Author's Note: I just wanted to apologize for not updating this fanfiction in so long. Leaving it sit for several months was never my intention, but unfortunately circumstances in my personal life got in the way, and to be perfectly honest writing of any sort was the furthest thing from my mind since I had a lot of things to try and work out. Excuses and such aside, I'm going to be having a lot more time on my hands this year than I originally anticipated, so updates should become regular again.

Thanks so much for all the reviews, favourites, and story/author alerts! It means a lot that so many people are enjoying this story, especially because this story is really helping me get back into the swing of things with writing. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter, it's a little different from the previous ones and Ino's character is going to seem SO – DIFFERENT. It's intentional, I promise, and you'll probably see what I mean as you go along, but if not, just go with it for now and trust that all will be explained.

SHATTERED

A Girl Named Blessed

CHAPTER TEN: All In Your Head Part I

KONOHA ACADEMY

(The New) Student Handbook

Rule #5: Students are expected to respect their superiors regardless of the circumstance.

The dense fog that Sakura had felt surrounding Ino's body when she first came to visit was suddenly visible, swirling as it steadily grew darker. So it wasn't just my imagination that day…

Sakura felt a twinge of uneasiness settle into the pit of her stomach. It wasn't Ino's body that had been poisoned – it was her mind. Though Sakura wasn't sure how it was even possible for her to know this, she could feel deep down that she was right.

Throwing all rational thought out the window, Sakura reached out and placed her hand on Ino's forehead. The moment her palm made contact with Ino's flesh, everything faded to black and the only thing Sakura had time to process was that she was falling, and instead of quickly hitting the tile floor of the infirmary that had only been a few feet down she was met with only empty air.

"This is ridiculous," Tsunade shouted, slamming her fist down on her desk. "How can you expect me to stand by while one of my students is slowly losing their minds? I've put up with your idiocy for more than long enough. Sakura is not strong enough to perform this task – you can't just use a teenage girl as a test subject! How does this make us any better than Orochimaru?"

"You don't have any other choice, Tsunade. Don't forget your place – Hiruzen Sarutobi may have made you Headmistress of this academy in his place, but I've been appointed your superior by the school board. I will replace you if you interfere – and I can promise that your replacement will be someone far more agreeable."

Tsunade tensed, arms dropping to her sides as she clenched her fists. She may have had a history of bad bets in the past, but there were still times she knew when she was beat – and right now, she was backed into a corner with no alternative. Damn that bastard.

"Have it your way, Danzo," Tsunade said, forcing calm into her voice. "But the moment I think Sakura and Ino have reached their limit, I am pulling them out. I don't care what you or the board has to say, I will not allow you to sacrifice my students for whatever game you're playing."

"Oh, I'd hardly sacrifice children for a game, Tsunade. As I said when we first learned the Yamanaka girl's mind had been attacked, this is a test of Sakura Haruno's abilities. A case such as hers only exists in Orochimaru's test subjects."

"You and I both know that Mizuki said she showed signs of having powers at an early age–"

" – and then they mysteriously vanished, only to return the same night Sasuke Uchiha was attacked by Kabuto. And I suppose it was just coincidence that she was somehow able to heal him?"

Tsunade gripped the edge of her desk, her strength causing her to leave indentations in the hard wood. "She obviously feels affectionate towards the boy…"

"Be that as it may, we're still dealing with the repercussions of a spy remaining undetected in our midst. We can't take any chances."

Tsunade sighed, sinking down into her chair. "What do you expect to learn from this? Either Sakura is successful and you think she's trying to earn our trust, or she fails miserably and you think she's holding out because Orochimaru has something else planned. Regardless of the outcome, your suspicions will not change."

"Perhaps not," Danzo admitted, "but then again, that's not your concern. I only came here to remind you the consequences should you interfere."

Before Tsunade could respond, Danzo's image faded away from her office.

Standing, Tsunade walked over to the full length mirror she had hanging on her office wall. Looking at her reflection, she twisted the strands of her now silver hair, eyes taking in the wrinkles that had destroyed her beautiful face over the years. Only Tsunade could see how she truly looked beneath the illusion she had cast.

Eyes darkening, Tsunade slammed her fist into the wall. She had let herself be manipulated – and now it was quite possible that two of her students would forever be trapped in their own minds, never waking, yet never sleeping, and never being able to truly live again.

Sakura didn't know how long she had been falling, watching as fragments of Ino's life flashed before her. It felt like an eternity before she finally landed with a loud smack against the hard ground.

As Sakura struggled to lift herself up, a tiny hand was suddenly extended towards her. Sakura's eyes trailed up only to be met by the grinning face of what appeared to be a five year old Ino Yamanaka.

"Silly, what are you doing down there?" Ino asked, tilting her head to the side and closing her eyes briefly as she pulled back her hand. "You'll get your clothes all dirty!"

Sakura stared, unable to stop her mouth from falling open. It took her several moments to compose herself and rise to her feet. Observing their surroundings revealed that they were standing in a meadow somewhere. For a moment, there was complete silence, until the wind picked up and rustled the leaves of the nearby trees.

Finally, Sakura found her voice. "I tripped over something back there – I can be pretty clumsy at times. My name is Sakura – what's yours?"

"I'm Ino Yamanaka! Do you want to help me pick flowers?"

Sakura glanced at the small bouquet of wildflowers that Ino was holding. For the first time since deciding to take it upon herself to help Ino, Sakura found herself wondering just how exactly it was she intended to do that.

"It's okay if you don't want to," little Ino said, her voice suddenly very quiet. "My mommy doesn't like picking flowers with me either. I think it's 'cause she doesn't like me anymore, that's why she stays in her room all day long. Daddy says that's not why, he says it's because she's scared, but why would she be scared? Daddy can protect us from anything."

Sakura knelt down next to Ino's withdrawn form, giving the young child a sad smile. "Of course he can," Sakura soothed. "And I would love to pick flowers with you."

"Really?" Ino exclaimed, a large smile already forming on her face as she looked up from the ground. "Come on, come on – there's some really pretty lilies over here."

Ino ran across the field over to the patch of wild lilies, sinking down to her knees and inspecting each flower.

Sakura smiled, following casually behind. It was strange seeing Ino as a child when she'd only ever known her as a teenager. Though there were some obvious differences between this memory of Ino and the Ino that Sakura knew, it was easy to see this was her roommate. They had the same bright blue eyes that sparked with life and excitement, the same sideways grin when they were happy.

"These flowers are for my mommy," Ino decided, picking out a lily for her bouquet. "She loves lilies. I bet if I give her a bouquet, she'll forgive me and she'll like me again."

"She already does like you, Ino. She's your mommy – mommies always love their daughters no matter what." Sakura sat down next to the five year old, crossing her legs.

"That's what daddy said too, but I know it's not true with my mommy. She shouts at me when I try to get her to come out of her room to play with me, and she breaks things all the time. And whenever I try to open the curtains, she screams and screams that he'll find us. And see this?" Ino held out her arm, turning it over so that Sakura could see the underside of it and the dark indentations in the shape of fingers wrapped tightly around the little girl's wrist.

"What happened?" Sakura asked softly, reaching out to touch the marks.

"I went to open the curtains, but they fell down off the window. Mommy grabbed my arm and told me to get out, but she was so angry and scared that her magic came out and burned me. Daddy told me to go play outside, so that's why I came here. It was an accident though, I swear! Mommy used to love going outside when it was bright and sunny, so I thought she'd like the curtains open. I just wanted her to be happy again."

Sakura's smile faded as she looked at Ino's tear streaked face. "She will be," Sakura promised, voice catching in her throat. "Sometimes… sometimes we do strange things when we're sad, or scared. But at the end of the day," Sakura continued, reaching out and grabbing Ino's wrist gently in her own hands, "what we need most are the people we love." The burn marks slowly began to fade away, until soon there was nothing left.

Ino's eyes widened with awe. "You can do magic too!"

"Sometimes," Sakura admitted, "but I still can't control when it happens."

"I can't control mine yet either," Ino huffed, bottom lip jutting out. "Daddy said it took him years to master, 'cause our kind of magic is harder than most. But I don't want to wait years; I want to control it now!"

"What do you mean by 'our kind of magic'?" Sakura asked curiously.

Ino set her bouquet gently on the ground before sitting up. "'Each family has their own special power that only they can control,'" Ino recited. "Daddy says our family's magic involves the mind. That's why sometimes I hear things that people don't say out loud, or why the toy store owner sometimes gives me a toy I really, really want without me asking."

The colour drained from Sakura's face. "Y-you can read people's thoughts? Any thoughts at all?" If Ino could do that when she was just a little kid, I don't even want to think about what she could do now.

Ino giggled. "You sounded nervous, Sa-ku-ra. But you don't have anything to be nervous about, I can't control my powers, remember? So even if I wanted to read your mind, I wouldn't be able to. Besides, daddy says it takes a lot of energy to really look into someone's mind, because people have a natural barrier that keeps their thoughts safe. It's dangerous because we have to weaken the barriers around our own minds and that makes us vulnerable."

"You seem to know a lot about it," Sakura commented. "Don't you find it all a little… scary?"

"Do you?" Ino retorted.

Sakura felt her cheeks heat up. "I… of course not."

"My mommy taught me a lot about the dangers of having special powers and being vulnerable. She doesn't have mind powers like me and daddy, but she still knew enough to teach me a little. She taught me that we're always in danger, because there are bad people who want to use our powers and take them from us. Daddy got mad at her for telling me that, he said I was too little and she'd only scare me." Ino kicked off her sandals, wiggling her toes, looking as though she were talking about stuffed animals instead of magic and danger.

"She must have realized how brave you really are," Sakura said softly. "Daddies always want to protect their little girls from everything, but mommies… they know us better. We're just like they were."

For a while, everything fell silent. Ino looked out across the field, as though she were watching something in the distance that only she could see. When she finally turned her gaze back to Sakura, she had a small smile on her face that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Let's pick more flowers for my mommy's bouquet, okay?"

"Okay."

As Sakura turned her back to pick a flower, Ino's eyes narrowed and the smile on her face grew.

Time seemed to pass slowly, as though it had stopped completely. The cool wind that had once been a welcome guest, blowing gently through Sakura's pink locks, had long since disappeared. The sun beat down on her, causing perspiration to roll down the back of her neck as she carefully selected another flower for Ino's ever-growing bouquet.

Somehow in the hour that had passed, Sakura had wound up being the only one to actually pick any flowers. The younger version of her roommate was leaning back, one hand holding her up as the other held on delicately to a vanilla ice cream cone that she had made appear some time ago. Her baby blue eyes watched Sakura's motions like a hawk, eyes narrowing slightly whenever the oldest of the two stopped moving for too long or reached for a flower Ino didn't want.

"You can't pick that one," Ino scolded suddenly. "It means death. The bouquet is supposed to be for my mommy. Do you want my mommy to die, Sakura?"

Sakura blanched. "I'm sorry, I… I didn't realize."

"Then perhaps you should pay closer attention, silly."

Though Ino's voice had returned to its regular high pitched child-like tone, there was something very wrong with her sudden behaviour. Gone was the frightened five year old that Sakura had first met, replaced by a little girl who seemed much older than her physical appearance and who seemed to take pleasure in intimidation.

Something's not right, Sakura thought, turning away from Ino to pick a different flower. She seems so different all of a sudden… could this memory have been twisted by the poison?

"Sa-ku-ra," Ino called in a singsong voice. "What are you thinking, Sakura?"

"Just… trying to remember the different flower meanings from a science class I had once," Sakura responded, willing her voice not to give anything away. I have to do something now, Sakura realized. This isn't the real Ino – no five year old could really be like this.

"Oh, is that what you're thinking? You're not thinking that something's wrong with me? That I'm not right, that I seem different – twisted, even?"

Sakura swallowed slowly. "No, I wouldn't think something like–"

"You're lying!" Ino shouted, the ice cream cone disappearing as she rose to her feet. "You're a liar, Sakura Haruno! I'm not stupid, you know. This is my mind you're in, which means we're already connected. I've been able to read every single thought in your little head this whole time. I don't even have to try." Ino crossed her arms, smiling smugly.

Sakura stared back, heart pounding in her ears as she tried not to let her expression change. "Then you know why I'm here. I just want to help you, Ino. The real you. You can't stay locked up in your mind for the rest of your life, you have to come back to reality." Sakura stood up and stepped forward slowly, holding out her hand, but Ino's eyes narrowed at the sight of it.

"You don't understand," Ino hissed. "I like it here, I like being able to make whatever I want happen. Anything I want comes true – all I have to do is think it."

The area around them shifted, the flower covered hills fading away slowly until they were replaced completely by a children's playground. Ino smiled, clapping her hands as she turned around and started running.

"Catch me if you can!" Ino shouted over her shoulder.

"Ino, wait!" Sakura called, darting forward as Ino climbed to the top of a tall metal slide.

Ino giggled, sitting at the top of the slide as she looked over at Sakura. "You're so sweet – you really think you can get me to leave this place, don't you? I can hear it in your thoughts. But," Ino continued, going down the slide, "I know the truth. You don't really want me back, do you?"

Sakura walked around to the front of the slide where Ino was dusting her sundress off. "Of course I do," Sakura breathed. "You're my friend."

"You know, it's almost touching that you really seem to believe that," Ino responded casually, walking over to the swing set. "But then, I know better, don't I?"

Sakura followed behind her slowly, eyebrows drawn together. Just what was it that this Ino thought she saw in Sakura's mind to make her words ring false? Maybe they hadn't known each other for very long, and maybe they didn't really know much about one another – but they were still friends. Ino was the first person to reach out to Sakura; she had introduced Sakura to all of her friends, and somehow in such a short amount of time they seemed to connect so much better than any of the friends Sakura had ever had before becoming a student at Konoha Academy.

Ino gripped the chain of the swing and turned to face Sakura, interrupting her thoughts. "Push me on the swings?" Her voice was higher again, sounding once more like that of an excited child as she smiled and tilted her head slightly to the side.

Sakura bit her lip, hesitating for a moment before walking up to Ino and helping her get on the swing. Once the young girl was seated comfortably on the swing, Sakura moved behind her and gave her a small push.

"Higher!" Ino squealed, wiggling her legs. "I want to go higher! Make me swing all the way around the bar!"

Sakura obliged, running forward with her hands pushing gently on Ino's back before ducking underneath the child's legs and moving out of the way. Ino giggled, pumping her legs as the swing went higher and higher. Every now and then Sakura would give her a small push, but mostly she stuck to the side as she tried to figure out how to get Ino to want to wake up. How do you convince someone that reality is better than fantasy?

The swing stopped moving abruptly as Ino used her feet to still herself. She shook her head before standing up and turning to face Sakura.

"You just won't quit, will you? I tried to be nice and let you play with me, but you don't want me to have fun or be happy. You just want to make yourself feel better and special by bringing me back to a reality that I don't want." There was an edge in Ino's voice that hadn't been there before, and that same smile that didn't reach her eyes had returned.

"I'm not doing this to feel–"

"If you're going to keep pretending I can't see through your lies, we're going to be at this for a very long time. Wouldn't you rather play with me?"

"You're not real!" Sakura shouted. "You're not the Ino I know, and I'm done playing with you. I want to see my friend."

"Oh Sakura, you hurt me. Now you're showing your true feelings, why didn't you just say so sooner?"

Ino backed away slowly, the smile never fading from her face as she crossed her arms behind her back. She grew steadily older with each step she took, until finally she resembled the present time Ino Yamanaka.

"Hello, Sakura."

Author's Note: Well, there you have it – the latest chapter! You see now what I mean about it being so different from the others? Hopefully after reading this whole chapter, Ino's younger self seeming kind of un-five-year-old-like in some parts makes more sense. Her mind being poisoned and her actual self being stuck in this fantasy world where she can get anything she wants is affecting her personality and therefore how she behaves.

Again, I'm really sorry for how late this was. The beginning of this chapter has actually been finished for quite some time, but like I said in the first author's note, I just really haven't been able to write in a long time. …and there may or may not have been a PS2 involved that I finally got around to buying a week or two ago, which may or may not have consumed 70+ hours of my life in the form of Final Fantasy XII. (Final Fantasy = love.) SO it's possible that its two weeks later STILL, because of that… ahem.

On a side note: I really want to revise the earlier chapters of this story. They were really rough since I was trying to get a grasp of the characters, figure out where this story was headed, and shake off the rust on my muse from a severe lack of writing practice. I still haven't gotten back to my usual standard quite yet, but I'm the closest I've been in months and every time I try to reread the earlier chapters to refresh my memory, I die a little on the inside from the uber-lameness. So, er, yeah, look for more on that in the next little while as well. It won't be story-altering edits, just… something. I don't know haha.

ALSO I APOLOGIZE FOR THE SEVERE LACK OF SASUKE THIS CHAPTER. I want the fanfiction to be story driven and character driven, so sometimes the focus won't solely be on Sasuke and Sakura's progressing relationship. A lot of the time, yes, but not all the time.

Anonymous Reviews:
Kaelin - I understand your skepticism, but frankly that's just how Sasuke's character has always been, even in the series itself. As I've stated from the first chapter of this story on, I believe in a slow progressing romance. Sakura and Sasuke aren't going to become the best of friends only a few chapters into the story, because he doesn't feel she's necessary for their team, and he's got his own problems going on that Sakura (and the readers) just aren't privy to yet. You're right - he's done nothing to get to know her, because right now he just doesn't care. That does not mean, however, that he never will. He's barely even had a chance to be around Sakura, and as I've developed him from the start, he's not the most sociable guy to begin with. You'll just have to trust that I know what I'm doing. ^^ Thanks for reviewing!