Ino didn't know what else to do. The moment it dawned on her what had happened, she took off out of the room, running back up to her office. It was taking its time to sink in, but she wasn't sure exactly how to process it. There was no way that Tenten's software was that grievously incorrect; everything was perfect, from the shape of her face to the thickness of her hair. The margin of error couldn't be that wide that it would just coincidentally look like her... right? Not a chance. No way. What were the chances of that even happening? It had to be incredibly low if it happened at all.
After seeing her leave the room rapidly, Sai followed behind, hesitating outside the woman's office. He didn't know what he should say about the situation; it was evident now that she hadn't known a thing about her history. Something her parents had likely kept from her, he surmised. This had to be quite the shock; finding out that you were someone else that had been missing for over two decades was the kind of thing that would uproot someone's whole life in an instant. He only wished that Dr. Haruno wasn't away for the weekend; he would have immediately gone to her and asked for her assistance. She was Ino's best friend; that ought to be enough to get her to talk.
Nevertheless, he was in this on his own, and he would have to deal with it. Raising a hand to the door, he rapped lightly with his knuckles, hoping she was in there. "Miss Yamanaka? It's Sai. Please, we should discuss this."
Ino heard him from the opposite side of the door, and she felt angry. The way he'd reacted, he had to either know or suspect what had been happening. He'd treated her like she was hiding something, thinking all of this and not bothering to tell her? The information she'd found out had silenced the rational part of her, and the irrational–or rather, emotional–side of her had taken over. That jerk had known the whole time and kept it from her. Hadn't it become obvious that she was completely in the dark? And to let her find out this way–what was she, a tool for him to use and abuse at his pleasure, all for the sake of his case? Was she not a person with feelings, a person whose life had just been completely turned upside-down?
"Go away," she snapped, fists clenched as she had her back against the door. "I don't want to talk to you. Just–go away." Sai was the last person she wanted to talk to. In fact, she wanted to talk to Sakura, but that was impossible right now; Sakura was busy, away from the city for the weekend. Ino couldn't bring herself to ruin the pinkette's weekend with something like this. She'd finally managed to convince her to take a weekend off, and Sakura had somehow managed to get Sasuke to go with her. If she ruined that, she'd be the worst friend in the world. For tonight, she'd just have to go home and deal with it on her own. Do her own research, find out what she could, and come armed with information when she had to confront it.
Because she would, oh, she would confront it, all right. She'd march right up to her parents' doorstep and demand answers if she had to. This sort of thing could uproot her entire career; she would have to fight to make it clear she'd known nothing over the years. It could very easily look like she had taken up a position in law enforcement just to further her parents' agenda–no, to further Akatsuki's agenda. That looked even worse.
Her life as a prosecutor could be over, after all the work she'd put in.
Sai heard her demands from the opposite side of the door, feeling mild disappointment from her quick dismissal. Surely she understood the position he'd been in; if he'd given away what he knew, then it could have ended poorly for them. He had to be absolutely sure that she had nothing to do with things, and this point convinced him that she did. His only option was to remain silent and distance from her a bit, at least until she'd calmed down enough to talk things out. He silently made his way into the meeting room, opting to wait until she was leaving for the day before he'd make his move.
Ino knew she had to be done with the day. Grabbing her bag and her jacket, she opened the door to her office and locked it swiftly behind her, pulling out her phone and texting Hinata that she'd be going home early today. She didn't give a reason; she did not need to, given her position. She was too frazzled to notice the dark-haired Sai following at a distance behind her, like a silent guardian. She got into her car and drove home, sitting in the driveway for a while as she just mulled over what had happened.
Sai had followed the blonde out of the precinct, giving a good berth as he followed her wherever she was going. He'd followed for two reasons: one, he wanted to be sure that she wasn't putting on some act, and two, he wanted to ensure her safety. If someone had found out the information they had, Akatsuki might use Ino to their advantage. He couldn't be too careful. Ino knew nothing; that meant that she was an innocent who needed to be protected at all costs for the sake of the case.
He waited outside, parked across the street from her house as he could see movement inside. He'd stick around for a few hours, maybe even through the rest of the night, to make sure she was okay. The last thing he needed was for someone innocent to suffer because of this case. Too many innocents had suffered in Akatsuki's wake. The last thing he wanted was his blonde assistant to be another one of them.
She was the missing daughter of the Yamakichi family. Her brother, Yahiko, was a prominent member of Akatsuki who'd gone underground. Since she was a baby, she'd gone by the name Ino Yamanaka. Now she wasn't sure which of them she was. Was she Hagi, or was she Ino? Was she both? Was she neither?
Stifling a couple of tears that threatened to escape, she got out of her car and into her house, locking the door behind her and setting the alarm. It was time for the one thing that she knew would dull the feelings she felt right now: señor tequila, as she liked to call him. With a highball glass and a couple of ice cubes, she poured herself a shot of the strong spirit, downing it swiftly and pouring another. After at least three shots, she was in her kitchen, grabbing a bag of buttered popcorn and putting it in the microwave to pop. Bad movies, popcorn, and tequila: a wonderful combination for a situation as fucked up as this.
Partway through the movie, Ino could swear she heard a noise somewhere in her backyard. What kind of noise? She had no idea, but she wasn't going to take any chances. She assumed it was the stupid raccoon she'd been dealing with for the last week and a half, but who knew? She was far too on edge to pass it off. Ino made her way to the back door, picking up a bat from the front closet, doing her best to stay focused and not stumble her way there. She was quite drunk already and certainly not in any condition to fight.
Sai could tell something was up when he saw the way she stood, looking toward her back door; out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a shape moving along the side of her house, making him incredibly suspicious. He was out of his car in a flash, following silently along the side of the house with a hand on his gun, slowly drawing it from the holster. He masked his presence in the bushes at the side, seeing something moving along the far side of the house; he couldn't make out the figure very well, but there was undoubtedly someone there. That was not a good sign, especially for Ino; she didn't appear to be in any state for a confrontation, not to mention she was a civilian.
Whoever it was, they were going to regret daring to come to Ino's house when she was in this state; when she got drunk, she was either a mess or angry. Tonight, it was mostly angry; she just wanted to drink in peace and wallow in the despair she'd been saddled with for the day, and whoever was creeping around outside her house was ruining that.
As the figure moved closer to the house, Sai watched as the door opened, the drunk blonde coming out brandishing her weapon. Not the best choice of attack, but it did all it needed; the figure startled, moving out of the way of her wild swings as they ran for the fence and scaled it. Seeing them getting away, Sai came out and tried to give chase, but it was too late; there was no way that he was going to catch up with them. He had something more important to take care of, anyway.
"Ino?"He asked softly, making sure to put his gun away so as not to startle her. Hearing his voice, Ino whirled on him, still drunkenly brandishing the bat.
"What the hell are you doing here?! Are––are you spying on me?!" Ino couldn't believe it–after she'd given him the benefit of the doubt, he was still here, creeping on her? What, did he think that now that she knew that he could just follow her around? Hot or not, she was not in the mood to talk to him right now. He'd hurt her feelings, and she wasn't just going to let it go like that. If she had to chase him off her property, then she would.
"I was concerned," he said, keeping his eyes on the bat.
"Concerned my ass!" Ino said, brandishing the bat a little more; unfortunately, it fell from her grasp, leading Sai to catch it and toss it out of the way quickly. Well, she didn't need a bat to get her point across, not with him. She could do just fine with other options. She opted to swing an open palm, aiming for his face drunkenly; her moves were easily telegraphed to Sai, enough that he could catch her wrist before it made an impact, holding it in a firm grip.
"Stop it!" Ino demanded, weakly trying to yank her hand away to no avail. Her other hand went to wildly swing in an attempt to push him off, but he caught that too, holding her steady as she fought back. Her resistance was weak, a mix of the alcohol and her mental state; she didn't really want to fight him; she was lashing out emotionally at him. Her gaze turned down, and she felt tears burning. She was a mix of angry and hurt.
"That's enough," he said firmly.
"Oh, it's enough for you, is it? Huh? What, you got your fill of screwing around with me?" Sai's eyes widened at the accusation, hearing her vicious words lashing at him. "You knew the whole time, didn't you? You knew, or you at least suspected who I was, and yet you just–you let me help with your case, you let me sit there and find out by myself, instead of having the decency to say, hey, I think you might actually be related to this, despite how much I offered to help you!" Ino had been over-the-top friendly to him, welcoming him, offering to help, everything; she'd done far more than was expected of a district attorney. Not even the detectives would have been expected to give as much to the cause as he had.
"What are you talking about?" Sai asked, genuinely confused. He didn't know where half of these accusations were coming from; he hadn't used her in any way, at least not that he was aware of. She was angry, and he had a feeling that the alcohol and the revelation earlier had fueled her anger and ferocity for tonight. He watched as she hung her head, bangs hiding her face as he heard a soft sob come from her.
"Forget it. You're just nothing more than a jerk. I was just a tool for you to solve your stupid case, not an actual person who now may have her entire life ruined, no thanks to you. You don't understand what any of this means at all, do you?" Ino was usually more emotionally steel-hearted, but after too many drinks, she became the drunken, crying mess that every girl hated to be. For that reason, she only drank like this around Sakura most of the time; that way, she wouldn't have to be seen by anyone but her best friend. Oh, how she wished she could talk to Sakura now... Sakura would know exactly what to say. She'd be able to comfort her, make her feel better, everything.
"I did not see you like that," Sai stated. "Please, Ino, let me try and explain what my intentions with the situation truly were. I think that as a district attorney, you would be able to easily understand what I intended when I withheld this information from you." He was desperate to calm her down and explain.
"No. You don't get to do that. You don't get to come here, all macho, 'saved-your-life' after what you did. After what you kept from me. Just get out of here, and don't come back." She yanked her wrists out of his grip and backed toward the door, slamming it in his face before he could talk, locking it, and closing the drapes.
Screw him. Screw Sai. He was just a jerk, nothing more. She was going to chug some water, go to bed, and figure out what she'd do tomorrow. Not today-tomorrow. Sai could rot for all she cared after that.