Medical Strawberries
Chapter Seven
My Stomach Drops
Sakura glanced over at Ino as they walked to the bathroom in silence. She debated on whether or not she should say something, however quickly looked ahead when she noticed Ino glance over in her direction. She was embarrassed, and her face felt incredibly hot. And yet, she felt too bashful to say anything. All she wanted was to break the silence, it wasn't until they arrived at the bathroom that Ino said, "Ah, look. Here it is."
"Yeah," Sakura answered, "Uh thanks. I'm sure I would have found it on my own."
"I dunno, Sakura," Ino began with a smirk. "You probably would have distracted yourself~."
"Distracted myself?!" Sakura snapped, "I'll have you know, I have a very long attention sp-"
"Don't you have to use the bathroom?" Ino asked.
"Oh...yeah, I do," Sakura answered. She couldn't help but wonder why Ino was suddenly acting like this. 'Unless I'm imagining it,' she soon concluded. She pushed open the door and walked in. "I'll only be a minute," she told Ino before closing the door behind her.
So Ino waited and found herself glancing down both ends of the hall. Of course she found herself thinking back to her conversation with Shizune. She couldn't pick both...and yet she felt that if she couldn't pick one either. What made it worse was that she knew who she wanted. Suddenly she caught whiff of the scent of strawberries. Immediately her guard went up. "Sakura, are you almost done?" she whispered, however she didn't receive any sort of response. The smell was getting stronger, almost as if the source was approaching. Not wanting to be in the hallway any longer, Ino forced her way into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. That's when she saw that Sakura was washing her hands. Sakura stared at her for a moment, unable to find her words.
"You were taking too long," Ino explained.
"What if I wasn't done?" Sakura protested.
"I wouldn't care," Ino told her.
Sakura stopped herself from arguing when she noticed that the other girl seemed nervous about something. Then that's when everything made sense to her. Sakura didn't consider herself the most womanly girl girl around, but that didn't stop her from changing up stance so that she was holding her head up and her chest puffed out. "Why did you really come in?" she asked, although Ino's attention was mostly on the door.
"Ino, you know...a lot has happened today," Sakura began, causing the girl to glance back towards her. Sakura hesitantly placed a hand upon her arm, before hugging it close to her chest. "That thing that happened in your bedroom...before Hinata went over to your house...and even the thing in the bath...it just..." Sakura cut herself short, not knowing how to continue without sounding strange. After all, she and Ino were friends. But could they be labeled as only friends if they've shared a kiss? Sakura never had a boyfriend before, and certainly not a girlfriend. The only experience she ever had with love...was whatever she read out of a book.
There was no way she could make sense out of how nervous she felt. Then that's when she remembered that moment between her and Hinata on the steps, and the things that the ravenette said to her. Hinata called her selfish, and made her sound like a whore for having admirers. She never found out why Hinata was going over to Ino's house, or why Hinata had tried to share a room with Ino or why she said the blonde's name when Tenten had touched her. Then it all made sense to her.
Sakura slowly released Ino's arm and took a step back, and stared at the girl. Disbelief and heartache was written all over her face. She took a deep breath and calmly asked, "What were you and Hinata doing together?"
"Sakura, can we talk about this later?" Ino asked.
"Ino, just tell me," Sakura demanded, however stopped when Ino grabbed onto her arm and whispered, "Sakura, there's something severely wrong with this resort. You remember that Genjutsu? I'm not even sure if we're out of it."
"Of course we're out of it," Sakura told her as she knocked her arm away from the girl. "It released us sometime before we got out of the tub. Remember, we talked about it? And then later we went and found Shizune trapped in the genjutsu as well- you're changing the subject!"
"Sakura listen to me!"
"Are you going to answer me?!"
"About what?"
"About my question!" Sakura snapped.
"Use chakra," Ino told her, causing Sakura to look bewildered.
"What does that have to do with anything?" she asked.
"Just do it!"
So Sakura tried focusing her charka into her hands, however realized that she couldn't feel anything. It was almost as if she weren't a shinobi at all...but normal. After trying multiple times to gather her charka, she finally glanced over at Ino, unsure of how she noticed.
"How about we finish our mission first and then figure out what's going on between us," Ino told her before opening the bathroom door. To her surprise, she saw Yasu. Ino squeaked, unable to find her words. Yasu took that as a moment to start the conversation. "You know, it's late, both of you should get to bed," she told them with her same tiny smile.
"I have trouble sleeping at night," Sakura lied.
"I have a remedy for that," Yasu said, "It's a strawberry tea that's been passed down generation from generation."
"I'll...pass," Sakura nervously laughed, although that's when Ino suddenly asked, "Who else works here? We've met you, but I haven't seen any of your staff...but to keep a place so big like this running, you have to have help of some kind, right?"
Sakura knew that Ino was smart, but she never knew that she was this smart. She was actually interrogating the inn keeper. Sakura found herself watching Ino as she intensely stared at Yasu. "You want to meet the rest of my staff?" Yasu asked. She had an eerie sort of smile. The kind that made Sakura's skin crawl and her heart beat at an irregular pace.
Then that's when Yasu took a step back and started doing a series of quickened handsigns. Ino tried memorizing them, however found herself entranced by the woman's hand movements. Then the blonde felt her body grow heavy and she collapsed. Sakura was quick to catch her, although stumbled down to the floor from Ino's weight. Swiftly she glared over at Yasu and asked, "What did you do to her?"
"I'm surprised that you're not unconscious as well," the dark haired woman commented. "You weren't trying to figure out what hand sign I was about to do?"
"I had other things on my mind," Sakura voiced with a smug grin. "From the looks of it, that hand sign was a distraction, wasn't it? You don't have anyone who works with you!"
"And that's where you're wrong," Yasu told her as a ghostly wail sounded down the hall. "My ancestors live here with me...and they're fairly unhappy with being among the dead. After all, there are a lot of things they miss doing. Things that you can only do alive~"
"Nothing here is real, it's only a genjutsu. So I have nothing to be afraid of," Sakura argued as she continued to protectively hug onto Ino. Although that's when she realized that if they were in a genjutsu...was it possible for Ino to be unconscious? Unless she was the only one actually in the genjutsu...or it wasn't a genjutsu at all. "This isn't a genjutsu, is it?" Sakura concluded.
"Smart girl," Yasu told her. "As I've told you, this is a jutsu passed down from my family. The moment you entered that bath, you openly transported yourself into a world that I control. A world of limbo, sandwiched between that of the living and the dead."
Sakura looked horrified, which only fueled Yasu's amusement. "What I want is to stretch this jutsu far beyond this resort, but to do this, I need the right sacrifice."
"Keep your hands off of her!" Sakura snapped, causing Yasu to lightly laugh.
"Ah, my dear, why do you assume that we would want her?" Yasu asked. "There's a certain condition that my sacrifice has to have. A certain emotion that we're sure at least one of your girls will qualify for~."
"Sakura-chan," Ino whispered before a seductive giggle broke from her lips. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the pink haired girl with such a lustful look in her eyes. "My what pretty lips you have," she cooed before planting a kiss on Sakura's neck. She was embarrassed and yet at the same time, incredibly angry.
"What did you do to Ino?!" Sakura demanded to know.
"What, I thought you would be happy," Yasu chuckled. "Like I said, there are only certain girls who qualify. One certain ones that meet all of the conditions, and of all of the girls, you qualify the most, Sakura."
"Why is that?" she asked, however Yasu didn't answer. Instead the woman vanished before her eyes. Sakura's attention was snatched away by Ino nipping her ear. Her skin felt hot as the girl continued to trail kisses upon her skin.
"Ino, something is controlling you," Sakura whispered urgently however Ino didn't stop. She continued to kiss her and then beyond Sakura's control, Ino suddenly pushed her down to the ground. Sakura's eyes widened as the other girl climbed on top of her. Why wasn't she fighting this? Sure she had thought about it. She had thought about being with Ino, but not like this. However when the girl palmed her breast, all of her thoughts disappeared. She writhed a bit on the floor, holding back the moan that wished to break through her lips. Ino's continued to kiss her neck. Sakura hadn't even realized that Ino's knee was in between her legs, until she felt it rub her. The longer it continued, the hotter Sakura's body felt.
This wasn't Ino. This wasn't the same as being with Ino!
"Do you want more?" Ino whispered against her neck.
Sakura parted her lips, but words weren't able to form.
Ino's hand slid up inside of her robe, tickling against her already damp underwear. Sakura's heart continued to beat loudly in her chest, until it was all that she could hear. Her vision was beginning to blur as felt Ino's fingertips slide inside of her panties and tease her sensitive little bead.
"More?" Ino cooed.
'This isn't Ino,' Sakura continued to remind herself, however she wasn't able to stop her moans.
"Can I enter you?" Ino asked.
'I have to stop this.' However Sakura had no control...she couldn't move. She couldn't speak.
"Beg~," Ino instructed as her fingers suddenly stopped. There was a sadistic grin placed on Ino's lips. Sakura couldn't break her gaze from it. "Beg for it my little Sakura blossom...my little strawberry."
"You're not...Ino," Sakura whispered.
"What? What are you talking about?" Ino laughed as she kept her fingers placed against the skin of Sakura's most important prize. A finger entered causing a breathy moan to leave Sakura's lips, however she repeated, "You're not Ino."
"Of course I am, Sakura. With such a large forehead you'd think you'd have some brains in there," the blonde laughed as she continued to rock her fingers into the other girl.
"You're close," Sakura gasped.
"To your spot?" Ino asked.
Sakura grinned, but instead of answering the question she whispered, "But not close enough."
She used one of her hands to push her up, even though it caused Ino's fingers to dive in deeper. Fighting against the pleasure that ran through her entire body, Sakura delivered one of her famous punches at the girl, causing her to fly back.
"You weren't worried about hurting your friend," she heard Yasu's voice echo through-out the entire hall. "You had to know that was Ino's body."
Sakura didn't answer as she hesitantly moved to where the blonde laid upon the ground. She wasn't moving.
"And yet you freely hit her," Yasu continued. "Why is that?"
Sakura didn't answer as she started quickly patting the side of Ino's face, trying to wake her up. She didn't realize how hard she hit the girl. After all, Sakura had punched Naruto several times and never once knocked him unconscious. "Wake up," she whispered.
"It's a side-effect," Yasu's voice explained, "That if injured by the jutsu...she would fall into a deep sleep, and if she never wakes up...well, I suppose there's no need to explain the rest."
She heard a footstep behind her, and swiftly turned around to see Yasu standing there, with that same simple smile placed upon her lips. Sakura glared towards the woman with pure hatred. "I'm going to fucking kill you,"
"Oh my, what angry eyes you have," Yasu chuckled as she knelt down to Sakura's level and took her chin into her hand. Then softly the woman whispered, "If you did that, then you'll never find out how to help her."
"What's the catch?" Sakura growled.
"No catch," Yasu told her, however suddenly paused as though she suddenly remembered something. "Then again, I suppose I could use your help. With my jutsu. To be nice, I'll even guarantee that Ino will love you forever and ever."
"Get. The FUCK. Away from me," Sakura snapped as she shoved the frail woman back.
Yasu started laughing with pure amusement as she pushed herself up to her feet. "What a feisty girl you are," she cooed, "Well, if you don't want to help me with my jutsu, there is someone else who will."
"What are you talking about?" Sakura interrogated.
"Ino won't awaken from her dream, until my jutsu is complete," Yasu giggled as she disappeared into thin air. Sakura looked over towards Ino who hadn't moved at all during the altercation. Sakura slowly took hold of Ino's hand and took a shallow breath as she tried to cope with the overwhelming amount of guilt she was feeling. There was a sickness right in the pit of her stomach.
"I'm sorry," Sakura whispered. "I didn't know how else to snap you out of it."
Tears poured out of her eyes, and she clutched the blonde's hand even tighter. "I'm sorry," she cried. "I'm so...so sorry. I guess I'm always screwing up your life...aren't I?" she thought back to how angry and annoyed Ino had seemed lately. She thought back to that moment in the medical room, then the bathroom of the Hokage's building. She thought back to that moment between her and Hinata, at Ino's house. She remembered how it wasn't the first time she saw Hinata leaving the blonde's home. She thought back to what Hinata said about the hot bath or even that she had wished to share a room with Ino.
"You...don't like me do," Sakura said as she let go of the other girl's hand.
"We're floating...high above the clouds," Ino whispered in her sleep. Slowly she opened her eyes. "And I'm sure they taste like cotton candy."
Sakura's heart skipped a beat and a joyful smile immediately moved into place. Ino sat up and Sakura swiftly hugged her, however the girl didn't hug her back. Ino instead continued to stare ahead as she said lightly, "If we're not careful, then we'll fall right through the clouds, down, down, down."
"Ino?" Sakura hesitantly asked as she slowly released the girl.
Ino looked over at her and smiled at her with a rather dreamily expression. "What a pretty little bunny you are, how did you get up here in the sky with me?"
Sakura couldn't find her words. She couldn't take her eyes off of Ino. What kind of jutsu...was this?
"That's okay little bunny," Ino told her before wrapping her arms loving around the girl. "You probably don't even know how to talk. I'll teach you. Someone once told me that I'm good at teaching things."
Sakura wasn't sure how she was supposed to explain Ino's behavior to everyone else. Ino urged her to stand, so she did. Then the blonde moved a head of her, but soon glanced back at a very puzzled Sakura. "Little Bunny, are you coming? We have to a mission. As ninjas we're supposed to find the best tasting strawberries to offer to the princess. Do you know who the princess is?"
Sakura slowly shook her head, causing Ino to heavily sigh. "Well that's not good," she told the pink haired girl. "The princess is in disguise, but I'm sure we'll know her once we see her. Right?"
Strawberries...Yasu was using Ino as a tool to complete the jutsu. So who...was the princess that they were looking for? More importantly...what would happen to Ino if the jutsu is finally completed?
OoC: Hey guys, sorry it took so long to update this chapter. Life has been craaaaazy. In the process of publishing a book! Exciting right? Anywho, leave a review! It pushes me to update faster, and lets me know that you like what you're reading! Only a few more chapters till the conclusion! BaiBai~
