A/N: Welcome back, dear readers and lurkers. So far, it hasn't been an awesome 2021. Can we cut to the good part? Until then, please enjoy.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Ino Can't Catch a Break

When Sai deemed they had gone far enough to rest, they elected to bed down in a fragrant copse of evergreens. The river was a smooth mirror between silty banks a few meters away, and Ino felt safety near the water. With short, stilted conversation, they had agreed the river east would guide them rather than risk the main road. Ino's chakra levels were good, so before they bedded down, she transferred chakra to Takahino since his levels were scary-low. He was in a brooding mood, and Ino worried what he would say to her about Sai.

Takahino and Ino wrapped themselves in their cloaks; Sai illustrated one off his scroll and transformed it for his usage, plus sent a few Ink Beast owls to the trees to guard the area. The second she found a comfortable position, Ino slept the sleep of the exhausted.

As the sun soared into a brilliant sky unfettered by any clouds, Ino stretched and glanced at Takahino. He was curled tight on his side, still deep asleep. She folded the travel-stained Uchiha cloak into a pillow and tucked it under his head. His features were strained, careworn, but he was exhausted, not sick. The terrifying shared experience from last night had sapped his strength, and as he wasn't born to the Yamanaka line, the symptoms of their mind jutsu affected him more strongly.

"How is he?" Sai asked. As usual, he'd pressed his back against a tree trunk, a scroll loose on his lap. Had he sent a message to Shikamaru? What about his team?

She crawled to kneel beside him and keeping her voice low, she said, "He's drained, same as I was. I think I may have accidentally pulled chakra out of him when...the clan...when the clan…"

Sai understood her unfinished statement. "We'll find out what happened. Don't worry."

"Thank you," and the burden which had squeezed her lungs shifted. "Have you sent a message to your team?"

"I have and to Shikamaru. I wished to express my current status and to apologize for my unexpected departure," he said. "Until I have a viable explanation for what happened, I thought it best not to mention how I departed or where I am currently. Kiba, Hinata, and Shino will continue to follow your trail southeast to Merodichi where they will hear of Takahino's capture and escape. I assume they will receive further orders from Shikamaru or will continue to trail after us on the ground. Do you wish to evade them or allow them to track us?"

He telegraphed a thought to her with his eyes. Release the hypnotic suggestion. She should do it. On the back of Sai's ink hawk, they could cover the distance to Sunda Umi in double time and escape Kiba and Akamaru's noses, Hinata's eyesight (when her hypnotic suggestion wore off), and Shino's insect tracking. But the idea troubled her because how would Sai explain away his inability to subdue and transport her and Takahino? What possible excuse could he give to be exonerated from investigation? Sai's active involvement with her was a cut-and-dried case of treason; he could be executed or discredited or exiled or imprisoned, and it sickened her to think of him experiencing any punishment because of her.

"Your clan is in danger. You are in danger," Sai said, interrupting her internal soliloquy.

The black eyes were serene pools; she sensed the peace inside him. "Trust me to take care of myself when the time comes."

Her first thought was to resist. Resist letting him off the hook, resist the idea he could care for himself; even a protector needed protection on occasion. She realized she had kept a tight mental grip on him since last night. When she'd been tossed to and fro in the tumult of her family's shared experience, she had landed in his stable mindscape and had stuck to it. He knew his skills best, and if she loosened her grip on him, he'd be the better for it.

"Lay down. Put your head here," she said, patting her thighs. "I'll remove the hypnotic suggestion inside your mind. Afterwards, you'll fly us to Sunda Umi."

"I suggest you attempt a Mind Transmission before we take flight. The faction may have further information to give us which could change our approach."

When she agreed, Sai shifted and lay his head in her lap. He trusted her with the blind faithfulness of a trained animal- -he did not question whether she would put in a new, different hypnotic suggestion. Just as she trusted him to keep her location a secret, to protect both her and Takahino from Miyazato, he trusted she'd choose was best for him. Unable to resist, she carded her fingers through the dense black hair, fallen back from his forehead. He was calm and languid as she molded chakra into the correct jutsu; not Saiko Denshin, not Shintenshin, but a technique somewhere in the middle. Hypnotism could be done manually, which made it useful when one was without chakra, but took much more time and patience. In a pinch, the Yamanaka could put their targets into the hypnotic trance with chakra, implant the command, and 'wake' the target.

"Are you ready?" she asked. Her hands hovered at his temples.

"Yes."

At her gentle touch, the jutsu unfurled Sai's mind to her. The way into his deep psyche was much like a glide into a sun-drenched sky. She experienced a total submission to her power, no wiggles or winces or epic battles for control. Complete freedom to tinker with his brain as she chose. She sank to the fear compartment of his mind, found the link to flying she had plugged into it, and rewired everything back to the way it had been. Flight thrilled him, pleased him as it pleased her, and as she smoothed out the ripples her jutsu caused, she brushed into a few shiny memories. One shone brightest of all and attracted to its brilliancy, Ino flitted into it.

Was it any surprise the memory was about sex?

Amused, Ino let the memory play for a minute or two. Sai's attention to detail was top-notch. As for many, memories become fuzzier, more malleable, the further from it they age. But Sai's memory of their sexual intimacy was crisp and he lived the memory like he'd experienced it within the hour. The significance he gave it both softened and frightened her; he kept the memory alive and did not let it fade.

She released the mind jutsu. Her eyes opened, her gaze dropped to him. The power grew between them, a seed which had germinated when she first met him, fertilized with each subsequent interaction, and budded a handful of days ago in Sakura's guest bedroom. His memory of their sex freshened her memory, and the desire washed through her, passion a luxurious molten gold. Ino did not move as Sai pushed up to sitting. She did not move as he leaned, his hand on the ground at her hip. She did not move as he cocked his head and kissed her.

Oh, it was a good kiss, too. Slow and yearning but with the flare of passion behind it. Smooth white skin, strong muscles, and the shiny black hair tempted her. Her eyes were closed; she thought she'd fall, but instead, she skimmed the treetops and rose higher, higher into sweet spring air. A sweet, sweet ache rang through her.

Ino reached for him, yes, with her hands and yes, with her soul. Sai was with her, completely in the moment, mind and heart reciprocating the exact sensation she felt. And, what was more, he didn't assign further expectations on her. He was in the moment. The moment was all he asked for and the expansive space she felt inside him called to her. He was very attracted to her, so she lingered with him in the kiss, offering to him what he wouldn't ask for, what he didn't expect.

Easy, Ino-girl. Remember, you haven't told Takahino about Sai. Wouldn't it be awkward to rip off Sai's clothes in front of him? And yes, tremendous heat radiated from her chest to her fingers and toes. Her face was hot with a blush. She considered another entanglement with him, the satiation, the consequences. Could she endure the further complication of being lovers with him? Could he endure a love affair with her?

No. No more complications. Not until my clan is safe. She eased away her emotions. When she released the kiss, she'd left them to simmer on the back burner. Carefully, she touched his boyish cheek. They were both out of breath. "We should...wait. Until we have…a private moment to continue." Well, apparently her brain did not have control of her damn mouth.

Sai's hands were tangled in her ponytail, eyes on her parted lips. "Yes."

Having begun, they were without self-control and kissed once more, a beautiful, prolonged exchange. The ache for him gave no space for worry or fear or stress to stand. She sighed, her gut telling her to throw caution to the wind and who cared about consequences? Go ahead, get complicated and get laid. But those other pesky thoughts nipped at her heels, and so she brought them down from the sky to earth or as near to earth as the sun and moon could be.

Sai, as easily as he accepted her emotional scale, also accepted her withdrawal. Though their hands disconnected and space existed between their bodies, their hearts had shifted together. Ino wasn't prepared for the peace she felt, the pure utter tranquility in her soul and under the soft featherlight serenity, was the ache, the wonderful ache. She shouldn't feel this way, she shouldn't climb the walls with desire, she shouldn't let Sai inside her disastrous life but here she was. Here he was. She'd lost her mind.

"Ino?"

She smiled at him. Everything's fine. "I'll see what additional information my clan may have for us."

"Be careful."

When she focused the jutsu, she groped in the black pit of her psyche for the well-worn connections to her relations but she found none. Had the jutsu misfired? She released it and tried a second time, but for the second time, she could find none of her family in the sphere of her reach. Ino strained in the dark, determined to complete the Mind Transmission by whatever means necessary, but the technique connected best over short to mid-range distances. For a wider spread, she needed a height advantage. She released the technique.

"Anything?" Sai asked.

"No. I can't connect to anyone in the clan. I might be too far away," she said. "With a higher altitude, I could."

They both glanced at Takahino's form; an Ink Beast owl cooed from the treetops. He would be safe for the short time they were absent. Sai's scroll unrolled with a simple flick of his wrist, and as the page fluttered, Sai's inkbrush swooped and dashed almost too fast for her to track the movement. The ink hawk flapped its wings, a wind whooshed among the evergreen, and it allowed Sai and Ino to settle on its back. Once they did, the hawk took a lurching flight. Ino waited, her arm around Sai's waist, to ensure he was safe, but the effects of her previous hypnosis were undone and he didn't feel fear.

"How high should we fly?" he asked.

She knew he didn't intend to have a double meaning in the question, but she snuggled her forehead at his nape, the scroll to his side instead of on his back, and responded in kind. "As high as you want."

The bird soared; so did her heart. She wished to hold Sai close to her as they flew she-didn't-care where for however long it lasted. When the scene around them was equal parts blue sky and green land, the sun in an exalted position to their shoulders, he took a deep breath.

"High enough?"

Never. It will never be high enough. "Yes. Hold this position until I release the technique, please."

She activated Mind Transmission a third time, and with the high altitude, the technique reached a vast circumference. With her net cast out, all the mindscapes in the circumference became known to her, much like when she was in sensory mode and she could see chakra signatures, but with Mind Transmission, she had to choose which mind to connect with. Chakra Sensory supported Mind Transmission because she could sense the texture of a signature and connect to the signature's specific mindscape. In this case, she did not have the power or control to sense chakra miles and miles distant.

So, she had to rely on what she could hear and what she could see with Mind Transmission only. Minds were active with inner-voices and thoughts, specific mindscapes shaped with certain experiences and in a way, those experiences exhibited a network which Ino could cross reference. Ino, and her family, were inherently connected; their blood and their minds were special from other minds. Those lines had been somehow severed, so Ino had to sort through hundreds of mindscapes for connections to her clan. Within several minutes of her search, she traced a connection to a familiar psyche- -her grandmother.

Something's wrong...where are the connections to the rest of the family? Lady Inohime, as head of the clan, had strong mental and emotional connections to each family member and they to her. Her influence resulted from those familial ties. From Grandma, Ino should be able to trace to her aunts and uncles and their next of kin, but those connections weren't available. How? Why?

An icy cold tremor seized her; terror saturated her to bones. Hardly cognizant of her decision, Ino reworked through the hundreds of mindscapes and was relieved to find Shikamaru and Chouji. They each had her on their minds. She hesitated a moment because she struggled against the compulsion to spill everything to them, to let them be a part of her family's catastrophe, but involving them in her clan's immediate affairs would put them in danger.

What if they should be assimilated? Or worse, Naruto? With her whole clan operational under a single command, should they target Naruto, he would succumb to her clan's power.

And it was then she felt a faint static in her mind- -an incoming Mind Transmission to find and connect to her. She had two choices; either accept the link or deny it. Before she accepted it, who was it from? Ino blocked out the other mindscapes, silencing the cacophony of thoughts, and narrowed her focus to the one which knocked at her mindscape. It was one of her other cousins, Hikarino, from her little faction!

Immediately, Ino accepted the mindlink from Hikarino. They grappled in the dark for a solid grip on each other. Interference ruined the connection, so Ino received bits and pieces of Hikarino's message, not the whole of it. What Ino heard was laced with static almost like Hikarino transmitted through an electrical storm. For Ino, the experience was uncommon- -she had gotten broken messages from family members before when large quantities of chakra disrupted the clarity of the transmission, the user was under duress, or the user wasn't elevated.

We're …all of us, Hikarino thought to her. We're…the confusion last… . …a surprise attack…mercenaries who discovered…accident. They've been…we're safe.

Ino groped to stabilize the connection, pushing in more chakra than strictly required to keep the jutsu switched on. The static bothered her; if the faction was safe, no interference should've occurred. With Ino above any physical blockades, her chakra and strength in support of at least fifty percent of the connection, she should've heard a complete message.

Is Sunda Umi still your location? Your message isn't clear.

Hikarino didn't respond, or she may have, and Ino didn't hear it. On the other end, Hikarino tried to cut the transmission early, struggling away from Ino's gentle probes. Hikarino's squirms were suspicious, so of course Ino sniffed closer, gripped Hikarino's psyche tighter. And the images came, the emotion. Abrupt and jarring, sporadic like a fever dream. Beloved family members drew katana, tanto, and hooked kunai with knuckles. The release of charged jutsu. Her family in a pitched battle.

Under the horrid thought, she lost control of the tenuous Mind Transmission. All she could feel was gut-wrenching cold. All she could see was black emptiness. Choked, gasping, she came back to herself. Wind chilled sweat on her damp skin, and she shivered.

Sai had threaded his fingers through hers. "We're landing. Hold on."

Ino was distant from the experience, but before long, she was flat on the ground, cradled in Sai's arms. His eyes were sympathetic. "What is it? What happened?"

She shook her head, a lump in her throat, sick to her stomach. "I haven't told you everything. When I went to our main house to confront my grandmother, Miyazato was there." Her breath hitched, a tear rolled over her cheek. Sai's nearness gave her strength to continue. "He...he confirmed he destroyed my apartment complex and the shop. He said he wanted to make me submit to him, and he'd have me at any cost. I used Saiko Denshin on him," she continued as she dashed away her tears. "Inside him was the entity I'd found inside Isao and Shijo, the same chakra signature. Miyazato is the originator of the entity. He has the pelt-smooth chakra signature. And in my grandmother and other members of the clan, I could sense the pelt-smooth chakra mixed in with their own chakra signatures."

Worry furrowed his brow. "A hypnotic jutsu which doesn't affect chakra, but you could sense a difference in the signature. What kind of jutsu is it? How will we break his control?"

She gulped air. "Miyazato's jutsu has something to do with taking control of a host. It's almost...parasitic, like it feeds off their chakra or something, but Sasuke confirmed it doesn't affect the host's chakra. The Sharingan is useless against it."

"Then you must stay out of Konoha. We must hide you until we can make sense of his power."

"No, no, you don't understand," she said. "If I don't go back, if I don't keep Miyazato's attention on me where do you think he'll spread his curse next?"

Sai compressed his lips and had no response because he already knew. "Has he gotten the rest of the family?"

"I'm not sure. I was certain last night he'd taken them over. Just now, I connected with a Mind Transmission from one of my cousins. Her message was broken, interrupted. The gist of it was they had an attack from mercenaries but were otherwise safe. I couldn't see if they were at the temple, but I don't know. Our family's Mind Transmissions can't usually be disrupted, but towards the end, I think I saw a memory. The clan fought against itself."

"You shouldn't go to Sunda Umi. Takahino and I can investigate while you remain at a different location, safely out of reach."

"Takahino will not be separated from his cousin," said Takahino from his supine position. "So forget about it."

"You're awake." While Sai supported Ino, he spoke to Takahino. "You are welcome to stay with Ino while I investigate Sunda Umi."

Takahino cracked his neck, vertebrae popping. "Nope. I don't trust you either."

"Separation is our best option. If you have heard any of our conversation, you should agree Ino is in imminent danger and should hide until Miyazato is neutralized."

Takahino's green eyes darkened with suspicion."Of course she's in imminent danger. From you."

Sai did not care to defend himself. He took Takahino's insult as easy as a swallowed spoonful of honey. But Ino cared enough to defend him. She huffed and sat without Sai's help. "Don't argue, either of you. We've no time for it. We'll go together as a team to investigate Sunda Umi. Sai, we should eat and wash up before we leave."

"I've had my breakfast." He stood and brushed the seat of his pants. The look he gave Ino was meaningful. "You take the time you need to discuss matters. I'll patrol the immediate area to ensure we weren't tracked last night."

Ino understood he wished to let Ino convince Takahino to let Sai remain with them. Great. Takahino was a big brother to her; over-protective, cautious, and stubborn. He'd not be persuaded easily. Ino and Takahino walked the short distance to the river and before they spoke, they used their chakra sensory to ensure they were alone. Sai was within shouting distance, but not near enough to hear a whispered conversation. She thought she'd have more time, but as she splashed cold water on her face, Takahino launched into his argument.

"We should ditch him," he said. Strands of reddish hair clung to his neck and cheeks. "We're better off limiting the number of people who know us and our whereabouts. When we make a move on Miyazato, we won't have to worry about betrayal."

"Sai won't betray us."

Takahino hissed. "He's Root, right? I've heard plenty of stories about those guys. Lord Danzo was a psychopath and he created an army of psychopaths. From the rumors around Intelligence about this guy, Lord Danzo trained him personally. Do you see my implication?"

She did and she didn't appreciate it. "Sai isn't a psychopath! He was taught not to feel emotion, to suppress it, but he's learned about bonds since the war. He's learned to be human again, and you shouldn't repeat any hearsay about him, period. It's beneath you."

"You don't know what he's done in his past." Takahino's nostrils flared. "The bad of it clings to him like a stink."

"So says the man who was born in Ame," Ino replied. "You spent your early childhood in a country at war with Konoha. When you were brought to the clan, I trusted you despite your origins, despite everyone else suspecting you. I trust Sai despite his background, and you should trust my judgment. Sai has nothing to do with Root anymore. He's good."

"What's he done to earn your loyalty?" Takahino asked. His head tilted, curious. "Why are you so steadfast?"

Shit, shit, shit! Ino scrambled for an appropriate response because 'I fucked him' would spin Takahino in the complete opposite direction and give him motive to doubt her. "He's saved my ass and the asses of the Rookie Nine. He may even have saved Konoha, for all we know. He'll help us...and he'd be a valuable and skilled double agent should we need information from the Office or Intelligence."

"If he's not already a double agent for Shikamaru or Miyazato." Takahino didn't quite keep the comment under his breath. Louder, he said, "Root operatives work some serious infiltration missions. It'd be like him to save lives for the express purpose of removing suspicion."

Ino wasn't prepared for Takahino's harshness, and she stood to step away and compose her emotions before she burst into angry tears. Stop it. He's trying to protect you. She breathed the fresh morning air, laced with the delicate fragrance of the evergreens, and quelled the sting of the sharp needle stabbed into her heart. Everything Takahino had argued was true, she could admit it. But she could not accept Sai as a traitor to her; she had dug into the depths of his mind; she had seen him choose what was right and noble; she shared the dreamworld with him, for heaven's sake. No. He was trustworthy, she wouldn't forsake him, and Takahino would have to suck it up.

Takahino had come to stand behind her, hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, but I can only be honest with you. Those are my thoughts and feelings about him."

"Thank you for your honesty."

She rested her hand on top of his, for who should appear between the fanned boughs of two silver-blue trees, seeing her, but Sai. He paused, his black eyes inquisitive. She did not think Sai could have heard her, but he may have sensed the impact of Takahino's argument and her response. Those emotions reached, like an arc of light and heat between them, two celestial bodies in an intricate dance with each other. Sai smiled- -not a grin, but a shy curvature of his mouth. Her mood lifted; she felt the pain lessen. He slipped away to give them more privacy.

She continued, "But whether you like it or not, I trust Sai with my life. Our bond has grown stronger, and I won't be made to doubt it. I am as safe with him as I am with you. Please don't make me choose between him and you."

"I won't ask you to choose between us, but I do ask you to choose between him and the clan. Listen to reason," he said when she inhaled to interrupt. "We're family. He's not. His loyalty to you does not necessarily extend to the rest of the clan, to me. Think about it. What he chooses to do, he does for Ino, not for the Yamanaka as a whole. If he were Nara or Akimichi, it'd be different, but he has no one. He's alone, without a clan. He doesn't know how clan bonds work, how deeply they run. He'd serve me on a silver platter to our Konoha superiors in order to save you. His mode of thinking endangers the entire clan."

"Then…I'll share the importance of the family and clan bonds with him. Sai is receptive. He'll understand and adjust his thinking. He can be loyal to the entire clan." Takahino's arguments were sound and the logical side of her brain agreed with him. I should let Sai go, she thought. I should cut him loose and force him as far away from me as possible. He'd be safer. Her heart was disgusted with her logic.

"It's too risky, cuz. He's a liability. Our operation is too unstable to allow liabilities."

Ino faced Takahino. Her current approach wasn't effective, so she'd compromise until she could think of something different to say or an opportunity presented itself to help change his mind. "All right. We'll redirect him after we fly to Sunda Umi. We'd be stupid to let pass the opportunity to use his ink hawk to cover the distance since he already knows where the family is. Once we confirm the safety of the faction, I'll suppress his memories and put in another hypnotic suggestion. We can move locations and establish a base elsewhere before he can tattle on us."

"Yes, thank you. That's a plan I can support."

"It's settled." Ino dropped the subject, relieved it was over, and strode to their dinky campsite, Takahino close beside her. "Let's eat some rations and see what's happened to the family."

Late in the night, they landed a mile or two from the Sunda Umi temple. They agreed to scout the temple on foot before showing their presence, but they needn't have been cautious. The temple and the surrounding area were abandoned. Takahino had a spare shinobi's lantern which he lent to Ino. Sai and Takahino began a search outside the temple while Ino stepped through the hole in the stone brick to investigate the inside of the temple. Before they parted, Ino activated a mindlink to keep tabs on everyone and to share their discoveries.

At the jagged hole in the wall, Ino hesitated with the shinobi lantern held aloft. This was where Takeshita Shijo radiated death intent, a death intent implanted in his brain by Lady Inohime under orders from Miyazato Seiichi. Until this moment, Ino had not dared to acknowledge her grandmother's role in Shijo's death.

The curse. What is it? How does it work? Was Shijo a trap or a test?

A campsite had been laid out- -a cold cooking pit with a circle of stones and charred logs, mats for sleeping, and woven baskets with shriveled herbs and salad greens foraged from the jungle. Hand carved wooden jugs filled with fresh water stood in a row. One of the twin holes drilled from Kiba and Akamaru was collapsed with rubble. As she explored further back, she saw various personal articles- -a pocket-sized journal, a lonely sandal…a discarded hitai-ate. She noticed some of the columns had chunks whacked out of them and the smooth stone was scored with scratches. The length, force, and distribution of the scratches indicated huge claws.

The family had been here, and they had been attacked. But had the attackers been mercenaries? Mercenaries would've used more weaponry and extremely violent jutsu to subdue and kill their victims. Her family wasn't soft- -dead mercenaries would be somewhere, buried perhaps, or if not buried, left to rot as they lay because mercenaries did not care about their dead. Had the family fought off mercenaries and feeling unsafe, left the area? Not without a word to her or Takahino. What had happened? The temple's quiet was eerie, and with wrecked nerves, Ino walked to the far corners of the large room to shine away the shadows.

No, nothing in the corners or against the other two walls of the room. Not a single weapon or empty scroll remained. She doubted elemental jutsu would've been used inside as any powerful technique of the sort would collapse the entire temple. Had it not been for the fire pit and the handwoven baskets, plus the other miscellaneous items, she wouldn't have believed her family had been there at all.

Disappointed, concerned, Ino decided her next step and relayed it to the others. I'm headed to the top of the cliff. I want to try to contact Hikarino and see where the family's located.

We haven't found anything of significance out here, replied Takahino. Days-old footprints are scattered in the area. Some of the trees show scoring, but not anything to indicate a skirmish. Sai and I will continue our search of the area...maybe something will turn up.

Ino acknowledged his remark as she exited the temple. The path she took to the top of the cliff was not perilous, since the stone reflected the faint starlight. Once on the flat clifftop, Ino gazed out over the dense and verdant forest below and tried to overcome the memory of the life-or-death duel she had fought with Shijo. She remembered the nail marks shredding his face, the crimson of blood dripping from his chin, his persistence in stalking her. Where those black flecks on the stone his dried blood? Was that crumbled edge where she'd lost her footing? The fight had been a couple weeks ago, but she felt echoes of pain, of exhaustion. Her bonds to the team. Kiba's attack. All of it flooded forward.

In the nick of time, she released the mindlink to Takahino and Sai before any of her emotions leaked through.

Her respiration increased, her heart rate soared. A quick lightning flash lit the horizon- -the noticeable swell of the tide on the beach. Wind switched directions without warning. A panic attack. Please, not now. The stone hurt her knees as she dropped and hugged her arms around her middle. The headache she ignored since this morning chipped away at her concentration. Breathe, just breathe. Everything's fine. Concentrate on Mind Transmision to Hikarino.

Ino fumbled through the technique, but managed to cast it wide, picking through the multitude of mindscapes again for her clan. Her span was not as great as it was on Sai's ink hawk, but she sensed she covered enough square mileage to ping someone in the faction. The storm was held at bay while she concentrated on her work. For a long time, she shifted through the hundreds of mindscapes and thoughts, listening closely, used pinpoint accuracy to close out those of strangers. The headache ate at her, the pain almost at a level where she'd need to shut down, but faintly, at the outer limits of her net, she noticed Hikarino's mindscape.

Stretching with what strength she had left, Ino extended her chakra and focused her jutsu on Hikarino. Static laced Hikarino's short message.

Southeast. Isle of Salt. Sorutotaun. Southeast. Isle of Salt. Sorutotaun. Southeast…

The message repeated. Hm. Ino intensified the mindlink to seek further information- -such as the health and wellbeing of the faction- -but Hikarino's concentration on relaying the message was absolute. Nothing Ino said or asked changed the repetition of Hikarino's message. Ino poked and prodded, but couldn't get any different response from her cousin and with her chakra flagging, Ino acknowledged the message and released Mind Transmission.

Time in Shintenshin or Saiko Denshin or Mind Transmission seemed short, but in reality, hours could pass. Ino had spent way too long in Mind Transmission. Fuck. The headache had upgraded into a full-blown migraine, so when she came out of the jutsu, she whimpered and curled into a pitiful ball on the stone. Hands assisted her. Through the pain-haze, she saw Sai and Takahino had joined her in a lonely vigil atop the cliff. Warm blood streamed from her nose. Someone fed her painkillers and a sip of water. Soon, she'd be released from the jaws of pain.

She repeated what she'd heard to the invisible moon overhead. "Southeast. Isle of Salt. Sorutotaun."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! See you next week.