Disclaimer: I am Ino-trash. I own nothing.


"Wait… so let me get this straight… you chickened out? YOU? You, Ino Yamanaka ran away from a boy you like?" Sakura raised a brow as she leaned over the counter of The Yamanaka Flower Shop.

"Urgh, pipe down Forehead! I should never have told you!" Ino hissed as she quickly darted her eyes around the shop, "Look, it's not like I was scared …it's just..."

"Just what?" Sakura asked out of genuine curiosity.

"His first kiss shouldn't be one sided." Ino bit her lip, "Trust me, I should know."

The incognito seduction missions. Of course.

"Ino…" Sakura's voice trailed off, "I'm … sorry."

Ino gave a hollow laugh and teased, "You wouldn't be if you knew I was saving my first kiss for Sasuke."

"..Pig..."Sakura tried to follow her lead, but it was hard not to let the sympathy creep in.

It was silly to let it get to her now, she was sure she had come to terms with it years ago- but it didn't stop the little girl inside her from lamenting every now and then.

Your first kiss- it was supposed to be something magical- right?

When she was a kid she never imagined she'd have to use it for a tactical move to lull a target into a false sense of security, but the real world was no fairy tale, you don't always get to kiss the knight in shining armor…

It wasn't like she was a victim, she knew what she was getting into. She had a choice, she- like many of her friends- could have chosen to opt out of such missions.

Kurenai Sensei had warned her, unlike the other feats of a shinobi, there would be no songs or stories glorifying what she did, no this was the part of being a kunoichi people liked to sweep under the rug. At any rate she always had either Shikamaru or Choji to step in if things escalated- not everyone was that lucky.

Asuma Sensei never swept it under the rug though, never once treated her covert seduction missions as something she should be ashamed of- he always said it was just another skill set to add to her repertoire, and a very important one at that.

It would save lives.

"To be able to infiltrate the enemy territory, glean information and walk out without any blood-shed, that's something probably even I couldn't do Ino." Asuma Sarutobi took a long drag from his cigarette, "Beauty is a dangerous weapon. A beautiful rose can make you forget about the thorns until it's too late."

"We are shinobi, so we must endure." Ino squared her shoulders and smiled, "We all do our bits for the village, some just lesser known than others."

Sakura nodded and opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by a sharp jingle of the bell that announced the arrival of a potential customer.


XXX


Hisao Hyuuga bowed deeply in greeting despite protests from both the Yamanaka heiress and her pink haired friend, "Good morning, I'm sorry to interrupt again, I didn't know you had company Miss Ino."

"It's a shop Hyuuga. People come, people go." Ino teased as Sakura swatted her arm.

Hisao turned pink and coughed, "Uh yes ofcourse, sorry...I…that was a stupid thing to say."

Ino giggled, "You don't need to apologize. Stop being so uptight, I've been expecting you actually."

"Y-you were waiting for m-me?" Hisao turned pinker still.

"Well, you have been showing up like clockwork this past week." Ino grinned.

"Oh, I- Sorry if I've been a bother." His face fell.

Oh jeeze, he looks like a kicked puppy; Ino mused.

"Ino's just teasing." Sakura offered kindly.

The Hyuuga though visibly relieved gave a soft chuckle, "Well Miss Ino seems to enjoy doing that quite a bit."

"Can you blame me?" Ino grinned, "You make a surprisingly easy target for someone with the Byakugan."

"Unfortunately my bloodline limit seems to be futile against your verbal attacks Miss."Hisao gave a sigh and raised his hands in mock surrender.

Ino gasped.

Both his hands were covered in bandages rather than their usual wrapping. Sakura too must have noticed the same thing since she stepped forward and grabbed his wrist.

"Woah, what happened here? Have you seen a doctor?" The medic in her kicking in before she could stop herself.

Hisao pulled back his arm with a jerk and frowned, "I'm fine Miss Haruno. It..was a…training incident. I have it under control."

His velvet smooth voice went ice-cold and stoic, shocking both women.

Sakura winced, Ino on the other hand was fuming.

"Like hell you do." Ino hissed, annoyed that he would snap at her best friend just for being nice, "Sakura's just trying to help, stop being such a jerk and let her have a look- even I can tell those bandages are sloppy, who'd you have do them? A 4 year old?"

"I did them myself…" Hisao mumbled in protest.

"Tch. Let the pro have a look." Ino gestured towards Sakura.

"Look, I'm not trying to pry or anything- but I can properly assess the injury if you let me." Sakura said her voice taking on the medic-mode, "Plus Ino's right about the bandages- Even minimally tight elastic dressings applied as part of a circumferential bandage may lead to progressive swelling, aggravating all of the ill effects of swelling on the injured hand."

"There is no need, like I said- I don't need help, I shall manage."Hisao replied in a clipped tone.

"Are you a child? Did you hear what she said?" Ino slammed her hand on the counter, "Seriously, do you want to be in more pain?"

"Perhaps.. I deserve it." Hisao mumbled softly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sakura narrowed her eyes.

"Unwrap those bandages." Ino's voice was like a commandment.

Hisao did not take his eyes off her as he peeled back the binds, he did not even wince as the caked dry blood pulled at his skin as the soiled bandages pooled at his feet.

"What in the world did you do?" Sakura hissed as she rushed forward to evaluate the damage closer.

"Gentle Fist, is not so much gentle on the hands." Hisao answered vaguely, "Not very nice to look at is it?"

"Why would you do this to yourself?" Ino shook her head and stepped out from behind the counter.

"I…had a lot on my mind." He answered as Sakura prodded his palm.

"Well, there's no lasting damage- but it'll take a while to fully heal." The pink haired medic concluded, "You need to be on anti-biotics though, I'll write up a prescription… first though I'll need to wrap them up properly- Ino you still have a kit in the storage room right?"

"Yeah, second shelf." Ino nodded.

"Great, just give me minute then." Sakura got up and disappeared through the door behind the counter.

Ino watched Hisao slump down on a chair and gingerly flex his fingers, he seemed oddly distant.

She tried to engage him in small talk and for once he didn't actually seem too eager to reply. In fact he seemed to be averting his eyes from even looking in her direction.

"You two didn't have to do this, you know." Hisao spoke suddenly, "I do not deserve your kindness."

"What's with you today?" Ino sighed, "You're being weird."

"I did something… I am not proud of yesterday." He avoided meeting her gaze.

"Do you…want to talk about it? It's clearly eating at you." Ino asked softly, "Let me help, please."

"I just don't know why you're doing this… it's not your problem."

"Urgh you're hurt, it only natural to want to help." The blonde grimaced, what was with this guy?

"It doesn't matter if I'm hurt-"

Sai's face flashed in her mind, hurt and confused.

"Why would it matter?"

"But unlike them I am not a normal Konoha Shinobi. I am a member of Root. If I die it would be like I never existed, there are no names on the memorial for us. No one cries for members of Root. We have no one. We are no one."

"It matters to me!" Ino cut him off.

Hisao turned to face her so fast his hair whipped across his face. His pale eyes wide, mouth slightly ajar in disbelief, "Y-You can't possibly mean that."

"…Hisao, what has the world done to you?" Ino muttered as she sat down next to him, "You know you're starting to remind me of a friend of mine."

"Is that right?" Hisao clenched his fists and gave a hollow chuckle, "You are kind Ino Yamanaka, but you shouldn't give me hope if you're only going to take it away."

"..I-" Ino tried to search for the right words.

"-should be more careful." Hisao finished for her, "Hope is a strange thing, especially false hope. It can drive people to do things…one would say..is out of character."

A charged silence stretched between them.

"I can't just sit by… I'm sorry if you feel like I'm leading you on…but if you need help I'm not just going to ignore it!" Ino fixed him with pointed stare.

Where the hell was Sakura? It felt like she was gone for ages!

"I wasn't just talking about me." Suddenly Hisao stood up, changing the subject he walked over to the counter "I suppose I should pick my flowers already."

He reached for a neat basket of white flowers with closed petals.

"My mother used to grow these." He touched the petals, "Moonflowers."

"Actually I picked those-"

"-for your friend." He finished for her again.

Ino nodded mutely, the atmosphere turned awkward again.

Hisao looked pointedly at his feet as if debating some internal monologue, then looked up suddenly with fierce determination, "I don't think you should keep seeing him."

An uncomfortable feeling started to bubble in her chest.

"What?" Ino frowned, "Now you listen here, what the hell's gotten into you?!"

"You can't save everyone, Miss Ino." He answered coldly.

He was talking about Sai.

She knew he was talking about Sai.

What gave him the right to make assumptions?

How dare he?!

She was about to deliver a scathing reply when the backdoor finally opened and Sakura entered with a large metal box.

Something about the look in Hisao's eyes scared her.

She wanted to see Sai.

No, she needed to see him.

Blissfully unaware Sakura made herself busy taking out various ointments, "Jeeze Ino, you really need to clean up your storage room- you wouldn't believe all the junk I had to root through- I think a trip to the pharmacy would have been less work-"

"I need to step out, take care of..this." Ino interrupted Sakura mid sentence, grabbed the basket of moonflowers and shoved past Hisao without sparing him another glance.

The door slammed loudly and Sakura could only stare between the suddenly tight jawed Hyuuga and the retreating back of her best friend.


XXX


Ino rushed as fast as her legs would carry her to Sai's front door.

Breathless she knocked once, twice, a third time.

No answer.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, she focused as much as her mind would allow to try and pick out his chakra signature.

Sai was no longer in the village.

The uncomfortable feeling inside her chest magnified.


XXX


"What the hell happened here?" Sakura asked dumbfounded as she started wrapping fresh bandages on Hisao's arms.

"Do you think it is important to protect those you love?" Hisao turned towards her solemnly ignoring her question.

"Ofcourse, always!" Sakura replied with frown.

"Miss Haruno, do you know how the moon works?" Hisao asked but somehow it felt rhetoric.

"Uh..yeah I guess." She answered unsure of what he was getting at.

"It steals the light from the sun." Hisao narrowed his eyes, "…like a parasite."


X


Better late than never right? (Hides)
Sorry, like genuinely I am sorry to keep everyone waiting this long and that too for so short a chapter.

I kind of don't like how this chapter turned out, but I couldn't bear taking any more time to fine tune it- please let me know what you think okay? No really, tell me what you think! I'm dying to know!

Reviews fuel my writing, and being the insecure mess that I am all the love really helped encourage me to put more of my work up for public scrutiny haha really though Thank you everyone! I loved reading all the reviews and will reply to all of them hopefully in the next chapter. Much love xoxo