A/N: Tadaaa! Happy Really-Early Valentine's Day.

"Ino?" Ino looked up to see her Dad looming above her, hastily dressed in his mission clothes. Ino was now sitting in a room that was near the Hokage's office. The room was depressing, the walls and floor were all white and it was bare of everything except for the single chair that Ino sat in. The chair seemed ancient and wobbled precariously whenever she shifted. "You scared your Mom, just running out like that."

"Sorry, Dad, it was an emergency," Ino said, folding her hands in her lap and bowing her head in apology.

"Ah, Yamanaka-san," Tsunade-sama said. Ino looked up as Tsunade shut the door behind her with a soft click and pulled a piece of paper from a folder. Studying it for a second she passed it over to Inoichi.

"This is her?" Inoichi asked. Ino watched closely, trying to discern what they were talking about.

"Yes," Tsunade said, she shut the folder and turned to look at Ino. "I hope you can do this quickly. If what Ino says is true, Team Eight needs to be sent out immediately."

Inoichi nodded and lined himself up with his daughter. Ino didn't realize what he was doing until he pressed his hands together in the signature Yamanaka move.

"Daddy?" Ino questioned, her voice quavering a little. Never before had her own jutsu been used against her.

Her Dad didn't say anything, but Ino felt a firm grip on her mind and had to repress the urge to fight it. She could feel her Dad moving through her brain, passing easily through her recent thoughts and then her memories. Ino tried to make the process easier by thinking about what had happened only moments before.

When her Dad's presence finally left her mind, Ino opened her eyes, not realizing they had been closed, and saw her Dad getting back to his feet.

"I've never seen anything like it," Inoichi said, his eyes wide with awe. "It's only been theorized, because the Yamanaka clan uses their jutsu solely for combat, not wanting to invade the mind of people they consider friends or care for. So, we usually meet resistance. But, it seems that what we thought was right. If we use our jutsu to invade a person's mind and there is no resistance then a mental bond can form."

"Ino and Odori have a mental bond?" Tsunade asked.

"It appears that is the case. She must have been welcomed in Odori's mind for long enough for a bond to form. But, it seems that this bond was only triggered when Odori was in great distress, possibly close to death." Inoichi said.

"Close to death?" Ino shouted as she leapt from the chair, "We have to leave now!"

"We?" Tsunade repeated. She put a hand on the door knob, preparing to leave the room. "You are not allowed to go on missions. You are on probation. Team Eight will be on their way in a few moments. Too bad Sakura is out on a mission."

Ino stared at the door in stunned silence as Tsunade and her Dad left the room, the door clicking softly once again. Ino sunk to her knees and covered her eyes.

"I'm so stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid."

---

Team Eight raced through the trees in the direction of Takigakure, Land of the Waterfall. This was Odori's home and Tsunade figured that the Akatsuki couldn't be too far from here. Once they got within the borders of Takigakure, they would have to track Odori down. And tracking was Team Eight's specialty.

Kiba lead the group. He was the mission leader and also the most familiar with the landscape, having been the only one to travel to this small country recently.

He looked over his shoulder to make sure that Hinata and Neji were still behind him. No matter how many missions he went on with team eight, it never failed to feel like there was a piece missing, because there was. Shino's spot was usually filled by whatever member of the Konoha Eleven was able to come along at the time.

"We're getting close to the border," Neji reported, his Byakugan activated. "I can see a town coming up."

"We'll be there soon, then," Kiba said, refocusing his attention back to where they were headed. Odori was counting on him and he refused to go back on his word and not be there to save her.

He would never forget that it was on Odori's mission that Kiba and Ino had started their relationship, even though now he didn't want to face her at the moment. Allowing Akamaru to get hurt like that mad him burn with anger. Ino didn't even include Kiba in the mission, just leaving him behind like he had no part in her plan for revenge.

After a few moments they were just outside of the town that Odori lived in. Kiba paused and tried to find the freshest scent.

"Akamaru, do you smell that?" Kiba asked, looking at his nindog. Akamaru barked in agreement. "It's smells strongly of hospital rooms during surgery," Kiba explained to the others, who of course couldn't smell it. The smell carried on the air, just west of where they were.

They moved quickly through the woods towards the scent and ended up standing at a tunnel entrance.

"It's a tunnel for the citizens of the town to escape into during a crisis," Hinata said in her small voice. "There's a similar set up in the town my last mission was in."

"I don't see anyone inside," Neji said, the skin around his eyes returning to normal as he dispelled his jutsu. "Are you sure this is the place?"

"I couldn't be surer, it stinks," Kiba said. He turned to Hinata. "How do these tunnels work?"

"They are long and go pretty far down into the earth. They're cold and wet and there's several chambers about a mile in. They're pretty effective to protect the townspeople, but once criminals found out about them they've been using them as hideouts. There were a whole bunch of them crawling around," Hinata answered, squinting into the dark tunnel. "Even with Byakugan we won't see anyone for a while."

"Alright," Kiba said, looking at his team. "Let's go in." Neji and Hinata nodded and they all crept down into the tunnel. Ever since Shino had died he had to take on the role of leader. Times like this made him miss his friend more than anything. He caught Hinata's eye and she seemed to catch this because she put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You're a great leader," She whispered. "Shino would think so, too."

"Thank you," He whispered back.

---

"Konoha won't make it in time," The man said. He placed his hand on her upper chest once again and Odori felt an odd sensation that she could only describe as if a thick, slow moving liquid was trying to force it's way through her veins.

"W-what is happening?" Odori asked, her voice quaking wildly as her body started to spasm. She no longer had control of her limbs and they were twitching and stretching randomly without her permission. The men just laughed at her, refusing to answer her question.

Then she felt another odd sensation, that reminded her of when Ino had possessed her. Except Ino wasn't controlling her, whatever was happening was due to the silver-haired man's jutsu. But she couldn't shake the thought that Ino's presence was with her.

"What is happening to me?" Odori asked as she felt a prickling pain, like someone was shoving several needles all over her body, strongest around the man's hand. The skin around his hand turned a violent shade of green and the green started to spread out. Odori whimpered as a sharp pain in her chest brought tears to her eyes.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Odori asked, even though they weren't answering her.

"You should know, Jinchuriki," The man said, answering a question at long last. "You had to know that we were going to come for you sometime."

---

When Ino returned back to herself she was sprawled on the floor with her cheek pressed against wood that had been painted white. She sat up, panicked, until she recognized the room she was in as the one that Tsunade and her Dad had left her in.

Tsunade! She had to tell Tsunade!

But when she tried to open the door, she found it locked. She shook the door knob. When it still didn't give away she slammed her fist into the door in anger. Not so much as a dent was left in the wood. Ino was unsatisfied with this, so she grabbed the chair and through it at the wall. It had the decency to break into six different pieces and Ino found that it had helped her calm down a little bit.

It was horrible to be able to see these things happen to Odori and not be able to do anything about it. She wished so bad that she could be there.