Summary: What if the Naruto gang woke up in an insane asylum located just outside of Tokyo? What would happen if they all were there because they dreamed of places and things that didn't exist?

All disclaimers apply. Please note that all of the scenes that are in italics are like….a novel version of the manga. Just… from someone else's POV.

Italics- dreams

Part XI: Year 8

Yamanaka Ino

"Oi! Ino-chan!"

After hearing the bell followed by a loud greeting, the blue-eyed blonde twisted her mouth up in annoyance, hoping her eyes didn't give away just what it was she was feeling. People have been walking in and out and then bothering her when they see that she was obviously busy doing something important! If these flowers didn't get done for the Kinomoto-Lee wedding, her mother would—

"Hola, chica."

She blinked and felt a sudden calm. Smiling, she began to make her way around the counter. "Temari-chan? Gaara-kun?"

The older blonde blew a bubble with the gum she was chewing and then smiled at Ino. She began to pull her hair into her usual lazy bun as Gaara brought his hand up in greeting. "Yo."

Seeing that there were two heads rather than the three she was expecting, Ino leaned back against the counter and felt her eyebrows furrow in confusion. "Where's Kankuro-kun?"

She watched as Gaara rolled his eyes at the ceiling and as Temari shrugged as if she didn't care—her eyes showing that she did, in fact, care. "He's too cool for us this year. Freshman in college, you know? So he went on Spring Break with his friends." Sighing, she brushed her hands out of her face overdramatically before pausing mid-motion. She leaned toward Ino, making the younger blonde lean back in discomfort. Then she suddenly poked Ino in her forehead. "Ino-chaaan…" At this, Ino winced. Temari never used that sickly sweet voice unless she wanted something. "Have you been getting any sleep?"

Ino just scowled and shoved the hand away. "Temari. You're nineteen. Grow up."

Temari smirked, her dark eyes flashing. "Ah, but you're so fun to tease, Ino-chan. Isn't she, Gaara?"

He just grunted and leaned against the counter where Ino was arranging the flowers. A look of slight disbelief appeared on his face when he spotted the flowers that Ino was arranging. Picking a white carnation out of the vase of red roses, he raised an eyebrow at her embarrassment. "Something's wrong."

It was more of a question than a statement. With a sigh, she pulled the flower out of his hand and placed it delicately on the counter. "You guys just go up to my room. I'll meet you up there." Going to a door behind the counter, she opened it and let them go up before turning towards the back room. "Okaa-san! I'm going to take a break, okay?" Hearing her mother say something about her needing a break anyway, she turned and made her way up the stairs and across the small apartment to her room. "So… what are you guys doing here? I thought you were going to the beach…?"

Temari waved her hand in dismissal. "Well… since today is usually the busy day for the flower shop, we figured that your mom loves me so much that she would let you go tomorrow."

Ino shrugged. "It's worth a shot, I guess."

"But that's not why we're up here," Gaara pointed out from his place at her desk. His face was straight but his darkly outlined jade eyes were sparkling with amusement. "So stop trying to change the subject, Yamanaka."

With a scowl at her childhood friend, Ino sat down on her bed next to Temari, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion. "I've been having these… these dreams for months." Then she let out a short laugh. "I'm a twelve-year-old kunoichi, obsessed with a Uchiha Sasuke. I don't really know how to explain it… but it's weird, because you guys are there too. I'm from the hidden village of the leaf and you're…"

"… from the hidden village of the sand," Temari whispered, her eyes, shades darker than her brother's, unusually wide.

Gaara's eyes shifted between the two girls. "And with a kid named Naruto?"

The three stared at each other in surprise before Ino spoke. "How long have you been having them?"

Gaara scratched at where the 'love' tattoo would have been on his forehead. "Couple of months, I guess." Then he scowled. "Why do I get to be the kid with the twisted past and bloodlust?"

Ino shot him a look. "Well, you already have the bloodlust thing down."

He rolled his eyes at her and sat down at her desk chair. "Whatever. How 'bout you? When'd you start having them?"

"Uhm… Around New Years, I guess. I mean…" Heaving a deep sigh, she lay back on her bed. "It's not like they're bad dreams. … Okay, wait. They've been getting bad, but not awful. I mean… ARGH!"

"You mean, when you dream, it seems so real that it's hard to tell whether it's real or not?" Temari spoke up.

"Exactly!" Ino exclaimed happily, popping back into a sitting position.

"Then it's settled," Temari said with a smirk, holding herself up on the mattress by her elbows.

Gaara shot his sister a slightly confused look. "… what is?"

"We're going to the beach! Even if we have to kidnap you. Besides, you need to get away from this city and your mom loves me too much to hate me."

Ino snorted. "You're probably right. But what does that have to do with the dreams?"

"Who cares? The whole point is to relax and hopefully not think about them. But it does mean…" she trailed off dramatically and Ino could see just how excited her friend was getting. "We're going shopping!" Temari exclaimed.

With a groan, Gaara leaned back further into the chair. "Right now?" At his sister's nod, he groaned again. "Are you serious?"

Ino looked down at her watch and motioned for them to follow her back down to the flower shop. Six PM. "Sorry, Temari. How about at, like, seven? That's when I'm free. I've got to finish arranging these flowers. There's some wedding or something tomorrow."

With a nod, Temari dragged poor Gaara out the door. "No problem, girly! See you in an hour!"

Shaking her head, Ino picked up the carnation that Gaara had picked out of the roses and set it and the roses aside with a smile. Yawning, she began to put together another vase of the red flowers.

Ino went on doing the same thing for the next few minutes, quickly growing bored. She paused and frowned down at the flowers in the bouquet she had just done. She frowned when she realized the flowers she had just arranged weren't roses at all. It was a boquet of pink begonias. She tilted her head in thought as she pulled those flowers out of the vase, frustration starting to nag at the back of her head. There was a heavy feeling hanging over her head…

She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard the bell from the door chime for the second time that night. Ino found herself trying to keep the frown on her face from turning into a scowl. Finding herself unable to, she didn't even bother to look up.

"We're closed." Quietly counting to five, her scowl only deepened when she didn't hear the bell over the door ring again to show the visitor's departure. "Hello, are you deaf?" She snapped. She looked up sharply, a glare set on her face. "I said…!"

Ino trailed off and blinked in a mix between shock and confusion when she saw two strangers with ski masks over their faces. She was a second too late in hearing one sneak up behind her, one second too late in her attempt to move out of the way. Cursing her luck, she stomped on the person's instep and jumped forward as they cursed quietly. Jerking to her right, she reached forward and smacked the panic button on the wall that her parents recently had installed in light of the local kidnappings.

Before she could make another move, she felt a prick in her neck. Pausing, she put her hand to her neck to feel a dart-like shape sticking out of it. She squinted at the other figure that she completely forgot about and then pulled the dart out of her neck. She looked down at the dart, up at assailant 2 and back down at the dart again, her vision blurring steadily.

'… shot! He shot me!'

Feeling a rush of adrenaline, she managed to lift her arm, which was slowly going limp, and slam the dart into Assailant 1's arm. Without a thought to it, Assailant 1 yanked the dart out of their arm and moved out of hitting range. The other came up behind Ino and put her in a chokehold with one arm, the other hand tightly clutching a hand to her mouth. Panicking, she managed to lift her numb arms again and wrap her hands around the arm putting her in a chokehold.

Letting out a scream, Ino felt tears form in her eyes as she began to lose the feeling in her legs. Her eyelids began to flutter as she struggled to keep her eyes open. Before she knew it, eyes rolled to the back of her head and all she saw was darkness.

And it suddenly hit her why begonias had given her nagging sense of dread. Beware. They meant beware.

-END PART XI-

Next chapter: Interlude: Uchiha Itachi

After that: Part XII: Shukaku Temari and Gaara

Ages: Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Kiba, Ino and Gaara are all seventeen; Shikamaru and Kankuro are eighteen; Tenten, Rock Lee, and Temari are nineteen; Iruka is twenty; and Kakashi is twenty-one. :D

Author's notes: Yeah. It's short, I know, but I wanted it to be that way. Short, I mean. That last scene, I kind of got the idea for what she felt like being drugged from when I was under anesthesia. That crap sucks because you never (or at least, I don't ever) remember when the hell you fell asleep. Your eyes roll and you're gone. :D Right then. Please review!!

AN2: I am unreasonably angry right now. Because I go to check to be sure the format is right, just to find out that this site has taken out all of my little scene separater things! They took away the dashes, I can't put ellipses, and I pretty much can't do anything else. Thanks , but some things should just be left alone. (Still angry). So sorry if your story-reading experience was made even worse because of it.

Finished: January 31, 2006
Edited: March 22, 2008
Pusblished: March 22, 2008