shikamaru was too professional and Chouji too kind for it to be otherwise.

Ino was sitting in the chair across from Tsunade's desk, and the men were arranged around her in a loose but visible semi-circle. Wisely, though, the men of Team Seven were giving her some distance and hovered near the edge of the room. Tsunade was proud of their discretion, and decided to be like them; though she was too jittery to want to sit down, she forced herself to. Poor Ino might well be put even more on edge if the already intimidating Hokage stood over her like an interrogator.

"All right," said Tsunade as she settled down. "Let's hear it then."

Ino chewed at her bottom lip, mulling over the mishmash of images still floating in her head and wondering where to begin. Just as Tsunade was about to hurry her along, she spoke. "The kyuubi...you know, the gross demon that attacked out village years ago—" Naruto shifted by the wall, "—it's not the only demon out there, right?" And they're not all showy. Some a-are quietly destructive. Kinda like a virus."

Shikamaru frowned, trying to make sense of her words. "So Sakura is what, possessed?"

He hadn't meant it literally, and was thus very surprised when his words made Ino burst into tears. Chouji quickly offered his teammate his hand; she squeezed it until he winced. "I-it...the thing attached itself to her, months ago! I don't know when...b-but it's been sucking at her soul and feeding off her misery and every insecurity she's ever had!"

Ino was gasping between words, trying to force the story out around a total emotional breakdown, probably not even aware of the stir her revelation had caused. Again, Tsunade found herself proud of the other girls resolve and compassion.

The rest of the room were staring at each other, exchanging glances of horror and confusion, and clearly trying to make sense of what they'd been told. "These past months, she...she...oh God I'm so selfish, I was so caught up in this battle between me and Shikamaru I never even took the time to notice how strange she was acting!" A wail of despair burst from Ino's mouth, and Chouji had to rub her back for a moment while she calmed down.

"You noticed, though," said Tsunade to Kakashi while Ino sniffled. "From what I heard from you, Sakura has been acting...distracted?"

"And destructive," said Naruto flatly. Fuck privacy at this point, it was no longer just Sakura's ego at stake. "She's been having Sai...hurt her."

Tsunade swiveled hard eyes onto Sai. "What does that mean?"

To his credit, Sai did not hesitate. He wasn't sure where he stood with Naruto just now, but the young artist didn't doubt the other boy's loyalty to Sakura for an instant. If Naruto thought it was best to tell their Hokage the truth, then it must be best. Looking right into the Hokage's face with his own bottomless orbs he said, "Fucking, suffocating and cutting."

Hearing that your friend had been hurt by an enemy was one thing. Hearing that your friend was being hurt by another friend was a whole different kind of horror. The assembled ninja found that nothing in their experience, nothing in their training, even began to prepare them.

In the days that followed, Team Ten would recover from the shock as best it could. Chouji would go to his father and ask why anyone would want to hurt themselves so much that they'd humiliate and debase themselves, and be told that self-hatred made people do strange things. The rotund Akimichi would think of Ino, and how she would starve herself, and vow from the bottom of his too-gentle heart that he would do whatever he had to to keep her from self-destruction.

Shikamaru would also think about Ino starving herself and decide that this business with Sakura was yet another example of women being hideously stupid, like the inferior creatures they were. He would put it out of his mind, firmly ignoring his fear that Ino would wind up like Sakura…but he would accept Ino's deal nonetheless and stop smoking.

As for Ino, she felt her crush on Sai wither and die on the spot. In her worry for her best friend, the blonde forgot about Sakura's strong will, about how it was Sakura's choice to let Sai hurt her. She remembered only Sakura's gentle side, her kindness and compassion. "Oh, Sai," she whispered, and there was such disgust in her voice that Sai was taken aback.

He moved to go to her, but Chouji and Shikamaru immediately blocked his path. They weren't letting the freak near their teammate. Sai stopped moving and blinked. More people were mad at him? And these ones weren't even close to Sakura personally! What on earth was making everyone so angry?

Ino finally swallowed and forced herself to speak. "Sai…h-have your, uh, sessions with Sakura been getting worse?"

"If by worse you mean more extreme, then yes." Sai kept his gaze on Chouji and Shikamaru. They looked like they might attack him at any moment.

"That fits," Ino whispered, and choked slightly. "The thing...it...it's eating her, eating her soul from the inside. To her, it feels like...like..." Ino struggled to find words for the bottomless pit of despair she had fallen into in Sakura's mind, "Like horrible depression. Like she's drowning in self-hatred a-and worthlessness. I went into her mind and...God, it was like she was drowning in a tar pit, like she was sinking in filth! It's making her so angry at herself that she's b-been hurting herself.

"The demon has put itself into her mind as a trusted figure, a mother or a sister or an aunt. Someone she could reach for and depend on...and when Sakura reached for that help...she was...was..."

"Consumed," Shikamaru finished for her quietly, and Ino again began to shake with sobs. If just a glimpse of Sakura's fate had done this to her, how bad was it for Sakura herself?

"Ino," said Tsunade. Her voice was quite steady, and one had to closely observe the Hokage to notice that her hands were trembling just slightly. "Is there anything left of Sakura now?"

The room collectively held its breath.

"Yes," said Ino, and the mass sigh of relief was audible. "That's why...that's why it attacked Naruto." Ino ducked her head, avoiding the kyuubi container's gaze. "It's going after people who..."

"Who she loves?" Chouji guessed.

"...Who hurt her," Ino finished quietly.

"I don't understand," said Sai with a frown. "Don't she and dickless here have a connection?"

"That's the nature of a connection," Kakashi replied. Rational man that he was, he was holding off on judgment of Sai until he heard all the facts from Sakura herself. Of course, if he found out that any of it was in any way Sai's fault the young man would die, but that was no reason to be rude to him at the moment. "When someone you're connected to says or does something to hurt you...it's probably the most painful thing that can happen to a person."

There was a sound that made everyone jump. Naruto had gripped his arm so tightly he had ripped through his sleeves. This is sick, he had said to her. This is disgusting…

Tsunade spoke before anyone else could make the situation worse. "Okay then. We're just going to have to wait for the squad I sent out to bring her back, and then we're going to find a way to fix this."

But it wasn't that simple. It was less than an hour later than a frantic Shizune burst into the Hokage's office to report the ANBU squad on Sakura's tail had been found in pieces. Of Sakura, there was no sign.

"No way," said Chouji in a deeply awed voice. "Sakura doesn't have that kind of power!"

"The demon does," said Ino quietly. She had mostly recovered herself, though she was still pale. "It's so old..."

Sai shrugged. "It didn't seem so special when it went up against us."

"That's probably because it was us," said Kakashi. "I don't know why the demon wants to kill people who hurt her, but I'll bet my sharingan that Sakura is fighting it with whatever she has left. She's too strong, and cares about us too much, to just let us be killed when she could prevent it."

"Well, if she's...I mean, if the demon is targeting her loved ones, even ones that caused her pain somehow, that means we want to put those loved ones under lock and key and be ready when it makes a try for them." Tsunade said, falling into the role of authority with ease. "We'll get her parents under guard, and Team Seven here too. And...who else?"

"Sasuke."

When Naruto spoke up the room paused. The boy hadn't said a word since exposing Sakura's secret, had only looked at the ground as though meditating on some subject far beyond the rest of them.

Tsunade found her voice. "What?"

Naruto raised his head, and there was no doubt in his face or his voice as he said: "She's going after Sasuke."

TO BE CONTINUED


A/N

I'm so, so happy about the reviews I've gotten, and I really want to thank all of you—both those of you who praised and those of you who criticized. I loved reading all the reviews.

Like chapter two, expect revision for chapter 3. I just feel I'm somehow writing the chapters too shallowly…like I'm not getting across some feelings or scenes properly, and that I'm rushing others. I shall work on them until they're perfect…if that's possible! And if any of you readers feel the same way and have suggestions, I'm very, very happy to hear them. I want to improve.

To answer some questions:

I obviously didn't make the pairings clear in the beginning. This story takes place between chapters 342 and 343, so Naruto and Sakura are NOT together as of the beginning. Naruto refers to Sakura as his because that's what he always does, not because Sakura actually considers herself Naruto's girl yet. Sleeping with Sai wasn't cheating.

As for what the pairings will be by the end…I'm not telling! What fun would the story be if everyone knew who winds up with who? It would kill the suspense!

And on the topic of Naruto standing by Sakura, I think that has less to do with him being in love with her (although make no mistake, I think that he is), and more to do with him being her friend. If he's not going to abandon Sasuke after Sasuke almost killed him, he's not going to abandon Sakura just because she had a little weird sex.

I don't think Sai is stupid, just naïve. This is a guy who can't figure out why the heck calling Sakura "ugly bitch" would make her mad.

That's it for now! Next chapter, the gang tries to find Sasuke before Sakura does…