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Summary: Ino always prepared herself for the worst situations,but finding SASUKE in her yard definitely caught her off guard. Especially when she just found out he was supposed to be dead,along with the Snake freak. Why is HE here,and what has Itachi to do with it?

"Normal."

Thoughts

Flashbacks

Jutsu


A/N: First off... before you're gonna start readin';

Yes.. you may kick my ass all over and over again in your head for not updatin' any time sooner.

Yes.. Last time I did go all Harry Potter on you.. (Damn it! Was the 'Unbreakable Vow' that obvious? x)

No.. I can't assure you there is nothing wrong (grammatically and stuff') with this chap, since I still dun' have a beta.

And last but not least; Thanx for all your reviews and messages and support and kindness!!! I really couldn't have thought that so many of you would be interested in this lil' ol' fic of mine.

That's it for now... Ready, Set... READ!!


Sleep.

It's claimed to be a miracle by many.

When you sleep, you die, only to be resurrected yet once again.

Your body stays intact, however, your soul cuts the connection in between. It selfishly flies away for a voyage through the universe of your own subconsciousness.

You're confronted by your greatest fears, desires,hopes, discoveries and by thoughts and memories so crushing you normally wouldn't even dare to think about them.

Emotions beyond description, aches too hard to endure.

We call this remarkable concept dreaming.

Sometimes your dreams are warnings, unconsciously formed by your own subconscious, sometimes your dreams serve as a garbage can, something in which your mind can throw out the overload of information it's daily receiving, or they can symbol signs of disease, fortune or many other things.

But sometimes... they can also be a fight against your very own endogenous-turmoil.

Somewhere, in one of the greatest shinobi villages, a young woman seemed to be experiencing the latter, fighting against her greatest inner-demon; her memories.

Her breaths were harsh and irregular,the sheets twisted in different directions by her constantly moving.

Two platinum blonde brows were knitted together and beads of sweat were running down her pale , delicate face drawn together with agitation.


"Waaaaaaah! S-Sasuke-kun is sooooo mean! Waaaaaaaah!"

"H-Hey, I d-didn't mean to, really! S-Sorry!"

"So... Friends?"

"Um! Friends!"


"I-Ino-chan looks happy, why?"

"Ehh?? What are you talking about Sa-ku-ra-chaaan!"


"...Isn't he cute or what!"

"Who?"

"Sasuke-kun, of course!"


"...Ino from now on we're rivals..."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"


"Here, you dropped a flower."

"S-Sasuke-kun!"

"Hn."


"You PIG! Get OFF him! You're bothering Sasuke-kun!"

"Heehee... Jealous, forehead-girl?"

"...You wish!.."


"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke! Matte!(1)"


"Why are you looking for someone who seized to exist?"

"Why do you let me glomp you?"

...Silence...

"Heh. That's why."


"Yo! Shikamaru! Get off your lazy-butt and gimme some help with..-"

"Ino.."

"-.. rearranging the flowe-"

"Ino, I'm leaving together with Chouji."

"WHAT! How could you leave without m-"

"Ino..."

"What.. what's wrong?"

"He left, Ino... He left. And we're ordered to get him back."


"SAAAASKEEE! I SWEAR THAT I, YAMANAKA INO, WILL MAKE YOU REGRET!"


"It's sad for her isn't it... Ino-san...? "

"Sad for who?"

"Sakura-chan of course! She really loved ...him... You know.. maybe we could try cheering her up!"

"..."

"Ino-san! Chotto matte! (2) Where are you..- !"

"Ehh? What's gotten into HER? Really..."

"I dunno, did I say anything wrong?"


"Ino... - We.. we couldn't get him back."

"..."

"I-Ino, I..-"

"Chouji, w-we need to be strong for Chouji."

"Ino.. I'm sorry."

"Don't you worry Shika, it's not your fault. And together.. together we'll pull through..."

We have to 'cause otherwise I'll...


"Yamanaka."

"Huh?"

"Don't you dare coming any second later tomorrow!"

"Ehh! Morino-san, what are you..-"

"Don't gape at me like some fish and it's Soushou to you from now on."

"S-Soushou? But I'm already..-"

"You'll only throw your abilities away with practising medical jutsu. And I'm not gonna let that happen. Tomorrow 5 A.M. Not participating is no option, and that's an order!"

"H-Hai... Soushou..."


"Why don't you get over the fact you'll never gonna get him back again, Sakura?"

"I.. I can't because that would be betraying myself and everything I believe in."

"Everything you believe in, huh? And what would that be, miss Sunshine?"

"Bonds of friendship, loyalty and love, Ino."

"Yare, yare (3).. You're starting to sound like Naruto. That idiot's finally rubbing off on you."

..Smile..

"Perhaps.. What about you, Ino?"

"What about me?"

"Oh, come on.. You can't fool me into thinking you have forgotten all about him."

"Fool you? Hah.. Don't make me laugh. There are actually people among us, Sakura, who have far better things to spend their times on than persuading some traitor, who shot us all behind the back. Maybe you've forgotten and forgiven everything, but I will never forget the hours I spent on the IC for Chouji , not knowing he'd ever wake up or not, I won't forget the bad state Neji was put in and I sure as hell will never forgive the bastard for choosing Orochimaru above us all."

..Sigh..

"You still love him, don't you."

"I..I hate him." Don't I?


"Nara-san, Morino-soushou, Y-Yamanaka Ino reporting. Mission w-was a succes!

The S-Class c-criminal O-Orochimaru is found death a-along with the missin-nin U-Uchiha S-Sasuke."


"N-No.." No,no,no,no,no,no,NO,NO,NOOO!

"Aa... L-long time no see.. Ino."

...Uchiha... Sasuke...


Yamanaka Ino woke up with a terrified gasp and literally pushed her body up in less than a second. She put her hand on her fast pacing chest, trying to keep her heart from exploding out of the said part of her anatomy.

Calm down! You're a Yamanaka for heaven's sake! Since when did we ever let a dream get to us so much? Damn! We're supposed to be the ones manipulating the dream itself!

"I wonder...was it all real?" She wiped the beads of sweat off with the back of her hand.

Unfortunately her guts said it really was real.

Where am I?

She relaxed a bit after recognising her environment.

I actually think I might beat Naruto's record for the amount of being dragged into a hospital within a week.

Suddenly the door opened revealing...

"Neji." She acknowledged softly, still feeling drained from the dream.

"Hn.." He stopped a meter from her bed and refused to look her in the eyes. If she didn't know any better she'd say that THE almighty Hyuuga Neji looked perhaps a bit awkward.

"Yamanaka..."

"Yeah, yeah.. Why don't you finally say it and then maybe we could get this thing over with as soon as possible."

"Yamanaka...-!"

She scowled. "Go ahead! Go on and tell me how stupid I was for not turning the Uchiha in, but please, and I really do beg of you, please don't forget to mention the part where I would be dead if you wouldn't have saved my ass, which proves your point of I-am-more-superior-than-tho...-"

"Ino, be quiet for once in your lifetime."

She froze. Did he just call me... Naw.. probably didn't...call me ... Ino?

"I..- I...-, " He fisted his hands to hide their shaking. "-.. want to tell you I'm... sorry... for not being able to rescue you on our first encounter and I..- "

"Neji.. are you, like, rambling?" Ino asked amused. That made him immediately shut up and tense even more if that were possible.

"Aww.. cheer up, Neji! You have completely no sense of even a lil' bit humor." Her eyes softened.

"And you don't need to feel bad about that, I mean, eventually you guys really did kind of save me."

He allowed himself to relax a bit, but then his features hardened.

"This of course, doesn't change the fact you were entirely reckless with your actions and could've gotten yourself killed. You faced a confrontation with a S-class missin'-nin while you had a chakra-draining fight not even a few hours ago! And not only did you confront the said-nin, but you also kept him hostage in your own house with only a few chakra strings holding him back from hurting you?"

Ino laughed nervously. "You know, when you enumerate things like that, you make me feel kinda stupid."

Neji hmphed and unconsciously closed the distance. "Well, that's good. Since you were acting like a fool indeed. In fact, if it weren't for my deciding to come...-"

" -..The bastard might have killed me. Yeah, yeah.. I know! You're not exactly the first to tell, you know! And the worst part is that Shikamaru and Sakura are yet to scold me.. Reaaaally.. "

"You deserve it." Neji commented as blunt as always.

"Whatever!" She answered sticking her tongue out.


"Godaime-sama! You're not really thinking about complying with the deal the traitor mentioned, are you!"

"Well, actually I do think of complying with his request."

"But he's a missin'-nin! We cannot cooperate with scum! That would be lowering ourselves to their standards and make it seem like we are the weak ones!"

Tsunade sighed, facing a couple of elders and her top shinobi.

"I agree on the fact we shouldn't be making deals with missin'-nin, but there is too much too gain from this and we might never be able to get such a chance on our hands again. Think about it, the complete destruction of the Oto, including Orochimaru and also the discontinuation of the pursuing of Kyuubi no Kitsune, by one of the the strongest members of the Akatsuki. Which basically secures our own candidate Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, who is also the container of the demon."

"But Hokage-sama! How can we be so sure he'll keep his part of the bargain?"

A somewhat familiar shinobi sighed. "Let me guess, the Unbreakable Vow, right?"

Tsunade's lips quirked upside. "Very well, Nara." She commented, being familiar with his genius remarks.

"The Unbreakable Vow?"

That statement brought a bit chaos in the room. Especially the elders discussed it loudly, clearly being shocked at hearing something they'd never even dream about hearing again.

"So." Again it was Nara Shikamaru who spoke. The room went silent. " What's the catch? This all sounds too good to be true. It's fishy. There must be something wrong about it."

Tsunade took a deep breath and prepared herself for what she expected, was to become a full blow.

"Well, actually there are two things he wants... He wants his inheritance given back to him...- "

"Couldn't we agree then, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked, wanting the boy she counted as her own brother to be finally left alone.

A lot of persons agreed with her, but one particular blonde narrowed his eyes and asked something the others didn't dare.

"What... what is the second thing he wants?"

Tsunade stopped playing with her papers and finally looked up, serious amber eyes gliding over the entire room.

"Naruto... He wants Ino. Yamanaka Ino."


Ino had just said 'goodbye' to Neji, who had to leave for an appointment, when a few minutes later she was visited by someone she wasn't prepared seeing again.

"Sakura..."

"Ino."

An awkward silence settled between them.

Ino looked at the tiny drops of water hitting the glas of her window. Rain.

"So.. " Sakura broke through the silence. "You're looking alright, are you?"

The blonde smiled wearily.

"I'm fine as fine as I can be in this shitty situation. So.. yeah.. I shouldn't be complaining I guess."

Sakura walked over and sat on her bed.

"He... " She paused, biting her lip. "He didn't hurt you or something, did he?"

Ino answered ,still not looking at the girl who had once been her best friend.

"No." She answered flatly, not wanting her of all people to pity on her and think she was some powerless bimbo, who couldn't even defend herself.

Even though she couldn't really call Sakura her best friend didn't mean that the girl wasn't her rival anymore. Just because the pink-haired kunoichi hadn't been mentioning it for a long time now, could still never make her forget that day, when she declared her as a rival and threw their friendship away.

"I'm glad." The med-nin stated softly.

"Ino..."

"What?"

"I..- I..- I'm really sorry."

"What?" This remark did make the blonde look at Sakura for the first time since Pinky walked into the room.

"Why? What would you be sorry for?" Ino asked raising one pale eyebrow.

"I'm so sorry... for everything..." Sakura suddenly stood up and started pacing around the small room.

"I mean, good god... If someone would've told me that we two would end up this way.. I..- I..- What the hell did happen to us, Ino?"

Ino was about to open her mouth when Sakura beat her into it, raising her hand frantically.

"Wait! Just please wait! I'd be naive if I couldn't answer that... I mean.. what happened? I tell you what happened; Sasuke happened. When... - When he left, I thought we would turn into best friends again. Silly, isn't it? For me to assume friendship could just continue from were it was torn apart. Eventually I started to see it, but even then I assumed somehow we could build our friendship up; all over again. And.. And it seemed to work! I mean, although," Sakura paused and swallowed, while Ino was just gaping at her with her mouth wide open.

"Although I felt you didn't trust me, I felt us getting closer. You..- You called me Forehead and I called you Pig. And with Sasuke gone, there wasn't anything stopping us from getting closer.. But now...-"

"...He's back." Ino finished, looking away.

Sakura started pacing again.

"Yes. Unfortunately Sasuke happened again. I mean.. Ino.. you.. you couldn't even look me in the eye, Ino!! All that progress we made.. It's all..-" Frustrated, she ran her hand through her hair.

"We're back at where we started?" Ino helped her finish.

The pink-medic looked her right into her eyes. "Exactly!" She finally stopped pacing around and choose to sit on her bed yet again.

"Ino," She started softly. "I'm not going to lie to you. After so many years of persuading him together with Naruto, after so much blood, tears and sweat.. just for him to return to you, who didn't even care enough to look for him, it..- it hurt. "

Ino's eyes softened. "Sakura, I..-"

Sakura shot her a small smile."No it's okay. You don't have to explain anything. Even though it was hard... I'm a big girl now, and somewhere along the road I started to learn that no matter how much I love Sasuke, he is and always will stay one insensitive asshole."

Ino started chuckling. "Really, Sakura. This is starting to look waaaaay to dramatic. If you continue one of us might even cry, we wouldn't want that, now would we?"

'Forehead Girl's' features remained serious.

"The bottom line is, Ino, that I, no matter how much resistent you're planning on being, will rebuild our friendship to the way it once was. And this time, I swear, Sasuke will NOT happen again."

For a moment it was silent.

"Wow.. I didn't wanna say anything, but Sasuke happening and not happening.. that just sounds..- I dunno, plain wrong." The blonde commented forcing the tears back, that were threatening to leak, while her lips trembled.

And with that both of them started laughing hysterically, while tears started to come out of , what seemed like, their entire being.


"ENOUGH!." Tsunade roared furiously, making the entire room shut up at long last.

"I know we're discussing a very delicate matter here, however, this doesn't justify you people screaming amongst yourselves like a couple of ... grumble,grumble... never mind." She growled, trying hard not to grab for the bottle of sake hidden under her desk.

Shizune would most definitely not stop nagging about it for an entire lifetime.

"Anyway, I'm calling this meeting off, because I don't see the point of talking if nobody is even willing to try to listen. You may go."

A couple of elders looked as if they were ready to attack.

Tsunade tried hard not to snort. Fools. Just please try to lay a finger on me, then I will finally have an excuse to kick your sorry asses.

"But Godaime-sama!"

"I. Said. Leave." She gritted through her teeth.

They finally seemed to get her message and reluctantly backed down.

"Hai."

"Jiraiya, Nara, Uzumaki, Shizune, Hatake, Aburame and Yuuhi, you are the only ones who may remain on your spots."

When the last elder walked out of the room, Tsunade's twitching started to stop.

"Finally."She muttered before she looked up to meet a few angry( the Nara-boy and Naruto), concerned ( Shizune and Kurenai), thoughtful ( Jiraiya, ..well that would actually be a first..) and unreadable (Kakashi and Shino) glares.

"Tsunade-baba! There is NO way in HELL we can accept his offer! And as the one who actually holds the Kyuubi; I won't trade Ino-chan in for my own safety!" Naruto cried furiously.

"I agree with what he says, Hokage-sama." Shikamaru sounded oddly cold. "The one important thing that distinguishes the Leaf from all other shinobi-villages is the fact that we treat our ninja like human instead of killing-tools. If you would trade Yamanaka Ino in... not only would it go against our protocol, it would also make us betray our most important ideal."

"Although your story sounds really sweet to my ears, it can't just make me ignore the entire problem here. Because of some unknown reason Uchiha Itachi, currently residing in Uchiha Sasuke's body, wants to have the companionship of Yamanaka Ino on his journey.

Now, let's imagine we say 'No, thank you.'.. What would confirm the fact the said kunoichi wouldn't be in danger? For all we know he may kidnap her on a mission or even at home ground. This is after all an Uchiha we're talking about. If they did manage to get on our ground without us noticing the first time, what would stop them doing so for the next time?"

"Tsunade-sama.. Couldn't we guard her with the use of a couple of ANBU?" Shizune asked somewhat hopefully.

"We all know that the Uchiha's capacities, and with that I mean both of them, are far much higher than our own ANBU's. Unless we intend to guard her ourselves we cannot guarente her safety. And even then there is a possibility of failing" Shino stated bluntly, not showing his distress. Maybe Yamanaka Ino and he weren't that close, but they were comrades and had fought side to side many times. Konoha..- No, his life wouldn't be the same without her. She was one of a kind.

"And we also know that it is not realistic for any of us to guard her 24/ 7." Kakashi added calmly and reasonably.

"So you're saying we should hand her over to die..." Shikamaru growled dangerously.

"I damn well will make sure that won't happen!" Naruto shouted.

"Lower your volume, brat!" Tsunade warned, rubbing her forehead.

Naruto was about to give her a piece of his mind when Jiraiya beat him into it.

"Have you spoken with Ino herself about it?"

Tsunade met his eyes. "No, not yet. I heard she recently woke up."

"Then if I may, Godaime-sama," Kurenai started. Tsunade motioned for her to continue.

"I think we should give her the option of accepting or declining her part in the deal. "

"There is a reason why I didn't mention that in the first place, you know." The Hokage stated wearily.

"I'm not sure if Ino is mentally able to make a decision right now. A lot of things have happened to her for the past few days. Things which may have an influence on her decision."

The toad-hermit pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on. "Tsunade-hime, you know as well as I do, that you can't protect people against their own decisions. In the end they have to choose their own path, their own right or wrong."

Tsunade sighed. "That is the most sensible thing I've heard you say in an entire lifetime."

Jiraiya chuckled lifelessly. "Even I have my moments every now and then."


In the midst of the 'veeeeeeeery-long-catching-up' Sakura's pager went off.

"So, who is it, Forehead girl?" Ino asked curiously.

Sakura checked the numbers on her tiny device. "Huh? It's Shisou."

The blonde motioned for her to go. "Well, why don't you go then? Before she starts to go all scary and stuff."

The pink-med-nin didn't move from her spot. "It says I have to take you with me."

Ino pouted unhappily. "Aww.. man.. This means I'm getting my butt whipped."

"Well we better get this over with." Sakura commented sympathetically.


"Shisou."

"Hokage-sama."

Tsunade nodded as an acknowledgement and motioned for the two young women to sit.

Sakura observed the room and tensed.

There must have been a meeting involving her friend..

She just hoped Ino wouldn't be that much in trouble, and Sasuke...?

That was something she didn't even want to think about right at this moment.

On her left, Ino wasn't feeling quite good also. The room was full of tension, weariness and anger. Not a particular joyful environment to recover from her stressful days and dreams.

And somehow she got this feeling things were going to turn out really, really bad.

Tsunade stopped tapping her manicured nails on her desk and looked right at her.

"Yamanaka Ino, I'm going to cut right through the case, because I don't want to waste any more time then necessarily."

"Hai." The blonde responded out of respect for her superior.

"First of all," The Hokage continued, "we have confirmed your statement about Uchiha Itachi residing in Uchiha Sasuke's body."

Sakura's eyes widened. She hadn't expected Ino to be actually right about that. She'd assumed Ino was drained and therefore seeing and saying things which weren't actually there.

What's new! Ino thought sarcastically. They took this long to figure that out? To be honest she felt a bit insulted they didn't trust her abilities entirely yet.

"As for the reason I've called you here..."

Everyone tensed, including the pretty blonde.

"I have a mission for you."

Ino couldn't help but to call out; "You've got a what? A mission!" What the hell?

"Yes." Tsunade's voice sounded calm and clear, cutting right trough the awkward silence.

Her hazel eyes rested on the face of a young girl..- no, young woman, with confusion written all over her delicate face.

"Yamanaka Ino, you mission consists off a journey together with the missin'-nin Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke of an unknown period of time in which your life isn't warranted a certain safety."

Ino's mouth went dry and her eyes widened in pure disbelief. No. No. No. No.

The Godaime didn't show her even an ounce of mercy and continued.

"Listen. You have 24 hours to accept or decline this mission. I recommend you to use that period of time good enough. 24 hours, exactly over 24 hours I'm expecting you to give me an answer. Have I made myself clear?"

The shocked blonde just nodded, not trusting herself to use her own voice.

The busty woman nodded in return as an acknowledgement. "Well, that's settled then. You may take your leave."

Ino slowly stood up, a shadow casting her face, turned around and left without looking at anyone.

Just as she stepped out of the room, her entire mask fell and she started to run out of the building.

To run, run, run and to run to where her feet could take her. Far, far away.

She finally arrived at the edge of the forest, when her soaked figure crumbled and she sacked to the muddy ground. Her back rested on a tree and her chest moved up and down in rapid movements as she tried hard to breath, leaving small puffs of visible air in the rain.

For the first time in a very long time she was scared to death.

And for some reason her fear had nothing to do with the dangerous mission or the high possibility-rate of dieing... and that thought alone... made her shiver, full of fear and disgust.

After all these years... her feelings... his return...

She was afraid there was a possibility that perhaps she still had feelings for him.

Seeing him alone had caused avalanches of emotions she thought she had buried somewhere deep within herself, to come back. What would become of her if she even were to consider on taking this mission?

The blonde clutched her face in her hands and started screaming. Her voice raw, full of anger and self-loathing.

Trembling she stood up, balling her shaking hands into fists. Her features were hard and with a loud battle cry she charged into the tree and hit it with all the frustration she could find within her entire being.

"Haaa!" Hit.

"I." Hit. Gasp.

"Hate." Hit. Hit.

"Hate." Hit. Hit. Hit.

"Hate." Hit.

"YOU!" Gasp. Hit. Gasp.

Blood splattered on her face as she savagely continued on hitting the small part of what was left of the tree.

Hit. Kick. Another hit. Hate you! Hate you! Hate you! Hate you! Hate you! Hate you!

Just as she was about to hit the tree another time, her fists were captured by a couple of strong hands.

Right then, her eyes widened in harsh realization.

It wasn't him she hated...

"I...-" She whispered thickly.

"Hate..-"

Her eyes were dull now, and she let herself fall on the ground, dragging the person behind her down as well.

"...Me..." She finished shivering. Suddenly feeling very sick.


(1) Matte: Wait!

(2) Chotto matte: Wait a sec!

(3) Yare, yare: Oh dear.


A/N: There it is... You've just read friggin' 13 pages of size 12, Times New Roman!!! I mean.. whaaaaaaamz', that's like, a LOT for someone like me to write.

And sorry.. I know that there (almost) isn't any progress at all, but I've worked on this chap for WEEEEEEKS and it's, like I've said before, huge enough. Even if I'd write more, it'd take another few weeks for me to update. Which was not an option, since I was gettin' upset messages of peepz, so I couldn't do it!

Pfftt... anywayz.. enough bull' from me.

I really hope y'all liked it...

Thanx for botherin' to read and please lemme know what cha think!

Boobaiz!

MisSs005