So I noticed several people weren't too happy about Ino's little slip. I've explained it to some people, but I can't get in touch with the guest reviewers, so I'll explain my reasoning here. People make mistakes. No one means to, but they happen anyway. Sometimes they're small mistakes and are fixed within seconds, and sometimes they're huge whoppers that end with a fatality and somebody being sued. If a person doesn't make a mistake, then their name becomes Mary Sue. Believe it or not, canon characters can morph into Mary Sues if the author isn't careful, which is why I put in that mistake. If you still don't agree that that should've happened, then I'm okay with that. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, and I respect that. On a completely unrelated note, I find it funny that Chapter 6 has more hits than Chapter 5. Was Chapter 5 not that great so people skip it? Anyway, I continue to appreciate the support and opinions of all the reviewers, anonymous and signed. It helps me to know if the message I wanted to convey is actually coming across, so it's a great help to me to know your opinions. Enjoy the next chapter :)

Chapter 9

Between the time when Chouji found out about everything and the time they were supposed to meet, an unusual circumstance happened in Konohagakure. Some sort of miscommunication occurred in the prison and the cells of two of the criminals held there were left unguarded. The criminals took this chance to escape from bondage, in the process injuring Dr. Kyle, who had been making his routine inmate checkup at the time, and now the shinobi were on high alert. Ino couldn't believe her bad luck. Not only was this a major setback in her plans since she couldn't get close to any of the people remaining on the list, it made the troupe nervous and people started expressing a desire to move on to the next town. However, all of Konoha was in shut-down mode, and no one was allowed to enter or leave.

Because few people were willing to be entertained during a crisis, the troupe dismantled the large tents and started working on new routines. They had never done this while Ino traveled with them, and when she asked Shin, he said, "It's to keep the others from being bored or scared out of their minds. We've never stayed anywhere for so long, and people need something new or else we'll have trouble."

Ino didn't have a large part of the new routine, so she had more free time than she was used to. With Sayo in tow, she wandered around Konoha, hoping to either run into Chouji or find out something about the escaped criminals. It might have nothing to do with her mission, but then again, it might. Even if it didn't, Konoha was her home, and it was her duty to protect it and its citizens. She doubted that the criminals would run into her or else she would have left Sayo with Fye or Kagura. As it was, Kurogane, Fye, or Syaoran and Sakura accompanied her on her ventures into the village. No one wanted to let her wander around by herself with just Sayo. Shin would have gone with her, but he had to practice for the new show.

By pure chance she saw Hinata alone on one of her walks around Konoha. "Are you busy?" she asked, walking up to her. Kurogane shadowed her steps.

The indigo-haired kunoichi gave them a tight smile when she saw them. "It isn't safe to wander around here, Ishigawa-san, Kurogane-san," Hinata admonished them. "The criminals could be anywhere."

"Can you tell us anything about them? What did they do?"

Hinata glanced around. "They are renegade shinobi we believe to be from the Hidden Mist Village. One was a professional poisoner, but he started selling his services indiscriminately and he poisoned a politically powerful person. Another started preying on the chakra of kunoichi from their village, then he left when they branded him an outcast. Ever since then, he's attacked other kunoichi for their chakra."

"He won't attack male ninja?" Ino had never heard of anyone doing that before.

Hinata shook her head. "He only goes after kunoichi." Worry shone in her eyes. "He took one of my students. I have to find him before he hurts her."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Ino murmured. She didn't know how the other kunoichi felt, but it was probably something akin to how she would feel if someone stole Sayo.

Behind her, she felt Kurogane get his sword ready. "Someone's watching," he muttered.

Without Kurogane, the two kunoichi would have had no warning at all. An explosion of smoke caught them off-guard, and Ino couldn't even see Sayo in her arms within a few seconds, though she could hear her wails of unhappiness. "Kurogane? Hyuuga-san? Where are you?" she shouted. Kneeling, she looked around, hoping to see something. She felt something trip over her, and a muttered curse from a male voice followed. It wasn't Kurogane's voice. Getting out a kunai, she took a guess at where he fell and threw the kunai where his thigh should be. A louder curse greeted her ears, and she smiled in satisfaction. That's for interrupting my mission, she thought.

The smoke started to clear and she saw blood on the ground. "Got him," she said to herself. Even if she didn't hit a vital spot, the injury would slow him down. Through the thinner smoke, she saw Hinata on the ground a good distance away, and she appeared to be unconscious. "Hyuuga-san!" she hissed, scurrying over to her. Blood ran down her face and her breathing was shallow.

A shadow fell over the two of them, and when she looked behind her, she saw a deranged-looking man standing right at her back. In his hand rested a kunai. As he lifted it, Ino threw herself over Hinata, covering the woman and Sayo at the same time. The clash of metal on metal came from behind, and when she spared a glance backward, she saw Kurogane between them and the man. The deranged man leaped backward, and Kurogane put away his kunai and drew his sword. They looked at each other without moving for a few seconds, assessing each other's strength. Without warning, Kurogane rushed him, but the man danced away before retaliating with an attack of his own. With an almost careless grace Kurogane deflected the blow and sliced open the man's shirt as he lunged past the red-eyed shinobi. From the gasp of pain and the sudden darkening around the edges of the cut, Kurogane had done more than just cut the shirt.

A moan from below Ino caused her to look away from the fight and to the injured ninja before her. It looks like a concussion, Ino thought, moving Sayo to her hip to free one hand. Putting her hand next to Hinata's head, she called up her medic-nin training to heal her friend. She was so engrossed in her work that she didn't hear the warning shout and, in a burst of pain, her world went black.

When she awoke, the first thing she noticed was she was bound. Her hands and feet were tied and her arms were restricted by the rope around her waist. Her head hurt worse than if someone had broken her mind jutsu and it made collecting her thoughts difficult. The second thing she noticed was Sayo wasn't with her. "Sayo?" she muttered, forcing her eyes to open and focus. "Sayo?"

A cave of some sort greeted her eyes. Snow fell down over the entrance, but torches lit the inside of the dank cavern. The deranged man stood by the entrance, and he looked back when she started to stir. "You're awake," he said in a deadpan voice.

"Where is Sayo? What did you do with her?" Ino demanded, her body going cold, and not from the chill in the air.

His fist smashed into the side of her head, and Ino gasped in pain as lights exploded in front of her eyes. Gripping her hair, he pulled her head up so they were eye to eye. "You are useless," he told her. "Less than useless." His breath reminded Ino of a garbage disposal. "You aren't a kunoichi, so you don't have enough chakra to harvest. Make too much trouble, and I'll kill you." He let go of her hair, and Ino fell back to the floor while thanking Kurogane for teaching her to mask her chakra. He resumed his position by the entrance.

Taking stock of her surroundings, she noted that Hinata lay several feet away and she was still unconscious. Ino had been able to staunch most of the blood flow, but the man had attacked her before she could heal her all the way. It didn't appear that she had awakened since the initial blow, which wasn't a good sign. Her coloring wasn't good from Ino's limited perspective, and she now had additional scratches all over her body. The unconscious kunoichi was not the only other woman in the cave. Several women were in there, some only Genin fresh from the Academy, but they all had the symbol of Konohagakure somewhere on them. All except for Ino.

Another figure tramped into the cave and greeted the deranged man, though the latter didn't appear to be as happy to see him. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "You were supposed to lead them away from here!"

"Don't worry so much, Todou," drawled the new man. "I led them on a merry chase back there. They won't be able to find us. They're out there chasing their own tails right now."

"Zhong Rong, you're going to slip up again if you aren't careful," Todou warned. "We can't stay together until we're out of Fire Country. I'll meet you back at the spot."

"And what are you going to do with them?" Zhong Rong jerked a thumb at the kunoichi in the cave. "There's too many of them for you to move on your own. You need my help. I'll take a few, and it'll ease the burden on you. Would you accept that?"

Todou's wild eyes focused on the falling snow, and he nodded. "You could be right," he muttered. "Make sure you take that one with you." He pointed to where Ino lay. "She is not a kunoichi."

"So why didn't you kill her? She's no good to you if you can't take any chakra out of her, and we were told only to take what we can use."

The deranged man gave his partner a wry grin. "Consider it a gift to you," he replied. "I thought I sensed chakra from her, but I must have imagined it. By the time I realized she was useless, I was already here, so I kept her for you."

"And it's not even my birthday. You're so thoughtful, Todou. I'll keep that in mind once we get past the border of Fire Country." He stepped over several kunoichi to inspect her. She made sure to keep her eyes unfocused, and she tried to ignore the feeling of disgust as he eyed her like she was a side of beef. "She'll do," said Zhong Rong, walking back to his partner. "Now just tell me which ones you want me to take and I'll be on my way again."

Unfortunately for Ino, Hinata was not chosen to make the separate journey, but she wasn't as alone on the trip as she thought she would be. Once all the kunoichi were placed on a cart just outside the cave, Ino squirmed around until she no longer lay with her face squished to the floor and found herself looking at Kurenai-sensei's white visage. No blood colored her cheeks and, like the rest of the kunoichi, she appeared to be unconscious. Horror filled her. Who's taking care of Asuka? she thought. She was still only a child, and now that her mother had been abducted, she had neither parent to look after her.

With snow covering everything, Ino couldn't find a landmark that would indicate where they were, which would tell her what direction they were headed. The trees were bare, and the snow was thick enough that if she stood up, she would probably sink to her knees. The sky remained overcast, hiding the sun, and Ino had been kept disoriented for so long that she couldn't tell how much time passed from the time of her capture. With all the snow that fell, Ino despaired of even Kiba finding them. She had no doubt that he would be put on the rescue mission; Kurenai was his sensei when he was a Genin, and Hinata was on his team. At the very least she could count on Kiba and Shino to come after them.

Zhong Rong made sure to keep all the kunoichi unconscious. Every so often he would stop his cart and inject them with something contained in an opaque syringe. Ino assumed that it must have nutrients in addition to a sedative because from the conversation she overheard, the other man, Todou, needed all of them alive. The captor allowed her to feed herself, but her hands were tied so that they had limited mobility. Even though Todou had told him that she wasn't a kunoichi, Zhong Rong looked like he didn't want to take any chances.

Because of the repetitive routine followed day after day, Ino didn't count how much time passed, but she knew they were getting close to the border because the tension in Zhong Rong's body lessened with each day, though he kept up a constant pace. Winter was still deep around them, so she didn't notice any warming or cooling in the temperature, so she would have to wait before finding out where she was. However, one day the tension returned, and she knew something was up when the unflappable Zhong Rong kept glancing over his shoulder. Inching her way to a sitting position, she peered over the top of the cart to see what caught his attention, but all she saw were white snow drifts with the occasional tree sticking out. But something must have been out there because Zhong Rong picked up the pace again, jostling Ino around and causing several colorful bruises to form on her body.

Just like the day she met Kurogane and his group, the snow around them exploded, startling the team pulling the cart. With an oath, Zhong Rong started preparing a counter-attack, but he froze in the midst of a jutsu. His face a mask of rage and his body straining against its unseen bonds, his hands came apart, and he stood and walked down out of the cart. Ino couldn't see who was controlling his actions, but she had worked with Shikamaru long enough to recognize his Kagemane no Jutsu. For some reason, knowing that her teammate was close by made her feel much safer. I know he's here for Kurenai-sensei first and foremost, but I know he'll get us back to Konoha safe and sound. He didn't rescue them solely for Kurenai-sensei, but his obligation towards her stemmed from her involvement with Asuma-sensei, and while it surprised Ino at how far he would go for her, she didn't think it was wrong. Even she and Chouji did what they could for her.

A squad of Medic-nin congregated on the cart containing the unconscious kunoichi, hiding the rest of the shinobi and Zhong Rong from Ino's view. Instead, she watched as the medics tended to the females, using their chakra to rid their bodies of the drug that kept them in that state. One Medic-nin looked her over and, after cutting her bonds, moved on to the next kunoichi. "You are in better condition than the rest," he told her as he moved to Kurenai-sensei. "You'll recover naturally."

Now that she was free, Ino itched to help out, but she couldn't without blowing her cover, not with so many shinobi surrounding her. Some members of the rescue mission remained on her suspect list, and even without that, she wouldn't be able to explain her actions if someone caught her. To her relief, she saw Chouji searching through the sea of shinobi. Her eyes caught his, and he barreled over, pulling her into a bear hug. "Are you hurt?" he asked, putting her down again. "Did he do anything to you?" Her friend had an uncharacteristic glint in his eye that told Ino he would commit murder if she answered positive, and justice be damned.

"I'm fine," she assured him, doing her best to cover the bruises on her exposed wrists. "All he focused on was getting us to the border of Fire Country. Did you find Hyuuga-san and the other man?"

Chouji smiled grimly. "We found him first. You should have seen Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru. They were ready to rip him apart, and they almost did when he told us that we still didn't have all the kunoichi. It took three other shinobi to restrain Neji from strangling him when he found the state Hinata was in. And Naruto…" He shuddered. "I don't remember seeing him like that before. It was like it didn't occur to him what state we would find everyone in, and he just let the other guy have it when we found him."

That sounded like typical Naruto. The man took it personally when someone from his village was attacked. "How were you able to find the rest of us?"

"Inoichi-san was able to get the destination from that man's mind, and Shikamaru deciphered which route he would take to get there in the shortest amount of time."

"My…Yamanaka Inoichi is here?" she whispered.

To her relief, he shook his head. "Once we found out where the second criminal was going, he returned with the first group." It wasn't that she didn't want to see her father; it was quite the opposite. But after the trauma she went through, all she would want to do upon seeing him would be to seek comfort from the man who protected her since birth, and this was not the time or the place for that sort of behavior.

A new voice broke into the conversation. "Did they take a special friend of yours, Chouji?"

They both turned in the direction of the voice and saw Shikamaru saunter over to them. He froze when he saw Ino. "You?" he said. She could see him trying to rationalize her presence with the information he had about the two criminals and drawing a blank.

"I was there with Hyuuga-san," she said, keeping her eyes downcast. Looking at him reminded her of Mika's reaction to him, and thinking of Mika reminded her of… Leaping to her feet, startling both Shikamaru and Chouji, she stumbled into Shikamaru. "Where is Sayo?" she demanded, her voice raising several octaves. "Did you find her?" Her numb hands grasped at his Jounin vest in her anxiety.

Shikamaru tried to calm her down. "I didn't hear any reports of killings before we left," he said, giving Chouji the deer-in-the-headlights look.

His large teammate came to his rescue. "I was there when Kurogane-san gave the report," he said while trying to pry her hands off Shikamaru's vest. "He had Sayo with him. Neither of them looked hurt."

Relief flooded Ino, and she allowed herself to sink into Chouji's arms. "Thank goodness," she murmured, closing her eyes and sending a silent prayer of thanks to whatever power protected her child from harm. "I thought he'd done something to her."

Shikamaru straightened his vest and glanced at Chouji. "We need to get moving. We're close to our eastern border, and it looks like they were going to get passage on a ship, so their destination was somewhere in the eastern sea."

Over Ino's protests, Chouji picked her up and put her back in the cart with the rest of the rescued kunoichi while he and Shikamaru moved away, their voices growing fainter as they left. All around her, she could see more signs of life from the women and girls. Some were conscious enough to sit up and look around, though their eyes had a glazed look to them. Others, like Kurenai, would twitch on occasion, but they didn't open their eyes. Cuts had been tended to, but the bruises would take time to go away. The rescue team hadn't brought clean clothes, so they all wore the same dirty, torn clothes they had been captured in.

Because the kunoichi weren't well, the pace returning to Konoha was slower than Zhong Rong's. After a few days of good food, Ino was able to keep up walking next to the cart, and Chouji made sure he was close by. Even though the shinobi around them kept an eye out for trouble, none of them expected any, and the atmosphere was relaxed, so Shikamaru, the captain of the rescue team, didn't suggest to Ino that she should get in the cart so she would present less of a target. She knew that's what he was thinking, but he had no reason to order her to go there, and without that order, she didn't want to spend any more time in it than she already did. The exercise kept her warm, and she was able to talk to Chouji when she walked with him. She even got Shikamaru to talk with them at times, though she could tell he didn't know what to make of Chouji's fascination with her company. When he walked behind her, she could feel his dark eyes following her, his mind trying to form some connection between them. While Chouji was affectionate, that their relationship was platonic was clear to anyone who saw, she thought, which she knew confused Shikamaru even more. She knew how he thought; in his mind, she became a Puzzle, one that he was becoming more determined to figure out. If she played her cards right, she'd be able to catch him alone when they got back to Konoha, and she'd be able to check his mind without any problem.

It took Ino almost as long to fully recover from her stay with Zhong Rong as the other kunoichi. She fell asleep early and she woke up when someone told her it was time to keep moving. However, she felt stronger as her body received the nutrients and exercise it had been denied. Chouji kept pushing food on her from his personal stash, which raised quite a few eyebrows, and Ino worried that with his worrying over her every move, her work would be undone, but from the brief contact with their minds, no one's thoughts drifted toward spy. In fact, to her surprise, most of them thought he was infatuated with her. In the group, three people knew that she wasn't just a damsel in distress, and they watched her as closely as Shikamaru did, though their eyes held suspicion instead of Shikamaru's confusion. Ino glanced at the three watching her. Sou, Kureha, Tohru. For some reason, Genin were included on the mission. Ino thought that Hokage-sama would order them to stay because this wasn't a mission they could handle if things got ugly, but there they were. Chouji's three were also there, and they watched her just as closely as the other Genin. They had good reason to. She could sense the love they had for their sensei, and they worried that she was using him to further herself in a scheme they weren't aware of, and that made them…not hostile, but not welcoming. Wary would be the closest word to describe how they acted around her.

Nights were not welcome. The rescue team had brought some extra blankets with them, but they were after speed, and extra supplies would have slowed them down, so many people had to sleep right next to strangers to ensure no one went without. Chouji tried to give his to Ino, but she insisted that she didn't mind sharing with the other kunoichi and he needed to keep warm if he didn't want to get sick. So now she shared a blanket with Kurenai-sensei and a wide-eyed, young Genin. Even with the blanket and body heat, it took Ino a while to fall asleep once she had recovered.

It was the cold seeping into her bones that caused her to give up on sleep one night and get up. As she turned to tuck the blanket edge around the Genin, she noticed that Kurenai was missing. No wonder I couldn't sleep, she thought. A third of the body heat was missing. Wrapping her arms around herself, she stood up and wandered toward the nearest source of light, avoiding the sleeping shinobi around her feet. She heard voices up ahead and paused.

"She's fine," she heard Shikamaru say. "Your parents are looking after her."

"How long did it take you to find out I was missing?" Kurenai asked.

"You were baking muffins, and your timer still had another five minutes to go when I got there," he responded.

"I'm glad that Asuka wasn't there when it happened. She would've been all alone in the house. She could have hurt herself, and no one would have been there to take care of her."

The sound of bodies shifting, and Kurenai continued. "That's not the standard blanket we get when we go on missions," she said. "Where did you get it? It looks pretty worn."

"Ino gave it to me for my sixteenth birthday."

Ino was now in a position where she could see the two shinobi by the fire. Shikamaru sat with his arms around his knees, her blanket around his shoulders. His face held a lost expression, Kurenai's a concerned one. The older woman looked like she had something she wanted to say but wasn't sure how to start. Her dark curls fell around her shoulders, making her pale face even whiter in the firelight. The flames caused their eyes to glitter, and the changing light made it hard for Ino to pinpoint an emotion to either of them aside from reading their body posture. "Shikamaru, don't you think it's time you moved on," Kurenai finally said. "I know you miss her, but nothing you do can bring her back. It's been nearly four years and you still are obsessed with this. You need closure."

"Shizune never found her killers," was his response. His hands tightened around the blanket; she could see the wrinkles getting deeper around his fingers. "There can never be closure for me while they are still out there. Ino will be avenged."

Kurenai laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Shikamaru, look at me." When his unwilling eyes met hers, she continued, holding his gaze. "Do you think Ino would be happy knowing what you're doing?"

"She wouldn't notice," he muttered.

"I think she would," the kunoichi corrected him. "It would make her unhappy to see you like this. She wouldn't want you to still be putting her life ahead of your own four years after her death. When she visited me, she would say that she worried about you not taking care of yourself, always putting the team ahead of yourself despite your inherently lazy nature."

Shrugging her hand off his shoulder, he put his chin down on his arm. "Why is everyone suddenly so interested in my life?" he asked, but there was no heat in his voice. "No one mentioned anything before."

"That was before that woman in the hospital showed up." Kurenai's eyes were troubled. "Ever since that troupe and the woman came to Konoha, you've been in a downward slide back to the way you were when Ino died, and we're all worried about you. Chouji told me that you paid for her medical expenses."

His lips tightened into a scowl. "I don't buy things, so it was just building up, and she couldn't afford to pay it, living the way she does. It doesn't hurt anyone to do a good deed every once in a while." His voice dropped, but Ino read his lips as well as listened. "I couldn't just let it go. She even looks like her." He proved Kurenai's point, but the woman didn't look happy with the proof.

As much as Ino wanted to remain hidden and listen to the enlightening conversation, her feet had gone numb long ago and she would get frostbite if she didn't get them warm soon. Making enough noise that she wouldn't startle the two, she wandered over to the fire. "Do you mind if I join you?" she asked.

Kurenai gestured for her to sit down, and she did. I wonder if they will say anything to me since I'm close to Mika. I know I shouldn't, but… Looking over hesitantly, she said, "I heard the last part of the conversation. Your friend, Chouji, told me that you offered to pay for Mika's hospital stay, but I do not understand why. Can you explain yourself?"

The black-haired shinobi growled. "I am going to have a long talk with him about keeping his mouth shut. I just felt like helping, that's all."

Ino's eyebrow rose. "You spend an enormous sum of money on someone who can't even stand the sight of you? I wish you felt that way about me, then; I could use the extra money. When she is better, she will want to know why, and I can't tell her why if I don't know myself. You know she won't be able to repay you for a long time."

"I'm not expecting any of it back," he answered, shifting so he was looking at the fire instead of her.

"Surely your wife objects to this."

Kurenai snorted. "He has no wife. He's too lazy to go looking for one." She ruffled his hair with an affectionate hand. He glared at her without anger. If Ino were a stranger, she would think that the one Shikamaru loved was Kurenai, watching the two interact.

Ino gleaned no new information that night. When Shikamaru left to relieve one of the sentries, the two women returned to their blanket. The next day, when she and Chouji walked beside the wagon, Shikamaru joined them, but he didn't mention the previous night's conversation. He did send Chouji a dirty look, but he didn't explain despite Chouji's best efforts to find out what he did wrong. Ino laughed inside, watching her two teammates, most of her anger from four years ago gone. Even she could hold onto a grudge for only so long. Besides, they did just come to her rescue.

When Chouji stumbled into Shikamaru, sending both of them into a snowdrift, Ino joined in the laughter of those who saw the scene. Shikamaru's face had a look of indignant shock, Chouji's a mask of surprise. Both men's cheeks reddened when they saw most of the team looking at them. "Are you all right?" asked Ino when they returned to their positions next to her.

"I'm fine," huffed Shikamaru, shaking snow out of his vest and straightening it again. His black eyes shot Chouji looks that, had they been kunai, would have pinned the larger man to the wagon and turned him into a porcupine.

"I'm sorry, Shikamaru," Chouji apologized, dusting the snow off his armor. "I didn't expect that to happen."

"Neither did I," the shadow-user replied. Ino noticed he was looking away from her and everyone else in the wagon, but he couldn't hide his scarlet ears. After that, Chouji let the matter drop and the three of them, with the occasional interjection of Kurenai, talked of other, mundane things. Safe topics, nothing that had to do with strategies or conjectures on why the kunoichi were taken. Mostly Ino talked about her made-up life as Ishigawa Hikari, trying to pull from her memory the paper Misao had given her when she first joined the performance troupe. It was easier to talk about her life with the troupe. She avoided mention of the attacks on the troupe or Mika's connection to the king of Water Country. As she talked, she kept an eye on Shikamaru and noted how he looked more interested when she told stories about Mika. A quick thought ran across her mind. What if the informant in Konoha is connected to the people tracking Mika? She dismissed it right away. That's a long shot. I have enough on my hands without adding false worries to my load.

When they stopped for the night, Ino sat by a fire, watching the flames dance; Chouji snored away at her side. He should have been with his Genin team, but he had been talking to Ino and he said that he was fine, he would only rest his eyes for a few minutes, then go back to his team. As soon as he lay down, he was out like a light. Smiling down at him, she lost herself in thought. So far I haven't seen anything new that would make Shikamaru the informant, but I need to check him. I still haven't checked Naruto's team, though I don't see how it could be Sakura. She, Naruto, and Sai are always gone, but Sai used to work for Danzo, so he's still a possibility. At least it's not Chouji. Her large friend mumbled something in his sleep and rolled over. Picking up the fallen blanket, Ino placed it back on Chouji and turned her thoughts to Sayo. I wonder how she's doing. She's started sleeping if Kurogane and his group are with her, but she hasn't seen me for days. I'll need to spend time with her when I get back, but then I'll have to put my mission on hold. Which one is more important?

Movement on the other side of the fire called her out of her reverie and she saw Kurenai and Shikamaru settle themselves on the log opposite hers. "Do you mind if we join you?" called Kurenai softly so she wouldn't wake Chouji.

Ino smiled and gestured for them to stay. "Please, feel free to stay."

She expected them to talk to each other and leave her to her thoughts, but instead Kurenai directed questions right at her. Ino thought that they'd asked enough questions last night and during the day to know Hikari's whole life story, but Kurenai found even more questions that hadn't been covered. Shikamaru remained quiet for the most part unless someone asked him a question. A light snow fell, coating the edges of their blankets and hair. They all looked like they had a glaze of sugar on their hair since they all had dark hair, though Ino's was brown as opposed to the other two's black. When she reached down to dust off the snow falling on Chouji, Kurenai asked, "How did you meet Chouji? Did he help you around Konoha when you got here?"

"Actually, I met him because of Nara-san," Ino answered.

The other woman laughed and Shikamaru looked like he turned red, but it was hard to tell in the firelight. "What did Shikamaru have to do with anything?" chuckled Kurenai.

"I saw him standing outside Mika's doorway when she went to the Konoha hospital and I heard that he was good friends with someone named Chouji who likes to eat at Yakiniku Q. So I got myself down to the Yakiniku Q in hopes of meeting him, and it was just my luck that I happened to run into him. I wanted to know if his friend Nara-san was a stalker and if we'd have to worry about him."

That brought out a full-on laugh from the kunoichi, and Shikamaru's face was definitely red now. At Ino's side, Chouji snorted and batted at something in his dreams. "I never would have thought someone would mistake Shikamaru for a stalker," said Kurenai, wiping tears from her eyes. She turned her head to look at the shinobi beside her. "I remember Asuma telling me that he was worried about you when he became your sensei. He said you were too lazy and it would be too much work for you to dodge a kunai thrown your way."

"Kurenai," Shikamaru mumbled, looking at the fire so he wouldn't have to look at the two women looking at him.

"Don't worry, Shikamaru, he didn't think that way for long," the dark-haired woman assured him. "Later his worry was you wouldn't have enough motivation to keep going after you graduated to Chuunin. He and your father made bets on whether or not you would get take-out every meal or go home and face your mother just so you could eat."

"I can make food for myself," he muttered, covering his ears to block out the women's laughter.

"And to think someone accused you of being a stalker." Kurenai shook her head. "No one would have seen that coming."

"If it makes you feel better, Chouji told me there was no way you were a stalker," said Ino, leaning forward. Shikamaru still wouldn't look at her. "He is a loyal friend."

"Genin – beginning ninja – tend to be loyal to their teams," remarked Kurenai. "If one of my Genin team ever needed me, I would give my daughter to my parents and head out the door within the hour. You never lose that loyalty, not even if you've been gone for years and return when you're an old grandmother."

Ino could tell by Kurenai's eyes that the kunoichi meant every word. At one point in time, she had felt the same. In a way, it was still true; Chouji volunteered to help her without even thinking twice about it, but Ino remembered three, almost four, years ago, on a back porch one winter night, when her teammates had said they couldn't rely on her. They might have asked each other for help, but they would have gone to a different team before asking for Ino's help. Ino closed her eyes and nodded; it wouldn't do if they saw anger when she had no reason to be angry. "So once you're put into a Genin team, you pretty much have best friends for life?" she asked once she got her voice under control.

"Exactly. Isn't that right, Shikamaru?"

The shadow-user raised his head. "Even after," he answered.

The two women exchanged glances over the fire. "Now is not the time to get into that again," said Kurenai, standing. "I'm a little tired, so I'll head out. It was nice talking to you again." She smiled at Ino, and as she headed toward the area where the others slept, Shikamaru rose and walked over to Ino's side of the fire and knelt by Chouji. "Hey, Chouji, you need to get up or you'll freeze," he murmured, shaking his friend's shoulder.

The large man brushed his hand aside and settled back to sleep. "Come on, your Genin will be worried about you if you don't come back," said Shikamaru, shaking him harder. "And your sleeping roll is with them. You won't stay warm enough with just that blanket."

Still half asleep, he got Chouji into a sitting position, then, with the bigger man's arm around his shoulders, they staggered off towards where the rescue shinobi slept. Even though Ino lost couldn't see their faces, she knew that Shikamaru was muttering under his breath about how troublesome it was for a teammate to fall asleep in the wrong area and it was up to him to move the other man, and while he wouldn't mention how heavy Chouji was, he did think that he could afford to lose a few pounds and be none the worse for it. Ino remembered seeing this scene before, and not just once, though it only happened during missions; once they returned to Konoha, Shikamaru was the one to fall asleep in random places, and it was their job to get him up. Shaking her head, she returned to her musings about who was left on her hit list, the crackle of the flames snapping in the background.

AAAAA

Mixed feelings filled Ino when the gates of Konohagakure rose above the trees around them, but the strongest feeling was a desire to see Sayo and make sure she was okay. The shinobi told the rescued kunoichi that they had been on the road for two weeks, and it took twice as long to return to Konoha, so the baby had been without Ino for more than a month. I hope she was able to sleep. Everyone's so busy, and she needs so much attention. Will she be shy or will she remember me?

To her right Chouji looked at her. "Glad to be back?" he asked, a slight smile on his face.

She returned the smile and nodded. "I'm worried about Sayo," she replied. "Others can care for her, but she spent most nights with me, and she grew up with me and Mika before…" she trailed off.

Beside them Shikamaru walked with Kurenai while talking with one of the other shinobi. "I'll go report to Hokage-sama," he said, and the other shinobi nodded and moved to help the kunoichi out of the wagon. Shikamaru turned around to look at his Genin, who were not-to-subtly watching Ino and Chouji. "Go home," he addressed them. Ino noted with concern that his eyes had deeper circles than before, and she could imagine the taut muscles in his back due to stress. "You performed your mission well, and I will mention your names in the report with the rest of the shinobi."

"We should go with you," Sou protested while Kureha gave Ino another glance before turning her attention back to her sensei.

The black-haired man shook his head and put a hand on Sou's. "There's no need for more than one person to report," he responded, giving his student a small smile. "Your time would be better spent helping these kunoichi. Maybe Chouji-sensei will take you to Yakiniku Q with his students?" He looked over at Chouji and Ino.

The large shinobi and incognito kunoichi exchanged glances. "Would you like to accompany us?" asked Chouji. Behind him Ino sensed seven pairs of eyes watching her, one Jounin and six Genin.

Shaking her head, she replied, "I would like to, but I have to check on Sayo and let my troupe know that I'm still alive. Thank you for the offer. Maybe another time." She smiled at him and, waving good-bye to the two men, walked toward the section of Konoha where the troupe had been staying.

The sound of playing children was music to her ears compared to the constant squeaking of the wagon wheels and the neighing of horses. She smiled as she passed by a snowball fight in progress, the children hiding behind their makeshift snow forts and chucking small balls of snow at their opponents. The road had been swept clear of snow, but it would not last long if the grey clouds in the distance were any indication. Sidestepping a frozen pothole, Ino picked up her pace. Has Sayo been eating? Is she still healthy? I know that Kagura and Shin take good care of her, but Shin is a performer, and Kagura has other duties to take care of.

When she turned a corner, she saw Naruto and Dr. Kyle, but they didn't pay attention to her. "I told you, I don't need an examination," Naruto was yelling at the doctor. "I'll heal on my own!"

"Please, Naruto, you were injured before you went on that rescue mission," Dr. Kyle replied. He sounded concerned. "At least let me make sure that the wounds won't become infected."

"No, no, no, no! I've come back worse than this before and been fine. Now lay off!"

Ino watched the two of them disappear and smiled to herself. So Naruto still doesn't want to let the doctor help him. Seeing something that hadn't changed since she had left Konoha made her feel slightly better even though it had nothing to do with her situation. As long as Naruto still fought with Sakura's boyfriends, then the world would be all right.

The familiar inn came into view, and right before Ino stepped onto the path leading to the front door she found herself swooped up in the strong arms of Shin. "Hikari, I can't believe you made it back," he said. To Ino's ears, his voice sounded suspiciously close to tears. "You're really back." She could feel his face buried in her hair, which probably hid his face and allowed him to collect himself before any passersby could realize how emotional he was. It came as no surprise how warm her body felt when he held her and how fast her heart started beating. Even without seeing him every day, the attraction hadn't abated. He set her down, his hands still on her arms as though to support her and assure him of her existence. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" His eyes looked similar to Chouji's when she was first rescued, and she sensed similar intentions emanating from Shin.

"I'm all right," she assured him, bringing a hand up to cover one of his own. "I'm not a shinobi, so they weren't interested in me. Where is Sayo?" The little girl was nowhere to be seen.

Shin used his free hand to slap himself in the head. "That's right, you don't know. Hikari, Mika's gotten better. You need to see her; she's been worried about you."

He tugged her in the direction of the hospital, but Ino resisted, still trying to make sense of what he just told her. "What do you mean, she's better?"

He smiled and tugged her arm again. "She's better. I don't know how they did it, but these Konoha doctors were able to cure whatever was wrong with her, and she can handle Sayo now."

As they made their way to the hospital, Ino rained questions on Shin. "She was so sick, I never had much hope of her getting better. How long has she been well? Did you just leave Sayo with her? Did they say how long she has to stay at the hospital?"

He answered her questions to the best of his ability, but he wasn't much help. They walked through the hospital to Mika's room, passing Sakura and Shizune on the way out of her room. When they arrived, Ino almost couldn't believe what she saw. Mika, her platinum hair down around her shoulders and flowing onto the bed, was sitting up in bed and holding Sayo while the child played with her stuffed rabbit. At Mika's bedside sat Kagura, Moira, and Misao. They were talking with Mika, though Kagura kept a close eye on Sayo in case the child needed saving from her mother again. Sayo showed no hesitancy at being so close to her mother again, which caused Ino to wonder how long ago this miraculous healing had taken place. She hadn't even been gone for two months.

The first person to notice Ino and Shin's entrance was Mika. When she saw Ino, her eyes lit up, and she cried, "Hikari, you're safe!" The other people in the room jumped up and surrounded Ino. The kunoichi smiled and assured them that she was okay, and they all migrated over to Mika's bedside where the mother and her child still sat. Everyone was talking at once, making it hard for Ino to differentiate who said what and to respond, but they all had the same meaning, that they were glad she was back and relatively unharmed. Mika leaned back against her stacked pillows and smiled to see her surrounded on all sides.

"Hikari!"

Looking over at the bed Ino saw Sayo with her arms raised towards her, the rabbit forgotten. She lifted the child off the bed and hugged her. "I'm sorry I was gone for so long, Sayo," said Ino as she brushed back her bangs. "Were you okay?"

The little girl burrowed her face into Ino's neck. "Sayo good, but no Hikari," a small, sad voice replied. Her grip on Ino was tight, and Ino wasn't sure if she should put Sayo down or risk suffocation. For an almost four-year-old, she had strong arms.

"I'll try not to do that again," Ino assured Sayo, sitting on the bed so that she could rest Sayo on her lap instead of bearing her full weight in her arms.

"Thank you for taking care of her when I couldn't," said Mika, leaning forward. "I know that it wasn't your responsibility. Any of yours." She looked over at Shin and Kagura. "It means so much to me. I don't know how to repay you all."

"Don't worry about it," Shin responded for the three of them. "We're all family here, and family looks out for each other. Even now that you're getting better, we'll still help. Right?"

"Right," the other two echoed. Mika's smile warmed Ino's heart. It had been so long since her friend had looked like this, and she hadn't thought to see her like this again. Mika really didn't deserve this turn of events, Ino thought. Ino couldn't imagine what Mika had to go through since Ino had never been married, but she knew that it was worse than anything she had ever felt, even with her most serious boyfriends. After a few months, she had gotten over them, and she had never been as incapacitated as Mika; if she had been, the missions she had gone on afterward would have been complete failures and not even Asuma and her teammates could have covered her slack. An image of the drunken Shikamaru in Chouji's mind flashed across Ino's, but she stuffed it away to think on it at a later time. She had been too busy just surviving out in the cold to try to sort through all Shikamaru's actions and what she was supposed to do about it, especially since it appeared that he still felt guilty about letting her die. Bringing her focus back to Mika, Ino asked, "What did these doctors do to you that no one else did? I wasn't sure you'd ever be the same."

Mika leaned forward, her eyes shining as she remembered. "I never thought something like this would work," she confessed, "but Misao told me I should try it just in case. One of their regular doctors, Dr. Rondart Kyle, uses hypnotism to cure some of his patients. Someone told him that I was willing to try, so he and another person, I believe they called her Shizune, came and worked on me." The blond woman frowned as she tried to recall what they told her. "Shizune said that Dr. Rondart would be doing the majority of the work, and she would supply the…chakra? Yes, chakra, to make the suggestions stick. Apparently hypnotism is just making suggestions to a sleeping mind, but my mind needed something stronger than just a suggestion, which is why I needed two of them."

Misao added her own comment. "What she means to say is that while most of the doctors here are also ninja who can use chakra, Dr. Rondart cannot because he is not a ninja, hence the need for the second doctor." While Ino had already gathered that from Mika's description, it was only because she knew Dr. Kyle previously. Of course Dr. Kyle couldn't use chakra; he wasn't trained as a shinobi. But Hikari, just like the rest of the troupe, would've thought that everyone in a shinobi village was a shinobi, including all the doctors in the hospital. Mika's description wasn't enough for Hikari to follow, but Ino wouldn't have asked her to clarify because in her head, it made sense already. Thank goodness for teachers watching out for their students!

They all stayed in Mika's hospital room until one of the nurses told them that visiting times were over. Sayo tried to cling to Ino, but she was still recovering and unable to carry the child. Over the child's tearful protests, Shin took her and Mika waved good-bye to them. "Come visit me soon," she called as they walked out the door.

Misao drifted over to Ino's side and murmured just loud enough to carry to Ino's ears, "You should see Kurogane and his group. They've been worried about you." Ino sent a startled glance at the older woman, but she had already moved forward and engaged Moira in conversation.

As they neared the inn, Kagura took the now-sleeping Sayo from Shin. "It's my turn tonight, and Hikari doesn't look like she should be taking care of anyone other than herself for a while," she said when Shin tried to take her back. "You've had her for the past few nights, so you deserve to sleep through the night tonight."

"I need to call my children in," said Moira, and she and Misao wandered off in the direction of the training grounds for the troupe. It surprised Ino that Misao also left, but she had no doubt that she would be receiving a visit from the older kunoichi later that night so she could report what had happened.

Only Ino and Shin were left in front of the inn. "I need to go in and let Kurogane and the others know that I'm okay," she said, walking forward to open the door. Shin caught her arm as she walked by, and she stopped.

"You need to let Kurogane know?" he asked. His voice sounded flat to Ino's ears, not like the light tone he had when everyone else was here.

"I haven't seen them yet," replied Ino, "and it's not right that I tell everyone but them. They should hear it from me." He didn't let go of her sleeve, and she couldn't see his eyes because his head was directed at the ground.

"I know that you have been under a lot of stress, and you've just returned, but I have to know." Now he looked up, his beautiful, brown eyes full of something Ino, in her tired state, couldn't recognize. "Hikari, are you in love with Kurogane?"

Even though she had been expecting this for some time, she hadn't expected it now, and it took her aback. She thought about the dark-haired shinobi, his cool manner of showing her new techniques, his crimson eyes judging every false start. He had a strong physique, which appealed to her, but his aura was intimidating enough that not once had Ino given thought to any romantic notions with him, though she heard from Fye that he was only a few years older than she was. Smiling, she shook her head and said, "No, there is nothing between Kurogane and me romantically. He is a valued teacher, that's all."

He didn't look convinced, but he let go of her arm. A part of Ino wanted to assure him that he had nothing to worry about, but she squashed the urge. She already had to fight her own growing feelings for him, and the practical side of her knew that starting something at this stage in the game was only asking for heartbreak on both sides when her charade was over. That same side also pushed for her to tell him straight up that there could never be anything between except friendship, but her other side prevented her from taking that final step. As things stood right now, her two sides warred with each other, and both she and Shin were paying the price for it. "I'm sorry," she murmured before slipping through the door before he could respond.

"I'm back," she announced as she stepped through the door to her room. She didn't want to startle them if anyone was here.

"Hikari, you're back!" cried Mokona as it leaped into her arms. Sakura, Syaoran, and Fye were all quick to follow its example and welcomed her. She could see the genuine feelings of worry in the two younger members of the group, and Fye was as cheerful as ever. It did feel good to be back with people she could be comfortable around.

At the window, Kurogane sat watching them. He didn't get up or say anything, but Ino noticed that the tension she saw in his shoulders and arms when she first walked into the room had relaxed, and a small smile played around his lips. Still holding Mokona, she walked over to him and said, "I made it back."

"I see that. Good job making it back alive. Did you learn anything?"

Frowning, Ino sat down and thought back to when Zhong Rong had been driving them in the wagon. "I remember in the beginning they said that they couldn't travel together until they were out of Fire Country," she started. The others gathered around her. "They were supposed to meet at the 'spot', but I don't know what the 'spot' is or where they were going afterward. I think they needed the kunoichi to harvest their chakra for a purpose, but Zhong Rong never mentioned it. I would guess that a war is going to start soon, but I'm not sure which countries will be involved."

"This could affect even us," Fye mused, his blue eyes on the clock on the far wall.

Ino was skeptical, but Kurogane nodded his head. "It looks like Konoha is supposed to be involved, so keep an eye out. We might even find what we are looking for."

"What are you looking for?" asked Ino. It broke their unspoken rule of not prying into each other's business, but they helped her with her mission already. It was only fair that she offer her help if she was able.

Sakura responded. "My memories. These people are all helping me find my memories." The girl looked sad, like she felt guilty about them helping her. Syaoran put a hand over Sakura's and gave her a small smile. Even if no one else would have helped Sakura, Ino had no doubt that Syaoran would have stayed by her side no matter what happened. A love like that was something she had always dreamed about ever since she became interested in boys. Unfortunately, it had never worked out that way, and as Ino grew older, she had learned to not get her hopes up too high. Still, it brought a small tingle watching it happen to someone else, giving her proof that it was possible for someone to be that devoted to someone else.

She brought her mind back to the present. Ino didn't know how to locate a memory except in a person's mind, but from the way Sakura answered she guessed that it wasn't something she could help with. Amnesia wasn't something Ino wanted to mess with, especially since the results of finding those memories sometimes messed with the memories they had made after the amnesia started. "Well, I'll do the best I can to help you find your lost memories," she said. She couldn't do much at all, but if the problem persisted beyond the termination of Ino's current mission, then she would ask Hokage-sama for an extended leave of absence and focus on helping the team that already provided her with so much help. Fair was fair, after all.

At that moment Misao joined them. Ino heard her footsteps in the hall and looked up just in time to see the doorknob turn. "Welcome back," she called as Misao closed the door behind her.

"I just spoke with Tsunade," said Misao, sitting down on the edge of one of the beds. "She says that she sent a shinobi team to the site where that young Nara tactician thinks they were going to meet and see if there is anything suspicious about the place. Meanwhile, Konoha is going to start mobilizing, so we won't be able to move on for even longer." She looked directly at Ino. "These may not be the best circumstances, but this is your opportunity to complete your mission. Don't let it go to waste. The chances of you succeeding decreased significantly, but you already knew the odds."

Ino rose to the challenge. "I won't fail," she promised, her eyes locked with her mentor's. "I will do what I have to do to protect my village."

"You don't have to do everything by yourself to be considered an elite shinobi," said Kurogane. "I have seen many of your Jounin relying on each other to complete a difficult mission. Even the shinobi of my country worked with a team to finish a mission."

"All except for you, right, Kuro-tan?" teased Fye, poking the scowling man.

"I was the best," Kurogane stated. Coming from him, it was a fact, not bragging. "No one could defeat me, but I do not expect everyone to be like me."

Ino remembered her wish at Yuuko-san's shop. I have Chouji, and I have everyone in this room. If I work fast enough, then I'll be able to solve the problem before war comes to Konoha. If the war comes before I find the informant, it may be too late.