Series: Naruto
Disclaimer: "Naruto" belongs to Masashi Kishimoto except this spin off idea.
To Soul of the Silver Phoenix: Heehee... Once I reread my chapter, I realized that he did seem quite a bit of a jerk, but trust me, he's still nice! I'll be trying to correct that view soon and a bit in this chapter.
To DJ Rodriguez: Oh, he 'used' them as a payment to the Koron guy but he actually did need to use the basement anyway. So kind of like killing two birds with one stone except he gets to keep the stone after too hehe.
A/N: A bit of a goodie this time 'round (longerish chapter). I spent quite a while doing this (when I should have been finishing my Bio homework...) so yeah, here we go then!
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The sun shone in the afternoon but no one below took notice. The final rescue team had finally arrived and they seemed safe and sound.
"Ino!"
Ino turned towards those that had called and immediately her face brightened. "Shikamaru! Chouji!" The two boys jumped from the ledge they stood as she ran to them and soon they were together, closed off to the world in their own group hug.
Sakura and Tsunade barely had time to smile at the three before another team returned. This was the one that was sent for the medicinal herbs in the area.
Kiba's eyes bugged out before he began shouting at the top of his lungs, "HINATA!!!" (Even though she was only a few metres away.)
Neji set her down (he was piggy-backing her since she couldn't run as quickly as the other two) and instantly she was off to meet Kiba and Shino. They too ended up in a group hug and seemed comfortable in each others' arms. They did not say much to each other; they had been together long enough to not always need words to communicate. Akamaru barked alongside them and Hinata crouched down to hug him and pet him.
Hinata had changed over the three years. Her hair had grown longer (ending just above her chest) and her body had filled out. She along with Ino, Sakura, and Tsunade still wore her kimono from the brothel and also had the bracelets latched to her wrists (Tenten and Kurenai also had their bracelets but they had already changed into the 'uniform' provided at the Camp.)
With all the commotion, it was not long before a "NEJI!" was heard and before he knew it, someone latched onto his back (he knew it was certainly a female). Quickly disengaging himself and ready to reprimand his 'attacker', he paused when he recognized Tenten.
The large grin on her face had Neji stunned for a moment (since Tenten was usually a docile girl or was before at least) and the fact that her hair was down shocked him to his core. For as long as he had known her (since pre-academy days), he had always seen her hair up in their two buns. But now that they had disappeared (and the hair certainly hadn't -it ended at the small of her back-), Neji couldn't help but think that Tenten was no longer a little girl but a grown woman.
"T-Tenten..."
"Ha! I've got Neji, the quiet, sensible, somewhat philosophical kid to stutter! Oh man, this is great!" Tenten laughed and to her surprise, Neji chuckled. Quietly mind you, but he did nonetheless. Perhaps he was feeling a bit odd at finding a childhood friend there with him, well and alive (for he had not seen her when she first came to Camp. He had to leave immediately with Konohamaru and Hinata to retrieve the herbs). In her happiness, Tenten asked, "Ne, any news about Gai-sensei or Lee?"
It worried her when Neji suddenly faced her with a dark look (not of anger, but 'Sadness? Neji's sad?' - Tenten) and said, "I'll tell you about them later." He paused, looked at her and tried to gauge her reaction to his words. "Just not now."
As this happened, Kurenai saw her ex-subordinates and rushed to them. She had just finished cleaning up the mess area (eating area) and heard from a random passer that two groups had returned. Curious, she went to see them and then she saw her past-genins.
Through her tears of joy she managed to say, "It's so good to see us all together again and that you are all well." The others nodded and did not consider her words as cliche or cheesy.
Pouting (since no one was running to him), the last member of the retrieval team turned and...
planted his face in Tsunade's ample bosom.
One second passed.
If one looked closely at Tsunade's stoic face, they might've caught a slight twitching action beneath her right eye.
Then the second.
The kid still hadn't moved. Tsunade's fists clenched.
Third second.
Still no movement.
Fourth second.
Twist twist. Her eyebrows knitted together.
Fifth second.
Turn turn. "Twerp..." she said with an underlying tone beneath.
"Huh?" said the kid, "Tsunade-obaachan...?"
The twitching was now evident and her aura of anger was building. 'Obaachan!? Nobody but Naruto calls me that! I'M NOT THAT OLD!'
"Ha!?" Tsunade while simmering did not notice the teenager pull himself away and was now looking at her dead in the face. "It is Tsunade-baba!" He said, smiling.
She got a good look at the face. "KONOHAMARU!" She charged. He ran away laughing (but scared all the same. An angry Tsunade is not something one wishes to be close to).
"Heh, it's just like the first time we met, ne?" He taunted. But as he turned back to see her reaction, he found that she was only a couple steps away. 'Oh shoot! RUN!' In the end, Konohamaru found Moegi and hid behind while using her as a human-woman-shield.
Moegi, to say the least, was very confused but happy in general to see Tsunade-sama again.
Sakura giggled as she watched the interaction between Konohamaru and Tsunade (though she knew how much Tsunade cared for Konohamaru because there was no other way she'd let any other do that to her ever. Or let them get away with it so easily). With Tsunade gone, it left her and Naruto together.
"Ne, Na-"
"Don't say my name." He said it curtly and at a near whisper.
"Heh!?" she exclaimed indignantly. "Why not?" She slightly glared at him with her arms akimbo.
He looked around (inconspicuously) before telling her in a hushed voice, "Just don't alright? Here, I am known as 'Tails' and if you were as responsible as I last remembered, then you would do as I say. People aren't to know of who I am."
Ticked, yet having her responsible nature challenged, Sakura nodded and proceeded. "Anyway, 'Tails', what do you guys do here?"
"For the new recruits and the rescued, you will start your training tomorrow morning. Once you're ready, you'll be sent on missions and all that," he replied, reverting back to his normal voice.
"And when will we be ready?"
"Dreamer'll tell you."
"... Uhm, Tails, you forget, I don't know everyone's code names yet..."
"Right. Sorry, just... tired. Dreamer's Shikamaru."
Sakura laughed, "Yeah, that suits him. A little bit of a girly title though, isn't it?"
Tails shrugged. "He chose it."
She shook her head, "You'd think he'd choose something else like thinker or leader. Well, I guess leader would make it too obvious as to who to hit first but thinker might've been a better choice."
"Nah, once they realize that he's the one with all the great ideas, he'll be just as big a target as if he was known as leader."
Sakura sighed, "I guess." 'I wonder what my name will be.'
"Dreamer! Roller! Tails! Guard! Silence! Seer!" cried out five voices. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned back to look into the trees, trying to find the callers. Within seconds they arrived but the recently rescued knew only the face of Kotetsu.
Shikamaru disengaged himself from his group and asked, "What's wrong?"
The team of five walked towards him but Kiba managed to pick out, "We were -- forest -- two -- Akatsuki." 'This can't be good,' he thought.
After a bit more discussing, Shikamaru called out instructions among which the girls were to rest in one of the meeting tents while the others were to meet in another tent a little distance away.
"And before I forget," he said. Shikamaru ran back to his tent, opened a box and pulled the key out. He hurried back and began unlocking the bracelets to all the girls' disbeliefs and reliefs.
"I-I-" Tenten kept stuttering in her state of shock, "Th-they're off! They're off!!!" she exclaimed. "But my arms feel weird now..." Tenten began rubbing her arms, trying to rid her memory of them being weighty and getting used to the bare feeling.
Kurenai and Tsunade said their thank-you's to Shikamaru and also rubbed their arms. Sakura was overjoyed and pumped the air the way Inner-Sakura would have (and inside, Inner-Sakura was just as energetic).
When Hinata's came off, she immediately felt the wonderful sensation of being able to recognize chakra signatures again (though not as well as before, yet). That feeling alone left her unimaginably happy and then she noticed it. She sensed a familiar chakra but she couldn't fully put a name on who's it belonged to. She gave her thanks to Shikamaru and that was when she first saw him. The hooded man.
For a good minute or so, she kept her eyes on the still figure and was broken out of her reverie when the figure began walking towards the other meeting tent (Kiba and Shino had already started walking towards the tent after being ordered by Shikamaru to do so. They did so reluctantly however).
'Anou... eto... It really feels like it but... is that really N-Naruto-kun?' Her hands unconsciously came together and she held them to her chest.
The last to get her bracelets off was Ino. They fell off her wrists onto the soft earth, clanking a little but Ino didn't hear or see that happen. Once they were off, Ino seemed to have blanked out. Her eyes were slightly glazed and her posture swayed but was rigid as well. She looked at her arms and could see the faint difference in colours on her arms after having those bracelets on for three years.
Shikamaru was about to shake her but then she suddenly blinked successively, rapidly and shook her head. After that, she seemed to be fine. Seeing that she was okay, he led the girls to the tent but kept Ino outside. Unknowingly, by being worried, he kept his head down while trying to think and it wasn't long before Ino started asking questions.
"Oi, Shikamaru, what's up with you?"
'Shouldn't I be asking her that?' "It's Dreamer around here."
This caught her off guard. "Dreamer? Wh- oh, code namey thing. You do that in the Camp too?"
"It's to make it second nature. Don't want to foul up on a mission, right?"
A few seconds passed before Ino lightly punched him on his shoulder. "Look, if you're gonna talk to me, you might as well look at me. Or else there really is no point. I feel like I'm talking to a wall though, mind you, the wall can answer back. But it still feels impersonal." She smiled when he raised his head but it dimmed a bit when she saw his face. She hadn't looked closely enough before but now, in the light of the setting sun, he looked weary and quite a bit older than 18.
"Shika-Dreamer," she quickly corrected herself, "what is it?"
He shook his head (lowering before raising, she noted), "I'm just sorry." 'At least she seems to be all right now.'
"For what?"
"Heh," he inhaled deeply and exhaled, "I didn't get to see you until today and we've barely had a chance to talk before we have to split again because of work."
Ino smiled, encouraging him, "It's all right. I know you're busy and you're pretty much the head man here. You're always going to be busy but now that I'm actually here," she winked, "I'm sure we'll find some way to have our old team-bonding time."
Shikamaru didn't say anything, just merely nodded, smiled at her and almost hugged her. Instead, he decided on a patting of the shoulders before heading off to his meeting.
'Man,' thought Ino, 'he really is working hard. He hasn't even said anything about work being troublesome.' Ino suddenly felt very strange. 'He always said that work was troublesome...' She turned to look at his retreating back and a slight frown overtook her smile and her eyebrows came a little closer together. 'I hope he's all right...'
She shook her head to clear her thoughts, took a deep breath, and entered the tent.
Already inside the girls were cheering and chatting with one another. Ino couldn't help but think that had this been a blast-from-the-past moment, the only thing needed to add into this sleepover-like picture was sake. 'Yep, that'd definitely complete this scene.'
Tenten was with Kurenai-sensei, trying to practise with a kunai ('Where in the world did she get one so fast?' - Ino) by twirling it like she used to. She was doing well for a few turns then suddenly, the kunai flew off her finger and landed right beside her foot. Both she and Kurenai paused, looked at each other, hesitantly smiled and they stopped for the meantime.
Hinata was observing Sakura-chan and Tsunade-sama talking while also trying to figure out if they would say anything about Naruto being that hooded person. It was very unlikely though since they were talking about the entire muscular system within the human body.
Ino noticed Hinata-chan all alone and went over thinking she might want some company (and even if she didn't, Ino didn't mind at the moment to sit alone and think). "Ne, Hinata-chan? You happy?"
"Eh?" Hinata turned to look at Ino-chan, somewhat surprised that she would talk to her (though they had corresponded by hidden messages in meals before). "Ah, hai. I'm glad that the bracelets are finally off although my arms do feel a little bit funny."
Ino tossed her head back, laughing, "Yeah, same here. But it's so good to have them gone. Hmm..." It was as if her thinking cap was suddenly placed on her head.
"What are you thinking Ino-chan?"
"If we melted down the bracelets, they would probably bring in good money. That, and you don't stutter anymore!"
"Ah, huh!?" Hinata's eyes widened. "I-I-I d-don't stu- Oh, no..." she said dejectedly, "I still do. Not as much but just a little..."
Ino smiled and put her arm around Hinata's shoulders, "Trust me, it's a lot better. I would stutter too if I were caught completely off guard like that hehe!" Ino inwardly smiled as Hinata relaxed and grinned as well.
Then an idea struck Hinata, maybe Ino knew whether the hooded man was Naruto-kun! It was worth a shot asking. "Anou... Ino-chan?"
"Hmm?" Ino cocked her head to the side with the remnants of her smile left on her face.
"A-a-anou..." Hinata unconsciously ducked her head and began poking together her index fingers, creating a portrait of her childhood self, "would you by any chance know if-"
"Hey girls!" cried out Tenten, "I know what we can do! Let's play Truth or Dare!"
Having been interrupted, Hinata stopped her question as the others stared dumbfoundly at Tenten.
"Oh come on! I know you guys want to do something and what better else than a game like that?"
Sakura commented, "Well, it's usually a night game, just before you sleep, and why would you want to play that? It's so... so childish!" (Of course Inner-Sakura was rooting for the game to proceed.)
"Well, well," replied Tenten, "it seems like little Sakura here has something to hi-ide," she said in a singsong voice.
"I so don't!"
"Oh yeah, suuure imouto," said Tsunade, sarcastically.
"I wouldn't mind learning of your secrets either Tsunade. Like how you look so young," taunted Kurenai.
"Ha! I'm totally natural." Tsunade seemed a little bit offended but no one took notice.
"Oh, don't lie Tsu-neechan," teased Ino.
"I'd like to play." The other girls stopped and turned to look at Hinata.
"Well," said a somewhat surprised Tenten, "since Hina-chan says she wants to play too, then we all play!"
'Whatever did happen to the calmer Tenten? Neji's going to get a kick out of this crazier one,' thought the rest.
"I start! Since I called the game and I pick..." Tenten's eyes narrowed and they landed on, "Sakura!"
"Heh!? Why me?"
"Uhm... because I chose you? You do know how to play Truth or Dare, right?"
"Of course!"
"Woulda never guessed. Anyway! Truth or dare?"
"Truth, 'cause I have nothing to hide."
"Oh, then are you in love with someone?" she asked giddily.
Sakura ducked her head but her blush was evident. "Yeah..." she answered quietly. Some of the girls squee'd but Ino felt uneasy with that answer.
"Who is it? Who is it?" pressed Tenten.
"Hey! One question only! So now it's my turn. I pick Ino! Truth or dare?"
Ino turned to look at Sakura before an idea popped into her head, "Okay wait, before I pick, let's set some rules (some of the girls groaned). Hey, they're needed. Okay, no more than let's see... three truths in a row and if you pick dare, the darer has to keep it within this tent. We are at the Base Camp now, so no fooling outside where we could endanger others. All right?" The girls nodded in agreement and then refocused on the game, "Okay Sakura, I choose... Dare."
Sakura snickered before realizing that, since everything was confined within the tent, there really wasn't much to do. She pinched her lips together and to the others, it was almost as though steam was coming out of her ears from thinking too hard. Her eyes squeezed shut then suddenly her head shot up. "I dare you to walk like a chicken and quack like a duck!"
The girls groaned. "You really can't think of anything else more original imouto?" asked Tsunade. Kurenai silently nodded, Ino stared at Sakura point blank while Hinata seemed a little bit lost. To her, doing that would be absolutely embarassing!
"Oh, whatever. It's easy enough to do, so quack! Quack! Quack!" quacked Ino with her hands drawn in and flapping her 'wings'. (It was still a little bit funny though.) "My turn! I pick Kurenai-sensei."
"Kurenai's fine, Ino."
"Ah, hai. Kurenai-sen- aiii, that's going to be hard to change but anyway, truth or dare?"
"Truth," she said simply.
"Do you really love Asuma-sensei?"
"Ino!" cried out Sakura, horrified at what her sister just said.
"What?" Ino looked at Tsu-neechan and then realized what she just did. "Ah! I'm so sorry Kurenai-sensei! I didn't mean to-"
"Don't worry. I'm okay with it." Kurenai's eyes were lowered but you could still see the red tinge in them and how they were watering. "I believe that he's still alive." She breathed in deeply and then answered again with a simple voice, letting no one make a mistake in believing that she was lying, "I do." Then she smiled softly while lifting her gaze to meet Ino's.
"I know you miss him just as much as I do, though of course in a different manner." Ino nodded and berated herself for having asked the question. "So, it's my turn now is it?" Kurenai's voice had lifted and become flighty, returning to the happy-go-lucky atmosphere that disappeared a few moments ago. "I choose Hina-chan."
"Eh!?"
Kurenai laughed, "No need to be worried Hinata. This is a relatively harmless game (having used the word 'relatively', Hinata couldn't help but remain somewhat tentative and still very nervous). Truth or dare?"
"A-anou... I say..." breathe in, breathe out, "dare."
All of the girls seemed taken aback. Hinata, choosing dare on her first turn already? You'd think a yes or no question would seem a lot simpler.
"Hmmm... a dare. I can see why Sakura was having so much trouble thinking of one. There really isn't much to dare a person to do while in this tent."
"See," said Sakura, feeling a little bit better, "that's why I couldn't think of anything embarassing to make Ino do. At least not yet."
Kurenai finally thought of something, as simple as it was, "I dare you to kiss the back of your hand as if you were kissing your dream lover."
Hinata would never have had the time to hide her blush became it came as soon as she heard the word 'kiss'. To add 'dream lover' on top of that was almost too much to bear. She held out her left hand and looked at the back of it and she couldn't help picturing Naruto-kun the way she last saw him (it was in the Konoha Hospital and he was there because he had burned his hands again while practising Rasengan -which she still doesn't know about-).
The girls watched as Hinata focused intently at her hand and watched her bring it close to her mouth. After a quick peck, a small squeak, and maintaining a flushed face, Hinata picked Tenten next.
'I wonder if that was Naruto she was thinking about,' thought Sakura, echoing the same thoughts all the others had. Ino again felt a little bit unnerved but not completely sure as to why.
Tenten being bold also picked dare and Hinata, believing herself to be too harsh dared her to dance on the spot.
"Eh? That's it?" asked Tenten. "Nothing more... challenging...?" Hinata violently shook her head no because in her mind, dancing would have been worse ('Okay, maybe not as bad') than the dare she just completed.
Tenten did a little jig not feeling embarassed at all and then asked Tsunade to choose. Tsunade decided on truth.
"Wow, I get to ask Godaime-sama a question that she has to answer truthfully on. Hehehehehe," she snickered, "I've got a good one."
"Bring it," said Tsunade, seemingly a bit uncharacteristic of herself (according to Hinata and Kurenai at least).
"How old are you?"
Ino and Sakura gasped together. This question could spell out a disaster if Tsunade became highly upset over it (to say the least). Both turned their attention to their older sister, noting that she had her head down with her hair covering her features. There was no telling what she was thinking.
"Tenten." - Tsunade
"Ah, hai?" She was getting a little bit nervous with the sudden mood swing in the atmosphere.
The sound of a shuddering breath being drawn in. "Do you know what you've just asked me?"
Tenten was starting to feel even more nervous and began regretting her question. "I-I... I can change it if you want!"
"But that's against the rules..." Tsunade's voice seemed rather menacing now.
"I-I-I-I-" continued Tenten, sounding like a broken record. "I-I-I-... Uhm... ah-"
She was cut off when the entrance to the tent opened and in came Kiba with a "Yo!" A few seconds passed before he registered the somewhat hostile air and unconsciously began scratching his head and redirecting his focus everywhere else but on the girls.
Kurenai, feeling brave and curious asked what was happening and why he came in. This snapped Kiba out of his uncomfortable phase and set his mind on reporting to them the news as best as he could.
"Our meeting is over and we're here to escort you to your sleeping tents. You'll be broken up into the groups you came here as but there's also some things about tomorrow." He took a few seconds to continue calming his nerves. "Tomorrow you will be woken up in some way, you'll head to the river to wash yourselves and clothes will be provided. Then you'll be taken to the mess area for breakfast followed by your first training session. You'll continue on from there. Good?" (By this time he was completely calm. Seems odd, a calm Kiba, doesn't it?)
The girls acquiesced and out went Tenten (glad to be away from Tsunade-sama at the moment), Kurenai (thankful for Kiba's interruption for once), Hinata (still nervous about Tsunade-sama's reaction to the question and her Naruto-kun-kissing moment), Sakura (still worried about Tsuna-neechan), Tsunade (who outwardly seemed to have recovered), and lastly Ino (who was also worried about her sister).
"Ino." It was Shikamaru standing a few feet away from the tent. She hmm'd in response while looking at him quizzedly before following him just a little distance away from the rest of the group.
"What is it?"
"I was just wondering, if you want, you could stay with Chouji and I in our tent. Like you said, catch up on bonding time, right?"
She smiled but teased a little too, "Well what about changing? I can't stay in your tent for that. And who knows what would happen in the night."
Shikamaru let out an exasperated sigh and with much effort, bonked her on her head (lightly enough). "You know we wouldn't hurt you and we'd just change outside."
"I know, I know. I'm just joking!" Her eyes lit up and so did his, just a little though. "All right, sure why not? Actually, let me ask the other two first because... well..."
Shikamaru was a little worried since she seemed a little troubled. "Well what?"
"This would be the first night that we'd be sleeping separated... Ah well, I'll go ask." She soon returned reporting that the other two were fine with her staying with her teammates.
"But only those two," commanded Tsunade.
------------Midnight, Tent, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino--------------
It had been two hours and Ino still couldn't sleep. She was sitting at the entrance with her legs drawn to her chest and through the material she could see the faint glow of the fire only a few metres away. Wrapped around her to keep her warm was her blanket.
She blinked slowly and then she heard voices by the fire. This woke her up a bit more and she strained to hear what was being said but could only figure out that one was a female and the other was a male. The words were too muddled up.
------------Midnight, At the fire--------------
Naruto was the only one there sitting on a dead log. He rested his head atop his crossed fingers and looked to the sky.
'Why?' he thought. 'Why do I keep thinking about her?' He lowered his gaze to the small fire and added in another log. 'It doesn't make any sense. Sure I'm not always logical but this right now is completely illogical.'
From his viewpoint he looked at all the identical tents surrounding the area, 'I mean, why is it that I'm worried for her?' His eyes narrowed as he refocused on the fire. 'Really, I barely even know her! Why do I ca-'
"Tails?"
Silently cursing himself for being caught off guard, Naruto turned to Tsunade. "Hmm? Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
"I would but there's something important that I need to discuss with you right now. Can you come with me to my tent?" He silently stood up and followed Tsunade back to hers and Sakura's tent, somewhat wary with the serious tone she was using.
Once inside, he grinned a bit when he saw Sakura sit up with a tired look and rubbing her eyes. Her hair was messy and she obviously didn't notice that he was there, otherwise she would have started to attempt combing with her hands.
'Which she'll do right about... now.' As if she heard him, her eyes widened upon seeing him and immediately she tried to flatten her hair. Tsunade just put her hands on both of Sakura's arms, indicating that that didn't matter at the moment (plus, most of it was down and Sakura was starting to pull out a few strands as well).
"So," he started, quietly, "what's this all about?"
"It's about Ino." Sakura and Naruto immediately became more serious. He even pulled his hood back enough for them to see his face but kept it on. "I overheard the two of you talking last night."
That caught Sakura because she had not known of his and Ino's late-night-to-early-morning conversation. 'What could they have been talking about?'
"I just want to say, please, Tails, do not bring up that dream of hers ever again."
"Dream?" asked Sakura, "What dream?"
Naruto was surprised. "She didn't tell you about it?"
"Actually, she didn't tell either of us. You were the first to hear about it and if I wasn't pretending to fake-sleep, then I wouldn't have heard it at all."
"What dream?" persisted Sakura, annoyed at being the one left out of her sister's life.
Tsunade and Naruto looked at each other and then nodded. Tsunade retold the dream to Sakura and immediately Sakura caught on to its implications.
"Definitely, Na-Tails, don't remind her of it. It's best if she forgot all about it."
"Why's that? What is it about anyway?"
Both girls took in deep breaths before taking turns recounting the months when all three were captured. Sakura started. "The dream is really a memory of what happened in the whore house. It pretty much explains the reason for her claustrophobia. It all starts back to when she was captured..."
-----Flashback-----
Ino had been the last to be captured out of the three but she lasted a mere two months more than the others. By then, Tsunade had already been put to work and Sakura had started table dancing and lap dancing.
"Ya little brat!" yelled Boss at Ino, "You will do as I say!"
"Forget it! Dancing like a whore isn't something for me! Go ask a skank to do that but I won't!" she screamed back.
"Oh, you know that if you keep disobeying me, it'll be Busty who gets your punishment. You wouldn't want to do that to her now would you?"
"Ha, disobey, I can't disobey you because you're in no position of higher authority over me. Plus you wouldn't harm her. She's too 'valuable' for you to hurt."
"Really?"
"Please, Ino, try to calm down a bit." Tsunade had only been working for two weeks and already she knew how serious Boss could be. His punishments hurt (as she experienced the first month being trapped at the brothel).
"Calm down? Calm down!? Oh please Tsunade-sama (they did not know each other well back then yet), he's only spouting out hot steam. It's just all words and no threat."
"So that's what you believe huh?" Boss suddenly grabbed Tsunade, flung her against the wall and drew out a whip that was kept in his back pocket while keeping her up against the wall. "Still think that I'm just spouting out hot steam?"
"I still don't believe you. It doesn't even make sense for you to punish her instead of me if I'm the one not listening to you."
"But it does. You see, you'll grow to become fond of Busty, plus, you're not the type to just sit back and watch others get punished because of your wrongdoings Konoha-nin." He spat out the last two words as if they were filth in his mouth. "So," he raised the whip, "still think I'm lying?"
"Yeah."
CRACK
Tsunade did not whimper nor scream.
Ino stared wide-eyed at the red mark that appeared across Tsunade's back and flinched when Boss whipped her again.
CRACK
Then again.
CRACK
And again.
CRACK
"STOP!"
"Sure, but only if you'll do as I say."
"Fine! Just stop hurting her!"
For the next week, Ino learned lap dancing from Sakura, show dancing, and 'body molding' (in which the 'bought' rubs against the 'buyer' and doing more unmentionables). By the end of the month, she had become one of the biggest starlets within the brothel (much to her displeasure and disgust). Her moments of rebellion were less but still present. Her biggest rebellion but worst too was to come.
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A/N:D Hope this chapter went well but I probably won't post in a while (that's why this chapter's relatively longer, hoping to satiate a few heh) since exams and stuff are coming up. Gaaaah, the girls seem so week (grar!) but they're really not! I just had to put it in so that Rebellion Phase didn't last for too long. Just think of the punishments to be your worse nightmare come true and all the evil things you could do to a person. It's pretty much like that.
But to everyone: have a Happy New Year! (I know I'm a bit late but it's all good heh)