Sai waited by Ino's bedside, idly checking his emails and searching on the files she'd sent to him while they were out in a secured location. He was going over every ounce of evidence they had; their information had linked something here, but it was something they'd yet to identify. Her mother was missing, she was in the hospital, and her father was nowhere to be found. It was almost like before when they'd gone under the radar only to resurface with entirely new identities. Was this what Ino's parents had planned? Were they responsible for what had happened at Sakura's house?

Were they responsible for more events than anyone had expected?

Sai was snapped out of the trance he'd been in by a nurse entering the room, standing from his seated position on the cot as she approached. Another doctor followed the nurse, who escorted him out of the room, leading him down the hall and into another room where they could talk privately. Sai caught the last name on her white coat: Dr. Senju. He recognized the name from somewhere, but where?

"I'm Dr. Tsunade Senju," she introduced, producing a hand to shake with Sai's. "Ino seems to be pulling through. We're going to take her off the ventilator for now and keep a close eye on her vitals, but her status is looking better. We think by morning she may be awake, but depending on how medicated she is, she may not be fully lucid." The doctor pursed her lips, looking uncertain.

"From the expression on your face, I assume there is more?" Sai wanted to know. No, he needed to know. Whatever Ino's condition was, he needed to be aware of it. He felt a strange sense of desperation that he'd never experienced before.

"After the scans we did, we noticed that there was some head trauma. It's to be expected from a situation like this, but my primary concern is what kind of damage happened. She coded in the ambulance on the way, as I'm sure you remember, so... between that and her head trauma, it's possible there's... permanent damage." Sai didn't like the sound of that. Head injuries could mean a lot of different things, none of which were good. Permanent damage could be minor, temporary things like mild amnesia, or it could mean years of physical therapy. The most he could hope for was the former if there was any lasting damage. That would be the best-case scenario.

"Okay. I'll stay with her. As with before, any requests come through me and no one else." He paused, chewing his lip. "Not even other ROOT personnel. Only myself." He had to be firm on that. The more he was looking at the scenario, the more he could tell that ROOT was involved, and the less information he wanted to be open to them. Dr. Senju nodded at his request, sweeping out of the room and leaving Sai to return to Ino's bedside.

By the time he reached Ino's room again, the nurse had removed the tube from her throat, and she seemed to be breathing on her own. That caused Sai to sigh with relief; it meant he could take a moment and lay down to get some rest. He knew he wouldn't be of any use to the investigation if he weren't sharp. He signalled for the nurses to keep an eye on the door, settling down on the cot and closing his eyes to release a soft breath. He was asleep within moments.

As Sai was asleep, his mind started to wonder; first, they were incomprehensible dreams that made no sense and were insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Then he could hear someone yelling.

"SHIN!" Sai's voice was loud and filled with desperation as he ran through the wooded areas. He was frenzied, trying to follow the trail of blood; in one hand, he held a bloodied knife, and over the other shoulder was a gun far too large for any child to be handling. Blood had soaked his clothes; some of it was old and dried, and some were fresh splashes of red. He was following a trail of blood through the trees, his breath coming in heavy pants and making small puffs in the cool air.

Where was Shin? Sai could barely keep up with what was going on, looking this way and that. They were in enemy territory, that much he knew. Shin was supposed to meet him after they'd finished with the camp, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Sai! Over here!" Shin called in a whisper, beckoning from a set of bushes. They were near the coast where a large ship had docked; by the markings on the side and the uniforms they wore, it was easily identifiable as an enemy ship. Shin was his guide, so if that meant walking up to the ship's soldiers, guns blazing, they would. But... wait. Sai recognized the symbol that a few of the women and one or two men were wearing.

"That symbol is familiar," Sai remarked as he squinted to try and see it better.

"Yeah. They're peacekeepers," Shin confirmed. Peacekeepers were what they were told they were, but it wasn't what they were described as. They'd been painted in a very different light from their "conditioning," said to be there to take them away to make them fight for the enemy. Little did they know... peacekeepers were there to ensure their human rights—as children—were recognized. Rights they didn't even know they had... or they had been violated egregiously by their handlers.

"We have to tell them," Sai begged. "They'll make us—"

"They won't." Shin's tone was firm. He'd stopped believing what their handlers had told them ages ago. He was stronger, smarter, and had never broken under their conditioning. Not like Sai had. "They'll help us." Shin was convinced he was right.

"What do we do?" Right or wrong, Sai was pledged to follow Shin's every command. Shin nodded and signalled for Sai to lay down his weapons, including the bloody knife he was clutching. Sai did as Shin indicated, and with their hands raised, they slowly approached the peacekeepers, despite the guns pointed at them by the remaining soldiers. The approaching soldiers checked them for other ordinances, such as explosives, before they were deemed safe to approach.

Sai's dream then changed, another memory starting to resurface from his psyche, something he wasn't sure he wanted to remember.

There was the inevitable sound of gunfire as they ran, escorted along with other children alongside their advocates. Much had changed in the two months they'd been gone; they were taken care of, fed, clothed, and not once were they forced to fight. Before then, they'd been starved, beaten, and threatened every moment.

Things were now taking a turn. Gunfire peppered behind them as they ran, children and adults falling to the hailstorm of bullets. Sai and Shin kept running until a stray bullet shot past Sai and took the kid in front of him out. They tumbled to the ground in a heap, Sai scrambling back up as their old captors were catching up.

One of them leaped at Sai but was shot before he could strike with a knife. Sai broke back into a run, adrenaline pumping in his veins. The larger adults were gaining on them, one reaching out to grasp Shin's shirt, catching him in a tight grip. Sai stopped and turned, watching as the man held a pistol threateningly to Shin's head.

"Sai! Run!" Shin screeched as loud as he could, his voice firm like he was giving an order. "Run and live!"

And like in his training, Sai complied. Sai followed Shin's order. He turned, breaking away at a sprint m, only turning back one last time as he could hear one final gunshot from their enemies before a peppering of friendly fire from the soldiers who'd taken care of them took down the last of their enemies.

That would be the last order he'd ever receive from Shin.

Sai woke in a cold sweat, snapping up and staring down at his hands. His mind was playing tricks on him; it was like he could see the blood on them still. He felt cold and shaky all over. Was that a memory or a fabrication? He wasn't sure. It could be the child's overactive imagination, or it could be a memory deeply repressed by trauma.

Sai's attention was caught as he heard a groan from the bed. Ino was slowly coming to, feeling nothing but agonizing pain throughout every bone in her body. She hadn't the faintest clue what had happened or even why it had happened; her head felt like a jumbled mess. In fact, she wasn't even sure where she was.

Blue eyes opened to see the stark white ceiling above her, coupled with the overwhelming smell of antiseptic. She knew that smell; she'd been to a hospital enough times to visit Sakura when she was interning to know what it smelled like. Her head turned to see an IV stuck in her own hand, as well as some clip on her finger; Sakura would probably know. If she was at the hospital, then Sakura had to be somewhere. She was still working on her residency!

Her gaze turned to the man who was beside her, eyes narrowing as she studied him. He looked... upset, though she couldn't fathom why. He looked like he'd been waiting for someone who might have almost died. Her? No, he probably had the wrong room. That, or... was he a classmate? Maybe a member of campus security? Those options all made sense to Ino. A classmate who'd seen what happened and opted to stick with her made the most sense. If that were the case, though... where were her parents? Why weren't her parents waiting by her bedside? They would have been worried sick if she were in the hospital!

"Ino," he said, his voice choked with emotion. "You're awake." That was a relief. He could tell she was still mildly delirious from the way she was looking around. He had a feeling she was likely looking for Sakura, too. That was... going to be a hard pill for the blonde to swallow. Knowing her best friend was either in jail, arrested, or a fugitive wouldn't sit well with her. He wasn't sure how far back her memories went, if at all; he could tell she didn't recognize him, but it was also possible that was the grogginess from the medication she was on.

Ino's face was a mask of confusion. The more she stared at this man, the less she knew. And he knew her name? Oh lord, was he some one-night-stand she'd got disgustingly drunk with and passed out on? How embarrassing. Not out of the question for her, but... she couldn't remember drinking. Had she been drugged? Had she had so much that she'd blacked out? No, it couldn't be that. She was always careful with what she drank, and she always made sure to watch her drinks to ensure they weren't spiked.

"I... I'm sorry," Ino croaked as she tried to sit up, groaning in agony. "But... Who are you again?"