Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters. Any OC's are mine.


Ino ran through the forest as fast as her feet could take her, her heart thudded in her chest as she leapt up into a tree to avoid another wire trap. She desperately wished she had Hinata's eyes so that she could see where the wire traps were but she just had to make due with the moonlight shining down onto the wires.

It was earlier in the morning than they had originally thought, probably only around one or two if she was reading the moon correctly.

Branches whipped past her, catching onto her clothing and tearing deep scratches into her legs and arms causing her to wince in pain as she tore through the thick foliage. She didn't have much time before they realized that she and the other girls had split up so she needed to get to the edge of the forest where the desert began.

She was nearly to the edge when she heard branches snapping behind her, she took a leap from the branch and landed on the mossy ground beneath the tree in a crouch position.

An orange headed girl landed in front of her with a smirk.

"Kila." Ino hissed glaring at her, by the look in the girl's eyes she was fully conscious.

"Hello Chie. If that's even your name." Kila slid a kunai out of her waist pocket.

"Why are you awake?"

"Because I'm special, or whatever, I help Yori keep an eye on the girls when she has to go out with Rizu." Kila tilted her head to the side, a sadistic glint in her green eyes.

"So you're a traitor then?" Ino spit at her in disgust.

"No I'm just smart. Smarter than you you filthy spy." Kila sprang forwards with her Kunai in hand, Ino easily countered using the younger girl's momentum against her as she slid around her and landed a simply wind mill kick on the girl's back.

"I may be a spy but I am a better fighter than you—any day. Didn't you learn that in training?" Ino kept her composure but her mind was racing, she could see the edge of the forest from where they were but she needed to get rid of Kila and fast.

"Please. I could wipe the floor with you." Kila growled taking the bait, her hands moved in lightening fast formations—one that Ino didn't recognize. A blast of wind knocked into her sending her flying through the air and into a tree. Her ears rang as she quickly rolled to her feet, Kila was a wind user? Another blast of wind whipped towards her and she barely avoided it by crouching onto the ground.

"Surprised? Yori taught me quite a bit. More than your senseis taught you I'm sure." Another blast of air headed straight for Ino and she barely managed to perform the hand seal technique making a wall of rock shoot up in front of her to split the wind.

"Oh? I see you've got some tricks up your sleeve as well. Well that's no matter—" Kila's smug rant was cut off by the wall of earth barreling towards her and she had to jump out of the way to avoid being crushed.

"Quit blabbering." Ino said and took the offensive, she ran towards the orange haired girl and kicked her feet out from under her "No matter how many fancy jutsus you learn your taijutsu sucks." She rammed a fist into the smaller girl's face. Kila attempted to push Ino off but a knee to her rib cage caused her to yelp with pain.

Ino yanked the girl up by her hair "You've been nothing but a pain in the ass ever since we showed up. Bullying my friends and betraying yours—you're a bitch who I don't have time to deal with."

Tying the girl up was no easy feat she struggled and scratched at Ino but somehow the blond managed to get her tied up. She slapped a silence tag onto the girl's forehead for good measure. "Stay." She ordered before turning and running towards the edge of the forest.

As soon as her feet hit the sand she was running full speed towards an outcropping of rocks that would hopefully be close enough for her to send out the sand. She didn't like how open the desert was, the moonlight shone upon the sand making her stand out even more starkly than it would have if the sun were shining on it instead.

But fortunately it seemed that no one but Kila was following her so she reached the rocks with relative ease.

She pulled the bag of sand from her pouch and poured all of it onto her palm "Please let this get to Gaara-sama." She murmured and infused the sand with as much chakra as she could without passing out. She threw the sand into the air with all of her might and watched it paused in the air for a moment before darting off into the night. Ino looked down at her hands which were cut and bloody; blood was seeping slowly from a gash in her side—more than likely from those blasts of air. She ignored the stinging sensation that these cuts brought and got to her feet and began to walk in the direction that the sand had disappeared.

She walked for what seemed like forever when it couldn't have been more than twenty minutes when she heard someone called her name. The sand ninjas were there, her legs wobbled with exhaustion and she fell. Someone caught her, she wasn't sure who it was, "You have to go in and get Hinata and Sakura." She said rubbing at her drooping eyes.

"Ino-san they probably aren't alive… and even if they are its dangerous…" and unknown voice said and Ino opened her tired eyes to glare at a ninja that she didn't know. She barely registered the fact that she was leaning against Temari and Kankuro. "Do you want to be the one to explain to the Hokage why you just left the woman who he is interested in romantically and the woman who is his best friend inside a forest full of mindless killers?" she barked at them and they winced. "Cowards." She spat.

"That's enough Yamanaka." Gaara stepped out of the crowd and the ninja who had originally spoken gulped "Go into the forest and fan out. If they are alive we will find them." The ninjas nodded and they were gone.

Ino pushed away from Kankuro and began to follow the ninjas but Temari grabbed her arm "You used too much chakra to send us the sand. Way more than you needed to."

Ino attempted to yank her arm away from Temari but the woman's grip was strong. "Let me go. They're my friends I need to go after them."

"No what you need to do is rest. We'll go find them." The taller blond yanked the shorter one to the ground before looking at her brother "Kankuro. Stay with her." The brunette nodded and Gaara, who had been silent for a few minutes, turned to Ino "I will find them." He said with the same bland expression that he always seemed to have. But the determination in his voice made the tenseness in Ino's body dissipate as she leaned against the rock and nodded.

"You better." She mumbled as her exhaustion finally won out and her head lolled to the side and she was asleep.


-Author's Note-

This is the shortest chapter that I've posted thusfar but it's jam packed with Ino! I love Ino (I love the entirety of this trio you've got no clue) and this is a very Ino-centric chapter. I was so afraid that everyone would freak out like:*Gasp* there isn't any Hinata in this chapter? But I thought this was a ~Naruhina~ fanfiction! It is! I swear! It's just a bit more plotty than anything else. And you will be seeing Hinata and Sakura in the next chapter so... yeah... (that was a completely random ramble and I apologize).

Anywho. Three cheers for the sand siblings!

Please Read & Review!

-LittleMoonLover-