Sell Out

Part I: Chapter IX


"You're my best-friend Ino!"
"We'll I'm not yours!"

...

Two and a half years earlier

The heat wave is unexpected and hits everyone differently in the stretching summer. Some hide indoors, others scramble to finish washing and the magnate class enjoy long necked icy drinks as they fan themselves over trade propositions. The Suna refugees know exactly what to do, settling into a 1pm break when the sun is at its most unforgiving. Their energy in such smouldering weather amazes everyone when they get right back to work.

Sakura and Ino lie on the bank, with the cracked, dried earth and yellow grass that crumples like dried octopus legs. Every Thursday they meet up, class over for Sakura and training finished for Ino. They spill secrets. They argue aimlessly. Discuss the important things like fashion, hair and boys. They are fourteen.

"He's keen on you. You should go out with him."

"Ino!"

Ino is Sakura's sanctuary, an escape from her empty house and heartbreaking depression. She watched her friend turn to lie on her back. The sun kisses every inch of her, wrapping her in a halo glow.

"Do you think we will be friends until we have wrinkles and grey hair?"

Ino's sombre tone startles Sakura but she doesn't doubt a word.

"Hey if Sai couldn't come between us nothing will," she replied smoothly, leaning generously into the sun.

"You promise?"

Sakura gives her a small smile. "Promise."

...

"You are not merely my best-friend. You are my precious sister."
"Ino... thank you."

...

Sasuke's injuries were healing up nicely. His shoulder on the mend and stomach wound completely healed. He hadn't even scared, not that he didn't have any. One day she has to stop herself tracing his exposed back, revelling in the odd mar to otherwise smooth skin. Utterly embarrassed she muttered something about 'checking chakra channels' but he still raised an eyebrow.

His ankle was in better shape but that isn't saying much. She predicted it would be at least three weeks before he could safely walk. Sasuke was pushing her to fix it. He had made an agreement with Naruto to cross the border and head back to Oto in one month. The two boys spent hours strategizing, Naruto even producing an accurate map of Konoha. She carefully placed her hand over his ankle.

"So I'm just going to give you a boost and-"

"No." Sasuke cut off, moving away. She frowned. This had become a common occurrence. For someone who desperately wanted to be healed he refused aid regularly.

"You have a shift at the hospital soon. You will exhaust yourself," he explained and she huffed at his commanding tone.

"I'm the doctor here not you," she pressed. "More importantly you are the patient not me."

She hated the defiance in his eyes, the unsettling finality. They are an ugly affront, irises as dark and pitted as a sharks. It was hard to separate them from the violent dilated pupils of the enemy or a patient on morphine rush.

"It's different here," she continued, wondering if cultural shock was having an effect. "I don't know what kind of doctors you have dealt with all your life in Oto-"

"I was born in Kirigakure."

"Oh..." The new information startles her. She had just assumed Sasuke had been born in Oto. There was something comforting about him being born in the summer rain instead of a dark labyrinth of tunnels.

"When did you start training to be a doctor?"

"About eleven..." She isn't sure when they moved on from politics and started playing twenty questions. Lately curiosity seemed to consume them. It had become a race to figure the other out, the two of them becoming armed to the teeth with inquiry. "When did you start training to be a ninja?"

She wondered if he could smile without making it seem condescending. It will probably always be beyond a man with frown lines instead of smile.

"I can't ever remember not being a ninja," he replied.

"So it's something you have always wanted to do," she said.

She finally sees his smile is more of a grimace. "I didn't say that."

Time slowly trickles into her shift and she finds herself promising him she will be back in eight hours when it finishes.

...

Naruto's Apartment

"Why did you freak out so much when you heard Sasuke's name?" Sakura asks. She is trying not to drift off on Naruto's couch. She took a double shift at the hospital to stop her superior pulling her hair out and was exhausted. She tried to focus on Naruto throwing clothes he found on the floor of his apartment to the pile on his bed. He was creating a pack for Sasuke. Sakura is touched by how much Naruto is willing to spare and how he thoughtfully adds food, books, a tennis ball and current newspapers into the lump. She doesn't have the heart to tell him cup Ramen isn't the most nutritious thing for someone in recovery either.

"There's a rumour going around that Orochimaru has lost his weapon," Naruto said, pausing to scratch at a crusty stain before shrugging the shirt into the pile.

The statement is left to hang and Sakura questions its relevance. "And?"

"The weapon is called Sasuke."

She absorbs the new information and tries to piece together some things. She comes up painfully short.

"I have some things to ask him..." Naruto trailed off. She is only half listening when a single word in his mused ramblings piqued her interest: "Eyes." It drives her to pull up over the arm rest, shoving wisps of hair from her face.

"Once..." he says carefully, almost afraid of sounding absurd. "They seemed red."

She swallows. His eyes had once seemed red to her as well. Her small nod is enough to make Naruto's brow crease with tense curiosity as he tumbled to his bed. "They're frightening," he finally said.

Sakura muttered, "I just hate them."

There is a stretching silence before she speaks in gratitude, "We are so lucky nobody reported anything."

"No kidding," Naruto said evenly, pressing a cheek into his ratty pillow. "Sakura you look tired."

She pouts. He takes no mind of her with a big yawn and an offhand, "You should go visit Ino."

Ferocity churns deep inside her like a propeller. It splits her open violently, exposing black secrets, icy lies and painful un-clotted wounds. In one sweeping motion she is on her feet with a snarl. "How could you say that so carelessly!"

He sits up in horror, throwing a hand over his mouth as if trying to recapture words long spoken. "Sakura-"

"No!" she snapped. She all but bolted out the door.

...

Sakura's apartment

"What are you doing?"

It is the first time she had seen Sasuke panic. The book he was hunched over was quickly shut and pencil in his hand tucked away. He turned on her angrily.

"You're charka is a mess," he snapped. "I could hardly recognise you."

She folded her arms irritably. She couldn't deal with this after arguing with Naruto. She focused on the book Sasuke had in his hand. A small exercise book her mother used for recipes.

"You said you had an eight hour shift that was 18 hours ago. Have you even slept?"

She doesn't let his argumentative tone deter her, "Were you just writing?"

He has an enviable poker face. The type interrogators haemorrhage over. She wished she could lie so easily. With a sigh she takes the book from him and upon opening she is seeing double. The recipes have been copied and she keeps her face schooled at the childish almost incomprehensible scratches across the page. Most ninja were illiterate. Only memorising the kanji they needed for seals. Sasuke was no different.

She flicks through a couple more pages before he snatches the book back from her irritably. He crinkles the spine like a criminal trying to burn the evidence, erasing the offending article from existence. But she has seen enough.

"You've been practicing this for a while."

Her deduction earns a defeated sigh as he throws the book down before crossing his arms. "Well between the physiotherapy and exercising I haven't got much else to do."

He had no need to defend himself. She reaches for the book, finds a page he hasn't copied yet and smoothed it out. "I can help you if you want. I think it's great what you are doing."

She spends the next hour correcting his hold on the pencil, trying not to bite her lip when their fingers brush.

...

It didn't take Sasuke very long to come to the conclusion Naruto was the most annoying person on the planet.

"Is this some kind of joke?" he grumbled. In his hand was a bright red shirt with an obnoxious leaf insignia across it. What a thing to give an Oto soldier. Naruto simply smiled and Sasuke couldn't help but think that grin would be more agreeable if he punched out a couple of teeth.

"What's wrong with it?" he asked innocently and again annoying. He didn't even know. Searching through more clothes he discovered EVERYTHING was brightly coloured. Naruto was clearly allergic to neutrals, shades and decent fashion sense.

"So question," Naruto said, tossing the tennis ball at Sasuke. "Are you the Sasuke."

Sasuke caught the ball in one hand, raising an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Ya' know," Naruto blurted with a hand wave before the ball was bounced in return. "Sasuke the Oto assassin- first chosen- super soldier- weapon. That Sasuke."

Sasuke merely blinked. He barely caught the ball when it was volleyed back to him. "Because that's okay!" Naruto said quickly. "I'm a weapon myself. I just..."

Naruto leaned in, Sasuke horrified at his closeness. The blonde boy whispered, "I think you were inside my head."

Sasuke can feel a headache coming on.

...

So Sasuke had come clean about the weapon thing. It was something blown out of proportion for propaganda. Elements were true but most of it was a bloated lie. Sasuke revealed he had the ability to step inside people's minds. It was an unimpressive battle jutsu but useful for gathering information. He seemed uneasy about the demon fox but in the end he was the same little boy who had agreed to be his friend all those years ago.

Also he was annoying and Naruto hated him.

"That's not how you do it."

One writing lesson from Sakura and he was chief editor, picking at Naruto's mistakes. It took everything not to drive the pencil through his eye.

"I don't care," Naruto said through gritted teeth. Why he had agreed to join in with 'writing practice' was beyond him. He hated study. People always read his form out to him anyway. As far as he was concerned all a ninja needed to know was how to make a signature. "It looks just the same."

Sasuke snorted. "You wrote mother like horse."

"I caught the ball more times than you!" Naruto snapped, throwing the pencil down. Sasuke pursed his lips in disagreement.

"I won."

Naruto hated him. "You did not!"

...

Sakura came back to Sasuke and Naruto arguing over how to fold a map. She couldn't stress their idiocy enough. They were making death threats to each other over how to correctly fold up the map. Her house was probably going to be punched into a crater when they actually started deciding the best route of escape. Amidst the squabbling Naruto flashed her a grin, only for his face to fall when he realised she was still upset. Sasuke took the opportunity to fold the map and hit Naruto over the head with it. She would have never picked him to behave so childishly.

"Tea?"

She feels dead on her feet. A soothing cup before bed might just settle the aching in her muscles and jittering eyes.

"Yes please Sakura!" Naruto chimes, eager to see a peace offering where there was only sifted obligation.

"No," Sasuke grunts and by the time she comes back with Naruto's tea the atmosphere in her parent's bedroom has changed entirely. Naruto and Sasuke are leaning close together, Sasuke speaking low. He falls silent when she enters the room and Naruto seems nothing short of crushed when he looks at her.

"Sakura have you been taking extra shifts at the hospital? Are you okay?"

With a huff she endures a lecture from Naruto, several apologies for the other day and general concerns about how she is handling everything. Eventually he talks her to bits, makes it impossible to stay angry at him and exhausts her into forgiveness. She hugs him at the door, makes promises she won't keep and waves him goodbye. When the door clicks shut she has nothing left driving her but a sting of irritation against Sasuke.

"I would appreciate you not making Naruto worry over nothing. He has enough to deal with," she addresses icily.

He keeps his arms folded coolly. "Then stop making me worry."

She mirrors his body language defensively, too tired to even try to make sense of him anymore.

"Let's check how your physiotherapy has been going."

"Go to sleep."

She tugged at the red band around her wrist. He could be so difficult. "Not until I've done this."

He gives her a flint hard glare but allows her to press up against his shoulder, pinning his arm to the wardrobe wall.

"Does that hurt?"

Sasuke shook his head as but she could tell he was holding back. The wound was probably still tender. He shouldn't lie. So she pressed harder. He makes a 'tsk' sound and she looks up at him to see the pain register on his face.

"Oh..."

She is startled. The eyes she though so dark and pitted are a torrent of rain. Close up they are ringed with a grey that makes her think of stormy days spent at the window, safe and curled up indoors.

"You're eyes..." she breathes. She is absolutely awestruck at their change in nature she isn't able to stop herself. "They're beautiful..."

Slowly his mouth curves up at the edges, disbelieving irony dancing across his features. Something you can only understand nose to nose. "That's the last thing people call them."

She snaps out of her dazed state. She is sure she is flushing all over, blood pounding in embarrassment. "I have to go to sleep."

She makes a dash to the door but stops at his call, "Sakura". She barely turns to look at him. She doesn't understand how his blank expression can still seem so incredibly smug. "Goodnight."

...

The early morning light is so bright it leaves dazed imprints against shut eyelids. She rubs her eyes only to freeze when light coils against the shape of a girl. She will never lose her halo.

"Hey forehead," is greeted. Sakura bites her lip as long locks of blonde hair are shifted out of painfully crystal blue eyes.

"Ino."

It doesn't surprise her Ino got in without her knowing. She was as light on her feet as she was quiet. Sure her thin body had slid through some crack.

"Long time no see," Ino teases but there is a rawness in her voice that could only speak of hurt. Sakura feels like she is seven all over again, shrinking in on herself, shyly trying to shuffle away from the light.

"What have you been hiding?" is said cheekily and before Sakura can reach for her, Ino whips around and disappears from the room. Sakura knows exactly where to look for her, wondering if Ino has been on to her all along. Of course she had. There was no keeping secrets form her. In her parent's room she fists her hands as Ino stares at a sleeping Sasuke, head tilted slightly as if contemplating. "He's very handsome. Don't you think?"

Sakura tried to build up her courage. To say to Ino what she had been trying to do for over two years. "Ino I-"

"How are you able to sleep?" Of course Ino stubbornly didn't give her a chance.

"Excuse me?" Sakura whispered, caught off guard.

"With him just in the other room... when the lights go out it must be so frustrating."

Sakura went beet red when she pieced together Ino's scandalous words.

"Ino," she whispered in mortification.

Ino just grinned knowingly. "You like him."

"No." Her voice is hollow point. "He's from Oto."

It is spoken as casually as the leaves fall in summer, "So?"

Sakura's bottom lip gives a traitorous wobble. A misery courses through her and leaves her shaking. The hard, unforgiving part of her is gently being worn away in her subconscious. In tiny patches she hadn't noticed at first. She wants to steel them, make them steadfast again. Otherwise she will be lost in madness.

"So if you don't like him I guess you won't mind if I do this?"

Ino leaned over a pressed a gentle kiss against Sasuke's lips. Sasuke didn't stir but Sakura did. Hot shame flushed her face. She did mind. She minded a lot. Over these past weeks she had begun to think of Sasuke as hers. Her secret. Her burden. It took Ino to see there was something much stronger there.

Ino struts away but not before giving a wink, "Come pay me a visit sometime."

...

Sasuke doesn't know what he's done wrong as Sakura knocks the wind out of him with fresh sheets.

"Change those," she hissed. "Don't make any noise AT ALL. There will be sweeps today."

She thinks him incompetent and he bites his tongue at the snide remark. The shy girl of last night is gone, the anger in this new Sakura growing out like the edges of a cigarette burn.

He spends the day settling into his routine of writing, doing exercises and hiding his chakra at any suspicious presence. Naruto does not come and neither do the sweeps. He wants to snap this at her when the door opens. He massaged his forehead grumpily; she has taken a double shift again.

He focuses for a moment only to fall into alarm at the sudden seeping, swirl of energy. It is like the ripples of a thrashing mammal in water, faint and pushed to the edges. Although not as talented as Karin she had taught him a few things about chakra. She would call this rot, a bleed.

He is in the living room in moments. Sakura is deathly pale, her body gleaming with sweat in the moonlight. He watches her chest heave for air and the dazed look in her eyes. "I don't... feel so good."

He catches her just before she hits the ground.

...

"No..."

It creaks out of her, like the slow groan of oak. "No..." The word has such a tired patience, a desperate hum.

You need to stay warm.

She doesn't listen to the voice, rebelliously stretching her captured arm. She is wrapped in cocoon, a fat spoiled silk worm waiting to be spun.

"Ino..." she sobs out. Ino, Ino, Ino. There is a fissure, another crack to break into.

You keep saying that...

Sakura tumbles in on herself. She is lost in a dark pocket of time she can never escape from.

Who is she?

"My sister," she tries to gobble the words back up with gaping breaths.

Trust me, tell me.

Him. He's threaded the delicate, gossamer case she built up around her as a prison. She trembles at such steady hands.

What happened to your sister?

...

Two years earlier

Ino ducked between the tunnel system. 6b, 6b, 6b. It had become her mantra. 6b, in 6b is the supplies room. The supplies room is the heart of the operation. If she blows it Konoha is safe, the city won't be breached. The skin she has slipped into is packed. The earth presses into her as she slides through the ribboned cracks of the tunnel, the tapering roots of the Oto tree. 6b, 6b, 6b.

She knocks out two guards with a well placed index and middle finger to the neck and smiles in the face of the rest when they give her clearance without batting an eyelid. She navigates her way to 6b, dropping the wire and rigging the paper bombs. She has 15 seconds to run once it is set. Her jutsu was weakening, pulling her out the body so she had to act fast.

Then it all goes horribly wrong. Her marks name is called. One of the workers wants her to throw him a pick axe. She picks up the tool, sends it soaring his way. He dodges it and instead slams her against a crate.

"What are you doing?" she snarls. "I'm on your side."

He is smothered in earth. "Stop the act. I know."

His hands snap around her own. Any efforts to kick away are met with broken fingers and her back shoved painfully against the wall.

"Body surfer," he sneers. "Mind walker."

Suddenly dirt is cramming into her, filling her to the brink until she chokes.

Her voice almost wavers, but she kept her conviction strong. "You won't... kill a comrade."

He smirks and the last thing she sees is the space between teeth.

...

One moment Ino was slumped in the chair before Sakura, looking almost as if she had dozed off. The mission was going to plan. They had no problem with the wire. Ino was making comfortable time for body manipulation. Most of all Sakura was on hand to heal any injuries quick as possible. Then there was a cut cross her neck, a slit almost as thin as a strand of hair. Sakura stared at it for a moment in shock, not sure if it had always been there. Then thick rivulets of blood ran down her best friend's throat. The only family she had left was decapitated. Sakura screamed so loudly another medical team rushed in. It was too late. Ino was gone and took a piece of Sakura with her.

Sakura is shaking. Partly due to coming clean about Ino and partly from chakra fever. Tears have piped at her eyes. Stress, guilt, exhaustion and misery all contribute to body racking sobs. Why hadn't she done more to save her sister? Her hands were stained in blood from all the people lost in her care at the hospital. She can feel a hand stroke back her hair but the most sympathetic thing about Sasuke was his ears. She had poured out everything to him.

In shady knowledge she is sick. Sick enough to not see things for what they are. It is just enough to let her hallucinate a pained look of understanding in stormy eyes and a gentle kiss against her forehead.

...

For our tomorrow, they gave their today.

-Here lies Yamanaka Ino.


AN: Ino died :( I struggled so much with this chapter because even though it is important to the plot, I didn't want her to have to die :(