Loyalty

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Ino sat in the room she shared with Itachi in the corner on her mat. His form was, as always, turned away from her, and she could make out his back moving slowly up and down in the darkness from her corner. She assumed he wasn't sleeping, though. He never let down his guard, it seemed to her.

She rested her head against the wall. She had tried to sleep for what seemed like hours, but for some reason she just couldn't fall asleep. She shifted for about the fiftieth time that night, and finally Itachi turned furiously towards her corner, showing the usual anger he showed with her. At least it's not that same emotionless, blank stare... She thought, her face contorting into a scowl.

"Why won't you just sleep?" Itachi murmured, his face shifting back into that usual emotionless mask. Her frown deepened.

"I could say the same for you, Itachi-san." She sneered.

"At least I'm not moving every second." He said in a low voice.

"Oh, gomen, Itachi-sama." She said sarcastically.

"Hn." He said, sounding a little angry, and turning back slowly.

She closed her eyes for the umpteenth time that night with a scowl, but immediately her whole body stiffened.

Her head felt like it was being pricked by hundreds of kunai.

She screamed and held her head, her howl almost inhuman. Itachi turned immediately and was at her side in an instant, but she didn't notice.

Sweating hard, she kept screaming as her mind raced.

Memories flooded her, but what disturbed her the most was that they weren't hers.

They say your life flashes across your mind when you're in complete and utter anger.

How was she to know that someone else's life crossed hers as the pain flooded her.

There she was fawning over Sasuke (what a surprise)...

There she was in the Forest of Death, and the worst part was that Ino could feel every punch to her head while she bit the Soundnin's arm...

And after a few other terrible memories that shook Ino to her core, she came to the Chuunin exam fight. She suddenly remembered the whole fight, and was shocked to find herself remembering small things about her past: that stupid ribbon, going to barbeque every day after practice... It was a strange feeling, reliving the fight in Sakura's point of view, too. She hated to admit it, but she was terribly weak as a Genin.

The pained stopped after what seemed like hours to Ino, but really was a matter of a few minutes. She fell to her hands and feet and sweat rolled into her eyes, which were wide open. She was shaking uncontrollably.

Her hand immediately went to her side. Damn, where was her kunai pack?!

The pain will go away if you do it. Her mind taunted her. The pain will stop forever. You won't have to kill anymore. You'll be happier dead.

She took out a kunai in a flash and held it to her own throat.

Itachi, beside her, tackled her to the ground, pinning her down in a millisecond.

She shrieked and tried to thrash out of his hold.

"NO!" she screamed, tears now flowing down her face. "GET OFF OF ME! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I HATE YOU! I NEED TO—"

"Shut up!" He snarled, staring her straight in the face, and he activated his Sharingan swiftly. In a second, he had made her fall asleep, and her body went limp. He pushed himself off of her carefully and sat next to her, staring into the darkness.

He turned back to her. Even in the Sharingan-induced sleep, tears continued to flow down her face. Her body lay broken on the ground, and suddenly his chest hurt. His hand flew to the left side of his chest, and he narrowed his eyes. I don't care, he told himself, but he wasn't stupid. He knew it wasn't true.

---

Sakura sighed, throwing a small glass pig into the wall in her anger. It shattered into a million pieces and Naruto sighed, closing his eyes. Angry tears flowed down Sakura's face, and, in shock at what she had done, her hands flew to her face.

"We've been here for hours, Sakura. I think it'd be best if we just—"

"What, went home?! Did anyone tell you that when you were looking for Sasuke?!" She snarled, green eyes flaming. He blinked at her angry outburst, and turned away from her. Suddenly realizing she struck a chord within the blonde boy, she sighed, tears still falling.

"I didn't mean it, Naruto..." She sobbed. "I just can't give up..."

Sasuke turned away, shame obviously clouding his face. He knew he shouldn't break into this conversation.

Shikamaru sighed. "Geez, you'd need a Byakugan just to see through the fifteen layers of dust." He said, wiping a finger across the furniture and grimacing. Sakura turned to him, gaping.

"Shikamaru! You're a genius!" She exclaimed, hugging him suddenly. Naruto gave Sakura a jokingly sad look.

"Sakura-chaaaaan!" He wailed, then laughed.

Shikamaru smirked. "Man, I've been told that way too many times."

"Naruto! We gotta go to the Hyuuga Complex." Sakura said firmly. Naruto frowned.

"Isn't it kinda late? I don't want Neji to get pissed--"

"This is important!" Sakura cried, and he couldn't refuse the desperate look in her eyes.

"Alright, I'll get Hinata or Neji to come take a look at this place." It was quiet for a long time, until suddenly Sakura heard someone take in a sharp breath. She turned to see Sasuke looking at her.

"Is something wrong, Sasuke-kun?" She asked, blinking.

"Sakura... I know this is important to you... but have you ever thought that maybe Ino doesn't want to come back? I mean, I know we have to take care of Akatsuki, but maybe she has nothing to live for here. I was a different case, I suppose--I really did want to come back. I had you two to live for, along with my clan's history being here. But Ino--Ino has lost everything. Don't you think maybe she just wants to start over? If she wanted to be saved, then--"

"No!" Sakura cried, staring at him like she'd been betrayed by him a second time. "I can understand hearing this from everyone else, but you, Sasuke-kun..." Her voice went horribly low and become very quiet. "I thought you of all people would understand... how important a friend to me she is... she needs us!"

Sasuke sighed. "I know... it's just..."

"Naruto, did you really have to wake up half of the main branch as well as just me?! I'm going to be in over my head fixing this tomorrow, so whatever the problem is, it better be important." Neji hissed, narrowing his eyes. Behind him was a very tired looking Hinata.

Naruto chuckled nervously and backed away slowly. "Gomen, gomen... Anyways, we need you guys to look for anything out of the ordinary in this room." Naruto said, waving his arm around the now torn-apart study.

Neji sighed, closing his eyes. He opened them quickly. "Byakugan!" Hinata activated her Byakugan.

They scanned the room and Sakura, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sasuke watched them work in anticipation. Suddenly Hinata gasped. They all turned to stare at her.

"Neji-nii-san..." She whispered, eyes wide, pointing a shaky finger to the left of all of them. He turned to look and his eyes widened.

"Well, we found your 'out of the ordinary'..."

A/N: Ahhh I know, cliffhanger. Sorry! XD I'll update this weekend. Thanks for reading!