A/N: Woohoo! I managed not to take a month to update, haha. Here we go, the start of the last arc of this fic. We've got two more chapters plus an epilogue after this. I may begin the process of editing the earlier chapters for some sloppy syntax and typos you all have pointed out as well. (Thank you, my attentive readers!) Happy reading, and thanks to everyone as usual! :)

Chapter 20

"Apperception"

...

It turns out that the coughing and vomiting blood isn't as serious as Ino thought. Or, rather, now that it's treated it's not that serious. Ukon managed to necrotize a good bit of tissue in her lungs and stomach, but thankfully not to the point of permanent injury. Under the guidance of Tsunade, the medic-nin at the hospital patched her up in only a day. She spent the following twenty-four hours on bed rest and left with only superficial cuts and bruises remaining.

Most of the team's check ups went similarly. Besides Sakura, nobody suffered any substantial injuries – truly a testament to her and Shikamaru's tactical abilities. All of theirs, really. Tsunade even pulled Shikamaru aside to ask him about potential field promotions for some of their team, though Ino isn't going to get her hopes up about it. She's got bigger things to worry about.

Sasuke is, thankfully, no longer going to be one of those worries. He's officially cowed, and in any case, he's been put under ANBU surveillance. Not that Naruto will ever let him out of his sight ever again anyway, but the added assurance is nice.

The biggest worry of all is Sakura. The injury to her side had been a narrow miss – an inch toward the middle of her torso would have perforated her intestine. The chances of her making it back with full-blown sepsis would've been slim to none, but luck had been on her side, it seems. Her arm has mostly recovered but is spending some time getting acquainted with a sling. Tsunade wisely delayed her training until she's fully recovered.

If she fully recovers.

After numerous brain scans ending with the diagnosis of a concussion, it seems that Sakura's (half) disappearance can't be chalked up to any physical injury. Neither Inner Sakura, nor Ino, nor Tsunade had been sure if that was good news or not. Inner Sakura certainly hadn't seemed to think so. Bedridden in the hospital for a mandatory two days due to her head injury, she passes the time trying to distract herself from the aching void in her skull. Books. Games. She kills a few hours changing the viscosities of the water in her glass.

None of it really helps.

Thankfully, now that Ino's officially off bed rest, she offers her assistance. She's annoyed to find Sakura hesitant to accept it. "You don't understand," Sakura sighs wearily, running the edges of the thin hospital sheets through her fingers. "Our head's not easy to navigate."

Ino finds that explanation utterly unsatisfying. "I think you're the one that doesn't understand. You're underestimating my abilities."

"I'm not saying that you can't do it. I'm just saying that Sakura's mind – our mind – is more complicated than we originally thought."

"You're going to have to be more specific than that."

Sakura frowns at the bedspread. It's not like she doesn't want Ino's help. The vacuum that the other Sakura left behind is a constant, self-reminding pain, itching and aching and completely unignorable. Inner Sakura is not well equipped to be alone in her own head. All the fears, the pains, the hopes and dreams and emotions that her other self distilled and condensed into who Inner Sakura is – they roil the blood in her head like a tide without the moon to guide them. It leaves her restless and distraught and, honestly, scared. She'd do nearly anything to get the other half of her back.

Except, apparently, risk Ino's mind in the process. That would just be an insult to her other half's sensibilities – and her own.

"Look," she sighs again, "if I'm remembering what you've told me correctly, then you have to be able to find your way back to your own head when you dispel the Mind Transfer technique, right?"

"Right…"

"So, what happens if you go inside a mind, inside a mind, and then maybe inside another mind?"

Ino stares at her blankly. "That sounds like the premise for an impressively overwrought movie plot."

"Yeah," Sakura scoffs, "well, it is what it is. When Sakura and I were fighting Kimimaro, we found a way to make our switching faster by riding the line of our consciousness together. But as soon as we settled in, so to speak, we realized that we'd been able to keep thoughts from each other, both purposely and unintentionally."

That gives Ino pause. "So, there's multiple sub-conscious minds... which means you each have minds of your own," she clarifies, "further split into forefront and background, and from there..." I can see how this would get risky really quickly...

"It looks that way," Sakura mutters, shifting agitatedly in the cot. "And there's no telling what else is in there. She's always been really sensitive, you know? More than most people. She just learned to beat it all down, so her life, she really – her mind is – it's –"

"Fractured."

Sakura flexes her jaw, her fingers in the sheets, then sighs once more. "Yeah."

Ino's answer is instant. "I don't care."

"I – what?"

"I don't care," Ino repeats blandly. "It's a risk I'm willing to take. I made a promise, remember?"

It feels like ages ago since that day at the flower shop, but she hasn't forgotten what she'd said.

'…if something goes wrong, I'll be here to help you out… I promise.'

She isn't going to back down on this one. Ever since she found out about Sakura's disappearance, Ino's inner balance has been left in absolute pandemonium, disrupted by layers of emotions stuck together like a brick of wet tissues that she can't yet separate and decipher – the rage at Sasuke, the pain like a shard of glass in her gut, the anxious "what if" questions – but there is one important, undeniable commonality in all of them.

And Ino can take care of herself. She isn't fragile, and there is no tragedy in her life, as far as she can imagine, that she wouldn't recover from. People do, after all – Kakashi and Tsunade are good examples of that. Death is inevitable. It's the inescapable risk of living, and loving, and existing, and if Sakura were never to return, Ino knows she would carry on.

But she doesn't want to.

Even though she hasn't yet let herself think about what that means, that a life without Sakura's friendship would be a life so drastically reduced in quality, the conclusion is solid. She'll do whatever it takes. "I don't want to expand your ego and widen that already huge forehead of yours," Ino taunts, interrupting Sakura before she can retort, "but even though we haven't been friends for very long, I feel like I've known you both my whole life. I'm not about to let that go."

Her tone becomes serious by the end of the statement. There's a beat of silence as expressions flash across Sakura's face quicker than a strobe light – pride, happiness, doubt – and then she rolls her eyes, but the smile is there all the same. "As if flattery from you could ever mean so much to me. But fine," she sighs, sounding very put upon, "I won't argue with you anymore. As long as you know the risks you're taking."

"It's a bigger risk to let you wander around without your other half to reign in your personality, if you ask me."

Sakura grins. "You might be right about that."

Ino shakes her head, imagining all the outbursts and declarations and fights this Sakura might find herself in. She settles herself into the rather uncomfortable hospital chair, preparing to leave her body behind, and scoots toward the rumpled hospital bed in case she slumps too far forward. Then, without further ado, Ino holds her hands up in her clan's signature seal.

#

She finds Sakura's mindscape vastly changed from the last time she "visited" during the preliminaries. Like most people, Sakura hadn't created a visualization of the inside of her head yet, not having needed to; now, however, with their minds linked, Ino allows Inner Sakura to form the imagery. It's really rather stunning: a field of tall grass and plentiful wildflowers, tulips and daffodils and a dozen other species, the spaces between threaded with patches of clover. In the distance, she hears the sound of a brook, probably hidden in the ravine in the rocky area to her left. There's a house, too, which she supposes makes sense, considering that Sakura's inner personality spends most of her time in here. Her eyes land on the gate and she raises an eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah. I told Sakura – I'm not very good with creativity."

Ino turns to find Sakura at her side, then looks back at the gate, then double takes back to Sakura.

Short-haired, busty, red catsuit clad Sakura.

"Could've fooled me," Ino mumbles, her eyes drifting amusedly to the other girl's ample bosom and defined curves. She's not sure why she's surprised. It suits her, really.

"Pictures last longer," Sakura chides playfully, and Ino sputters briefly before determinedly turning away to face the house.

"As if. Anyway," Ino carries on smoothly, "what's in the house?"

"Normal stuff. Furniture, a kitchen, TV, books. You know."

"How can you possibly watch TV, or read, or eat inside your own head?"

Sakura taps her temple. "Photographic memory, remember? It only sucks because it's all reruns, but, you know, I'll take what I can get."

"Huh." Ino hadn't thought of that. It must be nice to be able to relive experiences like that. Or hellish, now that she thinks about it… "So, can I go in there?" She asks, though she's already striding toward the house with Sakura at her side.

"Yeah, but now that I think about it, isn't going through our heads kind of an invasion of privacy?"

"Keeping secrets, are we?"

Sakura rolls her eyes. "Who doesn't? It's not like I care, but Sakura…"

"I'll try not to pry," Ino offers, but she's already touching the walls of the house and inspecting its contents.

It's a modern looking home of wood and glass. The former is a rich oak color, the boards lined and knotted just as they would be in the physical world. Long windows line the walls, half-obscured by the soft heavy cotton of earth-toned drapes. Ino runs her hand along the television set and finds it's cold, smooth plastic. The doors creak, the books smell like old paper, there are dirty pans in the kitchen sink. She picks out the Shinobi Handbook off the top shelf of a lacquered bookcase and flips through it, her memory jogging at each rule. They're all in order and word-for-word.

"This is amazing," she mumbles, her fingers tracing over the spines. She pauses at a shelf filled with rather questionable reading material, but true to her word, she doesn't comment. Not that she could overlook the easily distinguishable orange jackets of the entire Icha Icha series even if she tried. Or, Lovers at Dawn: The Chronicles of Kentaro and Souda. Obviously yaoi.

Interesting…

Ino stores that information away for later. "I guess I should look around for Sakura. Do you have any idea where she might be?"

"No, but honestly, I haven't looked that hard. Normally I just know where she is – I thought that since I couldn't feel her, she wouldn't be here."

"I doubt that." Ino re-shelves the Shinobi Handbook and wanders up the stairs, inspecting the bedroom. "Since there's no physical damage to your brain that would cause this kind of thing, that means she can't really be gone. Not without a trace, anyway. The fact that she's undetectable, in my opinion, means that she must still be here."

Sakura stops abruptly in the doorway, comprehension dawning. "You mean she's hiding."

"Exactly. Her first instinct has always been to hide when she feels negative emotions, right? I can only imagine that, fighting for her life and sure she was about to die, the fear must've caused her to hide so far back in her mind that she can't find a way out. Or," Ino thinks aloud, opening drawers and then shutting one in particular rather quickly, "she might've just forgotten that she's hiding in the first place."

"I think I get it," Sakura replies thoughtfully, watching Ino poke through her things. "Like keeping something in a secret place for safekeeping and losing it in the process."

"Right." Ino bends to peek underneath the bed only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," Sakura says solemnly.

Ino drops the bedskirt and backs away.

The house now thoroughly inspected, she retreats down the stairs with Sakura following closely behind. They exit the house and scan the flower field in hopes of spotting something they might have missed. As far as Ino can tell, however, it's just a normal field – barring, of course, that it's in someone's head and all.

"Do you think she's hiding in your head?" Ino wonders aloud, glancing wearily at the well-endowed visage of her friend.

"I have no idea."

"Maybe I should try?"

"I don't know," Sakura smiles mysteriously. "If you go in there, you might never want to leave."

"And why's that?"

"Because, I – " She pauses abruptly, her hands on her hips in a cocky posture for a moment longer before they drop to her sides. "Ah, nevermind."

"What? What is it?"

"Nothing. But, uh, I doubt she's in there," Sakura admits. "It doesn't seem like a place she would go."

"No. I guess it doesn't, but where…"

Ino strolls through the flowers, admiring the range and depths of color. The details are remarkable. A long staircase spirals down the cliff face to the west, leading to the river below. She peeks over the edge and spots nothing obviously anomalous. Deciding she'd have a better chance elsewhere, she leads Sakura to the edges of the mindscape. Wilder and more unruly looking plants sprout from the ground as they near the border, vines and bushes and brambles that they have to step through carefully. Some of them are even thorned.

"Is it always the same time of day here?" Ino asks curiously. It's the first time she's seen someone with such a developed mindscape outside of her own clan. Even then, Sakura's memory for detail is decidedly more impressive.

"Nah. I change it when I feel like it, basically. Usually it matches the time outside."

"And the plants – do they grow?"

"Nope. Sometimes Sakura and I add new ones, though."

Ino nods and continues her trek in silence, trying to imagine where Sakura might be hiding. Not in the house, evidently, and not in the ravine. The flowers and the grass in the field aren't tall enough to obscure a human form – assuming that she even has one of those, Ino realizes. If Sakura really wanted to do it, she could simply reimagine herself as a blade of grass. One's form in a mindscape can be anything imaginable, as proven by the other Sakura.

It's a disheartening idea. An equally troubling one is that she may simply be hiding in plain sight, invisible and not wanting to be seen – or, worse yet, evaporated into nothing. If anyone could belittle herself into literally disappearing, it would be Sakura. For both their sakes, Ino does not share these thoughts.

In the end, she's glad she didn't. Tall trees edge the outermost perimeter of the mindscape, the same gigantic, ancient kinds that grow in Konoha's verdant forests, all of which are thick and lush and well-nourished – all except one. Ino stops before the spindly branches of the incongruous tree, its offshoots heavy with reddish-purple leaves and small white flowers. It's foreign, usually native to Kimo, but it can be found in at least one place in Konoha. She understands immediately where Sakura has gone. "She's at the park."

"What park?" Inner Sakura touches the tree and finds it as solid as all the others.

"The park she used to hide in after school. You said that you're both able to keep thoughts from each other, right?"

"Yeah…"

"My guess is that she's retreated into a private world," Ino explains. "One that she so heavily associates with fear and solace that not even you can see it."

Sakura looks around at the forest, confused. "And where would that be?"

"Right here." Ino closes her eyes and presses her palm flat against the trunk of the odd tree. After a long moment of concentration, her fingers sink into the bark as if it were made of memory foam, much to Sakura's amazement. She stays like that for a minute longer before withdrawing her hand. "It's a different part of her mind, like you said." Ino wriggles her fingers as if to shake off the odd feeling of being between spaces. "A shard of the fracture, and one of many, if I had to guess."

Sakura replies anxiously, "How many?"

"I don't know."

Ino frowns at the tree, staring at it's shallowly ridged bark and the old, scarred carvings left behind from kids at the park. It's a perfect replica. There's no telling how many more holes to hide in Sakura has dug. With a mind and memory like hers, she could make many, many worlds, and that sort of detail isn't trivial to sort through. Ino got lucky with this tree – it's an obvious one to her as a botanist – but any other fragments could be much harder to spot. She doesn't know enough about Sakura or about her life to confidently pinpoint all of the possibilities. Sakura almost never talks about herself, after all, her pains and her fears and her past.

Not to mention that her most valued skill, and her most practiced reflex, is hiding.

She could be anywhere and anything she can imagine – and if this world is any indication, that means anywhere or anything that she's ever seen. This could take days. Weeks. Maybe longer. And the more time Ino spends here, the higher the risk of being unable to disentangle herself from the impressive depths of this consciousness when it's time to leave. If she can even find her way back.

"So, I know you're dead set on doing this," Sakura seems to be having similar thoughts, "but is there some way I could go with you, maybe, and help you find your way?"

Ino shakes her head. "Not this time. If she's trying to hide, then you won't be able to pass through the barriers she put up. I can only do it because I've been practicing since I was a child."

"But I crossed into your body once…"

"The Mind Transfer technique actually leaves itself open to that," Ino explains. "It's like a two-way road. My uncle uses it to swap places with people for reconnaissance. This time, it's more like swimming upstream. It takes a lot of practice to develop the right type of strength."

Sakura nods, taking her word for it. She is the expert, after all, but as Ino experimentally pushes her hand through the trunk of the tree, disappearing up to her elbow, Sakura opens her mouth to say something. Ino pauses, waiting. A breeze ghosts across her fingertips from the other side of the tree. Sakura takes a step toward her, then stops, then opens her mouth, then closes it, speaking uncertainly, "Eh, nevermind…"

"What?"

"It's nothing."

Ino raises an eyebrow. "You sure?"

Sakura scowls, though it looks less directed at Ino than elsewhere. "Let's just say that I'm trying to be… respectful of Sakura's privacy. But, I – well, you – I'm not… ugh. Fuck it."

She at last makes a decision and pulls Ino out of the tree and into her chest in a surprisingly gentle hug. A little baffled, Ino reciprocates the gesture and waits patiently for her to speak.

Sakura's hold tightens. "You have to come back."

"Duh," Ino replies immediately. "Besides, I'm Yamanaka Ino. You're not going to get rid of me that easily."

"I know, I know, you're too pig-headed for that, but…"

Sakura pulls back slightly, just enough so they can see each other. They're only a few inches apart and Ino feels the proximity acutely, tension coiling in her gut, and she thinks that she should step away or maybe step back into the hug to alleviate it, but she can't make up her mind, so she just stands still. Sakura studies her face for a long moment. Then, to Ino's bewilderment, Sakura's eyes roll up to the sky as she shakes her fist at it, as if angry with some deity or other.

"Damnit, Sakura! Ruining my opportunities! We're going to have to talk about this when you get back!"

"…What?"

Sakura sighs and pulls her back into the embrace. "Nothing, nothing. Just be careful, alright? I hope I'm not breaking her trust by saying so, but I know that Sakura would rather die than lose you. Just keep that in mind."

It's sort of a lot to keep in mind, Ino wants to say, tensing at the admission. It shouldn't be surprising considering the way Sakura thinks of her, but hearing it aloud makes it far too real: there is the chance that one or both of them might not come back. And if it came down to a choice like that…

"I will," she promises, though she isn't sure what or to whom, exactly.

"Good. And for me too, okay?" Sakura mumbles, at last drawing back from the hug. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Ah, such praise. Part of Ino preens at the admiration and the compliment, and some other part, she's surprised to find, is wholly flustered. "I understand," she says, because she can't think of anything else to say. Shikamaru's words float around in her head like little ringing alarm bells, but now is not the time to be questioning herself.

"No, I mean literally," Sakura clarifies, noticing the sudden increase in gravitas, "I wouldn't know what to do without you. Like, on a day-to-day basis, I have no idea how to function alone. I'd be super confused."

"Oh." Right. "I'll be careful," Ino chuckles, laughing at both the thought of Sakura trying to figure out how to occupy herself and her own misunderstanding of the meaning behind her words. How silly of her.

"Good! Because I love you."

"Gah – wha – do –"

"Good luck!" Sakura grins, and then she promptly shoves Ino through the tree.

If she says "I" then it's fine, right…?

In any case, Ino is gone in an instant, far too quickly to actually ask the important question of, "What the hell does that mean?!"

#

When she lands on the other side of the mindscape, Ino finds herself staring at the sky once more. There's a gentle breeze, the one she'd felt on her fingertips earlier, caressing her face and raising goosebumps across her skin. The next thing she notices is the noise. People. Cart pushers, vendors, merchants – the usual hustle and bustle of her hometown. And, sitting up and finding herself in the middle of the busy Konoha market district, that's exactly where she is.

It looks the same, for the most part. There's the butcher shop on her left, then Aoi-san's clothes boutique, some vaguely familiar looking people running food stands. Only one thing jumps out at her: a casual patisserie that hadn't caught on and subsequently closed down around the time Ino turned ten-years-old. So she must be in the past. Sakura's recollection of it, anyway. She sits up, brushes the dirt off her skirt, and tries to come up with a plan. If the world is built the same, and the tree led her here, then surely the first place she should check for Sakura is the park.

Ino makes her way through the streets, weaving through the human traffic and entirely unsure of her situation. This is still Sakura's head – it must be – but the vivid detail astounds her as much as it had in the primary mindscape. Even the scent of the food is accurate. The people, too, talk and greet each other as normal people would do, and she's surprised to nearly run into someone only for them to turn and bow politely.

"Excuse me," the woman mumbles sheepishly before turning and hurrying away.

It's like Sakura's own little universe, obviously built on her photographic memory and with some extra brain power devoted to filling in the things that she couldn't possibly have seen or overheard – like all these people's conversations – which means that it can't, in fact, be a true memory.

Which means Ino has no idea what this is. It's a realization that makes her understandably nervous. She's never had to use the Mind Transfer to dig this far into someone's brain, let alone someone whose mind is as fragmented as Sakura's. Normally, she sits at the forefront of consciousness to control the body, or, like her father taught her, she'd break into visualized lockboxes or read through scrolls to gain information.

But traversing whole worlds? I've never even heard of something like this…

Maybe it makes sense, she thinks as she meanders through the park, literally stopping to smell the roses and not disappointed by their scent. Being alone as long as she was, Sakura had a great deal of time to simply observe and imagine things. Years spent conjuring images, scenarios, people and places… it follows, Ino supposes, that her mind would reflect that. It's sort of funny to think that she and Sakura both devoted huge chunks of their childhoods to fostering mental abilities, even if Sakura's had been largely a matter of circumstance and coincidence rather than training.

She'll have to commend her for that when she finds her, but unfortunately, Sakura is not in the park as she'd suspected.

"Where next…?" Ino mumbles aloud, ignoring the odd look she receives from an afternoon jogger. No need to impress people that aren't real, after all.

Where else would Sakura spend her time as a child? Without any leads to follow, Ino heads for the academy and pauses to watch the children there, smiling at their happy-go-lucky attitudes. She even catches a miniature Kiba, about six-years-old, playing with Akamaru on the slides. But Sakura isn't there amongst their class. The next logical place to check would be her house, but Ino is a little embarrassed to remember that she doesn't actually know where Sakura lives.

She checks her surroundings. Would one of these villagers know…? It wouldn't make sense, logically, for them to have that information, but then, they are in Sakura's head…

"Excuse me," Ino taps one of the vendors on the shoulder, a middle-aged man selling sweets. "Do you happen to know who Haruno Sakura is?"

He smiles widely. "Of course I do."

"Do you know where I can find her?"

His expression falters slightly, brow creasing, before giving way to laughter. "Where have you been? She's in the Hokage's Tower, where she usually is."

"Oh. Uh, thank you…"

That's strange. I think. But apparently not…?

Ino turns and treks the short distance between the market and the Hokage's Tower. She finds it's as she'd left it back home: dead center of the village, the same emblems and red-painted wood. Inside, she finds the same carpet, the same set of stairs, the same offices and windows…

But something is different.

The building is full of people. It's not like the Sandaime didn't have a penchant for being friendly with everyone in the village, but all those people hadn't necessarily made a habit of hanging out in this building, either. And yet, every room is full. It's like a big party, she thinks, hearing the loud, mirthful laughter through every closed door. Peeking into some of the rooms, she decides that it must be a party, or something like it. The counters and tables are adorned with sweets. Colorful balloons have been tied to every chair.

There isn't a single person without a smile on his or her face, and Ino realizes suddenly that statement held true for every person she'd come across. The vendors, the guards, the shinobi, every single child at the Academy – they all seemed to be having a splendid time. And it's not like this period in Konoha hadn't been full of joy and peace, but every single person…? Beginning to understand exactly where she is, Ino is only half surprised to knock on the Hokage's door and be told to enter by someone who is certainly not the Sandaime. The voice is a child's.

Sakura's.

Ino steps inside and resists the urge to squeal. It's hard, though. The image of six-year-old Sakura in child-sized kage robes, her little hand fisted around a feathered quill with a stack of papers on her desk, is too damn adorable. It also confirms her suspicion: she's in a fantasy.

"Hello!" Sakura greets her cheerily and without the usual formality of a kage. "Can I help you with something?"

Oh man, Ino bites her tongue to quell her snickering. This is too cute.

Despite how incredibly endearing it is, though, Ino doesn't miss the two standard ANBU guards flanking Sakura at her desk. She finds it fitting that Sakura wouldn't miss the necessary security, even in a fantasy.

"Hokage-sama," Ino bows and takes another moment to collect herself. It's hard not to laugh… "I am here to…"

What?

If she explained the situation to this version of her friend, would she suddenly remember and agree to come home? This Sakura certainly seems heavily involved in the fantasy, and child-sized Hokage Sakura is cute, but if she thought Ino was a threat, she'd have the ANBU at her side and every villager to use at her disposal to vanquish that threat. And dying in Sakura's head isn't part of the plan. Dying here would mean being unable to return to her body, if she couldn't get out quickly enough, and that's hardly a risk worth taking.

Perhaps it's best to play along.

"Request your presence," Ino finishes after a moment. "In the park."

"Oh. Why?"

Good question.

"I... am from out of town," Ino covers her hesitation quickly, subtly placing her hand over her hip – right over her forehead protector. "And I was wondering if you could give me a tour. I heard the park is beautiful this time of year."

It's not exactly a great lie, but this Sakura is six-years-old. Sure enough, her quizzical expression quickly morphs into a smile. "Sure! I could use a break from paperwork anyway," she agrees cheerily and stands to join Ino at the door. Her head barely clears the desk at her height.

Slyly, Ino sneaks a glimpse of said paperwork and has to bite her tongue yet again to keep from laughing. Sakura's concept of official documents is as one might expect from a child. There are a lot of papers stamped with the words, "Important," and "Super Important," without a whole lot of anything else on them. Some notes are scrawled in the margins in colorful markers. Most adorably of all, Sakura thoughtlessly reaches for her hand on the way out. Hokage or not, apparently she's still fully aware of the fact that Ino is older than her, and, subsequently, that it's necessary for them to hold hands as they walk through the streets.

Too cute… can't take it…

"This is Konoha," Sakura speaks blithely, pointing when appropriate. "The Hokage Monument is up there – that's where the past hokages are sculpted into the mountain. The first Hokage, Hashirama Senju, was once famed as the God of Shinobi. He founded the village in…"

Ino lets herself be led through her hometown. She knows this place and its history as well as Sakura does, of course, but it would be rude to interrupt the Hokage. And besides, Sakura seems incredibly pleased with her own knowledge and proud to share it. It would be downright cruel to take that away. When they at least reach the park, Ino finally speaks. "The people here seem very happy," she says lightly, subtly guiding Sakura toward the purple-leaved maple tree that got her here. She's surprised to feel Sakura stop abruptly and tug her hand away.

Ino follows suit, stilling in the middle of the stone pathway to look at her child-sized friend. For once, she's frowning. "Well, why shouldn't they be?"

"No reason," Ino says quickly. "It's just odd, you know. Most people aren't happy all the time."

"Yeah, I know…" Sakura crosses her arms and stares guiltily at the ground. When she doesn't finish the thought, Ino begins sidling toward the tree less than ten yards away, banking on Sakura's need as a child to be close to an adult. Sure enough, Sakura reflexively shuffles after her, though she doesn't seem to notice she's doing it. "Can… can I be honest with you, Yamanaka-san?" Sakura eventually asks, her voice subdued. Her eyes are large and too somber for someone her age.

"Of course, Hokage-sama. Please, speak freely."

Sakura nods, very business like, but her little hands are fisted in her robes anxiously. "The truth is that… not everyone is always happy."

"Well," Ino takes small, meandering steps toward the tree. Almost there. "That would be a bit unrealistic, I suppose."

Sakura's frown deepens. "I'm not always happy, either. In fact, I'm not happy most of the time. People aren't very nice to me…"

Only a couple of feet now. "They seem very nice to me," Ino offers distractedly.

"That's because they aren't real."

Ino freezes with her hand outstretched and only a few inches from the tree. Her heart skips a beat. This is a fantasy. This version of Sakura should be acting according to that fantasy. She shouldn't know it's not real, so then why…?

Sakura watches her wearily, and Ino realizes that she hasn't said anything yet. "What do you mean?" She asks slowly. Sakura blushes, shuffling her feet nervously.

"Well, it's a dream I have all the time. I imagine that if I were the Hokage, then I could make everyone happy because people wouldn't be allowed to be mean to each other… I know it's silly," Sakura whispers, "but I want it to be real, so I think about it a lot."

A few things click into place with her words.

Now that Ino thinks about it, it doesn't make sense that Sakura – the one she knows – would have this fantasy. If she did, Ino imagines she'd at least be her own age, not six-years-old, but the truth is that the Sakura she knows would never allow herself to imagine she could be important or powerful enough to become Hokage. Which means that this isn't her Sakura. It's a version of her, but a past version like the world around them – not a fantasy, but a memory of a fantasy, and this isn't Sakura, but a memory of her, too.

This is so convoluted…

Layers on layers on layers, and Sakura, the real one, is somewhere at the bottom. Ino at last touches the tree and isn't surprised to find it solid. There is no way back. Why would there be, when Sakura was certain she'd been living her last moments on Earth? Which means that she isn't hiding on purpose, and she isn't lost.

She thinks she's dead.

Immediately wearied by the weight of her comprehension, Ino plops down on the grass and turns her attention back to Sakura, who has grown exponentially more nervous in the silence. If her suspicions are correct, than this little girl before her isn't really real, but she's still part of the real Sakura's mind. Which means that her emotions – and what Ino says to her – might matter.

"Come, sit," Ino opens her arms to invite this child into her lap. She tries not to worry about the fact that she has no idea how she's going to get out of this. Sakura hesitates for only a moment, but the allure of friendly physical contact is too tempting. She climbs into Ino's lap, curling up more like a dog than a child. She's obviously unsure of herself. She looks up at Ino as if to ask, "Is this okay?" And Ino, in response, strokes her hair soothingly.

It's almost ironic that they're in the park now, the very place that Ino had turned her back on helping this emotionally distraught child so many years ago. This is what I should have done, Ino acknowledges now without a shadow of doubt. Maybe minus the lap sitting, but still. I guess this is a second chance.

"You said that people are mean to you?" Ino asks gently, her fingers deftly braiding and unbraiding Sakura's short hair.

The little girl barely tips her head in a nod, careful not to disrupt the process. "They beat me up a lot, and they laugh at me…"

"And why is that?"

"Because," Sakura whispers, curling into herself, "they say that I'm weak, and not good at anything, and that I'm ugly 'cuz – my forehead…"

"What about your forehead?"

"It's…"

"Hmm?" Sakura's answer is inaudible, but her sniffles aren't. Ino speaks resolutely, "Let's have a look, then."

"N-no! Don't! You'll – "

But Ino has already turned the weakly struggling child around so that they're face to face. She leans forward, humming thoughtfully and pretending to inspect Sakura's forehead. After a moment, she sits back and gently taps her fingers against the offending body part. "Yep," she nods. "Looks like a forehead to me."

"But – but, it's too big…"

Ino shakes her head and brushes aside Sakura's bangs. "I don't think so at all. In fact, I think you're very cute, Hokage-sama."

Sakura's chin is still tucked nearly to her chest, but she manages a shy glance. Her cheeks are red. Ino smiles at that. "Do you really think so?" Sakura whispers, and Ino nods decisively.

"I do. And, I also know that bullies always target people they think are vulnerable. If you stop trying to hide your forehead, then people will eventually stop making fun of you for it."

"B-but… it's ugly…"

"It's not," Ino chides her gently. "You have to be confident, Sa – Hokage-sama. If you're confident, then those bullies won't see you as a target, don't you think?"

At last, Sakura finally uncurls from her defensive position. She still looks scared, but the curiosity in her eyes is a good sign, and when Ino wipes her tears away, Sakura speaks in an awed tone, "You're so smart. I hope I grow up to be like you, someday."

Pride and sadness and shame burst in Ino's chest like a row of firecrackers igniting in quick succession. Pride for how she knows Sakura will turn out, and for being part of that. Sadness for what she had to suffer through first, and shame for the fact that Ino had willfully ignored it. If she only hadn't turned away that day in the park, what would Sakura be like now, she wonders? What would I be like?

"Someday," Ino says kindly, plucking a buttercup from the grass and tucking it behind Sakura's ear, "you're going to grow up to be even better than that. You're just a bud now, Sakura, but eventually you'll bloom into a beautiful flower."

"How do you know?"

Sakura's fingers flutter up to the flower at her ear unsurely, and Ino gives her best confident grin. "Because, I'm a florist! And I know that the most wonderful blooms come from the plants that have more time to absorb nourishment. Even if you don't believe me now," Ino adds at Sakura's skeptical look, "someday you'll see for yourself. I promise."

"Do you really think so?" Sakura asks, her eyes wide and heartbreakingly hopeful. "Do you think I could… make friends, someday… maybe…?"

"You already have! I'm your friend now, right?"

Sakura's jaw drops in a perfect dramatization of astonished excitement. Her hands go up to her mouth, and then her expression crumples into happy tears. She throws her arms around Ino's neck with such force that Ino laughs even as she's knocked backwards right into the tree behind her.

Or, rather, right through the tree behind her.

When Ino opens her eyes again, the world is dark.

#

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