Principle of Nature
Chapter 10
Resolution

xXx

Naruto,
I won't waste ink on reassurances. I know you won't accept them. I will say that I have some very accomplished hunters out after her. They won't rest until Ino-san is safe, I swear. I'll do everything in my power to correct this.
-Gaara
P.S.: How is Sakura-san holding up? Is there any change?

Naruto lowered the scroll with a sigh, feeling years older. He'd half hoped this one would arrive with good news, but apparently not. Still, he couldn't really blame Gaara for that. His friend was doing everything he could to help find Ino. It wasn't his fault that the trail had gone cold.

There was frantic knocking on the door, and Naruto looked up as Izumo entered without waiting for the Hokage to address him. "Hokage-sama! We have a message from Kumo of Suna. She's currently stationed in a small village called San Do, in Grass Country."

"And?" the blond demanded anxiously.

"They were suddenly attacked by the Cloud Missing Nin called Deidara, the man that took the Kazekage a few years ago. He's in their custody, and they've sent a few men off after Kami-san, one of the Puppeteers, who believed he could pursue Deidara's partner to find Ino. Kami-san was accompanied by a suspicious character that showed up and was stalking the nin in town." He handed the scroll to Naruto with a frown. "This was sent yesterday evening, with no communication from Kumo-san or her party, or anyone in the village of San Do since."

Naruto swallowed, scanning the neat, spidery script on the scroll in his hands. "Contact Shikamaru's team, tell them to reroute to San Do." He hesitated. "Who else is near them?"

"No one on our side, Hokage-sama, but it's possible there are other Suna squads nearby. We could also entreat the Grass hidden village for assistance," Izumo replied worriedly.

The blond shook his head. "No. Send a message to Gaara."

"Yes, sir."

xXx

The evening sun sank into blood red clouds as Kisame stumbled to the gates of Konoha, Ino tied to his back. He collapsed to his knees, beyond exhausted, and desperate. Hidan had chased him half the previous day, and Kisame had wasted a lot of chakra fighting him off enough to escape again. This had occurred at least three times, probably more. Kisame hadn't bothered counting.

Shuddering, he took a kunai out of his sleeve with a shaking hand and sliced the rope around his waist that secured the iryonin. She fell from him to the dirt, and Kisame cleared his throat. "Help!" he called out hoarsely, drawing the attention of the gate guards.

A pair of men rushed out amidst startled exclamations pertaining to Ino, and Kisame lost consciousness.

xXx

"Tsunade-sama! Come quick!" a hushed voice said, drawing Sakura's attention. She swallowed, listening to her master rise and go to the door to have a whispered conversation with one of the medical staff.

They both immediately took off out of the room without even a glance back at the pinkette. Sakura felt the ghost of concern, but she was still numb. She still couldn't bring herself to feel much of anything. All she knew for sure was that Ino was missing, her baby was dead, and she probably wouldn't be able to try again thanks to Sasuke.

She also knew that she hated her former teammate. It was almost too tame a word, hate. More than anything in the world, she wanted to find him and take away everything from him that he took from her.

"Sakura-sama," a voice said from the doorway, and she looked up to see a young, uncertain genin standing there. "They… they need your help. Kisame-san is suffering severe chakra drain, and Ino-san is poisoned. Tsunade-sama can only work on one of them."

The kunoichi found her voice after a beat. "What about Shizune?"

"She's gone, working in Suna to find Ino-san. She should be back soon, but…"

But it would be too late by then. A part of Sakura didn't know if she actually cared, but she got up regardless. "Show me."

"Yes, ma'am!"

xXx

"Good! Sakura, take Ino. I'll handle Hoshigaki."

"We have another one!" someone called in the background.

Sakura ignored it and stepped up to her best friend without hesitation. Ino's face was pale, a strange black spiderwebbing out from her lips, which were dark blue. Clearly, she'd been poisoned, but Sakura didn't know by what.

She took a slow breath and closed her eyes, hands hovering over her friend's face. She probed the problem with her chakra, and grimaced. It was slowly destroying the cells in Ino's body, the blonde's own chakra the only thing that stood between her and certain painful death.

The iryonin swallowed, something tightening in her chest that she refused to name, and began to form chakra between her hands. She took another breath once it was complete, and pressed the bubble of chakra into Ino's face slowly. It attacked the poison, sucking it in mercilessly. The process was slow and consuming, but Sakura did not waver, focusing on getting each bit of the poison out of her friend's body.

Finally, she had gathered it all, and carefully pulled the lot back out. "Pan!" she called. A nurse appeared at her side with one, and Sakura lowered the poison into the pan before releasing the bubble of chakra. "Bring it to the poisons lab."

"Yes, ma'am," the man said, and left with it.

Sakura washed her hands quickly and went to a chunin working on Kisame. "Where is Shisho?"

"Over there," the girl said, gesturing toward a partition. "Working on the Suna nin."

"Suna nin?"

"Sakura!" her teacher barked, and the pinkette hurried to her side. "I'm having some trouble due to his seals."

"Seals? I thought Suna didn't have a lot of practice with seals?" Sakura demanded, washing her hands again.

"I don't know, he may not originally be from Suna. Regardless, we have to save him."

Sakura took a quick survey of the pale, blue haired boy as her teacher tried to heal a vicious laceration on his chest. There were terrible wounds all over his body, rips and tears, blood oozing out sluggishly but quickly.

The kunoichi sent a nurse for more blood, seeing that the bag connected to the IV was almost empty. She lowered her hands to probe the worst of the injuries - at least, one that Tsunade wasn't working on. It was a deep wound right in his gut, bleeding more profusely than she would have expected. "Why isn't his blood clotting?" she demanded.

"Some sort of poison used on him to keep it from doing so. See if you can't extract it," Tsunade commanded.

"Pan!" Sakura called again, once more creating the chakra bubble. She searched for the poison, an elusive thing, and finally found it mostly clustered around his organs, like a parasite. She fought hard, but it clung stubbornly, and it took nearly all of her remaining reserves to get the putrid stuff out of the nin. It was made all the harder by her slipping control due to the interference from his seals.

Finally, she deposited the poison in the pan and sent the nurse off to take it to the poisons lab. Taking a soldier pill, the kunoichi started working on his wounds again. "We need another healer!" she called, and made room as a chunin hurried into their partitioned center.

The chunin started working on his broken leg, where his bone was clearly visible. Sakura focused on the wound in his gut, careful to mend the torn flesh without interfering with the seals very close by.

The wound was sealed enough to move on shortly, but a hand on her shoulder brought her out of her preoccupation. She turned her head and was relieved to find Shizune smiling at her. "Get some rest. You've done well. I'll take your place."

"Ino?" Sakura asked her, worried.

"She's resting comfortably in a recovery room. Will you report to the Hokage?" her sempai asked.

"Yeah." Sakura left them to it, stepping around the partition to find Kumo-san waiting for news. She smiled grimly at the taller woman. "He isn't out of the woods yet, but Tsunade and Shizune are working on him."

Kumo-san nodded with a frown. "Of course. Thank you for everything, Sakura-san," she murmured.

Sakura only nodded and headed out to make her report.

xXx

Ino blinked her eyes open sluggishly to find herself staring up at a pristine white ceiling. The room smelled sterile and safe; a hospital. Nearby, there was the steady drone of a handful of monitors. She was alone, with only the distant sound of hospital occupants in conversation to tell her that help was near.

Drawing a shaky breath, the kunoichi did a mental inventory of her injuries. A few bumps and scrapes, raw welts around her wrists, and a prominent gnawing in her tummy were the only things wrong with her. She fumbled for the call button and pressed it before relaxing again, feeling far too weak.

A beat later, Shizune herself hurried into the room with a bright smile. "Ino! It's good to see you awake!" she said kindly, setting the cup of ice in her hand on the bedside table. She urged Ino to open her mouth and dropped in an ice chip. "How do you feel?"

"Hungry," the blonde groused. "What happened?"

Shizune smiled again. "Kisame-san used all his chakra getting you home safely. He's in custody currently, but considering he's apparently been working for the Hokage for the past two years or so, things look good for him."

Ino chewed her lip. "The Suna team?"

Shizune hesitated, eyes saddening. "Three of the five lost their lives fighting Deidara of the Akatsuki… Kumo-san suffered superficial injuries, and… and Kami-san hasn't woken up yet."

Ino's heart twinged. "Kami? Oh God…"

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Shizune soothed. "For now, worry about yourself. I'll get you some food and a check up, and hopefully we can get you out of here first thing in the morning." Her smile returned. "More importantly, are you up to a couple visitors? Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba have been very worried about you."

Kiba… Ino winced. "I… I guess, for a few minutes. I'm really tired, though."

Shizune gave her an understanding wink. "I'll make it one visitor, then." With that, she left.

A few seconds passed before Shikamaru stepped through the door, to Ino's relief. He was holding a box of chocolate donuts, a bouquet of flowers and a book. "Gifts from the other two," he told her with a faint smirk, setting them on the bedside table.

"Great, gimme the donuts," she demanded, and accepted them gratefully. "Would you prop the bed, please?"

"So demanding," he complained, but did as she asked. "Anything else, highness?"

"The ice?" She batted her eyelashes at him, getting a disgusted look for her trouble. She took the cup from him and dumped a bunch in her mouth before handing it back and selecting a donut.

Shikamaru watched her for a moment, solemn. "How are you doing?" he asked finally.

She met his gaze then looked away, shrugging. "I'm alright… honestly, if not for Kisame, I'd probably still be with Sasuke…" She sighed, lowering the donut in her hand. "Shika? I… How is Sakura?"

He frowned at her, for once not bitching about the nickname. "She's better, a little. Still sad, obviously, but she's functioning… She's been worried about you, but she'll probably stop by later now that you're awake."

Her eyes filled with tears as she thought about her best friend. "She lost her baby… I can't even imagine what she's going through."

Her teammate's gaze softened. "She'll be fine, eventually. She has Itachi to take care of her, and everyone else too. For now, just rest and let someone else worry about her."

The kunoichi nodded a little miserably, rubbing at her eyes. "If you see her before I do, let her know I'm here for her, okay?" She still felt terribly guilty, after all. Realistically, Ino knew she couldn't have done anything to prevent it, but a part of her wondered if she hadn't been busy going boy crazy, would she have been there when Sakura needed her the most?

Shikamaru reached forward and poked her cheek with a faint smirk. "Stop it, I said." He glanced toward the door as a nurse wheeled in a cart. "Get some rest. Choji and I will pick you up from the hospital in the morning, alright?"

Sighing, Ino nodded, forcing a smile for the nurse. "Alright. See you later, Shika."

"Shikamaru," he corrected mildly, and left.

Ino relaxed against the bed, eying the tray of food and medical equipment resignedly as she submitted to the check up.

xXx

Kisame sat up as the entrance to the cells opened, admitting Itachi and Uzumaki. His former partner remained standing while the Hokage dragged a chair over to sit on the other side of the bars. He offered the Mizu missing nin a smile. "You wouldn't believe how disappointed my interrogators were when I told them they wouldn't be talking to you," he declared grandly, grinning. "How are you feeling, old man?"

Kisame rolled his eyes. "I've been through worse."

"Yeah, Itachi said so too," the blond admitted ruefully. "You look like hell." The young man eyed Kisame thoughtfully. "What do you know about what happened?"

The shark nin thought back. "Seems San Do is some sort of Jashinist gathering location. Hidan was fairly familiar with it, and he was meeting a woman there. Keitoya, he called her. Spoke of her like a lover, but didn't seem too broken up by the prospect of her getting injured."

Uzumaki nodded. "Ino-chan says she called him houshi?"

"Yeah, he's a priest for their religion. Bragged about it a lot." Kisame sighed and rubbed a hand back through his hair. "I gotta admit, I didn't expect them to show up. Him and Dei. Took me by surprise."

The Hokage grimaced. "All of us," he agreed. "Akatsuki's been so quiet, we were unprepared for them. Got any idea why he wanted Ino?"

Kisame frowned. "Information on the Uchihas, supposedly. She is Haruno's best friend." He shrugged. "Maybe about Konoha as well. She was the most vulnerable agent outside the walls, so anything beyond that is possible."

Sighing, the Hokage sat back in his seat, looking tired. "Not that vulnerability has ever made a lick of difference to them."

"Actually, it might," Kisame corrected slowly. "Konoha has been responsible for the deaths of two of their agents, and then they lost me and Itachi on top of it. More than likely, this silence has been due to a search for more men. They're individually powerful, but not invincible."

"True." Uzumaki considered that thoughtfully. "Itachi informs me that they're not above forcing membership. Do you think they would have done that to Ino, had they managed to keep hold of her?"

Kisame thought about it briefly before shaking his head. "No, probably not. No offense to her, but she's not really what they look for in a soldier, unless they know something we don't. Now, Haruno? Uchiha Sasuke? Either of them would suit their criteria almost too well."

Uzumaki looked a bit worried at the prospect. "Do you think they'll come for Sakura-chan?"

"In the safety of the village? Not likely. But Uchiha is out there and on the run. They're probably already gunning for him," Kisame admitted.

"Right." The Hokage sighed again. "So on top of worrying about him coming after us again, we've gotta worry about him doing it with Akatsuki's backing."

"Perhaps not," Itachi spoke up. "As you know, they have their own agenda."

Uzumaki grimaced at him. "So then it's just a matter of whether or not his revenge aligns with that agenda." The Uchiha didn't respond to that, so Uzumaki looked back at Kisame. "I'm working on getting you out of here, but it'll be a tricky thing. We can't afford open war with Mizu over you, after all."

Kisame nodded and leaned back on his hands. "I understand."

The young man eyed him silently a beat, and it occurred to Kisame that he'd matured years beyond his own since they'd last met face to face. "Do you? They might demand we hand over custody, and they will execute you."

"I understand," Kisame repeated evenly. Uzumaki could probably stall for a bit, but his hands were tied.

The blond nodded and stood. "I'll get you something good to eat, you like ramen?"

"Sure," Kisame replied, amused at the wince Itachi gave at the comment.

Uzumaki grinned. "I'll fix you up, then!" With a wave, and one more goodbye, he left Kisame and Itachi alone.

There was a beat of silence. Kisame sighed. "I'm sorry about Sakura and…"

"Thank you," Itachi replied awkwardly when Kisame trailed off. He glanced toward the door and drifted closer, lowering his voice. "I can have you out of here tonight-"

"No." Kisame smiled crookedly up at his former partner. "Itachi... I'm tired. Of running, of being afraid, of always looking back. I'm getting on in years, and I want to rest. So… whatever Konoha has in store for me, I will accept it gladly."

A beat passed. "Even death?"

"... Yeah, Itachi. Even death." Kisame laughed softly. "But who knows? Maybe your Hokage has a plan he isn't telling us?"

Itachi's expression was blatantly unconvinced. "Perhaps." The door opened behind him and he turned slightly. "I must go check on Sakura. If you need anything…"

"You'll hear about it," the blue man replied with a smirk, watching the other leave. His smirk faded. Now, to wait.

xXx

Sakura stood in the foyer of her home, looking around absently. Her mind was a million miles away, drifting along with Ino and Kami-san…. With Kumo-san's grateful relief. With…

Her hand lowered to cover her stomach. A part of her still wanted to believe there was a life inside of her, growing. However, she had seen them take away that little bundle of flesh and blood. A boy, Miroki had told her sadly. She'd been carrying a boy.

"I named him Furashi," a familiar voice murmured behind her. "He is buried beside my mother."

Sakura swallowed and turned to face her fiance, lip trembling. "Furashi… He would have been happy. With us. His parents."

Itachi nodded solemnly. "He would have." He stepped close to her and took her hands in his. "Sakura. What do you want?"

Green eyes searched coal black. He stared back at her without wavering. "I want him dead. I want it to be over. I never want to hear Sasuke's name again."

He didn't look surprised, and inclined his head. "Then it will happen, and I won't rest until you can sleep in peace."

Sakura closed her eyes as he kissed her forehead, letting his arms wrap around her. If a few tears escaped, Itachi would never tell anyone.

xXx

I know, it's been forever since I've updated. I'm sorry, have a cookie? And… and review? Pretty please?